Chapter 11: Sure as Fate (4)

Chapter 11: Sure as Fate (4)

It had taken a good thirty minutes of flying and searching before he finally spotted any sign of movement.

Sylar was thankful that the construct born of Divination was able to see even in low-light conditions. Now that it was well into the night, the chasms that lay some fifty metres below the flatlands above in its shallowest portion and well beyond several hundred metres in its deepest were caught in pitch darkness. It was only because of the enhanced vision of the Arcane Eye that he was able to pick out the humanoid figure traversing the winding and diverging paths of the chasms below.

Finally!

He flew in closer. She was deliberately attracting the attention of the Demonic Beasts, letting herself be seen by them for scant instants before retreating, leaping between outcroppings of stone that served as footholds. The Arcane Eye possessed no hearing, but Sylar could distinctly see the smirk of challenge on her face, and he could imagine her taunting the creatures as she lured them to her intended destination.

Drifting up close, he could see why the Demonic Beasts had earned their name. They were misshapen creatures with grotesque limbs, their bones bent at odd angles. Their appearances varied some looked like giant insects, while others resembled canine forms. Others yet skittered on far too many limbs of uneven length. They came in all sizes, and from initial impressions alone, Sylar thought that they differed in their formidability. The commonality that defined them, however, were their eyes that blazed with a crimson hue, along with an unnatural smoky darkness that surrounded their form.

They were unlike any creature that Sylar had come across in Resham. Even the bestiaries he had read during his journeys had never bore any description of these beasts. They were currently mobilising in a wild rampage, chasing after their elusive target as she flitted seamlessly across the winding paths of the connected chasms, baiting them inward to her intended location.

He pushed on ahead of the pack, veering closer to Elder Hua, who had briefly stopped to antagonise the Demonic Creatures once more. The Elder was younger than Elder Yang if Sylar had to guess, he would put her to be in her thirties, although it was hard to make estimates what with how cultivators appeared more youthful than they were in reality. She clutched a sabre in one hand, giving a confident smirk at the crowd of beasts as she paused with one foot set on an outcropping of stone.

Then, though Sylar couldnt hear her while perceiving through his Arcane Eye, she laughed and extended a finger in a rude gesture at the beasts, before leaping from her platform and venturing into another portion of the chasm network. Within instants, all that was left was the sight of her wind-whipped hair trailing behind her as she narrowed a corner, a horde of Demonic Beasts stampeding below where he hovered as an Arcane Eye.

He could have matched her speed with a Haste or Flash Step, but clearly the powers that empowered one who learned to harness the power of qi were great indeed. He retreated, heading upwards once more into the sky, taking a global picture of the systems of chasms.

They were wide. The magics of Divination made the poor lighting a non-factor, but the actual limits to his vision were still roughly the same as his own eyes. For as far as the land stretched to fade in the distance, the chasms continued onward. They were not a single continuous network, he now realised in fact, the one he was currently hovering over was among the smaller ones. Many more littered the landscape as scars upon the land.

He did not know whether the legends of the so-called Ten Immortals who had been the first cultivators of the Immortal Lands were true, but he could certainly imagine what powers they must have possessed, if their battle had sundered the plains to this extent.

Finally, he allowed the spell to fade away. He would have plenty of time to take stock of the Demonic Beasts himself once the morning came.

With a quiet exhalation, his senses returned to his body. Guanzhong was standing just a short distance away, quietly observing his remaining two juniors who still stayed by the location of their camp. Qin Shurui and Song Quanhao were seated with their backs to the rocks, a sheet of parchment placed in front of each of them. They had their eyes closed, their expressions contemplative, clearly in a state of meditation.

The slight shifting in Sylars posture had to have been picked up by Guanzhongs keen senses, because he turned to look at him immediately. You were gone for quite some time, he commented, gesturing a thumb behind him lazily. Quanhao wanted to poke and prod at you to see if you would awaken. I had to convince him otherwise.

