Alex’s eyes jolted open, his moment of dazed confusion becoming the horrific awareness of unspeakable pressure as relief turned to awareness of their own mortal peril.

Somehow, they had done it.

By some miracle, they were alive.

But they were still on the steps, and Hao Chan and Yinzi’s looks of surprised disbelief rapidly became torment as the full pressure of Divine tier ascension crushed into them.

Magnified by the divine pressure he sensed crashing down into the shattered garden below, surrounded by a sea of stormc louds crackling with lightning.

Where there had once been a magnificent collage of color, perfume, and pristine perfection, priceless spirit herbs and a sacred tree guarding the exquisite plants under its care, there was now only a shattered rubble-filled crater and a single branch of a buried tree, still heavy with fruit, waving in the breeze.

Alex froze in momentary horror at the sight of a rapidly forming gate stretching impossibly high and crackling with lightning. The hideous sounds of titanic gods could be heard roaring just beyond. Yet there was a silver of hope to be found even with that massive symbol of impending doom.

A relatively tiny obsidian gate, at least compared to the massive crackling portal Alex now feared the gods themselves were preparing to cross, with three golden apples gently placed by the dying tree just beside it.

Alex didn’t hesitate, immediately knowing what he had to do.

An act of madness he had never dared it before. But he already knew what would happen if he tried to use his Gold tier art to slide past spiritual energy currents and his angle or timing was even the slightest bit off.

Yet here he did something entirely different. He didn’t try to deflect the crashing torrent of spiritual energy that would kill his future wives in less than a second.

Instead, he visualized a giant sail aimed right for the obsidian door just beside the divine crackling gate promising his death, and infused it with every ounce of his Gold Crane technique.

You have successfully used Gold Crane kung fu to propel yourself at record speeds in the blink of an eye! You have saved versus blackout! Gold Crane kung fu is now Rank 4!

“Yinzi! Shadow step to the door!” Alex cried out to the kitsune girl gazing at him with wide frightened eyes, still somehow on the first divine step. How she had slipped free, how she was surviving now, he had no idea. But the divine gate filled with roaring gods who would stop at nothing to strike Alex dead in this pocket realm was definitely opening as cards of binding were snapped, one by one.

“Now!”

And just when Alex was terrified this would be one of ‘those’ tales, a shaken Yinzi popped by his side, hugging him fiercely, before picking up the fruit.

“Okay, come on, let’s go through the door and get out of here! And oh look, triple gold sigil jade talismans! Now let’s touch the door together and port—“

“There they are!” The air howled with thunder. The voice of Long Wang himself, sending Alex crashing to the ground. If he had thought the titanic weight of Jade overwhelming, to taste the will of a divine foe outside of a game room where all parties were constrained by countless oaths, was the difference between a thimble full of water and an ocean. “Kill them now! Don’t let them touch the—”

Adderstrike!

You have successfully struck Jade Dimensional Portal!

Your disciples are hanging onto you for dear life!

Your party has been successfully teleported to: Jade Scion Sanctuary.

Jade Scion Sanctuary is firmly within the realm of mundus.

Note! Game rules forbid Contenders from direct conflict within the Golden Realms!

***

Alex lurched upright with a gasp, surprised and strangely relieved to find himself in his father’s old study of all places, eyes squinting in the gentle autumn light coming through one of the windows, painfully sore muscles finding some measure of comfort relaxed against the winged leather recliner he once used to love curling up with a good book and a steaming hot cup of cacao. Mostly he would read his father’s old fantasy novels, enjoying the smell of actual ink and paper, the feel of a hardback book in his hands.

For just a second, Alex closed his eyes and smiled, savoring the tantalizing smells wafting up from the kitchen to the upstairs library, more eager than words could say to go downstairs and tell his little sisters who he just knew were baking chocolate chip cookies with his mother at that very moment, about the wondrous dream he had, and the glorious adventures he had savored. He could so easily imagine their wide-eyed looks, and their squeals of excitement when they dashed off to play super ninja, or the twinkle in his mother’s eyes when she’d tell him he was wasting himself, spending his weekends learning to run the family business by his father’s side, and would do far more good for the world as a writer.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, savoring the dream of that endless possibility.

If only he were that fifteen year old again and not twenty going on a thousand, with a body now filling far more of the recliner than had once been the case.

But still, for just a moment, he could dream.

