So much history was lost in the unifications. So much culture, so many languages and religions. Today, we find tiny fragments of the peoples that used to live in the areas now occupied by the powers, tiny glimpses into the lives of peoples and cultures past. It is one of this historian’s greatest lamentations that the first rulers of each power did not preserve the ways of the people that they conquered.
Excerpt: Histories of Athin, Xeros Vanta
Sammath wasn’t going to admit it, but the Order was already beginning to grate on his nerves a little. Erin was right, it did seem to be the antithesis of Volkar in terms of cultural ideals. When someone got pissed at Ashe for walking into their little sphere of influence, Sammath had nearly gone to yell at them for being… stupid. Let’s stick with stupid. Sammath had a few other choice, unsavoury words to call the Cultivators but he decided to stick with belittling their intelligence. The actions of the Cultivators just made Sammath more thankful that he couldn’t understand the Heavenly Tongue because he knew he’d probably challenge them again if he understood what they were saying – the arrogance of that Akantha person in Arikar seemed pretty minimal compared to even these minor cultivators – and, well, Erin did have another point. Sammath was strong for the Viscount Stage. With a strong, extremely versatile Concept like Motion, Sammath was able to adapt to many situations. But that didn’t make up for other people who had strong powers and far more training than Sammath did.
They would almost certainly demolish Sammath in a fight if he tried to challenge them. That wasn’t even accounting for people who had a strong backing, with a strong relative or teacher, that might make trouble for them. Sammath didn’t like it and such a thing; higher Staged people interfering in the squabbles of lower Stages; would never happen in Volkar but, well, he wasn’t so caught up in his own world that he didn’t think some people would stay out of every conflict. While the higher Staged sect members might not act directly considering how much of a social taboo it was to attack lower Stages in the Order, the Cultivators would certainly have enough influence to make Sammath’s life in the Order hell.
Sammath was pulled out of his maunderings when Erin’s hand wrapped around his upper bicep to take him off the street and into a building. Coming out of his own head, Sammath took a look around. Inside, the Order’s architecture was quite different from what he was expecting based on their buildings’ exteriors. With the buildings made from white concrete and red wood, Sammath had expected the insides of the buildings to follow in a similar vein so, when he stepped inside to find himself treading on the dark, hardwood floors of an inn that was remarkably similar in layout to an Arikaran inn, Sammath was… surprised.
There were, of course, a number of differences. Where Arikar’s inn furniture tended to be high tables with tall stools for guests to perch on or sturdy tables with plain, wooden chairs, the Order had low tables, similar to those in Volkar, and gave the guests pillows to kneel or sit on. Additionally, the floors were raised underneath the table so that people didn’t just walk across someone’s sitting area. Like Arikar, though, some windows in the front of the building let in some natural lighting and Runed lights lit up the back of the room. In the back of the building, behind a tall, barlike counter, stood an old man.
Ringing filled Sammath’s ears from the door opening and hitting a bell on the doorframe and the man looked up from polishing a cup, which was carved into an octagonal shape rather than the tankards that Arikar used. Clearly, they were intended for people to use both hands when drinking; probably a good thing if you didn’t want people to spill their alcohol. Erin headed for the counter, Sammath and Ashe following behind her, and said something in the Heavenly Tongue. The innkeep replied and Erin slid some coins over the counter for him. Glancing at the pile of coins, the older man grabbed a key from underneath the counter and handed it over to Erin. Glancing at the two boys, the innkeep said something else but Erin shook her head and made a gesture as though to dismiss whatever the man had said. Sammath guessed that he’d asked about them sharing a room, but Erin had told him not to worry.
Heading up the stairs, which were behind a door to the right of the counter, the three of them found their room easily enough and the two boys put their bags down on the floor. Two single beds took up most of the floor and a small cupboard took up much of what remained. Sammath frowned but, before he could say anything, Erin spoke up, “I’ll take the floor. I chose to just take a single room so that we could save on money. I also probably have far more experience sleeping in uncomfortable places.”
Sammath conceded that point but, for the sake of his own conscience, decided to volunteer for the floor anyway, “Are you sure? I can sleep on the floor if we need.”
