Ending the Rivalry

Devotion raised the staff.

And lowered it. He wasn't ready to kill another human being. Not yet. The sight of blood and the bald man, James Powder's, hand being nothing more than a pile of gore was already enough to upset him. Pure adrenaline had kept Devotion from throwing up so far.

"Finish the job, damn it! Or would you rather see your pet eat me alive, you sadistic bastard!" James Powder shouted, his eyes bloodshot. He appeared to be a mad man at this current point. Ysmir looked particularly frightening, its purple fur now stained with blood, and its white teeth a crimson color.

"Seal your own cultivation base, promise never to even show your face to me again, and I will spare you." Devotion said, calmly and collected. He could barely stand at this point.

Suddenly, James Powder began to laugh. He had too much pride to do that. He'd rather die than seal his cultivation base!

"What's so funny about your demise?" Devotion asked, confused at the laughter.

"My benefactor, Salvador Mystace, the man you swindled, gave me this talisman to protect my life. It has enough power to protect the holder from a life threatening attack once a day. However, it has another effect! If the holder wills it, he can detonate all of its power, causing a massive explosion!" James Powder appeared mad at this juncture, his eyes completely bloodshot. "If I can't preserve myself, at least I can take you with me!"

Devotion gasped.

"Defend, you idiot!" Ghostwhisper shouted in his mind.

"Talisman..." James Powder sucked in a cold breath. "Detonation!!"

Devotion quickly grabbed Ysmir, summoning a ball of earth to encase both of them. James Powder held up the talisman, and it became shrouded in a white light. Suddenly, it exploded, bathing the entire clearing in a bright white light.

Devotion's vision went white, and slipped to unconsciousness.

...

Devotion was floating in his Astral Space. Everything around him was different than last time, though. Instead of a endless, black abyss, everything was a blinding white. His Qi platform and Qi Reserve was still intact, but was covered in cracks.

"Did I die?" Devotion wondered out loud.

"Pretty close to it. Suppose it serves you well for not defending fast enough. Harsh lesson." Ghostwhisper's gravelly, horrid voice rang out to Devotions left.

He turned, and saw the staff, floating in his Astral Space.

"I didn't know you could get in here."

"Neither did I."

Devotion felt something scratching his right leg. He looked down, and saw the Astral Form of Ysmir, clawing at him. He picked up the fox.

"Are you alright? Can you talk again?" Unfortunately, Ysmir did not respond, only tilting its head at Devotion. He placed Ysmir on his shoulders, stroking its soft fur.

"What do you mean talk again?" Ghostwhisper asked.

Devotion realized he had slipped up. He hadn't intentionally wanted Ghostwhisper to know about their conversation.

"Oh! The first time I came here, Ysmir was able to speak. That's how it asked me to name it." Devotion was only half lying, leaving out the conversation about destinies intertwined.

"Did it say anything else to you?" Ghostwhisper suddenly seemed interested.

"No. I woke up after that." Devotion quickly lied. He wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell Ghostwhisper about that, only that it was a gut feeling.

"That's not important right now, anyway. Why am I in my Astral Space again? How do I wake up?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Well, that Talisman Detonation nearly killed you. Right now, your physical body is an unrecognizable smoldering pile in the middle of the woods. Your consciousness is in here while your body slowly recovers. Furthermore, your Qi Foundation has been cracked, meaning you'll need to take even longer to fully recover. You will temporarily be unable to cultivate more Qi, instead needing to focus on repairing you Foundation. You're lucky you survived."

"Do you know what happened to James Powder? Or Ysmir's physical body?" Devotion asked.

"Well, I'm not an all knowing god, but if I had to guess, James Powder is extremely dead. He was holding that Talisman. Even if he were to survive, he'd just be a cripple, and probably die to his injuries a few hours later. The only reason you survived is I pulled your consciousness into your Astral Space before the explosion destroyed it. Be more careful, I don't think I'll be able to do that again. You're lucky I woke up when I did."

"And what about Ysmir?"

"Listen, I just said, I'm not an all knowing god! However, the summon seems to be tied to you somehow, and the fact that its come into your Astral Space is a sign that its probably still alive. Ysmir is a strange case, and unpredictable. Your guess is good as mine when it comes to it." Ghostwhisper explained. He didn't want Devotion asking more questions about Ysmir. It could draw negative karma to both of them.

Sensing that Ghostwhisper didn't want to discuss this, he decided to change the subject.

"Well, now what do I do while my body recovers? I assume it'll take quite some time."

"Oh yes, judging by your injuries, it will take at least a week more to get in a walkable state, and much longer to return to your peak. In the meantime, you should-"

"Wait a second, what do you mean a week 'more'?" Devotion interrupted.

"Ah, I forgot to explain! You've been unconsciousness for about two weeks already." Ghostwhisper nonchalantly stated. "Anyway, in the meantime, you should really try and condense Qi from your Qi Reserve and repair your foundation. Remember, your Qi Reserve can always be refilled and expanded, but your foundation is irreplaceable."

"Two weeks! God damn!" Just like that, over a month had passed since Devotion had first met Ghostwhisper, yet it had only felt like a few days to him. Devotion walked to the center of his Qi Foundation, where his Qi Reserve floated. He carefully extracted the golden Qi from it, getting to work repairing the new imperfections in his Qi Foundation.

At the moment, this appeared to be a major setback, but in the long run, it would be greatly beneficial. Ghostwhisper would have smiled internally, if it still had a mouth. Something about Devotion reminded it of itself, when it was younger. Maybe this partnership would be more fruitful than it had initially thought.