[Tian] 1:15 (Patreon)

WE FIND THE WEBSMITH

The Websmith. Who is the Websmith? Apparently she is one of the four guardians of Utana. She protects the Desolate Caverns— the closest domain to the Flourishing Flatlands.

That simply means that we do not have to travel a great distance to meet her. She is the only one who has not faced Galgom in battle. That is because she does not rule over a society of people. Her domain is entirely composed of monsters.

When I first heard about this a day ago, I was dubious. “Are your monsters not mindless?” I remember asking Kalmat.

“In a sense, yes. They are more instinctually driven than animals. They crave Lifeblood just as we do— but they crave our blood too.”

That is a mighty fine distinction. Especially compared to the blurry line between Sacred Beasts and people. Sacred Beasts cannot be summed up in such a general way, because each one of them are unique. They can exhibit a keen intelligence— such as Iluh— or they can be utterly wild.

But is that not the same as people?

I shake my head, letting out a wry laugh as a face I have not seen in decades flashes in my head. “Lihua…” I murmur the name.

“Did you say something, Tian?” a voice breaks me out from my thoughts. I look over at Seiled as he peers up at me on my chair.

I am seated at the main hall of the Keepers of the Grove’s hideout. There is not really enough time for me to train my Aura, since we will be leaving soon. I can hear Beihal bellow something down the corridor as he orders people around. Keshiy is meekly following behind Kalmat, who is giving a talk to a group of younger men and women.

Everyone is busy— except for Nindran, who is across from me downing a mug of some kind of alcohol. And Seiled too, asking me this question.

“I was merely recalling a memory,” I reply simply.

“About Jhisie?” He brightens.

“Yes, about my world.” Shaking my head, I push a hand down on the table and get to my feet. The single leg propping up the wooden top is not stable— it tilts off balance, spilling Nindran’s drink. She scowls my way as I grin slightly. “Are we not in a hurry to leave? When are we departing?”

“Soon,” Seiled says, chipper as ever. “We’ll just have to make the final preparations, then we can go.”

“Y’all are making it sound like we’re leaving forever,” Nindran snorts, wiping her face. “We’ll just be grabbin’ the Websmith. No biggie.”

“You do not think entering an expansive cavern full of monsters would be problematic?” I raise a brow.

“Pshhh.” She waves a hand off. Pulling out her mark, she displays her single level with glee. “I took out an Esh all by myself—”

“Actually, you had help from Tian—”

Ignoring Seiled’s comment, she continues with a cocky grin. “I dare any monster that thinks it’s strong enough to challenge me. Because I am Nindran the Esh slayer! The unstoppable! The indomitable—”

***

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Nindran screams, flailing her hands in the air as the swarm of bat-like creatures encroach on her. “Get them off! Get them off!”

“If you stop running around—” Beihal growls, his lightshooter trailed in her direction uncertainly. He does not fire. The azure-haired woman is moving too erratically for him to fire without risking her life.

Instead, Keshiy steps in, her right hand held out supported by her left. “Stand still, Nindran!”

Sparks of cinder begin to form in a sphere around Nindran. She immediately halts all movement, arms raised like she is surrendering, before a storm of flames surrounds her. It engulfs the monsters as their terrifying screeches fill the air in a chitter.

The Lifeblood gathered around Keshiy’s hand depletes. The fire dissipates, unfurling like a curtain to reveal Nindran standing frozen, but unscathed. She laughs nervously.

“Whew, for a moment there I thought you were going to burn me to a crisp.”

Keshiy rolls her eyes, before her lips curl up.

We are now far from Thornthistle, leaving the city behind for the Desolate Caverns. There is a road we had to follow for a while, until it came to a dense forest of dark trees. Not like the vibrant kwyer trunks I have previously seen.

And it is under this thick canopy— within the foliage that grows ravenously, hungering for every bit of space— did we run into our first monsters.

“Winged roaches.” I glance over at the voice that spoke out. “I am surprised you didn’t help her out,” Kalmat says, giving me an amused look. “I assumed you got along with her better than anyone else in the Keepers.”

“Well, I am surprised you did nothing to aid your ally.” I shrug as I watch Nindran hug Keshiy gratefully. “I knew someone else would come to her rescue. And I would prefer to preserve my Qi.” Pausing, I tap a finger on my chin. “Plus, I found it rather entertaining.”

“No matter.” He looks up at a small opening— a crack in the leaves that reveals the sky. “Encountering another swarm like that will be the least of our worries if we don’t reach the Desolate Caverns when true night arrives.”

“Is true night falling soon?”

“Not very,” he answers. “First, false night will have to fall, after which Rubrum will rise just as Caerulum sets. There will be two weeks of false day. Then all will be dark. The most ferocious of the monsters will come out of their slumber. We do not want to be caught outside of a city when that happens.”

“And do you think we will not reach the Desolate Caverns before this happens?”

“Normally, I’d say yes, but—” Kalmat glances over at Nindran. She is now bickering with Keshiy. The affection from earlier suddenly gone. What even happened? The azure-haired woman probably teased the other girl again. He sighs. “We’ll have to see.”

I nod in agreement.

Our group heading for the Desolate Caverns is not a large one. Only a handful of members from the Keepers headed out to find the Websmith. I recognize most of them. They are the usual, more prominent— as in, stronger Elementalists— whom I know.

