ch 4

People don't give shamans enough credit as they only look at our short comings such as our need to rely on spirits for our power but there also other methods such as putting spiritual tags enchanting and reading the future or one of the infinite futures in the ocean of possibilities but it takes a skilled hand to even view such things let alone actually use or even manipulate it especially if the being it used on is powerful or worse actually understands fate reading while also being powerful but I doubt that.

You are probably wondering if I have access to such a power why I don't use it all the time to get what I want and you are right I could use it that way but like all power it comes with a price but unlike most the cost fluctuates from high to unobtainable to dangerous then deadly but not to the same standards that the human mind can possibly understand and it the payment is not always apparent my teacher looked into my future and saw my destined first spirit that would help me save the kingdom how I would become a powerful beyond all that she knew but in exchange she became old and withered with leathery skin as her hair and teeth fell out her power stripped then she became blind only then she found out she helped me become a dark shaman.

Ignoring all the consequences I still went about setting up the ritual because I found a loop hole that I could only use once by using a victim I could view future through them but it would only work once as fate doesn't tolerate people getting one over on it more than once otherwise it will take direct action against you by cursing your future or worse facing the guardians of time creatures that don't exist until someone actively disrupts time by actively changing the future instead of looking and moving accordingly to change it those things literally exist outside the rules of reality except for one and its different every time for each one and cease to be after destroying every thing about that being that did so your probably wondering what about time travel that has wiggle room and the rules are never clear.

After completing the ritual space I dragged in my volunteer from the local crack house as I am all about locally sourced ingredients and the fact no one would miss a waste of life like this one, in order not to distort the vision with his drug addled delusions I cleaned his system using a few potions making him healthier than someone who spent their whole lives living clean which because he sobered up caused him to cry and beg as this never stopped me in the past I ignored it and started the ritual because it didn't take long to find the answer it turned out to be a puppet user cultivator their a bitch and a half to deal with because they tend to hide in the shadows and have their puppet do all the work but I still managed to get her an image of her face before before my burnout burnt-out and he rapidly decayed.

After finding her out what she looked like I went to Chinatown where my little witch told me that most of them liked to hang out their main base was a traditional Chinese medicine shop but since I didn't feel like starting a war I went to a noodle shop close by where I found a cultivator he seemed like a young master type used to taking what he wanted because he was protected which meant he had access privileges to information that I needed so I spirited him away to a convenient drug den the same one I found the burnout.

young master:"You fucked up, do you know who I am"

Me:"Don't know don't care what I do know is that you most likely have information I need and if I don't get it I'm going to kill you and destroy your soul"

young master:"Are you a cultivator if so I don't know how I have offended you but..."

Me:"Stop trying to stalling do you know who this is?" as I show him her picture his eye twitches

young master:"I don't know... ahhh!" he starts screaming as I began to tear his soul

Me:"Lie to me again and I will destroy your soul and look for someone else to answer my questions who is she?"

young master:"She is Ai Wu of the Wu family a puppet cultivator family and well is well known for her beauty and talent my family is in talks with her family to marry us because of my family's influence"

Me:"Oh lucky me I don't have to look elsewhere after killing you"

young master:"You said you wouldn't kill me if I told you!"

Me:"When did I say that you are a loose end I can't let go" after that I drowned him while he struggled and then destroyed his heart for good measure before dumping him in a dumpster in Chinatown somewhere in someone else's territory

It didn't take long to find the Wu family there home was a large property containing a traditional Chinese mansion with various beautifully crafted statues decorating the property which I suspected that were really puppets as I could sense an array connected them throughout the property all back to the house the only opening seemed to be the koi pond which was surrounded by party guests who were milling around and especially concentrated around an old man with almost everyone kissing his ass the second largest cluster of people surrounded my target Ai Wu and already I can feel a headache coming.