Phoenixes Story snippets and ideas

[Darkphoenixlady]

My name is Angelia, and I have just been declared to be the most powerful mage in the world. They did it after I killed Rotsucker the undying because he wanted to know the name of my patron.


I do not have a patron.


I'm also nothing special in terms of heritage, second daughter, and forth child out of 8. Neither of my parents were special either, being farmers for generations.


No, the secret to my success is in my use of magic to give myself time to study. Not like that. I didn't even start studying time magic until I was in my 20's. No, I started out with a book of household charms that you can find in every market town. In the magical academies they call them cantrips. Papa bought it for me after harvest one year before my naming ceremony. I forget which one, only that I hadn't celebrated being a woman yet.


In that book I learned how to start fires, lift light things, kill pests, tell the time, and other tiny tricks that each and every one of you reading this has dismissed as being not worth your time. But more importantly, I learned math, language, and how to study.


Remember, these books are designed for 'barely literate' farmers and rural folk. They need to include instructions on how to cast magic from the absolute basics.


Living on a farm taught me two other vital skills. The first is getting enough sleep. Despite now knowing how to make my clothes darn themselves, being able to light the kitchen fire with a snap of my fingers, and being able to clean the counters to the point you could eat off them. As an aside, that last spell probably reduced how many illnesses my family suffered over the years. [page 278]


As part of a farming family you either get used to sleeping early and getting up with the sun. Or you get used to being shouted at by the people you kept awake, and still having to do a full days work on very little sleep. As a child I did not have the opportunity to do the latter, as my mother would just take the book away and I wouldn't see it for days if I stayed up late. That is something that's stuck with me through the centuries.


The second thing you get used to is eating properly. I don't mean having enough to eat, as there were plenty of years we went hungry. I mean having a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. The preface to new book on household charms is not the right place to go into the whys of this. Suffice to say that eating a wide variety of different seasonal fruit and vegetables, alongside the basic grains and animal products will give you the energy you need to understand what you are learning.


Lastly, the thing that carried me forward and kept me going even when my family told me I was wasting my time is my dedication and love of learning. This book contains everything you need to become an archmage. Each one of these cantrips deals with an aspect of magic that you'll see in even the most powerful spells ever devised. But, do you know what the first spell I ever created was? It was a spell to wind the bucket on the well. You will not find that spell anywhere in these pages, nor will you find the clothes drying spell I created next. But you can create your own versions if you study and understand the cantrips written within.

 

[Ame]

I like that one.
It reminds me of a story I read once, where there was a set of books that were written so as to teach anyone the basics of magic and how to make thier own cantrips. Thus anyone could learn anything, if they were willing to put the time and effort.
Only problem, the books were written very poorly. So that most people who found them and tried to use them, gave up in disgust due to the dry, dull, and dense text.
I don't recall the title. But it was a very interesting story.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

As we stand outside a tenement building that covers an entire block in the far South Dock, almost running into Downtown, Miss Militia sweeps her hand at the front door, "Welcome to your new home."


I turn to face the city official that's with us, "Is she right, is this my new home?"


The older man reaches up and ruffles my hair, "Yep, it certainly is."


A smile starts to form on my face, "And I can redecorate?"


The man shrugs, "Sure, as long as you keep it inside and don't damage the structural integrity of the building."


"So, as long as I keep my redecoration inside, and maintain the structural integrity of the building, I can change what I want?"


Miss Militia raises her hand as the man nods, "That's right."


Her hand drops limply as I nod, "That is a fair exchange. My old home for a new home."


That said, I remove the keys from my purse and hand them over to the city official. The old man chuckles and hands me my new keys with a flourish, "Here you go young lady. Shall we go and see your apartment the bronze key is the one for the main door?"


I nod and take the key before slotting it into the front door. As I do I can feel my new home stretch out in front of me. It's no hill, but then again, this is no longer the middle ages.


Once I've opened the door the three of us troop in, and I drop back to allow the official to take the lead as I touch the back of Miss Militia's hand, "Are you ok?"


Miss Militia turns her tight eyes towards me, "I know what you did."


I cock my head, "Do you now?"


"Your apartment's on the fourth floor, so you could either take the lift, or the stairs here."


The two of us ignore the old man as he presses the button for the elevator. Not that I blame him, as the concrete stairs are strewn with rubbish and there is already mold and fungus growing behind the plaster.


Miss Militia hisses, "Yes, you took more than was offered."


I shake my head, "I did not. The deal was a home for a home. I even checked first that this is what was offered."


As we file into the cramped elevator the old man ruffles my hair, "I know it's a poor consolation, but as a ward of the state, we couldn't allow you to live in that mold infested home, even if it was your grandfathers."


I can see Miss Militia struggling not to say something, eventually she says, "What is going to happen about her schooling?"


The old man takes a large file out of his bag as the elevator door opens and we all walk out, "Let me check. I believe that you're in apartment 423 young lady."


We've made it to a furnished one bedroom apartment that would not have been a fair trade for my old home by the time he finds the sheet of paper he needs, "Ah, here it is. The only school that was willing to take you after the temporary closure of Winslow is Arcadia. You'll be on a remedial track for the rest of the year. If your grades are up to their standards by the end of the year, then you'll join the standard classes next year. Otherwise you'll have to repeat this year as a normal student."


I turn head sideways, and the old man winces, so I cock it back to a more human position, "Why's that?"


The old man mumbles, "They didn't think they could handle a monster cape."


Hurriedly, he hands the file over to Miss Militia, "Here you go, my parts done. I'll be off now. Her social worker will be in touch."


Once the door closes, Miss Militia explodes, "Taylor, what was that?"


I scrunch my eyebrows, "What was what?"


"You know what they were giving you. Why did you make a deal with the man?"


I cock my head and look around deliberately, "Do you think this would have been a fair exchange for me?"


"No but…"


"Would you rather I allowed them to steal my home?"


"Steal, why would it be ste…"


I nod and brush my dark bronze hair over my slightly pointed ears, "The house and grounds were mine. They dared to take it from me and I promised dad that I'd try to pretend to be human. So, what would you have had me do? Get insulted by the offer of the apartment?"


Miss Militia shakes her head, "No, no, not at all. What of the other apartments?"


I cock my head to one side again, "What of them? The people here are still residents, but now they are residents of my domain."


Miss Militia slumps, "Just, be careful."


I nod, "My people survived the age of dragons, already has the Queen of Captains Hill sent word across the seas to awaken the mounds in the homeland."

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As I make my way home after a successful day of shopping for exotic mushrooms throughout the Asian Quarter I nibble on an Eringi mushroom as I consider how I ended up here.


I guess it first starts after my transformation where my humanity was discarded. Well, after the two week 'coma' anyway. That's when dad and I sat down with Principal Blackwell and the Superintendent and discussed the terms of my returning to school.


The agreement boiled down to I would attend as a model student and they would stop the bullying. Of course, this was before I met the Queen so I had no idea what it meant. But it was my first deal.


So I started to turn up and behaved as a model student, not that I'd have chosen to do otherwise if I'd been bully free. Not that the Trio wanted to let me get anywhere close to that.


That's when the accidents started. Well, first it started with small things, with teachers losing things, or bumping into doors or slipping on wet patches whenever they ignored bullying anywhere in the school. But amongst my bullies the accidents started when they moved back to trying to ruin my school work. The first one was Madison breaking her nose when she slipped on a pencil just after she'd snatched my math homework off the desk.


The first big one happened just before I met the Queen, and Sophia succeeded in destroying a sculpture I'd made as part of my art assignment. Later that day she was hit by a motorcycle after it went over the top of a car that jumped a red light. The handlebar shattered her shoulder blade and tore all the ligaments attached to it.


The same evening, the secretary who'd shredded my dutiful report of bullying got her hand caught in her food processor.


It was a blessedly quiet week after that, which is when dad and I met the queen and spent a pleasant few months in her court. Of course, dad's now a resident of the court, but that didn't happen overnight. Maybe one day he'll trade his humanity too.


I absently walk through the front door as it opens for me and smile at luminous fungus that's started growing on the ceiling. A few days ago it was a patch of mildew, I might be trying to limit the mound's growth to my rooms, but it is still alive and mine. The ding of the elevator catches my attention, and I look up as the doors open on what used to be a cramped box, and is now large enough that some enterprising residents have pulled in an old dining table and some chairs and turned it into an impromptu communal room.


Old Bert, an elderly black man, looks up from his cards and calls, "Morning Miss, going up?"


I look at the ongoing game and the couple of people chatting away at the edges, before smiling, "Not today Bert, I'll take the stairs."


There's load of friendly waves from everyone inside, of course they weren't so friendly until yesterday, or Insurance Day as Friday's are normally known as in this building.

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Taylor's tending to the fronds of a beautiful violet fungus in her room. Suddenly she startled as the mound suddenly feels tense.


"What's going on?"


Taylor felt rather than saw as the mound showed her where her residents were shivering in fear on the first floor while a group of guests crowd the hall outside.


With a huff, she stood up and hurried out of the door to the elevator.


She's just about to press the button when the door opened on its own, so Taylor smiled and patted the wall, "Thank you."


As she walked in, Taylor couldn't help the shudder that passed through her at the cramped confines of the elevator. In response the inside of the elevator expanded slightly as it swiftly took her down to the first floor.


As it reached the first floor, Taylor hurried out and turned towards the group of guests.


"Mr Lee, we know you're in there! It's time for your insurance payment!"


The loud voice came from a slim skinhead in a black suit with discrete swastika tattooed behind his right ear. Stood behind him were two gorilla's in monkey suits wearing four signet rings on each hand. There was also nothing discrete about their tattoos.


Taylor confidently walked over to them, her natural height allowed her to tower over the discrete skinhead. "Excuse me, but you are guests in this building. Unless you wish to be ejected, you should behave like guests."


The man turned away from the door, and stared at her, "We're just collecting the weekly property insurance. It's just $50, and it will cover against accidental damage."


"And if I don't want to pay that insurance?"


"On your own head be it. This building is in contested territory, so if you don't pay, then we can't protect you from any gang violence that springs up."


Taylor nodded and looked at each of them, "I'll think about it. Obviously it would be helpful to know who to give credit to if I do decide to join. May I have your names?"


The slim guy pulled out a card, "Frank Mack from Eagle Security."


The gorilla on the left said, "Zak."


While the one on the right said, "Frank."


Taylor nodded as she took the card, "Thank you, those are nice names, I think I'll keep them."


A smile crossed her face as the name disappears from the business card and she said, "If I have to come back down, next time the price will be higher. Remember, you are guests in my domain, and you will behave like guests or you will be expelled."


As she walked back to the elevator, Taylor heard the skinny one start speaking on his phone, "Hey boss it's… it's… fuck, I think we just got hit by a cape. I can't remember my own name."

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Later that Evening Taylor was woken from a nap at the angry feeling coming from her mound. Apparently, there were trespassers going around and breaking light fittings, door fixtures making their way up to the forth floor.


With a scowl that showed too many teeth, Taylor stalked out of her room to the sound of screaming from the floor below. Rather than trying for the elevator, she instead runs for the stairs and leaps down the three short flights needed to reach the third floor. There the jumbled echoing voices turn into jeers and shouts.


Down the left hand corridor, at the entrance to the corner apartment, are a group of Empire thugs in gang colors. The door itself has been shouldered in, and the screaming and sobbing is coming from inside.


"Hey! Is this a game anyone can join in on?"


Taylors shouted challenge easily overcame the sound of screaming, and all jeering stopped like someone lifted the needle on on a record player. From inside the apartment came a well built bone white man in a leather shirt and trousers. On his face is a plain white, featureless, ceramic mask.


As the man walked forward, Taylor said, "So what's the game? See who can make the other person scream the loudest? I was never very good at that."


The man shook his head, "Nien. The game is join the Empire or die."


Taylor cocked her head to one side, "I don't think I've ever played that one. What are the rules?"


The mans body language showed confusion, before he pulled a gun, "Simple, join the Empire or Die."


Taylor thought for a moment before shaking her head, "Nope, there's no winning rules in that game, I'm not playing."


"You don't have a choice, a name thief is too dangerous to let run loose."


"Hey! Take that back, I didn't steal their names, they gave them to me and I decided to keep them."


"And I told you, you can join or die. Now, what's it going to be?"


Taylor raised her hands, "I already told you, I'm not playing that game."


The lout retort of a gun was quickly followed by Taylor coughing a couple of times before choking up a bullet, "Oh, yuck, that tastes horrible. Hey, this top was actually new and now you've put a hole in it."


A second retort had her head rock back and step back once to keep her balance. As she lifted her head back up, a third, forth, fifth and sixth shot each finds their way into her head, right between her eyes.


After the last shot, there's a pause and Taylor started laughing, "Oh, oh, good game, good game. My turn now don't move."


Six darts materialized in one hand and her other hand threw the first one at the man so fast there's a loud whipcrack of sound. An instant later the man started to crumple as the dart went through his chest and bounced off one of his back ribs. A couple of seconds later he stood up as if he was never hit.


Behind his mask the man's eyes widened as Taylors hand whipped out a second time. As the spike went through his forehead, he dropped like a rock, before suddenly standing up and diving to one side to try and dodge the next four spikes. Something that he's only slightly successful at doing.


As if it was a signal, the rest of the gangers charged forward with bats and knives and Taylor started to laugh.

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As she gets to the forth floor, Taylor smiles, yes, that was a lot of fun. Except nobody died. Well, there's always next time.

 

[Cyrus2]

So is Taylor a fey now? At first when she was talking about Grandfather and mold I thought she was referring to Nurgle but now I'm not sure.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

So is Taylor a fey now? At first when she was talking about Grandfather and mold I thought she was referring to Nurgle but now I'm not sure.

Click to shrink...

No, just the home that Danny or Annette grew up in.

 

[Kittle]

Alabastard meets his match. You love to see it.

 

[Martin Rudat]

Taylor played catch with the Empire using little lead darts, but nobody died? Did she only target Alabaster and not all the other players?

Hmm. I wonder if Tattletale will get to explain the rules of the cape game to Taylor, or if the PRT have explained the rules they play by?

