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Maybe one day, I may decide to re-write the novel, with a new basis or at least a comprehensive starting point with many of the narrative errors cleared up; but, till then, this is goodbye.

And, once again, thank you for the motivation you gave me. Even now, I see many emails come through with people commenting. Unfortunately, I still lack the courage to actually look at them.

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On that disappointing note; here is a novel that I started towards the latter end of last year after I felt that I couldn't write ATR anymore.

I'm not sure if I'll continue this one, because knowing myself and my current track record I'm quite proficient in ghosting you all.

Novel: Leviathan (EXTREME PLACE HOLDER NAME)

The shimmering vistas of the sun's rays spread out along a green pasture, the long strands of grass creating a moving image of shadows almost beckoning the coming of the night. To the far east, a deep ravine lay ominously. If one understood the topography of this area, they would be able to identify that the lines of latitude native to the outside world are unable to conform to the pasture. Furthermore, conventional navigational techniques would be unable to provide any help in orienting oneself.

One could wander aimlessly along the never-ending pasture and before nightfall one will find themselves in front of the ravine. The ravine itself emanated a bewitching quality drawing one to gaze upon it. One would soon see the rising stairs within the centre of the ravine, seemingly the centrepiece of the gorge. The stairs were flanked by beautifully carved columns. The flaking paint upon the architecture was a clear sign of their archaic age. At the peak of the stairs lay a spiralling void, the space around the vacuum was in a constant state of disarray, perpetually shattering and reforming, preventing anyone from seeing past the construction. The void was akin to a gateway, and for the many beings of the vast lands surrounding the green pasture, that's what it was.

Outside the ravine figures of people had begun to appear. These people only looked wearily upon the bewitching void, none daring to move forward. Over time more characters started to arrive. All the arrivals possessed the bearing of powerful and eminent figures, some young and others older in age. With many exotic features and exquisite clothing, their high statuses were evident, but regardless of their status, trepidation was still prevalent upon their faces whenever their eyes roamed the spiral. The arriving parties moved to the sides of the entrance forming upon their factions, leaving the middle open.

The gathered crowd would often look back towards the plains as if they were waiting for something or someone. Before long a procession of people arrived, their figures skilfully moved through the long grass. The men in this group were tall and imposing, while the women were beautiful and elegant. They all had one common characteristic: intricate scales were positioned upon the centre of their foreheads, adding an exotic flavour to their appearance. This newly arrived group emitted a proud aura, but underneath that palpable pride lay a hidden mournfulness.

The eyes of the gathered crowd darted around this newly arrived faction as if searching for someone. The procession moved in a regimental format protecting the people walking in the centre. This steady stream of new arrivals finally opened up and respectfully made way for the family walking in the centre.

The family consisted of six people, a commanding middle-aged man and a woman with a perfect visage walk in the middle. This middle-aged man was the leader of one of the eight Sacred Grounds of the Eastern Continent, the Nimbus Valley, even though this man had the prestige and power to make even his contemporaries respect him, the spectating crowd did not have their eyes on him.

Instead, the crowd had their eyes upon the teenagers and young adults walking next to him. These four, the children of the leading couple, had similarly outstanding features. Similar to everyone else here their faces showed trepidation upon gazing at the void, apart from one of the teenagers.

This teenager possessed an emaciated figure and sickly white skin, his every moment seemed to invoke pain across his body. But his unforgiven visage seemingly incapable of releasing any sign of discomfort. His deep black eyes stared straight ahead at the void, no fluctuation present in his gaze. The entire spectating crowd turned their vision to the skeletal figure standing in his robe that was dark as Northernmost night.

The wife of the leader of Nimbus Valley gently looked at her sickly son, sorrow and worry and many other emotions present in her gaze. She tenderly rubbed her hand against his face and said with a quiet voice, "Ra'er, this is not the only path left, your father and I have utilised all the resources at our disposal to gather information. I'm sure we will find something to cure you."

