Chapter Eight

Flying spots of blue flew everywhere inside the room, as if there were numerous little azure fireflies. Nore extended the sword on his hand, carefully as though these "fireflies" were living creatures. But the blade went through it without creating as much as a ripple.

Seeing that the sharp metal didn't do anything, Kyle reached out to grasp one that flew near him. The result was identical, his hand passed through the transparent bead—leaving him with the sensation of going through water.

"These…tiny things are ethereal. The artifacts that we wore didn't affect these objects whatsoever, even our bare skin did nothing to them."

Kyle said these words with his eyes still glued to these one-colored dots.

Carrind, however, didn't pay any attention to this spectacle. Her eyes were stuck at the same spot since the beginning, which was the other side of the room.

"Look over there," her index finger pointed to the direction she was facing.

The two men looked over to where she was pointing and saw an orb floating in the air. It wasn't an orb to be exact, it was the concentration of these blue dots. Tentacles of light extended from its surface, severing itself from time to time. And when they became severed, these pieces of light turned into another blue bead.

"This object is the origin of these things?" Nore activated his Authority and focused on the orb.

"Guess," Kyle walked forward, ignoring the calls from his "guards."

Under Carrind's questioning eyes, he stopped midway through the space they were in. He reached out to the floating object with both of his hands and focused his mind.

'Breathe in, and out.'

While breathing, he circulated the energy inside his body, guiding them to follow the inner course of his body.

'First, the heart.'

The vital organ as the source of life, warmth spread on his beating heart.

'Second, the organs.'

The lungs, kidney, stomach, intestines, all the other organs that supported his life. The inexplicable sense of comfort spread through his whole torso.

'Third, the limbs.'

His arms and legs supported his existence. The mild heat split into four directions, his left and right arm, his pair of legs.

'Fourth, the head.'

Source of intelligence, the human brain. Spreading to every corner of his whole being, the phantasm heat energized him.

'And last, return to origin.'

The cycle returned to his chest, creating a cycle of energy that flowed continuously. The bursting stream of energy was being redirected to his hands, reducing the amount flowing on the other parts of his body.

His hand felt stuffy, as if air was being pumped into it. When the intangible source of strength almost burst, Kyle directly led it outside of his body, and into the artifact which was his gloves.

And then, arrogant flames spewed out from the middle of the gloves—reaching into the blue source of light in front of them.

Witnessing this, Carrind and Nore couldn't help but widen their eyes. From their perspective, the flame was ejected not even a second after Kyle extended his arms.

"So fast!" The adolescent woman said in surprise.

"And this power, just how…!?" Nore spoke through his clenched teeth. If it was him, it would've taken him more than three seconds to activate the artifact—and the power the flame came with was impossible for him to reproduce.

The flame covered half of the room, thankfully leaving all of them unscathed. Kyle kept on burning the room for five seconds before he stopped channeling more energy to the pair of gloves.

Without giving time for the other two to take their breath, he stepped forward—approaching the intact orb.

"Unharmed?"

"W-wait!" the girl picked herself up and ran towards him. The muscular man did the same soon after.

Observing the tentacles waving around its surface, Kyle was about the touch the orb—before a thick hand grabbed his own.

"What are you planning to do?!"

Nore spoke through his rigid face. Droplets of cold sweat slid through his forehead, and he shuddered when he remembered what this young man in front of him did just earlier. If he could, he would stay away from this powerful youth immediately.

But he couldn't sit still.

The husky man thought that this floating mass of blue in front of them was dangerous. Before Kyle had unleashed his power, Nore had observed this orb with his Authority. The vision he got back then didn't differ that much from usual, but his mind immediately screamed when he tried to observe it in detail.

"Don't look!"

"Look away!"

"You'll die!"

His head was filled with countless warning signs, all saying to not observe this thing—at any cost!

He instinctively stopped his Authority once the pain hit his head. It felt as if a small cleaver had made its way through his body, and is cutting his head from the inside. This made him unable to stop Kyle from bombarding the lump of danger with flames.

