Amdirlain’s PoV - Nepal Mountains - White Tiger’s Claw Sky Keep
On the second morning of the junior tier matches, Klipyl sat beside Amdirlain in their section in the upper stands. Jinfeng was below, meeting with other members of the sect she had fought beside years ago. As the day progressed, Klipyl wasn’t the only new arrival; various masters took up spots and, amid the racket caused by clashing Ki blasts, Master Cyrus sat down beside Amdirlain late in the day.
“Hello, Master Cyrus,” drawled Amdirlain. “Did word spread, or were you intending to attend the tournament this year?”
“I heard you’ve made quite an impression,” Cyrus said as he tucked his hands into his sleeves.
“Now, who would tell tales about me?” Amdirlain gasped playfully.
He tilted his head towards the Grandmaster’s box seat. “Let’s say someone who Grandmaster Indra Ka spoke with questioned someone else who spoke with me. Given what they said, I believe they might arrive soon, and it’s best to have someone beside you to curb him.”
That raises multiple questions, so let’s start with the easiest one.
“What was the focus of that chain of discussion?”
“About whether it would be worth the fee Indra Ka is charging to come here to watch an exchange of pointers.”
Amdirlain grunted. “I guess I’d better put on a show. Who is it you’re looking to curb?”
He rubbed a thumb along his jaw. “Let’s say the Third Lotus Prince is paying much attention to tales about you.”
“He’s among those that can travel to these kingdoms, I take it. Is there a particular reason he’s interested in me?” asked Amdirlain.
Cyrus nodded. “He is what you call a Primordial and represents misfits and youths. I can think of many tales about you that would appeal.”
Amdirlain snorted in amusement. “Fair point. Where are you staying?”
“I’ll return to my house in the western reaches each day,” advised Cyrus.
His Sword Light power isn’t teleportation, but it’s quick enough.
“Do you expect him soon?”
“I’m surprised he didn’t beat me here, so someone must have delayed him,” replied Cyrus before turning his attention to the combatants. “This group is noisy.”
“They seem to have forgotten how to use weapons,” noted Amdirlain.
Cyrus stopped and glanced towards the north; a pinprick of orange and blue flames had appeared amid the cloud. As he opened his mouth to speak, the source of the flames rushed towards them—an olive-skinned young man with black hair up in twin warrior buns. Six arms extended from robes of green and silver whose fabric frothed like waves about him, and he stood on spinning wheels of fire. A red sash swirled around his body, matching his rush of motion.
“It seems Nazha came alone,” sighed Cyrus.
“How much trouble can he be?” asked Amdirlain.
“He can be very impulsive, even more than you,” replied Cyrus. “I had hoped Quan Yin would accompany him to moderate his behaviour.”
With the utterance of his name, the man changed course. Instead of heading for the Grandmaster, he dove towards Amdirlain’s section. He was within metres of the stand’s bamboo edging when the flames disappeared and his momentum almost evaporated, allowing him to land gently between the rows of seats. As his feet hit the ground, those in the stand looking their way froze in mid-action, and the same stillness flowed over Klipyl.
He’s playing some temporal trick. How far does it reach? I’m not getting anything from the mental link with Sarah.
Nazha unabashedly grinned at Master Cyrus, “Hey, old teacher, I didn’t expect you to come along and intervene. Would you care to introduce us? She’s got a lot more oomph than you let on.”
“Nazha, please mind your strength.”
“I was five!” protested Nazha. “You always bring that up.”
What did he do when he was five?
Cyrus smiled at him. “I’ll stop bringing it up when you can behave more maturely than a twelve-year-old.”
“That depends on the twelve-year-old.” Nazha jabbed his upper arms to the east. “I know some who are born old yet won’t even come demon hunting.”
He’s certainly energetic. Did he want a twelve-year-old to come demon hunting?
“Yet you are millennia old and can’t outdo them,” critiqued Cyrus.
“Details,” huffed Nazha dismissively. “I’m still waiting for the proper introductions.”
“Others can overhear,” protested Cyrus.
“Nah, the stickybeaks can’t hear a thing. We’re just bobbing about between moments in time, so we can chat for a few centuries if I want and then carry on as if nothing had happened,” said Nazha. “Though chat is all we can do. We’re not in the old realm, so the bubble will pop if we interact with anyone or anything outside it.”
That explains why no one else is moving.
“Lady Amdirlain, allow me to introduce you to Prince Nazha, Third Lotus Prince and Marshal of the Central Altar.”
