Heavenly Shae

Shae had just been told that the main gates, the ones used by the other recruits, lay to the east. That likely meant the most direct route to the administration building was also there, asking with trails from the passing of many other recruits. If she had hours more of daylight she could follow them easily.

She suspected it would also be where the most traps and other manufactured parts of the test were. Assuming the sects forest wasn't just dangerous by default.

She chose to aim for a nearby high ridge that was slightly west. Traveling towards the sunset should provide additional sunlight which she assumed would be rather valuable. She reached the ridge quickly, the handful of li passed under her feet easier than any of the last dozen.

If she had thought she could sprint the whole distance before sunset she would have. She was reasonably certain she could have, if it had been open terrain or flat road. Uphill, through a forest, towards an unknown destination? Best to just walk and not get lost.

Once she passed into the forest, any path she thought she had would be difficult to follow, light or no. Her goal quickly became arrival at one of the open ridges before sunset, which she achieved quickly. To her disappointment, the large administration building wasn't yet in sight. Only a single tall and wide cliff face stood out above the other smaller ridges.

Looking back the way she came, she spotted the boundary marker, but neither of her traveling companions were visible beside it. From her vantage point, she judged the distance back to the market as at least four li, but maybe as many as half a dozen because she had moved quickly. Keeping herself to a fast hike proved to be good exercise, and she felt new muscles compared to the day's run. Especially with the oversized staff in her strong right hand.

Guessing at the time from the sunset, she figured she could cross the same distance again before she lost all sunlight. Sure enough, another ridge rose up ahead of her. However it looked just out of reach. It was in the direction she intended to go, anyway, so it became her next target.

From the stone marker, to where she stood, and to the peak of the next ridge, the points drew a straight line towards a protrusion along the larger section of cliff that was further up the mountain. Based on the ridges and swells that were between her and it, Shae guessed that it was her target. "Either at the bottom or top of that cliff. If I were to bet on it." She nodded. "Definitely the top though, maybe a challenge of getting to the base then climbing it?" She frowned at the prediction, she really didn't want to climb a cliff at night. Or at all, preferably.

She scanned the mountain for the ends of the cliff. Sure enough, it traveled quite far in either direction until it was hidden by rolling forest and the creeping blanket of twilight. Hmm, but this is a test for untrained fifteen year-olds. Maybe it is at the bottom.

She nodded and set her mind on that as her target destination. That particular peak along the cliff face stood out for almost looking manufactured. In the harsh sunset lighting, it drew a particularly sharp vertical line of shadow.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Now how do I way-find my path up there?" She looked back to the marker stone. Its brilliant white surface starkly reflected the sunlight like a beacon, and she was sure she wouldn't have seen it otherwise. "If only I could plant another of those here, and light the way up like street lamps. Heh heh h-" the words caught in her throat as the idea struck her.

Digging her hand into the dirt on the side of a mountain wasn't ideal, yet once finished, she smiled and brushed off the dirt as she admired her handiwork. "Nice!"

Picking her staff back up, she set off for the next ridge. Her qi quickened her steps as she pushed to reach the ridge before the sun disappeared.

Panting for breath, Shae stumbled along the spine of the ridge. The harsh shadows hid treacherous dips and holes in the landscape. Already, her rushing had almost led to several rolled ankles. The staff had shown its value here, allowing her to quickly shift her weight to it and prevent injury.

Reaching what felt like a highpoint, she glanced downhill to the marker stone. It was barely visible as a faint pinprick of light. She had to block out the fading sun and let her eyes adjust to really spot it.

She traced a line from it directly towards herself and sighed with relief when she saw that the line crossed the last ridge she was on, exactly over the qi marker that she had left.

Her relief was short-lived, as she turned uphill to search for her destination. Her two previous attempts at lining up this point had failed miserably as she couldn't even spot the harshly shadowed cliff. Even now, she scowled at the mountain's dark forest. It was still hidden, either no longer lit by the sunset, or this ridge was too low and didn't have a direct line of sight to the cliff.

