“I have here a map of the surrounding mines,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “I'm sure that Zheng Jo will be in one of them.”

He, Li Bai, Pan Baihu, Xiao Rai, and Tan Fa were gathered together as they walked up a mountain path. The rain was starting up again, the damnable, neverending storm. It was a slow going, for organizing a hundred people to move as one body across the treacherous mountains, even mountains they were familiar with, was proving to be more difficult than they thought. People slipped. People argued. A few tried going off on their own, and had to be dragged back by Xiao Rai.

“That's good, that's good,” Pan Baihu said, “We’ll find him yet.”

“That's not good,” Tan Fa said, “The mine will be a natural bottleneck. Zheng Jo will be able to blunt our advantage.”

“Our... advantage?” Pan Baihu said.

“We outnumber Zheng Jo,” Tan Fa said, “When I was in the military, when they were short on Anri users, they would instead field many regular infantry to outnumber a sect. An entire army, dedicated to besieging a single temple, or monastery, or wandering Anri users.”

“And...” Pan Baihu swallowed, “How many, ah, casualties, were there?”

Tan Fa's face became dour. He didn't answer.

Instead, he walked away.

And that was answer enough.

Li Bai cleared his throat, fixed Wang Ro the Elder with a disapproving look.

“This could easily become a disaster, Wang Ro,” the farmer said.

“It could,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “But it is necessary. You know the alternative.”

He looked back down at the map. Heard someone in the crowd cry out as they fell hard on the ground. The trail was becoming far too packed and cramped.

At some point, someone would fall off the edge.

“...We should split up,” the physician said, “Move out to the mines listed here. Flush him out.”

“How should we separate our forces?” Pan Baihu asked.

“Four groups,” Wang Ro the Elder decided, a hair quickly, “Twenty-five each. I will take a group. Pan Baihu will take one. As will Tan Fa, and you, Li Bai.”

“That is agreeable to me,” Pan Baihu said, “Shall we begin the organization?”

“Yes,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “Li Bai, will you make the announcement to the others?”

But the farmer's disapproving look had deepened.

“We should have done this back in town,” he said, “Not out in the open like this.”

“I am aware,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “But it would be for the best. Twenty-five soldiers can still overwhelm an Anri practitioner, especially out here.”

“Is that what we are now, Wang Ro?” Li Bai said, “Soldiers?”

“You've certainly been acting like one,” the physician said, a hint of warning in his voice.

“I'm merely seeking out justice. Protecting my home.”

“Is that not what a soldier does?”

The farmer grimaced, but said little else. He gave a quick bow to the mayor and the physician, before moving off. He raised his voice and started to shout at the crowd, to cordon them off into groups.

Wang Ro the Elder turned to Xiao Rai.

“I want you with me,” he said, “We'll take our group out to Golden Lion Mine.”

“Zheng Jo was very interested in that,” Xiao Rai said, “Do you think he'll be there?”

“...If he is not,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “Then he will most definitely be wanting to go there.”

“You sound confident,” Xiao Rai said, and she crossed her arms, “...Tell me, oh physician, what is there that Zheng Jo would be interested in?”

Something in Wang Ro the Elder's eyes glimmered. He considered Xiao Rai. The anger in her stance. He had seen the way that Tai Haoran had been fighting Zheng Jo. The White Flame had been about to win, about to end all of the Darwinist's problems.

But he had died.

Died of sudden heart failure.

Which his medicine had been supposed to prevent. It was as though Tai Haoran had not been taking his medicine at all.

Perhaps he hadn't been.

And a potential answer stood in front of him. Someone worth her salt. Someone ambitious. Ambitious, and ruthless. She would make a good Darwinist, would she not? It was almost time to leave this plane, as it was.

“We will speak more on this later, I think,” Wang Ro the Elder said, “Just know that the Golden Lion Mine is important to me. And it is important to Zheng Jo, as well.”

He let the enigmatic thread hang, and walked off. Xiao Rai thought on his words, her arms still crossed. Then, she nodded, taking this as answer. The physician had his secrets. But he would be forthright with her, in time.

Right now, there was work to be done.

***

Guo Liling caught up to the very back end of the Opal Hills crowd soon enough.