“Rude much, only using two titles,” huffed Nazha, and he pretended to wipe tears away. “He doesn’t love me anymore.”
“Stop being a brat,” sighed Cyrus.
Nazha bellowed in laughter so hard he pressed his lower arms across his stomach. When he eventually calmed down, he offered Cyrus a mischievous grin. “Go back to being properly Taiyi Zhenren, and I’ll behave.”
Cyrus frowned. “For a few heartbeats, perhaps, and that isn’t happening. His strength is a bastion in our old realm.”
“Fine, who is the other beauty?” Nazha casually waved the trio of hands on his right side to Klipyl.
“You interrupted my introduction.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“You asked for a proper introduction,”
Nazha rolled his eyes. “Please, this is me. You should have known better than to give a fussy introduction as a proper one for me.”
“I live with hope,” intoned Cyrus drily.
Klipyl snickered softly and returned Nazha’s wave. “You can call me Klipyl. Do I call you Prince Nazha or Nazha?”
“Nazha is fine.” Nazha looked Klipyl over, and his grin broadened. “I heard tales of a Kli. Did you replace your white ribbon with a bunch on your back? Or was that ribbon you wore at the outpost one of them?”
Klipyl chuckled. “My white ribbon got destroyed, and I decided it was time for a change, but it seems in my heart I didn’t want to let it go completely.”
“You’re the first servant of any Human deity from outside the middle kingdoms I’ve spoken with,” noted Nazha. “You certainly seem different from what I expected.”
“I’m very different from nearly all the celestials I’ve met,” Klipyl replied.
“If you’re visiting for the tournament, you should have spoken to Grandmaster Indra Ka first,” interrupted Cyrus.
“I’m not here for the tournament. I’m here for Am,” Nazha laughed, and he fixed her with a grin. “Want to go demon hunting?”
“Perhaps afterwards. At present, I’m here to support Master Lu Jinfeng.”
“You can’t help her in the fighting,” said Nazha. “Surely we can slip away and return when your exchange with Indra Ka happens. Let’s have some fun until then.”
I’m not letting Jinfeng down.
“I told Jinfeng I’d be here to watch her, and that’s final,” declared Amdirlain.
“The demons will endanger people,” Nazha argued.
“Don’t let me keep you.” Amdirlain motioned to the northwest. “I’ve already dealt with a threat from the Black Wind Calamity gathering Di Yu demons beyond the border of the kingdoms. A Wu Jen opened the corrupted prayer gate, and you’ll need to track him down at some point.”
Nazha and Cyrus looked at her like she’d grown a second head.
“What?” Nazha blurted.
“You shocked about Am’s name-dropping or causally telling you about a naughty boy?” giggled Klipyl.
“Both?” replied Nazha, glancing at Cyrus, who nodded.
“I had believed that no one could possess the capability to open a gate to Di Yu outside the Middle Kingdoms,” said Cyrus.
Amdirlain shrugged. “Kadaklan’s theory is that it was dedicated before the move and had a source of death to feed it. We had planned to raise the subject at the West Wind’s Court.”
“A gate inside or outside of the kingdoms isn’t good,” huffed Nazha. “But they’d take care of it and not share the fun.”
“Is it all about the fun for you?” asked Amdirlain curiously.
“Life is a constant source of fun, what with all the challenges and obstacles to overcome,” stated Nazha. “Would you tell me what you know about this Wu Jen?”
Amdirlain shared the details of the cavern, and Nazha’s gaze darkened.
“We lost more than one prayer gate during the scourge,” stated Nazha. He raised his hands before his mouth and exhaled yang flames across his fingertips. The fire twisted into a fiery eagle that rushed off to the northeast. “Báihǔ will hear your tale and feel my impression of it. He’ll have his guard scouring the west and then spread the tale along so all hunt for this Wu Jen.”
“That’s a better reception to the news than any of us had expected,” said Amdirlain.
Nazha smiled. “Some of the old folks can be a stick in the mud, but Báihǔ loves hunting demons as well. They always try to slip through loopholes and overstay their time on the material plane. Though if you’d spoken to Erlang Shen, he would have had you tied up in celestial paperwork, ensuring that no one heard anything further until he had confirmed your testimony.”
“Are you going to hold us in a bubble long?” asked Cyrus.
“I want time to chat,” grumbled Nazha.
“I’d suggest doing so in normal time and not trying to impress others,” said Cyrus.
“But Am transformed metres into kilometres to make her training hall, so I just wanted to show that I could do the same with time. Fractions of a second into hours is a fair contrast.”
