The fly vanished while the teenagers struck their camp. They moved efficiently, folding up tents and making the items disappear into their space rings. Elias spent the time trying to reconcile his twin memories. He could remember cultivating, sitting in dark rooms absorbing the world’s energies and creating the spinning rings around his heart that served as power. He also recalled standing over groups of fighting children and lecturing them on the concept of sharing.

  He was worried for Varen’s family. His family.

  Elias frowned. He wasn’t able to recall Ward’s family. He had one—he remembered siblings and laughter during the holidays—but it was like looking through water.

  By the time the teenagers were ready, his mind felt clear. There was a small point of light hovering in his mind, which he was avoiding. Neither of his memories could understand it.

  Even children knew not to poke at unknown things.

  “Alright Elias. Let’s go.” Ila called to him and two of the teenagers flanked him, just outside of arm’s reach with hands on weapons.

  “Go where?” He asked.

  “Pentas.”

  He waited. No one said anything.

  “What’s Pentas? I mean where’s Pentas?”

  They looked at him strangely, like he was an endangered being in a zoo. The last time he was in a zoo Annalise and Derek led the kids on a treasure hunt for Godzilla.

  “The city of five sects. The greatest city this side of the Lovotain mountains.” His teenage guard extolled.

  “Oh.” Elias couldn’t recall any mountains near his hometown here. “So how far is it from Corcon?”

  “No idea.” The guard shrugged. “Can’t remember every dank little hill village.”

  “Corcon’s not a village. It’s the finest trade town in the region.” Elias barked. He blinked. Where had that come from?

  “Sure.”

  They walked in silence for almost an hour before Elias became restless. Silence was frustrating. Maybe that’s why he’d become a teacher instead of accepting that professorship at—some prestigious university, whose name refused to coalesce.

  “Why is it called the city of five sects? Are there five sects there? Don’t sects get along? I remember near Corcon there’s only one sect. The old sect master is a grumpy old woman who’s a cheapskate. Refuses to pay up if you don’t sweeten the deal a little.”

  The guards widened the gap to him and Ila frowned over her shoulder.

  “Prisoners don’t talk this much.” She dropped back to talk.

  “I haven’t actually done anything wrong.” Elias said.

  “You’re suspicious, and this close to Pentas, anything that threatens the safety of the five needs to be handled cautiously.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “We’re near? How far?”

  “Two hours walk. I said you’re a prisoner. Please talk less.”

  Elias looked at his cuffs and considered for a moment. “Nope. That sounds boring. Due process and all that.”

  Ila looked baffled. “What’s due process?”

  Oh they didn’t have that here. “Umm, well, I mean you’re taking me for interrogation so until then it’s boring. Let’s chat.”

  “We don’t have to accommodate a prisoner.” A guard remarked.

  “Innocent until proven guilty.” Elias smiled brightly.

  “You’re an odd man.” Ila’s face twitched. He’d seen that look before. On his own face when the children played the same game five hundred times without tiring.

  “I’m quite normal. Tell me about the five sects. Or better tell me about you.” Elias observed their rough formation that looked like children playing at soldier. “What are you doing out here and—hey wait—do you actually have jurisdiction to arrest me?”

  “Chief disciple Ila has all the authority necessary to deal with strangers like you.” One of the guards growled, blade sliding out two inches. Elias looked down at the boy, no more than fifteen, and smiled.

  A growling hamster.

  His smile froze. A hamster who could make swords fly and pointed them at his throat an hour ago.

  “I asked for jurisdiction. I don’t think the Pentas authorities would like anyone usurping their role.” Elias tried to stand taller. Height was might.

  “I am the authority.” Ila snapped, a faint blush rising from her neck. “I mean, I’m leading my team to replace the Enforcer squad. It’s our Viridian Forest’s turn to take up the role for the next year.”

  Elias waved his cuffed wrists at Ila. “Fine. So your Viridian Forest sect is taking over the town—”

  “The patrol. Only the patrol.” One of the guards hissed.

  “Right you’re patrolling. So what is the Viridian Forest sect? And why aren’t your robes green then? Missed opportunity to show your allegiance, white doesn’t match viridian at all.”

  Silence.

  “What will happen after the interrogation?”

  More silence.

  “I won a competition before you know. Last Man Talking it was called. If you don’t want to talk I’ll keep up conversation for all of us."

  Which he did, until the guards were frustrated enough to stick a collar to his throat that silenced him. They moved quickly after that, relief on the faces of these disciples. They all deferred to Ila, the ‘Chief Disciple.’ Sounded important.

  He couldn’t figure out much from their occasional conversation. Ila strode at the front, stopping every few minutes and closing her eyes. He felt a wave of mana that washed over him at each stop. Some sort of sensory skill was all he could tell—well all that Varen could glean.

  While he wasn’t the most talented cultivator, he wasn’t too bad either, and his recall of Varen’s life was solidifying, while Ward’s popped up every once in a while. It was strange enough that he stumbled over flat ground with every new thought. Was this what amnesiacs felt like?

  With nothing better to do he circled the pinprick in his mind. After a quarter of an hour, he hadn’t gleaned much. He grit his teeth and made sure the other cultivators weren’t watching before digging inside and reaching into it with his mind. Ward’s memories recoiled at the strange sensation while Varen’s jerked a bit at the beginning.

  An empty bookcase hovered before his eyes.

  Elias reached out with his hands to touch nothing. It was like a poorly staged hologram. You could even see the polygons like first generation console graphics. Elias grinned, recalling days playing old video games, the humor fading as he looked at the bookcase and the two suns setting in the distance behind it.

  10 days.

  The thought intruded as he observed the bookcase.

  He could fill this case with knowledge. Anything new he studied would be a book here.

  For 10 days.

  And then it would vanish.

  That was going to be frustrating.

  Excited voices broke his contemplation. He would have to study the case later.

  A gleaming city shimmered in the distance and the cultivators almost dashed forwards until Ila called them back. She arranged them into a star shaped formation and came back towards Elias.

  “The collar won’t work inside the city properly so I want your word you won’t annoy us.”

  He nodded and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  They unclasped the collar and he hummed a small tune. He was going to ask what the collar was, but a dark glance from Ila snapped his mouth shut, and he grumbled under his breath as they approached the city.