Chapter 70: Trial Of Return!

Karn followed the thread of Mystic Energy stretching toward the distant mountains.

At first, he walked, and then he ran. He did not want to stay in this unknown world any longer.

His robes fluttered behind him as he pushed his speed to the limit, weaving between the enormous trees without slowing down. Yet despite traveling at full speed, something increasingly strange began to bother him.

The mountain never seemed to get any closer.

Karn narrowed his eyes as he increased his speed. But still nothing. The mountain remained exactly where it had been.

“Koko…” Karn suddenly leapt. His foot landed against the trunk of a massive tree, and with a single movement, he propelled himself onto its highest branch.

He looked back, and his expression slowly changed. The mountain range he had descended from was gone. The clearing where Old Ghost Zhi had once sat was gone.

Even the forest they had traveled through had disappeared. In its place was another endless forest. It looked almost identical to the one before.

“Koko… I may have truly gotten myself into quite the pickle.” Karn smiled as his eyes narrowed, though his eyes had become serious.

Whatever this place was, it clearly wasn’t behaving according to the rules of the outside world. Karn jumped down from the tree and continued following the thread.

Minutes passed. Then an hour. But the mountain remained just as distant as before.

Finally, Karn stopped. He looked toward the peak in the distance before turning toward the small creature floating beside him.

“Little Moth.”

“Yes?”

“Have we gotten any closer to that mountain?”

“Not at all.” The Truth-Seeking Moth shook her head.

“As I thought.” Karn stroked his beard.

“Ethereal Eye, what do you think?” He raised his head.

“Cha…!” The Ethereal Eye immediately floated upward. A faint ripple of Mystic Energy spread from its body as its pupil rotated.

It slowly scanned the surrounding forest. The trees, ground, the sky and the distant mountain. Everything appeared normal.

“Cha…” The Ethereal Eye suddenly stopped. Its pupil contracted.

“What did you find?” Karn noticed the change immediately.

The Ethereal Eye didn’t answer. Instead, it flew toward a nearby tree until it stopped directly in front of the trunk.

“Cha!” A pulse of Mystic Energy struck the bark but nothing happened.

“Is that really it?” Karn frowned.

“Cha! Cha!” The Ethereal Eye shook.

Another pulse released from its pupils but this time, something changed. The bark of the tree rippled only for an instant.

Karn’s eyes narrowed.

He walked toward it and placed his palm against the trunk. The bark felt real and the tree felt real as well. But when Karn closed his eyes and focused his senses, something felt wrong.

Unlike the other trees, there was no life inside it; no movement or any sap. Nothing.

“An illusion again?” Karn slowly withdrew his hand.

The Truth-Seeking Moth fluttered closer.

“But the entire forest?”

“Not the forest. Only the path.” Karn looked toward the distant mountain.

“Cha!” The Ethereal Eye flew higher. Suddenly, the world around them became distorted.

The distant mountain flickered and the forest flickered. Even the sky seemed to ripple like water.

Karn’s expression became solemn. The Mystic Energy thread he had been following hadn’t been leading toward the mountain. It had been leading him in circles.

The Mystic Energy thread hadn’t been leading toward the mountain at all. It had been leading him in circles.

“So that’s the trick. This old man was never walking toward the mountain.” Karn chuckled as he tapped his cane against the ground. The realization changed perception of the world in an instant.

The ground suddenly cracked and Karn’s smile disappeared.

“…Koko?”

Crack.

The earth beneath his feet split apart and the Truth-Seeking Moth immediately flew upward.

“Cha…?!?!” The Ethereal Eye rushed toward him.

The ground did not collapse, it had disappeared entirely. As if it had simply ceased to exist. Karn fell but there was no bottom. No wind or sound, only an endless black void.

“Little Moth!” Karn reached upward.

The Truth-Seeking Moth desperately flew after him, but an invisible barrier suddenly separated them.

“Human!” Her voice became distant.

“Cha! Cha!” The Ethereal Eye plunged downward as well, but was unable to pass the barrier.

Then everything disappeared.

Karn opened his eyes. Sunlight greeted him. Warm sunlight that felt real to the skin. He immediately raised his hand to shield his face.

