[https://i.imgur.com/MClW6uW.png]

I scanned the trees, looking for anything unusual. Birds chirped in the canopy, while various animal calls echoed through the forest. They appeared to be fleeing from something but resumed calmer behavior well before reaching our camp. I could only assume they were fleeing from the Blighted, as there were no signs of Divine Beasts yet.

A few hours had passed since I returned to camp with Fang. The emperor, his disciples, and the humans had yet to make an appearance. Dusk was falling, eliminating the likelihood of us leaving until morning.

Motioning with one hand, I sent small orbs of light drifting through the trees to illuminate the area. If nothing else, I could scare off the wild animals and buy us time. In an array around me, I summoned sharp shards of light. Were anything threatening to appear, I would impale it.

There was little we could do if the divine beasts drew near, but at least I could destroy Blighted or other smaller enemies if necessary. With the Blighted alert and making moves, I could no longer detect the dark presences from earlier in the day.

A small sigh escaped me, and I rested back against the tree. With our change of plans, it seemed unlikely we would get to investigate any of the things I had noticed. I hadn’t gotten to hunt anything, either.

An alluringly sweet smell drifted past me, pulling me from my thoughts. Moments later, darkness engulfed each of my light orbs. My focus, however, was on the branch I sat on. Shadows pooled together to form a figure, which solidified into Yahui.

“You are missing dinner.” Yahui tilted his head, examining me.

“Someone needs to keep watch,” I replied dismissively, glancing away from him. Though he had engulfed my light, this time he wasn’t trying to crush it. Perhaps he was learning. “Are we waiting until morning to leave?”

“No. We leave once everyone has eaten—including you.” Yahui’s pointed look made me grimace and pull myself to my feet. “You and I will ride in the carriage that was brought along. Everyone else shall be on foot, aside from the few pregnant humans we will allow to ride on our horses.”

“Wouldn’t they do better in the carriage?” I asked, frowning at him.

Yahui shrugged and crossed his arms. “They would, but now that we must travel as a group it will be easier for others to determine who I am—and it is likely I will need to act in an official capacity.”

“So, dinner, then we leave?” I pivoted on the branch, but stopped to look at him again. “And do you intend to dampen my light the entire time?”

“It is pleasant.” Yahui’s eyes drifted closed, his grip on the orbs unwavering. A long, soft sigh escaped him. Just as I was beginning to think he intended to stay that way, his eyes opened slightly, and he turned away. “We should return to camp so you can eat. You may leave your lights as they are.”

I watched him leap gracefully from the tree, hesitating to follow. Yahui, however, strode confidently in the direction of camp the moment his feet touched the ground.

Is he so confident I’ll obey? Despite my misgivings, I soon followed him. My rumbling stomach didn't have to do much to overthrow my pride.

“What of the darkness you sensed earlier?” Yahui rested a hand behind his back as he slowed to a stop to wait for me.

“There are too many other presences contaminating my perception. I can no longer pick out anything beyond the Blighted and divine.” I shook my head. As we fell into step, I continued, “I’m certain that what I sensed earlier wasn’t one of your disciples, and it felt different from the Blighted.”

“Either tools of dark arts left behind, or dark arts users themselves…” Yahui murmured. His knit brow and the turn of his lips were a rare display of genuine emotion, revealing just how troubled he was. “Practitioners of the dark arts should have attacked you. That they didn’t is more worrying than if they had. It is possible they think to use you somehow…or they were able to see how far above them you are.”

“Use me? As you intend to do?” I scoffed, waving dismissively. He turned to shoot me a sharp glare. “Please. You think I don’t realize you must have some ulterior motive in helping me? At minimum, I would guess you hope to earn the favor of whichever clan steps forward to claim me as theirs. Having light arts users as allies would help you immensely.

“Were your intentions more nefarious, you wouldn’t be biding your time. You would have already acted, and one of us would be broken for it.”

“There are other reasons to aid you.” Yahui’s expression smoothed over and he looked away from me. “You will not lure information from me by acting in such a manner, Mingzhu. Sometimes protecting someone from themselves is more important than being honest with them or answering their questions.”

I crossed my arms and sighed in agitation. “At the very least, help me figure out this accursed lock while you’re feeling so generous.”

When I felt fingertips against my cheek, I looked over at Yahui in surprise. Shadows swirled lazily around his hand, and his eyes were shut. His tail swayed back and forth to some unknown rhythm, while around us the wind picked up, lifting leaves into the air.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Ah. Interesting…” Yahui murmured, slowly opening his eyes to search mine. “I believe I understand the ‘lock’ you found, but it will require time and seclusion for me to break. That will have to wait until after we’ve escorted our new friends to the Obsidian Terraces.”

With that, Yahui’s hand fell to his side and he began walking again. I reached up to my cheek hesitantly, feeling the lingering warmth left by his power. My fingers came away from my cheek with a few stray shadows clinging to them. They seemed to vibrate against my skin before drifting into the air and back to their master.

“Father, the rest of my brothers have arrived.” Fang bowed to Yahui when we arrived, then glanced at me. “Sister Mingzhu, Gang took your food to your bedroll for you. Once you’ve finished, everyone should be ready to leave.”

“Good. Where are the men you sent to investigate the crystals Mingzhu spotted? I would speak with them while we wait.” Yahui started to follow Fang, then stopped to glance back at me. “You should change into more luxurious clothing once you eat. Shui will have packed some for you, no doubt.”

