First day of the month Mengyoru in the year 170 of the Sasuke Empire

“Sir, she’s here,” the delicate voice disturbed the man who was working at his desk.

He looked up from the desk he was working at and narrowed his eyes at his servant. She was a younger girl. The man usually liked to hire younger girls. He smiled behind his goatee and nodded his head. She looked at him with her big brown eyes. Her straight black hair pulled into a tight bun, flawless. All the women were flawless in this Empire. Delicate and petite, just like he liked them.

“Very well, thank you Fumi. Let the Mother know I’ll meet her in a moment. Show her into the library, will you?” Sheng smiled at the attendant and looked back down at the paperwork on his desk.

He was in his office in his manor, and even though he was probably the busiest man in the Empire the office was spotless. Well organized and put together with a desk that took up much of the room and a high-backed chair behind it. In front of it there were two plush red leather chairs that had the symbol of his sect on the high back. The symbol was embroidered in golden silk and it was circular, a winged snake in the air with its tail curling around a symbol for wealth and power.

The symbol took liberties with the Emperor’s decree that there could only be twelve sects in the Empire. One for each of the patterns in the sky. Sheng’s sect was originally called the Harmonious Plains Sect and looked at the pattern of the snake in the stars. Since Tseng had been appointed advisor to the Emperor, though, it had been renamed to The Glorious Sect of Empire and they had put wings on the snake to make it into a wyvern. They had to make sure it didn’t look too much like a dragon, lest they upset the illusionists.

Tseng guffawed and shook his head before he looked up from the pattern and into the hearth of the fire to his left. As if he was really afraid of those cultists. He stroked at his beard and then looked at the door with a hopeful smile. This woman, this seer, would tell him what he wanted to hear. She had to, he was the head of a sect, and an advisor to the Emperor. He stood and made his way to the door after he pushed the chair back in its proper place under the desk.

The hallway he stepped into was large and ornate. Too large really for Tseng, it was more a status symbol for him for his position in the Empire. The girl, Fumi, stood waiting outside of a large closed double door that led into the library. She gave him a small smile and bowed her head to him.

“The Mother is inside, as well as Liv,” she told him as she grabbed at the handle to the door.

He narrowed his eyes and held a hand out to pause her. “And where’s my son? Where’s Silas?”

She let go of the door and put her hands at her sides once more. With her head still lowered, she said. “As you instructed, he’s been left outside with one of his martial instructors for extended instruction,” she said with a soft bow of her head, if that was even possible.

“Good, thank you Fumi,” he said and held his hand out towards the door, giving her the signal to finally open it for him. She did and bowed a little deeper while she stepped out of the way so he could walk into the library.

Once the door opened, Sheng stepped through it and looked at the occupants of the room. The extensive library was mostly just a library for show. There was nothing in here of any real importance. Works of literature of the Empire’s intellectuals considered great. The original authors signed some of them, some were bound in leather, while others were in scrolls. In the middle of the library was a tall table with four stools around it. On either side of that table were plush black leather couches and then an overstuffed chair that matched with a stool in front of it.

It was the couches that were occupied now opposite of where he came in. Liv sat on one, looking as demure as ever. The blond-haired beauty of her whatever Northern kingdom she came from. Bunch of savages. Sheng snorted and shook the thought away before he looked to the woman who he was really here to see, The Mother.

He wasn’t sure of her actual name, or if she even had one. The order she came from always just went by their titles, Mother, sister, or whatever else. He couldn’t keep track of it and if he was honest with himself, he didn’t even really believe in the powers, they claimed to have. Their order of seers and soothsayers was full of women who claimed they could read from Daichi’s book. Or had knowledge of the book given upon them.

The Mother was old. Ancient. If there was ever someone he’d call ‘beyond age’, it would be here. She had long, grey, frazzled hair that she had tried, unsuccessfully, to wear straight down past her shoulders. Instead of the robes of the cultivators, she wore a robe that looked like simple cloth just thrown over head with a hole cut out for her head. When he walked in, she looked at him with milky eyes. One milky white, the other was dark brown but had that same milkiness to it.

She grunted and pushed herself off from the couch she sat on and moved over to him. Sheng didn’t realize how short the woman was, even more so when she walked the way she was hunched over. The Mother was practically doubled over using a cane to help her walk to the man. She walked right up to the Sheng and stared right in his eyes.

Sheng shivered on the inside as he looked into those mismatched milky eyes. He starred into those eyes for as long as she stared into him for what seemed like forever. “Yes?” He finally broke the silence and asked her.

It was several more moments before she finally exploded. “Where’s the boy?” She shouted after the room had lulled into a sense of security and thought the silence would be eternal. Her arms flew up when she shouted and her cane cracked against the polished marble floor.

Liv jumped and looked over at the pair of them, unsure of what to do. Fumi stayed by the door and her eyes darted between The Mother and her master. Sheng pulled back a little and cocked a thin, serious brow.

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“I didn’t think you would need my son to tell what the future would be,” Sheng said coldly.

The Mother clicked her tongue and shook her head before she reached down and picked up her cane. “Of course I need him, and I don’t tell his future. I only tell him his fate. The fates are always changing and being rewritten as we travel on our paths,” she scolded him.

Sheng sighed and then looked back at Fumi. “Go get Silas,” he commanded.

The young servant gave a quick bow and then rushed out of the room. The Mother huffed after she left and walked back over to the couch she was seated on before Sheng arrived. She groaned and grunted as she climbed and got comfortable.

Again the room was quiet until the Mother snored gently. Sheng sighed and Liv stood and moved to her husband.

