1 Chapter 1 History and the Presen (1/2)

Breathing slowly and with his eyes wide open, Hartley laid on his improvised bed made of straw and beast pelts, with both hands behind his head he stared at the ceiling of his crudely built cabin in deep contemplation.

Laying statue-still and bare-chested in the silence of the shabby cabin, thin beams of unwanted sunlight invaded through countless holes in the rickety structure built on a flat piece of rocky land at the foot of a mountain.

With bright spots of sunlight dancing over his body, he couldn't help but think of the years he had survived the vibrant horrors of the mountain while living in the small hole-riddled wooden cabin, he knew that soon, he would be leaving this place that he had called home for most of his life.

Scratches and bruises decorated his thin muscular upper body and his muscles felt tired and sore. His training had been hard, relentless and non-stop in the danger-filledregion where life and death was decided within seconds.

Two years ago, a great disaster that almost took his life had turned into a fortuitous encounter that would change his life, the result being him finding a mysterious artifact in the mountains that allowed him to freely manipulate gravity.

As an orphan from the Lou clan who had often been shunned by his peers, Hartley was banished to live in the shabby wooden cabin on the outskirts of the mountain from a young age, often entering the mountain filled with nightmarish fierce beasts capable of devouring and tearing grown men to pieces. Hartleyhad honed his survival skills by necessity and truly came to understand the law of the fittest in this place where death seemed more likely than his next meal.

Hartley's clan of birth was the Lou Clan,which was one of many influential clans in the Waltham province, they had cultivated a long line of strong warriors and had built a foundation as one of the flag bearers for the region. Hartley had no memory of his mother or father and was treated like the dirt of the clan, if he didn't have the surname Lou, maybe they would have banished him to the wilderness a long time ago, instead he was allowed to live in the outskirts of the dangerous beast-filled mountain, many even expected him to be dead by now.

He had taught himself to be self sufficient and had avoided the unnecessary confrontations with the conceited young lords, he would only venture into the populated town when absolutely compelled by his needs.

The mountain became Hartley's oasis the more he adapted to it. This place had sculpted him like a block of granite, carving out a will and determination within him that never slackened or wavered in his conviction to gain strength and control his own destiny. Visitors were rare but Hartley didn't mind as long as no one came to bother him with petty adolescent drama, which was the norm for youths his age.

Hatley's approach was different, he had opted to keep low-key and had forsaken the social relationships youths his age yearned for, rigidly sticking to a routine of training, eating and performing bodily necessities.

As life went on as usual for everyone else, a black hair youth dressed in crude clothes made from the raw untreated pelts of beasts, was living a life of constant hardship and battles in the mountain, almost seeming to be forgotten by the world.....

Recently Hartley hadbroken through to the 9th layer of houtian realm, this is the first realm for a cultivator and is known as the preparatory realm, this was a realm that built the foundations for future achievements and transformed the body to a vessel for elemental energy.

Unknown to him, under the constant life and death pressure of his environment, he had pushed his body to the extreme limit of the houtian realm.

His speed and endurance was tremendous, he could keep up with even the yellow striped wind leopard, maybe he was even a bit faster.

He had hunted deep in the mountains on many occasions and by now killing yellow striped wind leopards was an easy task, most cultivators at his age could barely even catch up to one much less to even think about killing one of these wily animals.....

Having tempered himself with countless battles for survival against the many species of fierce beasts roaming the outskirts, he had eventually trained himself to be calm even in the worst life threatening situations....

.............Two Years Ago.......

Wounded by a vicious Bear twice his size, a black haired youth staggered through the inner regions of the mountain, with desperation evident in his eyes the youth left a trail of blood and broken shrubbery as he crashed through the unfamiliar section of the mountain with a speed that defied his serious injuries.

Gripping his bloody chest and constantly peeking over his shoulder in fright, the slim youth heard the chilling roars of the fierce beast as it bulldozed anything standing between it and its wounded prey, clumsily smashing through trees and uprooting the thick shrubbery, it rumbled forward like a natural disaster cutting a path through the darkening forest

Injured, bloody and losing ground to the fierce beast, in desperation the youth summoned all his strength and hurled himself over a cliff in an unfamiliar part of the mountain to escape the killing blow and preserve his life a little longer.

