The Seal of the Martagdsan
Out of the void and the flickering of torchlight, a young man in his mid-twenties appears in view.
His clothing looks to be thousands of years antiquated, yet abnormally beautiful and relevant. His long obsidian hair is pulled back into a braid. Thick snow leopard fur lines the inside of his deel, spilling outside and lining the edges of his neck and sleeves. The color of his deel is a deep blue with elaborate designs that resemble snowflakes, and frozen cracks cover the fabric. A thick white sash wraps his waist, and attached to it holds a sheathed sword and a pouch with several tools ranging from iron steeles to start a fire to a small dagger sheathed and hanging next to it. An abundance of silver hangs around nearly every possible location; the neck, waist, hair, and ears. All of this shows that their new company has significant power and wealth.
Being scared out of his wits, if he has any, Okin latches on to Khachi's back. His shaking racks Khachi, making him appear almost as frightened.
"Welcome," the man's voice is soothing and commemorating. "I don't mean to alarm the two of you. Let me introduce myself; I'm an
"Right…because seeing a ghost isn't terrifying…" Okin stutters under his breath behind Khachi.
The man chortles, and a soft smile lightens his face. "That's true," he agrees, which must have been a gentle enough response that Okin curiously peaks over Khachi's shoulder.
"KHACHI! OKIN!!" Khaliun's voice echoes through the passageway they had traveled through moments ago. The words vibrate and bounce off the rock walls, making the owners of the names look behind them.
"JUST AHEAD!" Khachi answers.
An exhausted-looking Khaliun stumbles through the entrance, looking as if she will collapse at any moment.
"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Okin rushes to Khaliun's side to help her.
Khaliun politely declines Okin's offer to help her with her hand. "I'll lead the two of you to somewhere warm," she announces as she straightens up.
Only as the words leave her mouth did Khachi become aware of the freezing temperatures in the cavern. On the other hand, Okin hadn't been shaking just from fright this whole time but also from the cold invading the protection of his clothes. Clothes which weren't equipped for the harsh winter temperatures like the Martagdsan.
Khachi opens his mouth to gesture towards the unknown company just as Khaliun makes her way past him, only to turn around and the cryptic ongon vanish.
Okin also notices that the ghost disappeared and runs to latch himself onto Khachi again. "Where'd tha ghost go?" Okin whispers, his accent slipping into his words.
"Are the two of you coming?" Khaliun pauses to look back at them, waiting. "Is something wrong?"
"Th-th-there was an o-o-ong-ongon just n-now," Okin stutters, pointing to where the man once stood. Which happens to be where Khaliun is standing now, next to the human statue.
Khaliun contemplates something or rather attempts to avoid a series of thoughts. "Don't-"
"I-Is it-t j-j-just m-me, or is-ss it g-gett-ting c-c-colder-er?" Okin asks the two, interrupting Khaliun. Barely able to get a word out between chattering teeth, Okin's energy depletes the more prolonged the cold clings to him.
"We should hurry. There's a safe place up ahead," Khaliun states.
Khachi nods in compliance, but the moment he steps forward, Okin, still holding on to him, nearly collapses. In a panic, Khachi catches Okin, who weakly thanks him. "What's wrong?" Khachi questions, but Okin isn't able to respond.
"It's the Martagdsan," Khaliun appears on Okin's other side, already taking his arm and ushering Khachi to move him forward. "It's not so friendly to unwelcomed guests."
The two carry Okin through the large cavern and another long passage. At times, when the passage grows constricted, they take turns pushing Okin through. Luckily, he wasn't fully unconscious and a dead weight for the two. With their guidance, Okin was able to stumble through a few steps.
"How are you holding up, Khachi? Are you cold?" Khaliun inquires, during a peculiar spot where the cave is wide enough for the three to walk shoulder to shoulder.
"Not particularly. More numb-like than depleting," Khachi answers through strenuous breaths from carrying Okin. "Though, I suppose that's not really good either," he laughs dryly.
"Definitely better than Okin's situation," Khaliun laughs back with Khachi, both of their voices exhausted. "It's just up ahead." As her words echo around the rock walls, light gives way ahead of them.
Through a break in the passage, moonlight becomes their new light source. Though not as bright as the torch light, which had been more sparse the farther they traveled, it was enough to finish guiding them to their final destination.
