When Da Shan died all the energy gathering in his body exploded in a pillar of light that pierced the ceiling of the room, his mangled form collapsing in the center of the cold stone room — one arm short and a middle finger shorter — as water poured in through the ceiling, washing the blood away. Lee grinned wickedly and licked his fingernails clean with a long thick, snakelike tongue. A strange and cunning expression flitted across his face. His yellow eyes burned like firey embers in the night, but when a soft wind flitted down his back it sent shivers up his spine and his eyes dulled.

McCarthy slowly rose to his feet — the wind dancing around him with concern — as he stood the flowing water abated, suspended in the air, like leaves caught in an updraft. His eyes a glowing blue. McCarthy stood. Straightened his back. Waved his hand and sent the water back up the hole, strong winds whipping up and catching rocks, slowly patching up the shattered ceiling with his powers. He levelled a cold hard gaze to Lee, who shrunk back in confusion, the cunning expression hidden behind fearful eyes.

“Get up there.” His voice sharp like a drawn blade.

“Chancellor, what do you mean?” Before the puzzled expression could emerge on his face Lee was flung into the ceiling by a violent current of air, yelping as he crashed into the roof. The impact nearly broke the newly mended ceiling — held together by powerful currents of wind.

“Chancellor, what have I done?!” A panicked expression took over Lee’s face and his skin went pale like a ghost, his yellow eyes making an eerie contrast in the dim light. His voice shaking like a leaf. His eyes darted about with wild confusion as he stood on a solid wall of air below the ceiling.

“Do you think if I wanted him dead, I would have left him alive?” McCarthy's voice was cold and ruthless.

“Chancellor I —”

“Be still.” McCarthy’s voice rippled out like the pounding of a subwoofer, his eyes stopped glowing and the wind holding up the rocks fell, and rocks crashed into Lee who was suspended in mid-air by a floor of solid air. Blood and teeth showered from above as the secretary screamed, letting stones fall to the floor and water pour back in.

“HOLD IT UP!”

Lee straightened his back against the force of water and stone, slowly standing and managing to stem the flow of the stream. His legs shaking under the immense weight of nearly a tonne of rock. McCarthy regarded him coolly, then spoke softly.

“For your sake, he better be alive.”

Lee huffed out, “How could he possibly be alive?”

“How could he possibly kill three deacons? How did he survive Ed’s attack? How could he possibly knock me unconscious? How could he possibly have hidden this from my eyes? How could he have survived this long? How could this method work? How? How? How?! HOW! HOW! HOW!”

Lee shrank back, while holding the ceiling up.

“HOW?! …LEE you tell me ‘how’. Come here and tell me ‘how’ dammit!”

“Chancellor, I —”

“Shut up Lee. If he’s dead. If you killed my father!” McCarthy clenched his knuckles so hard, blood leaked out of his palms, his eyes aflame with fury, “By the Light Untold, you better be afraid. Be pricking afraid Lee...”

If Lee could tremble any more, he would have. He felt a deep fear settle in the pit of his stomach. He remembered the hand in a jar… where the Chancellor kept the witches… that dark room… that dark dark room. He wanted to die.

McCarthy strode to Da Shan’s body. He knelt down, his hands touched the blood-stained kimono. With a wave of his hand a warm breeze ran across Da Shan’s lifeless form and all the blood and water was removed. McCarthy bent his head to Da Shan’s headless chest. His eyes sparked with an insane hope, a crazy hope, but not an impossible hope. Cultivators were a very mysterious group, you could never judge a circumstance by its outward appearance. Perhaps he had a lost art that would regenerate his head, or maybe this was a grand illusion he had trapped them in, or maybe he… McCarthy’s ear heard no sound, the dancing wind went in and out of Da Shan’s body and found no trace nor movement of life. Maybe he was… No! It can’t be! I won’t let you fool me old friend! McCarthy ran to Da Shan’s head and stared in his eyes, searching for any sign of life. But those cold eyes motionlessly stared back at him, unblinking, unmoving — lifeless.

