Whispers from the Abyss

James picked up the book and looked at the title, “The Harmony of All Things: An Unending War." After reading the title, James knew that this was a blessing in disguise. While he didn’t know what would happen if he couldn't become an official mage. James didn’t know how magical breathing techniques were ranked, but from the sounds of the name, James thought that this one sounded powerful. Opening the book, James started to read the intro to the book “The harmony of all leads to the creation of origin energy. Origin energy is everywhere in the realms. Every natural action taken leads to the release of a small amount of origin energy, but if any being committed an unholy action, it leads to abyssal energy getting released, which leads to the corruption of the realm. Mages who use origin energy are subjected to the war against abyssal energy, with our dream being to wipe out origin energy…” James kept on reading the book, not noticing that once he got past the intro to the technique, his body started to automatically meditate following the technique. Midway through, James opened his eyes due to a light so bright it blinded him through his eyes. James found himself in the middle of a field with the sunlight gleaming and the wind blowing. Out of nowhere, James felt a yanking force pulling him out of this realm.

Once James opened his eyes again, he was back in the cave. James wanted to keep practicing using the technique, but once he tried to meditate again, his instinct kept telling him it would be dangerous right now. Instead, James started to explore the cave and try to find where he could get food and water from. After walking with his arms in front of him for a few minutes, James stared to hear the sound of running water. James slowly walked until he felt the ground dip down. Reaching down, James felt the stream running through the cave and scooped some up to drink. Gulping down the water, Jame’s vision started to adapt to the dark. With his vision back, Jame noticed that the cave was full of small little lizards running all over. Besides the lizards, James was fully alone with no way to get food. The only thing James thought of to eat were the lizards everywhere, but that was to be thought of later. Right now James wanted to go rest and start mediating once he could. Finding a corner to lay down in, James picked the corner farthest from the stream just to be safe. Laying down James used his arms as a pillow and started to nod off.

James appeared in another grass plain split into two. On the other side of the plain, it was pitch black, with the occasional red and violet appearing. On the dark side stood a shadowy figure that was slowly creeping towards James. The pitch blackness slowly spreading along with the figure towards James. He wanted to turn around and run, but James couldn’t move. His body was frozen from fear. You could hear the figure taking their steps due to how eerily silent it was. The figure was only a few feet from James, with his entire surroundings becoming an abyss. The figure started to reach out towards Jame’s face. As the hand got closer to Jame’s face, James could feel such a freezing temperature; his face felt hot. Right before the figure touched Jame’s face, he jolted awake and screamed “AHHHHHH”

James thought that the nightmare he saw was too realistic to just be a nightmare. James felt like it was the future that was going to come unless he got strong enough to fight against the abyss and its seven generals. Putting the nightmare into the back burner, James got up and walked to the stream for a small drink. Once James quenched his thirst, he got started with his meditation, reciting the technique from the start. James found himself back in the plains with the sun glowing and the wind blowing. This time James was able to stay long enough to walk around for a few minutes. While wondering around this unknown area, James saw many different peaceful species coexisting that weren’t outside this realm. He saw wolf and rabbit looking creatures walking the plains right next to each other. There were what looked like a pear of bears and a moose playing fighting with one another. James assumed that this realm had some sort of calming effect towards the animals. In the distance, James saw a floating structure. It looked to be a floating caste. Before James could walk any closer, he felt the same yanking force he had felt before. Instantly, James found himself back in the middle of the cave. Before he could stand up, James stomach started to growl. It was finally time for James to address what he would do for food.