Amdirlain's PoV - Vehtë - Norway
The group fell into an easy routine of training and exploration, with a strange absence of White Dragon sightings that Sarah attributed to the change of seasons. Amdirlain allowed the others to handle the monsters they ran into, having already gotten more experience than she'd expected on the trip. A complete lunar cycle passed before Grendel showed up again.
The sun was dipping behind the hills to the east of the house when Amdirlain spotted him on the ridgeline above the house.
When he stepped into view, Amdirlain had been pulling weeds from Kadaklan's herb garden. Though his gaze weighed on her, Amdirlain tended to the task at hand before she stood up to regard him properly.
"I found which pit I tossed their bones in," said Grendel, his words a dissatisfied rumble.
"Does the stench give it away?" asked Amdirlain drily.
Grendel's nose wrinkled. "They've melted all the surrounding bones."
Amdirlain mentally advised Sarah and appeared on the ridgeline beside Grendel. "Lead the way."
The path northwards took them across valleys and through forests until they reached a large patch of grassland before a series of rolling hills. Grendel pointed to a sinkhole on the edge of the hills and she went to investigate. The circular pit through the upper soil had collapsed into a large cavern that led deeper beneath the earth. Beyond the spill of soil, millions of bones covered the cavern floor, but the ones she was after stood out. They stood in a pile of grey, half-frozen sludge, softly glowing in the cavern's darkness. Their stench reminded Amdirlain more of the sharpness of Infernal energy than anything else.
[Demonic Bones.
Details: Bones of a Demon from Di Yu.]
Some of the Yomi King's demons are on the Material Plane.
She dropped further into the cavern, floated over to the bones, and collected three of the largest with Far Hand, shaking the filth loose. When she returned to the surface, Grendel didn't glance at the bones floating beside her.
"Have you had enough time to consider if you'll help me improve?"
Amdirlain frowned. "There will be a price involved."
"What price?"
"Give up all your current classes and learn properly."
Grendel grunted. "I don't know what you mean. What are classes?"
"They provide you with an array of powers and skills related to their focus. Have you ever had a dream with figures of yourself in them that seemed to provide choices?"
"Yes, but I don't trust those dreams. They seem to want to suck me into warped versions of myself and, after the first, I sit at the start of the bone path." Grendel's hands balled up into tight fists, and Amdirlain smelt his blood under the stench of the bones.
That explains why he's still in base classes. Gideon must have just translated him and not given him anything too dangerous.
"They offered a warped version of yourself because they extend your current classes. You've got classes that feed off anger, bloodlust, and hunting sentient beings," said Amdirlain. "They were assigned to you when you got brought to this realm, based on your past deeds. Do you want to let them define you or make new choices uninfluenced by the curse?"
"When you talk about curses, there is a fire in your scent that isn't present other times," stated Grendel. "Your scents change with every form. Tell me what you are."
"Why do you want to know?"
"I'm curious, just like you were about these creatures."
Amdirlain bit off one word. "Cursed."
"You don't look cursed. You look like a Goddess that could captivate the Norse or the Jötnar," offered Grendel.
"I can Shapeshift. This appearance is just one I choose," replied Amdirlain.
"Show me what you look like," Grendel said, jabbing a hand towards her.
"I don't have to show you anything," rebuffed Amdirlain. "If you want a fresh start, or the creatures come after you, let me know and we'll help."
Grendel grunted in disappointment.
Amdirlain teleported away with the bones.
Kadaklan was outside kneeling at the garden's edge, and his gaze immediately fixed on the bones beside her. "Where did you get those bones?"
"They're from the creatures Grendel told me about," advised Amdirlain.
"The Yomi King's demons attacked him?"
"Are the bones useful for anything?"
Kadaklan's mouth tightened. "Nothing healthy. They're only useful to those on daos related to Hell."
"Some arcane protections require samples of what you're protecting against," offered Amdirlain. "I'll see if Sarah wants them."
"Do you plan to risk her Soul? She started studying as a Tao Artificer, yet has no one here to advise her about the corruption. Their presence tells us enough, and there are ways to guard against them."
