165: Forces of Nature (Patreon)

“No luck?” Vir asked as Cirayus approached. His eyes remained closed, his mind focused on the never-ending task of expanding his body’s prana carrying capacity.

“Nay. The Ash has shifted considerably since I was here last. Landmarks are missing, and strange new ones have taken their place. I know generally where we are, but pinpointing a location is another matter entirely,” the giant replied, setting down two full waterskins and a sack full of wild edibles he’d collected on his outing.

“Would've been nice if we could've brought Maiya's Acira along,“ Vir grumbled.

“Alas, Acira cannot survive here in the Ash. Demons have tried before. They become Ash dyed before long.“

“Ash dyed?“ Vir asked.

“Corrupted by prana. They often gain great strength in the process, but lose their minds instead. Doomed to roam the Ash as feral beasts.“

Would that have happened to me, if I didn't get a handle on things? Vir shuddered at the thought.

“How goes your training, lad?”

“Slowly.” Vir replied. “It takes a lot longer to see gains now compared to when we arrived here.”

“Hah! Y’know, I’ve mentored a lot of demons in my time. You just might be the most reckless of them all. With as much Ash prana as you have, it’s a wonder you’re even walking.”

“It’s been a week since we came here!” Vir said, opening his eyes to stare at the demon. A field of empty Ash stretched on in all directions, without a single feature to color the landscape. “I’ve only just gotten to where my body doesn’t hurt being at equilibrium with the ambient prana.”

Vir had spent his waking hours meditating, pulling prana into his body to stretch his blood. Until recently, he’d maintained a supersaturated layer of blood near his skin, keeping the rest of his body at a prana deficit so he could use Talents without risk of overstressing.

But that was just a stopgap measure, and so he’d worked on how much prana his blood could carry. If, at equilibrium, he had extra capacity, then he could safely use more prana to boost his attacks. Here in the Ash, his only limit was how much prana his blood could carry.

In his spare time, Vir had attempted to work on Prana Vision, though the staggering density that granted him power continued to stymie his eyes, forcing him to run with a minimum of prana to avoid blinding himself.

“Aye, only a week. The stronger the reaction, the longer it takes to adapt to this realm. I’ve accompanied demons who’ve had far less severe responses, and even they took weeks. You’re doing well, lad. More than well. You ought to be proud of your progress.”

“I guess…” Vir grumbled.

“Usually, I only see such advances when a demon does something reckless.”

Vir looked sheepishly away.

“So you’ve hurt yourself overtraining?”

“More like experimenting with concepts I knew nothing about. This was a long time ago, when I first learned I wasn’t Prana Scorned.”

“Scorned… Humans are blind. They’ve had millennia to advance, yet they remain blissfully unaware of not just one, but three affinities! It’s a wonder they’re as strong as they are.”

“How strong, do you think? Demons vs Humans. Who would win?”

War was the last thing Vir wanted, though given how much humans hated demons, if they ever did come into contact, he doubted there would be peace.

“Humans. Without a doubt,” Cirayus replied immediately.

“I thought demons were stronger, though? Their magic seems more powerful, too.”

“Aye, this is true. The average demon is stronger than the average human, and our strongest demons are far stronger than the strongest humans. We’ve also delved further into the secrets of prana than humans have.”

“Then…”

“Numbers, lad. There are far more of them than there are of us. They breed like insects. It is difficult to overcome the advantage of size with individual strength alone.”

Vir fell silent. Was that it? Or was there more to it? He’d have to judge for himself. How did they live? What did they eat? What was their culture like? The Demon Realm promised a whole new world to explore.

His desire to meet demons warred with his wish to grow stronger. As frustrating as it was that they were lost within the Ash, the more time he spent here, the more he’d grow. Then again, the sooner he got out of the Ash, the sooner he’d be able to speak to Maiya again. Possibly.

“We’re moving again?” Vir asked, getting up.

“Aye. Exceptions exist, but it’s too dangerous to linger in one place more than a few hours. Never understood how, but Ash Beasts will eventually start tailing us. Some can be dealt with simply. Others… not so much. I’d rather avoid that if we can.”

Vir nodded, dusting the ubiquitous ash off his cloak. It helped that his clothing was mostly black, anyway. Anything that wasn’t, like his backpack, was quickly dyed. It seemed like the fate of any colored item in this gray place.

