The fires burning within the Jiaoduo were extinguished. That was enough for the moment, Guan Po Dia begrudged. The chains of power have never felt as heavy as they did today. He curled his lip and closed his eyes while Bo Tai spoke. The man was invaluable, but his voice was starting to feel like nails behind the eyes.

“There are no more fires, but the structure of the third training wing has been shattered. We might think of turning it into a different type of structure, there’s no keeping the original structure. That was where Po Shang’s children were apprehended. Damage to the family vault is still being assessed-”

“Enough, Tai. Any news of my mother? Anything helpful to tell me at all?” He must have left enough growl in his voice to get the frustration across to even the oblivious steward. When the man realised that he had nothing Po Dia wanted to hear, he chose to leave instead of continuing to boil the pot in front of him.

That was sensible.

For the first time in hours, Guan Po Dia was alone. The vaulted ceilings and lavish decoration of the once-royal council room were too much, Po Dia mused as his thoughts wandered. Even as patriarch, he had never had the power to change this grand room at all. When he died, except for the statue of himself which would now join his ancestors in the rafters, Guan Po Dia doubted he could change a single furnishing.

“Such is the weight of history.” Po Dia often spoke to himself aloud. He was staring at a particularly vibrant tapestry, but he didn’t really see it. His mind was never scattered but constantly focusing on the barriers around the Guan lands, and by extension the border of the empire, had a draining effect at the best of times.

Shang had known that, the snake. He had still not been found, and that meant no end to the worries. Until Shang was in front of him, until he answered Po Dia’s questions and explained himself, there would be an itch in the patriarch’s brain. Why? Something had snapped in his brother this last year and he had been completely unable to help him. It broke Po Dia’s heart. Once they had faced the world together, and now Shang was trying to tear everything down.

If that wasn’t enough, it seemed every other member of his immediate family had decided to disappear at once. Well, except for his father, who was snoring in the corner. In a moment of anger, Po Dia thought that his father had disappeared a long time ago. He’d turned into this quiet thing, storing up energy for days just to say two sentences, and left Po Dia to deal with everything.

It was a venomous thought, one regretted the moment it crossed his mind but Po Dia still moved over to his father anyway. He looked so small. The shock of losing your soul stone violently should have killed him, it was a testament to the undying fire of his father that Po Dia could look at him sleeping now. When the chaos had started, Po Dia had looked for both his mother and father, only finding the resting old man. After the escalating fury of his brother, Po Dia was taking no more risks.

Even now Po Dia was not certain exactly what had been the catalyst for his brother’s rebellion, but a feeling in his gut told him the answer. As though it agreed, the Guan family soul stone shivered.

“You looked away.”

Even a patriarch can jolt in surprise, it seemed. Guan Po Bul spoke with all the force of a spent coal, weak voice crackling like a dying fire. Regaining his composure with a deep breath, Po Dia looked at his father and saw dark eyes looking at him hard.

“What do you mean, father?” If he was being honest with himself, Po Dia was desperate for advice. Even if it came in the tired and cryptic form of his father’s riddles.

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“Young ones slipped away. Shi Ai did it.”

“Mother did? She did what?” His father was right of course, he had looked away. Tensions on the border were rising. Apparently there had been some attacks from the wasteland beyond, which had led to Po Dia’s more intensive focus on that. A burning candle had set alight the candles now, though.

“You’re a good boy, Dia. Your mother is sorry she couldn’t say goodbye.” His father’s voice was like a breath of fresh air, though the words were ominous. Po Dia was just happy to have these few moments of apparent clarity from him. It had been nearly twenty years since they had spoken this much.

“I don’t understand, but do you know where Lian is? Or mother?” It sounded ridiculous even as he asked, but Po Shang’s attack had left Po Dia absolutely blindsided. Was it possible his dozing father had caught more than himself? Absolutely, Po Dia realised. “Empty God around, I have made a mess of this.