Erin waved him off, “It’s fine. It’ll be better than sleeping in a wet cave or on a thin branch so I’ll be fine.”
Sammath ignored Erin’s references to whatever training she’d been through and placed his bag of possessions in the cupboard, alongside Ashe’s. Erin didn’t need to do anything, considering everything that she’d brought was in her storage items. Sammath flopped onto a bed, claiming it as his own, and looked over to Erin, “So what are we going to do now?”
Erin considered Sammath, “To be honest, I don’t know. We don’t have any mission directives to complete so we don’t really have any purpose here. I’m…” Erin sighed, “I’m… lost, if I’m being honest. I don’t know what to do.”
Sammath looks at Erin, whose face hadn’t changed from her neutral expression, and tried to see anything at all but all of her emotion was hidden behind a carefully schooled mask. Whatever she was feeling, he’d just have to trust that she was being honest and, well, it seemed that he’d have to step up and take some sort of control, “What are our options?”
Erin frowned at Sammath, “What do you mean?”
“What can we do from here? Remember that Ashe and I need to continue our training and you probably need to as well. Where can we go that we can train properly?”
Erin didn’t hesitate in her answer, “The only places we can train properly here are either run by the sects, are private, or are exorbitantly expensive. Oftentimes all three. The only way we’ll be able to get training facilities that we can use at the Viscount Stage is if we challenge the sects with that as the reward if we win but we will have to offer up some sort of similar compensation if we lose. Either that or offer our services as sparring partners that don’t make use of qi and, well, I don’t imagine that every sect is going to treat us appropriately or fairly. That’s not to mention the fact that many of the people we will spar with will not take it easy on us and, well, neither you or Ashe truly have the experience or skill to face off against many sect members yet.”
Sammath leant back, considering their options, “I think we need to challenge them. Well, I think you need to challenge them. If you say that neither Ashe nor I would stand up against them, I trust you. I’d say we should challenge them anyway but from what I’ve seen, they’d probably just send their best Cultivators against us just to take advantage of us losing the challenge.” Sammath sighed, “I don’t really want to be useless, but I really don’t think we can do anything to help here. Either way, you challenge them but be polite and then take on any of the Cultivators they send against you. I think you’ll need to set a limit on how many people they can send against you in one go, though, and on the number they can send against you in a row.”
Erin nodded, “We can do that. Just make sure you and Sammath be polite as well. Don’t bow and scrape; they might see that as a sign of weakness; but try to make sure you talk as little as possible and, if needed, bow respectfully.” Sammath felt a little bit of anger rise up at the thought of having to bow to anyone but it wasn’t about him. It was about the fact that no one should be subservient to anyone else. Everyone should be equal. There shouldn’t be any sort of ruling caste and no one should be forced to show the sort of subservience that Cultivators demanded of other to any other human being. Such supplications should be reserved only for whatever gods you believed in. But Erin was right. This wasn’t his culture and he couldn’t come in here and apply his ideals to an entirely different people, so, if it came down to it, he would swallow his complaints and bow.
“Fine. I can do that. Just… try to minimise my contact with them, please. I don’t want to deal with the Cultivators.”
Erin nodded, “Alright. Should we do that today, then? We might as well get started early.”
Sammath shrugged, “I don’t know. I could do some training today but I don’t really mind. I could also relax.”
Erin frowned and sighed, looking towards Ashe, “What do you think, Ashe?”
Ashe, who’d sat down quietly on his bed looked back to Erin, “I think we should do it today. I don’t really know what else we could do unless you begin teaching us some basics of the Heavenly Tongue.”
Erin shook her head, “No. I am not going to try and teach Sammath the Heavenly Tongue. Even if he miraculously pays attention to what I’m teaching, if he gets his tone wrong one time, we’re going to find ourselves hanging over an active volcano or being fed to Cored in some arena.”
Sammath just grins at Erin, “Well, then. I guess we’re going to beat up some Cultivators instead.”
Erin rolls her eyes but pushes herself to her feet, “All we need is to find something we can offer as collateral.”
Sammath smiles even wider and Erin shakes her head, “Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t want any part of it.”
“Well, do you remember how I sold myself into slavery ‘cos I thought it might be fun?”
