An old man of tall height with a refined jaw, long white hair and a brown sharp gaze that spoke a thousand words was standing amidst a battlefield covered in corpses and fire
He was facing a young man of short stature, probably no older than thirty. His face was scarred and brutally marred with wounds showing on his body across the ripped clothes
Both were in a horrible state, ragged clothes with cuts, festered wounds and a posture of fatigue
The old man opened his mouth to speak
"It makes me proud to see you follow my style's core, even as you walk a different path."
"But it also saddens me to see that it is drenched in blood."
The truth, however, was far different. I was ecstatic.
My worst student had gone from the bottom to the top in only 2 years with my guidance.
He mastered the basics of the Changing Style and brought it to its peak.
The methods, however, were of questionable theme.
Drenching your hands in blood of everyone the same, allies or enemies alike
Challenging everyone who had the strength to oppose him, without exception:
Clan leaders.
Legends.
Myths in the flesh
He brought the Changing Path and fabricated a new name for it.
"Bleurgh!"
Haha...
I forgot the same prodigious student was currently beating me down into a pulp
I spat out a clot of blood and forced myself back into a stance
My vision was blurring, but despite that I still did my best to see through his movements
A kick? Should I brace?
Or-
"Wait!"
He looked at me and grinned.
"Gramps," he said, "you have to stop being way too soft..."
He ripped off his arm, it blew up and let out a mist of blood then vanished
Steering through his intent, I changed my sense of self into that of a bloodthirsty panther and rushed at him with blinding speed.
Vanishing from my previous spot, I appeared behind my student's new location
I moved my blade upwards, aiming at his chin, but he had vanished.
I had been tricked, had I really been affected this much by fatigue?
I turned way too late.
A blade rushed toward my face.
Thinking fast, I focused on steeling the targeted part of my face and prepared to counter.
"Ahh..."
Another illusion.
Quickly dispelling my steeled face, I made a last-ditch effort to rearrange my anatomy in order to...
I felt it.
"How strange"
My body was fatigued, it is normal for it to be so as I haven't had a single moment of rest for the past two months
And yet, it still felt strange, why was I so weak? Why were my senses dampened?
Steel came out of my body in a rush of blood, a blade entered through my front and exited through my back.
My body was devastated, so I poured my focus into staying alive.
Dropping my chi into the arts of change, I attempted to heal myself from death. Even it if it may seem futile due to the current pressure
"I know all of your tricks, gramps."
A crimson trace followed after the blade, he was going to damage my soul.
Changing my strategy, I let go of all defensive and healing techniques.
I felt darkness surround my being.
And...
I died.
The pain of death was as gruesome as I remembered.
My consciousness sank into my soul.
It abandoned its flesh and entered what people called the "Intermission."
Dying was annoying and painful.
But it was neither damning nor permanent.
Well at least for me.
Unless your soul got damaged enough for it to go into the salvaging cycle, there was nothing to worry about
I sighed and walked forwards.
Same as always, the terrain was translucent, ominous and covered in sparks.
But the mountains? The terrain? It wasn't the same
The land was ever-changing and never remained the same.
What however, always stayed the same was the ghastly and translucent beings roaming these lands.
They called them "Mirages."
Poor imitations of those who had once walked these lands.
A normal fighter would at best, take multiple "years" of preparation and training to best a mirage in combat.
Attacking one would be suicide for your average joe, but thankfully, I am not your average fighter.
Rushing towards a mirage of barbaric appearance, I shaped my hand into a bear's maw and attempted to crush his right arm.
The mirage was surprised, from what I could tell. But he regained his composure and swiftly dodged by... detaching his arm.
"How peculiar."
Changing my trajectory, I shaped my hand into a beak and sharpened it with chi.
Aiming at his right side, he reacted by attempting to slam me down onto the ground.
I quickly attempted to dash backwards.
Not having enough time to dodge, I instead reacted by lifting my left hand up and shaping it into the hand of an orc with steel scales.
His rough hand clashed against my hand with great vigour and left tremors across the ground.
My right hand, still in trajectory, rushed towards his right side and...
His detached arm intercepted me, it slammed me backwards.
I grabbed the arm after being knocked back and crushed it with my still orc hand.
"Alright, ask and receive."
Changing my sense of self into that of a swift rabbit, I shaped my right hand into a lance's head by gluing various types of beaks together and rushed at him.
Feeling time slow down, or at least the perception of mine, I saw him slightly flinch.
"How slow."
I planted the lance on his chest and detached it, then I slammed it with my right hand and dug into his "flesh" deeper.
Sensing it wasn't enough, I regrew my left hand and shapeshifted it into a dragon's maw.
Eviscerating him, I dashed backwards and lifted my art.
"Such a short encounter and I'm already tired."
Gazing at what once was a barbaric figure, I looked at the luminous orb hovering over the ground and walked towards it.
I grasped it, and my entire being grew warmer.
My consciousness faded, once again, I was traversing worlds.
I felt my consciousness and soul return into my flesh body and...
I saw darkness.
I was buried.
"They buried me again!"
Shaping my body into a bigger form of itself, the coffin blew up in response to the pressure, but dirt blasted onto my face.
Thankfully, I hadn't done this without thinking.
Transforming into an earth snake, I slithered through the soil and surfaced.
The light was annoying.
Too bright.
Painfully so?
Feeling my serpentine body begin to char, I quickly changed back into my human shape.
I shielded myself with dragon scales whilst and looked around.
The landscape looked devastated, craters and scorched grass everywhere, and the sun was shining... a bit way too bright.
Hell had been unleashed upon this land, either from beings of an extremely high level of power, or nature itself.
"How long was I out?"
Each second within the Intermission did not matter.
Time either did not exist there, or was far too chaotic to comprehend.
Your return from the Intermission was at a randomized point in time and sadly, it couldn't be in the past.
It could be the day after, the week after or even in centuries.
Sighing, I abandoned my thoughts. There was no time to give anything any moment of thought, I needed to figure out how far in the future I was.
Searching for any signs of life, I rushed forward and jumped.
I transformed into an eagle in the middle of the air and took off in a powerful thrust.
The land below stretched endlessly, and something felt very wrong.