“Of course I'm coming with you!” Said Winoa, her small foot slamming into the wooden floor. “Someone needs to keep you and Law from each other's throats, and no one else will do it. Yun unilaterally supports Law in all his actions, Louisa is almost as bad if only because she has eyes for no one by Yun, and Jim finds the whole situation hilarious. Why even go with them anyway?”

“You know full well why,” Cleo sighed. “They have been half a step from becoming Heaven ranked challengers since they were eleven years old. Babel is only going to get tougher from here on in, so we need to be part of a strong group of we don't want to be overwhelmed”. She wrapped her copper-auburn ponytail round her fingers as she spoke, squeezing it rhythmically. She thought back to when she had first met Law. He had been arrogant, unruly, and downright dangerous, but he had helped her in her time of need and she had eased up on him because of that.

That turned out to be a mistake. After the first year that she had been a member of his gang, she started to notice odd things about him. He would talk to people as if they were in front of him, even when there was no one around him. He began having ideas that were simply more than any child their age should think about. His unruly temper flashed out more often, never at her or at anyone in Spring Street or the Empty Throne school, but if another gang encroached on his domain he would become a berserker. She still admired his combat ability, and she had a fondness for his willingness to learn anything he came across, but that was not enough to stop her from disliking his methods and demeanour.

“So you aren't even going to think about me, you and Rose going up the tower together?” Winoa replied. Cleo could not help but think how much they had all changed in the five years they had been in spirit. She had grown taller, but Winoa had not so much. Winoa was quickly growing into a short, but voluptuous young woman, and her waist length brown hair seemed to give her the demeanour of a force of nature. It was reassuring for Cleo to know her best friend was growing into a strong woman.

“I looked for her. I looked for two months but couldn't find her. I mean it's understandable with the rumours about Peter being seen”. If Rose heard a peep about him being in the city, Cleo could not help but assume that she would go so deep underground that she would only have gemstones and Tuinians for company.

“They let that monster out?”

“Apparently. It seems like they have him on a tight leash now though. There haven’t been any devourer incidents since him, so I guess whatever they did to him worked”. Cleo released her ponytail. She had always been impressed by Wiona’s hair, it was so long. Hers was far shorter in comparison, but Winoa’s length was her aim. She deeply regretted cutting it like Law had suggested when she first joined Spring Street, but at the time she had not realised how much she would miss it. The boyish bob cut that she had ended up with was another reason why she disliked her inevitable companion. She blamed him for it.

“Is Law going to do anything about him? I mean that is basically the only thing you will ever say he is good for,” Winoa said. “He's crazy strong. That said, Louisa says Yun is just as strong”.

“She would say that,” Cleo paused and bit her lip. Finally she bit the bullet instead, “Win, will you come with me to the Ignis headquarters? I need to report that I'm ascending to them and I still haven't been back”.

“Are you still that ostracised? Damn. I would have thought they would have started accruing like normal people over you now. I mean you are one of the most gifted fire practitioners in our generation”.

“Thanks for bringing me down to earth miss ‘most gifted wind practitioner in the last three cycles’,” Cleo said with a smirk. “Very humble”. Both girls burst out laughing and began the relatively short journey to the Ignis home in Spirit.

They were a rather mismatched pair as they walked through the city. One short with boyish clothes constructed mostly of a stout leather jerkin and cotton britches, and the other tall with a silk dress and soft cotton trousers. Their allure was still intense despite the oddity of their pairing, which was compounded by their cultivation. Their little imperfections, like blemishes, spots and rough skin were removed as they cultivated. The mana that ran through their body would cleanse them just as much on the outside as it would within, making them seem purer than any mortal should be. This did not mean that a person could not be ugly, but deformities that were caused by anything other than the cultivator’s bloodline simply could not have any staying power.

They drew looks most when they arrived at the mountainous building that held the Ignis family in Spirit, though less of attraction and more of incredulity. The clans were all well known for snobbish behavior, but the Ignis were only behind the Caesar clan and the Lupe clan in terms of what people thought of as the most arrogant of clans. That said, they had a right to be. They were quickly becoming the most powerful of the four elemental clans through force of numbers alone; they simply outstripped the Zephyr, Briar and Tempest clans in terms of Saints, Heaven rankers and Immortals. It was only a matter of time before they broke the equilibrium of Ascendant Immortals and tried to become the leader of the clans of Chaos.

“Who goes there?” Said an arrogant voice as the two girls walked up to the entrance of the mountain. “This is the territory of the Ignis clan. State your business or leave before I call the caretaker and make you leave”.

“My name is Cleopatra Tiberian Ignis. I have come with my ally and companion Winoa Zephyr to declare to my clan that I am ascending past the tenth floor within the week. I do not care for entry into the clan territory itself, I am simply doing my duty and informing the Elders of my continued ascent”.

“Oh, it's the walking embarrassment. I will notify the Elders and the caretaker of statement, but be warned of you are not considered worthy, your ascent will end here”. The man was crisp in his response, but there was an underlying venom in it that he did not bother to hide. The longer Cleo thought about the statement the more she realised that it was time for her to leave.

Winoa on the other hand was fuming. She knew that the clans could be awful to people in Cleo's situation, but she had not realised that the Ignis clan was so bitter about it. Unfortunately Cleo knew only too well how her accent would be received. She had stepped on the toes of several promising members of the clan to become the prime golden child, and that had angered no small amount of their families. She, a second class citizen of the clan avidly dated to try for the position of golden child, and not only that, she had the audacity to succeed. It was a bitter pill for the majority of the clan to swallow, but there was nothing they could do until Spirit to halt her.

In the end, Cleo turned around and walked away. She had tried to be amicable and play by their rules, but in the end it was going to bite her in the rear. Her only real option was to leave and head to Spring Street. It had been her home for almost as long as the Ignis clan had, but they had treated her far better than her own blood ever had. She pulled Winoa into a nearby alley and pushed a brooch on that held her dress together at her right shoulder. From the brooch sprung a simple black cowl that covered her completely bar her face. She then grabbed some mud from the floor and began smearing her face in it to mask her skin and make her look less perfect than she normally would have. Using the smallest thread of mana she could, she brought a flame into life and immediately charred a piece of wood, then using the charcoal she drew deep bags under her eyes. Finally she pulled out a thick wooden cane from out of a bag strapped to her side.

From one end of the alley to the other, Cleo had gone from a worried, beautiful girl into a tired and dirty woman. It had taken her a few months, but she had picked up the skills of disguise from the leader of Spring Street, Orwell. He was in fact more gifted with painting his face to look a particular way than many of the women Cleo had seen in her clan. The two other things that would complete her transformation were the brooch and the cloak itself. The brooch was a gift from Laurence, and supposedly it could mask the wearer's aura strength and frequency; effectively rendering them invisible to someone hunting their aura. The aura augmentation only worked one hour every forty, so Cleo could only hope that it would be enough.

The cloak that Yun had given her was slightly different. It was what he called an distraction cloak. It made it harder for people to focus on its wearer. Not impossible, but just enough so that when trying to find someone by their description, they would not be able to work out what they quite looked like. It could not help you walk into a secure vault unannounced, but it would get you past guards if you wore their uniform and looked vaguely like a member of their team.

These two tools, plus the camouflage makeup that Cleo had covered herself in should have been enough, but she still was not quite sure. She immediately moved off towards Spring Street, and hoped that anyone they sent after her would just ignore her.