1 Beginnings (1)

This was the hardest fight in my life. I was on the verge of death more times during this short time then my all other times I almost died together. The surroundings were utterly destroyed, the sight of skyscrapers falling, thousands dying and creating rivers of blood, kept appearing in front of me as if engraved in my retinas.

I was used to this by now, and that image joined dozens of other scenes that kept me awake at night.

But this one was different. This one was the last one. In front of me laid a lifeless body of Baal, the last general of the Revan Queen. With his death, her last chance at resurrection was gone.

At this moment… when everything was over… I could help but to think to the moment everything started. That god damned hole in the ground. Before I found it, everything was so much easier.

"Sigh… We should go now, my head is killing m…"

Sharp pain. When I looked down a blade was sticking out of my chest, blood dripping down its edge dripping on the ground. "Why do things need to be so complicated? Can you tell me?"

"…"

"Damn. Do you remember how it was?"

---

Rejected.

This one word crushed me. My body felt heavy and light, cold and hot, I was angry and sad, confused and clear. This moment in my life was the lucid I ever was. I knew I had no chance, but I couldn't help but ask.

"Is there anything that can be done?"

Hearing my quivering voice my emotions slowly started to take control of my mind as tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

"I'm sorry child. But you, having an empty soul means that you won't be able to practice martial or arcane arts."

Empty soul. Something that only 1% of the population has, it's not harmful and is not considered a disability, it means one thing. Whoever has it, doesn't have the elemental essence in his soul that is required for practicing both arcane and martial arts. And now I'm this one percent.

"Unfortunately, the University of Martial and Arcane arts can't accept you. But I saw your results. On top of your class every year, beast in school three years in a row. Almost perfect results. Any university would fight to have you. Since you passed the two first two exams, I will write a letter of recommendation."

Only three tests. Just this much is needed to enter the most prestigious university in a country. First is a written examination, then an interview with one of the tutors, and if everything goes well you will be granted a chance to touch an awakening stone. As long as you can do that, you can search your soul for the elemental essence and then bring it back to your body. And 99% of people that are given this chance succeed. And I'm the one percent that can't.

"Child…"

The interviewer spoke again. His face… saddened. He really felt sorry for me. But my dream, of becoming an Arcane artist… cannot be achieved anymore. A martial artist is also out of the question… there is nothing left. All those years that I spent preparing for this day, all sleepless nights so that I could have the best results in every subject. All of this was rendered useless.

I felt tears slowly moving down my cheeks, dropping from my face to hit the floor.

This was my first time crying in years.

"Don't be saddened child, the world is huge, and becoming an arcane artist is only one of many paths you can take. Don't cry, raise your head and face the future. Here, take this, it's my recommendation, with it and your results any university will accept you."

I took the piece of paper form the interviewer, I couldn't even read it through the tears in my eyes. I stepped out of the room and left the building.

In this world, where people with incredible abilities walk the earth, I was cursed to be ordinary. The Artists, that's what people call them. They awakened their power and are able to use elemental essence to cast spells, enhance their bodies, perform feats that are otherwise impossible. Their power… limitless.

I wanted to be this kind of person.

It all started when I was six, I just started school when one of my friends showed me a video of a man shooting flames from his palms, charring a horde of monsters, all of it with a calm face. I heard my parents talk about them before, but that was the first time I saw it with my own eyes.

It immediately became my obsession, I learned that you needed to awaken your power by extracting the elemental essence from the soul. There were only two ways I could accomplish this, either get accepted to the University of Martial and Arcane arts or join the Army Special Division. There they would let me use an awakening stone to do it.

So I tried my best, studied restlessly and was able to come out at the top of my class every time, got almost perfect results. I thought it all paid off when my application was reviewed, and I was invited to take the entrance exam.

I thought that even if I fail to join the university, I could still try in the military, but now… it doesn't matter.

Like a phantom I traversed the city with slow steps,, I had no goal or desire to stop. I didn't want to stop, I felt that if I stay put everything that happened will become real.

Hour… two… maybe more, I continued to walk. My legs were in pain, but that didn't stop my feet from moving. My vision no longer blurred by tears, started to pick up more details. I was at the outskirts of the city, old buildings, slightly rundown surrounded me. There was no noise other than a passing car from time to time.

I had no idea where I was. But I continued to walk.

Until… someone grabbed my shoulder from the behind. Robbery? I wouldn't be surprised that this day can get any worse.

Behind me, middle-aged man wearing ragged clothes, and with a wrinkled face and a long beard, he looked like a homeless person. His crazy looking eyes and a twisted smile made him look utterly insane.

"Hey, kid… "

---

Ring-Ring-Ring.

"Hallo."

"Dominque, how are you doing honey?"

"I'm doing fine mom. But you know… you don't have to call me every day."

"And you don't have to stay at that person house. It has been already two months since you started to train there, and we haven't seen you even once since then. Your father is worried about you. I know that not being accepted to the university was hard on you, but you shouldn't let it get you down. We…"

"Mom. I told you already, I need to take a break. And there is no need for 'You' to worry, I talked with dad already, and we came to an agreement."

"…"

"But you are right, I should at least visit you. Next week should be ok, right?"

"Sigh… fine. But are you sure it's fine? Staying over there. If you need, I can send you some money, and you can rent your own place."

"It's fine…"

'BUMP!!!'

