by A F Kay
The two Step forms had become a single form to Ruwen. One Step form encompassing hard and soft techniques that made the vessel unbeatable. Rami had given Ruwen little time to ponder, but he believed there was a hidden form within these Steps.
When Ruwen finished, he bowed to Sift and waited.
Sift’s face remained neutral. He studied Ruwen for a full minute before slowly approaching.
“Can Rami hear me?” Sift asked.
Yes, Rami said.
Ruwen nodded at Sift.
Sift bowed and then spoke softly. “Rami, you have honored me by teaching my Sijun. It is evident you are a Master, and I owe you a debt. May the true God show you the path.”
I really like Sift, Rami said. Tell him I’m honored to do my part.
“Rami says she’s honored to do her part,” Ruwen said.
Sift shifted his focus to Ruwen. “Four plus years of constant practice for that? You are a really slow learner.”
Ruwen’s mouth dropped open, and only years of practice with Rami kept Ruwen from tensing up in anger.
Sift waited for another second and then laughed. Ruwen let the knot of worry forming in his stomach dissolve and smiled under his hood.
“I wish I could have seen your face,” Sift said. He held out his fist, and Ruwen placed his palm on top. “You have made me proud, Sijun. Your Steps were almost flawless. I know the work and dedication that took. You have honored your Sisen.”
Sift bowed, and Ruwen returned it.
“How did you focus for so long?” Sift asked. “Two hours with my parents, and I need a break.”
Lylan handed Sift his bird helmet, and Hamma stepped up next to Ruwen.
Ruwen looked around at them. “At first, I thought it would end soon. When it didn’t, I did it for all of us. To help get us out of here. But it didn’t take long before I needed a better reason — a more personal one.”
“And?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen looked at his hands, the burlap of the Aspect armor covering them. “The real reason was I’m tired of being weak. When I first entered Blapy, Ky told Sift that I’d wasted my life. It upset me at the time, and the truth of it still bothers me. So I’ve been looking for ways to buy some of that time back. To grow stronger.”
Lylan smiled. “Shade’s first rule: regret watered with discipline flowers peace.”
“I think that’s the first rule I like,” Ruwen said.
“We’re getting close to Brewman,” Una said.
Sift put out his hand. “Can I get a refill?”
“Of course,” Ruwen said.
Ruwen sent a wave of Spirit into Sift.
“Thanks, buddy,” Sift said.
Sift put on the helmet from the bird Aspect armor, and they all walked over to Una.
“We should start moving toward shore,” Una said.
“What about all those people?” Sift asked.
“What people?” Mica asked.
Sift pointed down the beach. “There are a few across from us and more near that sandy area up ahead.”
“I don’t see anyone,” Kaylin said.
Juva and Slib both squinted their eyes in search and then shook their heads. Ruwen did the same, with identical results.
“It all looks empty to us,” Ruwen said.
Sift looked at them, confused, and then removed the bird helmet. “Now they’re gone.” He put the helmet back on. “They’re back. This helmet is showing me things that aren’t there.”
“Or showing you things that are invisible,” Lylan said.
Ruwen wondered again if his armor did anything. So far, it hadn’t shown it could do anything but protect him. He quickly released his jealousy and disappointment. This had been the only Aspect armor that covered him, and that is what he needed most.
“I agree with Lylan,” Kaylin said. “We should assume there’s something there.”
“How many?” Ruwen asked.
“Over twenty,” Sift replied.
Juva gripped his blades. “Do they look human?”
Sift leaned forward. “Maybe. What I can see isn’t too clear. They look more like foggy shapes.”
“Could be demons, or elementals, or even hostile Cultivators,” Mica said.
Una stared at the shoreline. “And they know this is the only place to beach before the Stone Harbor storm. It must be an ambush.”
Ruwen bit his lip. If they went ashore, and whatever Sift saw attacked them, they would be outnumbered. And if Sift were the only one who could see them, it would make fighting impossible. Ruwen agreed with Una that this had to be an ambush.
