by A F Kay
“These mountains look like the ones in Sift’s room at Blapy,” Ruwen said.
“They are,” Rami replied. “We’re just higher and further south. I like the views better here.”
Ruwen shivered, not from the cold, but the height. He had a powerful desire to walk to the middle of the granite circle. Who knew how long a person might fall if they went over the edge. He tried to remind himself they had never left his brain, but it felt so real his body ignored him.
“We couldn’t do this somewhere, uh, lower?” Ruwen asked.
Rami laughed and walked to the edge. “If you fall, you’d have a few minutes to figure something out.”
“What about a little more air?” Ruwen asked.
Rami walked over to him. “Progress is the sound of labored breathing.”
“That is the description from the Suffocation Bracer.”
“Exactly,” Rami said. “And I want to be just as helpful.”
“I thought your ability to help had been severely limited.”
Rami tilted her head. “I’ve been giving that a lot of thought since we arrived in this realm. If you can’t die, logically, life and death situations can’t exist.”
“That makes sense.”
“That means I don’t have to worry if what I’m telling you is some critical piece of information.”
“Then please tell me everything. You said you would show me real magic. Is the magic at home not real?”
“We don’t have time for everything,” Rami said, as she pinched her bottom lip in thought. She smiled and raised her hands. The left one held an egg, while the right held a plate of Ruwen’s favorite breakfast. His mom called it Survivor’s Guilt, and it had eggs, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, bacon, two kinds of cheese, and a bunch of spices Ruwen had never learned. The smell filled him with joy that quickly mingled with the fear and anxiety that always surfaced when he remembered his mother’s disappearance.
Rami lifted her left hand. “Hard-boiled egg.” Then she looked at her right hand. “Survivor’s Guilt.” She locked gazes with Ruwen. “Both are breakfast meals—both based on eggs even. But one is vastly more complex and satisfying.”
“The eggs are magic?”
Rami squished the hard-boiled egg in her hand. “This egg is what the deities provide their followers. Simple, straightforward recipes that get the job done.”
Rami handed Ruwen a fork, the mashed egg no longer covering her hand. The smell of bacon filled the air, and Ruwen’s mouth watered. Bending down, he took a bite of Survivor’s Guilt. He hadn’t had this dish in over a year, and his chest tightened.
“It’s delicious,” Ruwen choked out, his throat too tight to speak properly.
“I know. It’s your memory,” Rami said, as the plate disappeared.
Ruwen stood up straight. The vividness of Rami’s creations made it easy to forget they were still in his mind.
“And Survivor’s Guilt?” Ruwen asked.
Rami tapped Ruwen’s chest. “A complex recipe. Many elements combined to create something better than their parts. Something real. A Harvester has access to many ingredients. Twelve to be precise.”
Ruwen went still as Rami’s words struck him dumb. The dish of Survivor’s Guilt reappeared in her hand, and she took a bite.
“Are you saying spells are recipes? That Spirit from different Meridians can be combined to make…magic?”
Rami smiled, and the food disappeared again. She held out her right hand palm up. With her left hand, she sprinkled imaginary spices. “Two parts Fire, one part Chaos, one part Air…”
A Fireball appeared in Rami’s hand.
Ruwen rubbed his forehead. “Is that the actual recipe for a Fireball?”
Rami shrugged. “I’m not sure. Harvesters are notoriously secretive, and they don’t write much down. I’ve pieced together what I could.”
“I don’t understand the Meridians,” Ruwen said. “Right now, they’re just places in my body that I’m Fortifying.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Rami said. “Until you reached Cultivation Stage twenty, the only thing you could do with your Spirit is Fortify your body. Now though, you can Refine the Spirit.”
“What does that mean?”
“Spirit is the combination of the twelve fundamental essences. Refining is when a Harvester moves the Spirit through their Meridian and extracts that essence.”
Ruwen thought about that. “So when a Harvester is making a spell, and they need Order, they just use the essence from the Order Meridian to satisfy the recipe.”
