Harvy Gau was a minor disciple of the Clan. Being 3 times removed from the head family’s bloodline he was treated like dirt. Resources that others were given he’d have to work twice as hard to earn.

He looked young. Perhaps just escaping puberty and considered a man at 18 or 19. However having trained spirit energy to the edge of the Spirit Barrier he naturally aged slower. In truth, he was nearly the same age as James. Interestingly enough, should he ever break through the Spirit Barrier, his ageing speed would halve again. Meaning by the time he looked twenty he’d be well into his late thirties.

Harvy wasn’t his real name, but a name he acquired in a life threatening, spirit trying experience. It was a nickname given to him by the incarnation of the devil and had since stuck to him like shit to a blanket.

This devil incarnate was indeed deceptive. He disguised himself as a mortal old man and pulled some other demonic creatures hidden inside mortals with him through a Gateway to Ascension Star. 4 days ago when he first appeared he remained incognito and had one of his demon spawn draw attention from him when they were first discovered.

Being the lowest disciple present at the time, Harvy was the one tasked with bringing this harmless old man back to the clan. Little did he know, that this old man’s body sired the soul of all evil and his mouth spewed the most putrid of lies and evil incantations.

At first when he picked him up he ignored the old man’s curses, thinking they were just harmless angry words. It wasn’t until the devil began to curse his mother and his father and every generation of his family yet to be born and then every pet he’s ever owned that Harvy grew fearful.

As if some malignant tumour, the more he tried to block it out the louder it grew. When he thought he could take solace in his mind becoming numb, the cursing changed, as if conjuring all the despicable and foul energy of the world, his head once more began to fill with the Devil’s curses, like some sickening natural law descending on him.

The longer they travelled, the worse it grew. His blood surged, and the spirit energy in his body expanded and contracted in rhythm to the Devil’s continuous chanting.

Throughout this whole experience, the fiend began to name him Harvy and so the other disciples, laughing at his plight, also began to call him as such. This short trip was so psychologically traumatic that he spat curdled blood from his lungs every time the grotesquery on his shoulder reached a crescendo in his vile ranting.

For two days his spirit pressure was dilapidated and dried out until the third day when he discovered it rising rapidly far beyond its past boundary until finally pushing against the Spirit Barrier only a single step from breaking through to the realm of a True Spirit cultivator.

Ever since however, he was convinced the old man and his two compatriots were from a universe in which heaven and hell are switched and darkness reigns supreme. As such he made an effort to avoid all three of them.

Today he was in the Endless Forest to gather some spirit materials and to test a Gau Compass that he’d just finished manufacturing. As a disciple of the Gau Clan and furthermore a disciple of the Hall of Forging he was trained since the conception of his spirit energy in the art of forging spirit artefacts and weapons.

As a minor disciple, he was given few resources to increase his spirit energy or practice his forging. Unlike sons and daughters of the head family, he had to gather his own. To make matters more difficult for young Cultivators like himself, a third of everything he collected or found in the Endless Forest had to be handed over to the clan.

For the first time in his life, he’d finally pulled a massive haul in the forest. Having found a Black-Iron vein deep in the forest, he knew he’d struck it rich. If he could keep it to himself, he’d be able to trade its location in the Endless Forest with the family and gain a better reputation and standing.

He’d for once be treated equally and be given resources instead of having them taken. That was the dream in his head at least.

While following his compass back out of the forest, he heard a loud foreign chant in the middle of his distracted walking.

Spinning toward the origin of the unfamiliar sound, with a deer in the head lights look on his face, he saw the young male demon spawn approaching him with a happy expression, which to Harvy looked truly sinister even though to James it was his most pleasant and friendly smile.

Harvy was petrified. His body froze and knees shook. James was but a mortal and Harvy should be able to punch him to death with a single swing of his fist, but...

‘Demon! Great Heavens, they’ve come into the forest to wrest away my soul with their devilish curses and drain my corpse of blood. How did they find me?’

He was too afraid to think that rationally. All he knew, was last time he encountered one of these Steppers, his mind was nearly forced from his body by his own inner demons after being fed by the devil himself, and at the end of the ordeal, he lacked a prodigious amount of blood. Their chanted curses were like some vicious spirit attack on the soul.

‘My knees, my legs. Why can’t I move? Was that single demonic chant enough to freeze my entire body? Oh Heavens, I’m shaking like a leaf. No! He’s started some sickening demon incantation again. I have to do something! Anything!’

“Hey, I’m a bit lost in this forest do you...”

