Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“You don’t have to be here. Messy,” Worth Transcending Gold said where he sat in a meditative pose, clad in his conjured armor. The solidity and weight had always helped him achieve the calm needed, and today, his body alight with barely contained power, it felt more important than ever.

“You were present all through mine, love,” Serene Breeze replied, her amusement like the tingling of bells. “Our song won’t be marred by a little shared tribulation.”

Gold didn’t really want her to leave, but he still felt an instinctive sense of wrongness that his Serene, a being of harmony and beauty unlike anyone else, would be forced to witness the mess that would follow. Apparently sensing his thoughts enough to get a hint of his feelings, Serene wrapped her aura gently around his; intangible comfort bringing calm.

“Thank you, love,” Gold said, his aura conveying what his words, curse them, would not.

“Sing with me,” Serene urged by way of reply, and took the lead. Gold joined his voice to hers, finding harmony in the joint meditation even as his soul overflowed and his body started to change.

At the feeling of a transforming aura washing out from the building next to them, Kite, Dragonfly and Will halted their three-way spar. For an onlooker, it almost looked like time stopped as their silver-ranked bodies could halt at a moment’s notice. Will was extended in a lunge blocked by Kite’s barrier while Dragonfly was just about to swing low, the axe’s frozen trajectory already intercepted by Kite’s staff.

“Oh, he’s doing it!” Dragonfly exclaimed happily, before looking down at the length of pale metal which her axe would soon have collided with. Her face soured as she continued. “It might be best that I stopped here anyway. I don’t know if anyone has told you, Kite, but you’re a pretty annoying guy to fight.”

“Whatever do you mean, my ardent Dragonfly? Surely, you’re not casting aspersions on an implement made by the Queen of Jade and Sky?” Kite asked asked innocently.

“Oh hush, you. How would you like it if you tried to hit someone only for them to parry, dispel your special attack and then drain your mana? And then it happens again. And again! Transcendent damage just feels creepy, you know?”

WWJS:

[Item] Immutable Echo

Combat Staff

Silver rank - [Growth] Legendary

Forged through unyielding reverberations of inner strength, this staff heralds an immovable path.

[Effect] Greatly increased striking power

[Effect] Echoes the effect of special attacks delivered through this weapon once. The echo deals only half the damage of the original attack, but any other effects are undiminished. Can occur once every five seconds.

[Effect] Absorbs a part of the physical force behind intercepted strikes, if any, lessening the remaining physical force to be endured by the wielder. After absorbing force in such a way, the next attack delivered will deal additional resonating force damage. The damage increases with the amount of physical force absorbed from the blow.

[Effect] Vastly increased durability

[Effect] Bronze - Pay a cost of moderate mana to detonate one of your barriers struck by this weapon, creating a wave of resonating force. The damage of the wave scales with the mana cost of the barrier destroyed, and size of the wave increases with the size of the barrier. Remaining integrity of said barrier does not affect the potency of the damaging wave.

[Effect] Silver - Add another echo to special attacks, dealing further reduced damage.

This item is bound to [Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune] and cannot be used by anyone else.

The silver-ranked upgrade to Kite’s staff had been straightforward and oh so useful, adding another echo to the enchantments. And Dragonfly clearly did not approve, which Kite thought to be fair. Having sparred with Soul for most of his waking hours for a week had left him with plenty of experience with the unpleasant feeling of transcendent damage.

“While I am sorry for your discomfort, my trust in your ability to handle it is unflinching,” Kite assured his friend and lover.

“Then maybe you should just let me hit you a time or two for fairness sake.”

“Oh I wouldn’t go that far. That axe really looks like it would sting.”

“Ah, to have a wonderful, heaven-crafted weapon,” Will said wistfully, looking down at his beautiful conjured golden spear.

“At least you can conjure yours. I can confirm that to keep changing up arsenals like this is expensive. I am already dreading the price-tag for all that silver-ranked equipment,” Kite winced.

“Doesn’t Peony fix your things for free as long as you give her the materials?” Dragonfly asked pointedly.

“Well, yes. But there is often a lot of materials we need to buy if we want just the right effects and-”

“Kite?” Will interrupted.

“Yes?”

“Even I can understand that that was your cue to perhaps cease your current line of explanation.”

Through his expanded vision, Kite saw the simmering spark in Dragonfly’s gaze. Dragonfly, the only person present without a looting power or wealthy familial backing.

“I believe that I see the wisdom in your words, Will,” Kite agreed.

