I froze as I entered the room beyond the door and stared. The room was larger than most of the ones I’d seen down here, probably fifty feet across with a twenty-foot arched ceiling. A ten-foot-wide walkway ran down the center of the room, flanked on either side by rows of metal bars that reached from floor to ceiling. A pair of stone bowls dangled above the walkway, filled with the same fuel-free flames as the tunnels outside and illuminating the middle of the room well but leaving the sides in shadows.

None of that really registered right away, though; I was captivated by the sight of eight monstrous animals behind the bars, each wrapped in gold-colored chains that seemed to completely immobilize them. As I entered, the nearest beast looked up at me. Its eagle-like beak snapped open and closed a couple of times, and it tugged at the chains binding it almost perfunctorily with its ursine body before dropping its head back down. I watched as each of the monsters in their cages made a similarly miniscule effort to reach me before descending into what looked like a monstrous form of depression.

“What the fuck?” I muttered as I walked along, examining the cages’ inhabitants. Each creature was a different type, from a snake-bird combination to something that looked like a golden antelope whose head bristled with razor-sharp horns. I picked one at random, a deep purple creature that looked like a terrestrial squid of some kind with myriad spear-tipped tentacles, and inspected it, examining the resulting wall of text.

Unknown Beast

Level 8 (Rarity Unknown)

Water Rank

Estimated Physical Stats:

Prowess: 19 Vigor: 22 Celerity: 24 Skill: 25

I whistled in amazement. That thing was powerful; it definitely wasn’t a monster I wanted to meet in a dark alley. Or a well-lit one, for that matter. “Sara, are al of these things this strong?”

“Yes, John. Every beast here is water-ranked, although they vary in power within that ranking.”

The cage holding the squid monster had a simple gate that was held shut by multiple metal spikes. Curious, I removed a couple of the spikes to see if the beast would react. It remained perfectly still, its tentacles trapped in a web of chains. Obviously, it had given up on any hope of escape. It looked like most of the beasts here had; none of them reacted when I unbound their cages or even when I opened a door. The reptilian creature in the cage I opened didn’t budge, although it did clink its chains once rather mournfully.

I reclosed the cages. Short of opening their chains, there was nothing I could do for these creatures, and honestly, that was fine with me. If I’d somehow released one of the monsters, it would probably have just attacked me, and I wasn’t really in the mood to get eaten. Jing said once that beasts couldn’t be tamed, no matter how someone tried, and I was willing to accept that idea as the truth. If they couldn’t be domesticated, then they weren’t likely to become my best friend just because I freed them.

I followed the walkway down into another room, this one smaller than the previous one. The space was roughly square, about twenty feet across. Stacks of opened crates lined one wall, while a long stone counter ran the length of the opposite wall. The center of the room was dominated by a stone table that gave me a bit of a chill. Iron loops were set into both long edges of the table, and leather straps hung from the loops on one side. The table was simple, gray stone, but I recognized the dark stains sunk into its surface. I’d seen bloodstains plenty in my lifetime. The coppery smell of spilled blood hung thick in the room, and I looked down to see splashes of it all over the floor.

More than one creature had bled to death on that table. And they’d probably been strapped down, helpless as they did. Was this some sort of weird, sacrificial cult? Were eldritch horrors from beyond the universe a real thing? Or did people have gods here? I hadn’t seen any churches of temples or whatever so far, and I hadn’t heard anyone pray to anything, so that seemed unlikely, but maybe the gods in this world were all evil ones, or maybe only cults worshipped them…

A loud clang jerked me from my reverie, and I spun to see the metal door leading outside swing open. My reflexes kicked in and I darted to the side, scurrying to get behind some of the empty, open crates. I grimaced at the smell of rot and decay wafting from the nearby crates but froze as voices echoed through the space.

“Nuan!” a voice that sounded oddly familiar spoke loudly, calling out into the emptiness. “Fu! Foolish students of mine, where are you?”

