Collaborative Effort

The world turned its heel as everything was perceived by Arthas in a topsy-turvy. The trees, houses, and rocks were reversed it was as if he was flung to the side by gravity. His eyes are wide open dilated from the sudden impact of the unusual occurrence caused by the exhaustion of his mana.

His eyes slowly began to wander around and he tried to regain composure from the mana drain, but it was difficult to conjure any willpower to properly fight off the feeling of nausea and exhaustion. Arthas thought about how people would have the idiom of getting hit by a truck, now he fully understood what it meant.

Heavy breathing came from Arthas as he tried to take control of his body but the more he tries to gain control the more he loses it. It was as if his body was unresponsive and decided to shut down inexplicably. His legs felt weak that quickly gave out when Arthas tried to walk, his knees hit the floor that was cooled by the cold temperature of the night. It was still warm when his skin came in contact.

He was afraid of what comes next as he never felt anything like this before. His emotions were on a high peak that came from regret and repentance and now he is experiencing grief and anxiety that made him unable to do anything about his current situation. He grinded his teeth struggling solely relying on willpower and his tenacious spirit.

His central nerves were slowly failing him, making him unable to feel anything. Moving any part of his body douses him with sharp pains that make it hard to recover from. His eyes became heavy as he looked around lying down on the ground. With his back facing the sky he laid down with a frail and weak body.

'I may have overdone things…a bit too much' He thought. He can barely move anything and breathing was becoming difficult for him he had to focus all of his energy trying to breathe. Time was moving slowly in his perceived timeline and with every second that passes his headache and dizziness increased in magnitude as it was now difficult to think.

The blood on Arthas's hand felt warm it was the only thing that he could properly distinguish from the rest of the environment. White noise and sharp ringing tinnitus played inside his ears the world continued to spin and his vision began to dim as he passes out from the extreme conditions that his body faced.

*****************************

'Where am I?'

'Did I die again? Mofo, I didn't even live the life I wanted. To be fair I got a little too emotional from the fight. Fuck, I know I'm an amateur but damn I already read things regarding emotion in mangas and all other sources, but damn once you are in the moment you can never really take control.'

His thoughts echoed in the empty dark space that seemed to breathe in nothing, no light, substance, or anything it was just a collective empty space that only reflected his thoughts.

'So, like when am I gonna get reincarnated or something? Wait do you even get a second chance at a second chance or it is like a third chance of life.'

'It's kinda weird having to talk to myself but it's sometimes soothing and comforting, rather than people trying to understand your pain, talking to yourself who knows what you are going through is much more helpful than trying to cheer you up.'

'Should I just sleep? There seems to be nothing to do other than just float around in here. Is this what they call the afterworld? Nah, this shits boring'

'Oh well might as well sleep while I still can'

Arthas gently closed his eyes, as he did he felt strength coursing through him, it was an amazing feeling that he felt like he could do anything. He felt energized from just sleeping keeping his energy conserved. Running through a marathon won't be a problem for him and doing deadlifts would be very easy in his opinion if he had this kind of feeling.

'So this is what it feels like when people have a complete 8 hours of sleep, huh?'

'Maybe I should sleep … It's what I always use to say but when I check the time it's already passed 12 midnight so fuck it.'

'I'll just cherish this me time, and get a full 8 hours of sleep as they recommend. Hopefully, when I wake up I'll be in a different place'

With a resigned look he adjusted himself to feel comfortable and went to sleep. He felt energy go through his being and was joyful at this feeling.

It was a long peaceful time that he experienced, his eyes closed shut trying to savor every minute that he is inside this unknown space that seems only to be his. Until a voice called out to him.

"You know you should really get things together Arthas, those shitty Amirites already made their way to other parts of the world." A female voice was suddenly heard that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Arthas slowly opened his eyes as he seems to know whose voice it was from, he looked with disdain and annoyance at the young figure with sharp ears and with a white ponytail that was in front of him and began to sigh with a resigned look.

"So what brings you here, Ralia Elvenwood The Elf? Oh, you also changed your hairstyle, I said my compliments you can leave now."

"Shut up will you, no girl would ever be happy receiving a compliment from you. Though thank you for noticing the change, I am not here regarding that but something much more severe."

"Height problems? Too bad I can't give mine away"

"I swear you men always get on temper. There are a least a million brain lines that are inside our bodies, and some people actually manage to strike every single one of them. For the world's sake just die"

'Brain Lines? Is she talking about nerves?' Arthas thought about the weird phrasing.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop with my bullshit but you better start talking I'm not in the best mood right now"

"Yeah, I can tell. You probably exerted all your mana to the point that you actually fainted and felt excruciating pain right? Congratulations on having a Mana Outburn, if you didn't know we are inside your mind, with your body trying to recover setting itself in an emergency, vegetative state but you aren't dead"

"Thank you for the information about my situation, but can you please just hurry?"

