Somehow Alex wasn’t surprised to find Linnea’s hand eagerly grasping his own, turning to gaze up at him with a tenderness in her eyes that humbled him, knowing she was daring this delve for his sake as much as any desire to make her fortune. What surprised him was how quickly Ya Ling, now wearing a form-fitting hauberk of fine steel scales, had claimed his right hand, flashing a rueful smile of her own that made it clear that whatever reservations she might still have, she wasn’t going to hold back when it came to claiming what she truly desired.

  Alex swallowed, more than a bit humbled by the intensity of her regard as a slight rosy cast came over her cheeks that her half-helm did nothing to hide. But all she said after Kuaisu claimed her other hand was, “Come on, let’s jump through.”

  As one they approached the shimmering darkness and an eye blink later… Alex suddenly found himself walking across a vast tiled courtyard that stretched out in the distance until it visibly dipped into the starry, night-filled sky.

  “Look, over there! I’ll bet there’s one for each season!” Linnea pointed toward the four towering portals that shimmered and glittered with different colored light that somehow brought to mind walking through a woodland glade in each of the different seasons, just a hundred yards or so ahead.

  Lao Tie beamed at them all. “Everyone accounted for? Excellent! No need to worry about any danger in this area. As far as anyone can tell, it’s free of all inhabitants, save for the forest on the far side.”

  Ya Ling blinked at this. “Far side?”

  Lao Tie nodded. “Yes. This entry chamber is actually a massive sphere in a starry void, with the world’s weight always pressing down on us, so we never fall off. Fascinating, no? If you were to pick any direction and just start walking, you would eventually end up right where you started. Save for the forest, of course. But so long as you don’t enter it, you have nothing to fear in what is effectively the delve entrance hall. Our headmaster himself has verified it.”

  Linnea frowned, even as Lao Tie’s companions nodded as if it were all common sense. “But wait, what’s so special about the forest?”

  Kuaisu snorted. “What’s special about it is you don’t go in it. Simple as that.”

  Ya Ling frowned. “And why is that?”

  “Because no one who’s entered has ever been heard from again.”

  Alex froze at those words. “Wait, seriously? You have a forest so perilous that it has a zero percent survival rate, and we’re just casually walking through this area without a care in the world?”

  This earned a chuckle from Wu Xien as he rapped the blade of his impressive looking guandao. “It’s nothing to worry about, boy. In all the centuries our city’s plumbed the depths of these rifts, we’ve never had trouble from that woods that didn’t start with some fool thinking he’d somehow find his fortune within. And for all we know, they did! They just never bothered coming out and telling us about it.”

  This earned a nod from Tang as he adjusted a strap on his armor, Kuaisu holding his naginata while he did so. “Wu Xien’s right. You have nothing to worry about, any more than you need to fear the lip of the basin, so long as you don’t go leaping off with a mortal’s physique. And countless farmers ascend the caldera escarpment with their crops every week! So if they can face that hazard as a simple part of their job, we can take comfort in having the common sense not to jump off the metaphoric ledge in here.”

  Lao Tie flashed them all a reassuring smile. “Come, my friends. With Wanshi’s hour so late, hesitation suits us poorly. As I’m sure our inspirational Ruidian friend agrees,” he said with a pointed look Alex’s way before his features eased back into an excited grin. “Now come, to the rightmost gate, sparkling with the brilliant luster of snow. Let’s forge ourselves a tale worthy of the bards themselves!”

  “Agreed,” Alex dipped his head to the wujen’s obvious approval before his own smile hardened, forcing himself to fully appreciate both the peril and opportunity now before them, realizing that there were certain things he should have clarified from the start, had not his own chagrin in regards to recently avoided tragedy and the memory of Nili’s disapproving glare not compelled him to do all he could to get out of there and leap right into a hero’s journey. And all without doing anything to protect his flank, both literal and metaphoric.

  “And to answer your earlier question, Wu Xien, a gestalt is a state that Ruidians who work really well together can sometimes embrace, that allows them to fight far more efficiently than they otherwise might. And though it is somewhat different when used by cultivators, I’m happy to say that it could gift us all with an unparalleled sense of the battlefield where all of us can sense where we are in relation to one another, and just how imperiled any one of us might be.”

  Wu Xien looked suitably impressed. “Remarkable.” He turned to his obvious leader. “Have you ever heard of such a thing, Lao Tie?”

  “No, my good friend. I have not.” He gave Alex a nod of genuine respect. “I sense that our friend has chosen to share a confidence with us that we of course shall treasure and keep safely between ourselves.”

