Myron viewed the stars in the night sky above, his eyes filled with sadness. The bright lights twinkled at his gaze, but what used to be a calming activity full of providence and possibility, felt foreboding instead. His powers to read the stars were hampered since they arrived on this… Orion, and the Great Dao had become so distant and fickle.

He stood within the small encampment, tucked away deep in the forest. Numerous tents housed his people, pathetic hastily crafted things made from hide and vine. Their people had to keep on the move, and make due with the humble shelters.

His people had fled to this strange world to flee their enemies, having received a foretelling. It promised safety and prosperity both, but since they had arrived, nothing but calamity befell them. Only their lowest initiates could even move their Qi properly or cultivate, while the rest were limited to pathetic levels.

It was as if the will of the world itself was against his people, as if it wanted them to leave.

But they couldn’t. Their enemies wanted to enslave their people for all time, to destroy them and devour their fate. Myron could not allow this to happen.

“Patriarch Fatestrider! I have reports of changes in the enemy’s movement!”

He kept a calm facade, motioning for the lowly scout to enter his tent. Within his heart was a sea of turmoil, but his steps were unhurried as he joined the man.

Inside the tent was a crude map of the area on a table, surrounded by their divination tools–statues and totems depicting various fates. They captured the map from their enemy a time ago, and they were thankful for it.

Red figures placed all over the map indicated enemy troops, who worked to encircle and capture his people.

Only by reading his people’s fates and keeping ahead of the enemy had they managed to survive this long, but as the scout moved the little red statues around, Myron could see the writing on the wall. The net was closing. Weakened like they were, predicting the future and reading their fates against stronger enemies was far too challenging.

Their enemies were not overly smart, but they were simply too numerous, the terrain too foreign. Only two hundred men and women were left of his Clan, a result of numerous sacrifices to escape their horrible enemy to arrive here on Orion.

They thought they had arrived at their salvation, but then they ran into these…miscreants.

The scout moved a statue nearly double the distance Myron expected, an uneasy look on his face. “We lost…2 of our scouts to the Southeast.”

Myron frowned as he seethed. Two more fates lost to the river of samsara. “How? Did we not read their fates?”

The scout grimaced. “Something…changed. A new enemy appeared, we think he’s at the peak of Foundation Establishment. The natives are strange, it’s difficult to know how their power works…but our readings weren’t able to account for him, somehow. We’ll have to burn many more crystals now to evade him.”

Myron’s heart lurched. “Has this Blackthorne they speak of arrived?”

He shook his head. “No. This is a new enemy, and he has the power over shadows. He ambushed them in the night, and nearly caught up to our soldiers. They just barely escaped from the camp when their life tablets broke. It seems his name is Elrash.”

They had been using guerilla tactics to both delay their enemy’s people, but also deter them from attacking. It was something his people were excellent at. The jungle was not only difficult for his people, but it was also full of dangers. Thankfully, they were dangers his people were able to use to their advantage against their enemy.

The scout hesitated, “We…can you do another reading, Patriarch? We are running out of places to run, and they are catching up. I know it’s hard on you, but–”

Myron interrupted with steely resolve. “Say no more. I will do what I must. There is always a Way to victory, and I will find it. Leave me.”

The scout saluted and left the tent. Myron sighed, as he tapped his Cosmos Sack belted to his waist. Qi crystals appeared in his hand from his storage device, the mere act of doing something so simple costing a large percentage of his stores.

He held back a grimace, as a sharp pain shot through his body from the wound near his heart. Every time he used his Qi, he would have to pay a price in both physical pain, but also emotional. His failures brought to the forefront of his mind.

His personal Qi storage was pitiful now, as if he was brought all the way back down to the Qi Condensation Realm.

He understood the natives called this time the first stratum, but their cores and the influence on their bodies was different from their cultivation. It was…focused. Directed and guided by this world, somehow. Instead of becoming one with the heavens themselves, it was as if they became one with the world, this… Orion. Myron did not understand it.

Holding his lavender hand over the map, his crystal on a chain fell. It began swinging back and forth, and Myron began to divine their Way to victory. As always, he divined his daughter’s fate first and foremost, the crystal swinging to a statue based on the chosen course in his mind.

Anyone in the clan would loyally sacrifice themselves for her. If she died, it meant all else was lost.

With each divination, his Qi was expended slightly and his heart was gripped in pain from his wound. In many chosen paths, his daughter died. In others, captured and enslaved, just as he feared the most.

