> O gods, o monsters, grant me the perfect wisdom.

>

> The unclouded luminous mind whispers to me.

>

> Therefore allow me to leave, set my heart ablaze

>

> Offer me the chance to blow you all away.

>

>  

>

> My path is that of the Road of Revolution,

>

> The Way of the Worker, hand gripping the grass blade.

>

> Whispering: Enlightenment Is A Direction.

>

> Gleaned through toil in this wretched world of Wandering.

>

>  

>

> With my blade of broken dreams, forsaken, forlorn,

>

> Grant me the strength and vigor to tear apart the

>

> House of weak bamboo and wood built by kings and queens

>

> Only by love and fire can we snatch the world away--

>

>  

>

> --from the Jaws of Certain Doom, the curse of progress.

>

> The World Before clings, all suffering is craving.

>

> Wield the Handleless Blade, bleed for Liberation

>

> Beyond Liberation, Love all through Revolution.

>

>  

>

> A Song By Asing Rato Sangtanara

Raxri shut their eyes. This was it. The end of all things. Their third death, now. They had pushed their luck for far too long. They were not giving up, they were accepting their fate. Better luck in the next life, Raxri said. They pooled their Will so that their power can transfer across the Interstitial, the Pillar of Kings. Until all beings are free.

The sound of a taut drawstring released.

Raxri's eyes shot open.

Kamiro's lance of light cut through the black line of the night dagger.

Raxri turned their head just enough to see Kamiro standing atop a broken pillar, once a part of a roof of a stilt cottage. "Leave." Their arm that had been cut off was now a consolidated bow of puredark.

Batan of the Violet Lotus scowled. Sighing, he turned to Kamiro and said: "Ah, you are the sole survivor of Iri Village, are you not? Kamiro of Iri. The Lance of Light. A hundred years old. You've stopped aging due to your Bow Cultivation."

"And I will not hesitate to use my Bow Cultivation upon you."

"Your Bow Cultivation is not as strong as you'd like... meaning you could not stray too far to search for relics and Willsprings. You are bound to this place."

Raxri found their voice then, harnessing all their willpower to speak. "No longer!"

Batan, shocked look upon their face, turned to Raxri.

"No longer," repeated Raxri, fighting through stutters. "He is freed from the binding of their dread chief Dulumnan. Let him be free! Kill me instead."

Batan smirked, but then Kamiro unleahsed another lance of light from their bow.

it skewered through Batan's shoulder.

It tore his right arm off completely.

A minute passed for what had happened to register.

Batan screamed in pain, clutching at the stump his shoulder had become. "You monster!"

"Leave!" Kamiro reiterated, his eyes burning with Will. He strained himself now: a low shimmer of pallid green wrapped around him. The color of his Will. "Or I will kill you and send you home early to your Unconquerable Maiden!"

"Leave, Batan," said Raxri. "Kamiro is not as kind as me."

Batan roared at them: "You will all regret this very day! The karma of the Unconquerable Maiden fluttereth, a lance in the night!" Batan then pulled out a stone of low shimmering power, and bit into it. He floated alongside the stone; disappeared as a claw of shadow ripped him apart into flickering feathers.

Silence filled the waiting in between, the tense confirmation that this was all over.

Kamiro lowered his bow. He made his way, flitting and leaping across beams and pillars, all the way down to Raxri. "Are you all right?"

Raxri fought through the paralysis to nod, slightly. "The needles. Please. Pull them out."

Kamiro nodded and did that in short order, with quick precision and with a technique that resembled a bowman removing an arrowhead from a comrade. The needles fell

Raxri sat up, wincing. The pain subsided now, but scars and gashes and cuts--and a large slice across his right gut--did not bode well for them. They took the healing gourd from their pack and gulped it down. The relief was near instant, but they needed something to cover their cuts. The majority of the damage was deflected and reduced by their shield yantra tattoos.

"Thank you," Raxri said, to Kamiro, who stood surveying the broken and rundown ruins of his village. "After I dealt with the chief, this is what I came out to."

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"The world is colder and the clouds are heavier," said Kamiro. "But I am free. Thank you, Raxri Uttara."

Raxri bit their lip. They reached out and held Kamiro's hand. "Everything will be okay. Persevere. Bear the burden. But don't you dear surrender. Your days will be beautiful. If you want, you can perhaps come with me, to Akazha's home, where you can recuperate."

