The Dome Monster

Awirren, in her Evolved Form, that of the Golden Phoenix, flew at her enemy. The forest below her was filled with smoke and fire. Attacks were falling all around her, used by her Sect warriors. Techniques flared at the edges of her senses, but she disregarded them and focused on her foe. She was this Dome's natural enemy, fire to burn away the forest.

They hadn't known that it could spread to the mundane forest that surrounded the Dome, and now she was on a time limit. She couldn't allow all these watchers to see her struggle, she had to end it all as fast as she possibly could.

She burned with Soulfire Qi, a golden symbol shining through the darkness, a beacon for her people. Her Qi spilled from her core and she shaped it with an expert's hand into a technique.

She plunged straight into the canopy, knowing that the ground was still far away below. The trees were extremely tall. Her body didn't even touch the leaves and branches before they burst into flames and burnt up fully in moments.

The toxins that had bothered her people had no effect on her, and even if it could, nothing could pass through the scorching heat surrounding her. She sensed thorns and vines coming at her, but didn't even have to bother with them, they ignited and were reduced to ash long before they could touch her.

Her technique bulged inside of her body as she fed it more and more Qi, draining her Core dangerously low. And then she released it all with the {Dawn of Soul Flame}.

The reflection of her Soul, the phoenix that flew high in the sky, manifested around her, shaped by the flames, an identical copy of her Evolved Form. For a moment, the two phoenixes existed, both made of fire, yet one was more ethereal, a concept and imagination made real. Her technique was superimposed above her real body, Soulfire Qi given a reason and purpose. And then the Soulfire Qi grew brighter, blazing with light and echoing the beauty of her Soul for all to witness. A moment later, her technique exploded in all directions, like wings following a current, the fire burned through the forest. It carried the piece of her soul with it, the searing rage that was all-consuming, the determination to never be snuffed out.

The air shifted as the flames in Awirren's attack raced down upon the Living Forest. Everywhere she looked, trees were on fire and sparks filled every gap left by their canopies. It was incinerating everything in its path. All the living things, from the great trees to the small plants futilely spraying toxins and poisons, spores on the barks that burst in displays of putrid clouds, to the vines and thorns launched by strange plants, it all burned in the wake of her attack. It was all reduced to ash.

Smoke filled her vision, preventing her from seeing the devastation that she had wrought. But she knew that nothing could stop her, that SHE WAS FIRE AND NOT EVEN THE MONSTROUS NATURE COULD NOT HOLD BACK HER MIGHT.

* * *

From far above, Anatalien watched Awirren fighting against the Dome. She couldn't see much through the smoke, but the flashes of light, and the heat. That terrible heat that reminded her of her own body burning, of the stench of melted flesh and burnt hair that filled her nostrils and never truly left. The agony of feeling nerves being scorched through, of bones charring, of her eyes boiling in her head.

It all came back to her, memories carved deep into the core of who she was that she could never get rid of them, a constant reminder of why she was doing this.

Sigmund signed, and Anatalien grimaced. "I had to," she said. "They follow her, but they are innocent, mostly."

Sig didn't respond. Tali hadn't even thought about it, if she was being honest. When she saw that the people below her were dying, she'd just reacted. Using her Qi to push down anything harmful away from them.

"Don't look at me like that," Tali added.

Sig turned his eyes back to the fight in front of them. Both of them had held onto their hate for a long time. Being this close to finally seeing Awirren pay was making them... anxious.

Tali felt the wind moving as some of Awirren's warriors used their techniques in unison to clear away some of the smoke and help the others see what they were fighting better.

The smoke from the blaze began to clear, and they could see the destruction that Awirren has caused. The once lush forest was now a ruin. Charred trees stood like skeletal remains in a few places, slowly rolling in the staying breeze. The few trees that remained impressed Tali more than the destruction she was seeing. The fact that anything remained in the face of Awirren's power was just a testament to how resilient it was.

She turned her eyes and looked farther away from the center of Awirren's destruction, where the forest had taken the edge of her attack. Everywhere Tali looked, she saw that the trees were reduced to nothing but ash floating through the air, a reminder of what it meant for anything living to stand in Awirren's way. You either worshiped her, or you were reduced to ash.

