[RSM] Interludes - From Ripples To Floods

Interlude - Titans

"Do you know what this is about?" Nord Truehaven asked his fellow branch leader, Karen Earthant. They were both peers in the eighth realm, and fellow members of the Titans. 

The fact that they were summoned to the Titan Peaks were clues, but there was an air of tension they rarely felt. The Sect Master's aura could be felt for miles all round, and even as he tried his best to hold it in, his emotional state could be felt even in the waiting rooms down below.

"Something about the oracles, if my sources are right." 

"Well." Nord Truehaven turned and saw two attendants open the door.  

"Branch Leaders and Family Heads, please, enter the chamber. The Sect Master and the Oracle are ready."

Nord Truehaven entered the Chamber of the Thousand Stars. It was a circular room with a round stage at the center. There were seating areas around the side, and it seemed unusually packed. Most of Nord Truehaven's own family leaders were also among the crowd. 

It was a ridiculous concentration of power, there was likely enough strength within the room to conquer an entire continent and bulldoze through multiple smaller sects. Even the challenger sects would not be able to put up much of a resistance. 

The current Sect Master, Zore Yarblood, stood on the stage as everyone took their assigned seats. Nord briefly felt for the poor attendants tasked with the unenviable task of arranging how the various family heads and branch leaders were seated. 

Interestingly, standing beside Zore Yarblood was one of the greatest diviners of the Ancient Titans, and an actual recluse. A haggard old man who mastered the ten great divinations of the Ancient Titans. For him to emerge from his long seclusion, Nord briefly wondered what terror the world would soon face. 

He brought a gigantic golden pan, and on it was hundreds, if not thousands of tiny carvings. If Nord remembered correctly, that should be the [Golden Oracular Pan], a seemingly simple object, but used by the old diviners to foretell the coming of great calamities.

"Well, something is seriously up." Karen Earthant whispered. 

Sect Master Zore Yareblood stood at the center, and then declared. "Sit, everyone. Lord Muhsa Huan has something to show us all."

The Ancient Titans were home to a large divination faction, and Nord quickly observed the various diviners within the audience. They were all in a state of utmost focus. It was rare for Muhsa Huan, one of the ancient diviners who bore the true Huan name, before the Huan family had their minor split around forty thousand years ago into the Southern Huan, Central Huan, and Northern Huan. 

The old man retrieved a big bundle of strings and poured them into the pan, and then began to add purified dew. The golden pan began to hum, and the humming turned the world out. 

Silence. 

In the room, there was the pan, and then there were the motions of the world. The strings began to swirl, and rise. 

But at the heart of it all, was a single, thick, golden string. It rose faster than the others, and everyone who laid eyes on that string felt as if they were staring at a dragon rising into the heavens. 

There were other strings that soon tangled with that golden string, and they began to burn. It was as if there were battles. More battles. Multiple dark strands emerged from the ground, three black, and two red. They too burned as they tangled with the golden string. 

Nord Truehaven briefly understood, at least from the reading, that string-divinations were often meant to track and record the changing of the times. The rise and fall of epochs and dynasties. But it also could be used to tackle the life and death of people. 

Strings of many colors floated up, and they danced in the air. 

The Golden Oracular Pan's hum removed the disturbance of the world around them, and only permitted the heaven's memory to affect the strings. The dance played on, and new golden strings emerged. Many smaller ones. They were thin at first, so thin it was almost hard to see, but as time passed, they grew fatter and thicker. 

That main golden string at the heart of the floating strings burned, and even as it rose, it seemed as if the fires consumed it faster than it rose. 

Then, just as when it looked as if the fires were about to consume the golden string, the fire itself seemed to retreat, and strings reemerged as if the fires had somehow reversed.

"The fates have changed." Muhsa Huan declared. "The war for the throne will be delayed."

There were some whispers amongst the crowd, as they digested the implications. 

But it was the ancestors who had the more pressing question. One of the Great Ancestors of the Yarblood stood, her fists slammed the table. "Impossible! The Golden Dragon's price is immutable!"

Zore Yarblood stepped forth. "Ancestors, patience. Lord Muhsa has some theories. I believe he should begin with the most outlandish of them all."

The flying strings began to sink, and then their focus was drawn to a single green and red pair of strings. 

Wait. Nord thought to himself. As Nord focused, it wasn't two strings, but one. It was looped. It changed colors at the lowest part of the string, where the strings emerged from the waters of the Golden Pan. 

"Someone close to the Imperial family traveled back in time." Lord Muhsa Huan declared. 

The rowdy room, filled with gossip and speculation, now turned absolutely silent. 

The hum of the Golden Oracular Pan filled the hall. 

"The looped string can be interpreted in many ways. Time travel, regression, spiritual possession of another body, or even, just a soul living two different lives at the same time." Lord Muhsa Huan answered. "If there is a time traveler amongst us, they must have encountered the work of the Master of the Temporal Warp."

"Could just be a coincidence." Another ancestor said. 

