The private courtyard deep within the Aegis of Flame was normally a place of suffocating heat and oppressive, dark ironstone walls. But tonight, it had been transformed into something remarkably ordinary.

  A modest campfire crackled cheerfully in the center of the garden. Something that would be impossible just months ago. Muddy was resting peacefully a few yards away. The water buffalo chewed lazily on a bundle of fire resistant spirit grass and was completely unbothered by anything.

  For Asha, it was a night of firsts. It was the first time she had ever sat around an open fire that wasn't being used for an esoteric medical ritual. It was the first time she had felt the comforting and smoky warmth of burning wood rather than the clinical heat of arrays. And, most importantly, it was the first time she was sharing a meal with friends so comfortably.

  Li Yu turned a series of wooden skewers over the open flames. He had combined the heavily spiced volcanic tubers of The Eternal Crucible with thick, marbled cuts of deep sea leviathan meat that Morven had generously provided from his own storage. As the fat rendered and dripped into the fire, Li Yu brushed the meat with a glaze made from sweet sap and other herbs. It perfectly balanced the brine of the ocean with the aggressive heat of the volcano.

  He handed the first finished skewer to Asha.

  She took it hesitantly and was blowing on the steaming meat before taking a small, delicate bite. Her dull orange eyes widened instantly. The complex explosion of savory, sweet and perfectly tempered spice danced across her palate. It was rich, hearty and entirely unlike the sterile, medicinal broths her mother’s chefs constantly forced upon her.

  "This is..." Asha murmured while taking a second and much larger bite. "This is incredible, Li Yu. Is this what the food tastes like out on the open road?"

  "When you have the time to hunt and cook properly, yes," Li Yu smiled as he handed the next skewers to Morven and Malos. "Most of the time, travelers are just eating dried rations or whatever beast they managed to kill before it killed them. But a good campfire meal is one of the greatest rewards of traveling. I always make sure to have a lot of supplies when I travel so I can eat well."

  "It is a masterpiece of culinary skill." Sovereign Morven boomed happily. The towering Lord of the Violet Deep sat cross legged on the dark stone floor and his massive frame made the campfire look like a candle. He had shed his heavy sea silk cape for the evening and was wearing a simple, open chested tunic that revealed his iridescent, pale blue scales.

  Morven took a bite of his skewer and let out a loud and highly appreciative groan. "You managed to completely neutralize the acidic aftertaste of the leviathan meat! My own palace chefs have been trying to figure that out! You must give me the recipe, little one."

  "It's just a matter of countering the elements," Li Yu replied modestly while settling onto a cushion. "Sweetness to cut the acid and a bit of earth attribute root powder to ground the violent energy of the meat."

  Demon Lord Malos chuckled from his spot across the fire. He was pouring himself a cup of Morven’s famous Kelp Wine. "Li Yu is a man who sees the foundational truths of the world, Morven. He applies the laws of the realm to his frying pan just as easily as he applies them to his survival."

  It had been two weeks since Sovereign Morven had returned with his armada of aquatic physicians and deep tide alchemists. For fourteen agonizing days, the greatest minds of the ocean had subjected Asha to gentle water attribute therapies, life-force infusions and spiritual cleansing rituals.

  And for fourteen days, absolutely nothing had worked as well.

  The ash core remained stubborn and unyielding. The only thing that kept Asha from descending back into a state of suffocating agony was Li Yu’s presence. But instead of falling into despair, the group had somehow forged an unexpected camaraderie during the long hours spent waiting in the courtyard.

  They had all become quite good friends.

  Morven, despite being the absolute master of a domain characterized by toxic waters, crushing pressure and acidic tides, was a man of startling and earnest passion. There was no guile in him. He didn't plot in the shadows or speak in layered riddles. He wore his heart on his scaled sleeve. He laughed loudly, drank heavily and loved openly. He was also incredibly smart. No one ruled a chaotic territory for millennia by being a fool but he simply preferred to meet his problems head on.

