Aimless Ascension

I was in a completely different world of existence.

There was no light so far my eyes could gaze, yet somehow I could sense I wasn't blind or close-eyed. Somehow, I could sense the surrounding changes.

The space was in the state of ever-changing and altering into something else. Weird liquid-energy like matter expanding or minimising under my senses. I didn't have enough scientific knowledge to call them dark matter, but I had no other word for it.

But how I was sensing them though? Could they perhaps be something of my imagination? That seemed more likely. Then again, I would imagine something better, not something I barely understand.

Then I finally saw a light. A reddish-purple source of light glittering far away, yet not brightening anything. It was simply bizarre, but somehow I was pulling closer to that light. The light grew almost blinding to my eyes as I screamed, getting closer to it at an alarming rate.

But before the light could devour me, I was out of that vision and into the mine where I was supposedly going through my first advancement.

Oh, shit! My advancement!

It didn't take me long to recognise the meaning behind the words, but before I could do anything about it, I was shoved into the pit of insufferable agony. It was mostly on my left wrist. As if I have submerged my left wrist into liquid nitrogen. It was burning in an unrelenting, bone chilling fury.

Even with Saarya's block on my pain receptor, the experience was something else altogether. I wasn't even sure if Saarya was still blocking my pain or not. That was how overwhelming it was. Well, the first experience of spirit tear felt like that. Linlin you have felt it already, so you should know what I was talking about.

"Don't give in," her voice said to my mind, "you almost made it. Don't give in now. You're my only hope."

Her voice seemed to have some power, as it brought out the last bit of willpower out of me. I was screaming with all my might as far as I was aware, beating my fists against the hard rocks. The burning agony was so much in my left wrist that I forgot about all the other pain in my other parts of my body, which were going through a qualitative change as well.

And that was about it. The pain lasted for a couple more minutes, though I felt like it was for hours I had suffered.

I passed out after the pain ended, dreaming about a shower, a breakfast and . . .

My mind probably had no energy even dreaming, and I was about the same when I woke up. The first thing that I found after waking up was a terrible stench, and I was the source of it.

Thankfully, Saarya was still there. My head was resting on her lap, as her fingers played with my rustic long hair, caressing and stroking them slowly. She didn't seem to be in any discomfort in that reek, probably did something with her spirit arts.

Saarya's spirit arts are simply like cheating.

She was on something else as it took her a couple of moments to notice, I opened my eyes. Saarya blinked a couple of times before a delightful smile crept to her lips, which could even light the darkest place of the world.

"So. . ." I croaked to ask, "I have. . ."

I couldn't even say the words completely, but she knew what I was asking.

"You have succeeded," Saarya said, pulling me closer to her chest. "Even against all odds, you made it. I thought you are dying and almost stopped the advancement process, but you made it."

Before I knew it, she kissed me on the forehead. It made me even happier than my first lip to lip kiss. Well, a large part of it was probably because of the breakthrough. Her kiss simply opened the door to my delights.

However, I didn't even have the energy to stand back up, much less celebrate. I simply groaned in celebration.

"Is it always like this?" I croaked.

Saarya shook her head. "You're a special case," she said. "I guess most people would be left in a rather sorry state if they advance in this environment, but it was more so in your case."

"Why?"

"Look at your left wrist," Saarya said, as if that answered the question.

As a matter of fact, it did. The source of the pain was mostly my left wrist. The freaking fate mark.please visit

Saarya helped me draw the palm on my eye level. My left palm was completely numb after what happened there.

"You have successfully bound your initial fate," Saarya said, drawing her finger over the thick spiral lines of my wrist, which seemed to have advanced a lot through the process. It was all over my wrist now, easily noticeable, unless I cover my palm completely.

"Did. . . did it mean," I asked, swallowing my breath, "it will give me superpower."

I was looking at her face hopefully, as Saarya took some time to answer.

"Yes," she said.

I screamed something incoherent immediately in delight.

"You don't even know what you can do, and you're celebrating?"

"I mean, I can do something, right?"

"Sure," Saarya said, "and wouldn't your first priority be figuring out what you can do?"

I nodded heavily. Well, as far as my body let me. Then I remembered how drained I was. "I barely have any Qi left in me," I complained.

"Wait a while, your Qi will be restored quicker," Saarya said. "You're a copper now, and more importantly, a Fatebearer. My Fatebearer."

"Hmm," I hummed, snuggling into the soft cushion that was her chest.

About an hour later, it was still dark, but my body had recovered quickly to let me do most simple things, including drawing in Qi, which became as simple as drinking water to me.

I was sitting right where I advanced, while the woman who was my master in all this stood next to me with a contemplative look in her eyes.

"Draw energy to the mark slowly," Saarya advised me. "When your energy reaches the mark, you'll feel something. You probably wouldn't understand what you can do, but slowly and--"

"Saarya, what is this?" I asked, pointing at something I created before she could finish her advice.

"Already?" she asked, her voice a bit alarmed. "I guess the pain helped you get a better understanding of its capabilities."

She stooped next to me and frowned at the dark hole like thing I created when I drew energy to the mark.

"What is this?" I asked again as I found her entering a trance, looking at it.

"A hole in reality," Saarya answered. "Also the initial release of your fate lock."

"Fate lock?" I raised an eyebrow. "Not mark?"

"Same thing," Saarya said. "Humans needlessly complicate things. Anyway, pick up a pebble and throw into it."

I had similar intentions as I was ready with a fist-sized stone, just wasn't impulsive enough to it without her permission.

I sucked in a deep breath and maintained a good distance from the hole. It didn't stick close to me just because I created it, though its size dwindled.

I tossed the stone straight to the hole, and as I hoped, the stone vanished into the hole.

"The magic is not complete if I can't make the stone reappear," I said as I looked carefully at Saarya. "Where is the prestige in it?"