Astral kept training all the way till evening. He pushed his body more than he had ever done before, and it got to the point that he was barely conscious and his body moved on its own.
But at his nine hundred and ninetieth thrust, his body collapsed under all the pressure. He fell like a tree that had been cut down.
Riker reacted fast and ran, catching him before he could hit the ground. He looked at Astral, worried that Astral would be in serious danger, but Astral forced himself to speak and said a few words. "I had ten left," he said before passing out.
Riker was shocked. Astral was not happy with what he had accomplished, rather it was the little he failed to do that stayed in his mind.
"What are you, kid?" Riker asked. He lifted Astral up and took him inside, where Mabel had also been awake waiting.
Mabel rushed over when she saw Astral unconscious. She took him from Riker with a panicked expression.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Fatigue, his body could not take him pushing himself that hard. When he wakes up tomorrow, tell him he gets the day off, he needs to rest," Riker said and left the house.
Mabel immediately took Astral to his room. She laid him on his bed and undressed him. She took water from the bathroom and massaged his body, cleaning the sweat and dirt on his body.
She didn't understand why Astral would push himself so hard. He was only a kid—what could possibly drive him to this point?
She wondered, looking at his face, as his eyes twitched from time to time. She finished cleaning his body but didn't leave the room. She sat at the side of the door and fell asleep there.
________________
Astral found himself inside the court of the king, but the faces of everyone inside were turned into twisted demons, laughing and cackling.
He couldn't understand what was happening and looked around in confusion, until he started hearing the voices speak.
"I heard he killed an entire orphanage because the Duke told him to do so."
"I heard those children begged him to stop, yet he killed every one of them."
"I heard he massacred innocent people at war because the crown said so. He is really nothing but a puppet."
"Stop it, stop it, I don't want to hear anymore, please," Astral cried out, placing his hands over his ears, yet he could still hear their laughs.
He turned around and ran for the door, but as he got there, the door morphed into a massive mirror, reflecting him.
He saw himself, a middle-aged man drenched in blood, and a pool of blood forming underneath him. From the pool of blood, hands of little children stretched out, their wailing cries filled his ears. They grabbed onto his feet and started pulling him in.
"No, no, please no, please, please," Astral cried out, stretching his hands for someone to help, but no one came, and he sunk down into the blood. And right when his head was about to go in, his eyes shot open inside his room.
Astral was covered in cold sweat. His body trembled like he was cold. His hand grabbed the blankets like he would vanish if he let go.
"A nightmare," he said, realizing that it was a nightmare. This was the first time he had a nightmare so terrifying. He could still hear the cries and see the demonic twisted faces.
He sat up on his bed and saw that Mabel had fallen asleep near the door. He slipped out of his bed. He expected to have some pain in his body due to the training yesterday, and he did. His joints ached like crazy—he could barely walk.
He walked to the mirror and took a look at himself in it. The image he had seen in the nightmare flashed in the reflection.
"I had ten more thrusts, yet I failed," he said.
Mabel woke up and spotted Astral out of bed. She immediately panicked, jumping to her feet and running to him.
"Young master Astral, you shouldn't be out of bed," she said in a very concerned voice.
"Mabel, please get a bath ready for me. I have to get ready for sword practice," Astral said before she could even get to him.
"Young master, you can't go for practice today. Sir Riker said you should take the day off for your body to heal," she said.
"I'm fine, just get the bath ready for me, Mabel, and then tell Sir Riker that I'll be coming in for practice today," he said. His voice sounded resolute; there was no way to sway him at all.
She rushed out of the room to get the bath ready. Astral took a sword stance in front of the mirror. He held an imaginary sword and started slashing. His joints and muscles cried in pain as he did, but he overlooked the pain and kept trying.
Mabel returned to the room a while later and prepared a bath. She set some clothes out for him, similar to the ones he wore yesterday. She left him in the room and went to find Riker.
Astral took a bath, washing his body completely, and then he got dressed and headed out. He made his way to the dining room; everyone was already seated.
His father was shocked when he saw Astral come in. His wife had told him of the rigorous training that he went through. He expected that Astral would relax and have breakfast in bed.
Astral bowed to his father and then to his mother before taking his seat. He immediately started wolfing down his breakfast, taking multiple servings.
"How's the training coming along, Astral? Riker isn't pushing you too hard, right? He can be tough at times," his father spoke.
"Yeah, he told me to do a thousand slashes, as if that was possible," Ronald said.
Astral looked up at his father. "The training is going fine. He isn't pushing me too hard," Astral said. His father frowned when he heard the response, but a smile came up immediately after to hide the frown.