Chapter 26: The Kingdom of Man

The evening rains had passed, leaving the sky clear with a full moon. Sirius was down in the waterfall chambers, training by himself. Before him, a massive deluge of water poured from a hole in the ceiling, hundreds of gallons dropping every second. With the moonlight shining through the water and his eyes trained to see in the dark, there was nothing to hinder him. He facing the waterfall straight on with his feet and raised fists perfectly horizontal.

A sharp breath, he sent his right fist forward into the waterfall at full strength. The waterfall exploded as if a bomb had gone off in the center, with a palpable shockwave rushing through the cave system, causing all of the other waterfalls to sputter and splash. He pulled his fist back, the water on his skin steaming from the friction against the air. Then, he threw a punch with his left hand, with the effect no less thunderous.

He was switching between his right and left, hurling a punch every two seconds and creating a steady rhythm that shook the mountain. Everyone in the temple heard it, felt the tremors. They knew the cause, who was unleashing this force, and it strengthened their fear and loathing of him. It was the power of a monster.

“Hey!” He looked back, seeing Eva approach. “I told you that I would find you. Why are you hiding down here?”

“Eric and my Grandfather said it would be better if I trained by myself instead of sparring with you.”

“What, they don’t think I can keep up?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

No surprise that someone like Sirius, who lived in the social boondocks, wouldn’t know how to tell the truth any way other than bluntly. He had been that way for as long that Eva had known him.

“Well I never get to spend any time with you. Come on, one match, then you can go right back to your training if you want.”

“Very well.”

Eva sighed. “Do try to contain your endless joy.”

Sirius moved away from the waterfall and followed Eva to a flat area in the cave where they wouldn’t have to worry about slipping and falling. They bowed to each other and assumed their stances. Eva shrouded herself in aura, strengthening her muscles as much as she could.

She made the first move, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks towards Sirius with inhuman speed. Her moves were masterful, artistic, blending into each other with no wasted effort or motion. When one hand was throwing a punch, the other was sending a spirit blast, and when she delivered a kick, her footing was perfect to brace herself against the floor for maximum force. She made no mistakes, she put everything she had into fighting Sirius. Against any other disciple, even those trained by the Grandmaster, she’d probably win, or at least make them really have to work for their victory, but against Sirius, it was pointless. He simply dodged, blocked, or parried her attacks with little effort. It was like he could see her moves before she made them, and her energy blasts, no matter how powerful, were incapable of harming him.

He simply hopped around on one foot, not even challenged, with Eva chasing him around the cave, unable to deliver an attack. “Come on, at least fight back! Don’t just pity me!”

He stopped and sent a punch towards her at full strength. She raised her arms to block, but he stopped his fist at the last moment. Then, before she could react, the shockwave hit her.

Crying, covered in mud and blood, the young girl ran through the rainforest. She had been running all night, having escaped from a quarry where she and her fellow slaves were collecting stone to build Dominion’s monuments. She was small, only eight years old. It was why she was able to get away when the spawn were distracted by a fight between the slaves and the guards.

Freedom, the other slaves always spoke about it at night, how wonderful it would be to escape Dominion’s tyranny. No more beatings, no more backbreaking labor, decent food, it was all she dreamed about. She had been born and raised in this world ruled by Dominion, given her brand as soon as the cord was cut. To leave the world she had always known, no matter how terrible it was, had taken all her courage.

It was not a clean getaway. Eventually, the guards noticed she had escaped and now she was being followed. It was an Occisor, but nothing at all like the simple beasts that Dominion had used in his social experiments. These modern Occisors had all been born with souls. When bred with humans who had awakened their souls, normal Occisors were able to give birth to offspring with souls of their own, and when their offspring bred with other soul-having Occisors, that third generation also had souls. This gave them beyond-human intelligence, and with a little brainwashing by Dominion and his minions, they could be turned into loyal soldiers. They were still simply a novelty, inferior to the spawn, but they had their uses in situations like these.

