“Alex, you’re awake!”
Alex blinked away gunk in his eyes he wasn’t expecting, his exquisite perception hit by a ripe, awful odor that he realized much to his chagrin, was himself.
He found himself covered in a film of what could only be called gunk. He was genuinely surprised, having thought his abilities had given him a free pass, and perhaps they had. Perhaps this residue was the waste free of even Dark Qi’s blessing, mortal gunk of the lowest sort. Either way, it was clear from the relieved looks and strained smile of Ya Ling now gazing down at him with such odd intensity, that she had been putting up with his stink for quite some time.
Cheeks flushing, he quickly took stock of his situation, finding himself in a small cot lined with beast hide, divided from what Qi Perception made clear were multiple adjoining cots separated from one another by thinly slatted dividers decorated with ink renditions of distant mountains, cranes, and endless desert sands, a master artist conveying so much with a few brief strokes of an ink-covered brush.
Alex noted as well the clay water urn and a copper bucket of water with faint hints of lye, that and the sponge in Ya Ling’s hand and his own near naked scent making it clear that someone had been tending to his body’s breakthrough regularly. A part of him could only wonder how bad the stench had been or would have been if even now he felt the filmy residue, while the rest of him just stared at the girl gazing so intently at him, her beautiful soft brown eyes filling up his world as she bit her lip and flashed him a welcoming smile.
“It’s good to see you awake, Alex. It’s been over two days, we were worried! How are you feeling?”
Alex swallowed, shaking away the momentary discomfort as he gently claimed the sponge from her hand and gave his near-naked body a final wipe. Just a touch of biochemical mastery was all that was needed to remove the final bit of residue, revealing skin glowing with health and vitality that was nothing short of miraculous.
He shook his head, humbled by his own transformation.
“I feel… incredible? So filled with vigor and energy, like I could race a hundred miles at a sprint, do hand-flips down the caldera escarpment, or shatter a stone wall with my fist.” He flashed a fierce smile, his laughter a mixture of profound relief and exhilaration. “Oh Ya Ling, I can’t tell you how much the pressure of that last level-up felt like it was crushing me to a pulp… like I was drowning in dizzy exhaustion and about to explosively hurl. I was terrified something would go wrong, that it was just too much, that I might not even survive or suffer serious impairment, but… no!” He shook his head in wonder, gazing down at his powerful hands he could move with exquisite grace. “I haven’t felt this good, this in tune with myself, infused with so much vital essence in… well, a very, very long time.”
Ya Ling flashed a relieved smile, eyes twinkling with relief and something more. “Alex, that’s wonderful! Waiting here these last two days… I don’t mind telling you it hasn’t been easy, even spending all my time cultivating, consolidating the wonderful, terrible breakthroughs that we endured in the rift… getting ever closer to my own ascension, yet despite all that, with what’s happening in the caldera at large, happening within the school… it’s been hard as anything to sit still.”
The sweet joy Alex felt in his own ascension was dampened by the anxiety he so clearly heard in her voice, his own gut clamping in sympathetic dread. “Ya Ling, what’s going on?”
Even as he said the words, Nili’s cheerful face popped from the other side of the divider. “Oh good, you’re awake!” Her nose twitched. She flashed a bemused smile. “And I can’t tell you how happy to see you back on your feet.”
Alex chuckled. “Because I can clean myself off properly? Finally?”
Nili nodded, denying nothing, before handing him what looked to be his own carefully folded attire. “Here’s your clothes, smelling fresh and clean and looking like they were made just yesterday, without a single rip, tear, or trace of blood or effluvia.” Her eyes were gazing intently at him, behind her smile. “And do you know what the most remarkable aspect of that transformation is, Alex?”
“No idea.”
“We didn’t do a thing.”
“Except fold them, of course. It’s all about how you fold, am I right? I mean, just look at the work of the artist who turned these dividers into works of art. If he can do that with a couple strokes of his brush, why can’t a skilled kitsune’s flick of her wrist snap my garments free of a couple of annoying stains?”
