Thirteen:

Léandros had absolutely no idea what was going on. He had stepped into the chamber, leaving behind a room full of people and all his hesitation. Then, he had stepped out of the chamber as a cultivator in the ignition stage, and into a room empty, save for a single cultivator. A 10th Circle cultivator, and a famous one at that. Now he was about to head off-world before having ever even left the district for the first time.

The two walked along at a speed Léandros could barely keep up with, Malia’s long stride ate up the ground at a pace that seemed intentionally just a little too fast for him to walk comfortably.

They didn’t meet a single other soul on their way out. There was nobody in the hallway, nobody on the grounds, nobody there when they stepped out of the testing building and into the campus proper. Though he could see light in the distance, nobody crossed their path along the way to the off-world teleportation building. It was suspicious. Leo made a note of it, and an uncomfortable premonition made him certain that he should keep his thoughts and feelings to himself.

The Lady Stargazer didn’t even scan at the door panel. She simply strode towards the door of the teleportation chamber, and it opened for her. Whether it was some application of power, or simply one of the systems built into the infrastructure Leo didn’t know. Instead, he focused on what he saw when they got inside. The room was covered in the most beautiful and intricate enchantments he’d seen to-date. He’d thought the ignition chambers had been works of art, but this room made those chambers feel like the untrained scribblings of a particularly clever monkey. The enchantments called to him on an almost instinctive level. It was as though that energy within him, the one that seemed to connect to the world on some intrinsic level, had somehow become louder, more refined with his core igniting. And that energy, that feeling, it resonated with the incredible pattens wrought into the walls, celling and floor.

He wanted to reach out like he had in the ignition room, when he’d sensed the energies around him. A quick peek at the 10th Circle cultivator grounded him. He didn’t dare to even express curiosity. In her presence, he tamped down the feelings, made a silent apology to the enchantments for not being able to pay them any more attention, and promised himself that eventually he’d learn. He had time to learn now. He was a cultivator.

He couldn’t help a trace of giddiness travelling up his spine at that thought. A cultivator. The bizarre situation, and weirdly formal kidnapping had stopped him from actually taking the time to recognise the magnitude of what had just happened. He, Léandros Foster – orphan, cripple, and not quite 17-year-old who just hours before had no prospects outside of being a factory worker or as a sect servant – was a cultivator. Sure, for now he was at the bottom rank. Core formation, so no actual core yet, no real power, no formal education, and no training. Yet, his prospects had just gone from painfully limited to limitless. Well, if he ever figured out just why the Lady Stargazer had very privately shuffled him off.

He tried to content himself by musing about the nature of cultivation, about his Dao and what it might be like, about his personal expressions of power and what aspects he resonated with, about what he would be learning in the coming days, months, and years. Lost in the possibilities the future, every thought he’d been so distracted by withered and fell away like golden leaves in autumn.

That was when the transfer happened. The room lit up both to his mana senses and his eyes. Swirls of iridescent colour, jagged shapes, the world and his body folding and warping. It all happened so fast that the little his mind did process felt almost like a dream. What was much less dreamlike was the feeling of being a wrung like a particularly stubborn towel. He ached, his stomach knotted, and his skin felt like it had been stretched out and left too tight for his body. He stumbled a little before catching himself, blanking his face, and taking deep breaths.

“It’ll pass,” said the Lady Stargazer, staring at him with an impassive eye. “It’s good your fortitude is less delicate than your looks.”

As Leo puzzled out whether that was a compliment or not, he finally took in the space he’d been teleported to. His mind nearly blanked out at the sheer opulence of the place he had found himself in. The teleportation itself had just been a more intense version of the feeling he’d gotten portaling between the different locations on the Council campus, just more jarring. It was still a manageable shock. Leo was used to discomfort. It had been his most constant companion since birth. This though, this left him speechless. The casual wealth was so foreign that his mind didn’t know how to react.

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He didn’t let it unbalance him for long. Leo’s finely honed sense of self-preservation and newly enhanced spatial awareness kicked in about the same time he noticed that there were people here. Not just a few, but a lot of people. He could already feel their eyes on him as he stepped off the teleportation platform into a vast hallway. Mana-enriched gemstones were embedded along the walls, radiating a soft, ethereal light that cast gentle shadows. The hallway was wide, and the occasional person created somewhat steady traffic, and it appeared that the platform was somewhat of a central point for the – he looked around – ship. He was aboard a ship.

