33. Scale

  “You’re almost there, father,” Atla told me. I was flying out over the vast ocean on Atla’s ‘Butt,’ or the other side of the world from the central continents. He had admitted that there was a confluence of energies in that location which was causing him some discomfort, and that it was beyond his ability to resolve the issue by himself.

  So I had naturally offered to go and investigate.

  “Okay, you’re above it,” he told me. I came to a stop, but there was nothing around me but ocean. Which made sense, I suppose, since the nearest landmass was hundreds of miles away.

  “Okay, I’m going to go down to the seabed and see whats there,” I told him. Parting the waters with a slight exertion of Qi, I descended. Atla manifested his Eidolon nearby and descended with me into the depths, which were fairly shallow as far as oceans go. Or so I thought, at least. My son might be a planet, but I’m not an expert on oceanography.

  I stepped foot on the ocean floor and cast out my senses. I immediately noticed how rich the fire qi was in the area. I frowned, for I hadn’t thought to find fire qi beneath the oceans in such volume. When I investigated further, I found vast amounts of magma and pressure beneath my feet.

  “Oh,” I said. “It’s a volcano. That’s what you’ve been feeling, Atla. It’s fine, worlds have them all over the place.”

  “I know what a volcano is and what if feels like, father,” Atla said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “I have more than one of them. But this one feels different.”

  “How does it feel different?” I asked.

  “Like, maybe, it’s about to get explody?” he suggested.

  I frowned. “Okay, how explody?”

  “Pretty big explody,” he said. He cast a vision into my mind of a caldera on the eastern continent. By the vision, I judged that it was thirty miles wide or larger. “Bigger than that,” he told me.

  “Okay,” I said. “But it’s many miles from anywhere, and it’s under water, so—”

  He sent visions of a giant wave engulfing the shoreline for miles. He sent a vision of steam and ash being sent into the sky and darkening the world. He sent visions of people dying of starvation in a winter that would not end.

  “Oh,” I said. I frowned. “How long until that happens?”

  “I dunno. It’s been building for a while. I think it would have been centuries away, maybe thousands of years. But since I’m growing stronger … a few weeks? Maybe less.”

  “Okay,” I said, thinking. “The problem is the pressure, right?”

  “Yeah. It’s going to reach the point where all the rocks shatter and it—”

  “So we just relieve the pressure,” I suggested.

  “How do we do that?” he asked.

  I grinned, then burst out into laughter.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Atla,” I said, wiping away a tear. “You have a pimple on your butt, and your father has to pop it for you.”

  He pouted at me, but nodded. “Okay,” he said.

  I flew into the air, parting the water for miles around as I stared down at the ocean floor. Then, with a lance of power, I pierced through the rock and pulled the magma to the surface. The liquid rock shot into the air like a geyser a thousand yards in diameter. It continued to spew forth and erupt for hours.

  “That helped,” Atla admitted. “But it would help more if you made more of them.”

  “Right,” I said. “Just show me where you need my help.”

  He flew off into the distance, and I followed him. We made eight new volcanoes before he announced that his butt was no longer in danger of exploding and ending life on the surface of his world.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  More than that, it allowed me a chance to explore my new limits. Operating techniques that would have effects on the planetary scale was new to me, but it felt natural, especially with Atla’s guidance.

  After he announced that his ‘pimples’ were all venting just fine and he didn’t need my help from this point forward, I decided to return to the northern continent. While I didn’t have a perfect grasp over my powers, the strands of fate that I had been watching made it clear that I was running out of time.

