Chương 177: Embrace the Darkness

"Your injuries were very severe. Rest properly, before you move" A voice said. It sounded familiar to me. I realized after a while, that it was the voice of the King of Avians. I said "Their Leader is dead, I blew him up. The Corpse Dogs should not pose any threat to you, anymore". The King of Avians responded "Yes, the Leader is dead, but what you did was very reckless. Fortunately, some of my people were willing to go down there, and check up on you. Otherwise, you would be dead".

I said "I had no choice. The Leader was much stronger than me. If I didn't blow him up, I would die anyway. It was a risk worth taking". She stayed quiet for a while, and then said "Either way, you helped us a lot. The danger we would face in the future, could potentially destroy us. We are very grateful for what you did. Who would have thought, that a human would be our saviour".

I asked "Are humans really so bad?". She responded almost immediately "Yes, they didn't attack us directly because of our position advantage and numbers, but almost all races are at war with humans. They even destroyed one race completely, even though that race surrendered". I didn't understand. 'Why create war everywhere? Why would humans try to be enemies with everybody?' I asked myself.

She then continued "But, you are different for some reason. You are unlike any human we met so far. I myself wonder why?". I said "I get that a lot. Anyway, now that the Corpse Dogs are gone, I would like to explore your Vulture Cliffs. I also need to stock up on some food for the future journey". She said "No problem, you carried out your part of the deal. I will also throw in some stuff, just to show you our gratitude. But first, you need to heal up. Rest for a few days and then we can talk about your rewards".

I nodded my head lightly and closed my eyes. I didn't have any dreams, only darkness filled my vision. I could move around inside it, but there was nothing to see. There was nothing to touch and nothing to hear. The time didn't seem to pass, so I decided to just train. I didn't do any strength training or any training with my weapons, as I didn't have any weapons.

I sat down and tried to combine the Art of Stealth. 'I have to combine 3 aspects. Those are agility, domain and vigilance. I have to combine all that, with the "Avoid the Light" thingy. I already did the 1st step and developed my Art of Stealth, but how do I combine this Avoid the Light?' I asked myself.

'Darkness. A lack of light, that surrounds me…. When there is light, there must be darkness… I need to become the darkness' I thought. Due to experience and the conditions in front of my eyes, I felt, I was onto something. 'Is it, avoid the light or embrace the darkness? I feel like, I heard it somewhere already. Did Nick tell me that? I can't seem to recall' I was lost in my thoughts. For a while, I tried to remember where I heard that already, but I couldn't figure it out.

'Embrace the darkness? How do I do it?' I thought. I didn't know how to do it but I closed my eyes, and tried to feel the darkness. I was trying to feel the darkness, just like I trained, when I was trying to find the wind. With all my senses focused only on that. I started to feel something. Something was there… the darkness, was not empty.

When I opened my eyes, I could see. 'I can… see?' I thought. I couldn't see a lot but there was something in the darkness. Some strange Black Orbs were floating around everywhere. When I looked down, I saw the ground, but not just any ground, it was made from those Black Orbs packed tightly together. I was stunned 'So the darkness was never empty. I just couldn't see' I thought, and reached out with my hand, to touch one of the orbs. The orb swirled around my arm for a while and then continued to travel further. 'This is extraordinary! I wonder what those Black Orbs are?' I thought and tried grabbing one ore. But when I clasped my hand, the Orb inside it, simply went through my hand, and continued floating as if nothing happened.

'So I can't catch them?' I thought. I tried different things with those orbs, and I found out, that if I tried to catch them forcefully, they would always escape. On the other hand, if I tried to attract them, some of them, would swirl around my arm for a while and leave. 'This is weird indeed' I thought.

I also tried touching the ground, but the orbs on it never responded. Even if I tried to grab them, I couldn't, no matter how much strength I used. After experimenting for a while, I had a look at my own body, under that darkness. What I found, was that there were Black Orbs leaving my body too. 'This… Those orbs, are coming from my body? Are all those orbs from my body then?' I asked myself.

I did some more experimenting and found out, that the Orbs leaving my body, were always swirling around my arm, when I extended it. What that happened, it meant that the Black Orbs belonged to me. The ones that didn't swirl around my arm, didn't belong to me. 'But why am I releasing those orbs? Is every creature and being realising them?' I thought. I suddenly felt extremely weak and my vision returned to pure darkness. I couldn't see any orbs and I felt tired.

'Is it because I lost too many of those orbs? Or because sustaining that vision is very taxing?' I asked myself. I didn't know which one it was but both were possible. 'I will have to try it out in the real world. Maybe it will work as well' I thought and sat on the floor to rest. I soon closed my eyes and my consciousness drifted away.

When I opened my eyes again, I woke up in the Norther Wilderness. I didn't feel much pain anymore, and I found that I could move. I sat up and took a look at my body. My right hand was as pale as ever, and there didn't seem to be any burns or scars left on it. My other hand was full of scars. 'My right hand is fine, probably due to that freezing effect that it has. My left hand is in a worse state though' I thought. I moved it around, and it felt fine. The only visible damage, was to the skin. The scars were there, as a reminder, not to try something as stupid as that again.

I took a look at the rest of my body. I noticed that most of my clothes were gone. My legs also had burn scars but other than that, they healed pretty well, and I didn't feel any pain. My torso was also left with some scars but not as many, as my legs and left arm. I stood up and looked around me. I was on top of the cliff, and above me, a swarm of Avians was flying around, as usual.

When some Avians noticed me getting up, a few of them landed not far away from me. I asked "How long did I sleep for?". One of the Avians said "Quite long. We thought you wouldn't wake up, but out King said to provide medicine for you and let you rest. The King should arrive soon, so wait here for a while". I nodded my head and reached for my bag.

Fortunately, it was still there. It didn't seem to be to damaged much, it was scorched a bit but other than that, it was fine. 'Those bags are really sturdy. I wonder what type of material this is. If I could make a set of clothes out of it, how great my defence would be!' I thought and took out a spare set of clothes. I also took out some of my medicine and applied it onto my body.

With the medicine I had, some of the scars would heal up, but some would stay anyway. I touched my face and felt my shrivelled skin. I could also feel some rough parts, especially on my cheeks. 'My face must've been affected too. I will smear some medicine on it as well' I thought and applied some medicine. My hair were also burned. I had nothing on my head whatsoever. 'I probably look like a freak now. No hair, my face is probably burned too, and all those scars all over my body' I thought. Soon after I was done applying the medicine, the King of Avians showed up.