Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

They arrived amidst the ruins of a city. Ruwen dismissed the portal and followed Echo down a rubble filled street. Massive stone structures loomed around them, ancient buildings that had partially collapsed centuries or millennia ago. The architecture didn’t look consistent, but maybe the differences represented various periods where this city had prospered.

Now that they were deep inside a powerful dungeon it didn’t surprise Ruwen that his Spirit based magic was suppressed. Stone Echo and Sixth Sense didn’t return anything and Survey only displayed the most basic map functions.

What surprised and concerned Ruwen was the fact all his other magic was also limited. He could push past the resistance to Harmony and Soul power but it took effort and he had the sense even that small victory could be ripped away if the dungeon focused on him.

“You take us to the nicest places,” Sift said stepping over a pillar that had shattered across the street.

"This city has been here for a long time,” Echo said, her voice subdued. “Before civilizations existed. Before a lot of things. If you hear voices, ignore them.”

Sift stopped. “Voices?”

Echo didn’t wait and Sift was forced to move again or risk getting left behind.

“Voices?” Sift asked again. “What kind of voices?”

“Not sure. They mostly bother Ash. They don’t speak to me much. I don’t think they’re friendly.”

They continued in silence, the sound of their footsteps muffled in the dense air. The grey sky provided even light but contained nothing else. At the edge of Ruwen’s hearing he detected dripping water, but the area they were in now had no foliage at all. These ruins felt heavy with age and secrets.

Ten minutes later, Echo stopped abruptly and then strode quickly down a smaller street to their left. Three minutes later a clear area appeared, likely an old park, between two collapsed buildings. A young man moved through the Bamboo Viper Steps. He was totally engrossed in the forms and didn’t detect them as they approached.

Ruwen studied Pine’s grandson. He’d saved this boy by throwing him through the final boundary during the Journeyman Trial. Boy didn’t fit the man Ruwen saw now. The kid he remembered had been much smaller and younger looking. Earth did move faster than Grave which made the people here age a little faster in comparison. Still, something else must be at play, and Ruwen guessed it related to chakras.

Ash looked to be around Ruwen and Sift's age, with dark hair and the lean, efficient build of a natural fighter. He wore a simple white training gi, and his feet were bare against the stone. Ruwen studied Ash’s movements.

The forms were excellent by a Master’s standards—better than any of the students at the Master’s Trial, excluding Sift and Echo of course. Ash’s transitions flowed smoothly, power and grace in harmony. As Echo had mentioned, she’d fixed the worst mistakes, but dozens of small issues revealed themselves with every movement.

Ash moved from the Viper Steps into the Bamboo forms, but Ruwen had seen enough. He already knew Ash’s problem.

Every movement was technically sound but forced. Ash understood the surface aspects of the Steps but hadn't internalized their deeper truth. He moved like someone following a recipe rather than someone who understood why the ingredients worked together.

Echo made a small sound and Ash stopped mid-form. He turned, saw them, and immediately bowed.

"Sisen," Ash said to Echo. “I didn’t expect you to return so quickly.”

Echo didn’t respond and Ash glanced at Ruwen and Sift. His eyes widened and he muttered “Golden Superman,” after studying Sift. Then Ash’s gaze locked with Ruwen’s.

Ruwen had changed since his time in the Journeyman Trial. He’d entered that trial during the war for New Eiru which felt like a lifetime ago. His experiences had aged him and considering all the time compression he’d experienced he was well over a hundred years old.

What had really changed Ruwen’s features had been the transformation he’d undergone in the Destruction Realm when he’d resurrected with the body of a Saraph. Some of those changes had carried over to his human form, making him taller and more striking. It was for these reasons it took Ash a couple of heart beats to realize who Ruwen was.

Ash fell to his knees and bowed. He tried to speak but it took three attempts before words came out. “Thank you. You saved me. I owe you my life.”

“Get in line,” Echo said. “He saves everyone.”

Sift didn’t make a joke or complain about how he never got credit for saving Ruwen. That surprised Ruwen and Sift noticed.

“He means it,” Sift whispered so lightly one needed Divine Perception to hear it.

“Please don’t do that,” Ruwen said. “We’re all equals here, Brother Ash.”

Ash stood gracefully and extended a fist, resting an open palm on top before bowing deeply. “You honor me, Grandmasters.”

"Sijun," Echo said, "these are the two I spoke of. They represent the best of our Step Clan. They're here to evaluate your progress."

For the first time Ruwen detected the flow of chakra energy in Ash. A small pulse of Solar Plexus energy kept Ash’s heartrate steady and bolstered his confidence in the face of an evaluation.

