Ch 1 - Emperor’s Fist

"Be careful on the rocks! And don't forget to be back before dinner!"

Before these words had even left his mother's mouth, Rin Sai was already out the door and into the afternoon sunlight. A cool summer breeze rustled through the leaves in the surrounding trees and ruffled the young boy's dark hair. Ahead, the rest of the village was just visible through the tree line, no more than 20 roughly-built wooden houses. Rin and his mother lived alone in a modest little cottage, on the outskirts of this tiny forest village, deep in the Endless Forest.

Dressed simply, Rin wore patched dark brown trousers and shirt, with a light tan cloak that trailed below his knees. He exuded a youthful enthusiasm as he excitedly trotted around towards the back of the cottage. As Rin rounded the corner an oddly shaped mountain came into view. Partially shrouded in mist, it rose majestically above the tree line like a giant stone fist.

In reality, this mountain was more of a bluff, barely more than a glorified hill. Reaching no more than 400 metres, it was mostly composed of sheer rock faces that were extremely treacherous to traverse. Unless one knew the few hidden paths, attempting to scale this mountain was a fool's errand.

Despite its relatively small size, the mountain was still the tallest thing for as far as the eye could see in any direction. The surrounding land for hundreds of kilometres was quite flat, affording an unparalleled view of the Endless Forest if one was brave enough to climb the heights.

For as long as he could remember, Rin had been fascinated by the mountain's grandeur and mysterious origins. Seven years ago, when his father had first brought him and his mother here, he had told Rin that an ancient emperor had fought a great battle here. In the clash, the great emperor had managed to seal away an overwhelming evil that threatened the land but in the process, his arm had been severed. It was for this reason, he said, that the mountain was called "Emperor's Fist".

To Rin, an adventurous but sheltered 12-year-old boy, with little knowledge of anything beyond his little secluded forest home, the Emperor's Fist was the most prominent thing in his life. Naturally, he took every chance he could to explore its mysteries. In the past four years, he had managed to traverse just about every section of passable terrain until he knew the area like the back of his hand.

Initially, his mother had been adamantly against his reckless activities. But one day Rin had brought her back some Purple Spirit Grass that he had found, and she reluctantly gave her blessing to his exploration. Many useful medicinal and spiritual herbs grew hidden away in the shady, damp recesses high up on the mountain. Now every time he came he would harvest some herbs, either giving them to his mother or trading with their neighbours in the village.

As he approached the base of the mountain the sunlight gradually became weaker, the trees growing in density and size. Although the mountain itself was quite bare, composed largely of various rocky outcroppings, the foliage around the base of the Emperor's Fist grew much taller than anywhere else in the Endless Forest. Here, the canopy towered 60 metres or more overhead and only dark patches of moss could grow underfoot.

In fact, all the forest within fifty kilometres or so of the Emperor's Fist could be more accurately described as a jungle. It was noticeably more vibrant and diverse, with many different species of plants and trees somehow all flourishing together in the same area. The animal life was also extremely varied and numerous, even containing a number of magical species, though strangely there were very few encounters with dangerous beasts.

An eerie silence seemed to rule this place, and the tendrils of mist that appeared as he moved further up only added to the oppressive atmosphere. The rest of the forest was generally quite a noisy environment, birds and small animals chirping and scurrying everywhere. But the Emperor's Fist was always strangely still and quiet.

As Rin climbed the mist steadily grew thicker until it was difficult to see further than a few metres in any direction. With no clear path, and on such difficult terrain, any ordinary person would've exercised caution. But the boy was utterly confident and his pace barely slowed.

Suddenly, a rock face loomed out of the mist. Rin smiled, knowing he had reached his destination. This section of the mountain was impassable without climbing up several metres of sheer rock. Luckily the climb was not exceedingly difficult, and Rin had scaled it countless times since first discovering this spot two summers ago. The rock ledge above provided the most wondrous view of the Endless Forest for as far as the eye could see, at least on days when the mist wasn't so thick. He had spent many happy hours in this secret place.

As he approached the familiar rock wall Rin stopped suddenly and frowned. He had been to this spot many times and it never changed, but today something was different. It appeared as if the once-solid rock wall had a crack in it. Rin's eyes widened and he felt a tingling sense of excitement start to grow in his chest.

Rin had always had a strange feeling that there was something important in this mountain, as though something was calling to him. He had dreamed of one day stumbling upon some ancient treasure, or perhaps a lost secret Martial Technique. But Rin was a child that had matured young and he had long since dismissed these notions as nothing more than the overactive imagination of a child.

However, now something truly inexplicable had appeared before his eyes. Upon closer inspection there was indeed a section of rock missing, leaving a gap that would be just barely large enough for him to squeeze into. A strange, undulating darkness filled this space, like a curtain of liquid shadows. Gazing into that impenetrable darkness, Rin had the impression that he was standing at the top of a great precipice, looking down into the unknown depths.

