Whispers of a Dead Empire

I cleared my throat awkwardly as I stared at my underling. His gloved fist curled into a tight fist. He clacked his teeth a few times, clearly asking me something. “He’s curious if you are ready or not.” I heard Kharon call out behind me.

“Damn, a girl just wakes up from almost dying, and I don’t even get a break?”

A quick chitter back was the response I got from Aaron, which my companion quickly translated. “He said that sounds like a personal problem, and to get to it, empress.” Though the title of empress seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought, I felt that Kharon left out a few words.

I snickered at Aaron and raised my hands. “Wow, I didn’t realize that you were so rude. Maybe you should learn to respect your elders.” It was fun being able to talk shit with someone and helped push away some of the guilt that was still coiled tightly in my chest.

He chittered once more and raised his fist. “He said you would have to make him. But anyway, let me go over the general rules of sparing if that's what you want to do. Aaron is a boss, so we can revive him free of cost if you manage to defeat him. He will take it easier on you until you get a few levels, so you aren’t hurt too badly. Anything goes really in these kinds of fights.”

I bobbed my head in agreement. “Got it. Bear with me for a bit while I get used to some of these skills, please, Aaron.” I called over to him as I focused on the power that I felt in my chest. It was much like what I felt in my Ki realm, though compacted into a tight sphere that was rapidly spinning inside of my chest.

Alright, so now that it was compacted, I just had to use it, but how was the question? Now that I have my companion here, why don’t I ask him? “Hey Kharon, how do I use Ki? I have the manipulation skill, and I’m just not sure on how to use it.”

“Ki is compacted in your chest in a core, and much like a volcano, it’s constantly ready to erupt. However, you get to decide when it’s released. You just have to point it in the right direction. Now, with that being said, you have to keep two things in mind while using it. The first is that it will flow with the easiest path. The second is that you have to limit how much you use. If you let it out all at once, you will quickly use it up. So it's best to keep a small, steady flow until you have more Ki compressed.”

I closed my eyes and thought over his words. So it’s like a volcano, huh? I pulled my attention inwards for a moment and felt how it spun around. Small staccatos of power would bounce across its surface before being quickly reabsorbed by the ball of energy. Alright, so I had to limit how much I use, and it would flow with the easiest path. I just had to keep track of these things.

I slightly released my hold on the sphere and directed it towards my legs. Instead of a trickle of energy that I was expecting, it was a torrential flood of power that erupted from my core and quickly rushed through hidden trails in my body. A sense of strength filled me, and I opened my eyes and saw a faint haze of golden orange energy coming from my lower half.

That was so cool! I attempted to do a small bunny hop to see what it was like and instead jumped five feet into the air. My heart was hammering away in my chest as I grew excited. I slowly turned off the Ki that was rushing to my legs and felt that the core had grown a little smaller and turned a little slower. “So Kharon, how quickly does it replenish?”

“Depending on your proficiency with it, anywhere from all day to just a few minutes. It’s a skill that also heavily relies on meditation to master, though, so you have to stay on top of that if you want to keep compressing more power into your core.” Kharon walked over small cropping of rocks that sat a little ways away from us and sat down and brought down his hood.

“I see, so do I have to ascend realms or anything and cultivate Ki?” All this talk made me think about all those cultivations I’ve seen on various writing sites and filled me with a bit of fear that I would have to sit here and meditate for years to get anywhere worthwhile.

“What? I have no clue what you mean by that. The only thing that you are doing is using your own body’s resources to get stronger. It's kind of like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.” He stared at me for a moment, clearly baffled by my words.

“Don’t worry about it. Just another thing from my world.” I waved him away as I focused back on Aaron. I brought my hands back up and glanced at them. As I tried to work out a plan, toning out Kharons murmur about how my world was a strange one. So what if I infuse my legs and fist with Ki? It should mushroom my speed and strength, though I was curious about what would happen since my right hand is my medium.

I channeled the power into my first and saw it light up softly. I was very careful not to let too much escape, but just enough to make me a little stronger. My hand and medium pulsed once, and I activated my soul claw since I was already familiar with it.

