-=[Ash Sparks]=-

I reinforced my Qi into the survive-fall and anti-fire-stability Dantian patterns as I leapt from the battlements down into the firestorm below. My beautiful Citadel garden was ravaged by the battle with the Inquiry Temple's first squadron. I knew that the maintenance servitors could repair the scorched walls, plant new trees and flowers, but there was something, no… someone else that they could not fix. My best friend.

I rolled as I landed with a groan. Celesteel didn’t heat up but I still felt the inferno on my body in the little segments where the armour didn’t cover me up fully. It hurt. I felt my skin boiling. I didn’t care. The archangel was hovering nearby, right atop the body of the High-Inquisitor. I didn’t dare move him in case the monstrous man got up again. The proximity to the archangel ignited my hair once again with a blue-silver radiance, little wicks of lightning dancing atop my head.

The seraphim blankly stared at the Pharmacist's ghost with a hundred eyes.

I lifted Celes off the ground. She wasn’t moving. “Dreamer? Celly?” I rasped. No response. Damn it all!

I carried my best friend across the burning garden into the safety of the open doorway, heading deeper into the hallway and into one of the undamaged rooms.

I pulled the small, steel scalpel from a chainmail bag and sliced the back of her neck, reaching out for the void of the Dreamer. A vantablack strand grabbed at my finger, draining away my Dantian. I pulled Qi from the threads of many people now tied to me, surrendering it to Celes.

“Wake up, please wake up,” I begged, tears running down my eyes. “Please be okay.”

“I am not okay,” the Dreamer suddenly rasped, her voice sounding slow, twitchy.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t… I’ll give you more of my Dantian! Take as much as you need to fix yourself!”

“Your energies aren’t perfectly... compatible with me. Every time I have to rebuild the exact dream of Celes Rada, a little more of me… is gone forever. I will fix Celes Rada one last time, but do not let her die again, because if she does… she will not wake up again. I played you when we met, made Celes lie to you to conceal myself better. I will use up the last of my resources. I am... badly injured and will need a few centuries to recuperate. Goodnight, Ash Sparks. May you find my world… and the answers of my origin…” the static-filled voice of the Nameless Dreamer started to break apart and fade away.

“No, no, no, please… don’t go,” I cried, holding the little vantablack strand. “I’ll find your world, I’ll help you wake up again, I swear! I wanted to ask you so much more! I…”

There was no answer from the Dreamer. I had pushed the resources of the little Tardigrada too far, gotten Celes killed thrice. Stupid, reckless, idiot Ash. I cracked open one of the tiny, steel-reinforced bottles given to me by Alchemist Kane and poured it into her mouth. It was the best healing concoction he had on himself. I hoped that it could help her awaken.

I held Celes and cried. I lost a friend today. Lost whatever deathproof immunity the Dreamer had provided my kitsune bestie.

A gold eye opened and looked at me.

“Celly?” I whispered.

“Ashy…”

“Your dreamer is… hurt. I’m sorry,” I sobbed.

“Yeah. The High-Inquisitor was an extremely dangerous opponent...” Celes sighed. “I can feel the damage in the Dreamer’s body. The beast core in me is cracked and several of the vital segments are shattered. I don’t know if they can ever be repaired. They’re not from this world… I really thought that I could take him on with the thirty-some Guilder Dantians tied to me. I got cocky. My bad.”

"I don't think I could bear to lose you!" I sobbed. "Losing friends is the fucking worst… I already lost so many… all of my family and all of the Pharmacist's kin. I lost Arianna six years ago, and then Acadia Lumens died because of me… because I didn't help him, didn't tell him about the pattern of the yellow feelers even though I knew all about it! I'm not a good person, Celly,” I bawled. “I could have helped so many people, could have taught my knowledge of cultivation to others. Instead I ran and hid in the dead city down below.”

A weak field of serenity engulfed me. “You’re a good person. Shush. We had discussed this plan with the Magistrate thoroughly. It had to be done. The High-Inquisitor had to be ended tonight for all of us to survive. The Dreamer will dream on in me, so that you and I can go on living.”

She held me as I wept into her shoulder.

“Knipz,” Celes whispered. “Send word to Arianna.”

Her servitor materialized in front of her and flew off into the castle. It wasn’t that necessary, since I could send the word through the Pharmacist - it was a thing done entirely for show. Another trick to bamboozle and terrify the Inquisitors. Proof that a geisha was able to kill the High-Inquisitor.

I exhaled and drowned myself in the vast network of Dantians spread out across the city. One by one the Inquisitor squadrons fell to the sudden attack of the Guilders and my celesteel legionnaires.

The last bit of the puzzle I had assembled in coordination with the Guilders and the Magistrate clicked into place.

The last Inquisitor Squad was led by Kraze Kodea, a Scribe. I was able to see her true name with my scanning power via the Pharmacist. Alex was no longer a single ghost - the pharmacist was hosted on an entire network of servitors within the armory cavern.

One of the idiot Inquisitors shot a celesteel sphere through the eye of the dummy that I had priorly dressed up to look like me.

The small, eye-sized beast core that I stuck to the dummy’s face shattered into tiny pieces as the celesteel sphere pulverized it. The absolute shield was clearly inferior defense when celesteel spheres were used in this fashion. A good thing I wasn’t the one standing in that cavern. A good thing that Arianna was hiding behind thick cavern walls.

