Ki'el followed Brother Du with a heavy feeling in her gut. Although the Sealed Palace was an imposing structure--and Ki'el had no doubt it was built to withstand stronger than whatever level Sister Ai was at--she couldn't help worrying about what came after. What was the point of moving from the Lesser House to the Outer Sect? Was it as simple as the Sect didn't want to protect anyone beneath a certain level? Or something more?
It was beyond doubtful that whatever--whoever this Sister Ai was, that they would expect Ki'el or her friends to do something about her. Inner Sect students had been nervous about Sister Ai, people Ki'el knew were whole phases beyond her ability. So why the sudden interest in moving her forward?
Ahead of them, the Sealed Palace drew nearer, Brother Du leading them to an entrance where one of the Elders--the shorter, smiling old woman--stood waiting, her hands placidly placed knuckle-to-knuckle behind her back. Brother Du's golden hand transport rose and descended to land right in front of her, and Brother Du gave a surprisingly crisp salute as soon as he was before her. "Elder Aji."
"Little Du." The woman's smile curled just a bit, but she nodded at him. "And our wayward guest, and friends. Welcome, Lesser Hall disciples Ki'el, Mian, Xam, and Chian." She let her narrow eyes widen slightly, more like she was relaxing than that she was surprised. "Your circumstances are unusual, but we've had multiple people challenging a tribulation before. If you are sure that you have found your Way, proceed within. But even those who have gained the ability to challenge the Golden Wall find themselves tested here. The Guardian Deities of the Sect are many and will challenge your path."
Ki'el heard that with some trepidation, but nothing that bothered her more than what came before, and what would come after. She glanced at the others, and while Mian frowned, in the end, none of them voiced an objection. "We are ready, Elder."
"Many think that." She didn't move a muscle or so much as flicker her qi to grant them entry, but neither was she blocking their way.
Xam moved forward first, Chian a moment later. Mian strode forth with determination, but Ki'el stood there one more moment, wondering if she would get the answer if she just asked. "Elder... why now?"
The Elder's eyes regarded her coolly, and after a minute, they narrowed again, though her qi seemed to subtly shift, making her expression a bit darker . "Do you know what the most powerful myth in the world is, young one?"
Myth? Ki'el narrowed her eyes at the word used. Was it only a coincidence? "I do not."
"The Great Hero myth, also known as the Hero myth, or more commonly in the Empire, the Prodigy myth." The woman's voice remained calm, without bite, edge, or sourness, but there was something to it, as well. "The belief that those people who rise the fastest and furthest are supposed to. That rulers and emperors can be judged even before they rise to power, by how quickly they ascend to their station. A child genius has a thousand times the value of an elderly one, even if the Elder knows far more, is far wiser, is far more powerful. If one seeks to move hearts and minds... giving them a Great Person to gather around is by far the easiest and most certain way. It rarely turns enemies into allies, but bystanders, especially those with the strength to intervene..." She let her voice drift off for only a moment, as though the answer was obvious, but after a beat, continued. "...few of them want to watch a Great One fall in their lifetime."
They want to pretend that I am some hero? Some prodigy? Ki'el frowned, but also, understood that the woman had called it a myth. And... that led her to ask her master's question again, but for a different reason. "What does the word 'myth' mean to you, Elder?"
"That is a philosophical question, and a deep one," Elder Aji replied, but the darkness had vanished from her face. "Are you sure that you have time to ask such things now?"
Ki'el's eyes flickered ahead, but her friends had vanished once they got a certain distance into the Sealed Palace. Above, the qi of Sister Ai was more active, and moving, if not here--not yet. "It is a question that my master has asked of others. So far, I have yet to hear the same answer twice."
The woman's face cracked into a grin. "I'll put it in a few words, then. A myth is something that we want to believe, in our hearts. Whether or not it's true is insignificant in comparison to whether the heart believes it." Her smile dimmed, and her attention shifted. "Off with you."
