Dance With Darkness And Light 40 Inside The Library

Three days had pa.s.sed since the conclusion of the hidden dragon trials and the royal tournament was set to begin in five days.

Deep in the night, somewhere in the royal court of the capital city Leizyr, in a room barely lit by two candles, a young man sat on an exquisitely carved wooden stool. Next to him stood a middle-aged man, and in front of him kneeled three cloaked figures that seemed to melt into the environment from time to time.

"Your famed shadow of the blade is useless! Losing eleven people to a child that has yet to hit p.u.b.erty!" The young man roared as he smashed the wrist-rest on his wooden chair into bits and pieces.

"My lord, please give us another chance. We will send out our top a.s.sa.s.sins in the capital and definitely succeed this time." Said the man in the middle with a slightly m.u.f.fled voice.

"Forget it! I'll take care of that pest myself! Now get out of my sight!" The young man said. The three a.s.sa.s.sins vanished immediately.

"Heidr, send a message to Arkenon, I want him to meet me early tomorrow morning." He said while rubbing his glabella.

"Of course, my prince!" The middle-aged man said and also turned into air.

~~~

At the same time, in the same city, in a room inside the ralunian emba.s.sy, Bazuul sat cross-legged on the floor deeply engulfed in his cultivation. The last couple of days, he had dueled a lot and was able to further increase his control over his power of attraction and repulsion. So much so that he could not only make objects or living beings float but also increase the gravitational force of the body in question. Albeit minimal, especially with the resistance of a living creature, but in Bazuul's mind this ability would only grow stronger with time, and for now, the precise use of it could still decide between a win or a loss.

By now Bazuul had already begun sparring with much stronger individuals than himself, even with the elders available. Since the others, like for example, his brother Kuzan had almost ceased to be a challenge. As the crown prince, he certainly had one or two trump cards, and this would probably cause Bazuul some trouble, most likely even defeat or outright kill him. Yet, it was completely understandable that he would not reveal this trump card easily. After all, this was just a friendly training match. Also, this wasn't home, prying eyes would even be within their emba.s.sy. There was no need to reveal those unless he was in a life or death situation.

All the while, Faolan had been watching over his training and gave both Bazuul and Kuzan pointers from time to time. Although he would not admit to it now, Bazuul's learning speed and battle sense terrified him, mostly because of his nephew's young age. He still remembered clearly how he and his big brother were merely in the second and third true qi realm respectively, when they were thirteen — wasting away on the training ground, swinging their wooden swords against dummies, all day every day.

In hopes to also gain a better understanding of his abilities, Bazuul drifted into the akas.h.i.+c library.

This time, Bazuul stood in a sort of foyer. For all, he knew he might have stood there all along when entering the library but simply did not have enough access in the past. As aforementioned, he now stood in the middle of a large lobby, all across the walls were large bookshelves filled with scriptures. Right in front of him was a desk along with three cus.h.i.+oned seats similar in design as one would imagine them on earth. The ceiling, on the other hand, was precisely the same as the whole of the afterworld he entered after his death, littered with the myriad of stars that abound in the great dark beyond.

The only difference this time was that this room had a sort of cosmic clock attached to the ceiling. Multiple fine cogwheels followed along with certain stars, continually moving in a predetermined rhythm. The whole scene felt entrancing for the onlooker, in this case, Bazuul.

Breaking free from his reverie, he further looked around and noticed a large mirror the size of a door. Walking to it, he found nothing unusual about it, but the moment he stood still in front of the mirror, it suddenly flashed as if the sun had reflected on it before turning black. Shortly after, white lines formed on it. Randomly at first, they appeared all around its surface. Eventually, though, as the lines became more, clear words started to form until all lines had finally come into view. In relative shock, Bazuul read.

u003cBazuul Ylvazadu003e

u003cThirteen years old (Twenty-eight)u003e

His heart rate accelerated as he read the "Twenty-eight" after he saw his age now. Apparently, a mere mortal form bound by the feathers of darkness could not fool this mirror. His shock only further increased as he read the next part...

u003cSoul transmigrated from Earth to Tiamat inside the body of the fourth prince of the kingdom of Ralunu003e

It seemed Bazuul had the right guess when it came to the mirror. Truly an intriguing artifact.

u003cNaturalist; potential to control all elements and thus could invoke the pure essence of nature.u003e

This was nothing new to Bazuul, but it was interesting that it would even record such details nonetheless. Eager to find out more, Bazuul continued...

u003cBearer of the Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tutionu003e

"Primal Heaven..what the?" He exclaimed. That was, for example, something Bazuul was not yet aware of.

u003cAs the bearer of the Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tution, the individual in the vessel of darkness and light. As the vessel of darkness and light, he also wields the forces of darkness and light uncontested. Due to the Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tution, the individual has the potential to unlock the power of chaos and creation. Primal Heaven Origin Return Initial Stage. Darkness 60%, Light 5%u003e

"Mmh, interesting." He mumbled to himself. He now understood that this "Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tution" was what he had always referred to as "the yin and yang plate."

Not only did he now know the actual name of his inner world or const.i.tution, but also the extent of his training on it and the possible potential such a const.i.tution encompa.s.sed.

Immediately Bazuul went through the bookshelves in hopes to find out more about this discovery.

