Darian was outside his house, reading a scroll, taking advantage of the natural daylight. He sat upon a comfy cushion. A clay jug filled with chilled tea sat next to him. The day, like many this summer, was bright and clear. A gentle breeze kept the air nice and cool. Well, cooler. With temperatures as they were, it would take a much stronger wind than this to truly cool things off. Not that Darian needed it. Still, it felt nice.
The sound of people going about their business kept Darian company. They walked past his house, in groups of two or more, chattering to each other. More often than not, they were servants, though sometimes his kin walked by. These were usually the ones still in the Foundation Establishment stage. After all, those in the Energy Gathering stage could use flying swords, so why bother walking?
Despite the beautiful day, Darian’s spirits were low. Reading the scroll before him was akin to torture. It was so dry and pedantic, that he often lost focus and had to reread sentences. That just made him even more frustrated, which caused him to lose focus more often, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Unfortunately, if he wanted to avoid an even more dire fate, Darian had to read the entire scroll. Thankfully, as a cultivator, his reading speed and comprehension was better than a mortal’s. The more powerful he became, the better.
“What are you reading?” Astra’s voice said.
Darian felt her weight upon his head. If she had looked at his face in that moment, she would have seen a look of such gratitude, that it dived deep into pathetic.
“Auntie!” he said. “Thank the ancestors you’re here. I’m so bored!”
At that, Astra leapt off his head and floated in front of him. The sight of his auntie raised his flagging spirits.
“What happened to you?” she asked, her eyebrow raised. “I’ve never seen you so…dejected before.”
“My grandmother,” he said, letting out a sigh of resignation. “I revealed Elliot’s presence yesterday, and it turned out that bringing spirit beasts onto Mt. Wind Dance without permission is a serious offense.”
Yesterday had been the longest day of his life. His grandmother had taken him away in Holden’s talons, bringing him to the council chambers. From there, she proceeded to lecture him on his conduct for the rest of the day, and well into evening. It had been an exhausting, mentally draining experience. Worst of all, she had assigned him a punishment.
His grandmother wanted him to read the scroll containing all of their clan’s laws, rules, and codes of conduct. He couldn’t skip this and pretend that he had read it either. She said that she would quiz him on it.
“Just so I know you learn your lesson,” she had told him, her tone suggesting that he would regret it if he disobeyed her.
Darian was grateful that today was his last day on Mt. Wind Dance. When he had met up with his friends earlier that morning, they had told him that most of their preparations were complete, and they just needed to finish up with a few more tasks. By tomorrow morning, they would be free to leave.
“This is my punishment,” Darian said, holding up the scroll. It was a thick one, and the writing on it was tiny, to make the most of the space.
Astra chuckled.
“I thought you liked to read,” she said. “Given how much time you spend in the library, I didn’t think that this sort of thing would be a punishment for you.”
Darian shrugged.
“I like reading about topics I’m interested in well enough. Anything outside of that is…” He shrugged. “It depends on my mood.”
“Oh? What sorts of topics interest you?” she asked, laying down on the air in front of him. “I’m a little curious.”
“Cultivation, and…” He paused. “That’s it.”
Astra blinked at him.
“Wait a moment.” She stood up. “Darian, do you have any interests or hobbies outside of cultivation?” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “The only things I’ve seen you do are cultivate, train, or read.”
Darian frowned as he thought it over.
“Spending time with my friends?” he said, turning it into a question towards the end.
Even then, he wasn’t sure. A lot of the time he had spent with his friends, before receiving Immortal Nova’s inheritance, involved cultivation somehow. This included training, or trying to train, and discussing books on cultivation. Well, there were the times the three of them gossiped about their kin, as well as the times he listened as his friends played music together. More often than not, they played romantic songs.
Hmm, perhaps he should have known that they were in love with each other from that alone.