"No one stumbles on the Temporal Warp's objects by sheer accident!" The ancestor of the Truehaven objected. "So many of the greats have tried to trace the Temporal Warp's work! Are you saying luck got ahead of so many of us?"

"Yes." 

Everyone else listened, their lips closed and their ears as wide as they could be. Discussions on  the temporal arts are said to be only known to the Ancestors and their council of peers. 

After all, who didn't want to turn back time? Who didn't have a lifetime of mistakes to fix?

"It is also a result that is most worrying." Lord Muhsa Huan interrupted. "If there is a time traveler, we can no longer rely on the Grand Prediction for our planning. Everything in there will be affected and fluid." 

The Grand Prediction, a project by the Ancient Titans to chart the next ten thousand years of the world, and position the Ancient Titans as first amongst the Great Sects. It was a development plan that covered all areas, where the Ancient Titan should invest in, what areas and where should the Ancient Titans develop, where are the great talents and what they should do to find them, and all that stuff.

It was the kind of long term planning that made the Ancient Titans a powerful, resilient feature of their world. 

An ambitious plan, and in Nord's view, a little too ambitious, especially on the divination parts. Predicting future events has always been a matter of great judgement, even with all their various methods of divination. 

Certainly anything of an oracular nature cannot be anything more than a guide. Men and women are not slaves to their heavenly signs and the patterns of heaven. 

If anything, was this Lord Muhsa Huan's attempt at changing their Sect's plans?

"What are some other interpretations?" Ancestor Jaifar of the Southern Huan asked. 

"The shifting colors does seem to suggest a change in approach, but as we can see here, the green line is still mixed with red, and for now, still growing." Lord Muhsa approached the floating strings, and pointed at it. "Perhaps, we are dealing with a soul that found a change of heart."

Nord Truehaven suddenly thought of Tundra Fox. It was one of those moments when things just aligned in a way that seemed too unlikely to be a coincidence, and he felt strongly enough that he took out a notebook and wrote his name.

He should check on his niece.

Interlude - Ember

Ember Talons sat in her hall, and meditated. Cultivated. Despite her position as the Sect Master of the Flaming Phoenix, she was, unsurprisingly, not the strongest.

Every Great Sect sequestered some ancestors away, and hid them for emergencies. Every Great Sect would seal up some of their old masters, and Ember Talons herself expected that she too, would one day be sealed up.

She sat, and felt it again.

An annoying vision. 

Her master. Burning. Corrupted. 

She was fighting her. Her master was stronger, and yet weaker. Why?

Why was the Eye of the Phoenix giving her visions about her master? She stirred, and for once, decided it was enough. As a tenth realm, moving large distances across the Flaming Phoenix's vast holdings was nothing more than a flick of a finger.

She landed at the entrance to a massive mountain chamber, and a woman was there to receive her. Elder Raiyen Wan, 9th realm, and Guardian of the Tomb. 

The Tomb of the Phoenixes. It is where all the past eighteen sect masters of the Flaming Phoenix, and also the Great Ancestors were all buried, or in some cases, sealed. Many were actual corpses, but more than one was still alive when they were sealed within the tombs. Some, as secret guardians and protectors, the very act of burial slows the decay of time.

"Sect Master. I was not expecting you." The Elder stood, her sleeves swayed, her axes ready, and somehow, almost looked like she was prepared for a fight. There were two spiritual guardians, sealed within the two statues of silver phoenixes, and they too, were prepared to act. 

"I was not expecting to be here, myself, Elder Wan." Ember said, and relaxed herself. She hoped not to fight her own Elder, but in the Great Sects, Sect Masters are diplomats who herded the various factions of the Sect to act as a whole. Well, with the exception of Patriarch Whitedragon, of course. As such, most Sect Masters of the Great Sects are not dictators. "Is entry not permitted?"

"It is. But for the right reason. Why are you here, Sect Master?"

"I wish to see the Tomb of my Master." 

Fury Blackfurnace. A woman who was appointed to the role of Sect Master, and despite all the expectations, failed to ascend to the tenth realm. It was forever a scar on her reputation, and for that reason, on the agreement of the various Great Elders and Ancestors, her master passed her position to her disciple, Ember Talons. 

It must have grated her master so that her own disciple succeeded where she failed. 

It must have felt like an insult. 

Ember didn't know why she had these thoughts. These visions. She looked at Elder Raiyen Wan, and the two women exchanged glances. 

"You have something in your heart. A doubt you wish to quell?"

"I am afraid so. The [Eye of the Phoenix] rarely delivers its visions, but these days they are unusually active. It sends me something concerning, and for that reason, I must see it." 

Ever since that day when she met that alchemist from a middling sect, her Eye almost felt as if it grasped something. It caught a thread. A tale that baffled her. She saw those visions and felt as if she lived through them.

Elder Raiyen Wan bowed. "Guardians, secure the door. I shall escort Sect Master Talons to the tomb."

The chambers led the two elders deep through ancient pathways that were rarely visited. Even Ember herself had not visited these tombs for the last few hundred years. Though there were multiple high quality protective formations, natural critters and insects were unusually resilient and found ways to make small nests around the edges. 

