Awakening

The gates had been demolished. That was one thing that was sure. I looked down towards the physical realm, wondering if it would even be remotely possible to attempt to get back down there in one piece. I had lost the ability to contain a physical presence, and that was something that was greatly important to me. I couldn’t even find the family, If they were still alive, in this shape. Looking down, it reminded me momentarily of the fight with my brother, who betrayed me all those years ago. I needed to get everything reset, and re-define the situation. Where were my men at? What about the world? I hadn’t even stopped to see if the realms were still together. I remember the city, and the fight with the division. Were those stupid little metal bugs still active? There was no way that could be possible with the loss of my physical body. I wouldn’t have put it past them to figure something like that out though. If that was the case as well, then I would also have to find a way to my own settlement in the past and reclaim it. If I knew another spirit that was probably alive, he would be well on his way to reclaiming everything in front of him. What was it, dominance? I believe that was the name of his little shack on the seaside. Turning back to face the gates again, I looked around, gazing at the broken shards of the once beautiful construct.

273

It was an absolute pity to see it like that. How had it not been rebuilt? Had the heavens fallen so much that they didn’t care about protecting their own civilization? It really made me wonder how the gates had even been constructed in the first place. The sheer size of them was enough to ward invaders, and once you were kicked out, you couldn’t really return. As much as I wanted to venture through them, and find my original love, there was far too much work to get done down there on the physical realm. It had to be done first. With my heart split in two, I pulled myself together and turned, preparing for the long flight back down to the surface. Many things were running through my head, such as the training that had been done under my master, the entire lightning clan, and what had occurred back then between my brother and I. I really had to wonder if he was still alive, and most of me wanted him to be. After all, his existence was not allowed to end until I did it.
The feeling was similar to back then. It kind of brought back some memories…

I remembered that I been training ever since my clan accepted me as a proper heir. Shaking my head, I smiled over to a few associates who had arrived before me. It was my first time joining them in the defense of the outer realm. I had just arrived and already someone wanted to have a round with me. Unfortunately, the current clan leader, my father, denied combat inside the family area. I was almost positive that we could keep it under control, but I was also not about to risk that.

310 / 583

The family art, a breathing style which revolved around high quality inner energy, had only recently been learned. Enlightenment of Thunder and Lightning was an honor to learn, and as the oldest it was my birthright. I didn’t know much about it at this point, but what I did know was that everything changed. The sacred arts of the heavens had always really been altered to be a single inheritance. In this methodology, each sacred art would be passed down to one single student. This kept the secrets of the art protected, and ensured maximum ability of its original style. I had spent the last nineteen years working to reach a level where my father would accept me as the heir of the heavenly lightning, and in all of the spare time I had, learning under my trainer.
Life was hard. Expectations were high, and nothing would stop me from achieving my complete goal. My entire life had been one day of training after another. My days would be spent in the family quarters training my body, and focusing my mind. The core concept was that not really that simple. We would amplify the presence of Metal element in the atmosphere and collide it with a medium, creating lightning. Many times this could be our own bodies, an enemy, or even the environment around us. Enlightenment has long gotten rid of the traditional movements and forms and has instead been taught so that each successor could incorporate the basic principles of the style into their own fighting methods as a way to advance the art. In short, for me, it just meant quality over quantity, as the art relied on having a very refined and pure energy even if not high in amount instead of an enormous quantity of unrefined energy. The breathing method was the key to purifying the small amounts of unrefined energy to be used, and once it became refined, it’s power was absolutely amazing.

371 / 954

One of the side effects of the training was the stronger body. Lightning was not a friendly element, and because you could store it inside your body, it made the shell extremely volatile. Part of the reason we did the breathing process was to balance out our own internal systems and strengthen them. The stronger our body was, the more energy we would be able to hold. I remembered that, and focused for a moment while soaring through the clouds. It was not an easy thing to do, and I couldn’t even begin to think of how many hours I had spent doing that. Screw hours how many days or weeks I had spent sitting there focusing on balancing and holding the lightning inside my body. The air was getting warmer as I descended towards the beaches below. I could see the land clearly, and the areas were starting to make sense again. Northern heights, the city metro area, all of it were vividly appearing in my mind. I had finally regained what seemed to be like forgotten memories. Maybe it was just from being gone for so long that this occurred. Throwing my arm forward, I slowly breathed in, then out. My body tensed and stopped, but nothing happened. Why couldn’t I use the lightning that had been a second nature to me? Was there something holding me back? Had I not regained any of my strength yet? I guess it was time to head down to the Northern Heights and start there. There was someone else I wanted to see as well.. Domen. If anyone had any idea what was going on, it would have been that demon.

301 / 1255 / 4
5 posts : 1/20 +1 texp
+250 exp +1 texp

“Visualization is creating pictures in the mind. It is the conscious production of mental imagery. Psychology and religion have long recognized this process as an effective means for shaping skills and talents, alleviating pain and illness, and activating one’s spirituality. By spirituality, I mean your inner self. We use it for purifying our internal energy. Hey, you paying attention?”
Those words sat in my mind as my feet touched down on land for the first time in a very, very long time. The sand still felt the same, or at least I thought it would. I couldn’t really interact with anything physical yet, but that was all about to change. I could see the sand, but I couldn’t really feel it. I knew it was there, just like there was energy inside of me. It was going to be a huge pain in the ass to get where I used to be, but it had to be done. Was it the second time? Third time? I couldn’t remember how many times I went down, or lost a fight. This was true especially when it came to the demon. I could particularly remember an incident where I openly attacked him just to prove a point. Our combat ended up with both of us soaked and laying off shore while I laughed about it. I don’t think we were ever really friends, just mutual benefactors of the same interest.