When Cyrus glanced meaningfully at Amdirlain’s seat, she resumed sitting. Rather than focusing on Nazha, she watched the frozen figures in the circles, and Klipyl dropped onto the chair to her left. With the two ladies ignoring him, Nazha muttered unhappily, “No fun.”
As the world resumed moving, the Grandmaster and others rose and bowed towards Nazha. The deity cheerfully returned the greetings, and after waving to various people, sat behind Andirlain. “I’m not allowed to sit beside you?.”
“She’s more loveable,” replied Amdirlain.
“True,” Klipyl laughed happily.
Ice crept up Amdirlain’s spine. She opened her Profile, which, in its timeless state, could still feel Nazha’s movement behind her. She desperately dropped all her free points into Quickness and reformed against the railing of the section, facing Nazha and hoping she’d be fast enough. “Don’t.”
He was still in the second row, but his hand had dipped into a concealed pouch at his waist. “What?”
Amdirlain precognition showed her a glimpse before it shuddered away from the circlet’s power.
“You brought Sun Wukong’s circlet with you.”
“You didn’t?” gasped Cyrus.
“Wukong figured she’d pick up on it,” laughed Nazha. “You move fast.”
“As do you,” replied Amdirlain. “I’d appreciate it if you returned that headband to Sun Wukong.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Now, why’s that?”
“You move too fast to trust you anywhere near me with it.”
Klipyl frowned. “Are you looking to sour things between your pantheon and others? You trying to do anything to hurt Amdirlain will infuriate Lerina and Bahamut.”
Before she could blink, Amdirlain felt the golden band touch her forehead, and it clamped onto her skull. She tried to cast it off, but it glued to her skin, and in desperation, she absorbed it with inventory. The metal sunk without protest into the advanced form of a Soul space that Gideon had provided her upon her return; the energies within it burned inward. She could feel it dissolving into a molten form and the divine metal running over the deep scars that Ori had left, binding to the rough surface. Though she wanted to scream in rage, she smiled sweetly at Nazha and set a sound barrier in place.
The feel of the metal sparked memories of the Titan’s forge, and she realised she’d underestimated it—it was a Primordial material, not simply divine.
“That wasn’t a friendly move, Nazha.” Amdirlain's tone was razor-sharp with the pain.
Klipyl clenched her fists and stepped forward, but Amdirlain put a restraining hand on her arm. “He outclasses us both together.”
“This is an abomination, Nazha. That artifact wasn’t intended for Am’s enlightenment,” rasped Cyrus.
Nazha smiled sadly at Amdirlain. Suddenly devoid of his playfulness, he ignored Klipyl and Cyrus, “What we prefer isn’t always what we need. Do you not have flames that make the yang fires seem cold within you? As for you, Klipyl. As a servant of Lerina, I suggest you calm yourself and let the Lady of Dawn decide what course she wishes to take before threatening the wrath of your superiors.”
Amdirlain turned on Resonance, focused solely on what was occurring within her, and found the primordial metal layering across her Soul. Her songs scoured across it, trying to pry it away, but the metal drank in the energy and spread further. “Why?”
Phoenix’s Rapture and Mental Hardening all ticked upwards as Amdirlain waited on the Primordial before her. Engulfed in the molten inferno washing over her Soul, the source of the torment muted Pain Eater’s help.
“When you no longer need it, you’ll have the strength to be free of it,” Nazha replied sadly. “You have my apologies for the pain, but I’m told pain and growth go hand in hand for you.”
“You tried to bind me,” accused Amdirlain.
Nazha shook his head slowly. “There is no binding command within it for you. The only commands left relate to Wukong’s past. It is merely a material that is currently uncomfortable for you to carry. What use you find for it is now in your hands. Buddha created it, and the Titan is out of your reach, so you cannot gain anything similar to aid you.”
What need do I have for a Primordial metal coating my soul? It’s not even cooling. Yet I’ve already regained the points that Phoenix’s Rapture had lost birthing Protean.
I’ve done worse to myself, but they didn’t fucking ask.
“And you’ve no intention of telling me why?”
His additional arms spread helplessly. “Sun Wukong foresaw possibilities of where you would return it to him. In those visions, you declared it aided you.”
The net of Resonance spread through the section, and Amdirlain felt his restrained power hammering against reality around him. Though she could trace some adjustments his mere presence created, she could only deflect their waves.
