The sun was high as Seth stood at the edge of the pit, staring down at the endless stretch of sand that needed to fill it. Vince stood nearby, arms crossed, watching with an amused glint in his eyes.
Seth took a deep breath and scooped up a handful of sand, only to have it slip through his fingers. He sighed, wiping his brow, and began hauling sand in large, cumbersome loads. Every few steps, he'd stop, gasping for air, the weight of the task sinking in.
The first few attempts went like this- he'd fill his arms with sand, stagger to the pit, and dump it... only for the pile to barely cover a quarter of the hole. With each futile effort, his frustration grew, turning to sweat and grumbling.
After what felt like an eternity, Seth tried to use a large stick to scoop sand, but ended up losing his balance and falling face-first into the pit. When he stood up, covered in dirt, he shot an accusing glare at Vince, who was watching with a smirk.
"Having fun?" Vince called over, clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Seth's reply was nothing more than a groan, followed by a stubborn shove of sand into the pit- only to slip and end up sitting on the pile he had just created.
As Seth continued to labor away, he heard a soft clink behind him. Turning around, he saw Vince strolling toward him, a shovel casually resting over his shoulder.
"As much as I'm enjoying this," Vince called, his voice dripping with amusement, "I should point out that you are allowed to use a shovel, you know?"
Seth's eyes widened, a mixture of disbelief and frustration flashing across his face. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but the words caught in his throat. He was too exhausted to form a coherent sentence.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Seth finally managed to spit out, his face reddening in frustration as he threw his arms out, sand spilling from his hands.
Vince just chuckled, the smirk never leaving his face. "You never asked?"
Seth stood there, speechless for a moment, staring at the shovel in Vince's hand as if it were the key to a forgotten kingdom. His face twisted between disbelief and rage. After a beat, he groaned loudly, tossing his arms up in the air.
"Unbelievable!" he muttered, before snatching the shovel from Vince's hands with a sharp, dramatic motion.
Vince merely laughed, a deep, satisfied chuckle. "You've got a lot to learn, kid. Next time, don't assume I'm going to make things easy for you."
By the time the sun reached its zenith, the pit was halfway filled, and Seth was halfway dead- at least, that's how he felt. Muscles aching, hands blistered, and sand in places he didn't want to think about.
*****
Several hours later, Seth returned home, his body streaked with sand and grime, exhaustion etched into every line of his face. His shoulders sagged under the weight of fatigue, each step heavier than the last.
As he stepped into the modest cottage, he was met with the familiar stillness that always hung in the air like a thin veil. Absolute silence wrapped around him, accompanied by the faint, damp scent of aged wood and stone- a smell he had long grown used to since childhood.
He let the door creak shut behind him, the soft click echoing through the quiet space, no waiting voice. Just the soft hum of the wind brushing against the shutters and the steady beat of his own heartbeat thudding in his ears.
The cottage was modest, barely furnished, but it was home.
Seth dropped his training gear beside the door with a muffled thud, too tired to care where it landed. He made his way to the washbasin in the corner, splashing cool water on his face. The dirt washed away, but the aches remained.
Usually, around this time- when Mira was away at the marketplace selling her wares, Seth would be curled up with a book, his nose buried deep in worn pages while Emily practiced her sword drills just a few feet away, the sound of her swings echoing through the open grass fields outside.
But not anymore.
'That will never happen again…' Seth thought bitterly, his gaze sweeping across the empty cottage. His hand curled into a tight fist, knuckles whitening as silence pressed down on him like a weight.
The house, once alive with voices and small, familiar sounds, now felt hollow- like a shell of what it used to be.
He looked toward the old wooden practice sword leaning against the wall- Emily's sword, still there, still waiting.
But she wasn't.
And she never would be again.
Seth shut his eyes, forcing the swell of grief back down into the quiet place he kept it locked away, he couldn't afford to break now, not ever.
Not until he was strong enough.
His daily routine consisted of two parts- training with Sir Vince from morning until late afternoon was the first. The next part of his routine was what he was currently doing as he stepped into his room. He lowered himself to the floor and sat cross-legged in the lotus position.
Shifting slightly to adjust his posture, he gently ran his fingers over his right arm, which was completely wrapped in bandages extending all the way to his fingertips. Though originally white, the bandages had long since lost their color, stained by the wear and tear of his daily activities.
Ever since the incident at Thornspire, Seth had struggled with properly using his right hand- ranging from subtle aches to sudden cramps that sometimes rendered the arm nearly useless. After another unsuccessful attempt to heal it with her magic, Mira had decided to wrap the arm in cloth bandages. Despite Seth's insistence that it was getting better, she refused to let him go anywhere without keeping it properly bandaged.
I'll need to change the bandage, he thought, noticing how dirty it had become after filling the pit with sand.
Refusing to let his thoughts wander any further, Seth took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused. Silence settled in once more as he sat completely still, his breathing slow and steady. Then he felt it- the swirling mass in his abdomen, the place where his Force core resided.
Force Bearers absorbed the natural life energy from the very air around them to strengthen, refine, and empower their own. This energy was stored in a space within the body known as the core. Internal Force was life energy itself, and cultivating it meant drawing from external sources to enhance and evolve one's own.
A Force Bearer's level of improvement was measured by the size of their core and the amount of internal force they could harness. These stages of advancement were ranked as follows: Mortal, Spirit, Profound Spirit, Nascent, Earthly, Sky, Heavenly Tribulation, and finally, Immortal Ascension.
At the moment, Seth hadn't even reached the Mortal stage. His core was barely the size of a marble- perhaps even smaller.
Typically, the way to progress was by absorbing life energy from the air to gradually expand the core. Unfortunately, Seth's meridians were crippled, preventing him from drawing in energy naturally. For now, he had to rely on the small amount of energy he'd gained from consuming a Force Gathering Pill.
Increasing his focus, Seth honed in on the swirling mass of energy, which he had subconsciously come to perceive as a foggy white. He tried to distinguish the foreign energy from the pill he had taken earlier, hoping to merge it with his own. If successful, it would help him improve and expand his core.
Although the concepts of magic, essence affinity, and its attributes were completely new and elusive to him, internal force bore some resemblance to the "spiritual energy" martial artists like himself cultivated in his previous world. That similarity, however, didn't make things any easier for Seth. His brow furrowed slightly as he struggled to mix the energy from the pill with his own.
Despite their similarities, internal force and spiritual energy were fundamentally different, which made the process even more challenging.
Before he realized it, Seth had spent the remainder of his day meditating. By the time he stopped, night had fallen, and the exhaustion he felt was overwhelming. After a quick dinner, he went straight to bed, ready to repeat the same routine the next day.