Evidently they had separated out into groups, for she could see only a few of them as she made her way down one of the paths. She recognized a few faces – Han Chen, one of the farmhands, was holding a shovel in hand like it was an axe, and his friend, Cao Xue, was one of those rare individuals whose forefathers had owned a sword, and still kept it. The stark way Cao Xue held it in hand, the way he seemed almost nervous with its weight, made Guo Liling's heart sink.

Wang Ro the Elder, in only a few words, had turned the Opal Hills into his own personal force. And none of them were trained for it.

Were Zheng Jo different, were he more cruel, he would kill them all.

(So Guo Liling hoped.)

She was not so close that they would spot her. Guo Liling hid behind a bend in the pass, watching Cao Xue and Han Chen look this way and that, as though Zheng Jo would magically appear in front of them. And then, seeing nothing, they moved off to rejoin the rest of their group. Guo Liling watched them go.

Had to wait a few hours for the procession to move on. She didn't want to be spotted as she made her journey. Word of mouth would travel, and Guo Kenan would know that she had slipped away from the inn.

And so she waited, her heart pounding with the peals of thunder and lightning. Then, she moved out. By now the rain was coming down so hard it was soaking through her raincoat, and deluged as miniature waterfalls from her hat. But still she pressed on, climbing up the hills, the mountains, mimicking a journey she had made just a few nights prior.

Up the hill, towards Zi Shi Ying's clearing.

She thought she could hear shouts in the storm. But that was more than likely her imagination, as the rain once more took the world. She hoped that no one in the Opal Hills would fall. She prayed that no mudslides would occur. It was as though the natural world warred against the people of the Opal Hills. As though the rain was on Zheng Jo's side.

She herself slipped multiple times going up the final ascent to Zi Shi Ying's meeting place. The path had become muddy, and she found that her shoes were sinking into the muck. The sky had become ice-white, milky in a way she had not seen before.

(It was, historians would later say, the most intense storm system that the province had seen in over a hundred years.)

At last, she arrived at the clearing, the top of the mountain, the jutting outreach with its lone ginkgo, though the storm had shorn off one of its branches, a tear in the wood that gaped like an open wound.

Guo Liling pushed her way through the harsh winds and sat down. She did not know if Zi Shi Ying would even come here. The Fluorite Bird tended to keep to himself during the harsh weather. But she still, nonetheless, waited. She had the century eggs. She had news to share.

The world was a chorus.

She waited.

Felt cold. Felt tired, all of a sudden.

She was drifting when she heard the beating of wings. Felt the presence of something much larger than her fill up the space above. Zi Shi Ying crashed down almost on top of Guo Liling, his eyes bulged, his multicolored, glassy form matted down from the rain. He shimmered as he stalked around her, head twisting in exact angles as he looked at her.

Guo Liling took the century eggs out of her pack. Presented them.

For a moment, Zi Shi Ying paused.

“Hmm,” he mused, “Usually these are warm. And in congee. You make me come out here, for so little?”

Guo Liling was far too cold to say anything. She shivered. Zi Shi Ying took note of this.

“Well, that will not do,” he said, “I will not have a cold mortal offer me a meal.”

He flapped his wings. Once. Twice. The wind became a summer's wind, warming Guo Liling up, like glass reflecting the sun. She swallowed, and found she could speak again.

“I...” she started, and she bowed, bringing her forehead to the muddy ground, “I give you this meal, great spirit, in hopes you will answer my questions.”

“...You are Guo Kenan's daughter,” Zi Shi Ying said, “Guo...?”

“Liling.”

“Guo Liling. Ah, how that jasmine sings. A good name, a good name...”

His head craned down to the pack. He fished out a century egg from the pack, crushing it with a sharp beak. He ate quietly. Quickly. When he finished, he closed his great, glassy eyes in satisfaction.

“I thank you, for the meal, Guo Liling,” he said.

And he made to take off. Guo Liling rose.

“Wait!”

And at once the air became still. Zi Shi Ying did, indeed, stop. His eyes rolled over to Guo Liling, became bead-like as he glared at her.

“...Excuse me?” he said, his voice a savage whisper, “Wait?”

Guo Liling's blood became ice. She bowed quickly.

