Shang stepped into a dark cavern. His skin and clothes were completely dry despite being submerged for what felt like hours. His shoulders dropped in relief. He was finally out of that cloying, suffocating water aura. He breathed in deeply and, again, choked.

Rue sighed. Didn’t we just go through this? He asked. The caves have highly unbalanced yin/yang ratios. But unlike the water, the qi in the cavern is mostly yin.

Shang focused again on his cycling. He felt like he was still underwater, but the ground under his feet felt solid and the energy felt different, heavier and not any easier to cycle. The air had a faint stench of rotting meat and wood smoke.

This aura ratio allows the creatures from Penumbra to enter this domain.

Penumbra, as Rue had explained last night, was a shadow domain. It was created by a shadow cast by their current domain and contained only yin. The imbalance in qi in Penumbra created creatures that have strong elemental abilities but little intelligence. Due to fierce competition in the shadow domain, most beasts died before they could reach the higher Realms. Sadly for Shang, competition bred strength. A Nascent Realm chaos beast can create fireballs with enough destructive power to kill a Mortal Realm cultivator.

Shang glanced at his comrades uneasily, hoping they would be adequate to kill the horde of Mortal Realm scorpions nested at this location. Most of them were also in the Mortal Realm, and from Rue’s estimation, unequipped to handle these monsters one on one.

His eyes were drawn to Koyo and Bataa. Bataa felt his gaze and shot him a toothy grin. The dim light of the caverns caught the sharp edge of his fangs. Shang’s heart thudded faster as he contorted his face into the facsimile of a smile.

Rue had made it clear that blood from Bataa and Koyo were necessary for his ascension to the Nascent Realm. Though he had not known them long, it still felt like a betrayal. He liked Bataa, the man was affable and quick to smile. He reminded Shang of Xin, a gentle giant.

“Stay close,” Koyo commanded as they stepped further into the cave. Her amethysts eyes seemed to glow in the gloom. Shang swallowed. Koyo he was less sure about. That burst of violence on the recruitment field had shaken him. So much pain for so little reason. Shang’s fear shifted to something darker as he steeled his resolve.

Good, good, human. Use that anger. I thought you were going to snivel around feeling guilty for stealing a bit of blood.

Shang tensed his jaws. Why should I feel guilty? It’s obvious that Koyo has her intentions for me with the way she’s been salivating over my readings. She’s going through all the ways I can best serve her. I’m just repaying the favor.

Rue gave a low rumble of approval in his head. Exactly, she’s giving the pretense of helping you now when really she’s just trying to fatten you up before eating you up at your peak plumpness.

Shang grimaced in disgust. Do you have to say it like that?

I’m only stating the facts. I work best with simile. I’m a visual teacher.

Rue was right. While Koyo had been nice enough to him. Shang saw how others treated her with respect out of fear. A fear that was trained. She had already demonstrated how quickly she rose to anger. Shang’s mood darkened further, thinking about all that she or her family might have done to garner such respect. A deep heat was building in his stomach. They were all the same. Yong. Tora. Different names for the same kind of monster.

“Alright, we stick close together. Master Bataa has informed me that the path ahead forks into three. We will take the path on the right,” Nio said. His voice was hushed but carried in their small sphere of light. The group moved to their previously designated positions. Shang followed closely behind Koyo near the front of the party. At a gesture, they moved away from the mouth of the cave.

Shang gripped the expanse bag entrusted to him with both hands, suddenly afraid he would drop it. As dark as it was, the chances of him finding it again were slim. The shadow wielder was holding back the encroaching dark. The visibility extended a few paces on all sides of the ground like a globe of light. Beyond the globe, he could make out nothing, not even faint shapes.

Bataa led the group, moving ahead like a prowling tiger. His footsteps were silent, leaving no trace. Shang was mesmerized by his movements, feeling both grateful and uneasy at his predator-like grace. His mind swirled with possible ploys to obtain Bataa’s blood. The man was massive. His fist could squash Shang's head like an overripe winter melon. There was no way for Shang to obtain the blood fairly. Rue didn’t need much. If fighting broke out, it’s possible that Bataa and Koyo might bleed onto the ground. Then collecting it would be only a matter of a sleight of hand. There was one problem with the plan. If a monster was strong enough to make the two strongest members of the party bleed, that didn’t bode well for Shang’s chances of survival.

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While Shang could not see the extent of the space, he could tell by the reverberations that they were in a large cavern. As they walked, the ceilings gradually descended until Shang could almost see the roof of the cave. He squinted at faint red lights on the ceiling. The tiny red beads of light blinked on and off in irregular intervals and moved. Shang bit his lip to muffle his yelp of alarm. He walked forward and tugged at Bataa’s robes, pointing at the cave roof.

