MAZE - The Endless Quest

Hera woke up with a headache and some pain in her neck. But all in all, she was doing fine. The bed was comfortable and warm, and there wasn’t any looming sense of danger over her. Slowly getting up, the Ophidianite pulled up her tablet to check the time. It looked like only a couple of hours had gone by.

Still in bed, she called Daskka out of the necklace.

“Hey, are you ok?” she asked as the snake blinked a couple of times, looking groggy.

“Yeah, I’m fine, mum. That wasn’t fun. How about you? Are you ok? You were the one that took a beating,” Daskka rubbed her tail on the side of Hera’s face. The same one that got kicked by Master Yu. A healing mist already coming out of the snake.

“I’m ok. Just feels like I slept in an odd position,” Hera stretched her neck a bit, “What about the others? Are they ok?”

Daskka closed her eyes, and in a couple of moments nodded, “Yeah, they are fine. Everyone was sleeping. Which is more common for them now. They are frazzled and worried about you, but that’s all.”

Hera nodded, “We’ll call them later. I want to understand what is going on now, and if Master Yu is still pissed, showing up surrounded by weapons might not be the best idea.”

The Empress got up, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt the cold wash over her once more. It was so intense that it permeated her shoes. After quickly triggering a Fire Elemental Armor, she slid the ice door to the side and walked out of the room.

By the looks of things, she was on the fourth, or maybe fifth, floor of the pagoda. At least from the height. Hera stepped to the side, where a large, open area led to a balcony. It was a marvelous sight, the ice island, as it was called, looked like a fortress from outside. But from inside, it was a sprawling kingdom of frost. Trees made out of ice created small areas of protection for the monsters that inhabited the space. Ariadne had told Hera that this was the location where the hard mode was triggered. But she still wasn’t able to see any penguins. Not ever since she arrived here. Why would the guide have told her that tip if there was nothing like that on the island?

Distracted with those thoughts, she almost didn’t notice as Yulan came walking up the stairs, “Master Hera! I’m so glad you are up. I was getting worried.”

“Worried? Why? I think a waking up after a few hours shows I’m resilient enough,” Hera replied with a frown.

“I’m sorry, Master Hera, but… You slept for an entire day.”

“What?” Hera gasped.

“Yeah… Even Master Yu was worried her kick was too strong, but she couldn’t find anything wrong with you,” Yulan explained.

“But… what about Helena? Is she ok?” Hera felt her heart start to beat faster. Could Master Yu have attacked Helena after their fight?

“She is fine. Master Yu is a great host, they are back on the first floor having some tea with lady Yuwei,” Yulan explained.

“Everyone is… having tea?” Hera asked, trying to make sure she heard it right.

“Yeah, Master Yu sensed you using fire in the pagoda and asked me to come check on you. I’m sure everyone will be thrilled you are back on your feet. Come, follow me. I’ll rake you to the tearoom,” Yulan gestured down.

Hera followed the Orc woman, but she still wasn’t sure if she liked the situation. Master Yu might have apologized in a way, but she still kicked her hard enough to knock the empress out. And that was after they seemingly were done with their fight. It was a cheap move, and maybe Master Yu still hold a grudge.

As they walked down, the Empress heard laughs coming from one of the room.

“Can you imagine? One baby making all the elders of the sect tremble, just because no one wanted to change her diapers. That’s how bad it smelled,” it was Master Yu’s voice, and Helena laughing in the background.

“Mom!” Yuwei protested.

Soon after, Yulan showed Hera to the tearoom. Everyone was sitting around a table, with Yuwei on one side, and Master Yu all the way on the opposite end, with Helena in between them. The mage was the first to notice their arrival. She quickly rushed over, giving the Ophidianite a hug.

“How are you feeling, sweetie?”

“A bit sore, but I’ll manage. What is going on here?” Hera looked around, still weary.

“I’m taking your advice, spending some time with my daughter,” Master Yu smiled and poured another cup of tea. This one for the Empress, “Please. Sit. Join us.”

“Ok…” Hera frowned and was guided by Helena to their seat. As they moved, the Ophidianite noticed how Master Yu made a point to move back as Yuwei had to move over to let them pass.

“I am happy to see you up and about. I feared my… jab was a bit too strong. Apologies for that,” Master Yu said as she passed a tea cup to Hera. Despite the smoke coming out of the liquid, the cup itself was ice cold as it reached the Empress hands.

“Thank you, and I didn’t expect such a cheap shot. To me the fight was already over,” Hera replied.

Master Yu chuckled, “One must always expect trickery from their opponents. May that be a lesson to you.”

Hera rolled her eyes, “Thanks.”

Helena placed one hand on Hera’s shoulder, “Still, I think you should hear the reason why Bingqing is here. It might give some context to what happened.”

The Empress frowned. Helena knew the reason why Hera was this upset. Even if her reaction was a bit much. So if she was asking her to listen to this, there had to be a reason for that.

“Ok… Why are you here?” Hera turned to Master Yu.

“The simple version of it is that I’m attempting to break through the Divine Manifestation Realm. And have been doing so for the past ten years.”

Hera glanced at Helena, “I’m assuming I should hear the long version then.”

