Few people consider the Shore when discussing places of Qi Transformation. But I ask: even if the moon qi there can’t compare to the flames of the Eversmoke Peak or the wind in the Pearlescent Passes, how powerful would the moon fragments that fell there have to be to have kept the regions qi-alignment for all known history? – Qin Liu, Wandering Scholar

* * *

“Medicine?” I’d never even seen this kind of mushroom before, let alone heard of a disease that could be cured by them. Then again…that was hardly surprising. I had been trapped longer than I cared to admit.

“There’s a wave of lunar fever in the village at the moment,” Tenri explained. “The village stores were running low on mooncaps, so we came to replenish the supply.”

Zhao knelt next to the mushrooms and began gently pulling them from the ground before placing them in her bag. She handled them with such care, you’d think she was picking fireweeds instead of simple mushrooms.

“You two, fan out and look for more.” The formerly timid woman ordered us with such confidence that I was momentarily stunned. However, a moment later, she blushed deep, covering her face with her hands. “Please forgive this one her impertinence!! I d-did not mean-”

I frowned and looked to the side. “There are some over here.” I pointed to another patch. “I imagine they radiate natural moon aura, but it’s hard to tell.” I squinted at them, trying to see the qi of the plants, but no matter how I twisted my head or narrowed my eyes, the glowing haze of life surrounding all creatures was invisible to my eyes.

“Forgiveness, but if you really are Bronze, then you’d be just as blind to qi as I am,” Tenri muttered. “That’s a skill for the Irons.”

“I…of course,” I answered glumly. How long had it been since I was such a weak advancement? I didn’t even remember how long I’d actually remained at Bronze the first time. It was a lifetime ago.

“So what advancement are you really?” Tenri asked softly, probably hoping I wouldn’t hear him. I didn’t answer. It was a question I did not wish to answer.

“I shall search deeper in,” I said. “You can search the other way.” I pointed to a small branch off the main cavern tunnel for the others to search.

Striding past Tenri and his suspicious gaze, I made my way deeper within. The whispers of the labyrinth grew stronger in my thoughts, but I withstood them. Anything to prevent Tenri from delving deeper himself. The faster we could get out of here, the better. After we got what they came for, we could leave, and I could figure out how to proceed.

In my youth, I learned much of cultivation from my sect elders, but books and lessons can only account for so much. I’d been a rather unruly disciple, constantly wandering off to experience the world’s mysteries for myself. As such, I liked to think I had a deeper understanding of qi. After all, anyone can memorize the words in a book, but those who live it themselves? Those are the ones who will understand the very meaning behind the world. That thinking had led me down my path, and it would not fail me here, either.

If mooncaps were suffused with lunar aura, then the only place for them to flourish in a cave like this, so far from the moon’s light, would be near another source of lunar aura: namely my prison. I delved further in, conjuring a small mote of qi to my hand. The moonlight shimmered to life, lighting the way forward for myself.

Mooncaps glowed bright all around me, confirming my theory.

“Well, Chiho, would you look at that,” I muttered. “I haven’t lost all my marbles, after all.” Chiho whined sadly. “Also, I don’t recall you being so violent. What was that all about?”

Chiho pulled itself from my hair and flew in front of me, nuzzling into my cheek. I laughed and pushed it away, but it zipped around my hand and pressed its tiny wings against my cheek.

“You really did miss me, huh,” I said with a laugh. “I think you’re probably the only one.” It vibrated happily, and I held it close for a tender moment. “Come on, you silly thing. Let’s see how many mushrooms are here.”

I pushed onward. Chiho flitted around my head in an excited dance. The further we walked, the more mushrooms we found. They thrived here, and I soon discovered why.

After several minutes of following the brightest mushrooms through the twisting and turning tunnels, I rounded a corner to find myself face to face with an enormous door carved into the stones. It was a masterpiece of jade, pearl, onyx and marble, featuring all eight major phases of the moon. They were arranged around a single moon, dripping with black blood.

As soon as I saw it, I felt the pull of the labyrinth tug on my core. It was furious to have lost its grip on its only charge, and I threw myself back before it could rip me back into that place of madness. I fought to control the trembling in my hands and steady my breaths.

I hadn’t expected the labyrinth to be so close. For the prison of one of the most powerful and hated enemies of a bygone age, it was so painfully close to the surface. How had it gone unnoticed for so long? Or was the Sun Queen and the Ascendents clutching at her skirts so confident that their masterful prison would hold me forever that they’d decided to post no further defenses? Contemptuous as I was for the pitiful monarchs of my time, I doubted very much that they would be so foolish.

“What’s wrong?” asked a skeptical voice. I opened my eyes to see Tenri standing nearby, his arms crossed.

Had he been following me?! How had I not seen that? Of all the futures I should have been able to glimpse, this one should have been at the top of the list! I readied my qi, prepared to take action should the need arise.

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“I…uh…I was just…” I looked around frantically for a decent excuse. My eyes landed on the mushrooms, reminding me of the entire reason I’d come this way in the first place. “I thought to follow the brightest mushrooms to find more.”

“You don’t fool me,” he answered. “Mushrooms wouldn’t frighten a cultivator, not even a Bronze one, not that I believe that for a second. Who are you?”

“I told you my name earlier.”

He shook his head. “You could say anything for your name. That doesn’t explain who you are or why you’re in this cave.”

“So, you followed me to try and find out?”

“I am the only Spirit Artist in Saikan. I have to know if you’re a threat or not,” he growled. His fists were balled at his sides, but his sword was not yet drawn.

“I promised you earlier that I was no threat to you or your friend.”

