Dao 3 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Dar pushed forward into the Blackstone Keep’s training yard and to the door that had blocked his path. He’d meant to break it down when he formed his grand dao, as he had with the gate before, but he’d forgotten.

But if it was formed of lava rock, he might just be able to control it now.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Blair followed him.

“This keep was already here inside of me when I first became an immortal.”

“You didn’t make it?” She asked.

“No. I think Lilith, the first witch, put it here. Like she did with the dao tree.”

Blair froze on the spot. “Maybe we shouldn’t mess with it.”

“Calm down. She put it inside of me, and that means she gave it to me. I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

Blair hesitated a moment before catching up. “So, what’s the problem?”

“There used to be a gate blocking me from entering this potion. I knocked it down when I formed my greater dao. I forgot to knock down this door with my grand dao.” He pointed at the entrance to the keep. “But as things would happen, the stone was made of once molten rock, and I think I can clear a path myself now.”

“That’s a coincidence…” She realized it as she said it. “Oh. Yeah, that’s kind of creepy.”

Dar nodded. It was more than a little unsettling. Had Lilith been able to predict the future? Nothing Cherry told him pointed to such an ability.

But he couldn’t help but feel it was all lining up. Had Lilith somehow planned out all of it, and he was just following a path she’d laid out for him?

He looked up at the keep, wondering if it would have the answers. Lilith was dead, but she might have left clues inside.

Pressing his hand to the frame around the door, he melted the area where the lock would be and pulled.

The door came free; the lock still sticking out.

“Why didn’t you just bust down the door before?” Blair asked.

“I couldn’t; it was too strong.”

Her eyes roved over the otherwise normal looking door. Dar knew better; it was covered in enchantments much like himself.

“So what’s inside?” She tried to look around him as he paused in the doorway.

He looked as well. It was… plain. It looked like any normal home. Dirty dishes even sat on the counter, long forgotten.

Dar took a step inside, letting Blair join him. The other girls weren’t in his inner world. He would have to bring them later.

“Think someone lives here?” She asked.

“No, I don’t think anyone has lived here for some time.” There wasn’t any dust, but there also wasn’t the warmth that often accompanied an occupied home.

He walked through the area, feeling a strange nostalgia for a life he didn’t remember. Nothing on the first floor caught his eye, so he wandered up the stairs. As he hit the hallway, he saw a master bedroom, and it drew him.

The sheets were ruffled, messed up from someone’s sleep long ago.

But what caught his attention was a book. Although it was more like a tome considering the sheer size of it. Dar picked it up and flipped it open.

Inside were dao characters. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of them littering the pages. All of them lesser dao, but the possibilities with all of them were practically endless. And each was labeled. Dar just stood there, too shocked to move.

“What’s that?”

“I think it is Lilith’s dao book.” He turned to hand it to Blair, but it fell right through her fingers when she tried to grab it. “Huh. She must have enchanted it.”

“But you can pick it up.” Blair gasped. “Lilith’s fucking dao book. Do you realize how many demons would kill for that? The White would probably leave her little frosty bitch mountain and come take it if she knew it was here.”

Dar nodded, realizing he held one of the most precious treasures in the world. “You’ll tell no one?” He asked for confirmation.

“Of course not. That would be a great way to end up dead. Some secrets are worth keeping a secret.” Blair shook her head in disbelief. “Damn.”

“Damn is right.” Dar put the book down, feeling like it was a little too hot to handle at the moment. “I don’t even know where to start with it.”

“Yeah, that’s a brick full of knowledge there. Best keep it here. It’s too risky to even take it out of your inner world.”

He couldn’t agree more, turning and leaving the room. After finding the book, he was curious if Lilith had left anything else.

But after searching the entire keep, he couldn’t find anything more from her. He realized that beyond power, he’d hoped for something… personal. Maybe even a note with guidance. He was starting to feel out of his depth.

Blair hesitated by his side. “Let’s get out of here. We should go celebrate with everyone else that we both reached our grand dao.” She injected as much excitement as she could into her voice.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here. This place feels like it is haunted with old memories.” He left the dao book upstairs for the moment.

Blair shivered in agreement and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the keep. When they got close to the dao tree, he brought them both out of his inner world.

They appeared in one of the unused bedrooms. Blair cast a look at the bed behind him and raised an eyebrow. “Wanna knock one out?”

“Maybe another time. That place got me in a weird mood.”

“It was kind of creepy, like being in someone else's home when they aren’t home.”

Dar stood and offered her a hand up. “Exactly. So strange.”

Walking out of the spare room with Blair, he wondered what time it was.

“There you are.” Sasha put her hands on her hips until she saw Blair, a knowing smile crossing her lips. “Ah. That’s what you’ve been up to today.”

He almost argued, but then smirked, pulling Blair against him. “Caught me red-handed.” He was ready to push forward with Blair, and he didn’t really want to tell Sasha he’d gone after the same approach as before to create a grand dao. “She helped me with my latest dao.” Technically, it was the truth.

