Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Ruwen stood and strode into the tunnel, eager to finish this last challenge. The passageway angled steeply upward and thirty seconds later he discovered the Founders sitting in a small chamber. A dark doorway stood in the wall behind the Founders, and the previous Adepts’ glowing jars surrounding its entrance. He bowed, and Dusk motioned to the floor, so he sat and placed his jar on the ground.

“Congratulations, Adept, for reaching the seventh trial,” Dusk said. “The doorway behind us leads to the surface.”

“To see the sky again,” Thorn said. “You must survive the journey.”

“Not every Adept does,” Mist added.

The Founders paused and Ruwen nodded his understanding.

“How many Steps are there?” Dusk asked.

“None,” Ruwen answered the now familiar question.

“What is your goal?” Mist asked.

Ruwen shifted his attention to Mist. “Balance.”

“What have the Steps taught you?” Thorn asked.

Ruwen had answered “patience” the last time, but his recent experiences had imparted a new lesson.

Ruwen sighed. “Humility.”

This new answer didn’t seem to bother any of the Founders.

Dusk asked the final question, the one Ruwen had spent hours thinking about as he searched the area for trial locations these past days. “What is the most important Step?”

Originally, at the first testing, Ruwen had answered the step toward his goals, and then here, he’d told Dusk the step toward learning. That had produced disappointment in Dusk, but only because the answer had just missed her desired response.

Over and over, Ruwen had discovered that critical knowledge he needed to advance had been revealed to him in the past. The first time he’d taken a Clan test and met Pine and his grandson, clues to the hidden Step patterns had surrounded him. His breakthrough on Probability Waves had come from the first exercise Sift had taught Ruwen, the endless rotation of the punch and block of the Wheel.

With this in mind, Ruwen had returned to his earliest memories of the Steps, and to his complete amazement, found an answer at the literal beginning.

During Ruwen’s first trip to the Black Pyramid, he had accepted the offer from Madda and Padda to train in the Bamboo Viper Clan and received the Clan’s mark. Along with the mark he’d received a bunch of Step quests along with the passive area of effect spell Snake in the Grass, that allowed him to sense when a member of the Bamboo Viper Clan was near, although with Sift’s constant presence he had basically just ignored the sensation.

The very next words spoken after Ruwen had accepted the Bamboo Viper Clan mark had come from Padda and Madda.

Padda had said, “Welcome to our Clan, Ruwen, Champion of Uru.” And then, Madda had told Ruwen this: “May your Steps lead you to enlightenment.”

This revelation stunned Ruwen. The first thing anyone said to him after “welcome” had contained the answer to the question asked here, at the end.

It explained why Dusk had revealed her disappointment. Ruwen’s answer, “knowledge,” had been on the right path, but he hadn’t gone far enough. After his revelation, he realized the difference between knowledge and enlightenment mirrored the problem Rami had solved with her indexes. Knowledge, by itself, didn’t help much, and sometimes, too much of it actually hurt.

Knowledge though, when indexed and combined into information, contained great power, and Ruwen’s previous answer of knowledge had fallen one step short. Because knowledge, when combined with experience and Wisdom, produced enlightenment. The very first thing Madda had told him.

Ruwen’s chest tightened at the beauty and symmetry of Madda’s words spoken at the beginning with those he voiced now, to become a Master.

“The most important Step,” Ruwen whispered, “is taken toward enlightenment.”

Dusk closed her eyes, and a brief smile appeared. “Enlightenment,” she repeated.

The four of them sat in silence for a few heartbeats, before Dusk continued. “You are outside the realm of our experience.”

“Your grasp of Step philosophy mirrors our own,” Mist said. “You are a treasure.”

Thorn leaned forward. “Which is why I’m begging you to stand and leave.”

The statement from Thorn shocked Ruwen. Her Disposition Aura remained green, and her words held no malice or anger. They sounded genuine and almost friendly.

“Is this because I trained the Adepts?” Ruwen asked.

Thorn shook her head. “That is merely a philosophy difference, and while I feel strongly about it, my reasons for this are unrelated. Your potential, given your age and training, appears limitless, and your association with the Great Wyrm and the gods means you have a larger part to play. I don’t want to see it all destroyed here.”

“Destroyed how?” Ruwen asked.

“This is inappropriate,” Dusk whispered to her sisters.

“Thorn is right,” Mist said. “For this Adept, we can’t view him from only the Clan’s perspective.”

Thorn touched Dusk’s shoulder. “Do you honestly believe he can take the seventh Step?”

“He ascended Mount Sorrow,” Dusk replied. “Neither of you thought it possible.”

Mist gave a small bow to Dusk. “You are right. But he barely made it, and Mount Sorrow is a fraction of a fraction of what he faces now.”

