Chapter 286 - Old Dragons

In the previous era, thousands of years ago.

The Chamber of Divine Judgement was silent and dark. The sky above the open ceiling was devoid of stars, the mountains that formed this tiny pocket world were quiet and still.

This dormant, sleeping state was interrupted as a golden light blossomed in the darkness of the hall.

The aura of a goddess descended upon the chamber as a tall, slim figure with long black hair emerged from the light.

She was a divine beauty, with rich curves and supple skin. Her eyes were filled with warmth and wisdom. She wore long, flowing silk white robes lined with gold, and on her wrists were many intricately crafted golden bands. A magnificent pair of feathered wings extended outward from her shoulder blades. Dozens of golden rings hung from the feathers, ringing together softly in harmonious tones.

She hovered in the air gracefully, her long eyelashes fluttering gently as she cast her eyes on the demonic sculpture in the center of the room. Even lit by the heavenly glow coming from the woman the obsidian statue and the area under the runed platform it held up remained deep in shadow.

She held out her hand, accessing the single silver string that was wound tightly within the statue.

“Jun Yi Kong,” She announced her presence, hesitating slightly before saying in a solemn voice, “You were right.”

“Of course. The rise to godhood only amplifies the greed of men.” A deep, dark voice rumbled in the thread with a tone of familiarity, “And so, the fate you feared has come to pass?”

“Not yet, but it will. And so… I’ve decided I shall make my own preparations.” The goddess said. She closed her eyes with a conflicted expression, once again taking her time before saying, “Jun Yi Kong, I shall make a deal with you. In return for your assistance, I will grant you freedom from this prison, though it will take another era to pass.”

“I recall your ire and suspicion when you first set foot in my chamber.” The dark voice chuckled softly. “Yet now, here you are, looking to me for salvation. Just like that old man who left me here to rot. Oh, how deliciously the wheel of time spins its threads.”

“I have been trapped here for ten millenia, what’s another eon or two?” Jun Yi Kong said in a dark rumble, “Very well, tell me your offer.

“Akahi, Goddess of Fate.”

~

In the present time, Yuzu looked upon the chamber in quiet contemplation.

Golden strings reflected within her pupils as she took in the complex, multilayered sphere of threads that surrounded the chamber. In all of her experiences she had never been in a place where the tapestry of fate was so rich and dense.

The threads formed beautiful, complex shapes, spiralling and weaving together in patterns that were beyond Yuzu’s comprehension.

As Yuzu slowly cast her eyes around the space she noted that the tapestry in this hall did not bend and flow as it did in the real world. It was more rigid and structured, like wires carefully and meticulously arranged for some greater purpose that she could not yet fathom.

Though it was a breathtaking sight Yuzu didn’t get caught up in examining the tapestry. She wasn’t filled with awe or surprise or wonder.

The feeling most prevalent in her thoughts at the moment was caution, and the thread which she paid most critical attention to was her own white thread.

Only after carefully examining her surroundings for a while did Yuzu slowly allow herself to relax. The complex tapestry of fate did not seem to involve her nor respond to her presence. It was simply a part of this place that she had suddenly been pulled into.

Furthermore, as far as she could tell she was alone here in the chamber, but for one other presence. This Exalted presence was trapped within the obsidian statue of the monstrous man, tightly bound by the golden tapestry.

It was like she was looking at the most intricate, complex, multi-layered bird cage imaginable. Even without knowing anything about this chamber Yuzu could surmise that the arrangement of fate threads was designed to keep this entity sealed within.

Extending out from the center of the statue were hundreds of silver and golden threads. These threads were thin and lively, the threads of animals and beasts within the pocket space.

This confirmed Yuzu’s intuition, that the ruler of the pocket world was also the entity that was trapped within the statue. Furthermore, it was also the entity that pulled her into the chamber in the first place.

Ever since Yuzu had entered the space the silver thread was dormant and unresponsive, as if it were waiting for her to make a move. Even as she stood in the chamber not taking any actions she didn’t sense any changes in the future of the strings. As far as she could tell from reading her own thread, she could stand in the chamber for hours and the entity would not take any action.

Even more curiously, when Yuzu reached out her awareness to the entity’s silver thread, her spiritual intuition did not give her any warning, as if to tell her that the thread was safe to touch. This was in direct contrast to her interactions with Exalted such as the guru-chi or the Cloud Monastery’s Abbott or Li Ru, where her spiritual intuition gave extremely clear alarms to not touch their strings.

In other words, this entity has a way to counter my powers? Yuzu thought. And yet, it doesn’t seem to be attuned to Fate itself…

Fate Cycling offered little help to her. She tried several different actions, such as calling out, trying to leave the room or walking up to the obsidian statue, and each action was allowed to happen without interruption.

However there was no way Yuzu trusted that this would actually happen. Especially the action of walking up to the statue, only an idiot would walk under the shadow of the clearly ominous, evil-sealing platform.

The tapestry of fate offered no guidance to her. Nor did her powers of fate cycling or reading the future. The entity had clearly gone to great lengths to hide its intentions from her.

Then, let’s give this a try.

Yuzu’s eyes shone as she finally decided on her action, reaching out to the silver string with her hand.

The coiled string reacted to her powers, floating up to the edge of the inner ring outlined by the runed platform.

A deep rumble filled her surroundings as she touched the string with the tip of her finger.

The image of a black pit bloomed in her mind. Cramped and cold, its walls lined with stone that absorbed all light, sound, energy and warmth.

And deep! So incredibly deep that the top of the pit was only a pin hole high above, lit by the faintest of starlight.

Yuzu’s consciousness flew down the string into the bottom of the endless pit.

There she saw a man, sitting in lotus position with his head bowed. His entire body rippled with bulging muscles, as if he were sculpted by a master artist. He was naked, every inch of his body below his neck covered in complicated runic tattoos. The middle finger and thumb of each hand were pressed together with the other fingers outstretched, the palm of his left hand facing upward, the right hand held above it with its palm facing left.

He didn’t open his eyes, but she felt his attention as he became aware of her arrival.

His lips didn’t move but a dark, masculine voice spoke into her ears, “So, it was you who was guiding the boy… You are… younger… than I thought you would be. But for how clumsily you handle fate, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“You can sense fate?” Yuzu asked.

The voice snorted at the question, “Are youth so disrespectful in this era that they do not introduce themselves upon meeting a senior?”

“My name is Yuzu.” Yuzu said, then returned the question with intentional bluntness, “And you are?”

The voice did not reply, letting out a long rumbling exhale before chuckling softly, “You sounded so surprised, did you think your powers of Fate were so amazing? Everyone can sense fate, Little Yuzu. If they simply open their ears and listen. If they simply open their eyes and looked, they’d know.”

“As for an old dragon like me I can taste it, clear as day.” His tone slowly grew in irritation, ”Like beetlerat poison in tea, so subtle you could miss it, but if you know the taste you’ll never forget it. That insidious, deceitful, despicable bitterness of Fate.”

“How did you bring me into this place?” Yuzu was unfazed by the man’s harsh, vitriol-laden words.

“You came into my mountain, Little Yuzu.” He said darkly, continuing to use a diminutive title for Yuzu, “You messed with the lives of my creatures. It should be your duty to come in front of me and bow your head and apologize for meddling in my affairs. Or do I need to explain manners to you as well?”

“How did you bring me here?” Yuzu asked again.

“I initiated a calling, and you answered my summons.“ He replied with a superior tone, “And now that you’re in my domain, Little Yuzu… You’re not going anywhere.”