At the end of the hallway stood a broad, thickly muscled man who looked to be in his early 30s. He had incredibly pale skin, blonde hair, and hazel eyes that very closely resembled the 10th Circle cultivator who had resumed her powerwalking in front of him. Swiftly, she unburdened her outer robe, held out her hand, and Leo watched incredulously as one of many silent figures crisscrossing the hall reached forward to take it from her, bowed, and hurried away on silent feet.

“Julius,” Malia Stargazer said, walking past the man Leo was beginning to think was either a son or grandson of hers.

“This one greets the matriarch,” the man said, pressing his fists together thumbs facing inwards, and hands pressed against his solar plexus as he bowed from the waist.

“Please,” Malia said, sighing theatrically. “This is no sect, and I am no matriarch. Truly, I leave for five minutes, and you act as though I’ve been in seclusion for a century.” She shook her head, not even making eye contact as she passed her son? Leo was gonna go with son for now.

The man began to trail along as she passed, merging into the steadily growing entourage made up of Leo, the man in grey robes with purple trim who had collected Stargazer’s outer robe, and Julius – man of unknown relation to Malia Stargazer, 10th Circle cultivator and hand of the 7th seat.

Leo looked around at the subtle iridescent glow of the mana-powered lighting. He breathed in air cleaner than Earth’s and strode forward in gravity that felt… unexplainably different than what he was used to. They hadn’t even left the first hallway before Leo could feel that he was moving with less exertion. After a few turns through the grand hallway, they reached a communal lounge where Malia stopped abruptly, causing all of those behind her to stop as well.

To Leo’s relief, the white-robed 1st Circle servant - and wasn’t that insane? A servant in the 1st Circle? – and Julius stopped as well.

“Well, if nothing else, it’s convenient you’re here,” said Malia. “Leo, this is Julius, my son. Julius; Leo. He is to be my personal disciple. I will begin his instruction when I return, but I have things to take care of.”

At those words every single eye in the area turned to look at him. Some with curiosity, some with confusion, some with condescension, and a terrifying number with jealousy. Then there was one gaze, the gaze of the man beside him. A man in deep purple robes with blue and silver trim that seemed to shimmer in the light. The gaze of Julius Stargazer, blazing with rage and unbridled hate. Leo was entirely too familiar with that look. It was the look of someone who saw him as simultaneously the worst thing that had ever happened to them and something entirely beneath their regard. It was the look a cat gives a mouse when they want to play.

Malia obviously hadn’t missed the exchange; it seemed that she simply didn’t care as she continued speaking.

“You will lead him through the ship. He will stay in one of the rooms for the ignited guards. Lead him there. Explain to him his… boundaries.” She put emphasis on that word. “As an untested, untried recruit to the Stargazer faction.” She paused then called out. “Ship hub.”

“Yes, Lady Stargazer,” replied a voice that seemed to come out of nowhere and everywhere.

“Prepare his room.”

“Task already completed, my lady,” said the androgynous, bordering on feminine voice.

A ship AI. An actual, real, legitimate ship AI. Based on the rank and station of his newest ‘benefactor’, this was likely a completely realised artificial life form. Leo couldn’t suppress his curiosity and excitement, a sentiment not missed by Lady Stargazer. She glanced at him with condescending amusement.

“You can speak to it more in your rooms. She’ll explain to you our history, the regulations and decorum one is to conduct themselves with aboard my ship, and how you will be spending your time while I arrange a few things on my end.” Then she turned to her son. “Julius, take care of this,” she said, waving her arm dismissively at Leo as she turned to leave.

“Of course, Mother.” The man performed a bow to Malia’s retreating form turned to leave.

Leo didn’t even see the blow coming. His back was hit hard enough to hurt, hard enough to bruise, but not hard enough to break anything as a vicelike arm shoved him towards the floor by his nape.

“Bow,” said a quiet voice laden with mana that felt like it was pressing on his mind. Geometric flowers seemed to blossom in his vision as the mana in the words did something. Leo didn’t have time to parse it out, struggling as he was to control the reflexive gasp from having the air driven from his lungs. He succeeded and made no sound as he pressed his fists together, placed them against his centre, and bowed deeply.

“Oh, and Julius,” Malia said, already nearly on the other side of the communal area. “Do, show some restraint. I need the boy whole.”

Those were the last words he heard before his ‘master’ disappeared around the corner, and Leo was left to his fate.