ALL NOVEL Chapter 31: On the Road
Not long after, my eyes drifted open. The memories from the gateway place were still fresh in my mind, not at all like a normal dream, though they now had to contend with all the aches that plagued my body.
After a night’s rest, I could properly feel all the soreness having set in. My muscles ached, my cores felt heavy, my Qi lethargic and slow. Every bit of me seemed to want to stay still, to keep sleeping, and so I turned over and snuggled up even closer against Ann, keeping my eyes tightly shut.
Only to have that very trust betrayed as she began lightly tapping my cheek. “Rise and shine,” she murmured right into my ear in that sing-song voice she liked to use. I just grumbled and hugged her even tighter.
“Come on, Fio, it’s morning by now,” she said again, and lightly tapped my cheek. When I didn’t react, she tapped it a few more times. I could feel her hand getting a little colder. Was that ice magic?
“Alright, love, you have five seconds before I start placing my very cold hand on your tummy,” Ann promised, and suddenly sleep didn’t seem as delightful anymore. I forced my heavy eyelids to lift, grumbled a few choice words at her, then laid my head back down on her lap, staring up into her eyes.
She smiled, and the creases on her face made her look illegally cute.
Then, suddenly, I felt a sharp cold on my stomach, and howled, jumping up. That smile hadn’t been cute at all, it was predatory!
She grinned even wider. “Morning, sunshine,” Ann said, tilting her head and I almost forgot how mad I was. A ray of sunshine came in through the tent flap and fell onto her hair, making it glow a fiery red.
Somehow, I still managed a scowl. “How dare you,” I accused her.
She raised an eyebrow. “You had your warning.”
“Just because you look too lovely,” I grumbled again, and she chuckled.
“Alright, alright, enough flirting, love. Get on out there and eat breakfast. Your stomach has been complaining enough to wake me up,” she teased.
I felt my face flush just a little as I lowered myself. “Right,” I muttered, beginning to head out of the tent. “I can feel it too, now.”
As always after a fight, I was hungry. Dinner had been decent yesterday, but it was never going to be enough. Exhausting your Qi would mean your body worked overtime trying to restore it, and combine that with fighting and moving and having magic cast on you? It emptied out your reserves horribly.
I winced as I bent down to leave the tent, feeling my abs ache and protest. Every bit of me was very clear in its desire to just lay down and relax. Despite that, the smile on my face stayed stuck.
When I got outside, I was already feeling good about finding a technique, but seeing everyone made it even nicer. Marie was stirring a delicious smelling pot. Emilia sat by the fire, with Eric checking all the bandages all over her.
Liam sat at the side with Reya. The two seemed silent, but I knew they could just as well be holding a conversation. I smiled, and sat myself down next to Matt. The air still smelled fresh, like grass and flowers and had that distinct background hum of energy in it.
He looked at me for a moment, raising his eyes from polishing his sword. “Oh, look who finally made it,” he said with a smile, clapping me on the shoulder. “Good morning, our Hero.”
I smirked back. “Morning, Rat,” I said.
Matt’s smile grew slightly wider and he leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. “I see that one’s sticking around. I’ll make sure to draw some whiskers on my face for your next birthday, eh?” He grinned, then let out a long sigh. “Haaaaaah, I really thought I was gonna die yesterday, Fio.”
My eyebrows shot up a bit. “Really now? I suppose it would be like you to die in a shoddy tunnel. I, for one, plan to live a long, healthy life.” That, at the least, was genuine.
There was a reason many people didn’t spend too much time in Eden. The risk of death was always there in this place, and dying here would be an unpleasant end on the other side.
First of all, your soul had to be scavenged. It would, without a doubt, go through some damage before passing through to the other side. Additionally, both your bodies were linked, so you might end up with some trouble there as well. And the keepers wanted to keep Eden secret, so they would still wipe your memories, but with a damaged soul and a hurried process, it was much rougher.
Which meant frequent nightmares, and a sense of longing and loss that could drive people mad. It was why having an anchor on the other side was so important. Having a purpose there would make life worth living, even if you died in Eden.
I, for one, would be unwilling to give up my family. Even if I died in Eden, I couldn’t make my brother lose another sibling, my parents another child. I shook my head, banishing the thought. I wouldn’t die here, never.
Matt was staring at me. “Sorry, sore spot. You know, once I retire, I’m gonna open up a dojo back on Neamhan. Not because I love my sword,” he added, “but to beat up some kids. Just knock ‘em down with some wood. It’s gonna be like a zombie movie, hordes of them charging at me and being cut down!” He swung his hands through empty air and I chuckled.
“Sure, bud,” I chided, “definitely got nothing to do with your love for swords, mhm.”
“Alright kids,” Marie interrupted. “Food is ready, stop your bickering.”
Looking at Matt, he seemed just as ravenous as I did, but still held back. While I got my food, he very slowly put his sword into its sheath, only after making sure it was absolutely spotless. He’d already cleaned and maintained it yesterday evening, twice even, and still went over it again.
I shook my head at it, and started to dig into my food. “It’s delicious,” I told Marie, and she smiled back at me.
- - -
The trip back to castle Arhan was completely uneventful. In the few days it took us, I had some time to heal, much of it thanks to the seemingly endless supplies of bandages the twins seemed to conjure from nowhere. I swear, Emilia spent half the time wrapped up like a mummy.
We were probably lucky that no monsters attacked us, especially given that the gateway seemingly attracted them. Was there also some form of deterrent among our party? Or was the gateway just better hidden now that it was closer to being repaired?
I had many questions, but answers were much more scarce it seemed.
Instead of driving myself mad about it, I focused on my new Path. The cultivation technique, as some called them.
Imprint upon infinite Self-Similarity. Just as I shortened my other technique down to voyage, I boiled this one down to imprint. That was the core principle. To leave a lasting mark.
While voyage was all about the journey I embarked on, a mix of following and driving the current, this one was more selfish, more self-centered. It was about me. About what I wished for. About my mark on this world, about shattering imposed realities.
I smiled. They meshed better than I thought.
Sure, imprint didn’t exactly have the same travelling aspect as voyage did, but they still worked well together. Travelling to see things, then imprinting myself on those things. It was a cycle of action and reaction, of moving forward and making sure my path was mine alone.
And so, while walking, I meditated.
Imprint was an infant Path. I’d come up with it, sure, and I’d recognized it for its potential, but I had not yet properly mastered it. For that, I needed to come up with visualization, a fitting breathing pattern, and memorization helps.
Cultivating my core wasn’t as easy as sitting down in a cave and just starting. I could forcefully activate it using the system, like flicking the switch for a new Technique, but that could end up doing more harm than good. I wanted to master imprint my own way; using a personal Path via the system could end up in a dead-end.
So, instead of relying on shortcuts, I meditated on imprint itself. I breathed, thought back to the pattern of mirrors, to the world between worlds. To fractals on one hand and copies on the other. On all the other “me”s.
I breathed. Thought of the gateway within me and my mirror core. Of how it felt. And then it clicked.
My heart beat. I took another deep breath. Then, I let my mind wander through the gateway inside me.