Dao Divinity Book 1

by Bruce Sentar

  “Sasha, keep making them. We’re their best bet at cover.” Dar eyed the parapet for the soldiers to return. He wasn’t going to get caught unaware again.

  Sasha finished another stone, sliding it into his hand just as the soldiers got brave enough to look back down from the wall. He threw it immediately, meeting their attention with another exploding attack.

  Glancing over his shoulder, the caravan was on the move, still following the wall north. As he turned to look back up, he saw a contingent of soldiers on horseback beginning to emerge from the gates.

  He hadn’t even realized they had horses. They had risked countless militia lives and that whole time had horses. Dar focused on strategy, pushing their carelessness to the back of his mind. Feeling another rock slide into his hand, he pivoted, working to decide if he should blast those at the wall or the calvary.

  “I think you’ll need to keep going. I’ll handle this.” Paps stepped up next to him.

  “Where’d—” he started before Paps smacked him on the arm.

  “Just watch.” The old spirit winked before stepping forward and starting to swirl sand around him. “I took an oath not to harm the city. Guess I’m going to break that.”

  As the horses drew closer, their riders were more obvious. Leading the group was Golum, followed by a number of other wizards. They had geared up, medallions hanging all over them. They wanted Dar’s secrets. But their attention quickly became split between Dar and Paps, as Paps continued his work.

  The sand gathered, swirling into a larger and larger storm around Paps until it grew in height to match the wall. But even then, it kept growing as it expanded to cover a large swathe of land.

  Backing away to stay clear of the growing sandstorm, Dar watched in awe of the spirit’s dao. It was powerful as it grew into a full-blown sandstorm that blocked Dar’s view of Paps.

  The sand grew high enough that it began clearing the city walls and pouring into the city. At the same time, black clouds formed high overhead, arcing with menacing lighting.

  “Dar, we need to get moving.” Sasha grabbed his arm.

  “What’s happening?” he asked, letting her pull him away.

  The air crackled with tension from the clouds above and lightning threatened the storm below it.

  “He likely took an oath not to harm the city,” Sasha said, looking over her shoulder. “And now he’s broken it.”

  Lightning peeled the sky apart, striking down into the middle of the storm, casting silhouettes through the sandstorm.

  “You mean you get freaking struck by lightning if you go against your oaths?” He struggled to imagine it even as he saw it before him.

  “Not just lightning—tribulation lightning. It can even kill a celestial demon. It is the will of the universe,” Sasha answered.

  He asked the first question that came to his mind. “Will Paps survive?”

  “Unlikely. Though some have survived, it is rare, and he’ll be incredibly weak. Easy prey. A tribulation can be large or small depending on the situation, but they are never ‘easy’.”

  He wanted to rush back and stop Paps, but he had faith the old man knew better than anyone what he was doing. He knew it would also be suicide and would weaken everything the man had just sacrificed. A small vow took root in Dar’s heart to make the old spirit’s sacrifice worth it.

  Screams ahead of him caught his attention. Charging forward, Dar saw a troll lumbering into the group of spirits. They scattered, all but one fleeing away instead of fighting back.

  Mika was attacking the troll, working to keep the others safe. Soon, another spirit turned around, seeing what Mika was doing and seeming to realize they could also fight for their lives.

  “Sasha, get them organized and moving together again. I’ll deal with these.”

  He had just found the perfect targets for his annoyance at not being able to save Paps. The trolls had turned away from Mika, seeming more interested in chasing the fleeing spirits.

  Dar moved up behind them, pulling his ax out and cleaving at the first troll that came into his path. The monster was charging forward on all fours like a gorilla.

  The devil grunted and swung its arm to block the blade. The ax bounced off the devil’s skin, sending sparks into the air as if he had just tried to hack stone. This one seemed to have an extra strong hardness dao.

  “Fuck.” Dar rolled away just in time to avoid its other arm, which swung hard through where he’d just been. Dar repositioned himself into a battle stance, working to figure out a new plan. Brute strength was not going to win against this troll.