Stumbling through a cavern entrance, the three are met with a small chamber that looks to have once been living quarters, with a table carved out of the same rock as the room next to a large opening. The opening itself acts as a window to the view of a frozen lake.
From Khachi's position and lack of time to admire the view, it is obscured.
"In the next chamber, there's a room with some beds we can use," Khaliun explains as she guides Khachi in carrying Okin into the next area.
Entering another space, they come across another area that looks to have been crafted into a bedroom, as this time, there were two rock beds with antique-looking coverings made from old animal fur to soften the hard surface.
The two lay Okin on one of the beds. Okin, who had fallen so weak that he needed carrying, collapses into a deep sleep the moment his head hits the aged comforter and pillow.
"Will he be okay?" Khachi asks Khaliun. He finishes adjusting Okin onto the bed while waiting for her reply.
"Yes. The Martagdsan has a seal that keeps things out. These two rooms are the only thing one can use to escape the seal's wrath," she explains as she walks to one of the corners near the other bed, looking to dig something out.
Khachi nods, his worry put to rest. Now, taking the time to observe the room, Khachi's eyes wander around. He notices that, like the other room, this one also had a window-like opening but much smaller and higher than the other. This one acts more like a form of a light source than to be looked out of.
From the moonlight alone, Khachi could tell that if he hadn't known that without inhabitants, a cavern such as this one could go untouched from external factors such as dust and wear from weather, he wouldn't have been able to tell these living quarters had to have been hundreds maybe even thousands of years old. In fact, Khachi questions how they weren't influenced by external factors with such large holes that face nature outside.
Khachi starts to walk back to the other room to examine the other artifacts and furniture he didn't have time to examine earlier when Khaliun steps in front of him, stopping him.
"Roll up your sleeve," Khaliun demands. Khachi looks at her with puzzlement. "Didn't that cadi injure you earlier?" She points out, holding up a small medicine kit.
Everything had been so chaotic since then that Khachi had managed to completely forget the cadi had dug into his arm and neck.
Khachi does as he is told and rolls up his sleeve, revealing five gashes. Four are on the back of his arm, and one is adjacent in the front, close to his armpit. Seeing this, Khaliun flinches a little, looking at Khachi apologetically. "Let's go to the other room,"
Following Khaliun, the two enter back into the first chamber they entered. They sit down at the table that overlooks the view outside. Immediately, Khaliun starts attending to Khachi's wounds.
Khachi flinches as she attempts to put a layer of lotion consistency-like medicine on his cuts. "My apologies. It's too bad Lin Hui isn't here. She would be able to handle this situation better," she sighs, now working on the cuts around his neck.
"Are you sure this medicine is still good?" Khachi inquires more as a way to continue the conversation than out of curiosity.
"Oh, definitely!" But as the words leave her mouth, Khaliun laughs. "Well…it is nearly two thousand years old, so I could see how most would think that. But this isn't traditional mortal medicine. This kind doesn't expire," she explains, holding up the ointment container.
Khachi thinks over the following question to ask and realizes he wasn't as interested in knowing why this medication was still usable as he was curious about the mystery of the Martagdsan. His only problem is that from Khaliun's past few actions, while she might answer questions, she might not be inclined to answer fully.
"How did you stumble across the Martagdsan?" After a few seconds of thought, Khachi decided that maybe this would be the least difficult inquiry he could make and that she wouldn't want to escape from answering. Yet, her face of brief hesitation seems to tell him it was a mistake to ask. "You don't have to answer. Is there anything you can tell me about? Over the Martagdsan, I mean," Khachi tried to change tactics.
She was the one who claimed that asking questions was essential for survival in the Spectral Domains.
"I honestly don't have that much knowledge about it," Khaliun starts but pauses in thought for a second before continuing. "Lin Hui and I stumbled across it years back when the tribe came close to the Martagdsan while running from some troops from Mongke. We took cover at the entrance of the Martagdsan, but to our surprise, they still tracked us there, so we pushed back further into the cave..."
"Quickly everyone!" Khaliun yelled, holding a touch of light. She urged her tribe members through the passage.
When the last members passed her, a mother and a little boy, the child grabbed the lower part of her deel. "Khan, it's so cold," the child whined.
