Cassandra Pendragon
Metallic flesh, pulsating veins and crystalline scales grew before my eyes. The smells of molten gold and ozone mixed, her bellows like lungs expanded once and a rattling cough shook her serpentine body before she choked out a clump of coagulated blood. It hit the tiled ground with a sharp clang, almost like a piece of real metal. A tremor shot from the tip of her tail to her head and her eyes quivered, before they opened and bathed me in a flickering, golden glow. A crooked smile tugged on the corners of my mouth and revealed my canines. Then I raised a clawed paw and flicked her forehead. A raspy, exhausted laugh escaped me when the movement sprinkled her with blood. We were cowering in a veritable sea of molten gold and the thick liquid had drenched my fur and was stuck to my paws. Thank the gods, I had still been in time.
"How are you feeling, idiot?" I already knew, I could sense her again, but she was still reeling and I didn't want a colossus of a dragon to panic. And I also had to calm myself. I was still panting. As soon as my voice poured into her mind the tremors subsided like fires put out by a cooling rain.
"Stupid and sore. What was that?"
"Transcendent magic. You can thank your lucky star. Without my spark you'd have disappeared the moment you materialised. Then again, without it you probably wouldn't have made it there." Her growing wings pressed against my tails and I shifted my body to give her a little more space. I still kept her head and chest covered, though. We weren't alone, after all. As soon as Viyara had opened her eyes my fear had subsided and I had allowed my senses to expand. Quite a few creature were surrounding us and even more were closing in. Judging from their energies they were the same kind of mage Constantine had become. Cultivators, he had called them. Which probably meant I had grabbed the root connected to the Immortal Lands before. Damn, I couldn't remember much of what he had explained. Families… and an empire. Oh well, I'd figure it out.
"There? Where were we? And where are we now?" Her thoughts were settling down, but instead of trying to wriggle out of my tails she pushed her head into the thick fur on my chest and closed her eyes. She stiffened when the last wounds closed before she finally relaxed.
"That chamber was the actual core of Greta. It's a bit complicated, but I think the huge tree is nothing but the first root she has grown. There are others… no, not the ones we've planted. Those are just offshoots of the first root. I…," a faint pressure and voices that seemed like the annoying buzz of a bug distracted me. "Can we do this some other time? I fear we've caused a bit of a stir."
"Sure. If you don't expect me to move. I'm dead tired. What have you even done? Why am I… fine?"
"My magic is a part of you. You're my steed. As long as we're together you won't die on me. Your body can use my power to regenerate by now and I have plenty to spare. Hush, now. I'm much too tense to focus on two things at the same time." She hummed in reply and when the massive, golden snake in my embrace began to vibrate my whole body trembled. A relieved sigh escaped me. She'd truly be fine.
Finally I raised my head from the fluffy cave my tails had become and looked around. My tongue darted out to taste the air and my ears twitched in annoyance when a wave of noise assaulted me. People, humans, at least a hundred, were surrounding us. In a respectful distance. Under a glaring, orange sun they waited, swords drawn, while short, chopped sentences, barked in an alien tongue, sounded in the courtyard. My nose quivered when I inhaled deeply.
This world, this realm was brimming with energy. I felt it in the earth, I smelled it on the wind, I sensed it in the water. We weren't in Kansas anymore, but instead had appeared on a black tiled courtyard in front of a huge, open, three story building. Eastern would have been the closest description I could have come up with for the architecture with its slanted, playful roofs, red painted walls and marble inlays, but there was something entirely alien about the materials used. Stones had been polished like glass, the statues guarding the entrance to the mansion glowed with an azure light and depicted a beast I had only ever seen once before. It almost looked like an eastern dragon, but it carried heavy golden antlers and its short legs ended in hooves made of jade. A Kirin, or Qilin, I thought, but I couldn't be sure. I had only ever met one on Earth, but it had run as soon as it had seen me.
The temple, for want of a better word, protected the entrance to a beautiful, verdant valley, surrounded by seven sky high peaks. Their summits were painted in eternal white and reached far above the tree line, but with my vision I could clearly see the palaces erected there. They surrounded gargantuan courtyards, warded from the frost by magic and their simple but effective design. Beautiful flowers, glowing herbs and emerald ponds covered in lotuses defied the high altitude and flourished there under the glaring mountain sun. A few, young humans were assembled in every court yard and stared blindly in our direction, the distance much too vast for their puny senses and weak magic to cover. Judging from what Constantine had told me those were probably the youngest disciples, but I couldn't be sure.
