Sorry for not posting as often! I got kind of bored before but now I'm finding my passion to write again! I am trying to be more descriptive and build the relationship instead of rushing them just like you guys asked, so thank you for the reviews and I promise I will update more!
Chapter 6
(Alex's POV)
Oh my god I think I'm gonna die. I thought as we hiked along the side of the mountain. Luckily our journey had been relatively peaceful, minus the weather. One minute it was warm, and before I even knew what was going on, it was freezing cold. "Are we almost there?" I asked sounding like a 2 year old on a road trip.
"We are approaching the temple now." Responded Shen. The guy literally showed no emotion. He wasn't shivering, he wasn't breathing heavy or anything.
This guy, how much do you have to train? I pondered. I, on the other hand, was freezing my ass off. It felt like the temperature was in the negatives, there was a huge blizzard, and all I had was a jacket and some pants on. I couldn't even see 10 feet in front off. Then, Shen stopped moving as we reached a wall of rock.
"We are here." He stated.
"Where is 'here'?" I asked. It was literally a wall of rock, and nothing else. Right as I asked the question, he pulled a rock out toward us that was connected to the wall, and the whole thing started rumbling. Shen look relatively calm, but who knows. I just kept my cool, praying that it was supposed to be like this. While the mountain was vibrating, an entrance appeared right in front of us. The mountain stopped shaking, and we walked inside of the entrance, and the mountain shook and closed the entrance.
The place was massive on the inside. I look around to see a beautiful zen palace, except we were underground. There were monks, dressed in black and red robes, training in the main hall. It was multiple floors, because there were balconies on the inside overlooking the main area. The monks looked over to us and stopped what they were doing. They all turned to us in an orderly fashion and bowed their heads.
"Master Shen." The one in the center said, with his head bowed. He raised his head and eyed me curiously. "Is this the pupil of prophecy?"
"One of them. The others are training with different teachers to suit their abilities." Responded Shen. The monk then turned to me and bowed.
"It is an honor to meet you, Child of Prophecy." He said. I was a little weirded out. Nobody was ever this formal with me, so I didn't really know how to react.
"No need for formalities, the name is Alex." I said as I extended a hand to him, scratching the back of my head with the other while I had an awkward smile on my face. Thankfully, he straightened up and shook my hand like a down home American.
"My name is Oboko, and I have been a monk of the Kinkou Order my since I was a mere child." He told me.
"Wow. What do you do in your free time?" I asked.
"There is no such thing as free time. I train whenever I am not sleeping, or meditate." He responded flatly.
Oh god, I hope I don't turn out like this. I thought to myself. I guess Shen noticed the look on my face and spoke.
"Your training will be different from theirs. They are monks, and you are a Beast. They are trained in a more sophisticated way, but your training will be, for lack of a better word, wild." He explained. I swear if he didn't have a mask on, he was probably smirking when he said that.
"Good to know." I sweatdropped at the sound of wild training. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something flying toward me. I instinctively caught it between my fingers, but when I realized that I had just caught a shuriken, I dropped it a little freaked out.
"What the hell was that?!" I shouted. Shen put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down.
"That was just Kennen, I asked him to do that before we got here to see how much you have developed since your arrival." He explained. I turned toward the direction of the shuriken, and saw a little furry thing walking toward me.
"Sorry for the scare, but it was Shen's orders." He chuckled. "Come with me so I can show you to your room for now.
I began to follow behind him as we went through a labyrinth of hallways and rooms. He explained what some of them were, where to go if I needed anything, and other essentials. We walked by a door that led to the outside, and the view was stunning. It was sunny, with a few white clouds in the sky. On the ground, there was a stone path that led to a small bridge over a miniature river. There were a few gorgeous cherry blossom trees spread out in the garden, with flowers and bushes growing.
I stopped Kennen and asked, "How is there sunshine in here if we're underground and it's like a blizzard outside?"
