All cultivators will seek vengeance at one point in their ascension. The question everyone faces is… do they kill their enemy’s entire family, uprooting them and eliminating future problems? Or do they grant mercy and leave a potential enemy at their back?

~Lugh, God of Battle and Craft

“Knowledge is a burden some can handle, while others suffer in the knowing,” the demon said, breaking Crow from his thoughts.

“I think they only considered knowledge burdensome because people are lazy. They don’t want to take responsibility, so they choose to ignore what is staring them in the face.”

“Bahaha! Okay, I’ll give you that one. I can see questions burning in your eyes. What do you want to know?”

“Explain my curse and how it’s related to Shields.”

“Going right for it, eh?” The demon’s eyes twinkled. “Let me start with a question. Are you familiar with formation keys—sometimes called tokens or passes?”

“I am.” A formation key was something that a person could use to access formations. Depending on the formation, it could grant different permissions. Sects used them as identity tokens, which would allow their people to come and go as they please. Anyone who entered the formation without the key would trigger some kind of event. Usually alerting an elder or attacking them directly.

“Good. This will be easier to explain. You know you can incubate items and weapons in your soul, right?”

“Yes, like the Vortex Pin you gave me.”

“Yes, exactly. Well, what do you think a Shield is?”

Crow was about to speak and then stopped. The shock was written all over his face, and he couldn’t believe something that seemed so mystical was actually so simple. Was that all a Shield amounted to? A formation key that people incubated with their soul?

“Don’t worry, even powerful cultivators can’t see the forest through the trees. Your Shield is your key to the tower. It opens trials, special areas, resources, and it registers teleportation pads you find within the tower. Even the dimensional space within your Shield belongs to the tower. And tons more things that I’m sure I don’t even know about.”

Crow remembered the two items his grandpa gave him to link his Sheild with his parents.

“That’s neat, but how does that relate to my curse? Is that not a Shield, or did I misunderstand?”

“You misunderstood. Yes, the tower creates the Shields, and it makes it from those flames, but the Shield is inert and solidified fire—I guess you’d call it an Artifact. Your curse is alive and partially sentient. Think of it as a worker drone, and its queen is the tower. Because it is sentient, it feeds on its own. Like I told you before, it absorbs the energy from your mind, body, and spirit, but it can’t consume origin energy. That is why the energy inside your Source is so pure. A Shield is an inert object and needs a cultivator to provide for it to grow. Because it is attached to your Source and, by extension, your soul, it can passively get stronger as you cultivate. So… you still need to get a Shield if you wish to climb because the flames aren’t a formation key.”

“Why bother with all this? It seems complicated. Why not just let people climb to the upper realms without all the restrictions? Seems like overkill.”

“There is a weird balance. At the heart of it all is power… or, more accurately, energy. You’ve heard of the Heavenly Fires, correct?”

“Like Night Fire?” Crow asked.

“Kid, I’d like to know where you get your information. Regardless, I wouldn’t call it that. Stick with calling it Flames of the False Dawn—or better yet, don’t mention them at all. Having a heavenly fire is likely to get you killed. Anyway, a heavenly fire has sentience. If they gain spirit, they’ll develop a core—just like a beast, it will gain intelligence. In creating the Towers of Day or Night, they used a heavenly fire core as the spirit of each of the twelve towers. Your tower is Night Fire, and mine is Hellfire—ironic how it was rebranded as the Flames of the Sacred Sun.”

“So each tower has a flame core spirit?”

“Well, the twelve inner towers do. The three thousand outer towers are managed by Uru—the thirteenth tower. Sometimes called the Tower of the Eclipse. Also, before you ask, those outer towers don’t have Shields or related trials. But if I was sum up those towers in one word—savage.”

“Alright, but how does this equate to power? It sounds like Uru is forcing the twelve towers to give up a part of their flame core.”

“They aren’t giving it up. It’s a… gambling stake. Are you familiar with casinos?”

“Gambling dens? Sure.”

“The concept is like that, the Shield is the price of admission, but the odds are stacked against you. So some people might come away winners, others will lose everything and more. Apply that to what we just talked about. Aren’t we all just incubators for the tower? If you die, it takes back its stake with interest—all the cultivation you did to strengthen that Shield. Don’t worry. It’s not as dire as it sounds. Towers still have to maintain their formations and provide a cut of their profits to the big boss tower, Uru.”

Crow didn’t know what to say. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. These flame core spirits willingly gave up a part of their power to millions of cultivators. In a way, the Shield was rooted deeply in their power growth while climbing the tower, which meant the tower gave them opportunities to fatten up. Eventually, it’d claim its harvest. Like any casino, there were some losses. Still, those losses were acceptable and so minuscule that they hardly affected its day-to-day operations.

“Wait, does that mean the items inside their Shield—”

“Haha, that was faster than I thought. Not only are you incubating an inert part of the flame core, but it creates death trials using items from fallen cultivators to lure you in.”

