The streets were as silent as when I had left them, as I walked away from the Guard Headquarters. Two members of the Blood Guard had been sent with me to assist in retrieving the unconscious and captured, despite my insistence that we would be fine on our own. But Tain had insisted, saying that the people were their responsibility, and given the man’s ominous warning, I did not feel like pushing him towards suspicion by being stubborn about it.

The pair that had been sent with me were silent and grim faced as we made our way back; they had not introduced themselves, ignoring me completely when I had offered my name and both bows and handshakes. That had annoyed me a little, but I was no young noble to take offense at every little slight, so I just shrugged it away and moved on.

Somewhat more annoying had been their simple refusal to move about the remaining rooftops, staying flat footed on the street with their arms crossed. I had considered leaving them behind, but figured, ‘He ran away over buildings and left us’ probably would not sit well with the Marshall, and had so relented, to walk openly through the streets.

I could make some guesses about why they might want to use the roads; it was more likely that any injured would be at that level, and easier to see or hear. It also made it easier to be attacked, and I thought there was probably a vested interest in taking in as many as possible before even more apparently vanished.

That was one of the things Tain had said that had concerned me the most, that the population were disappearing; it suggested greater resources than even the Blood Guard had access to, and given that they had been holding the three sects in check, it meant either them teaming up, or the Risen Throne. And the risen throne having enough people in the city to whisk away large portions of it was... not a great thought.

We had made it about a third of the way back, still in complete silence when I felt my danger sense prickle; stopping, I glanced around at the ruins and still-standing buildings around us, even as the two I was with came to stops of their owns, turning to look at me with raised eyebrows.

I could not see anybody, or even anything moving on the street, or in any of the alleys or roads that spoked from it. But I could feel something, and it was growing stronger, more certain.

“Something is probably going to attack us soon. Just, you know... so you know.”

The Blood Guard shared a glance before looking around them, and finally turning back to me, doubt on their faces. And that was when Instinctive Precognition kicked up several gears and I found myself Focusing and dropping into a crouch to kick away from the place where I had stood, forward and between the two men in red and white, even as I heard a sharp shing sound and felt the stone-paved road tremble. As rolled into a turn, I saw a giant, triangular blade sticking out of the ground where I had stood, and then two more fall from the sky above the Blood Guards. Not knowing if I could save both, I tapped my Path, mentally wincing at the energy expenditure, and quick-stepped in to push the closest of the pair out of the way, but found myself simply pushed back instead.

Stumbling a little at meeting so much resistance, I was about to try again when the blade struck with a loud, attenuated bong. The arrow shaped weapon did not bisect the man as I had expected, but had rather crumbled against his head and was in the process of tipping over. Blinking at the absurd sight, I turned, thinking to see a bloody mess where the other had been, but instead found him pointing up with both hands, a blue-white bar or fire as thick as my leg sweeping across the sky and, from what I could see, vaporizing the descending weapon.

With no one to immediately fight, I dropped both my Path and Focus, stepping back as the bent blade hit the floor, cracking it, and the acrid smell of misted metal reached my nose. I made a mental note not to start a fight with either one of the pair, as I was starting to suspect that they were at least at the Foundation stage. I could probably still take them, but it would not be quick, and I needed my Praxis for other things.

I looked around to try and see where the attack had come from, but nobody was visible. The Guards were looking too, though they still had not said a word. We stood in the street, waiting for more attacks for what felt like an hour, but was probably closer to a few minutes. When no fresh assaults came, the unspeaking duo offered me shrugs and we moved on. Which is, of course, when more blades came hurtling out of the cloudy sky.

This time we were each targeted by three of the massive metal missiles, each homing in on us from slightly different directions. I was half expecting it, and when Instinctive Precognition rang again, I Focused and leapt up, springing between the falling blades to leap lightly into the air for a more birds eye view, though that came close to being a mistake as the dense blue-white bar of flame blossomed out into a gigantic cone that I could feel the heat of as it missed me by a foot or so. I had not felt the heat the first time, and I assumed that was something to do with containing it in the bar, as though the flames reduced the weapons to molten slag, they were not turned to vapor, and the guard had to dance about to avoid the blindingly bright rain it produced.

The other guard was as still and taciturn as he had been, barely reacting to the meteoric impacts. Despite my elevated position, I could still see no sign of whoever it was, and as I began to fall, I considered that because I could not, it was unlikely to be one of the normal citizens of the city; staying out of sight like that was beyond the behaviour I had seen from anybody else that seemed to be under the full effects of the blood’s pressure releasing.

