Beneath the grace of moonlight lay a lunar garden where a black haired rabbit with icy blue skin sat, her legs crossed with a straight posture. Long and deep, her breaths mimicked the waves of oceans in the midsts of tranquility.

Drawing closer, they could see Enrei’s hands and arms anxiously fidgeting from an invisible tension. Her brow twitching with displeasure, sweat kissed her face like morning dew on grass providing a slight luminosity furthered by her unique complexion.

Like undercurrents, her battle raged within and beneath. In the midst of her Core, her very soul formed a pandemonia through conflicting Qi and misunderstood Dao.

Borne from the core of a dying star, smoldering heat and celestial pressure threaten to crush and melt all caught within the cosmic influence. In rivers and filling gullies, magma and pure flame contort in ceaseless battle against neighboring frost in a bid to oust and melt the Frozen Pebble, Enrei’s Core without care.

Simply, it couldn’t. Fire doesn’t care if it burns everything to ash, until it loses the fuel keeping it alive. Staving it off in order to reign her Dominion, Enrei commands the flame to mellow from a hellstorm and recede from her melting core.

Loosely, it obeys whipping tendrils of flame recede but eager to reclaim the cooling expanse, frost welled and exploded like a flood only to erupt a hellstorm. The Hoarfrost’s chill she gathered within isn’t nearly enough to stave the ongoing heat of fission it unleashed.

From beneath, hands and talons soothingly clutch from the cold below— Neither working for, nor against either force at play but before either could press her into eternity, a blanket of Lunar Qi comes into existence.

Separating them, and rejuvenating Enrei’s mellow core while her lungs nearly rupture from a sharp breath leaving her wheezing as she voiced.

“This is going nowhere!”

For a week now, Enrei meditated under Parvatti’s wing. While the reigns fastened, her control remained loose and her comprehension near non-exsistant.

“You're trying to control them again.” Parvatti spoke from beside, “Not comprehend them for what they are.”

Enrei wipes sweat from her brow, responding.

“It’s the quickest way, if I can reign them in… Then, they’ll obey.”

“They’ll obey your command, but they’ll lack cohesion for you to prosper…”

“Fire and Ice.” Enrei responds, huffing, “Like oil and water, they can’t mix.”

There’s a brief pause between, and Parvatti smiles as she stands.

“A break can do wonders,” Parvatti offered a hand, “Care to brush up your swordsmanship?”

‘Anything but this.’

Enrei internally groaned, taking the hand, “Yes, please…”

Stretching her body,

“I need to move again.”

The Sentinel retrieves Fang left beside on a bench, while Parvatti extends an arm flatly to the side, ambient Lunar Qi coalesced around her arm and ahead of her fingers thinning out through whisps before a final shine formed an artistic blade of pure moonlight with an appearance of steel.

Not long after, their blades sing to one another. The Moonlance matches every one of Enrei’s swings with near natural inclination, sprouting an impressed look on Parvatti’s face… Though, she never took to asking about her strength, Enrei knew her teacher held back greatly.

While her sight fuzzled whenever she sought to peak at her Core and grasp her stage, intuition told her The Moonlance was far stronger than her mother, yet far weaker than the Boatswain. Which… Isn’t entirely accurate, but she couldn’t focus on such things, matching Parvatti’s lax speed took all her focus and a single slip up would mean a mistake.

“What do you see yourself as?” Parvatti asks suddenly.

Enrei’s brow raised, she stumbled back as the blade became intangible and passed through her head, becoming tangible once the cleave is finished with a loud ‘Bang!’ as if the air itself was cut.

Her ears ringing, Enrei braced through the pain and drove Fang forward while coursing just a tiny bit of ice forward. In response to the sudden calling, her nerves went alight as the smoldering flame within her beckoned the call, and seized an opportunity.

“Hraaa–”

Seamlessly parried, Fang cut against the stonework and Enrei earned a firm hook against her jaw, nearly sending her off foot as she coughs out a blueish-scarlet blood.