I remained still. I assumed that Nuan and Fu were the students I’d killed, and that meant they weren’t going to be answering back. Probably. I honestly didn’t know if necromancy was a thing in this world, and I seriously hoped not to find out.

“It seems they are not present, Banisher of Waves,” a female voice spoke, sounding amused. That voice was even more familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“If they are not, Strider of the Mountain, they will soon regret their foolishness. Forcing me to carry a burden that should rightfully have fallen to them…” The man’s voice sounded annoyed. “They will be the next two subjects of our tests, should I find they are slacking in their duties to me.”

“Will you be able to demonstrate the efficacy of your new process without them, Banisher of Waves?” the woman asked.

“Yes, it is possible, though it will be more difficult. If you were to assist, however…”

“Then it would be clear to the Inner Elders that you are incapable of holding this position,” the woman said smoothly. “A Master of the Sixth Circle who requires the assistance of mere students, even those of the Seventh Circle, is surely unfit to hold the title of Master.”

“Do you threaten me, Strider of the Mountain?” Banisher said stiffly. “My patrons within the Inner School would not take kindly…”

“They would say nothing, Banisher of Waves,” she cut him off. “Indeed, they would likely breathe a sigh of relief that one so incompetent was removed from their midst.”

“Incompetent?” the man said icily. “My creations have exceeded all expectations!”

“Your creations have failed repeatedly, Banisher of Waves,” she countered just as coldly. “Their venom is deadly, when it was supposed to be corruptive, to create more of their kind. They are dominated by their bestial natures, their higher functions hampered by your tampering. Your first trial creatures were slaughtered by a pair of novice cultivators in the quarry of the cursed; your last batch died facing a pair of masters from the School of the Brilliant Desert. They are weak, and the Inner Elders must see improvement, or your studies will end…and so will you.”

“Those instances are not my fault,” Banisher protested. “I had received only beasts of wood and metal ranks; I cannot craft creations to face the sky-ranked cultivators of the School of the Brilliant Desert with such substandard materials! And as for the supposed novice cultivators, as I recall, one such drove you off, as…urk!”

As the woman spoke, I realized why her voice was so familiar. She was the woman from the quarry, the one I’d barely managed to chase off! And from the way she was talking, she wasn’t very happy with me for doing that.

“If you ever again speak of that day, Banisher of Waves, I will make you wish the Inner Elders merely ordered your execution.” Her voice came out as a hiss, and I could hear the anger in it. Banisher was making gagging and choking sounds, and I guessed that she had him by the throat. I heard him gasp for breath as something heavy hit the floor; she’d just tossed him aside. “Are we understood?”

“Y-yes, Master of the Fifth Circle,” he gasped, his voice hoarse. “Forgive my impertinence…”

“No, I will not. You came here to demonstrate why I should recommend to the Inner Elders to maintain you in your position. You also claimed that you could address the concerns I raised over the power and utility of your creations. So far, I am deeply unimpressed.”

“Allow…allow me the chance to regain your favor,” the man croaked. “This one will be an excellent example of what I have learned, and how I can make creations far more powerful than those first were.”

“You have one chance, Banisher of Waves. One. I suggest you make it count.”

“Yes, Master of the Fifth Circle.” The man’s voice was practically servile, now. Strider seemed to have put the fear of God into him – or the fear of a really gruesome death, I supposed. He wasn’t calling her by name anymore, and any resistance in him was obviously gone. “Please, follow me.”

I heard the pair walk into the room where I was hidden. Stuck behind the crates, I couldn’t see much, but if I shifted too much, I’d probably give myself away. I didn’t like my odds in a second round against the woman; I’d caught her by surprise last time, and that wouldn’t happen again. I shifted slightly until I could peer through a gap between two crates, which didn’t show me much except the center of the stone table. Fortunately, the pair walked right up to it, and as the man popped into my vision, I recalled where I’d heard his voice before.