Ki'el went without further prompting, though she sensed that Sister Ai was not coming here... yet. The Sealed Palace itself was a large stone castle made of bricks of purest white, and mortar that was black, except where the qi flowed across it, giving it shimmering and flickering colors in brief bursts. She spent no time looking, but passed through the wide gate, its double doors stretched inwards--but although she felt like she ought to be able to see what was ahead, she could see nothing--it was dark, as though the entire castle, hundreds of feet on a side, was no more than a box without light or window.
Long after she passed the point where, she thought, the others had disappeared, she was still walking forward and leaving far behind the dim circle light from the door, but she didn't look back or around, only trusted and walked forwards. It felt like many minutes, but must have only been seconds, when she finally felt something, a flicker of qi, like a person moving to follow her from the side, but not getting too close. She didn't feel a need to look--she suspected she wouldn't find anything if she did.
But at the same time, there was no sign of anything else she should do, and she began to realize that the light behind her had stopped dimming, and when she looked back, she seemed closer to the entrance than she should have been. So she just closed her eyes, considered her options, and then sat, clearing her mind.
No instructions, she noted silently. But it was supposed to be as simple as letting the deity know that I am ready. So she took another breath, then looked up. "I am ready."
[ Are you? ] The illusion that appeared before her, of a strange-garbed man with a mask leaning over into her field of view, did not line up with her sense of where the deity must be. [ Do you know your path? ]
Ki'el considered that silently for a moment. Did she? But also... she didn't even feel a need to ask Kuli for her opinion on the subject. "I will find my path," she said, simply. "By learning and growing, as I become stronger."
[ Can you not do that while being held back? ] The phantasm before her ducked out of her field of view, but when her eyes flickered in that direction, it reappeared from another edge of her vision. But... Ki'el could also feel the qi of the world churning around her. Mentally, spiritually, she grasped a qi thorn in each hand, before setting both aside, and taking her more familiar aether spikes, left and right. [ Why do you search for power? ]
"I do not," Ki'el answered, simply.
[ Then fail, ] the deity said, and it flickered away from her sight, but this time, she felt it--the real body--moving ahead of her, at the center of a storm of qi that was gathering, darkness against the darkness of the room, with light that flickered within the darkness but showed nothing of the room beyond. [ Prove that you don't seek power. ]
Ki'el rose to her feet, Sinister thorn projecting ahead an Right thorn turned within. She sensed, rather than saw, a dark figure against the qi cloud raising one hand, and the qi that flickered there was beyond intense. She would have considered it uncontrollable, like one of her master's beam attacks when let loose.
But when she focused her Sinister Aether before her, the lightning bolt that snapped at her seemed to deflect away.
[ You don't mean to fail? ] The deity snapped several more thunderbolts at her, and Ki'el reacted as best she could. Even so, she was sure, the deity simply didn't wish her to be struck, not yet. [ If you don't seek power, then quit. Fail. Suffer. Unless you wish it, I won't kill you, but I could, if you ask. ]
"I do not seek power," Ki'el growled at the thing in the darkness. "But I will not be beaten by you."
[ You seek power out of pride? ] The bolts flashed around her again, and this time, Ki'el didn't even feel a need to shield against the strikes. None of them came close. [ Or to protect others? To protect yourself? Why do you seek power? ]
"I do not seek it," Ki'el repeated.
[ You LIE! ] At last, the Sect's guardian deity let the power flow at and through Ki'el--and to her surprise, although it struck her like an attack might, all of the burning was felt in her spirit. The attack wasn't truly an attack, but power--power attuned to her, power beyond her control. In the time that it took her to understand that, the power was gone, and she had seen and sensed nothing that might be her goal, to be found inside that power. [ Before you came to this room, before you came to the Sect, you first sought power. You would like to pretend it's behind you, but it isn't. You still bear the scars. ]
Ki'el froze at that. In truth... she had desired power, enough to avenge her family and her home, but she'd been distracted from it by Sobon and his plan, his request for her. She had by no means forgotten what the Djang slavers had done--but her master seemed a far better person to avenge them than she did. Although she considered herself a blade, although she wished to remove such awful things from the world... it did not feel like it was her duty, her destiny, or her quest to find and kill pirates.
