Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 64- Whisper on the Wind

Don't worry Old Turtle, I gotchu, at least until we reach Chapter 90. Also, I welcome our new fellow followers on the Daoist path Jeff and deathreaper. On a side note, I totally forgot about this chapter. Good thing, now I remember where the plot was supposed to go.

In an old world as the pillars shatter, an immortal sagged against the air, hands bereft of any crutch or shoulder.

He stood there unmoving and mute as if he had turned to stone. However, his mind was anything but firm, inside turbulent oceans raged and molten tides of fury and disbelief overturned his most trusted beliefs. He felt his faith shatter that day. Nine brothers and sisters had once walked together moving oceans and adventuring under the heavens with abandon. However, today, eight brothers and sisters continued to walk together in the light and one brother was left by the wayside. As he stared at the backs of those he once called friends he came to realize that he couldn't call them friends now. With his mind filled with silent alternating screams of rage and despair he turned and walked a darker path.

His steps were slow and filled with a sense of ponderousness. Each breath felt as if he was pushing against the world itself and it was as heavy as a mountain on his chest.

"Where do I go now? I have nothing left." He wanted to break down and cry, but he knew it would do no good. As lightning began to crackle and rain came, tears stealthily mixed in amongst them, unseen and unheard. Heaven's wrath poured from the skies as if trying to wipe out his miserable existence from the earth. He chuckled instead of sobbing and forced a slight but terrible grin to his face. This was his path and he could do nothing but walk, such was destiny. Terrible thoughts came to mind.

"What if I did this differently...what if I had just... what if I was not who I am..." Such doubts, such regrets, and endlessly tears tasting of terror slipped out unwanted like their creator. For an indeterminate amount of time he wandered in the dark and cold and wet and sometimes he even became lost in time. He'd dwell in his darkest thoughts and suddenly he'd be in the light again, traveling the world and slaying all demons outside and within with those he could call friends without a doubt. Then he'd scream inside as he knew he was lying to himself and he just wanted to yell,

"HELP ME!!" but the only one who'd listen had long since walked away, together...WITHOUT HIM! His steps faltered at times, breaking down as he contemplated just lying down and giving up, but he kept walking just for something to do. If he stopped...his thoughts overran his being and he became no one. Just leftovers and he dwelt on how he had stopped in time as others moved on. No, it was better to walk, it gave him the illusion that he was moving in time again. Plod, plod, plod. When the dirt compressed beneath, his feet sank in deep, the rain had long since loosened up the soil and he found that it was no longer a trick of his mind, each step WAS harder! But he kept walking. Who knows how many days and nights he walked, it all felt the same beneath the endless rain, and he had long since surpassed the point where he needed to eat and drink as mortals to survive.

There was no indication how long he had gone, and suddenly, as his thoughts endlessly circled and accumulated into a massive dark cloud inside, a bolt of lightning lit the world around him in endless fire and the crackling heat seared through him as the ground below gave way.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!

Down, down, down he finally fell and walked no more. In despair, he felt a horrifying feeling as he realized he didn't know where he was. Falling forever, the light of the lightning passed and he saw that he had wandered to the edge of a towering cliff and the edge had been rent by the blast, and he along with it, tumbled away into the vast deep ocean below.