"Senior sister, are you unwell?"

Jessica blinked in the dark cavern.

"Jung, An-Yong, what did you call me?"

The two bald boys, Jessica refused to call them men, stared blankly.

"You call me senior sister. I have to admit that I am a bit shaken up by this whole experience. I put my hand on a hip height box and effortlessly jumped to have a seat on it. Almost too effortlessly. Had I become someone else or gotten strange powers when I crossed over into this trip?

"Pardon, senior sister, but this one wants to know if you're unwell. The qi from the divine beasts' attack was strong and if you're harmed let us go to," Jung said, trailing off.

"We can’t go to the infirmary. It's above ground. Elder Kang might be able to help her, and he said that he would be here," An-Yong said.

What followed was a bit of staring that resulted in Jessica once again slinging an arm over Jung then An-Yong.

"Let’s find elder Kang," she said before either one broke a blood vessel in their staring contest, "I'll need to speak with him anyway."

"Yes, senior sister!" Both said at once.

The open storeroom continued into a hallway that just seemed to go and go on and on. Jessica wondered how long it would go for. They walked for twenty minutes as she started to form questions in her mind.

Where was she? Who were these boys and why were they so immediately deferential to her? There would be time for that later, she hoped.

Rounding a corner, Jung motioned for them to continue. A low moan sounded like a dog in pain as they entered a large room that could fit thousands.

There might be a hundred people in there. Men and women, although mostly she saw teenagers in robes. There were many white belts and a handful of red belts but only one other person wore a black belt and he was lying in the center being tended by two red belts.

Jung nudged his way towards the prone man. He had a long beard and beautiful long silver hair, but he looked young. He breathed shallowly as they got closer.

Jung kneeled into a bow. His head touched the floor.

Jessica idly wondered if she should do the same. She didn't know the customs but when in Rome. She went to her knees over the man, waiting for something.

His eyes watered upon seeing her.

"It worked!" He said.

Jessica frowned. Did this man recognize her? Perhaps the vividness of this dream meant that some mushrooms had made it into the edibles.

The man on the floor turned to the side and coughed blood.

"Now listen carefully, as I don't have much time left," he looked right at her.

Jessica nodded.

"My sect summoned you to save us, but we waited too long."

He tried to raise a shaky hand and coughed again.

"I will pass to the heavens soon, but I will give you every bit that remains of this ungrateful elders' power."

Jung gasped.

"And in return?" She said.

"In return, keep my sect safe, tend and care for them," he replied.

Before she could say anything he started pulling something out of his chest.

"Elder no!!" Jung cried.

A bright ball came out, draining the Elder's face. Smiling, he pushed it into her. Her spirit shook. She could instantly sense every person in the large room without looking.

She gasped at the euphoria of feeling raw power, and then she realized.

This wasn't a bad trip.

"Please read this, and take care of my Sect. Jung teach her to cycle," Elder Kang pressed a manual into her hands.

Jessica looked into the dying man's eyes as he passed.

'The Path of Cold Steel' was the title of the manual. Jessica felt the heavy manual and held it at her side. It had some heft to it.

"Tell me everything," She said, turning to Jung.

He looked back to the shocked crowd.

"Elder sister, first let me honor the fallen."

He nodded to two white belts who removed the body of Elder Kang in some ritual that Jessica watched in silence. For five minutes the two moved in a slow reverent manner, eventually placing a fur blanket over him.

"Junior Disciple Jung. It appears that I have a lot to learn, but we're going to learn together. Now, what is cycling?"

For the first time, she saw the teenager smile.

One hour later and Jessica was finally able to move qi around in her core, drawing natural energy in. The euphoria she felt finally convinced her of something.

"I'm not in Kansas anymore," she said.

"Kansas?"

Jung kneeled in front of her.

"Nevermind. Tell me about the sect."

The two sat in the lotus pose in the center of the cavern. It looked more alive now that she was cycling her qi subconsciously.

"What is it that you want to know?" Jung asked.

"For starters, how many of you are there? How do you feed yourselves? Why did this Elder die and why are we underground?"

Jung sighed, adjusting his fur overcoat. His bald head reflected the light as his forehead creased.

"All you see are here in this room. There was… an attack that we could not stand. All of the elders have died in the attack along with all of the senior disciples. Elder Kang, may his name be exalted, saved some of my brothers and sisters, and then he...I think he summoned you once he knew that he was not going to make it."

Jessica stopped cycling her qi through her core. Thereupon the euphoria dripped out of her slowly.

The now sober Jessica raised herself from the lotus position.

"How much food and water do we have?"

For the next 2 hours, Jessica learned the ins and the outs of the Cold Steel School. To learn the attack had just happened around the same time that she had been transported here gave credence to the idea that Elder Kang had been the one to summon her. It was an act of desperation according to those who knew him.

