Chapter 66 - Rescue and little Fia

The groups are shocked by the actions of the little fireball come little bird that is now dancing on Jessica as if it has found the best thing in the world, Drakon rushes forward to intercept it but it disappears within Jessica.

"Are you ok ma'am? Did it do anything to you? Are you hurt at all?"

Jessica shakes her head as she touches her chest but she's unable to sense the little bird anymore, it reappears on her hand where she feels a strange bond with the little bird but she also vaguely feels that it contains a portion of Jacks qi giving her hope that he's down there.

The little bird absorbs some qi from Jessica before leaving her hand and dashing down the cliff face again, dancing on top of Jack's head and re-entering the orb like it needs to digest an enormous meal. Jack pats the orb within his pocket but nothing changes so he's still stuck within this opening on the cliff face.

The group standing by the top of the ledge get to work they now know where Jack is so the dwarves prepare to rescue him because Jessica asks, the squad of dwarves go back and return with many shorter people wearing smaller armour and a long cable, a rather primitive solution but it works.

They work as a team while Jack watches the lit-up cable descend slowly toward him but he wonders where this cable came from because he has never seen this sort of thing before, including the flare like object that is still hanging in the air.

Grabbing onto the cable as it comes by, he's securely hooked in as Xueli leaves his forehead and enters the tattoo again. The excuse was that she needed to restore some energy after Jack used the city lord weapon to deflect the lance earlier.

He's quickly dragged up the several kilometres, as the endless darkness below looks more and more distant the screams and screeches of creatures don't stop causing Jack to feel lucky that he didn't fall further.

They bring Jack up over the brightly lit cliff ledge as the many people standing around waiting come into view, the soldiers and races from Dragon – Phoenix Village and some strange people wearing armour that looks similar to the ones he just fought.

His bruised and battered body is revealing a tale of its own as he comes up over the ledge, Jessica rushes forward grasping Jack to tend to him, Mai is awkwardly hanging back as she looks at the various vines that litter the ground, Drakon is the first one to speak up

"All right everyone, pack up as we need to leave soon and give the Lord some privacy!"

The crowd of people gathered around to look at Jack file out but the dwarves stand out amongst the others, their hulking armour cause Jack to adopt a suspicious glint in his eye as he asks, "Are you the ones that rescued me? I thank you for your help, I am Jack Hunt, Lord of White Dragon - Phoenix Village and the land above, how may address you?"

The older dwarf Glomor steps forward, he's wearing a smaller suit of armour, "I am Glomor ur Thaiel, son of Thuriel and so on from the underground dwarven city of Dhurram. I'm sort of spokesman of this group stuck at our Ancestral Village, we have much to talk about"

The old dwarf's expression can't come through from the armour, but Jack can sense that the tone isn't unpleasant, so he's willing to speak with the unknown group before him.

Jack stops Jessica before standing up, his body is running on empty qi-wise, his muscles still ache from everything that has happened but he still stands up straight. "Yeah, could you explain what's going on? Why are your people here?"

"Ah that well people of your village had to seek refuge in our village due to 'evil dragon ticks', which I presume you met too. This is our Ancestral Mountain which contains our Ancestral Village, we would like to know how you got in here but first I have to ask," the old dwarf speaks through the armour.

"Did you see anything that looks like what we're wearing, our Guardians? Did something happen to the Sacred Mural and Tomb?"

The dwarf points to the mural across the chasm, Jack retells the story from when he entered this dome-shaped hollow area, vaguely describing a struggle with the 'Guardians' before describing that they fell down to the bottom motionless. The dwarves don't seem shocked by this upon hearing that they attacked Jack when they detected his qi type, some even seem apologetic and easily accepted that they suddenly stopped moving.

Jack's plan for the 'Guardians' is to study them in private, curiosity is getting the better of him regarding them and seeing if it's possible to learn anything from them will be far more beneficial than returning them and hope the dwarves, who seem to have reverence for the mural and everything about it, allow him access to it.

Various other dwarves have begun cleaning the damage on the mural across the chasm, so the less said about everything that happened through the now sealed door, the better. System information appeared before storing away the crystal labelled 'DSTC', suggesting that it's some sort of useable artifact and all it needs is to be unsealed.

Jack and the old dwarf, Glomor speak for some more time about his experiences with the 'Guardians' and down the cliff face, Jessica is applying medication to the various surface wounds that poke through the tattered robe listening in on the conversation, she's also curious about the little bird that came out of nowhere but Jack doesn't elaborate too much as the dwarves are still an unknown force, a friendly one but still unknown.

"Are you going to stay in this underground area or come out?" Jack asks the dwarf during a break in their conversation.

"We're still discussing it as a village but we'd like to come out, we heard a few things from your lovely miss Phoenix so perhaps we can offer an exchange as we're truly not a large force able to fight in battles at the frontline"

"Well, given that you have treated us well so far I'll hear you out, what sort of exchange?"

