“Quin!” someone shouted. At least Quin assumed it was a shout, but currently every single sound felt so strange, like he was underwater. His mind was in pieces, it was quite hard for him to focus. What’s happening? Saved Aline. My Cores, got impaled, by the Shrieker. Pyramid and the Blackness. Mom... One thought came after another and then passed into the next one.

“Quickly, do something...” He heard another yell but he was not even able to pay attention to the entire sentence.

“... Dead ...”

Dead? Me? Will I die here? The ball of smoke... What was with it? Argh, why can’t think?! He felt extremely hard to even formulate simple line of thoughts. I remember! It said I’ll die. NO! I can’t... Oh, then it said I won’t die! I won’t die, I won’t!

His consciousness was barely hanging by a thread, and now he could not even hear what was happening around him. The only senses he was left with was touch and smell.

His smell did not help him at all, the surroundings reeked of the disgusting stench of death, but he did feel something, something that was warm. It covered his chest and had a calming sensation to it. Feels... Good. Sleep. I want to sleep. With these last thoughts he blacked out.

He dreamed, but it was a strange dream. Was it a nightmare? He did not know, however during the whole time he felt like his head was exploding. Even though he was just dreaming, he felt like his very soul was ripped out of its place, and as if it was corroding away.

For a long time he heard loud and angry roars, which were met by earsplitting shrieks. As time passed, both of these noises grew more and more quiet, and then they stopped altogether. The pain disappeared as well, but he felt somehow empty; he knew that something that was there since he was born, was now missing.

He still could not move or sense his body, but sometimes his consciousness became half-awake and he could hear various things for a short period of time, only to then fall back to sleep again.

“The healers said that although your body is still weak, you will be alright! Don’t give up! Just rest as long as you want, Mom will be here with you,” the voice said, who was most likely his mother. Then he heard as she began to struggle, but failing at keeping herself from crying.

Even in his half-awake he could feel the love, sadness and pain present in her. There were not many things which had felt worse in his life as seeing his own mother in a state like this. Not even the agony from before could be compared to it.

He wanted nothing more to get up and tell his mother that everything was fine and that she did not have to worry, but no matter how hard he tried to move, to wake up it was to no avail. Then he fell back to sleep.

“I’m sorry, Quin! I should have done a better job, it’s all... it’s all because of me, because I screwed up,” another female voice said, crying. Who is she? Is it Aline, where is she?, he thought.

In his state he could not even guess how long ago was the last time he was half-awake. It may have been just a few minutes, as well as a couple of weeks.

Currently, he could hear the voice of a man and woman nearby him.

“So can you test his Spirit?” the man asked.

“Yes, I can, but it will take up some time,” she answered.

“Alright, don’t worry. His Qi Cores are destroyed, but I just really hope that at least his Spirit is still intact, so that maybe that way he’d have a chance at cultivation,” he said, and sadness was clear in his voice.

“I know, that dragon was extraordinary, so I doubt there would be any damage to it.” She let out a deep sigh. “Except my own Spirit, I have never seen anything like that... I felt as it called out to me. In my several hundreds of years of life I have never experienced something like that,” she said and paused for a long moment. “Anyways, let’s not waste time and check it.”

There was not much sound for a long time and then he heard some kind of chanting. He felt a similar sensation to when his Ancestral Spirit was checked, but it was abruptly stopped midway and a painful cry could be heard from the woman.

“A-Abomination! It’s an abomination! Why?!” she screamed and then began to sob loudly.

“What’s wrong Nyra?” the man asked. So she’s Nyra, but why is she crying so hard? It was my Spirit that got checked, don’t tell me... It was only at this point he realized what was happening around him and the contents of their previous talk. My Qi Cores are destroyed and there’s even something with my Spirit? What had happened to my Elemental Lightning Dragon? There’s no way that it would turn into an abomination, right?

The loud sobbing stopped for a moment. “Nothing... It’s nothing, but do not ever bring that thing in my vicinity!” she screamed and then Quin heard the sound of steps, as she left the place.

“Damn, what’s up with that?” the man asked.

Quin did not know what to do with this kind of situation. He was horrified of the possibility that he lost his ability to cultivate and it was also a quite strange experience, hearing the usually calm and emotionless Nyra sob like a child.

The next time he came to, he heard the voice of two men talking.

“So you’re saying that he’s just a damn cripple?” one of them asked angrily. “There’s nothing you can do?”

“Forgive us captain, but we did everything we could,” answered the other man. “His three sub Cores are completely destroyed, and his main one has a huge hole in it. His meridians are filled with holes and tears as well, so even if somehow his main Core were to be miraculously healed, he would not be able to circulate his qi at all. There is nothing we or anybody could do for him and I really don’t want to say something like this, but there’s no way he will be able to cultivate in the future.”

“Damn, I should’ve known he’s-”

“I know that you probably can’t hear it and that I’ve said this a thousand times already, but I’m really grateful to you. Without you, we would have all been eaten by the Shriekers, what’s more you even sacrificed your life for my sister, without hesitation.

“You know, at first I had some objections against you being together with Aline.” Aline? Why can’t I see her? Why is it that I’m never awake when she’s here? Quin thought. “Aline and I are at the same age, but she’s still my little sister and although you’re my best friend, I was afraid that you would hurt her in the end,” Alinor said and snorted. “I don’t even know why I thought that, I couldn’t have been more mistaken. I doubt there would be anyone more devoted to her than you.

“To tell the truth, I’ve never seen her cry in my whole life, but she was crying for days without a break.” He took a deep breath and paused for a moment. “I don’t even understand her, now she’s completely calm and normal. One day she’s sobbing and then in the next, she did a 180 degree turn. I really hope everything is alright with her as well.

“I just wish I could do something to help you... If only it was me lying on that bed instead of you...” he said with a shaky voice and then left.

He was on the verge of going crazy. Hearing what’s happening around you but not being able to react to it was quite a difficult thing to bear. Furthermore sometimes he was not even awake for the entire conversation, but only for bits and pieces.

He was confused and did not know what was happening due to only having the few tidbits of information he got from the previous talks. He was alone in his own mind, nobody to talk to and nobody he could ask what he wanted to.

Lying in his bed -- at least he assumed that was where he was currently at --, surrounded by darkness, this was the state he lived his life for god knows how long, until one day something changed.

He opened his eyes to look around, but everything was blurry to him. I’m, I’m awake, finally!

probably the main cause.)