I poked at the fire with a coal-blackened stick, staring into the flames as if they might show me the way home. The Prime Elixir still hummed in my solar pyre sunlit veins, but strength without direction was nothing. I had people scattered across the continent, people who depended on me.
I suddenly felt very home sick. Marla. Faeluxe. My clan. My hand clenched. In haste I had ordered their retreat to the cavernous sanctum beneath the mountain range, but the continent was in chaos. Orders, no matter how stern, did not guarantee safety. Something buzzed within me; I had to find them. They could be fighting for their lives at this very moment, for all I knew. That settled it for me.
"I need eyes," Felicity, stand guard. I'm going to try and find out where we are. I'm going to look for home.
"As you command my Lord" Felicity chirped back cheerfully, still giddy from the Prime Elixir.
I muttered, pressing my fingers together in a seal. "Spirit-Man Projection… rise."
My soul bled from my body, I stood up out of my flesh in Spirit-man form. I looked to the heavens and shoot up in a blaze of translucent flame. The night parted as my astral form rose above the clouds, colossal and luminous, the stars themselves paling before my glow.
Felicity looked up from her post, she smirked but said nothing more, simply letting the flames wash over her.
I rose higher, higher still, until the continent lay beneath me like a living map. My consciousness stretched—farther than ever before. I commanded Sixteen thousand miles of reach, which previously was only eight thousand. I focused, combing through the endless ocean of qi signatures. I focused my memory and comprehension on one signature in particular, a seething green animus flame of a practitioner of the wicked path.
One spark called to me. A familiar thread of green, serpentine and sharp—the animus of Marla, her wicked-path aura distinctive as venom in the bloodstream.
"There you are," I whispered. My Spirit-Man lurched southwest, a streak of flame tearing across the heavens.
Within heartbeats I had found them.
A mountain riddled with glowing wards and shattered boulders. The cavern mouth where my clan was hidden burned with combat qi. Hammerhead's oceanic fists smashed foes into powder. Faeluxe wove through the chaos with fae light, her strikes graceful, deadly. And Marla—ah, Marla—stood at the heart of it all, green animus flaring as her wicked techniques carved bloody rent after rent into the attackers.
But there were too many. Clans marked by Freyjita's influence, bearing twisted banners and hungry eyes, circled the mountain like wolves. Explosions tore chunks from the slopes. The sanctum's wards shuddered under each blow.
My astral jaw clenched. I descended, a titan of spirit-fire blazing across the night, allowing myself to be seen by all. My Spirit-Man loomed above the battlefield, visible for miles, eyes like twin stars.
The invaders faltered, blades dropping, shouts breaking into chaos.
"—It's him! It's Ash Embercoil!"
The cry rang through friend and foe alike.
Marla looked up, sweat streaking her face, lips parting. For the first time in days, joy pierced her fury. "ASH!"
Her heart soared, her Animus blooming brighter, her will reinvigorated.
My astral hand rose, a thousand luminous glyphs spiraling around my palm the technique greatly enhanced and magnified by my inheritance training. My voice thundered across the battlefield, rolling like a storm.
"THOUSAND LORDS SPIRIT PALM!!!"
The heavens ruptured. Thousands of golden Spirit Palms cascaded like meteors, each a divine verdict smashing into ridges and slopes. Avalanches roared down the mountainside. Trees snapped like matchsticks, boulders split asunder, and the air itself seemed to shatter under the weight of spirit-fire.
Marla's Animus flared to a crescendo. Nine spectral hydra heads erupted from her back, maws spewing viridian flame that seared enemy qi and melted wards in an instant. Her serpents atop her head coiled, eyes glowing sickly green—warriors froze mid-strike, petrified in terror, their bodies stiff as stone.
Faeluxe moved like a comet of fae light, weaving between Marla's petrifying serpents with flawless immunity, shattering statues before they could trap allies. Her ever-pure ribbon shimmered against the dark, untouchable and radiant.
And then came Hammerhead. His sharkish jaw opened wide, and a tsunami erupted from his gullet, water drawn from the depths of his dantian. The flood swept across the mountain, swallowing stone statues, crushing foes, and carving new ravines where the earth itself had held firm. Half the mountainside gave way under the torrent.
The armies of Freyjita's thralls broke. Screams turned to silence beneath the torrent, fire, and relentless Spirit Palms. Even seasoned warriors fled, leaving the battlefield a churning panorama of death, water, and flame.
Above it all, I loomed. A colossus of translucent flame, spirit-fire blazing, palms still raining judgment. The battlefield trembled beneath my presence.
"TREMBLE BEFORE ME!" My voice rolled like a storm across the valleys and cliffs.
Amid the chaos, one voice dared to rise—a voice like rolling thunder, centuries of cultivation behind every word. The grand elder of Clan Raging Bull, silver hair plastered with spray, qi blazing despite fear, forced himself into the air above the battlefield. His tattered robe bore the clan crest, faint but unmistakable.
