Unfated who survive their younger years face another dilemma, the crises of conscience. It’s one thing to know they affect the fate of those around them, but another to see the aftermath of events triggered by them. Cities burned to ash, souls crushed, and the path of destruction they leave behind. It isn’t their fault, but even a heartless person couldn’t avoid self-blame.

~Morrigan, The Mysterious Goddess of Fate

Ahote landed on the other side of the wall and faced against the incoming beast tide. Knowing his master’s desires, Nuk roared and conveyed what needed to be said. The beasts within range slowed and didn’t cross the invisible line of death. Eventually, the entire tide stopped moving, and a red flare went up. The people on the walls stopped attacking, and a pregnant silence followed.

Ahote looked back at Crow and raised a fist before turning his mount and running south. He found the path that Crow discovered during their journey to Rosdoe. It wasn’t an area beneficial to humans because of all the ravines and steep cliffs. Still, it was a pass through the nearly impregnable wall of mountains.

The narrow passages, caves, and more offered the beasts quite a bit of defensive power. If they were as smart as Crow felt they should be, then holding off the Hunger Curse should be easily accomplished. It wasn’t like the forest where they could be surrounded or overrun by numbers. Chokepoints and various switchbacks would force the dead to come at them in smaller numbers.

The compromise Crow offered was a better chance at survival than charging against a wall with prepared embattlements. Sometimes the best plans were simple ones. But the beasts accepted this option for two reasons that amounted to the same one, the undead were behind them.

If they attempted to pass through the human city, they’d be trapped between the city and the dead. If they went south through the pass, the human city would take the brunt of the attack from the undead while the stragglers might find them. Provided the human city didn’t fall.

Ahote found the pass a few hours later. Some of the kings, beasts that achieved a certain level of cultivation and gained the aura of leadership, were right beside him. It made Ahote a little nervous, but it didn’t seem to bother Nuk. Navigating was a matter of using the map Crow drew up for him. It was highly detailed, and the Beastlord marveled once more at Crow’s crazy memory.

Mostly, Ahote had to take them to the deeper parts of the mountain range and avoid the dead ends. Half a day later, he reached the Labyrinthian Ravines, which was a name one of the Rosdoe leaders gave it. From this point, there were hundreds of ravines, valleys, plateaus, and caves, and the beasts could disperse among them, claiming their own territories.

A small plateau was the entrance, and where wind, erosion, water, and time wore down the stone and created dozens of ‘trails’ leading downward.

“This is it!” Ahote shouted after turning Nuk to face the beast tide following him. “Beyond this point, you’ll find plenty of places to hide or claim as your territory. We aren’t sure how far it goes, but only because of how much distance it covers.”

Nuk growled and roared, translating most of what was said for the smaller beasts that couldn’t understand human speech. The kings and more powerful creatures understood. Some even commanded flying beasts under their control to explore. Like the open of a dam, the tide flooded the many paths and ran deep into the ravines.

Ahote and Crow didn’t know that they were already creating a legend. The beasts would claim this place as theirs, and cultivators would attempt to enter deep into the Labyrinthian Ravines hoping to find treasures and rare resources. Even the tower would use the area to hide future tombs, rare medical resources, and more.

Even more than that, beasts that grew up here became stronger with power well above the norm for this floor. Most records wouldn’t mention that Crow or his people were involved. However, if a person was diligent enough, they could still find plenty of vestiges that recorded the event.

***

A few hours later, Ahote hopped off a pelican beast and landed on the wall near Crow. People were picking up the beasts they’d killed, and Crow informed him that they were using them for food reserves. Most of the beasts had dispersed with Ahote leading them, and the stragglers followed the others because word spread among their kind.

Two days went by, and most of the living creatures had already fled south by then. It was also the first day that the dead arrived. They were few in numbers and were put down almost as soon as they arrived. Those with an affinity toward fire were asked to burn all the corpses to ash. It was severe enough that they couldn’t afford to give those that turned a proper send-off. It could only be said that their luck or fate had ended.

