“Inside the Pentacarna Tower, time bows to us,” Jared explained, the firelight of resolve dancing across his face. “Every outside year becomes a century beneath its runic walls. We can hammer our strength a thousandfold, minute by stolen minute.”
“Then perhaps you should enter alone,” Flaxseed mused after a thoughtful pause. “The clearing seems quiet enough, yet without someone standing guard, a single scoundrel could undo us both.”
Flaxseed knew the tower’s legend well. One turn of the seasons outside equaled a full century within. Cultivation there was not merely efficient; it was intoxicatingly fast. Yet if both of them vanished inside, even a petty thief might strike unchecked.
“Relax… The fire unicorn will stand watch.” No sooner had Jared spoken than a scarlet ember spiraled from his storage ring, unfurling into a miniature beast whose mane flickered like molten gold.
It had grown since its hatching, though still calf-sized, delicate hooves stamping the grass while sparks leaked from its nostrils.
Jared knelt, rubbing the creature’s warm forehead. “Little one, guard this place. Don’t let any mischief-maker get within scenting distance. Understood?”
His hand lingered, drawing a soft trill from the fire unicorn’s throat. The young divine beast bobbed its head with earnest vigor. Newly born yet already awakened, it grasped every word, its own thoughts glinting behind ember-bright eyes.
“Jared, lineage aside, the little unicorn beast is still too small. Level seven cultivators would squash it like tinder,” Flaxseed said, concern sharpening his normally mischievous tone. He cast an uneasy glance at the surrounding peaks, imagining hidden eyes.
“It’s not meant to fight,” Jared replied, calm as stone. “If danger approaches, it will roar. The instant we hear it, we exit the tower, simple.”
Flaxseed exhaled and inclined his head. “Fair enough…”
Just then, Jared’s storage ring trembled again. With a colossal yawn, a pudgy, sable-furred cub, the Celestial Devourer, rolled into the moonlight, as casual as an uninvited cat.
No rune could confine that creature; whenever whim struck, it left or returned, paying Jared’s authority little mind.
At once, the cub bounded toward the fire unicorn. The two youngsters broke into joyous pursuit, darting between wildflowers, sparks and shadow weaving a playful duet. Watching their carefree mischief, Jared finally allowed his shoulders to loosen.
“Come, Mr. Flaxseed, time waits inside.” Side by side, they stepped through the tower gateway, its sigils swallowing them in a hush of ancient power.
Within, Jared folded his legs and straightened his spine. The silence felt absolute, broken only by the slow inhale that drew pure celestial energy from the heap of stones before him.
Those gems brimmed with essence, denser, cleaner, more radiant than any he had tasted. The air around him vibrated, as though delighted to be consumed.
The celestial energy poured into Jared like a glassy brook that never emptied. It slid beneath his skin, flooded each meridian, and settled inside his elixir field with a cool, silvery glow. Cradling a single fist-sized celestial stone, he drew power faster and faster. Every breath arrived as a wave, and every wave rose higher than the last.
Light thickened around him until it resembled a gauzy halo. The very shadows inside the tower bent under the newborn brilliance.
Invisible shackles shattered, first one, then another, opening passages he had never reached before.
Beside him, Flaxseed swallowed the same radiant energy with feral resolve, matching Jared step for step toward the next horizon of strength.
***
Far outside the tower, seven strangers crested a ridge. Their leader, One-Eyed, was a scarred marauder whose lone pupil glittered with restless curiosity.
The moment the sudden tower came into view, the party stopped short, heads tilting like wolves scenting fresh prey.
“One-Eyed, we pass this stretch all the time. I could swear that tower wasn’t here yesterday, was it?” a lank cultivator asked, squinting warily at the bronze-black tower.
“Move. Let’s take a closer look,” One-Eyed grunted, already stalking down the slope.
He cut the air with a sharp gesture. Boots scraped over gravel as the band advanced, robes snapping in the highland wind.
They had not gone twenty paces when a bestial roar burst across the plain, deep, metallic, furious. The sound rolled like thunder, freezing every footstep.
A baby fire unicorn sprang from behind a jagged boulder. No taller than a colt, it wore crimson scales that flickered like coals, and its molten eyes locked on the intruders with feral focus.
Shock flashed across the raiders’ faces, then melted into raw delight, as though gold coins had begun to rain from the sky.
“One-Eyed, is… Is that a unicorn beast?” someone whispered, voice trembling.
