Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

  14

  “Oh so you are back,” Ebi said hiding a strange mirror he had in his hands, “I didn’t realize you would come back so soon.”

  It appeared I was back in that place that I once thought was the inside of a well. Truly my dreams were getting weirder and weirder each time. How could such a world exist? This went beyond my wildest imagination of what I thought possible. The old man had been startled by my return, he was covering something behind him and I wanted to know what kind of mirror it was.

  “What is that behind you?” I spoke in a curious manner going towards him. “Come on you can show me. There is no one besides me and you here.”

  He blushed and moved back even more, it was looking suspicious and arousing my curiosity even more. I walked slowly towards him with my eyes opening wider in intense anticipation.

  “It’s nothing why don’t you just uh warm up and I will get back to you,” he said waving me away with his right hand.

  I wasn’t going to just give up. I moved swiftly and grabbed the mirror before he could hide it behind the rock. The mirror showed the real world and it looked like he was looking at some maidens near an ocean. I laughed out loud at him and I could hardly believe that this was what he did with all his spare time.

  “You really are a dirty old man,” I teased him waving it in his face.

  He got irritated by my actions and moved in quickly, dropping me flat using the hinge end of his flute. The look in his eye showed me resenting fury. I gave it back instantly fearing he might hit me again with his powerful music instrument.

  “No more games. Now that you are here I can explain a few things,” he spoke while stashing his flute into his upper robes. “As I said before, the gauntlet is a powerful weapon of unimaginable power. However, with no exceptions it takes time and patients to master it. And one other exception, you must have a heart that is not tainted by darkness. The Rainku could not use this gauntlet or my other two treasures because their hearts were soiled and filled with evil.”

  Not tainted by evil? I wasn’t’ sure I fit that description. My heart was far from pure. I had done a lot of terrible things in the past. Nothing I could do now would change all of that. I would also say the same for Paul and Tye. We weren’t exactly free from darkness. But perhaps we had been given a chance to redeem ourselves and change our future.

  “But wait a minute!” I thought of something. “What will happen to my friends Tye and Paul? Katarina might just kill them soon or they are already…..”

  “Calm down,” he stopped me and paused for a second. “They are not dead, I can feel their energy right now because part of my soul is attached to the other treasures. They are barely alive, their life force is weak, although clinging on strongly.”

  What good fortunes! My friends were still alive. I kept believing and hoping that all of my actions weren’t in vain. That being said, it felt too good to be true. I meaning sensing people that far away seemed almost unfeasible. Was he really the legendary Ebi?

  “Don’t doubt you fool,” he hit me in the head with his flute. “Trust me I can feel them.”

  Could he read my mind? Hopefully not, at that moment I was thinking a hundred ways to destroy his flute. Thinking that way helped me pass time as I continued to hear the old man blabber about his stupid gauntlet.

  “Imbecile say what,” he said and I replied, “what?”

  He got so angry and hit me in the face with his flute. It felt worse than a slap and more painful than a punch. I clearly had to get that flute away from him and destroy it before it destroyed my head.

  “Will you pay attention now?” he asked this time raising his annoying flute at me.

  I nodded trying to not get hit again. Having realized that my pain would only increase if I kept resisting, I decided to give him my full attention to avoid any more pain.

  “This is important,” he began, “I know that even if I told you to flee Okaya you wouldn’t do it. You are not strong enough to face Katarina Fox and remember she also has a great power she received from the white water mists and trust me it’s a dirty trick and deadly. You need to stay here with me for at least ten years before you can face the Rainku.”

  Ten years! That was too much even for me. By the time I was done Tye and Paul would be dead. I refused his offer and told him that I would save them my own way even it meant sacrificing my life. Although I thought what I said was noble he still snapped and hit me in the head with his fist this time. Clearly, he had some anger management issues and he seemed to be taking them out on me. I’d imagine being stuck in the world inside this gauntlet would make him less hostile, but I was wrong. It had actually made him more primitive and senile than I feared. I just hoped though he could help me somehow unlock a secret power that would help me defeat the Katarina Fox without staying here that long.

  “It’s futile,” I said holding the swollen half of my left cheek, “I’m going no matter what you say. So tell me something useful like a powerful attack or enchantment.”