Bataa looked up, before ruffling Shang’s hair with his mitten hand. “Only cave rats, young friend. Nothing to worry about.”

Shang was sure he could hear Koyo scoff beside him. Apparently cave rats were no big deal.

As Nio described, the path before them forked into three. A faint mournful howling could be heard as an acrid wind blew through the cave mouths. He wondered where the wind was coming from. Certainly not from the gorge. Besides the rancid set permeating the cavern, there were no signs of a scorpion nest.

“Be ready, I encountered them at the end of this tunnel,” Bataa warned. The sound of ringing metal rang through the confined space as the party members drew their weapons. The sound was deafening to his tension-honed ears. Shang kept his hands steadily on the bag. Stay out of everyone’s way. He could do that.

Koyo and Bataa did not brandish any weapons, but they somehow appeared more prepared than any of them. As they descended the rightmost cave, the rancid smell of decaying flesh grew. Shang’s eyes began to water uncontrollably at the stench. His ears were straining to catch any sound, and his spiritual senses were extended as far as they could go.

While he knew the scouts would sense a monster far before he could hear or sense them, he couldn’t help trying. The breeze increased, and Shang could feel the space open up ahead. His body tensed in anticipation, expecting an imminent attack. At a gesture from the scout walking beside Bataa, a short stout man that appeared to be in his late forties, the group stopped. His eyebrows were scrunched in concentration and his skin was clammy with exertion and fear.

“Something’s not r—” Koyo pulled Shang back by his robes as the scout’s words were cut off. Shang’s stomach flipped as he searched for the missing scout only to find the scout’s head plastered grotesquely on the cave walls. At a gesture from the red-haired shadow manipulator, the shroud of darkness retreated further. He could see a dozen paces in every direction. Shang didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse, fearing what the light might reveal. Koyo stepped in front of him, blocking his body with her own despite being much smaller than him.

Her body tensed for battle. “Bataa, that’s no Chaos Scorpion,” Koyo hissed. She palmed her stilettos, her knuckles white as she gripped onto their hilts. A faint streak of blood marred her forehead. Shang could not tell if it belonged to her. He looked around for Bataa. He had been standing beside the scout. Shang feared he'd been caught in the attack. He jumped as a dark shape shifted on the wall beside him . A bat, larger than any he'd ever seen, perched on the wall. Its face and chest were matted with a dense brown fur and its wings were dark and leathery. With its wings unfurled it matched the length of an oxen. Its furry ears swiveled as it turned its dark beady eyes on Shang. Shang jumped away trying to put as much distance as he could between him and the monster bat, but Koyo caught the edges of his robes hauling him back to her side.

“Believe me, that was not here before.” Bataa's voice rang out. Though the bat’s mouth did not move, Shang could tell the sound was coming from him. The Celestial Fox. A master transformer. A shape shifter.

Shang’s heart raced with fear and exhilaration. This was a legend come to life, but at the threat of immediate death, he couldn’t relish in his boyish glee for long. Before he could calm his pounding heart, he was flying again. He hit the opposite wall of the cave, the side of his head bounced off the cave and he crumpled from the impact. Koyo had pushed him. Hard. The force left his head ringing and his vision blurry. Shang shook his head, waiting for his vision to clear.

Where he was just moments ago stood the hulking mass of a nightmare monster. Its head resembled a malformed tiger. At least one of its heads. Another protruded from the beast’s back and it didn’t resemble anything Shang had ever seen. The second head was bone white and almost skeletal but for two huge ruby eyes that leaked tears of blood. The tears leaked down the skeletal head onto the tiger, staining the top of the tiger’s pale gray fur in a red inverted crown.

Ha! Wow, look at that. You don’t see that every day.

Rue, what is that thing? Shang could barely follow the fight, only catching the clang of impact and the blur of limbs. He pushed himself into the corner of the cavern, hopefully out of harm’s way. The group flanked the creature on all sides, bombarding it with various attacks. Tendrils of shadows lanced up to bind the beast while white pellets of light exploded on the chimera's side. The cavern blazed with light briefly as different assaults landed.

A chimera. It’s created from multiple lesser creatures. From the looks of it, this one is a shadow tiger and whatever that thing is on its back. It’s at least in the Mind Realm. Uh-oh…

Uh-oh?? What?

Do you see that creepy head change color? The previously white pale head was now light purple. I would get on the ground. NOW!

Shang threw himself on the ground. His cheek just touched the clammy stone floors as the world around him erupted in a blinding, scorching white.