Wraith.

  Dar Luso stood at the window of the forges' apartments.

  Riu had come out moments earlier and packed up all her personal effects, as the Bloom people were moving into the lower floors of the residence meant for the children born within the Bloom.

  They had working facilities that Andrew and Shepard, along with all of Ironwood's engineering experts, checked and rechecked where people would rest.

  Teams would move into a residence, wearing masks and protective robes, and ensure that no one who had been missed was hiding or deceased.

  The nightmare was that a child would run in and find a body long dead.

  The nature of the Bloom, which Matron did not explain in detail, meant there were closets full of clothes.

  Personal effects and memories.

  Jianrong had claimed a large structure for herself—not asked, demanded.

  No one questioned it.

  She was considered the last Cat-kin, as she had adopted them as her people when she had cut her hand and swore it in front of the tomb of children that had been cut down.

  If she wanted to preserve her people's history in a house large enough to hold it all, that was her right.

  Her burden.

  Her memorial.

  Matron Bright said nothing, but on the map, she held for herself, Rong's residence was designated a historical site of utmost importance.

  At the moment, Jianrong was surrounded by silence and family.

  Na was on one side, Elaren on the other.

  Ai lay across their laps, already accepting that the people in the room were hers.

  Shen was sitting with other children, looking at books other cat-kin children had once looked at.

  All around the room, rough, powerful women watched Jianrong grieve for the person she had cared about deeply, who had violated her because he saw her as a resource, not a person.

  Sulara sat nearby, hollow-eyed and pale.

  Finally, Taleth spoke. “What is the plan?”

  Rosha and Mira nodded.

  Shen Vey sat at Rong's feet and rested her head on her knee. “They will narrow down quickly who was and was not there. When you leave the Palace, they will have tracked your final destination by nightfall. With the Array up, that means martial law, roadblocks, and roving patrols.” She said calmly.

  “When we had martial law after your mother was gone, they crushed dissent with an iron fist. Your grandfather had used violence to solve a problem, and they had to use greater violence to rein in what they had created.” Matron Bao Yu explained to everyone.

  Rong cleared her throat, not to get attention but to clear away the knot. “Where are we on food?” she asked.

  Elaren’s voice was weak but clear. “We have enough to last until Ai learns we are not pillows.” She gave a small smile, and Ai laughed.

  Her eyes found Rongs, then she kissed her. “We have food, the issue is water, they are trying to find the reservoir in the bloom, then figure out how to fill it.

  Shen Vey tensed, then spoke carefully. "Matron Bright has revealed sleeping quarters—stasis chambers. When you enter, time slows. Almost stops." She met Jianrong's eyes. "Those who sleep there can access Bloom's systems. Learn from the ancient Cat-kin who built this place. Understand how to make it fully functional."

  "But?" Rong's voice was quiet.

  "But we don't know how long it takes. It could be days outside. Could be weeks." Shen Vey admitted.

  A sharp pain lanced through Jianrong's heart. Shen Vey saw it and smiled—sad, warm, determined.

  "Someone has to learn. And I want to understand this place. Help build something real." She squeezed Rong's knee. "I'll come back. Just... not right away."

  Rong wanted to cry. Shen was finally with them, but now she might be leaving.

  Shen Vey watched her, fearing she might see her leaving as acceptable for gaining what she saw was someone she cared about, becoming distraught at her absence.

  “There is more…but we will talk in private,” Shen said, to which Rong clutched at her hand and nodded.

  Mira spoke up. “We will need to start over, that means seed, tools, supplies.”

  Rong looked at Rosha, who gave a grin.

  “You're gonna run around anyway, right? Why not take everything we need? This place is a tomb; they just don’t know it yet.” Rosha said with a laugh.

  Rong nodded.

  Then she looked at Sulara. “I don’t understand the orders, sects like Gilded and Serpent are predominantly female.”

  Sulara looked up, the light coming back to her eyes as she thought it through.

  “If I ventured to guess, the woman’s social position has dropped; this will be catastrophic for both sects, though, as it guarantees they slowly die,” Sulara admitted.

  Rong looked around. “Am I the only one surprised they did this?” She asked because everyone was taking it in stride.