How did you manage that? Sylar asked curiously. From what I know of him, he seems the sort to think and do as the moment requires.

Guanzhong shrugged. Told him about the final Spiritual Art you unleashed during our duel. He reconsidered, and in his exact words, he thought it best not to provoke the sleeping dragon.

It was easy to see that Guanzhong had been close friends with those taking part in the Elders training exercise. Sylar had thought him to be quiet, calm, and reserved though his recent revelations of once having been a firebrand among within his Sect had thrown Sylar for a loop but he was clearly comfortable among present company, compared to the many junior disciples whose training he had been in charge of back in the Sect.

Sylar stood up, beginning to stretch limbs that had grown stiff after half an hour spent in the same position. He headed towards the two juniors, who did not respond at all to his approach. It was bizarre, seeing how focused Quanhao was, when just less than an hour ago he had been all fired up and energetic. Clearly, he was no stranger to discipline, having undergone the strict training that cultivators undertook from what he had seen of the Sects compound atop Penshan Peak.

What are they doing? he asked curiously, peering at the sheets of parchment each of them had placed before them. It couldnt be a secret of their Sect, or Guanzhong would have made certain for it to be hidden away from outside eyes.

Do you not engage in contemplation of the Eight Trigrams where you hail from, Sylar? Guanzhong asked, with a hint of surprise. I would have thought that given your mastery of the Spiritual Arts, you must have engaged extensively in the practice as you cultivated your spirit.

On each of the sheets, one half contained eight symbols arranged circumferentially in an octagonal formation. Each of them was composed of three lines, that were either unbroken or divided in the middle. On the other half, those symbols became paired, each of them forming a series of six lines. Sixty-four combinations.

Pairs. Spiritual Arts. Spiritual Cultivation.

Essence.

but why sixty-four? It didnt make sense. Just a week prior, he had taught his new apprentice that there were ninety-one possible combinations of Essence. Moreover, the arrangement they had gave permutations of pairs, but a Fire-Order, for example, would be exactly the same as an Order-Fire.

And what reason was there to study them as such, when the theory of the possible pairs of Essence was easily understood? He tried to inch closer, craning his neck for a better look.

Please do not approach any closer, Sylar, he warned politely. Quanhao and Shurui are in the midst of tandem cultivation. To introduce disharmony now would be an unsettling experience for them both.

Sylar nodded slowly, obliging, though he knew little of the semantics of his terminology. It was a poor angle, but from where he stood, he could clearly see that beneath each of the sixty-four pairs arranged in a neat eight-by-eight matrix, three characters in the local script had been written, except for those along the diagonal, that each only bore a single character.

Tongues the spell was now his constant companion allowed him to decipher their meaning. Grouping, Holding Together, Alliance; one particular triplet of characters translated. Beneath another of those pairs, a separate triplet was written Persevering, Duration, Constancy.

Now that he was actually observing, however, he could see that there was more. Within that matrix that held the sixty-four permutations of pair-wise combinations of the eight symbols, the diagonal that represented pairs of the exact same trigram cleanly divided it into two-halves a triangle coloured black bounded one group, and one coloured white bounded the other. Along that diagonal line of reflection, for each of the two combinations made up of the same constituent trigrams, one half was written in white against the black, and the other in black against the white.

Why?

It made little sense to him. Quanhao was still burning Earth-Chaos, and Shurui channelling Water-Order, just as they had been during their initial meeting. Though he could not perceive the process as he could the Essences, he knew they were converted into Soulburn, one portion of the latent energy of Essence returning to the Planes Beyond, and the other being incorporated into their own bodies.

But there was more there going on than simply that, he realised. The rates in which the pair were burning up their Essence-pairs were perfectly matched. Even their breathing was synchronised. For all that their personalities had seemed opposites during their first interactions, the pair was now in perfect harmony.