For all my strength, I’m still a tiny fish, and the pond I’m swimming in is getting a lot deeper. If he wanted to bind me, he could have done so easily.
“You could have asked,” hissed Amdirlain, fighting to keep her thoughts straight.
“In the possibilities where you returned it, your acquisition was never a willing one, and those where you accepted it were bleak.”
“I’m getting rather sick of people deciding things for me.”
“Yet every day, people decide for those weaker than them without consultation. You’ve trampled on demons weaker than you and clashed with angels who you could now destroy. I made this choice knowing that if your wrath falls upon anyone in the Jade Court, it should be upon me,” said Nazha. “I know if you finish your journey successfully, you’ll be able to do worse than merely kill me, yet I’ll accept that so others might survive.”
“Why?”
“Youth is more than merely a time in one’s life. It encapsulates the concept of growth. If everything ends, then nothing will grow,”
Growth.
“If you’ve put a compulsion on me, do you think I’d merely settle for killing you?” Blood dripped from Amdirlain’s hands as her nails broke flesh in her fight to hold back her body’s urge to convulse.
“No, you’d destroy me.”
“Destroy you? No, I’ve got a worse fate in mind. Until the truth of this bears out, you’re now my prison warden, and I’ve billions of souls already that need fresh starts. You’ll be overseeing the old, giving way to the new.”
Nazha waved her off. “I’d make a terrible warden.”
“You just told me growth is important to you. Did you lie? I’ll have countless souls needing the opportunity for fresh growth and forces looking to steal it from them.”
“But...”
He might not care about himself, but the tales tell of a weak spot for his family.
“You chose for me, so how about I make some unpleasant choices for you? Or how would you feel if I dragged your father into this mess?”
“Leave my father out of this!”
“Didn’t you give up your first life to save your father from the Dragon King’s wrath, and he received powers to keep you from causing other damage?”
“Yes.” Nazha fidgeted nervously.
It seems he needed to keep you on a shorter leash.
“Maybe you should have consulted him after you spoke to Sun Wukong. I expect compensation for the agony I’m experiencing. If you won’t be my prison warden, I’ll devise a worse task for repayment. If you disagree with all my offers, I’ll take up the matter with your father.”
“No, no, that’s fine. Let’s leave him out of this matter.” Nazha waved his hands frantically.
“Let me clarify: you don’t get to pick the terms. I will offer tasks you can accept or not. I’ll allow no haggling, merely increasingly unpleasant tasks until you choose one.” The metal spread further, and the agony multiplied, staying beyond her ability to deal with it. Amdirlain wanted to scream but kept her gaze on Nazha and restrained herself to a sharp exhalation. “Understood?”
“Yes.”
“First, my arbitrator to determine if you fulfil the task is Eleftherios.” Amdirlain could barely sun hiss the words as the metals swept across the raw scars she’d been trying to heal.
Is it undoing my progress or cauterising wounds? I’d pay so much for the ability to black out. Atonement is still growing, but its planar core is stable enough to use.
The surrounding air cooled, and Nazha’s face paled. “What is that?”
Klipyl scrubbed her hands along her arms and fixed Nazha with a smile. “You’ve done it now.”
Amdirlain squeezed Klipyl's hand reassuringly, further restricting her mental link with Sarah.
“Who, not what! Death rarely gets to see to the demise of primordials. A warden is needed as I’m setting up a facility for the regrowth of untold trillions of dammed souls. The position requires someone with the strength to keep watch in case demons or dark deities come hunting my strange misfits.”
Nazha started to protest, only to stop and grit his teeth. “You’d hoist me around by my Dao?”
The pain raging through her burned in Amdirlain’s gaze, a golden blaze rimmed with iridescent flames. “Yes, I would. This isn’t a small matter, but what you’ve inflicted on me is beyond agonising. The device’s purpose was to control and bind, and it’s clashing with my nature.”
He briefly closed his eyes before he nodded. “Apologies.”
“There are rules I want to make clear,” Amdirlain snapped, and she projected her planned rules for Atonement and its intention. With effort, she kept her torture isolated from the information. “Those are my rules for the Plane. You’ll enforce them and protect the Plane from others until I can return the headband to Sun Wukong. Do you agree to uphold them in spirit and not just to the letter? It will mean giving your promise to Eleftherios, the Aspect of Death throughout the entire realm. He’s watching and witnessing now, with the power to override Judge Po.”
Nervously licking his lips, he nodded again. “Agreed.”
Blackness seethed across Nazha’s forehead and left a light-absorbing circlet in its place with Eleftherios’s sigil in its middle.
