An Unknown Time, An Unknown Location:

Yu’s consciousness heard the pulse of her heart, but could not understand how. Hadn’t she died? Hadn’t she bled out?

But she hadn’t. She continued to hear a heartbeat. And with every beat, she felt stronger. She was able to breathe.

I can breathe!

And at that realization, she took in a huge breath. It was hard, and not only because there was a heavy weight on her chest. Her breath tasted wet and she coughed. Red splotches fell back onto her face and into her eyes.

She tried to lift her arms to wipe her face and push off the weight, but found only one arm was on the ground. The other was up and gripping something. A handle? She released it by instinct and the heartbeat stopped. Then she realized she was weakening again, and quickly gripped the handle once more. The heartbeat returned, and with it strength.

Deciding to wait until she felt strong enough to push the weight off, she lay there, trying to figure out what was going on. Slowly, her mind cleared as her energy returned with each thump in her mind. She remembered being taken, learning who was responsible and why, her escape and eventual fight with the person lying on top of her. Grimacing, she decided she did not want to be near this crazed bastard anymore. Not letting go of the handle, she shoved to the side and pushed the body off of her. His body was rolled over and dumped next to her with a thump. She turned her head, and looked into face. The crazed way his eyes had been before were gone. She saw fear in them. And then she saw them blink.

He's alive.

Yu stared into his terrified eyes and looked within herself. She wanted to know how she felt. She listened to her emotions, and found a tiny hint of regret and fear of killing a human again. But it was only a hint. Otherwise, she felt… satisfaction. She felt vindicated. And so, Yu stared into his face and smiled.

Without letting go of the handle, Yu rolled over and pushed herself to a sitting position. She pulled on the handle and saw what she had thought she would. Her spirit weapon was in her hand, blood covered every speck of it except the blade, which it seemed to absorb even as she watched.

Then she held it over his heart and looked Xing in the face. “I told you the last thing you would see was me smiling down at you as you died.” She heard a brief but high-pitched whimper and paused for just a moment. And then she plunged the knife into his heart, staring at his eyes as the life left them.

Despite his heart having stopped, the knife still gave off a thumping beat. Yu watched as the bulbous body of Xing paled and then shriveled. Yu’s strength continued to increase with each heartbeat until finally, what had been his large body was a thin gray mummified corpse.

Yu pulled the knife from it and looked at it. “Thank you,” she whispered. It did not respond so Yu pressed Qi into it and it disappeared back into her mindscape. Yu crawled to the nearest wall and laid her back against it, taking in and exhaling a huge breath. Then another. She nodded to herself and then looked at her body. Unsurprisingly, the trash sack she had for shirt was hanging by a thread and basically not covering anything. She was pleasantly surprised to find she was no longer bleeding. All of the holes created by the thorns in her skin, while still visible, were closed. Yu hoped she wouldn’t scar because that large diagonal gash across her torso looked pretty bad. Well, either way, she could cover it up with clothes. If she had any.

She looked down at her finger and rubbed where her ring had been almost since she had been able to cultivate. It made her sad to know she had lost something that Grandma Huan had given her, but she knew now was not the time to focus on such things.

She looked at the desiccated corpse of Xing and saw a few gold rings on his fingers. She crawled over to him and pulled the first off. With a crack, his finger came with it. Yu winced, tossing aside the disgusting thing and put the ring on. She sent Qi into it and found it was just a normal ring. She placed it next to her and tried the next. And then the next. On the first ring of his next hand, she finally found his spatial storage.

It was a gold band with emeralds embedded all around it. To her it seemed gaudy and would unnecessarily draw attention, but one shouldn’t argue the price of a free bowl of soup. She put it on her thumb, the only finger that would fit something made for such fat hands. Sending Qi into his ring, Yu gaped at what she saw. The size was impressive at about one hundred paces, but that was not what astonished her. What she found in that space is what caused her to gasp.

Xing’s wealth had been something else. Piles and piles of silver coins. Multiple silver and gold cards were strewn about. Yu wasn’t sure she could even access those cards given the one she had – or at least used to have – required blood. With that thought, she glanced at the desiccated body and, resignedly, touched it, sending it into the ring.

