Chapter 61: HBA – Chapter 60 – Arc 5 – A Crack in the Earth?

“The most common theme of a Villain is Revenge.”

 

“It could be from Love, Hate, Rivalry, or any other possibility that caused a massive amount of negative emotional value on an Individual. Therefore, causing the Individual in question to embark upon a Journey of Revenge.”

 

“However, it is not the Revenge that makes the Villain. It is the process of Revenge that makes the Villain.”

 

“Hence, if Revenge is the only option, seek precise Revenge, and spare as many lives as you can.”

 

“That way, you lose the branding of a Villain, and instead become an Anti-Hero.”

#Quote 22 - Book of Life and Death - Chapter - Heroes and Villains

 

*

 

Central Continent - Southern Forest - Survival Tribe - Alexander

Many things manifested in Alexander’s new life as a Badg’Er. 

 

Although he had no idea how many years exactly he'd lived as a Honey Badger, Alexander knew instinctively that it was much more than the current six he'd lived as Badg’Er. 

 

However, when he compared the things that happened in his new life to the things he remembered of the past one, Alexander had no choice but to admit that this new life was a bigger improvement than one could imagine.

 

Not only was he bigger and stronger than he ever was in his past life, but the humanoid form allowed him so much freedom that the Honey Badger form could never compare to it at all. It had so much more flexibility that he could do multiple things yet still not lose his balance. 

 

Especially, with the benefits of the Elemental Earth Attunement.

 

However, it was the mental ability that proved to be the thing that stood out the most to Alexander right this moment. 

 

The number of things he'd learned, understood, and embraced was like the difference between before and after leaving a very dark cave and moving into the Light. Yes, the first moment blinds you with brightness, but once you adjust to the Light, the only thing that you realize is the sheer amount of things remaining to be learned, understood, and embraced.

 

And today, right at this moment, Alexander knew one such thing was about to happen. There was no doubt about it in Alexander’s mind. 

 

Not when the current Clarity of Thought he possessed told him the Truth.

Alexander possessed two typos of clarities. 

 

One was lesser and more frequent. One was greater and much less frequent. 

 

The lesser stemmed from the daily one-hour Meditation routine he undergoes. 

 

Every time Alexander meditated, he lost traction with the outside world. In its stead, he gained clarity of his insides. When that occurs, Alexander witnesses the Chakra Roots in his body. 

 

At the same time, he understood parts of their purpose, but that understanding paled when compared to two other phenomena in his body.

 

Well, three if one was technical about it, but Alexander was not, so two it was. 

 

The first was the Shining Light in his Heart proclaiming him a Rebel. 

 

The other was the Aural Chakra Construct attached to his bones, muscles, and skin. How the Elemental Earth Attunement functioned Alexander knew not. He only cared that it made him tougher, that it increased his connection to the Earth he walked on every day. 

 

That connection provided many benefits, yet the greatest one, in Alexander’s mind, was the benefit of hearing the Song of the Earth with his whole body, and especially with his bones. 

 

That fact was proven about five to six months ago, when he'd once more achieved the second type of Clarity of Thought, by filling his Aural Chakra Capacity to the brim.

 

When his Aural Chakra Capacity reaches its maximum value, Alexander gains an unbelievable amount of Clarity regarding himself and his body's workings. That phenomenon also removes all distractions from Alexander’s mind, whether he wanted it or not.

 

Hence, when it comes, Alexander had a few choices to make. The choices themselves depend on a few things. Five to six months ago, Alexander was already committed to one path. 

 

Alexander was committed to infusing the 4th Level of Elemental Earth Attunement, after all, it took four infusions to do it.

 

Additionally, once he'd started infusing one level of Elemental Earth Attunement, he could not switch to anything else, even if he wanted to. After the first level, the process of infusion happens on its own. 

 

Only after the 4th Level of Elemental Earth Attunement was achieved, had Alexander been able to make a different choice, yet Alexander already knew his next step.

 

Five to six months ago he began the 5th Level of Elemental Earth Attunement. During the time in between, he used to familiarize himself with the 4th Level. Or at least he thought that would happen. 

 

Except for a bigger range and increased sensitivity, there was not much difference to the 3ed Level. 

 

Nevertheless, the 5th one was special.

 

Alexander was sure of it even before he reached the current point. With every automatic Infusion, Alexander was closer to something big and magnificent, and now he would find what that was.

With Clarity of Thought, Alexander felt the Infusion going on. 

 

With every moment that went on, his Clarity of Thought dwindled. Yet in its place, a different kind of awareness emerged.

 

It was closer to his Meditation trance, but with an undertone of heaviness, or Mass. Not that Alexander knew what Mass was in the first place. What Alexander felt was closer to an instinctive understanding of a Concept manifesting as something vast, dense, and heavy underneath him. 

 

Underneath the rock on which he had executed his Meditation pose. 

 

Underneath, the underneath of the rock on which he mediated. 

 

Maybe even deeper? Alexander was not sure., But he was certain of one thing. With every moment passing as his Aural Chakry Capacity drained, the feeling of the ground grew bigger and closer than ever before. 

 

It was almost as if he could touch the ground without actually touching the ground.

