White Soul

by G L Rathweg

  A few minutes later, it was a really high sand dune, I came to a rolling sand filled stop. Thanks to the flat sandy ground at the bottom. I groaned or at least tried to but the mouthful of purple sand in my facial orifice foiled my attempt. So it was that instead of groan, a choking sand infused cough came out instead.

  I rolled over onto my hands and knees and hacked and coughed out mouthfuls of moist sand. Out of breath but also out of sand, I breathed heavily until I was back to normal. I was about to look around when a voice interrupted me.

  “What a sight, eh Sin! Ha, Ha, look at the little maggot already on his knees.” A loud and thunderous yet sibilant voice called, mockingly.

  I glanced over and saw the Kaiju snake from before with Sin Seonbi on his head. The pair were towering over me from the middle of a large white lake. I was fairly sure I hadn’t reached the point I had sensed and the shock from seeing them combined with that knowledge left me at a loss for words.

  “Sin look he’s dumb as well as ugly! Ha!” The Kaiju roared, laughing hysterically at his own joke.

  “What are you doing here boy?”

  “I’m here looking for you Master.” I replied, adding the Master hoping he’d be the kind of guy who likes to be flattered.

  “Pffft… Looks like he knows about your vanity Sin.” The Kaiju roared.

  Sin Seonbi glowered down at his Kaiju snake before sneering and looking back to me. I used the byplay to get up and attempt to brush off some of the sand that covered me from tip to toe. It felt like it was still in every orifice.

  “I did not agree to train you boy. If you want to learn from me, you must do so like every other disciple I’ve ever had. Just because Ungnyeo and Dangun say jump doesn’t mean I say how high.” Sin Seonbi said, with a sneer.

  I blinked a few times as I stared back at the man thinking about how to respond. Then, like a lightbulb going off in my brain I knew. I dropped to my knees and prostrated myself.

  “Of course, not the great Sin Seonbi. I knew when I first met you that you were not the type of Master to take on just anyone as a disciple. I also knew that neither Dangun nor Mother could command you. That is why I have come and prostrated myself to beg for your instruction. There is none but you the greatest of Martial Realm Cultivators that I could wish for as my Master. Please O’ great Sin Seonbi teach me so that I may know even a one hundredth of your greatness in Cultivation.” I said, respect and hope equally in my voice.

  I kept myself prostrated and didn’t even raise my head as I held my breath and waited for his answer. Time ticked by and it seemed like minutes. I decided to count silently to myself while I waited. It was exactly three minutes.

  “We shall see.” Sin Seonbi said, giving me a curious look and a raised eyebrow before motioning to his Kaiju.

  “You old softie. I knew you’d take him.” The Kaiju mocked, turning and slithering away through the water.

  “Oh, do stop your womanlike chittering Eopsin. Just take us home.” Sin Seonbi snapped.

  “Big man yelling at a lady. What, am I getting under your thin pale skin?” The Kaiju, I now knew was called Eopsin, mocked.

  Since neither looked back and there was no invitation to join Sin Seonbi on Eopsin’s head I just shrugged and took off after them, hoping the other life forms in the water that were giving Eopsin a wide berth would leave me be as well.

  The water was hot like the desert itself and offered no relief from the heat, but it did help dislodge much of the sand so thank the heavens for small miracles. Or, always look on the bright side of life, if that’s more your thing.

  I swam after them for hours as the lake where I had met them was the tail end, excuse the pun, of an exceptionally long river. While the two of them ignored me almost completely they did not ignore each other. As a matter of fact, they bickered like an old married couple the entire way. It was hilarious and made the whole exhausting swim more bearable. Although, it did take all of my willpower to not laugh at them. I failed a few times and used the water to hide my laughs. And ended up choking on the hot liquid.

  FYI, it did not taste good. It was like rotten salt water mixed with peroxide. My chocking coughs were quickly followed by gagging but neither Sin Seonbi nor Eopsin gave me a second look. So, I sucked it up metaphorically, got ahold of my choking coughing gag, and continued swimming after them.