“This is Bai Ren,” the man spoke, taking a limp, unmoving figure from where it was draped over his shoulder and dumping it ungently on the stone table. I couldn’t see the figure’s face, but I didn’t need to; I was certain it was the girl who’d lost the battle earlier. “She is my latest subject.”

“Who is she?” Strider asked coldly. “Will she be missed should things go astray?”

“She is one of the better students in the Ninth Circle, but no, she will not be missed. She was admitted due to the influence of her grandmother, who returned to the Wheel two moons ago – although young Bai Ren does not know this. That leaves her with none to speak for her or ask about her save her fellow students.”

“And will they not ask?”

“It is unlikely. I arranged for her to fight a senior student of the Eighth Circle, promising her advancement should she succeed. Her efforts were doomed to failure, however, and I instructed the senior student to leave her gravely injured but mostly unharmed. Since I knew she lacked the funds for medicines, that left her indebted to me, and I implied that she could exorcise that debt in my bedchamber.”

Strider made an approving noise. “Should she then vanish, all will assume she fled the school to avoid that fate – and certainly, none would blame her for doing so.”

The man’s back stiffened at her insults, but he didn’t say a word in protest. “As you say. She reported to my chambers as I directed, and I took her through my private staircase to this chamber, so none would see.”

“And did you indeed allow her to absolve her debt to you before you brought her here?”

“Of course not. To do so might have kept you waiting, Master of the Fifth Circle, and I would not do such.”

“Wise of you. Is it necessary for her to remain unconscious?”

“I have found it to be simpler and safer. Even willing volunteers fight the procedure when they are awake. And when the process succeeds, she will awake with no knowledge of what was done to her.”

Well, it looked like I was wrong about Banisher. He wasn’t a lecher; he was a lunatic mad scientist of some kind, and Bai was going to be his next experiment. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which of those two things was worse. And by that, I meant both morally worse and worse for the woman in question.

“Tell me of the procedure,” the woman spoke, pulling my focus back to the pair.

“As you know, within every practitioner, there is a spiral of qi,” the man explained as he began strapping Bai’s unmoving body down to the table. “This is the cultivation technique, and it is used to…”

“I am aware of how cultivation spirals function, Banisher of Waves,” the woman said dryly. “I asked of the procedure.”

“Forgive me, but some understanding is necessary. As you may or may not know, every beast also has a method for gathering qi to itself. However, unlike we kuan, beasts do not suffer from corruption poisoning, clogged meridians, or the dangers of a tainted dantian.

“This is because they draw in qi using a specialized core, one that pulls qi in so rapidly that it never has a chance to clog meridians. This same core allows them to project qi rapidly from their dantian, regardless of how corrupted it might be. This is why you will never find a beast with an empty dantian; it is also why beasts use their qi so infrequently in battle, but the techniques they use are powerful and more dangerous than a similarly ranked technique from a practitioner.”

“Indeed. Any student knows this.”

“True.” The man moved away from the table, vanishing from my sight, and his voice moved to the other side of the room. “What is less known, however, is that it is considered impossible for a practitioner to gather and project qi the way a beast does. Attempting to do so will clog the cultivation spiral, block the meridians, and corrupt the dantian. It has been tried by many, and in every case, the attempt results in the practitioner becoming one of the cursed. However, that is because those attempts were done incorrectly.”

I heard the man open and close several boxes, then sigh impatiently. “My fool students,” he said darkly. “They were supposed to prepare a core for this moment.”

“Are you incapable of doing so?” the woman asked archly.

“No, Master of the Fifth Circle. It was I, after all, who taught them the process. However, it will take some time, and I would beg your patience.”

“I have very little of it, but I will grant what I can spare.”

“My thanks.” The man’s steps moved out into the other room, and I heard one of the cage gates open. The chains around whatever monster was inside rattled, and the beast roared once, then a second time. Its third roar sounded pain-filled and cut off shortly. There wasn’t a fourth.

“This chamber is disgusting,” Strider muttered quietly. “The stench of beast qi is so thick, I can barely sense my own qi. I cannot wait to return to the Inner School and bathe away this taint.”

