Path of the Berserker

On the opposite side of the gate, it truly felt like I was going back in time.

The effect was magnified when I took the short, aerial trip to the center of the deserted roadway and used my discernment to reveal the hidden pathway to Misato village—my home away from home for the last six years.

As I passed through the veil from one reality to another, a huge fanfare greeted me.

Horns blew and people yelled.

“Welcome home, brother!”

“So good to see you!”

“Max has returned!”

“Welcome brother Max!”

The entire village looked to have assembled to greet me—ancient artisans in humble blue robes. Even Chief Muraboshi and the other elders had come to welcome me at the gate. Then from the midst of the crowd came the wiry old man I missed the most.

“Master Koh!” I laughed and picked him up in a bear hug. “How’d you all know I was coming?”

“Dammit put me down, kid,” Master Koh said, but with a huge smile. “We heard you coming a mile away with that damn lightning of yours.”

“Wow, what an awesome welcome home! Thanks everyone!”

I paid my respects to Chief Muraboshi next, kowtowing before him. “It’s great to see you, Chief.”

He pulled me to my feet and into a backslapping hug. “Welcome back!”

I greeted the rest of the village one by one, Master Tenchu, Master Yuso, Elder Akemi. As I gave them hugs and bows, they all kept asking the same question.

“Where’s Mal?”

“Where’s Mal’Kira?”

“Is Mal with you?”

“No, she’s not,” I said. “But she’s fine. Back home taking care of some business for me. A lots happened in the last few months.”

“Months?” Master Koh said with a laugh. “You mean years!”

“Come, we feast before we talk.” Muraboshi said clapping me on the shoulder. “It’s not often we get to welcome one of our own back home.”

We headed to the village square where a huge barbeque pit was roasting fresh fish and wild game over hot coals. They broke open jars of thousand-year-old wine and we toasted and joked while dining on the best food I’d eaten in months. Like everything within Misato Village, it was touched with the life essence of Muraboshi’s Inner World that nourished the body as well as the soul.

I told them the stories of what had happened when I left, starting with my liberation of the Planet Dokumu. While I wasn’t sure if such ancient sages would be affected or even care about the unseen world, I kept those parts hidden and jumped to the whirlwind that came afterwards on Luxor.

I gave them a play-by-play of the court battle along with the physical battles that were interspersed in between. They were laughing, cheering and yelling with indignation by the time I got to the part where Lunalah slapped Ling Wei.

“That fiend! What did you do???” Koh cried, getting totally into it.

“I gave that royal princess the bitch slap of the century, right in front of everyone.”

Their eyes went wide with a collective gasp.

“Then what???” Koh said.

I had the entire village on the edge of their seats as I relayed how everything played out next, with Rhe Su Long transforming into a Fallen God and me ascending to the Lesser Deity Realm. It was like reliving the moment myself as I stood to my feet, pantomiming the fight. They were yelling and cheering by the time I finally ended my tale, slapping me on the back.

“A duke!” Muraboshi yelled. “We have royalty among us! Bow everyone! Bow!”

They all made exaggerated kowtows, nearly stumping over themselves and laughing by how drunk they all were now. We carried on for what seemed like forever, but with the time dilation of the village I wasn’t worried about losing too much time.

“You need to visit more often,” Master Koh said. “Your stories were best entertainment we’ve had in a decade!”

“Heah, hear!” someone yelled and they all toasted to me.

I clinked my wine-filled teacup with everyone else’s. “I’ll be sure to bring back stories ten times as exciting when I return.”

I then filled them in on what had transpired over the last few months with me trying to rebuild my world. “That’s why I need to get to Du Gok Bhong. Without Aetherite my people won’t survive.”

“Well they put their faith in the right man,” Muraboshi said. “You’ve proven you’ll stop at nothing to fight those you protect. The sign of a great leader, I say.”

I couldn’t help but smile inwardly at that. I bowed to him. “Coming from a leader like you, I’m honored. Thank you, Chief.”

