-=[Ash Sparks]=-

“...This was all started by Ash Sparks! A moth of Lady Lillian!” A voice boomed from the depths of the catacombs, echoing up the stairwell, followed by angry rumbling of an agitated crowd.

“That really doesn’t sound like the Guilds are happy with you,” Arianna noted.

“Mind hiding in the lantern, Ludj?” I patted the ghost's harness, ignoring her.

Ludjfurkvv-Murr nodded, and slowly folded himself into the lantern on my chest. Well, it was just the medallion base part, since I pried the rest of the useless bits off. It made for a pretty cultivator-style jewelry.

In moments Ludj was gone into my chest-medallion and we ended up standing on the floor, the leather harness now sitting on the ground beneath us.

“Why’d you vanish the servitor?” Arianna complained. “I don’t want to walk down all of these slippery stairs.”

“You’ll live,” I admonished her. “Leg exercise is good for lazy princesses.”

“Hey, I’m not lazy!” She defended herself.

“That is yet to be determined,” I noted.

“Why hide Mr. Murr, Ash? Is he not your proof of being a high-cultivator?” Celes added, rolling up the leather seat.

“Shock and awe,” I explained. “It’s a psyops technique. Make your enemies think that you’re weak and then surprise them with an unexpected move. Overload an adversary's perception and understanding of events so that they become incapable of resistance at the tactical and strategic levels. Worked pretty well on Kittianne over here.”

“You better not call me that in front of the Guild Heads.” The redhead frowned.

“Nah, that’s an adorkable nickname between friends. In public I shall refer to you as your high-excellency, the seventh scion of the esteemed Manning family.” I curtsied her with a smirk.

Arianna didn’t look very esteemed at this point. She was displeased by the slippery, wet stairwell and bothered by the fact that her cheek still bore a pink handprint.

We emerged from the spiral tunnel onto the sand-covered beach, heading towards a crowd of people that were busy arguing with each other. Most of the accusations seemed to be pointed at Lady Violet Lillian, which was to be expected since I belonged to her Guild.

Everyone fell silent as they noticed the approach of the three waterfall-soaked teenagers.

"Sparks! Get your ass over here, girl!" Lillian barked. "Do you even know what you've done?!"

I yawned tiredly. I knew exactly what I did.

"Well, well, well," A very round man emerged from the crowd. "If it isn't our new luminary - Ash Sparks and her geisha confidant. And who's the third girl?"

The crowd of angry Guild leaders began to surround us.

"The Lady of the hour, Ash Sparks!" Reaper Niels came forward as well. "The youngest high-cultivator in centuries!"

"Barberman, are you some kind of an imbecile?" Lady Lillian groaned. "She's not a freaking high-cultivator! Why in the hells would you spread such delusional rumors?"

"I saw her summon a Servitor that bit through celesteel with my own eyes!" Avidius bellowed in his defense.

"Regardless of what you saw," the man who I recognized as the Head of the Barbers Guild spoke. "She is clearly not a high-cultivator.

I saw that his eyes shimmered with a brown, earthly glow… beneath his… reading glasses?

"This girl's Dantian is frail and extremely damaged. Every single one of her chakras are dimmer than that of the lowest cult initiate. She cannot possibly be a high-cultivator," he added solemnly.

I sighed. Everyone was talking about chakras like they were a real thing. Perhaps they saw something that I didn't? Maybe I was wrong? Perhaps I was a bit too affected by the Pharmacist's disregard for the spiritual? When we get past the Deathstorm Convergence, I really need some alone time in a study. Or a lab. A place for me to work and strip the facts out of the mysticism.

I looked back at the approximately sixty-something-year-old, well dressed, thin, brown-silver haired man, trying to remember his name. I was relatively sure it started with a C or a K. I had no idea what he was wearing on his face when I met him a few years ago at one of Lady Lillian's establishments... but he was definitely wearing glasses from the twenty-first century! Hum.

Lady Lillian had reached me, looking like a thunderstorm cloud.

"I told you to come to me, insolent child!" Lillian tried to slap me. I failed to move away in time. I was slow, far more exhausted than I realized. I had over-estimated my strength once again, stretched the resources of my body to their limits.

What I had not expected at all was that Celes suddenly stepped in front of me. The geisha grabbed Lady Lillian's hand before the Guild Leader’s slap connected with my face.

