Chapter 7: Chapter 6 - Her Lament

Hermes’ secret base, guest room.

The bathroom door slid open to the side soundlessly. Faint mist floated out, carrying with it the refreshing fragrance of flowers.

Yuriel, now wearing a clean set of clothes, stepped out. Her feet sensed the warmth of the bedroom floor as she sauntered toward the sofa. The ring Lee Jihoon gave her previously sat quietly on the coffee table in front of her.

The sofa rotated. Now facing the holo-screen featuring the scenery of a white-sanded beach, Yuriel leaned back and lazily stretched her legs—the sofa immediately extended automatically to support them.

“Guestroom robo?” she tried calling it.

“Hello, Miss Yuriel. How may Snow-5 help you?” a snowman-shaped robot materialized to Yuriel’s right.

Yuriel studied the little robot for a second. It was cute, with its pair of black round eyes and smiling line of a mouth.

“Set the room to a morning-in-the-valley ambience.” Yuriel said.

“Okay!” Snow-5 sprightly said.

The light in the room dimmed and turned into a soft, glittery-gold—like the morning sunlight. A gentle breeze blew, carrying a faint, fresh grassy scent. Leaves rustled, and in the distance, the sound of water trickling could be heard.

Yuriel closed her eyes, relaxing herself. Before attempting a breakthrough, she needed a little peace and serenity...

“Snow-5, wake me up at 5:30 p.m. West Hexasia Time.” she mumbled.

“Okay!” Snow-5 whispered, dissolving into motes of cyan light.

***

Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed. Like nails of ice, heavy droplets of rain fell down.

Yuriel stood on an ice cliff, gazing at the raging water below. Her black warrior robe was drenched in blood, and her whole body felt weary. Bone-chilling gale hit her, numbing the pain of the countless wounds crisscrossing all over her body.

Crack!

The world around her suddenly spun. She was falling down, along with all the ice around her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to grab onto the protruding ice rocks of the cliff wall. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t in control of her body.

‘Yuriel...’

Someone’s voice suddenly resounded in her mind—it was familiar, yet she couldn’t seem to recognize it.

‘Yuriel,’ the voice sounded again. ‘You must awaken your power soon—before it’s too late.’

‘But I don’t want to!’ she subconsciously replied.

‘You want to.’ the voice insisted.

‘No! I just want to be an ordinary girl.’

‘Your fate doesn’t allow you to, Yuriel, and you know it.’

‘I don’t care! I don’t want to be some Star of Cosmos!’

The world around her slowed to a crawl. It was dark, with big chunks of ice floating around her. And most importantly—she couldn’t breathe.

‘Yuriel, you are the Crown of Cosmos. Ever since the beginning, the fate of the world has always been resting on your shoulders.’

Yuriel’s vision blurred. Drops of tears blended with the surrounding ice-cold water. She didn’t want to, she really didn’t...

‘I believe in you.’ the voice whispered softly.

Yuriel’s eyes slowly closed as she stopped to fight for breath.

She knew it. She had long known it.

It was unalterable. Her fate.

***

Yuriel gasped violently for air. The feeling of drowning in that endless, dark, ice water clouded her senses.

“Are you okay, Miss Yuriel?” someone sounded concerned.

Oh, right. She was going to break through to the Grandmaster rank. She was resting in the guestroom of Lee Jihoon’s place. She wasn’t drowning.

In a daze, she tried to sit up straight.

Bam! Her head screamed a dull pain. But that cleared her mind. Breathing heavily, she massaged the side of her head, squinting at the light.

“I will dim the light, Miss Yuriel.” Snow-5’s voice sounded behind her.

With the light dimmed, Yuriel could now see more clearly.

“What time is it?” she mumbled, her voice slightly hoarse.

“Five minutes past one p.m., Miss.” Snow-5 answered quickly.

Yuriel let out a breath. She laid down on the floor powerlessly, too exhausted to try getting back up.

