I stepped out of the Omni Gate and was hit with a blaring wall of vivid colors, sights and sounds. After being secluded in the Zen-like confines of Misato Village, entering the Golden city again was like being thrust through both space and time.
The towering buildings, and skiffs sweeping in between them, made for a dynamic backdrop to the cacophony of street vendor yells, murmuring conversations from the passing crowd and general chaos of the bustling city. It was mid-morning here now and the day’s activities were in full swing, which made me only more eager to meet up with Xi Xha and Mu Lin at the Grand Archives a good ten blocks or more away, if memory served.
I felt underdressed in my humble apprentice robes, but I didn’t really care. Being somewhat incognito was probably a good thing anyway, although as tall and hulking as Mal’kira and I both were, I wasn’t sure if we were doing a good job of it.
I engaged [Mark of the Despised] as we left the Paifang and got all of three steps away before a voice called out from behind.
“Max Chun! Stop right there.”
I turned about slowly to see a middled-aged guy with long red hair and bright orange and red robes, walking aggressively towards us. Flanking him were two other men in similar dress. I didn’t need to guess who the hell these guys were. Still, I played dumb nonetheless.
“Do I know you?” I said, squaring up on him with [Struggler’s Resolve].
Mal’Kira sidled up next to me and casually folded her arms. “Speak quickly and with respect. This is an Imperial Marshal you’re talking to.”
“I know damn well who I’m talking to,” the guy snapped. “Those rankings mean nothing to me. I am Pak Song, Second Senior Elder of the Third Inner Ring of the Firebird Clan. I am the one who needs to be treated with respect here.”
“No offense,” I said, “But your ranking don’t mean shit to me either, pal.”
His eyes widened with shock and rage. “You dare to address your better in such a tone?”
“Easy,” Mal’Kira said, stepping in between us.
Pak Song’s eyes flared a second time. “Do not interfere with this, you sullied oaf!”
His hand sped in a backhanded slap, aimed right for Mal’Kira’s face. I was about to catch it when Mal’Kira simply turned her head sharply and his backhand missed by a hair. His momentum sent him spinning about and Mal’Kira caught him by the elbow.
“Careful,” she said. “Looks like you nearly tripped there.”
More shock filled his eyes with stark incomprehension.
Mal’Kira was but a mortal, but she was as skilled as any Diamond Bracket contender now, and she had sensed the move coming from a mile away. She had countered with a brilliant, yet subtle martial prowess, that Master Koh had taught us, sensing his ‘killing intent’.
Every attack produced some measure of it, and Master Koh had trained us to develop a sixth sense for it by fighting blindfolded for weeks and months on end. I could steel feel the hard slaps of his bamboo sword across my back when we failed to sense it. But now, it was amazing to see it in action.
“Unhand me!” Pak Sung shouted and flung Mal’Kira’s arm away.
A small crowd had gathered now and the bright-red flush of embarrassment on the guy’s face was visible for all to see. He glanced about, brooding and sweating.
“I should burn you both where you stand,” he said, more bravado than threat, I could tell. “Were I not tasked to bring you before the grand patriarchs I would do so in an instant. Consider yourselves fortunate that I am forced to be merciful this day.”
I sighed.
After five years of peace, there was nothing like coming home to the haughty, self-aggrandizing, bureaucratic bullshit of the martial clans.
“Look, I’m in kind of a rush here,” I said. “I’ll check in with you guys later or something.”
“You will come now!” he cried. “Now, I say. Now!”
I blinked in surprise. The guy was pissed off clearly, but the anger inside of him was enough to cultivate from. His eyes then began to well up as he shouted at me again, pointing his finger in my face.
“Do you have any idea how infuriating this has been for me? Waiting for you, day after day to show up? Week after week. Month after damn month. You will come now, I tell you. You will come now!”
Holy shit… Had this dumbass been waiting for me outside this gate, every single day for five damn months?
His hostile tone and aggravation suddenly made sense now and the image of this guy vainly waiting for me to show up for five months was an image too comical to contain. I blurted out a laugh and not surprisingly Mal’Kira did the same.
