Chance raised a finger in the air. “That said, I’m not helping you for free. I want to, but if I’m in as much danger as it looks like, I literally can’t afford to.”

The Old City was silent for several seconds. Chance took that as an invitation to continue.

“If I help you, I want something in return. I mean, you did just tell me that the strong cultivators in Gleam could defeat Yamish. I don’t need to kill him myself. It’s extraordinarily stupid to even try.”

“Perhaps.”

“But… if you aren’t lying, I do want to help you. You just can’t expect me to do this on my own, can you?”

“No. I suppose not,” the Old City said. “What do you seek?”

“How much do you know about cultivation? Can you make things go faster for me?”

“My methods of cultivation are different than yours. If your path were a little more common, I might be able to provide information, but I know little about Karma. It is possible for me to instruct you in general powers, but you would not gain anything that a book could not offer you.”

“What about coin or resources? Those would help me grow stronger.”

“All things lost in Gleam are mine, but they become one with the city. I absorb them and they become one with me. I cannot give them to you any more than you could give me an arm.”

“Can you just guide me or something then? You’re really old, so you’ve got to know some useful information.”

“We will not be able to readily speak like this until I have broken enough of the seal restraining me.” The Old City nodded back at the chains binding it. “That is why I have been preparing you to fight the monsters that Yamish created. He has used five of them as lynchpins. My strength is limited until they fall.”

“I don’t suppose this was one of them?”

“No. Once one falls, Yamish will know. You will have to defeat them all in rapid succession, and you are not yet prepared for that.”

“Well, damn. You’re completely useless,” Chance said, crossing his arms. “You literally can’t give me anything. On top of that, I’m leaving today weaker than when I arrive. You ruined my urumi!”

“The monster did that.”

“Don’t play semantics with me,” Chance said, rolling his eyes. “Seriously. I want to help people, but you’re asking for a bit much, don’t you think? You literally have nothing to offer.”

“…what about a firm handshake?”

“Absolutely not. I’d almost rather get nothing. For some ancient city-spirit, you’re pretty lame.”

The Old City cleared its throat. “I’m not ancient. Gleam is ancient. I – ah, might have exaggerated my strength a little. Awareness only came to me in recent years.”

Chance’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

“How old are you?” Chance asked. “Fifty?”

The Old City Didn’t respond.

“Thirty?”

Still, there was no response.

“Five?” Chance exclaimed.

“What? No! I am not a child,” the Old City said, crossing its arms. “I am the embodiment of the great Scholar-City Gleam, unjustly restrained by a foul cultivator. I am twenty.”

“You’re two years older than me.”

“Two years makes a huge difference. You wouldn’t know until you’re twenty.”

“I was going to excuse your slightly murder-y habits, but not anymore. What the hell is wrong with you?” Chance demanded. “You lobbed corpses at me! I thought you were some ancient monstrous creature, not a year or two older than me!”

“Two. Two years. That’s a big difference,” the Old City said. “And I still eclipse you in power completely.”

“Except you’re bound and completely useless.”

“Well, yes. That’s the problem.”

Chance ran his hands through his hair and groaned. “Is there literally anything you can give me?”

“I suppose a hug is–”

“Don’t even offer that. I do not want a hug from a sentient rock.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then the Old City heaved a sigh. “I – I’ll replace your weapon with something good. An Urumi that actually has some power to it, not a dead hunk of metal.”

Chance’s eyes lit up. “Like a magic sword?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you offer that before?” he asked. “I would have said yes on the spot!”

“Because it doesn’t come for free,” the Old City said sullenly. “It takes a considerable amount of the power I’ve cultivated. Permanently.”

Chance raised an eyebrow. “More significant than what the other cultivators would ask of you?”

“No,” the Old City admitted. “Not even close. Can you at least make me a promise?”

“Depends on what the promise is.”

“If we both survive this, you’ll be powerful. No reneging on your deal and trying to establish some contract with me.”

Chance shrugged. “Sure. That’s a big if, as I’m probably going to get killed doing this, but it’s not like I’ve got much of a choice. If you aren’t lying, Yamish is going to kill both of us. I won’t try to take advantage of you after he’s dealt with.”

The Old City nodded. It reached into its chest, a hand sinking deep into the stone. A rumble shook the ground beneath them. Cracks spread through the statue and rocks tumbled down it as it slowly pulled a blade from within its chest.

