I flow through the movement of the Roars of The Ruinous Dragon, my sword catching and deflecting the demon’s hand striking for my heart. The skin of the demon is a strange silver color, and its hands absorb my strikes with barely a scratch.

  Once-human eyes look at me in surprise as I step in closer. My qi flows through my sword, enhancing my strength as I catch its other hand and fling it wide.

  My sword pierces the chest of the demon, but its hands still reach for me. It wants to steal my qi and spirit even in its final moments.

  I pull my sword away and step back. The demon falls to the floor. It still reaches for me, its spirit reeking of hunger and death.

  Shia uncurls from me. The snake, covered in far more golden scales than she had been when we first met, slips out of my robes and slithers towards the dying demon. She tastes the air with her forked tongue before her head grows in size until it’s large enough to swallow the creature whole. The demon quickly disappears into her.

  “Thank you.” I say quietly, sheathing my sword.

  Shia twists to look at me, her body returning to its normal size. “I’m sorry, little one.” she says.

  I look around at the old house I’d been sent to. The floorboards are rotting, and blood lines the walls.

  The sect hadn’t believed the tales of a demon near one of the mortal villages, and it was only because of the caution of Elder Qiu Tai that I’d been sent here at all.

  But I’d come too late.

  Four villagers, that’s how many had been killed by the demon. I was lucky there hadn’t been any cultivators among them, and that it had been stuck in the lower levels of Qi Awakening.

  There weren’t supposed to be any demons here.

  I lean my back against the wall.

  Shia returns to me, slithering up my leg to wrap around my waist under my robes. Her presence is comforting inside the dim interior of the recently dead villager’s home.

  My fingers brush against the flute inside my robe. Two years had passed since the death of the first demon and my rescue of Qiu Tai. I’d broken through all the way to the Eighth Level of Qi Awakening during my sixteenth birthday.

  One of my requiems calls to me now, desiring to be played by the spirit that lies hidden in the room.

  I pull my flute out of my robe, my finger tracing its length. My mother’s gift to me looks the same as when she’d first given it to me, with no scratches or blemishes marring its length.

  I place the flute to my lips and close my eyes.

  The Seventh Requiem: After Life

  The notes are gentle and fleeting.

  They tell a story, one filled with life and loss.

  I open my eyes to see four spirits.

  The souls of the mortals bow to me, and I feel tears stream down my face.

  I was too late for them.

  The mortals rise from their bows, then dissipate as the music comes to an end.

  I use my sleeve to wipe away the tears streaming down my face, then place my flute back into my pocket.

  I spend a few moments to gather myself, then push myself off of the wall.

  “What should I tell Qiu Tai?” I ask. “I can’t keep explaining the disappearing demon corpses.”

  Shia makes her way up my chest and rests her head on my shoulder. “She trusts you. You don’t need to explain yourself.”

  I feel like arguing, but push the instinct down. I’m tired and emotionally a wreck. Shia has proven herself trustworthy and she’s a friend, so I won’t push the topic too much.

  I exit the small building into the fading evening light. The sun falls below the clouds in the distance, creating streaks of orange and purple across the evening sky. I stand there for a moment, my eyes held by the beautiful sight.

  WIth a shake of my body, I make my way to the headman’s home. I’ll have to explain to him that there was a demon. Then I’ll have to do the same with Elder Qiu Tai.

  The journey to the headman’s house is thankfully quick, but it will take a whole day on horseback to return to the sect, so I decide to stay the night in the village.

  Cultivation of spirit is a rare thing, and it’s one of the only ways to truly detect a demon, which means I’ve often been called to any place where rumors of a summoning or strange murders and disappearances had occurred. Far too often, Qiu Tai or I were called to whispers of a demon only to find evil humans, or spirit beasts.

  Still, the Demon Hunter Pavilion had been kept busy hunting down the dark creatures that came from the portals. We’d grown with the addition of two outer disciples and a Martial Master that cultivates spirit, but none of them were to the level of the Elder and I.

  I set out in the morning, leaving the village behind.

