The tip of Amber's finger just broke the surface of the glowing bubble around the man, when his eyes flashed open suddenly.
Amber was startled when their eyes instantly met. She had never seen such focused and intelligent eyes. It felt like she could see into the deepest parts of her being. Those parts of your inner self that you never tell others about. It felt like he instantly knew everything that she kept to herself. Then after a moment, it felt like he saw deeper into the hidden parts that she wouldn't even face. She felt raw and bleeding just from looking into his eyes.
Then after just moments, that somehow felt like hours, he lifted his palm towards her and she felt the strongest tug yet. She was ripped towards the man, screaming, but no sound came out. Just as she ripped free of the clouds and felt she would collide into him, he twisted his hand once more. With the twist of his hand, he slowed until she found herself slowly floating down to the cliff face he was sitting on.
She slipped into the bubble around the man and instantly felt the power of gravity once more. A large part of her felt relieved, but a small part of her felt weary. She didn't know this man in the slightest, but not only could he see her, he could also affect her so strongly. She was undoubtedly completely at his mercy. That was not a comfortable feeling.
She swallowed nervously and glanced into his eyes once more before quickly looking away. Those eyes reminded her of her grandfather from her previous life. She likely had only seen him smile a handful of times in her lifetime. Each time it was a surprise and only one of those smiles had been directed at her. They were so incredibly small that you likely wouldn't be able to notice. The one time he smiled at her, her whole world felt like it was glowing. It was just a small upturn of the lips and only lasted a moment, but it was significantly burned into her mind.
After feeling her feet planted firmly on the cliff landing, she looked over sideways to avoid his probing eyes. From this side of the clouds, she could see how impossibly high up they were. She made the mistake of looking past the edge of the landing and quickly stepped back, tripping over her own feet.
The elderly man effortlessly stood up from his crossed leg sitting position and walked towards her with such grace that it almost appeared as if he were gliding. He loomed over her with mostly indifference, but a slight frown line appeared between his eyes. Her face was shockingly without many wrinkles, only his eyes and hair gave away his age. Regardless of his lack of wrinkles, he looked like he may be inhumanly ancient.
"These are the private grounds of my Sapientia Sect. The penalty for trespassing is imprisonment and torture. You also interrupted my cultivation which could be considered an attempt on my life. I am Sage Fidus, the head of the Sapientia sect. As a leader of one of the four major sects, I am an internationally protected person and it is considered treasonous in many countries to attack my person. So I ask you, what are you doing here?"
Amber's eyes widened in horror as their eyes met once more. She opened her mouth and a small squeak escaped. Her body felt like fire was washing it while her hands shook at her sides and her knees rattled. She wrapped her arms around her treacherous knees while looking up at his towering figure. She hated herself for these spikes of fear shooting through her. She had promised herself that she would be strong in this life. Strong! Yet here she was curled into a little ball quaking in fear, like prey. Humiliation followed the fear and then disappointment in herself.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the strong emotions began to choke her. So many memories she'd pushed down within herself, until there was this tense ball that threatened to rip her apart. This too, she shoved down to add to the rest of it. She would be strong, even if it killed her. As she felt these emotions becoming a part of the rest of the suppressed ball, the shaking in her body instantly stopped. She stood up confidently and dusted herself off as if she had no other cares.
Only the slightest bit of surprise shone in his eyes before he quickly extinguished it. He flicked a finger towards her and a gust of wind blew, throwing her hair into disarray. She looked up at him and froze mid swipe. It almost looked like a little child who had been caught reaching into a cookie jar.
A slight smirk appeared on his lips and his eyes glittered mischievously. "I assume that you're clear of dust now and don't require a more forceful gust? I fear that you may not be able to stay on his cliff if I use a stronger gale, but if it's what you require..." He lifted his hand.
"No, that won't be necessary! Thank you!" said Amber quickly.