“Not you. Nothing you could do, I think. Lian is with Shen.”

As though he had no regard for his life, Bo Tai chose now to barge back into the room. With a “Great Patriarch!” he seemed to break the spell which had fallen over Po Dia and his father. In the time it took Po Dia’s eyes to leave his father’s and look back, after shooting a glare at Bo Tai, the old man was snoring away like he had never been awake.

“This had better be life or death.” It was unfair to Bo Tai, but there was no containing the frustration now. There was a small bead of relief within Po Dia now but he would inspect the news of Shen and Lian being together later. If that was true, they would be fine.

—————————————————————————

Guan Yo Shen wished more than anything he had heeded the warnings. As the muscles in his arm spasmed painfully, he slumped to the ground of the labyrinth. Hallways of dark rock closed in around him, trying to steal his breath.

“I hate this, I hate this, I hate this,” he moaned pathetically. Glad no one was around to see, Shen had to stop himself from actually throwing a tantrum. It wasn’t supposed to be this difficult, or confusing, or take so long. Wasn’t he the hero? He was supposed to find the weapon and save his family, but it had been days and days now. No one told him the labyrinth would be so confusing.

When Shen had overheard Po Shang whispering about a soul relic, he couldn’t believe his ears. Of course, he had been unnoticed and heard everything. If his uncle found such power then who knew what would happen? Better for Shen to sneak into the labyrinth first and make sure that his uncle never had a chance.

He tricked you.

“Shut! Up!” For the last two days, Shen had needed to shout away the spiteful thoughts that attacked his plans. Doubt and regret were not emotions that Guan Yo Shen had ever dealt with. As strong as the most powerful practitioners, carrying the heavy spacial mana of his family unlike his sister, Shen had never failed at anything in his life.

“And I still won’t.” He confirmed out loud, feeling a little like his father. “Speaking to yourself now, Shen? Won’t be long until you’re grey.” Barking out a laugh and decided he’d had enough of that, Shen let his mania give him energy. His quarry had to be around here somewhere. Maybe.

All the halls looked the same. The rooms were a completely random collection, some of them didn’t even make any sense underground. Shen wished he could find the room which had just been a forest clearing, complete with sunlight and flowing water. That had been a lot nicer than the room full of giant bees. He had closed that door quickly, and moved on.

“Next time I come down here,” Shen said to the empty hallways, “I’ll bring someone to make a map.”

“You wouldn’t make the map yourself?”

“I couldn’t trust myself, I think.” Shen answered.

By the time he realised that he was not answering to his own thoughts any more, it was too late. The blow caught Shen in the hip, sending him flying down the hallways like a kicked pebble. He skidded painfully on the damaged bone, but landed on his feet in time to get his block up. Another powerful blow caught him, dampened by his guard. Keeping his feet, Shen caught sight of his attacker in the permanent dim light which the entire labyrinth exuded.

“What are you?” With the same build, height and seemingly the same strength, Shen felt he knew the answer but it didn’t make sense. He was tired, and the attacks had surprised him but with a smile Shen settled into combat mode. The maze of hallways was confusing, but a fight? He understood a fight at least. Even if it was against himself.

“I’m Guan Yo Shen, what are you?” The thing taunted him. It did look a lot like Shen, but it was a nightmarish version of himself. It had far too many teeth, now that Shen was looking at it. There were claws instead of nails, and it looked as though the white “robe” which it was wearing was actually some kind of horrible loose skin.

“I’m tired.” Shen answered, sardonic. With a roll of his eyes, he flared his mana and dove into combat. If he had to, he would just smash through every wall in the labyrinth to find the lance.

————————————————————————

Far above that battle, a quartet of injured and scared teenagers fell through a closing door. Without a moment to spare as the void swallowed the last of the vault, along with what was left of Guan Po Shang, the three conscious members thanked every higher power they could. Whether it was fate, luck, randomness or the empty god themselves, they had survived.