Erin groans and Ashe’s eyes widen, “No, Sammath. I really don’t want to do that.”
Sammath shrugs, a cheeky smile still on his face, “Why not? What could-”
Erin slaps her hand over Sammath’s mouth and slams his hand down on the bedframe, steel in her eyes. Sammath grunted as pain shot through his hand, Erin’s iron strength having slammed his knuckles into the corner of the frame, “You just touched wood. Now, finish that sentence and I’ll gut you and leave you to die. You have no money to afford medical treatment in the Order and you don’t want to push your luck on this.”
Erin pulls her hand off Sammath’s mouth and Sammath grins wickedly at her, “Come on. I didn’t think you were the type to invest your beliefs in superstition.” Sammath looks over to Ashe, “Not going to help me here?”
Ashe shakes his head, “Nope. Erin’s right, Sam. I don’t really believe in superstitions, but they all came from somewhere. I mean I have a magical power that, a few months ago, neither of you would have believed was real. I’m not about to test that there isn’t a magical force that governs stupid people testing the world.”
“Oh, come on. All I was gonna say was-” Sammath felt a knife prickle against his chest and looked down to see a blade pressed into his chest, Erin easily holding the point in a manner that would allow her to stab him and then rip down through his intestines, spilling them to the floor. Sammath raised his gaze to Erin’s eyes and found her resolution unwavering so, in a decision that some might consider wise, he made the choice to not finish his sentence and test whether she was just acting. “On second thoughts, let’s just get it over and done with and not test our luck.”
The pressure that Sammath was feeling eased up immediately and he glanced down, finding the knife completely gone, “Good choice. I would have hated to have to kill you soon after starting our journey together.” Erin turned around and headed for the room’s window, “I’m going to top off on sunlight before we visit the sect this afternoon. Don’t go anywhere and don’t let Sammath jinx us. Got that, Ashe?”
The boy nodded and Erin, without even looking backward, opened the window and swung herself outside and up towards the roof. Sammath leant over to Ashe, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed, “I think that was sarcasm, right?”
Ashe struggled not to smile, “You know, Sam. Just this once, you might be right.”
Sammath and the others stood outside the sect’s entrance. A large, open gate stood in front of the sect and a pair of Cultivators stood guard outside the grounds. Neither of the Cultivators seemed to care about the three of them at all, completely disregarding their presence as they surveyed the land. Erin stepped forward but, despite a quick glance in her direction, the guards said nothing. Erin didn’t take it to heart, bowing to the guards and speaking up in Shinian, “Honourable Cultivators, is there any way I could speak to an elder? I offer a challenge for your Sect to prove its strength to foreigners. I would like to challenge you to send your best Cultivators from the Viscount Stage against me each day, up to five in one day, and if I lose one round we,” Erin gestured to herself, Sammath, and Ashe, “Will work for you for half a year. If you lose, we gain access to your training courtyards so that we may practice our own magic with proper facilities. We do not ask for the use of your Qi gathering rooms or any other resources beyond those we can pay for ourselves.”
On the right of the gate, the female Cultivator guard laughed and said something to the other guard, the male guard, in the Heavenly Tongue. He laughed too and Erin’s face darkened, “Well, then. If you truly think your little sister could beat me with her hands tied behind her back, I don’t think you’d have any trouble proving that to me by beating me yourself.”
Erin settled into a ready stance, holding her hands out in front of her. The Cultivator looked over to the other guard, “Make sure no beasts attack this place while I put these guys back in their place. I cannot tolerate this mortal looking down on our sect like this, claiming that she could be all of our members at the Viscount Stage.” This time, the Cultivator spoke in Shinian, clearly for the benefit of Ashe and Sammath and because Erin would be able to understand what she’d said no matter what.
The guard tied her hair behind her head with a ribbon that had been wrapped around her wrist, the silky black curtain being restrained into a long ponytail. Calculating, brown eyes took in Erin’s stance and the Cultivator drew her sword from its sheath. Erin smiled slightly, a cold grin that was more akin to baring her teeth at the Cultivator than a friendly gesture. “That is good. I’d feared you would underestimate me and try to fight with your bare hands. I hope you don’t mind if I educate my colleagues while we fight. I mean no disrespect by it but they’ve never fought a Cultivator in a true battle before.”
