> The Revolution has succeeded. NOW WHAT WILL YOU FORGE WITH THE RUINS? Every peasant a king? Attain royalty? Consummate divinity? Commit genocide? Sell out to bring back the Old International Order? Crucify yourself upon the crucible of Community Law? Tear yourself raw to establish Popular Dictatorship? Utter the mantras of Self-Liberation? Kill yourself again and again for the Awakening of the Masses? Perform mandalas to bind them all together.

>

> REMEMBER: TRUE EGO DEATH COMES AFTER THE CONSUMMATION OF EGO. SHATTER THE I-YOU-ACTION ONTOLOGY.

>

> With your WILL: TOPPLE EARTH’S TITANIC SPIRES. BREAK THE SKY’S VAUNTED PILLARS. GOUGE OUT THE EYES OF GOD. DRINK THE SEMEN OF THE STARS. MASTER THE FORBIDDEN MANTRAS. REACH HEAVEN THROUGH ALCOHOLISM. YOKE YOUR MIND THROUGH MEDITATION AND PSYCHEDELICS. FUCK YOUR WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT. SLAUGHTER GODS LIKE CATTLE.

>

> Dattreya Wairini's Call To Action: A Treatise On Violence

Within the tattooist's cottage, Ampun Sagara made Raxri sit down, after they had performed their prostrations to the Awoken altar. "This is my parting gift." Raxri noticed that Ampun Sagara was more or less covered all over in white bandages, and bruises. Gifts from the fight that they had had to endure.

"You will be tattooing me?"

"A small one. We do not have time for a large one."

"Very well."

Ampun Sagara set to work inscribing the word BADRA RAYA upon Raxri's pointer finger. This one hurt, just a bit. Like little knives stabbing Raxri's finger. Obviously. The blade of the poker strikes my very bones. My very skeleton is scoured and struck with the strength of Ampun Sagara's tattooing power.

The script was not in one that Raxri could read, but Ampun Sagara told them what it said. Is this more Elder Karitan script?

Raxri meditated upon the pain, being mindful of how the blade punctured deep into their skin. How it cut through veins.

It was over just as it started, just like Ampun Sagara promised. "There. A sign of might and power."

"What does it do?" Raxri raised their finger. Then they noticed that it wasn't just one finger: both hands, the pointer, middle, and ring finger had been inscribed with the writing, ink carved around the section of the finger right after their metacarpals. Beautiful circular script carved around their fingers.

"Strengthens your hands," said Ampun Sagara. "So that your blades are always edge-aligned, as long as your Will and Skill permits it. I would have wanted to engrave the tattoos for lowering the chances of limb-decapitation, and decapitation in general, but those require long rituals and powerful Wills."

Raxri smiled and bowed, reverently. They were thankful nonetheless. "Thank you, Ampun Sagara. I will return here to continue the latticework upon my skin."

Ampun Sagara smiled. "You'd better. Else, I will seek you out. Worry not."

"I will cultivate my strength so that you will see me in the future!"

Ampun Sagara nodded, approvingly. "You did great, out in the battlefield. Against the demons. No doubt now you have more questions than when you began. I can only pray that the Awoken guide you, and that your inherent enlightenment cut through all delusion like the sharpest blade that it is."

Raxri performed the mouth reverence. "I take that blessing with great compassion and gratefulness."

Ampun Sagara placed their hands on Raxri's shoulders. "Take thee care. Always."

***

The Abbot Wairojashra waited for Raxri outside of the tattoo artist's cottage. With a nod, they walked ahead, deeper into the wood this time. Inhaling, Raxri followed.

They walked in silence. It felt like a procession. The path a hallway to a hallowed temple. The tree's boughs forming a canopy for the pure light of the perfection of wisdom to pierce through. The silence was unnerving: even the gods watched with bated breath.

Eventually they arrived upon a cliff, overlooking not Pemi Island, but the Southern Seas. Looking far enough, Raxri could see the multiple islands that no doubt was the rest of the End of the World.

At the edge of the cliff was a still pond of pure clear light. Bamboos rose from it, lotus and lily pads did as well. There was a small tiger that walked across one of the gigantic lily pads.

Abbot Wairojashra flexed his Will and concentrated. He walked upon the pond's still waters and sat weightlessly upon one of the lily pads. Raxri followed suit, sitting behind him, using their Light Body Technique to do so.

They sat in the lotus position, both feet placed upon their thighs, facing upwards. Raxri did not have the same limberness as the Abbot, so they had to pull their feet into place with their hands. I will do all things with these hands.

"I believe the witch Akazha has taught you how to meditate?"

Raxri said: "Yes."

