The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Rushing down the hallway, Oscar passed through various rooms where servants were cleaning, taking a few left turns until he entered his main office. Inside there were Fenu and his division captains, his companions throughout the years in the Burning Valley. Stepping inside with Avril and Erden, Oscar fell silent, unable to muster the words to say goodbye.

"My Lord," Fenu coughed from the awkwardness. His old wrinkles had deepened, and his hair had grown whiter. In the two years since the war, he had retired from being Oscar's advisor and became the principal of the central academy. "You were an outsider, but you gave all of us in the Burning Valley a dream to chase toward. You took us from mere beggars to the heights you promised us. There is no need to feel sad about leaving."

"That's right, Boss." Desmond roared in laughter, his body quaking from how hard he laughed. "I remember when you burst down my shabby gate and beat me down. If I hadn't taken your hand and believed in your promise, I never would have seen so much in this life. Besides, I have you to thank for being able to meet Asher."

Next to Desmond, Asher, the tenth division captain, blushed while holding a baby. Oscar remembered when they came to him to name their child. Looking at baby Aster in Asher's hands, Oscar found it even harder to say goodbye. Saddened by this farewell, Oscar coughed to clear his thoughts and opened his mouth, a tired sigh escaping.

"I am grateful to you all. I don't know if I'll ever be able to return to this place, but I will always remember each of you and what we've accomplished. Maybe one day, I will return." Oscar went around and shook each of their hands, including little Aster's, the baby's playful cries making everyone chuckle.

"You're sure in a hurry." Sevon entered the room with Quinn and Adam. Quinn had grown well in the past two years, surpassing Oscar in height. The three Reis users stopped before Oscar and Avril. Sevon lit up a pipe and said, "Be careful of the New Dawn. Thanks to Quinn's grandma, they received zero communications about us, but still be wary about who you meet. Their tendrils stretch far and can be cut off like this place without a care."

Oscar nodded. Sevon had been working hard for the past two years, but the New Dawn did not act or even come close to the Burning Valley as if they abandoned it. So far, everything seemed normal. Oscar stood eye to eye with Sevon, the eagle eyes betraying a hint of tiredness. He wasn't sure about the extent of Sevon's war against the New Dawn, but this one battle in the Burning Valley was only a small fraction, according to Sevon.

He stepped boldly and asked, "Why don't you come with us?"

"Huh?" Sevon raised an eyebrow, stunned for a moment. Quickly his lips curled upward into a hearty smile, and he let out a burst of boisterous laughter, ringing out like gongs of a bell. Suddenly, his hand grasped Oscar's head as the last of his laughter died down. "That is quite the offer. But you would have to wait longer for the three of us to follow along. The Pathrisers don't do charity. Besides, we have our own battles to fight. Yours is elsewhere."

"If fate wills it, we'll meet again," Adam interjected. "Well, as Reis users, we have good odds of running into each other if we're all hunted by the New Dawn. Just go on home, little brother."

"Well, that's too bad. The three of you could have helped my home tremendously with your powers." Oscar shrugged and faced Quinn. "Work hard, Quinn. You still have Old Yule's notes about you, right?"

"Yes, I do!" Quinn cried.

Sevon knocked him on the head, grumbling about him being too emotional. But the old man also wiped something from the corner of his sharp eagle eye. Glaring daggers into Oscar and Avril, Sevon raised his hand toward them, a gesture asking for a handshake. "Then let's make our final greetings."

Oscar smiled and filled his hands with Reis, clasped Sevon's, and exploded out with Ripple Shroud, the room trembling from the clash of their Reis. He stepped to Adam, the same ferocious smile greeting him, and poured even more Reis into his Ripple Shroud handshake. As for Quinn, Oscar used a light version. After Avril went through the ceremony, he exited the room, stopped, and glanced back at the people in the room. Some were crying, some struggled to hold back their tears, and the rest saluted. They all put on bright smiles to send him and Avril off.

"Farewell, everyone. May we meet one day again." Oscar and Avril waved their hands, ignoring the sobs behind them, and entered the garden where Tort rested. Erden wanted one final chat with the mythical Exalt Beast, and the two beasts knocked antlers against shells and hooves against stumps. The two beasts groaned and resonated with their Eins.

"Said everything?" Oscar waited under the shade as Erden returned.

"He's as much of a bastard as before." Erden scrapped his hooves against the paved stone. "However, he taught me a lot. How else could I have kept up with you?"

"I'm sure you'll see him again, Erden." Avril stroked the back of Erden's head.

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With all his farewells said and done, Oscar led the others to the palace's main hall. The entire place had been emptied except for one person, standing in the middle with her hands grasping each other over the chest. The person twisted her head, facing Oscar and Avril.

"You must be the Pathriser. Welcome to Flamespark City." Oscar bowed and greeted the Pathriser. Her attire was strange, a mix of rainbow colors spiraling into strange loose robes. Even odder was her mask, a collection of glass eyes embedded everywhere in the base, dozens staring in all directions.

"I am Pathriser Veln. So much has changed in the Burning Valley." Despite the youthfulness of the few features Oscar could see, like her hair, ears, and body outline, the voice was wheezy and slow. Pathriser Veln tilted her head and seemed to observe him thoroughly. "The Four Lords are gone, and you, as the sole ruler, wish to leave the wealth and position? Interesting. Though, it is not the Pathriser's business to know. We simply guide."

