Chapter 244 - A Truth

Nate slid beneath the water's surface. His barrier kept the water at bay as he formed it to the contours of his body. Conceptual Runic Mastery allowed him to create a rune of Water Shaping to control his position within the sea beneath the city of Pinoreth. This close to the city there were only small fish, the largest no bigger than his forearm. Clearly they were using the cover of the wooden walkways above to protect themselves from aerial predators, while larger fish likely avoided the area due to the Calikex themselves.

Stretching away into the distance, the watery wonderland was alight with colours. Corals and anemone of every conceivable hue filled the space and Nate judged the water couldn’t be more than six metres deep. Nate was no stranger to the ocean, having grown up not far from coastal Australia. But the visibility of the calmer waters beneath Pinoreth were the sort of thing he might have expected from places like the Great Barrier Reef and he wondered if this is how that great Australian landmark would have looked before he had been born. 

Next to him, waiting impatiently, was Elder Jin’Kahn. Unlike himself, she was not protected from the water as she floated beneath the small swell above. Beneath the surface her hair took on an even more tentacle-like appearance and seemed to undulate, holding her in position.

Nate motioned for her to take the lead and with a nod the Elder began to drift away from the city. Controlling the water around him with his rune, Nate matched her pace as Frick swam nearby in his goblin shark form. As they moved away from the city, they moved from shadow to the sunlit waters. On the surface floated smaller fishing boats. Nate could sense some Calikex diving into the waters in search of clams and the like. He even noted a few of their classes. All were variations of fisherman or diver and he noted that only one of the twenty or so he checked had a perfect Embodiment.

The reef itself seemed to stretch quite a distance from the bay, but before long they veered right, moving out perpendicular to the cliffs where the Sky Wardens had made their temple and even now Kiri was likely ‘training’ their Disciples. Nate smirked a little at the thought since Kiri’s idea of training probably involved trying to poke small holes in the Calikex rather than actually teaching them form. Her Path, he mused, was a far more instinctual one than his own, which was far more methodical.

He continued to consider the differences between himself and Kiri as they swam over a kilometre out to sea in silence. The ocean’s depth hadn’t changed much the entire time but Nate hadn’t been idle, using his farsight sphere of awareness all around himself to check for threats or areas of interest. Maybe even Dungeons, though to be honest he wasn’t keen to do another one any time soon. That searching was how he knew where they were headed long before they reached it. Almost two kilometres from the coast, as Nate estimated it, yawned a wide trench where the reef simply dropped off. The trench was wider than he could sense for now, the other side beyond his current farsight sphere of awareness’s maximum distance.

As they moved to the edge of the trench, Jin’Kahn motioned down. Nate gave a nod in understanding and began to sink, keeping Jin’Kahn in his sphere. The deeper they dropped the more pressure increased and Nate spun up a second rune, this one using Wind and Power to press back against the mounting pressure. Before long they had drifted beyond the reach of the light above and the darkness closed in. With his farsight sphere of awareness Nate could detect the things that lurked out there in the darkness of the trench. Octopus-like beasts hunted blind fish who travelled in small pods like packs of wolves, hunting together for smaller cephalopods. The levels of the beasts were close to the Dark Ligan, in the low two hundreds. Notably, they all seemed to instinctively avoid Jin’Kahn.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nate sensed the bottom of the trench and within it, a number of bubble-like buildings that rested against the ocean floor. Jin’Kahn drifted towards one of them and Nate followed, sensing the doorway and seeing the light within. Around the Depths Walker Temples was a graveyard of fish and bottom feeder skeletons, with crab shells and bones bleached white by water, time, and probably microbes. The living denizens of the trench seemed to avoid the area and Nate could understand why if the Depths Walkers hunted the area with prejudice.

Drifting through the doorway, Nate felt the bubble that kept out the water pass over his barrier and then he was standing within an airy antechamber, decorated with corals and seaweed that drifted in a fabricated breeze rather than water. While Nate was utterly dry, Jin’Kahn was soaked to the bones and the Elder spent a moment using a water Spell to dry herself before glancing at him.

“As expected of an Ascendant,” she commented. “Most when coming this deep need a moment to acclimate to the changes in pressure unless they have Skills to do so. Adaptable indeed. Please follow me, Ascendant Nate.”

