As soon as we were aboard the waggon, Fyu set off at our direction towards the Mystic Mountains. They were based on an actual and fairly popular geological formation in China itself, and I could vaguely remember reading something on the forums about them having a certain “aura”, which no doubt was the purpose of the name. To the distance in the southeast, I could already see hints of mist and fog rising up from the ground, along with the majestic and unique formation of the mountains themselves. I remembered seeing this sort of sight not so long ago from the Marshes of the Wyrd, and now we were on course to see them up close.

“Every time I see this place I am always reminded of the real ones, of Húnán Zhangjiajiè Guójia,” Anhe remarked as we saw these first distant glimpses.

“Did you visit the real ones?” I asked her, suddenly curious.

“I did! When we went to visit my grandparents a few years ago, they took us to visit them for a few days,” she told us.

“Cool!” Ariana exclaimed.

“Of course, these in Xuanpu are more fantasy-like,” Anhe smiled.

“Well, it is a fantasy game,” I shrugged, a grin on my face.

“I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into cultists of some sort or another where we're going,” Lizzy then said.

“Probably.” Maryn agreed.

“It is true there are a lot of magical and spiritual groups in this area,” Anhe nodded as well. “Most of them are peaceful, but I have heard stories of darker ones that are not so obvious to find,” she added.

“Hmm...” I sighed thoughtfully, pondering what we had been through so far.

I suddenly wondered what would have happened if we had ignored the servant girl. I mean, sure, the quest was obviously related, and it ended up leading us to two of our goals, but what if we had ignored that quest? Would we have found different information in the locations we visited? Would we have ended up in different parts of those locations?

Let's assume yes. What did that mean? The General had asked us to find information relating to the emperor's doings. So far we hadn't really found any information on the emperor's doings, just information on what amounted to a conspiracy of some kind. So based on my assumption, if we had ignored the servant girl, we would probably be finding the kind of information we had been asked to find, that is, things which would implicate the emperor as being part of some dark plot.

But we hadn't found anything related to the emperor. Or the General, for that matter. That meant while my initial assumptions about the implications of the quest weren't wrong, I just hadn't had enough information to see the whole picture. It could be a quest about the general and the emperor trying to oust the other as a traitor, so long as you ignored the servant girl. Now, however, the more clues we gathered the more I was starting to think there was a third element. Or maybe I was just overthinking things. That was always possible. Yet it didn't seem like I was. I'm sure Anhe or Fyu would have noticed if the badges or the crest we had found were imperial in design; Anhe because she'd spent most of her time here and Fyu because he was Fyu. Neither of them had recognized it, so that meant either it wasn't the emperor or it was a secret part of his -- bureaucracy? Regime? -- whichever. Anyway.

Of course it didn't take long for Ari to notice I was lost in these thoughts, so when she nudged me and asked what was up, I related to her and the others what I was just thinking. They tossed it over quietly in their own minds for a while, the mountains looming closer as we continued on our way.

“All it boils down to in the end is to keep a sharp eye and make a level-headed judgment in the end, I suppose,” Healina finally said.

“Though now that you say that, I wonder what other kind of quests can be influenced by ignoring a sub- or side-quest...” Lizzy pondered, musing upon the thought seriously. “We should experiment with that some day,” she said after a moment.

“Sure; I mean, we'll probably be in smaller groups more often after this, too, so that'd also give us the chance for more variety,” I replied. “And then of course--” I started again, quickly cutting myself off with a faint squawk.

And then of course we'll have our club activities. But I wasn't sure if I could say that even now. I mean, I guess Anhe had suggested she'd be okay with Lana being Sean--me--but that didn't quite translate to it actually being so for me. Not yet.

“Of course, what?” Anhe wondered.

“Eh? Ah, oh... I dunno... not sure where I was going with that,” I said with a faint laugh.

“Hmm?” Anhe looked at me curiously. “Lana gets awkward too, sometimes!” she said with a smile.

“M-more than you'd think,” I muttered quietly. I saw Ari's lips twitch in amusement.

“Masters,” Fyu then broke in to our conversation, “We are nearly there. I must warn you that a dangerous cult is said to quarter themselves on this side of the mountains; it may well be your objective lies there.” the dog-beast said to us.

