Echoes of Divinity: Book 13 of Painting the Mists, page 47
It was all very wondrous and magical. A sight one might never see again. Alas, it was too difficult to keep paying attention to these small details because the doorway, which initially appeared to be an empty thing of white stone, began accumulating energy.
The desert sun was no longer scorching. At first, Yu Wen was confused, but now she saw why. Large runes floated in the sky to protect them, forming a barrier around the entire area. They glowed bright with sunlight and concentrated at the center, where it poured into the temple formations via a large beam, bringing the entire city to life.
The statues shifted and became lifelike. They faced the large statue of the Runebound Ancestor and bowed. Energy surged from each of these statues in turn and entered the runes on the doorway. They lit up with the gray light of space and teleportation. The image of a city appeared at their center.
Beside the doorway was a pair of stone tablets etched with crystal-gold writing. Instructions. No, a warning. A last chance to turn back from their inevitable doom.
Beware, travelers, do not enter.
This place contains no buried treasure.
All may enter but none may leave.
Even the lost, for whom we grieve.
Madness lies within these mists.
The curse is sealed, but it resists.
Without solution, walk away,
Or within this prison you will stay.
“A little ominous, don’t you think?” Locke said. “You can go in, but you can’t go out?”
“Then again, if I made a hoard I didn’t want people stealing from, I’d say the same thing,” Trevonay said. “What do you think, Miss Yu. Safe or unsafe?”
This place gives me the creeps, Xiao Bai said. How about we let them go in and stay behind?
There’s no way they’ll buy that, Yu Wen answered.
“I’m not exactly getting good vibes about the place, if that’s what you’re asking,” Yu Wen answered Trevonay. “I expected some kind of ruin to delve, but this place sounds like a death trap. Out of all the ruins in the eight deserts, it’s my first time hearing about a place like this.”
“The lady does have a point,” Locke said. “Though I’d hate to come all this way and not give it a try.”
Trevonay nodded. “We’re gold rankers. We should be able to get out if things go south.” Of course, that didn’t include the mostly silver rankers who had tagged long.
“We could always stay outside and keep watch,” Blood Axe suggested.
“A fine suggestion,” Locke said. “If that’s your wish, you have my permission to guard these ruins against a gold-ranked bishop, a peak-ranked saint, and few peak-investiture demons. Oh, and a crazy Daoist.”
“It was only a suggestion, of course,” Blood Axe continued. “I think we’d be far more useful to you in the ruins. I have strong body. Excellent for blocking traps.”
Yu Wen rolled her eyes. His class and fighting style might make him seem unyielding, but he could be pretty shameless when he had to be.
“I think it would only be to your advantage if we go inside,” Priest Philip added. “Who knows what could happen in there? It’s not unheard of for ruins to be extremely large. The more the merrier, right?”
“You can never be too careful,” Shadow Crawler pitched in. “There are all sorts of traps that would be uncomfortable for gentlemen of your caliber to disarm. Let us do the hard work.”
“So we’re in agreement,” Locke said. “Wonderful.”
“I’m just afraid this portal will split us up,” Yu Wen said. “Have you taken a look at the city in the center of the portal? It’s shaped like maze.” The phantom of a city floating within the stone circle was also twisted and distorted in strange ways. Its walls were constantly shifting, and its shape was irregular.
“That is indeed a problem,” Locke said. “Thankfully, I have a solution. I will leave a mark on each of you.” He slammed his cane down, and a light shot out to each of their foreheads. None of them resisted as a runic mark bored into their souls. This included Yu Wen and friends. “This should allow us to share a faint connection and get transported to similar areas even if we do get split up.”
“Perhaps we should establish our goals?” Yu Wen said.
“Your goals are simple,” Locke said. “Find each other and regroup. If attacked, defend, and Trevonay and I will eventually find you. Should we find your efforts sufficiently valuable, bonuses will be awarded. There is no need to limit ourselves to the basic rewards outlined in the contract.” He then held his hand out toward the glowing portal. “Ladies first.”
