Chapter 159

Lykan

Confronting Your Past

There comes a time when people realize they either succeeded or failed in life. For those that failed, the recognition of failure always comes too late. Often the time to learn, to change, are short narrow windows, where potential never truly manifests for those who dare to peer through.

Lykan was nearing a point when he realized just how close he was to reaching his true potential. Or at least is how he felt now that he had a cultivation path to follow, one that was inherently his. When had settled his gains, when he had come back to earth. He was the first one to congratulate Brenna on her successes as well.

While she had tried to hold back her improvement, it was obvious that she had grown in leaps and bounds. She was amazing, having been able to figure out how to cultivate from just his words alone. In a way he felt he was not worthy of her, that she was too good for him. That he would only keep one like her down. Yet, she chose him anyways and he was thankful for that.

Not wanting to stay in the north and risk provoking both the Azani Conquering King once more, or his the King’s sister for a third time, The pair decided to head south.

This would be his first homecoming to what he considered his third home, the lands of Sidhertha. In a way he felt a need to check up on the lands. He was the one responsible for either setting up the land for success, or its own destruction.

Sidhertha was the land where he enacted the third and most powerful of Old-World Laws. During the ceremony he bound the land, to King Philipon. At the time the land and people had been more than willing to accept such a union. There were of course measures to be put in place to protect the land and people. The protection of the people was the most obvious, in that there was one man, a hydra that was forever bound to the land. Should they die, then two more would spring up in his place, then two more from any one slain, on and on until finally more would be unhappy than happy with the king.

Such was the protection the Hydra gave the people against a tyrannical king. Or a king that slowly grew more and more tyrannical as time went on. While this was the case for the humans, the lands that had bestowed their faith in the king also had their ways to challenge the king. To warn him, or to warn the people of his corruption.

Only once the lands were truly bound to a person could they begin to see the true heart and soul of the person they had joined their fates to. Once joined, the lands would serve as a direct representation of the king and his personal mood. If the king was happy, the fields would also be happy and yield a bountiful harvest. If the king felt sad, the lands would slowly yield less and less.

If the king was corrupt, swamps and other uninhabitable lands would begin to appear throughout the kingdom. Disasters would befall regions at the worst of times. Anything from heavy rains destroying crops, to lack of rains causing fields to dry out and burn. These disasters would even fight against the Mages who would be employed to ensure proper balances were achieved. While Mages did make these defiant acts by the land tougher to be aware of, there were still signs of the lands unrest. Animals would grow feral; monsters would evolve in ways that were hard to comprehend.

But easiest of all signs that the land was ruled by a corrupt or saddened ruler, the luster and sheen of life was gone. When Lykan first came close to the lands, he felt the air and noticed that it tasted stale, that the life was gone from the air separating the lands of Sidhertha and the jungle basin.

This stale air was likely a boon for Sidhertha, for this meant the dragons of the Jungle Basin had fewer and fewer reasons to go into the lands of Sidhertha. Not that there was much of a source of a threat there to begin with. It appeared that either the Sidherthan kingdom had expanded upon their initial concept of sending out experienced teams to hunt the monsters of the Jungle Basin, or they had met another natural predator that was more powerful than even dragons. Regardless of the reason, both the basin and high mountain ridges protecting the basin were blessedly clear of dragons. This only meant a few that a few dragons were even spotted along their journey south.

To Lykan’s surprise, Brenna was able to keep up now, on her own. While she could not move as gracefully as he could, she could find the best direction to travel. Each step took her dozens of paces, despite her small size and stature. She moved with a power and grace that spoke of slow movements that covered vast distances. While all could feel his movements, the air all but blowing and billowing around him. The earth subtly hid her movements, masking them. If not for Lykan’s intense senses related to bot Qi and Mana, usage he would never be able to tell how Brenna was moving. In a way it was like teleporting. One second, she was there, so far away and the next second she took a single stride and managed to move over a thousand paces closer to her intended destination.

Still, even Brenna felt the odd sense of foreboding that seemed to linger on the lands of Sidhertha.

As the two approached the border lands between Sidhertha and the Jungle Basin a dense sense of tension filled the air. The tension built up denser and denser until it was a thick cloud that seemed to cling to the skin. One that spoke of danger to any who would dare to listen.

Then when the foreboding wind touched Lykan, a stark contracts began. The wind that had been lying dormant, began to move and come to life at Lykan’s gentle touch.

“Betrayed.” The wind spoke, a word. One that Lykan seemed to understand. Even the land seemed to call out to him, though it spoke in a harsher rumbling language that was hard for Lykan to comprehend.

Yet, the wind still spoke, continued to share its thoughts. Though it was still hard to fully comprehend, there was a lot that Lykan found himself instinctively understanding.