The beast chasing this girl had just about caught up to her, even with a day’s head start. His highly evolved nose picked up her scent without issue and he ran nonstop. He saw her up ahead, she had just entered a clearing. She screamed as he approached and tried to run faster, but she was exhausted, and just tripped over herself. The Occisor stood over her, casting his shadow on her.

“It was a good attempt, you made it farther than most others. However, you belong to Lord Dominion, and try and escape is nothing short of stealing from him.”

The snap of a twig, intentionally made, drew his attention. He and the girl looked ahead to a boy standing nearby, making no effort to conceal himself. Only nine years old, he was dressed in a training uniform and was carrying a slain boar over his shoulder. At this stage in his training, he had to spend a month in the wilderness, far away from the temple and other people. It was surprisingly easy for him. Despite his youth, he was a handsome boy and had an unusually muscular build. His eyes, usually despondent, were filled with rage and killing intent.

“Oh, a free-range human, and where this is one, there is surely more. Well done, child. Your escape has benefitted me greatly. You, boy, come quietly or I can take you by force.” Sirius dropped the boar and walked over. “That’s a good lad.”

Then, in the blink of an eye, the Occisor exploded into a cloud of blood, splintered bones, and shredded muscle, and standing in front of the girl, as if having moved via teleportation, was Sirius, with his fist outstretched and his knuckles smoking. Even at nine years old, a single punch was strong enough to completely obliterate an opponent.

He turned to the girl. “Are you ok? What’s your name?”

“BR8-L18135!” she hurriedly replied. It was her ID number. Children were taught to remember their numbers through beatings. The guards would ask for their name, and if they were off by a single digit, they’d be punished.

“That’s not a name. What’s your real name?”

“BR8-L18135!”

Sirius crouched down and looked into her eyes. “I’ll call you ... Eva.”

“You know nothing of monsters.” Those words passed her lips, her incoherent thoughts drifting back to the children from before.

“Eva!” Sirius’s words snapped her back to reality and she opened her eyes. She was lying on her back with Dominion beside her, cradling her head. Behind him, she could see the moon shining through the waterfall. “You were knocked out. How do you feel?” he asked.

Hearing him, she gave a soft laugh and flashed him a dreamy smile, then reached up and cupped his cheek with her delicate hand. “I love you. You know that, right?” Time froze. “From the day we met, for all these years, I’ve loved you, and even now, after you’ve knocked me flat on my back, I somehow still love you.”

Sirius simply stared back at her, not knowing how to respond. He wasn’t even sure what those three words meant. He understood their plain definition, but not the weight they carried. After all, no one had ever said them to him before.

“You should ... probably get to bed, you need to rest. I ... have to keep training.”

In the long list of wrong responses to a love confession, that was pretty close to the top, yet Eva couldn’t help but continue laughing. “Yeah, you would say that.” Then she kissed him on the cheek and left. By the time she reached the exit, Sirius had resumed punching the water.

Despite training late into the night, sleep didn’t come easy to Sirius. He laid awake, but not out of worry about Eric and wondering as to how his initiation ritual was going. Tonight, he had more pressing matters to concern himself with. “I love you.” To hear those three words spoken by his friend, who wouldn’t be restless? He had known Eva most of his life, she was one of the few people who didn’t hate and fear him. He always assumed she simply admired his strength or was grateful for saving her, but why would she love him? Was she crazy? He was the son of Dominion, he didn’t deserve to be loved. What could she possibly see in him that made up for his cursed blood?

And what was he supposed to say to her? Should he say he loved her as well? Is that something that people do? He wasn’t sure he even knew what love felt like. He would be sad if she died, he knew that much, and he did like spending time with her. Throughout his adolescent years, he had even looked at her with a strange craving ... lust, that was the word, wasn’t it? Then he’d remember the horror stories Eric and his grandfather told from when they worked for Dominion, the things they were forced to do to women, and how his father would torture his mother, and his shame would crush all desire.

What was he supposed to feel? What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do?

That following morning went as usual. Sirius woke up before dawn and collected water with the other disciples, then went to the dining hall.