The soul in my hand quivered as the Ki met it and extended outwards much faster than last time. I raised my fingers to the air, marveling at their appearance for a moment. This was all so awesome. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe that this was real. I gave my soul claw a few test swings and immediately was struck with how easily they cut through the air.

With each slice, I could hear the air whistle and felt my muscles ripple with power. Oh yeah! Look at me; I’m slowly becoming a badass! I did a small dance, completely forgetting that I had my two skeletal friends with me. However, their blank stares were enough to pull me back and mumble a meek apology.

I cleared my throat and felt my cheeks warm up. “Anyway, Aaron, do you have a high-speed movement technique? I want something that would let me cross distances quickly.”

He tilted his head and vanished before reappearing right in front of me. A small gust of wind rocked me as the air was quickly displaced. Damn, he was fast! Whatever that skill was, I wanted it. I wanted to be able to do cool stuff like that too, but I was also a child at heart.

Aaron’s inky black eye sockets stared at me as he chittered out a long sentence. “He said the move is called shunpo, and he is happy to teach it to you. However, there are a few things to keep in mind while using it. The first thing is that it is extremely demanding at low levels on stamina and Ki, at least until you level it up. The next is that if you wish to use it consecutively, you have to be touching a surface. Otherwise, the skill is unusable.”

The more I listened, the more questions I had, but I should first work on the basics. “That’s fine Aaron, just teach me the skill, and I will do my best to make sure that I train the skill with it the best I can.” He nodded his head, and Kharon crossed his boney legs. Something was telling me that this was going to be a very long day.

I collapsed on the ground in an exhausted heap. I’ve been here with these two for well over five hours, and I still haven’t made any progress with the skill. I sucked at the air as my heart hammered away in my chest. My entire body ached, and I found it incredibly hard to move. Why did learning new skills have to be so damned hard?

The entire basis of the skill was moving in as few steps as possible to a location. However, I had to keep up ki usage during it, which was a lot harder than it looked for various reasons. However, the biggest one being that my stamina bar drained rapidly because Ki was only a small fraction of what I had to do. The rest relied on my body and strength, and I was clearly out of shape, even with the title buffs I received.

I sucked in another deep breath and glanced at my notification menu, and saw that I added a point into strength and endurance throughout this entire ordeal. I just wanted this stupid skill. A quiet huff escaped from my lips, and I felt myself getting angry before I heard Kharons words in the back of my mind. I needed to be patient, and rushing things won’t help. If I take a little time to get this skill, then that is okay. I would eventually get it. But maybe it was best that I take a break. I have been doing this for a little while, after all.

“Alright, guys. I’m probably going to take a small nap and ponder on what I can do to make this a little easier on me, along with working on some lore for the domain.” I told them both as I stood up. My body ached, and I was exhausted. As a domain god, I know that I didn’t need sleep, but my being craved it.

“That’s fine, mistress. Just message us if you need something.” I waved my hand towards Kharon and teleported back to my office. I walked over to the desk and grabbed my bag, and flung myself onto the cot. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept on, but at the moment, it was perfect. I rolled onto my back and rifled through it.

What I wanted were my notebook and a bottle of water, and a snack bar. Not because I needed it, but because I wanted it. I quickly unwrapped it and devoured it. The sweet taste of a chocolate chip sat on my tongue, and I relished it for a bit. Really, it was the little things that mattered the most. It reminded me of the life that I left behind. I didn’t miss most of my life, just some of it.

I unscrewed the water bottle and quickly downed half of it in one gulp, enjoying the fresh, cold taste that seemed to travel into my chest. Ah yes, how I’ve missed that feeling. I quickly screwed the cap back on and tucked it into my bag again, so I wouldn’t be tempted to drink the rest of it.

I grabbed my notebook and pen and jotted out some thoughts I’ve had throughout the day, along with some of the stuff I wanted to test out once I was finished with my nap. A yawn forced its way through my lips, and I closed my notebook and placed it on the floor before rolling over onto my stomach and falling into a deep sleep.