“You know, if Lana's right, maybe we'll find a decisive clue here and have no need to go to the next area,” Healina suddenly remarked.

“But let's not get our hopes up.” Lizzy said, patting her on the head.

“Hmm,” the Sea Elf nodded back.

A few moments later Fyu halted near a thick growth of bamboo to the north of the mountains. We got out quietly, and with a farewell to our faithful beast we set off for our goal. Now that we were nearer, I could definitely see that some of the pillar mountains had semi-natural ascents or sometimes wood-crafted staircases that led up to the top. Some of the mountains bore elaborate temples seated proudly at their height, others had simple shrines gracefully looking down upon wayfarers who might dare the climb.

All of them were framed by the looming dark of night, the stars shining not so brightly through the mists that wove their way around the range. As Fyu had suggested to us, our quest objective was nearby. I immediately stopped, taking into account his warning as well. There were dangerous cultists nearby, he had said. Did that mean these majestic temples and peaceful shrines were home to maniacal devotees straight out of some Arizona Tom flick? The kind that pretend not to be dangerous at all until you eventually find their secret lair where -- ehh, never mind that for now.

“Lana, can you scout around a bit more?” Ariana asked me. I blinked, momentarily confused, and then with a nod I disappeared into the shadows and ran around the area for a few minutes.

Ari was counting on me to increase our visibility on the local map, which was different from the world map or even regional ones. Those were big assets, but the local map, sometimes referred to as a navigator in some games, was sometimes left blank until you explored it. As was the case in this game. It was done in certain quest chains here to keep players from blasting or breezing through all at once.

When about five minutes had gone by I returned to the group. Ariana smiled at me, nodding as I came to her side. She pointed to the local map my sneak-run had filled out, and the quest marker was now pointing to one of the larger mountains to the south. The six of us made our way over to it; it was wide, and it was tall. Using Shadow Vision, I could tell that there were several good spots where we might be ambushed on an ascent, if things were automatically hostile to us. I let out a soft sigh, and then Lizzy spoke up.

“And... now there's another objective on another mountain to the east of us... that one looks like a small shrine.” she softly announced.

“What should we do?” Healina asked.

“We should probably have our fastest two go after that objective while the rest of us start up this mountain. They can rejoin us quickly enough after they're done,” Maryn suggested.

“Who's -- oh, I see,” Lizzy nodded, looking at me first and then Anhe.

“Me?” Anhe wondered in surprise.

“Girl, your agility rivals Lana's.” our smith returned.

“Were there traps up on this mountain, though?” Ariana asked, looking at me.

“I didn't see any specific traps, just a lot of good ambushing spots.” I replied.

“That's good, then!” she smiled back. “Let's do that, then. You can hurry over to the other place with Anhe as backup and rejoin us after you find the objective there.” she said to me, and I nodded, feeling my heart sinking.

“S-sure, I can do that,” I agreed, and she gave me a softer smile. I could see in her eyes now that she didn't like being split up from me either.

“Hurry back,” she whispered, and I nodded, turning to head for the newly revealed side-quest we had gotten with Anhe at my side. The other four resumed their cautious pace to the big mountain; soon, our two groups could no longer see each other through the dense mists.

Well, this is new, I thought to myself. Come to think of it, aside from that one night a few weeks ago I'd never really been away from Ariana in-game. Anhe and I swiftly and softly reached the smaller mountain, and I once again used my skill to see if there were any unpleasant surprises lurking.

“No traps,” I remarked, and she nodded back.

“Then up we go,” she said, and the two of us proceeded up the path carefully. “Lana?” she said after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“Do you... you are in another school, yes?” she asked me.

“Ehh,” I began, uncertain of how to reply.

“I was just thinking about it; you do not have to reply. Among the Eastern players here it is considered very rude to ask a lot about real life. Though the Silvernight Queens all know each other, so I find it less... inhibiting? Yes, it is less inhibiting to ask now.” she said to me as we continued up the mountain.

“Hmm... I'd say we're all pretty close now, yeah,” I agreed.

“I would like to understand Ariana's boyfriend a bit more, though, since he is in the club with the others,” she then continued.

