- Yuma -

Ever since he could remember, he had been told that he was special. Even his name meant, "the young master," so surely great things had been expected of him from birth. He was the eldest son of two powerful cultivators. He was never sure what his parents did, exactly, but he always heard them talking about enemy sects, leadership politics, and other nonsense. He often appeared with them at public events like speeches, and tournaments. He never cared about any of that, and found it to be tedious.

Instead, he liked to focus on cultivation. He had been cultivating since some of his earliest memories. It wasn't like he had much else to focus on anyway. There were servants and slaves to take care of his needs, and his parents had wasted no time in finding him a technique that was suited to him. He had been told that he had a middle-grade spirit root when he was born. While middle-grade spirit roots weren't rare, it was unusual to be born with one, and his parents had high expectations for him, and never missed an opportunity to brag about him to their subordinates.

Which didn't mean they cared about him, necessarily. He felt more like a trophy they liked to show off, than like a son. It didn't matter much to him, though. He enjoyed cultivating, even if he struggled with it more than he should have.

He'd had an enormous head start. He started life stronger than other kids, and in the Demonic Desert Cult, strength was everything. In the early days, he was always in charge of the other children. He had followers who did whatever he asked, and he had no trouble putting weaklings in their place.

So it was a heavy blow as he got older, when he realized that some of the other children were closing that gap. His parents had grown concerned as well. By twelve years old, he still had just hadn't reached the peak of chi condensation. It didn't matter that most children wouldn't grow that quickly, it only mattered that a few children were getting ahead of him. It was essential that he stay at the top.

He spent more and more of his time cultivating. It felt like all he did when he was awake was cultivate. He never understood why his parents wanted him to stand above the rest, but to him, getting weaker was worse than death. Then one day, just as he felt himself reaching the peak of Chi Condensation, he was going to tell his parents the good news, when he overheard a strange conversation they were having with some stranger.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What do you mean? What do you really want?" they'd said.

"I told y'all, it's time to call in my favor. Kekeke!"

"But you lied to us! You tricked us! The deal is off!"

"You seem to be mistaken about somethin'. A deal is a deal. You don't GET to 'call it off.' I gave you what you wanted. Y'all got a boy with a strong spirit root, right? That was the deal. It ain't my fault you're too pathetic to teach him how to use it right."

"At least fix him, first! We'll give you whatever you want, but the shame of having such a pathetic son is too much!"

He didn't want to keep listening. He went back to his room, and closed the door to muffle their voices. Unfortunately he could still hear them. His room was too close to their office. He went back to cultivating anyway. He had just barely reached the peak, and still need to consolidate his chi, anyway.

Normally he could ignore his parents while he cultivated, but it was too distracting today, and before long, he made a mistake. He took into too much chi at once, without properly channeling it into his dantian. He didn't know what was happening. It was like he had nudged open a floodgate, and the chi wouldn't stop flowing in. He tried to correct the mistake, but the chi was getting out of control. As his panic grew, he heard the stranger in his doorway. "Kekekeke! I think I've just found a way to solve your problems, and mine. I've decided. I know how to fix your son, but to do it, I'm takin' him with me, and you ain't gettin' him back."

"But that's not what we meant!"

"A. Deal. Is. A. Deal."

That was the last thing he heard before his awareness faded. He was in so much pain, all he could do was barely maintain control of the chi that wouldn't seem to stop flooding his body. He didn't know why this was happening. He didn't know why he had failed. Maybe it would be better if he died. Death was better than being weak.

He didn't know how much time passed, but just as he was about to give up, he felt something warm enter his body through his chest. Next he felt his breathing change, and the distracting thoughts started to feel less important. Then, suddenly, his mind was flooded with new memories, and sensations, but he found that he was able to push through it, somehow, while focusing on his breathing.

At some point he understood what was happening, and helped the invading chi repair his spirit root. As soon as it did, he felt a jolt of electricity, then a hole tore open in his newly repaired spirit root. He was too shocked to be worried, though. The threads of chi connected, and he understood that he was now Sky. While Yuma would always be a part of Sky, it would no longer be who he was. He accepted it, and felt a sense of peace that he hadn't felt in a very long time.