So many think my former rival was some sort of lazy or mad genius. That he was a cheat of some sort. But no Ascendant fits that category. You can’t be born with that kind of talent. It takes incredible will to take down the barriers on that path. And the Darkened Moon was the one who had the most of that among us. His core technique was effective, yes, but its cost…none but he would’ve paid so much to ascend. -The Sun Queen

* * *

“How are you feeling?” Tenri asked as we walked down the road. “The voices quieting down?”

I forced a smile. “They’re manageable. Nothing more I can do about them.”

Tenri put a hand on my shoulder. “Just make sure you don’t push yourself too hard, okay? I’d hate for you to keel over. I get the distinct feeling your sister would hold me responsible if you did.”

I stifled a laugh. Chouko had always been the one to get worried over my well-being. Even after we’d both become cultivators, she would always fuss over me when I was around, asking if I was eating well, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, all the important things that a person needs. When I came up short, she’d smack me upside the head, then turn to Jinshi and insist that he take better care of me since I was too foolish to do so on my own. Nothing had changed in the last few millennia, and now it was Tenri’s turn to make sure I was fed and properly hydrated.

“If you think Chouko is an imposing figure, then you should meet my other sister, Aya,” I continued. “She was the one who raised us.” I paused, memories of long years searching for my older sister rushing back. “She was stronger than either of us. Never backed down, never let anyone see the cracks in her mask, right up to the end.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It was a long time ago, even by my standards. She was the reason I became a cultivator. Nearly my entire time in the Forging Realm was devoted to tracking her down after she was taken.”

My dislike of arrogant, self-righteous cultivators was common knowledge in the old days. Abuse of power was not tolerated in my kingdom, and the reason was because of Aya. When we were children, she’d been kidnapped by a cultivator and forced to marry him. Rescuing her was why I became a cultivator, but I hadn’t reached her in time.

“I always arrive too late,” I muttered. I’d been too late to save Aya before time and circumstances took her away. I’d been too late to save Chouko and the Reili before they perished…too late to see Jinshi one last time before his death.

Tenri didn’t answer, not that I expected him to. We continued our walk in silence, listening only to the wind rustling through the azure canopy overhead. With every step, we were closer to Saikan and a well-earned rest that couldn’t arrive fast enough. Even thinking about it struck me with the sudden urge to stretch my arms over my head.

Pain lashed across my right forearm, and I hissed in surprise. All I saw before my vision was taken was a bloody mess of tally-marks…so many tally-marks…

* * *

The vision began exactly where my reality left off, and I lost myself in the calming sound of wind through the trees. We continued walking, and the quiet silence became a comfortable one as we rounded the bend in the road. The trees parted and the walls of Saikan came into view.

“Do you smell smoke?” Tenri asked, his voice tight with sudden tension. I turned my eyes to the sky and breathed deep. There was smoke, and a thin trail of it was reaching into the air above town.

“It’s coming from the northwest,” I noted. We both knew what that meant. Though there were many homes in that area of town, being a residential district, there was the distinct chance that it was Tenri’s home that was ablaze.

Without further question, we sprinted ahead. The distance to Saikan was still great, but adrenaline and qi fueled our steps and lent speed to our stride. Still, nearly fifteen critical minutes passed as we raced straight past the gates and down the cobblestone streets. Each turn we took on the path towards the smoke traced the path towards Tenri’s home, and sinking despair took deep root in my stomach.

Please let Xinya and Hanako be okay… I prayed. If there was any guardian spirit listening, or even just a fraction of my old powers still under my command, I begged it to keep them safe from harm.

The smoke was thickest on Tenri’s street. Civilians were screaming, trying to organize a group to fight the fire before it spread to other homes. Tenri yanked one of his neighbors over.

“What happened?!” he shouted over the cacophony of shouts and roaring flames.

“Don’t know! But it’s your home!”

“Did anyone make it out?”

The man shook his head. “I haven’t seen anyone but you.”

Tenri’s face set into a stony determination as he sprinted into the smoke, and I was right on his heels.

The once tidy building was a mess of fire and rubble already, and I could hear the building creaking overhead. The smoke burned my lungs even more than the fox fire we’d seen on the road, proving that this flame was very, very real. Qi swirled around us, upset and altered by the flames.

“We have to find them!” Tenri shouted. I nodded.

Without another word, we split up, searching through the smoke and flames for any trace of life. I rushed to the room Xinya, and I shared when we lived in Tenri’s home. The door wouldn’t budge, it was blocked from the other side…and yet, I could feel the heat coming from within. The fire was there, too.

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There was no time to think. Void qi surged into my hand, and I forced it into the wall next to the door, hoping the blockage was shallower away from the door. The wall gave way before me, dissolving into dust that joined the smoke and revealed the room within.

Rubble had fallen in the way of the door, and fire licked at the walls and rafters. I looked around, frantic to find any trace of the little girl. In the thick, black smoke, I nearly missed her entirely.

Tucked between a cupboard and the wall curled a tiny form with her knees drawn to her chest. I lunged forward, yanking my disciple from her hiding spot and holding her close before sprinting out the way I entered.

“Zhao Jaili!” I shouted as we made it to the street. The apothecary was already on the scene, and joined me as I collapsed to the ground, Xinya in my arms. Concerned neighbors watched from nearby as Jaili and I examined the little girl. I scoured her for any trace of living qi…but found none. Tears sprang to my eyes as Jaili looked up helplessly.

“No pulse,” she whispered.

There might still be time, I thought to myself as I fought to control my emotions. This wasn’t possible. I wouldn’t allow it. Her life was gone, but the fire hadn’t been raging for long.

