"What were you doing inside my lands, little sister?" a raspy voice came from the shadows.

"Whatever do you mean, dear older brother?" came the answer, feigning innocence.

The girl sat on a stool in a grand library, positioned at an art easel. As she gazed into the corner from where the voice emanated, she wore a mischievous grin and arched her brow. A teenager, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, she had long, dark blue hair braided on each side of her head with bangs streaked pink. Her brilliant green eyes twinkled as they met the shadows. She wore robes matching her hair—dark blue with pink trim—and featured pink dragons embossed on them.

The man emerging from the shadows was the stark opposite. Tall and pale, his straight black hair hung unkempt, partially obscured by a black blindfold securing it. Apart from the blindfold, his attire consisted of threadbare black pants and a long black coat. A calm, inky substance covered his skin, moving like the ocean on a soft, breezy day. The ink wrapped around his chest and descended the back of his hands, peeking from underneath the coat.

"You know precisely what I mean, little sister. You came onto my lands and meddled with things you should not have. Didn't you?" he questioned, aware of the answer. His voice remained raspy. He looked at the girl, cocking his head to the side.

Though wearing a blindfold, she felt his gaze pierce her soul. The girl sighed softly, setting the paintbrush down on her palette. Her eyes retained their glint, and the smirk never wavered. She glanced at him from her painting of a rotund man in plain robes, seemingly conversing with someone under a tree.

"Oh, older brother, I deny nothing," she answered plainly, emitting a soft sigh, clearly bored. Her eyes focused on his blindfold, presumably meeting his gaze beneath it.

"I do not know why you ventured into my lands, nor do I care to know. However, venturing there again might expose you to something that could consume you. Then we'll never see your darling face again. Father wouldn't even be able to save you from the nightmares you might encounter in my lands," Kenji spoke firmly, staring the girl down.

"Oh Kenji, you and I both know Father does not care what we do to each other. He is far too busy playing with his toys." She shook her head before picking up her brush again. Her hand hovered above the easel as she watched him disappear in the same direction he came.

"I must go clean up the mess you made now," he whispered before vanishing entirely.

__________________

He groaned as he tried to move, but his body was stiff. He was completely soaked, with the lower half of his body in the water. Where was he? A pained noise escaped his throat as he tried to open his eyes, barely able to crack them. The sun was beating down on him, and every inch of his body was throbbing in pain. He could barely move. Darkness enveloped him, and his eyes could no longer remain open.

He turned to rise on his knees, bringing his hands to his face. The cold water that covered his palms slightly energized him. He cupped his hands and got more water to his face, rubbing it into his dry skin. The master opened his eyes fully and noticed the sun was now in the zenith, directly above his head. His eyes shot open to reveal that he was submerged a couple of inches in the ocean water. The sound of waves crashing against the docks confirmed his puzzled thoughts. He was in the smaller area of the beach, where the children usually came down to play when it was warm outside.

After wiping his eyes, he looked to see the small hill with the cherry blossoms that overlooked the village. Silas climbed to his feet, figuring he should make his way up the hill to look over the village because something seemed off around him. How long had he been in the water like that? His mind reeled as he tried to piece together the events before passing out. He could only remember waking up earlier to the sun barely rising in the skyline. Many hours had to have passed now that it was midday.

He furrowed his brow and looked at the sky once more before investigating the docks further. There were no ships in. Not a soul on the docks. There was no movement at all. Typically, the docks were the busiest place, day or night. The master moved up the hill at a fast pace. He set about cycling his madra to help him move through the aches in his body.

Normally, he pictured his madra as a cool light gray; now it was darker. The madra was moving too slowly. It was uncharacteristic of his abilities. About halfway up the hill, he had to stop and close his eyes, forcing himself to cycle his madra. He had cycled while in motion for as long as he could remember, though. It was something he had learned very early on. He grew more concerned as he concentrated.

Silas soon realized that there was something more troubling occurring. He inspected his madra channels and saw a black ooze running along them. The ooze outright blocked his channels in a couple of spots. He opened his eyes and frowned. Thankfully, he still had plenty of madra in his core, but not being able to cycle meant he had to conserve it. It took a few more minutes than it should have for him to run up the hill. Standing at the top, he looked down at Kyoto and gasped.

The village, mostly, was okay. Some buildings were destroyed, and black ooze coated a few other buildings. It looked like the same substance that Silas felt in his channels. Although the buildings could be rebuilt, and they could clean the sludge up. A sense of dread filled him as he realized that there was no movement in the village proper. He could no longer sense anyone when he reached out with his spirit.

