Light, endless light.
Light, endless light!
Bright pulses were constantly being emitted from the star tattoo on Hartley's chest, his thudding heartbeat seemed to sync with the strobing light and the world around him, dyeing the sky in an unnatural shade of blue, like a glistening sapphire jewel.
Atop the mountain, the abundant mist had also turned blue, churning and roiling restlessly along the length of the plateau, lashing out in every direction like boiling water.
Atmospheric pressures caused huge gusts of sudden wind, thunderous windshears were screaming by like hurricanes, whipping up the bubbling florescent mist into even more of a frenzy.
Twenty-nine days had passed since Hartley began his attempt at merging the pocket dimension with his inner world.
Hartley was still sat in the lotus position, his indistinct figure blotted out by the swirling mist, unkempt raven hair dancing around his face wildly. He sported no particular expression, as if he wasn't even aware of the commotion taking place around him, bit by bit his image was slowly fading away like he was disappearing from reality, two days later he achieved the simplicity of being one with the pocket dimension.
On the thirty-fourth day of his attempt, the abnormal activities on the plateau intensified, crumbling pieces of rock rolled down the stone face as the wind shook the massive mountain from side to side.
Miles away in the Cambridge camp, everyone was experiencing the ill-effects of this spectacular event in terror with baited breath.
***
Rumble!
The domed structure was shaking violently again, screams and shrieks rang out, Kang waved his hand, using his control of space to reinforce the building, massively reducing the vibrations, dust showered down into the main hall, filling some unlucky occupants noses and throats, sending them into a sputtering coughing frenzy.
Chaotic screams, bumbling prayers and expletive laden curses were hurled at the heavens casually, only stopping when the shaking stopped. Not even the bravest of warriors were insulated from the terror of being inside a shaking building.
"The tremors are finally dying down," Kang sighed.
"How long has it been?"
"At least 30 days, I think more, but I'm not so sure." The haggard looking patriarch Wushang answered Kang, his eyes were bloodshot with red veins branching out in every direction, puffy discoloured bags developing beneath them.
The sunless sky overhead was blinding blue, its colour leaking in through the cracked crystal roof, saturating the top floor where they were with glaring blue light.
Kang shook his head in bewilderment.
"Unbelievable, we haven't seen night in 30 days, its like darkness has been erased from the pocket dimension." Kang muttered out with a tinge of tiredness seeping into his voice.
"Do you think Hartley is doing this?" Zhi Ruo asked sitting uncomfortably at a table with scattered empty cups, her expression betraying her nervousness.
"Possible," was Kang's only response as he too pondered the situation, closing his eyes to meditate.
This was a strange phenomenon, even for someone like Kang who had seen and experienced so much of the world.
The chalk coloured, three storey dome building at the heart of the Cambridge camp, was an exemplary example of this world's design and architecture. Even in its dilapidated condition one could still recognize its elaborate elegance.
It might have formerly been a museum or art gallery, portraits and other pieces of art were still hanging on its cracked and discoloured interior walls. No doubt holding immense value once, now the flaking paintings - which was ready to disintegrated with but a touch - seem a distant afterthought to all the people huddled inside the building.
Cowering below the crystal-like roof of the iconic building were the women and children of the camp. Screaming and trembling when the earth shook violently under their feet.
Terror was etched on their desperate faces, all praying that the building would survive the awful shaking of the earth.
Several structures had already collapsed, this was the sturdiest building in the camp, but that wasn't saying much, its condition was only a tad better than the other dilapidated buildings in the surroundings. If it wasn't for Kang, it might already be nothing but a pile of rubble.
Men who had been on constant alert, or patrolling the perimeter had begun to show signs of serious sleep deprivation, the never ending day cycle had disrupted everyone's usual sleep pattern, some had unwittingly stayed up for so long that a collection of warriors and guards were now sprawled across the atrium unconscious.
Even the saints were suffering from the effects, but they could tolerate much longer than a normal person.
"What an experience." Li Na said dryly, exhaling a lung full of air. They had been on constant guard against attack from the beasts gathering outside the camp, or an unexpected invasion from other hostile groups. Just because these quakes were happening, it didn't mean you can get careless.