“What the hell!?” Crow was beyond perplexed, but as he calmed down, he realized it wasn’t a one-way exchange. None of this was forced on anyone, and cultivators gained power faster by pushing themselves to the limit by walking the razor’s edge between life and death.

Crow sat still for hours, so he got up and paced the chamber. It was reasonably luxurious in places, which was surprising. There was a room full of paintings and carvings, which he browsed through. Another filled with furniture, some of which looked like something seen in a rich lord’s home.

“It all came from cultivators. You’d be surprised by the amount of crap they carry in their spatial storage,” the demon explained. Except for some carvings, none of it really held much interest to Crow.

Finally, he sat back down on his bone bench.

“Okay, I’m ready to talk again. I’ve mostly understood the purpose of the tower, the rest is just minor details, so I won’t bother you about those for now.” Despite walking around, he had taken a lot of time to reorganize what he knew. Since time was short, he had to prioritize a few things. So he wanted to learn more about his curse, the False Dawn, and the Sacred Sun. “Let’s talk about my curse. Is it really a curse? Every time I talk to someone about it, I’m more confused.”

“That’s the crux of it. I don’t know. Whoever designed that curse was a madman, but… they say there is a thin line between genius and madness. If I guessed right, he abandoned it, correct?”

Crow nodded, not even surprised at how much this senior knew.

“Do you know why?”

“No…”

“Because it wouldn’t have worked on anyone with a Shield. Artifacts fall outside normal weapon and item rankings because of their special properties. It isn’t fair to call a Shield an Artifact because, in truth, the tower is the Artifact and the Shield is just a fragment. However, once incorporated into your soul, it’ll protect it against most attacks targeting your soul. It’s just that most soul attacks are curses, so this is lesser-known. Unless the attack can overpower a fraction of a heavenly flame’s might, it will do no lasting harm.”

“So, the creator didn’t intend for it to be a curse, but a way to steal heavenly flames from the tower?”

“That is my guess. Without a Shield, it definitely counts as a curse since it is harming you. But I’m sure you’ve already noticed your body is adapting to it. Think about it this way, you control a spark of heavenly flame—sort of. While you possess it, it is still connected to the tower. If you really want to claim it, at some point, you’ll need to sever the link between the two.”

“So I should attempt to do that immediately?”

“Why? Isn’t this an opportunity to steal even more?” The demon roared with laughter. “It isn’t easy to tame any of the heavenly fires, and at your level, it’s impossible. You possess a sliver of one and have gained some control over it, which is to your advantage. Since Night Fire is one of the soul flames, if you came across another heavenly flame ranked that didn’t rank above fifty, you might be able to tame it. At the very least, you could suppress it. When you do manage to sever the link between that flame and the flame core, you can nurture your soul flame with other heavenly flames and help it gain a spirit.”

“What aren’t you saying?” Crow asked, feeling the demon was once more up to his tricks.

“I’m not saying a lot, but that’s all for your own good. Just this much has already rattled everything you thought you knew. Just get your Shield before attempting to tame any heavenly flames. And if anyone asks you about them, feign ignorance.” The demon shifted his massive bulk. “I owe the Draoidh and the False Dawn a favor… I think. My mind isn’t as clear, and my past is muddled with my bouts of insanity, so I’m not sure what’s real or not. I am sure that the False Dawn and Sacred Sun were allies, at least before the False Dawn was betrayed and nearly wiped out.”

“Are you from the lower realms?”

“No. I was born in the upper realms but sent to the lower realms as punishment. The twelve major factions used this form of punishment a lot. A Shield is considered a stain in the upper realms, and you’ll be mistreated until you gain enough power to shut them up. So sending someone to the lower realms forces a cultivator to ascend the tower to get back to the upper realms. In doing so, they forever ruin their status. It is equivalent to having a slave mark. Even if you are freed, that mark remains,” The demon said with bitterness.

“What did you do?”

“An elder accused me of looking at his wife.”

“Did you?”

“No. I slept with her. But she blindfolded me, so I truly didn’t look. That damned elder wronged me.”

“…” Crow was speechless.

“It’s all true!” The demon insisted, and Crow just shook his head, wondering if there was anyone more shameless than this demon.

“Fine. Doesn’t matter. Why was the False Dawn targeted?”