  Hours later I crawled up the sandy shore on my hands and knees completely exhausted and collapsed to my belly in a wheezing heap on the beach. The journey had been trying to say the least. Even with Eopsin leading the way there were many, many, many creepy crawly things that touched my submerged form. On top of that was the wake created by the Kaiju snake.

  If you have ever seen a wakeboarder behind a speed boat or a jet ski leaping the wake of a cabin cruiser, then you know what I’m talking about. But those didn’t really do the massive snake’s wake justice. It was more like a cruise boat’s wake and I had to fight the entire way to stay in it and not get washed away. I hadn’t even had a chance to use any of my Celestial Green Tea or my snacks. Thankfully, the fanny pack was waterproof so they were still good to use.

  After I caught my breath I looked up and around to get my bearings. Then my eyes widened.

  “Well damn…” I whispered.

  Before me was some type of desert paradise. A complete one-eighty from Kumwa’s home and way more lavish and elegant than Ja Cheongbi’s. If anything, I’d say Sin Seonbi had excellent taste, way more than I or anyone I knew had. From my position on the beach I realized not only the home, but the beach was manicured and part of the whole thing.

  I used to love the Drizzt Do’ Urden books and they were all based in the Dungeon and Dragons universe. A certain arc takes place in the Jewel of the Desert, Calimshan. This place looked like a palace out of what I’d always imagined Calimshan would have looked like in real life.

  Sin Seonbi’s home started here at the beach where the sand was manicured with rakes by snake people. I say people and not men or women because they were all quite androgynous and there was no visible means of telling gender. They wore only loin cloths that covered their waists, but they were sheer and made of some light colored cloth leaving nothing to the imagination. It’s just that there was nothing there to imagine, real or not. They were everywhere working and cleaning the giant palace.

  I walked up the beach and onto the palace proper. It was like stepping onto the grounds of the Taj Mahal. A huge sweeping avenue paved with what looked like giant sand colored snake scales led to the magnificent edifice itself. The avenue was lined with huge pools of some kind of liquid rimmed with different colored snake scales, giving it a rainbow effect that was almost hypnotic. More snake people were there sweeping the liquid with big netted poles. In the pools were a multitude of different kinds of multicolored carp.

  I went by them and made it to the giant archway opening of the palace. The palace was all glittering sand colored domes, with graceful arches that belonged in a fairy tale. I guess it kind of was, being in the Spirit Realm and all. The fact that it’s tenants were a multi thousand year old Martial Artist Cultivator and the other was a Kaiju snake monster just added to the whole thing.

  I tried to keep the wonder and awe from my face, but I couldn’t help it as I was so impressed with all the things around me. San Seonbi’s home was utterly amazing. The first room after the giant arched entranceway was a huge gallery that stretched over a hundred feet in all directions with carved fluted columns for support. The ceiling was over two hundred feet high and was topped with a perfectly clear glass dome that stretched for over a hundred feet.

  I stopped gawking at everything when I saw Eopsin curled up in the center of the room, fast asleep with an agitated Sin Seonbi standing by her. The man was so agitated he was tapping his foot on the floor in a steady rhythm and scowling in my direction.

  “Please, take your time look around. Would you like a tour? It’s not like I have things to do with my time boy.” San Seonbi said, with a frown and a glare. />
  I hurried over to him putting on a sheepish expression and apologizing profusely with lots of Master’s thrown in for good measure.

  “Yes, well don’t dilly dally and follow me.” He replied, somewhat mollified as he spun on his heels and began marching down the scaled gallery, his heeled boots clicking in time as he walked.

  My steps were much quieter as even in the Spirit Realm I was wearing my Converses and Adidas track suit. They had translated over when Dangun brought me here. Since I was waterlogged from head to toe, I did make squishing sounds as I followed in San Seonbi’s wake. This irritated him as well and he made sure I knew it. More snake people appeared cleaning up after me almost as if I’d never been there at all.

  We walked for a few minutes. The palace was huge and eventually made our way down a grand winding staircase. It went down hundreds upon hundreds of steps into the depths of earth. The further we progressed down the stairs, the hotter and hotter it became until it was so hot, I was sweating profusely and completely soaked again. It was getting to the point that even breathing was getting difficult.

