Journey to Divine Mountain

[Aristasy]

Ningjing Village

A damp chill hung in the evening air of Ningjing Village, as a limping, three-legged figure slowly made its way through the village. The third leg was a wooden walking cane, unnaturally straight and soundless as it hit the mildly cobbled path through the poorer sections of the village. The owner of the cane was hunched over it, as if pouring their life force into it each step in order to make progress forward. The streets were lined with modest homes, with their door lamps lit to maintain some light as the last rays of the sun disappear under the horizon. The streets were completely empty, except for the old man walking through. From the windows of one of the nearby homes, a pair of curious eyes peered out as the man passed by. As if the old man could feel the gaze like a tap on the shoulder, he stopped unnaturally mid-step. The little child peering through the window was taken aback, but had frozen in fear at the old man's silent and sudden reaction to being seen.

"M-m-ma ma..." The child started to call. "Ma m-!"

At this point, the old man had approached the window, looming over the child. Shaking uncontrollably, the child watched as the old man slowly opened his mouth. The smell of rot assaulted the child's nose as the child started feeling dizzy. The old man's mouth was still stretching farther and farther open, lips long since torn apart and the lower jaw disconnected. The child's shrill scream was abruptly cut off. The old man resumed his slow journey northwards, towards the headquarters of the Ningjing Mercenaries.



Ningjing Mercenaries Headquarters

Two mercenaries stood in the Ningjing Mercenaries headquarters' main room, gazing at the mess before them. They had just returned from their respective endeavors, and were expecting a hearty greeting from their fellow mercenaries, along with a hot bath, warm meal, and a soft bed to greet them. Instead, the dining area looked abandoned. A wooden stand holding a vase of leafy plants had fallen over, spreading soil across the floor and into the cracks between the floorboards. No one was here except the two of them.



Shenshan

"Elder Tong, I would like to nominate Ke'ai Yu and Qiu Orchid for the journey. We are very understaffed already, so we cannot spare any senior students nor instructors. However, these two are very talented individuals. In addition to their talent in alchemy, they have fighting experience, which make them suitable for the undertaking in question."

Setting down the scroll he was reading, Elder Tong sighed while rubbing his sinuses. "This journey... the future of Shenshan will depend on its success. We cannot lose sight of the long-term in the interest of keeping a few clients in the short term. We cannot send mere students on this."

"Elder, this journey to the real Shenshan, at the most ideal execution, this journey would take half a year at the very least! Our instructors can barely manage teaching all the classes, which are already reaching the limit in size, if we lose any more-"

"I know... I know. This journey is to retrieve the most valuable secrets of our school. First, there is the risk of sending students and that they end up harmed. Second, should they succeed in the journey there, there is still the journey back. The risk then, is losing the secrets to enemies, bandits... barbarians... We cannot bet the future of the school on two students..."

Elder Tong glanced at the school's roster worriedly, as he adjusted his sleeves.

"I cannot truly pass on the secrets without the scrolls, mere verbal instruction will not suffice. Even I, even though I have personally witnessed the refinement process of our school's most treasured recipe, I cannot properly teach it unequiped. The process is too complex and lengthy to store in the mind of a single person, that is why we have written it all down, despite the risk it poses if stolen. If only we could spare even one instructor, however it is as you said... one cannot squeeze blood from stone..."

The instructor standing before Elder Tong's desk started pacing back and forth, deep in thought. Elder Tong finally stood after some contemplation on the topic at hand.

"Reluctantly, I will concede that you are right... We have no choice but to send students. Orchid and Yu... I give you leave to handle it. However, send them off to Ningjing first. Give them enough to hire at least two mercenaries... We must do our best to ensure the success of this journey, both for their sakes and the future of Shenshan."

"Understood, Elder, I shall go immediately."

-----

Instructor Chen Yeh left Elder Tong's study and hurried over to the student dormitory. Muttering his thoughts out loud, Yeh soon found himself in front of Ke'ai Yu's door. Knocking gently, Yeh spoke through the door. "Yu, it's Yeh here, tomorrow morning after breakfast, you are to come to my study instead of attending your morning class. Don't worry, you aren't in trouble... well, I suppose that depends on your outlook- sleep well."

Yeh left the boy's dormitory area and headed towards the next building, which was the girl's dormitory.

"Ahh..."

It was too late, as his eyes clapped upon his colleague's figure, barely covered with a bath towel, as she crossed his path on her way back from the school communal hot springs.

"A-apologies..."

*Smack*

Stumbling a bit, Yeh made his way past the hot springs entrance towards Qiu Orchid's door. "Orchid, it's Yeh. After breakfast tomorrow, report to my study instead of classes." Hearing some giggling in the distance and the chatter of some girls heading towards his direction, Yeh timidly and hurriedly left the girl's dormitory area, returning safely to his own quarters. "Finally, I am one step closer to my goal..."

