“You know, it’s funny. What if we’re completely wrong about everything? Everyone looks up to me and the sect heads and elders like we have all the answers. Truth is, we haven’t reached immortality either.”

- Elder Zhao, Patriarch of the Zhao Clan and head of the Akutamori Temple

Aki didn’t run for long, maybe a mile or two, before he stopped and looked around a little more. Sighing, he adjusted the pack on his back. It kept flopping around and sliding. He squinted and raised a hand, shielding his eyes from the sun.

Off in the distance, he saw what looked like a large tent setup. There were trees as well. Actual trees, not the cacti and brush that were all over the desert. Perhaps they had stopped and made camp under the trees? Aki mused. The trees didn’t look like they offered much protection from the sun, however. From what Aki could tell at this distance, they were long slim trees and what almost looked like a dandelion of leaves on top of it.

Aki stood there for only a moment, weighing his options. There wasn’t really anywhere for him to stay out of sight if he went closer. He’d almost certainly get caught. He looked to the ground now, the hard-packed desert floor turning more into soft sand. Aki was getting closer to the border for the shifting sands now. He could feel it. The aura shifted here, it turned into something a little darker, a little more sinister.

Before, when he had been here, it looked like any other part of the desert. Now that Aki knew what it was and what he was looking for, the Shifting Sands were really rolling dunes. They literally shifted in the sands and played tricks on the person’s mind. There was magic to it. Something not of this world. From the Heavens? Aki doubted it, but it was surely something unnatural.

He gave a shake of his head and made sure the sword and pack were secure on him. Trying to tighten the straps so it wouldn’t bounce so much. He then adjusted the sword on his back that rested between his spine and the pack. Aki set off at a quick pace, pulling the surrounding wind to fuel his movements. He cycled the wind as he ran, letting the aura cycle through his channels and convert to mana in his core to help fuel his non-stop running.

It took him longer than he thought. Either the canopy was further away than he thought, or he was closer to the Sands than he expected. He was invested at this point. He kept pushing himself to get there. He still saw the canopy and trees and everything, so he pushed on. Running was getting harder, his feet sinking into the softer sand. He tried to manipulate the wind swirling around him to push it away and help his movements, but the power of the Sands was too strong for him to overcome. There was a power pushing against his own. The wind answered his call, but it was weak, diminished. It couldn’t help the cultivator.

The sun was behind him now, starting its descent into sunset. He’d have to make his own camp soon, and sleeping here in the Sands was not something he was looking forward to. The last time he did, he was with a hunting party and some kind of demon attacked them. Aki had been the only one to survive. With him by himself? Who knew what would happen?

Once Aki got close enough, he ducked behind a dune that had formed. It was like a small hill and he could lie in the sound and crouch behind it. He dispersed the wind and let his mana fall silent as he laid there. The cultivator peeked out around and looked towards the tent and camp. He expected to see people. He expected to find about nine cultivators preparing their camp. Instead, Aki gaped. There wasn’t anything there but a large tortoise.

Aki stood up and brushed off some sand from his robes. He narrowed his gaze and looked around the area cautiously, a hand resting on the hilt of the dagger at the small of his back. He stayed like this for several breaths. Eyes scanning around. He even let his spirit loose, letting it rush out of his body, searching for something. Anything that would explain this tent sitting randomly in a small oasis in the middle of this cursed place called Shifting Sands.

Keeping his spirit up and on guard, he dropped his pack in the sand. It’d only be a hindrance if he needed to act quickly and draw either his sword or dagger. Staying cautious and crawling, he advanced on the tortoise in front of the tent. The tortoise didn’t seem to notice Aki moving towards him. Aki thought the beast might have been sleeping.

When Aki got only a few feet away and he was sure no one or nothing was going to pop up from the ground and kill him, he stopped. He had been holding the hilt of the dagger the entire time he crept up to the canopy. Now he just stood there and looked around, shrugged, and then let go of his dagger.

