“Begone foul demon! Return to the hells where you belong,” Tantra yells as she points a wooden blade at the woman in front of her, the woman puts on a sly smile.
“Simple fool,” she says, “you have eyes, yet you do not see. You have ears, yet you do not hear. This place you call home is just another layer of the hells, and I have simply returned to my home.”
Tantra gasps, “Lies! You lie, demon!”
The woman cackles “strike me down then oh noble cultivator, take your blade and drive it through my heart. Kill me, and I will simply return.”
Tantra hesitates, but hardens her resolve, “then I will kill you then as well.”
Tantra charges with a war cry and swings her blade, the woman dodges and rushes in bearing down on Tantra and tickling her sides, Tantra loses her blade and starts laughing hysterically.
“Ral, stop!” Tantra manages.
“I am not Ral, I am Rolinda the demon of lost memories!” The woman declares, continuing to tickle Tantra, “and you are at my mercy!”
Tantra laughs and laughs until she’s out of breath and Ral lets her go, Tantra gets up shakily and faces the woman with a pout.
“You said no tickling!”
Ral puts a finger on her lip, “did I now? I don’t seem to recall.”
Tantra huffs, “of course you don’t”
Ral chuckles and it is the perfect melody of a proper lady, “now now Tantra, don’t be like that. I promise not to do it again”
Tantra crosses her arms and glares at the woman.
“I’ll pay for a meal at Goruks” Ral offers with a slight smile.
Tantra perks up immediately, “With extra beef in the noodles!”
Ral chuckles, “come now Tantra, we don’t want you getting fat. A woman’s figure is their pride after all.”
“It is a worthy sacrifice,” Tantra nods solemnly, “only the best noodles can be served at my table!”
“Tokar won’t be happy,” Ral points out.
Tantra’s enthusiasm peters out, “papa’s fat, why can’t Tantra just enjoy her food like he does?”
Ral shrugs, “a merchant lives and dies by their image, Tantra, and being a young lady you can’t just drape yourself in gaudy jewelry and expensive perfumes like the men. You have to actually pay attention. It’s not fair, but life rarely is.”
Tantra kicks the floor dejectedly, and Ral gives her a warm smile and pats her on the head.
“Come on my little merchant, let’s get the others, it would be rude not to invite them.”
-
Toka examines her arm meticulously, having her stretch, flex and extend, and then tapping portions of her forearm with some kind of small hammer. She felt a little pain from that, which apparently means there are still fractures, but overall…
“You should be fine to train,” Toka says, “though next time kindly avoid breaking your arm from the inside out.”
Tantra chuckles nervously, “apologies healer Toka, I let my anger at my opponent overwhelm me in the moment, it won’t happen again.”
“It likely will,” Toka sighs, “but that’s what I’m here for in the end, so you kids can do your reckless crap with a safety net.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“And you have my gratitude for it,” Tantra bows.
Toka waves her off, “off you go now, I have other patients I need to see today.”
Tantra raises a brow, “even with the…reduced population?”
Toka purses her lips, “cultivators always find new and inventive ways to hurt themselves, and I see the peasant servants as well.”
“All of them?”
Toka nods.
“That’s a lot for just four healers,” Tantra says.
“Eh, it furthers our daos, so it’s worth it” Toka shrugs.
-
Aim, thrust, reset.
Step, slash, reset.
Observe, block, reset.
She goes through the motions of her spear form fluidly, surrounded by other disciples practicing with their respective weapons. Only Tantra, Yorin, Kisrin, and Etra still carry spears, everyone else moving on to whichever weapon they found cool. Tantra’s pretty sure that’s how children base most of their decisions. Ignoring, of course, that she is also a child. Master Jorin stopped correcting them after that first month of practice, of which Tantra only got two weeks, directing them to the library to search for proper weapon forms. Tantra got a book called the serpent’s snare, which mostly focuses on defence and devastating blows that have to be set up like a trap. She mostly got it for the defence.
Kisrin and Etra are practicing something related to speed, while Yorin is just sticking to the basics, not really putting much effort into the spear. Which is a shame, it’s a pretty good weapon.
Good enough for proper cultivators? She remembers how the first bandit she fought seemingly shrugged off a punctured lung as though it were a mere inconvenience. How would the spear fare against proper spirit beasts? Or cultivators of greater power? Will she ever find herself in a situation where this even matters? She finds herself contemplating this a lot after Rakan’s advice. But does she want to go with a brute’s weapon? Does it matter? Only personal instruction from Jorin himself could top what she was offered. The assistants are each and all on the cusp of becoming inner disciples, they just need to take that final step and anchor their souls. Getting personal instruction from one with so many years of experience would be worth the price of using a…less than desirable weapon.
She sighs as she makes her decision.
-
Mongrels are, in essence, proto-spirit beasts. Regular animals changed by Qi, but not so much where they could be considered distinct from their species. Strength varies based on the animal, but generally they aren’t that much stronger than their mortal counterparts. They are, however, much more aggressive.
The three of them approach the buck. Clomping its hooves and waving its antlers, it grunts and huffs as it considers them. Yorin goes to stab it. The deer jumps over to him knocking the spear away with its antlers, charging at the boy. Just before it bowls him over, Tantra and Kisrin manage to stab it in its hindquarters, eliciting a pained bleat as it jumps away. Blood flows freely as it lets out a rumble from its chest, head low to the ground and watching. The three of them get back in their triangle around the deer slowly approaching as it stares. Then it jumps for Tantra, who pulls back her spear just before it knocks it out of the way and drives the weapon deep into its chest.
The deer lets out a bleat that overtakes the forest as Tantra holds it still for Kisrin and Yorin to impale. The beast goes limp and lifeless as one of their spears pierces its heart. Tantra lets out a slow breath as she calms her racing heart.
“We did it!” Yorin shouts with ecstatic joy.
“Indeed we did, a decently sized one as well,” Kisrin adds as he rubs sweat off his brow.
“Well, this one hopes her honourable peers are satisfied, that was horrifying.” Tantra says.
The two of them chuckle, “come now Tantra, you’re not so much of a coward as to be frightened by a deer.” Kisrin says.
“This one is, in fact, that much of a coward,” Tantra asserts.
Yorin rolls his eyes, “sure, Tantan, sure”
Tantra looks scandalized at the boy, “have you been speaking with Ranya?”
Yorin lets a devious smirk sneak onto his face, “she has a funny taste for nicknames, you know what she calls master Karr?”
Tantra shakes her head,
“Jojo,” He says.
Kisrin scrunches his brow, “now that’s just bizarre”
-
Conflagration.
It is…beautiful.
He is in the centre of a blaze, enraptured by the sight of the living flame. For it must be living, only something alive consumes so voraciously, only something alive could display such graceful motions, only something alive could destroy so wantonly. That is the purpose of fire, destruction, but also purification, a new beginning.
He brought to this village a new chapter, for it to grow and prosper and gather kindling for the next burn.
Is he not a benevolent god?
To so freely give such a gift onto mortals.
He basks in the flame and heat, taking in a deep breath of charred wood and cooked meat.
“Ahhh,” says the bonfire, “what a beautiful flame for a beautiful day.”