“But I don’t know you. Your word is meaningless to me.”

Tenri, if you knew the truth, my word would be even less than meaningless…

“Does it have to do with what frightened you?” He began walking closer, his eyes never leaving me.

I saw his path. He meant to look around the corner, see the door to the labyrinth.

“No, Tenri! Don’t!” I cried. I tried to take a step forward, only my feet were entangled. I crashed into the cave ground, dazed by the fall and shocked by how quickly I’d lost my balance. The Bronze band limited more than just my core, it seemed. My body was clumsier than I’d been in years…

I gathered my qi. This had gone too far outside of my control.

I have to start over! Before he finds out, I have to unmake-

Chiho rested on my hand and vibrated a soft, soothing frequency. I stopped my technique, letting the lunar qi dissipate around me as I stared into the tiny eyes of the jade crane.

“What is this?” Tenri breathed.

“Don’t get too close, I don’t know what it’ll do to an outsider,” I said. I rolled onto my back and sat up, trying to free my feet from the fungi that had suddenly grown around them, no doubt at Tenri’s command. It seemed plant roots weren’t the only thing he could manipulate. He was certainly on a path of wood. By the time he spoke again, I’d stood and brushed my robes clean of dirt.

“I know this symbol. It’s the bleeding moon.”

“A stupid symbol, really,” I complained, looking away. For all the blood on my hands, never once was it my own, at least never in a reality that history remembered.

“Who are you?” he asked again. When I didn’t answer, he turned to me, hatred in his eyes. “Who. Are. You?” His every word was reinforced with the qi in his soul, giving the mushrooms around us life with each sound.

A wrenching pain lanced through me as the bronze band squeezed so tight around my core that my every muscle tensed. I cried out, staggering back and leaning against the wall as I tried to puzzle out what was happening to me.

Tenri stared at me in confusion. “What’s going on?” If I’d known, I would have said something. However, it was just as much a puzzle to me as to him.

That bronze band…I’d created it to bind me to Tenri. It limited me to his advancement but gave me an anchor point outside of the labyrinth which I’d used to escape. None of that explained why it had so suddenly tightened.

But, it didn’t stop. It squeezed and squeezed. I couldn’t breathe, and every muscle threatened to rip itself apart.

Suddenly, it hit me. This had happened only after I’d refused to answer a question punctuated with his qi. His own aura had lashed out, but there was no way that it would influence the band like that, not without…

“I’m…Tsuyuki…Yoru…” I gasped, but the band didn’t lessen its cold and unyielding grip. That wasn’t the answer he wanted. “I’m…they called me…the…Darkened Moon.”

The relief was instant, and I gripped my chest as I breathed large gulps of air. Tenri stared at me in horror, but I ignored his gaze as best I could. After my breaths had returned to normal, I stood.

“I expect you think I’m a threat, now.” There was no need to ask. I knew the answer from the look on his face. History had not been kind enough to erase my sins.

“The Darkened Moon murdered millions, erased entire countries,” he breathed. “And…and I freed you…”

“It’s nothing personal,” I said. “You just happened to be the first cultivator in a while who caught my attention from inside the prison. And I’d ask that you don’t put me back in that prison, please.”

“How could I?! You’re an Ascendent!”

“I was an Ascendent,” I corrected. “I’ve bound myself to your advancement in order to escape. I’m just a regular Bronze, now.” Just a regular Bronze with all the knowledge of qi efficiency gained over the course of a couple thousand years of advancement…totally normal.

To Tenri’s credit, my words did not soothe him. He was an artist, one who’d actively cultivated the qi of his core to ascend into the Forging Realm. There were four stages of Forging: Bronze, Iron, Silver, and Gold. After that, one had to develop their own blooded techniques to reach the Refining Realm. Ascendents were in the realm after Refining, and it took millennia of cultivation, a mountain of resources, and a heavenly revelation to reach the heights of Ascendency. Were I in my full brilliance, Tenri would not be able to stand in my presence without being reduced to dust.

But that was then, and now I had a bronze band of my own creation wrapped around my core. That band kept me weak, but it kept me free, and between the two, one was far more important than the other.

“Please,” I begged. “Please let me have this second chance, Tenri.” I briefly considered getting on my knees to beg him, but my pride stopped me. It wouldn’t be proper, and I doubted he would be swayed by such formality regardless.

Tenri pondered the request, fear still clear on his face. After a long moment, though, he steeled his expression and cleared his throat.

“You swear that you have the power of a Bronze? That you’re bound to my level?” he asked.

I nodded. “I’ll only be able to advance to Iron if you do.” I left out the part where I was forming a theory that I messed up my own ritual and gave him the power to bind my will. The last thing I needed was another suffocation episode every time I was slow to answer his questions.

Tenri cast a glance at the door around the corner from me. He was still thinking hard about the choice. It was a weighty one, one that would result in the anger of quite a few very powerful people if he chose wrong.

The wood artist suddenly began moving towards me with intent in his steps. Fear gripped my heart as I prepared myself to use the technique that Chiho had stopped me from using earlier. He would throw me back at the door, and I’d be returned to the labyrinth, I was sure of it. I wouldn’t let it happen. I would sooner rip reality apart than let that happen…

His hand gripped my shoulder, and I flinched…but no force dragged me out from behind my corner. I looked up to see sincere green eyes set behind his cracked glasses and framed by a warm, tanned face and long black hair pulled back out of his face.

“You saved my life and Zhao’s,” he said. “By my count, I still owe you one life. Now we’re even, understand?” I nodded, dumbstruck by his answer. “Now, come on. We have mushrooms to gather and bring back.”