Attempt #82: Failure. Something stops me from connecting to the Labyrinth. I grow frustrated. The Ascendants claim it holds the Darkened Moon as its only purpose, but I know it’s a lie. I have felt and seen its Call. Why won’t you let me in oh Dark Master? –From the notes of a crazed alchemist who wandered the Moon-Soaked Shore.

* * *

The long corridors of the Labyrinth stretched before me in either direction. I sighed. This was either a much worse dream than usual, or something far worse had occurred. For my own sake, I desperately hoped it was just a dream.

“But what’s a dream to the Ascendent who can warp reality on a whim?”

I sighed and turned around. The scene shifted and I was in my rooms at Half-Moon Manor, the palace that had served me at the height of my power. Striding casually down the hall, his hands clasped behind his back, was Iru’e Jinshi, The Sword Saint himself. He was ruggedly beautiful, with a messy ponytail that left several whisps of hair drifting down the sides of his face, and just enough dirt on his armor to make him look perfectly human. He smiled at me fondly, and I felt my heart twang in longing.

“Why bother with dreams when you can snap your fingers and make it reality?” he wondered.

“You and I both know it’s not that easy.” I took a deep breath to steady myself. Even in a dream, the Labyrinth only served one purpose: to lock me inside my own personal hell. It was impossible for this to be the real Jinshi. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Is it really so hard to believe that I wouldn’t come see my precious Yoru in his time of need?” Jinshi’s words were soft, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Those lovely jade eyes that used to hold my entire world were cold as year old embers.

“I’m told the real Jinshi is dead,” I noted, not looking the Labyrinth’s copy in the eye.

Slow footsteps heralded the hand that came to rest gently on my shoulder. “You of all people should know that the rumors of my deaths are often exaggerated. How many times did a message reach you that I was dead only moments before I walked through the palace gates?” I couldn’t help the smile from crossing my lips. It was a melancholy smile, remembering the six separate times I’d mourned my love only for him to waltz in the front door.

“Are you saying you’re still out there, this time?”

“You’ll just have to find out, won’t you, Yoru?”

A shudder passed down my spine. It had been so long since anyone had said my name with any measure of tenderness. In an instant, I fell back into time-hardened habits. Jinshi’s arms wrapped around me as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“You know I always return, right, Yoru?”

“I know.”

“This is no exception. I’ll always make time for my little monster.”

I flinched as a phantom nail lanced through my heart. How had I been so easily drawn in? No incarnation of Jinshi created by the Labyrinth could ever be gentle. In the end, the Labyrinth wasn’t built to give comfort.

Jinshi’s grip tightened, holding me firm as he whispered in my ear. “You’ve been quite the unruly prisoner, haven’t you?”

“Just needed a bit of fresh air. It’s awfully stuffy underground,” I hissed back. “Do you ever get tired of tormenting me? How many thousands of years will it take for you to get bored?”

“Oh, dearest Yoru,” Jinshi released me and shoved me back. “You and I both know that I’m only a figment of your imagination. The Labyrinth can only draw on your memories and thoughts for inspiration. How many thousands of years will it take for you to get tired of torturing yourself? Shall we see?”

“I’d rather not find out.”

“Oh, but you won’t get the choice,” Jinshi said with a wink. “Clever trick, using that witless idiot to break free of my clutches, but now he’s on the brink of death. Guess who put him there? When he dies…oh, I expect I’ll have quite the inspiration to pull from.”

My mouth grew dry. “Tenri isn’t dead yet. There’s still a chance.”

“Don’t fool yourself. He’s just another name at the bottom of the list of lives you’ve destroyed,” Jinshi hissed. A moment later, though, he paused to think. “How long is that list, anyway? I wonder, would you even be able to find the bottom so you could scribe his name? Or is the bottom lost amidst the rest of the parchment? A scroll that never ends?”

“Shut up!” I shouted. “It’s not my fault! It’s not-”

Jinshi rushed forward, pushing me roughly against the wall. “Poor, deluded little monster, of course it’s your fault! Tenri wouldn’t be in danger if not for you! He’d go on living his life, free of your righteous delusions. You are a monster who brings nothing but hardship to all those around you! You brought it to your sisters, you brought it to me, and now you’ve brought it to Tenri. Who’s next? The hornet queen? The honeybee? Or maybe that little girl who hangs off your sleeves?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I squeezed my eyes shut. My hands trembled, but I pressed them over my ears. For thousands of years, the Labyrinth brought my worst failings and threw them in my face. Sometimes, it chose Chouko’s face to deliver them, sometimes Aya’s, but most often it brought Jinshi’s. Its words pummeled me like stones, no matter how much I tried to tune them out.

“I hope you’re homesick, Yoru,” Jinshi hissed. “Because soon enough, you’ll be back in prison, where you belong.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I shoved him aside. He wasn’t the real Jinshi. His words weren’t real. I ran, trying to escape the mocking wind artist.

“Run all you like, Yoru!” he shouted. “You’ll never be free of me!”

* * *

I sat upright in a strange bed, and immediately regretted it. The band around my core was still so tight I could barely breathe, and my hands trembled uncontrollably. My muscles ached with pains I had no explanation for. All in all, everything was miserable…

But, at least, it’s not the Labyrinth, I reminded myself.

