"I'm going to stay here," Ling Qi said.
She felt uneasy about her choice, about separating from Shen Hu in this dream, and about staying to meet the frightening presence that approached.
"You sure?" Shen Hu asked without judgement.
"I am, I might not be there yet… but dealing with the 'big stuff' is going to be part of my job some day," Ling Qi replied dryly. "Can I talk you into staying?"
"No," he replied shaking his head. "It'd be pointless. I can't do anything here."
Ling Qi huffed, feeling put out. "Some bodyguard you are."
He looked at her in confusion. "That was a lie though," he replied, befuddled. "You're probably stronger than me anyway and if it turns violent, neither of us can do anything against that," he bluntly stated, gesturing in the direction of the advancing darkness.
"...That's fair," Ling Qi replied. "Good luck."
"You too," Shen Hu said seriously, turning away to begin heading south, quickly sinking into the bubbling mud pool at his feet..
Ling QI steadied herself, and turned back to Vengeance-for-Burning-Grove, doing her best to project confidence as she strode back to him. "Sir Vengeance. If you do not mind, I will wait with you. It will benefit me to speak with the King, I think."
The burning tree made a crackling groan as he turned to give her a sidelong look from his deep set, knothole eyes. "You flirt with danger little wraith, but I will not gainsay you, for the aid you have given, wait then, and prepare to receive the King."
The wait was interminable, yet Ling Qi found any attempt at conversing with Vengeance to dying in her throat under the ominous pressure approaching them. Yet that very presence seemed in no hurry, seconds stretched into minutes, until nearly a quarter of an hour had passed. The first indication of its approach was the noise, a strangely muted cacophony of beastly cries and tramping feet, mixed with the creaking of bending wood and the tearing of the earth.
Soon the smoldering fires nearby snuffed out, sparks extinguished in an instant, and even the flames burning on Vengeance guttered low. Ling Qi found it hard to breath, and her raw animal instincts screamed at her to run, to flee, to cower. It was only long acclimation to Meizhen's aura that allowed her to hold her ground without doing more than going pale and trembling.
She understood then, that was coming was not something on the level of Zeqing, but something far beyond that. Now that it washed over her so powerfully, she could feel it. The spirits relative weakness… was down to the fact that this was but an echo of events long past. For all of its ferociousness and potency, it was faded, like the impression of a blinding light seen on the back of one's eyelids.
That did little to take away from her growing nerves as she saw the shadow of movement in the now darkened woods. She did not know what she was expecting, but it was not what emerged. What stepped forth from the treeline, brush parting before him like a curtain was a man.
Yet it was not.
Towering over her, tall enough to look down upon any human. He was nonetheless slender and androgynous, similar to Sixiang's briefly held flesh and blood form in a way. Long, luxurious black hair tumbled down past his shoulders, loose and wild, kept from his face by curving, branched horns like a stags, which rose from his temples.
He wore a an emerald robe of many layers, that draped his form and rippled in the suddenly chill wind. Despite those trapping's of humanity though, there was something off. Even considering the billowy robe, the motion she could see of his legs beneath it was… wrong and his footfalls were more like the sound of hooves than any human feet. His handsome features and dark eyes seemed perfect, but the lines of it were subtly off, like a mask that did not fit quite right. The burning viridian light of his pupils reminded her unsettlingly of Cai Shenhua.
That was not even to mention his entourage. In his wake, trees writhed, nightmarish faces forming and disappearing in the lines of the dark, and the shadows seethed with hungry eyes that gleamed in the night. She saw predator and prey alike among the unnatural darkness, shadowed even to her gaze. Wolves stalked amidst stags, and the earth writhed with vermin under the hungry eyes of raptors perched in living branches. Behind him stretched a vast swarm of beasts, more than she could ever name. Yet there was something unreal about it, the vast menagerie, the forest made manifest, was eerily quiet and dim, and remained behind him, as if it were only his shadow.
"My King," Vengeance rumbled, awkwardly bowing his burning trunk in a fascimile of the human motion. "This brother has survived the others, to bring you the knowledge the Oathbreakers sought to destroy."
Ling Qi very quickly imitated his motion, clapping her hands together and bowing as low as she could manage. "This humble one greets your majesty, and asks for forgiveness to my intrusion."
The King did not reply, nor even glance her way, striding across the clearing to stand before Vengeance-for-Burning Grove. "Your vengeance will be done," he said calmly as he laid his hand upon the burning trees bark, flames parting around his slender fingers. "Your death avenged."
Ling Qi remained studiously silent, peering out from under her bangs, only for her eyes to widen slightly as Vengeance stilled, and his flames roared back to life, engulfing his form entirely in a lurid inferno. The sudden burst of ashen woodsmoke almost made her cough and gag. A moment later, she heard the King inhale, and flames and smoke alike were drawn in, reversing the explosion that had happened moments ago. When the flames faded, Vengeance-for-Burning-Grove was gone, and the King stood, a faint trickle of smoke rising from his lips.
