Starlight Life Of The Sage

Public Release: March 8th, 2019 - 3:30 am EST

The white light overtook Fractal. He felt his body breaking apart. His Artifact-tiered sword shattered in his hands. He screamed as the alchemical fires roasted him alive.

The light blasted upwards through the heavens. All the clouds in the sky vanished, and the membrane on the world itself shook under the impact. The black sky and the stars behind it appeared, but alongside the stars were a pair of eyes, each bigger than the moon, watching the world below.

Zara looked up into those eyes and waved like a child with a sheepish grin. She felt a Divine Will reach for her, but the membrane on the world stopped it cold. That Divine Will trembled and roared, reaching out to other strong existences beneath it.

All across the magic world, men and women at the peak looked up, and saw those eyes. Some scoffed and scorned them. Some bowed in prayer, and others still stood up and looked to the Southlands, towards the tiny little country of Tin and it's Soldier Garden.

One mage tower, a building painted green, had an old man sitting at the peak. His aura flared to life with rage. Power swirled around him and he looked South with venom in his stare. He could feel the birth of the new Divinity, the Divinity of his disciple's killer.

He roared towards those eyes in the Heavens, his anguish and hate coming alive. The Divine Will above smiled. A new power flooded into the body of the Tower Lord, and he hit his knees, convulsing. Pain blossomed within him, but he smiled.

He would avenge his disciple.

-

The eleven remaining disciples of The Sage all sat around their meeting table discussing Zara's latest message. Several of them wanted more information, and a few even demanded that Arc go and check up on things…

Then something strange happened. On the sides of the room, encased in special glass, were twelve candles. The Eleventh Candle flickered and, before everyone in the room, the color of its flame turned from red to gold.

No one said a word. They all held their breaths. They looked each other in the eyes one by one. Smiles bloomed on everyone's face with Gen being the only exception.

"Zara achieved Divinity?" said Aria, a touch of excitement and confusion in her voice. "But how? Her cultivation was only in the Lower Rungs of Ascendancy."

"She didn't achieve it through normal cultivation," said Arc. "She did it through Alchemy."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. Alchemy doesn't actually change anything inside you. How can you create a Divinity through it?" Aria asked.

"If I knew that," said Arc, "Then I imagine I'd also have an Alchemy Divinity."

Everyone went quiet at that remark. Arc hadn't ever made a single Houtian Pill, let alone touched the level of Alchemy Zara had. None of them could compare to Zara or their Teacher in Alchemy. Most even dismissed it outright and only practiced it because their teacher insisted…

Now they all looked like they had frogs in their throats.

"I suppose Teacher was right again," said Tuku.

"Goddammit, he'll probably gloat at all of us when he comes back," said Aria.

"Zara's gloating will be the worst," said Gen.

Everyone's eyes snapped to him and their faces showed true disappointment. Several shook their heads from side to side.

"Gen, Zara is an angel. Why do you always slander her?"

Gen didn't even offer a reply this time. He just left. He didn't have the energy in him to be upset. Now that Zara possessed a Divinity, he probably wouldn't be strong enough to beat her anymore. He shuddered just thinking about what was going to happen when they met.

"I need to get the f.u.c.k out of here. I need to leave the world altogether," he mumbled to himself.

-

Cara finished her breakthrough and collapsed forward. She felt the golem catch her, stopping her from hitting her head on the floor. She looked at it and, through its eyes, she could feel Zara's stare. Cara held one hand up and gave the golem a 'Thumbs Up'.

Cara's eyes closed and she lost consciousness. In her soul, a 10 colored shield roared to life. Another color started to fade as it moved towards the cracks on Cara's vessel, filling and refining them, reinforcing Cara's cultivation.

The 10 color shield turned to 9 colors.

-

Gen stopped walking at that moment and looked to the sky. His portion of the shield was used up, now. He remembered his teacher and all the good times they had together. Gen remembered the day he met his teacher, how The Sage saved him from the slave pens.

Gen had been a catamite. He had been abused and used like an object. He lived a terrible childhood and only knew real love when he met his teacher… And when he met his 'older sister' Zara. He didn't like it when she treated him like he wasn't a man because it reminded him of his childhood days. It filled his mind with awful memories and terrible scars.

He thought of his teacher's gentle smile and warm disposition. He thought of the old man's jolly expression and love of sweet foods, alongside his strange superstitions and wacky theories.

No one in all the world thought achieving Divinity through Alchemy a possibility, except his Teacher, except The Sage.

Zara even doubted it at times.

Gen looked up at the clouds that spread across the sky. He thought they looked like they were drawn there by an artist, as if their long sweeping forms were from intelligent design.

He knew Divinities and Gods existed, because he lived among them.

And he wondered what kind off cruel gods had to exist in a world that allowed little boys to be sold as s.e.x slaves.

He knew his teacher wouldn't allow it if he could go Beyond.

Gen wouldn't allow it either.

He turned around and walked back into the room with the other disciples. Just because he didn't want to deal with Zara didn't mean he would abandon his teacher. It didn't mean he could abandon his mission.

Gen was resolved to reach the level of Divinity, purely so he could punch whatever Gods there were in the goddamn face.

He was mighty proud that, in the country he helped run, there were no slaves.

-

Cara woke up lying in a soft bed. She felt warm cotton on her forehead. She tried to reach up to remove the towel but found her arms unable to move. She turned to her left and received a faceful of her disciple's c.h.e.s.t.

Zara was laying in bed too, and her arms were wrapped around Cara in a tight hug.

Cara fidgeted and tried to snake out, but couldn't move. She felt her disciple's arms tighten a bit, pulling her in even closer.

"Bah," said Cara. "You're doing this on purpose!"

Zara didn't reply, but the small smile on her face was damning.

"Don't look down on me!" said Cara as she drove her cultivation. "I wasn't called the First Paragon for nothing!"

Laughter echoed through the Soldier Garden as two women enjoyed some moments of relaxation.

They both knew the future would be full of chaos and battle, and they both decided to enjoy the time they had rather than worry about such things.

There would always be opportunities to worry in the future, but there wouldn't always be opportunities to make jokes and be merry in the now.

Life, as all things did, went on.