Intense light dove into Fraser's vision, migraines swirled like thunderstorms in his mind. The use of an arcane transporter while one's emotions and arcane is unstable can lead to backlash.
Eventually, Fraser woke up, coughing up blood and convulsing. He lay down on his back, crying in agony. This was the first time he had seen the outside world, stars dotted the night sky above him, flickering as if laughing at his losses, the beauty of the cosmos shrouded Fraser's vision, while the echoes of beast groups resounded from afar.
Fraser realised long ago that he was still in a dangerous spot, and that he needs to move hastily, yet his motivation vanished, his entire clan was slaughtered, he was most likely the only one who survived, and he didn't know if the Authority were alerted of his escape, they could very well be looking for him right now. It was a precarious situation, yet Fraser was still deep in negative thought, this loss hit him harder than any authority soldier could.
In this world, battle strength decides everything, it is determined by a ranking system from tier one to twenty. The user's tier is decided by the level of the user's meridian, which is a delicate core residing in their heart, the level of their meridian is increased through intense cultivation and training, it also determines the amount of arcane that the user can store and use at any one point in time.
Arcane is magical energy produced in the user's meridian, and is produced through the experience of emotions. The reason why Fraser was able to briefly stall an opponent of a tier above him was not only because of the training he had received as the clan heir, but also because of the immense amounts of emotion he felt in that moment. His sheer rage had gifted him with amounts of arcane like no other.
However, just having arcane storage does not equal battle strength, the user also must have a deep connection with the Void, a non sentient being that governs the laws of this world. The Void acts as a conduit, channeling the user's arcane into a different form, refining it to a more deadly force, essentially the Void boosts the user's battle strength by making their attacks more refined and can also change the nature of their attack.
Each and every person is born with their own personality of course, this determines the nature of their arcane and the form it takes, Fraser possesses a prideful but calm nature, this translated into the form of his arcane, which takes the appearance of grey clouds. It also mimics the effects of clouds, like freezing, blinding, and so on. Another example of this is the authority soldier, who had regular fire arcane, coming from their bold and rash personality.
A person's meridian also takes the form of the level they are at, Fraser currently holds arcane spark meridian, which is tier 1, an unstable meridian core that is difficult to control and stabilize. While the soldier had a flickering ember meridian, which is tier 2, a meridian that is slowly being stabilized, more consistent with higher arcane reserves. The meridian can keep moving up tiers until tier 20, named the cosmic heart meridian.
Distant howls travelled across the plains, reaching Fraser's ears, sitting beside a tree, contemplating in sorrow, his left shoulder burnt in pain, his arm still missing. He ripped a piece from his tattered robes and tied it tightly around the charred wound. His belly rumbled, without food, without water, without a place to live, he could only walk aimlessly. He had never been to the outside world, and was never informed of the scenery, not to mention having a map. He held his shoulder as he groaned, moving forward.
It was slow, his steps made him feel like he was carrying the weight of a mountain, he broke down again and again on his journey.
"Why me…?"
"What have we done wrong…?"
Fraser's clan was tucked away in a deep cavern underground, they lived harmoniously without sorrow, without bothering or contacting the outside world, yet the Northern Authority had barged in, killing without remorse or reason.
Fraser felt like he was delving into insanity.
Suddenly, the wolf howls resonated from nearby, distant steps arrived closer as a pack of six wolves spotted Fraser.