55 Cyrus Wants to... Battle?
Cyrus steeled himself as the void whipped and whirred about him. He did not know where he was going, and he was not at all sure as to why, but he knew that he had to stay true to himself. Dao was just so; it was the self and the self was the Dao!
He could not understand the Dao without understanding himself, and understanding the Dao was understanding himself!
He told himself these things, but he had no idea what the fuck they meant!
When the transmission was complete and the space-time formation collapsed, Cyrus first felt the sting of biting cold. It latched onto his skin and fed off of his warmth, forcing his body to instantly begin providing more and more.
He was on a snowy mountain peak- and a massive mountain peak at that. It was, perhaps, about half the size of the Mount Logean's summit, which was still a remarkable size. Upon it, he saw mounds upon mounds of endless snow, and even more of it falling from the sky in torrents.
Cyrus exhaled and tried to warm himself, watching the smoky breath expelled from his lungs with unease. He looked around, trying to find a sign of anyone being on the mountaintop. As his eyes scanned the terrain of the summit, he noticed a single ball of snow in the distance.
To be precise, calling it a ball was not right. It was more like a pillar with misshaped sides and uneven proportions down from the top. The base of it seemed thicker and fuller, while the snow at the top seemed loose and more sparse.
Cyrus made his way over to it, crunching snow under his bare feet. Even though he was no longer a cultivator in the sense that he was crippled, his body was still one that had been rigorously trained by himself. In his time in the wilderness, Cyrus had outlived situations far worse than mere subzero temperatures.
His confidence had not lessened; it had, in fact, skyrocketed.
When he was close enough to the tall mound of snow, he noticed something that made him freeze.
'Did it just ...move?'
He focused on the mound with skepticism and doubt in his eyes. He was not one to doubt his vision, but it was not exactly 100% accurate at the time- what with all the falling snow and such.
Cyrus took slower, softer steps toward the mound of snow, then he reached forward with bated breath. He splayed his fingers, prepared to grab up a handful of snow when...
WHOOSH!
A dark-skinned hand came bursting out of the snow, scattering some of it. Cyrus jumped backward, but could not really get far in the thick snow. He watched as, this time, an entire arm came out of the snow, muscular and stoic in its movement. It broke free of the snow with reckless abandon, even causing some snow to fall on Cyrus.
Intermingled with his platinum hair, the snow added an extra hint of wildness to Cyrus' look, painting a striking picture. His features were not at all bad, and he was young to boot. Though unkempt, his appearance held echoes of the young man he would grow to be.
By now, Cyrus could see long and wavy hair of a dark cardinal red. The hair was dirtied with a heavy amount of snow, and seemed to run from the top of the mound all the way to the base. Whoever this was, their hair was very, very long.
Cyrus watched in awe as they arose from the mound of snow, standing up. Their back was turned, so all he saw was a broad-shouldered and herculean back, bare and tanned. Their skin seemed to shimmer in the pale light, leading Cyrus to realize that there was a single moon directly above them.
That person was clothed only in brown pants, and they seemed old and dingy. Even so, they did not fail and stayed up.
That person then exhaled, creating a noise that sounded both like hissing and tearing.
Cyrus could not see, but as that person opened their mouth to exhale, the corners of it came loose on the left side. This person's mouth was quite large thanks to a scar on the left side of his face. The scar ran straight up to his left ear, and most of it had been sealed shut by the freezing cold. This action of exhaling caused it to tear both the flesh and the ice sealing it.
This mouth gave 'opening wide' a whole new meaning.
When they turned their head to look at Cyrus, and he saw that mouth and the monstrous teeth, coupled with the misty breath they just exhaled, he felt his heart sink and he took multiple subconscious steps back.
This man almost did not seem like a man. He was a beast in human form, with wide eyes in which the pupils could hardly be seen. Shadows seemed to gather around his eyes, surrounding them in abysmal blackness and placing his largely white eyes in stark contrast to the outside.
He huffed and turned around stiffly, as if his body was slightly frozen. This was a hulking figure, with monster written all over him. If not for the fact that he was clearly a human, Cyrus would have been completely convinced that he was in the presence of a dangerous beast.
His instincts screamed at him like mad, telling him to get further and further away. However, those were only instincts. His gut told him that, despite the fear this man inspired, he was not yet hostile.
The man seemed to be catching his breath, and so Cyrus took the initiative.
