Chapter 24

Aftermath Part 1

(that time I pulled the sword from the stone...)

‘A soul torn in two is a soul without virtue, a sky without color, a night without the moon.’ - Sect Leader Briddy, Dolade, City of the Titan’s Heart

I had known since the moment I was born that I was something, someone special. Born into this world to one day battle the Kudlak, maybe even the Demon King himself. No pressure. The vampires and demons had come for me then too. On the day of my birth they had torn through the bunker I was being born inside. I was lucky to have escaped so easily. Yet I never thought much about it. Mostly, I was trying to figure out what happened to me and why my body was so small. My head spun in circles as I was reborn into this world. Sadly, I was guilty of not honoring the dead. I never once questioned how many had given their lives for me, falling prey to the vampires and demons in the attack. In some ways we had all been lucky, lucky that it had taken the demons this long to cross over to the isles and find us, to attack us. We were lucky only a handful had died protecting me… and Haven. But luck works both ways... good and bad.

I am nine years old. It has been three months since my village burned to the ground. And while rebuilding is already half-way done and the dead have been put to rest my core, no, my very soul, is damaged. Betrayed by a creature I thought I could trust. I tried as hard as I could to cleanse my body, to open my meridians as my mother had taught me but it was useless. Black sludge leaked from my pores but I had nowhere near the height of power I had before. Even with all the time in the world to practice my breathing, to meditate, I was useless, overcome with doubt and fear. Damaged beyond what anyone in Haven could do for me.

Despite being broken I was still a level 5 magic user. All my abilities were still available to me, but I hadn’t the energy to access them.

Name: Kai

Race: Krsnik

Level: 5

100 / 100 HP

0 / 100 Armor

10/ 100 Mana

Class: Shaman

Reputation: Explorer

Guild: Haven

Title: Arachnid Slayer

Skills:

Mana Regeneration

Replenish

Dark Vision

Shape Shifting

Fire Bolt

Wall of Fire (Fire Wall) (Fire Dome)

Quick Draw

First Strike / Slice

Flash Step

Fire Step

Fire Shield

Fire Slash lvl 1 (Fire Strike)

Sword Strike lvl 1

Rising Slash

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Endurance: 5

Intelligence: 7

In fact, out of 100 Mana I had 10. Barely enough to heal on my own.

Mother Sudra replaced her leg with a metal prosthetic. She was still getting use to moving in it but she was fast at adapting. I’d watched her spar with my other mothers in the morning sun. Watching as she flash stepped across a grassy field with her sword in hand. My father on the other hand had refused to use any prosthetic, but he didn’t retreat into the shadows either. Unable to lift his sword with only one hand he started training using a smaller falchion blade forged with the Psolgav Demon Core I’d recovered.

It was this day I went to see my father. Having watched him practice his sword-play for weeks on end.

“It was my fault,” I said. The sun was setting. I had just barely managed to open the meridians of my stomach, heart, and lungs. My clothes smelled like filth and I had black oils dripping out of my pores like sweat. I was nearly out of breath, having used a fast-breathing technique while lowering my heart rate. It was something Moma-Kalla had taught me. A cultivation technique created during the first war with the demons, used by humans, that would usually take years to master. Lucky for me I wasn’t entirely human. Despite being broken, despite having a mana reserve at 10, I was still part Krsnik, just like Moma-Mia. Magic was in my blood.

“Enough of that talk,” my father Thomas said in an angry deep voice.

“It was though, not just the attack on Haven. The bunker when I was born, the Kudlak came for me then too,” I cried out. I wasn’t sure what response I wanted him to have. A part of me wanted him to hate me. Jor had been one of his best friends.

“The demons want us dead. All of us. Doesn’t matter whose blood you have in your veins, or what legends say…. This is the real world. Myths and legends are just that, superstitious nonsense,” my father replied.

I balled my fist and started to shout, “If that was true, why did you impregnate my mom to begin with! Why create me if you weren’t trying to destroy the Kudlak!”

My father stared at me and took a deep breath. I unclenched my fist and tears started to roll down my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was yelling at him like this, after everything he had done to save me… to raise me.

“My son, I had no idea what your mother was. And neither did she. Before she was pregnant with you she thought she was just a Berserker like her family before her, hunted because they chose to side with humanity instead of the Demon King. It wasn’t until she was pregnant that we met with the fallen spirits of the Zorya, the three goddesses of the Auroras and the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crane told us what she was… what you could become. It wasn’t long after that the Kudlak began seeking us out.”

My father paused, watching my eyes, waiting for a response. He continued, “Haven was being built long before you were born. With any luck it will be here long after we pass.”

“The Zorya were killed,” I said.

“We met with their spirits, led by the Viles to the top of a mountain. It was there your mother began learning all she would teach you. We thought it was just another job, another monster hunt. We had no idea what Mia was, and you, you were always my son.”

“They won’t stop, the Kudlak won’t stop coming for me, it won’t rest until I’m dead, until Haven is destroyed,” I said. No story would be enough, nothing my father said could protect me from the truth. Sure, the demons wanted to destroy Haven but they wanted it that much more because I it wasn’t just a village, it was a forge for a living weapon that could end their reign for thousands of years.

