Yu stood with her back to the isolation zone’s entrance archway, looking up into her master’s face. “It is time, disciple. Remember what you have learned, be firm and confident in what you have accomplished, and accept what must come, despite uncertainty. Now, go. Good luck to you.”

Yu’s emotions were mixed. She had wanted, for so long, to just be away from him. Yes, the last weeks things had been different, but she still wanted freedom. From him, from everyone really. But here she stood, biting her lip, hesitant to just leave while looking up into the eyes of the man who had somehow both constrained and empowered her. In the end, though, he had kept her safe. She would be less if not for this man who had been trying to make her more. For this moment, and for her future.

So, Yu stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his chest to his back. “Thank you for everything.”

Then, without waiting for a reply, or even looking at his face, she turned and walked through the archway.

And just like that, Yu was alone with Bai.

She had had to say goodbye to Zhu and their friends an hour ago. And she did feel they were friends of a sort. From different worlds, yes, but Hong’er was not like his father in that he did not dislike humans. Sha was friendly and competitive, Feng’er shy, but curious. According to them, most young demonic beasts of their intelligence found humans to be fascinating. She only half-counted as a human to them, for a reason they could or would not say.

So Yu stood alone, stroking Bai’s soft fur and rubbing his ears, as much for her own comfort as his.

Without warning, a man with silver hair entered carrying a long thin box. He immediately ordered her to place her belongings down on the ground. Yu did and then watched as he upturned her carefully packed bag. Afterward, he roughly spread everything out on the grass, muttering the whole time. Almost every item seemed to elicit some sort of complaint from the man. But it was when he reached the bottom of the bag that he got irritated.

“Seven skill scrolls and two jade skills tables?” he grumbled. “Nine skills! Why she’s allowing this farce is beyond me. What has this little waif done to…” then his muttering faded into general complaints.

Wait, nine? Shouldn’t there be seven? Two skills for each affinity and the one extra I traded for? What’s the eighth and nineth, and why are they tablets instead of scrolls?

She also noticed a few folded but sealed pieces of parchment, each with different labels. They appeared to be messages from her master. For example, the closest to her had a number “4” on it, while the one farthest said “2.” The others either had no labels or were upside down. She had no idea when he put them in her bag, but it also did not matter.

The curiosity those notes caused made her want to look through them, but before she could do anything about them, the man in front of her ordered her to remove everything she was wearing except for her armor.

She did and laid them out in front her as directed, a lot neater than him though. The man then took out a strange object from the box he had brought in with him. It was a long metal rod with a circle of metal and gems on the end. He stood above all of her stuff and ran the circle end of the rod over it all. It clicked occasionally, but nothing else happened that she could see.

He did continue to mutter, and one statement especially caught her ear. “If only I could find who had that Release. That person would be worthwhile and I would get a great reward for bringing him in.”

Yu said nothing to any of his comments, despite her desire to laugh in his face. Rather, she found his words offered an interesting insight into the workings of the Long clan.

“Equipment is clear,” the man said loudly and clearly.

“Acknowledged,” three voices called back simultaneously from somewhere out of her vision.

After saying that, he put the rod away and took out something else. It was two pieces of bamboo about as long as two hands with an egg-like clear crystal somehow stuck in between them.

“Arms out, feet shoulder-length apart,” the man ordered.

Yu obeyed. He then held the gem and ran the rod up and down her body, out to her arms and legs, and up over her head. She was honestly a little nervous he would try something, but neither he nor the detector touched her even once. It did leave a strange tingle on her skin, but that immediately faded as the rod moved away.

“Person is clear,” he called out again and received an identical response as last time.

He walked over to Bai and ran that same strange rod up and down him, focusing heavily on his saddle. “Well, at least you are not stupid enough to bring a resizing saddle. That has caused some arguments already.”

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After he was done, he yelled, “Bonded beast is clear.” His statement was acknowledged again, then he turned to her and snapped, “Pack up. I will return when you are done.”

Yu looked after her clansman as he walked away. He was not being vicious or cruel, he just seemed envious and unhappy about the overall situation. To her, he really just seemed like an old man, bitter about being stuck doing something he felt was beneath him. She imagined that her coming from his own clan – but in an indirect way and not brought up using the standard approved methods – made him even more jealous. Particularly since she was receiving quite a bit of support, at least from his perspective.

He, of course, knew nothing about Yu, what she had been through, or how hard she had worked to be standing there. Nodding to herself, she turned toward her belongings.

The act of having to repack everything was annoying, but as she had practiced it repeatedly, it did not take all that long. She did use the opportunity to glance at the two extra skills, seeing small notes attached to the small rectangles of jade by a string, but she could garner nothing from them due to some enchanted block. Without breaking the string, they would remain a mystery and she had no intention of taking such a terrible risk simply to sate her curiosity.