“Oh?”

“He is very... I mean, I am still mostly afraid of boys... especially the athletes... but Sean is... different.”

“I've heard the same thing said quite a bit,” I remarked, a wry grin on my face, but she didn't see it.

“Healina suggested earlier in our club meeting that Sean might secretly be you,” Anhe then said. “I would always wonder a little bit about a guy like that, but at the same time you are really adorable... if you were Sean I would be more disappointed because of the relationship status than because it was a boy.” she told me.

“Th-that's what you're worried about?” I wondered.

“It is! I mean, in the real world, Sean is becoming a popular topic, especially since he was the one who got rid of that football bully and now because of all the girls who spend time with him and Ariana. And Lana is always a popular topic on the forums!” she said with a cheeky grin.

Uh, huh...

“Oh yeah?” I said with a faint laugh.

“Even right now there are a lot of posts wondering what the guild is up to right now,” she remarked.

“Heh, I guess the rumors and stuff have slacked off since we went into the Marshes,” I returned.

“So...” Anhe then said in a shy voice, her steps pausing; I stopped, and looked back at her. She had an indecisive look on her face. There was something she wanted to ask me, and I knew what it was. I didn't know if she could ask at the moment, and I wasn't sure how I would answer. Maryn had wanted me to wait until Anhe was ready; was she ready now?

It's only been a couple of days in the real world, after all, but I guess mentally it's been nearly a week, I reflected.

“No... it can wait. Let us get through this, first,” Anhe then said, and with determination she continued the ascent. I nodded back, turning to do the same.

After a brisk climb, we found ourselves facing a derelict but still homely shrine with a wooden kitsune statue housed within. Aside from this, a lot of the implements and features of a typical shrine were not present, and what remained seemed to have been desecrated. Someone had ruined this shrine for a specific purpose.

“In the lore of this game, that is the nine-tailed fox who chose the emperor's first ancestor long ago,” Anhe told me as she recognized the shrine's former deity.

“Huh,” I returned with interest. “Wait! So that means--” I checked my quest log; the side-objective had partially updated.

“It updated?” Anhe said, checking hers as well.

“That means my theory might be right, someone else may be trying to pit the emperor and the general against each other!” I exclaimed. “There's got to be some sort of proof lying around,” I then said, and the two of us split up to take a look around.

It wasn't long before Anhe called me over. She had found a medallion near the edge of the mountain; it had the same design as the one I found on the interrogator. My eyes narrowed as I stared at the thing. I heard a “ding!” as our quest log updated again. Anhe looked at me solemnly, and nodded. I nodded back. The two of us nearly flew down the mountain we were on, and sped off to find the others. It didn't take us as long as I had feared to catch them; they had only gotten a quarter of the way up the big mountain.

“W-were there ambushes after all?” I wondered hesitantly.

“A few,” Maryn nodded back.

“Just creatures,” Healina added, “No human NPCs -- yet, at least.”

“Hmm.”

“What did you two find?” Maryn asked.

“A wrecked shrine and a familiar medallion,” I said, pulling the latter out for inspection. Ariana recognized it at once.

“That's--!!”

“Yep.” I nodded back.

“And what about the shrine?” she then asked.

“Anhe said it had something to do with the emperor's patron deity,” I replied, and Anhe nodded as well.

“It was a shrine of the nine-tailed fox, the one his ancestor was honored by,” she said to them.

“And that medallion; it has a wolf-face on it, just like the one from the Underground,” Maryn said as she observed it.

“Fox-spirits are often afraid of wolf-spirits, or dog-spirits,” Anhe explained with a shrug.

“P-poor Fyu...” I remarked, and the others giggled.

“Let's turn our attention to getting up this mountain again, huh?” Lizzy then said. The rest of us nodded back, and we readied our weapons as we continued with our ascent to the top.