  Something was happening elsewhere in the multiverse, and it was far more dangerous than the supervolcano I had just disarmed.

  ~~~~~~

  Di Phon was having tea with his namesake, Pi Phon, when they sensed the worldfather approaching. Di Phon noticed first, of course, being on the diamond path, centuries older, and in general much more attuned to spiritual energies. The younger man, who was still growing accustomed to his powers as a golden path cultivator, cast his attention in the direction that the older man’s eyes snapped to, and then he felt it too.

  “Oh,” Pi Phon said. “So that’s the gap between us now.”

  “And I sense that he’s actively suppressing it,” Di Phon said, sighing. “Well, as far as he can while still flying so fast. He’ll be here any moment. He’s likely here to see me, although I cannot imagine why.”

  “What makes you think that?” Pi Phon questioned.

  “Hubris. But I am the strongest cultivator on this continent, so it only makes sense,” Di Phon said. “But since you’re here, you can update him on the state of his alliance, just as you were updating me a moment earlier. Tell me, how was the tea?”

  “Delightful.”

  “Liar.”

  They stepped out of the patriarch’s mansion and moved to an open space nearby, flaring their Qi in invitation to their lord. He arrived moments later, appearing over the horizon one second and then flashing and floating nearby just a moment later. He nodded to both of them as he set foot on the ground, and abruptly the majority of his power was hidden and he gave off no more aura than a silver-ranker.

  “Hello, Patriarch. Teacher,” Little Bug said, bowing politely to his elders. “This humble student requests your assistance with a project of his.”

  “What can this old retiree help with?” Di Phon asked, stroking his beard.

  “I have some young juniors who will require some wrangling. I need the strength of someone who isn’t afraid to bash their heads against the wall for being disrespectful,” Little Bug said. “I was thinking that I would integrate them into the Six Mountain Sect, if that is alright with you. While the Many Peaks Alliance is a vital part of this new world I am building, it is based upon the strength of the Six Mountains, and the sect is due for some new blood, I believe.”

  “A recruitment drive?” Di Phon asked. “Where are these juniors coming from?”

  “The towers of the world of Majeesha.”

  ~~~~~~~

  There were sixteen tokens, corresponding to the sixteen transference locations I had set up across Majeesha before my departure. Spreading them out, miles apart, I had sent a message through the small handheld mirror to Kuto that it was time, and to send the residents of Majeesha to their new homes.

  Once everything was in place, I empowered the tokens, tapping into Atla’s vast reserves to create a link between my world-son and the world of Majeesha. For just a moment, the two locations were the same place, and as the connection faded, the people who had been standing on the highest platforms of their towers were suddenly in the forests south of the six mountain sect.

  I created sixteen massive Avatars and overwhelmed the juniors from another world with my presence. While some of them were children, they would be protected by Atla, and everyone else needed to understand the hierarchy. This was the simplest method of instilling it in them.

  Besides, many of them had seen my ascent in the primary tower, and so they knew that, as far as the rules they were governed by were concerned, I owned them.

  Which was the first matter to resolve.

  Once everyone was prostrating themselves before my avatars, I released my presence and spoke in a voice that would carry to the ears of the highest challenger and the lowliest child.

  “Welcome to your new homes, challengers of Majeesha,” I said. “You stand upon the world of Atla now. And as such you are governed by its laws. Murder is prohibited, but spars are permissible so long as both parties agree to the terms of the fight. There are no towers to climb or floor guardians to challenge, but strength and self-improvement is respected. You are all invited to join the Six Mountain Sect, which you will find to the north. If you are looking for a place to belong, then you will find it there. If you are looking for freedom instead, then you will find it all around you, for as your master, I have no need of slaves. I set you free.”

  I paused as I allowed my words to resonate with the minds young and old before my avatars, then I added one final piece.

  “There is a world tournament coming up. If you join the Six Mountain Sect, then the strongest among the foundation, silver, golden and diamond realms among you may participate in that. To everyone else, I welcome you to my world. Enjoy your stay, your life, and your freedom.”

  And with those words, my avatars vanished.

  Leaving behind millions of young challengers who would no doubt be struggling to come to terms with this new world that I had dropped them into. It would cause problems I knew. But I had need of their strength, and the sooner I could integrate the challengers of Majeesha into my world, the sooner I would have the strength to stand on my own against the forces of a malevolent multiverse.

  ?