“So, I guess that was it then,” Desdemona said a bit dejectedly as she watched the group of five silver-rankers depart after having turned in their final contracts and announced their intention to return north. “And I was just getting good at that whole officiating thing.”

Marten looked after them as well, awkwardly returning a wave as the Pathbreaker turned and waved them farewell before the doors closed.

“Don’t worry, Dessie. The locals fight each other all the time. I’m sure that you’ll have your fill if you keep an eye open for members of different sects going into the same noodle shop,” he said in an attempt at consoling her.

“Yeah, I suppose so. It just won’t be the same.” the leonid woman said a bit sadly. Marten thought that would be it, and that he would have to deal with a sulking leonid for the rest of the day. Or week. But Desdemona surprised him as she turned to him and regarded him.

“You know, Marten, seeing them making something close to a team even here in Hua-Xi has gotten me thinking. Our tenures sync up, right? Maybe we should actually try teaming up once we’re done? Find some more people and try to do the same? Kite and his group really kept up their share of contracts, after all. If you’d like to be on the same team as a ‘meathead defender’, that is?” she finished, eyes twinkling.

“Oh, uhm…” Marten floundered, stunned for a moment. “Well, of course, Dessie. That… that would be nice.”

“So does that mean that the ‘only celestines-rule’ is out?”

“Well, yes. Maybe just one? Or none. We’ll see who we can find. Team synergy and rapport is way, way more important, after all,” he hurriedly added upon seeing Desdemona’s raised eyebrow.

Kite looked out across the stunning view of Convergence in the midday sun, the river splitting the city looking like a trail of shimmering stars only disturbed by the multitude of river boats plying their trade below. Around the city, the plains between the many different villages and farming communities were still a lustrous green, he knew that it would remain so for a few months more even though autumn was soon approaching.

“We were here for so long, and I never thought to see if you would actually be allowed up here. To think that you just had to pay a small fee,” Dragonfly said in awe as she took in the view from atop the city lord’s spire beside the rest of the group.

“It does feel fitting to have visited at least once, even if it is just before we depart,” Kite agreed. “While there were certainly some adventures to be had, I would say that Convergence has treated us all well.”

“Not much choice with a group of silver-rankers,” Will noted. “Silvers may be a lot more common here, but the five of us working in unison could surely make some trouble if need be. That is, if our intentions were anything but noble and righteous. The future Saint of Spears would not abide by the company of knaves and rogues.”

“Or baseborn rubes with less than pure humor?” Dragonfly asked, eyebrows waggling.

“Those just don't know better, through no fault of theirs. It will be up to me to keep our dignity intact, as has always been my duty,” Will retorted with a smile.

“I still feel like this is only the first stay of many here. It feels like the world is opening up somehow. I mean, the three of you are already planning to go abroad and see new horizons,” Kite said wistfully. Leaning against the railing, he raised a cup to his friends. “To new horizons and making memories. Gods know I will miss you when you leave, but that should be all the more reason to find joy in both the moments we have and the reunions that await us down the line.”

Dragonfly, Will, Serene and Gold all lifted their cups in turn, the toast marking the end of their stay in Convergence, but also the end of their time as bronze-rankers. Adventure, responsibility, conflict, scrutiny; Kite was sure that their futures would only grow more complicated, especially with the cult of Discord hiding beneath the surface, unseen but not unfelt.

But for now, the trip back north awaited them. Back to Gilded, and then onward.

Soul of the Perfected Step sect did not sleep much. This was normal for her, the lessening need for regular inactivity something which she had very much looked forward to as she rose in ranks. That, and the freedom to do as she wished; to focus on her path and perfect herself.

As Soul awoke to the feel of a metal collar being slipped around her neck, part of her mind noted that she apparently had some more examples to set before said freedom would truly be hers. That part was only a small, stray one however. The rest of her being was already acting.

Just before the suppression collar could click shut, Soul hand blurred, interposing itself where the ends of the torque would have met. The man above her cursed and tried forcing it together by force, but even his silver-ranked strength did not avail him, especially not as Soul’s foot connected with his temple in a burst of transcendent light while she yanked the collar free from the one who would assault her.

“She’s awake! Hold her down!” a feminine voice called, as she and another person blurred toward Soul’s bed and the struggle atop it.

“Elder Keen,” Soul thought, her mind working with crisp, clear speed to take in her surroundings. The female voice was indeed the guardian of the sect, the elven woman currently charging toward Soul along another of the sect elders. “And then the one who wished to collar me would be-”

Elder Glass, Bell’s father, had quickly righted himself from the kick, eyes ablaze as he snarled; “Surrender to the justice of the sect!”

