When the twins woke up the next day, it was still dark, so they did as planned by collecting wood as well as completing chores. They left for the cemetery after preparing and eating their breakfast.
Alkis, on the other hand, was experiencing conflicting feelings; on the one hand, he was about to become a force-user, and on the other hand, today was the fifth death anniversary of his wife. As he proceeded to the cult, the sadness started to fade and was replaced by joy. He had forgotten about his wife's death anniversary by the time he arrived at the cult, and his thoughts were clouded by the thought of becoming a force-user.
When he entered the worshipping hall he saw the familiar envoy, Elias, so he went towards Elias to greet him
"Greetings, Sir envoy."
Elias gave Alkis a weird look; the commoner he felt was under him had now become his junior; though upset, he didn't say much as it was his teacher's order. Without wasting time he said
"Hello, Alkis. I'm sure you're aware that becoming a full-fledged envoy requires being a force-user. There are almost 450 envoys-in-training in this branch of the Cult of Riona, and 30 envoys. This will make you realize how lucky you are; now, let us start by giving you an overview of force-user cultivation. Also from now on, refer to me as senior."
"Yes senior."
Alkis ecstatically answered. After this conversation, they proceeded towards the building's core region, while walking Elias began telling Alkis about the fundamentals of the planet and the known cosmos. (Basically the same information Sophie told the twins, albeit a little less.)
When Alkis entered the room, he was taken aback by its size, which included bookshelves in one corner, a sitting place in the adjacent corner, an armory with many weapons 0laced systematically in another, and a fighting arena in the farthest left corner. Even with so many objects within, the room appeared to be as vast as it could be. Elias had a proud look on his face as he stated,
"This is the training room used by envoys-in-training; it contains all of the necessary equipment for them to become force users; however, let us take a seat first; I have a bunch of things to introduce you to before you begin the training."
"Yes senior"
As they approached the sitting area, Alkis noticed two people engaged in an inhumanely fast swordfight; he could barely see their movements, while some people sat in the centre of the room in a meditative pose, not moving an inch. When they arrived to the seating area, they both took a seat, and Elias immediately began speaking.
"Let me start with the basics: our universe is made up of laws that surround us. Laws are everywhere; everything is made up of laws, including ourselves. However, we alive and sentient creatures are far more complex than those lifeless objects. The laws that surround us generate a strange energy known as law-force, which is undetectable to ordinary people. Law treasures are objects that contain an active law force. They can be of numerous forms, such as law weapons, law consumables, and law nourishers, which you had brought us, and more."
"People who use this law-force to nourish their bodies and manipulate it to use it offensively are referred to as force-users. For force-users, there are several realms for force-users, but you only need to be informed of the first three right now. The first is the Force-Detecting Realm, which has few changes aside from enhanced strength. The major goal in this realm is to make your bodies compatible with law-force. You will be able to detect the law-force completely by the time you reach the end of this realm."
"The second realm is Force Strengthening, which basically uses law-force to strengthen your body, and the third realm is Force Manifestation, after the Force Detecting realm every realm has 5 sublevels. When you reach the peak of the Force Detecting realm, I'll give you a detailed introduction for these realms."
Alkis was curious but didn't pursue the matter further as he didn't want to irk the only senior he knew. After speaking, Elias stood up, went over to the bookshelf corner, and returned with a book so quickly that Alkis could only see afterimages of him. After placing the book in front of Alkis, Elias stated
"This is a book containing all the basic information an envoy needs to know, I want you to completely memorize this in three days."
"Yes senior."
After explaining this, Elias left as he had other affairs to attend to, and Alkis began reading the book. The book provided information about the Cult of Riona that most commoners were unaware of; the news that shocked Alkis the most was that the Cult of Riona was one of the top eight powerhouses among the higher worlds. This news further added to Alkis' joy, as being a force-user of the Cult of Riona would elevate his position much above that of others in the same realm.
Alkis was skimming through the pages for a quick overview when he came upon a photo that sent shivers down his spine. The image was of a strange yet charming eye, with a pitch-black sclera (the white background of your eye) and a light-purple iris with a strange cross inside it made of the same pitch-black colour. What shocked Alkis wasn't the eye's strangeness, but its familiarity.
How could he forget the familiar eye that had caused his loving wife's death? Alkis was taken aback when he saw the familiar eye; he knew Tsar's eye was unusual, but he never expected it to be in the cult's booklet. He asked a trainee seated next to him about it
"Senior, do you know what this eye is?
The trainee looked at the eye and answered with a resentful expression
"This is the Eye of Nirvana, that belonged to Nirvana clan members. Because of its cruel and overpowering inherent techniques, it is also known as the Cursed Eye."
"The Nirvana Clan?'
Alkis, puzzled, inquired.
"Not much is known about the Nirvana Clan; all I know is that once a leading figure of the Nirvana Clan had a fight with Mother Riona, and when he lost the fight, he became enraged and killed all of Mother Riona's relatives, not to mention raped both of her sisters and then cruelly killed them."
"Seeing all of this, Mother Riona felt enraged and joined with other powers to force the Nirvana Clan to yield the member who did it; when she discovered that the member had committed suicide, she became enraged but was powerless to use force on the clan."
"After a few hundred years, one day, suddenly, all of the clan's leading figures disappeared, leaving the clan extremely weakened. When other gods learned this, they began killing all of the clan's remaining members in order to weed out the roots. To preserve the bloodline, the members of the Nirvana Clan began sending their remaining members to the lower worlds. When Mother Riona learned of this, she ordered all of her followers in the lower worlds to kill every single Nirvana Clan member they could find."
"Despite the fact that all of the clan's members are said to have died a couple thousand years ago, the cult nevertheless teaches its envoys about the Eye of Nirvana and instructs them to kill any surviving members of the clan if they ever find it. I've heard that any envoy who locates and kills a member of the clan would be awarded with an opportunity to work for the headquarters as an envoy."
Hearing all of this, Alkis' mind went blank; he barely regained awareness after a few minutes, and when he did, he had cold sweat running down his spine. He stood up and walked outside the cult; he didn't even take a carriage home, and started walking towards his home.
He had a thousand thoughts running through his head as he walked.
"How can they be the descendants of such a godly clan? I am certainly not a descendant, so was it Flora? She definitely did not know about her origins."
He thought to himself
"What should I do now? I can't just report them to the cult, can I? No! I have to honor her last wish, I cant do that. But the reward.... No!!!! I cant. Have you gone mad, Alkis? They are your own children."
As he headed towards his house, Alkis was having an internal dilemma.