Our heroes have spent time discovering the depths of their souls to reach the space. They meditate day and night for the impending battle that awaits them.
View from Dario:
I find myself meditating. Once you balance the energy that humans have, sometimes I have flashes of memories from the mission that marked the rest of my life. I see myself in the snow, bleeding; some of my zombies kept me alive to escape. Everyone was dead in my squad; the only thing that kept me alive was part of my dead comrades' clothes, which I transformed into makeshift bandages.
When I open my eyes, all I see after the flashes of the past are my friends, who are still in their minds, discovering their space. I know I should be meditating, but I still have in my head the legend of the two heroes. How two opposite beings could merge their spaces. I think I should try it with Duncan; I'll tell him the idea.
Some time later, I find myself in the dining room eating with the lizard man, talking about things. He's like my unpaid therapist.
Lizard man: "And tell me, master, how is your space going?"
Dario: "I think I almost have it. And you? I see you've made new friends."
Lizard man: "Naturally, the elves are deeper than I expected. It's good to have intellectually deep discussions with them. I must admit we have a lot of free time since we arrived, haven't we? We haven't been called for anything."
Dario: "Well, the king thinks I should train hand-to-hand combat. Ultimately, I can't depend on you guys forever. There will be someone who denies skills."
Lizard man: "That's a good line of thought. Well, master, it's good that he gives us freedom to roam around; the others are making friends."
Dario: "Well, have fun. I'll finish eating and then I'll go meditate."
Dario's Mind: I've been feeling sleepy since we meditated. I see things I don't want to see again, and it keeps me awake. At least if I wake up, I train the shadow mode. With this system, I've almost reached level 4. I'll have to think of something.
Something interrupts my thoughts. It's my friends coming to eat. They all sat around me, and we started talking about any stupid thing. Until I said my idea:
Dario: "Guys, I have the idea that if we merge the spaces when we achieve it..."
Everyone looked at me as if to say, "I want what this guy's smoking!"
Duncan: "That's a stupid idea."
Dario: "Why can't it work?"
Ruben: "Your idea is good, but we don't believe we're capable. It's supposed to be impossible."
Dario: "It doesn't hurt to try; besides, I think it would be our best ace in the hole."
I see everyone thoughtful, as if my words were stuck in their heads.
Angel: "If you put it that way, I think we should try it."
Emmanuel: "Well, okay, I say we do it. The problem is when."
Carlos: "When we go to sleep. The king lets us sleep for 8 hours, so let's use 2. If we sleep for 6 hours, at least I think we can handle it."
And so it was. After training, instead of sleeping, we all gathered in pairs, while one of us checked the door. We know we haven't expanded the space, but trying together I think we can accelerate the purpose.
We extended our hands and intertwined them. As we watched how to merge the spaces, we had an epiphany. The lack of sleep began to affect us, and I think she noticed it. It was when one of us achieved it. We were meditating and heard:
"CREATOR'S EXTENSION, DIVINE ARMORY."
Our surroundings found multiple altars of all kinds on shelves, and the place changed to a kind of warehouse. Carlos, kneeling:
Carlos: "I did it!"
We all stood up immediately and celebrated it. But before we could touch our friend, all the weapons prepared to kill us. Carlos stopped them:
Ruben: "There must be a self-protection mechanism."
Carlos: "It seems so."
Emmanuel: "How do you feel?"
Carlos: "I feel strong, as if everything followed my will."
Out of nowhere, the king manifested himself and with a smile said:
King of Shadows: "You did it, well, one of you did. Who did it?"
Without saying anything, we all pointed at Carlos. The spears and swords flew around him as if he were an autonomous armor or a great shield in individual parts.
The creator's space was there. The rest of us returned to meditation. Carlos and the king went to discover the capabilities of the space.
View from Carlos
:
My space not only works as my shield; the weapons are also like living beings and attack the enemy, not only if I order them, but also by the aura that the people express. I was testing how the weapons work, and I was going to try the fire ones, and I felt the energy drain. I feel tired.
King of Shadows: "Well, for now, those are the basic capabilities of the space. But spaces improve over time. The more you use it, the stronger and less energy drain it becomes. Understand? And in fact, you didn't make a field of the space."
Carlos: "What do you mean?"
King of Shadows: "Yes, we're not in the shadow realm. We're in your dimension. Here, time and space pass according to your rules."
After some time, the space dissolved, and we saw Carlos as if he had just completed a great, but a great triathlon of 90 kilometers. We only saw Carlos going to sleep early.
The rest of us continued trying. I didn't see much in my soul, just fragments of glacial ice in the night that were scary, its dark tones under a storm felt like the cold death.
Not much time passed. Ruben got up excited as if he already had the answer.
Ruben: "I'm serious, guys. I think I found it."
We all said he was okay, and we hoped he would achieve it, as there would be fewer left.
