Chapter 176

Lykan

The Red Flare

The ominous omen of death burned brilliantly in the sky. Regardless of the time of day, if one looked, they would almost certainly be able to find the red flare blazing through the sky, towards their tiny blue green planet.

The closer it got; the more people seemed to feel the impending doom. Farmers stopped harvesting, soldiers called for armistices, as they waited to see what would happen next.

Ajimal the Great used this moment to head north to rally his troops. He had heard the warnings of the Oracle Dathney, while he had his doubts about the capabilities of a foreign oracle, he still heeded the words. These words of course were only seconded and repeated by anyone with a modicum of the sight.

Everyone great and small saw the red flare for what it was, an omen of things to come. An omen of death.

Scientists and mathematicians plotted the trajectory and most realized that barring anything major, the flare would make impact with the planet.

Others postulated that it would swing into the planet, using the gravitational force of the planet to both slow down and direct its descent.

During this time Pentra used her control over water to peer into the future and confirmed not only that the flare would strike. But that when it did, a being of immeasurable power would emerge from the flare and devour the world whole.

With such prophecies on the rise, and the flare predicted to land within the next week. The idea of continuing to fix Sidhertha seemed pointless. After all, what would the point of fixing a country be, if that country was going to be wiped out with but a single event.

Realizing he had nothing left to do, save follow up on a hunch of his father. This wasn’t a real hunch related to his real father, as his real father had been slain when he was but a child. Rather, this was related to the idea that Lykan might have missed something when he last visited his childhood home. At the time the library had been burnt to the ground, along with everything else in the village.

Nayali for her part had taken up refuge in the woods for reasons unknown to Lykan, but she had done a good job of spreading the energy of the great Forest Spirit throughout the woods.

Looking at his past, he wondered just how wrong many of his assumptions truly were. He made the best choices he could at the time, but the more he looked back on his past. The more times he found flaws, he found incomplete truths that he accepted as facts and acted accordingly.

So many times, he could have made better choices, only for the choices that he did make to come back and bite him later on.

This must be what growing older truly means, Lykan thought to himself, as he flew forward. He made the trip with Brenna on his back. Pentra for her part would have to learn to follow his qi trail.

Or rather, follow the trail of empty qi, where Lykan had gone. For that is what Lykan left in his wake, so voracious was his all-consuming cultivation that the world could not produce enough qi in one area to truly satiate him.

Fortunately, he was a man of both worlds, a hybrid. A man who could live off of qi consumption, and the natural energy that the world still produced in abundance.

Just by traveling through an area, Lykan learned that his new cultivation technique that seemed to cycle through all forms of elemental qi, was nearing a defining moment within his mind.

He had the components, well three of the four main components. He still had a hard time understanding the concept of Fire.

To Lykan the first three concepts were easy to not only understand but incorporate. He himself was Air, from Brenna he learned the core concepts of Earth, then from Pentra he found the adaptability of Water. But fire, that was different. In a way Fire was an exact opposite of his natural state of Air.

Fire consumed Air to live. Fire expanded and destroyed all in its wake. Yet, there were also components to fire that helped. Fire purified corruption. Fire provided energy to give movement to the world. There were also deeper connections that Fire made that Lykan could not fully understand. At least not in a way that showed how Fire fit in with the other core elements.

Still, as he flew, he focused on expanding his mind and consciousness for the final pieces of Fire. How Fire truly merged with all the other elements. Once he had that, he could finally master his new concept for cultivation.

While a new cultivation would mean he would have to start over, that was something he was willing to do. He had time, also he figured that with all four elements he would be more powerful even at a lower tier.

For now, he was faster, and more able to adapt to the flow of an attack. This was the concept that Air provided. As an opponent moved, their very movement created Air flow. That flow allowed Lykan to sense multiple things. Currently he could interpret the intent, speed, and power behind an attack.

Yet, there was more.

Also, he knew that Fire would be able to counter this speed.

A major reason why he wanted to push himself further now, was because he realized that this red flare was likely just the first of many challenges that would come to this world. Challenges that he needed to be fully prepared for. Challenges that he knew he would not be capable of handling in his current form.

So Lykan moved at his fastest, while also cultivating every mote of qi he could find along his way.

With his current speed, he imagined himself harvesting wheat. In this case the wheat stalks would be the particles of qi floating in the wild. While his cultivation would be the scythe used to chop down the stalks at the base.

The faster and more precise his movements, the greater the yield he would gain from every strike.

