VIII

Seal

Cultivators impact the environment in numerous ways. The traces left behind from their battles or their advancements might even persist for years later. It could even go as far as a country mirroring its ruler. Nyrkan was clad in ice, the wind held dominion in Dyrakiel, and balance guarded Shuanhuang. Many have since wondered. Was it the land that attracted the cultivator, or was it their influence who made the land? Was it the heavens that created the seasons or were they cast by immortal man?

Either way, a fight between the strongest of practitioners is not meant to be witnessed by mortals.

Air as thin as on a mountain made it hard to breathe. Our surroundings grew colder; our breath rising like smoke, drawn to the seething hall above us. The wind blasted past us, beckoned by its master. Their fight had started. Only the Qi within our bodies was guarded against their drain. The change in the air carried deep into the cellar - it was telling of Huo Lan's and his opponent's strength. Thankfully, their might hadn't reached the stage that defied the natural order.

Nysha led the way, both of us shivering in our sparse attire. We left the stairways, heading into the twisted corridors underground. She chose each path carefully, seeing things I did not. More tremors from the fighting shook the ground, testing the manor's foundations. We arrived in front of an enormous gate, far too large to be moved by mortal hands. To its sides, there were two more doors with a talisman stuck to each one; miniature versions of the one that covered the gigantic gate.

As we approached, the characters written on them shone to life, floating away from their prison of parchment. They created three separate, translucent barriers that prevented us from coming any closer. Nysha was rummaging in her pockets as I took a closer look at the main gate.

"What's in there?" I'd never seen anything like it before.

"I don't know," Nysha answered, grabbing my hand, "the royal treasury, maybe? Come on, we're going in here."

"Wouldn't Wang Jen have plundered it?" I shook my head. "No one places a seal on an empty box."

"It's not what we're here for," she put more strength into her pull, but it didn't budge me.

"Nysha, you don't understand, this isn't just anything..."

I was mesmerized by it. Trapped. The characters weren't only alien to me - they were impossible to comprehend, written in a way the mortal mind couldn't fathom. An entangling mess, squirming like a swarm of flies. Nysha slapped my cheek, waking me from my stupor. She was glaring at me, raising her hand, ready for another one.

"Sorry," I lowered her hand. She snorted, dragging me to one of the doors in a hurry. The barrier around it flickered menacingly. Nysha held out a stick made from jade in front of her, and the light dimmed. We passed through it, the barrier washing over us as if entering a cave hidden behind a waterfall.

We found a tiny room. There was barely enough space for a single person to pass through the rows of shelves lined to the walls. Spheres sparkled on their pedestals, illuminating the room in dim light. Each was identical to the ceremonial gift. I was about to take a closer look when half of them disappeared in a flash. I looked to Nysha who dangled a brown pouch in her hands.

"A spatial pouch?" It was able to store anything inanimate without having to worry about sizes or weight, to a certain degree. "When did you get that?"

"I bought it in preparation for today," she put it back into her robe. "I'm glad it worked out. It cost me more than half my pellets."

"Say that after we make it out of here alive," I protected my eyes from the dust falling off the ceiling as the tremors worsened. One of the remaining spheres fell to the floor, shattering. The tamed Qi was freed, lingering for a moment before it turned into a breeze, then a gust that shot out the door, heading towards the fighting. It must've been Huo Lan who had won control over it. The accident gave me an idea.

"You can't carry anymore?" I asked and Nysha shook her head.

"Why? What do you-" I tried tipping over the shelf, but it was secured to the wall, so I grabbed a crystal instead, throwing it on the ground. This time, it erupted in a wave of heat that crawled through the gaps in the ceiling. The purpose of this storage room was evident. Its crystals stored tamed Qi to be used by cultivators.

"Are you going to help me, or are you just going to stand there, watching?" I threw another one at her feet, making her jump. She growled something in dyrak as she helped hurl an entire batch outside, shattering them where they wouldn't hurt us. This was no better than a child throwing a tantrum, but I didn't care. It should hurt the duke and I took the slightest pleasure from it. It was cathartic. Restraining myself for so long wasn't good for me.

We'd almost cleaned the room out when I felt it. First came nausea. My stomach squeezed into itself, twisting and turning my insides. I buckled over, my hand clutching my throat as I retched. Something inside me wanted out. No matter the cost.

"That's all of them. Are you satisfied now... Shin?" Nysha hurried over to me, placing a hand on my back. "Shin, what's wrong?"

I shut myself off from the outside. Nysha disappeared. The increasing quaking dimmed from my senses. My gaze turned inwards until I found the cause. My core went on a rampage against the seal that bound it. It struggled out of control, banging against its prison until it cracked on its seams. I was speechless. If it wasn't for the seal placed by the sect leader of the Falling Star Sect himself, I might have died. Its desire to leave was that strong; it'd turn on me without care for my life. Once a core was created, it was like a heart. An essential organ, that if completely gone would leave me behind as a hollow husk, drained of life.

Seek the Firmament, the words of the scripture echoed in my mind.

Any existence carries a Will. It was a belief among cultivators, a study, that I could never pretend to even remotely fathom the meaning of. I merely knew of its existence. The teachings of the Falling Star Sect had been accumulated over countless generations. A history so long, traces of it had already been forgotten. One might say that their techniques far exceeded the cultivator that wielded them, even if they were the ones who gave them life. This experience was an example of that, and it struck me with fear I didn't know I still possessed.

My core thrashed in its chains and there was nothing I could do, despite it being a part of me. A part of my body. It was my core. My cultivation. Sealing it had been the same as gluing my arms and amputating my legs. Now, that limb I thought was mine, which I thought was gone, defied me by pointing a blunted knife to my throat.

"S...n! Shi...n! Shin!" Nysha's panicked voice made it into my ears.

I returned my focus to the outside world. She rocked my body, trying to wake me up. The nausea was still there, but I'd have to deal with it. Nysha had already carried me out of the room. She was relieved when I opened my eyes, but it didn't lessen her concerns. Behind us, the sealed gate had started humming. Strands of green and gold intertwined around it, weaving into a tornado that drew on its surroundings with one gargantuan breath.

"Rise, Jin Long!"

Huo Lan's voice came out of the talisman, and the tempest howled, wind blasting, trying to scrape us off the ground to which we clung like bugs. The windstorm tore through all the ceilings to meet a hollow disk of white about to complete itself. It carried the flame along towards the sky where it expanded in an instant, lighting the night to day as if a new sun was born. A new star. Starfire. The realization made my core go even more berserk, but the seal remained steadfast.

"That's enough now."

It was that one sentence that put a stop to it. The half-born, rising star. The tremors. My nausea. All of it returned to normalcy, heeding the Will that called for the end.