However, wait she did. Whatever the man was doing took a solid ten minutes; he came back from the other room and went across to the counter opposite me. He busied himself there for a while before returning to stand before the woman.

“As I said, the previous methods were done incorrectly,” he spoke at last. “Forgive my appearance, Master of the Fifth Circle. Harvesting and preparing this core is usually the work of my students. However, as you can see, I am perfectly capable of doing so myself.” He reappeared in my sight, and I understood what he was talking about. The man was coated in blood from his hands to his elbows. He held something about the size of a baseball in his hand, something that seemed to pulsate and writhe almost as if in pain. It was a pale green orb, and even from here, I could see glowing lines etched all along it.

“So, this is a beast’s core,” the woman said, taking the sphere from the man with an expression of mixed distaste and curiosity.

“Indeed, it is. And learning how to safely harvest one has been the key to our success.” He took the orb back and turned to the unconscious Bai. “Previous attempts to mimic beast cultivation failed because those attempting to do so used a cultivation spiral that they altered to mimic the pattern of a beast core. This process will always fail; the differences between a spiral and a core are fundamental and cannot be overcome so easily.”

As the man spoke, he withdrew a long, thin knife from a sheath at his waist. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but Bai’s body shook and struggled against the straps as he worked.

“A core may not simply be placed into a practitioner, however,” the man explained. “It would be rejected by their spirit as something foreign to their being. It causes their existing spiral to collapse and forever hurls them from the Heavenly Path, their dantian hopelessly cut off from their spirit.”

The man continued to work on Bai’s shaking, twitching body. At least I understood the straps, now. “The secret is that the subject’s existing spiral must be destroyed; however, the core must be carefully prepared for this eventuality. It is treated with special powders and bathed in a tincture, the secret of making which only I know. When done properly, the core feels like a cultivation spiral to the spirit, and it will function in the same manner. However, it will draw qi as a beast does, rapidly filling the subject’s dantian and just as rapidly projecting it out.”

Bai’s body stopped twitching, and the man stepped back. “And it is done. I will collapse her spiral, and her spirit will embrace the core instead.” He placed his hand above the woman’s body, and I felt a sudden pulse of power sweep through the room. Bai cried out in pain, and her body thrashed once more before falling still.

“Now, I give her a restoration pill, and when she awakens, the incision will be healed, and her cultivation will forever be changed.” Banisher sounded pretty proud of himself as he moved toward the woman’s head; I personally felt kind of sick. I’d just watched him experiment on this girl, turning her into something that wasn’t really a person anymore. I knew there was no way I could have stopped it, at least not with Strider in the room, but it just seemed…wrong. Killing someone was one thing; experimenting on them was totally different, at least in my book.

“And what of the bestial natures and features your subjects have taken on?” Strider asked contemptuously. “Will those not give the subjects of your process away to those who would hunt them?”

“My earlier experiments used cores that were less…refined,” the man explained. “I did not realize then that such cores would impart their nature to their recipients. Since that time, I have greatly improved the process of preparing a core; the reagents I employ are designed to lock those bestial impulses within the core.” The man hesitated. “I must be honest. While I have had great success, there is always some contamination. The subject may adopt a bit of the beast’s personality or perhaps a tiny reflection of its nature. However, they no longer clearly resemble something less than a person.”

“Hmm.” The woman seemed unconvinced. “And their lack of inherent power?”

“Beasts grow in a different manner from practitioners, as you are aware. They grow stronger through the passage of time, battle, and especially the deaths of others. I believe that all of these things strengthen their cores, making them batter able to pull in qi and project it. My creations, then, should grow in the same manner; not through cultivation, but through battle and death. Force them to fight creatures they can kill, and you will see them grow stronger.”

“Perhaps. And the qi poisoning?”

