Beyond Gods 19 Misfortune

Neil and Johan wondered the store, going shelf to shelf perusing the odd and mysterious items. Some items looked vaguely similar to things they'd seen on earth, and many did not. Eventually, they stumbled upon a section of the abnormally large store that contained bottled water. Neil and Johan used the water, along with other things they'd gathered to bathe, shave, brush their teeth and clean themselves of the dirt that had acc.u.mulated after years of not showering. Following this, they slept on beds they'd found in the department store.

"Best sleep I've had in years," exclaimed Johan sitting up in the bed and stretching. "I missed sleeping in a bed and I feel amazing ... so fres.h.!.+"

"I got no complaints," said Neil looking up from the bed he'd been meditating on.

The mysterious mana torch still burned strong. Neil had put it into a stone vase to hold it upright.

"So what do you want to do now?," asked Johan.

"Lets get some breakfast and find what is thickening the mana," said Neil.

"So many choices, so much mystery," said Johan smiling, "I love this place. Its so much better than climbing that boring repet.i.tive pit all day."

Neil jumped off the bed and said, "Well, if you are just gonna talk, I'll get a head start and eat all the good stuff in this place before you get to it."

"Alright!," said Johan jumping up. "Lets eat!"

-- Ø --

"I have a theory for what is going on," said Neil as they sat on the floor munching on various foods they'd gathered from different areas of the store.

"What do you mean?," asked Johan.

"The food being filled with mana," said Neil. "The thickness of mana in this area. How this city is so well preserved."

Johan raised his eyebrow curiously at Neil as he gulped down some water.

"I heard stories," said Neil. "That a long time ago, prior to the chaos era, people of great strength existed in abundance. The resources of the past were naturally of very high quality compared to today. Consequently, just by consuming them in their raw form, people were naturally stronger."

"But that is just a theory," said Johan. "How can you be sure?"

"Did you see the bones?," asked Neil. "They were like crystals. When you reach higher realms of skill. The actual structure of your body changes in order to contain your strength. My trainers spoke of it."

"Does that mean that if we simply eat the food here we will get stronger than everyone outside the pit?," asked Johan.

"No," said Neil. "Even with the low quality resources, the wealth of knowledge they have for training and utilizing those resources to its fullest is ages ahead of what we have. They can use poor quality raw ingredients and refine them into high quality supplements. Its like drinking a protein shake without working out correctly. It will accelerate your development, but it isn't a good replacement for proper form and training methods. I think the huge benefit we've been getting from the food, is because we've been training continuously for years and had built up damage from being malnourished. The wall fungus kept us alive, but it lacked in nutrients and mana, something the food here is compensating for."

Johan's forehead crinkled in thought.

"So these people must have had powerful ancient training methods written down," said Johan. "If they were in fact so strong, they must have had techniques and methods to harvest the high quality resources to their fullest."

"Yeah," said Neil, "But, if it was recorded somewhere, it would probably be in a language lost to time."

"Or perhaps recorded in a way that anyone could understand it," said Johan.

"Interesting thought," said Neil glancing around at their surroundings curiously.

The mana torch started to flicker, casting a mysterious light on the store as if to confirm Johan's comments.

"Hey," said Johan, "what is the torch doing?"

"I don't know," said Neil staring at it.

The mana torch suddenly flickered out, leaving them in darkness.

They continued to eat in darkness silently.

"Hey Neil ...," said Johan putting more food in his mouth. "Was it supposed to do that?"

"No," said Neil.

"I see," said Johan. "But you seem calm. You have a plan right?"

There was a bit off shuffling in the dark and then the sound of objects. .h.i.tting each other could be heard.

"I can't get it to turn back on," said Neil.

"Let me try," said Johan.

There was more shuffling as Neil approached Johan in the darkness and a moment later he clumsily b.u.mped into him.

"Ooof!," said Johan.

"Here," said Neil placing the torch on Johan's lap. "Work your magic."

There was more clunking and the mana torch once again failed to turn on.

"It is not working," said Johan.

"How'd you turn it on before?," asked Neil.

"I grabbed it," said Johan.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"We are in trouble aren't we," said Johan emotionlessly.

"Definitely," said Neil. "I don't even remember where the store entrance is. Do you? Plus, we can't see and we wondered pretty deep into it. This place is the size of a small town."

"I do not remember either," groaned Johan. "Gosh darnit!"

-- Ø --

Johan and Neil sat in pitch darkness eating and brain storming about what they were going o do without the torch to light their way.

"You know," said Neil. "Back on earth, I heard of blind people who used clicks to see their environment without being able to see. Sorta like how bat's see in he dark using echo location."

"I've heard of Shaolin monks," said Johan thoughtfully, "that were able to feel the variations in the wind and sense attacks from other people."