“Darian, I’m concerned about you,” Astra said. Based on the serious expression on her face, he could tell that she wasn’t joking. “You can’t just spend your entire life cultivating. You need things outside of it.”
“I do!”
“Your friends are a start, but I meant hobbies and interests.” She pointed a paw at him just as he opened his mouth. “Reading about cultivation doesn’t count.”
Darian shut his mouth. He had just been about to mention reading. There was dancing, he supposed. Wait, no. He had only done that because his clan’s signature cultivation technique was a dance.
Huh. Maybe she was right.
“What about you?” he asked, trying to deflect. “As far as I know, your hobbies include fighting and playing chess.”
“Yes, and those aren’t cultivation.” She poked him with her paw. “At least I’m not like Senior Sister Nova. Her hobbies are drinking, carousing, and sleeping with men much younger than her.”
Darian gave her a disgusted look.
“I did not need to know that.”
Astra shrugged.
“To be fair, given her age, most men are younger than Senior Sister Nova.”
Darian sighed.
“Please stop. I do not need to know more about my mother’s…exploits.”
“I prefer them older myself,” Astra continued, ignoring him. “There’s just something about mature and experienced men that I just can’t seem to resist.”
“Auntie!”
Astra’s words produced images in his head that he desperately wished he could erase.
“What? There’s nothing wrong with enjoying one of life’s greatest pleasures, as long as it’s done in moderation.” She squinted at him. “Honestly, I’m surprised by how…inexperienced you are, given your lineage. From what I’ve heard, both of your parents were quite adventurous when they were your age. You’re a young man in the prime of his life, and thanks to cultivation, that will never change.” She looked him up and down. “Unless you’re not interested in women. If that’s the case, I won’t judge. I’ve known a few men whose tastes ran towards the same team, so to speak.”
“No, Auntie,” Darian said, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “I’m interested in women, not men.”
He was tempted to walk away from this conversation, except he was certain that Astra would follow him if he tried. She wore a little smirk on her face. No matter what expression she wore, whenever she teased him, that smirk appeared.
“Hmm, maybe your tastes are a bit more peculiar then.” Her expression brightened. “Oh, I get it now. You’re only interested in spirit beast women! That must be it. No wonder you put up with Ellen’s teasing so much. You actually enjoy it, don’t you?” She leered at him. “If that’s the case, I know plenty of disciples within the Dawn and Dusk Sect that would like to meet you.”
Without a word, Darian stood up, picked up the cushion, and hit Astra with it repeatedly.
“Stop. Teasing. Me. About. This.” Darian said each word between strikes.
Astra broke down into laughter while fending off his attacks,
“Fine, fine,” she said, chuckling. “I’ve had my fun.”
Darian sat back down on the cushion, and then drank some of his chilled tea while glaring at her. It tasted sweet and refreshing, which helped cool his temper.
“To get back to my original point,” Astra said, her expression sobering up. “I’m worried about you, Darian. Your education in particular. I know you’re mostly self-taught, and if you’ve only focused on cultivation…That might have created dangerous gaps in your knowledge.”
“It’s fine, Auntie,” Darian said. “I didn’t just focus on cultivation. I did read scrolls and books on other topics as well.”
“Uh huh,” Astra said, her tone skeptical. “Like what?”
“Well, the history of my clan for example.” He brightened up a little. “Did you know that we didn’t always live in Silverwood Vale? We used to live somewhere else, though no one in our clan knows where. We don’t have many records from that time, and the ones we do have are fragmented. All we know is that we used to be vassals for a clan more powerful than ours, dancing and performing for them.” He frowned. “Some kind of disaster destroyed our overlords, however, and we had to flee. Eventually we ended up here.” He thought about it for a moment. “That was about seven hundred years ago, I think.”
Astra stared at him for several long seconds. It lasted long enough that Darian began to feel self conscious.
“Some kind of disaster that happened seven hundred years ago,” she repeated, her voice flat.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Yes?” Darian asked, not sure how else to respond.
