Arin sat cross-legged beneath the ancient oak tree, his eyes closed as he tried to center his thoughts. He was deep in the forest, far away from any signs of life, but the echoes of the recent battle with the masked figure still haunted him. The fight had been brutal and quick, yet it left him with more questions than answers.
"Void is not a weapon. It controls you."
Enacra's words reverberated in his mind. He had spent hours meditating, trying to make sense of what the tree-like mentor had told him. But no matter how hard he concentrated, the Void remained an enigma. Every other element required control—fire obeyed his commands, wind bent to his will—but the Void... it was elusive.
It was frustrating. After years of training and rapid progress through the elemental ranks, Arin had come to expect quick results. But the Void defied his expectations.
"Calm your mind," Enacra's deep voice interrupted his thoughts. The tronoid stood behind him, observing him quietly. "You seek to bend the Void to your will, but that is not its nature."
Arin opened his eyes, feeling a pang of irritation. "Then what is its nature, Enacra? How am I supposed to use it if I can't control it?"
"You misunderstand, as always," Enacra replied, its leafy arms swaying slightly. "The Void is not something you use. It is something you become."
Arin sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "That doesn't make any sense. How can I become nothing?"
"Nothing, and yet everything," Enacra said cryptically. "You are thinking too much like a warrior who wields weapons. The Void is not a weapon; it is the space between weapons, the silence between words. It is the absence, not the presence."
Arin frowned. He had heard these kinds of riddles from Enacra before, but now they felt more important. Ever since his encounter with the masked figure, he had felt something shift within him. He needed to understand the Void if he was going to move forward, but it felt like he was staring into an abyss, and every time he tried to grasp something, it slipped through his fingers.
"What do I need to do?" Arin asked, his voice a mix of determination and desperation.
"You need to stop trying," Enacra replied simply. "Instead, listen."
Arin closed his eyes again, feeling the weight of Enacra's words settle over him. Listen? He wasn't sure what that meant, but he tried to empty his mind, letting his thoughts drift.
For a while, there was nothing. Just the faint rustling of leaves, the distant chirping of birds, and the soft breeze through the forest.
Then, something changed.
A deep, unsettling quiet enveloped him, unlike any silence he had ever experienced. It wasn't just the absence of sound; it was the absence of everything. Time seemed to slow, and for a moment, he felt as though he were floating in a vast, endless expanse.
His body felt weightless, and his mind became still. There were no thoughts, no worries, no sense of self. Just the Void.
And then it was gone, like a fleeting dream. Arin opened his eyes, gasping as he snapped back to reality. His heart was pounding, and he realized he had broken into a cold sweat.
"What... what was that?" Arin asked, his voice shaky.
Enacra's eyes gleamed with approval. "That was your first step into the Void. You touched it, even if only for a moment."
Arin rubbed his temples, trying to process what had just happened. It had been terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. He had never felt anything like it before.
"But how do I... stay in that state?" Arin asked, still panting from the experience.
"You don't," Enacra replied calmly. "The Void is not something you inhabit for long. It is a fleeting state, one that you tap into when necessary. The more you embrace it, the easier it will become to touch that space."
Arin nodded slowly, starting to understand. The Void wasn't something he could force. It wasn't about control. It was about letting go.
For the first time, he began to see what Enacra had been trying to teach him all along.
Later that evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows through the trees, Arin practiced his new understanding of the Void. It wasn't like the other elements, which required precision and focus. The Void was different—more about intuition and instinct.
He stood in the clearing, eyes half-closed, feeling the space around him. There was no fire, no wind—just the stillness of the Void.
And then he moved.
In a flash, he was on the other side of the clearing, his body having disappeared and reappeared as though he had stepped through an invisible doorway. The sensation was dizzying, but it worked. He had used the Void to slip through space.
He smiled to himself, feeling a surge of excitement. This was progress.
But before he could celebrate further, a dark presence stirred at the edge of the clearing. Arin spun around, his instincts flaring, but saw nothing.
Then, from the shadows, a voice spoke. Deep, sinister, and all too familiar.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
Arin's heart skipped a beat. The masked figure. He had returned.
Out of the darkness, the masked man stepped forward, his form cloaked in shadows. His cold eyes locked onto Arin, and a slow, mocking grin spread across his face.
"You think you're starting to understand the Void?" the masked figure said, his voice dripping with condescension. "Let me show you how little you've learned."
Before Arin could react, the masked figure raised his hand, and the Void shifted around them. The very air seemed to thicken, warping and twisting as reality bent under the masked figure's control.
Arin felt the weight of the Void pressing down on him, crushing him from all sides. His newfound connection to the Void flickered, slipping from his grasp as the masked figure's mastery overwhelmed him.
"I'll give you credit," the masked figure said, his voice cold and taunting. "You've improved since our last encounter. But you're still far too weak."
Arin gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain his footing. He had come so far, learned so much—but now, facing the masked figure again, he realized just how far he still had to go.
"I won't give up," Arin growled, summoning every ounce of his will. "I'll master the Void. Just watch me."
The masked figure laughed, a cruel, hollow sound. "We'll see about that."
And with that, the Void around them exploded into chaos as the battle began anew.