Chang-li sat in an opulent marbled hall on a tall-backed chair and cycled. He kept his hands clasped together in front of him, his feet firm on the floor as he concentrated on his cycling technique. The infusion of lux from the prism's display filled him with crackling energy. It was easy to work with but had a different quality than he'd experienced from tower lux.

  After Wulan's complaint about this tower having bland lux, Chang-li had spent some time contemplating and decided that he agreed. He hadn't noticed before, perhaps because he was still new at cultivation, but the lux here at Varden City flowed easily, like water being moved between two jars, while the Broken Tower's lux had felt somehow more alive. Some days it would resist, and others it would answer easily. He remembered the difficulty he had had with the flower monsters on the sixth floor of this tower, how their lux had clogged his channels, and wondered about that.

  It was enough to keep him occupied as the minutes dragged by. He had arrived at the appointed time for his tutoring by Prism Nai Hong, but the prism was making no sign of being ready for him. It was obvious that a prism's time was much more valuable than his own, so Chang-li sat and waited. He had plenty of experience as a scribe cooling his heels in an outer office while waiting for the more important person whom he had been summoned to attend to have time for him.

  At last, a door opened and a servant emerged. "The prism will see you now, Cultivator Wu," she said politely, dipping her head. She was a cultivator herself, Chang-li sensed. She wore the same device he'd seen on many of the lux technicians, the imperial seven-point star surrounding a hammer, showing she was a cultivator sworn directly into the service of a Prism, rather than a sect. While Prism Eri commanded a sect herself, other prisms, like Nai Hong, instead preferred to surround themselves with government functionaries.

  Chang-li rose and followed her into what was obviously the office of an important official, but not the prism's own. The furniture was shoved back against the wall to leave a large open mat. The room itself was about twenty feet on a side with rich wall hangings and a dark window on the far side. Prism Nia Hong stood with his back to Chang-li, looking out the window.

  Chang-li bowed and announced himself, “Your Radiance? Cultivator Wu of the Morning Mist Sect, as requested." The servant slid the door shut behind him. Chang-li waited as the prism stared out the window. Light reflected off the glass from the last remnants of the lux ribbons in the sky above.

  At last, the prism sighed and turned. He had dark hair streaked with grey and a neatly trimmed beard. Chang-li had seen him before at events related to the bridal tournament, but never this close. He was impressed with just how weary the man seemed.

  "Welcome, Cultivator Wu, and congratulations. Your sect has done very well for itself, far better than my daughter and my rival expected." He paused, clearly inviting Chang-li to comment.

  Nervously, Chang-li asked the obvious, "You aren't surprised, your radiance?”

  The cultivator shrugged. "After six hundred years, very little will surprise you, Cultivator Wu, should you make it to a rank as exalted as my own. Upstart sects with little backing and no history also have nothing to lose. They often do far better than their more established competitors at this sort of event. But we are not here to talk about your sect. We are here to talk about you. I have promised to give some of my valuable time to tutor you, and so I will. You are approaching the Peak of Spiritual Refinement, which is a hard path. Your own master will be guiding you. Any advice I can give would be superfluous to his teachings. So tell me, what is it you think you need?"

  Chang-li bowed his head, trying not to show his frustration. If the Prism knew that Noren wasn’t truly his master perhaps he’d give Chang-li a needed insight — but that would bring its own complication. "As you say, your time is valuable, your wisdom even more valuable. If you were me, what would you ask for?"

  The prism barked a laugh. "And a clever one, too. Most Young Masters of your rank would come barging in with a demand to be taught a specific pattern, or perhaps given knowledge of a cultivation treasure they could acquire. Tell me, what is the most valuable asset to any cultivator?"

  Chang-li considered. The obvious answer would be lux, or perhaps knowledge. Those seemed too easy. A technique that fitted him, the proper path, companions? Help with the trick he was struggling to learn of duplicating his sword?He considered all of the options. None of them seemed right. Then, thinking back on his own journey, he made a leap. "Time," he said.

  The prism's eyebrow rose. "Oh? Elaborate."