"ENOUGH!" His qi surged, rippling through floodwaters and scorching the slopes. "All forces of Clan Raging Bull—RETREAT! This battle is lost!"
The order cracked across the valley like a war drum. Wolves of men and women, who had fought like demons moments ago, faltered, then fled. Rival clans, seeing their formation collapse, followed suit, scattering wherever gaps appeared in the golden storm.
Marla's hydras snapped at fleeing warriors, Faeluxe's fae light seared silhouettes into oblivion, and Hammerhead's tidal wave swept hundreds away. The core of the enemy shattered; the retreat was absolute.
I hovered above the wreckage, watching them scatter. Smoke, water, and shattered stone coated the slopes. The mountain itself groaned, fissures cracking the earth under the relentless assault. Trees were splintered, rivers redirected, and the night sky burned with the afterglow of fury.
"This was mercy," I said, voice low, almost intimate despite its echo across the continent. "Next time, there will be no quarter. Send Lord Imperion my regards."
The battlefield lay in ruin. Fires still danced in the crevices, mist and frost coiled among broken stone. Marla, Faeluxe, and Hammerhead regrouped at the cavern mouth, eyes wide, hearts racing—but for the first time in days, they smiled. Victory, for now, was ours.
I descended from the heavens, my Spirit-Man flame solidifying with the resonance of my inheritance training. Each step I took in the air felt like pressing down on the world itself. Even I couldn't suppress a brief hitch in my breath at how… real my projection had become.
Marla's eyes widened the instant she saw me, green Animus flaring brighter than ever. Without thinking, she rushed forward, launching herself into my astral arms. Her grip was fierce, almost desperate.
I froze mid-descent. Even my Spirit-Man body, after training with the firefly king was now practically solid. I shuddered under Marlas impact.
"Marla!" I gasped, astonished at the intensity of the hug.
Her face pressed into my chest, hot tears streaking through the grime of battle. "I—I didn't think I would see you for ten years! What happened?! How… how are you out of the inheritance so soon?!"
I felt the weight of her relief, the desperation of months spent fearing the worst. I patted her back, steadying both of us.
"It's okay," I said softly, letting the warmth of my voice cut through the residual tension. "I'm here to lead this fight. The Firefly King let me take my inheritance with me. It's… it's okay now."
Her shoulders trembled, but a shaky smile broke through her tears. She lifted her head, searching my face. "You… really came back."
"Yes," I said, letting the solid weight of my Spirit-Man self settle around her like a shield. "And I won't leave again—not while there's still a fight to win."
Faeluxe and Hammerhead watched from a few paces back, both wide-eyed at the sheer size and presence of my Spirit-Man projection. Even they hadn't expected such a tangible, commanding manifestation. But the reunion had more than enough gravity to hold their attention; the battlefield could wait for this moment.
Marla finally pulled back, still clutching my arm, her green Animus flickering in quiet awe. "Then… let's finish this," she whispered, determination returning to her gaze.
I nodded, letting my hands fall to my sides. "We finish it together."
I turned from Marla's embrace, my Spirit-Man gaze sweeping across the battlefield wreckage until it landed on Faeluxe. She was catching her breath, fae ribbon still glowing faintly, shards of stone and water shimmering off her like she'd just stepped out of another realm.
I lifted a hand and waved. "Faeluxe."
Her eyes flickered, and she strode closer, head bowed in reverence.
"Summon the Starbite, Set sail for my current position. I need you here."
I looked to the crowd of weary clanmates gathered at the cavern mouth. "Parchment."
One of them, hands still trembling from battle, scrambled forward and held out a crumpled sheet. I took it in my Spirit-Man's fingers, the astral flame curling around it without burning it to cinder. A moment later, I pressed two fingers against the parchment, channeling my kingly intent. My intent seared a map into its surface, carving rivers, coastlines, and mountain lines with perfect precision. When I finished, a blazing rune marked my current position.
I handed it back to Faeluxe. "This is where you'll find me."
Faeluxe's expression flickered—equal parts pride and worry. Her Ever-Pure Ribbon stirred in a wind that wasn't there, her teal eyes glowing faintly.
She bowed her head slightly. "As you command, Master. But… you are far. Quite far. Even the Starbite will take time to reach you."
My gaze shifted briefly to Marla, who stood nearby, her Animus simmering in seething green spirals. I pointed toward her, my tone sharpening.
"Her Animus is unlike any I've ever seen. Distinct. Violent. Impossible to mistake. I can use it as a beacon. No matter what storms you sail through, I'll find you."
The air thrummed as Faeluxe lifted her palm, teal light dancing like a candle of the deep. Far above, faint motes of starlight bent, as if answering her call.
"The Starbite hears me already," she whispered. "She always does."
My jaw tightened, eyes rising skyward as if I could see beyond the roof of the world. The memory of the Starbite's descent—the phoenix-wood sails catching sunfire, her gilded hull spitting mist and storm aside—flared in my mind. Soon, her shadow would fall again, cutting across cloud and sea like destiny itself answering the summons.