Heaven's Golden Finger - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Shun wasn't sure why he felt so relieved to have fake Shirong around again. He'd been worried about the boy and based on the way Shirong Shidi had fallen out of Chaos itself, he was probably right to be. If Shun was the Adversary and thus a bringer of Chaos, why was it Shirong Shidi who always seemed to be falling into trouble and right back out of it?
Shirong rolled to his feet. Blinked at the black goo absorbing whatever it touched. "The blob?" he muttered. Another of his strange future references. One they didn't have time to explain. "Mo Qinghe, can you close that hole back up?"
"Not by myself." Auntie Qinghe turned her attention on Shun. "Oh, you are a beauty, nephew. As lovely as your mother."
Shun wanted to ask if this was really the time. Except it wasn't time to argue the point either. He focused his attention on the Chaos. Circled round. Circled round again. How the hell had he doubled in size? He'd been huge before. He was gigantic now, or at least a great deal longer than he'd ever been.
Something rose from the Chaos. A thing resembling a black sheet of fabric, waving wildly in the non-existent breeze. What was it?
Without needing Shun to speak, fake Shirong answered the question. "Hundun."
Of course. What else could it be, but thing of Chaos, a representative of endings and beginnings. Having no existence of its own, it existed in contrast to all that truly was. Every Chaos shadow that ever existed came from Hundun's depths, only to break away as they became more and more real.
There was a sadness to the thing, a loneliness born of non-existence. Yet it didn't belong in this world. It'd be destroyed by reality, even as its presence destroyed reality. It had to return to its place. Shun curled closer, forcing the Chaos back through the hole from which it'd come.
Hundun had no mind, no intention. Yet it still desired and tried to break free. If Shun hadn't been training his demonic magic, he might have lost control. The thing was slippery, like trying to hold a silk bag full of water. But it wasn't strong, not as strong as Shun, and it slowly slipped back through the hole.
Then it and the Chaos was gone, leaving them in the middle of a crater of black mud and white stone. And, Shun noticed with interest, a set of stone stairs leading down into darkness.
He sniffed the air from the hole. Not at all good to breathe. Whatever lay below had been closed off for a long time now. Best to stay away for the moment. He turned his attention to Shirong Shidi, intending to somehow express that thought. Except just as he did so, one of the hunters from earlier pulled himself to his feet and snarled, "No antidote?"
Bai Xiang took her human form again, standing between Shun and the hunters, sword drawn, hair and clothes a wild mess. "I didn't say it was fatal, either." She was on the man in an instant. "Unlike my blade. Take yourself and your friends and leave. You're outnumbered."
The man sneered. "Three women and a boy, and a snake we easily captured earlier."
Shirong Shidi coughed. "Respect, sir, but that snake could swallow you whole. Though I wouldn't suggest it. You'd give him indigestion." At the same time he drew his swords, their strange colors gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. "And, frankly, you'll have to go through me to get at him."
"For that matter," Master Feng added, taking up a guarding stance with Auntie Qinghe and Bai Xiang, "What makes you think the three of us can't protect ourselves and these two children?"
The hunters had no answer to that except to attack.
There were a dozen hunters left after the one Shun had taken down earlier. Nor were they wise enough to realize they were attempting to climb Kunlun Shan with a silk thread and a needle. Whether it was stupidity or greed didn't matter. They were bound and determined to capture Shun.
Really, it was high time Shun did something about his shape. Shirong Shidi was right when he said it'd be a bad idea to swallow these men outright. For one thing, huge though he was, his throat couldn't have handled them without first crushing them. For another, while he was willing to kill to protect himself, he didn't want to eat them. He could and did eat meat, but not, absolutely not, human. It was a bad habit for demons to get into.
It took Shun several minutes to get himself back in order and he suspected he still had scales in places. Those didn't get in the way of fighting, though, and he focused his attention on his swords, forming the weapons with a great deal less effort than ever before. Then he stared, because this was the first time he'd summoned them since he'd found his movement.