“Hehehe! I figured it out, you’re too simple Da Shan!” The Chancellor nearly skipped over to the corpse with Da Shan’s head in hand, with a flourish he stuck the head onto the corpse, stood back with a grin and waited.

Lee’s mind was trembling with fright. He’s gone insane, his rational mind is being overwhelmed… it’s another episode. Light Untold no… prick me.

“Da Shan why aren’t you getting up? Oh! I forgot,” McCarthy pulled out an ornate tube from his pocket and with a snap of his fingers lit the tube — which shot out a jet of blue flame. Bending down he burned Da Shan’s head back onto his body, sending wind into Da Shan’s dead cells, forcibly moving them together and searing the head back to the body. The smell of singed hair and flesh filled the air and the scent almost made Lee choke. McCarthy stepped back and gazed at Da Shan like a mad scientist beholding his freakish creation. He waited. The clock ticked by and Da Shan didn’t move. McCarthy grew impatient.

“Move.”

No response.

“Quit playing games old man… you promised you’d help me take revenge!”

No response.

“Da Shan… don’t be coy… you promised… you promised…” McCarthy’s voice almost cracked at the end. He waited more and then with a roar charged Da Shan’s body and kicked it forcefully, breaking some of the corpse’s ribs. With a crack and a dull thud, the body lifelessly bounced like a ragdoll. After tumbling and rolling, the body stopped moving and flopped like a dead fish.

“NO!” With a cry of rage McCarthy wound up like a soccer star and booted Da Shan’s precious tome into the wall, the book ricocheted off the wall and ceiling — nearly hitting him in the head. With lightning quick reflexes he caught the book in his hand before it smashed into his face. He scowled at the book and his eyes widened when he noticed that the book had taken no damage. He stared at the book then at the body, he looked around the room at all the papers scattered about. He paused, then came to a decision. With a snap of his fingers every paper, book and pill levitated in the room and floated to McCarthy. He looked at Da Shan’s body and it too hovered in the air, suspended as if on a platform. He looked at the book in his hand, spared a glance at Lee and marched out of the room, all the items following behind him. Lee’s shoulders visibly relaxed and just as he was about to put the stones down McCarthy’s voice drifted to him from outside the room.

“Organize these papers and books in the drafting room for me, then help yourself to a Full Moon mission. If you come back, bring the reward to me. If you die, consider this my mercy. I’ve taken into account your years of service and have decided to give you a chance to make amends.”

Lee, with some gratitude in his eyes, replied, “Chancellor, consider it done.”

McCarthy’s silence followed. Lee waited. Slowly, he was lowered to the ground and a flirtatious wind flitted about him cleaning him up. The ceiling now being held up by McCarthy’s power, the immediate fear of death gone, a small smirk dashed across the secretary's face. Lee straightened his outfit and dashed off, chasing after the wind that carried the materials from the room.

When they arrived back to the Pentagon, McCarthy directed the wind into the drafting room — a few doors down from his office — and took Da Shan’s floating body to the Anatomical Department. As he walked down the halls he heard the sharp chimes of the sect clock tower, each bell shuddering his very soul. McCarthy was disturbed. It was midnight. Tonight was a strange night. After marching down a few stairs and meandering through a couple corridors he found himself in front of a very special dorm room. It was the room of the Department Head of Anatomical Cultivation, Lord Elderweiss. A boney man and a rather frightening man, all the Department Heads had a depth of cultivation that rivalled the Sages on his council, but this man’s cultivation was exceptionally deep. McCarthy got a sense of unfathomability whenever he tried to get a read on Lord Elderweiss’ power, it unnerved him. But, he still felt like he had the upper hand, he himself was concealing a few terrible secrets of his own — what could a puny Department Head do, compared to him, the Chancellor of the entire sect? That and he and Elderweiss had a special... relationship. He stared at the black gnarled wooden door, then, suddenly grabbed the golden door knocker and pounded wildly for a few seconds. Then stepped back and waited.

