Lady Sulia gazed at Alex for long, disbelieving moments, the rest of the cultivators just staring at the priceless core in his hands. “You actually managed to retrieve a usable core that none of us have been able to for months. And you’re what...” Her gaze was one of genuine confusion. “Basic? Bronze? For some reason I can’t… just what exactly are you?”
Alex smirked. “I just broke through to Rank 7, and I pushed my breakthrough as hard as I could. But none of that matters. What matters is the core in my hands. Just how valuable is this to the city right now?”
Senior Cultivator Te Chang’s gaze met his own. What Alex saw there sent chills down his spine.
“That bad, huh?” He swallowed under the tension he felt coming from both Silvers present, and the Bronze as well. All save Ya Ling, whose wide eyes were filled with as much concern and alarm as Alex’s was.
“All right then, take it.” He solemnly placed the priceless core in Te Chang’s unresisting hands.
“Alex...” The man’s voice was oddly strained. “Lest I’d break my oath and crush my own foundation, karma and the prince’s latest edict demands that I inform you that the prince is offering land and title to anyone who comes forth with such a prize. There’s no way we can match the worth of this core.”
Sulia gave a bitter shake of her head. “Never mind that the prince’s rule will soon suffer a vote of no confidence, and whatever prize you find will end up the hands of a Gold eager to subjugate us all, even if he would shower you with wealth for playing right into his hands.”
Alex just smiled in response, realizing that there was indeed a way he could move his piece forward in completely unexpected directions. One that would tell him so much… tell him everything he needed to know. Maybe. Or perhaps it would tell him nothing at all. But if it worked… dare he walk the hero’s path yet again?
“Damn right I will,” he whispered aloud.
Words that earned a furrowed look from Te Chang, before his eyes filled with surprised disbelief, when Alex abruptly bowed his head. “I renounce all claim to the ice core now in your hands. Please, use it as you see fit, for the sake of the city.”
Ya Ling’s surprised gasp broke the breathless silence of so many people staring at him in surprised disbelief. “Alex, are you sure? With things being as desperate as they are, you could buy a quarter of the city with that!” She bit her lip, her eyes pleading with his own. “We could free my grandparents with that.”
“No matter what happens, we’ll see them free before the week is out. I promise you that.”
Alex swallowed the lump in his throat, tearing his eyes free of Ya Ling’s imploring gaze before meeting Te Chang’s solemn countenance once more.
“It’s a gift. Freely given.”
The world didn’t shake with his mortal utterances… but it didn’t need to.
For Alex was blinking in abrupt surprise as an awed smile caressed his features when he sensed, for just a heartbeat… a tiny golden flicker around Ya Ling, gone a second later when he rubbed his eyes.
But when he turned around to catch his friend’s awed and bemused expressions, he saw that they all had it. For just a heartbeat in time.
The slightest gold nacre about their auras, fading a moment later as confused looks were replaced by awed smiles, and Alex felt a his legs give out from under him, as he collapsed in the chair beside him.
“Jeezus, just how close were you all to serious jeopardy?”
Instructor Rah gave a disbelieving chuckle, for all that his eyes lit up with fierce admiration. “Determined to play the Ruidian hero like in one of your people’s tales? Well I’d say you’ve just done a fine job of it, boy. A damn fine job indeed.”
Ya Ling swallowed, wordlessly claiming Alex’s hand and squeezing it tight. “He’s already a hero, Master Rah. He saved an entire caravan. But this?” She furrowed her brow, turning to Te Chang. “I know the Duo Li clan’s scheming like the backstabbing bastards that they are, but just how much trouble is our city in, Senior Cultivator?”
The man flashed a mirthless smile. “Trouble enough that your beloved now glows with a hero’s mantle.”
Ya Ling’s eyes widened, looking at Alex with a bemused smile on her lips. “Just like in the storybooks, hey, Alex?”
Dui Zhong gave a relieved chuckle. “I knew the fates were playing their games when you appeared hale and hearty, with no signs of exhaustion or exposure as you dashed through the middle of the desert to give us warning out of nowhere. But after tonight...staring down the would-be pretender himself, shrugging off that damned whirlwind he’s used to send more than one irate cultivator screaming into the heavens like it was less than nothing, only to boast like a youling storyteller with salvation held so casually in your hand? A prize you’d give with no strings at all, simply for the sake of a city in peril and the glory of your own tale?”
He gave a solemn nod, eyes twinkling with fierce pride. “I’d say at least one of those ancient stories is coming to life before our very eyes.”