What were once pure superheated steam were now metal. Not just any metal, either, but something similar to Meng Huang Xiang's living metal, their surfaces shimmering with every movement. Their dark grey surfaces gleamed with a rainbow sheen and their edges crackled with lightning.
"They're just the same color as you are... I mean you are when you're a snake! So pretty!"
Shun both wanted to swat his Shidi and pat him lightly on the shoulder for the compliment. Later, he promised himself, he might just do both. For now, "Could I trouble you to focus?"
"Sorry, Shixiong. This Shidi knows he's wrong. What would you have me do?"
Shun took position back to back with Shirong Shidi. Eyed the fight as his aunt and the other two women kicked, punched and twisted. Really, he wasn't sure he and Shirong Shidi actually needed to fight. Those three had it well in hand.
No, wait. "Arrows." He swung his right hand sword, cutting through the missile headed for Master Feng. At the same time Shirong Shidi sliced through a net tossed down from the treetops. "More up above. I'll deal with them."
Without hesitation he leapt for the trees, using one of his swords to carry him high. Flying past the treetops where the hunters were concealed, he cut and cut and cut, dropping his would be captors to the ground.
They were good. Good enough to recover and try to come back at him, but Shirong Shidi swung himself into the trees, cutting down branches as he passed. Startled, not expecting another fall, this time the hunters hit the ground. Most landed badly, crashing to the stony surface surrounding the opening. One landed directly in the hole and Shun heard him scream in horror.
"The hell?" Shirong Shidi gasped. "What's down there?"
"No idea." Shun dropped back to the ground and set to knocking out the hunters. The others were already down, easily managed by the three women they'd disdained. Auntie Qingshe, Master Feng and Bai Xiang were looking at each other with smug satisfaction. "This one thanks you for your help," he added, cupping his hands to the three.
Bai Xiang shrugged. "I can't speak for these two, but it was my pleasure."
Noting to himself to ask the lady just what she actually was, Shun turned his attention to Shirong Shidi. "Are you hurt?"
The boy flushed bright red, strangely tongue-tied as he stammered, "F... fine, Shun Shixiong. This one is glad to... see you."
Another thing to discuss later. Shirong's odd reaction to him. They'd been traveling together for long enough that any shyness ought to be thoroughly wiped away. What'd happened in the time between Shun's abduction and now to turn him into an uncertain child again?
Rather than ask, Shun turned back to the hole in the ground. It still smelled wrong. Definitely not a place they should be poking around in just yet. The hunter who'd fallen in, rolling down the stairs out of sight, was silent now. "Miss Bai, what is that? Do you know?"
"I couldn't say," Bai Xiang told him, sniffing the air and making a face. "We can ask Monster when he and Lan Shizhong come back."
An odd look crossed Auntie Qinghe's face. Shun was about to ask her what was wrong, but that was when the earth beneath his feet shifted. Shook. He didn't bother glancing down. Just grabbed Shirong Shidi and tried to carry them both to safety.
He was a moment too late. The stone pavement shattered, dropping them down into whatever lay beneath. Before he had a chance to react, or to fast step their way out of the mess, a rock struck his head, knocking him cold.
"Shun Shixiong. Please. You have to be all right. Please!" Shirong Shidi's voice was oddly muffled, as if he were speaking through a piece of cotton batting.
Shun reached out painfully, eyes shut tight against dirt and grit. Finding Shirong's head, he cuffed his Shidi's ear lightly. "Stop that." Odd. Why did he sound muffled, too? It was hard to breathe, like the air was heavy with ash or steam. Not hot, not sulfurous, or he'd fear they'd fallen into the Abyss.
"Shun Shixiong? Oh, thank the Gods."
"Heaven and Earth our witness, our fates are one," Shun reminded the boy. "Don't be an blubbering idiot. It wasn't that bad a fall."
"It was, though. I... I was conscious the whole time. It took an hour!"
Now that was ridiculous. "Nonsense."
