Andar woke up to the scent of herbs and dirt. He was confused for a second before a rush of memory slammed into his mind, and he sat up with a gasp while squeezing his head.

He was on the verge of victory before a spear of flame tore his Spirit Matrix in two, he wished it would have hurt because it would have distracted him from the full weight of his failure.

Andar had a painful thought, perhaps if he was as strong as his main body, he would not have failed.

His mind was in chaos, but the first thing he did was check his Spirit Matrix. It was hard to push into his Mental Space as if an invisible film was blocking him, but with a pop, his Spirit Matrix was revealed to him.

He went still, and he remained like that for a while before releasing the breath he was holding, the pain in his eyes was strong and he fought not to enter that Mental State that made him a computer, whatever he was feeling he would not hide from it.

Andar finally took a look at his body. He was wrapped in white strips of cloth like a mummy, and the smell of herbs was emanating from his wrappings, he brought his two wrapped hands to his face and he waved his fingers, all were present and accounted for.

Feeling no aches from his body he stood up and began unwrapping the cloths from his body while looking around. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

He was in an enormous room, about 75 feet (22.86 meters) × 80 feet (24.38 meters), and he had been lying on a king-sized bed situated at one end of the room.

The room served as a herbal garden, laboratory, mini library, and various functions. There were connecting doors that should lead to the bathroom and maybe a kitchen. A wardrobe was situated beside his bed, and he saw that it contained black clothes with silver trimmings with different designs.

By now he had finished losing the wrappings from his body and he began checking himself, his body was flawless like before, but there was something off.

His bright silver glow that shone through his veins was diminished, he may know the reason for that because he had no single bit of Aether inside his body, it would seem like his physique was still in recovery.

He looked around for mirrors or a window but he could see none.

Andar sighed in frustration and he hurriedly began wearing the clothes he had selected, his body did not feel weak and he was glad that whatever materials these clothes were made from they appeared to be very sturdy.

He was distracted from his thoughts when a small section of the wall began to glow. Andar watched trying to determine whether this was a threat or not, but he began moving closer to the door, if there were any sign of danger, he would be able to escape in less than a second.

His body was still strong, but without his boundless Aether flowing in his veins, he was like a machine that was running on fumes.

The glow intensified and the bricks that made up the wall began to detach from it and float away before settling on the floor, creating a man-shaped gap.

A figure made of gray dust stepped through with slow calculating movements, and Andar touched the doorknob, ready to flee at a moment’s notice, and then the figure gasped and began coughing.

“oh, this spell is so nasty! Why does your wall taste like lime… **, it’s in my eyes…my eyeee!!”

“Mira?”

“Hold on, where is your bathroom…” Mira looked around with tears streaming from her eyes until she located the bathroom and rushed into it. Andar looked askance before turning around and checking the herbal garden.

There were hundreds of small lights moving through dozens of herbs like fireflies, this was a carefully crafted garden, and the small lights should serve as a source of light and energy for the plants.

He was trying to distract himself from acknowledging the status of his Spirit Matrix, but he swallowed his uneasiness and reflected on what he saw inside his Mental Space, and it was not much really.

Inside his Spirit Matrix, he could only see chaos.

If it was before, his Spirit Matrix would be filled with a Silver Stream where an impressive silver mountain sat in its middle, with a dense fog of silver around it, but now all that was left were disjointed colors and a swirling storm of darkness and frost.

It was as if countless hurricanes were occurring inside his Spirit Matrix, the only familiar thing left was the triangular-shaped dust which remained by the edge of the Spirit Matrix untouched by the storm.

“What is this storm, and how is it going to affect him?” He muttered.

However, greater than his fear of what had happened to his Spirit Matrix was the fact that he could no longer access the Reflection of his main body.

Inside his head, the ever-present figure of the main body that he had always ignored, was gone!

Andar was alone.

®

Mira walked out of the bathroom while drying her hair with a white towel and she proceeded to wrap it around her head. She also had a large white towel around her body, and she whistled in appreciation when she reached Andar’s wardrobe.

She did not lack luxury, but the sort of clothes in Andar’s wardrobe could not be bought with just money.

She selected one and quickly dressed, and eyeing Andar she saw he did not even try to sneak a glimpse, he had a slack look on his face, and the slight naughty thoughts she had in mind were replaced by worry.

“Hey, are you alright?” walking closer to him she shook him a bit, and his silver eyes seemed to light up with a familiar glow he smiled at her, and her heart made a funny motion. She was dumbstruck for a second and returned his smile like a fool before she remembered why she was there,

“I brought you something to eat, you must be famished like a ghost after being in bed for two years.”

“What?!” Andar’s eyes widened in shock and horror.