December 21, 9:35 PM
Cloud Sector, Plane: Earth
“James?” His father, lips pressed together, watched him devour the rest of the meal in a flurry of bites, then he took his empty plate and set it aside on the ground.
Rich folded his chair after James stood up, leaning it against a wall. “Go to the back. Don’t come out until we come and get you, okay?”
James threw his arms around his father. “Okay.”
Rich watched him run through the aisles, raising his voice and addressing the door. “Who’s there?”
A honeyed voice replied. “Have you now what you promised us?”
Claire looked over to Rich and Lindy, her hands pausing in the air. They accepted the talismans she offered, sliding them into pockets.
“And what if we don’t?”
“Then I suppose we’ll have to take it from you.”
Rich placed his shield firmly on the ground in front of the door. Lindy stood behind him with an an arrow nocked on her bow, and Claire stood to the side, an energy blast prepared.
An illusory wall of steel expanded from Rich’s steel, just in time to catch chunks of furniture and metal as the doors burst inwards.
The woman that had been speaking strode in, hexagonal panes of light floating around her. She let out a maniacal laugh.
“Are you sure you want to fight us?” She posed to Rich, a trio of people holding spears streaming into the room behind us.
“I’ll never give you my son.”
Claire, hoping the woman would shut up, told her just that. She raised a brow and narrowed her eyes at the remark. “Where’d you find that one, Richie?” She tilted her head towards Claire, after which the spearmen advanced at her slowly. “Oh, it’s not like your other side piece will live long, anyway— I take it you don’t want to play nice, then?”
“No.”
Claire jumped backwards, pouring more energy into her spiritual shield spell as the spears crashed into it. Lindy sent arrow after arrow at the intruder, but panes of light would materialize to stop the projectiles.
“I don’t want to kill you,” Claire said to the warriors still striking her shields. “Please don’t make me.”
A strange voice emerged from the three men— almost as if many were speaking at once from one body. “You think you can win?” They laughed.
December 21, 9:36 PM
Cloud Sector, Plane: Earth
Clearstar wasn’t a big fan of the cold.
The winds blew sharply across the monastery’s open courtyard, the monks that normally trained there now strangely absent. In front of her sat an old man in a traditional set of robes.
She hovered a few inches above the ground, streams of white fabric fluttering behind her into the wind. The monk, still cycling his prayer beads with his eyes closed had not yet sensed the cultivator’s presence.
His breathing was deep, his chest rising and falling with each measured breath. Clearstar took a moment to appreciate the monk’s meditation. Watching the chi in the air swirl around and into his temple, she could sense the exact moment when he broke through.
“Benefactor,” he intoned as his ancient eyes opened. “To what does this one owe this visit?”
“Heavenly Mirror,” Clearstar replied, “Abbot Tianjing. You have done it.”
“This one admits he is at disadvantage, benefactor.”
“I have spoke to you prior, Tianjing. You may call me Clearstar.”
He nodded, letting out a hum of acknowledgement. “If you wish it, benefactor, we may discuss inside, away from the cold?” He gestured towards a structure to the side, taking a step towards the unadorned building.
Not wishing to refuse his hospitality, Clearstar floated lightly to the ground to walk with the abbot. “Thank you.”
They walked silently across to the building. Abbot Tianjing invited her in, excusing himself to a back room before returning with a set of ceremonial china. A trickle of water materialized out of thin air, and Tianjing washed his hands before he flicked his wrist. A set of incense sticks began to smoke, and the lanterns all lit up in sequence.
Smiling at Clearstar, he pulled a selection of tea leaves out, presenting it to her on a small plate. She nodded, after which he conjured another stream of water above the tea pot. The crystal clear liquid fell from over his shoulder gently into the purple clay pot, preparing it for the leaves that he put in to steep.
He fell silent, listening to the boiling water in the pot, like a mountain stream bubbling as it descends from the next peak. After he deemed it sufficient, Tianjing scraped the bubbles off of the surface of the water, letting it evaporate into the air around.
He poured the first steep into the teacups, warming the china before sweeping it all up with a burst of chi. It gathered into a ball, vanishing into air after a few seconds. He added more water, the clay pot overflowing slightly, after which he put the lid over and let boiling water sprinkle over his hands on the outside of the warm stone.
When it was ready, he drained it into a pitcher, pouring out a clear black liquid for Clearstar and himself into a tall cup. She pressed her palms together, accepting the drink. He sat down then, lifting the tea to his nose.
“Does this tea please you, benefactor?”
She swirled it in the cup, taking in the smoky, floral scent of the black tea. “It is excellent, Abbot.”
“This one is pleased,” he replied. He swept her teacup into the air along with his with a small gust of wind, moving the proper drinking cups on top of the ones the tea was already in. With a flourish, he flipped the cups around, returning Clearstar her stacked cup.