  Somehow in the previous events I had managed to gain a bit of courage to face my problems and I must say it felt good. He started to laugh as he looked up, there was nothing up there and yet he found joy in that. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking and planning. My heart was in a calamity of confusion the more I thought of my friends Tye and Paul. How were they? What were they doing right now? I needed to get to them fast and release them from the clutches of those powerful monsters. This meant swallowing my pride and asking desperately for help, even from someone I didn’t really like.

  “Help me please,” I begged him getting on my knees, “just help me rescue my friends soon and I will do whatever it takes.”

  It was probably not the best choice of words, used carefully my words would be turned against me by this old man.

  “You have a great heart,” he said smiling. “But are you sure you will do whatever it takes even if it means destroying all the members of the Rainku around the world?”

  “Whoa! Whoa! I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion yet if I were you.”

  See! I was right. All I wanted to do was have him help me take out one member if possible, but now he demanded I take out all of them. If he couldn’t beat them when he was said to be a very powerful wizard then what chance did I have? I couldn’t agree with his words. I thought it through for a while as I decided what action to take. My friends were more important, but going against the Rainku was just clear stupidity.

  “Well,” he asked as he was getting impatient, “are you gonna do it or not?”

  He demanded an answer right away and I wasn’t ready to give him one yet. Now more than ever, I wanted to just wake up and see what was going on in the real world.

  “I’ll decide later,” I replied with a long sigh. “Right now I need to wake up and check on my injured friends.”

  Slowly and painfully, I slapped myself very hard on my left cheek, and only felt an intense throb rush into my head. But that wasn’t enough, I was still trapped in this forsaken world. I tried almost everything painfully possible and yet it didn’t work.

  “Oh! I forgot to tell you,” he laughed, “this world is one created by the gauntlet so you can’t leave unless it’s time to.”

  Well that was convenient, only if I had known sooner, I wouldn’t have busted my knuckles on the ground like that. It felt like the old man was enjoying my humiliation and self realized stupidity although what he said clearly bothered me.

  “What do you mean when it’s time?” I asked him putting pressure on my hurt knuckles. “And what do you mean the world created by the gauntlet?”

  He kept laughing as if I had said something funny, “if you had asked me in the first place I would have told you. The more I look at you the more I realize that you are a fool.”

  He was right! I had felt that this creepy yellow place felt rather weird and abnormal. I could feel an intensified burst of pain whenever I was in this world unlike in my normal dreams. To be p
recise, I would say that this world was almost real. Not some imaginary enchanted illusion. But if it was an illusion, then it was a really good one.

  “Well if you complete the first five levels of your training then you may leave,” he said getting off the rock he was sitting at and looking through his mirror giggling. “If only I was still and young lad and free.” He sighed as he looked widely through his strange mirror.

  So I was stuck with him till I was ready? That truly sounded like a horrible nightmare. What he said before tormented my mind constantly. Ten years of training could make me stronger, but it was way too long. I had another critical question to ask him and hopefully he had the answer to it.

  “Hey old man,” I began after readjusting my weight to sit properly. “I fought a creature off with a burst of intense energy far stronger than the yellow energy. Not me to be exact, but the other me or my anger. I don’t know how this works. Can you explain what that was?”

  He didn’t answer as he kept on looking through his mirror giggling like a true pervert. By then I knew that asking him was a waste of time. He was far too occupied to help me.

  “I see,” he finally spoke startling me completely. “You subconsciously released your rage and it gave you more power. That’s to be expected from a Roguean although few of you can manage to bottle up your anger this long without destroying everything. Well thanks to that, your anger has taken a new personality that could destroy you and everyone else you care for.”

  Okay that bothered me! I always thought I was exceptionally different from my country. I thought being good at controlling my anger was actually helping me in that long run. I guess I was wrong. Not only was my anger monstrous, it consumed me completely whenever I let my emotions control me. And to make things worse, my anger had two guns.

  Speaking of which, I had to ask him why I couldn’t summon those weapons unless I was completely enraged. I believed those weapons were vital in my next battles as I wrestled my way into Danyen.

  “So what about the guns? Why can’t I summon them unless I am angry?”

  That finally caught his attention and he put away his mirror, and looked at me in a puzzled manner and laughed to himself. My body tensed as I felt a slight aggression to get up and punch him. I think he deserved it.

  “I have a flute, it was my weapon and you have guns,” he said holding his flute proudly.

