by Aaron Oster
All of them had split off, going to talk to their clans and take care of personal matters before coming here, to the homeland of the Sanshoo clan. But judging by how badly things looked, the place would be overrun before that could happen. They didn’t just need a meeting of the four of them now; they needed to gather all of the Sovereigns on the continent to combat this threat.
“Can you feel that?” the Core residing in his chest asked.
“How could I not?” Hermit replied grimly.
The power blanketed the entire area of the Burning Hills and grew stronger by the day. It felt to be at least on the level of a Scion already, but he knew that it would be greater still. There were only two Ancient Cavern Beasts in existence – or so they believed. These were beasts so powerful that they slumbered for hundreds to thousands of years, both to preserve strength and pass the time.
None had risen in his time on Buryoku, but he’d read the stories of the Splitter of Heavens and the Bringer of Fire. When one of them wakened, entire continents fell. In fact, if the histories were to be believed, the first Martial Artists to populate Safaia had come because of one such Beast.
“Who knew things could deteriorate so quickly?” Hermit mused, glad now that Aika, Roy, and Ferry had made it as far away from here as possible.
This was no place for the weak. The story he’d heard from Herald Duncan about Roy’s origins were worrisome, and the fact that Azure had taken the blood-red Core with him had him constantly wondering what the man’s plans for Roy were. His biggest worry was that Roy would find that Core and be overwhelmed by bestial instincts, losing all sense of humanity, as Duncan had said he might.
The reason Roy had been separated from his Core in the first place was because of such a loss of control. But there were still so many unanswered questions. Like what sort of Beast woman did Duncan marry to produce a child like Roy. Never in all of his studies had Hermit come across any mention of someone gaining power as quickly as Roy had. To be halfway to Red-Belt by his fifth birthday wasn’t just rare, it should have been impossible.
“That man, Azure, knew,” the Core said, interrupting his thoughts. “The real question is, why did he lead us to believe that the threat was one that we could prevent? The Beast has risen and is sweeping across the Burning Hills. Have you seen a single town or city that’s still intact?”
“No,” Hermit replied. “But I need to keep going. If there’s even a single city still standing, we need to know.”
“And if there isn’t?” the Core asked.
“Then we still need to know. Bringing this information to the other Sovereigns can get them to act when they might normally drag their feet.”
“And what of the Scions? Don’t you think they would stand a better chance?”
“They might,” Hermit replied. “But getting them to do anything would be like trying to convince a rock to get up and start talking moral philosophy. They’ll likely have sensed the disturbance, and while we can hope for an intervention, we’re not likely to get one.”
Then again, even if the Scions intervened, there was no guarantee that they would win. A monster on this creature’s level was one that had destroyed the lives of millions, and if one of the Scions could be killed by a regular Cavern Beast, then one of this strength could definitely do so as well.
“Is this the work of Bringer of Fire?” the Core wondered as they stared down at the burning forests.
“Who else could it be?” Hermit replied with a snort.
“You never know,” the Core replied. “This could be the work of the Splitter of Heavens, disguising itself as the other.”
“This Beast has a strong affinity for Fire, I can feel that much,” Hermit said. “Besides, why would a Beast of this level even need to bother with deception?”
“Who knows?” the Core answered. “Beasts this ancient are strange in their ways. Remember, they’re intelligent, far more than either of us. Sure, mass destruction is in their nature, but they don’t act without reason.”
“We need more information,” Hermit said, trying to hide his annoyance. “We know so little about these creatures, and right now, we’re at a major disadvantage…”
Hermit trailed off as he spotted something in the distance. Here, surrounded by so much Fire, it was hard to break through the red to focus on anything else, even for someone as powerful as him. But he could just barely make out the Cores of other Martial Artists.
“I think we’ve just found our first signs of life,” he said, speeding up.
The air, even all the way up here, was beyond scorching. Luckily for him, he was quite resistant to Fire, what with him being a Fire Artist and all. Wind kicked up in his wake as he streaked toward the city, seeing tall, burning gates come into view.
“The gates are on fire?” asked the Core, sounding shocked.
“Looks like it,” Hermit replied.
This was worse than he’d thought. In the Burning Hills, a place already flush with Fire Essence, everything was extremely resistant to heat. The fact that the trees were burning was one thing, but stone was quite another.
More than that, he could begin to sense something else from the direction of the city, something powerful and ominous. They’d seen cities and towns burned to the ground, constructed Beasts of Fire Qi and Chakra wandering around aimlessly. Hell, a few had even tried blasting him out of the sky. But this was something more.
“Wait, is that their capital?” the Core asked as they drew closer.
It had been hard to find any distinguishing landmarks with everything on fire, and seeing as he hadn’t been there in a few hundred years, his memories of the place were fuzzy at best.
“Maybe,” Hermit replied, spreading his senses wider and trying to find something.
There!
He’d found the powerful flare of Fire Reiki, the signature of the leader of the Sanshoo clan. However, it felt different than the last time. Sanshoo Olga had been the clan head when the Great Clans had been formed, but this wasn’t her.
