Eternal Soul (The Eternal Path Book 1)

by Ivan Kal

  But now, she was more. She had all of the power she had attained as a spirit artist, but augmented by the power given to her by the Arashan’s God. It was there always—she only needed to reach for it. While the God’s ki was a power that was not as potent as her own, it was pure, with no affinity, and was endless. She could use it constantly, push it through her core and convert it into her own affinity. Her capacity had increased tenfold in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken her before on her own world. Now, she could finally reach for greater heights. Finally, she would be able to catch up to Kai Zhao Vin.

  Ming Li grimaced as she thought of him. He had managed to escape the Arashan, and he was the reason why she was in this ugly place. She had fallen behind him, and arrived on this strange world. And there had been no sign of him. The Arashan and their patron had been very surprised indeed to see her arrive just behind them. After she had explained what had happened, the Arashan mage’s told her that Vin could’ve only fallen to this world, but that he could’ve also just as easily fallen on the other side of it—or even inside a mountain. She had wanted to get back to her own world immediately, but the Arashan insisted that that was impossible. It had taken them an enormous amount of power to open the breach for a short time, and they had done it twice recently—once to allow the Grand Marshal to Orb, and another to send their small group to this world. To attempt another breach, even if they managed to find a power source great, enough would be unwise, they had told her.

  With no way back to her own world, she had been forced to follow the group. They had arrived in the Grand Marshal’s lands, and they had quickly met with his own people. Afterward they had boarded a large sailing vessel and sailed to another land to fulfill the deal that the Arashan had made with the Grand Marshal, or at least the first step in it. She didn’t really care about all that, though—the only thing she cared for now was gaining more strength. And so Ming Li hoped that Vin was still alive, as she wanted nothing more than to find him and show him the power she had gained by accepting the Arashan God’s gift.

  This world was very different from her own The people, the nature, the weather, and even the sky were strange to her. And here, aura permeated everything around her. The spirit artists of her world would’ve thought even a fraction of it to be a treasure without measure. Access to aura to convert and cycle through one’s own core was worth everything, and here she had that which her clan on Orb had been denied. Here, everyone had it—and yet none of them used it for anything, aside from the mages.

  Ming Li had been very surprised when she had seen the Arashan’s power on this world. It was much greater than it had been on her own, and now she knew the reason for it. The mages powers came from aura surrounding them—what they called “anima,” the same way a spirit artist’s power came from ki.

  Her attention was suddenly invaded by a presence walking up the stairs and toward her. She didn’t turn, nor did she acknowledge that she knew of anyone’s approach. Instead, she waited until the person stepped onto the balcony before she spoke without turning around.

  “What do you want, Darza?”

  The Arashan mage froze in place at Ming Li’s words, and she smiled inwardly. The Arashan had been very careful around her, fearful even. It was only proper—Ming Li’s people had killed thousands of the invaders for every spirit artist that had fallen. The Arashan might be more powerful on this world, but six of them were still nothing to her. It had taken a massive numerical advantage to defeat the spirit artists. The Arashan had had more powerful people, those who could stand against a spirit artist themselves, but those were only their commanders—and none were on this world.

  The Arashan mage finally walked over and placed her hands on the railing beside Ming Li. “I’m here to inform you of a development,” Darza said.

  Ming Li turned to look at the Arashan. At first glance, she looked completely human, but Ming Li knew that it was only a trick of their magic. A deeper look from any spirit artist would reveal the Arashan’s true form to their eyes—the horns and the red skin that the “glamour” hid—yet it seemed sufficient to fool anyone else on this world, even other mages.

  “What development?” Ming Li asked.

  “We’ve managed to make contact, if only briefly, with Commander Narzarah,” Darza answered.

  Ming Li raised an eyebrow, impressed. She’d known that they were trying to speak with Narzarah. But she hadn’t really thought that they would succeed. “And what did he say?”

  “He is glad that you have survived, and has ordered us to proceed as planned. We are to help the Grand Marshal and then commence building the World Gate,” Darza said.

  “And am I supposed to be following your orders?” Ming Li asked softly.

  “N-no,” the mage stuttered, faltering, but she recovered quickly. “Narzarah wants you to lend us your skill, power, and counsel. And we are to…advise…you of our plans, and work together to honor our deal with the Grand Marshal, and then to fulfill the Host’s purpose.”

  “Hah!” Ming Li laughed. “Narzarah is a smart man. He wouldn’t have defeated us if he wasn’t.” She narrowed her eyes at Darza. “Very well. We will do whatever the Grand Marshal needs of us, and we will get his help in building the World Gate.”

  At that, Ming Li turned around and started walking back inside.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ASHARA

  “Any change?” Captain Corvo asked as he and the ship’s mage stepped into the small cabin.

  Ashara looked down at Vin’s sleeping form from the chair she had been sitting in by his bed. Outwardly, he looked fine, as if he were only sleeping—but she knew that this was not the case. The ship’s mage had healed him, or at least she said that she had, yet he still slept, even though it had been three days after the battle with the pirates.

