A Hand-Woven Universe 87 87. Pressure to Advance

It took a few minutes for Noone to sync back up with reality. Suddenly, so much which he didn't understand before made sense. But at the same time… he only felt more confused.

The fact almost an entire century had passed him by unknown left him in anxiety. Doubts perforated his thoughts.

If I had been there earlier, could I have done something?

In the back of Noone's mind he knew Adria had been sent to the surface world when Tapestry was falling. But now… that was at least eighty years ago.
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"Noone. We are running out of time on the spell." Tobias could tell Noone was struggling with intense emotions, but at the moment he also knew that this would be the last time they talked until they made it back to the temple or Noone learned the common tongue.

Noone nodded his head, although his worries were still overwhelming his thoughts, he knew that time was precious.

Over the next five minutes they exchanged as much information as they could, both were desperate for information about the other. Sometimes the two from Burian or the two acolytes would ask their own questions. Overall their understanding of how everything occurred was made clear.

Finally, the time was wearing out, only a few seconds were left. The scroll the spell was inscribed onto was beginning to disintegrate at a visible rate.

"Tobias." Noone looked Tobias in the eyes, he held a massive amount of respect for Tobias. Everything about his aura exuded diligence and strength. Seeing Tobias train every night left Noone with an impression similar to how he felt for the elders of Tapestry.

"I'm sorry about your arm."

Everyone looked on, different thoughts running through their minds.

Tobias merely smiled, it was altogether familiar, and comforting. "Noone, don't worry about-" Suddenly the scroll disintegrated into dust, any light it exuded was now gone.

Their ability to communicate was now over. Everyone sat in silence around the fire. The quiet crackle of the flame seemed to echo through the surroundings.

No one was sure about what to say or do, especially Noone. He had so much information to process from the conversation.

The night passed with relative ease, and eventually everyone slept under the protection of a magic spell.

Everyone except Noone.

Noone laid near the pit of ash and coal that still exuded a bit of warmth. He wasn't feeling cold really, or especially warm. It seemed that the weather was cold to the others, but Noone felt it was rather comfortable.

He was unsure whether this was a consequence of his physique or from breaking through in power back in Tapestry.

Nevertheless, the warmth of the fire pit allowed him to relax somewhat.

Noone stared up at the starry sky as he had done on all the nights before. One half of the sky Noone was able to recognize as he would the back of his hand. The stars and how they aligned themselves and flickered through the night. It made him think of his time in Tapestry.

The other half of the sky looked completely foreign to him. It was eerie and new. None of the stars made sense and everything looked more hostile. In truth the sky was the same the whole way across, but to Noone this other half of the sky represented everything that wasn't Tapestry.

After talking with the four humans and an elf, he realized how much there was he didn't know. How much there was the entirety of Tapestry did not know. Society seems to have existed on the surface for hundreds of thousands of years, while his people stayed underground in fear believing that everywhere else was uninhabitable.

Noone's head throbbed as he tried to process everything.

The thing which worried him the most, was how many humans there seemed to be. The way they talked of the 'common world' Noone was coming to understand just how small and weak Tapestry would have been in the face of these other beings.

Especially the ones which he was told were to be the most powerful.

Noone knew he would need to get stronger, much stronger.

The group were sympathetic to Noone's situation, but they knew how hard it would be for Noone to advance to the level of whatever being forced its way through the barrier. However, there was one thing Noone had which no one else knew of, and that was legacy.

He had absorbed the legacy of power from the ancestor, and he assimilated the common heritage from the entirety of Tapestry. Add into that the meridians and life force in his body being reinforced by the galaxy tree. Noone realized that he was in a position possibly not seen in an eternity since The Ancestor.

Noone sat up, his eyes closed and his back straightened. The world around Noone gave way to the gentle rhythmic sounds of his breath. His thoughts slowly quieted until desire and instinct were the only things left behind. The discussion that night had flared the already violent flame of desire in his core.

As the minutes passed the world around Noone became simpler. Sound and the feeling of wind brushing against his body, the thrum of the earth underneath him, all of the sensations coalesced into a sphere of influence around his body.

When he had been possessed by his inner devil, he gained a few abilities that he could only attribute to breaking through into the third level of qi condensation. It wasn't perfect, but he realized he was able to 'see' more than just what was in his vision.

The world around him - in almost a perfect sphere - was made known to him. He could sense the area of space directly behind him, and any changes that occurred within it. This was how he managed to dodge Tobias's axe during their battle despite it striking in his blind spot.

Noone quickly realized that if he was going to master this power, he would need to start with what he knew. Gradually he focused on maintaining his newfound spatial awareness.

Right now, he was only able to tap into it when he sat down and focused, so his first step was to maintain this state all of the time. Sitting, standing, walking, and fighting.

The wind blew through the night creating soft whistles of air against stone. Particles of dust and sand would sometimes blow past Noone who sat in their paths. He counted each grain and guessed their trajectories as soon as they entered his awareness. At the stage he was at, the sphere of influence around him was only a few meters.

Sometimes other thoughts would worm their way into his mind, but he quickly put them down. Noone could tell if he stopped consciously maintaining this state, he would need to start over from the beginning. This was why he was often caught meditating well into the morning.

5 months. He thought. 5 months and then I will decide what to do.

While talking with the group around the campfire, he came to a few conclusions about the personality of each person. Overall, they did not seem like bad people. Despite their rocky start, they had treated him fairly and even empathized with his trouble. But what worried Noone was the person behind the scenes pulling the strings.

If what they said is to be believed, then the person at the head of their order was incredibly powerful in the surface world. Whoever it was that asked this favor of him, must be equally so.

As the night passed, Noone began to sweat from exertion. It seems that constantly trying to maintain such a high level of awareness is extremely stressful on my brain. His head throbbed violently and Noone could feel pressure behind his eyes.

Noone stood up and retrieved some water from one of the canteens on the cart. His eyes tracked the ground, looking at the people who he found himself traveling with.

Should I make a break for it...?

Noone shook his head, shutting down that train of thought. He knew that they did not want to harm him, or that's what his instincts told him at least.

So, for now, he would trust them. Without them, Noone knew he would have trouble adapting to and learning about this new world.

Chapter end