  Rolling to his feet, he ducked under the devil’s next swing and circled, jumping on its back.

  The oversized arms tried to wrap back and snag him, but Dar was already using his heavy dao, growing ten times heavier and pushing his dao into the troll too.

  The troll probably weighed at least twice of what Dar did to begin with, maybe six hundred pounds. Now at six thousand, the troll fell to its arms for a moment before it collapsed on itself.

  Dar eased back his own weight so he could move again, and he stepped forward. Placing his hand on the back of the troll’s head, he blasted out the dao of heat until the troll was dead. It felt good not to have to hold back his dao gifts anymore now that the secret was out.

  Absorbing the troll into his inner world, he quickly charged the next one. The townspeople were currently safe; the spirits were standing in a circle around the carts, blasting any of the nearby devils with their various dao.

  Dar paused for a moment, taking it in. He’d never seen so many elements flowing freely at once. Mud flew next to embers and even what looked like pieces of bone. It was an eclectic wave of attacks.

  As a troll charged past, he grabbed it, quickly taking it down. As he continued forward, Dar absorbed each and every troll he passed.

  He got a few looks from various spirits and demons as he moved. While the secret was out in general, this group was just starting to realize all he was. Even the craftsmen seemed to be figuring out he wasn’t a typical wizard.

  As the final devils were cleared, Dar turned back to the city.

  The sandstorm had settled, and beyond it was a much larger fight than Dar had seen before. Thousands of gremlins charged forward. They were like an ink spill across the farmland while trolls thumped the ground behind them, driving them into the city wall.

  This time, however, the wizards weren’t out there killing the trolls, and the large devils were tearing apart the militia. Instead, there were the forms of horses on their side left in the wake of the sandstorm. Dar didn’t care for the wizards, but he hoped they had enough fight left in them to help the city. That is if they weren’t dead.

  Dar winced as militia men were flung in the air by the trolls, looking like small inconveniences as the trolls moved forward.

  Another large troll came after his group, lumbering out of the forest and chasing them down. A fleeing group must have been more attractive than a walled city for some of them.

  He didn’t have time to watch the city's fate. This troll stepped forward with what looked like clay armor crudely slapped on.

  There was something about this troll that felt different than the first ones he had encountered. He knew without a doubt that this was a troll that commanded a greater dao, likely one that dealt with the clay armor he wore.

  Mika was there first, charging the troll, but it backhanded her. And when she returned the blow, it grabbed her wrist and lifted her off the ground, pulling her face to face with it.

  Dar started moving forward but was caught off guard when the devil didn’t act. Instead, it looked into the forest, like it was waiting for permission. Dar’s stomach dropped as he tried to follow the troll’s line of sight, but he saw nothing.

  The troll must have gotten what it was looking for, because it turned back and tried to take a bite out of Mika. Dar wasn’t able to get there in time, but Mika was a fighter. She swayed in its grasp, narrowly avoiding getting her ribs p
ulverized by the devil’s massive mouth.

  Before it could get a second bite in, Dar had reached it, throwing his weight into the swing. He sank his ax into the clay armor, but he wasn’t able to reach the flesh.

  He went to pull it back, but the clay simply made a sucking noise as he worked to free it. Realizing his mistake, Dar threw himself backward, abandoning the ax in the armor as a clay-covered arm swung forward.

  The air whooshed over him as the devil swung. It took a look at Mika, then decided to throw her at Dar while he was trying to get up.

  Dar caught her awkwardly and the two of them tumbled to the ground.

  “Get off,” Mika growled, pushing into his chest.

  He rolled away and tried to help her up, but she slapped his hand away.

  “Stupid troll,” she grumbled as she stood up glaring at the devil who was taking his time lumbering over with a confident snarl. “How do we do this?”

  Cracking his neck, Dar was wondering the same thing.

