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  He might be diminished now, but Sao Ban could see that he was on the way to regaining his previous power. And if the visions Vardun Con Aroch had written down were right, he would only keep growing and even surpassing his previous power.

  The woman on the other hand was a far different story. Her golden hair was pulled back in an elaborate bun at the back of her head, and she wore an easy smile that cheered up the entire room. But something nagged at Sao Ban—he had watched many mortals over many years, and he could see the tightness in her actions even though none of the others could. Her fate was closely tied to that of the Eternal Soul, and in most of the futures she was always at her side.

  He had brought the three together, but something was not right, and he couldn’t put his finger on what. There was a distance between them, and a certain look in the golden-haired woman’s eyes every time her sight fell on the warrior from another world and the Eternal Soul. But there was nothing that he could do now, not without taking the time to study the journal and come up with an appropriate plan.

  Ban slowly made his way across the room and then disappeared in one of the many servant’s corridors. As soon as he was out of sight, he made a gash in the space in front of him and stepped through to the upper plane. In the end, he could do nothing but trust that his actions hadn’t altered the future he was trying to bring too much.

  CHAPTER ONE

  VIN

  Present

  Kai Zhao Vin was kneeling behind a small rock, and looked on to the pass in the mountains filled with firelight. He was almost invisible in the darkness of the night, but still, he took care to remain hidden—the Lashian sentries were everywhere in these mountains, and he did not want to be discovered. Before him was a large wooden gate, with sentry towers and soldiers keeping guard. The gate was closed for the night, and would only be opened in the morning when the haulers and transport carts resumed their work carrying the stone from a nearby mine up into the mountains. Whatever the construction was, the Lashians had invested much in it, enough that a small town had risen just a little way from the pass. The miners all lived there now, and the Lashians were keeping the security at an extremely high level. Very few people were allowed through the pass, and the cart drivers were heavily escorted by both soldiers and mages. It was known that the actual construction workforce had their own camps beyond the pass and they were not allowed to come back down the mountain. No one knew what the Lashians were building, and so people had many wild theories, ranging from a new palace for the Emperor, to a secret academy for mages, to some even more outlandish theories.

  Vin wondered what the common people of the Lashian Empire would think if they knew the truth. Vin knew what it was that the Lashians were building, even though he had not yet managed to actually see the construction itself. He didn’t need to; he could feel the presence of Arashan mages deep in the mountains, and more importantly the presence of Xiang Hao Ming-Li: a spirit artist just like him, a woman who betrayed her own people and joined the side of the Arashan and their god alongside with Xhao Wa Lei. Two people who had once been spirit artists of Orb, who defended their world against the Arashan. Until they had lost, and the two of them switched sides. It had been more than five years since Vin last encountered Ming-Li in the city of Tourran, when she had followed after Vin in his escape from Orb and unsuspected arrival on this world, where he fought against her and nearly lost. He would’ve have died had he not had the help of Kyarra Con Aroch, or the Eternal Soul, as she was known on this world: a mage whose soul was bound to a cycle of reincarnation, and who possessed a powerful weapon that people of this world called fragments of power.

  But Ming-Li’s presence here, along that of the Arashan mages convinced Vin that he had finally found the place where the Lashian Empire was building the World Gate: a gate which, once finished, would connect to its twin which had been built on Vin’s homeworld, Orb. Vin knew only a little about how that magic worked, and what he did know he had gleaned from the survivors of the Golden Lion Clan—the ones who had built the gate for the Arashan on Orb. The gates were complicated workings which needed great skill and care to be constructed correctly, and they required an enormous amount of power, which would be provided by the Arashan on their side. Vin only knew that establishing a connection between worlds was hard and that it would take a long time before they could get the gates to remain connected permanently. The first opening would be the shortest, long enough for an army to pass through, but not enough to get through the numbers that Vin knew the Arashan had.

  This was one of the reasons why Vin’s people had managed to hold on for so long. The advantage the Arashan held over the spirit artists of Orb had always been their numbers. That their mages couldn’t use magic on Orb, although they had managed to get around that later by bringing with them their anima-wells, had greatly slowed down their advances. Vin was not a person to lament his past mistakes, but he knew that if they had pushed harder in the beginning of the Arashan invasion, if they had managed to reach the World Gate and destroy it, they would’ve won. Instead, his world was now part of the Arashan Host.

  Slowly, carefully, Vin pulled back the sensory net that he had spread over the mountain, taking care not to disturb Ming-Li, or any of the many mages. Vin had regained much of his former power, even though he had walked a different path than the one he had in his original body. He had carved a new Way, one that he alone had created: the Way of the Soaring Blades. His ascent on the Path had been quick compared to that on his home world; but this world—Enosia—was far different than Orb. His home had very little ambient aura that a spirit artist could absorb and convert to ki, but here, everything was drowning in that ambient aura. He had a neverending supply of aura to absorb and cultivate into ki.

