Chapter 17 - Boulder Entrance

A day ago, inside the Crater Woods.

"Darkness soon overtook the woods and we ended with a light debate whether to camp or to continue going. We were all trained to travel in the darkness of night, but only Ianme has tried doing it for real. I wanted to keep traveling so that we can finally experience it ourselves. Unfortunately, my friends all wanted to camp so that we could rest and prepare for another day of disarming traps. We decided to camp for eleven hours and take two hours of guard duty each. This would give each of us a total of eight hours of sleep. We camped without a campfire and ate dried fruits. When it's time to sleep everyone climbed to the branches of the giant dammara trees and used one of Eunshi's specialty—Woodland Blending, a complex voozutsu that gives us the ability to merge our body with a tree. While merged, our physical body becomes part of the tree and we do not need to eat, drink, or even breathe. The tree will sustain us.

I took the first watch and used a zhougeru that enhanced my senses. It would be useful for me to have highly sensitive senses on my watch because I wanted to catch up with the documentation of our journey so far. Fortunately, I completed the updates to the documentation before my two hours were up and the time was peaceful. Lynn was up to take over the watch duty before my two hours were over. She took out a cup, filled it with water and a small bag of tea.

"'You're up early,' I greeted Lynn as she approached my concealed position.

"'I haven't been sleeping well since we left the capital,' Lynn confessed with a slight smile. 'What we saw in the palace gardens shook me badly.'

"'I understand. I couldn't believe it myself,' I confessed in a calm whisper. She sat by my side and used a khayantor to warm the cup of tea. I handed her the pack of dried fruits that I was eating. 'Do you think it's enough to prove anything?' I asked. I took a sip from my tea that has gone almost too cold.

"'It's something that only people who had training with eizou and knew Izrik's family very well would be able to understand. That's why I don't think it's a coincidence,' Lynn replied.

"'I never knew her to be trained in using eizou,' I replied. I wanted to eliminate anything that pointed to the opposite. I wanted to deny what we saw in the palace gardens.

"'We wouldn't know for sure. However, I have never seen my own mother use any eizou, and yet she is the Scorpion Grandmaster,' Lynn said with her usual impish grin.

"'That is a good point. I have never seen granny use eizou either although she is the inheritor of the Phoenix Doctrines,' I agreed. I used the same khayantor to warm my own tea and took a sip. 'How is Aunt Lili, by the way?' I asked. I have never been to the Ancestral Lands of the Scorpion since Mingmai died. I remember going there with Mingmai and we'd spend the entire weekend at Lynn's house. Sometimes, her three older sisters would be there, and they'd play with us.

"'See? The point is that Shoira could be a powerful eizou-jin before she got married. Master Miramoto would not marry a weak girl. She then stopped using eizou in public so that she wouldn't overshadow her husband,' Lynn explained. I nodded in agreement.

"'So, it is true that she was having an affair with Azra? Izrik's oldest brother?' I asked. It was a dangerous question that leads to an even more dangerous possibility. It was Azra's actions that led to the fall of House Kojima.

"'Yes. They said that he betrayed the emperor, right? What if the real reason was that their affair was discovered, and he was framed up as the emperor's killer?' Lynn suggested.

"'If what you're saying is true, then it is possible that Shoira was also killed and did not commit suicide!' I replied. I knew that Lynn was about to point to the next clue in the gardens that made the story even more unimaginable.

"'And what makes it worse is that she was pregnant! And that was likely Azra's child too!' Lynn said in a voice that was slightly louder than a whisper.

"'Eunshi will hate us for talking about this without her,' I cautioned. I took another sip of my tea and thought about the evidence in the garden. The more I think about what we're seen in the garden, the more it makes sense that Shoira had an affair with Azra and she was pregnant. The gardens were lined with alternating flowers. Shoira's name was derived from a type of Purple Queen flowers while Azra's name was derived from a rare type of lily. These two flowers were planted alternating each other. Their colors blended very well. In the middle of the garden was a small circular area where carnations were planted. It normally represents motherhood, but this could not represent Shoira's mother because her favorite flower was the White Recluse.