“Forgive me, oh great spirit,” she said, “I just... I need to know. Where is Zheng Jo?”

“I should kill you, for that,” the Fluorite Bird said, “No one tells the Great Zi Shi Ying where he may or may not go, nor should he wait, nor should he...”

And then he sighed. Folded his wings up, looked down at the girl, regarded her with a cooler expression.

“You seek out the metahuman.”

She rose from her bow, her forehead now stained with mud. She gave a nod.

“You know what he is?” Zi Shi Ying asked.

“I... I overheard your talk with him,” Guo Liling said.

“Oh, I am quite aware of that,” Zi Shi Ying said, “You're far too curious for your own good, girl. It will get you killed, if you are not careful. It just nearly did.”

She swallowed.

“...What,” she said, “What is the multiverse?”

Zi Shi Ying preened himself, picking a few stray, glass-studded feathers from his plumage. He was considering Guo Liling's question very carefully.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“It is something I am most...” he was reluctant, “...unfamiliar with.”

“Unfamiliar?”

“Yes, unfamiliar!” Zi Shi Ying squawked, “I am aware of the multiverse, but not what it is, not truly, only that there is more out there than Dà Xiàng. More than just a great elephant with the world on his back.”

He let his answer rest. Guo Liling felt lost.

“...I do know where Zheng Jo is,” Zi Shi Ying said, “Are you with the rest of the village? Are you here to kill him?”

“I am not,” Guo Liling said, “I'm not with them.”

“Ah, the stray from the community,” Zi Shi Ying said, and he let out a soft chuckle, “Be careful how you soar, girl, not everyone likes it when the greatest of us fly.”

He stretched out his wings, turned his back in offer to her.

“I will take you to him,” he said, “Hold on. Be prepared for a cold journey.”

To ride Zi Shi Ying's back was no mere feat. He rarely allowed this, only having done it twice in recorded history. Once, to a young farmboy who had given him his first century egg, the second, to Emperor Sun Rao himself. Guo Liling climbed aboard the spirit's back, and despite the glittering pieces of clear stone in his plumage, she found he was comfortable, almost soft. The rain slid off of his feathers as though they had been treated with oil.

“Hold tight, Guo Liling,” Zi Shi Ying said, “I fly as fast as I want.”

And he ran, leaping off of the side of the mountain, plummeting for a few moments before opening his wings and letting the gale of the storm lift him high into the sky. Guo Liling's stomach fell, rose, then fell again as he soared across the Opal Hills. All of her home became like toy sculptures to her, the mountains became anthills, the trees lost their detail and became patches of green. Zi Shi Ying climbed higher and higher, letting out a screech of triumph, before he broke through the cloud layer completely.

It was here that Guo Liling lost her breath. The world was as ice, and she was numb to the touch, but nonetheless her eyes were wide and glittering, at the storm below her. She rarely saw the tops of clouds, only when she and her father hiked to the very highest parts of the Opal Hills. And now she saw all of them, like a sea, or a blanket. The sky up here was a burning blue, an azure that she realized she had missed since the storm's arrival.

And this was how Zi Shi Ying saw the world, every day.

The spirit descended again, back into the storm, and the cold became frenzied once more. They whipped past the heads of the mountains, the world below a mosaic of mud and rain and the world that drank it.

Until, at last, Zi Shi Ying began slowing down. He wheeled across the sky for a few minutes, letting himself descend down to one of the mountains. A little known landmark, Guo Liling realized, the Spiral Conch Hill was oddly shaped, having had a path cut around it in a circular pattern long ago, giving it the shape of a spiraling seashell. People rarely traveled here nowadays, due to the fact that it was out of the way and the land around it wasn't good for farming.

There were a few holes in the mountain, shallow caves that had been carved out while miners had been prospecting the place for precious minerals. But they hadn't found any. An overload of work, carving out the path, for little gained.

Zi Shi Ying landed near one of the caves. He nodded to Guo Liling, before taking off again, leaving her alone with the rain.

Her heart was pounding. She was completely frozen over, both from the rain and from the winterish gales of Zi Shi Ying's flight. She wasn't even sure if she could walk, as she stepped forward, wobbling, into the cave.

