Kai swore with every foul word he could remember from his past life, and when he ran out of old words, he searched his mind for any good swear words in Tewa. Finding none (an inexplicable gap in his knowledge which only further irritated him), he repeated the old ones.
Just when he’d made a breakthrough in cultivation and created a workable theory about spiritual energy, he discovered spiritual presence, a force tied to his soul in some unquantifiable way.
“First, we have spiritual energy,” the sound of a rock cracking between his fingers preceded bits of rock and dust falling from his hand. He bent to pick up another rock.
“Which is metaphysically connected to some higher dimensional concept that can influence the very physical laws of this universe,” Crack! Another rock crumbled to dust in his palm.
“Next, we have soulforgers who can create a soul space. Soulforgers can steal the unique qualities of other lifeforms by ripping apart the souls of others and modifying their souls with it,” Kai rolled his eyes as he bent for another rock. Part of him understood the preeminence of abstract concepts, but no amount of him understood souls in any meaningful way. It was all too mystical for him, and his methodical mind fought to unravel even the things he experienced. Souls were not tidy or simple; they didn’t fit easily into his general framework. The concept of souls was incoherent, and Kai didn’t like untidy ideas.
“Then there are Eternals,” Crack. The dust from the crushed rock blew away on the hot desert wind. “Eternal beings of energy and thought, that have no physical form, but exist as thoughts that resonate through some unspecified astronomical network.”
Kai looked around and, finding no more rocks, stepped once, sending himself several body lengths away.
“Of which I am supposedly one, where my soul space draws its energy.” He bent and picked up another rock.
“The same energy stream that I can use to send data back and forth from my soul space, to control the nanotech I created here while my body was dead.” Kai couldn’t roll his eyes back far enough for that fact.
The microns he liked. He understood all the science behind them. From the construction to the energy requirements, the principles of locomotion, the sensors, the processors, the instruction sets, and the data streams. Microns made sense to him in a way that souls and spiritual anything did not. He was tempted to just focus on engineering a nanotech solution to everything.
Crack. He barely squeezed his fingers together, and the solid stone crumbled like clay.
A technological solution with well-known principles sounds so comfortable right now. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He was in a new world and wanted to dissect and learn everything. He tried to make sense of this world's distinct properties, learn about everything, and find the most optimal way to use everything to his advantage.
He just wished everything would make sense.
“Then we have the God’s Eye skill,” Kai picked up another stone. “Which uses some quasi-field theory and tons of energy to alter reality in specific ways.” There was no other way to explain it. It was a reality-warping skill. But even with his vast energy stores, he could only manage the most microscopic changes. He didn’t understand how anyone could use this cultivation manual to accomplish anything worthwhile.
This didn’t matter since it was a skill that enabled god-tier perception. Part of that ridiculous skill was the ability to see intent. Doing so required a complex symmetric geometry resembling a pentagonal pyramid conjoined with a three-sided pyramid.
And everywhere he looked, he could see the color of his intent, a brilliant transparent gold that covered everything in a pale mist.
“And now we have spiritual pressure tied to intent.” Kai crushed a handful of rocks and threw them far into the sky. This last fact, this revelation, was too much. How could anyone see or feel intent? Intent was just a desire for something. How could you see a desire?
He punched the ground, leaving a crater of broken earth. In the world Kai understood, science dealt with the physical world and the natural laws that governed them. Desire, intent, spirit, soul, animating forces, none of these had anything to do with science, not in a measurable, quantifiable way. Such mystical subjects were sequestered to the sphere of theologians and philosophers, who could have endless, pointless conversations, the conclusions of which had no impact on his work as an engineer.
That wasn’t true for Long Yuan. Here, with the right energy resonating in your spiritual meridians, you could see intent. Here science, metaphysics, and mysticism were all jumbled together, and trying to hold fast to a purely materialistic understanding, trying to fit everything into that framework, was driving Kai mad. It was impossible, and he was done.
Kai stood up and looked at the cloudless sky. He needed a different perspective. Crouching low as he prepared to jump, he flooded his body with power, filling every cell from the bottom of his feet to the tips of the hair growing on his head.
His body thrummed with a visible power, light pouring from him as though he contained the energy of a star. He shot straight up into the sky, a glowing missile that instantly broke the sound barrier and shook the ground with a concussive shock wave blasting dirt and rocks up into the sky.
Kai watched the island shrink beneath him. When he got so high the island could be covered up by holding his hand over it, he started to worry that he might have made a grave mistake.
