Just as the chief had told him, the yard was littered with scrap. They made odd shapes against the light of the full moon overhead. As Sezha approached the derelict house, he was surprised to find there wasn’t even a proper door in place at the front entrance.

Sezha slowly poked his head through the doorway.

He felt something fly past his head and embed itself into the wood of the doorframe beside him.

“Who are you?” a quiet voice demanded. “Don’t try to call for your men. My arrow will be quicker.”

From the shadows, a young girl appeared with a bow aimed straight at Sezha, an arrow nocked on the string. She looked to be in her teens, no older than thirteen at most.

“I mean you no harm,” Sezha said, displaying his empty hands to her. “I’m here to give you an opportunity.”

The girl lowered her bow but kept the arrow nocked. “Who are you?” she repeated, stepping out from the shadows. She had short dark hair that stopped right at her shoulders and possessed a swarthier complexion than the average Lowlands girl. Aside from that, she was also dressed in a man’s garb—a simple gray cotton tunic, loose-fitting trousers, and a red sash around her waist.

“My name is Kyu Sezha.”

She regarded him with an apprehensive look. “What opportunity?”

“A chance to make a small fortune,” he said. “I need someone to guide me to Void-Light Temple. I’m willing to pay whatever it takes.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really mean that?”

Sezha nodded solemnly. “Whatever you want, as long as it’s within my power.”

The girl wrinkled her nose. “I want employment.”

Sezha took a moment to process what she had just said. “Can you repeat that?” he asked, sure he had misheard her. “I don’t think I caught that.”

“I want you to hire me.”

“But why? I can give you gold right now.”

“No use,” she replied with a scowl. “They took Taikim’s gold from me. They’ll find ways to steal again. They always do. But if I come with you, I won’t have to worry about that. Give me your word, then I take you to Void-Light Temple.”

Sezha hesitated. What work was there for an uneducated peasant girl at the Kyu Estate? Even the junior maids were able to read. Regardless, it was clear she wasn’t going to settle for anything else.

“Fine,” he said. “I give you my word.”

“Good.” She set her bow to the side. “Need time to prepare. Dangerous to travel at night.”

. . .

“How much further must we keep walking?” Sezha asked, wiping sweat from his brow.

No horses, the girl had explained. The scent of the Purebloods made an excellent lure for predators of the night. So Sezha left the horses in the care of the village chief. After his earlier threats, Sezha was sure that he wouldn’t dare try anything foolish.

The girl looked back at him. “Not long. We are close, but you must be silent.”

A high-pitched cry echoed through the night.

Sezha’s head snapped toward the direction of the noise. “What was that?”

The girl didn’t respond immediately. She lifted her chin in the air and took a sniff of the air. “Not human,” she said after a brief moment of deliberation. “We must keep moving.”

“How can you tell?” one of the guards asked, his hand moving toward the hilt of his sword. “The only thing I smell is forest.”

“Hush,” the girl simply said, moving through the underbrush with unexpected ease.

Sezha and his men followed after her, albeit with not nearly as much grace.

Only a few yards further in, they came upon a small, dark obelisk. Sezha had come across them in texts before. They were markers used in older eras to denote sacred lands. Like the girl had said, they were getting close.

“Perhaps we should go back and wait until morning,” the guard who had spoken earlier suggested.

Sezha shook his head. “I’m sure you men will be missed during the festival. We must do this tonight.”

The girl cleared her throat. “Silence.”

As they followed the girl, dozens of different types of wild cries seemed to echo around them. Strange shapes circled them, moving with frightening speed through the heavily forested land. As well-armed and trained as his guards were, Sezha wasn’t sure if they would be of any use if a pack of wolves decided to make them their dinner.

Soon enough, Sezha could make out the faint outline of a pyramid against the night sky. Many temples of similar make dotted the wilderness of the Lowlands, but Sezha had never seen one made from pure black stone.

They approached the base of the pyramid, apprehension thick in the air. One of the guards even let loose a curse under his breath.

The girl stopped at the entrance, a wide arch leading into a hall that seemed to stretch on forever. “My job is finished,” she said. “I will await you outside.” She plopped down cross-legged onto the ground, her eyes closed. “I hope you do not die. That would be unfortunate.”

