Beyond Gods 78 Gadra of my Dreams

Johan found Hanuman 's comment strange. When Hanuman mentioned the word god a bloodthirsty hateful and terrifying aura emitted from him unlike anything Johan had felt before.

"Humph," said Gadra looking down her nose at Hanuman. She crossed her arms underneath her ample bosom, perking them up in annoyance. "Big words for a has been Warrior king. Your time is far passed, and you are no longer a king for your kingdom no longer exists. I doubt you're even strong enough to be a threat after all this time has passed."

Gadra without warning struck out at Hanuman, but he knocked her hand away.

"Careful," growled Hanuman. "Ive killed for less, and although I have weakened considerably, the strongest people of this era would still fall under the pressure of my mere presence."

Gadra backed away smiling promisculy.

"I was just testing," said Gadra, "I wanted to know whether the rumors of your strength were true. Don't forget, I am just a frail woman."

"I saw what you did to the Leprechaun," growled Hanuman. "You can't fool me. Plus, you have the scent of a god. I hate those arrogant fools and brought about the end of their reign on earth. Associating with them couldn't have done good things for your character. With your scent, you are already in my black book."

"Regardless ," said Gadra. "We are both here to help Johan win the tournament."

"What can a woman of your stature do but distract men with your sexuality?," said Hanuman. "Pull rabbits out of a hat, witch?"

"Much," said Gadra. "I can block Anna from going behind the scenes. This will Even the playing field for Johan. If Anna does that he will be at a disadvantage. With what you teach him, it should be trivial for him to beat all the competition."

"What is in it for you?," said Johan. "Why are you offering to help me out of the blue?"

Johan had an aching suspicion that Gadra wanted the god orb. Ever since he had met her, it seemed as if she was driven by the pursuit of power. Gadra clearly had a lust for power, but Johan's gut told him that he needed the orb.

"I want to get rid of the people who were coming after on earth," said Gadra. "They have been causing me trouble in the realms outside of Looking Glass City. I'd like you to use your wish to grant me protection or even kill them. it forces me to often retrieve back here because it dilutes their powers. I can't get much studying done."

"She is probably after the orb," said Hanuman. "Many wars were fought over it when its existence was known. She is clearly a woman who relies on external forces to strengthen herself ... weak ... but hungry for power. nothing but a glorified magician. Like most gods. You do not need her. I can show you how to go behind the scenes at Will. With that you can fight a warriors fight. Truly test yourself."

"God orb?," said Gadra. "What is that? I want nothing of the sort. I am already a god."

"How did you get here Gadra?," asked Johan. "This is my mind."

"She imprinted her essence on you," said Hanuman before Gadra could speak. "Old methods. But even so, this is your mind and only those who you allow can enter here. if you will it even I would have difficulty staying unwelcome."

Hanuman waved his hand.

Fooosssh!

An expression of surprise spread across Gadra's face which quickly turned to annoyance.

Hanuman raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I reversed the imprint dynamics," said Hanuman. "Now you can communicate with her whenever you wish. Interestingly, it seems as if more than one party imprinted on you. I reversed them all. just think of who you want to speak to and you should be able to communicate with them."

"Do you know how to do a time reset?," asked Johan. "All these years, that has been my goal. I want to get my family back."

Hanuman had been more talkative and helpful than usual since they had entered this place and Johan felt that now would be a good opportunity to ask.

"Why ask him?," said Gadra, "if you work with me, I can do it for you like before. I just need much more mana."

Hanuman eyed Johan up and down. Then looked at Gadra.

"I am only interested in the battle," said Hanuman. "I will not get involved with anything else. I now see that this woman had a part in helping you commit a taboo. Now woman Leave! You are distracting my student! You are clearly trouble."

Gadra shrugged.

"We will talk later," said Gadra, "the grumpy old man seems to be cranky. You can now contact me whenever you want, just will it."

There was a flash and Gadra disappeared.

"Ready to get back to training?," asked Hanuman. "If you have anymore questions, you can simply return here by meditating and willing it. These memories have all the answers you seek. Once you enter places like this in your soul sea once, getting here again after becomes trivial."