Either way, the silver wasn’t the real prize, even though she found piles of millions to certainly be a pleasant surprise. The other piles were what interested her. First and foremost, clothes. Yu searched through the clothes until she found something that had at least a chance of fitting her.

Yu pulled out the red and black silk top, stood, tore free the remains of her sack, and pulled the shirt over herself. It went down to her thighs, but she could tuck it in. She pulled the smallest pants she could find, also red and black, and pulled them up. She also found a belt rope, which she used to tie the pants so they would not fall down. Unfortunately, there were no sandals or boots that had any hope of fitting her, so she was stuck barefoot.

There was more to check out in the ring, but Yu knew she had more immediate priorities. She didn’t even know how much time had passed either since she had been taken or since the fight had ended.

Yu padded back towards the binding room on her bare feet, hoping that whatever fight had happened was over. She hadn’t felt the cavern system rumble since she had woken up, so there was hope at least. Finally, Yu heard a voice as she approached.

“Ah! Excellent. Good of you to join us.” And Yu smiled in relief at the sound of her insane master’s voice.

Ignoring her feet, she sped up and entered the larger room. She saw her master to the side, sitting on that sole brown chair Yu had noticed for whatever reason before. Her right arm tingled where her tattoo was as she saw him, but Yu moved passed it instantly when she saw who else was in the room. To her right she saw Bao Qing curled up against a wall. His head lifted at her entry but he immediately looked down again when he saw her looking back. Against the other wall were Lu and Li. Thankfully, both were fully clothed in sect robes. Their eyes had something other than rage, but what she saw was not much better. They were stricken in pain and grief. However, when the girls saw her, those eyes lit up with life and they smiled.

“Yu!” Lu called at the same time Li yelled, “You’re alive!”

Yu felt her eyes sting again as she saw not the hatred and derision she had expected, but relief and happiness. She ran at them and the twins did the same. They collided in a huge hug of three people and all Yu could do was cry, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” over and over again.

“It’s not your fault,” Lu said through sniffles. “I never meant those things. He made me say them.”

For once, Li said nothing, she could only cry and hug Yu so tightly she worried for her ribs.

“They targeted you because of me. I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through.”

“It wasn’t as bad as you think,” Li said. “They didn’t abuse us or anything. Some wanted to, but the Asura stopped them. They said it risked giving away that we were bound. We just had to keep reporting on you. The worse is that we can feel ourselves doing things but we can’t stop from doing it. That’s… awful.”

Yu was both relieved and guilty beyond measure. “I promise, whatever it takes, we can fix this. We’ll remove the runes, I swear.”

Yu felt Li squeeze even harder. “They can’t be removed,” she said sadly. “Binding runes are permanent.”

“What?” Yu exclaimed. “There has to be a way.”

Then Yu heard a clearing of a throat and all three looked over. Yu’s hairless master was looking back at them. “Well, isn’t this lovely. Yes. Very nice. Good. You all love each other. Wonderful. So, about those runes. Well, you see. Generally speaking, binding runes are embedded both in the flesh and the Qi of a person. This is why it takes a brand and a Spiritualist.”

Yu slumped at the news. She said to the girls. “I’m sorry. Maybe we can destroy the control rod?”

“No no no,” her master said, shaking his head. “It will kill them. That’s used to prevent a rebellion. Also, the bound will die if they touch their own control rods. No. None of that will work at all.”

Yu hugged the girls tighter. “So what do we do?”

“Weeeeeeell. Remember when I said it can’t be broken because it effects the body and Qi? The reason I mentioned that – besides because you asked and were all whiny about it – is because nobody can heal both the Qi and body at the same time.” Yu blinked at him, not understanding. He rolled his eyes, “How can someone so dumb be my disciple? Honestly.” Then he looked confused for a second and asked, “What was I saying?”

Lu answered, “Qi and body at the same time?”

“Ah! Yes. Well, you see, when the bindings are placed, the same person places them. This means that the same Qi is responsible for creating the brand and binding the Qi. Do you see now?”

