Chapter Ashborn 375: Foundations

“You need to make this easier to fly,” Vir said as they stepped out of the lift to Saunak’s study. “And land. And pick a better site for launching them while you’re at it. Also, see if you can make it bigger.”

“Oh, yes. Just do everything in the realm, is it? Yes, Akh Nara. No problem. Would you like it today or tomorrow? And would you like a silk rug to go with it? What color would you like me to paint the craft?”

Vir frowned. “Saunak… This magic is revolutionary. Not just for personal transport, but for connecting the realm.”

“Unfortunately, it is not. You saw how much prana is consumed, yes? The Demon Realm doesn’t have a hope of sustaining the amount required for flight.”

Vir bit his lip. “If I brought you an orb from the human realm—one of the orbs that can lighten the weight of objects—could you adapt that magic onto the airship?”

Saunak rubbed his chin. “Perhaps. Planning on heading to the Human Realm, are we?”

“I…” Vir hesitated. His heart leaped for a moment, but the fact of the matter was that Vir couldn’t justify a trip to the Human Realm for this. Not when Cirayus had a healing orb he could deliver with such little effort.

“There is no need,” Ashani said, thereby ending Vir’s dilemma. She walked over to one of the many rolls of paper covering Saunak’s desk. “May I?”

Saunak’s eyes went as wide as saucers, and he gestured to the table, bowing slightly. “By all means, Madam Goddess. Use as many as you wish!”

“I’ll need only one, thank you,” Ashani said, tracing her finger onto the paper. Where she touched, the material burned, leaving behind a blackened trace.

“This is the inscription for the Lighten Load orb we gave to our children. My memory banks contain a handful of others, which I can scribe as well, if you wish…”

“Please do,” Vir and Saunak said at once, before glancing awkwardly at each other.

Saunak coughed softly. “I mean to say that the more I have, the more success I’ll have in replicating this magic.”

Ashani scribed a few more, including Magic Heat, Magic Cold, and a handful of other utility orbs.

“Orbs with more powerful environmental effects are more complex, and I am unfortunately not aware of their inscriptions.”

“Fine! Fine! This is most excellent. I already see similarities between these and our own demonic inscriptions,” Saunak said, fervently pouring over the designs. “Yes, I think I see. This prana storage inscription, however, is somewhat more complex. I shall have to cross-reference this with my other inscriptions.”

“I wish you the best of luck,” Ashani said. “I am happy to assist as I am able, but again, I’ve only memorized these inscriptions. I don’t know all that much about how they work. Janak would’ve been able to describe every minute detail…”

She trailed off, looking anguished, before Saunak waved his hands frantically.

“Please! No! You’ve done me a service I cannot possibly repay already! Please do not feel this way, Madam Goddess.”

“Ahem,” Vir said quietly. “If you truly believe that… Then how about inscribing that tattoo now that I’ve upheld my end of the bargain?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes,” Saunak said distractedly. “Well then, let’s get it over with, shall we? But these inscriptions… Hmm…”

Seemingly having forgotten his own words, the Thaumaturge returned to pouring over the inscriptions.

Vir’s expression darkened, and a knot began to form in his stomach. He didn’t like this. Not one bit.

“The straps are for your own safety, I assure you!” Saunak said, binding Vir’s arm. He moved onto the other arm before binding Vir’s neck, waist, and legs. “The more you move, the higher the risk of corruption. You wouldn’t want me crippling you for life because you twitched from the pain, now, do you?”

“The pain?” Vir asked, raising an eyebrow. The bindings may as well have been a joke—with his might and his prana, he could easily cut through them with but a thought. The pain, however, was something he had no remedy for.

“Oh, yes. No one told you? This will hurt quite a bit. I mean, I am carving into your skin, and there are no tattoos more complex than the Ultimate Bloodline Arts. Be sure not to move, yes? The stiller you are, the better the result. I swear, the number of Thaumaturges who don’t know that… Telling their patients ‘nothing can go wrong’ and ‘it’s perfectly safe!’ Amateurs, the lot of them.”

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“Right…” Vir said, recalling the temporary tattoos Aida had inscribed. Due to its disposable nature, it’d been merely surface level, so it hadn’t hurt that much.

Vir almost asked the Thaumaturge if he could render him unconscious, but he didn’t dare. Were it Aida, and not Saunak, he wouldn’t have hesitated. As it was, however, he figured he ought to keep his wits about him, in case Saunak got any funny ideas.

Even with Ashani watching, even with the wolves present—something Saunak protested loudly against, claiming they were a hazard—Vir couldn’t be sure the demon wouldn’t try something. He seemed to value his research over even his own life, at times. It was just one of the many reasons he’d earned the moniker ‘Deranged’.

Maybe it’s also why he’s so brilliant, Vir mused as Saunak prepared his tools—scalpels and knives of all sorts. Without a doubt, this would be the most painful experience of Vir’s life. More painful than any beatdown Riyan had given him, or any injury he’d sustained in his thousands of battles thus far. Even his recent near-death experience hadn’t caused him too much pain, on account of him blacking out almost instantly.

