Chapter Ten: Survivor

Lacy was quickly checked by a physician and was deemed to only have superficial injuries from training and a bruise from her fall. Then, to her surprise, the superior she was brought before was Instructor Poko, who waited within a fancy office Lacy had never seen before…though that wasn’t saying much when she’d only been at the City Guard Management Office compound for three days and hadn’t been allowed to explore.

Instructor Poko rose from her desk when Lacy entered the room and gave her a quick hug before sitting down with her in the guest chairs.

“I am thrilled to see you still among us and well, Initiate Lacy,” Instructor Poko began, before cutting right to the chase. “Please, recite everything that happened.”

Lacy had already told two other people the entire story, but she understood that they likely wanted to check if she’d keep her story straight.

Nodding, Lacy said, “I was…taken, suddenly and easily. All I remember was the beast’s corpse falling to the ground in two pieces before everything went dark, I couldn’t hear, and I my body went numb.” Lacy dramatically took a deep breath. “When my senses returned to me I was being held hostage by two monsters when I thought I’d been kidnapped by people! Koroths, they called themselves. Very tall, deep blue skin, and strange eyes and ears. They seemed…disappointed. They thought we were fledgling body cultivators instead of normal people, and they said my blood was useless to them. One of them, the smaller monster, a Seed, I think, said they should leave me for the spirit beasts to get rid of, but the one who kidnapped me said I still had…use.”

Instructor Poko listened intently and patiently, nodding and humming in acknowledgment as Lacy told her story. Lacy audibly gulped before finishing.

“The bigger one said I could lure cultivators to them just by being let go, which the smaller one disagreed with, but they were told to be silent. Then, they made me return.”

Lacy fidgeted uncomfortably, and thankfully Instructor Poko took the bait.

“What concerns you, Initiate Lacy? You are very fortunate to be alive, and we will seek to eradicate them soon so that they will not hurt anyone else.”

“But, isn’t that exactly what they want?” Lacy asked with a hint of anguish. “They let me go so that you would hunt them! What if there are more?”

Technically, Lacy’s deal was to say that there were only two koroths, however she thought it would be unreasonable to think that. It would be suspicious, even, if she bought that narrative so easily. The city might suspect her of collusion…which was exactly what she was doing. She was colluding with an enemy of humanity…

Thankfully, Instructor Poko shook her head.

“Koroths are not like us humans. They are naturally arrogant thanks to their advantages over same-realm human cultivators, and not very intelligent. On top of that, they do not live in large communities like we do. They mostly roam in small family units of a parent or two and their children. Your accounting of the events aligns with our knowledge of koroths. Perhaps there is a third or fourth child hidden, but they were not very good with our tongue, yes?”

Lacy internally screamed at the realization that her language boon almost exposed her.

“Yeah, their human tongue was shaky at best. Their speech was simple.”

Fortunately, Instructor Poko nodded along with a smile.

“You see, now? Koroths are simple creatures. There are good reasons they are not as prevalent and successful as us.”

Lacy nodded right back and let out a relieved sigh.

“That’s good, that’s good,” she said, before hanging her head low. “But was that all? Did they…do something to me? They cast a spell that basically knocked me out when they took me. Could they have…infected me? Will I die a slow, painful death? Or maybe…turn into a monster?”

Instructor Poko quickly laid a hand on Lacy’s shoulder and spoke in a soothing, reassuring voice.

“No, you are fine, Lacy. Some koroths have blood poisoning powers, but those are always obvious. You would already be deeply ill had that happened to you. And the rest is not possible. They used a spell to disable you temporarily. It is a known power.”

Lacy slowly looked up to gaze into Instructor Poko’s confident eyes.

“…I hope so,” she said slowly.

The older woman brought Lacy into a longer hug. After a minute or two she pulled away and said, “It is understandable if after this incident you decide to drop out of the guard exams.”

Lacy hurriedly shook her head.

“No, that’s not my intention at all! I need to become a cultivator!”

Instructor Poko was taken aback for a moment before smiling.

“Go on.”

