Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God (7 page)

The dozen players around Nero Black, other members of Thug Horde, started to back off. Thug Horde veterans told their noobs all kind of horror stories about Talon, almost like middle school students would tell ghost stories on a school trip.

“Looks like your baby Thuggies don't want anything to do with me. You want to try me by yourself?”

Nero Black looked wildly around for a moment, seeing no one willing to back him up. “I'm telling Menton about this. You wait there, and don't you dare go outside.”

After Nero Black ran away, the rest of the Thugs practically fell over one another to get away from Talon and the open gate. No one else near the gated showed any signs of interfering with Talon's passage.

The valves of the gate were almost three feet thick, and there was a rough hewn passage, almost thirty feet wide, beyond them. Once he cleared the tunnel and moved to the side of the gate, Talon saw a night sky filled with storm clouds.

Watching Talon's broad back disappear into the night, the Nameless smiled and turned his attention to other interesting activities in the Chamber of Transition.

I thought I was weak and vulnerable, when I was dumped into Talon's body without having any control over Shadow Fist. I had no clue what weak really meant. I was too Jaded from playing
Taereun: Battleground of the Damned
. Now, I truly am weak. I am vulnerable. I have to rebuild my merely human body, and find my own strength, my real strength.

If I do not turn myself into a combatant capable of surviving in the Battleground of the Damned, there is no way I can return, no way I can learn the truth.

John sticks a pin in the weight stack when my legs are at full extension. With just the slightest relaxation of the tension in my thighs, all the strain disappears.

“Enough, Mark. If you keep this up, you are going to injure yourself. You might permanently damage your muscles or joints. With your body's rejection of most medical treatments, an injury could become a permanent disability.”

John flinches involuntarily, when I turn my stare on him. My time as Talon has apparently left me with a stare that makes people more uncomfortable than my scarred face.

“I know what I'm doing. I know better than you what I'm doing. I've spent my entire life breaking down and rebuilding my body to enable it to handle the stresses of a real martial art, a martial meant for fighting and killing, not for sport. As weak as I am, this is not even close to the limits of what my body can take.”

There is a shadow of fear in John's eyes. “Once you're out of the hospital, you can do what you want, but while you are here, I am your physical therapist. I can't let you push yourself until you break. I don't want to see you disabled or crippled, and I don't want to lose my job. Please, stay within the limits I set. If you are obviously capable of more, I'll increase the pace of your training regimen, and you can get released earlier. Okay?”

John gives the impression that he is completely sincere. He will do everything he can, while remaining within the bound of what he considers safe, to see my rehabilitation completed. I do not know why I get this feeling from him, but I think that it is accurate.

“Okay. As long as you keep your word, I'll stay within the boundaries you set.”

“Thank you. For today you have done enough. Resting is part of training, correct?”

His relief and enthusiasm almost make me smile, but not quite. I almost never smile, at least not since the accident.

I twist my body around, so I am sitting sideways on the leg extension machine. John grins, as he puts his hand under my elbow to help me stand.

It is only 4am, but I am already awake. Since returning to my body, I am only sleeping about four hours a night, but I do not feel tired in the least. I am using the early hours of the morning to practice manipulating the ki within my body.

My muscles are so weak, that my ki could tear them apart. Hell, my whole body is so weak, that my ki could destroy it. The process of training the body's ability to handle ki could take a lifetime and still be incomplete. I do not have a lifetime. I have to be ready to make my move as soon as possible, before the government or that caster can cause any problems for me.

Even though my muscles are not strong, it does not mean they are flexible. Sitting in the lotus position, the same position I used to meditate as Talon, is extremely difficult, extremely painful. Ignoring the discomfort, I focus my mind inside myself, searching for my soul itself, seeking the flow of ki that exists faintly within all souls, though in mine it has become a raging torrent. Taking control over my ki, I force the smallest fraction to begin circulating throughout my body. Even with using so little, the pain is worse than being burned alive. I keep my jaws clamped tightly closed, so as not to scream.

My ki's strength is so out of proportion to my body's strength, it tears my body apart. Bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles, veins, arteries, organs, nerves; they are all torn apart and restored by my ki. Not once, not twice, but a dozen times, a hundred times, a thousand times. Each time a part of my body is destroyed and rebuilt by my ki, it gets a little stronger, but I cannot tell how long it will take for my body to be able to withstand the full force of my ki.

Another presence in my room draws my attention back to reality, and I draw that tiny trickle of ki back into my soul. The nurse is staring at me, while I sit in the lotus position, with a lock of disgust on her face. She was one of the ones who followed Dr. Turner into my room the night I first woke.

“Here's your food, freak. Not that you deserve any, after being rude to Dr. Turner.” She drops the tray onto the tray table next to my bed and stalks out of the room.

The tray has oatmeal that appears to have been scraped off the bottom of the pot, an overripe banana, and a container of warm orange juice. It is not what I would have chosen for my breakfast, but the nurses never ask what I want for my meals.

