“Oh god, this place is deep, how many more floors do we have to go? ” Kevin grunted as he took a look at what was behind the door on their side. It was still the giant hole, and from his position he could already see something glistening below, and he could see gray mass scattered around the distant depths.
“Come back. Don’t risk anything.” Marcus sighed as he retreated his palms from Keryn’s back. For the past three to five minutes, he had been gently pushing his Qi into her meridians to help her push the freezing and numbing negative energy out. They did it every two levels and after this round. Keryn coughed, heaved and vomited some more dark liquid.
“Thank you Marcus.” Keryn wiped the corners of her mouth, her face regained a little healthy pink, a good sign that she had recovered from the nasty possession she just suffered.
Gloria came over and sensed Keryn’s wrist pulses, her neck pulses and back, then she nodded at Marcus and Keryn: “We’re good now - the energy is almost all extinguished - one more time, then you’d be fine.”
“Sorry about what happened - ” Keryn signed: “I thought I’d be more useful.”
“Don’t worry about it - no one is safe here. It’s just bad luck.” Marcus shook his head.
“Can you tell us what happened? Do you remember anything from before your losing consciousness?” Gloria helped Keryn stand up.
“Well - let’s see…” Keryn rubbed her temples, then shook her head: “I’m - I’m sorry, I don’t really remember when exactly, last thing I remember was us beating The Mother and Daughter butchers - I only had some very vague memories of us going down the stairs, but - ”
“It’s common in possession cases. She’d need more time.” Tae Kuo said as he rubbed some ointment with a tingling smell on Mick’s temples: “Give her time - it’s often very unpleasant, even traumatic to regain those memories, so pushing it won’t help.”
“Thank you, Sifu.” Keryn sighed: “And thank you again, Marcus, I’ll try my best to remember - it’s just - I’m coming up really empty right now.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
They went down five floors after breaking out of the Ghost’s Labyrinth already at this point, and they were still stuck in the staircase, with little to no indication whether there was an end to their path they were on yet.
Just when they got ready to move on downward, footsteps came from the staircase above. Light ones, but enough to be noticed. Between each step there was a long pause, and the distance between each step appeared to be long as well - whoever it was, they were light on their feet.
“Marcus, are you there?” A simple question from a familiar voice - it was Master Liaoran.
“Did you hear that?” Marcus was about to let out a breath of relief, but before he did that he turned back at everyone else.
“Yes - sounds like the master.” Kevin nodded.
“I heard it too.” Gloria raised a thumb up: “But - confirm, will you?”
Marcus nodded at everyone behind him, got ready in a fighting pose and turned to the flight of stairs leading up. The footsteps slowed. As everyone waited with bated breath and readied to fight or flight, the master’s figure appeared on the stairs. His robe was slightly ragged, a few scratch marks here and there, and two burn marks.
“What did you say to me when we first met?” Marcus asked.
“That you are of talent and personal tragedy, but you shouldn’t let your fury mislead you and send you down the abyss of self-destruction.” The master responded: “And, what’s more important, what you’ve learned from different places and different masters did not match well with what you’d want out of them. You needed proper practice and good ways to resolve your different styles and your conflicting ideas.”
“What was my primary style before I started practicing at your temple?” Marcus asked again.
“You practiced three separate styles, all from the streets. The most notable was a Qi cultivation style named ‘Mantra of Green Bull', and you were practicing a fighting style based on basic standardized fighting technique from the city, and a body tempering technique called the ‘Eagle Claws’.” Master Liaoran responded with a smile: “Good times for this monk as well, detective.”
“Alright.” Marcus let down his arms: “Thank you, master. What happened?”
“It appeared that you defeated a creature conjured through wood carvings.” Master Liaoran shook his head: “This monk also encountered a few creatures of the same nature - after an encounter with an old friend from the old times.”
“There were more of those?” Gloria frowned.
“It is very likely there will be more - and more to come.” Master Liaoran sighed: “It is the - the unintended and untamed work of this monk decades back coming right at us. And for that, this monk needs to apologize.”
“What - what do you mean?” Tae Kuo wiped his forehead: “You - you were involved in the creation of the carving spell?”
“Some modifications that made it more usable and less costly, yes. While this monk was working for him, this was a - a project for this monk was tasked with. He deemed it useful when the arrays needed protection. ”
“And - was it used as a defense?” Gloria asked: “If we go down, will it be integrated into the array?”
“This monk does not know.” Master Liaoran thought for a moment: “The array never completed construction, and thus the defense spells that would have been located close to the centers and cores were never tried.”
“And if we encounter it, can you help us diffuse it?” Marcus asked.
“This monk will try.”