It was late at night when the bright lights emanating from Micro's gleeful eyes illuminated the modest stone wall of an unfamiliar temple. Micro woke Kolt, placing him on the ground beside him, and he joined Kira next to Lena, who gestured to Micro to lead the way.

Micro searched for a moment, then located a small wooden door built into the wall, though some parts of the wall were low enough that he could nearly see over them. He knocked on the roughly constructed wooden door while dimming the light coming from his eyes, and was startled when the door cracked, detached from its hinges, and fell inward.

THUD

It hit the dusty ground with a loud but sombre sound. Kolt and Kira became tense as they looked through the dark doorway into the sect, wondering what attention the sound would be given, but Lena's reaction was altogether unexpected.

“Mind your surroundings, children.” She ordered them strictly.

“The smell of death lingers.”

“Now that you mention it...” Blue added, flying high into the air and looking around.

“That's about all their is to smell in there. That's a shame...”

“What?” Micro blurted out as he turned on his headlights once again, but he felt his body freeze as he walked through the door.

Still standing on the debris of the door, he looked around at the humble courtyard of the sect he had found. Countless bodies littered the ground wherever he looked. No hope surfaced in his mind of finding a living soul in the temple grounds.

“What happened to them...?” Micro whispered, struggling to breathe.

“Looks like they all died quickly.” Kolt answered with a calm tone which surprised Micro. He walked ahead and kicked the leg of a dead cultivator, then turned back and nodded as if to confirm his assumptions.

“They definitely didn't starve.”

“You...” Micro mumbled to Kolt.

“You should turn around, this...”

“Don't worry about us, Master Micro.” Kira said, taking hold of Micro's cold hand.

Micro turned to Kira, intending to send her back out through the doorway, but her complete lack of reaction to the horrid sights and smells of the dead cultivators made him question his own impulse.

“This... isn't the first time...” Micro stuttered, then cleared his throat and continued with some effort.

“This isn't the first time you've seen something like this?”

“We've passed through places in a similar state before.” Kira replied softly.

“Our own village looked like this when we left.”

“I see...” Micro nodded.

“I'm sorry. This isn't something I've driven by before.”

“Collect yourself, child.” Lena scolded him.

“What do you sense?”

Micro looked wide-eyed at the old woman for a moment, then turned his attention back to the grotesque scene before him. He took several deep breaths of the rancid air, and was eventually able to calm himself enough to analyze the area with Spirit Vision.

“There's no energy here.” Micro stated in confusion.

“The people, the ground... There's nothing... Wait...”

“You feel it, yes?” Lena questioned him, her own eyes glowing fiercely.

“Chaos energy.” Micro replied.

“It's faint, but it's everywhere.”

“That's not all there is.” Blue added as she landed on Micro's head.

“Do you sense something else?” Lena asked, doubt evident in her tone.

“You really are younger than you look.” Blue scoffed.

“Look a bit harder. Most of these folks didn't die because they were killed.”

“What nonsense is that?” Lena snapped back.

“Most of their souls were chased out of their bodies.” Blue continued, dismissing the curt tone of Lena.

“You...” Lena grumbled in protest, but she looked more closely at a body nearby and nodded slowly.

“I see. Then...”

“Exactly.” Blue said.

“What's going on?” Micro asked, struggling to keep up with their discussion.

“You should know a little more about souls, shouldn't you?” Blue asked with a dry laugh.

“Whatever killed these poor weaklings was strong enough to blast their souls straight out of their bodies. There are bits and pieces of soul all over the place.”

“Souls...” Micro repeated.

“Vera was from the Soul Sect. Does this have something to do with them?”

“Practitioners of the Soul Art are particularly honourable. It is very unlikely this sect was attacked by them.” Lena replied.

“It is unlikely a cultivator was responsible for this at all.”

Micro frowned as he tried to imagine what led to the situation before him, and a single word appeared in his mind.

“Hero.” He whispered, the weight of the word catching him off guard.

“Heroes always make a mess of things.” Blue added.