Tandem cultivation. Were they drawing upon each others Soulburn, or the energy that came when Essence was converted? Was that even possible? What sort of effects would that even have?

He certainly wouldnt be the best one to ask. If this were purely an issue of Essence, he might have some insights, but the newfound energies released in the instant that Essence became Soulburn was a completely new subject to him. As things stood, he was only just barely able to feel the sensation of Fate-Fate being spent within him at all, though from listening to the other cultivators words, it was clear that they could perceive this phantom energy released where Essence turned into Soulburn as the qi that was common knowledge to their cloisters.

This Eight Trigrams of theirs was unknown to him but he wouldnt make the same mistake of writing it off the way he did their constant burning of Essence. There was meaning there and though it was unlikely Guanzhong would offer up answers soon, he would one day unravel this mystery for himself.

I must admit to my curiosity, Sylar, but it has been plaguing me ever since our duel, Guanzhong said, stepping closer beside him. He gazed at his two juniors, who never once halted in their state of deep focus. Please, do not feel obliged to answer but how is it that you are able to achieve the Second Comprehension of the dao, without having been enlightened of the First through bodily cultivation?

He considered Guanzhongs words. A few seconds passed.

And of course, try as he might, it meant little to him. What even was the dao? Had that ever come up in conversation before? What were these Revelations?

Im afraid youve lost me. He shrugged, hands outstretched helplessly. Where I come from, our practices are very different from those of the Immortal Lands.

There was a rush of genuine surprise across Guanzhongs expression. You do not reflect upon the Eight Trigrams?

I can think of a close equivalent thats probably the same as your system but even then, the two are very different.

For a moment, Guanzhong was silent.

You really are strange, Sylar, he said, smiling. But I suppose that to you we must be just as equally confusing.

Sylar returned with a grin of his own. You have no idea.

They both wished to learn the secrets of the other. They knew that the other knew that. It was obvious.

But here in the Immortal Lands, there was propriety to be upheld, just as it was in Resham. No mage would willingly part with a truly novel spell of his own design for fear that others would plagiarise its matrix for their own use. Equally, no cultivator would brazenly ask for something of value to be given unto them without offering anything in return. During his brief time in the Immortal Lands, he could already tell it was inbuilt into the local culture.

He did not mind. He was a scholar. The fun of it all lay in pursuing the answers through his own efforts. The only truly reprehensible thing would be if he ever ran out of questions to ask.

Just as the secrets of Soulburn were slowly but surely becoming revealed unto him, these mysteries lying in plain sight would be unravelled soon enough.

-x-x-x-

Dawn broke.

Alright, students! No more dawdling! Its time to show off the fruits of your training! You as well, Spellsight!

Sylar awoke from his half-drowsy state, a spell half-formed on his mind, before remembering just where he was.

Right. The Demons Pass.

Though he hadnt heard Elder Hua speak while clandestinely observing her as his Arcane Eye, the booming, energetic, and careless tone with which she spoke was exactly as hed imagined it to be when shed been taunting the hordes of ravenous Demonic Beasts. She grinned good-naturedly from the large stone she was standing atop, offering a cheeky wave toward him.

Guanzhong was already there, evidently having awoken some time ago, giving a sheepish look of apology at him. The practice of the Righteous Heart Sects sword forms must not have done much to ease Yang Xinglings poor impression of him, because she was glaring at him the moment that he approached.

Good sleep? Elder Hua asked, but didnt give a chance for him to reply. Well, I hope Guanzhongs told you everything you need to know, because you lot will be heading down as soon as were done here. Sooner we finish off those beasties, the sooner well get back home!

He blinked. She was far more enthused than hed expected, considering her status as one of the Sects Elders.

Youre all going off in teams. Guanzhong, youre with Yao. Xingling, Shurui. And you, Spellsight, will be with Quanhao, she rattled off. Now, I know what youre all thinking Elder Hua, why are we in teams? Well, brats, the answer is that I spent a full three hours last night separating the herd into three groups, and Im not about to let all that effort go to waste.