Nili chuckled. “That must explain it.”
Alex grinned. “Works for me.”
Her gentle smile was that of a worried mother bearing bad tidings, hardly looking like the deadly spy and assassin Alex already knew her to be. “Alex, can we talk?”
Alex dipped his head, gently squeezing Ya Ling’s hand. She dipped her head, graceful enough to step away with a worried frown, to which he gave a reassuring wink before turning his full attention to the kitsune now before him. “Of course. What’s up?”
Nili sighed. “I take it our dear Ya Ling filled you in on the goings-on above?”
Alex shrugged. “More like she told me that things weren’t good, but I think I can fill in the blanks.”
The kitsune’s solemn gaze made it clear just how bad things had gotten. “The Duo Li clan successfully disrupted the illusion on the basin. The city now knows that we’re down to two functioning sources of water, and our enemies are now in the process of executing a coup over both this school, and the city at large.”
Alex winced. “That’s bad.”
Nili laughed mirthlessly. “It’s worse than that. The head of the Ya Ling clan has actually organized for the arrest of the headmistress, declaring her traitor of both the school and the city. They’re presently awaiting a mockery of a trial inside the Duo Li compound itself.”
Alex’s eyes widened in outraged disbelief. “How the hell did those bastards manage to kidnap and threaten the life of the headmistress? I’ve seen her. She’s a powerful Silver, and you would have had to compromise the entire… fuck.”
Nili smirked. “Fuck indeed. And yes, they have brought the loyalty of over half the senior wujen of this school, the rest have been browbeaten into submission with wild threats of them all being put to the headman’s block for their so called act of betrayal against the city itself.”
Alex felt his blood run cold. He knew that clan was both powerful and corrupt, but to find them able to squeeze the purse of power this tightly! He shook his head in dismay. “I’m pretty damn sure that all the higher-ups knew about it, and were agreed that it was a necessary illusion to keep people from panicking. We all sensed how desperate they were for delvers to locate Water or even Ice cores. So how the hell did a clan of fallen water merchants amass so much power and influence that they could intimidate the entire senior counsel?”
Nili’s gaze went bitter cold. “By slipping a Gold Titan into the city during the desperate panic when a quarter of the city was ablaze. A Gold Titan even now contesting the prince’s title and position. A vote of no confidence is to be held in less than twenty four hours, so it’s a good thing that you’re awake.”
Alex’s mind was whirling with the flood of unexpected and dire news as Nili’s gaze grew strangely intent.
“Please tell me that your suicidal daring actually paid off!” She said with desperate urgency. “Please tell me that you actually managed to find a Water Core.”
Alex took a deep breath, locking gazes with the too intent kitsune.
Somehow he knew that there were deeper currents under the urgency of life’s rapids… just as he knew that the kitsune’s near panicked alarm was genuine and that she truly cared about the fate of this city and the people within. And the golden cord of karma he could now sense so clearly, much to his awe and wonder, between them, after he and Ya Ling had saved her life twice over, freeing them from the dungeon so that she and her husband could return to their children once more.
Heart pounding, Alex dared reveal truths and confidences he might otherwise have kept, even as other secrets he kept close to his breast.
“We actually managed to disrupt the formation dooming the Southern rift,” Alex said with a bittersweet smile. “Not that it does us any good right now, and how ironic it would be if our enemies took advantage of our sacrifice for their own ends.”
Nili’s gaze hardened. “Damn.”
“But yes...” Alex dared to say. “I do happen to know the whereabouts of a certain Ice Core that will at least restore one of the falls. At least for a time.”
Nili’s eyes lit with desperate hope. “Thank the heavens.”
“Hardly.”
“That might be just what we need!” Her gaze took a desperate intensity. “We need all the evidence you and Ya Ling were able to gather regarding corrupt formations. That will throw the Duo Li’s own claims of moral superiority into question just as a quickly recovered water fall will both boost the confidence of the entire population which will hopefully reassure the spineless city counsel. With any luck, that will be all that it takes to reaffirm the rule of Liushi’s prince, which will utterly disrupt the Li Clan’s schemes.”
