“I am Braxon Ahja and I had another life before this,” Kai breathed out quietly in his native tongue, the comfortable syllables a stalwart reminder and proof of who he was.
From the smooth boulder where he meditated, he could feel the sun's warmth as it rose, illuminating the valley where he’d been training these last three days. Training, that was what Odash called it. More like trying to cram for a certification exam.
First, came a general introduction to Long Yuan, the world he had arrived in. Long Yuan, was not a member planet of the Unified Republic nor did it belong to any of the outlying powers. That came as a surprise to Kai and initially confirmed his simulation hypothesis. But then came a parade of tutors and with them, lessons on history, geography, literature, poetry, etiquette, trade, technology, artistry, and of course cultivation.
Cultivation was the foundation for all civilizations in Long Yuan.
On his first night in seclusion, as Kai sat in the cave, in the dark, struggling to figure out how to operate the lamp, he came to the conclusion this was no simulation. There was too much history, too much of everything. The history of Long Yuan was older than the Unified Republic, by multiple factors, measured in ages and eras. Cultivators, he learned, could live for a long long time, with those reaching the highest realms approaching immortality. This made for some very stable governance.
Thinking back, just the nation of the Floating Islands, home to the Celestial Temple, where Kai had awoken, had a complex and rich history. The Celestial Temple wasn’t the highest ranked temple, that honor belonged to the Cloud Temple. The Celestial Temple was ninth, under a list of other equally grand-sounding schools, sects, and orders. That said nothing of the four huge continents far below the Floating Islands, each embroiled in their own history of conflicts, populated by equally great nations. Long Yuan was vast.
“I am an engineer first-class in the Science Corp of the Unified Republic.” He comforted himself again, using common speech, the official language of the Unified Republic. Speech. That first night on Long Yuan he realized something that utterly destroyed his simulation hypothesis.
Kai could understand and speak Tewa, the language common to the Floating Islands.
It was possible the unknown assailants that pursued him might have been able to fabricate the rich and complex history of Long Yuan as part of a simulation, though that strained Kai’s credulity. But there was no technology he knew of that could have taught him a new language without him remembering how he learned it. That fact was irreconcilable with everything he understood about psychology, biology, and neural technology.
Kai concluded that Long Yuan was a real place, and he was really here, and while he couldn’t fathom how or why he had crossed off the simulation hypothesis and started a new mental list of possible theories. His current list looked something like: Space drive accident, Soul-forging mishap?, and possibly Reincarnation?
Kai watched the sun crest the edge of the island for a moment longer, before turning his attention inward, as Master Lei had instructed him the previous day. Master this, the revered elder that, big brother this, honored sister that, this little one, this initiate, your humble servant… they have such a ridiculous way of honoring each other with their speech, whilst secretly moving in the shadows against each other.
Secrets. Everyone had secrets. Everyone knew everyone had secrets. It was considered impolite to inquire about another’s secrets. Honesty, complete honesty, as he preferred was ill-considered. It makes me wonder what Elder Mu Tai was hiding from me. Breathe. Maybe I’m just jaded from the thousands of years of history I learned just a day ago, a history that exemplified the complex scheming and general nastiness that lay under the ever-so-polite facade of the flowery speech they all value.
Kai cleared his mind again. It was too easy to get distracted. He cleared his mind and went through the meditation exercise, starting at the top of his head, relaxing every muscle, one group at a time, until he moved on, going through his whole body.
“To choose to think on a thing, and think on nothing else,” Kai recalled Master Lei's voice.
“For all’s sake!” Kai said in exasperation. How am I supposed to clear my mind, and meditate if my mind keeps trying to remind me how to clear my mind and meditate!? Kai pounded the solid stone beneath him pointlessly, then when that only produced pain and swelling, sat still, frustrated, and discouraged. He let the sun warm him. After a moment of feeling like a failure he got back to work.
Starting again, Kai began anew, controlling his breathing, releasing the tension, and allowing it to flow away. When the last of the tension faded, he moved on to the next step, sensing inside his body, feeling for hidden warmth.
There it is. There in my chest, a pulsing sense of warmth. He felt it. It felt like the warmth of a soft light. He felt it and then he pushed. How he pushed he didn’t know. Master Lei didn’t tell him how, he just explained that he would know how. So he pushed, sorta. More like he imagined himself pushing, imagined the warmth moving from where it rested in his chest, over to his shoulder. He felt the warmth respond, felt it move to his shoulder. From there he pushed it down his arm, down his forearm, down, down until he felt the warmth suffuse his hand, and then he pushed it out.
Kai opened one eye slightly, afraid to lose his focus. There in his palm was a wisp of golden light, as delicate as the smoke from a dying candle, it hovered there and it was beautiful.
Kai smiled.
“I have spiritual energy!” he cried out in Tewa. I did it. All of those blasted lessons, those endless histories, all that excruciatingly horrible poetry from Odash. I would do it all again!
