A Fire Inside

By: Aviantei

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Nine Tales 4/12]

[Parameters: "A New Day on the Bridge" & "Slithering Snakes"]

II

There had been many ways to be an onmyōji in that previous life. In general, the term was used to refer to those who communed with the elements, and some even further limited it to the core five elements. That type of shaman also lent itself well to fortune-telling and divination, and those skills were rather sought after. It wasn't uncommon for onmyōji to be proficient in working with other types of spirits, either those in nature or otherwise.

And then there was the type of onmyōji that she had been. Yes, she was proficient in all those other skills, but that was not where the deepest of talents lied. She had been capable of communing with the elements themselves, and that was the cornerstone of her abilities. Between combat, healing, and numerous other possibilities, it was not uncommon for such onmyōji to hear the voices of the elements themselves, to learn the closest speakable equivalent of the elemental language, and that made utilizing the skills of an onmyōji easier.

Unlike many of the other things that Wen Chao could half remember, he could recall the words of that language with a startling clarity. However, he had yet to attempt speaking them. In another world altogether, there was no reason that the language would have any effect at all.

In short, he'd been scared to possibly lose something that was so important to him.

But after resolving to go forward with taking over the Wen Clan, Wen Chao needed every possible advantage he could get. If he could still use the elemental language, then that would give him an extensive advantage. He'd be well on the way to obtaining enough power to defeat Wen Ruohan, as well as deal with any opposition. He couldn't erase the apprehension, no, but it was better to know what he was working with. If he didn't have access to the elements in that way, that just meant he'd need to work harder to achieve a similar level of skill without them.

"Hua."

Except, that night, whenever he spoke that one simple word, the fire answered.

It was not anything dramatic. No, in comparison to what he'd already mastered with his qi, the small flame was nothing more than that of a beginner. In fact, Wen Chao double-checked that he hadn't channeled his qi to produce the fire instead. But, no, it had responded to his words, Wen Chao was sure of it, its small size a product of his own hesitation. "Hua," he said again, with much more insistence than before, and the flame grew until it was a comfortable ball cupped in the palm of his hand, the rest of Wen Chao's words following in a rush: "Tai, Sal, Aruan, Fichel—"

And all the elements answered: Aviantei.

Wen Chao sat up, cradling the fire to his chest. The flame, loyal to him, didn't so much as singe him, providing nothing but a warmth. The other elements didn't manifest in the same way, but their voices were still there, their presence obvious. Wen Chao had thought he'd accepted he'd be alone in having his memories of the past, but that moment proved him wrong, because he was so very grateful about hearing the elements remember him that a rush of tears raced to and spilled out of his eyes.

There were not many ways that Wen Chao still acted like a child, but he allowed himself the one moment of relief.

"Right," he said after several minutes, caressing the flame in his hand as if it were a pet. "Right. Like this, we can go ahead and get things started."

Wen Chao's logic boiled down to If I can control the elements this much, there's no need to worry.

It wasn't to say that he had the exact amount of power as his past life, no. And, though the voices of the elements were there, it wasn't as if his new world played by the exact same rules as the one he'd been in before. But being able to talk to the elements meant he could establish a relationship, which in turn meant he could wield much more of that natural power, even while he was still developing his Cultivation and qi control.

Thus: there was no longer any reason to hold back on mastering the Wen's qi fire.

It was yet another instance of a shocked tutor whenever Wen Chao showed off his control of the fundamentals and beyond in his next lesson. One might think that after all his previous performances, no one would be surprised anymore, but Wen Chao supposed he had been putting on a show of struggle for once. Anyone would be stunned to have a student who'd been struggling just the day before perform at a level of mastery. In any other situation, they might even call cheating, but who would be foolish enough to accuse one of the clan head's sons of such a thing?

Besides, it was obvious that such power was all Wen Chao's own.

Also, it seemed you weren't supposed to be able to develop a Golden Core so young. Whoops.

If Wen Chao were to put what it felt like to have a Golden Core in words, he wouldn't have been able to. It was a part of him that felt as if it'd always been there, and yet it made him feel more to have one. The closest sensation he could compare it to would be how it felt to have the elements answer to him again, and yet that wasn't accurate, either. Regardless, having one further reaffirmed Wen Chao's resolve to move forward with his plans.

It also, as predicted, sent the entire clan into a tizzy.

Before, Wen Chao's accomplishments had been contained to the tutors, his parents, and the other students who shared lessons with him. But the news that he'd formed a Golden Core spread through the whole of Qishan much like the rage of a spreading fire they could cause—and then it seemed it had reached even further at the latest summit. Other clans were already talking about him.