With that, the emperor and his disciples left me to my own devices for dinner. I didn’t mind the relative quiet. It let me focus my attention on the distant rumblings of battle instead of conversation. The footfalls of far-off divine beasts were like drums in the distance.

After devouring my meal, I found somewhere to change and then rejoined the camp. When Yahui spotted me, I could have sworn I saw delight in his eyes before his mask slid firmly into place.

“You warmed up to my gifts?” Yahui asked, his gaze flicking from my hair ornament, to my earrings, and then finally to my face. “They suit you.”

“I find it difficult to accept kindness or generosity…but I am trying,” I offered after a moment of thought. “You were right to think that I wanted them, even if accepting them doesn’t quite feel right.”

“You needn’t be modest.” Yahui smiled slightly.

I…don’t think modesty has anything to do with it. Seeing as several disciples were approaching us, I opted to keep the thought to myself.

“The carriage is ready for you and Mingzhu, Father,” Fang declared, puffing his chest out with pride. “We are ready to move when you give the command. The refugees have been instructed to stay at the center of our formation.”

“Then we should go.” Yahui nodded to Fang, and we followed him toward the carriage. “We will take a brisk pace to return to the plains. The divine beasts sound as though they are getting closer, which means they will venture into the wastes. If we are swift, we will avoid them.”

Yahui waited for me to get into the carriage first, then followed soon after. When the door shut, he released a small sigh before summoning his guqin and resting it on his lap. I glanced around at the plush interior briefly, then back at the emperor.

“Remove your illumination from the forest.” Yahui shot me a brief look before returning his attention to his instrument. “You may sleep once we reach the plains, if you wish. I believe you have enough room on that side.”

“Shouldn’t I remain awake in case we are attacked?” I frowned at the emperor, watching as his fingers paused against the strings.

“I will wake you if anything of importance happens.” Yahui looked up from the instrument to study me. “Traveling by carriage such as this will be much slower than how we arrived. You may remain awake until we stop to let everyone rest, if you wish. However, that will remove your ability to contribute to our patrols.”

“…wake me if the divine beasts or Blighted come close.” I relented with a soft sigh.

Yahui said nothing, and instead began playing a calming melody on his guqin. I recalled all my orbs of light to me, then cast my senses throughout surroundings. Without windows, I had only so many ways to determine when we entered the plains.

The emperor’s darkness reached out and coiled around one of my tendrils of light, pulling it back toward our carriage. I nearly missed his quiet murmur of, “You will draw the Blighted to us.”

“How am I to know when we have entered the plains, then?” I glared at him.

“When the convoy increases its speed,” Yahui stated.

Sighing, I slumped back in my seat and resigned myself to waiting. There wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t wish to leap out of the carriage and track down the local Blighted. Handling them before they could reach us seemed like a safer alternative to waiting. The only thing keeping me from disobeying Yahui was the way I knew he would react. He would think I was putting his disciples and the refugees in danger—and I doubted telling him it was his fault for waiting for me to return that would truly endanger them.

We spent several minutes in uncomfortable silence before Yahui broke it. “If divine beasts are being sent to hunt the Blighted, I must find a way to lure the Blighted away from the Obsidian Terraces. I won’t have my people crushed underfoot by those dispassionate dogs…”

“They’ll really destroy anything, so long as they achieve their goal?” I asked, earning a brisk nod in reply. “Then, we would need to force the Blighted far, far from the Terraces for it to matter, wouldn’t we? Otherwise, we’d still run the risk of them being summoned close by.”

“We?” Yahui shot me an unconvinced look.

“Well, unless you intend to keep me trapped in the palace forever.” I crossed one leg over the other and stared back in defiance. “Also, you claimed that I’m one of the few who can fight well with you against the Blighted, and without getting in your way. There’s no need to make matters more difficult by acting on your own. I do have a vested interest in keeping the Terraces safe, after all.”

“Perhaps.” Yahui rested his fingers against the strings of his guqin and breathed a small sigh. “Well, we can discuss that matter when the time comes. I will have my disciples who studied necrotic arts search for a way to attract the Blighted to another location—assuming such arts will work on them. There is a small possibility we could re-purpose the Blighted into undead minions, perhaps…”

“Minions?” I scoffed. “I doubt they are truly compatible. More is wrong with them than their undead nature, and I doubt purifying them—if possible to begin with—would leave you with usable corpses.”

“…you are not going to throw a fit over necrotic arts?” Yahui tilted his head, a small frown on his lips.

“Well, if you wished to use them to subjugate your own people, I would,” I replied with a dismissive shrug. “Or if you went out of your way to kill people to create an undead army. Utilizing existing corpses who may never have had a proper burial, however? I see no issue unless you intend to do something evil with them.”

“Evil in what way?” Yahui gave me a doubtful look.

“Harming your own people or allies,” I stated flatly. “Using them to protect or save people is fine, as would sending them to fight against your enemies. An enemy would struggle to break through a front line comprised of undead soldiers. By the time they did, your men would be capable of dominating the remainder of the battlefield.”

“I hope you remain so amiable once your memories are returned to you.” Yahui shook his head slowly before beginning to play a new song on his guqin. After a moment, he shot me a brief glance. “We’ve entered the plains. Rest.”

“For now, I suppose.” I sighed, taking out my earrings and hair ornament. After storing them away, I stretched out on the seat, listening to Yahui play. I doubted our return trip to the Terraces would be uneventful. As such, even if I didn’t feel tired, resting to save my strength seemed prudent.