Blood of the Ancients

Yves tried to walk to where the pens were located; however, every time he tried to move, he felt a large pressure keeping him stuck in the same spot.

Yves is standing up and is only able to move his head; he can only see the pen and the spill of ink.

What is the meaning of this trial? There has to be a reason why Ink told me that I would know when it is finished, yet there is nothing I can do. I suspect that the pens and the spill of ink are related.

Yves suddenly remembered the image that Ink had shown him before, the image of him creating things with an ink-like substance.

He realized that the most likely goal of this trial was to use all of his strength and try to touch the pen and the ink. 

It all started to make sense; that is why Ink told him that it would take one or three months for him to train harder.

"Let's go." Yves decided to ignore the clock and focus purely on moving.

The first day there was no movement from Yves. He tried with all his strength, but since he hasn't improved, there was very minimal effect.

Yves continued trying to move for a week, but all he could muster up was to take one step.

Yves felt his body getting crushed, but when his right leg landed, he felt the pressure decrease. 

He could finally breathe better after three days of being suffocated by the pressure.

The goal of reaching the pen is still very far-fetched, but Yves feels increasingly more motivated as the first step is always the most difficult.

Yves's initial burst of motivation was cut short as boredom started to hit him hard. All this time he was focused on moving, but after completing the first step, all that motivation left, and with the room just being pure white, then his mind was losing sense of reality.

An entire month happened, and Yves could do nothing but try and fail to move. The more he failed, the more and more pent-up anger started to consume his mind.

At this point, there was nothing Yves could do to keep himself distracted from his reality. Figures started being created by Yves to counteract that boredom, but it only resulted in him losing himself.

Another month passed by, and Yves was stuck in that same position; however, now he was in a complete mental breakdown.

Yves could do nothing but scream like a madman, pass out, wake up, scream, and repeat.

The Yves then entered was nothing like the current Yves. Nothing could have prepared him for how much this would impact him.

An entire year passed by, and Yves had done nothing. All of his energy was left, only leaving despair and clarity.

His mind was different from the start to his current one.

His mind is now calm and more alert about his surroundings; he can see that he has had no progress and everything he has done has limited his entire progress.

Yves tried to move his left leg, and it moved. Yves became ecstatic; all of the suffering he had done was not in vain.

Yves tried to move again, but the pressure again began.

Yves continued for days and days to move, but again, nothing happened.

Anger came and left; there was nothing else in Yves's mind but the desire to leave this place. 

He suddenly remembered the clock. 

He read it and was surprised to see that an entire year has gone by and all he has to show is two steps and hundreds of mental breakdowns. 

"How can I forget? I am doing this to help the people I care the most. They must be worrying about where I am."

"I have been here for almost a month in their world, and they haven't heard of me or even know where I am." 

"Not that I even know where I am, but what can I do? I am just a pathetic person. The world is getting worse and worse, and all I am doing is enjoying myself as if nothing is wrong."

"There is so much fucked up with me, but what can I do? I can't heal myself if I don't have the resources to do that. All I need is to get stronger, and that will magically make me better." Yved looked down on himself, and all he saw was a former shell of himself.

Yves continued pushing for another month; he pushed with all his might, and all he could achieve was his toes moving. 

Another month happened, and nothing; another month, and another. 

Yves could now move for only a tad bit more than before, but the increased pressure made it hard for him to keep that position for many days.

Half a year passed by, and Yved managed to take another step.

All the time he has been here feels extremely fast, mostly due to him forgetting most of his breakdown and being super concentrated on taking those steps.

Yves continued trying and trying; in the process, he failed, failed, and failed, but since he had nothing better to do, he decided to continue going.

An entire year passed by, and Yves managed to take four steps.

The last two steps were harder than the rest since, in the process, he passed out many times just because of how much the pressure damaged his body.

Yves could move six steps in front and six steps back with little difficulty.

The idea of him being able to reach the pens increased with every step he took.

Yves tried to take another step, but he could no longer do more, so he began pacing up and down until he passed out from exhaustion or the pressure was too much for him.

He paced up and down for half a year; the training he did paid off since he could give another two steps.

Yves calculated that with the pace he currently is, it will take him another three years to reach his goal or two human months. 

Yves, with his spirits back up, started punishing himself for losing an entire year just doing nothing and just losing himself.

Yves started reflecting and realized that there was no reason why he came back to his senses. 

"Normally there has to be another reason that leads someone to come back, like a loved one, but I just came back with no apparent reason? I totally forgot about my grandma, Leia, Fabio, and everyone else. Why am I here standing up with little to no drawbacks from my mental collapse?"

"I think it's better not to worry and just continue as I have to leave this place in a year and a half to fulfill my promises. And to mostly see what she responded to confession." Yves gave a small chuckle.

"I wished I was able to see Fabio's face after saying I loved his sister. Imagine if we start dating. Haha, I would be dating the sister of my best friend."