"…I have to go now. Bye."

I felt the heavy blows coming from downstairs. Wasting no time, I put my clothes on and head downstairs. The house I was in, belonged to my Master that I met two months ago. It looked like it came from the last century, but internally it was still stable. But with the abuse that master is giving it, I wouldn't be surprised if it collapses soon.

"You are late again. . Three hundred push-ups"

"Yes..."

My Master, Devin Zaldivir, stopped me that day and somehow convinced he was not a robber, or a scammer, or a murderer. He showed me what he can teach me, this made me forget that I have an empty soul and I agreed. I still don't know how I could've got convinced by someone who looks so dumb.

When later I told him that I have an empty soul, he said that it didn't matter. So… I took a gamble. I told my parents that I need to take a break, somehow, I convinced my mother, but my father… I had to agree that if it doesn't work out in a year, I will start work in his office.

But in the time I was here all I did was train without a break. And other then the first time Master showed his power, whenever I brought the topic up, he avoided the question. Until today that is. When I finished my thousandth push up, he brought a small bag and started talking.

"Ok kid, your body should be strong enough to go through the awakening now."

"REALLY?!"

"Yes. But let me first explain what is it that I will teach you. 50 years ago, my father created this art, and it was him that thought it to me. He called it the Soul Arts. You should know about the Martial and Arcane arts and that they use elemental soul essence as their source of power."

"Well, yes. Everyone who wants to be an artist knows that."

"To achieve that, they use an awakening stone to rip off a part of their soul which is the elemental essence. On the other hand, the soul arts that I will teach you do not use the soul essence at all, it uses the whole soul."

"Wait. The whole soul? That can't be if you want to do that you would have to rip your whole soul from the fifth dimensions. That's impossible, they tried to do this during World War 2, hundreds of people died at that time."

"Well, you sure are smart. But it is defiantly possible."

Masters face was filled with confidence. Or at least I thought it was confidence, with his odd expression it was hard to determine.

"Listen, when you extract soul essence you need to tear your soul, which requires a large amount of awakening stone, but in turn, it is effortless to place it in your body. On the other hand, moving the soul is much easier, meaning that a lot less of it will be used making it almost impossible to move it into the body. Think of it that way, it's like balancing a stick and a toothpick. While you can balance the stick quite easily, doing the same with a toothpick is impossible."

That makes sense. For hundreds of years, we knew that to have a higher chance for success it is better to use a more substantial amount of awakening stone, so it was fair to assume that for moving the whole soul it would be even more significant.

Let's start from the beginning. The required amount of awakening stone to move the soul from the fifth dimension is smaller than it is required then to split the soul. If a piece of metal is used as an analogy, it would be like trying to break it with your bare hands. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to do it, but they can pick it up and toss it away. This is understandable. And using his analogy with the toothpick, it would explain the reason why there was no success over so many years. But if you can't move it how can I still accomplish extracting the whole soul?

Since the soul needs to end up inside the body, then the awakening stone could be from the start placed inside of the body.

But this again poses different a problem. The awakening stone is toxic. After digestion it will slowly dissolve in the stomach and depending on the amount in the most severe case, even death is a possibility.

But it all depends on the amount if it is the amount that is required for a normal awakening it means certain death, but since the amount is smaller in when moving the soul… then as long as you don't use too large of an amount and it will be enough to move the soul and not die. It's possible.

Wait… there is still one more problem. How to focus on the stone. It is a necessity to focus on the stone to 'see' the soul. I had to do the same thing while I was searching my soul for elemental essence in the university. It was hard enough to find the soul with a massive piece of the awakening stone. With such small amount, spread around in the bloodstream and with the symptoms of the awakening stone poisoning.

As long as the amount of awakening stone is precise. It will be possible. Extremely hard… but possible.

To think that… someone so dumb looking will know a secret that troubled the humanity for centuries.

"I understand. Then you must know the exact amount of the awakening stone that needs to be used, right? Do you perhaps have a way to dull the symptoms of the awakening stone poisoning? Or a method to help find the soul?"

"…"

"…"

Silence. Masters face quickly changed as confidence that was there disappeared. He now looked dumber than usual.

"You sure are smart…"

"I'm."

"Well. I do know the exact amount of the awakening stone needed. Since it's toxic… I'm guessing that you already know that."

"Yes."

"Great… then you should know why you had to train so much for the past two months?"

"To be able to withstand a higher dose of the awakening stone. I'm guessing that if I were to take the minimum amount two months ago, it wouldn't end well for me."

"… is there even a need for me to explain anything now?"

"You could answer the questions that I asked you."

"… Right."

He passed the small bag to me. I looked inside of it hurriedly. It was full of small marbles, each one of them looked was pitch dark with what looked like little stars inside of it. Awakening stone. The most precious resource on the planet. Every year there is only a limited amount of it mined and refined. It is tough for universities to get it, and yet this master of mine just passed me so much of it.

"You only need to take one, then for the next 4 hours, you will have a chance to move your soul from the fifth dimension. And there is no special method or an antitoxin, you just have to do it as is."

"That's unfortunate."

"From now on, we will switch your schedule, in the morning you will still have to train as usual, in the afternoon I will start to teach you fighting. In the evening you will try and awaken. Today rest a bit, you can try to awaken as well. Good luck."

"Yes, Master."