Finding an excuse to get away from the Tenebach clan for even a short time when the blessing ceremony was on the horizon was difficult, but nobody could really stop John. He considered going alone, but that would be both risky and much harder to set up. Aydan was no longer able to guard him, but there was still his cousin Crystin not too far behind in cultivation. Around the time Johannes Dalen had broken through to the Consolidated Soul Phase, the floodgates seemed to have opened, and over the next two decades many individuals throughout the area had advanced as well. That was especially notable in Marble County, which had gone from no Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators to over a dozen split between just the Order of the Amber Heart and the Tenebach clan. A few other sects and clans in the county had one or two each.

That didn’t leave many people qualified to be a guard to John, and for the sake of speed he limited it to just Crystin. Instead of taking a carriage as far as they could, they rode specially bred horses. The two of them could maintain a faster pace on their own- no matter the quality of the mounts, they couldn’t match Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. However, they served the purpose of allowing them to travel with haste without exhausting themselves in case they should encounter danger.

“Is this really a good idea?” Crystin asked as hooves thundered along the cobblestone roads.

“What part?” John asked.

“Any of it. Running off practically alone to find a light element kid that you’re going to bring back to… marry your daughter?” Crystin tilted her head, “Or are you going to kill him?”

“He’s a decent young man. I wouldn’t just kill him.”

“It would make things easier.”

“For the clan, perhaps. For myself personally, I don’t know if I could sleep at night.”

“You’ve killed before. The future of the clan is a good enough reason, is it not?” Crystin asked.

“I could likely sleep after killing him… if I weren’t worried about my daughter killing me in my sleep. And don’t pretend she wouldn’t find out. Not that it would be a good solution anyway. Regardless of the reason, he’s a subject of inner turmoil for her. I need that to be resolved… and the extreme options are most likely to result in poor results.”

“So, what, you have them meet up and orchestrate a fight? Then she gets over him.”

“Same problem. She’d find out eventually. So instead, I will hope that they determine they’re not suited for each other on their own. I just have to first make them actually consider what they’re doing. Perhaps everyone watching from the outside is wrong, and they don’t actually feel anything like that.”

“Oh please,” Crystin rolled her eyes. “She was looking around like a lost puppy the whole trip back. And she was not particularly forthcoming with details of their time together.”

“Whatever happened, she’s clearly being more than a little bit selective with her search for suitors. I had hoped she might actually be looking, but I think as things are she’ll subconsciously find ways to reject everyone. If they meet again and actually spend time together, they’ll hopefully settle things.”

“And if she decides she actually wants him?”

“As long as he’s also agreeable, they can be married. You know I’m not a traditionalist when it comes to cultivation matters.” His four different elemental totems spoke to that. “But I won’t let them rush into things either. It will be some time yet before Melanthina actually marries.”

John wished he was so confident about the options as he sounded. Being a parent was difficult. Maybe in another decade or two he’d be ready to have his first children.

-----

West through the Stone Conglomerate, then south into the Darklands. Once more he returned to the Calamitous Swarm and sought Bodana’s guidance through the Soulrot Bogs. The trip posed no danger to two Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators and one in late Soul Expansion. Without weaker individuals to watch over, they navigated the area quickly to reach the Deadfields. Their actual target was beneath, and they reached the Prism Underfields and the underground Combining Luster Sect about as quickly as any messenger could have.

An important clan head like John showing up certainly qualified to interrupt the sect head- but John didn’t think that was necessary. Instead, he asked to be brought to Elder Rimantas, who he’d interacted with more previously.

“What brings you all the way here?” the man asked. “Without an entourage, even.”

“I came here to talk to Nik,” John stated clearly.

“Ah. I don’t know what business you had with the young man but…” Elder Rimantas’ face fell. “He’s dead.”

John gave Elder Rimantas a thorough appraisal. Considering the previous conflict between Melanthina and Nik, it would be easy to assume he might have negative reasons to be present. However, the man at least seemed to be truthful. “What happened?”

“The Annihilation Strip.”

“What happened there? Some sort of training mission?”

“I don’t know, precisely. Some of the other disciples said he wandered off there alone. He hasn’t been back for a month. So he’s dead,” Elder Rimantas declared.

“That… is likely true,” John admitted. “But I’d like to know more. Could I talk to some of these disciples?”

“Of course. I think Erle would be easiest to find.”

John remembered him from his match against Ursel. He didn’t know much about the young man in particular, except that he was one of the talented prospects. That brought some level of suspicion to mind. Perhaps an elimination of a rival? It was too early to say, of course, and if that was the case there was little he could do but confirm Nik’s death. Perhaps inform some of the elders, but he wasn’t going to get involved with another sect’s internal politics.

Finding Erle was indeed rather quick, he was training in a chamber with regular patterns of crystals all about, making quite interesting patterns. He quickly took note of the newcomers. “Elder Rimantas,” he inclined his head, “Clan head. Are you here to seek me out? Unless you wish to use the training chamber…”

“The clan head would like to hear about the incident with Nik.”

“Oh.” Erle sighed, slouching quite convincingly. “It was strange, really. We were training on the surface- nobody cares if you destroy something up there. Over to the north, the tunnels open up and let out the light element, so it’s a decent place. What flows back towards us is quite high quality. And of course further beyond, it clashes with the Darklands.”