The valley itself was larger than most islands I had come across, a colourful, living paradise that smelled of nature, magic and danger. When I focused I could even hear the soft, distant footfalls of uncounted beasts, hiding between tree high ferns, towering winter oaks and purple bamboo groves, their fleeting shadows nothing but half forgotten memories along the banks of an azure river. The river sprung from the tallest mountain at the very end of the valley and collected tributaries from the other six peaks along the way. Fish, their scales shimmering in the sun, dove through the surface and flocks of birds I couldn't name rose from the forest to catch them for their meal. Every now and then a larger creature would break the waves and the birds would rise again in a storm of indigo, crimson, gold and emerald.
A paved, broad road led from the temple in front of me along the banks of the river and to the end of the valley. On the way smaller paths crossed the water on elegant, wooden bridges and diverted towards the mountains on either side, where they slowly meandered through the forest and climbed up to the summits. In contrast to the lonely edifices on the smaller mountains, the towering, ancient giant of a mountain on the opposite side of the valley, the river's origin, was clattered with several temples, structures, gardens and pagodas where even more children and adolescents had assembled. If I had been forced to guess, I'd have speculated that we had stumbled upon one of the sects Aglaia, the kitsune I had met in the past and present, had mentioned. Most of it had been built on the distant, tallest mountain, while the other peaks belonged to one official or the other and were used to raise their favourite younglings.
Said officials were probably the ones surrounding us, alongside the disciples they deemed old or powerful enough to stand by their side. I couldn't even blame them. A dragon and an eight tailed fox had arrived on their doorstep without a warning, without a whisper. That one had been close to death and had regrown wings the size of sails in almost no time most likely didn't help, either. Unfortunately I just couldn't get around dealing with them. I had smelled Greta's magic, I had found the root, and it just so happened to grow deep within the mountain they had erected their sect on. On one hand I was elated, thus far it seemed like Ahri had been right, but… Damn it, they wouldn't take kindly to me tearing open a flank of their mountain home, would they? And I just couldn't see this happening without some minor…ish destruction.
My ears twitched again when I finally focused on what the people close by were screaming, but to my dismay I couldn't follow their words. It was pretty similar to Asian languages, but just different enough that it'd take me a while to understand. The general meaning was pretty easy to grasp nonverbally, though. Imagine dignified, long bearded men and beautiful, fairy like women in elaborate, multilayered robes, the loose cloth fluttering in the mountain winds. Each and every single one of them was pointing a sword in varying shapes and sizes our way, while their faces were ashen and their eyes aglow with the raging torrents of power they were about to unleash. In the second row the ones with less potential had formed a defensive line, blocking us off from the entrance to the valley. So much for first impressions. And I couldn't even speak the language.
"I can reach them, but I'm afraid they'll do something stupid if I try. Without language I have to resort to images and emotions. It can become a tad overwhelming." Viyara sent without moving an inch. She seemed more than comfortable where she was. "Did you bring a white flag?"
"Sure. It's right…" I hesitated. Actually, I had, in a way. "I hope this works," I grumbled. "If not I'll have to start ordering them around for a while." With a twist of my awareness I conjured the white dress Shassa had given me, took hold of it with one of my tails and started waving it from left to right. A thunderous silence settled in and the fur along my back bristled.
I squinted, prepared to close my eyes as soon as the first spells were going to ignite around us, but the assault didn't come. Instead the silence was broken when two men in the front, both graced with fluffy beards that touched the ground and equally fluffy eyebrows, exchanged a few, grunted words. The wind picked up and an ominous moan made my whiskers tremble as the breeze whispered through the temple. The scent of ice and a myriad of plants I hadn't smelled before tickled my nose. I reflexively opened my mouth to catch more of the alien taste.
With a sound like hammers striking rock the humans jumped back immediately and the force of their movement left cracks on the hardened stone tiles. I flinched and closed my mouth with a resounding clack, but again they didn't attack. Instead they were eyeing us wearily.
"Try it now, they don't seem too eager to fight," I sent to the dragoness.