Landing face-first with a splash in a small pool at the bottom of a precipice, the frustrated growls of the animal echoed out above for what seems like hours before retreating, the youth stared at the blackness with a sense of impending doom not only was he injured, the fall had knocked him silly, most likely leaving him concussed.

Hartley laid motionlessly in the darkness with ragged shallow breaths, moans escaped his lips as pain seared through his chest which had been slashed open, leaving blood pouring freely from the wound staining the crude pelts tied to his body as clothing red.

It felt like death had surrounded him and was reaching out its spindly hands to pull him into its bosom, Hartley had given up all hope, suddenly there was a bright blue light flickering and blinking like a fire fly in his peripheral vision. Somehow he found the strength and began crawling to the light. Bleeding and cramped with pain, it took almost an hour for him to reach it.

At first he thought it was a way out of the cave leading to somewhere where he could find some unlikely help.. it was a long shot but hope kept him plowing forward.

Finally reaching the source of the light, it almost broke his mind to find out that the bright light wasn't an exit, it was just a small blue stone emitting a strong hazy blue light which seemed to glow even brighter in his presence.

Disappointed, he let out a final scream of anguish as all hope disappeared and he collapse next to the strange stone embracing his death unwillingly. In what he had thought were his final moments, his weakness, thirst and hunger seem to mercilessly attack him, gnawing at his consciousness that was fading into darkness, his unfocused eyes radiated with deep despair and regret....

Suddenly the light started to float, brightening the cave with a soft blue hue like a full moon..

His eyes refocused, opening wide with fear as the strange light made a beeline towards him, circled around him twice, then with a whooshing sound and leaving wavy ripples in the air, it shot straight towards his chest.....

Hartley thought it to be some kind of parasite or predator that had waited in the dark for an unsuspecting prey and prepared himself for a painful demise, thinking how unlucky he must be, to have escaped death by the black bear only to be food for some weird parasite.

As he was prepared for the pain, surprisingly the opposite happened, instead of the excruciating pain he was expecting, he felt warmth and comfort as if he was back in his cabin, laid in his straw bed and wrapped with fluffy beast pelts.

His hunger and thirst that had been torturing him for so long receded and he felt a sliver of strength returning to his limbs.. unknown to him he had been laying motionlessly in the cave for 2 months.

Eyes that were transformed to the color of sapphire fluttered open as a light breeze caressed his face, a feeling of strength had returned to his tall thin frame as he was greeted by a throbbing pang of hunger in his stomach, sitting up and taking stock, temporarily having no idea where he was, memories of a vicious encounter came flooding back.

Hartley nervously clutched at his chest and checked the wounds, to his absolute shock his life threatening injuries were all healed leaving three lines across his tanned skin.

He also noticed that he could see almost perfectly in the pitch black cave, the animal furs he was wearing were ripped to shreds and hanging from his body but he was not cold at all.. he actually felt comfortable.

He got up and looked around and every movement he made was greeted with gentle splashing sounds.

He was lying soaked in a cave lined with ankle deep water, he could hear the occasional sound of water dripping slowly from the ceiling in the quiet oval shaped cave.

The stony face of the cave walls were covered with countless algae-like green moss and herbs were growing out of the many cracks scattered throughout the cave, immediately he recognized the abundant herb.

It was a short vine-like herb with a red stem growing out of long narrow green leaves, every crack in the cave-wall seemed have hundreds growing out.

These were called lion candy and he had seen them in the market on one of his infrequent trips into town, these were very expensive and were used to recover energy and strengthen the body of low-level cultivators.

Harley couldn't even dream of getting his hands on these herbs in normal circumstances, usually only the young lords of the clan could afford these for their training as these were rumored to be very hard to find.

Creating splashing sounds with every step, which seemed to echo in the empty cave, he moved over and picked 2 of the herbs, removed the red sapling and put it in his mouth.

instantly his body was like a desert that had its first drop of nutrients in years, his hunger was abated and he started to feel energized.

After consuming three more a feeling of strength radiated from his body and his bones began to make popcorn-popping sounds.

Remembering the incident with the blue light when he had first entered the cave, he removed the raggedy animal fur he was wearing, with his upper body bare he began inspecting his chest.