Ember was led toward the dark side of the large dome. There, Ember was almost unable to see where Fatima was. She only relied on her other senses to feel Fatima's general location.
"Ember, dear. Do you know what the space element is?"
As they were still walking deeper into a dark tunnel, Fatima suddenly asked.
"... It's the element that bends the law of space."
Although Ember's reply was slightly delayed, the fact that she answered meant that her mind was slowly recovering to normal. Hearing her response, Fatima nodded.
"Correct. Then, can you tell me what is [space]?"
After that question, Ember went silent for a long while. It was obvious that her thinking capacity wasn't fully recovered yet, so Fatima patiently waited as they walked.
"... It's everything around?"
When Ember replied, despite sounding like a question, Fatima was slightly surprised.
"Wow, dear. To think you instinctively had the correct definition of space. You'll surely master it in no time."
Fatima chuckled before continuing.
"Yes, space is everything around us. To be specific, it is referring to the dimension containing everything. Experts in my generation said that space is governed by three dimensions length, width, and depth. Others said that there's a fourth dimension, which is time."
Ember furrowed her brows, having a hard time digesting what she was hearing.
"However, time actually isn't the fourth dimension. It's a part of space itself."
Fatima explained with enthusiasm.
"You see, if time is a dimension of space, then everything from the past to the future would end up being set in stone. Someone who could see the future would be able to prevent events that should happen, and cause a rift in spacetime."
Fatima gestured like she was breaking a stick in half.
"The fourth dimension shouldn't be measurable. Else, it would have catastrophic consequences. The fourth dimension then varied from one person to another. However, a large majority called it the [Karma], [Destiny], or [Fate] dimension. I, myself, call the fourth dimension the [Void] dimension."
Listening up to this point, Ember finally realized why Fatima was talking about difficult things while walking. It was actually related to the Void Element!
"Other tamers who possess Void Element beasts agree with this too. That's because they are in frequent contact with the Void Element."
Just as their talk was getting heated, Fatima stopped walking.
"This place should be good enough."
After saying that, she turned around and faced Ember who stood right before her.
"From now on, we would be practicing you to detect the Void element. Unlike the space element that bends the physical laws of space, the Void element distorts the law of cause-and-effect."
Suddenly, something flew towards ember at a high speed. It passed by her shoulder, leaving a deep cut would on her almost physically invulnerable body. Although Ember didn't have blood to shed, the cut still dripped with the liquid comprising most of her body.
"You got hit by a weapon, therefore, you get injured. You are injured, therefore, you should bleed. These things are what I embedded in the rock I threw to you."
Ember studied her wounds and noticed that it was healing slowly. Although it was a small cut that should've healed instantly, it persistently remained. After focusing her attention on her wound, she discovered slight traces of energy that were of an unfamiliar element to her.
"Do you get what the Void Element is now? Now, try it against me."
Ember wasn't fully awake. She had yet to recover her full thinking capacity. Despite that, she quickly answered "Yes" before proceeding to her trials.
Ember caught the main key points accurately, which was to "embed" her "thoughts" into her "actions". She picked up a random stone after feeling the floor and immediately tried what she learned.
However, it didn't go as she wished. No matter what she did, the Void energy wasn't listening to what she wanted it to do. Unlike the space element that she could instinctively use, the Void element was like a rowdy child that didn't listen to her voice.
"Wrong, wrong, wrong."
Fatima quickly reprimanded Ember.
"Void isn't the same as energy. It's like a being with conscious thoughts. You can't make it move with just energy, you should [wish] for it to move."
Ember quickly put this to the test. When she "wished" for the Void energy to move, it smoothly followed her instructions. Her earlier hardship was just like a lie.
A few moments later, Ember felt that she successfully embedded her thoughts into the rock. She quickly threw it towards where Fatima should be standing.
*whoosh!*
The rock flew at an incredible speed and hit Fatima squarely on her shoulders.
"Great! Well done, dear!"
Fatima congratulated Ember. Her shoulder that was hit by the rock was as spotless as it was before. Although Ember couldn't see it, she knew that her attack didn't even scratch Fatima.
"Your modification of the rock's flying speed went well, but the others didn't."
Fatima brushed the remaining dust off her shoulder as she explained.
"Void element has one weakness. The stronger the opponent's fate is, the less the effects of void elements would have on it."
Ember quickly noticed why her attack didn't work. Other than her application of the Void element failing, it was because Fatima has a stronger fate than her.
"You can overpower this gap by using your own causality, however, the larger the gap in strength, the greater the sacrifice would be. For example, applying certain death to an attack would deal equivalent damage to the user, which may lead to death. This is why Void element can't be used to attack in the truest sense."
Fatima suddenly clapped her hands. The sound reverberated within the small tunnel and buzzed inside Ember's ears. The walls, however, started releasing light right after.
"The Void Beast has a stronger fate than any of us. So we can't use this against it. Furthermore, it has reinforced itself with the idea [I am the strongest, therefore I cannot be injured] leading to any and all attacks not having any effect on it."
The walls on both sides were filled with drawings from the ground up to the top. Other than the drawings, there were names embedded on the wall too.
"This cave was dedicated to those who fought and fell against the Void beast. I hope that I wouldn't have to embed your names here too..."
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only