And now Sobon spoke of saving the world, of wishing her help, but she was... unsure. She still did not like the idea of gathering power for the sake of power. She still did not like the idea of seeking power. If it was needed... if it was asked of her... but so far, she had gathered power easily. Seeking power beyond what she had felt like a different question.
Caught up in her thinking, Ki'el was surprised by another flash of qi lightning, this one lasting long enough that she could force her Sinister aether into it, causing the deity's power to fade just a bit, its control to slacken. When it did, Ki'el only found the power more chaotic and dangerous--it did, indeed, not wish to hurt her seriously, but any power freed from its control might. Even so... she didn't stop, forcing more of the power between her and the guardian and flushing righteous aether through her own spirit, trying to focus on everything that she could sense--herself, her qi and aether, the deity, the qi storm, the lightning...
Stolen novel; please report.
But the lightning was over with in a flash, and the deity in the darkness stepped forward as though into the light, becoming something more of a strange misshapen shadow than a real figure. [ You are searching for power. Why? ]
Ki'el just grit her teeth. "If I had the choice, I would leave," she snapped, angrily. "But my village was attacked for no reason--and so was my master. And now, so am I." She looked up at the deity--if it could really be called that. What use was a guardian deity for the Sect, if she had almost been murdered here? For nothing? "You say that you won't kill me if I fall here. But if I die because I do not have enough power, and it's simply because you refuse to let me, did you not kill me?"
[ You're trying to act like a grown-up, ] the deity said, [ but your words are those of a child. I'm not stopping you from growing. You simply need to be strong enough to take what you want. ]
"So stop missing on purpose," Ki'el hissed back.
[ You want to pretend to be an adult? To take the weight of the world head-on? ] The deity's powered flickered with amusement. [ Do you even understand what a Path is? What a Way is? If you step forward in ignorance, your Way will end. ]
"It will not." Ki'el stood up. "My master comes from--"
[ I am aware of your master, and aware of who and what you are. ] The Deity's storm began to grow, until it almost seemed to be a sky above the two of them. The flickers of qi lightning within helped show that there was more to the space she was in than the size of the building, which... was little surprise. [ But his path is not yours. Yours is a path of qi mixed with aether. Is it not? ]
Those words, more than anything else, gave Ki'el pause. She was not expecting a spiritual deity to understand that much. "I... suppose."
[ You may not require a path of aether. But your Natureless Qi Path is not ready. ] The lightning that flickered above began to flicker in patterns, now--starting further out, and gathering closer and closer. [ Even if you use all of your strength, can your Path stop this? With or without your assistant? ]
Ki'el looked up at the sky clouds above her, sensing more and more power gathering--but the first strikes that began to rain down from it came before it was fully gathered, before it was fully ready. Ki'el did her best to weaken it with aether, and strengthen herself--but the power that flashed through her was too much.
It poured through her channels so much that she burned, flooded through her dantian until it wanted to burst, and every organ that she could feel was flooded with more intense qi than she had dared temper herself with. Most of it also ripped out of her a moment later--but it still left her feeling both completely burnt, inside and out, and stretched out.
This is an incomplete bolt? Ki'el scowled, and forced all the qi she had in her dantian out, trying to grab hold of it, but her mental and spiritual abilities were sluggish, burning at her. Kuli...
{ I sensed the [key] that time, } Kuli warned her. { That thing we need to [grasp] is at the center of the gathering power. }
Ki'el didn't need to concentrate at all to understand, and glared up at the gathering storm. That's too much qi.
{ It's meant to be. I believe this test is supposed to challenge your mastery of the path you've chosen. The lightning is mixed aether and qi--and it includes Genesis and Consumption qi. }
Ki'el swallowed. Although she'd tried to filter--no, that was the point, wasn't it? Ki'el took all of her Qi Turning Cycles and discarded them, letting their Thorns vent into the nearby air, and turned all of her attention to the working, her mind and spirit still slowed, still burning. One cycle. Big. Make it too big, and it still won't be enough. To filter all the qi that I have, and all that it can throw at me. Within her, she felt the touch of Kuli, adjusting and evening out her efforts, but still letting her lead.
