Cinder was in a wide, dark cave.

There were many carvings on the ceiling and the floor and his sides. They looked ancient. The rough craftsmanship showed its traces in the ragged corners of the depictions; armor donning beasts, rampaging mammoths, or spear-wielding mortals’ eyes. The moss was plenty on the passage and the air was damp. There was the smell of the ocean and dust, which tried to force its way into his lungs. How fortunate he was since he was about the age to resign and get sick. Small responses like coughing or sweating were expected to be normal, were it not for his immortal constitution.

The sharp pebbles and rubble not being able to scratch his bare feet were also one of the causes of his immortal body. The sounds they made as he crushed them under his feet sounded pleasant enough to ignore the total silence, other than a small, whisper-like rustling reminiscent of leaves. His path seemed long enough to keep him walking for days. The patriarch and the ancestor lived deep inside their world’s crust after all, but he knew it was far from long.

A few hours passed with nothing but the sound of his steps and the disturbing smell of, other than the dominant dust, the burning flesh. In the meantime he was careful to avoid slipping on moss, they were planted by the ancestor herself and, as a result, were nothing to be trifled with. There were no men alive that could step and escape from their greasy surface without falling. Well, there was, but he doubted whether they could be considered men.

But his assumptions lasted only that much. Not long after he pressed on one, stumbled and stomped, with great power, to stop his fall, yet his foot fell onto another patch of them. He lost balance and flipping, his old back slammed right onto the hard, moist surface. And it hurt. Cinder groaned and stood up, he gazed at where he stepped and found no trace of anything other than dark grey stone, upon which he sighed in exhaustion. Not minding, he kept going with small steps for another hour, when a faint red light in the distance gleamed through. At the same place, the carvings evolved from the apprentice level of roughness to the expert level of smoothness. One painted the scene of a pack of tigers with golden fur and red stripes, chasing a man holding a blue lamp, who looked beyond amused and flashed a creepy smile.

Instead of a normal painting, or carving, made by the hands of some mortal man, it was clear this was the work of an immortal, as he could sense the colors the sculptor imagined in his mind within the grey walls. And the expression, the smile. It was too realistic to believe, and it gave him a scare enough to tingle his scalp.

Cinder continued on his path, so did the carvings and their quality, and the dust and moist air lessened until everything turned clean and cozy. From afar, the rustlings, which he now identified as the crackling of a fire, or numerous of them, became more like booming shouts and less like whispers. The air heated until a white vapor seeped out of the crevices inside the cave and the carvings, they turned into living paintings glancing at him with sneers.

‘’Cinder.’’ A voice called from the depths of the now bright, red light afar. Cinder hastened and soon came before a small entrance, wide enough to let two men walk, from which he left through.

A wide hall emerged in his vision. His eyes darted around and narrowed upon finding the sources of those red lights. They were apparently torches, half his size and half his width, burning with a yellow flame almost color of gold. Atop the torches’ shafts, made of jade and embed jewelry, were heads- literal heads of people, or forsakens, who were from the line of Helios, a monster with blazing eyes that rivaled the sun in brightness. The brown hair and fair skin of the heads were cut and slashed over and over by small scissors rounding the torches, and between the scissors’ gaps were pipes brimming with Buyuh. These long tubes with oval mouths pierced the heads’ napes and supplied the forsakens with the energy required to regenerate and keep them alive, so their flaming eyes would shadow, or brighten, the blank look in their eyes.

Although such a design seemed cruel to any onlooker, and Cinder himself felt a small tug in his heart for the pitiful creatures, the atrocities their race committed were far greater than this one. He found it acceptable to some extent, and since this was the doing of the patriarch, he had no words in the matter as well.

Shaking his head, Cinder looked up. The chamber he was in was round in shape, yet the ceiling was square and rubies thrice the amount of torches-which were around a hundred with a glance-covered it from corner to corner. These rubies reflected the fires spewed out of the forsakens’ eyes and sent their radiance towards the entrance he came from. They looked magnificent.

‘’Cinder, welcome.’’ He heard the voice call him again, but this time he saw who it was.

He moved forward, descended the small, three-step flight of stairs and stepped on the silver ground of the hall. It felt smooth and soft, and treading on it gave a comforting feeling to him as he approached the end of the chamber. A grand, grey gate stood wide open, made of Ihlas steel, and in front of the opening rested an old man. He had soft blue eyes and the sweet face of an average elderly man, but with the addition of a thin, gray beard reaching his belly button.