I eat the unappetizing food, while thinking about what I learned of ki, mana, and psi, while in the Lands of Despair. Boran was the one who taught me, after I snuck into Mountain View, the city nearest the Chamber of Transition. It was probably a stupid and dangerous thing to do since Thug Horde had already attacked the city and been beaten back, but I was intent on seeking information.

Boran had taken Talon down a passage that was hidden, when Talon first in the cave with the statues. There was a network of caves, and chambers of worked stone deeper underground. Boran did not use most of the complex and had sealed it behind Power warded doors. The small area that he did use had a martial training hall, a few storage rooms, and a huge library. He was using training hall while teaching Talon about the Od.

Boran watched Talon meditating for a time. He could see the Od flowing around and through Talon's body, while Talon could not grasp it. Boran summoned a ball of midnight dark Power shot rough with streaks of a green tinged silver, the Dark Od. His eyes narrowed, as he watched Talon turn his face toward the ball.

“Open your eyes, boy.”

Talon's eyes opened, staring at the ball of midnight black Od. As Talon moved his hand closer to it,Boran could see the reaction in Talon's body and soul.

“Touch the Od. It will not harm you. It is not focused into an attack, and your body is used to the Od. You have to feel it with you soul more than your body. The Od is Power of the soul not of the body.” Boran's gravelly voice was barely more than a whisper.

Talon's finger touched the Dark Od, and Boran made it flow up and around Talon's arm. When Talon did not flinch in the slightest, Boran grimly smiled.
He is young, but there is not much fear in him. His simmering hate and anger will give him strength. Those qualities appeal to Death Already, his soul is attuned to the Od, but he lacks the training in using it. It is probably a side of effect of how The Nameless created the player and character relationship in his twisted game. Fragments of the mind and soul of the Half-Dvergar still remain, and they have an odd scarring on them.

If the chance ever presents itself, I think I will erase the existence of this Nameless God.

“I'm going to slowly change the Dark Od to Light Od. Feel and learn the difference, absorb it into your soul.”

The Od changed, first to grey, then it took on a greenish tinge and brightened into a brilliant greenish-argent light, with midnight streaks.

As the midnight black Power lightened towards silver, Boran watched Talon's reaction. The incomprehension was obvious in the fluctuations of Talon's mind and soul, but there were slight changes in his body, that indicated it was used to the touch of the Od. When the Od finally reached its brilliant greenish-argent, Talon's mind and soul became calm.

Boran smiled at Talon's success. “Good. That is the beginning. Once you can feel Od, you can learn to use Od. Od exists and flows in everything, even those who cannot feel Od have it in them, and even inanimate matter has Od in it. I will keep changing the Od, experience it and know it.”

“You use Od, but you do not know Shadow Fist. What exactly is Od?”

Boran frowned for moment. “Od exists between Life and Death, made of both and neither. It is like an Elemental Power but stronger, and you might call it the Power behind all existence. That is not quite right, but not entirely wrong. You need to be careful with it, even though your body is accustomed to channeling Od, too much of it can still destroy your body and perhaps your soul. You would be best served by using ki instead of Od, in most circumstances.”

“The concept of ki exists in my world, but I never met anyone who could really use it. Talon didn't use it either, so I cannot learn from his memories.”

Boran frowned. “I am not a ki master, I have never honed the power myself, but I know enough of its nature to teach you. Your soul is clearly well disposed to ki, even better disposed to ki than to Od. Listen well and I will tell you the truth of the Trinity, most users of mana, psi or ki never understand the truth of the three and only use their abilities at half what they could be.

“Most who know of the trinity think it applies only to the powers, but in truth it applies to the non-Elemental multiverse as a whole. All things have patterns, even though most cannot perceive them. A pattern has three parts the physical, the mental,  and the soul. Even among those who see patterns clearly, few understand the triune nature of patterns.

“In some patterns, one or two of the three parts are so undeveloped that they seem to almost be non-existent, but this is a false perception. In reality, all existence has the potential of have a body, an intellect and a soul. This is the core of the Trinity. The powers that most call the Trinity are just an outgrowth of the real Trinity, of reality.

“Mana, it is of the physical world, generated in the body. It is channeled and controlled by the mind. Mana is the most vulnerable to ki and strongest against psi.

“Psi, it is of the mental world, the astral, generated in the mind. It is channeled and controlled by the soul. Psi is most vulnerable to mana and strongest against ki.

“Ki, is of the spirit world, closest to the Od but not of it, generated in the soul. It is channeled and controlled by the body. Ki is most vulnerable to psi and strongest against mana.

“Even though a wielder generally only controls one aspect of the trinity, they are still able to manipulate the other two, with the correct application of the one they control. I am a mana user, with some undeveloped affinity for ki and virtually no ability to use psi, but I am able to manipulate both ki and psi through my spell patterns. I can teach you how to develop your ki and train your body for channeling it. Also, I can teach you the most efficient ways to manipulate mana and psi using ki. Because your body is already conditioned to channel so much Od, you will not need to strengthen it, only learn how to sense ki and the techniques to manipulate it.”

Talon sat quietly, as he listened to Boran, trying to memorize every word as though his life depended on it.

