Silas woke up sometime later in a bed with soft flute music playing. He blinked several times and shook his head a little, trying to move the fog from his brain so he could see and think. When he could focus, he saw Elder Shen sitting in a chair next to him smiling, and then he saw Maisy over in the room's corner, playing her flute.
When Maisy saw him wake, she stood and bowed to him, “welcome back Silas.”
He smiled and bowed his head a little to her as well. “I gotta stop doing that.” Silas put his head in his hands for a moment and blinked a few more times. He heard Elder Shen thank her and then she exited the room.
“You gave all of your friends quite the scare. You used too much of your mana. I know you may feel like you’re as powerful as you were, but you still need to cultivate and grow the new base you have. Maisy here played her song for you and I fed you an elixir. I had to help you quickly regain some mana, so you didn’t slip and maybe die.” Elder Shen was looking at Silas when Silas raised his head from his hands.
“Thank you, Elder.” Silas tried his best to give Elder Shen a bow from his lying position, but Elder Shen chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You will be alright Silas. Once you feel up to it, you and the Beggars can go back to Mudpass. I’m sure The Elder has other things for you to do now that this dragon is gone.” Elder Shen stood and walked to the other side of the room, grabbing a small bottle with a stopper.
“We need to find who killed Kio.” Silas interrupted Elder Shen as he was about to speak again. “We can’t go back yet.”
Silas was moving, uncovering himself. Throwing the blankets on the floor, he moved his legs and set his feet on the floor. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Elder Shen looking down at him, smiling.
“Silas, if you go fight The Heavenly Dragons in your current state, you will not survive, I assure you. Here, drink this.” Elder Shen said as he handed a small glass jar to Silas. “It should help you even out.”
Silas took the bottle and looked at it, opening the stopper giving it a sniff. It was an orange color, and it smelled like oranges. He took a small drink.
“Silas, it's orange juice. Drink up. I find it wonderful when I first wake up. Helps you get ready for the day. You young Sacred Artists always think something has to be some mystical potion.” Elder Shen smiled and gave a soft, mocking laugh. “Sometimes something right from the soil that nature created without madra reinforcement is the best medicine.”
Silas looked up at Elder Shen with a sheepish grin before drinking the orange juice, nodding his head. “Yes, Elder. I still must go.” This time, he was pleased to find out he was still dressed in his robes. Silas climbed to his feet and swayed a bit, but he shook his head.
Silas’s entire world was still in a fog. He couldn’t even see clearly. Everything looked hazy to him, and standing only made this a little worse. He looked to Elder Shen and squinted a moment, focusing on him. It was almost like he had drunk too much of the infused wine he used to have with his wife.
Elder Shen smiled and looked to the ground. “Yes, I cannot stop you, of course. You and your friend were quite close, I understand. The dangers of The Holy Dragon Sect though, Silas. Their powers aren’t like anything you’ve run into before.”
“Maybe.” Silas looked at Elder Shen, focusing as hard as he could, giving him a grim expression. “She was the last person I had to care for after the attack on my village.”
Elder Shen gave a sigh and nodded his head, putting his hands on Silas’s shoulders. “Go then. I was able to force your hammer back into your ring. I believe Daiki has requested to join you, and my replacement has agreed to allow him. Your friends have already welcomed him.”
Silas paused and stared at the Elder. Elder Shen’s face no longer had that same soft smile or aloofness as it usually did. Silas blinked and stared hard at the Elder. “Replacement?”
“Yes. It became alarmingly clear last night that the Kunlun needs to become a sect of action. It cannot have a man such as myself as the Elder. I have stepped down, and will go into secluded cultivation.” Shen still had his hands on Silas’s shoulder, but the man’s smile returned. “While we have always helped defend those who have requested it, it’s always been as only when needed. Only when there has been no other choice.”
Shen paused and took a step away from Silas. “I am truly sorry for not giving your First Elder more help when he came to me after The Mother saw you.”
There was a long silence, Silas wasn’t quite what to say. He just stared at Shen’s back.
“Elder, I -”
“There is a war coming, Silas.” Shen turned and looked at Silas. “It’s between the Kami, but the mortals, the Sacred Artists, are involved. We are already involved. Your friend, Kio. Your village was probably the first group of casualties.”
Silas listened to the Elder, and his blood started boiling. He knew the Kami were doing things. The Mother told him in what seemed like a lifetime ago. Kenji has told him his sister was doing something.
“That is why I must go find who did this to Kio, Elder. What happens to me isn't something I care about. I have to find who killed her, and then I’m going after the Kami. I’ve met Kenji. He told me there were things happening. I must become powerful to avenge my family, and apprentice.” Silas looked into Shen’s eyes with determination. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his bones. Silas knew he had to get strong enough, beyond even what he was when he was first injured.
