24: The Reaper's Gift

“Do we really need to go so far for this? I feel like you’re being a little paranoid, Vir,” said Maiya, shivering against the cool desert’s chill. The sun had set minutes ago, painting the sky with a bright blue hue, and already, the temperature had plummeted.

Vir held her hand and pulled her along. “It’ll all make sense soon. We’re almost there.”

The two had journeyed a half hour on Bumpy to the small oasis south of Riyan’s abode.

While Maiya hadn’t been back here since she’d mapped the place with Vir, he’d visited the desert pond each night over the past week without fail.

He’d of course checked out on the roster—no need to repeat the tragedy of when he’d first snuck out of the abode. Riyan, for his part, didn’t seem to care so long as the two diligently challenged his draconian course from dawn until dusk… Or until they suffered an injury, which happened with alarming frequency these days.

Their endless hours in Riyan’s dome of horrors and subsequent massages left them both sore and exhausted, but Vir’s days never ended there.

For that was when his real training began. Each night, he trained for hours at their ‘spot’ on top of the abode, though he’d upgraded his half finger gloves for thicker wool ones that kept his fingers warm, courtesy of Riyan.

Because of this intense regimen, he resembled a walking corpse. His only luxury was soaking in Riyan’s grotto pool in the wee hours of the morning, after he’d returned from his nighttime practice sessions.

He did all of this alone, of course. Maiya had been keeping a reasonable schedule, as usual.

She’d peppered him with questions about what he was doing, but when that didn’t work, she even tried to tail him in secret. Unfortunately for her, Maiya’s stealth skills were downright abysmal. Vir always caught on and—usually after a long argument—sent her back, huffing.

It wasn’t long after he’d begun dealing noticeable damage to the tree that he’d taken his training elsewhere. The nearest trees lay at the oasis—now dubbed Maiya’s Oasis—and he needed trees for his training. Lots of them, ideally.

The oasis was perfect. Except that Maiya would be sad if she ever discovered how he’d desecrated her ‘spot’.

Unfortunately for her, the only other place he knew with trees was the Godshollow, and that was simply too far away to be practical.

The trees had at least served him well. He progressed rapidly with his chakram arts, channeling his memory of when Reaper Ekanai had possessed his body. He still didn’t know why or how that worked, but was thankful for it nonetheless.

Vir brought Maiya to an area of the oasis where the coconut trees had several hundred cuts a piece. It looked like some terrible Ash Beast had waged a minor war with the palm trees.

“What in the realm!? What kind of beast did this?” Maiya asked, aghast.

Her friend laughed sheepishly. “Not exactly a beast… Watch this.”

Vir removed the chakris that he’d worn as bracelets, as well as the chakrams around his neck.

Taking a great breath, he lunged into motion, throwing the bladed disks in all directions.

He jumped and launched a chakri from between his legs. He dove into a roll and threw two chakrams in quick succession—mid-roll. He lunged into the air and hurled chakris in opposite directions at trees on his left and right.

Vir came to a stop in front of Maiya, his hands on his hips. He wore a smug smile.

And why wouldn’t he? Every single disk he launched found its target. Every chakram and chakri was lodged within a tree trunk.

“H-how!?” Maiya choked out, forgetting to be angry with him. “It’s only been a week since Riyan gave you those? How is this possible?”

“You know how I’ve been tired all these days? It’s because of this,” Vir said, gesturing to the trees. “I’ve been coming out here to practice. Every single night.”

“That’s… well, I guess I suspected something like that. But even then! You can’t get this good in just a week, Vir! It took Riyan years to master his arts. And he probably had Sawai nobility tutoring him. This should be impossible! Like, impossible impossible! What in Vera’s name did you do!?”

“Uh… If you’re shocked at that, hold on to your pants,” he said, pointing to the nearest chakri lodged in the palm tree’s trunk.

“What?” Maiya asked, confused.

“Walk up to that chakram for me, would you?” He said, desperately trying to keep the smirk off of his face.

