Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends - Chapter 386: Zach

Chapter 386: Zach

Sentence

The trip to the Sect border took a few days, most of which they spent discussing skills. It was very interesting to Zach to hear Ryun and Tali speak on the topic. Both had very different, yet somehow quite the same ideology. It boiled down to seeking skill enlightenment in difficult situations, reaching for what they needed at the time it was required. There was some manner of planning involved, but ultimately, surviving the moment was more important than following the plan.

It gave Zach more points of understanding them and the Sects as a whole. To them, personal power was all that mattered. The entire culture was built around venerating those who stood at the top. It made him understand a bit of how they had survived. They didn’t have as many people who were powerful, High Rankers, as those in other factions, the Classers. But tier for tier, the people in the sects were better, because they had entire sects pour resources into them, while the Classers relied on people being part of the economy, of growing the faction along with themselves.

“I think that I understand better now,” Zach commented. They were sitting as they often did on the deck of the ship, talking about skills. “Your body is shaped based on the meaning of your soul,” Zach gestured at Ryun. “And what Valthua teaches is that all Essence has meaning. I have been trying to discover a way to limit the susceptibility of skill anchors getting corrupted, and this might be just that.”

Zach glanced above, where Naha sat on the railing of the ship. She had far more experience with such a thing than most.

“In what way?” Anatalien asked.

“A skill anchor is a piece of yourself, a trait or a belief, locked into place as a pillar to hold the power of the skill. But what is it really? What are such beliefs and traits?”

“They are pieces of who we are,” Anatalien answered.

Zach nodded, his mind racing. “Yes, and,” he glanced at Ryun. “We are souls, are we not? In the end, we are Essence. If all Essence has meaning, and from Ryun’s example, we do know that his soul has meaning. Then those traits and beliefs should be parts of our soul’s meaning.”

“Oh,” Anatalien said. “I think that I understand. You think that skill anchors being corrupted and twisted happens because the meaning of our Soul that was locked was not properly defined.”

Zach smiled. “Yes, if you lock a meaning that is not defined precisely enough, you leave room for it to change. Our words, our feelings and traits are not an exact equation, they are fluid, they can have different meaning. An anchor that reads as: I want to protect people, doesn’t properly define the manner in which we want to accomplish this. It could very well turn to protecting by killing any threats. And even if you say something like I want to protect people by keeping them safe it has the same issues. I’ve read some of the Warden texts, and they did in fact write down the parts of themselves that they wished to lock in. Some of them at least. There are examples of entire pages filled with what were basically conditions, which they would recite in their head as they evolved skills in order to get the right part locked in. But again, those are just words.”

“How would you even lock something in beyond words or feelings?” Ryun asked.

Zach titled his head. “It would have to do with the Soul, perhaps a better awareness of it would help, I would need to think about it. But I believe that for the anchor to be as solid as it possibly could, it has to have a precise meaning.”

Everyone nodded, seemingly agreeing with him. Zach made a mental note to increase the time he devoted to studying the Soul Aspect, there were more secrets there than he thought.

They continued discussing for a few more hours, until finally they reached their destination and put it on hold. The airship landed in a clearing next to a small camp, three people were waiting for them. Two green skinned humans and a demasi.

“Sect Head,” they bowed to Ryun as they approached. “Apologies for interrupting you with this matter. When we sent the message for help, we did not think that it would come back to you.”

“We lost Heavenly Masters,” Anatalien said. “That means that it is an important matter. It is better that we err on the side of caution, instead of sending another to die. Besides, we were available.”

The man bowed his head, almost in acquiescence, then started his report. “We’ve lost two scouting groups in the last two months, each group consisted of six scouts, none below combined tier of five, and each lead by a Heavenly Master. Both groups were found dead in the forests beyond that ridge, in the next territory over,” the man pointed behind him where black mountain ridge stretched in the distance. “Both scenes were those of carnage, blood and body parts scattered about, impossible to identify everyone. Currently, our people agree that something very powerful had to have attacked them, our best guess is that a monster calls that territory home. We’ve attempted to hunt it down, but we lost trail near the base of the ridge.”

“Lead us there,” Ryun said, then motioned for them to get on the airship.

Zach studied the three sect scouts, finding their interactions with their leaders interesting. There was a sense of the bond between them, an Essence coming into form. The same thing that he had experienced before, though here it was still young, though not necessarily weaker. These people believed in their leaders, perhaps almost fanatically.

Zach had seen the same with the Wardens, directed at him. It was part of the reason why he was hesitating in accepting what Bera offered. He didn’t want that fanaticism, the blind faith and reliance on him.

They took the airship beyond the ridge, entered the next territory and then landed near one of the scenes. The scouts lead them to a small clearing covered in dried up blood, trees were carved out by large claws as was the ground, broken rock was in a corner, pieces of it shattered all around and a large blood stained crater marred the center of it. It was a horrific scene, and clearly a fierce and bloody battle had happened there.