“Good morning,” said Eva, sitting on the other side of the table from him without a care in the world. Sirius stared at her, rather annoyed by how nonchalant she was. She looked up from her food and met his focused gaze, and a nervous smile crossed her lips. “Come on, don’t stare at me like that. Last night, I said what I wanted to say, that’s all. I don’t expect or need you to do anything and I’m not going to demand that we change how we act around each other. I just said something that I wanted you to hear. Everything will stay the same if you want it to. The choice is yours.”

He took a deep breath and looked down at his porridge. “Thank you. I suppose I’ve always wondered what it felt like to hear someone say those words to me.”

“Sirius...”

He looked around the dining hall. “Where’s Eric?”

“He’s recovering,” said the Grandmaster, answering the same question as asked by Brunilda. “The initiation went well, though there were some slight complications due to his brand. All it means is that he’ll spend the rest of the day regaining his strength. However, tomorrow, you’ll all get your chance to test yourselves against the power of a master.”

Yamb raised his hand. “Sir, if I may ask, how exactly do the runes work?”

“That’s part of the initiation! He won’t tell us!” Brunilda hissed while hitting him with her elbow.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. First, the arquerite. Why is it so valuable to us? Anyone?”

Alicia raised her hand. “It’s a universal conductor of spirit energy, the greatest in existence.”

“Correct. All matter resists spiritual energy to some level, like light reflecting off one material and being absorbed by another. Silver and mercury have the lowest resistance level in the universe, even lower than human flesh. Spirit energy just shoots through them and is rereleased. Dominion’s monsters are highly spiritual beings, spirit energy is in their blood. So, when they come into contact with silver or mercury, it’s similar to when you touch ice and it sucks the body heat right out of you. It’s like a shunt that bleeds them dry.

With the runes, we can further enhance arquerite’s conductive abilities by creating mathematical formulas. The shapes of the runes direct the flow of energy, like the Chinese concept of Feng Shui. When these formulas are physically implanted into an initiate, not only does it allow them to release more power, it allows them to draw power from the environment into themselves. Masters can absorb the ambient energy of the universe and infuse it with their spirit energy to increase their abilities.

However, there is a danger. Too much cosmic energy erodes the mind. Souls themselves are indestructible, but the personality, the individual, can be worn away, like sanding off your fingerprints. Because of that, no more than 10% of the skin can be covered with runes.

I perform the operation, and before the initiation can take place, I’ll need to spend years planning how I’ll arrange the runes. Every equation is different, depending on the person, same with the location. It comes down to personality, power, skill level, physical attributes, and so forth. Does that answer your question?” Yamb nodded. “Good. Now, with Eric absent, I’ve decided that we shall engage in a new training exercise. However, it is not one that can be done out here in the open, far too risky. Let us move to a more suitable environment.”

All of the disciples exchanged glances of uncertainty. Without Eric around, they suddenly felt like they had just lost their training wheels and the Grandmaster was pushing them towards a hill. Still, they followed him without complaint, returning to the interior of the mountain and heading down to the prayer hall that Sirius had visited the night before. Darkness enveloped them as the doors closed, but with a flick of his wrist, the Grandmaster lit the braziers to illuminate the chamber.

He stood before the altar of the Old Gods and faced the disciples. “Now, the six of you, go back to the entrance and stand with your backs against the door. When I give the word, you shall all race each other. The first one to lay their hand on me wins and gets a reprieve from today’s training. You may use your maximum spirit power however you see fit.”

Clay and the others all grinned in excitement. None of them were here against their will. They all chose to train under the Grandmaster, to be made strong enough for the day when the Sect of Silver would rebel against Dominion, yet a day of rest was something that they could not resist. Sirius was indifferent. Even if the Grandmaster refused to train him for the day, he’d just find another way to exercise.

Sirius and the disciples moved to the entrance of the prayer hall and pressed their backs against the great double doors. They’d all start this race with the same posture and the same chances. Clay and the others all conjured their auras, infusing all of their spirit energy into their muscles. The Grandmaster was about fifty meters away, a short distance, but far enough for anything to happen.

“Now ... come at me.”

