Arson’s roar was cut off by the sight of the building around himself being destroyed. The children and teens around him scattered, and a tearful Almarine floated down toward his curled up figure.
His gaze remained fierce, their eyes meeting through a gap in his guard. For a moment he didn’t recognize the woman surrounded by light and a ring of power that stretched across the sky so powerfully the colors of the stars beyond were distorted and even made more vibrant and easy to see.
Arson…” The woman’s soft words brought him back from a disassociation from reality. A maintained protective stance alongside the need to stay curled up were the only things Arson clung to beyond breathing.
He didn’t hear the sound of Cultivators being tossed aside by the incredible waves of force Almarine threw at anything that moved. Nor did he hear the cries of men and women as they collided in the air. Just his heartbeat and the sound of each breath taken emanated through every corner of his mind and conscious.
“Miss Mari, it is nice to see you,” muttered Arson as he began to shake violently with sobs on the floor.
“I miss you,” said Arson before his eyes closed and he fell asleep for the first time in seasons.
…
“I missed you too child,” said Almarine. Her hands shook as she lifted Arson from the pit filled with brutally beaten youths from end to end.
She started to lift off slowly, carrying Arson into the air, but then saw another familiar face, and another, and then another.
Many of her former charges could be seen there; either being abandoned by those who’d brought them there, or had already been left behind. Almarine looked around herself and made a decision.
She would no longer allow any in her care to be treated without honor or compassion. She would not let just anyone walk into the life of a child she had taken in without proof of morality. Nor without characteristics that showed their ability to love beyond themselves and their own ambitions.
“It is time to go home, children,” said Almarine. Men and women could be seen ripped away from their adopted children, slaves, and even their own blood connected offspring. Silver energies wrapped their bodies before they were sent hurtling into nearby buildings, into the depths of the canals that line the streets, and even flung into the dark of the starlit night above, seemingly to never be seen again.
The children and teens left behind were then lifted softly into the air by the hundreds. No complaints were heard. Only a rare few of the youths had had the initial instinct to run, while practically everyone else had been shocked into a state of frozen panic.
Now though, many who’d lived within the orphanage started to mutter as they were dragged through the air. None sure why they were retrieved from the nightmares that most had lived through for season cycles. A childlike hope that had once lived within them all had been snuffed out, and an equally powerful spite and anger had replaced what little dreams of freedom they held onto.
I will pay for my choices, I will pay for my lack of action until this point, but no longer will I allow those I care for to be treated as cattle, tool, or resource.
…
“Breaking news, former Empress, Orphan Mother Almarine Fury reignites the flames of a long dead war with the destruction of Maelstrom’s centralized Graveyard facility, we are here with General Sheathe Scion in an attempt to understand what this could mean for the realm and its inhabitants,” asked the news reporter. Winter watched the holo-cast from his apartment, still nursing a dislocated shoulder, and broken wrist.
“Many will die… next question,” said Winter as the current head of all Graveyard spoke on screen.
The hooded man made Winter want to run whenever he was in the same room as Winter from his immense aura alone, which made him wonder how the reporter was able to keep calm and composed.
“General Scion, what can you tell us about what has occurred, as never before have such events of this magnitude been seen by the general public.”
“Unfortunately I can only disclose what information isn’t restricted by public access legislation, but what I can say is that one of the largest investigations of corruption within Maelstrom was overthrown by the actions of a single cultivator, instead of the plan to rip the taint from our society at the root that Graveyard fully intended for the many connected criminal practices being utilized by the general public all at once, we must now find access to the source once more, Both this investigation's revitalization, and the handling of the orphan mother are now our highest priority.”
The conversation continued, but Winter’s own mind drifted. He couldn’t help but see how the mandates set by the contract between the city of Maelstrom core, the Oligarchs, and Almarine hadn’t been as polished as he once thought.
Almarine and her fellow immortals were often considered too mighty for their current realm to govern, so restraints were made when those same entities found themselves put in a powerless situation.
