“Lily and David’s son?”

  Isaac said nothing, continuing to stare at the cup.

  “Of course you are. You’d be the only fool to call me by that name. A name long since dead, shall I remind you.”

  Footsteps made their way toward him until he felt someone standing over him. Isaac didn’t look up, eyes still locked on the cup in his hand. He turned it over and over in his hand, thoughts a blur. He was having luck with the leader’s two henchmen—somewhat. If he was only fighting one, then he would have finished the man off. It would have taken longer than he would have liked, but he would have gotten the job done.

  Two…was a different matter.

  He knew Aura levels played a major factor on The Other Side, a place scientists thought existed in another dimension completely separate from Earth’s own. One with magic, monsters, and a whole host of other things that could exist on a planet some said was twelve or fifteen times the size of Earth. It was a place where monsters could cause earthquakes with a single punch and still not destroy a continent.

  Yet, despite all that, Isaac thought he knew what he was getting himself into.

  It just didn’t register in his mind the level of power he would need to amass to defeat The Ascendant.

  “You want to go home?”

  The question was a simple one, and he should have answered it without hesitation, but it caught in his throat.

  “Good. Any fool who doesn’t second guess his choice once he finds out what this place truly is will die quicker than most. Now get up, before my customers come and see some sad youngster kneeling before me like I’m some King.”

  “But you are,” said Isaac, looking up into eyes semi closed by heavy, wrinkle-laden eyelids.

  “No. I was an Emperor. Your parents were King and Queen. Damn powerful ones, too. At their height, there were only a handful of Emperors who could stand toe to toe with them. The level between the two stages is the equivalent of a teenager coming into his body and a grown man.”

  “What’s the difference? What separates the two?” Isaac asked.

  “The difference is mainly power. Where Kings and Queens are powerful, they have not properly matured into their power—into their own. Like all things on The Other Side, power dictates all. The difference in Aura power between, say an Archduke and an Emperor isn’t worth speaking about. The difference in power between an Emperor and The God Above All, The Ascendant, The All Powerful, whatever the fuck you want to call that red bastard is…” Smith shook his head.

  “I’ve only heard him called The Ascendant. Never heard him called a God before.”

  “What would you call beings that can split mountains with their bare hands?”

  Isaac didn’t have an answer to that.

  “Once you ascend to King or Queen level, you’re basically a God. But all of us fear one thing and that’s—” He pointed up. “No matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to do justice to what it feels like to be the strongest person out of ninety-nine percent of the population but still tremble before him.

  “As you were now, the pressure of a King’s Aura alone would kill you and everyone in this city who didn’t have an Earl- or Countess-level Aura. The pressure is like being pounded by the ocean. That’s why it amazes me your parents stood up to The Ascendant like they did. If they had waited like I advised them to mature into their power instead of rushing headfirst into the fight, then things may have been different. But Lily is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, and stopping David from doing anything impulsive is like trying to hold back the tide.”

  Isaac got to his feet at the mention of his parents. “I saw the fight. Countless times. I watched it hours before stepping through.”

  “Of course you did. You and everyone alive. They were the first to harm him. The only ones to harm him. The first to push him into his final form. Others tried to take the battle to him, especially in the days after the battle with your parents, thinking he would be weakened, but he defeated all who came without breaking a sweat. Since then, none have bothered and have allowed sleeping giants to be, happy to feast on the scraps they can get.

  “Now, I’ll ask again. Do you want to go home?”

  “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

  Smith took a step forward, and his body changed. No longer was he the bent-over, fragile man who allowed others to push him around. Instead, his canines grew to fangs that looked like they were made of metal and his eyes blazed with a steely gray glow that made Isaac take a step back. The air grew heavy. It felt like a weight was on his chest. He tried to breathe. He wanted to breathe. But there wasn’t enough oxygen in the store.

  “Then,” said Smith, whose voice sounded like it came from the heavens, “do you want to give up? Abandon your dreams like countless who have come before you?”