“They're probably long gone by now, but the remains of all those unlucky souls are likely to cause problems soon.”

“There.” Trill suddenly added, leaning out of Kolt's pocket to point into the courtyard. Lena strained her eyes, but seemed too tired to make full use of her Spirit Vision.

Blue nodded, then fell lazily to Micro's shoulder.

“Well, they're nothing to worry about.” Blue sighed.

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Micro didn't have time to ask what she was talking about before several creatures appeared from around the corner of a small stone structure. A feeling of relief washed over him at the thought of finding survivors, but the way the people walked made him frown.

“Who are they?” Micro asked, unable to sense any energy from them. However, when he turned his headlights back on, he wasn't sure what kind of answer to expect.

Now clearly illuminated, six figures in ragged cultivator robes stumbled awkwardly over piles of bodies, as if they were unable to see where they were walking despite the light. That made sense to Micro though, since their eyes were grey and cloudy, and their faces looked no less gruesome than the rotting corpses surrounding him.

“Undead are often the result of unnatural death, especially when souls are damaged or removed.” Blue remarked casually.

“These are fresh though.”

“Undead!?” Micro gasped, but his shock subsided as he scratched his head.

“What is that?”

“It's usually what happens when broken bits of soul find their way into a dead body.” Blue explained.

“They tend to wander around looking for souls to eat, though they’ll eat the vessel too. They can be a lot to deal with if they eat enough souls, but these ones are young and hungry.”

“So, they're not actually alive…?” Micro asked in wonder.

“I almost don't believe it, but I really don't feel anything from them.”

“You know much of the undead, Blue.” Lena said, her anger somewhat deflated.

“I've run into just about everything once or twice.” Blue shrugged, then looked at Micro.

“Well, almost everything.”

“So those are undead...” Micro mumbled, but he realized his anxiety had been dispelled by another unpleasant feeling.

“That's not right.”

“Oh?” Blue asked casually.

“It's like a bunch of unlicensed drivers taking a ride in a car meant for the junkyard...” Micro said, his anger contorting his face.

“Those bodies… they’re stolen…!”

“What do you mean?” Kira asked.

“If a truck was at the end of its life, it'd be wrong to keep driving it.” Micro replied.

“I guess I didn't feel anything at the time, but I can remember the painful sound a vehicle makes when it's being driven to death. It'll never complain, but pushing it that far without servicing it...”

“I'm not sure anybody can confirm whether you understand the situation based on such an otherworldly comparison...” Lena interjected with a stern voice, to which Micro could only reply by regaining his composure.

After looking around at his friends, then turning back to the undead gradually limping toward them, he nodded expressionlessly, and his energy began to move. Without a word, he rooted himself deep enough that he could draw on energy from beyond the bounds of the depleted temple grounds, and a ball of energy appeared before him.

“Oh, I like this one.” Blue remarked, jumping off his shoulder and landing on Kira's head.

“You should back off a little, girl. Spirit Wave isn't a gentle technique.”

“Sure...” Kira said, though she backed away slowly while entranced by the energy swirling around Micro.

To Kira's surprise, the following attack made no explosions. The sound was more like a deep hum, and the attack was over before she could blink. When her eyes readjusted to the darkness, she saw that much of the temple grounds, buildings and all, had completely vanished, replaced by a large flat area which smoked and smouldered quietly.

“If that ever happens to me...” Micro turned to Blue as he spoke with a bitter expression.

“Do the same.”

“You're quite hung up on the undead thing, eh?” Blue laughed.

“The thought of someone other than the old man driving me, some stranger...” Micro shuddered as he spoke.

“Truck or human, that just isn't right...”

“Okay, no worries.” Blue replied with a shrug.

“I'd prefer you just avoid dying, but I won't jinx it.”

“We should do something about the others.” Kira suddenly declared.

“Huh?” Kolt scoffed.

“Who cares about these jerks? They're just some cultivators...”

“But they-” Kira began to protest, but Lena interrupted her.

“Despite your sentiments, the dead should not be left in such a state.” She explained with a heavy tone.

