Lu Na gaped at the old man who lowered his spear once he saw her. The Elder of the Wintersweet Sect glared down at her with blood dripping from his forehead. The dangerous look in his eye was the only thing that struck so much fear into Lu Na that she forgot about the itching.

  If only for a moment.

  The itching came back, crawling all over her skin worse than before. Itch, itch, scratch, scratch. There was no end to the hopeless cycle of pain that Lu Na just couldn’t reach.

  Elder Hen’s face softened.

  “Child, you look miserable.”

  “Please, help. Answer the question.” Lu Na was frantically trying to scratch her entire body at the same time. She never had to do that before. Usually it was one place. Now, everywhere!

  “What question?” Elder Hen looked around the area.

  “My question,” the game master said after a pause.

  Elder Hen raised his spear at the game master.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “I’m the game master here. I control the labyrinth’s central room. So I would kindly ask you to please lower your spear. Not that it can do anything to me anyway.”

  Elder Hen put his spear down, but he never let go. With his other arm, he wiped at the blood on his forehead.

  “You are an ally of that girl, yes?” the game master asked.

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

  “Get on with it game master!” Lu Na yelled. She couldn’t hold on. She was going to throw herself in the lava.

  “Yes, get on with it,” Zi Xu said. He bent over Lu Na. “Let me help you.”

  Lu Na nodded. Any relief was welcome.

  Zi Xu placed a hand on her shoulder. The cold icy blast hit her all over. It chilled her to the bone. The itching was numbed, as if it was happening to someone else.

  “Let me explain the rules. There’s a long list of them and if you want to survive, you should listen,” the game master said.

  “No, just ask the question to continue this game. If we don’t hurry, that ghost is going to kill Lu Na,” Elder Hen said.

  The game master smiled.

  “How perceptive. You noticed the ghost was draining her life essence.”

  Lu Na swiveled her head. Zi Xu looked like he was in ecstasy as he held onto her shoulder.

  “Let go, please.” Lu Na’s voice was so low she barely heard it herself. It was as if her mind was leaving her body.

  Elder Hen thrusted his spear at Zi Xu but nothing happened.

  “What’s the question, game master.”

  “Very well. The question is simple: How do spirits gain the ability to talk?”

  “By that question, I’m assuming you’re asking about how these motes of spirit energy become smart enough to communicate with their summoners?”

  The game master nodded.

  “Simple. When a summoner bonds with their first spirit, they have to meditate upon the nature of the spirit that willingly bonded with them in order to understand its purpose in their life. Once the spirit gains an understanding and enough spirit essence, it will grown into a sentient creature that can talk.”

  “Correct, for the most part.” The game master waved his hand.

  The itching stopped. But not the cold.

  Lu Na couldn’t feel her body anymore as she sank to the floor. She felt all the warmth leaving her.

  “Ghost, stop,” Elder Hen said.

  “I can’t. I haven’t felt this alive in centuries,” Zi Xu said.

  “If you don’t stop, we can’t complete this challenge and you will continue being stuck here,” the game master said.

  That stopped Zi Xu. He pulled his hand from Lu Na.

  The ambient heat from the lava wrapped around Lu Na like a warm blanket. It wasn’t until now did she feel how hot the lava was making the room.

  “Are you okay, Young Miss Lu?” Elder Hen asked.

  “No, but I will be.”

  “You can’t trust this one,” the game master said. He had the look of a concerned grandfather. “The next time he drains your life essence, I’ll let him finish the job. Now tell him to leave.”

  Lu Na glared at Zi Xu. She couldn’t believe that after helping her so much that he would go and almost kill her. The last thing she wanted was to see the ghost, but there was something nagging her by the game master’s request.

  “Why can’t you make him leave? You’re the game master.”

  The game master’s concern disappeared, leaving eye rolling in its place. For a ghost that was centuries old, the juvenile gesture irked Lu Na. It was like dealing with her devious younger brothers again.

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  “Fine, whatever. Keep him around. If he kills you, then I’ll have gained my peace again.” The game master waved both of his hands and the small pillar disappeared. “Time to move onto your next challenge.”

  Zi Xu looked ashamed from the admonishment, but he didn’t go away on his own. There had to be a reason why the game master was adamant for Lu Na to ask him to leave. Which reminded her something else.

  “Before we continue, I don’t believe you’ve told me the rules yet.” Lu Na was finally feeling her feet and hands.

  “I already told you. Make it across the obstacle course while answering some questions and you win. Let’s move on,” the game master said.

  “No. While I was suffering before, you mentioned something to Elder Hen that there was a long list of rules. I know you’re not telling me everything because you never mentioned anything about having an ally help me.”

  “Your friends are dying. Tell them.”

  Elder Hen’s face said it all. For a summoner as powerful as him to be desperate in that fight must mean they would all be wiped out at any time.

  “You’re right. They are,” Lu Na said, eliciting a smile on the game master’s face. “But if we get it wrong here, they all die anyway. So I’d rather hear what the rules are before we continue. All of them.”

  The game master clenched his jaw and huffed.

  “Fine.”

  “Zi Xu, you’ve been here before. Make sure he doesn’t leave any out,” Lu Na said.

  “Oh, this is the first time I’ve ever been here. I don’t know all the rules,” Zi Xu said. “I only know of a few things that the previous challengers told me after they died. The one thing that is guaranteed is that the game master can’t lie, not directly.”

  “Then get on with it.” Lu Na sat down on the ground and looked over her self-inflicted wounds. There were scratch marks going up and down her hands, but luckily her clothing prevented the worst of it. She bandaged them as best as she could.

  The game master began his long speech. After listening to the rules and extra commentary, there were two things that stood out:

  First, the challenger can choose to bring in outside help. That was useless as the game master already summoned Elder Hen.

