Chapter 16
“Isn’t it beautiful, Alex?”
Alex turned from gazing at the heavens glittering with a myriad of colorful stars all the hues of the rainbow to taking in the magnificent tower of marble and quartz just ahead, sparkling like diamonds under the light of the full moons.
His heart felt light and his restless soul at peace after a serene walk through the city, he and his companions having receiving nothing but warm nods and oddly hopeful looks from both workers and well-to-do citizenry as they made their way to the grand sect building serving as the city’s cultivation academy.
“Thank you for your service!” The phrase had warmed Alex’s heart to hear.
Eyes so filled with warmth and unguarded hope had met his own, conveying in no uncertain terms just how clearly the average citizen sensed their city’s peril and hoped for a miracle and who weren’t above giving thanks to those people willing to fight for that miracle.
It was a grace that somehow served to comfort old, bitter scars in his psyche for traumas long forgotten, save in the recesses of his soul.
Because Alex was forced to accept that on some level, after countless incarnations where the unsung hero who had striven so hard for a righteous path only to be scorned and mocked and reviled by the very people he had fought so hard to rescue, his soul had turned hard and bitter.
Even if he now understood that so many of those individuals so filled with spite for their ancient hero were all too often a reflection of bitter, jealous gods above.
Or perhaps innocent pawns infected by Cards of Fate they couldn’t even fathom twisting about their lives, playing them like marionettes in a game as grotesque as it was awesome.
Yet the gentle words of grace and gratitude he heard now brought an unexpected lump to his throat as old wounds were finally soothed.
To know that he was respected, valued, and appreciated, however far removed it truly was from the bitter perils of days long past. Yet still, it was enough.
Enough to bring tears to his eyes. Enough to allow ancient spiritual scars to be soothed and comforted with the innocent smile of a hopeful child waving at him from her mother’s arms.
And somehow, a choked-up Alex knew, if this weren’t his final life, the solace he felt right now, walking gently along pristine brownstone blocks as smooth as any idealized Roman road of a lifetime ago, with the stars shining overhead and two beautiful women happy to walk by his side, this memory might be the solace a later version of himself might need to abstain from striding down certain dark paths he was increasingly certain had been his own, at least one time in three.
Far better to embrace lives where he would serve as a bastion of mercy, not a final arbiter of darkest wrath and vengeance, knowing all too well that both of those facets were as much WiFu’s as his own.
Both of them marked by pain for their hearts to bleed for countless souls suffering as they once had.
Both of them marked by pain sufficient to set the world ablaze with their wrath.
And the paths they sometimes walked… Well, there was a reason tales of the Fox and General were said with such hushed, guarded whispers and too many furtive glances from those who had even the tiniest inkling of who he and his mentor might be.
Because when their blood ran hot… the world burned.
He shivered and pulled away from unwanted memory, flashes of joy and pain flickering ever more across his soul.
He suspected his increasing memories of lives not entirely his own was because he had, in fact, come back thrice so far, in this final tale, without any cognitive wipe at all.
For a certain caretaker of the endless river’s souls had withdrawn the mercy of forgetfulness in retribution for the painful lessons he had instilled upon her vile monster of a grandson.
At that moment, lost in awed wonder as he gazed upon the magnificent edifice of marble and shimmering quartz before him, he couldn’t help but wonder if something other than spite had motivated that ancient caretaker of reborn souls.
Perhaps she, too, bled for the endless torment that had been her most spiteful grandchild’s chosen path for far, far too long.
Maybe even she would acknowledge that Shalu had more than earned his scars.
Perhaps Alex truly was a pawn in a game whose serpentine intrigues and maneuvers had been evolving for literal eons, and her ire with his daring was the perfect pretext to remove the veil of forgetfulness that had both soothed his soul and blocked him from the bittersweet lessons extending over who knew how many lifetimes.
Perhaps it was time to remember.
Perhaps it was time to become a force to be reckoned with.
Far more terrible than anything that had ever come before.
Or perhaps he was reading into things far too deeply, and Grandmother Yi Wang simply wanted him to suffer, as did nearly every other vindictive asshole at that divine table.
“Alex?”
He winced at the unexpected fear he heard in Rachel’s soft, husky voice.
He quickly shook away the dark thoughts that had almost overtaken him. Almost overtaken his pristine mood that had brought him a sense of peace that was almost transcendent.
So he answered the shadows of ancient memories allowed to lie like sleeping dragons with a gentle chuckle, the golden peals of warmth and hope putting to rest so many unrequited dreams.
Because here in the smiling promise of two young women before him, two girls he would honor as the friends and companions he was grateful to have, was all the hope and joy and appreciation he had craved for countless lifetimes.
Because he knew that all he had to do was reveal his heart to these girls, and all his dreams and desires would be fulfilled.
Yet that was a line he wouldn’t cross. Not just because of mores adopted since his first incarnation and always embraced, but because his heart had already been given to another.
Two others. One of whom awoke the fires of passion like the most glorious of summer storms. As for the other…
He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat, seeing so clearly the beaming features of the first woman he had ever married in any world, right before a spite-filled Shalu had slammed down a Card of Bitter Fruits, consigning his spouses and progeny to suffering and hardship over countless lifetimes.
Perhaps the only reason why so very few people in the world bore any trace of his features at all.
Yet a few did. Because even with that monster’s spite, he and WiFu had still found ways of sheltering that which was most precious to their hearts, and all the descendants he found would now live peaceful lives in a once tiny pocket realm where they were embraced and accepted.
A world seed that had already grown to the size of ancient Earth.
A world that was his own, with a magnificent palace filled with magical wonders befitting any Jade emperor or fledgling deity.
“Alex, what are you thinking?” Lini peered up at him with a curious look, a blush coming to her dusky features.
Alex chuckled. “Nothing at all, kung fu sister. Just feeling grateful to have friends I can count on.”
Lini smiled and squeezed his hand. And if she leaned into him a bit closer than he thought appropriate for someone her age, he wouldn’t embarrass her here in public, amongst a handful of other traders and cultivators still clearing their meridians and wearing similar light gray robes, all of them waiting to be allowed admittance into the grand edifice before them.
Especially not while under the careful regard of a pair of white-robed cultivators radiating the strength of experienced Bronze, both with bright smiles upon their faces as they quickly made their way through the line of those patiently waiting their turn to personally escort Alex and his companions through the grand arched doorway, heedless of the grumbles and glares Alex could now hear at their back.
“Why is the Autumn sect being treated this way? We have every right to be here, as our elders agreed!”
“Of course, honored cultivator. We but follow protocol.”
“Why? Because Spring won a single duel? We trounced you fools for three years running. This edifice is ours in all but name, and the delve as well! And we never put Ruidians before honest cultivators when we were organizing the delves!”
“And that might explain the lack of Water cores,” sniped a jaded voice behind the loudest complainer.
“What? How dare you accuse Autumn of incompetence! I should challenge you right now!”
“You will do no such thing, honored cultivator,” said the less-than-amused guardian overseeing the line.
“If you cannot show the basic discipline expected of all those who dare the delves, then you may leave.”
Alex couldn’t help but crack a smile as the teasing wind whispered the angry murmurs of those behind them, explaining, perhaps, the concentration of Bronze when normally one would expect far more aspirants in the meridian-cleansing stage to be waiting in lines.
They weren’t students returning to the sect academy after a day in the city.
They were warriors in their own right, looking to dare the rifts.
And Alex supposed it made sense. With countless overlapping pocket realms allowing for unlimited numbers of parties to enter, it behooved the city to have everyone who could endure the buildup of Waste Qi delving for as long as they safely could.