She tapped the table once with her finger in a show of respect, before lifting the thin cup upwards. The tea, now shining with the slightest tint of blue light, poured out into the bigger cup. She lifted the cup with Tianjing, smelling it again before finishing it in three sips.
“The taste is as wonderful as the smell, Tianjing. Where did you find it?”
“A dear friend, from the south, gifted this to me after I saved his fellow brother’s life. He wished me save it for a special occasion.”
“I see. Shall we drink and talk, then?”
He poured her another cup. “Yes, benefactor.”
“You are a Monk, correct?”
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“Yes, benefactor. I am but a humble monk.”
“No, a Monk.” Clearstar snapped her fingers, a series of sparkles trailing from her hand. “Not a regular monk.”
He chuckled, taking a sip of tea. “The powers of the system are but another tool to us. A monk, or a Monk… these trifles are no matter to this one.”
“It matters, Abbot. And I am certain you will come to agree.”
“Oh?”
“You are familiar, of course, with chi.”
“With chi, benefactor?”
“You may think of it what you want, but I think chi would be most apt for you.”
“As the ancients say, ‘Dao from which is born, the unmanifested Chi. Chi which gives birth to the Yin and Yang.”
Clearstar nodded. “And from Three—a dynamic Chi appears cycling in harmony. And from Three, creation unfolds and all things are born. By blending the Chi they achieve harmony.”
“You are well-read, benefactor.”
“The ancients speak of many. Yet, you, Tianjing, are closer to this goal than they were.”
“Apologies, benefactor. But what is this goal but another step on the journey towards the Tao? As the saying goes, there is a greater mountain beyond this one, and greater heavens beyond our own sky.”
“True also, Tianjing— thank you.” Clearstar lifted her cup, pausing. “Then I suppose you are at the limits of this first mountain, then.”
He began to speak, then cut himself off abruptly. “This… energy in the world, benefactor. Is this the chi the Ancients spoke of?”
“This energy, Tianjing, is chi. You stand now before the realm of Chi. You understand how to progress, but you have no way of doing so, correct?” She sipped at her tea.
He set his cup lightly on the table, a troubled expression on his face. “Benefactor, who are you so wise in these ways?”
“I am Clearstar. And I work for us all.” She set her cup down also. “Can you sense chi in the air?”
“Yes, yet, benefactor, what do you…” He was cut off as his mind and body felt suppressed by an overwhelming force. She withdrew her spirit before a second had gone by, but the old monk’s eyes stayed distant, glazed over, for half of a minute before he regained his senses.
“My apologies for my spiritual sense, Tianjing. But I must ask you truly to trust what I tell you to do. There will be a time where this all makes sense.”
“Benefactor, this one understands. What do you wish me to do?”
“You will know how you stand amongst your peers by dawn. You must simply grow stronger.”
“As you command, benefactor.”
“You currently are at what we call, the peak of the first Realm. Once you break through into the second Realm, you will have the right to call yourself a chi practitioner.”
“What must I do to become a chi practitioner?”
“Your knowledge of chi and strength of spirit is sufficient. Your body and mind also, are sufficient to make this breakthrough.”
“My meditation, then?”
“That is your most powerful Skill. Right now, Tianjing, the only thing holding you back is yourself.” Clearstar finished her tea, pushing it towards the center of the table. She turned towards the open window, looking at the sky. “Once you defeat yourself, you should take these pills.”
She slid the abbot a stone container with three white pills inside. “They are pills to aid you through Body Forging. You must rebirth yourself in chi.”
“Yes, benefactor.”
“And remember,” Clearstar stood up, folding her sleeves over herself. “Body and spirit embracing the unity of chi— can one be without separation?”
Her voice and form faded away as a breeze flowed through the open window. Abbot Tianjing sighed, taking another sip of his tea.
He repeated what she told him, committing it to memory.
“Body and spirit embracing the unity of chi— can one be without separation?”
The strength of Clearstar… to make him feel so small. Like watching a crashing wave about to slam into you move closer and closer, unstoppable. It was impersonal in the same way that a distant explosion of a star is impersonal. Impersonal, yet close enough to leave massive ripples.
“Body and spirit embracing the unity of chi.”
Tianjing closed his eyes, letting the empty blanks of his eyelids be replaced with a calm void of black. He breathed in and out, feeling for the chi that he knew was in the air. He watched as thin streams of mist danced around his mind, responding to only his lightest of touches.
“Embracing the unity of chi.”
No… that wouldn’t be the way. He was chi. The ancients said so, that all comes from and returns to it. He expanded his mind so that he covered his body. Then, to the world beyond.
The control he felt tapered off sharply as he met air. But it was his… spiritual sense, as Clearstar had said. He could feel it!’
He took grasp of his spiritual sense, expanding it to cover all of his body. Then, his mind felt sucked into some kind of tunnel as some kind of strange feeling overcame him.