‘’Patriarch,’’ Cinder kowtowed three times and sat straight, legs crossed, while facing the Patriarch.

‘’Why did you sit in such a hurry?’’ Patriarch said and smiled. ‘’Ancestor called you, didn’t she? She must have some important things to tell, so I won’t be rude enough to hold you here.’’

Cinder froze for a second, then flashed a wry smile. ‘’I understand, patriarch. Then may we share a tea after the matter is done?’’

‘’If it is done, then I have no objection.’’ The patriarch’s smile dropped. ‘’But beware, Cinder. She had a fit of anger some days ago, and I suppose it was about the arm and the Forsaken High King.’’

‘’I...understand, patriarch. Thanks for your advice.’’ Cinder said and bowed, then stood up again and left through the gate behind the patriarch. There was nothing worthy of notice at first look, only a set of stairs that led down and down with no end in sight. It was utterly dark. No source of light brightened the surroundings, which were only large enough to accommodate him, and he couldn’t smell anything. No scent, and the sole noise of his footsteps echoed throughout the place.

Cinder walked for nine days straight. He felt neither hunger nor thirst. He was an immortal, after all, and could go on for at least a month without any nutrition. But the lack of a cold tea to soothe his dry throat disturbed him very much. Thinking of his seat on the Leopold tree and the little thing’s playful branches, together with the tea leaves he kept hidden for the patriarch, an overwhelming sense to consume a drink enveloped him.

Then it disappeared in an instant, for in a moment everything turned bright.

He appeared inside another chamber, or a cave-dwelling large enough to be considered a small cottage. He found the word cottage the fittest, as the smell of wet earth and out of sight cherry trees made him take in a deep breath. There was a circle drawn on the red-brown earth, seven sets of seven-colored jewels were planted with equal width apart from each other at its corners. And right at the center of the circle, between three saplings of Leopold trees and nine feathers of phoenixes sat a woman of great grace.

She had long hair the color of a raven’s talon and wore a simple dark robe with two bells-one white and the other red- hung on its sleeves. There were ten rings, each different colors, on her slender fingers and they gleamed with light colors and brightened her purple eyes. She wasn’t a bewitching beauty, but, as he said, a graceful woman, with elegance, and stature, that no one would dare to question. As if she was born this way. As if she was destined to be someone who would carry any burden with no qualms.

‘’Cinder.’’ But her voice defied all meanings he installed on her looks. It was not sweet, as one would expect from a woman with her looks, and it was in no way beautiful. It was the voice of, he had no courage to say it out loud, an old hag. But this was understandable to some point, she was as old as the sect, around seven to eight thousand years old, but it was indeed strange for anyone who didn’t know beforehand her origins. Like the poor Snow, who froze when he met her at his auguration as the Elder Snow.

‘’Ancestor,’’ Cinder kowtowed again, nine times, and sat down. He looked at ancestor’s face again and once he saw the seriousness, he let go of all stray thoughts in his heart. This was time to discuss some things he wondered and to resolve something that even alarmed the ancestor.

‘’I am listening, Ancestor.’’ He called for one last time then waited for her response.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath, then looked into Cinder’s eyes.

‘’We have lost the favor of the heavens.’’ She said outright. ‘’We might have to...let go of the continent.’’

*********

‘’Hmm-what!?’’

In the belly of the goliath, Yuan Shu, snoring in his sleep a moment ago with a pleasant grin and trembling lips, shot up to his feet in a moment of anger. With his right foot, he caught the young man’s body and pulled him back and Out of instinct, his hand reached for his sword at his waist.

Yet, Instead of a leather-wrapped, hard hilt, he touched air.

‘’Dam-’’ He leaped inside the pond of acidic belly juice and spread his arms over the boy, not knowing why he acted so protective over him. At the same instant he sunk, the water shot up and the flesh walls covering the belly hissed like a snake. Blood exploded into waterfalls and flowed through and over them like a river. For a moment or two Yuan Shu waited under the acid of the goliath, holding onto the boy with a tight grip, whilst glancing upwards.

He saw a light. Sunlight. Cloaked by clouds and a mist of blood, yet still glaring, and three pairs of eyes, that of humans, which glared the same at him. And as obvious as it was, there were no traces of the goliath's upper body.