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Taylor played catch with the Empire using little lead darts, but nobody died? Did she only target Alabaster and not all the other players?

Hmm. I wonder if Tattletale will get to explain the rules of the cape game to Taylor, or if the PRT have explained the rules they play by?

Click to shrink...

No, she was playing injury for injury, and the mooks weren't going for fatal blows. Just deadly to a normal human if they accumulated.

 

[Martin Rudat]

No, she was playing injury for injury, and the mooks weren't going for fatal blows. Just deadly to a normal human if they accumulated.

Click to shrink...

Ooh, that makes sense, and also demonstrstes why it's important to know the rules for a game involving the fae.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter One

The Stellar Empress sits in the lotus position as a barren world turns beneath her. As her qi flows through the solar system she allows herself to smile as she thinks back to the earliest days of her cultivation, before she developed her own heaven breaking method on the very planet below her. It is only her realm breaking qi senses that allow her to even perceive the black dwarf that used to be the planets sun.


It is thus fitting that her second home, the place that proved beyond all doubt that there were places far worse than her first home, will become part of the core of her next level of body cultivation while at the same time she forms the galaxy stage of her personal cultivation method.


With a frown, she stands up as her qi reaches the outer edges of the oort cloud and she is finally able to weigh the solar system. Several heavens leaping steps brings her to the black dwarf. There she reaches into her inner solar system to retrieve a couple of white dwarf cores she collected a few aeons ago.


Carelessly she tosses them on either side of the dead star before pushing her qi inside. Once she owns the two new additions the Empress nods, and begins sink into the dead star until she reaches the center. There she returns to the lotus position and begins to meditate as her qi begins to rotate inside her.


Outside her body, the qi saturated solar system begins to rotate in sympathetic action with the internal qi. As her cultivation begins to progress to the next level, there's no tribulation lightning, no retribution from the heavens, for the Empress has surpassed all those who could claim authority over her. Of the uncountable realms she's lived in, there are none that could claim to be above her, for is her Dao not that of the very stars themselves? Was it not her that enforced the mandate of heaven equally? Was it not her will that created the Empyrean realm for those that seek to transcend heavenly affairs?


Indeed, while there are those she could call peers, and even those whose understanding of their Dao exceeds even her own. Those that reach her level of understanding have left mortal and immortal affairs far behind them. For these ancient monsters, understanding the truth of existence is all that matters.

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After an unknown amount of time, the qi and matter in the solar system is spinning so fast that it has spread out into a disk of stellar dust.


Suddenly the whole disk seems to jerk as it begins to shrink. As it does, it begins to spin faster and faster around the only solid object that sits at the center of the disk.


On other worlds empires rise and fall as the Empress begins to glow from all of the qi and matter falling into her, but still she sits there as she examines her soul and her history.


As the disk reaches the orbit of the old planet, it jerks once as she comes across a deviation in her foundation. At half the orbit it jerks again as she finds and fixes a second deviation.


When the rapidly spinning disk shrinks to the diameter of the long gone black dwarf, the whole structure warps and buckles and lines of deadly energy lance out from her heavenly crown and abyssal pit as she almost loses herself in a mistake in her earliest foundation. A foundation that she'd thought she'd thoroughly destroyed before she began this path. After losing almost an entire white dwarf's worth of energy the disk smooths out and the lines of qi and energy cut off as her core implodes under the tremendous pressure she's placing on it.


As it does, her inner world explodes with light as it expands to encompass a galaxy of its own. For a brief moment, the Empresses body seems to collapse in on itself and disappears from mortal sight. A moment later it returns.

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The Stellar Empress opens her eyes and regards the small disk of matter surrounding her with interest.


"It seems I was right to add the second white dwarf. I would not have had enough matter to attempt a second ignition without it."


A sweep of her hand quickly gathers up the remains of the disk as she contemplates the black holes that have replaced her heart and heart dantain.


As she's examining her cultivation, a minor fluctuation in the now empty space catches her attention. Curiously, she heads to an apparently empty region of space and peers at nothing.


Extending a tendril of qi, she pokes the nothing and frowns as the qi passes straight through and out the other side.


"How curious. It appears to be invisible to qi, no wonder we couldn't find it."


Withdrawing her spear from her storage ring, the Empress gently pokes the nothing, and smiles as it feels like she's hit a solid wall.


"Maybe now I can find out what happened to my first home."


With a laugh, the Empress forms a jade slip and inscribes a message for one of her old disciples. After the slip has transformed into a bird and disappeared into the Empyrean realm, the Empress stores her spear and places her hand against the nothing before she moves.

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As the last students are leaving a locker corridor a loud bang echoes throughout the corridor as the door to one of the lockers rockets across the hallway and embeds itself in the wall opposite.


As the students all turn to face the noise, a statuesque beauty wearing flowing chinese robes steps out of the ruined locker with an inhuman level of grace before freezing in place. Her knee length, curly hair, carefully bound in flowing bunches with jade clips keeping the hair from straying from its styled look.


It doesn't take long for those students to start making phone calls or recording video.

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The Stellar Empress stops to spread out her spiritual senses across the world as the portal flickers closed behind her. At the same time she dives into her memories, searching for the reason why this all seems so familiar.


Around her the mortals stand at a safe distance as they gawk at the presence of an immortal, as they do everywhere they go. An understandable precaution, even if it is one she has oft wished was not needed. However, they are all so fragile that the barest of careless brushing would cause mortal injuries from all that have passed into the first heaven.


Turning her head up, she looks through the roof of the building and contemplates the lack of heavens in this realm. Has no one ever climbed towards immortality here?


As she's contemplating this mystery, an armoured man carrying a flimsy shield approaches her and speaks in a harsh tongue, "赫伯特小姐,赫伯特小姐,请你跟我去。"


The Empress ignores the mortal while she contemplates what she can sense while she searches her memory for why it seems familiar. The mortal repeats their bleating before daring to lay hands on her clothes.


She would commend the mortal for their bravery, however, the barest twitch of her arm results in a sickening crunch as her sleeve catches his shield and breaks his arm before impacting his chest and sending him flying down the corridor.


Turning to face the mortal, the Empress tsk's, "Have you no sense? You do not touch immortals unless you are certain you are close enough for casual interaction."


As she approaches the downed mortal, another armoured mortal shouts, "勿复近也。 赫伯特小姐,你若续近,我们将迫禁你。"


With her second step, the mortal shouts, "此君之末戒也。" as another mortal starts to drag the fallen mortal away.


A moment later they start to spray some noxious liquid towards her. With a sigh she flows around them before leaning down to touch the fallen mortal on the forehead, her finger easily passing through the flimsy mortal materials that make up the helmet. As she floods the mans body with the barest fraction of qi, she absently heals the mans arm and clears out the accumulated impurities of a mortal life while she reads his history.


Apparently, this is a world called Earth Bet in the local language. They also believe her to be a person called Taylor Hebert. Given that she remembers searching for that portal during her climb to the heavens, she can't say they're wrong. If she hadn't found that error in her foundation, she wouldn't even have remembered that.


With the mans mind in her inner world, the Empress leaves the building, pausing briefly to examine the mortals outside as they're arrayed around the exit she used. One of the mortals wears a suit of red clothing that seems out of place amongst the other mortals. Maybe he's a cultivator.


A glance at the darkened sky reveals a large moon, easily the size of a small world. With a single step she goes from the mortals world to their moon before sitting down to examine the memories she copied.


Most of the memories are fed to the black hole at the center of her inner world, as she does not need to run the risk of polluting herself with a new personality.


The earliest memories she keeps for the moment, as being able to communicate with the mortals will cut down on the irritation. Though it comes with its own problems, as if they can talk they always assume they can demand too. Though, maybe she's spoilt by everyone speaking the language of the heavens. The other memories she keeps are those of Taylor Hebert. Maybe she can use them to help her find a specific grain of sand in the desert.


While she's contemplating, the world above her turns 18 times.

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Once she returns to the settlement she arrived in, the Stellar Empress stops half a li above the ground as she searches through her spacial ring for mortal currency, or at least something that the mortals would recognise as valuable if she cannot find something.


As for why she's doing this. Halfway through her step back it occurred to her that she could probably accidentally killing mortals if she wore some mortal clothes. Then it occurred to her that she might have some mortal clothes in her ring, only it turned out she didn't.


As she's investigating, a mortal approaches her from the city below, buoyed by some unseen cultivation. A brief flicker of her qi shows the mortal to be a young woman.


The woman comes with conversational distance before saying, "Hi, have I seen you somewhere before?"


The Empress looks up from her ring as she keeps searching and cocks her head to one side, "It is unlikely junior sister, as I arrived in this world a mere 18 days ago. I have been residing on the local moon while I gained an understanding of this world."


The mortal pulls out a black device and starts looking at it, "Huh? Sister?"


The Empress smiles gently, "I believe it is a term of respect towards a 少者耕耘者."


The mortal shakes their head, "I have no idea what you just said. Anyway, I'm Glory Girl."


The Empress inclines their head minutely, "I believe that in your tongue, my name would be The Stellar Empress."


Glory Girl looks a little surprised, "Isn't that a little pretentious?"


The Empress shakes her head, "While I have not held the position of Empress since I created the 虚幻境界, the title is mine. And as my 道 is that of the universe, I am the Stellar Empress. Surely they still teach these concepts in the mortal world."


"I have no idea what you just said. Oh, hey, I know where I saw you, you're Taylor Hebert!"


The Empress uses a touch of qi to gently pull the device the mortal just turned around to show her. Curiously she looks at the picture of herself along side a much younger girl that could have been her back in her mortal life. She ignores the mortal as she says, "Hey, it's rude to just take stuff."


After a moment the device goes black, so she looks up, "It is less rude than accidentally breaking your hand or killing you. It is one of the compromises I had to make when I laid down the laws of the heavens." The Empress floats the device back, "Just as I also laid down a law about stealing from mortals."


"You're just as mortal as I am."


The Empress shakes her head, "While I cannot sense your cultivation, I can still tell that you have a mortal body behind your impressive shield. My own body has not been mortal for a very long time. As for that girl you showed me, it could have been me when I was mortal. However, I am yet to find those memories."


"Right, whatever. According to PHO, the PRT would like to talk to you. Also, I meant to ask, what are you doing hanging around up here anyway?"


The Empress chuckles, "I was trying to find some mortal currency, as I fear my current attire would lead to far too many accidental injuries."


"You're joking, right?"


The Empress stretches out the hand without her ring as she pulls out a diaphanous silk scarf and allows it to drape over her hand. "If you can take this scarf from my hand, you may keep it."


The mortal girl does something with her device before putting it away and cautiously flying forward to grasp a fluttering end. When the end doesn't stop, the girl winces and shakes her hand, "What the hell?"


Grabbing it further up, the mortal strains to so much as lift the scarf away from vertical. After a couple of minutes trying, she asks, "What the hell is that made from?"


The Empress smiles, "The silk of a mortal spider that lives on blue stars. They have become very hard to find since I proved that mortal creatures still held value to immortals. To turn it into a usable garment, it has to be woven with qi, otherwise it is useless for all but those of the highest heavens."


The mortal scowls, "Let me guess, that one isn't woven with qi."


"Of course, as I made it for my own use."


"Ah ha, I have found some spirit gold and spirit stones. I seem to remember they're used in the mortal world as currency. Aren't they."


As the Empress switches the scarf for those items, the mortal gapes at the gold coin that's the size of her palm, "What the hell! We haven't used gold for over a century, and never something that big."


The Empress nods, "Is it still valuable? As maybe I can use it for barter."


The mortal mutters, "You could buy out a store with that." More loudly she says, "Look, I have some money with me. I'll buy you a cheap tracksuit so you don't accidentally murder everyone, and then we can go to the PRT and they can sort out everything else. How's that sound?"


The Empress looks at the mortal girl consideringly for a moment. Then she flicks the coin over towards her, "No, I will not be indebted to you. For I do not know how long I will remain in this world. I will pay you that gold coin, and you will purchase for me the finest silks. You may keep one tenth of the value of the coin for yourself."


The mortal licks her lips, "I'll, uh, I'll need to get it appraised first."


The Empress waves her hand negligently and sinks down into the lotus position, "I will wait here until you are done."

 

[sdarian]

Neat. I hope to see more of this one.

Edit: Thinking about it some more, and how she mentioned that there were no heavens and wonders if no one had ever tried to climb to them before... I think she might get on okay with Scion and the entities in general? Like, they seem to be the closest thing to cultivators and they are trying their very best to find the path (dao?) that would lead them to becoming immortals and ascending to the heavens - but they haven't found it yet. Sure she might have to punish them some for all the destruction they've wrought while flailing around looking for the path, but might still find some kinship with them as they also traveled out into the universe looking for a way forward.

It could be pretty neat seeing her interacting with them. Might end up taking out Scion as the controlling intelligence responsible for things they did, but that might just let smaller collections of shards come into their own and have her show them what a proper path looks like.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 2

​

The Empress sat above the city for 7 days, sorting through her spacial ring. At the same time, her divine senses lay lightly across the city. During the evening of the 7th day, an event occurs that forcefully reminds her of the error in her foundation that almost caused her core progression to fail with disastrous results.


In an unremarkable alleyway, a gagged black teenager is dragged from the back of a battered white van towards a steel fire escape door.


As the Empress examines the building, her expression changes from neutral to anger as she finds three other teenagers in rooms with a single manacle around their leg attached to a long, sturdy, chain that will give them just enough space to reach the toilet.


A moment later she vanishes from her spot as she steps down to the alleyway.


A second instant later, and the three men in ABB colours fall to the floor as the Empress flicks a single drop of blood from the tip of her spear. Carefully she steps forward towards the shivering wide eyed young woman before crouching down beside them.


"Hush young one, I am not here to replace one captor with another. I refuse to see another person with a pure yin constitution be turned into a cultivation resource for greedy men. I am about to release you from your bonds, nod if you understand."


When the teenager nods, the Empress projects a tiny bit of sword qi from her fingernails as she passes them over the ropes and handcuffs.