“Justice carried out hidden by the shadows of night?” Soul asked pointedly even as she sprang up and kicked off into the room to move past elder Glass, her first target someone else.

“Slumbering land, rouse your fury an-”

*Click*

Activating her burst of speed, it was no trouble to shove the still open suppression collar around elder Keen’s neck.

“Wha-” was the only thing that the elder had time to protest, eyes bulging in horror before Soul grabbed her and shoved her into the sword slash from the final elder, who had drawn a thrumming falcata to attack Soul. While he did manage to abort the attack, it left the pair tangled up for a brief moment as Soul’s hand snapped around to flick at a smoky tendril which had reached for her from behind.

Elder Glass conjured more of the grasping tendrils, but Soul had taken his measure during the years she had stayed with the sect, her path finding his wanting. It had turned out that she shared an essence power with the Pathbreaker, and Implacable Motion allowed her to shrug off the reaching tendrils as she herself struck, the heel of her palm hitting her ‘benefactor’ squarely in the nose.

While such a blow did not stun a silver-ranker the same way as a bronze or iron, ignoring the psychological effect of such a thing as a blow to the face required practice. Practice which the elder seemed to have skipped lately, as he flinched back more than the blow required. Another burst of speed took Soul behind the man, her knee driving into the small of his back with another burst of transcendent light.

The sudden jerks of momentum had elder Glass stumbling forward once more, albeit in a lot more pain than a moment ago, which had him stumbling straight into the path of the sword-wielding elder who this time chose to leap over his fellow instead of getting tangled up once more.

“Leaping in combat without aerial motion? How did this man reach elder?” Soul thought with some scorn. She knew this man’s path of sword and sound, and him being airborne meant that she knew exactly where to strike.

Much like a strike to the face, a special attack delivered directly to a man’s groin usually caused even silver-rankers to seize up unless they had been practicing rigorously. Soul accepted a glancing strike of the man’s blade to allow her to strike with the full, empowered force of her path, the flash of transcendent light combined with the physical force all but annihilating the leaping elder’s nethers.

His momentum stopped, he fell in a pile on top of elder Glass who had finished his stumble while elder Keen was fiddling with a small key. Her dimmed senses meant that she noticed Soul’s approach too late. One hard strike to the elder’s wrist sent the small crystal key flying upward for a split second before Soul snatched it and jammed it into the elven woman’s eye in one swift motion; another thing which those lacking proper focus tended to find very distracting.

Soul did keep her grip on the key though, once more speeding up to drop an axe kick down onto the two prone men to further drive them into one another. Then, Soul proceeded to beat them both into the ground.

“While I stand by my path, I certainly would not say no to some area damage at times like this,” she thought while she was relentlessly raining kicks and punches down onto the two men, accepting lighter blows and attacks to keep up her offensive while trusting in her greatly enhanced recovery. Unsurprisingly, the Thunderous Avalanche style, one of the many in which Soul had sought tutelage, lent itself well to keeping prone foes down.

She did speed up again to dodge one of elder Glass’ more potent special attacks, her retaliatory kick plowing his head down through the floorboards. While this happened, elder Keen had stumbled towards the door, clawing at her ruined eye and making a general mess. She would no doubt come to her senses soon enough, and Soul didn’t feel like allowing her to escape just yet.

Just as the elven woman was fumbling at the sliding doors, she felt a hand land at her shoulder.

“Please, honored elder. Stay a while longer,” Soul, blessed by Warrior said. Then, elder Keen was thrown across the room, colliding with the sword wielder who had managed to find his feet again. And in her wake, Soul followed.

It was a few minutes later until Soul eventually stopped, the magic which coursed like lightning through her veins eventually fading somewhat as her foes moved no longer.

“That… was close. Those cowards. Those heaven-cursed cowards,” she all but growled as her mind tried to play out how this battle would have gone had they actually managed to collar her. But they hadn’t, and in the close quarters of the house and while initially having tried to keep some semblance of stealth, even their united paths had not stood a chance against Souls.

“I guess that means it is time to leave,” Soul muttered, looking around the house. Most of the fine interior wasn't something which she cared much about, but there were other things to be gathered. “And I suppose I’ll have to get some clothes too. Such a bother,” she mused, looking down at her naked form. She had been sleeping, after all.

While Soul stuffed her belongings, resources, and all the expensive training equipment down into a few dimensional satchels, she also had to keep a keen eye to the auras of her assailants. Keeping a silver-ranker knocked out wasn’t easy, but Soul also had to admit that killing the three would bring even more trouble down upon her in the long run. Not that this altercation would go unavenged, but something embarrassing like three elders getting beat up after failing to ambush a single inner disciple wasn't something which they would like to spread around any time soon.

