'Wait, how does that even work? You said he was like you and not of this world, but he has all these children, right? But they aren't his children? I am beyond confused right now,' I sent to Libra as we slowed to a stop.
Chez turned to me and then closed his eyes, placing his hands together. Strange purple lines started to appear on his chest as the centaur began to chant.
The lines ran to glowing points, and then the points started to glow like purple stars. That was when I realized what was happening; there was a constellation forming on Chez's chest.
"Bless my home.
Cover me in the shadows.
Take me to the stars.
Draw me a place in the constellations.
Astral Island Activated!"
Chez's chant ended at the same time as the circular constellation finished forming on his chest. I had expected that it was going to be something more complicated, but then both me and Howl were crushed to the ground.
It was like someone turned the gravity all the way up, and I was panting hard like the air had just gotten thinner. I looked around me, but everything else seemed normal other than my big blue wolf.
He was facing away from me, and his chest was heaving like mine. Then I looked behind me and stopped breathing altogether.
"This is my Astral Island, and I have been waiting for you to come for a very long time, but you are a fraction of your former self. My name is Chez, son of Saggitaruis. I am known as Master of the Hunt for my skills in tracking, hunting, and concealment," Chez explained to me as I looked out into the vastness of space.
Where the grass had been longer and uncut was now gone lit, it had never been. In its place was the infinite open expanse of space, lit up with stars and exploding nebulas of gas.
The centaur was standing with no problems and seemed unaffected by the gravity pinning Howl and me down. This could only mean one of two things; either Chez used gravity to hold us down, or we were much weaker than him.
[You are just weak; this island area seems to be producing gravity, but it is very small, so it must be something to do with his magic. Both answers are correct, but I don't think knowing either is really going to help you right now.] Harold explained, and I groaned in agreement.
"I will be leaving the two of you here to get used to the pressure; there is no other way. I have spent a great amount of time here, so I am very familiar with it. Spending time here is the only way to get used to it, but overcoming this hurdle alone will help make you stronger. The problem is that you seem to lack a lot more than just strength. What happened to you?" Chez asked me, and that stung a bit.
"Let's just say that I gave everything that I had learned up in order to have another chance. I failed, and it seems that I knew that it was going to happen. I just don't get why I wouldn't have tried something different if I knew I was going to lose," I said in frustration with gritted teeth.
I was already starting to have an easier time breathing, and I was slowly opening and closing my hands. I just needed to keep moving my body, and I would be on my feet in no time.
"Well, if you are Zack Foreman and the one that the Zodiacs have been waiting on to return, then I will do my best to help you. For this part, you will have to do this on your own and then come to the center of the island, where the pressure is the greatest. Once you have overcome all of this, I will start to train you as a hunter. I am sure that you still have the skills that you lost somewhere locked inside of you, and I will draw them back out of you," Chez said but then turned to leave.
The man had dark brown long wavy hair that was down to his shoulders and a bare chiseled body. Thankfully, the man's bits and parts were not in front of him.
I watched the centaur leave but then concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing. I needed to get up and after him.
"Are you okay, howl?" I asked as I started to move my arms and hands.
I still wasn't able to lift any part of my body off the ground, but I was getting somewhere. The problem was that I was starting to get tired from the brief movements that I was doing.
"I feel like Karl is sitting on me, but I am alive. I don't know how quick I will be able to get up, so you can go ahead, and I will catch up," Howl growled from his place beside me, just outside my reach.
I wasn't going anywhere fast, and I had just stopped moving my arms. I was already exhausted and panting from less than five minutes of minor movements.
"I don't think that you need to worry about me leaving too quickly. Do you know anything about this place or Chez?" I asked howl after catching my breath.
"No, I had no idea that he was able to do something like that. I am just a monster, and I have been lucky enough to have not been killed by him because I stay away from his hunting grounds," Howl explained, and I sighed, but I had guessed as much.
[The Astral Island is a power that is granted to Demi-Astralites for training. I do not know much about these things because a confident man told me that it would be better for us to wait.] Libra told me pointedly in thought, but then she emerged from my body.
Her form was glowing, and she looked much more substantial than it had in the rings. Regardless, I was still plastered to the ground.
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