Chapter 5: The First Lesson
THUD.
Kenji's body hit the crystalline floor again, void energy sparking and fizzling out around him like dying fireworks.
CRACK.
The sound echoed through the training chamber as another floating platform crumbled under the unstable energy discharge.
"Again," Akira said, his voice carrying no sympathy. "You're thinking too much. Void energy responds to instinct, not logic."
Kenji pushed himself up on shaking arms. Sweat dripped from his forehead, mixing with the strange luminescent dust that coated everything in the Undergarden.
"I've been at this for six hours," he gasped.
"Six hours here is a day and a half outside," the white-haired woman said from her perch on a nearby crystal formation. "The Council isn't taking breaks. Neither should you."
WHOOSH.
She moved her hand, and time seemed to slow around a falling piece of debris. It drifted down like a feather before landing with a soft tap on the ground.
"Show off," muttered the massive stone-skinned man. He was sitting cross-legged in the corner, his rocky exterior making grinding sounds every time he shifted. SCRAPE. SCRAPE.
"Temporal manipulation isn't showing off, Boulder," the woman replied. "It's survival. Something our new friend needs to understand."
"My name is Kenji," he said, wiping dust from his mouth.
"I know your name," she said. "I'm Yuki Tanaka. Former S-rank Chronos Mage. That's Boulder, A-rank Earth Guardian. The child is Mei, and you don't want to know what she can do."
The twelve-year-old girl giggled, and the sound made the crystal walls hum in response. HMMMMM.
"Now stop wasting time and try again," Yuki continued. "Level 3 to Level 5 in three weeks should be impossible. We need to make impossible happen."
[System Notification: Training Protocol Active]
[Current Void Affinity: 3.2]
[Target: 5.0]
[Time Remaining: 20 days, 7 hours]
Kenji stood up, legs wobbling. The notification blinked insistently in his vision.
"How do I stop thinking about it?" he asked. "Everything I do is calculated. The system shows me probabilities, damage estimates, energy costs."
"The system is a crutch," Akira said. He walked over to one of the crystal spires and placed his hand on it. CRACK. A section of the crystal simply vanished, not broken or shattered, but erased from existence.
"Spatial magic at its core isn't about moving things from point A to point B. It's about understanding that the space between A and B is an illusion."
"That makes no sense."
"Exactly." Akira grinned. "Logic is the enemy of void energy. Your power comes from the spaces between realities, the gaps in the fabric of existence. Logic can't exist in those gaps."
RUMBLE.
The training chamber shook slightly. Boulder's rocky eyebrows furrowed.
"Surface activity," he said. "Multiple vehicles. Heavy ones."
Yuki's eyes flashed silver. WHIR. Time seemed to accelerate around her as she processed information faster than normal perception allowed.
"Fifteen Council vehicles," she reported. "They're setting up a perimeter around the old ruins above us. They know we're here."
"How?" Kenji asked.
"Your void walk left traces," Mei said, her young voice carrying ancient knowledge. "Like breadcrumbs for those who know how to look."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A warning tone echoed through the chamber. Akira's expression hardened.
"They're using dimensional anchors," he said. "Trying to lock down space around the area. If they succeed, we won't be able to void walk out of here."
"Can they break in?" Kenji asked.
"Not easily," Boulder said. GRIND. He stood up, his stone body creaking. "But they've got time. We don't."
"Which is why your training just got accelerated," Yuki said. "No more gentle practice. We're going to force your advancement."
SNAP.
She snapped her fingers, and suddenly, Kenji felt time slow around him. Not stopped, but stretched like taffy.
"What are you doing?" His voice sounded distorted.
"Temporal compression," she said. "For you, the next hour will feel like six. We're going to cram a week's worth of training into sixty minutes."
WHOMP.
Akira's spatial magic activated, and the training chamber expanded. What had been a room, maybe fifty feet across, suddenly stretched for hundreds of yards in every direction.
"Boulder, set up the obstacles," Akira commanded.
CRASH. BANG. THUD.
Boulder's earth magic went to work. Stone pillars erupted from the floor, floating rocks assembled themselves into moving platforms, and walls of granite slid into place, creating a complex maze.
"Mei, you're on motivation duty," Yuki said.
The child's smile was both innocent and terrifying. HUM. The air around her began to vibrate with barely contained power.
"What kind of motivation?" Kenji asked nervously.
"The kind that makes you move fast," Mei giggled. "Don't worry. I'll try not to accidentally erase you from existence."
CRACK.
A small section of the floor near Kenji's feet simply vanished, leaving a perfect sphere of nothingness.
"Okay, new plan," Kenji said quickly. "I'm motivated."
"Good," Akira said. "Now, forget everything you think you know about your powers. Void energy isn't about control. It's about letting go."
WHOOSH.
He gestured, and void energy began swirling around the training area. But this wasn't the controlled tendrils Kenji had been practicing with. This was raw, chaotic, alive.
"Feel that?" Akira asked. "That's what void energy really is. Not a tool, not a weapon. It's the space between thoughts, the pause between heartbeats, the silence between words."
