My mind was floating somewhere between here and nowhere, splayed apart, stretched to infinity by cosmic-mathematics. I had pushed myself too far, tried to do too much and was rewarded for it with more pain than what my mind could handle. Human brains weren’t designed to comprehend limitlessness, couldn't operate in a space beyond the normal amount of dimensions, and sucked at visualizing never-ending fractals.

The machinery of the stars ticked on, galactic spirals woven from neuron constellations flickering rapidly within my brain.

[Primary weapon upgrade - Scanning elevated to - LV 2]

The System announced in my own voice. I wasn't sure if this was just me talking to myself, lost in the vast labyrinth of my mind.

I briefly pondered whether the System already existed in the world as a tool of the eldritch-gods or whether my mind put it together based on some long-forgotten game played by the Pharmacist a thousand years ago? Maybe the truth lay somewhere in between.

Something important was bothering me. Some bit of important information that I had missed in my excitement of bringing down Administrator Han. I rolled the memory over in my mind.

“I shall be back within the week with as many high-cultivators as I can convince to join us for the coming Convergence. Prepare the temple of Serenity for a party of ten to twenty most-esteemed Immortal guests,” Enforcer Han Sempiter spoke and I shuddered.

Convergence.

The seven incredibly potent beast cores that I was burning through so rapidly to aid in my personal goals. They had a purpose. There was a reason why the High-Administrator had them on his person. He needed aid from another city! The day of the Convergence was coming. Another cosmic-god-beast was on their way to meet Lord Boundless Chorus… but which one? It had to be someone... incredibly dangerous. The beast cores in my pocket were the brightest and biggest ones I’ve ever seen in my entire life. They had to be worth a fortune if not seven!

I felt something soft and wet on my face. I blinked. The world slowly faded into existence. I was laying down on white linens and Celes was wiping blood from my cheeks with a wet towel.

"Thank you," I croaked, my mouth refusing to cooperate.

"Don't mention it," Celes handed me a gold chalice with water. I gulped it greedily.

"No, seriously. You rock! You held off Ludj long enough for me to figure out how to free him," I handed her the empty glass. “I couldn't have done this without you.”

"Being a rock is good, right?" She inquired tamely.

"The goodest!" I nodded, sitting up. I was in one of the bedrooms within the Serenity temple. Ludj stood at my side, long ghostly fingers holding onto his gold lantern. Celes periodically glanced at him with concern. She likely wasn't used to servitors not doing their jobs.

“How are you doing Mr. Murr? Did I break enough of the binding? Do you feel a tad more... free?” I inquired.

The servitor gardener nodded, a monstrous smile stretching across his elongated, alien face. Celes shuddered.

I stretched. I was able to burn away some of the control runes and the information fractals they were manipulating within his lantern's beast core crystal. I’d have to interview him later on what he’d be able to do for me and what still wasn’t allowed.

"Welp. I bloodied up your pretty geisha robe," I commented as I looked down on myself. "Sorry."

"I'll give you another one," Celes promised. "Don't worry about it."

"You are the bestest," I smiled and attempted to stand.

"Whooa, Nelly!" I unsteadily wobbled and sat back down as my legs refused to function.

"Ash, for goodness sake please take it easy!" The kitsune snapped at me. “You’ve lost like two bowls worth of blood at the very least!”

"Love to, but can't," I growled. "I'm on a deadline."

"What deadline?" She squinted.

"Convergence," I answered. "Administrator Han was preparing these seven shiny, overpriced balls for Convergence aid."

Celes gulped as she looked at me, suddenly understanding.

"My full song-name is... Ash-Sparks-at-the-Convergence-of-Deathstorm," I spoke with a somber pause. “It was given to me by Violet Lillian - her men found me cowering in the still-smoldering ruin of my burned home... exactly thirteen years ago. It makes sense why the High-Administrator had these beast cores on him. Approximately every thirteen years... the Deathstorm comes.”

"Deathstorm…" Celes whispered with dread. “Are you sure it’s the Deathstorm Matriarch Convergence? What if it’s another god?”

“Do you know of another god-city whose worshippers are as destructively-hostile and come to visit every thirteen years?”

“I… didn’t know it was every thirteen years,” Celes shook her head.

“The Guild leaders know,” I said. “Lady Lillian told me so. She complained how it would be nice to prepare for it, but unfortunately it happens on a random month of the 13th year.”

“I see.”

“There's only one logical reason why the High-Administrator would hire a large team of Immortals from another city during Convergence,” I nodded. “The Deathstorm Matriarch is coming. It has to be her.”

As Celes fell silent, I recalled how Lady Lillian taught me about the Deathstorm, once I was old enough, explaining what had happened to my real family. ‘When the Deathstorm Matriarch converged with Boundless Chorus the Gold city was set alight. As rivers of blood poured down the streets, the Seraphims did nothing at all but watch. Every thirteen years too many of my little butterflies and moths are crushed by the vile sky-spiders,’ Lady Lillian had told me.