Yu looked at her master. She was, frankly, pretty irritated at him for keeping his façade up at a time like this. However, she knew his behavior well enough by now that she could tell he was still trying to give her information.

So she thought about his words.

“Sect leader, I don’t understand,” Lu said.

“Of course you don’t. But she does.” And he gestured at Yu.

“Master,” Yu said hesitantly. “Are you saying that if the same person could heal both the body and the Qi at the same time, they would be able to break the binding because they are also using the same Qi, just as when it was created?”

“Yes. That’s what I said. Why are you repeating things?”

“Meaning,” Yu continued without answering, “The only person who could remove bindings runes is someone who can simultaneously wield both Wood or Water Mana Qi and Ether Qi?”

He clapped once. “Yes! Good. You are not an utter failure after all. Lovely. I’m glad I haven’t been wasting my time with you. Whoever you are.”

Yu smiled hugely at Lu and Li and they were beaming back. “Of course,” he added. “You would need to be as strong as the enchanter who created the binding in order to overwhelm his Qi. But I don’t think that should be too hard. He was a stupid moron after all. I mean, who in their right mind creates a formation like this? Not me, I can tell you that. And I am in my right mind, I assure you.”

“Uh-huh,” Li muttered.

Lu cleared her throat. “Sect leader, do you know what stage of cultivation the enchanter was at?”

“Based on those ridiculously flawed chains and this utter waste of materials he called a formation, I’d say…” and he held his hand under his chin. “Mmm… Qi Manifestation.”

“So the fourth stage,” Yu said to the girls. “I can free you when I reach that.” Then after a few breaths, she asked, “But what do we do until then? You’re still bound.”

“Oh. That!” her master said. “Well, those two older gentlemen that were here when I stopped by were kind enough to give them to me. You know, before they exploded. Such a mess. Would you like them?”

And an iron rod with a brand at the end appeared in each of his hands. Yu looked at the girls, biting her lip.

Li looked at her sister who looked back. Then she turned to Yu and said, “If we can’t destroy them, the only person who I’d want to have them is you. We know you won’t abuse it or take advantage.”

Yu hugged them back. Then she walked over to her master and gently took the rods from his hands. “You’ll need to take ownership and give a single order before they become bound to you. Whoever made up that rule is also a moron. Why are so many people so stupid?”

Yu blinked at her master, then at the rods in her hands. She turned to the girls and looked at them, guiltily. Then back to her master, she asked, “Umm. Is there another way? Giving orders using these things makes me feel dirty.”

“Dirty? You’re covered in blood, wearing clothes twice your size, and you stink. No. Just do what the idiot who made them makes you do.”

Yu sighed. She looked back at the girls, sent her Qi into the rods, and said, “Be yourselves at all times. Take no more orders from anyone based on the bindings or these rods.” Then she sent them into her new ring and immediately wiped her hands on her pants, feeling disgusted with herself.

Lu and Li, however, ran up to her again and they had another rib-cracking group hug.

“Right. So, there is still one thing left, in case you forgot.” Yu looked at her master curiously and he gestured at Bao Qing quietly sitting against the wall.

Yu let out a sigh and nodded. She watched him for a few breaths and heard Li said, “He didn’t do anything to us.”

“He looks broken,” Lu added.

Yu nodded again and then turned to her master. “Master, can you return the girls and them come back and get me? I want to have a talk with him alone.” She watched as Bao Qing flinched and huddled into himself even further.

“Fine, fine. I’ll give you a short bit of time, but only that. Come you two. You have to tell me where to take you because I have no idea who you are.”

The girls sighed, gave Yu one more tight hug, and walked towards her master.

Yu turned to face Bao Qing and padded towards him.

Once again, he flinched away as she approached, but she did not touch him. She walked to his left, turned around, and sat, leaning against the wall about half a pace from him.

She didn’t say anything, and just looked at him. Occasionally, he would lift his head and look at her, and then look down again.

The only sounds in the room were the two of them breathing, Bao Qing’s rapid and Yu’s slow and steady.