At least now the rain was not constantly battering her hat. The cave went inwards for a few dozen feet, ending in shallow darkness.

And, silhouetted against the back wall was Zheng Jo.

“Oh, you,” he said, “'Sup.”

She was quiet. She swallowed.

“You look fucking freezing,” Zheng Jo said, “What, did you walk all the way out here?”

“Z-Zi Shi Ying.”

“Oh, the spirit. Right, he knows I'm here,” Zheng Jo shifted from where he was sitting, “Here, let me make a fire.”

He took out a few orange stones from his pack, dashing them against the wall. Fire erupted from them, and he arranged them in a way as to make a campfire. Guo Liling sat down, feeling warmth return to her fingertips as she brought out her hands. Zheng Jo sat down across from her.

And, with the fire she could see that he had taken a beating. He had taken off his shirt, leaving a bandaged chest, and there were several cuts all over his body that had scabbed over. He had shaved his hair, though there was a light shine on his left temple where Tai Haoran seemed to have burned him. Not that he seemed to care.

“You hungry?” he said, “I've mostly been scavenging berries, but they don't taste half-bad roasted.”

“I'm... fine,” Guo Liling said.

“Right,” Zheng Jo said.

The silence drew on. The fire crackled. Rain mourned from the mouth of the cave, falling like tears outside.

“...The entire town is out for you,” Guo Liling said, at length, “Wang Ro the Elder whipped them up into a frenzy.”

“Not surprised,” Zheng Jo said, shrugging, “It's his word against mine. And I'm just a simple traveler.”

“What happened?” Guo Liling said, “Why did you kill Tai Haoran?”

At that, Zheng Jo's eyes narrowed.

“I didn't kill him,” he said, “His heart gave out. You've got it the other way around. He was about to finish me off when he clutched his chest and keeled over.”

“You aren't...” Guo Liling hesitated, “You aren't going to kill me, are you?”

“What? No!” Zheng Jo said, “Why would I do that?”

He shook his head.

“Listen,” he said, “I'm... I'm pretty sure that Wang Ro the Elder is a man I've been looking for. An agent, of a group called the Sons of Darwin.”

“From the multiverse.”

“From the multiverse,” Zheng Jo repeated, as though he expected Guo Liling’s prodding, “Yeah.”

He leaned back.

“That's why you looked for me, right?” he said, “To find out.”

“Y-Yes,” Guo Liling said, and she suddenly felt guilty, “I, I also looked for you, to make sure you were alright, to-”

“Ah, can it,” Zheng Jo said, “You don't have to lie to me.”

And he gave her a soft smile.

“I can take care of myself.”

She faltered.

“Well, the multiverse,” Zheng Jo said, and he looked up at the ceiling, as though he were trying to count out the stars, “It's...”

“Worlds,” Guo Liling said, “More worlds than just Dà Xiàng.”

“That's a good way of putting it,” Zheng Jo said, “It's more worlds. Thousands of them. Millions of them. More than the stars in every sky.”

Guo Liling's breath caught.

“What does...” she said, “Is it many elephants?”

“Many... elephants?” Zheng Jo said, “Oh. No. It's, well, like a web. Or a box.”

“It... Hmm,” Guo Liling said, for she had never heard of a world held on the back of a box.

(But, then.)

“Some worlds, or we call them planes, aren't on the back of anything,” Zheng Jo said, “Like mine. Earth. It's a planet. A ball of rock and earth, revolving around a star. Other planes are completely flat. The one I live on, the one my guild's located on, is a shattered planet, and the people live on both the inside and the outside.”

Guo Liling looked at him as though he had grown two heads.

“Must be hard to take in,” Zheng Jo said, laughing, “Trust me, if I hadn't been dragged, kicking and screaming, out into the multiverse, I would've been in disbelief too.”

“You're a madman,” Guo Liling said.

“Maybe I am,” Zheng Jo said, “Maybe I'm not. You can believe me, or not. It doesn't matter. I know what I am.”

And Guo Liling found she could not disbelieve him. The truth was before her.

Zheng Jo.

“Metahuman,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Zheng Jo said, and now a hint of bitterness came into his voice, “A metahuman. Enemies of stagnation, and all of that.”

“You use Anri?”

