At the close of training that day, it was obvious that there were separate classes of students for Shambala to train. A few people had bonded with their artifacts, beginning to work on understanding the powers they possessed, while those who had already bonded with their artifacts had unlocked greater percentages of their powers. For Krystal, he had unlocked more abilities from his artifact, which were the powerful shadow abilities. He may have been at odds with his father, but he was definitely grateful for this artifact. It had looked very basic and unglamorous, but now that he had tasted what he could do, he marveled that his dad was willing to give it to him.Through consistent practice and inner-conscious meditation with his aura, he had learned to manifest his artifact’s powers in various ways. He had learned that he could create shadow clones of himself and others while giving each of those clones the ability to wield the power of artifacts he could conjure. He remembered when

“Hut! Ha! Hiya!” Grunts of struggle could be heard emanating from the field. Vladimir had been paired with Grover, and both were giving the best they had to give. Krystal was fighting with Shambala, while other members of the guild were similarly paired. It was past the third hour of the afternoon, and they had been fighting since the first hour of noon. Shambala had returned to the guild a little over three months ago, and the entire guild was at peak performance! Grover had watched the others continually improve since the day he challenged them that, to get to their level of power manifestation, they had to fight and probably get beaten by Shambala. They had not taken the challenge literally, but apparently, after they had put their fear aside, some of them had taken his counsel to heart and begun to put in the necessary work to see the results that they were seeing as well. Blake, Jeremiah, and Bindi had become confident in themselves as their powers grew, while Justin and Riley

Grover sat on his seat, considering the tension that had began growing at the table. The table comprised of various kinds of individuals: those who were impatient, and wanted to retire for the night, those who were worried about the welfare of the teacher, those who were afraid that he was going to disappear for another week before returning and those who were just happy that it was evening and there was no training at the moment. The noise continue to build up and if he did not know that there was no alcohol in the gathering he would have said that was the cause.After a while, Grover looked straight at the door, and as soon as he did, Shambala came in just as he had the day they had met to discuss his unexplained absence for a week. As his piercing eyes looked at them, they noted that the expression on his face was grave. They looked up, wondering what it was that caused his delay and if it had anything to do with his countenance. He did not move, but stood by the door just watching

While Shambala spoke, Krystal thought of the library they had been to in the little Koi village. and the vast knowledge in it. and all the things in between, which they probably did not know. Knowledge was so vast and unlimited, because what one knew was only an indication of how much more he did not know. ‘Oh dear’, he thought. ‘I am beginning to speak like a bard’.As he thought about these things, though, he was reminded of one of the things that he wanted to ask Shambala about. He had wanted to ask for the longest time but had not gotten the opportunity before, and even right now it does not feel like a very good time, but he realized he needed to know because it may be a factor affecting the current situation.‘I don’t just want it to be like, I’m the one who always asks him questions. I just really need to know...’, he thought. Krystal was not surprised that Shambala noticed that he had a question to ask.He was surprised, however, that Shambala called him out to ask this ques

Shambala looked up as he suddenly realized the source of the disquiet he felt in his spirits as he sat, looking at the young man. After the initial loud bang, two others sounded. And while he tried to rally the young men around to face their enemy head-on in an organized fashion, a fourth bang sounded, and the building they were in began to crumble.In the manner that he had taught them, they quickly took a headcount, despite the dust and chaos, and realized that every single person, including all the cooks, had gotten out safely.Krystal tried to look at the whole camp from his vantage point and saw that the hall in which they had been sitting a few seconds ago had crashed all of a sudden. There was a little more than rubble left of the building, which was attached to their living quarters.He was proud of his team because it was obvious that some of them had gotten out of the collapsing structure by using their skills. They all escaped the collapsed building's chaos and came out succ