143: Destiny (Patreon)

“What is this?” Maiya said in wonder, prompting Vir to chuckle.

“That was my exact reaction. This is the real Pagan Order. It seems most other royals know that the country’s a demon sanctuary, but few know of the Undercity.”

“But there’s so much light here! Magic isn’t supposed to work. What’s going on!” Maiya said, practically jumping off the lift as it touched down.

“That is electricity. A form of non-magical lighting the demons here developed. They say it can have a myriad of other uses, but they’re keeping its invention a tightly guarded secret. Needless to say, none of this can reach Kin’jal’s ears.”

“Of course. I have no intention of betraying anyone you consider a friend. This is just…” Maiya laughed softly. “Just when you think you’ve figured the world out, it throws you a surprise like this, huh?”

“Right? It’s miraculous. Although magic does actually work down here. But I don’t think the Order would like me to divulge any more without gaining permission.”

Vir’s eyes lingered over the electricity, admiring the flow of prana. In some ways, it reminded him of Parai’s Channeling Technique—the way prana flowed in an endless cycle according to a certain pathway was similar.

At the same time, electricity felt like something more. Its ability to decouple prana from the carrier medium was something Parai hadn’t been able to accomplish. Vir couldn’t explain why, but it felt superior to him. More elegant.

“Sure, no problem,” Maiya replied. “But that’s not all there is to this place, is there?” she asked, eyeing the variety of demons who ambled about contentedly. “This truly is a demon sanctuary, isn’t it? A place where they can exist without hiding who they are.”

“Exactly. C’mon. Let me show you around.”

Vir led Maiya through the streets, showing her the analogues to the shops and homes aboveground. To his surprise, hardly anyone gave her dirty looks, despite being the only human around. Very few humans were privy to the Undercity, which meant seeing one down here was quite rare.

Maybe it’s Neel, he thought. The Bandy bounded up to nearly everyone, wagging his tail and looking up at them adorably. His efforts always paid off, resulting in pets and the occasional treat.

Or maybe they’re just mistaking her for a demon in disguise?

Vir concluded it was a definite possibility. Either way, their tour proceeded unmolested until Vir led Maiya to the passage that led to his home.

“It continues into these tunnels, too? This place is massive,” Maiya said, looking off into the distance. Her eyes had been bulging the entire time, just like Vir had been when he’d discovered the Imperium outpost of Valaka Amara.

Oh! Gotta tell her about that!

With all the catching up, he’d completely missed one of the most fantastic aspects of his time in Daha. Valaka Amara.

Though, such conversations were better suited to the privacy of one’s home, where they were headed. Vir unlocked the door with his iron key and showed Maiya inside.

“Welcome to my abode,” Vir said, ushering Maiya to a seat by the simple wooden table, taking his place across her. “Nothing like Riyan’s place, but better than Brij, at least.”

Neel promptly took his place on the floor next to the chairs.

“This… you bought this?” Maiya asked, looking around the small space with fascination. While the bed was in its own room, the living and cooking areas were part of the same medium-sized space, so there wasn’t much to explore.

“The Order gave it to me. Seems they give homes to all demons they bring in.”

“That’s incredibly generous. Y’know, I always thought the Order was a bunch of savages living primitive lives. Guess the joke’s on me, huh? This non-magical lighting is simply incredible. And they even came up with it themselves? That puts them ahead of Kin’jali magical Thaumaturges. They just copy the inscriptions handed down from the Age of Gods. Not like they invented magic.”

Vir had always wondered about that. He figured sooner or later, someone would’ve had the itch to experiment, despite the risk.

“The Order’s medical technology is quite impressive too,” Vir replied, “even if a bunch of it seems dubious. They’ve found workarounds for a lot of what magic does. It might not be effective, but it works.”

“Wish the rest of the world learned a bit from the Order. I feel like we could all gain from it.”

“Agreed.”

The conversation drifted off and a silence descended upon them. A comfortable silence; Vir had never felt awkward just being near Maiya. At least, not until recently.

“You’re thinking of leaving, aren’t you?” Maiya said at last.

