The tender silence between Juliya and David was shattered by the sharp blast of a whistle, followed by a voice that echoed out across the platform.
"Everyone listen up!"
Conversation and motion paused as all activity on the Blue Line platform came to a halt. Heads turned in unison toward the source of the voice.
A gruff man stood at the platform entrance, commanding immediate attention. David's instincts sharpened. He quickly decided to activate his Qi sense - just for a moment. He saw that there was something different about him. The surrounding Qi shifted subtly in his presence, bending ever so slightly as if acknowledging authority. Like a lead weight raising the volume of a container of liquid.
He was tall and lean, but not the type of lean that spoke of fragility - his body was forged for function. Efficient, purposeful strength. No wasted motion. No excess.
"For those who don't know," the man barked, his voice carrying the kind of authority that didn't invite argument, "I am the new acting CO of this FOB sent as reinforcements from HQ. My name is Inner Resident Michael Rayner."
He paused, letting the name sink in before continuing.
"Before the world went to hell, I was Master Gunnery Sergeant Rayner, United States Marine Corps."
He scanned the platform slowly, deliberately, his gaze making contact with each person, as if taking mental inventory of everyone present here.
Juliya had stepped off the gurney by now, one arm braced on David's shoulder for support. Rayner's eyes lingered on the two of them for a beat longer than anyone else, just enough to be noticed, before he resumed his steady sweep of the crowd.
"Latest intel is this: the Elemental Protection Sect is expected to begin their assault on this FOB within the next thirty-six hours."
Rayner's expression twisted into a slight grimace as he continued.
"The fact that any of you are still alive is the result of one thing - luck."
He let that hang in the air, his frown deepening with each passing second.
"You watched your comrades die after winning a battle... and then you cowered in this tunnel."
His voice grew cold. Dripping with venom.
"YOU LEFT THEIR BODIES ON THE STREET. TO ROT."
A silence gripped the crowd.
Then, his face shifted back to neutral - calm, but unreadable.
"Now is your chance to make up for that cowardice," he said firmly. "This is where you earn the right to be called survivors, and not just the ones who happened to be hiding underground when the real fight began."
David and Juliya looked at each other with grim faces. They knew they weren't here when it happened, but if they had been apart of the logistical team here at the time of the invasion they too would've likely hidden away.
Still unsteady, Juliya leaned into David, her voice barely above a whisper. "We should find Sarah. We need to know exactly what's going on."
David was staring intently at Rayner. Locked in a trance like state trying to identify what differed about him.
He blinked, breaking out of his trance, and turned back to Juliya.
"Yeah," he said, his voice low. "We need to get somewhere safe. This 'Environmental-whatever' sounds bad."
As the two of them started moving toward the triage center in the Orange Line tunnel, David's mind spun.
Environmental Protection Sect?
He'd never heard of them.
He knew the Red Blood Sect controlled the northern territories, New Hampshire up through Maine. The New Life Sect held Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Fontane Family ruled New York and New Jersey with an iron grip.
So where had these people come from?
Had the Fontane Family fallen?
Was this some splinter group from the Red Blood Sect?
Did they come from the across the Atlantic?
David's thoughts raced, spiraling into more questions than answers.
Before he could think more a system message appeared in front of him with a soft chime.
System Message: "Outstanding Notification:
Quest Reward: Teacher's Red Pen (claim)"
His expression shifted, curiosity overriding confusion.
Without hesitation he willed himself to claim it.
A soft blue light shimmered in his palm. The warmth of the Qi vanished just as quickly as it came, replaced by the cool weight of metal. He looked down to see an elegant fountain pen resting in his hand. Sleek, cold, and heavier than it had any right to be.
They had just reached the top of the stairs, moments away from descending another set toward the Orange Line tunnel. David lifted a hand, signaling Juliya to pause.
He turned the pen in his fingers, and another system message materialized next to it.
System Message: "Teacher's Red Pen
Abilities:
Correction Seal
- Can temporarily correct a cultivator's meridians. Allowing for proper flow of Qi throughout.
- The correction lasts as long as the user can imbue the seal with Qi.
[][][][][][][]
- [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
- [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]"
David looked at the pen with quiet intrigue.
His last system reward had been internal: knowledge and the healing of his own meridians. But this… this was something different. A physical artifact.
And yet, even this reward felt incomplete. The system window showed long strings of unreadable, redacted text. Hinting at a potential evolution of this pen.
Still, what was unlocked was extraordinary. A temporary correction to damaged meridians? That could be the difference between life and death. Between someone collapsing or standing back up to fight.
Between survival and loss.
His mind started turning, already imagining what this could mean for their fledgling sect, for allies, for-
A tap on his shoulder interrupted him.
He turned to see Juliya, raising an eyebrow as she eyed the pen. "Where did you get that?" she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice. "Pretty sure I'd remember if you had a hobby in calligraphy."
David snorted and slipped the pen into his pocket. "Just another thing I'll tell you about once we open our sect."