“Whether it be wandering spirits or a plague, the dead would eventually be a source of danger to all in this region. I believe the preferred means of burial among practitioners of the Serpent Art in these lands is cremation.”

Lena looked questioningly at the children after declaring her intentions, and they both nodded in agreement. Micro didn't feel it was something Kolt and Kira should need to participate in, but he soon remembered that he was the least qualified to speak on the matter among the group.

Even Trill assisted in searching the temple grounds for the dead, and soon a large fire was burning in the courtyard. Lena bowed her head as the fire raged, muttering a small prayer which sounded rehearsed, and the group stood nearby as the sun began to rise on a new day.

“I wonder if it was Cerena who did this...” Micro wondered aloud as the fire burned.

“The summoned soul?” Lena replied.

“It is unlikely.”

“Why?”

“You have not witnessed the power of a silver core in battle.” Lena replied, then gestured for Micro and the others to follow her out of the temple grounds, leading them a fair distance away from the sect's crumbling walls.

“I am considerably weakened at the moment, but you should better understand the powers at play in this world.” Lena addressed the party as energy began to gather around her.

“When speaking of a silver core, keep the power of a weakened sapphire core like myself in mind...”

Micro wondered why Lena had led the conversation to such a point, but a strange force suddenly pulled him and the others backward. He stumbled for several paces before the force gradually changed direction. He rooted himself in the ground and held Kolt and Kira by their collars to keep them from falling, though Blue and Trill were watching casually from Micro and Kolt's pockets without complaint.

“The Moon art is something you have witnessed...” Lena said as she began to wave her hands.

“If I were to exert myself slightly...”

The force pulling Micro forward suddenly grew in intensity, to the point where the ground beneath him creaked and cracked as he struggled to stay rooted. Looking ahead, he saw that the temple's wall had been swept forward like sand, joined by the many buildings that crumbled in its path. In moments, the entire temple grounds had been reduced to a field of rubble, no evidence remaining that the site had ever been inhabited by even a single cultivator.

“Wow... But why-” Micro stuttered as the force finally faded.

“No, that's the right call.” Blue interrupted him.

“The dead aren't the only vessels for unhappy spirits. Haunted houses, even ghost towns... Frightful stuff.”

“I see.” Micro nodded, letting go of Kira and Kolt.

“You're both very powerful, but you're saying there are people even stronger?” Kira asked excitedly.

“You took care of all that so quickly. Master's explosion was amazing, but Lena completely destroyed everything...!”

“Before a being with a silver core, my power would be indistinguishable from one of those rocks.” Lena replied, pointing to the field of gravel. She stumbled forward, apparently exhausted, then continued.

“Young Micro's would be comparable to several grains of sand, I suppose.”

“I have a lot more Core Cards to master.” Micro said with conviction.

“That...” Kolt mumbled.

“What's the matter, kid?” Blue called over to Kolt.

“You look like you've seen a ghost.”

“That's... impossible...” Kolt said, his voice barely audible.

Micro finally noticed that despite Kira's excitement, Kolt's complexion was pale and sickly.

“Cultivation is useful for lots of things like this.” Micro reassured him.

“You'll get the hang of it too.”

“That...?” Kolt asked, his eyes still wide in disbelief.

“Just keep practicing with us and-”

“Micro.” Lena interrupted, and Micro turned eagerly to hear what she had to say.

“The boy's expression is not uncommon among young cultivators.”

“What kind of expression is it?” Micro asked.

“Despair.” Lena replied.

“He'll get over it.” Blue laughed.

“He may.” Lena said.

“Though it is not our concern.”

“I see.” Micro nodded.

“Some youth look upon a mountain and are filled with the urge to climb, while others feel nothing but small.” Lena concluded.

“It is a matter of perspective, and one you should learn to recognize in disciples.”

“Another sign to read.” Micro replied solemnly, then turned back to Kolt.

“Well, take your time. You never know if you have enough fuel for a trip until the trip is done. And you can always bring some extra.”

“Truck Sect wisdom?” Lena smiled.

“I guess it is.” Micro smiled back.