"Can you guide us to the safest and closest way to Vallen? We wish to exit Shattirma." Oscar tapped his foot, and several servants came out from the doors. They had carts and piles of grade-three ores, plants, armaments, and elixirs. Oscar pulled out the grade-four armament and placed it atop one of the carts.

Pathriser Veln never lowered her hands, still grasped over her chest. Her feet rotated her body around without moving a step in any direction. The glass eyes on her mask rolled around as if they could see everything. One full revolution later, Veln nodded and bowed. "This is enough for the two of you and one beast. I am at your service."

Quickly, her hands finally separated and swept over three purple orbs, Greater Space Pockets, and swallowed everything in the room. Veln put away the orbs and returned to her usual position. "Follow me. It won't be too long. Yes, not too long, but must follow each step."

Oscar followed Veln outside and slowly went down the stairs. He looked at the palace and the sprawling city around him one last time. In two years, this city was built in his honor, flags of the Azure Sea Company hoisted high and fluttered from the scorching winds. Laughter, cheers, and all sorts of clamor filled the streets as he walked through them with Avril, hiding his visage under robes. Everyone looked happy and relaxed.

'I can only hope this peace can last a long time.' He wasn't sure how long the place would stand in his absence. Sevon and Adam could hold it down until they had to leave. When that time comes, can this place and its people hold on? Or will they devolve into rebellion and civil war?

Oscar palmed his face and exhaled deeply. "Focus on getting home." He murmured to himself. Everything was for the sake of returning home.

"Do not worry about any trouble on the journey. No need to sigh." Veln said, misunderstanding the source of his aggrieved exhale. "We guarantee a safe path as long as our words are followed."

"No problem!" Avril nodded, patting Oscar on the head, stretching her arm high. "Ready!"

"Ready!" Oscar responded.

Erden grunted in response, not wanting to expose his talking to the Pathriser. Avril smiled in satisfaction at their sound-off and skipped through the gates past Veln. She pointed to the horizon and beckoned them to hurry, "Let's return to Vallen."

Within a few days, they reached the edge of the Burning Valley, which Veln mentioned would be the correct place to exit. The Pathriser attached a special rope around her and them that wouldn't break easily, and they returned to the distorted, debris-ridden space of Shattirma. True to Veln's guarantee, they had very little trouble along the way, only a few minor fights to clear the way.

Leaping from one floating rock to another, Oscar noticed that night was approaching. "Should we make camp?"

"Indeed. It is wise to rest. We are nearly done." Veln never spoke much the entire time, only guiding them in silence. Even Avril's cheerful and usually strong communication skills failed to crack a word from the Pathriser, a most unusual person.

Oscar wanted to rest, but he felt a surge of panic, a pang of despair digging a pit in his heart. Unsure of the cause, Oscar dropped everything he had and saw Avril and Erden trembling and paling.

"Hide….Get down." Veln's voice tremored.

"What?" Oscar asked, surprised to hear a flicker of emotion from the Pathriser. This unknown force affected even the emotionless Veln. The rope around his waist tugged from Veln's forceful grip, and he complied, dropping to the floor. Twisting his neck, Oscar spotted something moving about in the twilight of the sky. Words could not describe what he saw, only the intense fear and helplessness it gave him.

A pillar of smoke or gas? Shrouds of clouds? Blossoming flames? Oscar tried his hardest to understand it. A cloud of flames or vapors in a vague silhouette of a person, a giant that swirled around, reaching its large hands and arms to cast shadows on the debris. The head wasn't shaped like a person's, thin, pointed, and filled with glittering stars or red, blue, purple, white, and yellow, like a painting of the night sky.

This giant dwarfed the large rock he and the others were on. In comparison, he was nothing more than a little gnat around its ethereal, swirling countenance. A chill ran down his spine as the giant passed through to parts unknown. After a while, Oscar got up, his feet wobbly and unstable.

"What was that?" Oscar asked. He had never heard of such a creature.

"We call it, Xures, one of the ancients. No one knows their origins, only that they wander around the void of Shattirma, aimlessly and randomly." Veln seemed weary and gasped through her mask. "It's good it didn't do anything to us."

"Xures…." Oscar engraved the image of the giant in his memories. He wanted to know more, but Veln returned to her indifferent stance and refused to answer any more questions.

The rest of the journey was fairly straightforward, uneventful as nothing compared to the passing of Xures. Veln led him and Avril down a confusing trail where they circled around in different nodes and debris until they arrived at a great waterfall. The distance was so high up that the water started to flake into vapors at the bottom.

Oscar followed Veln up a series of rocks and swam up rivers until they reached the top.

"One more step, and you will enter Vallen." Veln bowed. "I have fulfilled my duty. The rest is on you." She swiveled around and started her own path back down to the depths of Shattirma.

"Just another step…." Oscar had waited so long for this moment. The rock under his foot hovered above the stretch of flowing water. Unable to bear it any along, he pulled along Avril and Erden, leaping forward. "Hello, Vallen!"

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