Noki emerged from the river a wet heap of a man. His Tera was gone and he used all of his remaining strength to fight the surprisingly strong current. He threw himself onto the riverbank and rolled some ten feet before coming to a stop. Leaves and what he hoped was dirt stuck to his clothes as he laid on his back, gazing at the red canopy of the forest. The familiar burn of fatigue settled throughout his body, though it felt more mild than it should have been; another blessing of having an Earthen Soul. Still, he would need to recover his Tera quickly if he wanted to survive the day, so he closed his eyes and began circulating his Tera.

In his mind’s eye he saw his core hum a dull white as wisps of Tera poured into it. Something was wrong, it normally looked like a bright white liquid when it was in the Body Kulda.

“That’s right,” Noki thought to himself, “I need to draw in Tera to add to my own.” It was one of the hastily thrown together lessons Amani had taught him; by imagining his entire body as one giant core, Noki would be able to draw in the ambient Tera. He thought of his body as a massive kulda, taking in all the energy through his hair, skin and even his clothes. In his mind, he could see different colored Tera flowing into him. Bands of white, green and brown traveled down his pathways before emptying out in the Body Kulda. The brown and green Tera harmlessly passed through the core and were immediately pulled into the orange kulda.

Noki’s orange eyes snapped open and he leapt to his feet. He quickly took stock of his new surroundings and noticed an outcropping fifty feet above him. Noki jumped onto the branch of a red tree and leapt three more times before landing on the outcropping. From there, he could see for several hundreds of feet in all directions. Three-hundred feet in front of him was a wolfspider tying up its prey. Five-hundred feet to his right had a pack of lionapes moving desperately through the trees, and eight-hundred from there was a sleeping stonebear.

An instinct to battle moved Noki to action. He kicked off the rock and dove for the stonebear. Orange Tera wrapped around his body and his blood came alive. Every thought of his alternated between consumption and battle until he was only fifty-feet away. The stonebear was absolutely massive. Even while it was asleep on its side it was easily twice the size of the tigerbull he fought at the ceremony.

The sight of the large, sleeping predator shook Noki to his senses. He tried to sneak away, but his legs wouldn’t obey him; it was like there was a force behind him pressing him forward instead. “What the hell is going on?” Noki reasserted himself and this time his body complied. He moved as quickly and quietly as he could away from the beast, until it looked like nothing more than a dot in the distance. Noki examined his cores again and saw the glow of the secondary core diminish and felt his blood go quiet.

“That was definitely not normal, even for a Divine Artist,” Noki said to himself, “I need to get to Baira quickly, she’ll be able to figure all this out.” As he began to move, his stomach burned and his body grew weak. “Now that I think about it, when was the last time I ate, like four days ago? I need food.” Noki ran back to where he saw the wolfspider, but it had already consumed its prey and climbed up a giant tree. It would be a waste of energy to see if the beast was still there, so Noki decided to keep heading East and hope he’d find something on the way.

“Ok, this is far enough,” Amani said. She and Baira had taken a sidepath from the village that was full of scourbeasts and emerged next to an open pasture. “ The scourbeasts will throw off any Tera sensing, at least for a while, and that’ll give us time to think.”

“I thought you had all of this planned out?” Baira inspected the surroundings as she continued, “ You made it seem like you knew what was going on.”

“I’m a Kolo, it’s my job to always look informed.”

Baira sighed and dropped to the ground, entering her meditation stance and closing her eyes. She started to circulate her Tera towards her mind when Amani stopped her.

“You know, now that you’re an Iron Soul, you shouldn’t even need to meditate to clear your mind, at least not for something requiring such low understanding.”

“I know that,” Baira responded,” but it helps me either way and I haven’t been an Iron Soul for as long as you; I’ve still not fully controlled my movements.” Ascension to Iron Soul was the first true step of perfecting Divine Arts and setting the foundation for Ascendant Arts. The body becomes strong enough to become immune to weapons not infused with Tera, and the development of unique techniques and Stratal Arts can start to take shape. “ I almost put my foot through the ground a dozen times on our way here.”

“If you think Iron Soul is difficult, just wait…actually nevermind, that’s unimportant. Your spiritual core should just now be settling in, use that and your Mind Kulda and tell me what you see.”

Amani said that as if it were a simple matter to use both kuldas simultaneously while not meditating, but then again Amani was a Monsari like Baira; for people like them, it was a trivial matter to do so once they understood the concept. Baira circulated Tera through her pathways to her Spirit Kulda first. She hadn’t felt that sensation since she first ascended and touched her body core, but it was a familiar sensation; it was like cradling a newborn baby, fragile but teeming with life and potential. In her mind’s eye it resembled a golden orb that sat right next to her sternum, and when the Tera reached it, it exploded with power.

