It was evening in Purple Sky City and the people were still talking about the events in the Red Cloud Sect. By now, five days had passed by and the buzz was as lively as when it first started. Not much happened in this small town and when a big event occurred such as this, it made a huge uproar. Of course neighboring cities and empires didn’t pay much of any attention to it.

Red Cloud Sect Training Field

The training field in the Red Cloud Sect was a place for disciples to spar against each other in order to improve their skills and prestige. It was a huge field in the shape of a square, on one side was the sect and the other side was a forest. The field was divided into smaller sections that contained areas for sparring. The sections on the edge were referred to as the outer section, most disciples sparred there as it didn’t catch much attention. The next section was the inner section, this section had nine cabins in which the stronger disciples resided in. If you possessed a cabin then you were the master of that zone. In the very center of the field was a tower that overlooked the whole training area. The tower served two purposes, one was to watch over the training field, and the other… was the home of the currently strongest disciple.

The Red Cloud Sect didn’t have ranks that were given to disciples. There were no inner, outer, or even conclave disciples of the sect, everyone was just a disciple. Even the elders didn’t have ranks; there were no grand elders or a great elder. Nobody knew why that was but as such, the disciples from long ago, when the sect first started, came up with their own ranking system based on strength. The cabins were arranged in numbers from 2 to 10, the higher your strength the easier it is to raise your rank. Only by sparring and winning can you get a higher rank. Also there was no skipping ranks you had to move one rank at a time. Meaning, to get to rank 8 you had to first beat rank 10, then beat rank 9, and finally challenge rank 8 and win. It was a rule to ensure that only the strong resided in the cabins.

Rank 1, however, had a different rule, and that was they could be challenged by any of the ranked people. That meant that a person who just got rank 10 and challenged the first rank and won… then they would be the new first ranker! Of course it wasn’t all bad for the first rank. If the first rank person felt that someone wasn’t qualified to be in the ranks they could beat them and kick them out leaving the spot open to be contested over. This means that if the first ranked person beat the second ranked person then the second ranked person would be kicked out of the second rank. That person would then go to rank 10 and have to build their way up again. Causing everyone else to raise in one rank.

All in all it was a system that showed who the powerful disciples of the sect were and made it clear to everyone.

In the third cabin

The cabin was made of logs and looked very rural from the outside. The land around it was clear and the grass was green with life. It was a calm residence and was actually majestic compared to the rest of the disciples rooms that were gray in color. At the back of the cabin was a garden that held many plants of different varieties. In the front of the cabin was a wide open area around two hundred meters wide that was covered in clay tiles, this was the personal sparring arena for the cabin.

Inside the cabin was a simple bed and a table that seated four. Currently, three people sat at the table conversing. One boy looked on as the other two talked on. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He also wore a blue robe that made him seem like a raindrop. He was none other than Xiun Wu. The other two were obviously Xi Fe and Ming Xu.

“I heard that Akata is actually recovering from his injuries and nobody is allowed to go near him.” Ming Xu said with her calm voice soothing to the ear.

“Yeah, the elders told everyone in the sect to keep their distance from him. It’s like something big is going on with him.” Xi Fe replied.

It was then that Xiun Wu opened his eyes and spoke. “I want to find out what’s going on as soon as possible. If it’s a threat to my power then I want it stopped immediately. Find out as much as you can and report back to me. We’ll come up with a strategy once we’ve collected all the information we can.” He spoke with a calm voice that when heard was backed by the power of an authority that could not be disobeyed. After he finished speaking he closed his eyes again and went back to meditating.

Xi Fe and Ming Xu exchanged glances after hearing Xiun Wu’s words and stood up to begin to walk out the door. Before they could walk out they heard Xiun Wu speak up again.

“If you’re able to get close send him a message from me...”

The two exchanged glances once more and could see the cold smiles plastered on each other’s faces. They walked out the door and sped off into the distance towards Akata’s direction.

Akata’s Room

It was dark and cold. Akata found himself in another dream-like state where he couldn’t see much as it was pitch black. He looked around but still couldn’t see anything. He didn’t know what else to do so he just walked forward. It felt like he was walking for days before he saw a ray of light. When he saw it he stopped and gaped for a moment. The light was red and emitted a powerful pressure that weighed down on everything. A pressure much more powerful than when Sect Leader Fu released her killing intent on him. The pressure was enormous yet it didn’t affect him at all, he knew the pressure was there and how much of it there was yet it didn’t phase him in the slightest.