“Water.” she said.

“Here you go, Miss Yuriel.” a glass of water materialized on her left, floating on the air by itself.

Yuriel leaned to the side and picked the glass up, gulping down its content in one go.

“Remember to wake me up later.” she muttered, stumbling to the bed.

“Yes, Miss Yuriel.”

Covering herself with the cloud-like quilt, Yuriel stared at the holo-clouds drifting about under the ceiling above.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She thought back to the dream she had just a while ago—and shivered. It turned out that drowning wasn’t a good way of dying. Yuriel shivered again.

The clouds covering the ceiling above slowly parted, revealing patches of pale-blue sky. Gentle breeze blew, along with the silhouette of a group of birds flying across the vast heavenly dome.

“How carefree...” Yuriel mumbled.

She used to be carefree, too. Everyday, she would admire the sunrise in her clan, go to school just to play with Jennifer, then go back to clan and spar with her friends and sometimes some weary, old elders, and her own parents, collect some herbs in the mountains at sunset, visit the city at night...

But now all of that was over. It was over.

Her parents were dying, her clan under the threat of breaking apart, and she herself...

Yuriel could only laugh at herself.

She was one of the so-called Twin Stars of Cosmos. No one except her parents and a few elders in her clan knew about this. But it was this very identity that caused all the recent troubles.

Back then, the powerful leading figures of the Earth hid the fact that there were two Stars of Cosmos mentioned in the prophecy. But there were rumors about that—people said the other Star of Cosmos was the destroyer, and they said the world leaders were hiding him/her.

But the truth was, no one knew who and where the other Star was except for the few people of the Emperor Zhang Clan. However, some world leaders had been trying to find her—just like now. Some unknown figure used the Asura Demon Poison on children whose birth time was around that prophecied time, and whose characteristics matched the known Star of Cosmos, Tang Tianjue.

You got it right—it wasn’t just Yuriel who got poisoned by the Asura Demon Poison.

But no matter what, it was clear that the schemer had only one goal—to force the real hidden Star of Cosmos to use his/her cosmic power to counter the Asura Demon Poison.

Yes, Yuriel’s best way of resolving these troubles was to awaken her Star of Cosmos power. With the power, she could vanquish the Asura Demon Poison inflicting her, kill Li Yang with ease, and possibly healing her parents—even if she couldn’t, her Star of Cosmos aura would attract the Four Generals, making it easier for her to find them.

But—after the awakening, there was no turning back...

Her perception of everything would change a hundred and eighty degrees, and she would have to shoulder her responsibility as one of the Twin Stars of Cosmos, her peaceful days forever gone.

She would never be the same anymore.

So, back then she came up with the plan of finding the Four Generals and ask for their help to wake her parents up—before ultimately dying from the Asura Demon Poison. Or at least she could enjoy a bit more peaceful days before awakening her Star of Cosmos power.

Deep down in her heart, the voice from her dream taunted her,

‘Just how much longer are you going to run away from your fate?’

Yuriel laughed at herself. The more she thought, the more hysterical her laughter became.

She was unwilling, truly unwilling...

Was she selfish? Maybe. But did it matter anymore? For her parents, she must eventually awaken her Star of Cosmos power.

But not now, not now... No one knew how long the awakening process would take—it could be weeks, months... She could feel it would certainly not take just mere days.

Right now, she just wanted to sleep.

***

A few hours later.

This was the special cultivation room in Lee Jihoon’s Hermes secret base, located just three levels below the ‘house' floor.

Yuriel sat at the center of a spacious, circular room. Nature essence stones laid scattered around her, some crackling with vermilion-red light, some engulfed in pitch-black darkness.

Each cultivation rank had its own characteristics. In the lowest rank—the Apprentice rank—one was only starting to feel the natural power coursing through one’s meridians.

Moving to the Awakening rank, one would awaken their natural power’s attribute at Nature Towers which could be found all around the world—the details of their attributes, like the purity, would be submitted to the Central Nature Tower.