“We… we need to get out of the Gold city before Convergence day!” my geisha companion fretted. “How long do we have?!”

“Han said - ‘I shall be back within the week.’ So, a week is what we have to prepare for Convergence.”

“You… we can’t possibly oppose the Deathstorm Matriarch! It’s suicide! The Stormweavers live to destroy!” Celes trembled.

“It’s kind of my fault that Han won’t bring back the extra manpower to the Gold city,” I said somberly. “I’ll figure something out. A week is enough time…”

“Enough time to do what?!” The kitsune looked like she was about to have a full-blown panic attack.

I would have probably succumbed to the same fears if I wasn’t practically swimming in her field of Serenity. I suddenly realised that Celes’ radiance wasn’t just relaxing me, it was making me... unnaturally confident. Holy-archangel’s-butts! I’ve never felt this courageous in either of my lives. It was no wonder that the High-Cultivators paraded their personal geishas all over town. Being empowered by all this extra confidence, having supernatural assurance of being unstoppable was absolutely incredible for my personal self-esteem.

It wasn’t just the Pharmacist feeding me ancient knowledge, the presence of Celes was what made me extra competent, less bumbling. Her aura of focus gave me the necessary boost to act in the precise moment when I needed to. Without the presence of Celes I wouldn't be able to do a single bloody thing that I had done today!

I grabbed her hand. “Celes. You saw me vaporise a Rat-King with some flour. You were there when I brought down a high-cultivator from the sky too.”

She blinked at me.

“You saw me free a servitor spirit from its lantern,” I waved my hand at Ludj. “Has anyone done that before?”

Celes shook her head.

“Believe in me. I will figure something out," I reassured her.

Her expression softened slightly, but her eyes still looked like a pair of dinner plates filled with a plethora of worries. Deep fear of the Deathstorm was natural - the skybound cultivators were extremely dangerous.

“What do the people of the Gold city usually do when the Stormweaver comes?” I asked.

“Abandon everything and run, try to hide in the deep catacombs beneath the city,” Celes muttered. “It’s just like any other convergence, except much worse since the Stormweaver knights don’t take prisoners and destroy as much property as they can.”

“Why do the seraphims of Lord Boundless do nothing to defend the city?” I wondered out loud, pondering what purpose Convergence served. “...it must be another way to weed out the weak.” I finally concluded.

“We are weak, Ash!” Celes sniffed. “The only reason I lived through the last Deathstorm Matriarch convergence was because Han’s men saved me. I was six when the Order of Prodigious Desiccator traded me to the Boundless Chorus cult. My geisha instructor was executed right in front of me by a Stormweaver knight only a year after!”

“I understand,” I squeezed her hand. “We both lost someone during The Deathstorm Convergence. This time, I’ll protect the city!” I bravely declared.

“It’s one thing to knock out one high-cultivator and another to try to stop an army of them!” Celes shook her head. “You can’t do it. It’s impossible - you will die.”

“And hiding from the Stormweavers is better how?” I squinted at her.

“Hiding from them is useless! They have servitor hunters that are trained to seek people,” the geisha trembled. “I’m talking about fleeing to another city altogether.”

“Okay, we’ll buy a ticket out of the city if I don’t have a working plan in six days, okay?” I offered a compromise.

“F… fine,” the kitsune submitted. “I still don’t understand how you’re going to stand up to the Stormweavers.”

“Mm-yeah, the odds are stacked pretty high against me,” I shrugged. “Remember the scientific method? I’ll gather as much information as possible, interview some older people at the market about Deathstorm convergence and act accordingly.”

Celes gulped. She didn't think that I could do it.

The cult gong resounded, announcing that it was dinner time. I looked out of the window. The rooftops and towers of the Gold city glittered as the sun was slowly setting beneath Lord Boundless Chorus, painting everything in orange tones. I had quite the hearty nap myself, it seemed.

“Don’t worry so much, foxxy!” I postulated. “Learn to look on the bright side of things.”

“What bright side?!”

“The Convergence is part of the gods’ game and there are rules in any game.”

“The Stormweavers do not play by the rules! They kill indiscriminately and torch whatever they can set on fire!” The foxkin loudly asserted.

“If the Seraphims do not act against them, then what they are doing IS allowed. We just need to figure out exactly what they can’t do,” I rubbed my chin. “In my time there, a thousand years ago, there was an amusing meme that said that a hieroglyphic word for ‘crisis’ is composed of the words “danger” and “opportunity”.

“What opportunity could there possibly be in the Deathstorm Convergence?” Celes lilted, wringing her arms.

“Oh, you’ll see,” I smiled deviously as the Pharmacist arrived at yet another solution in my mind.