Chapter 26

Aftermath Part 3

(that time I saw the stars… )

‘The Dark One, also known as the Demon King is not one thing but an idea of things. Set upon this world, it is the embodiment of chaos. A seed for which devastation is borne’ - Sect Leader Goru, Master of the Sedon Darklands

“I can’t sleep,” I said. My stomach was full of Wyvern meat, my thirst quenched by a clean river. I could still even taste the spicy delicious herbs Ajax had picked and cooked on the Wyvern for our dinner. It somehow had made a delicious meal taste 10x better. Ajax had even made a tent using wood, branches, and several large leaves he shot down from the canopy with his slingshot. He was a natural at all of this.

Everything he said he would do to help he was doing and more.

“Funny, this is the first time we’ve done this,” Ajax said.

“Done what?”

“Gone camping, stayed up late,” he answered.

I nodded. Unsure whether he was looking at me or not. I didn’t really care. My mind was still worried about how we were going to find Hebrook and what we would do if he wasn’t where my father thought. Worst, what if he was dead? There was no way I could just return to Haven. I wasn’t sure whether my father had told the truth or some lie but there was no sign of my moms or anyone coming to find us even as our head start became less and less with every hour we rested, with every hour I took to selfishly cultivate.

“What’s the point of immortality if the people I’m friends with aren’t able to be at my side?” I asked.

“Think of all the good you could do. Think of all the friends you could make as an immortal. All the wives you could have,” Ajax smiled.

“I think you want this life more than me.”

“I had an uncle that tried to become a radiant. His organs collapsed, twisted inside his body as he cleared the final stage. For one minute he was completely one with the astral plain, but his body… was tossing itself across the ground, bleeding from every opening it could find. When he woke up he couldn’t feel anything. He just stood there with a smile on his face, laying in his own blood and shit as he sang… ‘eternity, eternity’… over and over again until finally he turned to dust there on the spot,” Ajax proclaimed.

“It’s not fair,” I said.

“My father… he watched the whole thing. Said it was the proudest he had ever been on my uncle,” Ajax said. “Have you ever looked at the stars and wondered where they come from?”

“They are…”

“Not what they are, but what forms them, and why,” Ajax interrupted.

“I suppose I’ve just always accepted that they just are.”

“The stars we see are are those that have failed to reach the divine. Forever trapped in burning torment. Powerful and mighty, they are a beacon of light, spread across time and distances,” Ajax explained.

Ajax’s words made me think of how I had experienced the afterlife. The dark void… myself, a wisp of light. Was I a star? If I looked up there now would I be able to see myself, burning somewhere in the past?

“Let’s step outside,” I said.

“We shouldn’t, we don’t know what might be…”

I was already moving outside the make-shift wooden tent when Ajax tried to stop me. I was determined to see the stars, to see the cultivators and heroes of the past, burning across the darkness, showing us the light.

“There!” I pointed upward towards a twinkling star.

“What is it?”

“That is your uncle, ascending through advent and adept and straight to master!” I stated.

Ajax smiled.

“I can show you how,” I said. I turned and looked at him.

“Show me what?”

“How to use your insight, to see the details of the world, to cultivate your mana and make your body stronger. You may not be able to use magic but magic is only one aspect of it. Once your meridians are clear you live longer, healthier. Your body becomes purged of impurities,” I said. I felt like I was starting to sound like my mothers. Maybe there was some hope for me. After I defeat the Kudlak and save this world I could even be a teacher.

Ajax didn’t say anything. Instead he smiled, reached for the star that I had said was his uncle and we continued to watch the night sky until we were too tired to keep our eyes open any longer.

Waking up the next morning I felt refreshed. My stomach was still full from the Wyvern meat but my throat was parched. Taking a drink of water I stretched and decided rather than to wake Ajax up that I should instead begin my morning meditation. Sitting outside our wooden tent with my legs crossed I took deep breathes… holding and letting go. I listened to the birds sing their songs of wonder and lust. I even felt the animals surrounding us. Sensing them with my insight but not able to identify them directly.

I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to teach Ajax the skills I had but I knew it was possible. In my past life, before my guild, I had been in a near-death situation in which my mana activated, enhancing my strength and allowing me see the world in a whole new way. I didn’t want to put Ajax’s life at risk but I knew eventually, as long as we stayed side by side, it would be. Until then I would explain everything I could to him. Levels, Ranks, Skills, and how the gods rank Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Intelligence. How it is nearly indecipherable at first, like starring at runes… but the longer you stared into them the clearer numbers and letters became. Meaning becomes something that is implied.

I decided from that moment, after Ajax woke up I would ask him to join my party, and I would also ask him to be my friend for life… as my sword brother.

Ajax woke up after an hour and we set off. Destroying our wooden tent and scattering it throughout the woods. We stayed close to the river, knowing that it would drain into the sea near Maestat. If we were lucky it would take us all the way to the dock. Getting passage and finding a barge going to the City of the Veil of Shadows was going to be the hard part.

There were dozens of mainland docks that a barge could be heading towards. Peney, Tharlo, Rewick, in the North. The Golden City of Pisaca, the Exalted City of Elorien, or the Thousand Spires of Bora in the West. Allon and the City of Tombs south of us, or Amerth, the City of Coin in the East. There were dozens more I wasn’t sure even existed or had names anymore even places I had spent months living in my past life I couldn’t recall. That was one thing that never changed. I liked to stay on the move.

It was mid-afternoon when I finally asked him to be my sword brother. His answer of course was that we already were as he reminded me again of my promise to Pan. It took a minute but I explained how guilds use to work, long ago, in my past. I explained it was more than blood or marriage. Being a member of the same Sect or Guild made you family forever.

“And what would we call our guild?” he asked.

I wanted to use the name CoreRunners, but that name seemed lost. Bad luck to name ourselves after a party whose only other members are ghosts.

“Right now we’ll just call ourselves ‘Duality’,” I said.

Ajax nodded and agreed.

“The names aren’t what matters. Names change, sometimes even the number of members… adventure isn’t without risk… but what matters is that we always have each others back,” I said.

“Any kind of ceremony?”

“I’ll think of something,” I smiled.

That night we ate squirrel and rabbit. It tasted less good than the Wyvern but still filled our stomachs all the same. I repeated my mediation same as the night before while Ajax did all the hunting, cooking, and set up our tent. Once everything was done and we were preparing for bed I summoned up as much pure mana as I could and pressed it into his chest.

“What are you doing?” he yelped.

“Just a second,” I snapped. I had seen other members of my party use Mana Regeneration and Replenish on teammates before though I’d never used any of my skills on anyone else. It only lasted for a single second but I felt a spark inside Ajax grow as he shared in my experiences and saw the runes, the details of the world the same way I did. I even realized that he was a level 7 ally. Strength: 8, Agility: 5, Endurance: 5, Intelligence: 5. I couldn’t see the rest, whether Ajax held any skills. Obviously, he was a good shot with a slingshot, so I made a new one up.

“Ajax, Level 7, Dragon Piercer,” I smiled.