The amber lights burned.

Their gaze pierced through skin and past bone into his spirit, and Bo felt locked to his spot under them. Yet at the same time he did not feel particularly afraid in any way of this being in front of them. It was a ghost, but it was not a quite The armored ghost stood as solidly as a tree and looked out of place surrounded by the skeletal remnants of strange buildings and ever-reaching towers. The creaking silence around them was the kind that came from cave-tombs, stifling and lonely. There was not even wind to lend its mournful whisper. The amber eyed ghost's armor looked like it had been burned at some point, blackened bits and flame-scoured metals clinging desperately still to the ruined frame beneath.

They were at an impasse, even if nothing had been said yet. Bo was actually somewhat surprised that Rui Yifu did not have a comment or explanation lined up to get them past the waiting ghost. Bo was commonly called a dog, and few expected dogs to be quite intelligent yet he was certain the 'royal family member' the ghost spoke of was in fact Idony. It was the only thing that made sense since Liu Xie was a god.

If Liu Xie was a god, and Idony's... step-father, then maybe he could use his own relationship to try convincing the amber eyed ghost.

Still gripping Idony's head with one arm and with his other arm slung over Rui Yifu's shoulders he did not have much movement left to him, but he leaned forward slightly and began to speak, "uhm, sir. I'm her dad's student, and uhm-" he could feel Rui's eyes focus on him with concern. "We're supposed to take her back to him and uh-" he was running out of things to say, and began glancing back at Rui Yifu in desperation with his eye saying 'help me!'.

Rui Yifu nodded and looked back at the ghost, "we were asked to take her to the mountain and then below, to an-" Bo could see Rui Yifu rifle around his own brain before continuing, "-an altar here."

The ghost, which had kept a gloved hand on its sword hilt the entire time, seemed to relax slightly. Its hand drooped away from the hilt and it seemed like it's entire form slackened even more. Bo guessed the ghost's actual body was long gone at this point, besides possibly just being some dust and bone fragments in its boots. Just the vaguest impression of a human body holding up the armor remained. It did not speak however, standing there and continuing to stare at them with those glowing amber lights. Bo was beginning to suspect it could not actually see at all, but that it could only sense them... and Idony's decapitated head. The more he thought about it the more unnerved he began to feel. Why could it sense the head? Was Idony still in there? Was she stuck in her head and unable to talk or do anything? His fingers relaxed their grip on her skull slightly.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Who are you?" Bo asked.

"I am just a guard for this path, I put aside my titles and name long ago. They do not matter," his voice was a soft rasp. "I killed my brother, and so I have chosen to condemn myself to this duty to atone for this. My brother was a good man who deserved the throne far more than I, and yet he was ill-fated by his love. What else could I have done? The heavens did not revoke the Mandate, and yet I knew I had transgressed."

Rui Yifu's head tipped slightly to the side, "...ah, I think I know who this is."

"Who?" Bo whispered.

"His name doesn't matter."

With that so simply spoken, Bo felt no need to continue pressing further. Truthfully it was because he was still exhausted. His face throbbed with pain and his chest ached from where he had been hit. The scratches and gouges burned. But they did not grow any worse, neither did they grow better. Just like their surroundings he felt that he was frozen in time.

"If you wish to progress to the altar, you will need to go further down, I allowed your compatriot to go earlier."

Rui Yifu's entire body tensed to the point Bo wondered if the man was going to pulp his wrist. His face had become a cold mask with no hint of what was behind his eyes and yet Bo could feel the horrible tension pulling every bit of the man taunt. There was a strange grinding sound from his mouth, and he spoke extremely stiffly, "Our compatriot? Yes, did he give you his name?"

"He introduced himself as Wang Huaqing, and said he was on an errand for His Highness," the ghost said.

"Ah, thank you for that, I am... happy that he managed to make it ahead of us," Rui Yifu was clearly lying but the ghost did not seem to notice. Or perhaps the ghost did not care.

There was a loud gasp from the earth itself, which rumbled lowly and shivered like a great but weak beast. Behind the ghost ash spilled away from a ridge like protrusion that grew from the ground, pulling the dirt upwards like a strange tent. A glumly lit tunnel going downwards more was revealed, but while the land they current stood in was full of ash, Bo could distinctly smell salt water and mud coming from this tunnel.

"Downwards," the ghost spoke. "I have never been farther than this forgotten city, I know naught of what lays below besides the altar."

It was both a statement and a warning, and Bo swallowed a drying lump in his throat as he managed a very unsteady foot forward. "Thanks for your help."

The ghost did not answer, instead it seemed to dissolve in the air like smoke and only left behind a strange scent of caustic sandalwood.