22. The Road Forward

The necromancer sighed as all of his work fell apart at the seems like dolls with poor stitching. He shook his head. That final attack of the resident gold path cultivator had been truly something, he reflected, and he was glad that he was far removed from it. It would have destroyed so many precious projects if it had taken effect anywhere on one of his core worlds.

Fortunately the vampire he’d created was only half dead. It had been a foolish mistake on the part of the idiot he’d imbued with the forbidden technique to kill the target. Half of his spirit was dead, and as time passed that half would continue to rot and decay.

Not that it was really any of the necromancer’s business, even if it was his fault. He hadn’t shared that little tidbit of information; that the power remained linked to the victim even after it was siphoned out. And vice versa, the victim retained links to the power on a profound level. Slaying the vampire would cause a rapid recovery in the victim, while slaying the victim would result in a rapid deterioration of the vampire.

So he wasn’t particularly surprised when the connection that he’d established with the fool on planet Atla buzzed in his ears for three days straight after everything had fallen apart. He kept expecting the buzzing to stop, but instead it grew stronger, and so finally he answered it out of annoyance.

“What is it?” he asked through the dimensions.

“Your ability corrupted me. I am rotting,” Ko Ren complained.

“I’m not the one who killed my sister,” the necromancer said. “I mean, that’s not a moral condemnation or anything. I would have certainly traded my sister for power if that were an option for me, but I’m an only child. However, it is that particular sin for which you are presently suffering.”

“Fix it.”

“Why should I?” the necromancer demanded.

“Hear me demon, I have conjured you and—”

“Oh not this again. Look, I don’t care. If you want to stop rotting when half of you is dead, then you’ll have to turn that half un-dead. I hope you still have your sister’s corpse stashed in a shallow grave or something. Here’s a basic ritual that will reanimate her,” the necromancer said, imbuing the fool with the knowledge.

He then abruptly cut off the connection and went back to searching for the unbound soul’s blood ties.

He would be free of the damned empress eventually. He just had to present her with the right soul to harvest.

~~~~~~

Di Ram led the refugee train south. Not everyone who he had come across had heeded his warnings of undead, but many had. What had started as hundred and thirty-eight disciples became thousands and thousands of hungry and homeless peasants who followed him.

Followed him. On the promise that they would be safe in the south. A promise that he didn’t know was true.

It might be, he thought. Whatever energies were causing the dead to wake, whatever forces were empowering and controlling them, it was possible that it wouldn’t be able to cross the great Qi desert between the northern territories and the jungles of the south. But it was a gamble, and one that Di Ram didn’t know would pay off.

But he had no other cards to play. He was under no illusions that Ko Ren would stop at his father’s death, news of which had reached him long since. That Ko Ren had been gravely injured was only a small reprieve.

The duel for leadership of the sect wasn’t supposed to go so far. It was supposed to only determine who was stronger, who had the mightier dao and who had walked furthest down their path. Had it been another elder who had ascended to the golden path, it might not have even been necessary, as so many ascended Ascended , leaving this world for the next, where they might pursue their cultivation to yet higher peaks.

Stolen story; please report.

Di Ram had seen Ko Ren twice since he had reached the golden path, and he had seen his father hundreds of time. While the pressure that Ko Ren gave off was the same as those few times that Di Phon had revealed his hidden might to his students, the power was shallow and carried a false weight to it. Di Ram was fairly confident that Ko Ren couldn’t ascend if he wanted to.

Which wasn’t the greatest for the rest of the world, as if Ko Ren ascended then he would become a problem for the courts of the Lord of the Realm, rather than remaining a problem for everyone on Atla.

Still, Di Ram could only play the part that had been thrust upon him. He ran his fingers over his rings as the disciples and the mortals who had stepped into leadership positions reported the state of the refugee train, and he looked calm and in control.

In truth, he had no idea what he was doing, but looking like he was in control as the mortals told him what they wanted to do, and then repeating their suggestions back to them in the form of an order, seemed to be doing the trick so far.

Once the meeting adjourned, he retired to his private tent and screamed into a pillow.

~~~~~~

The cheeping of the little thunderbirds filled my room, and filled my heart with laughter as they walked all over me, six of the little songbirds perched on each shoulder as I walked through the compound at the base of my mountain. While the mountain was snow capped, the base was tropical, and the rain forest around us was lush as I gave the little birds their first view of the world outside the room where they’d hatched.

They were stupid little things yet, as every infant of every species is. Now and then one would jump off my shoulder and I’d have to catch it and put it back, but such was to be expected. The others looked at me with wide eyes as I made the rounds.

I had revised my opinion of the two that I had thought were duds once they had hatched. Whether it was having spent more time in the energy gathering array, or they had simply been late bloomers, they all possessed a burgeoning spirituality which set them apart from common fowl.

Whether or not this would be enough to fulfill my promise with the Tunrida I didn’t know, but I felt that my end of the bargain was off to a good start.

“So, I have to carry them around like that when you’re gone?” Yara asked me.

“You can if you want,” I told her. “But they’ll be flying before long. Some of them might never return.”

“If you love it let it go,” she said, and I blinked.

“I didn’t know that saying extended to this world. But yes. Except that I don’t own these birds, even if they come back to me. They might just recognize that the gathering array I’ve set up for them is particularly suited to them and see the wisdom of nesting in our compound,” I explained. “But regardless, I will not cage them.”

“Can I hold one?” she asked.

“If it lets you,” I said.

She held a hand out to my shoulder, and one of the little birds jumped off and into her palm. I didn’t tell her that it had been about to jump off regardless of whether she’d been there or not; that one was Jumper.

I had seen the bonds between Yara and Hien Ro growing even closer over the last few days, just as I had seen the fate of Adan enter a state of flux at a set of three actions from me. I had given him an amulet of protection. I had tattooed a similar blessing of protection on his back, a process which he had been surprised by and then surprisingly honored when I’d suggested. And he had also received a warning at the same time.

“I have seen that there is a high chance that you will die two years from now. A violent death, not illness. If nature takes its course you will die an old man. I tell you this so that you may see your death coming. If you wish to live, then learn to fight and defend yourself,” I had advised him.

And in this way, I had gained yet another student as Adan had begun listening in to the lectures that I and Hien Ro gave his daughter. I saw him trying to cultivate in the shadows and other places where he thought that we would not look for him, but I could only smile.

“It was truly never too late to take the first step down your true path,” I told him one night when I thought I found him cultivating. He was relieving himself instead, leading to a moment of mutual embarrassment instead. But the wisdom of my words seemed to have gotten through, as he began cultivating in the open after that.

Once the little birds’ feathering came in, I decided that it was time. I told the others that I would be journeying to the top of my mountain, and that I would not return until I had achieved my goal of attuning my Qi to ice.

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