***

We had to deal with at least ten ambushes before we finally got to the top, but like Heali had said none of them were from humanoid NPCs. All of them were creatures of some sort or another. None of them seemed to fit the “temple guardians” motif, however, which was strange when I thought about it, but then the whole quest so far had been strange so I shrugged it off. After the tenth and final battle, in which we fought off a swarm of bats near the summit, we cautiously approached the grounds of the great temple that sat at the top.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

It almost seemed more like a monastery than a temple, though I suppose it was just the grandeur of it all that gave us that impression. There was no one in sight. The place was pristine; even in the moonlight we could see that the buildings were of the finest quality, and the plants and trees which grew around them had been trimmed with care. I know, I know, it's a game, no one really trims things (or do they...?) -- but hey. Anyhow.

The absence of any sort of NPC wandering around, even this late at night, immediately made us dial up our senses. A few lights were on in the temple, but most of it was quite dark. When I activated the quest marker again it pointed to a location within the temple itself. Suddenly I was once again reminded of that action-adventure flick, and an expression of amused resignation came to my face.

“What do you think?” Lizzy asked in a soft voice.

“I think we're about to experience that trope of 'innocent-monks-are-actually-rabid-cultists',” I remarked quietly.

“Ooh, classic.” the reply came.

“Think you can pick the lock on the door? If it is locked, that is,” Ariana said to me with a wry grin.

“This time, at least,” I returned. We crossed over to the door in question, and found it was indeed locked. Once again I brought out the special kit I had been carrying around for situations like this, gently prodding and twisting to see how the thing might open.

“I hear voices,” Healina whispered.

“Same,” Ari nodded. “They're coming from around the back; I think they're headed this way!” she hissed, patting my shoulder.

“Almost... got it...!” I returned softly. A few more clicks made their faint presence known to our hearing, and then with a satisfying “kh-thok” the door was open. We scurried inside, and then locked the door behind us just as the voices--as well as a lantern light--made their debut from around the corner.

“Monks,” Maryn remarked as she peered cautiously out of a window. “They're moving on to one of the out-buildings.” she then said in relief.

“Right, I'm turning on Shadow Sharing; stay close!” I said to them, and we made our way through the darkened corridors of the temple.

The interior was plain and unadorned; the silence made it even eerier. Fortunately we didn't have to think about that for long. We found another locked door after a few minutes, and when I had picked this one open we found a trapdoor in the floor. This was also locked, and I had to spend several minutes fiddling with it while Ari held out a soft werelight for me to see what I was doing.

“How much longer?” Healina asked.

“Not sure,” I replied, anxiously probing the lock.

“Hurry up, would you?” Lizzy whispered furtively.

“You're a smith, aren't you? Don't you also have a lockpicking skill? Wanna switch places?” I retorted softly.

“Mine's not as high as yours. I can only open medium-locks. You went into heavy and master-locks ahead of me, remember?” she immediately returned.

“Then maybe we can use your brute strength to just bust it open,” I quipped back.

“Hahh...” the Nordian girl sighed. “Minus five points.”

“Hah?!” I nearly shouted back, but it came out as a strangled whisper.

“Aw, no fair, she's just being honest!” Healina softly remarked.

“Not you too!!” Lizzy said exasperatedly.

“D-do I lose points or not?” I wondered softly, and Ariana smiled at me.

“I vote to let it slide.” she winked.

“Same.” Maryn nodded.

“Me too.” Healina agreed.

“Ehh??” Lizzy quietly whined.

“I do not understand, but I will vote the same.” Anhe then said, and the blonde girl's shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh.

“Fine.” she said resignedly.

“There!” I said as the lock finally clicked, and I opened the door as noiselessly as I could. There was a natural corridor below that had been shored up with wooden beams, from what I could see. I slowly poked my head in; there was no one around. I then readjusted myself and hopped down, and the others followed me like shadows.

“Which way?” Maryn whispered.

“That way's a dead end,” I noted as I looked to the one side.

“Which means we can only go the other way,” Anhe said.

“Scouting ahead,” I then said, slipping into the shadows while the others got into what we had decided was our “dungeon formation”: Maryn at the fore with Anhe, Lizzy at the back, then Ariana and Healina in between them while I was out front as vanguard and scout.

As I prowled through the dimly lit passages, I could see no sign of habitation, but I could hear the sound of chanting coming from somewhere. This brought an update to our quest-log: investigate the mysterious chanting. No, really? I thought to myself with a bemused look as I read it.

