Part of the nature of my enlightenment was that, when I fell into deep meditation, I did not truly disappear from the Four Realms – not that I ever could. I was the Heavenly Will, and the Heavenly Will was me. And the moment I touched upon it, allowing it to merge with me once again, filling a piece of that hole I felt within me, something was triggered. It felt like finding the last piece of a puzzle you hadn’t known was missing; and suddenly tables and charts and information flashed in my mind’s eye. But not once did it interrupt the process, only providing additional insights.

  None of these things were knowledge I didn’t know, or couldn’t feel. But in the table, they were presented in such a way that it was easier for me to consolidate.

  Ding!

  Yet that was not all I saw. For the first time I noticed a glaring hole in the systems of cultivation; a hole caused by both my own uncertainty of action, while also rushing other things. Such as the creation of life and the Fae. There were no Heavenly Tribulations set up to challenge cultivators, see if they were truly ready to set their feet upon the paths of immortality – and that oversight was bottlenecking many souls who might otherwise advance. Dei was one of them. So were many spirit beasts, as well as other souls from other walks of cultivation or life.

  There were even a few souls whose karma were good enough to trigger an ascension into…whatever they would be, upon reaching the threshold of karma that might be called “reaching nirvana.” Yet because of my unspoken fear of the Xianxia, as well as the unknown of what they would become, I was subconsciously suppressing them from advancing despite my attempts to lean into it, and curb my own hesitation. That would not do.

  Hells, even Kei was among those souls. I observed her as she played in my garden, riding a bolt of lightning like a skateboard. A storm horse, one of the immortal horses Randus kept to pull my carriage, thundered along behind her, nostrils flaring and storm clouds roiling about its feet as it hurtled after her. She giggled the entire way, enjoying the chase, until her ears flicked and she whipped her head around, looking for something. The inattention cost her and she took a tumble, flipping head-over-tails as the bolt of lightning shot into the distance, splintering a tree as it went, the storm horse chasing after it.

  She sat up, spitting out tufts of grass, dusting off her robes and glancing about curiously. A pout tugged at her lips, and she looked heavenward.

  “No fair, Grandpa. You can’t be everywhere at once. How will I hide from you? Or prank you?” she whined. I hummed in amusement, the sound turning into a gentle breeze that ruffled her hair and whispered to her an unspoken challenge. I dare you to try. It said, and she grinned, baring her teeth. “Just you wait. Imma get you.”

  And then my attention was gone, my duty complete, the Will urging me to finish what I should have before I let cultivation flourish. There were seven mortal realms of cultivation, each following the seven chakras in the mortal body, starting with the Root and ending with the Crown. Only once one’s Qi reached the crown chakra could true immortality be gained, and they could set foot upon the immortal realms of cultivation…the only issue was rising through each of those realms. Each new chakra point represented a bottleneck, a qualitative change in one’s energy and consciousness. The mind and soul became stronger, able to handle more information and power, to see more…and right now, traversing those bottlenecks was becoming increasingly difficult.

  Reincarnation and karma helped ease these bottlenecks by cleansing impurities and circumventing certain natural limitations, but ultimately ignored the larger issue – beings could become immortal without those aids. That process could absolutely still be used as intended, it is just limited in scope and vision.

  That is where a Heavenly Tribulation would come in. It would not only ensure that a soul, be they spirit beast or sentient race, was ready for ascension into the next realm of cultivation, both mentally, in terms of qi and otherwise, it would help cleanse the body and spirit of impurities that have no right to be present in the next stage of existence.

  My intent set, I watched the Will of the Four Realms work, slowly weaving new functions and laws into the very core of its being alongside the inner workings of karma, freewill, and other inalienable laws. And once the structure was made, I set about filling in the blanks, realization setting into my being.

