Farouk shouted with his rough voice that shook the corners of the place, while looking at Kialen with a sharp gaze:
"Be ready, boy, for danger does not knock on doors asking for permission!"
Farouk raised his strong hand while clenching his fingers on a solid stone, and suddenly a glowing red aura was emitted, wrapping his palm completely, then he threw the stone with a force that broke the wind. In that moment, Kialen felt as if the clock hands had slowed down; he saw the path of the stone turning in his eyes into a crimson red line heading directly toward his forehead.
Kialen bent with lightning speed to avoid the hit, but he was amazed when he saw another stone heading toward his eye in a deviated path. He threw his body on the ground crawling to avoid the collision, then stood up panting while wiping the dust off his face. Farouk exploded laughing and said in an encouraging tone:
"Well done! It seems your instinct has started to wake up."
Kialen shouted sharply while trying to catch his breath:
"Are you crazy? You almost plucked my eye out with that stone!"
Farouk laughed again coldly and said:
"But you knew the stone's path in the end, and that is what matters."
Farouk didn't give him time to talk, as he rushed toward him with lightning speed, appearing as if he was flying over the ground. He raised his huge fist to direct a strong punch, and in that moment, an imaginary ethereal thread appeared to Kialen indicating that the hit would land in his stomach. Kialen put his hand on his stomach to reduce the impact, but the force of the punch was huge; Kialen screamed in pain and water spray came out of his mouth as he retreated back violently before falling lying on his back.
Farouk looked at him sternly and said:
"What is wrong with you, boy? If your opponent was carrying a sword or mastered the third level of spirits, your head would be rolling on the ground now."
Kialen stood up with difficulty while holding his painful stomach, only to be surprised by Farouk jumping in the air directing a strong kick toward his head. Kialen shouted with all his strength:
"Aura Activation!"
He raised his hands to protect his head, so Farouk's kick hit his arm wrapped in a weak aura, making him retreat steps back while screaming in pain; for his arm was still shaking from the intensity of the tree hits. Farouk laughed and said:
"Good work! If you hadn't blocked my kick, you would be in the world of fainting now. Instinct is man's real shield."
Farouk noticed that Kialen was still screaming in pain, so he wondered and asked:
"Was my hit that strong?"
Kialen replied with great anger:
"You crazy old man! Do you want to break my bones? I am really hurting!"
Kialen looked at Farouk, then froze in his place when he saw the old man's eyes had turned into a glowing crimson red color. Farouk said with majestic calmness:
"I have activated the Spiritual Eye, and your condition is not as bad as you think, it's an easy injury for me. I will treat your hand, but with one condition: after healing, you will undergo hard physical training that knows no mercy."
Kialen nodded his head while groaning:
"Fine.. I agreed, just stop this pain."
Farouk ordered him to sit on the wooden chair in the garden under the burning sun, then entered the house to bring some treatments. Kialen looked at the clear sky, remembered his friends in the academy and whispered to himself:
"What are my friends doing now? Are they suffering like I am?"
Suddenly, sounds of smashing and breaking reached his ears from inside the house, so he muttered in confusion:
"What is this old man doing inside?"
Farouk came out with his face covered in coal black, so Kialen exploded with laughter despite his pain and asked:
"What is wrong with your face, why did it become black?"
Farouk replied with annoyance:
"The charcoal stove exploded on me, and now the storehouse needs a complete cleaning. Don't mind me, remove the bandages from your hand immediately."
Kialen said with surprise:
"And am I stupid? I tied it tightly and I can't untie it by myself!"
Farouk looked at him nervously and muttered words about the spoiled young generation, then approached him and untied the bandages. Kialen was shocked when he saw his hand had turned into a dark purple color and asked with terror:
"Is this normal?"
Farouk answered coldly:
"Very normal. Now, be quiet and don't let me hear your annoying voice, I will treat your hand my way."
Farouk activated the soul eye and his aura, and took out an old bottle containing a strange blue liquid. As soon as he poured the potion on Kialen's hand, the latter shouted:
"My hand is burning! It's on fire!"
A cold blue fire came out of his hand, which made Kialen panic, so Farouk did nothing but hit him a light hit on his neck to make him lose consciousness while muttering:
"Your voice almost exploded my ears."
Farouk poured another red potion over the blue fire to turn it into purple, and started muttering mysterious words. The energy started creeping into Kialen's hand like magic threads, until the skin color returned to normal and the bruises disappeared. Farouk went to the water source, washed his face then filled a bucket with cold water and went to Kialen, pouring it all at once on Kialen's face as if watering a plant.
Kialen woke up terrified, shaking from the cold and shouting:
"Cold! So cold!"
Farouk said sternly:
"It's training time, no room for escape now."
Farouk grabbed the collar of Kialen's clothes and dragged him behind him on the ground heading toward the forest. Kialen shouted:
"Let me go! My hands haven't recovered yet!"