Ruwen faced the Champions. “How far out to sea does the storm reach in Stone Harbor? Can we go around it?”
Kaylin shrugged. “I’m not sure. Once we’re farther than a few miles offshore, we’re in very deep water. It might hold things worse than the chaos orbs.”
Ruwen studied the shore and cursed their luck. He wanted to take the safe way around Stone Harbor, but that didn’t look possible now. Going ashore here would expose them to a dangerous risk, while Stone Harbor, the risk remained unknown.
“We’ll risk the storm,” Ruwen said.
Mica pointed down the shoreline at the horizon. “It’s already coming into view.”
Una looked grimly at the distant storm. “You’ve got less than an hour to figure something out, or this will be painful for all of us.”
Chapter 27
The Spirit storm stretched ten miles in every direction, but the most dangerous area centered on Stone Harbor. Ruwen wanted to avoid the worst of the storm and had moved them a few miles offshore using a combination of his Water and Air Meridians. But the floating platform’s size resisted attempts to move it, and Ruwen worried if he used too much Spirit forcing it, the float might break. Worse, this far from the coast, the current had slowed, which had slowed them as well.
“There is something below us,” Slib said
Everyone went to an edge and looked down. The water distorted the view, but something definitely swam under them. It looked hundreds of feet long too. Ruwen thought about capsizing out here and what that would mean. Monsters like the one below would eat them or rip them apart and leave their bodies strewn all over the ocean floor. Currents would move body pieces far apart, and your body might never reform as pieces scattered. All the while breathing water that would set your chest on fire. For eternity.
Ruwen backed away from the edge. “I’ve had second thoughts. Between the depth of the water here, the creatures, and our slowed movement, I think this was a mistake.”
Everyone joined Ruwen, and they stood in a circle.
Mica spoke first. “It is hard to know. But the risks you outlined are clear. Closer to the storm’s heart will be a gamble.”
“I hate breathing water,” Hamma said.
Sift looked thoughtful, and Ruwen pointed at him. “What do you think?”
“I…” Sift shook his head. “That creature under us feels familiar. Maybe it's this dumb helmet.”
Kaylin spoke up. “Do you have a plan?”
Ruwen did, but he’d tried to avoid it. He wanted to escape this realm with all his Meridians intact, which is why he’d planned to go around the storm. But the ambush, and now their current situation, had made that too risky. He would rather endanger his Meridians with his backup plan than risk his friends.
“Yes, I’ll explain once we get closer to shore. Does anyone want to stay out here?”
They had agreed to skirt the city originally, but the appearance of the enormous creature below them had shaken them all. Everyone shook their heads, and Ruwen walked to the far edge of the platform, got on his stomach, and placed his hands in the water.
Resting his upper arms against the edge of the platform, Ruwen created a level ten essence rod, touched his Water Meridian under his right shoulder, and then released it from his hands. Slowly he felt the platform move. When Ruwen had first tried this near Brewman, he had used a larger essence rod, and the force had broken his arm
and spun the platform in a circle.
Once Ruwen had the platform moving toward shore, the current began helping and then took over. Ruwen stood and walked over to Sift.
“We have a problem,” Ruwen said.
Sift tilted his head. “Really? When did you notice?”
“Stop it. I mean a bigger problem than our first problem.”
“I’m relieved we only have two. What is the big one?”
“You,” Ruwen said.
“Me? How can I be a problem?”
Ruwen held out his right hand, touched his Core with a mental finger, and placed it on his gloved palm. The glove brightened, and then the Spirit appeared to evaporate, the wisps of Spirit like smoke, and it drifted directly into Sift. Ruwen pointed at the roiling clouds above them.
“Oh,” Sift said.
“Lightning strikes the tallest tree, and you, my friend, are a thousand feet tall.”
“I didn’t think this through.”
“Well, I did.”
“I want to vote on going around again,” Sift said.
“Too late.”