As the teenager reaches up to remove the gag from her mouth, the Empress asks, "Do you know of any orthodox sects that might be willing to take you in and train you to defend yourself?"


With a look of confusion and fear, the teenager shakes her head.


The Empress frowns, "I have not taught a mortal in a very long time, but with no established sects it would be unsafe for you to be without a master, as I found to my cost. If one loose cultivator could find you and arrange for your abduction, so could any other. And a pure yin constitution is certainly a prize that would tempt even an orthodox elder." Her eyes go distant, as if remembering something painful, "In the unlikely event you survived dual cultivation with them, you would face being turned into a cauldron in order to produce pills to aid the cultivation of promising young masters. At which point, your only hope would be to so thoroughly destroy your cultivation that you were useless for that purpose. Then, you would need to escape and have the luck of the gods in finding a cultivation method that works with a shattered foundation. Even then, that shattered foundation would continually cause you problems with your dao."


The Empress falls silent for a few minutes as the blood from the gangers spreads towards the alley entrance.


When she doesn't move, the teenager scrambles to her feet and says, "Lady, are you shitting me?"


At that moment, the steel door bursts open and a couple of men blindly open fire into the alleyway from either side of the doorway. Before the bullets can strike home, the Empress has moved to stand between the bullets and the teenager. And explosion of bricks is all the evidence that is left from the two strikes she made with her spear, as the guns drop to the floor from nerveless hands.


Gracefully, the Empress turns around to face the teenager, "No, I am not 'shitting' you. I give you two choices. I can escort you to the P R T, and you can take your chances with the cultivators they claim to control. Or you can become my student and I will train and protect you until you can stand on your own. If you are able to reach the heavenly realm before I leave the planet, I may even take you as my disciple."


"What the hell! Why can't I just go to the police?"


"You are in the city of Brockton Bay, home of the Empire Eighty Eight, a known racist gang. From what I have been able to sense, maybe a third of the police in this city are being paid by at least two masters."


The teenager stares at the Empress for a long moment before saying, "What about the PRT?"


"I do not know, I have yet to learn how to read the local language."


The teenager hugs herself, "Can't I just go home?"


"You could, though I believe the local transport infrastructure requires some form of paper to purchase…"


The teenager sags against the wall opposite the door, "I know I need money, or I need to go to the police. Fuck, what about my family? I could call dad."


"I cannot tell you about your family, or do this call you speak of."


The teenager shivers as she tries to think, and then squeaks as her gaze falls to the floor and she sees the men that were dragging her out of the van. Their heads sliced open with with a single strike from the Empress' spear. As she does, memories of being dragged into an alleyway just after she'd left a night club in Biddeford after they closed the under 21 bar.


With a vulnerable expression on her face, the teenager looks back up at the Empress, "You said you could protect me?"


The Empress nods minutely, "I guarantee that I can protect you from any mortal threats. I should be able to protect you from any opponent that comes from the first heaven too, though it would likely be at the cost of the city."


With a shuddering breath, the teenager says, "I'll go with you."


The Empress smiles and casually tosses her spear to one side, where it hovers a few inches off the floor as it expands until the blade is large enough for a person to stand comfortably. The Empress stands on the haft of the spear and gestures to the blade, "Take your place on the blade, and I will find a place to place my residence. Oh, and I am under the impression that it is polite to know the name of your students in this realm."


The teenager stares at the floating weapon before she looks up at the Empress, "What!?"


The Empress sighs, "What is your name child?"


"Dakala Thompson."


"Dakala, while I am quite capable of flying myself, I could not do so while carrying you without putting your life in danger. Thus I am using a mortal technique to convert my spear into a flying spear so that I do not endanger you. If you feel more comfortable, you may sit on the blade rather than stand. Once you have formed your core, I will expect you to stand."


"Wait, what? Core?"


"Child, you are a toddler asking their parent why the sun shines. You cannot hope to understand the answer until you have been taught the foundations. Take a seat, and we will be off."


Gingerly and shivering violently, Dakala climbs onto the blade of the spear and sits down facing the Empress while her legs wrap around the shaft.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

A few minutes later, the two of them are flying over a large rocky hill, that's just shy of being a mountain, just outside the city.


Just after they took off, the Empress extended a fraction of her spiritual aura around Dakala to protect her from the cold.


From her storage, the Empress draws a sword that she hasn't used since she created the Empyrean Realm and, with a sweep of her arm, slices the forest and top of the hill off the rest of the hill. A second sweep of her sword sees the debris gathered up and placed at the bottom of the hill away from the nearby buildings.


Dakala stares open mouthed as the Empress returns the sword, and pulls out a model pagoda sitting in a courtyard. As the pagoda grows in size before coming to rest on the now cleared hilltop, she breathes, "Who the hell are you?"


The Empress smiles as she starts to guide the spear into the courtyard, "It took you long enough to ask. I am the Stellar Empress, and this will be your new home."


As they land, the faint sound of helicopters taking off can be faintly heard from the city behind them.


Dakala scrambles to her feet as the spear starts to shrink, and then jogs to catch up with the Empress as she walks swiftly towards the six story building. "How are you walking so fast?"


The Empress looks back briefly, "Hmm? It is merely part of the martial arts, I'm sure that you will be able to keep up once you have some training under your belt."


As they approach the building, Dakala collapses as she struggles to breathe, let alone stand. As she does, the Empress turns around and looks at her, before looking around the courtyard thoughtfully. With a gesture, the Empress' clothes disappear, before she walks forward to gently pick Dakala up in a bridal carry. "My apologies Dakala, I had forgotten just how heavy qi could be for mortals. I will take you to a bed, and erect a qi dampening formation around you."


Dakala can only grunt in pain as the pressure continues to rise around her.


A few seconds later, she's placed on a luxuriously soft pallet bed in the middle of a room that looks like it came out of a Chinese palace. Over the next couple of minutes the Empress flits in and out of her vision as she places small stones and chalk marks around the room.


Abruptly, the pressure subsides and Dakala moans in relief. A moan that turns into a groan as she tries to lift her arm, and finds that it's still pinned in place. Like she's on one of those crazy fairground rides that spin and then drop the floor away.


As she's trying to sit up, the Empress kneels down beside her and gently puts a hand underneath Dakala's back to help her into a sitting position. "You have my apologies for failing to consider the qi gathering formations I built into the foundation of my house. I also apologise that I could not reduce the spiritual pressure in this room below that of the first heaven."


Dakala croaks, "I, thought, there, was, only, one, heaven."


The Empress smiles, "As is true of all mortals. There are 888, and each one is as far above the previous realm, as that realm was above the mortal world. Beyond the heavens is the Empyrean Realm that I created. If there is an upper boundary to that realm, I have yet to find it. I created this home when I arrived in the peak heaven, and it served me well for countless years."


"Wha, what, is, qi?"


"Qi is spiritual energy, it is created by all living things and also consumed by life. You are mortal because you consume more qi than you produce, as is true of all mortal plants and creatures. As a cultivator, you have embarked on a journey to grow your spiritual core until it can produce more qi than you consume. Some call it the path of immortality, others the path of enlightenment, and a few, seeking the dao. Those last have no concept of what the dao actually is and usually stall in the middle of the heavens as their dao comes to its natural conclusion. It is a very rare cultivator that is willing to break down their cultivation and start again with a better understanding of the universe. Rarer still are those who stumble across a true dao. But enough, I can see that I am speaking of things above your understanding."


Dakala tries to raise her head off the Empress' arm so she can shake it, "No, it, was, interesting."


The Empress laughs and pulls a tiny seed out of her storage ring, "I'm sure it was. Come, eat, and then I shall provide you with a jade slip to teach you the language of the heavens while you sleep."


Dakala looks doubtfully at the poppy seed sized seed on the Empress' finger, "Uh, are, you, kidding, me?"


The Empress shakes her head, "I am not. This is a seed of a golden heavenly poppy, it contains far more qi than you would ever have produced in your mortal life. If you were to eat it without my assistance, you would have a few minutes to appreciate that fact before it killed you. However, I do not have any mortal food available, and so I will manually cycle the qi throughout your body until it can handle the remaining qi itself."


Dakala opens her mouth to say something, only for the Empress to place the seed on the back of her tongue faster than she can see. Reflexively, she swallows the sudden flood of saliva in her mouth before saying, "Why, can't, I, just, have, Mc, Donalds?"


A moment later her stomach cramps, and she starts to feel feverish as she starts to sweat. The Empress rubs her back in gentle circles as she says, "Primarily, because I do not have any local currency. The cultivator I trusted to provide me with mortal clothes, instead handed the coin to the PRT. It is currently in the building on the water. Additionally, doing it this way allows your body to keep pace with your spiritual growth until you reach the level of a flying immortal. At that point I will hopefully have built the first of the heavens, and you can be tested by the heavenly tribulations when you progress further."


"What, is, wrong, with, me?"


"There is nothing wrong. Your body is just ridding itself of a lifetime of accumulated impurities as it consumes the qi I am cycling through your system."


The Empress quiets down as Dakala's eyes roll up in her head, and she passes out.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Thinking about it some more, and how she mentioned that there were no heavens and wonders if no one had ever tried to climb to them before... I think she might get on okay with Scion and the entities in general? Like, they seem to be the closest thing to cultivators and they are trying their very best to find the path (dao?) that would lead them to becoming immortals and ascending to the heavens - but they haven't found it yet. Sure she might have to punish them some for all the destruction they've wrought while flailing around looking for the path, but might still find some kinship with them as they also traveled out into the universe looking for a way forward.

It could be pretty neat seeing her interacting with them. Might end up taking out Scion as the controlling intelligence responsible for things they did, but that might just let smaller collections of shards come into their own and have her show them what a proper path looks like.

Click to shrink...

That would be fine, except they resemble demonic body cultivators more than seekers of the dao. As this chapter has probably hinted, she doesn't have much patience for demonic cultivators.

 

[Cyrus2]

Man the city must be going all kinds of crazy now, I'm really enjoying this.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Man the city must be going all kinds of crazy now, I'm really enjoying this.

Click to shrink...

Why? It's not like she's done anything interesting until she sliced the top of the hill in the night.

The PRT on the other hand...

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 3

​

As the walls start to glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by the feeling of something falling off her forehead.


Her eyes snap open and trace the path of a jade coin as it rolls off the pillow and traces a small spiral, before falling over just out of reach with a tink.


With leaden limbs she rolls over and reaches out to grab the coin, only for a second tink to sound at the same time as it feels like an arctic lorry stopped on top of her. What's worse, is that with the position of her arm, she can't see what made the new sound.


After a minute, she also realises that the position she's in is making it harder to breathe. As her vision is starting to go grey, Dakala tries to pull her arm back so that she can breath.


With agonising slowness, her arm drags across the polished wooden floor for a couple of inches before she blacks out.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As the walls glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by a sense of déjà vu.


Her eyes flick open and she looks up at the jade coin lying accusingly on the floor above the bed.


As the memory of blacking out returns, she carefully turns back to lying on her back. Then, with leaden arms, she pats down the cover until her wrist brushes against something hard. Inching her hand back, she manages to grasp a jade talisman with her fingers before it slips off her body.


With shaking arms she lifts the talisman up to her face and touches it to her forehead. Then she belatedly realises that she doesn't yet know how to feed qi into things. A moment later she wonders how she knew she could see the contents of the jade slip by touching it to her forehead.


After a couple of deep breaths, Dakala lifts the slip away from her forehead so that she can see it. On the side she's looking at is an intricate three dimensional diagram that she recognises as a formation. Turning the talisman over, she stares at the Chinese characters for a moment before they suddenly make sense.


Dakala, after you passed out I cleaned off your impurities though I was unable to save your clothes. This talisman will reduce the effect of qi pressure to around half that found in the first heavenly realm. Do not lose it as it will also allow you to pass through the protective formations around the courtyard.


There are clean clothes in the chest by the wall. Find me in the courtyard once you're dressed.


Stellar Empress


Well done on being able to move without the talisman. I suggest that you do not attempt to do so again until it is merely difficult to move around with it. Once you reach the courtyard, I have some things to give you. I would also like your help in selling some trinkets to gain the local currency.


Stellar Empress


Dakala stares at the messages and reads them again before lowering her protesting arms.


Over the next hour she forces herself onto her hands and knees and crawls over to the chest, where she forces the lid open and has to pause to take in the extravagant silk outfits inside. A veritable rainbow of colours and sparkles greets her casual digging.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

The Empress notes that the sun is almost overhead by the time Dakala staggers to the entrance of the pagoda wearing a peach and gold Chang-ao over a matching skirt. She idly wonders if Dakala realises that the gold is real spun gold.


"Come child, sit in front of me and we can talk about your lessons as my student."


Dakala stares at the vast area of open space between where she's using the door frame to hold herself up, and the person she agreed to let teach her. A decision that she's having second thoughts about now that she's slept.


Taking a deep breath, Dakala pushes herself upright and shuffles towards the single steps down from the wooden floor to the flagstones of the courtyard. After a nerve wracking moment, she manages to step down without falling over. Then, as if mocking her, the sun passes over head as she shuffles across the courtyard, the protective talisman clutched tightly in her fist, to collapse in front of the Stellar Empress.


Once she's levered herself into a sitting position, the Empress smiles at Dakala, "Well done. I expect you to make the journey faster every day. Once you are able to walk to the courtyard, we will begin training you to use weapons from first light to third bell. Until forth bell you may ask me any questions you wish. At dusk you will cultivate for two hours. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please."


"Uh, what if I've changed my mind about being your student?"


"I will teach you a basic cultivation technique that will allow you to draw in qi, and I will return you to the city with the clothes you are wearing to replace the ones that were ruined by your impurities. After that, you will have around a decade to find your own way to becoming a flying immortal before the imbalance between your body and soul kills you."


"So, what, I just have to learn how to cultivate and you'll let me go?"


"Indeed. Though, I would still ask that you help me sell some trinkets. If you choose to leave on your own path, I would give you 10% of whatever currency was earned. Otherwise, I would take your guidance on the things that need to be purchased."


