The Heavens Shall Fall

With spring slowly leaving behind its wetter phase and nearing the summer months, the footpaths within the sect turned dry again, while the air was filled with a sweet smell from all the blossoming trees and flowers that were blooming everywhere inside the sect's grounds. After weeks of forced rest, which mostly came from Neya, who was making sure he took all the medicine Grand Elder Yan had given him, along with carefully prepared meals. He couldn't even slink away, because he was being watched from morning to night by one of the Wardens. After two weeks... Siu had finally had enough.

Of course, he didn't lash out at anybody, but the moment the medicine pouch was empty, he announced that from the next day on, they better start treating him like he was back to top form, or he would quit the Wardens.

Naturally, they didn't want that, so the moment the following morning came, he was standing in a private training field, right behind the Spirit Wardens’ tower. Taking it easy, for now, he was only exercising his breathing, stretching his arms and legs, feeling that the previous weakness was finally leaving him. A few more days should do it, and he would indeed be back to full power. Finally, his limbs no longer trembled, and the awful hollowness that had woken him up a few times in the middle of the night was also gone.

“You are not doing anything stupid, are you?” Rinmei asked from the side of the field, standing there with a small bundle of medicine and emergency supplies sitting beside her feet. “Let me repeat that, because I know you heard me and immediately ignored half of it: You are not doing anything stupid. I know how it feels, trust me, but forcing it can only make things worse.”

“I heard you the first time.” Siu answered with a long sigh, "I know. Please believe me, this is different, I don't have it stuck in me, and I know you can sense the fact, too."

“Hopefully... But you never know.” She answered, shrugging and shaking her head, "Rushing it can worsen things."

“I'm taking it easy.” He tried again, glancing towards her with a smile.

“Please do... because it becomes a problem if you cripple yourself.”

“Understood. Didn't know you were this bossy...”

“Probably because she got healed,” Kira muttered, who arrived just then, standing near Rinmei with a folded cloth full of bandages in her hand, looking like she wanted to throw the whole thing away, but was still following Rinmei's orders. “Relax, Rinmei, he indeed looks healed. I bet you, he could go toe-to-toe with Bren again.”

“Don't encourage him, Kira,” Rinmei warned her, but she just giggled, putting the bandages down on top of Rinmei's crate of medicine.

“Just ignore them, Senior, I think you got this.” Came a third voice, and Siu glanced thankfully at Varren, who was now standing just behind the two with a jar of some kind of restorative paste tucked under one arm.

“You too?” He asked, seeing the jar, almost bursting out laughing.

"I'm with you, Senior," Varren straightened at once. “I trust your judgment. This is a... just-in-case extra.”

“Thank you.” He said in a somewhat monotone voice, when Neya had also arrived, with Arya and Marly bouncing next to her, their mouths full of their breakfast.

“Better safe than sorry.” She said gently.

“Oh come on... You too?” Siu asked, turning toward her, interrupting his breathing again to speak.

“I am always on your side,” she answered, looking up at him. “That is why I am here to make sure you don’t do something reckless.”

“You felt me the most.”

“Stop being like the twins!” She blurted out, going pink in the face, while the others simply acted as if they heard nothing, while Rinemie's face betrayed a bit of longing that quickly disappeared.

"Go for it, Master!" Arya suddenly yelled at him, hopping up and sitting on a stone post with her tail hanging over the edge, “We know it better than they do, that you are good!”

"Um," Marly added, with a small nut between her paws, nibbling along its seams. “You just didn't fill yourself up fully yet. You feel... cloggy. You need a good release!”

Strangely enough, she was right. For the past few days, Siu had indeed felt as if he was clogged, as if taking a breath was hampered by... something. Following the reemerging feeling, he pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly, but his airways were fully open and free; the feeling came from somewhere in his blood. Of course, in truth, their worry was not irritating him as much as he pretended it did, and he understood where it came from. As for the feeling that kept bothering him, he was sure a good-fashioned training session would solve it. Or at least, shine light on the issue.

“For now," He began, "I'm here to test something.”

