Three Months Later

Second day of the month Mengyoru in the year 203 of the Sasuke Empire

The sun beat down on him, and he felt the water rushing up his body. The frigid chill from the salt water finally woke up, and he pushed himself up as he coughed and sputtered. Water evacuated from his lungs and he looked up to the sky. The sun was still low. It was before midday then. Silas squinted and groaned out before his head fell once more into the water and he passed back out.

Hours later another groan escaped his lips and his eyes cracked open once more. He was on his back now and it was hard to open his eyes as the sun beat down on him. The cultivator breathed in the crisp air and turned on his side. He was conscious enough now to place where he was, down by the docks of the village. His dark eyes squinted at the empty docks as he tried to remember what happened to bring him here passed out in the water.

Silas moved over to his side and pushed himself a little so his head was out of the water. He blinked rapidly and tried to rub the crust from his eyes. He wondered how long he was out as he climbed to his feet. Was it only a few hours, or.. Wait, how long had he been here? He shook his head trying to shake out the thoughts, he’d figure it out.

As the cultivator moved up the beach he looked to the empty docks. That was weird. Normally there was at least one ship there, even if it was a smaller one. What day was it? Silas’s mind reeled. Wasn’t it only the beginning of the week? Shouldn’t these docks be full of merchants and traders bringing their goods to sell here and then onward to the capital?

Why was the town so…. Quiet? Silas frowned. Even as he moved away from the water and closer to the town itself, there was nothing going on. There were no small children playing down by the water. No usual sounds of commerce from the town square shops. There was nothing.

It wasn’t until he finally hit the middle of the town and he stood right in the middle of the town square that he finally allowed himself to realize that there was no one here. Green eyes opened wide, and he looked around while his mouth hung open. There was….. nothing. Not a single person, anywhere?

He moved quicker, searched along the different stalls and tents. Maybe the village had gotten together and played some trick on him. This was Kio’s fault. She must have gotten the Elder’s to do something. She was due back in the village any day to help continue Reiko’s training. Silas sighed.

No, that wasn’t it. Silas sighed again and shook his head and continued his walk through the village. He moved slowly and tried to think. His mind was foggy though, his thoughts came slowly to him. Nothing seemed quite right, even his vision as he continued to walk through town was off. There was something very wrong.

As he moved further into the village, he started seeing black spots everywhere. It covered the buildings and the ground. Eventually, Silas leaned in to inspect a large spot that covered a wall of the local apothecary. It was pure and utter darkness. The apothecary was the closest thing the village had to being an alchemist shop. It was someone who trained in alchemy and knew some potions, but they lacked the spiritual properties full Alchemists could make. He knew this building well because his wife had helped here often.

Now when he looked it over it was covered with this darkness. When he stuck his finger in it the material stretched out as it tried to hang onto the building. When Silas watched it pull from the wall he saw slight glitters in the blackness. Just slight twinkling lights as if they were far away. He squinted his eyes and released his fingers which let the sticky mess slap back towards the building.

“Mana,” he mumbled before he looked off. The man did not know what mana it could be, it was sticky like shadow but the twinkling. He narrowed his eyes and walked away from the building.

That’s when the thought hit him. Hikari. His eyes grew wide, and he broke out in a run. He ran through the village jumping over fences and ducking under overhangs. He pushed and cycled the mana through his body trying to push himself to reach his home quicker. Silas felt the burning as his mana cycled pushing him to run faster. The master ignored it though. It was weird, and he’d have to inspect his channels once he sorted this mess out, but for now all that mattered was finding his wife.

It didn’t take him long but once he reached his house at the base of the mountain, he leaped over their little fence, ran up the path and then slammed in through the front door. He didn’t take the time to look at the ooze that was puddled around the vegetable garden in their front yard or the splatters of it on the fence.

Once through the door Silas finally took a moment and realized how shallow his breathing was. He was out of breath and was huffing. The cultivator closed his eyes and pushed the thought from his mind. Just another issue he’d have to look into once he figured out what was going on. Silas grinned when he looked across the sunken living area of the house to a large chest that sat next to a stairway that led upstairs.

