Old warriors are the toughest. Their bones hardened by use, their skin like leather, and their blood tempered by the fires of war. I’d rather fight a bear than an old war monster. You tell that old bastard Belenus I said that—I’ll flay you.

~Lugh, God of Battle and Craft

Crow’s eyes snapped open and black fire backlit the green iris rings, causing the emerald-like color to spill out across the courtyard. Those bathed in it could feel its benevolence. A low croaking sound escaped his mouth as soon as his jaw unhinged, exposing a vast chasm, and tyrannical darkness flowed out of it like water and pooled around him, spreading outward at a rapid pace.

Unsure what the conflicting elements portended, Song Lin scuttled backward, sensing danger. Her Ice Needle had stabbed deeply into Crow’s chest with the possibility of running him all the way through. The ice vibrated but didn’t break or melt despite the raging heat and black liquid fire burning up the surroundings. All she knew was that she needed to scurry backward faster and not let any of those dark flames touch her.

Everything was beyond her ability now, if it was ever in her control to begin with. It was impossible to tell what was happening inside Crow’s body because of the conflagrations of energy surrounding him. On the surface, he didn’t appear to be in danger.

Those black flames consumed everything. Crow’s hair curled up and turned to ash, his clothes burnt away into nothingness. Song Lin could see him sitting there naked, oblivious to the world. Strangely, he was shrinking before her eyes—no, not shrinking. The ground was melting, and he was sinking into it. In some ways, that was good because that liquid fire pooling around him moved into the shallow divot and stopped spreading. The dirt, stone, landscaping—it all turned to ash as if it never existed.

“By root and limb, what is that?” Niall had entered the courtyard near where Song Lin had scuttled back, her back pressed against the stairs near the door. Niall glanced at her and saw the tear-stained cheeks, and frowned at the scene before him.

Luthais and Gavin pushed their way into the courtyard too, but they also stopped to stare.

“Damn this kid. Why is it every time I come to rescue him he’s naked?” Niall grumbled, and Song Lin laughed nervously. She, too, had heard the story. If his grandpa could joke, then maybe everything was fine. She hoped. “Tell me everything, girl. Including why there is a chunk of ice stabbed into his chest.”

Song Lin didn’t hold back. She didn’t lie. And pleaded for them to save Crow while taking full responsibility for everything. The only part she left off explained the cultivation method.

“Relax, that kid ain’t dying. The Ice Needle might even have aided him.”

“What do you mean?” Song Lin asked. The tears were pouring down once more, but she felt a smidgen of hope.

“What you did wasn’t wrong; in fact, I even respect your ingenious approach to helping the boy. He’s using the Ice Needle, which by the way, is an impressive technique, to help harness the energy faster. He knows he doesn’t have much time left before he collapses from exhaustion.”

“Ca-can you help him?”

“Nope, this is one battle the boy must do on his own. Those black flames covering his body are impressive,” Gavin said, taking over from Niall. “Its power is not something I’d approach, at least not without getting severely injured.”

“These are the flames from Soul Burn?” Niall asked.

“Yes,” Gavin nodded, intrigued too.

“Do you think it’s Night Fire?” Gavin’s head snapped toward Niall, but he was the only one who wasn’t confused by the question. Niall stared at Gavin, both of them with grim faces. “You think so too, right?”

“If that is true, then this boy’s luck it would explain this boy’s karma a bit—calamity and reward of equal measure,” Gavin replied.

“What’s Night Fire?” Song Xue asked. She came in behind the three old men but had remained small and unobtrusive.

“Forget you heard that,” Luthais said and slapped his father on the back of the head. Niall just chuckled but turned to look at the little dark-haired girl whose eyes never left Crow.

“Luthais is right. Please forget you ever heard that name, don’t even tell the boy about it. If you care for him like I think you do, just mentioning it could get him killed. Some evil bastards in the tower would snatch him up to extract it from his body—if that’s what it really is. When he’s ready, Gavin will explain it to him.”

“I won’t say anything, but I can help,” Song Xue said while placing her hand on her older sister’s shoulder. Song Lin turned, expecting to see hurt or betrayal in her sister’s eyes, but there was none. “Don’t worry, big sis, Crow knew the risks. He won’t blame you, nor will. I told you before, don’t underestimate him.”

“How you going to help the lad?” Niall asked curiously.

“Like this.”

Song Xue stepped forward and channeled a spell unique to the Song clan. The wind shifted, and a cloud from above their heads but below Father Oak’s canopy. The three old men lifted their heads, never seeing anything like this phenomenon in Oiche in all their years. No one stopped the girl, and soon, snow was falling heavily, enough to cover up to a thousand meters in every direction. It wasn’t just the Maddox clan receiving this rare gift of snow, and the cloud could be seen by half of Oiche.

The temperature started dropping quickly in the surrounding area. Song Lin stepped forward and helped her sister by channeling her compatible energy into the spell too. It allowed the magic to last nearly an hour, and the ground was covered in a half-meter of snow. A spell of that magnitude didn’t stop after the girls ran out of energy. While the snow wasn’t as heavy, it continued for another hour.

Crow still sat there, but the snow evaporated before it even touched the ground around him. However, the temperature was noticeably lower, and the strain on his face had visibly lessened.