"No. I'm serious. Maybe not a whole hour, but we weren't falling normally. Everything was slowed down. I felt like Ah lees en wan da lan."
Wiping his eyes clear, Shun decided not to ask exactly what strange thing his Shidi was talking about now. He already had enough of a headache. Instead he peered through darkness, trying to make out his Shidi's face. He couldn't see anything. Not even his own hands. "Please... tell me... it's dark in here." He'd gone through quite enough already. He didn't need to go blind, too.
"It's dark. Even my sword isn't enough to help. The air's too thick."
The air was too thick? "What does that mean?"
A faint, incredibly faint, light flickered nearby, revealing nothing because it was being diffused through the air. Whatever blocked the light wasn't dark, though, so it wasn't dust or ash. Fog, then. No wonder it'd seemed hard to breathe.
Taking stock of himself, Shun determined his worst injury was a bruise in a place he chose not to mention. "Are you hurt?"
"I landed on the hardest part of me," Shirong Shidi told him ruefully.
"Your head, then?"
"That's right. Hardly even a bruise." Shirong Shidi grasped his hand. Helped him sit up. "I can't figure out where we are. Do you know?"
Shun considered the possibilities. Not the Abyss. That place was supposed to be all fire and smoke. Not the Heavens, that'd be all lit up and shining. Not the Demon Realm, because he'd feel the magic there, surely. He slid his fingers along the ground. Pavement. This was part of some structure.
"Where are the others?"
"I'm not sure. I called and called, but I don't think my voice carries very far."
Well, no. Given how muffled their voices were when they were right next to each other, Shun supposed the others could be anywhere nearby and unable to hear each other. "The first thing we do is try to find our way out of this fog."
"All right. What do you want me to do, Shixiong?"
Pleased by fake Shirong's willingness to listen, Shun couldn't help saying so. "If nothing else, having you with me instead of your predecessor makes things easier."
For some reason Shirong Shidi fell silent. Then, meekly, he murmured, "I hope I'm doing better." He took a deep breath and set to coughing. "Sorry. I keep forgetting the air...."
Laughing, because it was so like fake Shirong Shidi to pay no mind to their circumstances in favor of worrying over things he couldn't help, Shun grasped his Shidi's hand. "Since we can't see, we'll have to crawl. The pavement seems to run fairly straight, so let's follow a line and hope to find a wall."
"Yes, Shixiong."
They crawled. Crawled further. Crawled for what seemed like an hour. Shun was tempted to try a different direction but there wasn't much point. Unable to tell where they were at all, any path they took was as good as any other.
"If either of us had an arrow we could tie a string and fire it," Shirong Shidi murmured suddenly.
"You'd need a bow for that. Or do you have one in your ring already?"
"There's some bamboo sticks somewhere in there. I could make a bow with it."
Sighing, Shun noted, "We could use the other sticks for arrows. Or, better yet, use them all like spears. And I have cord in my ring." Shizun had made sure he was prepared for most eventualities, just not this one. Who could have guessed they'd be wandering in a misty cavernous chamber trying to find an exit?
It only took a few minutes to find an appropriately heavy bamboo stick in Shirong Shidi's spatial ring. Just a minute more to find a cord and attach it. Steadied by Shun's arms around his waist, Shirong tossed the makeshift spear. Pulled it back. Tossed it again. Tossed it a third time.
At last the rope fell slack, the spear going only half the distance it had before. "That way."
Having the sticks made crawling unnecessary. All Shun had to do was let the tip of a stick rest in the groove of the pavement, keeping them from losing their sense of direction without needing to crawl along the line.
The wall the first stick had struck was a strange translucent stone. It was the same shade as the mist through which they wandered, leaving Shun feeling as if the mist were slowly hardening around them. If it were, he wanted out of this place immediately.
As if in answer, Shun found himself stepping out onto a long platform overlooking what appeared to be a huge city. One he'd seen before, but only in his dreams. He'd been wrong, he realized, assuming this wasn't the demon realm. It was.
It was just that the mist surrounding them was blocking the place's magic.