Sen’s head banged against the console again, harder this time.
How had things gone so wrong?
He looked at Damni as she stood over his seated form. Even after all his failures, there was no doubt in her eyes. Her unwavering strength let him believe that everything wasn’t hopeless.
Perhaps she was right? After all, it wasn’t as if Sen’s failings had been as bad as full-on ‘lost his place in the hierarchy’ or ‘find a new iteration of origin’ levels of failure. No.
Not yet anyway.
Still, in terms of how much his entire situation was screwed up, it didn’t feel like the distinction mattered all that much.
It had all started when the Immortal Masters—a loosely associated group of Immortals whose goal was to prevent the probable extinction of all sapient-mortal life in the multiverse— had asked Damni to go to this Essence deprived, backwater of the multiverse and determine if an adharmic–
“That’s ‘evil,’ Dear, ‘evil.’”
“Evil ... Yes, Damni ... evil.” Sen mumbled back reflexively at Damni’s persistent corrections.
They’d been sent to search for an evil Immortal who was wrongfully shaping the local timelines. Altering them to foster mortal genocide in order to collect the soul energy for personal gains. Such Immortals that attempted to harvest mortal sapient life for power–and thus violated the Immortal Master’s decrees were agents of chaos and destruction. Often referred to simply as Chaotics.
Damni believed in the Master’s goal. So, Sen did as well. Such was the nature of their Ka bond– Marriage... yes ... marriage, Sen auto-corrected– and Damni was a worthy Ka bond– Wife... yes... wife.
She was far more worthy than Sen was, the young Immortal was certain of that.
Together, they’d arrived and used their Ethos Combi to scan for other Immortal Ka signatures… And they had found one!
Good! This hasn’t been a completely wasted trip!
Damni stood from the controls of their transport and peered at Sen as if confirming he was ready to follow her translocation to the Chaotic’s location ...
Holding up a finger, Sen held her. “Damni, I know that you think this soul harvester is likely an Immortal who didn’t have the combat skills or acumen to advance its Ka with honor ... but are you prepared for what might happen if he ... refuses the Master’s orders to stop collecting mortal spirit Essence?”
Damni seemed taken aback by the question, and a perplexed expression rose on her narrow features. She held her hands open as if attempting to grasp the impossible concept, “... Do you mean ... if he tries to resist ... with combat?”
Sen rolled his eyes at the need to specifically say so. He responded with a slight chuckle, “... Well, yes my love.”
A knowing smile came over Damni, and she caressed the side of Sen’s face as she spoke to him as if to a child. “Sen, honey, that is ridiculous. The Principal Master himself backs everything I do... What would it buy him? A few more Ka Nexus rotations before the Master’s combat forces routed him out?” It was Damni’s turn to roll her eyes at Sen’s naivete, and she held a thin hand to her lips to suppress a small laugh. “... No one is that foolish, Sen ... Besides, you’re here. Just being here is more than enough to convince anyone not to fight. Right?”
Damni embraced Sen with her long arms that wrapped all the way around him and cradled his face up to her taller frame and her wide eyes blinked down at him. “... I have my strong Ka bond to protect me, don’t I?”
Sen gulped, “... Of course ... Of course you do. I just wanted to be sure that you had thought this through. I know um ... that you know ... what you’re doing ...” Sen stammered to a trailing finish at how she had turned this around on him. “... Well then, if you are ready ...” Sen coughed. “We should get going.”
Damni backed up with a loving smile and translocated them to the Immortal signature located on the only life-bearing planet in this system. Blue and green with all the markings of mortal life, it circled a lone midlevel yellow sun.
The adharmic or rather ‘evil’, that’s right. The evil Immortal was wearing a physical matter avatar in the form of the sole local sapient lifeforms–humans, I think? He was tall and dark complexioned, and obviously ready for Sen’s arrival–the Immortal hovered over the center of the largest body of terrestrial water–an ocean, he recalled.