For just a heartbeat, Alex allowed the warmth of the moment to fill him, daring to feel a fierce sense of joy that he had arrived at this city at just the right moment to play the hero, and was actually the recipient of not one but an entire room full of grateful stares, with oaths of friendship and irrevocable shifts in the tide of fate just moments away.
And the surge of horrified dismay he felt then left him feeling as if he had just fallen head first into the River of Souls.
So much karma generated, which might naturally fade back into the mists of time.
So much acknowledgment given.
Acknowledgment which could so easily transform to tales that irate monsters would be infurated to sense the creation of, eager to make him pay.
Alex clenched his jaw, bitterly shaking his head.
Already sensing the miraculous veil which had granted him the blessed mercy of sweet anonymity without any unearned hostility at all… was far too thin a veil to cloak a hero’s mantel.
“We’re not done yet,” Alex said abruptly, heart heavy with the step he knew he must take before any other.
A certainty that grew all the greater when the room seemed to suddenly lighten, as if darkest shadows had just slipped free.
Insight check successful! You sense what should have been obvious from the start!
Te Chang gave Alex a reassuring smile. “Alex, I don’t even have words to describe the debt our school, no, our city owes. Just rest assured that you’ve earned a prince’s accommodations, and whatever instruction you wish, is yours. Now just let me get my…” He frowned, looking around in confusion. “Where did she go?”
Alex flashed a bitter smile. “You do know your assistant’s kitsune, right?”
Te Chang stilled. Gazing at Alex for long, intense moments. “Alex...”
“And she’s gone. A girl you didn’t even see slip away. None of us did. A girl I note didn’t swear any oath of silence at all.”
Sulia’s husband, and how odd was that? Gave him a faint smile. “As much as I’m both awed and humbled by the mad vision that guided you this far, I fear your Sage’s Insight is rapidly transforming into a Fool’s Folly.”
Alex blinked. “And why’s that?”
Sulia snorted. “Because our healer is no kitsune, child. She has a gift for sensing unwanted attention, and is the best assistant my husband has ever had. But she’s no more than that. As for being a member of a mythical race, well, that would be quite challenging, seeing as the last of their kind died out over a thousand of years ago.”
The words struck like a blow to his heart. For long moments he could make no sound as he choked back a furious bitter scream. His next utterances a growl more than words, but he forced them out, nonetheless.
“What do we need to do to secure the beast core, Senior Cultivator?” Alex smirked at the man’s cool gaze. “Let’s just assume for the sake of argument that a kitsune you refused to believe in just slipped through Shadow Qi I’ll bet you doubt the existence of as well. Let’s even go so far as to assume Xuon Li is about to catch wind of the prize now in our possession. What do we need to do to secure that Ice core to make sure that at least one of the rivers flows true for years to come?”
Te Chang’s glare softened. “You’re serious. And you believe every word you’re telling me.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I’m not even sure of half of what’s going on, but I’d listen to whatever that boy’s saying to you right now,” Dui Zhong declared, giving Alex a nod.
“It’s too risky!” Sulia warned. “The Duo Li clan is out in force tonight, and leaving the walls is as perilous as any delve!” She glared at her fellow colleagues. “We all know what happens to the desert when so much waste Qi is generated in so much time.
Ya Ling, however, glared at the hesitant cultivators. “Wait, you’re that worried about conniving bastards we already cowed and the walking dead? My kung fu brother just gave you the key to saving this city and thwarting our enemies’ plans to take over both the school and Liushi. If you’re unwilling to act, just give us the core and tell us how to enact the ritual and we’ll save the city… if you’d rather all stay here, in the heart of our enemies’ power.”
Her words had an immediate sobering effect on the entire group of cultivators. Dui Zhong gave a reluctant nod, even Rah shaking his head. “She’s not wrong,” the latter said bitterly. “We’re fools to stay. And if our plan is to slink into the city and shelter with our families… far better we do it as a united whole, and make our way to the Southern gate at first light where I’ve been assured several caravans will be leaving the city.”
“I’ve faced the walking dead before,” Dui Zhong admitted. “It’s not pretty… but they’re not impossible to outrun or outmaneuver. I say let’s reach the wall and let you experts do what you need to do. At least then we have a chance at playing hero, and if all else fails, believe you me, I’ll pull in all the favors I can to get you and your families on the next caravan out of this hellhole of a city.”
Te Chang and Sulia exchanged nods. “The children shall be escorted to our guest hall with security put in place. We’ll gather the elders,” Sulia said, giving Alex an odd smile. “As strange and unexpected a night as this has been, to find myself taking counsel from a Ruidian boy, of all things.” She turned back to Te Chang. “Husband, convene the counsel with all our allies who oppose Xuon Li’s soft coup as much as we do. I’ll return shortly. Together, as one united front, we’ll face down whatever abominations stalk the desert sands and perform the ritual that will save this city.”