“You think this a jest?” he shouted. “I don’t know what the patriarchs see in you. You’re nothing special in my eyes, but you have made my life a living hell and it ends today. You will accompany me to the Clan Headquarters. Now!”
I almost felt bad for the guy.
Almost.
“Look that’s not going to happen,” I said. No way in hell was I getting trapped in another Fire Bird shitstorm scenario right now. The key to saving my son was at hand and I had a trial to face, to boot. “Like I said, I’ll check in with you later, Pak Song.”
“It is Senior Second Elder Pak Song to you!”
I gave him a shrug of [Indifference] and turned to walk away.
A torrent of rage came from behind me and a second later I sensed a killing intent of my own, aimed straight for my head. Like Mal’Kira I simply pivoted with quick footwork, turning about to see the bastard had drawn his sword.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said, casually, but inside I redirected the anger I had cultivated from him and adding some of my own, fueling my Frenzy into [Fear the Flame]. “Now for the last time. I said PISS OFF!”
The air instantly heated as the words hit him like a shockwave. All color drained from his face as his mouth hung ajar, primal fear spilling from his soul. He let out a cry as he fell to the ground, raising his hands as if to shield himself. The same went for the two lackies with him, one of them scrambling back to his feet to run. The effect radiated outwards, hitting a few of the bystanders as well, who nearly looked about to shit themselves.
Damn, I thought. I didn’t mean to hit him that hard.
“Time to go,” I said to Mal’Kira who quickly nodded in agreement.
We took off in a jog and left the Fire Bird elder, Pak Song, fussing and mewling all over the ground.
* * *
We hoofed it quickly through the crowds, trying to get as much distance between us and the Omni Gate as possible. After about ten minutes we found ourselves in an even more densely populated area of the city and I finally slowed down.
As we headed in the general direction of the Grand Archives, I took a cautionary glance over my shoulder, expecting to see Pak Song following us, but it looked clear for now.
“What the hell was that, Max?” Mal’Kira asked. “That shout thing. Some new technique you developed?”
Mal’Kira still didn’t know my secret, and I honestly wasn’t expecting it to have such an overt effect, drawing her attention like that, but now that it had, I needed to say something.
“Yeah, something like that,” I said vaguely.
Damn, what a genius you are, I chastised myself inwardly for the lame explanation. Chun indeed.
But in truth, it was kind of new to me—the enhanced effect at least. [Fear the Flame] was one of my oldest techniques, but now with a core that was nearly on the verge of breaking through to the Lesser Deity Realm, it seemed even those early techniques were superpowered now.
Perhaps I was even manifesting a bit of my Inner World as well, giving Pak Song an unintended dose of the One True Flame. I had to be wary of how I used these techniques in public now. Even the basic ones, it seemed, could be a glimpse through the hidden doorway into the unseen.
We arrived at the base of the towering, scroll-shaped building that was the Grand Archives and waited in line for nearly half an hour to meet with one of the officials posted at the entrance. I couldn’t remember if it was the same guy we had met before or not, but he immediately crinkled his nose at us.
“Are you servants? Are you lost?”
His condescension was complements of our commonly looking robes no doubt.
“No,” I said. “I’m looking for a Grand Sage named Zin Tai.”
“Zin Tai? Master Zin Tai has business with you?”
I was just about to give him a quick dose of [Struggler’s Resolve] when a nudge to my side, caused me to turn and see a young woman staring up at me. I almost didn’t recognize her at first, but then, when she smiled, everything fell into place.
“Ling Wei!”
“Greetings Marshal,” she said with a bow.
I couldn’t help the elation that came over me and snatched her up in a hug, pulling her feet off the ground.
“Marshal!” she yelped in shock. “Please! This is inappropriate!”
I laughed, unable to care.
“Sorry,” I said, eventually putting her down. “It’s just so damn good to see you again.”
“Er… thank you,” she said, fixing her hair while blushing a little.