Still, he continued up. It wasn’t until the air turned frigid and thin, and the island was a spec beneath him, that he slowed and started his descent. He flooded his brain with energy and slowed his perception to a crawl. From this height, he could see a string of islands, different-sized specs dotting the hemisphere beneath him.
And beneath the floating islands, the continents of this hemisphere displayed themselves. A vast sandy desert continent was bordered by imposing black mountains to the north, green fertile land to the east, and endless seas to the west and south.
And everywhere he looked, his golden intent was visible. The thought of sending his intent out over such a large area, of alerting an untold number of cultivators that he was up here in the sky, falling slowly, helplessly frightened him, and he watched as his intent shrank around him till it surrounded him in a dense sphere of golden light.
So if I’m afraid of being detected, it withdraws, but when I’m curious about the world, it expands? Kai concentrated on defending himself; his golden intent shrank further until it closely hovered around his body like a corona. That wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to stand out like a sun in the sky to anyone that could sense intent. He needed to go unseen.
Kai watched his corona tighten into a thin layer before slipping beneath his skin and disappearing from sight. So that’s the secret: you must counter your curiosity with a stronger intent to remain hidden or not be felt by others.
It was still ridiculous. But he added it to his growing list of silly facts about Long Yuan. Kai took a deep breath of the frigid air. There was little oxygen this high, but he didn’t care. He sighed. It was beautiful and peaceful up here. He was alone. He was just a tiny spec, falling to a small spec over a grand world. There it was, a new perspective. He smiled and got to work.
He needed a new thought framework. The one from his previous world was too rigid to deal with the facts of this new world. He needed permission to leave behind his former life, to abandon his former way of thinking. It was hard, like an old friend you outgrew. It hurt.
Kai looked down at his beautiful new world and felt hope. He was alive. He was really alive. Billions of years ago, he walked in a different skin in a distant galaxy. That was then; this is now. His lips spread in a wide grin as he started his descent.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
----------------------------------------
“Is this just how it’s going to be,” Kai looked across the fire at the Lunar Temple cultivator. She had long hair brushed straight and tied back. It spilled down her neck to touch the ground as she bowed. From his relaxed sitting position beside the fire, Kai could see the crown of her head, her hair reflecting the warm flames and the setting sun, and some of her robe, which had probably been white once, but now marked the evidence of this destroyed island in its soot and stains.
Curled up next to Kai, Relay slept. The Eternal was busy, back in the command hub, reviewing and analyzing all the data Kai sent him from his experiments. Kai had taken the time on his descent to explore it all, create a comprehensive list of conclusions, and restructure his entire thought framework. He documented it all for Relay. He knew that abandoning the old and adopting the new wouldn’t happen quickly, but he created something that could at least account for all the facts he recorded. That was a start.
“This little one does not understand the question,” Ai spoke without raising her head.
Kai tossed another log on the dwindling fire, his lips turned down at the corners. The key to restraining his spiritual presence was understanding that intentions could negate each other. That was good news because he didn’t think he could control his curiosity. Instead, he balanced his curiosity against his desire to remain anonymous, not expose his interest, or in this case, to not want to harm the cultivators around him.
He still didn’t know why he suddenly had a significantly more substantial presence. He attributed it to advancing his cores or refining his body but lacked confidence in either theory. He took a stick and pushed the logs around, arranging them for optimal airflow.
“It’s nothing. Can you sit up and act normally? I’m not used to being anyone’s senior, so it feels weird.” Kai watched the cultivator resume her kneeling posture; he recognized it as the posture appropriate for a student with a teacher.
Her face was a collection of delicate contours that gracefully blended together. Her cheeks were slightly plump, giving her a gentle, youthful appearance, while her jawline was slender and elegant. Her chin was pointed but not sharp. When she stared up at him, she exposed brown eyes that were large and bright, with long, dark lashes that accentuated their shape, and a nose that was petite and upturned.
Kai examined her face, trying to decide if she could be trusted. Her lips were full and soft, with a gentle curve that gave her a wholesome expression. If he had to describe her, he would say she had a delicate and gentle beauty that hinted at a subtle grace and charm.
----------------------------------------
Ai looked at the young cultivator; he stared back, exploring her face, his thoughts inscrutable. He had a defined jawline, high cheekbones, and a straight nose that gave him a sense of refined elegance. His lips were thin and expressive, with a natural curve that complemented the rest of his face, and his skin was fine and clear, with a radiant glow that made him feel preternatural.