  In five years, Vin had managed to reach the sixth step of the Path, just one step away from where he once was. But the seventh step was not like the others—there was a reason why so few people in the history of Orb had ever managed to reach it. The seventh step required more than just enormous amounts of ki.

  As his thin threads of ki slowly returned to his body, Vin released a breath and ducked lower behind the rock. He had been trying to find a way through the pass and into the mountains for days now, but there was no other way inside but the fortified gate, which was always guarded and impossible for him to get through without being noticed. There were spells, or wards as the mages called them, put in place to prevent anyone from passing through without a small stone—a ward key—which allowed for people to pass through without the alarm being triggered. He had attempted to acquire one such stone, but was unsuccessful, and in the end he had abandoned that approach. Even if Vin had a ward key, he would not be able to get through unnoticed. The mages checked everyone who passed through and they would most certainly notice that he was not like anyone else. A spirit artist had a unique presence to their mage-sights, one that did not exist on this world.

  Fighting his way through would not be advisable either. He was certain that he could get through the gate, fight the hundreds of soldiers and dozens of mages stationed there. The problem was deeper in the mountains. His sensory net had allowed him to discover the exact numbers at the construction site. He couldn’t discern between the ordinary non-mage soldiers and the workers, but there were thousands of non-powered people out there. They were not a large issue if they alone had been what was standing between him and the gate—he would’ve already fought his way through and destroyed it. It was Ming-Li and the mages that worried him. There were four Arashan mages; them he could recognize everywhere by the small thread of power that connected them with their god. But there were also another hundred mages of varying power stationed there, as well.

  Enosian mages were not as powerful as those of the Arashan, and Vin knew well how to fight mages. With him now being on the sixth step of the Path, they did not pose much danger to him. A single spirit artist of the sixth step could take on dozens of mages by themselves, or at least they were able to do so on Orb. Here
, however, the mages would be more dangerous because of the abundant aura—or ambient anima, as they called it. Regardless, the Enosian mages were not as powerful as the Arashan ones, and for his part Vin was not just any spirit artist. He was confident that he would’ve been able to defeat them all.

  The problem was Ming-Li, who had reached the sixth step of the Path herself. She knew him, knew what a spirit artist could do. Under her guidance, the mages and soldiers would become a much greater threat. His net had allowed him to sense her level of power, and he knew that she had reached the peak of the sixth step, although she hadn’t even attempted the necessary preparations to take the seventh, which came as no surprise to Vin. Few even on Orb had ever achieved that step, only the best of the best, the most talented had managed to realize what that step required. And Ming-Li was no prodigy—the only reason she had achieved the sixth step at all was because she was on Enosia.

  Still, if it was only her, Vin might’ve considered attacking. He would’ve probably lost his life, but there would be a chance that he would be able to destroy the gate and kill the Arashan. The last obstacle to his plans was a single person, an ordinary man—a man that carried a fragment of power, just like Kyarra. Vin didn’t know much about what kind of weapon he possessed, but he knew that those that carried fragments of power were always dangerous. The Arashan had people like that as well, their elites, their commanders, and they had always been the most difficult to defeat.

  Without knowing what kind of power the bearer of the fragment held, the risk became too high even for someone like Vin.

  Vin cursed silently from his hiding place behind a rock in the deep shadows. He had spent years traveling through the vast Lashian Empire, an unfamiliar land with strange people. It had been a shock, seeing wonders unlike anything that his world had. The Lashian Empire on its own was as large as his entire world. Vin had known that his world was small compared to Enosia, but this alone had made him truly understand how stark the difference was. Yet for all of their size, the sheer amount of people, the world of Enosia did not compare to Orb. How could it? They were all so small, living their lives in such limited means. On Orb, every person strived to become a spirit artist, to walk the Path. Here, their goal in life was simply to survive. In many ways, Vin had pitied them as he had walked among them, learning their language, their customs, all while searching for the gate. And now, when he had finally found it, he couldn’t act. To take down the gate would require one thing that he didn’t have: an army.

  Thinking on that made him remember, and a sharp pain stabbed through his heart. So many years had passed, but the pain wasn’t any lesser for it. Quickly he pushed it away, not allowing himself to dwell on it, and then started making his way down the mountain. He kept to the shadow, his Bending technique ensuring that shadow always covered him and that he was not seen by any of the many patrols and guard posts on the slope.

  Finally he found his way back to the town that had sprung up at the base of the mountain, and he made his way through the streets, keeping his hood up and avoiding people. He walked straight to a wide wooden two-story building that was near the center of the town.

  He entered and was immediately assaulted by the warmth of the fire, as well as a mixture of smells, the pleasant scents of the food being prepared in the kitchen battling the stench of sweat from the miners sitting around the tables. Vin walked among the tables, making sure to remain unnoticed. Quickly he found the table he was looking for near the back of the common room.