"We'll send up a team to join your village as a separate council, we'll assist you where we can we just require your help to break through to the portal home, that darn vine is blocking the way and too many dwarves have been sucked dry by it" the dwarf speaks.

Jack adopts a friendly smile, "I guess that's ok for now I'm also interested in the portal and your technology but we should talk properly somewhere else, if you will come to our village lets speak over there first"

The sounds of countless creatures from the abyss sound slightly louder, their scampering up the cliff face sounds agitated, breaking relaxed mood that has overcome the two sides. The dwarves speak between themselves before agreeing to send out a group and render help where they can; the dwarves are skilled in multiple areas but mostly metallurgy and crystal work. They'll be of help but as an outside force so Jack will need to work hard and bring them over to his side.

Of course they won't work for free, they'll be paid with whatever resources are fair but there was an emphasis on food which Jack laughed off as they all made their way up the tunnel. The dwarves hadn't explored this area of the tunnel recently; the tunnels led nowhere and were too delicate for anyone to touch then the ticks started invading giving them less reason to come out.

The kobolds will explore the rest of the tunnels if they can be talked into it. As a species, they seem innately scared of these tunnels as every single one of them will leave these tunnels instead of giving into their natural desire to explore underground areas. Jack thinks about creating a combination squad of the different races to explore the underground area but that's not important right now.

As the large congregation exits through the entrance dug by the kobolds the dwarves are inspecting the exit, the 'evil dragon ticks' don't seem to leave the differently coloured stone in this area, the dwarves are fascinated by the transition between the two rock types but they're even more fascinated by the outside as the group come across daylight, their lumbering figures on the power armour awkwardly stand in the way as the soldiers make their way by them.

"It's just a sunset guys!" some soldiers yell in a friendly manner.

The 5 dwarves in armour move but still stop to look at the sun as its setting so they're loaded into the carts to stop them getting in the way. Jack, Jessica and Mai have a quiet ride back while Glomor talks with Drakon, the old dwarf is feeling curious seeing the goblins and kobolds working as he observes while chatting.

"What is this little bird?" Jessica asks Jack, he pulls out the orb from his pocket and passes it to her. The little bird is dancing atop the orb but when Jessica touches it the orb breaks down into a ball of flame entering her body then imprinting a symbol above her dantian unseen to the two people.

The little bird doesn't stop dancing between them, Jack still feels a connection to the little bird and strangely to Jessica. An extremely faint and subtle pulse of Phoenix qi coming in sometimes, if it weren't for his extremely depleted state it'd be almost impossible to feel but, it is still flowing into his body with them riding the horse like this.

The little bird sometimes disappears into Jessica's body and exits via Jack and vice versa, it's like it can travel along the subtle link that is giving Jack the supply of Phoenix Qi but it acts almost entirely independently unwilling to listen to either of their commands. Jack needs time to investigate what's going on with the little bird, it seems linked to much more than just another attack method.

Mai is quiet and not pestering Jack for some blood but when Jack holds out his thumb, she still nibbles on it causing him to feel relieved at her quiet behaviour compared to the usual boisterousness. Jack gives her head a rub, causing her to lean back into his chest and close her eyes.

The ride doesn't last very long as the village comes into view, much progress has been made in a single day, it seems like all the work on the city walls is paying off in their building skills as there's lots of new housing built, some temporary and some prominent increasing the physical presence of the village by over 3x, there's now over 10 roads giving it a vivacious feeling no one looks disgruntled as they welcome the procession of soldiers back.

Countless people stare at the dwarves, the dwarves stare back, but they're looking at the food being passed around for dinner time.

"You guys help yourself, Drakon I'll leave this to you" Jack speaks to the dwarves who are crowding around Drakon on the lead cart.

Drakon smiles while sighing, letting Jack leave for his tent with Jessica and Mai where they instantly flop down on the bed. The little bird is dancing around while Xueli sits on the bed and watches it, it's incredibly hyperactive like it wants to show off. Mai has almost instantly fallen asleep after curling up under the blanket while Jessica watches the little bird.

"What shall we call you? You're little and made of fire, you're white but have a pretty tail umm, little Xue what do you think?"

'I don't know, do you even know if it's a boy or girl?'

"I'm sure it's a girl so umm... maybe Fia?"

Jack leaves the girls to their own devices while he prepares another medicinal bath, he was incredibly lucky to avoid any direct hits during that intense fight but Xueli described them as weak so perhaps he's just fortunate that they were weakened somehow prior to the fight.

The various herbs are placed within the water after he dunks his body in, where his body is instantly assaulted by itchiness while the energy slowly seeps into his body, it'll take all night at this rate to absorb all the contents of the herbs replacing the qi used up during the battle.

His forehead stars still contain enormous amounts of Dragon Qi, Phoenix Qi and Demonic Qi but using those stores isn't actually training his body thus forcing him to concentrate on using only the qi floating around his dantian and through his veins.