He sent a tiny bit of madra into his scripted ring to activate it. It only took a moment before a war hammer appeared in his hands. The staff of the hammer was as long as he stood tall. The hammer itself was broad, with an immense face made of gray metal with brown specks that sparkled mixed in. It looked too big to wield, yet he carried it with ease. He slung it over one shoulder as he ran down the hill to investigate, leaving the blackened cherry blossom trees behind him.

He struggled to remember any events leading up to him waking up in the water, hoping that it would help him figure out what was happening. His mind wandered back, months ago, to the crone who visited the Elder's Hall. The Mother Oracle who had spat on him had said the Gods were playing their games and something about shadows devouring the village. He shook his head, still in disbelief.

The Mother Oracles were old women whose diet comprised strange mushrooms from the woods that could reveal the future. There was some truth to her words. The master's father took no stock in what they said, and neither did he. Because they claimed to have special abilities, well-trained cultivators who became brainwashed into believing in their false claims protected them. The man almost laughed to himself, thinking about the absurdity of it all.

The First Elder had gone into a tizzy over the woman's cryptic warnings. He even went so far as voyaging to the island of Sunhai, where the Kunlun monks lived. Silas knew these monks were known for their generosity and help to those who requested it. Since they were in a smaller village, he figured they could use any help they could receive. Fishing was all the village was known for, and as a result, some of the village guards from the sect had also accepted Silas's petition for help.

The Kunlun decided not to help the First Elder, as they had seen no verifiable threat from the Oracle or their seers. They might have paid it more heed if Silas had gone with him. With Silas's position of power, they might have helped for the return of a favor, but he opted not to go and made his thoughts about the Oracle known.

An enormous battle had occurred in the small village. Upon reaching the village, he'd see the damage was more than he had expected. Although only a couple of buildings were demolished, some had holes blown out of them, and others were missing an entire wall. Silas furrowed his brow and walked to a spot where a strange black sludge had accumulated.

As if in slow motion, he blinked and took in the full sight of the mess everywhere. The goop was sticky and cool. Putting his thumb to his forefinger, he mashed them together to investigate the full texture before shaking his head and rubbing his finger on an empty portion of the wall. The mysterious black covering did not immediately come off, which caused Silas to sigh and refocus his sights. The goo covered almost the entire village.

He lifted his head and shifted his stance towards the base of the Jade Mountains to run. Silas didn't care about using any of the madra in his core. He pushed himself to get to the other side of the town as fast as he could. It didn't take him long to get there, running through the village and the grain fields. Usually, there would be workers out here tending the fields and doing whatever farm hands did on the farms all day. There was no one. The village was eerily silent.

Silas's house was one of the more substantial houses in the village. As Village Protector, the villagers built it for him before he and his wife moved down from the school. The house was smaller, unlike those meant for the First and Second Elders, but it was definitely more than he and Himari ever needed. That he had never given Himari her child, only bore into their despair.

His mouth soured when he thought of it. Part of the reason they left their positions at the school was that she wanted a child. He did as well, if he were honest with himself, his own son to mentor and train in his ways of cultivation. But for whatever reason, the gods never allowed it. He couldn't give her children, live up to his father's expectations, and could not protect this small, out-of-the-way village.

Leaping over the front fence Himari had once requested, he smashed in through the front door. Silas yelled his wife’s name helplessly, looking for her. His home shook with the vibrations of his voice, and he gripped his hammer firmly. Although cozily furnished, the house was open and lacked any walls that someone could hide behind.

Looking around, he saw no one was home, including his beloved wife. He hurried past the living area to the sliding door, which had closed off the hall with the stairs from the main areas. The upper floor contained some bedrooms, and the steps leading down went into a basement they had carved out of the mountain upon building the home. Himari was not only a powerful cultivator in her own right but was also an accomplished alchemist.

The smell of his wife’s perfume and the herbs in the basement lingered in the air, giving a sort of comfort. Himari spent most of her time here because this is where she kept her unique gardens. The builders didn't completely hide the basement in the mountain. It had large windows which let in sunlight during the mornings and then from the other side in the late afternoons.

She lined three little soil beds up in the center of the floor, each containing a different herb, plant, and fruit she used to make pills. With the ingredients in the garden, she could craft a tablet so powerful that it would push a young cultivator's entire body directly into spirit cultivation.

Silas pushed the sliding door to the basement open and was greeted by four creatures that stared at the doorway as he opened it. Each of them had eight spindly legs that protruded from their torso. Their misshapen teeth never stopped chattering. These creatures had eyes like a black hole, which seemed to suck Silas's breath from his body. Although these nightmarish beasts looked like a terrifying combination of a rat and a spider. They seemed frightened by Silas's presence.

