Within a few minutes of flying, I was over the mountain range and could hardly breathe through the thick miasma of volcanic ash. The center of the mountain range had the most active volcanos, and I couldn’t see anywhere a gorgon would nest in or whatever they did. So, I continued to fly deeper into the range.

“Be careful,” Fengbao said, his voice a low grumble in my head, “Do not fly into the ash itself or get too close.”

“Why not?” I asked aloud.

“One of my brothers lives here. He is a spirit like myself, only more powerful than I.”

“More powerful than you?” I asked, amazed but not so astonished that I didn’t heed the warning, and glided down a little.

“Who are you talking to?” Orrin asked.

“Probably one of her spirit cores. Just ignore her and keep looking for a nest,” Haze answered.

“Yes,” Fengbao said, ignoring Orrin and Haze’s conversation over me, “He is the rarest chakra combination made from lighting and fire. He refuses to be contained or to share his power. All that tried to fill one of their cores with his chakra met a swift and painful end.”

“Stay out of the ash clouds and away from orange lightning. Good to know,” I said, gliding even further away from the ash clouds as I kept an eye out for any flashes of orange lightning.

“Why do we need to stay away from the ash clouds? And avoid orange lightning?” Orrin asked, sounding a bit concerned.

“And why are we dropping in altitude?” Haze asked, sounding more than a little mad as the mountains around us got closer, and we couldn’t see over them anymore.

“Uhh, yeah, about that. Turns out there is a very not-friendly spirit living in the ash clouds that enjoys killing people in excruciating ways. So, I’m trying to avoid that outcome,” I answered a bit nervously.

Haze grunted and said nothing more as we continued to fly around the mountain range. After a few more minutes of flying, Haze shifted on my back and pointed to a volcano to my right. “There,” she said, and I turned. The volcano had smoke and ash coming out of its top, but no lava flowed out of it, and I could barely see the black opening of a cave three-quarters of the way up the mountain.

I angled my body to fly in that direction and slowed down as I placed Orrin at its entrance before landing myself. Haze let go and walked past me as I folded my wings. I turned to Orrin, whose white suit had streaks of ash in it that he tried to brush away but only made worse. He looked up at me and adjusted his suit as he confidently walked into the cave, saying, “Thank you for flying us here, no matter how undignified you carried me.”

“You are most welcome,” I said, following him.

“Honestly though, did you have to carry me like that? It was wrinkling my clothes. Do you realize how difficult it is to get wrinkles out of this suit? Let me tell you, my servants have to spend all day just to get it perfect,” Orrin continued to complain.

“Oh, boo hoo. The poor little rich kid has servants,” I said mockingly, “Now you’re going to tell me three nannies raised you.”

“I was not!” Orrin said, sounding offended, “My mother and two nannies raised me, thank you!” then he stormed off, the clack of his cane echoing in the darkness ahead.

“Enough chit-chat,” Haze barked in hushed tones, “Zeana, cast a night vision spell so we can see.” I blinked at her and looked around. I could see perfectly fine and knew Orrin could see. Then I sighed as I thought Haze probably couldn’t see, and that’s why she’s asking, and constructed a level one spell with sight, dark, light, and space runes. The spell circle flashed quickly, and Haze blinked a few times as she said, “Thank you. Now, let’s keep moving.”

Haze stayed in the lead and looked around the cave we walked down. She stopped a dozen meters into the cave and pointed at the ceiling, “Gorgon marks. Their wings scrape against the ceiling sometimes and leave little marks. Gorgons have definitely been here at some point. Let’s hope it’s been recently.”

She continued moving, and I looked up to see two deep gouges taken out of the stone above, a little less than a shoulder width apart. I didn’t spend much time marveling at it, or else I would be left behind. After a few more minutes of walking, I felt the heat in the tunnel rising steadily, and sweat began to bead on my brow and roll down the small of my back. As the heat grew unbearable, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and Haze saw it, too, as she sped up.

