Threads 31-Adventures 2

“Incredible,” Xuan Shi breathed, stepping across the threshold from cloud to stone.

Ling Qi was not sure she would go that far, but it was pretty impressive. Inside the doors was a long pillared hall like a grand temple with a thick red carpet leading up its center. The only light in the room came from the pale glow of shimmering walls of elemental qi that blocked access to the rear of the room. There were eight of the things, and though each one was partially translucent, together, they worked to block her sight and other senses from examining the rear of the room. All she could see was the blurry silhouette of a large, vaguely humanoid shape.

She frowned as she followed Xuan Shi in, examining the area for a way forward. The barriers stretched from pillar to pillar, and access to the “halls” on either side was blocked by iron gates that stretched to the ceiling. While she didn’t care for her chances of going through the crackling wall of semi-solid that made up the first barrier, it seemed like the iron gates might be relatively easy for her to bypass. Of course, that itself might be a trap.

“What do you think?” Ling Qi asked.

<Oh! We could come out and knock the pillars over!> Zhengui answered excitedly.

<You’d knock the whole building down, you doof,> Hanyi responded, giving the impression of rolling her eyes with naught but her tone.

“Reality and script have merged here. Without doubt, we stand within the sealed temple, the final hurdle of the Temple of Storms,” Xuan Shi mused aloud.

“What?” Sixiang asked, sounding amused.

“What?” Ling Qi asked in a rather less enthused tone.

Xuan Shi glanced over at her and tugged his hat down, further shading his eyes. “The author’s words described such a place in his first novel.”

Well, if she took the assumption that the author or a dedicated reader had built this place, she supposed that wasn’t too strange. “What happened in the book then?” Ling Qi asked.

Xuan Shi paused, as if deliberating on something. “This one will keep explanations short. The hero sought a sealed ship within a temple such as this. He reached this place together with the Storm Sorceress Hotene, who intended to take the ship for herself, but in the end, the trials brought them together, and they left the isle together on the ship.”

<Well, obviously,> Hanyi huffed. <Who would just take a dumb boat when you could take the guy too?>

Leaving Hanyi’s comment aside, Ling Qi raised an eyebrow. “What did they face though?”

Xuan Shi considered her question. “This one does not expect the exact details to match. The words were written for the benefit of those who had not yet drunk from the well of the world, as we have. With talents such as ours, the trials of trust and betrayal which they faced would be all too easy to bypass. However, the statue will likely still bring battle upon us.”

Ling Qi squinted at the shadowy figure hidden behind the barriers. “Fair enough. Want me to scout out the ‘trials’ then?”

“It would be appreciated,” he replied, dipping his head. “Allow this one to study the function of the barriers and if they might be pierced.”

Ling Qi nodded. That seemed like a plan. She left Xuan Shi to contemplate the scintillating wall of lightning and headed to the left side of the room to examine the iron gate there. On her way, she paused near the pillar, and after a moment’s thought, she let darkness flow through her channels.

That done, she carefully reached a finger into the stone pillar and recoiled at the sharp shock. Ling Qi clicked her tongue. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.

<Hah. Guess the creator wasn’t a fan of that kind of boring solution, huh?> Sixiang asked, still amused.

<We could just knock down one pillar,> Zhengui grumbled sullenly.

Ling Qi just shook her head in amusement at the byplay. Reaching the gate, she closed her eyes and breathed out, letting the misty, malleable qi of water and moon well up behind her eyes. A moment later, she opened them, and three little bobbing white lights shimmered into existence and slipped through the bars of the gate.

The narrow stone hallway that she found beyond was unlit and unmarked by any decor. Studying its walls, Ling Qi tried first slipping an eye through the outer wall, and for a moment, Ling Qi glimpsed the open blue sky before a nauseous wrenching sensation made her vision swim and the point of view blink out as if she had suddenly moved it out of range.

She supposed this must be a sealed space then. With that in mind, she sent the other two lights bobbing along to examine the rest of the hallway. Sure enough, the walls were covered in arrays, too dense and layered for her to do more than guess at their functions. Letting her eyes gleam silver with the increased flow of qi, Ling Qi saw barriers, illusions, paralysis and more lining the unassuming stone walls in a dense web. She could also see, standing out from the rest, arrays that joined the traps here to the hallway on the right side.

Ling Qi frowned and let the lights blink out, just as an array activated, threads of qi spearing out to shred the fading remains of her wisps. A check on the right side of the room turned up much the same, an interlinked trap-lined hall that Ling Qi was not totally confident that she could bypass.

With her task done, she returned to the middle of the hall where Xuan Shi stood, still as stone, examining the barrier. “The halls look like a slog, even if they’re the intended path,” she said bluntly. “We can probably get through between the two of us, but… any luck for you?”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Perhaps. This one will require your assistance, however,” Xuan Shi said, seeming faintly disappointed. His staff disappeared with a faint ring, and in its place, a pair of iron rods, more like batons really, appeared with inscribed leather wrapping their handles. Their tips narrowed to blunt points.

Ling Qi looked at the one which he handed her, examining the few visible markings. It was a pretty masterfully made talisman. Some kind of anti-lightning effect? “And what do I do with this?”

“Place the tips together,” Xuan Shi said sedately, holding his own baton out. “Keep it so, and then press it to the barrier.”

Curious, Ling Qi did so, following along in unison as he thrust the metal into the wall of lightning. It hissed, sparked, and snarled around the intruding material, but no shock reached her fingers.

“And now, apart.” Xuan Shi drew his to one side, and Ling Qi pulled hers the opposite way.

The barrier parted like a curtain, sparking ragged edges snapping out little arcs of electricity across the gap that they had made, but it remained open all the same. She shared a look with Xuan Shi, and then as one, they stepped through, turning as they did to maintain the batons’ positions until they were through and the barrier could snap shut behind them.

“That’s one,” Ling Qi said brightly. “You made this for Ji Rong, I am guessing,” she said, handing the talisman back.