Within the Order, the way to determine one’s standing is convoluted, to say the least. It is determined based on your age, your stage, your power within your stage, your family ties, your ranking in your sect, your wealth, and a number of other minutiae that are impossible to decipher without significant training or experience.
Excerpt: the personal diary of Halima Solis, the Sun Healer
When Erin saw her cousin, Dawnblaze Lu - as people from the sects would say, she was so surprised that she lost control of her face for a split second. “Cousin,” Erin called out in Arikaran, “What are you doing here?”
Looking over to Erin, Lu squinted at her and Erin could see him working to mentally peel the layers of dirt and grime off of her. When he finally succeeded, Lu smiled brightly and gestured for the villagers, for that was all they could be, to put their spears down. Lu then opened his arms and came in for a hug, a trait he got from his Arikaran father and not his cultivator mother, before thinking better of the gesture.
“Who’s this guy, princess?” Sammath asked Erin, speaking in Volkarian so that Erin was the only person who’d be able to understand him, avoiding any names so that people wouldn’t be able to use them against them in the future.
Briefly, Erin debated leaving Sammath out of the loop but decided against it because it wouldn’t help anyone. Jerking her head towards the guards, Erin responded “I don’t know about these guys, but that guy’s my cousin.”
Erin lowered her arms from her head, moving her fingers away from the spatial storage rope in her hair, glad that she didn’t have to kill these villagers just for doing their jobs. Erin gestured for Sammath to pick up his staff and Ashe before turning to Lu. Deciding not to let Lu get away without answering her question, Erin spoke up again, “So, Lu. I asked before but you didn’t say what you were doing here,”
“I’m training, cousin.” Lu’s Arikaran, unlike his Shinian, was nearly flawless and mostly bereft of the unusual tones that people from the sects often used when speaking other languages. Lu had learnt Arikaran at the same time as the language of the Order, pompously – at least in Erin’s opinion – called the Heavenly Tongue. As such, he spoke Arikaran with only a light accent which came from speaking the Heavenly Tongue most of the time.
“Training?” Erin asked in Arikaran before switching to the Heavenly Tongue, “What kind of training could the Order’s youngest Outer Sect Elder be getting in the fringes of the Arikaran kingdom?”
Lu groaned, responding in the Heavenly Tongue in kind, “Can you stop with that bullshit? I hear it enough back home. I don’t need it from my cousin, either. Just be thankful you didn’t say that in Arikaran or the villagers would kick me out the door before the day is done. Right now, they think I’m just some powerful personal disciple of a Core Elder.”
Erin allowed herself to internally smile, “Well, we wouldn’t want them to know that the great and terrible Sun Eater, ransacker of villages, devourer of children, and fiendish cultivator extraordinaire was actually just a shy, humble, half Arikaran whose love language is physical touch, and who’s favourite hobby is singing.” Erin practically felt the physical force of Lu’s eyeroll and revelled slightly in her triumph, enjoying the playful teasing with her cousin. Lu was one of Erin’s favourite family members and just so happened to be, at least in Erin’s opinion, the best of both his mother and father.
Lu’s father, Caden Dawnblaze, was Erin’s uncle and was extremely different to Erin’s father. In fact, he was pretty much everything Emyr wasn’t; warm, emotive, kind, and fun. The only two similarities, from what Erin could discern, were that they were both intelligent and both were terrifying on the battlefield. Both the Sun Tamer and the Lightbringer had been known to cause entire armies to lay down their weapons, at least when they were both active participants in wars.
Lu happened to have received all of that from his father, but also had the cold, logical, and apathetic side from his mother, at least when he drew on it. Lu’s mother and father were an unlikely pairing and, to this day, Erin still didn’t know how Caden had managed to get Wu Zhihao to even like him, let alone fall in love with him.
There were two other things that Lu had received from his parents. The first was his talent in cultivation, which he had gotten from his mother, obviously, and the second was his method of cultivation, which he had received from his father. Lu was one of the people who’s parents’ powers had combined to form a unique power. As such, Lu was able to absorb energy from the sun, like the other Dawnblazes did, but he somehow converted that heat, light, and fire into Qi, which was used to build his cultivation.