  Why was he on his knees again?

  It didn’t make sense.

  Sweat trickled down his back, causing his shirt to stick to him.

  Giving up was easy. He had done it countless times on Earth when his mentors tried to teach him some skill, but in the end, he found the one thing, the one resolve that made him get back up and complete the task he was set.

  He needed to avenge his parents, and he would do whatever it took—fight whoever he needed to—to complete that goal and finish the task they set him.

  Isaac smiled through a face covered in sweat and said, “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  The pressure disappeared. The overwhelming sense of death vanished. And in its place returned a grumpy old man who appeared to be half asleep.

  “Good. Now, get up and help me clean this place up before my regulars arrive. We’ve got a big shipment coming in.”

  #

  Sweat poured into Isaac’s eyes while he moved another box labelled “green tea.” He wiped his brow and looked at Smith, who sat behind the shop counter with his feet up, cup of tea in hand.

  Smith gave him a smile that was so sweet it could melt teeth and took another sip of his tea. Isaac shook his head. He had never met someone who drank so much tea yet never went to the toilet. It was bizarre.

  “You wondering why I never go to the toilet, ain’t you?” asked Smith.

  Startled, Isaac shook his head hurriedly. Did Smith just read his mind?

  “I’ve got an iron bladder,” he said, slapping his stomach. “Can hold more piss than a camel.”

  “That’s a weird thing to be proud of.”

  “It’s true, though.”

  Isaac said nothing as he moved another box with effort. “Why do these boxes weigh so much?”

  “Because the gravity here is slightly heavier than back on Earth. Not by much, mind you, but enough. We’re lucky in the fact that Earth’s gravity is so similar to The Other Side. Some poor races, like the insectas, do poorly here, as gravity here is twice as heavy as on their home planet. But I guess that’s what you get for being bugs.

  “The orcs, on the other hand, love it here, as their home world’s gravity is nearly triple what it is here.”

  Isaac had yet to see an orc.

  “At your current level, don’t get into a fight with them. They are twice as strong as humans at base level, and that’s before they start to ascend.”

  “That hardly seems fair.”

  “What’s fair about life?”

  Isaac said nothing as he struggled to move another box. “I get the whole gravity thing, but that still doesn’t explain why boxes of tea weigh so much.”

  “It’s because there are weights in them.”

  “What?” said Isaac, dropping a box on his foot. He yelped in pain, hopping on one foot, while he glared Smith’s way.

  “What?”

  “What do you mean, what?” said Isaac, stomping toward him. “I’ve been here hours and all you’ve got me to do is carry your shit around. The first clue my father left me was to come here. I expected more from the legendary Iron Dragon. Someone my father held in high regard and taught him everything he knew.”

  “Life is like a pornographic ad. Too good to be true, and if it were true, you’d jizz in your pants faster than you can say double D’s.”

  Isaac stared at him, hands held in the air.

  Smith sighed and grabbed two bouncy balls from the counter in front of him. He juggled them in his hand. “Dodge.”

  Smith threw them in opposite directions of each other, forcing them to bounce against the walls and objects of the shop. Isaac expected them to break the fine china and vases, but the balls miraculously missed them by millimeters.

  He gave Smith a raised eyebrow, tainted with a look of smugness, and moved his body from side to side. The balls missed him by inches, but in truth, he was never in danger of being hit.

  “You are wasting my time. I completed movement drills more complex than these with Femi when I was eight. Since I was six, I have been practicing for the last twelve years of my life to be here. To be strong enough to defeat The Ascendant. If this is all you can offer me, then I may as well walk out the door.”

  Smith snatched the balls out of the air and nodded his way. “Follow me.”

  He didn’t wait to see if Isaac followed him as he made his way to the back of the shop. They travelled through storerooms and offices filled with nothing but boxes of tea until they reached Smith’s office. A single wooden desk with scuff-marked legs rested to one side of the office, and a leather chair with its stuffing poking out was placed behind it.

