Deadtired

I nodded along. I was aware that snail shells could be used in creating dyes. "What about alchemical reagents?" I asked.

"The snails are poisonous," she said. "Not venomous, however. You can extract the poison from their flesh, but of all the poisons we use in the Ashen Forest sect, ash snail poison is one of the weakest."

"Interesting. Are there other creatures and monsters to be cautious of?"

"Many many many," Cinder said. "The grey flamingos are a nuisance more than anything, but their beaks are venomous. There are several species of large lizards that will come down from the west. There are smaller lizards that are native to the area. Vampire iguana are a threat that even a more experienced cultivator will want to avoid."

I nodded along. It sounded as though the Ashen Forest sect eked out a living in an area that was far less hospitable than I'd originally thought it was. It was impressive that they'd survived, and more impressive that they'd thrived.

I looked out of the carriage's windows as we rode along. The houses were built close together, with great overlapping rooftops that left only a narrow band of sky visible above. The walls were mostly painted white, reflecting some of that light down onto the streets where I saw a number of people sweeping away small mounds of ash.

I imagined that with the near constant ashfall, being a street sweeper was probably a full-time job for some of the citizens of Shitake city.

"The ash is collected," Cinder said, and I glanced her way. "Sorry sorry sorry. You have... eyes, now, and I was able to follow your gaze. The street sweeper. They collect the ash and resell it to the mushroom farms."

"Are there many farms like those?"

"Plenty," Cinder said with a casual shrug. "Enough to feed the city. Though we import a lot of food from elsewhere, of course. No one wants to eat nothing but mushrooms day in and day out."

"Yes, a proper diet needs mushroom for variety," I agreed.

Cinder chuckled in a rather unlady-like way. "Exactly, yes. We buy a lot of butter. We can't keep cattle here, and can only grow plants that enjoy dimly lit places. Mushrooms fit the bill. Some of the farms have dozens of floors, each basically no larger than a crawlspace, with thousands of racks for mushrooms to grow in. The ash is used as a potent fertiliser."

The carriage rumbled along the cobbled streets, and I continued to take in our surroundings. Despite the ash and grey slides, the city held a certain vibrancy. It was alive, and the people living here were determined to stay that way despite all odds.

"Our sect helps the city," Cinder began. "And in return, the city helps us. It's a symbiotic relationship, and one which will never last. We're failing, bit by bit. Soon, all of this will be joining the ash." She looked at me. "We need your help."

Three days left for the Meme contest!

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My fic's on Amazon! It's also on KU, if that's your jam!

LINK: Amazon.com

There was something else I was supposed to post here... but I can't remember what it was!

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Chapter Four — Chit Chatting

Chapter Four — Chit Chatting

Cinder kept her gaze focused on my illusory eyes. It was a little strange... though perhaps not all that strange, but people tended to meet each other's eyes when talking. It was a perfectly natural thing to do. Eyes told you a lot about a person, whether they were listening to you, their state at the moment, and since they were central to the way most people expressed themselves, it was easiest to read one's expression while seeing the other's eyes.

It was something people with faces took for granted.

No one realized how much they relied on others seeing their expression until their face was gone.

I set my illusioned face into a kindly smile. "You know, it's not often that someone asks me for help," I said.

"Really?" Cinder asked. "You're quite powerful. And you have been powerful since before history was recorded."

I brought my hand up, two fingers splayed out. "You raise two questions. I'll put a pin in one of them, but allow me to come back to it later. To answer your more direct question; yes, really. While power may make one the target of those seeking help, it also comes with its share of people who would rather work to take that power away from you."

"Oh oh oh, I suppose that does make sense," Cinder said.

"Most of the time, when I heard of someone asking a powerful person or being for help, it was help to get rid of me." I chuckled. "Those were the days. Back when I wasn't quite at the height of my power and people still tried to get rid of me. I almost missed that once I went from being considered a threat to being considered something akin to a natural disaster."

Cinder blinked. "I suppose that would change how you see things. You mentioned that you had two questions?"

"Less two questions and more two lines of discussion. One was to answer your own question, but this one is more of a self-indulgence."