Wen Chao did not doubt that such things were his father's doing.

"Still doesn't make all the attention any less exhausting, though…"

"Ahaha, you always say that, Wen Chao, and yet you look happy about it."

Disgruntled, Wen Chao looked across the low table to Wen Ning. Since they'd agreed to help each other in their different specialties, they'd taken to meeting up in their off time. Sometimes that would mean working together at the archery range, other times that would involve intensive study in qi control. On the present day, such activities amounted to studying in Wen Chao's private pavilion, though their respective subjects were quite different.

A prodigy with the bow Wen Ning may have been (and he was such a thing; Wen Chao wouldn't accept anyone saying otherwise), he still had yet to turn ten. He had many basics of subjects to learn, of which his performance was expected of someone his age. Wen Chao already had those basics in most cases, so he was in the middle of delving into further research about the clan techniques, as well as some studies into the deeper details of Golden Cores, Cultivation, and other such subjects. It was fascinating stuff, though it was difficult to find many people who were experts in the subject.

How fortunate for Wen Chao that he was a self-sufficient learner. Even more fortunate that Wen Ning was nice enough to listen to him talk about such things, even if the younger boy couldn't have processed much of it.

(To have a peaceful life as a child was novel, though, and Wen Chao was happy to enjoy it.)

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wen Chao said, resisting the urge to twirl his brush between his fingers. Unlike pens, ink brushes were wont to splatter if you weren't careful, and the Wen Clan's white and red made such slipups obvious. "Having all eyes on me is exhausting. My tutors are pestering me to see if they can find any way to replicate my results, a handful of kids are getting pressured into making friends with me to gain favor, and Ru—my father…"

Well, Wen Chao hadn't been wrong in his theory that Wen Ruohan was glad to have one of his children exhibit such a power. He didn't visit much, busy with clan politics and whatnot, but Wen Chao was more than capable of using the elements to spy. Wen Ruohan would have no reservations of utilizing Wen Chao's ability to further cement their clan's power.

(It seemed that, just like it was always fire, it was also always being forged into a weapon.

Too bad for Wen Ruohan that heshethey no longer had any interest in becoming such a thing. Not for anyone else's use at any rate.)

"Point being," Wen Chao said, "it gets in the way of my time to do what I want."

He'd hoped that would be enough to convince his friend, but Wen Ning just smiled. He might not have been older than ten, but he was rather perceptive. "You still enjoy it, though. Not people taking up your time, but…" Wen Ning thought a moment before his face lit up as he landed on a thought. "I guess its like…it means people can see how amazing you are, right?"

Wen Chao couldn't deny that much, though it wasn't as simple as that. Yes, he wanted that recognition—in part because it was satisfying to be acknowledged—but it was more so because being so high in the public eye would make it clear that he was more than capable of handling things whenever he would take over the clan.

And, in a more immediate sense, having so much attention focused on him would make it beyond obvious should anyone attempt to target him. Because the elements looked out for him, and Wen Chao was more than aware that there were people following him that he pretended not to notice—for the time being, that was.

"If you have the time to notice that, that means you have time to work on extra qi control drills with me, right?"

Wen Ning screwed up his face in an adorable pout. "T-that's…not fair, Wen Chao!" Yet he was laughing anyways.

Yes, something was going to spill over sometime soon. But for the moment, Wen Chao was more than content to enjoy the feeling of time spent with a precious friend.

That said, people also shadowing Wen Ning was where Wen Chao had to draw the line.

At first, Wen Chao had thought that the surveillance on him was the usual sort that he could expect as the clan head's youngest son. It was common knowledge now that he had a great deal of power at his disposal, but that just made him valuable. Having people trailing him to ensure that nothing happened to such an exceptional resource was very much in line with what Wen Chao expected of Wen Ruohan. In fact, he could even expect his father to go far enough to check if Wen Ning's family wouldn't cause trouble.

But tailing his one friend with such obvious ill intent? No, that was going too far, and Wen Chao would not stand for it.

So, after yet another late-night practice session with Wen Ning's tutelage in archery ("You need to build up some more arm strength, Wen Chao." "Shut up!"), the two boys took their separate ways back to their homes. Except Wen Chao had no such intention of getting any rest until he was certain his friend was safe. So he waited until Wen Ning had turned the corner and activated the qi suppression technique he'd modified for greater stealth against fellow Cultivators and muttered, "Tai."