"Which is?" They asked, and he turned towards his fox.

“Arya.”

"Are we doing it before a crowd?" Her ears twitched as he called out to her. "I don't mind it; they can watch to learn, but won't this start rumors, Master?" I'm still in a fox's body, not yet human enough.”

“I need you to dance.” He said simply, without acknowledging her quips, making her eyes flash as she already hopped onto the field, her tail indeed whipping back and forth behind her.

“Oh?” She asked, that came out like a fox's typical cackle, “Ohhh? Master wants me to dance? In front of everyone? How bold! How shameless! Finally giving in? Nyahahaha! I'm in!”

“That is not what I meant,” Siu muttered, but kept his face straight.

“It is always that, when you ask a pretty girl to dance.”

“You are a fox.” He shot back, but Arya was not backing down.

“For now.” She said with a dangerous tone, "Wait until I break through... I will be everyone's aim to woo."

“Arya. Please focus on the training part of it, okay?”

“I'm doing just that!" She nodded, sitting like a human, her front paws held up, like she was crossing them before her chest, "What kind of dance do you want, Master?” she asked, tilting her head, her mismatched eyes slightly glowing. “A cute dance? A hunting dance? A butt-swinging dance? A seductive dance? A threatening dance? A ‘look at me, I am so pretty, feed me your meat’ dance?”

“The one that produces your silver lights.” He said before she could add more nonsense to the request list.

“Roger.” She paused, thinking, “The butt-one then!”

"Hey," Kira whispered to Neya as she looked between Siu and Arya. “Do I even want to know what they are talking about?”

“No,” Rinmei answered immediately, "We do not."

By then, on the field, Arya had already begun moving. At first, it only looked like she was hopping from one place to the other, wiggling her butt like a cat before pouncing on a prey, but... as she circled Siu across the dirt, her paws were barely making a sound, and her black fur began to look more and more shiny. Then, suddenly, her tail flicked once, then twice, and from its white tip, a faint silver speck was thrown into the air behind her. Soon, tiny star-like sparks were trailing wherever her tail went, lingering in the air before fading into nothing. Turning serious, everyone watched in silence, wanting to see what it meant or what would happen next as Arya kept moving faster and faster. Then, amongst the flickering lights, her body suddenly turned blurry, then split, her copies appearing from the motes of light, making it impossible to determine when the switch had happened. Of the new Aryas, one darted left, the other right, while the third stayed where she originally was. Then, two of the three vanished in a blinding flash as the real Arya leaped forward, landing right before Siu, with her tail raised proudly, showing him her bottom.

“Ta-da!” She looked back at Siu with immense satisfaction. “So? Sexy or not?”

"Bedazzling!" Marly clapped her paws, saying a word Siu didn't know she even knew of, “Big Sis is the shiniest of shinies!”

Yet... Just watching her, Siu didn’t answer, as he was the most focused he had ever been, staring at the trail of fading silver motes. When they appeared... he had felt it. When he had copied it accidentally before, the feeling had been strange, mostly instinctive, as he mimicked her. He could remember how it was when he tried to reproduce it alone, and nothing happened. But... Right now? He felt his blood suddenly surge and rush around inside him more freely than ever before. Following the exhilaration he was experiencing, this time around, he realized that his blood, within him, was aligning to a very specific flow-state. He could feel the essence that was once again inside him bubble to the surface, clearing the clotting he had felt until now, a blackish sludge oozing out of his skin like the last cleansing of his marrow, expelling it from his body's deepest part.

“Siu…?” Neya asked, noticing the way he was standing there, without blinking.

The next moment, his hand moved, different from Arya's, but still his fingers flicked the same way her tail did. As his blood rushed through even the thinnest veins inside him, releasing the essence within, a silver spark flew from his fingertips. Siu stared at it, realizing it was the same as Arya's, and before he could lose the feeling, he moved again, and this time, three sparks came free, and soon, after a flash, three Siu were standing there before everyone. The feeling itself was weird, to say the least, because he could tell he was seeing the world through a much wider field of view as all the bodies shared their senses. Then, they moved as he thought about it, before he felt himself running out of essence, causing the illusory figures to pop into bright motes of light.