She shook off the small roadblock and began to search the ground. With what little sunlight remained, she found a small patch of open ground that was easily cleared of vegetation. It was rougher than she'd like, too many large stones and not enough smooth dirt. Sand would probably be ideal, but she knew it shouldn't matter for today. Worse was probably better, it only needs to last a couple hours.

The heavy staff assisted in clearing away a stubborn weed, its weight an effective bludgeon against the tough plant. It seemed that even the grass was heartier and more difficult to remove because of all the qi in the air.

Once satisfied, she took a few slow breaths to calm herself and clear her mind. One specific image entered her mind and she focused on it. Then she burned her mental focus and qi to scratch a familiar pattern into the rocky dirt. Ghon's old fire formation quickly took shape.

Focusing on light only, the formation soaked up qi and began to flicker gently. A hint of heat and dryness still escaped and she felt confident it wasn't enough to start a fire. Even if it gets hot, it should break down on its own. Eventually. At least, she hoped that was the case. Starting several grass fires during her initiation trial wouldn't leave her with a great reputation at the sect.

Since the formation was just for light, it was clear the main symbol didn't need much qi to function as it was already glowing before she had even encircled it. While she could see her last try from this ridge, it clearly hadn't worked especially well. It flickered and was dimmer than she expected. Luckily she had brainstormed more ideas on the jog here.

While Apollo had never taught her the strange spiral formation, she had decided to use it anyway. The outer rings were simply two spirals nested within each other and traveling opposite directions. Changing from an enclosing loop into a technically-open spiral took a bit of mental gymnastics to reason that it should still trap the qi. She was pretty sure she had managed it. Yet, if that was all it took, she should have seen more success from her first attempt.

The formation boundary she previously constructed used any idea or intent relating to a wall or trap to keep the qi inside. The simple act of drawing a line reinforced the idea of separation and boundary. Enclosing it only added to the effect. Since that wasn't working, her next step was to think of other concepts to focus on. If it's not trapping it... then it needs something that pulls it inwards.

The spirals made the solution both obvious and too open ended. There were just too many mental images of spirals that Shae could think of, and most didn't really draw anything inwards. Fewer still could be definitively summarized as a simple spiral icon. If it was that simple I would have done it by accident last time.

She settled for two different choices. A snail shell for the outer spiral, it was both a sealed protective barrier and a safe home for the snail. For the inner spiral she chose a whirlpool, which also changed how she drew it, becoming five shorter arcs instead of one continuous spiral.

She reached that idea quickly, but hesitated from a worry that the water association would draw in water qi and cancel out the fire qi. After a few breaths of thought, she realized that it could be helpful actually, because it might prevent the formation from overloading if her spirals worked too well.

The ideas flowed smoothly and the formation took shape just in time for her to watch the final rays of sunshine leave the top of the mountain as the sun passed below the horizon.

The moment was relaxing enough that she considered just sitting here to cultivate overnight. With a slight tweak to the formation it would be quite comfortable.

The sound of crickets erupted around her as twilight took hold. It was almost deafening. Worse, another animal call that she had never heard before sprung up from just below the ridge. The best she could describe it as was staccato nails on chalkboard. That was more than enough reason to leave.

She glanced up the mountain and her mood fell. She had forgotten to pick out a path to the next ridge while the sun was still up.

The moon was a sliver of silver in the sky, occasionally blurred by wisps of cloud. The stars had gradually appeared, like a brilliant field of glitter drizzled on black velvet. A denser swath of stardust flowed from the mountain's peak to the horizon behind Shae. It merged together into a wide nebula that painted the sky in faint shades of orange and violet.

Since she had first seen it while growing up, Shae had recognized it as a clear sign of the galaxy their star was within. Unlike the barely recognizable milky way, this galaxy was startlingly present and distinct. Her best guess was that this meant they were closer to the center of it. This idea was reinforced throughout the year when the opposing view became visible and proved to be no less spectacular.

