Empathy and compassion do not fill empty bellies.

The morals of man fade like Autumn’s Colors when survival is at stake. Only those who have faced death know the brittleness of moral principles.

The cruelty of Creation lies in its harsh adherence to a most bitter reality.

Beg, negotiate, petition or pray; when has the world ever changed to suit one's sense of justice?

— Lost Winds, by an unnamed traveler

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Molam entered and felt the tingling sense of something being off. The darkness within the Inner Sanctum of Sanctuary felt more muted than before. No, it was not the darkness that felt weaker — the Oracle's glow felt stronger than yesterday's. The pure white glow did not seem to extend any further, yet it felt as though the strength of its brilliance chased away the shadows that permeated the surroundings.

He stood in front of the Oracle's dais. Part of him wondered if she ever left her seat, for she was in the same position and pose as yesterday's. Was it rude of him to wonder if the Oracle even ate? His mind wandered for a moment and his limbs shook from fatigue, having tossed and turned all night from being rushed to make a decision this close to Winter's Sorrow. The fear of the roads closing and forcing him to wait until Spring's Blessings to reach JiangXi drove a familiar piercing doubt into his considerations from all his past experience making hasty decisions.

"I see you have returned, child."

There were many things he wanted to say to the Oracle. Each and every sentence that flitted through his mind encompassed emotions that he didn't think he would feel while walking back to ZhiXia City, flushed with the success of having successfully stolen the egg from Crimson City's Palace and thrown off his pursuers.

The urge to strike her and that dragon mask overwhelmed him. A single blow of resentment, one that fully demonstrated his frustration with her taking RainBringer's side in denying him from going home because of a technicality. It infuriated him that she could sit here so pensively despite knowing full-well the weight of what she had asked him to do. His fist clenched and for a brief moment, he even believed he could do it.

But he held himself back. Despite the depths of his irritation, he could empathize with her position in carrying out RainBringer's command and that she had little say in the matter of opening the Stairs for him.

"I take it you reconsidered."

One emotion surged at her words. The feeling eclipsed the others and he allowed it to suffuse and steep within his thoughts before he finally responded, his voice a low growl.

"I don't like the way you used Priestess Komura against me."

The Oracle's head tilted to the side, as though she did not understand. "I only asked her to remind you of who you wanted to be. Was it not a good reminder?"

"That's not what I said," Molam took a step forward despite himself, placing a foot on the dais. "I said that I don't like the way you used her against me."

The dragon mask seemed fiercer, more alive in the new brightness of the Oracle's glow. It threw the ceremonial carving and minimalistic paint into sharper relief. The expression seemed to flicker before the Oracle responded.

"I see."

The echoless response sent a chill down his spine and Molam remembered who exactly he stood in front of. But the earlier emotions coalesced into a bubbling pit of burning anger inside of him and he could no longer be deterred.

"You can use me for this. For what you and RainBringer want," he lifted his chin. "RainBringer wants me to hasten the spirit's rebirth with elderwood from the World Tree? Fine. You want me to go to JiangXi and see what I can do to control the city? Fine." He took another step, standing fully onto the dais. "The two of you want to appropriate my desire to end the Bloody Prince and the Empire's rule for your own ends? Also fine."

He paused, hoping the Oracle would say something, but she did not. So he continued. "Priestess Komura doesn't know my past, and I can forgive her for not understanding the significant weight of what you've asked me to do." He paced slowly towards the Oracle as he continued, ignoring the shadows that leered at the edge of his vision. "But you do. And RainBringer too. Perhaps you thought that five years' time spent among humans resulting in my success also meant that I've overcome my own fears. In trusting you and RainBringer, I willingly put my life in danger again, with the very same humans that betrayed me in the past." A fist clenched as resentment threatened to rebuild itself. "Only to come back and understand that I probably shouldn't have trusted any of you in the first place."

