Primordial existences were born from the void. We are the original Unfated, the true beings of chaos. The thing is, chaos isn’t evil, just unpredictable. Unfated humans are amusing because the chaos that follows them is predictable with enough common sense. Fools choose to rely on seers.

~Balor, The Primordial God of Chaos

Wielder of the Venom Eye

Transitioning into another dimension with just his spirit was unnerving. It felt like he’d cut his soul out of his body. Black flames surrounded him like a cocoon, and the heat he gave off turned the surrounding area into ash. Moments after his boots touched the ground, his tactile sensations returned.

The embers of roasted trees and plants billowed with heat that wanted to cook him alive. Even the scorched soil beneath his feet forced him to step deeper into the thick forest and away from his entry point. Crow squatted to grab the dirt and held the wet loamy earth to his nose. The fragrant smell of healthy soil was mixed with the ashes of the plants he’d burnt. It was all real.

Crow’s formation knowledge wasn’t as good as a master’s, but he knew enough. There was no way a formation could maintain such a realistic illusion for several days. It would require too much energy to keep an illusion of this scale running. Nothing made much sense, but he knew without a doubt that this place was real, not an illusion.

Placing his hands on a vibrant-looking tree, he pushed his Mana Sense into it to see if there was anything strange. It was alive, but lacked any sense of spirit within. Crow realized he didn’t know if this was common or not. Mugna was not an average tree, which meant the surrounding trees weren’t either. All of those trees carried spirit, which Crow thought was normal and hadn’t ever questioned it until now.

“What are you doing, freak?” A young male voice spoke up, and Crow turned around to see a shaggy reddish-brown-haired boy. “Oh, hey cripple, continue hugging your tree. I’m going to find more capable allies.”

Crow ignored him and continued to investigate, but that was when more people appeared. Weirdly, they all appeared inside transparent bubbles, and none arrived in fire like Crow had. Each bubble fell to the earth like a sud and scattered all across the forest. Crow couldn’t tell who was who, so he didn’t bother. Instead, he climbed a tree to see if he could spot the direction he needed to go. Once up in the canopy, he used his Ghost Steps to hop across limbs. It wasn’t as fast as running on the ground, but it was stealthier and oddly freeing.

Ghost Steps, or Stepping Across Tombstones as it was called initially, excelled in this kind of movement. It was only something he realized he could do after opening his second chakra. It took time for him to consolidate his gains and allow the Qi to infuse into his muscles and tendons, but he found his body had more explosive strength when he did. It still required a good amount of focus to cruise through the canopies, but he couldn’t argue with its effectiveness. It was even more beneficial to an archer.

“You sure he went this way?” Someone asked below, and Crow stopped moving. He crouched down on a broad branch and waited to see who was talking below.

“I am. I saw him hugging trees and acting all weird. It was definitely him.” Crow recognized the voice of the shaggy-haired boy from earlier. Peering through a gap in the leaves, he could see the other boy with him. It was an arena contender, one of the first dozen he fought. Crow was vicious that day, and the boy could only stutter in response which made the crowd roar with laughter. Until his fight with Munro, it was the worst beating he’d received. The elder monitoring the battle had to step in, or Crow might have died.

Raising his bow, he was ready to put an arrow into the guy’s head. Before he could draw back on the string, the tree started to shake. It was as if he’d hopped onto the back of a wild beast and attempted to ride or die. Once he stabilized himself, he put his bow back into his ring and climbed higher to see what was happening.

“What the hell is that?” he muttered, looking at a dust cloud heading toward them from the south. Activating his lightning vision, the golden flecks in his eyes turned dark purple, and he peered into the dust. “Beasts! Oh hell, a Beast Tide! That elder has a dark sense of humor.”

Crow didn’t bother playing around in the trees any longer. He dropped and ran north, completely ignoring the two that were hunting him. He channeled his Qi and prepped his body and mind for an endurance run. One of the things he had noticed was the fusion of energy between his two chakras. It increased the effectiveness of his breathing method helped cycle mana through chakras and their related meridians.