The world around her came to life in a way she couldn’t describe, though she hated not being able to put words to things so she tried. To her, she could feel the presence of everything in her immediate vicinity. The grass beneath was like a sea of consciousness that she could only feel, same with the air and-

“If you don’t channel Tera to your mind, you’ll overwhelm yourself,” Amani said in a sing-songy voice, “which normally would be hilarious, but we’re in a time crunch.”

Baira scoffed but did as she was told. The moment her Tera reached her Mind Kulda, everything made sense. She wasn’t feeling consciousness but the remnants of spirits and presences that had passed through this area. Certain sensations were more powerful than the others, which told her that there had been someone that recently passed through here, and she turned to her sister. “ I felt the presence of something or someone strong, powerful enough to overwhelm the natural spiritual presence of this area.”

“Ah, good you picked up on that. I had sensed something when I first came to the village, but it was so far away I couldn’t get a good read on it. Can you tell where it was heading?”

It was obvious to Baira that Amani already knew the answer, but she had to play along if she wanted her to get to the point. She focused her mind and spirit on the powerful sensation, filtering everything else out, and with her new perception she followed its path for as long as she could. “ I lost the trail about 800 feet northwest of here, but I’m guessing it goes much further than that?”

“Not much, only about…five or so miles.” Amani waited until her little sister understood where she was going before continuing. “Which would put it-”

“In the vicinity of a Gate, but that makes no sense.” For as long as Baira could remember, talks of entering the Broken Wilds–an area of distorted dimensional space–or even going near one was grounds for execution unless you were a Delver or, “ Why would a member of a vassal family go there? They’d be risking not only death, but the loss of the queen’s favor. Not to mention, they don’t have a key.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Amani folded her arms. “ Unfortunately, that’s something I haven’t figured out…yet. But, if we add the fact that someone has been near a Gate and the rumors we’ve heard, it’s possible that there’s been a breach of the Wilds.”

“That’s all the more reason to find Noki and take him with us,” Baira said, “ if there’s a Wildling running around here, he won’t stand a chance!”

The threat of a Wildling couldn’t be ignored by anyone, not even a Diamond SoulDivine Artist. They were beings from a different dimension whose powers no one fully understood; but Baira had heard the stories. Long ago, Queen Mairi had battled a Wildling of such strength that just the clashing of their Tera split the continent in half and permanently transformed the land. In fact, it’s said that the combining of their power is what created the Red Forest in the first place; and with all the energy Baira could now sense, she was inclined to believe that.

“Noki will be fine once I give him these.” From seemingly out of nowhere, Amani produced three scrolls, a Tera locus pill, two memory construct pills and a black leather pouch full of talons. “ I’ve been thinking on it for a while now-”

“You’ve known Noki for less than a day,” Baira said as she tried to figure out where her sister had produced those items from.

“Like I said, a while now, and I think he’ll be better suited elsewhere for now. Hmm…let’s see…” Amani scanned the horizon as if she were looking for something far away. “ Oh, there he is, twenty miles east of Watercliff, that’s impressive.” All of the scrolls and pills flew into the pouch and landed on the palm of her hand.

“What are you doin-” Baira’s spiritual sense shuddered and for a fraction of a second, she felt as if she were drowning in an endless sea of Tera and spiritual power. Amani threw the pouch thousands of feet into the air before it came to a stop, oriented itself East, and hurled itself across the midday sky. The sea of power vanished and Baira found herself unsure what had just happened.

“I know you were asking a question but I think I already said I was sending something to Noki to help him, didn’t I? Now quit standing, If we go nonstop we should reach the border of Golden Oasis in a week’s time.” Golden Oasis was actually a month’s journey away from Watercliff, but with Baira’s recent ascension, Amani figured they’d shave a few weeks off, if everything went within expectations.

“Why do I get the feeling that there are things that you’re not telling me?”

“Because there are things I’m not telling you,” Amani replied, “ I know I’ve been gone a while, but surely you don’t remember me ever telling you everything.” Baira moved to speak but Amani silenced her, “ I know, I know, but I am serious now, we have to go.”

Amani took two steps and was immediately out of Baira’s sight, though she could sense her presence four-hundred feet ahead of her. Baira thought about leaving Noki alone and it burned her up inside, but she trusted Amani and the situation was quickly becoming bigger than just Watercliff. If a Wilding was near the village, then Noki would have a better chance against the Divine Artists that Jahn would undoubtedly send his way. “Noki has survived fifteen years as Null, he can find his way to safety now, I know he can.” With her concerns quieted, for the moment at least, Baira followed Amani.