The mage just nodded and turned to Master Yu, who let out a sigh, “I haven’t spoken with people about this in years, and now I’m repeating this story for the second time in the same number of days. Very well.”

Yu Bingqing moved back, gliding through the floor, and created a small ice sculpture of a woman with a large glaive on her hand. Her clothes were wild and unkempt, “Once upon a time, there was a woman who grew up in the outskirts of society. Scavenging for food and hunting in the forests since a young age. Due to the lack of opportunities, she became a bandit, stealing from the rich to fill her belly.”

The figure changed, now wearing a white tiger coat and a headband with the same fur, “She quickly became the leader of the bandits in the area, someone even the merchants learned to respect. That is until a particular sect decided to increase their standing in the world. They started a righteous crusade to rid the land of all kinds of thieves and hooligans.”

Another shift, instead of a single person now two groups, both fighting tooth and nail. Leading those groups was the woman with the tiger fur, and a man with long hair, “Eventually, the sect cleared most of the bandit fortress, leaving only one left. The one controlled by the woman, who proved to be a fierce enemy. After long months of constant battles, one of the elders came to solve the issue.”

All the sculptures connected, forming one single person. A woman with a pixie cut, one single tusk on the left side of her mouth, and long robes. She had a war hammer on her back and a large snowflake framed her head, “The elder was powerful. Extremely so. It took her a few hours to subjugate all the bandits. All but one. A woman who continued to get up again and again, facing against the snowstorm created by the elder.”

Now the elder was looking at the body of the bandit woman, but there was a clear cut on the elder’s cheek, “Eventually, the bandit woman lost. But during her final attack, she was able to do something no one had done in decades. She drew the elder’s blood. A mortal, without any Qi, was able to wound the elder. During the fight, the bandit woman took over a bit of the ice created by the elder. She did that with pure instinct, using the Qi in the environment and not her own. Seeing that potential, the elder took the bandit woman as her apprentice.”

The sculpture changed again, now showing a younger Master Yu with a large snowflake framing her entire body, “The bandit woman was a prodigy, and she quickly rose the ranks of the sect, becoming as powerful as the elders themselves in just a few short years.”

With another change, the figure became smaller, now a woman holding a baby, “Next came the cliché part of the story. The woman found a man, they fell in love, and had a baby. However, that baby was special. Unlike the entire sect, and her parents, all who were well versed in controlling ice, the baby was born with a unique disposition. One that made her Qi radiate heat. Because of that, she was unable to train in the same arts as the sect, but that didn’t matter. The bandit woman and the baby’s father loved her, nonetheless. So much so, that when the baby grew enough to undertone Qi, the father took her to a sect specialized in a similar art. One where her Qi would be refined and thrive.”

Yu Bingqing closed her hand, the sculptures vanishing, “During that time, I visited daily while continuing my training. Seeing an opposite force to my own Qi helped me ascend the steps of the Divine Manifestation Realm. But, because of the intense ice energy in my body, my touch became poison to Yuwei. Once she became stronger, her constitution became more sensitive to the cold. And as I grew more powerful, the very air around me became colder. Unfortunately, this is a drawback of my cultivations. Unless I reach the Eternal Void Realm, my very presence is able to change the environment, turning it colder. And the longer I stay there, the colder it will become. This island is proof of it. At first, it was just a single sheet of ice that I used to meditate on the ocean.”

The Orc master took a sip of her tea and looked at Yuwei, “There is nothing I want more than to hug my daughter. But unless I’m able to break through the barrier that no one was able to break through in centuries. If I do that, I will also kill her. Which is why I left 10 years ago.”

“Ok…. Now I feel really bad for what I said,” Hera admitted.

“No, no. I appreciate your words. I did not need to stay here for so long without even visiting. Just because I cannot touch her, that does not mean I should avoid her completely,” Yu Bingqing smiled at Yuwei, “And that is something I will rectify.”

“Thank you, mom. I really missed you,” Yuwei said with a smile.

“And I you, little sun,” there was a pause before Yu Bingqing continued, “I have called an old friend of mine to help organize that. He can make a formation that will send me to Yuwei’s home. He can also send you back to where you came. As a thanks for everything. This friend of mine will also be very interested in Yulan.”

“Me?!” Yulan gasped.

“Yes, I can see your constitution is very similar to his, and he was heading to the Sky Sword meeting in hopes of finding someone to learn his teachings,” Yu Bingqing smiled, “Consider this introduction my thanks for you having taken such a good care of my daughter.”

“That’s…” Yulan stood up and bowed several times, “Thank you, Master Yu!”

“For you, Hera and Helena, is there anything I can do to help you?” Yu Bingqing turned to the due.

“Actually, yes. Do you know where we can find some penguins? Or something related to them?” Hera asked. Something told her this wouldn’t be enough to trigger the hard mode. In the end, they were still doing what the quest asked. Finding a master for Yulan.

“Penguins? I’m afraid they don’t live this far south. Maybe my friend can send you their way. If he has the right formation,” Master Yu suggested.

“We appreciate that. It’s all we can ask,” Helena nodded with a smile, but she also felt like this wasn’t the right move. They were missing something for the hard mode. And now, they had already wasted an extra day here.