Abyssal Road Trip

Amdirlain’s PoV - Outlands - Outpost of the Monastery of the Western Reaches

When the clerks verified the last student’s Affinity, Erhi came to the office and added Amdirlain’s payment to her white jade pendant. Though she appeared composed, Amdirlain could hear the confusion and shock that still roiled inside her.

“I can tell you’ve got a question,” prompted Amdirlain.

Erhi shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t wish to appear ungrateful or impertinent, Lady Am.”

“Seeking clarification when you’re confused isn’t impertinent,” reassured Amdirlain.

“Why did you assist me in learning four affinities when you only helped others with what they requested?” asked Erhi.

“Someone tried to crush your dream by telling you it could never be,” said Amdirlain. “I once had my dreams taken from me, and it took me but a moment to return yours to you, so I wanted to do more than simply the minimum. Those I spoke to after you had specific purposes in mind for each Affinity, but none had experienced having their hopes crushed.”

Erhi bowed deeply, and Amdirlain heard her transfer more contribution points into the pendant. She caught the knowing gleam in Amdirlain’s gaze and flushed. “It is but a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept them and use them to further your own dreams.”

After returning the bow, Amdirlain stepped forward and, with a smile, clasped her hands about Erhi’s. “I appreciate your gift and the sentiment with which you offer it.”

At that, Erhi flushed again and released the pendant into Amdirlain’s hands. With an embarrassed smile, she excused herself and hurried off.

With no reason to linger, Amdirlain took the stairs to the reception. Master Cyrus’s presence by the front doors distracted the students from noticing her until she was beside him.

“Shall we go?”

“Unless you have other business?” asked Cyrus.

“I’m done here,” replied Amdirlain.

Out in the sunlight, he motioned towards the main road. “Have you visited the library yet?”

“Not as yet. Do you recommend that as a starting point?” asked Amdirlain.

Cyrus waggled a hand. “It’s a starting point, but not always the right one. There are students where it’s best to get them settled into a routine or properly assess their abilities before throwing them in among all the options the library might present. New students with particular goals are the ones I direct to the library to start.”

“If they have particular goals, is it easy to find the scrolls they need?” asked Amdirlain. “Wouldn’t some need to improve their foundations?”

“Correct. It is simply where on that road they’ve reached that is the question,” clarified Cyrus. “Through conversation about a particular technique, one can judge if they need supplementary material.”

“Well, we’ve sparred repeatedly, so I’m sure you’ve some gauge on my capabilities,” said Amdirlain, and she moved to walk alongside him.

Cyrus glanced at her and switched to speaking Celestial. “Master Payam believes I had undersold your capabilities to him.”

“I’ll admit I have perhaps improved a little since we last sparred,” said Amdirlain.

“A little?” questioned Cyrus sceptically. “While Master Payam is younger than me, he is still a Grandmaster in Drunken Man Kung Fu, and he could neither touch nor evade you herding him. Are you next going to tell me it was a fluke?”

“I just danced in time with his rhythm,” said Amdirlain.

Cyrus stopped and turned his attention fully to Amdirlain. “I believe I need to offer my apologies to Master Payam. How far does that capability improve your combat performance?”

“I supplemented a combat style he had no experience against with two powers,” demurred Amdirlain. “It was hardly a fair challenge.”

“We might need to converse so I can appreciate it better,” proposed Cyrus. “The scrolls I had planned to collect with you might not be the most suitable.”

“Some of the scrolls, I’m sure, will be fine,” reassured Amdirlain. “Though we might need to review any you’ve picked out related to combat techniques.”

“How much of your capabilities have you left aside when you sparred with me?” enquired Cyrus.

Amdirlain sighed. “I wanted to push my fighting style and healing capabilities, so I avoided using any other powers than those provided by my Monk classes.”

“Perhaps we should go to your Foundry,” said Cyrus.

“Can you let it go until after I’ve looked into improving my other powers?” requested Amdirlain.