“Did you know, in our system, there’s a rank of those about as powerful as a Celestial? That isn’t what they call it, but it’s someone who has the mana from one of the Kami. They represent the Kami in the mortal plane. Not like Lilith has her Reapers to collect the dead, or like Daichi has The Mothers.”
Silas’s mouth dropped a little, hearing more of the names of the Kami. He was sure he hadn’t heard the name Daichi before, and he didn’t know The Oracles were representatives of his.
“You must reach the rank of Sage, Silas. If you have any hope. From the sounds of things, you may have Kenji supporting and engineering it. He is a powerful Kami. Kenji has never picked someone from the tournaments to be an agent of his. He’s always just made things to carry out his wishes. Genki, the youngest Kami, has The Heavenly Dragon Sect. You will have to fight them. She is trying to move the Elder of them to become a Sage, as I believe Kenji is trying to do for you.”
Silas furrowed his brow in thought. Kenji hadn’t really taught him that much of the new abilities he could have. Just told him to sit out there in that field of void and figure it out. Silas had, but he didn’t even know how long it took him. Time worked so much differently there in that blackness. Then he had the palm strike.
“I don’t think he’d have taken an interest in you if he didn’t think you’d be able to do this, Silas.” Shen seemed to read Silas’s thoughts.
Silas looked at Shen and nodded his head. “Maybe, but it feels like Kenji is using me.”
Shen laughed, “oh, I’m almost positive he is. As long as you achieve your goals, though, why not let him? Figure out your powers, Silas. Grow stronger. Maybe you can avenge Kio and have a hand in making Genki pay for what she did. I don’t think the other Kami are that fond of her, anyway.”
“If the Kami doesn’t like her, why don’t they deal with her? Or the Father, Rei?” Silas asked, wondering.
Shen simply shrugged. “I am but a mortal, Silas. I will not pretend to know the will of the Kami.”
Silas finally put the empty jar that held the orange juice in his hand down on the table that was next to his bed. The juice had worked on helping Silas’s fuzziness. His eyesight was straightening out and the fog in his brain was slowly lifting. He wondered if Shen hadn’t added a little extra something to the orange juice to make sure Silas would be alright. “My hammer is in my ring?”
Shen gave one solemn nod. “I must insist you stay one more day to gather your strength however, Silas.”
Silas looked at Elder Shen and clasped his hands together bowing to him, “thank you for the help Elder, and thank you for your wisdom. I must do this.”
Elder Shen smiled and bowed his head. “Just call me Shen. I told you, I am no longer an Elder. Go if you must. Be safe.”
Without looking back, Silas turned and exited the room and went out into that hallway. Moving around the path in the tower, he left and went out into the courtyard where he found Maisy, Magnus, William, and Daiki. They all turned and looked at Maisy, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“I told them you wouldn’t want to hang around once you were awake. Did Elder Shen give you any hints as to where we can find The Cult?” she asked him. Leaving her hand on his shoulder and giving him a faint smile. “We’re ready to avenge Kio. She was our friend as well.”
“Yes,” was all Magnus said in that blocky way of talking and giving Silas a firm nod.
“Aye. She ‘elped me out plenty. It’d only be proper if I whipped some ass,” was William’s reply.
They all looked at Daiki, who hadn’t even met Kio, and Silas wasn’t even sure entirely why he wanted to come. He seemed more pressed with making his wine than trying to fight off a dragon cult. Daiki returned their gaze with a sheepish grin. “It’s about time I left the sect. After all, I am a Sacred Artist. I’m not supposed to be sitting around making wine and hanging out. I’m ready for adventure!”
The rest of them gave a laugh that didn’t last long, and when Daiki joined them, he sounded nervous. He rested his quarterstaff on his shoulders and let his hands hang over it. “I’ve been training my whole life to fight as well. I’m ready.”
Silas clapped him on the shoulder and nodded his head. “I didn’t think to ask Elder Shen about the whereabouts of the cult, and I think he was leaving right after me. He said he was going into secluded cultivation. Does anyone else in your sect know anything?”
Daiki grinned and nodded his head, “of course someone knows. Me. I saw their encampment once when I went down the mountain to get supplies for the vineyard. They’re hidden away, and you’d think they’d be harder to find since they’re illusionists, but…” He trailed off and shrugged.
Another monk ran towards the group carrying five packs. He set them on the ground and bowed to them. “The kitchen sent these supplies for you, masters. There is food and some water skins in case you don’t pass any of the streams. There should be everything you need to last a hike through the jungle of the island.” Then he ran off before anyone could thank him.