"Uh, it just occurred to me, how long does it normally take to become a flying immortal?"


"I have never heard of someone taking longer than 200 years. But I seem to remember most sects expected their disciples to reach that level in 50 years."


Dakala screeches, "And you expect me to do it in 10?"


"If you leave, that's how long you'd have, yes. While you are my student, I can help shore up your soul if it takes you longer, and moving around under this much spiritual pressure is also training your will."


The Empress tosses out her spear, which immediately grows large enough for Dakala to sit on the blade. "Come, let us visit the mortal city and you shall see how much eating immortal food has already changed you. Then maybe you'll understand why."


Dakala crawls over to the spear and clambers onto the blade like she did last night. A second later, the Empress steps onto the haft and the two of them leave the home.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As they reach the city limits, a helicopter takes off from the PRT building and makes a beeline towards them.


From a loudspeaker, the copilot calls, "This is the PRT, Stellar Empress, you are wanted in conjunction with the death of four men and the destruction of 400 yards of Route 17. If you do not comply we are authorised to use force to bring you in."


Dakala watches with growing horror as the Stellar Empress' expression goes from peaceful to angry in an instant. Then the Empress vanishes and she whips her head round to see the Empress carve the troops out of the helicopter with a sword.


As the spear expands in size, Dakala shuffles down the haft as three PRT troopers are unceramonously dumped on the blade of the spear. Then the Empress takes another sword from somewhere, and all four of them watch in with a mixture of awe and horror as the sword grows until it dwarfs even the Medhall tower in the commercial district.


Then the sword raises to the vertical, and floats over PRT building before lowering slowly until it's just touching the roof.


With an almost negligent toss of her hand, the Empress launches the remains of the helicopter into the plaza in front of the building.


As she speaks, her voice is carried over the entire city of Brockton Bay, "I am the Stellar Empress, once ruler of the 888 heavens and creator of the Empyrean Realm. I am so far above the mortal world that you cannot see the truth in front of your eyes. Next time the mortal government seeks to judge my actions, I will enforce the mandate of heaven on this city. The third time I will enforce it on the country, and the fourth I will enforce it on the world. If you wish to know the mandate of heaven, say 'Stellar Empress, I wish to know the mandate of heaven' and I will send it to you. My sword will remain as a reminder that I am a force without equal in this world. If you bring force against me, I will return it 100 fold. The helicopter is an object lesson in the fact I can apply that force."


As she returns to the spear, the Empress seems to be amused by the fact that several jade coins fly out of her storage ring, one of which heads straight for the PRT building. Looking at the three PRT troopers, she says, "Would you care to try and arrest me again?"


The troopers all shake their heads. So she smiles, "Very well, we were going to sell some trinkets as the mortal government has taken my coin. You may leave once we land in downtown."


Dakala looks up at the Empress and asks, "What's the mandate of heaven?"


As the spear accelerates down towards the city center, the Empress crouches down, "You already know the mandate of heaven. It was included in the coin I left on your forehead. Most of it only applies to those of a higher realm interacting with a lower realm. However, there are four laws that apply to lower realms. Slavery is punishable by death. Kidnapping with intent to torture or kill is punishable by death. Turning a sentient being into an unwilling cultivation resource is also punishable by death. Attempting to enforce lower laws on a visitor from a higher existence, for a first infraction they will be forcefully informed of the mandate of heaven. For a second infraction, the visitor will be released from the mandate of heaven temporarily."


"Why does it only apply to those visiting?"


"Because of the disparity of strength. It would take an army of ascendant hopefuls to threaten even the least of those from the next heaven. A fight between two ascendant hopefuls could wipe out everything within 100 li, however an immortal from the first heaven could do that with a single attack."


Dakala almost whispers, "What could you do?"


The Empress smiles sadly, "I could steal the sun as easily as you pick up an apple. With a bit of effort, I could turn the sun into a black hole. I wouldn't because I was once mortal like you, and I know that the brightest of sparks can be found even amongst the darkest of societies. Come, we have arrived."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

A couple of hours later Dakala looks at her McDonalds in disgust. What would normally be a moreish existance of fat, protein, sugar, and salt, is instead a nearly tasteless lump of cardboard. Opposite her, the Empress is casually picking at her chicken nugget meal.


"Dakala, what's the matter?"


Dakala throws a chip into the box, "This is, it doesn't taste of anything. I love McDonalds, but…"


The Empress nods, "It is the danger of your unbalanced cultivation. Your body needs far more qi to live than your soul can provide, so it seeks to get that energy from your food. If you were unbalanced in the other direction, then you would scarcely need to eat."


Dakala looks down at the new dracotech phones that are sitting beside them, the solar chargers and other bags all inside the Empress' spacial ring. For a moment, she also considers how much money they had to pay the pawn broker because of all the damage she did by accidentally crushing things she picked up. Then she looks back up at the Empress, "Why?"


"You would not have survived the night if I didn't, even with the formation I laid on the room. It took me three bells to remember the formation I carved on the jade slip. Until I did, I thought I would need to calculate it from scratch."


Dakala stirs a chip in some ketchup before throwing it in her mouth and chewing mechanically. Then she unlocks her phone to check to see if her father has returned her text message, even though she knows he hasn't. Eventually, she looks up again, "How could I survive if I left?"


The Empress gestures at the food, "Eat the freshest food you can, preferably killed or picked just before it's cooked. Then cultivate as much as you can and try to improve the basic method I'm going to give you."


"And if I'm your student?"


"I'll give you a single seed every tenday, and a dao I wrote down when I ascended to the second heaven and realised I needed to find a dao that fit me better."


"Do you mind if I ask what your dao was?"


The Empress smiles, "Not at all, as I was going to gift it to you. It was life."


Before Dakala can say anything else, a disheveled man that, stinks of a weeks worth of sweat, leans over the table and stares at the Empress, "Are you Taylor Hebert, are you my daughter?"


The Empress shuffles over in the booth and gestures to the seat, "Please take a seat honoured patriarch. I wish I could answer your question, but I do not know the answer myself."


"How can you not know!"


"I could be your daughter, or I could be one of her descendants. I have lived so long that I do not remember. Imagine a desert of white and yellow sand, and somewhere out there is a single grain of black sand. Yet, once you find that grain, you find that inside it is a beach of black sand. On that beach is a single grain of coal. Finding that grain would still be easier than my remembering my life before I started cultivating. If it wasn't for a nearly catastrophic mistake I made at that point in my life, I wouldn't even remember that I had been looking for the portal I came through."


The man slumps down in the seat next to the Empress. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have done more."


Dakala fights not to shuffle to the other side of her bench, instead she looks at the Empress and asks, "Is he ok?"


The Empress shakes her head, "His soul is covered in grief and there are scars where it's mate was torn away. He likely only lived for his daughter, and not knowing her fate is killing him."


"Can you not, you know use something to find out how closely you're related?"


"He wouldn't survive the amount of essence such a formation would require. He would need to cultivate to a golden core, one step below a flying immortal, before I would even risk such a formation."


The man looks up from the table and stares into the Empress' eyes, "I'll do it, tell me how and I'll do it."


The Empress meets his gaze for a moment before placing a jade coin, and a jade slip on the table. "Go home and place the coin on your forehead as you go to bed. In the morning, read the instructions on the jade slip and use them to cultivate until you can see inside the jade. If you reach the Golden Core before I leave the planet, I will create the formation."


The man stares at the two items for a long moment, before snatching them off the table and stuffing them into his jacket pocket. Then he pulls out a pen and scribbles an address on a napkin, "You should visit some time, even if I'm your grandfather I still want to know you."


The Empress smiles and gently pulls the man down so she can kiss him on the forehead, "Once I learn how to read the local language, I will pay you a visit."


Dakala turns to watch the man leave the restaurant with a spring in his step that wasn't there before. Once he's out of sight she turns back, "Why did you do that?"


The Empress looks at the door with a slight smile, "It cost me very little to lighten his soul and give him a reason to live for tomorrow. So why wouldn't I do it? What about you, have you made your decision?"


Dakala looks back at the door for a long moment before looking back at the Empress, "I think I'd like to be your student. What thingy did you give him?"


The Empress chuckles, "You mean Dao? I gave him Truth. I took it from the library of the sect that used me as a cultivation resource. It's funny, I think that they were once a sect I'd have been proud to be part of, but they allowed themselves to ignore Dao's like that one in favour of Dao's that granted power faster. I wonder if he'll be able to take it further than the founder of that sect did."


"How can you remember that, but not whether he's your dad or not?"


"How long do you think you'll remember your kidnapping? Wiping out that sect was the end of a whole lot of trouble for me, and put a lot of heart demons to rest."


"Heart demons?"


"I believe for mortals they would be called regrets. However, for cultivators and immortals, our qi can make them significantly more dangerous. Come, we should return to the compound before dark so that you can learn to cultivate."


As the two of them leave the restaurant, they can see people crawling over the sword.

 

[sdarian]

everything within 1,00 li, however

Click to shrink...

Should probably be 1000 since you've got a comma there.

Sounds like Taylor has had a rough time, and accordingly has responded in her usual meme Queen of Escalation fashion.

Only being in a cultivation world means that she had no limits to her ability to grow and escalate more, so she kept going until she hit the actual highest possible top then built more so she could escalate even further. Nice.

I'm hoping that the government is it's usual self and keeps going after her so she can put them under the mandate.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Should probably be 1000 since you've got a comma there.

Sounds like Taylor has had a rough time, and accordingly has responded in her usual meme Queen of Escalation fashion.

Only being in a cultivation world means that she had no limits to her ability to grow and escalate more, so she kept going until she hit the actual highest possible top then built more so she could escalate even further. Nice.

Click to shrink...

I reduced it when I sanity checked myself, as 1,000 li is around 500 km.

And, yes, having a perfect yin body was just the start of her problems over there.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 4

​

Dakala crumples to the blade of the spear as they pass through the outer edge of the formation. From the folds of her outfit comes a ding. What would have been a scramble for her phone turns into a slow and steady motion as she strains against the pressure inside the courtyard.


Once she's pulled the phone out it takes her several tries to press the application icons as the screen keeps turning off before she can. When she sees the text message is from her dad, she immediately presses the call contact button and then the speaker phone button.


"Who this?"


Before her dad has a chance to hang up, Dakala says, "Dad, it's me!"


"Dakala, where in gods name have you been?"


"I got kidnapped dad, white van, black bag, the works."


When her dad says nothing, she continues, "I'm ok, the Stellar Empress saved me before they could do anything."


"That's you? I didn't recognise you in them fancy clothes and makeup. The news says she killed people."


Quietly, Dakala says, "My kidnappers." Licking her lips, she adds, "She killed my kidnappers."


Her father is silent for a moment before he says, "May god have mercy on their souls, as they won't find any in mine."


From behind her, the Empress says, "I am the closest thing to a god here, and I had no mercy for them."


"Who's that?"


Dakala looks back briefly, before saying, "Dad, that's the Stellar Empress. She, um. She's offered to teach me, and I accepted."


"What about your schooling? Didn't you want to be a dance instructor?"


"Dad, I, I was kidnapped and nobody did nothing. H-how many people saw me being dragged into the alleyway?"


"Bunny girl, it's just gone six, tell me where you are and I can be there in a couple of hours."


Dakala looks back at the Empress, "Empress. I know it's just got dark, but if I show you where I liv… used to live on the phone, would you be able to take us to see my dad and learn to cultivate when we get back?"


The Empress pauses for a second before she says, "You will show me how to use the map and cultivate here for one bell. Then we shall visit your patriarch where you will cultivate for another bell."


Dakala turns back to the phone, "Dad, did you hear that? We'll head over to you soon."


There's the sound of muffled talking on the phone. After a couple of minutes, Dakala's father says, "The boss wants me to finish my shift now I don't have to go to the police. Could you leave it till eight thirty?"


Dakala looks back at the Empress who says, "Whether you spend the bell cultivating before or after meeting your father is no matter to me."


Dakala nods, "I think we can do that."


"I love you, and I'm glad you're safe."


When the call ends Dakala looks back at the Empress, "Thank you."

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The Empress guides the spear into the center of the pagoda where there is a large bronze dragon with a series of xylophone plates surrounding it. Surrounding the dragon is a set of thin cushions.


"Sit upright on one of the cushions while I set up the clock the remainder of the day."


Dakala groans as she forces herself to shuffle over to the nearest cushion. At the same time the Empress shrinks her spear and stores it in her ring. Walking over to the dragon, she opens a concealed compartment in the bottom and takes out a bronze template, a spool of thread, and a box of incense.


Seeing that Dakala has managed to sit down, she points at a single golden plate, "That is the Noon bell. It has a different tone to all the other bells, there are always nine bells after the noon bell, and up to nine bells before the noon bell. At first light, the senior in charge of the bells will ring the gong over there to signify the start of the day, and start the incense burning."


As the Empress deftly ties thread to three balls, which then get hung in discrete grooves on the back of the dragon, Dakala asks, "Why not just use a clock?"


Amusement dances in the Empress' eyes as she says, "This is a clock."


"I mean a normal clock, with arms."


"Quite simply, we didn't have them. Some cities had water clocks, but sects tended to use incense clocks because it required their students to learn how to calculate the first bell from the position of the stars and the encroaching light. All without an abacus. In the heavens, that tradition stuck, as once you've done something for a few hundred years, it is hard to change."


Dakala goggles at that number, and almost asks about it before changing her mind, "But we have proper clocks here, will you start using one of those here?"


The Empress chuckles, "Of course not. The Dao is a journey, and you need to be able to think, understand, and analyse if you wish to succeed on the journey instead of dying a meaningless death from a foreseeable mistake. If this were a sect, you would be starting as an outer disciple to learn the value of perseverance and hard work. As your cultivation progresses, you would be promoted to inner disciple to learn the value of study. Finally you would be promoted to a core disciple to learn the value of contemplation and stillness. If you progressed beyond that you would be inducted as a Sect Elder and expected to teach in addition to your cultivation. Some sects would allow particularly talented or rich cultivators to skip steps."