None of them did she escape, and Myron started to become more than a little worried. This new factor, this Elrash, made divining even more costly, and Myron was forced to expend even more of their precious crystals with every Way divined.

Crystals crumbled as they were absorbed, Myron working for hours deep into the night trying to find a Way. However, the result was always the same, no matter what Way he took, no matter what future he predicted. In all but one. “The Northeast…”

It was the only Way.

He ran his hands over his medallion sitting in a braid around his neck, sending the signal. In but a few moments, his daughter’s voice came from the edge of the tent hesitantly. “You called, Father?”

“I did. Come in, we must take action.”

She ducked into the tent and walked in with graceful, measured steps, wearing the long flowing robes of his people and bringing a smile to Myron’s face at the sight.

His daughter’s larger body engulfed him as she hugged him with affection, worry on her features. Such a gentle giant, just like her mother. The Star Oni females were often much larger than their opposites, true elites of physical combat when compared to other humanoids they had encountered. If she was only able to cultivate, she would crush these bandits like the bugs they were.

Because of the women’s physical superiority, many of the males focused on divination and fate bolstering, while the females were their soldiers, their warriors.

She searched his face for something, but as usual, his expression gave nothing other than his love for her.

Shara only got more worried, her face and voice filled with concern. “I heard the news, father. Is there really no Way from the bandits this time?”

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Myron couldn’t help but feel a little alarmed. She could tell he was worried?

She gave a small smile, her eyes meeting his, “It’s your heart that gave you away. It beats like a drum, far more rapid than usual. You are worried, more than ever before… except for when we lost Mother.”

Embarrassment for lack of his control of his body, and remorse filled him. Losing one’s Fatemarked for his people was their greatest shame, and nearly sacrilege. They were meant to die on the same day, at the same time.

He had belayed that for himself, to protect their daughter. Just as his wife had asked, and facilitated. The only thing left of her was the wound that still throbbed near his heart, where her mark resided. Once his task was complete and his daughter was truly safe, he’d happily join her. As was right. As was meant to be.

“I…you’re right. I’m afraid something has changed, and there is only one Way we can take to preserve our people’s freedom.”

Of course, he did not just read his daughter’s fate. He merely used hers because in this strange world, it was easier for some reason. Normally, he would use her chamber maiden’s fate instead, as her fate was far weaker and easier to divine. Shara’s fate was that of the clan, and should be the most powerful among them.

But on this world, perhaps because of her current strength, it was easier. Myron could only guess this was why, but he thought it was a good theory because her chamber maiden was in what the natives here called the second stratum.

His daughter waited for him to continue, a patient, determined look on her features. He motioned to the map.

“We have been dodging this Blackthorne and his men for months. We have been seeking a place of power for our personal cultivation, to try to ascend or restore our power on this strange world. However, we learned that other than these strange towers they call Ordeals, no place of power sufficient for cultivators can be found. Outside of the towers, Qi is wild and turbulent, more suited for demonic beasts and monsters than ourselves.”

She nodded. “It is a strange place. The world itself seems to work against us, it is as if it was designed to discourage our cultivation.”

He pointed to the map again. “Here is where we landed. It seems we arrived near the middle of this Blackthorne’s lands, these three towers just a few hundred miles from us. We tried to head Northwest, to skirt around this tyrant’s kingdom. However, he followed. Instead of allowing us to leave his lands, he cut us off and pushed us further East. We were likely to escape, but then…something changed.”

Four armies surrounded their current position, with one of them moving far too close for comfort. Myron wasn’t sure how many of these…rogues they had after his people, but it had to be more than a thousand. Far too many for his weakened people to manage, even with their predictions and their own stealth capabilities.

“Now, there only appears to be one path we can move without being forced to fight to the death. The one that Blackthorne seems to be pushing us to.”

On the map, a large mountain range ran north and south, and to the north hooked around to the West, forming a massive valley and mountain range. While such a geographic barrier would have been no problem for his people before, their Qi limitations now meant that they were walking into a proverbial dead end.

It was a dead end over a thousand miles long, but it was one nonetheless. The cliffs were tall and perilous, it would normally be impossible for them to cross in their weak states.

“If we enter this valley, our deaths or enslavement is almost assured. It won’t happen soon, but it will happen. If we don’t, our ends all come measured in days rather than weeks or months. This new tracker, this Elrash, he is simply too strong. But I believe I found a Way.”

He moved the statue depicting their clan, a bright star on a pedestal. Moving it North through the valley, he eventually moved it East, toward the middle of the mountain range.