With this unique advantage, Lu was able to absorb an unlimited amount of Qi, where others were limited by the amount of Qi naturally present in the air around him. As such, Lu had progressed through the sect ranks faster than anyone in recorded history, without even needing to become the personal disciple of a sect elder to use rare resources to do so. While it did mean that he was limited in the elements of Qi he could use, that didn’t matter, as people normally limited their Qi to one or two elements anyway.
With his absolutely insane cultivation speed and relatively rare elements, Lu had moved up the cultivation ranks with ease and, with his parents – the Lightbringer himself and Wu Zhihao, a core sect elder – personally training him in combat, Lu had dominated whatever position he’d held in his sect as well. Erin wouldn’t be surprised if he was the most powerful outer sect elder in the entirety of the Order and one of the strongest Dukes – or Aspect Staged Cultivators, as the Order called them – in the world.
So why was Lu training in a village so far outside of civilisation when he could probably find stronger opponents inside the sects? Lu switched to Shinian so that everyone could understand his answer, “Well, in regards to your question, little cousin, I’m training by fighting against the Sea Cored. Recently, there has been a spike in the number of Sea Cored off the Northern Coast and, when I told my father I was going to go into isolated training, he suggested I do it here so that I could help some people out while also getting stronger.”
Erin just nodded; every so often, Sea Cored populations would spike off one coast or another. Generally, it wouldn’t require someone as strong as a Duke but that wasn’t unheard of if a stronger Cored suddenly decided to expand or change their territory. Such a change would often cascade down the food chain, leading to spikes in migrating Cored beasts that people had to deal with. A similar thing used to happen in the mountains before the Shinians and the Fants started carefully managing the Cored population in the Savagelands.
“In that case, Lu, I think you may have to stay here for a while unless there are any imminent threats incoming.”
Lu’s face sobered up, “What have you done, little cousin?”
“Initially, it was nothing outside the realm of expectation for my mission. Unfortunately, Sammath discovered that I wasn’t exactly the person that I said I was and threatened to reveal as such to my targets if I didn’t help him rescue his friend,” Erin gestured to Ashe, lying unconscious on the ground, “who was to be burned at the stake for murdering some of the targets. Some men who are pursuing us will likely come to the village, asking about us, and it would be for the best if a Duke was here to stay their hands.”
Lu’s gaze flicked to Sammath and Erin knew he’d immediately noted Sammath as Volkarian and accepted that he could have compromised Erin’s mission; the range of powers that Volkarians could have was only eclipsed by the range of powers that Atra Oblorans could have, so it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility for Sammath to have some sort of detection power. Lu’s yellow gaze did, however, rest on Ashe. Erin couldn’t feel it but knew that Lu would be reaching out with his spiritual perception to analyse Ashe.
“I can deal with the guards easily enough. A few days of waiting around shouldn’t impact my training very much. What happened to the boy, though? He doesn’t seem nearly strong enough to kill any adult targets, let alone any targets on a mission you’ve been sent on. Your father would have made sure none were below the first stage and probably made sure there was a second stage person just for the extra challenge.”
“You’re right. All of them were at the first stage, but everyone’s powers were suppressed by Runes. That’s my current theory as to how he managed to take down the targets. Why, though, is a different story.”
Lu eyed Ashe again, “I suppose that could explain how he managed to take down the targets, if he had any sort of training. Unarmed training from the state you’re all in…” Lu trailed off as Erin shook her head, “No unarmed training, then?”
“No. I don’t even think he’s had official training of any capacity for anything. I’m surprised he’s even literate. He didn’t even know how he was meant to even absorb a core, let alone use it to advance his stage.”
Lu nodded, “That explains his state, then. He must have figured it out, though, or he wouldn’t be here.”
“He did, indeed. I think it would still be beneficial if he got some medical attention, though. Does this village have any healer of any sort?”
Lu grinned at that, “I thought you were a qualified healer.”
Erin looked to him and cocked her head, “I am. I just don’t have supplies with me, right now.”
Lu chuckled, “Alright. Grab the boy and follow me to the healer’s hut. I’ll take a deeper look at him with my spiritual sense to tell you what’s wrong.”
