"Who are you talking to?" Aurora asked. She already had her dark brown boots and was now looking for a robe she liked in the closet. There were two whites, a black one, a green one whose sleeves had orange stripes, and even a light blue one. As one would expect, she chose the black one; the color that now flowed throughout her meridians.

"You'll understand soon," Liu replied and smiled. He had a maternal smile, Aurora noted. He had promised to take care of the girl and the time had finally come. It didn't matter if he had not fought in over a dozen years. If, at some point in his life, there was ever a situation where he needed to do it, it was now. "Follow me."

They walked down a long corridor until they entered the living room, an ample space featuring a table in the center, a jar full of dead flowers atop it, and a shoji on the other side, a sliding wooden door wrapped in translucent green paper through which clarity entered. The ceiling of the living room, unlike that of the bedroom and the kitchen, was oval. Aurora had never seen anything like it before. Liu walked to the shoji and drove it to the right side, unveiling a green garden bordered by a wall of gray bricks.

The high noon sun shed light on the dozens of plants that photosynthesized there; lilacs, daisies, roses, camellias, and even others that Aurora had never seen before—besides shadowing a man-made earthen path. Liu not only had a privileged and direct view of the stream but also round pebbles led to a larger rock where the waterfall poured, the jug of water diminishing the color on the top, shaping it until it was flat and whitish. A table by the river, the water splattering it, was surrounded by two chairs, and it was used as a base for a book whose pages were bound together and had black vaults. Liu-Ken signaled Aurora to sit there.

Even with his back turned, he could sense the shadows walking silently along the ceiling, their gentle steps, their panting breath, and their hearts pumping blood into their almost untouched veins. They were shallow soldiers. The most they could do was put the little chi they had access to into their weapons. The mana flowed amidst gusts of wind that fondled their faces and exposed them. They didn't know how to hide their presence, let alone conceal their chi. They weren't even a match for Liu-Ken, no matter how rusty he was in the art of fighting.

"This is it. Pay attention. You're about to meet an old companion of your father's," Liu-Ken told Aurora, turning around, his eyes now on the three bodies that jumped off the roof and landed a few meters from him, crushing the flowers beneath their boot heels.

"We're from Kaji School and we're here to find out what happened in the village of Lapulis!" one of them said. He had a black mustache that covered his upper lip and some triangular sideburns that expanded up to his cheeks.

"Yes! Let's avenge our colleagues! For Kaji School!" one of his colleagues yelled. He was thick-lipped, with red robe sleeves and white stripes around his earth-covered wrist. A rookie, surely, or he would have been careful not to dirty his sacred cloak.

"You shouldn't have come here. I am Liu-Ken, lord of this house and of this forest. Your presence is not welcome here," he said as he stepped forward.

The three soldiers backed down. A wave of grumbling erupted at the recognition of the name Liu-Ken. A forbidden name to say. One rejected by schools, banned from entering the four of them, his head worth a hundred gold coins. The bald soldier tried to look behind him. Aurora was seated, her dead gaze on all three of them, nonchalant. Even though she was only a young girl, she conveyed a dreadful sensation. The chis wriggled in her presence, the mana lost its equilibrium, deconstructing and spreading in fragments throughout nature. The water was agitated and the animals, even those who had returned to the forest, were unsettled.

"What do we do?" the other soldier asked. He wore a robe that didn't even fit him, his sleeves folded both on his arms and legs. He had a quadrangular face, a well-defined jaw, but still young features. The pink cheeks, the protruding Adam's apple, and the thin fingers that trembled as if he were playing an invisible piano reassured Liu-Ken of their fear. "He's a dishonest cultivator! He supported the necromancer revolt against our school," the soldier added, pointing at Liu-Ken.

The battle would be easy. A professional fighter training for the trials that awaited him. It was time to introduce the old companion's deity to the world. He pulled a kitchen knife out of his pocket and cut off the surface of one of his fingers. Droplets of blood dripped onto a green plant. Aurora's eyes gained color. She had no idea what was happening, but something within her told her to be attentive, that she was about to witness something quite special.

Liu lifted his finger and placed it over the ring. The blood slowly dropped, staining it. The purple glowed, drawing in the blood, the color shifting to an onyx gem, black with only a few smudges of red.

"Honor us with your presence, oh Deity of Fire, Kagu!" Liu roared to the heavens, red wine chains coming out of the ring and encircling his body.

"What's happening?" the little soldier asked the one with the mustache, wide-eyed with fear.

"I have no idea! I've never seen anything like it. We have to attack him before he's ready."

"But the rules of combat say we must never attack anyone who is defenseless," the boy replied. Beads of sweat glided down from his forehead.

"Does he seem defenseless to you? It's either us or him and right now we're at a disadvantage. Hurry!"

The three soldiers stretched their spears, their ends imbued with poison. Even Aurora could feel the tremendous power that was being released from the ring. The once blue sky now bore red lights, scarlet flashes blinking from one side to the other. The ground trembled, and the water swirled around itself. Liu-Ken closed his eyes. The chains melted all over his body. Lava gradually spread, covering his white robe but never burning his skin. The brittle autumn aroma and the gentle breeze made way for a strong smell of sulfur and wind blasts that plucked petal after petal. The energy around the man was similar to that which Aurora had felt just before he lost control of her body, powerful and not human.

The soldiers stepped forward. The closer they got the harder it was for them to continue. The chi that Liu emitted shoved them back. Mana burned their skin. The air became too thick to breathe. They retreated all the way back. They were already drenched in sweat, their clothes sticking to their bodies, their hands trembling with fear.