As spring came, the last vestiges of winter relinquished their hold. The snow, once a thick blanket, receded reluctantly from the lower slopes of the Sacred Mountain, revealing patches of damp, dark earth. Tiny rivulets of meltwater traced intricate paths down the thawing ground, glistening under the pale, burgeoning sun.
It was amidst this gentle awakening that the Left Wing reached the Sacred Mountain, bearing a peace agreement with the Huna's general. My very existence alone had led to this decision, for Baghatur's ancestor was the Sky Father. And he must had no desire for his warriors to lose any more morale by becoming enemies with a Sky God.
This agreement was a Non-Aggression Pact for both parties. We'd technically remain a part of the Huna Confederation, meaning they could focus on other targets without having to worry about us. However, with their reduced numbers, they might be more cautious in their moves.
The Moon Maidens also reported more disturbing details: Baghatur had used Sleeping Mushrooms to drug Tumen's supporters and their families. He then assassinated Tumen during a hunting trip before other tribes arrived, by employing his elite force—whom he had trained by ordering them with whistling arrows, to shoot his favorite horse and concubine, ensuring their absolute loyalty.
The more I looked at Baghatur's actions, the more disturbing they became. He was such a ruthless and cunning leader, full of calculated, brutal acts. I needed to find a way to punish him somehow without collapsing the Confederation.
After all the leaders learned about the resurrection ritual, their faith in me grew exponentially. These guys had already seen how I fought and protected them, they would spread rumors about our powers. We were completely becoming their gods now, faith and belief would flow to us like a river. So much so that I felt I was losing my place to live among them as a human.
I met with Aycecek's family in private after things settled down. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't bring Aycecek back, but we succeeded in helping her child. The White Deer named her Asena, and she is now placed in my beast's womb."
"I had no doubt in you, Great Sky Wolf. If you say you can't bring my child back, I believe no one else can," Temurel spoke his mind.
"I also believe in you, Kirisen. But what do you mean by your beast's womb?" Temurcin also asked.
Kara Yulduz brought Midnight Blue right next to me. "She is here, Master," she said with a respectful bow, then departed.
"This wolf is the guardian of this mountain and also the guardian of Aycecek's child. Asena resides inside her womb and will be born as a goddess soon," I revealed important details.
"Master, what do you mean my grandchild will be a goddess?" Aylaqun confused.
I petted Midnight Blue's fur and activated my divine energy within her, making her majestic deep blue fur transform into a starry night sky. Then I spoke, "Look at the brightest star in that sky." I brought her closer for them to see: the bright, outlined figure of an fully developed human baby. Before continued, "Asena will be born in the upcoming new moon. She will be a Goddess because she contains part of my power."
They looked stunned and speechless, so I stopped using my power and continued speaking. "I need all of you to help me raise her as one of the Tagh Boru, just like her mother. But right now, there's some uninvited being that took Aycecek's soul lurking around, so we will raise Asena here in the Sacred Mountain until I know if it's safe for her to travel."
"Of course, she is also my first grandchild. But what about this mysterious being? Do we need to tighten the security?" Temurel spoke.
"Right now, we don't know what it wants yet. So I leave the caravan security to your judgment, but I need you to rearrange the Guardians to guard the exterior of the Sacred Mountain while letting the Moon Maidens stay in the inner zone around my residence. I assumed you already know about the Moon Maidens, right?" I requested and asked.
"What about our honorable guests, Master?" Aylaqun asked about the other High Gods.
"We need more yurts in my residence area for them, and for when you yourselves visit. Lord Erlik will be leaving soon, but your Earth Mother will be staying here with me for a time being. So please address her as Sihirtia or the White Deer as you normally do, and use the name Karga for Lord Erlik. Do not mention their divine names while they are here. And for me, please call me by my name Kirisen or use Sky Wolf, as you always do. Understood?" I ordered them.
"Can we let the Moon Maidens pay their respects to Lord Erlik... I mean, Lord Karga, while he's here?" Aylaqun spoke her mind.
I thought for a moment before answering, "I don't think we can let every Maiden meet with him, other tribes might grow suspicious. Perhaps we should let them visit and meet him in small groups, but you should ask permission from Lord Karga as Moon Sisters first."