"The evening went on without incident. We woke up before sunrise and had a brief breakfast of black tea and trail bread. Eunshi and Lynn talked about the same topic during breakfast in their minds as I listened to them. When we were done with breakfast, Eunshi used a minor eizou that removed any trace that we were even at that spot.

"We continued our travel inside the Crater Woods at the same slow pace. When Lynn no longer found traps along our path, we gradually increased our speed. Even with our increased movement rate, we still maintained our cautiousness. It was highly likely that the people who placed the traps along the path wanted us to drop our guard. Anyone would normally start to become careless when there are no more dangers along the way. Once they get too confident and careless, a series of traps would be waiting to catch them unaware. Fortunately, we were all trained to be extra cautious at a young age that it has become second nature to us.

"It was hard to think that a place as beautiful as the Crater Woods could be the headquarters of the abductors. A woodland paradise, headquarters to a syndicate that abducts the elderly for their own nefarious reasons. The woods made us feel like we were walking in paradise every moment that we were inside it. Minus the occasional deadly trap here and there, of course. Birds sang carefree tunes just above our heads, and a fawn stopped and watched us for a few minutes before it ran off on its merry way. We walked at the same pace until noon. Shortly after we had our lunch, I started to hear the sound of water bubbling up from underground. We were not far from the Crater Hills and the water-filled hole that gave birth to the Crater Woods.

"Without warning, my musings were interrupted by Ianme's sudden pause. 'If any of you can talk without words from lips, now is the best time to use that on me,' he whispered. He had a slightly worried look on his face. His right hand was on the ground as his left hand slowly moved under his cape until it was completely concealed from sight. Lynn turned to me and nodded slightly. I immediately understood that Lynn wanted me to use the Communion of the Mind on Ianme. It was a zhougeru that Lynn rarely uses because of the strain it can cause. Lynn is primarily a swordfighter who uses eizou to complement her fighting skills even though her fighting skills are already significant. The Communion of the Mind doesn't cause too much strain on people who focus more on eizou-related skills like me.

"I nodded back slightly at Lynn while I quickly moved my fingers to form the needed sigils to activate the Communion of the Mind between Ianme and me. 'What is it?' I asked him. Ianme looked more excited than worried when he turned to me. For a moment, I wondered if it was really necessary to use Communion of the Mind.

"'There are fresh marks on the forest floor,' Ianme started to say. He then paused and looked uneasy as he stared at the forest floor once more. He looked like he was riding on a horse for the first time. A mixture of excitement and uncertainty masked his face. I was sure that it was probably because of the Communion of the Mind. As far as I could tell, it was the first time that he had experienced it. Anika and Eunshi both experienced it when we were still kids and both of them have since learned how to use it themselves. Lynn, Mingmai, and I learned it at the same time and developed an advanced version so that we can always talk in our minds. 'I know our conversation is limited, so I will make this as brief as possible,' he continued. His face suddenly looked more serious when he faced me once more. 'The fresh mark on the floor doesn't look like any footprint that I know or have seen, but they have been made quite recently. Probably not later than during the time that we had our lunch,' Ianme said quickly.

"'What kind of tracks are you talking about?' I asked. I was staring at Lynn as I spoke into Ianme's mind so that Lynn could also hear his words in her mind, but she would not be able to speak to Ianme like she could to my mind. Her mind, in turn, relayed Ianme's words into Eunshi's mind.

"'It looks like an armored person fell on the ground. He then got up and hurried to that tree over there,' he explained while pointing at a giant dammara tree that is a few feet away from where we were. Lynn immediately moved behind the giant dammara tree closest to her and signaled Eunshi and Khyn to do the same.

"'Move for cover! Quickly!' I told Ianme in an urgent tone as I dashed behind the nearest giant dammara tree. Everyone was on high alert and immediately scanned the branches of the tall giant dammara trees around us. From where I stood behind a tree, I could only see Khyn. He had his daggers ready and was closely watching the top branches of the trees for any movement.

"I was about to activate a voozutsu that will reveal anyone within the area who had any ill intent towards our group, but a wooden dart with a metal tip flew towards me. I reflexively scampered for the full cover of the tree. Unfortunately, this interrupted the voozutsu, and I had to start all over again. Before I could finish activating the voozutsu once more, the sound of metal bouncing off another metal came from my left side. It is where is saw Lynn dash for cover earlier. I turned to Khyn, and I saw him throw one of his daggers at a target at the upper branches of the tree close to where he was hiding. I stared up to where he was looking but I could not see anyone there.