“Big Sis, does this mean Master is also a fox?” Marly suddenly spoke up, breaking the sudden silence with her squeaks.

"Huh?" Arya’s eyes widened slowly, in horror, “No. No! He is not fluffy enough and not stupid enough to be a male fox. He is still Master, strong and human, as being human is much better... But…” Her gaze moved over him, sniffing his body. “He does smell like... me.”

“Because I copied you,” Siu said confidently, still looking at his hand, now being able to catch the feeling for real, firmly remembering it, being able to guide his blood to flow the same way. More than that, he knew that the moment he had enough essence in him again, he could repeat the duplication without having Arya to display it for him.

"Siu?" Neya asked, both curious and amazed. “What did she say? What happened?”

“I copied her.” He answered simply, repeating himself.

"You have an affinity for doing something with light? Or illusions?" Rinmei asked with a sudden curiosity, her earlier caution now overtaken by the same feeling every cultivator had in them. “Do it again!”

"I was thinking of doing just that," Siu nodded, "Arya, stop," He looked at her as she was about to start dancing again, "I want to see if I indeed remember right..."

Resuming with his breathing technique, it took him some time to draw in enough energy from the air, but when he felt himself ready, five motes of silver light flicked off his hand, and when he inhaled again, the essence in the air entered him more smoothly than it ever had before. He felt the clogged feeling break through, then disappear, and as it burst out, he found himself with five copies standing around, moving, sharing senses before once again popping out of existence. When it happened, he stumbled and felt his mouth go dry.

"Siu!" Neya was there at once, straightening him.

“I'm good, I'm good…!" He shook himself, "Whoa...”

"Whoa, what?" Rinmei asked, now that everyone in the field was looking at him, a bit worried.

"Senior?" Varren also asked, still holding the ointment.

"It's fine!" He waved a hand, "I just ran out of essence, I just need a few moments to fill back up."

"You... ran out of..." Rinmei asked, her eyes going large, because she knew what that meant.

“I think…” Siu hesitated, then looked at Neya and the others.

“You broke through?” she asked with her mouth falling open.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly, looking at everyone around him. “Maybe? I can't explain it otherwise... I can feel a new energy in me, and I can tell how much I have of it and how to spend it.”

"Damn!" Varren almost dropped the jar he was holding. “Senior, that is Blood Resonance! It is exactly how it is described in the notes in the library!"

“It is the foundational Blood Resonance stage,” Rinmei added automatically, “That stage has multiple hurdles inside it, but the fact you can feel it and use it means that you indeed have stepped into it... Incredible, I never heard anyone reach it this fast... Congratulations!”

Siu just stood there, still processing it, looking down at Arya, who was looking back up at him, being proud and all. He had expected Blood Resonance to be... Well, he didn't know what he had expected, as he thought about it. Should it be different? Should it be hurting? Or making it tingle? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this might be a boon, coming from a disastrous situation. His Old Man always liked to say that misfortune and fortune were twins... Yes... Of course! The twins had emptied him so thoroughly that his body had clawed its way past the boundary of death and living... and now that it came back, from a moment when his whole being sapped of any essence he had in him, the refilling process carried him through the boundary like it didn't even exist.

"Master," Arya suddenly sprang forward, landing on his head, leaning over, hanging down to his face, sniffing him. “How did you create more than me? How? Huh... You are strong! That's my Master, ahahaha!”

"What now?" Kira suddenly asked, drawing everyone's gaze to her, "You will have to move into the Inner Disciples' ranks now."

"If I can pass the test." Siu said, but everyone just rolled their eyes at that, "And before that... I'd like to understand my own powers more so... I need you all to spar with me, see what I can do, and what... I can't."

"What do you mean?" They asked, and Siu just remembered not everyone knew of his... affinity problems.

"Well, about my, um... Position." He shrugged, glancing over the group, "Apparently, my ability is all about... um... copying."