  “Finally,” one of the two other occupants of the table said as Vin lowered himself on the bench. Jirross Hurr, a pale faced man of close to middle age, his dark brown hair streaked with gray made him look older than he really was.

  “Did you find anything?” the woman next to him asked. Teressa Hurr, Jirross’s sister, looked much like the other man did with her brown hair and pale skin, except that she was several years younger.

  “No,” Vin answered as he sat down and removed his cloak, revealing the Lashian Empire soldier’s uniform he was wearing just like the two across of him did.

  Teressa grimaced and her brother simply shook his head. “Now what?” Jirross asked.

  Vin didn’t answer. He himself was still struggling to figure that out. He had been trying to find a way past the gate for two days now, with no luck. The truth was that even if he managed to get past it, he had no idea what to do after. The three of them could not destroy the gate.

  “I don’t think we can remain here much longer,” Teressa whispered as she leaned closer over the table. “It’s been days since we arrived, and soon some of the soldiers will notice that they haven’t seen us on any patrols or guard duties. We can’t remain undetected forever.”

  Vin turned his eyes around the room, seeing the miners and off-duty soldiers sitting around the tables eating and drinking. A few of the tables filled with soldiers cast glances at them, but Vin didn’t think that they had figured things out just yet, for now they were just suspicious. This town was a secret, no one that came here was allowed to leave. The only reason that they had managed to infiltrate it was because a group of new soldiers had arrived into the town recently, and the three of them had just walked in at night a day after they did. There weren’t really many questions, anyone who didn’t recognize them assumed that they were just a part of the new group, and the new group didn’t know anyone who was stationed here. But Vin had always known that they wouldn’t be able to keep their identities a secret for long. Teressa was right, they were close to being found out.

  “We are leaving,” Vin said finally.

  “What?” Jirross asked surprised. “I thought that you wanted to destroy this gate of yours.”

  “The construction site is too guarded, there is no hope of us infiltrating it, let alone destroying the gate.”

  Teressa tilted her head as she studied him. “So you are abandoning your quest to stop these invaders?”

  Vin shook his head. “We know its location now, perhaps that will be enough to convince people.”

  Jirross gave him a look that told him exactly how unlikely that was, but he didn’t argue. The two of them were mercenaries, after all—they worked for him. “When do we leave?”

  “Now, get your things we are going back to Revor.”

  * * * *

  A week after they left the construction town, the three of them prepared their camp and watered their horses. At their current pace they still had about a week left before they reached the port town where they had a transport secured. Like he did every night, Vin settled into a cross-legged sitting position and turned his attention inward. Slowly, he felt into his core and began to turn the ki within. The sixth step of the Path required him to create two separate parts of his core: an inner and an outer one. The inner core was smaller and resided inside the outer one—the size of a marble, it was where he pushed and compressed his ki, refined it into its purest form. The outer core was the size of a fist. The ki there was still compressed, but not to the degree of his inner core. It was where he converted ambient aura into ki and refined it, and where the initial compression took place. The best time for him to cycle was at night, when shadow aura was abundant and strong. He began turning the ki in his outer core in a circle, grinding it against the inner core as he pulled in more and more aura from around himself and pushed it against the ki already inside of his core. He had truly massive reserves of power now, mush greater than what he had on Orb, even at the peak of his power when he had been on the seventh step of the Path. But one’s amount of ki did not make one more powerful by itself—there was more to it.

  When he had taken the third step of the Path for the second time, here on Enosia, Vin had decided to craft for himself a body that could take advantage of the many advantages that an aura-filled world contained. He created a mix of a sensory and a sponge body. He created a net of conduits inside of himself, ones which could pull in aura from his surroundings and funnel it through his ki channels into his core. It made him capab
le of devouring truly massive amounts of aura constantly. It also allowed him to send out tiny threads of his own ki beyond his body through these conduits, which allowed him to scan his surroundings, to sense changes in aura and see with his mind. But it allowed him something else as well. He could attach these threads to ki constructs, and control them with his power alone.

  This capability had become the core of his new Way, and Vin had done much to expand on his capabilities. In many ways he considered himself more powerful now that he had ever been. His control had grown beyond anything that any spirit artist had ever achieved. His power was different now than it used to be; the Way of the Heavenly Crashing Lightning that he used to follow was powerful beyond measure, one of the most powerful Ways his world had ever produced. It relied on lightning-fast movement and reactions. With lightning ki surging through his body, Vin had been a true terror on the battlefield, faster than anyone else. It was nearly impossible for any other spirit artist to react fast enough to stop his spear.

  Now, Vin was slower, but he sensed so much more. He could feel the tiniest disruptions in his surroundings, could sense any attack coming the moment it began. He could read even the most minuscule ki, or anima, as the natives of this world called it. Even in the non-powered people, the ones with such meager supplies that they didn’t even realize that they had it, as all life did.

  He might not be as fast as he used to be, but he felt confident that he could react just as quickly—not by having lightning-fast reflexes, but by being able to see any attack coming.