Its hilt was made of tarnished bronze, wrapped in jagged purple leather. The links of the whip-sword were smooth, but tarnished streaks ran through the metal like a bolt of lightning had been frozen within it.

“Don’t betray me,” the Old City said, its body crumbling apart. The sword clattered to the ground and the rest of the statue followed after it.

Chance knelt, picking the blade up. The wrapping bit into his hand slightly and he grimaced, studying the new urumi. His old one certainly looked better, but the blade felt light in his hands.

He flicked his hand and the links extended without a sound, whipping through the air and sinking deep into a stone wall. Blinking in surprise, Chance retracted the blade and examined it in a new light.

The weapon wasn’t the prettiest, but it was sharp and responsive. He was far from a sword expert, but he was willing to bet that this blade was of far higher quality than his last one. Where the magic in it was, he wasn’t sure.

“I won’t,” Chance promised. “Assuming I don’t die, I’ll help you.”

He turned and the wall behind him rippled, forming into an alleyway that led back into Gleam proper. As Chance walked into it, the blade writhed in his hand, shrinking and turning into a purple blur and wrapping around his wrist before he could react.

There was no more trace of the weapon. Instead, a thorny purple bracelet hung just below his hand. Chance blinked. “Huh. That’s convenient. I was thinking that I needed to get a sheathe, but I guess this’ll save me the money.”

Chance brushed himself off as best as he could, all too aware that it wouldn’t do much when he had several giant tears in the back of his shirt, and walked out into Gleam. He’d spent more time in the Old City than he’d thought.

The sun was already low in the sky. Chance winced. Hopefully nobody asked too many questions. It wouldn’t be too easy to explain his shirt. Luckily, when he got back, nobody was in the bottom floor.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Chance padded inside and up the stairs to his room. He pulled his ruined shirt off and tossed it onto the floor. Then he froze.

“Shit. I don’t have a change of clothes.”

Chance looked around the room, hoping he’d somehow missed a dresser. He hadn’t. And, even if he had, it would have been empty. Groaning, Chance tugged at his hair and knelt, picking his ruined shirt back up.

I can’t afford to save my money right now. Sorry, Mom, Dad. I’ll have to wait to find you for a little longer, or I might be the one that ends up dead this time around. Guess buying a new shirt fits under vital supplies.

Chance pulled his shirt back on and headed into the hall. He didn’t make it two steps before Bella’s door swung open and she poked her head out, making Chance look like a deer in the headlights.

“I – uh…”

“You’re alive,” Bella said, stepping into the hall. “That’s always a good start. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Chance glanced down at himself. The front of his shirt looked fairly normal. It was only the back that was ruined.

“No particular reason,” he said, clearing his throat.

Bella rolled her eyes. “Chance, it doesn’t take a genius to know that you were hunting monsters. I’ve gone out to do it more times than you have, I reckon. You can’t sell their bodies to the Shikari base, though. Not on your own. You’re still part of the team, so they’ll ask what you were doing.”

Chance rubbed the back of his head. He’d completely forgotten that half his goal in heading out to the Old City was to kill some Soothounds for coin. Things had kind of just… happened. “I don’t have any monsters.”

“You didn’t succeed? I thought you were heading back to where we found all the Soothounds. Are they gone? You handled one on your own no problem when we were last there.”

“Am I that obvious?” Chance asked.

“Do you want me to lie?”

“No.”

“Then yeah, you are. You still look like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. I’m surprised you weren’t able to beat any Soothounds, though. Maybe they really did move.”

“No, I wasn’t looking for Soothounds,” Chance said. “I mean, I need the money, but that wasn’t what I was doing this time.”

Bella’s gaze darkened. “Was it something to do with the man that stopped Vex?”

“I think it might be in both of our best interests if I don’t answer that.”

“That’s a yes, then,” Bella said. “Well, just be extra careful. You aren’t as strong as a Knight yet, and you don’t have the artificial advantages I had when I was using Vex’s power. At least, I don’t think you do.”

“What advantages even were those?” Chance asked, snagging onto the opportunity to change the subject.”

“The water itself,” Bella replied. “Vex gave me water that he’d infused with his Essence, and I infused myself with it. That also gave him a considerable hold over me, since if I ever tried to remove it, he could have used it to kill me. After your friend got rid of him, I continued using the water for a while since a large portion of my own cultivation efforts had gone into making it powerful.”