If not for the First Amendment, superstitions like religion would have already been outlawed in the United States. In school, I was taught that religion was a mental disease, and the teachings of the religious right was fiction and myth, that included the concept of souls.
Taereun: Battleground of the Damned
was a just a game, a fiction, so accepting that under the game rules, I had something fictitious like a soul was simple enough.

Until being imprisoned in the Labyrinth of Yggr, I had believed that souls were just religious mythology. I had always believed that intelligence was the result of an electrochemical reaction within the brain. Science had fully explained human consciousness in the first half of the 21
st
century, but even in Talon's body, I was still myself. That should not have been possible, if both our consciousnesses were the results of electrochemical reactions within our bodies. I was beginning to think there must be something beyond a simple electrochemical reaction that made people who they were.

My meeting with Boran made me more certain that science was wrong. Seeing and feeling the Od in the way he used it made me doubt my own logic. I had never touched Od before, and yet, it was as familiar to me as my own scarred face. In the game, I do not know what it was like for other players using other Powers, but there was never any feeling of reality to the power behind Shadow Fist. Yet, that Power I felt Boran summon was as natural as breathing to me. Od is Life, and Od is Death. I still do not understand how I knew, but it felt like Od was a part of the natural cycle of life.

Because of Boran's training and Talon's incredible body, I became a master of ki in an extraordinarily short period of time, but I almost never used it. Talon's body had been built to use Od over decades, so I continued to use it. I needed Power, and was willing take the risk of burning out my body. Using Od with this inferior husk of a body would be instant suicide, but  how long will it take me to prepare it to be a suitable vessel for ki?

With a grim laugh, I return to the lotus position. The pain of circulating ki through my body is worse than the pain of being burned alive, but I can already feel the difference. John will be forced to reevaluate my rehabilitation schedule, after our next session. The sooner I am finished with the formalities of the hospital's requirements, the sooner I will be free to do as I need.

In the decades since medical care and insurance became requirements for not being jailed, the hospitals have acquired a ridiculous level of power over peoples lives. After the accident and the revelation of how my body rejects most medical treatments, I was forced to live in a hospital for months, and even after I was released, I was still forced to show for weekly test and evaluations. If I had not complied, I would have been locked in a hospitals security ward, so they could perform whatever tests they wished.

I am not sure how much time has passed, while I meditated, but I feel a person with an extremely strong energy field nearing my room. The person stops outside my room, and stays there for a few minutes.

Before living in Talon's body for eleven years, I would have been unable to sense this. The person who is coming has the soul of a ki practitioner, but his control is nonexistent. The area is filled with a forceful but uncontrolled aura, an aura resulting from strong but wild ki. Even without being able to detect the aura, most people would be cowed simply from being in the presence of its wielder.

The person moves forward again, until he is standing in the open door to my room. Dressed in a tailored, pin-striped, silk suit, he is a Japanese man in his late fifties. He looks remarkable like a Japanese actor from the first half of the century, Ken Watanabe. His styled black hair is just starting to go grey at the temples, and his beard is salt and pepper. Despite the aura of power, his eyes have a slightly uncertain look to them, his gaze not quite meeting my own. In my entire life, I have never seen this man, Urehara Ryouske, show anything but confidence and resolution.

“Urehara-sensei.” I bow slightly, the most that my still inflexible muscles will allow.

“Mark.” He pauses for a moment, after saying my name. “Welcome back. I am pleased to see that you at least have survived. I wish that you were not the only survivor, but I am happy that you did survive.” His voice is firm, but I can sense many things not said. Maybe, they are things that he cannot say, at least not yet.

“I would say it's good to be back, but I don't really feel like I'm really back. It's only been a couple of days, I haven't had time to adjust yet.” This is not what I want say, but I cannot let the social cameras in my room record what I really need to say.

“Mei, she really . . .” I leave the sentence hanging. I do not want to hurt him, but I need to know, if Mei really has no body to return to.

“Her shrine is with my
wife
's. I scattered her ashes in the mountains. She always loved the mountains, when she was a child.”

“I'm sorry, Sensei.”

“It is not you fault, Mark. No matter where I look, no matter what resources I throw at the mystery, I cannot find the reason why she died. My daughter was killed by someone, deliberately or through incompetence, and I want to know who and why.”

“Two FBI agents were here within hours of my regaining consciousness to question me. Does the government know nothing about what happened?” I hope that Urehara-sensei will have learned something from his government contacts. His zaibatsu is deeply in bed with both the Japanese and American governments.

“If either America or Japan knows anything, they are keeping the information so deeply sequestered that I cannot learn anything. Were the two agents both named Jones?”

“A black one and a white one.”

Urehara-sensei frowns. “I will see to it that they leave you alone. When you are able to leave this place, come to the dojo. I am no longer running the corporation. Nobuhiko has taken my place on the board and as CEO.”

I bow to him again. “I will come as soon as I'm released.”

Urehara-sensei leaves my room, and I return to meditating. There will be time enough to pursue matters, once I am free of the hospital.