Jai Long spoke coldly to the guardians of the Fallen Leaf School. “Let me out.”
There was a living barrier between him and the northern exit from Sacred Valley. It was a nest of thorns thicker than his thumb, with a flock of sacred vultures flying overhead and cawing warnings down to him.
Three guards, a Jade and two Irons, stood in his way and prevented him from carving his way out. He could feel life madra from them, as he could from their entire School, but they were still Jades at best.
He could cut them apart as easily as the thorns, but his sister was with him, looking to him with concern. That, and he had killed those who were helpless to stop him before. He hadn’t liked it.
Which annoyed him. A conscience wasn’t something a sacred artist could afford, if he wished to keep climbing the ladder.
But then, Jai Long had come here specifically to escape that climb. In a sense, he wasn’t even a sacred artist anymore.
Though he was still more of one than any five natives of Sacred Valley put together. Even if you set aside the curse, he had been thoroughly unimpressed with the attitudes of the people here. They spent all their time using the sacred arts to jockey for position instead of actually pursuing excellence.
Except Kelsa. He had grown to believe that she and her brother were unique among their kin.
She would do well no matter where she ended up, and her parents were safe now. Jai Long had no more reason to stay.
The Fallen Leaf Jade, a woman with gray in her hair, held up a staff. It was a sacred instrument designed to channel her life madra, and he could feel the connection it held to the thorns behind her. “You have been granted permission to stay among us, but not to use our gateway to the outside.”
Jai Long gripped his spear and steadied himself. He knew that he was perhaps the most suspicious-looking person alive. As much with the script covering his head as without it.
But he was showing great restraint by talking to this person at all. He could defeat all three of them without killing them. Probably.
A white snake of madra curled around Jai Long’s weapon. “I can leave whether you permit it or not. I am asking you to stand aside out of courtesy and a concern for your well-being.”
The Irons, two boys that he suspected were brothers, paled and readied shining green light. They had brown hair and wore badges big enough to be half breastplates, covering most of their chests.
“If you can,” the Jade said, “then do it.”
A new voice rang out before the battle could begin: “Apologies!”
Jai Long kept a wary eye and his spiritual perception on the Jade guard, but he paced several steps to the side so he could catch a glimpse of the man who had spoken.
It was exactly who he had expected.
Wei Shi Lindon Arelius walked up in the clothes of the Akura clan, wearing his own badge, though his had the symbol for “Empty” in the old language. Its white material matched his new arm, which looked advanced for a Remnant prosthetic. Perhaps Jai Long had done him a favor by removing it.
Jai Chen bowed when she saw Lindon, but Jai Long had stayed on his guard. He had expected to run into Lindon at some point, but had hoped to escape before that.
When an old enemy showed up with an army at his back, it was wise to leave.
As far as Jai Long was concerned, accounts between the two of them had been balanced. But you could never tell who would hold a grudge.
This meant he had four people to disable without killing. Lindon was a real sacred artist, and therefore the most threatening among Jai Long’s opponents, but that was like being the fattest mosquito in the swarm.
One swat would be good enough.
Lindon faced Jai Long, and his expression was difficult to read. “Pardon, but you don’t want to walk. The outside world is…inhospitable right now.”
“We’ll take our chances.”
A blue spirit, like a tiny woman in a flowing dress, peeped and waved her hand at Jai Chen. Her eyes lit up in recognition; this must be the spirit who had helped restore the damage to her soul.
Jai Chen’s dragon-spirit floated warily over to Lindon, giving him and the female spirit a curious inspection.
“What’s wrong out there?” Jai Chen asked.
“There’s a Dreadgod coming.”
She gasped, and Jai Long suspected he had made a similar sound himself. They had sensed disturbances in the aura recently coming from the west, and everyone felt the tremors in the earth, but Dreadgods were several levels beyond what he had expected. At worst, he had thought it was Heralds coming to blows.
“The Wandering Titan?” he guessed, and Lindon nodded.
“The Akura clan has provided a fleet of cloudships for evacuation, and they’re waiting at the eastern entrance.”
“What is a Dreadgod?” the Fallen Leaf Jade asked sharply.
Lindon looked surprised, but he bowed to her over fists pressed together. “Forgiveness, please. I assumed the other elders had warned you. My friends and I have come to warn you of a monster of unimaginable strength making its way to Sacred Valley. Think of it as an insane sacred beast as tall as a mountain. We have plenty of room for you and your whole School to evacuate before its coming.”
She did not look like someone who had just heard that her home was going to be destroyed. She wore an expression of deep skepticism. “Have the elders decided to flee before this threat?”
Lindon sighed. “They are still making their decision.”
He turned back to the Jai siblings and dipped his head. “Apologies.”
“I hope you can save your home,” Jai Chen said.
“So do I.” He gave her a sad half-smile. “I wish you could stay here in peace. When the threat of the Dreadgod has passed, perhaps you can return.”
“Thank you for the warning,” Jai Long said, “but I’m not foolish enough to ignore an open door now for the promise of one later.” He lifted his spear. “If there is a Dreadgod out there, all the more reason to leave as soon as we can.”
It wasn’t as though the Wandering Titan was crouched on the other side of this pass with its mouth open. It must be hundreds of miles away, and far to the west. They had witnessed the Bleeding Phoenix back in the Blackflame Empire, and Dreadgods were hard to miss.
They could leave through this entrance to the north, and then—if it turned out Lindon was telling the truth—they could take a cloudship anywhere they wanted.
Besides, he wouldn’t trust a ship given to him by someone whose limb he had chopped off.
Life madra flowed out from the Fallen Leaf Jade, and thorns came to life behind her. Vines slithered over the ground even as his own white madra came to life in the form of serpents, hissing at their opponent.
“Please don’t do that,” Lindon said quietly.
Jai Long moved for one of the Irons first. Take out the weakest, reduce the numbers on the enemy side.
His Striker technique, in the form of a white snake, blasted out to protect him from the thorns as he lunged for the Iron.
He aimed for a shallow cut on the boy’s calf. He would probably have to slap the Iron around a few times to get him to give up, but this would at least keep him out of the fight for a moment.
A blue-and-white figure stood between them.
It was Lindon, his eyes made of blue crystal with white circles for irises. He held Jai Long’s spear in his hand of flesh and a sword in his right. The Iron had swung a blade to try and intercept Jai Long, and though the blow would never have landed, Lindon gripped the weapon by its blade with no apparent discomfort.
Thorns wrapped around his leg, but he ignored them, turning his disquieting gaze on Jai Long. “We’re trying to negotiate with the Fallen Leaf School. Please don’t kill them.”
Jai Long filled himself with his Flowing Starlight technique, which Enforced his entire body. White madra filled his limbs, standing out on his skin like shining serpentine tattoos.
With all the strength he could muster—what was left to him in this cursed valley—he pulled at his spear. Lindon didn’t budge.