Ashborn Primordial

Chapter 304: Tears of Life

“I have to say, for a manifestation of my memory, you’re quite detailed,” Vir said, observing the armored gray demon beside him. “I only ever saw you once, and that was when I was about to die.”

The scarred and pony-tailed gray demon in segmented plate armor walked with his hands clasped behind his back, metal boots crunching the dirt of Vir’s mindscape forest. Vir had dismissed Ekanai, finding it required most of his focus just to keep Shardul materialized, and so now they walked together through the forest.

Keeping the Reaper around would only have led to more fights between the two predecessors—something Vir was only too happy to avoid.

“The subconscious is powerful,” Shardul said. “I’ve no doubt you’ll recall more of your other predecessors when the time comes.”

“Still, you really are taking this awfully well. It’d be nice if the others do, too,” Vir said, avoiding a tree root. Given that this was his mindscape, he felt like he ought to have more control over it, but thus far, changing any facet of the meadow had proven difficult.

“I believe you’ll find the others quite amenable. I’m sure Jalendra the Wise would like nothing more than to chat philosophy for hours, while Narak the Destroyer would likely talk your ear off about battlefield tactics. Parai… Well, I’m afraid he may prove a poor conversation partner, but at least he will not attack you.”

Vir laughed. “Sounds like it’s all downhill from here, then. But enough about them. What of the Life Chakra? Can you help me?”

“Perhaps. You must already be aware that the Life Chakra’s domain is over all living beings, yes?”

“Right,” Vir said. “I’ve been trying to sense life, but it’s useless.” In fact, he was starting to relate to Maiya, and her inability to sense prana. Vir supposed this was the normal process for most people, however he wasn’t most people.

“Chakras—and their meaning—are unique to every demon. This is why, even after millennia, there is no formula or shortcut for success. The details always differ. So it is with you. Besides, you do have an advantage. You have me.”

“That’s fair, I suppose. Believe me, I’ve been trying.”

“I do not believe you have, Ekavir. You see Chakras as a means to power. As weapons to be used in combat.”

“Is that wrong?” Vir asked.

“Quite. Chakra’s powers are nothing but a side-effect. Take the Foundation Chakra, for example. It allows one to become attuned with the concept of solidity. Yes, this defends our minds against attacks of the Life Chakra, but we are fundamentally wiser for opening it.”

“A form of enlightenment,” Vir said, catching on. “Cirayus had said something like that at one point. So, what’s the meaning behind the Life Chakra?”

“That is for you to uncover. For me, it was the realization that slaughtering my enemies was not inherently evil. That the guilt I bore was ill-founded and misplaced.”

That was an interesting lesson, Vir felt, and not one he was sure he wished to learn. He wondered if this realization was what forged Shardul into Shardul The Vicious. Luckily, as he’d said, all demons were different. Vir’s path to enlightenment would not be the same.

“Tell me, Ekavir, what is prana?”

Vir frowned, wondering where the demon was going with this. “The Energy of Life,” he replied. “I can sense it just fine with Prana Vision. But prana and chakra have nothing to do with each other.”

“And this is where you are wrong,” Shardul said, stopping to face Vir. He took in a deep breath and gazed up at the mighty Godhollows that ringed the meadow.

Shardul opened his left palm. “Prana,” he said, before opening his right. “Chakra.”

Bringing his hands together, he clasped his left in his right. “They are two sides of the same coin. Think of it. Without Chakra, the soul cannot exist. Without prana, life cannot exist. Yet, without life, there is no soul. And without soul, well… You have seen what Warrior Chakra attacks do to people.”

Vir cringed, recalling the lifeless eyes of the demon who’d fallen to one such attack. Not alive, yet not quite dead either. A state from which there was no recovery—no magic that could heal it, aside from one’s own mastery of Chakra.

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“So you’re saying I need prana to learn Chakra?”

“You already have an incredible ability to sense life around you. It’d be foolish not to capitalize upon it, yes?”

“Well, I suppose it’s worth a try.”

Vir sat in the meadow, crossed his legs, and cycled prana to his eyes.

Prana Vision flared to life, illuminating the nearby forest in all the various hues of prana, despite none of it being real. It made Vir wonder just how close to reality this space was—perhaps a fair bit closer than he suspected.

“Now, look at how they flow,” Shardul said from beside him.

As usual, the lines of prana lay out before him, showing the flow of energy through the trees, through the shrubs and the grass of the meadow. In the air and the ground.

“Isolate only those forms you see in life. Ignore the rest.”

Vir concentrated on the blades of grass and the prana within them, ignoring the prana of the air and ground, though he couldn’t help but voice some concerns.

“If prana is the energy of life, then why does it exist in the air at all?” Vir asked. “The air isn’t alive. It has no Chakra. Right?”

