The day dawned brightly, as days were wont to do in East Saffron, early sumr. Or late spring, depending on who you asked— the difference between the two was minimal and of not much particular note, though so would surely insist that there the delineation was important. To the people who made calendars, and watches, and to astronors and magicians, maybe, but not to her.
Unusually, Lily too rose long before the sunrise. Usually she was too tired to do that, but today— this most special, most exciting of days— she couldn’t wait. She’d woken up in the middle of the night after not more than a few hours of sleep and could not for the life of her get back to bed. It was… filling her, a frenetic energy, a gleeful giddyness bidding her, yanking her along its chain and dancing with her as she sat outside in the cool pre-dawn, and watched over the river, the rising of the sun.
Like fire, like a burning jewel, like a castle in the clouds made in that sole mont for its cynosure rider to stride out onto its arcing journey, over the roofs of far-away buildings, and over the cresting waves and ship-traffing, and then even over its ramparts so softly aglow with vermillion in the morning, into the center of the heavens. Burning brightly, falling up, the sun heralded her victory, and she lived for it. Every blade of grass seed to shine with an erald clarity; every rock seed to hide the most electrifying shadows, every whisper of the wind a giddy celebration. It descended on her, that fire, and caught her hair alight, and turned the glow of her skin to purest bronze, and evoked— water from a stone, gold from dull tal, qi from base materials.
How many tis before had she watched the sunrise over East Saffron? Hundreds? Surely, so particularly large amount; she may not always get up the earliest, but it also wasn’t uncommon for her to get up early. This, now, though… watching it rise, she could not help but think in that mont that she’d scarcely ever seen sothing sweeter.
It was beautiful. It was beauty itself, distilled into a grown of searing light, and the very eye of its beholder—
It was the day of the selection ceremony. Graduation, in any normal school— but for the elite cohort of the University of East Saffron, they had no graduation. There was rely success, or failure, asured in a single and ultimate value— whether or not the Bloody Saffron Sect deed them worthy to join that most vaunted and venerable of organizations. Had it gone any other way, she was sure, she’d have been struck by almost unbearable nerves, waiting to see if all the work she’d sunk in, for so long, had been worth it…
Her fingers brushed across the little bamboo tube in her pocket, its shape familiar; she’d not let it out of her sight from the mont she’d been given it. She still couldn’t believe it was hers. She still couldn’t believe she’d done it.
There were foregone conclusions, and then there was this— certainty, in the way one could only be certain about events that had already co to pass.
SHe smiled beneath that sunlight, contented and giddy and suffused, in that mont, with all the emotions of sunrise. What a wonderful light…
“It’s nice outside today.” She hadn’t heard Avyr coming; of course she hadn’t— he’d only beco more and more stealthy as the sester passed. It was hardly a noticeable thing, but then again, such was the nature of stealth. “I didn’t expect you to be up so early.” The big cat was already dressed in his dress uniform, with its neat sash and everything, and it all ca together to make him look quite handso in its completion. Or at least she assud— maybe a cat would find the whole ensemble silly, but she couldn’t help but think it made him look dashing. At the very least, he didn’t look like a cat playing dress-up, which sotis happened whenever he was wearing too much.
She’d put on her own uniform, too; it was a comfortable fabric and possessed more than just its mystical properties, also the history, the weight of its investiture… it was the last day she would wear them, she could not help but realize. Soon, very soon, they would be clad in the robes of the Bloody Saffron Sect. She wondered how that would look on the big cat…
She smiled, and leaned against him, noting the pleasant scent of mint on his well-grood fur. “Ready?” There was so ti left, but… not that much. There was no ti left. The sester was done. The great working neared completion. After so long, after years, and years, and… after her entire life…
She knew the gravity of her accomplishnt. It was hard to truly grasp— like looking at a building and realizing it was more than just doors and walls and windows, or staring at a city and— gasping, as the whole of it, every person, every life, every history-drenched corner and great and terrible achievent, and plan still sleeping quiescently under the dark soil of not yet ready—
Every year, out of every single person in the entirety of East Saffron, only a handful joined the Bloody Saffron Sect. It was rarer than winning the lottery and more difficult than becoming a high official. It was amongst the greatest honors that could be bestowed.
It was her honor.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
She stared into the burning river, alight with all the golden and incandescent and burning glory of the sun, and wondered if her parents would have been proud of her.
Then, she sighed, and smiled, and stood— catching the river-breeze in her hair and the light on her skin, and her eagerness burbling within her qi. “Co on.” How hard it was, to not just break out into jubilation! “Let’s go, or we’ll be on ti.” Which, ultimately, was the sa as being late.
