"Hey Cooper, let Annette know I have to go to one of the outlying towns for a bit, alright? Something's wrong with their Core. Should be back for dinner!"

"Sure thing, no problem Laurel."

She was out the door only a moment later. Something was wrong with the Village Core in Ramston. A sickness oozing in to corrupt and control. There was no time to waste as she shot off over the late winter landscape. Like any good cultivator, she would cut out the rot where she found it.

********

Cooper closed the book he'd been reading and went to find Annette. He used the time to practice a breathing exercise, centering himself and bracing for the meeting. It was always worse if he delayed. That was a lesson well learned over the years.

The familiar halls were lined with art and knickknacks. He passed a serpent carving Nicholas Mercer, their sect groundskeeper and handyman, had made out of a piece of driftwood. It proudly guarded the entrance to the library. He could feel the ridges of each carved scale as his fingers trailed along its length while he ducked down the adjoining corridor.

All too soon he was there. The door was cracked open, Cooper only had a moment to strategize. In and out. That was the key. Lingering meant a hundred questions where he only had a handful of answers. One more deep breath. This was all about timing.

"Hey Annette, Laurel had to leave the city for the day. She said she'd be back by dinner. Not sure where exactly she was off to. Anyway, have to run!"

"What do you mean left? There's a Merchant Guild event for the new engines…"

Whatever else she might have said was lost as Cooper made good on his promise and ran. The sect house had a thousand hidden spaces to get lost in, and he just had to be too annoying to track down amongst the other tasks on Annette's plate for the day.

He slipped into his favorite. The way the conservatory met the south wall left a tiny room with windows on two sides. Years of diligent effort had filled it with a variety of cushions and blankets, perfect for whenever he wanted to get away for a bit.

He slipped a notebook out of the satchel he'd taken to carrying around and got to work planning for their upcoming expedition. Not that there was much they needed to do. Their whole plan was basically walking around the woods for a bit and seeing what happened.

An hour later, he judged it had been long enough for him to be safe, and he went back down to meetup with Eric and Leander. There was a new outlet opening up that the papers had called an 'eternal fair'. Drinks and games and food, all for a flat price. Leander was still technically too young, but with Cooper there, and Eric having shot up a head and a half in the last few years, they should be able to make it work.

He was trekking back across the foyer when something caught the corner of his eye. A twitch or a shadow, something out of place. When he turned his head around nothing was there. His steps slowed. There was no one else in the foyer. The doors were closed, the windows only propped to let in some fresh air. An extravagance this late in winter, one they barely even thought about with magic heating.

Cooper came to a stop. Behind him was the stairwell that led to the living and working quarters for the rest of the sect. He couldn't bring himself to take them. Something was off.

He pushed his spiritual senses outward. They were always active these days, especially when he wandered past something particularly dangerous. In the few meters around himself, there was very little that he didn't notice. It took effort to go further. He was slightly frightened anytime he considered what Martin and Laurel must see most days.

He pushed further, until he could feel the whole room. Then even more, as the rest of the building slowly came into view.

There.

Someone was hiding. Someone he didn't recognize.

Cooper had a breath to decide. It could be nothing. A new friend or someone's family member coming to say hello. Or it could be worse.

There had been more lessons than he could list since he joined the Eternal Archive. On magic, on life, on how to be the kind of person he could admire. But one stood out. The kernel planted years ago when he aspected his mana, and grown into full bloom ever since. Not choosing was still a choice.

He ripped his focus back to his own body and into the seal pressed into the floor in front of him. The starlight phoenix was picked out in silver and mana crystal, and it matched similar patterns in the rotunda, the library, and half a dozen other places around the sect house.

He flooded it with mana.

Strobing lights flashed throughout the sect house. Bright white and then fading to a ruby red, the signal for attack. Behind him, he felt a wall slide into place with his spiritual sense. From drills he knew it would be invisible, but no one but a sect member would be able to pass through. The same would be sealing off the library, the rotunda, and a few other doorways throughout the building.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Laurel's voice was the final signal. Ringing across the silent hall, "Intruders in the sect house. Take shelter."

The echoing, disembodied voice and red lighting added a layer of creepiness he felt was overkill, but hopefully the younger students would get to safety.

A glowing carnelian aura seeped around the corner, and Cooper ducked behind the stairs.

"That was foolish," a voice said. "I know you're there." The voice slid down his spine like ice, uncaring and implacable. That voice said someone was about to get hurt, and they didn't much care who it was.

Cooper walked out of his hiding spot. Martin would have him running drills for the next century if he got himself trapped.

The woman facing him was utterly nondescript. Probably the most important meeting of his life, and he doubted he'd be able to pick her out of a crowd. Dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin, travel clothes, she could have blended in anywhere in the world. She was also a cultivator. Of course she was. Stronger than him, but not as strong as Laurel was the best he could do on his spiritual senses.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He let some of his father's air of command bleed into his voice. If he could bluff for a while, he could come up with something better.

The stranger strolled forward, at ease in a building that marked her as an enemy. The aura followed, spreading out and letting any loyal sect members see the outsider at a glance.

"Does it matter? This only goes one way."

"I think it does. Humor me." Cooper stalled for time. All the firearms in the building were required to be locked in a safe when not in use, so that was out, he'd never make it there. The training weapons were neatly stored away, right past the hostile cultivator and down another hallway.

