As the walls start to glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by the feeling of something falling off her forehead.
Her eyes snap open and trace the path of a jade coin as it rolls off the pillow and traces a small spiral, before falling over just out of reach with a tink.
With leaden limbs she rolls over and reaches out to grab the coin, only for a second tink to sound at the same time as it feels like an 18 wheeler stopped on top of her. What's worse, is that with the position of her arm, she can't see what made the new sound.
After a minute, she also realises that the position she's in is making it harder to breathe. As her vision is starting to go grey, Dakala tries to pull her arm back so that she can breath.
With agonising slowness, her arm drags across the polished wooden floor for a couple of inches before she blacks out.
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As the walls glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by a sense of déjà vu.
Her eyes flick open and she looks up at the jade coin lying accusingly on the floor above the bed.
As the memory of blacking out returns, she carefully turns back to lying on her back. Then, with leaden arms, she pats down the cover until her wrist brushes against something hard. Inching her hand back, she manages to grasp a jade talisman with her fingers before it slips off her body.
With shaking arms she lifts the talisman up to her face and touches it to her forehead. Then she belatedly realises that she doesn't yet know how to feed qi into things. A moment later she wonders how she knew she could see the contents of the jade slip by touching it to her forehead.
After a couple of deep breaths, Dakala lifts the slip away from her forehead so that she can see it. On the side she's looking at is an intricate three dimensional diagram that she recognises as a formation. Turning the talisman over, she stares at the Chinese characters for a moment before they suddenly make sense.
Dakala, after you passed out I cleaned off your impurities though I was unable to save your clothes. This talisman will reduce the effect of qi pressure to around half that found in the first heavenly realm. Do not lose it as it will also allow you to pass through the protective formations around the courtyard.
There are clean clothes in the chest by the wall. Find me in the courtyard once you're dressed.
Stellar Empress
Well done on being able to move without the talisman. I suggest that you do not attempt to do so again until it is merely difficult to move around with it. Once you reach the courtyard, I have some things to give you. I would also like your help in selling some trinkets to gain the local currency.
Stellar Empress
Dakala stares at the messages and reads them again before lowering her protesting arms.
Over the next hour she forces herself onto her hands and knees and crawls over to the chest, where she forces the lid open and has to pause to take in the extravagant silk outfits inside. A veritable rainbow of colours and sparkles greets her casual digging.
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The Empress notes that the sun is almost overhead by the time Dakala staggers to the entrance of the pagoda wearing a peach and gold Chang-ao over a matching skirt. She idly wonders if Dakala realises that the gold is real spun gold.
"Come child, sit in front of me and we can talk about your lessons as my student."
Dakala stares at the vast area of open space between where she's using the door frame to hold herself up, and the person she agreed to let teach her. A decision that she's having second thoughts about now that she's slept.
Taking a deep breath, Dakala pushes herself upright and shuffles towards the single step down from the wooden floor to the flagstones of the courtyard. After a nerve wracking moment, she manages to step down without falling over. Then, as if mocking her, the sun passes over head as she shuffles across the courtyard, the protective talisman clutched tightly in her fist, to collapse in front of the Stellar Empress.
Once she's levered herself into a sitting position, the Empress smiles at Dakala, "Well done. I expect you to make the journey faster every day. Once you are able to walk to the courtyard, we will begin training you to use weapons from first light to third bell. Until forth bell you may ask me any questions you wish. At dusk you will cultivate for two hours. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please."
"Uh, what if I've changed my mind about being your student?"
"I will teach you a basic cultivation technique that will allow you to draw in qi, and I will return you to the city with the clothes you are wearing to replace the ones that were ruined by your impurities. After that, you will have around a decade to find your own way to becoming a flying immortal before the imbalance between your body and soul kills you."
"So, what, I just have to learn how to cultivate and you'll let me go?"
"Indeed. Though, I would still ask that you help me sell some trinkets. If you choose to leave on your own path, I would give you 10% of whatever currency was earned. Otherwise, I would take your guidance on the things that need to be purchased."
"Uh, it just occurred to me, how long does it normally take to become a flying immortal?"
"I have never heard of someone taking longer than 200 years. But I seem to remember most sects expected their disciples to reach that level in 50 years."
Dakala screeches, "And you expect me to do it in 10?"
"If you leave, that's how long you'd have, yes. While you are my student, I can help shore up your soul if it takes you longer, and moving around under this much spiritual pressure is also training your will."
