章節 77: Training
1 Week Earlier ...
Johan sat on his living room sofa. There was one week till his fight with Billy Bob and the others. He had decided to fight.
Johan had told his father everything. About the Labyrinth, Gadra, the time rest, the beast in the alley ... As expected, his father had been shocked and surprised by it, and then went silent.
Hanuman had overheard. But he seemed uninterested in anything but Johan's upcoming fights.
"Are you ready to start training?," asked Hanuman.
"Yes," said Johan.
It had been a simple question and a simple answer, yet the experiences that resulted from it had been life changing.
That is the moment it all began. Events that had previously seemed meaningless would soon be given meaning.
With that, Johan's surroundings seemed to melt away and Hanuman manifested in front of him.
"What is happening?," asked Johan.
"Do you remember how you dream hopped back on earth?," said Hanuman. "This is similar, except we are going to pay your competition a visit in their sleep."
"But don't I need to train my body?," said Johan. "I'll slow down."
"It's fine," said Hanuman. "What you encounter here will change to reflect on your body physically. It is a benefit of having befriended a guardian spirit. Furthermore, you'll remember everything and I'll make sure they remember nothing."
Johan felt a sense of awe. Seeing Hanuman pull this off made him wonder exactly what else he was capable of doing.
In this way every night Johan had the opportunity to fight all his opponents to his hearts content while Hanuman watched and gave him tips.
Time flowed more slowly in the dream world, and a day felt more like a month.
Periodically, Hanuman would spar with Johan, but even at his advanced age, Hanuman was more than formidable. Furthermore, oddly enough Hanuman had a monkey tail that he would often use to pull off techniques that a regular human could not.
But then Johan and Hanuman stumbled into something interesting. A dream world with floating ruins. It extended as far as the eyes could see.
"What is this?," asked Johan.
"Remnant memory shards," said Hanuman. "I've heard of this happening, but since the taboo of time travel is so rare and difficult to accomplish I've never seen it."
"Memory fragments?," said Johan glancing at Hanuman curiously.
"From your future self," said Hanuman. "Although, you did accomplish the feat, it was not a complete success. So your memories were mangled. This place is a manifestation of that."
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps as someone bounced from island to island could be heard.
They were not alone here!
"Ha! Ha! Ha!," laughed Hanuman. "Perhaps it was a success!"
To Johan's surprise he found an older version of himself standing in front of him!
"You're finally here," said the older Johan (we will refer to him as OJ for now).
"You!," exclaimed Johan surprised. "But how!?"
"That isn't important," said OJ. "What is, at the moment is that you stop the city from getting destroyed and obtain the god orb before Silverblade does."
"God orb!?," said Johan.
Johan recalled how in the past he had a vision of an orb that he had a strong hunch was in the Labyrinth. Furthermore, Silverblade had mentioned his hunch about something similar.
"It was something I never managed," said OJ, "But perhaps with that, you'll be able to create a happy ending ..."
OJ turned to leave.
"Wait!," said Johan. "Aren't you going to give me advice, lead me?"
OJ looked back sadly.
"As much as I'd like to," said OJ, "now is not the time. The taboo I committed at the moment has been masked. But if I guide you too much, you'll garner the attention of the wrong entities before you can handle them. For now we must limit our interaction. I don't want my scent to rub off on you. But for the blimp, May I suggest you ask Hanuman the Monkey King to lend you his lightening?"
With that OJ disappeared.
"How will I find you if I need you?," yelled Johan.
"I'll always be here," whispered OJ.
"Monkey King?," muttered Hanuman. "I haven't heard anyone call me that in a while."
"So you used to rule over a kingdom of monkeys?," said Johan raising an eyebrow at Hanuman.
"Something like that. But shouldn't you be more concerned with your training? You have been loosing all your fights."
"Yes, lets train some more," said Johan. "But can you lend me that lightening?"
"Hmmm," said Hanuman, "that fellow... he speaks too much. I'll consider it if you get to the final round of the matches. Now let's train!"
Johan smiled to himself.
The fact that in a week he would possibly get seven months of training seemed almost unfair.
This coupled with the fact that he had the ability to observe movements of godly monarchs with clarity gave him confidence that he would improve with leaps and bounds if he could increase the speed of his reactions to the same degree. From his training fights so far his improvements had been rapid and clear.
Johan clenched his fists excitedly as he looked down at the floor happily.
But then Johan froze.
The island he was standing on had turned transparent. In it he saw what looked like the Sahara desert. He knew because his father would often take him and his mother on road trips to exotic places ever since he was a baby. A transparent symbol appeared in the air and it began to crack and then shatter. Out of it stepped a blonde woman in a robe. It was the woman from the alley! The woman Johan had seen Athyne kill!
What ensued next was cities going up in flames. Millions dying ... being sucked dry by some invisible force.
"What is this!?," gasped Johan.
What he was seeing was clearly earth.
"Ahhh," said a female voice from behind Johan.
Johan glanced back to see a surprised Hanuman staring at Gadra.
"So she gets free," whispered Gadra. "This is a problem ..."
"Gadra!," said Johan, "what is this!? How did you get here?"
"Hunny," said Gadra, "you seem upset seeing me. Old lovers should be happy to see each other, regardless of the circumstances."
"You," muttered Hanuman, "feel familiar. Yet I am certain I do not know you ..."
"Why are you here?," said Johan as he remembered how Gadra had killed Shaemus without batting an eye.
"I am here to help you win the tournament, baby," said Gadra with a sly smile. "I am an old god, remember? The city doesn't dilute my power as much as those foolish cultivators ... today is your lucky day!"
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