Volume 1: Path – [Mist Forest Arc]
Chapter 43: The Abyss
Caelus opened his eyes; when he did, he saw nothing but an endless dark night. He couldn't see anything. Since he can't see anything, it is a normal thing for him not to be able to see since this mist forest is all covered in night sky, and there is no proper light, and if one can see anything, that means there is a tree, mushroom, or plant that is glowing nearby.
But since he can't see anything, that only means he is somewhere where there are no glowing things around.
Just then, he felt intense pain in his mind, not his head; it was so intense he felt like he was getting tortured by slowly inserting needles into his sensitive parts of the body.
Caelus quickly thought of a solution, but thinking only increased the pain levels to a higher level.
With one last thought, he completely stopped his thinking; his mind ceased to think. With Caelus stopping to think, right now his brain stopped thinking; the thinking went from 1000 to slowly 1.
Caelus cleared his mind of any thoughts except one thought, which is what he is thinking right now: clear the mind without any thoughts left.
Caelus, in a minute, felt his mind back to normal with no pain in his mind. He then calmly produced two thoughts: 'removing his thoughts' and 'clearing the thoughts in the mind except this thought and removing his thoughts.'
'Fortunately, Aiv told me about this during this mission; otherwise, I would be in big trouble.'
Caelus remembered the conversation he had with Aiv about inner sight.
"Inner Sight is an ability every awakener has, and it depends on the awakener how they can bring out that ability. An awakener doesn't know they have an inner sight ability in them; they can only find it out. That is the reason in the first class in Leym Theory class, the teacher taught us about how to absorb Leym because using this method, one can understand their mind and be able to grasp the ability that is hidden inside themselves.
Inner sight ability allows an awakener to _visualize their own inner body,_ like their nerves, their core, energy circuits, and their brain.
Inner Sight utilizes the brain as a medium to visualize everything within the body, thus requiring mental strength.
Mental strength is the total capacity of a person's mind to process, focus, and control both thoughts and energy flow. It's the "stamina" of the mind, the resource spent whenever one uses advanced concentration, complex calculations, or energy manipulation.
And awakeners have a finite amount of mental strength; mainly, low awakeners have less but more than normal humans, and that is the reason we can use abilities like these.
One needs to be wary of their mental strength; if one were to go beyond using their mental strength beyond what they can do, then they will get a mental strain problem, which would cause the mind to be broken, and if they don't let my mind rest for a few days, my mind will be broken, and they will become a mental patient, and for an awakener, they will become a demon, leading to an insanity state with no conscience.
So, be careful not to use the technique you just created because it is a risky move to use unless we don't have an option to use it."
As Caelus remembered those scenes, he felt pain in his mind, but then he calmed down by calming his thoughts and removing them again.
Caelus doesn't know how to remove those thoughts, but from the way Aiv told him how inner sight is used more clearly, he could understand its essence more clearly and use its essence to make a trick, and it worked.
He thought of this method the moment Aiv said this to him, since he had to create a technique that would be helpful to him in this situation; otherwise, he would be in trouble. Being overcareful is a good thing in the end.
Caelus smudged as he tried to remember what happened before he came to the place where he was or before he closed his eyes.
He slowly remembered what he last saw before he closed his eyes, but he couldn't remember anything after seeing a huge tail with lightning. As he tried to remember, he felt strain on his mind, so he left those thoughts aside and again calmed down by relaxing himself and removing any thoughts he had in his mind.
'Damn, I need to stop looking into flashbacks more; despite having a technique, I can't escape the pain, and as the pain intensifies, my mind will also be broken more. I need to stop thinking for an hour; let's just go to sleep.'
-
"Hah, they have fallen into the abyss. Such a shame they both had incredible talent, though no one knows what his element is since he didn't expose it to anyone. He adapted to his new life very soon and was also able to create a technique to resist the cold in those chambers. And the other kid, Aiven, he has such a good talent; despite being in the middle stage of Rank 1, he defeated a Rank 1 peak-stage beast, which is a feat only some individuals can do."
