Elder Shi raced through the Crimson Valley, running as fast as she could between turning into purple smoke and moving even faster using her dream shift skill.

  Headmaster Siluvius kept pace with her, riding a wave of his wind qi at incredible speed with a degree of measured ease though his brow was furrowed with anger.

  Bolts of holy qi had come shooting through the portal before Ithilix had stumbled out, half dead and screaming about Elder Kanev attacking Jie, Pan Tian, herself, and Xue.

  They'd tried to go immediately to the final dungeon chamber, but the portal had destabilized and failed to synchronize again. Which meant that Elder Kanev was alone with her disciple.

  That traitorous, worthless sack of pustulant waste! She'd skin him alive for this! There was nowhere he could go where she would not find him.

  "You should run on ahead. You're faster than I am," Elder Shi said for what felt like the thousandth time.

  Headmaster Siluvius's jaw muscles rippled with tension.

  "I don't have water affinity," he replied once again, "I need your help to track down Elder Kanev."

  "And your students need your help!" Elder Shi snapped.

  His face darkened even further, and his aura rippled with barely contained rage.

  "It's already too late for them. You know this," he said. Every word was clipped.

  "You don't know that," Elder Shi said, "you don't know what she's capable of."

  He looked at her and the pity in his dark brown eyes broke her heart. She purposefully averted her gaze and cycled dream shift again as she raced ahead as fast as she could, pushing her body to its limit.

  It's not true. She can't be dead. She can't be. They can't take even more from me! Elder Shi thought.

  But, in her heart, she knew Headmaster Siluvius was right.

  She reformed and continued running, her feet pounding the snow as the headmaster kept his pace insufferably close to hers. It felt painfully slow. She glared at the night around them, searching for the barest flicker of Elder Kanev or of Jie.

  But the night was dark and oddly empty. Perhaps because the magical beasts were smart enough to avoid the killing intent radiating from two academy elders.

  She released a pulse of purple-blue spiritual energy and sensed traces of Jie and Elder Kanev. But the traces were old, some time apart, and led toward the dungeon.

  "You should've fired him months ago! You knew he was in the Chen family's pocket!" Elder Shi snapped.

  She knew the accusation was unfair the instant the words passed her lips. Every elder in the academy took payments under the table. It was just another way for the academy to incentivize people to take on the position of elder and the responsibilities it entailed.

  And even she hadn't thought Elder Kanev would go this far...

  The headmaster's aura fluctuated with fury as his wind qi spun faster, sending snow spraying angrily around them. She expected him to rebuke her or perhaps even attack her.

  But he said nothing for a long moment.

  "I didn't know how corrupt he'd become," he said finally, "I'll kill him for this."

  How could I have missed it? She thought.

  They reached the dungeon entrance and Elder Shi released another pulse of purple-blue spiritual energy.

  She frowned as she raced into the dungeon, her status as an elder granting her entry without requiring her to undergo the trials.

  "What is it?" Headmaster Siluvius asked as he followed her inside and kept pace with her as best he could in the tight tunnels of the catacombs, "did you sense him? Has he left the dungeon? When?"

  "No," Elder Shi said, "he hasn't left."

  "What? He can't still be here..." Headmaster Siluvius said, "I understand you and Liu Jie have grown close, but we can't allow Kanev to get away."

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  "He hasn't left," Elder Shi said. Though some part of her knew that only meant he hadn't left that particular way...

  A heavy silence filled the air, broken only by the sounds of their movements.

  "Sometimes the best and brightest die young," Headmaster Siluvius said, "all we can do now is--"

  "He. Hasn't. Left," Elder Shi growled.

  "It's not your fault," Headmaster Siluvius said.

  The genuine and sincere concern and empathy in his voice brought tears to Elder Shi's eyes as rage flared within her.

  She slammed the side of her fist into the catacomb wall, shaking the passage, shattering stone beneath the blow, and sending skulls spilling out onto the floor as she ran past.

  "HE HASN'T LEFT!" she roared.

  Her words echoed down the passages all around them before fading into another silence.

  Elder Shi took in a steadying breath, cursing herself for allowing her normally perfect fa?ade to drop.

  "I don't know where he went but he didn't come back through there," she said evenly.

  She waved her hand and her power flared, forming shimmering purple-blue silhouettes of Ithilix, Jie, Pan Tian, and Xue with Kanev and the Chen family following along behind them.

  "This is what I sense," Elder Shi said as calmly as she could manage, "these two groups passed through here a while ago. Kanev and the Chen family were hours behind Jie and her friends. Neither of them returned this way. Satisfied?"

