After cleaning up all my supplies from the cave, I quickly made my way to the nearest town, enjoying the warming air as winter gave way to spring.
The fact that I had spent all fall traveling to get to Orario faster only to spend all of winter in a cave was kinda frustrating, but I didn't dwell on it too much.
After all, it was thanks to my traveling that I was able to gather enough magic stones to complete the body refinement stage.
Now, it was time to prepare to break through into the next major realm, the meridian creation phase. My earlier confusion about the name had finally been cleared up by the Nine Color Purifying Elemental Body Manual.
I did have meridians already, as did everyone, but I was going to make eight more meridians.
They were, in order, the Conception vessel, the Governing Vessel, the Penetrating Vessel, the Girdle Vessel, the Yin linking vessel, the Yang linking vessel, the Yin Heel Vessel, and the Yang Heel Vessel.
The rest of the meridians were already there, I could sense them as they were the only places in my body that didn't have Qi in them. I could push the Qi into them, thereby skipping this step entirely, but the manual went into great detail on why that was a bad idea.
For the first time since I started 'reading' the manual, it directly referenced something it called 'the traditional way'. According to it, the traditional way skips this step entirely and just pushes the Qi directly into the existing meridians to break into Qi refinement.
It then went on for about five thousand words, give or take a few thousand, on why this practice was 'ignorant', 'barbaric,' and how the practitioners of this method were, of course, 'mere frogs in a well'.
I'm not going to lie, I laughed as I read through that section, even if it made me realize that my earlier suspicions were correct. The manual was special, and it would not be good if other people found out about its existence before I was strong enough.
So, deciding to follow the Nine Color Purifying Elemental Body Manual's advice, I decided to go about making the extra meridians before I broke into Qi refinement.
Now, the only issue is that to officially break through to the meridian creation phase, I have to survive my first heavenly tribulation. It was so cliche I wanted to laugh, but it's my reality now.
Heavenly tribulations were the usual Xianxia fare; heavenly thunderstorms would gather above me and strike me with lightning when I tried to break through.
I need to take that energy and use it as fuel to make the foundation for all eight of the meridians I want to create during this stage.
Typically, if you were following the traditional way, one or three lightning strikes were all you needed to endure, as that's how much energy it takes to push your Qi into your empty meridians.
Once the initial Qi was in there, the heavenly tribulation was over, and you could safely call yourself a Qi refinement cultivator.
For me, since I am not sending the Qi into my meridians, there is not going to be a signal for the heavenly Tribulation to stop. Meaning I have to endure all nine bolts that it's going to throw at me.
Of course, while I'm getting struck by lightning nine times in a row, I need to keep focus and concentration on guiding the energy to the starting points of the eight meridians.
If I lose focus, the energy will dissipate, and I will not be able to try to form it again until the next lightning strike.
Since I have eight meridian foundations to create and nine lightning strikes to work with, that means I can lose focus and mess up exactly once. If I lose focus more than that, I wouldn't get another chance, and I will forever be missing that meridian.
No pressure.
All that is to say, I need to be in peak condition before attempting the heavenly tribulation. I need enough Qi in my body, no wounds or sickness, a good amount of Qi in the surroundings, a full stomach, a clear mind, and an isolated place.
If any of those things are missing, then my chance to do this right plummets. So, I need to make sure I don't accidentally trigger the heavenly tribulation before I'm ready.
This means I need to keep my Qi level around where it is currently. Anymore, and I run the risk of triggering it before I am ready.
And since fighting increases my Qi, I need to keep that to an absolute minimum, or I need to exhaust my Qi when I do fight so that it doesn't go over the maximum threshold. That also means no more meditation sessions, beast core eating, or using herbs to heal wounds.
Well, this sucks. On the bright side, since it's springtime I should finally, finally, be able to hop on a merchant's cart heading for Orario. Hopefully, that means I'll have a safer journey and travel faster than I did before.
=====================
"Hm, I don't know, kid. This isn't a trade hub, so we don't have any merchants heading over there for a while. We might send some over in a few weeks, or some might come here soon," The innkeeper of the nearest town dashed my hopes as I sat down for a meal to gather information.
"I see. Well, I guess I'll head over to the next town over then. They might have someone heading out sooner," I sighed in defeat before shoving the remainder of my bread in my mouth.
