The Third Step: Chapter Seventy-Four

Naturally, I was immediately tempted to go into Dusk’s realm and look over the paper that had been passed to me, but that was simply untenable for now. The Storm King had eyes everywhere, and even if he hadn’t been watching, and if the privacy technique and near-instant pass had been enough to hide a single sheet of paper – something I was not entirely certain on – exposing it now by rushing into Dusk’s realm would be foolish. I continued to wander around the town for some time, and actually found several sword mages, but none of them were Dario’s friend. Partner? I didn’t know what their relationship was. For lunch, I bought a bowl of noodles, spiced with a truly incredible amount of a tiny red pepper, and after finishing it, I returned to the room. It was only then that I stepped into Dusk’s realm, and lifted the paper. 

It was a simple diagram, containing a sketch of a spark of lightning, with a description of it. The Loyalty-Spark. The same thing that had tortured Ikki when he’d told me not to accept the Storm King’s deal. The paper was light on the actual operation, in part because even it admitted that the Wandering Folk had effectively no idea how it worked. It did go on to describe how various Occultists, including all of the ones currently serving as a part of Greater Daocheng, had been forced to flee the Storm King’s lands, die, or take one. It described how Ikki, the Windrider, the Stormhorn, and the River Lord were all dancing to his tune. 

I didn’t know who the Wandering Folk were, but I did recognize their symbol as one that I’d seen. Only briefly, and if not for the Timemind, I might not have even remembered it. But Keerthana, the healer in the territory of the Sekhem Court, had a letter with the same spidery sigil on the corner. The fact that they were baking her, combined with the fact that they were trying to distribute information on the Loyalty-Sparks, bought them enough good graces for me to not immediately turn them in. But while I had some faith they were doing the right thing, I wasn’t sure I agreed with the organization’s conclusion that the Occultists were little more than puppets for the Storm King. Ikki had been able to push back the effects, if only for a while, and Orykson seemed to think he could have gotten rid of it long ago. Surely a sky dragon and wind mage could do the same. 

Regardless, I was sure that even if I already knew most everything on the paper, that the information wasn’t known by most. That guy, Chen Liyu, had seen me sparing a group of people who attacked me, and made the choice to give this to me. Was he trying to put me in touch with the Wandering Folk? Or, given he’d mentioned the sword mage girl who was from Feng Chui, maybe he wanted to put her in contact with them, and was using me as a runner? Either way, it seemed like he’d taken a risk to step in and share this. 

When I teleported over to Meadow, who was currently sitting around in the field of flowers, and asked her about the organization, she just shrugged. 

“The Wandering Folk is a mail organization that operates out of Tianzhu. That’s all there is to them, officially. There are no official links between them and any of the rebellious organizations. For the right price, they ferry mail anywhere, from anyone, to anyone.” 

“Right…” I agreed. It was clear Meadow was unwilling to talk about the secretive parts of the organization, even while hidden in Dusk, and I wasn’t entirely sure why. His power didn’t reach into this world. Still, I trusted that she had her own reasons, so I spent a while training with Liz, before heading out to look for the blood guy and sword girl, but found neither. It got to the point where I almost felt like they were intentionally hiding from me, it was so ridiculous. I had searched half the town, and still had no sign of either one. 

That changed when I went to Dusk’s flying event the next day. As I showed my ticket and took my seat in the audience, I saw Dario down on the field with his little metallic mouse and gemstone goldfish. I extended my mana senses, and sure enough I locked onto the younger sibling. Right next to them was a sharp mass of desolation and life magic. I gave Dusk a quick hug, then Foxstepped over to the pair, leaving a trail of echoes in my wake, moving it every few seconds to give the illusion I was walking really fast, or at the very least my position was unknown. I was frankly just glad that I had gone in my mask, in order to support Dusk acting in the role of a tournament-sanctioned sapient familiar. 

As soon as I sat down next to the group, I extended a hand to them. 

“You’re Dario’s friend and sibling, right? It’s nice to meet you.”

The kid, who looked fourteen or fifteen, grew visibly happier at being called a sibling, rather than brother or sister, and I smiled. It had been a guess, but I’d suspected that it was correct. 

“I’m Morgan,” they said, shaking my hand. “This is Ming. She’s grumpy.” 

Ming, who did look rather grumpy, crossed her arms over her stomach and glared at the kid, before giving a much harsher glare at me. When she didn’t say anything, I retracted my hand and nodded. 

“I felt your swords. They’re not full blades, are they? Just edges and points, which is how you’re pulling off such stable forms with such an unstable mana type. It’s actually quite impressive, especially given the fact that you and Dario were cutting down eight opponents at once. Even if they were weaker than you,

“They were stronger,” Ming said. “I am mid-fourth.” 

“Were they? I suppose in a most literal sense, sure, but if my career as a mage has taught me anything, it’s that there’s power, and then there’s power. Those fighters might have had higher advancement and a lot more natural treasures and elixirs, but they’re not nearly as dangerous as you.” 