Erin just nodded, “Thank you.” Erin grabbed Ashe and slung him over her shoulder. It may not have been the most comfortable for the boy, but he certainly wasn’t awake to complain about it. It took a few minutes before the small group – Lu, Erin, Sammath, and Ashe as the guards had stayed behind – made it to the village proper.
When they walked through the village, a tall, wide middle-aged man hurried out of a hut. Erin could feel that he was only at the second Stage and assumed that he was the village chief, “Lu, who are these people?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Lu cupped his hands and bowed to the chief, speaking in Shinian for the benefit of Sammath, “Apologies, Chief, but I didn’t have time to warn you before we returned. Let me introduce you to my cousin and her friends.” Lu gestured behind him, “This is my cousin, Erin, and her friends…”
“Sammath,” Sammath introduced himself, “and the unconscious one is Ashe.”
“It’s alright, Lu. As long as you trust them, they’re welcome here.” The Chief turned to Erin and Sammath, “It’s nice to meet you. I am Chief Sem. Feel free to stay as long as you like, as long as you don’t cause trouble in the village.”
“Thank you, Chief Sem.” Erin bowed to the Chief, “We appreciate your hospitality and have no intention of causing any issues for you in the village. That being said, though, we are being chased by some people in the forest.”
Chief Sem opened his mouth, likely to ask who, but Lu interjected, “Do not worry, Chief. I have already determined that I will remain behind for the next few days to take care of any unwanted guests.”
Chief Sem hesitated, stopping to contemplate for a few seconds before trying to speak up again. This time, he directed a question towards Erin, “And these people coming after you. How strong are they?”
“The strongest of them would be a Viscount, Chief. None of the others will be more than Barons.”
“Alright, then. So long as Lu stays around to handle whoever it is, we are happy for you to stay here.”
“Thank you, Chief.” Erin bowed her head in gratitude, “And I apologise to just run, but we need to get some medical attention for Ashe. It isn’t urgent, but he has been unconscious for a few days, now, and I would prefer to do an examination as soon as possible.”
“Of course, of course, sorry for keeping you.” Chief Sem hurried them along, “Just follow Lu to our healer’s hut and she can help you there.”
“Thank you, Chief.” Erin and Sammath both bowed lightly to the chief and followed Lu to the healer’s hut. Erin could feel the eyes of the villagers on her, but Sammath appeared oblivious to the scrutiny, or at least didn’t care about it. On the other side of the village, by the cliff, sat the healer’s hut. Built in the same fashion as most mountain villages, it was a rectangular home that was made of rough-hewn logs. Smoke lazily curled out of a chimney and Lu approached the hut with confidence.
Knocking on the door to the hut, Lu waited for it to open, revealing a young woman. She wore simple clothing, like the rest of the villagers, but Erin could see she was beautiful, nonetheless. Soft, caramel brown eyes peaked out of a face framed by long, brown hair that gleamed coppery in the light. With a sharp chin and a soft smile, she seemed quite shy, “Uhhh, Lu,” She tucked her a strand of hair behind her head, “I didn’t think we’d be seeing you again so soon.”
Sammath leant over to Erin, “She likes him.” Erin kept her face impassive but was inwardly sighing. Frankly, she didn’t care if the girl was head over heels in love with Lu. What Erin wanted was to heal Ashe so that they could continue the mission. Plus, it was highly unlikely that anything would come of the girl’s crush; even if Lu liked the girl back, he was promised to someone else and had far too strong a sense of duty to let something like a crush affect his betrothal. In fact, the only two ways that anything would ever come of the girl’s crush was if Lu somehow fell head over heels in love with her and ran away with her, likely condemning her village to destruction by the sects in retribution, or if Lu rose to lead the Order within the next few years, which was extremely unlikely.
“It doesn’t matter. We just need to get some medical supplies to help Ashe.” Erin blandly replied as Lu replied to the girl.
“Hi, Sarena. To be honest, neither did I. Thankfully, it’s not for me this time. My cousin’s friend needs some medical supplies. He’s been unconscious for a couple of days but we don’t think it’s urgent.”
“Your cousin’s friend?” Sarena sounded confused and it was only after Lu had pointed out the three people behind him that she seemed to notice them, “Which one’s your cousin?”
