The Third Step: Chapter Fifty-Two (Patreon)

We still had several days in port, and with our distance from the Sekhem Court, I seized upon the opportunity to see a better run part of the country. I wasn’t sure if I was just going through a particularly unlucky streak and running into the problem areas of just about everywhere I came across, if I was simply inured to the problems in Mossford, or if it was some combination of both, but I was relieved to no longer be in the Sekhem’s territory. 

That relief did make me feel a bit guilty. After all, the problems weren’t gone just because I didn’t see them. But there was also a very limited amount I could do about the problems, and self-flagellation wasn’t going to help anyone, only hurt me. 

So I let the guilt go, and got to play tourist. Kene, Dusk, Dawn, and I all wandered around the town, trying assorted dishes. The shrimp in the area was absolutely amazing, some of the best I’d ever had, and following a small basket of fresh steamed shrimp with heavily spiced fish in coconut sauce, and then a drink of mixed fresh fruit and yogurt was absolutely delightful. We wandered through some museums, looking at historical displays, and taking in information.

The nation had a rich and fascinating history, and a shockingly cohesive one. Unlike somewhere like Crysite, which had fallen in and out of habitation, Tianzhu had been continuously lived in for over five thousand years. Its borders had grown and shrunk of course, rulership structures had come and gone, leaders and emperors had risen and fallen, but they’d always maintained a core of people living in the general area the nation currently occupied.

Some of the most interesting displays in the museum contained paintings and journals from a battle roughly fifteen hundred years ago, a five way war in the fallout of the War of Fourteen – something I vaguely thought I’d heard about in my history courses. The display wasn’t focused on the fourteen, though, but rather about the five way war between Magi forces: A Sekhem known as the Master of Vampires, a Shining Spirit known as the Exalted, a Snow Lion known as the Living Snowstorm, a Makara known as the Guardian of the Seas, and the Storm King 

The display was doubtful of the level of power that the histories suggested, but I was less skeptical. I knew that the Storm King was a Magi, and while I couldn’t speak to the relative powers of the others, they seemed to at least have Titles, which meant they were serious powerhouses. 

There were plenty of other battles with displays in the museum, but none captured my attention in quite the same way as that one. 

Of course, there was more to the area than museums and food. We toured different old buildings, saw loads of art, and even went to an archaeology site where I bought a cheap recording crystal and sent a message to my grandmother, then paid the shipping to have it sent to the archeology research center in Elohi where she was analyzing the results of her most recent dig. 

Before long, though, the ship left for its final long stretch, wrapping around the massive coastline of Tianzhu and up into Feng Chui. I spent most of the journey working on carving my gates, while Dawn and Dusk worked on fusing their dominions together and running them through the Enforce Reality spell, or through Tyrant’s Breath. 

I did take a break, briefly, to update myself on a map of Greater Daocheng. I didn’t begrudge my use of the term, in the same way that I couldn't get too annoyed at someone writing off the entire Mossford Alliance as one group, but now that I was here, it made sense to learn the terminology, and the local powers. 

“The Tournament is set in Zhuanzhe,” Meadow explained. “It, along with Jiangju, Feng Chui, and Central Daocheng make up the core of the Storm King’s territory and power. Each of the countries has stood for centuries, but have also fractured or reformed throughout the years. For example, Jiangju used to also contain the bulk of Zhuanzhe, but a minor internal war about seventy years ago pushed Zhuanzhe’s borders north.”

“Was that when the Silent River Sect’s Patriarch, the River Lord, came to power?” Kene asked, and Meadow shook her head. 

“It’s more complex than that, but no, he only brought the Silent River Sect to the status of Great Sect about twenty years ago. Which brings us to Sects. Much like guilds are important to Mossford, and you can tell a person’s relative importance by their guild position and association, sects are an important part of Greater Daocheng.” 

She held up a hand to forestall any questions or comments. 

“Now, I am talking about multiple countries and countless people. There is no one-size-fits-all for describing the entirety of such a place. But you should be familiar with the current Great Sects, the ones who look like they may become Great Sects, and the ones who once were Great Sects and still retain a portion of their power and prestige.” 

“What precisely is the difference between them?” I asked, frowning. 