  Chang-li cleared his throat. "Time is the most important. Everything else comes from that. With enough time, you can learn any technique. You can find a teacher to aid you. You can visit enough towers to acquire the lux you need to cultivate. Time is a luxury. And one most sects do not grant their students."

  The prism nodded. “Agreed. If you take too long between stages of progression, they will decide you have no talent for cultivation and send you away. You must always balance your need to move forward with your need to consolidate your gains where you are." He looked Chang-li over critically. "Yes, that is a good insight. It makes me wonder if, perhaps, you have found time itself to be your ally already on your cultivation journey. According to your records, two months ago you were a mere scribe. Now you are working toward the Peak of Spiritual Refinement. It is not unheard of for a cultivating genius to make such strides, but I have heard the officials discussing they believe your sect to have possession of secret resources which you are wisely not revealing."

  Chang-li held his tongue as he thought first of the violet lux he had used in the broken tower and then of the training chamber. That at least had been a tower boon, and so probably not forbidden. He hesitated, then withdrew it, holding it out for the prism to see.

  The prism looked it over. "This is a tower boon?"

  "From the broken tower at Golden Moon City," Chang-li agreed.

  "Yes, I read that your sect won that tower, but not what the boon had been. You've already used this, I see."

  "It saved my life." He explained how Feng had trapped him in it and he'd used the time to reach the Peak of Mental Refinement.

  The prism chuckled. "That young master was a fool. Too many of them are. To throw away such a valuable device…. I see you have begun to recharge it."

  Chang-li's cheeks burned. "I assumed that was permitted since the crystal is a tower boon."

  "It is," the prism said, "though some officials might give you difficulty." He held out his hand. Chang-li forced himself to relinquish the crystal. There wasn't much he could do to stop the man from taking it. The prism held it up. Chang-li sensed the rich violet lux flowing out of him into the device. More lux than Chang-li's core could have held ten times over.

  He handed it back. Chang-li took the device. It felt warm against his palm. "It is ready to use again, though you should consider when will be most to your advantage. And here," the prism extended a finger. A line of golden lux seared out and a symbol appeared on the outside of the crystal, "my personal crest. Should anyone question, you may tell them Prism Nai Hong has sanctioned your use of this device."

  Chang-li placed the training chamber back in his soulspace and bowed low. "Thank you," he said fervently.

  "So, you cultivate and you approach it seriously. You have made great strides, taking advantage of what you have been given and what you have seized. In that case, I will not attempt to teach you a technique or change your lux channels." The prism eyed Chang-li. "I see you have already begun that yourself. Hmm. Your use of your soulspace is clunky. Would you like me to give you my advice on that?"

  "I am grateful for any advice you give," Chang-li said fervently.

  "You have opened your soulspace early. One common trap young cultivators fall into when they open the space is they think of it as merely a place to store items where only they can find them, like a purse you carry around inside your body." The prism chuckled as though that was a foolish thought. Chang-li had assumed that's exactly what a soulspace was, but he held his tongue, ready to listen to what the prism had to say. "What happens to the items you store within your soulspace?"

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  "I've never thought of that," Chang-li said.

  "It has been a matter of debate among cultivators. Some believe that those items were destroyed and reconstituted from the lux inside your core whenever you wished to remove them. This is supported by the fact that cultivators cannot store living creatures within your soulspace."

  Chang-li hadn't known that, though he probably would never have dared to try. He immediately thought of Scribe Wulan's pen case, but the prism was still talking.

  "There are counters to this theory, namely the fact that soul anchors for shades and similar constructs too complicated to be recreated from lux can be stored inside soulspace. That means it must be opening into another realm. And of course, in order to ascend, one must be capable of opening one's soulspace and stepping into it."

  The idea of that made Chang-li's head hurt, but he wasn't planning to ascend himself any time soon. Instead, he frowned. "So, we're using other realms like our storage chest?"

  "Exactly," the prism smiled. "Or rather, we're using the space between realms. It's not truly a space, but a metaphorical concept. In order to reach another realm, one must pass through the intervening not-space.”

