FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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CHAPTER 24

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A few days after the encounter in the courtyard, where Khaine and I fought against four gargoyle statues possessed by spirits, we were led taken out of the city via a secret entryway out of the temple. The passage led us to the West side of the city walls, where we emerged on a grassy plain. The view as we emerged from the tunnel was stunning, the early morning sun illuminated the rolling hills and grassy plains. I was breath taken for a moment at the blinding beauty of it all.

Callen and Jan'Zar led us through the hills for an hour before we came to a large cave. The cave itself was carved into the side of small cliff, and was well hidden behind a trove of trees. You'd never see it until you were standing directly in front of it, and there was no obvious signs or pathways leading to it. After entering the cave I noticed how much larger it was than what I had expected, cavernous even. Not only that, but the cave was not uninhabited. Everywhere you looked, the cave there were exotic looking animals. Species and combinations that I'd never seen or heard of. No two looked alike.

While many lounged about, sleeping, eating or watching us from afar, there were groups of animals mingling with each other, and looked like they were conversing with one another. I couldn't hear what the saying; if they were even speaking at all. A couple of times I had to jog to catch up with the others, as I had been too distracted to keep pace.

Just what was this place? We hadn't been told anything about where were going. No one animal looked like another, some looked like a strange combination of animals you might see in your dreams or nightmares. Khaine looked as perplexed as I did, but we followed in silence. A large feral wolf, the largest wolf I had ever seen, leapt down from a boulder and trotted over to us. The first thing I noticed about the wolf, other than its incredible size, was the intense green eyes which glowed in the dim light of the cave.

"Greetings Ranstoc." Callen greeted the wolf.

"Greeting to you as well Lord Callen, Lady Jan'zar." The wolf responded and bowed its head.

"The wolf can talk?" Khaine muttered in surprise, echoing my own thoughts on the matter.

"Apparently so." The wolf retorted with a tone of mild amusement.

"Ranstoc, as well as all the others you see, are Deities." Callen explained.

"All of them?" I asked looking round at the dozens of animals.

"Yes." Jan'zar said sharply, obviously irritated by our questions. I took that cue to stop talking.

"We wish for you to instruct them." Callen said politely. "If you would?"

"Of course. Anything to serve." Ranstoc replied eagerly.

"We shall leave you in Ranstoc's care." Callen said. "Return to the Capital when your training is complete. I trust you will be able to find your way?"

Khaine and I nodded, expressing our understanding of the situation. Without another word they turned and left, leaving us with the giant wolf. He was so big he would have been able to bite our heads off with a single snap of his jaws. The wolf, or Deity, seemed quite happy, judging by the slow wag of its tail.

"Come with me." The large wolf ordered.

He led us through the cave. We got a lot of curious glances from the other creatures, all of which were apparently Deities, but none of them approached us. I wasn't sure if it was because Ranstoc was the one in charge around here or if we just weren't that interesting for them to approach. After a few minutes of walking we were alone with the giant wolf. A short while later I was hit by a wave of nausea. My body began to feel weak and I became breathless and overheated. Khaine felt it almost at the same moment that I did, but worse, since he all but collapsed against the wall as he dry heaved.

"Are you fit to continue?" Ranstoc asked. "It is not much farther."

"I-I will manage" I replied.

"As will I!" Khaine declared defiantly.

"I will explain everything once we arrive. Try and bear through it. The worst should pass in a few minutes." Ranstoc explained.

True to his word the worst of the nausea faded, I still felt slightly weakened, but otherwise felt fine. Khaine improved as well but was obviously still affected as I was. Up ahead there was a light filled chamber. The chamber was completely bare except for a giant, floating crystal in the centre of the room. The light came from the crystal. It was completely translucent. It gave off a bright white light, but the air around the crystal glowed with every colour I could name and more. Ranstoc turned and faced us before sitting.

"Sit if you must. I shall now explain of what your training will consist of today." He waited a few moments for us to decide whether to sit or not. We both remained standing. "Today you will begin your training in use of nature energy."

"What is nature energy?" I asked curiously.

"A valid question, one I shall answer in a few moments." Ranstoc replied. "There are multiple types of energy. The ones you are familiar with are spiritual and physical energy. You use these as part of your k'tan abilities. What you may not be aware of is that you also use nature energy from the environment around you as well, but only to an extent. The crystal behind me absorbs spiritual and physical energy from the surrounding area, and converts them into nature energy. When you felt unwell early, we had entered the crystals area of effect. The sudden increase in nature energy overwhelmed you, hence why you felt ill."

"Okay." I muttered. I think I understood his explanation.

