Seconds later, Jin opened his eyes to darkness. Not the kind of darkness one can get used to. No. It was pure darkness. There was nothing that he could see.

He tried to activate his spiritual energy and circulate through sight to activate his technique to no avail. He could not even feel his core anymore or reach his soul sea.

Then, a voice that felt like a mix of all kinds of voices resounded through the space, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

"Fear"

It was a single word but there was no need for more.

Jin understood right away what was going on. This was the element of fear. Its materialization through the influence of spiritual energy. It was the sign that the fusion between the core and element was starting. And for it to work, he would need to prove himself to the element. Not every element was willing to be ruled and some were far more against it than others.

But regardless, for every element, a test happened.

Or rather, while fusing itself with the core, the element was showcasing its might to the future owner. It was telling 'him' what it was. What it truly was.

And this was 'Fear'...

However, even after the sound had long dissipated, nothing changed. Pure darkness with nothing else. Since there was nothing, Jin decided to try moving.

He got up unsteadily since he did not know where he could place his feet. Then, he began to walk amidst this darkness.

A complete silence.

A complete darkness.

Jin continued to walk.

He did not know for how long he walked but nothing ever seemed to change. He did not feel fatigue so he simply moved on. He continued on his way. Yet, everything remained the same.

There was nothing and no one.

He began to count within his mind.

1, 2, 3 .... 1 520 008 650... 458 652 486 369 247...

After an incredibly long period of time, more than a regular lifetime even, he stopped walking. He simply sat there in the silent darkness.

Then, after an even longer period of time, he stopped counting.

He went mad.

The absence of everything made him lose his self.

Time still went by. His body remained in a constant healthy shape, not aging and not requiring any maintenance. So, he remained as such, mad in the darkness.

After many lifetimes went by, he recovered. It happened just like that. In a single moment. Just as he became mad, he became sane once more.

As he realized what happened, cold sweat dripped down his back and he tried to calm his mind.

He began to practice his martial arts.

Since he knew not fatigue, hunger or thirst, he needed no respite.

Unfortunately, he could only practice his mortal martial arts. It was enough however to calm him.

For a time.

After spending hundreds of years practicing many martial movements, he began to fear.

Fear that he would forever remain trapped in there.

And it only took a few years in such a state for him to turn mad once again.

Within the darkness, he howled, jumped and ran in a frenzy. For years and years.

And then, he regained sanity. Only to turn to madness sometime later.

After this cycle repeated for more than a dozen time, his mental state was completely broken. The fear of remaining here made him into a husk of his past self.

He was feeling his sanity surrendering itself once again. That's when he decided that it could not continue. He feared this infinite meaningless existence more than death.

And so, he took his own life.

A savage bite on his tongue ended it.

And he died.

Only to wake up again in the same darkness once again.

And he went crazy.

And he went sane.

And he went crazy.

And he went sane.

And he killed himself.

And he revived.

And he continued to repeat the process of killing himself.

...Until one random day, as he was consumed by madness, light appeared within the darkness and the sound of something he had not heard for eons was heard.

"Fear"

As he saw the light, he abandoned both his sanity and madness as hope replaced them. And he began to run towards the light.

But the light never seemed to get closer to him. Even as he ran with all his might without stopping. For years, decades, centuries... and more.

Then, hope disappeared little by little and he stopped running, only walking.

After more time went by, he simply stopped walking as well.

Hope was no more and despair had appeared.

Then, it switched back to the fear of remaining alone in this nothingness again.

And the cycle he escaped previously reappeared.

He died, he revived...All in decent madness.

...

One day, as he killed himself, things changed.

He heard the voice again.

"Fear"

And then, he began to hear something else. A lot of noise. Buzzing noises. Then, he began to feel them. Small beings. What were they? He did not know. After all, he still was unable to see anything.

However, he could feel and hear them.

His first thoughts were to kill them as they began to crawl over his skin in displeasing ways. And he did. But there was never a moment of respite as for every he killed, another seemed to appear.

The buzzing noise was constant too.

He was only able to support for a few days before he got up and tried to run from it. Towards the light.

Yet, as he ran, he felt them all over the place.

They were flying and jumping on him as he moved.

As he moved and killed them, he continued forward.

Screaming for it to stop.

But there was no one to hear him.

He continued to run amidst these unknown beings that kept on crowding on him and noisily buzz around.

He was now assaulted by a constant loud noise within the darkness.

He was being aggressively attacked by small squishy beings too.

And time went by. Counted in centuries.