Chapter 4: Inside Consciousness Space
"But What?!" said Aryan.
"But he might take a day to wake up or a year or even 10 years. He might not even wake up at all. It all depends on how mentally strong he is."
"You!!! You can't do anything else? Like rare medicinal herbs? Or some rare treasures?"
"Nothing can be done. It will all be up to him."
-~-~-~-~-
Raj regained his consciousness.
It was totally dark.
He thought, 'Am I dead? Is this afterlife?'
He felt like a twig swaying in the ocean. Completely powerless against the flow of the ocean of darkness.
Gradually he recalled what exactly happened. When he crashed head-on on the ground, he lost his consciousness after seeing the mocking smiles of Cryo and his friends.
Even in his consciousness, it reminded of his powerlessness against them. He needed, no, wanted more power. Much more so as to overturn his own destiny and fate.
Suddenly there appeared a vortex out of nowhere and there emerged another person's consciousness. It was full of holes and it felt like it could vanish at any moment but it stood still, against the flow.
He knew that this person should be a great expert. He knew how hard it was to stop moving, let alone moving against the flow of darkness.
That consciousness looked around and found Raj. Raj could feel great pressure. He felt as if he was drowning in that pressure. But it went away as fast as it came.
"You are quite lucky to have a whole soul. Where are you from?"
Raj looked around to see who he was talking to. But found no one else.
"Are you talking to me?"
"Haha. You joke nicely. No one could enter your consciousness space. I could tell that you were going towards your death."
"Wait, this flow of darkness leads to death?"
"Hmm. Now I understand. You don't know anything. What star system did you come from? Which planet?"
"Hey, first answer me. If this is my consciousness space, why are you here? And how do you know that this darkness leads to death?"
"Calm down kid. If you don't want to tell me anything then its fine. Just answer me, do you want to grow strong? Strong enough to rule your whole planet?"
Raj calmed himself and processed what exactly happened. He inferred that this person should be an apex level expert in his own world. And that he was offering him a chance to become strong, very strong. A gleam spread across his face for a moment.
"You know nothing about my planet. It is very huge. So huge that it hasn't even been fully explored. And many races live there. It's called Zamin."
"Zamin? Hmm. Kaiser knew what would happen to his homeland so he sent me to help. But alas… Lord Yama… Why??"
Raj heard his murmurs. He could only make out that there was a person called Kaiser who sent help for his homeland. He inferred the homeland to be Zamin.
Raj thought, 'Is there a greater threat to Zamin? Who is Lord Yama? And who is Kaiser? Why does he want to help Zamin?'
"Listen up kid. If you want strength, you will get it. But there is always a price for it. This thing will help you gain strength fast. Do you want it?"
The person produced a blue orb. It floated in mid-air. The flow of darkness couldn't affect it at all.
"I do want to gain strength. But...Price? What Price?"
The person spoke, "You need to help Kaiser when he is in need."
"That's it? Just help? And who is Kaiser?"
The person gave a slight smile.
"You will know who he is eventually. And yes, just help him when he needs help. He is not a person who would force someone to work for him after giving out help."
Raj felt quite amazed by the person named 'Kaiser'. He even felt a sense of respect and gratefulness towards him.
"I don't have much time. State your decision."
"Yes, I will help when I know Kaiser is in need of help."
"Good. This thing will help you grow fast. It is an invaluable thing. Even Kaiser… Let's just leave it to fate. If you have what it takes, you would be able to help Zamin. I don't have much time so listen carefully, come to the Shou World after you transcend. It is where Kaiser lives."
With a slight wave of his hand, the blue orb floated towards Raj and merged with him.
He hesitated for a second, but quickly made up his mind and a ring came out of nowhere. It went straight to Raj.
"Remember, Shou W…"
Before the person could finish his sentence, he faded away. Raj could feel the sadness on his face while he was speaking his last words.
Raj looked at the ring but couldn't feel anything from it.
He looked down and was shocked to see that he was blue. That orb directly diffused inside him and made his consciousness body turn blue from colorless. He didn't know what that meant and that made him feel fear.
But soon he remembered that he was flowing towards his death. He tried to stop himself from moving with the flow. Surprisingly, he stopped. He tried to move against the flow. It was as easy as drinking water. He looked down towards his blue body and thought. 'What was that blue orb? How could I move against the flow of darkness?'
He moved against the flow of darkness. He didn't know how much time past by nor did he tried to find out. He now believed what that person told him.
After an unknown amount of time, he saw a white light appear on the horizon. He dashed into it. As soon as he went inside it, he felt he was in a totally different place. He felt the familiarity in this space yet he never saw it. As soon as he entered inside, the blue body shined brightly for a second and it mended the hole through which he went on his way towards death.
Although he didn't see any mountains, rivers, sky or land, he knew that it was a different space. Space which existed in his body, in his mind. He also knew that It will take him quite some time to get back here if he left it. It is not a place where anyone can come whenever they wished to.
He looked around the place and learned that he couldn't move around much as almost every area was covered in fog. He knew that it was because he was weak. He needed to get strong if he wanted to remove the fog and come back here.
He thought of going out of this place and just like that he vanished from the space. Only the blue orb remained. Even the ring vanished.
-~-~-~-~-
Inside the hospital room two days later.
Raj woke up. His nostrils were assaulted with hospital smell. His head was totally wrapped in bandages other than the holes on his face.
He thought on what happened and gave a long sigh.
He felt something cold appear on his hands and was gobsmacked to see the same ring which that person gave him.
'Ahh! Fuck, how is this thing here?'
Before he had a chance to process his thoughts, the doorknob moved and someone entered the room.
Raj hid the ring as soon as the door opened.
The nurse saw that the body moved, "Doctor, Doctor! The patient is awake! The patient is awake!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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char The first three chapters of the contest. Please do comment and review. Thank you for your support.
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