Blair was startled for just a moment before she shifted and hung off of him. “Such a delight.” She traced his jaw with a finger and whispered in his ear. “You owe me, and you know exactly what I want.”

Sasha’s eyes narrowed; she could tell something was slightly off, but she let it go. “Great. Glad you took the easier route offered. Welcome to the family Blair.”

The salt spirit did a little bow. But then Dar realized that salt spirit didn’t fit her anymore. She was the spirit of crystals in their many forms. Diamond. He shook his head at that little secret she’d hidden from them.

But she’d always be a salt spirit to him.

“Blair, show her your new grand dao.” Dar nudged her forward.

“Dar was pretty impressed.” Blair shone with pride as she raised her palm. A diamond sphere grew in her hand.

Sasha stepped forward and plucked it from Blair, holding up the sparkling orb. “What is it?” She banged it on the table. “Not glass or salt.”

“It’s a gemstone. One that is considered the hardest material.” Dar explained.

“Oh.” Sasha made an appreciative noise as she hefted the sphere. “So you both have grand dao now?” She asked with a smile. “That’s amazing! There are so many things you can do with it.”

There was a small touch of bitterness in her voice, and Dar wondered if he had run too far ahead of Sasha.

“Now we need to work on getting you your grand dao.” He left Blair’s side and wrapped Sasha in a hug. “Or not, it is entirely up to you.”

“I know what you are doing.” She huffed.

He kissed the top of her head. “And I can see that you are pouting.”

“I’m so happy for you! Really. It’s just… you are hurtling forward in your dao path. I don’t want to be left behind.” Sasha leaned into him.

Blair quietly stepped away, seeing that Sasha needed some time.

“I won’t leave you behind.”

Sasha shook her head into his chest. “But what happens when next week you are learning your first celestial dao, and I am nothing but a little greater demon. When some problem arises, you will have to shove me in the back of the cave or stand in front of me the whole time. I refuse to be useless.”

Dar wanted to argue, but with her current strength, it was pretty close to what he likely would do. Even with the oncoming insect devil problem, he wanted to stuff Sasha in a safe place.

“Then what do you want?”

“To stand by your side.” She put her foot down firmly.

Dar set his jaw and nodded. “Then you need to grow stronger. In my inner world, we found Lilith’s dao booklet today. It's in the blackstone keep. Take it and grow stronger, but we don’t have long Sasha.” He had a feeling that it would work for the women that had joined with him recently.

Her nose flared, and her eyes filled with determination. “If that’s what I have to do, then so be it. Bring me into your inner world.”

Dar gave her one last kiss and transported her into the blackstone keep.

Walking out of his home for the first time since getting his grand dao, he felt great. The world was in a sharper clarity than it had been before. And he felt substantially stronger.

Dar felt like he could defend Hearthway so much better, but now it wasn’t just him. With Blair growing in strength as well, that put their village at three grand demons. They were now stronger than Bellhaven had ever been. And only with Tami’s family would Kindrake be any stronger.

Dar ached to put his power to use as he looked around, wanting an excuse. When he saw the partially finished wall, a smirk grew on his face.

He walked over and pushed lava up from the ground, pouring it up the sides of the granite foundation. Using his dao, he held it in place while it cooled. He kept going in sections, making each about ten feet tall by ten feet wide and a few feet thick.

That was about his limit to the amount of molten material he could control at one time, but that was still amazing.

He used his dao of heat and drained the excess heat to speed it along. He couldn’t make something cold, but he could disperse some heat from the several thousand degree rock.

The end result was a shiny black stone with heavy silver striations. Dar looked it over, pleased.

“What is this?” Bart and Glump came up behind Dar.

“Grand Dao.” Glump answered before Dar. “An extremely potent one.”

Bart watched with awe-filled eyes. “You’re making this with your dao?”

“Yup.” Dar let himself feel a little smug. Having a grand dao was a massive step. “But these sections are about all I can create at once.”

Bart didn’t touch the wall. Instead, he pulled a hammer from his belt and swung at it. Rather than chip or break, the wall only dented a barely noticeable amount. “Is this metal?”

“About seventy percent of it is.” Dar could feel just how much was there. He had an instinctual feeling of what would have worked, and he realized any percentage of stone to metal would have made a wall, but if he had made it anymore stone, then it would have been brittle and chipped more easily. If he had made it any more metal, then it would have been far softer.

“Can you make molten metal?” Bart asked, his eyes wide with excitement, clearly already running through the possibilities.

“That I can. I can also make iron now.”

“Fruit you could share?” Bart asked hopefully.

Dar only laughed. “I’m afraid it won’t be that easy friend. But I can give you the lesser dao and the technique to train towards being able to do it yourself.”

“Without the grand dao, you need the material.” Glump croaked in reminder.

“I’m a damn blacksmith.” Bart chuckled. “I’ll get all the iron I need if I can mold it with my hands and mind.”

He focused back on what Dar was doing. “If you can make me molten iron, we can work it on the forge. This stuff doesn’t seem very pure.”