He stopped in front of the Oracle, looking down upon her seated form. Her black hair shimmered with the same glow, cascading neatly down her back and shoulders in an inky waterfall. It suddenly struck him how small she seemed — up close, the Oracle seemed to be barely larger than the girl Kanao. But the Oracle had lived for over a thousand years, long before even the Empire's founding, and for a brief moment Molam wondered if her small size was due to her immense age. "I'm going to do what you asked, and then some. You probably think that so long as our desires are aligned you can use me to accomplish it. RainBringer probably thinks that there is no loss if I fail. An auraless human, and then she would never need to again suffer my presence in her beloved Castle. And if I succeed, both of you get what you've wanted for a long time. So I'll go to JiangXi, and if you truly prepared what I need there then I will use it." His voice became hard, harder than he had ever needed it to be. "But I'm not doing this for you. Not for you, not for RainBringer, not for Priestess Komura because you were wrong about one thing; what I wanted is in the past and now I just want to go home. The two of you may think that you have me dancing in the palm of your hand, because I'm just an auraless human that you can use and exploit — but you forget: I've already died once for others. Now I live for myself and the one who saved me then. That's neither you nor RainBringer, and I won't become like either of you, treating others as disposable just to fulfill your own ends."

He bent forward, lowering his head and voice at the same time. "This is my first and only warning to you, Oracle. I won't tolerate either of you keeping me away from going home again. If I bring back the elderwood and RainBringer breaks her promise in order to keep me away from my home, you're going to uphold her promise for her." He stared unblinking, straight into the eyeholes of the mask. "Otherwise, you'll find that you have two humans with a determined obsession of forcing you to open the Stairs." His voice had become barely a whisper. "Do we understand each other?"

The Oracle's eyes glinted from behind the mask, a silver-white sheen that seemed just slightly different from the color of her glow. Her eyes met his, staring without a hint of emotion, and for a brief moment Molam almost drowned in the depths of her gaze.

You will get what you want, boy. The phoenix manifested in a flash of flames and alighted onto his shoulder. Rein yourself in before you provoke the Leviathan.

"I'm merely explaining that I expect her to uphold her promise when I return."

It will be done. The phoenix looked at the Oracle. Those of us that suffer eternity take promises quite seriously.

"Good. I will hold you to that." Molam turned his attention back to the Oracle and allowed the silence to linger before he broke it again. "I suppose you aren't going to send me to JiangXi with nothing?"

"You will have the color of my approval to hide your auraless state." The Oracle's voice seemed uncharacteristically soft.

Molam straightened back up, looking down coolly. "I hope you've prepared for me more help than the color of your approval? Perhaps an army? I can't carry back such a large amount of elderwood by myself. What can you tell me about JiangXi and why it's the city you've chosen to set things up in?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"You have been there before."

"Yes, but I am looking for your reasoning." Molam pressed. "Surely you don't think I'm going to ride up to the city like a Titled One and demand their stockpile of elderwood? I know you have your restrictions, but need I remind you I have my own?"

Your tone, the spirit chastised.

"I allow it. The child is simply being thorough." The Oracle's eyes pondered Molam from behind that mask, then she said, "As a border city revolving around trade with the Free Cities, the people there are under the influence of different ideas and cultures. You have been there once before, and you will utilize it well. The new City Lord of JiangXi is worth learning about, and the Red Army just drafted a fresh round of recruits from each city." She paused. "Go and look for a woman named Primrose."

Molam committed the Oracle's information to mind. "Is there a family name? Multiple people can share a name, you know."

"Not one that she would answer to. Take care of whom you reveal your status to and tell Primrose you are looking for flowers that bloom in flames."

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be helpful." He raised an eyebrow.

She seemed to not notice his jibe. "And a feather of the Fiery One." She lifted a slender arm and shook out a flowing sleeve, causing a burnt-orange feather to drift out. With a gesture, the feather floated towards Molam, who received it with an open palm.

One of my few feathers from a previous life. It can serve as a link for me to accompany you and protect you until the aura we imbued it with expires.

