“I should hope so,” Tolin said. “Otherwise, I would have earned Master Softpaw’s wrath for nothing. Wouldn’t I, you crazy beast?”
He patted the top of the cat’s head and it twisted around, trying to bite his fingers.
“He loves me, really.” Tolin withdrew his hand. Then, the playfulness fell from his face and he stared at me in deadly earnest. “I must warn you though, before we start on your training. It took me decades of Augmentation to learn even this much of the True Path. Unfortunately, we don’t have decades. We will need to walk roads untrod for centuries if you’re to become your true self.”
“My true self?” I asked.
“Yes,” Tolin answered. “The Immortal Swordslinger. Wielder of Immense Blades. Grandmaster of the Elements.”
The old man leaned back and looked at me smugly. Judging by Tolin’s expression, he expected me to be impressed, bowed down with awe at what he’d said.
“What’s an Immortal?” I asked.
“Really, boy?” He sighed as if he was about to explain a difficult concept. “It’s someone who lives forever.”
I chuckled. “Right. I never would have guessed that. I’m wondering what other things an Immortal can do, other than not dying. How does someone even become an Immortal?”
Tolin huffed. “They listen to their mentors.”
“So, what’s an Immortal Swordslinger, then?” I asked.
“It is a position of the utmost seriousness and responsibility,” Tolin said.
“So an Immortal is effectively the race of a person, and the Swordslinger is their class?”
“I suppose you could phrase it that way.”
“You’re really not great at answering questions,” I said with a smile.
“Because you’re not ready for the answers.”
“That’s why I get training, right?”
He sighed, leaned forward, and patted Master Softpaw’s head again. This time, the cat moved in toward him, then leaped up onto his lap for more attention.
“You’re quite right,” Tolin said. “Though training in the Path is not like other arts. Your tutors will open doors for you, but you must discover the secrets that lie within for yourself. It is through binding together the strands of a thousand lives that a single great destiny is made.”
“So, it’s not just about me? I can live with that. I’d rather be Aragorn than Harry Potter anyway.”
“I don’t know what an Aragorn is,” Tolin said. “But rest assured, there will be very little pottery, even as you become hairier.”
He raised an eyebrow, looking at my short-cropped hair and clean-shaven chin, all the while stroking his own ragged beard.
“Honestly,” he said, “what sort of world do you come from, where a man is left to walk around like that, without the dignity of his own hair?”
“The sort of world where people don’t insult me while they’re trying to recruit me,” I said. “I could still walk away, leave you to find another Swordslinger.”
“No, you couldn’t.” Tolin snorted. “I see the look in your eyes. You’ve seen a part of the world that was hidden from you, and now, you can never look away. You will become the Swordslinger.”
“Old man, you make an offer that’s hard to refuse,” I said. “Tell me more about what this all means.”
“As the Swordslinger, you will not fight alone. You will gather a band of heroes around you, so that you can travel to the planes beyond this one.”
“You mean like traveling back to Earth?” I said, still eager to know how I might return to my old life. “To my own world.”
“No, not other worlds. Other planes of this one. You are in the Seven Realms now, lad.”
Well, at least I had a name for this place now.
“At the top lie the Heavens, where the celestial court rules. This is the plane of pure bliss, its inhabitants imbued with vast powers yet seldom using them, so content are they with their lot. There, people are so happy that they neglect the hard work toward enlightenment, eventually using up their karma and being reborn in a lower plane.
“Next is the plane of the demigods, who are less powerful than the denizens of Heaven. Here are reborn those who strive hard toward enlightenment but are held back by petty jealousy, struggle, or the harm they did to others. Alongside them live the demons, powerful and malevolent spirits. Both demons and demigods envy those in Heaven, and this jealousy can drive them to foul deeds.
“Then, there is the human plane, where we live. A realm based on passion, desire, doubt, and pride. It is neither the most pleasant nor the most awful plane to be reborn into, but it is the most advantageous. Here, there is enough suffering to motivate the quest for another way of being, but not so much suffering that it makes that work impossible. From here, one can attain enlightenment and escape the cycle of rebirth, or follow the path of virtue that leads to rebirth in another plane.”
“You’re saying I should be happy that my feet ache?” I said. “That’s a twisted sort of logic you’ve got there.”
“Do you want to learn, or do you want to make snide comments?” Tolin asked. “Because you can’t have both.”
“You manage it well enough.”
He glared but continued with his lecture.
“Below the human plane is the animal plane. Those who dwell in stupidity and prejudice find themselves reborn there, driven by their base instincts. It is where all the animals on earth live, a plane separate from but closely connected to our own. The two are so close that we and the animals can see each other, touch each other, almost talk with each other. Can’t we, Master Softpaw?”
He stroked the cat, who was now curled up in his lap, purring his way toward sleep.
“By living in these different planes, humans and animals experience the world very differently. To travel to their plane is to see this place through powerfully different eyes.
“Beneath the plane of animals is that of ghosts. Those who are driven by possessiveness or an excess of desire are reborn there. They become hungry ghosts, always craving food and water, never satisfied, no matter what they receive.
“And lastly, there