Kai sprinted from the boulder for the cave, holding the light in his hand. Stepping inside he picked up the lamp and urged the golden wisp over the activation rune at the base. The lamp that had stubbornly refused to light, no matter what he did, that had silently teased him for three days, finally illuminated, glowing brightly. Such a simple success, after a drought of failures, left Kai smiling and laughing. He sat the illuminated lamp down on the ground, and danced around it, laughing.
I knew there was something I was missing. He chuckled. So their technology revolves around the use of spiritual energy. Kai looked at his hand, released his concentration, and the golden wisp re-entered his hand. He felt it move back up toward his chest before he lost track of it.
“Congratulations, you lit a lamp.” a bright voice echoed in the cave. Kai turned towards the sound and saw there a silhouette darkening the cave entrance.
Kai bowed towards the newcomer, “Forgive me, you have seen a frivolous side of this one.” Another tutor? Kai had lost count of the tutors.
“Yeah yeah,” the woman stood there watching him, “I see what she meant." She stepped from the cave mouth, where she was shrouded in shadow, arriving next to him in an instant. The movement was so fast that Kai couldn't follow it.
He stumbled away, before righting himself, and turning, took her in. The first thing he noticed was her hair, it was golden, not blonde. It seemed to be reflective like metal. It occurred to him then he hadn’t seen another hair color besides black since he arrived. Her long golden tresses fell in a wild mane that framed her sun-kissed face, setting off the unusual aquatic blue of her eyes. Kai blushed when she stepped close enough to feel her breath.
"So what's the deal? You invert Koryakin's trio principle or maybe… try to split your first…," she gazed down at him, "No. No. Don't answer I don’t want to know. I don’t care. I'm not that interested." She huffed out before crossing her arms and turning away.
"This little one is called Sun Kai," Kai replied after he recovered from her appearance. "May this one know the name of the honored sister?"
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"Of course, you are curious about your amazingly talented big sister, this is only natural." She replied quite naturally, still standing back to him. After a moment, she turned around, quick as a top. "I am Vradesh Tast, but you should just call me big sister." As she began circling him Kai suddenly felt like a mouse being stalked by an overly curious cat.
"Must be an inversion, but still maybe a tri-fusion? Stable though, so could be…" she whispered some indiscernible words before clearing her throat. "That old witch asked me to make sure your soulforging foundation is sound. Said you were interesting. I’ll be the judge of that. Now tell your big sister what you already know about cultivation."
“Yes, big sister!” Kai replied with some enthusiasm. Old witch? Is she talking about Elder Tai? He took a minute to adopt the kneeling posture a pupil should take. “Cultivation is the practice of elevating one’s body and mind, through the disciplined use of spiritual energy; there are many different cultivation paths but they all share this same general principle.”
Kai watched as Tast continued to circle him, her face reflecting both amusement and curiosity. Red. Her robes were red. What did that mean again? Right, she’s an elite disciple. So perhaps a senior at the Soul Hall. To Kai, she looked young. Maybe fifteen? Not that you can tell with cultivators.
“During cultivation, we isolate some of the abundant spiritual energy in the world, bring it into our body, refine it…it,” he stuttered as she stepped closer, her blue eyes coming close to his, “and then, then, then we direct that energy to strengthen our body through unique methods. It is said there are an infinite number of ways to cultivate but all paths lead to the same destination; the refining of one’s soul, the expansion of spiritual sense, the acquisition of insight into an eternal aspect of oneself, and the shedding of mortality thus ascending beyond this world.”
As Kai recited some of his recent lessons he became self-conscious under her close inspection, it also became clear he didn’t quite know what he was saying. What does refining the body mean, was it akin to mutation by exposure to radiation, or possible genetic manipulation? He was unsure.
“Yeah yeah, sounds like you’re reading from a book,” Tast critiqued his explanation, “Saying spiritual energy is like saying liquid, it’s generic. Cultivators cultivate specific kinds of energy, often cultivation methods only work for a very specific type.”
She stopped walking around him to stand in front. “Take the Phoenix Order’s common cultivation method, it only works with elemental fire energy that contains a regenerative subtype. Precision is important here. So what kind of energy are you cultivating hmmm… I’ve never quite encountered it before, some variation of light for sure, … wait no. Nevermind. Don't tell me. I don’t need to know.”
She cleared her throat, and began again, louder, “Elder Tai is concerned you have lost some of your foundational knowledge, let’s continue with that. Can you explain the problems common to traditional cultivation methods?”
“Yes, big sister!” Kai paused for a bit, reviewing his recently acquired knowledge, “Cultivation is completed in stages according to one’s method, as one nears the completion of a stage the energy requirements and difficulty increase often causing bottlenecks that prevent a cultivator from progressing, furthermore subsequent stages require drastically more energy resulting in fierce competition among cultivators for the energy and resources, so cultivators are expected to master some martial discipline in order to acquire those resources from others,” he explained. It’s like an arms race - they had to become stronger; otherwise, they wouldn’t survive. “At the highest levels, the competition is fierce, progression slow, and only the strongest or cleverest thrive. But more than that, the final step of refining one’s soul, acquiring eternal insight, that is very difficult, most cultivators that reach that point never achieve it.”
