Path of Dragons-Chapter 68Book 9: : Stillness

Instinct is an interesting concept. Most of the time, it functions as it’s meant to, running in the background to ensure a person’s survival. Other times, it drives a man forward into an elemental storm before which most sane people would flee. Not as some ephemeral survival mechanism, but rather, because it is convinced that what that person needs can only be found amidst such life-and-death struggle.

Such was the case with Elijah.

He was well aware that plunging ahead into the Elemental Maelstrom had been a bad idea. Every rational thought screamed that reality into his mind. He should have turned back, but his instincts had driven him forward. They weren’t deterred by logic or pain. Every second of agony had served to cement his resolve, spurring him forward with implacable and undeniable determination.

Or at least that had been the case until he could go no further. That was when he’d imbibed the potion he’d taken from Breeze. Biggle had identified it as a healing potion, and one with an incredible degree of efficacy. Still, Elijah was briefly shocked by the surge of vitality that came on the heels of its consumption. It flooded his body, mending damage even more quickly than his trio of healing spells.

What’s more, it was an ongoing effect. According to Biggle, it would last no more than five minutes, but in that time, Elijah hoped to gain ground on the concept of stillness that he’d been working so hard to achieve.

So, he sank within himself, bringing his ethera to a halt. His body went lax, and he collapsed. Limp and lifeless, he didn’t resist as the swirl of wind-driven ethera picked him up and sent him tumbling across the terrain. He never went far before an errant gust changed his direction, but he completely ceded control to the elements.

They ripped him to pieces even more fiercely than ever before.

Fire burned his skin while razor-sharp wind peeled his flesh from his bones. Water, ice, and sand pelted him, and ethera suffused his entire body.

He ignored it all.

Pain was his long-tenured and nearly constant companion. He’d embraced it long ago, and not as some evidence of masochism. Rather, he knew it was inevitable. Without it, advancement was impossible. There were no gains without significant sacrifice. The days when he could attain anything worthwhile without putting himself through the wringer were long past.

That was just how the world worked.

He’d only truly embraced it in his quest for a bronze body, but even before that, he’d subconsciously accepted that reality. Even so, he felt every burn. He experienced every single cut. He couldn’t isolate himself from the torment that came with being skinned alive by elemental forces.

The only solace was that the potion did its work, keeping him alive even if it did nothing for the pain.

Elijah was well aware that there were alchemical concoctions – cultivation potions, they were called – that could numb the body against such conditions. But he felt that doing so would cheapen the experience and harm the result.

And Elijah had no interest in doing things halfway.

With that in mind, he sank into himself, stilling his mind before halting the ethera in his body. It was an odd feeling, and the calm within contrasted perfectly with the storm raging outside.

Elijah still didn’t know the way forward. He’d progressed to the point where he could hold his ethera dormant for days at a time. However, with the potion steadily ticking down, he knew he didn’t have much longer before he would be forced to heal himself.

Or die, ripped to shreds by the Elemental Maelstrom.

Even the two glyphs he’d received were insufficient to protect him. Aegis of the Elements helped, but Elijah suspected that it would need a couple of evolutions if he wanted it to be capable of shielding him against such potent effects. ＲÅŊȯᛒЁṦ

Panic set in, but he shoved it aside so he could focus on the task at hand.

It wasn’t enough to simply achieve stillness. He knew that from the guides. But that was where their advice ended. As one progressed through the stages of cultivation, the process became increasingly personalized. And with Elijah’s case, that was truer than with most others.

He was a Druid without a mentor. A dragon without a heritage. A man who, only a handful of years before, had no concept of ethera or cultivation. He should never have made it as far as he had. But now, he found his way blocked by a wall formed from his own ignorance.

He battered at it with stillness, opening the apertures of his mind to drink in the dense ethera of the maelstrom. He filled himself to bursting, and in doing so, he came to a realization. It wasn’t just the amount of ethera he could hold, but rather, the quality as well. And with that density came an epiphany.

