The sound of a running shower stopped and light footsteps resounded as Andar walked up to the side of the wall and wiped the steam that had built on the mirror as he accessed his physical appearance.
His jet-black hair was wet with moisture, and his skin was pink from being hammered by a high-pressure shower for the better part of an hour… he had needed to clear his mind after everything that had happened and what would be happening momentarily and in the future that was to come.
He watched a drop of water run down his nose and hit the ground with a faint plop, and his mind calculated a thousand possibilities, from trajectory, heat, momentum, vector, and so many others.
Most Mages that were Rank 3 and below preferred the use of spells to keep themselves clean, considering the time spent on bathing to be nothing but a waste when with numerous Rank 0 Spells they could eliminate 99.9999% of germs on their bodies and leave them smelling of whatever fragrance they desired.
A Rank 4 Mage body would contain so much energy and would be very efficient in processing those said energies that they would not be able to release any waste, and no matter how much they exerted themselves, they would not even sweat a single drop.
Andar physique was superior to a Rank 4 Mage and he did not need to bathe but he always loved the experience and the vibration from the thousands of drops of water hitting his extremely sensitive skin every second was oddly relaxing.
Before he unlocked his Spirit Matrix he expected never to leave the ranks of a normal human, bathing had always served to calm his nerves and allowed him to deliberate on the issues that crowded his mind.
For the past few months, he had been living life on Autopilot, the countless congratulations he received from his peers and his teachers flowed around him, and he simply smiled.
He was now a Mage, and not just any other Mage, when he had returned he had battled with ten thousand Rank 1 Mages, a thousand Rank 2 Mages, a hundred Rank 3 Mages, ten Rank 4 Mages, and a single Rank 5 Mage, all of them in a powerful formation that could withstand even the might of a Rank 7 Mage.
Andar had won… with a single Rank 1 Spell.
Now he was set to perform another miracle, and not just in front of the Mages of the Black Tower, no this time, it would be in front of the entire Magic civilization. Countless trillions of eyes would be watching him from more than ten thousand worlds, not just in this universe, but in other universes as well.
He was to be proclaimed as a genius beyond comparison. The one that stood above all under heaven.
Yet, Andar could not help feeling like he was nothing but a sham, and instead of being here, he would rather be by the side of Rowan sitting beside a fire and listening to his words.
At 33 years old, life was moving by him so fast and heading in a direction that he could not predict, and although this was everything he had ever wanted, Andar wondered why he did not feel exultant, he only felt… hollow, as if what was happening was not real.
Andar looked at his striking silver eyes and whispered to himself, "What would he think about you when he realizes that this is how you respond to this gift he had given you?"
He had placed a bubble of air around himself instinctively, restricting every sound he was making from leaving his side. This application of energy was seamless to a ridiculous degree and it did not let the words he said escape.
It began to bounce the sound inside the cage he had made for himself, and in a few short seconds, the words he spoke had been repeated thousands of times,
"…respond to the gifts he had given you?
"…respond to the gifts he had…
"…respond to the…"
With a silent cry of anger, he dispersed the bubble and silenced the words. Andar sucked in a long breath, feeling pain inside his heart, Rowan's absence had left a gaping hole inside of him that he could feel. It was like losing an integral part of himself that he was not aware of, but when it was gone, it was almost maddening.
Andar felt something like this before, it was when his master had left him and sacrificed himself to give him a chance to reach the Black Tower, he recognized it as a heartache, but this one was magnified a thousand times over.
It did not help that the Light Devourer inside his Spirit Matrix also felt the absence of Rowan, and their discomfort fed on each other, and every so often the ache was so total it almost made him forget the pain of holding the Endless Vault Meditation Art.
Like an itch in your back that no matter how hard you tried to reach yet you could never quite touch it. Andar had never expected that this loss would feel so terrible. Had Rowan understood that his absence would hurt him so much?
His silver eyes shook, and a faint blue light began to arise from the depths of his eyes as if a star was awakening inside him. The stubbornness that had allowed him to exceed his limits a thousand times before was rising.
The heartache and the pain had pressed him down for so long, but Andar believed that if he was a metal, then all of this was the tribulation to cleanse the impurities from his constitution. It was all a test of his fortitude and it appalled him that he was failing.
Inside his heart, he chided himself,
'If he did… if he knew his departure would leave you broken, then he would expect you to have picked yourself up by the scruff of your neck and forge ahead with the talents he had bestowed upon you. He is not gone, he is only far, and every moment spent not chasing him would mean the chance of ever reaching him would be lost to you forever!'
This was the thought that snapped Andar out of his melancholic state. He could not remain as he was for long. With every passing moment, Rowan was moving away from him.
How powerful was Rowan compared to him, and Andar had gained the impression when he sat with him that he was still quite young, and in his words, he heard the hunger for advancement.
'I will not allow this to happen. One day, I want to stand in front of you and say…'
Andar shook his head in self-pity, as he mused, 'No, this is not right, words are cheap and action is everything.'
The chance for bridging the gap between them was rapidly shrinking, soon to disappear, so everything he did now would be to ensure he was utilizing his abilities to their utmost potential and going beyond them, he must seize every opportunity given to him and create the ones that were nonexistent.