Who, then? Hermit wondered as the city came into better view.
Beasts were assaulting the burning walls, clawing through molten stone and attempting to reach the Martial Artists fighting on top. There were thousands, lion-shaped constructs of Chakra some eight feet tall, all tearing at the stone and the fighters guarding the perimeter.
There were several breaches already, though they were being held for now. He locked onto the signature of the leader and rocketed forward, ejecting black Fire Reiki from his hands and feet to speed him along. As he flashed over the walls, there was a general cry of alarm, but none were fast enough to stop him.
As he approached a small knot of fighters surrounding a young-looking man with a Base Gray-Belt, Hermit understood what must have happened.
There were more shouts of alarm as Hermit plummeted from the sky, landing next to the man and scattering several of the lion-shaped Beasts. Weapons were leveled at him as the men guarding their leader moved in to protect him.
“I’m Hermit, a Sovereign of the Itachi clan,” Hermit said, staring directly at the young man. “I’ve been away for a while, but the last time I was here, the clan was being led by Olga.”
“My mother is dead,” the man said, teeth clenched in obvious grief, which meant it had happened recently. “Now, what do you want? We’re in the middle of an invasion, if you couldn’t tell.”
Hermit turned, blasting Fire Reiki out in all directions and wiping out all Beasts in the area.
“What happened to your mother?” he asked, turning back to the new clan head.
“She fell fighting one of the Beast’s Sovereigns,” the man replied.
“The Cavern Beast has Sovereigns?” Hermit asked, feeling a small pit of dread forming in his stomach.
None of the books mentioned anything like that.
“He has an entire clan!” the man snapped. “Why wouldn’t he have Sovereigns?”
“I’m sorry,” Hermit said, holding up a hand. “We were w
arned that an Ancient Cavern Beast was rising here, but we had no idea how dire the situation was. How many cities are left?”
The man ground his teeth together once more, then his shoulders slumped.
“This is the last one,” he replied bitterly. “Everyone else has fallen.”
“Why don’t you run?” Hermit asked, looking around at the burning city. “Can’t you make it away?”
“Maybe,” the man replied. “But I refuse to abandon my home to these monsters. Not after what they’ve done.”
“Do you think you stand a chance if you stay?” Hermit asked, deciding that bluntness was his best weapon right now. “Your mother died, and you’re nowhere near her level. You’re not even a Sovereign yet. How long have you been a Gray-Belt? A few days?”
“A month,” the man replied, becoming angry once again. “And, as I said, we will not abandon our homeland. Those bastards may have destroyed everything else, but they will not have my city.”
“Take a look around you,” Hermit said. “Take a good look. Do you really think you can keep holding this place? How many fighters do you have left? A few hundred? Will you allow the entire Sanshoo clan to be wiped out for pride?”
The man hesitated at that, looking around at the burning city.
“You might not be able to sense it, but I can feel something coming this way. Something you can’t handle,” Hermit continued, not giving the man time to think. “If you stay, you’ll all die. But, if you come with me, I can help get as many of you out of the Burning Hills as I can. You’ll have safe refuge in the Windblight.”
“With the Inu clan?” the man asked with a note of disgust.
“All of the Great Clans will need to band together to face this threat. Either we do that or fall separately. Now, I won’t stay here forever and allow myself to be killed. So, will you abandon your post and try to save your people, or not?”
Though the new head of the Sanshoo clan didn’t seem at all happy with his answer, he gave it all the same.
“Fine. We’ll go with you.”
“Good. You’re going to be a lot of help in convincing the other clan heads to join us…?” Hermit trailed off, raising an eyebrow.
“Kumo,” the man said. “My name is Sanshoo Kumo.”
“Kumo, great,” Hermit said, feeling the powerful presence in the distance growing stronger. “Give your men the order. We’re getting the hell out of here. Now.”
10
“Roy? Are you okay?”
Roy looked up as Ferry squeezed herself to his side. She was looking down at him, her large black eyes wide with worry.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Roy said, patting her back. “Just thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“The past,” Roy said with a sigh. “Never mind, it’s not important,” he said a moment later as Ferry looked confused. “I feel fine, I promise.”
Ferry’s look of worry vanished, replaced instead by an overwide smile. She squeezed him tighter, nearly lifting him off the ground before releasing him, though she still insisted on holding his hand after she did.
He looked to Aika, who gave him a half-smile, though she too looked worried, which meant that he wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping his emotions hidden.
“It’s that dumb face of yours,” Geon piped up, apparently having gotten some of his thoughts. “It shows off way too much. Now, if you were a Core like me, you would…”
Roy tuned the Dungeon Core out, blocking off his thoughts and retreating into his own mind. He was worried, troubled by what he’d learned from Korgo, even several days later. Aside from that, he was also worried by the strange feelings he’d been getting from the center of the Waterwood. That red hunger. It called to him, beckoned him to come.
The feelings were strongest when he was fighting, but even now, he could still feel it, though it was somewhat muted.
“We’re going to have to go there soon,” Roy thought to Geon.