But now that he had regained his clarity, he wasn't going to let Kyle do as he please.

Kyle, who was being held—glared at Nore, eyes cold as ice.

"Let go."

"W-wait, let's talk things out shall we?!" Behind them, Carrind was sweating profusely. She had no idea why Nore stopped Kyle, or why did Kyle attempt to burn the orb. Unfortunately, both of them had no intention of backing off.

"I will, under the condition that we get out from here immediately." Ignoring the silent threat, the muscular man stood tall and is hell-bent on running away from this place—no, from this thing in front of them!

Clicking his tongue, Kyle lowered his head and softly said something under his breath. Nore finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to the entrance, and saw a woman's face—about to open her mouth in panic.

But before she had the chance to warn him, waves of heat suddenly stung the back of his head.

'Sh*t!'

He instinctively circulated the energy in his body and ducked as fast as he could. Flames went by on top of his head, half a second slower and he would've gotten seriously injured.

The person who let out the flame took this chance and shook off the muscular hand. He then reached out to the orb, inserting his hand into it.

It felt like his hand was buried in a sponge, as the blue orb covered every inch of his palm.

"No!"

Carrind's warning was a second too late. The burly man looked back in horror, but soon enough—a bluish light covered his sight, and he lost his consciousness.

----

Floating.

Kyle Baretta was floating.

Boundless comfort was present here, and he felt peaceful from the bottom of his heart.

Here, there were no professors.

Here, there was no evil.

Here, neither talent nor hard work matters.

Here, all worries turn into mist, floating away like clouds.

As such, why would one wish to leave this place?

Kyle felt serene here, no one would judge him for what he truly is in this place, and no one would place their hopes and expectations on him.

Here, he can just float away, for eternity and forever after.

But things don't go as one would wish they would. In this peaceful space, ripples appeared one after another.

Ancient-looking scenes were projected on his mind, and voices were registered to his ears one after another.

On a side, a creature with three heads ripped a human to pieces. On another side, brave-looking warriors pierced their blade through monsters—one after another.

Voices of various kinds entered his ears. Joy, hatred, ancient, lust, panic, bloodlust, desire, love, sorrow, empathy—they all blended together into a mass of noises.

Scenes after scenes and voices after voices resounded, every corner of this space shook. In the middle of it, Kyle's face was distorted in pain and discomfort.

His body was being thrown around by the ripples, yet his eyes were still tightly shut. Until finally, an enormous ripple appeared and struck his body.

"Aakkh!"

On the bed, a young man woke up from his sleep. He suddenly rose and crossed his arms in front of him, as if trying to protect himself from getting harmed.

His breathing was rough, and his shirt was drenched in sweat. He quickly looked at his surroundings and furrowed his eyebrows.

"W-what?"

His voice which was laced in confusion shook slightly. To calm himself down, he closed his eyes and circulated the energy inside of him—only to make himself feel comfortable. After a while, his breathing subsided and he opened his eyes.

His head was still throbbing, and his vision was slightly blurry. Thankfully, he can see things properly. In front of him was a wall covered with white, smooth pages. They were scribbled in a language he had never seen before, but he felt familiar with them for some reason.

To the left of the note-filled wall was a wooden dresser, with some of their drawers half-open. On the right of the notes was a model of a humanoid creature. It looked identical to a normal human except for the claws protruding from their fingers and the blood-red eyes.

His bed was put on the right side of the room, sticking with the white wall. Right beside his bed was something that functioned as a lamp, stationed on top of a desk. The "lamp" was made with mechanical components, but it looked as if someone had given up on beautifying its appearance—as it looked hideous.

Kyle was completely taken aback. All of this was new to him, but he felt familiar with them—as if he had lived here for a long time.

While feeling bewildered, the door which was located further away from his desk swung open—and a person appeared behind it.

"It's almost time, get ready!" And without anything else, the person closed the door, leaving Kyle confused.

After confirming that the person wasn't going to return, Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered slowly.

"What have I brought myself into?"