Fate Shift - Chapter 5

Across the violent waters of the Sea Dragons’ Clarza Ocean, West of the Dragon Coast, a man stood watching a piece of sky while a young woman watched him from behind. He was in the barren lands of the Noff Continent, the Far West. More specifically he was in Martial Kingdom territory, standing amidst a field of what might’ve been wheat. It was a scene of devastation now. Great furrows and craters marked the earth like vicious wounds; fires burned what remained of a nearby village. Smoke billowed up into the air, marking the site of the recent battle.

The man staring at the sky wasn’t particularly tall but he was perhaps a bit taller than the average man. He wore an impressive variety of armor in several layers. Large portions of his outermost armor were dragon scale with some plates of navy blue mithril over his shoulders, knees, and elbows. On top of that visible layer of armor a multitude of belts and pouches rested. On his waist belt a long saber with a broken crossguard was sheathed; only one side of the crossguard remained intact. A single-bladed battle axe hung from the other side of the same belt. As for the belts and pouches on his chest, they held vials of colored liquids, stacks of paper talismans with runic characters inscribed in rare inks, and one specific pouch even held caltrops.

A second sword sheath hung from the man’s back, this one belonging to a greatsword. The sheath was empty, as the man was currently resting a leather-wrapped section of the sword just above the guard on his shoulder. The wavy blade was also made of mithril and in the sun’s shining rays it was clear to see the blade had tasted blood not long ago.

Because the man wasn’t wearing a helmet it was possible to see that underneath his outer layer of armor he was also wearing mithril mail and some kind of padding beneath that. Common sense would’ve dictated the man would be sweating between the day’s heat and his armor; he was not.

He had wavy brown hair and a short, well-trimmed beard. His green eyes suggested a wealth of experience but his pale, unblemished skin seemed to suggest otherwise, although the only skin visible was from the neck up.

The woman behind him was actually taller than him, dressed quite similarly to the man. The main difference in their gear was that she carried a pair of swords and several throwing knives on her person, all of which were sheathed. Her blonde, wavy hair was cut boyishly short. She was blue-eyed and freckled; a scar ran horizontally from her nose to the edge of her left cheek.

“We’re following it to the next location Ry. Once we’re there I’ll assess how weak it is and see if you can fight it yet. At the very most it’ll have another jump left before it’s too tired to flee further. You’ll get your chance to fight soon.”

Ry nodded her head eagerly and acknowledged the man “Yes Taeh.”

Taeh raised his left hand, the one not holding his greatsword. In his left hand he held a pair of black, metal chimes with elegant silver enamel by a short chain. The chain extended into the flesh of Taeh’s hand, which made the chimes seem like a part of the man’s body. Taeh rang the chimes gently but Ry heard no noise. This hardly surprised the young woman though; this wasn’t her time accompanying Taeh on a hunt.

Taeh pulled a paper talisman from one of his pouches and sent a stream of Qi into it. The talisman lit up with a green flare before disintegrating. A piece of sky darkened; then a hole was ripped open. Taeh and Ry leaped upwards, easily passing through the gateway.

Gauljian whirled around from the doorway in time to see Taeh and Ry leap out of the gateway. Before he even had time to open his mouth to speak a milky white, scaled arm exploded out of the mirror, piercing and killing Jijlaw. As the arm began to pull out of Jijlaw’s corpse Taeh roared “Defend yourselves!”

Gauljian, who had recognized Taeh on sight, shouted “Do as he said” while putting up the strongest shield he knew, a complex storm spell that would both hide and protect him. He rapidly extended the spell’s area of effect to cover the other Seven Powers Sect members in the observation room. He just barely made it in time.

An explosion rocked the building, tearing the roof down. Several people’s divine sense locked down on the area instantly while people rushed to the aid of those caught in the blast. Gauljian and his people were fine thanks to Taeh’s warnings and his own reaction speed. Using a thunder spell, Gauljian shouted in a booming voice “All Seven Powers Sect members evacuate the Hall of Thunder!”

As the dust cleared three figures became visible. Ry stood where she’d been before the explosion went off, arms crossed. She remained pristine, untouched by the attack. Her eyes were locked on the other two figures.

Taeh held his two-handed greatsword in one hand and called out “Did you really think your time spell was going to delay me enough for you to recover? I’ll bet you’ve only gained a few hours and you even had the misfortune to only pick up a few souls in that time too, seeing how weak you are right now. You’ve had a bit of bad luck demon.”

The last figure chuckled hopelessly “I didn’t have bad luck, I had terrible luck. The first soul I ate actually wished for something he didn’t need for himself so I had to vomit him back into his body. The second soul I encountered I didn’t dare eat; that one had a trace of the Extermination Hell on him. I don’t even know how that’s possible but there’s no way I could risk eating a soul like that. So yes, you could call that ‘a bit of bad luck’ I suppose.”

The demon who’d spoken was a white, scaled humanoid with a mirror floating above its neck where a head ought to be. The demon’s flesh was wounded in several places and was bleeding heavily. One of its arms was severed below the elbow.

Taeh tsked and apologized to Ry “Sorry. I really thought he’d hold up a bit better.”

Ry laughed in response and replied “It’s no problem Taeh. When I’m ready I’ll have a chance to fight a Journeyman level demon, it’s not like there’s any lack of them.”

Although the pair weren’t even looking at him anymore the demon didn’t bother trying to run. He’d already spent everything he had, gone way past what he thought his limits were a long time ago. All he could do now was to slump down onto his knees and wait for the end.

From the sky several beams of light arced towards Taeh’s location before transforming into a few Sect Elders and the Seven Powers Sect’s Elder of the West. The Elder of the West appeared to be an elderly man, short but with good posture. He wore a set of shimmering robes that changed colors regularly, flashing through the seven powers.

Taeh didn’t bother taking in the man’s features, this wasn’t his real body after all, instead waiting for the man to speak. He didn’t wait long.

“Greetings Taeh, the Seven Powers Sect is honored to welcome a Supreme Slayer to our sect’s Western Branch. If I may ask, for what purpose have you arrived here?”

Taeh snorted then said plainly “I’m not here to cause any problems if that’s what you’re worried about. I was chasing a demon, which is already too weak to be a threat to anyone. It disguised itself as a mirror while it was in hiding here. You can deal with the aftermath on your own mostly but I’ll need to see anyone who had contact with the demon in its mirror form. It’s a proficient soul stealer and from its own mouth I can confirm it tried stealing at least two souls.”

The Elder of the West nodded, saying “I’ll ensure the Seven Powers Sect”

“I’m not here to waste anyone’s time so don’t waste mine. This isn’t a political plot and there’s no need to stand on ceremony with me. I’ll check out the people who encountered the mirror, make sure they’re fine, and leave.”

Taeh promptly turned and walked away, using his divine sense to guide him to the two people he already suspected were the mirror demon’s previously mentioned targets. Ry silently followed him.

One of the elders behind the Elder of the West asked “Can we really trust his word and just let him roam the sect as he pleases?”

“That man is Taeh, a Supreme Slayer and one of the few surviving people who witnessed the birth of Kahzareem. Even if we were to ignore his status he’s still one of the strongest Qi Cultivators in the Mortal World. If he really wanted to do something to us, there’d be no resisting.”

A Thunder Hall Elder spoke up next “I’m surprised; the rumors were true. He really has taken a disciple. That would also explain why he chased the demon without killing it for so long. It was supposed to act as a test or lesson for his disciple I suspect.”

“She survived the Divine Sense Tribulation; as expected of a Supreme Slayer’s disciple” another elder remarked.

The Elder of the West chided the elders “Now’s not the time for idle chatter; we have work to do.”