“Gree-Greetings D-D-Dark Liege! I-I-I ... Please, I beg your forgiveness. Don’t take my soul! Please just-just let me l-leave. I-I’ll pretend I know nothing of your hellish origins and never speak a word of it to anyone. I beg of you!”

With a final cry, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed, smashing his forehead into the cobblestone path. Blood rushed down his forehead as he kept it pressed to the forest trail and prayed in his heart that the spawn of the devil would release him.

James showed a baffled expression and then his stoic face came to the fore. From this whole spectacle, he realised two things. ‘Wow. This guy is more fucked in the head than that depraved old man Skay.’ he began to ponder to himself with his dead, expressionless eyes staring at Harvy.

Harvy took a peek towards James and could see only those demonic eyes lifelessly staring back. To him, they seemed to steal all the colour from the world, and what had been a beautiful forest with light filtering through the leaf canopy, and wonderful smelling flowers with frequent chirping birds, all suddenly darkened dramatically.

In Harvy’s perception, the smell of the flowers turned from fresh and sweet to rotten and decaying. The sunbeams peeking through the canopy slowly decreased to the width of needle points until they completely broke apart like a snapped string. The once straight, tall and rich brown tree trunks became gnarled and deformed, looking as if afflicted with some sickness.

To James, however, everything remained just dandy, and no great changes happened. Although he did notice the disciple in front of him growing visibly paler and his shaking even harder. Nevertheless, at the moment he didn’t care what this nut-job was doing because he’d just discovered something even more important.

‘Interesting. So, I’ve left the influence of the Monolith. It must be due to the forest. To meet a Gau Clan disciple here though, that must mean he has a way back. I doubt he’d enter here not knowing a way out.’

James clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the leafy canopy above mumbling to himself.

“When he spoke just now, I understood him. But he definitely wasn’t speaking English, or any language I’d ever heard before. That must be the common language.”

James’ brow furrowed slightly when he considered just how much power a Monolith had. To be capable of implanting a second language. It was utterly perverse.

Poor Harvy, hearing James begin muttering in a strange language, felt his heart tighten and try to push its way out his throat. Darkness enveloped everything as he felt his consciousness begin to fade until a light face slapping awoke him again.

James had by now remembered who this man was. He’d seen him carrying Dr Skay back on the first day they came here and also by now figured out a little bit of what was going on in the man’s head. This fellow apparently thought he was a demon sent from hell. He wasn’t sure where this disciple got such a notion, but he a had a suspicion when he remembered Harvy’s pale face and bloodied robe as he ran at his fastest speed through the grain fields.

‘Old Skay you crazy bastard. Just what did you do to this poor sap?’

Then James had an atrocious idea. Perhaps it could even be described as malicious or cruel. His face slowly developed a wicked grin, which was the first thing Harvy saw when James crouched down to slap him awake from his daze. Trying out the common language for the first time without the assistance of the Monolith he spoke slowly.

“What is it? Your Name?”

Harvy was so tensed up right now every muscle in his body was frozen like stone. As a born and bred resident of Ascension Star, Harvy had never heard or used any other language than common. So when he heard James trying to use it for the first time, it came out distorted and rough. To Harvy it sounded as if a voice was reaching out from the abyss.

He then suddenly remembered a story of a creature of darkness called a Holtzier. It was an evil creature found in only the darkest and most violent places in the world. They were like undead ghouls with black talons for hands and feet. Although they had the body and face of a human, their teeth were as sharp as swords. Because they were a creature that was raised from the corpse of a cultivator that died a horrible death their voice sounded like the grating of iron chains.

The most vicious part is when they trick you into giving them your name. “Never reveal your real name to the creatures of the darkness, for should they hear it from your lips, it will become the chains that shackle your soul. You will forever be bound to those horrible creatures and your soul slowly fed upon, until nothing remains. Your chance to pass into reincarnation will be stolen, and your empty husk of a body will stay here on this mortal plane, cursed for eternity!” Or so the story went.

Having this story flash past his mind, he hesitated a moment. “Harvy! Dark Liege my name is Harvy!” He finally spewed.

James grin grew wider, and he pulled Harvy to his feet and started to dust him off. “Harvy, I came to the forest with someone else, and we got separated. I want you to help me find her and then take us out from the forest.”

“Yes yes! I can help you find this person and leave the forest. No! I mean ... Please, allow me to assist you.”

Harvy loosened up significantly after hearing the Dark Spawns request. After all, it meant he would be keeping his soul. His eyes flickered with a crafty light for a moment. ‘All I have to do now is wait for a chance to slip away and escape the forest.’

James then rested a hand on his shoulder and said in English while looking him in the eye. “You poor unfortunate chump. To be so scarred and damaged by that loony Skay is your bad luck and my good fortune.”