  Different metal ores, from copper to gold rested on mantelpieces around the office. Smith walked past it all and placed his hand against a wall. The room rumbled under their feet, and the wall he touched slid back to reveal another wall made of iron.

  At least five inches thick, Smith rested his hand on it, too, and Isaac watched in amazement as the metal rippled like liquid and slid into his palm, leaving an open door space behind.

  “How…what…” Isaac shook his head. “How did you do that?”

  “They don’t call me the Iron Dragon for nothing.”

  Smith beckoned him to follow.

  The doorway led to a flight of stairs that led them down into a basement.

  Covered from floor to ceiling in thick pads, Isaac bounced on his feet and break-falled on his back. He ran his hands over the soft material the pads were made of and punched them as hard as he could. A car could crash in here and the passengers would be fine.

  “This shall be your training room until I decide different.”

  Isaac gave him a look.

  “Dodge the balls.”

  The look remained.

  Smith smiled, and the same heavy presence Isaac felt before returned. Instead of two balls, Smith produced six and juggled them in his hands until, with each passing second, the speed of his hands increased until they become a blur. He threw them in all directions, and they impacted like gunshots on the padded surface.

  Isaac moved on instinct.

  The first two missed him, and he could only tell by the breeze passing in front of his face.

  He couldn’t see the balls. They moved that fast.

  He moved a foot and looked in shock as the ball left a golf ball–sized dent where his foot had been seconds before. Heartbeat racing, he took deep breaths but knew if he made a mistake, he would be injured.

  He ducked and rolled and moved out of necessity.

  It wasn’t to dodge the balls but simply so he wasn’t a stationary target. He couldn’t see the balls, but he used his sixth sense to tell him where they were going to land. He smiled as he continued to allow his body to move and looked up at Smith, whose shark-like expression hadn’t changed.

  Isaac moved left and— He grunted in pain as a ball smashed the back of his thigh.

  It shot him forward, and he tried to recover, but another ball hit him on the shoulder, spinning him around. Another dug into his gut, winding him. He doubled over, and it was all he could do to protect his face as multiple balls drilled into him, bringing him down to his knees.

  “You may have trained with the finest mentors from Earth, but it means little here.”

  Isaac looked up to see Smith snatch the balls out of the air.

  “Yes, you are better prepared than ninety-nine percent of the people who arrive to The Other Side, but all you have done is better prepare yourself to climb the mountain. You have better equipment with the right climbing gear, but just like everyone else, you are still at the bottom.

  “You still have to build your foundation, grow your Aura from nothingness until I am comfortable sending you out into the jungle that is out there.”

  “I don’t have time—”

  “How long have you waited to get here?”

  Isaac snorted in frustration. “Twelve years.”

  “How many people have landed a blow on The Ascendant since your folks?”

  “None.”

  “But many have tried. Whole armies have gone against him, and yet he still stands tall. Unlike the Gods below him, like the Lord of Sin, who uses Kings and Archduchesses as his pawns to advance in power. The Ascendant, King of Kings, The Architect, is a single entity who works by himself, for himself. There are rumors that he had a crew when he was climbing the mountain to greatness, but I’ve not been able to confirm if those rumors are true. Some even say he has Emperors and Kings faithful to him, but again, none have come forward claiming such.

  “So I tell you all this to say you may feel like you need to rush and complete this journey as quickly as possible. But you are lacking the tools you need to do the job.”

  Isaac gritted his teeth. “I have the—”

  “You may have the weapons, but they are blunt.”

  Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling loudly. This was not how it was meant to go. He was meant to be given directions and a pat on the back while he blazed a trail through this world.

  “What is the first step?” asked Smith.

  “Getting my Aura level to that of a Knight.”

  “Good. And how do you do that?”

  “By meditating and becoming one with my surroundings.”

  “Good. But meditating and reflecting works better at the later stages. For now, the best thing for you is to get used to your environment and learn how to move in it.”

  “And how do I do that?”

  Once again, his hands moved in a blur. “By dodging these.”