I know it had only been six months for her, but after five years this all felt like a grand reunion for me. I couldn’t wait to see everyone again.
“Mistress Mal’Kira,” Ling Wei said, bowing to her.
They both then bowed to one another with a lot more class and self-control than I did.
“I figured this would be the first stop you would make after returning from Ri Ben,” Ling Wei said. She then looked to the official. “It is alright. They are with me. I will take them to see Master Zin Tai.”
The guy simply nodded. “Very well Mistress Ling Wei. I shall prepare the visitors passes.”
“Wow, so you got pull like that now, huh?” I said. “Impressive.”
Ling Wei smiled humbly. “There is nothing a conversation or two cannot fix.”
Once armed with our passes, Ling Wei took the lead and ushered us through the massive bronze doors of the Archives. The first room was like being inside a massive hangar. It was an atrium with a parklike garden in its midst, complete with trees, grass and everything. Off to the sides were antechambers that contained towering rooms filled with scrolls and books. From the ceiling draped massive scrolls that hung like tapestries in the air. I couldn’t read the ancient script on them, but just the sight of those characters filled my mind with a sense of wonder and curiosity.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
We went up two floors to more rooms filled with scroll-like tapestries and found our friends all seated around a large table piled high with books and dusty scrolls. There was Xi Xha and Mu Lin, along with Tu’lok and Blue Rose. Seeing them all together nearly brought tears to my eyes and I ran into the room excited.
“Guys, I’m back!”
They swiveled their heads at me in shock and chagrin, my yell drawing the ire of librarians and fellow scholars alike, but I didn’t care. I was damn happy to see my friends again. Xi Xha and Mu Lin were the first to shove down their embarrassment and hug me, despite the brow beating from their contemporaries.
“So good to see you, Max,” Xi Xha said and gave me an extra-long hug that I appreciated. I gave Tu’lok a bro hug as well and he and Mal’Kira immediately began conversing an swapping stories to catch up.
After five years there were a lot of stories to be had, but after getting a stern warning from one of the librarians, we agreed to cut our reunion celebration short and stick to the matter at hand.
“So you guys managed to find it?” I asked.
“We did, Max!” Mu Lin said excitedly. “Well, mostly Master Zin Tai did, but we think we know where the Soul Emperor Wu Shin Taun first ascended to the celestial realm.”
“Awesome!” I said. “Where?”
“That’s a bit harder to explain,” Xi Xha said. “But I’ll let Master Zin Tai do the honors for that.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“The upper amphitheater,” Xi Xha said with a smile. “He’s prepared a whole lecture for you. Come, you’ll be impressed.”
I honestly just wanted to get my target and be off, but I supposed I couldn’t get away from the Grand Sage doing some Grand Sage-ing in the process.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s get to it.”
* * *
We went up what seemed like ten or more floors, riding an elevator that was more like a indoor skiff. We had an open view of each floor as we passed by and the amount of scrolls and scholars studying them was unending.
The wealth of knowledge within the place was unparalleled.
It made sense now why they wouldn’t let just anyone in here.
That made it all the more amazing that Xi Xha and Mu Lin were able to pull this off.
“Thanks guys,” I said. “For all your hard work. This really means a lot to me.”
“Don’t thank us,” Mu Lin said. “It was a dream come true for both of us.”
We exited the elevator into a large room with a curved roof, like it was a segmented portion of a massive dome. Rows of benches were set up around a central stage, where Master Zin Tai was manipulating images on a large, blackboard-sized Qi tablet.
He clapped his hands together in a delighted fashion as we entered.
“Ah! Marshal Iron Bull,” he said. “I am pleased you are finally here.”
I gave him a formal bow. “Thank you, Grand Sage. I hear from my friends that I owe you for finding the information I was looking for.”
He chuckled. “It was quite a delightful challenge for me, yes. But your companions did amazingly in their own right. Their research in assisting me will go a long way to them earning their own status as sages.”
“Really?” I said.