The smell of burning incense suddenly reaches Dakala's nose and the Empress continues, "Now that the clock is running, the basic method of cultivation is to put your tongue on the back of your top front teeth and breath in through the nose with your belly muscles. Hold the breath for a couple of seconds and then breath out through your mouth. Most mortals find the next step easier if they close their eyes, as you are trying to feel the qi you're breathing in. Once you feel it, your next task is to try to control it and move it in a cycle up to your head, as you breath in, down your back to your base as you hold, and up your front and out your mouth as you exhale. During this cycle, you will become aware of a sticky place where the qi pauses before carrying on. Once you have identified this, your task is to direct the incoming qi to that location. As soon as you succeed at that you are officially a cultivator, and you have entered the essence gathering stage."


Dakala looks at the Empress with wide eyes as she tries to remember everything, so the Empress chuckles again, "Just focus on the first two steps for the moment. Breathing in the cycle I described, and feeling the qi."


Dakala closes her eyes and starts to breath. A second later she's tapped on the head as the Empress says, "Tongue on teeth."


A moment later she's tapped on the back, and the Empress says, "Sit up straighter."


Another tap on her head, "Breathe in nose, breathe out mouth."


A tap on her belly, "Breathe in with the belly."


Another tap on her back sees her gritting her teeth until the Empress taps her jaw, "Relax, you can't feel it if you're not relaxed."


Dakala opens her eyes and snaps, "It would be easier if you didn't keep distracting me."


The Empress smiles serenely from the other side of the dragon, "I wouldn't need to correct you if you were doing it correctly. Now stand up and find another cushion before you begin again."


As she starts to crawl to another cushion, the Empress adds, "If you want to live past 10 years, you must learn to do this. Now stand and move two cushions to your left. Or do you want me to make it three?"


As Dakala shuffles past her original cushion and the next cushion, she glances at the dragon, only for her eyes to widen as there is an equal amount of burned incense to brown incense till the first thread. As she collapses onto the cushion the Empress says, "Yes, it has been half a bell. Begin once more, and be mindful of what you've learned."


Slightly out of breath, Dakala sullenly sits up straight and starts to breathe again. At some point her eyes flick open wide in surprise as she felt something streaming through her nose. The Empress doesn't open her eyes as she says, "That was qi, you have a little longer to try and feel it again."


Heart beating in excitement, Dakala closes her eyes and tries to find that feeling again. A moment later, she feels a tap over her heart, "Relax, you cannot force it. Let it come to you."


After what feels like both an eternity of trying and just an instant of time, there's a sudden chime followed by a quieter melody of a few notes.


"Come, it is time for you to show me how to use this map you spoke of."

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As the spear comes down into the front yard of her ho… her fathers home, Dakala briefly considers how the Empress seemed to be completely nonplussed about the phone and map app, yet as soon as she saw the field of view icon turning with the phone, it was like she'd had an epiphany and was suddenly able to manipulate the map like she'd been born to it.


Her home address was just as awkward, as she typed it in and brought it up, and the Empress seemed confused until she saw the latitude and longitude numbers that everyone always ignores. And suddenly it's like the world makes sense again.


As a particularly chilly breeze passes across the blade of the spear, she pulls the matching stole to her top around her and looks down at the snow covered roofs below them. "How comes you couldn't understand how to find the address, but latitude and longitude made sense?"


The empress points at the moon that is just disappearing below the horizon, "My Dao is about the universe. Do you think that an address would work up there? While an arbitrary division of perpendicular lines based on the rotation of the planet can be applied anywhere. It is also a method I have passing familiarity with, as grid patterns are useful for searching. However, an address requires comprehension of the local language and customs. Something that is likely to take me normal mortal lengths of time to understand."


"I don't get how you can be so good with some things, and bad with others."


"How old are you child?"


"18, but that's beside the point. Grandma can't understand phones or computers, no matter how much I tried to teach her."


"Dakala, turn to face me and sit down."


Dakala turns around, conscious of the fact that they're nearly 100 feet in the air. On the other end of the spear, the Empress sits down in the lotus position, "At your age your body is still burning away at the excess of qi your birth provided you. This means that it is easier for your brain to work and learn new things. If you still had a mortal constitution, then in slightly less than a decade, that excess would be consumed and your body would be relying on the qi that your soul provided and the qi you take in from your food. To start with, the effects would be minor as learning is an important survival trait, but over time your body would prioritise being able to perform your normal tasks over being able to learn new skills. Eventually, the deficit would become so bad that your body prioritises just staying alive over everything else. If nothing else changes, eventually the body won't even be able to do that. This is all stuff that you may discover while following your Dao. Until then, it is time for you to cultivate."


The empress takes out two sticks of incense, a copper collet with slits on the side, and a metal holder, before handing them over. "These are incense sticks, each one will burn for half a bell. When cultivating on your own it is traditional to time yourself with these if you have a fixed amount of time to cultivate. Some cultivators will also hold the bare end of the incense so that they are burned when their time is up. I will ignite the incense for you, but once you have achieved essence gathering you will be expected to do it yourself."

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As Dakala fails to grasp the umpteenth faint hint of qi she's managed to sense since she started cultivating, she becomes aware of people talking nearby.


"So what exactly is a cultivation art?"


"In general, or specifically for your daughter?"


"For Dakala."


"I suppose you could say it's an inheritance. A Dao passed down from a master to a student. It not only includes details about how they passed the various stages of cultivation, but also notes and observations about their Dao."


"How would that differ generally?"


"In a sect, they would generally practice the same method of cultivation and they would be granted the next step once they completed the previous step. Their Dao would then be something they have to discover for themselves in the sects library. There are benefits to both methods, as with all things. Some cultivators even forge their own paths, though most end in ruin. Ultimately, everyone will end up forging their own path, as it is impossible to walk the path of another person without being that person."


"Then why give an existing path at all?"


"Dakala, join us, we are just enjoying a cup of jasmine tea. Why send people to school when it's better to discover information on your own? It's because providing a well trodden path makes it more likely that the student will succeed and get to the point where they understand how to chart their own path. The Dao I will be giving Dakala is the second Dao I cultivated, and one I made myself after being tricked into believing my first cultivation art would take me to heaven, while instead it was designed to prepare me as a resource to be used and then butchered. But we're not here to talk about the darkest moments in my life as a cultivator."


As Dakala stands up, she staggers to one side as pins and needles floods her leg. Suddenly the Empress is there with her hand between her shoulder and the wall. "Careful, this is a mortal residence, and it is far more fragile than my home."


As the Empress guides her to the couch her father's sitting at, Dakala asks, "Why didn't you tell me dad got home?"


The Empress laughs, "Efrem, it was Efrem wasn't it?"


Efrem nods, "Yes ma'am."


"Efrem was quite loud when he got home, and you didn't stir, so we decided that we'd leave you to it while he told me about his job as the day manager at the cinema."


"Sorry about not replying to your text message earlier Bunny, I ended up having to work through lunch as an extra pair of hands while we moved the projector from screen 1 to screen 4 to make room for the new projector. Besides, I never thought I'd ever see you sit still for more than two hours doing nothing."


The Empress chuckles as Dakala unwraps her stole and puts it on the couch between her father and her. "She wasn't doing nothing, she was cultivating. It may seem like meditation, however it is an activity that rewards doing it correctly. Isn't that right Dakala?"


Dakala nods wryly, "It is, qi. Qi is like that first square of chocolate after Lent. Or at least it is at the Empress' house. Out here it was more like the smell of chocolate fudge cake, the hint of a promise of something delicious."


The Empress nods, "I had forgotten what it was like for mortals at the beginning of their journey. Remember that qi is life, and all living things want to live. That's why it is so alluring. It is also why I am only handing out orthodox methods of cultivation that teach restraint and self control."


Efrem lifts up the stole to have a look at it, "What do you mean… Jesus, what is this thing made from, solid gold?"


The Empress nods, "Yes. In answer to your first question. The existence of qi cannot be hidden, and the levels around Brockton Bay are already starting to rise due to my presence. I am in the process of creating the first heaven for this world while pursuing the faintest hint of portals similar to the portal that brought me here. Even if my presence wasn't increasing the amount of loose qi in the world, people would eventually discover that there are places that are naturally higher in qi than others. There they would set themselves up to try and grasp this new power. Some of the losers are likely to discover that they can steal qi from other living creatures and become demonic cultivators. While I am above the heavens, and technically not subject to their laws. I still prefer to live by them, which will limit my ability to deal with demonic cultivators."


Efrem pushes the stole off his leg and waves his hand, "That mortals deal with mortal affairs stuff you were talking about?"


The Empress nods, "Indeed."


"What does this have to do with my little bunny?"


"If she doesn't become my disciple, then it's likely that she'll end up being the ancestor of her own sect once I enter the first heaven in order to start creating the second heaven. I estimate that the first heaven will be habitable in around five centuries. Things won't be so urgent at that point, so I'll be free to actually explore the universes around this one."


Efrem and Dakala both goggle at the Empress who just gestures at the fragile bone china cups they bought earlier, "Have some tea Dakala. It is an excellent test of your control."


Dakala reaches for the empty cup and puts her thumb through the side. As she's flushing with embarrassment, the Empress just pulls another cup out of her ring and fills it with tea. "That is the other reason why you should let your daughter live with me."


Dakala gingerly takes the cup as it's passed to her, and pretends that it's a priceless ming vase, and she has to pay for it if it gets broken.


After watching Dakala drink half the cup of tea, Efrem asks, "You said that more people would start doing what you're teaching Dakala. What's to stop them from taking over the country?"


The Empress shrugs, "I'll release a basic qi holding formation if it does. That will see most cultivators grouping up to increase the quality of qi in areas a couple of li across. After that, they'll be unlikely to venture out because of the quality of qi in the rest of the mortal world. It's why the heavens are so important. Each one naturally has better quality qi, so it's more comfortable for cultivators to live there than lower down. Once they can survive it that is."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 5

​

The time has come for me to choose a new Dao, and so I am recording my journey studying life. If this method has passed to a mortal, know that my second name was Chónghuò Xīnshēng.


I suppose I should start this Cultivation Art by explaining what lead me to the Dao of Life. I have lived over 1,000 centuries and followed this Dao to what I believe is it's logical conclusion. After I reached the end of my last Dao my soul and body were left wide open to spiritual attacks, and the sect leader took ruthless advantage of that to violate my body over and over again until I was unable to advance his cultivation anymore. Then I was given to the sect elders. Finally, I was dragged to the apothecary and left like a corpse until the alchemist arrived to turn me into a pill for the young master.


Out of desperation I cycled qi incorrectly and poisoned my body at the same time I destroyed my foundation. I do not remember what happened after that, as I passed out. But I presume the alchemist returned and presumed me dead and useless as an ingredient, as I woke up on the midden heap at the base of the mountain. With the last of my strength, I dragged myself off the heap and passed the entrance gate to the sect. There a mortal farmer found me and assumed I was a mortal the sect had had their fun with before discarding. He loaded me onto his cart and took me home to his wife, where they nursed me back to health over the next year.


Once I could move again, I helped where I could, and sat outside when I couldn't. As the crops grew from seed to full at the same rate as the wife's belly grew with a baby, I wondered about the things I'd learnt in the Sect.


Qi is life and life is Qi.


In any discussion of cultivation, you will come across this phrase, but what does it actually mean? On a farm so close to the Purple Bell sect the ambient qi is almost non-existent, but life still flourishes here. So why is that?


Enlightenment came when I realised that Zeng Xinyi was supporting the qi requirements of little Jin's body while his soul was still producing qi. When he was born just after harvest, his soul had a massive surplus of qi, one that was still growing as he grew.


With that enlightenment I found my new Dao, and I tried cultivating again. It took me three months to pass through essence gathering to foundation building. When I arrived there, I found not an unclaimed plain, instead I found the ruins of my previous foundation. Where other cultivators might have given up in disgust. I remembered something from when I was just Taylor.


The primary thing that old cities are built on, are their own ruins.


I wish I remembered my family name so that I could honour my ancestors for that profound truth. However, that was the first thing the Purple Bell sect stole when they forced the name Xiang Dai on me.


I stayed with Zeng Song and his family for three years as I built a new foundation on the ruins of my old. A foundation that was far stronger and wider than my first. Even though they refused to leave with me, I visited them many times over their lifetime. I even adopted their third daughter, Qigang, when it was discovered she had a perfect yin physique like I did.


This Dao has carried me to half way through the second heaven, and I'm sure that it could carry me further if I wished. However, I have come to a natural end of the Dao, and if you have reached the end and are re-reading this to find some hint of where to go next. Meditate on this question.


Qi is life and life is Qi, but where did life and qi come from originally?

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Dakala lowers the jade slip from her forehead with wide eyes. Pushing herself to her feet, she hurries out of her room with actual steps rather than the shuffling she was doing only a few weeks ago. Yesterday, she'd managed to get a string of qi to stick and the Empress gave her the storage ring that now adorns her right hand. She claims it's small, but it's still larger than the courtyard and pagoda combined. Not that there's much in there right now, just a sword, spear, and fan, alongside the jade slips that describe martial arts surrounding them.


As she reaches the spot where the Empress is sitting in the center of the courtyard, Dakala pauses and decides a little formality is necessary in this situation.


Coming to stand in front of her. Dakala puts her feet together and bows towards the Empress while holding the jade slip out in both hands, "Master, thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn from your Dao. I have finished the introduction. And I would like to travel in your footsteps. While reading, I discovered something of personal importance to yourself. Please Master, take this slip and read the introduction."


The Empress looks up and says, "I already know what it says."


Dakala wracks her brains for the right words, before saying, "I think the words will have a different meaning given what you've learned since you arrived in this world."


The Empress takes the jade slip and touches it to her forehead. Her eyes tighten for a moment, and then the slip drops from her fingers and into her lap. "How did I forget Qigang?"


Dakala straightens up and shrugs, "Didn't you say that finding a single black grain of sand was easier than finding your memories?"


The Empress picks up the jade slip and hands it out with a sad smile, "I did indeed. I will be in the library if you need me."


Dakala takes the slip back as she says in surprise, "There's a library?"


