Un-Kase stumbled awake, tripping and fumbling back to consciousness as his head attempted to separate itself from his neck. He vomited, or tried to, as it seemed his stomach had turned concave. A soothing voice crooned in his ear and he had difficulty making out the words at first, then he recognized the lullaby. His eyes snapped open, taking in the familiar decor of the House.

How had he gotten here? Why did he feel so awful? Was everything a dream?

“You have awoken! Are you feeling better sir?”

He turned to the voice, praying with all of his heart to see Lady Golden Wren, but was met with a face he didn't recognize. At first. As he stared, notable features popped out at him and he realized he was staring at his sister! Lily Blossom had grown and matured, now being a true Lady of the House and he couldn't help but grin at her.

“It's good to see you again Lily!”

Her face creased into a frown for a moment before smoothing back out.

“I'm terribly sorry sir, but I don't believe we've met. I would certainly remember servicing such a fine specimen as yourself…”

Un-Kase shivered with instinctive revulsion, this was his sister for the gods’ sake! He didn't hold it against her that she didn't recognize him, he had changed far more than her after all! He struggled to sit up and look into her eyes, ready for the flash of recognition, and the smiles, and the hugs.

“It's me, Kase, your brother!”

She blinked at him once, twice, then her face gradually took on a look of horror. He felt a spike of fear, had they told her some horrible lie about him, had she hated him for interfering?

“...no… you, you can't be here! You need to leave! Now! I don't know why you came back, but you have to run!”

She tried to pull him out of the bed, but her smaller form wasn't up to the task and he gently seized her hands.

“Lily, it's okay! I won't let anybody hurt you.”

“It's not me I'm scared for, you idiot!”

Her voice was quavering, on the verge of tears.

“The guards combed the city for you for days, checking the Wilds when you weren't found. Golden Wren was taken away and the whole House was under suspicion for months! If they even suspect you've returned, they'll take you away and kill you!”

He was touched by her concern. Granted it was entirely unnecessary, but the thought of someone being worried for him was nice.

“Lily, I'm a Chosen. Nobody can take me down!”

“You collapsed into the door as soon as we opened it! What happened to you?”

He quickly explained the invitation and subsequent betrayal by the Sect, finishing with his fight with the elder.

“You killed an Elder?” Her eyes were huge, incredulity written clearly on her face, “But why were you so feverish when you showed up here.”

Un-Kase gave it some thought. Either his battle had taken more energy than he was used to expending and that caused his body to fail, or… his hand touched the shallow cut on his chest. It hadn't healed yet, hadn't even scabbed over in fact. It wasn't bleeding, but the wound was still raw, more painful than anything he had experienced before. As he focused on the area, he felt something off about it, something there that shouldn't be.

A wriggling, invading wrongness that was slowly, ever so slowly, being pushed away and destroyed. Un-Kase closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling everything else fall away as the energy in his chest started to boil. He pressed the energy into the invaded wound and felt a rush of heat.

“Aah!”

As Lily screamed, his eyes snapped open quickly enough that he saw the last few wisps of the flame that had blossomed out of his wound. Lily was staring at him like she was seeing him for the first time, fear mixed with awe coloring her eyes.

“You… you really are a Chosen?”

“I really am. But that's not important, how are the others?”

“Well, Spring Breeze hasn't started working yet, she-”

Lily Blossom was cut off as the door burst open, admitting a terrified looking Lady around their age.

“Lily, a squad of guards is demanding we hand over-”

She seemed to notice Un-Kase for the first time and her look of fear redoubled.

“U-um I-I’m terribly sorry sir, but you need to l-leave now. The guards are waiting to arrest you outside.”

Lily looked horrified.

“No! Bas, you don't understand! This is Kase!”

“Kase?”

The Lady looked at him more closely and he returned the favor. She was thin, with a pretty, rounded face and long straight black hair. Her face was accentuated with makeup and her dress seemed to be cut to try and show off curves that she frankly didn't have. Something about her seemed familiar however, but he just couldn't figure out what it was.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“It's okay Lily.”

Un-Kase stood up from the bed, feeling slightly woozy, but managing to not show it.

“I'll go with them. They can't hurt me anyway.”

He brushed past the Lady and stepped into the hall, memories from his childhood guiding him to the front door. The familiar creak heralded the door opening and the guards all tensed up, clearly expecting a fight. He was about to step out when the thin Lady grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Good luck. Big bro.”

“Bas, he has to go, come here.”

Big bro? Bas?

He stepped forward and held out his hands to be manacled, the guards looking relieved but not relaxed. The Lady's familiarity finally clicked to place and he realized her, or rather his, identity. That was his little brother, or maybe sister now, Bas’qet! Un-Kase let that odd revelation reverberate through his head as the guards led him to a building he hadn't seen before.

It was tall. Three floors at least, the bottom section seemed to be made of tightly worked stones, and the upper half was primarily wooden. The guards led him inside and up a set of stairs into an office, sitting him down on a chair at the front of a desk. Nobody was behind the desk yet, but he did take note of an elaborate tapestry that had an odd circular design in the center. It was asymmetrical and the little shapes inside of it took many shapes from squares and rectangles, to circles and triangles.

Un-Kase heard the door open behind him and was ready for an attack, but didn't feel any bloodlust from the new arrival. The figure walked past and sat down in the chair behind the desk, tossing him a smile that revealed a few broken teeth. His hackles rose and he felt an almost overpowering urge to attack, but managed to keep it under control.