Opening his eyes, he found a knowing smile on Shardul’s face. What could that mean?

Vir didn’t have a chance to find out. Before the demon could reply, Vir found his control over the Life Chakra slipping away.

“Until next time, then,” Shardul said, his form disappearing.

Vir sighed, once again alone within his mindscape. Just when he was about to make the next leap, too.

That was alright, though. He now had a path forward. The rest was a matter of time, and that was one thing he certainly didn’t have.

As Vir Leaped above the barren wasteland of the Ashen Realm, the first thing he noticed was the sheer number of Ash Tears. A good sign—for it meant they were deeper within the Ash than he’d thought, yet not so deep they led only deeper within the Ash. Peeking through, Vir saw a few exits that looked as though they may have led to the Demon Realm.

Unusable, given their shattered, dangerous state, but encouraging nonetheless.

The prevalence of tears also meant the time skew was likely less than Vir had feared.

There was just one issue—as Vir traveled, more and more tears appeared. Far more than there ought to have been, given the relative prana density.

It was almost as if denser prana gave way to more tears—like the density was too great a burden for space in the area to bear.

For there to have been this many here? It was odd. It was even more odd that, despite the prevalence of tears, Vir had yet to come across a single stable gate.

For hours, he scoured the land, ranging further and further from their base. It wasn’t the danger that bothered Vir—he could easily handle anything that lived in this part of the Ash alone—but rather, getting lost.

The Ashen Realm wasn’t beholden to the normal rules of navigation. Land looped back upon itself, turning it into a labyrinthine maze. Without an Artifact to guide him, the danger of getting lost forever was very real, thus limiting the area Vir could search.

The restriction might have slowed Vir, but it did not stop him. If he wasn’t practicing opening the Life Chakra, he was out searching.

The landscape was not a static one, after all, and Vir loathed remaining within the camp. The reverence and awe his troops gave him alienated him somewhat—it made the camp a stifling environment. A safe and comfortable place to sleep, perhaps, but nothing more.

It wasn’t as though he could help much with the troops’ training, either. Balagra had that well in hand, and Malik had the camp running so tight, Vir doubted anyone could improve upon it. Morale was high, training was progressing… and Vir had work to do.

And in that time, he had ample opportunity to visit Ash Tears—closer than he’d ever have dared when he’d first entered it with Cirayus.

More than that, it was his effort into Life Chakra that had first tipped him off.

Vir had always been perceptive of the surrounding prana—but as a tactical tool, not as a means to enlighten himself.

Under Shardul’s guidance, that was now beginning to change. He perceived the beauty in the way the prana moved. He appreciated it for what it was, not for what it could be made to become.

Ash Tears, like everything else in this realm, consumed Ash Prana. Initially, Vir had thought they simply acted like funnels, pulling prana through to wherever they led.

This wasn’t true, however. The prana didn’t pass through. It disappeared.

Vir had only noticed this after staring at the beautiful flow of prana for a good while. He hadn’t even been intending to scrutinize it.

Yet once he noticed, there was no un-noticing. He was witnessing an impossibility, pure and simple. Prana could neither be created nor destroyed. It merely transformed into different forms of energy. Fire prana to fire magic. Ash prana to Leap, Dance of the Shadow Demon, and Vir’s other movement arts.

No, the prana wasn’t being destroyed. It was being consumed. By the Ash Tear itself. But why? For what purpose?

Vir thought he had an answer.

Landing at a Tear that led off into the Demon Realm, Vir approached as close as he dared.

This one was at the end of its life. Ash Tears didn’t explode when they died. They simply faded away, and now Vir knew why. The prana the Tear consumed from its surroundings had dissipated, rendering it on the verge of collapsing.

But why let it?

Vir swiped his talwar, sending Blade Launch ripping at the Tear.

Neither was physical, and so no damage was done. The blade dissipated… and the Tear strengthened.

Disbelieving, Vir fired several more, strengthening the Tear, stabilizing it.

Realizing his method was inefficient, he simply shot prana in a fan to the Tear, allowing it to consume the prana he’d built up within himself. Meanwhile, Prana Current surged, allowing Vir to send it more and more prana.

The more the Tear stabilized, the closer Vir was able to draw without fear of injury.

Finally, his palm came in contact with the gate’s edge—not a physical surface, but one constructed of pure Ash Prana.

Then, in a deluge, Vir allowed his energy to surge outward. Into the Tear.

No, not quite. Into the Gate.

Vir couldn’t control himself. He started to laugh. He laughed so hard he fell to his knees.

It was so simple. It was right there, all along!

Vir had just stabilized an Ash Tear into a Gate. And he was fairly certain he was the only being alive who could.

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