They turned and, together, slipped out of their house for what may very well have been one of the last tis they did so— they strode into the University of East Saffron.
………
It was the sa place where the Initiation had been held, not so long ago. It looked just as beautiful as it had back then, draped in verdancy, bounded by stately architecture, natural and artificial and wholly imposing; the strength of the Bloody Saffron Sect put on display for the students that stood in front of it. The flowers still dripped with color— and though they were different flowers, Lily could see in them the spirits of the past year’s blooms, still outstretched in marvelous color. The trees still wept, their willow leaves shuffling and bending, and swaying, here and there in the pleasant breeze. The stage, at the very center of it— with its red pillars and images of dragons and immortals and ancient legends— she could recognize very well indeed.
Moreover, were the students. They looked utterly dissimilar from what they had at the start of things, almost a whole year prior. So were self-satisfied, so were clearly upset, and a few, a few clearly hung to a hope they’d already let go of. The cats— Svvh and his fellows— huddled together not quite in the center, but also not quite entirely off to the side, as though daring anyone to try and displace them from their chosen position. Angry.
Aomao ca up to stand beside them, after only a short ti, clearly trying to subtly display her position; that seed to open the floodgates, and a whole small swarm of classmates and fellows from different divisions ca together to stand around them. Just by their re presence, as the two of them settled down into a rather unimpressive spot about halfway back the stone courtyard, the entire cohort rearranged themselves around them. Thankfully, at least Xinshi didn’t get himself involved.
Finally, a spark.
Most of them had only seen it once, but once was unforgettable. To Lily, who’d not experienced it since before she’d gotten far better at sensing the movent of qi and the twistings of the spirit, it was an almost overwhelming experience— as dinsionality itself seed to break down under that impossibly powerful spark, then burn, twisting and rotating and shearing as the sphere of bloody light expanded into a small sun over the stage. When it was gone, the Outer Elder in all his near-divine majesty hovered there, less human than god. Even his qi gave off that impression, oppression rolling down over the entire crowd and forcing them silent with its aura.
“Students,” he spoke softly. “You have done well. The Sect is pleased with your work.” This ti, the formation of disciples didn’t follow behind him— he was alone, and nobody took him as any the lesser for it. For this ti, they knew.
They had co into this as fools. They had left, seeing at last the height of Mt. Tai.
“For almost a year you have struggled to prove yourself. Let it not be known that the Bloody Saffron Sect has not seen this, and acknowledged it. You are the very best of your city. You are the future of East Saffron, its greatest generals, its most powerful lords, its champions. Amongst you, though, lays the future of the Bloody Saffron Sect.”
Silence descended upon the earth.
“I shall call your na, and you will be invested with the powers and duties of your role as disciple of the Bloody Saffron Sect, student to the thousandfold masters that have walked before you and inheritor of the myriad mysterious secrets that are its treasure. May all hear my words. I call forth Lily Ward of the 32nd Precinct to take her rightful place as disciple of the sect!”
She grinned broadly as she stepped forward, adorned with such rapturous excitent, such happiness— into silence.
Lily waited for the second na to co. She waited, step hesitating, but— but it didn’t. The elder rely stared down at her, impassively waiting, and all her excitent turned to ash. All the glee she’d felt before.
Her gaze, rose, eting Avyr’s, and—
She decided in that mont that it wasn’t worth it. To go to the Bloody Saffron Sect without Avyr, to leave him behind— it tore at her. It killed her, that choice, but… she would not, could not abandon her best and only friend.
“Go.” His voice was a soft wl, pained as well, but it cut through the swirling mire of her thoughts nonetheless. “I… you’ve worked so hard to get here.”
“I can’t abandon you.” The students around them looked askance, noticing that sothing was askew— and the presence of the outer elder fluctuated, only barely, but enough to make her know that her ti to decide was running out. “I can’t.”
“You’re not abandoning .” He reached out a paw, just briefly, brushing her hand— “I love you, Lily. You’re the best friend I could have ever asked for. More family than family, and it is for this, for you, that I release you. Go, Lily.” He looked so heartbroken. She imagined that she didn’t look much better. “Go—” and, and curse her a thousand tis for failing, but she went. She turned around and felt up to the stage, as students started to cheer and the Outer Elder’s expression remained ever impassive, and she won—
She lost. So much, she lost…
She stood beside the Outer Elder as he descended to hover an inch off the ground beside her, and draped over her the robes of an outer sect disciple, and as the crowd cheered for her— she should have felt giddy with happiness. She had, just hours prior…
All she could muster was to stare forlornly out at Avyr, as he stared forlornly back at her, and—
The world turned into a sphere of shifting blood around them.
Reviews
All reviews (0)