Kenji closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. The void energy around him felt different now. Less like something to be manipulated and more like something to be experienced.
THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.
His heartbeat seemed to sync with the rhythm of the energy. Between each beat, there was a moment of absolute stillness.
"There," Yuki said. "You're starting to understand."
WHOMP.
Suddenly, Kenji was elsewhere. Not moved by his own power, but shifted by the void energy itself. He was standing on one of Boulder's floating platforms, twenty feet above the ground.
"How did I-"
"You didn't," Akira said. "You let the void move you. There's a difference."
RUMBLE.
The chamber shook again, more violently this time.
"They're getting closer," Boulder said. "Whatever they're doing up there, it's affecting the dimensional stability down here."
CRACK.
A hairline fracture appeared in one of the crystal spires.
"Time's running out," Yuki said. "Kenji, you need to access the next level now."
"I don't know how!"
"Stop knowing," Mei said. Her child's voice carried impossible authority. "Start being."
POP.
Another section of reality vanished near Kenji's feet. This time, he didn't jump away. Instead, he let himself fall into the gap.
For a moment, he was nowhere, not in the training chamber, not in any physical space, but in the void between spaces.
[System Warning: Dimensional Displacement Detected]
[Location: Null Space]
[Danger Level: Extreme]
[Recommendation: Immediate Return to Normal Space]
Kenji ignored the warnings. In the void, he could feel everything. The Council's vehicles above, their dimensional anchors trying to lock down space, the fear of his instructors, the steady pulse of the Core far below.
THRUM.
The Core's energy called to him. It was vast, ancient, and somehow familiar.
SNAP.
He was back in the training chamber, but everything had changed. The void energy around him wasn't chaotic anymore. It moved in patterns, responding to his presence like a living thing.
[Level Up! You are now Level 4]
[Void Affinity: 4.1]
[New Skill Unlocked: Void Resonance - Level 3]
[New Skill Unlocked: Dimensional Anchor - Level 1]
"Well," Akira said, his eyebrows raised. "That's one way to do it."
BOOM.
The sound came from above, shaking dust from the ceiling.
"They're starting to break through," Boulder said. CRACK. Stress fractures appeared in the stone walls he'd created.
"How long do we have?" Kenji asked.
"Maybe six hours," Yuki said. "Less if they bring in S-rank operatives."
"Then we need to reach the Core now," Mei said. "Ready or not."
WHOOM.
The entire chamber shuddered. Crystal spires swayed like trees in a hurricane.
"The dimensional anchors are working," Akira said grimly. "They're locking down space layer by layer. Soon, even I won't be able to teleport."
Kenji looked around at the four survivors. They'd waited thirty years for this moment, and now it was being forced on them by the Council's assault.
"What happens if we try to access the Core with the dimensional anchors in place?" he asked.
"Best case scenario?" Yuki said. "Nothing. The Core won't respond to void energy if space is locked down."
"Worst case?"
"Dimensional cascade failure," Mei said cheerfully. "Reality collapses in on itself. Everyone dies."
CRACK.
Another crystal spire developed fractures.
"Third option," Akira said. "We fight our way to the surface and deal with the Council directly."
"Four against however many they brought?" Boulder asked. GRIND. He flexed his stone fingers. "I like those odds."
"You would," Yuki said. "But fighting isn't the answer. We need to get Kenji to the Core before they can stop us."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The explosions above were getting closer and more frequent.
"They're not just trying to get in," Kenji realized. "They're trying to bring the whole structure down."
"Forcing us to the surface," Akira nodded. "Where their numbers advantage matters."
WHOOM.
The chamber shook so violently that one of the floating platforms crashed to the ground.
"Decision time," Yuki said. "Core or surface?"
Kenji closed his eyes and reached out with his enhanced void senses. Far below, the Core pulsed with patient power. Above, the Council's forces pressed closer, their dimensional anchors cutting off escape routes one by one.
THRUM.
The Core's pulse seemed to sync with his heartbeat again. In that rhythm, he found his answer.
"Core," he said. "We go down."
[Quest Update: Reach the Core Chamber]
[New Objective: Survive the Descent]
[Warning: Dimensional Anchors Detected]
[Void Walk Success Rate: 23%]
[Recommendation: Find Alternative Route]
"The system says void walking has a 23% success rate," Kenji reported.
"Better than I expected," Akira said. "But we're not void walking."
CRACK.
He placed his hand on the floor, and a section of crystal dissolved, revealing a spiral staircase leading down into darkness.
"We're taking the old-fashioned route," he said. "The Core is five levels down. Each level has guardians, traps, and challenges that were designed to test original Aethelgard players."
"And if we fail the tests?" Kenji asked.
"Then we don't get to worry about the Council anymore," Mei said with disturbing cheer.
BOOM.
The ceiling cracked, and debris began falling.
"Time to go," Boulder said. THUD. THUD. THUD. His heavy footsteps headed for the staircase.
As they descended into the darkness, Kenji felt the void energy around him intensify. Each step down brought him closer to the Core, closer to the power that could reshape reality itself.
THRUM.
The Core's pulse was stronger now, more insistent. It was calling to him, and soon, he would answer.