  "I must admit, Malos," Morven said as he pointed a half eaten skewer at the Lord of Foresight. "I used to actively avoid you. You were always so brooding. So unapproachable. You sat on your mountain of prophecies and looked at the rest of us like we were pieces on a board. But this version of you? The one who sits in the dirt and complains about the price of roasted drake? I like this version much better."

  Malos took a sip of his wine with a relaxed smile touching his lips.

  "The open road changes a man, Morven," Malos replied as he looked into the campfire. "When you spend epochs looking at the end of every thread, the tapestry loses its wonder. Traveling with Li Yu has reminded me to stop looking at the horizon and start appreciating the dirt beneath my boots. The uncertainty of the experience is a rare and beautiful vintage."

  "Well said!" Morven cheered, raising his cup. "To the open road and the dirt beneath our boots!"

  Asha raised her cup of warm spiritual water. "To the open road," she echoed softly. "I hope... I hope one day I can walk it with you."

  Li Yu tapped his wooden cup against hers. "You will. We'll find a way to fix that core of yours, Asha. And then Malos and I will show you how to properly haggle with stubborn merchants."

  "I am an excellent teacher of commerce," Malos agreed proudly.

  Asha laughed. A bright and clear sound that seemed to chase the last remaining shadows from the courtyard. For a fleeting, perfect moment, the crushing weight of the realm's politics, the impending threats and the shadow of death were entirely forgotten. They were just four people sharing a meal.

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  Then, without a single warning, the fragile peace shattered.

  Asha’s laughter cut off abruptly and was replaced by a violent intake of air. The wooden skewer slipped from her fingers and clattered against the dark ironstone floor. Li Yu was the first to react, dropping his own food and lunging forward. "Asha?"

  She didn't answer. Her hands flew to her chest as her fingers dug agonizingly into her robes. The healthy, warm flush that had colored her cheeks for the past month vanished in a fraction of a second and was replaced by a horrifying, necrotic gray.

  But this wasn't just a return of her previous symptoms. This was an active and violent escalation.

  Dark, jagged veins, pulsing with a sickly, suffocating energy, began to spread up her neck from her collarbone. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Only terrifying, silent gasps as her lungs completely seized.

  "Asha!" Morven roared as he scrambled to his feet. The massive Demon Lord dropped to his knees beside her with his pale blue face twisting in absolute panic. He reached out with his massive hands and desperately wanted to channel his Qi into her to stabilize her failing meridians.

  But he stopped inches from her skin with his hands trembling violently. He was the Lord of the Violet Deep. His Qi was inherently toxic, corrosive and crushing. If he injected even a fraction of his power into her incredibly fragile, seizing system, he would melt her from the inside out.

  "Li Yu! Do something!" Morven pleaded out of desperation as his voice cracked with raw terror. "Help her!"

  "I am!" Li Yu shouted back with his hands hovering over her shoulders. Muddy let out a distressed bellow from across the courtyard and his own massive aura flared to assist his master.

  But it wasn't working.

  Whatever was happening inside Asha was actively fighting back. It wasn't the passive friction of a failing ash core anymore. It felt malevolent. It felt intentional. The dark veins creeping up her neck pulsed with a sinister, deeply hidden power that was actively chewing through Li Yu’s stabilization.

  Asha’s back arched off the cushions as her eyes rolled back in her head.

  "She is dying," Malos stated from his observations and his voice was stripped of all its cheerful warmth. "Her spirit seems to be under attack from something."

  "I'll get her!" Morven yelled.

  "She won't make it in time," Malos warned bleakly.

  Li Yu gritted his teeth as his mind was racing through every pill, every herb and every technique he possessed. Nothing came to mind. He could possibly make it worse. But then something stirred. It was the Fisherman Soul.

  Li Yu felt a sudden and sharp tug on his own soul. The Fisherman Soul was communicating with him. It didn't speak with words; it communicated through instinctual intent.

  Prey. The Fisherman sensed the malevolent energy destroying Asha. It didn't view it as an illness. It viewed it as something that could be hooked, pulled and consumed. More importantly, the soul conveyed a clear and undeniable truth to Li Yu: extracting this energy would not only save the girl but the density of the malignant force would strengthen Li Yu’s own soul.