Suddenly, he felt the inefficiencies inherent in the system of channels he’d so arduously carved. He knew he didn’t have time to fix it. Nor was that the purpose of his current step. Instead, the next stage of soul cultivation was about control. So, he pushed those notions aside, filing them away for later.

He continued to pull ethera in, but with nowhere to go, it pushed him closer to an explosion that he would not survive. All the while, his body was ripped apart and tossed around.

It was only when the vitality from his potion began to wane that yet another realization dawned. Latching onto it, he embraced the ability he’d unlocked via the last stage of soul cultivation and extended his essence outside of his body. The second he did, spirit-deep pain scorched its way through him as those bits of his soul frayed before the elemental might of the storm.

But Elijah pushed through the pain, constantly shoving more of his soul into the maestrom. It was a stark contrast to the stillness within, though one he couldn’t appreciate amidst the agony.

Then, something snapped.

For a split second, he couldn’t hold the ethera within, and it exploded from him in an eruption of dense energy. His branching soul flowed with it, reaching dozens of feet in every direction. In that brief instant, he knew peace. The power of the storm receded, and he hung suspended in mid-air.

Stolen novel; please report.

True stillness.

Within and without.

It shattered after only a second, and the backlash very nearly sent him spiraling into unconsciousness. Without his recent advances in levels and body cultivation, he probably would have succumbed. However, he barely managed to hang on, and in doing so, he realized precisely what he needed to do.

It wasn’t just about stillness.

Instead, a duality was necessary. On the one hand, he needed to flood himself with ethera, then funnel it outward into the extensions of his soul. But on the other hand, he needed to enforce quiescence via the sheer power of his soul.

Elijah poured himself into the effort, using his previous experiences – and extensive training – to enforce his will. He dragged ethera through the apertures of his mind, then shoved it through the channels of his soul. But he didn’t stop at the limits of his own body. He kept going, once again spreading those conduits outward until they surrounded him like an ethereal root system.

It formed a perfect sphere, inside of which he could feel everything. The maelstrom attempted to rip it to pieces, but so long as he continued to pour ethera into it, it maintained its integrity.

Gradually, those channels solidified.

And in doing so, the focus of Elijah’s will grew wider. At first, it only extended a couple of inches from his body, but with every passing second, it expanded until it encompassed the entire web of ethereal channels surrounding him.

He fell, slamming into the ground with enough force to shatter the terrain for dozens of feet in every direction.

But he felt nothing of it. Instead, he could only marvel at the peace he’d instilled all around him. No wind. No fire. No water or hunks of rock. The ethera remained perfectly still, inside his body and in a sphere stretching a dozen feet into the environment.

In some ways, it felt like a domain, but with far more control. The locus surrounding his grove was focused on information. He knew everything within that domain, intimately and at all times. This was different, though. It didn’t give him the same breadth of information, but what it lacked in that arena, it more than made up for in control.

Right now, the only expression of that control was holding the ethera around him perfectly still, but he sensed that as he expanded his soul cultivation, that would change. But for now, it required every ounce of focus he possessed to keep it in place.

Still, it was the only thing keeping him alive, because the potion had long since run its course. The lack left his body ravaged, but he completely ignored it. Instead, he kept his attention – all available facets of his mind – on maintaining the aura of stillness. He kept it going for hours. Then days.

Anywhere else, and he likely would have desaturated the atmosphere of its ethera. However, the maelstrom was like an infinite battery that fueled his cultivation like nothing else could. Even the grove’s ethera was finite. The urgency provided by the Elemental Maelstrom was even more important. Without it, he never would have figured it all out.

Even now, Elijah struggled to maintain focus, especially with how ravaged his body had become.

Yet, he did just that, and as the days passed, he felt his branching soul solidify. The process was slow, but thanks to his Regeneration, the pain in his body slowly receded. Then, after another week, he felt it all coalesce.

He didn’t need the notification to know that he’d reached his goal, but he acknowledged it anyway:

Congratulations! Your Soul has reached the Expert Stage.

