Tomorrow
The temple stood carved into the side of a mountain that overlooked an endless stretch of mist covered forest. Wooden pillars rose toward the ceiling, each with different patterns that resembled flowing water. The air was cool and clean with a bit of dampness, like the breath of air before it rained.
Luis stood between Sera and another Xoliti clan mber he didn’t recognize, staring at the structure in front of them.
A portal.
A pulsing portal, it looked the sa as the one he had used to co to the Xoliti Clan city.
Unlike the last portal, this portal was surrounded by a circular pale stone gate which was etched with different glowing runes.
"This," Sera said calmly beside him, "is one of the Xoliti clan’s blessing gates."
Luis tore his gaze away from the portal and looked at her.
"For the warrior candidates you talked about?" he asked.
Sera nodded.
"Yes. This is where most Xoliti fighters obtain their elental blessings."
The clan mber with them a tall man with dark blue hair tied behind his head that showed off his long ears gave Luis a brief nod of acknowledgnt but remained silent.
Luis glanced back at the portal.
"How many are there?" he asked.
"Five primary gates for combat candidates," Sera replied. "Each linked to different allied entities."
She gestured toward the portal.
"The Xoliti clan maintains pacts with multiple high tier creatures. So are directly bound to the clan. Others belong to allied clans who allow access through mutual agreents."
Luis’s eyes widened slightly.
High tier.
Sera continued.
"The elental categories available through their network include stone, flora, wood, earth, wind, water, fog, ice, and snow."
Luis blinked.
"That’s... a lot."
"Yes," Sera said. "But not all are equal."
She stepped closer to the portal, blue light reflecting faintly across her features.
"Most blessings granted here are high-tier. Occasionally, rare mid-tier abilities appear depending on compatibility and the creature’s discretion."
Luis swallowed.
"So today..."
Sera glanced back at him.
"Today you will receive a high tier water blessing from an entity the Xoliti clan has maintained an alliance with for generations."
The words sent a ripple of anticipation through him.
"It’s one of the few high tier blessing that is considered to be on par with blessings from unclassified beings, you will find out why later."
Luis frowned slightly.
"That feels... too easy," he admitted.
The blue-haired clan mber chuckled quietly for the first ti.
"You’ll change your mind once you start training with it," he said.
Sera nodded once.
"The acquisition is not the challenge," she said. "Mastery is and Luis you are forgetting sothing, your a special case. You don’t have a one month ti limit to get new blessings once you reach the next tier but for other people it is important to be fast about it that’s why it’s a fast process."
Luis nodded in realisation. "But if it’s so easy for people to get these blessing why doesn’t the Xoliti clan have many warrior candidates."
Instead of Sera the Xoliti clan mber responded. "Young master Luis, it’s a matter of convenience and ease. Many people in the clan like the convenience of the blessings we get from our deity."
Luis nodded in response to that, he had seen many useful blessings since coming here.
"And it’s not just that in our clan there’s many paths you can go if you choose not to be a warrior candidate. Most people don’t know their limits they don’t know how far they can cultivate and what tier they can reach, so they choose convenience and ease. You can only access all the different elental blessings if you choose to beco a warrior candidate and that’s not a easy process. It’s known to be the hardest path to choose in our clan, a clan of people who don’t enjoy fighting. Thus many people don’t beco warrior candidates, though it has changed in recent tis."
Sera then cut in. "Of course it also helps having strong allies so you don’t have to fight and let’s now stop waiting and head on through. We don’t have all day, your training awaits you Luis."
Sera stepped toward the portal fully now.
"The blessing will be granted imdiately," she explained. "Your growth afterward will depend entirely on your own effort."
Luis nodded.
Sera looked at him for another mont, as if confirming his readines
Then she turned.
"Let’s go."
The three of them stepped forward together.
The mont Luis crossed the threshold of the portal, the world vanished.
For a fraction of a second there was nothing.
No ground.
No air.
Just pressure.
Then reality snapped back.
Luis stumbled slightly as solid ground ford beneath his feet again.
He looked up.
And froze.
They stood on a cliff overlooking an enormous lake that stretched far beyond what his eyes could fully comprehend.
The water glowed.
Not one color.
Many.
Bands of blue, violet, erald, silver, and faint gold rippled across its surface like liquid light. The lake shimred softly, casting reflections that danced across the surrounding landscape.
Mist hovered above the surface in thin layers, drifting slowly like living breath.
The air here was heavy with moisture, cool against his skin.
Beautiful.
And powerful.
Luis felt aura pressure imdiately.
Not hostile
But imnse.
He swallowed.
"This place..." he whispered.
"The domain of the entity," Sera said quietly. "Be respectful."
Before Luis could respond, sothing moved above the lake.
At first he thought it was fog.
Then it descended toward them.
A cloud.
But not normal.
This cloud had shape.
Density.
Two hollow openings ford within it eyes and beneath them a larger opening resembling a mouth.
The presence stopped several ters in front of them, hovering in the air.
A voice echoed directly inside Luis’s mind.
"Who requests a blessing?"
The sound was strange layered, like many whispers speaking at once.
Sera stepped forward slightly and pointed toward Luis.
"He does."
The cloud shifted.
Its hollow eyes focused on him.
Luis felt suddenly very small.
The presence studied him for a mont.
A thin stream of glowing vapor extended from the cloud and touched Luis’s chest.
The mont it made contact
Power surged into him.
Cold.
Fluid.
Flowing.
It poured through his body like liquid light, racing along his aura channels faster than anything he had ever experienced before.
Luis gasped sharply.
The sensation wasn’t painful.
But it was overwhelming.
He felt sothing new forming inside him a presence intertwining with his aura, integrating into his structure.
Water.
A blessing.
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