Only then did she give the slightest hint of seriousness in her expression. Do not expect any help from me, students. Ive had a look at the Demonic Beasts, and none of them should pose any significant threat. Guanzhong, Xingling, as Ranking Disciples, this should be no trouble for you, even if you go at it alone. Spellsight, I havent seen how you fare, but Guanzhong insists that you will be more than a match for anything he can handle.

Um, he said, finally having some chance to speak amidst the flurry of words. Guanzhong did remember to tell you that Im extremely fragile, right?

A mountain that moved. That was Song Quanhao. That was what he would become.

When he finally achieved the Second Revelation, it would be more than just the sum of its parts. Solid, Unstoppable, Exuberant. The Foundation upon which his journey of cultivation was built would remain the same, but still there would be more.

-x-x-x-

How did he do that?

Even to the untrained observer like himself, it was obvious that what Quanhao had performed was anything but normal. One instant, hed been ready to send the offending beast hurtling aside with a Lightning Lash, and in the next, Quanhao had zipped about where he had been contentedly keeping the monsters at bay, smoothly kicked off one of the near-vertical walls to grab and toss it to the back of the group, and without even a moments delay followed through with the action across the opposite wall to return to his stance.

There was powerthere. A power he hadnt recognised. Quanhao was still burning Chaos-Earth in droves, but after a full week spent continuously burning Fate-Fate, he wasnt as blind as he had been during the duel with Guanzhong. A wave of energy not quite heat, not sound, nor electricity but an energy with presence erupted from within him, in the pit where the energy released from failed casting could be forced to coalesce.

It coursed outward, dissipating from Sylars senses almost immediately as its diffused outward, but in that instant, he had learned something crucial. There was a flow to it all. What was stored could also be released.

And the Essences were being swept along in its wake.

Though he could no longer sense the erupting wave of force save for where it emerged from within his core, he could sense how a small amount of Earth Essence was drawn toward him, but did not truly infuse his soul as one would hold them to be arranged into pairs for spellcasting. From within, Chaos Essence spiralled outward, joining the Earth Essence. A trickle of Water Essence looked almost swept along by the vortex gradually beginning to form. Yet, they did not exist as pairs.

What was this? Sylars physical sight and his perception of Essence relied on different senses, but juxtaposing the two, it felt almost as though the Essence formed a shell around Quanhao.

It was different from mere ambient Essence. There was a sense of physicality here, as though Essence was attempting to bleed into the material world as physical objects. What had been individual discrete units of Essence stretched out, their forms warping, blurring at the edges to his Diviners sight.

It went against everything he knew. Essence Pairs belonged in the soul, where they were fed in a matrix, to be made manifest as spells. Ambient Essence existed from where they bled in to the material world from the Planes Beyond, but there was a natural magnetismto the soul. Something like this well, he had only glimpsed it among the extraordinary.

For Quanhao was no longer truly a material being in the conventional sense. No being as far as he knew held Essence attached to their bodily forms in such a way. The only exception were the denizens of the Planes Beyond, or those in the vicinity of such nexuses of power, whose very bodies were warped by the powers that originated from them. What was physical was ascending beyond, turning Transcendental, becoming elevated to a higher status of being.

In that regard, Quanhao was eerily similar to the Demonic Beasts they were fighting.

And it was glorious. He was an ordered swirling mass of Earth and Chaos, more and more collapsing inward toward him as he battered across the ranks of incoming Demonic Beasts, their material bodies haphazardly splattered with a mix of Essences that were not kept in any semblance of harmony as Quanhaos was. One was dynamic, never once resting as the tempest enveloped Quanhao; the other was static, imbued within the flesh and sinew of the Demonic Beasts.

