I awoke to the sounds of stone grinding against stone and the rumble of falling rocks.

The apple-tree lit the cavern as a hand tapped its root. Arianna was already standing upright next to the tree-lamp. She had fallen asleep halfway into Lord of the Rings. It wasn’t unexpected - I had drained a lot of her energy yesterday, like a little, adorable, Dantian-stealing vampire. After she had fallen asleep, I struggled to pass out too for a bit until I decided to meditate and cycle to try to relax the raging fires of the Emerald-Blue furnace in my soul. Sometime during this process, I had fallen asleep as my tiredness had finally caught up to me.

I looked down at myself, yawning.

[Ash Sparks] - [Observer LV 7]

[Human female spawn] - [16.48 years old]

[Primary weapon - Ocular Scanning LV 12]

[Secondary weapon - Death Filter LV 4]

[Tertiary weapon - Servitor Phantom Pharmacist LV 3]

Sweet! I was moving up in the world if these numbers were to be believed. Getting married to a highborn was already paying off in droves. The Qi furnace in my Dantian had barely slowed its fury.

Blue storms danced on my body, entwined with brilliant, flashing emerald coronas. In some places my Dantian was a blue ocean filled with green corals, in others it was an emerald forest with patches of blue lakes. Getting engaged to someone far stronger than myself in terms of Qi-potential was awesome! I should definitely marry more people.

“Why isn’t everyone in the Gold city married to everyone? This is amazing!” I whispered, mostly to myself.

“Not everyone is the same in terms of Dantian endowment. Not everyone is willing to trust their life force to another. Also, the weaker side benefits while the stronger side suffers,” Arianna replied to my comment, rubbing her tired-looking face. “I, for one, feel exhausted. You sucked out at least half of my Dantian and barely gave me anything in return.”

“Should have trained your future-sniffing powers harder!” I giggled. “Stabbing your future-waifu was a grave mistake.”

“Agreeing to marry you was a mistake,” Arianna growled angrily, opening and closing her fists. I looked up at her. There were dark circles under her eyes. Her Dantian looked thinner, less brilliant overall, filled with dim, blue spots. It really did look like I sucked the life right out of her. Damn!

“Have you met the Eternal Flames City Magistrate?” I tried to derail her rage.

“Yes," Arianna replied. "Lord Allanther Fergusson is a wise, dignified ruler. I'm ashamed to admit it, but his city is organized far better than ours. He keeps his Guilds in line with a fiery fist.”

“Is Lord Allanther’s grandson stronger or weaker than you?” I continued my line of inquiry.

“Compared to me, his grandson is stronger physically and weaker mentally,” she answered.

“Mentally weaker... how? He can’t sniff the future or something?”

The highborn nodded.

“I’ve met Nemizia Fergusson... two years ago,” Arianna’s frown deepened. “If I married him I would become a lot stronger and suffer a mild mental drain in exchange, losing some of my clairvoyance for a while. Maybe a lot of my clairvoyance… actually. Nemizia boasted of an incredible collection of fancy couches and exotic concubines in his summer palace. He told me that he has agents scouting the god-cities of the world for the best couches in the land. He seemed obsessed with finding the perfect, most comfortable couch.”

“Hum,” I rubbed my chin. “What a delightful combo. If you married him, I’d expect you to evict all of his couches and slit the throats of all of his concubines overnight and then stand outside in front of a giant couch-concubine pyre while laughing diabolically.”

Arianna nodded darkly, not even arguing with my joke.

The rock-grinding sounds outside of the door ceased.

“Arianna? Are you in there? Are you decent?” A deep, noble voice resounded.

“Yes, grandfather,” Arianna replied, her face growing pale.

“Is that Magistrate Manning?” I whispered, glancing her way. Her family ring was flashing with intermittent, green pulses. The ruler of the Gold city had finally found us.

Arianna nodded. I tried to rearrange my sleep-addled hair into something less wild. It didn’t work very well. I was married to the dishevelled street-urchin look and the bathrobe did nothing to conceal my tape-covered hands and feet.

The door swung open with a groan, opened by a hand wrapped in black, matte leather. Ah, good, Avidius was alive!

The most powerful man in the Gold city stepped into the bath. He looked at us and his nostrils flared. Then his eyes jumped at the pile of towels on the floor and then back to Arianna who attempted to hide herself in her wrinkly bathrobe.

“Aria-Anna!” Traetorius Manning barked, his face turning red. “I knew that you didn’t like Nemizia Fergusson that much, but this…”

Arianna winced.

“This… is the last thing I would have expected from you!” Lord Manning boomed, his voice nearly shaking the entire cavern. “For shame! Qi-ssing Gods! Eloping with a lowborn... girl?! Have I not taught you better than this?!”

