Someone shook her gently at first. The shaking went from gentle to violent.

  “Lu Na, get up,” Nugua said.

  When Lu Na awoke, the first thing she smelled was burning. When she opened her eyes, she saw Nugua smiling down at her, fangs showing, and blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

  Lu Na clenched her left fist and flicked right. The spirit wall ward activated and covered her in a spirit skin. But before she could activate anything else, Nugua placed a hand on her left hand.

  “It’s fine. You don’t have to use that right now,” Nugua said. “The last thing I need is to be thrown across the room from your uncontrolled earth wall. But you have to get up.”

  Lu Na looked around the room, and first noticed a small fire burning just outside of the building. She was alone in the building with Nugua.

  “Where’s Sun Ren? Where’s Hen Li? What’s going on?”

  “They’re fighting. The rebels were better prepared than I thought. They had some way of hiding their scent from me. When I went hunting, I met a few of them and they were not so happy to see me when I ate them. Of course, when they started screaming, more rebels came and I had to run.”

  “And that’s when you brought them back to us,” Lu Na said.

  Nugua nodded.

  “But look. I came back to get you so we can run before they get here. Sun Ren and Hen Li know to meet us at the gate.”

  “What gate?”

  “Let’s get going first and I’ll explain on the way.”

  Nugua helped Lu Na get up. Her body felt like a million pounds crushing her. But after shaking it out a little, she felt better. She drank a little water and grabbed the rest of her stuff.

  The pair walked out of the building from the back. They marched through dark alleyways with Nugua leading.

  “When I told Sun Ren and the monk about the rebels being closer than I thought, Hen Li wanted to talk with them. He wanted to resolve this peacefully and hopefully we might even work together.”

  “Why would he think they would agree to that?” Lu Na asked.

  “It’s because that na?ve child thinks he can fix his past with words. If he saves even one person, he feels it would be worth it even if it meant his own death.”

  “That’s not such a good idea.”

  “Of course. You only say that because the only thing you’ve ever hurt were the mosquitoes that bit you. You’ve never killed entire villages with a wave of your hand.”

  Lu Na wasn’t sure what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine ever having the power to do that nor could she imagine going through with killing so many people.

  “Besides, the foolish monk needs to learn that nothing in this world matters, especially you humans. You’re here one day and then gone the next.”

  “That’s not true. What we do in this life matters.”

  “Whatever you say child. I’ve been around for so long. Everything just fades.”

  “Let’s move on. I’m sure Sun Ren and Hen Li could use our help.” Lu Na didn’t like to think about her own life. As boring as it has been, she couldn’t think about what would happen when it was over.

  “Wait.” Nugua stopped, forcing Lu Na to bump into her. “Your friends aren’t as strong as I thought they were.”

  Lu Na looked past Nugua. There was a wide open space in front of them. Tents lined up in a neat order up and down in front of a large metal gate. There was a wooden wall built around the encampment with guards patrolling. It looked like a small city.

  “How many people did the rebel bring with him?” Lu Na could see a sea of people walking through a small market area, buying and selling common things like food and other trinkets.

  “That’s not what you should worry about. Your friends are being held captive,” Nugua said.

  “Where?”

  Nugua pointed with one long, fingered claw down the middle of the mini city.

  Lu Na squinted and saw two figures tied up and forced to kneel in front of the largest tent in the whole place. She recognized Sun Ren’s black tunic, so the one next to her must be the monk.

  “What do we do now?” Lu Na asked.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “We leave them and go deeper into the labyrinth,” Nugua said.

  Lu Na laughed.

  “I’m not sure I can make it through the labyrinth without those two. Or are we forgetting how weak I am?”

  “No, but I think you’re underestimating how strong I am.” Nugua closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “This is my home. I can smell all the aromas of the past driving me forward. I can get you through this labyrinth with ease. All you have to do is forget those two and I’ll get you to the center of the labyrinth in a day.”

  “If you’re so strong, then help me save them. How many times has Sun Ren saved me?”

  Nugua stared at the kneeling figure.

  “Fine. If you want to save that girl so much, then answer me: what can you give me?”

  “What do you mean? I’ll give you anything you want as long as you can save Sun Ren.”

  “Even if it means the rest of your life force?” Nugua licked her lips.

  “Are you going to eat me if I say yes?”

  Nugua tilted Lu Na’s head up so their eyes locked onto each other.

  “Oh no, I would never eat you, my dear Na Na. But your life force, the very thing that allows you to live, will be given to me as payment for saving those two.”

  “Was that a part of the pact you made with my mother?”

