> AHOM AH YONG HOMA

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> A Hundred Hundred Kingdoms stake their claim upon the Lotus Throne following the end of the Invincible Blade Princess' Eternal Campaign.

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> Their knights clad in malachite and jade, upon unicorns and terrible lizards. They summon magicks that ravage the Firmament, engage in rapid exchanges of sword and spear.

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> Their kings are meritorious warlords, wielding lances of starlight, swirled about by nirvanic regalia, blessed and patronized by ferocious protector deities, bulging-eyed and tiger-tusked.

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> Cities of stone and stilt houses shelter crying mothers and grieving brothers.

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> Villages of cogon grass and rice fields are burnt and rebuilt.

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> Joy and Sorrow are made to hold hands.

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> The World is dead. Ye maggots upon its corpse... only Will shall keep you alive now.

Records of the Lapis Lazuli Monastery in Selorong, from the Sermon of the Thunderbolt Master Balakarawan

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Raxri crashed into the dirt.

Coconuts rained down; thankfully none of them struck the cloud-haired warrior. Their side throbbed, though there were no wounds..

The Granite Talisman Akazha had given them shivered, and then lost all luster.

Wincing, Raxri stood, leaning on the coconut tree. They unsheathed their longknife. Weapon-ready, they turned to see what had knocked them away.

A giant tiger, adorned with a mane of white flame. The tiger's scarlet coat was streaked through with copper stripes instead of the usual black. It bared saber-like teeth that matched the length of Raxri's own longknife. Its horrific, bulging eyes seemed to look at every direction at once, unblinking. It was taller than Raxri by a half of their own height.

It prowled towards Raxri. Its shoulders moved sensuously, supping upon Raxri's budding fear at such a grand, majestic sight.

Raxri bowed the crown reverence. "Forgive me for any trespass--" Before Raxri could finish, the tiger pounced.

This time, however, Raxri was ready.

Their mindfulness had allowed their awareness to be trained to a degree befitting combat. Moving upon the winds of that battle meditation, Raxri dove to the side. The tiger's bulk slammed into the coconut tree and shattered it.

Raxri rolled as they hit the ground and converted that into a mad run. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" yelled Raxri. Though they were not quite sure why they were saying sorry, they figured that this tiger was some sort of forest spirit, and was attacking them for a reason yet unknown to them.

Raxri wound through the dense forest and even denser underbrush, hacking away at any vine or crawler that snagged at their foot. They ducked underneath low branches, used vines to swing from cliff to cliff.

Behind them, the tiger smashed through all obstacles. A wrathful juggernaut. A hammer of god.

Raxri heard the sonorous resonations of Vibujja's song. There! Safety is there!

The path led Raxri to a steep cliff. In that flow state where their mind was empty of stray thought, they leapt up, caught a loose root, and scaled the wall. As Raxri cleared it, the tiger leapt, completely sailing over the cliff and then landing right in front of our amnesiac warrior.

The tiger pounced again. Raxri was not thinking now: their fight or flight activated. It just so happened that, thanks to their battle meditation, their instinctive fighting ability was heightened to almost ascetic levels. Raxri parried away the tiger's maw with their longknife, slipped underneath the giant tiger, dove out of the way, and made a mad dash towards Vibujja's music.

However, the tiger found purchase. It turned and clawed at Raxri, hurling the warrior into the air. The tunic and robe ripped and tore, two deep gashes on their back.

When they came back down onto the earth, blood sprayed onto the foliage about them. The tiger sniffed for a moment, and then burst into a run toward Raxri.

Wincing, Raxri rose. They readied their longknife. No other way: they had to meet the tiger where it stood. When the tiger pounced again, Raxri imbued their offhand with the Whorl Guard. They parried the tiger's strike with great effort.

The tiger's feet slammed onto the dirt; they turned and swiped. Raxri deflected it with Whorl Guard and then performed two circular cuts with their blade. The longknife bit into the tiger's giant lower jaw, and then onto their shoulder, before it bolted away.

Raxri exhaled, lowering their center of gravity. Behind them was a giant tree, so old that its trunk darkened to the color of night. Vibujja's sleepy melody echoed yet in the background.

