Raven Black - 1

The training grounds…

compared to what I was used to, they were of incandescent quality, a certain profound gaze to them that held within it the joys and laughter of those that had not yet been exposed to the dark and dreary world.

Yet within those same laughter… within that same joy, came a worry.

A voice that spoke of dusty and unused instruments, swords that had been picked once and left to rot from rain and weather.

To spears and an assortment of esoteric weapons that had been used many times. Only to be given down to the next generation.

A spirit of absolute dedication amongst their nascent souls.

Who had tried so…

Hah- earlier I had spoken to myself.

That the training ground was different, of an incandescent quality compared to what I was used to.

Yet that was a… it was true yet not so at the same time.

Forsaking the quality formations, or the pills that seemed to flow like rivers, discarding all the luxuries afforded to her.

What truly made it different… oh so different.

It was the aforementioned laughs.

Not determined grunts that gave way to hundreds of thousands of years of training. No, these were laughs of children who found joy in playing with each other. Rather in the exaltation of their power.

A sigh echoed from my lips, a melancholic eye that gazed pressingly at the moon hanging high above my head.

For this training ground.

It was one of ancient and muddled origins. From a time before the great…

Not even then had they seen the usefulness of the techniques they had been using.

Nor had their own power built verily upon the foreground of giants, whom they looked out upon.

Took for granted every advantage afforded. An environment grasped entirely amongst mystery rather than spirit.

For one of little education. 

"This realm consists of three parts."

Such as the lecturer in front of her.

He pushed glasses - such a weakness should not be seen amongst cultivators, especially amongst those that teach the next generation - up against the bridge of his nose.

Starting an inane lecture that explained the details of the realm created by their so-called founder.

I could not hold back the scoff. For there was merely zero chance, through the heavens, that this so-called founder could create such a majesty.

"The first" He raised a finger, tapping the teaching stick to some mindless and perfectionless painting that he had created with swift movements.

"The beginning, while not grand in name - as you would expect - there are still inherent dangers however they amount to mere traps that, if you had paid attention to the lectures, then they should be of no consequence."

Even his tone, that drawl that he contained within hours of practiced enthusiasm.

It took away from the wonder and worth of the training.

For those sat between and beside me… they had not the attention span of what one would call worthy.

I knew for a fact that they would find themselves forgetting the image of information within seconds.

If it was not clear already, I was not of this world.

Of this time.

For I had come from the very future. Among an artifact of great and mighty power.

Even now I could feel the thrum of some deep and mystic page curl around my soul.

Veil it from the heavens that had searched so thoroughly for me.

The story was a long one, not even I could recount the countless twists and turns of a two hundred year journey that had only ended in deep and profound betrayal.

A cliched story that seemed to come from some storybook.

A melancholic smile found its way amongst my features. As the teacher - if he could even be called as such - lectured about the second and third layer.

I ignored him.

I already knew of this time period.

There was a reason I was here, within this talented body instead of the one I had inhabited so, those hundreds of years ago. 

Though I doubted that with my soul here and now, that it even existed anymore.

As I was still twelve years before I would be born. Ten years before the Great Awakening.

An event that I could not focus on at the moment.

For the moment preparation was the end all be all. There was no other option.

And so I breathed.

Looking outwards with all of my senses. That hand I had raised, towards the incandescent glow of that moon, I pulled it down once more. Hand over hand, pulling myself from the ground.

For the lecture had stopped. Eyes, brazen in their desire, took hold of my form. I knew not what I looked like, only that beautiful black hair fell down my shoulder.

A pool of black that landed amongst my hands.

"Let us begin. There is no use prolonging the inevitable."

The teacher, flushed, turned his head towards the board once more.

Directing those that were still listening to his words towards a rack of unused weapons.

I could tell that each and every one of them were sharp.

There was a good variety of them too. Hence why I daintily walked.

My feet felt awkward, for it was the first steps within this body.

There was a certain adjustment, from divine power, to a weakling girl that could barely leap a dozen meters towards some nascent object.

I could still remember her words. Clearly ringing within that mind of mind.

And despite the clamoring of feet against the ground. As those within took pride in swinging their sword with haphazard techniques. 

Merely reminiscing the times that she had coddled me to sleep. A love of a mother.

Only given to me for the disappearance of her child.

A child that I had promised to care for.

A part of me, ruthlessly cut off in between bouts of terror, had once again resurfaced.

A sentimental love that had yet to be purged from this body.

"I see…"