In second-grade civilization, young people were given two choices after they passed their normal education: pursuing a normal career and studying mysticism, 'A path to achieve evolution, a path to become God, and a path to turn Dreams into reality.' Most people would choose a normal career. It is not that they don't want to study mysticism. They just don't have enough talent and resources to study magic. Studying magic and mysticism requires a lot of resources and money, which an average family cannot afford or even fork out from anywhere. The second problem was choosing and studying the concept, which many people could not grasp. But in a boundless world, there were still countless other branches of mysticism, other than concepts, which people regularly studied.
What is a Concept someone asked, a light shining from the Sun, the fundamental force holding the planets and starts, the heavy weight of the metal, the flowing water in the river, the darkness residing in the human heart, the time helping in moving forward, the air that makes one feel alive, the fire that wants to burn everything, these all were examples of the concept. When one achieves a deep understanding of any concept, one can form a connection with the concept, which will help one control the power of the concept.
To form a connection, a person must first grasp the essence of the concept and show enough mental resistance that they won't be corrupted by the concept itself before they are allowed to control a concept, as no one wants a person to become a mindless monster and blow up buildings or killing people mindlessly.
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Before being born, Eon had sent himself into a deep sleep leaving his subconscious to take charge of his body. Only when, five years ago, Second came back from collecting all the information he asked for before reincarnation did he woke up from sleep.
In the last five years, Dream/Eon's deposition was completely changed from an immature kid to a sage who lived for countless years, finally putting his parent's hearts and minds at ease, who thought their kid was finally matured.
Sitting on a chair in his room Eon (Dream) held a book in his hand, and his mind focused on studying. This year, Eon turned twenty-year-old. Eon's looks were extraordinary or specially created by him. His glacial ice-color hair and eyes filled with (literally) revolving grey fog gave people a sense of mystery. In addition, his well-built body was on the thinner side, making him look rather sharp.
As he was lost in reading, a small and extremely adorable girl suddenly came out of nowhere and jumped on his back, making him lose his trance. The young girl was none other than his ten-year-old sister, Haze. Eon was extremely fond of his little sister who would always appear out of nowhere and annoy him. However, the overwhelming number of emotions coming out of her were like a spring breeze to his dry heart, making him feel like a human again.
"Mother told me she finished packing the clothes and told you to check everything is in order." Haze said excitedly in one breath while still jumping around Eon.
When Eon was ten-year-old he decided to study mysticism as any normal kid, but even after reaching fifteen of age he was not able to form his first connection with the concept making his parent worried, and now Haze, who showed a brilliant mind in tests was also of the age to choose what to study giving them a greater headache. So for their better future, Amis and Helice after countless discussions finally decided to send both Dream and Haze to the Elemental plane to study because they provide much more advanced and broad knowledge of magic/mysticisms.
The Elemental World normally existed in the great void between galaxies. They were artificially created by gods or transcended beings. These worlds would be the same as any natural planet with water and air but can be found in any shape, round, flat, or even hollow, where fundamental laws like gravity and air can be controlled. Normally an elemental plain would span from a couple of light years to thousands of light years in size, depending on its being private property or where anyone can come and live.
Eon picked Haze up in his arms. He walked to another room where his bag was packed by Helice and started to look inside to see if anything was missing. At night, the family of four sat at a dining table and ate quietly. The atmosphere was heavy because Eon and Haze would be leaving their home tomorrow. Helice had never left her children alone before, and seeing they were going away for a long time, she became quite emotional and almost started crying on the table. She had already cried multiple times in the past few days. Amis on the side holding her hand tried to calm her down. Seeing her mother crying caused a feeling of leaving too well up in Haze's heart. Her eyes started to water up, and she also started to cry.
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In the middle of the day, it was raining heavily. Storms were rising in many parts of the planet as they expressed their sadness.
"You must take care of haze properly; she is still a child," said Helice holding herself from crying.
"I know how careless you are."
"Haze, you must listen to your big brother and behave yourself outside."
"If there is any problem, let us know by emergency contact and remember to write a letter regularly."
Amis and Helice hugged both children before waving to them and sending them inside the train station.
Wearing a fancy coat and pants, Eon stood on a concrete platform. His left hand carried two leather bags, and his right held two paper tickets with 'Hyper Express – 3B63D' written. He looked around to find the third platform. He did not want to miss this train which only came once every month in this godforsaken land.
There were many ways to leave a planet but to leave safely; there were only three: take a Dimension Jumping Train, a Stargate, or a Star Ship. But, unfortunately, Stargate or Starship tickets were expensive and not something they could afford.
After looking around, Eon walked back to Haze, who was standing near a stone pillar. Haze wore a light blue knee dress and a fancy coat, her long dark blue hair hung behind her back, her blue sapphire-like eyes darted around the station, and her cheeks were puffy with small blush to them, making anyone want to squeeze them tightly. On her back was a small red bag, which only she was allowed to touch. She stood on a platform in elegant manners looking like a young miss of a rich family.
As Eon was walking, suddenly, beside him a tear opened in space, and Second walked out of it. He looked like a handsome young man in his twenties, filled with youthfulness and vigor.