“Indeed. These six months will be worth ten years of study on the outside,” he said. “Now please, have a seat. You will be interested to learn how we came about this information. It is my hope that this aligns with what you seek.”
We sat on the benches and Zin Tai began flipping through images on the Qi board, showing various pictures of scroll fragments. I couldn’t read what was on them, but Zin Tai had made notes next to them in plain characters explaining what each of them were.
“This search involved the careful examination of over 3200 separate documents,” he said. “Most of them from the Taun Dynasty as you would imagine, which predates the current era by over 70,000 years.”
I blinked at that. “These scrolls in here are that old?”
“Some much older,” Zin Tai said. “What was fascinating about this search was that there was almost zero mention of Wu Shin Taun’s ascension to the Celestial Realm outside of a few adjacent accounts.”
I nodded. “Yes, Blue Rose told us as much. He was a nobody or something back then right?”
“True, but even more than that…the lack of information became to me…telling.” He turned to the board again and showed a bunch of scribbles and numbers. “I compared my findings with the research of other Soul Emperors and there were at least some mentions or even celebration of their ascension days. This led me to believe that all information of the event was intentionally erased from history.”
“Why?” I asked.
“An excellent question and perhaps one that only you can answer fully, but before that, let me show you where that train of thinking led. We began searching not for official records, but other manuscripts from that era. Works of art and even fiction. It was then that I came across this.”
The image on the board switched to an aged piece of parchment with several lines of handwritten characters. Zin Tai pointed to the transcribed characters next to them. “This was a poem that was said to be found within the Emperor’s personal collection when he died. It was transcribed over ten thousand times over the millennia and still exists in some modern books of ancient poetry today. When compared to the present version, the accuracy is close but there were a few key differences.”
He then began to read the poem aloud.
“You were but a summer lilac when I found you.
An everlasting bloom of beauty.
Your love tender.
Your strength bold and secure.
My everlasting bloom of beauty.
I cherished you dearly, yet you knew not the depth of my love.
My everlasting beauty, who feared not the winter that was to come.
Now the night has settled and the howls of the wilds beat against the mortal throne.
You gave yourself to protect it, your everlasting beauty, to fight the evil throng.
Forgive me, my everlasting beauty.
For it was of need to wound you. For your rage and hate to abound.
The willing adversary, I shall remain, the focus of your despair unbound.
Withered and worn you now remain, a husk chained to the mortal throne.
My everlasting bloom of beauty.
My dear sapphire princess.
A vigil for eternity, do you now, in eternal darkness, doth roam.”
Zin Tai smiled as he finished reading. “A somber and haunting poem, no? Many have studied it to glean its meaning and for that there are thousands of opinions. There is no author attributed to it, but it is my belief that the Soul Emperor Wu Shin Taun himself penned this poem close to his death. It is an ode to a lost love and a deep sacrifice and betrayal. The key was this phrase here: My dear Sapphire Princess. It is the one line that is missing from every recent transcription of this ancient work.” He then nodded to Tu’lok. “It was your learned friend here who spotted the significance of the phrase, right away.”
“Tu’lok?” Mal’Kira said incredulously. “Him?”
Zin Tai chuckled. “I’m surprised you do not recognize it as well.”
“That’s because she’ll never be one,” Tu’lok said with a laugh. “That and she’s from the south. Those heathen don’t practice the old ways there.”
“Hell is he talking about?” I asked.
“Probably some superstitious nonsense,” Mal’Kira said with a scoff. “Go on then Northlander. Explain it.”
Tu’lok straightened himself, clearing his throat. “On our homeworld of Vhalheen, we have a phrase for those who are born with blue skin. It is very rare and is considered a sign of extreme beauty in the north. We call them Sapphire Prince and Princesses.”
“Much as we would consider someone a Jade Beauty in Yee society,” Zin Tai said. “Thank you Tu’lok. It was that small insight that sent me looking in a different direction for information about the emperor. And would you believe that one of his concubines was indeed a sullied woman who was renowned for her perfectly blue skin. Her name was Lysandra and according to one source, she was a remarkable cultivator in her own right, fabled to have been able to traverse the cosmos through the realms of life and death itself. There were several accounts of her bringing people back from the dead, but it’s hard to tell what is fact from fable now.”