The look of relief on both Ya Ling and Dui Zhong’s faces, Rah’s as well, was almost palpable. Alex almost felt guilty about the words slipping free of his mouth. “Yeah… that would be the classic side-character mistake right now,” Alex said with more snark than he perhaps should have. “The minute we split apart, getting stuck with side quests, is the minute our adversaries get in position to take us out, one by one. Xuon Li already has the local JiangHu chapter in his pocket, so it’s almost a given that you won’t see the kill shot coming. And since I assume you don’t want your children to be fatherless, Lady Sulia, I suggest that your husband Te Chang stick by our side so you don’t come back to find his throat cut. And you can quit giving me the death glare now. You know I’m right.”
The cultivator’s hands clenched into fists. “That you would dare speak to any of us so!”
Alex flashed a bitter smile. “I’ll tell you what. Hate me all you like, after we get that ice core secured.”
Sulia’s haughty demeanor cracked. She gazed imploringly at Te Chang. “Husband?”
The man flashed a humorless smile. “It does suddenly appear as if we’re in one of the Fox’s ancient tales.” He gave a soft chuckle. Alex did his best to suppress the awful chill of foreboding he felt with those words. “Very well. Let’s humor our eccentric young friend. Assuming my assistant is a hidden member of a lost race who has been informing our enemies of our every step for the last two years...” His bemused smirk hardened. “Which would explain quite a lot, actually.” He gave an angry shake of his head. “But we have no time for that. To the northern gate we go, then.”
Alex blinked in surprise. “Wait, we’re not actually entering the caldera?” He furrowed his brow. “But I thought, with the way the waterfalls were set up… we’re not somehow fastening the core to the rifts?”
Te Chang exchanged a bemused look with Sulia. “To have even surmised that much on guesswork alone. I think he’s one exception you should have made, wife.”
Sulia shook her head. “There’s no way we could have known he was anything more than an arrogant mixed-blood before today, husband. By his own admission, he knows nothing of a wujen’s arts.”
“Only how to counter them,” Alex said with a smirk, before furrowing his brow. Because with his Prismatic Shield temporarily unusable until he found harmony with his latest affinity, there were definite holes in his defenses and he was beyond fortunate that his Enhanced Wind Qi Deflection and reforged Spell Cleave directly derived from Wind Piercer Strike was the absolute perfect counter to a man he didn’t dare touch, let alone kill. He had no doubt that there were countless elemental combinations and attacks that could see him dead, if he weren’t damn careful and willing to lash out with extreme prejudice the instant anything or anyone gave him the slightest inkling of danger.
The tension he was now feeling was already leaving him queasy, and he knew it would only get worse as the night went on.
Alex winced under the weight of yet another doom he felt settling all to comfortably upon his shoulders, knowing they were running out of time.
“Alright, so we’re going outside to secure this core? Now your fears about the undead make sense. It isn’t just a few fallen unfortunates in the fecund valley below. It’s an entire desert full of angry undead lurching through the night.”
Senior Cultivator Te Chang’s eyes twinkled with gallows humor. “That about sums it up. Everyone willing to dare a hoard of undead abominations and political enemies coming for us before we even leave, follow as you will. Everyone else?” His gaze turned solemn. “Gather our families and prepare to leave at first light via the southern caravans.”
Yet much to Alex’s relief and Te Chang’s as well, if his relieved smile was anything to go by, none of them backed down. All of them made their way to the school gate we their heads held high, the haughty look in their eyes all but daring the nonplussed guard on duty to challenge them.
But the man was no fool, only unlocking the gate and quickly stepping out of the way. “A good evening to you all, honored cultivators.”
Te Chang gave an imperious nod, but didn’t say a word, and within seconds they were walking the late-night streets of Liushi.
Alex couldn’t help but feel a pang of emptiness as he looked at the too quiet and strangely desolate boulevard, utterly free of the normal warm bustle Alex had for some reason expected at all hours of the night, like in one of the sacred cities. Countless food stalls and shop stands stood silent and empty, desolate abandoned stalls standing quiet sentinel in the hours before dawn. On the plus side, they could now increase their pace beyond what most mortals were capable of without sticking out too much, Ya Ling effortlessly keeping pace with the increasingly worried Silvers as they passed grand pagodas and pavilions on their way to the northern gate.
“Now we just need a reasonable excuse for daring the midnight desert without alerting our foes,” Ya Ling murmured.
