#Behold! My fanfic dao gains strength by the day! Surely with this power I shall defy the heavens!

[mehmetminded]

White and Black and Gold

(part 1)

By: MehmetMinded

Potential spoilers for Cradle and Beware of Chicken

[SECTOR 87]

[THE WAY]

A river of textured blue flowed from oasis to oasis in a desert of non-existence. Points of light dotted along it like berries on a bush. Though by no means common it is not unknown for travelers to encounter one another while traversing the winding maze of The Way Between Worlds. Like any road, bandits and brigands stalk the less controlled areas waiting for unwitting travelers to stumble into their trap. Some small subdomains were established by local powers as rest stops and safe houses for weary travelers to take shelter in. But now, the travelers had left the path, hiding themselves in the nearest worlds. The bandits pretended not to notice it; their traps unsprung. The safe houses closed their shutters and barred their doors, preparing for the worst.

For there was a predator swimming in the river.

~~~

Lindon was relieved the journey had been relatively uneventful so far. There had been a small group of Silverlords that ducked into a nearby iteration when they felt the brush of his authority, but that wasn’t his assignment. He had a patrol to make. Dross had sent a message back to The Grave and Yerin had been around to take the call. Lindon almost pitied the poor, outgunned Silverlords. Almost.

The Abaddon had been slowly reclaiming the territory lost during the Great Vroshir Incursion (as some in the Court had begun calling it), but they had yet to fully establish control over any sectors further out than sector 70. Even after all The Reapers’ hard work cleansing worlds of corruption there was still so much to be done. World after world had been overrun by Fiends. Chaotic manifestations of un-reality that slowly devoured worlds until they broke apart completely. Lindon had seen it happen. It was the consequence of their failure. Of his failure.

[You know, I might not be actively listening to your every thought at the moment, but I can tell when you’re ruminating.]

Lindon flinched slightly at the reproach. Dross was right. Ethan had sent him on this assignment specifically so that he would have time to “get your head on right again” as the man had said with a sad and knowing smile. The combat had helped get his mind off of it at least. This far outside Abaddon jurisdiction Fiends and Vroshir were a common problem.

Common, but far from the only problem. Unaffiliated local powers had established their own minor fiefs in the power vacuum left by the Abaddon retreat and not all had been amenable to their return. Lindon preferred to persuade when he could. Some hesitated out of fear for their people. The Abaddon had already abandoned them once after all. Lindon understood and left them for others to reason with; Mercy was better at that sort of thing anyway. Others were more self-interested. To these he would offer recruitment if Dross thought they were worth something to The Court… or an ultimatum if not.

Only one had continued to resist when faced with Lindon’s Authority. Only one demonstration had been needed. Lindon was relieved about that as well. As much as he enjoyed the rush of battle, he never enjoyed picking on the weak. That wasn’t a good reason to let them run around hurting those even weaker than they were, however. It was a sad necessity but it didn’t help his mood.

[At least you’re doing something good right? That must count for something!]

It did count, at least in Lindon’s view, but the tender spot in his heart still didn’t fade. He tried to distract himself by saving those who couldn’t save themselves. It was half the reason he had ascended in the first place after all. And yet.

Lindon was still contemplating when The Way transitioned from an endless sea of textured blue to a dusty dirt road and he found himself walking slowly through untended and overgrown fields. In the distance loomed a great fortress wall that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Cradle.

Whoever lives here knows what they’re doing, Lindon thought.

[Aaaaaaand has enough Authority to not just create a cordon around their world but impose their domain over The Way!]

Lindon had seen Suriel use a similar technique before he had ascended beyond the world of his birth, though she had restricted herself to a simple hunting lodge.

Shall we see if anyone’s home?

[After you!]

Lindon thought he heard a slight sadistic glee in Dross’ mental voice.

[I can’t wait to see the look on their face.]

~~~

Feng Yi First Emperor of the Crimson Phoenix Empire was having a very bad day.

He had spent the better part of a decade engaged in battle against a massive demon horde. Though he had been certain of victory from the beginning, by the end the constant combat had started to weigh on him. But the horde had been vanquished and the demons beaten back once again. Feng Yi had just retired to his chambers for some well deserved rest when he felt a tug on his domain. This wasn’t anything unusual. One of his subordinates had something that required his attention. He delayed his response a bit for just a few more minutes of rest but the tug became more urgent and he was forced into action.

He manifested in a pillar of flame, heralded by the cry of a great phoenix, at the edge of his domain where the tug had originated. There he was greeted by the sight of Jian Mu and the rest of her Guardian Forest, trembling, on their knees, bowing before a slightly bemused looking man with a chalk white arm.