  The journey is quick, and I leave my horse at a stable close to the gates of The Flowing River Sect, then make my way up the stairs that had been my first test in joining the sect. The pressure I’d felt during my first climb is gone, a small jade pendant in my clothes lightening the effect of the formation that tested potential disciples.

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  I make my way past the gates, then hurry my pace through the outer sect. The outer sect is a city in and of itself, filled with merchants and outer disciples eager to prove themselves on the journey of cultivation. People recognize my Core Disciple robes, marking me as a direct disciple to one of the twelve elders, and quickly make way for me. I’m sure the blood covering my robes helps them move faster as well.

  The gates to the inner sect have a single Master Swordsman meditating next to them. He doesn’t even open his eyes as I pass by him.

  The inner sect is quieter, with only servants, inner and core disciples making their way alongside the many rivers of the mountain that we call home. I take a left on one of the paths, and make my way to the home of the Twelfth Elder.

  Elder Qiu Tai waits for me outside of her home. She sits cross legged, a book I don’t recognize in her lap.

  She looks up, her light brown eyes taking me in as I walk over. She quickly stands up, the book in her hands disappearing as she makes her way to me.

  “Are you alright?” She stops a few steps away from me.

  “There was a demon.”

  “I didn’t think-” Her eyes must see something in mine as she stops mid-sentence. “Let's get you cleaned up.” She places her hand on my arm.

  I nod, then step forward, burying my face into her shoulder. Her hands wrap around me.

  After a moment, I pull away and let her lead me into her home. A quick shower and a change of clothes later, I lie down for some much needed sleep.

  ***

  I sit outside, enjoying the sunlight on my skin and the sound of one of the many bubbling brooks in the sect. I’d found a nice quiet spot to read, mostly hidden from view, but still allowing the sun to reach me. Roots of a nearby tree support my back and in my lap rests The Twelve Melodies Of Wind, one of the cultivation manuals that Qiu Tai had given me. I thought it was supposed to go with The Twelve Requiems Of Illusion, but the more I look at it, the more it seems like gibberish. Over the last two years, I haven’t been able to understand any of the cultivation manuals my master had gifted me. The Twelve Requiems Of Illusion remains my source of power, but whenever I ask Zhu Teng about the others, he grows quiet, avoiding my questions.

  The sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh makes me look up from the nonsensical book.

  Across from me, an outer disciple I recognize is on the ground, holding her cheek. It takes me a second to place her as the servant who would light the lanterns for me as an inner disciple. Across from her is a core disciple my age and three inner disciples I don’t recognize. I don’t know the core disciple’s name, but I recognize her as a disciple who often accompanies Elder Fu.

  I wrinkle my nose, the scent of the core disciple’s spirit irritating me. Prideful, followed by the sharp smell of burnt earth.

  “Who do you think you are?” the core disciple asks. “When I ask you to do something, you do it. Or would you rather you find my sword in your neck?”

  My book snaps close. It’s a small sound, but enough to draw the attention of the other disciples.

  I’d been mostly hidden by small bushes, but as I stand up, I come into full view of all the disciples. I walk to the outer disciple on the ground. “Disciple An, right?”

  The disciple pushes herself off the ground and bows to me, the slap on her cheek slowly reddening. “Yes, Young Miss Lin.”

  “This is not your business Disciple Lin.” The core disciple across from me says.

  I ignore her as I look over the outer disciple. I walk up to her and brush some dust off the arm of her robe.

  I turn towards the core disciple, my fist meets my palm as I bow to her. “Core Disciple Lin Jia of the Demon Hunting Pavilion greets fellow disciple.”

  The core disciple is taken aback for a moment before she meets my gaze with a glare, she gives a forced bow in return “Core Disciple Fu Lan Fen greets fellow disciple. This is not your business.”

  “What did she do?” I ask.

  “It’s not your business.” Disciple Fu repeats.

  I turn to Disciple An. “What did you do?”

  The outer disciple bows low. “I refused an order given to me.”

  “What was the order?”

  “Disciple Lin-” Disciple Fu starts,

  “She does seem like the type to order something stupid.” I cut off the other disciple. “What did she order?”