  Li Yu made his decision in a fraction of a heartbeat.

  "Morven. Stop," Li Yu commanded. His voice wasn't loud but it carried a sharp and undeniable authority that made the panicked Demon Lord freeze in his tracks. Li Yu stood up and placed himself directly between Asha and the towering Sovereign of the Violet Deep.

  "I can save her," Li Yu stated as his eyes locked onto Morven's. "I can pull whatever is killing her out of her body right now."

  Morven’s eyes widened with desperate hope. "Then do it! What are you waiting for?!"

  "Because doing it will reveal one of my deepest secrets," Li Yu said coldly and his pragmatic survival instincts override the panic of the moment. He couldn't afford to be careless. "And I will not expose myself to a Demon Lord without an absolute guarantee of my own safety."

  Morven stared at the human, uncomprehending. "What?"

  "A Soul Contract," Malos interjected softly from the side and immediately understood Li Yu's intentions. "He wants you bound, Morven. Just as I am."

  "If you truly love Ignis and if you truly want to see this girl live, you will swear it right now," Li Yu demanded as he was pointing a finger at the towering Sovereign. "We form a contract that you will never harm me, that you will never allow harm to come to me by your inaction and that you will never, under any circumstances, reveal the secrets you are about to witness."

  It was a staggering demand. A Core Formation cultivator was demanding the submission of an apex predator in exchange for a medical procedure. Morven however didn't hesitate even a little bit. He didn't bargain. He didn't let his Sovereign pride delay him for a single millisecond.

  A piece of the Lord of the Violet Deep soul appeared to be bound under the contract. A brilliant, ethereal chain of blue light erupted from Morven's forehead, snapping across the distance and sinking harmlessly into Li Yu’s chest. The contract was sealed.

  "Done!" Morven gasped. "Now save her!"

  Li Yu didn't waste another second. He turned back to the convulsing girl and called the Fisherman Soul out.

  The very fabric of reality seemed to hold its breath. The bubbling magma streams suddenly went perfectly still, their surfaces turning as smooth as glass. The crackling campfire ceased its dancing and the flames seemed to freeze in place like a painting.

  Then, a figure stepped out of Li Yu’s body.

  It was the translucent, ethereal projection of an old man wearing a woven straw hat and a tattered grass raincoat. He held a long, flexible bamboo fishing pole in his weathered hands. He looked entirely mundane. He looked like a mortal who had spent a lifetime pulling carp from a quiet river. But the aura radiating from the old man was anything but mundane.

  When the Fisherman Soul manifested, both Demon Lord Malos and Sovereign Morven physically stumbled backward.

  It was a reaction born of primal instinct. The pressure rolling off the old man didn't carry the destructive heat of Ignis, nor the crushing, toxic weight of Morven. It carried an ancient depth. It was the weight of a primordial ocean.

  Morven, a being whose entire existence was tied to the supreme mastery of water, felt his own Sovereign soul tremble in terror. The power emanating from the Fisherman was categorically and undeniably greater than his own. It was a tier of existence that defied the known ceiling. It should have been impossible.

  "By the tides..." Morven whispered as his pale face drained of what little color it had. He fell to one knee and was entirely unable to withstand the sheer spiritual gravity of the manifestation.

  Malos was also forced to his knee. His eyes widened in awe as well. He looked at the Fisherman and then he looked at Li Yu. Slowly, a wide and thrilled smile spread across the Lord of Foresight's face.

  Oh, my extraordinary friend, Malos thought as his was mind racing with the implications. You are not just a blind spot. You are a completely different tapestry. The Fisherman paid absolutely no attention to the terrified Sovereigns behind him. He didn't even look at Li Yu.

  The old man slowly shuffled forward and came to a stop beside Asha's seizing body. The dark, malevolent veins creeping up her neck pulsed violently and seemed like it was sensing the approach of an apex predator.

  The Fisherman calmly raised his bamboo pole. The thin, almost invisible line of spiritual energy dangled over the girl's chest.