Voidlight Rising (A Xianxia Cultivation Adventure)

The void is hungry…it is all-consuming…in the end, all will fall to its darkness…my darkness… -The Darkened Moon, as recorded by a scribe in his palace days before his final battle and ultimate imprisonment.

The mists of the Black City filled the scene before us. Every few feet, the blue lanterns of the gates would dance in the haze beyond our sight, providing the only true indication that we were making any progress at all. Even our footsteps were swallowed by the night.

"Lin, how long is the walk supposed to be?" I asked.

Beside me, Lin kept pace. His skin glowed with green veins that protected him from the dangerous qi that surrounded us. The life that burned within his core delicately carved his skin like twisting vines and tree bark, culminating in his eyes, which glowed bright with verdant power.

"There are twelve gates," he said simply. Of the three of us, he was the only one who'd actually been to the Black City before, and even then, it had only been for a few minutes at a time. "You enter from the first and leave from the twelfth."

"Thus, newcomers have to walk the full distance," I noted. It was a smart tactic. For defense, forcing potentially hostile forces to walk even a slightly greater distance could mean the difference to those defending the city within. I'd employed the very same tactic in my own capital back when I was an Ascendant.

And, the Black City had every reason to be tight in their defenses. It was a city of yokai, a lawless place where it was every man, woman, and child for themselves. Where other nations were led by sects or powerful individuals, it seemed that only those who preferred chaos found their home in the pocket dimension beyond the twelve gates.

The gates thrummed with power as we passed through three more.

"How are you, Xinya?" I asked the little girl.

"I'm fine," she answered, but I was quite sure she was lying. She wrapped one hand tightly into the glowing chains that constantly hung from my arms and torso. The other hand was at her face, where she worriedly chewed on the first knuckle of her first finger.

I watched her carefully, making sure she was physically fine after her many trials. She was stubbornly trudging onward, eyes wide as she tried to peer through the fog. To my relief, she didn't seem to be suffering any ill effects from the void qi in the air. The threads of black smoke that manifested were kept away from the little girl by the tiny sphere of blue-silver light in my hand. So long as she stayed close, the combined protection from myself and the necklace she wore to ward off ambient, hostile qi would keep her safe enough.

The last gate passed, and, as if we were stepping beyond a curtain, the mists cleared, revealing the city below. Nestled in the valley was a sprawling city dotted with twinkling lights of every color. They were clustered around thirteen brilliant stars that shone in a brilliant constellation of qi that sprawled across the city.

Between the stars, dark patches stretched through entire sections of the city. The dark sections had no lights at all to illuminate their murky depths from our position overlooking the valley.

"That's odd," Lin murmured. "I don't remember the dark sections being so expansive last time I was here."

"What are they?" I asked gingerly. Something about the scene was nagging at the back of my mind. I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Something was just…off.

I scanned the horizon, trying to glean any further information from the city. I could see high hills to the right, the city ahead, and a sheer cliff to the left that was shrouded in the same ink-black darkness as the patchwork city.

Lin just shrugged. "I don't know. Dark districts? For yokai who dislike the sun?"

It was certainly a possibility. The Black City was a community of yokai of all shapes and sizes, and there were many species with an aversion to the sun. Even shades and certain types of spirits, like myself, could easily find their footing in a city with no sun.

"Hey!" shouted a high-pitched voice. Lin and I turned towards a small way station that had been set up a short way from the twelfth gate. Three kappa, turtle-like river yokai with a reputation for bloodlust, scrabbled towards us. Their reptilian beaks were stained with blood, and I immediately faced them. They came to a slow stop before us, careful not to spill any water from the bowls that were balanced on their heads. "Newcomers! You have to pay the toll if you want to enter the city!"

Lin and Xinya both looked at me in confusion. Neither of them spoke the sharp and wild tongue that was common to most yokai, but I was quite fluent. Centuries as the patron Ascendant of monsters, shades, and yokai meant that my dialect was a bit outdated, but still good enough to understand and communicate with the denizens of the city.

"Toll? I didn't realize there was a toll for the Black City," I protested. Neither Lin nor the Spirit Caller Sect had mentioned such a thing when they'd returned from the place last time.

The lead kappa clicked his beak. "It's new. By order of the Grandmaster of the Blood Stalking Demon Sect, all newcomers and merchants passing through this gate must pay the toll! Fifty blood stones!"

