Her uncle wouldn’t be incapacitated for long, and Ah Dan had gone and fainted. It was no surprise. He took a huge hit from Po Shang’s armoured form and still managed to do his strange healing technique on her before fainting. The fact that he survived the bladestorm Po Shang had visited upon them after was pure luck. That and the power from the dragon bo, and Ryong Aang inside.

Lian could feel the dragon inside the staff becoming angrier and angrier. The longer she held it, the more she understood the feelings from within. It was hard to tell where the anger was directed, though, and Lian could only hope it wasn’t at her. Running from battle wasn’t very draconic, Lian thought.

Hyun Soon picked Dan up like he weighed no more than a heavy pillow. “Keep running,” Lian barked, removing the goofy grin that had formed on the fat boy’s face, “we’re not safe yet.”

It might not even be possible to find safety, but the closest they would come was inside the labyrinth, as ridiculous as that sounded. As far as Lian knew, it was full of monsters like her uncle had become, or even worse. They would just have to hope they avoided them. For now, the one to worry about was Guan Po Shang, his grinding and screeching wail was starting to get closer.

Ah Dan had done so much already, but Lian saw as he heard the roars getting closer he roused from Hyun Soon’s shoulder. He had been asked to shoulder so much. The vicious hatred bubbling within the main family. Her grandmother’s soul stone and all the implications that came with taking it. As much as she hated to admit it, he had saved her life in the Sasin forest, and then been the political tool by which her uncle and father had battled. Pity threatened to make Lian sick, but another emotion was more prescient.

The wounded pride she had just faced and would continue to face.

Ryong Aang agreed apparently, as Lian turned back around. Each end of the staff began to glow, white hot. It would do something, Lian reasoned. A new pulse of power from Ryong Aang filled the uncomfortable edges of Lian’s core, soothing the scratched and raw feeling she had from using her mana. “Thank you,” She said aloud, feeling slightly foolish.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Xiaomei squawked. Lian really did not like the girl and her judgemental eyes, nor did Lian normally respond to people who spoke to her in that tone. Extenuating circumstances meant that instead of silence, the scrawny girl got an eye roll from Lian. She may not have seen it from the distance that had formed, but it made Lian feel better.

“Go. You’ll get the door open with your stupid ribbons, I’ll catch up. Make sure he survives,” Lian gestured at Dan, “he will be a literal lifesaver in there.” Dan still had the flask and pouch of food on him, so they would be alright in the labyrinth in that regard at least. “If he catches us while Dan is like that, we’ll all die trying to protect him.”

Lian turned back around and braced herself. She was fairly certain that she could avoid his blows, but there was no chance of her moving like Ah Dan did. He moved like he was dancing with a trained partner, not fighting for his life. Even then, he had been grabbed. It was just pure luck that they had decided not to listen to Dan and help him instead.

“Honestly,” a small voice behind Lian made her jump and spin, “that was very impressive.” Xiaomei stepped up beside Lian. “Hyun can get the door open without my flimsy arms, let me help you instead?”

Lian didn’t have time to argue, because along with the encroaching void came her uncle’s twisted metallic form. Pounding the floor with each step, he was howling. Whipping a whiplike arm before him, dragging a massive and heavy fist, he closed the distance terrifyingly quickly.

“Me first though, I think.”

A rope of twisted gold and silver exploded from beside Lian, a crystal crackling with yellow energy on the end. It shot towards Po Shang and as it connected, the whole rope pulsed with blue light. From above the crystal, a dazzling light flashed. It blinded Lian momentarily, and the thunder which followed the lightning strike only made her more stunned. Her head spinning, Lian nearly dropped the dragon bo from the shock of it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

However surprising and unexpected it was for Lian, and Xiaomei beside her who was also wide-eyed, it was much worse for her uncle. The shiny metal was now charred, along with the skin within. Blackened from the helmet down, the monstrosity had fallen to the ground.

“Wait!” Fa Lian begged, seeing Xiaomei spinning the rope for another throw. The lightning strike had ripped through the metal and was still bouncing around it. The muscles within were twitching and spasming, but her uncle was still alive. “We can just leave now, right?”

“Clearly not,” Xiaomei answered as the monster rose from the ground, “move.” Despite still being wracked with electric jolts, the stun from the lightning was wearing off.

“It’s my uncle.” Lian could barely believe the words she was saying, but she didn’t realise how awful this was until he had looked helpless. Her uncle needed help, didn’t he?