  “The gauntlet chooses weapons suitable for us to use in battle. I would say anger is the key to bringing them out so you need to face your anger and hatred if you want to control your power.”

  Well that made things a whole lot easier! Fighting my other personality for his guns seemed like suicide to me and I didn’t think he would be someone I could defeat. What am I saying? I was talking about myself, actually fearing myself.

  “Are you sure?” I replied frightened at the idea. “Can’t I just borrow them or steal them from him without fighting him?”

  Ebi looked upset as he stood up and smacked me in the head with his flute lightly. “You are such a coward and fear is not going to save your friends from certain doom. The only way to succeed in life is to face what you dread the most and overcome it Riyo.”

  After saying that to me, I felt an ominous presence start to rise. The once yellow sky was now in a state of blend between orange and yellow. At first a mist like form emerged, but then it took shape and a visible nature. What was this feeling? I felt a presence consumed in rage and fury. Something very terrible and vile was coming, emerging out of the mist.

  “You truly are pathetic and don’t deserve the power you have been given,” a voice hissed from within and somehow I was struck from behind by a wave of pure light energy.

  In an instant, I caught a glimpse of my attacker and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  “Whoa that guy really is me,” I whispered in pain at the sudden epiphany.

  The energy of the blast was so intense and painful that I couldn’t regain my posture as I fell a good distance away. I couldn’t believe my other self was a dirty fighter. He hadn’t even given me a chance to prepare at all as he kept attacking relentlessly. But then again he was me, and this is what I truly was like on the inside. This was what I was capable of when I was angry, truly frightening. His rage and madness blinded him to anything else, even logic. Somehow, I managed to evade some of his attacks by maneuvering out of his arm’s span. With that opportunity, I summoned all of the yellow energy from the gauntlet in time to counterattack. It was like looking in a mirror except at a shabbier and psychotic version of myself. His hair was red with black lashes like mine except some of it was up. He wore the same clothes as me and the cotton cloak to shield the cold. “I see why they were laughing.”

  I started laughing out loud, finally realizing why everyone was making fun of me before. It was terribly ridiculous and I truly couldn’t believe I had been dressed like that the whole time.

  “Stop laughing,” my other self growled out firing beams of light from two guns that had suddenly appeared in his hands. “Everything that has happened to you was because of your own weakness. Father was right about you. You are nothing, but a waste of pure royal blood.”

  “Just shut up already,” I screamed in despair, feelings hurt a little bit.

  I knew deep down he was right. In the depths of my heart I truly felt this way about myself.

  “You can’t even fight for yourself despite all the power you have gained,” he rattled and shot at me massive amount of energy bullets all at the same time. “Just drop down and die. You would be doing all of us a favor in the end.”

  The energy emitted was intense and scattered everywhere making it impossible to evade by any means. The sky changed to pitch black as numerous red energy bullets descended upon me. Even with the yellow energy covering my body, I was going to suffer massive damage if those blasts managed to make contact. From the back of my eye, I noticed that he had already vanished into the air to make another offensive attack at me. With no other choice left, I took a gamble and summoned all the yellow energy into one hand before throwing it in the direction of the incoming blasts. Instantly, I was thrown backwards as I watched the opposite lights collide and illuminate the sky.

  “Where are you looking at?” my other self whispered from behind me. Somehow he had managed to slip by me and had his guns pointed at my back. “Your sympathy and kindness blinds you and makes you fragile and vulnerable. Goodbye weakling.”

  A sudden burst of pain emerged as I was shot upwards into the sky. This fight seemed over for me. He was clearly superior in speed and power, and all my hope of victory seemed to go down the drain. I gritted my teeth as I tried hard not to lose myself to the pain.

  “Just die already,” he said again appearing in front of me. “Your pitiful existence makes me sick.”

  How was he doing that? It felt like he could fly. Perhaps in this world, one could do more than he dreamed possible. Back to my situation! With my hands shielding my head and chest, I waited carefully waiting for my chance.

  He ruthlessly attacked me all over the sky with all his might doing more harm to me than good. Was he trying to kill me? What a fiend! Clearly if I lost then it was going to be over for all my friends and possibly for me. What made it worse was that he didn’t give me a chance to rest or get up. He really wanted me out of the way. Breathing heavily, I caught a glimpse or vision of Tye and Paul in a room being beaten to death. I blinked unknowingly.