It was hard and very gross. Shouldn't have expected anything else; winter just ended after all. The fact that I was able to get a place to accept me was lucky.
"If you need a ride to Orario, I can help out," I heard a voice behind me before turning around and seeing who decided to answer my prayers.
It was a woman with dark hair and skin, with a rather revealing outfit. It covered the important bits but left a lot of her midriff, shoulders, and cleavage exposed. She wasn't wearing shoes for some reason either.
The other thing I noticed was her posture. She looked relaxed, a hand cocked on her hip while the other gave a lazy wave but my gut was telling me not to underestimate her.
She could fight. Her balance, stance, the way her eyes clocked me up and down, the way her muscles were built up and defined. Everything about her told me she could fight.
"Oh, like what you see, hot stuff?" She said while wiggling her eyebrows when she noticed my stare. I pushed down any embarrassment by reminding myself that this could be my ticket to Orario and I did not want to mess this up.
"I would have to be blind not to notice the generosity presented in front of me. However, I would hate to be a burden to you," I said with a smile as I slightly cupped my hands before bowing.
'He-he nailed it,' I thought with some satisfaction. I wasn't the most eloquent of people on a normal day, but I've read enough Xianxia novels to be able to fake it somewhat. Hopefully, I can talk my way into getting a ride and not escalate this to a fight.
"Oh my. Quite the charmer, aren't you? But don't worry, you wouldn't be a burden at all. Quite the opposite, you would be providing much-needed protection," She said with a smile, though I didn't like how she dragged the last word out.
"What kind of protection would you need? You seem pretty strong," I responded with some confusion. She didn't seem like she was lying, but she looked plenty strong.
'I wonder if I could take her in a fight,' I thought before catching myself, 'No, bad Leon! No fighting, not unless you want to get struck by lightning.'
"Indeed, however, I alone am not quite enough to guard a whole caravan. Despite my best efforts, I cannot be in multiple places at once. Hence, I am requesting your assistance."
"I see… and what makes you so sure that I can help?" I was genuinely curious. Was she sensing my Qi? Or maybe my posture gave it away?
"Hm, I wonder. The fact that you just came to this town despite it being the beginning spring means you traveled on the road through winter. The fact that we are the only caravan in town and have been for a while now means you did that alone. You can't get away with that unless you can handle yourself in a fight," The lady said with some exaggerated hand movements.
Hmm, it made sense, I guess.
"I see. And if I did agree to come with you, how much would it cost?" I asked. I didn't have much money, nor could I fight now. Well, I could fight if it came down to it. I would just have to make sure I expend more Qi than I take in.
"I only need your agreement that you will help defend the caravan if it gets attacked in a place where the other guards and I can't get to in time. If you do that, then that will pay for your ticket to Orario," She smiled before saying, "So, you in?"
I eyed the woman in front of me and went through the scenarios in my head. Joining the caravan would offer me speed and give me more leeway in what fights I get into. It also significantly raises my chances of getting involved in what I'll call, 'Xianxia bullshit'.
Not joining the caravan would slow me down and put me at greater risk of having to fight. It also runs the risk of offending the strong lady in front of me at the moment. Hmm, I was planning to join a caravan at the beginning anyway, so in a way, this was the plan all along.
"Okay, I'll help guard you guys on the way to Orario," I nodded. I hope I don't regret this.
After I accepted, the lady introduced herself as Aisha and let me over to where the caravan was preparing to depart. The caravan consisted of five wagons with about twenty people, once you included me and Aisha.
Each wagon was loaded with goods, barrels of food and wine, bundles of clothes and furs, and some wood from what I could see, though I caught a peek at one of the merchant's inventory lists and saw that there was much more than that.
"So, when do we leave?" I asked the head of the caravan, Gregory.
"As soon as the final inventory checks are completed. You'll be in charge of guarding the last wagon over there with Aisha," Gregory pointed to the wagon.
"Got it. Well, I'll head over there then," I gave a wave as I made my way over to the wagon, driven by Otto. He had light brown hair, green eyes, and looked a little younger than me. Maybe seventeen or eighteen.
His dad, Octavius, was in the passenger seat, a man about forty or so with a grey mustache and similar hair to his son, except the sides were greying. His eyes were blue instead of green, but other than that, they looked pretty similar.