"'We need to move. They have the advantage as long as they're on the branches!' Lynn shouted out.

"'I agree. I can't even see where the attacks are coming from!' Eunshi replied.

"'Everyone! Run towards the hills! I will cover you!' Lynn declared.

"'Are you sure? Shouldn't I be the one doing that?' I asked directly into Lynn's mind.

"'You have the journal out and several active zhougeru that are weighing you down. Get yourself more prepared for battle as we run to the hills,' she replied back in a hurried voice. I can hear her unsheathe her kodachi as she spoke into my mind.

"Lynn had a valid point. My friends learned how to coordinate their moves and attacks—which made them a more tightly-knit fighting team as we grew older. My isolation from them made my development centered only on myself. I have no idea if my abilities, skills, or eizou would complement their abilities and cover their weaknesses. I quickly realized that because of the years that I have not had any practice with them, I became our group's weak point even though I grew a lot stronger than anyone of my age within my clan.

"Maybe even more powerful than they did. Grief is a powerful motivator, and I was not limited by routine or schedule. Unlike them, I no longer had any clan tasks or house duties since Mingmai died. All my time was devoted only to my training and learning.

"I waited for Ianme's signal and ran as fast as I could towards the hills while trying hard to maintain formation. My friends moved like a single unit, alternating between trees and covering each other's movement. I felt awkward and clumsy as I ran with them, but I still felt happy despite it. This was the first time that I was in a dangerous situation with my friends. Perhaps more importantly for my sentimental mind, it was the first time that I ran with my friends once more since Mingmai died. Forget the darts flying towards our backs as we ran, I really missed this badly. I missed running with my friends. I missed doing something as a part of a group once more.

"My entire body was so sensitive of every experience during each passing moment. I absorbed every sensation like a sponge. I could feel the forest floor through the leather-soled boots that I wore—the crunch of the dead leaves, the breaking of dried twigs, and the mighty roots that peeked above the loamy soil. The sound of the ancient giant dammara trees exploding into splinters and ramming into wood and metal soon filled the area where we once stood and broke the dreaminess of my flight as it overwhelmed my over-sensitized senses. Lynn was immediately behind us. The explosion was followed by the sound of two heavy objects hitting the branches and eventually, the ground. She had the same mischievous grin whenever she did something crazy when we were children.

"'No one's following us,' Lynn said to me as she passed by my position. She slowed down a little when she reached her initial position between Ianme and me.

"'I think you got all of them,' Ianme concluded. His face looked uneasy and tense, in full alert for any movement that would come from our front. 'Crater Hills is not too far away from here. I can already see where the trees have started to clear.'

"The center of the hills is where the meteor struck, and a small pond formed from the impact. Scholars say that there were at least two hills that were leveled because of the collision, and this created a small sandy clearing around the small pond where the trees do not grow. The elevation of the land prevented the underground river from creating a bigger body of water where the meteor hit.

"We moved faster towards the clearing to draw our attackers out. We wanted them to think that we were moving to a vulnerable position outside the cover of the trees. Our tactic was to make them think that they hold the advantage and move in for an attack. We may no longer be protected by the trees once we reach the clearing, but we will be able to see our attackers. Once we have our attackers within sight, we have the advantage of eizou users in our group. Eunshi has mastered the power of celestial eizou, Lynn combines planar eizou and her skillful use of the kodachi, while I have focused on mastering all the mysteries of planar eizou.

"When we reached the sandy clearing around the pond, we immediately changed our position. Ianme, Lynn, and Khyn formed a loose semi-circle in front of Eunshi and me. We all faced the woods and kept our senses alert for any movement and sound.

"I was about to disable the zhougeru that recorded our actions so that I can focus more on the offensive. Disabling the zhougeru would also prepare me in case I need to go on the defensive while maintaining offense. However, I decided not to disable it. I wanted to push myself more. I wanted to see myself reach my limit, my breaking point. I wanted to feel so tired and exhausted from running and walking and maintaining too many zhougeru at the same time. I even considered using several maztera for defense so that it would be more tiring for me. To begin with my experiment, I activated another zhougeru that further improved my sense of hearing. My sister and I had the most sensitive hearing in our group since we were kids. The zhougeru that I activated made it even more sensitive. I was able to hear even the flowing of the underground river below us, and movement within its waters. Probably fishes.

