The light illuminated the room, showing the simple bed pushed alongside the bare walls. The room was clean, no sign of dust anywhere, and was free from any other furniture besides the bed. There was a doorway next to the bed, leading into what looked like a hallway. The only other thing in the room was the small satchel that Bai Qi had dropped before going to sleep.
The satchel still had that meat skewer that Bai Qi had forgotten about.
Cold from being in the pack all night, the quality of the meat kept it from going bad. Though, Bai Qi was far from having an appetite after the dream he had gone through.
The mornings rays were peeking through the window, and the morning birds were already chirping away. Bai Qi leaned out, to take a breath of the cold morning air, to calm down his nerves. He was on the second floor of some building, overlooking a pretty nice courtyard. There was a slight breeze, causing the tree leaves to wave in unison.
After ducking back into his room, Bai Qi left his room, and entered the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a giant hourglass, with sand trickling down. At the rate the sand was trickling, Bai QI estimated he had a bit over half an hour.
"You there?" Bai Qi asked.
No response.
Bai Qi could feel the thing in his head, the empty space in the corner of his mind, but it had turned cold, and darker than before. Though he could feel the thing still there, it didn't seem to respond to him.
Sighing, Bai Qi turned back to the hourglass.
"I suppose that's when I'll be meeting the head mage, Elder Xing." Bai Qi sighed once again. At best, he could describe himself as lost, confused as to what was going on.
The memories still fresh in his mind, the sight of blood, the dead bodies - no, he needed to put that behind him. Those were just that, dreams.
Bai Qi rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming his way.
The hallway had two more doorways connected to it, a kitchen in one, and a washroom in another. Entering the washroom, and Bai Qi looked at the mirror that was provided, and finally got a good look at himself. He had short black hair, untidy, though it wasn't long enough to look messy. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had small bags forming under his eyes, though he was far from feeling any form of drowsiness. His skin was clear, no visible blemishes, and his face could just simply be described as average, with no real defining features.
As he washed his face with cold water, his mind couldn't help but linger on the dream he had. He was still shaken, but it seemed so far away now.
Bai Qi finished washing up, and went back into his room. There, he ducked back into his window, to look at the scenery outside, just to take his mind off his turbulent thoughts. Slowly eating the cold meat, he let his thoughts drift away.
The sand in the hourglass slowly trickled down, until the very last grain made its way through the narrow neck of the hourglass, and a chime sounded.
As Bai Qi turned back to his room, a door started forming on the side of his wall, the lines of the door etching its general shape into the wall. Intricate symbols were etched into the rectangular door, and slowly, the door swung open, to reveal that same space Bai Qi was teleported from before, the inside of the main Mage Tower.
Bai Qi stepped through the doorway, and into that open space from before.
As he turned back to look at the door, it faded, the etched lines disappearing into nothingness. Behind the door was Elder Xing, standing with his arms crossed behind him. The wooden walking stick, with its bumpy knots was trailing behind him, floating in the air.
"Show me what you can do, so far" Elder Xing said. "Your highest level of comprehension of the mage's route."
Bai Qi nodded. He raised his arms next to him, and focused. Bringing his arms up, he focused on the space between his hands, and imagined the power of the elements coursing through his body.
The flame orb was the first to form, as always, burning bright. Visible heat waves, though small could be felt eminitaing from the orb, as the fire seemed a lot stronger this time around.
The second orb, the orb of the earth started forming, this time it wasn't only a shadow. Small chunks of the ground, small rocks and such started floating up, condensing into smooth rocky orb.
Bai Qi noticed that his control over his powers had gotten a lot better. Though, he couldn't really condense the third orb, without the things guidance, but it had gone silent for the time being.
Elder Xing stroked his beard. Waving his hand, a small raised platform appeared in between them. On the raised platform was a small rock, clear in color. "Step up, and touch the rock." Focus your mind, and channel your thoughts into the rock. "
Bai Qi did as instructed. The rock felt cool to touch, but there was a layer of warmth underneath.
"Close your eyes and focus," Elder Xing instructed.
As Bai Qi followed his instructions, he felt a small tugging on his arm, as if the small rock was pulling on it.
A few small bubbles made out of light started forming in the air above the rock. As the tugging continued, more and more bubbles formed, until suddenly the tugging stopped. Bai Qi looked at the bubbles, free floating in the air.
"19 of them, if you were wondering," Elder Xing said. "I presume you don't know your own age."
"The rock tells me my age?"
"Yes. The age of your dantain, your core to be exact. No way to fake that," Elder Xing continued.
"Interesting, very interesting," he murmured, as he stroked his beard. He waved his arm once more, and the platform along with the stone faded out.
"Tell me, how much do you know about magic theory?"
"Not very much I'm afraid."
"The whole memory issue?"
"Yes, the most I can do is make these orbs at the moment, but I don't recall anything else."
"Yes, Da Lao Told me about that."
Elder Xing stroked his beard again. "Well, if we must start, we need to start at the beginning."
He put out his hand in front of him, and his walking stick floated into his outstretched arm. Grabbing the stick from the air, he tapped once on the ground, and Bai Qi felt the entire ground start rushing up as if they were on a moving platform, soaring off into the sky. The clouds in the sky came closer and closer, until Bai Qi and Elder Xing broke through the layer, revealing the night sky above them.
The night sky was filled with hundreds of stars all scattered in their own corner, revealing a dazzling sight.
"In the beginning, there was nothing."
With those words, the stars in the sky congregated into one big ball of light, leaving the rest of the sky dark. Then that ball of light became smaller and smaller, until it just blinked out of existence.
The following darkness as the only source of light disappeared engulfed Elder Xing and Bai Qi.
Bai Qi could feel himself there, but he couldn't see anything. Bringing up his hand to his face, and close as he could get it, and yet, nothing, just darkness.
"This, what you see here is not nothing. This is darkness, the absence of light. No, in the beginning, there was nothing, and nowhere."
And with those words, it was as if the darkness disappeared. Bai Qi was alone. There was no ground under him, no light around him, no darkness surrounding him. Not only his eyes, but all his senses, were gone. He couldn't feel anything, couldn't see anything, couldn't touch, nor smell, nor hear anything. There was no gravity, no sense of direction, no up, no down.
He was just a ball of consciousness, floating in nothing, and nowhere.
"In the beginning, there was nothing, and nowhere. And for eternity, that's how it remained. Nothing and nowhere."
"Then it formed. A particle, a single point formed out of nothing. But something cannot form out of nothing, without having something else form, the opposite, the thing that keeps the balance. The first to form were the two particles."
In the space of nothing and nowhere, two pinpoints formed. One was light, one dark. The points revolved around each other, threatening to destroy each other, but remained in balance.
"The first to form was Yin and yang. Opposites born from nothing, and fated to return to nothing."
The points started expanding, the light turning half the sky into a bright light, the dark covering the other half, pitch black.
"Yin and Yang, light and dark, forever in a fight, trying to consume the other, but remaining in balance for all of eternity.
"Then the stars formed."
The light in the sky came together into clumps, forming stars scattered in the darkness trying to engulf them, the light illuminating the dark, and the dark hiding the light.
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Hiya.
Long time no upload, I know. I'm gonna be uploading every week now, for the next 6 weeks. I should be able to hit two uploads a week, as I have a part time job atm, and ill be going to college in september.
Join the discord (it's dead, but we need people)
If we can get 10 people to join the discord, I will upload 4 chapters next week. We currently have 3 members, not including me or my irl friend. I know more than 10 people join, so I'll leave this to you guys to figure out :))
Leave a comment, or point out a mistake, every unpaid editor helps. :))