Plans for a Birthday
Public Release: March 4th, 2019 - 3:30 am EST
Cara held her halberd across her knees as she sat in the lotus position. She rested one hand on the haft and the other on the blade. Her eyes were closed and she was moving her mana, cultivating her weapon with gusto.
Just behind her, Zara was braiding Cara's hair with a smile on her face. She looked genuinely happy and even started pulling strange ribbons out of her space ring.
The two were back in their room at The Dancing Fire Inn. Around them were numerous piles of scrolls, Mana Stones, and assorted cutesy accessories.
Zara, herself, was wearing a skin-tight, black suit. On her head she wore a pair of realistic-looking cat ears that would move from time to time on their own. A cat-like tail swished behind her.
Cara tried to ask what the strange outfit was for earlier in the night, but Zara refused to explain. Instead, she just insisted on spending a night in the inn to cultivate and study the Mage Path and alchemy.
Zara didn't want to explain the true purpose behind her black bodysuit. The fact of the matter was that it created a spacial field that disguised the signal from Cara's Soul Shield.
Before she left, Zara agreed with the other disciples to keep up communications with them at certain time intervals, and Zara wanted to hide the fact that her portion of the Soul Shield was spent. She desperately wanted to keep her sibling disciples in the dark about her own actions. If they knew, then even at a terrible cost, they'd probably send Arc over to be their Teacher's Dao Protector in Zara's stead.
Zara decided to still send a report even though she didn't want to, and she was thankful she could keep her hands busy while doing it. She looked on her Teacher's small frame with caring eyes. She swore, again, in her heart that she'd protect Cara at any cost. Even if it meant she had to lie to the rest of the Disciples.
Zara's report was succinct and read: [Report. Teacher's body is 15 years old. Teacher is practicing Outer Cultivation and Weapon Cultivation at the moment. Teacher's Outer Cultivation is currently Cracked Core, with two cracks. Teacher's Weapon Cultivation is Houtian Sixth Rung. Currently investigating unique Paths of this world.]
She could send a longer message, but she didn't want to risk it. She only provided the most important information and, with a bit of deviousness, she also explicitly left out the fact that their Teacher was currently female.
Zara had a rather strange plan stirring. She didn't know for a fact if her teacher could get strong enough in the magic world (with its strange Paths in particular) to be safe from the traitor. That meant she needed a backup plan, and did she ever have a doozy of one.
All she needed was a way to disguise the aura of her teacher's soul (and the Soul Shield for that matter) for longer periods of time. If she could do that, then Zara planned to one day introduce her sibling disciples to the new youngest, the 13th disciple Cara.
After all, who would expect The Sage to not raise more disciples just because he was in a new world?
She -conveniently- didn't tell Cara a word about her plans.
-
Cara and Zara started cultivating for longer stretches. Time flowed like a river. Two months passed. As Cara's Weapon Cultivation neared the peak of the Houtian Rungs, another birthday approached for her current body. While she didn't particularly care, everyone else in the Tin City did.
In the culture of the Tin City, a child became a full fledged adult at the age of 16. They could be officially married and, often, would have their families announce any engagements to the public on such days…
Which was the cause of some serious rifts behind the scenes. Rifts that Cara had absolutely no knowledge of. Rifts that Zara absolutely *did* have knowledge of.
-
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Tikki Stonelight to the current head of the family, Wilson Stonelight.
Wilson looked down on the much younger Tikki with disgust. "Of course we're going to do this. This is a chance for our family to rise up. You've heard the rumors."
"It's exactly because I've heard the rumors that I'm wary about this. Her Master punched out the City Lord. The Dixons are being particularly defensive of Cara, too…"
"Enough, Tikki. We are Cara's directly family. She is a Stonelight, thus we are within our rights," said Wilson.
"Wilson, we need to bring this up with the person in question. What if she decides to cut off her relations with us over this. We don't have to take an aggressive stance here…" Tikki's pleading fell on deaf ears.
"What happened to you, Tikki? You wanted to see this girl as much as the rest of us before…"
"Before her Master punched out the City Lord!" said Tikki. "Now, I don't really think we should antagonize them. If we fuck this up our whole family could go down…"
"There's no way that child would be so unfilial! She's just a little girl, so she should listen to her family," said the Stonelight Head.
"You're making a mistake. If you try to force those two in this matter— "
"Enough. The other family elders all agree with me, Tikki," interrupted the Family Head. "We are going to publicly announce Cara Stonelight's engagement tomorrow night."
-
Neither the Stonelight Head or Cara's uncle noticed a small paper-doll sticking to the ceiling of the room, watching them with its drawn-on eyes. Its alchemical aura was muted, formed with an energy so foreign that those with mana could hardly sense it. It was a gentle power, an otherworldly power.
-
The City Lord sat in his office surrounded by paperwork. His teeth had regrown thanks to a combination of medical treatment and his own natural regeneration as a 'Martial Lord'. He grumbled in his work, angry at his treatment a few months before…
And he also grumbled for a different reason. Every day since the 'incident,' he hadn't been able to forget the face of the green-haired woman who beat him down. Her skills with the Space Element were monstrous, her strength was monstrous, and even her disciple was monstrous.
And she wasn't even that beautiful.
In all his life, the City Lord never thought of any woman as beautiful, at least not ever since his seventh birthday. On that day, as a child, he watched a Scion of the Great Mountain Saint Tower, a power from the Northlands, stopper an erupting volcano. That Scion's beauty was apocalyptic in his eyes, enough so that she could conquer countries with nothing but a coy smile…
Zara couldn't compare at all.
So why couldn't he get Zara off his mind? Why couldn't he forget that stupid grin, the one she wore just before punching him? He had seen true beauty before; he had seen someone that put both Zara and her disciple to shame. So why was he so enraptured!?
He didn't know. He couldn't explain it. Not understanding it made him angry. Anger bred plots of revenge.
He thought long and hard about the problem.
The City Lord had a wife in the past, but he never loved her. Their relationship had been a physical thing, and it resulted in two children. The only room for love in his heart was for those kids.
He surmised that he was only physically attracted to the green-haired woman, but he also dismissed that thought as his mind wandered back to the Scion he saw in the long past.
He realized that he was probably just attracted to the Green-haired woman's power, her strength. He wanted to dominate her. To make her overwhelming might serve him, instead. And he thought about the disciple, about how that gray-eyed girl had tons of potential.
Unable to contain those feelings, the City Lord knew that they would only go away if the woman Zara was dealt with. He wanted her to serve him, or he wanted her to go away permanently. Either option was fine…
And the City Lord decided to do something drastic at that moment. He wanted to be able to sleep again at night. He was willing to do anything to get that woman off his mind...
He picked up an old communication token, something he never wanted to use if he could help it, and he called in a very, very old favor.
When he was young, the City Lord once lived in the Northlands. There, he saved a boy's life on a whim. That boy grew up to become someone extraordinary…
"Fractal," said the City Lord into the communication token, "It's me, Avalon from Tin. I wanted to finally call in that favor you owe me."
And so the City Lord decided to put his plan in motion, and there was no better day than on the young Stonelight girl's birthday. Once he finished his call to Fractal, he took out another communication token.
"Wilson, it's the City Lord. Your proposal, my son will take it."
-
Back in the Dancing Fire Inn, Zara opened her own eyes. They glowed with a terrible and deep malice. Reflected in them was the figure of a small paper doll.
She made a decision, right then, that the title 'Four Families' was too auspicious. She was rather partial to the name 'Three Families' instead.
But she also knew this information could let her blackmail her teacher a bit. Thoughts of rescuing the 'princess' filled her head.
Zara decided to let things play out just a bit longer.