Chapter 15:

             4 Days After Winter’s Ending, 1 Day After Spring’s Beginning

                   260 Days After The Ra’tok Attack Amia Village

                           Traezar Empire, Between Coskana and Tarna

I wake up slowly. It takes me a second to remember why I am not in my bed in the Talri clan.

Standing up, I stretch to get my muscles refreshed. They are stiff from the yesterday’s events.

If I want to make it out of the Empire, I’m going to have to go to coskana. Hopefully I can buy supplies there, and find where to go.

I look around me, at the dense foliage and trees. I’m an idiot.

Taking my best guess, I start walking in the direction I hope will eventually lead me to a road.

My time experimenting with different Gray katra imprints was enlightening. I learned that I can only imprint my Gray katra with what I understand intricately, like water or fire. I cannot re-imprint the katra, nor can I un-imprint it.

I spent a large portion of my time playing with the Gray Water katra. I tried to make a seperate imprint that was ice, but I couldn’t get it to stick. I eventually figured out that if I focus on the water imprinted katra, I can turn it to ice.

Theorizing, I can imprint basic elements, like earth, fire, air and water. Probably other things as well, I haven’t tried everything I can think of. From what I have understood, I can use the base element imprinted katra to make more complex types.

Like earth with fire, makes magma. Or even fire with water makes steam. Now I just have to figure out what combinations make what, and figure out ways to use them.

The dense, life imprinted katra is still a mystery to me. It act more or less like my normal Gray katra, but I get the distinct feeling it can do far more. The chimeras that the Controller created are an example of what I’m hoping I will be able to do.

I stored the imprinted katra on the outer layer of my core. The Gray Air katra I made refused to be stored in the crust, but it strangely stuck close to the surface of my core.

The Gray Earth katra liked to lump together, and much like the Gray Air, refused to be stored in the crust with the life and fire imprinted katra. I made a sizeable amount, spreading a thin layer of it over the surface of my core. I made sure that it was thin so it didn’t clump up. When it clumped, I found it strangely hard to manipulate.

Climbing over a fallen log, I glance around at my surroundings. Nothing much has changed, and I see no hints at human activity.

I need a better view.

Moving up to a tree, I focus on a thick, and low hanging branch.

The cloth wraps on my arm shift as I pour Gray katra into my bandaged hand. I extend my hand upwards, the cloth uncoiling and weaving through the air. The tentacles wrap around the branch, and I start retracting them, hoisting myself off the ground.

I slowly pull myself up to the branch. Climbing onto it, I repeat the process till I reach branches to thin to support my weight. Blimbing between them, I stick my head out of the canopy.

I look out at the sea of green, leaves shifting in the wind and the sun shining down. I can see, about what looks like a mile away, a long clearing in the forest.

That’s got to be a road.

I start crawling back down. The bark of the tree scratches against my skin, but isn’t able to penetrate the thick calluses of my left hand. Climbing down slowly, I hop the last several feet to the forest floor.

Shouldering my bag, I start in the direction of the road.

Moving my way through the forest, I quickly make my way to where I saw the road. I have to push my way through lots of foliage and hop over a creek.

After about an hour or so, I reach the road.

It is a road that has not been traveled much, but it is wide enough that there is a gap in trees. It has already started to be taken back by the forest, grass starting to grow over the road.

I start walking to my right down the road, hoping it will bring me to Coskana or some other settlement. I need to restock on supplies, I didn’t have much from Tarna and never got any in Millwallow, and hopefully by some more clothes.

My mind wanders to the Tulnar.

It is clear that they have already started raiding this village, but they were overshadowed by the larger threat of the chimera.

They must have raided a village or attacked a caravan to get the prisoners.

I remember the old man, and his unflinching gaze. Hopefully they got away.

With the thought about the old man not flinching at my gaze, I unsheath my dagger. The scripting on its edge is probably the only thing keeping it from going completely dull and shattering. It has seen a lot of use lately, but the surface is still rather reflective.

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I hold the dagger up to my eye, looking at the shiny flat of it. I can make out the dim glow of Gray katra in my eyes. This is permanent, isn’t it?

Not sure how to feel about the development, I resheath my dagger. It looks kinda like a Sign. Maybe I can pass myself off as a Diamond.

The thought both excites me and also induces hesitation. What if someone mistakes me for a Diamond and tries to fight me? I don’t like the idea.

If only I had the strength of a Diamond, then I might have been able to save Vicar. And even stop whatever Cereus did with the villagers of Millwallow.

With that thought, I keep walking. I eventually stop at the edge of the road, grabbing out my meager supplies.

Chewing on the jerky, I look at my surroundings.

I can smell a coming shower of rain, and if I remember correctly, it would be the the first day of spring. And with spring comes monsoons and heavy rainfall in this region. Though it won’t be as bad as the coasts.

Ripping off a bite from my jerky, I look at the lush forest around me. It reminds me of the Jungle of The Gods, only less deadly.

What is it like outside of Traezar?