Yu Wen steeled herself and stepped forward. She was stopped before she could enter, however.
“I meant the assassin, obviously,” Locke said. “You can never be too careful.”
Shadow Crawler seemed to have expected this. She appeared beside Yu Wen and immediately hopped in. The portal rippled like a pool of water.
“Blood Axe, one of your men next,” Locke said. “Then each of your silly factions can send alternating members up.”
They did so, and only once the bulk of them were through did Cassidy hop through, followed by Sharish, whose eyes were still bloodshot and angry from the massacre two weeks earlier.
Finally, only Yu Wen, Xiao Bai, and the two gentlemen remained. “Perhaps we should hold hands, for safety’s sake?” Locke said. “Wouldn’t want anything bad happening.” Both men grabbed ahold of them and exerted their gold auras. Then the four of them plunged into the rippling reflection of the ghostly city.
The sudden storm took even Shakkanah by surprise. Their ships rocked from the sandy winds that came to buffet them, and the demons pulling the Runebound Clan’s ship hastily summoned their armor before it could rip off their skin.
Shakkanah summoned a shielding formation around them with her demon weapon. “This wind is strange. I haven’t been taken by surprise like that in centuries. Storms never hit without warning.”
“Can’t you see it?” Cha Ming asked, looking past the storm front and keeping the wind and sand at bay with his domain. “There’s demonic energy in the air. A massive amount. Even Daoists wouldn’t say no to cultivating here.”
“You’re right,” Shakkanah said. Two figures, one gold and one blue, shot out from the other two ships and landed in front of them. “Bishop Hammond. Glacial Blade. I believe the time has come. We have arrived.”
“Are you sure?” Bishop Hammond asked.
“As sure as I can be,” Shakkanah said.
“This storm’s timing is really something, isn’t it?” Glacial Blade said.
“It’s definitely not a coincidence,” Cha Ming agreed.
“Have everyone pack their things,” Shakkanah said. “I want everyone ready within two minutes.”
“It’s best to take a rest during a storm,” Bishop Hammond agreed.
“You misunderstand,” Shakkanah said. “We’re putting away our ships and forcing our way through.”
“That sounds extremely foolish,” Glacial Blade said. “That storm could tear us apart in minutes without the support of our ships.”
“Let me worry about that,” Shakkanah said. “Now get moving. We don’t have time to waste. If my guess is correct, they’ve found the ruins we’ve been searching for. We can’t let them have too much of a head start, can we?”
The two human leaders agreed. The rankers, Daoists, and demons in each group began crawling about their ships like bees in a beehive. Since they were traveling, most of them were already packed, so it didn’t take much time for everyone to gather their belongings.
When everything was packed and buckled up, the three parties retrieved their control keys. Frozen Rain miniaturized her ship, and Bishop Hammond did the same with his. As for Shakkanah, she retrieved the core of the ship instead and chanted an incantation. The ship sank several dozen feet into the sand. Following this, she summoned a dozen formation orbs. They circled around her, creating a runic barrier shaped like a blade that cut apart the windstorm from its strongest direction as they ran toward the origin of the storm in a single unit.
It took less than an hour to arrive at their destination. There, the hurricane of sand abruptly halted, revealing a pristine and calm eye at its center. A temple lay not far away, and it resembled the one Cha Ming had seen near the Dripping Blade Prefecture when he joined the Kingfisher Guard, though this one was grand and imposing.
The temple was shaped like a ring with a northern opening. The statues had eyes that stared at them as they walked through it. “They’re decorations,” Shakkanah said. “Mere embellishments. They cannot harm us.”
At the center of the temple lay a coiled impression of the Runebound Ancestor. She guarded a glowing portal that contained the likeness of a ghostly, distorted city. Beside the portal were two shattered slabs of stone. They’d once contained writing, but they’d been destroyed beyond recognition.
Mend, Cha Ming urged, to no avail. A golden energy prevented the pieces from coming together.