"This is an experience I don't want to repeat again any time soon, there are reports of the beasts being in a frenzy to the east of our camp."
Li Na spoke again, her face flustered, looking like she was going to be the next to collapse from exhaustion.
"You should get some rest," Zhi Ruo said, coming over to the chair and tapping the young girl's shoulder.
Li Na looked at her grandfather, obviously reluctant to leave his side, he nodded with a smile then went back to his own meditation.
She then quietly withdrew from the room, leaving a sullen uncertain silence.
***
Stiff winds swept across the land with an eerie wail, flinging leaves and other debris across the sky.
Groups of lesser beasts and king beasts restlessly rampaged, their concentrated roars bellowing out in unison, howling at the sky like werewolves howling at a full moon.
The sky remained like a jewel, light reigned in the pocket dimension, endless light. For a month and a half, there was no night, darkness was banished.
No one knew for sure what was happening or what the future would hold. Were these the end times?
***
Meanwhile...
Hartley was sat at the highest point of his inner world, in this world his hair was always blonde, below him was the untainted beauty of a land never touched by man or beast, A blue star stood proudly in the sky like a chandelier pouring down light.
To the west, another piece of land was slowly merging to his original inner world.
The contrast couldn't be more extreme. The new land was a direct juxtaposition, it was an apocalyptic land that had been through the worst wars of humanity, the destruction visible was eye watering, it was comparable to a nuclear fallout.
With a boom, blue sparks erupted into the sky, blinding light flashed for a second, turning everything white.
Both halves of land came together as one like neighbouring landlocked countries.
On the forty-fifth day the process was finally complete.
And with that, Hartley's eyes flicked open suddenly, there was an explosion of blue particles around his silhouette, blasting out sprays of crushed rocks everywhere, pushing him up into the sky, leaving a 10 meter deep crater below him on the plateau.
He was naked, floating 500 metres above the plateau, his shredded robe scattering in every direction.
An energy jet of blue mist roped up towards him from the plateau like a giant serpent, lashing at the tattoo on his chest, when it made contact with his chest, it did no damage, instead the mist was sucked into his body like water through a straw.
One more rope of serpent-like florescent blue mist jetted up, collided with his chest and was syphoned away into his body... Then another one, and another....
After all the mist was absorbed into his body he floated down, his bare feet touched the shattered rocks of the crater as he landed. His body outlined in a brilliant blue glow.
Hartley inhaled deeply, he had broken into the third layer of the saint realm.
Buzz! Buzz!
A startling event happened almost immediately.
Blaring black energy split the sapphire sky, rushing down onto the plateau with a sizzling sound. Hartley looked up, blackness reflected in his pupil. The bolt of black lightening dove directly at his head with unmatched momentum.
He didn't move.
Bang!
A massive chunk of the mountain was erased as easy as chalk. All around Hartley was instantly blackened like burnt coal.
Pieces of rocks and dust flew everywhere.
if it it was anyone else, they would have been annihilated without and intact carcass.
A few seconds passed in silence, the wind whorled and spun chaotically.
A lone figure stood in the middle of the decimation, the plateau was scorched, stones were still crumbling to sand, blowing away with the black smoke-coils rising in the wind.
Hartley stood motionless, a few crackling hisses could be heard, a dozen ropes of sparkling black energy danced around his glowing naked body like hypnotized snakes, they were like an extension of himself, shining radiant black around his blue silhouette.
The sky slowly faded back to normalcy. Night had finally returned to pocket dimension.
Hartley now understood that black energy was a fail-safe put in place by the First-Worlders, so the violence of the mortal realm would never threaten the stability of the heavens.
If what he saw was true, Hartley couldn't blame them either, even back then mankind had shown their propensity for betrayal and violent slaughter.
He had also had a glimpse of what he assumed was the origin of the pocket dimension. He understood its original purpose, and also the lure of power that corrupted most who knew of its existence.
"Finally." Hartley said out loud breathing a sigh of relief, flashing a satisfied white smile that contrasted with blackened background, his second stint in the pocket dimension was drawing to a close.
"Time to return." He said and disappeared from the destroyed mountain top.