Amdirlain disintegrated the bones. "I'll leave it until they return."
"We should let the others know, but I'm sure Sarah's already smelt that foulness," said Kadaklan. Rising, he brushed his palms off his pants.
There was minimal information to provide the others, but Amdirlain still updated everyone after they gathered in the living room.
"When they come back, I want to fight them," said Jinfeng.
"It sounds like it's fit for a horror story; demons are coming in the depths of winter," drawled Sarah.
"You should take it more seriously," said Kadaklan. "They are servants of the Yomi King. His demons are more akin to the devils that you know. They would only be here for a purpose."
"The Chinese mythology has the term Yami King for the rulers of the planes of Di Yu," said Sarah casually, her gaze not leaving Amdirlain. "Though Yomi was the Nippon word for land of the dead."
"You're being picky about the term to change the subject. Master Cyrus advised us that the terms from your original realm are not identical to ours. The term isn't as important as his nature," countered Kadaklan. "His servants work to spread corrupted daos, twisting people from the paths they should have lived in life."
"Probably because she's worried about me charging off to find trouble alone," Amdirlain said, waving to the north. "I didn't even continue investigating once Grendel showed me the bones. What are the options for how they got here?"
"There are certain times of the year when demons can stalk the five kingdoms, but we are beyond those boundaries," said Kadaklan. "They are not like the demons from the Abyss and follow the customs."
"How do they reach the Material Plane?"
"Hell gates, cursed sites, followers of a heretical Dao," said Jinfeng. "There are probably other ways, but those are the only ones I know."
Kadaklan shrugged helplessly. "I'm also not an expert. I leave it to the ghost hunters to learn how things venture out of Di Yu. We're going to have to leave it until more appear."
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Leave it, they did.
They focused on their respective training and work as the months rolled by. Amdirlain's use of powers and casting continued progressing, as did her education of Jinfeng. Muse’s Insight and months enduring the pressure of Amdirlain as her sole sparring partner caused her Skill with the Jai to grow substantially, and she now seemed as one with her blade. The barrier project had kept Sarah busy, and in the doing, she'd furthered Klipyl's education in metalworking. Kadaklan's efforts in alchemical horticulture also bore fruit. Though the plants he'd harvested along the Mediterranean and Atlantic struggled in the northern climate, by infusing them with Ki, enough of them reached maturity to make his efforts worthwhile despite a fifty percent failure rate among the crop.
Amdirlain was outside doing some evening ice fishing with Sarah when she stopped and sniffed the breeze. "Your demons are on the wind."
"They're not my demons, but how far away?"
"Hard to tell. The polar wind is fairly strong, and those scents are sharp enough to carry over the cold," clarified Sarah. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply. "Blood, lots of blood, and flames."
"Whose?"
"It has the same sharpness as the bones you brought back and destroyed," observed Sarah. "There are flames mingled with it that share a similar scent, so it should make them easy to spot."
"Let's go find out."
Ki Flight lifted her aloft, and Sarah followed through the night sky. They initially headed straight north, but soon Sarah had them heading northeast.
They first spotted the unnatural crimson flames illuminating the open landscape before the same hills Grendel had led her to. Despite there being nothing to burn but snow and frozen ground, the fire lingered.
On the edge of the destruction were sixteen goat-shaped beasts with eyeless human faces; a bone-like growth formed a solid plate across their upper faces, and they had enormous mouths filled with sharp teeth. Each showed gruesome injuries, with ribs ripped apart and their organs torn out through their chests. The jagged flesh around their neck showed brute force had crudely decapitated all but two. As she started to speak, Grendel leapt to the closest and dug his claws into the ridge of the bone plate on its head. With one foot braced against its neck, he started to pull. As Grendel tore its head free, an eye bulged out from a socket near its shoulder. Amdirlain spotted claw marks on the other beasts that had torn the flesh apart in matching places.
He blinded them during the fight.
[Species: Taotie
Details: A demonic species from Di Yu.]
Sarah landed on the other side of the bodies from Grendel, and Amdirlain landed next to her. The fires flared with a red malevolent light before snuffing out as one, plunging the landscape into darkness.
