The Messenger of Death

As soon as Camron started to refine the pill, he could feel the darkness around, invade him. Now to him, it was so dark that he couldn't feel, smell, or taste anything but the darkness.

At first, Camron was frightened by what was happening to him but when he attempted to move he was baffled by what he experienced.

Camron felt like he was the darkness himself like had merged with it. A strength that he had never felt before rushed through him from his abdomen. The pill that he consumed was starting to take effect.

"Ahh." He exclaimed when the energy coursing through him kept on increasing. He couldn't sit still anymore and started to roll on the ground in pain. Camron felt like he was bleeding from every pore he had on his head but it wasn't so. What was exiting his pores was black smoke.

When it stopped, Camron could finally catch his breath. He laid on the ground, breathing heavily. When he was finally calm, he found peace within the darkness. Although his core was now empty and without QI.

Suddenly the dark abyss disappeared and his senses returned with its departure. He was back in the room with metallic walls.

"Congratulations, you have completed the first difficulty. Would you like to get started with the second one immediately?" The white light appeared and wrote on the air.

"Yes."

Not long after he agreed to proceed to the next difficulty the scenery changed back into that of the abyss of before.

"The same darkness?"

He closed his eyes and allowed himself to melt into the comfort of the darkness. Camron didn't know that he was one of the few that could feel comfortable in such an environment. Those that have an affinity with the darkness element can't help but feel comfort in such a place.

-Twang!!

He heard a musical instrument being played from within the darkness, it sounded like a harp. It started very slow, picking its pace as time went on.

As Camron merged with the darkness he listened to the melodies and sad tune that the musical instrument was playing. At one point he started to cry and when the first tear dropped from his face the music stopped and the dark abyss left with it.

"Congratulations, you have completed the second difficulty. Would you like to proceed to the next difficulty?" The white light wrote.

Camron who could still hear the melody in his head didn't know that he had been crying in the first place, as he couldn't feel, smell, or taste in the abyss. When the white light brought him out of his trance-like state he noticed the traces of tears on his face and eyes.

"Huh?" He blurted out.

Suddenly the sad feeling he had been experiencing transformed into what he did not expect. Pure QI, his emotion transformed into QI that traveled to his core and replenished it.

-Crack.

Camron felt something in him, break. He looked into his core and saw that he had broken through from the 5th rank of the nascent realm to the 6th rank.

"Hahahaha!! I broke through!!! Yes!!" Camron was so excited that he didn't notice that the QI in him was different from the average QI.

He looked at what the white light wrote and was about to say yes when the door to the room he was in, opened.

"Your 12 hours are done." The female staff that brought him to the room said as she stepped into the room. "Congratulations on breaking through." She added when she noticed the difference in Camron's strength.

"So fast?"

To Camron, everything that he has experienced from the moment he stepped into the room till now lasted for only 30 minutes to him. He was surprised to hear that 12 hours had gone.

"Thank you." He bowed his head at her and left the pavilion of elements with a huge smile on his face.

The sun had already set and the night was upon him. Camron felt like his strength and senses had doubled and gotten sharper, respectively.

When he stepped into the darkness of the night. Although it didn't feel like the one he experienced in the dark abyss. The senses that he lost when he was in the abyss were still present. But that comfort that he felt in there, he could also feel in the covers of the night.

"The dark element huh?" Camron looked at his hands, wondering how the element he had an affinity with could be used during a fight. He couldn't wait to find out.

He dropped his hands and made his way back to the guest inn…

Roughly 20 minutes later Camron arrived in the suite. Emma, Katherine, Drake, and Adrian were still in the apartment with two extra people. His elder sister Arabella and her friend Andrea.

"Bella, why are you here?"

Arabella rushed and hugged her brother. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with my own eyes. I heard all about what happened from Sara, I am glad that you guys are okay." She said and released her brother from her embrace.

"Where is Alex?" Andrea asked.

"I don't know, but if I had to guess he's busy studying in the library." He told them the same thing that he told the principal.

'Or maybe he has already gotten directions from the principal on how to get stronger and he's making consecutive breakthroughs now.' Camron thought to himself in jealousy.

"What is he studying in the library that would take him all day? We have been here for hours." Andrea hissed.

'No, I shouldn't be getting jealous of him. He's my friend, he even offered a room to me in the apartment he rented and gave me access to it without questions. What I'm feeling is wrong.' Camron reprimanded himself as shook his head.

"I don't think that Alex would be happy to see you Andrea. We found out that you lied to us about not being able to join our team." Camron mentioned.

On Andrea's face now, was the expression of guilt.

"I think you'll be his list favorite person now." He added.

"I just didn't want…" She paused.

"You didn't want us to be a burden to you and we understand that very much. I mean you are a nirvana realm cultivator and I and Alex to you are just extra baggage. When compared to your strength, we are nothing. Heck if it was me, I have done the same." Camron walked to a chair in the living room as he spoke.

'Why is he acting a bit strange?' Arabella looked at her brother weirdly.

"Cam, you broke through to the 6th rank," Arabella announced.

"Yes, I did sister. In the future, I hope to have more surprises like this for you." He gave a toothy grin.

"Congratulations." His sister stated with sincerity.

"I will go to the library and look for Alex. I hate this feeling of guilt and I want to apologize for what I did earlier. Even if I haven't known the two of you for long, I have been friends with Arabella since she started to attend this school. I would hate it if I had to avoid you guys because of the guilt I feel." Arabella left for the exit of the suite…

Drake who was still sprawled on the couch that Camron left him on, woke up. "Ahhh. I still feel like sh*t, I thought it was all a dream." He grimaced as he tried to sit up.

"Welcome back, Drake." Adrian chuckled.

"How do you feel?" Emma asked.

"I feel like crap… Ahh, where's Alex?" Drake searched. While searching his eyes landed on Arabella and he raised a brow.

"Oh, Drake. This another Elder sister of mine, Arabella. Bella this is one of my team members, Drake." Camron introduced.

"Hey," was all Arabella said to him. She didn't even wait for him to reply before she turned to her brother.

"Cam, Alex said that I could use the third room in the suite whenever I felt like. I want to check it out for a bit now. No need for you show me around." She quickly left the living room and headed to the 3rd unoccupied bedroom of the suite.

'Alex did that, since when did they get this close? Was this what they talked about on the patio that other night?' His mind began to wander.

"Is Alex not around?" drake asked again.

"No, he went out after you passed out," Adrian answered him.

"Why are you searching for him?" Katherine questioned.

"I just wanted to ask if I can stay for the night too. If I head out, I have a feeling that Duna has his underlings searching for me."

"That's alright, you can stay here." Camron permitted.

"Are you sure? He wouldn't get mad and throw me out, right?"

"He wouldn't, probably." He whispered the last part…

Arabella stepped into the bedroom that was given to her by Alex. If she was here under normal circumstances, she would have taken her time to take in the beauty of the room. But no, all she had in her mind now was to take a look at the Bloodstone that she got from Alex.

Since the night that she got it, she hadn't had the chance and privacy to take a look at it. When she came by the guest inn a few days ago, the receptionist told her that they weren't around. So she had to wait till they came back.

She sat down on the soft mattress and brought the bloodstone out. She held it in her right hand and swallowed the air in her mouth.

Arabella had been tempted to absorb just a little of the energy in the bloodstone since the day it entered her hands.

"Here goes nothing." She uttered lightly…