Twelve Paths To Glory

Chapter Ten: Goals Reached

Fire Rabbit

"Rain! Wake up!"

Autumn Moon was shaking Jade Rain's shoulders. Jade Rain sat up, feeling the fire in their limbs. Was it all a dream? It felt so real. And Father's voice...

"Did you fall? I found you here. You were about to enter a small cave!" The girl sounded frantic. "Did you knock your head?"

Jade Rain touched their head. It didn't hurt. "I... I am fine. I thought I was in this cave and I saw an altar. And I heard Father's voice. I learnt about balancing the wu xing and the Fire Rabbit stance."

"Fire Rabbit? Isn't that our highest level? Only people who are adepts and more experienced could learn it. Like my father and yours. They are both masters. We are just initiates!" Autumn Moon's voice shook.

"Maybe, it was just a dream," Jade Rain said, feeling the chi flow in their bones. They kept seeing the different stances in their head:

The Fire Rabbit Stances

The Crouching Rabbit.

The Rabbit That Swims.

The Dancing Rabbit.

The Flying Rabbit Who Sees The Moon.

The Rabbit Reaching For the Sun.

The Rabbit On Lotus Of Fire.

The Fire Rabbit.

Autumn Moon helped them up, carefully leading them back to their camp site. Sky Grace was up, putting more twigs into the fire. He looked up when the two returned.

"I made some pine needles tea," he said quietly. "Foraged and found pine needles."

Steeped in the gourds, the pine needles smelled sharp and refreshing. Jade Rain sipped theirs, glad for its astringent taste.

"You feeling better?" Jade Rain asked.

Sky Grace nodded with a small smile on his lips. "Much better. I cleared the blockages and the wounds have sealed up quickly with your poultices. I feel stronger."

"We need to go back to Serenity Hall," Autumn Moon said urgently. "We need to rescue Old Bing."

"What if the Earth Borers are there? What if they -?" Jade Rain dared not continue.

"Then we fight them. We can't back away now. Our clans' lives are at stake!"

"Lady Chao Feng knows where we are," Sky Grace interjected wearily.

"We... We can hide. We know secret routes..." Autumn Moon replied.

*

Lady Chao Feng, sated with the chi of all the cultivators she had killed, spat at the old man's face. He bore it stoically as the saliva trickled down his sallow cheek. She had taken so much pleasure torturing him.

The Elixir buzzed, momentarily contented. It had fed well. Soon, it would demand its due. Its hunger was insatiable. Perhaps that was why the Celestial Court had it sealed up. But Lady Chao Feng, Ultimate Leader of the Clans of [Tian Guo] didn't care. The clans were scattered, some had surrendered. Only the unorthodox clans, the rats and the snakes, were unscathed.

"I hate your purity, rabbit," Lady Chao Feng purred. Her appearance had changed, though nobody dared to say it right in her face. Her face had elongated as if it was turning into a boar's snout, complete with jutting sharp tusks. Her skin had taken on a brown-black tinge, mimicking the colour and texture of coarse fur. Her nails had thickened and hardened into shiny obsidian ivory talons. Muscles bulged beneath her robes. "I hate your kindness, I hate your compassion, I hate your clan's righteousness!"

Old Bing glanced at her. His face was bruised. He hung on the wall, wrists locked in manacles. "You can never win, Lady Chao Feng," he said simply.

She slapped him hard on the face. The sharp sound echoed in the dungeon.

"You look so pitiful I don't want to eat you," Lady Chao Feng said and stalked out of the prison. She had a sudden urge to see her children. Because of her nightly hunts, she had not seen them for days.

Lady Chao Feng heard Pebble's giggling as she played with her nanny. The little girl was tossing a cloth ball in the air. She was laughing so happily that Lady Chao Feng smiled.

I am hungry. I need to feed.

The Elixir's voice jabbed into Chao Feng's head like a dagger.

She approached Pebble, eager to hold her daughter in her arms.

I want blood. I am hungry!

The Elixir was insistent, almost begging.

"No, wait!" Lady Chao Feng tried to brush it off.

The little girl playing the ball paused at the sight of Lady Chao Feng. Pebble began to cry, her face scrunched. Her eyes were terrified.

"Pebble!"

The girl screamed and fled into the arms of the nanny, an elderly lady. The woman backed away and pulled the little girl protectively into her arms.

"You are not my mother!" Pebble screamed, sobbing. "You are not her!"

"It's me, Pebble," Lady Chao Feng said, reaching out. Her talons gleamed, causing more fear in the little girl.

"Monster!" Pebble shouted. She tore out of her nanny's embrace and ran straight into her room. "Monster!"

"Noooooo!" Lady Chao Feng cried.

I want blood. I want her blood. Feed me now.

*

"A demon has been unleashed," Lord Fu roared. "Fight, my brothers and sisters! Fight!"

A tiger snarled and leapt at his enemy, one of the Stone Breakers, Lady Chao Feng's own elite fighters. The crimson-clad warrior flung out his staff, breaking a boulder into two. One of the halves hurled towards the tiger, crashing into the cultivator.

"Lord, we are losing," Bright Song gasped. Blood covered her face and shoulders, some of it hers. Her eyes gleamed dragon gold. "We can't afford to Fall!" Many of the dragons were struggling. Their animal selves warred with their human parts. Some bore the hint of scales on their arms and faces.

"MY LORD!" Bright Song hissed. "We need to retreat!"

"We are the Dragon clan! We do not retreat!"

He spoke his last words. Lady Chao Feng appeared from nowhere and crushed his windpipe.

*

The Earth Borer caught only a glimpse of fire before she flew across the valley, as if she had been hit by an explosion. Her robes burned with an invisible fire and she screamed trying to put the flames out...

The other Earth Borers ran for their lives.

*