I turned my lip up in disgust. Blood stones were used as currency in the era before I rose to power, during the age of the Oni Prince, and were a measure of a person's cruelty more than anything else. They were created in a ritual that involved, among other things, the blood sacrifice of an innocent mortal. Though the mortal could survive the ritual, they often didn't. When I built my kingdom from the ashes of the Oni Prince's fall, banning blood stones as currency was one of my first orders.

"We have no blood stones," I admitted. "How many merchants coming through here actually carry such currency when gold is more useful beyond the city walls?"

"They all know the currency of the Black City," the kappa snarled. "It's not our fault you don't."

I narrowed my eyes. "Fine, then we'll take our business elsewhere." I turned, gesturing to Lin and Xinya to follow as I returned to the twelfth gate.

If the rumors were true, then the Black City could be accessed from anywhere, and could send you to the place most significant to you. A hometown or center of power would be the most likely choices. Xinya and Lin were almost certainly both attuned to Saikan, which was not safe for us. If one of them opened the gates, we'd be inviting the Governor's wrath upon the innocent mortals there. But, if we went somewhere else entirely…even if only for a short while...we could disappear.

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I placed my hand on the gate. The spell here must have been similar to the ones that had guarded Half-Moon Hearth from danger during my reign. Even the design of these gates seemed to be modelled after the same blackened wood of my capital. In theory, accessing their power would work the same way.

My qi swirled into the wood, fusing with it perfectly. The lanterns pulsed with power…but nothing happened.

"Lin, isn't there supposed to be a change to get back?" I hissed.

"It did when I was last here. The lanterns flashed and the fog turned blue like the trees in Saikan," he explained. I put my hand back on the thick wood, trying again to trigger the change. Again, nothing happened.

"I don't understand, this should take us to the Pearlescent Valley, or to the ruins of Half-Moon Hearth," I said. "How could they just…"

A sinking feeling of unease and loss filled my heart as a tragic possibility crept into my mind. Just as a door could not connect twice to the same room, the gates could not connect to themselves.

"You think you can leave so easily?" the kappa said. His companions cackled, adding even more unease to my already worried heart. I ignored it all, instead turning and gazing over the city below.

The nagging sensation returned, and this time I recognized it. This place was familiar, though the last time I'd seen it, it was filled with light, smoke, and fire.

"Is it really here?" I whispered to no one in particular. Casting my gaze back to the left side of the city, I thought I could make out the barest hint of rooftops above the sheer cliff amidst the swirling darkness.

If my orientation was right, this was the western gate of Half-Moon Hearth. In the north, sheer cliffs guarded Half-Moon Manor, the residence of the Darkened Moon…of me. Yet…

"Look, if you can't pay with currency, then we'll take it from your blood!" the kappa snarled.

"Watch out!" I yelled to Lin just as the first kappa lunged at him.

In a flash, his sword was out and parrying the kappa's vicious claws. He lunged upward, pushing the yokai off balance before swiping at the creature with the blade.

Chaos descended on the hilltop. I unsheathed Eclipse, rushing to Lin's side to join in the fight. Two of us versus three kappa, and when I was extremely drained of qi. It would be a hard fight, but we were more than used to hard fights at this point. These kappas were nothing compared to the Tide Serpent or Shen Tori.

"Destroy their bowls!" I said. Eclipse sliced the air before me, slicing cleanly through the bowl that perched upon one of the kappa's heads.

The reptilian skin withered as the creature shrieked. It desperately tried to patch the bowl, to keep the water on its head before it cascaded to the ground. In a moment, though, it went still, paralyzed in a crouched huddle on the ground.

Lin didn't need any further instruction. He dug a hand into his pocket, flinging a brilliant green seed infused with his qi. The seed shot straight through another kappa bowl like a dart, poking a hole and sending its owner into a panic.

"You…You!!" the last kappa shrieked. "You broke their bowls! I…I…" he looked at his downed and paralyzed friends before grabbing a whistle around his neck and blowing.

A piercing note like a screeching bat dug into my ears. I clapped a hand over one ear, but it didn't help.

"Yoru?" Lin was before me, looking worriedly into my eyes. "What is it?"

"Damned…spirit…whistle," I grunted. Many instruments, bells, and whistles were infused with qi to affect yokai, spirits, shades, or spirit beasts. This must have been one such weapon. Looking at the kappa, he grunted in pain even as he continued blowing through the device.