Despite the Immortal clearly expecting their arrival, Damni moved with authority and confidence to confront him. “Adharmic Immortal, you are ordered to cease all mortal Essence harvesting and return immediately to the Polar Neutral iteration for judgment by the Masters as empowered by the Principal Master. Your immediate compliance will be viewed favorably. Anything else will result in the amplification of your punishment, possibly leading to complete reversion of your Transcended state.”
Her authority was so absolute that Damni wasn’t even looking at the Chaos Actor as he adopted a business-like expression and straightened his back. “Is that so ...” He spoke in a deep voice with an entertained tone. “... I’m just going to stop because you ask me to ... then what? Run away? Turn myself into the Master’s imagined mercies? I think not!”
The Chaotic advanced on Damni in a surge with raised fists. Damni, whose Immortal Ka focus was fostering the interconnectedness of spirit beings with eternity, reflexively flinched and turned away ...
Damni may have gone into this meeting with her eyes wide shut, but Sen had kept his unblinking gaze on the other Immortal since arrival. In less than a nano he had shed his physical avatar and his Immortal Ka exploded into the mortal reality, restraining the Chaos Actor.
“You end now!” Sen’s chilling Intent broadcast through reality. The ocean below them froze as the clouds in the atmosphere above them stilled in the sky.
The Chaotic sneered up at Sen but didn’t resolve to his Immortal Ka form. Instead, he squirmed and struggled in the bind of Sen’s will, yelling. “I knew that all that vaulted talk about the Master’s non-escalation principles was nonsense!”.
Ok, this will be easier than I thought.
Sen didn’t care if the Chaotic wanted to be captured while ranting or fighting. It made no difference. He concentrated his focus on obliterating the adharmic Immortal’s physical Avatar and then to moribund his Immortal Ka from transport back to the Immortal realms–
“--Stop! You have to stop now!” Damni was screaming, and it took a micro for Sen to realize that she was yelling at him. Reflexively, Sen dropped all his active Intent, freeing the Chaos Actor for the moment.
“Transform back to your physical avatar! Now, Sen, I mean it!” Damni had an enraged expression on her face that Sen didn’t quite understand, but the heat in her tone left Sen with no doubt that she did mean what she said.
Confused, Sen transformed back to his top-knotted human form and faced Damni with an innocent expression. “... Is something wrong honey?” Sen spoke in a quiet voice.
Damni’s look smoldered at him, and Sen wilted under it. Then it softened, and Damni spoke through strained patience, diffusing her anger through rapid hand and arm movements that showed how distraught she really was. Regardless of her calm tone, Sen knew he was in trouble.
“Sen, I am bound by the Penta Protocol’s requirements of non-escalation!” Damni rolled her whole head in disbelief at Sen’s behavior. “You cannot just explode your Immortal Ka all over the place in the mortal realms because you don’t like how the Chaos Actor is treating me! Your escalation will result in his escalation. Entire iterations have been lost because of Immortals acting just like that!”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Marine creatures began to bob to the surface of the water all around them. Large individuals and smaller ones, appearing in schools. All were dead and floating belly up.
Damni shook her head and opened her arms to the seas below as she looked at Sen with remorse. “... See, with just an aggressive thought, you have killed every creature in this ocean. Immortal combat has no place in the mortal realms Sen.”
Sen looked around him and saw the evidence of his overreaction. Dead marine life was surfacing in the ocean’s swells as far as he could see ...
There was no denying it.
Immortals were limited by the Principal Master’s Penta Protocol. The Immortal Master’s only immutable requirement. It was universally followed and obeyed due to the Principal Master’s great power, which no sane Immortal would attempt to contravene. But, more than this, Sen had to admit that the Penta Protocol was important. It was generally considered the best course of action for overall mortal protection. In brief, the Protocol was clear that a pursuing Master could not escalate the violence potential in a mortal iteration beyond those of the Immortal they were pursuing. In this case, the Immortal Sen was confronting had limited himself to a physical avatar. Sen was also limited to combat in the form of a physical avatar.