  Kuaisu chuckled. “Like the boy said. What happens in a delve stays in that delve. And I can’t tell you how damned useful it would be to have a sense of where all of you are in relation to myself, if such a thing were truly possible.”

  Lao Tie nodded solemnly. “Indeed. Such a boon would make our young friend here a treasured member of any group that dared the deeps, regardless of his personal martial prowess.”

  “Well I’d be more than happy to form a party with all of you.” Alex did his best to ignore Linnea’s excited squeel, Rachel’s awed look, and Ya Ling’s obvious hesitation that was such an odd mixture of fear and adoration both. “But as I’m sure you can imagine, to share such an intimate gift requires a certain degree of familiarity. Of trust. And seeing as we have just met… let’s just say that I have a good feeling about this delve. So I’m willing to make an exception. All I ask is for your Cultivator’s Oath that you all have no intentions of deliberately harming fellow party member during or after our delve, and I assure you all that I feel the same.”

  The easygoing cheer of Alex’s new acquaintances instantly hardened with a curious intensity. Alex could sense both Linnea and Ya Ling’s sudden spikes of alarm, and an odd mixture of both dread and excitement even as Alex’s heart started to pound, a breeze he and Ya Ling alone felt rustling their hair as they exchanged intent glances. And he found it so easily to slip into the memory of that storm that had catalyzed such a profound breakthrough, just the night before. Yet he held his fangtian ji at rest, very deliberately taking no defensive guard at all, the memory of misunderstandings and mutual ire coming so close to tragedy so narrowly avoided still fresh in his mind.

  “Alex! What do we do?” Linnea hissed.

  And it said something about just how close they had become that Alex had only to ease the barrier he had put up in his own mind.

  For a single blink…

  And the two of them were one once more.

  Sharing breaths and awareness.

  Fire and Fangtian ji more than ready to take on all foes.

  Kuaisu, clearly no fool, snorted. “At least we know he’s not bluffing, or playing us for suckers.”

  Wu Xien scowled. “And how exactly do we know that?”

  “Because he and his Ruidian wife are already moving and thinking as one.” She smirked. “Look at the shared expressions on their faces. The girl’s now wearing his confident know-it-all smile, and he’s now tilting his head like the redhead does. And the looks on their faces as they both turn to regard me… her, with a mortal’s Quickness and he holding back his true power… they are like mirror images of each other, and she is now moving or at least thinking far faster than she had been, just seconds ago.”

  Tang snorted. “Never realized Ruidians had such an ace up their sleeve.”

  Kuaisu shrugged. “Not that surprising. We all know how much better delving groups with close Ruidian allies tend to fare on average, and our friends never have a good explanation as to why. No doubt they all take oaths of secrecy while enjoying all sorts of boons alien to the paths of cultivation... but clearly not so strange for our most valued neighbors.”

  “Good thing we can embrace our Fire as fast as we can think it when we are one, no matter how slow our vessel.” Alex grinned at the thought that was, after all, his own.

  Even if he was simultaneously humbled, sensing how fiercely Linnea adored him already, thoughts of beautiful children and domestic bliss now shining as brightly upon his shared mind as his own fierce hot joy in crushing his foes in the crucible of combat and his desire to ascend just as far and as fast as he could.

  Ya Ling’s eyes widened with what almost seemed dismay. Whether it was because of how deeply Alex and Linnea were communing, fearing that she couldn’t hope to measure up… And it’s true, but we can still love her, my heart!… or because a complete stranger, albeit a clearly talented Silver Tier speed specialist, one of the true elites of this city who was no doubt trained to instantly size up any potential combat dynamic or social situation had spotted it first, he (they) couldn’t be sure.

  Lao Tie, who, fortunately, didn’t look at all offended by Alex’s request, gave a thoughtful nod. “Remarkable. Most remarkable! If this is the secret that allowed Mei Tung’s group such wild fortune in his last delve… then of course we should take such an oath! Boon companions and brothers in battle should be just that. Never should we have cause to fear the man or woman fighting by our side. But tell me, should we join this… party, will we also be sharing thoughts and emotions?

  Alex and Linnea solemnly shook their heads. “Not if you don’t share our bloodlines,” they said as one before Alex gently took over speaking as Ya Ling squeezed Linnea’s hand and gave her a gentle head shake. Alex was only momentarily perturbed before pulling the tiniest bit back from their shared communion, having only slammed into it so intensely on the off chance that they were going to be forced to engage in battle far quicker than Alex had hoped would be the case. Yet seeing as all he sensed was curiosity and perhaps a certain hunger to claim any secret that would help them get ahead… he felt that it was safe to ease their connection.

