Chapter1: The Quest

Lewis was in the middle of nowhere yet again. He put his index finger on the center of his forehead and closed his eyes. A bright purple flash was emitted from his forehead. When he opened his eyes, he was standing next to a hot spring. He examined the water before taking off his clothes and jumping in. He hadn't bathed in a month. He relaxed all of his muscles and cleared his mind of all thought. He heard a voice.
“Go to her. If you don't, all hope is lost. Go to her. If you don't, the world will burn.” it said. The voice belonged to female. It continued repeating those words. He tried to silence it, but the more he tried, the louder it got. The voice started shouting and he opened his eyes. 

It was dark, he had fallen asleep. He climbed out of the spring and stood there dripping for a minute. The air was cold enough without the chilling autumn breeze. He shivered. He couldn't put his clothes back on until he was dry.
“You look like you could use this,” said a man standing on the other side of the spring. He tossed a towel to Lewis, who quickly dried off and returned to his purple robe. He put the hood up to keep the heat from escaping from his damp head. “You've been in there all day. How do you feel?”
Lewis stared blankly at this man, he was wearing a robe similar to Lewis's. There were beads around his wrists and ankles. “I haven't felt this good since I left the Academy. Who are you and what rank are you?” Lewis knew from the robe that they had both come from the same academy. However, he had never seen anyone wearing the beads before. He had heard stories of the beaded ones. There were three who wore them only on ankles, three who wore them on ankles and wrists, and only one who wore them on ankles, wrists, and around the neck.
“I am Jean Davis of the nine, rank six. I am pleased to meet you, Lewis.” Jean grinned, he knew more about Lewis than Lewis did himself. Lewis stood frozen, his expression was one of awe, horror, confusion, and joy. He dropped to his knees and lowered his head. Jean walked over to him. “Get up, I can't stand people lowering themselves to me. Now come with me to my house. I have a guest room you can stay in. In the morning, we begin your training.” 
Lewis stood and followed close behind Jean. He was going to receive training from one of the nine. If any of his old friends knew of this, their envy would know no bounds. When this elite group started out, it consisted of one man. He had three apprentices, which became the tier two masters. They weren't as powerful as the tier three master, but they were better than anyone else at the time. They each took on three apprentices. Only three of those nine survived the training. They became the tier one masters. Lewis didn't understand why he was receiving training from a tier two master though. Only three people could comprise a tier, and there could only be three tiers. The third tier was the only one with open positions. There was no way he could be a master of any tier, let alone third. He decided he was thinking too much. 

They entered the small shack with three rooms. There were two bedrooms, an empty room, and an out house not too far. Jean pointed to a bedroom, then entered the other. Lewis flopped onto the bed in the guest room and closed his eyes, awaiting the next day.
Lewis woke up as the sun was peeking over the horizon. He walked into the empty room that lacked a floor. He sat down on the dirt and relaxed all his muscles, closing his eyes and clearing his mind of all thought, meditating in the method taught at the Academy. After some time he felt calm and relaxed. When he opened his eyes he saw Jean standing in front of him. 
“Are you ready to begin?” Jean asked. Lewis took a deep breath before nodding. He stood up as a short man entered the room. “This is Sean Faltzer. He is a tier zero apprentice. Tier zero consists of eighty-one apprentices of the tier one masters. Sean is an apprentice of one of those apprentices. You are to spar with him. Be forewarned, the only people to have beaten him are the masters.” Before Lewis could say anything, Sean's fist flew into his shoulder, sending him twirling into the wall.
“And so it begins,” Lewis muttered as Sean charged towards him. He quickly jumped to his feet and aimed a punch towards Sean's stomach. Sean stepped up onto his fist and kicked his face. Lewis caught on to his technique. There were gaps in his moving patterns where there should have been an action, allowing no time for a block. Lewis again touched his finger to his forehead. He quietly said, “Luna”.

 After a bright white flash, Sean was on the ground, unconscious. Lewis fell to his knees, too weak to stand. Jean walked over to them, astonished by what he had just seen. He helped Lewis up.
“That was amazing, what did you do?” Jean walked over to Sean to check his vital signs. Lewis was rubbing the scar under his right eye. It burned intensely. Before he could answer Jean's question, Lewis passed out. Jean ran over to him and examined his face. It was cold, almost as if he was dead. There was still a pulse and he was still breathing. He didn't know which one to help first. He carried Sean to his own bed and set him down before carrying Lewis into the guest room and slapping him a couple times. There was no response.