While Sen wished the Protocol wasn’t necessary, it was undeniable that before its enactment, Immortals had caused so much damage to the involved mortal iterations that many times the complete collapse of all currently known temporal probability models had occurred. Prior to its advent and adoption, many mortal iterations had been reduced to imploded primordial singularities from the interventional ‘help’ of both free-acting Immortals and Masters. Adherence to the Protocols did prevent irreparable damage to temporal and spatial iteration dynamics.
Sen was trapped between the rock of the Protocol and the force of his feelings for Damni. He responded like the trapped spirit beast he felt like. “What do you want me to do? Stand by and watch him beat you?-- I can’t do that! And you can’t fight!” Sen glared at the chaos actor, who hadn’t tried to escape but instead was looking at their argument with interest.
“I don’t know, Sen! You have already violated the Penta Protocol. When the chaos actor informs the Master in charge of his review about what you did, they will likely pardon him, and I will be dismissed.” Tears welled in Damni’s eyes, and she wiped them away with a long-fingered hand.
A deep red blush of shame covered Sen’s face. Damni was right, he was jeopardizing her standing with the Masters, maybe even her Karma with his interference. Sen looked up, pleading to his Ka bond. “There has to be something I can do?”
Damni’s hurt expression grew into a considering one. After several moments, she looked wearily at Sen. “... I suppose that if you formally took over the assignment, the disciplinary action would fall on you instead of me. I would get off with a reprimand for your actions ...” Damni finished with a hopeful expression on her face.
He agreed to this instantly. Sen knew how important her role with the Masters was. He also didn’t care if the Masters formally dismissed him from their ranks. It had no bearing on his Seedency as Heir. All that mattered to the Marztenaks was strength and power, which he had adequately demonstrated here.
Damni’s relieved expression at his decision was all the assurance that Sen needed that his decision was the right one. Now in control, Sen turned to the Chaos Actor, who was oddly still standing by. But definitely not advancing for open combat. That’s ok ... I can make the first move.
But first things needed to come first.
Sen cast a dark look on the hovering chaos actor. “Custom dictates that I Introduce myself before making a formal provocation. I am Senyak Marztanak, second-seeded heir of the Polar Neutral Iteration and the Marztanak Hegemony. The Immortal Masters have empowered me to enforce censure upon your actions in this iteration and the surrounding cuboid to prevent the wrongful harvesting of mortal soul Essence at the multiversal level. I issue a formal challenge of duel to you. Prepare for combat.”
Sen slipped into a physical combat stance. The position felt foreign and incomplete. He’d trained with physical combat very briefly. But he had never actually used it. But that didn’t matter. Sen let a grim smile touch his face. The adharmic—Evil... Yes, evil cultivator, could clearly sense that Sen was at least one full stage more advanced in his cultivation level. This confrontation would be remarkably short regardless of who struck first.
But, instead of fighting, Chaotic bowed his head and spoke. “I accept and agree to the duel. I sense that you are not an unreasonable being. Please hear me out before we begin.” The Chaos Actor looked up and adopted a friendly smile with his hands spread wide in anticipation.
Sen shifted uncomfortably at this turn of events, though he nodded for the Chaotic to continue without moving from his stance.
“Excellent! I’m not an unreasonable man either–and I admit that your arrival at this time had caught me at a delicate time. I request only that you allow me a short interval, two Ka nexus rotations, to prepare for our duel in order to ensure that it is an honorable one.” The tall, brooding avatar nodded in concession to Sen’s superior combat abilities. “As you are aware, I’m not a combat specialist. I am sure you agree; there can be no glory for you in crushing a weaker opponent who is also unprepared.” The Immortal finished placatingly with his head bowed and hands held palm up to his sides.
Sen looked intensely at the Chaotic. While all that was true, Sen had no doubt the Chaotic wanted the extra time to consolidate his ill-gotten gains.
That was unacceptable.
