I opened my eyes slowly, almost as if there was a weight on my eyelids. As my vision became clear, I saw a beautiful face hovering over me. There were nice blue eyes, brilliantly sparkling orange hair, and spotlessly smooth skin that flowed flawlessly. I smiled instinctually and reached my hand towards her face. "Beautiful!"
The woman moved to the side and a man's face came into view. He had sharp blue eyes, grainy black hair, and a flaky scalp. I jerked my hand back and scowled at him. "Ugly faggot!"
The ugly man started to shake me and yell in my face. "Travis! TRAVIS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
"Ugh, fuck! Obviously"
I quickly picked myself up off the ground. As I did, my vision became blurry again and I almost fell on the ground. I shook my head and wobbled on my feet for a second.
I turned to the ugly man, who slung one of my arms over his shoulder, and I realized it was Zane. "Oh hey Zane, I didn't realize it was you!"
"Don't talk to me!"
"Hey, hey! Listen to me! I didn't mean anything by saying you were ugly, I'm just not gay!"
I lifted my arm off his shoulder, but I felt pain in my head, so I stumbled a few steps. "I'm fine now I think. How long was I out?"
Tessa stood nearby and she was chuckling. "Well, you were out for about two minutes."
"And the stones?"
"Jason and his friends are gathering them."
I walked back in the direction of the crater. Jason, Francis, Jett, and Steve were all picking the stones up with their shirts so they didn't absorb them. Jason saw me and turned around with a grin. "Bloody good work there. We waited for you to split up the Mana stones."
I grinned. "I appreciate it."
As soon as Tessa and Zane walked up too, we looked at the Glowing stones all gathered up in somebody's jacket. There were two especially large stones and then about fifteen others that were the same size as the largish ones we had gathered earlier in the day.
I nodded and looked across the faces gathered around the jacket-bag in a nice little circle. "So who's jacket is this?"
Balded Steve grinned. "It's mine."
I shook my head slowly. "Well, I'm sorry to inform you that your jacket has been infected and you cannot wear it any longer."
"WHAT?!"
I smiled at first and then I cracked. "Heheeboi… I'm joking man. Thanks everyone for gathering the stones."
Steve frowned. "I was afraid for a second there. That was my jacket that my great-great grandfather wore when he-"
"I don't care STEVE! Let's just dive straight into the topic at hand. I will be taking the two largest Mana stones and you all can split up the eighteen others that there are."
Jason sniffed. "Alright, there's six of us, so three each."
Everyone shrugged pretty much. I reached towards the jacket and I touched the two largest stones and I consumed them. I felt the Mana stretch up both of my arms and lance through my heart. Instantly, I lost consciousness for the second time in the day. As I fell towards the ground, I screamed internally.
'Why does this keep on happening to me!"
In the darkness I felt a small flickering green glow coming from me. Further away, there was another glowing figure. It was the face of a woman clothed in white. She exuded a white aura along with a calming warmth. She smiled at me and flew towards me in the darkness. As she grew closer to me her warmth just felt more calming.
She spoke softly to me. "This is an automated message. My name is the One True Creator. I existed at the beginning of this universe and everything within is mine because I am the strongest.
You are in the space of your soul which is empty for now. The Mana within you has grown to the point that you have moved to the next tier as an Awakened being. You have moved from the Formation stage to the Transformation Stage. The Mana within you will become yours, but you must fight one last battle against it.
Even now the Mana from the god of Anger rages in your soul. You must destroy the emotion there and you must fill it with your own emotion. Let yourself feel what you want to feel. Become what you want to be. Otherwise, your soul will be corrupted and you will become a Zombie."
She waved at me with a smile. "Good luck."
Before I could say anything, she vanished from the space of my soul. What came instead was a flood of green glowing Mana. I focused on my soul. The color from my soul was flickering between red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, and indigo. With each color, I felt a different feeling. Hatred. Pride. Happiness. Anger. Focus. Love. And finally there was Patience.
There I was, in the middle of a flood of Mana, and I had to decide before it reached me.
'What am I? I am calm. But it isn't patience. It's a focus to block out all of the rage, anger, malice, hatred that constantly rises up in my soul. I will be pure Focus.'
My soul stopped flickering between colors as I became Focus. I became the very embodiment of Focus. As the Mana finally reached my soul, it could do nothing against me. The Mana raged and beat at my soul. I was Focused. Slowly, the Mana began to transform from a sickly green color to a solid blue color.
Within my minutes all of the Mana was blue and it was still. Suddenly, I felt in my soul that I control all of the Mana. I felt pathways from my soul to my body. I could circulate my Mana. There were Mana veins opening up within my body.
With conscious focus, I moved the Mana. My soul beat. A pulse of blue energy shot out in the darkness, and I could feel it begin to slowly flow through my body. I had not died.
'I won. Take that Zanoth!"