The ground was cracked, pieces of once giant branches laid strewn about as if thrown into chaos by an invisible hand. The streams of the rivers that passed through the dome too had been consumed by the fires, turned into steam, leaving behind only blackened deposits rotting away on either side of their banks where creatures used drink or hunt outside of the dome. New water was crashing into the now empty river bed, and evaporating just from the heat of the surface. Steam and smoke rose up, threatening to obscure her vision again.

It seemed like everything within the Dome area was wiped out completely without even a single blade having survived intact from Awirren's fiery attack.

Antalien's scars ached as she watched Awirren beating her wings above the ground, keeping herself suspended in the air. She raised her head and released a cry, a single note to give voice to her victory. Her warriors picked up the cry, and the thunderous cheering filled the air.

Sigmund leaned forward, looking down with a frown on his face. Tali followed suit. "Do you think that it's time?" She asked. Unfortunately, the Dome hadn't given Awirren as much of a trouble as they had hoped, but she had spent a lot of her Qi, that would have to be enough.

Sigmund shook his head, then signed quickly. Anatalien turned her attention to the ground, a soft rumble was coming, building rapidly until the Sect warriors and Awirren noticed. It happened so fast. The ground shook, the sound becoming so loud that it drowned out everything. Then, for a moment, the ground stilled. She felt a draw of Essence on a scale she had never felt before. Beyond the area that Awirren had decimated, was the ordinary forest that met and burned from the fires spreading at the edges of the Golden Sky Sect's attacks. Tali turned her head to see the forest that surrounded the Dome area shake, every tree, every plant, every thing that grew from the ground. The forest that covered the entire territory reacted as one, and then it shriveled. Green leaves decayed rapidly, going through their life cycle in an instant while still attached to the branches. They turned brown, then darker until they flaked off the branches that withered and crumbled into broken husks of what they were just a moment before. The green sea that stretched far in every direction she could see, that covered the entire territory, died.

The ground beneath Awirren ripped apart, and giant tendrils of deep brown reached out. Like a mutated roots, they reached for the sky in such numbers that it looked like a gaping maw of a giant filled with narrow teeth opening.

Awirren's fire flashed, but it didn't matter, the roots caught around her, and burned. They turned to ash, but always there was another to take its place, too fast for her to react. She was pulled toward the ground as her warriors suffered the same fate. Some were caught and crushed to paste in moments, others evaded only to be caught by another.

Flower-like growths sprouted on the surface of the roots, and started spitting thorns or acid on everything in the air. It seemed like the Dome had more tricks up its sleeve than they had anticipated. Frozen, Tali watched, wondering what she should do.

The Golden Dawn

A tendril reached up so high to catch the ship that Tali and Sig were standing on, she threw a technique to separate its bonds, and it did. Only for it to reform into a dozen smaller tendrils that stabbed forward so fast that she couldn't react fast enough. The roots pushed through the ship, impaling it, and she spread her wings, flying with Sig under arm, getting higher as she threw techniques to slow the monstrosity down.

It was a slaughter, Awirren's people were dying, and she could only see an ember of golden light through the squirming mass of roots that had churned the earth and exploded to the surface. Awirren's fire was spreading, but there was too many roots piling up on top of her.

"What do we do?" Tali asked, their plan was not to help, but wait for the moment Awirren was at her weakest to strike. Now, it looked like Awirren was in trouble. The Dome was too strong.

Sigmund signed, and Tali grimaced. Letting the Dome kill her might even be what was for the best. But she wanted to be the one to do it. To look her in the eyes and have her know that it was Tali who won in the end.

Sigmund stepped to the side, his flying disk array appearing out of his storage and she let him go then joined him on the construct. Standing on it, they looked down, caught in a moment of indecision.

* * *

Awirren's body burned through the pain. She felt her flesh pierced by tiny roots that burned even as they sought to push further into her body, she felt her bones cracking as giant roots tried to crush her.

She had stood triumphant in the sky, taking in the adulation of her people. Of all those who watched from afar, the spies and those who heard her name and dreamed of one day just breathing the same air as she did. And this wretched monster had dared to intrude on her moment, to taint and tarnish her image. All had seen her pulled back, all had seen her image tarnished. She was bleeding, even if she survived, if she prevailed, nothing would erase what was now burned in everyone's mind.