"Go on," Cinder encouraged. She glanced out of the carriage's window, at the city scrolling by. "We have another ten or so minutes until we arrive."

"You mentioned that I've been powerful since before history was recorded. Which I know to be factually incorrect." I raised a hand, abating Cinder's concern. "No, don't worry. It might just be a local thing, or perhaps that's based on the history you're aware of. Could you explain that further?"

"According to our histories, the proper, written history started some ten thousand years ago, with the onset of the Empire as a great guiding force for humanity in a time of great darkness. The actual records are mostly kept in the Jade Throne, but they're viewable by all. Locally, we have only colonised the Ashen Forest for a few hundred years. That makes our sect... not new or young, exactly, but certainly not one of the ancient and venerable sects of the west."

"Interesting. And these histories mention me?"

"No no no. Not at all. It's the unofficial histories that mention you."

I perked up at that. "Unofficial histories? I must admit to a certain weakness when it comes to forbidden lore, illegal texts, and any writings which have been deemed too dangerous to circulate."

Cinder nodded slowly. "We don't know how accurate these are. But... Shitake City wasn't built at random. The location was a ruin, once. Much of this is gone. The ruins had carved stones, and when the city was founded, the founders discovered several basements and underground areas that were excavated."

"I imagine this wasn't done for purely archaeological reasons?"

"No, it was done for the stone. There are quarries nearby, of course, and we can make bricks, but it's much easier to reuse ancient carved stones than to make new ones."

That seemed perfectly reasonable. There was, of course, a lot of merit in preserving old sites, but at the same time, a brick was a brick. Shitake felt like it had found its balancing point at the moment. It wasn't quite a thriving city, but they were surviving well enough.

I imagined that it wasn't always the case. Founding a city in such an inhospitable place must have been a terrible burden on the first inhabitants of the region, and so I could hardly blame them for wishing to use the wealth of resources they just happened to stumble across.

"They found things within those ruins. Books, ledgers, ancient murals. Eventually news made it to the Jade Throne, and a group of cultivators showed up, taking everything away. Or almost everything."

"Ah, some of it survived?" I asked.

She nodded. "This isn't something we advertise. But copies of those ancient texts were made before they were confiscated. The language was hard to decipher, but for the most part it was the same common tongue, only... different. Very different."

"A few thousand years will do that to a language," I said.

"I suppose. The sect suspected that there might be some hidden knowledge that could be of use, so we secretly hired some scholars."

"To translate the works?"

"No, to train others in the art of translation. People we trusted. The likelihood that the scholars we hired from the capital were spies was far too high. It took a few decades to have a team of people able to translate, and then we set them to the task. That took even longer. The result, after several long years, was a set of some thirty books and ledgers from the distant past."

"I can't imagine they held that many secrets."

Cinder's brows drew together. "Not the ones we wished for, I don't think. My grandfather, the then-sect leader, was very disappointed in the results. No teachings of cultivation or any secret techniques. The translations are in the sect now, available for most proper sect cultivators to read."

"Did you?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course. Most of us have. Well, perhaps not the ledgers. Those are just long lists of purchases. They paint an interesting picture of the prosperity of our ancestors, but that is all. Some items are strange, and it allows us to speculate, but that is all. Some of the texts are obviously fiction of one sort or another. Tales of heroes defeating cruel masters. The rest are biographies and actual historical texts. It's the fiction that always intrigued me."

"Oh?" I wouldn't have painted Cinder as an enjoyer of storytelling. Personally, I enjoyed a good bit of fiction on occasion, but most of my reading was very much non-fictional.

"They talk of knights and adventurers and mages. Not a cultivator in sight. Only strong men and women, doing what is right and fighting against evil. I don't know if they were truly stronger than the cultivators I have met, but they were certainly more... gallant. Yes yes yes, it filled my younger head with a desire for adventure. Of course, the villains are always you."