Even with all this light, and the time for her eyes to adjust to it, the nighttime walk was still treacherous. The forest cast harsh shadows and kept the light away from the uneven ground.

She thanked her walking staff multiple times as she progressed. It regularly caught on roots that would have tripped her. Found low points that could unbalance her, and just generally provided a firm anchor for her to learn on.

The next raised ridge she found was buried under the forest canopy. Any line of sight up or down hill was screened by trees. Her fire formation markers could occasionally be seen, but not reliably. The first clear glance revealed only the closer marker. Yet she was still forced to stop and stare at it.

A peculiar silhouette of shadow sat near the fire. At this distance the size was impossible to determine, but she would have called it a dog or fox based on the shape, maybe a medium-large cat, like a lynx?

Depending on the environment, a cat like a mountain lion might have been more common. Shae had heard of village hunters being annoyed by lynx-like cats, but not dogs or wolves. Though, her meeting with the large wolf on Pilgrim's Rest Mountain was still firm in her memory, thus she wasn't sure which was more common here.

A breath after she spotted it, it twitched and slunk down into shadow. Her breath hitched and she quickly checked her surroundings, then moved on.

A hundred paces later, she found what she was looking for. A sharper rise in the terrain that cleared enough of the trees for her to see both formation markers. Not clearly, yet just enough that she could tell she was close to the line they drew up the mountain.

This wasn't the perfect location for her to draw another formation. That would have been back the way she came, maybe where she had spotted the shadow. However, here she could actually see both markers and further up the mountain.

The far marker was quite faint, and she knew she would need to keep making them to maintain her heading. The Bright swath of stars and the mountain itself prevented her from being completely lost at any given moment. Yet, it would be the markers that told her of her progress up the mountain, and kept her in line with her destination.

She made another formation here with one slight variation. She tried to push the color towards something different, aiming for something more yellow-green than her previous warm orange and reds. She wanted a small reminder that this formation was slightly out of line with the others. It likely doesn't matter, she told herself, so long as I remember which way to travel along the cliff to find that sharp edge.

She counted the finished formation as a partial success. It was more yellow, but the green was either too weak or didn't take at all. She only waited long enough to catch her breath, take a drink from Hon's waterskin, and find her staff again.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

The next ridge came quicker than she expected, yet was more of a low rise than a ridge. She quickly gave up on finding a good position for the formation, and continued up the mountain.

Several times she wished for a flashlight, and even considered trying to carve her formation onto a loose branch or the staff itself. Yet, she wasn't sure it would even work. As far as she knew, the formation didn't trap the qi in the symbol itself, just near it. She had even confirmed this while experimenting in the slough near Flame Well. The engraved tiles would warm quickly when left still, but moving them seemed to slow or pause their work.

Whether the qi would be trapped by the circle and just lag slightly behind, or be lost completely, she wasn't certain. What she did know was that it would greatly slow her progress if she had to constantly wait for the light to return. Plus who knows what kind of beasties would be attracted by the moving light, she shuddered.

Shae had honestly expected to see far more natural light sources in this mystical forest environment. To the point that she was disappointed with how ordinary it currently was. There had been a few small glints and flashes when she could see over the forest canopy, but zero glowing flowers, pulsing fruits, nor even bioluminescent moss.

Her next destination was the first thing she might call a cliff instead of a ridge. It was perhaps only a dozen paces high, yet it was steep. Thankfully, she could tell it would be plenty high enough for her to get a good look back at her formation markers. Uphill from it was a little trickier as the forest continued right up to the edge of the cliff and looked like it would block her visibility. She hoped there would be a lucky clear spot when she got up there.

"Huaaa." She huffed out while catching her breath. The ground that rose up to the base of the cliff had been steep enough that she counted it as a climb up, rather than a hike.

