Strongest Incubus System

The road north of Mirath remained normal for almost three hours.

That made Damon suspicious.

There were fields, small properties, carts traveling in the opposite direction, and a few Mirath patrols checking documents before allowing travelers to continue south. Nothing moved strangely, no mountain changed position, and no path disappeared whenever he looked away.

Damon looked at Chen Mo, who rode a few meters ahead.

”When does the part where the road tries to kill us start?”

”When we stop being on a road.”

”Annoying answer.”

”You asked.”

Aria rode beside Damon with a folded map resting over the saddle. Since leaving Mirath, she had marked every curve, bridge, and settlement they crossed, even knowing it would probably become useless once they reached the convergence.

”So far the map is correct,” she commented.

Yun Shuo looked over his shoulder. ”Enjoy it.”

”That sounded threatening.”

”It was experience.”

Mu Qing rode between Jian Yue and two horses’ distance from Chen Mo. The chains around her wrists had been replaced by containment seals hidden beneath her sleeves, but a short chain still connected her ankles beneath her clothes. She could ride, but dismounting and running would be difficult.

Damon thought the precaution was reasonable.

Ester thought it was insufficient.

”If she tries any technique, I’ll break both her legs,” she had said before they left.

Mu Qing had asked whether that was part of some medical oath.

Ester had answered yes.

Since then, Mu Qing had spoken little to her.

The first sign that they were approaching the fold appeared near the middle of the afternoon.

Damon saw a fallen tree lying across the road.

Nothing especially strange.

They passed beside it.

Almost twenty minutes later, they found the same tree again.

Aria pulled the reins.

”No.”

Damon looked at the broken trunk. ”Looks like the same one.”

”It is the same one.”

”Trees can look alike.”

Aria pointed to a mark carved into the trunk. ”I cut that when we passed.”

There were three small lines in the bark.

Jian Yue looked at Chen Mo. ”Are we already inside?”

”At the edge.”

Yun Shuo examined the path behind them. ”I didn’t feel a change.”

”Because you’re still looking for change in space,” Chen Mo replied. ”The fold does not alter space first. It alters reference.”

Damon frowned. ”Explain it like no one here is four hundred years old.”

Chen Mo looked at him. ”You believed you were traveling north because the sun, the road, and your memory told you so. The fold decided north continued in the opposite direction.”

Aria closed the map.

”So we’re going back to Mirath?”

”No.”

”That didn’t help.”

Chen Mo dismounted.

”From this point onward, stop trusting direction, distance, and time.”

Damon got down as well. ”What’s left?”

”Continuity.”

He walked to the tree and placed a hand over the mark Aria had made.

”When we cross a fold, we choose something that remains true regardless of position.”

”Like what?” Ester asked.

Chen Mo pointed toward Damon.

”Heshan is calling him.”

Damon did not like how much responsibility that sentence placed on his head.

”So I go in front?”

”No.”

”Great.”

”You stay in the center.”

”Less great.”

Chen Mo reorganized the group. He would go first. Jian Yue would follow. Damon would remain in the middle, accompanied by Ester and Aria. Yun Shuo would follow behind them with Mu Qing, preventing her from straying if the path reorganized itself.

”If we lose sight of someone?” Aria asked.

”Do not search.”

She went still. ”What?”

”If someone disappears, continuing to search can make you follow a different version of the path.”

”And we leave them?”

”They continue walking within their own continuity.”

”That is a horrible idea.”

”Xue Lian established the method.”

Damon sighed. ”Of course she did.”

Mu Qing watched the path with an expression Damon had never seen on her before.

Caution.

Not exactly fear.

Respect.

”How long has it been since you entered a fold?” he asked.

”Almost three hundred years.”

”And do you miss it?”

”No.”

”Finally, something we agree on.”

Chen Mo started walking.

The horses followed by the reins.

For the first few minutes, nothing changed.

Then Damon realized there were no birds anymore.

A few more steps and the wind disappeared.

The road continued ahead of them, but the trees at the sides seemed progressively farther away even though the path did not become wider.

Aria looked at Damon. ”Are you seeing this?”

”Yes.”

”Ester?”

”Also.”

Chen Mo did not turn around. ”Do not describe it.”

”Why?” Aria asked.

”Because naming fixes perception.”

She closed her mouth immediately.

Damon almost laughed.

It was the first time he had seen someone manage to stop Aria from recording something with a single sentence.

They continued.

The light changed.

It did not become darker.

It simply lost its source.

There was no longer any clear direction from which the sun came. The horses’ shadows pointed in different directions, and Damon realized his own shadow was several steps ahead.

He decided not to comment.

The connection to Heshan remained constant.

It was the only normal thing.

Then Jian Yue disappeared.

There was no flash, rupture, or sound.

In one step he was in front of Chen Mo.

In the next, there was only the horse being led by no one.

Aria drew in a breath.

Damon grabbed her arm before she could shout his name.

”Keep going.”

”He disappeared.”

”I know.”

”This does not look like it is working.”

Chen Mo kept walking as though nothing had happened.

”Jian Yue is still with us.”

”I can’t see him.”

”That does not mean he is not here.”

Damon felt the guardian’s fragment.

Jian Yue carried the piece beneath his clothes.

Its presence was still close.

Not physically.

But close.

”He’s right,” Damon said. ”I can feel the fragment.”

Aria took a deep breath and continued.

Thirty steps later, Jian Yue reappeared beside them.

He turned toward Damon. ”Why did you go left?”