“From what the village chief said, I take it people have a habit of disappearing down there?” Sezha asked, peering into the hall cautiously.

The girl nodded.

Sezha gestured to the guard holding the only torch amongst them, a baby-faced man who looked only a few years older than Sezha. “You there, what’s your name?”

“My name is Wuqi, young master,” the guard replied, his brows creased. Judging from his youth, he was probably the least practiced and the most prone to slip-ups in a real fight. In other words, the most expendable of his guards. Although Sezha hated to think in such terms, it was the objective truth.

Sezha clasped his hands behind his back. “Scout the temple and return to us if you find anything out of place. Be quick but thorough. Our lives are in your hands.”

The oldest of the guards raised an objection. “With all respect, young lord, I should be the one to go,” he said. “I’ve done my fair share of scouting, even fought in the Mud-Coast Skirmishes, that I did. Wuqi is just a boy.”

“I can do it,” Wuqi said, and despite his trembling, his voice was almost convincing.

“Pipe down, Wuqi,” the oldest guard snapped. “Mind my language, young master, but the only thing the boy will end up doing is pissing his pants and scurrying back up here. Scouting needs to be done right.”

Sezha sighed. “Then you can join him.”

The oldest guard frowned. “Well, I suppose I can. Didn’t think of that, that I didn’t.” He beckoned for Wuqi to follow him, then the two of them strode into Void-Light Temple, the steel of their swords bared. Around a dozen breaths later, the light of Wuqi’s torch disappeared from view. Fortunately for the people left outside, the full moon gave off more than enough illumination.

The girl looked up at Sezha, a single eye open. “You do not go with them?” she asked. “Should leaders not lead their men at the front? Taikim told me only a coward would not share the dangers his men face.”

“I’m more of a command from the rear type of leader,” Sezha said, rubbing his nose. “I’ve things I need to do, and I can’t afford to perish here.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” the girl said.

Sezha frowned. “I don’t think you’ve told me your name.”

“Why do you need it?” she inquired. “So you can order me around like your men?”

“Indeed,” Sezha said, smiling wryly. “Do you not work for me now?”

“Kan,” she said in a small voice. “Taikim told me my name is Kan.”

“Who is this Taikim fellow you keep mentioning?”

“Taikim is Taikim.” She looked away from Sezha. “I. . . do not want to talk about him. Not now.”

Sezha gave Kan a questioning look but didn’t pursue the subject any further. He leaned against the archway and peered down the seemingly never-ending hallway. Was this really the only way to bring back Yunan? Go delving in ancient ruins for something that may not even exist?

“You are from a big family, no?” Kan asked after a long pause, rising to her feet. “What will you be having me do?”

“Pardon?”

“I cannot cook. I know only basic household chores. I cannot read or do arithmetic.” Kan tugged her bow free from her shoulder. “But I can shoot.” She grabbed an arrow from the quiver strapped to her waist. “And I can shoot very well.” Fluidly, Kan nocked the slim, feathered projectile, took aim, and fired into the sky. A few breaths later, she said, “If you walk a hundred meters into the forest, you will see I have pinned a squirrel by the tail.”

Sezha glanced in the general vicinity of where the arrow would’ve landed. “You,” he said, turning to the guard closest to him. “Go and verify her claim. Bring back the squirrel if you can.”

The guard nodded, then jogged off into the forest.

“Walk straight for thirty breaths,” Kan called after him.

Exactly sixty breaths passed before the guard returned with a squirrel by the tail, his jaw open in shock.

“How did you do it?” he asked, throwing the squirrel down on the ground. “By the heavens, I don’t think even the best archer in Cheng-Kai can pull something like this off.”

Kan shrugged. “I was always good with a bow. Taikim told me so.”

Sezha brought his hand up to his chin. “I’m sure your skills will come in handy. But I’m curious, have you ever hit a person?”

“Would it be any different than snagging a hare?”

“I imagine it would be very different,” Sezha mused. “Hares can’t shoot back at you, for starters.”

“They can’t be any quicker,” Kan shot back. “Hares are fast. People are slow. I am quick.”

“That’s an odd way to put it.” Sezha glanced back at the entrance.

The bright yellow gleam of torchlight creeped out from the darkness. Wuqi and the older, grizzled guard stepped out from the arch. For the most part, they looked untouched, although Wuqi was a little pale in the face.