"When was someone last here?" Ember asked.

"Your last visit was 435 years ago. No one else has visited these tombs since, though I have had to deal with more than one overconfident grave robber." 

"I have not heard of it."

"I dealt with the matter, there was nothing else I needed to report." Elder Wan answered.

"I see." The branching paths went on, and there were many defensive formations and artifacts. But they didn't activate when they detected the presence of Ember Talons's Seal of the Phoenix. 

Eventually, the tunnels ended, and deep underground, they arrived at what could be best described as a mountain, within a cavern, located beneath a mountain. It was a massive structure only sects like the Flaming Phoenix could ever attempt to build. 

"The Tomb of Fury Blackfurnace. 18th Sect master of the Flaming Phoenix." Elder Raiyen Wan declared.

Ember Talons approached the mountain, and walked up a set of stairs, then into a small shrine. A shrine that led to the actual tomb of her master. 

"Why has the Eye of the Phoenix sent me visions?" She asked, as she looked at the Sculpted Bone Coffin that held her master's corpse. It was a massive coffin that could be best described as a small home for the dead. 

Elder Raiyen Wan sighed. "In honesty, your master's death was always a little... unusual." 

"Every Sect Master's death has been unusual." Ember Talons countered. Those in the tenth realm never died in their sleep. It was always some unfortunate alignment of coincidences. Her master died in a battle with the multiple top tier demonic cultivators. After all, her master was in the ninth realm, and there were demonic cultivators who could briefly touch the tenth realm. 

Back then, Ember thought it was how her master chose to redeem her reputation. Through glorious sacrifice and battle against the demonic cultivators. 

She looked at the coffin, and felt nothing unusual. Then, as she stepped away, her eyes glowed once more. Red. Yellow. Blue. Three flames swirled in her eyes, and they rotated around her iris. 

A vision.

Her master, a mutant. Surrounded by bugs and tentacles. Worms. Tenth realm. Battles. That alchemist from the small sect was there as well. 

She stopped, and looked back at the coffin. She began to walk the perimeter, and this time, she studied the tomb with the full extent of her senses. She checked the sides. The top. 

Then, she checked the bottom. She touched the ground, and felt some parts were unusually hollow. 

Her palms pointed downwards, and a burst of golden flames burned through the ground. The hollowed parts collapsed, and revealed a small tunnel. Small enough for a single person to crawl through. 

Elder Raiyen Wan's expression turned frightening. "Impossible. Someone has infiltrated the Tombs?" 

Ember Talons checked the secret tunnels, and there were strange excretions in them. "Elder Raiyen Wan, what is the punishment for opening a tomb?"

"At the minimum, a hundred years of seclusion within the Frozen Fire Realm." 

"Even if it is for just cause?"

"That is a matter for the Ancestors to decide." 

Ember Talons closed her eyes, and for a split second, deliberated the matter. "Then I must apologize in advance."

Her body turned golden, as fires raged.

Two bright white jets of fire turned into cutting blades, and she cut directly into the Sculpted Bone Coffin. She made a giant hole. 

Then, bugs exploded outwards. Hundreds of thousands of small parasites and bugs exploded out of that hole. 

"Ridiculous." Ember Talons declared, as the entire mountain began to melt. The bugs burned without any ability to resist. In a blink, what was a swarm of small parasites and bugs melted into ash, and she entered the Coffin of her master. There were stronger bugs in there, but they were no match for a tenth realm cultivator. Her white flames turned them into dust. 

Raiyen Wan followed closely behind, protected by a fiery shield of her own. 

With the bugs destroyed, what was left was the body of her Sect Master. Her naked body was covered with bite marks and scars. Places where the bugs bit her. 

They approached cautiously, and from afar to mere mortals, it looked as if she was still dead. Her skin was a pale grey, the texture of her flesh still looked like that of a dead woman.

Yet, as they were only three steps away, Ember felt it. 

They both could feel the faint life within her master. "Master, you are alive?"

Raiyen Wan looked just as baffled. "Impossible. The Grand Elders confirmed her death." 

Ember immediately leapt forward and reached into her spatial treasure ring, and retrieved a bevy of healing and restoration pills. If she was really dead, the pills would not work.

But the moment the first tenth realm [Heavenly Restoration Elixir] touched her master's corpse-like lips, a surge of life and energy spread through her master's body.

Her master was alive. Ember looked at Elder Raiyen Wan, and in her mind, there were thousands of questions.

"Elder Raiyen Wan. I ask that you keep this a matter of utmost secrecy."

The elder was wise enough to know why. Someone has faked her master's death, and attempted to use some kind of bug-like parasites to either corrupt her master, or consume her master's flesh. There was always scheming amongst factions, but this was outright betrayal. Traitors and those who sought to harm a former Sect Master was an enemy of the entire sect. 

Ember Talons burned with fury. It seems that she has a house to clean.

[ AN : writing been slow. So here's two interludes. Sometimes, things change just for the smallest of reasons. Like just meeting each other for a bit. we'll be back to Tundra next chapter]