  Lao Tie was the first to dip his head. “You have it. My Cultivator’s Oath. I shall deliberately harm no companion who dares the delves with me this day.” He turned to catch the hard gazes of his friends, all of them immediately stiffening and swearing the exact same oath.

  It was all Alex could do to suppress his smirk. “I too give my oath that I shall deliberately harm no companion who dares the delves with me this day. And if I could have your oaths that the Ruidian secrets you glimpse on this delve will also stay between yourselves… you would have my gratitude.”

  Lao Tie immediately nodded. “You have it.” He turned to his companions who all nodded in turn.

  Tang cracked a hard smile. “I’ve done more than one caravan run with Ruidian companions who are a damn sight more effective than a full squad of crossbowmen in the right circumstances, and I’ve always wondered how they coordinated so damned well with mortal speed. So let me volunteer to be the first to experience your gift.”

  Lao Tie dipped his head. “As you will, friend Tang.”

  Alex kept his face neutral, for all that half of him had no doubt that Tang spoke the truth, to the point that she halfway wondered if a step uncle or distant cousin had recounted tales of fighting beside a powerfully built caravan guard who looked very much like Tang from memories shared… and the other half of him had no doubt that he was volunteering for his master’s sake, his flattery but pretext.

  And that was fine with Alex, for more reason than one.

  Yet despite the fact that he was facing a powerfully built Silver who had enjoyed more than one ascension along his path, no matter that he met the hardened eyes of a veteran prepared for death and betrayal from any angle… Tang possessing the gaze of both a loving father and a hardened killer all but expecting twisted betrayal… all it took was the slightest touch and the connection was made.

  Crystalline neuromatrix detected!

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Slave Node Tang073XY successfully accessed.

  Do you wish to subjugate Slave Node Tang073XY?

  You have chosen: NO.

  Autonomy retained.

  You have successfully formed a party with Tang073XY!

  But Alex took long moments where he went so far as to close his eyes, clasping the other man’s forearm for three deep breaths and exhalations. Long enough to earn a soft snort from Kuaisu.

  “Hardly something to be done in the middle of combat,” she noted.

  “Which is why now is the perfect time,” Lao Tie replied with a smile.

  And all the while Alex’s heart was pounding. Filled both with dismay at just how effortless it had been to forge such a connection with a man who didn’t look like anything other than a typical desert native, more Khmer than Han, and still it was enough to dominate, should he force it, even if he couldn’t forge anything like the gestalt he shared with Linnea.

  And that was something he was loathe to do.

  He then peered intently into Tang’s awed gaze, desperately praying that the man hadn’t realized just how vulnerable he truly was. “Can you feel it?”

  For long seconds the man just blinked and stared.

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat. “He knows. He knows! We have to run. They’ll try to crucify us! No, we have to eliminate them first, before they can kill our—”

  Alex ruthlessly quenched the tiny corner of his mind that was Linnea’s panicked thoughts, before turning to gently squeeze her hand with a (lover’s) tenderness. His smile sought to assure, because her panic could destroy them all.

  Only then did Tang speak.

  “Incredible. I sense them both, my lord. The girl is like a fiery wisp or a shaft of sunlight whose warmth I feel against my skin. Why... I sense them both just feet away, as if they were in the palm of my hand! And the boy?”

  He gave Alex an approving clap on the shoulder. “I suspect he was holding back!”

  Kuaisu furrowed her brow. “Wait! Tang… are you saying that when he took on Sun La, an actual Silver Tier Wujen, darting about with a speed nearly the match of my own…”

  Tang smirked, eyes twinkling. Then he seemed to catch himself, flashing Alex an apologetic smile. “Who can say? Certainly it’s no business of ours, for all that it would only help our cause, the better we know our shared capabilities. But I will say that I’m feeling better than ever about this delve!”

  Kuaisu snorted, before peering intently at Alex and boldly stepping forward. “Alright, Ruidian. Let’s see just how strong your gift is.”

  Alex didn’t hesitate to clasp her wrist and close her eyes for long moments before allowing their souls to connect, pulling back from the interface messages flittering across his mind’s eye so fast that it was over in an eyeblink, establishing only the lightest of communions with her.

  Yet it was enough.

  Her eyes widened with horror that made Alex’s heart skip a beat… before softening with wonder as she shuddered and stared about herself for long moments.

  “Kuaisu?”

  She gulped and stiffened like a soldier before a superior officer with Lao Tie’s deceptively gentle words.