We came to a split in the passages then, and I looked at the two directions. One of them was marked with the same symbol as the medallions we had taken: the wolf's head. It led to the left. Signaling to the others, I continued down this passage, and from then on I let that symbol be our guide, until at last we came to a third door. This one was not locked, but I opened it with absolute silence, my heart suddenly pounding.

Uh-oh. If it gets too wild I might get disconnected, I recalled as I tried to calm myself down. With slow and steady breaths I managed to bring it down a bit, but there was still a fair bit of pressure. The door opened without a sound, and we found ourselves on a sort of balcony or parapet overlooking a great chamber.

Below us were a great many monks and devotees, all of them bowing before a wolf statue. A high priest in black robes trimmed with gold held his staff high in one hand and a relic-shrine in the other, chanting in what I assumed was the Xuanpu language. As he finished each stanza (or so I guessed) of his chant, a group downstage of him would thump on a set of drums twice. On every third time, a gong was sounded in tandem with them. But the one thing that stuck in my mind was how the eyes of the wolf-idol glowed. It almost seemed to be growling, as if it knew we were here, spying on it and its followers.

It's just a game, it's just a game, it's just a game, I reminded myself repeatedly.

Ariana gently touched my shoulder. I looked over at her. She softly mouthed the words “big chest behind the statue”. It took me a second to get them, but then I looked for myself. There was indeed a large, ornate chest sitting behind that massive wolf statue. That was where our objective had to be.

We waited for several long minutes, and then finally the monks and devotees began dispersing. Thankfully none of them came our way. When we were sure they were gone, I slipped into the shadows once again, and Ariana cast a spell of concealing on herself and the others while I made my way towards the chest. As I made my way around the wolf-idol, I couldn't help but feel something unnerving about it. My hands suddenly started shaking, as did my legs. I backed away from it, and slumped against the wall, trying to calm myself again.

--What's the matter?? Ariana messaged me a moment later.

--Something about this statue; stay alert!

--Got it -- you okay?

--Just need a second or so

--Okay. <3

With that one little message, I felt my nerves relaxing again, and I got back to my feet and made my way to the chest. It was superbly locked.

There wasn't just one lock on it. There were eight. Four at each corner, another three around the sides of the lid, and the main lock itself facing forward. I softly grumbled to myself, but began dutifully testing them, nervously wondering if there was a specific order or a time-limit I had to deal with.

T-time limit...? I suddenly repeated to myself, looking up at the statue again. O-ohh, I bet that's it; this thing might come alive or something if I goof up too many times or if I take too long to get the lock open... heh, haven't had *that* kind of threat bearing down on me since I played “Sorrowdin's” Thief-Master quest line... I mused with grim amusement, sending a warning message to Ari about the situation and my thoughts on the matter. She and the others agreed to keep their weapons at the ready, expecting anything to happen as soon as I began fiddling with the locks.

As soon as I started with the first lock, I saw a timer appear in the top-left of vision. Fifteen minutes, and counting down. Guessing that the others were now seeing something similar, I began working as fast as I could. At that moment I heard a bad word, and then Lizzy quietly rushed forward and knelt down next to me, sizing up one of the locks.

“Four mediums and four masters; perfect!” she whispered to me.

“Counting on you!” I said.

The corner locks were the medium ones, while the other four were master-locks. Lizzy and I opened our first two within three minutes; her second gave her a bit of trouble, while I luckily opened mine on the first attempt and moved on to the third. She finally got hers open with a relieved grunt, and immediately scooted over to the other side to start working on the third. There were now nine minutes left.

“Last great adventure, last great adventure!” our smith repeated to herself like a mantra as she furiously worked on the lock, a grin on her face.

“I'm sure that's not true,” I said as I finished my third and moved on to the fourth.

“We'll see about that, I guess...!” Lizzy returned as she managed to crack her third lock, stifling a squeal of excitement as she started on her final lock.

Eight minutes. Seven minutes. Another three minutes passed; our final locks were not budging an inch or a millimeter. The timer was now at three minutes and thirty seconds. I could feel something vibrating next to us, a menacing presence just waiting to make itself known and thrash us so badly that we would have to resurrect at Ipping or something.