"Are you alright?"
With a wet slurping sound, Grendel ripped the demon's head from its shoulders and piled it with the others. "I didn't need your help."
"I wanted to find out how they're getting here," said Amdirlain.
"They come from the deep ice. What more do you need to know?"
Amdirlain took a slow breath and avoided grinding her teeth. "They're not creatures of this world. If I had met some while they were alive, I could have discovered how they came to this world."
"Why would I care about that?" asked Grendel. "You said to tell you when they returned or if I needed help. Do I look like I've had time to trek back to tell you that more came?"
"I'll see if I can still smell their trail beyond the flames," said Sarah, and she teleported to the limit of Amdirlain's eyesight.
Different demons from what his mental images showed.
"Have you fought these before?" asked Amdirlain.
Grendel shook his head and jumped atop the neck beast, his long toenails shredding a line along its neck before he braced his foot on it. "No, but I'm sure they come from the same place. These also taste like ash and rot."
"We'll explore and see if there are more out there," said Amdirlain.
"Do what you will. I'm sure you wouldn't care about my territory markers," said Grendel.
"Do you claim the deep ice?" asked Sarah as she reappeared.
Grendel snorted. "Nothing there to eat."
"Their smell comes from far beyond the hills. I can smell Mana and a White Dragon's bones along their trail," said Sarah. "Did these beasts exhale the flames, Grendel, or was it something you did?"
"They were trying to set me alight."
"Let's go back and sort out our approach with the others,” said Amdirlain.
Sarah and Amdirlain reappeared at the house and brought the others up to speed. While Kadaklan's expression grew grim, Jinfeng eagerness peeked out from behind her composed expression.
"The closer we get to the Arctic, the more chance of hitting a White Dragon's territory," advised Sarah. "I was sure we'd have had trouble with them sooner, given the average temperature of Norway."
"I'm pretty sure some tried to eat Grendel after the first one he ran into," said Amdirlain. "He applied the same tactic of letting them swallow him and then climbing their throat. There was a feeling to the images of it being a repeated experience."
"That will teach them to chew first," quipped Sarah. "Still, I doubt he's cleared every White Dragon with the same tactic, so everyone coming keeps an eye out for any large white forms. Their pure white hides will reflect the starlight. Who wants to stay behind with Kadaklan to guard the house?"
"I'm fine with guarding the house alone," corrected Kadaklan.
Klipyl turned to regard him. "Aren't you a non-combatant type?"
"I've paid attention to Sarah's lessons on the security system. On top of her measures, I've concoctions and elixirs that will cripple or drive off the monsters we've seen about the place," said Kadaklan.
"Very well," rumbled Sarah. "Let's get going."
Amdirlain shooed the others outside, and Kadaklan sent her off before she could do more than shoot him a look of concern. "All of you need to go. Find the insights you need in the crucible of battle."
"Do you have any enchantment to let me see in this?" asked Jinfeng, waving at the darkness barely lit by the stairs overhead. "I don't want to use any light, but the night weighs so heavily, with just the stars."
Sarah tossed her a silvery band, and Jinfeng slipped it on her little finger.
With a blink of surprise, Jinfeng straightened. "Do you always see this clearly? I can see the pattern in the snowbanks."
"The enchantment is based on the Power Amdirlain possesses. Shall we get going, or do you want to know more?"
"I'm ready," replied Jinfeng, and the others echoed her.
Sarah took to the air, and once above the trees, she transformed. Over the rush of displaced air she caused, Amdirlain heard her deep inhalation before she surged northwards. Their speed chewed through the kilometres. Eventually, beyond an ice-covered sea, a mountain loomed in the darkness. Along its southern face stood an unflickering baleful red beacon, as one, the group changed course and sped towards it.
The source of the light was a cave mouth emitting a blood-red glow that matched the heat wafting from inside. A veil of mist frothed at the edges, where the unnatural heat from within fought the frigid air. Amdirlain heard hundreds of voices within the cave and clawed feet that scratched the stone.
