Bella trailed off and fell silent. Her hands tightened on the sheets at her sides, bunching them up. Chance waited for a few seconds to see if she would say anything else, but she didn’t. He let a few moments pass before speaking.
“What happened next?” Chance asked softly.
“I failed,” Bella replied. “I wasn’t strong enough to keep from passing out. My dad died next to me, and I found my mother’s corpse outside the door when I woke up.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that. You were a kid!”
“I know that,” Bella said, her eyes firmly fixed on the wooden floor. “But I could have saved them nonetheless.”
“The person that showed up – it was Vex, wasn’t it?” Chance asked.
Bella nodded. “Yes. It took me far longer than it should have to realize that he was the one that actually killed my parents, and that the other cultivator that had been fighting was probably my mom trying to stop him from attacking the village. He must have convinced her that he’d fled or was defeated, then followed her back to our house.”
“What a piece of shit.” Chance put a hand on Bella’s shoulder. “None of that is your fault, though. Expecting a child to be able to do anything against a cultivator of that strength is ridiculous. It’s not fair to yourself.”
“Except that, if I hadn’t taken Vex’s offer, I probably could have used my Essence to save them. Preservation, remember?”
“Did you know you had it at the time?”
Bella gave a small shrug. “Not really. I hadn’t started cultivating yet, but people can gain access to their abilities early if they’re in a life or death situation. By taking Vex’s deal, I ensured I wouldn’t be able to save them.”
“Which is probably why he offered it,” Chance said firmly. “Vex looks like he actively tries to hurt people. There was no reason for him to ever even offer you that deal. If he had the power to save your parents, he would have. You were manipulated. It would have happened to anyone.”
Bella finally peeled her eyes away from the ground. She gave Chance a small smile. “Thanks. It feels a little better now that I’ve actually told someone about it. Now that I’ve put everything into words, they feel a bit stupid. It is pretty ridiculous to hold yourself accountable for something like that.”
“Nobody said feelings are rational. But what happened next? I don’t understand why Vex kept you around.”
Bella grimaced. “I’m not sure about that part myself. He spent some time training me, then got me into Gleam and basically vanished aside from periodic checkups. It was like he’d gotten bored, but he wanted to make sure he could keep screwing my life up in case it ever got better.”
“Does he cultivate being an asshole?”
A snort of laughter slipped out of Bella’s lips. “Honestly, maybe. It would fit. He never actually told me what his Essence was, but that can’t be too far from it.”
“Well, whatever it is, we’ll deal with him eventually,” Chance promised. He took his hand off Bella’s shoulder and rose to his feet. He walked over to the window and nodded out it. “Look how far you’ve come. Before long, we’ll be more than strong enough to kill Vex and avenge your parents.”
Bella joined Chance. They stood quietly for a while. Bella finally nodded, setting her jaw in determination before turning away from the window and heading back over to her side of the room. “You’re right. Thanks, Chance. I’m glad I ran into you. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t.”
A grin crossed Chance’s lips. “I guess you can call it luck.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “That’s going to get old at some point. I’m feeling a bit motivated right now, though. Unless you want to go do another job, I’m going to get some cultivation in.”
“Same here. I’ve been slacking off a little recently,” Chance said. He hopped back onto his bed and crossed his legs, leaning against the back wall and settling in comfortably. “Good luck.”
“You too,” Bella said.
They both closed their eyes. Chance slowed his breathing, easily slipping into meditation. His Gate warmed as Essence pumped through his body and he swam deeper into the insides of his mind.
The peace came quickly. After months of practice on Centurion, he was quite pleased with how quickly he’d picked up meditation, especially after how insurmountable it had seemed at first.
Gentle warmth enveloped Chance’s body as he pulled the vision of the massive golden being to the front of his mind. It was nearly impossible to remember the entire thing at once – there was simply too much to comprehend.
Instead, he focused on smaller pieces, trying to put them together like an imaginary jigsaw puzzle. Chance pictured the golden being’s hands. The glowing light that poured off them, and the infinite sense of power and peace that exuded from it. A tiny frown tugged at the corners of his lips.
This isn’t it. It looks like what I saw, but it’s not the same thing. It’s… empty. Missing something. Just like my fighting style before Wren helped me. But what is it?
Chance turned the image around in his mind, trying to figure out what it was that he’d missed in his visualization. It wasn’t the appearance of the golden being – of that much, he was certain. Its majesty was forever etched into his mind. He was pretty sure he couldn’t have forgotten it, even if he’d wanted to.
But, when Chance pictured what he’d seen, it was nothing in comparison to the actual experience of seeing it. There was always the possibility that recreating the vision perfectly was impossible and that was what he felt was missing, but something told him that wasn’t the case.