My heart nearly stopped.
If that wasn’t a depiction of the giant blue bitch I’xan’dra I didn’t know what was.
“So what happened to her?” I asked.
“There is only one account that I think links both the poem and what could possibly be the place you seek,” Zin Tai said and then he reached for something from the desk before him and showed us a spine bound book. “This is a fable entitled the Dark Forest. It is an allegory of a cultivator named Wu Chu who seeks ascension and travels to a forbitten land, with his betrothed. What’s interesting is that it is told from the point of view of the bride-to-be and we as the reader, never learn her name. In the end she is betrayed by Wu Chu who sacrifices her to gain the power to ascend. The process results in a failed ascension for both of them and the world is forever cursed with death by the betrothed’s vengeful ghost and the spirit of Wu Chu is forever sealed away in darkness.”
“That sounds like a terrible story,” Blue Rose said.
Zin Tai chuckled. “That it is. But the place they travel to is forever cursed and referred to as the Orchard of Souls. This reveals the correlation.” He adjusted the screen once more and this time, instead of dusty parchments, an image of a planet appeared. It was nearly all black, with streaks of gray cloud here and there. “This world is known as Dokumu. It is a cursed planet that has been sealed off from access by the empire for thousands of years. It is the place of a failed ascension by a cultivator unknown but of significant strength. On this planet the spirits of the dead are trapped forever, unable to rejoin the cycle of life. Skeletal remains roam the savaged land, a bleak and tormented place. Not unlike that which you described, no?”
I recalled my vision of that dark world I had seen from the Chainmaiden’s domain.
“That sounds like it, alright,” I said. “How do we get there?”
“We don’t,” he said.
“What?”
“There have been many who have campaigned to free this world of its curse, but all have failed. Worse still, those that fail remain still. Over the millennia, countless powerful cultivators have died and become mindless undead revenants that seek revenge on the living. It is decreed that no one is to step foot on this world ever again.”
Another damn hurdle, I thought, but this had to be the place.
“So you are sure this is the same planet that the Soul Emperor ascended on right? And sealed the great demon I’xol’ukz?”
Zin Tai chuckled. “These are fragments of information that are tens of thousands of years old. All overtly unrelated. Nothing of it can be certain. The name I’xol’ukz for example is not mentioned in any of the other references. Yet from them a telling narrative forms. From the poem, the description of Lysandra, and the fable of the Dark Forest, we can intuit the story of a powerful cultivator and his bride-to-be attempting an ascension on a distant world. As for what is true and what is fiction, we’ll never know, but what does exist is evidence of the final result. This world is cursed in a unique way and even more its common name mirrors that of the fable. It is commonly known as the Forest of Lost Souls.”
“That’s good enough for me,” I said.
“One greater question remains,” Zin Tai said and he slowly removed his glasses to clean them. “How did you come to learn of such a place, Marshal Iron Bull? And what is it you seek from there?”
All eyes turned to me for the obvious yet unanswerable question.
As his gaze penetrated me, I could tell Zin Tai was measuring the strength and nature of my core. I’d have to think of something damn good to bluff him. And no way was he going to be chill about it like Chief Muraboshi was either.
I summoned my [Struggler’s Resolve] and prepared to answer with as much truth as possible.
“An awakened demon breached the barrier in Jurin province,” I said. “It killed my wife and child and now someone very close to me has been cursed by it as well. I seek an artifact from this world to lift it.”
“Why do you believe such a thing exists here?” Zin Tai asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t. It’s just a hunch, made up from clues I found in the scrolls at Du Gok Bhong. That’s why I need to go look and see for myself. To see what I might find.”
Zin Tai paused a moment, before letting out a laugh. “You would face near certain death on a hunch?”
“Certain death?” Blue Rose said. “He’s faced far more than that on the Hell Worlds.”