Listening to her weak voice, it was evident to the people around her that even she didn't believe her words. The emancipated figure emanated a feeling of death, while his dark black eyes and long-hair gave a potent contrast to his pale white skin; it was clear to all that the teenager did not have long to live.

The boy turned his head to his mother a smile across his face, even at the end of the road he was able to keep a smile on his face. His expression elicited many respectful looks from the spectators around him. This was why they all came here. Over the short sixteen years of Nimbus Ra's life, he had earned their respect; his heaven-stunning talent, respectful approach to people from all walks of life and his uninhibited spirit left people with only positive thoughts of him.

"Mother, I do not have much time left, at most a month of life. It's time for me to enter the forbidden land. Who knows maybe in there I will find a path to salvation," Nimbus Ra replied with a bright smile.

His smile only managed to invoke tears from his mother. The pain she felt, and the pain which her family felt, were tearing their hearts out. Even with their great prestige and vast knowledge they had been unable to help their son, brother and sect member, over the past two years. Before contracting his diseased body, Nimbus Ra was the brightest star of the younger generation of the Eastern Continent. His achievements left even the oldest ancestors of the many Sacred Grounds spinning in their graves.

But as like many bright stars, their incandescent light must come to an end. Unfortunately for Nimbus Ra, this end was much sooner than all expected. On an inauspicious night two years ago, he crumpled to the floor in agony. Over the past couple of years, his body had eating away at itself, his imposing figure and dominant muscles prevalent in all Nimbus Valley disciples degenerated leaving him with his current emancipated figure. The dragon bloodline that all members of the Nimbus Valley were proud of was leading to his death. After two years of analysing his blood and body, Ra had come to the conclusion that his blood was fighting off some type of entity in his body. His bloodline would rather have an internecine struggle than letting the other entity take joint control.

"Brother, please listen to mother. Maybe there is another way. Once you enter the forbidden land, there is no return," a beautiful girl a few years younger than Ra pulled on her brother's arm, hoping in futility to keep him here.

Ra turned to look at his gorgeous sister with her watery eyes, and said with a slight smile, "Sevya, I hope that one day in the future you will be able to fly through the heavens stunning all those around you. I, unfortunately, most likely won't be there to see it."

Ra turned his head to look at the void and said with a chuckle, "Or maybe I will."

No one said anything to refute his words, for how can anyone kick a man when he was already at death's door. They were all aware of the legends of the Forbidden Gateway, a sage once said that this gateway appeared after a great war over a hundred thousand years ago. The sage commanded great respect across the Eastern Continent, so many believed his words or at least chose to believe his words when they were on their last legs.

Many mighty, aged, figures who saw no hope for further breakthroughs to gain more longevity would enter the Forbidden Gateway looking for a path to salvation. Unfortunately, none of them had returned. Thus over the many years, this Forbbiden Gateway had become known as a graveyard, a graveyard for the courageous and talented figures.

For the many people watching Nimbus Ra, even with his overwhelming talent, they also thought another number would be added to the graveyard. But, none of them said anything to prevent him from going, they were all aware that for him to decide to enter the Forbidden Gateway, he had exhausted all options, and lost all hope.

The Sect Leader turned towards his son, pride obvious in his eyes.

"Son, you have only made our Nimbus Valley, and your father proud. All your actions have been in the best interest of the Valley and our family. You have always held your head high in all your actions, and even now facing a deep unknown you stand here with a smile," roared with a husky laugh.

"If I even had an ounce of your fearlessness I'm sure our Nimbus Valley Sacred Ground would be the lord of the Eastern Continent already." Nimbus Yui moved to his son and placed his hand on his shoulders.

Although Nimbus Yui's words were boastful, the many people that had gathered from allied Sacred Grounds chose to not say anything. A man was saying goodbye to his son for eternity, a little boasting was fine.