"Good. Now let us meditate. Sink into that state of concentration."

Raxri did so, focusing on his breathing, on the blackness. Their eyes closed. At first their eyebrows furrowed, but as they sank deeper into concentration upon nothingness, their features calmed and loosened. Before long, they were in that state again of pure-light. Near no thought, save for the few strays. They bobbed in and out of it.

Then the Abbot said: "Now focus on the burning pit of your Will Furnace. This is the Inner Power, the Hidden Strength within all sentient beings."

Raxri did so, focusing on the burgeoning, bright fire that they could see in their Mind's Eye. Within the pit of their body, with a thousand thousand strands of power and flowing flurrious winds flowing to every part of their body. The fire was the color of bright indigo... almost violet. The mixture of scarlet and azure.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Now, condense it. Smother it. Force it to transform into your liver. Breathe and awaken!"

Raxri did so. They concentrated on the fires and it flailed about, as if trying to escape Raxri's mental power. The veins on Raxri's head popped out. They did their whole best to stay as relaxed as possible during the process, as becoming too stressed can knock one out of Pure Concentration.

It helped when Raxri visualized a deity with six hands and a single scowling face, skin the color of deep ocean, hair the color of scarlet fire, eyes the color of azure. Who was this? They felt familiar... This wrathful deity seized the fire with six hands and began pressing it together, condensing it, solidifying it...

...until it was a beautiful shining pearl that infused itself with their liver.

When the deity's wrathful face turned to Raxri, they pulled themselves out of their Pure Concentration.

More accurately, the Abbot pulled them out, by placing a hand upon their forehead.

Raxri's eyes snapped open. They were back where they were, upon that lily pad, ripped away from the infinite void of concentration. Their body felt lighter, quicker.

The Abbot watched their eyes for a moment, and then said: "You've condensed your Will, now. You are more powerful, in ways you yourself might not even know. The more you condense your Will, the greater you get to arise in Cultivation. You've ascended past the Accumulation Stage and step upon the Emergence Stage now, thanks to your defeat of Silver Wind Witch Dog. You ascend quickly, but that is normal: the first Strata is the easiest to ascend."

Raxri nodded. "Thank you, Abbot. I can feel it. My Will, more significant. Filled with strength and power, coursing through my body through my Winds." Raxri bowed to the Abbot in reverence. Then, they said; "During my concentration... I saw a deity. Wrathful, fierce of form. With hair of fire, skin of deep ocean, with six arms..."

"That might be Daklaon. The Inevitable God of Time and Violence, manifestation of the Primordial Awoken Oinonsana."

Raxri's heart beat faster. "What does this mean?"

"It means Raxri Uttara of the Past was deeply immersed into Deity Yoga," said the Abbot. "It would be best if you would re-attain that as well."

"Will the Abbot not teach me?"

They shook their head. "I have no Empowerment of Hri Daklaon. That one is an esoteric, Unsurpassed Yoking Practice only the greatest High Wizards can attain and teach. Or as we call the term in Elder Karitan: Daksida. Revered Mystics. You would do well to travel and find one. Our time together passes, frays, unravels. It is temporary, as with all things. Remember this, Raxri Uttara. All things are empty. Even your teacher shall pass, even your master shall pass, even God shall pass."

Raxri nodded in enlightenment.

Before they left, the Abbot taught Raxri a few mantras to utter whenever they needed it. They passed them a palm leaf booklet of these mantras, telling them to utter it as they needed its benefits. Raxri prostrated three times to the Abbot out of reverence, imagining and visualizing the Abbot as an Awoken.

Then, the two of them returned to the Monastery. As they walked, Raxri began memorizing some of the mantras silently.

Before long, Raxri had returned to the monastery. Doctor Myu Fan was riding upon a giant monitor lizard, complete with a saddle and harness. Sungai was beside the monitor lizard, seemingly wary of the supposed predator. Raxri walked up to Sungai and stroked their mane. "You definitely had a more relaxed time here more than I did," they said, patting Sungai's larger belly.

The little monk, Sugunitala, was it? He appeared again, patting Sungai. "Sungai was the nicest, but he sure was hungry. He loved squash, of all foods."

"Squash, huh? I'll be sure to tell Akazha." Sungai neighed, seemingly happily. Raxri turned to Sugunitala. "Thank you, Sugunitala, for watching over Sungai these moons."

"I do all my duties with utmost diligence and concentration. It is my meditation." Sugunitala bowed, performing mouth reverence, and Raxri returned the gesture.

Pilinitala hugged Raxri from behind. "Do not worry, Pilinitala. I will visit."

