Chapter 207 - Answers Above
Far away to the west, across a desolate grey sea.
The ruins of the capital city of Ying Chu stood proud upon a jagged, sharp mountain. Even a thousand years after the fall of the nation, the elegant, slim towers and arched sky bridges remained standing, a testament to the craftsmanship and skill of its vanquished people.
Looking up at the city from the base of the mountain, one could only wonder at the strength and culture of this lost civilization. Though the entire mountain side was covered in buildings, it did not look cluttered. The city was organized vertically, with recreational plazas and gardens interspersed with grand statues of giants and creatures. Towers and bridges linked the various levels, with curved walkways that arced across the sky to provide scenic pedestrian routes.
At one time, this city had been magnificent to behold, a treat to the eyes. Today it was still awe-inspiring, but the blackened, charred buildings and ash-covered streets evoked feelings of sadness, gloom and loss.
The crown of the city was the royal castle, whose central tower was a thick five-sided prism that jutted up into the sky. This tower that once dazzled with the light of the heavens was now black and dead like charcoal.
The ashen rain fell endlessly from an overcast sky.
At the base of the city, a young boy in a traveler’s cloak pushed back his hood and raised his gaze upward. His youthful face was smudged with soot and his clothes were black from ashfall, but his eyes were full of vitality. The pupils of his pale green eyes twinkled subtly with stars as he looked upon the silent city.
“Here we are.” He whispered softly.
Three full days had passed since the demonic solar eclipse. It had been a long trek from the hidden portal which Argus had arrived from. Throughout this time he had no news from across the world, no insight into the aftermath of Deka’s reincarnation and its effect on Noga.
Pix, the Angel of Chaos who had taken it upon herself to accompany him on his journey, hinted that she’d gone to Noga to ‘have a look’, but she provided no information either. She only teased him, asking him what he’d give her for the news.
Argus glanced over to the half-goat demi-human, who was standing next to him looking up at the city. Unlike his own ash-covered clothes and skin, she was completely clean, as if there was an invisible field preventing the ashes from landing on her.
When they’d first met, Pix had floated around, constantly distorting her appearance. She’d blinked in and out of existence and played with his senses and seemingly took joy in his disorientation.
However after the first day she’d calmed down and simply walked alongside him, as if she had nothing better to do. She constantly provoked him to speak, with stories about herself being her favourite topic. Argus obliged, if only because defying her roused her and caused her to pester him incessantly until he obliged.
The question of why she was following him bothered him constantly. He tried multiple times to figure out her motivations, but even subtle attempts were fruitless. Practically speaking, having an angel by his side on the journey through the unfamiliar landscape should be a blessing. However even three days in he wasn’t sure whether Pix would assist him or mock him and let him die if a dangerous situation occurred.
Thankfully, the journey up to this point had been relatively peaceful.
“It’s so dreary.” Pix made a face, “Why would you want to come here?”
“There’s a library in the castle.” Argus replied succinctly.
“Library library library, books books books.” Pix grumbled, “You’ll never change, will you?”
Argus ignored her grumbling as he pulled his hood back over his head and continued down the path.
Unlike the main portion of the city that was solid rock, the city at the base of the mountain had been constructed from wood, amongst other materials that were less resilient to flames. He walked through block after block of burnt, ash-covered rubble, heading for the first towers that led the way up the mountain.
Once inside the city proper, Argus had a feeling that navigation would be fairly straightforward. Unlike a regular war-torn ruins, the damage to the structures were largely cosmetic.
This was because although the nation of Ying Chu lost the war, the demise of her people did not come about from battle, but from the death of her patron god, Shuma the Sun God. The aftershock of his violent death caused an inferno to rage across the entire island, incinerating everything but leaving the stonework behind.
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“If it’s a library, won’t all the books be burned up?” Pix asked.
“There’s more than just books in there.” Argus replied. He was about to elaborate, but Pix had already skipped ahead without waiting for his answer.
He frowned, gazing across the barren cityscape, “Strange, though. If I remember right the City of Ash was supposed to be filled with monsters. But I don’t see any signs of life here at all.”
These monsters were also part of the aftermath of the Sun God’s death, and one of the reasons why Ying Chu had been declared a desolate land. These monsters had spawned from the Sun God’s corpse and deterred many adventurers and opportunistic Exalted from pillaging the island. Some of the monsters had even been at the immortal level.
“I told you.” Pix said, “There haven’t been monsters here two centuries. They all died out.”
“How is that possible?” Argus frowned, “Even if someone cleared them out, the Sun God’s remnant energies would have created more.”
“How is that possible?” Pix gasped with an exaggerated expression, “I don’t understand! How terrible!”
A traveler’s cloak materialized around the demigod’s shoulder as she shrunk to half her height in a blink, matching Argus’ height. She waved her hands in mock exasperation as she began pacing back and forth, “How can I, Argus Dayton, Keeper of Knowledge, sleep at night knowing there are mysteries out there? I must investigate at once!”