“Erin,” Lu offhandedly gestured to Erin and Sarena’s smile brightened, “Now, can we come in or do I have to be rude?”
“Oh, yes, sorry.” Sarena blushed and stepped aside, “Bring him inside and we can examine him.
“I’ll actually be using my spiritual sense to examine him to see if anything’s wrong. We just need the medical supplies. Erin’s a doctor.”
Sarena slumped slightly, her enthusiastic help curbed by Erin’s abilities, “Well surely there’s something I can do to help, right?”
Before Lu could respond, a voice called out from further in the house, “Lu. You better not be back here with an injury so soon. I don’t care how strong you are, I’ll thrash you again after I heal you, just so that you’re not stupid enough to fight more beasts the day after you heal.”
Erin stepped into the house, finding it quite simple. A small bench ran down the right wall before it was stopped by a room further into the house. Cupboards above the bench likely stored food and a large bucket of drawn water rested to the side. Kitchen implements hung from various pegs and hooks and Erin looks to the left side of the room. A small fireplace burned merrily, a small gridiron supporting a pot above the flames. Simple, wooden chairs sat around a small table in front of the fireplace and a thin rug covered the wooden floor of the house.
The scent of herbs and pastes permeated the room and a small hallway led further inside, with four doors leading off of it to small rooms. All in all, it was a nice, cosy house. A woman’s head peaked out of one of the rooms and, spotting Lu, she stormed out, “I swear, boy. If you’ve injured yourself again, I’ll…” The threat trailed out as the woman spotted the trio behind Lu, “Well, hello there. I hope one of you are the injured ones and not Lu.”
“Uh, mum, I don’t th-” Sarena was cut short at the older woman, Sarena’s mother interrupted.
“They know what I mean.”
“Lovely to see you as always, Lelia” Lu diplomatically spoke up as Erin analysed the woman. Lelia was clearly related to Sarena. While she seemed older, with crows feet still pulling at the corners of her eyes and wrinkles beginning to line her forehead, she was still beautiful, if slightly plainer than her daughter. Lelia’s brown hair didn’t gleam so much in the light and her eyes were a richer, chocolatey brown than Sarena’s caramel. Both of them shared the same pale skin, though Lelia was a little bigger than her daughter, having lived the life of a healer for years and with Sarena still having a year or two to develop.
“You’ll be glad to know I didn’t waste your hard work, Lelia. In fact, we don’t even need you to take a look at Ashe. We just need supplies. My cousin is a doctor.”
Lelia looked over at Sammath, “No. Not you.” Her gaze flicked over to Erin, “So it must be you. How would you treat a fever?”
“Where am I?” Erin asked a question back to Lelia, who just smiled, “Surprise me.”
In Arikar, we mainly use willow bark to cure fever, at least those who are knowledgeable about the practice of medicine. Those in the School of the Desert Moon typically use their magic to cure basic things like fevers, with minor assistance from a range of magical plants that are designed to keep you hydrated and packed with as much magical energy as one can store. Volkar uses sap from the stem of the Bradeflower and Shinians typically use their enchanted healing rooms. The Order doesn’t believe in treatment for such a trivial thing and Atra Oblor typically calls out to their gods through priests to heal the afflicted. When that doesn’t work, as it generally doesn’t, they typically use one of the Blest to heal the person and attribute it to the gods. Stoele and Ethana typically brew elderflower teas and Druzland uses yarrow. The Cooperative States of Vollis typically gather around the sick person to increase their strength to fight off the sickness and the Savagelands, like the Order, don’t believe that anyone who would succumb to such a trivial thing deserves to be alive. Need I go on?”
“If a patient came to you with the seasonal sniffles, what would you prescribe to them?”
Erin internally sighed, the question was trivial and something expected of a village healer, but answered the question, “I would tell them to regularly clean their house so that dust doesn’t accumulate and to stay away from animals that shed excessively. Should the problem persist and intervention is needed, I would use the fruit of the cherrywort bush, which typically blooms during that time, to mix a salve for the patient to apply to the inside of their nose which will catch any stray particulates entering their nose, preventing the issue before it starts for the day. In the rare case that the problem persists, I would have to examine them for further symptoms because it would likely be something beyond the typical seasonal sniffles.”