Kamiro flinched a bit when he heard Akazha, but otherwise said nothing. "I will be okay. After I recover my bearings and I make proper ritual offerings to the spirits here, I will leave upon a boat from Tannum Village. I will find my fortunes elsewhere."

Raxri sighed. "If that is what you will. I wonder, however. Where is the guardian deity that protected this village? Each village has a sanctuary, yes? For this world is a dangerous world of spirits and monsters."

"The guardian deity made a deal with the Dread Chief," said Kamiro, rising together with Raxri. "That he would grant the chief the power to protect his people. But he needed to perform a dread ritual, one that consisted of him consuming the guardian deity. That is how the chief became so strong... but it looks like not strong enough. Not strong enough against you."

Raxri shook their head. Again, their entire body throbbed with pain. But at this point, they had gotten so used to being in pain that they were quickly acclimating to this new state of being of being in constant physical pain. "Fortune favored me, is all. The Chief was strong in truth."

A silence. A cold wind passed over them, as they watched the spire where the corpse desiccated. What was there left, for Iri Village? Emancipation in death, finally."

"I can feel it," said Kamiro. "The villagers. The beings that were once here, this confluence of mindstreams. They are all gone, no longer screaming. No longer begging for help from me. They have passed onto the next stage of the Interstitial." Kamiro turned to Raxri and put out a hand. Raxri, wincing yet, and chewing on their medicine, took it and shook it. "I am ever in your debt, for helping us. All of us. Perhaps, if heaven wills it, we will see each other again."

"May karma intertwine our strands once again," said Raxri, managing a small smile. Kamiro smiled as well.

In short order, Kamiro walked over to the boundary gate of the village and began performing ritual rites, to make sure that no vengeful spirit arises from the village. He could not spend the time to bury everyone: that would take more than a day, and he didn't have enough before the darkness arrived and night's black monsters would strike at him, and so he left it at spreading salt across the perimeter.

At the end, they each said their goodbyes, and then left. It was somewhat bittersweet, as quick as it begun.

"I have nothing to gift you on your journey," said Raxri, apologetic.

Kamiro shook his head. "I will be fine."

"Ah, actually!" Raxri dug into their pack and took out another one of the edible medicines that Doctor Myu Fan had given to them. "Please, take this. This world is a violent one. I would not want you to die to your wounds. Not to say you're not a great warrior, of course! You are an excellent martial artist!"

Kamiro blinked rapidly. Raxri saw their his watering. After a moment of biting his lip, Kamiro said: "Th-thank you." In the smallest voice possible. If he spoke any louder he would burst into a sob.

Raxri smile never left their face. "Keep safe, always. I'd love to fight you again someday in the future! So until then, keep training, eat well, and don't sleep too late!"

Kamiro managed a smile now. They wiped their eyes with their sleeve. "I will," he said, smiling. "Thank you, Raxri Uttara. You are kinder than I thought you would be. From the stories I've heard, I would've thought you would be some sort of ogre!"

Raxri shrugged. What kind of stories are they telling about me? "Well, you know me now!" They laughed. What kind of person was I?

"Stay safe, great Raxri Uttara."

"Your days will be beautiful, Kamiro. Set your heart ablaze."

Raxri found Sungai peacefully grazing on some grass and flowers and some taro. "Wow," said Raxri. "Kamiro fed you well, huh?"

Sungai did not neigh, which meant he was in a particularly good mood. Raxri loosed him from the tree and began leading him down the path. "We should get going, before the giant that Kamiro was talking about attacks us."

Sungai bobbed their head up and down in agreement, and they set out on the path once again.

As Sungai galloped once again across the path that they had left from before, Raxri meditated upon what they had accomplished in Iri Village. Though they had slain a sentient being, they still chanted the Thunderbolt Master Mantra to cleanse all of their karmic afflictions. It was for the greater good, though... they thought to themself, but doubt still gripped their heart.

It really is a paradox, a problem. Having to live in such a violent world, where killing something is the only way to prevent it from taking more lives. I don't have the mental strength yet to turn them to the Law, to the Teachings. And I know for sure that there will come a time I will not be able to do that. Some beings must be killed... But the Precept is to never kill, even those that are evil!

