5 - Innerworld

"Haaaa...haaa..fuck..." Arthur deeply exhaled, his hands on his knees. He couldn't go any further. He had run until the last bit of strength left him. His heart was pounding in his chest. Even in his ear, he could feel his heartbeat. 

He had run for almost two hours, despite being completely exhausted 30 minutes in. Pure mental strength brought him to where he was right now. After the first 30 minutes, he had slowed down a lot. In those 30 minutes, he had run a total of 5 kilometers, which was a pretty good time for someone in his state.

It took him the next 1 hour and 30 minutes to run another 5 kilometers, showing just how out of strength he was 30 minutes in. He was currently hunched over, his hands on his knees and deeply exhaling. His entire body ached, the muscles completely exhausted. Claire had long since finished, going back home without saying anything.

Elijah appeared next to him. "You did very well kid, I didn't expect you to last this long. Truly a zealous person!" Elijah praised him.

"Haaa...thank....you...haaa." Arthur said in between breaths. 

"Now it's time for you to learn to feel your Zeal. Sit down." Elijah said. Arthur was completely exhausted, so instantly going into the next thing surprised him a little bit. However then he realized this wouldn't be physical training, so he simply sat down and tried to calm his breath.

"Now, close your eyes and completely focus on your will. Your determination to feel Zeal. Meanwhile, I will infuse my Zeal into you, a foreign Zeal feels different from your own Zeal so you should be more self-aware of it. Allowing you to sense Zeal easier." Elijah explained and Arthur quickly followed his instructions.

He closed his eyes and focused on trying to sense Zeal with all his will. Elijah sat down behind him and put his hand on Arthurs's back. He then started infusing Zeal into him. Arthur felt nothing besides the hand on him, however.

As time passed, Arthur became more and more impatient. Why couldn't he feel it yet? He didn't know how much time actually passed, however, he was sure it wasn't just a few minutes.

"Why isn't it working?" Arthur asked. "Shhh, simply focus on trying to sense it. This isn't an easy process. Don't let your mind get distracted." Elijah told him. 

Arthur followed his advice and let all his thoughts out. All of them slowly disappearing one by one. The only thought left in his mind was his will and determination to feel Zeal.

Slowly he began to feel something. A cold energy was being infused into him through his back. At first, it was really hard to sense, however as more time passed the feeling became more stable. He started to mentally follow the energy, seeing it flow through his veins and all slowly moving towards his abdomen. Towards his core.

'Oh, I can feel it!' Arthur thought, feeling his own Zeal for the first time. He could only sense it in his core for now, probably since that had the biggest amount of Zeal in his body. 'It feels warm, completely different to Elijah's Zeal.' Arthur thought.

Suddenly, Arthur lost track of the Zeal and didn't manage to feel it anymore. "I lost it." Arthur said. "Okay, that's enough for now. You did very well kid, most people take days to even feel foreign Zeal. You managed to feel a bit of your own Zeal within just 5 hours." Elijah praised him, clearly not surprised at Arthurs's incredible talent.

"5 HOURS?! We've been doing this for so long?" Arthur asked. 

"When you're in a meditative state you tend to lose your sense of time. But yes, we've been doing this for so long. You should rest for today, you did good kid." Elijah praised him once again.

Arthur nodded and tried to stand up, only for his legs to wobble and him to fall down. The running had truly taken all his strength, he had pushed his body to its limits.

Elijah saw Arthurs's current state and smiled. He was proud of him for pushing himself to his absolute limits, this type of determination wasn't seen often. He then picked up Arthur, and both of them appeared in his bedroom. 

"Thank you." Arthur said, falling into the bed and being too exhausted to even take a shower or change his clothes. 

"No problem kid. Rest for tomorrow, it's gonna be even harder." Elijah said with a smirk, disappearing from Arthurs's room. 