“I… am. How’d you know?”

Maiya rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Vir. I’ve known you a long time. You always frown and stare at the table when you’re worried about something. But why? I can protect you!”

“I’m afraid you can’t, Maiya.” He raised his hands when Maiya was about to retort. “It’s not your strength. I have every faith in that. It’s just… There’s something I never told you. About those voices in my head. You remember that?”

“Back at Riyan’s place, yeah. Wait, you’re still hearing them? The demons that possess you?”

“They’re not demons. Well, they are, but not the kind of demons who want to possess you. Well, uh, not usually. Only if I’m in a life-threatening situation, and even, it’s not all that reliable.”

Maiya’s look of concern only grew deeper at his confusing explanation.

“They’re my ancestors, Maiya. My prior incarnations. We’d suspected as much, but now I have proof. And… they want me to go to the Ashen Realm. At all cost.”

“That’s suicide. Trust me, I’ve read enough reports on Kin’jals forays into the Ash to know. Only the strongest mejai and Talent wielders stand a chance, and even if the prana poisoning doesn’t get you, the monsters in there are beyond the best of us. It’s insanity.”

“I know. As a demon, it seems I stand a higher chance of surviving there, but the odds don’t look good. As you said, even if I can bear the prana density, the monsters… I’ve fought Ash Beasts. Even weakened as they were outside the Ash, none of them were easy opponents.”

“Then why?”

“Because I have no other choice. Reaper Ekanai won’t let me.”

“Ekanai. That’s the name of one of your ancestors, right?”

“I never told you this, but back when we fled those knights in the Godshollow, Ekanai wanted me to kill you. Said you were ‘dead weight’. He took control of my body and nearly hurt you.”

Maiya fell silent for a moment. “But you stopped him.”

“I did. And again, that night I fought the wolf above Riyan’s abode. I came this close,” Vir said, holding up his thumb and index finger, “to slicing open your neck with my chakram. Ever since then, I’ve been terrified of being around you. Never knowing when I might hurt you.”

“That’s… but why? What did I ever do to Ekanai? Surely I’m not dead weight? Not anymore!”

“I’m afraid your strength matters little. As a human, you can’t follow me into the Ash. And Ekanai wants me to enter the Ashen Realm as soon as possible. To fulfill my ‘destiny’, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

“So that’s why you don’t want to come to Kin’jal with me. You’re afraid Ekanai might try to hurt me again? I feel like your concern’s unwarranted, Vir. I can defend myself just fine. Even against you.”

“Normally, sure. How about in your sleep? Against a Talent that cannot be detected or defended against?”

Maiya scowled, but said nothing. It was obvious to both just how dangerous Dance truly was.

“I can’t let that happen, Maiya. I won’t. Besides, it’s not just Ekanai saying these things. Another ancestor—Shardul the Vicious—tried to bargain with me. He promised me power in return for going there.”

“You declined?”

Vir flashed an impish grin. “I kinda reverse engineered that power on my own. Doubt he’s thrilled about that.”

Maiya rolled her eyes. “That’s so like you.”

“And also… one other. Someone I neglected to mention before. When I stumbled upon Valaka Amara, it wasn’t empty. Janak was there.”

“Janak? As in Lord Janak? From the myths? The God!?”

“The same. Well, not exactly. Just an avatar of the god. I don’t quite understand, but he said the real Janak died millennia ago with the other gods, and that he was… like a copy? Not even that. His real body’s in the Ashen Realm. He keeps an eye on the world via the Vimana, but he had no power.”

“I don’t even know what to say. Do you have any idea what this means? It means that the gods are real! It means they’re not just myth and legend.”

“We knew that already, right? The Vimana and the orb inscriptions come from them. So does our currency.”

“Yeah, but everyone thinks they left those behind! To think they still have a presence in the world… Even if it was an ‘avatar’, you met a god, Vir! A god!”

“Yeah. It was seric. Beyond seric. He was mesmerizing. Made entirely of prana.”

“I’ll bet!”

”And that very same Janak told me to journey to the Ashen Realm. In his case, he wanted me to travel through it, to access the Demon Realm, which is apparently on the other side.”