  “No,” Ashara answered.

  “I’ve repaired as much of the damage as I could. If you could tell me something more about what he did I might be able to do more,” the ship’s mage said.

  “I’ve already told you all that I know. Vin just appeared by his side, swung his sword, killing the pirate, and then immediately dropped to the floor, unconscious,” Ashara said. She had heard whispers from the crew about how Vin had fought against the pirates by flying through the air and striking faster than the pirates could react. How he had danced among them, and how he had killed one of the pirate mages as if she had been nothing more than a nuisance.

  The mage narrowed her eyes at Ashara and opened her mouth to speak, but the captain interrupted her.

  “Ulyssa,” Captain Corvo said sternly.

  The mage grimaced and knelt by Vin’s side, moving her palms above his body. A soft glow emanated from them and Ashara could hear the mage whisper chants under her breath. Then, suddenly, she stopped and stood up.

  “He is getting better,” she said. “He was lucky that one of my masteries is in the healing arts. Otherwise he would’ve been dead.”

  “I’m sure that he will thank you once he wakes up,” Ashara said.

  “Oh, he will. And he will explain to me exactly…what he is,” the mage said, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “The boy saved my ship, Ulyssa,” the captain said quietly.

  “He also did things that are supposed to be impossible. I watched him destroy a mage-shield with ease, and then kill the mage like it was nothing. Granted, those two were rogue mages, untrained and weak. But still, the things he did were unlike anything I have ever seen or heard of before, and I’m certain that he isn’t a mage himself. His anima is too…strange…for that.”

  The captain raised an eyebrow. “You hadn’t mentioned that before.”

  “I was uncertain before, as I didn’t know what had caused his injuries. When I healed him, his insides were a mess. I didn’t have a chance to look properly—but now I’m certain. Every living person has anima inside of them, Corvo. But for most of us, it’s just a spark. For mages, anima is like a roaring flame, burning brightly inside our bodies. B
ut his”—she pointed at Vin—“is all bound up in a sphere, cold and calm. And it feels…different. I can’t explain it. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It’s unnatural.”

  The captain turned his eyes on Ashara. “Has he told you anything that might shine some light on her question? You did spend a lot of time with him.”

  Ashara fidgeted nervously under the mage’s scrutiny. “We spoke of many things, about his home, mostly, and the way his people lived. He told me that he was a…a spirit artist. I assumed that it meant he was something like a warrior, or a soldier, even.” She stopped, debating with herself on whether or not she should say more. Vin hadn’t told her to keep their conversations private, but he hadn’t told her that she didn’t need to, either, and she didn’t want to betray his trust. Seeing him there lying on the bed just reinforced how much she cared for him. In a short time, he had become her friend. And she had never really had a true friend, someone with whom she could share everything—all of her secrets. Someone with whom she could be her true self.

  Finally, however, she decided that there wasn’t really any harm in speaking further. “I… His descriptions of what it meant to be a spirit artist did seem a bit strange. I assumed that it was because of the language barrier, that some things were just missed in the translation.”

  The mage opened her mouth, but a groan from the bed drew their attention to Vin. He slowly opened his eyes, and locked them with Ashara’s.

  “Vin!” Ashara said and moved from the chair to the bed, sitting at its edge and grabbing his hand. “Are you all right? How are you feeling?”

  Vin winced, and then smiled at her. “Like a mountain has been dropped on me. Which is better than what I thought would happen.” He looked around for a minute. “I assume that the pirates are gone, considering we are having this conversation?”

  “Yes, they ran away after their mages died.” Ashara tilted her head. “And what did you think would happen?”

  “Well, I thought that there was a good chance that I would die.”

  Captain Corvo coughed, bringing their attention to him and the mage who stood to the side. “And you would have died, if it hadn’t been for Master Ulyssa here. She healed you.”

  Vin’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “With magic?” he asked.

  “Yes, with magic,” the mage said, crossing her arms over her chest and staring down at Vin.

  Vin held her stare for a few beats, and then sighed. “Apologies, honored sister. I thank you for my life.”

  “Good,” the mage grated out. “And now, how about you tell me what you are? I want to know how you did the things you did. And how precisely you got injured.”

  “I am a spirit artist,” Vin said. “I harmed myself by doing something that I was not ready to do.” His eyes slid to Ashara’s. “But I had no choice.”

  “And what does that mean?” the mage pressed.

  “I don’t know how to explain it to you. It is just the way everyone in my home is. We take our own ki and strengthen it, cultivate it. I have only used spirit artists’ techniques.”

  “But how are you doing that?” the mage asked.

  “I am sorry, honored sister. The last person who asked me to reveal the secrets of my people’s arts kept me imprisoned for a long time. I cannot tell you this.”

  The mage looked as if she wanted to argue, but the captain put a hand on her shoulder. “I think that we should allow Vin some more rest. There will be time for talk later.” The mage looked unhappy, but followed the captain out of the cabin.

