On the other hand, Vir had good reason to believe it was ripe with Ash prana. More than he’d ever experienced in his life. When put together, delusions began to form in his head. Of him wielding prana like the greatest mejai. Of fighting beasts with Balar Ranks that had far too many zeroes.
A living god.
He wasn’t sure when the idea really took root. Perhaps it was back at Daha, when he’d first learned the names Prana Swarm, Mahakurma, and Wyrm. Or maybe it was when the idea of entering the realm became something more than mere fantasy.
Vir couldn’t quite understand what he was looking at. A thick haze blanketed the air, almost pitch-black. It was like a fog bank of death had rolled in, reducing visibility.
No. Not death. Ash!
The electrifying realization sent shivers down his body. The prana was so dense, it resembled a thick cloud. When he looked closer, he noticed prana of all colors present in far more abundance than they were in the Human Realm.
But dominating them all, by far, was Ash prana. It soaked the air, giving it a heaviness that couldn’t be put into words. Perhaps those delusions wouldn’t be delusions at all.
Vir turned and noticed the Boundary was missing. The mesmerizing wall that pierced the sky was nowhere to be seen. There was only ash. Endless fields of ash.
His boots sunk into the soft material, coming up to his knees. The ash blanketed the ground, covered jagged black mountains that loomed in the distance, and fell from the dark thundercloud skies high above. He couldn’t tell whether it was day or night, but such concepts held no meaning in this place.
“Ashen power! Ah, how I have missed you!” Cirayus bellowed, raising all four of his arms to the sky. “Now, as I was about to say before you recklessly rushed inside, expect pain. A great deal of it.”
Vir had half a second to take in those words before the pressure pummeled him, as if Cirayus had just activated Balancer of Scales at its maximum setting.
No, worse. He couldn’t breathe.
Vir’s knees buckled. He put a hand down to stabilize himself but found that it, too, sank deep into the ash, coming away blackened with soot. To make matters worse, small ash particulates entered his lungs, triggering a violent coughing fit.
“Breathe, lad. Just breathe,” Cirayus said. “Focus inward.”
Despite willing himself to do exactly that, Vir found the task nearly impossible. It took all his willpower to suck in even a mouthful of air, and when he did, the ash entered his mouth, triggering another fit.
Mustering every ounce of willpower he had, he retrieved a cloth and tied it around his nose and mouth.
Breathing became even more difficult, but the mask at least blocked most of the ash.
Great. One debilitating problem down. Only a handful more to go.
His delusions of grandeur steadily slipped away like a dream that never had a hope of ever coming true. At this rate, he wouldn’t even get the chance to fight Ash Beasts in glorious combat. He’d succumb to the very air. That wasn’t just tragic… it was pathetic.
Vir didn’t understand what ailed him. And lacking that knowledge, he had no hope of finding a cure. Was this the prana poisoning everyone talked about? Or was it something else?
In a fleeting moment between the throbs of pain and his other afflictions, Vir noticed Cirayus hadn’t sunk into the Ash, but rather stood on top. Vir expected the giant to sink to his waist, given his weight.
Ah, right. Balancer, he thought, gasping for air. Each breath came heavy and slow and brought in only the tiniest amount of air.
Cirayus… wasn’t looking at Vir. In fact, the giant’s back was turned to him, his attention occupied with a swarm of black creatures that encircled them.
Scorpions! These were unlike any he’d ever seen. The one he’d plucked out of Maiya’s hair during their trip to Saran had been the size of a finger. These spanned easily two paces across, and there were dozens of them.
We’re doomed, Vir thought. Not even a minute after they’d entered, Ash Beasts had come to consume them. To say nothing of the fact that Vir was slowly dying of unknown causes.
If I’d come here alone… He gulped. It would’ve been a pitiful, miserable end.
He threw a concerned glance at Cirayus.
Vir shook off that thought. Cirayus was beyond powerful. While Vir floundered on the ground merely existing in the Ash, Cirayus had crossed the entire realm. He didn’t have the luxury of worrying about his guardian; if he didn’t come up with a way out of his predicament, he wouldn’t be worrying about anyone, ever.
“Control yourself, lad! It’s the prana. It’s trying to get inside you! Focus on that!”
Kinda hard to focus when you’re suffocating. It wasn’t just the drowning sensation, either. Pain wracked his entire body, like something was dissecting him with a million blades. The torment nearly robbed him of his consciousness.
Then again, he was no stranger to pain and hardship. Vir fell into himself, shoving the pain into a dark corner of his mind. Through sheer willpower, he forced himself to think. To analyze.
With the barest hint of blood circulation, Prana Vision activated, surprising him how little prana was required. He turned it inward… and immediately discovered that Cirayus was right.
Prana was rushing into his body at an alarming pace. Worming its way inside. The skill he’d developed to prevent prana from leaking out was now working to his disadvantage, pulling prana in at an alarming rate. His blood wasn’t merely supersaturated… it was hyper-saturated, and with every moment that passed, more and more of it filled him.
I’m going to burst at this rate.
Vir canceled the technique he’d dubbed Light Touch, which held his prana inside his body.
The pressure subsided, but it was as if he’d closed the water tap to an ocean that weighed down on him. It was progress, but the ocean was still there, crushing him.
Thinking quickly, he attempted something he’d never done—never been able to do—in the past. He actively purged prana from his body.
When he’d rid his body of prana against the Prana Swarm at Daha, he’d simply canceled Light Touch and let the low Ash prana density in the air do its thing, sucking him dry.
Here, he had to actively push the prana out of his body. Learning new prana manipulation techniques like Parai’s channeling pattern ordinarily took him hours, if not days, but times were desperate.
Wait, Parai’s technique? That might work!
He had no evidence to support his harebrained idea, though it certainly made sense. Prana Channeling boosted his vitality by pulling prana from the ground quicker than normal. If he reversed it…
Vir activated the ability, but he did it backwards, flowing prana in the opposite direction the ability usually called for.
It wasn’t easy. The pattern had grown into something like muscle memory for him, and changing it up took significant mental effort.
But he did it. And it worked.
Instead of improving his vitality, he felt even weaker than before, but sure enough, the rate at which prana entered his bloodstream slowed, then stopped, and finally began to purge.
Purge! That’s it!
Vir fired Prana Blade blindly, accidentally lopping off the head of an unfortunate scorpion. The power surprised him, but the scorpion had been a full five paces away.