Still, the recovery of the silver-rankers were starting to really bother Soul by the time she was done.

“As I would like a bit more of a head start, I will have to do something about it,” she muttered to herself while she was relieving the elders of their own dimensional storage items. And as she retrieved the collar from elder Keen and stored it as well, Soul’s eyes landed on the falcata of the third elder, discarded at the unconscious man’s side. Soul thought for a while, then smiled. Silver-rankers were very durable after all.

Not long after, Soul, formerly of the Perfected Step sect and blessed by Warrior, flew west seated atop a glass bird construct, a flying mount which she had conveniently found in the bags of elder Glass. None of the sentries had tried to bar her exit, something Soul had no doubt would come back to bite them when the elder’s were found or managed to break out from the impromptu bindings in which Soul had left them. But by then, she should have a decent head start.

“I guess that it is time to find a new place in which to properly temper my path and find some calm. The families around Boundary are always said to look for competent fighters, so that is a place to start at least,” she mused, feeding another spirit coin into the construct mount.

For a brief moment as she flew through the early dawn sun, Soul closed her eyes. And prayed.

“Warrior, I dedicate that battle to you, as I have done my path. I will ever continue to strive towards the perfection I promised you, and no one will stand in my way for long.”

She heard no voice in answer to her words, no divine proclamation or decree. But Soul did, for a split second, feel the touch of something divine and powerful upon her mind, and thus she knew. That Warrior approved.

As the older couple who managed the house of Inner Disciple Soul arrived that morning for their chores, they found that they had a bit more cleaning to do than expected.

In what used to be the young mistress’ bedroom, which in itself was destroyed almost beyond recognition, three elders of the sect sat bound together, wrapped in silver-ranked chains that used to be part of the mistress’ training equipment. While the tangled mess looked escapable given the amount of time which must have passed, each of the three elders were missing their hands and feet, one bare foot from each of them shoved into said individual’s mouth.

The old caretaker took one look at the horrid mess and the furious, indignant and pained eyes of the elders as they struggled, before he dropped his broom and ran for help as fast as his old legs would allow. He could only pray to any god that would listen that he and his wife would manage to remain unnoticed in whatever mess would come of this.

Brave Walker of Paths moved through the dense forests south of Gilded like he was part of them, every step moving him forward in leaps and bounds. While it was rare for him to actually need to go on contracts these day, the growing Autumn Wanderer’s guild having taken up much of the strained logistics of the sparsely populated region, he still took his fair share. The woods was where he had earned his power, after all. And the Autumn lands were his home. Even the mighty should remember to take care of the place that nurtured them, after all.

Walker suddenly froze mid-step as he felt a ripple of disturbance throughout his sensory network. In the dense woodlands, Walker’s perception could reach a lot further than his own spiritual senses, and something powerful was moving fast just above the dense layer of foliage, its course a straight line towards Gilded.

Brows furrowed, Walker sped up before vanishing into a nearby bush, only for his momentum to shoot him out from the top of the tallest tree he could find that was somewhat in the path of whatever was approaching. Conjured vines quickly shot out from below for Walker to hold onto, and he hung out from the side of one and peered south into the distance. It turned out that noticing the disturbance wasn’t hard.

A boat, an honest to gods boat, was zooming along the treetops, held aloft on a cushion of water which left a misty trail in its wake. It wasn’t an overly huge craft, but enough to have what looked like a finely crafted cabin, complete with tiled, curved roof and all, covering almost its whole deck. There were no masts or sails, the vehicle obviously magical in nature, but its means of propulsion was quite obvious nonetheless.

In front of the boat, wearing a harness of thick, red ropes, swam a giant carp which shimmered in the colors of pearl and pink. Or rather, a carp mixed with the longer, sinuous body of a dragon. Carried upon another cushion of water, Glint looked more majestic than Walker had ever seen before, scales resplendent in the sunlight. And from her proudly displayed silver rank aura, Walker also knew that Kite, and hopefully his friends as well, had managed to reach their goals.

“You have to give it to the little chick, he has learned to travel in style,” Walker said with a rueful chuckle, projecting his aura as widely as he could to catch the attention of the incoming vessel. A familiar, yet changed aura responded in kind, and the floating carriage started slowing down. But with the speed Glint was traveling, the vehicle had to swerve widely and loop back around before actually coming to a stop with some semblance of control.

