Shad Darc had spent his first night in the strange forest and uncovered several unsettling truths.
The environment was abnormal. The creature beneath the tree was far more dangerous than any ordinary beast. Something within his body responded to meditation, and the strange sensation he had experienced was connected to a form of energy he still barely understood.
None of that mattered as much as it had before.
Shad had already accepted one disturbing possibility: he was no longer on Earth.
Whether he had been abducted, transported, or somehow brought into another world, the circumstances of his arrival were beyond his current understanding. He could investigate those questions later.
For now, he had a more immediate problem.
The creature beneath the tree.
It continued to stare at him with increasing intensity, as though it had been waiting patiently for him to finish whatever he was doing.
Shad glanced down at it.
"Well, I think it's time to move on. But first, let's strengthen ourselves."
He was referring to his other identities.
"So, what's the plan?"
Before any of them could answer, Shad raised a hand.
"Wait a minute. I have a question."
"Go on," replied the Pondering Fighter, sounding as though he had already anticipated it.
"When you said I had roughly a fifty percent chance of survival, were you referring to the possibility that I would discover the feeling of Flow?"
"Yes."
The answer came so plainly that Shad paused.
"Then how did you know? No, more importantly, why were you so certain about that fifty percent?"
A brief silence followed.
The Pondering Fighter seemed to consider the question, even though he already knew the answer.
"Damn. I'm really starting to hate this."
Shad raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Fine. Let's say we already had some awareness of what the Flow felt like. You used to experience strange thoughts and dreams, after all. It was unusual, but not entirely unfamiliar. We couldn't explain it at the time, so the best way to describe it is instinct."
"Instinct?"
Shad turned his attention toward the forest.
Morning had arrived.
The conditions were almost the opposite of those he had experienced when he first entered the forest. At the time, the air had been warm despite the surrounding fog and the approaching darkness. Now, the fog had receded considerably, allowing sunlight to pass through the enormous canopy.
The air had also grown colder.
Above the trees, the nine enormous stars remained arranged in their circular formation, visible even beneath the morning sky.
Shad studied them for a moment.
"Such contradictions."
He glanced around the forest.
"This place just keeps getting stranger."
He shrugged.
"Not that I particularly care right now."
His attention returned to the creature below.
"So, what next?"
"It's simple," said the Lonely King. His deep voice carried a calm certainty. "Try absorbing the Flow around you."
Shad frowned.
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Imagine breathing in a pleasant scent," explained the Meditating Advisor. "Then, just as you did before, guide the sensation through your entire body. Instead of merely sensing the Flow, try to draw it inward."
"Is that all?"
"That is where you begin."
Shad remained skeptical.
"That sounds suspiciously simple."
"Don't doubt yourself before you've even tried," said the Pondering Fighter.
Shad gave a faint smile.
"Thank you, myself."
He still didn't understand why he possessed three distinct mental identities or why they influenced his personality in his daily life. His psychological condition had always been complicated, and he had spent considerable time questioning whether these identities were a symptom of his problems or something else entirely.
At times, their presence made him wonder whether he was losing his mind.
Yet he couldn't deny that he enjoyed their company.
He had been aware of them for so long that loneliness had never truly become a problem. He could become bored, frustrated, or exhausted, but he rarely felt alone.
That was enough for now.
Shad turned his attention toward the task ahead.
He sat in a lotus position and closed his eyes.
As he had done the previous day, he first entered the state that allowed him to perceive the Flow. The process was considerably easier this time. He no longer had to search blindly for the sensation or struggle to recognize its presence.
Once he entered that state, he began searching for the Flow surrounding him.
It was faint at first.
A subtle presence spread throughout the forest, blending with the air and the environment. Shad couldn't see it, but he could sense it, much like he had sensed the energy within himself.
He imagined drawing it inward.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
This time, he focused on breathing—not simply to calm his body, but to establish a rhythm through which he could interact with the energy.
The Flow seemed to respond.
Barely.
A faint sensation brushed against his awareness before disappearing.
Shad didn't become frustrated. He simply adjusted his approach and continued.
His mind needed to recognize the Flow.
His heart needed to accept it.
And his body needed to become familiar enough with its presence to respond instinctively.
The process was more complicated than ordinary meditation. The Flow didn't behave like energy being moved through predetermined channels. It possessed a quality that felt almost alive, as though it could be approached and influenced rather than merely circulated.
That difference fascinated him.
Back on Earth, the organization had taught him several methods of energy circulation. Most involved controlled breathing, meditation, and directing energy from the lower dantian toward the upper dantian.
This method shared certain similarities, but its principles were different.
Shad wasn't simply moving energy through his body.
He was interacting with it.
The realization stirred an unfamiliar excitement within him.
This is where I belong.
The thought appeared before he could stop it.
For someone who had spent much of his life feeling disconnected from the world around him, the Flow offered something he had never experienced before. It was a power he could perceive, understand, and eventually harness.
"Don't get too excited yet," warned the Pondering Fighter.
Shad's concentration wavered.