Alex dipped his head. “But that doesn’t mean shit if the headmaster is actually under their thumb. And how the hell did that happen anyway?”
“Poison,” Nili said curtly. “Putting both the headmistress and her closest confidence in a stupor so deep it was effortless to transport them. And as they were still alive, no retributive strikes were enacted.” Her expression growing pained. “I think we all know who the guilty party must have been to successfully poison one of the most well protected and warded women in the entire city.”
Alex winced. “A Kitsune.”
Nili dipped her head. “Which is why it must be my party who frees her, Alex.” Her features tightened. “You understand that, don’t you?”
Alex sighed, before nodding. “Actually I do. But are you sure you don’t want my help?” He dared flash her a knowing smile. “This wouldn’t be the first time I helped a kitsune handle necessary business.”
Surprisingly, Nili chuckled. “Oh, I have no doubt of that, Alex. None at all.” She sighed. “But you’ll be needed for a mission just as important. It will be up to you and your companions to restore the waters of life that keep this sanctuary from being consumed by the desert once more.”
Her gaze grew haunted. “You can’t imagine the dread and terror a city dependent on a single rift feels when their water has gone from roaring falls to a dying trickle, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re forced to flee… or wear chains of binding more horrible than anything you can imagine.”
Alex’s guts twisted at the very thought. “Nili, what happened?”
She gave a quick shake of her head. “Nothing, Alex. Nothing happened that you can do anything about. Save come to the rescue of this city that needs you, right here and now.” She flashed a bleak smile. “And perhaps let me earn some good karma doing my part to save this city, me and my lady both. That way… perhaps the scales will balance when all is said and done and you, the headmistress, perhaps one might even dare to hope the prince himself, will see my mistress and our city as a staunch ally in times to come.”
Alex carefully smiled, noting that she had once again avoided saying exactly where she was from, or who, exactly, Sunlay was. And none of that mattered. All that mattered was solving the crisis before them.
Alex found himself dipping his head. “If you scouted out the situation sufficient to know what happened to the headmistress and think you actually have a shot of breaking into a compound now affiliated with a Gold Titan, and how the hell did our enemies manage to find one of those? I thought these deserts were limited to… never mind. Anyway, if you truly think you got that, then yes, I’m more than willing to do my part. Only thing is, I have no idea how the hell I’m supposed to fix anything.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“There should ritual sights placed at all the major compass points around the caldera that correlate precisely with a given rift, and you will definitely need the help of someone who’s been involved in the ritual before.” Nili’s gaze turned thoughtful. “The only individuals I know of are the prince himself, the headmistress, and Senior Cultivator Te Chang. Perhaps his wife as well.”
Alex blinked, before dipping his head. “Well, two of those people are clearly out of reach. But I’ve met with and I’d like to think made a fair impression on Te Chang, so he’s a possibility, though I don’t know anything about his wife.” He then flashed a hard smile. “And if it’s the desert sands we’re talking about, after what Ya Ling and I experienced and survived, we’re probably more suited for traversing the dunes around the caldera than anyone else in this city.”
“That was my thought as well,” Nili said. “Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem. But with so much Waste Qi flooding out from the tainted rifts… the dead have grown extremely restless, and we dare not wait til morning.”
Alex’s eyes widened in alarm. “Shit. Walking dead. No wonder you’re recruiting me for this arm of the operation!” He then recalled just how fearsome his final foes had been, before looking down at his own well-developed form, his changshan jacket now fitting his torso just as it did when he had first claimed a Dragon’s heart. “I’m in,” he said with a nod. “Though I gotta admit, I’m bloody starving. Please tell me we have some food?”
Alex couldn’t help smirking at the sight of grilled spirit beast meat, knowing exactly where it came from, and finding it absolutely delicious as he devoured multiple cabobs while their entire party went over the plan, after giving Alex relieved hugs or nods of respect, seeing his full recovery.
