Stale and dry- the taste of the air was full of an empty flavor. There was no wind, no breeze, no heat. The distant plop of a drop of water hitting an even larger pool echoed into his ears. It was truly a strange feeling- feeling nothing, but this wasn’t his first time. His familiarity with the emptiness in his body was becoming far more comfortable. He was weightless, and similarly sightless. He could blink and he could see, but there was nothing in front of him. And yet… He could feel something staring back at him. As if just out of his reach, something was watching him.

“Hello?” He croaked, his voice hoarse and his throat dry. He didn’t feel dehydrated but the lack of moisture in the air, and the lack of humidity in the air was leaving him thirsty. Not as bad as when his entire body was burnt, but it wasn’t pleasant.

There was no answer to his cracked call. There was no change in the darkness. There was no lifting of the weight on his chest. Only a persistent, lingering discomfort on his neck. He felt fear, true fear. It wasn’t the fear of not knowing, but it was something else. A different kind of scared that was oppessive. A more natural fear ingrained into his subconscious. He didn’t know what it was, but it was as if his body’s fear was instinctive. His fight or flight warnings blared, and he wanted to flee. There was no fighting whatever was out there. The fear leaked into the forefront of his mind and while he could not see what it was- he certainly did not want to. A nightmare was out there. A terror worse than anything he could ever think of. Just beyond that black veil, it lingered. Watching him. Waiting.

“H-Hell…” He tried to ask once more, but his voice was stuck in his throat. He felt a loss of air in his lungs as something gripped him, and a chill shot down his spine. His body tensed up and he instinctively closed his eyes. He shivered, shook, and his lips pressed firmly together.

He wanted it to go away.

I am disappointed.

The voice he heard was like a knife digging into his ears. Jake stopped shaking, he stopped breathing. He stopped thinking. As if the voice put a stop to his time- he could do nothing but wonder. Were those to be the last words he’ll ever hear?

The feeling of terror receded and Jake felt the floor beneath him give way. He fell.

The air whistled through his ears and his limbs dangled in front of him, the muscles too weak to fight against the wind. The speed and pressure of his fall made it hard to catch his breath. His eyes flared open and he stared upwards, into the nothingness. There, he could make out something faint. A patch of dark that didn’t quite blend with the rest. It was large, massive, and it looked down at him from its place at the height of the darkness. Towering like a mountain, the being glared at him with utter disgust and hatred as it cast Jake into the depths of the abyss. When it was far too small for him to make out, Jake’s ears began to ring. The noise was loud, deafening. His ears stung and his head throbbed- it felt like something was splitting his skull in half. He shut his eyes, clenched his teeth, and let out a pained groan as he endured the pain.

Just when he thought his eardrums might burst and his head might truly explode, it all came to an end. The falling stopped, the air went quiet, and Jake’s eyes opened to remind him of where he truly was- the cave at the bottom of the Ravine. He glanced around and immediately searched for Chul, for his friend. The Arachkin was beneath him, quietly crouched in the corner of the cavern with a small circle of stone set up as a wall around his feet. The Guardian was quietly performing his duty as a Guardian once more- likely waiting for Jake to awaken.

Jake sat up, and Chul let out a hiss.

“Awake, are we?” Chul rumbled. Jake nodded and patted the Arachkin’s carapace. He was thankful to see the familiar face.

“How long have I been asleep?” Jake glanced around the room, looking for some way to check the time. Obviously, with no sun- there wasn’t a chance of that. Thus, he hoped Chul might have some kind of internal clock.

“Long enough for me to think you were dead. If it wasn’t for your heartbeat, I would have believed it.” Chul released a huff and slowly began to rise up to his feet. “How do you feel?”

“Oddly, better, but my body is sore. And my head hurts.” Once again, he wasn’t sure whether to speak about the dream he’d had. He felt a bit scared to do so. Whatever was there within that darkness seemed to be watching him. Jake feared that if he spoke of it, he might be punished for it. Maybe when they climbed out of the ravine, he’d ask Chul and see what he thought.