  “Which is full of people's lux treasures, and swords, and whatever else they've stored in their soulspace?" Chang-li asked, frowning. Something about that didn't seem right to him.

  "You will never be able to access anyone else's soulspace," the prism said. “Thinking of it a location is a useful thought exercise. No more. The point is, by understanding conceptually that the space between realms has no limits, you can increase the size of your own soulspace, even at this stage in your cultivation."

  That sounded promising to Chang-li. "And how do I do that?"

  "I will take you inside my own soulspace," the prism said.

  Chang-li choked. "I thought you just said no living creature could be stored in a soulspace."

  "For lesser cultivators, that is true. Prisms have learned to ignore certain rules. But it also requires the one being stored is a cultivator of some skill, able to work violet lux. We have already established you can do just that. If you are willing to risk it, I believe it will be a worthwhile endeavor."

  Chang-li swallowed, his heart thumping. On the one hand, this was dangerous. On the other hand, he craved the knowledge that the prism was offering, a better understanding of an aspect of cultivation that was still strange to him. He'd take the risk. "Yes, sir. Thank you. Your radiance." He bowed.

  “Fill yourself with lux and cycle. Specifically," Nai Hong held out a hand, "you will need to cycle pure violet lux. As prism, I can grant you permission for this as a training exercise. Here.” He extended a hand again.

  Chang-li reached out and touched his right finger to the prism’s. “Choose a simple pattern," the prism advised Chang-li as a jolt of violet lux flooded his lux channels. He was overcome with the purity and density. It seared through him, filling his core, forcing the other luxes out. Chang-li vented them through his left hand channels as he drew the violet in through his right. His body suffused with it, making him feel as though he were glowing.

  Chang-li cycled Purification of Mind and Soul, and the prism nodded. "That will do. Be prepared," he said. He reached out a hand and set it on Chang-li's shoulder.

  He blinked. He was floating in a void of deepest black. He could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. He tried to take a breath and there was no air, but his lungs didn't seem to mind.

  "Cycle," the prism's voice whispered in his ear. "You must keep up your cycling while I show you what this truly is."

  Chang-li cycled. It was the only thing he could feel. It made him aware of his own body, his skin tingling, providing a distinction between himself and the absolute void around him.

  A light kindled. "I am showing you this for your benefit. This is not how void space truly looks," the prism's voice told him. "Here and here. Look, do you see how my thoughts are drawing these items I have stored closer?"

  Lights bobbed in the nothingness as something approached. It was a long, thin sword with a red-wrapped handle. It must be something the prism had stored in his own soulspace.

  "It answers me. And here, I press back the darkness, expanding my awareness an inch deeper. This is what you must be able to do," the prism said. His will touched Chang-li's. "Release your will just a bit," the prism urged.

  Chang-li, focusing desperately on his channeling, struggled to do as he was told. When he relaxed his hold on his will, the prism dragged it out, and Chang-li began to sense what was around him. It was the purest nothingness he'd ever felt. And yet it wasn't nothingness at all. Nothingness was an absence. This was dense with reality.

  "That's right," the prism's voice said, as though he were reading Chang-li's thoughts, or perhaps Chang-li had spoken them aloud but not heard them because there was no sound in this place. "This is what Lumos is made from. Lumos holds back the void, but Lumos comes from the void. You will not need to care about this for a very long time yet, Young Master." There was a hint of a chuckle in his voice. "And now I will... what's that?"

  The prism's attention was whipped away. He dragged Chang-li's will along with his, as though he had forgotten he was holding it. Chang-li felt his will being pulled away from himself, and desperately he clung to it. He almost dropped his cycling, then recalled in dismay the prism's warning. Focusing on his will, he imagined it like a rope unspooling from his own core, and clung, not trying to drag it back, but trying to drag himself along with it.

  There was a feeling of movement as though they were rushing forward very fast, and then the darkness vanished.

  He was hanging in midair, high above the glowing Riceflower. The petals stuck out from the tower, gleaming with lux. Overhead, the last traces of lux ribbons were fading in the dark sky. The moon had gone. The lake below was still and quiet. Chang-li was hanging in midair, suspended by nothing at all. He held back a scream.