“Alex, you look absolutely delicious… I mean, fantastic!” A blushing Linnea giddily declared, Hanz nodding in equal admiration, while a strangely serene-looking Lieberman nodded his heartfelt respect. Alex had blinked at the sight of the man, doing a genuine double-take. His body had filled out and he now radiated Vitality, looking even younger than he had after Alex had claimed all the waste Qi plaque plaguing his friends than he could. He now looked far more like a fit thirty year old athlete than a man pushing fifty.
“You’re looking good, Lieberman!” Alex said with a cheeky grin, earning a rueful smile in turn.
“Only thanks to you,” Lieberman said right back. “And risking our lives in absolute madness that earned me two full levels and a Vitality that’s opened a path to future happiness well worth fighting for,” he solemnly declared, before his gaze grew haunted. “Even as our enemies flex their fangs and attempt to tear open the throat of a sanctuary that’s nestled us for centuries. Monsters that will no doubt do all they can to purge the desert sands of our kind with their monstrous lapdog, should they actually manage to seize the throne.”
“And we’re not going to let that happen,” Alex declared.
“No we aren’t,” Sunlay agreed, chewing on her own meat stick. “We’ll rescue the headmistress, you all will restore the basin, and together we’ll be heroes and this sanctuary will be restored.”
“So we hope,” Ya Ling whispered.
Alex couldn’t help wincing, gently squeezing her hand in agreement. “Right now I can only see one problem. Well, two, actually.”
“And what would those be?” Asked Zichen, the female wujen, leaning against her partner.
“Well, for one thing, I have no idea if the original edict regarding Ruidian relations is being held, or if Duo Li influence means that Ruidians will be attacked on sight? And the other thing is, I only know of Te Chang’s official pagoda. I have no idea if he’s even keeping normal hours in the middle of a coup, or where he or his wife and family live.”
“Within the city itself, there is no change at all in how the common citizenry see Ruidians.” Nili flashed a fierce smile, eyes twinkling. “I have a few honorable contacts spreading the good word.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at this. “The good word?”
She nodded. “For every rumor Duo Li and their ilk are spreading, hoping to pin the ruptured rift on Ruidians, my agents are declaring it all a Duo Li coup, insisting that they’re responsible for the fires, the dark rituals, and that it was a Ruidian water specialist who managed to save the city from flame.”
Alex furrowed his brow. “Okay, that’s partially true, but not exactly what...”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nili coolly said. “All that matters is that for every disparaging tale there is another painting Ruidians as heroes, both true and exaggerated, with every suspicion we have regarding the Duo Li’s involvement now being whispered amongst the poorer quarters as if absolute fact.” She flashed a fierce smile. “A reality that frustrates Xuon Li and the would-be headmaster to no end, let me assure you.”
Her twinkling eyes then grew grave. “As for the school itself… even in the midst of a coup, few cultivators are as callous and selfish as our enemies hope, and more practically speaking, most are wary of tainting themselves with bad karma when it’s clear as day that Ruidians are half the reason why this city remains standing at all. But the best you should hope for is for cultivators to embrace the same role as they have with your kind daring so many dangerous rifts over the years. Looking the other way and pretend they haven’t seen you, though a few might go out of their way to advise you to leave the city as fast as you can. Certainly the college grounds. Just to be safe.”
Sunlay’s eyes flashed. “But you’d damn well be ready to fight. Because if the cultivators you run into are Duo Li pawns, you’d better believe they’ll try to arrest you… before ripping open your throat in the nearest abandoned alley that they can find.”
Alex nodded his understanding. “So, it’s take no prisoners then. My favorite type of engagement.” He quickly summoned his fangtiang ji from his storage ring, and then his dao as well. “We know who our enemy is. If they dare to make a move, we all know how it has to end. Good. That keeps things simple.”
Still, even as he said the words, he noted the sudden tension in the air. Which was strange, he thought. Considering what they had all been through and just how high the stakes were, he was surprised that any of them might flinch at a little bit of bloodshed. Then a strained whisper clarified their source of alarm.
“Alex?”
“Yes, Nili?”
“Did you actually fuse a Dark Qi jewel to the pommel of your dao?”