“I…” Enrei cut her answer short, rebounding in time to block the hard to read Parvatti’s moonlight blade. Earning her a spare moment to think, Enrei, hadn’t thought of such a thing. She could say a Sentinel, but she failed miserably. The duel slowed, Parvatti shifting to her apprentice's speed.

“A vindictive savior.”

Parvatti seamlessly dodged a blow, “Aafter?”

“A Protector… A teacher.” Enrei answered without hesitation, “I won’t allow this to happen again. Not to my family.”

Fire Qi coursed through Enrei’s veins, lighting them like firewebs.

“Admirable…” She truly meant it, but as Parvatti fainted and turned her blade for an overhead strike, her luminous eyes narrowed with a slight disdain.

“I understand your pain, but… If revenge is all you focus on you’ll never be able to live with them when they’re saved yo–”

Two weeks of time have been wasted, and flame fueled Enrei forcing a frown as she snapped back.

“What do you know about loss?!”

Flame blew out from Enrei with an explosive ripple like a geyser of hellfire; forcing the sentinel to her knees as her core destabilized. Seamlessly, Parvatti’s Lunar Qi reduced the combustion to a spring chill; the flame which would have melted her Core into nothing ceased, and Enrei’s core renewed.

There’s a brief, awkward silence between the pair, broken by Parvatti as she extends a hand.

“Are you alright?”

Enrei takes the hand, but doesn’t answer back. Simply, she couldn’t find the words… She did follow Parvatti’s sight as she looked through the sunroof.

“I know much of it.”

Enrei’s eye’s widened as she looked up at the moon, once vibrant with a benedict blue hue… Through the skylight it became a dull, grey lump drained of all life and color save a single, miniscule dot of blue.

“Enough to realize focusing on revenge, will twist you into something viscous. Something, you aren’t worth wasting on becoming. Someone who forgets the beauty and worth of this world on their mission.”

‘Something viscous? I’ve only done to others what they lived by… Baseless monsters.’

Enrei’s brooding comes to an end as Parvatti placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

“You did well back there.” She compliments, “Your control is improving, and your swordplays getting better.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.” Enrei frowns. “I used Ice Qi and burst with flame Qi… Burst at you.” She looks to the side, then meets the Moonlances eyes.

“Sorry about that…”

Parvati smiles, waving a hand. “Water under the bridge, I’ve come to terms many long years ago.” She raised a finger, “And you controlled Fang without any assistance, even if you didn’t activate the artifact.”

“It’s not where it counts.” Enrei huffed.

“Hmm..?” Parvati raised a brow, “All of it counts, you aren’t looking at the full painting… Only a piece of it.”

“You burst with flame, but while doing so you commanded it’s Mirror, Ice Qi from within and without aide… Even with pandemonia within.” The Moonlance smiles, “Once your comprehension is apt and you're ready to ascend, you’ll lord over them both with impunity.”

The pair leave the garden, and enter the winding halls of the Moongrove Palace; where the otherworldly majesty is grounded by the roaring Hoarfrost through windows. They’re heading to a place Enrie hadn’t been before.

“I just—I don’t get it!” Enrei answers, “Even if I ascend a stage, I’ll still be where I am. Fire, and Ice, smoldering and melting. They just don’t work together.”

“Not quite.”

Parvatti interjects, passing under an arch the pair begin to descend stairs. Heading deeper into the earth, the minty smell grows stronger and a… Sinister feeling seeps into the palaces tranquility like a venomous bite, growing stronger the deeper they go.

She outstretches a hand and her fingers, wisps of Lunar Qi formulate each object and swirl naturally.

“Like the Sun to the moon, Light and Dark, Life or death… They’re all mirrors of one another, and without each other none can truly exist.”