The tiger leapt up to a tree, leapt to another tree, and then hurled itself at Raxri. Our mystic warrior dove toward the tiger to avoid its trajectory, kicked up into the air, and then cut with their blade as they arced over the tiger. Raxri's body sailed through the air, as if upon wind and wire, with only the ring of trees to witness. They unleashed three slashes upon the tiger, cutting into their back as they sailed overhead, sending scarlet gold upon the world.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The tiger howled. Whether it was because of pain or because of exhilaration, they weren't sure.

Raxri exhaled the moment their toes made contact with the soil, and then immediately pushed again. As if pulled by wire, Raxri shot back up, and then they lightly stepped upon a branch.

The tiger turned to swipe at where it thought Raxri had landed, but Raxri was no longer there.

Furious, the tiger looked up to see Raxri, balancing lightly upon a loose branch. With a roar, it pounced again. Impossibly, despite its seeming bulk, it sailed across the air toward Raxri upon the branch.

Unfortunately, Raxri did have the upper hand at that moment. With an inhalation, they leapt up, somersaulting over the tiger's own trajectory, and skillfully embedded their blade into the tiger's eye. The ichor that burst from the hit eye caused Raxri's hand to slip from the handle.

The tiger roared and fell to the earth. Raxri fell as well, but hit the ground without a sound, as light as a feather.

Now without a blade, Raxri readied their hands in their same Whorl Hand stance: wide and low, in case they needed to duck underneath an attack. Violence at the ready, the mystic warrior waited for the tiger's next move.

The tiger stirred a few moments later. Raxri tightened their stance.

However, it spoke: "Thou fighteth with the grace of an actor. That is to say, a fine simulacrum of fighting, but will it be enough in a true fight against god and spirit?" It rose to its full height, turning to Raxri--who never attacked unless attacked first--and then pulled the longknife from its eye. The tiger threw it blade first into the ground in front of Raxri. "Yet, I must commend thee. Thy martial arts are not lacking."

Raxri swallowed. They didn't quite know how to answer. They simply said: "This servant does not know what the master wishes from them. Why they attacked..."

"It must be true. The cloud hair and the dawn-brown skin and the scarlet eyes. Thy name be Raxri Uttara."

Raxri's stance stood rigid.

"But... thou doth not move as Raxri Uttara. The Heaven Dancer I fought many moons ago moved differently than thee. Quicker, and with more strength... Who art thou, in truth? A false, weaker shadow of the great Heaven Dancer? Of the Thundercloud Knight?"

"Th-This servant's name is Raxri Uttara yet," said Raxri. "However, thy slave is shorn of memory, and remembers not much of their past. The earliest memory this servant has is awakening in the vessel of azure liquid in the Tomb of Souls."

"The Tomb of Souls...?" The tiger sat, relaxedly, as if it didn't just have a sword stuck through its eye. "Impossible. The Tomb of Souls is the corrupted cessation of reincarnation! Unless, of course, thy soul never died truly. How quaint. The great Heaven Dancer laid low by the ravages of memory and loss. Doth thou not grieve?"

Raxri blinked and said, "Why would thy slave grieve? None has died. None yet."

The tiger laughed. "Ha, and yet thou keepeth the old one's Sacred Foolishness. How interesting. Thou art Raxri Uttara, and yet thou are not..." The tiger looked up. "Doubtless the Awoken, Immortals, and Gods twain trieth to teach a scriptural lesson through you." The tiger then looked down upon Raxri. Its eyes burned with fiery halos of black flame. Darkness claimed their eyes. "Thou didst manage to fend me off all the same, and I will not allow such skill proceed unrewarded. I am the god of the Southeastern Pemiwood. Many of the laity know me as Sun Seizing Prowler, and you may call me as such." Sun Seizing Prowler stretched its back, and at that moment it didn't seem too different from any other kind of feline.

Raxri nodded. "Thy slave is Raxri Uttara. They are full glad of the clemency shown to them by the great forest god."

The tiger grinned widely. Much too widely for its maws, as if its saber teeth reached to the back of its throat. It said: "My clemency thou didst earn. Having prey manage to fight back even with such rudimentary techniques is a refreshing change of pace. Thou brawl with foundational skills that any greenhorn in the martial arts wieldeth, yet you execute them with such finesse... yes, I see now the silhouette of the old Raxri Uttara within you. You are defeated yet... but the growth of thy Will Flame might surpass anything the Raxri Uttara before managed... Interesting. In defeat resideth victory. In the fall resideth the ascent."