The Empress tosses out her spear, which immediately grows large enough for Dakala to sit on the blade. "Come, let us visit the mortal city and you shall see how much eating immortal food has already changed you. Then maybe you'll understand why."
Dakala crawls over to the spear and clambers onto the blade like she did last night. A second later, the Empress steps onto the haft and the two of them leave the home.
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As they reach the city limits, a helicopter takes off from the PRT building and makes a beeline towards them.
From a loudspeaker, the copilot calls, "This is the PRT, Stellar Empress, you are wanted in conjunction with the death of four men and the destruction of 400 yards of Route 17. If you do not comply we are authorised to use force to bring you in."
Dakala watches with growing horror as the Stellar Empress' expression goes from peaceful to angry in an instant. Then the Empress vanishes and she whips her head round to see the Empress carve the troops out of the helicopter with a sword.
As the spear expands in size, Dakala shuffles down the haft as three PRT troopers are unceramonously dumped on the blade of the spear. Then the Empress takes another sword from somewhere, and all four of them watch in with a mixture of awe and horror as the sword grows until it dwarfs even the Medhall tower in the commercial district.
Then the sword raises to the vertical, and floats over PRT building before lowering slowly until it's just touching the roof.
With an almost negligent toss of her hand, the Empress launches the remains of the helicopter into the plaza in front of the building.
As she speaks, her voice is carried over the entire city of Brockton Bay, "I am the Stellar Empress, once ruler of the 888 heavens and creator of the Empyrean Realm. I am so far above the mortal world that you cannot see the truth in front of your eyes. Next time the mortal government seeks to judge my actions, I will enforce the mandate of heaven on this city. The third time I will enforce it on the country, and the fourth I will enforce it on the world. If you wish to know the mandate of heaven, say 'Stellar Empress, I wish to know the mandate of heaven' and I will send it to you. My sword will remain as a reminder that I am a force without equal in this world. If you bring force against me, I will return it 100 fold. The helicopter is an object lesson in the fact I can apply that force."
As she returns to the spear, the Empress seems to be amused by the fact that several jade coins fly out of her storage ring, one of which heads straight for the PRT building. Looking at the three PRT troopers, she says, "Would you care to try and arrest me again?"
The troopers all shake their heads. So she smiles, "Very well, we were going to sell some trinkets as the mortal government has taken my coin. You may leave once we land in downtown."
Dakala looks up at the Empress and asks, "What's the mandate of heaven?"
As the spear accelerates down towards the city center, the Empress crouches down, "You already know the mandate of heaven. It was included in the coin I left on your forehead. Most of it only applies to those of a higher realm interacting with a lower realm. However, there are four laws that apply to lower realms. Slavery is punishable by death. Kidnapping with intent to torture or kill is punishable by death. Turning a sentient being into an unwilling cultivation resource is also punishable by death. Attempting to enforce lower laws on a visitor from a higher existence, for a first infraction they will be forcefully informed of the mandate of heaven. For a second infraction, the visitor will be released from the mandate of heaven temporarily."
"Why does it only apply to those visiting?"
"Because of the disparity of strength. It would take an army of ascendant hopefuls to threaten even the least of those from the next heaven. A fight between two ascendant hopefuls could wipe out everything within 1,00 li, however an immortal from the first heaven could do that with a single attack."
Dakala almost whispers, "What could you do?"
The Empress smiles sadly, "I could steal the sun as easily as you pick up an apple. With a bit of effort, I could turn the sun into a black hole. I wouldn't because I was once mortal like you, and I know that the brightest of sparks can be found even amongst the darkest of societies. Come, we have arrived."
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A couple of hours later Dakala looks at her McDonalds in disgust. What would normally be a moreish existance of fat, protein, sugar, and salt, is instead a nearly tasteless lump of cardboard. Opposite her, the Empress is casually picking at her chicken nugget meal.
"Dakala, what's the matter?"
Dakala throws a chip into the box, "This is, it doesn't taste of anything. I love McDonalds, but…"
The Empress nods, "It is the danger of your unbalanced cultivation. Your body needs far more qi to live than your soul can provide, so it seeks to get that energy from your food. If you were unbalanced in the other direction, then you would scarcely need to eat."
