[in Bob's house]
I felt myself almost being blinded by the bright green glow radiating from the bracelet; the feeling was far worse than just my vision turning dark and me being transported to a different place. While I could only see the bright glow, the culprit for it, that is the bracelet, by itself slid down to my wrist and tightly bound itself on my hand.
By the time the radiance faded, my surroundings, from my lovely, beautiful house, changed to a small ten-by-ten-meter room with green runes embedded on the wall. The room was empty apart from a jade pendant, a seemingly ancient book with a cover that looked as if made from leaves, and a similar pen floating in the middle of the room.
I took a look at my right hand, where just moments ago, the bracelet bound itself very tightly. The bracelet seemed to have disappeared the moment I ended up in the room. With nothing else to do, I approached the objects in the middle of the room with soft steps. The Book opened up the moment I reached the centre of the room. Words in a strange language appeared on the page. As if for my convenience, the language changed to English.
"I apologise for not being able to explain this stuff to you in more detail, but for now, just wear the jade pendant before the divinity I infused in the artefact is consumed, and you will be teleported back to your house in a few minutes. It should be able to restrict your Belane phenomenon. If you have any further questions, just write them in this book with the pen of Vishanti; your queries will be answered.
The text on the notebook disappeared as soon as I finished reading it. I really had a huge urge to try and get answers from the book, but I realised that time was running short, and I should abide by what was written in the book.
The Jade pendant felt really cold to touch. Engraved on it was a beautiful portrait of an otherworldly beast with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. Wearing the pendant seemed to have an effect similar to eating the pill earlier.
Since I still seemed to have some time before I was teleported from this place, I chose to ask a question from the book. 'How will I be able to access this place again once the divinity induced in the artefact is over? ' I wrote. The text disappeared almost instantly as a new series of text began to appear. 'You should be able to access this artefact again once you begin cultivating Belane or the Divine energy.'
The answer brought me assurance that I will be able to access the place again, getting a chance to get answers for the various questions which I have developed today. Just as I was about to ask how I could actually cultivate Belane or divine energy, I felt the Bracelet back on my hand at that moment. The Emerald once again began to emanate the green radiance; this time, I knew better than to keep my eyes open throughout the process.
Upon opening my eyes, I found myself back within the gilded walls of my house.
I looked outside the window; the scenery was the same as the one I had seen before being transported to the small room through the bracelet. The monstrous creatures that once wreaked havoc all seemed to have stood still, as if frozen. All of the surviving once had a similar stance, whether it be those that were once animals, humans, or even the plants. All the fauna, including humans, stood on the ground on all fours and had their heads bent down. The plants had their main branches completely straight, while all the leaves and other branches were wilted downwards.
Bob could feel it, any moment now, the world was going to awaken, but he wanted to try one last thing before it. He raced upstairs to his room and quickly picked up his phone lying on the bed. Unsurprisingly, just like any other physical object, the phone was covered completely in that strange gold layer. But the behaviour of the screen seemed to be slightly different. It did not behave completely like all other normal physical objects, though it still had a slight gold hue; the screen still had traces of its original glassy dark colour. Now that I think about it, there wasn't a single tinge of the gold on the glass window; it's almost as if the golden thingy did not affect the functions of any of the objects. They did cover the stairs, the walls and the floor. But it did not stop them from being functional. Even the doors were still all working completely properly.
Then it hit me, I quickly tried to switch on my phone. I did not see my wallpaper, nor the time on it. The screen turned back to its original dark metallic colour, with a single line of text displayed on it.
[The device is unusable till after the awakening.]
[Time remaining-00 Days:00 hours:1 minute:23 seconds]
My eyes opened wide. This was a shocker for me. Though I already theorised it, seeing it actually work surprised me. If my phone actually worked, does this mean so would my laptop and other things? What about their functions? Would they be the same or not? Though I had no answer for all of this, I quickly went on to open the laptop lying on the table beside the bed, and opened it.
Annoyingly enough, the laptop still took its sweet time to start after I switched on the power button, not minding the time counting down on my phone, which had already reached 37 seconds. Finally, the laptop started when the time remaining until awakening was just 23 seconds.
[ONLY ONE DEVICE PER BEING]
The text displayed on the laptop brought me the same anger and distress one feels after solving a mathematical problem and getting the answer wrong. But before I could further dwell on it, I screamed out loud, as I felt burning hot pain rising from my chest when the timer hit 7 seconds. By the time the countdown to awakening reached 0 seconds and the phone's screen turned black, a purple light arose from within me. My heart tightened from fear, thinking that the jade pendant would not be able to restrict it.
I was ready to give up, seeing the light already reach the walls of my room within a fraction of a second. I cursed my fate, but then, a soothing cold spread throughout my body, starting from the point where the jade pendant touched my body. The purple radiance that erupted from my body also seemed to be retreating.
The pain, though lessened a lot, was still too hard to bear. But thank Heavens, it seems that the purple radiance could only manage to displace some objects, but not destroy my room within the small time it had erupted for. My clothes, unfortunately, were torn to bits. Without any energy and strength to search my wardrobe for clothes and wear them, though the jade seemed to be constantly rejuvenating my body, I simply lay down on the bed, waiting for the pain to pass.
Lying down on the bed, even just some minutes, felt like an eternity to me. I had no idea how I would cross the entire period that the pain would last. Heck, I didn't even know how long I was supposed to be in this state. Was it just a few more minutes, or was it going to be some hours? I couldn't even fathom what would happen if it lasted days.
I did not know how long it had been, but it should be close to one hour, when I felt an energy, similar to the purple energy that erupted from me earlier, flowing into me. The jade strongly resisted it, but could not dispel it. Was it going to be even further pain? I wondered cause if it was, I was not sure I wanted to live any longer.
But surprisingly, the energy, to my relief, instead of bringing any further pain, brought a warm current through my body. Now, the pain was reduced to just a feeling of discomfort. Though I did not feel any more pain, and both the jade pendant and the energy seemed to be rejuvenating me, even though still resisting each other, I still felt like lying on the bed for a few more minutes.
A few minutes passed, and then a few more, but I still felt the urge to not rise from the bed. But I knew I had to resist it. Showing strong willpower, I rose from the bed and moved away from it. Thankfully, the strange energy did not stop, even after I moved positions. It seemed to be flowing in me just as smoothly as ever. From then on, it was not so hard anymore. Since all my clothes were now golden, I chose my most comfortable pair of trousers and a cotton T-shirt.
Now that I was ready, I picked up my phone, which had fallen to the ground when the energy erupted from me and switched it on.