Ashborn Primordial

Chapter 189: Final Flame

Youre normally in hibernation, Vir said, recalling memories he should never have ever had. Being active consumes your prana core. You survived this long only by rationing your power. You spend entire decades asleep. Waking only long enough to check on the city before shutting down again.

How do I know all this?

Sympathetic Resonance. Ashani grimaced. I thought Id suppressed those thoughts. They must have leaked during the simulation I showed you. Strong thoughts can sometimes be difficult to hide.

Youre worried about it, too, Vir thought, nearly brought to tears by her plight. After all this after watching over the city for so long, she was doomed to die. Simply because her energy ran out.

It would have been impossible for me to remain active the whole time, she said. Impossible and dangerous, Im afraid.

Dangerous? How?

While my bodys repair mechanisms will keep me in working order, my mind is far more complex. I was never meant to go so long without routine maintenance.

Youre saying youd go insane?

Ashani nodded. Ive seen it in other automatons that survived. I do not wish to end that way.

She looked off into the distance, wistfully.

All things come to an end, Vir. My people were long-lived, yes, but they were not gods. I should not have survived this long in the first place. My time has come.

I refuse to accept that, Vir said.

Look around you. Mahdis buildings are resilient, and their built-in inscriptions can repair damage by Ash Beasts. Yet they, too, require power to operate. Each reconstruction consumes a bit of their energy. One day, they will fail. Then only rubble will mark the site of what once was.

There has to be something we can do. Anything!

To Vir, Ashani was like a wick that had burned down to its stem, burning its final flame.

Truly, I am grateful you feel this way, Ashani said. It has been so long since I felt the care of another sapient being. I never thought I would experience it again.

No. You dont understand, Vir said. You cant die. You are a treasure. Youre the last survivor of your people! My people worship you as a god!

Ashani laughed. They worship my people, you mean. Who would worship me?

Um, actually

Youre serious? Ashani asked.

Yknow, your names bugged me ever since I heard it. It felt so familiar, but I just couldnt place it. Then, when you mentioned Siya, I knew. It has to be. Its too much of a coincidence, otherwise.

A coincidence? Im not sure I follow.

Ashani, theres a nation of powerful mejaimagic wieldersin the Human Realm. They call themselves the Altani. One of their major cities is named Alt Siya!

Ashani frowned. Just a coincidence.

I thought so as well, but do you want to guess what their capital is? Its Alt Ashani. Ashani Im pretty sure those cities were named after you and Siya.

How? Ashani asked breathlessly. Thats impossible! The Imperium died that day. You said it yourselfmy people havent made themselves known. Even if they did, few knew my name. Im hardly someone to name a city after. Let alone a capital! How would they know of Siya? She was just a girl!

I dont know, Vir replied. I really wish I did. But I do know this. People in my world worship you. And Siya. To them, to us, youre a goddess. Dont you understand what that means? Im sorry, but I cant let you die. No matter what.

Because Im a goddess? Ashani said, half laughing. If Siya had heard that people worshipped her, shed have giggled until she fell over.

No, Vir said. Because I want you to see your city. I want you to experience what the world has become. Were not nearly as impressive as your people, but as you said, theres art and culture. Maybe even food you might enjoy. Dont you want to experience all that? Isnt that worth living for?

I admit, that all sounds wondrous. It sounds like a dream if Im honest. But what can be done? Fate never seems to care one whit about our wishes.

There was an edge to her voicean astringent bitternessthat shed never shown before.

Your spent energy core, Vir said. Show it to me.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Back at Janaks home, Ashani led Vir down another hall, then down a flight of stairs to a grand room, perfectly square. Its walls and high ceilings glowed a pristine white, and all sorts of strange apparatus had been placed all around the room.

Vir had never seen a mejai Thaumaturges workshop, but this is what he imagined it might look like.

There was no clutter, though. Aside from the desks with knobs, levers, and buttons, and the strange crane-like machinery that sat in the corner, it was spotless.

Janaks personal workshop. He worked at the central spire most times, though he maintained a facility here for the rare occasions he was home.

He worked even when he came back here? Vir asked.

Ashani nodded, approaching a metal box in a corner. For Janak, meeting Siya really just meant working while Siya got to watch, Im afraid. Especially near the end.

The box hissed when she touched it, opening on its own to reveal a perfectly smooth crystal sphere, the same size as the one Vir had slotted into her back.

That orb had shone with mysterious energy, but this one sat dark and dormant.

Its similar to mejai orbs, Vir noted. Strange. No inscriptions on it.

Vir eyed the crystal, bringing his eyes closer and closer. He felt like he saw something inside, but lost it whenever he looked closely.

Lady Ashani? Do you have anything like a magnifying glass, by any chance?

Ashani clapped her hands together, and when her palms separated, an image appeared, showing the orb, except magnified several times.

No way, Vir whispered.