"Nature energy is weak by itself, but when properly combined with spiritual and physical energy you can significantly increase the effectiveness of your power."

"You brought us here to learn how to manipulate this nature energy since there is an unnatural amount here." I surmised.

"Correct."

"Why is there so much nature energy here?" Khaine asked. "Why is that crystal here?"

"Fair questions, but not relevant to your training." Ranstoc responded bluntly. "Now I want both of you to close your eyes and try and sense the nature energy around you."

I did as Ranstoc asked, closing my eyes and reaching my other senses out to the environment around me. It didn't take long for me to sense the energy he was talking about. It swirled around us like a thick fog, I nearly gagged as if I was drowning in it when I started sensing it. The nature energy flowed from the crystal-like water flowing down a river.

But that wasn't all. I could faintly sense the energy it was drawing in as well, the faint trickle pushing its way against the flood of nature energy coming from the crystal; otherwise I'd never have been able to sense it at all. The energy came from the rocks and air around us. But not just them. I could feel the energy being pulled from my body; Khaine and Ranstoc's bodies as well!

"What is this?" I asked, opening my eyes to look at Ranstoc. "The crystal is drawing energy from us?!"

"It seems you have the talent to sense the flow of energy." Ranstoc commented. "But you are quite correct. If we were to remain here for long enough you would die as the physical and spiritual energy was pulled from your body."

"What!?" Khaine exclaimed.

"Do not worry. It would take more than a full day of continuous exposure to put you at any serious risk." Ranstoc assured us. "Now resume your training. This time try and draw the energy into your body. Your body does so already, but you must learn to increase the rate at which it does this."

Once again, I closed my eyes and attempted to draw the energy into my body. I could sense the energy seeping slowly into me as I stood there. But was unsuccessful in being able to increase the rate at which I was able to absorb it. After a short while I sensed a subtle shift in the flow of nature energy. Khaine had significantly increased the rate at which he absorbed the energy.

"It would appear you are both quite talented in different ways." Ranstoc said.

"I won't lose to him!" Khaine declared with a smirk.

"Ah yes, rivalry is truly a great motivator." Ranstoc chuckled in amusement. "Nature energy will increase your power, but I must warn you. Do not to absorb too much. Nature energy can act like a poison in extreme cases. The amount you can absorb with be proportionate with the amount of kii you possess."

"Kii?" Khaine queried.

"What are they teaching you?" Ranstoc sighed with a shake of his head. "Kii is the flow of energy through your body, k'tan have a much larger amount of kii which allows you to use your k'tan powers. When that energy is used to manipulate the environment outside of the body, the term used is nen."

Neither of us said anything, but it made perfect sense. Aceh had always called the energy kii while Zangarians had called it nen. Zangarians had obviously adopted the general term 'nen' since their k'tan power focused on using 'nen' far more than 'kii'; although both of them applied.

"Now continue to absorb the nature energy into your bodies. Once you have absorbed enough, we shall move on to the next stage."

It took me the best part of what I assumed to be an hour in order to increase the rate at which I was able to absorb nature energy, telling time was difficult when underground. I was slightly frustrated at how long it glad taken me in comparison to Khaine, but Ranstoc assured me I was quicker to learn than the most of the students he had trained over the centuries. But my progress was nothing compared to Khaine's. He was able to draw in large amounts of nature energy into his body, as easily as he might drink water from the source.

This turned out to be because he had already tamed the spirit which had possessed him. He was using the spirit to draw the energy in for him. That was not something I could do, not until I had bested my own spirit. Using nature energy was far easier than it was to absorb it. It combined with the nen within my body almost immediately, without much effort on my part. I felt stronger as a result.

When I attempted to use my wind bending the effects were immediately noticeable to me. The density of air when I focused on an attack was far greater than normal. After several hours of training both Khaine and I were feeling pretty drained. Ranstoc called an end to the training and we returned to the cave where all the other Deities resided.

We sat down and rested near the entrance of the cave while we regained our lost stamina. It was mid-afternoon and I was a bit hungry. By the time we got back to the temple it would be only a couple of hours until dinner. I would walk back with Khaine rather than fly ahead. We had been warned of the many predators that reside in Aaru, and even though he would never openly admit to needing my help, it was safer to travel together. I doubted that there would be many predators this close to the Capital, but if Khaine were to be attacked, and I had just left him behind I expected there would be a severe scolding in my future.