The composition of the caravan was as follows: Two merchants for every wagon, followed by two guards for each wagon. I was stationed in the back with Aisha, with everyone else being in front of us. Soon enough, we set off with the horses pulling us slowly, yet surely, toward Orario.
"So, how did you decide who would be in front and who would be in the back?" I asked in an attempt to make small talk.
"It's based on hierarchy and what's in the wagon. The middle has the most valuable stuff, while the ends have the stuff that can take a beating if it comes down to it. Whoever is in charge is in the middle with the nice wagons, and then it fans out in order of importance. We're runts who just joined the company so we are stuck back here on this shitty thing. Meanwhile, those pricks get the nice seats," Octavious knocked on the wagon seat he was currently sitting on to emphasize how hard it was before Otto started waving his hands around in a panic.
"A-ah, dad! Don't say that so loud! What if Mr. Gregory heard you?" Otto stuttered, but Octavious just gave a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Ah, let him hear. What's he gonna do, increase our membership fee? We are done going to Orario after this, so we're leaving anyway," Octavious said before smirking.
"Besides, if I don't tell him, then he may go his whole life not knowing he's a prick. I can't let that happen, he needs to know," he said before giving a big laugh.
Aisha and I joined in while Otto desperately tried and failed to get us to quiet down. I felt bad for him, but I just imagined putting in that resignation letter.
'I am sorry, but I will be leaving the company for a new opportunity. I will take this time to inform you of something vitally important. You are a prick.' Said by a very professional businessman to another man in a suit behind a desk.
I gave another laugh at that image before making small talk with everyone while keeping an eye on the surroundings.
The most interesting thing that stood out was Aisha was not human but rather something called an Amazon.
They were an all-female race from a country called Telskyura. Aisha was leaving due to it being a pretty bad place, though she wouldn't go into more detail than that, but I could imagine.
She was heading to Orario to join a familia and hopefully become an adventurer. When I asked why she wanted to join a familia instead of just doing it solo, she gave me a weird look.
"Because I am not suicidal. You can't get or update a falna without joining a familia, and without a falna, you have no chance in the dungeon. Surface monsters and dungeon monsters are completely different after all," Aisha explained, which put a damper on my mood.
Maybe I needed to join one after all. But the thought of being under a 'god' made alarm bells ring in my head. This is a Xianxia world, gods do not go well with that.
"How do you join a familia if you need falna to get strong in the first place? You need to stand out and be strong before they accept you, right?" I asked, remembering what Ouka's Granddad and Dad said about joining the Amaterasu familia.
"Well, you see, I have a secret weapon. Unlike a lot of other people, I already have a falna. Pretty much everyone gets one in Telskyura if you live long enough. Since I'm already blessed, I have some strength that will help me stand out and join," Aisha said confidently, which piped my curiosity.
I wonder if she was a cultivator following what the "traditonal way" as the manual liked to put it. Also, she could just join under a new god after leaving her old one. Wouldn't that make the old god like, super pissed off?
As I thought about these thigns, I relaized I had been staring at her. I gave an apologetic smile when I got caught and went back to enjoying the scenery. I got to say, Octavious wasn't kidding about these seats. They weren't comfortable at all. Maybe I should have just walked.
It was about four hours after I started to regret coming on the caravan, on the pure fact that the seat was uncomfortable, and it was somehow just as fast as I had been walking, that I got to experience the upside of traveling with a group.
We made camp for the night, and I didn't have to do a single thing! Otto set up the tent, Octavious cooked while we guard just stood around the campsite keeping an eye on things.
The food was good too. It was made by someone who knew how to cook, and it had spices, both things that I had lacked this whole time.
After that, it was watch duty. We set up a rotation where two people would be up at a time before waking up the next pair and going to sleep. Aisha and I got paired up together since we guarded the same wagon.
It was late into the night, and we were on our shift. We both sat around a campfire, Aisha was poking the fire with the stoker absentmindedly when I decided that the silence was too much and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"So…why do you dress like that?" I said after failing to come up with any small talk. I meant to ask if everyone from Telskyura dressed like that or if she was cold, but my brain had a stupid attack.
Aisha stopped her movement and shot me an amused look.
"Like what, hmm?" She gave a quiet hum at the end while tilting her head.
"You know…like a w-… person who is hot all the time," I caught myself from making a mistake. I need to redirect this somehow.
