Chapter 18

"Damn it! How could I be so naïve!"

Okara's hand was bleeding and dislocated as he stood holding his wrist with his left hand. Okara turned away from the boulder leaning forward from the pain.

"Oh, poor human. You might be truly naïve to think you could break it with such a simple punch."

Okara's eyes widen at the voice of a little girl filling his ears. Quickly he turned and saw nothing.

"What the hell was that."

"You came to get stronger did you not? You sure don't have the passion to."

Okara turned around again and saw nothing.

"Who are you?! Where are you?"

"I'm behind you, I'm in front of you, I'm all around you."

Okara turned around once again and looked up at the top of the boulder. To see a green glowing young girl standing on top of it.

"Who... Are-."

"Okara, you are here to get stronger are you not?"

"Yes... I am!"

"Then my name Is not important. What is important is what drives you to get stronger and what you'll do to achieve it."

"What do you mean?"

"Okara, you must find the reason you wish to get stronger and turn it into power. However, you must also carve the darkness out of your heart as well."

"Find the reason... Carve out the darkness?"

"Only you can answer those questions. I will lead you in the right direction, but you must find and follow the path to it."

"Okay! What must I do?"

"You must meditate, Okara."

"Meditate?"

"Yes, calm the mind and let the energy run through you. Then find what you must. But be warned with each path comes an ending."

Okara looked nervous as he watched the little girl. Then slowly he sat down and crossed his legs, closing his eyes as he rested his arms on his knees.

"Now breath in and listen to my voice. Hear it getting further away as you back away into a dark tunnel and then-."

Suddenly the little girl's voice was gone and Okara had found himself surrounded by darkness.

"Now what..."

His voice echoed throughout the black room around him. Slowly he began to open his eyes and instantly stood up.

"Where did the boulder go, and the little girl..."

Her voice then came in and echoed through the black room's walls.

"Find... Your reason and carve out the darkness."

Suddenly three doors appeared before Okara. Each is labeled with numbers. One to three.

"Find my reason... Carve out the darkness. Well then, I choose."

Okara reached for three and opened the door. It was a white doorway as he walked in, his eyes closed from the blinding light. Then with a forceful shut from the door behind him. He opened them and found himself back on Escar.

"What is this? Escar is-!"

"Hey! Get out of the way, Low Class!" An older male voice shouts out at Okara.

As present Okara turns he sees himself from the past. He was working on construction and two elites with heavy walls were walking past him.

"S-Sorry!" Past Okara said as he continued walking with two beams piled on each other.

"Why am I back here?" Present Okara wondered as he walked around.

"I remember now..."

Okara watched his past self working harder than most people. Elites scuffing and mocking at him as he worked hard. Past Okara's face was normal as he ignored them and didn't care what they thought. However.

"I pretend like they didn't exist, but nothing pissed me off more. I wanted to fight them all and prove to them they were worthless ones."

"You have found your reason, but the darkness remains." The little girl's voice floats through the air as Okara continues his journey.

Time advanced in the room and Okara was watching himself get paid.

"Only two coins?" Past Okara cried.

"Yeah, if you've got a problem with it. Take it up with the chief."

"N-No... It's alright. Thank you."

Okara watched time advance again as he appeared at his old home.

"..."

Okara followed himself into the house.

"Okara! You're home!"

Present Okara smiled as he watched a much younger Cassa rushing at him for the embrace. However, as he stood with his arms open he watched her pass him for past Okara instead.

"Oh yeah..."

Present Okara watched as the two looked at the bright side of things.

"It was only two coins, but I'll make even more next time. Once I go back and work even harder."

"You don't have to push yourself so hard. Okay, Okara."

Present Okara slightly smiled as he remembered a feeling from long ago.

"It was always because of her that I could come home and forget about the darkness the world cast over me. Even when she had her problems she put mine first. I almost forgot about that. How selfish I've become."

"Do you feel pity for yourself?"

Present Okara stood holding his head between his hands.

"Yes... I pity myself every day, I mean how selfish is that. To worry about my problems and forget completely about hers. I wish I could fix it, I wish I could've become stronger back then."

"But are you not thankful for what you are now?"

Present Okara released his head and took a deep breath.

"I am, earth has given us more than Escar did. But Escar also taught me something. To stand as a pillar of light in the blackest darkness!"

The little girl smiled before speaking.

"Your reason has been found and the darkness has been carved. You have passed the first test."

Present Okara is pulled out of the third door and put back into the darkroom. But this time the little girl appears brightening the room.

"Okara, would you like to see the other two doors?"

"I would if I had time, but."

"Do you not wish to become stronger?"

"I do, but..."

"Time is of the essence then?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then, I will brief you through them."

The little girl drags Okara through the first door.

They reappear back on Escar back in the further past. Where Okara was a teenager and fighting a gang of elites that were brutally beating him.

"I was very naïve back then. I thought I was stronger than anyone... How dumb I was."

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Okara's eyes widened as he turned to see a teenage Cassa behind him. The little girl and him stepping out of the way. As she approached the elites.

"Why do you protect this weakling, Cassa?"

"Because of Bruss! He's a lot more than you'll ever be!"

"Oh, that's how it is? Whatever... Don't bother running back to me. When your life's a living hell, Low-class trash."

Bruss spat on Okara and gave a death glare to Cassa before leaving with his friends.

"Are you okay?" Cassa asked as she walked up and kneeled to the bloody and beaten Okara.

"T-Thank you..."

"You don't have to thank me for anything. Those guys are jerks."

Cassa said as she pulled out a white cloth and started cleaning Okara's face up a bit.

"It was at this point... I realized that fate had a way of showing me what love was... This was the first time I thought of nothing, but Cassa, for the very first time. I fell in love."

"She was protective of you, and now you want to be protective of her." The little girl responded. As she pulled them out of the room and in front of the last door.

"Now for your final memory, Okara."