“And there is nothing wrong with dreams, my glorious disciple. Dreams glorious and grand. Dreams that could reshape a world entire.”

Alex swallowed the lump in his throat, already knowing the significance of WiFu speaking directly in his mind, even in his dream.

Alex choked back a sob, suddenly missing his ever cheerful twin sisters with an ache so sharp it brought tears to his eyes as he beheld a gently smiling WiFu dressed in his usual inspector’s uniform with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of milk on the end table by his side.

Alex gazed at the god of chaos and change for long moments before claiming both milk and cookies, then closing his eyes and letting the memory of his final happy childhood memory, when the entire family was hale and healthy and savoring snacks just the day before his father and sisters were killed by a runaway semi-trailer, and it was just him and his mother against the world.

And then he had died of cancer, just a couple of years later.

“How is she?”

WiFu gently tapped his cup of milk against Alex’s own. “You know there are some questions I’m forbidden from answering, Alex, particularly since our time stream is now at right angles to her own.”

Alex gazed at his mentor for painful long moments. “I’m not even entirely sure what that means.”

“Interdimensional physics is kind of strange. Cookie?”

Alex laughed through his tears. “You know what, I think I will.” He took a scrumptious bite of caramelized brown sugar perfection, with a soft gooey center that was the epitome of dark chocolate deliciousness. Sheer perfection, like his mother always made.

Alex sighed. “These are too good to let bittersweet memories keep from sharing with the world. The next time I’m in my palace, I’m going to be handing out these cookies to everyone.”

WiFu cleared his throat, a faintly apologetic look on his face as he continued to speak using his mind alone. “And there’s the rub, my young disciple. Part of the reason why I’m risking so much, having this silent chat with you.”

Alex froze where he sat, with another chocolate chip cookie inches from his mouth in one hand, a cold glass of milk in the other, sitting up in a leather recliner, heart now pounding with cold dread. Thoughts he’d rather remain dreamlike pierced his fragile reality once more.

The sheer exhilaration and horror of refining a divine tier soul stone on a prismatic set of steps leading to the heavenly realms, savoring the dying shrieks of a god. Laughing as a pantheon swore anew to kill him at all costs, knowing he was already doomed, and happy to make those bastards suffer as he got closer to ascension than he had ever dared before, even if the cost of Shalu’s life would be his own.

But somehow, he had lived.

WiFu’s jade green eyes, so vast and all-encompassing that Alex felt like he could fall and drown in their glorious depths for eternity, crinkled in a smile. “Because in the end, you wanted survival more than vengeance. The one saving grace of being so brilliantly stupid as to use a nemesis card on yourself. With hate burning as bright as yours had, your cortex chemistry was the same. You were the same, so your self identity and drives remained intact.” He shrugged. “For the most part.”

Alex gulped, swallowing his cookie.

WiFu smirked. “Simply put, you chose self-preservation over vengeance, which wasn’t a bad choice at all.” He flashed an evil grin. “Particularly since that bastard still owes you two full ranks. No shame in letting him recover until he can pay up in full.”

Alex shuddered in sudden awful memory. “I was laughing like a madman, tasting my own death. And reveling in it, because I had no choice.” He shook his head, awed and horrified by how fiercely he had held to madness’s reign. “And then I found that I did.”

WiFu nodded. “Channeling the potency of a soul stone so many leagues above Jade it defies comprehension.” He smirked. “I’m afraid your earlier 7 for 1 conversion for earlier tiers isn’t quite accurate. Not in this, at least.”

Alex shuddered. “I know. Tell me about it.” He frowned in sudden memory. “There is no way I should have been able to… Shui Jun was toying with me when I hung between life and death, barely supported by the wood’s own roots. Because with that much power...”

WiFu nodded. “Toying with you out of boredom and curiosity both. Much like the Jade, eager to poke the mouse he could so easily crush and see if he could learn from toying with it, much like every house cat ever.” He shrugged as Alex shivered. “Of course, Shui Jun was hoping you’d be clever enough to find away to slip free of the cards that had damned you both, though she certainly hadn’t expected to pay for her clemency with her life… and the Jade was following thousand year old instincts to seek insight and revelations from every encounter with his opponents, even if his primary path mirror’s Shalu’s own.” WiFu flashed a hard smile. “And your own as well.”

