Heaven's Laws - Prodigies - Chapter 2

It was the latest Chao’s parents had ever come home after a day of shopping at the local village as he sat on the smooth stone floor with a spark of static he’d Borrowed from his thick cotton pants. He was now big enough to take care of all the common chores and the protection array was active around the house so even a sky cultivator couldn’t break in unless he was foolish enough to let them. Lightning was an element that he’d only recently began toying with. Borrowing it was easy enough, but because he couldn’t yet Create his own, it was difficult to get a handle on. With his mastery in the other elements, it was only a matter of time though.

Summoning a rough needle using Create and the little amount of energy he possessed at his level four blood cultivation, a thin piece of iron not even as long as half his pinky took form. His earth laws were already nearing the large success state of Create, so a little piece of iron like this wasn’t difficult. Grabbing the needle with his thumb and index finger, he poked the spark of lightning and made a conscious effort to make sure it didn’t flow down his needle into his body to disappear into the ground. The spark hung at the needle’s point for a moment before he let go of control, only to regain control immediately as the lightning surged down the needle’s length. He could feel its presence, though faint, and gathered the energy back into the needle’s point until it glowed in blue light.

He’d long ago done all his chores and saw the fire was getting low, so without getting up he did a large Borrow on a log resting in a steel-framed bin at the side of the fireplace and it floated up. To be safe, he willed it to move slowly through the air and controlled its descent as it landed atop the burning logs. He had to keep the stew in the hanging pot simmering, for his parents would no doubt be hungry when they returned.

As he heard the door swing open behind him, the needle fell from his hand and quickly decomposed into nothing before hitting the ground. Even at the large success level of earth laws, he wouldn’t be able to summon a permanent object into the world. That was one of those legendary abilities that no one was sure existed.

Coming to his feet in a hop, he moved to take a step forward when he ran into an invisible wall summoned by his own dismay. His father stumbled in carrying his mother in his arms with blood soaking the entirety of the top of her green summer dress. She was limp as if fallen asleep.

His father’s gaze wasn’t that of an injured person but held a resolve that scared him. He marched toward the kitchen nearby and placed her on the thick wooden tabletop. Energy poured out of him and into mother even as she left his arms.

Like an animal frozen from fright, Chao stood there watching from the other side of the cabin, not daring to move. It was only when a third person entered their home that he tore his eyes from his father who was now lining up pills and ingredients at mother’s side.

It was like a lingering spirit had walked through the door. Except she wasn’t ethereal, but flawless like an ice sculpture and the ends of her long dark hair were pushed away from her body by a blue tinted aura. He knew what she was the moment he saw her.

Is she here to help?

As soon as she stepped through the door, father called out, “Get the boy.”

The woman remained expressionless but replied, “You’re injured.”

“I’ve taken something that will give me the strength to last a few days. Please.”

She stood there motionless as if considering something, before turning away and heading straight in Chao’s direction. His mind spun as all semblance of balance and control had been ripped away from his young hands.

A hand as flawless as the snow appeared before him and he just stared at it blankly.

“Long Chao,” she said in a strangely lifeless but endearing tone. “I’m a friend of your parents. Come with me. It’s urgent that we give your father space so that he can try to save your mother.”

He didn’t feel any different, but in the next moment tears were flowing from his eyes and yet not a sound had escaped from his mouth. He placed his hand in the woman’s and she led him toward the door. Stealing a peak, he saw all of his father’s attention was drawn to his mother. He was old enough to know it wasn’t the time for an explanation, but it was the hardest thing he’d ever done leaving the house, and the easiest. Now that the woman had ahold of him, she wasn’t letting go. All he had to do was let her lead him away

She walked him to the very edge of their property that was surrounded with century old redwoods that hid them from the world. They stopped there. Turning to face him, she made a lethargic smile. “I will be taking care of you for the next couple days,” she said. “You’ll be staying in a special place that belongs only to me. You can call me Qingyuan.”

Chao nodded for he didn’t think he had the ability to speak. Even as she took a small blue box from her storage ring’s independent space, he didn’t have the capacity to be excited.

The flow of ice energy she sent into the little box gushed forth like the bursting of a dam that had been holding back a grand river. In any other circumstance he would have backed away at the great force, but instead he just stood there with partially tear-blurred vision as the box grew into a small ice palace before his eyes.