Cold, brown eyes looked back, “If you do that, I won’t hold back. If you think yourself good enough to fight me without your full attention, you will suffer the cost of your arrogance.”
Erin shrugged, “I will take that as your permission.” Erin glanced back towards Ashe and Sammath, “Listen closely.” Erin refocused on the woman as a green haze surrounded her body, “This Cultivator is a member of the Grasping Vines Sect. Specialising primarily in nature qi, the sect makes use of their qi to grow plants and take care of animals, which they sell for food and profit. They have a partnership with an alchemy-focussed sect, the Fire Meadow Sect, and in exchange for providing magical plants, the Grasping Vines Sect get provided with alchemical pills for their members.”
A green haze surrounded the Cultivator and Erin nodded, “Now, this guard is using what Cultivators like to call their Movement Technique. Be very, very careful against them as you never quite know exactly how they’re going to move. Each movement technique is different and can have extremely varying effects. Take nature Qi for example, you could have a movement Technique that is primarily used to dodge attacks, like a leaf or a winged seed being pushed around by the wind of someone’s hand. On the other hand, you could have a movement Technique that tries to mimic the movements of swinging on vines. It’s fast and you have great vertical mobility but turning will be difficult and you’ll have quite a large turning radius.”
Erin stepped back as the woman rushed up to her, a hand slapping up at the very last moment to push the stabbing sword to the side as Erin twisted her body. Rather than withdrawing her hand and resetting for another movement, the guard used the space that Erin’s blow provided to slash towards the Arikaran. “Interesting.” Erin muttered.
Ashe leant into Sammath, “Do you have any clue what’s interesting.” Sammath just shook his head and shrugged. Ashe turned back to the fight. In the few seconds that Ashe had diverted his attention away from the fight, a number of blows had been exchanged by the two women. Erin had mainly just pushed away or redirected movements from the attacking Cultivator, who stabbed, slashed, kicked, and elbowed in the hopes of hitting Erin. None of the attacks even landed on her clothes.
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“Ahhhh,” Erin smiled, “I have it now. What an interesting movement Technique you use.” Erin glanced towards Ashe and Sammath, casually slipping a punch from the Cultivator’s offhand before grabbing the hand, pulling the guard forward so that she tripped on Erin’s foot, and then spinning around to throw her back at the gate. “Now, I do disagree fundamentally on many things with Cultivators but I would like to expand on how this honourable guard, here,” Sammath didn’t really think the guard was honourable but he supposed that Erin was trying to butter her up and soften the blow to her pride, “didn’t want us to look down on her sect. I don’t think you should ever underestimate Cultivators and, especially, their ingenuity with creating unique Techniques.”
Back on her feet, the guard rushed Erin with green Qi coalescing around her sword and a flurry of slashes sent glowing, green crescents towards Erin. Flying through the air, they seemed almost to sway, like grass in the wind, as they aimed to separate Erin’s body. Erin jumped into the air, arching her back as she jumped through the blades and flipping around with a burst of fire from her feet to land easily, unscathed, on the ground. “Take the movement Technique of this Cultivator for example, it seems to be based on some sort of moss or algae. I must admit, it had me puzzled at first because of how unusual it is. Some of my strikes at her seemed to have her rebound towards me, like a springy carpet of moss, and others seemed to just land in soft, boggy moss that absorbed the force of the blow, just as the guard’s steps seemed to alternate between springy, pushing her forward rapidly, and mushy as she suddenly slowed down to change direction.
Erin slipped underneath the woman’s next stab and grabbed her by the neck, “The only thing with moss is that, once your remove it from the ground or tree, it becomes loses much of its springiness or mushiness and becomes more like a curtain or piece of fabric.” Erin’s second hand came around and slipped down to the small of the Cultivator’s neck. With a slight exertion, though Sammath could see that she didn’t try particularly hard, the Cultivator was lifted off the ground and thrown towards the gate.
Twisting in midair, the Cultivator managed to land in a crouch, sword held away from her body in a hand, and she eyed Erin warily, “Who are you?”