The creatures were spread in varying spots across the room, separated by his wife's herb gardens. The surrounding space seemed to disappear into the darkness that was their body. Silas could hardly make out their outline, even with the midday sun peeking in. Behind their chittering, razor-sharp teeth, their mouths were tinted a purplish color that stood out against their abyss-like skin.

The shock between them only lasted a moment before they noticed Silas' tightening grip on his hammer. A grin crept over his face as he cycled his madra, forcing it as best as he could to push through his channels. His path was one of defense, and it suited him best to take on multiple enemies like this. He focused on his madra, which forged itself from his arm and gave him a small shield. While he dug himself into the earth's floor, the creatures rushed him.

The closest to Silas jumped at him on the ends of its legs while reaching out for Silas. He lifted his arm, letting the creature crash into the shield. He growled and launched it away with a madra reinforced push, sending it into the wall. A touch of his spirit manipulated the natural metals in the earth, and the ground where the creature landed had hardened. Silas didn't have time to gloat as the second creature skittered back and forth before charging toward the master.

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Silas hefted his war hammer behind and over his head before slamming it down on the beast. It exploded, and black ooze shot out from under the hammer. Luckily for Silas, his opponents hardly had a fraction of his strength. Another vaulted over the soil bed. Silas hoisted his hammer up with one hand and thrust it towards its abdomen, connecting midair, and knocking the creature into the wall, mimicking the other loud splat.

The last creature came around and flanked Silas, surprising him. His breathing became heavy. His channels were still gunked up with whatever was happening inside him. Lifting his hammer was much more complicated than it should have been. He brought both hands together on the leathery grip while the last creature attempted to attack. It leaped and clicked its teeth together in a pathetic war cry.

Silas turned to meet the monster; it threw off his reaction time. It connected with Silas's chest, plunging its talons into his chest and bared teeth right in the master's face. Silas yelled out, grabbing two of the creature's legs. His grip had faltered, causing his hammer to slam against the ground.

Silas knew he must fight more physically than he had expected a few moments ago. The creature seemed to match the intensity of Silas's stare. Reinforcing the metal in his arms, Silas could snap the two legs he had a hold on. The monster shrieked as black oozed all over the place.

Silas gritted his teeth as the creature writhed in pain as it tried to wrestle away from the man. The master was growing exhausted. His muscles were strained and sore. He kept the creature at arm's length away from his face. The remaining spider legs kicked and clawed, attempting to grip Silas. They struggled over to one of the herb beds, and the man slammed it into the soil. One hand held the creature down, the other arm slid between while he formed a madra forged shield into the creature's face. He bashed it repeatedly, yelling, until the beast stopped writhing in his grip and dissolved into a puddle of black.

Silas slumped onto the earth floor, muscles throbbing and aching. Even his madra channels were pulsating from the strain he had put them through for this battle. He closed his eyes to sense his spirit. Madra was missing from his channels. However, he had more than he expected in his core. He frowned when he realized that the ooze inside himself was spreading. It seemed to be the same substance these creatures turned into when they were defeated. What the hell was going on with him?

His eyes shot open as he stood up. Still, his breath came heavy. A slight noise came through in the hangover of silence following the battle. A faint familiar noise in the distance, and dread fell over Silas. Immediately, he grew worried.

Where was the phoenix? Shu was a phoenix that Himari had found and kept to cultivate. There was an ornate silver cage that she usually kept Shu in. When Silas scanned the basement, he couldn’t find the cage. He moved slowly, unsure if he could continue with more creatures. The cage had tipped over and was hidden by debris from the scuffle. It must have fallen off the back table, with one of these demons trying to get inside for the bird.

The phoenix was small for its kind because Himari kept it in the cage, but she still cared deeply for the creature. The phoenix's feathers and tears were prized and worth a fortune. He was a deep red that brightened towards the tips, and the spirit beast could manipulate the fire aura to a small degree. His feathers matched the flame that grew inside them.

Shu scratched at the ground between the bars of its cage that lay on the floor, and his beak opened, and a fiery ball formed. The bird gave a loud squawk, seeming to warn the creature trying to invade its home. It only took a moment for this black void figure to retreat from the cage, but it had been too late.

The creature gave a screech before being evaporated into a thick, shadowy dust cloud. Silas stood in awe as the smoke surrounded Shu, who seemed to breathe it in. He knew the bird had some kind of power, but he hadn't learned to what extent. Finally, Silas chuckled and slid over to the cage. Shu returned to his standard color and looked at Silas with a cocked head. The master set the cage upright and opened the door.