Jake tried to stretch his muscles as if he had just woken from a nap and everything felt tight. His head hurt the most, as did his stomach. He was hungry and his body felt tense. When he checked his mana flow, it was still broken and a bit of a mess but he at least could grab at it now. Just being in the cavern seemed to be helping with his mana injury.

“What happened, Chul?” Jake put a hand to his head and winced. The side of his head was tender. He definitely hit his head on the way down. There was a lump on the side of his skull. Nice.

“You fell. That was all. The mana in the ground likely overpowered your own and your body couldn’t handle the sudden influx.” Chul steadied onto his eight legs and slowly stretched them. From the way he took his time getting up, Jake could assume they had been there a long time. That, or Chul was really old. “I am surprised. A Dragon’s Vein’s mana is potent and when interacted with without either a barrier or without some medium, most die instantly.”

“I feel like I died. Everything hurts.” Jake groaned as he stretched his neck and pulled on his arms. His body ached all over. The soreness was one thing, but as he tried to move his limbs he found the pain ran deeper than just the standard discomfort.

Chul hummed and then stepped over to the edge of the mana pool.

“Perhaps it was the damage to your mana conduit which saved you.” Chul stared into the green liquid, and at the reflection of the young boy on his back. Jake stared down at himself as well. After a brief staring contest, he decided to try to reach for his mana.

When he did, he found something different. Along with the bit of recovery that had occurred, Jake noticed something else.

His mana was still broken, scattered and impossible to truly call a secondary essence of life. But while his own was shaken and incomplete, the gaps between the broken pieces were filled by something else, another kind of mana. It felt thicker, denser, and a lot more volatile. Each time Jake tried to nudge or grab at the third essence inside of himself, he felt it practically strike back at him- as if it didn’t quite want to be touched. Angry and agitated, the third essence struggled against his mana and writhed around inside of him, practically begging to be released.

Was this… the mana from the Dragon Vein?

“Chul, I have a question.”

“You seem to have a lot of those.” Chul huffed and retreated from the mana pool. He stepped back into his protective position and lowered his body back down to the floor.

“The mana here in the cave- can it be used?” Jake continued to focus on the different essence inside of himself and continued to prod at it. While it was becoming more and more agitated, Jake couldn’t sense any danger radiating from it. As if the essence recognized it was trapped and was simply trying to protect itself- much like how Jake and Chul were in the cavern.

Before he answered, Chul rumbled to himself for a few moments. He began to recall all of the instances he knew about Surface-Walkers interacting with the Dragon Veins. While they didn’t happen often back when he was active on the surface, there were a few times Dwarves and Goblins stumbled into these caverns. Humans, too- but they rarely survived long periods of exposure. Foolish creatures.

“Theoretically, yes. The mana here is a version of the world’s life essence in its purest form. It is why the Maedra love it so much. However, to your kind who live on the surface- such a pure form of mana would require quite a bit of filtering before it could be used in any substantial capacity.” Chul had heard of Elves being able to utilize the Dragon Veins within their lands, but it wasn’t a safe and sure process for the other races of the Overworld. The death rate of those who found themselves involved with the Veins was rather high.

“So, it can.” Jake sought the most specific answer.

“In simple terms, yes. It can. But-”

“I think I can use it.” Jake muttered, trying once more to prod at the third essence- the Dragon Vein’s essence. It was thick like quicksand and while his own mana was far more brittle, the Dragon Vein essence didn’t actively try to attack and destroy his own. It simply tried to push and maintain its space within him.

“...What?” Chul tilted backwards, his eyes rolling to stare up at Jake. Jake didn’t elaborate, as he wasn’t quite sure himself. However, the Dragon Vein essence stuck inside of him felt… familiar.