Erin waved the question away, “No-one of consequence. What I would like to know is if you created that Technique yourself or if it’s from your family or sect. It’s very interesting and quite ingenious, if I may say so.”
Erin’s question was ignored by the female guard and the second Cultivator, who’d initially seemed so dismissive of the trio along with the female guard, pulled his sword out. Sammath watched the sword make small, circular motions in the air and nearly grinned to himself but managed to keep a straight face. Activating his Motion Sight but making sure to keep the time aspect of his power suppressed, Sammath eyed the sword, seeing the small, blue circles of its Motion. With an exertion of will, Sammath pulled the Motion of the sword and it snapped to the side in the Cultivator’s hand. He nearly lost his grip on its handle and glared at Erin, “What did you just do?”
Erin’s cool gaze moved to meet the fiery one of the male guard and she bowed lightly, “Apologies, honourable Cultivator, but that wasn’t me. Moving your sword without touching it is not one of my abilities.”
The woman shot a glare at the man and, despite the anger in his gaze, he stepped back slightly and held his tongue, even though he clearly wanted to… talk… with Erin some more. “No one in the sect can just toy with me like that. No one at the Second Stage at least. I can normally stand up to some of the Third Stage Cultivators, too but you… you made me seem like a newborn fool. No one with your training is unimportant. So, you’ll tell me who you are. If you don’t, then I’m sure that someone can find that information somewhere in your head.” The Cultivator stepped forward, her sword pointing down towards the ground in front of Erin, and Sammath’s hand shook slightly as he took a deep breath to calm himself down.
“Do you speak for your sect?” Erin asked the guard, straightening up slightly, and the guard hesitated. Before she could answer, Erin shook her head, “No, you don’t. When I came here to challenge the Grasping Vines Sect, I thought that I would be challenging an honourable sect that would respect my challenge and take me on my fair offer. Instead, before I even enter the sects grounds, I am confronted by a guard at the second Stage of Cultivation, not even greeted by a caretaker of the grounds or an outer sect elder. This guard then proceeds to impugn her own Sect’s honour by refusing my duel and threatening me. Now, if you don’t want me to go around and spread what happened here to people and other sects, you will fetch someone from your sect with actual power who will talk to me reasonably.
“Don’t even bother trying to threaten me again because I will take it seriously and eliminate the threat before there’s the chance that it might come to fruition. Is that clear?” The female guard’s face clouded over, and she went to step forward but, with a blur of movement that Sammath only barely picked up, a dagger appeared in front of her foot, quivering in the ground. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”
Before the guard could do anything more, Sammath felt a massive, incoming surge of Motion, “Erin.” Red hair swung as Erin looked back to Sammath, “Someone’s coming.” Sammath looked towards the Motion, activating his Motion Sight once again, and could see a brightly glowing blue light rapidly growing larger. Coming from inside the sect, the light was almost blinding and Sammath had to quickly shut down his Motion Sight before he was debilitated by the light.
In a few seconds, a man appeared at the gate of the sect and, even though he stopped, a swift gust of air tugged at Sammath’s clothing. Erin bowed to the new entrant, “Greetings, honourable elder. I was just complaining about the rude greeting I received when I came here this afternoon.”
The elder waited a few seconds before responding, looking Erin up and down before his gaze moved to Sammath and then Ashe in turn. Sammath shivered as he felt the elder’s attention run through him and he could tell when the elder discovered Cab’s presence in Ashe as he shuddered, and his eyes widened.
Receding, salt-and-pepper hair covered the man’s head which was on its way to becoming as bald as Sammath’s. Warm but calculating brown eyes took in the world from underneath bushy eyebrows and a slight wrinkles let his face sag slightly. Despite his clear age, which appeared to be somewhere in the sixties, he stood strong and without a hunch in his shoulders. His back was as straight as the sword he wore on his hip and his robes were completely free of any wrinkles, in contrast to his bronze skin, and trims of green and gold lined the edges of the robes.
Instead of saying anything, the elder just nodded back to Erin, “I will ensure that we rectify that mistake. I cannot act personally, but I’ll take it up with the Elder in charge.” The man paused, “What I would like to know is whether you’ve been to my sect before. You seem familiar, though I just can’t seem to place it. Have you ever visited the Grasping Vines Sect?”