She used the base of the staff to reach up and strike the cliff face with loud pops. Then watched and heard loose rocks breaking away to tumble down its face. "Not climbing that." She gasped out, then set her weight against the staff. "Ugh, I shouldn't have skipped dinner, or had a bigger late brunch."

The light of the stars was enough to pick out a climbing route up the cliff, yet wasn't enough to determine if those hand and foot holds would hold her. She picked up some of the loose rock and crushed it between the fingers of her right hand.

"Chalk?" She wondered out loud. That would be good for climbing elsewhere. She hesitated to collect any, do I actually want to climb a rock face later? She pocketed a few small pieces and picked her way along the bottom of the cliff face while looking for a different way up.

Just under a half hour later she found a low enough dip with a shallower grade that she felt safe climbing. Even with the rather awkward addition of the staff tucked into her sword's belt, she managed the climb without major incident. As she had expected, chalky handholds popped away under strain, and one of her footholds collapsed completely when she twisted her footing. Luckily, that had been early enough that she hadn't suffered a fall and had just slid down the cliff about a pace or two.

Once at the top, her left hand felt scratched and bruised, mostly from that first slip, while her right was unharmed. She had used that advantage to rely on it for testing handholds. That had the unfortunate side effect of putting more strain on her left arm and shoulder muscles, leaving them quite sore.

She took her time to recover at the top of the cliff. She smelled herself, a little sweaty, but no impurities yet. She had limited her qi flow to that arm for fear of her pure qi cleansing the muscles. That arm had had the least cleansing of all her body so far, except my head, I guess.

Since she was resting anyway, she took the time to cycle her qi, and even reached out once to draw in neutral qi.

Only once because she quite distinctly heard the loud creak of a tree bending right after she did so. Even in a forest, the sound was so out of place that it drew her out of meditation immediately. Her heart rate spiked and her qi flashed into action. She stood and spun to face the trees and put the cliff to her back. She held the staff before her like a spear.

A few erratic breaths later, she repositioned the staff into her left hand and readied her right for a punch. "Anything there?" She whispered.

Two slower, calmer breaths came and went with no further sounds. Blinking at the dark trees, she stepped sideways and moved along the cliff edge.

A few steps right and she repositioned the staff again. Using the butt to test the ground to her right and behind her. Like it was a white cane, she probed her way and kept her eyes locked on the trees.

She continued this for a dozen breaths, only breaking her staring contest when she strafed into the branch of a tree. "Ah-up!" She yelped as the branch brushed her shoulder. She spun, stepped away quickly, and swung the staff at the offender. She missed completely and lost her balance to fall onto hard roots.

"Ah, fu- Hssss!" She hissed and tried not to shout. Felt like it was right on my keys? After more seething and a short investigation, she found it was actually right on her sword, but something else had dug into her hip as well.

Okay, bad place to store my knife, noted. While the area was damp with sweat, leading to a brief panic as she feared she was bleeding, the knife hadn't actually pierced her skin. As best as she could guess, it had rolled away from the blade, only causing the handle or back of the blade to dig into her skin. She took her time to find a new location for the small knife that wouldn't cause her problems. I should get a leg sheath. It'd have a hard time cutting into my cleansed flesh.

With the excitement seemingly passed, she returned to finding her navigation markers. The closer yellow one was a faint smudge, just visible through the trees that she had expected would block it. She would have that problem again here, likely with worse results. Only one of the far markers was visible, possibly indicating the farthest one had burned out or was just too weak to see at this distance.

She did some mental math, based on vague guesses, really. Fifteen, maybe twenty li? Oh, but that's just to the first light, could be as much as twenty five to the stone marker. Unless I was scrambling east and west too much. She considered how much searching she had done for the last two markers, yea, I was scrambling a fair bit. Still, getting close.

She turned her attention to the mountain ahead of her. Even though she knew she was on it, it still felt like it was far ahead. The slope of the ground made her progress a climb, yet was deceivingly flat, making it feel like she was only on a slight incline.

