“Which is why we’ll disguise you, lad.”
“That’s not the point. I mean, how am I supposed to unite demonkind—grak, how am I supposed to even help my clan when everyone hates my existence? Forget the Chitrans. The Aindri, the Panav, the Iksana, the Bairans… and even Garga. Yes. The Garga. If this is all true, they lost their independence because of me. And where have I been, all these years? Missing. Presumed dead. What happens when I announce myself to the world, Cirayus? You think they’ll welcome me with open arms? No. They’ll scorn me. They’ll ask where I’ve been, and why I didn’t save them earlier. They’ll hate me more than the other clans.”
Cirayus had remained silent through Vir’s tirade, and when he spoke, it wasn’t in the argumentative tone Vir expected.
“And you know all of this, do you?” Cirayus said softly.
Vir scowled. “It’s what I’d feel if I were in their shoes. Grak, it’s what I feel even now. A part of me hates myself for having abandoned them. Even knowing that I didn’t know who I really was. That I couldn’t possibly have known. And even if I had, I couldn’t have done anything about it. They won’t see it that way. They won’t care. Y’know? My old instructor taught me that excuses never bring back the dead. He was wrong about a lot of things… but he got that right, at least.”
“Aye. Excuses and apologies won’t bring back the dead, lad. Would that it could. Truly, I’d never have guessed that someone of your years would see reality with such clarity. I’d once feared that you’d react in the opposite way—full of entitlement because of your status as prince. As the Akh Nara. You are right that some will fear you, lad. Some will, unfortunately, hate you. But what I said to you under that tree remains as true now as it did on that day. The Gargans have been downtrodden, and a people can remain angry only for so long. Especially when they are subjected to tyranny, as I fear they will be.”
“You’re saying they’ll just forget about it all?”
Cirayus shook his head. “Not forget, no. But they’ll be yearning for a return to better days, lad. Mark my words. They’ll be desperate to cling onto whatever thread of hope they can find.”
“You sound so sure…” Vir said. “How do you know? You haven’t even seen what things are like.”
Cirayus laughed sadly. “I’ve seen a lot of war in my life. As well as what comes after. Demons never change.”
He said no more, nor did he have to. Vir didn’t want to imagine the horrors he’d been through, to have gained that level of insight into such matters.
“Even if what you say is true, what about the other clans? My own father couldn’t fight them off, and he had the backing of Garga at full strength. He also had Aspect of the Demon God, and I’m guessing other tattoos as well.”
It feels so impossible.
“One brick at a time, lad. First, we make the Demon Realm. Once there, you may gauge the situation for yourself. Then, we can chip away. No city was built in a day. No kingdom in a year. No realm in a decade. The only question is, what will you do now? Will you make for the Demon Realm? Or do you wish to spend more time in here, training?”
Vir stared deeply into the fire, feeling its heat, but it didn’t reach his body. He felt empty inside. Cold. All he saw were the lives of all those who’d perished for his sake. It was bad to feel this way, and wasn’t as if he asked those people to die for him. He’d been an infant. And yet, that knowledge did nothing to erase the fact that so many had perished. Thousands? Tens of thousands?
“No,” Vir replied.
“No? You mean to abandon your people?” Cirayus asked, concern, and a bit of sadness in his voice. “After what you said?”
Vir glared at him. “You have no right to force me into this. But that wasn’t what I meant. I’m not strong enough. Not nearly.”
Clenching his fists, Vir saw the Ash prana roaring through his body. It was so thick—eighty times denser than when he’d first arrived. It wasn’t enough.
“We train. We train like we never have. Because if I’m to take on the entire Demon Realm, I need to be stronger. Strong enough… to defeat you,” Vir said, pointing a finger at Cirayus. “Chakras, combat technique, prana manipulation… I want it all. And then, once that’s done, you’ll honor your promise.”
“Promise?” Cirayus asked, raising a brow.
“You promised to duel me when I was ready. I’m not yet ready. But one day soon, I will be. And when I am, we fight.”
The giant cracked his neck and grinned. “Aye, lad, we will. We certainly will.”
Vir braced himself for the trials ahead. He couldn’t say what his future held. Likely pain, suffering, and many, many battles. But come what may, he’d brave it. He’d be reforged in the flames of this realm, and when he finally emerged, he’d have gained something precious.
The strength to protect everything.
73SOLILOQUY OF THE ASH DAMNED
Abattle raged in the sky. Vir’s fingers played over the control tablet, and the Automaton Guardian fired its eye beam at the Wyrm that shrieked above, diving for the enormous Imperium creation. The beam had proven the most difficult command to master. While the Automaton normally acted with limited intelligence, its weapon had to be manually controlled.
Yet there was no questioning the devastation it wrought. Swaths of Ash Beasts disappeared in an instant, and it was one of the few weapons Vir wielded against flying predators. The avian beast’s attack was thwarted when the Automaton sustained its barrage, unrelenting. Constituent worms died off by the thousands, dropping from the sky like a rain of insects.
They were in the deepest parts of the Ash, now. A land where none dared tread alone. Not even Cirayus.
Vir glanced at the giant, who fended off a horde of a hundred vile beasts by himself. Even then, without the Automaton, without Vir and Shan, Cirayus would have perished long ago. Which, of course, meant Vir would have as well.
This was the true no-man’s-land. The dark sky had darkened steadily over the past year, and now they traveled under the veil of eternal night. The lightning, while not striking quite as frequently as Saunak’s defense field, struck often enough that Vir had to maintain Prana Armor even as he slept.
Sleep, he thought. Now there was a luxury he so dearly missed. When was the last time he’d managed more than an hour here and there? Had it been weeks? Months?
Vir refocused. The aerial battle wasn’t his fight, nor was it Cirayus’. Even with their strength, a single moment’s inattention would spell their doom. Vir had learned that lesson many times already, as evidenced by his mangled seric armor. The once beautiful work of art was now punched so full of holes and gashes it was scarcely recognizable. He’d considered abandoning it, but could never bring himself to. There were too many memories attached to it, both before and after he entered the Ash.
Cleaving through a Shredder, the beast died before it even knew what hit it. As it fell, Vir bounded off the beast, bringing his greatsword down across the vulnerable neck of an Ash Biter.
His actions were fluid like water, and his mind was elsewhere. For these enemies no longer posed him any threat. Not after the hellish training he’d been through.
That wasn’t to say he was invulnerable, though. Not even close.
Vir dodged a chakra-laden attack from a nearby Phantomblade, its dozens of spikes all carrying the spiritual weight of the Warrior Chakra.
Ash Beasts didn’t progress through the natural order of chakras that demons had to. Many of these beasts possessed Warrior Chakras, as well as the Shield Chakra for physical defense. Only some had opened the Foundation Chakra, and those that opened the second chakra—Life—were exceedingly rare.