“Quiz time, young brat,” Andrew demands.

“Go ahead old man, I'll pass this time!” I say with confidence. I have been completely focused on my studies for the last 2 years; there's no way I can fail.

“Who does this church belong to?” he sternly asks.

“Immortal King Stormrider,” I quickly answer.

“Correct.”

“What are the 5 holly commands set down by him?”

“First, while it is true that power rules the weak, the powerful should still respect the weak. Life is but a cycle. Second, always help where you can and for the right reasons. Third, never be cruel. Fourth, follow your mind, then your heart, as your heart can lie. Fifth, follow the holy light to redemption in all things.” I manage to answer after thinking for a few minutes.

“Correct.”

“Which side is correct: the light sects or the dark sects?”

“Both are right. To become powerful, you need to walk in both the light and dark.”

“Correct.”

After a couple more questions, all of which I correctly answer, Andrew beaming with a huge smile, says:

“You passed the physical and mental exams in 2 years. That's very impressive, Adam.”

“All that is left is spiritual training. It's the hardest part, no?” I groan.

“Yes, it is. I have spoken to a couple of my friends about ways to speed this up, as this is the longest process, but I'm not sure it's worth it. Nonetheless, the choice is yours.”

“The quickest way is for you to be locked in a dark room with no light for days, weeks, or possibly months. The darkness will increase your senses, speeding up your spiritual training. The only downside is that you could go crazy, depending on how long it will take.” he mutters to me.

Damn, this is going to really suck, but there’s a chance it might work, so I have to try. The deadline is getting closer and closer. I can't wait much longer!

“I'll do it!” I say will with more confidence than I feel.

I see Andrew’s face go pale; he clearly wasn’t expecting me to agree to such torture.

“I will make sure someone is stationed on the other side to provide meals and let you out if you crack,” he says in a deadpan voice.

“Just you wait, old man. I'll prove you wrong, and I will be the youngest brother and cultivator ever!” I beam at him.

“Follow me then, young brat. I'll take you to the basement,” he says while getting up.

As we walk through the church, I notice that it seems more empty than usual and it is definitely quieter. I have never been down in the basement, so I am not sure what to expect. As we walk through the main hall, I notice Andrew walking towards one of the large tapestries, and, as he moves it to the side, I notice a dark pathway leading down. How have I never noticed that in all my games of hide-and-seek with Jess? As we walk down the dark stairwell, I start coughing from the amount of dust in the air. I try to wave my hand around just to get a clear breath, but Andrew sees me and clicks his fingers. Suddenly, all the dust is gone, even the stonework looks polished and clean.

“How did you do that?” I shout at him.

He turns around and just winks at me. After about 5 minutes, we reach the bottom: a large empty room that is covered in boxes and barrels. On the left wall, there is a metal door bolted shut. We ignore all the boxes and barrels and move towards the metal door in a thick silence.

I've never had this kind of feeling on Earth; it's exciting. I must push through and sense KI!

“Adam, are you sure about this? As I said, this could make you go crazy?” he says worriedly.

“Old man, don’t worry about me. I can do this. Have faith,” I say with a cheeky smile.

He opens the large metal door, one bolt at a time. Once he does, I see that the room is pitch black. You can't even see the walls if there are any, to begin with. I take a few steps in and sit down cross-legged, I relax my body and push my senses to the max.

Damn, I don’t sense anything. Well, stupid of me to think I would in just a few seconds! HAHAHA. Okay, it's time for me to focus. I can do this!

Days pass. Apart from my one meal a day that just appears behind me, I spend the time just sensing around the area trying to find KI in the air.

It has now been 2 weeks, and I'm still not any closer to sensing anything. The smell in here is terrible, as there is no toilet.

Now it has been a month. I cannot sense anything at all. I imagined yesterday that there was a shadowy beast running around in the darkness hunting me until I woke up. The funny thing is I don't remember falling asleep.

3 months have passed now. I'm seeing things: monsters, angels, even people. I can't tell which are dreams and which are real.

5 months. I am being chased, but I don't know what is chasing me, but it surely doesn't like me. I can feel the sweat running down my back. It wants to kill me.

7 months. I haven't stopped running in months. There is nowhere for me to hide. I trip - there's water in front of me! I look down into it and see a reflection, but it isn't my reflection. Well, that's not true, it is my old reflection. My old reflection with my dead blue eyes, my dark patches under my eyes, my black short hair, and my rounded face. I remember this face. This is the face of someone dead. Someone I don’t want to be. I couldn't stand myself before. No, this is my life: my existing life and happy life! I will be better, I will be stronger, and more importantly, I will be me!

*Snap*

My mind comes back to itself. I'm back in the dark room, but now there are little white specs all around me. It's KI. I can finally sense KI. I crawl to the door and manage to knock on it twice before collapsing. Then everything goes black.