Over the next day, the thought of that psycho haunted me. I shifted my focus. I wasn’t strong enough and didn’t have what I needed to protect myself or the people I cared about. What would I do if he went after my family? The thought alone hurt worse than him stabbing a knife into my gut.

For the first time in my life, I sat down and made a list of things to accomplish.

First, I handed Ma over half of what I made from the alchemist job. Kayson paid us all very well—partly because he felt terrible about how it went down and, I think, because he realized I was struggling for money. With Tristan, the jobs provided a small yet steady income stream, but this was the first time since the switch that Kayson paid out, thanks to the trouble I kept finding myself in.

Kayson was a better leader than that psycho fuck ever could be—scheduling meetings once a month to check-in one on one, promising to treat me to my favorite restaurant. Trying to make me more included with the squad. The attention made me uncomfortable, but it was just his style.

So it was with a heavy heart I told him that the next two weeks were mine. Only for training. All of the risks, all of the fighting with Romeo, all of the working my ass off. My Soul Seed’s roots had spread wide. I still didn’t know what my Dao was. It wasn’t gambling, but I didn’t think it was risk either. Regardless, I felt it thrum with more intense power than ever before. Almost painfully swollen. Immortals know I needed to put myself on even footing with that psycho sooner rather than later.

Kayson understood, wished me well, and cut back any assignments from the squad. When he spoke of cultivation, there was something in his eyes I couldn’t place. Almost wistful, even with the war, he let me pursue my path.

The squad was a little more reluctant to let me be. Eve complained that I was being irresponsible, that they could use me to ‘soak up more punches.’ Bruno promised to check in every couple of days at my house. And Suzaki meekly wished me well, telling me not to break any bones. I was getting the feeling that twerp didn’t expect me to walk out of my house without a serious injury.

With that squared away, I made my way to Romeo’s apartment; for the first time, I arrived at the fancy place in the middle of the day. The people operating the desk made a call, and an attendant escorted me up.

Romeo sat on his couch, reclined in a simple white buttoned shirt. He tilted his head. “You should be at school, no? Yet why is it I see you here, passerotto?”

“I’ll cut to the chase. I need to get stronger.”

“Ah, so this is why you’ve arrived. I wondered how long it would take before this conversation. Your blood has called to you.”

“I’ve got two weeks. Can ya help me break past into the next stage? Is it even possible?”

Romeo leaned back, tipping his head and considering me. A cool sensation ran across my skin—it seemed like he was looking past me and directly at my Soul Seed. He began to nod his head.

“It will be hard, and you may fail. But your Soul Seed has grown strong. It is a matter of if you can understand it in time and have the willpower to push past everything. Did you bring the jade bottle with you?”

I shivered, dropping the bag in my hand. Full of clothes and the few possessions I’d need. Ma didn’t know it yet, but I didn’t intend to come back until I broke through the bottleneck. She wasn’t a cultivator and wouldn’t understand. But he did. I stared at my Uncle, bringing out the jade bottle he’d given me when he walked back into my life; Romeo gave a simple smile.

“Very good. We shall begin, yes?.”

He gave me a room, empty except for a simple guest bed to stash my things. He was on the phone when I returned—he waved me off and told me to begin in the gym. I ran through some basic exercises, lifting weights, and pushing myself lightly.

Eventually, he arrived, wearing gym clothes and a wide smile on his face. “I have two rules, you will follow them, yes?”

“I—yea, of course.” I paused, dropping a dumbbell.

“You do what I say when I say. This is rule one.” I nodded along, unsure of where he was headed. “Even if it is painful. We are to melt you down, everything you are. Then we will reforge you; this is what it means to break past the bottleneck—at least for a Cavicchi— to do anything less is to hamstring your growth.”

“And rule two?”

“One day, your blood will call upon you for service. You shall honor me and agree, simple, no?”

A favor? From me? Well, hell, he’d already done so much for me, and I just barged in and asked him to put his life on hold to help me get stronger. I agreed without a second thought.

The next week was hell.

Romeo drove me like a madman; each day pushed further than before. For the first night there, he had me spar him for an hour—run laps, lift weights, and only then was I afforded a five-minute break. Come two in the morning, I damn near passed out on my feet and drenched in sweat.

And that was just the first night. He drilled me further, waking me only four hours later. Constant abuse of my strength as he chipped each bit of me away into further exhaustion. He didn’t care if he broke me. The combat training led to him correcting countless mistakes in my fighting form, from foot positioning to showing me how to roll with a punch to minimize damage. Important lessons, but it was like he didn’t care about me consciously retaining the information. No. Romeo forced my body to learn to adapt and respond on instinct.

By the fifth night, I was a shell of myself. I no longer bothered to check my phone at the end of the night, as my entire day was nothing but endless exercise. But, each day slid further down the rabbit hole. Each lesson became stranger—from conventional weight lifting to driving out into the swamp to force me to run through the muck with stones filling a backpack on my back. Collapsing only rewarded more pain.