Many young and talented figures had arrived with their elders to say their goodbyes to a young man that had been the leader in their race, since they could remember, along the pathway of cultivation in the Eastern Continent. Of course, there were people in the Sacred Grounds that are happy seeing such a character disappear, but most could only sigh.

One-by-one people came up to Ra to wish him good luck and their goodbyes, before long the Jubilant Lotus Sacred Ground came together before the members of Nimbus Valley and Ra. The relationship between Jubilant Lotus and Nimbus Valley go back thousands of years, their bonds were strong, almost unbreakable. A beautiful girl with pink hair, and dressed in an exquisite dress that resembled lotuses, dove into Ra's embrace.

Nero Evelynn, Jubilant Lotus's precious gem, and Ra's life-long friend buried her head into Ra's chest. Evelynn's parents, sworn brothers and sisters with Ra's parents looked on with melancholic looks.

"It may have even been possible for these two to get married in the future, alas.." Nimbus Yui quietly said to himself.

Ra quietly said a few soothing words to Eveylnn, except he didn't make any promises of a return.

Ra walked to the middle of the clearing and turned towards his family, Sect and friends. He felt overwhelming gratitude for everyone who came to wish him farewell in his voyage.

Nimbus Yui slowly began to chant in an ancient dragon tongue, a beautiful yet melancholic tune came from out his mouth. Gradually the other members of Nimbus Valley began to sing the same tune. For many, the song sounded like a funeral dirge, while for others it possessed the innate pride of a dragon; always resisting and pushing.

Ra turned around and began to move towards the stairs as the dragon song was sung behind him, at this moment although he was walking to an inevitable death he only felt pride in his steps. His heart thumped in his chest, even though he felt both pride and disgust for his dragon bloodline it gave him a sense of belonging; it gave him dignity and camaraderie.

The voices of the dragon warriors behind him only began to increase over time, gradually turning into a dragon's roar filled with feeling.

Ra slowly began to make his way up the stairs, admiring the artwork of the columns as he made his way up. There were depictions of mighty archaic beasts and legendary warriors all emanating a palpating power. He stopped all of a sudden and turned to one of the most dominating pillars and the scene he saw caused his bloodline to go into turmoil.

A magnificent beast was seemingly swimming through a sea annihilating enemies in its path with powerful purple lightning. Ra had never seen such a creature in his life, nor any art, it resembled a dragon but also not a dragon, with prominent muscles and a thick scales it's entire being embodied strength. The purple tattoos along its body were in the most perfect violet, its movements were natural and attune with the sea.

The imperial dragon bloodline that ran through his veins began to almost hide within his body, too afraid to show itself in case the sea beast noticed it. All of a sudden the sea beast in the column turned and looked straight at Ra, causing the boy to be unable to move, as a fear like never before appeared in his heart.

The fear of the void gateway felt inconsequential compared to the gaze of the sea beast. A moment of doubt flashed through Ra's eyes when he noticed the beast's face, it was almost as if the creature smiled. All of a sudden the scene playing itself out on the column stopped and became still as it once was before. With the freezing of the scene, the dragon bloodline that had caused him endless agony for two years suddenly stopped.

Ra turned to look at the void, he felt a calling from deep in his heart. A calling commanding him to move through the gateway. So, he accepted.

He slowly made his way up the stairs while the dragon roars behind him crescendoed; the dragons song roared across a large portion of the Eastern Continent as many of the dominant figures of Nimbus Valley shouted with all their might.

Ra's emaciated figure that once cut a melancholic sight not emanated a feeling rejuvenation and pride, his shadow leaving a beautiful view against the walls of the abyss.

As Ra stepped through the spiralling gateway the void turned a wicked violet, the violet began to consume his figure till his straight back vanished before the eyes of the gathered.

Along with Ra's disappearance, the glorious dragon song ended. The dirge's echoes rang through the valley and the continent, at the same time as the farewell song concluded the members of Nimbus Valley all over the continent bowed in the direction of the Forbidden Gateway.

