1 Spiritual Cavern

'Hmm, why does it smell rotten?' Zhuo Lengquin inwardly thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. Yet, as he was trying to get some lights in, he found that he couldn't. There was simply no light. And the first thing that greeted him, while he was laying down flatly on a cold bed rock, was a rotten smell of some beasts, some urine, and a disturbing sound of white noise around him.

'...what's going on?' He unconsciously asked.

He knew when he woke up that he wasn't hallucinating. Or was he ever lost, knocked down by a sleeping pore in some 'Arkydian' Cave to hunt down the beasts for their essential energy core. But no, he knew he was not in his land. Nor, was he ever dreaming.

'...it's futile huh? I can't even remember much.' He tried to think so much as to rip open his head but nothing's coming up. Aside from the smell of the rotten beasts beside him. It was annoying, and at the same time, sleep-inducing.

He closed his eyes again and so thought that he might, after all, just dreaming. So that when he wakes up, it would be meal time. And with his favorite crystal mug, he'd pour a sulfuric alcohol.

Then, a quick short flash of memory came into his mind. It was so fast, but the image was clear. His head was about to explode, but he knew that this was a crucial moment. He needed to remember:

He was supposed to enthrall his enemies by activating the last offensive heritage his father once gave him, the [Jas'Meorian] Triplet Crystallite. Yet, why is he in this situation?

His father even told him about using it, that [Prophesized time will come: your world, your disciple, and all of your beloved will need your help]. And he did, his disciple was about to get killed within his sight by two Acquiesce-level Arcane [Dek'zhie] beasts. Even the planet that was given to him, gone in an instant. Where did he go wrong? He followed everything. His father's teachings, education, elders, and even the royalties who recognized his talent. He even have gotten to where he was and attained a position to take authority in a young planet.

He tried to speculate many things. But the more he think, the more confused he gets. Then, he suddenly felt spacious. Tremendously spacious. It was as if the open space around him was trying to convey some deep meaning. But he couldn't recognize it. He slowly tried to feel the space around him, wanting to feel if there are any familiarities. But to no avail, it was just an unknown feeling. Although he failed to recognize any familiarities, he knew that he was somewhere inside a dark empty space. A hollowed space.

Zhuo Lengquin began to ponder for a while. And as he did, he unconsciously immersed himself in a blank state of mind.

Then suddenly, a singular sound of a huge bell sounded from afar.

It was within his recollection of memory. A bleak one that he couldn't bear to revisit. It was the time when he was leading a ceremonial gathering for a sacrifice. A yearly sacrifice to the higher beings. It was also when the sudden assault of the [Dek'zhie] happened.

Before he began revisiting the past, he forcefully woke himself up. For he never would have wanted to remember the pain again. All he ever know right now, is to start getting back up on his knees, look for an answer slowly, and ask back for a payment of what was for him.

Then, he focused. He tried to calmly feel his arcane energies.

It was back to zero. An infant's stage.

However, the beings of the surroundings have taken a liking to him. Seeing as he was as weak as he should ever be, the ethereal energies began slowly coming up to him. And faint yet vast, Zhuo Lengquin felt that it was similar to what his kingdom had, yet at the same time, different. It was nigh different.

He began to assimilate his thoughts further and thought of one place that had similar signature energies. It was the big ball chunk of forming and floating rocks near his home. But those rocks were ever only placed beyond the horizon, where no amount of usual flight could reach it, aside from the higher beings and him, when he was appointed Emperor of [Pagypus] by the Royalties of [Jas'Meoria].

'...Erthos?'

'Strange', he thought. Because that big ball chunk of forming and floating rocks were supposedly a forming planet. How could this place have the same arcane signature? And a planet should need at least a hundred million years to form. Does this mean that he's in the future? But why? He suddenly felt a huge sense of urgency. He needed to know the truth.

After searching for some answer, he felt an odd feeling. One that he never had the chance to feel before. It was inside his mouth and inside his neck. And it felt really dry.

'...' Before he could react, he began thinking of the word "Water". It was a strange word. But he was certain of its form.

A liquid.