"We have a machine, created by Heimerdinger, that projects different scene's on the roof, and adjusts the climate to accommodate it. I gave him a confused look, seeing as this whole place was old fashioned, with monks and stuff. He must've caught on to my look.
"Alex, we're monks in modern day, not amish people." He said with a light laugh. I chuckled a little at that statement.
We walked a little further and stopped at a door. "This is where you will be staying while you are here." Kennan said as he opened the door. Inside wasn't anything amazing, but it was cozy. It had a bed in the corner, a desk beside the bed with a chair underneath and a lamp on top, and there was a closet on the other wall. There was a window above the desk that overlooked the garden, which I was happy about. I liked having a nice view in my room, no matter where I was staying.
I put my clothes inside the closet and laid down on my bed. Today was a long day, considering we had hiked for so long. My eyes were extremely heavy and the bed was surprisingly comfortable, so it wasn't long before sleep overtook me.
I was woken up to a knock on my door. The knock wasn't very aggressive, so I barely heard it at first and disregarded it. The next time, the person knocked louder, which jerked me out of my sleep and I shot straight up.
"Oh, come in!" I said groggily. The door opened and it was none other than Akali who walked in. She had her usual green outfit on, but she had her face mask hanging around her neck, so I could see her full face. She had creamy pale skin, brown hazel eyes, and long black hair. She looked at me for a second, eyeing me up and down, as if she was looking for something.
"Follow me, we're going to the training grounds." She stated, monotonously.
"Alright." I responded. Wow, she's not the emotional type I see. I thought to myself. We walked out of my room and down the hallway for a while, then we came to an opening and there were a bunch of training dummies and mats spread out all over the room.
"For your first lesson, you are going to have to learn how to open your inner gates. For some people, it requires a little bit of concentration. For others, it requires jumps in their emotional states, or when their adrenaline gets pumping. That seems to be the most common one. This type of way tends to trigger automatically, but in combat, you can not let your emotions get the better of you. If you even slip up once, it could cost you your life." She began to explain.
I was a little freaked out. I mean this whole Beast thing sounded like fun, but these are REAL people in another DIMENSION that need my friends and I to help them. The realization was finally starting to sink in, that I, along with my friends, would have to help defend all of Runeterra from whatever the threat was. There was no telling when the threat would appear, but I know that running and hiding won't solve any of their problems, or mine. I realized now was the time to buckle down and get serious.
"You need to be able to concentrate on the situation, and open those gates with no problems at all. Obviously, none of us possess this ability, as opening the gates are nearly impossible for normal people. But for the Beasts, this technique is sure to work. You just have to practice and harness it." She finished explaining.
"Practice and harness, got it. So what do we do to practice." I asked.
"There are 5 gates that you need to open in order to fully max out your abilities. The first gate is the Gate of Trust. You mustn't have any doubt in yourself or the abilities of your comrades. You must put all your trust into them and yourself. The second gate is the Gate of Awakening. To open this gate, you must become fully aware of your situation, and understand the consequences of your actions and yours alone. The third gate is the Gate of Focus. You must clear your mind and concentrate on the task at hand with no distractions. The fourth gate is the Gate of Extension. For this, you must relax your body, allowing you to use your muscles beyond their normal use, thus extending their strength and reliability. At this point of the opening, your muscles will practically be tearing themselves apart, so it is very dangerous unless your body is in top condition. The final gate is the Gate of Energy. That is when all of your inner energy is harnessed and focused, granting you a virtually unlimited amount of power. (Referenced a little from Naruto). She finished explaining.
I was wrapping my brain around everything she just said. Tearing my muscles apart? That was not in my plans, but I would do what I had to. "So how do you know about the gates if nobody can attain the power of them under normal circumstances?" I questioned.
"We have enlightening books written in ancient times by wise monks who have explained these techniques. Under normal circumstances, people would normally die before awakening even the first gate, as it puts a lot of strain on the mind." She informed me.
"Ok, now that I know what I'm supposed to do, how do I do it?" I asked. That was when Shen walked in and approached Akali and I.