“Take your sister and rest. You’ve done enough, so leave it to us old bastards now,” Niall stated, and his big hands massaged the sides of his head. This was a major headache that he was not sure how to explain to the council. The boy’s incident they could hide, but two hours of snowfall was something not easily justified.

“I… I’m sorry,” Song Lin stuttered, trying to express her regret. She held on to her sister, who’d passed out from the strain.

“You know Crow’s temperament. He’d have done anything for a chance at reclaiming his Source, so this was never your burden to bear. Relax.” Niall laughed at his crazy grandson. “I think he is more troublesome than both my sons put together, hah!”

“Can it, old man,” Luthais grumbled. “Besides, Conall was the reason I was in trouble most—”

“Bullshit,” Niall nearly roared. “Don’t think I don’t know you were the one constantly manipulating him, forcing him into one fight after another. Hah, you think this old man is blind?”

Gavin chuckled, watching the father and son argue.

“Song Lin, what those two dummies are trying to say is that you have our clan’s gratitude. We owe you a favor, understand?”

Song Lin nodded and then bowed deeply to her seniors before carrying her sister out of the courtyard. She barely made it to her room before collapsing on the bed with her sister. There was no attempt made to leave and go to her own bed either. Her mind went blank shortly after her head hit the pillow.

Crow still sat where he had been, outside his internal struggling, the one happening inside his Soulscape—nothing else existed. Even the needle stabbed into his body hadn’t registered in his subconscious. It was as if his body felt it was something that had always existed and didn’t give it the attention it probably deserved. The cold that radiated from it was preventing his mind from boiling over into insanity. Wood Qi fed into the fire, turning the tempest into a raging inferno inside of him, further stoked by his anger and pure stubbornness.

There wasn’t enough rationale to invoke fear or a sense of danger, which only left raw and powerful emotions. Those of passion, brought on by chaotic elements like fire, things like rage or excitement. It also stimulated Crow’s impulses, desires, and even his sense of justice. Black flames exposed his sense of self by allowing him to see the root of all things that defined him. It was the foundation upon which he could build himself.

These were things he discovered by instinct, as his conscious thought had disappeared a while back. All those impulses, emotions, and foundational insights were pressed downward inside him. They settled at a point between the scrotum and anus—both of which felt like they were on fire.

Aaaarrrggghhhhhh!!

Crow’s primal scream shattered the peaceful illusion. It carried a domain of pain and suffering that the three old men were caught up in, but thankfully they’d long set barriers to prevent sound or energy from leaking out. Luthais wasn’t as strong as the other two, so the sound staggered him, and it felt like his soul wanted to escape his body.

“What the hell is happening?” He asked while gritting his teeth.

“Soul Curse and Night Fire…” Gavin said so softly that the other two weren’t sure they heard him clearly. “Yes, it truly is Night Fire, and it’s sentient—a soul fire, which ranks above the heavenly fires.”

“It’s alive? How can you know that?” Niall growled, his Shield lighting up as he exerted more force to keep the area contained.

“Just observe it, you dense bastard,” Gavin growled, struggling under the strain. “Is that how a normal flame would behave? I’m not fully convinced that Soul Curse was a failed experiment. I think the motherfucker that made it abandoned it out of fear.”

“What does that mean for the boy?” Niall asked helplessly.

“I have no idea, but—something is happening,” Gavin replied. “Regardless of what we know, never talk about this, ever. Not even to the boy.”

“What aren’t you saying? For the sake of our father, don’t you dare hold out on me!” Niall swore, and although the two never talked about their bastard of a father, and few in the clan knew they were actual brothers, Luthais and Conall knew. The fact that Niall was calling on their dead father was a testament to the seriousness of the situation.

“Seeing this, do you think Soul Burn was accidentally released? Worse, I’m not even sure it came from this realm. It is too late to contain the fact he was Soul Burned, but the words Night Fire must never leave this area. It’d be best if we made those girls forget it too.”

“That…” Luthais stopped himself as the other two looked over at him. “Fine, I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ve already wiped it from their minds,” an old man said, sitting on a rocking chair that was on the stoop. None of them knew when he arrived.

“Mugna? How long have you been there?”

Mugna tapped his gnarled staff onto the decking twice before letting out a big laugh. “You damned fools. If I wasn’t here, this area would have already been infiltrated. Several clans had already snuck into your manor. They’ll wake up in a few hours with a sore brain.”

Standing up, the old man waved his staff in the air, and a root curled up from the ground. It was so thick that ten men couldn’t wrap their arms around it. Crow burned his way into the center of it before it sealed up over him and then condensed, preventing the boy from burning all the way through.

“Had I not showed up, you fools would have died. The boy is about to succeed, and I’m not even sure I can contain all the power boiling over from that damned curse. Wrap your most powerful shields around that wooden cocoon, don’t worry about anyone spying. I’ve blocked them all out.”

Gavin chuckled and shook his head. “You sure that wood can contain that fire?”

“Not at all. Why do you think I’m actually asking for your help? You think I’m just trying to stoke your egos?” Mugna laughed at them.

“The older I get, the more I’m convinced you are pure evil…” Niall grumbled.

“It is good that you know,” Mugna roared with laughter, even as threads of flames drilled through the wood surrounding Crow. “Now get ready—the boy is about to erupt.”

Mugna wouldn’t show it, but he was worried. The curse wouldn’t kill the host, but the same thing couldn’t be said about the boy’s mind.