  The light from the sun had given way to torchlight that filled the blackness around us with orange yellow illumination. It threw shadows amid the steam that started wafting up as we proceeded ever downward ever hotter ever deeper. Another few minutes went by till we reached the bottom and the grand staircase terminated at a rough dimly lit rocky cavern.

  Torches lined the rough rock walls giving the whole cavern a spooky feel. The hot steamy air that reduced my vision to about five feet added to the effect. Sin Seonbi kept walking though without giving me a backward glance. I kept going with him making sure I stayed close enough to him so I didn’t lose him in the steam.

  The air started to clear although the heat remained, and we came to an even larger cavern. The cavern was circular with a huge dome on top making the whole room look like a giant egg. In the center of the room was a large oval boulder that looked to be made of some type of bone white scales. It glistened and shined with wetness from the heated and steamy air, but the scales seemed to radiate heat themselves that caused the moisture to evaporate at the same time. This created an interesting layer of glowing energy that covered the boulder.

  Sin Seonbi stopped a half dozen feet from the rock and I stopped next to him but a foot behind and to the right, staring at the object in curiosity.

  “This is Eopsin’s egg. It will hatch sometime in the next one to two hundred years. Right now, it is forming so it is consuming all the Ki in the area around it. That is the reason for the immense heat and steam. Open your senses up and tell me what you see.” Sin Seonbi commanded.

  I nodded then closed my eyes, extending my Ki sense out around me. I could immediately sense the lifeform inside the giant boulder. A glowing vortex of pure Ki energy came to my mind’s eye. The beautiful energy field almost sang to me on a visceral level. Then I recognized what it was that I was feeling. The KI was just like mine, Void Ki, with no Elemental Affinity. Intrinsically I knew that the energy flowing into it from it’s surroundings was an amalgamation of different Elements, when it went into the egg it became Void.

  Suddenly, the lifeform inside the egg noticed me and our Ki energies collided. Our two beings connected right then somehow in some spiritual awakening that I didn’t think was possible. For a moment, I lost my sense of self and couldn’t tell if I was me or the being in the egg and then just as fast it was over. I was back in my mind staring at the egg from the ground and sitting on my ass.

  “What… what… what happened?” I asked, looking around a little bewildered.

  Sin Seonbi didn’t say anything. The serpent Sannin just stared at me and squinted with a frown growing increasingly larger by the second.

  “Foolish boy, do you know what you have done? The unborn Kaiju has bonded with you. The pair of you are now connected irrevocably forever. That is why you are on your ass. The unborn took your Ki, you are lucky you didn’t die. Although, that still may be a possibility.” Sin Seonbi said, ominously.

  A quick glance at my Ki Bar confirmed my loss of Ki. It was then that I realized just how much Ki the unborn Kaiju took as my Ki slowly refilled.

  KI BAR – 1/300… 2/300… 3/300…

  “Oh fuck…” I whispered, staring at the egg with renewed awe, reverence, and not just a little bit of trepidation and fear.

  “Yes, very much so. Since you are alive, I will let you tell Eopsin what happened later on. I’m sure she will be delighted to know that you bonded with her child. Now, no more wasting time we are continuing your training.” Sin Seonbi said.

  “Continuing?” I asked.

  “Are you stupid as well boy? Do you not realize you have been under my tutelage the moment you entered my territory? The second your foot and that of the vile Kumwa and his toad touched my desert sand I knew. I have my spy’s everywhere. There is nothing that happens in my domain that I don’t know about. I have a vested interest in knowing what goes around me at all times.” Sin Seonbi said, with an exceptionally large amount of braggadocio in his tone.

  I blinked slowly as I thought back on the past day. From the second I was left alone I had been watched and tested? It made sense as I recalled the different events that had occurred starting with trying to find Sin Seonbi’s location. After that, it was Lightning Stepping through the desert and the snake birthing area. Then falling down the mountainous sand dune and swimming forever in that river with all the creepy crawlies touching me and almost drowning over and over again. As if sensing my thoughts, Sin Seonbi chimed in.