The gale of his enraged, vociferous voice nearly blew Arianna over. She cowered, shaking in fright.

I stepped in front of Arianna, Qi flaring in my eyes.

[Traetorius Manning] - [Gold City Magistrate]

[LV 99 Noble]

[Human male adult]

[Age - 63.48 years old]

[Primary weapon - Hyperosmia LV 99]

“Lord Manning, I presume,” I spoke calmly.

His intense, emerald eyes tried to tear through me like I was made of paper, attempting to incinerate Arianna. However what his intense gaze had met was my unyielding expression, one without appearance of respect or fear. He inhaled and blinked, now focused on me. His nostrils flared. An expression of mild stupefaction replaced that of fury.

“Looks like there’s no need for introductions. Seems like you can tell exactly what I am with your Level 99 sniffer, Magistrate. I understand that you are simply... overjoyed that your granddaughter had found a match worthy of her. However, I would really prefer it if you used your indoor voice, Traetorius.”

The Magistrate’s eye twitched. He’s likely never been shown such disrespect.

I glanced at the dark, lime-skinned figure standing in the doorway behind the Magistrate.

“Copperpenny? Mind closing the door? The Magistrate and I have private matters to discuss,” I ordered, in my best Arianna-impression.

Avidius obeyed me without question. The metal door groaned shut behind the Magistrate. Traetorius glanced behind himself at the closed door. He was likely surprised how quickly Avidius obeyed me. The old Reaper knew that my word was law - he owed me a life debt. I had saved him and Arianna today.

“Do tell me, Lord Manning. Where is your sense of noble tradition? One should never speak first in front of an ancient, especially not in such high tones. I will let this slide, considering that you were addressing my fiancee.”

“Ancient,” Traetorius tasted the word, sniffing the air.

“Do not let my shaggy, morning appearance deceive you, Magistrate. I’m older than ten centuries,” I declared with absolute certainty in my voice, thinking back of how Arianna was terrified to talk to an archangel simply because she perceived it to be arcane and all-powerful. “Your granddaughter owes me a life debt and is now bound to me by an engagement ritual. I currently hold control of over half of the Guilds in your city and soon it will be all of them.”

“I… could end this now... order Avidius to kill you right here, Ancient,” Traetorius said coldly. “You aren’t an Immortal to order me around.”

“Do you value your granddaughter’s life?” I inquired casually, raising one eyebrow. “She swore to defend me with her life and her heart will stop if you strike me down.”

Lord Manning sniffed the air to confirm my words. He knew that I was telling the truth. He easily identified the mercantile pact between our hearts with his noble nose.

He sighed.

“It seems that you have me at a disadvantage, Ancient. I thought my granddaughter was smarter than this,” he snapped in the direction of Arianna behind me.

"I do not seek to become your enemy, Magistrate." I continued. "I do not desire to replace you. The power you wield does not interest me. Your fancy, noble titles mean nothing to a progenitor of humanity." I pointed at my chest. "Your gold has no worth to me. Your strongest, fastest, smartest servitors are infantile, feeble creatures compared to the smart tools I wielded in my time."

"Then why…" Lord Manning stared me down. "Why elope with my granddaughter? Why steal her hand like a thief in the night?"

"An excellent point of note." I laughed drily. "This body I now wear did belong to a little thief. I have been a guest to your city for merely two days…" I made a somber pause.

Lord Manning patiently waited for my answer, likely trying to sniff out my weaknesses.

"...and I found myself rather disappointed with what I saw. You do not keep your Guilds on a tight leash like Magistrate Allanther Fergusson. Gold city Guilders run amok causing all sorts of inconvenience and trouble."

"You dare criticize my rule, Ancient?" Traetorius squinted.

"The Head of the Surgeon Barbers just demolished a fine, seafood restaurant in which Arianna and I were spending the night." I pointed out. "Had I not taken her down to the catacomb bath, your granddaughter would resemble a very misfortunate pancake right about now."

"That's an assumption," the Magistrate said, smelling my words. "You have no proof."

"He almost cut off her head yesterday with a celesteel blade," I replied. "That's more than enough proof for me."

"Hrmmm…" Lord Manning deflated.

"I have no desire for fame or glory…" I continued. "...and yet the people of the Gold city already elected me as their Chosen. They believe that I can stop the Stormweavers."

"The Stormweavers are coming?"

"Yes. I learned about the date of the coming Convergence from High-Administrator Han himself," I replied.

"Another assumption," he commented with a sniff.

"Based on what I know." I shot back.

