II

  A Warrior in a Garden

  “Sounds like a garden.” Uncle drank close-eyed from his bowl of tomato soup.

  I stuffed my face with bread and sneaked a glance at Mother, who sat at the head of the table. She broke a piece of bread with her hands…and paused. After some consideration, she put it down and picked up a knife and fork.

  My lips formed a line. Father had ever chided her for eating with her hands.

  “You sound like you’re hallucinating,” Mother said. She glared at Uncle. “I told you to keep your substances locked in your chest.”

  Uncle huffed. “No one has touched my acashia. Do not insult me.” He beamed at me. “Ashe is just gifted.”

  “Gifted?” Mother jabbed the piece of bread in her hands at me—old habits died hard. “What she is describing is a soul space, Gerald. Have you ever heard of a single F-grade having one? An E-grade, for that matter?”

  He shrugged. “The multiverse is filled with one-in-thousand-years talents.”

  Mother chuckled. “Yes, and also desperate children trying to run away from home. Eat your food and go to bed, Ashe.”

  I sighed and finished my meal.

  We were back in the yard. Mourning doves whistled and glided overhead, their feathers gleaming in the early rays of sunshine.

  Uncle was again reading a book, his fireball hovering in front of him. As discussed, he poured more essence into the art as the hours passed.

  I could clearly feel the shard now, yet I no longer glimpsed the other world.

  ‘Why isn’t it working?’

  I wasn’t crazy. There was an argument to be made for whether I was really inside the garden or if I’d imagined all the sensations, but I had seen it.

  The term ‘garden’ made me think of Uncle.

  “Uncle.”

  He glanced up.

  “This is a hypothetical scenario,” I said.

  He deadpanned but didn’t interrupt me.

  “Let’s say someone has a…door in their body that they used to enter another dimension. The door opened the first time but no longer functions. What do you think the reason could be?”

  He raised his brow. “And this hypothetical has nothing to do with a certain girl trying to run away from home?”

  The ends of my hair struck my cheeks repeatedly. “Absolutely not.”

  He hummed and stroked his beard. “I’m merely at the start of E-grade, so I don’t have any experience with a soul space. It could be that you—sorry, this hypothetical person—entered by pure chance. Or, perhaps, the door could only open once to begin with.”

  My shoulders sagged.

  “But,” he continued, and my chin whipped back up. “I have heard that soul spaces take the form of something dear to you. Novices to soul space cultivation often surround themselves with items precious to them to better connect with their inner self.”

  I mimicked my Uncle in stroking my beard. “Precious item…”

  The one thing I could think of were my earrings, which were a gift from Father. I was already wearing them though.

  “‘Precious’ can have multiple definitions,” Uncle said. “A precious item can be what you consider important, but it can also be an object that has been with you for most of your life. It would’ve become a part of you without you realising it.”

  I scratched my head. “That doesn’t really help me…help that person.”

  “Why not try the cave?” he chuckled.

  “The cave?”

  “Yes. Imagine if our hypothetical person had an egg they were born from.”

  My head titled. “But they would’ve spent most of their life outside of the egg.”

  “Maybe.”

  I waited for him to go on.

  “No one knows how long you were inside that pod. It could’ve been centuries before Roland found you.”

  I stilled for an instant, giving my mind time to digest what I was hearing. Then I shot towards the staircase.

  “Hold on a moment!” Uncle yelled. “Don’t fall and break your neck!”

  With his superior physique, he had no trouble catching up to me. His art lit the way into the dark underground and led us to the cocoon. I took a closer look at the chamber. Roots squirmed their way in and out of the floor in places, breaking the stone in the process. The material used was not one of our region.

  ‘It is old.’

  I stepped towards the egg, reached out—

  “Ashe.”

  —then glanced over my shoulder.

  Lingering shadows mixed with the aged lines on Uncle’s face. “No matter what you do or do not discover, we’ll always be your family. Don’t forget that.”

  My lips pulled. That…was sudden. But his countenance was enough for me to draw the older man into a hug. “Of course, Uncle. How could I ever?”

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  He smiled and patted the back of my head. “Just making sure. Now go and meditate. I don’t want to sit in this musty place all day.”

  I almost sat down in front of the cocoon but thought of a better idea at the last second.

  “Uncle, could you help me remove the roots?”