“There he is!” the first boy cried out.

“Stop running, coward!” That was from the arena fighter.

“Hah! You really think I give a shit about you,” Crow shouted over his shoulder and didn’t stop moving. “Look to the south, idiot.”

In a forest, he was nearly unstoppable, and each step was as surefooted as if he was walking on a paved road. He slid through the trees like a ghost. He decided that his ability to compete would mainly rely on luck, and there was no point in seeking it out. Either way, his best course of action was to just run for the checkpoints. If luck showed her beautiful face, then that would be for the best.

Others were catching up or passing him effortlessly. Even those two that were initially hunting him ran by laughing at him. Convinced that the beast tide would get him at his current pace. He almost wanted to give them credit for realizing this was an endurance trial and fighting would be a waste of strength. Instead, he snorted at the thought of those two having any kind of intelligence.

“Crow?” Aine asked as she caught up with him. “You… can use your Source?”

“Not exactly. I have been cultivating another type of energy—I can’t talk about it. It’s nowhere near the power of my Source. However, it limits Soul Burn and allows me to survive.”

“I… I’ll run with you,” Aine replied, and Crow hadn’t thought this cousin of his would say such a thing. As much as the Maddox clan mostly ignored him in recent months, he could tell she hadn’t given up on him.

“Thank you, but don’t. It’s okay, I promise.” He flashed her a smile. “It isn’t that I don’t appreciate it, and will definitely remember this kindness. However, if you really want my respect, then run fast and fight hard. Get a top spot and let people know that the Maddox clan fights until their very last breath.”

“You sure?” She asked, staring while easily keeping pace.

“Yes. A master has already chosen me as his disciple—a wandering expert. I leave after this event, so I don’t need to win. So do your best, okay?”

“Yes! This Daughter of Maddox will give it her all, but you must promise not to quit.”

Crow laughed. “Have you ever known me to quit? This Son of Maddox doesn’t include that word in my vocabulary. Good luck, you silly girl. Surprise me.”

After their chat, she turned up the speed. Aine’s movements were eerily similar to Crow’s own, and he finally noticed that her power had grown quite a lot in the last several months. Even her exposed arms rippled between soft, supple flesh and the corded muscles of a warrior. She wasn’t as good as he was before he was cursed, but she wasn’t far off either.

Hours flowed by, but the beast tide was relentless. On a few occasions, he was forced to use his Source to discourage the faster beasts. An arrow was usually enough to scare them off. One thing he did notice was that they were terrified, and it wasn’t because of him. It would make sense that this tide stemmed from them fleeing something more dangerous. As it stood, he was already overtaken by the periphery of the tide. The faster beasts were pushing ahead, while the slower ones were gaining on him.

It wasn’t that bad until the light of day faded, shifted into the dark of night, and then after hours of agonizing darkness, the sun rose once more. Without resting, cycling that much Qi through his body had already long awakened Soul Burn. All he could do was keep it to a minimum, but even that eventually wore him down. The only consolation was he could feel the Elemental Subversion increasing his resistance toward the fire. It would still take decades to gain immunity, but every little bit meant his power was slowly returning.

Still, he was forced to alternate between using Qi and running unassisted. It was a struggle, and he knew he’d fallen well behind the crowd. It was amazing that he managed to stay ahead of the beast tide. Honestly, his biggest struggle wasn’t his body but his soul. The black flames were sapping his willpower. So much so that he’d become singleminded in his effort to reach the checkpoint. The sun was directly overhead by the time he realized someone was running alongside him. Even then, it took him dodging a tree to see her.

Her long emerald hair and golden eyes should have warned him she wasn’t a typical human. Her slim body, middling chest, and heart-melting dimples should have screamed trouble. Lastly, the thin green robe shimmered as it hugged her body like a second skin, should have told him she was anything but ordinary.

“A little girl?” Crow asked, confused. “What are you doing here?”

*Careful, Crow. She is powerful.* Lily warned.

“I am not a little girl, you jerk!”