Chapter 8

She woke up to a siren. Her eyes were filled with fear. The surprise was obvious. No twelve year old would want to or even expect to wake up at five in the morning. Apparently, metaphorical hell had arrived for Olivia.

She got up and got ready as soon as possible. Aeger told her to come to a training room he had rented for the entire week. He told her that if she wanted to practise the art of the phoenix, she had to become ready and model her body sufficiently to withstand the power. He demonstrated a few moves and commanded her to practise them for the rest of the day without stop, not even for water.

For the next few hours, her lungs were burning, and her face was red with pain. A few simple moves caused so much pain in her body that she wanted to die. Olivia felt her resolve collapsing, even entertaining the thought of giving up. Aeger was sitting aside, as if looking at a movie, watching with a calmness that was almost inhumane. Olivia was screaming after every movement, her bones were being smashed into powder and then reconstructed.

Her skin was peeling off, like when a snake sheds its skin. She was becoming a new person, reconstructing her body, slowly letting go of everything she held onto for the past twelve years, and she was approaching a mental barrier, a heart tribulation. One of the most difficult obstacles a cultivator would face at a point of time is the heart tribulation. One incident, a very traumatic one, will repeat over and over in your mind, and you must fight that, or you will collapse, losing all your cultivation, or even your life. For the tribulation to come this early was rare, but also a boon. The later it comes, the harder it becomes to overcome it. Being a twelve-year-old, Olivia was innocent. She had no guilt because she had done nothing wrong, following all the ten commandments, listening to and respecting her elders.

The only demon in her heart was the pain she felt when seeing her parents die in front of her. That was the very incident that propelled her to embark on this journey, and Aeger already warned her that she could face this obstacle. He told her to hold on to that ideal which prompted her to beg Aeger to be her master.

"Remember, if you do not stick to your ideal, if not now, you will fall later to your own self. Better temper yourself now and never face this again."