"The air brims with Mana," cautioned Sarah. "It will make any wards harder to see."
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"We're not just walking in with Am's aura out and burning everything away?" asked Klipyl. Her horn appeared easily hefted in one hand, ready to smash down any trouble.
"There's no challenge in that," rebuffed Jinfeng.
A short way into the tunnel they saw a muscular red skinned man, his only attire loose rawhide pants belted by a broad black sash. He was accompanied by two corpse-white women, each supported at an angle by eight segmented legs that extended from their backs, leaving their normal-looking feet dangling above the ground. They all carried curved sabres and rushed towards the intruders, venom dripping from long fangs.
They managed a hurried step before Amdirlain was among them. Their decapitated bodies teetered and fell as demonic life fled. Ming Fu was the land of the dead and the upper layer of Di Yu. The demons carried the essence of Death, which rushed from their shattered flesh, only to be gathered up and combined with Mana that Amdirlain focused through her body. Caught in the moment, Death soaked through her flesh and turned her skin black, its cold sheathing her in a consuming mist that stole even demonic life away. The living material of the shadow vines tumbled from her, perishing from the first fleeting contact with the energy now harboured within her skin.
Even as she catalogued the insights into Death provided by slaughtering the demons, Amdirlain kept moving. The eruption of their compatriots' life forces heralded their coming to those further inside the tunnels. Yet Amdirlain was already half a kilometre further into their tunnels when the fastest started to turn in her direction. Behind her, Sarah and the others hurriedly rushed to keep up. Knowing better than to get separated, they found Amdirlain waiting at the first fork, which had the remains of a score of demons at her feet. Beyond the first junction, the passage ahead widened, and more passages linked to it at different angles along the sides and above.
"Hurry and get here," Amdirlain taunted as she sent her Dominion out to provoke them into unthinking rage.
A rush of spider demons covered the ceiling and the walls while the sound of other forces came from the smaller passages along the sides. The first wave of troops shattered when Amdirlain moved. A hand reached past a ready blade to crush a neck, and a scything kick struck a Demon so hard that flesh disintegrated. Its unsupported head hadn't begun to topple before Amdirlain had struck another four demons with different kicks and continued to pick up her pace. The walls of bodies were no obstruction when she started adding Ki blasts and spells to eliminate blockages.
As a cascade of bloody mist erupted through the ranks in the central corridor, Jinfeng dashed into a low passage and caught two spider demons on the ground. Slipping a strike aside, she stabbed deep into a leg joint and spun away from an overhead hack from the second demoness. The over-committed blow sprayed sparks from the stone and twisted the demoness sword in her grip. With a quick reversal, Jinfeng spun back into position, severed the demoness's hand, and leapt to her shoulder. With her free hand pressed against the ceiling, Jinfeng planted an axe kick between her target's shoulder blades, and a shrill scream followed the crack of bone as the demoness collapsed with a shattered spine. Jinfeng flowed between the following two spider demons coming from the right-hand passage, ignoring their cries as she shortened their legs with surgical strikes. Their already hampered movements stopped more spider demons from flanking her, or pushing past to reach the others.
To her left, a gout of flames and bullets blasted from turrets under Sarah's control. The infernos melted stone while hypersonic rounds punched through their first demonic target and onwards through their companions. With the left cleared, Sarah's guns shifted focus and obliterated those beyond the barrier Jinfeng had created. The pair leap-frogged each other to keep pace with Amdirlain who continued to massacre hundreds of foes in the central passage.
Klipyl pointed her horn towards the ceiling and blew hard, aiming for a teeming passage. The horn's enchantment kept those outside its focus safe, but the sound wave that could bring down Mortal castle walls pulped the demons above them into a mush. The enchantment in the horn didn't even cause the rock to tremble. A quick teleport shifted Klipyl clear before a foul rain started, and beneath another hole filled with swarming demons, she steadied the horn and drew another deep breath.