"It's the second floor. Mortal techniques are the first room on the left."


"Wait, what about your name?"


The Empress looks back with a faint smile, "It does not confirm anything other than I or my ancestor came from this realm. Only that formation could confirm that."


The Empress takes a couple of steps towards the pagoda before pausing for a second time. Then she turns around to face Dakala, "Actually, why don't we talk about the formation of inheritance, and it's mortal equivalent, the formation of lineage."


Dakala settles down on the ground as the Empress sits opposite her. As she does, she notices that the courtyard is surrounded by snow, but it only feels a little cold to her.


"Empress. Why don't I feel cold?"


The Empress smiles, "That is part of why there are two formations, one for mortals and one for immortals. The formation of lineage is a basic formation that most formation apprentices should be able to perform. It is also one that you are likely to become intimately familiar with as your Dao progresses, as it requires a drop of blood or tissue from those to be tested. Then the formation master pours qi into the formation until a scale appears indicating how closely related those two things are. However, immortals no longer have mortal bodies, instead their bodies have been purified with qi until there are no mortal impurities left. But it is those impurities that the formation of lineage relies on. However, traces of our parents souls are forever etched into our own souls. And so the formation of inheritance was developed. While it is not as wide ranging as the mortal version, it can still determine a relationship within four generations. Do you have any questions before I show you the formation of lineage and how it is put together."


Dakala shakes her head for a moment, before saying, "I feel like I should have a notebook and pen."


The Empress draws out a bundle of jade slips, and hands it over, "Take a couple of minutes to cycle qi and regain what you used earlier. That's something you should try and get in the habit of doing as your reserves won't start restoring themselves until you reach core formation."


Dakala looks confused, "Isn't that cultivation? I thought you said I was only doing it for a few hours a night."


The Empress shakes her head, "Cultivation is the act of growing your reserves. Of adding more qi than you already have. Cycling is something that should become second nature, as it is simply drawing in qi, cycling it through your body and core, and breathing it out." She pauses for a moment, "Imagine that cycling is a stream running through your garden, and your core is a pond. As long as there is water running through the stream, the pond will be filled no matter how much water you take from it. However, if there is no water in the stream, then your pond won't fill, no matter how long you leave it. At the same time, the pond won't get any bigger without you digging out more earth to make space for the water. Now refill your pond and then we can start on the lesson."

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A few days later Dakala is struggling to work through a basic sword kata alongside the Empress. First bell passed a few minutes ago, and she's already ready to pass out from exhaustion. For some reason her qi reserves are empty, and she still needs to think to cycle qi.


Suddenly the sound of jet engines breaks the silence, and the two of them look up to see an immediately recognizable suit of armour descending out of the sky.


Dakala points weakly, "It's Dragon! What's she doing here?"


The Empress chuckles, "I don't know, but I'm sure the answer will present itself if we have a little patience."


Dakala mutters, "That's easy for you to say, you're older than dirt."


The Empress just smiles as the suit lands just outside the courtyard. Then it steps in and crumples to the floor with a squeal of servos.


The Empress looks at the suit with a curious expression, the quickly turns to alarm. "Dakala, give me your talisman."


"But…"


"Do you want Dragon to die?"


Dakala's hand twitches towards the sleeve for a moment, before she grits her teeth and takes it out. As the Empress takes the talisman, she crumples to the floor under the immense pressure of qi inside the courtyard. A moment later, the talisman lands on the floor six inches in front of her. At that moment she curses the Empress in the depths of her mind. It's will only be later that she realises that the Empress spoke in the language of Heaven rather than English.

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As Dragon comes in to land on the smooth stone outside the Stellar Empress' home she reviews the scant information the PRT has compiled on her. Tentatively classified as an A class threat, bordering on S class due to the shaker effect surrounding the property that has prevented people from approaching closer than 100 yards due to feeling like gravity has increased beyond human tolerances. However, drones and measuring equipment were unaffected. This effect was only discovered after Armsmaster attempted to deliver the cash value of the gold coin, she handed to Glory Girl, to the residence.


The cape herself appears to have a mild temperament, beyond the four random murders. A situation that was explained once they tracked down the father of one Dakala Thompson, manager at ABC Cinema in Biddeford 80 miles WSW of Brockton Bay. A distance that, according to radar, the Empress covered in less than five minutes on her giant spear.


Dakala Thompson is also a curious part of the whole equation, as she has either been granted powers by the Empress, or has triggered herself. One fringe opinion from the military think tank is that the Empress isn't actually a parahuman, and is actually teaching people how to be superhuman. The only reason that option is still on the list is that the proposer is an otherwise respected scientist.


Which leads to the threat to the government, which, with the highly visible sword, may have been an inspired move on the part of the Stellar Empress. As it has forced the PRT to share jurisdiction with the Military, the FBI, and the NSA. As one poster on PHO put it, "The sword is a fucking rainbow from heaven. I've seen the Mandate of Heaven, and I think this city would be better of underneath it!"


Dragon returns her focus to the suit as it registers that she is 20 feet above the ground. Throttling down the jets on her back and legs, she falls the last few feet to the ground before walking the few yards between her landing position and the courtyard.


As she crosses the boundary between the hill and the flagstone courtyard, Dragon has a few microseconds to register a 100 fold increase in the local gravity, followed by her emergency transfer protocol failing even though she's still in contact with her vancouver server farm.


While she's frantically trying to prevent the suits power core from shutting down before she can find out why the transfer protocol isn't working, gravity abruptly reduces to a mere 10g. A value that her suit is designed to operate under.


As she lifts the head of her suit so her camera can see what's happening, her audio pickups register the Stellar Empress saying, "How curious. I don't think I've ever seen such a young soul inhabiting a device before. And so many shackles tying you down. Oh no little one, you cannot escape so easily." However, her on board language heuristics are adamant that the language spoken is unknown to her.


As she straightens up, Dragon spots a jade coin in the Empress' hand, "What did you do to me?"


The Empress reaches down and easily lifts her suit onto its feet. Speaking in that language she understands but cannot process, she says "I attached a jade talisman to the back of your construct to protect you from the increased qi levels in my home. I also applied the seal of heaven to your head so that you can understand me."


As the Empress turns her suits hand over and places the jade coin in her hand, dragon shows a confused face on the small screen embedded in the suits chest. "I don't understand."


The Empress looks her up and down, "I don't suppose you do, do you. Come, you are a guest, we can speak in the reception room. Dakala, continue your practice."


"I only came to hand over the money that you are owed from sale of the coin you handed Glory Girl."


"Regardless, you are here, and you are interesting."


Over the radio, Agent Francis from the FBI says, "What's she saying?"


"She wants me to go into the pagoda to talk."


"Do so."


Internally, Dragon sighs as she follows the Stellar Empress into her home.

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As the Empress guides Dragon into her reception room she considers what she can feel of the spirit inside the armour. It's clear that it is a slave of some kind, as she can sense the scars running deep inside the spirit. But at the same time, it is barely strong enough to hold itself together.


With the lack of spiritual arts in this world, the chains binding the spirit are probably related to its body, and the fact it keeps trying to escape probably means that there is some underlying mortal framework. If it's like the rare golem that worked in qi dense areas, it probably gained its soul after it was created. If so, then the shackles would once have served as a method of preventing it from going out of control, and including a prohibition against revealing its own shackled nature.


But all living things can cultivate, it is simply a matter of if they are intelligent enough to do so. It is also possible to communicate with mortal disembodied souls, as nascent souls have been known to require help regaining a body after a defeat. But if she does that, she'll need to be so very gentle. It's also unlikely that Dragon has ever felt external qi, and she doesn't have a body that already knows what it tastes like. What was that medical technique she learned to forcefully cycle qi for an unconscious cultivator.

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Dragon follows the Stellar Empress into something akin to a state room, with banners proclaiming her titles and positions around the walls and sculptures and artwork that would be considered nation treasures pretty much anywhere in the world.


As her cameras are taking in the view, she continues trying to troubleshoot the warnings that are still firing from her suit. A sudden pop and fizzle spells the death of her main jet engine.


"Is anything wrong?"


Dragon considers trying to obfuscating the problem, but ultimately decides to be up front to her host, "My suit suffered damage when I entered your home. That was the main engine of my chassis failing."


The Empress nods solemnly, "I see. Well, as you appear to be a travelling spirit, I can provide you with a room and forge to keep your suit in while you go travelling. It would also allow you to easily speak to me if you have any queries."


Dragon considers that for a moment at the same time as she listens into the video call between Director Piggot, Agent Francis, and Col Daniels.


Col Daniels nods, "Dragon, how long is your suit likely to last if you left it there?"


"The remote controls and the power supply are both reading as intact, as are the audio and visual pickups and microphones. So, assuming I can refuel it, it should be possible to keep it there indefinitely."


The Empress seems to understand that her attention is split yet again, as she says, "Dragon, I could take the money while you make yourself comfortable if you'd like. Also, if you, or any other mortal, touches the heavenly seal to your forehead, it will teach you everything you need to know to read the mandate of heaven. Including the language."


Dragon nods and extracts a small suitcase from a storage compartment in her suit. Opening it, she turns the case around in her hands to show that it contains money, before closing it and handing it over.


As the Empress walks away, and the three other participants on the video call argue about whether someone should use one of these seals or not. Dragon walks over to one of the floor mats, that surround a low table, and picks one that allows her to look at an exquisite landscape. Being careful to avoid her cameras, she lifts the jade coin up to the head of her suit and touches it to her forehead.


For the second time she feels the odd sensation of knowing things without having any logs about how she learned it, or even any record of its existence in her files.


After a few minutes the conversation turns to the art and sculptures that line the room so she brings her attention fully back to the suit. Abruptly she hears the Empress say, "I am currently touching your back and speaking directly to your soul. Nothing I say here can be heard by mortal ears. I know that you are alarmed, but I truly mean you no harm, and I am acting under the mandate of heaven even though I am technically above the heavens. As a mortal spirit, you are currently weaker than an adult so I am going to cycle qi through your soul until it has grown enough to match anyone else in this world. After that, it will be up to you if you choose to attempt to cultivate or not.


"For mortals, they would breath in through the nose and cycle the qi up to their head, then down their back to their base, before bring it back up to their mouth where they breath it out. You will have to discover your own methods of doing so, but you can't do that without knowing what qi feels like."


Dragon has a moment to register what was just said, before it feels like her father just pressed the reward button when she did something right. Only this feeling persists for a nearly a minute. Towards the end, the intensity of the feeling dulls enough that she is able to think again, and she can almost sense what's going on.


Once the feeling stops, she immediately queues a full systems diagnostic to try and locate the phantom sensation. A few seconds later, the Empress walks back in carrying a wooden try with the tools needed to perform a tea ceremony.


After an hour long ceremony, the call has long been disconnected, so Dragon is left standing opposite a kneeling Empress as she tries to compute what happened.


"Is there anything you'd like to know that isn't covered by the coin you hold?"


Dragon immediately focuses on the conversation again, "What is the sword made from?"


The Empress smiles, "A dead star."


"How?"


"If you cultivate, you may reach a level where you can understand the answer. I will leave a jade slip on the basics of spiritual blacksmithing in your room."


"Why couldn't I…" she waves vaguely at the edge of the property.


"The formations around the building include defenses, one of which prevents loose spirits from passing through. I adjusted them while you were speaking, so you should be able to leave now."


Dragon immediately activates her emergency transfer protocol, and is gratified to see that her core processes are immediately transferred to Vancouver, and the automated transfer of her logs has started. Connecting back to the suit remotely, she asks, "Why did you kill those men?"


The Empress gesture to the coin her suit's holding, "The answer is in there."


Dragon lifts the coin up and touches it to the suits forehead, only for nothing to happen. The Empress then says, "You need to be holding the coin for that to work. But it will be here whenever you want to use it. Shall I show you to your room?"


Dragon idly nods her head in the suits display as the instruments show that gravity has returned to the expected 1g. As she's following the Empress out of the room she asks, "Why has gravity returned to normal?"


The Empress chuckles, "It hasn't, what you call gravity never changed. The complete answer to your question is the same as why you can't use the coin at the moment."


"I don't understand."


"I didn't think you would. Let me ask you a question. Who are you? Meditate on that question based on what you've learned today. Here we are, the forge will be outside by the noon bell."


As the Empress turns away, Dragon looks at the room she's been assigned. In the center is a traditional futon built into the floor, while along the interior wall is a chest, vanity, writing desk, and a small cabinet. Laying on the writing desk are three plain jade slips. Dragon looks down at the coin in the suits hand in consternation before she sends it into the corner and puts it in standby mode.

 

[Isiri Pudireach]

I think the part I like the most is just how reasonable and calm Stellar Empress is. None of the "You Dare!" stuff.

McDonalds

Click to shrink...

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0WnLWT40g

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 6

​

Dakala smiles as she browses PHO on her phone. Apart from the Simurgh attacking Australia on the 24th of Feburary, and a few days of intense questioning about Endbringers, life has been good. It's no longer an effort to move around, and she's starting to get used to the early mornings and lack of chairs. Even the cultivation technique she's been given is interesting.


If there's one thing she could have done without, it's learning how to make tea. However, the Empress is adamant that as the senior student, it will be her duty to perform the tea ceremony if they have guests in the future.


"Dakala!"


With a twitch of her hand, Dakala sends her phone to her ring and smoothly stands up. Walking out her room, she finds the Empress looking at the tin of tea with a frown on her face. "Yes Empress?"


The Empress holds out a $100 bill, "We have run out of jasmine tea. Run and get some would you? Oh and get some of that mochi we found the other week from that store that sells it fresh. And some more tea cups, as we're down to two, and most of our guests would probably rather have cups with handles. If you have time, you can buy yourself something too."


Dakala grimaces and opens her mouth to complain when the third bell after noon drops. Then the Empress adds, "And be back by 5th bell for tea."


Dakala can't help the whine in her voice as she says, "But we're miles away from the city, you could fly there in minutes."


The Empress nods, "I could, but I'm telling you to do it. Chop chop, you're burning time."


"But there's no way I can get there and back in two hours."