The earth answered at once, but he kept the amount he commanded low, a scattering of pebbles forming above his open hand as easy as breathing. It was a rudimentary dowsing technique, giving him a clear view of his position in relation to both Wen Ning and those following him, and Wen Chao couldn't perform it with qi alone, but it was more than enough. That night, there were two figures tailing Wen Ning, which would be simple enough to handle. They, too, had suppressed their qi, but that couldn't hide them from nature itself.

The one good thing about the situation was that it gave Wen Chao ample opportunity to test out his qi suppression on an active target. Using his basic flight (so focused on learning the Wen's fire techniques, he had yet to do more than the basics with a sword), Wen Chao touched down on the rooftop behind Wen Ning's tails. He was able to do so without a sound, and yet the closest masked spy did seem to tense for a moment. Refining his qi suppression would have to wait, though.

Wen Chao had some messes to clean up.

He took a long inhale, and the elements surrounded him, urging him on. Wen Chao reached into his pocket, producing a handful of leaves that he channeled his qi through. That was enough to make both the spies whirl around, but, by then, there was already a sweat smell permeating the air, and it was too late for them to do anything at all.

"Fichel," Wen Chao said, intoning the full capacity of the leaves, and then the two spies collapsed, one after the other.

Wen Chao was fortunate that the elements liked to spoil him. With a combination of metal and earth manipulation, it was easy to carry the two unconscious spies behind him, and the dark made it simple for no one to notice them.

Good thing Wen Chao had done so much exploring. Having a nice, isolated cave that he could close off the entrance to at will was very helpful for such situations.

The first step was to restrain the two, which was simple enough. Between turning the surrounding rocks into restraints and slapping a couple of pilfered qi suppression tags onto them, it was simple enough. The spies were wearing Wen red and white, and it wasn't because they were outsiders attempting to blend in—a quick evaluation of the feeling of their qi made that clear enough. The question then became just who they were working for, and a gentle nudging from the sounds of the elements revealed a couple of medal talismans tucked away in their robes.

Wen Chao recognized the inscription upon it without issue, and he let out a sigh. Wen Ruohan didn't seem to be foolish enough to send potential assassins after his prodigy fifth son's closest friend.

Wen Xu, his eldest brother, didn't seem to be anywhere near as shrewd.

"Fichel," Wen Chao said again, invoking the leaves to have the opposite effect: awakening one of the spies from their stupor. The person jerked back to awareness, their eyes wide with surprise as they looked about the room. Wen Chao hadn't bothered to remove the mask; he would be able to identify the both of them from the elements' assistance alone. That it took several seconds for the spy to recognize who their captor was didn't cast a positive light onto Wen Xu's private forces in the least. "Good morning. I'd love to know why my eldest brother is so interested in my friend."

"L-Lord Wen Chao, that's…" The spy swallowed. "That's not what we're—"

"You should know I'm not stupid. Please don't bother to lie to me." The sharpness of Wen Chao's voice was enough to intimidate the spy, and they swallowed. "Let me take a guess. My most esteemed eldest brother is worried about the runt of the family overpowering him, right? But I'm not such a handy target, and our father would be upset if he did something so obvious against me. Making it look like Wen Ning's family was responsible for such a thing, though… That would make a great scapegoat to knock out two birds with one stone, yes?"

The spy's reaction was answer enough, and Wen Chao couldn't suppress his sigh. Eldest Brother Xu was a piece of work. Why would he make an enemy of Wen Chao when it would have been much more beneficial to make him an ally instead? Given Wen Chao's age, he would have been a perfect pawn to try and manipulate.

Or, rather, he would have if Wen Chao had been just a child.

Instead, Wen Chao was an old soul, and he'd be used by no one.

"You have a couple of choices," Wen Chao said, his tone brokering no room for objections. "The first is that you can continue your normal duties to Wen Xu, and be prepared to face my wrath the moment you try to do anything to Wen Ning." He didn't even need to summon his qi fire to make a point; his reputation was more than enough. "The second is that you can run and leave our clan. If you choose to do that, I won't try to stop you, and you can take your chances. As for the third…

"You can instead swear your loyalty to me, come under my protection, and expose Wen Xu's plans to the public."

It might have been a bit hasty of an option to go so far—eldest son he might have been, but Wen Xu was still young, in his late teens. That he'd chosen such a plan in the first place was proof of his immaturity. Given another five or so years, Wen Chao doubted that Wen Xu would make the same choice. That said, he needed to be put into his place before he could cause even more trouble in Wen Chao's ambitions.

And even more so, he needed to be taught a lesson for attempting anything that could bring harm to Wen Ning.

"I-I'll swear myself to you."