Dakala looks down at the new dracotech phones that are sitting beside them, the solar chargers and other bags all inside the Empress' spacial ring. For a moment, she also considers how much money they had to pay the pawn broker because of all the damage she did by accidentally crushing things she picked up. Then she looks back up at the Empress, "Why?"
"You would not have survived the night if I didn't, even with the formation I laid on the room. It took me three bells to remember the formation I carved on the jade slip. Until I did, I thought I would need to calculate it from scratch."
Dakala stirs a chip in some ketchup before throwing it in her mouth and chewing mechanically. Then she unlocks her phone to check to see if her father has returned her text message, even though she knows he hasn't. Eventually, she looks up again, "How could I survive if I left?"
The Empress gestures at the food, "Eat the freshest food you can, preferably killed or picked just before it's cooked. Then cultivate as much as you can and try to improve the basic method I'm going to give you."
"And if I'm your student?"
"I'll give you a single seed every tenday, and a dao I wrote down when I ascended to the second heaven and realised I needed to find a dao that fit me better."
"Do you mind if I ask what your dao was?"
The Empress smiles, "Not at all, as I was going to gift it to you. It was life."
Before Dakala can say anything else, a disheveled man that, stinks of a weeks worth of sweat, leans over the table and stares at the Empress, "Are you Taylor Hebert, are you my daughter?"
The Empress shuffles over in the booth and gestures to the seat, "Please take a seat honoured patriarch. I wish I could answer your question, but I do not know the answer myself."
"How can you not know!"
"I could be your daughter, or I could be one of her descendants. I have lived so long that I do not remember. Imagine a desert of white and yellow sand, and somewhere out there is a single grain of black sand. Yet, once you find that grain, you find that inside it is a beach of black sand. On that beach is a single grain of coal. Finding that grain would still be easier than my remembering my life before I started cultivating. If it wasn't for a nearly catastrophic mistake I made at that point in my life, I wouldn't even remember that I had been looking for the portal I came through."
The man slumps down in the seat next to the Empress. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have done more."
Dakala fights not to shuffle to the other side of her bench, instead she looks at the Empress and asks, "Is he ok?"
The Empress shakes her head, "His soul is covered in grief and there are scars where it's mate was torn away. He likely only lived for his daughter, and not knowing her fate is killing him."
"Can you not, you know use something to find out how closely you're related?"
"He wouldn't survive the amount of essence such a formation would require. He would need to cultivate to a golden core, one step below a flying immortal, before I would even risk such a formation."
The man looks up from the table and stares into the Empress' eyes, "I'll do it, tell me how and I'll do it."
The Empress meets his gaze for a moment before placing a jade coin, and a jade slip on the table. "Go home and place the coin on your forehead as you go to bed. In the morning, read the instructions on the jade slip and use them to cultivate until you can see inside the jade. If you reach the Golden Core before I leave the planet, I will create the formation."
The man stares at the two items for a long moment, before snatching them off the table and stuffing them into his jacket pocket. Then he pulls out a pen and scribbles an address on a napkin, "You should visit some time, even if I'm your grandfather I still want to know you."
The Empress smiles and gently pulls the man down so she can kiss him on the forehead, "Once I learn how to read the local language, I will pay you a visit."
Dakala turns to watch the man leave the restaurant with a spring in his step that wasn't there before. Once he's out of sight she turns back, "Why did you do that?"
The Empress looks at the door with a slight smile, "It cost me very little to lighten his soul and give him a reason to live for tomorrow. So why wouldn't I do it? What about you, have you made your decision?"
Dakala looks back at the door for a long moment before looking back at the Empress, "I think I'd like to be your student. What thingy did you give him?"
The Empress chuckles, "You mean Dao? I gave him Truth. I took it from the library of the sect that used me as a cultivation resource. It's funny, I think that they were once a sect I'd have been proud to be part of, but they allowed themselves to ignore Dao's like that one in favour of Dao's that granted power faster. I wonder if he'll be able to take it further than the founder of that sect did."
"How can you remember that, but not whether he's your dad or not?"
"How long do you think you'll remember your kidnapping? Wiping out that sect was the end of a whole lot of trouble for me, and put a lot of heart demons to rest."
"Heart demons?"
"I believe for mortals they would be called regrets. However, for cultivators and immortals, our qi can make them significantly more dangerous. Come, we should return to the compound before dark so that you can learn to cultivate."
As the two of them leave the restaurant, they can see people crawling over the sword.