Azril's footsteps felt increasingly heavy, as if every grain of sand in the Sanctuary was trying to hold back his departure.
In this place, there was neither sun nor moon to mark the passing of time. There was only a static, gray expanse of sky and cold sand that seemed to suck the emotion out of anyone who stepped upon it.
Azril had been walking for a very long time since he moved away from the place of that majestic figure. He had entered the deepest area of the Sanctuary. His physical body, still at Step 1 Middle Level, was beginning to reach the limits of exhaustion.
However, in the midst of that vast and endless stretch of sand, Azril's steps suddenly stopped. His weary eyes widened. In the distance, right atop the peak of a high sand dune, he saw a shadow.
Azril's heart pounded. The shape of the shadow was very familiar. It was the posture of a human.
"There's... there's someone there," Azril whispered softly.
Instantly, the fatigue weighing down his body seemed to evaporate, replaced by an overflowing wave of hope. In his innocent mind, finding a human meant finding a way home. Azril imagined his house, his mother's face, and the warmth of the blankets in the village he had left so long ago.
With what little strength he had left, Azril began a small run up the sand dune.
From the bottom of the hill, Azril tried to call out with a hoarse but hopeful voice. "Brother! Brother! Help me!"
Azril's voice echoed in the silence of the Sanctuary, but there was no answer. The figure remained silent, standing tall facing the horizon.
Azril did not give up. He continued to crawl upward, ignoring the sand entering the wounds on his hands. However, the closer he got, the warm feeling in Azril's chest slowly turned cold. Something was wrong.
When Azril reached the top of the hill and stood only a few meters from the figure, his face suddenly turned deathly pale. A terrifying fear gripped his soul.
The figure was not human.
The creature had no face—no eyes, nose, or mouth. Its head was merely a smooth, flat black lump. It also had no hair. Its entire body was pitch black as if made of ink that absorbed light, yet within the darkness of its body, there were tiny flickering points of light, resembling stars in the night sky trapped within a shadow.
Suddenly, from the direction where a mouth should have been, a very strange and broken vibration of a voice emerged.
"Um... braaa..."
The sound was like the scraping of stones clashing against the void. Azril did not understand what it meant, but his instincts screamed that this was death.
Azril immediately turned around, trying to run away as fast as possible. However, his speed meant nothing before the creature.
Just as Azril turned, the Umbra's black hand shot out. With a movement almost invisible to the eye, it grabbed Azril's head. Its strength was absolute. Azril was lifted into the air, then thrown in a random direction like a pebble.
BOOM!
Azril's body flew hundreds of meters and landed right in a row of crystal cliffs towering at the side of the sandy expanse. The cliffs shattered into pieces from the hard impact of Azril's body. Sharp crystals scratched his stone skin, creating new wounds that bled a thin, silver liquid.
As Azril struggled to get up with a dizzy head, the Umbra was already standing before him instantly. Without giving him time to breathe, a hard kick landed on Azril's chest.
KRAK!
Azril's body was again hurled far into the air. The force of the kick was so great that Azril's breath seemed to stop in his throat.
"It hurts..." Azril muttered with tears beginning to fall.
However, the Sanctuary was a cruel place. The Umbra did not let Azril fall back to the sand. With lightning speed, it appeared above Azril, punching him downward, then appeared again below to kick him back up. Azril became tossed back and forth in the air. Blow after hard blow rained down on his body.
In the midst of the extraordinary pain, Azril realized one thing. This creature... has the same power as me, he thought. Pure physical strength capable of crushing crystals and splitting sand.
Azril knew if he just stayed still, he would die. As the Umbra approached again to land a blow, Azril gathered all his anger and remaining energy into his right hand. He didn't try to run anymore. Just as the Umbra was within reach, Azril swung his strongest punch toward the head of the faceless creature.
BAM!
The punch landed squarely on the target. The Umbra was hurled downward, hitting the sand dune hard. But the fight was not over. Before Azril could land, the Umbra had already shot back up from below, returning Azril's punch with brutality.
Thus, a very long fistfight ensued in the air. The sound of their hands colliding created shockwaves that blew away the sand below. Azril fought desperately, but he began to be overwhelmed. His greatest weakness was that he only had one hand to attack and defend, while the Umbra had two hands moving in perfect synchronization.
BRAK!
Azril was finally slammed down in a supine position. Before he could move, the Umbra had landed on top of him and sent a deathly kick straight to Azril's face.
"It hurts... it hurts!" Azril screamed in despair.
Under the pressure of the Umbra's foot pressing his face into the sand, Azril's wild side awakened. Azril caught the Umbra's leg with his right hand, gripping it so tightly that his nails sank into the creature's black substance. And without hesitation, Azril opened his mouth wide and bit the Umbra's leg with all his might.
The Umbra struggled, its hands raining blows upon Azril's back repeatedly to release the bite. But Azril did not let go. With his one remaining hand, Azril pulled the Umbra's leg toward him, forcing the creature's body to clash directly with his own.
Duk!
Azril slammed his head against the Umbra's head, then quickly moved his bite to the creature's neck. While biting, Azril grabbed one of the Umbra's arms and pulled it with all his life force.
SREEEEETT... PLOP!
The Umbra's hand was torn off. A strange, thick gray substance flowed from the wound. Azril, now ruled by predator instincts, did not stop there. He continued to punch, bite, and tear the Umbra apart brutally. In the rage of a child who felt betrayed by his own hopes, Azril mutilated the creature's body into seven separate parts.
Instantly, the Umbra died, its body beginning to evaporate. The dark, starry essence of the creature did not vanish into the air but was instead completely absorbed into Azril's body.
"Ugh!" Azril winced. He tried to stand, but his legs trembled.
Suddenly, from the distance, Azril's sharp ears caught other strange sounds. The same scraping sound. Azril focused his awareness, and his heart nearly stopped beating. There were four other Umbras racing quickly toward him. They looked very angry seeing their comrade mutilated.
Azril was not stupid. He knew he would not win against four such creatures at once. Quickly, Azril used the Light Step technique. His body shot forward, cutting through the air with a much higher speed than before. However, the Umbras were very persistent. They chased Azril like shadows that could not be shaken off.
Azril ran randomly, flying past sand dunes and crystal cliffs, but the Umbras remained behind him. In the middle of the escape, Azril's body began to feel hot. Very hot. The Umbra essence he had absorbed began to react with the cells of his body. His energy overflowed, feeling like hot lava flowing through his veins. Azril's body reached a threshold he could no longer control.
While enduring the burning heat, Azril continued to push his Light Step. Azril didn't know how long he had been running in that condition. The Sanctuary seemed to be an endless labyrinth. However, slowly, Azril noticed that the Umbras behind him began to slow down. They stopped chasing as if there was an invisible wall forbidding them from stepping any further.
Azril did not care. He kept running as far as possible until he reached a secluded cliff. There, Azril saw the mouth of a cave on the right side.
The cave looked terrifying from the outside, with sharp stone fangs and deep darkness. However, because the heat in his body was unbearable, Azril forced himself inside to hide.
Once he passed the narrow entrance corridor, Azril was stunned. Behind the frightening exterior, the inside of the cave was very beautiful. Softly glowing crystals clung to the ceiling, and the air inside felt fresh and calming.
Azril was no longer able to stand. He fell face-down on the cold cave floor. The heat in his body exploded, swallowing his consciousness. Inside that beautiful cave, Azril tried to sit up, but the pain could no longer be endured. Azril began the process of forced evolution that would change his destiny forever.