"You say that the Black One went out, returned the next day, and now the Seer has gone in the same direction?" The Magistrate asked. A knock sounded at the door, so the hidden guard disappeared.

"Enter." The Magistrate said. His steward appeared.

"Sir, a guard from Underground Black has come. He left a message." He put the rolled up sheet on the desk and left. The scroll was sealed with black wax, which made the Magistrate tremble a bit. Ever so slowly, he broke the seal. A voice spoke.

'Stop watching. This is your only warning.' The message turned to dust and dark elemental smoke. This left the Core realm cultivator disturbed, and silent within his office. His hands gripped the edge of his desk in an effort to firm up his heart.

"Enter." He spoke, and grit his teeth. He wasn't sure his voice was solid and strong.

"Magistrate." The guard said, and looked at the lack of the sealed message on the desk from the corner of his eye.

"Watch from the city only. Make sure no fools follow her. The Black One sent a warning, a courtesy only." The Magistrate said, and pulled out a sheet of paper. He quickly wrote a long message, signed, rolled and sealed it.

"Send this to His Majesty."

* * *

"Seer, the woman within has uncanny skills. She will know we are out here." The guard said. The Seer smiled.

"Truth. She is on her way to greet us." What she didn't say was that there was a large amount of elemental essence, known to her as spiritual essence, being manipulated ahead of them. If she didn't know ahead of time, she would have requested that they turn around. That level of power felt well beyond any realm she's ever heard of.

When the party arrived, the original guards that guided the Black One noticed a lot more improvements along the outside walls, and some new roof beams set in place.

"She works fast. No work crew, no ropes, but those beams are massive. She's incredibly powerful." He whispered.

"Truth." The Seer felt a little excitement, mixed with a healthy amount of fear. She had longed to see this anomaly in the fabric of their existence. Once her presence was made known, all kinds of things that she was once able to predict easily, now had a lower chance of turning out correct. This only happened when she was involved in the outcome, or the course.

The further out her involvement was, the more sure the original outcome will occur. If her involvement was only a step or two away from the outcome, it was sure to change. She was a variable the gods had not foreseen.

The Seer dismounted, as did the guards, and noticed Aila's intent observation. The Seer noticed how relaxed the young woman appeared.

The Seer could tell she was an attractive woman, but she appeared a little too thin, as though she were sick for a long time. Some parts of her body looked undeveloped, as though time had not allowed her to progress through life, even though she possessed that age within her eyes. The long brown hair was tied back to keep the wavy locks under control, while those deep brown eyes actually made the Seer pause in her scrutiny.

Aila had beautiful eyes.

"Hm, the same black energy clings to you that clung to her. I take it you are closely related to the one in black?" Aila asked. The Seer tilted her head.

"You speak the truth? How do I have my sister's spirit?" The Seer asked, a little bit confused. Aila sighed.

"Come in. This will take a little time to explain, but it may take you longer to understand." The Seer felt surprise.

"Truth."

* * *

"Your body, meridians, dantian, and spiritual sea are all saturated with the same black energy as the...Black One? A title is odd for a name." Aila frowned. "Come to think of it, I never asked for her name." A guard stepped forward.

"Forgive my intrusion. The Seers and the Black Ones have always been referred to by their titles, since Underground Black was established. To the ones within, they are sacred existences, and to refer to them by their birth names cheapens their existence in our eyes." He said respectfully. What he didn't say, was that the Seer and Black One were born to fill those roles specifically, and their birth names were only used until they were weaned.  Birth names were only used by their mother, and never told to anyone within Underground Black, so after she passed away, not even the Seer or Black One knew those names.  Aila pursed her lips.

"Such things make no sense to me. The gods have always had names, while their titles identified what they were associated with. Thor, god of thunder."  Her eyes glowed and showed lightning arcs.  "Aries, god of war."  Her eyes changed into blood red spheres this time.  "Zeus, and Hera, mother and father of the gods."  Her eyes changed again, this time they reflected light and dark elemental essence.  "Gaia, the earth mother, and her husband Uranus."  With much more strength, her eyes glowed green for life, and radiated the death element for Uranus, for in her mind, he would have been the death of his own children. The guard stepped back in shock.

