Cults of the Dragon Gods (Path of Transcendence Book 4)

by Brian McGoldrick

  Looking down, the walls of the compartment below are not visible. The floor is made of metal grates that appear to be suspended a few inches over solid metal plating. There is no sign of anyone visible, and even to my spatial awareness, the compartment seems to be empty. Other than the ladder and equipment, mostly weapons, racked along the walls, there is nothing else I can detect.

  *I'll go first. Wait for my call to come after me in case I need to get out in a hurry.*

  Getting nods of acknowledgment from the other three, I hold the scabbards of my swords tight against my body and drop through the hatch.

  Dragon Blood

  *** The Pacific Ocean – Earth ***

  Return: Day 353

  August 16, 2078

  (Brand)

  Landing in a crouch, I survey the compartment, but there is still nothing to indicate the presence of anyone else. There are closed hatches in the port and starboard wall, but there is no other apparent means of egress. Wards were cast on all the walls and floor or else they have somehow been built into the very structure of the submarine.

  One oddity that immediately gets my attention is that there is no source for the yellow tinted light, and nothing is casting a shadow. There are lighting panels in the ceiling of this compartment, but they are dark. At the same time, I cannot detect any active Power. I have absolutely no idea what could be the source for the light.

  I move away from the ladder. *Clear.*

  Dacbold drops down next. Valcrit follows him with Angelique coming last and using the ladder instead of jumping down. As Angelique reaches the bottom of the ladder, the hatch closes behind her, and the hatch on the starboard side of the compartment opens.

  *Elan, can you still hear me?*

  *Yes, I can hear you.*

  I look toward Dacbold and repress the urge to smile in satisfaction. *Looks like the wards on the submarine can't block the way the communication channels the social organizers use.*

  *We made them with the intention of having it be as hard to interfere with our communications as possible. In the Battleground of the Damned and the Lands of Despair, there were too many times the guild bracelets and whisper charms were next to useless.* Dacbold's face reveals nothing, but the tone of his voice is slightly smug.

  *We're moving deeper into the sub.*

  The passage on the other side of the hatch is about six feet wide and nine feet high. There hatches on both sides of the passage and it continues outward to a T intersection with another passage.

  *This passage should be right against the outer hall.*

  As we look up and down the passage, no one makes any response to my comment. Aft of the intersection, the passages dark, and forward, it is lighted with the same yellow tinted light.

  Dacbold face toward the lighted direction in the passage. *I take it this means were supposed to go forward.*

  This passage is much more spacious than I would have expected to find inside a submarine. All of the courses on The Evils of White America were consistent in the fact that American war machine had no care or concern for the racial minorities impressed into service. Those used on submarines were packed into the cramped quarters like sardines in a can without seeing the surface or sunlight for months at a time. This submarine is clearly not cramped. It must have been built to a different standard than the old American submarines.

  Less than a hundred feet down the passage, the light in front of us disappears, and a hatch opens on a companionway. We follow the companionway to the bottom, and another hatch opens toward the interior of the submarine.

  Looking through the hatch, we find a room over three hundred feet wide, five hundred feet long, and one hundred feet high. There is no possible way for this room to exist inside the submarine without using techniques to warp the dimensions. If there was ever any doubt that this sub is the product of beings that do not originate on the Earth, this one room renders them null and void.

  At the far end of the room, I see the first living beings we have found on this submarine. A man is seated on a chair so big that it could not be called anything but a throne. On either side of him three women are reclining on large pillows.

  The man is dressed in a black and gold outfit that looks like something from China a few hundred years ago, bu his appearance makes me think of Polynesians, like the Samoans or Maori. With broad shoulders and a narrow waist, he has a solid muscular upper body, but his legs are too skinny, looking like the a chicken's legs when compared with the rest of his body. His face and bearing would be considered ruggedly handsome in the Labyrinth of Yggr and toxically masculine on Earth.

  Except for their jewelry, the six woman are naked and not making any effort to hide anything, even their cunts. They look like mainland Asians, basically Chinese or Korean, and in term of pure physical appearance, any one of them would easily put any of J-pop or K-pop media idol to shame. It would take a faggot to throw one of them out of bed.