  His head tilted until I broke one of them, freeing up part of the entryway. We made short work of the remaining obstacles, leaving a clear entrance into the egg. I clambered inside. For a space I’d occupied as a baby, there was plenty of room.

  ‘Was I the kid of some giant or something?’

  The off-hand question called another to mind: was I human at all? I’d heard of humans born in eggs and whatnot…in tales straight from myths and legends.

  ‘My status screen says I am, so I must be right?’

  I shook further thoughts on the topic from my head. I wouldn’t find an answer. Not here at least.

  ‘All the more reason to enter Everwinter.’

  The realm of inheritances was the product of multiple space-faring clans pooling their resources. If an inheritance related to my past was anywhere, it’d be there.

  Closing my eyes, I settled into the lotus. The light pouring from Uncle’s art became a quiet backdrop. My first deep breath hadn’t passed when a sound like rushing wind shot by.

  I was sitting inside the garden, and it didn’t vanish in a blink this time.

  Identify.

  [Sacred Ashen Garden]

  ‘Huh. Uncle was right.’

  I turned to the tree in the centre of the garden.

  “A cindertree…” I whispered.

  As I made my way over, a pungent taste slithered into my mouth similar to raw radish. Then the whispers were back.

  Ashe.

  Ashe.

  …

  So they continued, on and on. Why was it calling my name? My palm rubbed over the smooth bark. Perhaps it was happy to see me because…I was kin? Sort of. I was born in a tree and all.

  ‘What if I’m a sentient tree spirit.’

  I chuckled and discarded the thought as quickly as it’d come. Still, I glanced up. “I’m happy to see you too. Say, do you have anything for me? Advice, an art? I’ll take anything really.”

  Was I crazy for talking to a tree like this?…nha. The world of cultivation was built of stranger things.

  The whispering died, leaving only the crackling of flames on the horizon.

  A soft creaking sound, followed by a branch bending down from the very top, the tip curled protectively around a glowing object.

  I cupped my hands underneath the hovering branch. It was a red and gold shell shaped like a walnut.

  [Seed of the Cinderwing]

  “A seed?” I stared at the retreating branch. “Am I supposed to plant it?”

  The tree didn’t answer.

  I glanced left and right. Grass and flowers took up most of the space, but there was a wide berth around the cindertree of nothing but unravelled earth.

  “Isn’t placing seeds close to another tree bad?”

  They wouldn’t get enough light…not that light may be an issue in this world.

  ‘Well, if it mattered, somebody would’ve said something, right?’

  Like the two voices in my memories, who suddenly had nothing useful to say.

  I chose a decent spot, dug a hole, and buried the seed. The moment I closed up my handiwork, I knew it was wrong.

  ‘It needs to face the South.’

  The fact popped into my head like a second set of instincts. So I dug the seed back up and travelled along the clearing of land. I didn’t know which direction was south so it was trial and error. My third try told me it was right behind the cindertree.

  There was no sense telling me I’d erred when I covered the hole this time.

  “Now what?”

  Common sense dictated seeds needed water, but this was a seed from a magical fire tree, so I doubted that was the case. While I was ruminating on what to do next, the ground rumbled. I jumped backwards with a shout right as a trunk shot through the ground at my feet, growing like Uncle was fast-forwarding one of his games.

  “What in the hell?”

  The tree’s growth spurt quit after a few seconds, which left it standing my height. It wasn’t finished though. Red leaves marked with golden lines sprouted. And from underneath a single leaf, a walnut peeked. By the time I thought to identify it, it was already twice the size of my head.

  Still, it was growing.

  ‘How big—’

  Wood snapped. Since I was standing underneath the branch, it fell into my arms.

  I blinked. “Uh…right.” Guess that answers that.

  Rotating the pod was actually quite cumbersome. Whatever was inside had some weight to it.

  ‘Identify.’

  [Cinderwing Chick Egg]

  Brows furrowed. Egg? I placed my ear to the shell—

  Cracks like spiderwebs burst across the surface.

  My head snatched back. “Huh? Hey, wait—”

  A claw ripped out. Mucus dripped from the hole onto my arms. Between instants, I was staring into a set of fiery eyes. They whirled in their sockets to study their environment before settling on me again.

  The creature wriggled so the entire pod trembled and fell apart. Then it chirped like an infant dove crying for their mother.

