Starlight Life Of The Sage

Aria and Ye coughed up blood. They collapsed in a heap, their bodies spasming in seizure. Their screams drew the attention of the other disciples.

"What's going on?" Asked Number 7.

Aria choked and sputtered. "The plane," she coughed, "the plane Teacher is in doesn't have Spiritual Qi."

A few heads tilted to the side. Their brother disciple, Ye, fell unconscious. Aria barely managed to hold onto hers. Number 4 rushed to their sides and began treating them medically. He pulled several pills from his ring and fed them to both injured parties while analyzing their injuries.

"This energy is anathema to meridians!" said Number 4 as he analyzed Aria and Ye's injuries. "We can't send anyone that practices internal cultivation over again."

A strange silence fell over the room.

"Then," said Number 7, "There are only three of us who can go…"

"We can't send Arc. We don't know how his sword will react to the strange Spirit Energy there. If it were to get damaged we'd lose our biggest gun," said Number 8, interjecting for the first time. "The Rodan Emperor and his men are looking to take a chunk out of us. Without Arc around as deterrence they might make a move."

"That leaves only Zara and Gen," said Number 7.

"But we don't know if there are other effects, we can't just send them over…" said Aria as she finally rose from the ground. Her meridians were ruptured and her body shook. If she wasn't a Paragon she wouldn't have been able to survive while shielding her brother disciple, Ye. Even without her Dantian operating she could still use her other five Paths to recover. Even now her Qi roiled and roared beneath her skin.

"I'll go," said a woman, her voice quiet but strong. She was tall and graceful, wearing a white pristine robe. Her long green hair was tied into a single ponytail behind her, and it stretched down to the mid of her back. She was Number 11, Zara, a master alchemist, weapon cultivator, and body cultivator; she was the only other one—besides Arc—of the 12 disciples who didn't walk at least five of the Paths.

"Zara…" Aria's voice trailed off.

"We can't leave teacher alone, to make him grow up in a new body in a strange world without a Dao Protector. His body wont be able to survive us bringing him back over until he reaches at least the Transformation Realm. That shield we gave him is losing strength. Even now he's devoured Ye's part of it already," said Zara, her voice quivering. "Since I don't have any internal cultivation I can just seal my body's nodes while I'm there. I'll leave my partner weapon behind…"

"You're only a lower ranked Ascendant, Zara. If you only use your Body Cultivation, you probably can't even match up against a Higher Immortal Realm…"

"You're right, Aria," said Zara as she looked down, but her eyes snapped back up, dancing with fire and passion, "Teacher is like a father to me. I'll bring my weapon over so we can see if a weapon cultivator can handle this strange Qi. If so, you guys can replace me with someone stronger."

A silence fell on the room. It was broken by Ye waking up, sputtering and coughing, while being treated by Number 4.

"This is dumb." Ye said between coughs. "If Teacher reached Xantian realm, he probably did it with outer cultivation. That energy ripped Aria's meridians apart due to how strong it was… The Elemental Palace is far more fragile than meridians. That leaves only bloodline refining, crafting, and weapon cultivation. Gen can't go. Only Zara can do this."

Everyone nodded, their minds working over the situation. Ye continued, "Zara should be fine with her physical cultivation, and a weapon's cultivation is essentially just another version of physical cultivation but through a proxy, in the end…"

"We weren't thinking," said Aria with a sigh. "Ye, you really are the smartest of us all. While we were all in a panic, you thought everything through already. So what you're saying is Zara is probably the best person possible to send over… She can watch over teacher until he reaches the Transformation Realm, and then we'll bring him home."

"Yes. Let's call Arc. We'll need his strength to cut open a path for her to pass through."

-

With the Magpie men satisfied, Cara could feel the atmosphere around her relax. It was odd. The tension dropped from just a few words. Normally a situation like this would result in a fight...

"You said something about 'the strongest monkey'," commented the mage, breaking the atmosphere with astounding precision, his eyes almost glowing with greed.

"Ah, I killed that monkey a month or so ago," Cara remarked.

"You did? What did you do with its body, especially its core!?"

Cara was taken aback by the mage's enthusiasm. The other two groups also tensed up hearing the topic of discussion.

"There was no core. When I killed it the only thing left over was one of its arms," said Cara.

A silence descended on the area. Most of the men had put their blades away, realizing they wouldn't be needing them drawn. It didn't look like a fight was coming. A few c.o.c.ked their heads to the side, though, wondering just how the small girl could reduce a giant monster at the level of a Grand Knight to nothing more than an arm…

"She's telling the truth," said the Magpie leader, backing up Cara with his stupid lie detection ability.