  *The arrogant fuck has a nice collection of pussy over there.*

  Looking past me into the room, Angelique frowns. She is very pretty and has a better body, but those women are absolute top quality beauties for humans.

  *Elan, I'm about to enter a dimensionally warped space. I don't know if the raid channel will remain connected when I do. Start talking to me and don't stop until we know.*

  *What do you want me to talk about?*

  *Anything, it doesn't matter.*

  A faint sense of dissatisfaction fills the raid channel. *Now that we are away from these disgusting cities filled with the insane, this world is a place of beauty. The deep blue sea stre…*

  As I step into the room, Elan's voice suddenly cuts out. I look back at Dacbold. *I lost her. This room is blocking the raid channel.*

  After a moment, Dacbold points at me then to his mouth and raises his hands. I shake my head, and Dacbold frowns.

  Fuck. This room is ridiculous. We appear to only a few feet apart, but the social organizers are completely useless.

  Angelique steps through the open hatch. *Master, can you hear me?*

  *Now that your inside the room, I can hear you fine.*

  Angelique looks back at Dacbold and nods.

  "I do not know how you established a telepathic communication that can get past my Tian Jian's wards, but it will do you no good inside this chamber. Once you step past the threshold, you are in a completely isolated dimensional space. This is my martial sanctuary. There is no possibility of communication in or out of this chamber." This is the same deep baritone voice we heard in the ocean, and the speaker is the man at the far end of the room. It seems he is Tie Quan.

  "So, are you the loudmouth turtle grandson?"

  Maybe, Dacbold did torque Tie Quan off. He looks about ready to explode.

  "Pig, choose your words carefully, or I will skin you alive." Tie Quan glares at me in a threatening manner.

  Even though I smile, my expression is just as much a threat as Tie Quan's glare. "You must be another whore serving the little worms and the Celestial Court. That Dragonian from the Celestial Court cunt told me lay down and let her whores skin me alive."

  Tie Quan rises to his feet and grabs the pole arm in a stand next to his throne. Standing up, Tie Quan is a little taller than me, about 6'8", and his pole arm is close to eight feet in length. The weapon is similar to a bisento or guan dao. The six foot long haft has a weighted ring at the base and a two foot long double-edged blade that is much wider than the blade of a typical glaive.

  "I intended to leave you alive to bear witness to my slaying of the Dvergar and bring word of it to your masters, but I think I will kill you first. The Alfar and the girl can be my messengers." Tie Quan rest the haft of his guan dao against his shoulder.

  I glance at Dacbold. "So sorry, you won't get the chance to school the loudmouth turtle grandson."

  "Make him suffer and I'll forgive you."

  I show my teeth in predatory grin. "It's time to make a bitch turtle grandson scream like the closet faggot that he i
s."

  The skin on Tie Quan's face turns a few shades darker. "Be silent, pig!"

  I laugh. "You love to throw around insults, but you get all bent out of shape when someone insults you back. What is it with you ass lickers that sniff around the bungholes of the little worms? Eh, faggot turtle grandson?"

  I cannot tell how strong Tie Quan is. His women are easy to read. They all have some Power, but none of them are Coalescent. Tie Quan, on the other hand, might as well be devoid of Power for all that I can sense of him. He must be Coalescent, but what Circle?

  As I draw my bastard swords, Tie Quan's muscles visibly stiffen. After a few seconds, his eyes open wide, and the hand holding the haft of his bisento faintly trembles. "What are those things?"

  Both this Tie Quan and that Dragonian had strange reactions to my swords. I cannot sense his emotions, but from his expression, he is more just a little afraid. He looks to be on the edge of outright terror. What the hell did Boran Make, when he Made these swords?

  "Bastard swords." My tone of voice is mocking.

  I glance over my shoulder at Dacbold, and with confusion visible on his face, he shrugs. The women behind Tie Quan look even more confused that Dacbold.

  "You're another one of those Dragonians. I didn't get a chance to kill the last one before she ran away. This will be fun."

