Boomm
Contrary to his expectations, the height wasn't too high. He fell about four meters and hit the ground hard with his butt. His back crashed to solid ground, causing every inch of his body to ache. Golden light particles scattered around and dust rose from the floor, with small debris falling from the sky.
Ian looked down at his arms. A tiny wolf pup was curled up in his embrace. He heaved a sigh after making sure that the child was alright and let loose of his grip, using his arms to pull his body up. The sting on his injured flank made him grimace, yet he didn't halt or groan.
-Master?
The little wolf wriggled its body and jumped down from Ian's chest before placing its front paws on the young man's belly, thrusting its tiny nails into his white shirt.
-Master, are you alright? Did you get injured? Master?? Why are you frowning? You look pale! Master?!
The childish voice echoing inside Ian's brain trembled and increased in volume, turning hoarse and panicked.
"I'm fine."
As Ian sat straght, the child dangled from his shirt.
-Then why do you look in pain? You were also limping a little bit when, sniff, when we first met. Masterrr!!
"Lior, hey, don't cry! I'm fine, really!"
Ian wrapped his hands around the child's face and stroked its cheeks which were wet with tears. He was careful not to show any signs of being injured to the kid but he seemed to have found out about it.
-Why should you, sniff, you be hurt, sniff, so early in the round!
The tiny wolf was pulled up and gently put on the man's knees. Ian's thumbs caressed the child's face.
"I'm not hurt, Loir. Look, I'm fine now. Even after falling down, I didn't get any scratches, alright?"
For some reason, Lior has always been so sensitive about Ian's health. Every time anything happened to him, the child would overreact even if it was a tiny scratch.
It must be because every time Ian dies, the child is also pulled back in time and loses his memories. It should be hard for him. Lior must be worried that Ian being careless and getting himself killed would force him to lose his current life again.
Ian could never shake off the guilt he had for making this child suffer. It must be exhausting to regress repeatedly without even being involved in anything. The child has always been an innocent victim of Ian's mistakes.
"Don't worry," Ian lowered his voice and moved his face closer to the child. "I won't die so easily, so calm down."
"....."
The wolf's teary eyes blinked a few times before a frown formed on his face. Before Ian could even notice the changes, the pup opened his mouth and bit down on the hand that was patting its head.
-Why would you talk about dying all of a sudden?
"Eh, oww! What the-"
Ian shook his hand in shock, making the wolf dangling from it also sway around in the air. The tiny wolf, however, didn't have any intentions of letting him go as he was glaring at the blue-haired boy with a fierce expression.
"Lior! Lior! Let go!"
-Grrrr!
"Heeeey!"
The shout echoed in the area. Hearing his own voice coming from all directions, Ian shut his mouth and looked around. They were in a tunnel-like space that was slightly lit by the faint moonlight through the broken ceiling.
Ian got up to his feet and examined the surroundings. Much couldn't be seen under the light of the moon except for a few shapes and words on the walls that were barely recognized.
Ian reached out his free hand and touched the wall. A pale gold light surrounded his fingers as they swept across the engravings on the wall.
"Seeds, trees, animals, greenery..."
There were all images of natural phenomena printed on the stone. Below them were prayers that asked nature to give them health and grant the people a good harvest. As he moved forward, the words gradually shifted from prayers to descriptions of the world's structure, as these people believed it to be, and to the illustrations of the entity they worshiped.
"They worshiped life but visualized it as various people and things. The Goddess of Harvest, The Tree of Life, The Bird of Nature, and a Blessed of Light..."
The entities had many characteristics in common but also many differences. They all had the power related to life, could grant wishes, and achieve extraordinary feats.
The Goddess or Harvest was explained as the prettiest woman in the world who resided deep within the embrace of nature. She could heal people with her prowess, and if someone had her blessing, their farms would have the greatest harvest ever.
The Tree of Life had the essence of the world to it. It was explained as the core of the world, holder of life, and watcher of humanity. Nothing much was clarified about the tree.
The Bird of Nature was called the guardian of the Tree of Life. Its features were the source of all colors, having a thousand shades in them, and its tail was the rainbow seen by humans. The Bird of Nature resided at the highest peak of the loftiest mountain and guarded The Tree of Life from above.
Ian reached the end of the tunnel after walking for a few minutes. There was nothing extraordinary hidden deep down or any secrets to be found. The only thing was a torn-out book, which seemed to be a bible, and a few objects of high value in the religion.
"Hmm? What about the blessed of light?"
Every entity had a lot of explanations except for the one called The Blessed of Light. This made Ian feel more curious about that entity compared to the other three.
"There are more or less the same things here..."
The Bible was severely damaged and its contents were the same as the engravings on the walls. There were more prayers and praises for nature in it than descriptions of the high-level entities.
"Life and nature..."
Ian had spent a lot of time researching ancient texts before when he was looking for any clues regarding his regressions. There were indeed some minor references to various religions on them. Some worshiped trees, some prayed to the skies, some held animals as holy beings, and some offered sacrifices to the mountains. It wasn't too surprising to find another religion worshiping any form of nature.
"The Blessed of Light..."
The only clue about the said entity was a small painting seen at the edges of one of the papers. It showed a human-like figure surrounded by light. The figure was facing the sky with their hands held up. At the palm of their hand was a bright star.
"Let's get out of here," declared Ian to the wolf pup that was still dangling from his hand, munching on Ian's pinky like candy. He put the bible back where he'd picked up it from, careful to place it at the right angle and position, before turning around and walking away with no regrets.
The child, which didn't need its mouth to speak, asked in Ian's head,
-Aren't you taking that book with ya?
"I already read through it. Plus, we don't know what might happen if we take anything from this place."