Erin smiled slightly and held a slight bow, “I have, Elder. You have a very good memory. It was nearly fifteen years ago. I accompanied my father to negotiate trade rates between Arikar and the Order for your magical herbs.”
The elder nodded, “That would be it. You’re the Dawnblaze girl, am I right?” Erin nodded, a slight smile playing across her lips, and Sammath wondered how much practice she’d had to make the expression seem so natural. By the elder, the two guards paled at the name Dawnblaze and they immediately moved to prostrate themselves on the ground. Sammath felt anger grip at something inside of him and he clenched his fist; while he didn’t think they should have to bow down to the Cultivators for their arrogance, he also didn’t think that the Cultivators should be made to bow to them. Sammath prepared to make a mental note to talk to Erin, but the redhead gestured for the two Cultivators to stand, “No need to apologise over such a small matter. It has been forgotten already.”
For some reason that Sammath didn’t understand, both of the guards flushed slightly at Erin’s words and Sammath glanced down to see Ashe’s mouth twitch slightly in a smile, “What did Cab say?” Sammath whispered to the boy.
Ashe’s eyes flicked from the confrontation, to Sammath, then back to the guards. “He said that she just insulted them and that now they’re going to be really pissed but can’t do anything because Erin was polite about it.”
Sammath frowned, “How did she insult them? She was just being nice, wasn’t she?”
Ashe rolled his eyes, “Think about it from their perspective. Cultivators aren’t necessarily arrogant but that’s what they tend towards. These ones seem to be. Most Cultivators think that they’re going to be the special one; the person that will make it and climb the ranks of their sect to become the strongest person in the Order, if not the world. To someone like that, being ignored or disregarded so completely that their actions don’t even matter is a huge insult. How do you think Erin’s words made the Cultivator’s feel.”
Sammath’s eyes widened, and he had to hold himself back from laughing even as a big grin split his face; Erin was good. Clearly the Cultivators noticed as they glared at him but he ignored it. With the elder there, they probably wouldn’t try anything.
Sammath tuned back into the conversation between Erin and the elder at what seemed to be quite an important time, “So what brings you and your…” The elder’s eyes flicked to Ashe for a split second, “companions to the Grasping Vine Sect, Young Mistress Dawnblaze?”
“Please, Elder. I would ask that you call me Erin. I’m not here formally, after all, even if my parents are aware of my presence here. My travelling partners and I are here because we need access to training facilities, just a courtyard where we can use our powers freely. Of course, I’m not here to ask for access to such things out of charity and challenged your sect for access to the resources. In recompense, if we lose, you’ll have access to us as servants for six months. Finally, I would be willing to help instruct and guide some of your younger generation even if I do win in my challenge.”
The elder’s eyes took on a calculating gleam; clearly he wanted to take advantage of the potential to force Erin and her companions into servitude, “What are the conditions of the challenge?”
“Once a week, I will fight five disciples from your sect in a row and you can send up to two at once. They must be at or below the Viscount Stage, though that condition can be revisited later if you wish to send a Count Stage against me or if I break through. Our access to your training facilities will last for…” Erin stroked her chin, “let’s say two months and every week I win takes three weeks off of our time for servitude if I lose a match until the final match, which will take that off the table entirely. If we want access to any additional resources, we can complete tasks for the sect to gain contribution points that we can spend or we can pay for them, like any member of the sect. Does that sound satisfactory to you?”
“There are a few clarifications I need to have made.” Erin nodded for the elder to continue, “Do your challengers have to be members of our sect or can a visiting member of other sects take part in this?”
Erin shook her head, “I don’t believe it should be restricted to people just from your sect but, if they want to challenge me through this wager, it counts as one of your sect’s battles and you cannot bring people from other sects here or advertise to other that I’m here in the hopes of attracting someone who might be able to counter me. It must be based on your own sect’s merits. If they want to challenge me outside this wager, there must be other rewards for my time.”
“What about the ages of participants? While they may no longer be disciples, we do have people working for us at the Second Stage who may wish to try their hand at fighting you. There will be, after all, over one hundred battles that you fight in the two-month period.”