The tortoise was large. It took up about a quarter of the entrance way to the tent as it stood there looking over the skyline. Up to this point the animal didn’t seem to acknowledge Aki’s presence. Aki wasn’t even sure the tortoise knew the man was there and had been creeping along and sneaking up to the oasis. Its skin was a light brown, almost tan color.

“You are safe, young cultivator. The ones you are searching for are not here. They didn’t make it this far before they reached where they were going,” the tortoise spoke to Aki. His voice was deep and rough, gravelly. It sounded like the creature hadn’t spoken in a century, and did Aki hear a touch of sorrow in the animal's voice?

Aki’s brows shot up in surprise, looking at the massive turtle. He didn’t feel any sense of power from the beast. Nothing to indicate it was a spirit animal. Aki reached out with his spirit now, reaching for the tortoise. He didn’t mean to be rude, but Aki had to know what was going on.

The tortoise felt the scan, the slight, almost tickling sensation of the soul. He denied getting any deeper, though. He blocked Aki from getting any actual sense of his own power. Instead, the tortoise seemed to look over his shoulder at the cultivator. When Aki looked, he could swear the turtle was giving him a disappointed look.

“You see me speaking to you? That’s all you need to know about my advancement, human,” the tortoise spoke to Aki. It turned himself around slowly so he was looking at the cultivator. “Your quarry didn’t even make it here. The masters of the Sands took them before they made it this far,” the tortoise explained.

“Masters of the desert? The horde?” Aki furrowed his brow and asked the turtle. One arm folding across his midsection and holding up the other while he pulled his beard in thought. “Why would they take a few random cultivators running around in the desert?”

The tortoise scoffed. “Those people? They didn’t take them. I’m not sure where the horde is at the moment, but they aren’t the masters of the desert. They are warriors in the desert. Even they know to stay out of the Shifting Sands when they can help it,” he said lowly in that soft, gravelly voice.

Aki looked at the tortoise and pulled at his beard softly in thought. He looked at the tortoise, waiting for the creature to answer the unasked question. The turtle just stared at the cultivator and blinked slowly. It even gave Aki a soft smile. Was the tortoise mocking him?

“Wait, who are you?” Aki asked him. “And what are you doing out here in the Sands?”

The tortoise gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. “I am Kaimu, majestic spirit turtle and watcher of the Shifting Sands. I am charged with a companion to watch over this entrance and the border of the Shifting Sands to make sure what is inside does not get out.”

Aki cocked a brow and asked, “but you said the cultivators never made it this far. They were taken before they made it this far. How is that?”

The tortoise nodded and sighed, looking up into the sky before he explained. “What rules the Sands is powerful. We can contain them, thanks to Rei, but we cannot always contain their power.”

“What is it? What’s out there?” Aki asked, even going so far as looking further out in the Shifting Sands. All he saw past the small pond and bit of vegetation in their little oasis were nothing but dunes. Sand blowing softly from them in the wind. There wasn’t even anymore of the cacti or brushes that you sometimes found in the desert. Out there was nothing but vast nothingness.

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Kaimu looked up into one of the peculiar-looking trees. There were three of them in total and then looked out past the pond with Aki. He then went into the story.

“You are a wind cultivator, so you know of the Kami. You even have that frosty blade on your belt. The Kami have treated you well, human. There are other powers in the world, though. Powers better left forgotten. There are demons that have their own plane of existence. Outside of the Heavens, and the world of mortals. Beyond this point lies the triumvirate that rules the demons,” Kaimu explained. He was speaking lower than he did. His voice was softer, full of fear as he explained.

“....demons?” Aki breathed. He looked down at Kaimu, his eyebrows up into his hairline.

Kaimu looked back at Aki and nodded his head. “Yes. Demons. The demonic kami, to be exact. There must be something to offset the Heavens. Yin and Yang to balance the world. Good must have evil to exist. So with the Kami, there are also demons,” the tortoise explained.

