He was gone before their bodies had hit the ground, targeting another clump of enemies. Lacking an ability like Balancer, he had to be tactical about which enemies he chose if he wanted to maximize the impact.
“Be warned!” Cirayus bellowed. “They’re moving faster now!”
Sure enough, the creatures had come out of their stupor, moving with such speed and dexterity that Vir could no longer dominate them with agility alone.
Razor-sharp claws lashed at him, and while he no longer had absolute superiority in this battle, neither was he pressured by their speed. He could evade them if he was careful. When he couldn’t, he sank back into the shadows.
Vir switched back to his katar, reaping their lives one after another, albeit at a much-reduced pace. A pace that continued to decline as the mob thinned out.
Acting on a whim, Vir Empowered his arms and began lobbing chakrams instead of Leaping to his foes. To his immense surprise, the strategy worked, tearing into the beasts with ease.
When he ran out of chakrams, he switched to the smaller chakris, which were only slightly less lethal but demanded more careful aim. As deadly as these creatures were, their defense was only slightly better than that of an average human.
It was only when Cirayus squashed the last of them, when Vir stood in a field of broken bones, tattered robes, and ash, that he learned why.
For on their robes was sewn a most familiar symbol. An emblem composed of three identical circles, enjoined by an equilateral triangle. The very same symbol that occupied the center of Vir’s own chest tattoo. Except, instead of white, it was black. Its perfect inverse.
The symbol of the Children of Ash.
13SIKANDAR
Vir felt like he was going to be sick. His body shivered as he stared at the symbol.
These were humans, once. Living, breathing humans who’d ventured into the Ash.
“Any injuries?” Cirayus asked, gliding down next to Vir. “My healing tattoos only function for myself, but your crimson-haired friend gave me a couple of Life orbs after she learned I can use magic. Good catch, that one. Be sure you don’t let her slip away. Hard to find people with mettle like her these days.”
“I… don’t intend to,” Vir said.
“Aye. The demons won’t take well to a human Clanlady, but I suppose that just means you’ll have to cow them into submission with your world-ending strength.”
Did he just say Clanlady? Vir thought, jerking out of his thoughts, his head growing hot.
“Very funny,” Vir replied tersely. This was neither the time nor the place for such jokes.
Vir gestured to the corpses littering the ash. “Cirayus, I think I know what these… creatures are. They aren’t Ash Beasts. Or at least, they didn’t used to be. They’re from the Human Realm. Cultists who call themselves the Children of Ash.”
“That right? Never heard of such a—well, now, isn’t that interesting?” Cirayus asked, kneeling to examine the symbol embroidered into their robes. The core of the symbol of the Akh Nara. “This is too similar to be a coincidence. It’s identical to the one on your chest.”
“I know. They hate the Primordial and they worship a Prana Swarm. Apparently, it’s deep inside the Ash somewhere.”
“They sound like lunatics.”
“They most definitely are,” Vir replied, recalling his encounter with the cultist at Brij. Lunatic was, in fact, the perfect word to describe them. But… crazy as they were, did they deserve such a terrible fate?
“How curious, though, that they would know of the Akh Nara. According to records, none of your prior incarnations ever ventured into the Human Realm. What could this mean, I wonder?”
“Really? They went into the Ash, but never to the Human Realm?”
Vir had thought one of his ancestors had entered the Human Realm, where he’d had an altercation with the Children which spawned their hatred.
“It may simply be that those records have been lost,” Cirayus said, stroking his long beard. “Or…”
“Or something else is going on here,” Vir finished.
“Aye, though speculating won’t get us anywhere for now. Tell me, lad. These Children of Ash venture here, do they?”
“Think so. They worship the Ash, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if their crazier members tried coming here at some point.”
Looking down at a deformed corpse, Vir suppressed a twang of panic. If Maiya had joined me…
This may very well have been her fate, doomed to walk the Ash forever. Death might’ve been less cruel. Images flickered through his mind. Maiya’s body twisted into a hideous form as she screamed in pain, her sanity burned away…
Thank the Gods she had the good sense not to follow.
By the time he’d recovered, Cirayus had already left, venturing into the maw of the enormous cavern that jutted from the otherwise featureless landscape. The skeletal remains of the great beast that once called it home peeked out, though most of it had been buried by the ash.
“Seems it’s been a while since this guy died,” Cirayus commented, touching a pale rib bone that extended nearly ten paces into the air and formed an arched skeletal shelter.
“What was it?”
“All I can tell you is it was enormous. Many beasts in the Ash have never been documented, nor even witnessed by sentient eyes. It looked like a nasty fellow, though it seemed to sleep most of the time. Your retainers and I—we snuck in here while it slumbered and got out before we woke the thing.”
“If you had to fight, who’d have won?”
“Lad, I don’t doubt we’d all have died gruesome deaths. As you saw with that Wyrm, many creatures in this realm far outstrip my strength. ’Tis one reason I find the humans’ power scale so absurd. If they knew—if they really knew of the horrors that lurked in this realm, you wouldn’t find nearly as many mejai strutting around, boasting about their arbitrary power numbers or titles. True strength is immeasurable. Real power is the ability to make your prey wither and flee by your mere presence alone.”
Vir had to admit, Cirayus had a point. Balar 1000, Mejai of Realms—even the Prime Mejai himself—what were they against a nightmare that was literally invincible, and could eradicate entire cities in minutes? It was easy to pretend they didn’t exist, crafting power scales that made humans look strong.
The reality was Balar 40,000 beasts did exist, and they didn’t care what titles or Balar Rankings their prey held. As Cirayus had said, they were closer to forces of nature. Something to survive, not ever anything to triumph against.
Cirayus had also said Vir might eventually become exactly that. Were he anyone else, he might’ve believed the giant, allowing his ego to bloat. But he knew well that the path to power was never so simple. If he wanted even a copper’s chance of getting there, he’d have to make sacrifices. Great sacrifices. The question was, how far was he willing to go?
“The ash has piled up far higher than anticipated,” Cirayus grumbled, entering the cavern and digging at the ash on his knees. The task had turned his hands and arms pure black, coated with soot. “Never planned on staying so long in the Human Realm.”
While the cavern shielded against the perpetual ash falls, much had blown in from the entrance over time. There was no escape from the ash in this realm; it got into everything, sooner or later.
“What was the plan?” Vir asked, taking a seat beside his godfather as he worked. “Did you intend to return to the Demon Realm once the war was over?”