Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 13

[Author’s Note – Once again I am posting chapters without rereading them. So there are likely mistakes.]

Chapter 13

Ruwen imagined a red light at the base of his spine. Harmony already provided a connection to the ground below him, but no matter what he tried he couldn’t get the red light to become part of that connection.

After ten minutes, Ruwen realized he was an idiot. Why did he need to use a red light to imagine where his Root chakra was located. He knew a place where he’d caught sight of his chakras in the past.

Ruwen appeared at the very edge of Purgatory, the area that served as a buffer between his inner and outer mind. He turned and glanced back at the distant mountain covered in red trees and the golden bamboo grove that surrounded its base.

Instead of heading that direction and talking with the twenty-nine golden warriors that protected this place, Ruwen faced forward and peered over the edge of Purgatory and into the black depths.

Ten seconds later, Ruwen could make out the faint clumps of denseness that ran up his body in a line. He concentrated on the most distant one, coloring it red to make it easier to see.

Then, using Harmony, Ruwen gently pulled upward on the simple harmonies that filled the earth below his physical body. Cautiously, he touched the harmonies to his red colored Root chakra.

The harmonies slid off the chakra but the contact revealed an immense tension that had remained hidden. Now that Ruwen knew what to look for he found that pressure existed up the entire line of chakras.

Ruwen had known this stress existed but had never possessed a mechanism to sense it. It resulted from the imbalance between all the related magics. He’d created a “magic wheel” in his mind to conceptualize how everything related. Chakras existed opposite from the Soul and his interaction with the Zealot’s purified Soul energy had pushed Ruwen’s Soul to level four.

To the left of chakras on the “magic wheel” was what Ruwen called blood magic. In the Destruction Realm he’d vastly increased his blood power with the opening of four arrays and twenty-five nodes. This helped to create an immense imbalance on the left side of the wheel.

At the top right of the magic wheel sat Conceptual magic or what the Nexus faction called Psionics. Ruwen knew now this magic originated in the Creation Realm and tapped into emotions, connections, and relationships. This was another neglected magic for him but had improved a little because he’d utilized the concept of luck when making his luck potions.

Once Ruwen understood the role of Harmony between all these magics, he’d known neglecting any of them would eventually create problems with his internal balance. He hadn’t noticed it yet while using Harmony, but he’d also recently learned he remained at level zero in Harmony. That likely meant that his skill was too poor to notice the imbalance. In fact, if he did notice the imbalance with Harmony, it probably meant fixing it was too late.

For the first time Ruwen had a way to quantify the stress on his chakra magic system, and it looked and felt ready to snap or shatter. His luck had probably just stopped a catastrophe as he’d ignorantly slapped the earth harmonies against his Root chakra. That was like pushing a stick into an overfilled ballon.

Gripping the earth harmonies Ruwen brought them close to the Root chakra but carefully avoided any contact. He hoped the harmonies would act like a flame thawing a frozen block. The tension contained an energy of its own, and it acted as a barrier, forcing most of the harmonic energy to bypass the chakra.

Mindful of the tension, Ruwen hummed the middle “C” as Pine had done. Ruwen’s Root chakra immediately responded, trying to match the tone. It’s vibrations increased the tension across all his chakras and he winced.

Despite the danger, Ruwen continued his virtually inaudible humming. The Root chakra vibrated in harmony with the humming and tiny waves appeared across the chakra’s surface.

This time when Ruwen brought the earth harmonies close to the Root chakra it had an effect. The chakra, already in motion from his humming, incorporated the nearby earth harmonies which resonated strongly with the chakra.

Ruwen’s Root chakra slowly absorbed the vibrations. While his humming softened up the outside, it was the earth harmonies that did all the work. They slowly crept deeper and deeper, gaining more resonance with every passing moment.

Minutes passed but eventually the Root chakra was shaken out of its dormant slumber and Ruwen no longer needed to imagine the red color. His Root chakra now gave off its own reddish glow, and warmth spread outward reaching all the way to Purgatory.

Ruwen sensed the sudden shift across his chakras as his Root released a portion of its tension. The liberated stress erupted outward with surprising energy and he felt warm blood as a section of his back vaporized.

To Ruwen’s immense relief the sudden change in tension didn’t cause any damage to his other chakras. Such a sudden change could have caused the entire system to snap and break.