“I’ll limit it to people at or under thirty years of age for now. We can come back to this age on a case-by-case basis, though, if people over this limit advertise that they wish to fight me.”
“What weapon constraints are there? Of course, as our sect is the challenged, we have the right to request specific weapons, but I want to know if you have any opinions on the matter.”
“Whoever fights me has the right to choose the weapon. By default, if they don’t specify the weapon, the challenge will be open to any weapon. Whatever weapon I decide to use for open battles will either be a weapon that specifically counters my opponents or will match my opponents.” Erin grinned wickedly for a moment and Sammath could practically spot the gleam in her teeth, “The best way for me to hone my own skills are to fight someone who uses the same weapon in different ways, after all.”
The elder laughed at that, “It’s good to see that you Arikarans haven’t lost your edge yet. Our disciples do need some challenges, after all. What about the duel’s lethality? I presume that the battles won’t be to the death, especially if I want you to work for our sect.”
“They will be to forfeit or knockout. If someone forms such a grudge against me that they want to fight a battle with true consequences, they are free to request it outside of these duels. That being said, if someone is truly fighting to kill me, I will retaliate in kind.”
The elder nodded, pursing his lips, “That seems fair. Finally, how many matches would you fight against Count Stages in a day?”
“One match against a Count Stage would count as three standard matches but I will also have a period of at least two hours where I can replenish my energy before fighting at the Viscount Stage again. If I advance to the Count Stage myself, one fight will be worth one match, of course. Viscount Stage matches can be fought back to back, if you so choose. Just remember that there will only be five each week. Oh, and I’ll only fight them on weekends. If you choose to try and extend my stay at your sect by missing weeks, as well, then that’s your fault you missed the opportunity and you forfeit your five weekly matches. Does all this sound fair?”
Stroking his chin, the old man inclined his head slightly, “You said you’d help out with our younger disciples, correct?” Erin nodded in response to the question, “How many classes a day would you do and for how long?”
“I will run a single class for up to three hours a day without compensation for myself beyond food and board for myself and my companions. If I am not informed where I need to be, that is not my issue. If you want me to teach anything more, I’ll be paid for my time. If disciples want private lessons with me, they can pay me as well. If they attempt to use that time to charm me or cozy up to me, that is their choice to waste the lesson and I’ll be taking my wages regardless.”
“You said that you’d teach the younger classes. How young are you talking about?”
Erin seemed like she actually had to consider that, “I’m confident in offering insights to any disciples at the Count Stage or below. Both of us know that, above that Stage, they either get taken as a personal disciple, if they’re young enough, or offered a lower elder position. I don’t think that I could properly educate anyone at that point. Just remember that the students must be below the sect age threshold for their Stages if I’m to teach them.”
“What classes do you think you could take?”
“Any.” Erin answered without hesitation, “Combat or utility, it doesn’t matter. There is one utility class that I’ll refuse to teach but it’s highly unlikely to be any issue.”
This time, the elder stepped back slightly, looking up and down at Erin, “You could take alchemy classes?” Erin nodded, “Smithing classes?” Another nod, “Sword combat? Axe combat? Daggers? Whips? Polearm? Bow?” Each question was subsequently answered with a nod and the list went on as the elder asked about more and more obscure weapons until, eventually, he stopped, “I presume you could also teach tracking and hunting.” It was a statement but it was still punctuated by a nod from Erin and the elder, who’s eyes had begun encroaching on the rest of his face as they grew wider, “You know that you would be punished for lying about this, right?” Once again, Erin just nodded. The elder muttered something that Sammath couldn’t pick up and he leant down to Ashe.
“What are the chances that he just muttered something about Erin being a monster?”
Ashe looked at the elder and then to Sammath, “I’d say they’re pretty good. Want to place a bet on it?”
Sammath looked down at a grinning Ashe, his eyes narrowing slightly, “What side would I be on?”
“The side where the elder didn’t say that Erin was a monster.”
Sammath laughed lightly, “Oho, you cheeky little shit.” Sammath grabbed Ashe before the boy could react and wrapped his arm around his neck to place him in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles on the younger boy’s head.