"Now back to the matter at hand. You have not only slipped past the wards around this mountain, you have also interrupted my closed cultivation. Luckily you showed up when I wasn't at a vulnerable stage. If you had shown up mid breaking through my next layer, I could have been seriously crippled. So I ask you, what business does such a young girl have in projecting her soul all the way up this mountain top to myself? I sense that your physical body is quite a distance from here." He said while looking back towards her home.
Amber swallowed and nibbled at her bottom lip. "It was actually an accident. I was sleeping and slipped out of my body. While I was walking around my home, I decided to go outside and got blown away by the wind. It wasn't my intention to trespass anywhere, although I am grateful that you got me down."
He blinked twice at Amber and then a small amused smile flitted across his stoic features. A little chuckle tried to sneak past his lips and he cleared his throat before his face slipped back into disinterest. "That being the case, It's evident that you will need a master to train you or you will likely blow away to never be seen or heard from again. It's clear that you have some untapped potential and therefore you will enter my Sapientia Sect. I will remain on this mountain until I break through and will have you collected afterwards. In the meantime, I will tether you to your body and send you back."
"I would feel grateful to be sent back, but have no interest in joining any sects." Amber waved her hand in front of herself in denial.
He frowned and looked into her eyes deeply. "This is not up for debate. You will either willingly be collected or unwillingly be collected. Either you are a future disciple who didn't know the rules of the sect, or you are a trespasser who snuck into sacred cultivating territory and endangered my life. I suggest that you think about your options carefully. When I send someone to collect you, you will be collected one way or the other."
Sage Fidus's hands glowed as he held them towards her. Then he made some odd symbols with his hands held together faster than her eyes could follow. Heat radiated over her body and large glowing blue straps like big belts appeared around her and tightened across her chest in an x shape. The squeezing felt suffocating, but she couldn't struggle against it or even move in the slightest. The moment his hands glowed, her whole body felt paralyzed to the spot. Fear shot through her once more, as if she were looking into the eyes of an enormous snake.
"You may go," he said while flicking his hand once more.
As he said that, a long glowing blue cord shot out from the conjunction to the straps around her chest and headed back to the direction of her home. After only a moment, she felt the other end of the cord click into place.
"Have a nice flight," he said.
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt a fearful great tug. Her eyes opened in terror and goosebumps covered her body. Then the loudest scream she'd ever made was ripped past her lips as she was yanked off the cliff and went careening through the air. Around the mountaintops she spun at eye watering speeds, barely missing a gruesome splattering death.
When she cleared the mountains she felt some short lived relief. Being dragged over a large body of water didn't much improve her mood when she saw large shadows moving below the surface. She held her breath as she was pulled past, hoping to not be noticed. She felt like a giant had decided to fly fish, using her as bait.
She let her breath out as soon as she cleared the water and soon was choking on her breath once more as she entered a dense forest. She was dragged around the trees until her eyes were spinning and she was gagging violently. Clearing the trees, she felt relief once more as she saw Rafferty Village.
It took only a moment before she arrived at her home. At that time, she surprisingly found herself with her face painfully squished against the glass of her window. It felt like her eyes would pop out of her head at any moment due to the pressure. She couldn't breath, couldn't pull back, couldn't do anything except be smashed against the window. After what felt like an eternity, she slowly felt her body slip through the glass. As soon as the last of her body cleared the window, she slammed into her body with so much force that she broke the bed frame beneath her.
She blinked unseeing and tried to rub her eyes, only to discover that she had entered her body backwards. Twisting around in her body was quite difficult, but she slowly managed to right herself. She wiggled off of her broken bed onto the floor while trying to reposition herself and smashed her face into the floor.
She groaned and rubbed her sore nose, smearing blood all over her face. "This is familiar," she grumbled while slowly standing up and patting herself down. She was just wiggling her limbs when her bedroom door was busted open and her eyes met those of her maid who'd been missing and her so-called fiancé.