‘’Hey!’’ One man called to him and his eyes softened to a frown, much friendlier than the former but still threatening. Yuan Shu contemplated on what to do. He had no knowledge of what happened and how long he slept, but the lack of noise made him restless. No clashing metals, screams, shouts, or explosions. Only the bubbling of the acid and the constant shouting of the trio echoed inside his ears.

‘’Can you get out of there, senior?’’ One of the youngest ones, at last, addressed him in a much softer way after the lack of response. ‘’Perhaps he is unconscious?’’ He asked the other two, who dismissed the idea and beckoned Yuan Shu with the tip of their spears.

‘’Will you get out, or should we take you out?’’

‘’No need to threaten, I will get out.’’ He said at last and tried to move.

Then he realized his body stopped any motion, and only bubbles of air rose from his mouth.

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‘’Hey!’’ He shouted, more bubbles sprang to the surface. The trio above him looked at each other, then at him again. Yuan Shu tried to talk a few more times and move his body, they resulted in the same fiasco.

‘’He can’t get out...’’ The youngest one sighed. He leaped into the acidic water and held them both under their backs, put them on his shoulders, then carried them to the outside.

Now Yuan Shu took a deep breath to savor the taste of clean air, smelled the scent of heavy dust and blood, then regretted the action a moment after while puking. Why was this stench so heavy, way too heavy than it was supposed to be? It was then he realized that the trio wore masks of some sort, which they put over his and the boy’s face with care.

‘’What happened here?’’ He asked first, he wasn’t sure how much he slept or what the conclusion was.

‘’We won.’’ One said, although the dull sorrow in his eyes couldn’t be more apparent. ‘’Beasts are all dead and their masters imprisoned. They also caught some forsakens, four of them, now strapped to the gates of the castle by his majesty.’’

‘’His majesty!’’ Yuan Shu gasped. ‘’The Emperor himself is here? How so, and why?’’ Though he asked, Yuan Shu also realized that these men didn’t know much. Their attire stunk blood and acid, multiple types including the goliaths’, and their weapons were ill-suited to war because of their chipped edges and splintered shafts. He guessed them to be the members of the corpsman.

‘’How can we know? And why, well, to save us, isn’t it? He and a lofty immortal from Cindersnow arrived an hour or two ago and swept the city clean from monsters. They left one or two here like this guy-’’ He pointed down to the goliath,’’-who had some people living inside. They departed not too long ago but their trail is-’’

‘’Quite magnificent.’’ He interrupted. ‘’Or disgusting?’’ It could be said so. He didn’t think anyone, other than his overly-sadistic commander, would find this sight something admirable.

No flesh laid left on the streets, or the rooftops, or alleys. All there were blood, huge ponds and pools, and bones, stuck on or in wooden beams or marble floors. Snow itself rained red. Yuan Shu raised his head to inspect and saw a huge net covering the city from above. Monsters of all kinds were strapped to the web-like net and the silky strands pierced through the bodies of these monsters. They bound them together into clumps of meat, tightened and loosened at times to spill their innards and blood, then strangled them to death.

‘’That is...the pungent smell’s origin?’’

‘’It is.’’ They all replied.

‘’I think they deserved it, though.’’ The youngest commented before silence fell.

‘’Then don’t expect them to mercy when they trample all over your land and slaughter our families.’’ Yuan Shu said. He smiled at the trio, then looked down at the boy.

‘’Say, can you carry us both to somewhere warm? I feel too tired and cold to move.’’

*********

Inside the main hall of the palace of Karnival, an attendant hurried to the side of the Emperor and whispered into his ears. Emperor nodded twice and hummed, then turned towards the kneeling people in front of him.

‘’The beast of the sect has arrived, they say. You are free to go-’’ He said. ‘’-but, representative, do not forget our trade.’’

‘’I won’t, your majesty,’’ Quan replied.’’I will be back in a month, right before the flowers start to bloom.’’ and gave a small bow. From his back, Gaobun did the same and rose together. They walked out of the palace gates and routed towards the silver-white crane at the entrance. It was the same one that carried them to the Yadratafos, Gaobun recognized. On top of the crane was a carpet fastened like a saddle, and Ubel laid on it with his eyes closed.

One of the attendants let go of the lead connected to its neck and put it in the hands of the Quan. He nodded then left towards the inner place.

