Tora Anden Kei struggled to keep his stomach in check. The shrill screams stabbed at his already throbbing head. Tensions were mounting between the Principal Families, and his father, as both the sect leader and a Tora, was feeling the pressure. Hence the mission Anden was now tasked with. He had arrived at the gorge late, much to his attendant Pan’s annoyance.
Anden knew he would complain to his father the first chance he got, but he did not care. He was always his father’s weakness. The golden child. Even if his reasons for being late were not strictly…appropriate for the First Son of the Shadow Tiger Sect, he would face no repercussions. Although, his father’s mood had been dark of late. Anden couldn’t deny part of his lateness was due to his distaste for what he now faced. He had no problems with killing. Killing he could do easily and without mercy. Whatever hesitance he may have had with taking a life had long been beaten out of him by his instructors. This, however, was not killing.
From his vantage in the shadows, he could see the gate clearly. While he could not see through the opening into Penumbra, he could feel the dark qi roiling from the opening in waves. A faint gray light escaped from the dark domain, casting the cavern in a sickly sheen. Anden kept his expression stern and impassive as the next beast-child was removed from the cage. As their leader, he couldn’t show any disapproval on his face lest he lost the respect of the disciples. Hedonism they could abide by, but weakness was a whole other story.
He could see the faint gleam of antlers on the head of the beast-child as it huddled in front of the gate opening. Its body was curled in on itself as he cowered in fear, knowing what was to come. The child did not have to wait long. A mangy blood-red dog exited the gate. It snatched the child quickly, breaking its neck as it dragged it back through the opening. He looked at the huddle of small bodies still in the cage and sighed. This was going to take a while.
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Bataa scouted ahead and returned with grim news.
“I could sense at least fifteen cultivators. At least one was in the Third Realm, maybe two,” Bataa said in rodent form. He looked much cuter as a rat. Shang felt a sudden urge to scratch his scruffy head, but he held himself back. The atmosphere in the group was grim, and Shang shook himself internally. Everything he had experienced since leaving his village was so surreal that it was hard to convince himself of his new reality. He felt relieved and touched that all three of his companions decided to join him, but from their solemn expressions, Shang knew his levity was misplaced.
“That’s not the worst part,” Bataa continued. “I could sense a huge disturbance in the qi balance. It felt like a large rift. There shouldn’t be a rift that large this far from the center of the gorge.”
“They must be using an artifact to tear open the domain barrier,” Koyo added.
Bataa pawed at his face nervously. His pink nose twitched in agitation. “There’s good and bad news. It felt like six of the cultivators were only in the Foundation stage.”
“Foundation? That’s great, maybe we’ll have a chance,” Nio exclaimed. The older man was wearing a trench onto the floor with his nervous pacing.
“And the screams?” Shang asked.
“And there’s the bad news. It seems like they’re using the six as bait. They were all huddled close together, and I could hear their cries.”
“As bait for what?” Shang asked.
Bataa shook his head. “I have no clue, something from Penumbra. From what I could tell, they sounded young.” Bataa lowered his head. “Monsters. No righteous cultivator should resort to harming children. They will all face righteous judgment under Heaven.”
Shang clenched his teeth and breathed in deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. It was hard for him to imagine such cruelty.
“Also…the cavern was filled with shadow aura,” Bataa continued.
Koyo’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with alarm. Shang shivered at the fear in her gaze. “Tora,” she grumbled.
Looks like you both have something in common. Nothing binds you closer than a common enemy!
The group stuck close to the tunnel barrier and devised a plan of approach. Bataa and Koyo both proposed a plan. Both seemed equally suicidal. They were greatly outnumbered and underprepared. Both Koyo and Bataa advised him to stay behind, but Shang refused. He was not going to let them risk their lives while he sat back and watched.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
You know…I appreciate the courage kid, but it might not be a bad idea to sit this one out.
Shang ignored Rue. His sense of frustration and helplessness was steadily mounting as they discussed their options. “Our goal isn’t to win against them, it’s to rescue the children. We should consider a more covert approach,” Shang said.
“Even if we save the children, what exactly are we supposed to do after?” Koyo gestured at their surroundings. “If we don’t kill all the cultivators, it’s not like there’s anywhere we can run to. We’re trapped in here, and even if we weren’t we wouldn’t be able to match them in speed.” An idea was prickling the back of Shang’s head, but it was no less dangerous than an outright attack.
“Master, I was thinking about the artifact they’re using to create the domain rift. I read about an artifact like that in your father’s artificing book. Do you think the structure is the same?” Shang asked.