“Darian, do you know what happened during this disaster? Or even what it was called?”
Darian looked away from her, scratching his cheek.
“Uh, no. I lost interest at that point and stopped reading the scroll.” He looked back at her. “If you want to know more, I can find it in the clan library again and let you borrow it. I’m sure no one would mind.”
Astra’s left eye twitched. She grabbed Darian by the cheeks and looked him dead in the eye.
“Darian,” she said, her voice low. “The only disaster that happened seven hundred years ago was the Shattering. It was the biggest war our world had seen in ages. It almost ended the world. It’s the reason why the continent we live on is called The Shattered Lands. How do you not know about it?”
It was Darian’s turn to stare at her.
“Wait, you did know that our continent is called The Shattered Lands, right?” Astra asked, horror growing in her voice. “Please tell me that you knew that much.”
“Um. If I said yes, would you believe me?”
“Darian!”
He raised his hands in a placating gesture.
“In my defense, I never thought that I’d find myself outside of the Myriad Rivers region, so I just limited my studies to that area. None of them mentioned the name ‘The Shattered Lands.’” He shrugged. “Besides, if there came a point where I would leave the Myriad Rivers region, I could just study about it then. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“So you don’t know about the Sea of Storms? The Dead Zone? The Shattered Sky Throne?”
Darian shrugged again.
“I think I’ve made it clear that I don’t, Auntie.”
Astra stared at him for several seconds, before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, they blazed with fury.
“I’m going to kill them,” she said, her voice calm despite the rage in her eyes. “I’m going to kill your clan. This level of ignorance is appalling. It should never have been allowed. I don’t like to read, and even I know the importance of a well-rounded education.”
Darian held up a hand.
“As much as I would like to blame my clan, and they do shoulder most of it, some of the fault lies with me. Yes, they never formally taught me, but I had plenty of opportunities to learn things myself.” He nodded towards the direction of the main hall, or rather the lecture hall located near the main hall. “There are daily lectures at the lecture hall on a variety of topics. They’re open to any member of Clan Wind Dance. I just never showed up.”
Not that Darian had much motivation to go. Surround himself with his kin, who would either ignore him or treat him like trash? That wasn’t going to happen.
“Regardless of the reason, I refuse to let things continue as they are.” She pointed a paw at Darian. “You will make up for the deficiencies in your learning. I will not have you embarrass me or Senior Sister Nova like this.”
Darian opened his mouth to protest, but Astra hovered forward until her nose almost touched his.
“I’m not giving you a choice in this, young Darian,” she said. “You said you wanted to continue on the path you’re currently walking. Unless you change your mind about that, this is going to happen. There’s no point in whining about it.”
They stared at each other for a while, before Darian let out a sigh.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll do it.” He looked down at the scroll in his lap and grimaced. “If I can get through this, I can get through anything.”
“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some preparations to make. I’ll meet you at your secret realm tomorrow.”
With that, Astra disappeared from sight. Darian shook his head, before he went back to reading the scroll his grandmother had given him. It was going to be another long day.”
----------------------------------------
“Thank you, Elder Caleigh,” Lucius said, giving the older woman a bow. “You have been a great help.”
Elder Caleigh gave him a smile and nodded in return.
“Think nothing of it, Nephew Lucius. You are always welcome in the library.”
Both of them were in the clan’s library. It was late in the afternoon, almost evening, and Lucius had just barely managed to catch Elder Caleigh before she had left for the day. She was the elder in charge of maintaining both the clan’s library, as well as the secret archive which contained most of Clan Wind Dance’s important techniques.
While borrowing mundane scrolls or books only required permission from one of her assistants, Elder Caleigh was one of the few people authorized to give out copies of technique scrolls. This was because technique scrolls were difficult to make. Copying a technique required more than simply writing down words and drawing images. It required infusing the technique’s essence into some kind of medium. This was usually, but not always, a scroll.