“It’s a long trek on foot, through this perilous jungle.” His daughter noted, “Hundreds of miles. But what is there? It looks like a dead end in the mountains?”

He grimaced. “I…am not sure. When I select this Way and read your fate, it comes up blank.”

Shara’s eyes widened in alarm. “Blank? You mean–”

“I mean your fate can no longer be read. When our people travel through this range and arrive here, something happens, and I cannot divine what. All divinations come up empty, blank when you head this direction, and arrive at this location.”

“But isn’t that…the same thing that happens when our enemies steal our fate? Wait–you said when you head this way. Father, you can’t leave us!”

“I must, it is the only Way. I’m afraid…the older generation must part.”

Tears filled his daughter’s eyes, and she stumbled into him, nearly knocking him to the floor. With a grunt, he embraced her back, placing his chin atop her head away from her horn which sat in the center of her forehead, pointing up–something he could not do at all unless she crouched down, normally.

“But Father…we need you to lead us. How will we find our Way?”

He ran his fingers through her pink hair, calming her. He decided to distract her. “It’ll be alright, daughter. I believe this is how you will meet your Fated.”

Shara’s body went still. “My Fated?” Her voice was suddenly filled with interest, and he peeled himself away from her embrace. Of course, she would be interested in her Fated. His people were special in that when they found their soul mates, they could intertwine their fates, enhancing or adding them together.

The mere act had numerous effects, including improving one’s talent and luck. By cultivating with their special technique together with their Fated, the two could advance far more rapidly than normal.

The major downside was that they could only progress this way once they met their Fated. If they entered Foundation Establishment without using the technique, they wouldn’t be able to use it any longer.

It was a shame that many of those with their fated pairs were above the first stratum, or maybe they could advance even here. As it was now, they only had a few of the younger generation that had lucked out. Their technique worked here as things were, but there simply weren’t enough of them to defend against the bandits.

When a female marked their fated, they would be bound, their desires to die on the same day at the same time becoming true. It was for these reasons that his people’s females were highly sought after. Because despite who their Fated–their soul mates should be, it could still be forced–onto someone else.

His daughter was rare in that her Fated was outside their Clan altogether. This would happen occasionally, and with how his people had been attacked, there were few unpaired within his clan still young and talented, it was of little surprise none of the young men were Fated for his daughter.

He gestured to bring her attention to the map once more.

“With the way this world is laid out, it seems clear to me that you will travel through this huge mountain somehow, and arrive on the other side. Most likely, near here.”

“Havendale…?” Shara said, reading the label from the map. “But this says it is owned by Blackthorne!”

He grinned. “I don’t think it is anymore. It also appears to be related to the source of the blank divinations and readings. I cannot divine anything about it. Not even Blackthorne’s home Ordeal prevents me.”

Shara’s eyes narrowed on him. “You have no reason to believe I will meet my Fated here. You’re just distracting me from how you plan to sacrifice yourself.”

He coughed. “That’s not entirely true. Please remember why we fled to this strange world of all places.”

She blushed at first, but tears eventually threatened to spill from her eyes once more. “I…remember, Father. But now it’s so tarnished by how many of our friends we have lost. If I knew our clan would suffer so–”

“That is not your fault, it is your responsibility. You hold the fate of our clan now that your mother is gone. For you to find your Fated and intertwine your fates is the same as saving our clan. Now, I need you to be strong, my little treasure. You must lead our Clan in my absence.”

Shara gave a small smile and a light chuckle at the use of their older term of endearment. “I’m not so little anymore. I’m much bigger than you. If only I could cultivate…”

He gave her a small smile. “No, but you were still little to your mother. You are still our little treasure. She may be gone, but as long as you and I still live, our fates carry on.” He tapped his chest, opening his robes and revealing his marred flesh. His fate mark was there above his heart, right where his wife put it. Part of her was still with him, he knew–or his heart would no longer beat.

Myron continued, “Now, I am not leaving you today. In fact, my goal is to stay with you as long as I can–all the way until that point if I can. The time for me to leave you permanently is not yet set in stone, I will fight these assholes and take down as many of them as I can with me to hell. However–I need us to act separately. Can you do that, my little treasure? For us?”

Shara’s gaze went toward his chest, before meeting his eyes, her expression filled with determination. “I’ll do it. But you better let me take some of this scum down too. I will not just run away and hide while our brethren die.”

Myron grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of it, our little treasure. Together, we will make these bandits bleed and pay for their unprovoked aggression, and make them all regret that they ever stood against Clan Fatestrider.”