Molam smiled. "And here I thought I was finally rid of your pompous companionship." He would never admit it, but the spirit's companionship had been a welcome addition to his lonely travels in the human realm. "It looks like I'll need to tolerate your presence for however long it takes for me to go home then."

One such as you should be grateful for the opportunity to travel with even my feather. Even during the Eternal Night there was no lack of humans that beseeched my blessings.

"Yes, yes, the blessing of being able to worship the Fiery One, is that it?" Molam paused. "The Prince is still looking for you. Will this be a problem?"

Merely a feather. And aura that most Titled Ones wouldn't recognize.

Tucking the feather into his pocket, Molam looked at the Oracle and bowed, not as deeply as before. "Is that all?" The words seemed irreverent coming out of his mouth, but he no longer cared for decorum. This would be an exchange, nothing more and nothing less.

"You may receive help befitting a messenger of Sanctuary, but that is all I am allowed to give you." The Oracle's eyes were no longer visible from behind the mask. "May the Gods guide you." Her normally toneless voice carried a hint of finality and Molam did not want to stay any longer.

"Remember your promise." He turned around and headed for the door leading back into Sanctuary.

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Molam found Priestess Komura standing outside, bowing deeply to the door that led to the Inner Sanctum.

"You didn't have to wait for me." He stepped out of the darkness and back into the candlelight.

Only when the door had fully closed did she straighten herself. "Congratulations. It is my understanding that you have been appointed a messenger of Sanctuary."

Part of him wanted to step forward and hug her and tell her that he would see to it that her worries and burdens could be reduced. The other part of him wanted to rage at her for being complicit in the Oracle's plans. Both feelings stemmed from her being one of the few humans he could trust.

"There's nothing to congratulate me on. Just a position she gave me to enable me to do what she wants in the first place. Are you here to see to it that the Oracle's will is carried out?"

"The Priestesses have been instructed to give you any aid necessary so you can do what you need to do."

"So I can do what I need to do." Molam echoed. He pressed a palm against the stone walls, feeling the chiseled murals beneath his fingers as he failed to summon the energy to glare at her. That she chose to follow the Oracle's will gave him only the numbing certainty of betrayal, a feeling that could only ever come from those you trusted. "And I thought you considered me one of yours. That you cared, not because the Oracle commanded you, but because you genuinely…" He looked away, staring at the mural he touched. A chiseled representation of the famed Hero and the creation of the Sun. "I thought you were different from the rest."

"I do care for all my children," she said simply. "That is why I am here. Shall I guide you to the stables and help you select a horse?"

"No." Molam looked down, his vision blurring in the candlelight before he turned around and walked away from the Priestess, having memorized the twists and turns they took this time in order to reach the Inner Sanctum. "I'm tired. Let me rest for a day, and bring me reading materials on JiangXi. I assume ZhiXia City has a Library?"

"Certainly." The Priestess's kind voice echoed at him from behind. "Do you require anything else?"

"Help me prepare travel funds and dried food that will last me on my trip to JiangXi. And some of Jiovanny's sweets would be nice to wake up to in the afternoon."

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"Alone to JiangXi? That's too dangerous." The young Priestess overseeing Sanctuary's stable frowned as she handed Molam the reins to their fastest horse. "Even with this horse, you'll need at least three days to see the Jadeite Cliffs."

Molam accepted the reins with a loose hand, reaching to the horse and stroking its head gently. The mare snorted, flattening its ears at his touch. Moments later, the mare's ears perked up before it reared its head enough to lick at his hand.

As he allowed the mare to become accustomed to him, Molam contemplated the journey he faced. The Priestess' warning had merit. Though he desperately needed to arrive in JiangXi, it was even more important that he arrived safely. His lack of aura made it far too dangerous for him to travel by himself.

"What do you suggest? I need to reach JiangXi before Winter's Sorrow."

