At the beginning of all worlds, all the worlds were empty, like a vast abyss where even time had yet to awaken.
Then, from somewhere outside, came the first spark of energy that pierced the nothingness. Slowly, after ages passed, the worlds became filled with an energy known as world energy
Jaipa!
Ha?
"Uh... I can listen to your detailed explanation later. Can we just get to the point?"
"This kid..." Jaipa swallowed his words. After a moment of silence, he said,
Hfuuuu...
"The world core is like the essence of all the remaining cores."
Remaining?
I asked with a flat voice.
"Isn't there supposed to be a single core?"
Jaipa while making a weird face he asked
"Did you read lots of fantasy novels?"
"Haa, a few. Ray brought them, saying they were interesting... some were interesting."
"Ha, I see."
"Kid, this is not a fantacy novel it's the real world. You won't get special treatment like those characters in novels."
"I know that. You don't have to tell me."
Today!
With irritation in his voice.
"This kid is getting on my nerves more and more," Jaipa thought, gritting his teeth.
"This is not a fantasy novel. I'm not going to repeat it, so listen carefully."
Gritting his teeth, I could see his irritation on his face. Why would I care about his irritation?
"Where was I? Oh, right. The world core is like the essence of all the remaining cores."
I nodded in agreement.
"You need to form different cores according to your keys. Every key has its own unique energy.
"If you try to force and store a different energy in the wrong core, you could destroy your precious core or worse, you could die!"
Jaipa stared at me in silence.
"Why is that? Why can't I just store my key's energy in a single core?"
"That's where the ranks come in. As we already know, keys have their own ranks. The higher the rank of a key, the stronger the energy compared to lower-ranking keys, Stronger energy can't be mixed with weak energy without the world core "
"That's the reason."
With doubt filling my voice, I asked,
"That's what I've heard from people?" jaipa said again, his face lost all emotion, turning flat for a second, then shifting to sadness, then anger. After a moment, he realized I was staring at him. Pushing aside his sad and angry expression, he continued,
"I wasn't that interested in his story, Not now."
"You need to form three cores to awaken the world core."
I nodded.
"First, you need to form a self core.
"And then, the key's core.
"In the self core, you store the energy that you produce by yourself and In the key's core, you store the energy produced by your keys
"I don't know much about your first key, but it seems it was stopped at the last moment. I think you can still use the energy the key is producing. In simple words, you can form the core for your first key's energy.
"The first core must be a self core, followed by your first key's core. After that, the second key's core me,( Jaipa )and then you will be able to form the world core, where you store the world's energy. The most crucial part is linking all the cores to the world core."
"What about linking all of the cores to the world core?"
I asked.
Without a second loos , Jaipa immediately continued,
"When you link all the cores to the world core, the passage connected to the world core converts all energy from all of your cores into a single type of energy! And we call that energy
'Tai Energy.'"
After this long explaination, he let the surrounding silence settle for a while.
"Hey, Jaipa!"
"Ha?"
"How was I able to use my ability and that technique without forming the cores?"
"Nice question, For the first time..."
I stared at him.
"Without forming a core, you can actually use your energy. But the problem comes afterward when you have to fight a long battles without rest.
"What you were using all this time was the energy stored within your body. Basically, your body was producing energy, and I was also producing it with your first key. But the amount of energy your body was storing was too little, and it couldn't be stored for later
"So, basically, if you run out of the energy stored in your body, that's it. You need to wait hours to refill. Compared to when we store energy in the cores, one can store much more energy.
"If you grow stronger much stronger then now , you can store the energy of centuries or even longer."
"So let's start once we reach the cave."
That's how our conversation on cores came to an end. I had been looking at the ocean before me, now gazing at the sun, thinking
"I just want to live freely... even if I have to"
"Hey, Rudra, let's move."
"Uhh, okay."
The sun set over the red sea, light reflecting in the endless water, blending with the gentle green glow of the moon. Flowers fell like countless stories, and air buzzed with the melody of life.
Looking at the sun, I turned to the opposite side, gazing at the hills. Suddenly, I saw a light. After a few seconds, it vanished. I stared in that direction for a while, saying nothing to Jaipa.
After a moment, I took flight, spreading my wings. With just a few flaps, I reached the corner of the ocean.
"Let's hurry before the sun sets completely."
Looking at the path ahead, I quickened my pace. As we neared the cave's location, the sun had fully set.
We stood before the cave. On the way, I hadn't encountered a single creature. It was as if the whole forest had gone to sleep.
Stepping closer to the entrance, I gave one last glance at the forest before looking up at the sky.
Then, I saw something fascinating.
In the star-filled sky, I saw two green moons. Scientifically, it wasn't something new. But I was seeing it for the first time
Even then, my response wasn't that great.
I simply said, "It's quite beautiful."
That was one of the biggest reactions I had ever given to something. For me to say something was beautiful, it had to be truly mesmerizing.
After a while of looking at the moons, I decided to enter the cave. Jaipa had gone to scout the area, making sure no creatures or beasts were nearby.
As I headed inside the cave, I took a moment to rest After some time, Jaipa came flying in.
"I think something is not right tonight."
"Why is that?"
With my flat voice, I asked.
"I think the creatures are giving you time to enjoy yourself."
"Talking nonsense again."
If I continue to live with him, I don't think I'll ever be able to talk properly…
"Haha, it's funny. Can we get to work now?"
"What work?"
"Didn't you said we were going to form cores once we reached the cave?"
"oh…"