When I woke next, I found myself unable to move a muscle, and I could hear voices around me. One such voice sounded like an older man giving out instructions to a young man and woman. "Aright good keep going like that, and when you sense the bone fit into its proper position, hold it there for a couple of seconds while the boy's qi heals the muscles around it. Melissa, how are you doing with the girl?"
A woman's voice sounded from somewhere to my left. "Almost done, she had several breaks in her left leg, and her right shoulder was only dislocated. She will probably be sore for a few days, but otherwise, she will recover fully in an hour or so." I wouldn't know if they said anything else because a tug on my thigh bone caused me to return to unconsciousness.
Sometime later, the squealing giggles of Meera woke me. I opened my eyes, finding a ceiling of rough beam trusses overhead. Looking down on everyone below was a white crane. It seemed to notice me watching it because it turned to me and nodded. I nodded back and, in so doing, caught the attention of a young woman who happened to look my way.
"Elder Chu, the boy is awake, and he should be fine by the looks of it." She said while I began moving my arms and legs slowly, feeling some aches here and there. Elder Chu looked up from reading May's notebook on elemental qi. He met my eyes and nodded before going back to reading and taking notes of his own in another notebook. I decided I liked this old man. He isn't too proud to show that he can learn from people younger and with far less cultivation than himself.
I was halfway to my feet when soft arms surrounded my waist. Snow guided me to sit next to May and Meera while she sat down on my other side, leaning her head against my shoulder. I bent down, kissing Snow before turning to a wide-eyed Meera who looked torn between glee and worry as she held out her arms to me. "Hey sweety, have you been taking care of Aunt Snow while May and I have been away?" Meera nodded then the flood gates opened as she began telling me what she had been up to since the tiger took them away.
While Meera talked, I turned to May, who looked annoyed. When I asked what was wrong, she accused me of stealing away her hand warmer. I couldn't stop as a laugh bubbled up from my stomach, and I fell backward onto the cot pulling both May and Snow close while Meera struggled up from where she fell to sit on my stomach and continue her tale. I soon fell into natural sleep, a smile on my lips half-listening to Meera as she tells her story and wondering what Snow and May were whispering about nearby.
The following day we all stood together on the small porch waving to the old man and his two pupils as they disappeared on the stairs leading to the next floor of the labyrinth. I learned that the island floor was meant to test one's endurance, and once you could go no further, the way to this rest area appeared. Or, in May and my case, we were transferred here since we were both unconscious. Apparently, the monsters that lived in the water would not hurt those that they caught. They would take them back to the previous island where the stairs would appear.
After we were alone, I sat back on the wood bench against the wall, and Snow sat down on my lap, dragging my arm around her waist, so my hand rested on the slight bulge of her belly. Meera started to pout when she turned around, finding her usual seat taken already. Snow stuck her tongue at her making Meera giggle as she instead clambered onto May's lap beside me. I noticed that Meera had grown at least three inches since we first met all those months ago. I smiled as we all leaned back, watching the three moons float across the sky.
Snow broke the silence a few minutes later. "This place is not an illusion; according to Sheila, that's the tiger from before. Sheila said this is a pocket world created by her master after what they call the shattering to tie the nine continents together. That door we passed through over a month ago was one of three doors on our continent. We were the first to use that door in over three thousand years."
Before either May or I could ask a question, Snow continued. "The shattering took place thousands of years ago. The master claims this world originally had one massive continent. The people of those days didn't rely on qi the way we do now. Apparently, qi was relatively unknown before the shattering. People used technology, and natural resources called electricity and oil to power it.
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"For the most part, all the races got along fine until pressure from politics and the media began tearing the bonds of the different races apart, causing wars that destroyed mountains and redirected rivers on a nearly constant basis. Those in power should have studied their history closer. They forgot why the giant mountain at the center of the continent was off-limits and let their wars spread into His region, waking Him from His long sleep.
"On the final day of the long war, two groups of people called jet fighters battled over top of His volcano. When one fell from the sky directly into the mouth, a roar that shook the entire world rang out, knocking down cities thousands of miles away while also causing hundreds of inactive volcanic mountains to erupt, destroying thousand's more towns and villages.
"The two remaining jet fighters recorded a sixty-foot titan emerge from the top of the mountain. He was covered in red scales and had a tail easily a hundred feet long swishing behind him. The Titan looked around, scowling at the army spread out below in a large valley.
"If you can't get along, then I will separate the lot of you!
"His only words boomed across the entire continent, causing more landslides and churning the seas until tidal waves hundreds of feet tall began hammering the coastlines. After his short speech, a scepter appeared in his hands. It was black with runes running its entire eighty-foot length. On the top was a red gem the size of an adult man that pulsed in a steady rhythm.
"The titan raised the scepter to the sky and chanted for several minutes before lowering the scepter and staring at the sky, a smile spreading on his face. Seconds later, massive swords came down from beyond the sky, crashing into the land below, slicing the huge continent into nine separate islands. The titan then spread out his arms like he was pushing something heavy, and each of the surrounding eight landmasses began to move further away out to sea, leaving his mountain range where it was.
"The titan looked once more on the army standing below and, with a final smirk, lowered himself back down into his volcano where he was not seen for another century. When he next emerged, the levels of qi across all the new continents had risen exponentially, and the beasts were overrunning the people and their cities. The titan looked around with a frown and began forming a massive ebony throne with thousands of intricate runes spread over and through the strange black material.
"When he finished the throne, he spread out his arms, and white lines began to form that ran from his throne to each of the eight surrounding continents, pulling two-thirds of the ambient qi into the throne. After he finished, he made nine jade thrones and gave them to the nine rulers of the continents, explaining that they would draw in most of the remaining qi, allowing he who sat on the jade thrones to use it for their own cultivation or gift it to those he deems worthy. Then he vanished again and hasnt been seen since; not that anyone's likely to enter his abode to check on him."
It was quiet for some time after Snow finished her story, then Meera began clapping, followed by May. I would have joined, but as I missed the correct number of hands, I instead patted Snow's belly softly while giving her a warm smile. Snow turned red in the face at the applause but otherwise seemed happy with the outcome.
May was the first to speak. "You know I once saw a map of our continent in the sects treasury, and I never thought much about it at the time, but the north-south and east edges of the continent did look like they had been shorn away by a massive knife." We talked about the story for the rest of the evening, trying to decide if it was a true story or not, concluding that we would have to see for ourselves someday. We only stopped our discussion when Meera nearly fell off May's lap. She had fallen asleep at some point without any of us realizing how late it had gotten. I suppose we should have known since the moons were up before we even set foot outside the cabin.
I also yawned. "Well my dears, we are stuck here for the next month according to the old man so we might as well make ourselves at home." They both nodded, also trying to hide yawns of their own. I started to stand up, still holding onto Snow, but she swatted my hand away, scolding me for putting undue strain on my still weak bones. I scoffed, reminding her who sat on those weakened bones for the last couple of hours. I enjoyed her reddening face before May holding Meera, told us to stop playing around and go to bed already.