  “He’s pretty durable; that clay armor of his just soaks up any hits,” Dar said, thinking through it. “I could try and bake that clay, maybe make it more breakable.”

  “You don’t sound very confident.”

  “Got a better plan?”

  “Nope. Let’s do yours,” Mika chuckled and swung her shoulder in a circle, working to loosen up the muscle that was already was starting to darken with a fresh bruise.

  “Keep him busy and get my ax back if you can.”

  Mika didn’t wait for more information, instantly charging the troll. Dar had to hand it to her—she definitely had tenacity. He was glad she was on his side.

  As she reached the troll, she held herself back more than before, darting in and out around the troll’s guard.

  The two of them moved fluidly. Mika bobbed and weaved, spending most of her energy on dodging rather than actually doing much damage. But she was doing just what was needed and playing a distraction.

  Focusing on his mana, Dar started to cycle it, building up pressure. He was going to have to be quick about cooking that clay. He knew that clay that was heated too quickly would crack and shatter, and he was counting on it.

  When the troll’s back was turned, he ducked and ran straight for the troll. He blasted the same leg that had his ax stuck with all the heat he could muster.

  The heat washed over the troll’s clay armor. At first, Dar was worried it wasn’t working; neither the troll nor the clay had an immediate reaction. But he kept channeling the heat forward, working to bake it. Finally, with a sharp crack, the clay armor over the troll’s leg split at last.

  His ax fell to the ground as the troll roared and swung at Dar.

  Mika was only a second behind him, turning the troll’s swing into a force of her own and slamming her palm into the cracked plate, shattering the clay armor. As she came back up, she was grinning ear to ear.

  Realizing his window was short, Dar ducked under the troll to sweep his ax up into his grip. Using his full force plus tapping into the heavy dao to add momentum, Dar slammed the ax just below the troll’s knee cap.

  The ax bit deep into the troll, spraying blood and making the devil bellow in rage as it threw its whole weight down in a fist on Dar. Dar went to move, but he had lost momentum and had put most of his energy into the previous attack. He couldn’t get out of the way.

  This is going to hurt.

  Dar felt himself get crushed into the earth, but he held onto the ax tightly. Working to position it so that the blade was upwards and the handle was along his lower legs.

  As the troll pressed down on him, the blade tore through the troll’s leg, using the devil’s own force to rip its flesh.

  It lumbered to the side with a crash, its leg no longer able to hold its weight. Dazed, Dar felt himself pulled from the ground.

  “You okay?” Mika asked.

  Every breath brought extreme pain, and there was a new grinding noise in his chest that did not sound good. “Broken ribs,” he coughed.

  Mika reached forward, fishing in his pocket but only pulling out a shattered vial of the potion. “Shit, let’s see if we can’t get some of this in you.” Mika used a cloth to soak up the spilled potion and wring it out into Dar’s mouth.

  The effects moved quickly. His ribs began to knit back together, and he felt himself come out of the haze of the pain.

  He realized Mika had pulled him about a dozen yards away from the troll, who was now thrashing on the ground, its leg a complete ruin.

  Dar managed to roll to his feet, closing the distance to finish the fight. “Sorry, not sorry.” He imbued the full heavy dao into his ax and cleaved down on the troll’s skull, finishing it.

  Dar once again absorbed the troll into his inner world, this time met by a clear gasp behind him.

  “Where did it go?” Mika asked.

  “Later. We need to catch up with everyone.” Dar held his side, which throbbed with every step as they moved, quickly catching back up to the caravan. As they moved, he paused to absorb any troll corpses he passed. Mika didn’t say anything, but with every one that disappeared, he could see all the questions in her eyes.

  Chapter 32

  The fighting at the city walls had faded away behind them as the group trudged through the rough terrain. They had only ended up with three wounded, but despite the victory, there was a somber air in the caravan. They had lost Paps, and he held a special spot in so many of their lives.