But what greater responsibility is there but to suffer the negative karma from killing a being, when you know that you would have saved a thousand lives from such an act? O, Saviors help me. I should have asked more questions during my time in the monastery. When will I next find another thunderbolt master?"

Raxri thought that that was the next thing they should do. Find another master, preferably one that could teach them both martial arts and maybe even magick. All they want is to cultivate their strength. In this violent world of mid-calamity, they knew that having strength and power will be one of the only ways to impose your Will upon the world. Of course, your will must be aligned with the Compassionate Precepts of the Law... lest it lead you astray and turn you into a demonic regressor who spends eternity trapped in the Wheel.

They meditated until the path took them to the fenced witch hut. Akazha's hut, once again, finally, again.

The first thing Raxri noticed was, on the far side, thankfully not yet seeing the two of them, was a giant bird-raptor. Their claws were feathered, but a saddle wrapped around their long torso, reins wrapping around their beak. It was beautiful, colored of pure silver with red highlights, as if the bird had been painted.

Then, Raxri looked to the hut and saw an armorclad man. A warrior, perhaps a knight, from the looks of it--unless they had stolen their armor. They were clad in scaled armor, colored silver, adorned with azure and crimson highlights. It made the knight look like a dragon.

In one hand they bore a rectangualr shield, which had the grinning face of a time demon god upon it, eyes bulging. In the other hand they wielded a long and slender curved sword. It did not have the broad blade of a longknife, and it was only sharp on one side. This curved sword was kept in a sheath, embroidered with magnolia and civet cat designs.

The man looked fierce. Though they bore no helmet, their eyes were made sharper by bright red face paint. Their long hair was tied up on top of their head, adorned with two beautiful white and red pheasant feathers. He stood a whole three heads taller than Raxri as well. His feet were clad in scaled boots, no way they added any extra height.

A true heavenly general.

Raxri stopped Sungai immediately and turned him to go and hide between the trees and foliage. They both watched from within the shadows of the trees. What's going on here? This one looks like some sort of commander of an army.

"Witch Akazha Han Narakdag. I know you are within! Come and speak with me. I have a few words for you." His Bazaar Kyarpan is weird and choppy. Can he even roll his R's, and pronounce them as if they were soft D's?

Raxri watched in wait, but their hand was upon Puksa's handle nonetheless.

A moment. Commotion resounded from within the hut. Akazha came out, wearing a tight sleeveless black shirt--almost like a combat underarmor--and harlem pants. In one hand she held a sheathed kalis. Her hair looked like it was hastily tied up into a ponytail, and her face was completely bare of paint.

As Raxri watched, Raxri noticed little gods of the wood around them. They crept up on the leaves, branches, and their head and shoulders to watch as well.

Then, Akazha barked something in a language Raxri did not know. Was it... one of the Shennin region languages? To Raxri, it sounded as if she was speaking an alien tongue. It was completely intelligible to them. The sound however, resembled that of a snarling dragon, or a flowing river, or a fierce barking lion.

The warrior man looked taken aback for a moment. He composed himself and said something in the same language. His tone was deep and dark, reverent, speaking in that telltale polite tone. Meanwhile, when Akazha would reply, she sounded like fish vendor aunt shouting out prices for her wares, or yelling at people to buy her trade.

As she spoke, she scratched her head and shrugged. The man said something again, in a more inquisitive tone. Akazha looked up a bit, then she rolled her eyes and pointed up the path--the same path that Raxri had come from.

The man bowed deeply to that reply. He walked over to his giant bird-raptor mount and spurred it into a run. It quickly jogged off, giant powerful claws digging into the dirt of the path, which was slightly wet.

Raxri waited until the man was a good ways away, until they couldn't hear the thundering steps of the raptor. Akazha walked out into the front of her stilt cottage as well, watching the man walky away. She exhaled, gripping her kalis. As she turned around to walk back into the hut, Raxri walked out with Sungai.

"Great teacher," said Raxri, while Akazha's back was turned. "Who was the great man you spoke an alien language to?"

Akazha froze in her tracks. After a beat, she turned around and was smiling, despite the heavy bags under her face. Had she gotten enough sleep?

"Oh, Raxri Uttara. You actually came back?"