Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Ruwen stood in a small circle with five other peak Diamond experts of the Bamboo Viper Steps.

Around them, a larger hundred-foot circle, formed by a flattened mountain top. The atmosphere this high instantly froze a person’s breath, although breathing the oxygen poor air would kill a normal person in minutes.

No one considered the six here normal, however.

The surrounding mountains blocked much of the wind, and what did reach them, had lost most of its ferociousness.

Somewhere in the nearby peaks, viewing rooms had been carved from the granite, protecting the observers from the wind and cold, and filled with rich, lowland air. It kept them safe not only from the elements, but from the destructive forces that the impending fight would generate.

Ruwen knew Sift and the other Adepts watched from these rooms. Here to witness Ruwen fight for not only his future in the Clan, but Sift’s as well.

Padda handed Madda a red gem attached to a short leather band. She took the gem and stepped up to Ruwen. She still had the frown she’d worn since learning of this match. Her worry and anger radiated from her like only a mother could produce.

Ruwen bent down as Madda reached up, fastening the necklace around his neck.

“Foolish, Child,” Madda muttered, probably without realizing it.

“Thank you, Madda,” Ruwen whispered.

Madda jerked hard on the leather strap around Ruwen’s neck, either to make sure she had fastened it tightly, or to express her displeasure with him, or maybe for both.

Padda remained silent and handed Madda a green gem with an identical strap. She moved to Mist and, far more gently, attached it around the Founder’s neck. The process repeated for Thorn and Dusk.

All six of them wore traditional attire, the heavy white cotton snapping anytime a gust of wind struck them. Ruwen wore his brown belt, and everyone else had black. Only Dusk’s belt appeared plain, the other black belts had ten stripes, signifying how many of the ten ranks they’d achieved as a Grandmaster. Green stripes for Bamboo Grandmasters and red ones for Viper.

Madda stepped back to her place on Ruwen’s right and nodded at Padda, who waited on Ruwen’s left side.

Padda broke the silence. “Grandmaster Adda and I will oversee this match. No Spirit, Mana, or Energy based spells or abilities are allowed. If thrown from the ring, you have ten seconds to return. Any longer, and your gem is forfeited to the competing side. The match will conclude when any of the following conditions are met. All competitors on a side are killed, disqualified, or lose their gems. Any questions?”

Ruwen looked at the edge of the hundred-foot circle they stood on. “How far is that fall?”

Padda pointed to the narrow path that disappeared from the edge of the mountain top. “The portal we arrived through is connected to the village. It means your Bamboo Jacket of Falling will activate and stop the fall from killing you. We are well over thirty-thousand feet high, so from this height, with your jacket’s protection, it will take over three hours to reach the bottom.”

A few minutes ago, Ruwen had stepped through the portal stone in the village onto what he considered a far too small platform on this mountain’s sheer side. They had climbed twenty feet of narrow path to reach this spot.

“Thanks,” Ruwen said, as he contemplated a three-hour fall.

“Don’t fall off,” Madda said.

Ruwen nodded at her. “Good advice.”

Ruwen didn’t think they’d chosen this location because of his fear of heights. When Gem level fighters battled, the resulting pressure waves held incredible danger for anyone not Fortified. Plus, this high, the air barely existed, making the resulting pressure waves even less hazardous. Objectively, it was a great place for near god like figures to fight.

A three-hour fall.

“It is not too late to reconsider,” Dusk offered. “We do not need to take this path.”

“Exactly,” Thorn agreed. “Your cleverness has found two solutions that provide balance.”

“Three months is a breath,” Mist added.

Ruwen bowed to the Founders, humbled by their concern for him. They didn’t want to lose him or Sift and waiting three months provided a much easier route to that outcome. He wished the circumstances of his life allowed for that time. Sitting here on the beach and relaxing for three months sounded fantastic.

Except Ruwen had collected far more burdens than this situation, and most of them waited impatiently for him back home. The five experts surrounding him contained a wealth of experience and wisdom that dwarfed his seventeen years. He understood why they thought him young, rash, and immature for taking this course.

Ruwen couldn’t argue against his youth, rashness, or even probably his immaturity, but the Addas and Founders had only seen a fraction of his skills. Since the night in the underwater safehouse, as Kysandra warned him of the consequences instructing Sift might cause, he had planned for this very moment. He had known this scenario would almost certainly occur and had worked obsessively to destroy any weaknesses in his Steps.

Ruwen didn’t stand on this mountain desperate and afraid. He stood as a man on the cusp of divinity. One who had faced gods, traveled the Universe, and walked the Third Secret. What the Founders didn’t know, was while they felt sorry for him, and expected this fight to end in seconds, he had embraced a destiny far greater than this moment. The weight of that fate crushed the last fragments of doubt.

The Scarecrow Aspect kept Ruwen constantly in the second meditation, and he slid into the third, preparing for the imminent combat. He realized he had nothing left to give this level, as his mind had become dead calm.

Balance within balance nested in balance, the perfection of the physical Steps and their philosophical meanings wrapped Ruwen like sunshine, and like a volcano he erupted with joy.

The three Founders bowed to Ruwen and took three steps backward. Madda and Padda moved to the edges of the ring. The match would begin in moments, and he entered the hyper focused state the Probability Wave recognition required.

A ripple of panic crossed the ocean of Ruwen’s thoughts. Something had changed, and the world around him felt different. He immediately recognized it originated from his newly balanced internal and external states.

Now that Ruwen had attained a balanced soul, he realized Probability Waves were the tip of a massive mountain, hidden behind the enormous imbalance he’d carried. Never had he felt more connected to the present, and his immediate surroundings.

The three Founders stood in front of Ruwen generating constant Probability Waves he couldn’t see, but felt as they passed over the balance of his inner soul. Their intentions created small waves, and as Thorn moved forward, he noted her movements made large waves.

But the waves were an aftereffect of what had really occurred, because as Thorn moved, Ruwen had felt the unevenness the change created on his surroundings. He moved to balance the disruption Thorn had created, bringing the world back into harmony.

Ruwen lifted his right foot four inches to avoid Singing Leaf, rotated his hips twenty degrees to counter Angry Sea, and gently brushed Thorn’s strike away with his right forearm. He lowered his foot and stood with his back to Thorn, connected to her, her sisters, the Addas, the wind, the ground, everything.

Understanding rushed through Ruwen and he felt the emotions as a brief roiling of the calm sea around him.

The Steps had never been for fighting or self-defense or to find meaning. Even saying they were meant for balance understated their purpose.

The Steps guided a person to a mental and physical state that connected them with their environment, created harmony with the present, and complete unity with the world.

As Mist joined Thorn, Ruwen casually shifted his position to offset each of the disturbances they created. When only using Probability Waves it was possible to goad someone into a trap by faking intent. In this new state, Ruwen sensed the false actions, but without an accompanying disturbance, he could safely ignore them.

Dusk entered the fight.