Two ice phoenix sculptures stood to either side of the entrance with the wings joining at its center to form the door. As they opened outward, it looked like the phoenix’s were covering themselves with their wings.

He followed her into the structure to enter into a wide circular space with a dome arching up at its center. Whether it was made of ice or stone, he didn’t know, for it was smooth and glossy, but thick enough that it was impossible that ice would have been too cloudy to see through. The temperature was cool, but not excessively cold.

“You don’t cultivate ice,” Qingyuan said, “but while you’re here, it should have a positive effect on your ice laws. It’s a good opportunity, so make use of it if you can… This over here is your room.”

She led him to the right side of the building to one of the few rooms other than the main open area. The space inside was small, but cozy with a firm mattress and a large fluffy blanket. She finally let go of his hand.

He spun to face her and was trying to build up his courage to ask her the question that had to be asked. She stood patiently while he did.

“Senior Qingyuan,” he bowed stiffly. “Will mother be alright?”

“I don’t know, child,” she replied. “She has often told me how mature you are for your age, so I won’t hide it from you. Things don’t look good, but I will let you know as soon as I find out more. I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Now try to rest. It’s late and there will be plenty of time to worry later.”

She was right. It was more than a week before mother’s soul left her body. Her cultivation was too high to leave a lingering spirit. He was angry at her for that. If she’d left a spirit, at least he could have played her songs for a few weeks until her spirit lost its energy. He could have given her a few last moments of joy before her parting. Of course, he knew that was all nonsense and he quickly turned his anger on himself. There was no soul in a lingering spirit and he just wanted to see her again even if it was in spirit form.

When the ice fairy left him and his father alone, mother had already been buried at the edge of her garden. She had packed up her ice palace and taken it with her. He’d remember her as distant, but kind.

For an untold number of days, he went through the motions of doing his chores, for he knew father had been seriously injured during the attack that had taken his mother’s life. Unlike her though his body held together. They were like two ghosts living in a home where the one person who had given it life was gone for good.

Every dusk he went to sit on his hewn log before the garden next to his mother’s empty seat. But he didn’t play his pipa, so no spirits came.

It was only when he saw his mother’s herbs were starting to wane that he picked up his instrument and started to play. It took longer, and there were less spirits than before, but they returned at his call

After they left, his father spoke, standing behind him. “I’m putting up the protective barrier. I’ll return in the morning.”

He left soon after and, even if Chao wanted to play and summon the spirits a second time, they’d be incapable of making it through the array’s protection. Still, he didn’t leave the stump after his father left. He stared at the stars and the half crescent moon that hung above his lonely little place in the world.

How long it had been since his father left, he wasn’t sure, but suddenly the entire sky was lit up in golden light. It wasn’t the light of a bright glowing star or painted explosives, but it was like someone stolen a sliver of daylight and unleashed it on the world.

The change forced Chao to squint his eyes, but soon it dimmed. Then as if just taking a breath, the light brightened to a whole new level and he had to lower his gaze completely.

His eyes adjusted within a few minutes and he sat watching the lightshow, unblinking. It was like a dragon and phoenix were fighting a life and death battle tens of miles away.

Somehow he knew, though such a display was impossible for a mere human cultivator, that it was his father finally releasing his pent up rage at losing his wife. The heaven’s themselves trembled. This was a husband’s wrath.

The light show didn’t stop until early in the morning hour with few pauses. Chao was covered in dew and had caught a chill, but he still sat on his own little log with his pipa in his lap.

“Son,” he heard his father call.

Looking up, he found his father slowly descending from high up above the garden. The barrier had already been deactivated.

Without another word, his father touched down and walked over to him, grabbing his pipa with one hand, and scooping him up with the other. “Let’s go inside,” he said embracing his son who was now only a head and a half shorter than he was. “I will make you breakfast.”

From that day forward, his father was no longer an empty husk, but seemed to have found a new purpose. He pushed his son gently at first, but Chao’s training took on much greater emphasis. Still, he didn’t train the boy as he would a common cultivator, for he was his mother’s son. It would’ve ruptured what was left of his broken heart if Chao were unable to return to the playful fascination he’d shared with his mother for heaven’s laws, but he found that he had been worried for nothing. As the weeks, months, and years went by, never once did he miss his appointment at dusk with the little garden and the lingering spirits of the surrounding area. The only exception was on the occasion they’d gone to town, but he always returned to it when he came home.