We had been told about many of the predators that resided in Aaru, but had only seen a pawful at most. There were plenty I didn't want to meet after what I'd been told about them. Such as the fearsome Dratka Scorpion. A vicious, extremely aggressive and supposedly very large scorpion, with an armoured hide so thick, it was impervious to most weapons and a stinger that could run a through an armoured Masrur warrior in a single blow. Or the Gorgath, a giant serpent that could grow to as long as fifty feet long, which spat a blinding poison which also paralysed their prey. Or the legendary Wyvern! A giant feral drake capable of laying waste to entire villages in mere minutes with its deadly fire breath, or crushing fully grown furs with its razor-sharp fangs in a single bite!

Sometimes I wondered if all of the creatures we were told about truly existed in Aaru or if they were nothing more than fairy tales meant to scare us. But still, I had no real interest in finding out for myself.

We made the journey back to town without incident. We were both surprisingly tired after the training today. The town was a bustling hub of activity. But we had neither the coin or the time to enjoy what the city had to offer. I wanted to explore the city at some point, but there was going to be plenty of time for that in the future.

As we made our way to the gates of the temple, we passed a surprising number of down trodden furs, all of them appeared to be warriors judging by their weapons and armour. I thought it was strange that they were coming from the temple, but didn't think much of it at the time. As it turned out today was the day that the Rukan'dokra held an event where warriors from far and wide would come and display their strength and skill, in the hopes to be accepted as a trainee to try and join their ranks. Judging by the dozens of warriors we passed on our way here, and that there would have been many more over the course of the day, not very many managed to pass the test put before them.

When we reached the gates one of the armed guards on duty waved us over.

"Are you Malakye and Khaine?" The leopard asked. I nodded in confirmation. "We were told to inform you to head straight for the barracks when you arrived."

"Thank you." I said and we began making our way towards the barracks.

It took us nearly thirty minutes to reach the barracks. The size of the temple grounds still shocked me. As we approached another temple guard stepped up to us and directed us to a building where Callen, Jan'Zar, Garr and a number of Rukan'dokra were having a discussion. Callen saw us the moment we entered, so not wanting to interrupt we stood by the entrance waiting for instruction. Once they had finished their discussion Callen approached us.

"How did your training go?" He asked.

"Fine." I nodded.

"Easy." Khaine smirked.

"Excellent." He smiled. "Malakye we have a task for you. I hope you are up for it."

"Of course." I said eagerly.

"We have a recruit who shows great promise. They can control the wind much like yourself. We would like you to test their ability. It is also a good opportunity to show your own talent to the leadership of the Rukan'dokra." He explained.

"Sure." I nodded.

"And what about me?" Khaine asked.

"On this occasion we do not need your assistance. You are free to stay and watch, or you may return to the temple."

"I'll stay." He huffed. I guessed he was a little bitter that I'd been selected for a task and not him.

"Malakye, in this fight anything can go. Fists, weapons, powers... you name it and it is allowed. But we expect you to refrain from killing your opponent. We want to evaluate their ability. If you can focus the fight on the use of your wind bending it should force them to do the same."

"I will try." I nodded. "If I can ask, why ask me? Surely the Rukan'dokra have someone who could also do the job?"

"She is rumoured to be a prodigy. In truth her ability of wind bending far exceeds the ability of anyone in the ranks of the Rukan'dokra. And thanks to your training with Jun'lao you are one of the few we could call upon. And it would be unfair to match her against a Champion at this point simply to gauge her strength. Your kii is far greater than hers. If you would hold back, at least in the beginning we might get a better gauge of her ability. But once you feel the need to you may use your full strength."

"All right. I shall do it."

"Thank you. We should head towards the training grounds now. They should be about ready for us." He said and guided us to the door on the far end of the building from us. Outside I could hear someone giving a speech.

"I want to remind you that your acceptance as a recruit in the Rukan'dokra shall not be affected by this match."

As I walked out, I saw a familiar white avian standing in the middle of the training ground as we approached. She was the one with the bull who attacked Jasmine last night. I knew that she also recognised me. There was a large crowd of both warriors and officers watching us. Among them I didn't fail to notice the three furs who had been with her last night. They all seemed to look on in disbelief at the fact that I was her opponent.

"What are you doing here!?" She asked.

"I'm your challenger."

"No... I mean... aren't you an acolyte?!"

"I never said I was." I replied bluntly. "Are you ready?"

"Always!" She said and readied herself, drawing on her nen.

She was pretty strong. Probably on par with Jun'bak in terms of the strength of her nen. But I could see why Callen asked me to hold back. If I went all out, she would not fight against me naturally. I drew on my own nen and attempted to match my own strength to hers.

"You may make the first move." I told her.

She didn't waste any time. She formed half a dozen wind spirits and fired them in my direction in a moment. She was quite talented. I could form that many wind spirits due to my naturally powerful nen. But she wasted none of her power. I fired off a wave of nen which disrupted her attack and turned it into nothing more than a light breeze as it washed over me.