Nio nodded slowly. “Y-yes, I think so.” His resigned expression said it all. Nio didn’t think any of them could make it out of this alive.
“So, it’s created from lode stones?”
“At least two prime-grade lode stones. An incredible cost. It takes an immense amount of dimensional disruption to open a hole to another domain,” Nio informed.
Shang pulled out the artificing manual and turned to the appropriate page. The page contained a detailed drawing and description of lode gates and a long paragraph on further applications of these gates as potential domain gates. The picture depicted a pair of metal pillars with both ends connected to a lode stone. The pillars, upon activation, would extend and create a door-like frame perpendicular to the ground. Koyo leaned over the page with narrowed eyes. “This is meant to be protected information available only through the Imperial Scholiasts.”
Nio blanched at her words. “My father meant no offense, Mistress Yong. He would never attempt to build a lode gate, as the trade of lode stones is strictly controlled by the imperial family. He was merely speculating on their construction. For scholarly purposes,” he babbled.
“Relax friend, I’m sure our Young Mistress has other more pressing worries at the moment. She will surely forgive something as insignificant as this,” Bataa said. He studied the schematic closely. “It says here that a rift can be created with an artifact similar to a lode gate using lode stones of higher quality and power. One is used as a stabilizing force between domains while the other acts as the key to open the connection.”
“Yes, it also says that these connections to the other domain are tenuous and sensitive to spatial aspect qi users and require the removal of all other spatial artifacts. What if we find a way to escape with the children into Penumbra and disrupt the domain gate enough to close the gate so no one can follow.” Shang’s suggestion was met with open mouths and dead silence.
“You must have a death wish,” Koyo muttered. “That’s a terrible idea on all fronts. No one here is a spatial qi user. Very few paths use Spatial qi because it’s extremely rare for any user to be attuned to that aspect of qi.”
“Well, what if we have this?” Shang held out the lodestone he’d been keeping in his expanse bag. He was met with more silence.
Wow, you’re breaking all the rules. Remember the rule—don’t show people the contents of your bag? And most importantly, listen to Master Rue!
You want me to leave those children to die?
YES!
Hence why I won’t be listening to your rules.
You know, sometimes, I feel like you’re just ungrateful.
Koyo let out a long sigh that sounded like a hiss. “Where did you get that?!” She snatched the stone from his hand. “And a prime-grade stone. These cost more than your whole province, not to mention they are highly illegal to own.”
Shang just shrugged, looking away. He wasn’t going to tell them that a weasel had given it to him after inhabiting his soul. “It’s complicated. I swear I did not know it was prohibited. I sort of found it.”
Koyo slapped the stone back into his hands with a huff. “Never mind, we can discuss this later. The stone might solve the issue of disrupting the gate, but it doesn’t address the biggest problem with your plan. How can we leave Penumbra once we arrive if we close the gate behind us?”
“I thought of that. There are small rifts between the caves and penumbra all around the gorge, right? We just need to find a rift and enter back into this domain at a different and hopefully less hostile location.”
“Ah, but you miss the biggest problem. We won’t last even a few minutes in Penumbra,” Bataa said.
“But I thought most of the beasts would be weaker than you. It will be dangerous but—”
“No, you don’t understand. We can’t cycle in there. Our cultivation is useless. We will be sitting ducks, completely helpless,” Koyo interjected.
Shang frowned in confusion. “But the Exalted Beasts can still cycle and fight when they cross over into our domain…”
“That’s true. The beasts have qi systems adapted to only Yin aspect qi because there is only Yin aspect qi in the Dark Realm. They can cycle here because this domain has Yin in the vital aura, these caves especially. Even if it’s less efficient for them, they can still cultivate. For us to cycle, we need at least some aspect of Yang, because of the natural Yin/Yang alignment of our qi systems,” Nio explained.
It made sense. Shang’s Yin-Yang alignment was close to 50/50; he cycled at optimal efficiency when the two aspects were balanced. It was the reason why cycling here, in the Yin-dominated aura, was so difficult. It was also why the barrier preventing the Exalted Beasts from leaving the gorge was composed of almost completely Yang aspects. It would be nearly impossible for a Yin dominant beast to cultivate in heavy water aura. Shang’s face heated in embarrassment and dismay. He should have extrapolated it on his own.
“But I think we can use that lode stone to our advantage,” Nio added, rubbing
his chin. “But I don’t think you’ll like it.”