Alex’s eyes widened with disgust and outrage… before closing his eyes and bowed his head. “Damn it, you’re right. I hate the fact that you’re right.” His gut clenched in sudden memory. “That Jade… even just toying with us, mocking us… a single clenched fist and the ground erupted like someone had called an artillery strike back on Earth… and when he was really pissed, he sent an entire moon crashing down upon that sacred garden!”

Alex glared down at his own clenched fists, milk and cookie no more than crumpled dough and glass that did absolutely nothing to harm flesh infused with the might of a Gold.

Alex gazed at his own trembling hand with awe. “WiFu...”

“Yes, Alex?”

“Did I really…” he swallowed his suddenly dry throat, gazing at himself with a mirror summoned by will alone. “I don’t look that different. Maybe an inch taller. A single bloody inch. No more.” Imploring eyes turned to WiFu’s own. “My muscles, joints, hell, my entire body is throbbing and aching like I just had the most intense workout of my life.”

“And your bones as well, no doubt.”

Alex smiled and shook his head. “Actually, no.” His grin grew at his mentor’s surprised expression. “My bones feel perfectly fine. I really think that in that area, if nowhere else, I’ve come damn close to perfection.”

WiFu frowned. Then paled.

Alex lowered his gaze. “I was inspired by perfection. Held it in my arms. I… know the feel of divine prismatic bone, WiFu.” Alex swallowed, looking up once more. “As you well know.”

His mentor’s face was suddenly hidden in shadow, thanks to the wide brim of his hat, but Alex would truly be a fool, not to understand. He quickly looked away, happy to find a fresh cookie in his hand. “I’ve never felt stronger,” he whispered. “And so close to bursting… exploding, that it terrifies me.”

WiFu nodded. “That’s because you are.”

Alex froze.

His mentor’s grin flashed a brilliant white from the shadow of his hat. “And such a glorious explosion it would have been, destroying a good portion of our entire world, so much power did you condense within your mad vision of a space-elevator sized super cable, now whipping about your soul in speeds that might not compare to the superluminal madness of the inconceivably hot silver cores shrieking in the vessels that are your future wives and companions, where centrifugal force and angular momentum are the only things keeping both girls cores from imploding into singularities before erupting like quark bombs capable of doing such damage, my disciple, it defies even my ability to make light of.”

Alex blinked, gazing at his mentor for long moments as WiFu laughed and raised his milk mug.

“On the plus side, both girls have managed to achieve Silver so deep they have double digit Silver Ranks for each and every one of their stats. So there is that. Congrats!”

Alex blinked, nonplussed. “But… shit, I thought Rank 5 was the normal max, unless you had crazy good foundation or could shape yourself like me… and maybe Rank 6 for the truly absurd… But Rank 10 would be...”

“Yes. The equivalent of Rank 5 Silver and Rank 1 Gold.”

WiFu’s smile hardened. “You managed to infuse my lastborn daughter with the power of a Gold while still in Silver. Congratulations, Disciple. Your feat of madness has nothing to compare it to.”

Alex swallowed. “And superluminal speeds...”

WiFu shrugged. “Perhaps more accurate to say space is warping around it at a good clip of the speed of light. But since all this is allegorical and the physics of our shared reality has a number of different constants than the one you were born in, but close enough that sentient life does indeed exist, or we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, it hardly matters. Save to say that if my little fox and her future wife aren’t very, very careful… there will be serious repercussions.”

Alex stilled. “Shit. WiFu, just how fragile are my students?”

The god of mischief smirked. “So long as you don’t channel the potency of any more soul stones into them, they should be fine.”

Alex sunk into his chair in heartfelt relief. “Thank god. And the way I’m feeling right now, I wouldn’t dare that either.”

“Good,” Said WiFu. “Because if my daughter was mad absorbing so much power in not just 1 but all 4 physical stats, You, my darling disciple, managed a feat equally absurd with your own physique.”

Alex winced. “Because of the dragon blood.”

“Which is now your blood. But Yes. Rank 2 Gold Strength and Vitality as a Rank 5 Silver is nothing short of absurd.” WiFu chuckled softly and winked. “It’s a miracle you haven’t exploded yet, and you probably would have, had the angular momentum and effective spiritual mass of your glorious super cable gone up another full notch. You’re now Rank 5 Silver, and are just a hair away from Rank 6. If you claim any more soul stones before you’ve stabilized yourself, I can promise you that the world will never forget the mark you’ll be leaving behind, this time around.”