  Second, as the challenge was going on, there was an option to pause the feral spirits from attacking whoever was left outside until the challenge was done. The caveat was that it added an extra obstacle course and question that the challenger had to complete.

  “You damned ghost. Stop the feral spirits now!” Lu Na yelled. Of course the game master would leave that last bit of information for the very end.

  Most of the other rules didn’t apply to Lu Na or Elder Hen. Some of them were silly such as not being able to do the obstacles while carrying a goat or singing an old song lost in history.

  “Why didn’t you listen to the instructions?” Elder Hen asked.

  “I thought he told me all the instructions. How was I supposed to know that he would hide a part of it?” Lu Na was annoyed not only at the game master but the Elder as well. He didn’t know how much pressure she was in, nor the pain she was still experiencing from scratching herself.

  The game master smiled.

  “So nice. Father and daughter enjoying a little time together before they both die. There is a bit of bad news though for you. Because you stopped the feral spirits, you are now on a new timer. You have only half an hour to complete the obstacle course or your lives will be forfeit.”

  “Wait, you didn’t tell us that stopping the spirits would put a limit on us.” Lu Na eyed the entire course. It didn’t look difficult, but if the first obstacle was any indication everything was going to be filled with pain.

  “Oh, didn’t I?” the game master waved his hand and the next obstacle pillar shot up from the ground. “You better hurry then.”

  Lu Na heard the lava boiling below her. Was it rising? She exchanged a look with Elder Hen.

  “Let’s hurry then Young Miss Lu.” Elder Hen walked ahead.

  That was easy for the old man to say. Her feet were still feeling the aftereffects of the itching.

  The next obstacle had ropes lining the floor in a ladder pattern. It looked simple enough, except the the ropes all glowed a bright orange.

  “Hey game master. What will happen if we step on the rope?” Lu Na asked.

  “I could tell you, but I’m only bound to not lie. So I won’t. You’ll have to figure it out yourself.” The game master floated above the lava. He conjured a table and chair that he sat on. There were wooden tablets on them and he began scoring it with a small knife.

  It reminded Lu Na of her father. If she didn’t make it out of this, she would never see him again.

  “I’ll test it then,” Lu Na said. She took a careful step into the center of one of the ladders. Nothing happened. She waited a few more seconds just in case. The last thing she needed was another itching episode that pushed her to the ground.

  Lu Na then stepped back off the rope.

  “Catch me if I fall.”

  Elder Hen nodded.

  Lu Na scrunched up her face and reached with her finger to the closest bright orange rope.

  ZAP!

  Lu Na pulled her hand back in an instant as if she burned it. It felt like the shock one had when they rubbed too much sheep’s wool and touched something metal.

  Just a lot more painful.

  Lu Na sucked her finger to ease the pain.

  “This is a waste of time, Young Miss Lu. We must hurry,” Elder Hen said.

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “No. The lava is rising. The time you wasted testing the rope, it has raised a foot. But the moment you stepped into the ladder, it stopped. So we must hurry.”

  Lu Na hated that the Elder was right, but this would all be pointless if they died from lava.

  “If only I had my wards. This would be so much easier.”

  “Do you mean this?” Elder Hen took out the null metal bracelet.

  “Yes! But what about Hen Li?” Lu Na grabbed the bracelet and wrapped it around her wrist. Just the feeling of the warm metal calmed her.

  “My son is fine. He’s recovered enough to not need it. Now let’s hurry before we will all not need it.”

  The old man didn’t need to tell Lu Na twice. Lu Na clenched her left fist and flicked her wrist left, focusing on the strongest and thickest earth wall she could imagine. Thick steps rose in between the rope.

  Each one that touched the rope crumbled to dust. At the end, there were only a few that made a small path to the other side, where one had to jump in between.

  Lu Na took the lead and climbed the first step. She made sure to walk through as carefully as she could without falling over.

  “Is the lava still rising?” Lu Na looked back at Elder Hen.

  “No, keep going.”

  There was only one small problem. The last section of the ladder were too small to allow earth steps to rise.

  Lu Na would either have to jump or figure another way over. Or she could make the earth wall bend around the rope as she did with the earth domes before. Hopefully they would be strong enough to walk on.

  Lu Na clenched her left fist and flicked left. The earth steps beside her rose up and combined into rising steps in front of her.

  The earth collapsed onto the rope, causing a loud sizzle.

  How did her brother do it so easily? No matter how much practice Lu Na had, she couldn’t ever compare to her brother’s control.

  “Young Miss Lu, focus not on pushing the earth to what you want, but feel the earth spirit energy within it. The one thing in common with all earth summoners is their affinity to order. Focus on the chaos that is the churned earth and try to put them back in order. Like this.”

  Elder Hen lifted his foot and the earth step he stood on curved to meet his foot. He stood atop that small piece of rock as if it was the strongest thing ever made.

  Lu Na turned on her spirit sight to look at Elder Hen’s technique. For the first time she saw what the Elder meant. The earth spirit energy that was like a mixed bowl of rice, beans, and fish became ordered into the perfect dish with everything in layers.

  Oh Lu Na wished she didn’t think about food. She hadn’t eaten in forever.

  Lu Na shook her head to focus. She tried to order the earth spirit energy as Elder Hen advised. With a flick of her wrist, the earth rose up again to meet her, this time small, thinner, sleeker.

  It was like moving mud with her bare hands. Only after struggling did she finally layer it to look something like Elder Hen’s.

  “That’s not bad for your first attempt,” Elder Hen said.

  “Thank you.” That was the first time Lu Na was praised for this. It felt good. But no time. They had to move.

  Lu Na took a step onto her new earth platform only for it to collapse right after. The bright orange rope came rushing up to meet her.