 

Like that, moments passed, and the final moment arrived.

 

When it did, it eclipsed anything Alexander ever felt before. 

 

What actually happened at that moment, Alexander knew not. All he knew was that his body which had previously carried around his mind gained an extension of itself. 

 

It was not of a physical kind, but more of a spiritual kind of extension. The kind where feelings mattered more than the actual physical stimuli his body received. 

 

When that Spiritual feeling of touching the Earth beneath him expanded, it carried forth Alexander's mind on a Journey through the Earth. Wherever Alexander’s mind went, impressions of everything the Earth beneath his physical body contained ingrained themselves in his mind.

 

From the stones and rocks to the roots of the big trees. Even the small pockets of Earth's absence reached Alexander’s mind. For a single moment, he wondered what those small pockets of Earth’s absence were when this new and unbelievably detailed perception delivered the answer.

 

Something wiggled inside them, and Alexander immediately understood that something lived in those small pockets of Earth’s absences. 

 

Once he realized that fact, Alexander continued on his Spiritual Journey through the Earth.

 

Soon enough, Alexander felt another type of eclipsing feeling. It emerged when his mind began to correlate everything he felt into a coherent picture of something vast, dense, and heavy. 

 

What it was and how it appeared bothered not Alexander in his moment. Only his continued Spiritual growth mattered. If the growth was in the form of a Spiritual Journey through the Earth, then that was what mattered the most.

 

Only there was a limit to how much ground he could cover with his mushy brain. 

 

There was a limit to how much he could understand with his current knowledge. 

 

There was a limit to how much his Consciousness could embrace currently, at least without producing side effects.

 

Most of all, there was a time limit to experiencing this Spiritual Journey through the Earth.

 

When that limit was reached, it was like being snapped to wakefulness from a wonderful dream. In one moment you were out there enjoying every single moment of the dream, the next you found yourself awake and struggling with holding back the waning memories.

 

Like sand leaving through the cracks in one's hands, Alexander tried his best in holding back everything. Yet, it was inevitable things would leave, as Alexander’s brain no longer sidelined the inputs from his physical body in favor of something else entirely.

 

After all, Alexander did not currently possess any Chakral Nodes in his brain to make his Spiritual desires a Reality, or at least a version of it.

As Alexander did his best to hold back as much as possible of his Spiritual Journey, time passed and eventually only the barest of the impressions were left behind. 

 

But that was enough for a Badg’Er that barely started on his Chakral Ascendance.

 

Still, even that much was enough to improve Alexander's general Meditative experience for the near future. With that being the case, when everything settled down, and Alexander returned to the here and now, three things became apparent to Alexander.

 

Well, four if one counted the DINGs alerting him of their presence.

The first was about Alexander no longer feeling the Aural Chakra Construct upon his bones, muscles, and skin. Yet, despite not being there, Alexander was certain that he had not lost it. It merely changed forms. 

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The benefits the Aural Chakra Construct previously provided him remained. In fact, right now the benefits were undoubtedly even greater.

 

The second was about the Shining Lights in his body representing the Chakra Nodes. 

 

Alexander ignored the four smaller nodes in his hands and feet. Instead, he focused on the brightest of the Eight Shining Lights in his body. 

 

Alexander focused on his Central Star, The Chakral Node of the Heart and Lungs. It was bright with vigor and explosiveness, as well as Rebelliousness. It beckoned him towards it, or at least to the Shining Lights representing the Fifth Star. 

 

Yet, unlike before, Alexander no longer struggled with ignoring it. Yes, the pull was there, but it had no effect. In fact, it did not budge him at all. Alexander felt like a big and dense stone, stuck in the middle of a rushing stream. 

 

The influence of the Fifth Star struck him, flowed over him, and around him looking for a weakness, yet never finding one.

 

That being the case, Alexander chuckled with inner glee. Snorting a few grumpy replies at the Fifth Star, just cause he could, Alexander enjoyed no longer having to fight his own instincts. 

 

Nevertheless, just because he could ignore them now, it did not mean that he should indulge in them. 

 

No, Alexander would follow his Friend's advice and choose wisely for the next Chakra Node. As such, Alexander focused on the Shining Light closest to his current mental perception. 

 

Alexander focused on the Second Star, The Root Chakra Star. The Node for the Second Star was based on his Spine. Better said, it was based on the bone marrow contained in the bones of his Spine. 

 

At the same time, The Second Star would root itself into the blood veins. At least, if what his Friend told him was true. 

 

Whatever the case, Alexander touched upon it, and the Shining Light blared to life. When it did, Alexander felt the next step for progressing Elemental Earth Attunement. Yet, at the same time, The Second Star marked the beginning of Elemental Water Attunement.

 

Still, when no infusion happened the Shining Star dimmed and returned to its inertness, so to speak.  Alexander cared not for that. Not at all, after all, it would take but a month, or so, for him to reach max Aural Chakra Capacity and embrace the next step.

Done with internalizing everything that occurred, Alexander finally opened his eyes. However, what awaited him was not what he expected. 

 

A few steps before him, on a big flat rock, sat his parents.