  Matron He Yun spoke up, her face lacking emotion, as if this was something she was used to.

  “Rong’er, this…this happens from time to time.” She said gently.

  “This happens time to time.” She repeated the words, chewed on them, and found they tasted like ash in her mouth.

  “I see…I am seeing a lot. I ask permission from my loved ones to step out and look around for some supplies.” Jianrong said…this was her core. She respected and loved these people. Not all were her lovers, but all had cared for her, sampled her, and given blood or been in pain for her.

  This was not Ning Ya; these were not fair-weather friends.

  Everyone in this room would kill or be killed for the other.

  Some bore Ling or Rou’s mark.

  “I am asking.” Rong thought about her words, then let out a slow breath. “I am asking that you do not hold what I am about to do against me.”

  As the sun set on the first day of chaos, the city was alive with violence.

  Fires burned.

  People shouted in anger or screamed fear.

  Families fled, only to find the way barred and enforced with legalized violence.

  Jianrong met with Shen Vey in the stasis chamber.

  Shen showed her how it worked, explained what she would be doing—learning the Bloom's systems, becoming part of its memory.

  Then in the cool darkness, they kissed gently, deliberately.

  “I don’t want you to leave.” Rong choked out.

  Shen Vey curled around her, “Silly boy…I am here, inside you. You cannot lose me.”

  Rong wiped her tears away and smiled, then felt Matron Bright's presence.

  Jianrong bowed low.

  “Child enough, we are family.” Matron smiled.

  Rong smiled. “We still kneel to our mother. You may be family, but you have my respect and gratitude.”

  Matron glanced at Shen Vey, who also bowed low.

  “People don’t generally treat treasure spirits with such respect,” Matron said lightly.

  “Fuck those people,” Rong said simply.

  Matron laughed lightly, her eyes sparkling as her fingers touched Jianrong's lips, “Don’t be vulgar, child, you now represent our people.”

  Rong sighed, then nodded. “I will try; there are a lot of people who test my patience.”

  Shen Vey giggled, and Matron simply nodded.

  Shen moved to the bed and lay down.

  Rong kissed her one last time, and the wall folded around it, then it moved inward until nothing was showing that it had ever been there.

  Rong turned to Matron, who took her arm.

  “She is safe, she will slowly integrate with the system. Give it time.” Matron Bright guided the young woman out and sealed the room, then the structure.

  "How many people..." Rong's voice cracked. "How many can do this? How many will you need?"

  Matron stopped walking, turned to face her fully. "The stasis chambers can house a few hundred." Rong's breath caught. Her vision narrowed.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  A few hundred.

  Not just Shen Vey.

  Hundreds of people, disappearing into walls.

  Learning. Sleeping.

  Gone.

  "Child." Matron's hand touched her face. "They're not dying. They're learning. And they WANT to do this."

  She took Rong’s hand. “Serel and other Academics want to look, some…well, some have asked what it would be like to stay inside, with me here in the Bloom.”

  Rong stepped back, her eyes red. She didn’t have words, only feelings that were making her feel as if she were drowning.

  “But,” Matron smirked.

  “But?” Rong croaked.

  “You will be able to communicate with them. You will need to learn how to make more…most were destroyed, but this was used during the commissioning and construction of the Bloom.

  Matron held out a simple silver bracelet, then she slid it over Rong's arm and began to shrink. Then it turned translucent and faded.

  Rong stared, then looked at Matron when she could no longer feel it; her hand touched where it had been.

  “Wut?!” she sputtered.

  “It's there, it's just out of phase,” Matron explained. Then, as she began to fade, her voice entered Jianrong's mind.

  “When Shen Vey is integrated, she will be able to speak with you here, and your thoughts will be open to her. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No. " What is one more person seeing me for who I really am?” she thought back.

  “Good, I thought so. Go, help how you must, but remain safe.”

  Jianrong had been permitted to go out and secure what was needed. No one talked about what she would do to make it happen.

  Two people would accompany her. Erin and Taleth, both dressed like Petals—dark, form-fitting, silent, and built for stealth.