  “It’s… it’s alright.” She shook her head, awe written clear across her features. “No. Better than alright! It’s… I can feel where they all are. The Ruidians and my shieldbrother. I can sense them all, even the direction’s they’re facing!” Her eyes lit up with wonder. “This… for the chaotic frenzy of close-quarters combat when enemies break through our lines… this is perfect!”

  Wu Xien gave Alex a pointed look. “Can you really keep this up for our entire party through an entire delve, boy?”

  Alex smirked and nodded. “Easy as breathing,” he assured.

  Wu Xien snorted. “Well then show me you aren’t talking out of your ass, boy.”

  Alex didn’t hesitate to dip his head and clasp the man’s wrist for long seconds before forming a connection that was, if anything, easier than any other he had forged to day.

  Wu Xien’s eyes widened. A visible sweat broke out across his brow.

  Alex felt a sudden twist in his gut.

  Had he overplayed his hand? Did Wu Xien truly understand what their binding met?

  “Wu?” Lao Tie’s smile didn’t waver, though his pointed gaze did lock with the powerfully built Silver’s for long seconds before the giant at last broke out into a smile. Without even turning his head, his massive meaty armor-covered paw of a hand reached out to clasp Alex’s shoulder… and Alex let him with a smile, grateful that no one had thought to question why his wrist clasping had been necessary if it effortlessly worked through armor.

  “Kuaisu is four paces to my left and Tang is six paces to my right.”

  Lao Tie’s eyes widened before he gave an approving chuckle. “He truly did grant you all a sense of the battlefield and our places within it. Remarkable. Most remarkable!” He caught Alex’s gaze, and slowly dipped his head. “If you would be so kind, my Ruidian friend?”

  Alex, sensing the sudden intensity of half a dozen gazes upon him, didn’t hesitate to nod and do just that. And for all that Lao Tie spent long moments marveling at the expansion of his cultivation senses, as he put it, he alone truly had nothing to fear, having not a single drop of Ruidian blood in his veins.

  “Remarkable. Most remarkable!” Lao gave an approving nod, and Alex could all but sense the young wujen’s mind racing a thousand miles a second as he caught every one of his companion’s gazes, all of them nodding together in perfect unison, clearly having strengthened whatever bonds they already shared.

  “Thank you for your trust in us, Alex. And your timing was impeccable. Far better we spend a quarter glass adjusting to our minds expanding in unforeseen directions than be forced to deal with such a powerful epiphany while in the middle of combat. Now… assuming you are all properly acclimatized to one another? Let us proceed to the Winter gate, and embrace a delve that will make this day one that will be scribed in the city’s annuls to be read and revered for centuries to come!”

  “This boy doesn’t think small, does he?” Ya Ling said with a bemused smile as they rapidly approached what looked to be a massive silver-rimmed oval mirror soaring to well over thirty feet in height. Alex couldn’t help but note the other gates neaby, the nearest one reflecting an autumnal riot of colors and in sharp contrast to Winter’s silver, was gilded in brilliantly shining bronze.

  Alex’s gave the tiniest of nods. “And that’s okay. It never hurts to dream.”

  “Especially when it’s just cover.”

  Alex’s smile gave nothing away with the whisper-soft words from his friend.

  “So am I mistaken or… did you not form a bond with Rachel?”

  Alex sighed, having deliberately put it off before he blinked and smiled, realizing that the perfect solution was before him.

  “Linnea, could you form the party link with Rachel? If she’s sharing an interface map that’s a lot less risky than forcing her to bear the weight of a fuck-ton of secrets and garbage I feel bad enough about dumping on you.”

  Linnea’s smirk was much like Alex’s own because she was as much Alex as herself, already moving forward to do just that, Alex’s words almost a pep talk and showing heartfelt respect to both sides of himself, never one to force a communion.

  Yet all it took were a few reassuring words and a nod and suddenly Rachel was a warm happy bump of awareness in the corner of his mind that he could effortlessly send surges of potency or healing to… or orders, if he so chose, which he most certainly did not. For even if he was able to keep her poor head free of forbidden knowledge, he was an idiot not to realize that even indirectly, their communion was still just a hairsbreadth from being absolute. He had, after all, forged a link with her before… a link so strong that he had effectively pulled her free of the rivers of causality. Restored her saved state.

  Brought her back from the dead.

  And the way her eyes widened and her features paled, if she had ever had any doubts about it before, just looking into his eyes and somehow sensing so many terrible secrets within had obliterated all doubt.

  For the Fox’s Disciple had already danced in the tale of her life, and as bittersweet as his adventures so often were, he was the only reason why her fragile tome wasn’t already dissolving in the River of Souls.

  “Master! It was you! You saved my life!” Her words were a sob in her native tongue, which fortunately only he and Linnea could parse.