At his words, the Knight Captain from the Tin City seemed to collapse, his body relaxing and a look of joy on his face. Cara was curious why he looked so happy hearing there was no core left over…

The mage, on the other hand, had his visage twisted. He scowled and, for a moment, seemed to be cursing under his breath.

"Young Knight Cara," said the mage as he finally calmed down, "would you be willing to sell me the remaining arm of the beast if you still have it?"

"Uhh," Cara paused. She wanted to study the Ape's blood still, to see if it was a potential candidate for bloodline refining. She turned her head a bit and she held one hand up to her chin. She needed to think seriously about the matter.

"I've been taught," Cara decided on what to say, knowing full well that a lie detection ability was in play, "that you can use the blood of powerful monsters to make yourself stronger. So I wanted to study the blood of the Ape myself…"

The mage didn't say anything. He nodded along, almost in solidarity, as if Cara's words were absolute truth.

It was at this moment Cara thought that, perhaps, the mage had been telling the truth about his 'Identify' spell not seeing anything. His interactions were just too natural, as if he wasn't concerned at all. Not to mention that, if he really did see her full status, he would know Cara was higher ranked than a Grand Knight…

"You're teacher was not wrong, Cara," said the mage. "Blood holds powerful magic properties. Not to mention, if you use it to gain power, you can pass it down to descendants."

"And the Four Families of Tin start bragging again," said the Magpie Leader.

"It's not 'bragging'. I'm just helping explain important things to this young *talent* here. Which reminds me…" The mage paused as he looked at Cara again, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. Cara didn't like being looked at by him. It felt disgusting, like she was being licked by his eyes. "Doesn't she have the physical features of the Stonelight Family?"

Once again a strange silence descended. A few of the lower level Knights mumbled. The Knight Captain's once relaxed body became rigid again, as if what he just heard was the craziest piece of new ever…

"My god," said the Knight Captain, "You're not suggesting…"

"About three years ago, the brother of Tikki Stonelight, a man banished due to his low talent, was invited back to the family because they wanted to test his daughter's bloodline. He left the villages of Southern Tin with his wife and daughter, but were never heard from again…" The mage paused for a moment.

Cara was confused. What was…

"If I recall, that girl's name was Cara Stonelight. I believe she was 12 at the time."

…

Cara wanted to curse. Not only had this new body come with emotional baggage, it also came with some familial baggage as well. This was the first she heard about having a last name, though. Even the body's memories didn't mention something like that…

Though there was something about going to see her uncle…

It was probably true. Cara wanted to curse. She wanted to deny it, but she knew there was a lie detecting ability at play. If she denied it without knowing for sure, and the lie detector picked up on it...

"Tell me, young Cara," said the Knight Captain, his voice gentle, "Where is your Master?"

All eyes in the clearing sharpened. Everyone tensed up. They had all avoided asking the question up till now…

And Cara had no f.u.c.k.i.n.g clue how to answer that.

Nor did she have to. A tremendous energy signature appeared just behind Cara, a powerful energy so strong it felt like it could slash the world apart. The tip of a sword appeared, cutting through some kind of film, rending reality itself. The sword tip carved a line down.

Cara didn't move. She couldn't move. From that sword tip she felt an intimate and familiar aura. Tears ran down her face. Around her soul, the 11 colored shield shook.

From the small slit in space, a woman walked out, a tall woman in a white robe. The cut in space-time faded afterwards. The woman glanced from face to face, taking in everyone in the clearing, until finally her eyes landed on young Cara.

A concerned smile bloomed on the woman's face and, in a language only Cara understood, she said, "Teacher, became a girl?"

-

A Divine Will raged as souls crossed the planes again. Its rage increased, though, when it realized it wasn't just a soul. A physical form had transmigrated. The Divine Will howled in anger.

All throughout the Magic World, powerful entities looked up to the sky, sensing something new, something beyond the veil of stars. The could feel the aura of the Gods thrashing at their world in anger.

They sensed an invader had come.

Powerful men and women began to move. Ancient creatures woke from their slumber. All the world stirred. Ancient mages in their towers cast their eyes heavenward, and powerful warriors training in hostile lands cast loose the bonds of their meditation.

Every powerful being alive heard the prophecy in the stars. Ragnarok approached; a battle among not just one world, but a myriad of them...

An era of chaos was soon to come.