I looked at her and smiled. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“You’re right,” Zin Tai said. “You’d have to have a death wish to step foot on that forsaken world.”
My eyes widened as my Flame flared.
That was it.
A [Death Wish].
That was what I needed to finally ascend. Threja was looking for that to ascend to the True Deity Realm. Maybe I had to do the same, if not a bit early considering I was just trying to make the leap to the Lesser Deity Realm and not the celestial. But my resolve hardened like a hidden mantra the more I thought on it. I wasn’t certain if this was the Flame still guiding my path or not, but I couldn’t turn back now.
“I’m going,” I said.
“There is no way you can go.” Zin Tai shook his head firmly. “It is forbidden by imperial law. Every strong cultivator that is sent, makes the world only that more dangerous for the next. You’d be facing countless generations of die hard fools like yourself, and all of them seeking to trap your soul with them.”
“Yeah, the [Odds are Against me] sure, but I don’t give a damn.”
As I said the words with [Struggler’s Resolve] my Flame burst with fresh Frenzy.
Zin Tai looked at me oddly. “Are you cultivating right now?”
“I never stop, bud,” I snapped right back.
The key to my ascension and the salvation of my son were at hand, and all that was stopping me now was more bureaucratic imperial bullshit. It was infuriating as hell. The challenge itself was bad enough, but the stupid hoops I had to jump through just to get the opportunity to face it was even more so.
And then suddenly a solution came to me.
“This world was once part of the empire, right? Thousands of years ago?”
Zin Tai nodded. “Yes, at one point.”
“Then freeing it from this curse would be liberating it yes? Restoring it to the empire?”
“I suppose.”
“Then I’ve got a way to get access,” I said. “I need to go see Empress Revenah again and take her up on her offer of granting me a royal title.”
“Granting you a what?” Zin Tai said incredulously. “A royal title?”
“It’s a long story.” I waved my hand dismissively before looking to Ling Wei. “What do you think? Will this do?”
Ling Wei looked back to the dark planet on the Qi-board, pausing a moment.
“If you could liberate a world like that, they would make you a Duke for certain,” she said. “But I don’t think this is a good idea, Marshal. Your trial is pending and the fate of the princess rests in your hands.”
“I know,” I said. “But trust me, this is going to work. I need it to work. A challenge like this is what I’ll need to breakthrough to the next realm. And I’ll need to be at that level to fight Rhe Su Long in the ring.”
“But Marshal, you heard Master Zin Tai,” Ling Wei said. “It’s forbidden for a reason.”
“She’s right, Max,” Blue Rose said. “This is no normal planet. It sounds worse than a Hell World to me.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it is. But I don’t care.”
Zin Tai chuckled. “Sounds like history repeating itself, to me. Yet another moth drawn to the flame. But if you are hell bent on going, and actually manage to gain access, then I will insist that I accompany you as a scribe. I shall remain in orbit upon the skiff of course, but such events must be recorded for history’s sake. Especially if you are highly likely to not survive.”
The guy had no faith in my capabilities, which was just fine with me.
Berserkers thrived on adversity.
“Whatever,” I said. “Come on Ling Wei, let’s go see the empress.”
* * *
We exited through the massive bronze doors of the Archives and into the courtyard below. My whole entourage had decided to come with me, even though Ling Wei insisted that, just like last time, only one or two of us would be allowed access to Scalia. Zin Tai tagged along as well, perhaps more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.
We were just about to leave the courtyard when a familiar voice rang out.
“Max Chun!”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the Fire Bird elder Pak Song again, but this time he had come with more than just a couple of lackies. There, set in a formation, was a platoon of what had to be fifty or more Fire Bird members, all decked out in their bright orange and red robes. Joining them was a contingent of black robe clad enforcers and a handful of imperial guards as well.
I stared at them in disbelief. “You’ve got to be shitting me…”
“I once again order you to come with me, Max Chun,” Pak Song said. “And I won’t be taking no for an answer this time.”