Cyrus frowned. “Your studies aren’t pieces of a puzzle to mix and match. Rather, they blend as a whole. I need to consider the full scope of your situation to help your education properly.”

“You’re never going to understand the full scope of it with True Song,” grumbled Amdirlain. “I’ve tried with deities, and they can’t even hear what I could make out years ago, let alone now.”

“But I can see the implications in your progression with abilities we share,” said Cyrus insistently. “Now, where shall we exchange pointers?”

“That’s up to you, Master Cyrus. Foundry is fine. Alternatively, we could borrow an arena here or a glade at the mountain’s base,” said Amdirlain.

“I would suggest far away from prying eyes,” said Cyrus. “Try to keep up.”

With that, Cyrus leapt into the air and barely skimmed above the buildings as he sped down the mountain. Though tempted to tweak his goatee by teleporting, Amdirlain used Ki Flight to follow his lead. Cyrus kept a lead on her of a few hundred metres the whole trip and landed at the far side of the rice fields outside of Livia’s Domain.

“Do you mind if I enquired about this outpost's purpose?” asked Amdirlain. “It seems like it must be a duplicate of existing facilities, and having to move students and villagers can’t have been simple, given the effort you had to take to reach the Outlands.”

“It was an effort but a necessary one,” said Cyrus. “The answer to why we undertook it is straightforward: metals. While our lands provide plenty of materials from plants and animals, metals and rare earths are scarce in all the kingdoms.”

“But with the amount of metals that should be available in Asia, why do you need to venture to the planes?” protested Amdirlain.

Cyrus sighed. “Unfortunately, what is available isn’t as great as you might have expected from your previous life. There is one thing you’ve not likely considered: Human civilisations weren’t the first to inhabit the region resembling Asia on Vehtë. The previous holders of the lands depleted the resources that were once present. Where there would have been megatonnes of metals in my original realm, instead we find empty halls of once-great dwarven kingdoms. The metals went to fuel whatever industry the dwarves had, or now serve as a Dragon’s bed.”

“Oh,” breathed Amdirlain, picturing massive chambers like those of Stoneheart under all of the mountains in China. “I could recreate the veins within the earth or provide demi-planes with mining challenges that spawn different metals.”

“Honestly, I’d prefer the former as there is more normalcy about it, but I don’t know what others would say. What sort of exchange would you be after?” asked Cyrus.

“Let me think about it,” replied Amdirlain. “But at the very least, copies of the scrolls to help guide my progress.”

“Hardly a sufficient payment for such aid to assure the five kingdoms’ future. I would suggest you consider it properly before I make such an offer on your behalf,” Cyrus advised. “Now, where do you wish to spar?”

The trip down the mountain had given her time to consider her options, and Amdirlain opened a Gate. “Let’s go to Foundry.”

She closed the Gate behind them, and the pair soon stood facing each other on the training platform.

“I take it Resonance was one of the powers you used to supplement your fighting style,” said Cyrus. “But what was the other?”

“Harmony,” advised Amdirlain. “Listening to Master Payam’s music, I moved in time with it.”

“Ahh,” grunted Cyrus. “And you have those two powers at Senior Master rank?”

Amdirlain smiled. “Both are in Grandmaster, and I’ve evolved Resonance.”

“I had not considered the implications of your True Song with fighting. You can hear the twitch of your opponent’s muscles?”

“From impulses in nerves, through to the flexing of muscles. Beyond the physical, it lets me read the general shift of someone’s emotions and intent without delving into their mind,” said Amdirlain.

Cyrus smiled eagerly. “This could be an interesting challenge to teach you. In combat, it is important to have many layers of options available, but it sounds like you would know any way I could physically move.”

“And your energy flows for Ki movement abilities,” added Amdirlain.

Cyrus grunted in surprise. “Well, that makes this even more interesting. Shall we see how I manage?”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t out-fight me, just that I’m more aware,” said Amdirlain.