At least, I didn’t think it was. Though I was certain I’d never been in this room before, I was at least familiar with the design. A bed, a bath, a place to sit; this had to be an inn of some kind. Though no one was with me at present, a bottle of honey on a side table indicated I was somewhere safe.

A pang of pain ran through my heart and core as the band squeezed ever so slightly, forcing the breath right out of me. I had to loosen it somehow, but how?

One thing was clear to me. Tenri was in danger. There was no other reason to explain the tightness around my core. I was bound to him. If he died…

I shook my head. There was no point considering what might happen if he did. The danger he faced was weeks away from me. Even if I left this instant, I’d never make it in time to help. There was no point in worrying over that which I had no control over.

So, what was there to be done? I prayed for his safety, then turned my focus back to myself. Whether or not he lived was out of my hands, but whether or not I did? That was up to me.

Inch by inch, I forced the qi of my core to cycle to my body. It was like trying to wring juice from a dried apple, but, with every ounce of qi that escaped the band of Bronze, my hands trembled just a little less. The aches in my body were soothed, if only a bit, and my breathing started coming more easily.

“Who’s the healer here? I don’t tell you how to fight with your lance, so don’t try and tell me how to heal!” Pollen’s muffled voice said through the door. It was followed by a huff that could come from no one but Pharyx.

“I’m just making sure you know how to treat someone like him!” he protested. “You know he’s not fully human, right? He’s got a wicked nasty curse. Make sure you take that into account!”

“I know what I’m doing,” the honeybee snapped back. A moment later, the door opened, and the queens of the honey hive and hornet nest stepped in, followed by a wide-eyed nine-year-old, whose eyes went even wider when she saw me sitting upright.

“Mister!” she exclaimed, running and hopping up onto the bed. “You’re awake! Master Pharyx and Queen Pollen were so worried about you!”

Pharyx opened his mouth to argue, but Pollen swatted him with her whisk. She glared at him, and he shut his mouth. I smiled. No doubt Xinya was the most worried of them all but was too proud to admit it.

“I’m alive, I’m alive,” I reassured her, pulling her into my arms and kissing her head gently. “Don’t know how long I will be, but, for now, I’m alive.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Pollen asked. I nodded. “Then do you know what’s going on with you? Your qi has been fluctuating wildly ever since the battle. In fact, it was so wild we were worried that you qi-deviated on the spot, but you don’t show any other symptoms.”

She was right to be concerned. Qi deviation was a significant threat to any cultivator. Those who failed to follow the precepts of their path, whose faith and principles were so completely shaken so as to fracture their very identity, those artists were liable to be consumed by their own qi. It was a rare occurrence, since only artists of a high caliber were so ingrained in a path as to be bound so completely by principle.

However, my current condition was completely different. Qi deviation often results in the body being consumed in a flood of its qi cascading uncontrollably through the meridians. My problem was rather the opposite. With the band around my core, my flow was stifled. Hell, if I had been in the midst of qi deviation, I might have felt better, because, at least then, I wouldn’t be coaxing water from a frozen well.

“So, what happened?” Pharyx asked bluntly. “We almost didn’t make it out of that spider attack with just the two of us.” The unspoken question from the hornet was clear. He wanted to know if it would happen again, and I didn’t have an answer for him. For all I knew, I could keel over dead at anytime. Without knowing Tenri’s condition, it was impossible to know.

“My core is bound to another,” I explained.

“It’s Master Tenri, isn’t it?” Xinya asked. “You said you could sense if he was in danger during the storm a few months back. Is he in danger now?”

I nodded and explained the relationship between myself and Tenri Lin. However, I did leave out the details of why I was in a position where I needed to be bound to him. Luckily, the spirit beasts had the decency not to ask, even if I could see the curiosity clearly in their eyes.

“The truth is, I can’t be sure it won’t happen again, but I believe he has stabilized somewhat,” I admitted. “It’s easier to breathe now.”

“Your qi is levelling out thanks to the medicines we gave you,” Pollen said, feeling my pulse. “Assuming his condition doesn’t worsen, yours should, at least, be passably fine.”

“But is it enough to delve into the Black Crevice?” Pharyx wondered. “We need to press further if we want to make use of our diversion in the south.”

“I won’t be a burden,” I said stubbornly, brushing a loose strand of hair back so Chiho could tuck it into my ponytail. Of all the greatest injuries to my pride as a former Ascendent, becoming a hinderance was not one I was willing to tolerate. I would sooner fall upon my own sword (proverbially, since I currently lacked one) than let Pharyx or Pollen die rescuing me. If I had to drag myself with bloody nails across a field of broken glass in order to keep from burdening them, then so be it. I would not show weakness.

“Then so be it,” the hornet agreed. “We are about a week’s travel from the nest.”

“We’re paid through tomorrow with the innkeeper,” Pollen explained. “Let’s stay until then so Master Tsuyuki can get back on his feet, then we’ll leave after.”

“And what of the Witch?” I asked. Pharyx twisted his face, as if he’d just stumbled upon a pile of cow dung.

“She got away. We couldn’t give chase, and we’ve seen no sign of her since.”

I sighed. I missed the shot. Her escape was my fault, but if she’d gone to ground, then there was little to be done. Once the spider nest was dealt with, maybe then we could investigate and try to pick up the trail, but, until then, Pharyx was right. Time was of the essence, and we had a spider colony to destroy.