Yu lost track of how long, but after a bit, she noticed his breaths had slowed somewhat. “I’m pretty sure you can speak if you want to.” He lifted his head and looked at her, but didn’t respond. She nodded at him. “I don’t think you’re afraid. That’s what your grandfather thought. That you were afraid of me. He thought the loss had created a demon of fear in your heart. But that’s not what it is, is it?”

The boy looked at Yu without turning his head away for the first time. Then he opened his mouth and the sound that came out was raspy, like his throat was filled with cobwebs. “They said I was strong.” Yu nodded at him. “Destined to rule.” Yu nodded again. “They lied.”

“How long did they take to throw you aside?” Yu asked him.

“Almost immediately,” he told her and Yu sighed. He continued, “My enemies in the clan used our fight and my recovery time as an opportunity.” Then he sighed. “I was in line for heir. I could have ruled one of the great clans. But when I woke up, they said I was weak. That I’d embarrassed them. And I wasn’t only not an heir, I was relegated to a branch family.”

“In short, you’d been disowned.” He nodded. “And now you’re alone.”

“I lost all my supporters and followers. Once I was cut out of the line, it’s like I’ve got a disease. Nobody will even get near me. They wouldn’t listen to so I decided to stop speaking all together. I mean, listen to me. Every word is a reminder of my failure and shame.”

“Your grandfather?” Yu asked.

“He honestly wanted to help me but was an ancient elder. Retired and long out of power. One of the strongest in the clan, sure, but with no real political influence. He could do nothing even though he wanted to. So he decided to blame you.”

“And…?” Yu asked as a leading question.

“I tried to get him to stop. I wouldn’t speak because he always winced and pitied me when I did. But he knew I didn’t want it. He thought it fear. Of you.”

Yu sighed and sat quietly for a bit more. Then she asked into the silence, “Would you believe me if I told you I know how painful it is to see those looks?”

“You?” he asked, surprised. “No.”

She half-grinned. “Oh, I know. I know the wrenching pain at the betrayal of those you thought would love you. I know the guilt and anger at their pity.” She shook her head and looked at him. Not with pity or anger or derision, but with honest empathy. “Yeah. Those we love and trust the most can hurt us the most, right?” He looked at her, astonishment clear on his face. She gave him a gentle smile. “You’re not alone in your pain.”

He looked at her silently for a few more minutes and then laid his head back against the wall.

“What’s your plan now?” Yu asked him.

“I don’t have one,” he told her with a raspy sigh. “I have no resources, no allies. I’m alone and with nothing but what you see on me. I don’t even have my storage ring anymore,” and he held out his hand. Yu saw a thin plain copper hoop rather than the thick gold one he wore before. “I could barely afford this one from what little finds I was given.”

“Are you planning on returning to the sect?” Yu asked him.

“I don’t know. It’s a bit tough because I need it since I lost access to my family’s skills and alchemy. On the other hand, I’ll have only enemies there. As you know my family is rather prominent in that sect.”

Yu nodded, thinking. Quiet permeated the room again and they sat in silence, pondering the future. Yu broke it with a question. “Would you be willing to give up something of value to have allies again?”

He looked at her, staring into her eyes. As she looked back, she saw a mix of suspicion and hope in the azure. “Like what?”

Yu was silent for a bit before she answered with, “You know, trust is a hard thing to earn. Especially when there was none to start with.”

He slumped a bit, but nodded. “That’s fair.”

“I’ll tell you what. Come back to the sect. Spend time there. See what it’s like being someone without the things you grew accustomed to. Join the Water Mage class with me.” Then Yu stood and continued while looked down at him, “Earn some trust. We’ll see what happens. Maybe next time I ask the question, you’ll have a different answer.” She reached down and offered him her hand. “But you should know, I’ll only ask one more time.”

Bao Qing stared up at her face and then her hand and then her face again. He nodded, took her wrist, and she pulled him up.

“Thank you,” he told her, still holding her wrist.

She nodded. “You’re welcome.” Then she yelled to the room, “We’re ready, master.” She winked at him and called, “Both of us”

Then softly to Bao Qing. “Let’s go home.”