“Were those instructions?” Bishop Hammond wondered aloud. “Or simply an introduction? I’d hate to go in blind.”
“What difference does it make?” Shakkanah said. “We’re going inside, are we not?”
“Perhaps,” Bishop Hammond said. “It would help if you were more forthcoming, however. You’ve been awfully cagey about what’s inside there, Shakkanah, and I’ve followed you this far because you wouldn’t possibly bring so many of your clansmen on a mission without a chance of success. But this…” He looked at the projection of the ghostly city. “It feels unholy. There is a terrible power within. I’m sorry, High Priestess. You spoke of troubles to resolve, and I thought little of them. It was my fault for not pressing you more in the beginning.”
Shakkanah sighed. “Is it the same with you?” she asked Frozen Rain.
“We Daoists are particularly sensitive to danger,” Frozen Rain said. “I didn’t feel as threatened when fighting against two gold rankers as I do now. I think the least you owe us is an explanation.”
Shakkanah let out a deep sigh. “Very well. Perhaps I should have spoken earlier, though I did not do so out of embarrassment. Since the situation seems dire, however, it only makes sense to share everything.
“I’m not sure how much you know about the Eight Sacred Deserts, so I will start with their origin. They were once the location of eight sacred cities. These were the holy lands of our people, a paradise for demons of the sand. Such a place would normally be impossible to find on the Inkwell Plane, but our ancestor had no small friendship with the Inkwell Ancestor. Our original home was a group of eight demi-planes. These planes were forced out into this realm when the Inkwell Ancestor was slain.”
“There’s no need for a history of your people,” Bishop Hammond said. “Time is short.”
“I’m being as concise as I can,” Shakkanah said. “Like I said, we migrated. Like the rest of the five great clans, we were confused when we were forced onto this plane. One minute we lived in the grand body of a royal demon, and then we were shoved onto a breaking transcendent plane. The first thing we did was locate possible threats and contain them. In this case, we of the Runebound Clan found a curse seal on the Inkwell Ancestor, the Paper Tiger’s deadly Eightfold Curse.
“We supressed it immediately using a formation based on the eight directions, the same directions as the curse itself. Our strongest seal was placed in the north to contain evil, and our second strongest to contain madness. For a time, we contained the curse without a problem using the sands gifted to us by our ancestor, the Runebound Python.
“Our people thrived. Our high priestesses passed on their traditions. Alas, we underestimated the power of the unpainted and the insidiousness of their ancestor, the Paper Tiger. Kerava’s curse was patient, you see. It was one of the most difficult to contain, and we even thought we’d done it perfectly, until one day, it found a way.
“The Curse of Madness slipped into our society unknowingly. It corrupted only a small number of people with each generation. It was naturally only a matter of time until nearly a full generation of high priestess was corrupted, as were the shamans and any other high-ranking members of society.
“The city began to visibly decay. Its treasures and relics, which had once been ample, were squandered. We might have held out for a few millennia more if not for this. Unfortunately, this was when the Mendin people came to these lands. Wars were fought, and we began to lose ground. Our people grew desperate. We drew on more of our relics, further weakening the seal.
“Then, one day, the seal ruptured. The Sacred City of Kerava descended into chaos. Back then, there were many high priestesses, but all but nine went mad in an instant. Eight of the remaining high priestesses used the nine remaining relics in the city to seal up the curse. Using their lives as the price, they created the Sacred Kerava Desert to hide the city and bury it beneath the sands.”
“That might have been something worth telling us from the outset,” Bishop Hammond said angrily. “I might have brought a few more priests along.” Then he sighed. “I guess it’s no use bickering now. In summary, you’re saying that this temple and the city acts to contain the curse. It is not a place with rewards or adventures like in the other deserts.”