WiFu laughed at Alex’s expression. “Absolutely glorious! Fortunately, you were able to channel all that wondrous excess into shaping the world of your dreams. You and your disciples dreams, to be exact, which took the fatal pressure off my dearly beloved brother such that he will live and the rules of the game are once more in full effect. And you, my darling boy, were savvy enough to use Shui Jun’s own soul stone to enhance your world.” He smirked as Alex shivered. “The guardian of the dead now has her mark through your entire realm. Isn’t that glorious?”

Alex forced himself to nod. “Which means that my world is now firmly anchored to the tree, and the River of Souls. It can never be torn free and destroyed by anyone, not even your spite-filled clan.”

WiFu’s eyes flashed with dark mirth. “You understand. Just as I had hoped you would. And if there was one god who’s potency would benefit an entire realm, it was her, who is more in touch with the ebb and flow of mortality and existence itself than anyone else who has ever been.” He flashed a sad smile. “And she has made it clear that she will accept your burden, but that you still owe her a divine heart, or not even dying on your own realm will save you from her coils.”

WiFu’s smile froze, the words he said next spearing Alex where he stood. “Of course, you could always decline Shui Jun’s influence within your world...”

Alex blinked, gazing at his mentor for long moments. “A world now so vast and grand I wouldn’t be able to explore it in a single lifetime, filled with legends and stories and ancient lost cities, gifted with echoes of a history it never had before, but now always had… legends and secrets that noble cultivators, would be heroes who lose themselves in the depths of one forest, might find themselves in another...”

Alex swallowed, slowly shaking his head. “No. No, I will not imperil that which my and my disciples built. I accept and welcome Shui Jun’s influence and blessing within my world, and the debt we have to one another.”

WiFu gazed at Alex for long moments. The pressure grew so intense that for a single horrified instant Alex felt like he was gazing into the event horizon of oblivion, before his mentor’s golden peels of laughter echoed through his dream.

“Wonderful. Exactly what I was hoping you’d say. And it was your choice. Your realm. It’s reins freely surrendered to something greater than us both.”

WiFu saluted a somewhat confused Alex with the blood-filled chalice he had always had in his hand. “Now wake up, little fox. Things are getting truly exciting in Baidushi, and the hunt will soon be on.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Shit, you’re right! Dongfang Hong’s got a dozen balls in play and the here’s the tournament coming up where—“

WiFu held up a single finger, stopping Alex cold.

“You do understand that there was a price for your daring, I trust?”

Alex blinked and swallowed, feeling a lurch in his gut. “What price are we talking about, WiFu?”

WiFu closed his eyes. “I sense before me three disciples as close to perfection as any mortal has dared in centuries.” Jade green eyes locked with his own. “And all of them with unorthodox Silver cables or cores so supersaturated with potency that should they dare any pressures less intense than those currently endured, should they fail to achieve Gold in time… their feat will never be repeated, their lives shorn free of the river for all time.”

Alex blanched. “What the hell, WiFu! What does that even mean? That sounds as bad as Shui Jun’s coils!”

WiFu flashed Alex a pitying smile. “Everything was going as exquisitely well as one could hope, when you dared the steps of Gold, even the first tier of jade.”

Alex winced, taking a nervous bite of cookie when WiFu’s eyes continued to pin his own. “But then the second set of jade stairs you still felt compelled to take, the emperor’s daughter declaring her might before the world, daring to sit upon her father’s spiritual throne!” Alex blanched before WiFu’s chuckle. “It’s a very good thing that all rulers are sworn to take no part in theological matters. Too bad the same can’t be said about cultivation academy headmasters!”

WiFu looked faintly embarrassed. “One of my few really bad rounds, and my dear family has been capitalizing on it ever since. But there are reasons why very few administrators have any truck with genocidal purges, Yidushi being somewhat unique in that regard.”

But all Alex could think about was WiFu’s earlier comment. “So when Hao Chan sat on that throne in the clouds...”

“There could be no doubting the origins of the first girl you surrendered your heart to, this time around.”

Alex flushed and lowered his gaze. “Only because I was at the right place, at the right time.”