“Something like it,” Zheng Jo said, “It's... not something I breathe. It's something I am. You ever heard of genes before?”

“...No,” Guo Liling said.

“It's the things that your parents pass down to you,” Zheng Jo said, “Whether you'll have black hair. Whether you'll be able to roll your tongue, or if your earlobes are attached to your head or not.”

“Mine are,” Guo Liling said.

“And mine aren't,” Zheng Jo pulled at his free lobe, “Genetics. And metahumans have an extra one, the Metagene, that allows us to tap into the power between worlds. One of my mentors, he calls it 'Imagination.'”

“And it gives you power.”

“It's different for each metahuman,” Zheng Jo said, “Mine is that my body was reformatted into a circuit. My soul's been made physical. It's sitting in the pit of my stomach, now. Watch.”

He brought out a hand. And the air over his palm began to crackle and fizzle. A cobalt light burst free, a claw overtook his hand.

“Zheng Jo,” Guo Liling said, “...Cobalt Jo.”

He mused on those words, his brow furrowing.

“...Yeah,” he said, “Cobalt Joe.”

“And you used this to kill Tai Haoran?”

“I used it to defend myself,” Zheng Jo said, heat in his voice, “He attacked me out of the blue. Wang Ro the Elder watched. Look, he's hiding something out here. A Darwinist project. And it's something that he's willing to kill for. It's something that he's willing to whip up the entire town into a lynch mob for.”

He looked hard at her.

“When did he first arrive to the Opal Hills?”

“...Around twenty five years ago,” Guo Liling said.

“That's around when the war out there ended,” Zheng Jo said, looking at the wall, “That's... give it five years, or something like that. I'd need to ask Becenti.”

Guo Liling watched him, and she could practically see the sparks in his mind blazing.

“He's... truly evil?” she asked.

“Well, that's a cookie cutter way of putting it,” Zheng Jo said, “He's a Darwinist. About thirty years ago, they started a war against the multiverse, and apparently almost won. Most of them are gone now, but…”

He sighed.

“They're coming back, bit by bit,” he said, “Regaining strength. Freeing old members. Even setting off a few terrorist attacks. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them has gotten in contact with Wang Ro.”

“I see.”

“All the more reason,” Zheng Jo said, “To find the project.”

He let that statement hang in the air. Guo Liling shifted awkwardly where she was sitting, the warmth of the fire all at once becoming uncomfortable. Part of her could not see how Wang Ro the Elder, the physician who had helped so many in the Opal Hills, who had tended to her ailing mother in those last days, could be such a man. The term Darwinist sounded foreign and dangerous, the name of a group of demons.

And yet there was a way that Wang Ro had been talking to the others at the inn. His measured voice, the ice in his eyes, made part of Guo Liling realize that, perhaps, Zheng Jo was telling the truth.

“Well,” Zheng Jo said, “That's it then. That's why I'm here.”

Guo Liling was quiet.

“...What do you want to do now?” Zheng Jo asked.

“I...” Guo Liling scratched at her arm, “I...”

She looked up at him.

“Is it worth it, your multiverse?”

And he cracked an angry smile.

“It's dangerous,” he said, “And I can tell that's what's on your mind. But I've seen things I'd never thought I'd see. I've seen cities on the other side of the sky. I've been out into space more times than I can count. I've seen planes that are nothing but endless forest, with fireflies instead of stars. I've visited freshwater seas, with once-flying islands and histories that stretch back thousands of years. I've seen people who could break themselves in storms of glass, made friends with men with glass-spun limbs. One of my best friends has pointed ears and a sceptre that wields sunlight. My other best friend is a fish-man with secrets from a thousand dark places, and a book made of human skin.”

He rose.

“I've seen far more than I ever thought I would. The multiverse is dangerous. But... it's worth it.”

And the way he smiled, the way lightning danced in his cobalt eyes, made Guo Liling's heart leap.

“I...”

“Listen, what you do next is up to you,” Zheng Jo said, “You can go your own way. I can see in your eyes that you're wanting to get out there. We all have to leave home eventually.”

He started talking.

“W-Where are you going?” Guo Liling asked.

“Me?” Zheng Jo said, and he turned, “Well, my injuries are healed up enough that I think I can move out. But I want to recharge before I go out to Golden Lion Mine.”