"They should have done some normal volunteer work rather than coming and doing a mission, and coming into Mist Forest as the first mission is even more dangerous than going to other islands."
The Shadow remembered some information: 'Mist Forest is normal and not that dangerous in the middle and outer layers, but the inner layer is the most dangerous place; even Rank 3 or 4 will struggle in this place. The cause is unknown; no one knows why that is, but once someone falls into the inner layer or the abyss, then coming back up is impossible, and no one has ever come back. Even Rank 4, like me, going there means courting death.'
'Only rank 5 awakeners can do that feat, but there are so few rankers like that that I can count them below twenty.
'Well, my job is to watch over these kids, and these kids went to their own deaths. I am just going to go report what I have to the Apostle and get the job done, and I am going to take a break from this job. I am tired as hell.'
After he made the decision to report back, he melted into his shadow and moved away from the abyss as he made his way to the outer layer.
Inside the abyss, there was no sound heard by Caelus, and the ground here was dampened with mist, which made it soft and helped him to sleep properly.
But when he finally heard the sound and felt a push on his shoulder, he woke up from the sleep; his mind felt a lot better than previously.
"Caelus... Caelus..."
"Aiv..." Caelus spoke as he opened his eyes again, only to see a dark space everywhere with Aiv's sound echoing in this dark space.
"Yeah, you are awake... "Oh, Goddess, you are alright. I thought you were so severely injured that you fell into a coma."
"Well, actually, I indeed almost did; my mind is broken now, so I can't think about anything, but thanks to you, I calmed myself down to not break my mind further."
"Oh, that's great. Can you move your limbs now? I can't move any part of my body except my mouth."
"I think I can now; let me get up. And by the way, sorry, it is because of me that all this happened to you, right?"
"Don't say that; it was I who said we would battle that serpent. Don't blame everything on yourselves; it's just a misfortune. We just are not lucky."
When Caelus heard the word "misfortune," he felt depressed, and his voice could show that emotion, but not to the others. 'If you say that, then where are we right now?'
"In the inner layer of the Mist Forest."
"What?" Caelus's voice expressed the emotion of shock.
"You were about to be hit by the Sky Serpent's tail, and right at that time, I came to pick you up, but then I was hit by the tail too. Luckily, I have energy reserves in my core; with that, I made a shield around us, and we have flown from that place to this inner layer and have fallen directly into the Abyss. All the bones in my back were broken, and when I tried to use the movement skill, my legs also started hurting, and also bones were about to break, so I decided to use this skill at the last moment when we were about to touch the ground, and like that, we were in the Abyss. And Caelus, don't blame yourselves; we are just unlucky. Goddess Aevum will always watch over us, so you don't need to worry about getting out of here."
"Okay." Despite Caelus saying okay, inside Caelus felt like being crushed under the words "misfortune" and "unlucky." 'Is this all because of me? Why did it have to be me, though? What did I do to deserve to have this misfortune befall me? In my whole life, I was living a peaceful life before someone died before me. Am I not allowed to live a happy life? Is it impossible to even achieve the wish Uriel has?' Caelus didn't show it outside, but he was crying inside. He doesn't want to show his weakness to anyone, and even though Aiv is a trusted friend, Caelus wanted to be strong in front of him because right here, now, he was the only one who could support Aiv.
'Even if I were to commit suicide, it wouldn't help Aiv at all, so let's save that plan until we get out of this place and Aiv recovers.' As he thought and mustered up the courage, he got up from the ground with difficulty, but he felt his skin being burned a bit, but not that much; his legs were feeling pain, but he could walk despite that.
So, he got up and walked towards Aiv's voice; he arrived and lifted Aiv and supported him on his back.
"Caelus, I will tell you the directions; you move in that direction, okay?"
"Sure."
Just like that, both of them started moving together.
[End Of Chapter 43]
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