Shakkanah nodded. “Kerava fell first, and then the other deserts, seeing the risks the curses posed to our people and the entire plane, established their own Sacred Deserts. They knew that with time, the Kerava Desert’s curse would rupture. Therefore, they set about trying to wear down the other seven curses. They established the ruins as outlets for the power and reallocated resources. The high priestesses that survived became managers of each desert, and the bulk of our people traveled north to contain the northernmost portion of the Eightfold Curse, Heavenly Darkness, which was supressed by the Heaven Sealing Formation. As for the south, it was mostly abandoned and purposefully forgotten. My ancestors were descendants of the few scattered priestesses that survived. Our task has ever been to wander the desert and report any strange occurrences to the other Sacred Deserts.”
“Then why, as the high priestess of your people, would you lead us here?” Bishop Hammond asked. “Has the seal deteriorated?”
“I do not know,” Shakkanah said. “But when I saw the birth of the inkborn, and the rise of the Pale Emperor in the Wild Lands, I realized that times are changing. The Thread Seer is in agreement. A time of great crisis is upon us, and we must act quickly to strengthen ourselves. We must reseal this curse and reclaim these relics. By using them, we may stand a chance against our greater enemy.”
“This is only speculation on my part,” Bishop Hammond said, “but what do you think might happen if those two gold rankers don’t care about repercussions? Could they not retrieve your people’s relics without resealing the curse?”
“That is my worry,” Shakkanah agreed. “So regardless, my people must enter.”
“What would happen then?” Glacial Blade asked.
“I would very much like to know this as well,” Frozen Rain said.
Shakkanah sighed. “The Curse of Madness would be unleashed upon this land. At first, it will occupy this desert, and then it will expand.”
“The desert is a very big place,” Bishop Hammond said.
“But compared to our original world, it is tiny,” Shakkanah said. “Think of the goddess Jezeriah, for example. The Paper Tiger is an imperial demon of a similar rank. The source of the curse is its undying blood. A million years might have passed since the death of the Inkwell Ancestor, but the blood will still remain. It has been working to undermine this entire transcendent plane since before our exile to it, and has continued to do so for a thousand centuries.
“To me, it doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice in the matter,” Cha Ming said. “Unless you all think it’s best to leave things to chance?”
“The Thread Seer believes this road is worth taking,” Bloodfur said. “My people will enter.”
“In principle, I agree,” Iridescent Splendor said. “In practice, I worry about Graceful Twilight.”
“I don’t think she’ll be much safer outside the ruins,” Frozen Rain said. “Those villains could return at any moment, and they already tried to take her once.”
“That’s a fair point,” Iridescent Splendor said. “Our clan will participate.”
“As for us, we’re already committed to this mission,” Frozen Rain said. “I only hope that everyone will remember our contributions and honor our contract.” They all looked to Bishop Hammond.
“I wouldn’t back out now,” Bishop Hammond said. “If not because of this curse that’s going to blow up in all our faces, but because of those two gold rankers. They are Slayers of the dark goddess. The Runebound Clan’s relics were powerful even in their time, and should Harid Dej gain those relics, we’ll be in great danger.”
Shakkanah bowed. “Then I thank you all. It is best if we can resolve the curse, but I am not optimistic in that regard. We should focus on defending the seal and mending it, freeing up some relics for the struggle ahead.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Glacial Blade said. “No one else volunteers? Fine, I’ll go in first.”
“Wait!” Shakkanah said. Glacial Blade paused. Shakkanah muttered an incantation, and several crystal-gold runes jumped out at everyone in their group. “Accept the runes. They are grouping runes. Groups often use these when they go delving in other deserts.”
“Fine, fine,” Glacial Blade said. “Can I go in now?”
“You may,” Shakkanah said. He jumped into the rippling portal without any hesitation. His Daoists followed suit.
“Show-offs,” Bishop Hammond said. “Prepare to enter. I’ll go in first, and if my life slip breaks, do not follow.” He stepped into the portal after Daoist Glacial Blade, and after waiting a minute, his followers went in after him.
“Let’s go,” Cha Ming said. “Graceful Twilight, hold my hand. I’m afraid you’ll have to take care of Drezil, Shakkanah.”
