My mind raced as I stood under interrogation by the most powerful cultivator I’d ever seen. I could kick myself for even getting caught, to be honest, but that was the price I had to pay for needing to find Kelsey in the spiritual realm, I supposed.
I still wasn’t sure what had happened, or if she was even alright.
Her Fla seed to get stronger o9nce second, but then it simply disappeared.
I had no idea what that ant.
I prayed she was still okay, wherever she was and whatever she was doing.
But as for , I had challenges of my own to deal with right now.
Thankfully there was so luck on my side.
Getting temporarily knocked out had by Tzu Li Zen’s Heavenly Fist technique had disabled my [Beast] form, otherwise there would be more than just questions about curfew being asked. But Chief Yora was already asking more than just that. Asking why I was here was only the opener.
Precious seconds went by as my mind went into overdrive.
Whatever I would say next would determine the fate of my Path.
And for all I’d done, I still didn’t have any real answers which had been the whole point of taking the risk. Now I’d co up with nothing.
Shit…maybe this was a total ‘chun’ move after all, I thought.
Being sneaky and deceptive definitely wasn’t my strong point, or a feature of my Berserker Path. Perhaps that’s why I’d fail. Maybe being straight forward and upfront was the only way to go. Screw the consequences. Berserker style. And for as dead to rights as I could be right now, maybe telling as much truth as possible would be a good thing.
“I was curious,” I said eventually. “When you ntioned heading out here with the President, I wanted to know for myself what those demons were.”
Chief Yora gave a little smirk. “So you did lie then. About what you had seen.”
I shrugged. “I suppose so… yes.”
“Why?”
The million-dollar question.
“I didn’t want to be thought of as a freak,” I said honestly. “And I didn’t want it to affect my progression either. I honestly didn’t know what you’d do if I told you the truth.”
She chuckled. “Well at least you’re telling the truth now. You’re a terrible liar Iron Bull. And predictable. Finding you here wasn’t a surprise at all.”
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
“I didn’t tell everyone that I’d be coming here with the High Marshall, but I told you as a test. I ensured following us would have been an easy task also. Or perhaps you didn’t notice how simple it was to escape your room unnoticed.”
I felt the rug get pulled from under again.
Had the escape been too easy?
Maybe. Granted I didn’t use the front door either.
But maybe I could have.
“A test?” I looked up at Tzu Li Zen and then back to Yora before cracking a cheesy grin. “Did I pass?”
I waited to see if I would get smacked for my stupid joke, but thankfully Yora huffed out a laugh and even produced a bit of lemonade in her soul.
Thank God, I thought. I’d read the room right.
Yora was just as curious about as I was about them.
If I played my cards right maybe I could still co out of this on top.
“You’re an interesting one,” she said. “But yes, I told you in hopes of you venturing out for another look. If my intuition proved right—that you had indeed retained your mory and seen the unseen—I had no doubt you would want to see more. So yes, I’m not surprised to find you here. But we were both surprised to find you in the middle of the horde and fighting outside the barrier.”
High Marshall Tzu Li Zen finally touched down on the ground to stand in front of . “What possessed you to think you were capable of surviving such a thing? Do you have a death wish?”
No yet, but soon I hope, I wanted to say, but they wouldn’t get that joke.
“I was just trying to see if I could still cultivate,” I said.
“After all your experienced yesterday and still you wanted to subject yourself to more?” Yora asked.
I shrugged. “I have sort of a tiline to keep. Any chance of advancent, I want to take advantage of it.”
“I honestly didn’t think you would show,” Tzu Li Zen said. “But now that you have, I can see clearly now why Chief Yora knew you were lying. You can’t hide what you’ve seen, boy. It’s plain as day.”
I grew more apprehensive then.
What was he talking about?
“Your eyes,” Yora said as if sensing my internal question. “Once you have glimpsed the unknown, they never look the sa way again. At least to those who have also glimpsed. The mont I asked you I could tell what you’d seen and rembered. It was the lie that I found confusing. Which leads to believe you know far more than you let on.”
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Ah crap…
“The question is how,” Tzu Li Zen said. “How were you able to resist the horror of seeing those demons? Speak now.”
Mont of truth, I thought.
They did know too much.
And I’d have to co clean in so way.
But I couldn’t risk everything without gaining so truth myself.
“If I tell you, will you tell what those demon actually were?” I asked.
Tzu Li Zen huffed out a laugh. “You are bold, I’ll give you that. But yes, if you are able to behold them, you might as well know what they are. But your secret first. How are you able to resist the sight of them? As you saw, even your upperclassn, Black Robes who have been subjected to Bloodmoon cultivation already were nearly driven insane. I struggle to believe that your ntal fortitude is so naturally gifted.”
“It’s not,” I said, thinking quickly. “As I told Chief Yora, I co from a world with a Bloodmoon. For the last few years, I have been exposing myself to it. Just like you do here, I guess. I honestly didn’t know if it was helping my cultivation or not, but I figured if the Bloodmoon could make spirit beasts it could sohow make stronger. So…I guess it worked?”
They both paused, looking to one another as their eyes widened.
“And you were simply allowed to do this?” Yora asked.
I shrugged. “More or less.”
“How?” Tzu Li Zen asked. “Bloodmoon zones are restricted by imperial law.”
“I was a handler for many years,” I said. “We have special access privileges to the wild. I abused mine a little, I suppose. I did it in secret.”
Another pause, but I didn’t sense they weren’t buying it.
It was pretty much the truth anyway.
Minus the actual cultivation thod of course.
“You took an incredible risk,” Chief Yora said. “As you perhaps no doubt understand now. You are lucky to co this far. Especially without the aid of an aetherite crystal to heal you.”