Had he completely missed this during the bout with Guanzhong? Had this been how he had suddenly gained a rush of strength, or put on a burst of speed back then? Sylar hadnt been paying all that much attention. Compared to the Essence-Pairs used in spell matrices, the number that now clung to Quanhaos body was far smaller. Essence, after all, was not meant to infuse physical objects like flesh and blood.

What truly caught his attention was this weight to the Essence being swept along by Quanhaos release of stored power. There was something that felt natural, there. It struck at the same senses that had perceived that trickle of energy released when he burned Fate-Fate. Could he only see this now, after having just begun to condense this mystical force Guanzhong had termed the qi in cultivating his body?

Qi. Essence. Equivalents, but they were not truly equal. Cultivators saw it one from angle, and mages perceived it from another.

Well, well. He narrowed his eyes, as Quanhao continued to prove an impossible barrier for the creatures to break through. Cant let cultivators have all the fun.

Another Sixth Level spell, unfortunately, was out of the question. Still, he had plenty of other alternatives.

Lightning Lash plucked one Demonic Beast straight between the ravenous jaws of its kin with a sickening crunch. Though crumpled, the body was still tugged along by the spell, hurling past the one that had already attacked it, toward a third Demonic Beast on the opposite side that had served as the other anchor of the spell. They met together, and with a thunderclap of energy of the collapsing spell, were sent hurtling back apart, their forms cracking against the walls of the chasm.

Nice! Quanhao praised. He was clearly in his element, laughing as he batted the beasts away. Any more you can show me?

Searing Daggers sailed from between his fingers, all three projectiles embedding into the flesh of one that had attempted sticking to crawl along the sides of the chasm. It gave a frenzied roar, crashing to the ground, the inky substance that made up its unnatural form burning.

Now satisfied that he was fully safe behind the wall formed by Quanhao, and though still amazed by what cultivators had been practising when hed been too blind to see, he dedicated himself fully to his spellcasting. A Fireball here, and an Earthen Grasp there. One had managed to squeeze its way past Quanhao, but a quick Thunderclap sent it flying back where it came.

Not many were left. Between them both, they had to have cleared a full twenty of their number, and what remained were battered and broken.

If so perhaps he might have a chance to experiment a bit.

He looked inward. Once more, he continued burning Fate-Fate, but now, as he claimed the power that was released from its improper casting, he followed the trail onward, focusing on where it funnelled into.

There you are.

He tried to reach it, to unleash it as Quanhao had done, but found he could not draw upon it. There was a resistance there. A pressure and the more he tugged, all he felt was a sense of compression, but not of release. There was no outlet for it.

Quanhao must have somehow been able to perceive what he was doing, because he whirled around immediately, astonishment and surprise apparent in his gaze. Hey! What are you

In that moment of distraction, his form slipped. Through the senses of a Diviner, there was a sudden sense of stillness to the Essence coursing around his body. Quanhao tried to correct, regaining control of that flow, but the Demonic Beast had broken through, heading right toward Sylar.

In the instant that he braced himself, readying for an Earthen Shell to be erected around him to soften the strike, he inadvertently clamped tight on that strange power within, gathered over a week of non-stop practice that only a trained mage could perform.

With that sudden burst of pressure, there was no more room for compression within him.

Like a balloon finally forced to its breaking point, the power burst forth, seeking the most natural paths out from the prison it had been caged within.

Conduits of power sprouted forth from it. They were narrow so narrow just barely what was necessary to provide enough flow for release of the pressure within. It was nothing compared to what he had felt emanating from Quanhao.

He couldnt harness it in any way but this was proof that it was there, that his past week of constant practice hadnt been for nothing.

And rather than shielding himself with magic as had been his initial thought, an odd instinct sang to him. Caught within its enthralling whispers, he followed as it demanded.

A single step off to the side, and the charging Beast missed him completely. It slid against the earth, howling in rage.

He reformed the spell, turning Earthen Shell into Earthen Grasp, and with a quick Earth Spike, ended the creatures life.

