Darkness surrounds, cloying and all-encompassing. Faint glimmers of light at the corner of one’s eye barely reveal silhouettes, both one’s own and various others in the distance. The darkness seems to shudder as space twists and roils before it all falls away like shattered glass revealing an entirely new scene. Gao Mu finds herself back home. Birdsong in the distance, the slow bubbling of a nearby spring and the rustling of the underbrush are all intimately familiar to the girl as she looks around in wide eyed wonder.
“Slacking again, little one?” A gravelly voice calls out from behind her. Turning around she sees someone she didn’t think she’d see again for many years to come. Eyes with the same slant to them as her own crinkle above the man’s affectionate smile. Mu cranes her neck to look up at the seven foot tall giant of a man with tears forming in her eyes.
“E- elder brother?”
“You know anyone else this handsome?” He replies with a shrug while flexing his crossed arms. Despite her best attempt to keep a straight face Mu cannot help but smile fondly at his words. She inhales deeply, the scent of bamboo mixing with that of freshly cut leaves and drying wood. A broad hand ruffling her hair brings her back to the present and reminds her of what she is supposed to be doing.
…What is she supposed to be doing? Her brow furrows until Gao Dan wacks the back of her head with his palm. “There you go again, off in your little dreamworld. Come, Mu’er. You’re gonna be late for your classes.”
Her eyes widen and she breathes in sharply, stiffening at the reminder. Yinye will have her head if she’s late again. “Gotta go, bye!” She quickly calls out over her shoulder before rushing down to the training grounds. She leaps off the plateau they’d been on and grabs a hanging vine to swing to a rocky pillar. Kicking off it she narrowly manages to take hold of another to change directions and fling herself towards the next craggy sandstone pillar. The wind breezes through her hair as she flits from place to place making her way to the center of the Gao clan’s mountainous hideout. Running over rock-hewn roofs and down stone steps carved out in spirals around the pillar-like mountains she eventually arrives at a clearing. Packed dirt makes up the surface, pounded to a near rock-like hardness by many thousands of feet over the course of millennia turning the entire area flat but for the single shack standing in the shade of a gnarly old tree that hangs from the mountain side and a variety of weathered wooden poles sticking out of the ground.
“Seems like everyone other than the short brat is here, let’s get started.”
“Hey! I’m here!”
“Oh, I suppose you are.” Yinye snorts while pointedly leaning forward to look down at her. “I must’ve looked over you, no wonder.”
Mu’s cheeks inflate in a pout. Crossing her arms with a glare she stomps her foot but stays silent nevertheless. “Don’t let it get to you.” The boy next to her whispers. She simply huffs in reply. She doesn’t need his pity, she’s strong! After all she’s the disciple of… who? Yinye’s her teacher isn’t she? Somehow that feels off. But she’s attending class right now isn’t she? She should focus!
Hurriedly craning her neck to look up at the woman she scrunches her brow and pretends to pay attention while trying to think of why this seems so wrong. Her attention shifts when she hears Bo groan next to her, the fat boy not the least bit pleased to hear the morning's exercises are once more starting with a long run. 'At least he's still alive.' Mu thinks and sighs in relief. Her brow raises once more wondering where that thought came from. At least it wouldn't happen again, she's stronger now. But is she strong enough?
"Strong enough for what?!" Mu shouts drawing a plethora of confused gazes. She flushes knowing her outburst likely earned her another 'extra lesson.'
"Ho ho, does the little brat need more motivation?" Yinye asks while turning towards Mu, her face leaking blood from a set of gashes on her left cheek, her one remaining eye glaring at Mu while she takes a wet raspy breath, red fluid leaking down her torn and tattered…
Mu freezes, catching herself staring at the teacher's pristine gossamer robe. She justifies her lapse of concentration to herself by blaming it on her pounding headache that is getting worse and worse as rapidly as the destruction wrought by the…
She slaps her cheeks to keep her focus on the task at hand and runs as fast as she can to keep up with the rest of the group. A group that is gradually getting further and further ahead of her. 'It's not fair, we're all the same age! Why are their legs so much longer! Why are they so much stronger!'
‘…Why didn't it save them?’ She jolts, missing a step and landing flat on her face. Panic blossoms in her chest listening to the beast's heavy breaths slowly getting closer and closer. Any moment now Elder Brother will show up to save her, any moment now…
-----
Sitting amidst burning buildings and scattered bodies is a single blonde. Suwan drinks deeply from the gourd at her side while an unassuming looking man approaches.
"You're a real sick fuck you know that." She tonelessly says in his general direction. Golden flames manifest atop her fingers and reduce everything but the man to ashes. Looking him over she can't help but think he doesn't look like much. A random passerby in the crowd, the vendor at the food stand you bought your lunch from or perhaps the stranger you nodded at whilst traveling. He has a face like that. A face you look at once and promptly forget. Had she been tasked with guessing his profession in life she would have thought him a scribe or perhaps a librarian or local magister but certainly not a venerable Immortal. Yet that is exactly what he is.
"Song Huan?"
The unassuming man says in a flat voice, one at home on a tired educator or a laborer on his third shift. Suwan scoffs and turns fully to look straight at him.
