His boots pressed into the narrow gap between the pale stone. Every step of his sent a tiny pebble into the abyss below. The world that seemed so far below now began to almost fade into the clouds. As he climbed further beyond he thought he began to hallucinate. With each agonising minute that pasted hebagan to notice.
With the air beginning to thin, he could see that it carried a faint glow. As more of these tiny threads began to gather. Its colour became more clear to him, however he couldn't describe it. He knew it had a colour however the only way he could describe it was as if 'There were waves of invisible threads within the air'.
The man ahead of him carried his weight with an effectless grace. His body seemed to defy the world itself, his feet seemed like they were gently brushing themselves against the stone edge before propulsing him up.
"Zander what are these threads"
"It is anima, up here on this mountain the anima levels are far higher so people with an innate talent or sensitivity to it begin to sense it around them."
"Anyway how much far until the peak"
"N… , wait the hell is that nickname"
"Hmm, you mean Zander"
"What else would i be talking about"
"Your name is Alex-Zander isn't it"
"It's ALEXANDER, there is no Z"
"Ok, just answer my question"
Munir's joints were aching with the strain of their 7 hour long journey.
"Dont worry we're nearly there, what im more worried about is your grandmother, what you were telling me earlier im surprised that she would agree"
"Yeah me too, after i told her i wanted to go, she started to tear up and say 'Your just like them', after that she told me to leave within 3 hours or she would assume i changed my mind and could never speak about it again"
"That's some weird woman"
"HEY THAT'S MY GRANDMA DONT SAY STUFF LIKE THAT"
"Yeah my bad, i sincerely apologise to your grandmama"
"..."
"..."
"You weren't lying to me about what you said at the cafe"
"No i didn't, in fact i have used one in the past myself"
His now stern voice reassured Munir, allowing his face to relax a bit more, despite their current situation.
"If that's the case i'll do anything to awaken"
"good "
With that, he clapped his hands twice in a sort of prayer then leaped into the air, before landing just out of sight.
"It seems we arrived just on time"
Munir's body lugged itself over the mountain edge just a few paces behind Alexander.
The boy's body was drenched in sweat. His grey shirt darkened, as it constricted onto his body. Compared to Alexander the difference was night and day, he didn't even show a sign of fatigue as if the journey was nothing but a light stroll in the park.
As Munir lifted his head off the ground, he opened his eyes, the mountain peak that lay before him didn't resemble anything; he had known of the nature of mountains within Aurioa. Before him a vast outstretched forest laid before him. Their lush fauna captured Munir's eyes.
"What the hell are those animals and plants"
"They are spirit beasts, up here on this mountain there is a higher level of anima present it allows for these spirit beast to become more common, this is also where you will be doing your training"
"Spirit beasts?"
"They are animals that have formed a spirit core. They don't always interact the same way we do when we form them, most of the time they just gain stronger mutated bodies, sometimes they also gain abilities similar to our unique abilities like fire breath for example".
His eyes darted around taking in the scenery. The forest around them didn't make him feel as if he was on a mountain but in unknown lands discovering new creatures. As his eyes darted around the ground beneath him began to tremble. A herd of enormous mammoth-like beasts slowly pushed through the forest, as they walked, the forest seemed to part for them. Every tree surrounding them leaned away, their roots groaning. Their tusks were monstrous curving arcs of ivory longer than entire tree trunks. What seemed to be Ancient runic patterns faintly glowed along the tusks, pulsing with slow waves of spiritual energy. With each breath they exhaled, clouds of Anima were illuminated, the surrounding spiritual energy swirling toward them as if drawn by an invisible tide.
"Woah"
Munir's eyes light up, these beasts peak his curiosity.
"It seems they are absorbing the anima around them naturally and slowly exhale the excess amounts they don't need"
"Huh how the hell can u tell that just by looking kid"
"Hmmmmm, i'm i not meant to"
"Well not with your skill level"
A wide grin spread across the boy's face, a sense of arrogance pouring out around him.
"Never mind kid, now get up the sun will set soon"
Munir started to pick up his laid out body taking the wooden box covered by bandages on his shoulder and placing the mediums case beside him he sat cross legged looking towards his new teacher.
"Listen here, on this mountain peak i will teach you more about using anima to fight and i will forge your soul core"
As Alexander spoke, Munir's eyes wandered, they began to trail up the only direction he didn't look towards. And with that his eyes fell in disbelief. He was so certain this couldn't be possible he was sure they already passed them.
"Zander are those clouds"
"Were you not listening to me"
"Zander how the hell are there clouds above us didn't we pass them"
"Hmmm, yeah we passed the first cloud layer that's the second"
The manner the man said it sio casually as if it was something so commonly now that it required no second thought before revealing it said a lot to munir.
His eyes dazzled with excitement the untold world beyond what he would have been able to access if he didn't take Alexander's opportunity.
"Oh yeah i forgot it isn't 'common knowledge' that the Aurioan government has allowed"
Alexander began to walk deeper into the enchanted forest before them, Munir following slowly behind taking everything in.
Before long they happened to what looked like an unnatural clearing.
"This is where we will be staying. No problem right"
"Yes sir"
"Good here i will train you and forge that core of yours"