Kalmat, of course, leads us. Beihal and Seiled are an inseparable pair. Nindran is quite the skilled fighter, even if she is too carefree at times. Keshiy, while timid, has proven many times again that she can hold her own in battle. There are a handful of others— about a dozen of us in total— taking on this journey. I vaguely know the rest. One of them, Herder, is apparently a fast runner. He acts as our scout, leading the way, paving a path through this untamed nature.

Nelrel, the one I have previously associated as the healer of the Keepers, did not come with us; she was left in charge of the den, to protect Thornthistle in case the Esh and the En returned. Instead, another healer by the name of Hashi is with us. He looks young and inexperienced, judging by the way he jolts from every sudden movement, but considering his role in our group it does not matter as long as he does his job.

The dark forest slowly thins out as we proceed with our journey. The trees grow sparser, revealing once more the odd blue sky above. Both the suns sit on the ether— creeping steadily towards the edge of the dome. Rubrum will set first. In less than a week’s time. But I can tell that Caerulum’s crawl is soon going to come to an end.

I wonder what true night is like; I have never experienced utter darkness in Jhisie. The Heavens would dim into night, but they will never lose their shine. If they do, that means that they are cut-off from the Middle Realm, and every Blossom and Florescence will lose access to the Essences. A similar situation to my current self. They will have to rely only on whatever pills, elixirs, or other consumables they own to access their full potential.

I am also intrigued by the monsters that inhabit Utana. The ones I have seen so far were no stronger than the lesser Spirits and Sacred Beasts of my world. Can some of them really amount to such a grave threat to Kalmat? As far as I can tell: the answer is no.

***

More time passes. The landscape changes once again. This time, we are no longer in the Flourishing Flatlands. “You can tell,” Kalmat explains, pointing at the sharp rocks jutting out of the ground, “by the way the earth turns barren. The ground turns darker, and the region grows more mountainous.”

A few holes of varying sizes litter the area. They look like spouts for geysers, but no fumes escape their lips. I hear a soft clicking coming from one of the holes, before a long, undulating creature burst out like a column of boiling water.

“Acid fleshworms!” Beihal calls out and raises his lightshooter. The gargantuan worm— rising up to the height of a three-story building— looms over us. It opens a mouth, revealing dozens of sharp teeth layering over each other, with green liquid spilling and spraying all over. It hisses at us as more of its kind at around half its height pop out of the ground, and I step forward.

“Conserve your strength.” Kalmat steps forward as Beihal fires a blast at the foremost and largest acid fleshworm. He draws his sword, and a glow overcomes it. His Aspect flares up around him, while the Lifeblood in the area begin to bloat up. “We can handle this. Elementalists, use fire to burn their acid and their skin!”

I watch as fireballs are hurled in the direction of the smaller acid fleshworms. They reel back from the barrage of attacks. One of them tries to lash out in desperation, but a wall of flames intercepts it. Keshiy sweeps her hand out, and the fire wall moves.

I raise an eyebrow, slightly impressed by her abilities. She did not even freeze up for a moment when the monsters suddenly appeared. And her magic is powerful. The flame pillar rises up to match the height of the tallest acid fleshworm. It incinerates the smaller ones as they screech their death throes. It blocks and burns the blobs of acid they spit out.

Five of them fall to Keshiy’s magic. The rest are barraged by an onslaught of flames from the other Elementalists. Kalmat and Beihal deal with the main acid fleshworm. I narrow my eyes as I notice Seiled press forward, blasting his lightshooter confidently at one of the monsters.

It reels back at first, before disappearing back into its hole. My eyes snap at a hole just behind of Seiled. I realize what is happening, and I call out. “Seiled!”

The boy reacts too slowly. The acid fleshworm emerges, already snapping its gaping maw down at him. I click my tongue, trying to reach for my Aura. Nothing happens, so instead, I raise a hand.

“Ray—”

“Ray of Esh.”

Another voice cuts me off. A beam of bright light slices the acid fleshworm in half. The blast continues on, shearing more of the acid fleshworms to the side until it dissipates. I glance over at Nindran. Her hand is held out, with a smirk spread across her face.

“Can’t let ya keep showing us up, now, can I?” She raises an arm to the sky as the Lifeblood surrounding her rapidly vanishes. “I’ve gotta show off once in a while too.” A hail of fire rains down from above. It burns the last of the acid fleshworms. Too many of them defeated, and with their leader finally slain by Kalmat and Beihal, they flee back into the earth.

Nindran casually walks my way, winking.

“So, whaddaya think? I’m pretty strong, aren’t I?”

I give her a flat stare. “I would be more impressed if I had not seen you running from those winged roaches just a week ago.”

She sputters. “Hey— they’re creepy and disgusting, alright? I’ve gotta protect my dignity as a woman from those gross things!”

Seiled stumbles over to us, panting in relief. “I thought I was a goner for sure.”

“And guess who saved you, squirt. It was me!”

He nods gratefully. “Thank you, Nindran. You really are amazing.”

She blinks. “Oh, uh, sure…?”

Seiled quickly whispers into my ear. “See, this is how you deal with her. You have to compliment her rather than indulge her. Come on, try it.”

I pause. Then I follow the boy’s lead. “Indeed. You were the most distinguished fighter in the battlefield today.”

Nindran’s cheeks burns red, in sharp contrast to her light blue hair. She buries her face in her hands, mumbling something. “T-thanks, I guess?”

I smile as Seiled laughs. She turns even more embarrassed, giving us a frantic look.

“What? What’s so funny?!”

Author's Note:

Will try to get all my owed chaps out by Sunday. However, Sunday is mother's, so I'm not sure if I'll get everything out thios week.