"No, you're not Huan. Who are you?"
"It's common courtesy to introduce oneself when asking for a name."
"It is common courtesy not to invade one's legacy by force."
"Touché," Suwan snorts. "Song Suwan, disciple of the old bint."
She hides a smile behind her gourd when she sees his eye twitch at her casual disregard of the living legend. The jest contained even less bite than usual given she was currently in the process of praising her teacher within her mind. A spatial gourd, what a spectacular gift. Liquor for days. She's even willing to forgive the old woman's cryptic errand for it and sit through the painfully droning words of the shard of consciousness in front of her instead of simply dissipating it for its offense. To attempt to entrap her within a memory of the Zri compound, the audacity.
"For what reason do you invade upon my legacy, disciple of Soulfire?"
"Eh, she sent me here." Suwan shrugs. "For what reason did you try to torment me with a petty illusion?"
"The trials are automated and not catered to one of your level. I do not believe your coming here was one of Venerable Song's fancies. Tell me, what is your current goal?"
"What are you implying, specter?" Suwan's eyes narrow while her hand reaches for the hilt of her blade. If the man is in the least bit affected by it he certainly does not show it.
"She sent you to me for a reason. I repeat, what is your current goal?"
The blonde rakes a hand through her hair. 'Of course the cunt has more than one reason to recommend this place, typical. Really should'a expected that by now.' She considers for a moment how much she should tell the soul remnant. Given his words she supposes he might've known Huan back in the day so she takes a gamble.
"Thataka."
The man lets out an exhausted sigh, showing emotion for the first time since the conversation began.
"She is free." He intones. A statement, not a question. "Come, disciple of the Immortal Soulfire. I shall show you."
From one instant to the next the entire area shifts. No longer are they in the burned compound of the Zri yet if anything the amount of death surrounding them increases. Atop a large mound sits a single figure, the sun behind her back casting her features in shadow as they approach. Neither are what Suwan had expected. The mound is not composed of pillows but of still dripping corpses and the woman atop it has bright red skin and a toothy smile as she guffaws throatily at the figures below, one hand on her cross legged knee while she leans forward.
“Guhahaha! Lost again, blondie!”
Suwan’s hand reaches for her blade, golden flames flickering into existence across her body at the illusion unexpectedly addressing her. Her eyes take in every inch of Thataka’s features. With the demon seated Suwan estimates she’ll have at least a hint of warning before the monster is on top of her, one she’ll direly need if the Rakshasa decides to put the giant cleaver resting on her shoulder to use.
“A draw at best. Oh look, that one’s pretending to be dead, that means I finished first.” A familiar voice calls out from behind her in a tone different from what she’s used to. More youthful and containing more energy the voice sounds nonchalant even as she charrs one of the bodies to ash before Thataka can check the veracity of her words. Suwan’s flames dim. She turns to look over her shoulder and sees a far younger version of Huan with a smug, challenging smile on her face.
“Oh you bitch, that does it!” Thataka shouts angrily and rushes at her atop a wave of crimson water. Huan laughs uproariously while meeting her assault with a swing of her blade and enough golden fire to blot out the horizon. Even as the two rapidly turn the area into a veritable hellscape with wide smiles on their faces the unassuming man keeps walking. With a brief glance back at the combatants, miles away in the few seconds their fight has taken so far, Suwan follows and the scene changes once more.
A night with a full moon casts an eerie glow upon the snowy landscape, only a single sanctuary within it spared of the ominous mood. A gently crackling campfire surrounded by nearly a dozen figures. She spots Thataka on one side of it and Huan on the other as well as some other figures she recognizes from stories - a man whose entire being screams sharpness, another bearing great similarities to the patriarch of the now gone Zri and a monkey-eared woman- as well as several more she can’t place -the unassuming man that built this cave and a willowy woman in a green robe amongst them- .
“Why in all the hells do we need a pile of burning sticks?” Thataka asks, her eyes half-lidded while she gestures at the fire in their midst. “None of us are bothered by the cold and blondie over there could set half this barony on fire with her mind."
One of the men clicks his tongue and pushes his glasses up. “Sitting around a campfire with your entire group before the final battle is a must. Have you ever read any books, you uncultured savage?”
“Have you ever been to the hells, worm? Of course you haven't, else you’d know you have to be mad to go to The Library.” The red-skinned fiend huffs in reply. “No one here would so much as survive setting foot in there, mark my words.”
“Then I guess we’ll need to get stronger.” Huan replies casually making everyone else stiffen.
“I must meditate on the dao before I gain more strength lest I unbalance my cultivation.” The sharp man replies before standing up.
“This one shall go practice his swings.” Another adds.
“I need to go water my Azaleas.” The willowy woman speaks up and practically scurries away. One by one the remaining members of the group leave with one excuse or the other until but two are remaining around the fire. Huan smiles lecherously at Thataka from behind the flames.
“Guess it’s just you and me again.” She licks her lips and blows a kiss across the fire. Reality shudders and shakes, cracks seeming to run through the sky while a loud screeching sound rings out.
“We must hurry, disciple of Soulfire. My remaining essence cannot sustain these memories for long, soon my last remnant of consciousness shall dissipate.”
