Aurora was stunned.
This random guy swung his arm and all of a sudden nobody could see them or hear them.
‘Magic!
He’s a Magos?’
In ancient times magic, religion, and medicine weren’t viewed as very different except for a few intellectuals.
The separation of “church” and “cult” wasn’t as clear-cut back then.
Magic was also treated as completely real with laws preventing malicious curses against others.
So Aurora came to the conclusion that this man was a Magos with esoteric knowledge with no resistance.
“What was that?”
Yousti was now gently holding her hand and pulling her away since she stopped trying to run away.
“Martial arts.”
“Huh?”
“True Martial Arts.”
“Magic?”
She had never heard of the words ‘martial arts’ in her entire life.
In Rome the terms used for fighting with a weapon was called armatura.
Unarmed combat was viewed with disdain though.
What Yousti really meant with the term martial arts was wǔshù (武术) which meant martial/combat arts.
But he didn’t translate it into the term armatura.
In addition the ancient world really had little proper conception of martial arts as it is in the Wuxia genre stories.
He stopped walking and looked at her for a moment considering how to correct her interpretation.
“Martial realms.”
They continued walking in silence.
“…”
“…”
“My name is Aurora.”
“That’s a beautiful name Aurora.”
Neither of them really knew what to talk about.
The uncomfortable silence was difficult to penetrate considering the weight of the situation.
But Yousti decided to commit to a conversation first.
“Why do you hate your father?”
“How did you know that!?”
“Martial Arts.” Yousti said with a deliberate weight as if it explained everything.
“He killed my mom. And was going to sell me as a slave.”
‘What the fuck.’ Yousti grimaced at the reality of her words.
‘Probably best to avoid asking more.
Avoid digging up any trauma.’
“What’s your name?”
“It’s Yousti.”
“Yaosti?”
He corrected her pronunciation.
“No Yoo-Stee, Yousti.’
“Yaosti!”
‘Ok this kid will never stop pronouncing it that way.’
“Where are we going?”
“Well first of all, I am not going to let you become a slave. I value your freedom. As for where we’re going… do you have anywhere you could go? Someone who could take care of you.”
She shook her head.
‘Adoption route it is then.’
“Well then. I will teach you martial arts until you can take care of yourself. Follow me if you want to. We’re going to China or as you know it, Seres the land of silk.”
“I heard people from there can comb silk from the leaves of trees!”
‘I forgot that’s how most people here thought silk was made.
Do I want to tell her about how silk is actually made?’
“Silk is actually made from the cocoons of silkworms. Imagine it like using spiderwebs.”
Aurora made an disgusted expression at the thought.
“Ugh worms.”
‘That’s about the reaction I expected.’
Yousti stood still with both his hands placed behind his back.
The sun was high in the sky with only a few clouds floating up there.
Up ahead was an endless expanse of trees and mountains that they would soon travel through.
“We go east to the silk road.”
He pointed straight forward with his hand.
“We’re travelling straight through the wilderness to get there.”
~
“I hate this!”
Aurora had tripped and fell onto a puddle of mud and was completely covered.
“I think you smell fine.”
“It’s not about smell! Do you know how icky I feel. I haven’t washed myself for three days now! Can we please find some kind of river or lake. I’m so angry!”
As Aurora was complaining about her travels Yousti felt a wave of nostalgia flood over him.
It felt just like travelling with Phaedo all over again.
Except this time the roles were reversed.
Suddenly he saw a red color.
It wasn’t the dark red of hatred but a lighter red.
It was the intent of anger.
Red – Anger (怒)
‘Wow she must be really upset for me to see the intent of anger now.’
“We’ll find one tomorrow, I promise. I’ll even let you slack off all you want tommorow. But for now find where you dropped your knife and resume training martial arts.”
As she stepped in the pile of mud again to find where she dropped the knife Yousti began thinking seriously on how to teach martial arts.
‘The problem with teaching martial is that nobody in this world has qi and therefore it’s impossible for anyone to advance to even a middle third rate master.
I only attained Qi by essentially willing it into existence while being guided by the Martial Record.
Honestly I still have no idea how I did that.
It was a miracle that I learned and succeeded in immortal arts.
But I’ve never been able to replicate anything like it since.
What even are immortal arts or martial arts?
