Defiance of the Fall

The hundreds of threads made from Imperial Qi were augmented by the Ancient Arcana before entering the memory lantern. It struggled against the invasion, but its link to the Left Imperial Expanse had essentially been cut after being covered in the ancient cloth and dragged into the Lost Era’s twisted domain. Isolated and weak, the once powerful lantern flickered at the precipice of collapse.

Yselio knew precisely how far he could push the little embers. He repeatedly brought its Ego beyond the breaking point, and each plunge brought it further from its original path. Light turned into darkness, and the dream became a nightmare of Yselio’s making. The delicate manipulation would never have been possible without his third brother’s deep understanding of Imperial Qi and the Lost Era. Yzum’s sealed consciousness had even been harnessed into a dutiful helper who managed the complex arrays.

A sudden flicker undid hours of effort. Yselio mutely watched as a golden glow subdued the Lost Era and simultaneously instilled the lantern with newfound power. It threw off the relic Yselio seized in the Centurion Base, but a flash of darkness consumed the light before it could escape. Since the memory lantern wasn’t fated to be part of his arrangement, it need not exist.

The lazy sword strike created a beam of darkness that carved a widening chasm that seemed intent on swallowing the whole world. The cone of destruction was suddenly stopped by an enormous Bagua. The eight trigrams transformed into an enormous staff upon impact, and it imposed a cosmic order that scattered the darkness and subdued the Lost Era’s disorderly Dao.

“It’s quite rude to sneak up on others unannounced,” Yselio commented when the vajra emerged from a seam in reality.

The Bagua had formed a halo behind his back, and it slowly rotated to create a pocket of Dharmic purity. The warrior himself had become a representative of orthodoxy, standing at the center of the Cosmic Order. Any lingering energies that came close were reduced to their elementary nature and swallowed by the Bagua. Yselio easily matched the Dharmic Warrior’s face to the reports, and curiosity made him stay his hand.

“I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty. The sudden realignment forced me out ahead of schedule,” the monk said with a wry smile before pointing his staff at a nearby boulder. It flickered, exposing the two corpses beneath. “When I saw the company Your Majesty kept, I chose not to immediately announce my presence. It was my oversight.”

Yselio wasn’t didn’t mind having his actions exposed. He’d only sealed the mangled Daoists to avoid any unpleasant surprises while working on the lantern. “The Great Dao Sects are too calculative, announcing their neutrality while buying passage from the Black Heart Cult. How can they expect to achieve greatness when they’re afraid to seize fate by the horns?”

“Is that what Your Majesty was doing?” Amanthi asked.

“Just a small experiment. It would be a shame not to have a taste before the seniors descend on this place,” Yselio laughed.

“Is that so?” Amanthi smiled. “I thought I saw something enter the Imperial Road, causing a great river of Fate to be rerouted. I must have been mistaken. After all, the Farsee Court wouldn’t let outsiders manipulate their masterpiece.”

Yselio naturally didn’t care about the warning, even if it was given out of goodwill. He was more surprised at the monk’s accurate deduction. The Sangha clearly had their means of utilizing the continent’s hidden layer.

“You should be practicing the [Sutra of Cosmic Order]. I didn’t know you were a Dharmic Warrior of the First Mountain.” Yselio looked at Amanthi’s ability with interest, reflecting on the implications. “Who are you representing today?”

“All is one when we descend the mountain. There is no need for division.”

“Is that so? You Buddhist ascetics are truly impressive, willing to give up on the self to pursue greater truths,” Yselio said with a light laugh as he pointedly looked at Amanthi’s seal. “Reignender of Ultom. For a moment, I thought you were here to invite me to a crusade against your Flamebearer. Or are you toiling away in hopes of purchasing a ticket to Eternity?”

The Buddhist Sangha maintained a mysterious façade, but not even they could scrub the knowledge left inside the Eternal Heritages. The Seven Heavens were among those who had some understanding of the Era-surpassing force. The Four Oceans would retreat into Buddha’s dream when an Era came to an end. The Nine Mountains and Eight Temples didn’t have that luxury.

The Sangha’s outer divisions were arranged according to an Era’s Daos. When the Dao came to an end, the divisions would enter the Samsara. Essentially, they shielded the Sangha’s core from the Heavens. When the protection was no longer needed, they’d become the fuel necessary to carry the undying things into the next age. And then the cycle started anew.

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Yselio pursed his mouth in thought. No one was completely selfless, and his Royal Father had mentioned signs of discord. The First Mountain stood at the forefront of the outer divisions, and some believed they wanted to break free from their Destiny. Except, you never knew with these baldies. It could be part of a greater plot.

“My Dao is not in pursuit of Eternity. My journey is precious because it’s brief,” Amanthi smiled.

“Admirable, indeed,” Yselio said, noting that he didn’t reject the other claim. It didn’t matter. The best way to deal with these monks was to stick to your principles. Changing topic, Yselio pointed at the Radiant Court’s pillar far in the distance. “Was that your doing?”

