In the years that followed the attack, Alexander did not rage. He did not thunder his discomfort or unhappiness to the heavens above, as Elvira did. He did not thrash, or set fire to things, or vent his wrath upon the hapless, or any number of things the mortals claimed dragons did in their young, mistaken mythologies.

  He stewed. Even as he set about fixing the Life-Giving Tree, mending broken branches, encouraging them to grow together once more. Even as he blew fallen leaves off of the lands of Pangea, freeing the inhabitants below from the shadows they cast. Even as he did his utmost to protect the mortals from the chaos, and guide them from their own dark desires.

  Even when he noticed the way the chaos was directed. Guided by some unseen hand.

  For five years he stewed, and observed.

  Spirits swam about through the Spirit Realm at his command, bringing energies and powers from all over the Realms. They flooded them through the spirit river to pool in the Physical Realm, aiding its growth and attempting to counteract the growing chaos. He drained away the excess negative energy, Qi tainted by negative emotions radiating from mortal souls, burning away the negativity as best he could to leave a purer, more flexible power behind.

  He coaxed mortals away from rampaging spirit beasts driven mad by the buckling of reality, and coaxed those same hordes to take other paths to avoid tribes of Fae or Avians or any of his siblings’ other Peoples. It wasn’t perfect, and he was not as skilled at such manipulation as Father. Freewill was an inalienable right, given to all of His children, be they dark spirits, greedy mortals, or the righteous. As such Alexander couldn’t force mortal beings to listen to his coaxing, his whispers…especially those who had shut themselves off to the spiritual, choosing instead to mire themselves in the physical. Such a decision was crippling to both sides.

  He wished he could do more smaller acts, to aid the inhabitants of the physical world. But it was taking all his effort to soothe the cracks in reality as it was. And freewill, once again, made everything more complicated.

  Which is why he had no choice but to sit there and watch the First City burn as only an incarnation, the technique Father so liked to employ, a sliver of his will observing its destruction while his main body continued his work.

  Fae fled the walled city in droves, powerful spirit beasts breaking through the defensive structure like mindless machines, tearing through the city in a mad dash. The city lord, a man named Dei, stood at the helm of the defenders. His spear was savage and swift, his skill, in many ways, reminding Alexander of the foreign god as he struck down beast after beast.

  But there were far too many of them, and they were far too powerful. Illusions fell about him like a blanket, muddling his senses and dulling his spear, and for each beast he felled two more took its place. Alexander frowned and turned his attention to one of the less powerful groups of cultivators, sending a sliver of will down to a city guard sensitive to the spiritual. The little tendril had him turn a corner rather than head straight down the street he’d been following, leading him and the three families he protected towards Dei.

  Satisfied that the guard was safe, Alexander turned his attention to the aggressors.

  The leaders of the spirit beast horde, three powerful spirit beasts of true sapience, had grown far too greedy far too quickly, and now sought to wipe out the City. It had been built upon a convergence of two ley lines, making it a perfect place to cultivate, and they wished to make their new den there. They’d taken advantage of the chaos; an earthquake had struck the city not too long ago and weakened the defenses. So, they had whipped the lesser beasts into a frenzy and drove them to war. This alone was not necessarily an evil act. It was how they actively killed and sought to kill, hunting those who fled with gleeful abandon, slaughtering without remorse or purpose, that made their actions foul. They killed for the enjoyment of killing, not just to strengthen themselves or lay claim to their new demesne.

  Dei and his men fell back, buying time for their people, and the city would soon be lost.

  “Something drives them,” Alexander noted, peering closely at the three spirit beast Kings. Each one would be a troublesome opponent for Dei. Together, the three shadow panthers stalked him in the shadows, waiting for a moment of weakness to pounce. Together they had the strength to take him down, but their nature spurred caution. Especially after the previous city lord, an old woman slightly less powerful than Dei, detonated her cultivation in a fiery explosion in an attempt to injure the spirit beast kings. But they had proven wily, and escaped with few injuries. One peeled away from the group for a brief moment to kill a woman and child, running through an alleyway, leaving their bodies in the streets. There had been no purpose to that, that Alexander can tell. Besides, perhaps, just to kill.

  Alexander squinted at them as he watched it return to its siblings, sensing some form of irregularity in the beasts’ souls. Something insidious had touched them, granting them a small burst of power for the price of a piece of their freewill. That same power urged them to do worse than what was necessary. Freewill was an inalienable right...unless it was willingly given away.

  Mortals truly did not know the price of their own soul. Foolishness.

  Dei shouted out orders, blood splashing his grey robes as he slew another charging spirit beast, his men falling back further, toward the eastern wall. Many of his people had fled that direction, guided by soldier and spirit alike. Elements crackled forth in a wave as the remains of his personal guard stepped forward, unleashing cultivation technique after cultivation technique. The unity of their purpose provided a bulwark the mad beasts could not break. And the city continued to burn.

  “There is something driving them,” Father’s incarnation suddenly said, appearing beside Alexander and sounding just…exhausted. He dared not look at His face, ashamed as he was of his own weakness. “In a way, controlling them. These choices are their own, made easier by a force that is not. I should have made angels first. They could’ve helped. Put the cart before the horse, in this case.” He muttered.