As Quan kept himself busy with transmitting with the crane and asking for something to the guards at the side, Gaobun drifted to the side of the gates. He looked at the familiar back, and the face of Russel, who turned around after sensing his presence. The man gazed at his face for a moment, as if trying to remember who he was. Not long passed after he scowled.

‘’What do you want?’’ Russel asked.

Gaobun opened his mouth a few times but found no words coming. He didn’t know what to say. It was a subconscious decision to come close to this man, after all. But he found something that leaked out of his lips much smoother than others.

‘’I apologize.’’ He whispered and gave a deep bow. ‘’I had been rash, and thank you. You are a proper hero.’’

‘’Gaobun, come over,’’ Quan called for him at the same time, so without inspecting the glare of the Russel he gave a small nod to the man and walked back to the crane. He hopped on its back and slid closer to Ubel, then closed his eyes.

‘’You are a weird boy,’’ Russel said. ‘’I won’t accept your compliment.’’

Opening his eyes, Gaobun saw him depart from the long set of stairs down below, to the large mazes and alleys of the city.

Somehow, he felt like smiling, but it soon disappeared.

Quan leaped onto the crane as well, a bit further than them at the front. He took the leash and muttered some words, then the crane let out a high pitched call and flapped its wings. Soon they rose higher and higher until even the city turned into an ant-like dot and they departed towards the sect.

The wind blowing to Gaobun’s face, however, didn’t smell nostalgic.

*********

‘’We are close to your home.’’ Quan said. ‘’There is an hour left before we go through the Pierced Mountains and get near Orabura.’’

Ubel didn’t answer. Or rather, he couldn’t answer. He squirmed around, his eyes kept shut, and continued to pretending to sleep.

‘’Don’t you wish to see your grandmother?’’ Quan asked. He wished to, of course. He wanted to run through the branches and the soil of the forest again, to rush inside the small hut and leap onto the bosom of his grandma. Ubel had no reason to not go, not to see his grandma. But...he couldn’t. There was something lacking, or something he had to do before going.

His body felt way too heavy. As if his limbs weighed tons and his head was nailed to the soft back of the crane, no matter how much he tried they wouldn’t budge. Then there was pain that spread throughout his body. Two were almost unbearable until a moment ago, and they were the ones that forced him to wake from his slumber.

One came from his chest. Some kind of burning, a pain resembling a salt poured knee cut, yet multiple times harsher. Ubel was confident that this one was the cause of his weakened body, but the other one also seemed probable.

His meridians. He could see and sense how they were, and they looked quite tarnished, but couldn’t use them. There was no Qi nor power left inside and their past, bright blue color was now gray like the top of a random mountain. He tried to use the manual, to breath according to its instructions, but he only suffered the onslaught of pain.

Qi couldn’t go further than the pores inside his skin. The moment they came close to the entrances along the meridians, a force repulsed them, and it didn’t act anything resembling soft. His skin burnt like bees stung him over and over again. Were it not for the influence of Quan, who sent over a surge of Qi to clean his pores, Ubel knew he would have yelped a few times.

So that was it? Was this the end of immortality for him?

To be honest with himself, Ubel found it amusing. Way too amusing. He left his home and his family(Perhaps his grandmother wasn’t big enough to be a whole family) and now he was going back right away?

‘’Ubel,’’ Quan spoke to his mind again. ‘’Gaobun is quite remorseful, too.’’

He had no way of commenting on that. Although he liked to say...he didn’t feel bad. The life of an immortal wasn’t as curious, or as colorful as he imagined it to be. There were good sides, he had a wide range of knowledge(Thanks to it) and some fascinating powers to help him resolve some problems(Most of them farm-related) much faster. But that was the extent of it. Extra lifespan, unworldly power. Both of them seemed so irrelevant to Ubel that he didn’t feel any reason to get angry at Gaobun, his senior brother.

‘’You seem too calm about this.’’ Quan sounded concerned as well. ‘’Do you...not realize what you have lost? The grandness, the opportunities, the possibilities that were once in your palm. Now all shuffled out like a flicker of flame because of some other’s wind.’’

There was no need to act poetic or use resemblance. Ubel had no idea what he lost, he didn’t know if there was something he lost. Was it the archaea immortality? Well, he was never dead set on it. It looked like a good profession, something that piqued his interest and had a good reputation as something respected. There was also fame related to it, but he didn’t want to focus on that.

