Zhi wakes up with a start, rocketing upright and bashing her head on the metal plate above her hard enough it rings like a gong. The man next to her screeches and backs up until his shoulders hit the heavy bars surrounding them. Falling back into a seated position Zhi's eyes spin and she raises a hand to her head as she takes several deep breaths. Slowly the room comes back into focus.
Large, dark and grimy. Their sole source of illumination is a single candle on a stand in the center of what seems to be a large storehouse they’re in. One built with width in mind instead of height, the roof barely high enough for Zhi to stand upright in were she able to walk freely. She quickly realizes that’s outside of the realm of possibilities however. The only place she can reach is the inside of the cage she finds herself trapped in, one barely high enough to sit in let alone stand. Inspecting the area around her she judges it likely there is another cage similar to this one stacked on top of hers, just like the dozens of others set up in rows throughout the room.
Not that it is even her cage, no, she shares it with one more occupant. Crouched in the corner and making himself as small as possible is a trembling Lu Shu, his eyes wide and his body remaining as still as possible so as to not agitate her. Deciding to ignore him in order to focus on more important matters Zhi instead takes stock of everything else in the room. Piled up against the walls are a myriad of crates, barrels and cages, some covered in tarps while others seem to sit empty, a faint stench revealing they’ve until recently been in use.
Zhi lets out a sigh before gathering her qi into her arms and wrenching the bars open. Or trying, at least. No matter how much strength she puts in the metal doesn’t budge an inch. Hearing the man next to her clear his throat she turns to him with a frown and a raised eyebrow.
“F-f-for the right price, this Lu Shu can offer his lockpicking services.”
“Haah?”
“Right away!” He jumps as she glares at him, head bumping against the cage’s roof before he immediately rushes towards the lock. After several minutes of fiddling with all manner of pins and needles a click resounds and the lock drops with a loud clang, the ratty man freezing in place as it does. Clicking her tongue Zhi pushes past him and thrusts the unlocked gate open before forcing her way through. She scans her surroundings without stopping, ignoring the comfort of finally being able to stand upright again to rush for the exit. Sliding to a stop with her back to the wall next to the door she waits silently, slowing her breathing and craning her ears for any that may approach to investigate the noise.
The clacking of heels against stone echoes down a long hallway, slowly growing closer and closer. Zhi holds her breath when the sound stops in front of the doorway and the handle slowly lowers. Light peeks in through the crack as the door opens, a woman calmly walking in and craning her head from side to side to see what caused the commotion. Narrow eyes peer out from a pale visage framed by hair black as the night. A long robe covers her body, not unlike the one worn by the figure Zhi saw right before she fainted. Yet this one is cut differently. A fold around the waist accentuates the woman’s hourglass figure and causes the robe to end just above her ankles. Those in turn are framed by a pair of red high heels with a design that is highly unfamiliar to Zhi, the material it is made of appearing glossy and hard.
Before the cultist knows what is going on Zhi leaps from her spot and slams her against the wall, quickly restraining her and pinning her in place. The woman’s eyes widen as Zhi hushes her. The ex-gang leader punches her in the face just to make sure the cultist understands the position she’s in and threateningly leans in while rearing her hand back in case the raven haired beauty gets any ideas. Just as she opens her mouth to speak the woman does too, three wriggling tentacles spilling out from between her lips. Zhi recoils, a knee jerk reaction causing her to lash out again. A crack and a squelch resound as she lands her punch, the top half of her opponent’s head caving in until her knuckles crash against the wall and teeth brush against her wrist.
Her body lifelessly crumples to the ground as Zhi takes a step back and pulls her fist out, bits of bone and tissue sticking to her hand when she does. She swallows down bile and puts her other hand over her mouth to stifle a gag. A splashing sound informs her Lu Shu was far less successful in keeping the contents of his stomach inside.
“Senior Sister, what was that noise!” A man calls out in the distance, two sets of feet loudly crashing against the stone floor as they rush in. They crash into each other when the first comes to an abrupt stop upon seeing what remains of her remains. Zhi’s mind is torn. Her eyes stay transfixed upon the red matter coating her hand yet her instincts scream at her to move. The mantra that has gotten her this far resounds through her head.
‘Strike first. Strike hard. Strike once.’
When her mind catches up to her body she is surrounded by several bloody corpses, her ratty guide shaking in a corner of the room and seemingly on the verge of hyperventilating. Zhi’s vision spins and she catches herself against the wall, the wet squelch and the way her hand slips just a little another reminder of what she just did.
“Lu Shu. Come here, we’re leaving.”
Their progress is slow. Every careless step echoes through the hallway that seems to stretch on for hundreds of meters and they most certainly do not want to alert anybody as to their presence. Without any way to tell which door leads outside or even if any do they have no choice but to open all of the doors they come across. They pause to collect themselves when they reach the first one. Each stands on one side of the door, Lu Shu coincidentally standing on the side farthest from the door handle, a place that by pure chance would put him behind the door should it open outwards. A very unamused Zhi glares at him but decides to let the matter drop. Her hand slips around the handle, the very motion of clenching her fingers bringing forth another bout of nausea.