  "You have not stepped on the First Path of Transcendence, pig. If you had faced a Holy Dragonian, you would be dead!"

  This Tie Quan seems like the type that likes to brag and boast about himself and those he associates with himself. This is the best kind of enemy. With a little provocation, they will tell you almost anything you want to know. They are almost like the real life version of the dumb genius villains in books and videos.

  I smirk. "That grey haired cunt turned into a scaled monstrosity and flew off leaving a trail of yellow rain. The surviving whores from her collection are my slaves, now."

  Anger mixes with the fear in Tie Quan's expression. "Xiao Mao ran from a pig with no Power like you? Your lies are getting worse, pig."

  I laugh mockingly. "Just like you she nearly pissed herself just looking at these swords. Are you going to go all scaly monster, or do I need to beat your ass first?"

  Arrogance, or maybe pride, partially hides the mix of anger and fear in Tie Quan's expression, but the fear is still clearly dominant. "I am a Dragon Blood. My grandmother and great-grandfather are Holy Ones that were allowed by Fate to carry on their line. I will make you squeal like the pig that you are."

  The way that Tie Quan says Fate gives the word an extremely strong emphasis compared to the rest of the sentence. It seems that the followers of the Celestial Court may have a concept of Fate that is similar to the DokkAlfar and Jotun Lords' recognition of the Sisters of Fate. The Sisters of Fate that are supposed to be the source of the Provenance of the DokkAlfar bloodlines are considered to be greater in Power than most of the Jotun Lords. Their existence predates the DokkAlfar following the Jotun Lords. Does the Celestial Court have similar beliefs?

  When I thought I was playing a game called Taereun, I read some account about Handmaidens of Fate personally appearing to give proclamations of Provenance. I did not pay that much attention to them and do not recall all the details. Most of them were about some Jotun, maybe an Asgardian, named Skuld, but she was not a Sister or Fate or Fate or anything like that. She was just their messenger.

  I reveal a faint smirk. "And here I thought all the Dragonians were sterile like mules."

  Even though his face is an ugly mask of mixed fear and anger, Tie Quan puffs out his chest like a rooster. "Fertile Holy Dragonians are Chosen by Fate and acknowledged by the Celestial Court. They are the progenitors of the Dragon Bloods, those born to rule over the race of two-legged pigs called humans. I am one of the Chosen. I am a Commander of the Claws of the Dragon. Kowtow before me and I might spare you."

  "I thought you Dragon whores claimed the Dragons created the entire metaverse. Why would those with the blood of the creators of everything bow to the three Hags of Fate?" Dacbold's condescending smirk makes mine look amateur. The raw hauteur in his demeanor catches me off-guard. He suddenly has he aura of someone far above the common masses.

  From Tie Quan's confused expression, he has no ready answer to Dacbold's question. He may never have even thought about such a question.

  Fwoosh! CLANG!

  I dive to the side and roll to my feet. There is a six inch deep gash in the metal deck plate where I had been standing. I did not see or sense anything with my spatial awareness. No, I did. There was a feeling of air pressure from the attack. What was that attack from?

  Tie Quan frowns. "You are more alert than you appear to be. Musclebound oafs like yourself are not usually so agile."

  Behind me, Dacbold, Valcrit, and Angelique are all staring at the gash in the deck with dumbfounded expressions. None of them saw the attack, either.

  *Angelique, put your strongest wards on yourself and the others.*

  *Yes, Master!*

  I charge toward Tie Quan. With an amused smile, he remains standing with his bisento on his shoulder. As I reach a distance of twenty feet from him, he moves. The speed of his attack is faster than my natural physical speed, but there is not sign that is using Power to augment himself.

  I twist to the side of his attack and slip into the Shadow of the Od.

  CLANG!

  Another gash appears in the metal deck. It passed right through my body, which was out phase with this warped dimensional space. If I had not been in the Shadow of the Od, my spine would have been severed.

  In succession, both of my swords pass through Tie Quan's chest. There is no blood, but his form warps and partially derezzes like an interrupted holographic projection. As soon as my blades exit his body, he returns to solidity. In addition to my eyes, my spatial awareness tells me that he is there. What is he doing, and where is he hiding?