“Fair,” Task replied, she stepped towards Kai, and taking his jaw in hand tilted his head this way and that, peering into his eyes, “you have some insight into the struggle of the common cultivator. Can you contrast with the growth of spirit beasts?”
“In contrast,” Kai began, his eyes darting away from her inspection, “spirit beasts have it much easier, their bloodlines have encoded their growth such that they need only absorb the excess energy of their environment, either directly or by consuming other spirit beats, or cultivators. They progress easily, without bottlenecks.”
“Good,” she released her grip. She took a step back and sat down opposite him. “Now we come to the soulforger; some of the most feared and hated of all cultivators. Do you know why?”
“Unlike other cultivators, the soulforger begins by working with their soul at the start, instead of waiting till the end. Consequently, the number of soulforgers is few, since the initial requirements to step on the path are so high. But once we take our first steps down the path, gaining eternal insight is only a matter of time. This means the countless resources wasted on traditional cultivators that fail at the last step are never wasted on soulforgers. Which is why we are accorded more resources in orders that support us.”
“That explains the hatred, but that doesn’t explain the fear.” She criticized.
“The fear,” Kai looked down at his own small hands, “the fear comes from the difficulty with soul fusion and the probability of deviations occurring. Soulforgers capture the souls of spirit beasts and refine them before fusing with them, gaining great benefits, but doing so changes them. If done poorly soulforging can result in a cultivator that is more beast than man.”
“Yeah, that's about it,” Vradesh Tast offered her compliments. “Soulforgers are eccentric at best, and totally insane at worst. We can be unpredictable, mercurial. With us progression is inevitable, but the probability of deviation is sky-high. Not the most stable cultivators to fill your sect with. And that’s just the normal soulforgers. If you come across an evil bastard that practices some darker methods; run.” She let out a shuddering breath.
“So our position is tenuous, only secured by the fact that we are necessary. Necessary because our enemies also have soulforgers, thus we are needed to balance the scales." She gathered her robes, and straightened them, pressing the creases out. "Don’t expect to be honored, little brother. Oh, you may be accorded honors. They may tell you how cute you are, or how beautiful your eyes look when you display your soul’s light, but watch them closely.” She shook her head, her golden curls bobbing in response.
“Look them in their eyes and you will see that in their hearts they fear and despise us for what we are.” The last was spoken with intensity before she regained her calm and looked away.
“You think I’m cute?" Kai asked, a bit confused. "Or were you talking about yourself?”
“What?” Tast sputtered, then forced a giggle, quickly recovering. “Of course not. Your big sister wouldn’t have such inappropriate thoughts about her cute little brother. It’s only natural to admire your amazing big sister though.” Then without much of a pause, she continued, “Now that we got the boring stuff out of the way,” she got serious and focused on Kai.
“Elder Tai told me you suffered a backlash as part of creating your soul space? Clearly, that wasn't the whole story. You have already completed a fusion but not with a spirit beast I think. Don’t tell me,” she held up a hand to forestall Kai’s denial. “I don’t want to know your secrets. Still with soulforging to be successful one needs to be exact, precise, detailed.” A puzzled look decorated her brow, as she considered him.
“If I am to help you secure your foundation I can’t be allowed to give you poor guidance. It is true you already have a soul space, that much is clear by your eyes.”
"My eyes? What's wrong with my eyes?"
Tast regarded him for a moment, before pulling a small round circular object from her belt pouch. She handed it to him. Kai took it in his hand and turned it over. A mirror. He looked into it, inspecting himself for the first time.
His skin was fair and clear. He had a narrow nose but not sharp, small pink lips that looked entirely too serious on his childish face. He had high cheekbones, a clear jawline, and wavy black hair, the black hair, that much he knew before. My eyes look weird. His irises shown with a golden light, but as he turned the mirror and looked around, the golden hue seemed to shimmer and fracture into a prismatic array of colors, before resettling in more stable golden tones. For a moment he just stared at them, not sure what to say.
There’s something weird about my face. He held the small mirror away so he could get a better look at the whole of it. That’s it. My face is perfectly symmetric. It doesn't look natural.
“At least it doesn’t seem to affect my vision,” he tried to find the good in the situation. He handed the mirror back. That comment elicited a curious glance from Tast, but she continued without comment.
“As I was saying, clearly things are not exactly as I was led to believe. No matter. It does mean we may have to take a different approach. Have you been able to access your soul space?”
Soul space. I just heard of that two days ago. I have no idea what it is, or where it is. I just managed to access my spiritual energy this morning for the first time. He couldn't tell her that, but he did need help.
“If you could assist me in this matter, big sister,” Kai replied. Then thinking about his appearance, he tried to effect a cute expression, opening his eyes as wide as he could and setting his lips in a serious line, “this humble one would be eternally grateful.”
“Of course, Of course,” Tast’s eyes lit up, warmth filling her cheeks. “It’s only natural for you to be grateful to your amazing big sister.” A smile spread over Tast’s face, for the first time Kai could see a pair of small pointed canines between her peach-colored lips. Then she laughed before standing.
"Let's move outside then. I don't like doing soul work in dark places."