“Now I feel like you’re covering your arse to protect your pride,” observed Cyrus.

Amdirlain smiled and lifted her hands. “Just providing full disclosure.”

“Would you also fully disclose your intentions with the affinities?” asked Cyrus. “While it’s beneficial in the long term, it does have the potential to be disruptive in the short term. Things can be managed for now, so we won’t stop students paying you for your help.”

Amdirlain groaned. “Honestly, that started as an effort to help Erhi, and I was surprised it’s considered so unreliable that students can’t even post job requests.”

“Those favoured students found to be worthy of dedicated attention are helped to gain the required affinities by their masters,” advised Cyrus.

“That annoys me,” huffed Amdirlain. “Only the favoured get help because the others aren’t worth the effort? That sort of shit is exactly why I randomly teach people affinities. Only people with the right connections getting help infuriates me, which I know is ironic given my connections to deities. After hearing that is how it works, by the time I’m done at the monastery, everyone I feel comfortable teaching will have at least one Affinity.”

“What is the most efficient approach for you?” asked Cyrus. “Should you handle them in groups like you did in Limbo?"

Amdirlain’s expression turned curious. “You’re more concerned for my time, not the disruption to the monastery?”

“I’m unaware of any student there with a fraction of your potential. There are better things you can do with your time to face the challenges you have ahead. Also, you have come up with a way to add a distinct value to your presence at the monastery that your leaving won’t remove,” said Cyrus. “I should support that by making it easier for you.”

There you go. I had bet on option two, only it got taken for a different reason than I had expected.

Amdirlain waved her hand absently. “Groups would work, but I’d need to be able to refuse to teach anyone whose themes I don’t like. If the duty pavilion gives me a job to teach a hundred and I only teach ninety-nine, would it count as the job being incomplete? The clerk sent the student up with the job card rather than registering it to me immediately so I could decide whether I took it on.”

“I’ll talk to Master Sukh, as he runs the duty pavilion. I can convince him to set up jobs for group teaching sessions. Maybe they can have your payment based upon how many gain an Affinity in the session, the same way someone can take a job to gather and get paid on quantity fetched,” proposed Cyrus. “Why did you restrict yourself to teaching a single Affinity?”

“I wanted to see how they’d behave after I taught them and also get them to appreciate the benefit it provided,” explained Amdirlain. “I tend to help the underdog gladly, but I’m a bit more reserved for those with privilege.”

“Underdog; is that an Australian term?”

“It existed in other cultures where I’m from,” replied Amdirlain. “It might seem strange to consider the Head Clerk an underdog, but her dreams were crushed.”

Cyrus nodded, his face composed into a solemn expression. “You like making restitution even when it’s not your error that caused the problem.”

“I was helping Erhi get a fresh start and her dream back. I’m not responsible for what was done to her,” objected Amdirlain.

“Phoenix,” muttered Cyrus.

“I’m not a very good Phoenix,” sighed Amdirlain.

“You need to visit the South Wind’s Court. Renewal is a constant with them, and while they can focus on their paths, some constantly rebel like you do,” noted Cyrus. “Phoenixes and rebirth go hand in hand.”

Amdirlain tapped her chest with her forefinger. “They are reborn whole. Ori mauled herself, and I’m this thing. Sometimes I feel I’m damaged goods rather than anyone whole, holding on through my Willpower alone.”

Cyrus stiffened and let out a soft sigh. “I’m not the person to have this conversation with you.”

“What insight did you just have?” requested Amdirlain, even as she regretted her explanation. While she’d heard the term directed towards her in the past, it was an issue she thought she’d grown past. Pain Eater also caught at the wording, making her wonder if she’d lanced into an older wound in her Soul.

“Please don’t ask or listen to my mind,” requested Cyrus. “With your use of the words damaged goods, I feel the issue is too delicate to involve me. I suggest you talk with Sarah about the raw nerve I touched. My insight says that would be best for you, but I won’t force the issue or say a thing to her myself.”

