The Tales of the Shadows

9.2. EL: Alone

The moment Elek's fingers touched the book Entity, a powerful wave of energy shot through his system into his mind and his senses felt brightened, more aware. He turned the book's orange cover, not really feeling how it felt but still understood the power it held.

The words on the pages did not seem like words at all. Rather, information floated in his thoughts and that transcended normal understanding, everything reaching him in a manner beyond communication. He was now unaware of the enormous Banyan tree beneath which he sat, one that Audrey loved dearly, the one largest after Paliv Verasel. The warm grass and the gentle breeze left his sensations, but he somehow still felt it.

At that moment, as he processed the information, he felt something much greater than curiosity. He didn't want to learn about something, but rather... he was at peace with information. The feeling was information but it couldn't be expressed in terms of information, or anything. A feeling of Time being stretched to infinity where the feeling was but a single moment. An eternal moment.

He closed the book. He had finished 'reading' it, comprehending it. He looked up at the sky and realised bare minutes had passed.

His movements became unconscious but he was aware of it. He stood up and made his way to the training centre, but the blur of time made it seem as if he suddenly stood there. Those little holes in the wall let the space around him breathe and Elek could feel the molecules buzzing around him, full of energy. He made his way through that atmosphere of the large room, though he felt nothing physical. He was like a magnetic substance attracted to the magnet, making his way to that on a set field line. Not necessary the line he walked on, but perhaps the line of life.

Before long his small and delicate hand rested on that lucid yellow stone, the light from it more powerful than any source he had seen. He remembered how it wasn't quite as bright as it is now, all those years when he first trained here with his friends. Time stopped and he was transported to a different dimension, although his physical body remained on Earth.

He witnessed it all, finally. The story of the Shadows of nature. He had only known Eleanor's story and his mother's death, and with all the information he gained - all at once it entered his mind - he was... lost. He hovered in the dimension and getting all his attention he focused on his surroundings. He was in it, but it itself was inside it... like a paradoxical pocket.

He concentrated on what the dimension was made of and saw that it was made of... nothing. Or at least nothing physical. An incomprehensible element. And yet he could understand its constitution, though that shouldn't be possible only with his ability...

Oh. Of course, he thought. I'm using my Yuran.

After that, he rather easily found his exit point since he was surrounded by no disturbance and came to Earth immediately. However, his thoughts were still lost, pondering upon the story he witnessed.

No, on the story he remembered.

His hands began to sink into the stone. Elek realised he could walk through it. He closed his eyes, studying the nature of the other side to understand what place it really was.

The Land of Grace. It welcomed him.

As he stepped through he was overwhelmed with assuage and silence, the kind that immediately put him at peace. The warm sunlight guided the flow of the gentle breeze, though the drops of a nearby waterfall balanced the heat with its clouds creating a pleasant atmosphere with the comforting land and the sky open to infinite possibilities making him feel... home. At the right place, even more so than the headquarters.

"Aqdas," Elek said on instinct and he didn't feel like a physical Shadow, but he soon returned to his present self. "Um... How do I know your name?"

"Hello, Elek. Even though I was expecting you, your visit surprised me."