Consciousness returned slowly.
Not as a sudden awakening—
But as a reluctant drift back into pain.
Adéọlá inhaled sharply.
This time, the air did not burn.
It settled.
Heavy.
Controlled.
He opened his eyes.
Stone greeted him.
Cold. Uneven. Real.
For a brief moment, he lay still, staring upward at the fractured sky barely visible beyond the cave's jagged opening.
Then memory returned and the realization there of.
The fall.
The world.
The souls.
His body tensed— expecting something dangerous to happen
But nothing attacked.
No chaos.
No war.
Only silence.
Again.
"…so it wasn't a dream."
His voice was hoarse, but steadier than before.
"You are awake."
Adéọlá turned his head slightly.
Elder Afoláyan stood nearby, his form faint but composed, hands folded behind his back as though this were a courtyard lesson rather than the ruins of a dead world.
On the opposite side, leaning against nothing with visible impatience, was Varkhul.
"You lasted longer than expected," the demon said.
"…that's supposed to be reassuring?" Adéọlá muttered.
"It is factual. But still great for a mere ant"
Afoláyan stepped closer.
"Your body has stabilized—for now. I could have healed you instantly if i was in my prime" sighs
Adéọlá pushed himself up slowly.
This time—
His shoulder did not scream.
He flexed it cautiously.
"…it's healed."
"Temporarily aligned," Afoláyan corrected. "Not restored."
Varkhul added:
"You are still fragile as an ant. Easy squash" easily demonstrate vividly seemingly crushing something under his thumb
Adéọlá exhaled.
"…noted."
He stood.
Unsteady at first—
Then firmer.
Something had changed.
Subtly.
His movements felt… efficient.
As though his body no longer resisted itself.
His breath flowed cleaner.
Deeper.
Controlled.
The world felt—
Closer.
"Come," Afoláyan said.
Adéọlá hesitated.
Then followed.
They exited the ruin he laid on the stone bed.
And the world revealed itself again.
But this time—
He saw it.
Not just the ruin.
But what lay beneath it.
The ground shimmered faintly in his vision.
Lines.
Veins.
Leylines
Running beneath the earth like hidden currents.
Something no normal human should see
He frowned.
"…what is that?"
"Àṣẹ pathways," Afoláyan said.
"Remnants, but we should address how you are able to see us and that" Varkhul added.
"... that comes later" Afoláyan said.
Adéọlá took a few steps forward, his gaze drifting across the landscape.
Craters.
Collapsed structures.
Broken land.
But now—
He noticed more.
Fragments of metal embedded in the earth.
Not rusted.
Not decayed.
Intact.
Veins of something bright ran through shattered rock.
Golden.
His breath caught slightly.
"…gold…"
The word came out instinctively.
His father's image surfaced briefly—adorned in measured wealth, gold not as excess, but as symbol.
Power.
Authority.
Recognition.
Adéọlá stepped closer.
More veins and a little bit farther deep crater.
The crater was filled in
Darker substances.
Thicker.
Liquid pools trapped within cracked ground.
Strange formations.
The deeper they went the more veins and valuables he discovers
Crystal big enough to be a bed and others the size of a mill stone.
Dense metals he could not name—but felt carried weight.
Value.
He didn't understand them.
Not fully.
But instinct whispered—
This is not ordinary.
"everything here is not ordinary" he thought
His gaze shifted across the horizon.
Endless.
Untouched.
Unclaimed.
His breathing slowed.
"…no one owns this."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Afoláyan watched him carefully.
"…no one remains to. What a pity"
Varkhul smirked faintly.
"…yet."
Adéọlá said nothing.
But something settled quietly in his mind.
Not greed.
Not yet.
Something colder.
Clearer.
Potential.
"Focus."
Afoláyan's voice cut through his thoughts.
"You did not survive to stare at dirt."
"…this is more than dirt," Adéọlá muttered.
"Everything is more than it appears," Afoláyan replied. "That is why you must learn to see correctly."
Varkhul stepped forward. Tired of the back and forth
"Training begins."
Adéọlá exhaled slowly.
".... already"
One look from both silenced him
"…right."
His first lesson was not power.
It was failure.