“A Great Sect is headed by someone with a Title,” Meadow said. “They have a brief period of time to mint a new leader if their current one dies, after which, they lose the title. Now the current Great Sects…” 

We spent some time going over the list of groups, and I did my best to commit them to memory, before we stopped in the docks of one of Feng Chui’s ports. Much like the other ports I’d been to, the smell of salt and sea was present, pervading everything, but like every other, it was also different. Where in Mossford there were the old stone and modern prefab, Feng Chui seemed to have gone all in on glass and steel.

Glass skyscrapers, easily a hundred stories tall, connected to one another, with long, winding roads moving between them. At first, I thought that the roads were carrying enchanted carriages, as I would expect to see in Mossford, and I did see a few, but they were hardly the most common. Instead, many people seemed to use large, overbuilt bicycles, fueled by powerful mana cores and alchemical liquids. That was hardly the only thing that used those, however, as a massive train, also made of glass, but with wheels made of skysteel and burning vast vats of potions to empower the steel, darted from place to place in the air, and other trains even moved through tunnels to pass underground. Others lifted high, higher than even the glass buildings, and blasted through invisible routes far overhead, zipping out to other cities and towns. It was a chaotic symphony, an organization that was nevertheless wild. 

Much like how the twigs and branches of the lightningbranch hazel had led to the rise of flying devices made of brooms in Mossford, or how cloudsheep gave rise to flying carpets and cloaks in other areas, the commonality of skysteel ore veins here meant that many of the manacyles that blitzed through the roads were capable of also taking to the skies, while others rode on long, flat swords, propelling themselves in a manner that was suited to the more historically minded. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time to take it in as I had hoped. Thanks to the tournament orb, I was blitzed through customs at an absolutely record pace, until Dawn, Dusk, and I were sat down across from three people. One was a tall, lanky man, the other a short, broad shouldered woman, and the final wore wrappings that covered everything but glowing green eyes that were slitted like a serpent. 

“Ah,” I said when I saw them. “You’re judges?” 

“Well, we are tournament officials, and we moved to meet you when your orb was marked,” the woman said, smiling, before nodding to the man and the wrapped person. “I am Rebecca, and these are Xuan and Kahurangi. We’ll be arranging the train from here to the Silent River Sect for you and the other competitors who come in over the next week.”

“Your spirit,” Kahurangi said, pointing at Dusk. “They have been marked.” 

“Pleased to meet you all,” I said, then nodded to the person wearing wraps. “She has been.” 

Dusk waved and with the sound of wind moving through the sands, said hello and introduced herself. Kahurangi leaned forward, their slitted eyes focused on her, and demanded Dusk explain what she was. And so, with the sound of waves on the shore, Dusk began to explain our story of her being a forest spirit who was fused with a demiplane, creating an unusual combination. She recounted how she helped me fight, and she liked to explore. When she finished, Kahurangi nodded and looked to their fellow officials.

“I have seen enough. Dusk is clearly not a creature on the verge of reaching human levels of intellect. She is a person, ergo, she must not be allowed to join Malachi in battle.” 

“I am not so sure about that,” Xuan said, stroking his chin. “She is tiny, and while she possesses magical power, she is not truly the same as a second human that can take blows, occupy multiple spaces, or strategize to a massive degree.” 

“A space containing his plants is a large advantage for a plant mage, though,” Rebecca rebutted. “Bonded spatial rings are hardly uncommon, nor are familiars. This is a case where it’s effectively a two for one special.” 

“He is a spatial mage, however,” Kahurangi said. “He could build a demiplane to store plants, and we allow self-crafted tools in the central tournament. No, the issue is not that she is capable of storing resources, but of her utility as an additional combatant.” 

I leaned forward and spoke for the first time in a while. 

“Dusk wants to enter several flying related competitions. Will that be an issue?” 

The three conferred among themselves for a moment before turning back to us.

“That should be fine, so long as you are not also entered into the same competition” Rebecca said. “Once again, we return to the issue of the central tournament. Kahurangi here believes that it would be most fair to allow you to utilize your bond’s spatial abilities as a demiplane, but not allow her to fight directly with you. Xuan believes that the best restriction is to disallow her demiplane abilities, but allow her to fight as an ordinary familiar.” 

“And you?” 

“I believe that the simplest answer is to allow you to use her entirely, and simply prevent your other, non-sapient spirit from joining the battle directly, allowing you to treat the spatial abilities as if they were their own spellbound. I’ll be honest, Mister Baker, I would love to hear your thoughts. I make no promises to agree to do what you say, but voicing a preference might help settle this little… disagreement.”