A crystalline serene liquid.

'Esyrt?' It was how they call it back then.

While still laying flatly on a cold bed of rock, he closed his eyes again and channeled the lingering energies around—that have taken a liking to him. And with enough assimilation from his previous known methods, he slowly gathered his strength. Yet, it wasn't much.

But it was enough to move his upper heavy body. So, he twitched his hand, moved it a little bit to and from, and finally, raised one of his hands upward.

'...A—!' Zhuo Lengquin felt something weird about his hand. It should have been heavy, yet it was so light. Too light, yet his quick judgement won't allow him to move freely as he needed to preserve what little energy he had.

His bones felt brittle and his chest was thin. It had a huge gap from his past form.

He was mighty, yet now his hands felt thin, like a moving skeleton. It was even thinner than the practice stick he used back in the days.

He disregarded this thought and began to refocus on his surroundings. He needed more ethereal energies. But beyond that, he just needed some water. Yet, he believed there wasn't any. It was still dark, and no lumen adjustment were ever done. But when he heard a sound of distant water drops, he rejoiced. It was within the dark cave. The inner dark cave.

His motivation rose dramatically and knew that he needed to try reaching that water majestically. But his only best option was to crawl up towards that sound. But what about his hands? Can it actually move his body towards it? He's too weak. And with little he had, he could only move his upper body. Yet so, with the miniscule amount of energy he gathered from the pity of the weird ethereal energies, he began to shift his body, carefully hugged the ground and supported his body. This way, he could preserve his physical strength. And there was no other way, anyway.

His only objective was to remove the dry feeling from his mouth to his inner neck. So, he dragged, crawled, and moved his body arduously until he felt the sounds of those water droplets coming closer. He began feeling hopeful, as his desperation towards drinking that droplet slowly fades. One inch closer, a step of his left hand, and his right hand, was an equivalent pain of his body —scratches of wounds on his chest with some blood to lessen that friction, towards that water.

Yet, as strange as it was, he began feeling a stronger surge of energies. The surroundings felt a little cooler and the strange strong putrid smell of the dead beasts were gone. Strange indeed. He thought that since the odor was strong, it would definitely get stronger the deeper he went further in. But, he was wrong.

Assimilating thoughts, wondering ever capriciously, yet, he refocused himself on getting there. And that mile-long feeling of journey that stretched more than when he travelled from planets to planets, became his motivation as his ears focused towards that water drop.

Then, at long last, he felt the liquid droppings from the ceilings. It dropped straight into his head and felt as if it pierced through his skin.

But wait, he felt odd again.

That water droplet should have fallen towards his hair first. Yet, he pondered, why straight to his skin?

He began to suspect things as it was, yet he focused deeply on his objective. He knew that the main source of that water droplet was still far. And all he could do, with his energy, was to slowly switch from crawling to a position where he could lay his back down on the floor while facing the water droplets above. And so, he did. Then, with a calm mind, he opened his mouth directly towards that focal point.

And drop by drop, he regained a better sensation of his senses: his eyes can sense some shadings, his nose can smell some freshness, his ears could hear where the flow was coming from, and most importantly, he slowly regained the freedom to move his lower limbs.

That sensation of rest continued for a few couple of minutes. And when he can finally stretch his legs outward and arms toward the ceilings, he heard a crack sound.

'Aaargh' he screamed inwardly.

Then, he unconsciously held his head to try and attempt switching his position to a sitting one. Yet, as he did, he felt his head.

It had no hair.

It was clean and shaven.

'...huh?'

Zhuo Lengquin was so sure he had that glorious long hair. His once glorious physique may yet to be described as usual, yet he was so sure that he had a long black hair. But what's going on? Did it go on a vacation? He was also sure that it didn't get eaten by the [Dek'Zhie]. No way.

How about his glorious long beard?

But with this question, he knew that he still had it. Because when he was pitifully crawling, he felt his beard on his body. Yet, he wasn't so sure if it was the same length. So, he did what a man could to check his glorious length and breathed easily.

It was still there. And the length was the same as ever.

Glorious and thick.

----