110 — Lost Shadows

Zu Ri stood with her head bowed, feeling Elder Yan’s wrath pressing down upon her shoulders. Chains held her in place, loose enough to allow her movement in her prison. The chamber they stood in was dark, set deep within the ground below the Yan manor, a dungeon carved of polished stone.

The Elder’s step’s echoed in the chamber, as he walked. To a mortal, the voice would only repeat a few times before vanishing, but to a cultivator’s ears, especially one trained in the arts of subterfuge as the shadows, the echoing sounds would repeat over and over, growing dimmer and dimmer as they clashed with the newer echoes, creating a blanket of noise. Normally, they would leave a droplet of water, dripping onto an overturned bowl to echo out eternally in the darkness. The nausea and headache that ensued were a part of the punishment she had to bear.

Zu Ri waited with her head bowed, eyes set to the floor. It had been nearly an hour since the Elder had arrived, but he had yet to speak a word to her. Yet Zu Ri knew not to ask the purpose of his visit. She would not move, would not question, not until she was spoken to.

The silence stretched, the echoes and the nausea her only companion. They knew it was not possible to torture her. She could barely feel pain, and was immune to most poisons. To use her own senses and turn them against her was one of the few ways she could still experience anguish like this. But she's dealt with far worse. She knew she wouldn’t break over this. No, this was punishment. To test her loyalty.

A sudden sharp click echoed through the chamber, as the Elder stopped in front of her. She suppressed the twitch from her body, her eyes set at his feet.

“Tell us, shadow. Who do you serve?” the Elder’s voice asked, calm as a still lake.

“You, master,” Zu Ri replied without a moment’s hesitation.

“So you say, yet how is it that you kept what our granddaughter was planning from us? Have you forgotten the purpose for which you were given to her?” Elder Yan asked.

“No, master,” Zu Ri replied.

“Then why? Why have you failed in your purpose, Shadow?” Elder Yan asked. The calm anger in his voice had a sinking sensation grow in Zu Ri’s gut.

“I was not made aware of her plans. She knew I would report to you if we ever found out, and thus kept everything hidden.”

“Have our shadows grown so weak that they must require permission to find things out? Do not speak in riddles and tell us,” the Elder spoke, the anger in his voice growing, as he stepped closer. “Why did you disobey?”

His voice slammed into Zu Ri like a crashing tide and pushed her head further down. She focused on her breath, bearing through the weight as she choked out. “I… wished to protect… the young mistress. Wanted… her to fail and… come around on her own…”

The weight continued to build onto her chest as her ribs creaked under the Elder’s presence. Blood began to pool in her mouth, as her gut began to squeeze. Darkness seeped into her vision, and she felt her mind starting to drift. A gasp for air escaped her mouth in an unseemingly display of mortality, and Zu Ri felt the Elder’s wrath crush her spirit.

Then the weight vanished, as if it had never been there.

Zu Ri coughed, steadying her spinning vision. She gathered herself as quickly as she could, afraid of the Elder’s wrath the longer she put up such a display of weakness.

“You do not lie,” the Elder said, as if surprised. “A shadow, growing to care for anyone but their master,” the man said, his eyes staring at Zu Ri’s kneeling form as if watching a fascinating specimen.

“We had chosen you for your loyalty. And because you were the only shadow close to our granddaughter's age. She needed a loyal companion. But perhaps, we had mistaken how far your loyalty to her would go,” the Elder said.

Zu Ri kept her head bowed. She knew she’d overstepped. She’d known it long ago. The day the twins had stolen the book, she’d let them go, hoping when the Elder found out, she would come back around. See some sense. But to think… Zu Ri pushed away the emotions, and steeled her resolve.

“Zu Ri,” the Elder said.

The words made years of discipline break within the girl, as her head snapped upwards towards the Elder, eyes wide in surprise.

“That is your name, is it not?” the Elder asked her.

Zu Ri returned a nod, hurriedly returning her gaze from the Elder, before bowing her head deeper in forgiveness. Her heart thundered in her chest. Shadows did not possess names. It was only the young mistress’ kindness that she had insisted upon using hers. To hear those words from her Master… Zu Ri felt fear grip her heart.

“Look up, Zu Ri,” the Elder said, crouching down. Zu Ri moved back in fear, her back touching the wall of her prison. “Forgive me master. I will not mistake my loyalty again,” she begged, watching the crouched Elder looking at her in silence. Fear wracked her body in place as she pushed herself against the wall.

Elder Yan did not reply, slowly reaching towards her. His hand pressed itself against her cheek, brimming with the love of a father towards his daughter.