They had seen her weak, and that was unacceptable. The great burning fury bubbled out of the core of her being. Her Qi churned in her body, and the anger in her soul flowed right through. There was no thought after that, only action. Emotion overwhelming every pillar that she had crafted inside of her mind to keep control of herself. Impulses suppressed rose to the surface, and she reacted.

A piece of her Soul tore off, it passed through that intangible boundary between the body and the Soul, and it entered her core, and there it burned. All her anger, all her hate at the world, all her resentment, the disdain for all those lower than her.

Her Qi burned hotter, fueled by the Essence of her Soul. A River of Qi flowed through her body, her {Unbreakable Feathers} toughened her body. Her Soulfire Cloak ignited around her and the roots holding her burned. Ash and smoke filled the air as she blasted with her wings, breaking free in a display of golden and red fire. Her soul pained her flames in the color of anger and hate, the piece that she had used to fuel the power of her Qi beyond what it could ordinarily do. She hated that others would see this display, that her golden image would be tarnished by those red flames. But those thoughts were buried deep within her mind, not important at the moment. Only the fire was, only the glorious flame.

She spun as she took to the air, ripping the burning tendrils in the process, spreading ash and smoke in all directions.

She spread her wings and on pure instinct reached out with her Master of Soulfire grabbing hold of all the fire around her. With a primal reflection of her will, she shaped it in a raw attack. A technique outside of her body. She gathered her Qi and Essence of all types of Fire present, a thousand, then more and more small spheres of Essence gathered all around her in an instant, then they changed shape to resemble her feathers.

With a cry, she unleashed it. {Blast of Feathers} unleashed thousands of thousands of golden and red feathers in all directions beneath her.

They carved through the monster below, blowing holes in the roots that tried to reach up toward her, igniting them from within, cutting the smaller ones, and then hitting the mass below in an explosion of fire.

She could see it now through all the smoke and ash, through the dirt and the roots that rose all around her some attacking her forces, above her. The roots were spread all around her, in every direction, but their heart was below, beneath the now cracked earth. She saw her target, a gnarled trunk-like shape beneath the cracked ground, thick bark covered it, and roots grew out of it in all directions.

New growths appeared on the roots around her, firing thorns and acid sprays in Awirren's direction, but the fire around her protected her. Everything burned before it could touch her.

The Qi inside of her body shifted in a different pattern, and as new roots grew, as the monster tried to overwhelm her fire with pure mass and insane amount of roots trying to get at her.

{Field of Everburning Fire} blossomed out of her, incinerating everything around her in a ball of deadly heat. With the enough room, she reached deep within herself, and pulled the core of her being out.

—Golden Dawn—

The power of her Ideal had grown as the adoration of the world had filled her Soul. She had defended them, she had fought armies for them, or at least that was how it looked to all. It didn't matter to her, only their love did.

Her Ideal spilled out of her, and Essence of Soulfire was born above her. Golden fire, marred with the dark red of the deeper parts of her soul. It grew in size rapidly, its heat burning to cinders everything around it and her. She heard screams in the back of her mind, but she gave no heed to anything. There was no deep thought in her mind, only the desire to burn everything to ash. To show her terrible glory.

The sun grew until it filled the sky, and she raised her head in a haughty display of disdain for the monster under her. With her will, she reached out to the sun, and it answered. The fire streamed down as the sun's form collapsed. Like a river, the flames flowed, churning and shaping with her will, techniques were born buried deep within the surface of the river.

Roots pulled back, layering themselves over the core of the being beneath, attempting to protect it. It wouldn't matter in the end, nothing ever did before her.

Her fire fell, and everything burned. A while later, notifications pinged inside of her mind.

* * *

Anatalien watched as Awirren fought her way free, just a moment before she and Sigmund interfered. She was obviously injured, her golden feathers were ruffled, some pulled out or broken. Blood was spilling from her wounds and flowing over her Evolved Form, as resistant to the flames as she herself was.

"Now?" Anatalien asked, wondering if this was their chance, the opportunity to strike.

