Sunwhisper saw no reason to delay his visit to the demon graveyard. It was only an hour’s jog from Makoto’s home, and with the energy from the first Soma fruit still coursing through his meridians, he had no desire to take it slow.

The metal meditation scrolls also included martial arts instructions that complimented their respective paths. Between the illustrations and his near perfect memory, it was almost as good as having a tutor. Once you accounted for the changes that mana channeling caused in a human body, fighting skill was the primary decider of any conflict, and Sunwhisper was severely lacking in that department.

The Jin family spent hours every day training their bodies and minds for combat aside from the time they spent channeling. Sunwhisper had joined them to some extent, but Father Jin had not been very forgiving of his deficiencies, and it was difficult to learn when the group was so far ahead of him. He could replicate any given sequence of movements almost immediately, but that wasn’t the same as being able to break down those sequences and apply them effectively in a fight. Given the option, he preferred learning from scrolls.

The road to the graveyard was little trafficked, and he didn’t come across another soul along the way. Animals watched him from a distance, but he was in no danger from them. Excess mana was still filling him with an electric warmth that made it difficult to doubt the inevitability of success. He could already see himself as a great cultivator, a hero who found the Quintessence and incorporated it into his own body, returning to earth as a power the likes of which they had never seen. It was a child’s fantasy.

Ravens, far less advanced than Karasu, gathered in mobs around the graveyard. They cawed and coughed at him as he crossed over the boundary. While there was no wall or fence to mark the limits of the graveyard, there was a natural line where the grass and trees gave up growing. Beyond that point were bones, tattered flesh, and some bodies that refused to decay.

The number of intelligent beings that had been laid to rest here was beyond estimation. Long before Makoto had taken up his post, this region had been used as a dumping ground for the remains of beasts and demons that could not be put to use, or were poisonous, or otherwise needed to be kept a safe distance from civilization. It made Sunwhisper wonder whether any visitor from the Tree of Heaven was ever allowed to live.

A hot feeling built in his throat, and he swallowed it.

His fathers were near the entrance. Makoto had laid them side by side in a line, the whole company, and seeing them this way left Sunwhisper with a hollow feeling he could not name. He felt that he should feel more. Certainly, a human would have felt more, and he didn’t necessarily want to be like one of them. He wanted something that was harder to define.

Betamax was near the end of the line, and Sunwhisper rummaged through the remains until he had his hands on a general processing unit and tried to activate it with mana.The men of iron were dead, but their memories lived on in crystal data cubes.

He searched for any information regarding the gate that had brought them to this universe. Much of the information had been corrupted, but from what Sunwhisper was able to decipher, his fathers had crossed space and time in a vessel designed by Orobos to survive the voyage.

They had left it behind them, and he was able to form a rough idea of where it was relative to where they had ended their journey. Finding it would be an adventure of its own, but at least he knew there should be a way to return home if he ever succeeded in completing the divine mission.

Suddenly, a hand as large as a shovel grabbed him by his waist and jerked him up. He was helpless to resist.

Betamax had come alive again, or some part of him had. He brought Sunwhisper close to the wreckage of his face and spoke in a bass throb laced with static and pain.

"Have you remembered your prayers?"

Sunwhisper was stunned. And no, he had neglected the prayers of his fathers since joining the Jin family. He hadn't wanted them to hear him speaking the names that belonged to another world, and also, neglecting them had made it easier to put a distance between himself and those he had lost.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"You must remember them," Betamax said, "for he will know you not by your works, but by the ancient words."

Sunwhisper found his voice. "Who will know me?"

Betamax shuddered, and for a moment it seemed that he would lose himself again, that his memory cores would go dark forever. "There was another…who came before you. He was your brother and a hero...the darkness won."

"What? What are you saying?"

"Remember your prayers, Sunwhisper. Remember…" There was a grinding sound as Betamax’s internals stuttered and his voice box shut off. He was still trying to talk, but his eyes flickered out seconds later, and he dropped Sunwhisper back to the ground.

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Quest Note --- The Source

Your exploration group was not the first to be sent to this universe. If you encounter a member of the original team, remember your prayers, as they may be a means of identifying yourself as an ally to an earlier mechanoborg model.

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For a long time after that, Sunwhisper attempted to awaken his fathers, but there was no repetition of Betamax’s ephemeral revival, and the data crystals of the others were decaying even more swiftly than those of Betamax.

Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. How strange. He had never experienced tears before. It was a consequence of his synthetic body, and of no significance. The graveyard was rife with the dust of decay. Sunwhisper considered the words of his father for long minutes until he was brought out of his contemplation by a wet, sucking sound from nearby.

One of the other corpses, very different from his fathers, appeared to be breathing. It was even larger than Optus had been, a fleshy body resembling some nightmarish mix of primate and cephalopod. Membranous wings stuck out from its sides at odd angles, likely broken by the same cultivator that had broken the men of iron.

Was it alive?

Filled with curiosity, Sunwhisper approached the alien. It was like nothing they had encountered on their journey across the Tree of Heaven. A demon in truth.

It wasn’t truly breathing. There was something moving in its stomach. Sunwhisper backed away, but whatever it was had already sensed him. The wet, purple flesh of the creature rent open around its middle, and a sinuous shape sprang forth.

The worm was as thick around as one of Sunwhisper’s legs, and its head was split into five waving arms that each ended in a short spike. It was blue gray, with skin so transparent its organs were clearly visible at work digesting the demon’s flesh. It had no eyes, but as its head waved from side to side, splattering gore, it zoned in on Sunwhisper, and prepared to lunge.

He ran.

The worm slithered after him, slickly sliding along the dead ground. Sunwhisper didn’t have much practice using mana to enhance his body, and in any case, neither of the metal meditations would have helped him sprint any faster than he already was. Predictive combat models played out in a modular corner of his mind. Without looking back, he jinked to one side and felt the air move as the worm's five-petalled mouth snapped at the space where his feet had just been.

Fortunately, he was close to what he needed. Syringe’s body was in two pieces, and some of his equipment was broken around him, but he had been a man of many spears. Sunwhisper snatched a rod from his fallen brother’s utility belt, about a foot in length, a deceptively smooth artifact of titanosteel.

He spun in time to see the worm raising itself behind him, preparing for another strike, and he twisted the rod just as it dropped forward into its attack.

The rod extended three feet in both directions from the center, points emerging on both ends. One point buried itself in the ground as an anchor while the other entered the worm's mouth and exited through the back of its rubbery neck. It squirmed so violently that it nearly tore the spear from Sunwhisper’s hands, finally dislodging itself and attempting to flee.

Sunwhisper stalked after it, stabbing again and again until it stopped moving. Then he twisted the spear at its center, causing it to retract once more, and took it with him out of the graveyard while the ravens called to each other to feast.

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Achievement — Hunter of Worms (I)

This world if full of monsters, with each bestial genus presenting a unique set of challenges and dangers. You have defeated one (Barrow Worm). Overcoming these monsters is a part of being a hero. The more you face, the stronger you will become.

You have gained a new skill! Combat(Melee)Spear.

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