The attack had been quick but it lacked any real power. I returned the gesture. I returned her same attack, forming half a dozen wind spirits and then fired them in her direction. She used the same counter as I did, but I sensed that she only just summoned enough power to disrupt my attacks. Was that the extent of her strength, or had she simply calculated and used the precise amount of power to counteract my attack?

"Not bad." I goaded her. "But you'll need to do better than that!"

I gathered my nen into the palms of my paws, creating a pair of concentrated wind-bursts shot I could muster while using the restricted level of nen I was currently employing. I them both at her, one after the other. She tried to do the same thing again. Firing off a wave of nen to break my attack. Only this time my attacks broke through her defence. The first attack struck her, forcing her to stumble backwards, while the second knocked her off her foot-paws and onto her ass.

She stared at me dumbfounded. Was she not used to facing someone who had a greater power than her own? Callen had said that she was prodigy. Which meant she had to have some considerable talent. Did that mean she had been under-estimating me up until now? Then I guess she would be taking this fight seriously from this point on or it was going to be over before she knew what had happened.

She picked herself up and scowled at me, gathering her nen for her next assault. But I wasn't simply going to wait for her to attack this time. I hurled another powerful wind burst at her. She sensed its approach and took flight. I channelled my wind bending and took to the air as well, right towards her and tackled her mid-air. She tumbled through the air, catching herself, and resuming her flight before she struck the ground. I charged her once more, this time with a flying round-house kick. She dodged it and then countered.

I could sense the nen in her paw as she held a wind spirit. I also sensed it as she changed its shape into that of a blade, just as I had done while training with Master Jun'lao. Only hers extended to become nearly two feet long rather than a few inches. I weaved my body around her slash and then flew upwards to create some distance between us, but she was quick to chase me down.

We engaged in an aerial battle for a few moments as she had me on retreat. Her wind blade was certainly strong enough to cause me serious harm as I wasn't wearing any armour. I used my nen bubble to out manoeuvre her, dodging her attack, dropping down and then upwards entering her blind spot. As she turned to face me, I was already behind her again. As she turned, I grabbed the wrist of the arm with the wind blade, preventing her from being able to use it against me, and then delivered a solid punch to her midsection.

As she recoiled from the blow to her midsection, I delivered another solid punch to her muzzle, released her arm and landed a powerful roundhouse kick to her chest. She flew backwards, hit the ground and rolled to a stop. A small cloud of dust floated around her from the impact of her fall. But she was not out for the count. Only a couple of moments later she was standing again. She was visibly hurt, but she took flight.

"You're strong!" She declared as she took flight, a devious smile on her muzzle. She was enjoying this fight. "But I will not lose to you!"

She formed a nen blade in each paw, and charged with at me. I narrowly avoided being sliced by her pincer like swing. She was attempting to maim me at this point. If I took her lightly then I would be seriously injured. She was definitely talented, and very determined. She knew how strong that she was and what she was capable of. I could see something in her eyes that reminded me of the fur I hated most; Kaleb. The arrogance of someone who believed them to be superior to everyone else. But her arrogance had been tempered by the discipline of the martial arts she practised. There was still hoped for her, and I could do that by showing her just how lacking she was. After looking her in the eyes I didn't feel like holding back anymore.

She froze the moment I drew upon my full power. The difference in our power was clearly visible. But I knew as well as anyone that my power did not secure my victory, but it did give me an advantage. Although the way she paused, allowing me to prepare my next attack likely did. Using my full-power I unleashed a large-scale wind burst which she could not counter. She let out a small shriek as the gale of wind broke through her desperate, last second defence and sent her tumbling backwards through the air. I dove straight at her, and just as she had managed to steady herself, I was already upon her. I struck her in the gut with a punch that drove the air from her lungs. I did a mid-air somersault, spreading my wings wide to first bring myself to a sudden stop and then used my wind bending to spin around, extending my leg and twisting my body as I moved, to increase the power of the flying round-house kick which was aimed at her head.

To her credit she managed to block my kick with her arm, but was still sent spiralling through the air from the force. I wasn't going to let her off easily at this point. I charged up some concentrated wind bursts in my paws as she managed to steady herself, just a few feet above the ground; while I hovered a good twenty feet above her.

I fired one, then another a second later, and then every second after that in a relentless barrage of mid powered, concentrated wind-bursts. She flew close to the ground, unable to gain any real altitude or mount any type of counter attack for the best part of a minute. My attacks struck the ground around her, kicking up plumes of dust from the impact. She eventually unleashed a powerful wind burst of her own, directly into the ground below her, kicking up a large plume of dust which enveloped her and hid her from sight.

