by Dante King
Divine Arsenal 1
Dual Weapon Cultivation
Dante King
Copyright © 2021 by Dante King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
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About the Author
Chapter 1
“My first time?”
“Yeah,” Anna said, ducking out of the way as a vendor pushed a cart full of steaming dumplings down the thoroughfare. All around us, the sights and sounds of the Chesterton County Fair lit up the evening. “What was it like? You must have been pretty young, right?”
I closed my eyes, thinking as I slipped an arm around my date’s waist. Anna giggled gently at my touch, locking her steps in time with mine as we made our way past a hall of mirrors. A group of girls carrying cotton candy on white stalks passed in the opposite direction, devouring the spun sugar with enthusiasm.
“It was a little scary,” I finally said, smiling at her. “But really, I’d made it up to be a much bigger deal in my head than it actually was. It was exciting—I even screamed a few times—but it was nowhere near as intense as I’d been afraid of.”
A bashful expression settled over Anna’s face. “I’ve never done it,” she admitted, nibbling her bottom lip.
I stopped dead in the middle of the lane, startling her for a moment. “Really? Not even once?”
“Don’t make fun of me,” Anna said, playfully batting at my shoulder. “I just want to be safe, you know?”
“It sounds to me like you’re a big old scaredy-cat,” I teased, chuckling to take the sting out of the words. Both of us had had a few drinks at this point in our date, and I was hyper-aware of the possibility of offending Anna. The last thing I wanted was to stumble over myself this close to the finish line. “You mean to tell me you’ve really never been on a roller coaster before?”
Both of us began to laugh. “Well, I’m certainly not starting tonight,” Anna said, looking past me to the wood-and-metal behemoth dominating a corner of the fairgrounds. A sign out front advertised it as The Green Dragon, though the paint job on the ride’s carts currently making their way down the coaster’s big hill looked a little yellowed with age. “That thing doesn’t look safe in the slightest.”
I wasn’t going to push her. After all, I was definitely thinking about first experiences where Anna was concerned. The two of us worked for the same bank, in the same building, but in different departments: I was in IT, while she managed the brand’s social media page and funneled customer complaints to agents who could handle them. We’d hit it off almost immediately, and this was our second date.
The first one had ended with the two of us making out at the door of her condo. Tonight, I’d been hoping to take things a little bit further.
“Maybe if I get you a little more liquid courage?” I suggested. Another thing I’d learned about Anna was that she could pack away a surprising amount of alcohol for such a slender girl. I wondered if she was trying to impress me, show me she could tangle with the boys. The corporate environment was such a boy’s club, after all.
“God, no,” Anna giggled. “I’d be even worse on that thing with a couple drinks in me. Hey, how about you try and win me a stuffed teddy bear or something?”
She was a cutie, no doubt about that. Ash-blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and only a fraction above five feet, eight inches tall. She was much higher than my usual batting average, looking like an Instagram model but with brains. A rare combination, I know, and I wasn’t about to let this chance go to waste.
And the way she looked tonight just made that all the more apparent to me. Her outfit was a little more daring than it had been on our first date: tonight she wore a polka-dot dress with black leggings underneath, along with cherry-red high heels. The ensemble was cut low in the front, showcasing the cleavage half the guys in my department drooled over every time Anna came through our segment of the office. I knew they all thought I was one lucky bastard to have her on my arm at the fair.
I thought so too.
“I don’t think they have teddy bears,” I said, looking around. The fair’s theme this year—The Lost Dynasty—centered around old Chinese mythology and culture, though there were enough people dressed up like samurai and anime characters to muddle the theme somewhat.
“So you can win me a panda,” Anna teased, slurring her words gently. “Then you can be my bamBOO. Get it?”
I got it. “Very clever,” I said, tickling her side. I’d learned recently that Anna was extremely ticklish—and that she liked my fingers on her. Hopefully later I’d be using them in an entirely different context.
We passed a stall with all kinds of garishly painted plastic weapons of an Eastern flavor: a hand dart, a hook sword, single-edged swords, double-edged swords, and even an iron flute. Just like the rest of the fair, this stall was confusing elements of China with that of other Asian cultures: there were katanas, sai, and naginatas on display as well. The weapon that really caught my eye, though, was a huge scythe, like something the Grim Reaper might have used if he were a badass from Dynasty Warriors.
“Those look awesome,” Anna said. “Almost real. One of them would look great in my spare room.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re into that kind of stuff?”
I didn’t know Anna was into geek paraphernalia. She was just full of surprises.
“Oh, definitely,” she replied. “There’s lots you don’t know about me, Eric.”