Maiya huffed, failing to understand what he was getting at, but she complied anyway. She walked right up to the chakram and stood under it.

“Happy?” She said with her hands on her hips.

“Okay, now walk up to the chakri on the next tree.”

She did so and slowly began to understand. She walked to the third, and then the fourth disk.

“Impossible. This is impossible! Who—what—are you, Vir?”

Every single disk was embedded at exactly the same height. Maiya’s height.

For the first time ever, Vir saw her look at him in a way that she’d never done before. With fear.

Shame immediately rippled through his body.

“I’m sorry, Maiya. Didn’t mean to frighten you! Just thought I’d show off, is all.”

“Vir?” She asked, staying several steps away from him.

“I’m me, Maiya! I promise. You’re overreacting.”

Okay, maybe she wasn’t overreacting. He had just shown her skills he shouldn’t rightly have. It made sense that his friend remained skeptical.

“Okay, look. I’ll admit I’ve been keeping some secrets from you. So I think it’s time I came clean,” he said, sitting down next to the oasis pond, patting the dirt next to him. “I promise I won’t bite!”

Maiya hesitated for a moment before sitting next to him, huddling her knees together for warmth.

Vir began with the strange things he’d experienced in the Godshollow. He explained how Reaper Ekanai had possessed him back then, and how his eyesight had changed. She knew about his theory that he could see prana, of course, but he hadn’t said a word about his investigation into its secrets after she’d dismissed his idea as nonsense.

He reiterated his theory that he could see prana, and that he’d all but confirmed it at this point. He told her about the black prana within him, and how it didn’t exist anywhere else.

“That’s… I dunno what to say, Vir. It goes against everything the mejai know and preach,” Maiya said, tapping her chin. “But I don’t doubt you. If you say you can see prana, then I’ll believe you.”

“I can. I just can’t explain these extra affinities that nobody seems to know about. It’s almost as if the mejai don’t want people to know about these three other ones.”

“Shadow, Earth, and… black, right?” Maiya said. “Earth, I can understand. In fact, it is a bit weird that we don’t have an Earth affinity, given that there’s wind, water, and ice. It’d make sense for it to exist.”

“Right. I have some ideas about that, but I don’t want to say anything until I’ve confirmed them. The other two are a complete mystery to me.”

“You said that Shadow affinity only shows up inside shadows, right?”

Vir nodded. “Yeah. It’s a little weird, since shadows aren’t really a real thing. But the weirdest one is the one that’s in my body,” he said, looking at his hand.

“I think you should be happy, Vir. Even if it’s a little different, this means that you do have an affinity after all!”

“I guess,” Vir said. “But if there aren’t any orbs for this affinity, it might as well be useless, right? And it’s not like I can use utility orbs, either.”

“Have you thought about telling Riyan?” Maiya asked with obvious hesitation.

“No challing way! I don’t think we should tell anyone about this. I feel like this is a big deal, Maiya. At least, that’s my hunch. I just need to keep experimenting to see if I can find some use for this affinity that’s in me.”

Maiya leaned against his shoulder. “I’m sure you will. Thanks for telling me all of this, Vir.”

“S-sure. To be honest, I thought you’d be peeved about your trees.”

“Honestly? I’m so shocked, I don’t think I have any room left to be angry. What you’ve accomplished is incredible, Vir…” She said sadly. “If only I could be half as amazing.”

“U-uh, there’s one more thing,” he said, eager to move the conversation away from that topic.

He finally told her about the encounter he’d had with the wolf that night.

“I don’t believe this. You almost died and you never even told me!?” Maiya shrieked, bolting upright.

“I mean, I got Riyan to treat my wounds. Wasn’t like I was in any real danger, especially with Ekanai’s help. I didn’t want you to worry, is all,” he said, immediately regretting his words.

“And you thought I’d be happy if you told me a week later!? What if you hadn’t been possessed by that spirit thing? What if the wolf tore your throat open? I can’t believe you, Vir! I thought we were closer than that. I-I thought you’d trust me with something like this! You know I tell you everything, right? Anything and everything!”