Lelia nodded, “And what would you do if a child came to you with an arm broken in three places.”
Erin nearly smiled internally, this question was harder and had the moral conundrum of dealing with a child. With an adult, you could get away with being a bit rougher in… sedating them and they were typically more capable of remaining calm and still even in the face of pain. Children would wriggle and writhe and scream, breaking your concentration nearly as thoroughly as the arm.
“To begin with, I’d calm the child down and then put the child to sleep. It would be much easier to do anything once they’re sedated.”
“And how would you sedate them if you don’t have anything on you?”
Erin simply smiled, “I always have something on me, with a range of effects. Beginning with drowsy moonberry tea and ranging to the coma-inducing poison from the sharp-fringed black-weed.” Lelia nodded and gestured for Erin to proceed, “After that, I would find the nearest source of clay, presuming I don’t have access to the enchanted wooden casts that doctors in Arikar have been using lately or access to any healing magic. With the clay, I would form a rough cast around the child’s arm and use my powers to gently bake a cast, reinforced by wooden splints, around the arm after setting it and ensuring all of the bones are in the right place.”
“And if you couldn’t find clay anywhere?”
“I nearly always have an emergency supply of it, though you can see I’m not carrying any on me right now,” That part was true; Erin wasn’t carrying any on her, she had it in her spatial storage, which was being carried by her, “but if it came down to it, I would keep the child sedated for as long as possible while I travelled to the nearest village or place to find some supplies and splint their arm as lightly as I could while still keeping everything in the right place.”
“Follow me.” Lelia gestured to the Erin and Erin picked Ashe’s limp body up from off the ground, slinging his left arm around her shoulders. Lelia ducked into the first room of the hall and Erin followed, Lu right behind her.
Inside the room, a small bed was wedged against the wall, running the full length of the room. A simple, wooden cabinet sat on the other wall to the bed, taking up most of the remaining floor space and leaving only a small space to stand. Shelves ran around the entire room, with salves, creams, and lotions in labelled, ceramic jars. A few ingredients also lay in neatly tied bundles and some simple tools like a mortar and pestle sat on the cabinet.
Erin set Ashe down on the bed and Lelia turned around, facing Lu, “If you’re not going to help, get out.”
Lu opened his mouth to speak but Erin held up her hand, “He will be using his senses to examine Ashe and inform me if anything is out of the ordinary.”
Lelia nodded, “Alright. He can stay.”
Erin gestured for Lu to go ahead and, standing in the doorway, he closed his eyes. Erin knew that he was reaching out with his spiritual sense and scanning Ashe’s body for any injuries. After what felt like an inordinately long time, Lu frowned. Lu’s eye started twitching and he started sweating. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and he gasped, bending over and panting. Erin eyed her cousin warily, “What happened?”
“Well…” Lu managed to get out through his laboured breathing, “nothing’s wrong with him physically, but… I think he has something to tell you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to rest. My soul is just a little bit tired.” Lu stumbled off and Sarena rushed to his aid, helping him along. Erin frowned lightly; she had seen her cousin in worse states but very few secrets in the body of a newly minted Dusk stage shouldn’t have caused him as much issue as he seemed to have with Ashe. Well… that and the fact that Sammath was right, and it might cause trouble later.
“If nothing’s wrong with him,” Erin began, “Do you mind if I leave him here? I have some things I need to attend to.”
“I have no issue with taking care of a patient. I’d be a bad healer if I did. Him sleeping just makes it easier. Go and get yourself cleaned up.”
“Thank you.” Erin nodded her head to Lelia and bowed out of the room, Sammath falling into step beside her.
“What’s-”
“Nothing.”
“Then why-”
“Exhaustion.”
“How-”
“People are predictable,” Sammath just nodded at that, and Erin felt like he understood. “Any other questions?”
“Just one.” Erin didn’t bother to respond, instead gesturing for Sammath to proceed, “Do you want to train?”
Erin paused, weighing the value of training with Sammath against her desire to wash up for the first time in weeks. As Sammath waited expectantly, she realised that she did have some energy to work out and could wash up after training, “Alright. Lead the way.”