Kicking Cradle
Being reborn was different than he’d always thought it would be like. It was like being in an odd haze where thoughts didn’t flow as they should. He realized later that it was because his brain needed time to develop into a state that could actually process all the information it had.
It only came together and clicked on a chilly autumn night when he was already five years old.
His name was Yin Tulaigo. In his previous life it had been Oskar Zetter. Somehow his previous name felt weird to him now, his new life had already fundamentally changed something about him.
The years he had spent with his family hadn’t been all that easy in this life so far. When he was around one or two years old he had his first memory and first thoughts in his new life. His parents had noticed the change and were quick to start trying to teach him how to cycle the energy in his body.
He had been confused, how could such a thing be? Humans couldn't do that, there was no such thing. And yet after a few days of intense scrutiny from his mother and less so from his father he had found it. In his stomach, a little pinprick that felt like light in his mind. His mother had been ecstatic, spending long hours teaching him to pull slivers of the energy out, and then through long channels in his body. Eventually making a full circuit through him.
It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, and yet as soon as the tiny sliver of energy came back into his core his mother demanded he do it again. And again.
When his father came back to the house he’d held him up with pride, praising his son for his dedication. Then he too demanded Yin to cycle again, and when the toddler complained that he was too tired the man had slapped him.
‘’A dreadbeast will not wait for you to recover boy. Nor will any sacred artist seeking your life.’’
Yin was forced to cycle several times every day, even though it hurt him, even when he cried and begged for rest. Day in and day out, weeks turned to months, and then they finally decided it was time for him to take the next step. They brought him a mushroom, flat and wide, with a pattern that obviously suggested it was poisonous. His father tore a piece of it, no larger than Yin’s fingernail, and forced him to eat the vile thing.
His teeth squished the spongy plant unpleasantly, and it tingled in his mouth, and then in his soul. Energy escaped the mushroom piece, invading his channels and flesh, it hurt immensely. Again, for the second time in his new life his father slapped him.
‘’You must cycle boy. Or you will die, and waste all our efforts for you.’’
Yin took control of the pinprick of light in his core, and forced slivers of energy out into his channels. Herding the invading energy through his body, down into his core, where it hurt him many times more. It made his soul swell, feeling like it would pop from the pressure. But soon it was done, another cycle through channels already raw from the effort and it was all incorporated.
The energy in his core had redoubled in size.
His mother rubbed tears from his cheeks and praised him, soothing his pain just a little bit.
And then his father held out another piece of the mushroom.
The second round was so much worse than the first that he had passed out. A doctor had come to their house and helped Yin while he was unconscious and his parents had been given a stern talking to. They were to refrain from pushing their son to advance until he was at least ten years old.
His parents disagreed quietly, but thankfully eased up on forcing their son to cycle until his soul felt like minced meat.
Time passed and Yin was allowed to go to school, a simple two room building in the little forest village he lived in. There were other children of all ages attending classes there, however there were only sixteen of them so whoever held lectures on any given day had room to cater to all the students.
All except Yin, who found out that he was heir to a very controversial pair of people.
It turned out that Yeng, his father, was a career fighter who walked the path of Flaring Spirit. A path that combined fire and dream energy. On any given day he would go to nearby villages and pick fights, despite being in a tier of cultivation that was considered weak in this world. He was skilled, and explosive, giving his opponents a run for their money even when they were tiers above him.
He was also notoriously a violent drunkard, spending his money gained ‘sparring’ in bars and then picking more fights. Every now and then destroying something and spending time in what passed for local jails. A simple square frame structure made of wood, with dense scripts written into the material. A place for public humiliation, similar to a stockade.
His peers in school had been baffled as to what a stockade was when he’d mentioned it. At the time Yin didn’t know what it was either, he simply knew the word.
His mother Chen’en was similarly a reviled person. She had been kicked out of her family home when she turned thirty, having languished at the cultivation level called ‘Green Stone’. The path to greater power for her was to subdue and eat a ghost with a similar path to her own.
She had refused because in her opinion augmenting her path of stone and life was not worth gaining ethereal hedgehog like spikes on her head.
When he later became more proficient in the local language and thought hard about it he realized that ‘green stone’ was a poor translation. More accurately it would be called Jade. And the next level, Low Gold.
