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Kale
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Realm of Dreams
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The Realm of Dreams quakes against the feeling that rises in me, I feel heat coming off me in waves as I try to make the fire grow brighter, trying to turn it into a blaze to burn the demons and stop Valka. Everyone is depending on me, I cannot fail… I will not fail.
She laughs atop the mountain she has shaped, it barely registers, I am close. Close to pressing past some kind of boundary that holds me back. Vibrations rattle the air as I feel the boundary becoming taut. Something else intrudes into my realm now, something familiar.
Boom – The air cracks as lightning above strikes the ground near Valka. She looks upwards with a snarl, light forming in the clouds, from it I see the shape of the being swathed in light. The one who saved me from Malloc’s torture and from the venom in the Colosseum. The one Valka fought before, and won.
“I warned you not to interrupt my fun… False God.” She says, her smile half twisted in rage.
My body in the real world has stopped moving as Valka turns to face the clouds fully. The being swathed in light launches at them. Valka’s lips roll into a wide grin as she leaps to meet them, the air in the Realm of Dreams becoming awash with the energy of their blows. Time dilates back and forth as they slip in and out of my perception, their movements becoming too fast for me to see. Shockwaves when they collide.
The waters in the sea of my soul smash in waves against the mountain Valka shaped inside me. My eyes look to the disc in the sky that shows what happens in the real world. Time appears to have slowed down to a crawl, I see others I care for have joined Arrum, standing between those who do not deserve the wrath. Raising their arms outwards, speaking to me through their eyes, like bastions of hope in the darkness of our reality. I must break through to them, if Valka doesn’t kill them, Adonius surely will.
The being swathed in light slams into the ground now, the light that swathes them begins to flicker giving shape to their form. It is of a woman, her hair like Valka’s, flowing black, dipped in crimson at the ends. I can’t see her fully, her back is to me.
“You dared to face me again… dearest sister.” Valka laughs, raising her arms out “Here, where I have built a foundation and where you hold no power.”
Valka leans down to her, grasping her by the hair and speaking into her ear.
“You are unworthy of being called The Night Mother, unworthy of her throne.”
The heat from my soul is rising as the flame presses higher inside of me. I feel the boundary beginning to bow from the pressure. Hope daring to find breath inside of me.
“It was supposed to be mine, False God.” Valka snarls.
The woman she calls sister moves her hand towards me, extending it. Valka presses her foot onto it. Grabbing her up by the hair and slamming her into the ground.
“You will watch as I break the will of your new pet.” Valka cackles, raising her hand up.
Stone from the mountain jetting up from the ground trapping the woman in its grasp.
“As you always watch… Leora.” Valka says, now turning up towards the disc in the sky that shows the real world from my bodies eyes.
“He is different sister, surely you have felt it.” Leora says.
Her voice is surprisingly soft. Much different from the times I heard it before. It is strange to hear it now, stranger still to see what lies beneath the being swathed in light, and to learn her true name. My mind presses the thoughts away, the others will die if I stray from the task. My focus returns, pushing my will into the boundary, I can feel it bending more. I am almost there. The fire licking at the edges.
“That is what you always say.” Valka says, clenching her fist, tightening the stone on her sister “It is what you said about Amon and so many others.”
Leora says nothing as Valka laughs, walking over to Amon, pressing her foot against his head. He tries to fight but the other demons hold him down still.
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“Unworthy.” Valka says, then points to each of the demons saying the same until she reaches me, grasping my face “Unworthy.”
My focus presses past her words, the energy inside me is swirling, trying to find rhythm as the boundary stretches further.
“He will wake her.” Leora says, unable to turn around, still trapped in the stone.
Valka laughs loudly, moving back to Leora, grasping her face and moving to her ear.
“She will never wake. The Fates made sure of it.” Valka says, letting go of her face, moving towards the crest of the mountain “But please, keep sending me souls. I do enjoy breaking your toys.”
Valka’s face twists into a wicked smile, her canines sharp like fangs, pressing against the edges of her black painted lips.
“Watch closely now sister.” Valka says, looking up towards the disc that shows reality.