"Do not touch her," Celes hissed, punctuating every word and baring her fox-teeth. My kitsune friend had gotten rather brave over the past day, seemingly waking up her beastly side.

Two of Lillian's bodyguards, the Nixiark brother and sister, advanced my way. Their Servitor spirits blossomed into existence.

"What's this, geisha? You dare deny me my property?" Violet fumed.

"She is not your property, you vile woman!" Celes growled, yellow eyes shimmering in the dim cavern. "None of you know anything!"

"Then pray tell, whose property is she?" Violet laughed. "Yours?"

"She is my apprentice, yes!" Celes declared.

"Ha ha ha! Really? You think that this useless chaff has the necessary talent to be a geisha?!" Lillian laughed. "Preposterous! She is impatient and disobedient, a petulant child!"

"She is the bravest and cleverest person I know," Celes shot back with conviction.

"A smart person would not start a Deathstorm Convergence rumor," the Adventurers Guild Secretary commented from the sidelines.

"Indeed," the Head of the Merchants boomed. "While such rumors are profitable to some of us in the short term… our reputation will become dangerously sullied when the Deathstorm does not show. This child must be taught a lesson and handed over to the cult…"

The radiance of serenity suddenly left my twin-souls. I frowned.

"The Deathstorm IS coming in six days!" Celes yelled. "Listen to me! I am the voice of the Serenity Temple and I would not lie about such a thing! I learned it from High-Administrator Han himself!"

With a tone from her throat that she had been building up a sudden efficacious pulse of serenity flashed from Celes, spreading over the entire crowd. The advancing Guilders paused for a second, anger draining from their faces. I exhaled. I didn't know that she could do a wide pulse like that!

Lady Lillian paused for a second too, considering this announcement.

"Even if that may be the case," she finally spoke. "Ash Sparks had failed to follow my orders, failed to report this matter to me and sent the Hand gang out into the city without having the authority to do so. She owes me a debt in life and gold. She must be punished first and only then can you purchase her off me, if you have the necessary funds, geisha."

The other Guild Heads and reps nodded to that.

"A debt must be paid in full, the Guild rules cannot be violated, geisha Rada," the Barbers Guild leader confirmed. "We cannot allow you to simply take Ash Sparks from Lady Lillian, no matter how much you desire to help her."

"Thank you, Clint, my dear. I'll take it from here." Lillian made a sign to her bodyguards.

Celes slacked her grip and looked back at me, not sure what to do next. The serenity field focused on my heart and mind once again.

I pulled out my gun from its holster as the pair of burly siblings advanced towards me.

Clint's face paled at the sight of the gun. He seemed to know exactly what it was! I didn't aim the gun at Lillian or her assistants. I turned towards the lake and pulled the trigger.

"KRRAKKHABOOOOMmmmmmmm!"

The deafening gunshot resounded across the cavern. The bodyguards froze. The bullet smashed into the enormous bell shrine producing a deep, booming gong-sound. A large, silver moth-man phantom materialized on the island shrine, looming over the ringing bell, enormous silver wings spreading out defensively.

For the first time in centuries the bell of the bell Lake shrine sang, carrying a somber, echoing, deep tone that made me shiver.

"Stop! Stop!!!" Clint yelled as I turned and pointed the gun at Lillian.

"What?" The Thieves Guild Head blinked. "What was... that?"

"Looks like someone knows what I have," I smiled tiredly.

"She's got a very dangerous artifact from the cursed city!" Clint declared. “It fires metal projectiles! It’ll pulverize your skull, Violet.”

“Ash, put down that cursed artifact,” Lady Lillian hissed. “Obey me, girl.”

“No,” I shook my head. “Your Ash died yesterday. She’s gone. Whatever life debt she owed you is done. You hold no power over me, woman. Take one more step and I swear, I will end you,” I spoke with unconcealed, seething malice that threatened to boil over, the shadows of death taking dominion over me.

The death-echos of the beast cores I had absorbed priorly wanted me to pull the trigger, wanted me to splatter her brains, wanted me to end her for these vile claims over me. I realized that if it wasn’t for the focused radiance of serenity pointed at me from Celes, I would definitely become a murder hobo. I shakily moved my finger away from the trigger, barely able to fight the desire to end my former Master’s life.

Lillian stared at me with wide eyes. She must have felt the conviction in my words on some deep level.

“This isn’t the only ancient thing here,” I nodded at my gun. I was tired of lying, tired of pretending to be someone that I wasn’t. “Do you really want to know what I am, Violet? I am an ancient soul, awakened after a thousand years of slumber and I am not happy with what I see here... descendants.”