Jake decided to cultivate. He assumed his resting posture, the same he used to meditate within the Library, and once more fell into himself. He breathed slowly, steadily, and focused everything into his mana stream. The world around him faded, as did the faint questions by Chul. The Arachkin eventually found the child impossible, and instead returned to his guard, letting Jake focus entirely on his mind.

The boy could feel the pieces of his mana all over the place within his body, with the thicker and heavier Dragon Vein Essence stuffed into the gaps. It wasn’t there by choice. It felt more… trapped? There were no traces of the third essence in his arms nor beneath his knees. There were traces in his upper legs and in his head, but the majority was in his core. He wanted to try to combine his with it, but each time he touched or nudged the outside force, it nipped back and maintained its own integrity. It was stubborn, and tough.

Jake’s own mana was far thinner and weak, the result of the explosion. If he wanted to assimilate the Dragon Vein essence, he needed tougher mana- he needed it to be stronger than the Dragon Vein, or at least strong enough to maintain itself. Thus, he began to mold it. The weakened bits he kneaded like dough- pressed and rolled it. It crumbled and buckled into tiny bits and pieces.

Yet, as he crushed the weak pieces and allowed his body to generate more in its place, he found the new mana to be slightly stronger, more like the mana before. It still wasn’t worth using and he likely still couldn’t use spells with it- but the more he worked, the harder the mana became.

Was this what it meant to truly cultivate one's own essence? Before, Jake only fiddled with his mana. He simply tried to make it as pliable and reactive as possible. He never tried to make it tougher or more dense. With so much of it, he didn’t need to focus on the quality of his mana. If he needed more power, he could just shove more of the fuel into his spells to get the result he desired. There was no need to make the quality any better… which likely was why it couldn’t match up to the Dragon Vein’s.

“I’m weak…, Chul.” Jake mumbled. The Arachkin scoffed. “But… I think I’m beginning to understand…”

His mana was still easy to mend and move about. He could still toy with it like he did before, but it was like playing with a hollow stick. While light and easy, any force exerted on it would cause it to splinter. But when it was replaced, the hollowness of his mana became less and less. It would take time for this… A lot of time.

Time…

Jake’s eyes opened and he clenched his fists.

“Chul. I need to go to the Library.”

“The Maedra are far off, but they won’t be away forever. They will come.”

“How long?”

“Uncertain.”

“Then I’ll take what I can get.” Jake leaned forward and placed a hand on Chul’s back. He used just a bit of mana and created the smallest of runes, imprinting an Alert Rune directly onto Chul’s back. “Can you use it?” Jake asked. The rune was simple and held only one activation string. Chul tried to work the spell, but to no avail. It glowed with no reaction. Jake grit his teeth and added another activation string. His mana cracked at the pressure, but he was able to get most of the spell into Chul’s body. The Arachkin once more tried the spell, yet it still did not activate as desired.

“Why…?” Jake’s eyes widened and he tried to push more mana out of his hand- nothing happened.

“It seems your magic is not recovered enough. Worry not. I’ll be fine here.” Chul adjusted his feet and then settled into his position. The Arachin’s body glowed faintly, reading himself against the potential ambush.

It was cold, here, and Jake frowned as he looked down at his companion. The Arachkin was still, frozen like a statue, eyes focused on the distant barrier sealing off the room from the distant Maedra. While Jake felt sad and worried, he had trust in the Arachkin.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“And I will be here.”

Jake nodded, and then he returned to his meditative position. He sought out the sigil of the Library. Just as easily as he thought of it, it came to the front of his mind. Similar to that of a door handle- it lingered there, waiting to be touched. Jake fed a slight amount of mana into the sigil. It flared brightly, reacting, and then the weightlessness returned for a brief moment as Jake was pulled into the white tower.