Aki was still weighing this new information when Kaimu’s eyes went wide and he shook his head furiously. “No, Saffron! Wait!” Kaimu shouted, urgency in his voice.

Before Aki could react, there was a loud growl and Aki felt something clobber him in the back of the head. Next thing Aki knew, he was falling to the ground and his vision went dark. Just before he was passed out completely, he heard a gruff, fresh voice speak. He couldn’t quite make out what the person said, but they sounded angry.

Demons. Aki’s mind raced. It was something so simple. Something so stupid and simple. Aki knew there were the Kami, the Heavens. He knew there were demon spirits. He had fought one not too far from this very spot. An evil wretched demon spirit who ravaged an entire warrior hunting party. Actual demon kami to be the lords of the hells though? That was something the cultivator couldn’t imagine there was.

He had always figured that the Kami were the Kami. Not good or evil, they just were. From there, there would be evil and good. Each Kami being their own yin and yang, as Kaimu had said. To find out that there were entire different Kami, entire demonic Kami?

Aki was pulled from his thoughts and they woke him with a bucket of water dumped on his face. He nearly jumped from the cold water, landing on his skin. His hands came up to rub at his face and eyes. Head shook, trying to shake off the water as he looked around.

They had moved him. He was now in the tent he had seen before. The tortoise was standing nearby with a stoic expression. It was looking over Aki, and Aki could feel the tortoise’s spirit reaching out. Aki didn’t stop the scan of his presence. If the tortoise was strong enough to block Aki’s own spiritual sense from getting a feeling of the spirit animal. He figured the tortoise could fight through the wind that blocked his core.

The tent had little in it. It was just shelter from the sun. Opposite from where Aki laid in the dirt was a bedroll with extra blankets on the ground. Probably to help cushion whoever slept there from the hard desert floor. The spot looked too big for the tortoise. Who was he to judge what a spiritual turtle wanted to sleep on in an oasis in the middle of the desert? Over in the tent's corner, there was his pack and the cane sword.

It was several long moments, but the tortoise nodded its head. “Enlightenment. Further knowledge of the world. It cleanses the spirit. Congratulations cultivator, you have progressed,” the spirit animal groaned out with its gravelly voice.

Aki’s eyes went wide, and his eyebrows shot into his hairline. He sat up and moved into the lotus position. He clasped his eyes shut and looked inside of himself. His senses ran along his mana channels and core. Sure enough, the light blue liquid mana in his core was a little brighter, a little stronger. The mana was a little more concentrated, deeper. He didn’t have more of it. He needed to do more spiritual exercises for that. What was there, though, was just more powerful.

“Barely Jade,” the gruff voice came out.

Aki recognized the voice. He looked towards the opening of the tent, his brows furrowing and a hand reaching for the dagger he kept on the small of his back. The being was not a man, not quite. It was built like a man, tall and muscular, but covered in hair. Hairy was an understatement for this creature. It had the head of a monkey and the hairiness of one. Aside from that, it looked like a human and was built like a bulwark. Hair on its head was long and unkempt, with a great long beard. It wore no clothes, but the hair around its pelvis was long and kept in a way to hide any modesty the creature wanted to keep.

It watched Aki reach for his dagger and rolled its eyes before spitting into the ground towards Aki. "Idiot," it growled at Aki. "I’m no threat to you," it continued.

Aki glared at the being, but then the tortoise just cleared its throat.

"You knocked him out," Kaimu told the hairy creature and tilted its head up to the other.

The being waved that away with a grunt. "It was some random cultivator in a place he most definitely should not be. I was doing my duty."

The tortoise gave a grunt in concession and nodded its head. Aki just sat there looking between the two. He had let go of his dagger when the two had begun to bicker.

"I’m sorry," Aki interrupted. "Your duty?"

The hairy creature was the one that spoke first. "Yes. I am Saffron, and this is Kaimu. We are burdened with a glorious purpose," it said in its gruff voice.

The tortoise looked up to Saffron and even let out a little of a snort before looking back at Aki. "As I told you earlier, the triumvirate is out there. We are to make sure they are left alone and also that they do not escape."