As Ra stepped through the gateway, an unforeseen force pulled upon his body. The energy enveloped his body, completely inhibiting all movements, no matter how much he struggled with what little strength he had left in his diseased body it was to no avail.

Realising that struggling was futile, he stopped his rapid movements and let the violet light push him through the void tunnel. Understanding that the transportation was not going to be ending any time soon, he started to observe his environment to gather his bearings. The space around him was fracturing intermittently, and at the end of each fracture, he would be pushed further through the void.

Ra peered through the space fractures and to his surprise he saw a vast desolate land with dilapidated buildings and the skeletal remains of gargantuan beasts jotting his view. The sky of this dead land was lit up with fierce lightning which fractured space creating an environment impossible to live in. With every movement, he saw different kinds of natural disasters, disasters which could surely destroy his entire Sacred Ground if it is so unfortunate to be in its path.

Splintering earthquakes, erupting volcanoes and tsunamis of black sea annihilated the dregs of what was left of this cadaveric land. The scenes left Ra's mind in disarray, destruction at such a mass scale and power was something he had never seen before in his life. He felt a bit of consolation that he was able to see such a scene before his death. Conversely, it made him saddened. Saddened that he would never be able to see all of what the world had to offer.

Although he has never been able to make use of his Cloud Dragon bloodline, the feelings of wanting to float uninhibited around the world have always been within him. A sense innate to those who carry such a lineage.

Ra shook his head denying such thoughts from further influencing himself, the image of the fearsome sea beast came into his head again, "Was that being really smiling at me? But it was a piece of art, how can it look at me?".

He also experienced some familiarity when he first saw the archaic beast, but such a feeling was so absurd he immediately ignored the possibility. Before he was able to continue with his train of thought, the space tunnel began to shudder. The violet walls started to fracture with even more intensity, and he felt a great strain imposed upon his body. His bones began to creak with the pressure

The young teenager turned his vision to his front and observed the ever-approaching scene before him. A great monolithic mountain with breathtakingly steep cliffs was situated within a roaring black sea. The waves of the sea grew to tremendous heights and rocked the cliff face, the sound of the collision only muffled out by the next wave.

The black sea itself and the peculiarity of it placed overwhelming pressure on Ra. All of a sudden a sky-shattering violet lightning bolt struck down from the heavens, the branches of the strike shot out in all directions akin to a vine suffocating all life. The black world was illuminated in its entirety for the young teenager. The scene laid bare for him shocked him to his core.

As the first tendril of lightning touched the sea, the electricity spread out across the ocean and lit up the land of despair below. Countless apparitions were howling towards the mountain. Their expressions showed the immense anger, hopelessness and hatred they felt. The phantoms were all in various forms; humans, beasts and other creatures and species, they all held one commonality, that of fear. Fear of their past, fear of the future, fear of the now.

Cold sweat formed on Ra's back, instantly drenching his robes. Over the past two years, he had experienced deep agony as his bloodline lead an internecine struggle within his body. Pain, in the physical sense, was something he could overcome, but the mental impact of the countless apparitions filling the sea to the brim left his mind reeling.

As quickly as the world was lit up, it also ended. The violet lightning disappeared evaporating into nihility much like the sentience of the despairing wraiths in the sea. Ra turned his attention back towards the towering mountain, the focal point of the paroxysm of emotions of the spectres.

With one final shudder, Ra shot out of the void transmission and crashed into the wall face of the cliff. Whether by luck or machination he found himself wedged into a small cave. Ra slowly got up and checked over his emaciated body, lacerations covered the entire left flank of his robes. He decided it was best to not look at the damage to his body, there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

"I need to conserve energy, no point in healing minor injuries," Ra muttered to himself as he moved to look over the edge and into the abyss that made up the black ocean beneath him.