"Well, my friend. If you do that well against those things, I guess I don't have to worry about releasing you into the world. Himari is gone, and there's nothing left here for me. I can't leave you here locked up," Silas sighed and patted the phoenix's head lightly. The bird squawked back in response. "Yes, go ahead, Shu, be safe. Maybe you can find more of your kind."

Shu's wings spread out as it stepped from the cage, and he looked up into Silas’s eyes. He hopped onto the table and bowed his fiery head before flying up the stairs from the basement. Silas had, in a hurry, left the front door open to the house, so he assumed the phoenix could freely escape with no further help.

Silas took a moment and replayed the current events in his head. It had turned his entire world upside down without explanation, not to mention the sludgy sickness that overwhelmed his channels. He tried again to cycle his madra by pulling from the surrounding aura. He could only do it for a few moments before giving up. His channels remained blocked by that black goo, and trying to cycle and cultivate only made him feel off, similar to a rock in a hose.

He sighed and opened his eyes, taking in the well-loved room again. Time seemed to pass by slowly, and he felt the pull to leave this home behind for good. It was apparent the town was empty, his wife, student, the Elders, and the other townsfolk. His hands gripped the table to steady his stance, and he looked towards the soil strewn on the floor. Silas recalled losing his war hammer in the battle and bent over to pick it up, but he could barely muster the strength to lift it.

He searched deep within his soul and used the least amount of madra he could. It was barely enough to activate the script on his ring to return his weapon to its place. He thought to look for anything worth taking with him as a memory of what was. There was a large messenger satchel hiding under the table. The leather was well-worn and cracked, but it was large enough to carry things, as he could not use the ring's storage ability. Silas flung the strap over his head and rested it on his shoulder. Empty glass herb containers rested on the shelves near Himari's garden.

Silas turned his attention to the destroyed soil beds and cursed to himself. Since Himari was the only one who tended to these beds, he wasn't entirely sure what she planted in them. He was a man who believed everyone had their particular specialty and that they should fully master it. What Silas never paid attention to alchemy, herb collecting, or anything of the sort. He went to the healers and alchemists for plants and pills.

"Healing, enriching, and poison?" Silas muttered. That didn't sound right. Himari wasn't the sort of person to grow poison in their basement. For all he knew, they could all be oregano and thyme. She was an excellent cook. He sighed heavily and continued filling the containers with the best assortment of herbs. There were two containers. He needed other things as well. He needed supplies so he could get out of the village and find answers to what was going on and what had happened here.

As he started up the stairs, he glimpsed familiar material. A long, black scarf that Himari wore in the chilly morning air. She would also use it to cover her mouth and nose when using some of the more dangerous ingredients. It had been hanging on a nail on the wall. The scent overwhelmed him when he lifted it off the pin and he brought it to his nose. He inhaled, taking in her scent, his eyes closed in shame at not being able to protect his wife. "I'll find you wherever you are," he promised before wrapping it loosely around his neck, letting it hang down his front.

Silas’s mind raced and his stomach growled. He would need to find food and water soon. He planned to go north to the capital city, Queping. The route Silas wanted to take would pass the School of Jade Mountain. If anyone knew what had gone on, it would be the instructors and masters who sat looking down over the village daily. The bare kitchen was untouched by those creatures, and Silas could secure some cured meat and cheese and some nuts and dried berries for his travels.

With the dinner they had the night before with Kio, they had plenty of rice and dumplings left. Silas wrapped the food in some cloth and noticed some small jars of plum wine. He put both in the bag and turned to face the main floor of the home he and his wife had created. His heart felt heavy, and Silas pulled his brows together into a stressed expression. With a sharp breath in, Silas shook his head and turned to leave the last place he saw his beloved wife safe.

"They wanted me to be the village protector. Look how I failed them. I couldn't protect them from anything." Silas's voice broke out of the silence of the village.

His movement remained paced, hoping to save his energy and the bit of madra he had for whatever else might hide out here. He also had to ensure he could set up his camp during later travels. The sky's hue turned orange and purple, and the sun dropped behind distanced hills, which made the land darker. It wouldn't be long before it was too dark to travel through the forests.

As he went through the fields, something felt entirely wrong. His spirit was being invaded by a foreign aura. Silas's vision darkened, and he squinted through the black fog. It was a few moments before he could adjust to the object that had permeated his view. There was a human-like figure standing on a large rock at the base of the mountain. It seemed to hover there in all black robes and black hair with ashen skin. It felt like it was just watching over the landscape in front of where they stood, a slightly mischievous grin on their lips. Silas could make out more definitions, similar to that of a young girl with her hands behind her back.