"'No one is following us,' I whispered so softly that I doubted anyone heard.

"'She's right. I think there was only one or two and Lynn got them both,' Ianme agreed.

"'So, did we trigger an alarm that alerted them to our presence?' Eunshi asked in a soft voice.

"'I doubt that we triggered anything. I think the traps that I disabled were freshly set by those who attacked us. They probably saw us enter the woods and hurried too much to set up the traps after we broke camp. Then one of them slipped from the top of the trees just as they were positioning themselves for an ambush,' Lynn suggested.

"'We avoided alerting the abductors,' I said confidently.

"'Yes. And judging from the traps and those who attacked us, they were preventing us or anyone from reaching the Crater Hills. It was like they were defending the Crater Hills. So, we need to investigate this place,' Ianme suggested.

"'The question is, what exactly is here?' I replied. No one answered my question, nor did I expect one. At that point, we all understood that we had to move fast and investigate the hills because time was against us. The twin suns would set earlier because the seasons approached winter. To make it worse, darkness will take over the land long before the suns set on Goruumshimi because of the dark gray clouds in the sky since morning. We were all trained to fight in absolute darkness, but our opponents had the advantage of knowing the terrain. And they likely prepared traps and other defensive devices that could easily make an evening battle turn against us. 'Switch positions,' I suggested immediately. 'Lynn and Ianme, look for tracks and any secret passages while Khyn, Eunshi, and I would look out for any attackers.'

"'And do it quickly,' Eunshi suggested. 'We don't want to run out of daylight in the middle of Crater Hills with these brigands around us,' she continued. She understood the importance of maintaining our advantage while the twin suns were still up. We all understood that very well.

"I felt a mass of cold air that suddenly grabbed both of my hands. It felt semi-solid and then it let my hands go. I was suddenly aware that my hands were shaking lightly. I knew that the shaking was not from fear. No. Fear had lost its place inside me a long time ago. I have lost any trace of fear long before we were trained to overcome our fears. No, it was not fear. It was something that I considered much, much worse than fear.

"My hands were shaking because I felt excited. The same excitement I felt as a kid when it was going to be our birthday when we wake up the next day. We felt too excited that we'd find it too hard to sleep in the evening.

"I felt excited to get into a battle, and I could not understand why. I wanted to release all the power that I have accumulated during my years of isolation. I felt excited to release all my planar energy down the throats of those responsible for abducting the helpless elderly. There was simmering anger that I knew would easily consume me if I do not hold it in check. I decided that I must hold it all back before the actual battle starts. I then imagined that the same coldness that touched my hands have whispered to me that a battle is near in a tone that sounded tempting and taunting.

"'Finally,' I heard my mind say to myself.

"There was a sharp feeling of the gladness of the coming battle that I suddenly felt ashamed of myself.

"No. It was not fear that worried me. The only thing that worried me at that point was anger.

"The three of us maintained watch over our perimeter while Lynn and Ianme searched. There were six hills to search for tracks or a secret passage. The hills were rocky. There were white and gray stones of different sizes—from huge boulders all the way to the size of the grains of sand. The sandy soil prevented the trees from growing there, but there were patches of grass on the ground. Some of the boulders looked like the one that we found inside the Crater Woods. Smooth, large, and rounded. They were very close to the pond, but no mosses were growing on the surface. Why was that boulder inside the woods alone? If it was from the impact of the meteor, then it should not be the only one that got thrown there.

"'No secret passages on this one too,' Lynn declared after she inspected the boulders and the perimeter of the second hill. She sounded disappointed.

"'How many toes does the naga have?' Ianme asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"'Five. Why?' Eunshi replied immediately. 'They're exactly like humans, Ianme. They just evolved from a reptilian ancestor,' she explained patiently.

"'So, which species had only three toes again?' Ianme asked. There was a puzzled look on his face.

"'Three toes? The shuul-ying?' Lynn asked. She looked surprised and amused at the same time. She probably thought that Ianme was just making fun of the group.