“This… I’m not sure. I’m not even going to guess, and I probably wouldn’t say if I knew. You have to understand how powerful your ancestral sect was, yet it was still destroyed in less than a hundred years. At the time, I was still climbing up the stupid tower, so I couldn’t help. I’m not sure what my affiliation is with False Dawn, but I can still feel the anxiety of needing to hurry to aid them. When I reached the upper realms again, False Dawn was already vanquished, and the Sacred Sun sect was still burning. Rushing into the sect, elite dragon guards had remained behind to patrol. They beat me and cut off my head, but I refused to die. Head in hand, I slew them all as my cultivation went berserk and my power grew exponentially. The Shield prevented my soul from dispersing. The stain became my salvation. After I killed them, I recognized the dragon king that fled. I ignored him as I went to search for my family. All that was left was their dismembered bodies. Those damned monsters chopped off my eight-year-old boy’s limbs! I buried them before I left, seeking to satisfy the rage in my heart. And the rest you know…”

The fat demon was crying, and Crow knew he wasn’t faking it. There was a moment when Crow felt the demon’s madness taking control, but the sad demon quelled it. It was an unimaginable story, and Crow should fear this level of power. All he could muster up was rage. Crow was forced to kill once and hated himself for it. While he took the life of another, he could justify it—it was kill or be killed. But he struggled to imagine the type of person who would kill a child in cold blood—toward such a person, he only felt endless rage. No matter how much he wanted to turn a blind eye, he couldn’t ignore that evil existed. That there were people that couldn’t be reasoned with. That killing was sometimes a necessity and the only way to end some monsters.

Maybe the demon was playing with him, but he doubted it. After some time, the demon got himself back under control. As he spoke, his voice was softer, but more hoarse.

“Sacred Sun isn’t gone. I can feel it inside me, the pull toward a destiny I can’t fulfill. Ignoring those out of the sect that day, our founding ancestor was never found. No one could confirm his death. I think he took those he could and hid them away in a secret realm. Not unlike what the Draoidh did, only their battle concluded in the tower. As they fled below, those that pursued them were nearly all destroyed by heaven’s wrath. In fact, that puny sleeve placed over the tower was shattered by heaven’s wrath.”

“If what you said is true, I will—”

“Stop, kid. Don’t make any vows or promises. They’ll sense it. It’s enough that you carry this indignation in your heart.”

“I’ll find your people, then. I’ll return your legacy to them.”

The demon nodded, but his eyes were still somewhat vacant. “I cannot tell you much more about those events. Mostly because I can’t remember. Grief shattered my mind, and I can’t leave here until I can put it all back together again.”

Crow pondered this. It was a scale of power that he couldn’t even fathom at this point, and he suddenly understood how Dagda fell into his current situation. It was easy to look at his small part of the world and think the rest of the world is more of the same.

“Little brother, what is your name?” The demon asked after a period of silence.

“Crow, son of Maddox.”

“Oh?” The demon perked up. “The Maddox bloodline still lives? That is truly a blessing.”

“You know my ancestors?”

“I did, but that is a story for another time. It seems that we already have some karma. Since that is so, I’ll tell you my name. Tadd of House Egan.”

Crow put his fist over his chest and bowed. “I greet senior Egan.”

“None of that nonsense. Just call me Tadd.”

Over the next two days, they talked about many things, and the demon even helped guide some of Crow’s cultivation and abilities. Occasionally, trial goers would appear through more frequently used tunnels, but the demon killed them while laughing maniacally. None of those people, nor the roaming beasts, even had a chance to regret it. In the end, Crow also felt some regret, mainly because the time he could spend with Tadd was too short. The demon’s stories were shocking and funny.

“Alright, kid. Time for you to head back. If in the future you become powerful enough, come and visit me. There is a star map in the Vortex Pin, and the coordinates to this place are in there. Do not come here unless you have reached the upper realms, or they will kill you instantly.”

“Thank you… may I call you brother Tadd,” Crow said, feeling a sense of melancholy and fearing he might never see this noble demon again. For several long moments, there was silence.

“Very good, little brother Crow,” Tadd said with a shaky voice. “Very good. If we have affinity, we may meet again, so stay safe little brother.”

“I look forward to that day, big brother.” Crow bowed toward Tadd, the Beast of Carnage, and decisively left.

For a long while, after he left, Tadd sat there in a daze and then started laughing. “Very good. Maybe the gods—”

“Will do what? Listening to your pathetic pleas?” A rock-like voice grumbled, shaking the cavern. A serpentine head in the shape of a boulder stuck its head into the cavern. “You’ve condemned that boy to death. Who is he, and what did you tell him?”

“Y-you leave him out of this,” Tadd’s emotions were chaotic, and the madness was threatening to take over again.

“Oh, I do so enjoy seeing hope spark in your eyes. It means the next decade of torturing you will be pleasant indeed.” Serpentine eyes lit up in the shadows of the cavern. “What is the boy’s name?”

In his despair, Tadd felt something was wrong. A detail he needed to focus on, something… the shielding! Despite what Crow said, Tadd still put up a barrier because he didn’t want to take the chance of anyone seeing the Vortex Pin. He’d forgotten he put it up and still hadn’t taken it down yet. The dragon hadn’t heard or seen anything. It was fishing for information, and a big smile wiped away Tadd’s despair. Crow, this is the last favor I can do for you. I hope you soar, little brother.

“Ha ha ha,” Tadd laughed uproariously. “You old fools want to trick me, the Demon Without a Soul? I spit on you and welcome death.”

The dragon roared and dashed forward, but Tadd did not care. He’d been granted his greatest wish, to pass on his legacy, to choose an heir. There was nothing else these could take from him.