"Master," he bowed to Eon, who was walking toward Haze.
"You are late," Eon said indifferently without even looking.
Eon handed both his bags to second, who opened a space portal again with his hand and placed them inside. Second eyes wandered around the station and landed on Haze; he observed her for a second before moving along with Eon.
"Master, you decide to have a sister this time," he mumbled to himself
"If everything goes well, this will be our last time, so I thought maybe she would be able to help me hold the last bit of my emotions. Do you think I want to become an emotionless machine?"
Eon looked at Second as he answered. Not wanting to wait for him to ask or say anything, Eon walked back to Haze with a smile. He squatted down and let Haze climb on his back, making her extremely happy.
"Hmm, is this weird uncle also going with us, big brother" Haze spoke in Eon's ear, not intending to let Second hear calling him a weird uncle. Haze had already met Second before, he would occasionally visit Eon at his house when no one was around except Haze, and every time he came, he would always bring her weird toys and sweets, giving her a good impression of him.
Second, who was standing not far away, smiled at Haze. "Hahaha... is this miss Haze's first-time riding on a train? I heard there are ghosts inside the train who eats children. While walking here, I read in the newspaper last week that they ate a little girl going on the train with her parent. What a pity" he looked at Haze with evil eyes and muttered loudly. Haze, who was on Eon's back when she heard Second muttering, felt fear. Her body became stiff, she instantly became alerted and looked around, and her arms on Eon's neck hardened subconsciously. Eon glared at Second, making him stop smiling, and he rubbed his checks against haze checks to calm her down.
"Let's go. Platform 3B is on the other side."
Eon started to walk toward the third platform crossing several stone pillars. They finally saw a big board hung on a metal pole with platform three written on it; below that was another board that showed the upcoming train's name and time on it. The train was already on the platform. It resembled an old steam locomotive made in early times. It was hard to believe this train could dimension jump. Eon and second walked inside the compartment; the train compartment was divided into two cabinets with two seats inside a cabinet and one table in the middle of both side seats. Eon let Haze sit on the window side before sitting beside her.
One hour later, three bells rang inside the train grabbing everyone's attention.
"Good afternoon, passengers. The train will be leaving the station in thirty minutes," a male voice reverberated in train speakers.
After waiting for thirty minutes, the train finally started.
"Welcome aboard, passengers. This is your host Elten for tonight's trip. The train will move from Aills planet station 54F986A to the destination, Floating Cloud World station 98A298D. We will stop at five planets before the destination jumping on the fifth planet. The train will cover a total distance of two hundred and fifty thousand light years and cross through the mythical realm, The Astral World. I hope you enjoy your journey" the three bells rang, and the announcement repeated.
Eon and Second sat eyes closed, Haze's hands were on glass, and her eyes wandered outside. She was really invested in looking at mountains and rivers outside, whereas Eon and Second did not even show a bit of interest.
Soon the six hours passed. The train had crossed the four planets and was stopped on the fifth planet to pick up the passengers. After an hour train started to move again, but this time something unexpected happened. As per usual train did not open a teleportation gate when it moved to a certain distance, but its track continued to extend forward from land to the middle of the ocean; they seemed to extend further and disappeared inside of a dark cave on a mountain, which was on a small island at the front. The train speed slowed considerably and entered the cave before disappearing from the face of the planet.
(The cave was a natural entrance that connected the material world to the astral world, teleportation cannot be used to enter the astral world. The only way to enter is either by a natural entrance or a specially made entrance to enter)
On the other side of the cave existed a world filled with unforeseen, unpredictable dangers and phenomena. The Astral world, a world where no sun existed, its dark skies filled with stars stretched as far as eyes could see. The land was filled with bizarre plants which shone with their light, and a few peculiar animals could be seen roaming. But the reason this dimension was dangerous was because of the existence of Embodiments of Concept. Because of the Embodiments of Concept, the whole astral world existed in a weird orderly manner. It repelled anything that did not resonate with the world itself. The only method to enter the world was either with one spirit or if one reached the high sequence in mysticism or magic, but there were still some other unorthodox methods that existed to explore the Astral world that people commonly used.
The train exited from the other side of the cave in the astral world; a blue film covered the train's surface to keep it safe from the environment of the Astral world. Floating in the air, the train moved forward. Sitting in the train compartment, Eon had a book in his hand and second sat with his eyes closed, but Haze's head was in a little mess. Her senses and mind had become bewildered. She moved her hands in front of her face and waved; her hands separated into three parts. When she waved her hand, a white shadow of her hands moved first, followed by a blue shadow, then her real hand in last. The light phantoms represented the spirit, body, and mind. Upon entering the Astral world, the rules of this world will separate the spirit and mind from the body. Seeing Haze freaking out, Eon reassured her that everything was fine, finally calming her down. Haze sat back on her seat with Eon's arm in her hands.
The train slowly made its way inside the Astral world. Except for some abnormalities passengers were experiencing, the train did not encounter any dangers on the way. Finally, the train reached the end of its journey, slowing down; It entered a large cave-like structure in an unknown mountain again and disappeared from the Astral world.