They tore foes apart with every step, and soon, those first trickles had turned into a river of blood that heralded their descent into the depths. The black foulness of demonic blood washed over strange creeping vines with fronds that clung to the stone. The deeper they went, the thicker the vines grew; eventually, their appearance shifted to resemble the exposed arteries of some dread giant. The greenish hide demons that Amdirlain had first seen in Grendel's mind made their presence known, the poisons from their needle-like claws etching stone as thousands swarmed in from every side at once. Amdirlain let out an annoyed grunt, and yang firestorms swept the passages clear for hundreds of metres.
Frying the demons and the arteries of corruption that clung to the ground. Those demons beyond the flames' reach fled, only for lightning bolts to curve along the passages and blast flesh apart as the bolts leapt from foe to foe. The subsequent waves were thinner, and Amdirlain resumed killing them with her bare hands, allowing the others to back her up. Demonic blood covered her from head to toe; her motions too quick to allow enough time for the remains of her foes to hit the ground; she moved the walls of the carnage she caused by exploding bodies from casual blows.
Amid the fighting, Klipyl yanked a Demon away from Jinfeng with her ribbon, only for another to cut it free. The material exploded, leaving her holding the grip. With her teeth set in a ferocious snarl, the handle disappeared into her storage pendant, and she started pulverising every Demon she could with blasts of her horn.
Amdirlain didn't stop moving until she came to the mouth of a sprawling cavern that once housed a White Dragon Great Wyrm. Now, it played host to a hoard of demons.
Among the hundreds of demons that covered the cavern floor, four hounds of crackling lightning drew attention to a giant figure of living black mist standing beside the rib cage of an enormous Dragon skeleton hundreds of metres long. Mushrooms and mildew grew fuzzily across the surrounding ground, and the smell of rot lingered in the stone. Past the skeletal remains was the source of the reddish glow that illuminated the passageways—an elaborate prayer gate that leant against the back wall, its redwood and gold inlay covered with thick cables of the pulsating foulness that covered the passages she'd fought through. The putrid energy emerged from a red threshold between the tainted uprights. A swirling pool of red showed a landscape of figures chained against rocky spurs and a hurricane of blades streaming across them, flaying flesh from their bones.
They killed the White Dragon and let its body rot in the heat from the gate so they would have a body on hand. This is an excellent dramatic moment. What are they all waiting for? Or am I just moving too fast for them?
Mist from the figure leached into the bones, and the eye sockets blazed with a crackling lightning.
"How dare..." The misty figure's words echoed oddly, attracting Jinfeng's attention as she rounded the last corner behind Amdirlain and looked into the cavern.
She saw the energy of the possession beginning to animate the bones. Amdirlain lashed out with white lightning bolts that ripped apart the air, setting the chamber on fire. While the first bolts targeted the Dragon's remains, they blasted through them and smashed apart the side of the decorated archway, shattering one upright and causing the threshold to wobble. With the mists' possession of the remains disrupted, the giant fully re-materialised. The destruction of the invested energy cost it dearly, with massive patches and holes showing the wall beyond.
As the giant screamed in pain, Amdirlain appeared before it, and the golden flames of Ki blasts burst through it and the demons beyond to lick across the cavern wall. The mist coiled in on itself and tried to harden against the fire, only for Amdirlain to flip the threat and activate her Enervating Aura. For a brief instant in the mists, she saw a woman's face in the mists before everything a hundred metres around her in the cavern died, and Amdirlain glowed with the life force before she let it dissipate.
Was that thing female, or was my brain playing tricks with seeing images in the roiling mist?
Demons beyond the range of her Enverating Aura wavered and turned insubstantial as the red portal flickered like a guttering candle.
The cavern fell into a brief silence before a rushing wind rose like the world inhaling. Gale force winds battered at Amdirlain, and all the demons that had come through this Gate lost cohesion with the world. As the wind continued, the spectral forms of the demons in the cavern rushed by her, only for more to stream in from every passage, and the arteries of corruption came with them. Though insubstantial, the claws of the demons scrambled at the threshold's edge but failed to find enough purchase to prevent themselves from being hauled back into Di Yu. It took ten minutes before the red shimmering threshold winked out despite the continual horde passing through it, but finally the wind ceased, as suddenly as it had begun.