They bounded in silence, Cirayus floating elegantly, and Vir Leaping, kicking up sprays of ash in his wake. One was flashier than the other, but they both moved a hundred paces with each step, allowing them to travel the vast empty plains almost as quickly as an Acira.

They needed the speed, too. As Vir was learning, the Ashen Realm was vast. Nearly incomprehensibly vast. Not only was it far larger than the Human Realm, the Ash Tears nearly all led to distant, broken places. Some entire realms unto themselves. Of course, it wasn't as though they could simply go through one. Their inherent instability made them exceedingly dangerous to pass through.

Among them is Mahādi. The Lost City of the Gods.

Would he find his way there somehow? At the moment, Vir certainly hoped not. He’d had enough difficulty dealing with the least prana-dense region of the regular Ashen Realm. A sub-realm where prana was supposed to be so thick you could see it sounded like a death wish. Both from poisoning, and from the near-immortal beasts that lurked within.

Once more, he felt his own insignificance. The strongest humans and demons were nothing but fodder here. And yet, while others might have despaired, Vir simply redoubled his efforts. Even now, when he Leaped, he stretched his body’s capacity to store prana, expanding it bit by bit with each activation. Because every moment not spent training was a moment wasted.

It wasn’t enough on its own, of course. While Prana Blade had evolved into Blade Projection—doubling the effective length of his blade—the added reach diluted its power.

In both offense and defense, Vir was lacking. He struggled to penetrate the thick prana armor that was ubiquitous among Ash Beasts, while he himself was unable to generate similar armor. Prana Channeling might boost his vitality, but it did nothing to weather damage, and Toughen wasn’t nearly enough on its own.

Blade Launch was the next logical iteration of his offensive armament. Kamna’s Talent was fiercely powerful, but more importantly, it gave him a ranged attack that did damage. Vir’s chakrams and chakris had become so useless, he’d begun to wonder if he ought to simply ditch them.

Mastering Blade Launch was easier said than done, though. Vir still couldn’t channel enough prana through his body to launch a violent explosion of prana. Nor could he control that prana once it left him, which meant he had to tame that incredible power within his body, as he did with Prana Blade and Blade Projection.

It needed overwhelming amounts of prana, and it needed skill. The former was simple, the latter hard.

Vir’s mind turned to the handful of beasts he’d fought over the past week. He’d prevailed against them all, though after his second win, he started to suspect something off. The beasts were weaker than he’d expected. Not that they were weak by any means; all were easily as strong as the Brood Matron in the Human Realm, but for Ash Beasts in the Ash, Vir had expected more.

It wasn’t just because they were in a prana-weak region, either.

He’s helping me, somehow.

Cirayus had to have been intervening. It wasn’t anything as blatant as using Balancer of Scales to hold enemies back as he’d done earlier, or Vir would’ve picked up on it immediately. Nevertheless, he was doing something to restrict his opponents’ power, but Vir’s repeated questions about it had been met with firm denials every time.

Eliminating all other choices, Vir suspected the giant was opening his Crown Chakra, targeting the aura at his foes.

The scenery slowly changed as they bounded. A dark forest came into view, and not long after, jagged peaks that soared into the dark clouds high above. Lightning struck unendingly, as if determined to level the black mountains that defied them. All while ash rained perpetually.

Much like the Boundary, there was a wrongness to this place—a feeling that had grown stronger in Vir’s mind over the past week. Whatever the Ashen Realm was, he very much doubted it was a natural phenomenon. Where did the ash come from and how could it fall perpetually/ Why was there no sun here? The hideously deformed flora, the storms… It was as if there was something fundamentally broken about the world, but who? Or what?

What beings were capable of such a feat, Vir couldn’t begin to guess. He doubted even the Prime Imperium wielded such power.

There was no warning. The next thing Vir knew, he was lying face down in the mud, a crushing force pinning him down.

The force ceased as suddenly as it had come, and Vir found Cirayus next to him, eyeing the horizon. For the first time upon entering the Ash, Vir thought he saw fear in the giant’s expression.

“Stay down. Don’t breathe a word,” the demon whispered.