Juliya rolled her eyes. "More secrets, huh? You'd better have a really good excuse when the time comes."
She turned with a tired grunt, grabbing hold of the railing before slowly making her way down the stairs toward the Orange Line platform.
David followed, not as injured but no less worn down. A pierced dantian making him feel like he just woke up from a 32 hour nap - exhausted and confused about what day it was and where he was.
The two of them, crippled, tired, and barely standing, descended step by step, making their way to the triage center where Sarah waited.
A few moments later, they arrived at a platform much like the one they had just left. But instead of the deep blue highlights and paint lining the walls, this one was marked with a bright orange strokes - partially covered by ash and dirt.
Sarah stood nearby, speaking with two people hunched over old parchment, surrounded by ink pots and brushes. They were clearly Array Smiths, hard at work.
Juliya raised her voice across the platform. "I heard you thought I was dead?"
Sarah flinched at the sudden shout, spinning on her heel, then a wide grin broke across her otherwise fearsome face.
"Juliya!" she yelled, sprinting across the platform in a blur. In the next breath, she wrapped her friend in a crushing bear hug. "How the hell are you? I thought my eye candy had gone and died on me!"
Around them, soldiers and medics froze mid-task.
The Ice Princess of State Station was hugging someone? Calling them eye candy?
A few exchanged glances. Suddenly, she seemed a little more... human.
David coughed into his fist. "She's still married, you know."
Sarah looked at him with mock confusion. "Since when has that ever stopped me from trying?"
Juliya, breathless, finally managed to pry herself free. "Hey! I'm still recovering over here. Weakest I've been in years. You've got to dial back the bone crushing."
Before Sarah could respond, or ask what that meant, David stepped in, his voice quiet but firm.
"We need to talk. Somewhere private."
Sarah's expression shifted from elation to concern. Without another word, she ushered the couple toward a long-defunct public bathroom tucked in a forgotten corner of the platform.
The cramped space reeked of mildew and stale air, the floors layered in grime and cobwebs. It was a far cry from private quarters, but it would have to do.
Once inside, Sarah turned on them.
"Alright," she said, her voice low and serious. "What the hell is going on with the two of you?"
Her eyes locked onto David. "And how did you fix her Qi reversal?"
A beat of silence passed. Then David turned to Juliya and gave her a slight nod.
"Show her your meridians."
Juliya didn't hesitate. She extended her hand.
Sarah stepped forward, frowning slightly, and placed two fingers against Juliya's wrist. She closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and sent a gentle stream of Qi into Juliya's body.
This wasn't a forced circulation like David had done the day before. That was invasive and commanding, interacting with the flow of another's Qi by sheer will. This was different.
This was diagnostic. Passive. Like pouring water into a maze and watching where it pooled.
Sarah let her Qi fill Juliya's system, flowing into her channels with practiced ease.
Then she felt it.
Her brows drew together. This wasn't right.
The meridians weren't damaged, as she'd expected. Nor were they pristine and vibrant like David's - she didn't know that yet though.
They were... empty.
Not hollow or dead. No. That would have been easier to understand.
These meridians felt like seeds. Dormant. Waiting.
Like an egg before it hatches. Full of potential, but not yet alive.
It was as if Juliya's entire cultivation system hadn't been destroyed… but reset. As if it was waiting to be reborn.
Sarah looked between the two of them, her mind clearly racing.
Then, without waiting for Sarah to ask the question's she must have, David spoke.
"Me next."
Sarah blinked in confusion, but David just raised an eyebrow - egging her on.
Sarah's eyes narrowed at him, but her curiosity overrode her pride. For once, she didn't comment on his sass.
She moved to David and repeated the process. Fingers at his wrist, a slow, deliberate stream of Qi fed into his meridians.
And again, she froze.
His meridians weren't just healthy, they were flawless. The Qi flowed through them effortlessly, every channel vibrant and open.
If Juliya's meridians were like an egg waiting to hatch… David's were a newborn mid-cry.
Pristine. Raw. Alive.
Sarah was used to resistance, interruptions, minor blockages—at the very least some deviation or collapse. But here? With these two?
She had just experienced the most perfect Qi readings of her entire five-year career.
Back-to-back.
She slowly retracted her hand and stared at them both, stunned.
"This… this isn't possible," she whispered. "Your meridians don't make sense. Juliya's is dormant. Yours is like what we theorized to be a proper meridian system."
She took a step back, confusion overtaking her usually controlled expression.
"David… what the hell did you do?"
David let out a short laugh.
Juliya followed a second later.
Then the two of them were laughing together: bitter, exhausted, almost hysterical. The sound echoed awkwardly off the grimy tile walls of the abandoned bathroom.
They weren't laughing because it was funny. They were laughing because the pressure of the past 24 hours was finally catching up to them.
And now, for the first time, someone else was witnessing just how insane it had all been.
After nearly a full minute of laughter that slowly melted into ragged breathing and watery eyes, Juliya exhaled.