And to think he undertook this torture willingly…

The things we do for power…

“Well? Are you ready?” Saunak asked.

“Ready as I’ll every—ngh!?”

Vir never got a chance to finish that statement. The Thaumaturge had already begun.

The experience of having an intricate tattoo slowly and deeply carved into his chest was just about as agonizing as Vir had imagined.

Though no stranger to pain, when the minutes dragged into hours with seemingly no end in sight, tears started to flow uncontrollably down his face. His fists clenched, his teeth gritted, and it was all he could do to remain conscious against the sheer onslaught of agony.

For Vir, the world outside ceased to be. The Ash, the Demon Realm… none of it mattered. There was only endless pain. All-consuming. Burning him alive. Not even Saunak’s hums of pleasure as he worked got through. Vir’s eyes snapped shut, and his ears ceased to hear as he fought this battle against his body.

So consuming was the pain that Vir couldn’t scarcely even feel Ashani’s fingers when she moved closer and held his hand.

Vir focused his thoughts on the result. On the awe-inspiring power he would wield once the ordeal was over. He imagined himself the most powerful demon alive, raising the Gargan flag once again at Samar Patag.

He imagined sleeping in the same bed his parents had. Of waking up in the castle, and walking to the royal balcony to take in the glorious sight of a sprawling Samar Patag thriving once more, expanding far past its current borders, all the way to the horizon. He saw airships flying this way and that in a constant, steady stream. He saw the myriad of Gates spread throughout the city.

A Demon Realm thriving. Unified. And at peace.

And then… He thought of Maiya. Of his beloved friend, realms apart. Of the warmth he felt when he’d laid in her arms at Balindam, the day after that fateful raid on Kin’jal’s prison.

He missed her. He missed her so much that it hurt. Getting to chat with her and see her face almost made it worse. It reminded him of just how far she truly was. Of the chasm that existed within them.

For while he might have uncovered the secret to quickly traveling the realms, the network had yet to be built. Besides, what use was there for linking the Demon Realm to the Human Realm right now? What justification could he come up with for visiting Maiya, other than for personal reasons?

As much as he wished to visit Maiya, and as possible as the prospect now was, he simply couldn’t. He couldn’t afford to. Not when his demons struggled in the Ash. Not when he had to recruit twenty times the numbers of his current miniscule army.

Not when his people needed to be saved. How could he go gallivanting on his own during such a time?

Vir’s thoughts circled around in his head, repeating and replaying, ad nauseam. Anything to take his mind off the agony.

Until, finally, Saunak uttered the words he’d been waiting so long to hear.

“It is done.”

Vir said nothing. He couldn’t. For he had already fallen unconscious.

When he came to, he found himself lying on the same bed, with Ashani and the wolves beside him. Saunak was missing.

“How long was I out?” Vir asked, slowly sitting up. He took the shirt Ashani proffered with gratitude, but hesitated to don it.

“Only about an hour. The operation took one hour, so it has been two since Saunak began his work.”

“One hour?” Vir asked incredulously. “That’s it?”

Ashani gave him a soft, warm smile. “I imagine it must have felt far longer to you. If only you allowed yourself to be put under…”

Vir let out a sigh. “I want to say I had to be conscious during the operation, but truthfully, the pain was so bad, I doubt there was anything I could have done had Saunak tried something…”

“I concur,” Ashani replied. “You needlessly put yourself through torture, when you could have rested peacefully instead.”

“Noted,” Vir said, running his finger over the tender flesh.

“It is quite the handsome design,” Ashani said.

It truly was. While Cirayus’ tattoo was rich, royal blue, Vir’s was pure black, reflecting his prana, though the raw flesh currently tinted it red. Once healed, it would form quite a beautiful, subtle contrast on his ashen skin. Nothing that would jump out, but plainly visible for all who looked closer.

“Saunak advises you not to cycle prana through your body, or to power the tattoo, until it has fully healed. Thanks to your pranites, I suspect that will happen on its own in a week’s time.”

“Or an hour, if Tara works her magic,” Vir said.

“Indeed. That girl has quite the remarkable ability.”

“Really?” Vir asked. “I’d have thought the Imperium had far more advanced healing magic.”

“Yes? And?” Ashani asked, tilting her head in confusion. “Can I not find something amazing, despite that? One cannot put demonic society and ours on the same scale, Vir. We had millions of years to attain what we had. You’ve had four millennia to pick up the rubble of our fall. To mend those wounds and persist in a broken world. What demons have achieved is nothing short of remarkable.”

“I suppose I never thought of it that way,” Vir said, donning his shirt. “By the way, where is Saunak?”

“Off in one of his laboratories,” Ashani said, gesturing to the door. “He’s become quite obsessed with those inscriptions I scribed.”

Vir grinned. “Good. Maybe he’ll make those airships viable, after all,” he said, swinging his legs over the operating table and jumping to his feet.

“You plan to speak to him?” Ashani asked.

Vir nodded. “It’s time we told Saunak of our ability to create Gates. It’s time we recruit him to our cause.”