Zu Mari lurked in a tree above the path, Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death gripped in his hand, waiting for the patrol to reach him.

“I’m impressed,” said Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death in approval. “I expected you to charge at them heedlessly.”

“This is the clan that trained both Xashu and Ozyri. I would be a fool to underestimate them.”

“Indeed you would.”

“Death Shadow is scouting.”

“I know. I haven’t left you since we met, apart from the times you threw me at people. Which you shouldn’t do, by the way.”

“Will you teach me the spirit suppression techniques now?”

“You are not ready.”

Zu huffed out an impatient breath and dropped from the tree into the road. “I don’t have time for this,” he grumbled. Slamming the sword back in its sheath, he stalked toward the Chartreuse Cougar patrol.

“So you decided to charge at them head on?”

“I decided that pandering to my sword is a waste of time.” Zu waved a hand at the amber-frozen globe of the world. “If I die, I’ll begin again. Why waste time sitting around in trees when I can get straight information directly instead?”

“You rely very heavily on an artifact you do not understand.”

“It worked for Ozyri, and it’s worked so far for me.”

Zu rounded a bend in the path and came upon a surprised group of fighters in mismatched uniforms. One had a beast spirit imbued into his body, with mottled fur, claws, and a tail that lashed behind him as he walked. Another’s face was covered in stylized open circle tattoos, a lithe and lightly-armored man whose presence felt dangerous.

The rest were unimportant, so Zu ignored them.

“Are… you the ambassador?” asked the beast-souled man, perked ears twitching.

“No. I am Zu Mari, and I seek audience with your leaders to clear up a misunderstanding.”

Everyone in the group drew their weapons, the beast-soul man growling something unintelligible and the tattooed man’s marks lighting up with a dark corona of sinister aura.

Zu wondered if there were a way to reset the loop without dying. But such cowardly thoughts fled in an instant. He drew his blade, readied his inner phoenix, and charged into the fray.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the group weren’t a mismatched hodgepodge of rejects, but were used to fighting together as a team. Though Zu was fast and strong and unstoppable, they turned him aside at every strike. Sometimes they cast spells at him which he was forced to dodge, or one or another fired some missile at him.

Still he fought with fierce determination against overwhelming odds.

Alas, in the end, even his strength and perfection was not enough. One lucky strike from the tattooed man, and Zu stood twenty minutes back up the trail, the edges of the amber sphere further distant now.

“Perhaps now you will understand the wisdom of patience and concealment?”

“Will it get you to teach me special powers?”

“You are not yet ready to bear that responsibility,” said Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death. “You have already progressed too fast. You should spend more time meditating on what power you have been given and how to become the sort of person who can attain the next level. Rushing into battle is not the way of ascension.”

“It may not be your way, but times are different now.” Zu sprinted down the path toward the approaching patrol.

“So you say. But the fundamental nature of the universe hasn’t changed.”

“Didn’t you say you used to ride lava streams between planets or something? That’s not possible any more.”

“Only to those so bounded by the imposition of imagined reality.” But before Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death could come up with any more inane suggestions, they neared the patrol’s range. The sword at least respected Zu’s desire for stealth and refrained from distracting him as he slowed to a jog.

“Oh, are you the ambassador?” asked the beast-soul man dubiously, ear twitching as he stared at Zu.

“I am a friend of Xashu Cougar, and I seek audience with the leaders of this Wild Clan. I need to clear up some misunderstandings.”

“Xashu is supposed to be keeping strangers out, not sending them further in.” He squinted suspiciously, his pale-furred tail twitching. “Who are you?”

Zu raised his chin proudly. “I am Zu Mari. I have come to speak with—“

They all drew their weapons and glowered at him, nodding at one another as they fell into combat formation.

“You thought this would work better a second time when you do the exact same thing?” complained Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death, boringly.

“If at first you don’t succeed, punch harder next time,” Zu said. “I am not ashamed of my name or my family! Nothing can convince me to hide my identity like a coward!”

He charged. The tattooed warrior leapt to meet his attack, while an archer with tattered boots moved evasively and vanished into the shadow of the trees. The beast-soul warrior was nearer still, and swung his twin curved blades in deadly arcs.

Zu had studied them closely as he fought the first time and now knew better what they would do. He let the beast-soul warrior’s feint slip past him. Immediately, Zu jumped forward and struck into the brief opening with Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death.

His opponent’s speed equaled his own, the blade striking only a glancing blow. It skidded across the beast-soul warrior’s armor, throwing sparks of gold and purple. Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death began to glow with fervor, just the edge, lighting up red with trails of purple light rising from it like flickering flames.

“I have no desire to kill you all, but I will if you persist in blocking my way!” Zu proclaimed magnanimously. “Take me to your chief so I can speak with him.”

“On the honor of the Chartreuse Cougars, no stranger is to be admitted,” growled the beast-soul. “I, Ruxja Cougar, Ninth-Born of Ysjartho Cougar, will end your intrusion though it costs my life!”

Zu leveled Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death at the man, his voice flat and deadly. “I will get past, one way or another. You will only throw away your life.”

But Ruxja was not intimidated. “My family’s security is not a thing whose price would be any lower than all our lives. You will not convince me with your bluster. Besides, what threat could a Mari be to one such as me?”

Zu decided that whatever else happened he would absolutely wipe the arrogant smug expression right off Ruxja’s face.