  I may unable to experience fear like a normal being, but there is still a cold feeling in pit of stomach. I am at severe disadvantage.

  The projection or whatever it is keeps attacking, but it is nothing more than a distraction.

  Steel is pain. Steel is cruelty. Part of my Trinity flows into the paths used for Making, and I cast the spell for pattern sight on my left eye.

  I still do not see any sign of Tie Quan's location..

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  With only the slight changes in air pressure to give them away, I avoid or parry a series of attacks from Tie Quan. All the attacks are overhead strikes coming straight down one me. I attempt to counterattack, but I cannot identify his actual position. My thrusts and slashes hit nothing but air. It feels like I am fighting a dancing weapon rather than one being wielded by a person.

  Angelique takes a step forward. *Master?*

  *Don't move! If you can't figure out what he's doing, don't distract me!* My words are an angry growl that seems to reverberate in the raid channel.

  *Yes, Master.* With her eyes downcast, Angelique's response comes across as barely more than a whisper in the raid channel. From her reaction, you would think that I just hit her.

  I have been dodging Tie Quan's strikes for less than a minute, but the metal deck already has hundreds of gashes in it.

  *Master, he…* A surge of Psi energy envelops Valcrit, and he crumples to his knees. Runnels of blood flows from his eyes, nose, and ears. Valcrit must have figured out what Tie Quan is doing, and Tie Quan shut him up before he could tell me.

  The Psi energy seemed to be the scatter from an Psi attack, but it just appeared around Valcrit. A Psi attack goes from a source to a destination in the same way that a lightning bolt or a beam type attack would. There was no source for the Psi energy around Valcrit. How did Tie Quan make his attack? What did Valcrit notice?

  Valcrit was taken down with Psi Power. None of the six women are Psis, so Tie Quan should be the Psi. I do not know what technique he is using, but it is probably a form of specialized Psi. The question is ho
w do I break it? Valcrit must have found the way, but what was it?

  To my eyes and my spatial awareness, Tie Quan's projection appears to be the real him, but I cannot sense any trace of emotions coming off it with my empathy. I can feel the amusement and pride from the six sluts that are watching with smiles on their face, so it is not this warped dimensional space that is causing the problem. Somehow, Tie Quan is completely concealed the presence of his real self. The technique is so perfect that it is almost like he does not exist.

  Does not exist? Could it be that he does not exist in this realm? Maybe, he has a way to shift himself out of phase with the surrounding dimensional space. It could be something similar to the way that I shift into the Shadow of the Od.

  I know techniques to shift my vision into the Realms of Mind and Soul, but even during The Great Fuck Over, I seldom had a need to use them.

  I stop trying to retaliate against Tie Quan and just dodge his attacks. It requires a few seconds to use my Ki to change the way that my eyes see.

  "Have you given up? You put up a good fight for a pig, but the truth is, in the end, you are nothing but pig. If you surrender now, I will emasculate you and allow you to live as my slave." Tie Quan laughs arrogantly.

  The Realm of Mind is a realm of thoughts and ideas. Its appearance bears little resemblance to the Realm of Body. Everything appears translucent or transparent, but looking through them distorts what you see on the opposite side. The ground appears to mostly solid, but in places, such as where a hole was dug or dirt was piled, it tends to be transparent and ephemeral. Though, after a long time, millennia at least since the change was made, the echo of the old shape disappears. Walls, buildings, and other static objects that do not occur naturally tend to look like outline drawings with shadings ranging from white to black.

  Other than living creatures, there is very little color in the Realm of Mind, sentient beings appear as distorted versions of themselves. The less sentient a living creature is the closer it tends to resemble its normal appearance. For a sentient being, but the level of difference from its appearance can very greatly, since in the Realm of Mind, a living creature appears in the manner in which it sees itself. Someone who was a fat tub of lard can be slender or muscular in the Realm of Mind, and someone who is attractive can be hideously ugly. The only consistent thing about how thing that are primarily object in the Realm of Body is that they appear to somewhat transparent.