“Flame, and Ice. Fire, and Snow are but two sides of the same crown. You need to find balance, and make them work together.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Enrei rubbed her head, over the past week she’d gained respect for her Teacher but…

‘This is just ludicrous! She knows what it is, she just won’t tell me!’ A vein pops above her brow, ‘Doesn’t she know I’m running out of time, they’re running out of ti–’

“Can’t you just tell me?!” Enrei asks, “It’d make this quicker.”

“Alongside being a damn good teacher, success and defeat are a mirror too. Telling you now would only hinder you, when you are so, so very close to the answer yourself.”

The pair come to a gate made of a blueish jade capturing light, above the gatehouse is adorned by the new moon. With a wave, the heavy gate opens and the pair enter.

Once pristinely carved stoneworks turn to ornate tunnels of a mine lathered with sinister Qi as thick as malicious.

“From the restrictions imposed by those claiming divinity over this world, comprehension and foundation are more important than mediation for Demi-Humans. If the triad of Spirit, Mind and Body are unbalanced then your Core and vessel will be weak.”

Parvatti stops, turning to Enrei.

“For you, my dear, it is far more important than cultivating. Your kin may be able to grasp the realm of a Nascent Nebula as their highest peak allowed beneath heaven… But you, will be unable to go past the lowest stages of the Roaming Comet.

If you wish to stand toe-to-toe with those arrogant and negligent enough to seek a spot among Heaven's Constellation, comprehension and foundation is everything that will make you strong.”

As she finished, the Lunar Qi permeating the surroundings began to sleep allowing an ominous aura mixed with a hodge-podge of Qi’s nipped out like a voracious beast. Enrei glanced around, her hair standing on edge.

“U–Uh where are we going?” Enrei asked, the teaching coming to an end.

“Hm, you have sharp senses.” Parvatti sounded genuinely impressed, even more so then with her usual compliments. “This is a stable for the beasts I’ve captured, and a training yard.”

The hall ends with a pentagonal room, entering from the point. Stark pillars of white and fluorescent blue wood curve with the walls, breaking and enhancing the jagged patterns of the natural, pock-marked gray rock confining them.

Vines and roots budding with moonbulb flowers and fruits grow across supports, and the taxidermies of beasts hanging from the walls. Some were very real, others are so, very, very alien but none fail in exuding deep seeded malice from single pairs of eyes to those with eight.

Straight ahead is a quiet hallway, on either side of the passage are swords and tapestries made of velum inscribing the name of many beasts. From every other point, hallways erect and from within a cacophony of growls, yowls and howls play in rhythmless song lost in the echoing cold earth.

“Aaand, what exactly are we doing here?”

Parvatti chuckled, “Training, there’s only so much swinging swords can teach.”

“Really?” Enrei raised a brow, “Your a sword god or something because I kept learning…”

The Moonlance chuckles, “Thank you, Enrei but that’s hardly the case. I’ve had a long time to practice… Besides… Being put on the edge leads to innovation, no? And hopefully, it’ll break your bottleneck.”

Enrei hoped it was nothing massive she had to fight, but the dischorus of monsters singing throughout the catacombs dissuaded the thought for an equally eerie one, ‘Just how many monsters does she have down here?’

“It can.”

“Good, good.”

Entering a circular arena, they stand atop a mezzanine. While the dome top is left natural, allowing beams of moonlight to leak through pockmarks in the blanket of stars, beneath their walkway it returns to ornate bricks their shimmering gray carved with unique and twisting petroglyphs.

Within, six gates are equidistant from one another, each with a phase of the moon above them but above, is what draws Enrei’s attention.

A chandelier made of luminous and translucent material is lit by four aberrant shards, radiating moonlight with the ravenous intent of a godforsaken beast— Even as bodyless splinters, it breaths power into the room below, and draws the attention of others.

“What are those?” Enrei asks, her sight becoming nearly transfixed like a bird of prey on a mouse; unknowing of the crocodile in wait.