“Come on, come on, come on!” Lizzy hissed. I could only agree with her wholeheartedly.

“Why is it always the final lock!” I softly grimaced. Two minutes and forty-five seconds.

“Yes!!” Lizzy softly exclaimed as her lock finally cracked open. She slid over to put a hand on my shoulder, patting me on the back gently. “You've got this, you've got this!” she told me.

“Almost... I think...!” I returned, straining to hear the mechanisms falling into place. The two minutes dwindled to one minute and fifty-nine. My pick snapped. “Tch!!” I groaned, quickly pulling out another one and trying again, repeating most of what I had done earlier and listening even more carefully to ensure I didn't mess up again. Behind us, the other four had slipped out of the shadows and were forming up in front of the statue, just in case.

“That thing really is creepy... I can't blame Lana for being unnerved by it!” I heard Healina remark.

“Blasted 'Eldritch Tomes' games make this look so easy!” I grunted with irritation as the second-to-last minute dwindled away. Sixty seconds were left on the clock.

“Oh snap.” Lizzy remarked as she saw it. Anhe then came over, taking out her staff. “Huh? What are you--” our smith began, but Anhe silently waved the staff over my head, chanting a quick line or two before gently tapping my head.

All of a sudden I could see exactly what I needed to do. Forty seconds were left. Without a single mistake, I worked the lock within ten seconds, and managed to crack it. The chest opened with a satisfying and soft groan. I let out a long sigh of relief, and Anhe patted me on the head.

“I suddenly remembered my augment skills aura I picked up from Shushi-mei,” she said to me and the others.

“Nice save!” I smiled back, and she grinned happily.

“Whew!” Maryn remarked. “And now, let's see what was in this nerve-wracking chest,” she said as the others joined us.

Inside we found several scrolls, and a carefully bound manuscript with delicate ornamentation on its cover. We emptied the thing and put the contents in our inventories, and then shut the thing again after making sure it was empty. Our quest log then updated.

Escape the temple with the information on the Lángtou Cultists.

“L-lángtou Cultists, they say?” I remarked.

“You have very good pronunciation; are you also taking a Chinese class?” Anhe asked me.

“It's fun,” I nodded back in affirmation.

“Hmm; well, it means 'Wolf Head', which seems very appropriate.” she then told us.

“So we finally have a name,” Ariana mused. “But I bet we won't be able to get out the way we came in.”

“That'd be too easy,” I said in agreement.

“The corridors we came through headed downwards also, didn't they?” Healina recalled.

“Oh, you're right!” Maryn said. “We were on a downward slant for most of the time. I'd guess we're about a third of the way down; if only there was an outlet to the path outside...”

“Isn't there?” I suddenly remembered, thinking about the eighth ambush. “What about the cave where those goat-monsters or whatever attacked us?”

“Good recall!” our shield-user said.

“It won't be that easy, I'm sure,” I added, “But I bet it's as simple as a boarded-up passage somewhere down here.”

“It's also fairly late in Panarena; right now it's nearing the synchronous midnight. We need to get out of here quickly and then rest a bit somewhere before carrying on.” Healina reminded us.

“These all-nighters are fun but meticulous,” Lizzy remarked, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Let's hurry up and get out of here,” Ari remarked with a slightly scolding tone, and we carefully scurried out into the corridors once more. I looked back at the wolf-idol. It may have been at least ninety-percent my imagination, but I swear that thing's eyes were staring after us as we exited its chamber.

After ten minutes of furtively hastening through the underground passages and narrowly avoiding several encounters with one of the apparent inhabitants, we found what we were looking for. Ariana checked the map to make sure we were in fact oriented towards the passage we were hoping for, and when she confirmed this Lizzy and Maryn tore down the boards as softly as they could. When this was done, we entered the passage, and Ariana then used her magic to put the boards back up, sealing it once more. We hastened along our new route, sighing in relief as we made it outside and then quickly hurried down the mountain, racing to where Fyu was still waiting.

“It is good you made it out safely, masters,” he said as we returned. “Where lies our next objective, if I may ask?”

“It's somewhere near Heaven's Mountain,” I told him.