“Flattery will not work.” 

I blinked, genuinely caught off guard. I hadn’t been flattering, I’d been completely serious. 

“No, I’m serious. If I was flattering you, I’d say that you’re going to win the tournament, but I know you’re not. You’re dangerous, but I already know who I’d be putting my bet on if I were to–” 

“You only use tricks, so you would not know,” Ming said, cutting me off. “Talking about relative power levels is pointless. Skill and bladework are all that matter in the end.”

I was almost offended, but the way she said it felt… flat. There wasn’t anger, she was just stating a fact, at least as she saw it. Perhaps it was some of her being raised not too far from here, but she respected pure power. I’d only shown off tricks and weak attacks so far, so she didn’t register me as a threat. 

“Who would you bet on?” Morgan asked, apparently more willing to converse. “Ming and my brother are the strongest people I know, at least for their level. Some of the teachers at school are stronger, but they’re also way higher gate.” 

“Ivy, the Forest Dragon,” I said. “Have you developed your mana senses yet?” 

“Just a bit. They’re still fairly rudimentary, but the schools in Elohi have done a lot more to help me develop them than in the Tower-City.” 

“Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Well, if you ever got to sense Ivy, you’d know why I’m betting on him being the best in the tournament. Your friend Ming is dangerous, and so is your brother. I’d prefer to not have to fight either one of them next round. But–” 

“It begins in ten seconds.” 

I nodded, but shot Ming one glance. I wasn’t about to have a conversation with her about Loyalty-Sparks here and now, but… 

“If we fight in the tournament, and I beat you, will you hear me out and let me chat? I think you hate the wrong person. If not, we can fight in the sparring ring of the training facilities after one of us loses.” 

“Fine,” Ming agreed, inclining her head. With that more or less settled, I turned and watched the flight. I knew that Dusk had signed up for two events, a flight-based speed race, and an obstacle course one. This was the race one, and the one that Dusk was less certain about. With her mix of dozens of flying spells pulled from so many creatures, she was fast, but more importantly, she had the perfect spell for every situation in flight. It meant a straight up race was less suited to her power than the obstacle course. 

I leaned forward and looked over the competitors. Years ago Mossford had been so dominant in the flight events that their champion had very nearly been moved into the Arcanist bracket, but she’d died in some malfunction. Though I was sorry to hear someone was dead, I was frankly grateful that Dusk wouldn’t have to go after someone who was essentially on the power level of Ivy, but entirely dedicated to flying. None of these competitors really gave me anything close to that feeling. Much like in the sensory tug of war event, nearly everyone’s build was some variant of the same thing. There were wind mages and force mages, with the occasional gravity one thrown in. The leaders of the 

I only identified two who stood out, other than dusk. One person had four mana types: physical, telluric, tempest, and temporal. I could see how utilizing high-powered temporal hasting magic on the perfect flight combination would create an incredibly powerful 

The other was a bird of some kind, with a tempest-heavy blend of magic. I had no idea why she stood out as much as she did – despite her beast magic, most of the feel around her was close enough to the other fliers. 

As the announcer counted down, I felt Dusk reaching out for power. I freely allowed my mana to flow into her.

“Go!” 

The racers exploded out into the air, moving with a speed that was dizzying. The one with time magic instantly pulled into the lead, using some sort of hyper-acceleration technique, while everyone else flew forward normally, save for the bird mage, who flew upwards. Dusk was left in the dust, one of the slowest fliers, even being outshone by those who had only a single flight mana type.

“And Sai has one lap of fifty down already!” shouted the announcer. “Can anyone top Vinopae’s finest flier?!”

As they began to pull into more and more laps of the ring, Dusk’s speed continued to build. She passed the mono-mana  racers first, though everyone was still leagues behind Sai. By the time most of the dual-mana fliers on their twentieth lap, Dusk was along with them, while Sai was on his forty-first. Dusk started to push forward, but she was running into an issue. Raw power. As things were, she could match the best dual racers, but was well behind the tri-racers. 

She reached to me, and called for a spell, a spell that I hadn’t used in a long time. It was frankly a spell that I’d become somewhat afraid of, and one I wasn’t sure she should be using: Burn Future. I gritted my teeth, but passed the spell to her. She was intelligent, and could make her own choices. 

Sai landed as he completed his fiftieth lap, gloating, but I ignored him, watching Dusk. I didn’t quite understand the way she was using Burn Future, as I didn’t have a dominion of my own, but however she was using it, it worked. She caught up with the tri-mana racers on her thirty-ninth lap. By the forty-second, she was in the middle of the tri-mana pack. By forty-five, she stood a chance to crack into the top four, but she was nearing her limits. 

That was when the other racers all activated something. It seemed like a store of flight speed, meant for an emergency, and nearly every single tri-racer activated it at once, flashing forward. Dusk pulled more power from the future, but she showed more wisdom with the spell than I ever had, because she didn’t overdo it, and floated back to me, kicking her feet and sighing in disappointment.