The words were spoken, and before the disciples could even react, they were all hit with a nearly bone-breaking force. Spirit energy was surging from the Grandmaster with an intensity they never even thought was possible, like a miniature star had appeared in the center of the room and was going supernova. The light alone was blinding, every single atom in the chamber being saturated by illumination, and the physical force left Clay and the others struggling to breathe, let alone move. How was it possible for him to generate so much power?!

It continued on for several minutes, with the disciples blacking out one by one. Then, at last, it ended. The light flowing from the Grandmaster ceased, as he was now looking at Sirius, who had his hand on the monk’s shoulder. He was barely on his feet and his clothes were smoking. Even for him, this had been a brutal trial.

“Well done, you did that even faster than I thought you would,” the monk said with a smirk.

“But you knew I’d win. You intended from the beginning to give me the day off. Why do this?”

“Eric asked me to, as well as pass on a message. He wants you to rest and save your strength. Tonight, after dinner, he wants to fight you here at your peak strength, with nothing held back. I did this to give you a good excuse to not to be present for today’s lesson. Go, gather your energy, you’ll need it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sirius returned to the double doors and moved his fellow disciples out the way. As he opened the doors, Clay grabbed his ankle. “You bastard! No human could do that! You’re a goddamn monster!”

“I know I am.”

Sirius spent the rest of the day meditating under the waterfalls and performing silver yoga. It was the closest he could get to relaxing without going stir crazy. Then, after dinner, he returned to the prayer hall, where Eric, Misato, and the Grandmaster were waiting. The runes of every master were unique in their appearance. For Eric, his runes were arranged in a line going down his face, neck, and chest, like a scar, while cutting open a path through his beard. It crisscrossed the brand on his cheek, thus explaining the complications that the Grandmaster had mentioned earlier. A brand meant to bind the soul and runes meant to release its power, they naturally conflicted with each other.

“Eric, how do you feel?” Sirius asked.

“I feel strong, stronger than I’ve ever been, which is exactly why I want to fight you. You’ve been holding back all this time, haven’t you? In all of our sparring sessions?” Sirius’s silence was enough of an answer for Eric. “If you’re not stronger than me, even though I’m now a master, then you’ll never be strong enough to kill Dominion. I need to know what you’re truly capable of. Come at me with the intent to kill, because I’ll do the same.”

Sirius turned to Misato and the Grandmaster. “And you’re ok with this?”

“I can heal any injuries you two receive, so there is no need to hold back,” said the Grandmaster.

“You can’t keep running from your power. You need to accept it if you are to ever defeat Dominion. If you can’t kill him, no one can,” Misato added.

“Eric, stop this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t have a choice!”

Shrouded in white flames, Eric rocketed over and punched Dominion in the face, sending him flipping through the air and crashing into the wall above the door with enough force to shatter the stone. Eric again pounced for another attack, but his fist was caught, and Sirius leaned out of the dust cloud with a wrathful gleam in his eye. A kick from the youth knocked Eric across the room, and while he managed to stay on his feet, Sirius closed the distance in an instant and delivered a second kick that slammed him into the far wall. Before Sirius could land the third hit, Eric fended him back with a colossal blast of energy. Sirius dodged, but the Grandmaster had to intervene and catch it so that it didn’t blow up the whole mountain.

The two men charged towards each other and a hurricane of punches and kicks began. They were both using every bit of technique and skill they had acquired in their years of training. Their moves were flawless, the two of them having spent hundreds of hours practicing and repeating them, and both their strength and speed were beyond human limitations. Every time one of their attacks was taken or blocked, a shockwave would erupt from the pure physical force. It traveled through the entire mountain, once more attracting the awareness of everyone in the sect. This was different from Sirius’s training the night before, they knew this was an actual fight. So close to the epicenter, Misato had to use his own powers to reinforce his body. The shockwaves were getting more and more powerful, already strong enough to rupture the eardrums and blood vessels of a regular person.

