5th of Season of Air, Year 16 AL

  Dry blood had mostly faded from the walls of a large underground chamber the cultists had made in the depths of the mine. Bones and mummified remains littered the ground, some gnawed on by small saurians, probably scuttlers.

  Newt examined what remained of the seals on the walls while Ruby was busy being sick in the corner.

  “I think it’s the same seal I’ve seen elsewhere. They sacrificed these people to feed their gods.” His even tone lacked emotion, unlike Ruby’s trembling voice.

  “Can we leave this place, please?”

  Newt nodded. There was only one thing they could do for the dead. He sent a surge of mana as they left the cavern. Earth moved, burying the remains of the cultists’ atrocities.

  While doing that, he sent a thread of mana deep down another tunnel. There didn’t seem to be any signs of activity near Magmin’s core, and as much as he burned with the need to double-check, Newt wouldn’t do so until he was completely alone. If Magmin’s core was safe, all he would do was draw attention to it. If it was compromised in some way, there was nothing he could do about it.

  “We should continue on foot. Just in case.” Newt said as they left the mine.

  Ruby wasn’t excited about the idea. “Hailstown is five hundred miles away. I would need ten days to reach it.”

  “I could fly close to the ground. We should make it there in ten hours or so.” Newt could fly faster, but fifty miles per hour was the highest speed Ruby could tolerate while traveling in his embrace.

  “Was this territory important to the cultists?”

  Newt could think of a major reason the Blood Cult was paying attention to the region, but shrugged his shoulders.

  “Why didn’t they attack sooner if the area is isolated?”

  That, Newt didn’t really know. If the Blood Cult had always had its sights set on Dragon’s Rest mountain, why hadn’t they attacked in force while Newt’s parents were there? Then he remembered a reason.

  “Our castle has really solid defenses. Especially against humans. Solid enough to ward off seventh realm attackers, and sending anyone stronger probably wasn’t worth the effort. I assume the Blood Cult had spies in Harthrow. And they probably made their move when my clan left the castle undefended.”

  Newt could tell Ruby didn’t really care, but he felt sorry for the townsfolk, even if everyone he knew had passed away more than a century ago. He didn’t really feel responsible for what happened, but it was obviously a consequence of his family leaving the area.

  He was in a somber mood as he carried Ruby through the jungle. They rested at the forest’s edge, waiting for the sun to set before crossing the last leg of their journey.

  They reached Thunderbluff four hours before dawn, and Newt decided they should wait quietly for the gate to open, even if his realm granted him the right to enter whenever he felt like it.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Newt said. “Heaven knows how many towns and villages had disappeared in the wake of our departure. What were once bastions of civilization suddenly lost their protectors, leaving behind the weak, ripe for the culling.”

  Ruby shrugged. “It probably paled compared to the slaughters caused by saurian onslaughts. It just happened to the wealthier and more privileged. I was born and raised in the border region. Two generations of families living fine lives with minimal taxation and imperial incentives that their children and grandchildren would pay for were the norm.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  She looked around and settled on a convenient rock. “I always wondered what the imperials stood to gain from settling so many people and dooming their descendants to violent deaths, when in truth, they were setting up the stage for their cultist friends.”

  “I’m not sure that was really what was happening—” Newt started, but Ruby just kept on talking.

  “I don’t know if it’s better or worse than what they have been doing to us all these ages. Just thinking about it makes me hate the bastards. Who knows, without them, we might have conquered the world or made peace with the saurians or moved on to other worlds. Instead, we were filling out inaccurate pieces of paper using our flawed understanding of the world, all so that they could stay in power and sell us out when the right moment came.”

  The woman vented, but then took an unexpected turn.

  “You know that in our current society, only a handful of people are really successful, like you and me?” she asked out of the blue. “We both have enough resources, and the ability to earn more, but for most, it has been a difficult period.”

  Newt didn’t really agree with that. His former master and his former teacher had started a family with a healthy set of bite-sized twins. Woodhopper had managed to trade quite a few of her valuables to buy and hatch a fifth realm earth-attributed trihorn, and while she still hadn’t advanced her realm, there was a definite improvement as she started rearing her manabeast.

  Lady Monsoon was healing manabeasts for an obscene amount of wealth, and there were many others who had found their footing just fine.

  “I’m not sure,” he said tentatively. “I know plenty of people who are doing just fine. In fact, most of the people I know are doing well.”

  “That’s because you’re moving in the circle of the successful. I’m more of a common girl myself, spending time with those on the lower rungs of society.”

  “Wow!” Newt said with mock-wide eyes. “You’re spending your time with the non-awakened. Yes, I didn’t expect that. I can understand why those people must feel rejected. After all, there is little they can do except mundane work. And even that is only in service of the other non-awakened.”

  “Yes, yes, very funny,” Ruby said without an ounce of humor. “No, I’m not talking about the non-awakened, even if they must be feeling worse than the awakened without extraordinary skills or abilities.”

  “See, now, that’s the thing,” Newt grew more serious. “I don’t understand what that means. Yes, talent is important, a deciding factor when comparing average to apex, right along with the resources, but the thing is, you can reach high with hard work, using your head, and understanding yourself.”

  Ruby snorted. “You have no idea how difficult that is. Roselilly mentioned a bit about how you used to live your life when you lived at the Explorer’s Gate, and let me tell you, the amount of work you put in and the constant practice would drive just about everyone I know straight to insanity, not the seventh realm and quite possibly beyond. You have six fully sculpted realms. Do you have any idea how much time people need to do that? Do you have any idea how many prime resources went your way to make it happen? I spent a century and a half just sculpting my fifth realm in preparation for the most perfect ascension I could manage, and I’m still not quite there yet. I’ll need another two years.”

  I wonder what she would say if I told her I had a dragon spirit doing rough outlines of runes for me in my realm, while I only made them perfect. Magmin had suggested the arrangement years ago. For some reason, he no longer needed to meditate to sculpt his realm, and he wanted something to do. Plus, working on Newt’s realm was practice for making the same or similar seals for himself.

  He naturally didn’t tell that to the woman ranting about how much of a cheat Newt was, and how she would need centuries to get her next realm where she wanted it.

  “Any thoughts, Magmin?”

  “You’re a complete cheat. I was more than two thousand years old when I was at your realm, and she’s right; most of those centuries were spent sculpting my realm and sitting on top of a treasure, slowly absorbing whatever energy it had to offer while maturing.

  “I also think that’s the best chance you’re going to have when you need to face my daughter. She will surely underestimate you, thinking your realm is hollow. She doesn’t know about meditation chambers, nor could she guess that the two of us are sculpting your realm.”

  “Could you please stop?” Newt asked Magmin, but the dragon ignored him, and instead of finding an ally, another nagger had joined the conversation.

  The sun couldn’t have come any sooner, and when it did, Newt and Ruby went straight to the head of the line of awakened awaiting admission into the city.

  The guards didn’t ask any questions, just took the manarium for the entrance fee and let them inside. Stopping or harassing someone who walked like he could level the entire city seemed like a terrible idea, and Newt remembered a certain pair of scammers he had briefly met ages ago.

  Whatever happened to those guys? Are they still scamming people? Are they dead?

  There was no way to know, and, surprising himself, Newt realized he didn’t really care.