Ra observed the cliff around himself, even though it would have been impossible for a pure mortal to see in the darkness that encompassed this world, it was nothing for someone like Ra who already had significant achievements in his cultivation. During his observation, the bewitching violet lightning tore through the sky a couple more times illuminating the wraiths below him.

Seeing the scene beneath him, Ra was only able to mutter a very faint, "Fuck.".

"Although the peak of the cliff is quite high up, it seems that small caves jot the wall face. It should be no problem to form some Void laws and create a platform to walk on to reach the next cave."

Ra wasted no further time and called forth energy from the Void Crystal within his Dantian, but after trying for a few more seconds, he wasn't able to retrieve any. He quickly focused in on his Dantian and was left in confusion, his entire Crystal lattice network lay dormant. There was not a single bit of energy left inside of him.

"How can this be? I know I was running out of energy, but surely not this fast?"

Ra then tried to absorb some world energy from the environment around him through his pores. Alas as soon as the energy attempted to enter him, his bloodline prevented it from entering. He tried a few more times in vain, knowing full well the answer, the same answer that had been provided to him for the past two years.

Ra began to feel a bit of despair build up inside of him, but he quickly clamped down on the feeling and began to look around himself for any object he could use to scale the cliff face with. He was relieved to find two jagged pieces of stone near the end of the cave. If he were not in such an emotional state, he would have been aware that there had not been any such stones inside the cave when he first entered. The stones resembled two crudely designed obsidian daggers.

He picked up the pieces of stone and walked to the edge of the cave, and looked out across from himself and noticed the black rain that fell across the dark world into the sea. Black like the tears which unwittingly lined his face.

Tears of his regret, tears of anger, tears against his tortured fate.

The path of cultivation is there for one to rise against his fate, to retaliate against the hand that life has dealt you. An individual could be born with more opportunities than another, but that individual will also miss the experiences of the less fortunate other. The many experiences one garners along their journey can create a strong mental fortitude, a fortitude which a sheltered person cannot compete against.

Ra shouted as he jumped up from his perch and penetrated the wall face with his newly acquired jagged rocks. He slowly moved his right hand upwards and shoved the stone-dagger into the wall, after it was firmly perched in the wall he moved his left hand and did the same action. Through this method he slowly made his way up, muttering incomprehensibly to himself.

The black rain plastered his back continuously, but even with no World Energy to fuel his body he still kept on moving. His emaciated muscles, bearing no energy, still kept on climbing. Ra continued climbing, he ignored his burning muscles and his lack of energy. Images of the faces of his loved ones and their hope for him flashed by one after the other in his mind. If he fell here, all those faces would be but a fleeting dream, a dream he would never be able to make reality again.

Thus he kept on climbing. Climbing to change his fate and make use of the talents that life had graced him. A few hours into his ascent, the wraiths in the sea had directed their despair onto Ra. For most people, the negative emotions would have driven them insane in a matter of moments, but nothing of the sorts happened to Ra.

If one were to see Ra's eyes, they would understand why the storm of despairing emotions failed to influence him. His eyes were akin to an empty abyss, no emotions, no palpable sentience. His mind had closed in on itself, his energy depleted body moved out of sheer instinct.

The further Ra ascended the cliff face with his methodical, and tiresome, process the more the last vestiges of energy inside his body began to diminish. Even the trance-like body movement that had allowed him to propel himself upwards without a care in the slightest started to fail him. In the end, the cliff was mind-bogglingly high, so much so that even Ra at his peak form would find it difficult to scale it.

Eventually, Ra was incapable of continuing any further, and he just hung from his stone-daggers, his body moving to and throw from the wind. The spectres in the ocean began to scream in glee upon seeing the teenager hanging almost dead to the world.

At this moment a violet lightning bolt struck down from the heavens, except this time the intensity of it eclipsed the ones from before it. The bolt shot into the ocean instantaneously annihilating hundreds of thousands of spectres, the lightning tendrils continued their paths of destruction incinerating many more wraiths. The apparitions immediately became silent, too afraid to even make a movement.