Haze turned the corner the light came from and stopped. Her hands began to shake as rage painted itself across her face. Orrin and I quickly turned the same corner and soon saw what she saw. The tunnel opened into a massive natural cavern in the center of the volcano, and destroyed marble ruins were scattered around the area with a pool of bubbling magma in the very center. All around the destroyed marble ruins were dozens of corpses. Each one was female with leathery bat-like wings with multiple claws coming out of them, and each one missed their head.

But that wasn’t what made Haze stop, with anger building up inside her. What drew her fury was the man sitting casually at the lip of the magma pool. He had dark skin, slanted eyes, and short black hair. He wore an orange gi with a golden belt. The light from the magma behind him illuminated him just enough for me to recognize him.

“Lii?” I gasped in astonishment.

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He smiled and clapped his hands as he stood, “Well, well, well! You’re finally here. Before we continue, let me get one thing straight, I’m—”

“WHAT DID YOU DO!?!” Haze yelled, interrupting him.

Lii stopped talking mid-sentence and took a small breath before continuing, “I was getting to that. I need to get one thing straight. I’m—”

“Why are you here?!? How did you get here?” I asked, interrupting him again.

With a quick shake of his head, he continued again, “I’m—”

“Got any tea around here?” Orrin asked, interrupting him for a third time.

“WILL! YOU! ALL! SHUT!! UP!!!” Lii yelled, reaching the end of his patience. Once we were all quiet, he took a deep breath and smiled again, “As I was saying! My name isn’t Lii anymore. My name is Nezha Taiyang. And as you can see, this nest of monsters is destroyed,” he said gesturing to the corpses around him, “Along with all the other nests in the mountains and their head all destroyed.”

“WHAT!?!” Haze growled in anger.

“Yes, melted, in fact. I threw each and every one of them into the magma.”

Haze’s eyes widened, and she stumbled back a step as though she had just taken a massive blow to her heart. Then she looked down and clenched her fists again as she growled, “I’ll kill you.”

With a raise of his finger, Nezha added, “All of them except for one.” Haze looked up with hope and anger in her eyes as Nezha knelt and picked up a rucksack, proffering it to us. Haze stepped forward, and Nezha turned his body to hold the sack over the magma as he said, “Nah, uh, uh. Not so fast now. If you want this, you must do something for me.”

“What do you want?” Haze asked, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

Nezha smiled and pointed with his free hand at me, “What I want is simple. Bring me her head, and I’ll give you this head.”

Haze froze and slowly turned to me as fear clenched in my stomach. I took a step back, shaking my head, “No.”

“Oh, yes,” Nezha countered, “You can save a few old gods just by giving me her head. It’s a fair trade, don’t you think?”

Haze looked into my eyes, and I could see the sorrow filling her eyes as I took another step back. Then Haze closed her eyes and said, “Sorry.”

“No, no, no,” I mumbled as I took several more steps back into the tunnel.

“But I will have to decline your offer!” Haze yelled, turning to face Nezha with all her hatred and anger. I froze thought for a moment and realized I was being stupid. Haze would never betray her students, no matter what happened. I should’ve remembered that.

Nezha slumped and shook his head, “I guess you were right, Master, she wouldn’t have betrayed her student.”

“Master?” was all Haze and I could ask before something wrapped around our limbs and necks. It felt like hundreds of thin, cold wires had just suddenly manifested themselves around my neck and arms, cutting into my flesh. The wires even wrapped around my wings and tails, completely immobilizing me. I saw that all around Orrin were hundreds of thin wires that seemed to go taught around his body and fingers. Did Orrin betray us? Why? Is he Nezha’s Master?

Then I heard a soft tap, tap, tap of someone walking down the tunnel behind us. The sound was slow and methodical, and with it, I could feel an oppressive presence. It felt like I was bathing in magma and being crushed with dozens of tons of stone. More than that, it felt as though something was wrong as my danger sense sent shivers down my body making my hair stand on end.