“Hey!” Ashe squirmed around in Sammath’s grasp, hit Sammath’s back, and pushed at Sammath’s arms to try and extricate himself from the headlock. “Let. Me. Go!” Each of Ashe’s words was grunted and punctuated with a push at somewhere on Sammath’s body. Sammath felt the skin on his arm and back get kneaded under Ashe’s hands, but it did next to nothing to remove the boy from Sammath’s arm. When Sammath felt the time was right, he let go of the headlock and Ashe promptly pushed himself over, into the dirt.
As Sammath had grabbed Ashe in a headlock, though, he’d also been paying attention to what Erin and the elder had been discussing, “Then I believe you and I have a deal.”
The elder stuck his hand out for Erin to shake but the girl shook her head, “I’m sorry but I’m going to need you to swear on your cultivation that you will do everything in your power to ensure your sect sticks to our deal. I will swear on my Bloodline to do the same. That and that no one from your sect will attack us outside of sanctioned duels.”
“Do you realise what you’re asking me to do, Young Mistress Dawnblaze?” The elder’s tone darkened and Sammath felt power teetering on the edge of the Fourth Stage wash over him. The elder was a sneeze away from advancing into the next Stage, in fact he was probably stronger than many Fifth Stages, and that power practically slammed into Sammath. Both of the guards were driven into the floor and Sammath barely remained standing as he activated his Concept and held his Motion still. Ashe seemed completely unaffected, a red haze shimmering lightly over his skin as Cab protected him from the projection of power, and Erin swayed very slightly but otherwise remained unbothered.
“Honourable Elder, please understand my position here. In your sect, you no doubt have competitors that will seek to harm me to undermine the deal you have made and weaken your support base.
“That’s exactly why I cannot agree to this. If they act while I’m in meditation and I can’t do anything then I’ll lose my cultivation! I’ll lose nearly two hundred years of work perfecting my core! What about if you pull a muscle during training? Does that not count as harm under your oath? Also, don’t you have protection enough?” The elder’s eyes had flicked to Ashe, who’d been locked in
Please, honourable elder. Without your oath, I cannot be completely certain that you wouldn’t just let them do something to me or take up a passive position as they act. At the very least, with your oath you will be significantly more proactive in seeking out and dealing with threats to myself and my companions. Even if you don’t swear that no harm will come to us, can you at least swear that you will proactively seek out and deal with threats to our wellbeing from other Cultivators while we remain in the sect?”
“That is… acceptable.” The elder grumbled, “At least it won’t destroy my cultivation if I miss something.” He paused before seeming to decide on something, “Very well. I swear on my cultivation and on the honour of my sect to abide by the agreement we’ve lain out today, so long as you agree to and abide by the same terms.”
Erin flashed a smile, “Don’t trust me, elder?”
“If you are anything like your mother, I trust you as far as my little finger could throw you.”
“Very well, elder. I hereby swear upon my Bloodline that I will uphold the terms we agreed to today, with the condition that alterations may be made to the terms of our agreement if both of us are amenable.” Sammath didn’t see anything actually happen but the elder shook slightly in discomfort as the weight of his oath settled onto him. Erin, as Sammath had come to expect, had no reaction.
Erin looked back over her shoulder and gestured for Sammath and Ashe to come forward, even as the elder reined in the force of his presence. Sammath felt a large weight lift off of his shoulders and shook his head, wondering how Erin could even stand so close to the elder while he’d been projecting the strength of his Stage.
As he pulled alongside Erin, he lowered his voice, “So, what did the elder say when he mumbled under his breath? It wouldn’t happen to be along the lines of ‘that girl’s a monster’, would it?”
Erin rolled her eyes, “He said that my father raised a monster.”
Sammath pumped his fist in triumph, “I knew it. In fact, Ashe now owes me… something. I don’t know what yet but I’ll figure it out.”
Ashe punched Sammath’s side, “I don’t owe you anything. We never agreed to make a bet and besides, I was the one who was going to be on that side of the bet.”
Sammath leant towards Erin conspiratorially, “Kids, am I right?”
“Sam, you bastard.” Ashe tried to whack Sammath but the Volkarian simply skipped away, having activated his Motion Sense to detect the incoming attack. Ashe chased after him but Sammath simply wove through each playful hit, a big grin on his face as he taunted the younger boy.