“There aren’t any immediate signs of danger,” the older guard said. “Although I’d like to conduct a more thorough sweep with more men, the sooner I’m back in my warm sheets with the missus, the better.”

“Very good.” Sezha turned to Kan. “Wait until morning for us. If we don’t come back, then expect the worst.” He slipped a bejeweled ring off his index finger and placed it in her hands. “Here’s my ring. You can pawn it off as payment.”

She nodded, staring at it with a strange expression. It was likely the most expensive thing she’d ever held.

“Lead the way,” Sezha said to the grizzled guard.

After taking one last glance up at the moon, Sezha and his guards walked into Void-Light Temple.

Wuqi’s torch cast strange shadows over the wall as they made their way down the hallway. The air was dank and musty, almost suffocatingly so. And while there may have been paintings on the dark stone walls long ago, they had faded into dull abstract colors.

Sezha licked his lips ruefully. His throat was parched, and he hadn’t brought a canteen. Perhaps he should’ve asked for a drink back in the village.

The hallway stretched on for a while until they stopped at a flight of stairs leading downwards. Every step seemed to be carved from the same type of dark, opaque crystal. Despite the smooth, oily surface, the set of stairs gave sure footing.

As they approached the base of the stairs, the sight of another corridor greeted them. Tall, menacing statues of armored warriors stood at regular intervals on both sides of the hall, their features eerily life-like.

Sezha clicked his tongue. “What exactly is down here?” he asked Wuqi. “I want to know what to expect.”

“We’re nearly there,” Wuqi muttered, pointing ahead. “It must’ve been some sort of offering room, young master.”

And sure enough, the corridor opened up into a spacious chamber. Tattered banners hung down from the ceiling, and pale, luminescent crystals jutted out at odd angles from the floor and walls. Engravings of an epic battle adorned a stone tablet that sat at the far end of the chamber. But what stood out to him was the architecture.

“What is this place?” Sezha asked himself. The pillars supporting the arched ceiling were vaguely first era, yet there was something off about them. First-era stonework was crude and clumsy. These pillars, on the other hand, looked to be carved by sophisticated tools. And the luminescent crystals scattered throughout the chambers were much too large. The largest of the crystals discovered were said to be around the size of a man’s arm. However, just a few meters away, one twice as large as a grown man grew out from a crack in the wall.

Focus on the things you can do, he told himself. Standing around lost in thoughts wouldn’t get him any closer to finding information on Paragons. He glanced over at the tablet, deciphering that would be a start.

Wuqi followed Sezha as he strolled over to the tablet. It must’ve been of some importance, as it stood at the center of the chamber. The figures in the engravings were priests, judging from their robes and staves. They were fighting some sort of beast, one Sezha didn’t recognize. A few of the priests were even etched hovering above the battlefield, fire raining down around him. The scene had to have been embellished to some degree. As far as Sezha knew, even divine artists couldn’t literally soar through the sky.

Sezha placed his hand on the tablet, and as soon as he did, a blinding flash of light filled his vision. He instinctively shut his eyes. When he opened them, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. That’s on me for touching strange relics in strange temples. Sezha thought with a sardonic smile on his face.

His knees gave out, and he stuck out his hands to break his fall. His head spun as if it was glued onto the axis of a globe. Slowly as to not agitate the raging ache in his head, Sezha glanced around his surroundings.

An inch of dust lined everything. From the cracked floor tiles to the splintered remains of furniture strewn about in heaps around the room. A series of arches made up the wall furthest from Sezha, and beyond them was a gray and featureless sky.

Seeing no other choice, Sezha left the room through the arches and stepped outside. He was alone on a deserted plain, the earth underfoot dry and cracked. Simple columns of gray stone grew out from the ground, and although each one was a different height to their neighbor, they all looked exactly the same. Formless clouds chugged on listlessly overhead, almost as if they were being dragged on by a lazy wind.

What now? Sezha thought, massaging his temples. It was a wonder how he was able to stay as calm as he did. He was in an unfamiliar location, alone and without the faintest idea on how to get back.

What else to do but walk? So Sezha started walking.

Half an hour of walking later, a roar sprang up from the direction Sezha had originated from. His legs trembled, nearly giving out, but he did not stop—he broke out into a jog. He had no intention of waiting for whatever it was that made such a terrible sound to catch up to him.

