image [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/646bd9baef7e904ad31912d5/65d958110d4b603c592008f7/66425649a534261ce6bbf8fd/1715623515681/Akh+Nara.png?format=750w]
“It’s just… gone,” Vir muttered, kneeling. Ash fell through the gaps in his fingers. “How?”
“The Ash covers all, lad,” Cirayus said, putting his hand on Vir’s shoulder. “Not surprising any evidence would be long buried by now.”
The garrison that Vir had personally helped construct—the base within the Ash he’d trained his core group of two hundred—was gone without a trace.
“This isn’t the core of the realm, Cirayus,” Vir said, standing back up. “I can’t imagine more than a week going by. One week, and they’re all dead? Why didn’t anyone send word?”
“The Gate you established to Baira is close for us, but far for any normal demon. If they truly were beset upon by a horde or a City Ender, then I’m afraid there’s precious little chance anyone could have gotten out alive in time to send word, lad,” Cirayus said, placing a hand upon Vir’s shoulder.
“The Ashen Realm is a hostile place,” Ashani murmured. “Hostile to all life.”
Tara and Aida looked on with similarly grim expressions. Aida had arrived expecting to find a base full of demons requiring tattoos. Instead, they’d found… Not even corpses. Just ash.
And Tara? Vir glanced at the Naga, who was currently walking around the clearing. What would she think of this failure? Would she rescind her support to his cause?
Vir shook off the thoughts.
“No,” he said, brushing off Cirayus’ hand. “I will not believe that they are dead. There’s still the Gate I built. The one that leads deeper into the Ash. They could have fled there.”
“Fleeing deeper into the Ash?” Cirayus said. “Where the monsters are stronger, and the prana toxic? I think not, lad.”
Vir ground his teeth. He knew that. It’d be folly to delve deeper into this realm under attack. Yes, his demons would grow stronger, but that was only assuming they could survive the prana density. The beasts chasing them had no such issues.
“Tara, Aida… I apologize, but I must go through the nearby Gate,” Vir said, approaching the two. “The prana there is far denser, and so I understand if you do not wish to join us. You can either wait here, or I will return you both to Baira until I can determine what happened to my forces.”
Tara just blinked, while Aida looked confused.
“You’re serious?” Tara said.
“I know this is not what you were expecting,” Vir replied, looking away. “I fully understand if you wish to return—”
“We’re coming with, obviously,” Tara said. “Or at least, I am. I don’t want to speak for Aida.”
Tara glanced at Aira, and for the briefest of instants, flickered toward Ashani before refocusing on the giantess.
Vir kept his face neutral. Though they’d only known each other for a few hours, Tara still hadn’t even worked up the courage to look at Ashani. Let alone talk to her. Ashani, for her part, was allowing Tara to work through her issues and approach her when she was ready.
The situation wasn’t much better with Aida, though she at least managed a word or two to the goddess if absolutely needed. The truth was, not even Cirayus knew how to treat Ashani, and Vir suspected that problem would only grow worse the more people he introduced her to. He felt like her only friend right now, the thought that this state of affairs might last awhile yet saddened him.
Vir shelved aside those emotions for now. The matter of his troops was far more pressing. Ashani’s happiness would have to wait.
“I understand you’re eager,” Vir said, meeting both Aida and Tara’s gazes. “But you must understand that the prana there is entirely unlike here, or even what you and I dealt with during the qualifiers for the tournament. It may prove toxic to you, at least until you can acclimatize, and you are our primary healer. If you were to fall unconscious, we’d have to rely on Cirayus’ healing orb, which can’t compare to the Naga arts.”
Tara held up her hands. “I understand the risks, Vaak,” she said, using his tournament name. Vir had long ago resigned to allow people to call him what they wished. Not even fame and power were enough to change that. “I’ll test the waters—see how things are. If I can’t stand the prana, I’ll return. But do you honestly think any demon’s going to give up a chance to grow from high prana density?”
“Fair enough, I suppose,” Vir said. “What about you, Aida?”