As it was, his strikes were perfect, and his movements were as crisp as possible. The only problem, Lykan knew he was using a smaller blade. Or at least a blade that was not able to harvest the fields he had been assigned to tend to. As such he needed a better blade, or in this case, a better cultivation method. One that could go out further and harvest more qi.

Even with his own personal dissatisfaction with his current cultivation methods, his pupils could not help but be left in awe of his abilities. Pentra especially was impressed, as she knew what a true cultivator was capable of. At least she thought she knew what true cultivators were capable of.

Those that were assigned to manage her planet were nowhere near as thorough in their cultivation. Many went for wider swaths that left minor patches of qi still floating around. Like a well-worn broom, they would sweep up the qi, while leaving streaks in noticeable patterns.

In comparison, Lykan was a wet rag that somehow managed to gather all forms of dirt and debris along the way. Of course, this complete cultivation of qi was only possible because there were no aspects of Fire mixed in with the qi he was absorbing. As they moved Lykan only followed a direct path that led through forests and fields that showed no signs of fire.

Lykan knew this was not the way to learn to cultivate fire, or even a way to improve his understanding of Fire, but he still felt there was more he could gain from his current tri-element cultivation method.

While this method was one, he was holding off on cementing, he was still working out how he could incorporate the three known elements into his cultivation path.

Still, he was close, so close that if he was granted more time, he would be able to solve this puzzle easily.

Though Lykan knew this was not to be the case.

If he had more time, he would have found something else to occupy his time. Just as he had with the rebuilding of Sidhertha, he would have found something to do. A new cause to help, people to help.

In a way, that is what he wished for. When this was over, he wanted to have a simple life. He remembered the life that Emora and her husband Davison had. A simple life farming fields and working in harmony with the land.

Thinking on it, that was something he would want to try. At least he would want to do so now that he had Brenna by his side.

Unfortunately, he also knew he had a destiny. Whether this was a forced destiny, or one he grew into didn’t matter. In the end, he realized he was one of the few people alive who could combat the impending calamity that was set to befall the planet within the next month.

He also knew that even if others truly knew what was going to come, that no one would do what needed to be done.

Truthfully Lykan himself didn’t know what he needed to do, in order to avert this impending calamity. That said, he hoped that he could find something in the ruins of his old childhood home. Now that he knew his father was something much greater than a human, or at least greater than a person claiming to just be his father. Lykan couldn’t help but wonder if he had missed something.

Surely his father would have left something.

While their secret cache was empty, that didn’t mean that there weren’t other hidden alcoves that Lykan was unaware of. Alcoves that could contain texts that would help him even now.

As they approached, Lykan began to slow down his speed.

While he could stop his own momentum on a whim, he knew that such changes in speeds were not ideal for Brenna. While she would never complain, she did often stumble about for a time when he made immediate stops. As such he began slowing down when they were more than five kilometers away.

“Is that it?” Brenna asked, pointing over his shoulder at a darkened patch of woods. Even now, there was still a dark sheen to the place that clung to the area. A sign that even after years, the earth still remembered the tragedy that happened here.

Lykan nodded.

“Are you sure your father left you something?” Brenna asked.

Lykan paused, as he thought up an answer to the question. It was a good question, one that Lykan himself had been wondering.

Finally, after a moment’s deliberation, he answered. “I hope so. At the very least I would like to know more about why I was chosen. Was I just raised to be molded a certain way? Or was there some greater design that I missed when I was younger. A design that I can only see now that I have had time to reflect on what happened in the past.”

When they landed it was dark.

A quick look around showed that while Nayali had been in the area, she hadn’t been there within the last few months.

Looking at the signs, it was clear that after she was summoned, like everyone else, to investigate the old elven ruins, she never returned.

In a way, this was good, as it meant one less distraction for Lykan. On the other, it was sad, as he wondered if he could now have closure with Nayali.

Seeing the empty site and realizing it would still be a while before Pentra caught up to them. If she even decided to follow the cultivation trail that Lykan left, Brenna asked the question that was on both their minds. “What should we do now?”

Lykan pondered the question for a moment, then answered.

“For now, we will set up camp and wait for Pentra to come.”

“What if she doesn’t come?” The implication of Brenna’s question was deep. This was a Titan, a monster who was sent here with the sole purpose of conquering the planet. Could they really let such a monster loose upon the world.

Lykan for his part, understood the question, but then considered it to be an unnecessary complication.

“Then she doesn’t come. What is one Titan, in the face of the true terrors of the universe that await us.” Lykan said, pointing up to the burning flare in the sky.

With that, Brenna could only nod in agreement. “So, what do we do now?”

“Now we set up a fire.” Lykan said, as he decided to use this time to further his understandings of the true aspects of Fire.