Hed been wrong. There were inscriptions. Just miniaturized. Shrunk down so small, his eyes could barely see them. And unlike mejai orbs, there wasnt just a single circle of inscribed text. There were dozens, all at various depths, crisscrossing each other.

I was a fool to think I could help, Vir thought, paling at the absurd complexity. This is the kind of magic that powers her? Just how complex must she be?

Do, uh, do you know how they work? Vir asked hesitantly. He couldnt let her know just how beyond him this magic was.

Ashani shook her head. Im afraid not.

No magic in the Human Realm could ever replicate this But maybe he didnt have to.

Is there a way to refill its energy?

There was, yes. With a machine. None exist any longer, Im afraid. I would know, Ive searched far and wide.

But everything in here looks pristine? Even the buildings look well maintained, Vir said.

Most of our smaller self-healing scripts were destroyed in the blast. Only the powerful ones that keep our buildings in the condition theyre in remain.

What about conjuring a new orb from prana, then? Can you conjure things too?

Ashani opened a palm, and an exotic fruit the likes of which Vir had never seen popped into her hand. Matter fabrication only functions for simple objects, Im afraid. Lord Janak created me at the height of Imperium advancement, and my construction is equally complex. My prana cores cannot be materialized in such a manner.

Of course, Vir thought, flushing. Shed have mentioned it if it were possible.

Thanks for humoring me, he said. You wouldve tried everything already, Im sure. Look at me, thinking I could solve a problem even a goddess like you couldnt.

Vir found himself held in Ashanis embrace. Er, Lady Ashani?

Please do not feel this way. Ashani is touched by your concern. She truly is. Please do not think yourself any less than her. She is hardly omniscient.

There was something about the way Ashani lapsed into her third-person dialect that made her incredibly endearing to Vir. One moment, she was a wise, ancient goddess, and the next, she felt more like an innocent child.

Which only exacerbated Virs frustration. He wanted to save her. He needed to.

Vir racked his brain for ideas. Your cores use Ash prana, right?

Ashani tilted her head. Ash prana?

Er, do you call it something different? Yknow, theres the eight affinities, and then theres Ash?

Ah! The prana of origin! Yes, of course. Elemental prana has its uses, but the Origin is the most potent of them all. It wouldnt make any sense to use the other affinities.

Origin, huh? So it did come before the others.

Okay, thats good, Vir said. Can I handle that orb, then?

You may keep it if you wish. Tis useless to me now, Ashani said, handing over the prana core.

Vir sat on the pristine white floor, prana core in hand, and closed his eyes.

Hed never once been able to power an orb in the Human Realm, for the simple reason that Ashor OriginAffinity orbs didnt exist. But here was one, right in front of him. There shouldnt be any reason it wouldnt work.

Her life rests on this. Dont screw it up, he thought, focusing on the orb.

Having watched Maiya, Vir understood that mejai charged orbs by sucking prana away from their hands, creating a suction to pull in ambient atmospheric prana. It was analogous to what Vir did with his legs to suck ground prana into his body.

Here in the Ash, though, Vir didnt even need to do that. He simply let the saturated wall of prana near the skin of his palm lapse, allowing prana to rush into his body And the orb.

It was that easy? Vir stared at his hand in wonder.

His whole life, hed been derided as a prana scorned. How many nights had he sat with Rudviks utility orbs, praying, willing them to charge? How much had he agonized over his inability to use magic?

And here he was, powering an orb that was entire realms apart in its complexity to even S Grade orbs fielded by the apex of the mejai.

It was silly, he knew. Hed known he wasnt magicless for over a year, now.

A year huh? Come to think of it, my birthday wouldve happened sometime recently. Maiya wouldve baked me a cake

Vir pushed those thoughts away, returning to the orb.

Wonder what this thing can do if used directly, Vir thought, but then realized it probably didnt work that way at all. It was designed to slot into Ashani, to power her. It wasnt supposed to launch fireballs or summon lightning.

How fascinating! Ashani said, squatting on the balls of her feet to look at Virs prana manipulation. You are altering the flow of prana within your body to pull prana into the orb!

Im surprised you havent tried this, Vir said, feeling a small flame of hope light.

I cannot. I am an automatonmy prana functions in very different ways to beings of flesh and blood. Prana does not circulate through my body as it does with yours.

Vir peered into her body with Prana Vision and found it to be true. There was prana therea staggering amount of itbut it was mostly static. Condensed into hypersaturated balls that spun rapidly at tens of thousands of places within her body. There were also millions of inscriptions, weaving throughout her, glowing with prana.

Merely looking at it gave Vir a headache.

I cant believe this is working, Vir said, ensuring he moved saturated blood away from his palms to maintain the suction effect. Eventually, his body would fill up with prana and hed have to purge it from his body, but that was easy enough to do. He had Parais Reverse technique, and he could also power any of his Talents off the prana in his own body to bleed off the buildup.

There is one slight issue, Ashani said, looking at him awkwardly.

Whats that?

Your method will work. But at this rate, it will take you two years to fill that prana core.