If one was a genius—having two or more attributes or simply having some ultimate or rare attribute—powerful sects and academies might send an invitation to enroll. So, the Awakening rank could be said to be the very start of a cultivator’s journey.

In the Spiritual rank, one’s natural power would start to feel more real—gaseous form. Then, in the Master rank, it would liquify, and in the Grandmaster rank, it solidifies.

It might sound simple, but in practice, many people failed in this transition to the Grandmaster rank. Simply because their mental power was too weak to control their solidified natural power.

Yuriel sat cross-legged, silently circulating her natural power according to the Ancient Qi Cultivation method.

There were many cultivation methods available, but usually people would just pick one that was most suitable to their attributes—or the simplest one. But Yuriel’s cultivation method was one which was derived from the qi cultivation method of the ancient chinese. It was one of the oldest and most perfect cultivation methods currently available.

It took about an hour and a half to completely stabilize her condition.

Sparkling red-black natural power coursed through her meridians, looking crystal-clear in its liquified state. With extra care, Yuriel quickened the pace of its circulation, making it gradually faster and faster.

At the same time, she formed some hand seals, absorbing the pure fire and darkness power from the nature essence stones around her. The power quickly joined Yuriel’s natural power, circulating along with it. Gradually, it completely merged with the natural power, refined into a part of it.

As more and more power from the nature essence stones was absorbed, Yuriel’s natural power became thicker and thicker until its circulation speed slowed down—it was getting harder and harder to circulate.

Suddenly, a powerful suction force pulled the natural power toward Yuriel’s dantian—a rotating whirlpool in her lower abdomen area. The dantian wasn’t a physical thing, though—it existed, but in a higher dimension.

The previously slowing down circulation speed suddenly quickened once again, as the result of the dantian’s sudden suction force.

Natural power rushed into the dantian in torrents, filling it to the brim. But it didn’t stop there—the natural power in the dantian continuously rotated, becoming more and more condensed. Its color also became deeper, but it was on the contrary clearer than before—now, the dantian looked like a glowing crystal-like orb of deep garnet-red.

This continued on and on, until the nature essence stones outside were completely drained off their power—they now looked like ordinary stones, dim and cold.

Yuriel frowned. She had miscalculated—it wasn’t enough, she needed more nature essence stones. But she couldn’t possibly wake up to take more nature essence stones from her spatial storage. She needed her full concentration on controlling the dantian. If there was even one little mistake, her dantian could explode, thus damaging the cultivation base she had painstakingly cultivated—her cultivation rank would drop back to the initial Master rank. Or lower.

She couldn’t let that happen. The only solution was...

Her Star of Cosmos power.

She contemplated for a moment. She absolutely couldn’t trigger the awakening now. So, she couldn’t take too much power, or the seal on her power would break, and her awakening would be inevitable.

Carefully, she split a part of her consciousness to her head area—the spiritual sea of consciousness. Although she couldn’t really ‘see’ the condition in her spiritual sea, she could sense it. It was just a space in a higher dimension filled with her mental power—the power of the mind—and a glowing orb of starlight-like iridescent silvery-gold light.

This was the power she had been avoiding all this time, sealed for a whole sixteen years of her life.

But this was also the power she actually needed very much.

Her consciousness gingerly approached the sparkling light orb. With extra care, her consciousness nudged it. Immediately, iridescent silvery-gold energy puffed out, sneaking out into her spiritual sea of consciousness. Already anticipating this, Yuriel quickly gathered the energy and directly brought it to her dantian, not daring to linger around the iridescent light orb any longer.

Meanwhile, almost all of her natural power had been absorbed by her dantian. Right now, the dantian was circulating terribly fast—one mistake and it would explode.

At this moment, the iridescent cosmic power finally arrived.

The dantian stopped rotating.

Brilliant light blossomed from it.