Sigmund raised his hand to sign, but her attention was drawn back to Awirren as she felt her Qi move. There was something there that caught her attention, something that she felt with her Soul. Awirren did something that Tali couldn't identify, but that felt so familiar to her. Like meaning of her Qi, the meaning of Soul. It felt cruder than what Ryun had been doing, what all of them were trying to do, but a moment later Awirren's fire changed. Dark red traces appeared amongst her golden flames, and Tali could feel an intense hate from her old friend.

She attacked with a renewed savagery, her technique ripping the roots apart. Then a field of fire around her burned everything else, and then it echoed in her mind, an Ideal being used.

A moment later, a golden and red sun appeared, and the screams started. Awirren was too far gone, the heat of her ideal burned her own warriors, killing the weaker ones near instantly. And then the sun grew and consumed those who couldn't get away.

"Now! Do it now!" She yelled over the roar of flames, as the sun fell apart and fell down on the Dome monster.

She felt Sigmund's will sharpen then spill out into the world around them. It was almost like a physical thing, enough so that she took a step back and nearly fell of the construct. She shook her head and prepared her techniques, activated all her items and got ready.

Sigmund's eyes were closed, and his arms spread wide as if he was grasping something. And he was, he took hold of the world and then spoke.

"WE ARE CONCEALED," his words were a whisper, but their power echoed against the very fabric of the Infinite Realm.

In the same breath, she felt the scrying abilities, the arrays and formations that were watching the fight, all go dark. Light around them bent and shimmered, preventing anyone from the outside to look in. With no eyes on them, Tali launched herself off the platform and headed straight down.

It was time.

Fire And Sky

"You see!" Kael pointed at the viewscreen, where the Golden Phoenix's fire bloomed, killing the threat from the Dome, but also others. "She doesn't care, she is killing her own people. These are the people that we need to take down."

He rounded to look at Berion, and he couldn't help but look away. He was the only one among them that was vocal with his disagreements.

"You know that they need to go, Berion," Kael continued, a mad glint in his eyes. It was a look of someone who held complete conviction in his belief. Who had built himself around an idea and could not see anything else.

Berion turned his eyes back to what he was happening, the Phoenix's flames burning her own people. The sheer disregard of life made him so angry that he could barely keep himself from striking across space. But in the end, he owed Kael everything. And he did agree that some of the people ruling this world were not worthy of the trust and responsibility they held.

But taking them, giving them to the yeti for whatever nefarious purpose he had... that was what was bothering Berion the most. He kept silent, the others had all decided on this course, it was not his place to disagree.

Then the viewscreen cut out, and Berion straightened as he felt a change in the distance.

"What happened?" Kael asked.

"I don't know," Fethum answered, looking their array over, trying to turn it on again.

Berion's sense of the space around them had changed. He could no longer clearly sense the space in the Dome area. He focused his will and mind, and with |I Was One With Space| he extended his sense.

The world surrounding the Dome, was... changed. He could feel a powerful will of another leaning on Space and everything else.

"Ber?" Kael called, and he turned his attention to the others. Kael waved his hand, then asked. "Can you?"

Berion focused his mind and willpower, his Qi moving through his body in an enhancing technique, {Spatial Unity}, that made him more in tune with the space around him. Its range was short, or at least, it used to be. But ever since he became a Sage and made a Way, the range of all of his powers had skyrocketed. With ease, he reached out and poked at the edges of whatever it was that blocked him. It wasn't a real block, it was... almost as if the Essence in that area no longer wished to obey anything outside of it.

It was... interesting. He focused his will leaned on the space. It refused him at the start, but then he opened himself to the Plane of Space, the Plane that existed everywhere in one shape or another, that touched all existence. It knew him, and it opened its arms to him. Slowly, he pushed his awareness through the block and then with |I Fold Space| and {Spatial Bend} he shaped a square in front of him. Qi bent space in the shape of a window, creating the framework for his Skill. With his will, he lightly folded an area of space, just a flat plane, enough to reach his Qi through and shape a mirror of the window. Then he opened it up, and light spilled through, opening up a window for them to watch.