"I know, but hang in there," she reassured the little boy as the mother profusely apologized and rushed to drag her child along.
Yelling echoed off the walls. More torches of light that didn't belong to the Aldsan tribe closed in.
Turning on her heels to catch up with her tribe, she nearly collided with another person.
"Hui Lin!"
"Khaliun, let me try creating a temporary barrier to slow them down," Hui Lin's composure was still as calm as ever, even in this desperate moment.
"I can't let you do that. We don't even know if this is the only entrance, and because of that, there's a chance of us getting stuck here,"
"It will be fine. Trust me," Hui Lin reassured her and placed a hand on Khaliun's shoulder.
Giving in, Khaliun nodded. Hui Lin swiftly walked around her, between the tribe and the pursuers. Taking a deep breath, Hui Lin raised her hands in front of her chest and chanted a series of mellow words under her breath. In an instant, a new light wiped out the darkness surrounding them.
Rumbling and cracking started to shake the passageway as stalactites and stalagmites started to collide in front of Hui Lin, forming columns, which then formed a thick rock wall.
Just as fast as the light from Lin Hui appeared, it disappeared. Lin Hui nearly fell to the wet ground, but Khaliun caught her before she did.
"Lin Hui!" Khaliun shouts.
"I'm fine. I overexerted my strength," Lin Hui tried to comfort her. Khaliun only held on to her tighter. "Let's catch up with the tribe,"
Khaliun nodded and, with her support, started to help Lin Hui through the passageway.
They came across a large cavern where the remaining Aldsan tribesmen were resting and huddling. Many were already in groups trying to get warmer as the cave's freezing temperatures started to steal their warmth.
"Khan!" Many of them yelled as she and Lin Hui entered.
Khaliun held up her hand, silencing them. Momentarily, her attention was on helping Lin Hui find a spot to rest.
They passed a few groups until they encountered a large rock, which she gently helped Lin Hui sit down on. After checking to make sure Lin Hui was okay, she took a step back to address the tribe but stopped upon looking up.
Now, having backed away from the rock they came across, she noticed it wasn't a rock but a statue. Almost like she was lost in a trance, Khaliun stared at the statue. Memories from a past life, hers or of someone else she didn't currently know, poured through every fiber of her being. Only after the images playing across her mind from just the sight of the statue did she realize the tribe had been trying to get her attention.
The mother from earlier yanked on her arm, turning her to face the tribesmen. Panic and heartache spread across her aged face.
"KHAN! MY BOY IS FREEZING TO DEATH!"
More yells of the grieving followed in pursuit.
"HE'S DEAD!"
"SHE IS FROZEN SOLID!"
"HAVE MERCY!"
"KHAN, WHAT DO WE DO?!"
"After that, we realized something was wrong with the cave we had come into. The cave we were currently trapped in. With no other choice, we pushed even further into the cave. In the process, all we could do was leave those who froze to death behind until we figured out how to properly retrieve them. Eventually, luck would be on our side as we came across these living quarters. Instantly, it was like the cold or whatever it was couldn't touch us anymore. After about half a day, Lin Hui and I risked going back and destroying the barrier. On the other side, we weren't prepared to have found out that the pursuers, all of them, had died from the same cold that was killing us," Khaliun's voice carries a deep sense of mourning as she retells Aldsan's misfortune. Her gaze wanders around the chamber.
"From there, we realized the true ins and outs of the cave we had come across. Not so much the Shirüün Övöl as you first called it but the Martagdsan we now know it as," she pauses and looks up towards Khachi. "Don't leave these chambers until we are ready to leave or have a safer option. It's kinder to those leaving than those digging into parts of it that it wants to be left hidden. It wasn't given the name The Forgotten for no reason,"
Right. But it wasn't initially named the Harsh Winter for no reason, either.
Khachi wants to note but stops himself when another thought occurs to him. "I don't understand. I thought you said I was found here. How was I found here if this place is so deadly?"
"That, I do not know. Just that Lin Hui and I had come back to do some more research and found you here," she explains, but the tone of her voice sounds drained.
"Where?"
"I'm tired. I used too much energy fighting off the cadi and catching up to the two of you," Khaliun yawns abruptly, stopping Khachi's questioning for the night. "I'm going to head to bed. Make sure you get some sleep," she tells him, getting up from the table. Already almost out of sight, she turns around to look at him one more time. "And whatever you do, don't leave," Khaliun warns him again.