 Lewis began mumbling. Then suddenly he was screaming and thrashing. This lasted only a few seconds after which he returned to his comatose state. Jean got some rope and tied him down. He went back into his own room to check on Sean, nothing changed. He went back into the other room and began meditating.
Lewis remained unconscious for two days with occasional bouts of screaming and thrashing. He woke up in the middle of the second night drenched in sweat. He sat up and examined his surroundings. He barely remembered arriving at the master’s home. He took a towel from the stack next to his bed and quietly left the shack. A nice, hot bath sounded like the best thing in the world. The heat from the spring would replenish some of the energy he had lost. It was well into the night, the waxing moon shone brightly in dark of the night. It wasn't long before Lewis drifted back into sleep.
“Lewis! Pay attention!” commanded Helen. The rabbit he was just examining bolted away. The hot spring made him feel at ease, enabled him to relax. “This illustrates the point that I made when you weren’t looking. After using powerful techniques that drain a lot of energy, it is very important that you find a hot element, like this water. It is the quickest and best way to recharge,” Helen instructed.
“What happens when there isn’t anything in the area, or I use a technique that drains too much energy?” Lewis questioned his instructor. She had long blonde hair and looked to be in her early thirties.
“You have to be careful. If there isn't anything in the area, you can attempt with whatever energy is left to heat something up, but if you don't have enough energy for it, don't attempt it. As for techniques that you can't handle, it's fatal to try them. You'd be really lucky to survive a technique that drains all your energy and possibly more,” she informed. He stared at her with a serious look, Helen stared back. He was planning on learning a technique well beyond his level, it showed on his face. 
“I think we should head inside, I feel replenished,” Lewis said as he left the spring to dry off. It had gotten dark while the two of them were talking and relaxing. As he dried off, he could faintly hear a voice talking to him. 
“Lewis! What are you doing out of bed? You fell asleep in the spring again? Get inside before you pass out again,” Jean said, standing over Lewis, who hastily did as his new instructor said. They started back to the shack Jean whacked the back of Lewis's head. “Now that you're awake, what was that technique you used? I could never have done anything like that at your age, and that scar under your eye, it's very strange. Care to explain how you got it?” Lewis was suspicious of Jeans intentions after that comment.
“It was something I learned from my old instructor. She never let me try it out though, she said I wasn't ready for it. I guess she was right, I'm sorry, is Sean alright?” Lewis queried. 
“See for yourself,” Jean said as they approached the shack. Sean was leaning against the wall outside with his arms crossed and head down. He glanced up at them, but decided not to do anything. Jean patted his shoulder as he passed, signaling for him to come inside. With difficulty, Sean slowly shifted his weight onto his feet and followed them in. Once there, he resumed his previous stance.
“Where was he?” Sean asked Jean. “He's probably about as weak as I am, after performing a technique like that, that's no ordinary feat.”
“I found him napping in the hot spring again. Do you know how long you were lying in that bed for? You still didn't tell me about that scar,” Jean interrogated Lewis. 
Lewis rubbed the back of his head before replying, “I was in accident about ten years back. There was an incident at the Academy, they kept it under wraps, it wasn't your average occurrence.”
“Oh, I remember, the incident in which you destroyed the elevator shaft. That truly was an anomaly. It took forever to repair that, you trapped everyone in the Ground,” Jean replied. Lewis grinned.
“I did? I hadn't realized, I left in a rush. I don't understand what happened exactly. I remember playing dodgeball, everything was normal until the orbs targeted my forehead for some reason. I wasn't able to move quick enough, this scar is proof of that. How do you know about this anyway?” questioned Lewis, who hadn't given much thought to the event since it happened.
“Have you forgotten that I am a master? We were all called in to fix the elevator and investigate what happened. We questioned everyone who was present, including Sean.” Jean glanced over at Sean, who appeared to have dozed off. Jean threw his shoe at him. He jumped, then pretended he was awake the whole time.
“I don't remember seeing you there, then again, I don't remember much about the Academy. Most of what I know I learned from my previous instructor, Helen,” Lewis said, adding a sigh. “She found me sitting on a bench with my face covered in blood. She asked me my name and where I was going. I shrugged and stared at the ground. 'Come with me,' she said, 'I can help you with your quest'.”

Author's Note

Some of this seems to be a bit too heavy on information.