However, his brilliant golden eyes were the most remarkable aspect of his face. They were large and round, with a depth and intensity that seemed to her to hold a wisdom and maturity beyond his years. She imagined them to be ancient suns, shining with a timeless radiance. Under his inspection she turned away, only glimpsing back at him when he moved to stoke their campfire.
She noted his eyes were surrounded by long, dark lashes that further punctuated his perfect symmetry, lending him an otherworldliness that seemed to defy time and space. With his foreign garment of purple and gold, he appeared like a cultivator from another world or era.
“I saw you at the Celestial Temple, you know,” his voice wasn’t harsh, but she felt some hint of accusation. Does he know we were looking for him? He shrugged, “Forget it. I’m glad to be gone from there. What really matters is where we go from here. What are your plans?”
Ai’s brow furrowed; they discussed this and measured the risks and benefits of different approaches. In the end, they decided to be honest.
“We were tasked with delivering you to our temple, but that seems impossible now.” Ai sighed and glanced over at him. They had heard several explosions from the other side of the island earlier today, but Yunfie spotted him falling from the sky like a meteor from heaven. They felt the impact from here. And there he sat. She realized his golden eyes stared back at her. Looking down, she mentally chided herself before continuing.
“While digging you out, we mined some precious ores. Some of us want to try selling it in trade city. We’ll get more that way than trading it for merit.”
“Deliver me?” the boy laughed at that. “What does the Lunar Temple want with me?”
“This one can not say,” she said but hesitated. “I was told you could unlock a sealed vault inside one of our secret realms, but now I wonder if that was true.”
“Secret realms, that sounds interesting.” This time the cultivator paused. “My little friend here tells me you are the leader of this team. Can you negotiate on behalf of the others?”
“Negotiate for what?” Ai looked up. Anything they had, he could clearly take. What need has he for negotiation?
“First,” the cultivator got on his knees and bowed. “This one is known as Ahja Kai. I am not from here, so local customs are unfamiliar.”
When the cultivator bowed, Ai bowed lower, trying to keep herself lower than he. To do otherwise would have been socially unacceptable. Among free cultivators, always the stronger was given the most respect.
“This one is Mu Ai of the Lunar Temple,” she introduced herself, her delicate hands placed in front of her as she looked down at the ground.
“All right, let’s just relax and be more casual,” Kai sat down, shaking his head. He picked up the stick again and pushed around some coals. The smell of smoke was relaxing.
Ai took a moment to look back at the tent. A hand came through the flap, signing the message, “You can negotiate for us. Good luck!”
“This one can negotiate for the team,” she replied, watching him from her periphery.
“I looked at the island today, really looked at it,” Kai stared into the fire. He’d had plenty of time to look at the damage his heavenly tribulation caused as he descended.
“Until I came here, this place was teeming with life. Now it’s a wasteland,” he frowned at the loss of life. He didn’t intend to destroy this place, but his presence brought the tribulation.
“Where I’m from,” he looked over to Ai, “I’m a researcher and an engineer. I like to learn and build. That’s what I want to do, but your world, it’s delicate. Everything is well fitted and balanced, and here I come.” He shook his head. “I fear that without a better understanding of your world this scene,” he waved around at the desolate landscape, “will be repeated over and over. I want your help understanding and navigating the dangers to minimize the disruption to everyone.”
For a moment, when he frowned into the fire, he looked like a lonely child. Ai sat back and considered his request. He’d used a new word, but she got the gist of it. He was new in town and was afraid of causing a disruption. That was a concern common to all cultivators that traveled to new places. Whether they brought trouble with them or crisis found them, cultivators seemed to be at the heart of every conflict or struggle.
“You know what I want. What do you want?”
Ai wasn’t sure what to say. Each of her team wanted to advance their cultivation. They knew how to do so; they just needed resources. The cultivator could probably help them acquire those resources, but what he was asking for was perfect for them; it would allow them to observe him and his spirit beast. Trusting her instinct, she replied, first by bowing low.
“It will be our honor to serve this way, with no expectation of remuneration. Will the honorable young master be traveling with us then?”
Kai looked over at her, his lips turned down in a frown. He didn’t know if he could trust people if he didn’t understand their goals. But starting off their relationship transactionally might not be best either.
“If that’s okay,” he replied.
“Then we will be in your care,” she bowed again, holding it for longer this time.