The living area was about as you’d expect a living area to be. Hardwood flooring and some rugs along with a sofa along with his chair. The black overstuffed chair reclined so he could put his feet up after a day at the forge so he could relax. Hikari would sit on the couch and do crafting while they talked and enjoyed their company. Off to the right was the table where he found Kio and his wife that night when Kio first agreed to do Reiko’s martial training for Silas.

Once he was at the enormous chest, he opened it and grinned. The sight of his massive war hammer was always something he liked. He reached down and hefted the weapon up not noticing how heavy the weapon felt with the adrenaline pumping through him. The handle of the hammer was as tall as he was, with the head it stood taller than him. The head of the hammer was wider than he was, so all told it was a. very fearsome weapon. The metal cultivator also worked earth spirit stones into the hammerhead to give it some extra spiritual heft and let him do a few tricks when he fought that would catch his opponents off guard.

With the hammer over his shoulder, he looked around the living area and into the kitchen once more. There wasn’t a sign of anything that went wrong in his home which was a plus, but the quietness of everything still made him feel uneasy.

Just as Silas thought this a loud squawking noise resounded from the basement.

“Shu,” Silas said to himself. He was startled there was actually something else that made noise that wasn’t himself.

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He raced up the stairway and up the third floor where his wife kept a small but well-stocked alchemy lab. Not only that, but it had three large raised garden beds with various plants and herbs and whatever else she needed. The light from outside shined through the large overhead windows that were installed for her plants. Silas wasn’t quite prepared for the scene he saw once he entered the room.

He expected the three large raised gardens with their plants, and was surprised to see nothing in the beds had been disturbed. Around the beds were large counters against the walls that made up her workspaces. On the very back counter sat her prized phoenix, Shu. It normally lived in a very large ornate cage that she had Silas carve small runes to help pull fire aura towards the cage to help Shu cultivate. When Silas entered though, the cage was on the floor. The cage took up almost the entire back wall and even with their strength took both him and his wife to move it.

In his rush before he didn’t hear the soft chittering noises. Now though with the stillness of everything he heard a soft tapping on wood and the soft chittering like cicadas in the spring. He tightened his grip on his hammer as he stepped over and tried to peek around the garden bed. He could already tell the cage was on its side on the ground.

The experienced and retired cultivator wasn’t sure what he was looking at. There were five little creatures that seemed to be made from whatever that goo was earlier. They looked like a cross of some sort of spider and a crab? Long spindly legs that had three parts to it. They were so long the body of the creature seemed to float along as it walked along the now top of the cage. The thing had a wide main body that segmented into a second part with a bulbous rear end. Silas hoped it didn’t shoot webbing or something like a spider did, that might be too much for him to handle.

The beyond black creatures seemed to have little sparkling lights like stars like when Silas pulled the goo from the wall earlier. Space. Silas realized and gaped as he watched the creatures terrorize the phoenix. Looking at one of them was like looking into the stars at night.

For the time being it didn’t seem like the creatures could get into the cage and the phoenix was left on the ground and looking up at them. They just kept poking in and prodding at Shu, unable to completely get into the cage. He stood there watching the scene for several moments unsure of what to really do. Until Shu noticed him standing there the phoenix’s bright red eyes looked right into Silas and Silas smiled at the bird.

It was a beautiful creature that Himari got when it was just a baby. She fed and nurtured the animal until it grew its spirit and until it grew its core and became a proper spiritual beast. She initially got the creature for her alchemy but eventually she grew to really care and like the animal and thought of Shu more like a pet. It was a brilliant fire red and towards the tips of its feathers was a subtle golden hue. Silas always thought the creature looked like a bit of flame coming from a matchstick.

The phoenix made its first noise since Silas had come in and it let out a mighty squawk that seemed to bounce off the walls and echo around the small room. It drove the creatures back a little and that’s when they noted Silas now in the room. A few of them turned their heads and Silas looked past their maws of little teeth into their beady eyes that twinkled. On each side of their mouths was a large fang and then besides that there was a short claw appendage. He also now noticed that their front leg had a thick powerful looking claw like a crab would have.