Clint swallowed. The gathered crowd of Guild leaders stirred.

“How’s that prescription by the way? Does it actually match your eyes?” I inquired in English, looking at the old man's reading glasses.

“It’s not perfect,” the brown-eyed old man whispered back with a terrible accent, smiling and shivering ever so slightly.

Lillian looked between me and the Barber’s Guild leader, absolute bewilderment painted on her face.

I squinted at him. I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only idiot who tried to awaken an ancient soul. The Surgeon Barbers Guild did seem a tad more modern, a bit better organized compared to the medieval incompetence taking place within the Gold city.

Could he become someone who could help me uplift this world if he too awakened someone from my time?

I lowered my gun as the kindly-looking old man limped towards me, leaning on his wooden cane, a friendly smile on his face.

Did I just make another friend?

“Your gun has only twenty bullets at most. You can’t kill all of us,” Clint spoke when he reached me, his voice cold. “You do not belong here, ancient. This is our world.”

Damn it. Maybe not.

Wings sprouted from his back and a many armed, winged creature emerged from within him, wrapping around his body. A ghostly arm struck out and grabbed the gun from my hand before I could even blink. It chucked my lovely handgun into the middle of the lake. It made a small, distant splash.

Welp. Time for my backup weapon.

“Murrz!” I yelped.

“I think not,” Clint replied.

Just as Ludj started to emerge, one of the silver hands of Clint’s servitor grabbed the lantern-medallion off my chest and snapped the belt that held it up. He flung it into the lake after my gun. Ludj emerged from the beast core, but he was now too far away to help protect me.

Frig, was I ever unlucky today.

“You die here, ancient and the cursed knowledge you possess dies with you!” Clint added, ghostly arms spreading out, about to tear me limb from limb.

It was Arianna that suddenly stepped in front of me this time.

“In the name of the Magistrate, I command you to stop, citizen!” She yelled, arm pointed at the monstrous, many armed ghost that contained Clint’s body within it.

“Who are you to…?!” He growled.

“I am the seventh scion of the Magistrate, Arianna Manning!” Arianna announced in her noble voice. “... and I command you to stand down!”

An emerald ring manifested on Arianna’s finger, shining like a brilliant green star. How the hell did I not see it before? It must have been a concealed artifact. The ring flashed and Clint was blasted backwards.

“Run,” Arianna whispered, her voice shaking. “The disruptor ring can’t hold a high-cultivator off forever!”

Clint was already rising back up from the ground, like a ghostly, many armed, monstrous spider with wings.

I was boned. I couldn't outrun someone this strong when I was this exhausted and besides the point I wouldn't leave Celes or… Arianna behind. Celes screamed. The feeling of serenity left me.

“Do you really think you can protect her with mere serenity, geisha?” Clint laughed. “I will cut her down, even with inner peace in my heart as I have trimmed down others of her kind!”

I felt paralyzed, sinking into a mire of deep terror as Clint fought the emerald light of Arianna’s ring, advancing inch by inch towards us.

His servitor flickered and he slammed his cane into the rocky ground below. The cane shattered, revealing the gleam of black metal dotted with yellow stars. A celesteel sword.

“Do you know why I know your vile language, ancient?” Clint coughed drily. “I have absorbed one of you long ago and found you... detestable. Your kind had blackened the land, consumed forests without remorse, befouled the air and poisoned the oceans. You bred and multiplied without end, sunk into wicked decadence of greed, pride, lust and gluttonous overindulgence. Far too many of you lived in congested, polluted cities without any hint of green. Your kind upheld no worthy traditions nor respect for the elders. The gods have come from the sky, cleansed the planet of your foul machines, healed the world and birthed a new, far better humanity - one uncorrupted by sin!"

Step by step he moved closer towards me, overpowering Arianna’s noble ring-artifact, shaming, hammering at me with his true words.

“You wear the glasses we made! They help you see!” I protested. I didn’t even have enough Qi in me to use my scanning power on the monstrous old man. I had spent the last of it on bothering the archangel and it had yet to rejuvenate.

“Only so that I can do my job better - to purge the likes of you from the earth, wherever you arise! Do you really think that you are the first? We have ended many like you, foolish girl!” He hissed, swinging the black, shimmering sword. “And no child of the Mannings, nor a geisha will stop me!”