Johan thought about Neil, the large beast that he force saw himself fighting with Athyne and Neil, but decided getting those answers could wait. He could find all the answers in his memories. For now his goal was saving Looking Glass City.

"Let's train," said Johan.

"A word of advice," said Hanuman turning his back to Johan, "Strength, strategy, power, ruthlessness and planning are the only things in combination that will get you without a doubt everything you want. Don't fall for these immature woman and their child like mentalities. It will be your downfall. They do not live in the harsh real world."

— @ —

Hanumans training was far from being ordinary. On a daily basis, Johan would fight his competition in their dreams becoming more and more familiar with their techniques, quirks, and habits.

Johan caught on quickly, because his future self had been trained by Hanuman in another timeline, and training surfaced those memories , however, because Johan progressed rapidly, Hanuman altered things to make them more challenging. Johan got to experience fights the Monkey King had endured during his youth in a time and world where the martial arts were necessary for survival.

Mortal Men in Hanuman's era were arrogant and strong.

Johan often times initially didn't meet the mark, and would experience being murdered by his opponents or unexpected opponents. This changed Johan making him a more ruthless desperate fighter. He was no longer driven by his desire to win, Save his loved ones, and get revenge on Armyka. A fear of being killed was imprinted in his subconscious. Reenforced by pain. A real fear that became a reality again and again. It made Johan a more ruthless fighter capable of killing without a second thought.

The times the Monkey King lived were volatile. War was prominent and often caused and encouraged by the gods of those times according to Hanuman. Criminals and bandits were rampant and would often ambush them while they rested, or let their guard down.

This taught Johan to always be aware of his surroundings even in his sleep.

The speed of Johan's improvement made Hanuman warm up towards Johan. Hanuman was harsh, strict and relentless teacher. The level and difficulty of training continuously increased as Hanuman tested how far he could push Johan. But Johan never once thought of giving up. Even during the times he was overwhelmingly defeated.

Johan endured as Hanuman took him to fight all over the world. In jungles, mountains, deserts, volcanos, swamps, caves and lakes. During the night when practically blind, and during the day. All with just a thought. Johan fought Against armed and unarmed opponents of fighting styles that were very different And varied from anything that existed in modern times.

Johan would fight not only humans but beasts and creatures he had never seen before.

Yet even with all these fights, and how much Johan improved, Johan felt himself reach limits. His progress eventually slowed. There was only so much he could improve in six months, and the people he was going to fight had trained to elite levels. Training alone could only take you so far without talent.

But fight after fight Johan began to loose less, began to die much less. It wasn't all talent, but technique, experience, and strategy. His experiences of fighting on the edge continuously made his resolve harden.

Once a week, Hanuman would give Johan time off to recover and disappear for a day. During this time, he would reach out to Neil and Gadra, only Gadra would answer.

Johan realised that with Hanuman reversing the imprint dynamics that Gadra and others put on him he could see through their eyes if he willed it. At least Gadra's eyes ... and to his surprise, the body he had left back in Athelions realm. but for some reason he could not reach Neil.

Where was Neil and why had he gone silent?

Johan decided to use everything he could to win the tournament, and accepted Gadra's help.

While Johan monitored Gadra, He was surprised to see how many places Gadra would visit. She'd often visit foreign lands and schools with vast libraries full of books which she'd spend hours spin hours reading, she didn't seem to have difficulty even though the languages were nothing like he'd seen before. Sometimes she'd break into stores on worlds littered with strange cultures of people or animals and steal things. Other times she'd be on the run from mysterious beings who'd chase her for days on end.

Time flew by and soon the day of Johan's fights arrived. Because of how differently time flew in the dream world Johan felt almost ready.

But despite all his practice, his most troublesome opponent Anna was still a wild card. Her ruthless fighting style and speed had made it so that even with all the practice fights he had had with her, he had only won 30% of the time. what he had learnt from her dreams and fighting with her was that she was a cold blooded killer.

But Johan was ready to give it everything he had. He had to win.

Chapter end