By now, he was sure this was one of the reasons he’d been sent there.
“Go where?” Geon asked. “You know, randomly spouting things out and assuming I’ll know what you’re talking about is a trademark sign of brain-”
“What is it with you and brains?” Roy asked, interrupting Geon’s rant. “I mean, seriously. You seem to have some sort of vendetta against an organ in my body.”
“No, I don’t,” Geon retorted.
Yes. You do,” Roy replied. “Every other insult out of you has something to do with my horribly inefficient, squishy human brain. Clearly, you have something against brains. Either that or you’re just not smart enough to come up with better insults.”
“Well, you’re not smart enough to… You’re not… You’re stupid!”
Roy had to resist the urge to sigh as Geon slammed the connection shut on his end – presumably to sulk – and instead focused back on the world around him. The trees were thinning out, showing signs that they were nearing Felrin territory, and the late-evening air was pleasant and cool on his skin.
Now that he’d finally gotten a direction, it had lit a bit of a fire under him, and he’d stopped dragging his feet. Their group had been traveling quickly over the last few days, taking much less time to reach their next destination than their previous one.
“This looks like a good spot to camp. You think we should stop for the night or keep going?” Aika asked.
Roy looked around the area, then nodded.
“We can keep going, but I’d rather arrive in Fireside during the day. I think this is as good a spot as we’re going to get.”
The three of them moved about, pitching the small tents and laying out their sleeping mats. Since they were technically in enemy territory, they didn’t light a fire, because while they were all confident in taking on any challengers, unnecessary fighting would only slow them down.
“Are you happy?” Aika asked, taking another bite of the less than appetizing trail rations they’d procured before leaving the Shah clan.
“About what?” Roy asked.
The three of them were seated with their backs to trees. There was no point in sitting in a circle, they figured, since there was no campfire.
“About your reunion with your old clan. Your past. How they treated you.”
Roy thought it over for a moment as he chewed.
“I can’t say that I’m exactly happy. I mean, I just found out that they’re responsible for my mother’s death. On the other hand, I barely knew her…” He sighed, then shrugged. “Let’s just say that I’m happy to forget that the Shah clan ever existed. They’re a part of my past, but that doesn’t mean they have to be part of my future.”
Aika nodded, lifting the dried meat to take another bite before tossing it away in disgust.
“How about a little sparring?” she asked, rising to her feet and dusting herself off. “We haven’t had a proper fight in weeks, and I feel like I’m getting rusty.”
“Sure,” Roy said, tossing his own meat to the side. “But let’s try and keep the technique use to a minimum. We are trying to stay quiet.”
“What? Scared I’ll beat you too hard if we use techniques?” she asked with a smirk.
“Something like that,” Roy said, returning the smile.
Ferry ignored them both, too engrossed in what she was doing – busily gnawing on a Beast Core and pulling in the Darkness Essence contained within – to pay them any heed.
“Weapons?” Aika asked, reaching for the staff she normally used to fight.
“Let’s leave them alone for now,” Roy said, ignoring the coin-shaped construct tucked inside his robes. “Let’s just go hand to hand. Reinforcement is fine, but let’s not go overboard, okay?”
Aika nodded, then spread her legs into a fighting stance. Roy mimicked her, though his stance was a bit different. He’d learned to fight using the Unaru Kuma, a style that favored his Path. Aika’s was a bit different, but after sparring with her as much as he had, he already knew most of her moves.
> She lunged, running in and closing the gap in just a couple of steps, her body twisting as she threw a powerful left hook aimed at his jaw. For the first time, Roy was able to follow the attack and threw up an arm to block.
He winced as the attack landed, though the blow didn’t hurt nearly as much as he thought it should. His arm remained steady as well, not buckling under the normally overwhelming force of Aika’s strikes.
If Aika was surprised, she didn’t show it, immediately following up with a right uppercut aimed for his center. Roy twisted his upper body, turning the strike into a glancing blow, and returned with a punch of his own, sinking his fist into Aika’s stomach in return.
There was a loud whoosh as the air was knocked from her lungs and she staggered back a step, grimacing.
“That actually hurt,” she said with a wince.
“Sorry,” Roy replied, but Aika waved him off.
She grinned, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she did.
“I’ve been waiting for the day when you could hit hard enough to hurt me. Now we can finally have a fair fight!”
Roy grinned back, then let out a yelp as Aika lunged. He was slow in getting a defense up and paid for it by receiving a crashing blow to the side of his head. Stars danced in his vision as he stumbled, Aika following closely behind, unleashing another series of attacks. Roy tried blocking as best he could, but off-balance as he was, soon landed flat on his back with Aika’s knee pressed into his throat.
“I give up,” he croaked as she pressed down a bit harder.
It seemed that simply moving up to Blue-Belt wasn’t going to even the odds. Aika had years of experience on him, and in a pure hand to hand fight, she was easily the better fighter.
“Don’t let yourself be pushed back like that,” Aika said, holding out a hand and hauling him to his feet. “If an opponent tries to overwhelm you, try and throw off their rhythm or break their base.”