Several minutes pass by as Jack gets frustrated at the itchiness all over his skin, peering up from the bathtub he can see Mai is sleeping on the bed while Jessica quietly plays with the little bird, letting out a sigh Jack feels tempted to log off and skip this itchy process.

His finger hovers over the log off button but a strange sense of foreboding comes over him as though if he chooses to log off now, there's a prime chance he won't be coming back sending a shiver up his spine stopping him from doing so.

'Tom and John won't mind it if I come back a little later, this is just training for my mind' he inwardly convinces himself.

Within the real world, Tom suddenly sneezes, he's on a large private military plane going somewhere as he's overlooking some sheets of paper with a serious but confused expression.

"So, you're saying that the experiments started working just after we lost signal from deep space?"

"That's right Cyclops whatever, your value is increasing to the organization because of that and they have recalled you to the European headquarters to assist them with setting up the next stage of the experimentation"

"There's no point in my attendance, they have all my documentation and know that I'm tracking an increased energy signature over my assigned area, those old guys are just panicking because if our experiments work that they always labelled a waste of time, the ones that believed in the 'heavenly energies' and invested in it will be much further along"

"I am just an escort officer, please take it up with your senior handler if you wish to discuss this with them"

Tom stops talking to this person and turns toward the window. Nothing has changed yet the people that are aware know things are transforming behind the scenes.

Time passes by Jessica spends the time asking Xueli many questions about the little bird but she's not able to answer most of them, the little bird at times will appear on Jessica then disappear inside her and come out on top of Jack floating within the medicinal bath before travelling back. A delightful contrast to the always sleeping phoenix chick around Jessica's neck.

Jack spends all night in the bathtub only absorbing around half of all the efficacies as his mind is going crazy from the itchiness, he wishes to scratch off several layers of skin to resolve the problem. Jessica and Mai are curled up together while the little bird doesn't stop with its hyper activity going between the two.

Jack has split his focus on feeling how the little bird is travelling along that thread of subtle pulsing phoenix qi and inspecting the now entirely motionless statues appearing over the little land within his mind. They're both stuck in the exact pose they were when Jack stored them; the one with a damaged face is mid strike while the one in pieces is mid twitch.

He's just visually observing the statues as his formless appearance can travel all over the tiny piece of land and inspect every nook and cranny. Luckily the piece of land isn't absorbing the energies from the 'Guardians' which confuses Jack but he's not complaining about that.

The dawn sun rises from the horizon causing Mai to wake up, she rubs her eyes while ignoring the little bird that is dancing around and walks over to Jack in the tub who is aimlessly floating face up at the moment, breaking his cultivation for a moment he looks at Mai who's body is subtlety glowing.

"Big brother... Umm... I'm sorry I couldn't help you more yesterday"

"Mai, it doesn't matter if you help or not, I'm just glad you are safe as even I got worried upon hearing what happened to you, I promised Leah to look after you and as your big brother, it'll pain me to hear about you getting hurt"

"It's not that... I saw you falling down and had to help you but something was fighting me and it overpowered me, I'm sorry I'm not strong enough yet"

"You're still growing, you'll get stronger and help me in many ways in the future so don't worry about it now and just do what you can"

"Un, I'll grow up stronger and help you lots in the future so..."

"So...?"

"18 cups of blood please"

Jack chokes on his spit, they were having a serious conversation and she asks for something impossible.

"Let's swap, a drop of your blood for some of mine" Jack holds out his hand, Mai stabs it with her needles and starts sucking it while her body glows stronger and stronger, Jack can feel her sucking the blood from his body but he's used to it.

After 30 seconds, Jack has lost some blood while Mai pricks her finger dropping a single drop of glowing green blood and running off to absorb the morning rays as her usual wherever she does it while Jack can feel the energies within the tub roil about.

Jack switches from the slow cultivation method of the Myriad arts to the one Xueli taught him, his body boils as the Dragon Qi enters his body quickly but strangely the thread of Phoenix Qi responds in kind as it flows through that chain, Jessica tosses in the bed as Jack is absorbing the energy it only takes a minute for the energies to disappear and Jack to burst out of the tub.

Jessica wakes up and blankly looks around the room while yawning but when her eyes see Jack who has burst out of the tub, her hearts throbs while her mind feels lighter, like all those thoughts that were invading her mind have been pushed back and the only thing that's true is her feelings toward Jack.

She helps Jack get dressed as they speak, "I think we can call the little bird 'Fia', it seems to like both of us".

Jack agrees with the name as he has no opinion on it and gets ready for the day, hopefully nothing will happen today but as he's leaving the tent one of the guards stops him and hands him a report.

"Sir, General Laoshe instructed us to hand this report to you upon leaving the tent this morning"

Jack furrows his brows as he reads the letter, 'Goblin Wolf Riders caused an incident at the city wall overnight, they have delivered a letter for 'the Lord' with instructions to read it today. Tyson handled the incident but they hurt two guards, please see Hilda as soon as possible'