“Fine,” snapped Amdirlain. And she blinked in surprise at the anger in her tone. Exhaling, she moderated her tone. “Sorry, I’ve got an old wound I’ve not dealt with as thoroughly as I believed. Are we going to spar?”

“No, let’s sit and cycle,” said Cyrus. “I touched a raw nerve and we wish to know your potential in calmness, not when anger seethes about in you.”

“I’ve worked on it previously, but maybe it's something that can’t heal until I’m whole again,” groaned Amdirlain, and she kept her thoughts on the moment instead of touching the old pain.

“Something to talk about to someone you wholly trust,” persisted Cyrus. “I wish there to be no regrets about secrets hastily given out to sour things between us when you have so much to learn.”

“As long as you’re sure it’s not something I need you to understand to improve,” said Amdirlain.

“A teacher is not a confidante or healer, even if occasionally we’re honoured to be considered a mentor.”

Amdirlain took in the concern within Cyrus' melody and tried to shrug the tension away. “I know I can be a pain in the arse.”

“That is not why I cut you off. Sometimes, I’ll need to push you to uncomfortable lengths. The best results aren’t obtained while other matters weigh down the trust you’ll need to have in my instructions.”

Amdirlain exhaled slowly and finally gave a sharp nod. “Okay. Let’s cycle for a bit before we spar.”

“If you feel calmer, we’ll spar,” countered Cyrus, and he smiled ruefully. “You are always making my plans jump about, young lady.”

“Sorry, I know the feeling. I’ve found my plans frequently scuttled,” said Amdirlain apologetically.

“Life has a way of making fools of all of us,” replied Cyrus.

Amdirlain smiled. “That’s because we fool ourselves that we have control. Our plans going astray is just reality telling us the jokes on us.”

“You have an odd relationship with those around you and hide your feelings behind humour, quips, and teasing. I’ve noticed this tendency in many of your celestials. Perhaps it’s an effect of all the Ki you poured into your former Domain.”

“Potentially, corrupting influence that I am,” sighed Amdirlain dramatically.

Cyrus’ brows lifted. “Let’s move on with the exercise. Cycle gently.”

Amdirlain set a crystal before her and poured in Ki before she started igniting her sigil with only Ki. The pattern of the sigil repeatedly flared with golden Ki, and as her Ki pool refilled, the excess illuminated a feathery outline etched beneath her skin. Cyrus’ gaze took in the light shining through her clothing and as it reached her fingers, he frowned in concern.

“When was the last time you took on your True Form?”

“Before the resistance training,” admitted Amdirlain. “I know how unpleasant it looks.”

“Were you cycling during that training?” enquired Cyrus.

“I know what cycling Ki and Primordial Mana has done to me. However, I’m not sure I care what my True Form looks like,” rasped Amdirlain bitterly. “It’s not the truth of me.”

“May I see?” asked Cyrus, and he beckoned for her to stand.

Amdirlain set down her storage bags and reappeared a distance away to transform. The fabric of the shadow vines failed to handle the instant expansion to her twelve-metre form. Cyrus glimpsed the feathery scars covering her bronze-gold skin, the now shimmering surface looked ready to split apart. Her azure blue hair flickered in time to the sooty red flames that burnt from the golden wicks that formed the core of her feathers. The sharp angularity of her scarred features and the long talons that extended from her fingers projected a cruel predatory beauty, despite her keeping the aura of slaughter concealed.

Cyrus cleared his throat. “Why do you look that way?”

Amdirlain sighed. “I’m a Fallen, Cyrus. It’s part of our state that the stronger we get, the more our True Form displays our wicked nature. It warns those around us to tread lightly and not freely trust us.”

“Yes, you are genuinely dire to nearby people’s expectations,” said Cyrus. “At least, a dire foe to those seeking to hurt your loved ones. That I would believe.”

