Path

"Your grandfather, Chief Kafai, was my good friend, and it is sad to know that he is no longer with us" Said Chief Ipnak.

"The reason he ran was to protect you, his grandson, but also to protect an artifact of great importance to the human race."

"Have you ever wondered why we humans are so weak when compared to the other races. Why do we have so few Spiritualist's born, and why can't we train in other cultivation paths like the Draconian's who have their body martial path, or the Raavi who have their duality path."

"Every year, in the Draco Kingdom, they celebrate the Bloody Moon festival. During which they tell the story of their ancestor. The first body martial Path Walker, Draco."

"A Path Walker is one who creates a unique cultivation path, and a Path Master is one who manages to reach its completion. Thousands of years ago, there were no spiritualists among the draconian's. In fact they weren't even called Draconian's, they were known as lizard men. Draco found a way to nourish his bones, muscles and blood. His body became his path artifact and with it he created his own unique cultivation technique. He attempted to teach his kin, but failed."

"According to legend, he fought the ancient azure dragon and won. He forced the mighty Dragon to give him 9 drops of blood essence, which he drank and pushed his body even further. Eventually his path managed to reach completion, and he became a path master. As a path master, he had become a god that no one could match. He edged his bloodline into the worlds consciousness, and from that point on, not only could his kin practice his body martial path, but also the worlds Spiritual Path."

"Now this is the part they don't tell you during the festival. Draco, thinking himself invincible attacked the Raavi Empire. He slaughtered his way to the capital, and killed the Emperor. However, the Raavi had a trump card, their own ancestor, a path master just like Draco. The two path masters fought on the ground creating giant lakes, they fought on the mountains, laying them flat. Everywhere they passed, devastation would follow. Eventually, the ancestor of the Raavi managed to defeat Draco with his duality path, which he had been honing for far longer than Draco. After the battle, Draco died, but so did the ancestor of the Raavi, whose name was Rayvus. The wounds were too much for them, and so the age of the path masters came to an end." Said Chief Ipnak while looking at the faces of all those present.

He could see shock and awe in their expressions, but he didn't blame them, as he too was once the same. Ipnak looked at the sword in his hands and sighed.

"In reality we humans too have a cultivation path unique to us, but very few know about it. This path is called the Essence path."

"The Essence Path was created by a great tribe chief of the Icy Mountains. His name was Halfrist." Said chief Ipnak as his eyes began to tear up.

"Back then we humans didn't have any spiritualists. We were very weak, even more so than the lizard men of the past. Halfrist overcame his weak body and practiced the sword, eventually he managed to become the chief of his tribe of thousands. He found out that he could gather the elemental spirits in his sword to create a unique power, he called it essence. The essence not only gave him control over the element, but it also allowed him to nourish his weak body, making it stronger."

"He was so strong, that he defeated a draconian general, who was a pure spiritual cultivator, at the transformation realm, and he did it by cutting him in half. The Draconian's wanted him dead, but they were also greedy for his path. The path must be edged into the world's consciousness for it to be complete, otherwise as long as you can steal the path artifact, you can claim it."

"As the creator of a path, Halfrist had to face the worlds tribulation, during every major breakthrough. The draconian's ambushed Halfrist when he was about to undergo the completion of his path. They wanted his sword, and they did not want the humans to have a living path master, as the draconian's had persecuted humans for centuries. Halfrist failed his tribulation and died, his attackers also died with him as the tribulation razed thousands of kilometers of that region into oblivion. Halfrist tribesmen went to the location to search for his sword, together with his son, who was only a few years old, they found it. The sword was hidden by his tribes men, they forged 3 swords which were identical to the sword of Halfrist, and without telling each other which sword was the real one, they each took it to different parts of the world. The only way to tell the real from the fake was by using the bloodline of Halfrist."