"What about Atashan? He isn't one of us, do you truly trust him?" Temurcin also asked me.
"He has already accepted his mistake, but he still needs to prove himself to us. Just wait and see for now, alright?" I gave my answer.
"May I ask one last question, Great Sky Wolf? What should we do about the Huna in the future?" Temurel needed my advice.
"They will let us stay neutral, but we should not fully trust them. I think you need to set up a Northern Alliance within the Confederation. Trust your own judgment, Iron Hand. I have already lost my place among the Tagh Boru. From now on, I will stay here in the Sacred Mountain. Come ask what you seek, I will always answer your questions," I answered, looking into his eyes.
"You will always be our family, Great Sky Wolf. We bid you farewell for now," Temurel spoke before leaving with the others.
Then all the former tribes of the Left Wing and the Zaravani left for their own spring campsite. Guardian families switched places with new families. Everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened, and my life went on without Aycecek. I practiced with Erik by day and researched in the White Room by night. Erik wanted me to awaken my personal space before he left so I could reside in it if something bad happened.
One day, after we entered his personal space through a dark Void Rift, he spoke. "Do you know why I always call my space a realm? It's because my personal space is fundamentally different from the White Room. This is Hel, one of my Underworlds."
"What do you mean 'one of your Underworlds'?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"Everyone has their own version of hell, Kris," he explained. "This is mine, the original form of my 'Underworld.' Eternal winter night, in a freezing cold realm—the Underworld of the Norse. This world is quite similar to the Earth you know, but it's actually another freaking cold universe. The Underworld always changes and develops from what humans believe in."
"So I need to focus on my way of learning, huh?" I questioned.
"Not really, it's more like you have to realize the true nature of your Innate Power. Then, let it naturally expand into your personal sub-space." He paused and looked at me. "For my own awakening, I realized that my Innate Power, 'Reaper' is more than just a tool to harvest and manipulate souls. Reaper is a part of a bigger cycle, one of many hands that help spinning the wheel of time. We are three parts of one life, that moving around without end. They think I am Death, but I am actually a part of Life. While Cynthia gives birth to new life and helps nurture and heal them, you have to realize about what you truly are in this cycle."
"I don't know," I expressed, "I just try to learn, listen, read, taste, and explore everything. I just want to know all of it." I responded with my true feelings.
"I see. It seems like she got it all wrong. Your Innate Power isn't 'Learning' itself, but comes from your thirst for knowledge. Interesting!" he summarized and continued. "This is all I can help with, you need to take time to realize this by yourself. Anyway, I'm curious about your martial art. Cynthia told me that it's an Internal Art."
"Thank you a lot," I said. "And for my martial art, it's not hard to explain, but it's easier to just be touched by it. But how do you normally fight?" I continued to ask.
"It's a blend between my divine energy and power, my fighting style is hard to explain with words because it's not how humans fight. It's also easier to understand if we exchange hands, so let's fight!" he answered.
Erik got into some kind of fighting stance before switching into his divine form and charging in my direction. So I also changed into my divine form and readied myself to receive his attack.
His movements seemed blurry, just like how he danced. The shadow-like aspect of his energy made it even harder to see his movements in this never-ending night realm. Just before his right fist touched my guard, he disappeared from my sight. Then, I was punched from behind instead.
I redirected some of the force at the point of impact, spreading it around my body while receiving the rest into my internal structure, which was already firmly rooted. Then, I bounced the received force back from the earth and precisely returned that force along the same path into his arm, passing through to his body. This took his body and uprooted him, sending him flying.
"Fascinating! Now I know why they call your art a Divine Art!" he announced.
This punch could even destroy low-level divine bodies if one received it. So I asked him, "Are you sure this is a friendly sparring?"
Erik laughed then spoke, "I am so sorry! But for us, the High Gods, we can't die that easily. Let's test out our skills more. Don't worry, I can rebuild my realm at any time, and no one else is here."
My guess was he mixed some kind of blink or teleporting techniques into his fighting style, which was really bad for me. My trump card was a controlling technique that relied on touching opponents correctly, not parting away or colliding in. It created weird, uncontrollable effects on them, but if he could magically escape, I'd have to change my strategy.
