The Return Undeserved

They reached the threshold by midafternoon.

The old jade works sprawled across the valley floor—an ancient compound of weathered masonry and cracked colonnades, its grandeur long since eroded into ruin. Snow dusted the roofless halls, drifting through shattered archways and settling on a monument to human greed.

From a distance, it looked abandoned.

Up close, it was anything but.

Shen Yan dropped into a crouch near the collapsed east wall, studying the movement below.

"Six patrols," he murmured, his voice so low it barely stirred the air. "Four outside, two along the upper gallery."

Jin Mu followed the sweep of his gaze.

"Light armor," he noted. "But their sigils are active. Expect reinforcement glyphs."

Su Lin pressed closer to the wall, her breath fogging.

"What about the rest?"

He didn't look at her.

"They'll be inside."

The Concord never left its spoils exposed to the elements. The worst of their trade was always hidden—beneath stone, in darkness.

They waited for the rotation of the guards.

When the outer patrol shifted to the south side, Jin Mu gestured sharply.

"Now."

They moved like smoke across the yard, feet scarcely brushing the frozen earth.

A rusted iron bulkhead lay half-buried under collapsed beams. He pressed one palm to the seal—feeling the resonant hum of a locking mechanism woven with sigil threads—and closed his eyes.

Order Mark—Sever Binding.

The glyphs flickered, fighting him.

For a moment he thought the old defences would hold.

Then the lock clicked, the seals sputtered out, and the bulkhead sagged inward.

They slipped into the dark.

The passage beyond was cramped, walled in black stone and lined with empty hooks where lanterns had once hung.

Jin Mu led, Shen Yan covering their rear, Su Lin between them. Their footfalls vanished into the oppressive hush.

After twenty paces, the tunnel opened onto a landing above a cavernous storage vault.

Su Lin stifled a gasp.

There were rows upon rows of iron cages.

Hundreds of them, stretching into shadow.

In every one, a body.

Some breathing.

Some not.

She pressed a hand to her mouth, her skin gone white.

"How can they—"

"Because they don't see them as people," Jin Mu said quietly.

He moved to the edge of the landing.

Embedded in the far wall, an immense disc of jade and brass gleamed dully.

"That's their Tally Sigil," he murmured. "It records all transactions—purchases, transport orders, branding certificates."

Shen Yan's jaw flexed.

"Can you extract it?"

"With time."

He turned to Su Lin.

"Stay close. If the alarm is tripped—"

"I know," she whispered.

He drew a thin blade of etched black iron from his belt and pressed the tip to the sigil's outer ring.

Order Mark—Recall Memory.

Threads of pale light rippled across the disc. The glyphs began to unspool, line by line, in a language older than the Concord itself.

He was halfway through the extraction when the vault doors below slammed open.

Shouts erupted—dozens of boots thudding across the floor.

Shen Yan stepped forward, drawing both swords, his expression unchanged.

"Well," he sighed. "They noticed."

Jin Mu didn't look up from the sigil.

"Buy me five minutes."

Shen Yan smiled thinly.

"I'll give you six."

He vaulted from the landing in a flash of steel, striking the first Concord guard before they could raise their weapons.

Su Lin hesitated only a heartbeat—then followed, flame leaping to her hands.

Su Lin: "Hidden Flame—Searing Arc!"

Fire swept through the nearest ranks.

Armor glowed cherry red; men screamed as they staggered back.

Shen Yan moved like a storm.

Shen Yan: "Iron Gale."

His blades blurred, carving sigil-shields apart.

Above them, Jin Mu worked.

Line by line, he tore the records free, compressing the knowledge into a sealed sigil on his palm.

He heard Su Lin's voice, high and ragged, and Shen Yan's low curses.

He did not look down.

When the last glyph collapsed into light, he straightened—just as a Concord enforcer vaulted up the stair, blade drawn to cleave him from throat to breastbone.

Su Lin screamed his name.

Jin Mu didn't flinch.

Order Mark—Dominion Palm.

His hand met the enforcer's breastplate.

A sound like stone imploding shook the vault.

The enforcer folded in on himself, armor buckling inward as if an invisible hand had crushed his ribs to powder.

Jin Mu exhaled.

"It's done," he called down. "Fall back."

Shen Yan caught Su Lin's wrist, dragging her toward the side passage as fresh reinforcements poured in.

Jin Mu vaulted down, landing beside them.

"Which way?" Shen Yan demanded.

He nodded toward a narrow corridor flanked by rune-scribed pillars.

"Storage conduits. They'll feed out to the northern slope."

They ran.

Behind them, the vault erupted in shouts and the crackle of burning sigils.

They burst from a concealed exit, the cold air knifing into their lungs.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Then Shen Yan looked at him, breathing hard.

"Did you get it?"

Jin Mu held up his hand, showing the sealed sigil.

"Every transaction. Every buyer."

Su Lin pressed her palms to her knees, her voice trembling.

"Then…we can end them?"

He nodded slowly.

"This is the ledger of their crimes," he said. "But it won't be enough to destroy them. Not yet."

Silence settled over them.

Jin Mu flexed his scarred hand, remembering the rush of cold power that had answered him in the vault.

How easily the Order Mark had crushed a man's life.

He felt no satisfaction.

Only the dull weight of consequence.

Su Lin was watching him, her expression unreadable.

"What does it feel like?" she asked quietly. "To have that power?"

He considered a long moment.

"Like standing on a ledge," he said at last. "Knowing the wind could take you any moment."

She nodded, as if she understood.

Maybe she did.

Shen Yan sheathed his swords, his face unreadable.

"Where to now?"

Jin Mu turned to the dark horizon.

"East," he said. "We bring this evidence to the High Tribunal. And we show the world what the Concord really is."

"And after that?" Su Lin asked.

His gaze didn't waver.

"After that," he said softly, "we burn every last trace of them from the earth."