  Ahead of him, twenty feet in the air, hovering, seemingly forgetting Chang-li was there, was Prism Nai Hong, and beside him, Prism Eri. Chang-li must be supported by some action of Nai Hong's. He didn't dare intrude on the two prisms.

  "What are you doing?" Nai Hong demanded.

  Eri tossed her hair over her shoulder. She had a dagger in one hand. The blade was like a shard of rainbow crystal, glittering as Chang-li looked on it. "I'm just evening the odds up, old man," she laughed.

  The prism stared at her. They were staring at each other, and for a moment, Chang-li thought nothing was happening. Then he sensed the fierce clash of wills and realized they were struggling with each other. Sweat beaded on Nai Hong's face. Eri kept up her smile, but it looked strained.

  "So you decide now to act?" the older prism said. "Why now?"

  "Because tomorrow will be too late, of course. I respect you, Hong," Eri said carelessly. "And so I'm going to give you a chance. If you ascend now, I'll spare you."

  Nai Hong's expression was growing more strained. Chang-li could feel their wills pushing against each other. He kept himself very small and very quiet, feeling like an ant about to be stepped upon by giants. What was going on? Seemingly Eri had attacked Prism Hong and was threatening him. But why? Prisms didn't fight each other. Not anymore.

  A new terror washed over Chang-li, replacing his fear for his own life. When Prisms fought, the resulting war devastated the empire. His training told him just how bad it had been. He didn't know who he should be rooting for here, he had no idea about their quarrel. He just wanted this to end without destroying the city below or getting him killed.

  He tried not to look down. They were hovering over the lake, the water miles beneath him. It seemed he would never survive the fall, even if he had proper lux in his body. But he had nothing except violet. And what could that do for him?

  "So," Prism Nai Hong said sorrowfully, "you think to move against the emperor? You think you can unseat him? Many have tried, and he has destroyed them all."

  Eri gave a flick of her wrist. "I know what you're trying, Nai Hong, and it won't work. I've shielded us from the emperor's gaze, and you can't break through. I feel you're trying it now. You will admit I'm stronger than you are."

  "I am surprised," Nai Hong admitted. "But you are young and impatient. Time has taught me a trick or two."

  He was gone, and Chang-li was falling. Eri swore. She vanished as Chang-li plummeted toward the lake beneath. He fell past the crown ring, a hundred feet away from the edge, and sheer terror stole the breath from his lungs. He cycled furiously. The violet lux was useless to him, and there wasn't enough ambient lux in the air to pull in and do anything else.

  Panic crowded out every thought from Chang-li's mind. He found himself falling into the oldest, most basic technique he knew, the Way of the Faithful, cycling it like a prayer.

  The wind in his ears diminished and died. Chang-li's stomach returned to normal. He opened one eye cautiously. The Riceflower hung still dozens of feet away, and he was falling, but at a glacial pace. A petal went past him, inching lower. It was the violet lux. Time itself was slowing, but if he couldn't do something to save himself, he would still die.

  Chang-li kept cycling the Way of the Faithful as he stretched out his will and gathered every trace of red and orange lux lingering in the air. It was a teaspoon in a bucket, but he found some. He braided it together, not even a pattern, just two strands of lux reinforcing each other, and lashed out with it. The end of the braid snapped forward, catching a railing on the edge of the petal.

  Chang-li lunged for the lux rope he'd made, dropping his cycling pattern. At once, he began to fall again, but his hands seized the braid of lux. It swung him inward toward the petal, faster and faster. He was going to crash against its underside.

  Chang-li braced himself. When he didn't crash, he found himself swinging in the air back and forth, dangling from the bottom of the petal by a hundred-foot-long lux braid. He glanced downward. The tops of the roofs on the next petal down were only 15 or so feet away. Chang-li left the orange lux in the braid and pulled back on the red. Familiar lux he'd already cycled once easily answered his touch. He strengthened his legs and let go.

  He dropped to the roof of the nearest building, landing in a crouch.

  As he did, the world around exploded.