Sift narrowed his eyes. “Wait, you thought this through and still suggested it when you knew what would happen?”
Ruwen nodded. “You’re the spit.”
“What?”
“Remember the Exploding Burrowers on level three? You drew them all together and triggered them with your spit, and they were easier to manage.”
“I’m the spit?”
“More like a spit magnet. You will stand up front and attract any chaos orbs that might otherwise hit our group. That will keep everyone else safe.”
Sift held up a finger. “Uh, there seems to be a minor problem.”
“You mean the hundreds, maybe thousands of flesh-dissolving balls of energy you’ll attract?”
“Oh good, for a moment, I worried you’d overlooked that tiny detail.”
“I have a theory to solve that,” Ruwen said. “But I need you to ask Io some questions.”
“A theory? No plan. Just a theory?”
Ruwen nodded. “But if I’m right, it will become an idea. And you know how good those are.”
Sift hung his head. “Tell Lylan I love her, and my parents how I died trying to save our party.”
“You can’t die, remember? Just let me talk to Io before we run out of time.”
Sift pulled Io from his sheath. “Fine, ask away, you murderer.”
Ruwen knew Rami probably already had these memories, and if not, she could talk to Io directly. But Ruwen had her focused on her indexes and finding a way out of here. He didn’t want to interrupt her for something he could do himself. Io couldn’t speak about his time with Uru directly, but Ruwen hoped he could keep the questions general enough for Io to answer. If not, he would interrupt Rami.
“Hi, Io. Is it possible to harvest chaos orbs?” Ruwen thought about Io’s stories. “Also, we don’t have very much time.”
Sift nodded to himself several times as he listened to Io. “Io says yes, but it is dangerous.”
“Does he know why?”
Sift looked into the distance as Io spoke to him. “He thinks it's related to not enough Meridians.”
Uru had told Kaylin that missing Meridians had caused her injuries when she’d Harvested the chaos orbs. Now that Ruwen thought about it, he realized that asking Fractal to absorb the orbs in the dungeon lake had likely hurt the Dungeon Keeper. Just one more debt he owed Fractal.
Everyone had twelve Meridians, so Kaylin saying “missing” and Io saying “not enough” really referenced a lack of pathways between the Meridians and center. It meant he might succeed.
“I have an idea,” Ruwen said.
Sift groaned.
Ruwen gathered everyone together near the leading edge of the platform. “Sift and I will stand here. The rest of you huddle directly behind us.”
“What kind of plan is that?” Kaylin asked.
“Sift will attract any nearby orbs, and I’ll absorb them,” Ruwen said.
“Won’t that be dangerous?” Hamma asked.
“I don’t think so,” Ruwen said. “I was literally made for this.”
Everyone looked doubtful, but it didn’t matter as Stone Harbor became visible on the horizon. They didn’t have time for another plan. Chaos orbs floated far above them, and in the distance, they were falling.
Ruwen pointed to the huddled group. “Sift, you kneel in front of them. I’ll stand in front of you.”
“Why do I listen to your insane ideas?” Sift asked.
“Because despite a couple of close calls, my ideas work out,” Ruwen said.
“A couple of close calls? Did Rami damage your brain?” Sift asked.
“I’d ask, but she’s busy locating the exit out of here,” Ruwen said.
“We’re lucky. It looks calm today,” Mica said.
Ruwen looked up and swallowed hard. The grey roiling clouds looked like fractured rainbows, as chaos orbs filled the sky in every direction. The area above the harbor looked the worst, with almost no grey visible, just swirling colored clouds of death. Ruwen turned to see Hamma, Lylan, and Kaylin right behind the kneeling Sift.
Ruwen looked at Kaylin. “If for some reason I can’t stand, hold me up, and keep me faced into the orbs.”
“What do you mean if you can’t stand?” Hamma asked. “You shouldn’t always be putting yourself in danger.”
Ruwen waited for Kaylin to nod and then faced Hamma. “Many of you are in this realm because of me. I feel the weight of that. But I believe this will work and that I’m the only one who can do it.”