“A valid point, Sister,” Dusk replied.

Mist’s comment confirmed for Ruwen that the seventh trial related to his time around Mount Sorrow. It worried him that this trial presented a greater challenge than Mount Sorrow. Because Mist was correct, he’d only just reached the top. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to at least hear the alternatives they suggested.

“What happens if I don’t attempt this trial?” Ruwen asked.

“You will lose your Bamboo Viper Clan knowledge,” Dusk replied.

“And survive,” Mist added.

Ruwen had already planned for a loss of knowledge. If the Founders succeeded in breaking through his mental defenses to strip him of Step knowledge, he planned to use Overlord to learn it again. Although losing Overlord complicated that plan. Complicated it a lot.

“It is not our place to intervene,” Dusk said to Mist. “Thorn lost her balance over his teaching methods, and your silence earned you a share of that burden.”

“Unbalanced,” Thorn said. “Because I’ve dreaded this moment since we met him. The scope of his burdens and darkness of his soul are both so profound, it is incomprehensible.”

Mist placed a hand on Dusk’s knee. “And it doesn’t end there. Suppose by some miracle, he succeeds. Judging him after such a victory here seems cruel.”

“So, judgement comes after this trial?” Ruwen asked.

The three Founders turned toward Ruwen.

Dusk shook her head and glanced at her sisters. “Look at the three of us. How unstable our footing.” She sighed. “Perhaps my sisters are right. Avoiding the seventh trial only delays the loss of your Clan knowledge, but at least you survive.”

“What about Sift?” Ruwen asked.

“He will stand in judgement as well,” Dusk replied.

Ruwen shook his head. “It sounds like the three of you have already judged Sift and I without hearing any details.”

Dusk looked sad. “What details change the fact that you, an Adept, taught another the Bamboo Grandmaster and Viper Grandmaster Step forms or that you broke your oath about using Shadow Form knowledge?”

“First, details always matter,” Ruwen said. “And second, how does any of that relate to Sift?”

“Sift is your Sisen,” Dusk said. “And responsible for your actions.”

Ruwen opened his log file and searched for Darkness Holds No Shadows. He read the entry carefully.

Darkness Holds No Shadows

You have vowed never to use the Forbidden Steps of the Shadow Form until discussing their origin, use, and costs with Madda and Padda.

Reward: +1 Knowledge.

Reward: Audience with Shadow Clan.

Restriction: Bamboo Step Rank of Master Required.

Restriction: Viper Step Rank of Master Required.

Penalty (Broken Oath): Exiled from the Bamboo Viper Step Clan.

Penalty (Broken Oath): Marked for Death by the Bamboo Viper and Shadow Step Clans.

Ruwen looked between the three Founders. “I believe the oath also included a marked for death penalty. I thought you three wanted me to live.”

Thorn nodded. “The penalties, like the rewards, only trigger if you meet the restrictions, which are the ranks of Master. If you don’t become a Master, your Step knowledge fades, including the Shadow forms, and your death isn’t necessary.”

“To spare your life,” Mist said. “We would hold the trial before the Master’s ceremony, so you never hold that rank.”

Ruwen took a deep breath and sighed. “So let me get this straight. You three don’t care about the context or details of what I did, just that I broke an oath that triggers when I hold the rank of Master and that I taught Grandmaster forms I’m not qualified to teach. Sift, because he’s my Sisen, is held to the same standard as myself. If I’m guilty, then so is he. So, if I attempt the seventh trial or if I don’t, Sift will be put on trial, and I assume with your rules, the Clan will strip him of his Step knowledge.”

“That is the most likely outcome,” Dusk whispered.

“Why even bother with all the trials, then?” Ruwen asked. “Why not hold the trial the first day?”

“Selfishness,” Thorn said. “This is a punishment none of us wish to execute, and if you failed the trials, our action would not be necessary.”

“Can’t you change the rules?” Ruwen asked.

“Without rules,” Mist said. “There is chaos.”

Dusk continued. “And what good are rules if they only apply to some?”

“I see,” Ruwen said softly.

The fact Sift faced judgement for something Ruwen had done destroyed all thoughts of skipping this trial.

Plus, he had a plan.

Ruwen stood.

Thorn looked up at Ruwen. “Please don’t. The burdens you carry are too heavy.”

“Is that true?” Ruwen asked Dusk.

“Perhaps,” Dusk said. “But the shadow you hide hints at hope. No one knows the weight of a word, or a poem, or a life realized. May the shadow guide you, Child.”

Ruwen bowed to the Founders. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

Then, with no hesitation, Ruwen strode to the entrance of the seventh trial, and stepped into shadow.