waking up.

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In my dream, I heard voices, distant yet familiar.

"it was pure,,,, yes ,, not yet,,, trust is earned."

Then silence.

Its strange how in this world, even in my dreams i never feel alone or comfortable, as if something is haunting me, always watching me.

As i was slowly regaining consciousness, i questioned myself, 'Was it all just a dream?'.

Thankfully, there was an easy way to find out. it took only a moment, a pulse of mana in my aura and there was light, and in that light i looked at my clothing to see If it was all real, and yes there was blood and holes in my clothes. No it wasn't a dream.

i moved from my sleeping position to a sitting position.

As usual i started my day, first the mana, i took a core because the mana condenser was off, and after i absorbed the core's mana it darkened, yet this time it was darker than before and it looked scratched.

No, it has cracked from the inside, the surface of the core is still a smooth ball.

'So this is what a collapsing core looks like!, like all good things they don't last forever, i will need new cores, or i will be stuck with my own natural core as mana source.'

A deep voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Have you regained consciousness?,,, i can hear your movement inside.”

Startled by the deep voice that spoke to me from the outside of my wagon, i straightened my back and turned my head towards the source, the door.

“I apologize if I’ve surprised you.” it was Aqisol's voice.

"it's okay, i will be out soon, anything happened last night, after i slept." i asked as i hid things, when i open the door i don't want him to see my things, as i was preparing myself to exit he answered.

"no,,, no it was a lovely night, especially after i found a dead man in my kitchen." he spoke in a calm smooth voice.

What i wanted to say to his sarcasm was, 'am not sure how your day is going, but i have awoken in the body of a mentally challenged host, in forest and was electrocuted from a seizure that hurts so bad it makes the pain from hemorrhoids feel like a bad hand-job. And my mind is a little bit damaged'.

What i said was.

"Ah yes, him,,, i helped him die, after he asked nicely." trying to keep my voice as sincere as I could. That was the best response i had for him, "yeah it's not a good day for me, but isn't exactly the worst either."

i took the empty bottle before opening the door, and as i exited i saw him in the corner to my left, a hint of tension in his shoulders as he looked at me, then stood from his chair and walked towards the wagon.

"Helping a stranger, that was nice of you, next time do it outside the kitchen, preferably outside the house." he tilted his head and asked, “Do you by any chance remember anything about your attacker or a hint of him before the attack, amara told me you lost consciousness, is your memory fine?.”

"i remember getting stabbed by a stranger, how about you."

"i didn't get stabbed or lose consciousness, but i found a dead body in my kitchen, and amara next to a pool of blood, looking at your wagon in shocked silence." he sounded a bit accusatory to me.

"Do you know the man" i asked and looked at his eyes.

"You burned his body, he has no face to know." he said.

Realiy i used that much mana, his face was burned, and that's a strange answer!. "He was trying to kill me, so yeah i burned his face off"

"Yes you did, and you almost burned down my house with him."

"Yes almost, but didn't. i assumed you have anti-fire wards on the house"

"Yes i do, and they need to be re-made, they all cracked, all the wards. i don't want to know how much mana you pumped out to do that. Was it a good fight.?"

That was a strange shift in topic. Or am i just getting paranoid?.

"No, it was an epic fight, and it made sense." thank god i didn't do a matrix dodge during a sword-fight, that would have been embarrassing.

"Was it really that bad?."

i winced, yes it was, my aura and body were uncoordinated, just like my movement, it was a shameful display, i only survived because i had more mana, and the assassin made the mistake of touching me, and i used my endless electric-chair technique.

Fighting with superpowers make everything more complicated, i need to adapt.

"Yes it was bad and worse, It turns out that everything can go wrong in a fight. Am not sure how most of it happened, it was quick, unorganized."

yeah, it wasn't an elegant dance. My movements were best described as off-topic.

"So like all fights between cultivators it's either quick or too long," he eyed me up and down, " you seem to have mental problems after using mana intensively, that need for sleep is a bad sign."

oh shit, that's my assessment as well. he noticed me holding the empty bottle, and shifted the topic.

"Seriously using aluminum for making a bottle, your family must be stupidly rich, must be nice. but why is the craftsmanship so bad?".

that was a bit hurtful to my pride, you try and make a bottle in a cave. "you didn't get stabbed or lose consciousness, it must be nice." i told him in a jealous tone.

"Jokes aside, amarys what happened?, amara wasn't near you when the fight started."

"i was gut punched hard enough to send me flying from the storage room door, all the way to the kitchen." i told him and watched his reaction, nothing changed, his face was a cold stone.

"i don't know him and why one man, marvan should have sent all of his man or did it himself, do you have enemy's i should know about". he asked like cop, making me feel like i should lawyer-up, and i lost all my trust in him.

"not on tamort, no." i said. why is he making this about me. "i don't know anyone that will send a diplomat after me".

"a diplomat!?, is that what you call killers in your family."

aqisol was eyeing me. Probing for answers just like i wanted answers, i remembered the assassin's words 'wrong kid', amara, yeah amara. it all comes back to amara.

"yes a diplomat, if you want to be polite about it." Was there any reason to doubt him?. yes. he knows something, and probably aqisol is in the dark about it.

he nodded and moved on, just like that. the inquisitor switched topics.

"Unfortunately, we can’t afford to delay any longer. you must start your training with amara, but first start with your morning breakfast, and bath you smell like blood and meat, and you need new clothing, we will talk later about the bandits."

he left and i was alone with my doubt, confusion, and i was a bit more fearful for the future.

i did as he tolled me, there was hot water with cloth, and a change of clothing for me.

Even after the change of clothing, i was still smelling meat, it made me hungry.

