Xu's Perspective
For the second time in 24 hours Xu’s breath caught in his throat as he awoke. This time however the pain was so terrible he would have fainted if not for the calm, world weary gray eyes staring down into his. Swallowing the bile in his throat Xu nodded weakly to show that he was in control. Tieh Lei removed his hand and quietly whispered to Xu, “good work.”
Xu nodded weakly once more. Sitting up he peered through the dark at the others. Fura immediately rushed over before whispering questions hurriedly in his ear.
“Are you okay? Was it really necessary to hurt yourself like that? Does it hurt bad?” her face up close to his.
Pulling back from her he dazedly thought about her questions before answering blearily. “Yes.”
Storm was the first to break the air with an awkward thankful laugh. Quietly everyone else laughed as well. Not a drop of humor showed on anyone’s face as they softly chuckled. Tieh Lei raised his hand and everyone went silent.
“Okay. Let’s get to work. We’ve long solidified the plan but I’ll go over it thrice while I prepare the Iron and Blood Aggerroot thorns.” Tieh Lei gestured to the others. Hurriedly everyone carefully and quietly brought their pile of thorns forward. In the distance the sound of music and laughter softly carried to their dismal barrack.
Facing the pile of roots Tieh Lei quietly stabbed his thigh with a particularly small healthy thorn. One from Xu’s pile. He started drawing lines of symbols that made up the faces of a pentagram with his own blood. While everyone was watching Tieh Lei work Fura on Xu’s right fidgeted a bit before looking at Xu’s passive face and leaning towards his right ear.
“Look into the future. What do you see?” She whispered into his ear. Storm on his left naturally leaned towards him from the left like he had hundreds of times. Xu’s mouth softly stretched into a smile his face seemingly incapable of smiling as well.
“I see the trees that surround the north west and east of here behind us. I see the Southern Mountain far in the distance. I see Freedom.” Xu whispered back as Tieh Lei finished drawing a complex and intricate formula into the dirt with his blood. “Xu,” Tieh Lei softly demanded into the room. Xu stretched and stood up before walking forward. “Bleed,” Tieh Lei grunted bluntly. Clenching his teeth Xu slightly bent his knees and reached for a thorn from the large pile. “No,” Tieh Lei muttered, his eyes searing into Xu’s as he raised his hand offering the thorn he’d used for the inscription. “Use this one.”
Xu grabbed the thorn and slashed his wrist quickly in one smooth motion. Black spots appeared in the edges of his vision once more as the inscription in the dust started glowing. In unison everyone looked to the door. No changes.
“Good. So the plan…” Tieh Lei trailed off as he poured all the thorns into the center of the activated formation where they floated and slowly went from bone white to steely gray. “This will formation will create Iron and Blood tinctures. I will carve an Aggerroot inscription into everyone’s spines and then I will pour the tincture into the wound.” Everyone nodded as he slowly waved his hands around the formation where the steely gray thorns had broken into pieces.
“You all know the method for absorbing. So as long as nothing is wasted all 29 of you will get an artificial cultivation level of a peak artificial soldier. The physical strength of a Third Circle peak expert. There is only one expert on that level here.”
“The Commander,” Xu muttered weakly his soft voice cutting through the barrack.
“Indeed,” Tieh Lei grunted as the pieces of silver softened into a sludge. “Perhaps the only threat to our escape except the true expert that lies across the border to the north.”
Looking around Tieh Lei looked into the 29 pairs of eyes staring hungrily at his every movement. “If I don’t make it Xu is in charge. If Xu doesn’t make it those who remain must flee to the east and escape south past the mountains.”
Everyone glanced towards Xu as a single question ran through their minds. “The reason is his bloodline. If he escapes you will soon discover it was like he was built for cultivation. The artificial soldier method is not the end to your growth.” Tieh Lei softly struck through the unspoken doubt as the sludge finally turned into a silvery liquid. The liquid instantly caught everyones eyes. It twisted and shone like a serpentine shape shifter made of moonlight. Unbeknown to the others Tieh Lei’s eyes briefly glowed silver before immediately going back to gray as soon as the pupil lit up for a fraction of a second. Unbeknown to everyone but Xu whose dark eyes tightened at the sight before going back to normal.
“Lay on your stomachs,” Tieh Lei ordered watching them hurry to do so. As the night crept towards 1 in the morning everyone was breathing heavily as their bodies creaked explosively. Tieh Lei listened nervously at the door his frame unfolding to it’s full six and a half foot tall height. His face seemingly awakened as he looked back at Xu’s figure. His eyes slightly lit up again as the darkness fell from the barrack. His eyes absorbed Xu’s scrunched up face. Fate truly is strange. He looks exactly like Him. Ah how did it all come to this.
With a final series of snaps eyes opened in the dark. Each eye had turned a bright silver. Groans came from everywhere as everyone felt a silver liquid rushing through their veins.
Xu’s heart pounded as his eyes opened. His face contorted slightly into a twisted smile before going back to being calm. He groaned as the silver liquid healed his wounds. He looked down in awe as he saw his ribs visibly heal across the span of 5 minutes. By the time 10 minutes had passed everyone was not only fully healed but shaking with power. Even the eldest looked years younger and decades healthier. Xu looked down his body had grown from an inch or so under 6 feet to a couple inches over. His black hair had grown to completely cover his eyes which had turned a swirling liquid silver. No pupils no whites. Just a whirlpool of shifting silver. His broad back was once lean and covered in scars and fresh wounds. Now it was now covered in thick muscles with only a strange silver brand etched along his spine. Looking around Xu saw everyone else was also bigger and healthier. Stronger.
“Okay,” Tieh Lei breathlessly cut through the soft exclamations of shock and awe. His eyes seemed unable to stop taking in Xu’s figure. Xu tried to ignore it but he couldn’t help but wonder who Tieh Lei saw when he looked at Xu. “We go through the back wall.”
With a nod Sonka who was on the mat closest to the back wall shook his large dark frame as he moved toward the wall. Everyone else shivered in anticipation as Sonka put his large brown hands against the wall. Xu’s eyes glanced to his left and right into Fura’s and Storms unfamiliar silver eyes. Behind the silver was familiar emotions though.
“NOW!” Immediately after Tieh Lei ordered Sonka pushed forward with his newly obtained might. With a sharp snap the walls that had been unbreakable, unassailable, disappeared from their view as they rushed into the night.
