Time/Date: Midnight, TC1853.01.09
Location: Decoy House → Grandpa Coop House → Safe House
At half past midnight, Raven activated her most subtle spiritual techniques. The golden blood essence bead in her soul space pulsed gently, lending power to her efforts as she extended her consciousness outward, mapping positions.
Three watchers, as expected. Two in the building across the street—she could sense their body heat, the rhythm of their breathing, even the faint electromagnetic signature of their communicators. The third lurked in the alley beside the main boarding house, positioned to watch the rear exit.
Professional spacing. Disciplined rotation. Definitely SIS.
She waited, patient, until the watch rotation shifted. In that brief moment when attention was divided between outgoing and incoming agents, she moved.
Soul power flowed through her, not flashy or dramatic, but subtle as morning mist. Light bent around her form, shadows deepened in her wake, and her footsteps made no sound against the wooden floor. The technique was from her forty-third life, a world where stealth cultivation had been refined to impossible levels. She'd been an assassin there, trading in silence and shadow.
Out through the back window into the small garden. The cool night air touched her face, carrying scents of damp earth and night-blooming flowers. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked once, then fell silent.
She moved through the shadows like water flowing downhill, following the path of least resistance, always where eyes weren't looking. The SIS agents never saw her leave. Their attention remained fixed on the cottage, where programmed lights continued their illusory dance and the false figure lay still in the bed.
Three streets away, Raven finally allowed herself to breathe normally. The soul power expenditure had been minimal—she'd learned efficiency across dozens of lifetimes—but even small drains added up in her current weakened state.
Soon, though. Soon this fragile body would be transformed.
The thought brought a flutter of mixed emotions. Excitement, yes—finally, after seventeen years of imprisonment in this malnourished frame, she would have strength again. The Dragon Blood Essence Bead would reconstruct her skeletal system, grant her power beyond anything this world had seen.
But also... nervousness. Fear, even though she barely admitted it to herself.
She'd died ninety-nine times. Experienced every kind of pain existence could offer. But the blood essence bead awakening was different. It wasn't just a physical transformation—it was a spiritual trial. The Dragon Bead would force her to confront one of her inner demons, and she suspected it just might be the one she truly didn't want to face, the one that had left a scar on her soul that would never fade—her starlight, Norvara.
Any price is worth it, she told herself firmly, moving through the darkened streets with purpose. To have strength. To protect others. To stop the Devourers.
This weak body had served as her prison long enough. Whatever pain the transformation brought, whatever trials she had to face, they were nothing compared to seventeen more years of helplessness.
Nothing compared to watching another child suffer because she lacked the power to intervene.
***
Twenty minutes later, Raven tapped out the familiar pattern on Grandpa Coop's door—three soft knocks, pause, two more, pause, one final tap.
The door opened almost immediately, revealing Grandpa Coop's weathered face creased with worry that shifted to relief when he saw her.
"Girl," he breathed, stepping aside. "We heard wild rumors. Blood oaths, imperial investigations, cosmic law violations..."
"The rumors are probably all true," Raven said softly, accepting the warmth of the small kitchen. Familiar scents wrapped around her—herbal tea, machine oil, the comfort of a place where she'd always been welcome. After the sterile air of the police station and the careful performance of the day, this felt like coming home. "Though they don't tell the whole story."
Grandma Wang appeared from the back room, her eyes bright with concern and questions. The elderly woman moved with quick, purposeful steps, already reaching for the tea kettle.
"Child, what's happened? The whole neighborhood's buzzing with talk of scandal. They're saying you accused the imperial heir himself, that cosmic authorities got involved—"
"The Brenners aren't my family," Raven said, letting the words settle into the space between them. Even saying it aloud seemed to shift something fundamental in the air. "They stole me as a baby and raised me as their servant. Today, cosmic law forced them to admit it."
The statement hung there like a stone dropped into still water, ripples of implication spreading outward.
Grandpa Coop sat down heavily, his cybernetic eye whirring as it focused on her with new intensity. The blue glow cast strange shadows across his weathered features. "Stolen... that explains their treatment of you. But cosmic law? That's serious business, girl. The kind of magic that reaches beyond mortal comprehension—binds souls, not just words."
"The kind that can't be broken or ignored," Raven confirmed, accepting the cup of tea Grandma Wang pressed into her hands. The warmth seeped into her fingers, chasing away the chill of the night. "Which makes me very dangerous to people who've been lying about me for seventeen years."
Grandma Wang set down her own cup with shaking hands. "Blood oaths under cosmic law... child, that means the universe itself witnessed their lies. The karmic debt from such deception..." She shuddered, and Raven saw real fear in the old woman's eyes. "No wonder you needed to disappear."
"I need to hide for about ten days," Raven said carefully, choosing her words with precision. "Somewhere the SIS can't find me, somewhere the Brenners can't reach. It's... medical. I need to recover from what they did to me. The process will be intensive."
It wasn't entirely false. She did need healing, though not from conventional poison. The deeper transformation she planned would indeed be intensive beyond anything most people could imagine.
But she couldn't tell them about the blood essence beads, about becoming strong enough to break stone with her bare hands, about spiritual trials and cosmic reconstruction. Some truths were too dangerous to share, even with allies.
Grandma Wang and Grandpa Coop exchanged one of those long looks that spoke of decades of partnership and shared decisions. Entire conversations happened in that moment of eye contact, debates conducted in the language of old married couples.
"The safe house we arranged," Grandpa Coop said finally. "It's ready whenever you need it. Tomorrow, if you want. Tonight, even."
