Limits

I ran like crazy. This was not something we could take lightly. The Grey Lizards had to know about this, and they had to know immediately. I didn't stop, even when I was hungry. My whole food supply was gone, but I had to run. When I finally arrived, I didn't even have the strength to hide myself. With the last bit of energy left in my body, I activated the last Formation and disappeared.

When I appeared inside their base, I fell face first onto the ground. I needed food, a lot of it. Fortunately, a Lizard walked out of the tunnel. She wasn't surprised to see me in that state. She asked, "Have you been running again?", before approaching me and trying to lift me up. "Wow, you are heavy! I can barely lift you up by myself. Did something happen, for you to come back here exhausted like this?". I could only reply, "Food, give me food".

She dragged me to the open area, where more Lizards helped out. I ate like crazy, the food simply vanished from the plates. In the meantime, I told them to gather everyone. Just as all the important figures appeared, Alicia asked. "What is it? Your stuff is not ready yet". I replied, "Bramans, they are back". The Lizards looked at each other, and murmured between themselves. Alicia continued, "How do you know?". "Because Boltier was already lost to them. Sedon is not in any good shape either. I told Shades to retreat. If they stayed in the ruins of Sedon, they would simply die there", I replied.

Tulin said, "What do we do then? If Bramans are back, we need Humans more than ever". I added, "Humans already arrived at Obsidian Mountains. Crow is supposed to tell them about Bramans and the poison". Tulin asked confused, "Then why did you come here, you need anything?". I looked at Alicia, "I told you there are other forces behind this. Bramans... If they really had something to do with Hydra, do you think they will let it be sealed forever?".

Before Alicia could say anything, Tulin butted in. "We have no proof about that. We can monitor the seal, but Hatmandor would intervene if someone wanted to release Hydra". I still looked at Alicia. She asked, "You know more, right?". I nodded, "The Bramans were after Collecting Crystal inside Boltier. I don't know what their plans are, but what if it is Hydra? Can we actually let such possibility go? As for Hatmandor, can't you contact them? This is no longer about war, the whole North and perhaps even continent is in danger".

Alicia nodded, then replied "I can try and contact them. Hopefully they will do something about this". I nodded, "I will stay here, wait for the weapon and armour to be finished. In case I am the one to stop them, I will need everything I can get". She nodded, and headed to her private room. I turned towards Tulin, "Make sure everything is alright with the seals. You guys told me that yourselves, if Hydra is released, we are screwed". He agreed to that, even though he doubted Bramans had anything to do with Hydra. I asked a few other Lizards to help me train. One of them asked, "How can we help you?". I replied, "Formations. I need pressure or danger to improve. The more I fight against Formations, the better I will be. Bramans use Formations, I can't allow myself to be hindered by them". They agreed, and told me to follow them to a bigger area.

There were four Lizards that agreed to help me. As we arrived at another open area, the Lizards asked everyone to leave. "How do you propose we do it?", one of them asked. I thought about it, before replying "How about we try with one of you. If I can deal with Formations one of you creates, we can increase the number of participants. I will not attack you guys directly, I will only deal with Formations". They agreed, and one of them stepped forwards.

The Lizard placed his hands onto the floor, while Formations appeared all around me. I released my Domineering Aura, and tried to deal with them. I had to either break them, or make sure they wouldn't affect me. I found that I could break the easy Formations, but those were usually distractions. Grey Lizards were not idiots, and although they didn't have any experience fighting, they could still use their heads. The more powerful Formations were the key, therefore I focused my Aura on them. I was able to dodge vines and whatnot, that tried to restrict my movements, but sealing Formations were more difficult. Those didn't really release any physical attacks, they simply appeared and hindered my movements.

'I can cope with one Lizard, this is too easy', I thought after a while. Because it was too easy, I asked one more Lizard to join in. With two minds trying to "attack" me, the difficulty increased. Although I wasn't getting injured or anything, it was hard to cope with the Formations they threw at me. I trained like this, until the two Lizards became too tired to continue. I asked the other two to replace them, while they rested. Although it was still two people, I had an even harder time.

They were fresh, while I already used my Aura a lot. I was caught a few times, but there was something missing. 'I'm not in any danger whatsoever. They are simply trying to restrict my movements. That is not how Bramans will fight, they will try everything to kill me', I thought. At the end of our session, I raised that exact issue. "Although that kind of practice is somewhat useful, it's not enough at that stage. You are simply trying to restrict me, not attack me".

One of the Lizards asked, "Are you asking us to actually try and hurt you? I thought this was supposed to be treated as training". I nodded, "Yes training, but if you don't attack me, I can't get the real experience from this training. Don't worry about me, and attack. I will not retaliate". They looked at each other, unsure what to do. I was asking them to basically fight me, and injure me. Not something a normal person would ask for.

One of them asked, "Are you sure. If we hurt you, you will not complain or you know…". I nodded, "I will not attack you. Just don't try to go for my life, as in my head for example. Other injuries, I can take care of". They agreed, but they were too tired to continue. I asked if more Lizards could help us. They didn't need to be at their skill level, but act as a support. One of them replied, "It shouldn't be a problem to involve more people. This is actually good practice for us too. We don't spar with each other, and since you are willing to be a target for all those Formations, a lot of other Lizards will gladly join in".

I asked them to bring those interested, and we could work something out. But before that, I had to eat something. They were always stunned at my appetite. I actually wondered where they got their food from. They told me that Atols were not the only one who could grow plants and rear animals. Grey Lizards had that as well, they were self sufficient, and didn't need to leave their camp at all. That was great news, because I required a lot of food when training like that.

"How come you can eat that much? You don't look fat at all. Yet the amount of food you eat, is enough to feed a few Lizards per day". I smiled, "It's something from the past. The more energy I use, the more food I require. That is also one of the reasons why my strength is better, compared to those at the same stage as me". For some reason, they didn't have a hard time comprehending that. One of them said, "That makes sense". After escorting me to the kitchen, they left in order to recruit a few other Lizards for my training. It was a win-win situation. They could practice using their Formations, while I could get used to being attacked by Formations.