Alex… the Pharmacist was moving the servitor dummies with perfect precision. It was a delight to watch. The new, inexperienced High-Inquisitor had surrendered, broke under the pressure. The threat of six hundred beast cores had worked perfectly. The beast cores held by a Guilder high above the compound on a whale were the pathetically weak ones I salvaged from various amusing artifact trinkets. At best they could tickle the compound. Arianna’s words were the perfect weapon of truth - she told Kraze how many cores there were but not how powerful each one was. Absolute deception. Shock and awe.

It was a pity I couldn't move my servitor dummy army out of the castle. A pity that the dummies were tied into incredibly complex castle wards, could only function in the armoury cavern. A parade of might would be pretty cool. I was getting ahead of myself. Too far ahead. I deserved no parade. I broke my Dreamer. My body was hurting. I had minor burns all over. I yawned.

“Don’t fall asleep on the floor now,” Celes whispered to me.

“Can I fall asleep on a bed? Can you sing to me as I do?” I asked.

“Yes,” she smiled softly.

Both of us leaned on each other and limped to the nearest bed. It was well past midnight now. Arianna and the Pharmacist could handle the nightwatch. Alex only needed to eat beast cores continuously to function and to expand and we had tons of those at this point. It wasn’t a problem for me to keep the ghost on for as long as it was necessary. We couldn't let a single legionnaire or Guilder slip through the cracks of our control. Soon, the defeated Inquisitors would be added to our collection. The dark echoes in the back of my head were happy at this.

I pulled off some of the armour. Celes handled the rest. We were done fighting. Done for today. Tomorrow there will be another day, another battle. Bit by bit the Gold city would be mine. I would claw every inch of it away from its rulers, bring enlightenment and freedom to the people.

I curled into Celes as she sang for me and held me.

As I listened to the divine-tones of her incomprehensible, alien song I realized that for the first time in my life I had a family, people who I truly cared for and would never let go of. People and servitors that I would never forsake, always defend.

Time stopped.

-=[Alex Pharmacist]=-

[Is that good? Did I do it right?] Arianna glanced back at me, holding the wooden hand of my dummy.

[You did great.] I nodded, squeezing her hand back.

Ash was asleep. I was alone. It was strange. Our souls were bound and yet here I existed as a separate person, detached from her body. A ghost in the shell. Alone… no. I wasn’t alone.

I looked at Arianna, observed her through my ghostly eyes. I saw her not like a human would, but like a servitor phantom saw the world - in Dantian patterns. Myriads of colors, dots of energy reflected in her sweat. Currents upon currents of light and shadows. Fractals intertwined with fractals. I knew that her hair was red, but I didn’t see it as such. I saw her as a fantastic, brilliant, ghostly imprint of a person, a billion, a trillion living stars existing in a universe of information.

[Being a dead ghostie is pretty cool,] I commented.

[Oh shut up, you,] she growled. [You are the least dead or servitor anything.]

[It’s kinda late. You should probably get some sleep,] I noted. [I can watch over the Citadel and the city.]

[Sleep is for weaklings,] Arianna replied. [I’m keeping an awake-focus pattern active across my Dantian. I’ll stay up as long as it’s necessary.]

[Hm? You didn’t teach that one to Ash,] I sent.

[I didn’t teach absolutely everything I know to Ash or the other orphans, okay? Some things they didn’t need to know.]

[Uh-huh?]

[Ash skipped out on a lot of lessons besides the point!] Arianna tried to defend herself, feeling my disappointment across our connection. [Look, I get it now. It’s all you.]

[Me?]

[You. Ash is good at running away from problems. You’re bloody determined to face things face-on. You’re what, no who… the person that made her whole, filled what was missing in her - bravery, experience, wisdom.]

[Oh ho ho. So many compliments. What do you want, Annie?]

[Let me have the new High-Inquisitor. Kraze Kodea and her men.]

[Be my guest.] I laughed.

[Be your guest?] She tried to decipher my ancient speech.

[Go ahead. I’ve fully disarmed the Third Squadron. Ash is asleep. So is Celes. They both managed to get injured fighting Pikoss. You can take these oaths to get stronger.]

[Excellent!] Arianna grinned. She tapped a wall and a servitor arm slowly pulled away a gargantuan bolder that was at least ten tons in weight. I shook my head as she shot out of the small, concealed cavern into the armoury where the defeated Inquisitors idly stood by, waiting for their fate, now surrounded by my dummies.

High-Inquisitor Kraze Kodea looked up at us, her lower lip trembling. She clearly was one of the worst people for this role, just a nerdy-looking, thin, pale girl. This little librarian was perfect for us, however. I followed Arianna out into the large cavern.

“Wh-who is that?” Kraze glanced up at me.

“That’s General Alexander Pharmacist,” Arianna announced, waving a hand at me. “The General doesn’t speak with those below him, so don’t try to ask him dumb questions. The General and I are very close, however, so I’ll talk on his behalf.”

I smiled internally. Arianna was pretty good at truth-lying to the Inquisitor. I was indeed taller than the mousy librarian.

“Y-you said that we have to do a contract?” Krase asked, glancing at the celesteel sword that one of my dummy soldiers held across her neck.

“A mercantile pact and then a new, noble oath!” Arianna handed the Inquisitor a scroll where she had written the words.

Krase unrolled the scroll and quickly read it. Her eyebrows went up. “A total submission of my Dantian in exchange for a celesteel ring? Is this… an engagement ritual? You’re going to get married to all of us?!”

[Menacingly tell her it’s an offer she can’t refuse,] I commented.

"It's an offer you can't refuse," Arianna declared with a wicked grin, tracing the celesteel blade with her finger.