After Zaphiel pushed me through the portal, I ended up in the middle of a forest. As I looked around, I noticed the sound of waves from afar. It became clear to me that I had landed on the southern border. On that day I returned to the place where I had been watching the sea and reflected on the situation. Zaphiel's words were confusing, finding my own way even though I already had freedom. He was probably referring to his presence and the powers that surrounded him. I realized soon this calm atmosphere would shatter. However, I have no pity, it all could have been prevented. Indeed, I know exactly who my enemies are, who betrayed me and who is ultimately responsible for the situation. There is no choice, I have to hurry, I need to become stronger to be able to protect myself. These next months were hard times. By hard I mean that I worked myself to death. The previous teachings of Zaphiel were useful, yet they involved a lot of physically training. Due to the small amount of remaining magic, it was very tough but I managed to master the practices. No spells to cast or magic to summon, the training was all about using my body. Magic is still present but its vessel is too limited to further develop and increase. One night I suddenly became startled and noticed that I had been robbed of all my power. First I was shocked, but next to me I saw who had used it. It turned out to be the Guardian, whom Zaphiel had referred to. Just as he had once served him, he wanted to stay by my side: Thereby I felt not completely alone. We were able to understand each other even if it was very difficult at first. However, his presence also meant that I was barely able to use magic since it was consumed by him. I had no choice but to recall him. Although he looked like a monster, I saw him as my first pet, sounds absurd doesn't it? Then one day I suddenly fell unconscious, I was in a deep slumber for two days. I don't know what I was dreaming about, but I got a headache afterwards. Upon examining myself, I noticed a white mark in the palm of my hand, a symbol I had never seen before. Initially I was completely shocked, because such white signs were of great importance within magic. For a long time I tried to find an answer, but nothing seemed to make sense. Although Zaphiel had spoken of extraordinary things, he certainly wasn't talking about divine magic. Its signs looked quite different from mine but they also didn't look fimilar to light magic. Since I couldn't draw any conclusions from this, I soon stopped thinking about it. Though Zaphiel told me to find my own way, it was no longer an option for me. Just as he had assisted me, I will continue to follow his ways. Three months later I was more than satisfied with my performance. Once again I was on the level I had been in the other world, although this time I didn't have to rely on magic alone. Having the ability to increase my talent many times over, I was able to use magic more passively. Before long I was able to create a shadow just as Zaphiel created mine. Unfortunately, he couldn't fight well, but he was good enough to be a normal soldier. I was trying new techniques, had new concepts, but became arrogant and conceited. Eventhough I succeeded, I felt pain in my body afterwards. The black markings returned, this could only mean one thing for me. In case I used the magic too much, it would begin to consume my life force. I grew from this knowledge and managed to minimize the damage. Ultimately, I was able to create several shadows, even if they disintegrated after a few minutes. In fact, I could go so far as to reduce their duration to create even many more. This was a crazy scene, but before I could come up with several more ideas, my curiosity and hatred would get in the way. I had suppressed these thoughts but now it was time to regain clarity. The day was cold with rain falling the whole day. Originally, I wanted to continue my journey when I suddenly heard a very familiar voice. With the first sound I almost lost my composure and patience, my target was marching right in front of me. Actually, I didn't even have to look for them, no, they were coming to me. Instead of giving in to my hatred, I maintained control and came up with a plan. I was still not powerful enough, not pleased enough, not on the highest possible level.
Therefore, I left the groundwork to my puppets to figure out how precisely they had practiced, how exactly they improved. Before long, they'll know that I'm most likely behind it. But that's okay, I'm not here to finish everything, possibly even including myself. What I wanted to do was a test, just like Zaphiel used to do on me. Regrettably, I lacked the patience and restraint, this was to put me in extreme danger. However, it should turn out that I still had an ace up my sleeve that would bring me to the edge of death.