His fingers froze as he stared at them. Then slowly brought his hand toward his face. He touched his eyelids. His breathing stopped.

The world appeared before him, clear, bright and beautiful. Karn stood completely motionless.

His cane was gone, so were his robes. His old, frail body was gone. Instead, he wore a military uniform. His hands were young and his body was strong.

His eyes…could see.

Karn slowly looked around. A military camp stretched across the distance. Soldiers walked between rows of tents. Vehicles moved along a dirt road. The distant sound of engines mixed with the chatter of men.

For several seconds, Karn simply stared. Then his pupils trembled.

“…Vietnam.” He knew this place. He knew this smell and the sounds.

“Hey, you alright?” A young soldier walked past him.

Karn didn’t answer. The soldier frowned before continuing on his way. Karn looked down at his hands again.

Young, uninjured and alive. He slowly touched his face once again. His eyes were really there. A strange sensation rose within his chest.

It wasn’t happiness or sadness. It was something much harder to describe. He had spent more than fifty years without sight. He could see with his real eyes once again.

Karn turned toward a nearby reflective surface and his reflection stared back at him.

A young man, perhaps twenty-something years old. His hair was black once again and his face was sharp. His body was covered in muscle beneath the military uniform. The face of the man he had once been.

Karn stared at himself for a long time and then he smiled.

“…So this is the trial?” His voice was young, completely unlike the voice he had grown accustomed to hearing.

Karn looked toward the sky. For the first time since entering the Dream Plane, there was no system.

Karn could not feel the presence of any Qi or Mystic Energy around him. It was only him left here.

Karn couldn’t tell what the purpose of this place was. Perhaps the trial was simply to make him walk through the world he had left behind.

A bell suddenly rang across the military camp. A soldier shouted from somewhere nearby.

“Everyone, prepare to move!”

Karn’s smile slowly faded. He recognized that voice. He recognized the situation. He knew exactly what was about to happen. His gaze drifted toward the weapons being handed to the soldiers.

A rifle, a knife and a helmet. That was all he needed to take another person’s life in these lands. His old companions were preparing to return to the battlefield.

Karn stared at the knife. His fingers slowly curled, the familiar sensation began rising within his chest. The excitement that came from standing between life and death. The same sensation he had felt decades ago. Karn’s smile slowly returned.

“So that’s what you want to show this old man…” He picked up the rifle as his eyes gleamed.

“You want me to relive it?” The world around him suddenly became silent.

A voice echoed from somewhere behind him.

“SOLDIER!! WHO ARE YOU!”

Karn froze.

“I SAID WHO ARE YOU!!!” The soldiers froze as well.

The voice had come from Sergeant Smith from the third platoon.

“Reporting to Sergeant, Recruit Karn at your disposal. Sir!” Karn saluted.

His military discipline proved to be useful as the manner of speech came back to his young self instantly.

The sergeant nodded with a touch of snark in his voice.

“YOU RECRUIT ARE HEREBY DISMISSED!! DID YOU HEAR ME?!” Sergeant Smith asked.

“Yes, Sir! May I ask why, Sir?” Karn kept his salute up and his eyes fixed forward as he asked.

“Because you aren’t supposed to be here!” Sergeant Smith’s expression hardened.

“Sir?” Karn’s brows furrowed slightly.

“I checked the roster three times. Your name isn’t on it. Your unit doesn’t know you. Your commanding officer doesn’t know you. You have no identification, no orders and no record of being deployed here.” The sergeant stepped closer.

Karn remained silent. The surrounding soldiers had begun looking in his direction.

“You’re going home.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I cannot do that.”

“Is that an order you’re refusing?” Sergeant Smith’s eyes narrowed.

“No, Sir.” Karn lowered his salute slightly.

“I’m saying that I have unfinished business here.”

The sergeant stared at him for several seconds. Then he sighed.

“Everyone does, kid. Just go home, leave this god forsaken world behind. You got family back home don’t ya? Go take care of mom and pops before they kick the bucket. All you will find here is a bullet in your head.” His voice suddenly became quieter as he walked away.

In the blink of an eye, Karn was at his house’s front door. The house he thought he would never get the pleasure of seeing again.

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