First and foremost was the fact that the old-world spirit betrayed Philipon, leading to the current state of unrest. This betrayal has led to a recent poisoning of the soul of the king. This has also caused some confusion with the land itself, for it doesn’t know how to deal with these turns of events. On the one hand the mother, or at least an old aspect of her, one who is responsible for enacting the old-world laws to begin with was the cause of betrayal.

On the other hand, the land does have a duty to warn the king of the consequences of their actions. That continuing down this line of actions will only breed discontent. The problem of course being that the land feels responsible for how the king is currently feeling. How can the earth punish a king for feeling sorrow for actions it, or rather the one true mother of the planet caused.

When they arrived the elements, themselves were more than happy that he had returned. Then the earth itself was particularly happy that Brenna had decided to come along.

Together the two were an instant boost of energy for the entire region. Where they went, qi and mana followed. Qi followed both, while Lykan was able to steadily increase the growth of mana around him. This was a new aspect of him, or rather his cultivation method. As he seemed to draw in all forms of energy nearby, then only accept the qi into his core. But this just meant the mana created a line of where he went. This was a healing process for the planet. Not only was the qi being absorbed completely, but then fresh mana was drawn into the void that was created by the pressure from a sudden lack of qi in the area. This meant that even with the world protesting the king’s heart, the world would still react favorably to Lykan.

As the two approached, Lykan dropped to the ground. No longer wishing to draw attention by flying as the undisputed monarch of the skies. He walked on the surface, though even as he walked, he did so with his fee just off the ground. The reason he walked in such an odd manner, was so he could continue to improve and enhance his cultivation method. He made a conscious decision not to absorb or force the qi up from the ground. Instead, he felt the lands and all qi in the grounds were Brenna’s. That she was the undisputed ruler of the lands that they tread upon. He knew she would never deny him access to her lands, just as he would never deny her access to his skies, but he did not want to impose. He did not want to show that they were anything less than equals in this journey they had begun.

Now if people watched the two, they would see what at first appeared to be an old windswept man, walking in the fields with a walking stick, with someone who clearly had to be his daughter. If either of the two heard such a comment, they would of course laugh at the absurdity of the claim. Lykan was younger by eight years and should anyone actually take a moment to truly look beyond Lykan’s now silver hair with blue streaks, they would find that he appeared to be in the body of someone who just turned out to be just on the cusp of adulthood.

In fact, coming to these lands brought a strange form of nostalgia to Lykan, as these lands were the last lands where his body underwent any sort of physical change. Here, he grew over a foot and a half, then grew into his strong muscular body. Only once he had left the capital of Sidhertha with Nayali in tow did he lose the last vestiges of body fat he had and take on the eternally fit form he has now.

“You okay?” Brenna asked, as she watch Lykan keep his head on a swivel, staring with wide eyed wonder at everything around him.

“Yeah.” Lykan said, there was more. He could tell she wanted to know more, but at the same time, he couldn’t tell her exactly what had him on edge right now.

It was as if the land was waiting for the other shoe to drop, as if there was more to come, the closer they got to the capital.

Sure enough, the strange feeling of foreboding did increase the further the two got towards the capital. Sadly, the capital was exactly where Lykan and Brenna needed to go. For the Academy, Lykan’s own alma matter was ground zero for hosting a dungeon. At least according to the map that was provided by Fulowin, the dwarven king of the Obsidian Fist Clan. The map had proven to be invaluable, as it provided a known location of seemingly all dungeons that existed on the eastern continent. According to their map they had a few dozen dungeons to take care of in Sidherthan alone, but rather than go to them in any form of time saving pattern. The two opted to take a more direct route for the capital, especially after receiving the warning given by the very land itself.

Something was wrong with this kingdom, that much the land was trying to say, but what exactly was wrong was unknown to the pair. At least it was unknown, until they finally made their way to the capital.

Once they were at the capital, the cause for concern and unease was apparent. The entire capital was at war. At least the sealed gates and burning parts of the city and the way fires blazed brightly in the poor section of the city.

Worse, the people that were doing the sieging of the city, the reason the castle gates were drawn. They were all farmers, farmers, and citizens of the lands. They were not some noble invaders, nor were they a foreign army sent to take advantage of a distracted force. These were the people the king had sworn an oath to protect.

Just seeing the people, caused a cold breeze to swirl around Lykan, as his eyes flashed an icy sky blue.

Seeing the look of resolve and determination overtaking Lykan, Brenna just asked. “So, what do we do now?”

With that question, Lykan nodded, not wanting words to ruin his resolve. He rose higher, as Brenna withdrew her giant battle axe from her back. One way or another, there would be a reckoning.