Argus scowled, turning away from Pix’s mocking impression of him as he pulled out his golden astrolabe. He channeled his energy into the device, setting his intention. The astrolabe’s two hands began to spin and twitch, bouncing between the various constellations and inscriptions in complex patterns.
Argus focused on the motions unblinkingly, taking note of every tick and quiver in the hands. After a minute he finally lowered the astrolabe and closed its lid, exhaling slowly as he contemplated the meaning of the device’s answer.
“There is a schism between Physical Plane and the Physical Domain. The Sun wanes and is absorbed by the void of space. The natural cycle has been disrupted by a new ancient force.” Argus muttered quietly.
“New ancient force? Do you think before you speak?” Pix asked, rolling her eyes, “Or do you just have a set of words in your head that you randomly throw together in a sentence to sound mystical?”
“Hush.” Argus scratched his head as he flipped open the astrolabe again, formulating a follow up question in his mind.
“Hush?!” Pix’s eyes opened wide in indignation as her nostrils flared in anger. Her pupils burst into red flames as a shadow descended upon Argus. “You dare hush me? You spiny, short legged, smooth skinned… brat!”
The shadows of her fingers grew long as they extended out toward Argus in menacing claws, reaching across the ashen road toward him. They surrounded him, looking ready to collapse in and attack.
Argus was so focused on the astrolabe that he didn’t even notice the changes in Pix’s mood or his impending death. However, just as the claws were ready to strike he suddenly looked up at the sky with a confused look, “The answer is above me?”
The threatening shadows vanished instantly as Pix suddenly appeared beside Argus in her original form, looking down curiously at the face of the astrolabe, “What’s above you?”
“The astrolabe indicates that the source of the disappearance of the monsters can be found above.” Argus said with a frown, his eyes scanning the towers and walkways high above them. “There’s nothing special about this part of the city, though. The castle and the landmark buildings are all further to the northeast.”
“Let’s go see what’s up there, then!” Pix piped up.
“Sure, I think there are ether lifts in the towers ahead, although they might not be operational so we might have to walk up the stai-”
In the next moment Argus found himself standing at the edge of a stone walkway, a kilometer up the mountain. A chill gust of wind bit at his cheeks and he let out of a small yelp of surprise and stepped away from the ledge.
The vast, empty landscape of rocky plateaus and steep cliffs spread out before him. From this height he could see the entire southeastern coast and the grey sea that merged with the horizon beyond.
Pix had appeared beside him and was already scanning the area with a frown, “I don’t see anything.”
Argus paused, mouth agape at Pix before stuttering, “You could teleport us all this time?!”
“Yes? Why wouldn’t I be able to?” Pix tilted her head at Argus, “It’s easy.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Argus exclaimed, “We walked for three days to get here!”
“You didn’t ask, I just assumed you enjoyed hiking.” Pix frowned with a clueless look, “What do you think I am, a mind-reader?”
Argus was at a loss for words as he inwardly rejected Pix’s claim of innocence. She was playing with him and reveling in his suffering, there was no other reason for her to hide this ability from him.
“We wasted so much time…” He moaned, “You knew I needed to get back to NianXing.”
“Right, that fate friend of yours is waiting on you, isn’t she?” Pix said, “Hope she isn’t relying on you for anything.”
There was a flippancy to Pix’s voice that told Argus that she didn’t care about Yuzu or Argus’ promise to help her. It didn’t surprise him; after hearing about Yuzu’s story from Argus, Pix hadn’t even inquired once.
Argus sighed, casting his eyes at his surroundings. The walkway arched out from the mountain side, connecting the towers at each end in a scenic route. A light coat of undisturbed ash lay across the walk, occasionally blown about by small gusts of wind.
As he looked around the walkway and at the nearby towers, nothing stuck out at him as being special or out of the ordinary. He didn’t put much faith in the astrolabe reading that told him that the answer to his question would be found ‘above’. It wasn’t that his reading was necessarily wrong, but there were certainly ways he could have misinterpreted the message.
Even up here, he could see no signs of monsters or other life forms. The city was silent as ever, offering no answers to its vacancy.
Perhaps I’ll find the answer in the library. Argus frowned. That’s ‘above’, even if it doesn’t feel quite right…
He was about to shrug and suggest moving on when he noticed that Pix was looking into the distance, staring at something beyond the coast.
A vertical black line cut the sky in half, so thin that he thought he was imagining it at first. It rose impossibly high into the air, eventually vanishing from sheer distance.
A memory bubbled up from the depths of his knowledge. He was filled with dread and understanding as he realized what he was looking at.
Upon seeing it, he realized why the monsters in YingChu had all vanished and why there was no life remaining on the island - that spire had sucked the land dry, leaving behind a lifeless wasteland.