"Ah," I said. "Yes, I suppose there was a surge in popularity for stories which held liches as the great evil-doer. Honestly, it was quite flattering initially. I found the depictions of myself as a moustache-twirling evil doer quite amusing. Even if I've never been one for facial hair. Ohoho! Some of them even wrote me as quite dashing. One series had me kidnapping quite the number of young ladies. They never explained quite what a lich was supposed to do with so many innocent maidens. Other than locking them up in cages with a distinct lack of clothing."

Cinder chuckled. "That seems like a strange twist on your character."

"It is," I agreed, shaking my head. "But humans have always been adept at weaving the most colourful tales. It amused me for a time, and then the stories just became too repetitive. The same trope over and over. 'The dark lich and his desire to kidnap the princess'. It became more of a satire. You know, I don't think I've ever kidnapped a princess. A few heads of state, certainly, but never specifically a princess."

"You're out of luck. The Emperor only has sons, I think. There are no kings from which princesses can be born right now."

"Ah, well, that's quite unfortunate. I suppose I'll just have to wait. It's one of the great advantages to immortality. You'll get to experience things eventually if you're just patient enough."

The carriage pulled to a stop, and I could hear the gentle bustle of the city around us. Cinder glanced out of the window. "Ah. we're here." She shifted, gathering her belongings and then paused to touch Mem in the side. "We've arrived," she said.

"Oh." Mem said. "Mem was thinking."

"About?" I asked.

The mantis wiggled her arms, paused, then wiggled them some more. "Mem must have been thinking so hard she forgot to remember."

"I can't say I've ever experienced that before, and yet I'm still somehow not surprised. Shall we? I think we've got some work ahead of us."

Some News!

First, the Meme contest is over! This is the winning Meme!

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So... I don't usually do shout-outs, but the Winner of the contest is Emergency Complaints, and he happens to have launched a story, like, a day or two ago. So maybe give it a look? LINK!

Also...

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There's a Love Crafted Webcomic up on my patreon! For Freeeee! Well, it's just the prologue, but I think it's pretty neat<3

LINK!

Hope you enjoy <3

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Chapter Five — Petting Puppies

Chapter Five — Petting Puppies

They arrived at a big important building right in the centre of Shitake, but Mem really had a hard time caring too much.

That was a little not-nice though. She really wanted to care. Miss Cinder was nice to Mem. She didn't insult Mem even once, which was a new record for cultivators. Usually they insulted Mem within minutes of seeing her, but Miss Cinder had spent days close to Mem without saying one bad thing.

Unless she was saying bad things in a way that Mem couldn't understand, in which case it didn't matter, because then Meme wouldn't understand that she was being insulted in the first place.

Mem wondered if Miss Limpet and Mister Bone Daddy Harold, Destroyer of Worlds and also Alex were cultivators, but she didn't think so. Miss Limpet dressed a little like a cultivator, but she did magic and had a nice dog. The others were very different too.

Mem liked different. Different hadn't insulted her at all yet.

She stepped out of the carriage after Mister Harold and Miss Cinder were already out, then she stretched her head back as she took in the big building they had stopped in front of. It was one she'd seen before, though she'd also avoided coming too near.

The Ashen Pavillion was a grand structure, towering above many of the other buildings in Shitake City. It was made of grey stone, with little carvings all over of cultivators doing cultivation things.

It was the administrative centre of the city, which was why Mem tried to avoid it so much. She didn't like administration stuff. Sometimes, they made her sign things and read things, and Mem had a hard time saying no to pushy paper people, which meant that she'd spend days trying to understand their forms, but they were written in complicated ways and always made Mem want to cry.

The administrators were outside now, all lined up in a neat row, silly hats on fully display. They bowed as one. "The Administration Welcomes Lady Cinder," they chorused.

Mem decided that she didn't want to be here. She slipped closer to Mister Harold's side, then carefully touched his shoulder with her elbow joint. "Yes?" he asked.

He was a lot more expressive with skin and flesh on his face, but Mem wasn't sure if she trusted his expression. Not that she didn't trust him. Mister Harold was very strong and very honest. If he said he was going to burn a city down, Mem would be inclined to believe him, regardless of if he had a face or not. It was just that the face felt wrong after seeing his skull for so long.