“I’ll come, too,” she said. “I don’t like the idea of staying by myself on this side, and I sure as heck don’t want to return to the Demon Realm. Not until… Not until we know what happened,” she said, biting her lip.
“Alright,” Vir said. “Then let’s go.”
----------------------------------------
For several reasons, Tara hung back with Cirayus as the party jogged through the forest, moving as fast as they dared. Chief among them, however, was to get away from the twin reality-defying presences that were Vaak and Ashani, who’d raced ahead.
Despite Vir’s movement arts, however, the forest prevented rapid travel, unless he relied on Dance of the Shadow Demon. That would prevent him from guiding the others, so they had compromised and were moving conventionally.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
If jogging through a dense Ashen Realm forest could be called conventional.
“How are you faring, Tara?” Cirayus asked softly. Too softly for the Akh Nara to hear, she thought, but then again, who knew the extent of that one’s power?
“This level of prana doesn’t bother me,” Tara said. “It’s what lies through that Gate that does.”
“Aye, I imagine you may have a tough time of it,” Cirayus said. “Just remember your healing arts. Keep Yuma’s Embrace active. If there’s a silver lining, you’ll find no shortage of prana to work with.”
Tara nodded.
“That isn’t what I was asking, though,” Cirayus said after a moment had passed, a small grin on his face. “How are you faring?”
“If I’m entirely honest, I don’t quite know what to make of this situation,” Tara admitted, stepping over a gnarled root covered in soot. “Here I am, walking with the Ravager, the Akh Nara, and…” Tara glanced at the impossibly beautiful Ashani, once again fighting the compulsion to prostrate. “And her… It doesn’t feel real,” she concluded.
“Aye,” Cirayus said with a chuckle. “You’re not alone in that sentiment, lass.”
Aida, who’d been jogging alongside Cirayus, edged closer.
“On the one hand, I think of the absurdity of this group,” Tara said. “How, in all the millennia of demonic history, nothing even close to this collection has formed. And how, with the Akh Nara himself, a literal goddess, and you… How can he not oust the Chits? How can he not unite the realm and take it to heights it’s never even dared to dream of?”
“And on the other?” Cirayus asked, brow raised.
“He’s one demon. And a goddess. Sure, you’re on their side, and Thaman is too, but Baira, the clan, is not. Neither is Panav, even if we’re not openly hostile to his plight. He has no army. He has few friends… The odds seem impossible.”
“Aye,” Cirayus said, more somberly this time. “All that you say is true, lass. Nothing is known. Nothing is given. Even with the Akh Nara and a being from the Age of Gods.”
“I can scarcely believe it,” Tara said, shaking her head. “Count on Vaak to disappear for a night and come back from the Ash with a living, breathing goddess in tow.”
“She doesn’t…” Aida said, sneaking a glance at Ashani in the distance ahead. “Breathe, I mean. She said she’s an automaton. Like the ones you find in the Ash.”
“I’m sorry if you’ll forgive me for not believing you,” Tara said. “I’ve never seen an Automaton Guardian, but I’ve heard the stories. Ashani is nothing like them.”
“Agreed, lass,” Cirayus said, “though it does appear to be true that she shares the same basic construction. She is simply far more advanced. Advanced enough to be real. To be alive.”
“To think the gods could give life to someone like her…” Tara trailed off. Ashani was perfect. Beyond perfect. Not only was she the most gorgeous woman Tara had ever seen, she behaved just as Tara would expect from a goddess. Elegant, pure, all-knowing.
It made her feel just how insignificant she was, next to a being like Ashani. A being of literal myth and legend.
“We’re here,” Vir called, stepping through his Gate. “I’ve stabilized it again, so there should be no issues.”
Even from afar, Tara could feel the all-powerful force radiating from the Gate. Nausea swelled inside her, and she found herself tapping unconsciously into her healing arts. If things were this bad here, how bad were they on the other side?
More shocking—how did any of the demons Vir had brought here hope to survive in such an environment?