  What! Was this really happening? I could no longer tell the difference between illusions, visions from reality. Everything was all jumbled up in my mind thanks to this stupid gauntlet. My face was smashed into the ground by the other evil me and I coughed up blood. Filled with anger, I caught the heel of his foot and threw him as hard as I could. I watched him fall a few yards across into some rubble. He didn’t bother getting up for a few seconds as I punted out loud. Just what was that vision? I couldn’t take it any longer. All my bottled up feelings were starting to emerge after w
hat I had seen. Pure raw anger exploded within me and my breathing changed rapidly with each second. I was angry; however, in control of myself.

  “What is this?”

  The yellow energy merged with the orange energy and two guns appeared in each of my hand. They looked different from the ones the other me had. The guns were connected by white sashes that swerved rapidly behind me. They resonated with my emotions converting them into energy my guns absorbed. I now understood what was happening at that moment. I had been given a chance to fight back and I wasn’t going to waste it.

  “You got a little power and now you think you can take me on huh Rid?” my other self whispered from behind.

  “Don’t you ever get tired of the dirty tactics?” I asked.

  Rather infuriating, it seemed that’s all he could do against me. He shot me with two bullets of rage, knocking me off my feet forward. Strange! For some reason, they didn’t hurt as I would have imagined. Before he could attack again, I instinctively ducked and rolled back a few inches before shooting two jolts of lights at the fiend. He didn’t take it too kindly as I could feel his intense anger leap a few times up. It seemed the more I dragged this long the stronger his rage got. His anger surpassed my own and so did his firepower. I was clearly in deep trouble.

  “He is a manifestation of your own anger Rid. Don’t lose to yourself or you won’t be able to save your dear friends,” Ebi yelled running for his life from a blast that was coming for him.

  “Easier said than done!”

  In my mind, I knew that there was no way Ebi could dodge that attack. So I dashed at full power and intercepted the attack using my own body before it hit him. The energy filled bullet him me dead center in the chest causing me falter back. Tired and injured, my life force seemed to be dwindling, holding barely on a whim. A few more seconds of that kind of abuse and I would be a goner. Although, I could still win this. Both of our powers were very steadily dropping down which meant the next few seconds would decide it all. Like my own, his guns also sipped the life energy out of him too, meaning one last final move. He was me, so that was what he was thinking too.

  “You are mine,” he said firing two of the hugest bullets of rage. He grinned meanly already celebrating his impending victory.

  “I guess it can’t be helped.”

  I was prepared to sacrifice all my life energy if it came down to it. Slowly, I focused my aim by closing one eye, adjusting my breathing. Seconds later, I fired two giant blasts of energy bullets towards him without any hesitation. It depleted more energy than I thought and sent my body tattering backwards. Before I realized it, I hit the ground, knees trembling terribly. My skull felt cracked and heavy. I raised my head and saw the four massive blasts intercept resulting in a huge explosion. My energy bullets overcame his and hit him almost wiping everything out. I felt overjoyed and began to have faith that I could do anything if I believed. I had grown stronger and reached a new level, on top of that I had managed to destroy the other me. As I was getting ready to close my eyes I caught a glimpse of him. He was still alive and kicking although badly hurt.

  “I will not lose to the like of you,” he growled out loudly getting up and charging directly towards me.

  No! I was in trouble, with no strength left I couldn’t escape or move as I saw him vanish in the air in quick speed towards me. Instantly he was right on top of me getting ready to deliver the final blow when the strangest thing happened. The gauntlet glowed on my arm and repelled him backwards into the air. He didn’t drop down, in fact he turned into orange, fading away slowly.

  “You haven’t won yet Rid,” he grinned menacingly with a dark stare. “Eventually the anger will take over and you will destroy everything you love dearly. That is your destiny, the destiny of all Rogueans.”

  “No I won’t,” I whispered towards him as I panted heavily.

  “You say that now, but wait till you know the truth. We shall meet again next time for I am you.”

  15

  The battle with myself was finally over. I looked into the sky as I sighed a breath of relief. There was one thing however that still bothered me more than anything. It was the last thing my other personality said before he disappeared. What did he mean by that? What truth was he talking about? Something about his words sent chills down my spine.

  “Phew I’m glad that nightmare is over,” Ebi said standing next to me with his mirror in his hands, “for a second there I thought you were a goner.”