The breakfast was like yesterday cheese and bread, cold soup. And a salad but no eggs. only this time i had it in the storage room, the kitchen was occupied.

After finishing breakfast, i went to the kitchen, and i looked over the damage and found only blood and darkened wood from my lightning. amara and aqisol must have taken the body and wiped off the blood.

aqisol found me looking around, and he was the first to speak.

"marvan and his men are getting restless, they say they had nothing to do with it.”

i considered and found myself believing them, 'this felt pointless, why attack me with one man?' and 'i don't know why they are here?'. i asked.

"Aqisol,,, tell me how did they get in, into the village, i doubt they just walked into the village." i asked him and he had a grim expression.

"Actually they did just walked in,,, i wasn't in the village at the time, when i came back The damn bastards had taken over those two homes across from my house, buying the owner out with some money to make it look legit and forced the sale with intimidation, and they were flaunting the fact in my face. Being so close to my house was an absolute provocation. and they like to walk around the village, to show off the fact that they have hostages."

"the villagers" i said, and i thought is it your house they want to watch or amara's house.

"yes,,, i can kill the bastards, the problem is the consequences." he looked older as he finished his words. "i don't want to see this village burn."

that seemed strange to me, something is missing from this story, why this shithole village?, its distant from everything civilized, and why some of the houses are empty as if abandoned?, i wanted to ask yet i felt as if i won't get an answer.

"Hell isn't just other people, Hell is cultivators." i said in frustration. and was surprised by aqisol's reaction to my words, he was surprised, eyes wide open, and then he was nodding, he agreed.

"yes,,, yes they are." he told me, and his eyes went somewhere in the past then he was nodding his head. "ego and power, a walking hell. you have never seen a real monster until you see a cultivator sick with dragon fever"

'oh shit' it seems i triggered something in aqisol's mind, a memory perhaps, Whatever it was it passed.

i took a risk, "do you miss it your old job" i asked

"no, the running, the hunting,, the misidentifying, all those false-positives. we all have our limits, i found mine." Aqisol seemed to have aged after those words.

oh shit, i can see why, hunting, misidentifying,,, false-positives. Those are the words that should not be used by someone called an inquisitor. he clearly did some witch hunting, false-positives witch hunting.

i risked it and played a hunch, "the dreams, they stop, do they stop?" Of course i don't have them, not yet, i guessed he does, and me asking can be a good bonding moment, am not very good at plying with other people's emotions, yet that didn't stop me from trying.

he was silent for a long moment. "no, they never do". Aqisol.

i wasn't sure how to keep going, so i stopped this game, and switched the topic.

"tell me, what's your plan for the bandits" I waited for him to explain.

"we need to move fast, they are all in the same house, not sure why, but they are under one roof these days. We must take advantage and strike hard to win—thoroughly."

"yeah, i agree take advantage, but how?." i asked and he looked uncomfortable.

it took time for him to say it and i didn't like his shity plan. And i thought about amara 'he knows about my pure mana' as a sinking, gnawing feeling started growing in the pit of my stomach, i made my own plan.

Amara and aqisol they both just became a problem.

i need a plan B, i don't see aqisol as military Tactical genius, not after his stupid plan was exposed.

'Fuck me, i need to think, use the neurons, i have them right?', no i don't have them, i did dig my self into a cursed grave after i built a house on top of it, i just hoped this time i can use some neurons to think.

Forget about thinking outside the box, i need to think outside the universe.

"When will you be back" i asked him because i needed to know that bit of information, this asshole has a very stupid plan that will get me killed, and i wont be the one to tell him, not to his face.

i owe him nothing, i will work around it.

"no more than three days, then we will get rid of them and begin your training, can you hold it until am back." he asked

Begin!, after!, did he just change the deal, i didn't like future promise of rewords after doing the work. "Two days, yes, three. not sure" i lied. am not a kid he can control, i have seen this before, he tell's me the truth three times only to lie in the fourth and set me up for something.

"that's good, then we will be ready in just another week at most. Finally, we will be able to meet our foe as equals. Preferably we will be more equal than they."

"yes, preferably." preferably you all die and I get to walk out alive.

"can you, keep them calm, and stay calm, they seem to be wanting a fight." aqisol eyed me.

"It's a crime to compliment snakes, but i see the necessity." yes i do you stupid snake.

"Snakes, yes they are snakes and this a poisonous relationship, its only fitting to cut it of."

"And amara will you take him with you?."

"No just like you, he needs to work on his communication skills. he will stay maybe talk to the village kids make friends. oh before i forget, your deflation path is in the storage room corner."

Communication skills!, WTF, what?. Where did that come from?, oh yes as if i am the problem.

As i was thinking about telling him to go f-himself, he spoke.

"i placed your new items next to your wagon"

"i will go see later tonight"

"And tomorrow i will help sift through them, there are some useful things, like materials, metals and basic alchemy notes, i added some of my own, there are no cultivation material in the village the people are peasants with no blood or talent for the cultivation arts, they had only what they use to trade and resell." he spoke in a tone hinting i should be grateful.

"Thank you i do have an alchemy book, It's useful to have more insight." i looked around and asked "where is amara?"

"i sent him to granny. his a bit confused he needs time alone." he stood, "i have some preparations to do, people to talk to before i go, i will be home before dinner, hopefully."

Good i don't like the little shit around me spying for aqisol, i have things to make. "Good luck aqisol"

After he left i turned back to the storage room, and looked at the corners there was an iron chain connected to a rod that was nailed into the rock and probably deep into the soil.

it took a moment, then it hit me a deflation path, electricity. What would any good electrician do to avoid Electrocution, ground the electrical connections for safety.

Grounding the primary protection against electric shock from a power system.

Now i feel stupid for not thinking to do it.