"Maybe because I'm hot all the time? I'm sure you noticed, I am quite hot," she laughed as I just put my head in my hands, wishing I could get out of this conversation.
I wasn't even embarrassed because of her…womanly charms as it were. No, the source of my embarrassment was that I forgot how to interact with people normally, to the point I couldn't make small talk.
I did so well with Ouka and his family. Hell, I was doing great with Otto and Octavious today! What is happening? Did I regress that much when I spent the winter alone in a cave? How the hell do Xianxia protagonists interact with people normally after spending centuries in seclusion? I'm struggling after three months!
"Hahaha- I'm sorry! It's just- I noticed the looks you were giving me earlier, I thought you were more thick-skinned than this," Aisha laughed at my reaction, which didn't make me feel better.
"I wasn't staring at you. I was…just looking in your direction. You confused me, so I was trying to figure out what was going on with you," I explained, both looking for an out and to deflect the accusation that I was staring at her.
I was but not for the reasons she was thinking! I can't let the first impression be ruined by a misunderstanding. But I couldn't just tell her about what I was thinking about.
One, because it would be obvious that I was different from everyone else, and two, she might do something with that information that leads to trouble down the road.
How? I don't know, but I have read enough Xianxia, enough stories, to know that somehow that information would come back and bite me.
"Confused? What could be so confusing about me, hmm? Please, tell me," She said while crossing her arms, which made me realize, again, just how little clothing she had on, even though it was nighttime.
Yes, a perfect distraction. Asking what I meant to talk about to begin with.
"Like, are you seriously not cold? Spring is starting, but that only makes a difference during the day. It's still chilly at night, yet here you are. Also, your feet! How do your feet not have cuts on them?" I threw away my embarrassment and summoned up the questions bothering me.
"Am I cold? No, I'm not. Amazons are more resistant to temperature changes than humans are. As for my feet, I've been walking around barefoot my whole life. I didn't know shoes existed until I left Telskyura," Aisha stopped laughing long enough to answer my questions, though she quickly got a smirk on her face again.
"If you don't believe me, you can check for yourself," She said before lifting her foot and shoving it at me. Sure enough, there wasn't anything on it.
"Yes, yes. Now get your stinky foot away from me," I said, annoyance dripping from my voice as I slapped her foot away.
It was then that something weird happened.
My entire body was infused with Qi; it was constantly on the surface of my skin, slowly leaking out whenever I touched anything.
It was how I avoided the heavenly tribulation, a slow supply of Qi leaving my body meant I wouldn't accidentally get too full, and trigger it. Up until this point, my Qi harmlessly went into everything I had touched before dissipating into the air.
Yet, when I touched her foot that didn't happen.
The moment I made contact with her skin, I felt the Qi that should have gone into her get pushed back into me, or just hover around her.
There was something around her that prevented the Qi from flowing in naturally. Something that goes against everything I've touched up until this point.
I was so surprised I pushed her foot away with more force than I wanted to, resulting in a loud smack and her foot shooting back down.
It hit the ground with a thud, and we were left in silence, the only sound being the crackling of the fire.
I was just sitting there trying to process exactly what just happened and how that was possible, but the only explanation was her falna. How it worked, I didn't know, but the results were pretty clear.
Falna didn't let Qi pass. It explained why I didn't feel any Qi coming off her when I touched her and why my Qi didn't go into her like everything else, but it did not explain how she was still alive or even existed.
Even dead things had Qi, the rock I was sitting on being proof of that, yet here she was. Not leaking any Qi and not letting any Qi go into her.
'I'll have to touch other blessed people to be sure, but it's looking like falna and Qi are incompatible. Hopefully, when my ability to sense and manipulate Qi improves, I can figure out how it works,' I thought with a frown before pushing that out of my head.
I looked over at Aisha after finishing my train of thought, only to find she was just staring at her foot. I wonder if she feels something too, or if I feel weird to her like she feels weird to me.
I didn't ask her, though. If she didn't feel anything, then I don't want to draw it to her attention. I hope those who are blessed by the so-called gods don't feel my Qi. It would be tough to blend in otherwise.
We both sat in silence until the end of our shift, Aisha having changed from looking blankly at her foot to staring at me. Hm, maybe this is payback for when I stared at her.
Eventually, we woke up our replacements before going to bed. The rest of the night passed peacefully.