Truth be told, this was the first time in years that Sirius had actually been challenged in a fight. From the time he could walk, he and Eric had been sparing, and it was when he was around ten years old that he realized he had surpassed him. From then on, he had been holding back. He saw how hard Eric trained himself, doing whatever the Grandmaster said, even while spitting up blood, and he didn’t want to crush his pride. He had forgotten what it felt like to be pushed to his limit, to feel something other than boredom and monotony while patronizing his fellow disciples. It felt good, to finally be able to unleash his full strength, but strangely, he felt no fatigue, no matter how hard he fought. In fact, he stamina and power seemed to be growing.

From the sidelines, the Grandmaster scrutinized every movement. He could see Sirius getting faster and stronger as the fight went on. “It’s as I thought, his potential is limitless.”

Regardless, Eric was still holding his own and improving beyond his former limits. With every movement, he was acclimating to his newfound power. He was healing as fast as Sirius injured him, with all damaged tissue repaired and made stronger than ever. Add that to his ferocity, and at that moment, he was perhaps the strongest master in the sect, second to the Grandmaster himself. Even when he missed hitting Sirius, the movements of his arms and legs still created shockwaves. The fight was growing so intense that the Grandmaster was having to use his powers to prevent a cave-in.

Sirius managed a lucky shot to Eric’s face, forcing him to turn and spit a mouthful of blood. These sparring sessions always got rough, but not since he was a child had Sirius hit him with his full strength. A moment’s doubt earned him a right hook that sent him crashing into the wall. “Don’t get distracted!” Eric barked.

He tried to deliver another punch, but Sirius dodged and his fist ended up buried in the stone wall like it was made of Styrofoam.

“Eric, you’re losing your mind! Stop this before someone gets hurt!”

“We don’t have the luxury of stopping! Dominion has to die and I need to know you have what it takes to get it done!”

Sirius kicked him in the chest, knocking him back. “You don’t have to tell me, I know what he’s done! I know what he’s done to this world!”

Eric got back to his feet and vomited blood. The gap between them was starting to reopen. “But you didn’t see what he did to your mother! The scars he put on her soul! Even after we freed her, her nightmares just kept getting worse and worse, she’d completely lose grasp of reality for days at a time. And when she found out she was pregnant ... You have no idea what that did to her, to have a part of him growing inside her.” A barrage of punches and kicks were unleashed on Sirius, with the young man struggling to block them all. “The hope that you would be able to kill Dominion and save this world, that was the only thing that kept her alive. And once you were born, she took her life because she just couldn’t bear it anymore! I loved your mother and I had to bury her. Even if we escaped him, Dominion took away any chance of us ever being together, of us ever being happy! If it weren’t for you, she’d be here with me!”

Sirius staggered back, but with speed beyond what Eric could counter, he lunged, blinded by rage with his arm pulled back. “Don’t you dare blame me for her death!” Bones were crushed, muscles shredded, organs pulverized, and blood splattered across the room. Sirius’s hand was sticking out of the center of Eric’s back with his crushed heart in his grip. His spine had been severed, leaving him unable to move from the shoulders down and just hanging off Sirius’s arm. Both the Grandmaster and Misato stared with wide eyes, unable to believe what they had just seen.

Then, over the sound of Eric’s pouring blood, they heard desperate gasps and saw tears pouring down Sirius’s cheeks. “Don’t say it’s my fault she died! I already know! I’ve known my whole life! I hate myself enough as it is!” ‘No crying’, that was the rule for sparring. Eric drilled into him when he just started out, but Sirius could no longer contain the guilt. He had grown up with his mother’s blood on his hands, now Eric’s blood coated them as well. He was cursed to harm all those around them, it was his fate as the son of Dominion.

Sirius fell to his knees with Eric leaning against him and released a cry of anguish. The Grandmaster rushed over and laid Eric on his back and began mending the damage. The creaking and slamming of the prayer hall doors drew him from his despair. Misato had left without saying a word, leaving Sirius with the Grandmaster and the half-dead Eric.

“He blames me as well,” he muttered.

