How had it all gone so wrong so quickly?
Memories from what seemed like ages ago — though it had only been that morning — flashed through Yutu’s mind. He’d woken up excited, if tired, having spent the entire night preparing for today: the day of their first hunt. A rite of passage for most, but more so for him. Yutu the coward, they called him. Yutu the mouse, always jumping at every little shadow.
That was how it had always been, and if he was honest, they weren’t wrong. Yutu knew he wasn’t the strongest, fastest, or even smartest man in the Radiant Sea Prairies. Not even Slatewalker Village, regardless of what his mother told him. He knew he always hid in Ganaa’s shadow or relied on Zolzaya to stand up for him. But today was going to be his day! He’d studied for years, mastering the trap arrays used by his village. Today, he would finally be useful. He’d finally make it up to his friends and the village.
They had started out strong, a group of thirty young men and women heading out on their first official hunting trip since graduating from their apprenticeships. Officially, the group was led by Senior Grassreader Kallik, but they were on their own in practice.
Guardian Ulagan, a man only a few years older than the oldest graduate, had led the team of escorts that would follow them, but it was just as much a test for the Guardian as it was for them. When they returned, he would be raised to Senior Guardian, the youngest in five generations. They had even been making great time, with several successful finds in only the first few days.
Then the Firmament cracked.
Every child on the Skybreaker Continent, from the poorest street rat to the most arrogant young masters, had grown up on stories of the grand Immortals — stories of heroes from legend overcoming their earthly bonds to shatter the sky and step into the realm of gods and Celestials.
Many of those stories spoke of Fallen Stars — fragments from the realm beyond, gifts from those who had broken the Final Barrier so that others might follow them.
Sometimes they were mighty weapons on which dynasties could be built. Sometimes they were small mountains hiding vast wealth. Other times, they were jade tablets filled with mystical knowledge and esoteric secrets. Whatever their nature, every Fallen Star promised untold power and a bright future. That was how the stories made it seem, at least. That was how it should have been.
This Star only brought with it calamity.
The thing that had broken through the Firmament wasn’t some gentle light seeking its destined owner; It was a raging torrent of destruction, like the wrath of an unknown god crashing down on the world. The pillar of fire that descended from the crack in the sky was bright enough to nearly blind him in the second before he turned away. When it hit the earth, the entire world seemed to shake, sending shockwaves that rocked the surrounding prairies for dozens of kilometers. Great waves of stone and earth threw their group into chaos as the Trappers and Herbalists struggled to calm the pack beasts while the Guardians helped those who needed it.
Many in the group were excited; the prospect of a Fallen Star was tempting. Many of the great clans of the Wandering Cities had been uplifted thanks to these gifts from the heavens. This might be Slatewalker’s chance to get out from under the yoke of Jadewalker, they argued.
That was not meant to be, however. Senior Grassreader Kallik used her authority to order a full retreat to the village. Yutu had thought it was a good call, personally; there was no way in hell they were the only ones to see that display. Who knew what other powers were headed in that direction at that very moment? Both man and beast. They were a freshly graduated group of former apprentices on their first real hunt. Even if they made it to the impact site without running across someone or something dangerous, there was no way they were strong enough to lay a claim to the Fallen Star themselves, let alone keep it.
So, despite the grumbling and protests, the group had repaired and salvaged what they could, then headed off in the opposite direction. They might not have been coming home with a Fallen Star, but they could one day say they had been there to see it fall. That in itself was a story worthy of the fireside, and one many of them would share for years to come.
As it was, they didn’t make it two kilometers before the Grassbreaker Penguins attacked.
The attack had come without warning. One moment, peace, and the next, a giant flipper, gleaming with metal-affinity Spirit Energy, had erupted from the ground in the middle of their group. It had cleaved through two unlucky herbalists before cutting through the prairies at blinding speeds toward Senior Grassreader Kallik. The older woman barely noticed in time, dodging just enough that she lost an arm and leg to the cutting flipper instead of being sliced cleanly down the middle.
Then chaos erupted. A dozen much smaller figures burst from their surroundings. Everyone in the group was at least in the early stages of [Stone Body], so most dodged in time.
Most. Not all.
Yutu could still hear the screams of men and women he’d spent the last week with as they were dragged down by their necks into the liquified earth.
