Ashborn 350: Janak’s Tablet (Patreon)

NOTE: Reminder that this week is July 4th, and so there will be no Ashborn chapters on Thursday and Saturday in observance. Soulweaver will get chapter another chapter on Wednesday, but will have no chapter on Friday.

The wolves’ timing was as impeccable as ever. Just as Vir was about to leave Ashani’s home, the entire pack—led by none other than Shan—arrived, and by now, Vir knew the wolf enough to know that it was judging him.

“Oh please. I wasn’t going to abandon you,” Vir said. “Just that you won’t be able to follow me this deep. It’s for your own safety.”

Shan replied by sitting on his haunches and howling up at the sky, which in turn caused the half-dozen wolves behind him to howl as well. Soon, the whole area was drowned in wolf howls.

“It seems they disagree with your decision,” Ashani said, smiling softly. “He’s become quite independent in the time he’s been gone. Your doing?”

“Shan’s always only ever done what he wanted.”

“A master must always be firm, but loving,” Ashani said.

Vir scoffed. “Master? Pretty soon, he’s going to give me orders. Fine,” he said, addressing the wolves. “If that’s what you lot want, you can come as far as is safe. Not one step further, you hear?”

Shan barked, and the matter was settled.

Together, they set out, bounding across the terrain at speeds most living beings couldn’t hope to match.

They sailed over entire hordes of Ash Beasts and pummeled right into others, barely slowing. Here, in this realm, Vir needn’t ration his prana. In fact, he had to burn through prana if he wished to avoid oversaturating his blood. 

They were increasingly surrounded by taller and taller spires, and soon the prana levels became so great the even Vir started to struggle. The others only fared worse. Shan seemed to be alright, but while the wolves put up a brave front, it was clear they were hurting.

As for Ashani, she displayed no outward signs of pain, though Vir could see the prana entering her incredibly complicated body, interfering with whatever arcane mechanisms allowed her to function.

“This is as far as you all go,” Vir said, coming to rest on a half-destroyed road. “I’ll allow you to set watch here and wait for me, but you’ll go no further.”

Shan was about to bark in disagreement when Ashani raised her voice. “I agree. To venture any deeper would be detrimental for all of us.”

She looked at Shan when she spoke, causing the wolf to hesitate. He looked from Vir to Ashani, and then back at his pack, and with a grumble, lowered his head and skulked away.

At least they listen to her… Vir thought.

“If I’m not back in an hour, head home. I’ll return when I’m able.”

“We’ll wait as long as it takes,” Ashani replied. “Godspeed.”

Vir chuckled. “A goddess wishes me Godspeed, eh? I feel so much better already.”

“If you’d rather I curse you…”

Vir’s eyes bulged. “Anything but that! I’ll take your blessing, o mighty Goddess.”

Ashani put her hands on her hips. “That’s what I thought,” she said smugly. Her expression softened, and when she spoke, her words were quieter, all humor gone. “Do be careful?”

Vir let his own smile slip. “I will. I promise.”

— — 

Vir’s progress into the city slowed substantially just a few blocks in, as the prana density continued to mount. The rate at which it grew was utterly startling—he was still miles from the central spire. 

If the prana was this dense here, what was it like at the core? He could scarcely even imagine. Would even years of meditation allow his body to adapt to such awesome levels of energy?

Luckily, Vir’s destination wasn’t at the core, but just another half-mile in. Yet as his leaps and bounds slowed to a fast jog, and then to a plodding walk, he wondered if even that modest goal was beyond him right now.

Even so, he forged ahead, evacuating his body of prana via arts however he could. Haste burned at its full capacity, and he launched off Chakram Launches and Katar Launches whenever he could.

The Shadow Realm offered a respite from the onslaught of prana, allowing him to pierce further and faster than he otherwise could. Ordinarily,  Dance of the Shadow Demon couldn’t compare to his usual bounding pace, but now it was incomparably quicker.

There was a price, however, to that strategy. Every time Vir reappeared, the prana felt like it had multiplied, even though he knew it couldn’t have been all that much more. 

The issue was that the prana was so dense now that if he failed to bleed off the excess via his techniques, his blood would rupture. Even a fraction of a second of inattention could spell death, gruesome and violent. And here, there would be no one to save him. The ones who might’ve couldn’t survive in such a toxic climate.

He was close now. So close. Just a few hundred yards and he’d reach the tunnel entrance Ashani had identified. From there, it was only a hundred yards further to the chamber—or at least, where they thought Janak’s chamber ought to be. 

Which was why an Ash Beast picked that exact moment to pop out from a nearby road. Ashani had steered them around encounters thus far, but now that he was alone, Vir’s ability to sense Ash Beasts in this ocean of prana had become severely compromised. Preoccupied with discharging as much prana  from his body as he was, he didn’t notice the beast until it was too late.

