The deadline Theo gave Selina was in its last twenty-four hours. On the first day, Theo frequented the fighting club, where he battled Ivan and earned a scar on his left shoulder. As instructed by Sigmore, Theo returned to the apartment where he was staying and continued to focus and try to align his chakras.

  Theo adopted the physical practice for only a few hours, but stopped when he noticed the false evolution he was having. After all, he only seemed to evolve and heal, but he was not getting any results.

  When he decided to stop practicing to seek answers, he reached a reasoning after reading an article on spirituality available in a nearby library.

  In this article, he discovered some specific hand seals for each type of meditation. The main mudra that caught his attention was the Hakini mudra, a gesture used for better concentration. Understanding how it worked, the boy sat in the same place as always: on the soft mattress, adjusting his posture and with his back against the wall.

  When he used the Hakini mudra to train, he felt the flow of energy move more freely throughout his brain and energy veins. The energy was so "liberated" that Theo's body did not get used to that beautiful sensation.

  After putting the mudra into practice, Theo realized that his evolution was still weak, slow. At that pace, he would at most be able to refine his energy only a little, but not as he would have liked.

  It was then that he put something into practice: meditating in his own spiritual plane. Using a very logical reasoning, however, so logical that people discard it, thinking it will have no result.

  Theo thought about the concept of the spiritual plane. It is nothing more than a way to access one's own mind. Being able to materialize in one's own imagination, in a world of dreams created by oneself, where only you have entirely access. You create, you destroy.

  Many discard this concept because it would take a long time to adjust one's own mind. To leave the spirit so clean and empty that it could only imagine and feel. Someone with discipline could do that. And Theo did.

  Emptying his mind, he created a comfortable scenario for himself, creating only an enormous endless prairie. Something that would not distract him from his real objective. After that, he erased the concept of time as common sense treats it in that world: something absolute, that cannot be changed.

  Theo treats time as relative. Each one sees this concept according to how their own mind can reason. Minds that think too much see time pass slowly. Normal minds see time pass normally, as most see it. This was the quickest explanation Theo could find to explain the moments of high adrenaline, where time seems to stop, when in fact it continues normally.

  He managed to apply this in his own spiritual plane. Time ceased to be absolute and became relative—as it really should be. One minute in the physical world became five hours in his spiritual plane. Using the mudra to concentrate even more, he managed to reflect for five days in the spiritual plane.

  Condensing and refining his own energy, understanding the universe. How science, time, and the universe work together to come into harmony. Even thinking about Liam Mason.

  Over time, Theo came to learn to stop hating his own past. Abandoning the idea that Liam was a garbage murderer, and adopting the view that, even in some part of that empty existence, there will be something that will enrich the development for the personality he has now adopted.

  While he reflected on everything, Theo's energy wandered through the chakra veins like blood in blood vessels. Unlike someone at the beginning, who has a more solid and difficult to manipulate energy, with each cycle that repeated itself, Theo's energy seemed like water itself: so malleable that he could turn it into anything he wanted. Take it wherever he wanted.

  ?

  "Sir Amiah!" a soldier shouted, slightly hunching his shoulders as a drop of sweat ran down his face.

  "Why is a general here?…" A murmur escaped the crowd that circulated a luxury store.

  "It's a case involving a noble family. So I think it's fair that… Bow!" he ordered, skillfully grabbing a soldier's head and forcing him to bow.

  A crowd of residents filled the main streets of Fulmenbour, blocking entry to the largest store in the region. A store known for being frequented only by nobility and royalty, but which suddenly became the target of a tragedy.

  At eight in the morning, two gunshots echoed through the streets, waking everyone. The shots were fired in the store, targeting the nephew of the current master of Fulmenbour. Two of the boy's bodyguards died, while the target was taken to the hospital with a shoulder wound.

  The case shocked the city, as it had been twenty years since any murder or attempted crime of this nature had occurred in Fulmenbour. Even more so against royalty itself.

  As he was nearby, returning to where he would train Ivan that day, Amiah decided to see the situation. A soldier informed him of all the details, and then the imperial general decided to check the situation.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The store shelves were completely broken, knocked to the ground, with marks from the shots and signs of battles. The guards' blood was everywhere, along with tracks. Tracks that no one saw, but it was the first sign Amiah detected while a captain argued.

  "The Pasqcuar family sent you?" the captain inquired.

  "No. I was nearby when I saw the crowd. In fact, I dismiss them," Amiah ordered, referring to the crowd outside. "I don't like commotion while I work."

  Untying one of the sashes that held his hanfu, Amiah walked inside the establishment, wrapping the sash around his right arm. The general's eyes glowed amber, revealing to him a wave of heat left by mana.

  "If there are signs of mana, then why did they use firearms?…" Amiah pondered, narrowing his eyes.

