After having their reunion, they all left to find a place to spend the night, but Zeth stayed behind as he was in no condition to move.
As they couldn't just leave him alone, Aly also stayed while the other three were trying to find a place.
Even though Zeth told Aly to go with Sarina, she didn't leave as somebody needed to stay behind.
"So you'll protect me if a wild animal attacks?" Zeth said while teasing her.
"Of course not. I'll run and call Big Sister; she'll help you."
"So Sarina is your big sister?"
"She didn't tell you?"
"She wasn't hiding it, I guess."
"Yes, she is my big sister, and she is the best you can ask for," Aly said in a cheerful manner.
"Well, she is cool."
"Not just cool; she is beautiful, charming, strong, independent, and everything else; basically, she is the best."
Aly reminded Zeth of his past.
"You love her that much?"
"Of course I do. I love her the most in this world."
"I see… I also had a little sister who was much younger than you. I also loved her a lot," Zeth said in a sad tone.
"What happened to her?"
Zeth couldn't answer; there was a pause for a few moments, and then Oscar returned.
"That was fast," Zeth said, breaking the silence.
"I found the best spot on the first try," Oscar said in a cheerful manner.
"That's good then. Let's just wait for others."
Aly could understand that Zeth did not want to talk about his sister, so she didn't ask again.
After a few minutes, Sarina returned with a small deer.
"Where did you get that?" Oscar asked
"I caught him, of course."
"How did you catch a deer?" Zeth asked this time.
"I sneaked up on it."
"And how did you kill it?" Oscar asked
"Broke the neck, of course."
At this point, Zeth wasn't even surprised anymore.
"That makes sense, I guess," Oscar said.
"Does it?" Zeth replied
"Told you she was amazing," Aly added.
Zephyr is also back now.
"Is that a deer?" Zephyr was quite surprised.
"Forget about that; for now, it's not safe to stay here any longer," Oscar said.
"I agree.. Did anyone find a good location?" Sarina asked
"You bet I did."
"Good, then let's go."
They walked for, like, 20 minutes.
"You were back in less than 10 minutes, so I thought it was close," Zeth said.
"Well, I was running back then," Oscar replied.
"Just how fast can you run?" Zephyr spoke this time.
"You won't believe me even if I tell you, so forget it. We are here."
It looked like a small mountain of rocks after climbing a little, a space that looked like a cave was there. The space was not too big or too small, and there was only one entrance, and it was surprisingly clean as well.
They entered the cave and set up a fire inside. The entrance was pretty big, so smoke wasn't much of a problem either.
Zephyr was wearing a bracelet on his hand. Oscar sharpened the metal bracelet somehow and used it to cut the deer and roast it.
After having the meal, they all slept pretty fast, as everyone was tired except Oscar, who was on night watch.
At 3 a.m., Zeth woke up breathing heavily; it looked like he had a nightmare.
"You ok?" Oscar asked while sitting next to the entrance.
"I am fine," Zeth replied after getting his breathing straight.
Oscar was looking at the moon in deep thought. Zeth also stood up, went to the entrance, and sat next to him.
"You like the moon?" Zeth asked
"I had someone who loved it," Oscar replied.
"What happened to that person?"
"Let's just say things don't always go the way we want them to."
"Do you miss them?"
"Everyday"
"Do you want them back?"
"Of course I do."
"Do you blame someone?"
"Myself, of course."
Zeth felt like he was talking to himself, and Oscar kept looking at the moon the whole time.
Breaking the tension Zeth changed the topic and asked
"While fighting me, what was that sudden increase in power?" Zeth asked
"I guess I owe you an explanation... I am not supposed to tell you this, but I will tell you to make it up to you, so listen carefully.
There are some hidden clans in this world who have secret manuals and techniques to manipulate energy at will," Oscar explained.
"Energy as in Chakra and stuff?"
"That would've been cool, but no, it's much different than that.
Every person is born with a unique type of soul. Your soul is made of energy, and you can manipulate that energy, but the only problem is that the amount of energy that you have after being born is too small, so manipulating that energy isn't an option.
To manipulate energy, you'll have to increase your soul value. Basically, you'll have to increase your soul energy so that you have enough to spare.
"I get it to some extent. So basically, you have to increase your energy levels if you want to use it?"
"Correct"
"Then how do you do that?" Zeth asked.
"Well, that is the hard part of increasing your soul value... You'll have to die."
"Huh?"
"Every hidden clan has their own secret potion recipe. Actually, instead of a potion, we should just call it poison because after drinking it, you'll stop breathing in the next 3 minutes after some intense pain. Once you die, you'll feel your soul leaving your body. At that time, you'll be able to see all types of energies around you that you couldn't see before.
You can gather energy that is compatible with you in your core.
You can choose for how long you want to die; the more time you have, the more energy you can gather, thus having more soul value and becoming stronger."
"I get it, so how long did you die for?"
"13 minutes and 27 seconds"
"What's your soul value, then?"
"It's the highest in my clan in this era."
"Everybody in your clan did this."
"You are misunderstanding something; this isn't something you can do easily; the chances of survival are less than 20 percent."
"If it's that low, why did you do it?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"So many people die in your clan because of this?"
"Yes, I stopped forcing the tradition after becoming the head of the clan, but yeah, we did lose a lot of people because of this," Oscar said in a sad tone.
"Sorry about that," Zeth said while looking at the moon.
"Don't be," Oscar replied.
"Same goes for Sarina, then?" Zeth asked
"The Gonzalez clan is also one of the hidden clans, so it's more or less the same," Oscar replied.
"I see, but why do you guys do this? What's the point of power that comes with so many sacrifices?"
"Hidden clans maintain peace in the world. Whenever something or someone threatens the peace of the world, hidden clans take action and stop it."
"That's good then. You should sleep now, as I can't," Zeth said.
"I'll take you up on that offer then."
Oscar went into the dark, where the moonlight didn't reach him, and slept for a while.