“Shards of something which shouldn’t exist beneath, nor above heaven. I hold onto them, so that one day when I come apon a beast capable of being a vessel… I may find use for them.

Like a thief already caught, Enrei didn’t notice her hubris.

‘If I have even a-’

Enrei’s thoughts cut short as Parvatti pokes her forehead, drawing the Sentinel back to reality.

“Before you ask, the answer is no: I want an apprentice, not a ravenous beast that’ll destroy the countryside for a lick of strength. Those shards aren’t a ticket to power, they’re aberrations that’ll see yourself lost, and I will not lose another apprentice.”

Understanding her reason, Enrei half forced a chuckle, the feeling still foreign to her with all that’s happened. “Yeah… You read me like a book.”

“I know.” Parvatti places her hands on the railing, waiting for Enrei to come beside her.

“Here’s how we're going to do this… I’ll start with simple beasts, those that are familiar and a few that aren’t.”

Enrei nods,

“From there, we’ll mix it up, with stage and type but… Don’t worry about anything too outlandish, you won’t face any Areal Cores or Shade Beasts.” She rolled her shoulders, “As interesting as those may be to fight… Cool off, fight and learn. That’s our purpose here.”

“Alright,”

Enrei nodded,

“That’ll work.”

“Good, drop in and I’ll sound the bell.”

Enrei stepped over the edge, when Parvatti spoke.

“Just… One more thing to keep in mind while you're down there. What do the vestiges of flame get you?”

Landing on her feet, Enrei looks up to Parvatti who leans over the railing with a smile. Before Enrei questions the Moonlance, a gentle chime fills the air, bringing three of the gates into motion.

Lurking in the shadows beyond, three Galazards creep forward. Eye’s filled with hunger and hate but lacking carelessness found in the wild.. With a twisted grin, they bare fangs like the blades of rogues… And Enrei returned it, feeling her blood pump an admixture of burning and freezing.

Enriei braced herself for the initial charge of such a small group, usually headed by the alpha; in this case, the one which crept through the center has the highest Cultivation if she had to guess.

The Pinnacle of Qi Realm; furthermore its packmates obey a roar. Readying for the initial strike, Enrei found herself stunted as the beasts changed hunting patterns.

It never came, in turn, the trio circled her like a school of sharks stalking prey. The vicious pack hunters shifted tactics, even when they outnumbered a weaker prey. The upper arms of the six legged beasts clack and claw as if bargaining with a seller energy kissing between their claws.

‘Just what are they planning?’

Though confident in her abilities from training and practice, Enrei refrained from charging them head on. Namely, with nothing to hide behind and no Hoarfrost to disappear into, the Sentinel knows she’s out of her element.

And against beasts like these, overconfidence is a killer, and not, one she wanted to meet.

Enrei’s answer came quickly, every hair stood straight her senses, roaring to life. Qi eas drawn between their meizing claws! From the Alpha, down to the lankiest one flanking her left, where it burst forward.

Pivoting on heel, Enrei dodges the crude icicle riveting with savage Ice Qi. Like stuffing steam into a small container, the unrefined nature of the Qi fought for it’s freedom; appearing as cracks and crevices whilst small chunks broke off mid flight.

‘They’re no great beast’s but…’ Enrei’s thoughts are cut short when the packs second largest rushed in hoping to seize opportunity; its frigid talons further kissed by mist of frost. ‘To do that in the Qi realm?’

Fang’s bonelike alloy cut against the stone producing a likable sound as she cleaved it up with a grunt. Unfortunately for the pack's middle, Fang effortlessly cleaved through its lower jaw, pale blue blood sprayed onto her as the beast's life drained away.

Enrei quickly turned her blade hooking up into the skull using momentum and strength to guide the carcass into the upcoming barrage, blocking an icicle from the scrawniest and several bolts from the alpha.

Unscathed, Several bolts buried into Enrei’s shoulder. While the pain was there, the cold is only slightly chillier then that of the Hoarfrost… In other words, nothing.