When he emerged on the other side, Jake hurried out of the entryway and rushed up to the next level. He raced past all of the tables, chairs, and shelves. Straight for the study room, he ran at full tilt. When he reached it, he noticed everything had been returned to just the way he had last seen it- before the explosion. Though amazed, he did not take the time to let himself get lost in the glory of the Library’s regenerative abilities. Instead he ran into the connected practice room and took a seat on the raised platform. He dove into his cultivation and plunged himself back into the depths of his mind.

Every second was critical, and he would need to spend every bit of it mending his mana and trying to garner the favor of the Dragon Vein. Yet, as he took another attempt to mend his mana and strengthen it- he was reminded of just how far he had to go.

The mana here was more dense, yes, but his was fatally weak. The fact he could still sense his own mana in this world was nothing short of a miracle. And as he tried to cultivate it and grow it- he found doing so to be almost impossible. Why? What made this place different? Why was his mana suddenly weaker than it was before? The Library’s mana was supposedly stronger than the Overworld’s. It was supposed to be easier to cast in, so why was his mana so fragile in this place?

“...Is it you?” Jake thought. He nudged at the Dragon Vein’s essence, but found it to react in a more tame and quiet way. It was far more docile, but Jake could also hardly budge it. Rather than thick like quick sand and mud, it was almost as stiff as dough.

“Wait…” Jake opened his eyes and stared forward. In the center of the room in front of him, green water flowed in the gap.

“Dragon Vein… Dragon Mana…” He mused and slowly crawled to the edge of the water. It looked just like the mana pool. The green color shimmered faintly as he stared down at it.

“The Library… was made by a dragon. So the mana here…” His eyes opened.

Now it made sense.

His mana was weaker, that was undeniable. However, he had cultivated here in the Library before- a lot. He had cast spells and had practiced his magic here. Life essence, while unique to each individual, ultimately came from the world around them. It wasn’t created in their body but drawn into them and then cycled back out whenever it was expended. His mana was his own, but it had to come from somewhere- and that somewhere had been the Library for much of the time while he was using and practicing within it.

If he was correct- then in some capacity, his mana was already dragon mana.

“So that is why you aren’t poisoning me…” He mumbled, staring at the green goo in front of him.

The sudden pouring of mana into his body had knocked him out, but his body had already adapted to its presence prior to the contact. While it wasn’t a true and perfect collision, nor could he call it the same mana in any exact regard- the Dragon Vein mana must have at least bonded with his own, and his own mana had kept his body from being overwhelmed by the outside essence.

Jake curled back up into his meditative pose and began to nudge at the Dragon Vein essence once more. It was still, quiet, and only seemed to vibrate when Jake agitated it too much. However, it didn’t try to escape nor did it try to bond with his mana flow. At least, that’s what he thought. Rather than try to chop up the essence, Jake breathed and let himself fill with mana. He gathered as much as he could, regaining much of what he had lost. It hurt and he felt pressure on his face. His head began to throb and his bones ached as the mana once more began to leak from his body. Yet he did not create a tail. Instead, he fought to keep as much of it within his mana flow as possible.

When he was at his limit, he squeezed down on the Dragon Vein essence. He wrapped his mana around the globs of the essence and began to bleed his mana into it. Rather than turn it into his own, he injected his into it. The mana thickened and increased in size. His own mana decreased, even as he struggled to make more of it. Yet the more he made, the more the Dragon Vein mana grew. He began to breathe heavily and sweat beaded on his forehead- yet he felt cold and weak, his body numbing as the Dragon Mana spread through his mana flow. Less and less of his own, more and more of it. Slowly, he replaced his natural flowing mana with the Dragon Vein’s, feeding it until there was barely any of his own left.

The Dragon Vein’s mana filled his core, much of his legs, and nearly all of his arms. The only place it hadn’t reached into was his head. His mind remained intact and his own mana flowed down through his neck to continue to feed the other type. When his entire body was full aside from his head, Jake hesitated.