[ You think that will be enough? ] But there was something different about the deity's projected words. Ki'el had no warning when the next bolt flashed towards her--and with all of her strength and all of Kuli's help, it still went straight through her efforts to create some kind of purifying defense barrier, went through her, and went out again. [ You haven't even begun your path. You aren't ready. How can you be? You are a child. ]
Ki'el wasn't listening, focusing on the turning cycle. Although she hadn't noticed, the lightning had left lingering aether within her system--Sinister was the most obvious, but there was also Consumption aether, eating at her and drawing strength away. That didn't account for all the damage--the excess qi must have actually hurt her--but as she focused on purifying her own body, many of the effects lessened, and her control and senses improved. But as she turned the cycle, as she gathered and filtered the qi and aether mixture, as she tried to adjust the technique... she also began to understand that there was something fundamentally wrong with her first version.
Another flash of lightning tore through her, and this time, a small part of the incoming lightning got trapped in the qi turning cycle, but more importantly, her system began to better resist the enemy aether. At the same time, the bolt was stronger, more intense by far than the last one, and the small amount removed and was far less than the increase, and the resistance was nowhere near enough.
Ki'el, though she was unaware of it, screamed, and her turning cycle collapsed. Even her aether cycles, concealed within her spirit, destabilized in the intense qi.
[ Every strong person on every path has to fight, ] the Sect's guardian deity said, its shadow unsteady against the flickering of the qi lightning above. [ If your path is to purify, then that must be either a sword, or a shield. ]
The sword... Ki'el considered pulling forth the aether blade, but she couldn't see how it would help, and it would take precious time, time she needed. Instead, she was rebuilding the qi turning cycle, trying to focus on what she had felt, what she had realized as she adjusted it. But...
[ Your ability to use Consumption Aether with your qi is still sealed, ] the deity said, sounding like it was laughing. [ Strange... how fate swirls around you. The knowledge that's here... very strange. If you can grasp the key, the power you need will be yours--but that's only if you grasp the key. ]
Ki'el heard the words, understood them, but discarded them. Because she wasn't thinking about using qi, nor using the purified aether that her master's power cycles created. If... if what she had sensed, what she understood, was consumption aether... then she didn't need to create a purified version of it to be able to use it.
Aether was already all around her--she only had to find it, manipulate it.
She barely had finished forming another Qi Turning Cycle when the next bolt of lightning hit, but this one was much less, the technique absorbing the qi that struck it far better. It still hurt, but not so much that she couldn't feel a deep satisfaction, and with Kuli's help, she formed a second cycle next to the first. Not because she was confident--but because it was easier than trying to perfect it under these circumstances.
The next bolt of qi lightning seemed almost to not hit her, and Ki'el was able to finally sense it--the key that Kuli had sensed, in the heart of the gathering storm.
[ Finally, ] the Guardian Deity said, almost with a sneer. [ But can you grasp the key while defending? ]
Ki'el only had to consider that for a moment. If he expected me to use Consumption, perhaps he expects me to use Genesis. Ki'el only vaguely understood the aether--less even than Consumption, and she had guessed its use here as much by the name as anything. But if she could manipulate aether at a distance... could she 'reach' the key? It must be possible, if Sobon could control his own aether beyond his body.
It took several attempts, and several more blocked lightning bolts--enough that her first Cycle was overfull and fraying apart--before Ki'el was able to grasp the key that hung in the center of that energy, energy that was still too much, too thick, too dangerous to enter. And although just touching the key did nothing... it did give her pause.
Because she was touching it, and she knew that she was--but that was somehow not enough. Something was wrong, dead wrong, and she didn't know what.
[ Congratulations, ] the Deity sent, but it didn't feel heartfelt. [ But I would be remiss if I didn't give you one last parting gift. Don't blame me for this--I was asked to. ]
Suddenly, the lightning all flashed together into a single massive point in the sky, and Ki'el looked up, gaping. The energy wasn't simply too much--it was too dense, unbelievably beyond her capacity--
{ Safety mode. }
In a flash, Kuli burned through her system, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. Ki'el remembered the effect--when the Elders had suppressed her, Kuli accelerated her thoughts as soon as she recovered. She guessed it to be a higher aether ability, but why...?