  A few spirits kept looking backwards, and Dar couldn’t help but agree with their feelings. He wanted to head back and see if they could rescue Paps as well, but he couldn’t guarantee they’d be successful. And Paps would likely throttle him, dao or not, if Dar ruined all he had given in those moments.

  So they continued forward, their random assortment of human craftsmen, demons, and spirits, all aligned with the hope of starting something that was new and their own. Dar was honored so many had come, although he knew Paps’ influence had helped. Dar hoped he could live up to their expectations.

  Sasha grabbed Dar’s arm, distracting him from his thoughts. “Lift your chin. Everyone is watching you.”

  “Huh?” Dar raised his head, and sure enough, everyone was taking their cues from him. He caught a number of side glances and stares as they moved forward. “Thanks.” He collected himself, taking a deep breath and blowing out any regrets and uncertainty.

  He believed in the town they would build together. It would be their future, and he’d make sure it was a place that they would all want to live in.

  Once he felt his confidence rise, Dar shifted himself through the crowd, making his way over to Bart to check in. Bart watched him come, giving a nod of respect that was so deep it was almost a small bow.

  “Bart, how did everyone fair getting their things out of the city?”

  “We lost a third of our carts, but we have enough for now. If you can really help us get enchanted items, I think we’ll get past the losses.” The blacksmith nodded to himself.

  Wincing at the loss, Dar nodded. He intended to do everything he could to restore their tools, ideally providing them with stronger tools than they’d had before. “I see no reason to hold back. If we can provide an enchantment to help with things, there is no reason not to.”

  It was the least he could do, and he wanted to see just what these artisans could do with the best tools Dar could provide.

  There was a wonder in Bart’s eyes. “The things we might be able to do. It would almost be like having an entire team of wizards… but craftsmen?” He chuckled, clearly lost in his own dream for a moment.

  Dar wished he knew more that he could give in encouragement, but he was still figuring out what was possible. There was a chance his dao fruit might provide even better enhancements, and the fruits would start growing quickly after he buried all the devils he had absorbed, but it could just be false hope. He still had to figure out how to bring them out of his inner world and determine how to give them out.

  That thought
led him to the fact that he had yet to enter his inner world since absorbing Cherry and her tree, and he really needed to get a moment alone to meditate. He still did not know if Cherry was safe or not, but with the caravan exposed, he also couldn’t leave them to whatever might attack while he went into his inner world. Frustrated, he looked over the group.

  The group had been through a lot, and it showed. Perspiration covered them from their sprint away from the city, and many had gathered dirt along the walk.

  But as they hiked, nobody complained. Even the children continued moving forward, keeping pace with their parents or grabbing a cart when they started falling behind. If he had to pick a group to start over with, this seemed like as good a team as any.

  “How are you holding up?” Sasha asked, floating up to his other side while Bart was still lost in his thoughts.

  “Fine. Banged up, but I’ll live.” He watched a small child laugh and play with a rock, kicking it forward on their hike, his mother occasionally kicking it back. He took a moment to enjoy the childish pleasure, finding a rock of his own to kick for a bit.

  When Dar turned, he realized Sasha was watching him, a puzzled look on her face. Feeling embarrassed, Dar kicked the stone out of their walking path, but launching the rock gave him an idea. “Mind showing me that book of your dao again?”

  Sasha pulled it out from under her skirt, while Dar tried not to stare. He knew it came from her spatial pouch, but it always looked a little odd how she pulled all manner of things from there. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.” Dar flipped it open until he found the dao character that he thought was combustion again. “This one, right?”

  “That’s combustion all right. Are you really going to study on the walk?” she asked.

  Dar nodded. “Yup. Not much else to do anyway, and if demons can do it this way, I’m sure I can too. Everything that just happened made it very clear that I need to grow stronger, and now that my secret is out, it’s only a matter of time before I’m facing harder odds. So, time to grow my strength.”

  Shock was written on Sasha’s face. “You do realize you’ve obtained not one, but two dao in the last two weeks you’ve been here.”