Chapter 3: Shadows Before the End — Uncle
I stood on the verge of death, wondering if this was how I would die. The piercing teeth that robbed me from the camp were no more—it had mysteriously died.
That was odd. You would have to kill a soul beast for the same amount of times as the souls it possessed. And this one had twelve souls—that meant you would have to kill it twelve times.
"Did Ren kill it? No, Ren wasn't there, nor were the members of the camp."
My body felt like a burden. My eyes were heavy. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I wanted to die, but death wouldn't come.
This sure was hell. How long was I going to be here? It was noon, and the camp had probably left. Each blink I took felt like a millennium, but at least I was able to smile.
It felt like three days had passed since I got separated from the camp. I was probably marked as dead. I tried to move my hands but couldn't.
I managed to blink my eyes and was able to see. It was blurry, but that was enough for me to know what would take my miserable life. The fourth time I blinked, I saw a figure—it was humanoid. I couldn't tell what race it was. I only hoped it would make my death quick and painless.
The fifth time I blinked, I opened my eyes again and was surprised to find myself alive. There was a blurry stream in view—and the same blurry man.
He forced me to drink a substance. Luckily, it was just water.
The sixth time I opened my eyes, I was in a bed, close to a warm fire. This was refreshing. I seemed to have regained my sense of hearing and could hear the blurry man walking towards me. He gave me a liquid to drink. Was it poison? That was out of the question—if he wanted to kill me, he would have just left me in the forest for some creatures to make a frenzy out of what was remaining of me.
I drank the liquid, and damn, did it taste terrible. What was that stuff? My eyes became heavier, and I was finally able to get some sleep.
I woke feeling energized. I could feel my legs and hands again. This didn't look like the camp. I stood up from the very soft bed and looked around the house. It was ancient. I managed to locate the door.
I stepped outside, blinking against the bright light that filtered through the mist. The air smelled of age—like stone and dust left untouched for centuries.
That's when I saw him—an old man who looked like he was in his seventies. He would probably be a two-hundred-year-old master. A blade sat at his right side. With sharp eyes and long hair streaked with silver, he looked at me for a long moment before speaking.
"So… you've finally awakened," he said, his voice low and heavy, as if it carried the weight of the world.
I didn't recognize him at first, but there was something in his gaze—familiar, unsettling.
"Uncle?" I asked. How was this possible? He was my model—Li Tiankai—the elder brother to my father. He was exiled for not being able to unlock a divine ability. His name was in the last shelf of the Li library.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"I saw your silver crest and knew you had faced the fate same as mine," he paused before continuing. "You carry the blood of our clan, boy, and with it… the right to command what few dare even whisper of."
He stepped closer, and I felt the temperature drop.
"The Law of Death flows in your veins… but that is only the beginning," he said before explaining.
"The supreme laws of death, unlike the other laws, are different. They can't be measured and have lesser needs for mana, so they're hardly detectable by others." He paused and continued, "The laws of death aren't always counted as a law because to access it one has to die—and if you are dead, you can't access it. So, it's typically almost impossible to access it," he said, staring at his sword.
The laws of death… I had unlocked the laws of death. This could bring back my lost glory in the Li clan. Tears swelled in my eyes, and I let out a wild laugh. From my lost uncle, I got to learn that there were only a few beings that had mastered the laws of death:
The Chess Master: a being that worked with the Disk of Faith to control all existence [mastered all laws].
Veythr Kealthorn: the strongest being in the Wild; mastered all twelve laws and probably had the ability to wipe out the entire human race if he wanted to.
Orexane: an entity that had to live in a void cave to avoid dying; he only mastered the laws of time and death.
And myself, who had just comprehended the laws of death.
Uncle's eyes narrowed, his voice dropping to a whisper as if the very trees could betray us.
"But there's more you do not yet understand. That soul beast—the one that nearly tore you apart—it carried twelve souls, each forged in the heart of the Wild. When you survived its assault, those souls were claimed by your Law of Death."
My heart thudded. "Claimed… by me?"
He nodded slowly. "They are bound to you now, woven into the threads of your fate. With them comes a gift… or a curse, depending on the path you choose."
I clenched my fists. "What gift?"
"The ability to master all Daos," he said, each word landing like a hammer. "Emotions, Destruction, Mystery, Creation, Death… all twelve. But such power will not go unnoticed. The heavens themselves despise one who steps beyond the natural order."
The air seemed heavier. The fire behind us flickered as if afraid to burn in the presence of such truth.
Uncle stepped back and looked out into the mist beyond the ancient door.
"The path you've been forced onto… is a path of war. There are others—beings older than the clans, older than the Wild itself—who will feel your rise. Some will try to guide you. Most… will try to end you before you begin."
A strange heat coiled in my chest, as if the twelve souls were responding to his words.
I looked down at my hands. They trembled—not from fear, but from a strange hunger.
Uncle turned back to me, his silver hair glinting in the firelight.
"You've been given a power that cost others their lives. You don't yet understand the burden it carries… but soon, you will."
I met his gaze. "Then teach me. If I'm to master all Daos, I won't crawl through this world hiding."
His faint smile returned, though this time it was tinged with something darker.
"I was born with only sword talent. I studied the Daos to improve my sword art. The path I walk and your path are completely opposite. I'm afraid you will have to find your path yourself," he said, looking down.
"But what I can help with is to tell you the abilities you possess," he said with a bright smile and handed me a chart for my powers. It was just like the ones back in the Li clan, only those were electronic-based.