“Who dares intrude on the domain of the Crimson Phoenix Emperor?!” Feng Yi demanded.

He released his hold on his qi, letting it storm out of him like a great bonfire and the sky of his domain was tinged orange with the fury of the rising sun. The man stood there, unfazed, by The Emperor’s might. He pressed his fists together in some strange parody of a martial solute and bowed politely. The angle wasn’t quite as deep as The Emperor was used to but not shallow enough that he could call it rude.

“Greetings your majesty. This one is Wei Shi Lindon Arelius, a representative of The Court of Seven.” The man said with not a hint of mockery in his voice. “I have come on behalf of my superiors to offer you our protection against the foes at your walls.”

Feng Yi felt a slight hiss, like air escaping an imperfect seal, and a bit of this mans might was revealed to him.

The sky of his domain went from the bright, radiant, orange of a sunrise to pitch back in an instant. A Dao greater than any he had before felt pressed against his inner world with the inevitability of a mountain. This man could tear his domain apart like rice paper and there would be nothing Feng Yi could do to stop him.  

As quickly as it had been opened, the seal was replaced. The pressure faded and the sky returned to its proper color. Emperor Feng Yi did not bow his head nor look away. He had long since determined that if he were to die he would look his end in the eye. Even so, he trembled. It had been a long time indeed since he had been so outclassed. Even the Great Demons that turned their eyes towards his home thought him too challenging to make a meal of and went to seek weaker prey. To this man he was a child before a tiger, and the man had never even risen from his bow.

“What-“ his voice failed him for the first time in millennia, “What would you have from us?”

Surely the man would want the power they kept, but what power did they have that could interest a being such as this?

“Only your assistance, your majesty.” The man said “The Court of Seven is attempting to reclaim the worlds that were lost to us so that we might protect the people who live there. Chaotic corruption claims worlds one after another and we would stand as your bulwark against them.”

The words were impossible, and yet the man spoke no lie. Feng Yi felt the man’s sincerity radiating out thought his intent. Truly, after so long, a savior had come. Feng Yi felt his millennia of exhaustion hit him all at once and he collapsed to his knees alongside his second in command.

“This Crimson Phoenix Empire and all the world pledges itself to The Court of Seven!” He said with relief. Maybe today wasn’t such a bad day after all.

The man cocked his head as though listening for something, then seemed to be struck with an idea.

“Excellent. I have relayed your pledge to my superiors. As I am simply a messenger I have no authority to entreat with you beyond this point. Another representative of the court will arrive at another time as our reach does not yet extend this far. This concludes our business on behalf of The Court.” The man said, though Feng Yi had been an emperor long enough to know that this wasn’t the end of things.

“If there is anything our Crimson Phoenix Empire can do to assist the Herald of The Heavens we will not hesitate to provide!” The Emperor declared.