“The qi poisoning is, I fear, inevitable,” the man replied with a sigh. “The beast core allows the subject to cultivate using corrupted qi, but it is this same corruption that poisons their foes. I once hoped that the corruption would alter a cultivation spiral into a core, but as I said, the two structures are fundamentally different. Corruption bogs down a spiral and halts its cultivation, allowing further corruption to run rampant in the body and critically weakening the victim’s cultivation. Using specially prepared cores is simply the only method to create more of my creations.” The man’s voice took on a bit more confidence. “And as I am the only one who knows this process, that means that only I can continue my work.”

“And it is this that the Inner Elders find unacceptable,” Strider said smoothly, taking a step toward the man. Banisher took what seemed to be a reflexive step backward, but her hand lashed out and snagged his orange robe.

“The idea that our progress could by stymied by the death of a single man is intolerable,” she continued. “You are but mortal, Banisher of Waves. A single untoward incident or vindictive and lucky student could force us to begin once more at the first step.”

She held up a clear, faceted gem of some kind that kind of looked like a fist-sized chunk of transparent quartz. “You will place all your knowledge of this process into this memory crystal. That includes every scrap of information on how to harvest the core, select the correct beasts and candidates, prepare the core, and implant it successfully.”

“What?” he asked. “I – no, I cannot!”

“You will, Banisher of Waves,” she said implacably. “If you refuse, I will strap you down to this table myself and attempt to replicate the procedure from what I just saw. I will pull the core from this student and place it in you, however inexpertly, then collapse your spiral. We will see what that does to you.”

“No!” he protested, taking another step away from her, his voice sounding panicked.

“Oh, yes. And then, if the process fails, I will slaughter one of those beasts in the other room, tear that core from you, and try again with a new core. And I will do so until I succeed or you relent.” She laughed coldly. “Even with your cultivation shattered, you could still continue this work as a cursed, doomed to eventually be consumed by this mortal realm and removed from the Wheel.” She stepped forward again. “Or you can do as I command and continue your work unhindered, with my recommendation that you be given whatever resources you require. The choice is yours.”

The man stopped moving and sighed. “You will make such a recommendation if I share my knowledge?” he asked.

“Of course. If I did not feel that you had sufficiently advanced your process to allay my concerns, I would not be interested in making a copy of your knowledge. I would simply recommend that the experiment be ended, and you be executed for wasting the resources you have thus been given.”

His body slumped in resignation. “Very well,” he said at last. “I agree to this.”

“Excellent. And know that the Inner School will be attempting to use this information to replicate your success, simply to be certain that nothing was – accidentally left out of the process. Should that be the case…well, I will return, and I will be far less accommodating than I have been. Is that understood?”

“Y-yes, Master of the Fifth Circle,” he stammered. “I will give you all the knowledge you require, I assure you.”

The man took the crystal and held it to his forehead, closing his eyes. The crystal gave a quick flash of light, then dimmed down to glow with a soft, pulsing radiance. Banisher staggered, gripping the table for an instant before recovering.

“It-it is done,” he said weakly.

“Good,” she replied, taking the crystal and making it disappear within her robes. “I will deliver this and my recommendation to the Inner Elders.” She glanced down at the still-unconscious Bai. “What of this one?”

“I intend to return her to my chambers and allow her to awaken,” Banisher shrugged. “When she does, I will tell her that her debt is paid.”

“And her master will realize that she is changed the first time she attempts to cultivate,” Strider shook her head. “No. You will take her through the tunnel beneath the city to our encampment. She can begin her service to our school there, by testing your theories of her methods of growth. I will make the necessary arrangements.”

“As you wish, Master of the Fifth Circle,” the man bowed his head.

“Of course, as I wish. Could there be any other way?” the woman laughed evilly. “Continue your work, Banisher of Waves, and you will rise to great heights in this school.”

“I shall, Master of the Fifth Circle.”

The woman turned on her heel and left, moving so swiftly that a breeze swirled through the room with her passage. The metal door leading to the tunnels clanged loudly, and Banisher turned back to look at Bai’s still form.