  Rong watched as Erin tied her hair up, then helped her with her mask.

  Taleth watched the two and smirked, then flushed when both women helped her in the same way.

  Sulara and Elaren stood before them, then Nadia spoke from the side.

  “Be patient, don’t rush, and minimize the risk.” She commanded.

  Serel spoke softly while Sulara and Elaren guided Taleth.

  Lin Su stepped forward with Pleasant in her arms and bowed her head to Rong, who mimicked her.

  “This one gives thanks to the light in the sky; Di Jun may his wisdom guide my sisters. May Ruo Xinyi, goddess of want, conceal you from our enemies. Praise be to Li Xian Ling, Mother of Soil and Guardian of buried things, may those who transgress against her will forever disappear into darkness.” Lin Su prayed with her head pressed against Rongs as she repeated her words and gave her own thoughts.

  When it was over, Jianrong kissed her goodbye. Then, when Pleasant glared at her, she kissed him, too.

  “Take care of her, Pleasant.” She whispered with a smile.

  Compared to the two women who could disappear if they remained still, Rong stood out.

  Her blood red armor made her look bulky, but it was her large bow that stuck out with her quiver of arrows.

  Then they were gone from the Bloom, and some watched what would come while others finally rested.

  Dar Luso turned to the three behind him.

  He had tears in his eyes when he leaned forward and spoke to Rong.

  “I have on this single street already seen things that will weigh on me for a long time. Be careful, sister, but also…show no mercy!” he said it while clenching his teeth in rage.

  Rong took his hand in hers, their grips tightened.

  Then he disappeared into the Bloom.

  “Brother, for those that transgress, I have no mercy to offer.” She swore.

  She let the moment pass, cleared her mind, then spoke. “

  You two know where we are going, so go at your own pace; both of you have spatial rings. I will cover you if need be and fall back on you to retreat.

  The trio moved to the roof to gain their bearings, then Taleth led them with her movement art.

  Erin was her shadow, her art more akin to slipping in and out of shadow.

  Meanwhile, Rong used her legs and power to follow, air periodically propelling her over gaps too wide to leap without crushing the roof beneath her.

  When the two stopped, Rong fell near them, air cushioning and silence.

  Erin pointed down, and Rong let her ears focus; distant voices became sharp.

  Someone beating another and talking, threatening.

  Then a child screamed.

  Jianrong's eyes snapped downward.

  Everything else disappeared.

  Just that sound. Terror. Pain. Helplessness.

  She moved to the side of the roof's center beam, notching the arrow that was built for this bow, seven hundred kilograms of draw, a bow string of woven divine thread.

  Her Spirit Sense pierced through the second floor to the first, where a man with Qi was holding a smaller life form.

  Jianrong’s eyes closed, her ears adjusted, and her breath eased out and wrapped around her arrow, with a light green radiance.

  “Go,” she breathed.

  The bolt disappeared as the cams that rotated and guided the string snapped back to the resting position.

  There was no sound, no warning.

  One moment, "Team leader Lou of the Azure Mountain Sword Clan had long-standing animosity with this family. He planned to silence them under cover of chaos, looked down.

  Something was buried just above his chest near his collarbone.

  His hand came up and touched it, then he realized it was an arrow, buried past its fletching in his body.

  A sharp pain came from his hip, and for a fleeting moment, he realized the arrow was biting into his hip bone.

  The next moment, he toppled over dead.

  The man next to him turned, then looked up as something fell through the floor where the arrow had torn through.

  Jianrong’s arm moved like a machine as the next arrow was drawn back in two breaths.

  “Get some.” She murmured and let her arrow seek its resting place.

  The second Foundation Establishment Sect Disciple stumbled out of the building's door to his companions.

  Those present looked at him, surprised, as his Aura was erratic, but he had no apparent injury.

  Then he collapsed and stopped breathing.

  His friends drew their weapons in alarm and faced the two-story structure, searching for enemies.

  Then two figures landed with them and began cutting them down.

  The movement caught the attention of others down the street who were companions, including several Elders.

  The woman took flight, and several men pursued.

