Destiny Gathers
Tess had called out cautiously to try and warn him, but before he could lay eyes on whatever she saw, that soft, mournful voice rang out.
"Whyyyy?"
The hairs on his arms stood on end as his mind screamed warning. Lucian did not panic and act rashly, however. Whatever was here with them, it escaped his senses, and had gotten the jump on them. The fact that it had not attacked yet, meant things were not so urgent that he need risk sudden movements.
Slowly getting up from the ground, to a crouching posture, Lucian followed Tess' line of sight to see a woman, standing with sagging shoulders as crystal clear tears ran down her cheeks. Her white dress was beautiful and should give her a youthful, fresh appearance, if not for the pure sorrow radiating from her crying eyes and quivering lips.
"Whyyy? Was I not enough?" Her slow voice carried on the air with a strange cadence that spoke of all things unnatural, and Lucian's alertness only rose by the fact that he could perceive her with his lifesense.
"Why did you do it…?" Tears continued to collect and fall from her eyes, as her long neck turned red, then purple, a horrible bruise forming.
"Please… Charles. I can't breathe…" She begged as Lucian felt his heart quiver, a wetness falling down his own cheeks.
Her shaky hands grasped at her own neck and her pained expression seemed to tear into Lucian's heart. Guilt, sorrow, self-loathing and hatred swelled within him as he felt as if he could feel her neck compressing in his own shaky hands.
"Linda…" His voice called, sounding alien to him. "What did I…."
"How could you?" She interrupted. Her voice still void of anger or wrath, only a deep sorrow and sense of betrayal carried in her words, planting themselves in his heart.
"Fix it…?" She begged him. "Please… Charles. Fix it."
"Fix it." His glazed eyes seemed to register a conclusion.
"I'll fix it." He said, his large hands raising to wrap around his own neck.
*BANG* Reality flooded back to Lucian's senses as the woman in white was struck by a firm but slender palm, spiritual energies exploding in an outward spiral as the spirit shrieked, her immaterial body shredding and dispersing under the force of Tess' Spirit Palm.
Lucian released his grip on his own neck, the memories of what had just happened flooding into his mind, fueling not fear, but anger.
'Fuck! How did I fall for that? Why does this place keep getting the better of me?' He ranted inwardly.
Looking up, Tess held an outstretched hand for him, that he accepted with thanks.
"I owe you one." He said, still blaming himself for his carelessness.
"Not yet, you dealt with the flower, I dealt with the spirit. We're equal… for now." The last part she said with a wink that dispelled some of his negativity.
"For now." He grinned in response.
'Right. Don't just yell at yourself to be better, that's rarely worked throughout the years. Think, what can I actually 'do' to be better?'
Tess bent down to collect the crimson carnation, but as soon as she touched the flower the rapid heartbeat started again, so loud the two covered their ears in reflex. She dropped it a moment later, and the sound ended, echoed only by those things in the fog shifting and clanging in response.
Looking down at the carnation, so full of lifeforce, an idea came to Lucian's mind. His lifesense worked, he could feel the life within himself, Tess, and this flower, as well as the life within the vegetation. But that spirit could not be felt. She had no lifeforce.
No lifeforce… undead.
A smile came to Lucian's lips. He had a way to deal with the undead, something he did not develop himself, but rather an example technique from the Grand Life Tome that he'd never had a chance to test.
'But will that stop their influence over me?' He sighed as he realised he had developed a great flaw in his cultivation. 'My soul is so weak.'
Augmentors, generally speaking, did not cultivate the soul until the fourth stage, often referred to as the Soul Integration stage of body cultivation. Thirteen's Grand Life Tome named it the Soulbody stage. Until then, it was common for most body cultivation arts not to cultivate the soul, leaving auxiliary techniques to patch up that weakness until the fourth stage.
For Lucian, he did a great deal of mental exercises every day, during every waking moment if he could. This was the many mental practices of the Unhindered Motion art.
To train the mind was to train the soul at the same time, and it had always proved enough of a bandage when subjected to spiritual assaults by monsters or tested by instructors. He had not expected to find himself in a spiritual region with strong ties to the plain of the dead among others.
'I need to keep my will focused constantly, always bearing the intent to expel and reject foreign influence. Then there's my Life Domain, but that'll act like a beacon to the undead in this place, so I'll shelf that for now.'