  There wouldn’t be only seven Tribulations. There would be eight. Just as I had lived eight lives, there would be eight trials for those cultivating to immortality; seven Heavenly Tribulations, followed by Immortal Ascension, which would be…different from the others. The tribulations would be cleansers, each a divine representation of a different aspect of life. Maybe there would be karmic flames, burning things depending upon the weight of their karma; or perhaps something to do with illusion and emotions, to temper the mind; or tribulation lightning? That’s pretty standard, right? The trials also needed to differ based on the various kinds of cultivation, and the different people.

  There was standard Qi cultivation, cultivation of the fleshly body, cultivation of karma and soul, of the Dao, of the mind…and a smattering of others. Different trials for each. It was a complex system, but necessary.

  But the final one, in which one path of cultivation reached the realm of immortality…well. I needed something personal. All eight of my past lives flashed in my mind’s eye, reliving each and every moment in the span of a few hours, the weight of each pressing themselves upon my soul. I had walked many paths in life on many different continents and in many different cultures; but there was one concept that stood out to me from each. Something that could describe my path, my whole mantra. Progressing; even if progression meant taking a few steps back to rebuild parts of the foundation, or to the side to navigate the maze of life, it was important to keep moving, or searching for that next step. And there was one symbol that meant the most to me that fit such a concept.

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  The bridge.

  Something shifted in the Realms in reaction to my thoughts, a weight settling upon them for the briefest of moments as the Will moved to adjust itself to my vision.

  My gaze shifted as it worked, observing the Realms with a sort of detachment I was unused to. It was logical and clinical, bypassing emotions almost entirely, seeing the universe through the lens of cause and effect. Matter twisted in the Physical Realm as gods worked to create new suns and solar systems around the Tree and Pangea. Yin flowed through the Karmic Realm, souls travelling through the River to reenter the cycle or reincarnation…or not, if they were strong enough. None had reached what I called nirvana yet, that precipice of mortal enlightenment, but that wasn’t necessary to exit the cycle.

  A soul, at a certain point in its growth, could opt to exit the cycle and work in the Spirit Realm. Many chose to, and the option to return to the Physical to continue to strengthen themselves remained open, but…there was nothing wrong with being content.

  Some moved up to the Heaven Realm, where Elvira worked on strengthening her fleshly body, enduring the entire weight of her Holy Mountain to condense her flesh while Gilles and Sol looked on.

  “She is quite the woman,” Sol said, desire in his heart, and pride at all of the Realms.

  “Yes, she is,” Gilles agreed, respect and awe in his, a little string of fate binding himself to her.

  Yet I did not follow or look into that string. Instead my gaze directed itself to a little red string flowing through the Physical Realm, tying two souls together that had yet to truly reunite. As I watched those two, the first two Fae, separated for the first time by lifetimes, something revealed itself to me. A sample of the structure of the Realms, as it neared foundational completion. My mind's eye zoomed out to behold the Four Realms as a whole, like an outsider looking in. Its shape was spherical, the heaven and karmic realms rotating around each other and the physical realm like teardrops - domed in shape, two halves of the whole with their respective key features prominent. Landmasses, like islands, floated in the cloudy white substance of heaven, most uninhabitable save for the largest - that which the Mountain rose from. In the karmic ocean, shapes were beginning to form, echoes of memories creating...something, but not quite old enough yet to finish its work. The karmic valley gleamed like a beacon in the midst of the dark ocean, all while twinkling stars and brilliant stardust swirled in-between the two, the Tree peeking a few leaves out from between the realms. All while the Spirit Realm bound it all together.

  And I saw it coming together.

  One source.

  Four fundamentals.

  Eight pillars.

  Sixty-four pairs, to round out existence.

  All swirling together in an intricate balance, encompassing chaos and change and order and stability – all of creation, spinning like a wheel, ever progressing yet never forgetting where it came from.

  The moment passed, and I shifted my gaze once again, the Will finishing its work. Many souls would be undergoing tribulations soon. Including…well now. Including the male half of the red string, whose karma was close, so close to being able to reach karmic ascension but just not quite good enough. Yet it had potential. And I saw, briefly, a chance. An opportunity. One that pained me, but would ultimately make him more powerful, reunite the two lovers, and unveil the Shadow in one fell swoop. But the path would be painful, and hard, and keep the two apart for even longer.