"Your main task, will be to grab THAT." He pointed toward the ceiling and there was a rope attached to it, and hanging from that rope was a coin with a hole in the center of it, where the rope was tied holding it in place. The only problem was the 30 foot difference between me and the coin.
"Are you out of your mind? No normal person could achieve that." I deadpanned.
"Exactly. No NORMAL person could do it, but perhaps someone with special abilities…?" He emphasised the word 'normal' to hint me at the true meaning.
"Ok, I'll humor you for a second. How am I supposed to get up there and get it? A ladder or something?" I asked.
"No, you have to use sheer willpower and determination to achieve it." He responded.
"Willpower and determination. Got it. Now I guess we can begin training?" I asked. In all honesty, I was kind of excited. All this talk about powers was only a fantasy up until a few days ago. Now I can actually live it out, but the downside is my possible death. So that's always fun.
"You seem eager. I like that. The first part of your training will be to practice your fighting. For now, I want you to spar with Akali." He stated.
Great, that last thing I need is to spar with the assassin that moves at lightning speed in the game itself. There's no telling what this is gonna be like. I sulked inwardly.
Akali and I squared up and Shen flagged the beginning of the match. I really had no clue how to fight, but my instincts when I went "Beast Mode" I liked to call it, did know how to fight. I decided to start with a few jabs. I knew that a wide swing would create an opening, so I kept my hands inward toward my head. I made a few quick jabs at her face, alternating between my fists. She effortlessly dodged every punch and landed a few jabs in my gut, then finishing by hitting me in the kidney. I doubled over, clutching my gut and landed on my knees.
"It seems that we have a long way to go, with an unspecified amount of time." Akali stated. "Are you done for now?" She asked
Now I may have just got my ass handed to me in mere seconds, but I wasn't about to give up so easily.
"Not even close." I challenged. She seemed to enjoy my response, as she smirked while pulling her mask up. Shen flagged the beginning of the match again and we both were in it to win it.
Scene Break
Now I was in my room, laying on my bed while staring up at the ceiling. I was so tired, because we had sat there and trained for hours. I don't know if getting my ass beat was considered training, but I at least landed one blow, so I was happy. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how my family was doing. I also couldn't stop thinking about how my friends were doing with their training. Even though I was so tired, I couldn't bring myself to go to sleep. I decided to get up and walk around the complex and explore a little bit. I got up and walked out of my room and decided to go into the training room where the coin was hanging from the ceiling. How was I supposed to get that down? I was staring at it for a while until a voice disrupted my thoughts.
"Staring at it isn't going to make it fall from the ceiling you know." Said an all too familiar feminine voice. I turned around to see that it was Akali in her pajamas. She was surprisingly casual, with her great sweat pants and a black tank top. She seemed just a little tired, so I guess I woke her up when I was walking here.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I couldn't sleep." I said sheepishly as I scratched the back of my head. I wasn't gonna lie and say that her in casual wear WASN'T attractive.
"You didn't, I'm always on alert, even when I sleep. Is something bothering you?" She asked me. I could almost hear a hint of affection in her voice.
"Yeah… I just don't know if I can do it. Not just grab the coin, but try and get stronger in general. I know that some pretty supernatural stuff, at least to me, has happened when I fought Zed and Shen, but it was an accident. Can I really harness this power and become strong?" I asked. I was being my usual self, which was extremely serious.
She seemed to sit there and think for a second, but then responded. "I think that you have the potential to become a great beast. It will be a long road, but I think that you have what it takes to surpass the laws of physics itself, and save the world." She said. She then smiled reassuringly. It was odd seeing her smile, but it was so warm and inviting.
"Thanks Akali, I needed it." I thanked her. I turned and started walking to my room, but she caught me.
"Make sure you're up bright and early tomorrow, you have a lot of training to do." She joked. I chuckled and responded. I walked back to my room and flopped down on my bed, and it wasn't long until I was asleep for what felt like forever.