"You better! And oh, the baskets in Sungai's saddle are filled with foods I've prepared, okay? Rice cakes, fried tofu, fried spinach in soy sauce... be sure to eat them all, all right?"

Raxri smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Pilinitala. I will do just that."

Satisfied, Pilinitala walked back to where the rest of them were arrayed. The Abbot, Yiwaritala, Ampun Sagara, Sugunitala. They waved in farewell.

Raxri mounted Sungai. They turned to the Doctor, who was smoking a pipe. She smiled at Raxri and nodded. "Shall we?"

The two of them rode their mounts down the mountain path. The birds chirped, the sun dappled their skin lightly and was nice and kind for a change. Raxri and Doctor Myu Fan did nothing else but to bask in the tranquility that followed the absolute hell that they had just gone through.

As they galloped down the narrow mountain path, winding down the great Mount Jura, Raxri marveled at Doctor Myu Fan's mount. "It is every fascinating that you have a mount that is in essence a monitor lizard."

Doctor Myu Fan smiled and shrugged. "Her name is Kasasa. And in truth she is not exactly a monitor lizard, though its easy to mistake her for one! Nay, this one is a juvenile land dragon. Squat low, with legs on both ends. Of the same family as crocodiles and monitor lizards, in truth." Kasasa's tongue flickered in and out.

"I see. I am enlightened." Raxri continued to marvel at the monitor lizard until another question popped into their head. "Ah, doctor, if I may intrude and ask a bit on your practices?"

"Hm?" Myu Fan raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"That healing ritual... seeing as you are a woman doctor, would a man doctor be able to do the same kind of healing ritual?"

Myu Fan smiled, shrugged. "That is a hot topic even amongst us, I must have you know. In general, a vajra-bearing doctor that does not know the proper healing continuums can end up stealing cultivation from their subjects, while lotus-bearing doctors will have that come up much less, as the lotus inherently nourishes and gives. In general, the answer is yes. However, the problem with it is that many men doctor use it to abuse their patients. An awful, cruel abuse of power."

Raxri became silent for a moment. "Cruelty abounds yet."

"It abounds ever more, now," said Doctor Myu Fan. "At the end of the world, at the cessation of the universe... everyone scrambles for power in a bid to survive the end of the violent wheel." Doctor Myu Fan looked wistfully to the rising sun. "This only means that we must make good even more."

"A tiring endeavor..." Raxri uttered, not entirely meaning to.

And yet, Doctor Myu Fan nodded. "But one we must do." Myu Fan smiled as she turned to Raxri. "Set your heart ablaze, Raxri Uttara. The world moves ever on without you. Your duty is not done yet. Remember the adage: no mud, no lotus."

"So the world to become better it must first be worse?"

Doctor Myu Fan shook her head. "Hope blossoms even in the end of all things. You do remember the eternal axiom, yes? No mud no lotus?"

"Right. No mud... no lotus." Raxri's eyes wandered to the sky as they thought.

"Yes. That means beautiful enlightenment comes from even the darkest and dirtiest of earth-muds. It is the wisdom of the saviors." Immediately after she said that, Raxri felt themselves thrown off of Sungai. When they looked up, they realized that it was Doctor Myu Fan herself who had leapt and pushed Raxri down into the earth of the path.

Raxri realized that they were at the base of the mountain now, by the forests.

Raxri realized that diminutive, goblinoid creatures now danced around them in a perfect circle, as if they and Doctor Myu Fan were offerings to an infernal ritual. "What are--"

"Gunggong," said Doctor Myu Fan. "More monsters."

Monsters? Even more? After we'd cleansed the Jura Mountain of the demon infestation? Raxri rose to their feet and unsheathed their blade. Puksa, still. Their handle felt like home. Doctor Myu Fan pulled out the handgun strapped to her thigh, held there by a pure gold band.

Sungai and Myu Fan's earth dragon mount cuddled close to each other, while Myu Fan and Raxri bordered them. Raxri took a good look at them now: their skin resembled that of boars. They had no tusks, but giant black pools for eyes, and long fangs that belonged to ghouls. They wore interesting tunics made of abaca fiber, no doubt effective in catching sword slashes, and almost every single one wore a headwrap in the same manner as raiders. They similarly wielded the same weapons that bandits would wield: longknives, bows, rattan shields, and crude spears made of bamboo with fire-hardened tips. They danced around them, striking in and out.

"What are these things?" asked Raxri. Doctor Myu Fan bore no hesitation in her mindstream: she chanted a magick spell and her handgun exploded in a burst of flame, resembling the explosive breath of a water dragon. The flames engulfed a good chunk of the surrounding gunggong force; they broke their formation.

"Strike, Raxri. These are living weapons of the Invincible Blade Princess."