“You mean to find the Darwinist project.”

“Yeah,” Zheng Jo said, “I've got a job to do. And I'm not leaving 'til I do it.”

“Recharge?”

He stepped out into the rain. Let it wash over him. He closed his eyes, his smile going from angry to serene. Guo Liling followed him out, watched as he started up the path.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice almost completely stolen by the wind, “I'm going to the top. You can join me, if you like.”

***

The pathway carved into Spiral Conch Hill made the start of their ascent a simple matter of walking. The mountain was devoid of most of the pitfalls of the rest of the Opal Hills, for there was very little mud, as all of the dirt had been scoured away by the Anri practitioner and revealed the stone beneath. A skeleton of a mountain, now devoid of the flesh that was plantlife and loose earth. As such, Guo Liling and Zheng Jo did not need to be as careful as they had been. There was little mud to slip on. The rain was not quite so strong as to flood the road.

But, eventually, the road ended. And they had to climb manually up the mountain. Zheng Jo took point here, finding natural holds in the rock to hoist himself up. Guo Liling followed suit, and her muscles burned as she followed him. Memories returned to her, of her younger days, of playing with friends along these mountains, squirreling up their faces, one after another, as they explored the Opal Hills. Of scrapes and bruises on her arms and knees, the first calluses that formed on her tiny hands. It had been a long time since she had climbed like this.

(Why had she ever stopped?)

And, at one point, she slipped. Missed her footing. Muscle gave out. She began to fall-

Only for an electric claw to grab her. It jutted from the back of Zheng Jo's leg, a long, rope-like arm that ended in talons, though they were almost painfully gentle, barely prodding into her skin. A perfect level of control. He was looking down at her with some concern.

“I-I'm fine!” she said, and she grabbed back onto the rock, “M-My thanks!”

He nodded. Continued climbing. Like a man on a mission. Or a man in his own world.

And they reached the top soon enough. It was not a flat place, for Spiral Conch Hill ended at a ragged point, like a broken tooth, sharp and jutting. Guo Liling found she had to hold onto a rock to steady herself, and she stood at a slant. In the clouds, in the fog, she could just barely make out the silhouette of Zhi Shi Ying flying around them, still wheeling around in his shivering sky. The thunder roiled around them. The world flashed white.

Zheng Jo stood at the very center, the very tip of the mountain. He looked expectant.

“Stand back!” he said, “This is going to get loud!”

And Guo Liling did. Like before, when he had been talking to Zi Shi Ying, she stood back, and watched.

And waited. The thunder continued boiling. The air began to smell of something familiar. The same scent that Zheng Jo had produced when he had gotten angry with her.

It was, she realized, the smell of lightning. Of build-up.

Zheng Jo waited, his arms cast out to either side, almost in supplication.

The world became, for a moment, still.

And then the sky split open. A white bolt flashed towards the world, struck Zheng Jo head on. It let out a terrific crack, so loud that Guo Liling had to bring her hands to her ears, and she almost slipped and fell.

The jutting rock had stained black, but Zheng Jo himself was unharmed. Indeed, he looked almost exuberant.

And how his soul was out. Peeling itself from his back. Like a ghost. Like a god. Azure blue, with an eagle's head and an eagle's claws and an eagle's eyes that glared out towards the world, at once both ferocious and calm. Cobalt Joe stood at the top of the mountain, rejuvenated, his injuries ignored, an impossible man. Who was healed, not hurt by lightning. Whose soul was physical and not spiritual.

Who took in pain, and was made whole.

“Alright,” he said, “I think I'm ready.”

He looked at Guo Liling now, noticing her with renewed eyes that burned blue.

“You should get home, Guo Liling,” he said, “I think I can get Zi Shi Ying to take you. But if the project is in Golden Lion Mine, then Wang Ro will be there. It's going to get violent.”

“I...” Guo Liling said, “I'll go with you.”

“Really?” he said, “It'll be dangerous.”

“It will be,” Guo Liling said.

Would it be worth it?

Perhaps not. But she had to see this through.

“Alright,” Cobalt Joe said, “Be careful. Stay away from the fighting. Let's go.”