Alex flashed a fierce smile. “Damn right I did. And it helped me bag and tag some very big game.”
“Fair enough. But I wouldn’t wear that openly. The sight of a source of so much meridian-damaging waste will alarm most.”
“But it’s not giving off any dark mana at all!” Linnea hastily assured. “At least, none that I can sense...”
Alex nodded, though he was quietly surprised to find that the jewel radiated mana as well as Dark Qi. Or maybe Dark Qi crossed the metaphysical spectrum somehow? He then pushed such thoughts aside. Speculations for another day. “The tiny amount leaking out as I hold it is all sort of, well, let’s just say I’m grounding it. As long as the hilt’s in my hand or the blade’s resting at my hip, it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone, even if they aren’t party-linked to me.”
But all Nili had to do was gesture to her companions for Alex to realize just how unusual his sangfroid approach to Dark Qi truly was. He couldn’t help but note the wujens’ looks of horror and Sunlay’s strained expression, despite the fierce gratitude he so clearly saw in her gaze. Even the protective way that the bear-like Quing Da held his diminutive wife close while also blocking Princess Sunlay from direct exposure with his body made it was painfully clear to Alex just how troubling the sight of his weapon was to anyone who understood the significance of the sparkling obsidian jewel he had so casually fastened as a pommel to his blade.
Alex sighed and bowed his head, putting his deadly prize back inside his storage ring. “Fair point,” he conceded. “I suppose our next step is simply figuring out where our targets are… and from there, doing our part to save both city and school.”
“Actually, that shouldn’t be too much trouble,” Ya Ling said. “I mean, for Senior cultivator Te Chang at least.”
Alex blinked. “Really.”
“Yes. For the most part, everyone’s straddling the line. Going through the motions of every day expectations, so no matter who ends up on top… they all survive the upheaval, so long as they follow their expected roles. I’ll bet Te Chang’s in his office, same as always, even if things might be a bit… tense, and we’ll have to be careful heading there.”
Alex took a deep breath, then nodded his head. “Well then, I guess there’s no time like the present.”
He met Sunlay’s gaze. “It’s been an honor to fight by your side.”
The smile she gave him was both bright and heartfelt. He understood the twinge of bittersweet regret he saw in her gaze. If anything, it relieved him to see it, proving that his sense of her character hadn’t been misplaced. What he hadn’t expected was the 90 degree bow, or the intensity of her gratitude when she met his gaze once more. “Thank you, Alex. You’ve done more for me than I can ever put into words. Just know that I’m extremely grateful, and that you and your kind will always be welcome within Guanshi City.”
Seeing the alarmed look in Quing Da’s gaze, Nili herself radiating rare consternation, Alex made sure that his bow matched her own. “You are more than welcome, Sunlay. May parched lands be renewed with water, life, and hope for your people.”
“Alex!” Linnea’s panicked voice was instantly soothed by Alex’s smile.
No matter the sudden tension he could cut with a knife.
Near half a dozen grins frozen on countenances radiating sudden desperate intensity.
Yet Alex’s serene smile remained firmly in place.
Of course it was Nili who broke the tense silence with a rueful chuckle, still safely tucked in her husband’s arms. “So, you know. Of course you know. Who better than my ultimate father’s favored disciple to pierce the schemes of desperate rulers and doomed kingdoms?”
Ya Ling’s eyes widened. She turned to Alex, blanching and stepping back from whatever it was that she saw.
Which Alex thought more than a bit strange. He was exactly the same as he had been just days before. Even if a bit, more, well, muscly. But after what she had seen of his abilities when death’s dice were rattling… a single offhand comment was what threw her off her game? Alex quietly snorted.
The wujen blanched simultaneously. Sunlay was now gazing at Alex with surprised consideration and more than a little bit of awe.
“Is it true?”
Alex shrugged. “Does it matter? I’d say the past is a lot less relevant than our present dilemma. And as to your own city’s dilemma… Let’s just say I understand. Whereas our water supply was cut in half, we still have two rivers flowing, and you have a city in dire peril with no time to waste.”