Alex grinned, struck by sudden inspiration. “We’ll use that as our excuse!”
Te Chang gave him a strange look. “What are you saying, Alex?”
“I’m saying that we tell anyone who would dare to question us that we’re hunting undead revenants!”
“And why the hell would we do that?” Dui Zhong asked.
“For Beast cores, of course! Because what would be more likely to have an Ice core than an undead revenant stumbling about in the chill of night?”
“Preposterous!” Sulia snapped. “No revenant has any sort of core!”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Alex said with a too knowing smile, before realizing he was being an idiot. “I mean… as far as any gate guards are concerned! Look, it doesn’t really matter the state of those revenants. Or, hell, we can say we’re hunting wild spirit beasts in a last ditch effort to save our city’s water supplies. And slim as those chances are, since we don’t have to worry about waste-Qi build up out there… it makes sense why we’d be daring the sands as opposed to yet another rift.” Alex was relieved to see that at least his final last-second pretext earned a couple thoughtful nods, even if the elders seemed dead set against even implying that they’d dare hunt restless spirits.
“What matters is that, however we spin it, the guards believe that we believe it. Then what possible reason could they have to deny us passage? With the perilous state of the waterfalls now public knowledge, it would seem stranger if no cultivator was making desperate strides to secure much-needed cores, earn noble titles, and save the day!”
Instructor Rah’s furrowed brow became a pleased nod. “Your final idea actually has merit to it, no matter how absurd it might seem at first.”
Te Chang nodded. “Spirit beast hunting under the moons wasn’t unheard of even a handful of years ago, before the undead began slipping free of purgatory’s waters, for the very reason you mentioned. Whether one had a successful hunt or simply savored the chance to enjoy cool nighttime breezes under the magnificent, star-filled heavens, a build up of waste Qi was the one thing we don’t have to worry about, hunting for cores and challenges in the desert sands.”
“As if we should have to make up any story at all,” Sulia snapped waspishly, before her hand was claimed by her husband and given a gentle squeeze. “We should be home with our children. How close will they come to being orphans this night? And our perilous task has just begun!” She choked back a sob Alex never expected to hear. “Were our city not about to be usurped by those who would bind us to twisted oaths or see us dead...”
Alex blinked, missing a step as he was suddenly forced to process the arrogant haughty cultivator with a mother who was loved and adored by her children, frightened for her life, fearing for her little ones.
But of course she was. Most people had families, even cultivators. And how many formerly happy wives and children had he made widows and orphans while chasing his mad visions and dreams of ascension? How much chaos and grief had he caused in his pursuit of a better world, a more righteous existence?
Alex shivered, more shaken than he wanted to admit by bitter truths he had no real stomach for, forced to appreciate once more the terrible cost in upheaval and uncertainty that all too often came with harbingers of chaos and change.
“If this works out, you and I will never have to dare any rift again, my wife,” Te Chang said soothingly.
“And that would be a shame,” Linnea said sympathetically. “Because spirit beast hunting is an awesome way to level up! Even if my party did sort of um, get close to getting killed during our last run. All of our runs, this time around, now that I think about it. So… yeah. There is that.”
Te Chang gave Linnea a friendly bow. “It is good to have you and your kin by our side for the sake of our city, friend Linnea. Rest assured, your clan’s courage and daring this night will not be forgotten.” His gaze turned solemn. “But it must be said that you’ve already done more than we have any right to ask of you, helping Alex retrieve the most vital of prizes. Are you and yours truly intending to march by our side into the heart of the desert? With so much chaos and discord within the caldera, with the rifts themselves now in flux, I fear that revenants are more than likely to be found walking the desert sands this night, and I know that your people are extremely uncomfortable fighting the living dead.”
Linnea beamed. “Oh, of course! Undead revenants might be foul abominations, but Ice is great for freezing them, and they tend to catch fire pretty easily when washed in flame!”
She then locked gazes with Alex, she and her relatives having slipped out of gestalt to avoid making the cultivators uncomfortable. But their silent communication was as strong as ever.
Pretty green eyes then glared into the darkness. “Do you really think someone’s going to try to intercept us?”
Alex shrugged. “Considering all the shit we’ve been through already? Almost certainly. Besides, it never hurts to be careful.”
Alex couldn’t help noting that the ever perceptive Te Chang was now giving them a curious look, as if sensing their silent communication.
Linnea smirked. “So, are you going to offer to party up with them?”
Alex dipped his head, turning to the others. “So, who wants to be able to sense where their companions are in relation to themselves for the rest of the night? Just give the word, and I’ll send party invites.”