"You're gonna want to find a place to sit," she said, wiping her face.
She glanced around, frowning, there wasn't much to work with. Just a cracked porcelain toilet, its seat discarded and leaning against the wall.
She grimaced.
"Or, you know… you can stand. But this is going to take a while."
---
Thirty minutes later, Sarah stood frozen, slack-jawed, and unmoving.
David had perched awkwardly on the sink basin, hunched over with his elbows on his knees. Juliya had given up on formality entirely and slid down the wall to sit on the grimy tile floor.
Hygiene was a distant memory. Exhaustion had won.
But Sarah? She hadn't moved an inch. From the first word of their story to the last, she had remained perfectly still silent and wide-eyed.
"And here we are now," David finished, gesturing around the filthy bathroom with a half-smile. "Telling life stories in a place that smells like old toilet water. I think that about covers it."
He had told her everything - well, almost everything. The system remained his reluctant secret.
But from the moment he'd realized Sarah was stationed at this FOB, he'd already started planning to bring her into his sect.
He didn't know what that would look like yet, or how to lead a sect, or even what it meant to have one. But having a nurse seemed like a solid place to start.
Sarah paused, then silently slid down the wall to sit beside Juliya on the dusty tile floor. The two of them looked up at David, still awkwardly perched on the sink like some oversized goblin sage.
With a long exhale, Sarah finally spoke.
"So let me get this straight. You received enlightenment, but its making you keep secrets... and you can't tell us anything about them until you open your own sect?"
David raised a finger, helpfully adding, "And until you're officially my employees at said sect."
Sarah gave him a look so flat it could have polished stone.
"Okay," she said slowly, lifting her hands into exaggerated air quotes. "Let's assume I become your 'employee'. What's in it for me or you? If you wipe my cultivation, you'll just end up with two very tired mortals and a sect only in name."
David grinned, hopping down from the sink with all the grace of someone who had not slept, healed, or thought this through more than once.
"Oh, but this," he said, pulling the pen from his pocket like it was a legendary artifact, "this is my newest secret."
Juliya's eyebrows raised as she recognized the pen from before.
David stepped forward and without asking permission, because he figured Sarah would never give it, he gently reached out with his Qi sense.
A cone of awareness unfurled in front of him, overlaying Sarah's form like a projection of light and intuition. Her internal structure shimmered into view, fractured lines, faded pathways, and pulsing blockages.
Most of the damage was centered in her abdomen. Sharp breaks and collapsed meridians spiderwebbed through her core. From what he could tell, circulating Qi there must've felt like having her appendix rupture every single time.
David frowned, then raised the pen, gripping it like it was a conductors baton.
He wasn't sure what the correct method was, so he leaned into the metaphor.
Like an old English teacher correcting a barely legible essay, he went to work.
Large red X's marked collapsed sections. Loops and arrows pointed toward misaligned flows. He scrawled question marks beside parts he didn't understand, and drew long, curved lines to indicate ideal pathways.
The edits floated midair in glowing red ink, visible only to him.
And slowly, as the pen moved, he felt something shift.
Her Qi stirred.
Not forcefully, not painfully, but with curiosity. Like it was considering his corrections.
Like it wanted to be fixed.
Sarah and Juliya stared at David in utter confusion.
He was clearly channeling Qi into the pen, that much was obvious, but the way he waved it through the air looked less like a precise technique and more like a sleep-deprived conductor trying to lead a symphony he hadn't rehearsed.
Drunkenly, without rhythm, and to a tempo only he knew.
But then Sarah felt it.
A warmth bloomed in her abdomen where, for years, there had only been a constant, dull ache. The sharp, stabbing cramps, the ones she had long accepted as permanent, vanished.
The pain she'd dubbed the "Perma-Period" for half a decade melted away like fog under morning light.
She blinked in disbelief, her hand moving to her stomach as if to confirm what her body already knew.
And all David had done was wave a stupid pen.
She stared at him, stunned, the awe creeping in behind the confusion. "What the hell…?"
But the moment of relief was short-lived. For both of them.
David had just finished his final flourish, and through his Qi sense he could see it: her energy flowed cleanly now. Smooth and stable. Her meridians weren't just patched, they were functioning. Almost like she'd received the same kind of blessing he had.
He opened his mouth to gloat-
-and immediately felt faint.
His balance tipped. He checked inward, his awareness sliding down into his dantian.
Shit.
His Qi was hemorrhaging from his middle dantian.
Not only was the Pen stealing his Qi now, but that hole in his middle dantian hadn't suddenly vanished either.
Like a broken faucet, his Qi was draining faster than he could replenish.
He severed the pen's effect as fast as he could, shutting the technique down before it pulled him under.
Then, without grace or ceremony, he slumped to the floor.
"So yeah," he panted, sprawled and breathless. "I can do that now."
Juliya blinked, glancing between the two of them.
"Okay… are you two flirting or something?" she asked flatly. "Because I feel like I'm missing something and I really don't like it."