Sen shook his head negatively and advanced–
The chaos actor held up both hands and backed away as quickly as he started talking, “And in concession for the needed time to fight with honor, I will agree not to mention to my Master review panel that a certain someone attacked me with unprovoked Immortal force!”
That got Sen’s attention, and almost without thinking, his body stopped moving forward. This would keep any stain from Damni’s records. Sen needed that to clear up his mistake. He straightened in front of the cowering Chaotic. “You would swear a binding Ka oath to not mention that ... unfortunate misunderstanding?”
A wide smile spread the chaos actor’s dark features. “Of course! The standard twenty-five percent?” He asked, extending his hand for the exchange of Ka to perform the oath.”
“Thirty!” Sen barked, extending his hand.
“Before Karma, Balance, and Reality, I bind thirty percent of my Immortal Ka to the agreement between us. In exchange for postponing our duel two Ka nexus rotations, I will not inform anyone that I was attacked with Immortal force by you.”
“Agreed.” Sen clasped his hand, and a small portion of his Ka was transferred to the Actor along his meridians to serve as witness to the binding oath. Sen looked on with a raised brow. If the Chaotic ever did tell anyone, Karma would remove the bound Ka, thirty percent of his cultivation permanently.
Sen thinned his lids and tilted his head at the Immortal. “Very well, two Ka Nexus rotations, Fifty solar rotations of this planet at this location. Sen leaned forward to the Immortal who still stood in the same position. “... Don’t make me come looking for you!”
The Chaotic bowed his head again. “As you say.” Then, translocated away.
Sen looked up to Damni with a sheepish expression. She gazed back with an unreadable look.
Sen did need to wrap up the mission quickly before anyone got even a hint that he might have been lax in his responsibilities as a seeded heir. While he could spare a handful of Ka Nexus rotations, each being twenty-five of the local life-bearing planet’s solar rotations or ‘years.’ Any more than that, and his superiors and inferiors both would begin to question his actions. Before he knew it, his seedency seat would be vulnerable to a challenge from those under him. All eighteen of his younger siblings would be desperate for the chance.
Despite the gnawing feeling that the Chaotic had come out ahead in the postponement of the duel, Sen couldn’t deny that it would be a simple matter to ‘take care’ of such a minor character. Time wasn’t going to change that, especially such a short window of time. The evil cultivator would never be Sen’s match. Not now, not in two rotations. Not in two hundred or two thousand. Senyak, like all in his father’s line, had focused his Immortal Ka as a combat specialist. And even among such specialists, Sen was a particularly capable warrior. He would trounce the adharmic– evil genocidal cur in a duel. Once defeated, Sen would beat the Chaotic until he was in a state of Ka exhaustion and then moribund him back for review by the Masters and likely loss of his Immortal Transcendence... probably permanently. Sen would then return to the Immortal Core iterations before he was missed. Whether it happened now or in two Ka Nexus Rotations…What could go wrong?
Sen glared for one more moment at the chaos agent to establish that he meant business, then translocated back to Damni and put the evil Immortal out of his mind.
The truth was that he and Damni could use the fifty solar rotations–
“That’s years, Sen-honey, years...”
“Yes, Damni...years–” for much-needed time alone to get away from it all. He would also be about to focus on his physical combat techniques. Sen had to admit they were sorely lacking.
During this time, their union could truly grow strong. Damni, who had Transcended to Immortality by rising through the levels of mortal cultivation from a physical-matter iteration like the one they were presently in. She showed Sen many things concerning physical communion with their Ka bond, Marriage... yes Damni... marriage, that were unique to existing in physical form.
Unlike Damni, Sen had been actualized as an Immortal through the joined wills of his progenitors. He didn’t have her past mortal experiences and had certainly not known that such physical joining was possible. Whether in the dense core of a singularity, inside the swirling tempest of local gas giants, even between the galaxies and free of all forces... the variations were all unquestionably worthy! As their time waiting for the duel came to an end, they made a promise to each other to take the time to come back to this backwater iteration and further explore these joining aspects.