Then death? The intense craving he felt to understand death, lay out its foundations and grasp what it meant to the people, to him. Where was it? That was a mystery as of now. With his cultivation, it seemed, his desire to work towards both of these goals died off as well. Were they actual goals, then? Or were they some short term dreams to keep his focus away from the mundane life of an immortal? It could very well be both.

So, as he understood, there was no grandness he lost. There wasn’t any opportunity lost, any possibility left. At some point, it would all come back to a circle like now. He would again travel back to his home, greet his grandmother, perhaps cry in her arms for leaving her alone for such a long time, then go on with the same life his father lived. Being a hunter, that was. Not as famous as archaea immortals, not as meaningful as seeking the definition of death, but simple. Good and slow. Something he wanted after getting himself almost dead, and now crippled, over two(or three) events.

‘’...we are above Orabura forest now.’’ Quan said. Ubel opened his eyes and snuck a peek around him. Of course, we are in the clouds. His vision only saw fleeting grey clouds and the dark midnight sky. Moon was out of sight, though, but it didn’t bother him much. From the corner of his eye, he saw Gaobun gazing at him. Their eyes met for a moment, then Gaobun looked away.

‘’Senior brother, do you regret?’’ He asked aloud. It surprised both Quan and Gaobun.

‘’I thought...you were asleep?’’ Gaobun averted the question.

‘’I was.’’ Ubel found himself wanting to scratch his hair. ‘’And it was a good nap. But I need to comment on this, the pain will make me go crazy.’’ And the itch, too.

‘’Don’t worry. There is not much left until we get to the sect.’’ Why was Gaobun comforting him about this though? ‘’Once there, I will fetch some medicine to soothe your pain.’’

‘’Oh. Thank you.’’ Ubel tried to lift his head again to take a look at Quan, he failed.

‘’Are you angry?’’ Gaobun asked. Instead of forcing himself to stand, Ubel chose to relax. Now he laid around and tried to feel the crane’s back, and Gaobun kept staring at him, he found it much softer than before.

‘’I am not.’’ He admitted. ‘’Why should I be?’’

‘’Every mortal has chance to practice, not many can reach path finding, and only too few can grow under Cindersnow.’’ Gaobun said. ‘’You had resources, and talent, to reach heights like me. Or...senior master.’’ Ubel raised a brow. He also felt like Quan had the same frown, though unlike him decided to keep silent.

‘’So that is it?’’ Ubel sighed. He managed to turn his head to face Gaobun’s side and look at his eyes. ‘’Because of heights I haven’t reached, and will not reach, I should be angry at you? To feel remorse and sorrow?’’

‘’Why should I cry for something not mine?’’ Gaobun received his words with silence.

‘’I am sure you don’t know what you had once, still, Ubel.’’ Quan intervened after the uncomfortable stop. ‘’But...I understand. To live is better than not.’’

‘’Something like that.’’ Ubel nodded. ‘’Also I have my grandma too. Would she fare better without knowing whether I am out there or not? I don’t think so.’’

‘’I would have ensured her safety.’’ Gaobun mumbled. Ubel froze for a moment. Quan did not talk further. They kept flying in the air and a few more hours passed. Soon they left the borders of the Orabura forest and approached the mountain of the Cindersnow.

‘’Ubel, what will you do now?’’ Quan asked.

‘’I had been thinking about it a bit before. I will...leave the sect. I wish to go back.’’

‘’You can take a leave-’’ Gaobun commented.

‘’-But it isn’t permanent. I know, senior brother. It is only...I don’t know. There is nothing more for the sect to do for me, and for me to do to sect.’’

‘’Then wait a month.’’ Quan said. ‘’Sect has way too many things for you to use now. You have credits you can use to get...things, I am not sure what you would want. And there is still a mountain worth of books and knowledge you can use from the Star Library.’’

‘’And there are things I want to teach you before I leave.’’

‘’I will...take up on that offer then.’’ Ubel agreed, ignoring the obvious statement. ‘’A month won’t amount to much after two years.’’

So the conversation died off, but Ubel could see Gaobun held himself to say something. He wished to call him out on that but Gaobun’s eyes scared him. Were it not for his constraint, Ubel feared Gaobun would spew flames from his eyes to scorch them all. Ducking away, Ubel closed his eyes and waited for the moment they reached their destination. To relieve boredom, he listened to the sound of the crane’s wings and passing wind.

They had a melancholic tune, as he heard it.