Changes.
A simple word that’s so profound yet so flexible to use.
A word containing so much depth, so much meaning, while at the same time meaning nothing.
A simple word that answers the most primitive philosophical questions.
The word, the thing, the act, the action; one that moves everyone and everything.
It’s change.
Never would I have imagined that sitting amidst violent fluctuations of elemental energies, I would be trying to comprehend about a single word.
So many days of cultivation, so many days of meditating, practicing, and whatnot; the final thing that I needed to do was to comprehend this one word.
I don’t know whether I should be happy that I realized it soon, sad that I didn’t realize it soon, or be content with whatever has happened.
Anywho, the comprehension is finished, my core color has almost changed, all that’s needed to be done now is to break through, then consolidate my cultivation and stabilize everything.
*Exhales*
Alright, time for ascension.
…..
Lith was sitting cross-legged in the middle of his living room and around him was a thick colorful fog waving around and also rotating like a raging tornado.
The elemental energy was so concentrated here that anyone below Rank 6 would get gravely injured.
Emilia had no idea how Lith was faring so well in such a condition and she wondered whether this was a result of him having a good physique, or due to having superior control over the elemental energies.
Still, even if everything was fine currently, things could become a problem at any time and she had her maximum focus and attention on Lith. She was prepared to help him at any given moment’s notice.
Lith on the other hand was relaxed. He wasn’t thinking anything and his mind was at peace. He was currently in a lucid dream-like state where he knew that he wasn’t in the real world but he couldn’t tell if everything around him was real or not and he also couldn’t tell if it was a dream or not.
This is a fantasy world Lith lives in and the concept of dream worlds wasn’t anything foreign. Lith could visit his own dreams if he wanted to and could also replay them.
So he was familiar with dreams and the state or place he was currently in, he did not know what it was. All he could do was to go with the flow and see what’ll happen next.
Lith was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a large pong, on the water. Around him was thick gray fog and he couldn’t see anything besides water. There also didn’t seem to be any sun or moon here and everything was gray and dim.
Lith couldn’t move from his place, nor could he speak or do anything. The only thing that let him know he was here were his thoughts and his ability to see and feel.
He could feel the water touching him and he could also feel the coldness of this place. The breeze that came periodically here made him feel much colder and made his hair as well as clothes flutter.
Soon, Lith heard a drop and the calm water of the pond rippled. He then heard another drop and the water rippled again. Then as time pa.s.sed, there were more and more drops falling in the pond and the still water was now violently rippling. There were tides starting to form in this pond and the water was gushing out due to it.
The tides engulfed Lith and he was soaked from head to toe with water. But despite that, he couldn’t do anything.
The color of the pond started changing and it was becoming bright golden in color.
Soon, the entire pond’s color changed to bright golden and…
BOOOOOM!
A bright golden beam shot out from where Lith was and reached so high in the skies, there didn’t seem to be any end point to it.
Right at this moment, in a place far far away.
Inside a majestic dark palace.
A lean handsome man in red robes was sitting on a throne and was looking at the people below him with a sharp gaze.
But soon he frowned and looked up, his gaze pierced through the palace and he looked at the dark night sky of the world.
In the sky shimmered three blood red moons and there was nothing but empty s.p.a.ce and darkness all around them.
The man tried to focus more but found nothing.
He closed his eyes and pinched his glabella this time for a change and when he opened his eyes, his purple pupils saw a golden beam of light shooting through the skies with its end nowhere to be seen even for him.
The man’s eyes opened wide and he immediately got up from his throne.
He extended his hand out and soon, lightning crackled around his palm and a large purple colored spear was made. There were three white dragons made up of lightning revolving around this spear.
The closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened it again, and looking towards the golden beam of light, he said in his deep voice,
“I won’t let it happen again.”
BOOOOOOOM!
The spear was sent with such force that the in the next instant of it being thrown, the people below the man’s throne were all crushed into meat paste and the entire palace collapsed.
…..
At the edge of a cliff.
An old man was standing and gazing at the night sky that lay in front of him. Below him was a sea of clouds and as far as he could gaze from the place, there were only clouds available.
Soon, the old man felt something. He punched his glabella and soon saw a golden beam of light soaring the skies.
The old man stroked his long white beard and said, “Again? It’s not even been a thousand years yet. What’s happening in the Astral Plane? This is the third time now.”
…..
In the middle of an arena.
The day was bright and a burly man was sharpening his martial skills by practicing them.
Soon, he felt something and he looked in a certain direction towards the sky. He pinched his glabella and saw a huge golden beam of light.
“Ho! ho! A third genius! But I wonder who it is? I didn’t even know who the other two were and was never able to meet them. But, but, last time I didn’t do anything, this time I’ll try to send a message and also test this new genius, haha!”
The burly man stepped hard on the ground with one of his legs, causing a crater to form around him and a big metallic silver sword to fly out from it.
The burly man kissed the sword and ran his fingers through the blade once and threw it towards the golden beam of light.
BOOOOOM!
“I hope you clear this and meet me, genius.” The burly man said with a smile and continued to do his training.
…..
‘Ugh, what’s happening, I am suffocating. I can’t breathe and there’s water everywhere.’ Lith though to himself.
He was stil sitting cross-legged and in the same position, but, the level of water in the pond has risen for some reason, making Lith drown.
The water was fully golden and Lith could see nothing but the golden color around him. His suffocation was intensifying with each pa.s.sing second.
A few seconds later, Lith heard a gentle voice. It seemed to be that of a female. Lith could make it out properly.
The gentle voice said to him, “do not panic. Comprehend the thing that you were trying to do right before your ascension.”
‘Huh? What’s with that answer?’ Lith thought to himself.
But since there was nothing better he could do and he was almost dying here in this unknown place or state, Lith decided to take the risk and follow what the voice had said.
He started comprehending the thing from before.
‘What’s the thing that’s everlasting?
What’s the thing that’s constant?
What’s the thing that’s omnipresent?
The thing that drives each and everyone forward, the thing that does not know what’s possible or impossible, the thing that follows logic, yet at the same time it does not and is completely illogical yet relevant.
The process, the reaction, the movement; one that has been present since the beginning of time, and the one that’ll stay till the end of time.
The one that caused the creation of universe, the one that may also cause the destruction of the universe.
The thing present in everything, the simplest act of all,
It’s…’