  “The river is also not only normal water. It is Spirit Water and the whole time you swam it was drawing from your Ki Soul and is why you’ve added your Second Star.” He explained.

  My eyes widened at his words and I immediately closed them and entered my Ki Soul. He was right, there was a second black star next to the first one. The pair swirled around one another in the center of my Ki Soul in a perfect continuous circle. Like two glowing onyx carps swimming a crystalline pond.

  I then checked my Ki Bar again and saw that it was at three hundred. I hadn’t noticed it earlier because of the baby Kaiju almost killing me and all.

  “How long are you going to dally in the dirt like an animal?” Sin Seonbi asked, his tone making it more like a curse than a question.

  Sufficient energy and stamina had returned to my body and Ki Soul. I brushed myself off and suppressed a groan. Wincing as I stood up, I nodded at Sin Seonbi that I was ready.

  “Good, at least you’re not weak as well as stupid. Are you familiar with the Hatha Yoga Pradipika?” He asked.

  I nodded in the negative and he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

  “Of course, you don’t. It is the most ancient form of Yoga and consists of fifteen different poses. Learn the forms, I will only show you one time. You must master them on your own. They are as follows…” Sin Seonbi instructed, his voice short and clipped brooking no nonsense as he began to show me the forms.

  “Svastikasana.” He began, sitting down with one ankle crossed over the other.

  “Gomkhasana.” He continued, changing to cow-facing pose.

  “Virasana.” He said, rising to hero’s pose.

  “Kurmasana.” He said, dropping into tortoise pose.

  “Kukkutasana.” He continued, placing his hands between his knees and thighs while sitting in the Svastikasana and lifting his whole body up.

  “Uttanakurmasana.” He said, flowing into a turtle pose on his back.

  “Dhanurasana.” He said, rising and dropping into a bow pose.

  “Matsyendrasana.” He continued, sitting down and doing a twist.

  “Paschimatanasana.” He said, coming up and doing a forward bend.

  “Mayurasana.” He said, dropping into a plank pose.

  “Shavasana.” He said, going to the ground on his back into corpse pose.

  “Siddhasana.” He continued, rising up to accomplished pose by pressing the heel of his foot against his perineum and gazing
at it between his eyebrows.

  “Padmasana.” He said, letting his foot down and clasping his hands together and bringing his chin to chest.

  “Simhasana.” He said, going to his knees and opening his mouth while focusing his gaze on the tip of his nose.

  “Bhadrasana.” He finished, pressing his ankles into his groin and clasping his hands around his feet.

  He held the position for another second then uncoiled his body and stood tall. I hadn’t blinked my eyes for an instant and they were super dry. I blinked them clear while I recalled every detail of every pose. With each blink a new pose appeared in my mind.

  “You will spend however long it takes to master those poses and you will do it here. I will not return till you have finished.” He instructed, then turned and began walking away.

  “How will you know I’m done?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry I will know. I would get started if I were you time is running down.” He replied, not bothering to turn around or stop walking.

  I listened to the sound of his footsteps echoing until they disappeared and then turned my attention to my surroundings, taking a deep breath to center myself. I looked around the cavern but nothing stood out new to me, so I turned my gaze to the egg in the center. As soon as I looked at it, I could feel it somehow looking at me or at least sensing me with its Ki.

  “Hello? Can you hear me?” I said, softly.

  The egg didn’t say anything of course, but I felt some type of acknowledgement. It was like its Ki was nodding in the affirmative. Well this changed things.

  TRACK 16 – ALL NIGHT – BIG BOI

  I don’t think Sin Seonbi knew that I had already learned Tai Chi from Ja Cheongbi and it had a lot of similar movements to the ones that I had just been shown. That made me pretty confident that I would master the forms of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika relatively easily.

  I was also confident I had enough time to finish this training as well as make it through the mountain trial. What I wanted to do now was figure out this current mysterious relationship I had formed with the being in the egg.