“I’m afraid you are correct. What I’m creating is more like raw iron ore. Maybe I could work on something to help refine it.” Dar scratched at his chin as more molten material crept out of the ground, making the next section.

“We know how to refine the ore, if you can make us something that can withstand the heat.” Bart smiled back at Dar, clearly eager to get working on the new project. “My boys would love to get the forges. You made us running and pumping out anything the village needs.”

“Okay. After the wall, we’ll work on making a small foundry.” Making a foundry had not been on his village planning, but they would figure it out. It was a natural extension of his new skill. And Bart was just the man to run it. “If you are impressed by my dao, wait until you see Blair’s.”

Glump looked horror stricken. “She’s also a grand spirit now? Your family… has exceeded all expectations.”

“I know, and now we hope to start sharing with the village.” With his new strength, Dar was ready to start sharing information more broadly. And he trusted Glump. “We have fruits that can help anybody learn a dao, even the humans.”

Glump’s eyes shifted to Bart. “I had wondered why I could feel mana from you. But we’ve all been respectful. It’s the same with your maids. And since you’ve returned, they’ve felt like greater demons.”

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide it for long. Glump, it is about time I used it to help not only my family but the other demons and spirits in the village. Let me finish this and start on Bart’s foundry. When dinner comes, I’ll lay everything on the table.”

“A grand day indeed. Two new grand dao in the village!” Glump shook his head in disbelief. “I look forward to tonight.” The old demon looked like a little kid before Christmas and hurried away, most likely to share the news with his dao companions.

Bart hung back, watching Dar put up another section. “What did you have in mind for the foundry?”

“We just need something simple, right?” Dar asked for clarification. “A vessel for me to pour molten metal into so that you and your guys can work it? I’m thinking a wide shallow bowl, and then we need to make sure that you can pour out of it. ”

“Just have it make bars.” Bart agreed. “We can work the bars into something else. And yeah, just a large bowl with a pouring lip should work. And we’ll need it on a stand next to a grid we can pour into. Beyond that, we just need some sort of heat source so the bowl stays hot.”

“How big do you want it?” Dark asked, thinking through the plans in his head.

Bart held his arms out like he was wrapping them around something. “Maybe an opening this large and a foot or two deep. It’ll only make a dozen bars at a time, but it’ll be work to keep it heated and scrape off the crud and flux.”

“I think we can manage that. Blair’s new dao is pretty heat resistant, but it’ll burn on direct contact. So we’ll need to line it with a solid layer of clay. But I think it’ll hold well.” Dar chuckled to himself, thinking about making diamond equipment. It was very heat resistant and made entirely of carbon; it was perfect fuel for fire. But it would be near blasphemy to use a diamond bowl for trade work back on Earth.

Bart nodded along eagerly. “Perfect, I’ll let you two think about the construction.”

The wheels in Dar’s head were already spinning as he pushed another section of the wall up. Without having to build something by hauling all the stone out of the cave, he was making extremely fast progress. He’d have the wall done by dinnertime.

Bart stayed to watch a little longer before disappearing, replaced at some point by Cherry.

“Dar. This is incredibly powerful for a grand dao.” She whispered.

“I know. I wanted something with power and building capabilities as well.”

Cherry watched and the orange glow from the molten wall reflecting in her eyes. “You’d stomp Karn with this. His ice would barely even stall you if you threw this at him. But, don’t get complacent. The White would put this out with a glance.”

“What’s her dao?” Dar asked. It was the first time Cherry was giving him information on stronger opponents. Before, she’d always thought it was too far above him. He was happy that she considered him so much more powerful.

“Celestial Dao are a little different, Dar. They are absolute in some aspect, within a range. She is practically a Drasil.”

Dar recognized the word that the townspeople used for the no longer existent gods that once held the Mo back. “So what does it do?”

“She’s capable of freezing anything and everything so absolutely that it can be like time stops for the ones that are frozen.”

“Absolute Zero.” Dar said with a shiver.

Cherry looked at him with a question on her face. “What’s that?”

“A theoretical minimum of temperature.” Dar explained. “One that supposedly can’t be reached. But to be fair, I’m pulling lava out of thin air. I suppose a lot is possible with dao.”

“You’re still making it come out of the ground.” Cherry pointed out.

He raised a brow at her. “You seem to do the same thing with plants.”

She shrugged. “It’s easier than making a free floating root.”

Dar understood her dao much more now. So much of how his dao worked had to do with his intention, how he visualized it. It was much harder to imagine lava forming in mid air than it was to have it come out of the ground.

“I get it now. But the question is, what’s next?”

Cherry shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we work towards two more grand dao, with a celestial dao in mind. Dar, you just entered the real fight. Grand dao is the kind of power that creates or destroys kingdoms. And it’s also the level of power that gets attention.”

Dar nodded. The difference between a greater dao and a grand dao was massive. He could feel it in his newfound power. He was left wondering what a celestial dao would feel like.