“It’s just…they could only do what they wished with me because I’m weak. I want to be powerful like you!” Lacy paused, considering what to say, before realizing this was her opportunity to answer some important questions. “I mean, you split that spirit beast in two like it was butter! You said before that spirit beasts are stronger than humans by default, but you’re different! I want to be like that.”

The cultivator nodded sagely.

“You are under a reasonable misconception, but yes, it is possible for you to become as great a force as me.” Before Lacy could ask, Instructor Poko explained, “Spirit beasts of large sizes are more powerful than us humans. Their bodies are designed for ferocious combat that takes advantage of dense musculature. However, their advantages are primarily against humans at the same realm as them.”

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She looked at Lacy with expectant eyes.

“So, you’re above Seed? I thought that maybe Instructor Kong was…” Lacy asked in fake awe, to which the instructor puffed out her chest and nodded proudly.

“Correct. Instructor Kong is and has been at the peak of Seed for a while, but I broke through Seed into the Sprout realm mere months ago, which allowed me to qualify for this position.”

“An instructor?”

“Incorrect. Officially, I am one of Yellowvine’s Imperial Guard Overseers.”

Lacy’s eyes bugged out and the Sprout laughed.

“My station is not quite as lavish as the title makes it sound, I am afraid. In essence, my job is to ensure that Yellowvine trains and manages its guards with a high standard. I am the one who reports back to Ten-Jan City whether Yellowvine promotes misdeeds such as fostering an environment of shirking one’s responsibilities or the mistreatment of our female members. Neither are big issues here, thank the gods, or my job would be more difficult and would not allow me to be an instructor.”

Not knowing quite how to respond, Lacy opted for feigning stunned silence, which Instructor Poko seemed to bask in. It was nice to know that even immortal cultivators enjoyed flattery.

“However, though I am comfortable telling you all this, do not spread around what my official title is to the other recruits, Initiate Lacy. While it is no secret to official guards, the recruits are kept in the dark on purpose so that I may secretly evaluate them.”

……

“LACY!”

Instructor Poko guided Lacy from her office back to the courtyard where the recruits were building muscle. All heads turned, and Lacy gulped as Shu came barreling toward her. Thankfully the large woman showed restraint and just swept Lacy into her arms for a bear hug and then a spin which left Lacy’s legs dangling in the wind.

Instructor Poko said nothing and departed with a wink that Lacy understood was a reminder of what she was and was not allowed to talk about.

“IT MEANS SO MUCH TO SEE YOU IN ONE PIECE!” Shu cried, having calmed down a bit but still squeezing Lacy into her breast.

A gentle warmth spread through Lacy’s chest as she said simply, “Thank you.”

Shu’s hug lingered as though the two were frozen in time, but the rest of the world moved on. Half the other recruits continued with their routines, though they still snuck glances at Lacy like she’d grown a third eye, and the others began crowding around her.

To Lacy’s surprise, Instructor Kong said nothing as the recruits began peppering her with questions.

“Are the rumors true?”

“I heard a fiend gotcha.”

“Are you missing any digits?”

“Were ya abused?”

“They violate you?”

“Why’d they let you go?”

Shu growled so deeply that Lacy’s body shook.

“BACK OFF IF YOU LIKE YOUR FACES WHERE THEY ARE!”

Everyone took a step back, and Lacy couldn’t help giggling.

“Thank you, Shu. Some of those questions were absurdly insensitive.” Lacy took note of all the men who made ugly faces at that comment. “However, I don’t mind telling the story. I think everyone needs to hear about the koroths.”

That got the men’s attention.

“Fine,” Shu said, releasing her vice grip. “You said koroths?”

Lacy nodded, took a deep breath, and channeled her inner extrovert.

“Koroths. Evil spirits. Fiends of the night. Demons. Blood monsters. They are all of that, but call themselves koroths.”

The mood shifted as Lacy’s audience settled in for a story, which Lacy supposed was a bigger deal in this world than back on Earth where videos dominated most people’s attention spans. The first person to sit down triggered a chain reaction of others getting comfortable, and though Lacy worried Instructor Kong would bark at them to get back to their exercises, he never did. In fact, he stared right at them all, tacitly endorsing the moment, she hoped.