“I had spoken to the Elders before Silas woke up. Asked them if they’d be able to supply some extras, if they had any.” Daiki informed them. “I wasn’t expecting much, but it seemed like they really came through.” The packs all looked full, and Daiki leaned down and grabbed one, opening it to look through it.
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The rest of the group picked up a pack and slung it on their back, then followed Daiki out of the Monastery. He had sent his quarterstaff into his own storage ring and the group set off. They headed opposite of the direction they came from, away from the seas that brought them here. They headed down the mountain they built the monastery on and soon enough, they were trekking through thick, dense jungles.
It took the group longer than Silas would have liked to make any real headway. They didn’t want to take the main roads in case the cult had people traveling along them to watch out for anyone. They each had a large knife or very large daggers in William’s case and were hacking through making way down the mountain.
The island was hot, humid, and they had to stop often to drink. Silas and Daiki had even removed their outer robes and put them in their storage rings. They were only left in the inner robe, which was the same thickness as a regular shirt, and gave them much more air.
Daiki had tried to use his wood madra to pull back some layers of the jungle, but it was no use. The jungle itself seemed to be alive and was fighting his ability, which was almost frightening. Daiki was in the spirit realm of his cultivation at the Onyx realm. Silas, until last night, fighting that dragon had felt about on the same level as Daiki.
Now, though, while he was still a little out of it and in a fog, he could feel his power grow. As they moved, Silas sensed his channels. His spirit was no longer the cool light gray it used to be. Now his channels were full of that deep dark gray, almost black shadow mana. He traced the channels to his core, behind his belly button. It was full as well, and more condensed than it ever had been. He felt powerful, and in such a short time.
The next time they rested, the five of them sat in a circle or leaned against the trees, huffing. Taking water from their packs, they drank the water. Silas looked at the group.
“It seems like I’ve gotten strong in a brief time. I feel like I’m almost back to Jade again.” He said it, but he meant it more like a question. He wasn’t sure how or why that would happen.
Daiki looked at him with a grin, “who told you that you would have to start all over? Well, okay, you do. Sort of.”
The rest of the group just looked at Daiki, and Maisy lowered her head, hiding a smirk.
“What do you mean? These guys said I was the Initiate and then Adept.” Silas looked at the rest of the Beggars, confused.
Daiki laughed and nodded, “well. I guess you were technically. Those aren’t the normal ranks, though, are they? We don’t have a rank called Initiate in our traditional system, do we?”
Silas shook his head.
“You were an Initiate in the sense that you were just learning the ways of one of the Kami. You were weakened because you had the new mana in your system replacing the madra. Now that you know a few techniques and after that display last night. You’re probably beyond what they would call an Adept.” Daiki explained this and had everyone looking at Silas nod at their confirmations.
“You’re really more a like Master.” Daiki finally said, still looking at Silas, smiling softly. “Maybe Adept, on the cusp of Master, but you’re there. I’ve seen no one make a dragon with their madra or mana and have it fly around.”
“Master….” Silas said the word, searching inside of himself. That would explain the respect Elder Shen had given him, and the fact he could weave such a powerful technique the night before. “So, I’m still in the Jade realm?” He looked up at Daiki.
Daiki, still giving a stupid grin, gave him a nod. “I’d say so. Maybe weak right now because your body still hasn’t, you know, worked itself out. But from sensing you, I’d say you were close.”
“Ya, Silas. I told ye you were powerful. I wasn’t yankin’ yer chain. You have the ability to become one of the greats. Could probably become an Elder of a sect if you wanted to, eventually.” William piped in.
Silas smirked. William had always talked Silas up, but Silas always thought that was just him blowing smoke and making sure Silas did nothing really awful. Now, Silas frowned though and breathed in deep before standing back to his feet. “Well, I’m not looking to lead a sect. I have a lot I want to do, but right now we just need to avenge Kio. She was better than all of us, and did not deserve to be taken out by some coward who couldn’t face her or us in person.”
“Aye,” William nodded his head and everyone else gave the affirmative. They all put away their water and slung their packs back on their back.
Maisy went over to Silas and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling up to him. “Sorry, I let you think you were weaker than you were.”
Silas looked at her and waved it off. “no big deal. I was definitely weaker than I should be, anyway. I still am a little. Now, I can feel it. Now that I know what I’m looking for. I can feel the power returning to me.”
“You’ll only get stronger as you continue to cultivate and meditate.” She gave Silas a firm nod and then turned to follow the other three, who had already started moving through the jungle already.