"Alright, no need to be so pushy. The Amirites that escaped the barrier are slowly becoming stronger and stronger with some actually destroying villages and destroying countless infrastructures. There are 3 kingdoms that are surrounding the Red Dominion. Moonglade, Solstice, and Valoria. Most monsters went to Valoria for unknown reasons, but there are still present in the kingdom of Moonglade and Solstice. I am now able to set up a communicative connection with you. Once you wake up I can now guide you to where you were supposed to go"

"These kingdoms are all human-owned kingdoms correct? Also, why did it take you so long to contact me"

"I'll answer your questions by one. Moonglade and Solstice are kingdoms that are ruled by human might, meanwhile, Valoria who is currently having a skirmish in a three-sided war is ruled by Beastmen who values strength….Also, I tried to make immediate contact with you the moment you went the portal…but something tried to hinder my connection with you, it was like I was pushed away by some divine force or intervention like a magical barrier that was deflecting my spell."

'Ah shit, that might be Leah's blessing or the other blessing that was recently given to me' Arthas thought as he knew what she meant.

"Oh, it should be nothing, but, hey we got a connection now right?"

"Yeah, and it's disgusting. But anyways try to recuperate in this space of yours, I can easily contact you once you are outside of your consciousness…Congratulations on defeating one Amirite, in the outside world it would have taken at least a thousand good soldiers to defend from it and more to kill it."

Arthas was happy about the compliment that was given by Ralia, although he didn't do it for the praise it was still satisfying that he was given some verbal acknowledgment from the least expected person that would give him anything.

He gave a short smile as he digested her compliments.

"Before you go, can I ask, where am I supposed to go?"

"To the closest city, the city where the Red Dominion was once placed, the city of its origin. Alcemia, The City praised for its defensive capabilities."

Arthas injected the name on his mind, trying hard to not forget on his destination on where he would be heading next.

"Hey"

"What?"

"Can you teach me other kinds of magic?"

"...You are a summoner you can't learn other types of magic other than the Borrowed Magic that you have with your summon and even if you can your summons will take more than half of your mana."

"I see, so summoners are just limited by the abilities of their summon…But were there summoners that were able to use magic that seemed to be…unconventional?"

"Well…" She thought long about how to answer his question. "There…is… But I don't recommend it, because people like that would have a lot of internal conflict and their mana would be quickly drained before the fight would even start."

"Teach me"

"No, it might kill you rather than save you, you might not even benefit from this you know?"

"Ralia, Teach me magic"

"Are you sure about this?"

Arthas determined eyes can be seen with an intense declaration that he wants to do this, Ralia didn't know why he wanted to be obsessed with such magic that might cost him everything but little did she know that all that Arthas wanted was to have more in his kit.

Arthas remembered how his spell incinerate drained through his mana and even went passed to draining half the assimilated mana that was well over a hundred thousand, with the exchange for huge firepower coming with huge requirements. He won't be able to use Incinerate without extreme measures and would possibly cost him his life in the near future.

With that in mind, Arthas decided that it was better to have magic that would definitely cost way less than Incenirate so he would have more options to fight, even if he doesn't have a Rex or any other summon.

Ralia gave a very deep sigh and looked up at Arthas, "Alright, don't blame me if you die, you idiot. You have sufficient firepower to be considered a high-ranking soldier in your denomination but alright if you want to die so badly then why not"

"Eh really?" Arthas couldn't believe that it was all that took to convince Ralia to teach him. "This is suspicious what do you want? There's no such thing as free what do you want?"

"You are stupid but you are sharp, I'll give you that. The thing that I want is that when we go inside a human city, allow me to have a shared sense with you, I want to see what's inside the cities of other nations and races, I'm curious"

"Wow, aren't you a child? Okay, I'll adhere to your request, it would be a pleasure working with you, Ralia Elvenwood."

"Same with you, Burnt out idiot. I hope you would have the capabilities that would actually survive my lessons. Go to sleep and recover, you'll need it when we start lessons."

With that the conversation ended with Ralia disconnecting and disappearing from his sight, she vanished and Arthas was left alone in this dark empty space that was called his consciousness. Arthas hoped that whatever is happening outside, it wouldn't be too bad and that Morpheus and Maria would stay friends and well.