John sucked in a deep breath as he heard his fathers words. Everything had started in this basement chamber when he had discovered the mysterious sphere.
Upon touching it, it appeared inside of him as a second dantian, and the rest of his journey was set into motion. It was the thing that broke his curse of not being able to cultivate, and was the thing that changed his fate forever. If not for the sphere, John knew he would most likely still be unable to cultivate, and his clan would have been wiped out.
It was not unreasonable to say that the sphere was one of the things that saved his clan from destruction.
He had asked his father the day after obtaining the sphere what it was, but Barden had only said he would explain things when John was older. It appeared that the time for those explanations had come, and John was waiting for each word on bated breath to learn the truth about it.
"Do we have to?" Rachel Fenix said softly to Barden as she stood next to him.
Barden smiled sadly at his wife and wrapped one of his arms around her. "We must. Its only right at this point," Barden replied.
John could clearly tell that there was something in the story that his father was about to tell that neither he nor his mother wanted John to know, but were going to tell him anyway.
Barden turned his gaze from his wife to John, and his face turned stern as he looked at his son.
"I knew this day would eventually come, ever since you found this sphere. We hid it out of sight, deep beneath the earth, but yet you still found it regardless. While it may seem like coincidence, it is not," Barden started explaining. "While you may not yet know it, you have a deep intertwined fate with the sphere."
John remained silent as he listened to his father speak. When he had first stumbled down in the basement, he had felt a strange feeling that had drawn him to the sphere. He had assumed it was just the power of the sphere that he had detected, but it appeared that there was much more to the story.
"Just know...finding out the truth of everything...Are you sure you are ready?" Barden asked John.
John's face turned stern, and he nodded his head at his father.
"I'm ready."
Barden sighed, and embraced his wife a bit tighter as he began to tell John the truth.
"This story starts many years ago…"
…
In the middle of the Great Desert, a sandstorm covering a wide swath of land raged with great ferocity. The winds howled at incredible speeds, while the sand kicked up by the winds pelted all in its path.
The power of the sandstorm was enough to grind down large boulders to mere pebbles in several minutes.
In the very heart of this sandstorm, two people were fighting against it with all their might.
Bang!
A loud bang echoed out within the sandstorm, followed by a screeching roar as a powerful fire battle art attack exploded against a desert beast. The beast was knocked backwards hundreds of yards into the sandstorm as it quickly disappeared from sight.
"Grandfather…" a man who appeared to be in his twenties cried towards the one who had just attacked the creature. "I can barely hold on anymore. We need to find shelter."
The man turned around as he heard these words, and nodded his head in agreement. "This storm is far too strong. If we stay inside of it, we'll die. Our Qi is being depleted at rapid rates fighting against the storm, and we can't hold on much longer," the older man yelled out, his voice partially drowned out by the storm.
The man's divine sense swept out in all directions as far as it could go, as he searched for any form of shelter. After searching for a short while, the man's eyes lit up slightly.
"This way, Barden. Follow me," Barden's grandfather, the Fenix Clan Patriarch, called out loudly.
The youth, who appeared to be in his twenties, was John's father Barden Fenix. His cultivation was at the early Core Formation Realm, while his grandfathers was in the Meridian Forging Realm.
Barden shielded his eyes as he followed closely behind his grandfather. The two fought against the powerful storm as they slowly moved forward towards whatever Grayson Fenix had spotted. After great struggle, Barden and Grayson arrived at their target destination.
A cave system, with ninety percent of its entrance covered by the desert sand, was revealed before them.
"It's a cave system," Grayson called out. "The storm must have swept away the top of it, barely revealing its entrance. Stand back for a moment."
Barden stood several steps back behind his grandfather, who slashed his weapon out towards the sand blocking the cave.
Boom!
His weapon slammed against the sand, upheaving most of the sand in their way. The cave entrance that was just barely revealed before opened up to them, allowing them to enter.
"Quick, enter!" Grayson instructed as he dashed into the cave. Barden followed behind quickly as they left the powerful storm and finally felt shelter. The storm howled just outside the entrance of the cave as the two descended deeper into it.
"We'll set up camp here," Grayson Fenix instructed as he sat on the ground. A ball of flame lit up in his hands, illuminating the cave around them. The ball of fire floated in the air before them, acting as a permanent light source within the otherwise pitch black cave.
Barden fell heavily onto the floor, his exhaustion nearly overwhelming him. They had been in the storm for over a day, and he didn't know how much longer he would have been able to survive. His breathing was heavy as he fought to catch his breath.
Grayson Fenix unpacked some supplies from his spatial ring, as he set up a temporary camp.
"We'll shelter here until the storm passes. Then we continue onwards to the Holy Lands," he instructed as he took out a piece of meat and began to roast it over the ball of fire.
Barden sat up and nodded his head in understanding and took out some meat of his own, roasting it as well.. After finishing their meals, Barden and his grandfather fell into a deep slumber as the storm continued to rage overhead.