Threads 157 Past 3

Together, they descended into the unnatural darkness of the stairwell.

Together, they found more confounding effects. There were places where the space of the stairwell warped, turning back on itself in a recursive loop. There were other places where the fabric of this space thinned, threatening to drop intruders into bubbles of corrosive not-reality or spill the stuff into the ring itself. And yet other places sang softly in their minds, showing visions of riches and secrets uncounted.

Between her instinct and Meng Dan’s sight, they traversed safely. Illusions were revealed as the pale shadows they were. Ling Qi found the thread of a path that snaked through recursive space, and Meng Dan’s fluttering paper talismans sealed the planned rifts that sought to spill corroding dreamstuff into the ring’s internals.

During the descent, the four of them did not speak overmuch, their focus squarely placed on traversing the stairs, but when at last they reached the foot of the stairs, the silence was broken.

Sixiang whistled long and low at the glittering hoard before them.

Despite herself, Ling Qi felt her eyes widen as she beheld it all. Piled almost waist-high through a space some forty meters across were treasures. Jewelry, gemstones, statuary, paintings, and tapestries and other treasures were strewn haphazardly across the stone floor, as if they had been thrown carelessly into a pile with great haste.

But like above, the most prevalent thing down here was books. Shelves of polished wood, still gleaming and near reflective, stood crookedly throughout the chamber, filled with books, and other books lay on the ground or rested haphazardly on piles of goods.

She didn’t think it was an illusion this time. She glanced at Meng Dan and saw his eyes were narrowed, strings of shining qi crawling across the lenses of his glasses. Carefully, she sent her wisps bobbing out, not touching any of the treasures within as they began to search the piles.

“What do you think? The real thing?”

“It seems so,” he said slowly. “We must be careful though. I sense great instability in this space. I would not step on the tile in front of you.”

Ling Qi paused and traced her eyes over the painfully rich contents of the ring, feeling the flows of the dreamstuff that made up the structure itself. The weave of it was thin here like a technique half-dispelled. Carefully, she stretched her foot out and pressed it against the stone tile just in front of them. Rock dissolved under the slight pressure, falling away into a hole that led to a kaleidoscope of shifting formless color.

“Very unstable,” she agreed.

One of her wisps passed over a gaping rent into the floor, and she watched as a jeweled hairpin teetering on the crumbling edge fell, dissolving like mist in the sea of dream.

“Our entry into this space has sped up the rate of corrosion,” Yinhui said calmly, peering out from behind Meng Dan. Both of her hands were clasped around one of his.

Sixiang’s lips were pressed together in a thin line. “It’s too much to stabilize, but I can probably give you guys more time. Gonna be tuckered out after holding it together though.”

Ling Qi nodded sharply. “Do it. Meng Dan, do you think the upper part of the ring is going to crumble too? Is this another trap or just age?”

“I suspect both given previous obstacles. A ring of this calibre should not be breaking down after a mere few centuries. The security functions have broken though. How shoddy,” he criticized. “Yinhui?”

“Overall integrity should remain for one year and thirty seven days,” the small spirit replied.

“Long enough then. It is a good thing that we have cleared the stairwell’s defenses. I suggest we begin moving as much of the treasures as we are able,” Meng Dan said. “Have your scouts noted anything of particular value, Miss Ling?”

Ling Qi’s vision flickered through multiple viewpoints at once. “Yes, there is…”

Ling Qi trailed off as she saw a great tapestry as long and thick as the trunk of a tree, vibrant with qi. On the floor near the tapestry was a small chest, slips of white jade glittering within. All around it were shelves holding thick volumes. One title in particular caught her eye. It was A Complete Genealogy and Accounting of the House of Tsu.

“I believe I see some very valuable books along the right wall,” Ling Qi said faintly.

“How valuable?” Meng Dan asked, raising an eyebrow as he considered the shelves already before them with a hungry gleam in his eyes.

“How valuable would you rate a completed genealogy of the Weilu?” Ling Qi asked.

Beside her, Meng Dan stilled. He didn’t blink, or adjust his glasses, or even draw another breath for a long moment. Then the moment broke, and the perpetually smiling young man licked his lips nervously. “We should hurry, I think.”

“We should,” Ling Qi agreed.

“On it.” Sixiang’s laughed, their physical form dispersed into a cloud of glittering mist, and the chamber groaned as stone settled, solidified, and became more real.

Ling Qi sprang off, following the curve of the left wall. Even with her mobility limited, she could still move quickly, her feet barely touching stone as she scanned the floor for weak points. Behind her, Meng Dan followed, Yinhui clinging to the back of his robe. His movement technique was interesting. She saw characters and numbers in the shadows and wind around him, flickering with silver, and then he would take a step and simply move, crossing meters of distance in a blur.

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He followed after her in a zigzagging path that wove through the weakened parts of the floor, never seeming to do more than take individual small steps. Yet she could feel the wind parting around him as he moved, so it wasn’t like her own quick shadow stepping.

It only took a matter of moments to circle the room to where she had seen the books and the oversized tapestry, and all the while, her wisps zoomed over the room, noting things that looked of special value.

“Miss Ling,” Meng Dan said as she alighted beside the shelf. “Do I have your permission to access your divinatory constructs?”

“Is that something you can do?” Ling Qi asked.