Damon looked at the perfectly straight path.

”We didn’t.”

Jian Yue fell silent.

Chen Mo continued. ”First rule: do not try to reconcile experiences.”

”So we don’t discuss what happened?” Damon asked.

”After we get out.”

”How many rules are there?”

”Eleven.”

Damon briefly closed his eyes. ”Great.”

”You only need to remember three.”

”That’s better.”

”Do not run. Do not go back. Do not follow voices.”

Damon opened his eyes.

”What voices?”

Chen Mo did not answer.

Ester looked at him. ”I would also like to know.”

Mu Qing spoke for the first time since they entered.

”The ones that know your name.”

The silence became much worse.

Damon looked at her.

”Why would the voices know our names?”

”Because they are not produced by the fold.”

”Then by what?”

”Things that learned to live between the paths.”

Aria put the map away completely.

”I preferred it when we were dealing with administrative fraud.”

”No, you didn’t,” Damon replied.

”Now I do.”

They continued for some time.

Damon lost track of how long.

It could have been twenty minutes or two hours.

Then he heard Elizabeth.

”Damon.”

He stopped.

The voice came from behind.

Clear.

Close.

He would recognize that tone anywhere.

”Damon, wait.”

Ester immediately grabbed his sleeve.

”No.”

”I know.”

”Then walk.”

Damon continued.

The voice came again.

This time it was Morgana.

”You didn’t even say goodbye properly.”

He clenched his jaw.

Aria glanced discreetly at him.

”You heard it too?”

”No.”

So each person heard something different.

Yun Shuo started breathing heavily behind them.

”Father?”

Mu Qing turned her face.

”Do not answer.”

Yun Shuo went still.

”Father?”

The voice came again.

”I’m here.”

Damon felt the man begin to turn.

He released his own horse’s reins, crossed two steps, and grabbed Yun Shuo by the collar before he could look back.

”Keep walking.”

Yun Shuo went pale. ”It’s my father.”

”Is your father in Heshan?”

”He’s dead.”

”Then it is definitely not him.”

The answer seemed to bring him back to reality.

Yun Shuo closed his eyes for a moment.

”Thank you.”

”Later.”

Damon returned to the center.

Mu Qing was looking at him.

”What?”

”Who did you hear?”

”Doesn’t matter.”

”Interesting.”

”Keep walking.”

She smiled faintly.

A few steps later, the voice changed.

Xue Lian.

”Stop.”

Damon froze.

Not physically.

His body simply refused to complete the next step.

That was not a poor imitation.

It was the exact voice he had heard in the memories.

The same cadence.

The same coldness.

”Damon.”

He closed his eyes.

”No.”

The voice moved closer.

”You came looking for me.”

The call from Heshan continued ahead.

The voice came from behind.

That was enough.

Damon took another step.

Something touched his shoulder.

He turned by reflex.

Ester slapped him across the face with an open palm.

Damon staggered.

”What the fuck was that?”

”You were turning.”

He touched his cheek. ”You could have pulled me.”

”This works better.”

Chen Mo finally looked back. ”She’s right.”

Damon pointed at him. ”Do not encourage her.”

Aria began laughing nervously.

The tension dropped enough for everyone to keep moving.

A few minutes later, the trees disappeared.

The road did too.

The group was walking across a shallow surface of black water.

The horses stepped without sinking.

Above them there was no sky.

There was another landscape.

Inverted mountains.

Hanging forests.

A river flowing over their heads.

Aria opened her mouth.

Chen Mo raised one finger.

She closed it.

Damon smiled.

”I’m starting to like that rule.”

Aria made an obscene gesture at him.

Then the call from Heshan grew stronger.

The Heavenly Body reacted.

A white line appeared across the water in front of Damon’s feet.

Chen Mo stopped.

For the first time since they entered the fold, he looked surprised.

”What is it?” Damon asked.

”I didn’t do that.”

The line continued advancing.

Directly through the water.

Mu Qing became serious.

”It’s the root.”

Yun Shuo moved closer. ”Heshan is opening the path?”

”No,” Chen Mo replied.

He looked at Damon.

”Someone in Heshan is.”

Damon felt the same thing.

The call had changed.

It was not only the convergence.

There was intention on the other side.

A presence was holding the passage open for them.

”Your third disciple?” Damon asked.

Chen Mo took several seconds.

”Maybe.”

”That was not convincing.”

”Because I don’t recognize the technique.”

Mu Qing went pale again.

”I do.”

Everyone looked at her.

The former disciple stared at the white line as though she had seen a ghost.

”Who?” Damon asked.

Mu Qing swallowed.

”It does not belong to any of the twelve.”

The line of ice opened.

The black water divided.

On the other side appeared a valley covered in snow.

Houses.

Mountains.

Smoke rising from chimneys.

Heshan.

But someone stood before the passage.

A tall woman wearing an ancient white cloak, her hair held up by a single pin of ice.

Damon did not recognize her.

Neither did Chen Mo.

Mu Qing, however, seemed unable to breathe.

The woman looked directly at Damon.

Then bowed.

Not to Chen Mo.

Not to Mu Qing.

To him.

”Finally,” she said.

Damon remained still.

”Who are you?”

The woman raised her face.

Her eyes were exactly the same color as the eyes Damon had seen countless times in Xue Lian’s memories.

”My name is Xue Mei.”

Mu Qing stepped back.

”Impossible.”

Xue Mei ignored her.

Her gaze remained only on Damon.

”My mother is waiting for you.”