  Yet Kuaisu wasn’t the only one to look back with a bemused snort for the sobbing girl suddenly kowtowing at Alex’s feet. Before Alex gently lifted her to stand by their side once more, gently brushing a stray lock of curly hair back into its braid as he so carefully squeezed her hand.

  “No need for that, Rachel. Friends help friends. You helped me as well, remember? Now let’s work together and help ourselves to a grand adventure!”

  Rachel gazed at him for long, painful moments, flushed and flustered with the desperate to say so much… yet the pointed look and throat clearing that both Kuaisu and Tang were giving them resulted in a blush and a quick nod.

  “As you wish… battle leader.”

  Alex froze at those words. “No, Rachel,” he said, switching back to the desert tongue favored by these people. “Lao Tie’s the one who will be orchestrating the flow of combat. I’ll just be an auxiliary flanker, slipping into and out of enemy ranks or guarding our own… wherever I’m needed.”

  Rachel blinked, before bowing her head in instant acceptance. “Of course… Alex. It will be as you say.”

  “Good. Because if the look Lao’s giving us as he waits impatiently by the gate is anything to go by, he wants us linking up right now in an ideal configuration with you and Linnea by his side, supported by Tang and Wu Xien, while Ya Ling, Kuaisu and myself serve as offensive flankers.”

  Kuaisu gave Alex an approving nod. “Good. You know your place then. Now if you children are quite through with your bonding ritual? Let’s join hands and embrace the delve of a lifetime!”

  Alex dared to hesitate, flashing an apologetic smile that was almost a grimace. “And we will do just that,” he said, eyeing the entrance to the gate… then looking at the far off rift that led back to the world counting on them. A world filled with desperate souls, loyal friends… and enemies that would do all they could to strangle any attempts to pull Wanshi from the brink of dire peril.

  “But first, a test of Rachel’s abilities right here and now, in the most ideal and peaceful of environments.”

  Lao Tie gave Alex a pointed look. “Alex…”

  “It will take but a moment… battle leader. And what wiser move could one in your position make than to know the talents of his allies?”

  Tang’s brow furrowed. “Boy, if I didn’t know better…”

  Lao Tie smirked, waving off his friend’s concern. “It’s alright. Sure, Alex. You’ll serve as my auxiliary, assuring to the needs of your companions.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said, before turning back to the increasingly anxious-looking girl before him, fluffy curls once more springing free of her braid as soft brown eyes gazed so intently into his own. “Rachel?”

  “Yes, hero?”

  He forced a chuckle. “I’d like you to do me a favor.”

  “Anything!”

  He ignored Linnea’s suddenly pointed look, and Ya Ling’s teasing smile.

  “You see the flagstone tiles all around the portal?”

  “Of course!”

  “I don’t suppose you can get grass… or moss, lichen, or even trees, to sprout and take hold?”

  Rachel gazed at him oddly. “You wish me to summon echoes of the forest?”

  Alex nodded solemnly. “Remember, our friend made it clear that the far side of this tiny realm is actually covered in forest so… hopefully it’s not too…”

  His words cut off as Rachel closed her eyes, her face taking on a visibly strained expression.

  Kuaisu tutted. “The poor child looks like she’s in desperate need of a bowel movement. Did she truly not take care of such before daring this delve?”

  Wu Xien snorted. “She does at that, but no real harm. We need but turn around and…” He blinked in surprise. “We’re in a delve. How is that possible?”

  Yet Alex couldn’t help but flash a relieved smile, even when Rachel took a gasping breath, wincing with apology.

  “I’m sorry, Alex. But trees are beyond me.”

  He snorted, gazing at the field of grass now covering the flagstones, thick and lush for a good thirty feet in all directions, sparse but visible for another thirty feet beyond. “I have no complaints, Rachel. None at all.”

  She looked around and sighed. “It’s only because this place does have the memory of some ancient grove… but it’s just an echo of what it once was. And I don’t know if I’ll have any ability to summon forth any plants at all, once we enter that chilly delve.”

  “Fear not. It was still a worthy experiment, and your ability as a jewel master has now most definitely been proven!” Lao Tie assured. “Now let us capitalize on that success, take comfort in our prowess, and dare this delve before the hour gets any later!”

  Alex nodded his agreement, linking hands with Rachel, who was holding the hands of Linnea and Ya Ling, along with Kuaisu, linking their companions. His lips stretched wide in an excited smile, sensing everyone’s heart racing with excitement for what was to come.

  Then they stepped forward, touching the gate in perfect unison, and the massive astral courtyard faded to a whirlwind of howling winds and blinding white snow.

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