“Are you sure we should take part in this?” Song Lin asked on the third night after sending the beasts off. She’d partially collapsed on top of Crow, and her naked, sweaty body pressed against him. Her head rested on his shoulder while trying to calm her breathing. Song Lin felt Crow was becoming more and more inexhaustible as his Source increased in power. It was blissful, but her body didn’t recover as fast as his, so she refused to share his bed daily.

Only Mara seemed to have a somewhat comparable drive, but at most, she could only do back-to-back nights before she needed a rest. When they discussed it, Song Lin couldn’t stop laughing. She even teased them because they were all fighting for Crow’s attention at first. Now they’d formed a sort of sisterhood to help protect each other from the beast. However, no one complained about the sex, time spent, or affection he showed them.

The fire inside him had been quenched, and his impulses were now in check. He felt a little sorry for his wives, but his needs escalated. The addition of Song Xue had significantly helped because her cold nature mixed with her vital yin, making it more potent at quelling the urges within.

Crow knew that the fiery charka controlling his sexual desires and urges grew every time his chakras gained more power. He feared opening his next chakra at this point because he might not be able to keep things balanced. The Song sisters were able to duo-cultivate with him, which helped immensely. But it wasn’t anything official. Crow and Song Lin discovered it while testing methods of helping each other. Song Lin claimed long ago that it was complementary to their method, so she wanted to see if it’d help him, too. During sex, the transference of energy benefitted them both. It reduced the Fire Mana in him and melted the build-up of Frigid Qi in her.

It wasn’t exactly in balance, but he at least had control over himself. He was worried about what would happen if he went a long time without sex.

“What do you mean?” Crow asked, feeling relaxed. She knew why he wanted to participate in this battle. It was essential to their future.

“You are still unfated, are you not?”

“Oh, that. I honestly don’t know. Previously, I avoided the fight for the sake of the Druid Order because they had a workable plan. They predicted things, knowing the events wouldn’t affect them greatly if they carried out that strategy. Not to mention the things I was able to discover and tell them. It made sense for me to bow out of that fight because my presence could alter everything.”

“But this is different because it’s a random event?”

“Is it random? I’m not so sure.”

“Why?” Song Lin wanted to sit up and look at Crow’s face, but her body trembled when she tried to do so. It was hard giving up her Shield and the power she once had. If she was that woman, riding Crow a month straight wouldn’t have strained her. The yang energy that he infused in her during sex made her body feel so comfortable and warm, and she was addicted to the feeling. The orgasms were just another bonus.

“Nadia. Kafe wants the Python Key—or did. Not sure anymore. He turned Nadia into a spy and planted her close to me, but before she could seduce me, or whatever her plan was, he set her free. I spared Kafele’s life and irrevocably messed with his fate. If the start of this Hunger Curse came from one of his zombies, did the chaos that follows me not play a part in all this?”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Song Lin’s voice hardened. “What you are is granted to you by a power higher than fate and the heavens. The fallout of these events has nothing to do with you, nor should you shoulder that blame. Staying to fight the undead, I can agree with. It’s an honorable thing for you to do and shows you to be a responsible person. But as my man, I will not tolerate you taking the blame for collateral events that were never your fault to begin with. Understood?”

Crow eyed the normally soft-spoken Song Lin with a bit of awe. Seeing his incredulous face, she got a little angry and bit his chest. Even though it hurt, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“You win. Then I’ll just say this, we should participate. Even if we are forced to retreat, we should stay and fight to protect those who can’t. Fight until the walls of our embattled manor fall. If it comes down to that, we can say we gave it our all, and then I’ll fly us all to the ascent, and we’ll leave.”

“Very good. That is an answer worthy of my husband. Now get some sleep. We have undead to kill tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Crow chuckled and hugged Song Lin to him. Lately, he rarely slept but wrapped up in her arms, his eyes drooped close, and he fell into a deep sleep.