The pillar had gained a ring of fire whose radiance had reached every corner of the Left Imperial Expanse. It was triggering a change in the memory lanterns, stabilizing and intensifying their flame. Their production of Imperial Faith should have improved as a result, though the court would have to add a few more rings to make a significant difference. It was this sudden influx that had disrupted his plans.

“My scope is limited, I cannot say,” Amanthi said. “But my instincts tell me it’s unrelated to us.”

“It must be frustrating. The Radiant Court should be the seat of the Templar Council,” Yselio said with a smile. “It’s quite the formidable foe safeguarding the Peak of Faith’s Authority.”

Amanthi shrugged, unwilling or uninterested in discussing the topic. “I won’t waste Your Majesty’s time with idle chatter. The Pesvati Rift has been confirmed as a remnant of the Limitless Empire. They’re working with agents inside the memories to subvert Karma and interfere with the natural order.”

“And you don’t like the competition?” Yselio smiled, glancing at the Daedalian Court’s pillar far in the distance. “It’s a shame I’m on the opposite side of the continent.”

The Daedalian Court’s pillar was the first to form a ring, and its Authority of Karma had introduced subtle changes to the continent that Yselio still hadn’t deciphered. In the four weeks that followed, similar halos had sprung up one after another as the fated trial takers fulfilled their duties.

The Farsee Court was the second, only falling behind the Daedalian court by three days. Its fiery halo was a true elemental flame compared to the Radiant Court’s flame of Faith. Now, only three courts remained unfulfilled, including his Starfall Court. Of course, that was by design. He’d worked hard on suppressing its awakening until everything was in place.

The halos held a grand reversal of Destiny, and each brought the Left Imperial Expanse closer to its great rebirth. Yselio didn’t know how many halos were necessary for the Ultom Courts to finally emerge, but he very much looked forward to the unveiling. When not even the past was set in stone, who could say what the future would hold?

Each halo represented an opportunity for Yselio and his contemporaries to reframe history, and the Daedalian Court had seen the greatest collisions of wills. The court had already added two more bands, one of them connected to the Peak of the Grand Tapestry. Yselio assumed it was the work of the imperial loyalist. They were no doubt working hard to stop whatever the Sangha plotted.

“The Limitless Empire’s Imperial Destiny culminated in the System’s birth. Any further disruption risks harming the Cosmos and ushering in a premature decline. I assume the Seven Heavens would agree that some things should remain in the past,” Amanthi argued.

“I’m sure they would,” Yselio nodded.

“The Sangha is sincerely extending an invitation to Your Highness. You should already be aware of the inner layer. With the latest awakening, its borders should only be a few days from here. There are spirits inside that should be freed and returned to the Samsara,” Amanthi said, and he presented a small bronze vajra. Yselio could tell with a glance it was formed from a very powerful Heart Technique. “This Karmic Relic will identify the memories that unduly interfere with the cosmic—”

“Huh? When did I say I would help?” Yselio blinked.

“Emperor Tobrial—”

“It’s not my place to predict my Royal Father’s desires,” Yselio laughed. “I’m under no specific orders until I reach the Ultom Courts. Until then, I’m free to do as I wish. I see no reason to distract myself with the Pesvati Rift. Enough seniors are waiting outside to deal with whatever comes next. And if not, isn’t that fate?”

Amanthi sighed, knowing his mission was a failure.

“Is there anything else?” Yselio asked. “If not, I’ll send you on your way.”

“WAIT!”

The sea light bursting from the dark chasm didn’t listen. It swallowed everything in a cleansing wave of disintegration, including the monk. When the light faded, there were no signs of the monk or his Bagua.

“How lamentable, toiling for a master who wants you dead.” Yselio shook his head as he sheathed his sword. “But why should I play along?”

Yselio didn’t need the System’s hints to know the Dharmic Guardian had managed to slip away. If the Sangha’s elites were that easy to kill, their temples would have been plundered long ago. It was more interesting this way. Yselio looked forward to seeing if his actions could leave a shadow on Amanthi’s heart or if he’d taken a risk for nothing.

“The rest of us will have to work hard adding to the spectacle,” Yselio muttered.

The Radiant Court’s awakening had disrupted Yselio’s work, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Each reversal brought something new, and this latest addition was quite useful for his plan. The more resilient the memory lanterns were, the more manipulation they could endure. So long as the Starfall Court remained dormant until he finished his preparations, he’d be fine.

If Yselio’s plan succeeded, the Limitless Empire’s sin would become his providence, and he would become an emperor in his own right. If the plan failed, the Starfall Court would place the Tobrial Dynasty’s Imperial Qi on its sacrificial altar. If the backlash didn’t kill him, someone else surely would. Why wouldn’t he give it a try?

Yselio laughed, wondering if his Royal Father had noticed the anomaly yet. Would he feel pride or fury? Probably both. Yselio stepped into the light and disappeared. Light and dark, truth and falsehoods. The Left Imperial Expanse was in constant flux. Only those who could walk the line would come out alive.

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