The trees blocked her view of the next ridge and the larger cliff beyond. She guessed she only had one more ridge to pass, but maybe not even that. The low branch of the nearby tree beckoned her to climb it and gain a better view of the challenge ahead.

The tree was close enough to the cliff edge and tall enough to push up over its neighbors. It even leaned out from the cliff slightly. She looked over the cliff and saw the relatively short drop. Though from up the tree I will be higher. She wondered what kind of injury would be enough for her to fail the test. Cuts and bruises must be fine. A broken leg would surely disqualify me, but a broken arm?

She wasn't one to fear heights, especially not after her trip down pilgrims rest mountain. She knew she would survive the fall. Though, it wouldn't be painless.

She set the staff somewhere she could find it again, then grabbed hold of the tree and hauled herself up. Then hesitated and dropped down again. I'm forgetting a few things. She looked back at her markers again. She was inline with them, which meant she was technically off-course. She would be a little too far east because her last had been off center as well. So this will work, but I'll be a few li east of my goal. She nodded, that was acceptable.

Next she needed a formation. She could carve it right into the tree, but she worried about the tree. It was no golden Larch that needed to be protected, but it was sturdier than dirt. It could probably sustain the formation for much longer, building up that much fire qi wouldn't be a good thing.

She sighed and wished for a flashlight, again. Looking out at the dark forest floor she cursed under her breath, "How am I supposed to find something to carve into in this bloody darkness." She huffed and stepped forwards with her hands on her hips. Can't really carve a rock, maybe a big piece of chalk. Hmm... a mushroom cap, or piece of bark could work. Too bad I don't have a paint brush to just write with.

She froze at that thought, then slapped her forehead, "Duh-" -she dropped to the ground and writhed in pain. The sudden contact with her very sensitive forehead felt like someone had slapped the entire front of her body. A feeling not far off from a full body belly-flop into a pool.

"Fuuuuuuu-aaahhhhk!" She cried out.

This spooked several forest creatures around her. Bats and birds took flight and things like squirrels scurried away. Waiting predators took the opportunity to lash out at their spooked prey in an attempt to not waste the time they had spent lurking. Even insects and plants responded by moving deeper into the shadows or reflexively striking out like their larger predatory cousins.

Shae was oblivious to all of this as she squirmed on the ground and tried to process the sudden burst of stimulus. While the feeling wasn't obscenely painful, or even particularly painful at all, she would have compared the sudden burst of sensation to pain because it drew all of your attention and didn't let it go. Wrenching on her mental focus she was able to grasp some small wisps of divine qi from her Dantian and move them to her head. The relief wasn't instant, but it did come shortly after.

She laid on the forest floor for long enough that once she returned her attention to the outside world, the forest was again silent.

Angry and resentful, she sat up, reached into her robes, and then withdrew the onion-thin wood notepad and pencil given to her by Nurse Joi. She pulled the top sheet away, quickly scrawled the fire formation symbol on it, then hastily flicked the page of the cliff like a card thrower.

It spun smoothly for the first half dozen paces, then curled upwards and slowed as the paper failed to hold shape. It stalled in the air briefly, then burst into flames as the surrounding fire qi caught up with the rage filled symbol and ignited the page.

Shae smirked briefly. Even before she had thrown it, she had felt the warmth of the fire qi building. She was too annoyed to focus on light only, she needed to vent her frustration by pouring it into the symbol. It turned out to be very satisfying and she threw two more. Only stopping because that third one didn't float so nicely as the first and she saw the risk of the page making it all the way to the forest floor.

Since she was sitting on it, she knew the ground wasn't particularly dry or susceptible to bursting into flames like kindling, but the simple catharsis wasn't worth the risk.

She got up and wiped her robes off while being sure to keep her breathing calm and smooth. She would need a calm mind to draw the light-only symbol properly.