“What happened?” John asked.

“We were training. He outmatched me, of course, but I could always learn a lot from him. Then he looked off towards the annihilation strip. Said something about needing to push himself further…” Erle shook his head. “We all told him he was crazy, of course. He mentioned moving through such an area in the Prismatic Chambers, along with… your daughter. Don’t know how they managed that, but the Annihilation Strip is many times worse. Not much a Foundation Phase cultivator can do there, even one on the border of Soul Expansion. Maybe someone like you could survive there but…”

“Can you show me where it was?” John asked.

“If you want. Not much to see. He just walked off.”

“A shame,” Elder Rimantas said. “He had great talent.”

Once again, John picked up no signs of deception. In truth, it was possible for cultivators who survived danger to think they were invincible, and immediately get themselves killed. It didn’t always happen, and John thought Nik was more level headed than that- but he hadn’t really dealt with the young man much.

“I’d like to see,” John said.

It took some time to get to the training location, but when they did Erle gestured. “It was somewhere around here. I think he walked between those two hills? It’s not really dangerous until beyond the horizon, but nobody wants to approach that.”

“This was a month ago?” John asked, looking at the ground for tracks. If there had been any, they’d long since faded from the rocky terrain.

“Just about, yes. His body’s probably dust now,” Erle said. “There’s really no recovering if you get injured out there.”

John looked at Crystin, who sighed, “Fine, we’ll go. Even if this is the worst side for us to approach from.”

“You’re going in there?” Erle asked.

“That’s right.”

“Well… uh… good luck?” The disciple looked up at Elder Rimantas.

“I would advise against it…” the man said, “But you are stronger than myself, so you are better able to judge the danger.”

“As far as I can currently see, it’s just about as dangerous as standing right here,” John gestured. “We’ll take each step in stride. Bodana, if you could wait for us?”

“Of course,” the woman nodded. “I’d probably just lose my swarm if I went.”

-----

“I hate this,” Crystin complained. “Constant light element trying to eat away at me.”

“Just wait until we get to the explosions,” John said. “That’ll be something.” To be fair, he was actually doing the majority of the work keeping the light element away. Though his ability to control the light element was still limited, he could influence it safely with a bit of air or even fire element. The latter he was getting better at controlling, and he felt quite comfortable with the thought of attuning to a fire element totem once he attained the last three ranks of cultivation required to approach the Ascending Soul Phase. It wouldn’t be a quick process, obviously.

Strangely enough, the density of light element actually increased as they approached the true Annihilation Strip- even though they’d pass the point of origin. It was like the light and darkness were drawn to each other, which perhaps they were. Hopefully, this wouldn’t turn out to be a metaphor for his daughter’s relationship.

“What are we even searching for?” Crystin asked.

“Any signs of humans,” John said. “Fluctuations that are not natural. Or just… actual tracks. For the moment, I think we should stick on the easiest to traverse route heading deeper in. This area wouldn’t challenge a light element cultivator at all.”

Though the Annihilation Strip was quite wide, the border between two countries, it was not particularly thick. It could be traveled through in a day or two- assuming one survived the part where the annihilation happened. John and Crystin took a rest before entering the danger zone, taking their time to get there.

Then they entered, and it became ever more important to keep the light away from them- and yet, it was also easier in some ways as the bigger dangers only came with darkness. Darkness both of them could keep away.

Despite their best efforts, however, they not only strained themselves but had to deal with unpredictable shifts. Sometimes a burst of energy would reach into the opposing element, forming something akin to lightning as the energies annihilated each other. This left the landscape ravaged with broken and melted rocks, moisture always boiled away and no plants growing. On the other hand, at least they didn’t have to worry about dangerous beasts.

It was likely possible for them to simply pass through the area. If they kept going at a steady pace, they would be on the darkness side soon enough- and thus more comfortable. But they were looking for someone. John knew that it was likely true that Nik had already died… so he wasn’t going to search the whole width of the strip. But they could at least dip in and out of the area for a day or two.

That was the plan, but he was soon surprised. A vortex of energy appeared in front of them- more off to the side, really, but the point was somewhat deeper in. And it wasn’t just the expected bursts of energy, but something special and… intentional.

John led Crystin up the nearest hill, so they could spot the source of the commotion. “Well look at that,” John said. “He’s not dead yet.” Just as he was saying that, there was a spike in the disturbance. Both were quite familiar with it- the feeling of someone breaking through to a new level and most likely attuning a totem. Then the figure in the distance collapsed, and the strange calm returned to the expected bursts of opposing energy, particularly strong around the fallen lad.

“Since we already came this far, we can’t let him die now can we?” Crystin was already moving, and John was keeping pace.

“That’s right. I have to say, he’s got ambition… and maybe the talent to fulfill it.” They quickly approached, and John leaned over the prone form of Nik. His eyes were open, but he didn’t seem fully conscious. His energy seemed to have been pushed to its limits, and John could see a few fresh wounds as well as healing scars. “Hey. Wanna come to a fancy party?”

Nik didn’t seem in any position to respond, and John was already scooping him up. He didn’t want to stay in the area a moment longer than necessary, even if he was an entire Phase ahead of Nik who’d been in the area for a month. Though he probably hadn’t been in the thick of it the whole time. If he had, John would have to push his already high estimation up another notch.