I was helpless to enforce that threat until he agreed. Now, it’s no longer a bluff.
“Agreed and witnessed.” intoned Amdirlain.
“What is this?” Nazha clasped his hands to the headband that had sealed itself to his brow.
Amid the torrent of pain cascading through her, Amdirlain managed a smile that couldn’t touch the coldness in her gaze. “It seems my former lover has a sense of humour.”
My? I guess it saves some explaining.
“But I agreed.”
“And he witnessed it and will enforce it. If this torment you’ve inflicted on me turns out to aid me, I’ll see to a reward and not a wrathful repayment.” Amdirlain held out an armband of gold crystal, tuned to the Nazha alone. The configuration required to allow him to access it gave her more insights into the planar tilt of the Jade Court relative to the outer planes. “Your key to enter Atonement. I’ll trigger the Plane’s device to gather dammed Souls, so you’ve work to do. Now I’ve got an extra curse to manage.”
I’ll need to do some construction work and move the purification facilities and the armoury to Atonement from the demi-plane currently hosting them.
“Wukong’s headband isn’t a curse...”
Amdirlain held up a hand. “Stop! My Soul is bathing in molten Primordial material, and you want to tell me it’s not a curse? While it might not give control to another, I already told you it’s inflicting mind-destroying agony. Do you want me to share what it feels like?”
Nazha inclined his head. “My apologies. I hope you are successful in promptly returning it to Sun Wukong. You’re so fierce. If I didn’t know where Jiutian Xuannü is, I’d believe you to be her reincarnation.”
From my reading of the paths, I see that Jiutian Xuannü is called the dark lady, goddess of war, sexuality, longevity, and fertility; that’s more than a little ironic comparison.
“Do you plan to sit with Cyrus still?” Amdirlain asked. Her eyelid twitched as she caught the latest in a flurry of notifications that shone within her mind.
[Phoenix’s Rapture [G] (157->158)
Mental Hardening [S] (99->100)]
“It might be safer if I go over and say hello to Indra Ka,” replied Nazha, the fingertips of one hand lingering on his new headband. In a blink, he was across the arena, stepping into the Grandmaster’s section.
“It’s said that wisdom comes with age,” rasped Amdirlain. Her attention yanked back to the metal as it washed around lines that reached between spirit and flesh.
Is it highlighting the connection points between my Soul and spiritual net?
“I didn’t know what he had planned,” breathed Cyrus.
Amdirlain nodded sharply. “I believe you. Your outburst when he retrieved it made that clear.”
“What happened, Sis?” asked Klipyl. “You spoke of the headband, but how did it get onto your Soul?”
“Nazha moved faster than any of us could see to put Sun Wukong’s circlet on me even after I refused it,” explained Amdirlain. “I pulled it from my flesh by storing it in an advanced soul space. It’s now lost its form and latched onto my Soul instead. I can’t pry it away, and it seems to absorb the energies of my attempts to do so.”
Klipyl rested a hand on her shoulder. “Should we leave?”
“Yes.”
Cyrus cleared his throat. “I’ll come with you if I’m welcome.”
Klipyl nodded and gently squeezed Amdirlain’s shoulder.
“We’ve got a few things to discuss,” said Amdirlain, and teleported Cyrus and Klipyl with her to the suite.
“Is Sarah around?” asked Cyrus.
“She’s off hunting today,” replied Amdirlain. “Hopefully, I have time to match Phoenix’s Rapture against this pain before she returns. Let’s talk about something else and help distract my brain.”
Cyrus nodded calmly. “What would you like to talk about?”
“It seems I’m not the only one around here hiding a secret name.”
“That’s not quite the case with me,” argued Cyrus. “My name has always been Cyrus. Taiyi Zhenren is someone else.”
“Nazha doesn’t have that impression, and I remember the name Taiyi Zhenren from the mythology of our old realm. Did Taiyi Zhenren rank as a God in your former realm?”
“Taiyi Zhenren still is a deity in our old realm. When the Yomi King took over the heavens and the Jade Emperor sojourned here, some of us remained behind, whole or in part. Taiyi Zhenren sent a shard named Cyrus to guide and mentor others to enlightenment, to be there for them as he had been present to help Nazha in his youth,” Cyrus explained. “I have my old memories and some abilities to conceal my past, but I’ve not a fraction of the strength I once possessed.”
“Why did he choose to remain behind?”
“Taiyi Zhenren, among many others, seeks to pry humanity from the Yomi King’s grasp,” replied Cyrus. “Why the curiosity?”
