***
"What door? You need to look deeper, really [look]"
Hamar's face frozen, '[look]? Does he mean..." Hamar looked around and after confirming there was no such door he closed his eyes.
He rubbed his eyes, pushing deeply. As the pressure built up, he let go of his eyes and relaxed. Opening them up, he focused on circulating mana into his cybernetics and his eyes at the same time; creating a connection.
He didn't know whether it would work, but for a reason he felt this was what he needed to do...what he needed to really [look].
Eyes shooting open, Hamar saw nothing of any change apart from a slight blurriness from rubbing his eyes. He looked around and saw no difference, 'Did I fail?'
The world around him seemed to fizzle and become static as he heard a few words echoes around him slowly, "Really [L O O K]."
He felt his body float in every which direction as his thoughts ran around rampantly. His head sparked with an electric pulse.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Loud earthquakes at his feet, Hamar looked up to see the sweltering summer sun blaring down. The golden sands underground this feet. Sweat falling down his face.
***
"What's happening?" The miasma butler looked towards Hamar as his mouth stayed open, drooling into he ground.
Araxis, as Troy, pulled out another mana pen from his jacket and offered it to the butler. The miasma butler shook his hands, "What is it?"
He shrugged, and took a puff of the mana pen himself. After looking up he plainly stated, "It's just a test, how about you quiet?"
He blew out a puff of smoke into the miasma butler's face and it wrapped around his body. "What th-" the smoke covered his mouth tightly.
Araxis curled his fingers into a fist and crushed the air in front of him. Following his orders, the curling smoke swept the butler of it's feet and constricted.
"Nothing personal, I just don't like you. Or anyone for that fact, anyone whose snooping." Araxis flicked his wrist and caused the smoke to fling the butler into the air.
He fizzled into bits of electric light and flew away. Araxis rolled his eyes, he turned to look at Hamar. Like the butler was seeing his mother was open drooling and eyes vacant.
He walked up to Hamar and stroked his face gently, "Wake up now." Then he pulled back his hand and slapped Hamar on the cheek.
Again.
Again.
***
In Hamar's mindscape, he sank deeper into the sand until he suddenly woke up. He clawed at the falling sands, pulling himself out of the hole he had fallen into.
In the sky he saw a flicker of a doorframe, made of writing. He reached his hand up, reading the lines. He could not understand them as words but they made sense to him, they were instructions. Instructions for...the world.
He pulled himself above the sands, and as his face broke the threshold he sipped in cold night air with a hint of smoke. He felt that the realisation he was on the cusp off had broken, a sense of missing out washed over him.
He felt something in his throat and coughed up a blob and phlegm; he put his hand on his knees to support himself. Hamar looked up to see Troy's unsympathetic expression looking down upon him.
"Oh shut it you..." He stood up and touched his face, "Did you do something?"
He rubbed his face, feeling as if it had been hit several times. Troy shrugged, "Dunno, I didn't do anything," he pointed towards Hamar's head, "Perhaps your microchip was a little banged up and messed with you a little."
Hamar stared, 'Microchip...maybe that's what it was. It was just messing with my vision; I could swear I saw...' He looked into the sky and visualised that doorway he had seen but it didn't have the same effect.
Troy walked back a few steps and put his hand on a doorknob, twisting it and opening up the door. On the other side a cacophony of noises overrun his senses.
Hamar was sent back with an explosion of scents, sights and sounds; his confusion being swept away by fascination. Beeping, buzzing, flickering and frying. All sorts of amazements assaulted him but then an abnormality brought him back.
He didn't see the miasma butler that had followed him here, "Where is he? My friend who was beside me."
Troy smiled, "He... disappeared" and shrugged.
Hamar squinted and tried to stimulate his intuition. This was a rough way to detect lies even without having access to any special techniques.
But after stimulating his intuition, it said he was speaking the truth. Hmm, 'Now that I think about it, Hou hasn't talked recently. Does he know anything?'
'Hou...Hou...' Hamar furrowed his brows, 'I guess I'm alone...perhaps his time ran out. He was just a miasma creation, he could have been dispelled from enchantments around this secluded realm.
Hamar didn't understand why but something deep down said this wasn't it. It didn't tell him something was dangerous...just something was off.
"Weird..." Hamar spoke to Troy stated to ponder in his mind. He had a change of plans, 'Instead of the arena, I'll see if I can meet the Elder. With my status as a core disciple of Elder Nine clouds Purple Miasma, Mo Huai...he should entertain the idea at least. I'll also ask if I can stay here and train. If this place is concentrated with mana, it means there's a chance that elder, Elder Nine Clouds Future Stillness, has more knowledge than the rest of the world. He might even be able to assist my training by providing more mana.'
'The only question is how he knows of mana...it's from the outside world...worst case scenario...he could be linked to Yi Sect...this is getting dangerous. And this Troy isn't making me anymore relaxed, he gives of the sense he knows mor-'
"Hey!" Troy shouted and brought Hamar out of his trance, "You coming?"
Hamar Let out a deep breath. He looked behind a moment before stepping forward, "Yeah, I was just...thinking."
***
Araxis watched Hamar become engrossed in thoughts. As he thought, Araxis saw another consciousness flare up inside Hamar.
'oh...ooohhh' he was initially surprised but figured it out quickly, 'Well we can't have that, can't we?'
He glared and commanded the world to consume it's power to supress the Nascent Soul of Hou which was within Hamar.
'It would be cheating to have help. I need you to think differently. Hamar you...do you not realise. This is just a part of the world, why are you suppressed? You are your own world, as a master Swordsman you should be able to break through this measly suppression...think!'