Tapping my Path, I fell quickly and landed with barely a twinge from my ankle, dropping both Path and Focus once more to wait.

“So, what do you guys think; we start moving again and more of these things drop out of the sky? I don’t suppose Ouhl has a sewer system? I guess not, with the whole, ‘no waste’ thing.”

The two guardsman stared at me blankly and I wished Darina and the others were there; at least when they did not get or like what I said they would say something.

“How about we just hold you over our heads as we walk?” I gestured at the seemingly indestructible of the pair. “Say nothing if you agree.”

The Guards seemed to work more efficiently than most places I had seen, or maybe it was just the first time I had really seen organized cultivators fight; both the group at the gates in front of the headquarters and two ones I was with then had abilities that complimented each other, potentially making them much more powerful as a team than the sum of their parts might suggest. On the one hand, we had Mr. Silent, who mostly seemed to get by ignoring attacks, and Mr. Nospeak, who appeared to have a ridiculously powerful offensive skillset. In theory, should it prove necessary, one could act as the shield and the other the spear.

“Nothing, really? You’re okay with me using you as a parasol? You know, the whole, ‘silence’ thing really takes a lot of the fun out of banter. We both know I can’t lift you; I couldn’t even push you. I guess you have some kind of density ability? Or are you an, ‘immovable object’?”

I was mostly passing the time as I waited to see if the attacks really only came when we were moving, but I was genuinely curious. The world around me often looked primitive compared to the Earth I had left, where we had all sorts of tech, but I had seen a lot of different Foci and Paths, and many showed some pretty advanced understanding of the world. I had heard once that technology, even buildings and clothes, were driven by necessity; an animal that was naturally inured to the cold did not need clothing. A creature that that could tear another apart with its bear claws did not need a knife. The technology humans had started with, and developed, was largely to make up for our shortcomings. But a cultivator had far fewer of these things; they were super-naturally more resilient, aged slower and had no need to eat. Were they really primitive, or had they just outgrown the need for advanced technology?

At my mention of immovable objects, I did get a reaction from Mr. Silent, by way of a raised eyebrow. Thinking I was getting somewhere, I opened my mouth to press a little harder, but as I did, I felt my Instincts tingle again, just barely. Pausing again, I turned a slow circle, trying my best to spot any shimmers in the air, but saw nothing. That ruled nothing out of course; when we had been attacked by invisible members of the Risen Throne – more than once – they had been utterly invisible, with nothing to give them away save my ability to cheat and sense them.

“There’s something shitty about to happen. Either soon, or now, but not very dangerous...”

The two shared a glance before Mr. Nospeak turned back to me, raising both eyebrows in question.

“Just trust me.”

I continued turning in a slow circle, every sense straining as I tried to find the source of the growing danger I was feeling. As I looked past Mr. Silent, I saw him take a breath and open his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by an impact behind me, the ground shivering once more as stones cracked.

Spinning, I saw a woman that stood an easy seven feet, with muscles that looked like they’d been carved from wood – really veiny wood. She had close-cropped black hair and black eyes set inside a scowl. And she was stood on one of the arrow-shaped blades that had been falling on us, and was wearing the yellow and brown of the Forge of Flesh sect.

“Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to make these things? It’s very inconsiderate to go around destroying other people’s property.”

I could not believe what I was hearing; was the woman really complaining that the things she had apparently used to try and kill us had been damaged by our defence?

“Lady, are you nuts? You tried to divide us, multiple times. You can’t complain about us defending ourselves!

“You could do it without destroying them! Have some courtesy, a little decency.”

She seemed absolutely serious, with no trace of humour on her stony face. I turned slightly to look at the guards, making sure to keep the crazy woman in view. For their part, the duo seemed unimpressed by the new arrival, both looking bored, though I did notice Mr. Nospeak surreptitiously brushing a still cooling droplet of metal off of an armoured plate on his coat.

“Well, I can’t say I’m sorry they were destroyed... with the whole attempted murder thing... though it’s not like they were all destroyed. Though, thinking about it, that’s a shame really. We should have melted them all. I blame you.” I turned to gesture at Mr. Nospeak, who gave me a dry look.

As I gestured, there was a low growl from the Forger of Flesh, and Instinctive Precognition had me Focusing and stepping onto my Path as I dropped flat to the ground to avoid the huge bulk of the woman passing over me, drived by the weapon still attached to her feet.