A pair of bewitching violet eyes appeared in the sky where the lightning bolt entered from. The eyes were incomparable in size, they seemed to encompass the entire world. The eyes looked towards the spectres in the ocean, malevolence in its gaze, "Pathetic ghosts. You dare mock a child of my lineage!?"

"If you were not beneficial to the boy, I would have already annihilated all of you for your actions," a voice rang throughout the world. The voice contained a powerful imperial might, a might that would be able to inundate any mortal who heard it.

The entity in the sky then turned its attention back to the boy, although its gaze was still just as frightening a few layers of warmth were now present.

"Silly boy. If you had just waited a few more moments in the cave, I would have been able to send you to the top easily. Unfortunately, this World Sense is just too old, it took a while for it to wake up."

"Very well, considering you are so eager. Let's give you a bit of a boost," the voice said almost gleefully if it possessed a mouth it would surely be smiling slyly.

Lightning began to form under the eyes, only this time it was an incredibly vibrant shade of violet, it almost seemed as if it was filled with life. The lightning burst downwards, and instead of landing into the ocean like the many times before it, onto Ra. Ra arched his back inwards and let loose an insane cry.

The cry managed to reverberate around the area mysteriously, even the thundering waves beneath became a backdrop the echoes of Ra's roar. The purple lightning wound itself around the teenager and moving in and out of his pores and the seven orifices of his face. He looked like a creature born out of lightning, tendrils of electricity crept around the rock face where his daggers met the cliff lighting up his surroundings in a beautiful violet.

Ra began to feel his body fill up with energy, the cells in his body began to vibrate with energy as the violet body moved throughout him. With a mighty thunder, Ra started to climb up the cliff with speed like never before, pieces of rock followed in his wake. His eyes flashed continuously with a bewitching magenta.

The lightning figure shot up the cliff with nothing impede his progress. The spectres with their minimal sentience stared up at the teenage boy in silence.

With a final roar, Ra shot over the edge of the cliff and tumbled along the top. He rolled over onto his back and looked up into the sky, his heaving chest indicating his lack of breath. A pair of purple eyes made from electricity and a gigantic statue of a sea beast were the last things he saw before he fainted.

"Excellent! He did even better than I thought he would. The will of this child is something commendable. A will at this calibre shall enable him to make many achievements in Aspects in the future," the voice thundered in laughter above the black ocean.

A gentle purple light formed around Ra and carried him softly through the entrance of the statue depicting an enormous sea beast.

Within the sea beast statue was a large hexagonal hall, the walls were inlaid with beautiful crystals. The crystals were not just there for aesthetic reasons, they were also great treasures with many different uses. The shine of the gems lit up the hall in many different shades of colours to the extent that one may even call it psychedelic in nature. There were also a few gems that released melodious hymns, hymns of the purest form created by nature.

At the centre of this hexagonal hall was a raised platform, on top of the platform was a pool large enough to fit a full-grown man inside. Nimbus Ra was currently floating unconsciously in the multi-coloured water, the energy from the gems embedded in the walls coalesced inside the pool imbuing it in the different shades of colour.

Ra eyes gradually opened, feeling himself floating in liquid immediately made him think that he failed his ascent of the cliff. He slowly calmed down when he recalled himself reaching the top and seeing those piercing eyes made from lightning.

Stabilising himself, he moved his weak body around so that he could see his surroundings. Ra was instantly attracted to the gems, a strange light shone in his eyes.

"Haha, boy. I see you are like me, attracted to all things beautiful," an old raspy, yet warming, voice sounded behind Ra.

Ra got a fright and spun around to look at the old man behind him, he hadn't been able to sense anyone else around him earlier leaving him a bit frightened.

The old man was dressed in a black robe with purple etchings, the etchings braided around the material akin to lightning bolts, he had a full set of pure white hair and a moustache that hung down past his face. Th-->>

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