  I exhaled sharply. At one-and-a-half times the size of an eagle, the bird resting in my arms was actually straining my muscles.

  [Cinderwing Chick - Grade: F | Rarity: Normal | Stage: Early]

  Instincts told me it was a girl. The cinderwing chick’s golden beak picked through the crimson feathers striped with blue adorning her body. Her talons, too, were gold-coloured, the tips glowing as if blood permanently dripped from the nails.

  I raked one hand over the back of her head. The bird released a chirp reminiscent of a moan.

  “You’re beautiful,” I mouthed.

  Wings flapped and nearly struck me in the face. I held the bird away from me, which gave her enough room to take to the sky.

  Feathers glistened against the backdrop of the flaming world. Song joined the crackling flames, filling garden with life.

  I glanced at the cindertree. The leaves and branches swayed. The air vibrated with the words: Ashwing.

  “Ashwing…that’s her name?”

  Embers drifted off into the distance on the wind. They danced around Ashwing, who was cutting circles in the air, enjoying her newfound freedom.

  “It should be fine now…right?”

  Unless I was going to throw myself at spirit beasts without having a class, there wasn’t much more for me to do. With a flex of the mind, I called up my status screen.

  ‘Interesting that I can look at my system here.’

  Then again, I was inside myself. Or so I thought, at least.

  Class Unlock Available! Would you like to unlock your class? [Y/N]

  Nerves tried to stay my hand. I breathed in deep and pressed ‘Yes.’

  Class [Ashenkeeper] unlocked!

  I shut my eyes—

  ‘Please. Please. Please. At least uncommon rarity.’

  —and peered at the next message.

  Class Rarity: Sacred.

  My jaw disconnected.

  New Soul Aspect acquired!

  Soul Aspect: [Sacred Ashen Garden]

  ‘Sacred…my class rank is sacred.’

  My legs wobbled. Before I knew it, my knees were scraping over the earth.

  I raised a trembling hand and rubbed my eyes. Was this all a dream? It must be, right? I mean, I’d never even heard of a 'sacred’ class rank. But no matter how hard I rubbed, I didn’t wake up.

  So I summoned my status page again.

  Class: Ashenkeeper - Sacred

  Stage: Early Novice

  Titles: [Flame Rebirth]

  Soul Aspect: [Sacred Ashen Garden]

  Sacred Ashen Garden. Perhaps by chance or divine guidance, a sacred cindertree found its way into a desolate garden. Its fruits are the seeds for a new world, and its keeper longs to see it grow into heaven.

  ‘Grow into heaven.’

  That…wasn’t that strange? Many cultivators had that as their goal. But did that mean the cindertree could grow?

  Identifying the cindertree revealed nothing but its name. However, Ashwing showed stages and a rarity, so it wasn’t a stretch.

  Pushing the butterflies in my stomach down, I scrutinised my status screen for anything else and quickly found myself frowning.

  ‘I don’t have a skill.’

  Before my screen had shown mention of a soul and core skills. Now there was only the single ‘Aspect’.

  ‘Do my skills unlock later?’

  It was a sacred class. Whatever that meant, not functioning in the way a regular class did was kind of expected. But that left me with a big problem. One that started with ‘Mother’ and ended with her fist planted square on my mouth.

  To my relief, I spotted a message in my screen that may allow me to subvert that fate.

  Cinderwing Tree upgraded!

  Cinderwing Seed -> Cinderwing Tree - Early

  Cinderwing skill slot unlocked.

  Cinderwings learn [Agility (Common)]!

  Agility (Common): Your cinderwing condenses its heat and speeds up. Speed scales with arcane.

  Ashwing passed overhead. She was already quick but the skill said she could go quicker?

  “Agility,” I called out.

  And though my voice crawled through the sky, Ashwing didn’t speed up.

  ‘Right. That’d be too easy.’

  My gaze trailed after the soaring Ashwing and appreciated the world around her…speaking of failing to call on things, how was I going to bring her back with me?

  …How was I getting out of here?

  Flames raged around me like they were waiting for an answer themselves.

  “Well…you’ve got a week remaining to figure it out.”

  Then it was time for Mother to beat the living shit out of me. The more I thought of it, the more my skin crawled.

  I sighed and got to experimenting.

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