Throughout this, she cycled, drawing on the natural qi in the area. In the end, even Jung remarked that she was doing it well.

That was when she realized that they would need to go back and look for survivors. And to look for survivors she would need volunteers. For her to get volunteers she would need them to respect her as an authority figure. So she would need to take charge. Would she need to do this by prison rules or would the edict of a deceased elder carry the weight she would need?

"Junior Disciple Jung."

The teenager snapped to attention.

"Senior Sister."

"Who is the most senior of the remaining students? Either by age or martial prowess?"

A glimmer in his eye showed that she was finally asking the right questions.

"Or intelligence?" She said.

For all she knew, their education stopped at the third grade.

"Junior Disciple Yang is the best warrior left," Jung said, pointing towards a man of about eighteen with long hair in braids.

"Junior Disciple Jung believes that this one is himself the eldest, however the smartest?" Jung tapped a foot, “Regrettably, this one thinks that it is Initiate An-Yong. He’s advanced faster than most of his peers and he was set to take the test to become a Junior Disciple within the week. He has a talent for sensing qi, even through the cold aura around here.”

“An-Yong was sent with you to find me, wasn’t he? What are his duties usually?” Jessica sensed an opening, “When your Elder or Elders summoned me here, they expected me to take you through the current crisis. I need to know if the school will follow my instructions.”

Jung was taken aback. He bowed again. Jessica had read many books where power was only through might and she wasn’t ready to get into a fight with anyone.

“You can trust these disciples to follow you, Senior Sister.”

"Even Junior Disciple Yang wasn't left to fight when all of the Seniors left to fight it. That's something.

Jessica's mind started churning out answers. Either he was useless where he was or they thought that Yang was a liability. Either way they couldn't stay underground forever.

"Senior Sister?"

"Follow me."

The crowd of disciples watched as the two walked over to Initiate An-Yong and then the three walked to the exit to the northern hallway.

"We must see what devastation has been wrought. I no longer feel the pressure from it. Can either of you feel it now?"

"If this one were permitted to step outside of the schools protection scripts," An-Yong said, "it would be immediately apparent."

Jessica nodded. Without skipping a beat he stepped through. He flexed his hands and for a second she saw a flare of heat around him.

An-Yong returned looking no worse for wear. She could feel a bit of energy in his step. Perhaps cycling was easier outside of the protective scripts.

"The divine beast is long gone," he said, "This one tried to open his spiritual sense to see if there were survivors above."

He took a knee. Jessica laid a hand on his shoulder. It might not be the right thing in the customs of this world, but Jessica wasn't concerned with that.

"You might have some feelings and those are natural in the wake of a traumatic event. If you need time to process your feelings?" She ventured.

Both Jung and An-Yong looked as though they had never heard those words before. Had she put her foot in her mouth again? She'd resolve to be a bit less wrong in her dealings with the sect. They might be a group of arrogant young masters, but she had to work with the hand she had been dealt.

"Senior Sister, we hear and obey, I am certain that Initiate An-Yong is fit to serve."

An-Yong stood and bowed to her.

"This one is unworthy of the Seniors' consideration. Please allow me to"

She cut him off, "Understood. We need to take stock of what happened in the attack. Lead me to the surface."

On the surface, Jessica held her nose. The pungent smell of dead bodies was only overpowered by the smoke rising from the line of scorched earth that neatly bisected the large castle, which had once housed the school.

Cycling her qi, Jessica realized that she should feel cold, but didn't. She would have to have that explained later. A decade of living in Denver had caused her to be particularly adept at dressing for the weather so she was surprised that her heavy robes and fur coat were enough to stop her from feeling what must be freezing temperatures.

Around the school it looked to be deep winter, with a fresh coat of snowfall and a clear sky. The clear starry night was the only source of light besides two buildings that were still on fire. Trampled bodies littered the path and Jessica counted twenty.

She would have to learn their funeral rites, she thought, especially if they saw her as some cross between a parent and a professor.

"What is in that direction?" She said pointing away from the outer walls of the castle. If this beast had stopped or slowed on its rampage it wasn’t apparent. The ground was just evenly razed throughout.

"In that direction?" An-Yong said, rubbing his chin,"just wilderness and eventually the northern tundras."

She turned. It wasn’t clear from the remains of the castle which way was east or west.

"And that way?" She pointed down the path of destruction, away from the tundra.

Jung gasped.

"That way," An-Yong said slowly,"is the nearest town and-"

An-Yong squinted.

"Senior Sister, this one cannot see the road from here, but it should be"

"Right in the path of destruction, am I right?"

"Oh. Oh!"

Jessica loved being right, generally.

She hated being right about this.