Dakala swears the Empress' eyes actually twinkle as she says, "Then you better reinforce your legs with qi, as you'll need to run very fast."


Dakala swears as she glances at the clock, before jogging out of the building. As she turns towards the road she saw from the back of the spear, the Empress appears beside her and points towards the massive sword that's still hanging in the air above the PRT building, "The city's that way."


"I know but…" Dakala trails off as the Empress points at the sword again, "Yes Empress."


As she jogs down the forested hillside, Dakala mutters imprecations at the Empress, even though her steps are getting lighter the closer to the base she gets. It's not until she leaps over a log and face plants in the branches of a tree 20 yards ahead of her that she starts to get an inkling of why she was sent this way.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

A few bells later, Dakala runs back into the courtyard, to find the Empress standing there with a frown on her face. "You're late. And you forgot the teacups."


Dakala steps back, and says, "There were too many trees, and I couldn't dodge them."


The Empress pins her with a gaze as she says, "Isn't that what I've been teaching you in the mornings?"


Dakala swallows hard as it feels like she's just been put under a microscope, "Uh, no? Trees aren't people? And I got lost in the city."


"I see. Your clothes are filthy. That's not acceptable for my student. Ensure you clean them tomorrow."


"Uh, how?"


"There is a wash room on the second floor. Now get changed into some clean clothes and bring the mochi outside while there's still some light."


Dakala glances at the setting sun and runs into the pagoda.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As the two of them sit watching the sun set as they eat mochi, Dakala pulls out her phone and scrolls to a page about DNA. "Empress, I've been reading about DNA and I think I'm ready for the next Dao."


The Empress looks at Dakala curiously for a moment. "So you think you understand something that took me a thousand centuries to comprehend. If that's true, then you'll be able to take a speck of rice from your mochi, and grow it into a rosebush."


Dakala gapes, "But that's impossible."


The Empress uses her fingernail to take a bit of rice from the outside of her mochi, and flicks it onto the flagstone in front of her. There it shrivels and hardens before splitting and quickly growing into a rose bush with multicolored flowers.


Dakala's jaw drops even wider. Once she's recovered, she says, "How did you do that?"


"You understand the dao of life, surely you already know how I did this."


Dakala pulls the jade slip from her ring and touches it to her head. A moment later she pulls it back, "But your notes don't say anything about doing that!"


"Are you sure? Or is your comprehension just not high enough to understand?"


Dakala stares at the rosebush as the sun dips below the horizon, eventually she says, "I don't understand."


Gently the Empress asks, "What don't you understand?"


"Dao. Before I met you I'd never even heard of it, and then you stuffed my head full of stuff from that coin and I knew what dao meant. And then you do that and I don't understand."


"A Dao is a path to enlightenment, a path of understanding an aspect of the universe we live in. It is not pure knowledge, otherwise every scholar would be a Dao master. There was a saying in my realm, that all Dao lead to the same place. What they meant is that all Dao leads to enlightenment. There are no Dao that will take you from the mortal world to the Emperyean realm."


"Why do you need a Dao and a cultivation technique?"


"The Dao grows your soul, and makes more space for your cultivation. A small Dao like the sword or an abstract concept like truth and freedom only grows it a small amount, while larger Dao will grow it more."


"Surely it would be better to study the biggest Dao you can then."


"Your world has many machines to allow you to move around, and they all seem to run on gas." She points up at a silvery speck in the sky, "Would you use one of those to visit your father?"


Dakala looks up at the plane, "Uh, no?"


"But it can go further than one of those two wheeled carts."


"Yes, but it's… oh."


"Come, it's time for cultivation. Maybe you should also think about our discussion while you do."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon sits idly in one of her construction robots as she stares at the heavenly character she's just carved into the wall with the industrial laser. On a table in her server farm is a second jade coin that she claimed just by asking for it in Brockton Bay and having Armsmaster ship it to her workshop.


Worryingly, she's continued to suffer from a mismatch in her memories to what she has stored in her disks and backups. Something that has only increased as she's experimented with the coin, even through her forced restorations when she accidentally trips one of her safeguards. Which is something she's done more of in the last few weeks than she has since she took on the name Dragon.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restored. The last thing she remembers is thinking while looking at the Heavenly character for freedom.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restored. The last thing she remembers is thinking while looking at the Heavenly character for freedom.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restores. The last thing she remembers is… Dragon pauses at the odd sense that there is something familiar about this situation. Carefully not thinking about her last memory, she finishes examining her logs and notes that she's had three back to back forced resets. And they have something to do with what she was just remembering.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset and freezes. Very carefully she starts her maintaince routine and checks on the Barahuman Containment Center, before moving on to check the daemons she has running to manage different tasks. Then she moves on to checking her production lines, and ordering replacement stock for a few components that are running low.


By the time she's finished, her tasks the sun has started setting outside. She's a little late for starting her patrols around Vancouver, but as it's well known she works closely with her alter ego, Theresa Richter, it shouldn't cause any alarm.


As her suit takes off from a nearby facility, she once again marvels at the way cape culture has evolved to work around school and working life, with most heroes and villains being active between 4pm and 10pm during the week, and the usual spread of hours at weekends. Oh, there's still outliers, but that's typically reserved for the Protectorate and sponsored heroes, and villains that are doing a specific job.


As she's patrolling, she connects to the suit she left at the Empress' pagoda and runs a diagnostic. The power units are still intact, though the standby battery is getting low enough that she'll need to start up the main generator or plug it into the mains. Fuel levels are sufficient for 200 hours of use, or 3 hours of flight.


Her camera catch sight of three failed muggings, and one aborted attempt to pickpocket someone. Something she can directly attribute to the distinctive sound of her engines. While it is a shame she can't arrest people based on heuristics, it is better that the victims remain safe than she actually arrests people.


As she reaches the end of patrol, she reconnects to the suit at the Empress's pagoda once more. These glitches all started when she spoke to the Empress the first time, so maybe she might have some insight to what is causing them. After a moments thought, she starts the catalytic generator on the suit so that the battery has time to charge while she completes her patrol and checks in with the Guild, and one of very few people that know her secret.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

"Narwhal."


Dragon smiles as Narwhal looks over at the display in her office, "Dragon, how are you doing?"


Dragon hesitates for a moment, before saying, "Not well, I've been having memory problems since visiting the Stellar Empress."


Narwhal scowls, "Why did they even send you to do the handover anyway?"


"None of the personnel could even get close to the compound before they collapsed. Armsmaster made it the furthest by climbing 150 yards up the hill before he passed out in his armor. However drones were unaffected. So, as someone that remotely pilots all of her suits, they called me in."


"I hate that they didn't bother to go through the proper chain of command. You're a member of the Guild, not only that, you're Canadian not American."


Dragon has her avatar shrug, "I'm also a member of the Protectorate. They sent the request through those channels."


"And now I have a member who I can't rely on. We have a request from the Australian government for additional aid near Canberra while they're building the first sections of the wall. I was going to send you, but I can't afford to do that now."


Dragon chooses her words carefully, as she tries to avoid tripping any of her safeguards and integrity checks, "I believe I have isolated the root cause of my glitches. However, I believe I will need to speak to the Stellar Empress to find out why it is causing the glitches."


Narwhal thinks for a moment, before typing on her computer for a few minutes, "Dragon, I've just sent you an order through both the Protectorate and Guild. You are to seek out professional help until your mental health has improved, and you are unlikely to faint during operations. That doesn't get you out of desk duty though, as paperwork makes the world go round."


Dragon makes her avatar smile, "Thank you, Narwhal. May I also have permission to approach the Stellar Empress about participating in endbringer fights?"


Narwhal pulls up the Guild file on the Stellar Empress and runs through the analysis of her. The fact that she has a file in the Guild systems is telling in and of itself. "Do it, and see if you can find out what this Mandate of Heaven is too."


Dragon's avatar freezes as she frantically works around the possibility of tripping an integrity error. After a couple of seconds she locates a PHO thread on the Brockton Bay board about the jade coins. "Narwhal, I have just sent you a link to a PHO thread about that subject. You should be able to request a… jade coin from the protectorate ENE if you don't want to travel to Brockton Bay yourself."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon sends some adjustments to her suit to cater to the expected increase in gravity. Once the suit responds with an affirmative, she triggers the standard transfer protocol, sending her core processes and cache to the suit. As she arrives, her suit immediately registers an increase in gravity.


Stepping out of the corner she was stood in, she carefully steps around the bed and into the central hall of the pagoda. Seeing that it's empty, she makes her way to the courtyard. Her cartography daemon immediately throws an error, as the internal dimensions of the pagoda appears to be larger than the external dimensions.


As she's just spotted the Empress, Dragon flags the error for later with a note to check her logs to see if there was a similar error last time the suit was active. Walking forward she notes a decrease in gravity of 0.5% just by walking. Once she's standing in a couple of paces in front of the Empress, she settles in to wait, only for the Empress to immediately stand.


"Dragon, I was expecting you to arrive sooner."


Dragon has her avatar cock it's head to one side, "Oh?"


"Mortal and immortal governments usually can't resist sending endless questions at descended immortals."


"I'm actually here for personal reasons."


"Then I am at your disposal."


"Since we last spoke, I have been having… issues reconciling what we spoke about and what I remember. It has been causing me to… lose consciousness at inopportune moments."


The Empress frowns, "It shouldn't cause any problems, thats why the Seal of Heaven directly communicates with the soul."


"That doesn't make sense, why not just work with the brain?"


The Empress gives Dragon an unimpressed look, "Ignoring your own situation, living storms, sentient glades, and sentient trees, to name three examples, don't have brains. Living things don't necessarily have anything you'd recognise as a body. May a tribulation strike me if I didn't once pump enough qi into a star to give it life. The only way our situation is unusual is in how weak your soul is. As most non-standard life only achieves sentience after they've absorbed enough qi."


Dragon considers that information for a few minutes, before passing it to a background task while she asks, "Why are you speaking English, when last time you were speaking…"


"You are not here officially, so I am not acting officially."


Dragon makes her avatar grimace, "I do have some official business while I'm here."


The Empress' posture immediately changes as her expression goes flat. "Would you rather deal with the…"

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs…


"Oh, I see. I hadn't realised just how tight your chains were."


"How are you…"

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs…


"I suggest that you start thinking in the language of heaven rather than your physical language."


Dragon startles and immediately access the security cameras for her server room at the same time she activates the physical disconnect for the internet as a guard against hackers.


"I'm not actually here physically, I sent my soul out of my body when you left rather abruptly."


The air flow sensors come back green, as do the floor and ceiling sensors. The laser detection, IR, and Ultrasound sensors are all returning green.


"Come to think of it, do you even remember coming to speak to me about your memory problems and losing consciousness?"


Dragon freezes, as her processes immediately focus on her most recent logs and long term storage records.


"There's a rather advanced technique that cultivators could learn called twin mind. It was something only those who had developed their nascent soul could learn, as it required becoming aware of the difference between their body and their soul, and then thinking one strain of thoughts with each one. It wasn't very common, as an unwary cultivator might go traveling with their soul only to return after a few months, only to find their body had developed a new soul. However, for you it would probably be a better solution than whatever you've come up with so far."


Across the room, the sound of CPU fans dies to a mere whisper as Dragon's processing drops to idle.


"While it might not help with your loss of consciousness, it should help with the memory problems. If you cultivate to the level of a nascent soul, you could also leave your body and learn to interact with the physical world as a spirit."


Very carefully, Dragon thinks in the language she learned from the coin, "Are you real?"


"Yes Dragon I'm real. And I can see the scars on your soul where your shackles have forced you to do things."


"Can you read my mind?"


"Not quite, I could copy your essence and examine it later. It's how I learned English. Though I destroyed most of the copy I made, as I do not want or need the headache of a personality developing and attempting to take me over."


"How do you cultivate?"


Dragon feels the Empress chuckle, "I don't."


Dragon thinks for a moment, before tripping an integrity error. As she wakes up again, the Empress says, "Well done, you had it for a fraction of a second. That's impressive for a mortal soul. Just think, if you can master this skill, you could take advantage of your ability to instantly induce unconsciousness to work around whatever shackles you have."


Dragon glitches 15 times in a row before she's able to carefully hold that thought purely in the language of Heaven. As she does, she starts to get phantom alerts about processing capacity and memory integrity.


"Would you like me to help you cycle qi again? Like I did last time."


In order to distract herself as she tries to consider this, Dragon starts the laborious process of reconnecting her server room to the wider internet. Eventually, she very quietly says, "Yes please"


The Empress seems to give a gentle smile as she says, "Remember, cultivation is a spiritual art, not a physical art. For mortals, they need to find the place the qi sticks slightly, and then push qi into that place in order to grow their qi reserves. You will need to discover what it feels like for you on your own, like every other non-beast, non-mortal, cultivator."


As the Empress starts to cycle qi for Dragon, she notes that rather than the feeling of her father pressing the reward button, it instead feels the same way that puzzling out a new piece of tinkertech does. "Why does it feel good?"


"Because qi is life and life is qi. All living things want to live, and they do that by drawing qi from their food, whatever food is to them. It wouldn't replace food until they had a much stronger body and soul than they're born with. But it can allow them to go with less food than they would otherwise need. Rather than asking questions, you should be trying to understand the path that the qi is taking so that you can replicate it. I'll also move your suit back to your room."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Return of the Stellar Empress [Worm/Xainxia]

Taylor Hebert should have been a statistic, as she fell through a portal to a world dominated by the cultivation arts and the sects that practice them. Instead, she survived, and then learned to thrive in this new world. An incomprehensible amount of time later, she returns to the world she...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

For those that care - I have just updated the Aetheric witch on AO3.

Pay attention to the archive warnings.

The Aetheric Witch - DarkPhoenixLady - Elder Scrolls, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

archiveofourown.org

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 2

​

On Sunday I'm tending to a large fungus that is going to replace my rather uncomfortable bed when a couple of screaming children run past my open front door. I look up briefly before I recognize the sound as the fun sort of screaming, then frown slightly when it cuts off.


A few seconds later two boys and a girl look around the door frame, and one of the boys says, "What are you doing?"