The guy manning the stall was laughing as a couple of kids tried to knock over bottles from a bench. By the looks of things, the bases of those bottles had to be glued down.
“Alright, babe, let’s see if I can knock some bottles over and win you a prize—”
“Hang on a second.” Anna stopped so suddenly I nearly lost my footing in the street. Fairgoers streamed around us, some wearing cheap paper hats and kimonos that looked like they’d rip in two if you so much as looked at them wrong. “What’s that?”
I followed Anna’s finger to see a tent. There were plenty of them around the fai
r, showcasing various events or games of chance, but this one seemed different from the others. Its rich purple silk stretched to the sky, seeming almost to pierce the starry night. Looking at it was like finding an actual Picasso painting hanging on the fridge next to a bunch of children’s drawings—it didn’t belong here. It was in a whole different ballpark from the rest of the attractions.
“The weapons can wait,” Anna said. “I want to see what’s inside that tent.”
“Alright then,” I said, as intrigued as she was by the strange tent.
Anna led me over to it. Unlike the other tents we’d seen at the fair, no sign stood in front of this one. Whatever attraction it provided cover for, its owners preferred it remain incognito. As a result, this corner of the showcase seemed nearly deserted. It was strange, actually—people walked right up to the tent and passed it without an inkling of curiosity, almost as if they didn’t see it sitting there.
A wizened old man stood in the tent’s entrance. Like most of the workers at the fair he dressed in an approximation of old Confuscian robes, though his were of a far more luxurious cut than the teenagers running the Tilt-A-Whirl. His long white mustache ran down the sides of his face, giving him an almost feline appearance.
He seemed surprised that someone had finally come up to his tent. “Young sir,” he said, a thick, unplaceable accent to his voice. “Madam. Do you wish to walk the Eternal Dao?”
“The Eternal Dow?” I asked, letting my hand slide a little further down Anna’s waist. From the way she reacted, she was hoping I’d go even lower. “What is that, like the stock market?”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “This is not a game,” he chided, which confused me a little bit. Weren’t fairs all about fun and games? “The Eternal Dao can tell the fortune of a mortal. It can also shape it. Should you choose to walk the Eternal Dao, your life may never be the same.”
“Fortune-telling? We should totally walk it,” Anna giggled, guiding my hand down to her ass. “Is there anybody else in there right now, sir?”
The old man shook his head.
“It looks dark in there,” Anna whispered, her lips grazing my ear. “And it sounds like we’d have some privacy. You, ah, you’ll hold me so I don’t get too scared, right?”
I found myself grinning from ear-to-ear. Talk about first experiences—inside of a tent at the county fair would be an all-timer. Something to brag about to the grandkids, even. Back in my day, your granddad was quite the ladies’ man…
“Sure,” I said, giving her ass a pert little pat. I reached into my pocket, feeling for my wallet. “How much is admission, old man?”
“Eliezer,” the man running the tent said, evidently meaning his name. “Your fares have already been paid, young man. Kindly step inside, please.”
Shit, I thought. Must be like the thing at the drive-thru where you pay for the guy behind you. This is getting better and better…
Still holding onto Anna, I stepped into the darkness. As the tent flap closed behind us, plunging us both into darkness, she clung to me tighter and let out an excited little whimper.
“Hey,” she purred, her fingers tugging at my belt while my hand reached up her polka-dot dress. “You don’t think this is one of those haunted houses, do you? Nothing’s going to jump out at us or anything like that?”
I opened my mouth to tell her no, that Halloween was months away—then the world exploded.
Light filled the tent, bathing it in a brilliant, luminescent glow. Only we weren’t in a tent any longer—at some point between darkness and light, we’d been thrust out of the Chesterton County Fair entirely. We were in space, like outer fucking space, standing on a obsidian platform that floated above an endless field of stars.
“What the hell?” Anna gasped, wrapping one thigh around me. “Holy shit, where are we?”
I blinked rapidly, willing the universe around me to start making some kind of sense.
Except it didn’t.
According to my senses, we were standing on the edge of the universe, the stars surrounding us.
“Special effects,” I said, reaching behind my back for the tent flap. It had been inches behind us a moment ago—I should have been able to lift it easily, banishing this crazy light show.
My hand touched nothing but open air.
My explanation satisfied Anna. “Wow,” she giggled, tapping the edge of one of her heels against the solid surface of the platform. “This is crazy cool! I can’t believe there’s not a line all the way back to the parking lot to get inside this tent—to think they put all this effort into an attraction at the county fair!”