“On the other side…” Maiya said blankly.

“Yep. I didn’t even know there was anything on the other side.”

“This is all too much to take in,” Maiya said, clutching her flowing crimson hair, tangling it up. “I… okay, I get why you’re so bent on going to the Ashen Realm now. If a god told me to do something, I’d probably do it.”

“Yeah. Well, he did guarantee I wouldn’t die. At least, not by the prana poisoning. But where do I go? How do I find food to eat and water to drink? What strategy’s best for avoiding the worst monsters there? I don’t know any of this.”

“Is there anyone here who could help?” Maiya asked. “They’re demons after all. Maybe some have been to the Ash?”

“There’s one such person, apparently. The librarian custodian, responsible for the tomes the Order keeps stashed here in the Undercity.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Maiya said, standing up. “Let’s go!”

“I was planning on it, but you’re okay with this? Me going to the Ash, I mean.”

“Vir, doesn’t matter what you do. I will always support you. Even if it means making an enemy of the world. You remember my parents’ note? They told us to support each other and to stick together. Maybe I can’t follow you through the Ash, but I can at least help. I know a bit about the Ash from my Kin’jal research. I’ll tell you everything I know. And…”

“And?”

“And when you eventually return, I’ll be waiting. For you. No matter how long it takes,” Maiya said with a blush, staring at her feet.

“T-thanks Maiya.”

— —

The library wasn’t difficult to find. Not only was it taller than most of the other Undercity’s brick buildings, its ornate carvings and its central location at the fountain plaza made it impossible to miss.

Having left Neel at home, Vir and Maiya strolled through the open doors, but gaining access to the information they wanted proved more difficult. No matter how hard they searched, they found no trace of the custodian Badal had mentioned, so they did the next best thing—find every tome on the Ash they could, and come up with a plan.

After hours of poring through difficult-to-read wording, they’d made little progress.

“This is hopeless,” Maiya said. “These records aren’t even close to the quality of the Kin’jal intelligence reports. Just superstition and exaggeration. This one journal by this demon researcher’s the best of the bunch, and it just goes on about communing with ‘prana spirits’.”

“Well, there’s a lot of information on the monsters we might find, but nothing in the way of the lay of the land. It’s so frustrating. Not one mentions a safe path through.”

“That is because such a route does not exist,” a deep, growling voice thundered from behind them, causing them both to spin around.

A tall gray demon dressed in an ornate jade robe that nearly touched the ground loomed above them. Not quite a giant, but two heads taller than even Riyan. His most striking aspect, however, was his enormous white beard, well groomed and dressed, that reached nearly to his waist. His eyebrows and long hair were similarly white, with his hair being tied back into a ponytail.

He glared at the two with the same piercing red eyes Vir had, but when he spied Vir, his expression softened and his posture slackened. Where before he had the aura of a fierce warrior, now he looked like a stern uncle.

“A gray demon? Quite rare indeed. What brings you to my library?”

“Sir,” Vir said, subconsciously treating the demon with deference, “I… need to cross the Ashen Realm.”

The librarian went silent for a long moment, as if appraising Vir.

“You have come to the right place. They call me Amarat the Immortal. Immortal because I once braved the Ash and returned to tell the tale.”

Vir’s eyes went wide. “You… survived the Ash? What happened?”

“Many things. Terrible things. I would not wish that place upon my worst enemy. Though it was decades ago, the nightmares still plague my dreams. Knowing this, you wish to go?”

“I must,” Vir said. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in his eyes. A few hours ago, he’d decided to remain with the Order, helping them. But even as he was about to accept their invitation, he knew. That he was merely delaying the inevitable. That one day, he would have to fulfill his destiny. If he didn’t, his curiosity and guilt would one day get the better of him, if Ekanai didn’t force him first.

Committing to the Ashen Realm came with a sense of relief. Like a great weight had been lifted.

“Very well. I can show you the way. And then we can discuss the thousand ways you will die before ever reaching it.”

Maybe I will. Maybe this is suicide. But at least I’ll have lived without regrets…