The entire time, he had a smile on his face. “You’re doing well!” He’d say, a beacon of brightness even as he broke me.

And then the lessons started. Romeo drilled me on his insights of cultivation, that choosing the right moment to break through at this stage—set what I’d be capable of later.

“We make ourselves now to join the Immortals later, passerotto, never settle for less.” He kept repeating. Every moment I felt like my body would shudder and collapse, and he said the same mantra. Never settle for less. Along with some other mystic mumbo-jumbo-bullshit, “Your Soul Seed will bloom and bring honor to your ancestors—“ at some point, it all blended together. Indoctrination and physical pain became one singular and brutal existence.

As the first week came to a close, he abruptly halted the training, directing me to shower and meet him at his lounge. After a week of nothing except training, sitting on his sofa felt strange.

His keen gaze focused on me. Romeo leaned forward as I shifted on the fancy sofa. My mind was still numb as the exhaustion gripped my heart.

“Do you know it yet?” Romeo asked.

“Wh—what are you talking about?” My head bobbed on the couch. I fought a war against the urge to lay down and close my eyes. It’d be so easy, to just find a bit of rest. I’d earned it, hadn’t I?”

“You have not. This is fine. This next week—we shall balance your training—half of it as pure sparring. I will not hold back on you either, especially since you will be meditating for the rest."

Excuse me? “I came here to get stronger, not sit around.”

“This is vital; to ascend past the bottleneck you must understand your dao. Seek enlightenment. To push you past this stage without understanding the most basic aspect of your anima—why, I could not live with myself passerotto. Now—sit still, and listen well.”

I sat back, and he told me for the fifth time how to meditate correctly. Detailed directions on how to inhale—circulate the energy through my Soul Seed, then follow that energy along its path as it flooded through my Soul Roots. Painfully boring. If I fell asleep, he knew. He'd wake me back up with a swift slap to the face. It was hard not to fall asleep with the physical exhaustion from the training and vague directions like: “Feel and consider the Soul Seed. Why was it given to you?” As if I fucking knew. Or could know.

So, the schedule was an hour of pure meditation. Then an hour of pain. By the end of each hour, I desperately wanted the other, only to discover that it just got worse each time in a cycle of awfulness.

I was able to map out the way the Soul Roots ran through me—and damn, I knew I’d been approaching my bottleneck, but they spread like weeds, practically choking one another out. Wound, tangled, and everywhere in me. A maze that I had plenty of time to explore with the forced hours of meditation.

Even with the meditation, I didn’t feel closer to understanding the purpose of my Soul Seed. It seemed like a meaningless pursuit. Yet Romeo insisted and I promised to follow each of his instructions. Despite my failures, Romeo didn’t have the capacity for annoyance. Time would reveal all, he said. But, as the week came close to an end, I began to get antsy; if I failed to understand my Dao, Romeo wouldn’t allow me to breakthrough.

As the desperation sank in, it became harder to focus during those moments of meditation. A cycle that spiraled further until I became sure I’d fail. Romeo would ship me back home to Ma, and then in two weeks, whatever evil shit Tristan had up his sleeves would come to pass.

As the time ran up, Romeo ordered me into the car. I was an anxious mess, sure that I would head home a failure and without a backup plan.

Instead of heading to Southside, we went to the Rust Docks—landing near a dock where Romeo walked us out to a pearl white boat. Romeo gestured to it, unusually chipper. “When we return to this land, you shall be a man.”

I shot him blank eyes. Thrown off guard, I’d been sure I’d failed him completely. I’d expected a ride to my house with some disappointed speech towards me. Not a boat ride.

“Come, get on. No point in explaining. This may take a couple more days, but I feel it. You’re close passerotto; you need a little push to shove you off that edge, no?”

He gave me a wicked grin that I didn’t quite trust. But, I’d tied my lifeline to him, and I’d go with whatever he had up his sleeve; if it meant I’d be stronger, I’d do damn near anything. I looked at Romeo—my Uncle, who’d taken himself away for two weeks to see me through on the first step of my path. He was blood, and I could trust him. I… I’d spent too long trying to get stronger by myself. Without others to help me. But what had that self-imposed isolation gotten me?

Now? When I finally started to lean on other people? They kept pulling through for me; they helped me move forward in a way I never thought possible. If I failed today, the next day, or even the day after. I had people in my corner rooting me on.

I’d pull through for them. No matter how hard it was, even if it tore me apart to do it. With a slow nod, I hopped into the boat. Romeo joined me, starting the engine and driving far off the shore. The sun felt warm on this cloudless day. The last time I’d been on a boat was back when Pops was still alive. Funny, I never realized how much I’d missed it.