“Yeah,” I said, ice filling the pit of my stomach. “They can do crazy shit with computers these days…”
As I spoke, the scene around us began to move. Only a ship out of a science fiction novel could have cut through space with this kind of speed. Planets, stars, galaxies—they revolved around us as the platform flew, taking us on what felt like a tour of the entire universe within the span of a few moments. There was no motion sickness though, which made me less sure that this was all real.
Besides, how crazy would I have to be to believe that this old man in robes had brought us into his tent and sent us across the universe?
As we slowed down, the platform passed a massive green-and-blue planetary sphere with a double-ring formation wrapped around it like a belt. A comet soared past in the distance, well on its way to some distant galaxy.
“Good Lord,” Anna said, laughing like this was the coolest movie she’d ever seen. “This is so badass! I’m sorry, I know we were supposed to be making out right now, but this is just amazing—”
“The first step along the path of wisdom,” a deep voice intoned, coming from all directions at once, “is for the student to learn and accept the first and most basic truth: that they know absolutely nothing.”
“I know that voice,” I said, taking a step toward the edge of the platform. I knew it was silly to be afraid, that Anna and I were really inside of a tent right now and the worst thing that could happen if I left the platform was the show would be ruined. But something inside me—some primal, monkey part of my brain—reeled at the thought of me stepping out into open space, falling forever in some distant galaxy. “That’s the guy from outside…”
As I spoke it, the man appeared. He floated in open space, his robes splaying out in multiple directions like ribbons of soft, expensive fabric. He moved toward our platform as if tugged by invisible strings, landing on the edge furthest from Anna and me without a sound.
“That’s some Cirque Du Soleil shit,” I heard Anna mutter. “That’s really the guy from outside?”
“Hello, Eric,” the old man said, moving with a swiftness his aged bones didn’t look capable of. “As I said, I am Eliezer. I am the Peak Supreme God. The only one in all of existence.”
I froze in my tracks. “I didn’t tell you my name,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at Anna. “Did you call me Eric back there outside of the tent?”
“I must have,” Anna said with a shrug.
I could tell from the look on her face she thought all this was part of the show. I desperately wanted to believe that, too—but my heart told me we’d stumbled into something way more important than a mere carnival attraction.
“Peak Supreme God,” Anna repeated, rolling the words over her tongue. “Sounds kinda hot, actually. Like a fitness regimen that gets you totally ripped…”
Eliezer scoffed. “You have come here seeking your fortune,” he said, his tone serious and dignified. “Yet you do not even know what words would form the proper questions you should ask. You are like infants, opening their eyes for the very first time. You dare presume to ask a being such as me to tell your future?”
I hadn’t come in here seeking anything like a future. I’d just been hoping to get a little dark, quiet alone time with Anna. At the mention of fortune-telling, though, my date’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. Her piercing blue eyes shined like the stars frami
ng the platform, a smile rising to her face.
“Don’t spoil it,” Anna whispered, nudging my side. She’d seen me about to open my big mouth and start asking questions. “This show is awesome—and this guy’s obviously way more talented than your ordinary carnie. I wonder what kind of fortune he’s going to give us?”
Eliezer folded his arms in robes, looking like every wise instructor from the kung-fu movies I’d watched when I was a teenager. “The only fortune that matters,” he grumbled. “A true one.”
A drunken smile spread across Anna’s face. “Tell me this,” she said in a naughty tone, giving my hand a squeeze. “Is Eric going to get lucky tonight, Mr. Supreme God?”
“Peak Supreme God,” Eliezer countered harshly. Then his expression softened. “And yes. He will. Though not in the way he expects.”
Anna let out a shocked little laugh, but secretly I could tell she enjoyed being scandalized. “What a dirty old man you are!”
The ‘dirty old man’ let out a grunt and rolled his eyes. Then he turned his attention back to me, grateful to be done with Anna’s question. “Eric. You accepted my offer to walk the Eternal Dao. Did you not?”
I shrugged in response. “I guess so,” I said, peering over the edge of the platform. It went down and down, deep into the darkness to the point where even the stars began to wink out. I shuddered to think what might be waiting for me in all that black. “If walking across this Dao is what I’ve got to do to get to the exit of this crazy place, then yeah, I definitely want to walk it.”
Eliezer laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I have grown tired of having no equal,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “There are no other beings at my level, which has made the last few eons feel particularly...stagnant. Only the Three Ivory Sisters even approach my level of power, but they are fickle and will likely never exceed their current level. Middle Ancient Gods they are—and Middle Ancient Gods they will remain.” He seemed displeased by this fact.
I, on the other hand, was struggling to comprehend. “How can a god be anything but a god?” I asked. It almost felt like the old man was asking me a riddle. “Gods can’t be stronger or weaker than other gods—I mean, to be a god is to be all-powerful, right?”