"'Yes, but they died out decades ago,' I added.

"'Or more accurately, killed off to extinction by the naga,' Eunshi clarified. 'And there is a lot of naga in the capital. And everywhere. You'd easily think they're human even without a disguise,' she commented with a frown.

"'I definitely would hunt them to extinction too if they regularly abducted children from my house then ate them for dinner,' Lynn said.

"'Or lunch,' Eunshi added with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"'Well, they can't be extinct if they're still making footprints,' Ianme said with an impish smile.

"'That cannot be. I wrote a paper on them. All of their cities and settlements are now occupied by humans, shuijii and naga,' Eunshi said as she turned to Ianme. Lynn approached Ianme to look at the tracks that he found.

"'That must be an old set of tracks then,' Khyn suggested.

"'Nope. No more than a few hours old,' Ianme said proudly. 'The tracks inside the woods looked like this one too. The one that rushed back to climb a tree,' he added.

"'And the tracks are coming from that boulder!' Lynn said in a worried tone of voice as she pointed at a smooth and rounded boulder. It looked similar in size and shape to the boulder inside the Crater Woods. It was even positioned the same way—standing upright and proud.

"'There must be a hidden door there to an underground cavern!' Khyn said as he turned to look at the boulder that Lynn was pointing at. Just as Khyn turned to look at the boulder, several reptilian humanoids came out of it. The side of the boulder that faced us seemed like an illusion that hid a passageway where the reptilian humanoids came from. They were wearing an unusual mix of armor. Some wore metal armor while some wore wooden armor; some had plate armor while some wore chainmail. The only thing that was common to the armors was that they all looked very old. They all had the symbol of a reptilian eye at the center of a black shield. The reptilian humanoids all carried long spears. They had a long straight-bladed sword and a javelin sheathed on their backs.

"They wasted no time to attack. As soon as they got out of the boulder, they immediately went into attack positions. It felt like they were studying our positions before they made the attack. They had the advantage of surprise and we were immediately forced into the defensive.

"Two of them attacked Ianme right away with their spears as soon as he was within their range. Ianme looked like he was in shock which was odd. He loved the arts just like the rest of the members of his clan, and he loved battle just as much. He skillfully dodged the attacks, but he hasn't even drawn his twin butterfly swords to counterattack. His left arm was concealed under his cape and was likely already holding one of his butterfly swords, but he still hasn't drawn either one of his swords to attack or to defend himself.

"'Ianme! Why aren't you fighting back?' Lynn shouted at him. She was hardly taken by surprise by her opponents. She was immediately in an offensive position after a momentary defense.

"'Their armor! They all look like they broke into the Museum of Ancient History in Heung and stole armors from five hundred years ago!' Ianme explained.

"'They were supposed to have been extinct five hundred years ago!' Khyn exclaimed as he rapidly threw daggers at the vital areas of the attackers as they emerged from the boulder.

"'They must be wearing armor that is more than five hundred years old! I might damage it if I attack them!' Ianme replied. He sounded conflicted with what he had to do. His love for art and relics has placed him in danger.

"'And so, the gallant Ianme falls dead trying to protect an armor that is older than his great grandfather. Dead before his illustrious career had even begun,' Eunshi said with a smile. She easily lured three of the attackers as she slowly stepped into an easily defensible position. One of her strengths is to look clumsy and weak while brandishing her large three-section staff. As soon as her three attackers started to move in for the attack, she quickly struck with her staff, alternating between a straight attack to the torso and a powerful downward strike to the head.

"'You're planning to turn our adventures into a book?' Ianme asked, surprised. 'Why would you even do that?' If his two opponents failed to make him worry, the idea of immortalizing our adventures into a book seemed to have perturbed him a lot.

"'Why not? The Omani Clan has a huge secret library that rivals the size of the Imperial Library. Members of my house have always been the leading writers of chronicled adventures in that library,' Eunshi said proudly as her third opponent fell to the sandy ground unconscious.

"'Rivals the size of the Imperial Library?' Lynn repeated in amusement. She was busy making a series of quick pirouettes that unbalanced her opponents, not knowing where to attack her. They never noticed that she had sliced their throats with each of her graceful twists and turns.

