The first thing you did right was to attack the enemies you knew you could defeat, Cirayus spoke slowly, stroking his beard. Your first mistake was assuming the other beasts would let you.
Vir grimaced. The giant had a point.
I had a ti limit.
No, lad, you succumbed to artificial pressure. Tell , would you have died, had you taken longer than ten minutes?
N-no.
Would you have been crippled, or otherwise severely injured?
No, Vir said, understanding where Cirayus was going with this.
Would I have been in danger?
Vir scoffed. I doubt theres anything that can threaten you.
That is a bet I would not take, lad. Though, in this situation, it is true that I was in no danger. You allowed your ambition to override your good sense.
Vir hung his head. Hed done exactly that. Hed been so blinded by the ti limit, he didnt even bother to understand what he was getting himself into.
Knowledge is power and information keeps you safe. There are tis that force one to act without knowledge of their enemies, true, but this was not one of them.
The beasts never attacked when I was close to you. I shouldve used that to learn more about my prey, learning their behavior, Vir admitted. I know. Thats exactly what I normally do, but
Discipline. Tis simple to navigate a calm sea, but our ttle is tested only when the storms arrive. Rember this going forward.
So this is what a proper instructor looks like, Vir thought. He didnt mind the criticism. In fact, he welcod it. Every bit helped him improve. Wasnt that all that mattered?
Youll learn these lessons in ti. I can advise you to hasten the process, but there truly is no substitute for experience. Fight, fight so more, and then keep fighting. The more battles you accrue during your ti here, the strongerand wiseryou will be for it.
I will. And Ill get strong enough to do it without your assistance.
Good! There are plenty of enemies in this realm. Now if you like, you can listen to ramble about what I know of the Akh Nara while we travel.
Are you kidding? Tell everything! Vir rose and together, they resud their bounding gait, jumping dozens of steps at a ti.
Lightning cracked in the distance and a stiff breeze blew past, as if to accompany the opening of Cirayus tale.
I know as much about the Akh Nara as anyone, and yet, Im afraid Ive uncovered only bits and pieces, Cirayus began. My findings have shown that they share only a single unifying trait.
Which is?
All were suprely powerful beings. So stronger than others. The first Akh Nara is rumored to have lived around three millennia ago, just after the fall of the Gods.
Parai the Ancient, Vir said, half-guessing based on his ancestors na.
Aye. I take it youve t?
We have. The prana channeling technique I use ca from Parai, actually. I also modified it slightly to deal with the prana poisoning, though thats more of a crutch for now. Cirayus, what exactly are the primordials? Why do they exist?
Wish I could tell you, lad. All I can say for sure is all the Akh Nara have had that sa eight-pronged tattoo you bear on your chest, and that there have been five of them since the fall of the gods.
Five? Not six? Vir asked. Are you sure?
Quite certain, lad, or else Id have read about it. Why do you ask?
At Daha, I stumbled upon the lost ruins of an ancient Pri Imperium outpost, Valaka Amara.
Cirayus eyes went wide.
It was intact, too. Lit up when I entered it.
Not just a single building, but an entire outpost? And an active one? Astounding. Im not sure you grasp the full weight of this experience. Apart from the Vimana in the Human Realm, that may be the only place of its kind! Oh, what our thaumaturges would do to get their hands on sothing like that, Cirayus said with a wry smile. What was it like? Tell everything.
Despite his terrifying appearance, Cirayus reminded Vir of an eager child at that mont, desperate to hear more.
Magnificent, Vir replied honestly. The way they baked prana into their architecture was It was beautiful on a level I cant even begin to describe. Thats not all. I t an avatar of Lord Janak.
Cirayus had been enthusiastic before, but now he regarded Vir with religious fervor.
A living god?How?
Maiya had had a similar reaction, though not quite to this degree. Cirayus seed almost possessed by his reverence. Sothing deeper than re awe and surprise drove those feelings, but what?
He said the real Janak died millennia ago. That he was just a copy, or sothing like that. And that what I was seeing was a projection of that copy. Seems he has a real body, buried sowhere deep in the Ash.
Mahdi, Cirayus whispered. It has to be.
Thats right! You know of it?
Aye, the demon replied, his words coming slowly. Only rumors, though. There is said to be a place, buried so deeply within the Ashen Realm, only your ancestors ventured there. A place where many Ash Beasts dare not tread. Where the prana is so dense, it becos visible to the naked eye. A realm where nightmares beco reality. The core.
And Janak wants to go therePerfect.