“Does it matter. Tell me Kai, what good are you gone? Right now you can’t even cultivate, you can’t harness magic, and you can barely fight with a sword. Yelling and screaming… wishing you were dead. It wouldn’t change anything. The demons would still come for us… they…” My father stopped and began to smile. He had thought of something. “Tell me Kai, do you really want to get stronger?”

I didn’t hesitate to answer. If I could get stronger, if I could protect them by leaving I would. “Yes.” I answered.

“And what if it meant leaving home, leaving your mothers and me?”

“Yes,” I answered again.

“See that?” My father pointed to his sword sticking out of a stone in the ground. He hadn’t touched it since burying it there after the battle.

“Your sword?” I asked.

“It’s name is Samosek,” he replied. “If you can pull it from the ground and swing it at me I will tell you how you can get stronger.”

My father challenged me. Weak and tired as I was… to attack him.

I walked over to the giant two-hander, it was nearly as tall as I was, and I was considered tall and slender, especially compared to others in the village. I cracked my knuckles to show my resolve. Placing both my hands on the hilt of the two-hander I pulled with as much strength as I had left. I could feel a power emanating from inside the blade… something cursed.

“With that sword I’ve slain a hundred demons and more,” my father began, “I’ve climbed mountains, castles, and across continents. -

Before I met your moms, that sword was my only companion.”

I felt it move. Barely an inch from the ground but it moved. Taking a deep breathe I summoned as much strength into my arms as I could. I felt them begin to transform. Grey fur began to grow out from my wrist, my fingernails elongated and turned to claws. I could feel the ears on the top of my head stretch backwards as the sword budged another inch. I didn’t let go.

My father continued. “Forged from the ruins of the original Kladenets, found in the ruins of Babylonia, to be wielded only by a hero. The self-swing sword is a sword of myth and legend, just like you.”

I pulled harder, feeling my teeth turn to fangs. I breathed faster, keeping my heart rate down, clearing my body.

I could feel my core trembling, my heart tearing itself apart. Cracking as my soul broke further. I felt like I was going to fall into a million pieces. I felt my body fighting against me but at the same time, it wanted me to have this. My meridians cleared and I felt like my body was going to explode as I pulled ether in with a deep breath. I could feel it converting to mana inside of me, twisting into fractals spreading outward through my skin. The sword moved another inch, and another.

“Ahhhh!” I screamed. The sword came out of the ground and thumped against the dirt. I didn’t have the strength to lift it. My stamina was down to 50% and I was struggling to breath. My heart rate caught up with me, pounding hard against my chest as I heaved in and out.

“Now run,” my father growled.

I turned and looked at him in confusion.

“To the mountain, on the mainland, take a boat at the dock of Maestat to the City of the Veil of Shadows. There you will meet a man named Hebrook. Tell him you are my child and he will either help yo or kill you if he thinks you are lying. He will take you to the mountains of the Fae, where the Viles will show you the way,” my father demanded.

“Dad?” I cried in confusion. He pulled his sword from his back and tossed it over to me. It was all he had to give.

“Now go, before I change my mind and chase after you. Before your moms catch on. The demons will keep coming for you in Haven and we will keep up that lie. You must never tell anyone that you are a Krsnik. Never use your shapeshifting unless you must. Tell them you are a Kitsune, a human-yokai hybrid traveling from the east. Stay in the shadows and don’t make yourself known.”

I started to say something again but he screamed at me to leave. I spoke fast as I could before taking off in a sprint. “Say goodbye to Pan and Ajax, tell moms I love them. Thank you father. I will return.”

My heart was a mix of emotions, sadness, regret, and anger as I ran towards the ruins away from my father’s cries. I knew they were the only way out. I dropped down into the darkness, my father’s Samosek slung over my back wrapped in my ripped linen shirt while I wore my father’s to protect me from the cold. Gob tucked himself away inside a pocket sewn onto the shirt, wrapping himself tight. I didn’t stop to rest until I reached the ruins at the edge of the woods where my father had saved me, Pan, and Ajax before. The body of the golem was still there.

Climbing out into the dark forest I found a small ravine and a tree trunk to hide myself in should my father change his mind. I decided I would sleep for an hour, maybe two, before leaving. I wasn’t sure what my father’s plan was, how or even if he would tell my mothers what was happening. If I had to wager, I’d bet he would stay the night away, ‘training’, before returning home to find I am missing. Then he would come clean. Not even Sudra would be able to catch me with that kind of head start.

Getting to Maestat would be a few days journey. It was a small village on the shoreline. One of the few ways on and off the isles. It was mostly run by demi-humans, but there were a few humans in the village as well.

Luckily, I knew exactly where it was. I’d grown up studying maps of the Isles of Abyss along with my past knowledge of the stars, getting lost wouldn’t be a problem. I thought about shifting but wondered if I would even be able to with as much damage as my core had taken. The fur on my arms wasn’t turning back, just like my ears before. I looked even more like a fox-human hybrid. My father was right, telling people I was a demon Kitsune would protect me but it also might make me a target. Besides that, the last thing I wanted was to accidentally get shot by a hunter looking for food. If I was killed taking the form of another animal would I stay that form? The idea of becoming a dinner for my family made me nauseas.

I overslept, four hours and the sun was up. I collected a few herbs for breakfast. I didn’t have time to meditate. I was a runaway now, and the only way I could keep my family safe was to stay that way.