Noki had known that the world outside of Watercliff was one of great wonders with creatures made of both flesh and spirit living on the land. He also knew that the path of a Divine Artist was full of so many techniques that not even an Ascendant could know them all. Given all of that, he was stumped as to how and why a black, leather pouch fell out of the sky and landed directly next to him. He checked his immediate surroundings and when he was sure no one else was around, he opened the bag.

“This looks like the scrolls that Baira used to give me, and I’m guessing these pills must be used for ascending..wait what’s that?” Noki took a finger to a marble sized purple orb and when he touched it, it sunk into his skin and traveled up his pathway directly to his Mind Kulda. It lodged itself in the base of his skull and it took all of his will and concentration to keep himself from passing out from the pain. It felt like his brain was on fire and for all he knew, it was. His brain was an electric field of firing synapses and his vision turned completely white, until the familiar fog of purple clouds started to form around him.

“Ah, you got my gifts, good. I was worried that this wouldn’t work since I barely had the time.”

Noki turned around and saw another construct of Amani, though this one wore the clothes of a fighter and looked much younger than the real one.

“Don’t mind the appearance, I decided to take the form of when I was a student at the Golden Tigerbear Academy. I look great though, don’t I?”

The construct had all of Amani’s features, but instead of light brown skin and black and green hair, it was all a solid purple color. “I’m sorry but I don’t understand, how did I get back here if I didn’t take any of the pills? I thought I had to ingest them in order for this to happen.”

“Oh, but you did, the moment my modified Memory Construct entered your body. You were supposed to read the scrolls and follow the instructions, but I guess you’re more of a ‘figure it out later’ sort of boy.”

“I did?” Noki stood still, trying to remember his actions before arriving here, “I…did. You did something, you’re doing something aren’t you?”

“I programmed this construct with a bit more to work with, and also made sure I had control of some of your motor functions, which you would have known if you read the instructions first. Honestly, I took the time to carefully lay everything out and…nevermind that doesn’t matter.” The younger Amani raised a purple hand and the clouds swirled around them and shifted into an unfamiliar landscape. “ Your Mind Kulda has improved a bit, but for my needs I’ve temporarily augmented it. You should be able to handle a bit more sophisticated environments and mental constructs for the time being.”

A ring formed beneath Noki and the form of a man started to take shape a few feet away from him. It was still another purple construct, but Noki immediately knew who it was meant to be. “Why is Mion in here?”

“Because he’s coming to kill you,” The younger Amani replied. “This shouldn’t be a shock to you, you were supposed to have been executed earlier today, it only makes sense that someone would be sent to finish the job.”

Noki knew that of course, but for it to be Mion of all people. All of the other villagers treated Noki terribly, but Mion and his lackeys went out of their way to torment him. Before he was tossed into trees, Mion would practice his Corporeal Arts against him; or if he was in a really foul mood, throw Noki into the mines and guard the exit. It was thanks to Mion that Noki dug so many tunnels in the first place; so that when he was in the mood, Noki had multiple routes already made.

“Easy Noki, I can feel the mental space becoming unstable,” Amani said, “ If your thoughts become too intense, they can interfere with the constructs.” Her words fell on deaf ears as the Mion construct took on a deep, violet color and was getting darker by the second. It smirked at Noki and started to speak to him, though it wasn’t programmed to imitate his voice so it-

“Oh look at you, you think you’re something now?” The Mion construct said to the shock of Amani. “Don’t think just because you can use Tera that you’re a Divine Artist now. You don’t even know a Corporeal Art do you?”

“Shut up!” Noki sprinted towards the construct and struck it with all his might; but he might as well have thrown an egg against the side of a mountain.

“Even with your new power, you’re still as weak as Null,” the Mion construct said before kicking Noki in the chest. If it had been his physical body, Noki was sure his chest would have cracked in half. Instead, Noki was sent flying back and would have flown out of the ring if not for the intervention of Amani.

“Noki, calm down he isn’t real,” Amani said as she braced Noki, “ your thoughts are giving him more power. If he gets any stronger-” Noki pushed off and charged at Mion, only to be sent hurtling back again. Seeing as Noki would rather continually throw himself at Mion than listen, the young Amani relayed the information to her physical self and was given new parameters in return. “Wow what a brilliant idea, I should listen to me more often,” she said to herself before addressing the charging Noki. “ I want you to know that this will be extremely dangerous, but since caring for your well being seems to be the last thing on your mind, I’ll take this as your consent.”

A stream of black and purple smoke stretched from Mion’s construct and disappeared into the clouds above. “Don’t worry about that,” Amani’s construct said, “ it’ll help with your impromptu training. Oh and if the construct suddenly starts using arts, don’t worry about it. Have fun.” The construct conjured an elegant seat of clouds and watched as Noki continued his futile assaults, hoping her plan wouldn’t leave him for dead.