-Hmmm...
The wolf grabbed Ian's wrist with its front paws.
-Why are you bein' cautious all of a sudden?
The Ian that Lior remembered wasn't someone to be so thoughtful. He'd do whatever he desired saying that 'I'll just die if things go wrong,' and do any kind of stupid things. Some of them would lead to his death. Lior knew that not all of this man's deaths were meaningful despite having no recollections of them.
"You'll find out when we return."
Ian's tone was light-hearted and his expression was relaxed. The child's ears twitched slightly upon seeing him like that. After staring at Ian's flank for a few seconds, he finally let go of the man's hand and landed on the ground.
The two of them walked all the way back to where they fell down and searched the areas near the fallen ceiling and even further away, but couldn't find any means to climb up to the surface.
-Master master, make us flooooaaat!
"You know I can't do such a thing now."
-Then what?
"There must be a way to go up. There is no way that all the people that visited this place jumped down a height of four meters, right?"
-Hmm... Yeah.
The child agreed with a thoughtful tone.
-Then why aren't you moving?
"I was thinking of something."
The blue-haired young man stared out through the window. A tiny star was twinkling right atop his head.
"I want to train my power a little bit before moving out. I might not get a chance later."
He was traveling with a group and spent most of his time with others. It would be hard to get a chance to find a calm and desolate place to train his Aether later. He decided to improve himself a little bit before moving out.
Lior nodded its head in understanding and curled its body up beside Ian's feet who was already sitting down on the ground.
"...Aren't you gonna help me?"
Ian's power wasn't at its peak early in the round, so he couldn't do many things with it. Even after using all of his Aether to form a shield to protect him from the fall, his body ached at the impact, indicating that the shield couldn't do much.
'It'll be good if he lends me some Aether to accelerate my growth, but it's not something I can force upon him.'
-I've told you many times, master!
The child huffed out, annoyed.
-That you don't need to ask for permission to use my Aether! I'm linked to your soul, so take whatever you want!
"You know I don't like that."
-Grrr! Even if you don't like it, I'm Aether, and I've decided to be your Aether, so do whatever you want!
A slender hand caressed Lior's head. "You aren't Aether, you are Lior. You are a special creature with a will and consciousness. I've told you this many times!"
The first time Ian encountered this being, it was nothing but a wandering bundle of Aether. It had neither a shape nor any power. Ian was too busy struggling to set himself free of his regressions to pay any mind to such a strange creature.
In the next round, the bundle of Aether has turned into a tiny particle of light. It didn't go away no matter what Ian did. After experiencing death once again, Ian found a bigger particle of light, one that shone brighter than before.
-Hmmm... What am I? Say it again?
After a few more rounds, the particle of light vanished. Just when Ian was wondering if the creature had finally faded and gone, he found a floating mass of Aether, half-transparent and half-bright, following him around. He gradually found out that no one beside him could see the thing, so he assumed he had finally gone mad and was hallucinating. He ignored it again.
One day, when he was busy cooking one of his many favorite meals, he suddenly heard a voice in his head. It was a melody, like the joyous humming of a young boy. Ian was done! He was sure he'd fallen out of the world of normal humans and was trapped in the hands of a mental illness that didn't go away even by death!
Sometime later, the voice even began to talk! It wasn't able to form proper sentences but stated random words from time to time. 'Now that I'm mentally ill let's enjoy it, at least!' Ian began responding to the voice.
As time passed, the creature evolved. From a tiny butterfly to cats and foxes, it took many shapes while always sticking to Ian's side. It was unknown when it became a part of Ian's life, a part of his soul.
"Hmm~"
At the child's mischievous demeanor, Ian chuckled and leaned closer.
"You are my light~"
-Hehehe~
The kid wagged its tail and robbed its face against Ian's leg, completely forgetting that he was mad at this human a few minutes ago.
Ian sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. In the rich darkness of his mind, he was but a floating dot, gradually falling into the endless abyss. There was nothing to hold onto nor a step to jump on. He took in the feeling of his endless descent. The lower he went, the more intense his fear became. He'd been to this place, to the gateway of his soul, many times, yet he could never overcome the fright the fall gave him.
Taking a deep breath, Ian spread his spirituality around. A faint light twinkled and shut out of his heart, engulfing his body and decreasing the speed of his descent. Aether was gradually filling the area, illuminating the darkness and easing Ian's tense nerves.
'I should go a little bit deeper.'
That was the only way to get a sudden boost in his power. His Aether would increase over time, but if he wanted to use a proper amount of it now, he needed to take some risk.
"Mmm..."
The wolf pup which had its eyes closed, kept perking its ears from time to time. The puppy rubbed its nose to the man's pants, stretched out its paws, and sprawled on his lap. A golden thread left its body and wrapped around the boy's body before seeping into his soul and disappearing from sight. The wolf twitched its face, rolled its body, and grabbed the man's white shirt.
"I'm bored. Let's go..."
The corners of the man's lips curled up gradually while he opened his eyes. As soon as the deep-blue eyes were revealed from under his long lashes, a burst of golden dust scattered around, brightening the surroundings.
"Thanks."
Ian was given a boost which helped him gain what he wanted.
"Hm~"
The proud kid kept its eyes closed, waiting to be held and to be taken out. Ian did as he was asked, picking up the pup and standing up, walking around, and using his Aether to search the area and look for an exit. It didn't take long for him to find a row of half-broken stone stairs leading to a tiny door. He didn't hesitate to exit the passage.
The fresh air of the jungle brushed his face one he sat foot out of the underground pathway. He was in the greenery, surrounded by trees and bushes.
"Now, where are we..."
But this wasn't the place where he entered the shrine.