“You must understand Zu Ri, what we feel. That demon has not only crippled our children, and humiliated us in front of the entire seventh peak, but he has stolen our Yun’er from us. Now he prances, hiding under the Lord’s name freely, and we are forced to watch. But not if you help us. We have reasons to believe that the boy is a demon wearing human skin. Such a monster has led our Yun’er astray, and in his grasp. But if we can find proof of his nature, and present it to the jade court, then we can bring down the traitorous Lord, and obtain Yun’er back. She has merely been led astray from her Path by the whispers of the demon,” the Elder said, moving closer.

“You understand our pain, don’t you?” he said, and a single tear flowed down Zu Ri’s eyes. She nodded back to the man, remembering the pain she’d felt when she learnt of her mistress’s choice.

The Elder pulled his hand back, rising back up. “Free her of her chains,” he spoke to the chamber. Two other shadows manifested inside. They moved in silence, breaking the chains that tied Zu Ri with a single swift blow, before fading back into the darkness.

“Help us get our Yun’er back, and you can live your life by her side once again,” Elder Yan commanded.

Zu Ri looked at her master, at the man she had sworn to serve. She would bring back her Young Mistress from the demon, and return to the life she had made an oath to spend in her service.

She fell to one knee, and bowed her head, whispering under her breath. “As you command.”

***

It took her a few hours to prepare everything she needed. Shadows did not require much in the way to sustain herself, so any real preparations happened in preparing for her travel, and her stay in the village.

Before the rays of dawn began to spread across the seventh peak, Zu Ri made her departure for the quaint village. Shadow arts muffled her steps as she blended in seamlessly into the night, stepping across the fields like a flickering wraith.

The first sight of the village came with the rising of the sun. She spotted the village starting to stir from its slumber. Settling her Qi, Zu Ri slowed down her racing steps as she watched the village. Her eyes swept through it, watching the mortals sleep. They were content, and blissfully unaware of the world that was around them. Simplistic creatures. Yet, she did not think them pitiful, nor powerless. Merely unfortunate.

Her mistress did not belong here. She would not let her be blinded by the demon any longer.

Standing at the edge of the village, Zu Ri the dark robes that covered her body. The clothes she wore underneath were in tatters, as if ripped through by some beast of sort. A pulse of Qi had her dark robes shrink, and she curled them in a bundle. Digging into her careful hidden pocket, Zu Ri took out a clawed dagger.

Walking across the edge of the village, Zu Ri ran through the forest, until she found a suitable spirit beast for her purposes. A serpent lurked nearby. A spirit beast in the second realm The beast was calm by nature, often found in the forest near these parts. She felt pity for the spirit beast, but her duty was greater.

With a jump, Zu Ri ran her up the length of the tree. With a single strike, she plunged the dagger into the serpent’s skull. Blood sprayed her face as the unsuspecting beast lurched. It’s body thrashed, wrapping around her length to free itself, yet within moments, life fled the creature as it law limb.

Grabbing the large serpent, Zu Ri jumped down the tree, and began to make her way to the edge of the village. Dropping the best further back, she made cut marks across the creature, to make the fight look desperate.

Having completed her task, Zu Ri made her way near Taizhou. With precise stroke she cut upon her own body, to make it appear as if she had been chased by some beast. She walked across the edge of the village, leaving marks of struggle and destruction by the spirit beast.

After she felt satisfied and bloodied enough, Zu Ri dug into her pouch and took out the pill she’d received from the Elder. It was a pill that would suppress her cultivation, for as long as she wished. It would make her weaker, as weak as a first realm cultivator.

She would quickly regain her abilities if she cultivated after taking the other half of the pill. Silently, Zu Ri swallowed the pill.

Pain wracked her core, as sweat beaded down her forehead. Her dantian shuddered in her spirit as the pill began to mingle, and Zu Ri struggled to hold focus on the last task.

Qi hissed and boiled in her body as she focused her arts upon her physique. Her bones and muscles spasmed, changing their structure and arrangement, as he appearance began to morph. Silently, Zu Ri took out her dagger, and cut her tied hair open, letting it flow down her back.

The world spun around her, as nausea overwhelmed her body. Her breaths grew more and more rapid, as she felt her strength fading, her cultivation suppressing itself into a tight ball within her core.

Zu Ri let the pain take her, as she collapsed onto her knees, unable to hold herself up any further. Through blurred and failing eyes, she watched men from the village point at her in the distance, before she could see no more, as the darkness took her away.