“Good. Good. Now, follow me,” Cirayus said, falling into a brisk walk. While Vir had to Empower his legs slightly to keep up, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t manage.
“I must admit, I was wrong,” the demon said.
“About?”
“I’ve never seen anyone so afflicted by the prana density here. I’ve also never seen anyone recover so quickly, either. When you said you had recovered… I fear I didn’t believe you.”
“Oh, that. I’ve already learned how to deal with the ambient prana levels. But when I suck in extra to use a Talent…”
“Your body can’t handle it. Yes. Most take days, if not weeks, to truly acclimate. How did you adapt so quickly?”
“I just saturated the blood near my skin to match the ambient density all over my body. That acts as a barrier that prevents prana from worming its way in. Like a dam holding back water. After that, I just expel prana from the inside of my body. Either by activating Talents or by supersaturating the blood close to my skin and letting it bleed out.”
Cirayus stopped and stared Vir in the eyes. “Say that again.”
“Uh, which part?”
“You formed a layer of saturated prana. Near your skin?”
“Yes?”
“And you also lowered the prana density of your blood everywhere else?”
“That’s right. Why?”
“Lad. Nobody has that kind of prana control. I mean nobody. Not even me. The best I’ve been able to manage is to move prana at will around my body. That took four hundred years of training. Differentially adjusting density levels? Unheard of.”
“I see…”
Vir thought back to Maiya. She, too, had issues getting the prana in her body to do what she wanted. At the time, he’d assumed she was just on the slower end of the talent spectrum, and that other humans picked it up far quicker. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe it wasn’t so much that she was slow, but that he was fast.
“What else can you do with that prana control of yours?”
For the next half hour, Vir launched into an explanation of how he’d essentially inverted the process he’d used in the Human Realm—keeping prana out, rather than trapped within his body. He mentioned Prana Blade, Empower, Toughen, and Prana Channeling, all of which had grown stronger in the Ash.
The more Vir spoke, the quieter Cirayus grew, and the more his pace increased until Vir had to Micro Leap to keep up with the demon.
Finally, the giant spoke. “You see this tattoo?” he asked, pointing to the blue tribal tattoo that snaked around his chest and onto his back.
“That’s Balancer of Scales, isn’t it?” Vir shouted, falling behind momentarily. It wasn’t hard keeping up with the giant, but Cirayus’ smooth gait differed from Vir’s bounding one. As they picked up speed, that difference amplified the distance between them, unless Vir matched his pace perfectly.
At least I’m not falling over anymore, though. That’s progress.
It was easier said than done when each Leap launched him seventy paces at a stretch. Half his attention was occupied with fine-tuning the ability, and the other half on the ruins of the walls they passed. Cirayus must have caught him staring at the walls because he didn’t answer Vir’s question right away.
“Humans see fit to keep rebuilding their walls every several decades as the Ash expands,” Cirayus explained. “A foolish waste of resources, if you ask me. Better to man the Boundary with capable warriors instead.”
So these are ancient walls. Built by the hands of those long dead.
It was like looking back through time. The deeper they ventured, the older the walls became. They’d hopped over nearly half a dozen of them, and the oldest ones were so dilapidated that only their foundations remained.
How many centuries ago were these built?
“To answer your earlier question, this tattoo is indeed Balancer of Scales,” Cirayus said. “The Ultimate Bloodline tattoo of Clan Baira.”
“That’s the clan of giants, right? The one Narak the Destroyer hailed from.”
“Indeed. Demon tattoos run the gamut. Many can be used by any demon with the correct affinities. Take Aspect of Midwinter’s Embrace. It requires either Ice or Water as a base affinity, and optionally Life or Wind. Any demon possessing the base affinities can inscribe the tattoo on their body, and with practice, learn to use it.”
“Did you say either Ice or Water?” Vir clarified.
“Aye. Either works. Depending on the power of the wielder’s imagination, Midwinter’s Embrace can be used to summon terrible winds, launch hail at opponents, cause snowfall, or even freeze enemies. Of course, the affinities play some role in determining the breadth of possibilities.”
That’s interesting, Vir thought. It correlated with what he’d seen when Cirayus activated Balancer of Scales; it had used both Earth and Life Affinities.
That was already a significant deviation from human orbs. But the variety of attacks it could conjure was on another level entirely. Human magic was based on a single, basic spell. Ember, Arc, Water Dart. Simple and well-defined. Midwinter’s Embrace, on the other hand, sounded far more abstract. Manifesting different powers based on the wielder’s imagination was a foreign concept to Vir. If his hunch was right, it sounded stronger.
“Then there are the Regular Bloodline tattoos. Each clan possesses a handful of these. The only common trait is that one’s blood must primarily be from that clan. For example, your Dance of the Shadow Demon is an Iksana Regular Bloodline art.”
“You’re saying all the Iksana have it?”
“Not all, but many. Perhaps even most.”
Well… Hope I never have to fight any of them, Vir thought, recalling Cirayus’ warning about fighting others in the Shadow Realm.
“Besides Balancer of Scales, I possess the Bairan Giant Hide, Giant Grace, and Spirit of the Ravager tattoos,” he said, gesturing to each tattoo on his body.
“I’m guessing Giant Hide is like natural armor, and Giant Grace allows you to move faster?” Vir asked.
“Not quite. You’re right about Giant Hide. It’s why Bairans forego armor—just gets in the way. Giant Grace allows us to move with better dexterity. Generally, the larger you are, the more clumsy your actions seem to those of lesser size. Not so with us Bairans.”
Vir imagined the Narapazu moving as fast and with as much dexterity as he did. Terrifying.
“What does Spirit of the Ravager do?”
Cirayus scratched the back of his neck, looking almost embarrassed, though Vir couldn’t fathom why.
“That one… Well, it strengthens my attacks.”
Vir waited for him to say more, bounding several times across the Abyssal Flats, but the giant remained silent, almost like he hoped Vir would change the topic. The demon was hiding something, but Vir was more interested in the Ultimates, so he humored him.