Hamma didn’t look happy but nodded.
Ruwen continued as he turned. “After this, we’ll only put Sift in danger.”
Sift punched him in the hamstring, and Ruwen laughed.
“Keep that up, and I’ll use you as a chair,” Ruwen said.
Ruwen opened his center and kept the pull localized to just around his body. He didn’t use the Harvester pose or his full vacuum trick, because he didn’t want to attract additional orbs. Sift would pull anything near them, and Ruwen’s open center would be enough to snatch them away as they neared Sift.
A chaos orb drifted toward them, and Ruwen saw it change trajectory as Sift’s naked center pulled it directly at Ruwen’s body. He had a moment of panic as he forgot to factor in his Scarecrow Aspect armor, and it was too late to remove it now.
The chaos orb passed through the cloth without damaging it, and Ruwen realized the Scarecrow Aspect must know the difference between Harvesting and someone attacking. The orb entered Ruwen’s center and struck his Core.
The orb felt like oil mixing with water. His Core rejected the orb, shattering it into twelve shards. Each piece followed a different path out of his center, drawn to its respective Meridian, which absorbed the pure essence.
The process didn’t feel good, but compared to the agony Ruwen had endured for years training with Rami, it barely counted as pain. Again and again he absorbed the chaos orbs, and as they neared the harbor entrance, he knew they would be okay. The orbs were dangerous because anyone missing a Meridian connection would have essence passing through their body as their center expelled it, wreaking havoc. But Ruwen had a path for every essence.
Chaos orbs had dissolved most of their ice platform, and only twenty feet remained. As they passed the mouth of the harbor, their makeshift boat spun as the current changed. Ruwen looked on in horror as the shifting current pulled them into the harbor, and directly into the thickest portion of the storm.
There were so many chaos orbs Ruwen knew many would get past him, destroying his friends. Hopelessness filled him. They had almost succeeded, but once again he had missed a detail, and they would all pay for it.
As the current hurtled them into the harbor, Ruwen knew he had to give his friends as much safety as he could. Hopefully, it would be enough for them to escape.
Ruwen raised his arms into the Harvester pose and imagined his entire body a vessel, empty
, a vacuum that needed filled.
And the storm responded, coalescing and descending toward Ruwen like the fist of a god.
A river of chaotic Spirit struck Ruwen’s Core and exploded. His Meridians devoured the essence, the surge through his pathways like searing shards of glass. The pain smashed his mental barrier, and Ruwen found something else: the years of agony his mind had endured while training with Rami. They mixed, leaving him stranded in an ocean of pain.
The flow of chaotic Spirit increased, causing the last part of Ruwen’s sanity to disappear, and he knew no more.
Chapter 28
Gentle swells raised and lowered him in a soothing hypnotic pattern. Periodic storms thrashed him, creating violent waves that forced him underwater.
Swamped, he struggled to regain the surface, wondering why, and if it might be more peaceful in the deep water below, where the storms couldn’t reach.
But the darkness felt like failure, and the light warmed him, so he fought, and survived, and regained his place on top of the boundary between light and dark.
He floated, and bobbed, and drifted until the storms returned, and he needed to battle again.
Vibrations pulsed through the water, disturbing his serenity. He tried to ignore them, but they wouldn’t stop.
He moved away from the irritation, trying to regain his peacefulness, and eventually succeeded.
The storms became fewer and weaker until they disappeared completely, and even the gentle waves disappeared.
Floating in the stillness, he felt content.
The annoyance returned. He moved away like before, but this time the vibrations grew louder and more intense.
Forced to focus on the vibrations, they transformed into humming, like the echo of some distant wave crashing.
Concentrating on the noise, it almost sounded familiar.
Eventually, he recognized it.
Ruwen?
Ruwen. He was Ruwen.
Memories swirled around him: a storm, a rainbow shaft striking him–
Stop! Not yet.