"Hrm. Can you really stop the Stormweavers, Ancient?" The Magistrate inquired.

"Alone, no." I shook my head. "But if I can unite the city, if you stand with me… then there is a chance."

The Magistrate quietly digested my words, then he spared Arianna a glance.

"You look weaker, Aria! Was it worth it to disrupt your Dantian, sully your chakras and forsake the betrothal agreement with Eternal Flames prince for… this Ancient in the body of a lowborn girl?" The Magistrate nearly spat the last two words out. He was really focusing on the whole lowborn and girl biz. It was likely that no Manning got to choose whom to marry. Not that Arianna got that much of a choice either, since I sort of forced her to marry me under great duress.

"Grandfather," Arianna spoke, stepping out from behind me. "This ancient has played both of us for fools."

I glanced at my ginger waifu with worry. What was her angle here? Was she going to beg Lord Manning to break the friendship contract and the engagement pact?

Lord Manning nodded.

"That is because we are fools!" Arianna suddenly declared with unwavering strength, tears running down her cheeks. "The dead city beneath us isn't cursed. The archangels do not listen to our prayers. Lord Boundless doesn't care about us!"

The Magistrate froze. He did not expect this bravery from her.

"The ancients sent their servitors into the stars themselves, grandfather!" Arianna valiantly spoke. "Their wisdom and power was unmatched by anything we possess! We cannot even hold a candle to their vast genius! They build servitors from inert materials, without Qi. Their commoners had more wealth than our family!"

"These are but the things you’ve been led to believe by this Ancient, Aria," Lord Manning said.

"They are true, grandfather!" Arianna cried. "I was there, amongst thousands of people... when she talked to a seraphim and lived! It acknowledged her, bathed her in its radiance, obeyed her orders even! You can’t stop what she’s started. The people in the streets chant her name, calling her Saint Sparks!"

"The ancient city is long dead," Lord Manning shook his head. "It's dangerous secrets have been deemed cursed by the Boundless cult."

"I am not dead, yet," I said resolutely.

"You will be soon if you keep telling people that you carry an ancient memory," Traetorius sighed. "You are not the first to awaken. There had been other awakened ancients in our city over the centuries, calling for, or attempting to bring back the past. They always end up dead, either by the hands of the Cult or the Cursed-Hunters."

"That's what Clint Potatius said too." I noted. "What do you believe, Magistrate? Am I cursed? Will you order my execution, sacrifice your granddaughter?"

"I believe it's best not to rock the boat too hard lest we all drown," Traetorius replied. "My mother, Calypso Manning, wanted to understand the ancients. She grew careless in her old age and sought to multiply her power with the cursed treasures that lie buried beneath our Lord.

"She actively sent out adventurers to search for ancient tools. She died from a heart palpitation. All of the things she was collecting and investigating were stolen, vanished in the night along with the research scrolls. One by one the knowledge-seekers, merchants and adventurers who helped and supported her project... died from various causes. The culprits were never found."

"...they… the Surgeon Barbers killed great-grandmother Calypso?!" Arianna choked.

"Most likely." The Magistrate nodded. "For thirty three years as Magistrate I've been carefully searching for proof, trying to find the people responsible. When Magistrate Calypso died, the Mannings were accused of blasphemy and nearly declared an enemy of god's will! We lost a lot of our power, lost control over the Guilds."

Arianna gulped.

"I won't rock the boat," I shook my head. "I just want to have a little lab on the outskirts of the city... where I can have some peace and search for answers. I won't reinvent the wheel, won't repeat the mistakes of the ancients. I'll use the scientific method to improve cultivation itself. I will not create arcane machines of death and war. I will not blacken the sky, will not rebuild the ruined cities of concrete and steel. I'll happily leave the politics biz to you and Arianna. I just want to help the citizens of the Gold city survive Convergences better."

"Very well." The Magistrate offered me his hand. "Shall we shake on it? I believe this is the gesture of trust between your people."

I smiled and offered the Magistrate my hand. As he stepped towards me, a peculiar shimmering emerald fractal manifested in his open palm.

I squinted at it curiously, trying to figure out what the heck it was.

[Secondary weapon - Thread Breaker LV 99]

The fractal in the Magistrate’s hand opened up like a flower made of scissor-blades held aloft by countless ghostly threads. All of my senses screamed - this is an incredibly dangerous weapon, the sort of a thing that will snip the Pharmacist right out my soul along with the mercantile contract and our marriage vows.

Traetorius Manning smirked. The metal door behind him was shut - I had asked myself to close it. There was no escape left for me, nowhere to run in the little cavern!

I really should have expected a treacherous move like this from someone so aptly named.