It had been a thorn in the back of his mind, ever since he had become sapient again. A feeling of deja vu, or something similar. So very long ago, when he’d been Oskar and not Yin, hadn’t he read a story that mirrored things in this world so accurately.
How many years ago had that been? It was something he thought about often before sleeping.
When he was eight he wrote it all out in a blank book he’d been given in school for being such a good student. Over a few months he recollected what he knew of the world, of the energy, madra, of the paths they could make. Of the enemies he might encounter, dreadbeasts and gods, monarchs and Monarchs. Beings beyond anything a human mind unaugmented could comprehend. Of the man who had conquered everything on a timescale that beggared belief.
Yin made a plan for his path and the life he would live. First he would need a few things. Access to a certain library, a dream spirit and lastly a soul split in two.
It turned out that splitting his soul wasn’t all that difficult, small and soft as it was despite his parents' continued attempts to force him to grow it. All it took was a few weeks of trial and error, cycling this way and that, and soon he found the way. Take all his pure madra out of his core, cycle it swiftly, and then slam it back into his core making two swirls that spun opposite directions. And then pull.
Ten year old Yin screamed in agony for long enough that his throat went sore. The pain of splitting his soul had been so much more intense than anything he could remember in either life. The pain had subsided after only a few seconds and yet Yin couldn’t stop screaming in agony and terror. It was anathema to his very existence, what he had done. It was akin to suicide, and yet he lived, as he knew he would. Probably. It was very likely that he would survive without killing himself.
But he’d done it, stage one of a plan he’d only sort of plotted out.
After he gathered his wits he went into his parents bedroom, cautiously stepped around the mess on the floor. And found a box covered in scripts in a drawer.
The mushroom he’d taken two tiny bites out of some years ago looked the same as it had back then. Only so much smaller, now that his body had grown. Bringing it back to his own room he sat and divided it up, two piles roughly equal in size. He started to eat and cycle, the pure madra in one core swelled and pushed at the limits of its container. Then the next one.
Hours passed and his channels felt like they would burst, but he was finally done. He couldn’t perfectly remember how to progress from there, foundation to copper. He had a notion that it was just to let it overflow, breaking through the literal limit of his soul cores forcing them to become greater. Not quite there yet, but he’d probably be able to do it soon.
Later, when his parents came home and found their son they reacted as most parents in the world would. They took him out back to the well in their little garden and threatened to drown him.
Yeng beat him, Chen’en strangled him. They poured water over him and left him outside to think of what he’d done. For much of the evening he could hear them inside, each arguing the other out of killing him for his mistake. Yin decided that they were no longer his parents that night.
But in the end his parents' new disdain for their child worked out for him. They stopped pushing for their ‘crippled’ son to advance, giving all the room he needed to mind his own business.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
—
Yin, going on eleven years old, was the oldest of the children in his class, everyone else having already ‘graduated’. In other words having taken on aspects, or a path of their own and starting to work or leaving the village.
His teacher, Marunil, looked at him as if Yin were stupid. ‘’You want me to hunt a sublime beast for you?’’
Yin felt embarrassed, he’d never liked it in either life when people gave him that look. ‘’Just a small one, maybe a squirrel. Y’know, around jade-ish strength.’’ He poked his fingers together and tried to look cute. The only blessing his parents had given him were his looks. Pale hair that bordered on green that naturally curled into beautiful locks. Eyes that were a light brown that, in the right light, bordered on honey gold. And a cherubic face, that maybe would have worked better if he’d been a girl.
Marunil shifted uncomfortably, his goldsign moved on its own and knocked over a stack of papers on the teachers desk. He took hold of the squid-like tentacle and it wrapped around his hand. ‘’Yin, this is really something you should ask your parents for.’’
‘’Yeng is an idiot who doesn’t use his path right and Chen’en wouldn’t fight a fly because she might ruin her nails.’’ Yin told his teacher bluntly. Ruining the cute act he’d put on.
‘’At least call them mom and dad.’’ Marunil sighed and bent down to rifle through some papers he had. Missing the disgusted face Yin made at the suggestion. He came back up with a scroll, and rolled it out, running a finger along the length of paper until he found something. ‘’Ah! Here, three weeks ago, a sublime bird of some kind was seen nearby. Maybe you could convince Jakka and Ten to hunt it for you, they like you right?’’