In the grand scheme of the Warhammer 40k universe how do my powers even work within it.
Am I really just superimposing a completely new power system onto the entire universe?’
Yousti had become lost in thought over the implications of martial art’s existence.
Meanwhile Aurora was tired to the bone practicing the same forms over and over again.
Every time she faltered Yousti would immediately smack her in the head with a roll of silk hardened to feel like getting hit by a role of newspaper.
Yousti had more than enough brainpower to contemplate martial arts and teach at the same time.
“I don’t like knives. They’re too short.”
Yousti responded in a sage like manner.
“Knives are suited to you. And you are not someone who will fight in wars but use your skills to defend yourself. A knife is ideal to carry at all times, you should not think of yourself as a soldier but be flexible with how you use your knife. Besides you’ve already got experience with a knife so what else can I say.”
Aurora couldn’t find a way to retort.
Not for a lack of trying but because she knew it would be pointless to argue with Yousti about anything related to combat.
So she pivoted.
“This is just armatura. Not the magic of martial arts that you said you would teach me.”
‘Damn she got me.’
“Martial Arts does not come easy, you must first learn how to move your body then I will teach you the more esoteric knowledge.”
She rolled her eyes and went back to training.
‘I have to figure out how to give other people qi.
Am I simply too weak to even be a qualified teacher.
How can I teach immortal arts to others?
Does it have a relationship with the warp?
Where does the World Intent even come from?’
Yousti had realized that the World Intent had many kinds of intent within it.
It had both pleasure, hatred, and anger within it.
‘If the theory that the World Intent originates from the Warp is true then all seven emotions should be present within it.
Or maybe just five because of how much the warp sucks.
No good feelings in the warp.’
Eventually the sun began to set, Yousti began setting up camp by starting a campfire and cooking some food.
He didn’t bother with hunting animals for meat because his bags were full of vegetables that they would have to eat for at least a week before having enough space to carry any other kind of food.
Aurora sat at the campfire and huddled close to the flame as the night air was frigid cold.
Yousti had cut a section of a dead tree and dragged it over to the fire earlier to act as a seat.
“So how’s traveling been for you so far?”
“It really sucks. I still feel really dirty.”
Yousti nodded.
“Me too. There was a time when I always felt dirty. No matter what I did I was still dirty, always covered in filth.”
“You were covered in mud all the time?”
“No it was something worse than that.”
“Is it something related to magic?”
Yousti’s eyes wandered in thought.
“…”
“Tell me I want to know.”
“It was many years ago. I had reached a new realm of martial arts and gained an unparalleled power.”
He held out a string between his fingertips as it began to glow with his internal energy and intent flowing through it.
Aurora looked at the glowing string with a face of wonder.
“I became something of a prophet of the present. I gained the power to see the intentions of all living beings.”
“Wow, you can see my intentions?”
“Yes I can.”
“Can you see the intentions of animals?”
“Yes, but back to the point. I discovered the World Intent.”
“You can see the will of the gods?”
“…it’s filthy. It’s hostile intent covering everything. Imagine a fog of blood that covered the entire world. That’s what I saw, the fact that the entire world is cursed. It was only when I became more powerful that I gained the ability to seperate myself from it.”
Aurora had a neutral reaction to the revelation.
Even though Yousti was incredibly serious in his description of the World Intent Aurora didn’t really know what to make of it.
It was like telling someone that radiation was in the air and killing you.
Unless you felt it, you wouldn’t notice it at all, it would just seem like an imaginary thing.
Sigh
“Whatever Aurora you should go to sleep now.”
Yousti used his silk to create a tent and some thick blankets to keep the cold away.
Aurora layed down and quickly got comfortable in the swaths of silk he provided.
Yousti began leaving the tent as she began falling asleep.
“You have so much silk.”
“I’m not called the silk spirit for nothing.”
A gust of wind blew on the outside of the tent walls.
“Good night”
Yousti left the tent to stand watch.
He could stay awake for several days in a row without tiring.
He looked at the sleeping Aurora one last time.
She was asleep but her intent was a dark blue.
Dark Blue – Sorrow (哀)
Yousti had advanced once again by discovering the color of a new emotion, but he didn’t feel like celebrating.
‘I wonder what she went through to be having such sad dreams.’