“The unity of chi.”
He stood on a wide open Expanse, where a man holding a sword and wearing a breastplate stood. His skin was made of orange mist, and light seemed to bathe him from all sides.
Tianjing looked at himself, wearing his robes and holding his prayer beads. He took a step forward to meet the guardian. “Hello?”
December 21, 9:38 PM
Cloud Sector, Plane: Earth
Claire’s talisman wrecked those spearmen. She was pretty sure they weren’t even real people. Drones or minions of some kind.
Which was troubling, if she thought of it. If there was some kind of weirdo summoning robot drones, they could probably make more.
Doesn’t matter, she thought as she flung a set of energy blasts toward the woman who was fighting Rich and Lindy. Panes of light in the air intercepted her bolts, and Claire shrugged.
“I hate you stupid wizards!”
The woman turned around, giving Claire a strange look. She raised an eyebrow, sending a shard of light shooting at Claire. It shattered on her own shield, but the woman said to her, mocking, “I hate you stupid wizards too!”
“Rich, I think we should get rid of her.” Said Claire. “She’s no fun.”
He grunted, letting a hole in his barrier form as an arrow from Lindy streaked by. It shattered on a cluster of solid light. “Agreed.”
He activated an ability, his shield glowing white and holding firm in the air. A spectral shield appeared around Claire and Lindy, and Rich’s one-man shield wall looked to be anchored into the ground. He reached a hand into his pocket, taking out a talisman before throwing it at the woman.
Her barriers stopped most of the attack, but one bolt managed to make it through, knocking the wizard backwards.
“She’s… so squishy.”
December 21, 9:39 PM
The Expanse
Tianjing realized that the armored man did not like words much.
It leapt forward, activating some kind of ability with its weapon. It tore straight through the first earthen wall the monk erected, and crumbled the second before it was stopped.
At least it wasn’t fast. Tianjing thought it would be a challenge, but definitely not a life-threatening one.
A part of him wondered why he was transported into this area after his revelation, but most of all he wanted this over with so he could digest what he had learned from Clearstar.
There was a wealth of information, there. His juniors and fellow brothers surely would appreciate the advice, and stronger people make for stronger groups.
Tianjing turned a bead over in his hand, calling forth a ball of fire to shoot at the attacker. It exploded on contact with his sword, the orange light dimming slightly as the fire dissipated. He shifted over to wind, launching a flurry of wind blades at the orange construct.
Those were easily parried by the sword, and unfortunately did not stop the assailant as much as the fireball did. Though the sword had some notches cut into them by the wind blades, Tianjing was forced to retreat further and hide behind some earthen walls before ready to engage with the enemy again.
He didn’t think water would be an efficient way to attack a being made of light, but he gave it a try anyway. The water arrow he shot split in half around the defending sword, but both made it to the construct.
Bursts of orange light fell from the construct’s form after the water arrow hit. It shifted around in place silently, dimming itself overall but the cuts healed.
Tianjing was an old man, but he reckoned himself quite the fighter back in the day. His quarterstaff lay unused in his age, his current Monk class being more suited for meditation rather than the fighting some of his junior Warrior-Monks were inclined to.
Still, he lit his staff aflame with his magic, making two strikes in succession against the orange beast. The sword blocked one, but the other strike left a great gash on its knee.
The construct leapt backwards, healing as it flied, but Tianjing reacted by throwing a bolt of fire at its retreating form as he jumped forward to follow it with his own staff of flame.
The fireball hit on the shoulder, blasting half of the guardian’s sword arm off. It shifted swords to the other hand, healing its arm as it did so, just in time to catch a flurry of attacks from the abbot’s flaming quarterstaff.
The abbot wore the guardian down, systematically. Whenever it would use its sword ability, Tianjing would just retreat backwards and erect earthen walls to stop the attack. In close quarters, he would alternate between his flaming quarterstaff, a water arrow, or a manipulation of the earth beneath to force his opponent to trip.
The final blow, a water arrow through the neck shattered the dim construct into a thousand motes of orange light. The motes stuck around in the air, clinging onto Tianjing’s form as the rocky ground faded away. The orange turned into a clean blue, falling off of his body as his looked around.
Tianjing’s spirit floated in a sea of nothingness, streams of rainbow and blue chi intertwined with each other. He willed there to be land, and then he stood on a replica of his mountain peak. Falling down on the ground, he willed his spirit to fly, and fly he did. He circled in the air, delighting in the feeling before chiding himself and descending to the earth.
He walked into the courtyard, the decorations and scenery fading away into a simpler scene.
The chi twisted and flew about the center of the sea of nothingness, where nine portals floated. One, the first Realm, he knew, was light.
A concept filled his mind as he gazed into the first Gate. An image of the vast, unending field of stone he fought the guardian in appeared in the center of the bright portal— to the Expanse.