Chapter 24:

               25 Days After Spring’s Beginning

                     287 Days After The Ra’tok Attack Amia Village

                            Rua Desert, Rhia Territory

                                  Ex.840K Soul Space, Soul World: Unnamed

My eyes snap open, and I reflexively reach for my spear, my fingers only brushing air.

I roll to my feet, bringing my fists up, glancing and assessing my surroundings.

It takes my mind to catch up with me and help me make sense of what I am seeing.

My world revolves bellow me, one side bathed in light and the other shrouded in night. The moons spin around it, glowing brightly from the sun. The runes in the sky stand still, twinkling like stars.

A hooded, leather and metal clothed figure stands on nothing, hands folded behind his back and looking down at my world. He stands still, not moving an inch.

His shoulders aren’t moving, he isn’t breathing.

Hesitantly, I call, “Vengeance?”

Vengeance turns around, and from his body language I can tell he’s surprised. He quickly falls to one knee, bowing his head, “Father, I am sorry, I did not notice you.”

I climb to my feet, motioning for him to stand. I still don’t know how I feel about it.

Vengeance stands straight, looking back at my world. The chains covering his body jingle and the leather of his armor creaks.

I look at the blue, white, brown and green marble of my world. “What were you looking at?”

Vengeance has a hint of awe in his hollow voice, which still unsettles me. He rasps, “Your creation, Father. It’s majesty is far more than I should be allowed to see.”

I look at my world again, thinking, That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.

It was a complex thing, and I am still not completely sure how I did it, and I don’t think I could do it again.

Vengeance interrupts my thoughts, “I have been keeping an eye on the child you blessed, in the past several weeks she has had… difficulties.”

A word he says catches my attention, “Weeks?”

The Ruler of Chains turns to look at me with the rattle of bonds, “Yes, father. It has been several weeks since you last graced me with your presence.”

It hasn’t been weeks, but only a few hours since I was last here.

Something 303 says comes to my mind, ‘After all, time is moving far faster here than it is in the real world.’

Does that mean hours can translate to weeks here? I had spent a long time in here before, and when I try to remember how much, it gets fuzzy. I thought I had spent most of the night working on that little girl’s body, but maybe it was longer? I’m not sure.

“Father, are you alright?”

I blink, coming back out of my thoughts. I seem to be doing that alot lately.

“Yes, just thinking. What do you mean by the girl has been having ‘difficulties’?”

There is a sad undertone to Vengeance’s cold voice, “From what I have seen, she was already an outcast, the other children ostracizing her. The adults though, they ignored her mostly, though a few were abusive. Now, they see your blessing as a curse, and they all now fear her and have all but declared her estranged from the tribe.”

I frown. That’s… not what I intended.

I had hoped to provide her with a second chance at life, to live it to its fullest. But it would seem I did her more of a disservice. I’ll deal with it, but first I have to see something.

I glance at Vengeance, whose face is hidden in the blackness of his hood. He stares at my world, not saying anymore.

“Well, thank you for watching her Vengeance. Could you continue to keep an eye on her?”

Vengeance looks at me, bowing deeply and slamming a fist against his chest, “Of course father. I shall endeavour to carry out this mission to the best of my ability. I shall not fail you. Though there is one more thing, if you mind me asking, Father.”

I sigh inwardly, he takes everything so seriously.

Though when I had accidently created him, homur or an upbeat attitude was the farthest thing from my mind.

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Nodding, I ask, “What is it?”

Vengeance gazes out at my world, saying after a few quiet seconds, “What is it’s name?”

I look at the marble of my world, spinning slowly and revolving around the sun. I mumble, “It’s name?”

I hadn’t thought of calling it anything, it had completely gone over my head. Till this moment, I hadn’t really considered the enormity of what I have done. I am almost literally carrying a world on my shoulders.

What would happen to it if I die? Would someone who got access to my Artifact be in control of it, then? Or would it just cease to exist?

It all comes crashing down on my shoulders then, the burden I now carried inside my chest. I am in charge of making sure this world survives.

I gaze at the world that rests on the surface of my core with new eyes, coming to comprehend the magnitude of my duty.

Vengeance snaps me out of it, “Father?”

I look at him and his hooded face, frosty ice crystal patches covering his armor. “Sorry, I… it’s nothing. It’s name huh?”

I rake my brain for some name that would be good for my world. Terra? No, that's too basic.

For some reason my name comes to me. Kardin of Amia, or how is normally pronounced for those who do not belong to a House or Path Bloodline, Kardin Amia.

“Its... Its name is Amia.”

Vengeance nods sagely and doesn’t say anymore.