“True,” WiFu acknowledged. “But the choices you made were entirely your own. In any event, you had most certainly accomplished your objective of letting interested parties know that very interesting things indeed were afoot in Baidushi, no matter how Dongfang Hong screamed at his seers to keep divine bells silent.” His mentor flashed a pitying smile. “About the only artifact capable of piercing Fog of War, tied as it is to a secret you know better than anyone has in centuries.”

Alex groaned, rubbing his eyes. “And it’s because we dared the third tier of Jade, right? Getting so carried away by my disciples’ revelations, wanting to give them one glimpse of that sacred tree before we kowtowed and were on our way...”

WiFu nodded. “Shalu didn’t need to know where you were exactly to know that compelling a Jade disciple of his own to pay an ancient debt was in order, and no one knows the power of gates better than our dear general!” Silver Fox flashed a wicked smile. “Or what’s left of him, anyway.”

Alex winced. “It’s a miracle we even survived. That monster was using Earth Qi to manipulate Gravity itself, and he was just toying with us!”

WiFu nodded. “He was. Bored and eager to gain what insights he could from a fox as clever as yourself. Sadly, the thought that you might actually be able to ascend a single step upon divine stairs didn’t even occur to him.” WiFu’s smirk hardened. “And that’s the crux of it, disciple. Your disciples, or perhaps, future wives?”

Alex flushed before the man’s chuckle. “In any event, not even my daughter should have been able to endure a single step as she was, and your Jade Queen would never have gotten beyond the bronze tier steps, had you not helped her forge such a glorious tragedy of a cultivation path that actually works! Regardless, had you not partied up with them and placed not one but two cards upon their souls… had you not actually had Shui Jun’s own eternal insights to hone your souls against to counter the pressures of divinity and oblivion that should have utterly destroyed all three of you, soul-linked as you are...”

“But we did,” Alex said breathlessly. “We actually did it.”

WiFu nodded. “You did. And now your souls blaze like the core of a sun. Did you not have the pressure of Golden Realms helping to contain the hideous pressures you dared...”

Alex blinked, suddenly getting it. “If we ported into my much fragiler, much smaller realm, we’d all erupt like supernova. Destroying the very storybook world we built.”

WiFu nodded. “Correct.”

Alex froze, as the significance of that stricture truly sunk in. “No endless divine banquet, no more exquisitely awesome palace where I know I’m safe from everyone that wants to kill me. No more dreaming fantastic endless dreams free of nightmares or regret. No more being worshiped as, well,”

“A living god?”

Alex winced, then groaned as WiFu patted his arm.

“Amazing how far you’ve come, disciple. But yes.” His mentor’s bemused snark turned to a warning glance. “And as the wisest of fools, you must also understand what would invite the worst sorts of folly.”

Alex frowned, before his eyes widened at the sheer enormity of the loss. “My gates. They’re all tied to my realm! Even jumping from one point to another in this world...”

WiFu nodded. “You still step through your own.”

Alex groaned. “But it’s my favorite way of taking down assholes that would otherwise grind me to pulp!”

WiFu chuckled, eyes twinkling with mirth. “So says the Silver with a Titan’s strength and bones the likes of which no mortal would dare, they too infused with Shui Jun’s strength.”

Alex shivered. “Which means that should I ever find myself in her coils...”

“That’s right. Should you surrender to oblivion and fail to get your mistress a divine heart and earn yourself seven lucky lives, your very bones will weigh you down with the fate you so richly deserve.”

Alex winced. “Shit. Does that mean I can’t use my mirrors at all? Not even to deflect enemy attacks or trap them?”

WiFu’s bemused smile hardened. “Perhaps you could deflect Qi attacks at that. But are the shark-toothed dao I recall so very well truly separate artifacts, or are they now an extension of yourself? Can you assure that you would never touch the very barriers you would use to trap or delay an opponent?”

Alex paled. “Shit. Not a good area for experimentation. Considering that any fuckup would literally kill a world… and myself.”

His mentor nodded. “I agree. Care for another cookie?” WiFu flashed a sad smile. “I’m afraid your dreams are the only place you’ll be eating this fare for quite some time.”

Alex groaned and leaned back, rubbing his face. “So what’s the counter, WiFu? How do I get past this and stabilize my disciples?”

“An excellent question, disciple. Perhaps you’ll figure it out, once you achieve Gold. Now best you wake up, for the game is most definitely afoot!”