After he finished talking, he charged at me once again. I changed my controlling distance to one inch, and maintaining this gap at all times. When he came forward, I moved back. When he dodged, I followed him. One inch, no more, no less. He seemed to be getting frustrated.
"What are you doing, Kris? Fight with me right now!" he spoke loudly.
I replied with a smile, "This is what they call 'Grasping the Shadow, Catching the Wind.' Attack me again and I'll show you something even more interesting."
He came close and continued attacking me. I still maintained the distance, but now I led his attacks, luring him to overextend his structure, then making him fall to the ground by himself. Before he could react, I told him, "This is called 'Leading into Emptiness.' Get up, it's my turn now!"
I used palm strikes without making contact to distract him for a while, then reduced the gap little by little, forcing Erik to evade my attacks until he had to dodge me purely on his own. I told him again, "This is 'Empty Force,' which is a controlling technique without a touch."
He frowned. "Are you sure you're not the God of Martial Arts? This seems pretty magical for me."
"This is just my martial art combined with my Divine Body," I replied. "I only gained full control of my body not long ago. If we added something like your blinking technique, other Gods might not have a chance."
"Damn, and you're blessing my Moon Maidens with this martial art of yours! Now, I need to teach them some of my tricks too!" he protested against my action.
It was good to see Erik's childlike side, I felt like he was still a carefree teenager at heart. But I couldn't let this make me forget he was a millennium-old Death God.
Erik tried to teach and tell me as much as he could because of our future plans. A really important figure would soon be born in the Middle East, and he was the one who would observe that event for us. It felt a little far in the future, but my two allies told me it wasn't that long for us gods. Many beings would be present there, especially those Travelers from the future. We needed to prepare things beforehand.
While we rested, he started to share his concern. "You know that we, Primitive Gods, are symbols of nature, right? While second-generation deities developed in many ways, some becoming more abstract, some developing into human images, but the third generation is different. There might be many kinds of gods that we haven't imagined yet, completely mysterious to us right now."
"But the Death will always exist, right?" I replied.
"I'm not so sure about that! They might figure something out. Who knows?" He spoke with a grim smile before continuing, "One more thing, I'm kind of Baghatur's ancestor. I know you don't like him much and I don't care if you want a revenge, but I need his soul after he dies. He will be a Hero in the eyes of many Turkic tribes in the future, his existence will generate Faith and Belief in us too. I'll make him into a Heroic Spirit, he will serve as our General in his afterlife."
"I'm okay with that as long as I get my revenge. But why do they think I'm his ancestor?" I asked, trying to clear my confusion.
"You know their symbol, the Soaring Hawk, right?" he asked before explaining further. "It's also the shape of their souls, they might link this to the Sky, and to you eventually. People will shape their own souls into the image they believe in. Every tribe here still associates themselves with some animals, calling members of the tribe by that animal name, just like they call you Sky Wolf."
"Oh, I think it's just how they speak," I conveyed my thoughts.
"And you can separate them by the shape of their souls. In this area, you can categorize them into groups like Carnivores, Herbivores, and Avians. The Huna are actually part of my descendants, their avian souls are the solid evidence," Erik continued.
After his explanation, Erik summoned and introduced his Divine Ravens, Hugr and Munr, to me. They were part of his soul from the very beginning, unlike other Divine Beasts. They literally were his 'thought' and 'mind,' just as their names translate, making them his fatal weakness. He had to tell me this beforehand, entrusting me to deal with him if his ravens ever went missing on this mission.
I felt very familiar with this story, so I asked him, "Are they Huginn and Muninn? And you are Odin!"
"Correct, I am also a Raven God. Many tribes on far eastern lands and the Pacific Northwest coast of America also worship me as their High God," he clarified.
Not long after that, news arrived about the Huna. They had entered into a new conflict with the Eastern Confederation. Having lost our support, they ceased their aggressive activities and were forced to respond to numerous demands from the Eastern Leader. The Leader kept asking for more: more horses, more women. But when he requested Huna territory, Baghatur snapped. Territory was the fundamental essence for the rulers, asking for his land was off-limits for Baghatur. The Young Hawk began to spread his wings again, and the Soaring Hawk flag waved from afar. The war is coming, but it's not our war this time.