“My Hidden state means it doesn’t distinguish me from any of those that fell through their actions,” said Amdirlain, and she flexed her fingers and clicked her talons together—the metallic sound elicited a sigh, and she returned to her Wood Elf form. The dark green silken material dealt flawlessly with her size contraction and settled smoothly around her lithe form.

Once her appearance was restored, Cyrus nodded. “You look less likely to cause a scare.”

Amdirlain brushed an auburn lock from her eyes and smiled at Cyrus. “Such fun, right?”

Cyrus ignored the comment and motioned to her still-glowing sigil. “Try to make regular time to cycle lightly. Ensure you keep your Ki’s internal pressure beneath where you’d start to glow. Do you believe the change will remain once you are free of it?”

“I don’t know, I hope not. Perhaps I shouldn’t have dropped so many levels into Fallen in a rush,” allowed Amdirlain as she stored more Ki away. “The effect was far more subtle before I did that, but I think my appearance will only worsen before it gets better.”

“With your transformation?”

“Empress Malfex,” huffed Amdirlain. “It sounds so ominous.”

“You mentioned Grand Empress is after that, but what else lies beyond?” asked Cyrus.

Amdirlain shrugged. “If I push my luck enough, Gideon might tell me. However, I’m partly tempted to find out after a warning I was given. Shall we spar?”

How much stronger must I be to be safe from Moloch and others? Likely too much to remain in a Hidden state while gaining strength.

Cyrus’ brows lifted questioningly, but he squared off from her after a sharp head shake. “You seem calmer.”

Amdirlain launched a sharp attack without warning, but Cyrus slipped along her strike. As he lifted his hands, Ki encapsulated his flesh, reinforced by Metal and Lightning. As electricity crackled along his skin, Amdirlain spun away from his flurry of punches. Back and forth, the pair traded strikes or kicks that at first contacted only air. Cyrus met none of her attacks head-on, slipping by them or deflecting them with refined Willpower or Ki State projected from his form. Amdirlain could read his attacks and evasions, but he responded instantly to her adjustments. A telegraphed front kick would morph into a flurry of high kicks or drop into a ground-cracking stomp.

Blocks and ripostes that revealed where Cyrus’ Devouring Mist style got its name swallowed her responses. He seamlessly transitioned between eight styles of Kung Fu and a mixture of other martial arts, his defences simply absorbing hundreds of attacks. Slowly but surely, advantage twisted his way as Cyrus used her speed and ability to read him against her. One attack would press her to respond and position her for the next, which led her around the dance floor step by step until the finale seemed his. As the pressure through an arm bar threatened to smash her face down into the stone, Cyrus held only air.

Amdirlain morphed from an Elf to a bug and back again, repositioning behind him. Her strike hammered into his back and sent him spinning across the stone.

“Mate,” said Amdirlain.

Flipping back to his feet, Cyrus nodded. “That point is yours. Shall we continue?”

“For a while, but I would like to get to the library,” said Amdirlain.

“We’ll get there in good time. Did you Teleport to do that?” asked Cyrus.

Amdirlain smiled mysteriously. “No, but I’ll keep the truth of that advantage to myself.”

“I shall adapt,” said Cyrus.

Their exchanges continued for hours, and though the first point was hers, it didn’t always go Amdirlain’s way. When they wound down their exchanges, Amdirlain waited until their last injuries had healed before she took them back to the monastery’s edge.

“Shall we go to the library now?” asked Amdirlain.

Cyrus walked on in silence for a minute. “Yes, you have much to learn.”

The library was a five-story circular building on the opposite side of the mountain to the inner wall’s gatehouse. Its lacquered woodwork gleamed brightly in the golden sunlight of the Outlands. Despite the lateness in the monastery’s day, the library's foyer had rows of desks with students busy copying scrolls, many with job tokens sitting close to hand. The only Librarian in sight was a prim Chinese gentleman in a Mandarin-style outfit. It was solid black silk, with grey ties, in a reverse of the monastery’s typical colour scheme. He sat behind a long black stone desk with a severe expression guarding the entry to the stacks.