No answer.

He stepped forward and knocked furiously, then stepped back.

No answer.

McCarthy felt the veins in his temples throb, he knocked again, beating the door so hard splinters started popping off and the gold knocker started getting dents. He stepped back.

No answer.

Prick me! I’m going to kill you Elderweiss! McCarthy’s rage nearly made him lose control of Da Shan’s corpse, the cadaver bouncing off the wall. After ensuring his friends body was properly cared for, he stared at the door intently and began summoning a whirlwind. The wind, like sharp blades, cut through the air — whizzing and whirring with an unnatural danger. He raised his right hand and the wind morphed into a ghostly grey spear, suspended above his head.

“Good bye, Elderweiss I’ll —”

“Eh?! Yes, who goes there? Who said my name! Dammit when you speak so loud an old man can’t sleep. Speak up or I’ll skin you alive!”

“ELDERWEISS!”

“Hehehe… just kidding McCarthy, I just wanted to make you wait. It’s what you deserve… waking up an old man like me in the middle of the night!” The gilded door swung open on its own, it’s well oiled hinges doing well to hide McCarthy’s abuse that had rapidly aged it.

McCarthy, unceremoniously, strode in and the door shut behind him. Lord Elderweiss’ room was massive, most of the Department Head rooms were — but his was huge. It was a trick using Space Magic, extending the length of the dimensional plane allowed the sect to expand without claiming new land — and keep everyone relatively close together. One of McCarthy’s strategic plans to ensure their defensibility. Elderweiss’ room was the peak of modern Wizardry and Engineering. Thousands of books lined enormous shelves that seemed to stretch into an endless black abyss, papers, charts, pill bottles and jars filled with who knows what were scattered on tables and chairs everywhere.

The exact opposite of McCarthy’s well tidied and organized office.

McCarthy felt a deep anger well up within him. It is simply disgusting to be this messy… why I ought to wring his boney neck and make him clean up the floor with his tongue… oh yes… that’s a juicy idea. McCarthy’s mind whirled to dark places only neat freaks could understand. He glanced down the 100-meter length of the room and made a mental note of every obstacle he stumbled over. As he walked in the eerie blue light — a light that just seemed to sit in the air like a cloud, he couldn't help but get a little nervous. McCarthy was a rather wretched man himself, but Anatomical Cultivators always creeped him out — something he didn’t like about Da Shan — all the body parts in jars… simply disgusting, storing parts of the human body and things like that. He hoped the old man had been faithful to the code and only used parts from cadavers, but one could never be certain. He had already killed one Department Head, the Head of Wizardry, even though that was ages ago it still left a scar on school history, a scar he didn’t want to have to re-open. When McCarthy reached the old man — who was hunched over a desk fiddling with knobs, buttons and what looked to be… organs? — He tapped him on the shoulder and hissed.

“Damn you Elderweiss, you couldn’t bloody come to me, I’m the Chancellor!”

“You couldn’t bloody come in the daytime?” Elderweiss turned and stared at McCarthy defiantly, but with a hint of innocence. This was why McCarthy ultimately trusted (and liked — though he wouldn’t admit it openly) Elderweiss, he wasn’t a bad man… relatively. There were other reasons as well… but his relative goodness was the main one. McCarthy’s anger subsided. Elderweiss was the definition of spindly old man, his skin was practically all that separated the outside world from his bones. He was a tall man though, if he managed to straighten out he’d be over seven feet tall. He had heterochromia, one eye was green and the other orange. He wore a loose purple and gold robe draped over his skinny form and a white and grey cascading beard obscured all the robe's intricate patterning. His beard and wild locks of snow white hair, cut him the picture of a mad scientist, no one would guess that he had the best fist techniques in the entire sect and bones sturdier than the strongest metals. McCarthy straightened his back and resisted the urge to send a wind to tidy Elderweiss’ elderly appearance.

“I need a favour from you Elderweiss.”