  Enforcement Elder Lan strode forward and knelt by the fallen man; his Spirit Sense registered only the people in the houses, some crying, some screaming over what had happened to them under the Swords sect's method of ‘correction’.

  Frowning, he did not understand how he died until he focused on the body and not the environment.

  He found a heavy ironwood arrow buried lengthwise as if…

  Elder Lans Qi's shield snapped into place as his Aura erupted when he realized the man had been shot from above.

  It didn’t matter.

  The arrow passed through his Qi shield and Aura with ease, pinning him to his companion on the ground.

  Even in pain, Lan’s Spirit Sense shot towards his attacker's direction, but then he realized they were over one hundred meters away when the next arrow shattered his spine and crushed his heart, pinning him further to the other man's body.

  Three breaths later Rong soared overhead to catch more prey.

  Taleth and Erin danced as their Jian’s deflected, their bodies dodged as they moved from roof to roof, keeping the fight fluid but close enough to discourage sword beams.

  Around them, five Core Formation warriors pursued while calling for reinforcement.

  Then one man at the rear leaped forward to engage Erin—but instead of landing near her, he flew past, vanished into the alley’s shadows, all the force of Rong’s arrow carrying him onward to the next life.

  The two masked women laughed; one sounded like silver bells that could capture your soul, the other like a rogue who laughed at funerals, making lewd jokes.

  Spirit Sense raced around as the five, now four, fought the two women whose Auras remained minimized like assassins.

  A flare went up, signaling where reinforcements were coming from.

  A shout was given as the four knew that once their companions arrived, it was over.

  Then another man stumbled forward when something hit him as if he was stabbed with a spear.

  His footwork kept him up as he turned to address the new enemy, only to realize no one was there.

  Then his companion was hit, but this time his Spirit Sense caught it, the flicker of something painfully fast.

  “ARCHER!” He shouted before being hit once more.

  By the time the reinforcements arrived, only two men remained, and their attackers had fled.

  More flares were fired off.

  By morning, every single faction had in some way or another found out about an archer killing their sect mates.

  In the Bloom, Serel bathed Erin while Taleth joked with them.

  Outside the bloom, Jianrong moved from damaged resident to abandoned house like a ghost as Energy Eater consumed her presence and fed her Soul Sea.

  Jianrong watched and listened in silence as every sect shifted from harmony to cruelty, even among its own members.

  In a single day, sects like Gilded adjusted. Men moved into positions once held by women.

  Hou Lan stood straight, her face calm, but her anger was palpable.

  Behind her, Rou Hua trembled in humiliation as both her commander and she were reduced in rank to account for ‘local customs.’

  Disciples moved through the streets like young masters, seeing someone slapped down for some false accusations became common.

  A woman you wanted to correct but couldn’t because of imperial law?

  Not anymore.

  It was a warlord’s dream, and the residents of Seldara were finding out just how little laws matter if no one was around to enforce them.

  Rong realized quickly she was in a target-rich environment.

  They would not let anyone leave; she was about to make that everyone's problem.

  Captain Wang Chen stood with his men on their training ground, chatting.

  The wall that blocked people from seeing in was three meters tall and fifty meters away.

  There was no sound, there was no Aura flare.

  A light-colored shaft, the color of the sky, pierced his chest.

  He staggered back from the force of the blow; a heartbeat later, their lives changed.

  The Qi thread vanished—and the compressed air cloaking the arrow detonated.

  The detonation was enough to vacate the man's lungs of all soft tissue, killing him mere moments after he was hit.

  There was no time frame or location requirement.

  The siblings devised a simple plan.

  All four moved from place to place; then Rong would relocate via Bloom to the sibling, while they walked somewhere else, disguised as porters or mortals.

  One grand Elder died while sipping tea at a teahouse.

  Another Elder died bickering over prices for produce that was dwindling in supply.

  The number of people dying would not shake any of the affected Sects.

  It slowly became a fact that everyone realized that going out in public, even with an escort and armor, did not mean you would return alive.

  This point was proven when one of Jiroth’s loyal general friends, a Golden Core Elite, moved about with his men, overseeing the search for Jianrong.