Though it all, Amdirlain had simply held firm.
[Combat Summary
Black Wind Calamity (25%)
Black Wind Hounds x4 (25%)
Oni x159 (25%)
Taotie x1866 (25%)
Zhī zhū jīng x3742 (25%)
Spider Minions x5972 (25%)
Oni x572 (25%) [Banished]
Taotie x4822 (25%) [Banished]
Zhī zhū jīng x9972 (25%) [Banished]
Spider Minions x1972 (25%) [Banished]
Total Experience gained: 19,385,777
Empress Malfex: +19,385,777
Empress Levelled Up! x15
Enervating Aura [M] (15->16)
Ki Body [S] (114->116)
- Infusion ability with Death gained!
Mana Critical [Ad] (32->35)
Devouring Cacophony [G] (12->13)
Mana Finesse [S] (194->195)
Note: Tsk, you didn’t even let it monologue.]
A typical Gate would have just winked out and not drawn everything back in. What rules apply to these? The giant must have been holding the gate open, so when she died, it collapsed and pulled the others back in. How far away had it needed to draw some of them back?
Jinfeng looked at her wide-eyed, her clothing and hair unmarked by the gale-force winds that had streamed past her. Further down the passage, Klipyl shakily released her grip on the wall. Her hair, torn free of its braids, haloed about her, giving the impression that she had stuck her finger in an electrical main.
It was a spiritual wind that didn't touch her but messed up Klipyl and me.
"You killed the Black Wind Calamity," gasped Jinfeng.
Amdirlain frowned. "That was the name in my notification. Did you get one?"
"What?" Jinfeng pointed to where the giant mist figure had stood. "That giant figure made of mist was the Black Wind Calamity. Even without her unique appearance, no other Demon has hounds of lightning with them. If I'd been a breath later in spotting them, I wouldn't have known she was here."
"What's the big deal about this Black Wind Calamity?" chirped Klipyl. Securing her horn, she tried to flatten out her hair. "It's not like we didn't just wade through thousands of other demons. Sis found a fun place to play. That was a rush of experience; maybe too much."
Klipyl gave up on the futile efforts with her hair and rubbed her hands up and down her biceps.
"When she appears, the Mortal rulers have no choice but to appeal to the heavens to allow the immortals to aid them," said Jinfeng. "She can devastate counties by herself if left unchecked. Wherever her mists spread, she leaves grievous or even fatal injuries among mortals."
"Well, she's gone now," Klipyl replied. She appeared at Amdirlain's side, and her gaze traced the shattered archway. She raised her voice to call out to Jinfeng. "I take it this is a Hell gate?"
Jinfeng blurred forward to come to a halt near the remains. As if unbothered by the fuss, Sarah strolled down the passage, her weaponry still arrayed around her; only a few minor stains marked her shirt, but the bloodshed coated her pants and boots. She spared a glance at the still-coated ground and lifted into the air, cleaning her clothing with a flick of her fingers.
"Yes, they are prayer gates corrupted to the Yomi King's purpose. But it shouldn't have been able to be active so far from the centre," said Jinfeng.
"How do you know?"
"I don't know for certain, but according to the teaching that exorcists have shared with the Martial Pavilion, they shouldn't be able to be activated beyond the reach of the courts."
[Hell Gate:
Details: A White Dragon moved this Hell Gate during the scourge. The dragon’s eventual death fed the energy in the Gate, and it slowly adapted to these lands. The Wu Jen Zhang Cheng found and activated it twenty years ago to let more of Di Yu’s essence consume the northern ice. Though he retreated to the Southlands, he left it open for his masters to extend their long-term plans.]
"Analysis says a Wu Jen named Zhang Cheng opened it," reported Amdirlain.
Jinfeng cleaned the black blood from her blade and checked its edge. "I don't recognise his name."
"Where are we at present? We came a long way across the ice," said Amdirlain.
Sarah motioned across the ice. "We're closer to Mongolia than Norway. Do you think the Emperor's travel plans didn't match your own?"