Bai sat there, watching and looking around, making sure nobody disturbed her.

When she had everything back where it was before, including the bag hanging securely on a hook on Bai’s saddle, she called loudly, “Uhh, ready.”

A few breaths later, that same clansman walked out. “Finally. You’re like those fools who had no idea how to pack a bag without having some servant or ten to do it for them. Alright, here is how this works. I assume I don’t have to tell you how a void functions? Tell me you have a clue about that at least?”

His words were unkind and inaccurate, his tone was very condescending, and Yu wanted to refute everything he had said, but she held herself back and simply nodded.

Too close to the goal to mess it up for some bitter old man I probably won’t ever meet again.

“That’s something I suppose. Fine then. Here is what you need to know. We, and by ‘we’ I mean the Long clan that you have somehow deceived your way into, has been studying this aperture and spirit realm for close to three years now. We have calculated how the space fluctuates, how the void energies flow, and many more things that you are too clueless to understand.”

It was frustrating to Yu to hear his words more than his tone. Yes, they were insulting her intelligence and her master, but what really bothered her was that she actually was interested in the topic and was losing an opportunity to learn. Unfortunately, he did not seem to care, being too busy talking down to her.

“Without getting too technical and confusing you, we’ve determined that the void changes endpoint locations for every twelve beings that pass through. Meaning every twelve people will appear in a different physical position somewhere in the spirit realm. There is also a timer if twelve do not enter, but that does not matter for you as you are alone, no doubt for good reason.”

This guy is an ass, but what he said also explains quite a bit. Why it’s groups of twelve, why they process people the way they do, and what is happening with the aperture itself.

“Now, we cannot tell you anything about what is beyond that aperture. We have sent numerous scouts through, but none have returned. There are any number of reasons why this could be the case. Perhaps the entry and exit location are different. Perhaps this entry is directly inside a mountain or over an active volcano. Perhaps they have all died to beasts or poison or being vaporized during transition, or any other possible outcome.

He seemed a little too gleeful at that last sentence in Yu’s mind.

“As far as duration goes, we believe the spatial pocket will last for anywhere from three to five years. Historically, these temporary realms eject anyone who enters through the aperture when it breaks down. However, that is not always true, so we are advising everyone entering to find an exit aperture, which may or may not exist.

“In short, I am informing you that the risks of entry are substantial. Thus,” he pointed at a round plate of stone in the middle of the space. “Stand there.” She walked over and stepped on it. He followed and cleared his throat. “Do you acknowledge that by entering this spirit realm you are accepting the risk of physical or mental harm, including possible crippling or death? Please answer that you do or do not clearly and loudly.”

Silver appeared in front of her, and a familiar weight lay on her shoulders.

Chain of Acknowledgement being applied. Agree?

Yu took a breath and said, “I do,” stridently as she mentally agreed to her Sign, causing it to disappear along with the weight.

“Hmph! Follow me then.”

He turned and walked towards an archway opposite one she used to enter, where he stopped and looked at her. This arch led to a short tunnel, where on the end, Yu could see a void. Its edges were jagged and the energy flickered and popped, but it had the familiar feeling of a void.

“Once it cycles, you may walk down the tunnel and enter.”

You watched it, trying to sense what a “cycle” would be like. They both stood there a while until, out of nowhere, the void folded in on itself and then gave off what she could only describe as a pop of energy. It was very strange and she had never sensed anything like it before.

“Even though I shouldn’t have had to say anything to a true clan member, you can go now.”

Yu walked forward next to Bai, rolling her eyes where her bitter fellow clansman couldn’t see.

With a hand draped over Bai’s neck, she breathed deeply and proceeded. The walk down the tunnel may have been the longest walk of Yu’s life, knowing only that a mystery lay on the other side. Staring at that fluctuating energy with edges like a serrated blade, she proceeded. It flowed and crackled to her senses and the closer she got, the more it seemed to snap at her.

She eventually stopped in front it, looking at the swirling power that, up close, she realized was not at all like her own. It was, for lack of a better term, a mess. If she had created a void like this, her master would have… well… it would have been unpleasant.

Taking in and letting out a breath, she grabbed Bai’s saddle and climbed on.

“Alright, buddy. Let’s do this.”

Bai looked over his shoulder at her and she smiled. Then she ducked low over the saddle even though the void was big enough for her to stand on Bai and still fit through.

“In we go,” she whispered. And then she nudged him forward.

He crouched, stayed that way for two breaths, and they leaped into the unknown.