He just laughed.

As the night wore on, the party looked to be nowhere near stopping, but I couldn’t stay forever. As it got close to midnight, I decided to get down the business of why I’d come and made my way over to Chief Muraboshi.

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“Chief, can we talk a minute? I need your guidance with something.”

“Sure, sure,” he said and then paused as he stared at me a moment. “Hey…when was the last time you slept?”

“Huh?”

Elder Akemi popped her head from behind his shoulder. “Ah… I see what you mean, Chief. His spirit is quite stressed. When was the last time you truly rested, Max?”

I honestly had to think about it. “I get a couple of hours of sleep in a night, I think. Most of the time.”

She shook her head. “It’s no wonder you look as you do.”

“Well, there’s no time to rest until my people are safe,” I said.

“Understood,” Muraboshi said. “But you can rest here. Venture deeper into one of the temporal veils. Rest as long as you need. We’ll talk later when you are refreshed.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he had a point.

Time was a malleable thing here, so I might as well take advantage.

“Here,” Elder Akemi returned after a while handing me a gord filled with something. “It will help you recover.”

I didn’t know what it was but I downed it anyway. It tasted like fire and dirt, but I didn’t care. By the time I washed it down with some wine it didn’t matter anyway. We talked into the night but not more than an hour later I felt my eyes and limbs growing heavy.

“Off to bed with you,” Muraboshi said. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Master Koh and Elder Akemi helped me through the veil into a deeper part of the village where time moved even slower. I tucked into one of the huts on the village outskirts and was out by the time my head hit the straw.

* * *

I woke up four days later.

Or so it was relayed to me by Master Koh who came to check up on me every few days. For me it felt like the best night of sleep I’d ever had. After months of pushing my body and soul to the limit, battling demons and cultivation Frenzy constantly, I finally gave my body a chance to capitalize on all my gains. I felt stronger, my senses keener, my reflexes faster.

I tested my new limits by sparing with Master Koh, freshening up on all my weapons techniques. We spent the whole day training but by the time we returned to the village proper, it was only the morning of the night I had arrived. Which meant only a couple of hours had probably passed in the real world.

Still, that was a long enough of a break, and I needed to get back on track. After scarfing down an enormous breakfast of Qi-imbued fruits, rice, eggs and leftover meats, I went to visit Chief Muraboshi.

He welcomed me into his hut, and we sat down to talk over some herbal tea.

“So, what is it then, Brother Max? What can I guide you with?”

“I need your help cleansing this,” I said and withdrew the Chainmaiden’s core from my Inner World. As it materialized within my palm, the undead curse instantly seeped into my arm, turning it black with a sting of pain, but I resisted it with a swift cycling of my Frenzy.

Muraboshi leaned away, looking both wary and amazed. “Where did you get such a thing?”

“On Dokumu,” I said. “I didn’t tell the full story last night. But between you and me, this core is from a Fallen God that’s linked to the Scourge of the Cursed Stars.”

I went into the details then, explaining who Lysandra was as well as I’xol’ukz and I’Xan’dra. As expected, an ancient cultivator like Muraboshi didn’t even flinch at hearing the names, although he didn’t seem to recognize the names themselves.

“Allow me to see it,” he said.

“Careful. It’s got a death curse on it.”

“Yes, I can sense it from here.”

As I passed the core to Muraboshi, he winced slightly, his hand turning black as he studied it closely for a moment before handing it back. “A terribly powerful cursed core that one. It will take more than what we can muster here to cleanse it. As you say, that core has been touched by the likes of something from beyond the stars.”

I nodded. “Chief, you remember you told me about a prophecy that one of us that follows my path will bring about a calamity or cataclysm or something?”

“Yes, a cataclysm.”

I swallowed. “Well…I think I’ve kind of done just that.”

“What?”