  Yeah right!

  I so wanted to stand up and kick him in the head badly, but I couldn’t even stand. Every muscle in my body responded to any movement I made with agonizing sinking pain. To my amazement, my new weapons didn’t disappear until I thought it. They were indeed powerful and yet dangerous to wield. If I wasn’t careful enough, I would shoot away my normal life force, resulting in death. Definitely, an odd dilemma to be in considering my dire situation.

  “I evaluated your style of battle, stamina and your potential will power. To be honest, I am not impressed,” Ebi chuckled folding his hands looking me in the eye.

  “Well thanks for the confidence,” I smiled sarcastically looking away.

  “Now we can get to the basics,” he continued as he adjusted his posture. “There is one thing you have to do before I teach you everything. Promise me that you will defeat all the Rainku, and all my wisdom and power will be passed down to you.”

  Goodness no!

  He was playing dirty again. I didn’t want to face all those monsters at all. It was bad luck that had intertwined our fates with the Rainku and I didn’t want to make it worse by charging at them. True enough, they had taken over most of the world except for a few major countries like Rogue and Iyenka who had enough monstrous power to fight back. Nevertheless, the Rainku were ruthless monsters that needed to be stopped. And I definitely wasn’t the right man stupid enough to attack them head-on. But Ebi had faith in me. He believed that I had the potential and strength for such a task. He was indeed a fool to think that; however, I needed his help to rescue Paul and Tye. I thought to myself for a second as this was a difficult decision. The look in Ebi’s eyes told me that he wasn’t someone I could fool. At my current level, I was no match for her, I could barely take on a few of her minions, let alone her army. It was now excruciatingly clear what my options in the matter were. With that in my mind, I quickly agreed to his deal under the condition that my training would be short as time was all that held Tye and Paul’s lives.

  “Okay,” he agreed and smiled. “In this world, the rules of reality don’t apply. This world exists outside the laws of time and space. As long as I am in this world, I can use my power to stop time, making a decade here one day in the real world. So don’t worry!”

  “Okay he is insane,” I thought to myself, something like that wasn’t possible at all and yet he was serious about it. “You are joking right?”

  He didn’t look like he was joking at all as he quickly shook his head. He mumbled something in an ancient language and raised his pinky. I was shocked as I got back to my feet, moving closer for a better look. Suddenly, it glowed and green energy chains shot out and surrounded the place quickly stopping everything. The lazy looking clouds in sky stopped in place as all went quiet, silent to the core. Wait! Was that it? Did he really think I would buy that? I wasn’t a mere fool and it was going to take more than his words and this illusion to convince me otherwise.

  Everything in this world seemed dead and completely still as if frozen. His trick was rather convincing, if I was a child that is. This place had to be some sort of illusion my eyes were playing on me. That being said, I still couldn’t get out of it even if I wanted to.

  “Now let’s begin,” he said taking out his flute. “Time is not on our side Rid.”

  Was he about to play me a tune? I seriously hope not, it was the last thing I wanted to hear at the moment. As I dreaded, he indeed started playing a strange tune, moving slightly towards me.

&nbs
p; It emitted a strange noise which somehow jolted my body peculiarly. I began to feel different as my body was rejuvenated miraculously. What was this feeling? I no longer felt the dreadful sensation of pain and fatigue.

  Without a word, he attacked and I barely dodged, “What was that for?”

  I took a few steps back and aligned my body in a defensive position. Ebi had gone senile, not good. In two quick steps to the right, he charged towards me without warning raising his flute like a weapon. What was he trying to accomplish by attacking me? I mean I didn’t want to hurt him, but at the same time I didn’t want him to do otherwise. Within a second of getting a fractured skull, I managed to block his flute with the hilt of my new weapons. They had instinctively appeared in my hands, ready to do my biding. Ebi was strong, he was powerful enough to overcome me even without the aid of any of the ultimate treasures, not accounting his age of course.

  “Don’t hesitate or I will truly kill you,” he growled chanting something unknown to me. His whole body became like a lightning rod, channeling energy of lightning through his fingers towards me. “If you can’t beat me then you might as well give up on your friends.”

  “Never,” I growled panting hard.

