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World Kings part Seven: Warrior
Chapter 2: Truth in Existence

Chapter 2: Truth in Existence

Kasella, Thuren and Sahn sat at their favorite spot on the ledge outside Thuren's room. They always watched the beautiful Xibalban sunset every time they came to visit. "So you have to carry this thing around all the time now?" Sahn gestured toward the stone tablet strapped to the belt around Thuren's waist. "Well technically I just have to keep it safe." Thuren replied. "Oh, well hand it over. No safer place than with me." Sahn boasted. "Please, it be lost or broken within the hour." Kasella teased while Thuren chuckled quietly. Unphased by the ridicule, Sahn continued. "Well if our tribe had one I'd bet they would give it to me to guard." "We do have one you dope." Kasella added. Sahn was quiet while he processed the new information. Thuren chuckled again. "You really don't listen when the elders speak do you?" Kasella asked. "What?" Sahn asked, not paying attention to what she had said. "You two are entertaining as always but we have to cut this short. There is a private ceremony that my parents need me to attend and I'm afraid guests aren't allowed." Thuren informed before crawling through the window back into his room. Kasella followed him. "So we have to leave now and go through that jungle in the dark?" She asked. "Of course not. You can both stay here till I'm done with the ceremony." Thuren answered. Sahn was the last to make it through the window but when he dropped down he was holding the Tablet of Dissolution in his hand. "So what's it do? I don't get it." Sahn asked, roughly flipping it around and examining it. "When did you take that?" Kasella asked, concerned. "Sahn, be careful with that! Give it here!" Thuren reached out for the tablet and Sahn, still not realizing the importance of the tablet, shrugged his shoulders and casually tossed it back to Thuren. But the toss fell short and the tablet brushed against Thuren's fingers as he missed the catch. The tablet hit the floor and cracked on impact. "Sahn you idiot!" Kasella insulted and slapped the back of Sahn's head. Thuren didn't speak, he just stared at the cracked tablet on the floor in front of him. "Oh man, I'm sorry." Sahn apologized, but Thuren held out his hand to silence him. "Forget it. Look!" A crack the same shape as the one in the tablet appeared in the air between them. A dull pink light emanated from it. "What is that?" Sahn asked, reaching out to touch it. "Sahn, don't touch it!" Kasella warned but it was too late and Sahn made contact. In a flash of bright light all three of them were gone.

Sahn opened his eyes to a sea of golden sand that stretched infinitely in every direction. The clouds and sun were replaced by a pitch black sky. Although there was no source of light in the sky, it was still bright enough that he could see. His mouth was agape in amazement but it wasn't soon before his signature grin spread across his face. He bent down and took off his sandals and buried his toes into the sand. He sat for a moment enjoying the warm sand and gazing into the void above him until after a while he happened to notice two pillars jutting out of the sand in the distance. He made his way toward them and noticed as he got closer two large men standing in front of the pillars. The one on the left was holding a strange book and the other a plain looking scepter. Sahn paid them no mind as he was more interested in what they were guarding. Whatever would be worth guarding in a place like this was bound to be more interesting than these two he thought. So he strode by them without hesitation. The book the guard was holding began to glow as Sahn walked by and they in turn paid no mind to him. Sahn walked past the two pillars and was suddenly inside a great hall that more than rivaled the one in the Xibalban emperor's palace. Stark white floors and walls that even he hesitated to walk on in fear that he might dirty them, but that didn't last long as his attention was stolen by the golden thrones lining the walls. "YOU ARE WEAK! BUT THAT IS WHY YOUR STRENGTH WILL BEAR MORE SUBSTANCE AND WITH IT HELP GUIDE FATE!" The voice simultaneously surrounded Sahn and came from within his own head. "What?" Sahn replied, confused by the voice's words. "SO AS ONE WHO WALKS WITH BOTH POWER AND VULNERABILITY I SHALL ALLOW YOU TO WALK WITH BOTH THE SUBTLE AND THE GROSS! THIS I GIFT YOU!" Sahn, still confused, felt a finger press against his forehead and then he blacked out.

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Thuren opened his eyes but his sight was still met with darkness. Each step he took while he fumbled through the blackness echoed throughout wherever he was. He could feel multiple presences flow around him like schools of fish or flocks of birds all moving in unison. He stopped moving and tried to ascertain how many masses of consciousness were Swimming around him. "What is it doing?" "Where did it come from?" "Why is it here?" "Is it the reason?" "Maybe the solution?" Multiple things began to speak but they didn't use voices or thoughts, it was more like instances of emotion bursting into Thuren's perception. He remained still as he felt one of the masses stop in front of him. "We know of two things, form and freedom. We lack the latter and the former keeps it from us. You reek of it." The emotional voice manifested itself to Thuren as a hiss filled with resentment. "It leaks fear." a different mass growled. "Not fear, caution." Thuren responded. "This is your home and I am an unwilling trespasser who does not wish to offend." "NO HOME!" One mass protested. "Prison." Another added. Eight in all, maybe nine Thuren thought to himself. "It seeks to quantify us?" "It thinks it's shape is actual." "Wait, so my will is sustaining my presence?" Thuren asked. "It's no fool." "It shall free us." "IT MUST!" Thuren could feel their pain, their longing and he felt sympathy. "How do I do that?" Thuren asked sincerely. Another mass settled in front of him. "Delusion took shape and form sealed us." "That doesn't tell me much," Thuren replied. "But maybe if I break the other tablets I can get more answers." "It knows a way?" "It can't be trusted." "It must not be allowed to leave." Thuren tried to suppress his anxiety so as to not agitate the beings. "No, I promise I'll find a way to help you when I get back home." Thuren's sincerity was palpable. The masses were silent for a moment before one spoke up. "Then let me grant you my will as aid." Thuren thought for a second. "I accept." He replied and a new mass engulfed him and its consciousness began to merge with his. "Know me as Suma, The Only to Form!" "And know me as Thuren Bahn, prince of the Xibalban Empire." He added. "And now, Savior of the Eldritch race." Suma concluded. Suma's mass continued to merge with Thuren until he could no longer feel it as a separate presence, then he blacked out.

Kasella opened her eyes to the feeling of rushing air. She quickly realized she was falling but she couldn't see the ground or any other structures besides clouds. Although slight she could feel herself accelerate more and more as she fell but instead of feeling panic she was more concerned with the gray clouds that began to swirl around her and form images. First the clouds formed into the silhouettes of two little girls, one of which had antlers. Then the clouds formed into what looked like a man with long hair standing atop a mountain of bodies. After that, seven pillars or towers appeared to show many sleeping, maybe dead people attached to them. Then the clouds shifted again into seven silhouettes holding seven weapons standing in a circle. After that the clouds showed one young man clashing swords with a figure in dark armor. Then finally what she thought could only be herself laying on her back sinking into darkness. She couldn't make sense of what she saw but now that the images had stopped her focus went back to her plummeting. She continued to fall faster and faster until velocity was too much for her to handle and she blacked out.