Silas tightened his pack on his back and gripped his dagger and followed her. It didn’t take that much longer until they saw a small camp of tents and then a larger main one in the middle of it. They had the flags of The Heavenly Dragon sect flying high above the main tent. Now that he had seen it Silas wasn’t sure if he had ever seen the proper sect seal for them.
The seal was a circular design, as most were besides The Divine Body Sect. It was a large black dragon turning in half in the air with red wings and a smaller one flying underneath it that was green and trimmed with gold. The dragons were flying around the circle of the seal.
Silas got the others’ attention and pointed to the camp. “We’re close.”
Magnus looked back at Silas and then looked to where he was pointing and nodded his head. He then let loose with his guandao, chopping some trees out of the way, sending them flying away in the camp's direction, thankfully. Seemed he was getting a little excited to finally be out of the jungle and into a battle. Kio was friends to all of them, after all.
Silas moved up along Magnus and started hacking at some bamboo as well when the ground shook. They all paused and looked at each other. There was a loud growl, and then the ground shook around them once more.
“Oops…” Daiki said, and looked at all of them.
Maisy was the first to speak, staring at Daiki. “Oops what? What is that?”
“CULTIVATORS” the call came once more, and the ground shook once more. Faster this time.
The group braced themselves until the ground stopped shaking once more. “Oops what, man!” William now chided Daiki, waiting for his answer.
“Well, there’s a sacred spirit beast that lives in the jungle, but I thought it lived on the other side of the river to the west. I didn’t think we’d come this close to this territory.” Daiki exclaimed, looking at them. He was clearly nervous.
“Well, a spirit beast isn’t so bad.” William spoke and shrugged.
“Well, normally no, but this is Hoshi.” Daiki spoke lowly and quickly.
“What is a Hoshi?” Maisy looked at Daiki before the ground started rumbling again.
“COME CULTIVATORS. YOU’RE IN MY LANDS.”
Silas had to reinforce his ears so his eardrums didn’t burst from the yelling. He looked down to the camp and saw some movement happening. A few of the Sacred Artists were grouping together and pointing up to the jungle not far from where they were.
“Hoshi is, well, he isn’t Saint level, but if any spirit beast has come close, it’s him. He’s a sloth, an ancient sloth.”
Silas watched the group forming down below and frowned. This spirit sloth was going to give away their position if it kept yelling the way it did. He looked to his fellow Beggars, searching to see what they thought they should do.
“Well, he obviously knows we’re here. Do we try to make peace? He can’t eat all of us if we make contact.” Magnus spoke, trying to rationalize what they should do.
“No matter what we do, we should be quick about it. That thing is yelling a bit too loud. They’re going to be expecting something to happen now with a big mouth.” William spoke quickly.
______________________
The snow fox sat there on top of the large graves, still watching the Reapers move around the graveyard, transporting the dead to their ultimate resting places. Genki licked her lips and yawned, putting her head down on her front paws. The petite woman in the black armor stepped behind the small fox.
“This is your fault, you know, little sister,” Lilith looked at Genki with a small frown. “If you hadn’t released that monster out into the mortal realm, Kenji probably wouldn’t have known you were in his realm.”
Genki looked up at her sister, and the fox sighed but shrugged. “Yes. The shadow demon being released was a mistake. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I tried to blame it on you, you know. Disguised myself as well as I could. I hoped that human that survived would have thought I was you, or one of your reapers.” Genki laughed and shook her head.
Lilith removed the bastard sword from her back and drove the blade into the ground next to Genki. Genki looked up at her sister and watched Lilith sit on a gravestone next to her. Lilith folded her arms and stared at the little white fox.
“You know this is your fault.” She finally looked away and watched her Reapers when she spoke, looking at one of them leading an elderly lady into the realm. They moved past the Gatekeeper and into the graveyard. Lilith sighed and looked back at Genki.
Genki nodded her head. “What are you doing, sister? You will not let me go. Why are you sitting here talking to me?”
Lilith narrowed her eyes at Genki. “What was your end game?”
Genki rolled her eyes and looked back out at the realm. She would not tell Lilith about her plans. Why would she? Genki put her head on her paws and closed her eyes, pretending to nap. Eventually Lilith stood and lifted her sword from the dirt, putting it back on her back, and then she walked away from her little sister.
Once Genki was sure Lilith was gone, she’d open her eyes. They restricted her powers here. She had this half silver collar around her neck, however, she could sense things. She presumed she still had two pieces of the wand locked away.
Lilith had a third here somewhere in this realm. She could still use her senses and she closed her eyes once more and lowered her head, sensing out as far and as wide as she could. Her senses went out like a web encompassing Lilith's domain, and she sat there following each thread. Then she found something, and she opened her eyes.