“So, you are the wandering Chosen Un-Kase of the Dragon Sect! My name is Long Suwan, I'm the mayor of this fine city.”

Un-Kase didn't trust himself to talk, so he merely grunted in reply.

The mayor was thrown off for a moment, but shook himself back to working order.

“I must say, your handling of the Prismatic Eagle Sect was most impressive sir! They've been more nuisance than benefit for these last ten years. If I may be so bold as to inquire, was your… disagreement with them of an ideological nature or personal?”

“It was personal, I always resolve my personal problems.”

His voice came out as more of a growl than proper speech, but his point got across nonetheless. The mayor seemed nervous, but wasn't afraid of him, so it was safe to say he didn't recognize Un-Kase.

“Indeed?” He sounded disappointed at that, “I suppose then that your Sect would not be particularly open to expanding your territory to include Xey?”

Un-Kase didn't know what the mayor was getting at, and he didn't particularly care, but he was curious.

“I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say.”

“Would your Sect be open to removing the Prismatic Eagles and replacing them?”

Ah. Now he understood, somewhat anyway.

“I’m truthfully unsure whether I will remove the sect or not. I suppose it depends on how they react to their dead elder. But either way, it will have to wait until my other business is done.”

The mayor looked eager at those words, the reason quickly becoming evident.

“Other business you say? Perhaps I may be so bold as to offer my assistance? I know this city inside and out after all.

Un-Kase smiled, “Oh, I'm sure you will be integral to my business!”

The mayor grinned at him, once again showing off the jagged broken teeth. He could hardly wait to wipe that smile away.

“But why would you want to remove the Sect from the city? Do they not provide protection to the city?”

“Only when they feel like it. Why almost 8 years ago they refused to help catch a fugitive, despite the fact that the guards couldn’t venture beyond the gates without risking their lives!”

“Oh? And what did this fugitive do that was so important to capture him?”

“Well,” the mayor's cheeks reddened slightly, “I have no wife and sometimes I crave feminine companionship. One of the servants at the pleasure house was infatuated with the lady I was with and attacked me! Ambushed me and beat me with a candlestick!”

“Truly? And how did he escape?”

“Another of the whores was his mother, and she smuggled him out the gates by bribing a guard. The two of them were punished appropriately.”

“And how was that?”

“Well the guard was stripped of his station and whipped in the town center. The whore was questioned and, when she refused to give answers, was put to work for the public.”

“And where is she now?”

“Oh, she's dead.”

Dead?

“Dead?”

The mayor waved a hand in front of his face.

“Yes, she couldn't handle the work she was put into and died within the year. I don't know the exact timeframe, but the bitch got what she deserved.”

“What labor was she doing?”

“Well, we normally make light offenders do what jobs they are trained to do, but on tasks dictated by the city for free. Since she didn't want to talk, I made her free to the populace! She was very popular in her last few weeks, I was told!”

The mayor laughed and Kase felt a rage deeper than he knew existed. He wanted to kill the man immediately, but the burning in his chest told him to make the man suffer.

“You know, I knew I didn't kill you, but I'm sad to see I didn't do more permanent damage.”

The mayor stopped laughing at his words, staring at him in confusion, then fear.

“Let’s see if I can do better the second time around!”

Chen Jo had gathered the Sect's martial forces and was amassed outside the mayoral offices. His mystic skills were able to read the flow of spiritual energies and he could tell the target was on the top floor. He was somewhat shocked at the strength of the energy he read from the man, but with the small army of Inner and Core Disciples he had gathered, it was of no matter.

He breathed deeply to prepare himself for what was to come and raised a hand in preparation to order his forces forward. Before he could give the command however, the door burst open and guards charged out screaming. The nearest Disciples struck out with their weapons and cut half the guards down before they noticed something amiss. The guards were not brandishing their own weapons, nor did they seem ready for a fight.

“Please! Venerable Sect members! Save us!”

That… was not what Chen Jo was prepared to hear. Another guard stumbled out of the front of the building, on fire, and some of his fellows began to beat the flames out.

“What happened here!?”

Core Disciple Kae Lang stepped forward to question the guards, her stylized podao held threateningly.

“We brought the Dragon Sect Chosen to meet with the mayor, but he suddenly began attacking! Captain Hwe tried to stop him, but he just ripped out his bones!”

Kae Lang looked a bit concerned at that news, but a quick mental nudge sent Gun Dong forward with a laugh.

“This fool thinks to stand before the might of the Prismatic Eagle Sect? He will fizzle out like cheap fireworks!”

His boisterous laughter was enough to relax the more skittish members. The mob had calmed and everything seemed well in hand, enough even that Chen Jo breathed a small sigh of relief. Which immediately turned into a grunt of frustration as the uppermost window broke open and a figure fell to the ground screaming. Chen Jo recognized the mayor, his top half anyway, as everything below his waist appeared to have been reduced to charred sticks.

“P-please… ki-”

The mayor was cut off as a new figure dropped down, booted foot crushing the dying man's head like a rotten melon. Un-Kase was quite recognizable, his ragged brown robes and shaggy hair marking him just as much as his Spirit. The wide, maniacal grin splitting his face with pointed teeth limned in flames was new, and was quite effective at terrifying the Inner Disciples. Made even more so when he began to laugh.

“Looks like you want revenge! Well, come try and take it!”