"Lets begin." The cultivator had said, levitating everyone out of the room and up into the air. Up to the surface, John realized.
The first thing that hit him was the sound of the rainfall. An endless cascade of splatters hitting reinforced brick or tile. The second thing was the overpowering scent of petrichor, the everlasting rain flooded qi-enhanced fields with the gift of life. Gorgeous stone pagodas were hidden among huge purple-leaved willows and green scholar trees. Water drained happily in purpose-built channels along covered walkways. Cultivators walked in clean blue-gray robes, some with elegant rain coats, many with wide brimmed hats. Drifting clouds of fog and mist shrouded everything in an unbelievable majesty.
The prisoners around John stared or gasped, some still laughed against their will, many more were crying. John found himself bitter and dizzy at the same time. Ascending from a barely describable hell all the way to this peaceful mountain; it was greater than the difference between heaven and earth. The cruel ministrations of the cultivators in this very sect dared to be so peaceful!? To live such elegant lives above while John had suffered?
A boiling sensation rose up his throat and he fell to his hands and knees puking blood. It was washed away in the rain.
-
Eventually, the group was led to a more-secluded courtyard. Several Rainy Cloud cultivators were waiting for them. A middle aged woman backed by thirteen much younger cultivators.
John's tormenter raised an arm toward the woman, still facing the crowd of prisoners. "Elder Catherine will be taking care of you from this point forward. Don't disappoint me."
Elder Catherine cupped her fists and bowed to the man. "It will be taken care of, Sect Leader," she said.
John's eyes widened in disbelief, the Sect Leader himself had seen to their abduction and torture? If he wasn't already exhausted from his earlier vomiting, he might have keeled over again.
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Elder Catherine tapped her foot and a scroll manifested from nowhere. "I understand you all have had a trying few weeks, but that is the nature of cultivation."
'A few weeks...' John thought to himself, it had felt like much longer. He was also annoyed at the callous attitude displayed by the Elder. No one had asked John if he wanted to be a cultivator, and by all rights he had no ability to do so anyway. He kept his mouth shut regardless of his internal protesting.
The scroll unrolled itself, revealing diagrams of the human body and dense but elegant calligraphy. "These scrolls cover the basics of cultivation, some theoretical knowledge you will find necessary for your... strange circumstances, and the sect rules. All of you will read it several times until you fully understand everything within. Am I clear?"
No one said anything or made any motion of assent, but Elder Catherine's face softened anyway. She gestured and the young cultivators behind her moved to each prisoner, introducing themselves as outer sect disciple so-and-so, handing everyone a tied bag and a bamboo scroll container like the one Elder Catherine had revealed, before guiding everyone to a private pavilion.
"It's a little late, but welcome to the Rainy Cloud sect." Elder Catherine concluded.
-
John's private guide was called Disciple Eli, he was of middling height with dark brown hair and matching eyes. Pretty unremarkable.
The pavilion was as elegant as everything else John had seen in the sect. Stained wood flooring gave way to a supple segmented flooring John had never seen before. Paper screens and sliding doors divided the building into several sections. There was a small bedroom, a cooking area, a larder filled with durable grains, vegetables, and some fresh meat. Clean rain water ran through a pottery sluice in one corner of the kitchen to supply fresh water endlessly. Most of the space was dedicated to a large square room with a circular pad in the center. It had empty pedestals surrounding it in regular intervals. One corner was furnished with a small tea set and drawers that probably held tea leaves. Along one wall was a similar dresser with a small incense pot.
Eli called it a cultivation room.
For lack of anything better to do, and in part thanks to his exhaustion, John obliged Eli and sat in the center of the cultivation room. That seemed to satisfy him as he bowed and left the building with another cupped-hands-bow, saying "Disciple Eli will leave Inner Sect Disciple John to his business then. Call for me if you need anything." as he left.
Numbly, John pulled out the scroll and started to examine it.