It was coming back to Aki now. What they were talking about before the creature knocked him out. What led to his enlightenment and breaking through to the next realm of his spiritual journey? The details of what happened just before he blacked out were still a little fuzzy to him, but it was coming back now.

“I have to go out there,” Aki said and stood. His voice was full of resolve.

"No," they both said it at the same time. Like strict parents coming down on their child trying to have a second piece of dessert after dinner.

“You cannot, you aren’t ready for what’s out there,” Kaimu then continued. “Going out in the lands the demons control…” Kaimu trailed off and gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "...no.”

Saffron, though, gave a grunt of approval. The creature crossed its arms across his chest and looked Aki up and down. Aki once more felt the spiritual pressure of someone scanning his spirit. It didn’t hurt. It was just a slight tingle in the soul. Kaimu just narrowed his eyes and looked up at the other creature.

“To the hells with it. Why not? He’s touched by the Kami. He’s a cultivator of an element that isn’t seen outside of people who know about them. Rei himself has touched this boy’s soul, and like you said he’s advanced.” Saffron looked at Aki. Not with any friendly intent in his eyes. It was a hard glare that stared right into Aki’s very being.

“Saffron, no. He wouldn’t stand a chance against the demon lords,” Kaimu said calmly.

Saffron looked at the tortoise for a moment and then shrugged before looking back at Aki. “Why do you wanna go out there?”

Aki blinked and stared at the creature. He stood then and put his hands to his sides. The cultivator wasn’t sure quite how to act now, but it seemed like they were giving him a chance to plead his case. He should at least be respectful. Aki clasped his hands in front of him and bowed twice, once to each of the spirit creatures.

“My master has sent me. I was following Akutamori Temple cultivators and a stranger in red named Axel. He was powerful, and he seemed… off.” Aki wasn’t sure how to explain the feeling the man gave him.

Kaimu and Saffron both nodded their heads. “Why were you following them?” Kaimu asked.

Aki looked down at the tortoise. “While it’s not unheard of for wandering cultivators or sects to send small groups to find new alchemy ingredients or to just explore the world. My master is interested in this other cultivator. He’s curious to know the business the Akutamori has with him. It has been some time since a sect has sent a group to this continent. They have largely left it alone, finding everything they need right on our own shores. He has misgivings. I am only supposed to see what they’re up to. Finding out there are demons and that the Akutamori may be involved with them only supports the claim that I need to discover what is happening,” Aki explained.

While his master never explicitly said most of this, Aki knew his master well enough. He could infer what the old man wanted from the few short words he wrote to Aki. Also, there was the fact that Aki wanted to do it because he himself was beyond curious.

Kaimu and Saffron shared a look, and Saffron went and kneeled down by the tortoise. They spoke quietly and quickly. Aki only heard one-word, one name, “Rei.” It caused him to narrow his eyes and wonder why they would drop such a name.

“The leader of the Akutamori is the advisor to the Emperor of the Sasaki Empire. I don’t think it should stand that they continue advising if they’re in league with demons,” Aki continued.

They both looked back at Aki when the cultivator started speaking once more. When Aki was finished, he clasped his hands in front of him once more and bowed again in thanks for the pair hearing him out instead of just denying him outright like they had been.

“Go. Take heed though, young wind cultivator. The Shifting Sands, this deep in, are not forgiving. You’ve seen what lurks in the Sands before, no? There are only worse things out there. Pray you find what you’re looking for quickly and quietly and you do not run into the lords of those lands. They will not take pity on some lost cultivator,” Kaimu spoke calmly. He spoke slowly, enunciating each of his words, making sure Aki understood them.

“Saffron, give him some water skins, some food,” Kaimu told Saffron, who nodded his head and stood, leaving the tent. The creature's eyes never left Aki while he spoke. “Pray you come out of the Sands. There is no guarantee Saffron or myself will find you if you get lost.”