"The Pavilion hasn't announced the prediction of Winter's Sorrow for the year yet." The Priestess pressed her lips together in contemplation, then looked at him. "There might be a few merchant caravans you can join that might still be traveling to JiangXi this close to Winter's Sorrow."

"Where can I find them?"

Molam thanked the Priestess for preparing the horse and checked the contents of his pack before heading out to ZhiXia City in search of the merchants. He found them at the city's outskirts, and after a round of questions found one that was in the final process of leaving.

The caravan's leader, a ruddy and thick-haired merchant by the name of Galven, gave Molam an appraising look, then glanced at the symbol of Sanctuary woven into the riding pad on the mare's back.

"I won't refuse a messenger from Sanctuary, but we haven't any spare food or resources for you. This trip to JiangXi was not planned with you in mind."

"I'll be responsible for myself." Molam assured Galven, who nodded.

"Three rules for traveling in my caravan. Follow directions. Pick up after yourself. Steal and I take the hand responsible." Galven narrowed an eye at Molam, then snorted. "Though I suppose no one associated with Sanctuary would need to steal. Oh, and don't get in the way of the bodyguards. They were hired to do a job and they are going to do it. You understand?"

Galven didn't wait for Molam to acknowledge the warning before he left and continued shouting at the rest of the caravan to finalize their packing. Molam, already prepared with just his light pack, offered to help a passing man with the cargo as they loaded the final items into Galven's sixteen wagons.

"Thanks," the gruff man grunted as the two of them hefted a heavy box up to the wagon. "At least you're doing far more than the hired muscle."

He tilted his head towards the bodyguards, and Molam observed them out of the corner of his eyes as they finished piling up the wagon. Four in total, wearing fur-lined cloaks. Two of them, both men, watched Galven's merchants in silence while holding onto the reins of their own horses with an expression of silent boredom. The other two, a man and a woman, sipped quietly at steaming mugs of tea while sitting down at a table. They faced different directions — by design or coincidence Molam could not tell — and he couldn't help but feel that a piercing gaze from one of them monitored him from earlier.

"Perhaps they're merely conserving strength," Molam tore his eyes away from them, turning to help the man arrange the box in the wagon for space.

"Hmph, a fine excuse to slack off." The man stretched his back and rotated his shoulders as they surveyed the leftover space. "Four masters. They better be worth the price."

Only when Galven gave the call to move out did the bodyguards move to mount their horses and split up; two to the head of the group and two in the back.

The Sun had fully risen when Galven's caravan left the outskirts of ZhiXia City with Molam riding abreast the last wagon, two of the bodyguards trailing several paces behind.

"Isn't it usually two bodyguards per caravan?" Molam asked the gruff man, who introduced himself as Yolven.

"Usually, but there's been rumors of the UnSeen targeting the roads near JiangXi." Yolven barely held onto the reins of the two horses pulling his wagon, as though he trusted the horses to simply follow the wagon in front of them.

Molam frowned at the name. "A group of bandits?"

"Mere bandits wouldn't require four bodyguards." Yolven glanced at the two behind them. "The UnSeen are supposedly led by an anima the merchants have taken to calling GloomSire."

"Gloom…Sire." The absurdity of the name made Molam stare at Yolven for a long moment. "Did a child come up with this name?"

"The travelers he left alive came up with it." Yolven shrugged. "Something about the quality of his Domain, I think?"

"If that Title becomes permanent, he may regret leaving any survivors."

"Ha!" Yolven guffawed, slapping the reins. "Reputations are for those that leave survivors, eh? Keep that in mind if you ever think of excelling at anything then, young man. Titled Ones rarely choose their own Titles."

By the end of the first day, YiZhi Mountain disappeared into the horizon, and the clouds that hid the Castle in the Sky became a mere speck in the distance. Molam found himself staring in its direction in the distance even as a golden dusk set in.

Leave it to a human to reminisce about where he left rather than think about where he should be.

Molam ignored the spirit's voice in his head. Seeing his memories and understanding them were two different things.