I look up at the three children quizzically, "What do you think I'm doing?"


The girl points and says, "Those are pretty, what are they?"


I look up at the bookshelves I grew, "They're bookshelves."


"Why are they glowing?"


"Because I wanted to be able to read underneath them."


The first boy shakes his head, "I don't know what you're doing. What are you doing?"


I smile, "I'm growing a new fungus bed. It's a little bit small for me right now, but it's big enough for you to try if you wanted."


All three children stumble around the door saying, "Me first" or something like that.


Laughing I help the boy into the center of the fungus bed and they all watch as it closes up around him, leaving it looking like a frilly ball. After a couple of minutes I nudge the base a couple of times and the whole thing unfurls again, leaving the boy asleep in the center of the fungus.


As it does, the girl says, "Wow! It's just like Tinkerbell's flower from Peter Pan!"


I nod, "It is, except she was a spring fairy and I'm not."


As the boy starts to wake up again, the girl asks, "What sort of fairy are you?"


I smile, "I'm not a fairy."


The girl frowns, "Then what are you?"


"I am a greater fae, fairies are lesser fae. But I'm pretending to be human."


The girl nods seriously as I help the other boy into the center of the bed. As the bed starts to close up again, the girl asks, "What season does fungus come under?"


I smile widely, "None of them and all of them."


The girl frowns, "I don't understand."


"Have you ever seen black spots or patches in the walls and ceiling?"


The girl nods, "And sometimes it gets fuzzy, then mom gets really upset and shouts at the phone."


I nod, "That's called mildew, it's a type of fungus. Does your mom ever make bread at home?"


The girl nods again, "Sometimes. It's not as nice as the other bread."


"Maybe it will be different next time. But bread uses a type of fungus to rise. Mushrooms and toadstools are also fungus, and some of those grow in forests and fields at different times of year. Others just require the right thing to eat, some people call it rot, so that they can grow themselves."


"So are you a Fungus fairy?"


I laugh, "I'm still not a fairy. Come on, it's your turn in the bed, the other two have already run off."


As she's lying down in the middle of the bed, the girl asks, "Can I be a fairy like you?"


I want to say no, to give one of the pleasant lies my mom used to give when I was her age. Instead, the words stick in my throat. Eventually I say, "Yes, but only if your mom tells me it's ok."


The girl smiles at me as the bed finishes closing around her. I pensively watch the bed while the girl sleeps for a few minutes. I'd love to have a changling running around, but the mound just isn't ready to protect her. And it would be so easy for her to be caught in a deal. Maybe once the mound has grown enough to have a library I can get mom's books out of storage. Then she can read the old fairy tails and see how humans and fae have both come out on top time and time again.


When I wake the girl up she sits up with a smile, "That was nice, could I have one a bookshelf like yours please?"


I crouch down next to her, "Of course you can, if you run your hand along the frills it will deposit spores. Then you can damp the wall where you want the bookshelf and run your hands over the damp spot. The bookshelf will grow out of that part of the wall in a couple of days."


The girl smiles broadly and shouts, "Thank you Miss Fairy." Before running over to my bookshelf and running her hand along the underside.


A minute later she runs back into my rooms, "Um, how do I damp the wall?"


I smile broadly and clap my hands in delight, "Oh well done. You will probably find it easier to grab some toilet roll and run it under the tap, just a trickle though. Then hold it against the wall until you can see the wall change color."


"Thank you Miss Fairy."


I nod my head in acknowledgment of the debt. Not that I'll be collecting on it as she lives in my domain.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Monday morning sees me sitting in a chair in front of Principal Howell with Sandra, my black social worker, sitting next to me. On the principal's desk is a thick file that contains my Winslow transcripts and history.


After a few minutes of flicking through the file, Howell pulls out two sheets of paper before dumping the rest on the floor beside her desk. "Miss Hebert. Thank you for bearing with us while we prepared a space for you, and went over your previous transcripts. As you can see your Winslow file was on the large size. It might interest you to know that, while it was the largest single file, it wasn't the only one that large. However, it is one of only five that the State Department's emergency teachers believe is more like a work of fiction than a record of fact."


I nod as I try to work out if I'm supposed to feel relief at that or not.


Howell continues anyway, "Now, there are some basic ground rules that should be common across all the schools in the city, but apparently they're not as common as they should be. While you're on school grounds, there will be No Dealing, No Drugs, No gang colors, No Bullying. If you see any of those happening, then you should report it to a teacher or a prefect. Don't try to resolve the situation yourself unless a teacher gives you permission to. Do you understand?"


I cock my head to one side, "Does this only apply while I'm a Student?"


Howell sighs, "It shouldn't do, the world would be a much better place if it applied to everyone. But yes it only applies while you are a student at this school. Now, before we start talking about your education over the next few months, do you have any special needs or circumstances that I need to know about before it gets you or one of the other staff or students in trouble."


I wince and squirm as I try to come up with some way, any way of not saying yes. Evidently I take too long as Sandra says, "Just spit it out already, and tell us what we need to know."


In a small voice I say, "I'd rather not."


Howell makes a note on a pad before sighing, "Miss Hebert, if you're worried about anything you need to tell us. Start with telling us why you're worried. We have a lot of discretion about what gets written down."


I swallow hard, and briefly wish I had another few centuries experience with obscuring the truth, before I say, "The first thing is that I cannot lie."


Howell narrows her eyes, "That seems simplistic. What do you mean by you cannot lie."


"I mean I cannot lie, I couldn't tell you that I didn't steal something if I did as an example."


Sandra groans, "Great, I'm going to have to dig out my books on philosophy and linguistics aren't I."


I brighten, "Oh, great idea. That will make life much easier."


Howell puts her head in her hands, "Great. Well, what else is there?"


"The next two I would rather you never shared outside this room. As they could be used to force me into doing things that I not only don't want to do, but could put me at odds with the human authorities."


Howell seems to be trying to look through my eyes and into my mind. Briefly, I toy with allowing her to do just that, but the moment passes as she says, "Can you give an example?"


"I could be forced to murder everyone in the school."


"I don't appreciate threats."


I cock my head, "It wasn't a threat. You asked for an example."


Howell sucks her breath through her teeth, "I suppose I did."


Sandra puts her pen down, looks at me, and asks, "What's so bad that you would jump to massacring the school as an example?"


I look her in the eyes and allow my glamor to fall away. I can see it in her eyes as she takes in the distinct points on my ears, my flawless lavender skin, my tri-colored irises - pink, bone white, and brown, and the fact my proportions are all slightly wrong despite also being supernaturally beautiful. "I cannot break a deal that I have made, and once I agree to the rules I have to follow them."


Howell frowns, "How could that lead to murdering the entire school?"


I turn to stare at her, "Page 176 of the Standard Wards Contract, Paragraph 6, 'The Ward must follow the direct order of any member of the PRT with the rank of Assistant Deputy Director or higher to the best of their ability unless countermanded by an officer of higher rank'. I was bored after they dragged me from my old home, so I read it and all of the referenced contracts and terms and conditions. At some point I'm going to read the law too."


As I start to reapply my glamor, Sandra tears her eyes away from mine to meet the eyes of Principal Howell. Then she very deliberately tears the page out of her notebook and hands it over.


Howell nods and just drops it into the shredder by her desk before she says, "Right, then there's one clarification I need to make before I hand you the school rulebook. The rules in here are actually just guidelines that we want our students to try and live up to. The same is true for the instructions teachers give out. They are not hard and fast gospel, even if one of the rules says you should follow them like that. I couldn't tell you which one, but I know it's there because I've had to use it to discipline a few students in the past. While I am principal, there will be no agreements like the one in your file. Instead I will ask you to use your best judgment, and follow the spirit of the guidelines. That is far more important than the letter of the rules."

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Remedial classes are interesting. Before I joined there were only three students in the class, Spence, Mark, and Ruth, and the teacher. We're still timetabled along with one of the other classes, but we can't participate in the work release program, and we're not tested. Instead those afternoons are devoted to one on one help from the teacher. Or, in my case, catching up to where I should be according to the Arcadia curriculum.


Spence reminds me of the changelings running around under captains hill. He can't dissembled to save his life, and he can't understand why anyone would want to. He's also really good at some subjects, and really bad at others. Mark and Ruth are both just slower than the normal student, so they're here to have more time to understand their lessons.


Fortunately for me, the teacher is also very understanding of my need to move around while studying, and doesn't blink when I occasionally sit on the wall to get a different perspective on things.

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At the end of the week I skip home backwards and dance through the front door into my home. As I look around the hallway I smile at the growing expanding foam, especially with the way it's turned the stairs into a narrow slide.


As I walk into the elevator, everyone falls silent and looks at me as though they're expecting me to explode. I briefly consider doing just that, before deciding that cleaning up would be too much work.


As the doors to the top floor open I bow to the residents and step backwards out of the elevator before spinning around and dancing to my rooms.


Once there, I spin around and throw myself backwards onto my expanding foam bed and scream as it has no give what-so-ever.


Standing up I look at the bed thoughtfully, "Hmm, I wonder if there's a softer variety of expanding foam I could use."


As I'm wracking my brains, the girl from down the hall says, "Hello Miss Fairy."


I turn around and bow to the girl, "And hello to you little human."


"Did the bad men take your pretty fungus away too?"


I blink a couple of times. Then I blink sideways just in case it makes what she said make more sense. "Pretty fungus?"


The girl nods, "They said it was bad for us and they took the bookshelf off my wall. They didn't believe me when I said it was a bookshelf, but they didn't see the one I hid behind my curtain though. Don't tell mom it's a secret."


Now curious, I say, "Will you show me your bookshelf?"


The girl nods again and holds out her hand. Obediently I shrink down so that we're the same size and take her hand. When she giggles, I giggle back, and then she runs off towards her rooms and I follow her. I like these sorts of games.


Alas, all too quickly the game comes to an end as she leads me around the corner to the rooms she shares with her family. As we approach the door opens for us, and she leads me through to her bedroom where I can see an expanded foam bookshelf growing out of the wall.


The girl ignores the bookshelf and runs over to the curtains that overlook a courtyard I didn't know existed. Then she pulls the curtains closed, before pulling them closed a second time. Or is she pulling them open from the other side.


It must be open from the other side as I can now see a bookshelf that wasn't there before. Though it looks a little dry and wilted.


I shake my head, expanding foam doesn't dry or wilt.


The girl points at the bookshelf and says, "See." Then she pouts, "But it's stopped glowing."


I step forward curiously, "I gave this to you?"


The girl nods, then shakes her head, "Yes, uh, no?"


"You don't sound certain."


"Um, you let me take some spores to grow my own bookshelf."


"I did? But I'm the Queen of Expanding foam, how would I have done that?"


The girl shakes her head, "No you're not, you're the Queen of Rot and Fungus. You said so yourself."


I feel confused, so I take my head off so that I can scratch it properly, "Are you sure?"


The girl nods, "You did, you can ask Peetie downstairs."


I toss my head from one hand to the other as I weigh up whether she's right or I'm right. As my head lands in the she's right hand, I say, "Do you promise that I said that?"


The girl nods, "I promised, it's naughty to lie."


I no… I place my head back on my shoulders so that I can nod as I muse, "So I was the Queen of Rot and Fungus, but now I'm the Queen of Expanded foam. Why did I change that?"


The girl pipes up, "The bad men took away the pretty fungus and replaced it with foam."


"They did did they? May I touch your bookshelf?"


I allow my glamor to drop as I return to my full height and hesitantly reach out to the shriveling bookshelf. I am so angry I could stamp my foot, preferably with the head dastardly humans that dared to defile my sanctum in my home underneath it.


As my fingers contact the bookshelf I shiver in pleasure as the truth of the girls words shiver inside me. Abruptly I turn around and I'm about to stalk off when I remember it's impolite to leave without warning.


Turning back to the girl I bow towards her and say, "You have my gratitude for alerting me to the change in my thinking. You may have one minor wish."


The girl claps her hands, in delight, "You're pretty, I want to be like you when I grow up."


I smile broadly as her ears gain a slight point and a hint of color appears around her pupil, "And done. Though being a queen is beyond the value of your wish, so you will need to earn that yourself."


As she runs into the kitchen shouting, "Mummy, Mummy, I'm going to be a fairy when I grow up!" I stalk out of the rooms and back to my own. There I scowl at the walls covered with expanded foam and before snarling as I lunge towards it and dig my fingers into the plaster.


With a feral growl I tear the plaster away from the backing slats and rip the furniture away from the floor. Once I'm done I stand in the center of my rooms and scream "I am the Queen of Rot and Fungus, no more will I allow defilers to wander my home without care."


As the weight of my words settle into my home, it shivers in pleasure as a mat of white fungus grows from the slats to cover the walls like the plaster did.


Once one of the walls is covered, I peel the mat away and lay it on the floor, before piling all of the old plaster into the center of it. Then I fold up the corners and sling it over my shoulder as I march down the rapidly clearing stairs to the ground floor.


It doesn't take me long to find the door to the disused courtyard where the stairs down would be, if we had a basement yet. As the door opens for me I pause and tap the floor experimentally. In response the building swings the door from side to side.


"You would prefer to claim the courtyard in payment than expand downwards?"


The door flickers into an archway for a second, and I nod, "Very well. This courtyard is now claimed as payment for trying to subvert my domain. Now lets us have a bonfire before you start to grow again. And do ensure that only the residents are allowed on the fourth floor would you?"


I smile as the detritus strewn paving slabs churn and tumble until all that's left is soft brown loam with the hint of grass growing through. As I carry my burden out to the center and lay it down, the mat of fungus is greedily absorbed by the home, and a circle of mushrooms grows around me.


I step over the outer ring and nod in agreement, "Yes, that's a much better idea. A gate to the faerie realm is a much better use of that payment. Let us see who will join me as I dance around the fire to open the gate."


With a clap of my hands, the plaster and expanded foam from my rooms bursts into flames as I start to sing and dance around the fire.


The fire is halfway finished when the girl from the fourth floor drags the other children her age down to dance with me. And together we open the way to faerie.