{ Someone is toying with you, and this isn't safe. } Kuli's voice seemed compressed, and yet, Ki'el understood her. { It's more than that lightning bolt. In the middle of it is another key--a key you aren't supposed to have yet. I don't know if it will advance your qi the way this tribulation was supposed to--I don't know why it would. But it seems like it would unlock something within you. I believe it would unlock additional aether in your qi. }
Ki'el felt something nasty go through her, and she felt sick to her stomach. Is this why they sent me here? To suffer through some insane trial because I have aether? Every last part of her wanted to already be done with this. Taking that first key should have been a moment of triumph, of freedom. She could hardly do more than she'd already done, and was wavering at the point of collapsing--or giving up.
{ I deciphered the first key before you reached it. I had meant to keep it to myself, but it activated when I grasped its meaning, as a kind of fate magic, and your qi has already reached the next phase. I can do the same for that key... but only if you can maintain the acceleration pattern that I'm using. }
Ki'el stared up at the gathered lightning for what she knew to be an impossibly long moment. Kuli... was helping her pass a test she never should have needed to pass. All merely to survive, both this moment, and the ones that should follow. Can you teach me?
{ Safety mode is more than the acceleration function. I am currently handling too many things, including a healing pattern using Revival aether, and I cannot link into your mind without overwhelming you. However, if you can sense the world around you, you should be able to sense both Acceleration and Revival Aether. }
Ki'el could, of course. If Genesis and Consumption aether felt like flow in and out, Acceleration flow felt... onward. There was no better word for it; the flow simply seemed to go... onward. Although she had barely begun to grasp the lesser aethers, something about onward aether felt... right.
But as she did her best to study it, her thoughts kept being drawn to the bolt of lightning in the sky. No, she decided, after her thoughts had flickered from the acceleration effect to the sky and back several times. They aren't expecting me to learn this, not now.
{ I worry that they expect you to be injured. }
Ki'el studied it, but her thoughts kept coming back to the obvious. No. They expect me to use the sword. It is another part of my path. That bolt is not meant to be absorbed, it is meant to be cut. They said before--my abilities must be either a sword or a shield.
Kuli considered that for what Ki'el realized was a very long time, considering how quickly the augment usually worked. { If you wish to use your purifying cycle with your sword, you will need to be able to express the intent for it in a word. }
Ki'el mentally groaned. She was exhausted, hurting, and still teetering on the edge of collapsing. But... she mentally began reviewing the concept of her modified Turning Cycle, piecing the thoughts together in a mental space within Kuli, then going back to clean the thoughts up. It was a fraught process, with how tired she was, but Kuli gave her more time than she had any right to expect--or perhaps, the Sect's deity did. She adjusted the concept from being a tool, to a shield, and now again to a sword--one that would keep the energy trapped, purifying it.
Although she did not notice it, Kuli made minor corrections, and... an addition.
When at last Kuli allowed her {Safety Mode} to disengage, and Ki'el withdrew the Aether Sword from her space ring, the deity seemed pleased. [ You have time stretching abilities. I get the feeling this is going to be more interesting than I was expecting. Are you ready for this? I can wait. ]
But Ki'el took the sword and extended it, feeling the barrier blade's sharp form as she brought her other hand to it, focusing on it. Within, some part of Sobon's aether--a Power Cycle he had left behind, she could now sense--reacted to her intense focus, and she could feel it wordlessly asking for an intent.
"[Turn.]" The single word carried with it days and hours and weeks of mastery--but only that. Ki'el knew that her knowledge and experience were shallow. Almost everyone at the sect had many times her experience, even those who remained stuck in the Lesser House.
Nevertheless, within the blade, Ki'el felt a strange warping, and she glared up at the guardian deity, who seemed to watch her with concern.
[ Very well. [ Fall. ] ] The last bolt of Tribulation Lightning fell, and Ki'el raised her sword to meet it. When falling met raising and turning...
Ki'el fell into darkness, and would not find out the result for some time.