Frick drifted in behind them as Jin’Kahn spoke and wordlessly shifted back into a small, blue goblin, flashing a toothy smile that still looked shark-like.

As they walked, Nate noted how empty the temple was. His farsight sphere of awareness could easily encapsulate the totality of the Temple and within it Nate counted less than a hundred individuals. There were another four that Nate suspected were Elders, the rest seeming to be Disciples. Even among the Disciples there were clear divides, with some giving advice or training other Disciples, many of the ones being taught on the younger side. Nate noted there was only one Calikex he would have considered a child, the rest being in their late teenage years or older.

Jin’Kahn led him towards an expansive room with a dome-like ceiling that seemed to be the preferred shape of the Temple's various sections. Like in Ra’Paki’s home, the Elders here sat on cushions in a semicircle facing towards him. There were no doors except one within the Temple and the separations between one room and another seemed to be strings of seaweed wrapped with small bones, pearls or other treasures of the deep.

As Nate entered the room, the Elders stood as one and bowed formally. Nate mirrored them, unsure of the proper etiquette and opting for imitation. The show of respect seemed to surprise a couple of the Elders but they recovered quickly.

“We welcome the Ascendant Nate to the Temple of the Depths Walkers. May we find our exchange fruitful under the watchful gaze of The Guide,” intoned one of the Elders.

Introductions ensued before the discussion began in earnest. While Nate waited for the pleasantries to end, he inspected the four other Elders and the room they were in. Like Jin’Kahn they possessed perfect Embodiments, but they were all of different natures. Seeking, Hiding, Hunting, and Guarding compared with Jin’Kahn’s Lurking. The only other things of interest were that the eldest of the Elders, the man's hair completely white, was not a Mythic Class Holder. He was the one who possessed the Guarding Embodiment and Nate filed that tidbit away for future consideration. The Seeking Elder was also not a Mythic.

As for the room, a stone facade at the back had caught his interest. There was a liquid feel to the stone, as though it was water pretending to be stone. Whatever lay beyond the door was also hidden from his senses. He suspected he could brute force the lock if necessary, especially if he used his Divine Sigil for Open in the rune, but Reciprocity whispered a warning at the mere thought of doing so. It wasn’t a clear no, he felt, but more of a ‘be careful and do not damage it in the process’. Apparently looking was permissible, but touching might not be.

With his assessment done, he let his full attention return to the Elders before him. 

“Where would you like to start, Ascendant Nate?” inquired the Hunting Elder. “Perhaps you could give your thoughts on our own Paths?”

The woman's voice was eager and Nate supposed he could understand why. Given her Mythic Class, it was feasible that the woman might be able to achieve Divinity at her next Class evolution, even if it was over thirty levels away and would put the woman at level two-hundred-and-forty.

“I think I would have more insight into your Paths if I understood your Divine Artifact and how you use it,” Nate explained. “The Heart of the Sea, you call it? This somehow lets you skip a tier during a Class Evolution. This is not something I was aware was possible and without seeing how you accomplish this feat, I cannot say with confidence that any insight I have into your Paths and Classes would be worthwhile. I could simply share my own experiences, and how I ‘Ascended,’ but they would not be relevant to the Calikex, let alone your Temple.”

A couple of the Elders nodded appreciatively at his honesty while one frowned, clearly suspecting foul play. Jin’Kahn, however, cut through any discussions.

“As promised as part of our payment, we will happily show you our Divine Artifact. However, we ask that you do not touch it.”

Nate nodded his understanding and stood to follow the Elders through the not-stone liquid doorway. Keys were produced in the form of shells and it took three of them to make the wall flow apart into the room that lay beyond them.

The moment the doorway opened, Nate felt the idea of Reality change. No longer was he standing in the air, surrounded by stone. Instead he was submerged in the darkest of depths, water pressing in around him with the feeling of a threat that lay beyond. Within the dark, something waited.

Nate’s focus came back and he stared at the large, black and blue pearl that was the size of his head, sitting on a plinth with fine, blue silk cradling it. No runes or enchanting seemed to flow along the inside of the room and it took him a moment to figure out what the Calikex had done before it made sense why the room was sealed. Embedded in the walls were bones, all clearly taken from the same creature, and within that mythic material was a sense of protection, like a baby within the womb.

“What do you call the method you use within the walls?” Nate asked curiously, not able to hold back before Reciprocity reared its head in warning.