Maybe it’s because I need to reform everything rather than just a few pieces, and it won’t feel right until the whole vision comes to me naturally?
That didn’t feel right either. Chance didn’t have any reasoning or explanation for it, but something just told him with absolute certainty that he was wrong. The golden being was who it was, and it picturing it incorrectly wasn’t going to do him any favors.
Hours ticked by. The room was silent aside from their gentle breathing. Chance continued to cultivate, pouring all his attention into his task. He idly pulled some cultivation pills out of his case and tossed one of the mid-level ones into his mouth.
Energy flooded his body and coursed through his Gate as he cycled it. It felt like he’d been dropped into a bath of cold ice, but the feeling quickly vanished as he greedily absorbed everything that the pill had to offer.
It didn’t take long until the last vestiges of the pill had been completely consumed, but he didn’t feel stronger by any significant margin. Chance ate another pill once he was certain the effects of the first one had faded.
He continued in a similar manner. Chance wasn’t sure how much time passed, but his eyes eventually slipped back open. He stretched his arms above his head and a series of relieving pops rang out from his back.
An instant later, he realized that Bella was still cultivating. He winced and froze. Bella didn’t react. Chance let out a silent breath of relief and lowered his arms, mentally scolding himself for nearly interrupting her.
The bed let out a soft creak as Chance straightened his legs and rose to his feet. He sent another glance at Bella, but she was luckily still deep within her cultivation. Chance took a bottle of the lower level cultivation aids from his case and padded across the room, coming to a stop before Bella as silently as he could.
Her chest rose and fell with deep, soft breaths. She looked serene and completely at peace. Chance paused in front of her, realizing that this was the first time he’d ever actually seen someone so deeply in meditation. It felt much more intimate than Chance had expected.
I guess that’s why everyone shuts themselves up in their rooms on their own when they meditate.
Chance set the vial of pills next to Bella, taking care not to disturb her. He backed away and, spotting the room key on the bed beside Bella, picked it up and slipped out the door. Chance locked it as quietly as he could, then pressed his ear to it and waited for a moment to make sure he hadn’t mistakenly woken Bella up.
When no sound came from the room and he was certain that she hadn’t been disturbed, Chance tucked the key into his pocket and headed out of the building. Even though cultivation had kept his body sustained, he was starving.
He stepped out into the sunlight, wincing slightly and raising a hand to block his eyes.
“I wonder what day it is,” Chance said to himself. The sun was directly overhead, so it had been at least a night. He suspected it was probably longer, but by how much he wasn’t sure.
He shrugged to himself and headed off, wandering through the city. A thin cloak of golden mist trailed him as he called on his Essence. Chance closed his eyes and walked at random, taking turns whenever the fancy struck him.
After around ten minutes of walking, he opened his eyes again. He’d made his way into a small square, surrounded on all sides by tall stone buildings. Several small food stalls had been set up along their edges, and the center of the square was full of tables. A dozen men and women sat at them, talking and eating.
Chance grinned and chose one of the stalls at random. He walked up to it and got into the short line. It only took a minute until he was standing before a cheerful looking man wearing a stained apron. His ears stuck up on either side of his floppy chef’s hat, tapering to long points.
“Young one, you are,” the chef said, giving Chance a once-over. “Need more meat on your bones. You come to the right place.”
“That’s what I was hoping,” Chance said. “Uh… do you take gold? I don’t have any contribution points on me.”
The chef slapped the wooden counter. “No pay! You are too skinny.”
He grabbed a round loaf of bread from a large basket and slapped it down. A serrated knife leapt to his hands and he carved the top of the bread open, expertly removing its center before pouring a thick, brown stew into it from a pot. He plopped a wooden spoon into it, then slid it over to Chance.
“Oh, wow. Thank you!” Chance said, taking the bowl. He paused, then pulled a gold coin out and handed it to the chef.
The man shook his head firmly. “No pay.”
“Not pay. A tip.”
A grin passed over the chef’s face and he inclined his head, taking the coin and slipping it into a pocket. Chance picked the bowl of bread up and tasted the stew. His eyes lit up and it took a significant amount of willpower to keep himself from shoveling the rest of it into his gullet.
“This is fantastic! Could I buy another?”
“That good, eh?” the chef chuckled and gave him a knowing grin. “It’s more filling than you think!”
“Oh, not for me,” Chance said. “For a friend.”
The cook wordlessly prepared a second bowl and pushed it over the counter. Chance went for his pockets and the chef shot him a sharp look, narrowing his eyes to slits and pointing his knife at him.
“No.”
Chance raised his hand with a laugh. “Okay, okay. Thank you.”
“Eat well. Come back.”
“I will, and I’ll bring my friend,” Chance promised. He took the second bowl of stew and jogged back off toward their rooms, using his luck to retrace his steps.