The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

It was dawn. The boarded windows blocked light from peeking through, and even if they weren't, the flames from the Beak of Ra burned eternally right by her doorsteps, overtaking the cycle of day and night. But Avril knew it was dawn, having woken up to Oscar's schedule for decades. Yawning, she cracked her eyes open, still dark, and her senses returned like a wave washing over her body from toe to head. She felt someone in her arms and peeked down, smiling at the soft bed of black hair by her neck.

She wanted to watch. She wanted to remain in bed all day, smothering him in her embrace. Avril rubbed her chin softly on his head, the fresh smell of soap mixed with his natural scene lulling her deeper, beckoning her to return to sleep as her eyes slowly closed, intoxication easing her tense brows. But she shook her head and rose, lifting Oscar along with her. Her husband's eyelids trembled and slowly blinked, now awake in a sense. Her lips met his cheek, his reactions nonexistent.

"Good morning. We have the entire day to ourselves." Avril leaped off and knocked off the boards, covering her hands from the sudden burst of warm light assaulting her pupils. The Beak of Ra played its fiery tune, the great blaze not higher or lower than yesterday's. The flames almost resembled blades of gold, red, orange, and yellow grass, swaying in similar beats to the breeze. She sighed and glanced over the mountain of flame, past the ridges of fire around the middle level, frowning as she failed to spot where her friend had been taken. Maia should be fine in the Primaere's care, but she worried for her. By now, Maia was likely in the phoenix ashes, out of her control to help.

'Snap out of it!' Avril pinched herself, the skin red between her fingers, knocking off the worries from her mind. She turned to her main focus, Oscar, and smiled brightly. The wheelchair squeaked into the room with a wave of her hand. She rested Oscar on the wheelchair and patted his face with a wet towel she made from the water basin. Parched, she drank from a jug, licking her lips as the sweet taste of morning water satisfied her. Thinking of something sweeter, she stared at his lips and quickly turned away, blushing fiercely.

After calming down, Avril tilted her head in contemplation. "Let's see. She wonders what she should do today, tapping her chin. For now, you need some air." Humming as she pushed him onward, Avril turned around the kitchen table, opened the door, and was greeted by a great warm gale, her hair tickling her face. Light poured into the new gap, and she stepped outside and stopped, marveling at the unchanged scenery, the white crystal forests with the rustling leaves of flames, surrounded by blooming flowers that spewed pollen like embers, a scene forever captured in a single moment as the high noon never departed.

Strangely, a freshly paved path, the kind one might find in a city, started from her door and stretched, forked, and circled beyond. This network of paths didn't exist yesterday, certainly not before she slept. Avril knelt and knocked on the tiles of the road, surprised at the hardness of the stone. Remembering how Solara easily created the house from nowhere, she chalked it up to another one of her powers. Her gaze swept over the land, and upon closer scrutiny, she was stunned, shocked to the core. She had memorized the layout of the trees, the flowers, and the land, and she could say in confidence that, somehow, the land was split up, and the road filled in the new gaps. Two trees should have been next to each other, their branches and shapes recalled from her memory, but now a road divided them.

The awe-inspiring truth became clear. The land itself had been reshaped to suit the pathways for her and Oscar. She pushed Oscar forward, the wheels squeaking along the stone path, and glanced over to confirm, and indeed, no matter where she looked, the road cut between where two should have been together, pairs split apart. Near the first fork in the road, a bright, rainbow flame floated, bobbing up and down the air.

"Do you like it?" Ignyres snickered, seemingly delighted. "Practically forced that young bird to do it."

"Is…is that alright?" Avril said, her voice trembling.

"Bah! These lands had been far too boring for so long! It's time for a change, and you need to take Oscar around in that moving chair. If any beasts dare complain, let them say their nonsense before the Ancient of Fire!" Ignyres proclaimed, his flames crackling along his cackles of pride. "I am Fire itself, and they cannot deny me."

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The flame floated closer, the rainbow embers by her ear, and Ignyres spoke, out of earshot of Oscar, "Your friend, Maia, is safe for now in the ashes. If she rises, she will be stronger than before. Do not worry for her. Now soothe him with your warm flames. Ah, they are warm indeed. Love is the best kindling, and its fires are never overwhelming but of the greatest warmth." The Ancient of Fire spun and flaked off its outer flames, becoming a small wisp of its former self. He entered and disappeared into Oscar's chest.