  The outer disciple looks up at me from her bow. Her eyes calculate her options as she takes me in. “I was ordered to poison the food of Inner Disciple Lu with a qi inhibitor.”

  “She’s lying!” Disciple Fu yells.

  I turn to look at the core disciple and her friends. The inner disciples behind her refuse to meet my gaze, looking at the ground.

  “Is she?” I ask quietly. My qi rushes through my body, matching my quickening heart. My ears fill with the sound of my heart beat until all I can hear is Thump Thump. Thump Thump. “I seem to remember you threatening to put your sword in her neck.”

  I continue to look into the eyes of the Core Disciple as she takes a step back. Her hand drops to the sword at her waist. The disciples next to her reach for their own weapons. Her sword leaves its sheathe.

  She dares. She dares. Over this. I’ve killed demons covered in the blood of their victims. I’ve seen men and women laid to rest after being brutally murdered. I confront death every day and come out the other side with the tatters of my humanity.

  She dares to attempt to pull her sword over something that will at most get her a slap on the wrist.

  My eyes are clouded by a red haze as I look at the sword in her hands.

  A hum leaves me, wrapping around the entire meadow, it matches the beat of my own heart, stretching over the disciples across from me. Foreign words leave my mouth, bringing with it the full power of the Requiems

  Eighth Requiem: Necrosis.

  The trees wilt, turning black with the power of death.

  My words are haunting, a dark tune that causes the other disciples to shake.

  The bubbling brook slows to a trickle as even the plants gray, turning to dust.

  Across from me, the disciples start to panic as the skin on their body wrinkles and grays. Their bones turn to dust as a rot settles into their organs.

  Disciple Fu rushes me with a scream, but I’m already moving. My sword slides from its sheath as I move into a form for the Whispers of The Silent Raven.

  I move around her clumsy swing, her body failing to respond to her as it falls apart in front of her eyes.

  My sword bites flesh, slicing her leg. She stumbles to the ground. The Inner Disciples behind her panic as their bodies rot and fade. Only one of them even attempts to swing at me.

  My sword meets theirs, deflecting it before cutting deep into their shoulder. My sword leaves in a spray of blood, and the inner disciple falls to the ground.

  A second one attempts a weak swing, but I knock their sword out of their hands and kick them to the ground.

  The third barely lifts her sword.

  My qi rushes through me, shattering the blockage of my ninth meridian as I finally advance into the Ninth Level of Qi Awakening.

  I raise my sword, ready to draw more blood, when I’m frozen in place. A butterfly gently lands on my arm and I let my illusion go, lest it be shattered. With the illusion gone, my blood starts to cool and I realize what I’ve done.

  Blood drips from the tip of my sword, splashing against the ground.

  Two Elders fall from the sky, landing between me and the last inner disciple standing. Elder Fu glares at me, his bloodlust making my back break out into a cold sweat. Next to him Elder Wu Li Mei looks at me with an expression impossible to read from her eyes alone, her mouth covered by a veil.

  Elder Fu steps towards me, raising his hand.

  “Calm yourself Elder Fu.” Elder Wu’s voice is soft, but holds a warning that forces the other Elder to stop.

  “My granddaughter is bleeding on the ground and you expect me to be calm?” Elder Fu growls.

  “My disciple would not attack yours without reason.” A third voice I recognize says from behind me.

  Elder Qiu Tai steps into my vision, her gaze looking over everything calmly. Her gaze finally lands on Outer Disciple An.

  The outer disciple kneels on the ground, her forehead nearly touching the ground. She gulps under the Elder’s gaze.

  “We will let the Matriarch examine the situation.” Elder Qiu Tai says.

  Elder Fu narrows his eyes at the outer disciple, then meets Qiu Tai’s calm gaze. “Very well. But your disciple will not escape punishment. Clearly you don’t have a tight enough leash on her.”

  Qiu Tai’s eyes flicker to me, then return to the other Elder. She gives a slight nod, although I can see the distaste in her gaze. “We shall see who needs a tighter leash, Elder Fu.”