Heart beating wildly, Rin slowly reached out a hand towards the darkness. He hesitated for a long moment, curiosity and fear warring within him. But with something as strange as this there was no way the curious Rin could turn back. Quickly making up his mind, he slipped his hand into the darkness. There was a slight chill and his hand disappeared from sight. Rin withdrew his arm and examined his fingers carefully but couldn't find anything wrong.

Taking a deep breath, Rin stepped forward and into the shadows. The moment his head passed through he became enveloped in a darkness so absolute it was as if the sun had been turned off. There was not even a hint of light from where he had entered, only pitch blackness extended in every direction.

Still, as far as Rin could tell he was still in the stone tunnel so he pushed forward. Though he was somewhat small for his age, it was still a very tight fit. He was forced to turn his body half sideways and stoop his head, and even so, he still felt the stone brush against his hair and back.

Shivering, Rin fought down the feeling of claustrophobia and slowly started to make his way down the tunnel. Soon thereafter the tunnel began to widen until it was comfortably passable. Though he could move faster now, Rin still proceeded cautiously, keeping one hand on the stone wall and one extended out in front of him.

Then, something changed in the darkness ahead. The rock walls reflected a very faint luminescence of a strange grey, lavender colour. As Rin continued, the glow gradually increased in intensity until he could clearly make out the end of the tunnel and what lay beyond.

Rin's eyes widened at the strangeness of the place he had found himself in. The tunnel had abruptly ended in a large, circular chamber, at least 15 metres high and 10 metres across and carved directly out of the stone. The stone walls, floor, and ceiling were spiderwebbed with cracks and the whole room seemed to be on the verge of collapse. On impulse, Rin glanced behind him and was only slightly shocked to discover that the tunnel he had vanished, replaced with a thin crack that he would never be able to fit through.

Grimly, he turned back to study the center of the room, where the source of strange light came from. There, a brilliant white stone altar stood, appearing simple in its design, yet unfathomable in its purpose. Complex, glowing runes formed a spiralling pattern up its base, filling the room with a surreal twilight and making the entire scene appear even more otherworldly and mystical.

Surrounding the altar, countless golden chains burst forth from the stone walls, ceiling, and floor. They hung suspended in mid-air, forming a complex, spiralling spiderweb. Miniscule runes covered the surface of each chain link, emitting a similar ethereal glow to the altar. Though currently unmoving, these chains all seemed to be revolving around a single point.

Laying on top of the altar in the center of the chaos was a perfectly round, pitch-black sphere about the size of a marble. Although surrounded by golden chains, the space all around the black orb was empty for a radius of about a handspan. It was as if nothing could touch it, aside from the face of the mysterious, white altar where it had been placed.

To call this orb dark was an understatement. Rather, it was like a bottomless void, sucking all the nearby light into itself. For some reason, Rin felt unable to look away from this strange object. In fact, he suddenly felt a very strong desire to get closer to it...

With a start, Rin realized that he had already taken several steps without realizing, halving the distance between himself and the altar. At this distance, he could make out more clearly the strange distortions that surrounded the orb. The space around it was slightly blurred and stretched. Several of the closer chains even appeared disconnected in places, refracted as if viewed through water.

Eyes still fixed on the orb, Rin tried desperately to suppress the urge to approach closer. A cold knife of fear appeared in his heart as he recognized that the current situation was clearly beyond his understanding and his life may very well be in grave danger.

Though his magical knowledge was extremely limited, Rin still knew enough to understand that the secret arts used to construct this chamber were unfathomably powerful, reserved to the realm of gods and legends. And seeing as how the sole purpose of this chamber seemed to be to contain this single black orb, its power must also be equally unfathomable and terrifying.

But try as he might, Rin could not halt his forward progress. His feet moved as if possessed by a will of their own, one step after another. A cold sweat had formed on his back and his slight figure trembled, both from the chill of the room and the fear coursing through his veins. As Rin slowly progressed, a faint hum filled his ears and his mind seemed to grow fuzzy.

In this dazed state, Rin reached the stone altar. Golden chains surrounded him, exuding an extremely cold aura, but he paid them no mind. He had eyes only for the dark orb.

Without hesitation, Rin reached out his right hand and squeezed it through a gap in the chains. Upon contact with the golden links, an audible hiss could be heard. A faint curl of smoke rose from his flesh, lingering for an instant before slowly drifting towards the dark orb.

In a detached manner, Rin observed as the skin of his arm blackened and burned where it touched the chains. The injuries were clearly severe, even life-threatening if not treated. But for some reason, none of this really bothered him at this moment. It was as if he was dreaming, simply watching as these events unfolded before him.

As his fingers entered the empty space surrounding the orb he felt an immense pressure bearing down on them. It was as though his hand were being crushed under the weight of the world. Despite this, the attracting force of the orb remained far more powerful and he continued to push forward until his hand finally made contact with the edge of the black sphere.

For a moment nothing happened. The world stood still, not even the gods above daring to breathe. Then Rin's fingers actually sunk into the surface of the orb and disappeared. A vague sense of panic gripped him as his dulled senses tried to reassert themselves.

But there was absolutely nothing Rin could do. The next moment his body was ripped away and he completely disappeared, as though he had never existed in the first place.