~~~

Bazuul had dwelled in the library for hours now, and his search for knowledge about the Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tution caused him to stumble upon many other things. It created a feeling in him, akin to one back on Earth. Reminiscing to a time when he was scrolling through a wiki page and inadvertently created a plethora of new tabs filled with other topics on that wiki page. Drowning himself in them, consuming knowledge for hours on end.

In the end, though, he hadn't found much about his const.i.tution.

Although through the bits and pieces he found he could slightly grasp the meaning behind the sentence, "As the vessel of darkness and light, he also wields the forces of darkness and light uncontested." It merely meant that his resistance toward incoming forces of darkness and light, be it magic in nature or otherwise, was incredibly high. Still, there were some lines to be drawn. In his case, his const.i.tution was a carrier of darkness and primarily sunlight. Though he had consumed some moonlight before, he could only take a tiny amount and slowly turn it into sunlight. Convert it so to say.

Being a male human, the action of making his body a carrier of moonlight would potentially cripple him for years or even life. The excessive amount of yin energy would completely invert the flow of qi inside his body, which in turn could simultaneously burst all of his meridians. This brings us to our next point, the interplay of those forces. Sunlight and moonlight were pretty much immune to each other, and could to some extent feed off each other. Lending their counterparts strength. Darkness and sunlight, as was the case with Bazuul's const.i.tution, could co-exist with each other in its own boundaries but were inherently weak against each other once confronted, which therefore made them evenly matched forces. Darkness and moonlight, on the other hand, was not something that could co-exist. The mere presence of moonlight energies, basically cleansed the area of darkness.