 

Alexander was surprised, yet somehow his surprise did not exhibit any big reaction from him. It was as if the surprise reached him, touched him, but made no actual waves inside him. 

 

It was as if everything got absorbed somehow. 

 

Not quite understanding it, Alexander tilted his head slightly. He did that whenever something bothered him, yet whatever the reason was it got sidelined in favor of his Parents.

 

“Son, Finally, Awake?” Alexander heard his mother ask. 

 

There was no hidden agenda in her voice. Maybe some worry, but that was all.

 

“Yes, Mother,” Alexander replied. “Why, Both, Here?”

 

“You, Not, Come, Home.” Scar replied to his Son’s inquiry. “Then, We, Search, For, You… Found, You, Here. Not, Moving.”

 

Hearing it, Alexander was stumped. His Father’s words indicated he had spent far more time attaining the 5th Level of Elemental Earth Attunement than he imagined would happen. Not to mention whatever actually occurred to him during his Spiritual Journey through the Earth.

 

No, to Alexander everything felt as if only moments had passed. 

 

“How, Long? How, Long, I, Meditate?”

 

“Five, Days.” Tina, his Mother, exclaimed. “Five, Days, You, Sit, There, Not Moving. Not Eating. Not Drinking…”

 

“We, Know, You, Said, You, Have, Chakra…” Scar said. ” We, Never, Felt, It, Before… So, When, We, Felt, Something, Around, You… We, Knew, You Ok… Then, We, Decide, Not, To, Interfere, But, To, Protect.”

 

“Hmph,” With a snort, Tina added. “Hunter, Busy, So, We, Took, Turns, Protecting, You.”

 

“Oh… Ok.” With that said, Alexander unfolded his legs from the weird Meditation pose he'd been forced to learn and get accustomed to. 

 

When he stood up from his stony meditation platform things changed.

 

The stone platform wasn't anything special. So it mattered not, yet when Alexander’s feet touched it things changed.

 

Specifically, the pads on his feet changed everything. 

 

When the pads on his feet touched the stone meditation platform, which was in turn directly touching the ground beneath it, a Song manifested in Alexander’s mind.

 

Instantaneously, The Song of the Earth spread from the stone on which he stood. In moments, it passed the stones around him, his parents before him, and the trees found everywhere around them.

 

Then it kept expanding before reaching very, very far away. How far exactly? Alexander wasn't sure, but he was certain it was further than the entire Tribal Clearing his Tribe lived in. 

 

Then a moment later, his perception shrunk back into him as if nothing happened. But when Alexander looked at his Parents and noticed their gazes, he recognized that what to him felt like it occurred for some time, to his parents but a moment passed. 

 

“Son… What?” His parents inquired, but instead of replying, Alexander looked down and the next moment both of his feet touched the bare earth. 

 

Once more, the same happened. His perception expanded and contracted almost instantly. 

 

As if in a thoughtful trance, Alexander began taking step after step, and the world around him expanded in complexity and understanding ingrained into him from his Spiritual Journey. Only the magnitude of the range during the Spiritual Journey and the magnitude he currently experiences could not actually be compared.

 

Alexander’s perception aside, as he'd been using it before, if not with such magnitude and clarity, there was something else that bothered Alexander. 

 

No, after narrowing down everything he felt, Alexander felt two such anomalies.

 

One was his physical body, and the other was a feeling of the Earth beneath his feet. 

 

After closing his eyes for a moment, the physical side was relatively easy to understand. His body was stronger, if not in strength than in toughness. 

 

His bones, muscles, and skin felt denser. Not in any physical sense, as Alexander knew instinctively his body remained the same as before. 

 

No, the anomalous feeling stemmed from additional depth added to his bones, muscles, and skin. It was as if the Aural Chakra Construct fused with his bones, muscles, and skin and both became one type of existence.

 

To Alexander, it felt eerie and normal, but that one aside, the second anomalous feeling was the one piquing his immediate attention. 

 

Through his feet, and the connection Alexander felt with the Earth, there were bound to be additional benefits. What they were exactly, he would explore in the future through his Status. 

 

However, one of those had to be explored right this moment.

 

Alexander crouched down and placed all four of his appendages on the ground. Instantly, his connectivity increased. 

 

Alexander ignored everything else and focused on understanding the connectivity and what it was telling him. 

 

Once everything clicked in his mind, Alexander’s instinct took over for that one single moment. 

 

The instinct spoke of a possibility. A possibility right there before him. As if all it would take to gain it was to stretch out his hand and grasp with his paws.

 

At first, nothing happened. Neither did the moment following that one, or the ones that followed those. 

 

Eventually, though, a tipping was reached. 

 

It was reached when Intent, fueled and shaped by Instinct, met and fused with Emotions, fueled by Alexander's mighty Will. 

 

When it happened and the tipping point was reached. A crack manifested through that possibility that also functioned as a barrier.

 

Possibility reached.

 

Barrier breached.

 

A Crack appeared.

 

A Crack not of possibility or any kind of barrier, but a Crack in Reality in between Alexander’s four appendages.

 

It was small, both in width, length, and depth. 

 

But it was there.

 

A Crack in the Earth.

DING!

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