Farouk replied strongly:
"Your hands have fully recovered, don't complain. You gave me a promise, and men never break their promises."
Kialen went silent, realizing he fell into the trap of his promise. They reached a charming place where a huge waterfall flows, its waters rushing with huge force as if the sea was pouring from the sky. Farouk said:
"Your training today is staying under this waterfall for the longest possible time."
Kialen was shocked by this torture, then stood up shaking the dust off his clothes and said with annoyance:
"If you asked me with respect, I would have walked with you, not drag me like a bag and make my clothes dirty!"
Farouk said:
"Don't worry, I have replacement clothes in the house. Now, take off your clothes and get under the water."
Kialen asked with amazement:
"Even my pants?"
Farouk answered:
"Even them."
Kialen replied with insistence:
"I won't take them off! I will settle for removing the academy shirt and go in."
Kialen surrendered to the reality and took off his shirt, showing a body carrying features of intelligently carved muscles despite his young age. Farouk sat under a far tree and said with pride:
"I will watch you from here.. good luck."
The wind was cold and the rocks under Kialen's feet made him feel the frost before touching the water. Farouk shouted with a loud voice:
"Listen to me well, Kialen! Men are not born men, but experiences and trials make them. You are not a man in my eyes now, for if you were, you wouldn't have complained about a drop of water. Even I was a child who didn't know the meaning of strength, until experiences refined me. Manhood is not by beard or muscles, but by morals and steadiness!"
Kialen went silent and lowered his head affected, then rushed with his full speed and jumped into the cold pool settling under the attack of the violent waterfall, shouting with his loudest voice:
"COOOOOOLD!"
In that moment, Farouk was smiling with satisfaction seeing the boy's determination.
On the other side, in far desolate mountains, Janeiro was practicing push-ups with extreme difficulty under the supervision of Soren who was sitting on a wooden chair groaning with a monotonous sound. Soren said sternly:
"You have two push-ups left to complete the two hundred.. you reached one hundred and ninety-eight. If you stop now, you will start the count from zero."
Janeiro's face had become dark red, and his limbs were shaking violently. He went down with difficulty and said: "One hundred and ninety-nine", then went up and down for the last time shouting with great effort: "Two hundred!".
Janeiro fell on the dust unconscious from tiredness, not able even to move a finger. Soren said while looking at him:
"Do you think in this condition you can defeat the man with the scar? Can you take revenge for Elthra?"
Janeiro jumped as if an electric current hit him and shouted:
"I will take revenge! I will kill him and feed his body to the dogs!"
He tried to stand with difficulty, his hands shaking, until he managed to sit finally. Soren offered him a cup of hot green tea to calm his muscle spasms. Janeiro held the cup with extreme difficulty while watching Soren who opened his book and started reading. Janeiro asked with curiosity:
"That legendary monster with the red eye.. is it really dangerous? And how did they know Elthra looked at it?"
Soren went silent for a bit, then put down his cup and said seriously:
"Since you saw Elthra's past and watched that black world, there are two theories: either you entered the world of spirits or dreams, or Elthra used her unique ability to show you the truth without you knowing."
Then Janeiro said: "I remembered, she told me once that her ability is Call of the Past."
Then Soren understood and said: "I think your friend has an ability in knowing the past. Was there another person who saw the same dream?"
Janeiro wondered, so Soren continued:
"Anyway, the Spirit World is a dimension inhabited by magic creatures with huge destructive power, and that's why the legendary monsters were sealed there since eternity. The legend says a great person imprisoned them in that dimension, and from the womb of this prison, the Dream World was born."
Soren added with a dark look:
"Legendary monsters have consciousness and speech. When the ethereal stone failed in your friend's body, a gap opened between the Dream World and the Spirit World, and her eyes met the monster's eye. I think there is a secret organization that sanctifies this monster and carries out its orders, and that's why Elthra was killed; because the monster doesn't want anyone to know its secret."
Janeiro asked with fear:
"And what does this monster with the red eye want?"
Soren replied with words that shook Janeiro's being:
"It wants to go out of its prison and return to Planet Earth. And if it goes out, the world balance will flip and ruin will come. In the Great War with King Farnese, the demons were trying to summon a legendary monster with a strange shape, part of its black body appeared, but one of my friends from the Five Philosophers stopped the ritual in the last moment."
Janeiro asked eagerly:
"What is his name?"
Soren laughed with bitterness and said:
"His name is Farouk, and they call him 'The Moroccan' because he stopped the summoning at the time of sunset. He is present in this region, but he chose isolation."
Night fell with its coldness, so Soren stood up and said:
"Darkness has arrived.. enter the house and don't forget to bring your cup."
Janeiro stayed alone looking at the stars, and whispered with a heavy heart:
"I don't know what my friends are doing now, but I swear I will protect you so what happened with Elthra doesn't repeat."