  Relaxing his right arm downwards, the general dispersed his sash, releasing it from his forearm and letting it slide down his hand. As it slid, Amiah's black sash transformed into an umbra scalae, a rare species of serpent with the peculiar ability to conceal its own presence from any detector. In addition to, like some species of snakes, the ability to see heat and mana waves.

  Its body is long and sinuous, covered in black scales that gleam with an opalescent sheen when exposed to light. Finally, its greatest charm: its irises are surrounded by shimmering rings that appear to absorb light. These rings are responsible for the animal's absurd vision.

  Suddenly, Amiah's crimson eyes adopted the same appearance: shimmering rings appeared and shared with the general the same vision as the serpent. In his left eye, Amiah saw with his own vision, while in his right eye, he saw the point of view of his invocation.

  The serpent crawled across the floor, passing between the rubble and analyzing the mana traces left behind. Amiah, on the other hand, followed the blood trails that led him to a broken window.

  Leaning against the wall, Amiah looked outside the window, where it connected to one of the perpendicular streets—a series of streets that connect the lower zone of Fulmenbour with the upper zone.

  Some bloodstains continued along the walls that lined the street. Amiah projected as if one of the culprits had jumped out the window and become disoriented, hitting the walls to balance himself until finally meeting up with the getaway vehicle, probably a carriage.

  "Ying," Amiah called. The black serpent quickly obeyed its master's call. "Can you already follow the mana trail of the perpetrator?"

  The black serpent, Ying, crawled all over Amiah's body, stopping on the general's shoulder and emitting a sound similar to a rattlesnake's rattle.

  "Excellent. Go through the shadows and be careful. When you find the culprit, alert me."

  Amiah rested his right hand on the window sill. Sliding down his master's arm, Ying descended the side wall of the store and disappeared into the shadows towards the mana trail left behind.

  "The perpetrators of this crime certainly want to draw attention. Leaving so many traces behind, especially of mana? Is it a message for Patriarch Pasqcuar? They are not beginners, nor idiots…" Amiah analyzed, returning outside the store. "Lord Apophis, why are you so agitated?"

  'Can you feel me, my intermediary?' a voice inquired in Amiah's head.

  "Your joy is almost palpable in front of me."

  'Forgive me.' it chuckled sarcastically. 'The lord of chaos truly follows his essence. No wonder you were guided here.'

  "What do you mean by that?"

  'I see a huge and rotten thread of chaos in the future… Worse days are coming, Amiah. But it seems so uncertain that even I can't be sure.'

  "General Amiah," the captain called. "My soldiers are pushing back the crowd. Did you discover anything?"

  Massaging the back of his neck, with his fingers between the strands of smooth black hair, Amiah retorted:

  "Only that they fled to the lower zone. Probably to the suburbs outside the walls. Since I know you wouldn't have the courage to invade there, I sent one of my agents. I will inform the court of Fulmenbour directly if I find anything."

  "Do you think…"

  "It was all orchestrated? Certainly. They left too many clues. They want to be followed. Anyway, I'm going back to my work," he said, leaving the store. "I'm a Wispells mentor now, so I have to take care of a bunch of teenagers."

  "See you later, General!" he said goodbye, understanding Amiah's needs.

  As he withdrew from the place, three soldiers passed by Amiah. Two sounded cold while one remained downcast. The three saluted the captain and entered the store, with one of them—the one who remained downcast—going to the back of the store, up the stairs to the upper floor.

  He went up the stairs a little tense, being careful not to attract attention until he reached a door. Upon passing through the door, all the light sources in the warehouse were taken over by a single and powerful shadow that circulated only on that floor.

  "Was everything done?" A mature and directionless voice filled the soldier's ears.

  "Yes," he replied. "Amiah Neidr noticed all the clues we left. We planned other attacks in the upper zone of Fulmenbour, so the Windsor brothers should also be distracted. As well as the aspiring sub-lieutenants."

  "Understood…"

  "Is that really what you want? Concentrate the attacks in one place? We can take these distractions to the entire empire…"

  "No," the voice interrupted. The silhouette of a man appeared in front of the window. For those outside the building, he was invisible.

  The man was well-dressed, with a black overcoat covering his entire body and a black hat. The silhouette of his yellow eyes glowed, following Amiah going towards a carriage at the beginning of the street.

  "We should concentrate our attacks only in the five cities of the orders. Distract the strongest here while Shadra moves the pieces in Loureto."

  "When will the great day be?" he dared to ask, even knowing that he could suffer retaliation with those careless words.

  "When the lord of darkness wishes to return. We have been in the shadows for decades, just waiting for the perfect moment to take back what Erling De Lawrence once stole from us. So child, don't be anxious."

  "O-of course…" he stammered, being repressed by a dense aura of darkness.

  "Go back to your routine, dying child."

  The soldier gently bowed his head before descending the stairs. Along with him, the shadows disappeared from that continent, leaving only a scent of silver.