Wen Chao didn't even need to ask before the spy gave their answer. That was a good sign. Wen Chao's serious expression gave way for a genuine smile. He wasn't above using his power to get what he wanted, but he would rather solve things in a much more peaceful fashion whenever possible. "Excellent. I look forward to working with you, then."

After convincing the one of them, bringing the other to Wen Chao's side was easy.

The entire situation resolved with far less effort and fanfare than Wen Chao had expected. He considered both of these factors to be fortuitous.

Having two of Wen Xu's spies now on his side (their loyalty assured by the elements monitoring the both of them), it was simple to provide evidence and testimony of Wen Xu's intentions. While Wen Ruohan could admire the resolve to use even one's own siblings as steppingstones, he was not pleased with the possibility of any harm coming to Wen Chao, who had exceptional potential as part of the Wen Clan's military might. While Wen Chao expressed his displeasure about the entire situation, he did offer some mercy to his eldest brother in that he asked for a more limited punishment, so long as Wen Xu left Wen Ning, his family, and any other friends Wen Chao might make in the future alone. Wen Ruohan agreed, though it was with the promise that any further attempts to harm Wen Chao would be met with much harsher retribution.

Wen Xu did not seem keen to see what that would look like. Especially not with the smile Wen Chao gave him, the sharpest blade underneath it all. Wen Chao could have destroyed him, and everyone in that room knew it.

And so the whole incident resolved in Wen Chao's favor, with express orders from Wen Ruohan to keep the affair private, and, having been excused from lessons for the day, Wen Chao returned to his personal chambers. He'd gone ahead and showed off that he was a threat, so it would soon be time to take the offensive role, rather than the defensive one. Having his own spy force was looking to be essential, but at least he had a start with the two members stolen from his brother. Not to mention everything else he'd need to do to accomplish a successful coup before Wen Ruohan could do anything too drastic to the cultivation world…

Wen Chao mulled such things while pacing about his private garden. While Qishan's location in the mountains should have limited the amount of vegetation that could grow there, Wen Chao's presence threw such concerns out the window. Plants of all kinds flourished around his chambers, and he'd even received some rare plants as gifts for his past birthdays. As such, his garden was a vibrant place, complete with the landscaping of a pseudo river and decorative bridges. Wen Chao liked to think there, and fragments of plans were coming together whenever he heard it.

Aviantei.

Ever since reaching out to the elements, he was no stranger to hearing their name for him. But that instance was different, and Wen Chao came to a stop atop one of those bridges, his hand pressed to his chest. His heart clenched, as if something inside of him was reacting to that voice, as if his very body recognized the voice before his mind could—No, he thought, not my body.

His soul.

And then, that call came again, more insistent than before: Aviantei.

Wen Chao gasped, looking around, as if the source of the voice was right beside him. But no matter how much he tried, no one else was there. Whoever was calling for him was far away, and yet their voice was still reaching him. But more than that, whoever was calling knew who he was, had remembered his name—

Not even knowing what would come out, Wen Chao opened his mouth and answered: "Ovanteo."

Reincarnated or not, heshethey were not alone.

[Author's Notes]

Part two, baby.

Extensive thanks to Sky Bearer 7227, fortarah, and polly81186 for the faves and follows! It's always nice whenever your niche ideas catch people's attention. If you have the time, I'd adore hearing what brought you to this fic in the first place and what you're interested in seeing!

This plays around a bit more with the onmyōji mechanics I built for Ivy's power set in Aviantei. While Ivy won't be able to form an Over Soul, nature is nature, no matter what, so Wen Chao can have some extra control in addition to base Cultivation skills here. Gives us plenty of options.

Quick note: Usually in fics I try to integrate as many language-specific honorifics as I can, because I feel like they add a nuance that English can't always capture. However, unlike Japanese, which I have a good grasp on the system, I'm fairly new to the Chinese language used in MDZS, even with Seven Seas's generous language guides in the back of the books, and I didn't want to screw any referrals up. So I'll be sparse on that front and use rough English equivalents for what I want to convey instead.

That aside, I'm thinking this collection will be somewhere around the five-six total pieces range? I have rough ideas for what I want to cover the rest of the fic, so we're doing it live! Exact nuances to be determined by which prompt sets I choose to work with, but know that I have a rough enough plan to work with, which is always helpful.

Once again, go cheer on the [Twelve Shots of Summer] writers, who are all amazing. My entry next week will be a one-shot companion to my The World Ends with You fic, Muse, so please look forward to both that, and the next chapter of this when it comes out!

-Avi

[06.25.2022]