Faint noises are audible even through the door. Growls, scratching and whines raise the hair on the back of Zhi’s neck. Faced with fear she pushes on and pushes the door open in one go. The moment she does everything within the room falls silent. Rats with horns press themselves against the back of the glass cages they’re in. Dogs that are little more than flesh over bone and missing patches of fur tremble, their tails between their legs. Various other species of animals are spread throughout the room, all in cages stacked atop each other not unlike the one Zhi herself awoke in.
She closes the door again after a brief look around. If she finds the opportunity she’ll come back again but she can’t afford to take them along. Not to mention that even if she tried their sheer number would make it impossible. The next few rooms they come across are similar. Goats, six legged horses, winged tigers, gophers and more are all stuck in cages. There seems to be no distinction between normal animals and spirit beasts, nearly all cowering in fear the moment the door opens. The further they advance the more Zhi feels something is off. She turns back around and glances back at the last door she opened.
She is fully aware that her education is lacking and that she knows but a fraction of all the beasts within her own local area let alone this one and yet…
Some of these felt different. Like something is wrong with them. Like they’re unnatural. It unsettles her deeply. The amount of time they’ve been walking certainly doesn’t help either. Even though they were discovered the moment they broke out they haven’t seen another person despite walking for the better part of an hour. She takes a glance back at Lu Shu to see if he is still following. The fact that the man moves so silently she forgets he is there at times certainly isn’t helping her composure. Several times already she’s pulled a door shut and nearly jumped when she found him looking in over her shoulder.
It takes nearly fifteen more minutes before they finally reach a doorway that looks different from the others. Two doors made of solid oak and covered in swirls of weathered gold. The patterns curl and twist and Zhi has to resist the urge to run her fingers along them. Despite the doors being but two meters high and three wide she feels as if she could lose herself in them for days. Like every stroke could uncover just a little more of the mysteries hidden within the composition, of the location of the swirls that seem to end randomly yet continue on paradoxically. Judging by how darkened the metal is she is far from the first to have this thought and many others didn’t resist the urge. She slaps Lu Shu’s hand away from the doors and fixes him with a glare, as much to dissuade him from trying again as it is to pull her own eyes away from the ornamentations.
When she finally pushes the doors open the act itself feels like it weighs far more than the wood and metal. They creak as they slide along furrows carved into the ground through sheer repetition, a path they have followed thousands of times. The sole difference being to whom the hands that push them belong. Inside, the room is blanketed in red light spilling from a brazier hanging from the ceiling. Wood and coal crackles as the infernal flame swells twice, once when Zhi steps through the threshold and a second time when Lu Shu follows. They both flinch when a breeze without an origin slams the door shut behind them.
Giving the large rings that serve as handles on the inside of the doors a try they open again with little resistance. Zhi shrugs and shuts them once more. Best not to tip anyone off that they’re inside. Turning back around she scans the room. In the very center, right beneath the brazier and taking up the majority of the room’s surface is a massive ritual circle carved straight into the floor. Layers upon layers of a crusty, dried liquid cover every inch of the circle, its reddish-brown color seeming deeper than it should be under the brazier’s baleful light.
Attached to each corner of the room is a long chain with a manacle at its end. They lay like coiled snakes, the piles so high Zhi has little doubt the end of each chain can even reach the center of the chamber. From the wall to their left hang a variety of shorter chains, each with a bigger circle at the end. A collar, she assumes. On the other side are several tables covered in all manner of instruments, both musical and otherwise. Horns and other brass instruments Zhi doesn’t recognize lay scattered between knives, scalpels and all manners of other tools she doesn’t even want to imagine the purpose of. On the side of the circle directly opposite of Zhi is a large altar, only the slightest hint of the original marble still visible beneath layers upon layers of crimson coverings.
While she doesn’t know -nor want to know- the details of what this room is for it isn’t hard to imagine. It sickens her and she fears that were she to open her mouth she’d puke. So she doesn’t. She simply grabs Lu Shu by the sleeve with one hand and pulls the door open with her other, tossing him through and following. Back in the dreary gray corridor she can almost pretend she never opened the door. The faint scent of iron stuck in her nose proves that thought a lie.
Compared to the door now at their back the one directly in front of them is a grim sight. Blackened and stained metal to the other one’s gold, a slight trail lies between the two doors. Like things were dragged from one to the other time and time again. Zhi can almost fool herself into believing it to be a storage room if she ignores the slight discoloration of the trail and the dirty marks all over the door. With a heavy heart she crosses the corridor and reaches for the handle. Her face darkens when she opens and instantly closes it again. Lu Shu gags at the scent that wafted out of the room in that brief moment. Hearing the sound of groaning metal it takes Zhi a moment to realize she is the cause, her shaking fingers clenching the handle so tightly it is crumpling in her grasp.
It occurs to her that she hadn’t put all too much thought into why her usually lackadaisical master is putting so much effort into locating these cults. She gulps at the memory of her coming back so grievously wounded. Cutting the thought short before it can sap her of her will to continue she peels her fingers off the handle one by one with her other hand. She can't afford to falter here. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders she forces herself to take just one more step forward. There’ll be hell to pay for this.
EntonaVZ· Aug 29, 2022