"You know the names of the gods?"

"The gods of where I am from." She still remembered some of the tales of the Greek gods, and was utterly disgusted by their behaviors. Zeus raped women, while Uranus imprisoned his children due to their deformity. Gaia betrayed her husband, and eventually enthroned her titan son, Cronus, who then did the same thing. Cronus eventually married his sister, and they gave birth to the gods. Zeus betrayed his father, and took power, but was much the same way, jealous and petty. Aila could only imagine how much worse Earth would have been if they were not figments of human imagination.

"Humans named them, in order to give meaning to things they couldn't explain. Here is different. There are higher orders." Her eyes started to glow in all the elements, one after another. A pulsating green for life, pale white for wind, flaming red for fire, pitch black for dark, mottled black for death, mottled brown for earth, silver for metal, blue with small white caps for water, and golden yellow for light. The colors were solid, with no iris or pupil. Her voice began to vibrate. "Each is a path unto itself, with guardians who watch the realms below." Her eyes cleared.

"Their names are not revealed in their existence." Aila said and watched as the guards stepped backward and bowed, almost fearfully. They turned away and watched the outside with diligence.

"You speak buried truth the world does not know." The Seer said in a shaky voice. "Do not concern yourself with them. They will watch and guard, as that is their duty. What would you call us, if you could?"

"Light is your element. Hm, yes, I think Alara. And the Black One, Ivadra." The Seer trembled within herself. These were names given by a powerful being that touched the strands woven into existence by the gods. These names were powerful, and felt right. She felt a deep surge within her spiritual sea, as well as some resistance that she assumed was the death element her sister mentioned.

"Then I am Alara, the Seer of Underground Black. My sister will be known as Ivadra, the Black One of Underground Black." The Seer felt excited inside. As Aila said each name, her eyes glowed in the color of their elements, both solid golden yellow, and deep black. She felt a warmth enter her body when her name was laid upon her.

"I'm glad you like those names. But this death element built up within your body is troubling. Do you have someone that can purify your home?" Aila asked.

"Not to the standard I see here. There is nothing but light all around me. No sensations of darkness." The Seer sighed. "Home feels...heavy."

"Then I shall have to pay you a visit. There is no sense in purifying you here, and allowing you to accumulate more death elements." She held out her palm.

"This will be uncomfortable. The wastes from your cultivation, incompatible elements that you can't absorb, have been deposited into your meridians, and clog them solidly. This was done by the death element, which slowly overwhelms your light element affinity. It takes longer then it did for Ivadra, but it will eventually overwhelm you as well."

Alara felt the warmth of vast amounts of light and life elements enter her body. She immediately saw a response from her own dantian as death element surged out violently, supplied by her spiritual sea.

"SILENCE!" Aila said, and increased the life elemental attack upon the death element. She felt the invasion of her spiritual sea that her sister warned her about, but instead of the tyrannical power her sister experienced, she felt an incredible amount of warmth, and surprisingly enough, affection.

Her sea was purified, with no remnants of the death element remaining. She felt a suction on her body, and the heaviness she felt every time she tried to cultivate now cleared away.

"There. Much easier then Ivadra. Your light elemental affinity is compatible with the cleansing, so it worked out nicely." Alara opened her eyes to a pair of smiling eyes, and smiled shyly in return.

"There is a lot of light element, along with flame element here. I'll remove the flame, and leave behind the light. Then I will teach you how to cultivate properly." The warm hands that held her own were gentle, as were the eyes that looked into hers.

Alara felt shy for the first time in her life, but really liked how Aila smiled at her. Light elements surged through Aila's hands, and into her body. Alara felt a little startled when she heard a soft voice within her mind.

'She's so pretty, just like her sister.'

* * *

"Seer? Are you okay?" The lead guard asked.

"I am." She sighed happily. "I will discuss this with my sister, but from now on, respect the name given by one who has touched the threads of existence woven by the gods."

"We shall, Seer Alara, of Underground Black. I will inform the Black Guards as well." The Black Guard leader said quietly. The Seer smiled.

"Truth, and appropriately spoken."