“Okay, how about this?” Xiaomei asked innocently. She turned to Lian, before whipping her hand out. The yellow crystal arced through the air and landed right on top of Lian's uncle once more. This time, she closed her eyes and covered her ears, but she could still hear the pitiful cries from within the armour. “There, still alive, or whatever you call that. We need to go.”

“I hate you.” Lian said, while still doing the sensible thing and running with the girl.

“Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.” Xiaomei agreed.

It had been wishful thinking, but Lian had hoped Dan would be awake. She had also hoped that the door would be open. Hyun Soon was struggling, though the door had lifted slightly, he clearly could not do it alone. Relief appeared in his eyes as they approached. “I just need a little more!”

Without wasting any time on venting frustration, Lian instead rushed to help.

“Where is he?” Hyun asked, grunting. He was wearing an artefact from the vault on his hands, the mountain maker knuckles. Along the path of Xiaomei’s rope, Hyun Soon had raised small mounds of rock from the ground. Using these to give him leverage, he was pulling the rope and the door was slowly opening.

“He’s coming!” Xiaomei grabbed onto the rope in front of the large boy’s grip, and began to heave, too. It wasn’t nothing, but it definitely wasn’t enough. Lian joined them, frantic. Her uncle's screams had lost all sense of humanity, just the horrific screech of metal on metal, getting closer and closer with each second. The pain was still there, clear as day, but no humanity was left in the wailing from his vocal piping.

It was awkward, trying to keep the staff against her while putting effort into grabbing the ropes. For a few, struggling moments of panic, she pulled with one arm and held the staff in another. Then she put the dragon bo under her arm and pulled with both hands, but again her strength couldn’t be brought to full bore.

After wasting precious seconds, it clicked and Lian grabbed the rope and staff together before spinning them. With a successful flourish, Lian wrapped the dragon bo in the rope. “Here!” She shouted simply, Hyun Soon and Xiaomei quickly seeing why she called them. As three, they grabbed the dragon bo and used it as a makeshift handle. It worked perfectly, Ryong Aang seemingly happy to keep his flaming heat to himself as three pairs of hands wrapped around him and pulled.

No matter the weight against it, the dragon bo would not shatter. Ryong Aang would throw this door like it was no more than a skipping stone, it could not hope to even bend the dragon’s form. The door moved piece by piece, inch by inch, and it was working. However, the being that was once Po Shang also knew where they were, and they had no more time to open the door.

As the catastrophe approached, Lian glanced towards the door. It looked like it was open enough for them to fit through. “Just a little more!” A tight squeeze could mean a very unpleasant death.

“I can manage that, I think.”

Lian recognised the voice but was sure she must be mistaken. Lian’s own nearly slipped from the staff as she asked incredulously “Dan?!”

“Keep pulling. One last risk. Might work.” He sounded exhausted, but as she looked at him, she saw a smile on his battered face. In turn he placed a hand on each of them. Like an old man, he ruffled Hyun Soon’s hair and patted Xiaomei on the head. Lian could see in real time as their fatigues and injuries disappeared.

“Dan, no, you don’t have the energy!” Lian was distraught, but the others were full of Dan’s energy now. The door shifted in place again, starting to gain actual momentum. As Dan reached Lian, his smile had turned slightly more happy.

“That staff is perfect for you.” Dan’s eyes looked at the staff then into Lian’s own. Those silver eyes pierced something in her every time, but she didn’t look away this time. “May I?”

Lian couldn’t spare a breath, all her strength being used to haul the door. Fear was keeping whatever breath she could gather very shallow, and Po Shang was getting closer and closer. Wasn’t he? Without stopping her heaving upon the door, Lian nodded. Trusting Dan at this point was no more likely to get them all killed than anything else.

Lian didn’t see, but Dan had a moment of panic when he wondered where to place his hand. Lian just felt his surprisingly large palm land upon her shoulder. He’d grown a lot in the short time he had spent at the Jiaoduo, said a distracted train of thought in Lian’s mind. Like a soothing pour of warm water, Ah Dan’s calm energy spread throughout Lian from her shoulder inwards. When his mana found her core, she felt as bolstered as she did when she made contact with Ryong Aang.

“I’ll take care of that thing. You need to get us into the labyrinth.” Dan’s latest bout of unconsciousness had clearly sent him crazy, Lian thought, but they had no choice but to trust him at this point.

“Whatever you’re going to do, it better be good.”

“If it works it’s going to be brilliant,” Dan said clearly before muttering under his breath, “and we’ll all be dead if it doesn’t, so here’s hoping.”