This system also minimized the risk of Clan Wind Dance’s techniques being stolen. While only the lesser techniques were kept in the clan library, the less of a chance they gave outsiders to study them, the better.
When Lucius had arrived and explained that he wanted a copy of the Wings of Wind technique, Elder Caleigh had raised an eyebrow. After all, Lucius had already mastered Wings of Wind. However, when he had explained it was for Darian, she acquiesced.
After all, it was now public knowledge among Clan Wind Dance that Darian was a cultivator, and he was Patriarch Darin’s grandson. He had a right to learn the technique just as much as any other member of the clan, despite practicing a different cultivation technique. As long as he didn’t teach it to outsiders, no one would care.
Besides, Wings of Wind was a common enough technique among the clan. It was the most basic movement technique they had. Elder Caleigh had no good reason to refuse Lucius’ request. If he wanted to spend his hard-earned merit points for his friend, that was his business. While it wasn’t a common practice among the clan, it wasn’t unheard of.
Lucius stored the scroll in his holding bag, and left the library. When he stepped outside, however, he came face to face with his father, Dominic Wind Dance. He stopped and stared. His father stood there waiting, a calm expression on his face.
The two of them hadn’t talked face to face since the bout between Darian and Zayne. Even then, their conversation had been limited to helping Darian. Before that, it had been a long time since they last saw each other. Not since the meeting where Dominic attempted to arrange Lucius’ marriage, and Lucius had refused.
“Lucius,” his father said, nodding at him.
“Father,” Lucius replied, bowing in return.
“Walk with me. We have something to discuss.”
Lucius thought about refusing, but accepted in the end. He was still a dutiful and loyal son, despite the recent gulf between him and his father. If nothing else, he would listen to what his father had to say. If it was about the arranged marriage between him and Willow Stone Dance, however, his father would have to remain disappointed.
Together the two walked along the paved stone paths that weaved through this area of Mt. Wind Dance. Flowering trees lined the paths. A breeze blew through, stirring their branches. The light of the afternoon sun painted the area around them in golds and yellows.
“What did you wish to discuss, Father?” Lucius asked.
If it was about the arranged marriage, it was better to get it out of the way now.
“I heard from Elder Caleigh that you used your merit points to buy a copy of the Wings of Wind technique for your friend, Darian,” his father said.
That was the other topic Lucius had expected his father to bring up. Darian had been a point of contention between the two of them ever since Darian’s apparent inability to cultivate came to light. He braced himself for the usual arguments and demands to never see Darian again.
“Here,” his father said, pulling a scroll out of the holding bag hanging from his waist. “Give this to him as well. Consider it an apology from me to you, and to him as well.”
Lucius, stunned by his father’s words, almost stopped walking. Somehow he kept moving and accepted the scroll. It was rare for his father to apologize to him. He could count the number of times it had happened on one hand.
“I…Thank you, Father,” he said. He put the scroll into his own holding bag. “What is it?”
If it was an apology from his father, it had to be something worthwhile. While Dominic Wind Dance rarely apologized, when he did, he did so properly.
“The Severing Wind technique.
This time Lucius did stop walking. Unlike Wings of Wind, Severing Wind was an offensive technique. It was only available to those who knew about Clan Wind Dance’s secret archive, those who had proven themselves worthy in some capacity. Usually, this meant reaching the Energy Gathering stage, or performing some kind of meritorious deed for the sake of the clan.
Which made it all the more interesting that Zayne Wind Dance knew Severing Wind. At least, it would be interesting to anyone who didn’t realize that Zayne was more than he pretended to be.
“Father,” Lucius said, pulling the scroll out of his holding bag. “As much as I appreciate this, I can’t give this to Darian. It goes against our clan’s customs. He doesn’t know about the archive yet. Even if he did, it wouldn’t be worth much to him. It’s a sword technique.”