Beyond the librarian’s desk was the end of a pair of shelves looping in a serpentine course throughout the building’s lower floor. Mostly they ran in parallel, but sometimes one or both would briefly split off like nodes in a lung. The undulating path formed cubbies and niches that hosted reading tables, benefiting from isolation. However, reaching the far end required travelling forty or more times the distance than a direct path. The shelves that filled the first level ended at a spiral staircase, a new set waited on the next floor. While the library comprised most of the first three floors, the top three were private study and meditation rooms.

It was to a room on the fourth floor that Cyrus led her, using a shortcut that bypassed the first three floors entirely. The room's walls displayed carved eastern dragons; the white overhead light gleamed off their elongated bodies that projected power and grace.

In the centre of the room was a deep black granite table surrounded by matching chairs, while against the wall was a simple, three-shelf librarian cart. Its slanted shelves held thirty bundles of scrolls and thin booklets between them. Motioning her to sit, Cyrus selected a set of three scrolls and untied the silk ribbon that held them together. Setting two of them aside, he partly unrolled the third enough to show the diagram of a human body with various symbols set across its limbs and torso.

“Since you are not Mortal, the key to the evolution of your capabilities is understanding your sigil’s meaning and appreciating its strengths and weaknesses,” advised Cyrus, extending his hand to cover the diagram. “Which can be simple and frustratingly elusive, as it involves a uniquely personal insight. There are many texts pondering sigils among the various monasteries’ libraries. However, accessing them will be more challenging for you than others, so I hope we have materials you find insightful.”

Amdirlain groaned. “Since only immortals possessed the sigils, I take it they’d be disinclined to share such esoteric scriptures with someone unproven.”

“Correct,” said Cyrus. “And scriptures is the correct term for them since members of the Jade Court inspired the sages who wrote many.”

“The Jade Court’s Shen laid out maps for those seeking the route of enlightenment,” proposed Amdirlain.

Cyrus nodded sharply. “You understand their purpose.”

“Might I know the name of your Dao?”

“Heavenly Guide,” replied Cyrus. “What else would you expect from one whose path focuses on teaching enlightenment?”

“Pretty impressive title, and yet you ended up with me as a student,” said Amdirlain.

Cyrus nodded. “Some students are more challenging than others.”

“Perhaps after having such a simple time with me, you’ll meet someone more challenging,” drawled Amdirlain.

“I didn’t say you were the challenging one,” said Cyrus. “Compared to some, getting you to progress has been straightforward, and I’ve not even had to wait multiple lifetimes.”

He tapped the table next to the scroll he had unrolled, and Amdirlain glanced at the central symbol of the diagram where a Yin-Yang seemed to eat the closest symbols around it. “Are we starting with Jade Court Mana?”

“No, this technique is to advance your Ki State and have it include two affinities within its protection,” advised Cyrus. “These scrolls cover the mantras used to enter the right mental state to hold multiple affinities active at once. It requires the user to balance the energies, hence the use of the Yin-Yang.”

“How do we go about this?” asked Amdirlain lightly. “I take it we’re not going to study each one in detail given the monastery’s processes.”

Cyrus nodded. “I’ll review it at a high level first to see if its contents resonate with you. If it doesn’t, we’ll move on to the next.”

“Then I pay the librarian afterwards?” asked Amdirlain.

Cyrus shot her an amused smile. “You’re suddenly worried about that? Relax, this is part of your consultation.”

“Okay,” said Amdirlain. “Glad to know who is going to give me the bill.”

“Yes,” replied Cyrus. “Once we find if any of these technique scrolls or booklets are useful to you, we can determine which you buy to start.”

“I’m in your capable hands,” agreed Amdirlain, and she settled in to listen to Cyrus’ explanation, intent on catching undertones that might indicate more than the words.