The Guardians’ reaction had been instant, taking position around the group and using their own earth affinity to fight against that of the spirit beasts, hardening the ground around them and preventing any more ambushes. Zolzaya rushed to her mentor’s side and wrapped the Grassreader’s bleeding stumps in medical wraps to stop the bleeding. Despite his friend’s skill and quick reaction, Yutu could tell it was bad. One of the other Herbalists grabbed the Grassreader’s fallen arm.
It could be reattached if preserved, but a penguin had already snatched her leg.
The group took up a defensive formation, with Trappers surrounding the carts as they started work on emergency arrays, while Herbalists took shelter behind them, the Guardians protecting the group from the edges.
It wasn’t enough.
As the ‘wolves’ of the Radiant Sea prairies, they were aggressively territorial and didn’t work well with other flocks. A normal Grassbreaker Penguin flock numbered anywhere from six to twelve individuals. But the flock that emerged from the ground was larger than any Yutu had ever heard of.
Yutu’s heart felt like it would burst from his chest as he watched hundreds of dog-sized figures appear around them. They were screwed. The rest of the group seemed to agree with his assessment of their situation if the sudden, dead silence was anything to go by.
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That eerie silence was broken by the choked voice of the Grassreader as she sat at the back of the large cart.
“Run.”
That was all it took. In the same breath, the group made a mad dash toward the edge of the Grassbreaker’s encirclement. Trappers and Guardians batted away the now swarming spirit beasts as the large cart barreled through them, with Herbalists piled on the top or running beside them.
As spirit beasts went, Grassbreaker Penguins weren’t physically strong. Flock leaders might reach peak-stage [Stone Body] or even early [Iron Body], but that was rare. The vast majority never made it past middle-stage [Wood Body]. Even an older teen could fight a lone penguin off if they weren’t ambushed. But there was never just a single penguin in a flock, and as ambush predators, they were highly adept at using their strong earth affinity to stay out of sight until the very last moment.
That was the primary reason earth affinity was required to become a Guardian; it allowed them to detect the pests before they became a problem. They could even apply their own authority to prevent the earth from turning to liquid under their feet. The earth-aligned Spirit Energy in the area must have been in total chaos after the impact, or the beasts would never have ambushed them.
Only one Grassbreaker Penguin had ever been recorded advancing beyond [Bronze Spirit], the step after [Iron Body]. It was an aberrant that had terrorized the Radiant Sea for nearly a decade before it was finally stopped.
“Yutu! Watch out!” a young woman screamed from the back of the large cart.
Yutu’s eyes went wide, snapping up from the array he’d been desperately working on, only for his vision to fill with a toothy-beaked maw. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the dog-sized penguin-like creature behind the maw dove through the air toward him. Yutu’s limbs felt heavier than lead as he screamed at them to move just a little faster, but in his heart, he knew he wouldn’t make it.
At the very last second, when Yutu could feel the creature’s hot breath and smell the rotting contents of its stomach, something slammed into it hard, causing it to skew off target and soar past him. Yutu flinched as hot, red blood splattered across his face. He could only stare forward, eyes wide open and his mind blank, until someone grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along.
After a few steps, Yutu’s brain restarted, and his eyes whipped toward the figure of the penguin — and the large hunting spear buried deep in its side. His heart went from rapidly beating to threatening to tear itself from his chest. Yutu’s eyes then turned to the person dragging him along. Ganbaatar, his childhood frenemy, ran beside him, eyes locked forward as they raced after the others. Yutu opened his mouth, but the words came out garbled and low.
“Ganaa … I… I mea—”
Ganaa didn’t even look in his direction, not daring to take his eyes off their escape route.
“Less talking, more running!”
For once, Yutu found he agreed with the musclehead. A rare moment indeed, though not one either man could think too hard on as they focused on their escape.
If they could only make it back to the village, they might stand a chance.
Either way, someone needed to make it.
Someone needed to let others know what they’d learned here today.
Not about the Fallen Star. That wasn’t their concern anymore.
No, the Wandering Cities needed to know something far more important.
Beast Lord Kusanagi was awake.
—————————————————————
Yutu’s breath came in ragged gasps. How long had they been running?
Hours?
Days?
He no longer remembered. He no longer cared if he was honest.