“I imagine that you all remember Jery yelling ‘fast!’…before Instructor Poko slew some kind of speedy spirit beast in a single blow, cutting it in two and splattering us with blood?” As Lacy looked around she realized that the recruits’ clothing was still stained red, though the scent was faint. “That was the last thing I saw before the world went dark…as a moonless night.”

Lacy paused dramatically, taking in another deep breath to calm her public speaking anxiety.

“But it wasn’t just my sight that was taken away! My ears were disabled and my sense of touch was numbed, which I…suspect was the working of a vile spell designed for abducting prey alive.”

“So it’s true the fiends gotchu,” one guy mumbled.

“How could you have possibly escaped?” someone else blurted out in disbelief. “Even the instructors couldn’t track the monster!”

“I didn’t escape!” Lacy exclaimed loudly, trying to maintain her momentum. “And it wasn’t just one monster!”

“No way.”

“They let her go?”

“What was the fiends’ goal, then?”

“SILENCE!” Shu bellowed. “Let the girl speak!”

“Thank you, Shu,” Lacy said before donning a severe expression. “The monsters—the koroths—wanted to eat me, of course.”

“Why didn’t they?” someone new who had previously gone back to exercising asked as he joined the audience.

“I’m not yet a cultivator, is the reason. They smelled fresh meat ripe for the taking wandering through the forest, but what they didn’t know was that we weren’t all cultivators. They grabbed me at random and only realized their mistake after fleeing far enough away that questioning me wouldn’t alert the instructors. In a clearing with nothing but two large, pointy boulders, the koroth put me down and removed the bag over my head. There I first laid eyes on the monsters, and they were so ghastly I felt bile rise in my throat!

“My abductor was tall, towering at least two heads over me, cloaked in dark robes that matched their deep blue, leathery skin. Deep, closer to black than the sky’s blue. With eyes that glowed green and ears far bigger than a person’s. Their long, black hair, however, is much like a human’s.”

Lacy was pleased to hear several disgusted groans.

“Barely able to speak our language without sounding like a child, the koroth demanded to know what we were doing out there, angry that they’d kidnapped a ‘worthless mortal’ instead of a ‘delectable body cultivator’. They see us a nothing but food,” she spat derisively.

Another deep breath.

“Disgusted as I was by my kidnapper, I kept my head on straight as much as I could and answered their questions. After all, my knowledge wasn’t valuable to them. Then another koroth behind me I hadn’t noticed until then said, ‘We should leave her to the beasts.’”

“The very DAY I reach Seed I will hunt those revolting blood-suckers down!” Shu declared, right in Lacy’s ear.

“Thank you, Shu, but I will be a cultivator someday, too. Perhaps we hunt them down together?”

“Oh, right,” Shu said sheepishly.

“Where was I? Oh, right,” Lacy continued, “a smaller koroth, but still my height, insisted they slit my throat and leave me for dead, since I was useless to them. However, by the grace of all the merciful gods out there, the stronger monster said they might still find use for me yet.”

A dramatic pause.

“That being as bait. Since I could not be their sustenance, they decided to simply let me go unharmed so that I could spread the word of their presence. In the monsters’ tiny minds, they hope that some guards will seek them out and just present themselves as easy meals.”

One dude spoke up with what was no doubt on a lot of people’s minds.

“Then…should you not have told everyone?”

Lacy shook her head.

“Instructor Poko assured me that I was doing the right thing. It’s in the demons’ natures that because they are a little stronger than same-realm human cultivators they will always win in battle against them. Not only that, but they roam the wilds in small family groups, unlike us civilized people who band together to combine our strengths. Instructor Poko was very clear that those blood-sucking mongrels would pay for underestimating and preying on our city!”

To Lacy’s surprise, some of the recruits returned her energy with shouts and cheers, reminding her that some cultures, like this one, placed a lot of importance on community, unlike lots of modern people from Earth who had the option to pick everything up and move somewhere else.

“Right! Story time is over! Back to your exercises!” Instructor Kong interrupted, before adding, “I am pleased to see that you still aim high, Initiate Lacy. You will be a fine cultivator.”