Ashborn 361: Foundations of Ash (Patreon)

Thaman put a hand to his face and groaned. “I told him not to do anything rash. Praise Janak that you’re as level-headed as you are. What was he thinking?”

“What was he thinking?” Cirayus asked. “Whatever it is that all Iksana think! I’d say this was very usual of him, wouldn’t you?”

Letting out a long sigh, Thaman nodded. “Afraid it is. I apologize, Cirayus. I’ll have your home repaired on my coin.”

Cirayus barked a laugh. “Why suffer for the actions of a Ghael? I’ll go swindle some of their clan and win it all back ten times over. This should rightly come out of their coffers, not yours.”

“Even so,” Thaman said. “Regardless, I’ve come to invite all of you to my palace. I’d anticipated a crowd, but this? Well, would you mind accepting my invitation?”

Aida looked around. “Compared to living in this mangled hovel? Yes, please!”

Cirayus shrugged. “Give me a flat piece of rock and I’ll be happy. But if the others wish to go, far be it for me to refuse.”

“Akh Nara?” Thaman asked, meeting Vir’s gaze.

“Please. Just call me Vir. Or Vaak. Or, uh… Sarvaak,” he said, scratching his nose. “The names just keep piling up.”

“And they’ll continue to!” Cirayus said. “Might as well add Champion to that list, for starters.”

“Champion, then,” Thaman said with a satisfied nod.

Vir gave Thaman a look that said, ‘Of all the names, that’s the one you chose?’ But the Raja deftly ignored him, instead glancing curiously at Ashani.

Oh, boy. Here we go again, Vir thought, but before he could introduce the goddess, she spoke up first.

“Ashani,” she said. “I’m a good friend of the Champion’s. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“N-no,” Thaman said. “The honor is mine. Though I must ask. Do you have a sister, perhaps? One with black hair and red eyes? I, er… It pains me to admit, but I’ve never seen a demon with skin as fair as yours. Nor eyes the color of the sea, or hair as bright as the sun.”

Vir rolled his eyes. If he didn’t know better, the leader of Clan Baira was hitting on Ashani.

“Careful, lad,” Cirayus said, addressing Thaman. “I’d not speak to her so frivolously, if you know what’s good for you.”

“Oh… My apologies,” Thaman said, bowing his head to Ashani. “I meant nothing of the sort. Just that in all my years, I’ve not laid eyes on a beauty as fair as yours.”

“Thaman,” Cirayus said in a lower voice. “I mean it. Cease this, if you know what’s good for you.”

Giggling, Ashani waved aside his concern. “Oh, please! I’m not some Ash Beast who’ll chomp his head off! I can assure you I do not bite.”

“She’s the same person who opened that Ash Gate for me at the stadium,” Vir said as he stood up. “Ashani can shift her hair and eye color at will.”

Vir had debated about whether or not to confide in the Bairan Raja, but had ultimately decided to. Thaman already knew of Vir’s ability to stabilize Ash Gates, and was currently the only Raja Vir could count as an ally. For that reason alone, Vir felt he had to tell him. He refused to base this relationship on a foundation of secrecy and mistrust.

Bracing himself for the Raja’s inevitable reaction, Vir introduced his friend. “Ashani is an automaton built by Lord Janak, and is the last known survivor of the Prime Imperium. The race of people demons like to refer to as gods.”

— — 

The explanation lasted only a few minutes, but the unending barrage of questions that came after took quite a bit longer, and by the time Thaman slumped into one of Cirayus’ remaining oversized chairs, he looked utterly exhausted.

He wasn’t the only one. After the ordeal of the tournament, Sagun’Ra’s surprise attack, and now an hour-long explanation starting all the way back from how he met Ashani, Vir was too.

“I have committed a terrible atrocity,” Thaman muttered, nearly echoing Cirayus’ own words when he first found out.

“No, you haven’t,” Vir said tiredly.

“Indeed,” Ashani chimed in. “Ashani does not wish to be treated any differently from anyone else.”

Yep, she’s loving the attention alright, Vir thought with a smirk. Ashani rarely slipped into her third-person form of dialogue these days. She truly must’ve enjoyed this.

“To be frank, I do not honestly know how to digest this information,” Thaman said. “A living, breathing deity from the Age of Gods. Half of me wishes to throw my forehead onto the ground and prostrate before you, Goddess.”

“And the other half?” Ashani asked with a coy smile.

“The other half wishes to speak with you for days on end. To learn! What was Janak like? What was it like, living within the Prime Imperium? There is so much we could learn from you.”

“And I am happy to divulge all that I know,” Ashani said. “I simply do not wish to become an idol, worshiped like some fragile thing of glass.”

“Of course, Goddess Ashani,” Thaman said reflexively. “If that is your wish, I shall carry it with me to my grave.”

“Thank you,” Ashani said. “And it’s just Ashani. I’m afraid I must insist on that.”

“This will… take some getting used to,” Thaman admitted ashamedly.

“Don’t worry,” Cirayus said, slapping the bigger giant’s back. “Aida and I are in the same rickety boat as you. It’s just the lad here who seems to have no problem conversing with her as if she were a mere demon.”

They’d go on like this for hours if Vir didn’t put a stop to it, so he looked at Ashani and gave her a nod. “Ashani? You’ve seen Thaman’s Palace, right? Would you be able to create a Gate for us? It’ll be much easier than dealing with the crowd outside.”

“But of course!”

