This was a lot of information for Madd to process. First he was told about what seemed to be very powerful abilities. Then he was informed that there is more than just the two that he was introduced to. 'Just the two levels alone sound extremely powerful! Just how strong is grandpa? Will I be able to be as strong as him one day?'
Madd had this thought all the way to where the ritual was taking place. The way there surprised Madd even more than he already was. First they walked past countless extravagant rooms and stopped at the elevator on their floor. Once they got in Madd noticed that there seemed to be a lot more buttons than there were floors. And his grandpa had pressed one of the buttons that made the elevator go down. They passed the first floor and started to go lower into the ground.
'I should have expected that a very powerful family wouldn't just have six floors for their house!' Madd was very surprised about everything that was happening. Korn looked over to see Madd's expression and he was very amused. Madd looked frozen on the spot with a gaping mouth that looked like a fly could go in there and reach his throat without touching anything. "Don't worry Madd there is a lot more to come." Korn said lovingly to Madd.
When Madd heard that he realized what he was doing and closed his mouth and stood up straight. Even though he was extremely shocked by everything, he has to start preparing himself to see even greater things in the future.
It didn't take long for the elevator to reach the floor they were stopping at. Madd looked at the panel to control the elevator and realized that there were still many more floors beneath the one they are currently on.
*ding*
The elevators doors opened and revealed a dark room. Madd couldn't see anything and just waited for his grandpa to on the the lights. After waiting for a little Korn finally turn them on because he wanted to see Madd's expression. And he was not disappointed.
When the flood lights turned on it revealed a room that was 50 feet long, 20 feet high, and about 30 feet wide. It was a massive room that seemed like it didn't have much to it. Everything was made out of a brink like material but it color was more brown than red. When Madd looked to the middle of the room he saw a platform. The platform had all kinds of black patterns on it that seemed connected to each other. He then noticed that those patterns go off the platform and onto the ground. The ground had an even bigger formation with so many different kinds of patterns that he wondered if it was even possible for someone to come up with such a complex pattern.
After letting Madd observe for awhile Korn started to move again. "Follow me mad." He calmly said to Madd who was still starstruck from everything. That snapped Madd back to reality and he followed behind his grandpa. He quickly looked back at his mother to check on her and she was quietly following behind them. She seemed to have a sad expression on her face but it was hard to make out.
"I'm sure that you noticed this huge formation that covers everything in this room. From the floors, to the walls and to the ceiling, not one spot is not being used. Our family has been in nobility for over 50,000 years and we have had very powerful people come from it. One of them is my great great grandfather. He was an extremely powerful man who almost made it to the peek power of a mortal seeker. During his time not many could match his power other than the other noble families heads. Today, I don't think anyone in this world would even be able to lay a finger on him."
"He created this room to help awaken and strengthen any other Gardener that so chooses to follow the path of the rest of us. To make this formation he had to use the blood of a powerful abandoned creature in order to make this formation work. What this formation does is allow whomever is in it to feel the connection to the shadow without having to find it ourselves. Everyone you meet from the Gardener family has been awakened by this formation and you will not be different. Once you are done with it your official name will be changed to Madd Gardener and you will be completely apart of the family."
"The creature that your ancestor killed had a bloodline that was related to a dragons. He had to use this because our Daemen ancestor, Drecore, is a fallen dragon himself. And without the power of a dragon bloodline this formation would take a lot more time in order to awaken your powers. Now that I have explained everything to you it's time to begin. Step up to the middle and sit down with your legs crossed. Close your eyes and try to enter a state of focus and feel everything around you."
"Ok grandpa"
Madd then started to make his way to the center of the formation and once he got there he sat down. It took him a couple of minutes to start to feel around him with his mind like his grandpa told him to do. What Madd didn't know is that it usually takes a person about an hour to feel what is going on. This made Korn very happy.
"Ok Madd, now that you have entered that state of mind I will begin the ritual. Remember to never move unless I tell you or you will face unimaginable consequences." Korn warned Madd before walking to a corner of the room and sat down.
Korn also entered his state of mind and started to move the formation in a way that would make it move once again. After a minute the formation started to glow a black light and it started to flow like blood in veins. Madd couldn't see what was happening but he could feel the flow of that energy moving around him. After awhile it started to glow even brighter than the first time.
"Now it is finally fully active. Madd try and pull the power from these veins into your body and make it flow to your feet. Your shadow begins at your feet and so does your power. Try not to feel the power flowing through your feet but push it down to the floor. There you will feel your shadow core."
Madd did what he was told even though he didn't understand all of it. After 10 minutes the formation seemed to have changed its flow and it was now going toward the center of the formation. Madd could feel a power starting to flow through his body. It made him a little uncomfortable but he figured that he would have to deal with this for the rest of his life so he got over the feeling pretty quick.
When the shadow energy from the formation started to flow through Madd it went down to his feet. There one could see that a circle of shadow was starting to form under Madd.
"Good Madd, now try to push as much shadow power you can to strengthen your core. Keep in mind that once you fully form your core you can't ever change it again. The core is the most important part to any seekers life and is the foundation to everything. An ordinary core only has the potential to make someone a peak level shadow integrator. While the supreme core can take you toward unimaginable heights. Everyone from this family has the potential to be a quasi-supreme shadow core and are destined to become powerful seekers."
Madd was paying attention to what Korn was saying while also focusing more shadow power to his feet. "I need to form a supreme core so that I can protect mom and all my loved ones from whatever stands in my way." Little did Madd know that this change of mentality would change everyone's life's forever.