“Hmm! Auspicious, indeed,” he remarked.

“Seems that way,” I nodded in agreement. “First, though, we need a rest.”

“I understand. Then take your rest, masters; I shall go at an accommodating pace that will give you plenty of time to restore yourselves.” the dog-beast told us as we gathered in the waggon.

“Thanks, Fyu.” I said, patting his shoulder.

“Certainly, masters.” he said in appreciation. I jumped up into the waggon, and almost immediately fell asleep, Ariana curling up beside me as Fyu started off at a gentle pace. We were soon oriented to the west, and the last thing I remember before falling asleep was how peaceful I felt with Ari holding my hand.

***

When we woke up, Fyu had halted before a silvery gate flanked by two flowering trees. They looked almost like cherry trees, but the coloring of the leaves and petals was almost golden instead of the normal pinkish-white coloration. Just beyond it I could see the base of Heaven's Mountain, which at this distance took up most of the horizon. I slowly craned my head upwards; the utmost crown of the mountain was obscured in the clouds far above us. The highest point that I could see any sort of building upon it was at best a hundred feet above us. There was a path that continued upwards to the top, but somehow I doubted that there was any human settlement of any kind waiting up there.

“Whoa...” Healina remarked with awe as she looked on, and Lizzy let out a whistle.

“This is pretty.” she said. I returned my gaze to what lay in our immediate vicinity.

Beyond the gate with the two trees at its sides, there was a flawlessly white temple, or maybe it was a palace, built in the Eastern-style that dominated Xuanpu as a whole. More of the flowering gold trees lined the spotless pavement that started at the gate and angled off toward the major structures beyond the gate, not least of which was the temple-palace with its golden-tiled hip-and-gable roof with double eaves. Guards in immaculately white armor stood at attention, their shining halberds held proudly or swords kept ready in their sheaths.

“B-but now that we're here... w-what exactly do we do?” I wondered hesitantly as I got out of the waggon.

“I believe, masters, that the banners displayed on the holy palace of Shin'xeng d'Fangzi indicate that the emperor and the general are in attendance here,” Fyu informed us. I suddenly recalled at least one of those banners being displayed at the general's headquarters in Zan.

“Hmm? That almost sounded like real Chinese,” Anhe remarked. “Though I am sure the developers did that on purpose; Westerners would just think it a cool sounding name while people like me start wondering if they misspelled something or maybe think they inadvertently wrote something rude!” she said with an amused grin.

“I'm sure,” Ariana giggled back.

“So what should we do?” I wondered again.

“From what Fyu just said, it sounds like we should go on and ask for the general,” Maryn said, but her gaze was captivated by the scenery. I couldn't blame her at all.

Just then, one of the guards came to the gate with what looked like an officer at his side. He opened it, and the senior-looking guardsman stepped forth to address us.

“Young ladies all, it seems you have come a long way; I welcome you to these Sacred Gardens, where the emperor resides in the great palace of Shin'xeng d'Fangzi. And now, I must ask your business in approaching this place?” he said to us.

“We were set to a task by the general,” I replied.

Now that I thought about it, I quickly looked at my quest log.

Meet with General Dai-Gong at Heaven's Mountain to discuss your findings.

But I was sure it hadn't said that earlier; only that it had said to go to Heaven's Mountain. Did that mean I was right, and we had inadvertently taken a quest altering side-quest? I guess we're about to find out, I thought as I brushed the panel away.

“He has instructed us to meet him here,” I resumed, and the senior-guardsman gazed at us thoughtfully.

“General Dai-Gong is at council with the emperor and several other important officials; however, he did indeed leave instructions to welcome a party of adventurers and bring them to audience at once. Please follow me now,” the man said, and with a nod to Fyu we were on our way inside.

As we entered through the silvery gate, I looked over at Ariana; our eyes met, and a silent conversation passed between us.

This is it, huh?

I guess so--now we find out the end of the quest!

Let's hope we made the right choices!

I'm sure we have. But either way...

It was super fun, and hopefully we gave Ellie a week to remember!

Yes, that, that exactly! I smiled, and she smiled back. And then we looked ahead again, bracing ourselves as we began ascending the steps to the palace.