“You will die,” a feminine voice announced. “At this rate, anyway.”

Sezha stopped in his tracks and glanced up. He saw beauty personified. The woman sat atop a column, her slender legs crossed. Her complexion was clear and flawless, her eyebrows bold and narrow, and her eyes were unlike any Sezha had seen before. Red pupils, thin and elliptical like that of a fox, stared down at him. Her hair was dark, with streaks of purple through it, and she wore it up in an intricate braid atop her head. And the purple dress she wore was tightly fitted at the waist by a silver sash, with an embroidered pattern stitched up the length of her long, flowing skirt.

“Silly, naive, children like you should stay home,” she continued. “You’ve come all this way to what? To be hunted down and butchered like an animal in a nameless realm.”

“I’m looking for the heart of a Paragon.” Sezha gulped, then took a step forward in her direction.

The woman raised her delicate brows. “The heart of a Paragon? Whatever are you talking about?”

Sezha sighed. “I thought you would know, lady. . .”

“Ahn Mi-Nara.” She leaped down from the column and landed gracefully on her feet. “But you may address me as Prime, boy.”

“My name is Sezha.”

The Prime didn’t respond. She folded one arm over the other and stared at him silently as if asking, so what?

“It’s not boy,” Sezha said irritably. “My name is Kyu Sezha.”

“Well, it seems in my time here, naive, ignorant boys did not become any less daring,” she said, unimpressed. She glanced behind him and cleared her throat. “You should get running.”

The roar came again, this time even closer than before.

“Will you be alright?” Sezha asked.

“Your concern shouldn’t be for me.”

Fine. Have it your way. Sezha thought, sprinting in the opposite direction from whence he came. Barely aware of the dry earth beneath his feet or the grim columns of dark stone that seemed to loom over him, he ran for what seemed like hours before he fell to his knees, panting for breath. His vision swam, and he felt his head go light.

“You can’t outrun it forever.” The Prime appeared from behind a column. Strangely enough, Sezha didn’t find it too shocking. She was certainly didn’t seem like an ordinary woman.

“Then what do you propose?” Sezha asked through gritted teeth. “Stand and fight?”

The Prime tossed her hair back and chuckled, her soft laughter echoing throughout the lifeless plains. “With what?” she asked, covering her mouth with a dainty hand. “Your bare fists?”

Sezha glowered at her before rising to his feet. “Are you just here to poke fun?”

“I can offer you a chance.” Her red eyes regarded Sezha coolly. “Do you intend to go down without a fight?”

“Of course not.” Sezha straightened up and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the Prime had already started prowling away. He followed after her.

“You’re not the first to have come here,” she said. Not even a hint of her playful attitude from before showed on her face. She was still beautiful, yet at the same time, she seemed ancient somehow. “I’ve seen village brats wander into this realm. They never lasted long. I’ve encountered vagrants, brigands, and the occasional scholar. But you’re probably the first noble I’ve met in an eternity.”

Sezha raised his hand to his forehead. “What is this place?”

The Prime turned to him. “An artificial world, one created by a rather unpleasant fellow with a tendency to pry. Such realms aren’t meant to last long on their own, so they have to be anchored to something existing on Strife. I assume you were unfortunate enough to cross paths with said anchor.” She paused, her brows knitting in thought. “It is strange, however, that so many mortals have managed to make their way inside. I suppose the seal must’ve weakened over time. Yes, the only logical explanation.”

For the first time in his life, Sezha was dumbfounded. He burst out into raucous laughter. I’m dreaming, Sezha thought. He had to be. Artificial worlds. Anchors to other realms. This was the stuff of fairy tales, not reality.

“I must be dreaming,” he whispered to himself, so softly, that even the Prime likely couldn’t hear him. He looked up at the overcast sky. “Damn. There’s no sun here, is there?”

“Does this feel like a dream?” the Prime asked.

Sezha smiled faintly. “No,” he replied. “This is real. And this isn’t a fairy tale. You mentioned a chance earlier. What did you mean exactly?”

The Prime stopped. The land before her sloped downwards harshly, the dry earth giving way to a sea of misshapen boulders. “You want your chance?” She pointed at the far-off base of the rocky incline. “You’ll find it down there.”