Everyone leaned in, trying to see what was happening. Smoke and fire were everywhere, a roar like thunder echoed in their cave and a high pitched cry followed it after. Even through space he could feel the power being unleashed. The sky was shaking in the distance. Cracks were opening up and the sky was breaking as Void spilled through them. Black and red flames burned everywhere in the shape of a phoenix.

"They are fighting," Kael whispered. "This is our opportunity, get ready."

Berion saw their targets fighting each other and felt a deep sense of... disgust. They couldn't even set aside their differences for long enough to fight a threat that could kill so many innocents.

Perhaps Kael is right, he thought to himself as he got ready to take them all across space.

* * *

Tali didn't hesitate, she activated her Evolved Form: Grand Minokawa. Her body grew in size, her neck elongating and her face changing to that of a predator, a short but powerful beak replaced her mouth, and two sharp eyes took place above it. Her wings grew two more pairs burst from her back and spread wide as her tail elongated and grew four spikes at the tip. Black and grey feathers covered her body, each glistening in the light as if it was made out of metal. A Cloak of Sky Qi shrouded her, a faint grey sheet that increased her control. She felt the wind on her face as she dove straight through the smoke, falling on top of her target. She moved her Qi, shaping techniques in an instant. With Sky Qi and {One With the World} she increased her stats and established a connection with the Sky around her as she had to be precise, with {Empty Dominion} and Bond Qi she cleared her mind of all things but what was in front of her. She focused the {One Bonded Sky} and {Empty World} techniques into her body, waiting for the moment to release them.

As she fell, her passage blew away the smoke around her along with the flames and heat. Awirren was on the ground, sitting in a crater filled with ash, dust, and broken earth. Lines of golden and red fire that was what remained of her ideal moved across the ground like a living thing, seeking any threat remaining.

Awirren raised her head suddenly, and noticed Tali. Her eyes narrowed, and for a moment she was confused, almost surprised. Then Tali saw the realization in her eyes. The Phoenix's flames flared, the golden color growing dimmer as more red burned around her.

She made to evade, Tali felt powers activating, but a voice echoed in the world around them.

"YOU STRIKE TRUE."

Tali reared back, bringing her clawed feet to bear. Tali's evasion attempts slipped from her as the world itself conspired against her. Tali slammed into her. She struck with {One Bonded Sky} hitting with the weight of all the Sky at her back. The weight of the world hit Awirren and Tali's claws biting deep, pushing the Phoenix into the ground, cratering it and sending a ripple of earth in all directions.

Bones cracked beneath her, and flesh parted. The heat intensified, her claws burned, red flames lashed out and burned the surface of Tali's feathers. Tali's soul cried out in memory and in pain as she felt it burning her.

But in that moment when she struck, the moment when Awirren was dazed, where her mind had to be concussed and will faltering, Tali was fully focused on only one thing. She released her second technique.

{Empty World} unleashed through her feet, a surge of Bond Qi technique that sought to destroy everything in its wake. Bond met Soulfire, and clashed in a display of flaring power. Essence fought being torn apart, as will matched will. For a moment there it was as if time stopped, as they were poised there one above the other. And then Tali's technique pushed through. Feathers broke apart, and flesh burst open, bones cracked as her Qi pulled apart pieces of them, but not all. Awirren's body was resilient, and the fire all around Tali resisted having its bonds pulled apart.

It was almost as if it was a living thing, but Tali didn't have the time to think about it as the all flames around them rushed toward her. The golden light turned fully red and Tali felt it intimately. This close to another Soul, her Bonds of Soul and Sky, her Early Eternal Realm perk, could feel the full weight of another Soul, and its anger. She realized that somehow, Awirren had put a piece of her soul into her Qi, into all of her power, and that made it harder to destroy with her Bond Qi, it was not just her will and the meaning of her Essence that Tali's attack had to overcome, but also the power of Awirren's Soul.

She had no choice but to beat her wings and with |Mine Are The Winds, And The Sky| blast into the air, far away.

Fire covered Awirren fully, obscuring her as the flames turned dark red. And then they blasted up in a pillar of fire that sought Tali's death. With her |Greater Sky Evasion| Tali rolled out of the way.

