Rustpen

Chapter 7: FROM THE MIND

CHAPTER

7

FROM THE MIND

JIEYUAN

—∞—

“Maeva,” Jieyuan said. He stared at her, tongue-tied. He’d known it’d work, but… She so looked real. Like she was really there.

“It’s been a while, Amyas.” The sadness left Maeva’s face, but the smile remained, now bright and cheery. She stepped back, taking a look around the room, turning this way and that, yello...

Chapter 6: BE THE DARK

CHAPTER

6

BE THE DARK

JIEYUAN

—∞—

By some unspoken agreement, neither Jieyuan nor Meiyao gave voice to what they were both clearly thinking.

Briefly, Jieyuan considered telling her that the cost of a Command in terms of chroma was in part determined by its consequences. That Commanding someone at the same soulsign as him to kill themselves would use up almost all the chroma h...

Chapter 5: KILL YOURSELF

CHAPTER

5

KILL YOURSELF

JIEYUAN

—∞—

“I came to check up on Daojue,” Yunzhu was saying. “Father told me what happened on the mission.”

Yunzhu sounded normal enough, Jieyuan would give her that much. Lively, almost cheery. Though that in itself was rather odd. She was a Crystalsoul like all trueblood Liangshibai, a variant of Earthsoul, but her bubliness was mo...

Chapter 4: IN THE GAZE

CHAPTER

4

IN THE GAZE

JIEYUAN

—∞—

Meiyao stared up at Daojue. Daojue stared down back at her. Neither of them moved. Both looked impassive. They were on Daojue’s doorstep. Meiyao had finished giving Daojue the same explanation she’d given Jieyuan earlier and had then half-asked, half-demanded to come inside so they could further discuss the matter.

Jieyuan stood to the si...

Chapter 3: TO UNVEIL

CHAPTER

3

TO UNVEIL

JIEYUAN

—∞—

Murder, as it turned out, was mighty profitable. Assuming you could get away with it, of course. As the son of a merchant, Jieyuan had known as much since he was seven, when his father had sat him down to tell him when and how he should go about eliminating the competition, literally and figuratively. Commerce was, after all, a cutthroat business—a...

Chapter 2: UNDERSTAND

CHAPTER

2

UNDERSTAND

JIEYUAN

—∞—

Awareness came as gently as a sucker punch.

Eyes flew open to a brightening sky and then shut themselves just as quickly. Jieyuan jerked up halfway into a sitting position before lying back down. His head throbbed as if a jagged blade had been repeatedly rammed into it. Groaning, he fully turned his body over so that his back faced the sky, th...

Chapter 1: OVERWHELM

CHAPTER

1

OVERWHELM

JIEYUAN

—∞—

About two hundred feet off the ground, Jieyuan sat perched on the tallest branch of a fatebloom tree, legs swinging lazily under him. From his vantage point, the crown of all the other fatebloom trees around him spread out like a sea of crimson streaked with green and dotted with gold. Higher above, dusk bled into the sky, nighttime gloom creeping in...

Prologue: TO KNOW PAIN

PROLOGUE

TO KNOW PAIN

JIEYUAN

—∞—

The moment Jieyuan entered the room, his eyes fell on the pill. It drew his attention invariably and inevitably, surer than any magnet, and he came to a sudden stop one step past the doorsill. 

Pink and about the size of a thumbnail, the pill sat on the far right side of the table on a small purple pillow. Under the orange and yellow glow of the gemstone light...