It only required a subtle flick of his mind to extend the branches of his soul into the sphere, and from there, it was no effort at all to flex his will and still the ethera all around him. He did so, marveling at the bubble of silence amidst the raging storm.

He sat up, feeling every single one of his half-healed injuries. Finally, he put his Expert soul to the test, maintaining the bubble while casting Blessing of the Grove. And to his immense relief, it worked. Soothing rain fell upon his ragged body even as vitality coursed through him.

He knew he couldn’t escape the consequences of his actions. He’d been reckless, and his body had paid the price. Doubtless, he would add a few scars to his collection. However, he was more worried about the fact that, once again, he’d lost his hair. Not even his beard had survived being scoured by the Elemental Maelstrom.

Fortunately, with the advancement of his soul came the ability to cast his spells even more quickly than ever. He used that to flood his body with life-giving vitality that healed his wounds.

Never did the bubble of stillness waver.

Suddenly, something appeared before him. Elijah didn’t have a chance to react before an image flickered to life in front of him. And that image – as distorted as it was – exerted so much pressure that his bubble completely shattered. Thankfully, the Elemental Maelstrom was held at bay by an alien force that extended much further than Elijah could sense.

Not that he could focus on that. The backlash that came with his ruptured bubble was enough to occupy every facet of his mind. Only after a few seconds did he get it under control.

That was when he recognized his visitor.

“Kirlissa.”

“Child,” said his adopted mother. She was just as beautiful as ever, though her projection was so diffuse that he could see right through it. Even her presence was weaker than ever.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It is no easy feat to bypass the system and project even a portion of my soul into a Primal Realm,” she said. “There are many safeguards meant to maintain the integrity of these spaces and prevent outside interference.”

“But not enough to keep you out.”

She smiled down at him. “Just so.”

“Why are you here?” he asked. She raised a single, perfectly arched eyebrow. “Not that I don’t appreciate your visits, but…well, you usually don’t stop by unless there’s something to say.”

She laughed, a sound like falling coins. “You know me well, as befits a son. I have visited for two reasons. The first is to merely congratulate you on your accomplishment. Reaching the fourth tier of soul cultivation is no easy feat. Even in the Empire of Scale, it is an event worthy of celebration. Alas, as much as you deserve commemoration, a true festival is impossible.”

He shrugged. “Suppose we’ll have to make up for it when I reach the Empire of Scale.”

“Just so. However, I would not be here if that was the extent of your accomplishment. I expected great things from you, and you have not disappointed. Defeating a Primal Realm alone is a triumph worthy of renown. Doing so at your level is entirely unheard-of. Yet, you followed that up with something even more impressive.”

Elijah narrowed his eyes.

She continued, “You have manifested a mantle of authority.”

“What? You mean my bubble of stillness?”

She nodded.

“I thought that was what everyone did to advance to Expert,” he said.

Once again, she let out a tinkling laugh. “No, my child. Far from it. Most do not develop a mantle until the sixth stage. Even the most talented among us struggle to manifest their authority by the fifth. Yet, you did so a stage earlier. That accomplishment is all but unique.” She stepped forward and sat before him. “The moment I sensed you, I knew you were special.” She reached out to rest her hand on his cheek. The contact sent bolts of ethera through him. “Even then, I might have underestimated you. Know that when you reach the Empire of Scale, you will have my full attention.”

“Uh…is that a good thing?”

Her answer was another joyful laugh. Her image flickered. “Be ready.”

Then, without another word, she disappeared. The lack of her presence removed the protection of her mantle, and suddenly, Elijah once again fell under the assault of the Elemental Maelstrom. However, this time, it only took an instant for him to extend his mantle of authority and still the buffeting elements.

He sat there for a long time, just pondering Kirlissa’s visit. He’d long known that he was talented when it came to cultivation, but to hear her tell it, his natural proclivities far exceeded mere talent.

Not that it mattered in the short term. He’d accomplished his goal, and now he needed to return to Oscar and the pack so they could complete the Primal Realm.

With that, he pushed himself to his feet and began the journey back to the cave where he’d left them.

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