“I’m sorry, Maiya,” he said, averting his eyes. “I should’ve come clean. Just that… I wanted to surprise you, is all. I wanted to see the look on your face. Didn’t expect you’d be scared of me.”

Maiya reached over and grasped his hand. “Sorry. That was—I shouldn’t have said that. That was insensitive of me. You’ve put in all of this hard work… And I had no idea what you’d been through. But still, I wish you’d told me, Vir.”

“I know, Maiya. I promise I won’t keep a secret like this again. Definitely my fault,” he said. “Believe it or not, I’m still nowhere as good as he was. My memories are more like… a set of vivid instructions. I have to practice a lot to get even close to what the Reaper could do. And if I don’t practice the skills immediately, my memories fade. That’s what happened back at the Godshollow. It’s like I’m always fighting through this haze that gets thicker if I don’t give everything I have to push it back.”

“Hmmm. But, possession? That’s heavy,” she said. “You think this has anything to do with the four armed giant? You think this is why he was protecting you?”

“I dunno,” Maiya,” he said, subconsciously touching the tattoo on his chest. “When Reaper Ekanai took over, he said something to the wolf. ‘The Akh Nara sends his regards.’ Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

Maiya frowned. “Akh Nara… Akh Nara,” she muttered. “No. Never heard of anything like that. But it sounds old. Like something you’d hear in my dad’s tales from the Age of Gods.”

“Hmm. I wish someone had some answers,” Vir said. “Just feels like everything I learn only makes me more confused.”

Maiya held his hand, but remained silent. There was little she could say that would console him, and she hated saying empty words.

“You think Rudvik would be proud of me, Maiya? If he could see me right now, I mean.”

Maiya leaned over and hugged him. “I’m sure of it, Vir. Absolutely badrakkin’ sure.”

The two sat there for another half hour, admiring the stars’ reflections in the pond before they both grew cold.

“We should head back,” Maiya said quietly.

Vir nodded. “Think you could keep all this a secret from Riyan?”

Maiya tilted her head. “Sure, but why? Isn’t he going to find out the next time you fight?”

“If we do need to escape from him, it’s better to have some surprises up our sleeves. I want every advantage I can get against that man, just in case.”

Maiya nodded, catching on. “Tthe more we hide our abilities, the more cards we’ll have to play. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. He’s done so much for us, Vir. I only hope his request is reasonable. But… do you really think we can win against him if it comes to that?”

Vir frowned. “Maybe not today. But after we’ve mastered what he has to teach us? Possibly. I’d also prefer it if things never came to that. Without him, I’d be locked up in a Hiranyan jail, or worse. Just wish he’d tell us what he wants out of us.”

“Well, first we gotta survive that obstacle course of his,” Maiya quipped, turning to him with a pained expression. “Vir, I’m worried about this. That course he’s set up is really really dangerous. I dunno if we should stay.”

Vir squeezed her hand. “I don’t think he expects you to complete the course. And I’ll guide you through the hard parts. You’ll be fine, Maiya. I promise.”

“And what about you?” She said, tears welling up in her hazel eyes. “Who’s going to protect you, Vir? I wish you’d think about yourself a little more. I couldn’t bear it if you got injured, or worse.”

“Thanks Maiya,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be careful, I promise. Not like I enjoy getting hurt, either. We’ll take it slow and steady. Doesn’t matter if Riyan complains about our progress. It’s better than losing an arm or something.”

“Okay. Good,” Maiya said as she tried to blink back her tears.

“And Maiya?”

“Yeah, Vir?”

“Thanks. For everything.”

With great reluctance, the two returned to Bumpy and headed back to their home. Neither knew how to feel about the place anymore. On the one hand, it was warm and secure, and the hot spring grotto felt like a marvel from the Age of Gods.

But Riyan’s Dome of Horrors negated all of those benefits. Vir really didn’t know how long they’d last before one of them met with a grievous injury. Maiya was right to fear.

He only hoped Riyan’s life orbs were up to the task…