Thus making the Primal Heaven Origin Return const.i.tution only possible with a male body. As a hypothetical female bearer of this const.i.tution would most likely explode into smithereens shortly after birth due to the in-fighting of these primal forces within one's body.

~~~

Not even a day had pa.s.sed since his stint in the library, and he had already found himself meeting with a certain someone somewhere in the city. He had visited Elanar frequently the days before. Obviously, they had cultivated together, eaten out, and even went on a hike. Ever since that phenomenon occurred and both their inner worlds connected via a bridge, they had mutually agreed to be one another's without really talking about it. Much like in their previous life, yet different.

It was more of a feeling that could not be grasped, and maybe due to her youthful embarra.s.sment, Elanar didn't dare to label it as love. It was nonetheless a clear and irrefutable real feeling that could not be denied. A connection unlike any she could claim she had with her family. Obviously almost the same counted for Bazuul.

This time Bazuul and Elanar had met outside to cultivate together in a particular place they had found on their hike. Bazuul had already told her about his const.i.tution and the mirror inside the library. Thus he suggested that both should attempt to enter the library together.

After an hour of following the river flowing along the mountain, both ultimately reached the spot.

Finally, they stood where the river turned into a waterfall, at the edge of a cliff that protruded horizontally out of the mountain. Giving both a splendid view over the whole of the city. The beauty of the constant thunder, mixed with a pallet of grey and anthracite colors was hard to describe to anyone who had not witnessed it. After they had savored this sight for a bit, they sat down and focused on the task at hand. Each entering their inner worlds in close proximity instantly returned the bridge to its full ma.s.s rather than the spectral form it had when they were separated from one another. Bazuul and Elanar stepped on it with care from each of their sides before they started advancing, eventually meeting in the middle.

"Let's try it!" Bazuul said while holding her hand with a slight smirk on his face.

As if it could help Bazuul tightened his grip on her hands and then focused his mind before he transitioned over to the akas.h.i.+c library with Elanar still by his side. It became apparent to him that he could take people with him, also, doing so without a hitch. Going by himself or taking someone with him felt no different. Meanwhile, Elanar was unable to hide her flabbergasted expression. The sheer amount of books. The ceiling, filled with stars and the mechanical device which Bazuul called a "cosmic clock" were all things that could easily be imagined, but to see it with one's own eyes, was vastly different.

After readjusting her heart, Bazuul led her to the mirror. It flashed the same way as before once she stood in front of it and shortly after the white lines slowly formed into words.

u003cElanar Luminaireu003e

u003cBorn the twenty-fifth day of the last month. Sixteen years old.u003e

u003cSoul reincarnated from Earth to Tiamat.u003e

u003cJade Empress Eclipse const.i.tutionu003e

Elanar grew confused when she read the third line in the mirror. Scared to some extent, even. Bazuul felt the strong beating of his heart almost drowning his hearing.

Eventually, in order to feel some sort of relieve, she forced Bazuul to stand in front of the mirror. Which in turn caused him to break out in cold sweat by the thought of how to explain...well Earth. After he complied with her request, all he could do was chuckle uncomfortably. He tried to leave out some parts but had a hard time keeping secrets from her with how things stood now. After all, the way she looked at him. The way she manifested herself in front of him after he had let the mirror reveal his information reminded him more of a housewife about to reprimand her husband. The only thing missing was a rolled up newspaper in her hand ready to be smashed on top of his head.

When he had explained to her the - to him - apparent difference between reincarnation and transmigration, parts of his life, basically everything, she grew even more incensed before finally calming down. She only grew infuriated because he had confirmed her doubt that they maybe had met each other in their previous life. She somehow feared that the way he acted toward her was not because of her now, but because of the one in the past. Eventually, though, she calmed down. Mostly because of how he explained the similarities between the two. As for example, how they had tiny quirks and ticks that were still present on Tiamat. The way she smiled, rubbed her hands when nervous, among other things, and that although she did not remember her past life. Characteristically, there was undeniably a resemblance to the former. Luckily she spared him the question of her death.

Once all doubts were cleared up, she also felt a tinge of guilt in her heart. After all, unlike Bazuul, she remembered nothing of the past. In order to disperse these thoughts and emotions, both actually skimmed the library for more information about the Jade Empress Eclipse const.i.tution.

~~~

Many hours later, Bazuul laid in his bed back in the emba.s.sy. Although it was in the middle of the night, the happenings earlier just would not let his mind rest.

Now that Bazuul had confirmed that she did not remember her past life, he was kind of torn about her knowing more. Unsure whether he should antic.i.p.ate her coming off age ceremony or not. Generally speaking, the lord of the underworld Velamar, had said that only the most useful of memories would return, but he had also noted that Bazuul would reincarnate into a prepared fetus. Instead, he had transmigrated into the body of a then, less than agreeable character.

He had also mentioned that the coming off age ceremony would be at the age of sixteen. Yet still, Elanar had not recovered her past memories. Of course, this could mean several things. One could be that she simply did not have her ceremony until now. Which was unlikely, given that she would turn seventeen in about two months. The second option would be that it was merely a cultural difference, and thus, her coming of age ceremony would be at a later age. Either way, what clearly became apparent to Bazuul was that even a towering figure such as Velamar was unable to control the fate of people. As such, his words had to always be taken as a gla.s.s half empty rather than full.

Following this line of thought, Bazuul suddenly wondered about what would happen on his coming of age ceremony? What exactly would someone like him, who was aware of his past life, remember? A life past his past life?