The power Almarine had displayed to destroy Graveyard's headquarters was trivial. Winter knew that she could have washed the lands clean for hundreds or thousands of kilometers, and had decided to stop. With the little he knew of Arson, the nameless boy she apparently doted on, he started to wonder if she’d finally found a viable candidate to be her heir.
“What would happen to a child capable of witnessing the realm as a whole, if they were able to connect with every life held within…”
While Winter sat there he wondered what would be worse for the CityNation, Almarine truly fighting against the Oligarchs, win or lose. Or the training of a new bearer of celestial power. Before he could fully delve into the thoughts though General Scion was joined on screen by a new face.
“As for the Orphan Mother of Maelstrom, the governing body has elected the help of Realm Traveler, Elizabeth Carter, the SunStorm Sovereign, newly elected Jade of CloudLake City—“ An eruption of questions came from the audience all at once. Winter upright in the next instant as the black haired beauty stepped into view.
He took in her golden eye and crimson eye and gulped. There were few Cultivators popular enough to be known across nearly all the SunSpire realms, and this woman was one of them by far.
“Embers Mari I think we may have gone too far,” said Winter to himself. He was upright and on his feet, pacing the next moment while the woman’s hologram spoke.
“I know that I have a reputation to cause trouble wherever I am needed, but as a promise to the society that has opened its arms to me during this tragedy I will make an extra effort to resolve this for everyone involved without the loss of life or land within the realm.”
…
Jasmine and Xani showed the recorded broadcast to Almarine who merely shrugged. On the short list of people she didn’t want to have their eyes on her, the new Jade was one, but it seemed it was too late to avoid contact.
“Momma Almarine I have seen you do some really, really, impressive things, especially as of late, but this is different right, Xan,” said Jasmine.
“My name is Xani its not even that hard to say, but I agree this is not the same Momma Almarine, that woman’s power alone pulled CloudLake from a lower realm layer completely,” added Xani.
“I don’t know what you even just said but yeah, that makes things bad for us right, most of the people you brought back have settled in like they’d never left or had been here all along, it's gonna suck when that woman comes in here knocking the embers out of—“
“Finish whatever absurdity was about to lace the inside of your foul mouth, Jasmine, and I’ll show you why I don’t fear even this woman.”
The room went quiet. The two girls shared continual nervous glances while Almarine paced. Her mind on ways out of her current dilemma.
The two girls remained incredibly silent to the point that it became her main focus. When she’d tried what she did by inviting the two girls to brainstorm with her in the past, it hadn’t been after massive showings of power, which only made her tendency to yell far more intense for those on the receiving end.
A quarter century was the maximum time a person could live within the orphanage by law. One thing she’d never found a work around for, even now.
More time in silenced anticipation from both parties frustrated Almarine further. Faces of long adopted children and teens filling her office, sitting in the same chairs as Xani and Jasmine. She’d figured out how to get around many of her limitations with these types of meetings, and would be truly saddened in a way she wouldn’t be able to recover from if she was forced to live on without them.
“This doesn’t work if you two are too fearful to talk, I won’t be able to work through this without true inspiration, so what will it take? I could tell you a secret that will show you a direct reason why I would never harm both of you, would that settle your nerves?”
Both girls nodded and Almarine smiled. She thought to tell them something massive, then minimized the information. She didn’t want these two girls to be pulled in to a place of knowledge that would bring more danger than worthwhile insight.
“Once upon a time there was me, and my power was perfectly balanced in a way that left it out of my reach entirely, then a loophole in a contract is found, we cultivators call this a systems gift, something minimal, but grand if you seize advantage as I did, in my case, the contract stated that I must maintain enough constructions within the land available to me to ensure that my usage of mana was limited only to the instruction or repair of buildings held within those lands. Can you guess how this was worked around,” rambled Almarine in a vague attempt at a story with an accompanied follow up question.
“Umm, no…, I think I would need more information than that,” answered Xani with a laugh.