I stopped my barrage, knowing that she would use this moment to mount her own offensive. From what I'd seen of her skills thus far, she would likely come at me with her wind blades again, since she knew I could over power her at range as I had been doing, she would want to close the distance quickly. I gathered my nen in my chest to make my next move as potent as possible.

Only a few seconds after I ceased my attacks, she burst forth from the dust cloud and charged directly at me. She was fast. But I was ready for her. I unleashed my nen, expanding the bubble around me to nearly five times its original size. I could only maintain a bubble of this size for a few minutes at a time before leaving myself fatigued; but this fight would be decided in a few moments.

As I she entered my bubble her speed decreased instantly, as I over powered her own wind bending which controlled her flight. With a sweep of my right arm to increase the effectiveness of my next move I sent a large wave of dense air rotating round my bubble, sweeping around the back of me and round to my left and then in front of me. She was just outside of striking range with her wind blades when the wave struck her, sending her tumbling through the air from the force.

As she tumbled, I created nearly a dozen wind spirits and fired them in a spiral at her. The force they exerted on the air around them created a vortex of spinning air which I was barely able to resist being dragged by, but she was unable to as they passed around her, dragging her down towards the ground.

Even once she was free of my bubble I she was unable to pull free of the vortex, and could only slow her swift descent to the ground. She hit the ground hard and tumbled over the dusty ground a few times before coming to a stop. I retracted my bubble and glided down to the ground. As I landed, she was attempting to stand. Her arms shook from the strain of supporting her weight. She was hurt, but still willing to fight. In her current condition I likely wouldn't need to use any nen to over-power her. Nearby I heard the mutterings of the crowd. In particular I heard her three companions from the other night.

"Kartana Lost?!"

"No way! Who the hell is that drake?!"

I turned my head and levelled a gaze of intent in their direction. They noticed, and they now knew that I had been going easy on them before. Hopefully they would not try anything with Jasmine, Kero or any other acolytes. I turned back to the white avian, who I now knew was called Kartana.

"Do you still wish to fight?" I asked.

She didn't say anything. Her breathing was heavy and laboured. It was obvious that it was taking everything she had just to remain standing. I would have expected a referee of some sort to intervene at this point. But it didn't look like anyone would. I didn't want to hurt her more than I already had. But I could understand her position; I'd been there myself many times during my training. Pride. She was putting her all into this fight, not willing to back down.

"Very well. I respect your will to fight. But I will be ending this fight now." I said as I began gathering my nen.

She raised her arms defensively and created a barrier of nen in response. She wasn't even going to try and attack? A foolish move. Her only chance of victory was to attack me before I attacked her. I was too far away for her to attempt a counter attack. Hopefully she learned that lesson from this fight. She was quite talented as a wind bender. Her techniques were interesting and I had learned a lot from just seeing her fight. In respect of that, I would end this fight with a move I had picked up from her.

I gathered a large wind spirit into both of my paws, shaped them into blades and then extended their length as she had. Only mine were twice as long as hers were, if a bit more crudely formed. She didn't miss this fact and I saw her eyes widen in realisation.

I extended my winds and propelled myself forwards into the air, arcing down towards her, my arms raised in a cross above my head as I descended towards her. She just stood there, closed her eyes and braced for the coming attack. She had expected me to attack her at range, and had nothing prepared to counter me. I unleased my attack, striking the ground in front of her.

The ground where my nen blades struck were gouged out, leaving an X-shaped scar in the ground a few inches deep, and kicked up a large plume of dust as a result. The impact also created a strong gust of wind which knocked her off balance and she fell on her tail.

When the dust cleared, she stared up at me with a mix of shock and fear. She had thought she was going to die in that moment. I stared back down at her. Her will to fight was gone. The match was over. I reached down and offered her a paw. She took it and I helped her to stand. There was a loud cheer from the crowd as they realised the fight was over.

"Who are you?" She asked meekly.

"My name is Malakye Anaris. I am a k'tan from the Mortal Realm."

"The Mortal Realm?" She uttered, the realisation of what that meant washing over her. "I see. No wonder I lost."

"You are pretty talented. I learned a thing or two just from seeing you fight." I smirked.

"Not as talented as you it would seem, using my own move against me like that... it's a little frustrating!"

"I'd appreciate it if you would help me to refine it." I smiled. "Otherwise I fear I would not do it justice."

"Very well. If you agree to teach me in return. But just so you know, I won't lose next time!" She declared with a smile. "By the way, my name is Kartana."

"A pleasure to meet you Kartana. Maybe we'll get a chance to train together sometime."

"I... I'd like that." She smiled.