Raven felt a wave of gratitude so strong it almost brought tears to her eyes. These people had asked for nothing from her except the chance to see justice done. Their support meant more than all the gold in the imperial treasury, more than any cultivation resource or powerful technique.
"Are you sure?" she asked, needing them to understand the risk. "The Brenners have resources, and helping me could put you both in danger. They won't stop looking. Selene, Amara, probably SIS too—"
"Child," Grandma Wang interrupted gently, reaching across to catch Raven's hand in her weathered fingers, "we've been preparing for this fight since you first told me you suspected they were poisoning you. Since I realized what they'd done to my Trina, to Lady Eveline. After what those monsters have done—to you, to my daughter, to how many others over the years—seeing justice done is worth any risk."
Grandpa Coop nodded, his expression fierce despite his age. "Besides, we're not without resources of our own. The Brenners may have money and social position, but the underground has its own kind of power. Let them try to find you. They'll discover the hard way that some networks run deeper than bloodline and coin."
Raven squeezed Grandma Wang's hand, unable to find words adequate for what she felt. These were the people who'd shown her what family should be—not blood relation or duty, but choice and care and the willingness to stand together against darkness.
"There's something else," she said after a moment. "Information you should know, even if I can't prove it yet." She paused, considering how much to reveal. "The Federation DNA results—the parcel I sent weeks ago—they'll be published online soon. Maybe already are. But hardly anyone in the Eastern Empire monitors Federation medical databases. Even if they did stumble across the results, who would connect them to Mara Brenner?"
Grandpa Coop's cybernetic eye flickered. "You're saying the proof is already out there, just waiting to be discovered?"
"Exactly. The Empire's own DNA testing will take seven to ten days, according to the SIS. But the Federation had my samples since the second of the month. They promised results in two to three days, and they're nothing if not efficient." She smiled slightly. "By now, somewhere in the Federation's medical database, there's irrefutable proof of my bloodline. Scientific documentation that I'm not Selene's daughter, and the truth about what they have been hiding."
"But no one's looking for it," Grandma Wang said slowly, understanding dawning. "The Brenners don't know it exists, the SIS doesn't know to search Federation databases..."
"And even if someone stumbles across it, it's just medical data. Anonymous samples, no context." Raven set down her teacup. "But when the Empire's results come back in ten days, matching the Federation findings? Then it becomes impossible to ignore or suppress. Two independent sources, both saying the same thing."
Grandpa Coop let out a low whistle. "You built redundancy into your evidence chain. Multiple paths to the truth, so if one gets blocked..."
"The others still get through," Raven finished. "I learned a long time ago that when fighting powerful enemies, you never rely on a single plan. Always have backups. Always have contingencies."
"You girl, you don't think like you're seventeen, more like you done this for a lifetime," Grandma Wang murmured, and there was something like awe in her voice.
Raven stood, suddenly exhausted down to her bones. The blood oath ceremony, the surveillance evasion, the constant performance—it had all taken its toll. And soon, very soon, she would need every scrap of strength for what came next.
"I should rest," she said. "Tomorrow, I'll need to move to the safe house. But tonight... tonight I just need to sleep somewhere I feel safe."
"Take the back room," Grandpa Coop said immediately. "It's small, but the bed's comfortable, and no one will disturb you."
"Thank you. For everything. For believing in me when no one else did. For helping me fight back." Raven paused at the doorway, looking back at these two unlikely allies. "I won't forget this. Any of it."
Grandma Wang's eyes glistened. "You just survive, child. Survive and become strong enough that they can never hurt you again. That's all the thanks we need."
***
In the small back room, Raven lay on the narrow bed and stared at the ceiling. Her body craved sleep, but her mind raced with plans and preparations.
Ten days. That's how long the Dragon Blood Essence Bead awakening would take, according to the knowledge embedded in her soul. Eight days of intensive physical reconstruction—bones shattering and reforming, marrow being rewritten with spiritual essence, her entire skeletal system being transformed from mundane human to something approaching divine.
And in the midst of that physical agony, a spiritual trial. She'd thought about that trial across countless meditation sessions. Tried to prepare herself for facing Novara's accusations, for defending a decision that still haunted her quiet moments.
But it's necessary, she told herself firmly. I couldn't bring her into this world just to suffer again. Couldn't watch Kael destroy her a second time.
The Dragon Bead pulsed gently in her soul space, as if responding to her thoughts. It knew. It had been waiting, patient across seventeen years of this life, ready to begin the transformation that would turn her from victim to weapon.
Tomorrow, she would move to the real safe house—Grandpa Coop had a place prepared in the Craftsman's Quarter, isolated and secure. She would set up protections, prepare supplies, and then begin the awakening.
For now, though, she allowed herself to rest. To feel safe, just for these few hours, surrounded by people who actually cared whether she lived or died.
Outside, somewhere in the night, the Brenners were probably tearing apart the Fifth District trying to find her. The SIS agents were watching an empty cottage, convinced their target was sleeping peacefully in a programmed illusion.
And the Federation's DNA results sat in some database, waiting to destroy everything Selene had built on lies.
Raven smiled in the darkness.
Let them panic. Let them scramble. Let them exhaust themselves searching while she transformed into something they couldn't comprehend.
In ten days, she would emerge from that safe house with bones that could withstand spiritual attacks, with strength to shatter stone, with fire in her blood and power in her very marrow.
In ten days, the real game would begin.
But for now, for these precious hours of safety, she simply closed her eyes and let exhaustion claim her.
The dawn would come soon enough. And with it, transformation.