  Nugua smiled, licking her lips.

  “Yes. She made me promise to never drain your life force no matter what. I have kept that promise. But if you want me to risk my life to save those two, then you have to give me yours in exchange.”

  Lu Na hesitated. She would gladly give her life for her friends because they were stronger, better, and meant for greater things. They saved her life countless times. But there was something else that Nugua wasn’t saying.

  Despite her desire to drain Lu Na’s life force, Nugua never needed to as her mother gave her a lot of spirit energy to use. And while draining her life force would bring her closer to death and therefore closer to her personal freedom, Nugua didn’t seem to have the desire to be free. Lu Na’s experience with Nugua over the years told her she was lonely and that she was happy to be bonded.

  Who else could she chide and mock?

  “No, you want to hold this over my mother when we finally meet her,” Lu Na said.

  Nugua froze for a second before nodding.

  “Of course. I adore you little Na Na, but there is nothing stopping your mother from draining me like a soup the moment we meet her. She would—”

  “I would stop her,” Lu Na said.

  “Even if it means your own death?”

  “Yes. You have saved me as many times as my friends have and given me endless counsel. Why would I ever abandon you?”

  “Oh my, you’re going to make a spirit blush. Then fine, we can save those two, but we’ll have to do it my way.”

  “Your way?”

  Nugua smiled.

  “You will not like my way, but it will be so much fun.”

  Lu Na wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but Nugua was her only option. There was no way she was going to do anything herself.

  “First, we’re going to use your phoenix hairpin as bait. Take it out.” Nugua stooped onto the ground and began drawing a large box in the dirt and other figures representing the mini city below.

  Lu Na took out the hairpin. Despite all the crazy things happening, it was still in one piece.

  Nugua examined the hairpin.

  “That’s not good. The key only has a little bit of phoenix energy left. But it should be enough for what we need.”

  “What’s next? What can I do?”

  “Remember one of your earliest inventions where you wanted to attract spirits to you so you could study them?”

  Lu Na nodded.

  “Do you still remember how to make it?”

  “You can’t mean to use that. It attracted all the spirits from over a hundred li away. If it weren’t for the summoner sects in the city and surrounding areas, Jianye would have been overrun.”

  “Make it and power it using null metal.”

  “You’ll pull all the spirits in the labyrinth here. They would overrun that city. Many would die.”

  “Better them than us. If we can’t solve the puzzle at the center, everyone dies anyway. These people don’t have the key, otherwise they would have opened the gate already.”

  “What gate?”

  Nugua pointed at the large wall the mini city camped next to. She waved her hand over Lu Na’s eyes, activating her spirit sight.

  Lu Na saw a blinding white outline on the wall. She turned it down a little until she could see the outlines for other mechanisms on the gate. It looked like the city gate back at Jianye, except it was made of spirit techniques and probably powered by spirit energy.

  “Your mother’s phoenix energy and that hairpin will allow you to open that gate,” Nugua said. “The only thing in your way is that city and those people. Not to mention, there is no easy way to save your friends without the biggest distraction we can muster.”

  “What if we only attracted a few of the spirits? I can change it so it’s not so powerful,” Lu Na said. The last thing she wanted was all those deaths on her conscience.

  “Look Na Na, I know you don’t want to hurt anyone. But these people are prepared for any spirit assault. See those wooden walls? They’ve been attacked before. A handful of spirits will only tickle them. We need to bring enough force to break them and force them to use their strongest spirits to defend. That’s the only way I can sneak in and save your friends.”

  “Fine.” Lu Na took out a red sheet of paper and a piece of null metal. She took out her spirit wand and got to work.

  All the while she worked, she questioned her mother in her head. This had better be worth Lu Na’s conscience. Otherwise, she’s going to have to continue living with the nightmares.

  Lu Na focused on the device she was working on. Despite Nugua’s plan, she had to modify it. She attuned it so that it would only attract weak spirits. A great gigantic mass of weak feral spirits would be as effective of a distraction as powerful spirits.

  Lu Na had promised that if she ever were to create this device again, she’d be as far away as possible from it. The last time she made it, she didn’t have the null metal powering it. This time, not only that but she was also going to bring it to the rebel’s camp. Well, close enough as she stood on the north side of the camp with Nugua.

  So many people were going to die. But Nugua was right. If she didn’t do this, Sun Ren and Hen Li might die. All the people living in this little city would not be worth Sun Ren’s life. Even if the world looked down upon her for this, she’d do it again.

  Lu Na began to understand Hen Li. She didn’t have the same overwhelming power, but she was about to do the same thing for her own selfish desires.