“What a waste, placing her in that filthy encampment,” the man sighed. “I could have made you my personal student, Bal Ren, and taught you to use that core the way it should be used. Instead, you will become simply one more soldier and camp follower.” He hesitated, then reached down to touch her bare leg.

“Indeed, it would be a shame to waste you in this way, Bai Ren. I cannot keep you as a student, now, but…as you came to me tonight intending to give me your body, perhaps that can be arranged first.”

His hands started fumbling with the straps across the woman’s legs, and a moment later, he hauled his robe up over his head. As he climbed up onto the table, I felt a surge of nausea race through me, and this time, it had nothing to do with my Sense Imbalance ability. I had to crouch and watch as the man violated the girl once; did I really have to hang back and watch once more? Even more to the point, did I really want to?

“Be careful, John,” Sara warned me. “Take a look at my analysis of him.”

Banisher of Waves

Level 7 Flame Cultivator (Common)

Water Rank

Estimated Physical Stats:

Prowess: 19 Vigor: 21 Celerity: 20 Skill: 23

“In other words, he’s a tough mother fucker,” I sighed. “Can I beat him, Sara?”

“It’s possible, of course, but in a fair fight? Probably not.”

“Good thing I’m not planning to fight fair, then,” I thought grimly, slipping my brass knuckles onto my fist. Banisher was kneeling on the table, and I had a nicely evil thought. I focused my concentration and reached out with my wood qi just as the man dropped down on top of the unfeeling student.

Banisher screamed as the six-inch long thorns sprouting from Bai’s thighs and lower stomach jammed into him. I grinned triumphantly; apparently, while I couldn’t use Forest of Thorns on anything artificial, it worked just fine on another person. He leaped off the girl, grabbing at the torn and bleeding flesh around his no-longer excited groin and howling in pain. He started looking around the room for the source of his misery, but I didn’t give him the chance to find me.

Celestial qi flooded my body as I activated Lightness of Being. The world slowed around me; I stood quickly and rushed toward the cultivator, my brass knuckles raised and aimed directly at the side of his head. Despite my enhanced speed, he reacted instantly, hurling several globs of flame at me and disrupting my attack. In my accelerated state, I managed to slip past each of them, but only barely. His fist lashed out at me, but I blocked it, parrying it upward with my forearm. My own fist lashed at his midsection, but he twisted away from it…and turned right into my knee as it crashed into his torn crotch.

He screamed in pain again and dropped his guard, clutching his wounded cock. I slammed my knuckled fist into his forehead, rocking it backwards, then punched him in his exposed throat. I felt the hyoid bone there crack beneath my fist, and he dropped, clutching his throat with one hand and his dick with the other. My fist cracked into his temple this time, and he finally dropped to the ground, unconscious.

I crouched down beside him, panting as Lightness of Being wore off and dropped me back into normal speed. I took the knife from his belt and rolled him over onto his back. I placed the knife between his ribs, angled toward his heart, then slammed my fist down onto the hilt. The blade shuddered as it plunged into him, sinking a half-inch or so into his chest. The thick cartilage between his ribs was tough, and it resisted the slim knife. I pounded my fist onto it again, and it sunk another half-inch in.

That was enough to wake his ass up, and he came to screaming, gripping the knife with one hand and grabbing for me with the other. I ignored him and slammed my fist down one more time; the blade plunged into his chest to the hilt, piercing his heart. I yanked it free instantly, and he shuddered as his blood pressure plummeted. Blood spurted from the wound, pooling around him, but he fell still, his eyes blank and unseeing.

I sat back against the crates, staring at his body, then up at the still form of Bai Ren. I only rested for a few moments; I didn’t know if his screams might have carried into the tunnels, but if they did – or people realized that there was an intruder – I could have company any second. The problem was, my qi pool was getting pretty low, and down in the earth like this, it didn’t seem to be regenerating very quickly. Another fight could tap me out completely, and without qi, I was in trouble.

I rose to my feet. Time to clean up the mess and cover up my presence here. Fortunately, I had a fantastic idea of how to do just that.