"You despair because the world rejects you, but I rejoice at an opportunity to leave the world behind" - Unknown Cultivator

The testing stone crumbled to dust around Alius’ fingers, sprinkling them with a fine, delicate, glowing powder. Stepping back, his mouth formed into an O shape as Alius stared at the pile of dust that had once been the fate of all the children of our village. His life flashed before my eyes. Alius could see exactly what would happen. The sect elder spectating would flash down tight to his side, bringing with him a murderous gust of wind. I would be taken away, questioned about my identity, my family relations, and my cultivation. Then, I would be publicly executed and hung over the city walls. They would hunt down my family and all of their relatives and hang them next to me to warn others of the dangers of messing with things you shouldn't.

Mothers would warn their children about the talent stone, cautioning them, chiding them to touch it lightly. They would use me as a lesson for their future children, warning them to be more careful around important objects.

"Danny! Don't you go putting fingers on my pots! Haven't I told you about Alius? He touched the talent stone, and it broke right under his fingers! Watch where you go putting your hands! Breaking things has consequences!"

Alius closed his eyes in bitter defeat. That was exactly how it would happen.

Before even opening his eyes again, Alius could feel someone standing behind his back. A firm, slightly wrinkled hand grasped onto his wrist firmly. I could guess it was the sect elder overseeing the talent testing of our village. Judging from his appearance earlier on the stage, this hand definitely belonged to him.

'Alas, I might have had everything. But fate is not so kind. It appears my journey will end before it begins.'

His grip tightened around me, and every exploded in a rainbow of color, whizzing past his head, crashing against me and intertwining around each other. Luckily, it stopped before his eyes melted out of his head. The absolutely stunning tunnel of color had been replaced by an immaculate room with white walls so clean, they appeared to be glowing. Golden trim outlined the walls, the corners, and the ceiling. Standing at the head of the table, I saw countless people with all different appearances, all with a shocked expression on their faces. The hand was still grasping his shoulder, and as I turned to look, the face of the sect elder in charge of the testing ceremony appeared.

Looking back at the people sitting around the table, I did a double take as I realized that pinned to all of their flowing robes, was a token, stamped with the words “Sect Elder”.

Each and every one of them was an existence that could wipe out our entire town. Beads of sweat started to form under Alius’ shirt and on his forehead. Sects were incomprehensible existences to us, as we knew nothing about them. The only time we would ever come into contact with a sect was during the yearly talent test, where a different elder would oversee the test every time. The only other time we would “see” a sect was when a child with good talent was accepted into a sect, but even then we would only know the name of the sect. However, each of the people gathered here appeared to be of a different sect. They all sat on different chairs, and each of the patterns of the robes were slightly different. They all had one thing in common, their sect elder tokens.

As Alius looked on in dread, several of the shocked expressions began to change. Most of the faces became disinterested again, some of them showed curiosity,

What terrified me, was the one face that showed anger. The person it belonged to was a stocky, firmly built man, with a scraggly beard and blood red robe. He sat on an ornately made golden seat, studded with slim rubies and other scarlet gems.

“Darian,” he spat, seemingly dressing the man behind me, who was still holding onto my shoulder. “He’s mine. Don’t try to stop me.” At the last words, his voice was very nearly a snarl.

‘What? He wants ME? Does he want to kill me personally? He’s insane!’

“You’ll have to get through me first. He does not belong to any one of us.” This time, the voice belonged to a beautiful woman, wearing cyan robes trimmed in slate grey. The chair she was sitting on reminded me of a river, with flowing armrests that melded perfectly into the seat itself.

“Cut the kid some slack.”

“Are you kidding? Do you know what he means?”

“He’s a kid, barely seven. Do you want to drag him into this?”

“We can’t all benefit. Who will take him?”

Finally, the elder still holding onto my arm spoke quietly, but like in the square, everyone could hear him, and stopped speaking, out of respect, or fear.

“I have a proposal.” Turning to me, he looked into my eyes before speaking in a soft, comforting voice. “Would you like to join one of our sects?” His eyes were midnight black, pulling me into an endless void.

Finally, Alius managed to unglue his lips.

“M-me? What would you want to do with me? I broke the stone. Is there no punishment for something like that?”

“No, no.” The elder shook his head at Alius, “it appears that you do not know what you have done.”

“The testing stone was made by infusing our qi into an ordinary stone. In other words, what you broke was worthless. It is the very fact that you broke it that is amazing to me, to all of us! The stone you call ‘the talent stone’ or ‘the testing stone’ is really just a fancy rock, infused with qi. It can react to outside sources of qi. That is why the test is administered at seven. Children have not started cultivating yet, and so all we test is their natural absorption ability. Based on the intensity and quantity of qi, the stone lights up. In your case, your naturally absorbed qi overwhelmed the infused qi, and shattered the delicate balance inside, and broke the stone with it.”

The elder looked carefully at Alius’ expression of shock before slowly continuing.

“Now do you understand? Breaking the stone was not an accident. Rather, it shows your extreme talent for qi absorption!”

He paused for a second to let the information sink in before continuing.

“So, would you like to join one of us. Join a sect. We can offer you resources, everything you need to get stronger. We can offer you weapons that will aid you on your journey. Every item you could desire would be yours. You can pick a master, and as soon as you enter, you will be a respected disciple, the core of the sect.”

Alius settled in, trying to reorganize his mind. Joining a sect was definitely the way to go. It was the smoothest path he had to success. They could provide him with everything, and all Alius would have to focus on is cultivation. Would he join?

His future was riding on this decision. It was irreversible. Alius knew what he had to do to succeed. It was an easy choice, perhaps the simplest he had faced in his life. But why was he still so conflicted?

‘Make a choice. What choice. Your choice.’

“Sire, I would be honored. But for now… I would like to stay independent, sir. I will not join one of your sects.”