The building cracked before me, and pieces of the roof began to collapse in. Shouts of “the supports won’t hold!” and “get away before it falls!” filled the street as the civilians fled the scene.

“Tsuyuki?” Jaili asked. I didn’t answer. She took my hand. “Yoru, she’s gone! We have to flee!”

“She’s not gone…” I said. “I won’t allow it.”

Thirty-nine minutes and twenty-four seconds, including the thirteen seconds for reality to fracture. That would be enough. I wouldn’t let her fall again…

* * *

The second vision was different than the first. Immediately, I felt the tally-mark form, was thrust into the vision, and witnessed the approaching disaster.

“Tenri, we need to move, now,” I hissed, already sprinting ahead. As we ran, I explained the situation. With every moment, his face grew paler and paler as I described the desperate scene.

“But, what caused it?! Hanako is always careful in the kitchen.” he shouted. I shook my head. I didn’t know. What little I’d seen of the fire seemed to indicate that the upper floor was more badly burned than the lower one, otherwise Xinya would have burned to death instead of dying from the smoke and heat. It would be very unlikely to be the result of a kitchen fire…

The smoke wasn’t nearly as thick by the time we rounded the corner onto Tenri’s street. Hope and elation filled me for a brief moment, until my mind caught up with the wildly different scene that greeted us this time. Four cultivators, each sporting the insignia of the Lunar Hunt were watching the blaze. As we approached, feet pounding into the ground, a fifth joined them.

“I double checked, sir,” he said. “No trace of them outside. They’re definitely in the blaze. We should be safe to leave.”

“Good, then let’s-” The man at the center was cut off as he spied Tenri and I tearing towards them. I snarled and skidded to a halt. My bow was already in hand with an arrow nocked to the string.

Tenri raced ahead, fury fueling his rage. He drew the sword that once belonged to Shen Yaoxan and lunged for the man wearing an Iron badge. He ducked away, but Tenri was not willing to let him flee even an inch. His sword thrust towards the man, forcing him to stagger lest he be injured.

“Who are you?!” Tenri hissed, plunging a hand into his pocket. “My wife is in there!” Seed sprayed across the battlefield, glimmering with wood qi.

My arrow slammed into the Iron’s shoulder. He grunted before snapping the shaft and throwing it aside. A dark miasma of death qi began to seep from him as he snarled at the two of us.

“I think you’ll find your wife took her own life,” he said.

Tenri’s next strike faltered, and he paid for it with a blast of death that sent him flying back several paces.

“How would you know?” I shouted back. “Unless you had something to do with it?” The death artist’s face turned into a twisted scowl, and a twisted glee took root in me. They thought they’d gotten away with it. Had we arrived any later, they would have left, and we might never have known that they’d set the fire. Regardless of their true goals, they’d failed to take into account the one thing that could stop them: me.

I will save them. I vowed. I would not let them die.

* * *

The battle with the death artist took too long, and soon smoke billowed into the streets once more. By the time the last enemy was slain, it was too late. The building was on the edge of collapse, and I denied fate.

Two tallies. We just needed to defeat them faster. If we took them by surprise…

* * *

Six tallies, I noted as I returned to the forest outside of town yet again. I took off running, half-heartedly explaining the situation to Tenri as my mind raced through the possibilities. If we arrived fast enough, the artists would delay us at all costs. Though the fight was one we could win, four on two where the enemy win condition was just to keep us busy was a wicked combination. Xinya and Hanako didn’t have the time to spare in dealing with the ones in our way.

Perhaps the solution was to go around them altogether? In the seventh iteration, Tenri and I slowed our pace and climbed the fence to the back courtyard. The hostile artists could still be around. We crossed quietly to the door, shoving it open.

A blast of flames knocked me back, dazing me, but I quickly crawled to my feet. Tenri was already in the building and up the stairs, searching desperately for his wife. Meanwhile, I stayed on the main floor, darting across the living spaces and immediately dissolving a hole in the wall closest to where Xinya was trapped.

“Un…Uncle?” The voice was soft and weak, but it filled me with more joy than I could contain. Tears of relief leapt to my eyes as I yanked the little girl into my arms and raced to the front door.

Civilians were already scrambling to put the fires out as smoke billowed into the street. I spotted the neighbor Tenri had grabbed on the first iteration.

“Can you take her to Zhao Jaili?” I shouted. He nodded and took the weak girl. She tried to cling to my robes.

“No…uncle…don’t…go…” she begged before dissolving into a fit of weak coughs that wracked her entire body.

She’s alive. That’s what matters, I reminded myself as I pried her fingers from my robes.

“I need to help Hanako,” I said.

“Hanako…” Xinya began. “She’s…in the bedroom. So many candles…”

I squeezed my disciple’s hand one more time before running back. Tenri was still in danger, but we could do this. There was still hope. This iteration could be the last if we could reach Hanako in time.

Once inside, I ducked immediately, per Flash Forward’s warnings. A beam wreathed in hungry flames crashed down just behind me as I sprinted up the stairs two at a time.

Tenri was in the hallway, staring through the door of another room. His parents lay peacefully in bed, smoke all around them. Tears drew tracks in the soot on his cheeks as I took him by the arm.

“I know where Hanako is!” I shouted, jostling him from his grief-stricken trance. We rushed to his bedroom door, throwing it open in unison.

Tenri’s wail of grief struck me like an arrow to the heart. Inside, the ground was covered with blood and melted wax. A silk ribbon burned from one of the rafters, but it hadn’t been used. It was as if the perpetrators couldn’t decide on the method of suicide they wanted to fake. In the end, they’d chosen to slash Hanako’s forearms clean from her wrists to her elbows. She lay in a pool of her own blood, her blue dress caked with black soot and crimson stains.

Once again, we were too late.