Jakka was six years older than Yin, and the boy had many times been abusive to him. Ten was a girl about 5 years older who had an obsession with blades. Specifically short knives, anything longer than her fingers was out. She’d given him a few cuts over the years they’d spent in class together, mostly for no discernable reason. Both had been looking for the perfect remnants to advance to gold with for years.
‘’I think I’d feel safer going with you.’’ Yin told him. ‘’In several ways.’’
His teacher sighed in resignation, eventually and reluctantly agreeing. ‘’Maybe I can make some time to go with you.’’
‘’You promise!?’’ Yin yelled, and in a second he was crowded by the other children in the class all yelling the word ‘promise’ in their own ways. Ti Li, Ten’s younger sister, and one of the younger in the class at eight years old took the opportunity to steal a pen from the teachers desk while he was distracted.
Marunil sufferingly acquiesced the children. ‘’I *sigh* I promise I’ll take you out to hunt.’’
Yin cheered, and the rest of the children joined him, they all bounced around the teachers desk hooting and hollering.
‘’Only you Yin, and I think I’ll bring Jakka and Ten as well, they could use the experience.’’
Yin’s good mood dimmed instantly, standing still in the swarm of bouncing children, glaring at his teacher.
—
Marunil picked a perfect day for them to go out. Yeng had gotten himself into trouble again, spending two days in a punishment cube. And Chen’en had decided to day drink with her visiting cousin who was only slightly less worthless than Yin’s mother.
They met at the edge of the little town, where the forest threatened to claim the buildings if the occupants became too lax. Yin found his teacher and Ten sitting on a freshly cut down log, apparently Marunil had found the tree to have grown too close for comfort.
‘’Good morning Marunil, and not Ten, you can have a bad-’’ Marunils tentacle goldsign whipped out to slap him over the head. ‘’Gah!’’
‘’This is no time to act like that Yin, please apologize.’’ Marunil reprimanded with no particular heat.
Yin sighed and turned to Ten who stared right back at him with her narrow, dreadfully black, eyes. ‘’Sorry.’’ He made a rude gesture with one hand, hidden from Marunil by his body. Ten silently gave the same one back.
‘’Anyways! Looks like Jakka isn’t coming so let's go right now, go go go!’’ Yin tried to push Marunil up but the man didn’t even need to do anything to resist the feeble might of a barely eleven year old child in his foundation stage of cultivation.
‘’Now now, let's calm down and I’ll explain what you’re allowed to do during this excursion Yin.’’ Yin didn’t like the tone the man took. How dare he treat him as a child, even though he physically was one and often acted like it. ‘’You will stay by my side, if I have to fight something then you will stay with Ten and Jakka until I’m done.’’
The restrictions kept coming even as Jakka joined them. Yin was not allowed to make noise, walk in front of anyone, touch anything without asking first and absolutely had to bring someone if he needed to pee.
Marunil forced him to go over all the rules twice before they actually set out. The two teenagers had big backpacks full of gear with them, Jakka had a long remnant claw strapped to his. It looked like a childs rendition of a beast's claw, drawn into the world itself with brown streaks of luminescent energy. He’d done the soulsmithing to keep it from dissolving himself. Which explained why it seemed faded and on the verge of dissolving.
‘’What’s funny snotty?’’ He eventually asked when he caught Yin looking.
‘’Nothing.’’ He responded smugly and quietly enough that he wouldn’t be told off for making noise. The older boy sneered and muttered about cripples overstepping. For some reason the boy really had it out for the differently able.
They trekked for hours, up and down hills and over rivers and fallen trees the size of trains. Some of the vegetation grew to be ludicrously massive, how they didn’t simply swallow up everything around them was as much a mystery as everything else in this world.
Many things along the way were interesting, plants with leaves that shimmered. Birds that called in song that could have been sung in churches in his previous life. Tracks from large animals that sank deep into the ground. And finally they stopped, Yin the only one truly tired, in a clearing where a massive tree had fallen and uprooted a field big enough for two teams to play football on.