When the three that noticed him moved off the cage and towards him Shu let out another screech and then there was a burst of flame from the creature's mouth. Silas had braced himself for the onslaught from the creatures. He moved a foot back and brought the war hammer up in a ready stance, though he wasn’t sure what he’d do with it since they could close the distance so quickly.

Then he gaped when he watched Shu attack one. The creature not only melted but dissolved away into glittering light. Aura, Silas realized. These creatures were made from pure mana? That was new to Silas. He had seen some masters able to make small things or even some weapons from their mana, but a creature made up entirely of mana? That didn’t seem right. He then watched as Shu breathed in deep with a ruffling of feathers and the glittering aura surrounded and disappeared into Shu’s body.

That shouldn’t be a problem though, Shu’s own fire aura should be able to burn out whatever sort of mana these creatures comprised. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind though. It was a problem to deal with when he had time to figure out why he had been worn out and out of breath so easily from running across the town. Even when he lifted the hammer now it felt heavy, much heavier than it should.

He brought his hammer back and swung it at one creature that rushed towards him in an overhanded swing. A resounding thud echoed out now and threatened to break the floorboards as the hammer crashed into the creature that was slowest to move towards him. The creature was crushed under the hammer and that glittering aura floated out and around once Silas lifted it. The aura hung in the air sparkling around the commotion.

The other two that ran towards Silas leaped now with surprising strength. Silas heard the fluttering of feathers and another explosion of fire as Shu burnt another of the demon creatures on his cage. He wasn’t able to watch the aura from that creature though as he yelled in pain as one of the beast's spiny appendages struck into Silas’s skin.

He ignored how it was even possible for some small creature to pierce a metal cultivator’s skin as instinctively brought one hand to grab the creature. He dropped the hammer from his other hand. It was too heavy for him to hold one handed currently and it fell to the t floor with a loud thud. Another yell as he squeezed and ripped the creature off of him. The legs broke as he tore and the appendages stuck out of him like large needles.

He stomped out with his other foot and crushed the third creature that rushed him. It landed just before where he stood and was apparently in the process of trying to crawl up his boot. A small shrill yell just before the boot stomped down with a sickening crushing noise. Silas felt like he shouldn’t allow the aura to release so he held his foot firm where it stood before he hurled the beast in his hand towards the wall behind him.

After the throw he held his hand out and concentrated on the mana in his body. It was harder than it should have been as he manipulated the mana to shoot and form a metal brick to follow the creature to crush it when it landed. His channels were thick and heavy from his years of cultivation but now they felt thin and brittle as he worked to control the aura of the room. With a grunt, a misshapen brick formed from in the air and followed the beast into the wall. It crushed it against the building just before the beast could leap back towards Silas.

The man stood there now panting. Silas even had to bend down and put his hands on his knees to hold himself up. “That was much harder than it should have been,” he groaned and looked at Shu.

The phoenix just tilted its head at him and gave a soft squawk.

“Yeah, I’m confused too,” Silas muttered when he regained his breath. He stood back straight and looked at the legs protruding from under his collarbone. He gritted his teeth and pulled them from his body. It took him a moment for his eyes to clear from the watering so he could really inspect the wounds. The blood leaked, but only for a moment. After the initial blood the wound closed itself with a bit of mana. Silas expected this to happen, what he didn’t expect to happen was that mana to have a blackish tint to it. He expected the dull silver of his metal mana, this just looked dark.

Silas looked up and out of the ceiling window and up the mountain to the school that loomed overhead. They would know what happened here, and they could figure out what was going on with him as well. Luckily, any of the other glittering dark aura just floated away and joined the aether in the universe. This village was empty and dead.

He staggered over to the cage and leaned down to open it for the phoenix. “Well Shu, I suppose there’s no point in you being locked up anymore,” he said.

The phoenix gave a squawk and fluttered its wings and hopped out of the cage to sit on one of the thick wires that made it up. It looked at Silas and while the creature couldn’t actually smile the cultivator felt like it had. Not only that, but it turned and bowed its head at him. Before Silas could respond the spirit animal took flight and crashed through the window letting glass rain down on Silas.

“Thanks, for that,” Silas muttered with a sigh as he brushed the glass from his robes and off his head.