Quickly he held up his hand before someone could answer, “I will give your Disciples one hour of advice and help in whatever form I can for the answer. Or something else of equal value.”

Reciprocity quieted and he sighed in relief.

“It was the work of Elder Bin’Tong. He was a famous formation master and one of our Temple’s first Elders, from a time before The Guide,” answered Elder Hunting.

“A formation,” Nate mused, his thoughts considering the implications. He could see how the structure could almost function as a naturally occurring enchantment, using the affinity of the bones themselves, though there must have been something else involved to guide the Intent.

With his question answered, Nate noted how the Elders were only partially focused on him. Instead, they seemed to be meditating, drinking in the presence of the Divine Artifact. Nate bent his thoughts towards the Heart of the Sea. Nate arguably had two Divine Artifacts already. The simple lockbox that had once housed the Fossilised Egg of a Solar Dragon and the egg itself. The box itself emitted no Divine Energy, treating the energy of reality more as a fuel to protect its contents. The fossilised egg, however, had wanted to melt everything it came into contact with and Nate had ended up housing it in his new spatial zone within a room on its own, surrounded by mythic stone filled with runes for dealing with and dispersing the heat. But that egg was different from this pearl.

The egg seemed almost singular in the Concept it gave off. It was the idea of ‘solar’, and while solar could have multiple interpretations, it was up to Nate to find them. Light, Heat, Burning, perhaps even Life. These were things Nate had considered, but they weren’t what he received from the egg. The Heart of the Sea had more than one meaning, and those feelings were washing over the room and its denizens. The sense of something Lurking nearby was there, like Elder Jin’Kahn’s Embodiment. That same idea gave the sense of Hunting. Whatever it was, it did not Lurk without purpose. Seeking was similar but felt like… he didn’t want to say perversion, but definitely an alteration on the initial feeling. 

Hiding was there, the same as Lurking, but came from what felt like a different source that also felt like Evading. With each additional discovery, Nate felt Divine Energy gathering to pour into him. He knew much of it would be wasted and quickly activated Conceptual Insight, spending thirty Divine Energy to raise his Grandmaster Barrier Sigil to Divine. The loss of Divine Energy was instantly replenished from recognising the new Concepts.

Nate tried not to smile in ecstasy and he felt the Elders around him stir at his reaction and the presence of the new Divine Energy. He even felt as Jin’Kahn tried to reach out with her mana and touch the changes in the air, though her futility was clear as she grasped at nothing. While she could clearly tell what had happened, it remained beyond her grasp.

Finally, Nate spoke into the silence as they all drank in the presence of the Heart of the Sea.

“Why do none of you Embody Water?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” asked Elder Hunting.

Nate waved at the air in front of them, “Your Heart of the Sea, it is filled with Concepts. Concepts I can see mirrored in a few of your Paths. But, those of you who have taken your Embodiments from the Heart of the Sea’s nature have focused on a single portion of the Divine Artifact. Specifically ones matching a creature. A hunter of the deep. But while that sense is strong, and hard to ignore, it is by far weaker than the presence of the water itself. I sense Concepts of the Depths, of Pressure, of Water. Natural forces, every bit as strong as the creature-based Concepts, yet none of you have taken after them.”

“Elder Gan’Fan, you took your inspiration from the formation, rather than the Heart of the Sea, am I right?” Nate continued, looking to Elder Guardian. The old man nodded in response.

“Show me how you take in these Concepts?” he asked of the Elders and watched as they sat down and closed their eyes in meditation.

For almost anyone else, it might have looked like nothing was happening, but in Nate’s eyes, with his Farsight of the Runic Artist, he could see the flows of mana, of the spiritual energy of the soul, of emotions that flowed in reds and oranges or blues and greens, and beneath it all, he could feel how those energies manifested as the Elders pulled in the ambient mana and expelled it. Beneath it all, he could see what was happening as they did so and finally understood what was going on. The Elders were changing their physical bodies. They were gaining the affinities for their desired Concepts not in their mana, but in their flesh and blood. Before he could comment, he felt the pressure of Reciprocity start to form. He had wanted the answer. Not terribly, but he had still wanted it, and they had given it to him. Now he owed them. His smile was glorious as he realised the gift they had given him, and the gift he would now repay them with.