“Oh?”

“I want you to check if this guy’s dead.” McCarthy, with a gentle wind swept a table clean and softly placed Da Shan’s body down on it.

“Eh? Interesting…” Elderwiess ambled up to the corpse and traced his finger along the neck line and glanced over, “You do this yourself?”

McCarthy did not respond. Elderweiss waited. Then spoke.

“When you get to be as old as me you discover something, the most valuable commodity isn’t money… it’s information. You tell me who he is to you and I’ll diagnose him.”

McCarthy’s lips curled into a snarl, “I know the diagnosis, he’s dead you twit.”

Elderweiss eyebrows went up, “I see… so why’d you bring him here?”

“I want to verify it.”

“If he’s dead?”

“Yes.”

“Did you cut his head off?”

“Lee did.”

“Did you patch it back up… with a blow torch?”

McCarthy winced, recollecting his descent into insanity but responded, “A lighter, but yes.”

“Now McCarthy, I —”

“Don’t call me that.”

Elderweiss absently waved, “Chancellor I mean… I’m no expert… oh wait… I am!!! Hehehe! Ahem… uh… how do I put this? Why in the bloody hell would you think he’d still be alive?”

“You don’t know him like I do.”

“McCarthy —”

“Chancellor.”

“Chancellor… no one has ever come back from the dead… ever… and he is very dead… despite some idiot’s efforts to blow torch his head back on.”

“So there’s no hope?”

“None that I can see… if you let me dissect him perhaps I can —” Elderweiss moved to the body, his hand moved across it rapidly, but McCarthy pulled back with a glare.

“No. Out of the question.”

“Eh… you ruin all the fun… Hang on… what’s this? You damn elf-skin you’ve been lying to me!!!”

McCarthy just stared at Elderweiss like one would stare at a child throwing a tantrum.

“This man’s the bloody result of some human experimentation! This is disgusting…ly wonderful! Hmmm… it seems atmospheric energy leaked out and oh?! That’s why this arm exploded… there’s no fixing that…”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“You know what he was up to?”

“Not really… some complex thing… If I could just dissect him, I’d —”

“No.” McCarthy paused, a wind carried Da Shan and he turned on his heels and called after Elderweiss, “Follow me.”

Elderweiss, not wanting to lose sight of a potentially massive breakthrough in research followed McCarthy all the way to the drafting room — which had been neatly organized by Lee before he left. McCarthy set Da Shan on the floor and stood back, allowing Elderweiss to scramble all over the room, frantically grabbing at drawings and studying every little jot mark with fanaticism. After almost a solid hour of Elderweiss’ insane mumblings, McCarthy cleared his throat — loudly. Elderweiss stopped, irritation plastered across his face.

“What damn you?!”

“So… what exactly did he do… I know he was trying to remake his body’s potential… but —”

“Remake his body’s potential?! HA!” Elderweiss gave an incredible laugh to McCarthy’s dumbfounded expression.

“I have it on good authority that this was his plan.”

“Psh! He only said that because you guys were too stupid… too stupid to understand the mad genius of this man… this man… whoever he was,” Elderweiss gestured to Da Shan’s body, “Is a genius of unparalleled greatness!”

McCarthy snorted, “He’s a mediocre man at —”

“Fool! He was unlocking the secret to longevity! Why is that a soul must leave the body? Why does the time run out even if the body is healthy? He was doing two things… one remaking his body, the other — erasing death itself… an immortal body… an unkillable body… a body that no matter how damaged… it wouldn’t die! True immortality! A genius! Pure genius!” At this point Elderweiss’ breath was feeding itself directly into McCarthy’s nose. McCarthy pushed the old man away, who tumbled to the ground with a start and then started laughing.

“Hehehehe… but something is missing here… you must have it… his work isn’t original… I can tell from the notes… but he tried to expand on another work —recreate it so to speak — Hehehe! Where is McCarthy?” The old man’s eyes glinted with potential violence as he got to his feet and started walking to McCarthy.