"I'm pretty sure that's fair to say," said Amdirlain. "Most of Mongolia is included in the North Wind's Kingdom, and I haven’t been to the West Wind’s Court yet."
"What risk do you want to take on?" asked Sarah. “The dragons or the Eastern Hell?”
"Di Yu," corrected Jinfeng. "I'm not sure why you and Am refer to it as the Eastern Hell. East from what?"
Sarah nodded apologetically. "Habit. I'll try to call it Di Yu."
She paused and looked Amdirlain over. "You're a mess. Do you have clothes to put on, or should I get you some?"
Amdirlain blinked and looked down at herself before smiling sheepishly. "I got an insight into infusing Death into Ki Body, and the vines didn't appreciate it."
Cleaning herself with a quick Spell, she donned the shadow vines she'd made with True Song. "What do you mean by what risk do I want to undertake?"
The dragons have been a slowly growing problem for a thousand years.
"The red dragons or the scheming beings of Di Yu," clarified Sarah. "A plot big enough to have thousands of demons at a remote location like this can't be their only play. We won’t learn more while staying in the hinterlands."
"We would have never landed in Norway if I hadn't seen the mess in Ireland," murmured Amdirlain.
Sarah shrugged. "Doesn't mean you have to resolve an aeon's old problem before we move on. I've done all the initial recon I need. I can work on preparing components for the barriers while you study at a monastery. It also gives us time to work out more ideas for handling a Red Dragon society and getting them to self-enforce your scheme."
"I didn't want to backtrack," protested Amdirlain.
"Who says it has to be you? It will give me someone to hassle while you're in the deep planes," said Sarah.
Amdirlain stared at the marks seared into the stone by the closed Gate, and the sudden release of tension shifted her posture. "I don't have to fix everything."
"The question now is, do you cheat and use Resonance to try to hear whatever shattered connection might exist to the Wu Jen, or should you continue your near-silent travels?"
"The travel plans his puzzle inspired have helped me progress on long-term issues," said Amdirlain. "We can advise and set people looking for the Wu Jen who opened this Gate.”
"If we can get to anywhere along the coast above Nippon, I can guide you to the North Wind's Court," said Jinfeng. "You'll have to earn their respect before they'll take any warning seriously."
"I was going to go to the West Wind's Court first," said Amdirlain.
Jinfeng bit her bottom lip. "I doubt you could find someone to take an issue in the North seriously. There are martial brothers in the North Wind's Court that will go anywhere to hunt demons and those following daos focused on Hell."
"Technically, you've already been in the west this whole trip," observed Sarah. "Though I know you want to study technique manuals in the western monasteries."
Amdirlain frowned. "Let me consider it. Unless we rush the travel, we're a long way from Mongolia. What does winning respect in the North Wind's Court take?"
"The first opportunity would be the spring tournament."
"I don't think me competing in a tournament is a good idea. Since you call me Sifu, you can represent me," proposed Amdirlain.
Jinfeng stiffened in surprise before bowing so deep her upper body was parallel to the ground. "It would be a great honour."
A sudden prickled of worry had Amdirlain's gaze narrow. "Just don't go overboard and get yourself killed. If you are over-matched, it's fine with me to surrender in a tournament."
With a broad smile, Jinfeng straightened and saluted Amdirlain. "It will be as you say, Sifu. A word of caution: the North Wind's court is very martial. Many would look to challenge you outside the tournaments for the slightest insult."
"Does that mean I'll need to mind my manners so they can't take insult at my casualness?"
"Indeed, Sifu," agreed Jinfeng. "Not that I fear for you, but the first idiots you might have to educate. A genuine threat will see how you walk and be cautious until they learn more."
"Which means the idiots might be probes they send my way to get me to reveal my hand?"
Jinfeng gave a sharp nod.
Amdirlain sighed in mock frustration.
"Well, we can move on from here. Heading east will serve us fine regardless of if we're heading for Mongolia or the regions north of Zhōngguó. I'll warn Kadaklan and then bring the house to us," said Sarah. “Is that the right term for the middle kingdom, Jinfeng?”