“Well, it’s only a small matter, though you would have my gratitude.” The Herald said with a small smile.

~~~

Meimei and I were out walking the property line after the last big storm blew through. It wasn’t quite winter yet, but the north wind was making itself known. Some trees had fallen and damaged the fence in places so, with the harvest in and not much to do, we had decided to take a little stroll together. It was nice, just being able to spend an afternoon walking with my wife. Just another small joy of being a farmer in the middle of nowhere.

Defying the heavens: 0

Agriculture: 9,437

Still though, the work needed doing and Meimei and I made a great team. My wife was currently breaking down a fallen tree for firewood with her bare hands as I repaired the damage, infusing the fence with qi. When I had first built it I hadn’t nailed down qi infusion quite yet and it seemed like a big chore to replace it all at once, so I settled on working qi into my repairs instead. It’s not like anything was getting past Vajra anyways.

I was just having that thought when Meimei shot up straight, sniffing the air.

“Something big?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

“I’m not sure.” She said with concern, “It’s hard to pin down. It smells like… nothing.”

“How can ‘nothing’ have a smell?”

“I’m not sure. It just smells like… emptiness I suppose.”

You getting anything, shortstop? I mentally sent to Tianlan, my friend and benefactor.

Not much, but now that you mention it I’m feeling kind of uneasy, like there’s someone watching us. She replied, sounding nervous.

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” I said and both women nodded with resolve.

We continued working on the fence until dinner time, at which point we turned in for the day. Washy had taken to my tales of a “Pot Pie” with gusto and was eager to show us the fruits of his labor. Following a delicious meal and some time in good company another day in paradise came to an end as I closed my eyes.

Before I immediately opened them again to an annoyed looking Tianlan.

“Still buggin’ ya eh pipsqueak?” I said, receiving a smirk at my accent, before the short girl with golden cracks running over her skin sighed.

“I just can’t stop feeling like there’s something watching me!” She replied with a frown.

“Well, how about we take a look around?”

Tianlan’s look said ‘Like I haven’t already tried that, dumbass’ but eventually she sighed and nodded. So off we set, walking the edges of her domain. The boundaries looked really similar to the Mist Wall I had seen in the crystal. I should probably ask about that, but how am I supposed to tell one giant wall of mist from another? Maybe this was a completely different kind of wall that just so happened to also be made of mist! Then I would have brought up a sore subject for no reason and-

I was knocked out of my musings by a forehead cracking into my own.

“Hey! What was that for?” I muttered rubbing my poor skull, before turning to my friend.

Tianlan was glaring at a point in the mist wall. There was something though there. Maybe? It did look a bit darker now that I was paying attention. Regardless, Tianlan looked nervous so, doing my best impression of a royal guard, I propped my shovel on my shoulder and marched straight up to the wall before planting my feet, squaring my shoulders, and puffing out my chest.

“Hold trespasser!” I cried in my best attempt at Big D’s low voice, “Who dares violate the grounds of sacred Fa Ram!  

That got a giggle out of the cracked girl, releasing a bit of tension. I hadn’t actually been trying to get a response!

“Oh? Apologies for my intrusion. I had hoped to remain hidden a bit longer to learn of this place before I introduced myself.” Another voice replied from out in the mist. It sounded genuinely apologetic. And the formal diction reminded me just a bit of Brother Lu Ri.

Something began to coalesce out of the darkened mist as it slowly got closer. A man walked towards us. Could that even happen? Wasn’t this some kind of extra dimensional space inside Tianlan? Yet there he was! Stood just inside the mist, seeming to hesitate to cross over the boundary.

Tianlan seemed to be stuck between launching herself at him and fleeing in terror, so I decided I should take over introductions.

“We don’t get many outsiders around here!” I said to the guy.

I thought I caught a muttered “ever” from Tianlan but I couldn’t be sure. The stranger didn’t seem to notice at any rate.

“Ah, once again I apologize,” the man said “I haven’t manifested myself fully in your world yet as our records of this place are several thousand years out of date it would seem. I wanted to know more about your culture before I came down and accidentally made a mess of things.”

That was… a surprisingly reasonable explanation given the circumstances.

[Don’t let him fool you. He’s been delaying our decent for days to conduct ‘research’ as if this place isn’t almost exactly like where he came from.]

The voice had spoken directly into my brain. A lot like Tianlan did. It was really strange hearing a new voice in my head but I wouldn’t say it was shocking. Tianlan on the other hand looked incensed.

“Hey asshole! Who said you could fish around in his head!?” she shouted, marching towards the mist.

[Hey! Don’t compare me to human anatomy! They’re gross and full of fluids!] another voice replied, matching her tone for tone, as a small purple ball manifested itself over the man’s shoulder. It glared it’s singular eye at Tianlan and put small tentacle arms to what I could only assume were it’s hips.

The two devolved quickly into quibbling as the mysterious stranger and I gave each other an identical look of apology.

“Can I get you some breakfast?”

~~~

After Shen Yu, the others on the farm didn’t really seem phased when a strange man with black eyes and a white arm appeared in a flash of blue in the middle of our lawn. They looked at me and when I didn’t seem worried most shrugged and went back to their business.

“One more place for breakfast today Wa Shi!” I called to the dragon preparing breakfast in our kitchen.

You got it, Boss! The dragon replied, adding a few more eggs to his pan.

I walked towards the front of the house to greet the man standing politely at the edge of the veranda.

“Apologies again for my intrusion. My name is Wei Shi Lindon Arelius, though most just call me Lindon.” The man, Lindon, said with a bow. Now that I got a good look at him, we weren’t dissimilar, large build, broad shoulders, and dark shaggy hair. Though, where I looked like a well-muscled farm hand he looked much more… cultivator. Flawless skin, perfect posture, and an otherworldly presence that most cultivators had, like they could see your soul laid bare. That feeling was bunk most of the time, in my experience.

“No apologies needed, friend. Name's Rou Jin.” I replied, “You’re… not from around here, huh?”

Lindon gave me a strange look at that.

“No. I’m from… very far away.”

I tapped my nose and gave him what I hoped was a knowing smile.

“Me to.” I said with a wink, “Now, come in! Wa Shi should be about done with breakfast. You can eat a bit and tell us tales from ‘very far away."

Poor Lindon seemed a bit baffled as he let me usher him into my home.

Better luck next time, my hospitality jutsu is too powerful!

___________

Finally (cursedly) caught up with Beware of Chicken. I will channel my frustrations into making my blorbos talk to each other. This is my first shot at something more long form, hope it doesn't suck!