His gaze drifted away when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. A monster was approaching the village. Silas realized everything had a dark purplish tinge tint when he wasn't looking at the girl-like figure. That didn't hide the monster that was rapidly closing the gap between it and the village. It was quite large, even from this distance. It had a familiar void-like color and an ooze that matched what caked the village. Silas noticed that every drop of this stuff melted from the creature's tendrils and would reabsorb as it glided back over it.

It didn't have any legs, but it wasn't walking on the tendrils either. The creature's lower half was almost a flowing robe of darkness gliding across the ground. The upper half was like the rest of the body, with three long tendrils on each side. They could reach out and blacken whatever it touched. When it reached down, it picked up bits of earth and stone. It was topped with a demonic-shaped head that opened just enough to bare its multiple rows of fangs that circled its jawline. It was sucking on whatever was brought in front of it. Two tall horns reached up and then down, curving around the face. Silas could make out two large, leathery-looking wings with small talons at each joint.

"What kind of horror?" Silas breathed, his mouth agape as he watched this creature move unnaturally.

Then, like someone else was forcing him. He turned, and the people from his village, fighters and himself included, sprinted from the center of town. They were ready to engage the monster in battle.

"NO!" he called out. Surely they wouldn't have a chance against this horror from the layers of hell. He thought a creature of death's domain must be coming to wreak havoc on this plane of existence. Did Kyoto do something wrong to incur the god of death's wrath? No, but that person over there couldn't be death? What was going on? Silas was puzzled and studied the mischievous, evil smirk on this small girl, yet she looked more playful than anything else. She seemed not to care that the people Silas loved most were marching into inevitable death.

The fighters moved forwards in a coordinated motion. The other Silas was on the front line, 5 feet in front of the rest. Silas secured his war hammer and readied for the attack. Some of the more powerful Sacred Artists joined him in his village, including his wife. Himari waved her chain dart, swinging it behind her in a readied stance. He smiled as he watched her, as she was never one for head-to-head battles like this.

She was so graceful in her movements, even though a battle was about to occur. Heading up the rear of the formation was Reiko, Silas's young apprentice, standing in his brand new robes. Silas watched and stood at attention, his hammer end coming into the dirt. Reiko had not been prepared for this sort of thing. Still, the young cultivator moved forward towards the demon, his picks ready for battle. Kio had shown him how to move his thin, agile body with precision, and watching him rush in with the others filled Silas with pride.

There were only seven fighters in total heading toward the beast. The remaining members comprised two village guards from the Kunlun Sect, wearing reddish-orange shirts and slacks that were the sect's uniform. The other two were promising Sacred Artists, still young but close to breaking into the spirit development stage of their cultivation. They were close now.

That monster eyed them and stood still. It was turning its head to either side as if it wasn't sure what to make of the people running towards it with weapons at the ready. The flailing appendages spread out widely, seemingly no longer concerned about eating the earth. The creature let out an epic roar, an unholy sound so loud that it caused the master to brace himself. It was as if the hills and mountains gave this creature a natural amplifier. Silas could no longer withstand the reverberations and was knocked to the ground.

Silas jumped to his feet, readying his hammer as if he was going to go into battle with the astral fighters before him. He blinked furiously and swung the weapon around before realizing the creature and his people had vanished. The mysterious person who watched playfully from afar disappeared in a split second. The purple tint to his sight dissipated, and the people of his vision were gone. Bewildered, Silas stood there and processed what he had just witnessed.

"So, it seems we were attacked." Silas spoke as he stamped the end of the hammer into the dirt once more. Silas fell to his knees, letting the hammer dent the surrounding soil. That meant that… He stopped himself. His wife and apprentice had to have taken cover. No, they couldn't be dead, not everyone.

Young Reiko, with such promise, had run in with that foolish bravado. Silas surely would have attempted to stop them, but in his pride, it appeared he did nothing but meet the threat head-on. Reiko had made Silas bitter and proud by rushing in that way, however foolish it may have been. He had always stayed right at his master's side.

Silas slowly came to his feet, a single tear running down the left side of his face that left a small clean streak in the dirt. He shook his head and came up with other reasons for their absence in the village. Could they have been perhaps kidnapped by whoever the mysterious, colorful figure was? Immediately, he activated the ring and sent his weapon into storage. He knew nothing would be in the woods or the mountains between him and the school. He was Silas Zhao, a Jade-level Sacred Artist, and nothing would stop him from getting the answers he needed.