"Maybe," said Neil, "just maybe ... we can figure out something like that. It doesn't seem like the torch is going to work again anytime soon. We will have to do something, since using mana is too draining, and I can't move or keep my eyes open while doing it and taking it to the extreme might kill me. Furthermore, it takes a week to replenish the supply of mana after only creating light for five minutes."

"We have to do something," said Johan. "Otherwise we are going to die in this store."

Months pa.s.sed as Neil and Johan became more adept at using sound, smell and touch to navigate the store and identify objects. They were forced to increase the sensitivity of their other sense in order to detect their surroundings without sight. Eventually, it became second nature to them and they were able to navigate their environment with ease. It came to a point where they felt they could see objects even though, they were clearly not using their eyes. Each day, they'd venture a little bit more into new and unexplored areas of the store creating a mental map. Before long, they were comfortably navigating the store independently in order to gathering what they needed for that day. During this time, they continued their sparring and training exercises focusing more on grappling exercises since initially, prior to gaining the ability to see, they were unable to see each other's strikes. They realized that their ability to see without their eyes, allowed for them to detect objects that wouldn't regularly be in their line of sight.

While exploring a new portion of the store one particular day, Johan stumbled upon the entrance to the store. Excited, he rushed back to Neil.

"I found the store exit," said Johan. "What do you want to do?"

Neil remained silent.

"We are going to have to leave this place eventually," said Johan.

"Yeah," said Neil. "But once we leave, the only thing we really have to follow is the mana thickening. Finding our way back is close to impossible. We won't have any food or water supplies beyond what we take with us."

"Then it is decided," said Johan. "We follow the mana like we were doing before and hope for the best."

-- Ø --

Neil and Johan gathered supplies and prepared carry bags with supplies prior to heading towards the store exit.

"I am going to miss this place," sighed Johan under his breath. "We must have been here a few months and it had everything we needed. It was so comfortable compared to sleeping on the rock floors of the pit and eating fungus every day."

"You know what I miss?," said Neil.

"What?," said Johan.

"I miss Earth," said Neil. "I miss my friends from it, my childhood years, before living unemployed and finding out that these managers, governments, and Universities, cared more about profits and themselves, than the little guy. I miss having no worries, and having a clear picture of what my future was supposed to be like. I miss the guys from the barracks I'm not gonna miss this place."

"You're right," said Johan with a laugh. "The pit is a pretty low bar to compare anything to."

"Lets find that mana source," said Neil, "get our b.u.t.ts out of this cave, get back at Armyka, and fulfill our dreams."

"You know," said Johan, "Out of all the people, you must be glad I got thrown in the pit with you. You'd be dead without me or super bored."

Neil laughed, "Well, I am glad to have your company."

They wondered out of the store into the familiar but unfamiliar environment of the labyrinth.

"Adios store that has been our hospitable host for so long," said Johan as they left.

"On the bright side," said Neil. "We can now sense our surroundings without the use of mana. I'd call that a super power out of necessity. I can't see any other reason we'd ever develop this skill. I don't know anyone else that can do what we pulled off."

"Always the optimist aren't you Neil," said Johan with a laugh. "How'd you get this way, you were a NEET before right? Shouldn't you be more pessimistic considering everything you went through?"

"I'm the team lead, remember?," said Neil. "I got no room for pessimism."

"Hey," said Johan, "something seems different."

As they walked through the tunnel they became aware of something that they'd been unaware of previously, the labyrinth was riddled with closed off small hollow rooms. Using purely sight to navigate the tunnels before, had made them oblivious to this.

"Are those doors?", muttered Neil, "closed doors. But how do they open?"

"Should we check?," asked Johan.

"Maybe later," said Neil. "For now lets find the source of the mana, our supplies won't last forever."

"It must have been our imagination about something watching us in the cave before," said Johan. "I don't sense anything moving."

"I hope you are right," said Neil.

As they walked deeper into the labyrinth the tunnel they were in slowly got wider and wider. Eventually, the cave opened into a wide s.p.a.ce. In the middle of this open s.p.a.ce, was a large structure surrounded by what appeared to be trees and plants. The aura the structure gave off was almost oppressing, yet, in a way, felt familiar to them.

"What is this?," said Johan in awe.

"The mana here is so thick," gasped Neil. "People at our level would usually be killed by something like this, yet, for some reason, it isn't hurting us ... Why?"

"The trees," muttered Johan. "There are plants here. How? Is the mana doing this?"

Suddenly, the sense that they were being watched multiplied ten folds.

"You feel that?," said Neil.

"Yeah," said Johan. "Something is here, definitely. I feel it, but I don't sense anything moving."

"No point in stopping now." said Neil. "We will deal with it if it reveals itself, but for now, we found the mana source. Lets check it out."