 

[Beowulf]

Buras growled in frustration as he stared at the abandoned Mercenary Headquarters in Ningjing. He had traveled what felt like across the known world just to be here, and it turns out everyone left. His hands clenched into fists, he stomps over to a chair, picks it up, and with a roar throws it across the room to shatter against a wall. There, that should get someone's attention. And it had the added benefit of making him feel better, letting some of the frustration out. And if anyone was still here, they'd show themselves. If no one was, then someone from outside would wonder what was going on and poke their head in. But he couldn't just go around breaking furniture to make sure someone hears it. So he decided that he'd wait a while before breaking something else.

Pulling a nearby chair out, he sits down and waits for the chair to stop creaking before completely relaxing. These chairs weren't meant for someone of Buras' size and stature, and a few have broken under him in the past. But these must have been made out of something sturdier, because he didn't end up on the floor. It was around this point that he noticed there being another person in the room, having momentarily forgotten about them as he made a chair briefly fly. He couldn't help but size them up, mercenaries were hired out by different people and there was no telling when he'd fight this one. But it was obvious that they weren't the thing that was going to kill them. He'd beat them, regardless of what happens during the fight. The fates showed him his ending so he doubted they'd just let someone else end it. They wanted excitement, probably, and would pull hundreds, maybe even thousands, of strings to make sure they got what they wanted.

 

[MUSΞ]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Qui Orchid[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Wood Mastery | Longbow and Pike[/BCOLOR]


[BCOLOR=transparent]"I can't sleep!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Orchid laid restlessly in her cot, her white nightgown barely hanging onto her thin frame as she pounded her feet into the mat. Her hands were wrapped tightly in bandages, herbal ointment smeared across her whole palms after hours of bow training out on the field. It was her punishment, and yet training to hone her shot through surrounding distractions. She was forced to concentrate her arrow with a crowd of young children screaming, laughing, and calling her names all because of a truancy of one of her classes. Orchid was sure she wouldn't be missed in that class. A friend was suppose to cover for her, letting the teacher know she was running late because of an upset stomach. Instead, her friend cracked at the interrogation and after a brief manhunt around the land of Shenshan, Orchid was caught scavenging for berries.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Pull, release. Pull, release," Orchid repeated, her arms mimicking that of a drawn bow and arrow.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]For three hours she stood there practicing her shot, not allowed to smack the children upside their heads to get them to shut up. Her instructor looked on with stern eyes, shouting at her to use her wood mastery for aim with her wooden arrows instead of purely relying on steady hands. Alchemy was her weakness and she hated it with passion. She saw no real point of using it if her human skill can have the same results. But, each time she tried to argue, Orchid was put on another punishment, from intense training to helping the kitchen prepare food, to cleaning anything that was dirty.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Rolling onto her stomach, Orchid buried her face into her pillow. Exhaustion swept over her body, but her mind continued to think and think. Being an overactive young adult, her mischievous mind always caused her trouble. Instead of follow lessons correctly, she tried to figure out other ways to get the same results. It always ended up being a failure, but for some strange reason the failures gave her a better understanding of what the lesson was. The teachers were concerned of her backwards style of learning, but never corrected Orchid on it. If it taught her, it worked. It grew her into a very talented student, among the best in Shenshan. But, Orchid wasn't told that. There was a fear giving Orchid too much praise would turn her into a snob, a false sense of confidence to a girl who always action oriented before thinking of consequences.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The noises outside her room didn't help. She could hear the other girls in the baths, chatting away in mousy voices. In the group of female students and Shenshan, Orchid didn't really fit in. Her tomboyish ways were a bit off putting to them. Her independence made her seem unlikable and unapproachable. There were only about three girls Orchid called friends who tried their best to get Orchid more involved with the students. But, after her teasing way of showing fun quickly shunned her from the others.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Quickly leaning up, weary eyes strained to look through darkness at the door of her room. The sound of a soft knock echoed through the chatter and to her wiggling ears with two ponytails tucked behind them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]It was Instructor Chen Yeh sending her a quiet message of reporting to his study after breakfast in the morning. Before Orchid could reply, she could hear his shuffles away from her door and down the hall. Panic struck across her face, teeth clenching as she tried to remember her day. Did her skipping class again really get her into this much trouble that Instructor Chen Yeh wanted to see her? By now, everyone at Shenshan should understand her truancy as something normal.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Letting her body fall onto the bed, she covered her face with her pillow before letting out a muffled, frustrated scream.[/BCOLOR]