Unstopped, she hurled the carcass into the lankiest. Unable to dodge, the sound of exploding ice impacts alongside a sickening crunch as it rocketed to the wall, buried beneath it’s companion.

Enrei turned to the sole remaining Galazard. Alpha clutched a nimbus cloud of pure frost between its uppermost claws. Within, bolts of rime form like lightning in a thundering sky. Each bolt filled with frenzy as the violent Qi seeped around it’s fingers like liquid, chilling the nearest scales.

The Sentinel wouldn’t stop for anything, from her shoulder the flame melted the icicles sticking out whilst her bodies stygian temperament glazed over the punctures with frost.

‘Still no healing…’

She remarked, turning back to the fight. The Alpha mimicked the Hoarfrosts chill, seeking to surpass it yet it’s narrowmind couldn’t grasp everything at work. All it knew was Frost and Ice, allowing it to bombard in hopes of feeding it’s gullet.

Thus, it was only a matter of time and manuvering around the beast which displayed a surprising set of acrobatics for it’s size, never relenting it’s harrowing gale of frigid bullets.

Until, it lost control of the condensed Qi ripped from the Hoarfrost; the nimbus exploded within it’s clutched, freezing the claws solid with a brick of ice. Desperate, the pointed and spiked tail whacked wildly, and it’s fangs lashed but it’s too late.

Seizing the opportunity, Enrei closed the distance. Fang cut from the belly to haw like a tailor with cloth, from there Enrei hooked the upper jaw and hurled the gutted carcass over shoulder with a single, fluid motion, severing it’s remaining life as entrails spilled across the floor.

Adrenaline pumped through her heating veins as she huffed, the Lunar Qi seeping in incase of disaster went unnoticed as she glared to Fang.

‘Why didn’t you work?’

Enrei tried to mimic what she did in the Hoarfrost just now, but the ice bone’s failed to form in the body. Regardless, she grinned with a… Giddy feeling, it’s time to collect her due! Those motes of Ice wouldn’t come to her themselves!

When she went to grasp her prize, petroglyhic trenches carved into the walls lit with dim blue light and purpose. Her bounty, the savage Qi held by the Galazards were sucked into the walls. Enrei grit her teeth as flame bellowed, but she shook the expression away.

Parvatti, has been nice to her, they’ve talked and they learned together… She didn’t want to outburst again, so she sought to tame her flame.

The Moonlance clapped from above whilst making her way down; she wouldn’t make an apprentice look up to her.

“You did well, how did you like that fight?”

Enrei answered without hesitation, the previous disdain from meditating beneath a newfound gusto.

“I loved it, the… Technique they used caught me off guard but I’m improving.”

It felt wrong calling it a ‘Technique’, when they brute forced the Qi. But she’d be a hypocrite in doing so. Spreading her Qi throughoutthe surroundings required finesse, but it followed a similar concept.

More importantly… It felt good knowing she could battle with them,even when caught offguard. It meant she’s getting closer to her goal, soon, she can battle Cultivators… Soon, she can take the battle to House Caprinoue.

A nostalgic smile crept to Parvatti’s lips as she chuckled, shaking her head to banish such thoughts… Though, they would return.

“You are, and I’m proud to see it…” Her smile came back, “But you mustn’t lose sight of the goal. We’re here to burn steam, as much as we are to learn.”

Enrei looked up with a soft smile, little more then a thin slit on her pale blue and gray face. And the very first she’s given since speaking with Squuyu,

“I know, and I won’t but… It’s a learning experience too— I need to figure out how to use Fang properly.” She rationalizes, “It’ll be similar to getting my Comprehension or Dao’s aligned, right?”

“I suppose, weapons are often like that…” There’s a moment of silence, “Care for another round?’

Without hesitation, Enrei nodded with a growing grin; wondering what monsters she’d fight next. Her bet is more Galazards, maybe a Frost Tusk. Either way? She’s looking forward to improving.