He wondered for a moment- what might happen if he were to completely change? Would he still be himself? Or was he actually dying, and he simply didn’t know it? Was he just poisoning himself with this outside essence? The cold and chilly feeling in his limbs- the tingling in his skin. The lack of feeling in his fingers and toes…

Was this suicide?

He swallowed, hard. The lump didn’t budge. He opened his eyes just so he could stare at the three targets at the other side of the green pool of water. In such a short time, he had learned so much. It was fun, this place.

Chul was so kind to him and truly a strong companion to have.

Yir, though stern and a bit rough, was quite the smart teacher.

Elana, beautiful and happy. A bubble of joy even when her life was so dull.

His friends were fools and lacked understanding of responsibility, but that’s truly what it meant to be young, wasn’t it?

And his Auntie…

“Sorry, Auntie.” Jake closed his eyes and took in a long, slow breath.

In one fluid motion- he pushed the rest of his mana out of his mind and down into his body. The stop gap he had made out of the remainder of his mana vanished, and the Dragon Vein’s mana rapidly flowed to replace it. In a near instant, he felt all of the heat in his body vanish. A terribly cold wrapped him up and his body shook involuntarily. Breathing was difficult, almost impossible, and his brain struggled to force his lungs to work. He couldn’t open his eyes and his lips trembled as his consciousness wavered.

His limbs were stiff, paralyzed as Jake found that he could do nothing but shake in place. The shivering only increased in intensity until he tipped over. His body slammed into the floor with no resistance. His left arm became pinned beneath his limp weight. He couldn’t even cry for help because he was shaking so much.

Yet he could feel it. The thick Dragon Vein’s essence had taken over every crevice of his body. It was everywhere inside of him. His fingers, toes. His head. His stomach. There was no crack in him which wasn’t filled with the external force. And it didn’t move. Stationary and stuff like mud- it sat in the void of his body, filling his empty shell. Jake gave one tiny, futile effort to make more mana but the Dragon essence ate it with authority. Gluttonous, it devoured everything Jake tried to replace it with.

What a blunder.

With no mana and no way to move, he couldn’t leave the Library. The Maedra was likely knocking on the barrier by now, and Chul was waiting for him to return. Jake needed to tell him, to warn him to leave the cavern, but that was impossible. Unless he was able to somehow force the Dragon Essence out, he would die here. He even doubted that Yir would be able to help him, not at this stage.

He continued to struggle, continued to try and pump mana into his body- only for the result to be the same. The Dragon Vein essence inside of him now dominated his body, keeping him immobile. There was no escaping this, was there? This was what Chul meant by a poison. Much like the poison of a Sculario, it had worked its way through his vitals and had practically killed him. Except rather than shut down his body entirely, it was practically feeding off him now. Jake was nothing more than a quivering, writhing husk for the essence to live inside of. Until he either stopped breathing, starved, or died from a lack of water- he would be stuck like this.

“I can’t die. Not like this. Not with Chul waiting.” Jake continued to try to push the essence out, to try and gather some kind of mana to fight back, but over and over- the result was the same. No amount of cultivating his mana gained him any ground.

But, he didn’t quit. He couldn’t just give up and wait until he died. He needed to at least struggle. If Yir came and found him, then maybe she could help. Thus, he needed to continue until at least she showed up.

As his body shook and the numbness in his fingers and toes began to stretch into his limbs, Jake pulled himself into his mind. He ignored the torture of the cold and did his best to block it out. He gathered all the strength he had into his throat, and managed to at least steady his breathing somewhat. He gasped and choked, hiccuped and whimpered- but he developed a rhythm he could work with. It was weak, but he could cultivate. He focused on the center most point of his body, of his torso, and listened to the beating of his own heart. The faint, distant thumping of the organ filled his ears and he synced his mana flow with that beat.