I grinned like the chun I was. “I just got lucky, I guess.”
“What have you seen?” Tzu Li Zen asked. “While under its effects.”
Another crucial question, but one I had to take care in answering. Tzu Li Zen had clearly seen more than I had, but I had no context for what was normal for a Berserker to see versus a Qi cultivator. I’d have to leave out the details.
“A lot of weird looking monsters sotis,” I said honestly. I then pointed out into the waste land of burning corpses. “So like those, I guess. Nothing specific. Maybe that’s why I could bear looking at them. I’d seen stuff like them before. Although just in glimpses maybe.”
I held my breath hoping they would buy it.
In truth I’d seen much worse on the surface of the moon with those gargantuan demons with tentacles for eyes.
“How often did you do this?” Tzu Li Zen asked. “And for how long?”
“Like every night?” I said, testing the waters. “Over maybe three or four years?”
In truth it was much shorter than that, but that length of ti seed feasible given my age.
“Extraordinary,” Tzu Li Zen said. “And you suffered no ill effects?”
“I only did it for short periods at a ti,” I said. “Plus, our moon back ho isn’t as strong as this one. I never went out on a full moon either. We have demon hordes that spawn when that happens just like here. But they’re nothing like the demons that ca here tonight.”
“So you truly don’t know what those things were?” Tzu Li Zen asked.
I shook my head. “One of my upper classn ntioned they were Deep Dwellers. Is that what they are?”
Both Yora and the High Marshall looked at one another before letting out a laugh.
“Boy, if a Deep Dweller ever arrived here, it would likely sunder this entire planet apart.”
Oh crap… “So… what are they then? Deep Dwellers?”
“Ancient demons said to reside within the hearts of the Hell Worlds,” Chief Yora said. “There are only reports of their existence, but no has ever seen one and retained their sanity enough to even describe them.”
“What you saw here tonight are much different,” Tzu Li Zen said looking back beyond the edge of the barrier. “These are the surface dwellers of those Hell Worlds. Demons far more corrupted than anything you would find on a Bloodmoon planet. They thrive under the unholy light of the Cursed Stars. They shouldn’t exist on this planet at all.”
Oh damn. I’xol’ukz must have been pulling out all the stops to get to .
I had to ask the next obvious question.
“So how did they get here?”
“A new gate perhaps,” Tzu Li Zen said and then looked back out into the wilderness one more. “One leading straight back to a Hell World.”
I risked asking one more question.
“Is that normal?”
“The last one to appear was perhaps a decade ago,” Yora said. “We’re unsure why one has appeared now.”
“The demons are forever trying to expand their territory,” Tzu Li Zen said. “Sotis they send gates randomly.” He then looked up at the moon. “Unusual for them to try the sa planet twice however. If this world held aning for them, they would have long since corrupted the sun and turned it into a Cursed Star, but there is no aetherite for them here.”
“Do you think they have detected the crystals within the prisons?” Yora asked.
Tzu Li Zen frowned in contemplation. “Perhaps.”
Oh shit…that was an alibi for if I ever heard one.
“So the demons seek out planets with aetherite?” I asked.
“That’s the theory,” Yora said. “And one you will soon learn within your classes as a Black Robe. Cursed Stars only form within systems that contain aetherite producing planets. Otherwise only the moons remained cursed. They demons then consu all Qi available and abandon the planet like this one and simply move on.”
My Fla flared at the sudden insight.
Was Earth going to end up like this place in the future?
Or perhaps even worse?
Evolve into a Hell World?
“This is why we choose to locate the academy here,” Tzu Li Zen said. “A place to train under effects close to the Hell Worlds conditions, but not the sa. If the demons were to ever discover the academy, I would expect them for them to attack en masse. Sowhat like what occurred tonight…”
I suddenly understood the gravity of what he was saying and felt imdiately responsible.
Was my very presence dooming the academy?
“We should perhaps assu it’s random for now,” Yora said to Tzu Li Zen. “We won’t know unless it occurs again.”
He nodded in agreent. “I’ll close the gate. We’ll see what happens afterwards.” He then rose into the air with a burst of Qi before looking down at . “As for you, Iron Bull. You need not hide your capabilities here. We are the defenders of the Empire, not its rulers. We are all but lowly tributes from conquered worlds. But the enemy we face is far greater than any noble would dare to understand. Now that we know you already have insight into the unseen world, we’ll put you to use.”
“Put to use?”
“Chief Yora will explain,” he said. “I’ll be back by morning.”
Yora then snapped to attention with a Legionnaire’s salute. “Go a mortal and return a god.”
Tzu Li Zen nodded at the phrase and then flew away at a speed unimaginable, disappearing into the night.
I stood there stupefied.
I knew exactly what he would have to do to close that gate.
Enter within the spiritual realm, defeat the embodint of I’Xan’dra.
Destroy the shackles around the crystal.
Although I had only done that for a gate leading to the moon.
Would one leading to a Hell World be different?
“Looks like he’s already a god to ,” I said absently.
Yora chuckled. “Nearly. But he stays here for our sake.”
I raised a brow at that. “What?”
“Tzu Li Zen could have long since ascended past the Lesser Deity Realm,” Yora said. “But he remains here within the mortal realm to ensure Legionnaires stand ready to bridge the gap. Or at least until he finds a successor.” She then chuckled. “Co. Now that we know what you are capable of there is much work for you to do.”
She turned and began heading back towards the academy.
As I followed after her a new sense of wonder and awe filled my soul.
The universe was far more threatening than I imagined.
And my struggle to free the Earth from the empire, might just be the beginning of my Path.
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