Ruwen’s natural regeneration had already fixed the damage to his body, and Scrub cleaned the blood from his shirt, pants, and surrounding ground.

When Ruwen opened his eyes, and found Pine staring at him, mouth open.

“Did you just Activate your Root?” Pine asked, still clearly shocked.

Ruwen checked his Activation quest and confirmed it now said two of eight.

“Yes,” Ruwen replied simply.

“How did you do that so quickly?”

“It was like you said,” Ruwen replied. “All my Step training made the Root chakra easier.”

“But you still needed to find the chakra, sense the earth, and connect them.”

Ruwen considered revealing he could see his chakras and that Harmony gave him a huge advantage when it came to connecting to physical things like the earth. Pine had wanted him to sense the earth’s strength, durability, and patience but with Harmony Ruwen latched onto those harmonies, and hundreds of others that made the ground here unique.

“I don’t think the rest of my chakras will go this smoothly,” Ruwen said. “The more abstract the concept the harder it will be for me.”

Pine shook his head. “Regardless, what you just did is unheard of. If I hadn’t detected your dormant chakra before we started, I’d be convinced you lied about its state. Why did you get injured though?”

Once again Ruwen struggled with how much to say. Not so much because of secrecy—he trusted Pine. It related to how complicated he’d become and with Pine’s lack of knowledge everything would need explaining. Perhaps in the future Ruwen would provide all the details, but for now, it made sense to keep it simple.

“I contain a magical tension,” Ruwen said, “and when there’s a shift in power, some of the stress is released.”

Pine looked concerned. “The blood is gone from the ground behind you now, but it looked serious. Our lore has no records of anything like that.”

“I kind of have a unique set of issues, so that doesn’t surprise me.”

Pine bowed from his sitting position. “I’m thrice humbled.” He sat up and met Ruwen’s eyes. “When we first met it was your perfected Bamboo Viper Steps. Then when Ash returned and explained what had occurred your bravery and unselfishness. Now, you Activated a chakra quicker than it took to explain the process.”

Ruwen suppressed the urge to argue about his “perfected” Steps. When Pine met Ruwen he still had a massive amount to learn. Although perhaps Pine couldn’t tell the difference. It was like when Hamma showed Ruwen two colors that looked identical to him even though they had different names. Everyone had limits. Plus, anyone would have saved a kid surrounded by huge snakes. And now with the chakras, that only worked out because of all the advantages he’d gained over the years.

Instead, Ruwen returned the bow. He’d learned from the thousands of Narrators inside his mind that though him a god, that it was nearly impossible to change peoples’ minds about things once they’d latched onto an idea.

“You honor me with such praise, Brother Pine. Perhaps you should give more credit to your teaching.”

Pine laughed. “I wish. If that were true Ash would’ve Awakened all his chakras. Instead, he spent all his time protecting this old man.”

Ruwen detected the worry in Pine’s voice.

“Ash is fine. I know that because Echo would’ve returned if she couldn’t find him or if something bad had occurred. Now that I think about it, he is most certainly not fine. I’m guessing Echo has bruised every muscle on that boy’s body by now.”

Pine grinned and visibly relaxed. “That’s true. I’m so thankful she’s here to help him.”

Ruwen nodded but kept his response to himself, because he was just as thankful Ash needed Echo to be here. That boy would be a lifeline for Echo’s sanity and give her the time she needed to cope with the terrible events that filled her life.

“What happens with my Root chakra now?” Ruwen asked. “How do I get it to Awaken?”

“That’s a longer process,” Pine replied, then laughed. “Although maybe not for you.” He turned serious again. “The path to Awakening your Root chakra involves fully confronting and embracing your fears. It also requires mastery of your body—learning to listen to your instincts without letting them dominate you.”

“The Bamboo Viper Steps,” Ruwen said.

“Yes, they are perfect for the physical portion. When you understand your fears and have accepted them, you can attempt to Awaken your Root. The final step requires you to release your fears. To let them pass through you. An Awakened Root chakra provides an unshakable foundation. Fear remains but is unable to gain purchase.”

Ruwen’s skin prickled. He had a lot of fears.

“Since you made such quick progress, I want to briefly explain the other chakras. I don’t want to slow your training because you had a breakthrough and I’m not around. Let’s talk about the Sacral.”