  Ashara waited until they were gone, and then she turned to Vin.

  “Thank you, Vin. For saving my life,” she said quietly.

  “I owed you a life-debt, sister,” he said gravely. “And I have grown to like our talks. I had no choice but to try and save you.”

  Ashara felt a tear roll down her cheek. “I…I thought that I was going to die, Vin. When they came into my cabin, and then when Narima entered behind them… Poor, foolish, Narima.” She shook her head as she remembered the moment. For an instant she had felt hope, and then it had turned to horror. She hadn’t seen much of what had happened. She was too scared, but after the two pirates and Narima fell, and the other came for her… She knew that he had been there specifically to kill her. It had been apparent in the way he had grinned at her. And then, just as his sword was about to end her life, Vin had appeared, and the pirate was dead.

  Vin reached up and wiped the tear off her cheek. “It is all right, sister. It has passed—let it remain in the past where it belongs. You are alive, and need now look forward. Staying in the past, thinking on what could’ve been, will only make you suffer.”

  Ashara nodded against his palm. She had promised herself the same, after her father. To move forward, always. “Yes, I will.”

  “Good,” Vin said, and smiled at her. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without my one friend in these strange lands.”

  Ashara smiled back at his words. “You would’ve probably offended the first other person you met, and probably gotten yourself thrown into prison.”

  “Probably.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ashara said. “I will be there to help you.”

  “Thank you, sister.”

  “Ashara,” she told him quietly. “By your own words, we are friends. And friends call each other by their names.”

  “Ashara…” he said slowly, as if testing it. “Another lesson of this land. Very well—Ashara it is.”

  * * *

  Vin and Ashara stood at the bow of the ship, watching as the Norvus approached the harbor of the great city of Tourran. A month had passed since the pirate attack, and the rest of their journey had been spent with no other problems. Vin had recovered from his injuries and had resumed his training, and she had continued to teach him more about the world he seemed so ignorant about. She glanced at him standing by her side and couldn’t help but smile at his expression, at the awe in his eyes. According to what Vin had told her, his people didn’t build walls like the ones here. Slowly, the ship passed through the water gate, and they got the chance to see the glowing glyphs carved into the stone, as well as the massive chain links that stretched below the surface—ready to be raised on a moment’s notice.

  Once inside, Tourran stretched before them, wholly encompassing their fields of vision. Tall walls encircled the city from the north and the east, with the mountain range serving as the boundary on the south side. The city itself was built on several hills, so they could see much of the buildings in the distance. Secondary walls circled the hills and separated them from a large swath of the southern side of the city. And, up against the mountain, she could see large mansions built on the plateaus, and the white palace—the seat of Tourran’s monarch.

  “What do you think?” Ashara asked Vin.

  “It… It is incredible. I have never seen a city so large. How many people live here?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but around a million for sure.”

  Vin’s eyes widened, and he looked back at the city. “That…is more than even the largest cities in my land. More than most of them combined! Is this the largest city in this world?”

  Ashara laughed. “No, the capital of the Lashian Empire is at least twice as big. And many consider the capital of Kahaldia—Kar Halaras—to be the largest city in the world. I don’t know exactly how many people live there, but there much more there than here.”

  “That is amazing. I never thought that there could be so many people in the world,” Vin told her absentmindedly. She saw a flicker in his eyes, one that she had come to see many times when he spoke about his people and land. She knew that he still kept something from her. But she didn’t worry; he would tell her when he was ready.

  “Come, let’s find the captain,” Ashara said eagerly. She couldn’t help but feel elated. Finally, she would be able to start her new life, one free of her past. Assuming that whoever sent the pirates after her decides to leave her alone after this failure. It was not as
if she was worth going to all this trouble for. Sending assassins into the city of the Eternal Soul would not be looked on kindly by Tourran, no matter who was their target. The people of Tourran remembered well an attempt on their protector’s life long ago. The thought put a bit of a damper on her elation, but she shook it off. She wouldn’t let herself live in fear.

  They found the captain as he walked up to the top deck, and they made their way toward him.

  “Captain,” Ashara greeted him.

  “Lady. Vin.” He nodded at them.

  “I wanted to speak with you before we docked,” Ashara said nervously, her hand coming up to twist the ends of her hair almost unconsciously.

  The captain tilted his head, gesturing for her to speak. She took a deep breath, then reached into her coin pouch—it felt far lighter than she had planned. She pulled out a few coins and extended them to the captain, as her conscience would not allow her to do otherwise. “I know that it is little compared to the people you lost when the pirates attacked, but it is as much as I can give.”

  The captain nodded, and took the coins without saying anything. He studied her for a few moments, his eyes searching.

  “My people knew the risks when they signed up to work on my ship. You were responsible for the pirates coming after us—it is good that you understand this. Even if you had no way of knowing that someone was coming after you.”

  “I’m sorry. I wish I could do more.”

  “Good. I wish you fortune in the future,” the captain said, and his eyes turned to Vin. “May I speak with you, Vin? In private, if that is all right.”