Before climbing the tree she tested her resolve by drawing the formation symbol and focusing on a more violet-colored light, partly inspired by the nebulae above her. She was pleasantly surprised to find it more successful than her green attempt. The final color was a pinkish red, almost fuchsia. Without a circle to trap the fire qi, it glowed softer and spread further from the paper. Moving the page around dimmed the far edge of light. After a short delay the light seemed to chase the page.

She nodded at the display, it was about what she expected, and it reinforced the idea that a flashlight formation wouldn't be helpful until she could trap the qi within the page itself.

The glowing qi was warm, it is still fire qi, she hummed and nodded to herself. She set the page on the ground and trapped it in place with a rock. Then repositioned it to ensure it was farther from the roots of the tree. The glow thoroughly lit up the base of the tree which brought a smile to Shae's face. That'll make the climb down easier.

Her climb up the tree was quick and almost effortless. Strengthened legs and arm made the job simple, and even her left arm contributed because she was so small and light. The closest trouble she got into was when her peace-bound sword got caught between two close branches, forcing her to backtrack and unhook it.

She felt grateful for the calm weather tonight. The cool breeze caused the tree to sway just slightly, and she guessed she had climbed several paces higher than she would have on a windy night.

She shuddered slightly as the crisp air reminded her that it was an autumn night. Her constant activity had kept her body warm enough, but now she was moving slower and was out in the open where the chill wind could bleed more heat from her. She blew into her left hand and shook it to get more blood flowing. With her torso still warm from the hike, it was the only extremity that truly felt the chill, and even that was inconsistent as the patches of white on her arm suffered less from the cold.

High enough to find branches with thinner foliage, she took a comfortable seat and focused her attention on the mountain. Far up above, the light of civilization shone. Blocks of light and shadow abstractly outlined buildings, and strings like white Christmas lights hung between them to draw paths and walkways being lit by streetlights, or whatever the equivalent here is called. Qi lanterns maybe?

Between the far lights and her perch was a rolling forest canopy floating above the shadowed mountain slope. At first she thought nothing of the darker sections hiding between the brighter outcroppings. Much of it looked a lot like it had during sunset. Then her suspicion gathered, and slowly formed into a whispered question, "Why are they still dark?" The harsh light from the sunset was gone and the moon was high enough overhead to not cast similar shadows. Even if it had been lower, it was a small sliver of light compared to the brilliance of the galactic nebulae overhead.

She compared the size of the shadows to each other, looked at the distance between them, and then looked farther up the mountain to the well lit areas. Aha! They're buildings. The closest building stood out for being just above a large cliff that ran across the whole mountain, and that must be the admin building.

She smiled wide at finding her destination. Even with the cliff in the way, she felt like she had finally arrived. A sudden urge to cycle the final Manifold Journey practice gripped her, but she quickly stilled her qi when she recalled what happened the last time she used one of the practices. She held herself carefully and took a cautious glance down the tree. It had leaned out from the cliff far enough that her gaze traveled down the entire chalky cliff face and down to the rough slope below. A shudder of panic ran through her.

She distracted her mind from worry by looking at the far cliff again. She searched for the harsh line of shadow it had cast during sunset. It only makes sense that is the intended route up the cliff. I'd bet a staircase or climbing wall is carved into it. She frowned because she couldn't spot the odd feature. Hmm, well, it's probably near the admin building.

Turning her attention back to the formation markers, she verified that the line they now drew would lead her east of the admin building, probably off by several li, it's hard to tell distances in the dark.

She quickly drew another fire symbol on her notepad, repeating the fuchsia color, and surrounding it with a single spiral. She used the whirlpool idea again, deciding the water-based idea was safer to use while up a tree. She took a bit longer to decide how to attach the page to the tree, and settled on using a piece of twine to hang it from a branch.

"Sorry if this annoys you Mrs. Tree. It only needs to hang here for a few hours. Err, you wouldn't know what an hour is, would you." She paused. "Heh heh, wood you." She shook her head at the dumb pun. "Until the sun comes up again. Do what you want with it then." She patted the trunk and began to climb down.