"Hey! My name's Cyrus, and I'm here to fight you and learn about Dao- maybe not in that order!"
The man's eyes widened before narrowing, and he took one final, deep breath, before shutting them. Cyrus could not know for sure, but he felt like the direction of the wind had temporarily changed during the time that the man was inhaling.
It was almost like he had affected the wind ...by breathing...
Thinking about it that way, Cyrus had to take a moment to convince himself that that was not the case. However, it was at that moment that the man shook his head.
"You," his voice seemed hoarse and strained, as if his throat was sore. Despite that, Cyrus could still hear the unbelievable deepness that it carried. It was a bass voice, to say the least.
"You ...were right. My breathing ...is that strong."
Shock raced through Cyrus' body and his mouth fell open. As he stared at the man, who with his eyes closed had said those words, Cyrus once again felt his instincts roaring at him. It had to be known that Cyrus had not voiced his thoughts at all, yet, somehow, this man knew what he was thinking!
Incomprehensible! The only person that had done something like that was Logean Wuji!
Once again, the man opened his massive mouth and said, still struggling to speak, "Your... Your thoughts are... Noisy."
Cyrus did not know what to think, and so he stopped dwelling on the fact that the man had literally 'heard' his thoughts. He instead cleared his throat and said, "Didn't you hear what I said? What's up with you? Are we going to fight or not?"
The man continued to catch his breath, taking almost a minute to exhale and inhale. The more he did so, the more certain Cyrus was that this man, by breathing, was causing a force strong enough to pull the atmospheric winds toward his mouth. Not only that, but his exhalations were then pushing the wind toward the opposite direction with similar ease. This was insane to witness.
Cyrus gulped and felt himself start to shiver. The cold was getting to him, and so he decided to fold his arms and try to keep warm. He eventually ended up crouching into a ball, all the while the man was still slowly breathing in and out.
After a while, he saw Cyrus' condition and flashed a tiny smile.
"Cold huh?"
His voice sounded much better now. There were only very faint traces of hoarseness, and it was much easier to hear the full tone of his guttural voice. Cyrus had his face buried in his arms and legs, so he simply nodded in response.
The man saw that and shut his eyes again, but this time he started taking a firm stance. His legs spread out and his arms slightly raised at his sides, then he formed two large fists. Then, he started to suck in a deep and mighty breath.
Around his mouth, the air seemed to condense into a thick energy, exposing bright particles that existed in it. The wind was in a disarray, wanting to blow in one direction but being forced to blow in the other. The more he inhaled, the further he leaned back until his body took an unnatural shape, like a sideways 'L.'
Cyrus was long alerted of his actions, and he was already on his feet watching in awe. The man's back almost touched the floor behind him, and it was only then that he stopped. He tensed his arms and his abdomen, then looked toward Cyrus.
With complete focus and careful action, he whispered, "...cover your ears..."
Cyrus' eyes widened in terror and he hurriedly rammed his fingers into his ears.
Then, without any restraint, the man let his voice loose in a thunderous, world-shaking explosion of sound and raw power. Even so, most of it was contained within a barrier that was constantly warping and writhing.
Just standing next to him, even though he was covering his ears, Cyrus felt like his head was swelling up, soon to burst. Suddenly, he felt a pair of strong arms grab his head and help him cover his ears.
Looking up, Cyrus saw that 'sound bubble' rise into the sky until it was just beneath the clouds. In it, he saw the energy and power within that voice constantly reverberating, looking like massive spheres of energy bouncing around the inside.
Then, it became too much for the 'bubble' to hold. When it exploded, the man's grip of Cyrus' head was strengthened, desperate to prevent him from being damaged by the sound.
"THUNDER NOISE!!!"
In a flash of light, the bubble exploded and birthed several hundred bolts of powerful lightning that spread out in the sky. When that happened, they decimated all the clouds that could be seen, changing the weather with nothing but pure oppressive might.
Cyrus watched with the widest of eyes as the sky was torn apart and the snow stopped falling. Instantly, the cold seemed to be removed. All that remained was the splendor of those bolts of lightning, as well as a powerful heat. It was the energy of that attack that caused the heat, and also caused Cyrus to see the man in a different light.
Finally, he removed his hands from Cyrus' ears.
"I am Zebra, the Raging Voice Demon!"
And to think, Cyrus had been thinking about fighting this man. Now, he was not so sure.