I have heard stories about amazing lands, wonderous and populous cities, and things that are beholden to near impossibility. Like the floating nation of Orian, a massive city that stays afloat by using special gems that produce Cloud and Air katra. It is said it slowly follows the coasts of Auren, never staying in one place too long.

The sacred artists there are said to have wings, almost all reaching Diamond rank and absorbing a beast core. They fight off massive flying beasts and protect Orian from attacks.

I have heard that there a giant, carnivorous birds that could bite a person in half, along with minor dragons. Along with a plethora of other types of plants that have adapted to the high altitude.

Then there is the Desert of Rua, that which runs close to the border of the Empire, also pressed up against the Jungle of The Gods.

From what I understand, it is comprised of several small Houses that are at war with each other. The Empire had conquered the desert before, but civil war broke out and they eventually separated, leaving Rua shattered. Many different houses took up the flag on unionship, but all with their own different ways. From that point, it has become a place embroiled in bloodshed and war.

There are tales about giant Sacred Beasts that can rival a mountain in size. Even some about strange creatures that lurk the dunes at night, hungering for blood.

I read up on what the Talri Clan’s library had on Tulnar. It wasn’t much, very little was known about them because of their Xenophobia to other races, and habits of eating those other races. I got most of my information from a journal.

They live deep in the Jungle of The Gods, somewhere near the mountain range. But they live underground, in massive caverns under the earth. They are a warring people, and from what Vicar told me, they were only recently united.

From the books, I learned that the caverns are incredibly dangerous, ripe with venomous and poisonous creatures and plants. There are giant mushrooms that can grow as tall as a building, and exotic wildlife.

The author of the journal described it as “A world of bioluminescence that no person can comprehend till they behold it with their own eyes”. From his descriptions, many of the animals developed some form of seeing in the dark. There was even a detailed part about huge bats that are blind, but can fly incredibly well within the caves due to echolocation.

Standing up, I repack my bag and start walking down the road again.

There was a bit in the book about how a clan of Tulnar had tamed some of these giant bats, and uses them as flying mounts. They were said to be used for transportation as well, but I doubt that the bats could be that large.

Shortly after that, the notes in the journal had cut off, only with a scrawled note by the author that he had been bitten by a venomous creatures, and that the venom was able to overpower his Steel body’s constitution.

I wonder how the journal ended up in the Talri Clan if the author died.

A mystery like many other things in my life. I still have many questions that I want answered. Like what the IDA and UIG is, I have never heard of those Clans. Or even what my black bandaged arm is, and the strange space inside it. What is my Gray katra exactly, and how did the chimeras come to be? What was the strange orb I gave to Inik and why did he seem so enthralled by it?

The questions are an endless tide, beating at my mind. I want to understand, but can’t.

I look up at the sky, and can see a dark storm creeping up from my left. It’s going to hit soon, and I think I might have to take cover.

This road was going to become incredibly muddy, and the cold rain was going to make my journey even more miserable.

I walk for a little bit further, till the clouds are above my heads. I watch in fascination as the rain starts moving towards my direction. Running, I duck under the trees to the right of the road.

I watch as it hits the ground in sheets of cold water, beating against the ground. The branches of the trees are bended in the wind, shaking with the air currents. Looks like I am going to have to wait out the storm.

I move deeper into the forest, where the rain has a harder time penetrating the canopy. Standing near the trunk of a tree, I sit done, resting my back against it.

Keeping my thoughts blank, I look up at the canopy, the leaves moving with the wind. A few raindrops splatter on me, but not much.

Closing my eyes, I shift my gaze inwards. I scan over my body. My gut has been completely healed, and the Gray crystals have recovered it. Now there are only a few crystals that still glow dimly, most of the strange energy having been used up to heal me.

I moved deeper in, to my core. The surface is now covered in a thin coating of grayish, brownish Earth imprinted katra. Large basins and small rivers of Water imprinted katra flow along it’s surface. It looks somewhat even uglier than before.

Well at least it seems to be a good storage for my imprinted Gray katra.

Moving into my core, I push the image of a cyclone onto the ribbons in my core. My cycling technique starts up, lashing at the sides of my core and drilling deeper.

My katra capacity is now about where a Lowsteel or Truebronze would be. Which is much better than I could have hoped for, but I have to spend an entire day to make more katra.

It is a trade off that I hope will soon show dividends. If I have a massive pool of katra to draw from, I won’t have to worry about running out anytime soon. I can always top it off when I take breaks.

At this rate, my katra storage will completely outpace my rank.

With that though, I start actively cycling, pushing my technique as far as it can go. The creation and speed of my katra increases a bit with my participation. Time goes by slowly, my mind nearly completely focused on my cycling.

I am pulled from my trance by the snap of branches. I open my eyes, jumping up with a start. Drawing my dagger, I twirl around and jump backwards, rain pattering on my back.

The ground is rumbling, and I can feel the vibrations. Trees and branches are shifting and being snapped. What is it?

I start preparing Gray katra to empower my body.

Then the foliage behind the tree explodes, a large shape charging from it’s depths.

There is a roar of pure rage and hatred, “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THEM?!”

The blur leaps into the air, flying towards me.