This confirms it. Mahdi is real! Cirayus said, his voice full of awe. I never knew. Never could have known! Demons will have a field day with this!
Vir contemplated telling Cirayus that Janak told him to go there, but the look in the demons eye told him that might be ill-advised, at least for now. Vir wouldnt put it past the giant to change their destination and plot a course for that place. That was sothing he wanted to avoid until he was strong. Truly strong.
Stolen story; please report.
The reason I ntion it is that Janak said I was the seventh of my line. I never understood what that ant, but I think he was referring to my previous incarnations.
Hmm. Reaper Ekanai, Shardul the Vicious, Narak the Destroyer, Jalendra the Wise, and Parai the Ancient. Ive never heard of another, but if Lord Janak said so, it must be true.
All the nas were familiar to Vir, except one.
Jalendra the Wise?
One of our great philosopher kings. Jalendra single-handedly brought demons out of centuries of warring and infighting, uniting the Demon Realm for the first ti in recorded history. He rose to power a few hundred years after Parais death. A lover of arts and culture, and a genius at military strategy, he was feared by his enemies and was loved by nearly everyone else.
I see, Vir replied. He hoped to et this ancestor one day. Given how hed seen a mory from Parai, who was even older, he remained hopeful. Anyway, I dont think Lord Janak would misspeak.
The identity of the sixth ancestor was a mystery, but not one that would be solved now. Perhaps hed find clues in the Demon Realm.
How about you put your newly learned lesson to practice? Cirayus said, pointing to a lone Phantomblade that stalked in the distance.
Vir drew to two hundred paces of the beast, then halted. This was an enemy he'd fought and barely defeated in the Human Realm. It had been a tough fight, and while he had so idea of the creature's attacks, he couldn't be sure it didn't have access to stronger ones here.
He waited, observing. To attack, he'd need the elent of surprise. The scales on its back launched with terrifying speed, and so he'd have to close the distance without being noticed.
Easier said than done; the beast kept its head on a swivel, continuously scanning its surroundings. Even with Leap and Blink, Vir doubted he could close the distance in ti.
So he went prone, lying flat on the ash, and waited. Five minutes passed, then ten, but the Phantomblade made no movent.
I'll start you on learning chakras right now if you can defeat that beast.
This again. He's tempting .
Vir settled in as he watched, but there was no reason to watch in silence.
Tell more about the primordials, he said. You ntioned they all possessed the sa tattoo. What else?
No harm chatting, I suppose. Cirayus stroked his tattoo. We know the Akh Nara can inscribe multiple Ultimate Bloodline tattoos. Records from Shardul, Reaper Ekanai, and Jalendras ti all prove this. The other oddity lies in how these tattoos are ford. Cirayus pointed to his bare chest. On normal demons, Ultimate tattoos are inscribed in specific places upon their body.
They cant be put just anywhere? Vir asked.
Correct. The proximity of a tattoo to its area of influence determines its efficacy. Balancer of Scales affects my entire body, and so it may be inscribed upon either the chest or back. This holds true for all tattoos. An Iksana Sight tattoo must be applied near the eyes, or it will be weak.
I see. So whats different about the primordials?
Every Ultimate tattoo they inscribe links up to a prong on your chest tattoo, and the placent doesnt seem to matter nearly as much.
Eight powers as strong as Balancer of Scales It was nearly unfathomable.
Unfortunately, only six remain.
Six? Then why does my tattoo have eight prongs?
For the first ti in their conversation, Cirayus looked anguished. So of the tattoos have been lost, Im afraid.
Lost. As in misplaced? How does a clan lose their most powerful weapon?
When theyre wiped out by another clan. Perhaps soone hid them, dying off before they could tell another. Perhaps the invading clan burned the inscription scroll. Demon history is a long and bloody one. Such things happen, though of course, clans do everything in their power to save them.
Virs throat went dry. And the Ultimate tattoo of my clan? What of Gargas?
Cirayus looked away. I cannot say, lad. I left before Garga truly fell. I doubt your father would allow the scroll to fall into the wrong hands, but I cannot see him destroying the inscription so easily. Not while you lived. He was better than that.
Im surprised he didnt send it with you, to be honest.
Far safer to keep it in the Demon Realm. Losing you would be a tragedy. A terrible tragedy. But if the worst were to happen, the Akh Nara would eventually reincarnate. Perhaps not soon, but one day. The sa cannot be said for the inscription.