“That’s not what I...” Sunlay’s cheeks flushed, all the more so under Ya Ling’s look of hurt betrayal.
“So, you do have a Water core!” Ya Ling hissed, eyes alight with fierce intensity.
“Of course they do,” Alex soothed. “They have a Water core and a city of at least a hundred thousand that’s living on the final dregs of their cistern from a rift that will soon dry up completely, if it hasn’t already.” Alex flashed a bitter smile. “Where we have to deal with the perils of a hostile coup and psychopaths who would gladly purge their political enemies, her people must deal with the dire threat of death within a matter weeks, I’m guessing, at best.”
“Either that or wear the slave collars of the bastards who would claim us all,” Sunlay cursed under her breath.
Alex flashed a sympathetic smile. “I’m guessing a bleak and bitter tale haunts your past as well. And perhaps there will be time to share it. One day. But right now we have a city to save, right here and now… and our friends do as well.”
Sunlay’s cheeks flushed. She flowed into a bow that was so close to dogeza that Alex immediately jerked her back to her feet, moving even faster than a hissing Quing Da could react. Though Alex was surprised to see tears in her eyes when she caught his gaze.
“I know exactly how fast and strong you were just four days ago, Alex Hammer. Yet you lift me as gracefully as a master of motion about to to Ascend as a Giant… and your Strength is already there.”
She shook her head in awe. “You ascended from mid-bronze to Silver after enduring a rift that would and should have doomed all of us that weren’t Gold. Would have doomed us if you and your desert rose, so attuned to Wind and Sand, hadn’t risked so much to save us.” She blinked back tears Alex never expected to see. “My dearest confident and guardian is right, isn’t she? You really are, well, him.”
Alex swallowed, but knew better than to deny it. “And that is a secret I pray you will all keep silent, lest the desert winds alert ears far less friendly than your own.”
Ya Ling trembled, turning to gaze at him with a strange vulnerability he had never expected to see in her eyes. Tears flowing freely as shaking fingertips gently stroked his cheeks. “I had thought… we had all thought your kind had abandoned us when the forests were consumed by desert, countless centuries ago.”
Alex chuckled ruefully. “All I can tell you, kung fu sister, is that I awoke from a sleep that might have been just that long to find myself stumbling upon strange desert sands… before spotting a caravan about to get ambushed. Everything after that moment, you know just as well as I.”
Ya Ling just stared, looking at him with the same wide-eyed disbelief as a girl witnessing a figure from her favorite fairy tale suddenly coming to life. “Alex...”
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, leading her and his quite Ruidian companions free of the shelter that had hid them so well. “Come on, let’s head back to the manor. There’s something we need to pick up first, before we talk to Senior Cultivator Te Chang.”
“But Alex, what about...”
He shook his head, giving a solemn-looking Nili and Sunlay a grateful smile. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that our new friends now have the means to save their own city and will do their best to rescue our headmaster, and no doubt any other captured innocents trapped on Duo Li property as a way to balance the karmic scales between us, and do their part for the sake of Liushi.”
Quing Da’s expressive eyebrows rose. “We swore to no such...” His wife smacked his chest before bowing her head Alex’s way. “So long as I can keep my wards safe, Alex Hammer, we will do our utmost for your school. On that, you have my word.”
Alex dipped his head in turn. “For that I thank you, Nili, Lady Sunlay, and the rest of your noble crew. Farewell!” Raising his fist in a warrior’s salute, Alex then turned back around and left their hidden sanctuary for what he suspected would be the final time. Perception and Forest Sense both lead him to the scrabble switchback path through the thick grass tended by goats, the plants hearty enough to thrive on damp morning and evening dew alone, it seemed, as they quickly scrabbled back up the caldera rim.
And even if Linnea almost slipped off entirely with a panicked cry, Alex prudently kept himself behind all his friends, finding it far easier to play the hero here, on a too steep caldera slope, than bracing his friends against the spiritual weight of golden steps spiraling upwards to the heavens above.