“Zhōngguó, Qin, Shénzhōu and some others, depending on what dialect you’re speaking. What will that do to the additional structures and the goods in the other rooms?" asked Jinfeng.
Sarah shrugged. "It's not like it matters, but I designed it to stand up around the hollow, and the enchantments will pull in everything from it first."
"We can get back there quickly enough. Why not go back and pack up properly?" Klipyl enquired, motioning southward.
"She doesn't want me tempted to linger," said Amdirlain. "It's not like we can't teleport back and forth, and we've certainly got enough unique landmarks. Let's deal with it properly and then come back here."
"Fine," conceded Sarah.
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Kadaklan wrinkled his nose at the odour from the four of them.
"It was a Hell Gate," said Jinfeng. "They had been corrupting the land to the point it could support thousands of demons. Amdirlain blasted through hordes that could crush an army."
"You all helped," protested Amdirlain.
"You let us help, but we were slowing you down, Sifu," corrected Jinfeng. “I couldn’t follow your movements, just blood and flesh spraying from your foes.”
"Sarah could have killed far more with her weaponry," objected Amdirlain. “Bringing out a dozen weapon platforms hardly counts as exertion.”
"You both were letting Klipyl and myself gain battle exposure," Jinfeng declared, looking at Sarah; she received another casual shrug in confirmation.
“They were enough to guard your back while you let your strength off its leash a bit,” said Sarah.
"They'd been at it for decades then," interjected Kadaklan. "Why don't you all clean up and then tell me what's gone on?"
Ultimately, they spent another two days at the site before Sarah shooed the others outside for the last time and stored the original house. True to her claims, the outside expansion didn't shift with her Dragon-footed hut gone.
"So much for our planned long-term stay here," murmured Amdirlain.
"The chaos of battle always makes fools of plans," said Jinfeng.
"A minor understanding you've come to?" asked Klipyl as she played with the remains of her ribbon.
"I can't repair that one, but I can make you another," offered Sarah.
"Nah, that's okay," said Klipyl. "Things change, and I think it's time for me to change again."
"What are you up to, Klipyl?"
"Something that I've held in for a while. What with all the fighting against the undead and now those demons," said Klipyl. “It’s time to punch up.”
White light shone from beneath her skin, growing brighter until she appeared to be made entirely of light. There was a strange sense of a warm smile within the light. Then, as suddenly as it started, there was a snap, and Klipyl vanished.
"Where's she gone?" yelped Jinfeng.
"She accepted a Celestial transition for whatever reason. She should emerge from the Domain's wellspring in a bit," advised Sarah. "We'll have to re-summon her once she's done changing."
"How long does that take?" demanded Kadaklan with uncharacteristic abruptness.
"It depends," hedged Sarah.
"On?" asked Jinfeng, looking between them.
Amdirlain lifted her hands helplessly. "I'm not in charge of that now."
"Now?" asked Jinfeng.
"That's a long story that I'm not getting into," said Amdirlain. "I'll be back soon. I'm going to tell Grendel we're heading off."
She hopped around the hills and valley until she caught a trace of Grendel's mind and looked through his eyes at the slain animal he was butchering.
With him located, it was easy to teleport close by and ensure he'd catch wind of her scent before seeing her. Amdirlain strode through the darkness with her gaze fixed on Grendel, who was intent on a slain reindeer. "We found the den of the creatures and dealt with it. I don't know if more are around, but we're heading to find other hunters to track them down. So we're leaving these lands."
He didn't turn to look her way. "Good."
"I came to offer you a way to contact me in case you change your mind about the classes," said Amdirlain.
Grendel shook his head. "Don't bother. You eliminated the foes, and I care nothing about the classes you explained. I don't plan to take any of those 'Prestige' ones. I won't let them tell me how to live my life, so leave me and my lands."
You can't help everyone.
The words she'd spoken to Gail rose from her memories, and Amdirlain dropped a message crystal to the ground at his feet.
"Hold it and think of me hearing your message and then speak your piece. It will send a brief message to me once. If you're lucky, I might have time to reply," said Amdirlain. "My life can get busy."
With that, she left Grendel alone to his fate.