"No need to tell him that." Avril understood without anyone having to tell her. She picked a flower and brought it to her nose, a mellow scent ending with a small spice wafting and bringing a grin to her lips. Since she hadn't braided her hair yet, she stuck the flower into it and curved the stem, holding one side of her hair back. Tilting her head over to bring her face upside down to Oscar's sight, she pointed at the fiery flower in her indigo hair. "Does it look good? She pouts, waiting for an answer."

But no answer came, his eyes still gazing into the void. It mattered not. Avril joyfully pushed him along the left path, constantly speaking to him, never letting his ears have a dull moment. If needed, she would accompany him like this even to death. This, she vowed many times.

…….

"You're a strange one." Remulus scratched his bald scalp, scanning over a document detailing the new academy's current resources, intake, and upkeep. His green eyes peeked at the tall, skinny man, Santen, who was brewing some tea, the long arms precise and swift despite how off they appeared. Those fish-like eyes showed no emotion, all hidden behind the dark, enlarged pupils. Finished, Santen poured out a tea for Remulus and himself.

"I'm not sure what you mean. As the results of experiments, we are all strange." Santen's mouth clicked rapidly in his strange laughter.

"Through my discerning eye, I found the best way for everyone else to train except for you." Remulus put down the document and fixated his soft gaze on Santen. He had sent Marcus to Dragonheart to learn from the Dragnars, Eve to go into the chamber of fire unearthed during the war, Kragg and Restel to an island where lightning streaked down from dense dark clouds, the land untouched by sunlight, Auren to hit the books again and learn every possible knowledge for his formations, Renn and Gloria to seclusion to prepare for their advancement, and Helen and Hector to stay with him and run the academy. Astrid was still unconscious, but he had plans for her.

But Santen….Remulus was stumped for the first time in a long while when training an Exalt. He sipped from Santen's tea, perking up from the smooth taste. The lad's tea skills were at a high level. As the cup landed on the saucer with a loud, clear clank of porcelain, Remulus studied Santen again, and once more, he could not see through him. "What are you?"

"Forgive me. I can't say." Santen clasped his hands together as if in prayer.

"Can't or won't?" Remulus raised a brow, catching the meaning in Santen's words.

"Unless my Lord orders me, I will not speak. His initial order for me to hold the silence of my true nature still stands unless he says otherwise." Santen didn't back down, not even a bead of sweat or erratic pulse from rejecting his, a King Exalt's, inquiry.

Remulus curled his lips and couldn't hold down his laughter. "Well, out of the rest, I have an inkling you don't require any training to hone your powers. You've already mastered them, haven't you? The others are rough, their powers mostly unrefined, but you are complete."

"I am honored by your praise. Then, I will leave and enter seclusion." Santen bowed and departed.

"Quite alike…" Remulus swirled the tea in his hand. The need to stay calm, the elegant manners, and the fierce loyalty all bore a resemblance to Draven. He gulped the tea and felt a strange presence. The slight swaying of the tent's folds halted, and the world darkened to a gray hue, the grass, the white tent, the brown dirt, the tables, and all else. On the chair, a figure hidden under tattered black robes, a noticeable lump on the back, sat on the nearby chair.

"I greet the Snail Primaere. For what reason does the esteemed one come to this humble tent?" Remulus lowered his head, for against a Primaere, all he could do was bow.

Underneath the dark hood, black lips formed a disgusting grin, rotting flesh akin to a leper's surrounding them. The Snail Primaere, Carcoatl, chuckled, his voice filled with phlegm and unsettling, "Be not afraid, King of Time. I have a stake in this land and the ones on it. I have placed the seed of a Divine Essence in the center. Soon, the volcano will rise and become a haven for this continent. Train them well. Hone the continent's experts. The boy will need an army for Fallen Heaven."

"For years, I read of Fallen Heaven. I never imagined the Great Scouring would happen during my time." Remulus narrowed his gaze and frowned, recalling many faces back home, the ones who would undoubtedly be dragged into Fallen Heaven.

"Prepare them well, Time Exalt. They will pave the way for the boy to reach where he needs to be." Carcoatl sighed as if thousands of years were expressed in that one breath. The Primaere vanished, and the world resumed, the colors brightening back to normal.

"Perhaps he had been set on this path when he learned Reis. Worry not, my son, I won't let your legacy die." Remulus stood up and brushed the dust from his robes. With the Divine Essence, he had much work to do.

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