Harvy started freaking out again. ‘Was that some horrid curse or some twisted dark spell? Oh Heavens, this can’t be a good thing whatever it is!’

James then threw out a disarming smile. “Tell me about the forest. Also, how do you find your way around the Forest? Is there some map or something? I guess also tell me what you’re doing in here.”

Harvy gulped. He wanted to lie. He wanted to say he just knew the forest well and could find his way anywhere. Seeing his reluctance and hesitation James smile dimmed down until it was a frown and started muttering again.

“There must be some secret to this forest he doesn’t want or isn’t allowed to share with outsiders. Or perhaps he’s merely trying to think of the best way to pull one over on me? God, I hope he’s not lost as well.”

Harvy seeing this change in James started to sweat. ‘Is he chanting some magic to see the truth of my next words or ... or ... can he see into my mind? Oh Heavens why me?!’ Harvy started bowing to James, deciding he had no choice but to acquiesce.

“Ah! Ah! Mighty Devil Spawn I beg of you to listen! It’s ahh ... quite simple actually. The Endless Forest ... hmm, well, it has existed here as far back as the Monolith stone itself. When our Gau Clan first settled in this town the ... ahh, townsmen thought it to be cursed because none had ever returned once entering. Our Ancestor was a prevailing forge master and err ... when he brought our Clan here, he recorded many notes on the forest.

“Some were lost when he ... well, disappeared in the forest and many are now indecipherable but ... err well, we still have some notes regarding a compass he designed. Using Black-Iron and a Spirit Stone found only in this forest, along with some secret clan techniques one can craft the ... ahh, compass.

“The compass allows one to ... erm, traverse the forest as they please because it will always point in the direction to the nearest Gateway, hmm well ... I suppose they can indicate at anything though really, as long as you, umm ... can properly envision a place in your mind when you’re crafting the compass. Like when I created this new compass by envisioning the mansion to find the nearest return Gateway. Phew!” Finally finished explaining and gesticulating Harvy let loose a long breath as the tension he felt with James staring and mumbling also seemed to dissipate after the last word left his mouth.

James was stunned momentarily. ‘Well shit! A magical compass? Is this some cruel joke. Why didn’t they warn us before hand, I mean the forest is like 100 meters from my bedroom damn it! More importantly, why haven’t they noticed we’re missing? I wonder if this magic compass can be used to find Jessy... ‘ Finishing that thought, he looked towards the little black box Harvy was holding.

-4 Hours Earlier-

James was quite sharp having clued into this strange happenstance. No one ever told them, because the disciple of the Sword Hall, Calso, who’d brought James to the Elder, was also a cohort of Xanzu. Despite being tasked by the Elder with informing them of the rules in the mansion, he chose instead to try and win favour with Xanzu.

He was also tasked with keeping an eye on their courtyard and making sure nothing happened to them until they’d fulfilled their purpose. Hiding away in the shadows of a tree and busy listening to there fighting like some dirty prowler, he tried to think of a way to win more favour from Xanzu. When he noticed they’d entered the forest he couldn’t help chuckling to himself.

“Heh heh, fools. Now that they’ve entered the forest no one will be able to find them. With any luck, they’ll wander deep enough to meet a spirit beast and be devoured. I’ll just tell the Elders that they walked in even after I warned them. Pity about the girl though. She’d have been lots of fun.”

With such things thought and muttered he left the shadows of the courtyard and proceeded to the Sword Hall to inform Xanzu.

The Sword Hall was a massive and grand cathedral shaped structure positioned close to the centre of Gau City and its majesty was second to none. Although their rival faction in the clan, the Hall of Forging, had a compound of even greater size, it was almost entirely underground.

In comparison, the little bit above ground looked to be a simple round courtyard about 100 meters in diameter. This courtyard was surrounding by a number of shops that had chimney stacks nearly 5 meters wide poking out from them and reaching 30 meters into the sky.

When Calso got to the gaudy looking Sword Hall and reported these matters to Xanzu, instead of the reward and praise he’d hoped for, he was viciously blasted out of the hall by a kick. “You incompetent fool! I could care less for that disgusting mortal man, but that girl was to be mine! Must be mine! I don’t care if you have to march to the centre of the Endless Forest, you will find her and bring her to me!”

Xanzu swished the sleeve of his robe and turned back, as he was walking into the Sword Hall his voice echoed out. “If you can’t find her Calso, don’t bother returning from the forest. Oh and if you meet that loathsome man. Kill him!”