The pressure that came from the light wasn’t the only things that made him stop and gape, the feeling of ownership made him feel a calling from the light. It was as if the light wanted to be with him again after years of being away for so long. The feeling made Akata instinctively stop but then almost right after head toward the light. He felt a sense of belonging from the light and that if he went towards it he would be complete. It felt warm like extra blood was coursing through him.

As he approached the light he became more warm inside like he was bathing in the sunlight.The intense pressure increased exponentially with each step he took, but he eased his way through as if strolling through his own garden. When he started to walk towards the light he saw that there was an object inside of it, though he was unsure about what it was. The closer he got to the light the more clearer the object became, eventually he was able to make out a symbol but he wasn’t clear on what it meant. He was getting closer to the light with each movement.

He was now only about 3 steps away from the light. It let out pulsing glows with each step Akata took. Soon Akata was in front of the light, though now it looked more like a bright object. “This symbol is weird, it actually looks like a rune but what magic could it be? And why is it resonating with me? Am I connected to it somehow?” Akata mused to himself as he stood in front of the bright red rune. The feeling of connection was greater than ever and Akata didn’t even notice as his hand unconsciously moved to touch the rune.

The rune flashed with different shades of red. Crimson, scarlet, cardinal, etc. All the shades of red flashed by in an instant and then the rune expanded to the size of Akata’s body and passed through him like a laser gate scanning over him. The scanning went by slow but Akata didn’t notice. As the rune was passing over him very slowly visions were being transmitted to him.

He saw a gryphon in the middle of a clear field staring up into the night starry sky looking deeply at a meteor shower. The gryphon had the body of a lion looking like a sovereign of the lands, the wings and face of an eagle showing its pride and authority to rule the skies above, and the tail of a snake making sure anyone behind it would know it was not to be trifled with.

It was taking in the scene and observing this celestial event. All of a sudden it flew up into the air heading straight towards a meteor that was coming towards its direction. The meteor was absurdly massive, it was the same size as the planet the gryphon was on! It looked unparalleled as if it could crush the worlds beneath it, shatter the heavens above it, and annihilate any universe it was passing through.

The gryphon let out the roar of a lion, the screech of an eagle, and the hiss of a snake as it brandished a single claw toward the humongous meteor. It was only a single claw and compared to the size of the meteor it couldn’t even be counted as a speck of dust. The gryphon approached the meteor with a blazingly fast speed that couldn’t be comprehended. It made its way in front of the meteor where it… tapped it.

It was only a single tap but it caused the meteor to stop in place and then suddenly... move in the opposite direction at an inconceivably fast speed! That wasn’t all there was to it because after that cracks spread throughout it and it exploded into rubble! If that was all, it could still be counted as amazing, but what happened next was completely illogical. The rubble continued to break down until it became dust and then gathered together in front of the gryphon where it… turned into the moon!

Akata was completely dumbfounded. All that just happened was beyond his realm of comprehension. In fact it was actually way too much that his true body started to bleed out of his mouth. The vision started to grow blurry after the moon was formed but then another utterly astonishing thing happened. The gryphon started to change and resemble a human more. The snake tail was receding, the wings were vanishing, the fur and feathers were becoming skin-like, and the head was losing its beak. Soon the face could be seen and what Akata saw caused himself to wake up and spit up a mouthful of blood, his mind racing with absurdness. That was because he saw himself!

When Akata awoke he saw a red glow on him. On further inspection he saw that it was coming from his heart and that the glow actually looked like a rune. It was the same rune he just saw in his dream. The rune pulsed with light every time his heart beat, as if it was replacing the job of the heart to distribute blood. But what Akata felt wasn’t the rune distributing his blood, he felt it purifying it making it stronger.

He thought back to the vision of the gryphon and it destroying the meteor to create the moon, then when it changed into him. When he thought about it he felt his blood surge with power, power he had never before experienced. When Akata felt this power his eyes gleamed with determination.

“I will become stronger! Strong enough so that I can make that vision a reality!” His eyes gleamed with a fighting will and his purified blood coursed through his veins.

“Hmm? Someone’s coming here at a fast speed. Wait no… it’s two people. Wait this rune allows me to sense my surroundings?! That’s something only the true number 1 disciple and elders can do!” As Akata was thinking about the rune his mind went back to the two approaching figures, where a smile could be seen forming on his face.

“Well it seems they’ve come with orders from Xiun Wu. So I might as well accept his gift in giving me training dummies.” A bashful smile could be seen on Akata’s face as he quickly donned a new red robe and headed out of the building.