Khachi watches as she disappears out of sight. He doesn't know how to take in everything he just learned, mainly because, in truth, it opens more questions than it answers.
In frustration, all he could do is sit there, letting his mind spin too much out of control for him to calm down and rest, listening to the combination of wind and ice cracking from the breeze on the lake. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift, flowing from question to question in rhythm to the nature outside the window.
Laughter, that of a little girl, disturbs the harmony of nature and his thoughts.
Khachi's eyes snap open, instantly pulling away from his subconscious.
❄❄❄❄
A body crashes into a tree with such force that the tree breaks from the impact. The tree that once stood through the forces of all nature now lays in pieces on the ground; next to it is the body of the woman with the bone-white mask.
Across from her stands a tall black figure of a man. His features are coated by a black cloak with a large hood that casts a shadow across his face. The aesthetic of his clothing seems to mimic that of the Han Dynasty. His attire has a color palette of black and hints of gold from the elaborate embroidery that covers the band on his waist and the cascading fabric that shapes his shoulders.
In the aftermath of her crash, the forest at the bottom of the massive volcano, Martagdsan, seems still. Nature seems afraid to breathe, as if doing so can accidentally stir more aggression from the being that threw the cadi into the tree.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry!" The two voices scream as the woman climbs in pain to her knees. Bowing, she lowers her head all the way to the ground.
"Sorry?" a low, cynical voice resounds off the forest. As if the forest is helping the man deliver his words from all directions. "I told you to get the bolor laav,"
"I-I did!" The woman cries in confusion.
The man laughs hysterically. "That you did," he acknowledges, "but—"He stops and reaches down, pulling the cadi's face off the ground by her hair, but she doesn't dare yell in protest. Her fear keeps her in check.
In one swift motion, he grabs her by her neck with his free hand. "Tell me, does this position feel familiar,"
The woman whimpers as the man's nails claw and dig their way into her neck. This time, she fights to not raise her hands and pry him off.
"WELL DOES IT!" He shouts. His nails dig deeper, and crimson seeps down her neck through his fingers, and skin builds under his nails.
"YES!" The woman breathes back, her double-lapping voice pleading for him to let go.
Dropping her, she collapses to the ground. The man scrutinizes her from his position, standing above her.
She lies on the ground, breathing hard. "Who would have known he'd turn up there?" The cadi airily says now that she is free. With her hands on her neck, she holds the wound, hissing under her breath at the slightest graze.
"The bolor laav," the man's voice falls uninterest. Lowering himself to her level, he holds his hand out.
The cadi threw a glare before instantly looking back at the ground cowardly. The tiny hint of prowess from the fights earlier that day had evaporated under the man's gaze. Bravery that even hate could only carry a glare as far as a millisecond.
Putting one of her hands out above the man's, a lava rock encased in a thin layer of ice materializes before their eyes and falls into the man's hand.
He turns it over. Moonlight shimmers off the ice coating, giving it an almost magical effect.
Then, without warning, he tosses it back to her, making her catch it frantically.
"Return it,"
"What?! Why?!" the cadi shouts in shock.
"I'm not the one that needs it anymore," the man nonchalantly explains as he straightens back up.
"How am I supposed to give it back? Appear in front of them and say, "Sorry for wrecking your homes, here's the thing I destroyed them over"?" A hateful, sarcastic tone mixes with the cadi's words.
"Seems your sharp tongue is back and enough for you to be sarcastic," the man notes, instantaneously returning the fear the woman had before. "Oh, don't stop," he laughs, enjoying her brief banter. However, there was nothing happy in the sarcastic remark she made.
"How do you want me to return it?" This time, her words are dry and serious, like she's on autopilot.
"Figure it out,"
The man turns to leave but stops only a few steps away. Spinning on his feet, he reapproaches the cadi. Towering before her just like before.
"Just don't let this," as the last word leaves his lips at lightning speed, he grabs her upper arm, pulling her to her feet. His nails dig into her skin again, but this time in a new spot, creating a fresh wound. "Happen again, understand?"
With their faces so close, the cadi could almost see through the shadows to his face that both the hood and night were hiding away. The phantom of the man's identity only adds to the terror she felt in his warning.
"Understood,"