As he pondered, Tess had been considering ways in which to keep the carnation without triggering that sound. It seemed to have a will of sorts that rejected the actions of her Knight Badge in trying to store it. In the end, she delivered a dainty flick filled with her disrupting spirit palm energy that scrambled the weak will of the flower long enough to store it in the badge.
"Ready to go?" He asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
**
Back in northern Demia, within the estate Lucian and Tess had left just over two months ago, Eudes Clarke stood with a straight back and an ever present smile as he stared at Head Instructor Nicholas, who stood across from him with a frown.
"Why are you choosing so early?" Nicholas' voice carried a gruff tone, as if growling as he spoke.
"Why?" Eudes' cheeks tugged as his smile widened. "You do not see what I see, lesser.
"Destiny is gathering.
"His choices, the choices of others, even his very surroundings. A synergy is building throughout his life.
"And I can guess the result."
Nicholas' frown deepened. By the spirits he despised this snake. Swooping in every damn time…
"You don't know anything yet. And this year is extraordinary, there are more than one candidate."
Eudes' smile did not falter even as he scoffed. "I know more than you care to imagine, boy."
Nicholas did not lash out at the contempt in Eudes' voice, but instead widened his eyes, his Intuition bearing a very strong gut feeling about the man's words.
"You know what he'll become, don't you?"
His words were met with that same persistent grin. "I can't be certain. There are simply far too many tales and legends to know for sure. He might not become any of them, after all, Destiny is fickle, only Fate is constant."
Nicholas felt his teeth grinding as he considered it. Every time. Every damn time, the King just let's this snake do what he wants. If he had known, Nicholas would never have agreed to come here, to be stuck here for the rest of his life, watching his hard, once enthusiastic work be taken for granted by this… this....
"Careful Nicholas. Thoughts are always more dangerous than words." Eudes said through squinted eyes and a taunting smile.
'Tch.'
Spinning on his heels, Nicholas turned his back to Eudes Clarke and began to walk away.
"Fine, do whatever you want. Some of us have work to do."
As Eudes watched Nicholas' receding back, he thought about his choice again and smiled.
'My situation is not so different from your own Nicholas, but soon I might finally have confirmed the worth of it all. The worth of sacrificing this body, of being confined to this slum. Can you say the same?'
Turning, Eudes left in the other direction, his smile still present as he fingered the three dots on his forehead in thought.
'It will all be worth it soon.'
**
Back in the Valley of Mist, Lucian and Tess had traveled for a few days now. The phantom heartbeat they found was not the only one of its kind, far from it.
As the two traveled through the blinding fog, they often heard that quiet beating of a heart in the distance. They could not discern it's direction by the sound, but it always started as frequent as a slightly excited heartbeat, getting slower as they approached.
There was one time they were forced to cross paths with it by the terrain, not eager to leap into the sky without knowing what was around them. The same thing had happened, it beat wildly once they got too close and attracted dangers in the fog, this time a strange, shapeless aura that sapped at their consciousness.
Lucian had continued to practice his will in resistance of any external influence, and the two got past that aura without too much trouble, but soon learned that the phantom heartbeats served as an alarm, or beacon to the surroundings, and so took every measure to avoid them as they explored.
While continuing this practice, the two crossed mountains, steering clear of the phantom heartbeats, resisting the influence of spirits and apparitions, and making stressful camp in the depths of the fog.
Normal fires could not be lit here, and if what Lucian knew about the undead was correct, his life infused fire would only attract them. With that in mind, the two never started a fire at night, sleeping within a tent and bedroll stored in the Knight's badge, and taking shifts in keeping watch.
There was nothing to hunt within the valleys, this place devoid of ordinary animals. They had also not found monsters or spirit beasts yet, but as cultivators they did not need to eat often, and had each stored a great amount of rations during their travels, so it would not prove a problem; at least for now.
On their third day after entering the Valley of Mist, the two caught the sound of marching in the distance. Unlike most noises they heard within the valley, this one had a clear direction.
At first they thought it some collective remnant will of a military squad, or an illusion, but after hearing multiple yells and shouts, the sounds of battle, and a direct mention of "The Valleys", the two exchanged a glance before approaching the sound as quietly as possible.