Chaos' Heir

944  Next step

Khan sat at the edge of a deep gorge surrounded by boulders of various sizes. One leg was curled to his chest, acting as a resting spot for his arm. The other hung on the hole's verge, swaying at his command.

A faint smile stood on Khan's face as he played with his leg protruding toward the gorge's depths. Most people would experience a certain thrill or simple vertigo while sitting in the same position. Yet, he could fly, so falling had lost any meaning to him. That dangerous edge was no different than a comfortable couch to him.

Eventually, Khan's attention moved to the opposite edge. A chunk of strangely solid soil rested on the vertical surface, desperately clinging to the wall to avoid falling. Some cracks had weakened its grasp, highlighting its edges, but nothing crumbled yet.

"[It's okay]," Khan said, his voice no more than a whisper. "[You can break]."

As if listening to Khan's alien words, the cracks around the chunk of soil enlarged, severing the connection with the wall. The desperate, inanimate figure crumbled into a waterfall of rubble, disappearing into the gorge's depths.

Some would have found the soil's desperate attachment to the wall poetic, but Khan knew the truth. Entropy was unavoidable. Everything wanted and would eventually fall apart, be it rocks or living beings. He could almost hear that desire in the world around him, and his mana could exploit it.

Khan heaved a sigh. He didn't know why he had used the Niqols language, but it didn't feel right to use the human one when summoning his influence. Also, he noticed how his accent was still perfect. His tongue didn't get rusty at all.

'It almost seems I keep getting better,' Khan realized.

Learning the Niqols language took a while, but the others didn't pose that much of a challenge. He had even mastered the complicated Thilku runes in record time. Khan almost felt he was made for mastering alien cultures.

'Is this the definition of talent?' Khan wondered. 'Is it just the accumulation of previous successes? Do my alien genes have something to do with it?'

As always, those questions didn't lead anywhere. Khan had no answers. Truth be told, he didn't need them since he already wielded the results.

'Monica would know,' Khan thought, suddenly missing his Fiancée more than usual. 'She must be pissed she couldn't get pregnant.'

Khan heaved another sigh, focusing on the destruction of his own creation. The many boulders around him and the gorge had once been a hill, which his short training session had shattered. He had become good at summoning his mana's true nature, and the action had felt uniquely effortless that day.

'It's always easier after training with the pool,' Khan considered, inspecting the arm resting on his knee. 'I wonder how many sessions I have left.'

Khan could feel the toxic liquid's effects waning with each training session. He didn't suffer as much as before, and his recovery time was also shortening. His body was building tolerance to that strange substance while fulfilling the intended growth.

'Five?' Khan calculated. 'Ten more sessions? I should be able to get it done before the campaign is over.'

Abusing such a debilitating training regimen in the middle of an active warzone wasn't ideal, but Khan's mind was set. He didn't need as much rest as his soldiers anyway, and the improvements the pool provided were bound to help during the battles.

Nevertheless, the side effects went beyond the short debilitation. Khan knew each training session put him closer to the evolved warriors, physically, at least, and that change was far from negligible.

Khan glanced at his side. The brown-red soil shimmered under the glow of Senerth's white star. Bright sparks and minerals littered that seemingly barren environment, adding a unique resilience to its texture.

Those lights only existed in Khan's eyes, but he didn't focus on them now. He pressed a finger to the ground, summoning the intent he had mastered in the recent period. Something happened to the symphony without the need for mana waves, and its effects soon became evident.

A spiderweb of cracks opened around Khan's finger, stretching into the distance alongside the gorge's edge. The many tiny imperfections in that seemingly resilient ground became massive flaws, triggering a chain reaction that created a dark avalanche.

Khan watched as part of the edge to his right crumbled, transforming into a soil waterfall that dived toward the gorge's depths. He had barely needed a thought to cause that reaction, but no satisfaction appeared on his face.

'Living beings are no different,' Khan pondered. 'Their bonds are stronger and possess wills, but I can affect them. That's the next step.'

The idea of applying the spell learned from the Nak's hand to living beings gave birth to a strange feeling. Destroying inanimate objects was fine, but monsters and people required a different mindset. Khan would have to see them as nothing more than walking blood bags, and to his dismay, the hurdle was easy to overcome.

Khan had become too powerful. He could slaughter tens of monsters with but a thought and some mana. His existence had risen far above those weaker than him, making him struggle to acknowledge their value. They breathed because Khan allowed it, but that right could be easily taken away.

'Don't lose it,' Khan ordered to himself, sighing. 'Learn to do it without losing sight of life's value.' n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That was easier said than done, but Khan wouldn't compromise. His mana's nature actually worked in his favor there. His unreasonable sides made him want to seize everything on his own terms without sacrificing anything.

'It's almost time,' Khan realized, sensing something in the symphony. He stood up, ignoring the dirt on his butt and throwing one last glance at the gorge. The vast fissure acted as a reminder of his growth, and Monica's face inevitably popped into his vision again.

'I can give her a child,' Khan reminded himself. 'It's just more difficult.'

Khan had discussed the topic with his scientists, but the reports didn't indicate any sterility. If anything, the pool had increased Khan's virility. The issue Khan and Monica were facing had to do with their different species and her recent interruption of birth control. Those difficulties wouldn't go away, but Abraham reassured him that life always found a way.

'If anything,' Khan smirked, amused, 'I can add sex to the list of my duties. Maybe being a Prince isn't too bad.'

The arrival of a series of figures forced Khan to dismiss those thoughts. He peeked past his shoulders, inspecting the dozen or so monsters slowly converging to his position. Those creatures looked stronger than the average Senerth's beast, and their wary approach betrayed a hint of intelligence.

"Took you long enough," Khan announced, his voice sending debilitating tremors into the monsters' bodies. "I'm sorry, but this won't be quick. I need to run some tests."