Come morning, Aisha was back to her normal self with no mention of last night. Her reason for staring at me would have to remain a mystery.
I did end up making contact with Octavious. I made a joke, he slapped me on the back, and my Qi acted normally entering him with no resistance. Aisha was the weird one.
The trip continued rather smoothly; the other guards at the front of the caravan had to chase off a few animals here and there, but we didn't encounter any monsters.
Thus, we safely pulled up to Orario. And holy shit, it was big.
The walls were massive, extending far into the sky. We could see them the whole day, first appearing as a speck on the horizon before growing into the slab of brick and stone that took up the whole skyline.
They were uneven, with plenty of cracks and craters, with the stone being decolored from age. But they were so big, I don't think even those crazy rock climbers back home would try and climb them.
There was a huge gate that was currently suspended by chains thicker than my waist. A small group of guards stood at the opening, slowly but surely making their way through the line of people going in.
It was when I was waiting in this line that a thought occurred to me. I currently can't cultivate until I go through my heavenly tribulation. And to do that, I need to get struck by lightning.
Something that is going to be loud, destructive, and attention-grabbing. And I'm about to enter a massive city, filled with blessed, and maybe, other cultivators. Maybe I should wait until I'm done with that before going in.
"Oh, I just remembered! I have something to do, so I'll be heading off now," I said while we lined up, causing Octavious, Otto, and Aisha to give me a confused look.
"What do you mean, 'you have something to do'? I thought you wanted to go to Orario, this is it. Why are you running off when we are almost inside? What could you even do outside of the wall?" Octavious frowned and gave me a bunch of questions I did not know how to answer.
"Ah…well, you see… I-uh," I desperately looked around before gathering my wits and responding.
'I need to go pick up a present at a nearby village.'
"I need to go get struck by lightning," I said, satisfied with my lie before reality caught up with my brain.
'Oh shit! I said the quiet part out loud!'
"Huh?" Otto was dumbfounded, Aisha tilted her head to the side, and Octavious just narrowed his eyes at me.
"Anyway, gotta go! Bye!" I said before hopping off the wagon and quickly sprinting in the opposite direction. I ignored the shouts behind me and kept going.
"Ugh, I'm such an idiot. This better not devolve into some powerful cultivators coming to fuck with me when I'm going through the tribulation," I muttered as I kicked a rock in frustration.
I took a deep breath in, held it for five seconds, before letting it out. I repeated that a few times before focusing on my surroundings.
I was in the middle of the forest, the sunlight gently trickling down through the leaves, with a soft breeze flowing through them. Some birds were singing softly, and I think I saw a squirrel or two run up a tree.
The peaceful scenery definitely helped me calm down and push away my previous irritation. What's done is done. I need to focus on breaking through and not fucking up my meridians.
'Alright, let's get prepared for this shit.'
First things first, I continued my walk through the forest, searching for any areas with high Qi density. It took about two hours, but eventually, I came across a small lake that would work.
Alright, location with lots of Qi, check. Now then, let's get some food in me. I took out the prepared food I still had in my storage ring and began to feast on it.
A meal of venison, rabbit, bird, nuts, bread, and water was quickly devoured, leaving me full and content.
'Pretty good last meal. Just in case I end up dying doing this,' I thought, remembering that was a distinct possibility before shaking my head and smacking my cheeks.
"No, bad thoughts! It's not going to be my last meal, it is my victory meal! I'm just eating it prematurely, after all, it is all but assured I succeed," I put on a boisterous voice and repeated 'I will succeed' a few times before being satisfied.
A full stomach and a good mental state, check!
I didn't have any wounds on me, so all that was left to do was load myself up with Qi and start this party.
I got into the lotus position and fell into a familiar rhythm, letting the outside world fade away as I focused on gathering the surrounding Qi into my body with my breath.
The Qi in my body, previously moving in slow, lazy patterns, began to circulate throughout at increasing speeds. It had a smooth path from my skin to my bones before it collided with my empty meridians.
It was knocking on them, trying to push through to enter, but it lacked the energy. Luckily, that wasn't the goal for me. Not yet anyway.
Thanks to this, I could map out the entirety of my meridians and where the starting points for the new meridians would be. I knew where to guide the energy to, now I just had to not fuck this up.
Crack
BOOM
I opened my eyes and saw that the once peaceful lake scenery was completely gone. Dark storm clouds gathered above me, leaving the sky nearly black. Lighting crackled ominously through them as it slowly made its way above me, like a cat stalking its prey.
