This cannot be happening…

The battle in front of Troy froze her in place. Arson had just asked for help taking down not one but four of the academy’s respected teachers. One of which Troy herself was familiar with.

The professor for lightning manipulation 103 looked haggard as she met eyes momentarily with Troy, and she knew then that this moment would change the course of her entire academic career thus far.

“Do you know this young man, tell him to stop before we are forced to kill him and his dog!”

Troy’s eyes narrowed. The threat sparked sensations she wasn’t used to feeling since she’d left. No one threatened her without paying for it, and the rage that bubbled in her chest at Arson and Ego being threatened was nothing short of outright hostility.

“What was that you said?” The tersely asked question made the teachers share a look, but when Troy whistled and Ego let go of the teacher he was attached to, relief filled their visages until Troy spoke up a moment later, Ego now at her side.

“You sure you want me to step in, love? This is a lot of drama that my reputation may not recover from, most of the faculty already wants to fight me,” Troy stated while summoning clones of herself slowly. Arson’s eyes widened for a moment, but quickly returned to normal before he shrugged.

“Didn’t know they were important, thought I was fighting some upperclassmen or something, they seemed strong so I got excited when they attacked. Sorry, beautiful…”

“Why did they attack you? What were you doing?” Troy didn’t ignore the professors trying to collect themselves, her eyes catching that their cuts and wounds were slow to close however, and Arson’s body still drank merrily even as they tried to recover. Lines of power subtle as they drifted toward her partner.

“I have to find a big door with an inscribed thirteen across the face, Jade said there are secret classrooms inside and if I can find a powerful enough instructor, learning how to teleport should be simple,” Arson explained. Troy was now certain that Arson wasn’t going to let this go. She knew where he wanted to go, and that the teachers here weren’t going to let him through without being outright forced to.

“Did this menace just say Jade?” The teachers began to whisper between one another, even with Arson’s and their own weapons all still poised for combat and bloodshed.

“Yeah, but it’s a common name, he most likely isn’t talking about, The Jade, he probably just means a woman named Jade, ignore it…” Arson snickered, until Troy glared at him.

“Carter, this isn’t funny. These people don’t deal with students that are willing to kill them, nor students that have as much combat experience that you do. They most likely see you whittling down their stamina and resources as a lack of experience on your own part and not you playing with your food!”

“I was giving this fight my all, with the exception of amputations and beheadings. I feel that is more than amenable,” Arson said with a laugh and the teachers began to look at themselves truly in that moment, Troy sighing as she finally looked in their direction.

“Make your choice, you can either fight us, because I’d rather see you all knocked unconscious rather than ended here, or you can continue to be played with until you are forced to retreat in shame or be killed when he decides he isn’t having fun anymore,” offered Troy. Troy had to force herself not to look at the two living hand constructs charging powerful conductive water orbs at the back of the crowd, while the third glimmered with blue and red lightning that fused at its fingertips in an obvious threat, the power easily sensed by all gathered while it loomed within view in front of the professors. Troy was unsure if they even saw the trap they were already within.

“You two truly believe that you can take the four of us,” said one of the teachers laughing with a bravado that his demeanor didn’t support, a slight tremble in his knees caught by Troy and Arson, but slight enough that his fellow teachers missed the sign of duress.

“At this point, I’m fighting at my full capacity—“ Arson stared over at his partner’s glare.

“Seriously, I was trying to win, just hadn’t pulled out all my cards yet. It is my first day of school, and I didn’t want to kill four random students either. It's not like I don’t also have a reputation to manage,” Arson said pointing toward a Propeller Palm Drone flying in the distance with his free hand.

“We are not students…!” Arson rolled his eyes and Troy rose a hand, bringing her four fingers to her thumb in a closing gesture that to her surprise stopped the teachers chatter.

“I am trying to save your lives here and you're worried about being called a student, while an Inheritor from the Big Three is moments away from killing you,” said Troy, turning toward the propeller palm drone.

“Hey Lane,” Troy said, waving, only for the flying hand to wriggle its fingers back at Troy, before she turned back to the teachers.

“Why are you so convinced I was going to kill them? I barely scratched these fools so far, they seem tough,” grumbled Arson underneath his breath.

“Wait, he’s an Inheritor, you two cannot be serious. This can’t be that demon spawn's brat, can it?” said one of the teachers. Troy closed her eyes and felt the shift in Arson through their bond.

“Who would lay with that monster?” said another of the teachers with a laugh of her own. The environment grew colder and only Troy seemed immediately aware of it, turning around slowly not wanting to see what was about to happen, hearing the cloth of Arson’s hood being pulled up was enough to know what was going to occur.

“He’s lying obviously to scare us. The demon spawn’s own child would be a far better liar than this brat,” said another of the teachers. This was the last thing Troy heard spoken by the men and women behind her, speaking to Arson in a whisper before he began his work.