  One moment, he was listening to his men under an open pavilion; the next, an arrow pierced the reinforced fabric on its parabolic arc and struck the man in the head before the arrow detonated with a massive shockwave that burst the eardrum and sent the pavilion flying.

  Moments earlier.

  Jianrong adjusted her position until she faced the enemy.

  Leaning back onto the sack, she adjusted, then fed Air to the arrow, its head lengthening and smoothing into shape.

  Then she drew the string back, her Spirit Sense moved through her Qi and entered the arrow.

  Then her hand released the string, and she felt as if she were flying.

  Meanwhile, her body came to rest with its eyes closed as Shepard watched the man from a distance at a higher elevation than her.

  As the arrow raced upward, just like the Javelin she had fallen with, she guided the air to hug it tightly as its tip became ever longer and sharper.

  Once the arrow was falling, she could sense things, and with Shepard's point of view, she knew what was what.

  Using compressed air as she had with the armor, she adjusted its trajectory with micro-pulses.

  She locked onto him—then pulled her senses back. A moment later, the explosion's thump reached them.

  Rong opened her eyes and turned to Shepard, who glanced back with a grin.

  “HOHOHOMY GOD!” Rong chortled.

  She had created the world's first remote cultivator strike weapon.

  Two days later, the kingdom and the sects stopped playing around.

  Jianrong watched as two people moved through the sky, gods on earth. Nascent Souls.

  Rong recognized them both and felt annoyance.

  He knew Andy had liked Jang, not as a lover but as a Master.

  She had treated his kowtow as if it were air, which surprised everyone.

  “Cultivators…cultivating, I guess.” She said softly.

  When Yue moved over the area, and she felt his pressure and Spirit Sense, she was sweeping an empty room, her bow and armor in her storage ring.

  There was no Aura or Spirit Sense response from her in return.

  Then he was gone, and a short time later, Jang moved on to do the exact useless search through a city of over one million people.

  This went on for two days, so they devised a new plan.

  They began tracking their time and calculating when they would need to rest, then the city would come alive as they would do something, anything to raise an alarm.

  Over and over again, Yue or Jang would race out, burning Qi to catch them.

  One time, Dar set a building on fire, inside the basement. Jianrong had a ball of pure oxygen she refined, then compressed when the time came.

  The sect showed up because all civil service had been either disbanded or taken over.

  When they tried to put out the fire, the building and half the block erupted into a fireball that blew out windows and lit up the sky like a New Year's celebration.

  Witnesses had seen nothing. Aura testing showed that Jang had been there; her Qi signature lingered, so dense that people could taste it with their tongues.

  Rong figured that since Jang could sell her sibling down the river, she could make her life as hard as possible.

  The people who died after that were people cut down with a magical Great Dao sword, Jang’s Qi, and Aura on every single one of them.

  To this point, everyone knew the fox girl had no magical weapons. But now, Gilded Sect disciples were dying by and large in the majority, and Jang’s Aura was always there.

  Tianrelion, Seldara Imperial Palace.

  Sect Master Yue was watching Li Jang closely.

  “You say that the boy you took as a disciple could refine your Qi, mimic it. I have heard of such a skill but never seen it. How do you wish to proceed? I cannot prove it was you who is killing my disciples, but I also refuse to allow my forces to be thinned out.

  Li Jang frowned. She had not anticipated the lazy disciple who was funny and courteous would escape, and worse, that he was mimicking her Aura while murdering her only competition's disciples.

  If she got hold of him, she would squeeze the breath out of him for the inconvenience she was suffering.

  “What if…we were more proactive?” Jang said with a smile.

  Yue’s brow rose. “I am listening.”

  “This place is doomed. They have lost all their money and pills; without finding the child, we will not be in a situation to worry about fixing the city's problems. So…what if we empty the city, push everyone out, and have them check every single person for the Fox?” Jang offered.

  Yue blinked. “How does this help us in the larger picture?”

  Jang tilted her head as if leaning in to tell a secret. “Then we take her, and leave.”

  Yue blinked very slowly, then felt his heart shudder.

  Somehow, she had taken the entirety of the Seldara’s treasury. She herself WAS a treasure… why give either up?”

  His eyes met hers. “Tell me more.”