"As you can guess, this is one of those swords. Although Halfrist never managed to reach completion, he still managed to edge a part of his path into the world consciousness, it was his last act. This allowed humans, to practice the essence path, and also the worlds spiritual path, albeit with some difficulty. Since he managed to edge a part of his path into the worlds consciousness, his sword became useless to the draconian's, but they still wanted it, as they believed that they could create a new path walker as long as they studied the artifact."

"If one wants to practice in the essence path, he must journey to the Icy mountains of the Luna Range. As Halfrist's Essence Path is still incomplete, one must still use the same element he used, which is Ice. The Ice spirits are a fusion of water and wind, and they are only found there. The Draconian's have been concentrating there efforts in that region, but the humans there are strong, and can hold the draconian's off." Said Chief Ipnak as a tear fell from his eyes, and onto the old sword he was holding.

"I understand now, hah, so that's why I couldn't leave." Said Hope who after listening to the story became ecstatic.

"Koren, I now know what happened, why the other cores couldn't leave this universe, why I can't leave." Said Hope with wide eyes and a grin on her mouth.

"To think someone so incredible was born among the humans before you Koren, but he was so unlucky." Said Hope with some grief.

"hehe, I will tell you what I found out when we're alone. For now I have some calculations to run, stay safe while I'm gone." Said hope as she disappeared.

"Dear, you're crying" said the matriarch as saw the tears in her husband's eyes.

"I'm fine dear, I'm fine" said the chief as he used the sleeves of his robe to rub the tears off.

"Weather this sword is real or not, does not matter, what matters is that we keep it out of the draconian's reach." Said Ipnak.

"Chief Ipnak, if what you said is true, then we can no longer stay here. The Draco Kingdom will not rest until they find the sword." Said Lady Zena in a bleak voice.

"True, what do we do. We can't fight them, look what happened to the boys village" Said one of the elders with a pointy nose.

"3 days from now the Yaris Village will visit the oasis, followed by the Guar Village, we will inform them about the situation and we will move to the Raavi border together. The Draco Kingdom will not follow us there, and Raavi will allow us to come as laborers." Said the village chief as he stood up.

"However, till then to avoid any panic we will not inform the people of the draconian threat, just tell them its time for the migration to another oasis." Said Chief Ipnak as he looked at the elders with a heavy look causing them to gulp.

The chief looked at his favorite pupil Sappa, who nodded and said "Don't worry teacher, I will handle everything."

"Zena, I will have to ask you to take care of this little fellow" said Chief Ipnak as he stared at Koren.

"Koren, since you managed to survive so long in the desert sand by yourself, you should be a spiritualist. Tell me, how old are you?." Asked the Chief.

Just as Koren was about to answer, he heard Hopes voice.

"Tell him you are an earth element spiritualist of level 5, and that you are 10 years old. Say your harmonization is 3. I'm busy so I can't explain why, but trust me on this for now."

Koren did not know why he should lie, but he trusted Hope, so he replied in kind.

"Hm, I didn't know you were so talented, Old Kafai would be proud. OK, I plan to train Zena's daughter tomorrow, you can join in as well." Said the Chief as he gave Koren a nod of approval and walked out of the tent, followed by the Matriarch, Sappa and the 2 Elders.

Zena looked at Koren and smiled. "Are you hungry Koren?, we only had rations on the sand ship, so you must be famished." Said Lady Zena as she approached Koren.

"Come, Lets go home" Said Lady Zena as she spread her palm out to Koren, waiting for him to grab hold.

Koren froze when he heard Lady Zena say home. For a moment the image of his mother overlapped with the image of Lady Zena, and tears began to pour out of Koren's eyes.

Zena looked at Koren's eyes, and sighed. She dropped on one knee so she could see Koren eye to eye, and said "Koren, its OK to cry. You have lost people important to you. But you can not shut out others. Come with me to my home, and meet my family."

Koren looked at Lady Zena and wiped away his tears. "Thank you Auntie, I will come with you." Said Koren as he grabbed Lady Zena's hand.