She brings her hand downwards slowly, my body in the real world follows her movements, bringing down the Black Edict turned blade of crimson wrath towards Arrum and the others. The demons hold me down firmly, but I feel strength rising inside of me, surging upwards. The will of my people rising with my own, becoming a blade swathed in fire to cut at the darkness.
Time dilates further, changing it’s flow to be even slower as my will rises higher the closer the Black Edict gets to those I hold dear. Every fiber of my being concentrating into the flame of my will. The force that holds my soul’s expansion back begins to crack as the words of Sage Artemius flow into my mind from my memories. The words he told me as a child, words that give rise to meaning.
A great man seeks to protect the honor of all. A great man will live by ideals that he crafts from the tribulations he experiences. A great man is unbeholden to the way of others, he carves his own path - no matter the cost to himself. A great man has the power to change destiny, a good man simply lives by what fate dictates.
The boundary which held me back shatters and I feel my soul rushing outwards.
Energy erupts from the center of my being, electricity arcing everywhere. The flame of my will spreads across my entire being, swathing me in it’s glow, burning the hands of the demons that hold me down, blasting them backwards, sending them to the ground shrieking from the light. The realm shakes like the roar of thunder as I stand. The waters in the realm of dreams glows brightly matching the blaze upon my soul, pounding in a storm against the mountain Valka shaped, cracking the foundations of it. Lightning strikes at the ground and the winds torrent around me.
Valka’s crimson eyes widen as she sees the blaze that continues to rise higher, her twisted smile leaving her face as her mouth hangs agape. The chants of the dead breaching the Realm of Dreams, as they begin coming towards the light, entering the realm of my soul, thousands of them from every direction. Giving strength to the flame with their hopes.
Jutarak – Jutarak – Jutarak
Bringer of Justice
The mountain Valka built shakes violently, something rises beneath it. Sending cracks down its sides, massive boulders splashing into the raging seas. The fire does not stop growing, it spreads towards the demons who hold Amon down. His eyes alit with purple as he looks upon the flame, all traces of crimson burned away as it washes over him, peeling back the remnants of darkness that once swathed him. His eyes hue now fully unobstructed by the crimson... are familiar to me. The flames erupt further, forcing the other demons to flee from it.
The top of the mountain explodes as molten rock pushes out, the tip of a colossal glowing blade rising from its crest.
The fire of my will engulfs the woman that the demon Valka called Leora, the light now slowly returning to her body, she turns to look upon me as her stone prison crumbles away. Something about her face is familiar, I have seen its likeness somewhere before. My mind focuses as the flames press further still.
The fire moves towards Valka now, her mouth warps into an open smile as the flames touch her.
“Worthy…” she breathes as the flames blast outwards, pushing her out of the realm of my soul.
I feel myself being pulled now towards the Realm of Reality, the flames of my will and the voices of the dead that gather guiding me to it.
***
Realm of Reality
***
My eyes open in the real world, before me is Arrum, Nekam and Neeba. Beside them I see Maki and Daki too. All of their Kuwathi eyes glow with bioluminescence, there is hope in them now as they see me taking back control. They search for answers I do not have time to give. Amon comes into my perception now, standing in my shadow, putting a hand on my shoulder, his eyes burn brightly looking towards the screams down the tunnel. I hear the laughter of the snake Adonius.
Looking down at my hand, I see it grips the Edict still. There is no pain from it, the will presses it back, forcing it to my command.
“Take them from this place.” I say to Arrum. My legs moving me towards the cries for justice.
“Where do you go Kada?” he asks as I pass him, the others parting to let me through.
They whisper prayers to their gods as they see the glow from my eyes. They are unnaturally bright now, in defiance of the darkness that would swallow all the souls here.
“Vedom Norum.” I reply in the old tongue, not stopping my movements.
My pace quickens as I feel Amon’s strength flowing into my bodies flesh, even without it, my body felt lighter than before, like something has begun to change in it. My muscles less fatigued, the air easier to draw in. My eyes feel sharper. The broken bones already fused back from when Valka took control. My pace quickens further, Adonius’s laughter drawing nearer. I round the corner now, the wind blowing my hair back as I move swiftly, I see hope filling the eyes of those I pass. Hands brush my shoulders gently as people make way. The song of my people’s blade beginning to strum its chords once more.
In the old tongue of my people, Vedom Norum means simply – To Carve The Path