As the sound of footsteps came behind me, I heard a woman’s low, sultry whisper in my ear, “You still have a chance to join me.”

I froze as I recognized the voice and watched helplessly as Zise walked past us with a sensual sway of her hips. “Zise, is your Master?” I asked, stunned and afraid.

“Hahaha!” Zise laughed as she continued to walk toward Nezha, “You did good, my apprentice.”

Nezha knelt and bowed his head, “Thank you, my Master. It is a pleasure to serve you.”

Once she reached him, Zise ran a sharp fingernail up Nezha’s jawbone, allowing him to raise his head. Then she turned to us and said, “I must say, Nezha has been such a good boy. So loyal and reliable. He has pulled his weight. Especially when he killed … oh, what was that old fool’s name again?”

“Grandmaster Vowlshten,” Nezha provided.

“Ah, yes. That’s the one. It’s always such a chore to remember weak and pitiful people’s names,” Zise said coldly with a brilliant smile. “Now, as for your decision, Zeana. Will you join us, or will I have to put you down like the flee-ridden mut you are?”

I didn’t know what to do. I needed time. I needed time to figure out what to do myself or to help Haze do something. “Orrin! Why are you helping them!?” I pleaded through the wires, digging into my throat.

“Oh, the prince?” Zise asked, sounding amused, “he’s not one of mine. Or rather, he never joined us willingly. I was borrowing him for a time. He can’t hear you right now. He is my little plaything right now and will be until I no longer have a use for him.”

“Are you the one who poisoned the emperors?!” Haze asked, sounding much louder than me, “Are you responsible for the monsters attacking?! The bandits raiding villages and killing innocent people!?”

Zise turned her attention to Haze with an evil, self-satisfied grin, saying, “Oh, I’m responsible for much more than that. Don’t you remember me?”

“Why would I know someone as vile and disgusting as you!?” Haze roared in anger, straining against the wires holding her.

Zise’s smile never faded as she turned back to me and asked, “Will you join me? Or will you die?”

I gritted my teeth and said, “You could offer me all the riches in the world. I will never join you!”

With a shrug and a wave of her hand, Zise said, “Orrin, kill her.” Orrin’s index finger twitched, and I felt the wires around my neck tighten and stop.

I looked over to Orrin and saw his hands shaking. “I—” Orrin began to say, through gritted teeth, “Will … never … listen … to you!”

Zise’s smile faltered a little before she chuckled and looked to Haze, “You want to know how we know each other? Well, let me jog your memory.” With a snap of her fingers, the magma pool went dark, and the cavern became deathly cold. The ash that rose high into the sky before was now gone and replaced with a bright starry sky and a massive pale blue full moon that illuminated the cavern, centering around Zise. With a wave of her hand, a wine glass full of red wine appeared and shimmered under the rays of the full moon, then she began to sing, slow, organized, and beautiful, “Moonlight blue. Grace in the glimmering. Stars are glowing anew.”

Haze’s body tensed as she recognized the song, “No,” she mumbled, unable to say anything else.

“Ring’s dim. Painting the pale moon. Fates frozen in time (time). Stars skim. Light on the old runes. Come now, see them align.”

“No … no,” Haze muttered again.

Zise raised her wine glass so it caught the light from the pale moon and slowly walked closer, “With a watchful gaze on the skyline. We look to the sweep of the stars. My friend through many long lifetimes. I guide your way from afar!”

“No, no, no, no!” Haze continued to mutter as she struggled to get free.

As Zise sang, she stood before me as I struggled to escape from the wires that Orrin still held me in. “Moonlight blue! Grace in the glimmering! Stars are glowing anew!” Zise sang as she turned the glass of wine into a red sword with a flick of her free hand, raising it high, “Moonlight blue! Fates in the shimmering! Such a beautiful hue! Here’s to you. Beautiful blue!”

She swung the sword down to my neck as Haze met my eyes and yelled with all her power, “NOOO!!” Blinding red-orange light filled my vision before everything turned black.