"'That is correct, Lynn. Bigger than the library at the palace,' Eunshi proudly said as she walked towards another group of opponents.

"Khyn shifted position and I activated a series of eizou that scattered acid on our attacker as they emerged from the boulder. I remembered how the shuul-ying hated acid.

"'Well, I suppose being in a book that can only be found inside a secret library is not so bad,' Ianme decided. He still refused to attack his opponents but masterfully dodged each of their attacks like he was merely toying with them.

"'Remember the Memoir Section of the library inside the palace?' Khyn asked. He then ran into a different position when the attackers stopped coming out of the boulder. 'Didn't you notice that most of the books there were written by members of the Omani Clan?' he continued. He then positioned himself in front of the woods where attackers have started to emerge.

"'Seal that exit, Mingmei. They're starting to come from the woods,' Lynn said to me as she positioned herself to defend against the attackers coming from inside the woods.

"'Do you think that boulder we found is also an entrance?' I asked. I immediately moved my left fingers to form the sigils that would allow me to summon Mass Elemental Backlash. Once I finished it, the boulder where the reptilian attackers came from collapsed; the exit was sealed. All the other boulders in the area that looked like the smooth boulder where the attackers were coming from also exploded at the same time. There was a thunderous explosion in the area that caught our attackers off guard. Unfortunately, even my friends were surprised at the extent of damage that I have dealt o the boulders in the area. Only Lynn recovered fast enough to take advantage of her opponent's surprise. 'I made sure that the other boulders will not be used as doorways to surprise us from our rear,' I explained with a faint smile. Three reptilian attackers that were on their way to charge at me with their spears suddenly changed direction and attacked Khyn and Lynn instead.

"'That's possible,' Lynn replied. 'Perhaps mosses don't grow on them because they are covered with an illusion to conceal the entrance. It's not really the surface of the boulder that we're seeing,' she added with a contemplative look.

"'Well, anyway, the memoirs are mostly written by members of my clan because, as I told you, our house is known for documenting adventures like this,' Eunshi said after she recovered from her initial surprise. 'Imagine, our exploits immortalized in prose and protected by the most powerful enchantments for future generations to read and enjoy!' Eunshi explained. She slipped her staff between the legs of another attacker and threw him off the ground. She then positioned herself to defend against attackers from the woods.

"'And you're going to call it what? The Eunshi Memoirs?' Ianme asked. He then drew his right butterfly sword to block the attacks from his opponents. He kept his left hand hidden under his cape. His opponents were the last ones that came from the collapsed boulder. He knew that he will quickly be overwhelmed when attackers from the woods reached his position.

"'Nope. I'll call it The Tofu Chronicles because your family makes the best tofu in the kingdom, Ianme. And we all love eating tofu! Woo-hoo!' Eunshi declared proudly and then cheered.

"'The Tofu Chronicles. I think that's a nice name. And Ianme's actions today will be immortalized in that book? Now, that's shameful. Dishonorable even!' Lynn exclaimed. She then twisted her face in utter disgust. Khyn started to laugh as he began throwing his daggers on the attackers that came from the woods.

"Ianme dug his heel deep into the sandy ground and parried the attack of his opponent with his right butterfly sword. The parry left Ianme's torso completely open with his left arm still hidden under his cape. His other opponent immediately took this opportunity to attack him with his spear. He immediately sprang forward with his spear into Ianme's undefended torso. Unknown to both his opponents, Ianme's fighting style makes specific parts of his body appear vulnerable to attack to make his opponents attack those specific parts. This tactic makes his opponents' movements predictable to Ianme and open to his counterattack. And his counterattacks are always deadly. As soon as his opponent went to attack his wide-open torso, he sidestepped slightly as the spear slipped harmlessly to his side, almost whistling as it rubbed against his leather jerkin. He then drew his hidden left butterfly sword and sliced the head off the shoulder of his attacker in one swift and fluid motion.

"'There's only one thought that comes to mind about this book that you're going to write,' Ianme said as he moved at the exact path of his remaining opponent's attack. He looked vulnerable to a quick upward thrust from his opponent's spear.

"'What is that?' Eunshi asked as two opponents surrounded her on opposite sides.