“Make it quick, if they keep this up I’ll be forced to handle this myself…”

…

Arson nearly pulled his crown from his head in that moment, but didn’t want to bloody one of the purest aspects of his soul over the men and women in front of him.

No one was going to speak about his mother that way. Not him, his father, nor even would Arson allow for his own mother to speak negatively about herself, so allowing for others to do so… would never be acceptable.

“May your afterlives bring you peace…”

Arson’s arm moved. A whistling boom could be heard as his scythe swept out in an arc. Heads separated from necks and throats slit all in one smooth motion. The task completed as easily as a artistically talented child’s ability to trace a simple line. Arson’s tool a blade’s end rather than a tool as simple to use as a pencil or pen.

“We are going to pay for this. You know that, right?”

Troy turned around at Arson’s silence and took in his crouched figure, smiling as he pet his puppy at the center of four dead bodies.

“Good boy, Ego, you helped so much,” said Arson, rising to his feet, finally acknowledging his best friend's question after meeting her eyes.

“You had nothing to do with this, I bet if you leave now, none will be the wiser, and I’ll go back to trying to find a teacher for teleportation. Might even shoot a mini series with Lane on my road to becoming a teleporter,” Arson said, beams of frost wafting off his palms toward his slain foes, turning their bodies into hunks of ice. The filming Propeller Palm Drone drifted near and gave Arson a thumbs up gesture as he worked,

“See, even Lane agrees, you're fine,” said Arson, only for the hand to respond with a so so gesture, the hand tilting from left to right, its palm down as it hovered in front of them both. Troy glaring at Arson as the drone pointed at the bodies.

“What, I’m working on that right now. Ego, you hungry little guy? Ever had a popsicle? Trust me you’ll love 'em,” Arson said crouching once more and petting his puppy.

“Arson, don’t feed the dog frozen bodies please, and if you are going to do something, you need to hurry it up. Why exactly aren’t you having your mother teach you how to teleport?”

“Just give me a moment. Geez, I’m working on getting rid of the bodies, and after I found out that my mother isn’t truly a teleporter but a portal master that creates portals small enough to envelop her every cell in her body down to the last atom all at once, I figured there must be an easier way for me to achieve the same thing…”

“What, that seems like a lot of work,” said Troy. The young woman watching as the temperature continued to drop, and the bodies being frozen became more and more brittle by the blink.

“Yeah, she said she lost her hands and even a leg when she first developed the ability, and after having my arm cut off by Carter, who also wants me to find someone in here, I think I’m going to keep my limbs on my body and learn portal magics from her later. You know start small, maybe make one portal, not trillions of small ones all at once and end up cutting my brain in half on accident or something stupid like that,” Arson said, pulling Sky from his inventory once more. Troy watched as the young man stomped down on two skulls and four bodies turning the group into discolored snowflakes, before the spinning mechanism of his weapon swept the teachers existence away completely. Powder dispersed across large distances, taken even further by the natural wind found within the dungeon environment.

“So, you coming or not, love?”

Troy looked around. Thought to herself a moment and finally shook her head.

“No, I’ve got class soon, so come here and hug me before you end up detained or jailed or something ridiculous.” Arson rolled his eyes and hugged Troy. The pair said their goodbyes after making plans to meet up later, Troy having mentally sent him a map of the school with a meeting point with details on how to get there without trouble.

Arson hoped he hadn’t unsettled Troy, meditating as he walked, an entire fold of his mind dedicated to keeping him calm. It was still nearly impossible to meditate while using his unlocked training system through his Overlay. The system required absolute concentration and perfection, but the unguided practice he currently attempted was easy to manage while he moved and he found himself at peace after a while.

Can’t keep getting that angry when people insult your mother Arson, it's childish… and it's not like your mother isn’t her own person. She’s done many things of her own volition, and as many cultivators love her, a multitude more, don’t…

Arson truly hadn’t wanted to kill the teachers, but the insult "demon spawn" took Arson to a level of rage he felt completely consumed him. His mother was many things, but birthed by demons, she was not. Nor would Arson let anyone speak of her that way.

He pushed the thoughts aside easily with his meditation at the forefront of his mind and own found himself in front of a set of doors even larger than the gates that led into his own compound back home. The thirteen he was supposed to find was actually a beautifully inscribed mural. From a distance the number was easily seen, but as Arson drew closer, a vivid landscape was revealed. His mind itched with a sudden familiarity, and soon Arson realized why.

“No way…”

Arson brought up the map of the school that Troy had given him, pulling the map within his Overlay to perfectly fit over a small portion of the top of the one etched into the left door.

Arson had to shrink the map in his Overlay so that it would match the piece of what he assumed to be the true map of the school before him. What Troy assumed was the entire school, was actually the equivalent of a castle's courtyard, or a mere entryway.