Weeks passed, and we continued training the fusion, but now I was falling behind. The second was Ruben; he manifested his space, the marionette's prison. He disappeared, and like guinea pigs, he, with his chains, made us move against our will. The third was Duncan, the wrath of his sins. He judged the sins of beings, and the more sins you have done, the weaker you become. And the more sins you have, the stronger he becomes. The fourth was Luis, the disruption of matter. He became omnipotent in his space; any matter that approached him, he could make it disappear or deform bodies. That scared us. The last and most recent was Emmanuel, his space, the eighth consciousness. His mastery allows him to see the future, as well as accelerate and decelerate beings in his space. He can be very helpful, besides knowing your position at any time, as the one who enters is marked, and your soul is always monitored by him.
Now comes my dilemma because I haven't been able to make my space. If I'm feeling a little down and depressed, I don't want to get out of bed, but I'm overcoming it like a champion. Who am I kidding? I feel bad, like trash.
Someone knocks on the door of our room. Grumpily, I shout:
Darío: "GO AWAY, GUYS! I WANT TO BE ALONE!"
But through the door, I hear a female voice that, with concern, opens the door. When the light blinds my eyes for a few seconds, I see the king standing there. She approaches me and asks what's wrong. It's been 3 days since I went to train. I just grumble and go back to bed.
King of Shadows: "Please, honey, it's not that bad."
Darío: "For you, maybe, but for me, I feel like everyone is moving further away from me and leaving me behind."
King of Shadows: "Yes, I know how it feels."
Darío: "Actually, I don't believe you. You're always so strong that I don't think your words are true."
She sits on the bed and strokes my head, as if trying to comfort me. I just want to tell her that I don't feel good.
King of Shadows: "Tell me what you see. Maybe the key to unlocking your space is there."
Darío: "(sigh) I see ice, as if we were in Alaska or the North or South Pole or something. I see a snowstorm, and it's night. I see everyone abandoning me."
King of Shadows: "There's the problem. A trauma is blocking the expansion of space, and you not only need your soul but also your healthy mind. Do you want to tell me why you feel abandoned?"
Darío: "I don't want to talk about it."
King of Shadows: "Honey, I can't help you if you don't let me help you."
No matter how much I want to avoid talking about my past or my problems, she's right. Maybe it's time to tell the truth. At least once, after all, she's my future wife.
Darío: "(sigh) It was in Frostbite Plains, in the battle where the snow turned red. I was at the base. The snow was so soft and cold it looked like cotton. It was when everything turned against us. The demons surrounded us. There were giant titan monsters, and the only strong thing on our side was light spears. What happened next, everyone in the vanguard was annihilated, their corpses defiled, and I, who was in defense, was scared. My feet and arms were trembling with fear, I couldn't move. My comrades and I were expelled from the safe place, and they left us on the front lines. We did the best we could, but it wasn't enough."
I closed my eyes and could see myself there with my scythe, with two of my best friends from that time. And when I made a cut and killed a titan, it fell, and we had a chance to escape. But there was a problem: when the titan fell, it fell on my leg, and all the others did was turn their backs on me. They abandoned me to die. My damn foot was under that heavy body, and all they did was turn around and run.
King of Shadows: "And how did you get out?"
Darío: "Well, that was complicated. Maybe I was tired, but I didn't know if I could revive a corpse of that magnitude. We could hear the footsteps and murmurs of how they would torture anyone alive for pleasure. The only thing left for me was to accept my fate or die trying. I put my hands on the corpse, and with a lot, but a lot of force, it stood up. It was a zombie, and my only orders were 'put me to safety and kill anyone who approaches.' And then I lost consciousness. When I woke up, my left foot was broken, and I was in a large, hollow tree."
I didn't know how to feel telling my story. I just looked away, feeling vulnerable, and she hugged me and said she was there for me. We stayed there in silence, she hugged me, and she kissed me. I felt loved. I think I'm not alone anymore. I know I'm different now, but there are scars that haven't healed yet.
Shortly after, I returned to training. The guys were worried. They just hugged me and hit me on the head, telling me I'm an idiot. And my response was, "But I'm their idiot."
I sat down to meditate again, and I saw that damn place, Frostbite Plains. But there I was, on the trunk. When I woke up, I felt confused, but I got out of the trunk. A few meters later, I found the dead titan, without a head, and
many corpses. In one of them, I found my companions who were friends. I felt sad; maybe they came back to look for me, but I'll never know. I felt calm after talking to my love. I feel calm, and there I felt it.
Darío: "Neutral Shadow Tundra Space Extension."
Everything around me turned into an icy desert, and snow fell. I was alone. But my queen came to my space and told me I did it. She hugged me and said she knew I would succeed. I didn't say anything. I just gently took her cheeks, and with a warm gesture, I kissed her. We were there kissing, and what happened next was that without her, I couldn't have done it. My space allows me to maintain the shadow mode for longer, as well as to position my soldiers. What it allows me to do is only manipulate everything inside. I don't know what temperature it is, but I think it's -257 degrees Celsius.
The hardest part of training is coming, but we only have one year left to face Belcebú. Can we do it?