“Hmm not really but if I got the summary of all that right, if I were in your shoes I’d just make the land to build unavailable,” stated Jasmine with a dismissive hand through the air. The words made Xani’s eyes go wide before she looked away from Almarine to stare Jasmine down.
“I heard you were dumb, but that was real out of the box thinking, you're not an undercover Bookish are you?”
“And I heard you were rude and have now confirmed it, so don’t lump me in with you archeologist cult of book lovers,” responded jasmine with an eye roll.
“Focus, the problem isn’t the fight with a daughter of Omni,” interjected Almarine with a wave at the hologram being projected from Xani’s flatscreen still left on the image of Elizabeth Carter atop a table between them.
“It's how our society will frame us, win or lose, I did break a law technically…”
The silence returned, and the group once more thought. After a while Almarine almost gave in, but Jasmine spoke up, and cut through her labored thoughts.
“I have only what I have been able to learn by watching you Momma Almarine, so all I can offer is to say resources and credits. It's the only thing that can stop even the mightiest of cultivators in their tracks, your words, not mine,” said Jasmine with a smirk.
“How you will figure out how to make it worthwhile to the society abroad not to knock your doors down? I don’t know, nor do I think you really told us how any of that saves us from being turned into embers and sparks at the bottom of your shoe,” continued Jasmine. Xani nodded in agreement, with a look from Almarine to Jasmine.
“Yeah, you're definitely worth observing,” said Xani.
“Yeah and you're definitely giving me creepy vibes, girlie,” replied Jasmine as her face scrunched. Her displeasure obvious.
“What, don’t look at me like that. I only meant you got it, girl. I was wrong about you and should probably ask you to give me a makeover or something, you may not be Bookish, but you got smarts. Have you talked with the kids our age, it's like teaching rocks how to start a fire,” said Xani with a shy smile of her own. Jasmine’s face unfurled, and the girl smiled back with a slow nod of her own.
Meanwhile, Almarine had been mentally far away since she’d heard the words, credits and resources. She brushed the two girls out of the room once their conversation grew too loud for her to think in peace and moved on.
They never have enough money, no matter how much they plunder, kill and steal from the weak, they never have enough, and I don’t have any to give them, but what if…
“Hey Momma Almarine,” said Rob as he entered her office with Khalif at his side. He set a basketful of cookies on her desk, which explained the mouth bulge Khalif’s consistent showed since they entered, after walking across the large room.
“For Arson, he eats a lot and I figured he’d want them wherever you got him tucked away,” said Rob in a hushed whisper.
“Hasn’t been the same in the dojo without him. Will you let him know we are excited to see him?” asked Khalif. Almarine glared at Khalif for his discussion of something that wouldn’t help her current circumstances if even the little she still executed came to light.
This was her ultimate problem. There was no way to make her training of the orphans in any way, shape or form, legal. She talked big in front of her charges as her Cultivator’s pride wouldn’t allow anything less, but she couldn’t be more threatened by a potential encounter with Diana’s daughter, and knew her granddaughter potentially eclipsed the embodiment of gravity her own daughter had been.
May you rest in peace Diana, my son will never be the same without you.
She had to refocus on the two boys in front of her. They both ate cookies, as the basket nearly overflowed with the treats, and Almarine took one, eating as she spoke to them.
“So you two brought Arson cookies, I have accepted them on his behalf and will make sure to get them to him as soon as possible,” said Almarine, while she took another cookie, impressed with the quality. The three continued to eat, the sound of chewing the only thing to be heard momentarily.
“Mmm, so what is it that you want exactly, you are still here and don’t seem to be leaving?”
“Well, the entire orphanage is in an uproar over your upcoming execution, and some people want to know if you will get them autographs from Jade of CloudLake before she scatters your bones across the realm,” said Khalif. Rob punched him in the arm and gave him a glare of his own. While the scoffed laugh that Almarine gave in response made Khalif look around confused as to what he could have said wrong.
“What, it's true!”