“We’ve recovered the bodies, what we could find at least,” the scout said.

Ryun walked into the middle, then stood there for a while, not saying anything or moving. Then after a while he turned to the scout and pointed in a direction.

“I assume you followed the trail that way?”

“Yes, Sect Head,” the scout said.

They gathered and headed in the direction he had pointed. The scout talked as they walked, explaining how they first followed tracks and blood, and how after they lost the trail in the forest they asked for help.

“We brought in a hunter with tracking powers,” he said as they reached the base of a small mountain with a ledge above it about an hour of walking later. “All leads stopped here.”

Ryun was standing in below the ledge, his head swiveling as he was looking around. Zach’s skill showed him the flaws in the way that the light and sound bent around them. He walked over to Ryun and whispered.

“Ryun, up on the ledge there is—”

“—I know,” he interrupted.

Zach nodded, he had noticed too then.

Then, before Zach could react Ryun sprang into motion, the ground cracked beneath him and the air splintered with his passage. He smashed into the wall on the ledge above, a pulse of Qi around him dispelled the illusionary wall, and then Zach heard the sounds of fighting.

He jumped after him, letting the wind carry him up quickly. He landed in what looked to be a small camp in a large cave on the side of the mountain. There were a dozen people there, armed and fighting, or trying to. Three were dead, one had its limbs missing, and two were on the ground unmoving.

Zach sprang into motion, moving faster and letting his power out. In moments, he used the flat of his blade to disable most of the others by breaking limbs and kicking weapons away. With a slash of his skill, he sent a wave that sealed their powers. He turned and saw Ryun about to kill another and blinked, catching his hand as he was about to bring it down on a kneeling human.

“Stop,” Zach said.

Ryun tilted his head. “Why?”

“You don’t know if these people are the ones responsible, you don’t know what happened, you killed three without even checking.”

“I do know,” Ryun said and pulled his hand away. “Knowing what they have to say will not change what will happen to them.”

“Mercy,” the one on the ground said. A few of the others that had been stunned, were on their knees as well.

“I don’t do mercy,” Ryun said and raised his hand again.

Zach stepped in front of the man. “Ryun, you caught them, they should be punished if they were responsible, yes, but you need to at least hear them out.”

Ryun’s empty black eyes tinged with silver and violet looked at him for a few moments, and then he moved. As the rest of their group climbed he gave orders and quickly the survivors were all bound and arranged against a wall on their knees.

“Who are you, why are you here, and why did you kill my people?” Ryun asked.

The one that seemed to be the leaders spoke. “We are a scouting party of the Great House Ishtal, we were only acting in the defense of ourselves.”

Naha whispered from next to Zach. “That one there is a shapeshifter,” she gestured at one of the ones on his knees. That was how they faked it being a monster attack.

“Defense you say,” Ryun said. “One time, I could believe it, foolish things do happen. Two scouting groups? No. Why are you here?”

“We were sent to prepare the way for the House, we intend to claim this territory.”

“You are from the Empire, or were,” Anatalien said.

“House Ishtal was one of the ruling houses, yes,” the man said. “Please, good Lord, we did not know who your people were, the fights were an unfortunate mistake, but we’ve been running from monsters for so long, fighting raiders or worse. We had no choice.”

“Well,” Ryun started. “That is enough, I think. You die.”

Immediately, they started to beg and plead, Zach felt Ryun’s Qi flaring and stepped in front of him again.

“Ryun,” he said. “They had done something terrible, but everyone deserves a second chance. Take them as prisoners, put them to work, life should not be so easily extinguished.”

Ryun titled his head. “This is not a matter that concerns you, and I do not give second chances. Perhaps if they had dropped their illusion and dropped on their knees, instead of readying for a fight behind the veil where they thought themselves safe. Or perhaps if they haven’t lied to me twice.”

Zach blinked. “Lied twice?”

Ryun nodded. “Once when they said that they were defending themselves, I do not believe that. These are not strong enough to kill my people unless from an ambush. And the second time when they said that they didn’t know who my people were.”

“We didn’t Lord! We swear!”

Ryun looked down at him, then whispered. “I can see through walls of stone.”

Zach frowned, but the man shut up, blood draining from his face.

Ryun glanced at Zach, then at a boulder in the corner of the room. “There, beneath that stone is a room. Two of my people are chained down there, dead now for I think several weeks, clearly tortured. They knew who they had attacked after the first scouting group, then they took another prisoner from the second.”

Zach looked at the kneeling prisoners, and then closed his eyes. A moment later he moved out of the way. Ryun’s Qi flared and their cries ended in a moment, disappearing along with their bodies and any sign that they had ever even been there in the first place.