“Is everything alright?” She asked.

For as long as they were married, she was still adjusting on how to live in this strange land. She was from the north. Daughter of a warlord who the emperor wanted an alliance with. Since he himself couldn’t offer up a marriage to his own family, he offered a marriage to his advisor. Now Liv was here with a husband she didn’t understand and unsure how to take. All she knew about him was that he had wandering eyes and hands if her personal servants’ gossip was to be trusted.

Sheng looked at his wife and smiled a smile that didn’t reach his eyes before he gave her a small nod and told her everything was fine. That was just as Fumi returned with their son, Silas. Sheng looked over and smiled at the boy, who ran to his mother and wrapped his arms around her. She embraced him and held him tightly and rubbed at his back before he released her and went to his father.

Silas gave Sheng a formal martial bow. His hands clasped in front of him and bowed deeply. “Hello father,” he said flatly.

“Hello Silas. How was your training?” The father asked his only son. He looked over at the boy when he asked. He was ten and short and stocky, which always irritated the man. It had to have come from his mother’s stock. His family was all tall and lithe, the way good cultivators should be. His hair was growing nicely though, but it was brown, not the jet black that most people in the empire had. Still, he had it long enough to put it in the topknot that showed his class and rank in the Empire.

“It went well, Father. Uro is an excellent teacher,” Silas explained and gave a small smile.

Sheng sighed and then gave another of his smiles. Uro was fine enough of a martial artist, he supposed. As far as it went for the northerners. He was almost positive Liv was seeing him behind his back, even though they claimed they were cousins or something. He didn’t care. The woman had given him his son and two beautiful daughters and she managed the house staff well. His other needs were taken care of elsewhere, by people who were more…. Local.

The thing about Uro was, while the man could use a sword, he didn’t. He used this large war ax that was as tall as a man was. Whenever he thought about it, it couldn’t help but reinforce the idea that the northerners were all wild barbarians were no better than wild raiders. Uro claimed Silas could use a sword. The boy was much more proficient with a hammer. Uro had Silas practicing and doing his positions with a hammer as a tall as the boy was.

Again, Sheng wasn’t sure he cared. The other people may joke and snicker about the boy using a northerner weapon, but once Silas became powerful enough. Once the boy proved to be the first mortal worthy of the Heaven’s and become a Celestial, then they wouldn’t dare laugh. He was well on his journey already. While Silas hadn’t grown his core yet, the boy was doing a good job forming the channels through his body. The channels that would allow the aura of the world to flow and eventually allow him to convert it to mana.

Without realizing it, The Mother stood next to Silas and Sheng, eyeing them both. Sheng looked at her and rose an eyebrow once more while he wondered how she accomplished that. The old frail woman could barely walk, and then to do so without him noticing? He narrowed his eyes.

“Is this the boy?” She asked and took Silas by the chin before she pulled his head to look him in the eyes.

Sheng snorted. “Of course it is. Shouldn’t you know that?”

The Mother ignored the jib and looked over Silas’s shocked expression.

The boy didn’t know what to do or think, so he just stood there. He looked into the woman’s milky eyes and tried to recoil in fear. Her eyes were so weird. He couldn’t stare her right in the eyes. Were there eyes? Silas squinted a little.

“So, you wish to know if you are fated to reach the Heaven’s? Become the first on this plane to become immortal, without the aid of the Kami themselves?” She asked him before she shoved his face away.

Silas recoiled and took a step back. Sheng stiffened. He wouldn’t suffer an attack on his son in his own house. His guards made her leave her own guards outside, but he wasn’t sure what kind of power this woman or those of her order had.

“No,” she said simply and started towards the door. “The boy won’t reach the Heaven’s under his own power. He will go quite far, further than the father, but he won’t become what you call a Celestial.”

At this, Sheng stood and watched the woman make her way to the exit. “How can you be so sure? Isn’t there some ritual or something you’re supposed to do?”

The Mother turned and grinned a malicious grin before she spoke. “Why? You don’t believe what I tell you, anyway. You are so sure of everything.”

“Well, according to your order, it doesn’t mater what I believe, does it? The fates are the fates, no matter what some simple cultivator thinks.”

“That is true. Your boy’s fate is written. There is no ritual to follow or do in his case,” she said and shrugged an exaggerated shrug. “Your boy, Silas,” she said and winked towards him before she continued. “Will not reach the rank of Celestial, he will not join the Heavens.”

Before Sheng could say anything else, the woman was gone. The aura in the room boiled and Liv rushed to Silas to grab him and pull him away from his father. Once they got to the other side of the room, Sheng grabbed the table in the middle of the room and slammed his fist on it. The table exploded into kindling, and lightning flashed as the splinters lashed out. The lightning exploded towards the pieces, flying towards Liv, Silas, and Fumi, destroying them before any damage could be done. It wouldn’t be proper for anything to happen to them by his own anger.

“Lord, I’m sorry for the news. Thank you for stopping me and our son,” Liv had started and moved towards him. She was cut off, though.

“I have no son,” Sheng spat and glared at the pair of them before he turned and left the room. “Fumi, come!” His shout from across the hall in own office echoed through the library.

Fumi looked at Silas and Liv before she gave a small bow to Liv and then left the room to go to her lord’s call.

Liv just wrapped her arms around Silas and held him tightly. “It’ll be alright,” she told him softly over and over.

Silas stood there, unable to comprehend exactly what happened. He returned his mother’s embrace and just stared at the large open double doors that led to his father’s office door, which had been closed after Fumi went inside.