“Back old fool. Or I will kill you.” The room went dark and a thousand winds swarmed at McCarthy’s back, taking the shapes of arrows, swords, spears — every weapon imaginable — all were trained on Elderweiss. Elderweiss flinched and stepped back, his tone softening.

“I meant no harm… Chancellor.”

“Is Da Shan dead?”

“Eh?! This was the Elder of Mediocrity?! Dammit of all the —”

“Is. He. Dead.” Each word was slow and heavy, more like statements than questions — McCarthy’s voice flat and dull.

“Yes, yes, yes… he is. Definitely. Bury the body and be rid of it… before it rots. He’s very dead. Even if we solved his method, his soul is long gone… it’s impossible for him to come back. But your revenge and my revenge… that becomes… very possible.”

McCarthy met Elderweiss’ eyes with his own, and a maniacal glint sparked in it.

“Finally you speak some wise words old man. Let me fetch the tome and let’s research this.”

“I understand why you wish he was alive, if he was… Light Untold… the brilliant ideas he would contribute to our research… but, tut! Though he was a genius he was weak. Only Captain Grade at best.”

“Yes... I know… a shame. Let us begin our research tomorrow, I will go bury him… as a sign of respect.”

“Let me come to! A genius such as this I want to —”

“NO!”

“… If you say so… I’ll just stay here then…”

McCarthy turned and walked out. He stopped and called to Lord Elderweiss without turning around.

“Do you ever wonder where your father is?”

Elderweiss’ eyes narrowed, “Why would I?!” He spat the words out in rage, “The man who couldn’t protect my Mother or my sister… damn! He even killed them and ran away! Why would I wonder WHERE HE IS?!” Elderweiss’ last words turned into screams of rage. His boney body huffed and puffed with anger and his eyes glowed with anger.

“Forget I asked, I’ll be back in a couple hours… I need some rest.”

“…Yes… I’ll stay here for a little bit… then go and sleep… then… tomorrow… I’ll come back… give me the key... or I'll never sleep!”

McCarthy tossed him the key behind his back, then started walking. His fine leather shoes clacking on the hallways and then the stairs as he walked out into the moonlight. It was passed midnight. Well passed. But he had something he needed to do. Everything was a blur to McCarthy, he somehow found himself in front of Da Shan’s secret lair. He allowed himself a soft chuckle and then, in front of the rope bridge, lifted clumps of dirt and grass from the ground… hollowing out a deep hole. He pulled planks and rope from the bridge, cleaning them and binding them together — making a coffin. He reached into his pocket and tossed a soft warm blanket into the coffin, a blanket that glimmered with mysterious energy that rippled along dark blue cotton threads. Katherine would want you to have it…

“To preserve your body old friend.”

He wrapped Da Shan’s corpse and set it in the coffin. He dug out the area in front of the grave at the top of the bridge and the area at the back of the drawbridge, making a small island. Slowly, he set the coffin in the grave. A wind whistled across the front of the coffin, engraving it with some words, he hesitated before engraving the last line… it was a painful line. The line Da Shan said when his wife died, but it was a line he often repeated to McCarthy. A line McCarthy often repeated to himself. McCarthy gently set the coffin down. Read the words and cried. Read the words again and wept. Buried the coffin and walked off, while tears kept pouring down his face. Your story is over old friend… it’s my turn now. McCarthy reread the words he had written in his mind, mulling over each letter and syllable. Each recollection bringing back old long buried memories and fresh tears. When he reached his bed, he wrapped himself in his sheets, but those words were still there. He closed his eyes, but his mind kept going. Finally, when light was breaking through his window, sleep came to him.

Here are those words:

Oz “Da Shan” Elderweiss

Husband to Katherine Rose Elderweiss

Father to Michael “Lord” Elderweiss

Father to Maybelle Elizabeth McCarthy

And a True Father to Joseph Sebastian McCarthy

“Life. When it ends, there is nothing but regret.”