One could see the same twelve-year-old boy seated on the twelfth step of the stairs. Almost a month had passed and you could definitely feel the Elyria surrounding him almost begging him to let it in but as though doing it on purpose, he kept delaying it with a smile on his face.
He kept on it for a long time with his smile turning to a grin and suddenly let the pattern on his palm activate and draw the Elyria into his body. It took a longer period for the Elyria to get sucked in. One could also note that the patterns on the ground were not active and it had probably been like this for a very long time.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and yawned. He stretched and one could hear the bones cracking. Not from pressure as there was a comfortable smile on his face. He then stood up and walked down the stairs steadily and stood before the fourth row.
***
Lyren smiled after his advancement to the fifth stage. He was pretty sure that the fourth row was not going to be a problem anymore. He kneeled on his right foot and placed his palm on the core of the first pattern.
The sanction force from the pattern was so great for a moment he thought that his core was also going to be sucked out. This sent him to a slight panic but he easily got rid of it as he calmly watched the pattern glow golden. The connecting lines to two third row's patterns appeared and almost instantly lit the two from the third row.
The two from the third row each branched out in two ways and lit up four patterns of the second row. The second row also did the same and lit up the eight from the first row. But that was not all.
There were new changes as he stared at the lit patterns. It was a magical sight which appeared as though golden glitters were coming from the ground. This sight was somewhat familiar and he could not help but recall the first time that he had been here.
This was the same sight that had left him entranced and brought him to the verge of death. But there was a change this time. This time, it was he who had activated the pattern using his free will. He retracted his arm and placed it on the second pattern which drew energy from him leaving his reserves dry but it was also fully activated.
Now as he stared at it fully activated, he could not help but notice some few gaps in between the patterns but to his surprise, new patterns appeared in these spaces and especially the space between the fourth and third rows.
This was a surprise because he had not seen these patterns even with his mind's eye. He did not know what was the meaning of that but he was surprised when he saw the pattern he had destroyed first start reforming itself.
It the released a glow and he was sure that he had fully taken a huge step forward. Yet, what intrigued him was not the new patterns but the repairing of the destroyed one. It became obvious that these patterns had various use and negating the pressure was just a side effect.
He recalled how he could easily climb to the twelfth step without lighting up the patterns and he realized it was true. After all, even him with his pitiful cultivation was able to climb with the patterns not activated.
This meant that they had a specific purpose because the experts never felt the pressure at all. Lyren was still deep in thoughts when he heard something that made his heart throb once again.
The sound that came was that of old doors opening. The doors hinges screeched as though informing him that they were opening. He then heard a thud as though the doors had finally opened fully. His heart beat with excitement and without second guessing, he started running towards the stairs.
He thought about how huge the doors were for him to be able to hear their hinges and also their thud. The distance was very long and if he was doing it justice, it was probably one kilometer away. This alone told him that whoever controlled this place were a behemoth of human beings.
As he ran, he counted the steps and when he was finally past the 100th step, he realized that he had finally managed to get out of this place. His excitement rose even further and he even forgot his panting as his eyes were only focused on the hundreds of steps that kept appearing with every step he took.
Then he hit the 200 mark and he was even more confident that this was it. How long he had waited for this to happen. He wanted to scream in joy but he stopped himself. Not for long though because every step he was taking kept urging him to shout in victory.
At the 249th step, he could not stop himself as he finally screamed with his voice echoing throughout the place. He stepped on the 250th step any sort of doubt he had vanished. He could not help but scream once again as suddenly hit an energy field barrier face first even before he could even lift his foot to climb the 251st step.
He was the sent flying and rolling backwards and down the stairs. A ringing in his ear and a bleeding nose. His teeth bleeding from the impact. His eyes were wide open with disbelief etched on them as they stared blankly.
He did not even care as his body hit the stair and rolled down. He felt his dreams slipping away from his reach. He felt like shedding real tears but he had already trained his body to the point it was difficult to draw tears from his eyes no matter the pain.
He just watched indifferently as his body rolled down to the 200th step not bothering to stop himself. His second scream that never came still lingered in his throat and it had turned to a lump in his throat that made it difficult to swallow.
If he dared, he was sure that he was going to shed tears. He then swallowed the lump with a tear dropping from his right eye. Then it turned to a stream as the other eye started tearing up. Then came the whimpers that turned into muffled sobs.
He crouched on himself as he let the tears fall on their own. It was not a pain from him hitting the barrier face first or from the rolling. He had not felt it at all. It was a pain that came from the disappointment after excitement.
No matter how tough he had changed, deep down, he was still a twelve-year-old and it was only rightful for him to be excited after the many months of arduous training. He had finally seen a light that led to an open door but the door had been slammed straight at his face.
He recalled himself running and also screaming with joy. His mind was once again reminded that it was young and the only thing that lingered in his young mind was a simple question as more tears flowed.
"Why…"