Vir wondered why they didnt simply make copies of the thing, though doing so ca with its own risks. Especially if the master inscription was a closely guarded secret.
Theres more, Cirayus continued. Jalendra accumulated more tattoos than any other primordial. Least, that we know of. He was also the most well-inford of them all. Trust , Ive spent more than my fair share of ti studying this topic over the centuries. Its one of the great demon mysteries, after all.
And? What did his writings say? Vir asked, urging the giant not to take any more tangents.
In his writings, we find ntions of a power. Seed he spent the last years of his life searching desperately for it, but never managed it. Called it the Supre Arbiter. Apparently, it was a power that put even the Ultimate abilities to sha, if such a thing can be believed.
The Supre Arbiter? The na felt familiar to Vir, though he couldnt place where hed heard it. Or even if he ever had. To motivate soone like Jalendra, who already possessed so much strength, it truly had to be in a league of its own.
Vir turned to face the giant. I can't do it, he said with a look of frustration. I just don't have enough information on the Phantomblade to know I can safely fight it. I'll have to pass this ti.
Expecting a look of disappointnt, Vir braced himself for a lecture.
An excellent decision, lad, Cirayus said, clapping his shoulders. I agree. Phantomblades can launch a hundred of their scales as fast as you can Leap. As you stand, you have no way of taking the beast down in a single blow. If you had tried to attack, I would have stopped you.
A hundred!? Vir blanched. The Phantomblade he'd fought could only fire one at a ti. I'd seriously have died.
Cirayus rose from his spot across from Vir, offering his hand. Wed best not linger long. Especially not with so many corpses lying about. Even the scavengers in the Ash are more than capable of biting your head off.
Where do we go from here? Vir asked.
First, I need to get my bearings. The Ashs landscape shifts continuously, but certain features remain. Before we venture deeper, we need to visit a cache I buried before leaving for the Human Realm.
Whats in it?
A weapon and a guide. Sikandar, my trusty blade of several centuries, and an Artifact that will point the way to the Demon Realm.
Virs eyes narrowed. That exists? It seed awfully convenient.
Aye, a handful do, in the Demon Realm. I wouldnt call them commonArtifacts are never commonbut theyre nurous enough to be bartered between clans for exorbitant sums. We dont understand their true purpose, but the devices are bonded with their paired partner. So long as its sister in the Demon Realm is active, the Artifact will point the way to the nearest gate.
Vir could hardly believe what he was hearing. You buried such an important Artifact? In the Ash?
Would you risk allowing such a device to fall into the hands of humans? We didnt know what to expect from the Human Realm. None of us had ever traveled there and returned safely. If the device fell into their hands
Prana poisoning keeps them out. But you couldnt have known that at the ti. If they were strong enough, they could march right into the Demon Realm.
Aye. Better to hide it in a safe spot. One that we can easily find, yet one unlikely to ever be stolen by so errant beast.
Er, such as? Vir asked, beginning to fear the response.
The lair of an Alpha Shrike.
Shrike Shrike. Ah, yes. The avian creatures with a Balar Rank of Four Hundred to Eight Hundred. Wait, Alpha?
Is that a stronger variety?
Oh yes. Stronger, and far, far larger.
The power ranking in this realm simply defied common sense. That went both for their enemies and for the giant himself. Vir had to remind himself Cirayus was the strongest Talent Wielder alive in the Human Realm. Here, he wasn't even close to the strongest, but his Balar Rank was likely easily over a thousand. Perhaps even two thousand with his chakras.
Vir hadnt fully grasped the true magnitude of their power. Besides, he suspected there was more to the chakras. More that Cirayus hadn't yet divulged. Based on how much it relied upon ditation and learning insights into one's own self and the world around them, Vir had to wonder. Was there so other aning to unlocking chakras? So other purpose?
Vir had faith the demon would divulge all in ti. Right now, he was more curious about sothing else.
By the way, Vir asked, falling into step next to the demon. What is my clans Ultimate Bloodline tattoo?
You an I never told you? Cirayus asked with a look that said he was just waiting for Vir to ask. Aspect of the Demon God.
Uh, that sounds impressive? Does it give you horns and let you breathe fire or sothing?
Maiya would get a kick out of that, he thought.
Nothing so flashy, Im afraid.
Figures. Nothing could ever live up to such an overly pompous na. Vir wondered whether the Garga clan was trying to make it sound cool, or if it was just bravado.
It simply makes you invincible.
Virs jaw hit the floor. Right before he stumbled and fell into a pile of ash.
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