The creature was, ironically, a Garga. The raging bull-like Ash Beast his clan was named after. They were simple creatures that, when angered, became truly nightmarish monsters.

Unfortunately, Vir had caught the beast as much by surprise as it had him. It jolted back in panic. Panic turned to confusion as it regarded Vir, and finally settled on rage.

The beast roared, bowed its head, and pawed the ground.

Unfortunately for it, Vir had never once stopped moving. By the time it was ready to charge, he was long gone—sailing into the air.

His Artifact Chakram ripped into the creature’s flank, while Chakram Barrage rained out, dealing blow after blow of prana into it.

Unfortunately, its hide was just as strengthened by the ambient prana as Vir’s attacks. While they cut into its hide, the damage was superficial, only angering the beast further.

Vir cursed, Blinking away just moments before the Garga charged and gored him. 

Barrage was the most devastating attack in Vir’s arsenal. Few Ash Beasts could survive that onslaught, especially when augmented by the damage his Artifact Chakram wrought. 

Yet even his prized Chakram, operating at full strength, failed to penetrate the Garga’s hide.

I suppose we inherit that trait, Vir thought. We are certainly hard to kill.

The Garga charged again, and even through Haste, the beast was terrifyingly fast. 

There was only one move Vir had that might take down this opponent, but to use it here was ill-advised. If it succeeded, it would leave him grievously injured. 

And yet, if he did nothing, he’d suffer worse. The choice was obvious.

The Garga closed the distance in an instant… and Vir allowed it.

At the last moment, just as he was about to be gored, he grabbed the beast’s horn, leveraging its speed to jump onto its back.

Then he placed his palm on its fur and sucked.

— — 

Agony ripped through Vir as prana surged into him, overloading his body. His palm exploded into a bloody mess, but he gritted through the pain. This was the only way. In his other hand, he fired off as many attacks as possible.

It wasn’t that draining the Garga had over-saturated his entire body—he dissipated prana quickly enough to just barely keep that tragic eventuality from occurring. 

The localized prana in his hand, however? That was another story. Prana Current surged in reverse of its normal pattern, bringing most of the supersaturated prana to Vir’s hands and legs for expulsion. Most, however, was not all, and even that small amount nearly made him pass out in agony.

Just a little longer…

Prana flowed out of the Garga at an alarming rate, and the beast, suddenly weak, faltered. It looked around in confusion, as if having just awoken. That confusion soon morphed into full-blown panic, and Vir was suddenly riding a bucking bull. A bull that could Blink and that had the strength of a hundred demons.

Through sheer force of will, Vir held on. And, just before he lost control, he remembered the other weapon he possessed that could defeat this foe.

The Life Chakra opened, and Vir directed his focus to the beast. Yet instead of confusing thoughts, he projected an aura of peace and tranquility. The rampaging Garga faltered and stilled. And then, unable to counter a Chakra against which it had no defense, the Garga crumpled and fell unconscious.

Vir didn’t know if it was mercy or a camaraderie with his clan’s namesake animal that compelled him to leave it alive, but Vir saw no need to kill it. 

He pressed on, ignoring the pain in his palm, and entered the tunnel.

It was as if he’d entered a different world. Gone were the raging lightning and deafening thunder. Gone were the ash and soot that coated the realm.

For a moment, Vir thought he was back under the sewers of Daha. The path before him bore such a resemblance to the road to Valaka Amara that it was nearly indistinguishable. 

Vir supposed that made sense, given they were constructed by the same people.

What he did not expect, however, was the reduction of ambient prana. 

Though still far more potent than the levels around Ashani’s place, the levels here were at least manageable, so long as Vir actively burned prana.

Blue-white prana lamps lit as he delved deeper into the tunnel, and before long, the ordered architecture gave way to more and more primitive construction, before yielding to bare cavern.

This must have been in-progress when the Imperium fell…

Vir pressed deeper, wondering what must have gone through the minds of those who built these tunnels, millennia ago. What dreams did they have? What sorts of things had they cared about?

The world would never know. Time and death had buried those stories.

Vir didn’t know what it was about the tunnels that made him so sentimental, but it was with these melancholic thoughts that he finally arrived at his destination.

He almost missed it, and anyone who wasn’t explicitly looking for it would have passed it on by.

In the wall, at about knee height, a small hole had been dug. One just barely big enough for a person to pass through.

With a few swipes of Prana Blade, Vir enlarged the hole and crawled through. 

It led to a small, pitch-black cavern devoid of any furnishings.

All except for one. To Prana Vision, Janak’s tablet burned brightly.

Vir reached out and pressed his palm against the mark on the wall.