When he’d said his forces comprised only two hundred, Tara despaired. No demon could hope to conquer a city with so few, let alone a whole clan’s domain.
Warriors who trained in this much prana, though? Warriors who fought the sort of monsters who thrived in these lands?
Each of them could easily be worth ten, if not a hundred demons.
Tara shuddered. Not only out of excitement, and hope, that Vir’s troops were still alive. But also from anticipation.
How strong would she grow if she endured this?
----------------------------------------
Tara knew she’d underestimated the Ash the moment she stepped through the Gate into the forest on the other side.
Tara was a warrior. She was no stranger to pain and suffering, and prided herself on her innate resiliency, but this?
This was in another realm entirely. Her knees buckled, it was only the Ravager’s support that kept her from crumpling against the Ash entirely.
Out of habit, Tara reached for Yuma’s Touch, Panav’s regular bloodline healing art, and found it was almost immediately overwhelmed. Cursing herself, she then activated Yuma’s Embrace, Panav’s Ultimate Bloodline art that could bring its wielder back from the very brink of death.
She almost never used it because of its immense prana costs—most too much for most places in the Demon Realm. She’d been trained to rely on the much more efficient Yuma’s Touch. Here, though, where the prana was so abundant, it was training she would have to break.
Yuma’s Embrace worked rapidly, mending her body as fast as the surrounding prana destroyed it. It felt like a thousand pinpricks all over her body, never-ending. While the art kept her alive, it was nothing short of torture to endure.
And this isn’t even that much deeper, she thought, grinding her teeth.
“Will you be alright, lass?” Cirayus asked.
“I’ll livvvvve,” Tara hissed, suddenly realizing she’d reverted to her full Naga form at some point.
“Good,” Cirayus said. “I know what you’re going through. I know it cannot be easy. I will, however, have to ask you to tend to my granddaughter.”
Tara swiveled her serpentine head to the giant, who was on her knees, hissing in pain. It was a testament to Aida’s toughness that she’d managed even that. Without a healing art, Tara couldn’t even begin to imagine what the poor Thaumaturge was going through.
“What about you?” Tara asked, allowing Cirayus to scoop her up and bring her to Aida’s side.
“Sorry, lass,” Cirayus said. “But I’m afraid the healing orb I obtained in the Human Realm only goes so far.”
With as much pain as she’d been in, Tara hadn’t even noticed his departure, nor his Ash Wolf or the Goddess Ashani who left with him. That alone proved just how much pain Tara was in. Even now, with Yuma’s Embrace actively healing the damage, it was a fight to retain her wits.
To think Vir’s demons had no issues entering this space… It proved that time spent acclimatizing in the Ash was incomparable to anything demons in the realm managed. No wonder those who claimed the Ash as part of their name were so strong. Merely surviving here made one strong, to say nothing of the monsters that sought to kill everyone.
Tara moved to Aida and placed a hand upon the giantess. Ordinarily, it would be unthinkable for a wielder of Yuma’s Embrace to heal two at once. Most times, the prana consumption simply would not allow it, and when it did, the feat required such mastery that only those with centuries of experience could accomplish it.
Ever since she was little, however, Tara had been something of a prodigy when it came to the healing arts. It was why she’d been selected for the art. It was why she’d attained her current station in the Panav.
At least with Aida, Tara didn’t feel the pain. That would be Aida’s burden to bear.
Thankfully, the pain steadily abated with every moment that passed, subsiding from outright agony to a muted pain—so long as Yuma’s Embrace was active. Tara didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to her if she were to lose consciousness or be forced to stop cycling the prana.
Death would come quickly for both of them.
Just as Tara was beginning to think that the worst was over, however, the Ashen Realm proved them terribly, horribly wrong.
An unnatural groan rang through the forest, so loud, it reverberated Tara’s very bones.
All three looked up through the tops of the trees… and despaired.
For, standing in the distance was none other than a legend from the Age of Gods. A monster so deadly, they might as well have been a myth.
Standing in the distance were not just one, but two Automaton Guardians.