“You catch on quickly,” Rami said with a smile.
Ruwen paced as his thoughts raced. “What happens if you don’t have an Order Meridian?”
“Everyone contains the twelve Meridians. You mean if the Meridian lacks a path to your center?”
Ruwen thought of Sift and the dark raisin of his center. “Yes.”
“Then the Harvester must substitute raw Spirit.”
“Wasting the other eleven essences that Spirit contains,” Ruwen said.
“Exactly,” Rami said. “And the other eleven essences contaminate the recipe making it less potent. It is a little more complicated than that. Some essences can be mixed to create close approximations of other essences. It is far less wasteful, and the results are better.”
“Why doesn’t everyone do that then?”
“For simplicity, let's just say you need seven Meridians connected to your center to make that viable. And that is ultra-rare. In fact, it would qualify you to become a deity someday. Assuming they didn’t kill you first.”
“They do that? I thought the gods had rules.”
Rami nodded. “They have the Pact, but that only applies to the existing deities, not new ones.”
“And Harvesters never Ascend, so they don’t have a deity's protection.”
“Exactly. But the truth is, a child with over six open Meridians would never make it to Ascension. That type of potential power is too dangerous. Other Harvesters or a deity would kill the child as soon as they discovered them, which is another reason Harvesters are so secretive. Not only do other Harvesters want to steal their recipes, but the more powerful they become, the greater the chance they’ll be killed.”
Ruwen frowned. “Is that why Sift’s parents are in Blapy? I overheard them talking about the gods.”
“Sift’s parents are extremely powerful. Each has six open Meridians. They have survived because they are together, and have honed their abilities by becoming Step Grandmasters, hiding their knowledge in their forms. Much of what I’m about to teach you I took from observing them.”
“And they’re in Blapy for protection,” Ruwen said the realization out loud.
“Yes. The Black Pyramid is, ironically, both the safest and most dangerous place in existence.”
Ruwen stopped his pacing and looked at Rami. “How powerful is Uru?”
“Uru and her brother are the most powerful humans in the Universe.”
“Do you know how many Meridians Uru has open?”
Rami tilted her head. “Many believe ten. But only she, and probably Izac, know for sure.”
Ruwen rubbed his chest. Rami had given him an immense amount of information, and he didn’t think that was an accident. He swallowed twice before he could get the words out. “Do you know how many of my Meridians are open?”
“I do.”
“Is it something you think I should know?”
“Now that you’ve formed your Core, you can look for yourself,” Rami said.
Ruwen eased up his shirt, but no bright light blinded him. The skin under his shirt looked grey and transparent. Rami had simulated what it would look like in the Spirit Realm. Instead of a ball of light, his infinity ring-shaped Core floated in what looked like a twelve-sided prism: his center. Each Meridian had a pair of tubes, like tunnels, that connected to one face of his center’s prism.
Ruwen examined the paths, tracing them from each Meridian to his center. When he finis
hed, he slowly lowered his shirt and locked eyes with Rami.
“What does this mean?” Ruwen whispered.
“It means you are in grave danger,” Rami said.
“Is this what Uru did to me here? Before?”
“She finished it. You were already miraculously exceptional.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know Uru’s reasons,” Rami said. She stepped closer to Ruwen and put a hand on his chest. Her hand felt warm, and she smelled faintly of roses. “You need to get stronger faster. Once the deities know, they will stop at nothing to destroy you. You will unify them. You will cause the destruction of the Pact. You must prepare yourself.”
Ruwen knew Rami spoke the truth.
Knew because six open Meridians could threaten a god.
Seven would make you one.
Ten would make you the most powerful human in the Universe.
And while some of Ruwen’s Meridians had narrow paths, and some were thick, they all had one thing in common.
They connected to his center—all twelve of them.
Chapter 10
Ruwen tapped his chest. “That’s why you said it was critical I didn’t get hurt here.”