“So when you got rid of it…”

“I lost a considerable portion of the Essence I’d gathered over the years,” Bella said with a nod. “And, ironically enough, that turned out to be what was holding me back from ranking up. I guess you can’t truly grow stronger when you’re leaning on someone else’s strength as a crutch.”

“Yeah. That means Vex doesn’t have any real hold over you anymore, right?”

“He shouldn’t,” Bella said with a small nod. “And he already got rid of the thing that made me work for him in the first place. He did that a long time ago. Don’t think I can’t tell that you’re changing the subject, though.”

Chance cleared his throat again. “Yeah, yeah. I can’t say this is the exact same scenario as you had with Vex, but I think you should understand more than anyone why I can’t bring other people into this.”

Bella inclined her head. Her eyes flicked to the bracelet on his wrist. “I know. That’s why I haven’t told Pete. You can’t hide it forever, though. People that care will notice things are changing”

“You’re telling me.” Chance laughed, moving his arm slightly to put the bracelet out of view. “And hopefully, I won’t have to. This is just something I’ll be working toward on the side. No big risk at all.”

“If you’re sure,” Bella said with a shrug. “Just tell me if you need anything. I’m still in your debt, you know.”

“I will,” Chance promised. He edged toward the edge of the hallway, hoping to keep her from seeing his shredded shirt. Judging by the bemused expression on her face, it didn’t work. Bella’s eyes dropped to the pouch at his side.

“How many healing pills do you have left? Looks like you’ve been using them.”

Chance sighed. “Could you stop being so perceptive? Like, come on. It’s not fair. At least let me feel like I’m being sneaky.”

“It’s hard to do that when half of your shirt is covered with blood and flapping behind you.”

Chance glanced over his shoulder. He cursed. It would have been better if he’d just walked out without the thing – at least Bella would have just wondered why he was being strange rather than gotten proof of what he was doing. He pulled the shirt off and balled it up with a grumble.

“Here,” Bella said, disappearing into her room and coming back with a plain cloth shirt. She tossed it to him, and Chance pulled it on. To his surprise, it actually fit him pretty well.

“Why do you have a men’s shirt?”

“Yeo took to wandering around half naked in the mornings. He seems to think that it’ll help him passively absorb Essence, but the only thing it’s doing is scarring my eyes. I invested in a solution.”

Chance let out a chuckle. “Thank you, then. I’ll be sure to find a replacement shirt to lend you. Speaking of Yeo, where is he?”

“Still out practicing with Pete. He found a new technique in the library and didn’t want to leave until he had it under wraps.”

“Ah. I should really get on learning some techniques myself,” Chance said. He patted the dictionary tucked into his waistband. “I’ve just got to get through this thing first. Thanks again for the shirt, Bella. Now that I’ve got it, I guess I’ll just go back to cultivating. Are we taking a job tomorrow?”

“Might as well. We all need money, and they’re good training,” Bella replied. “You aren’t going to be too busy?”

“Nah. I’ll be fine,” Chance promised. “See you then.”

Bella nodded as he headed back to his room. “See you then.”

***

Yamish let out a slow breath. Black smoke curled around his lips, rising up past his chin and into the shadowed sky above. His eyes slowly slid open and he uncrossed his legs, walking through the air to place his feet on solid ground once more.

Strands of Karma extended from him in every direction. There were thousands upon thousands, all so thin that a spider’s web would have looked like a river in comparison. Exactly half shimmered with gold light, while the other half were pitch black.

“So eager,” Yamish mused. “And so fresh. I have not seen enlightenment such as yours in millennia. What a vision indeed. You must be refined.”

Around him, the Old City trembled. Two strands of black mist extended from Yamish’s hand and slipped into the darkness. They returned, dragging the bodies of two Soothounds. He drew the Essence from them, twisting it into a knot as their bodies shriveled into husks at his feet.

Yamish extended a slender hand, his fingers running along one of the golden strands that extended far into the sky, piercing through Gleam’s heavens and into the cosmos beyond. The Essence he had gathered turned into a trilling note that echoed along the strand, vanishing into the night.

He let his hand fall and a smile slipped across his face and headed deeper into the Old City, the cracked stone parting like water before him.

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