The wind had picked up, the once light breeze kicking up high waves in the lake and making trees bow as their leaves were ripped off and scattered through the air.
The birds had stopped singing, and the squirrels had run away.
The heavenly tribulation had finally arrived.
I craned my neck to look at the spiral of multicolored lightning circling above me. I took a deep breath and felt everything disappear into the background. All that was left was me and the heavenly tribulation.
Gently, I lifted my hands and held them out. Not in defiance or confidence. I held them out like I was asking for a handshake, my fingers gently held together with my palms open to the sky.
"Come," I whispered, and the lightning above obliged.
Crack
My entire body seized, locked into position as the first strike ripped through me. The Qi in my body went nuts, swirling around chaotically as the lightning bolt ran up and down, again and again.
I…I need to do something. That's right, I need to guide it to the start points for my new meridians. I had almost forgotten.
I tried. I failed. The Qi wouldn't follow my command. It was too excited, while the lighting was too prideful.
When I asked why, it huffed and ignored me. Why? It was lightning, it was Qi, it should listen to me. I closed my eyes, ignoring the now grey world, and focused on the bright lightning.
It was colorful, a mixture of nine different colors all dancing around my body. My Qi followed along like little puppies. When I tried to calm it, it said it wanted to follow the colors instead. For the colors were prettier, and I was just grey.
I pouted, I didn't want to be grey. I wanted to be colorful. So I went and asked the lightning to share one of its colors.
The lightning was surprised. It thought I would fight it for my Qi, that I would demand all of it. It did not understand why I just wanted one.
"Because if I took it all, then you wouldn't be as colorful and beautiful as you are now," I whispered and smiled.
The lightning stopped moving along with my Qi. It was thinking. I let it think. It thought about it some more. I let it think some more.
I wonder why it needs to think so hard? Is it okay?
Before I could ask, the lightning agreed and shed off one of its colors before giving it to me. It was a light brown, golden in color. The golden color easily obeyed me as I guided it to the place that would be its new home.
Some of the Qi inside me turned golden brown, that Qi easily followed my lead and flowed around the newly created meridian. It was then that the world, previously grey, gained a golden brown in some places, like an incomplete painting.
Same with me, parts of me were now golden, but the rest of my Qi was grey. I needed more colors. I looked up and asked for another lightning bolt; the previous one had gone back home, and I didn't want to bother it again.
The sky obliged, and a new lightning bolt came and excited the grey Qi, but my golden Qi did not move from its home. It was happy with being golden, now the other Qi wanted a color.
I asked the lightning bolt again, and the lightning bolt agreed more easily than last time. It was still surprised, but it gave me its red. I guided the red back home within me, some Qi following along as it turned red before settling in its new home.
The world then gained a new color to match. Red and golden brown now colored the landscape, and it was then that I realized something.
The world always had colors, I was just too grey to see them. If I wanted to see more colors, then I would need to ask the lightning bolts for more.
So, I did.
The third lightning bolt gave me dark brown, the fourth one silver, the fifth one blue, the sixth one green, the seventh one black, and the eighth one white.
The world and I were now brimming with colors. They shifted and morphed into one another, a chaotic dance constantly playing out. A dance that I had been blind to my whole life until this moment.
However, despite being full of colors, some of my Qi still didn't have a home. The Qi just couldn't turn into a color in time before the lightning bolt went away, and it lost power to make that final push.
It was then that the ninth bolt descended and asked what was wrong. I told it about the Qi not being able to move into one of the houses before it nodded and said it would give me eight of its colors so that the remaining Qi could go home.
I asked if it was okay with only one color left, and it laughed and said it would be fine.
I couldn't hold the color yet, so I would have to wait.
Once I was stronger, I could get that color. It said once I did that, it would happily give the rest of its color to me.
I couldn't respond, as it gave my remaining Qi the last push they needed.
The rest of my Qi excitedly chose a color that I had and rushed into their new homes. Before I could thank the lightning bolt, it disappeared, and I suddenly felt really tired.
The world's new colors began to lure me to sleep, and I quickly forgot about the last lightning bolt.
For now, I just want to experience the new colors of the world. I let them rock me to sleep as I slowly closed my eyes, being the most at peace since I came to this world.