“If a path to your Meridian gets severed, there is a tiny chance it would reconnect once healed. But if two pathways were severed, the odds become astronomical against both reconnecting. I don’t know what Uru has planned for you, but I’ve glimpsed through Io’s memories the vast amount of time and energy she has invested in you.”
“Does that mean Sift could fix his center here?”
Rami remained quiet for a few seconds. “You will need to make a decision. Yes, Sift could possibly form a connection if he injures himself. But remember, the goal is to leave this realm. Sift will be critical in safely making it out. If he is constantly injured and unable to fight, you will likely all suffer. Logically, not telling him makes the most sense for the group.”
“And it would make me a horrible friend.”
Rami nodded but remained silent.
Ruwen sighed. “I need to focus on learning the Refinement forms. I’ll deal with Sift when I leave my head.”
“That’s an excellent plan,” Rami said as she stood up straight. “Sift’s parents perform a slow form every morning. After analyzing the form and comparing it to six references I found in my indexes, I think it conceals a Refinement form.”
Ruwen wished he could retrieve The Workers Guide to Harvesting from his Void Band. The next section of the book had been on this exact topic. Instead, he stood up straight with his hands at his sides, mimicking Rami.
Rami took three steps backward. “I’ll demonstrate the form first. It contains one hundred ten motions. The first and last are this standing pose, leaving one hundred eight other moves.”
Rami began the form, and Ruwen studied her carefully.
When Rami finished, she looked up at Ruwen. “Well?”
“I’m not sure, but some of those motions reminded me of the Fortifying poses.”
Rami smiled. “Excellent. They are all there to some degree.”
Ruwen narrowed his eyes in thought. So much of Harvesting and Step work revolved around breathing. “Did you notice if they breathed differently while they moved?”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought to look. Give me a moment,” Rami said.
Rami closed her eyes and went still. Thirty seconds later, her eyes opened, and she smiled. “You were right. There is a pattern to it. I had to watch it over a thousand times to catch them all.”
Ruwen stood up straight. “Teach me.”
It took what felt like days for Ruwen to move and breathe in a way that satisfied Rami. The motions relaxed him, and their symmetry appealed to his logical mind. Half the moves were away from his body, and he breathed outward. The other half focused inward, and he’d inhale. Motions that fell on prime numbers in the one hundred eight move form required the breath to be three times longer than normal. The patterns soothed him. When he had finished the form a third time with no comments from Rami, she stopped him.
“You have it. We need to try it for real,” Rami said.
Ruwen stood still, completely relaxed. “It is so hard to remember this isn’t real.”
“Thank you,” Rami said.
“How long have we been in here?” Ruwen asked, tapping his head.
“I’ve accelerated your brain activity to give us more time. You’ve been practicing for a few days.”
Ruwen gasped. “What about my friends?”
“They’re fine. To them, less than eight hours have passed.”
“It’s like being in Blapy,” Ruwen said.
Rami smiled. “The Black Pyramid’s time dilation is a consequence of its planet's velocity, or more specifically, the greater velocity of your home planet through the universe. What I did was far more impressive. I sped up all your brain activity, so your thoughts could process faster.”
“Thank you. That would be useful in a fight.”
“I know. Which is why I’m not allowed to do it if your life is in danger.”
“Right. The rules.”
“Are you ready to go back?”
Ruwen nodded.
The world faded to black, and then Ruwen’s center came into focus. Rami had returned him to his meditative state. He gave himself a moment to adjust and then allowed his active mind to intrude on his meditation. He heard voices and opened his eyes.
Hamma, Sift, and Lylan sat near the tunnel entrance, whispering to each other, as Nak stood guard.
“Did you find anything interesting?” Ruwen asked.
The three all looked at Ruwen and then moved to join him. Sift and Lylan sat across from him, and Hamma kneeled by his side.
Sift pointed at the tunnel. “It runs straight to the mine like someone had shot an arrow through the stone.”