  It was truly difficult, much tougher than my recent battle with my other self by far. The difference in power and strength between us was like heaven and earth. Ebi was truly a man worthy of his legendary status. We battle for what seemed like an eternity, neither of us willing to give up. I knew what lay in my path, so I had to give it my all in this training. However, I couldn’t keep up with him, my stamina was dwindling the longer the guns stayed in my hands. Realizing my fatal weakness, I waltzed back and gave myself sometime to rest. Ebi seized this opportunity and moved in close into my blind spot. With one quick swoop, he moved behind me and hit the back of my knees violently. I yelped as I fell to the ground in pain. Who knew a blow to the back of the knees could hurt so much?

  “Are you giving up Rid?” Ebi asked standing right in front of me.

  “Not yet,” I replied standing up slowly. My knees were weak, all that held me up was my will.

  “Good then let us continue, I want to build up more on your stamina and endurance.”

  The next few hours went by so slow while I did nothing, but dodge his incantations and flute. His movements were hard to predict and his speed and agility were impressive for an older man that is. Ebi only allowed me to rest when I dropped unconscious, only to wake me up rudely. It was like that every day, the madness never ended. What had I agreed to? I wanted to be trained and taught ways to defeat Katarina Fox, although not like this. This world was unbearable. There was no food, animals or other people to talk to except for him. I was going insane just thinking about it. Few weeks passed by and to me it seemed like one big giant blur. There was some light to this situation though, my evading skills got better, can’t say the same for my offense power. Ebi’s was like a closed book, he left no openings for me to take advantage of.

  “Come on give me a break,” I complained everyday and yet he did not stop.

  For some reason, he seemed determined to push me beyond my endurance limits. After a while, I began to see a pattern in his attacks. I couldn’t believe it had taken me ages to see it. Whenever he used his flute to incapacitate me, he would follow it up with a swift kick or punch to the chest of knee. As long as I could avoid his first flute attack, I was safe from hard pain. My eyes finally adjusted to his movement much unlike my body shortly after. Even with all that, I still couldn’t even graze him at all.

  “Stop complaining, this is for your own good” he yelled, “focus you moron. Those monsters won’t give you time to recuperate your energy and neither will I.”

  He was right, all the lessons he taught me were for my own good. I just wished his attitude would lessen up a little. I guess his time alone in this place hadn’t done him much good. Instead it looked like it had made him cranky and unaware that humans were fragile against his sort of violence. We barely took breaks or ate anything as we kept training through constantly in this never ending nightmare. However, through all that I learned a few useful tricks, while progressing my own fighting strength. I trained everyday counting the days like my life depended on it. Oh wait, my life did depended on it. You tend to forget that part when you are trapped in another world. Years flew faster by after a while as I began to crave my training. It was as if another part of myself was stirred from all the dangerous loony stuff Ebi had me do. I couldn’t wait to be done with it and go back to the real world to rescue my friends. The memories of Paul and Tye haunting my dreams were what kept my mind from shattering.

  “Yes finally,” I screamed with joy.

  Ten whole years were up and done with. I noticed the green chains dropping from all over the place. Everything that was once frozen still seemed to slowly wither back to life. I sat down with a smile near a rock and sighed quietly. I had gotten stronger far than I had hoped. I brimmed with confidence and renewed excitement. With this much power surging through me, I could only hope it was enough to stop Katarina Fox.

  “Hey Ebi,” I said flexing my muscles wildly, “what was the power that Katarina Fox had besides the trident of time and space?”

  He looked away and blushed as he giggled like a dirty old pervert. From what I could guess I didn’t want to know what he was thinking and what her power was. All I could do was wait until the time came to battle her.

  “Be wary of the power she acquired from the effects of the white water mist. You must be strong and do what I taught over these last few years. I can sense that the time has finally come for you to leave this place. You have done well over these past few years and now I leave everything to you.”

  I was proud to hear him say that because of the respect I had for him aside from being a dirty old wizard. He reminded me of my grandfather except without the raging anger problems. I hated to admit it, but over the last years together here I had grown fond of him. He now was like someone I could talk to if I ever needed advice. Just hoped his dirty ways had not rubbed off onto me.

  “Thank you,” I politely said bowing my head. “I won’t let you down.”

  Although, I didn’t know if I could keep such a promise. That being said, I had faith in my new abilities and that’s all I needed to win. In a short few seconds his figure and presence vanished and I was in the dark again. Yes, I was finally waking up to the real world.