Calso slowly climbed to his feet with bloodshot eyes and ruffled hair while his teeth tried to grind themselves into dust. Although Xanzu’s threat wasn’t particularly reliable, he knew that this time he’d definitely upset the Head families son.

-Swoosh! And we’re back to the present-

On the top of the little box was a perfectly spherical, polished stone ball with a long red mark down one side and sitting in a half-spherical depression in the box, assumingly the line was pointing towards a nearby Gateway. The black box had some odd engravings and was only about the size of an earring box. Apart from the depression and the engravings, it looked unremarkable.

James reached out a hand and took the box. Holding it, he had a vision of a very gloomy and rudimentary room within which he saw Harvy sitting on the single little bed masturbating furiously. The surprise of something so wretched invading his very personal thoughts caused him to jolt and drop the compass. On contact with the cobblestone path, the polished sphere jumped out of its little indentation and rolled away. He glared at Harvy who looked just as surprised and concerned. “What the hell was that?”

Harvy’s face contorted into strange angles. “Son of darkness I-I-I’m um ... I guess you saw well hmmm ... When creating a compass a substantial emotional memory or hmmm ... Well, also a strong delusion that is attuned to the soul of the place or thing you want it to point to must be used, along with a little spirit energy. If someone with spirit power touches it, they see the envisioned memory. For example, this compass in my bag was created by Family Head Hao and is a memory of ... Well, the baker’s son getting ... Err ... Hmm ... Well ... And then mine was made with the strongest mental image of the mansion I could conjure, which was er ... well ... Ahem!”

Clearing his throat, he decided to stop while still living. James’ eyebrows rose slightly when he heard you needed spirit energy in order to see the vision. ‘Does this mean I have spirit energy? But how ... Could it be from when I first arrived and Hao had to throw me into the ice slushy? Also a strong emotional memory or vision. So I just have to think about something that I have a strong reaction to when placing that sphere to find it?’

Thinking this far James picked up the box and the ball which now had a chip and thinking as hard as he possibly could about a vision that truly shook his soul he placed the ball down. Following which nothing happened. His face sank, and he looked accusingly at Harvy.

“I thought you said this thing needed an emotional vision of something and then could point towards it. Why ain’t it happening?”

Seeing the soul devouring demon spawn start to grow angry, Harvy began to worry. “Ah! Ah! Dark Lord plea ... please forgive this petty man for not explaining correctly. Well ... Um ... You need to apply your spirit power and can only think of things you know the location of ... And well, I guess people and things you know exist ... I suppose. Arhm ... Dark Sire if you’re thinking of something you desire but have never seen or touched it won’t work.”

‘Damn! If I knew that I wouldn’t have envisioned myself finding a mountain made of gold!’

Finally, James caught onto the “I suppose” Harvy had uttered. With a suspicious face, he glanced at him. “Why exactly do you ‘suppose’? If you can make this thing shouldn’t you know how it works?”

“Err ... Well, that ... Hmmm ... Well only someone with an elemental affinity to the universal law of erm ... lightning can implant visions of anything that can be moved around. Which is why they’re called the umm ... Lightning Seeking Spirit Stone. Anyone can envision places ... Err I guess?” Harvy tried to explain what he could on the matter.

‘You guess huh? Lightning? As in electricity? If I have an affinity for anything, it would be that. Well then let’s see if it can find that bitch Jessy.’ Thinking such, James envisioned the memory he had of Jessy’s arrival in the main hall yesterday.

While he held the stone, his body began to warm slightly and his blood began to rush, as his vision slowly turned from memory to a depraved sexual fantasy. A strange and difficult to describe sensation, like an electric shock, ran through his body as he placed the chipped sphere into the little black box. After releasing the ball, it spun around a few times rapidly, until pointing in the direction of some trees and forest to his right. As he turned the little red mark remained stationary in its direction as the ball spun in its socket.

James took a wobbling step back after this experience, feeling drained and tired as if all that extra energy he had when he awoke this morning was suddenly gone.

‘Holy shit! Was that spirit energy? Why do I feel like I just gave a litre of blood?’

James held his head with one hand as he backed up to lean on a tree. Seeing James weaken considerably, Harvy’s thoughts began to spin rapidly. ‘This is my chance! If I can escape, he’ll be trapped in the Endless Forest! Hahaha, genius! I just need to get far enough that his demonic spirit mantras can’t affect me.’

With that thought, he started to slowly back away from the disorientated James. “Harvy ... Mate ... you could have told me it would be so fucked before I did it.” In his confused state, he unintentionally spoke in English. Poor Harvy’s feet stopped at almost the same time as his heart. Then his heart began hammering as he deployed a unique stepping pattern and disappeared like a gentle breeze into the forest.