Dominic, who had stopped as well, nodded towards the scroll.
“Under normal circumstances, I would agree. However, that is an incomplete version of Severing Wind. Rather. It is an unfinished experiment. One of our ancestors tried adapting Severing Wind to be used with one’s hands, instead of a sword. He ultimately abandoned it, but the notes he left behind should prove useful. Darian practices a fist technique, correct? He is likely the only Wind Dance who could make use of it.” He snorted. “I doubt anyone would begrudge him this. Even if they did, Patriarch Darin already approved of it.”
Lucius narrowed his eyes at his father. He didn’t trust this sudden change of heart. There had to be some kind of angle here. He thought back to all the arguments his father made against him remaining Darian’s friend.
“This is because Darian is now a cultivator,” he said. “Isn’t it? Now that he is, or revealed himself to be, he’s no longer a danger to my chances of becoming the next head of our clan.”
“That is correct,” Dominic admitted without an ounce of shame. “Whereas before, I thought your friendship with him was a waste of time at best, and a threat to your prospects at worst. Now, however, neither of those is true. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Lucius shook his head, both angry and disappointed in his father. He started walking away from him. It was a futile endeavor. Dominic was in the Element Collection stage. He didn’t even have to try hard to keep up with Lucius.
“I can’t believe you,” Lucius said. “After all this time, after all your arguments, now you’re fine with me being Darian’s friend. Have you no shame?”
“Everything I do, I do for the sake of our family,” his father said, seemingly unaffected by Lucius’ words or tone. “The situation has changed, so my actions must change to meet it.”
“You mean everything you do is for the sake of your own pride and status,” Lucius shot back. “Darian doesn’t matter to you. He is just a pawn for your little games.”
As am I, Lucius almost said. That was the part that hurt the most. He loved his father, but he couldn’t help but feel that he was nothing more than a tool to be used to further his father’s ambitions.
“That is where you are wrong, Lucius,” Dominic said. “Yes, my own ambitions are important to me. However, they are secondary to the well-being of our family and our clan. This includes you.”
Lucius scoffed. He didn’t believe his father’s words, and he made that sentiment quite clear.
The two of them neared the training courtyard in front of the main hall. While neither of them had seen anyone else as they had their talk, that would end soon enough. There was always someone in the training courtyard, honing their skills.
Before they could reach the training courtyard, however, Dominic stopped Lucius with a hand to his shoulder. While his grip might have looked gentle to an outside observer, it was unbreakable. Lucius could not escape.
“What must I do to prove my words?” Dominic asked him in a quiet voice.
Lucius, who had intended to ignore his father’s words, paused. This was the first time his father had sought his…What? Approval? Trust? He wasn’t sure how to describe this particular situation.
“Accept that I refuse to marry Willow Stone Heart,” Lucius said. “I love Vera, and she is the one I will marry. Her, and no one else.”
Dominic removed his hand from Lucius’ shoulder.
“Very well,” he said, letting out a hint of his displeasure.
Lucius stared at his father. He hadn’t actually expected him to agree.
“That’s it?” he asked. “You’re giving up just like that?”
Dominic arched an eyebrow at him.
“Did you expect me to fall into a rage? Perhaps make some threats?”
“Yes! That’s what you’ve done in the past. This marriage alliance will benefit our family and our clan greatly.”
Dominic nodded.
“Yes, it would. However, as someone pointed out to me recently, we don’t need Clan Stone Pillar and the resources they can provide for us. While they would be a great boon, we can do without them. There will be other opportunities. Cultivators like us must take the long view.”
For some reason, those words sent a chill down Lucius’ spine. Just what did his father have planned?
“Make sure to give that scroll to Darian,” Dominic said. “As I said, I’m sure he can make great use of it.”
At that, Dominic pulled out a flying sword and flew away. Lucius watched him go, and realized that while he may have freed himself from the arranged marriage, Darian had been pulled into the games his father liked to play.