They made a small camp they could stay overnight in, Marunil creating a line of script around the site. Explaining everything about it all the while. ‘’And then we reach this part, the alarm, see the characters? They sense when madra in the line around them is disturbed, this causes the previous-’’
Yin noticed something and stopped listening, climbing halfway up the wall of the trees upturned roots he found what he’d seen. A mushroom with a pattern that suggested it would be poisonous. He glared at it with hatred. Just seeing one of the damned things brought up bad memories.
But it felt potent so he picked it and made his way back down, only for Jakka and Ten to accost him as soon as he was in reach.
‘’Look at that! A treasure mushroom!’’ He tried to pry it from Yin’s hands but Ten interfered.
‘’Idiot, you’re already peak jade, this wouldn’t do you any good. My little sister though..’’
Yin thought of little Ti Li, and decided that she had plenty of time to get her own treasures full of vital energy. ‘’Let go of me, finders keepers! Nghh! Maru!’’
He was dismayed to find his teacher frowning at them all. Soon the man came and easily stole the mushroom out of their hands. His fingers flowed like water and untangled theirs. With the mushroom in one hand and the other raised, threatening to chop a head in half should it rise too high, he asked a question. ‘’Who deserves this mushroom?’’
‘’’’‘’ME!’’’’’’
‘’I found it!’’
‘’I can sell it for a good remnant!’’
‘’My sister!’’
‘’Quiet.’’ The children shrunk down as their teacher exerted just a little of his cultivation on them. It felt like water was flowing down on them.
He looked from Ten to Jakka. ‘’Who deserves the mushroom?’’ They quietly contemplated, glancing at each other.
Yin knew right away what was happening, Marunil was leading the other two to decide that Ti Li should get it. Completely ignoring the ‘cripple’ who wouldn’t put the treasure to good use. Even though he was on the verge of copper that hadn’t been enough to convince anyone that his split cores were any good. Better to give it to someone who had ‘potential’. And he could do nothing about it.
Unless..
There was one move he could use that he’d remembered, the Empty Palm. Simplicity itself, just a burst of madra from his palm pushed into another person's core. A move he’d never even tried to use because using his pitiful amounts of madra would only make advancing at his stage take longer.
He’d just have to do it and at least try to get the mushroom out of Marunil’s hands before he was finished discussing with the two older teens. He put on an angry face, easy considering the rage he was feeling, and staggered forward. Marunil let him, only laying a hand on his shoulder as he hit the man's waist.
To sell it Yin pitifully hit him, once and then again, Marunil ignored him. Even going so far as to tell the other two to focus on him and who deserved the mushroom rather than Yin.
He took his chance, he pulled all the madra he could from one core and cycled it up to his arm. Marunil flinched and looked down at him, noticing the energy but too late to stop it. Yin’s hand hit him and his pure madra flooded into the man's soul, disrupting the flow. Marunil gasped and staggered, dropping the mushroom right into Yin’s hand.
He smashed it into his mouth and chewed once. A blade of conceptual sharpness cut through the bridge of his nose, several more landed along the side of his face and body. Yin pushed the half chewed mushroom into his throat with two fingers and managed to swallow it.
Jakka had a fist cocked, covered in a boulder of forged madra, ready to crush his head. But Marunil stopped him, kicking the boy hard enough that he flew back into the tree roots. Then he slapped Ten hard enough that she spun into the ground.
He kneeled in front of Yin who was doubled over on the ground, desperately cycling the energy ravaging him. ‘’That was very, very stupid Yin.’’ He told the boy, unimpressed even as the boy’s split soul advanced. ‘’What was that supposed to change for you? All you’ve done is take something away from a person who could have done more with the gift than you will. I’m disappointed, in you and myself for trusting you.’’
Yin forcefully redirected the rest of the energy into his empty core and then had to cycle it through raw channels to incorporate it. Slowly, hours going by, he forced it all to become his. One core had advanced to copper, the other at the edge of breaking past foundation. It felt to him as if he was brimming with power, and yet he shivered.
Marunil, Jakka and Ten had made a small fire and sat around it, eating whatever they had brought with them. They didn’t make any move to come help him. He was forced to pull Ten’s knives out of his body on his own, and then had to bandage himself up while the others went to sleep.
Yin had known all along that this was his reality, but that night as he froze outside the range of the campfire it finally became real for him.
The world known as Cradle sucked.