  The images ran ahead of them, sped up through the use of her power as she continued sprinting, her tails trailing behind her.

  "But where could he have gone?" Headmaster Siluvius asked.

  Elder Shi gritted her teeth. She hated the way he spoke as though Jie were dead.

  Especially because she knew he was right...

  They reached the blood lake and Elder Shi pulled on her water affinity to manipulate the blood beneath her feet, carrying her across it as Headmaster Siluvius surfed his wind qi alongside her.

  "You should go on ahead," she said again, "or at least carry me. You're faster than I am."

  "He can't have gone far," Headmaster Siluvius said, "and if what you're saying is true--"

  "Do you think I'm lying?" Elder Shi snapped.

  "--then we need to be cautious," Headmaster Siluvius continued with false calm, "Something about this... doesn't feel right to me. And I will not carry the two of us blindly into an enemy ambush."

  Elder Shi scoffed. "Let Kanev try his best. I'll pull out his teeth," she said.

  "For all we know Ithilix was allowed to escape to lure us into a trap. Perhaps he found a way to get Chen family elders into the academy," Headmaster Siluvius said.

  Elder Shi swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. Part of her was angry with herself for not considering that. The rest of her didn't care. Trap or no trap how could she leave Jie alone down there? Jie needed her.

  "I understand your feelings," Headmaster Siluvius said more softly, "but there's no telling how deep Kanev's betrayal goes. I feel for your loss... but I cannot allow us to rush ahead blindly. If we're cautious... I believe we may be able to discover what lies in wait and withdraw until the other elders catch up with us."

  "And leave Jie alone to die?" Elder Shi asked bitterly.

  Again, it wasn't fair. Again, she knew he was right and again she didn't care. How could those bastards keep taking everything from her?

  Headmaster Siluvius said nothing in response, and she glanced at him. His eyes were filled with a mixture of guilt, anger, and self-loathing.

  She stared at him as they traveled over the lake. The look in his eyes made her feel guilty for her words. Part of her tried to make herself apologize for her accusations.

  He was only being reasonable... and she hated him for it.

  Finally, she gave up on trying to get any words past the bitter, aching lump in her throat and turned her gaze ahead.

  They reached the entrance to the ruined city and Elder Shi released another pulse of spiritual energy. She created images of both groups for Headmaster Siluvius to see.

  "They--" she began only for her voice to catch in her throat. She swallowed hard and tried again, "They haven't come back this way. None of them have."

  The softness of her voice surprised her. It brought with it an ache that throbbed in her bones. She fought back tears and found herself wishing the anger would return to drown out these other, more painful emotions.

  "Are there any signs of other powerful auras? Any sign of Chen family elders or mercenaries?" Headmaster Siluvius asked.

  "No," Elder Shi said, "but if they're powerful enough, they may be able to hide from me."

  Now that guilt and shame had broken through her anger enough to see a semblance of reason... she found herself agreeing that it didn't make sense. That they were almost certainly running right into a trap. Either that or Kanev was a lot better at hiding his trail than she gave him credit for...

  She didn't slow her pace.

  They came to the steps of the ruined palace and for the first time since Ithilix had told them what happened... Elder Shi came to a stop. Headmaster Siluvius halted beside her. The two of them stood staring at a headless naked corpse being fought over by a pair of noctilith.

  The rage came back as the idea that these foul insects might dare sully Jie's remains blocked out all capacity for reason. Elder Shi snarled and swept her hands toward the noctilith.

  Spiritual energy flared and bright purple fire lit the palace steps as twin lances of flame pierced the heads of the noctilith. They released the body as they fell back, their bodies writhing violently as purple fire engulfed and incinerated them in an instant.

  Elder Shi ran up to the headless corpse as grief and disbelief welled up inside her. Her emotions rapidly turned to confusion as she at last noticed that the body was male and couldn't possibly belong to Jie.

  Headmaster Siluvius stood at her side, his brown eyes staring at the sight just as her own did.

  Elder Shi released a pulse of spiritual energy and her confusion and surprise deepened.

  "It's Chen Huo," she said.

  "What?" Headmaster Siluvius asked, "Why would Kanev kill Chen Huo?"

  Elder Shi picked up the pace.

  "I don't think it was Kanev," Elder Shi said, "He and the Chen family came this way after Jie and her party... something chased down Chen Huo... its aura is... similar to Jie's but... it's not quite the same."

  "A family member? A bodyguard?" Headmaster Siluvius asked.

  Elder Shi didn't know and as far as she was concerned it didn't matter. Whatever had happened, Jie was still in danger.

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