“It’s complicated, but this core was imprisoning one of those dark gods from beyond the stars. And now I’ve freed it. It’s the being that caused the Bloodmoons to form. And now I think, the entire realm will fall under the curse of the Bloodmoon.”

His eyes widened. “Is that so?”

I nodded. “At least I think so. But the woman Lysandra, she may have the knowledge I need to stop it for good. But I need to purify her core first. Is it possible in anyway? Like with the rebirth technique?”

Muraboshi folded his arms as he studied the core from afar.

“I’ve had experienced wish such cores before. They can be mounted to a weapon as we do with normal cores once cleansed, but to do so will require a powerful holy artifact indeed.”

“Where do I find that?”

“You will need to travel to the Ajunnah Monastery deep in the heart of the Lao Tai region. It’s quite far, I’m afraid. Literally on the opposite side of the realm. But the Ajunnah priests will know what to do with something like that.”

“Don’t suppose they have an Omni Gate do they?”

Muraboshi chuckled. “Not a direct one, no. They are their own kingdom, ruled by their High Priest, the Count Errigail. But you’re royalty too now. Outrank him even. I’ll write you a letter of introduction still. Errigail and I go back a long time.”

“Thanks,” I said, but then paused a moment. “Chief, why is it that you have an Omni Gate? The Empire is threatening to take mine away, just like with this Ajunnah Monestary. Said it’s not part of the Empire anymore.”

Muraboshi shrugged. “I suppose we fall into a but of a gray area when it comes to rule. We are technically still part of the Empire, but we are for all purposes our own nation.”

I furrowed my brow in though. “I want to find some way to keep it. Losing it would be a huge blow to our economy which we can’t afford.”

“Ah,” Muraboshi said nodding. “Well I’m sure economy has a lot to do with us keeping our Gate as well. We do create the best arms in the empire, after all. Even the priests of Ajunnah have little to offer in the way of making coin. Elixirs and Q-herbs can do much of what their techniques offer. It’s primarily the demonic cleansing that they are prized for. But as with that core…” He paused to point at it. “…such things come about very rarely.”

I nodded and then tucked the core back into my Inner World. “That’s Chief. I appreciate this.”

“No problem,” he said. “And once you do get it cleansed, bring it back here and we will mount it on that axe of yours.”

He laughed like it was a joke, but I was actually intrigued. “Could you really?”

“You’ve seen it done before, and those weapons of yours are Blue Steel grade now. They can take a massive amount of enhancing.”

The idea had me excited.

“What would mounting the core do to my weapon?”

He shrugged. “It depends. It could take on the aspect. Inhabit it as a spirit. But focus on getting it cleansed first. That’s the worst curse I’ve ever seen and there is no guarantee on cleansing even that.”

“Understood,” I said and then gave him a deep kowtow. “Thanks again, Chief.”

“On your way now, lad. See you in a few years when you return.”

* * *

An hour later, I met up with Zin Tai and Ling Wei at the Pai Fang hub. It had been almost a week for me but for then it had barely been three hours. I greeted them with a wide smile and they looked back at me oddly.

“That was quite the long pitstop,” Zin Tai said. “Wherever did you go?”

“Just stopped by a friends place to take a quick nap.”

“What?” Ling Wei said perplexed.

I laughed. “I’m joking. Kind of. Are we all ready to go?”

Ling Wei handed me some papers. “Her are the passes to the Planet Yuengu, closest to Lung Zept. The ship I have hired will get us there in only three days.”

“Nice,” I said and then paused moment. “How far is that away from the Lao Tai region?”

“The Lao Tai region?” Zin Tai said with a raised brow. “Very far. Why?”

Figures, I thought. But this probably wasn’t the time to try killing two birds with one stone. I had the letter from the chief so there was no need to rush there right now. But the place I did need to rush to, could already be under siege by Tai Su Long and his crooked family by now.

“No reason,” I said. “Forget about it. Let’s get to Du Gok Bhong.”