"Way ahead of you. See the girl in the back in blue robes? No, the one with her pink hair in a bun." I did, but I couldn't quite understand how she could, considering her head was still buried against my chest. Was she using my eyes? "She's the granddaughter of one of those two in the front, don't ask me which one, though, and she's apparently read more fairytales than is advisable. A righteous golden dragon and her servant have descended from heaven. Unfortunately the others are much more levelheaded from what I've seen in their minds. They're scared, but as long as we don't do anything stupid they won't provoke us. I think. Give me a second. Maybe I can get her to talk to her old man on our behalf. To be honest, I think she has a few screws loose, but she's been doted on forever. If they're willing, do you want me to link your minds?" By now I could do so myself, but my touch was nowhere near as… delicate as hers.
"Please. If you're already snooping around, could you also tell me what's going on?"
"Hmm… it's exactly what it looks like. This entire valley, it's almost like… like an academy without graduation. Life long learning of magic… you get the point. Maybe a community of practitioners would be an apter description."
"I see. Do you know who's in charge?"
"Not sure. The two Santa Claus wannabes," the dragoness had taken to Earth's colloquialisms like a fish to water, "are pretty high up the food chain, though, but I think the actual leader isn't here. If I'm not mistaken," she paused and I felt her mind expand sneakily before she continued: "they're father and son. The girl should be the daughter of the one with the bigger sword. Her aunt, his sister, is in charge, but she isn't here. As far as I can tell she's… it's hard to say. She's hauled up somewhere, trying to overcome an injury, I think." Seclusion. Not the first time I had heard the term and one of the reasons why I thought cultivation wasn't the most handy approach to learning magic. The ridiculously complex and overly long sequences needed to channel power stored in an artificial organ like a dantian was another. Magic should feel like breathing and the more natural it came, the stronger it was. Just the thought of having to go through a series of motions, runes or thoughts to access my core made me shiver. I'd have died a hundred times over, if I hadn't been able to shape my power with just my will. Then again, I was an immortal and could hardly judge. A cobbler should stick to his last.
"Then," I began hesitantly, "where are the women? Father and son each should have a wife, shouldn't they?" "Dead. Killed in the last battle of the Qin family's rebellion."
"Why do you say that like it's supposed to mean something to me?" I could feel her snicker and a cloud of smoke rose from my chest.
"Because it really should. The Qin family turned Lamia into a slave. I thought the people, who subjugated the girl your sister is after, would be quite high on your most wanted list." Right… Constantine, or Yichen, from the Hu family, the Jiang family, who had a single heiress in dire need of four strange, magical fruits, of which I had eaten one, and the Qin family, who had tormented Lamia and her family to use them in their ill begotten fight against their neighbours. It was coming back to me. The Bronze Empire. That was the name of the nation.
"Exactly," Viyara continued. "I think we're in one of, if not the foremost sect in the Empire, but I can't be sure. I can't prompt their minds without getting noticed. I can tell you a bit about their magic, though. It's surprisingly varied, considering they're walking a pretty narrow path."
"No need. I know how it works, I can see it." I could also remember the most important bits and pieces. Cultivation was a form of magic mostly practiced on planets close to the rift at the centre of the universe, because it needed an abundance of energy in the world. A cultivator would absorb the power and incorporate it into their own body, mostly in the form of a dantian, to enhance their abilities. There were several different approaches, but it basically came down to assimilating and mastering mana in various steps, followed by life force and soul energy. I could still picture a late night conversation with Aurora vividly, when she had mused that the path of cultivation might, at its very end, touch upon transcendent forces, but unfortunately no one had ever come that far. I did see the appeal, though, and the parallel to our core was also undeniable.
"Judging from how their auras look," I pondered, "the ones at the front should be stronger than my brothers. That would make them… maybe as strong as a six tailed kitsune? Or a dragon before the end of their second century?"
"I could swallow each of them in one bite," Viyara stated arrogantly, but immediately conceded: "I'm hardly normal, though, and there's a huge difference in ability, even amongst the ones closest to us. The two old men could have probably faced one of my mothers for a short while, while the rest doesn't even come close." Truth be told, I couldn't see it. The movement of energy within their bodies was so sluggish and the amount so little that it barely mattered. I just thought their auras seemed a touch brighter than my brothers'. "You can ask them yourself, soon. Look," the dragoness added. The few seconds it had taken us to communicate had been enough for the girl to cry out and catch the attention of her family. Hopefully they'd listen to a fairytale loving weirdo. Me, the humble servant of a benevolent dragon, who had descended from heaven? Please…