The chakra use had happened naturally, no different than a surge of adrenaline. Ruwen guessed he’d barely recognized the mastery Ash exerted over his chakras.

"I'm honored," Ash said formally. " Grandmaster Echo has worked tirelessly to correct my forms."

"Your forms are excellent," Ruwen agreed, walking closer. "Show me the transition from Catching Fireflies to Bamboo Bends."

Ash performed the requested sequence, the minute tensions that rippled through the entire form were only noticeable by the three Grandmasters.

Ash finished the eighth requested transition when Sift sighed.

Ruwen glanced over at his best friend.

Sift spoke to Ruwen directly using Party Chat. “You figured that out? From the five seconds we saw walking in here?”

Ruwen flashed a grin at Sift before turning his attention to Ash and instructing him to meditate on his performance.

That Sift had recognized the issue with Ash in less than ten transitions and then used party Chat and not spoken out loud demonstrated two amazing things. First, Sift’s depth of understanding in the Bamboo Viper Steps, and second, the recognition of Ruwen’s true purpose. Both of those things made him incredibly proud of Sift.

“It took you long enough,” Ruwen told Sift in Chat. “Did you have your eyes closed half the time?”

“Ha ha,” Sift responded. “You fooled me with all the Viper sequences you had him do. That’s when I realized you wanted Echo to figure this out, so you’re not making it obvious. Your brain is unhealthily convoluted.”

“Do you even know what convoluted means?”

“Yeah, your brain.”

“Says the zombie.”

Sift didn’t respond and Ruwen glanced at him. Sift grinned widely and tossed one of the black jellybeans in his mouth. It was obvious he enjoyed the candy.

Ruwen’s Cleverness attribute triggered and shifted his perspective on the events that had brought them here. Like pieces of a puzzle another reality clicked perfectly into place.

Echo had come to Ruwen to ask for help, and her anxiety and reluctance was obvious to anyone. She was like a kettle full of boiling water and steam. Sift had remained impossibly quiet, the way only a god could manage. Yet when Ruwen had brought up everyone’s feelings about Echo and that she was welcome Sift had inexplicably whispered a response.

Gem tier hearing could easily pickup such sound, something Sift knew. Why?

Sift had distracted Ruwen as well at the time but now he replayed the memory but kept his focus on Echo.

Ruwen didn’t have access to all his magical senses when viewing memories, but his Perception easily picked up the intense feelings his words had caused in Echo. For years Ruwen and his friends had been enemies, and then hostile competitors. Echo’s massive breakthrough during the Master’s Trial didn’t happen that long ago. Certainly not long enough to deal with all those previous feelings. Her parents deaths, powerful loneliness, and cognitive dissonance surrounding her current situation was too much for anyone to handle.

As that pressure peaked inside Echo, the results of which would be unpredictable, Sift had spoken. Spoken at exactly the right moment. And suddenly all that pressure in Echo had an outlet. A controlled, if not exactly safe, release of dangerous emotions.

Sift ate another black jellybean, not hiding his enjoyment. Hamma and Lylan had guarded that pile of candy like mother hens, yet they both happily gave Sift all the black ones. They believed Sift hated that flavor when that was obviously wrong. It meant he’d convinced them earlier about his dislike, and they’d used that to punish his crazy behavior.

But it wasn’t crazy at all. He’d manipulated everyone to get the best result out of each situation. Ruwen couldn’t wrap his head around it. Could Sift have orchestrated that entire sequence with such ridiculous behavior?

Sift strode toward Echo but stopped as he came up beside Ruwen. He put a hand on Ruwen’s shoulder and leaned close.

“Blue raspberry,” Sift whispered earnestly. “I think my fish’s name is blue raspberry.”

Sift continued toward Echo and Ash leaving Ruwen dumbfounded and confused.

Ruwen didn’t have anyone else to ask so he bothered the only person who might have the answer but more importantly wouldn’t ask him why he needed the information.

Lir, what is blue raspberry?

It is an artificial flavor popular here. It most closely resembles a taste that combines pineapple, banana, and cherries.

Ruwen tilted his head back and stared into the cloudless grey sky. He pinched the bridge of his nose and forced himself to ask the question. Does something called jello have such a flavor?

Yes.

Had Sift effortlessly guided the entire sequence of events to arrive at this outcome or did he really believe he had a fish named blue raspberry. That Ruwen couldn’t decide with certainty between those two options pointed to an uncomfortable possibility. One he’d considered multiple times in the past but now took seriously.

Had Sift already mastered a game Ruwen only now suspected might exist?