Chapter 266 - The Crescent Cliff

Nilya descended down the rocky terrain with ease. The ground here was steep, but not completely vertical, and the path was wide enough that he didn’t have to walk too close to the cliff.

His vine-like braided hair bounced against his shoulder blades as he hopped down the rocks, half watching where he was going, half casting his eyes across the landscape.

He had never seen, or imagined a land like this before. The ground was hard and flat, weathered and smooth in some parts from hundreds of years of erosion, jagged and sharp in others from violent tectonic activity.

The rock here was a sooty black, marbled with streaks of white and grey. The plants were thin and crooked, but had a sense of resilience about them, as if they grew in defiance of their harsh environment rather than just in spite of it.

More than the dramatic mountain vista and the sheer cliffs, Nilya found these plants the most striking part of this place. His homeland was different, it was full of life. Plants and animals and people grew out of the swamp everywhere that the sun touched. But that life was not a vibrant life. To Nilya, it felt that everything started to decay as soon as it came out of the swamp.

Everything wilted. The willow trees sagged, their leaves sweeping the marsh. The reeds were weighed down mud and wet. The people slouched, their heads drooped as if their very souls were weighed down.

Life in Fuha was a struggle to a bitter end.

On this mountain top, the tall, stiff grasses and the crooked trees with their dense clumps of needle leaves grew out of nothing, exposed to the wind and the elements, but they grew upwards toward the sun.

In these plants Nilya saw the struggle for life, but it was a different kind of fight.

After his awakening, Nilya felt a power surge within him, one which the guru-chi described as the energy of creation. He was an Exalted, a human whose existence was attuned with this energy, which granted him the power to affect the world.

Upon taking Nilya in as his oji, the guru-chi put him through three weeks of gruelling training. Nilya learned about a world far grander and larger than the tiny village which he had been born in. He felt like he had been wearing a hood over his face for his whole life that was slowly suffocating him, and now that hood had been lifted off.

He felt truly alive.

The guru-chi which he had originally been terrified of was now his greatest benefactor. He didn’t fully understand what his ‘destiny’ was, that the guru-chi kept referring to, but he embraced each challenge as a way to grow stronger and break out of the dreary life that he had been born into.

As he climbed down the mountain side he kept his mind focused on his task of finding a hollow ember. His first goal was to make it down to one of the nests on the side of the cliffs. He had seen several nests from his vantage point above, but they were far, far below him. He could see no way to reach them from where he was, so he came to the simple conclusion of descending the mountain and seeing where it took him.

Thus he followed the natural curve of the land.

At one point he peered over the side of the cliff and found a nest just a few meters below the edge. It was formed from black, glossy crystals that grow outward in prisms, forming a rough bowl shape that was embedded into the cliff side.

Up to this point Nilya had not seen any hawks or other animals on his journey. Looking into the nest he saw that it had long been abandoned, with tough grass and small lavender flowers growing out of the dirt that had become trapped in the crevices between the crystals.

With a bit of care Nilya was able to climb down and have a closer look.

The center of the nest formed a rough bowl, the black crystals were scratched up and dirty, their inner structures clouded with age. Even so, the crystal bed felt solid and strong, Nilya even jumped a few times to test the stability of the nest, and didn’t feel that it was in any danger of cracking or breaking.

Now that he had descended into the nest he realized two important things right away. The first was, the part of the nest that stuck out of the cliff was actually just the entrance to the nest. A large hole leading into the cliff side greeted him, the edges of the tunnel formed from the same black crystal.

He had the urge to explore within the nest, to see how far it went, but hesitated due to the second important fact. Based on the size of the nest and the hole, Nilya felt that the creature that lived in this nest must be larger than a grown adult. He ran his hand on the crystal wall at the entrance to the den, tracing a sharp set of gouges that had streaked through the rock.

These had been cut by talons thicker than his arm.

A shiver ran through his spine as he swallowed deeply and entered the den.

Not too long after he emerged, his eyes clear and determined. The den itself was not that deep, and at the bottom of it was a rounded out hollow where there were several imprints in the crystal that looked like they could have once held eggs. As expected, the long-abandoned den was empty, however this short detour was greatly helpful to Nilya. From the words of the stone bird guide and that of the guru-chi, he surmised that he simply needed to find an unabandoned nest, sneak in and grab something that looked like an ember.

After climbing back up to the plateau he continued following it down the mountain at a faster pace.

Finally, he arrived at the first man-made structure on the mountain.

“Stay close to the cliffs until I find the broken stairs… Then I can climb down…” Nilya muttered to himself, repeating the words of the guide.

The staircase was chiseled into the side of the rocks, with the rough cliff wall on the left and a sheer drop on the right. The steps were small and narrow as if made for a child like himself, descending down one hundred meters before turning around the corner out of sight. Somewhere in the distance the cry of a bird of prey pierced the night.

~

From her sanctuary in the physical world, Yuzu took a peak at the future through Nilya’s thread.

Because she was looking at his future through her connection to his thread in the physical world, she was only able to see directly around Nilya. However this was enough for her to peak around the corner where the staircase wrapped around the cliffs.

A concave cliffside blossomed in her vision, spreading out in a broad curve. High above, the edges of the misty forest could be seen, concealing the top portion of mountain.

Carved into the sweeping cliff side were the ruins of an ancient monastery, with sweeping staircases that traveled up the polished stone walls, with circular balconies with intricately carved stone fences. The monastery did not take up the entire mountainside but rather seemed to snake in and out of the stone, carved to be a natural part of the rock rather than a structure built on top of it.

The monastery was not in good condition. The stairs had largely crumbled and entire sections were missing. The balconies had fallen apart, with only a few pieces remaining. The polished exterior walls were marred by huge cracks. It was clear that no one lived or used the monastery anymore, but enough remained to ignite the imagination to see what it used to be.

Yuzu had to pause a moment to take it all in, her breath held in awe at the sight.

There was something hallowed about this place, even in its devastation.

Taking her eyes away from the man-made structures, Yuzu saw a small number of black crystal nests around the cliff, and the movement of occupants with them.

These were the grand basalt hawks which the guide had warned about. They were large birds of prey, with three meter wingspans and feathers which had the appearance of rough black stone that shone dully in the starlight. Casting her awareness across the area, Yuzu caught sight of two hawks gliding around while hunting, and another three sitting on the cliffs, their eyes keenly searching for the movement of prey.

As Nilya descended down the staircase, not yet aware of the striking scene around the corner, Yuzu saw several golden threads materialize in her vision of Nilya’s future, wrapping around his string. Yuzu had a bad feeling as she held her hand out, examining the threads.

The harsh sound of screeching echoed down the threads as the hawks on the cliffs took notice of Nilya.

Standing on the narrow, exposed staircase, Nilya was in full view of the hawks as they took off from their perches and swooped down to attack.