"So that is where my wayward brother's final redoubt is hidden," the King mused, lowering his hand. His voice was musical and almost feminine, at odds with the atmosphere he exuded.
His gaze fell on Ling Qi then, and she froze. She found her tensed muscles locked, denied any form of motion as the King turned casually toward her, the primal green radiance shining from his eyes casting her clasped hands in a sickly light. "And what possessed thee to remain, on this night of blood," he asked, casual and indifferent in tone.
Her mouth was dry, Ling Qi thought absently, as his shadow fell over her, and she felt the patter of countless feet as the carpet of mice and rats engulfed her feet, and the wraiths of ancient and hoary trees rose around her, their limbs heavy with birds, staring down at her with gleaming, hungry eyes. How long had it been, since she had seen the night as a mortal did, she wondered. "I want to understand what is happening," Ling Qi said with more confidence than she felt. "My lord I have…"
"What an amusing creature," he interrupted her breezily, taking a stride closer. "What does it matter to you, Magpie who wears the Crows plumes? Do you imagine that you can change the outcome of this night?"
Ling Qi did not answer for a moment. Why did it matter to her? He had a point, the forces moving in this dream were beyond her, and she was beginning to doubt that this was something so structured as an Elders test. So why? Why did it matter enough to put herself at risk?
...Because this was the situation she had chosen to put herself into was it not? A small piece moving around the field between titans, expected to not only affect, but even contribute to their plans. Plans that she had no understanding of and barely any context for, even with her more recent efforts to educate herself. "Because I need to understand, if I am to survive," the words came to her lips unbidden. "Even if I am small, my actions can affect the paths of the mighty and draw their attention."
"A good answer," replied the King, stepping closer still. "Very well, a boon then, for shortening this nights dance."
Despite his words, Ling Qi only felt her discomfort rise as his slender hand clasped her shoulder, filled with a strength that could crush her in an instant. "Before emperor and empires, many Weilu strayed from the true path. Breaking old pacts, cutting wood beyond the limits of our oaths, building festering nests of stone like the foolish apes to the north. Breaking with the flow of the sun, the moon and the seasons, as if they could forge a new order for themselves."
"The King of the Forests tolerated this, for he loved his sons, and did not wish to raise a hand, and after all, their depredations struck such a tiny, tiny fraction of the vast Emerald Sea," The kings lilting voice held an edge of contempt.
"Yet many were unhappy with our wayward brethren, and so when he passed, it was the Elder Brother, who walked the true path, who was crowned. When he politely requested that the foolish ones tear down their ugly blights, and return to the true way… they refused, how mad of them." All around him wolves snarled and birds cried, the dulled cacophony of the forest rising in fury.
Ling Qi felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, even as she remained silent, despite the pain of the King's fingers digging into her shoulder, as fury began to leak into his voice.
"They bought metals and stone from serpents and apes, and laid siege to our most sacred temples. They pillaged and killed their own kin and defied the holy conclave of kings. Yet, when this King reached the peak, gathered the scattered courts to war, and awoke the Sea. what good did it do?" The king continued contemptuously. "The followers of truth have scoured them from the land and cast down their blights, regrown the sullied groves on the flesh and blood of chattel and traitor alike. Now, only one foolish man remains unrepentant. It is my brother and nephews who I hunt this night, little dreamer."
Ling Qi bit her lip as she felt the King's sharpened fingernails dig into her skin, drawing blood. "I see, thank you very much your majesty. I understand now."
"Thou do not little dreamer," he said easily. "But you will, when you join us on our hunt. Only then will thy boon be granted. Pray that the understanding does not break thee."
Ling Qi felt her throat dry up, but she knew that this was the position she had put herself in. She could not refuse. "You honor me," he voice sounded like a raspy whisper to her own ears.
"This King does not," he replied sounding vaguely amused, without masking the murderous fury behind his gaze. "What interesting customs the future holds."
Ling Qi could only remain silent, her lessons on etiquette contained no response to that.
"Thy boon was a paltry one, given thy service," The King mused. "New hunter, this king offers thee a blessing of fang or hide, which will carry even unto the waking world. Choose now, and let the hunt begin."
Ling Qi swallowed, considering his offer, surrounded as she was by the embodiment of a forests rage, the hand of an incalculably more powerful cultivator on her shoulder. Her thoughts raced. He had offered her a boon, but only for two things…. But could she afford to press her luck and try for a better outcome?
[] Accept the blessing of Fang
[] Accept the blessing of Hide
[] Ask for something else, despite the risk
-[] Ask that Shen Hu be spared the hunt
-[] Ask that Shen Hu and any mortals be spared the hunt