"Haaaaa..." Arthur let out a sigh, quickly falling asleep.

~~~

Two weeks have passed in this manner. Breakfast, then physical training until complete exhaustion, and afterwards mental training with Elijah helping him. 

Arthur noticed multiple things during this time. First off, after each day he was completely recovered. No matter how much he trained the previous day, he doesn't wake up with any muscle aches at all! Elijah told him it was because of the Zeal inside his body, rejuvenating him and giving him a small increase in his natural regeneration. Arthur was very happy to hear about this, after all, it meant he could train more every day. 

And that's what he did, he trained an incredibly unnatural amount. After breakfast basically, the entire day was spent training. He made major leaps and bounds in his physical training. Previously only being able to run 5km in 30 minutes, he now runs 5km in 10 minutes. It took him 2 hours previously to run 10 kilometers, he now runs around 3 hours every day and has passed 100km for the first time yesterday.

Not just his endurance but also his physical strength has increased a lot. He tried it out by punching a tree, making a small dent in it with just his fist! However afterwards he had to cut his physical training short since his hand hurt way too much.

Now his mental training...it wasn't going well. At least Arthur thought so, even though Elijah kept remarking that this is far above most people. He was able to feel his own core now without having to be in a meditative state. In the meditative state, he could clearly feel all his Zeal inside of his veins, even without Elijah's help. However, he still received his help, to further focus on being able to feel all his Zeal at all times. Arthur wasn't satisfied with this progress, despite Elijah saying that others would need months to make the same amount of progress.

Arthur simply wanted to enter his inner world. He needed to find out if he had an Essence or not. He really hoped he had one. Elijah told him that even without an Essence you could become strong, however, Arthur wasn't buying it. After all, everyone could use the universal techniques, the people that had an Essence could do that as well ontop of having their Essence. It simply was a major advantage to have an Essence. So he just kept training and training, desperately hoping to have an Essence. 

All this time, Claire did not really bother much with Arthur. She would do her physical training in the early mornings and then retreat to her room. Arthur didn't know what she did in her room, he was a bit curious but training came first. 

He was currently meditating on the training grounds. Elijah was infusing his Zeal into his back, helping him get a feel of his Zeal and everything around him even more.

Arthur could now fully sense every bit of Zeal in his body during his meditative state. "It's time." Elijah said. Arthur didn't say anything back but simply started trying to pull all his Zeal in his veins towards his core.

It was time for him to enter his inner world! At first, it was hard to manipulate his Zeal to move towards his core. However, it became easier very quickly. As if the core was starting to pull Zeal into it. Arthur focused more and more of his Zeal into his core.

The rate of manipulation became increasingly faster, his core now accepting the Zeal at incredible speeds. Then Arthur felt it. A familiar pull. The same pull he had experienced when his body was first created and he was being pulled towards it. 

Arthur went with the pull, never letting go of his will and desire to enter his inner world in the process.

Then it happened! 

"Woah." Arthur said, looking around him. He was standing on nothing. Around him were stars, planets, and even galaxies. He could see them all so clearly, despite how far they were. It was as if he could zoom onto them, without actually having to zoom onto them. As if he could see them standing right in front of him, while at the same time seeing them far away. It was truly surreal. 

Inspecting his surroundings, Arthur noticed a building. No, more like a divine temple. It had a similar look to old Greek temples in his former world. He was intrigued by it. Was this because of him living on Earth previously? Or because this Essence is simply like that? 

'Oh right! Doesn't this confirm that I have an Essence?!" Arthur was truly overjoyed. He remembered Elijah telling him that if he didn't have an Essence it would be a plain white space. This clearly was anything but that. It seemed to be an entire universe!

Arthur moved towards the temple. It was truly something extraordinary. It had a similar theme to old Greek temples, but just a lot more extravagant. It was huge and decorated with lots of gold around the outer walls and pillars. 

He carefully entered it, noticing just how big the temple was! It was even bigger than the house of the Stormcrests! At least thrice the size! However, it looked like there was only a singular room. Arthur slowly entered it, making sure to take in the entire surroundings first. 

He saw a giant completely white throne in the room. The was the only thing inside of the room, blessing it with its presence and magnificent appearance! Someone or something was sitting on it. This was his Essence!