They had started the hunt strong, with thirty young men and women ready to prove themselves to their village and the greater community of the prairies. They’d lost five in the initial ambush and two more during the push to escape. In the subsequent hours, they’d been picked off, one by one. Sometimes, one of the Grassbreakers would slip through the dwindling Guardians’ protection and grab someone. Other times, a stone needle would fly out of the grass and stab into someone’s calf, causing them to stumble.
Once, a metal flipper had cut one of the fleeing carts in two right from under it. The group on board had been swarmed before anyone had the mind to help. More often than not, though, people simply vanished, either unable to keep up or were otherwise separated from the group, never to be seen again.
Now? Now, there were only nine.
Yutu and Ganaa were the only trappers left, the rest having fallen, swallowed by the grass, or killed in defense of the group. One man had even stopped running shortly after their escape, a hollow look in his eyes as he watched the others slip farther and farther away. Some had feared he’d just given up, but the massive explosion that rocked the prairies behind them several minutes later told a different story.
The man’s sacrifice had bought them some breathing room, but it wasn’t enough. Their pursuers were relentless.
The Guardians fell one by one after that until only Ulagan remained. Without their protection, the carts carrying the herbalists, or those too injured to run, were the next targets.
Such a persistent pursuit differed from how Grassbreakers normally hunted. The spirit beasts were ambush predators. Their modus was to lie in wait, then strike as a group, taking out the target quickly and efficiently; they didn’t chase down their prey, picking them off like this. There was something darker going on here, something… unnatural. Worse than that, they were playing with them. Yutu had heard of Beast Lords and the destruction they could wreak before.
Every good story had at least one that the hero must face, saving the town, damsel, or sect.
But they were forces of nature given physical form. More often than not, they were depicted as noble creatures of power and respect. The hero would overcome the Beast Lord by earning its respect or companionship as often as by besting it in combat.
This… thing… that followed them…? Yutu could only feel malice and hatred from it; Kusanagi was like a dark storm cloud hanging over them, but whose lightning would never strike. It wanted to watch them run; it wanted to smell their fear and taste their despair.
What would happen if they actually got back to the village? Could they even hope to fight the flock off? Stories of Kusanagi were told to frighten children into behaving. The Beast Lord had spread so much chaos and destruction it had taken the intervention of the Akh’lut — the protectors and true owners of the Radiant Sea — to end the threat.
What chance did a small village of low-level Cultivators have?
Thinking of the home he’d spent all his life in, Yutu’s heart ached. Yutu thought of his mother, the sweetest woman in the village, who always tried to make everyone feel a little happier. He thought of his father, who supported his every choice, even if he was disappointed his son didn’t have talent as a Guardian. He thought of the kindly older couple who always parked their cart near his family and who had been the ones to teach him the art of arrays. Dozens of faces flashed through his memory, and tears welled in his eyes.
They couldn’t lead this thing back home…
Had the others realized this, too? Were they even headed in the right direction anymore? He doubted they were if the grim looks on the few remaining faces said anything. It was only fitting he was the last to realize.
Yutu took a deep, ragged breath and decided. The young man didn’t bother to stop the tears as he slowed his pace and came to a stop. Only his childhood friend and oathsister, Zolzaya, noticed, being positioned on the back of the only remaining cart to monitor their rear.
“Yutu?! What are you doing?!” she cried out in a panic. Another Herbalist had to restrain the young woman to prevent her from jumping from the cart.
Yutu only smiled and waved as they left him behind. He turned away, not wanting her to see his tears.
A moment passed, and movement to his side tore his eyes away from their closing pursuers; had that stupid girl gotten away from the others somehow?! What was she thinking?!
But instead of Zolzaya, Yutu found the panting, sweating figure of Ganbaatar standing next to him, staring off into the distance. Feeling Yutu’s eyes, the larger man looked down at him and frowned before asking,
“What? You think I’ll let you be the only one to show off in front of Zaya? Think again, pipsqueak.”
Yutu stared wide-eyed for a second before letting out a curt laugh. A smirk crossed his face as he turned away and responded,
“Oh, you’re on, bricks-for-brains. Just try to keep them off of me. Let’s show them why it was a terrible idea to mess with Slatewalkers.”
Yutu then extracted his array tools and kneeled down to work; Ganbaatar didn’t bother to respond, only hefted his spear and turned toward the approaching horde.