“Actually, hold up. Can you create one to Mahādi? Just for a moment?”

Ashani raised a brow. “I certainly can, though I may require you to charge my spare core soon. Creating Gates takes quite the roll on my reserves, I’m afraid.”

“No problem at all, Ashani,” Vir said with a warm smile. The others in the room looked as though Vir had just spoken another language, but no one seemed to have the courage to ask about it right then.

Vir didn’t doubt he’d be subjected to a barrage of questions the moment they were alone.

Ashani closed her eyes, extending her palm outward, and a moment later, an unstable Ash Tear popped into existence. It soon stabilized, forming into a perfect oval large enough only for Vir.

That was well, because the absolute torrent of visible Ash prana that poured through forced Aida, Thaman, and even Cirayus away.

“I’ll just be a moment, if you don’t mind,” Vir said, before ducking through.

“He’s mad,” Aida said.

“He’s a monster,” Thaman said.

“Folks, he’s the Akh Nara. This is nothing for him,” Cirayus said, beaming with pride.

— — 

To the onlookers, Vir seemed to re-emerge the instant he’d entered. When he told them he’d actually spent close to an hour in the realm and had even fought a Phantomblade, Thaman and Aida could scarcely believe him, insisting he was pulling their leg.

While he had no good way to prove it, cycling Prana Current at its maximum caused his prana to manifest visibly, which seemed enough to convince them.

Regardless, Vir had Ashani create a new Gate, this time to Thaman’s palace, which she made large enough for even Thaman to pass through.

“Unbelievable,” Thaman said, inspecting the freshly formed Gate. “Simply incredible!”

“I’m afraid I cannot pass through my own Gates, but Vir was kind enough to solve that issue for me,” Ashani said, trying and failing to suppress a smile at the compliment.

Vir approached the Gate and injected prana to stabilize it. Now that his reserves were full, the action took barely any thought at all on his part, and soon, their whole party was at Thaman’s residence with no one being the wiser.

“This way, if you please,” Thaman said, guiding them into his oversized home, down hallways to a room with a bookshelf that swiveled open to reveal a surprisingly spacious secret passage.

Of course, it’d have to be, Vir mused as they passed through the magic-sconce-lit hall. Thaman himself barely fit, but for Vir and even for Cirayus, the space was cavernous.

This was true of all Bairan architecture. It was far too large for Vir, which often made him feel unwelcomed.

“The applications of such a power,” Thaman trailed off as they walked. “Imagine, if you will. Camar Gadin connected to Samar Patag by such a Gate. The journey of weeks or months would take no more than an instant.”

“It goes beyond that, Thaman,” Cirayus said. “Every location in the Demon Realm. Accessible with just a walk. Vraj Parah. Jallak Kallol. Quara Ragul. All the strongholds.”

“We could build entirely new cities!” Thaman said with rising excitement. “Cities we’d never even have dreamt of constructing due to their remote locations! Trade will flourish. Cross-clan interaction will blossom!”

“It’s more than that, Thaman,” Vir said. “For the first time in recorded demonic history, demons can now freely travel to and from the Ash. No longer a lethal maze, the Ashen Realm can be fully mapped. And… Safe passages to the Human Realm can be easily established.”

Thaman, who’d been leading them into his home, froze.

“Humans. The infinite distance separating us… You’re saying the two realms will meet.”

“One day. If I choose it,” Vir said. “I will be honest. Humanity hates demonkind, and I imagine demonkind would have a similar reaction, were it ever to come into contact with the Human Realm. I intend to journey to the Human Realm soon, but to connect the realms? It would require far more thought. That decision is not mine to make, but the entire realm’s.”

The secret passage led them to Thaman’s personal quarters, which could’ve served as a small ballroom in the human realm, such was its size. Aside from the enormous four-coaster bed sat centered along the far wall, the room sported stained glass windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and a wall full of bookshelves equally tall.

Several tables and chairs of all sizes were placed in the corners, and were clearly made to accommodate giants, half-giants, and regular demons.

“On that, we are agreed,” Thaman said, guiding them to one such square table, where they all sat. “Still… It would seem that you’ve come into a truly staggering level of power.”

Vir nodded. There was no point in hiding it. “With this power, I now claim the Ashen Realm as my own. I intend to train my troops there, and should you pledge your clan to my cause, you are more than welcome to partake.”

The giant wrung his wrists. “You offer tempting terms, Champion. I have to wonder, though, whether I’d be entering into a bargain with a messiah… Or an Asura.”

Vir smirked. “Now that’s a title. Don’t worry, I’d never pressure you into anything you’d regret. I understand why you can’t publicly support my bid for the Gargan throne right now. I hope that, in time, I’ll sway public sentiment to my side. I hope that in the near future, pledging to support my cause won’t turn you into a pariah.”

“Bold words,” Thaman said. “More fit for a future king, rather than an upstart rebel, I’d venture.”

“That’s the idea,” Vir said with a small smile. 

“Makes one wonder whether you need the Ultimate Bloodline Arts at all. With the goddess by your side, and your absolute domination of Ash Gates, you could take over the realm with relative ease, I’d venture.”

“Conquest isn’t my goal,” Vir said, shaking his head. “Unification, however, is. I hope to make the Demon Realm—the whole realm, not just my clan—more prosperous than it has ever been before. But for that, I’m going to need the tattoos.”

Thaman nodded. “Right. About that. We need to have a talk…”