The hard way, then.

"I think not. Die now."

The first few moves of the fight were standard, rote enough it felt like a sparring session. Until he mentally slapped himself. No one would be pulling a blow here. He ducked a punch, but felt the heat contained sear the skin on the back of his neck. His return blow hit the other cultivator square in the kidney, but if she felt it there was no clue.

Magic. He needed to use his stars-cursed magic.

Cooper was less practiced than all his friends. There hadn't been many opportunities for the kind of techniques available to him. Especially not inside. During winter. But there was nothing for it.

Mana billowed out from him in a cloud. To his eye, it was almost invisible, just a faint green tinge to the amorphous power.

"Fuck." His attacker shouted. Along with curses in another few languages. Pretty sure he noticed Laskarian and Oudigan at least.

Cooper was immune to his mana, could breathe it in and sit in a cloud without consequence. No one else was. Martin had allowed Cooper to practice the simple technique on him and confirmed without his higher cultivation, even his durable body would be tested. Poison clouds were brutal on the eyes and nose.

"For that you'll die slowly," the enemy cultivator spat. She followed it up with a stream of fire, spewing from her extended hand.

He tried to get out of the way but wasn't quick enough. The disparate mana aspects mixed and reacted. Violently. The resulting explosion tossed him back, where he landed and rolled to the foot of the staircase.

Leveraging himself off the stairs, he got back to a standing position. And almost immediately collapsed again. Frantic to find the woman, he turned side to side, but a haze of oily smoke was covering the room.

He tried to poke out with his spiritual senses, the feedback like he was scratching at the inside of his skull. Rattled, he waved his arms around and limped a few feet to the side.

Then, as if fate was responding to his own desires, a wind swept through and cleared the smoke. His enemy was only a couple of meters in front of him. He watched her eyes go wide, she hadn't felt him either.

That was all the gap he needed. Cooper stumbled the last couple of steps and thrust his hand straight out, hitting just above her breastbone. And with it, a line of condensed poison mana drilled straight through her skin.

He fell back, but there was no escaping the awful sound. Like water on a hot stove, her flesh hissed and sputtered as his corrosive power ate into her meridians.

At least he had another shred of luck left, the horrific wails cut off quickly, when she couldn't draw breath anymore.

Then there was another body in front of him. He was out of mana, and his meridians were screaming at him not to do anything else, but that almost didn't matter.

He recognized Leander before he could do anything to regret.

"What the fuck is happening right now?"

There would be no answer forthcoming. Instead Leander pressed a dagger into his hand and continued to help him over to a wall.

"Do you know how many more?" Cooper whispered. If Leander had already made it to the rotunda, the Core pedestal should have been able to tell them how many strangers were inside.

Leander held up 3 fingers and turned to place his back to Cooper, keeping himself primed for further threats.

"Three more. And Laurel had to leave for some emergency." His thoughts spiraled. Coincidence or part of the plan? "Where's Martin?"

He hadn't expected a response, but Leander pointed west. Cooper even turned his head to look at the blank wall before remembering the conversation at breakfast that morning. The slowing of aquatic traffic in the winter meant spirit beat populations in the surrounding seas ticked up. Martin had left for his annual mission to "scare anything he could find, and kill anything too stupid to run".

Not a coincidence then. A spark of rage flared inside his chest. This was a coordinated attack on his home.

"Three more. Should be easy."

Leander didn't turn around, but he stood up straighter and nodded. Keeping an eye out, he pointed towards the classrooms and Cooper agreed. Any sect members down that hall wouldn't have been able to get to any of the safe zones. They could be trapped or worse.

With a tap on his friend's shoulder, they got moving. When he insisted on staying in front, Cooper returned the dagger. Despite Martin insisting his aspect made it a done deal, he wasn't anywhere near good enough with blades to use them in a real fight. On the other hand, Leander had the same distaste, and had spent years pushing through it anyway.

They crept down the hall on careful feet. Cooper's own ire was keeping him from dwelling on the injuries he'd already sustained, and he could feel the same rage boiling off of Leander. They weren't alone. He could feel the mana, saturating every inch of the sect house, and the same frustration, helplessness, and bottomless well of anger echoed back to him.

It wasn't alive, Laurel had been very clear about that. But mana bent to the same purpose for long enough took on certain characteristics. The sect house was built to nurture and protect its charges. The rock itself would fight the invaders.

It was working. Their steps were quieter than they should have been, mana refreshing them easier than it otherwise would. After a minute, he was only barely limping. Cooper had no doubt he would pay for the boost once everything was over, but he would take it for now.

They came to the first classroom, door shut. He pushed his spiritual senses out but couldn't feel anyone inside. He signaled Leander to keep going.

The next door was a different story. There were spots of mana huddled in the far edge of the room. Cooper couldn't tell them apart by feel, but he could recognize novice mana signatures.

"Three," he whispered next to Leander's ears. "Keep going. We'll come back when it's safe."

The pair eased past. It would be better for them to stay hidden. He took a moment to ponder. Would it be better to know their allies were outside or stay ignorant until all the fighting was done? Unfortunately there was no way to reach them as it was without alerting any enemies lurking nearby.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.