Then a blur of gold and red blasted into the air, and flew above her, then Awirren spread her wings and her eyes met Tali's. Her body was ravaged, her chest open and blood flowed down the feathers that were turning red.

"Why?" Awirren just said.

Tali raised her head, feeling no shame. "You know why," she told her. "You tried to kill me, and you are insane, no matter how you pretend. If you were willing to kill me, your best friend, then I shudder to think what you will do once you lose the little control you have left."

Up above, Sigmund slowly lowered on his flying disk, to stand across from Awirren as well. Glowing orbs filled the air around him, ready to fire. But Tali could tell that he had expanded too much will to do much in the fight. Keeping the world from seeing what they were doing had cost him.

Tali used her ring, trying to see Awirren's screens. And just like before, she saw the clearly edited sheet. She had a more powerful item now, but she still couldn't see everything for some reason.

Awirren looked at Sigmund, then her beak opened and she cried out a piercing sound that made Tali's ears hurt. "I HELPED THEM ALL! I FOUGHT AND KILLED THE DOME MONSTERS, I AM NOT INSANE! THEY ALL KNOW ME, THEY LOVE ME!"

Tali grimaced at her tone. She could feel it reverberating inside her Soul. It was as if Awirren had somehow learned to reflect the true meaning of her Soul on the world around her. It was something that Tali and Ryun had only talked about. But she couldn't understand how Awirren was able to do it. Yet, some things made more sense now, like how Tali lost their last fight. "Look around you Awirren," Tali gestured with one wing. "You lost control. You killed your own people, those that survived are running away from you in fear."

Awirren's eyes turned to look in the distance, where the survivors were flying toward the perimeter fleet. Her eyes darkened, and for a moment Tali felt her entire Soul shudder as she felt something she couldn't even begin to describe coming from Awirren.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP ME," Awirren yelled, her tone deep and menacing. "BUT YOU TRICKED ME, YOU MADE ME STUCK IN PLACE, WITH NO WAY TO ADVANCE. YOU WERE JELOUS OF ME AND MY PLACE IN THE SKY. SHINING A LIGHT FOR ALL TO SEE."

Tali shook her head. They knew so little about Cultivation and what sharing inspiration truly meant, they still didn't understand it. How much had her understanding changed since she met Ryun? There were secrets in this world that none of them had even scratched the surface of. And yet, this wasn't about any of that. She could Awirren that she was mad, that she killed people and had to be put down all she wanted, but in the end, it wasn't about any of that. She steeled her mind and looked at her old friend with all intent she had.

"I didn't trick you," Tali responded. "I just wanted to help you, I loved you, and you turned your back on me. You tried to kill me. Because of you, I endured pain unlike anything that you can imagine, I was a slave. Nothing you did after matters; I will have my revenge."

The gold of Awirren's flames dimmed. "I AM THE RULER OF THESE SKIES, NOT YOU. I AM THE EMPRESS OF THIS DOMAIN. I AM THE BEACON THAT SWALLOWS ALL LIGHT IN THE SKY," Awirren's words made the world tremble, and Tali felt it in her soul. She didn't know how, but she recognized her words for what they were, a name, Awirren's True Name. The sun in the sky darkened, and her flames turned a darker shade of red.

Awirren reached up with one of her legs, then opened her beak and grabbed a pure black ring around one of her fingers. With a quick movement, she pulled it off, and it turned into black mist, disappearing.

A moment later Tali shuddered as Awirren's feathers and flames turned pure black. A wave of something unseen spread out of Awirren, something that made Tali's Soul want to scream and turn around, run away as far and as fast as she possibly could. Above her Sigmund doubled over, as if in physical pain.

Awirren's power flashed around her, and Tali recognized the feel of it. Quickly, she triggered her scrying ring again, and looked at Awirren's screens. This time she saw something entirely different.

"Awirren," Tali whispered. "What did you do?"

"YOU ROBBED ME OF THE PEAK OF CULTIVATION, BUT A CLASS HAS NO SUCH RESTRICTIONS, ONLY ONE'S DEEDS. AND I AM THE GRANDEST THERE IS."

Before Tali could respond, she felt abilities triggering, and Awirren blasted in her direction with a howling wind at her back.