A Star Burns

I used to be respected. The other disciples would bow at my feet just for a glimpse at my greatness. I always tried to remain humble. Carrying myself with a degree of self respect and elegance so that my peers could see me as the genius I truly was.

I heard the poisonous insults and taunts thrown at me from my lesser peers. But I was above those taunts. Praised as a cultivation genius, I had everything at my fingertips. And when I progressed into the next realm the benefits would only grow; more praise, more benefits, and I would finally be closer to my ultimate goal. That's how it should have happened.

I can still remember the eyes of those that used to revere me shift to repulsion. I was beaten and spat at. Told "I was lucky they even kept trash like me around". I remember the melancholic look of the doctor as she told me my core had formed and then suddenly broke, dispersing into a million pieces. I begged for some sort of treatment to bring back to my previous glory. The tears that welled up in her eyes told me I'd never progress, that I was incurable. But I didn't stop.

I tried to fight against the odds. I took various elixirs and medicines. Tried technique after technique. I grew weak and weary. The herbs had turned poisonous and built impurities in me. The journeys I went on to find those secluded techniques had left my body malnourished and broken. Forget cultivation, I couldn't even function regularly. I became a pariah in my classroom. My girlfriend, who couldn't understand why I had to keep looking, painfully looked at me with tears in her eyes and quietly sobbed, "I won't watch you destroy yourself." 

I consider all of this on my deathbed following another failed attempt to repair my core. I've been demoted to less than an outer disciple of the sect and subjected to the taunts of my peers and my juniors. I've become a target of ridicule and cruelty in my classroom. And even my dear sister gives me those disappointed eyes every time she sees me. It's here as I am about to die that I've realized what the material objects and fleeting feelings of success have given me. Nothing. I have no wealth. No friends. And the person I trust most can only look at me with pain as she passes by room day after day. 

The pain is fading and the room is getting cold. She won't know I'm dead for a while until the stench hits her. I hope it doesn't hurt her too much. I really believed that I'd finally restore my honor, my last resort. The technique being the most dangerous I tried. High risk high reward right. Guess I forgot about the RISK. I wish I had more time to change. Goodbye Mina

Mina walked past the same hallway. A hallway that was stained with broken dreams and disappointment. A hallway that she tries to avoid. 

She wanted to knock on that door so many times. Be supportive to the person who has helped her so much. But she couldn't take that step. It was too painful to see her once bold and vibrant savior brought down by despair and failure. 

She wanted to try though. She wanted to be the one to pull him from the darkness. With an eagerness to her she tightened her lips and took a step around the corner. She gazed down the hall and almost gave up, but on the wooden floor she saw a pool of viscous liquid bleed under the door. Blood. In a panic she burst open the door. Her eyes darted around the room taking in the stark difference from how it looked in the past. The once clean and plain walls were filled with different markings and passages all about cultivation. Pages and pages strewn about every empty space in the room. As her eyes moved they landed on the floor. I figure covered in cuts and symbols lay on top of crimson dyed papers on the floor. She saw the blood that mysteriously trailed from his body to the door. Like something was signaling her. But she knew time was of the essence and she had to act fast to save his life. He gripped a bloody note in his hand. She ignored it though and kneeled beside him. She put her hands on his chest and tried to push her aura inside of him to heal his wounds, but like a dying star his light was fading.

She made a drastic decision: she pushed all her energy into him down to the last drop, knowing that her body might not be able to recover the lost energy. His body glowed and grew bright as her eyes began to lose focus. As the last drop of her energy entered his body a blinding light filled the room. As the energy died down she kissed his forehead and hoped he would live. At that same moment he gasped in a new breath and sat upright. 

He was alive. Mina lay on his lap, her breathing labored. He put his ear to her chest listening for her heartbeat and tried to use his energy to sense her condition. Strangely he noticed that he had more power than before, but couldn't focus on that. When he felt zero energy in her body he panicked, but as he slowly saw the reservoir fill back up his emotions calmed. After hearing her heart he recognized that she was fine and just drained and might need medicine for the next couple of days. Though they would talk about her recklessness later. 

After the panic had subsided he peered into himself and realized something changed. While his core wasn't repaired, a small speck of it had started to glow brightly absorbing energy from the air. He quickly grabbed the technique book and saw that a new sentence had been etched into the final page. "Planets explode and create rocks, it's not until those rocks burn to death that they become stars." He was confused because stars burn to death as they absorb other stars. However, that wasn't important. The biggest difference, He broke through.