Youve achieved the First Comprehension?

Was that what this was?

It was an apt name for it. There was a vibrancy to the world. Things he hadnt yet noticed suddenly stood out to him. The Demonic Beasts, for example, were vastly different from the denizens of the Planes Beyond that he knew of from bestiaries. In the moment that they were destroyed, their Essence didnt slowly fade away into the Planes Beyond as the Spirit Wolves he fought had. Instead, they just remained there, static and unmoving.

Patterns were making themselves known to him. He could see how the Demonic Beasts were fanning off to opposite sides of Quanhao, attempting a coordinated attack, and could see how he, in turn, was subtly repositioning himself, driven by his own instinct. The vortex of power that suffused Quanhao ebbed and flowed, pulsing in unison with his movements and intent.

There was so much more. It was analogous to his Diviners Sight, earned through repeated usage of Divination magics that had permanently addled his soul, only this strange energy pertained to what was physical.

And he knew this was only just the beginning. The power that flowed from the newly-formed channels that existed in a state between the physical and Beyond was but a trickle compared to what Quanhao was unleashing. What could he achieve, if he continued dedicating himself to this half of Essence Theory?

As things were now, he had none of the grace and power that Guanzhong possessed, nor did he have the overwhelming presence with which Quanhao prevented all foes from advancing past his guard. Perhaps he might feel just a little stronger, or more durable, but it was nothing compared to what they possessed.

Still, he felt he had the greatest gift of all; eyes with which to perceive the world. To observe, to measure, and to conjecture.

With a heavy fist, Earth Essence concentrated just at the fore of his arm as he still continued burning Earth-Chaos, the skull of the last of the Demonic Beasts caved in with a crack that resounded across the chasms. The power that surrounded Quanhao receded, and now that he was personally aware of it, could see the pathways with which the storm returned back to its source. The Essences that had been dragged along by the power dissipated away.

Quanhao was panting, having exerted himself to achieve the state he had been in that went beyond the physical. Still, his eyes were wide with elation and excitement, and more than a little respect.

Sylar didnt know what the mechanics of that tiredness entailed was that an exhaustion similar to that which came with physical exercise, or was it more akin to the sensation of Soulburn? Was it something else entirely? He would come to understand that in the future, he supposed.

Guanzhong wasnt kidding at all, huh? he said, impressed. Reaching the First Comprehension in the middle of battle? Managing to condense enough qi to open your meridians in a week? He whistled. I think that makes for a new record.

Its not much, compared to what I felt from you, Sylar replied. Even the Soulburn felt more bearable, though he thought his capacity for it remained unaffected. I still have a long way to go.

Quanhao shrugged. Hey, at least its something, right? Dont get too cocky now, though getting to the First Revelation is much harder than just achieving the First Comprehension. He paused. Bah, you probably already know that, anyway. No idea how youve managed the Second Comprehension before the First, but I guess thats what got Guanzhong so enthused, huh?

Words, words, words; too many words. He needed time to reflect on what hed just achieved, and then he could come to appreciate the grander meaning of it all. Already, patterns were singing to him, though he knew not of their meaning.

Sylar gestured toward the direction they had come from. Shall we go back?

Yeah. The others will probably be finishing up any time soon, anyway.

He knew little of cultivation. He could only read between the lines of what this dao and the layers of Comprehension one could glean from it entailed, as well as the Revelations that stemmed from each degree of Comprehension.

Though a mage by training, and a fledgling cultivator by accident, the new course ahead of him that had arisen simply because of a happenstance of magic belonged to neither. It had been there before he had ever been either, before he had even been an adventurer, charting his path forward.

That was the nature of his First Comprehension. His grander purpose in the universe. It was not a word with a representation along the diagonal of the combined Eight Trigrams he had seen yesterday, but he knew it nonetheless.

His path and calling.

The Scholar.