Vir followed his gaze. Prana Vision found it first. Off in the distance were hundreds, if not thousands, of Ash Beasts. Big ones, too. Easily as large as Cirayus. Though Vir hadn’t encountered this type before, he doubted their Balar Rank was anything less than several hundred. Each.

What are they doing, gathered up like that?

It’d be suicidal trying to get through that throng, which ripped at each others throats. The beasts ran the gamut of shape and size, all attempting to kill one other.

“KREEEEEEEEEE!”

An ear-splitting wail ripped through the air, and Vir knew in that moment that it wasn’t the beast throng Cirayus was worried about. It was the predator that had come to consume them.

A cylindrical mass lit up pure black to Vir’s eyes, floating high in the air and nearly blinding his vision.

Prana Swarm!? No. Something else.

Something no less terrifying.

The swarm he’d seen under Daha resembled a cloud, lacking any distinct shape. All reports he’d seen mentioned the same thing. Easily three hundred paces long, it slithered through the air like a snake. Or a wyrm.

Not like a wyrm. That is a wyrm, Vir realized, growing just as still and terrified as the giant beside him.

Balar Rank estimated between 12,000 to 40,000. Threat level: Cataclysmic.

It was among the deadliest beasts in the Ashen Realm, rumored to live only in its most prana-dense regions. Never did he expect one to venture so far to the periphery, and based on the giant’s expression, neither had Cirayus.

They watched as the beast descended rapidly, chasing some unseen prey.

Prey that had absolutely no chance of getting away.

Instead of slowing its descent as Vir thought it would, it crashed into the ground, the giant body crumbling into a million pieces.

Did it just… kill itself!?

When Cirayus’ expression remained unchanged, Vir knew he was wrong. He peered deeper, leveraging both his sight and Prana Vision to see the truth of the matter.

Vir gasped, earning him a stern look from the four-armed demon.

The wyrm hadn’t crumbled. It had split.

Millions of tiny organisms swarmed around the Ash Beasts, tearing them apart, bite by tiny bite.

Flesh, bones, everything. Only a sea of blood remained when they were done with it, staining the ash crimson. It’d taken only seconds.

The pieces moved together, reconstituting into the awe-inspiring beast that boasted a Balar Rank with far too many zeroes.

Instead of ascending back to the air, it some burrowed underground, using its constituent pieces to bore a cavern-sized hole at such an alarming rate, it sent reverberations through the ash.

Explosions of soot marked its path as it snaked underground, weaving its way ever slowly toward them.

Cirayus stiffened, grabbing hold of Vir, but then the wyrm changed course, away from them. Silence returned moments later.

Only then did the demon sigh, wiping off the sweat that trickled down his face.

“Didn't think we’d see one of them out here. Never seen one so far from the core.”

“That was a wyrm right?”

“Aye. If we’d been any closer, we’d be goners.”

“The records at the Pagan Order said they were some of the most dangerous beasts in the Ash. That was certainly scary, but are they truly that dangerous?”

Cirayus gave him a horrified look. “Lad, those beasts aren’t merely animals. Better to think of them as natural disasters. Like a tornado or an earthquake. If it notices you, you die. Simple as that. There is no outrunning a wyrm. Once it marks you, it won't stop. Ever. Until you are dead.

“There’s no killing them. To do so, you'd have to annihilate every one of their constituent pieces. And there is no hiding, either. The only way to survive is to avoid their notice. As you just witnessed, it consumed a thousand Ash Beasts in the span of seconds, each strong enough to end you with a mere glance. What chance do beings like us have?”

Vir’s head reeled, trying—and failing—to wrap his mind around the being he’d just witnessed. Unlike the Prana Swarm in the Human Realm, this was the real deal. The obscene Balar Rank was fully justified. Even on the lower end, it was the deadliest beast he’d ever laid eyes on.

“No, I should correct myself,” Cirayus said. “I stand no chance.”

Vir rolled his eyes. “You hardly need to clarify. If you don’t, I might as well be dust.”

“Yes, in your current state.”

Vir frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that if Jalendra’s theories are accurate, that if you somehow unlock the full power of that,” Cirayus said, pointing to Vir’s chest, “then maybe. Just maybe you’ll be able to fight such beings on an even footing.”

Vir’s thoughts froze. Fight? With a natural disaster?

He laughed.

Impossible.