“Took us a few hours before we turned around,” Lylan said.
“Did you see anything?” Ruwen asked.
Sift shook his head. “No.”
Lylan provided a few more details. “The tunnel ended in a narrow cavern, but we couldn’t see far into it. We decided to come back.”
“That way might be a dead end,” Sift said.
Ruwen nodded. “Thank you both for scouting.”
“How are you feeling?” Hamma asked. “You spent hours gasping for air. It didn’t sound healthy.”
Unhealthy summed up Ruwen’s life lately. Rami’s mind constructs were so real his body couldn’t tell the difference. It sounded like he’d been gasping for air even though he had never really been high in the mountains. “I feel fine.”
“Are you done?” Sift asked.
“Partly,” Ruwen said. “I leveled my Cultivation Stage, but I need to try Spirit Refinement. Assuming I figure that out, I must practice using it a little. I’m sorry for delaying us, but I believe it’s for the best.”
Lylan slapped Sift’s leg. “See, I told you we’d have time.”
Sift looked at Ruwen. “This is your fault.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Ruwen said.
“Exactly. You’ve been sitting here napping, and now I’m forced to spar,” Sift said.
“You make me spar all the time,” Ruwen said.
“That’s different,” Sift said.
“I think it’s the same,” Ruwen said.
“Did I ever kick you in the crotch?” Sift asked.
“No,” Ruwen said.
“Then it’s not the same,” Sift said.
“That happened one time,” Lylan said. “And it was mostly an accident. You need to learn to let things go.”
“Mostly an accident,” Sift whispered.
Hamma smiled at Sift’s complaining and then faced Ruwen. “That’s okay. We have time. Slib is healing slower than Juva. It might be days before we can move.”
Ruwen looked over at the pair. Slib’s mouth moved, but no words came out. Juva had his eyes closed and remained still. He looked dead.
The man’s torn torso r
eminded Ruwen of his conversation with Rami. Breaking the pathways between the center and Meridian would cause them to reform, possibly with a connection that hadn’t been there before.
For Ruwen, it remained critical he didn’t let that happen. But for Sift, the opposite was true. His friend had nothing to lose. Rami might be right about the logic of not telling Sift, but Ruwen had learned a hard lesson when he hadn’t given Sift the Moonstone Ring of Remembrance. That ring had held Lylan’s memories of the Black Pyramid, and waiting for the perfect time to give it to Sift had almost cost them their friendship. He wouldn’t risk that again.
“I learned something,” Ruwen said.
“You shouldn’t be thinking while meditating,” Sift scolded him.
Ruwen waved his hands. “I was past that. Just listen. When injured here, you reform, right?”
Sift rubbed the arm that the wolverine had sliced off, and Hamma narrowed her eyes. He dropped his hand into his lap and nodded.
Ruwen took a deep breath. He really hoped this was the right decision. “When your Meridian paths get severed, there’s a chance when healing they’ll form a connection to your center.”
“What,” Sift whispered.
Ruwen opened his mouth to explain again, but Sift had already stood and pulled his shirt off. They all stared at the dark twelve-sided prism in Sift’s chest. The holes covering it made it look deformed. The tubes that all started in one of Sift’s Meridians ended in a tangled knot around his center. Not one of them connected.
“Reform?” Sift whispered.
Ruwen looked up at his friend. Sift’s eyes looked distant, his face slack.
“Are you okay?” Ruwen asked, concerned now.
Before anyone could react, Sift pulled Io from the hidden sheath, stabbed himself in the chest, and carved a huge circle around his center.
Hamma screamed, and Lylan cursed. Both women jumped up and steadied Sift, who gritted his teeth in pain.
Ruwen, stiff from sitting for eight hours, pushed himself up the wall until he stood.
Lylan tried to take Io from Sift, but Sift gripped the dagger with a strength born from a lifetime of desperation. Lylan gave up as Hamma laid Sift down.