Then, a tiny bolt of violet streaked for the whistle. It knocked the whistle from the kappa's beak, breaking the cord around its neck, and sending the vile thing to the ground.

I took a deep breath, then smiled at Xinya, who's hands still sparked with the tiniest bit of lightning qi. Her cultivation wasn't strong yet, but I was grateful for it. Seeing my clear approval, Xinya stood up just a little straighter.

"Ha! You think that's all?" the kappa called, backing away. "The Blood Stalkers will be here soon. They'll bleed you all!"

As much as I was hoping the kappa was bluffing, red qi began to appear and swirl around us. I had no doubts that it would herald the sudden arrival of whatever cultivators or yokai belonged to this so-called Blood Stalking Demon Sect.

But, where could we go? Only one road led down the hill to the city proper. If we made a break for it, then we would certainly be shot down before we ever made it to safety.

"Uncle Yoru?" Xinya laced her hand into mine, hiding behind my sleeve as best she could. Lin joined me.

"What do we do?"

"I don't-"

Another piercing shriek shot through my mind like an arrow, only this time, it wasn't the whistle. Instead, I recognized the call of the Void in my mind. It was hungry, like a rabid tiger lunging at its prey, only…that prey wasn't me.

The ambient Void qi surged around us, causing Xinya to whimper and cling to my body even more tightly. I did what I could to take that qi into myself rather than letting it touch her, but there was so much of it that I struggled to keep up.

Screams echoed up the hill from the city below as, one by one, the star-like lights at the center of every district began to flicker and die. With each star that blinked out, the cluster of lights surrounding it faded as the void tore through the city. Thick clouds of blackened void smoke curled over the buildings, suffocating every light until nothing remained but inky black.

"Blackout!" the kappa shrieked in terror. In the darkness, I could hear his claws scrabble on the stones as he rushed to his outpost and slammed the door.

"Come on," I urged, reaching down to pick Xinya off the ground. The Void smoke was so thick around us that I could barely see Lin, even with the glowing lines of wood qi on his skin.

"What's going on?" he asked as we began sprinting down the hill into the city.

"I don't know, but it's not good."

We raced forward in the dark until our footsteps began to echo against nearby buildings. I lit a palm light, urging it to shine in the darkness, but it was as if the void swallowed my qi as soon as it left my hand. I still could see nothing beyond.

"Why did that yokai seem so scared?" Lin asked.

Before either of us could ponder an answer, a chorus of terrible screams sounded from above. I looked up, trying to see anything in the pitch-black sky. There were neither stars nor moon to light the sky above. We were in total darkness, but the Void didn't block the sound of something rushing over the rooftops.

I pushed Lin back in the darkness, pressing the two of us and Xinya against a wall in an attempt to be smaller targets. In that moment, I was glad that the Void smoke around us seemed to eat all light. Otherwise, Lin's adaptation technique and my glowing chains would have made quite the beacon in the darkness.

Instead, the monsters surged past us, seeking greater prey. Xinya buried her face in my shoulder as the horrible shrieks of void monsters filled the air. New horror joined as the sounds of running footsteps and distinctly humanoid screams joined the mix. People were being attacked, but there was little any of us could do against this unknown foe.

"Yoru, your chains," Lin whispered.

I looked down. My chains glowed brighter, but rather than beating back the smokey void, they seemed to be consuming it, turning from silver to blue as their power turned to Voidlight. I set Xinya down and took a step back, unsure of what was going on.

My balance went sideways, and my vision blurred as something yanked on my qi. For a moment, I panicked. The feeling was almost identical to that which the Labyrinth exerted on me whenever it wanted to pull me back into its clutches. Only, this time, no voices of torment rose in my mind to mock me. Instead, a sense of peace flooded my body, relaxing my limbs until I stood in a moment of perfect stillness.

Overhead, a brilliant blue light flooded the city. I looked up to see…moonlight? No…not moonlight. Voidlight shone in a perfect corona around a darkened moon. Through the buildings, I spotted one of the brilliant lights that looked like stars from above flare back to life, fueled by the light of the eclipse above.

The light battled against the void, purging it from the streets. One by one, lanterns were lit by the people, driving the darkness back even further.

"Yoru, what did you do?" Lin breathed in awe.

I, however, didn't have the energy left to answer. Whatever it was that I'd done, it had drawn far more from me than I had left. Before I fell, I caught a glimpse of my hand as it flickered before my very eyes.

Then my knees gave way, and my own personal darkness consumed me.