Arson: Hey love, would you believe me if I told you that you're taking classes in what looks to be the equivalent to a green zone in the dump…?

Troy: Bull… prove it!

Arson took a snapshot of what he was looking at, circled the portion that held Troy’s map, and sent it to the young woman.

Troy: Bloody sparks, every time I think I know what is going on in this place… spark this, give me a little bit to leave this class and get to where you are.

Arson: You sure? I can go and check this out alone and get back to you if what’s beyond these doors is even worth our time. My mother said it was only a few secret classrooms and workshops.

Troy: I found my master's classroom in a roaming storm cloud, you think I’m going to miss out on secret workshop playtime… I think not! I’ll be there as fast as possible. Just wait for me, I’m already leaving the classroom.

Arson: No biggie. I’m on a time line so hurry!

Troy: I know, I’m coming, I’m coming!

It was in that moment just before Arson closed out his overlay, as he pressed his back to the giant doors, that Arson noticed a detail within his Overlay that took his breath away. The small timer in the corner of his vision titled, Time until the Return, a clock that counted down until he was required to return to Endless, had stopped completely.

Or maybe I’m not…

…

Alpha looked between his siblings. Of the five brothers and sisters he was the middle born and somehow also the unspoken leader of him and his parents' offspring.

“Come on, we should follow her. My brain is itching like that time we found Pa’s gold in the secret room beneath the storm cellar back home…” said Alpha Cross, looking at his siblings. The brothers and sisters all looked at each other, knowing that Alpha wouldn’t have said that without great reason. So when he stood, causing another interruption in the class, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon all were quick to rise and exit the room.

“The Tsaritsa may have the luxury of leaving my class unaffected, but you all—“ The advanced mathematical teacher was cut off by his classroom door being shut.

“Everyone, air and lightning protocol,” Alpha’s command triggered a series of nods, and their bodies all took on the properties of air. They would all need to be using the same elements for their families connected abilities to be at their maximum. This was the power of the Cross family.

Each of the family’s members were capable of using nearly any element they were introduced to, but when using aligned elements their powers capacity and intensity almost doubled for each additional Cross within a certain distance from one another.

So as all the siblings channeled air, the group’s body’s all became lighter, more flexible and capable of incredible acceleration.

“Where in the sparks did she go?” asked Epsilon. The eldest sibling wasn’t their leader as most customs across many cultures would make the eldest child naturally take on, and had no problems being directed by his younger brother. He took on an advisory role for his younger brother, which Alpha appreciated. Their bond was a truly rare occurrence in the world of Cultivation, where most children in a single family were often set upon each other in life or death competition, rather than lifelong companionship.

“Over there,” pointed out Gamma. Alpha’s older sister directed the group to look well into the distance. Troy seen wall jumping from side to side across the large hallway's width. With the use of well timed summoning, the clones were placed perfectly to launch her higher from each seemingly random location she placed them.

“Wow, she is fast, you think she could beat me in a race,” asked Beta, Alpha’s younger brother nearly colliding with a Komodo-bear as his complete focus was given to track their target. The no-hands flip he used was beyond flashy, but was more to protect himself from having his arms bitten off by the massive beast snapping out at him with a lunge, rather than to show off.

“Duh, she nearly won that tournament of scions, you saw that video. If that one guy hadn’t tried to blow up the stadium she probably would have pulled it off,” said Delta. Alpha’s youngest sister idolized their target, Alpha snorting at his sister’s inner fan girl cracking through the young woman’s normally reserved demeanor.

“Focus everyone or we will lose her. As soon as she crests that building, we’ll shift from air and lightning protocol to storm cloud protocol,” Alpha stated, expelling water from his pores in anticipation of the group’s shift from ground to air travel.

His siblings all gave individual confirmations. A nod, thumbs up, the symbol for OK, and even a playful salute told Alpha that he could begin.

The group positioned themselves into a triangle formation, with Alpha at the vanguard. A culmination of manifested clouds began to form, pouring from the necks, shoulders, and arms of each of the siblings. With their arms pointed behind themselves as they ran, the billowing air that rippled out from their backs made the large cloud being formed take on the shape of an arrowhead.

Once all five siblings channeled their power accordingly, they all became near weightless, charging into the sky as their cloud transformed into the shape of a giant bird resembling a hawk. The group's mad dash turning into a gravity defying jog, each step no longer taken to push them forward, but instead higher.

“Bloody embers, she is fast!” Alpha caught sight of Troy moving from rooftop to rooftop, well in the distance as if she’d further increased her speed in the brief moment it took Alpha and the others to take flight.

“Keep our altitude high, we don’t want her to know we are in pursuit!”

“Got it!”

“Heard!”

"Noted!”

“Yes, sir!”