  “Oh?” Alexander asked, watching Dei retreat with his people. They would escape, but he was not sure the spirit beast kings would not follow. The body of a cultivator contained much qi, and would grow their power immensely. Especially one as powerful as Dei. The question was, would greed overcome their instincts that Dei was not an easy opponent? Injuries were still problematic to deal with, even for powerful spirit beasts.

  “Yes. I hoped angels might be born naturally over time, but I hadn’t expected this chaos. I should have erred on the side of caution and made them first. It’s a mistake I intend to rectify. I – oh no, one of the two lovers died.” Father suddenly cut Himself off, voice laced with sadness. Alexander rumbled something, scanning the city to see what He was talking about.

  The first two Fae souls Father had ever created were in the city. The female currently sat cradling the dead body of her lover, a younger Fae with black hair, that had jumped in front of a charging flame boar to save her. He had not survived the impact, blood pooling around his broken body, but had succeeded in saving his wife.

  “We must go, Celene!” Dei barked, grabbing the back of the woman’s shirt and hauling her to her feet. She fought him, kicking and screaming, desperate to get back to the body of her lover, but he was in all senses of the word stronger. “Do not let his sacrifice be in vain, you fool! Come on!” Another flame boar – this one larger than the one that had killed the boy, came barreling through a building, only barely missing Dei and the now-named Celene as it charged through the chaos. Together they fled through a break in the walls and into the woods, chasing their people and leaving the devastation behind.

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  “In the next life, my boy. Your sacrifice was not in vain, nor will it ever be.” Father whispered fondly. Alexander glanced at Him to see Him cradling the male’s soul with His one arm, smiling down at it. He let it go, the soul floating off to join the spirit river, flying as fast as it could to get to its next life. “Watch them, Alexander. Their struggles, their sacrifice. It is what forges their souls; selfless sacrifice, good deeds, all these mean more in times of chaos. Dei is a good, strong soul, but he needs guidance. Celene is a soft soul, adventurous yet kind, now hardened by loss. And the boy…he, too, was a soft, kind soul, but strong in the way that mattered.”

  “I see,” Alexander mused, and he truly did. He could see the responsibility on Dei’s shoulders as he fled, weighing down upon his soul and driving him forward. He had chosen to shoulder the weight of his people, and if he did it right, he would be all the stronger for it. His was not a decision that had been selfishly made, even if he had desired power. Such decisions needed to be selfless, in Alexander’s opinion.

  “I’m sorry, I’d truly love to stay, but I can barely keep two incarnations running as it is. I just wanted to check in with a few things real quick, see how you were holding up.” Father said with a yawn. Alexander grunted.

  “You should be getting some rest.” He said softly.

  “Ain’t no rest for the wicked.” Father said, patting his side. He nearly flinched away from the contact. “Be strong, Alexander, as you always are. You are a good soul.” And with that, He vanished. Alexander huffed out a sigh and shook his head, turning back to his duties. Even if he couldn’t intervene, he owed it to these people to at least bear witness to their struggles. This should’ve never happened. He should’ve been strong enough to protect them.

  No, that wasn’t right. He needed to change his thoughts.

  I am strong enough. He realized, a bit numbly, recalling the foreign being’s words. I just don’t have the technique or skill to control it. I need understanding. I need control. Know thyself…know thy enemy. I know neither, and if Keilan is to be believed, there is an enemy.

  I must be ready for the next storm.

  Dei hated to admit it, but that green-eyed woman’s words were the only thing keeping him alive.

  He brought up the rear as his people fled the city, heading north, toward the great bridge that spanned the Windswept Chasm. The Lord’s Guard, powerful soldiers trained to protect the city’s leadership, lead the way and bolstered the sides of the pack. He trusted them implicitly; even without him at the helm they would keep what remained of the city guard standing and the independent cultivators, who now ran alongside them, filling in their ranks, from doing something too stupid. Everyone but Dei carved a path to safety through the forest, through mad spirit beasts, to a bridge whose crossing and subsequent collapse may spell safety to the few remaining Fae.

  He brought up the rear.

  Everyone else would just get in the way.

  Another spirit beast fell to his spear, the thousand-colored snake spraying its blood across his robes as he pierced its skull. Illusions fell about him like a blanket, distorting his senses and coloring his perceptions. It drove his rage and anger insane, begging for him to stand and fight, take back what was rightfully his, avenge his fallen mentor – the old hag who drug him out of the tribes and the streets, to become who he was!

  But such intense rage was not his own.

  “Everything is within. Seek nothing outside of yourself.” He repeated like a mantra, and the illusions vanished like smoke in the wind. His anger cooled enough for him to keep a level head, the shadows lightening and revealing two black panthers stalking toward him. Their qi was strong, smelling of ash and hatred, constantly trying to seep into his own qi to disrupt his cultivation. Dei took a few steps back, risking a glance over his shoulder to see how far his people had gotten.