Deciding that means the conversation is over, I flick my will and send myself hurtling down to the surface of Amia.

I fly through the atmosphere, and down over a densely packed forest, white topped mountains looming out in the distance. I brush over the trees, stopping before a large lake.

On the edge of the lake grows a massive tree, it twists and towers above everything else in the forest, it’s leaves slowly moving to follow the sun in the sky.

The trunk of the tree is covered in tightly knit balls of vines, forming small houses. Out of these houses crawl Asren, moving about their day and tending to the now massive grove of trees.

It looks like they are doing alright.

I consider whether to reveal myself, but decide that it might be for the best that I don’t. From my time forming my world I knew that they had developed a complex culture, and a strong religion worshiping me.

From what I can peace together, Hala is still alive. She has become something like a Queen and she spends most of her time under the tree, making sure everything is running smoothly.

I’ll have to observe them some more to get a grasp on what has changed.

I look up at the clear blue sky, wispy clouds painted across its surface.

Guessing from what happened before, I was knocked out.

I can piece together what happened to get me sent back here. If I had to guess, I somehow channeled the lightning from my core and into my body, where I tried to bottle it. When I released it, it must have been a spectacular explosion, and guessing from the state of my arm I last saw it, I was not in good shape.

I need to be more careful, that was incredibly dumb of me.

I should have thought about it before I did it, but I just had the overwhelming urge to try. Like something was edging me to do it. The power I have here is intoxicating, but I can’t let it get the better of me. I am very much still mortal.

I try to find the link back to the real world, only now it is fuzzy and I get the distinct impression that unless I want to feel the effects of what happened, I best not try to wake up. I’ll wait a bit, then try and wake up.

I shoot away from the Asren’s capital, back up into the atmosphere of my world. There, I float, looking at the gentle curve of the earth and contemplating what to do.

If I can bring lightning from here into the real world, what else can I bring?

From the message I got about my “artificer” “System Classification”, it seemed to imply that I could forge objects from my katra. Could I make myself a spear that I can keep a hold of for once?

Over everything that has happened, every time I got a spear, I somehow lost it. Either by deconstructing it, dropping it while riding on the back of a monster, or losing it to sky pirates.

I chuckle a little at that thought. It would be nice to have a spear of my own.

Thinking about how to go about making a spear, and how to use my katra to do it, I can’t come up for a reason why what I am doing now isn’t working. It worked with making the other katra imprints, so why can’t I imprint the shape of a spear on the katra? Turn it into one?

I remember what Kamar told me about his path, and how it focused on Forging things out of katra to use in battle. I’ll have to ask him how he does it.

Well, if I can’t make it out of my katra, then I will have to find another way.

What comes to my mind is something crazy, but I have a feeling that it would work. If I can manipulate the life here, what is stopping me from making a living spear?

If I could figure out a way to make a living spear and summon it, then I would have a loop around this road block. Though how do I make something like a spear out of a living creature.

WIth a flick of my will, I fly around my world, looking down at the land below has it blurs past. First, I will need something willing to become my spear.

I didn’t want to force a creature against its will. That didn’t sit well with me.

If I can find something powerful enough, I’ll see if it wants to try.

From what I had seen while forming my world, nothing here was stronger than me. Or at least if I measured it up to my core’s Rank. They were all in roughly the Bronze realm, but none of them had ever started cultivating, which confuses me greatly. It’s different from the real world, that’s for sure.

I wonder if I could teach them how to cultivate? It was an interesting thought, and something I file away into my mind. When I have some time, I’ll see what I can do.

I rake through my mind ,trying to think of a creature that might be willing to do what I wanted. It would have to be strong.

Slowly, I come to a stop over a mountain, a rainforest covering it’s slopes and the other mountains jutting from the earth.

Closing my spectral eyes, I spread my sense out. I can feel my Gray katra and Gray Life katra, which has permeated everything, combining with it. I can sense that if I focus hard enough, I can change the very topography of the land.

I reach further, pushing for more detail. I need something living.

The idea of using a tree comes to mind, but I couldn’t think of a way to make a spear strong enough from it’s plain wood, or sharp enough to actually be decent enough. Bone would be a good substitute in place of actual metal.

My mind spreads throughout the forest, brushing up against all the creatures living in it, going about their business. I watch a ape pick a fruit from a tree, taking a bite of the fruit. A snake strikes from the bushes, grabbing in its jaws an unsuspecting bird.

I can feel my katra flowing through everything, following and powering the cycle of life and death.

My attention is caught on something, and I turn my mind’s eye to it.

Found you.