Mira sighted with all her exhaustion. No matter what she tried, the cultivation was just not working for her. Maybe she was too distracted, unfocused. Maybe it was her new teacher. Four arms, looking like a insect almost more so than a man and those wings… It was just too scary. She had panic attacks from smaller insects flying towards her face before, but the pure thought made her grit her teeth.

But what was she supposed to do instead? It was pouring and even if one ignored that fact that this small little tree looked gloomy and dark, the skeletons and all those remotely controlled monsters did not make her any more comfortable. Sighting again she wished to be like Marcella. Her best friend had so much she desperately wanted. A nice hair color, villainous red and smooth long hair. Her own was of a boring brown. Even blonde would be interesting, but sadly she had received her father's genes.

Marcella had a lot more than that though. She was impulsive, spoke what she thought about without a moment's notice and did whatever she enjoyed just on a whim. And she was talented. Her fire magic was powerful beyond anything Mira had accomplished so far. Today was no exception. She was already absorbing the crystal like it was nothing. Well, she caught fire once, but only briefly and even Daz, who had cultivated much more than her still wasn’t able to access this power.

She did not doubt that Daz would fall in love with Marcella sooner or later. She was just perfect. And why would she say no? He was rather good looking and those types of guys never really talked much to Mira. They prefered her. The jealousy stung. He seemed like a rather silent and mysterious man too. Where was he coming from? He never talked about it. Daydreaming she leaned back towards a pillar of the pavillion and enjoyed the cool of the night on her back that the rain had brought.

Marcellas shoulder still slightly stung. The potion had helped a bit, brought relieve, but nonetheless her old wound gave her a hard time. That was especially true since she had broken through the to the second earthly layer. The crystal helped boost her speed a lot, but when she first used it her hair had nearly caught fire. Like countless other times before. That memory was also painful.

She would have love to possess such long curly brown hair, instead of the short red head she was. She just never got taken seriously, always tagged as a rebel. Which her already direct personality made quite a bit worse. When she thought something she told people. A horrible thing to do, but she could somehow not really help it. When meeting Mira for the first time she had told her that her mother was a real cunt after just two minutes. Luckily the girl hated her mother.

Marcella had to smile internally and stopped cultivating. Her focus was gone. And there the rage came. She hated when something was not going her way, especially when it was due to herself. Feeling the need to burn something she tried to slowly calm down and think of something else. Maybe it was a good time to stop training. It had been a weird few days. Picked up by a handsome prince, just to be dropped and ignored. No even worse that that, they were servants or some sort of guinea pigs to a insect monster summoner.

As if skeletons, creepy goblins and trolls where not enough, no the maniac summoned a tree that frightened even Marcella to her core. The way the vines pulled that skeleton appart.... Not normal. Depressed she leaned back on the solid walls of the pavillion. She just wanted to sleep. How that other guy could still be training after all the things he did during the day was beyond her. She glanced at him from between her eyelids. He looked very strong. Muscles where a hard turn on to her, but she had seen the looks he spent on Mira whenever the girl was not looking.

Just her luck. Ignored yet by another guy that most likely thought she was just a brute, aggressive girl that just would walk all over him. Hardly anyone saw her for her real gentle self. Well, it was not like she showed that to a lot of people…

Daz had been struggling the past few hours. Ever since he was about to break through to the fourth earthly layer, the dark voice inside his head hardly ever left him alone. [Kill your master.], [Kiss the girl.], [Let me out for a bit.]. These and many more suggestions on all his thoughts and actions had been drowning his conscious mind. It was hard to focus at all, so he had decided to put cultivating aside and try to explore his own self.

What if this voice was part of him? What if he was meant to give it some leeway? But since all it did was trying to corrupt him that thought was dangerous. What if the dark voice would take over, and leave him behind in this black cage again? Unable to react, to feel, only noticing time as the world moved on with someone else in his body? It was frightening, and he was lucky that he had been able to snap back so quickly in the trial fight. The other one would have surely killed both of them. Without the shred of a doubt.

[I’m not that bad. Maybe only one of them.] Daz sighted. It was just so tiring to never be alone with his thoughts. [Don’t have them then.] Annoyed Daz opened his eyes and looked around in a hope to distract himself from the task at hand. Mira and Marcella both had fallen asleep. They were cute that way. He would need to train a hell of a lot more to protect them later on. Even though he hardly knew them for a few days, he felt like they shared a connection.

[Well, let me out now. I’m bored.] - You are always bored...

Daz dove deep into his own self. Trying to remember what it felt like to be locked in this cage, but without being in one. Quickly he found himself split. One half of himself was aware that he was patiently sitting on the stone floor while another part of him walked a dark staircase, downstairs in a even darker building. Even though torches lit the way, their light was hardly increasing the all too suppressing darkness.

After a while he reached a tunnel that after a few steps reached a large hall. More accurately would it be to say a huge cavern, where no ceiling was able to be seen. Countless other tunnels all ended in this enormous room as well. But what really drew Daz in, was the giant dragon, tied to hundreds over hundreds of chains on the floor. [Well, well, well. Would you look at that, you found me.] Breathless, Daz took a moment to realize the dragon was clearly focusing on him with his now open eyes. The chains shifter a bit, but it was not able to move properly at all.

“Yes, I guess I found you. Who are you?” - [I am death. What do you want?] Death? Daz swallowed. He did not believe the creature at all, how would anyone actually be able to embody death itself anyway? Clearly pride, nothing more. “I see. You want to get out and play with my body. Why?” The dragon snuffed a cloud of smoke out of its nostrils. [Hardly a mystery. Boredom.] The scales tore at the chains as it tried to move and claws, seemingly made of dark steel scratched over the floor, not leaving any marks.

There were runes all over the floor, in a coherent pattern. Then Daz realized. It was sealed here. Deep inside of him. [Yes. I am sealed down. Otherwise you would long be ash and I would roam this world again.] - “Clearly a bad spot to be in. You can use my body and enhance it with your own power?” - [Yes. But why would I do that? You could not control it anyway. And what do I gain from that?] - “What do you want?” - [Unseal me.]

Daz shook his head. “So I can die? No. I don’t think so. What else?” - [There is nothing else.] Apparently the nice approach was not working. He would most likely never cooperate. But what if Daz stole its power? He approached the lying creature at the end of a chain. It had impaled part of the wing, rendering movement impossible. Then Daz placed his hand on the scales and drew in power, like he did while cultivating.

[Stop this! RIGHT NOW.] - “Why would I do that?” - [I can make your life hell. You think I could not bring all my focus on overthrowing your control and killing your friends in their sleep? Trust me if you had given me the slightest reason to, they would be dead already.] Daz stopped immediately. [Don’t take my power I will teach you something in return. Even a talentless idiot like you should be able to use that much....] Daz considered it for a moment, then he agreed. Making this guy his enemy would not bode well, even his annoying comments would be too much to bear after a while. And as soon as he slipped up the dragon would take over. Scary.

[I shall teach you how to access the Dun’lei Rindan...]