"That's enough!" Aurora screamed.

Liu-Ken looked at her and snapped his fingers. The flames dispersed and only the scorched bones remained, the skeletal faces incapable of being recognized were it not for one or the other tooth that had lasted.

"You must learn that the world won't have mercy on you. You should not fear death but embrace it," Liu told her, reddish dots in the white iris of his eyes.

"Who's saying that? Liu or the divinity?"

"Does it make a difference, girl? It's still true. The world won't wait for you to be ready. Kaji School's definitely not going to do it. Your father knew what was at stake. That's why he hid you. Don't let his sacrifice be in vain," Liu said, but this time his voice deepened. The fire divinity, once the companion of Aurora's father, bespoke his words with a longing tone, "Your father was different from other humans. He realized the world needed his dose of black chi. I agreed to walk alongside him for a variety of reasons you wouldn't understand. These same reasons led me to agree to stay hidden in this ring for years, waiting for the exact moment when you would need my protection. And I will. I'll give my life for you if it's necessary, just as your father gave his life for all of you."

"My father gave his life for all of us? What's that supposed to mean? I deserve to know the whole story."

"I and Liu-Ken will tell you what happened the day you can lift one of these bodies up and get it to protect you or fight you," the divinity replied, "You have a whole week to do it and then we need to get out of here. If the boy tells about the death smell in your village, Zen-Lao himself, leader of the Kaji School, will trek through these lands. Even I can't stop him if he does. He also has a divinity on his side, Amaterasu, the incarnation of the sun. And as much as I thank Liu for offering his body in this mission, I can't reach my full potential alongside him. His chi is strong, but it wasn't made for me, it's not with him that I can reach my full potential," he replied.

It was all happening too fast. Aurora wanted to escape. She wanted to go back to her village and place herself in fetal position, crying as she grabbed the white and bluish sheets of her bed and hide in the comfort and safety of her home. She didn't want that power, that story, and that future. She had not trained for it and that world of divinities, martial arts, cultivation, was just a dream she had had. She never thought it would ever happen and had learned to appreciate the beauty of a quiet life, away from the violence that plagued the whole world, alongside the smiles and laughter of those who saw her grow up. She now fondly remembered the violet horizons reflected in the crystalline sea, the fish swimming under waves, and that shoulder touch that Bardolph always gave her when it was time for dinner. She looked at her hands and arms. The black letters that were embedded in the body and that she had tried to take off, scratching until she had blood sliding down her arms.. Liu-Ken didn't mention it. The sky opened. The sun was above them. The creek ran normally again and the birds, with their wings wet, flew into the forest. The smell of sulfur lingered in the air.

"Isn't there anyone else who can do this?" Aurora asked, almost as if she already knew the answer, and yet she needed to hear it.

"No. This is your destiny," Liu replied. Kagu and he didn’t seem to be able to talk at the same time.

"I will avenge all those who died so that I could be here now. I'll fight for those in need. I'll face the world if I must, to punish those who've plastered my village with blood, but that's it. I will not fight for your cause,"

"Our motives are not so different. You'll understand it," Liu, the real one, replied. "It's time to finish this.” He snapped his fingers.

His and Kagu chi's wove through the sky. The trees in the forest rocked, plants loosening from the most fragile trunks. Birds fled toward the warm horizon at the same time as there, in that tiny garden, one of the strongest beings to tread on the mortal world, snaked through a human's body, returning to the purple ring. As soon as his presence vanished, Liu-Ken fell on his knees. The chi within him was a mess, the meridian lines clashing with each other, his dantian becoming a bubble about to burst. He heaved.

"Come here. Your lessons begin now," he said, as soon as he got up, moving to sit on one of the stones and crossing his legs. "Do the same. Sit in front of me."

Aurora looked at the three charred bodies behind Liu-Ken but did not utter a word. She sat down, mimicking every movement of the instructor, although without the same proficiency and agility. Liu brought his hands together at chest level and took a deep breath. Aurora repeated.

"Breathing exercises are essential for a cultivator. Just calm down. Try to feel the mana around you. You must learn how to release the already rotten chi and replace it with clean energy. Renew your meridians instead of clogging them."

“I’m trying and nothing is happening. It’s also quite hard to concentrate with this burning flesh odor,” Aurora replied. "What if I'm just not good at it?"

"Hard. Never was a necromancer born without natural talent for martial arts and the art of cultivation. Never forget; you are nature and Dao’s forces fighting back," Liu replied, still with eyes closed, “Now, focus, what do you hear around you?” he asked sharply.

"Birds in the distance, the wind, the water, my breathing. This is too much. I'm getting hungry."

"If you don't focus, we'll never get out of the starting point, you know? If it weren't for your father being as stubborn and foolish as you and I would ask who you get that from," Ken-Liu said. He yawned and held back the tear that was seconds away from exiting his left eye. He fondly remembered the moments he had spent there with Aurora's father. There would come a time when he would have to tell the girl the whole story; the beginning and the end, hoping that she would understand why.

"I just need to get something to eat first," Aurora told him. "My belly's grumbling."

"Kitchen is on the first door on the left," Kiu told her, "I'll meet you there later. Lunch should be ready by now. If it is cold, wait for me. Don't touch anything."

Aurora got up. She held her hands together and bowed down. Only then did she climb the little staircases leading into the living room. She looked back one last time. Liu-Ken took a deep breath in, his hands waving through the air; slowly, precise movements, the surrounding flowers blossoming.

Even though Aurora couldn't feel the mana being absorbed, the girl could sense the changes in the air. A hurricane of vibrations that shattered the moment, that deregulated the place's natural state of being, but that soothed the new tutor's breathing.

She had no idea what she had gotten herself into or what awaited her from now on. And yet, even if she wasn't going to admit it to Liu, she looked forward to it. The thirst for revenge increased within her. The inner demons badgered her with psychotic thoughts; the mutilated and bloody bodies, rising and kneeling before her, waiting for new orders. Bardolph had taught her peace, but Aurora had now seen the world for what it really was. A place where peace had its time counted.