“I hoped you might have perspective on what it’s like to have a past disconnected from oneself.”
“True. In some ways, we’re not too different, yet we aren’t,” said Cyrus. “While we’re both fragments arisen from another’s choice. I resulted from accepting a task ahead rather than rejection.”
“That perceived rejection stung me. For a long time, it felt like she just wanted to leave the pain, and those who came later were an afterthought. Caught up in my pain, I missed her hopes. She wanted those who followed her to have a simpler life, with people who would love her and who she could love. Two out of three isn’t bad.”
“Do you want that simpler life?”
“Simpler isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m looking forward to making places for people to live, love, struggle and strive,” said Amdirlain. “I want to get to where it’s not about getting stronger, but where my life is about creation. You mentioned something earlier that I might need help with. What sort of ability do you use to conceal your past?”
Cyrus sighed. “It will not aid you once you’re free of your curse, as it requires an extensive awareness of one’s Dao, and its development path starts from a vulnerable mind that is slowly hardened under pressure, then coated with false impressions. While you’ve already undertaken the second, it wasn’t in the process of developing this technique.”
“What Power does it start from?”
“Immortal Spirit.” His brows lifted meaningfully, and she understood the doubt she’d implied with her questions.
Okay, he didn’t mention it because there wasn’t any point.
“Sorry, I see why you never mentioned it. I was curious, not casting doubt on you.”
Cyrus gave a worried smile. “Let’s focus on what you can do.”
“Yep, any options for Soul healing outside the techniques from the East Winds Court? Some of them might help with whatever inferno is raging now.”
Do I even want to go there now after the trick that Nazha pulled?
“Besides initial enquiries I’ve made on your behalf, I do have an idea,” said Cyrus. “Unfortunately, it’s because of the goddess whose name Nazha dropped.”
“Jiutian Xuannü?”
Cyrus nodded. “I wasn’t expecting you to name her.”
“Yeah, that horse left the barn with Nazha’s antics. Why her?”
“I hadn’t considered her in the past because of your admitted intimacy issues. Part of the capabilities she taught her followers was the concealment of the body, mind, and Soul. Their principal focus was on warfare, but you’ve got powerful enemies you’re battling,” clarified Cyrus. “She belongs to the North Wind’s Court, though I’m not sure how often she comes down to the earthly Plane.”
“Something to find out in the months ahead,” said Amdirlain.
“You’re not just leaving?”
Amdirlain shook her head. “I’m not sure yet, but I have a plan and enough reasons to follow it. I will spend some time trying to adjust to this pain. Klipyl, can you tell Cyrus about our fun trip and the Black Wind Calamity encounter?”
“Okay.”
Amdirlain retired to the main bedroom. The pain clawed at her mind, breaching past Phoenix’s Rapture and Mental Hardening; it tried to drown her in anger and agony, so she sat cross-legged, floating beside the bed.
Screw these self-restrictions, I need something to keep my mind busy.
She drilled past the torment threatening to drown her senses and opened thousands of tiny gates to Atonement overhead. With the light from that plane washing over her, she stretched out Resonance through its expanse. The rules within the planar seed had established a repeating pattern of enormous skyscrapers growing up from a grey stone bedrock. The steel-grey hexagonal structures wove a bleak honeycomb across the barren landscape. Their oppressive presence reminded her of the low-income buildings that the Matriarch on Qil Tris had allowed.
Though the inhabitants didn’t need shelter, the pattern allowed Amdirlain to organise the work to come. With the example provided by the prototypes tested in the Abyss, Amdirlain mentally allocated spaces for cleansing souls, their basic training, and the armouries. After shifting existing facilities into place, she had barely filled three of the mammoth structures. To avoid the need for future repairs, Amdirlain tied the crystals into the Plane’s mana flows.
Do I create more facilities? It’ll be a load of levelling progress. I planned to do it if I broke through to being a Primordial.
The inferno spreading across her Soul echoed the Abyss’s ascension process, and Amdirlain shuddered as she drew back from creating new crystals.
The gates above her refocused on the stellar project she’d begun with Gilorn, and within that blackness, melodies added to the mass of raw material. When she sang pain-laced notes, the only impact was additional momentum in the spawning atoms. In the late afternoon, Sarah returned and, without asking questions, held Amdirlain close and let her work, the creation letting her shunt aside internal agony. Within that expanse, new clouds of hydrogen and helium started to swirl around a focused mass previously set in place.