  The last were just leaving the line of trees, barely two thousand of them – compared to the nearly forty thousand the city had once housed – sprinting across a few hundred yards of open plains to the bridge. Even from here he could hear the howling of the Windswept Chasm, the perpetual windstorms that plagued its interior sounding stronger than usual. The Windswept Bridge, a white-stone structure sustained by powerful formations, hung heavy over the chasm. People flooded across it, a few of his guard standing on the other side, preparing to collapse it once all his people were across.

  He needed to stall for only a little longer.

  “I don’t have all damn day,” Dei ground out, turning back to the panthers and scowling.

  “You are a resilient one,” one of the panthers growled, speaking through qi so Dei could understand. There was only one language, when speaking through qi, and all understood it. “Maybe if you’d stayed to fight, you’d have stood a chance to keep your den. Pity.”

  Dei stiffened, knowing the panther was taunting him, that he’d had no chance against all three of them and all those other spirit beasts. But he also understood something else. Had this happened before he’d met that woman, before she’d said those damnable words, he might have stood his ground and died with his city. The qi within was too rich, too powerful, to give up without a fight. And the cores of three spirit beast Kings would have spurred him to even greater heights, had he survived. Now, though…

  It had only been five years since the Tree had been shaken. His cultivation had not grown in that time, ever since he stopped absorbing ambient qi. But something within him had. Something far more powerful. And it told him that his people were more important than a place.

  “My brother and I will consume your flesh, Fae. You won’t be as nourishing as the Old One, but your cultivation will still feed us nicely. Perhaps even propel us into the next Realm,” the other panther growled, its voice sounding like it came from right next to him. He frowned, gripping his spear so tightly the haft creaked. Silence stretched for a long moment, the two sides waiting with baited breath.

  Monkeys screeched in the trees, igniting their fists and beating their chests as the shadow panthers pounced, claws of wind hurtling through air, cutting through tree trunks as easily as a hot knife through butter. Dei batted the air blades away with ease, his own qi wrapping around his spear as he twirled, letting his instincts guide him. He lashed out with a kick to the side, his foot planting itself in the first panther’s throat as it leapt out of the shadows, intent on disemboweling him. His spear spun rapidly, the butt end slamming into the mouth of the second panther and forcing the haft down its throat – then the third finally appeared, descending from the branches above with claws bared and magic swirling from its form.

  “FUCK OFF!” Dei bellowed, pushing the entirety of his cultivation into the words. A veritable explosion tore through the forest, blowing the panthers away and giving him room to retreat.

  And so they danced. The panthers charged and probed, trying to get to him and slowly wearing him down, while he slowly retreated, buying time for his people.

  “Dei! We’re finished crossing the bridge!” one of the guards shouted, qi carrying her voice to his ears. He risked a glance over his shoulder, seeing that, indeed, all his people had crossed. His guards stood on the far end, keeping a group of flaming-fisted monkeys from getting any further than halfway across – Dei ducked under a panther and whirled, sprinting towards the bridge.

  “Collapse it!” He bellowed, willing qi to coat his feet and push him faster. To their credit, his men did not hesitate. Explosions rocked the great structure, stones and monkeys alike falling into the chasm below as Dei sprinted toward the edge of the cliff. His heart thundered in his chest. Blood poured from a wound on his forehead. Wind roared below him. The panthers yowled their dissatisfaction. And he hurled himself off the cliff with a single, mighty leap, forcing all of his qi into that one jump.

  For one terrifying moment he feared he might not make it, that he was doomed to fall to the impossibly deep depths below, to be torn apart by the raging winds.

  But it was those same winds that proved to be his salvation – a sudden gust caught him, forcing him higher, giving him just enough of a boost to lift him over the edge of the opposite cliffside. His feet hit the ground and he stumbled, dropping his spear as he fell face-first on the ground with a groan. Immediately his guards were upon him, helping him to his feet and patting him on the back. His gaze fixed itself on the opposite cliffside, where the three shadow panthers cursed and raged as they slunk back to the treeline.

  "Seek nothing outside yourself.” He muttered again, willing any illusions placed upon him to slide off. Nothing changed, and he felt himself relax slightly – but only slightly as he turned back to the ragged, scared faces of his people, elated at their escape though they were.

  He felt no relief. Only the unbearable weight of responsibility.

  My incarnation smiled as I watched Dei lead his people away from the cliffside. Every day he proved himself to be more than I had originally given him credit for, and I hadn’t even had to intervene to help him! That gust of wind hadn’t been my doing. The universe itself had reacted to his will, the power of his soul reaching down and igniting a response in the chaotic winds below to give him just enough boost to make it across.

  It was a new power. One even I had a bare understanding of, but would resolve myself to explore.

  There was still a long road ahead of them – I couldn’t see Dei settling down any time soon, not for anything less than the perfect spot for a new city – but…well. There was, at least, still a road.

  I turned away and resumed my search, pausing only slightly to rest my hand upon a stressed point in the fabric of reality. My own energy was not what I used to soothe it. Instead I directed a bit of the energy the group of Fae produced, leaking into the world, to layer itself over the stress-point like a salve. Then I was gone, this incarnation resuming its duties as my main body stirred.

  It was about time to wake up.