Walker met them at the top of another tree, manipulating the leaves to form a platform for him to stand upon as Glint and the carriage came to a halt in the air next to him, the wiggling mustaches of the carp eagerly reaching towards Walker, who stroked them fondly.

“Oh how you have grown, little beauty,” he chuckled, having adopted Kite’s pet name for the familiar. Raising his voice, he continued. “But I assume that Glint here is not the only one who has seen some advancement. Couldn't let me stay ahead for long, little Kite?”

The door to the little fancy cabin atop the boat opened, and Kite leaned out with a smile. “The impatience of youth knows no bounds, uncle. And, Fortune be praised, it’s good to see you. May we offer you a ride back to Gilded in my new, humble means of conveyance?”

“Little Kite, it seems like we cannot let you go anywhere without you getting the attention of some young master or mistress,” Walker sighed before taking a sip of his tea.

“And it seems I cannot go anywhere without returning to find the guild having grown in leaps and bounds,” Kite retorted, gesturing to the member list which was splayed open on the table between them. “I do approve of promoting Second Spring to head of this guild hall. From what you tell me, she has done more than her share of good work.”

“Ah, yes, she’s almost too hard a worker. Some time spent organizing things might do her good, get a new perspective. You should see her at bronze-rank though, little Kite. We had a good idea that her squirrel essence would work out well in these lands, and I think we underestimated it. Should she reach silver rank, she might even start outpacing this old man.”

“And the new members? Are most here to accept the terms for their essences?”

“Mostly, but we have had a few outcasts and other former sect members who seemed to want a change of pace and the support the guild can offer.”

“Any troublesome ones?”

“So far, none that has made it into the guild. We’ve had a few loud complainers who weren’t accepted, but this old man showing up and flexing my silver-ranked aura a bit tends to have those problems go away.”

“And with me at silver, I believe that our planned expansion to Bastion is reasonable, even though we’ll have to slow down a bit after that and take our due time. While I have gathered some more, I still need to replenish our stock of essences and stones to keep up the pace. It’s hard to imagine that we started with those three that we happened upon during the surge now that there are suddenly twenty-five of us.”

As he spoke, Kite discreetly sent his spiritual senses out through the building, sensing the few iron and bronze-rankers currently in the guildhall. A few seemed to shudder in response, proving that he still had some work to do in regards to the fine control of his ranked-up aura.

“I agree. To think that one initiative and a bit of generosity from a local lad would cause such change so quickly,” Walker agreed. “We have even needed to branch out. While our main focus will remain deliveries and prioritizing far-out settlements, we have also been able to arrange our fair share of contracts in escorting travelers and researchers from the magic society.”

Before Walker could continue, there was a bronze-ranked aura which flared politely outside the door to announce themselves. A moment later, Second Spring, former initiate of the Descending Star sect entered. Bronze-rank had been kind to the petite young woman, letting her keep her delicate features while also lending her presence a bit of power. As she entered, Spring wore light armor beneath a traveler’s cloak, her brown hair kept in a bun by two long hairpins.

“Guildmaster, senior brother,” she said, bowing to each of them before looking at Kite. “Congratulations to your advancements, senior brother Kite. There have been many mugs raised in your name across the guild when word spread that you were back a few days ago.”

“And a belated congratulations to you as well, junior sister,” Kite said, returning her bow from where he was seated. “I heard from my uncle, but contracts have kept us apart during my recent visits.

“Thank you, senior brother. I still have a long way to go, but I am honored by the trust which the guild has shown me. Speaking of which, guildmaster Walker, may I have a moment of your time once you are finished here? It is soon time for the meeting with the city lord, and we need to go over the agenda.”

“Of course, Spring. I’ll be with you in a moment,” Walker replied. The young woman bowed again, before closing the door.

“So…” Kite began, feeling the need to put words to the obvious. “Is she still…”

“That is indeed so,” Walker said, shaking his head. “She actually straight up told me at the beginning of summer. I tried to explain that she was way too young for me and let her down gently, but she seemed to have taken it as a challenge. Told me that this meant that she would just have to prove herself in the years to come, and show that she could grow into a woman which I could come to love.”

“They do say that the heart wants what the heart wants,” Kite said with a helpless look towards the door. “For what it’s worth, you handled it well, uncle.”

“As if I need a youngling to tell me that,” Walker said with snort. “I was wooing ladies before you were born, little Kite.”

“Then how come I have never seen you with someone?” Kite retorted, eyebrow arched.

“Well… I… There were all these deliveries and…” Walker began, floundering a bit before giving Kite a withering look. “Look at you, all snide with your poor old uncle. Silver rank seems to have gotten to your head already.”