  To get him to the required point, sacrifices had to be made, even if that sacrifice was time. And I wouldn’t be able to help them in the way I wanted.

  Emotionally, I wished to aid him, to break out of enlightenment and be there to watch the first soul ascend to karmic immortality, to reunite the lovers right then and there.

  Logically, I knew I must stay distant. Because the Shadow was moving in my apparent dormancy. And the young man was too tempting a target to ignore; seen as a favored soul, and a powerful one to boot. Symbolic, in more ways than one.

  The Shadow poked and prodded, just barely tickling the edges of my awareness with its maliciousness. Carefully it stepped out of its hiding place – still obnoxiously hidden, even to my current state of being – only to leap right back in. It was testing me, seeing if I would react. I did not. Instead, I posed a question to the young man through the Dao. If he would aid me in this, freshly reborn though he was, and drive himself to greater heights.

  It was not a physical question, but more of a feeling. A feeling of purpose and pride, of walking a path no matter how difficult because the end of the rainbow was worth it – for at it resided his other half. Part of me had not expected him to accept, even though he did without hesitation. Young though he was, he sensed the importance of my request, and settled into his new life as his soul forgot who he had been.

  But not completely. Never completely.

  The end would be worth it for him, painful though the path might be. So long as he walks the straight and narrow.

  And so I watched, and waited, for years, decades, biding my time until the Shadow started to move, its dark claws dipping into the Realms, confident that I would not counter it, unknowing that my reach was far beyond the physical. And the game was afoot.

  Alexander was the only one of his siblings to feel it, the moment the Shadow started to move. Not only because he was one of the only ones who was actively watching, but because he was one of the few who knew what to look for. The Shadow’s hiding place, he figured, was not too unlike his own. His great body unwound itself from the depths of the River, brushing past a few souls as he yawned and gazed in the direction of the Shadow.

  “I would not do that if I were you,” he rumbled softly, transmitting his voice through Qi so the Shadow could properly hear him. Its presence stilled, attention focusing entirely upon him. A shadow of a feeling ran across Alexander’s form, the feeling of jaws closing around his neck, of his scales shattering beneath teeth seeking his godly blood, pressing itself so firmly into his mind that, if he didn’t know better, he would say he was about to die. But he was a dragon, and such things would not phase him.

  “And what will you do about it, little dragon, now that That One is well and truly asleep?” It hissed, voice deep and resonate and foreboding, echoing from all different directions at once. “You alone do not have the power to defeat me.”

  “I am never alone. Even in sleep, Father is always with us,” Alexander drawled with an exaggerated yawn, showing off his gleaming white teeth. Though he did not know the exact location the Shadow watched from, he knew its gaze was upon him. In a flash his expression shifted, from lazy and relaxed to fierce and firm, a growl bubbling in the back of his throat. “But you doubt my resolve in this matter. I may not be able to win, but it is not about me winning. It is ensuring you will lose.” Golden fire licked through his teeth as he spoke, the divine flames of promised retribution distorting the spirit river.

  It was only a heartbeat later that the Shadow replied, though the time ticked by like an eternity.

  “That is hardly fair.” It hissed, not sounding disappointed. “But I suppose it is a bit early in this war for the big players to brawl. Let us remain at ease, then, and let our pawns scuffle and skirmish.”

  “So be it.” Alexander agreed. “Though you will not find our so-called ‘pawns’ easy to defeat.”

  “I should hope not.” It replied, and settled back down, its presence not moving but not hiding away either. Alexander killed the fire in his throat, settling back down on the riverbed and laying his head upon a boulder, his attention turning to the man the Shadow was undoubtedly watching; the mortal, about to achieve Karmic Immortality. Spirits and souls swirled about him, taking comfort in his holy presence. As for himself, he let none of his inner doubts or nervousness.

  This was war, after all. Shows of weakness had to be deliberate. And mistakes on his end would cost the futures of millions of souls.