"Hmm. Right."
He returned his attention to the Flow.
Time passed.
An hour.
Perhaps two.
Yet Shad experienced the passage of time differently while meditating. A short period in the outside world could feel like many hours within his awareness. He had no way of determining exactly how much time had passed, and he didn't particularly care.
The progress mattered more than the clock.
Eventually, he achieved something.
The Flow began to move.
Not freely, and certainly not with the precision he wanted, but it circulated around his body in a crude, incomplete cycle.
Shad had reached the first stage of energy circulation.
He could draw the Flow toward himself and guide it around his body without allowing it to immediately disperse.
It was a small achievement.
But it was an achievement nonetheless.
Shad continued refining the process, using his knowledge from Earth and adapting it to the properties of this unfamiliar energy.
The Flow did not behave exactly like the energy systems he had studied before. It seemed responsive to awareness, recognition, and interaction. Breathing helped establish control, but it wasn't the true foundation of the process.
The energy itself had to be acknowledged.
Understood.
Accepted.
And directed.
That discovery made the process far more difficult, but it also made it more interesting.
Another two hours passed in the outside world.
To Shad, it felt closer to an entire day.
Finally, he opened his eyes.
What he saw left him momentarily speechless.
The Flow around him had begun to manifest in a more physical form.
It could not be touched, yet it was visible.
A transparent, sky-blue substance surrounded his body, almost like a thin mist suspended in the air. It was largely colorless, but a faint blue hue seemed to exist within it, shifting whenever the energy moved.
Shad stared at it.
He had imagined supernatural power before. During his life on Earth, he had occasionally wondered what it would be like to exist in a world where extraordinary abilities and mysterious energies were real.
But imagination was one thing.
Witnessing it with his own eyes was another.
"Is this real?"
His voice carried genuine bewilderment.
"Of course," answered the Meditating Advisor.
Shad stared at the Flow for another moment.
Then he laughed.
A quiet, disbelieving sound escaped him before gradually growing louder.
"Ha... Then I suppose there's no reason to keep doubting it."
"Correct," said the Pondering Fighter. "You can finally stop clinging to the boring life you left behind."
Shad's smile faded slightly.
The words struck closer to home than he expected.
He looked toward the unfamiliar forest, the enormous trees, and the impossible sky.
"Then it's time to explore."
The Lonely King spoke next.
"A new world awaits."
Shad remained silent.
For a long moment, he simply observed his surroundings.
He had spent the previous day trying to reject the possibility that this place was real. Even after sensing the Flow, part of him had continued searching for an explanation that would return everything to something familiar.
Now, he finally allowed himself to accept it.
He wasn't on Earth anymore.
The realization brought an unexpected sense of relief.
A burden he hadn't known he was carrying seemed to loosen inside his chest.
He didn't know what awaited him beyond the forest, nor whether he would survive long enough to discover it.
But his life had changed.
And there was no point pretending otherwise.
After taking a brief rest, Shad focused once more on the Flow surrounding him.
This time, his objective was clear.
Absorb it.
He closed his eyes and entered the familiar state of awareness.
The Flow was already visible to him, but drawing it into his body proved far more difficult than simply perceiving it. His mind recognized its presence. His heart accepted it.
His body, however, resisted.
The energy brushed against his skin before dispersing. When he tried to pull it inward, the Flow slipped away as though he lacked the proper method.
Shad didn't give up.
He experimented with his breathing, adjusted his concentration, and tried different methods of interaction. Each failure revealed something about the energy's behavior.
He had a long way to go before achieving true control.
But he was learning.
"Take it slowly," advised the Lonely King. "Your priority is survival. You need enough power to deal with that creature before you begin chasing every mystery this world has to offer."
Shad glanced toward the ground.
The bear-like creature was still waiting beneath the tree.
"You're right."
He exhaled.
"Survive first. Explore later."
With that, he suppressed his growing excitement and returned to the task.
The hours passed.
The sun shifted across the sky, and the light gradually began to change.
Shad continued drawing the Flow toward himself.
Again and again, the energy slipped away.
Again and again, he adjusted his approach.
He didn't force the process through brute strength. Instead, he continued studying the Flow, searching for the point where awareness could become interaction and interaction could become control.
Eventually, something changed.
A faint thread of energy entered his body.
It was weak and unstable, but it remained.
Shad focused on it, guiding the Flow through his body with deliberate care. More energy followed, gathering around the first thread before dispersing into his limbs and chest.
By evening, he had finally achieved crude absorption.
The process was far from efficient, and he could barely control the amount of Flow entering his body. Nevertheless, he had succeeded in drawing external energy into himself.
Shad opened his eyes.
A new confidence settled over his expression.
He looked down at the creature beneath the tree.
The beast stared back.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Shad grinned.
The creature released a deep, thunderous roar that shook the surrounding branches.
Shad's grin widened.
"Oh, have a little more patience, my dear friend."
He rose from his position and looked down at the beast.
"I'll come to you soon."
His eyes narrowed with quiet determination.
"I promise."