The Dragon Vein essence in his body seemed to react to that- negatively. Like a snake trying to constrict its prey, it squeezed down on his insides and Jake stuttered just a bit. Yet the pounding of his heart remained strong. Though faint, the organ pounded away, feeding his body with life. Jake ignored the pressure and continued to feed mana from that point in his body until he had just enough to form a small ball in his core. The Dragon Vein essence coiled around it and cinched down. A vice grip of death pressured the faint hint of his struggle.

“Not… so… fast…” Jake clenched his chattering teeth and curled slowly up into a ball. He hugged his knees to his chest and pinned his forehead to the tops of them. His mana, the weak and brittle droplet of life, maintained itself against the Dragon Vein essence. Jake focused on sharpening the edges of the ball, creating dozens of little spikes which he pushed outwards and stretched into the Dragon Vein essence. The needles dug into the thick mud and plunged into its depths. He couldn’t reach far, but it was far enough.

Then, he began to pour his mana into the Dragon Vein essence once more. The last time, he fed the mana in an attempt to feed it and make it grow. This time, he stirred it up. He injected the Dragon Vein essence with his own and slowly, from the inside, he mixed himself with the Dragon Mana.

It didn’t quite like that and began to struggle violently. Jake felt sick and his lungs burned. He coughed and hacked up a mixture of mucus and saliva. The more he cultivated, the sicker he felt. His stomach flipped all of a sudden and he felt vomit pour from his gut. He couldn’t move, so he loudly wretched and soiled himself. The Dragon Vein essence wrenched down on every bit of Jake’s body until he felt as if he was going to truly lose his breath.

The more it struggled, the less the essence seemed to fight his own mana. As if desperate to kill the host, the essence put more focus on trying to damage Jake’s body and tried to get Jake to cease his struggle. However, the essence simply refused to kill Jake outright- putting its own survival also into play. Back in the cavern, the essence was more than happy to try to find an escape. But here, in the Library- it had nowhere to go. If it was pushed out, it would likely find nowhere to sustain itself and would disperse into the air. At least inside Jake, it could remain whole- strong.

Jake couldn’t help but smirk as he felt the Dragon Vein essence reach the crossroads of life and death. It stopped fighting, stopped wiggling, and Jake could feel his own mana make more headway. He was able to begin to mix himself more confidently with the Dragon Vein essence, and it was creating something even more potent. The new kind of mana was far easier to control, was just as dense as the Dragon Vein essence, and the Dragon Vein essence couldn’t protect itself from the new mana.

The turning point was here, and Jake began to chuckle faintly. He blended the new mana with his own entirely and let his body taste the strength it gave him. Then, he tried to make it. The new mana didn’t come easily, but as long as he truly focused on the rawness of its makeup and matched his breathing with the beating of his heart- he could make it. The speed of its creation was slower, far slower, than his ordinary mana, but it was a lot more malleable. The brittleness of his old mana didn’t exist with this kind.

Slowly, Jake began to recover his body. He retook his head and his chest- making existing a little bit easier. When he retook his arms, he pushed himself out of the pool of vomit and spittle. His stomach stopped aching and he was slowly able to sit up. While he didn’t try to stand, he could wiggle his legs and eventually- his toes. Like a vulture, Jake snapped up the Dragon Vein essence bit by bit, piece by piece. His body heat returned and the pain in his bones and joints vanished. The new mana he circulated through his body to devour what remained of the Dragon Vein essence was a ravenous machine, and it felt good.

When the last of the Dragon Vein essence was gone, Jake finally opened his eyes again and let out a heavy sigh. He looked down at his body. Vomit and urine stained his clothes. Sweat soaked through the fabric, making the clothes sticky and cold to the touch. His skin looked shriveled up and felt clammy. He wanted to bathe.

Thinking of that, he extended both of his arms slowly over head. He clenched his teeth and focused on his palms. Hesitant, but firm in his mind- Jake pushed mana into his palms and cast a spell.

A massive ball of water formed above his head. He smiled as it filled the space over him.

Then, he let it fall on top of him, soaking himself through with the water he himself had been able to create.