“He does, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re his grandson and he loves you. Too often, people forget that it’s possible to both love and hate others. They think that it can only be one or the other, and if not, they think it makes them evil. It makes them feel guilty, for loving someone they’re supposed to hate or hating someone they’re supposed to love. Misato mourns his daughter, he will always miss her and blame himself for being unable to keep her safe, but I know for a fact that he’s grateful that he has you, even if you’re the son of Dominion. You’re the silver lining, the blessing that came from your mother’s suffering. He’s grateful to Hijiri for giving him a grandson. Right now, having heard Eric say all that, his old wounds have probably reopened and he needs to grieve.

And Eric, he practically raised you like both a brother and a father. A part of him does blame you for your mother’s death, but I think what truly hurts him is his jealousy. He’s so proud of you, he surely loves you. He doesn’t hate you for being born, he doesn’t think you’re a monster or evil or anything like that. It’s the opposite—he regrets that you aren’t his son, and he wishes that the pride he felt was towards his own progeny. You are loved, Sirius.”

Sirius looked at his blood-caked hand. “But I am a monster. Dominion has done so many horrible things, he’s hurt so many people. His blood flows through me. It’s impossible for me to not be like him.”

The Grandmaster turned to him with a warm smile. “You are nothing like Dominion. In fact, I think you are his exact opposite. In nature, where there is a poison, the cure is often nearby. You were born as that cure. It’s true, he has done unforgivable things to the human race, but inadvertently, he’s done something wonderful. He created you. Your strength, your resilience, your sense of duty, they are something that humanity has needed for a long time. He has the power to destroy the world, but because you are his son, you have the power to unite it.

You think your journey will end with the slaying of Dominion, but I believe that is where your story will truly begin. The power you’ve inherited lets you be more than just a warrior. It lets you be a savior, a leader. You, the son of the Devil, can be the messiah that the world needs. When Dominion is dead, you’ll have earned the right to sit on the throne of the Kingdom of Man. You will have the chance to take the broken fragments of humanity and assemble them into something magnificent, to lead the world into a golden age the likes of which has never been seen before. Yours will be the bloodline of heroes.”

This was something that shocked Sirius. His whole life, he had cared only about killing his father, but now, he was facing the reality of what would happen afterward. To lead the world into a golden age, did he have it in him to accomplish such a feat? Could his power be a blessing instead of a curse?

“Listen, it’ll take a while for me to completely heal Eric, but he’ll be just fine. Don’t bother waiting. You just go on to bed.”

“Yes, sir.” Sirius got up to his feet and walked to the door. “And Grandmaster ... thank you.”

Sirius slept much better that night than the night before and woke up feeling refreshed with the weight on his shoulders slightly lessened. He performed his predawn chores with only the usual amount of trouble from the other disciples and headed down to the dining hall for breakfast.

“So what was going on last night?” Eva asked. “Only you would make that much noise.”

“Eric and I were sparring.”

“You’ve never sparred that hard before.”

“Well he is a master now. He said he wanted to go all-out.”

“Oh, speak of the devil.”

Seeing Eva looking over his shoulder, he turned back to see Eric standing behind him. “Hey, how do you feel?” Sirius asked.

“I’m ok. The Grandmaster did a great job patching me up. Listen, Sirius, I want to apologize for what I said last night. Things got heated and—”

Sirius stood up and faced him. “It all right. I know what you really meant. You don’t have to explain anything.”

Eric made a number of facial expressions as he tried to think of what to say. The rhythm of the conversation had been screwed up and now he was just spinning his wheels. “Oh, that reminds me. Lee still hasn’t shown up, probably still moody. The Grandmaster says he sensed him going east and left the range of his detection. He wants you to go find him. I said I would do it, but he thinks it would be better if you talked to him.”

“Yeah, I’ll head out immediately.”

After Eric departed, Sirius scarfed down his breakfast and took off with Eva wishing him luck. He shot out into the jungle, heading west. Truth be told, it would be difficult finding him. Everyone in the Sect of Silver was trained to be able to travel without leaving any footprints, and because of his arquerite necklace, Sirius couldn’t detect the presence of his soul.