Raxri only realized now that they had never let down their defense. They did so now, lowering their stance, letting themselves relax. The tension unspooled. Adrenaline left them, and they felt their feet slacken. They tried not to make it obvious, but their grip on their blade wavered.

"Tired, are we? Thou didst push thy limits immediately." The Sun Seizing Prowler licked his paws and brushed his mane. They continued: "Thy Will Furnace now hath frail nature yet. Thou must cultivate it, if thou wisheth to be like the old Raxri Uttara." Then the tiger stopped mid-brush. "Unless... thou hath no such wish?"

Raxri immediately knew what the Sun Seizing Prowler referred to. Whether they wanted to become that old Raxri, to regain all their old memories. What would happen to the Raxri right now? Would they have a different attitude, different behavior? Would they laugh like they did or smile or be perseverant like they did? What things made up past Raxri and now Raxri?

Thinking about it then, Raxri realized their true answer: "Your slave knoweth not. They've never really thought about it."

The tiger laughed. "Ha! Then so be it! Care not about the destination. Focus only upon each individual step. As that great scholar once said: 'Enlightenment is a direction.' A good answer withal. Then I will leave you to your journey."

Raxri raised their hand, hesitantly. "A-ah! Thy slave still needs dragonfruit..."

"Ah? Oh, yes. The bearcat. A lazesome fellow he be. Here." The tiger pierced the soil in front of them, and three dragonfruits blossomed out from that puncture. "Take these and grant them to the bearcat. Thy journey endeth soon. Mount Jura is near. So near that you cannot see it anymore, as you are rightly right around the base of it."

"Your slave thanks the great and benevolent lord."

"Move now, before the moon fully rises. Even I will not be able to protect thee from the dangers brought about by the night, away from the draconic eye of the Sun."

Raxri took that advice to heart. They took their longknife--which now gleamed with a certain sun-like quality--and sheathed it. Raxri gathered the dragon fruits, waved goodbye to Sun Seizing Prowler, and then took off in the direction of Vibujja.

When Raxri returned, Vibujja put their hands on their hips, admonishing: "Oh, well thou surely took thy time. And dear lords, thou hath been damaged true!"

Raxri blinked, looking down at their damaged robe and tunic. They suddenly felt that burning pain again lancing up their back. "Ah, yes. This servant ran in with the god of East Pemiwood."

"Sun Seizing Prowler?" said Vibujja. "Handsome fellow he be, though strange and circumspect. Here, let me soothe thy wounds with song." And they performed a lilting tune. As they did, green winds did gather about Raxri wounds, and set about to stitching them quicker. "A trick up my sleeve that be, though I am forbidden from abusing it by dint of only being able to use it so much every full moon."

Raxri bowed in thanks as the burning sensation was replaced with a similar burning sensation, but this one came with relief instead of pain. Truly, relief and pain were two sides of the same coin, something that cannot exist without the other. Though the wounds were still there, and healed just as slowly, the pain from such wounds lifted, and the bleeding was staunched. "Your slave thanks the bidaree."

Raxri walked to the bearcat, who had fallen asleep to Vibujja's soothing tunes. With a slight nudge of their elbow, and with another not so slight nudge with Vibujja suddenly plucking an abrasive note, the bearcat stirred into waking.

"Mm?" It chewed on the air for a few moments. "What is it?"

"Your dragon fruits, elder one."

The bearcat turned its bulk and smiled. "Ah splendid. And of the giant variety too!" He chuckled. His bassy voice quaked the earth. "Thou would make a good wife."

Raxri blinked.

The bearcat took the dragon fruits in one paw, and then rose up and trudged out of the way, deeper into the forest, away from where Raxri had dove into. Every step it took quaked the earth. After a few tremors, a pause, and then a much larger quake. No doubt the bearcat had repositioned itself somewhere close. Of course, it couldn't spend all of its energy on walking.

"That's that," said Raxri, dusting their palms. They breathed and said: "Great chanter, shall we?"

"We must," said Vibujja, grinning. She danced again on the air. "The sun dawns truly now. It is only a matter of time before the hordes and the restless find us in this path. Come, we ascend Mount Jura now in truth."