Part II 256 / 256

I could hear my father's words in my head, and even more so, the words of the master of my family who had trained me. Reaching my hand up towards my chest, I felt where the scar had been, the place that was frozen straight through. What had started our fight? It was difficult to remember something from s long ago, especially when it came down to understanding the reasons behind events. I remember my heart hurting, and the pain of love. It had been forbidden in the heavens. Any form of emotional ecstasy had been banned across the board. To love, and to feel happiness had been banned by our supreme rulers. I turned to face the water, remembering her. The beauty of her face was contained in my mind as I closed my eyes. It was a feeling that you really couldnt forget, no matter how hard you would ever try. I could see her, and then, the girl and her family, and all of her friends from down here. I wondered if they had been okay, and if they were still alive what could have possibly happened to all of them. I didnt even know if they had survived the war between the heavens and the lower realm. Had the division evacuated them properly? What about the division? Was that commissioner fellow still alive? i had so many questions to ask and right now there was really no one here to answer them. It would have been so much better had someone else been here as well. Even that demon Domen would have been better than being alone like this.

290 / 556
2 days, 2 texp

I could remember every little detail of the time I had spent with my master. Even the book that hit the side of my head was rather hard and easily remember able. .I guess it had to be since it was both a book and an important lesson. At the time I didn’t understand it, but that had all changed. It wasn’t my place to complain since I really hadn’t been paying much attention and he recited the basis of our style for the thousandth time.
“say it.” I could hear him telling me, instructing me to remember that which I had lost.
“It’s the process of visualizing our inner energy network. From that we take small amounts of unrefined energy and visualize them going through a filter to purify them. It takes a lot of work to do that, but the result is that it allows you access to a small amount of highly refined energy.”
“good.. now do it again.”

I would stand there in the sand, and close my eyes. I hadn't even bothered to try and get my physical state back yet, the only thing that mattered was reclaiming a little bit of the inner energy that I had once held. There were spirits in this world whom were as strong as I were, and those that were stronger. If we were all brought back at the same time, and and the same issue, then the ones who regained their strength first would be able to dominate the others with little issue.

267 / 823
3 days, 3 texp

The foundational breathing method, which really had no name, was something that allowed me to press a large amount of energy through these points and filter it. With each breath, a small amount of highly charged energy would emerge. The breath itself had its own significance, as it would determine the charge. Inhale, exhale, that was the system for balance. With each inhale, a negative charge was formed. That charge would be pressed down towards my hand, where it would be held until I exhaled. On the exhale, the same thing would happen but with a positive charge. Slowly, my right arm would raise outwards, slender fingers curling into a fist. The exhale would happen, quickly, before a static charge of lightning curled around my fist and forearm. That was the basis of the lightning fist, that was the basis of all of the abilities I would learn and create. That would be the first stage before I could project the lightning in a bolt formation.

I was getting closer and closer to gaining the little bit of strength that I had once held. The electricity would feel fantastic, and remind me of the power that I once held. The presence was there, the force was there. My fingers would expand slowly while my wrist rotated in a circle. At the end of it, my fingers would return to a fist formation, and I would exhale the rest of the breath. As that happened, the lightning would crackle and dissipate, leaving my skin.

286 / 1109
4 days / 4 TEXP

Closer. I was getting much closer than I had been. I remembered back to the days when I was naive to the world down here, and even my own world up in the skies. I remember thinking, Hey.. Maybe there was something else out there, something that we didn’t really know about. It was harder to imagine something like that especially if one wasn’t really willing to think past what we already had. It wasn’t that we had it bad up there, we actually had it really good. The problem was that it was rather boring. Other than the normal sparring matches, all I would do is live my life day to day until I was allowed into the heavenly guard. At that point I would be able to formally represent my family and be considered a proper, acknowledged heir. That was what I strove for.

My eyes would gaze at my hands, then back across the area ahead of me. There was far too much work to do, and that first involved me getting rid of those in my home. The home in the northern heights that had been my place of residence was far more important to me right now than anything else. I was unsure whether or not domen would be interested, but I knew I would be keeping close to him as time went on. At this point all we had was each other. I knew he did that whole loner thing, but when it came to someone you could actually count on when it came down to the wire, I knew he was there. And as much as he probably absolutely hated it, I had his back. My arms would cross, and I stood there laughing at the thought of having a demons back. Oh how things had changed so much since I had been cast out of the heavens.

320 / 1429
5 days / 5 TEXP
2nd RP = 5 TEXP
5 posts 1/25 = +1 TEXP

The changes had been hard and long. My arm lifted in front of me one more time. The fingers wrapped into a fist, then expanded outwards one again. A deep exhale would come from my lips as the sun went down behind me. The temperature could be felt dropping, and as the cool breeze came across my body, I could feel. The sand could finally be felt. I would inhale again, taking a nice deep breath to focus my internal balance and bring my body into the physical realm. My muscles would tense and tighten, and finally, my body would emerge from its spiritual form. Long, flowing blue and white robes would cover my body. A necklace with a cross hung around my neck. It had been a remnant of a fight in the lower world where Domen and I had slayed a large, powerful demon.

I could feel it all. I could smell the air, and my senses were back to normal. Everything was now right back on track. the humans were working cleverly, and rapidly, Domen had returned to what must be left of Domenance, and I was able to now focus on getting Venturion back. Night time would be the perfect time for me to begin my scouting of my previous facility, especially since I was fully aware of the building layout. After all, I had designed it. Bending my knees, I would launch myself up into the cool night air and fly straight west, heading towards the city. Tonight was my night. The night I began to reclaim my life.

280 / 1709
6 Days / 6 TEXP
2 rps / 6 TEXP
5 psots 1/25 = +1 TEXP


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