Tsem walked for hours after he split up with Kanuk. He was only able to keep moving thanks to the effects of the lifetender pill. Low quality though it might be, it was a miracle for Tsem. He wasn’t entirely sure what was driving him to stay in the wilderness. Part of it, he knew, was the fool’s whisper which he was beginning to feel even now. The mountain’s mystery called to him. There was more than that though. He just wasn’t willing to admit what that was to himself yet.
The first order of business was to find shelter. Tsem wanted to stay close to the stream too, after all, he wouldn’t last long without water. Unfortunately, nothing that felt particularly homelike was around. There were no convenient abandoned lodges or even welcoming caves. There were ruins around—Tsem had spotted three of them, each looked a little like a massive altar. They all seemed to have intricate, nonsensical engravings carved into them along with what looked like stairs leading down. Tsem didn’t bite at that temptation though. Kanuk had warned him emphatically to stay away from them.
Long after the last light had left, he did find something that could make for a decent home, at least with a little work. It looked like an old burrow, as if a mole twice the size of a human had decided to stake the place out as its home. The dirt looked incredibly firm despite its proximity with the stream and had an odd shine to it. The place was tucked behind a ridge, and rather well hidden by a bush. Tsem had only found it because he’d been ranging a good way out from the stream, specifically using foliage to keep any unwelcome eyes off him. After all. he didn’t want to run into something while he could hardly see.
Tsem approached the burrow, noticing odd puncture wounds in the ground as he did. They looked like someone had been repeatedly jabbing a sword into the ground. Perhaps the place had been made by an earth cultivator rather than a beast? That would make sense with the size at least.
He reached the opening and suddenly realized his mistake. He felt a wall of qi wash over him. It was far stronger than anything he had felt before. It made the internal qi used by the star panther, the Ghalri Raptor, and even Da Kanuk feel insubstantial in comparison. A massive form came hurtling out, rapidly coiling around Tsem.
“Oh.”
“Oohhh” Came the response of the massive form, vibrating through his chest, a hoarse whisper. “You are…huuman.” It drew out its words, each one seeming carefully chosen.
Its many coils shifted, and an enormous head, the size of Tsem’s entire body moved through the cylindrical wall it had formed. As it did, a thin metal spike popped out just behind its head, what looked like one of many retractable blades running along its spine. Tsem shuddered. He had a hard time shaking the fear from himself. There were better places to be than in the coils of an enormous snake. Still, he knew what he felt. This was no demonic beast. “I am.” Tsem confirmed. “I am called Tsem.” He put his head down, awe in his voice. “You’re a divine beast.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“II aam.” The voice came out, the breath from its lungs mussing his hair. “Yoour kind callss me a basilisk.”
Tsem gulped. “I apologize for disturbing you.”
“II offer you…an agreement.” The head bobbed; its eyes firmly closed. “II am a creature that lives…by the night. You…one who lives by the day. Were you not…seeking a lair.”
“I was searching for a home, honored elder.” Tsem bowed. Divine beasts were far rarer than demonic beasts, and with few exceptions were incredibly old. The few known on the northern continent played a large part in guiding the entire empire with their wisdom. The divine qi within them was thought to grant them intellect no less than that of the cleverest human.
“II sensed something…odd here on this mountain. When II came to investigate, II found a ciIty of huumanss. Teell me…of your kind…and my lair is yours…in the night.”
“Honored elder.” Tsem bowed even deeper. “I feel this strangeness too. It comes as a pull on my heart, calling me towards the peak. I know not why.”
“Cuuriouss.” The great snake moved with frightening speed, uncoiling itself and slithering up a tree. It looked up the mountain. “II do not feel it as you…describe. To me it is…a thing of the mind…the metal in this mountain is strange of late…or perhaps it has been for some time.”
Tsem leaned his head back to look at the divine beast, dozens of swords now standing along its back, moving against the little bit of moonlight. “Honored elder, surely you can just go to the top of the mountain and find the source.”
The snake laughed, an odd noise that somehow evoked an image of an old man in his mind. “II am…weak. No stronger than the stongesst in your kind’s…city. My senior’s do not let me pass. They will admit only the…strong.”
That was shocking. It felt like this divine beast should have been invincible. Tsem doubted he could have laid a scratch on its scales even with an entire army of himself.
“Nooow…tell me of your kind. Whaat do you seek…here.”
Tsem spoke a great deal that night. He couldn’t talk about the nearby city since he’d never been, but he spoke of the emperor’s command to expand to the frontier, to the southern continent. He explained what he’d heard: that the empire’s sects, large and small, coveted the resources in the southern continent and stood with the emperor. He talked about the fourteen great clans and their reticence to risk their own in an unknown land for unknown gains when there were yet so many neighbors to be conquered in the north.
The basilisk listened from the trees, seeming deep in thought. Finally, when it was satisfied that it could squeeze no more information from Tsem, it gave him permission to enter his lair, and it moved off, going from tree to tree.
The divine beast’s lair made for a surprisingly convenient place. There wasn’t any furniture or any bedding, and the ground had been turned into metal, so, it was about the least comfortable place to sleep imaginable, but there was one important thing: light. Runes were carved into the walls, and they produced a dim light.
Tsem eagerly made use of it, taking out the manual Da Kanuk had given him, and devouring its contents. It wasn’t very long, only discussing the habits of the common demonic beasts, their strengths, and their weaknesses. It also only discussed those in the outermost region of the mountain. That was far from a problem though. The fool’s whisper may have been ringing in his chest, but Kanuk’s warning and the basilisk’s reference to ‘seniors’ were enough to put that notion out of his head.
He settled down to rest, tossing and turning to try to find some position on the hard ground where sleep would be possible. He secured both the vial of pills, of which only two remained, and the Da hunting manual in his thin pockets. Multiple times, a slight shift in his sleep onto a root strangely turned to metal woke him up, and he reread one passage in particular. He knew he would be hunting come tomorrow. Until he got some kind of thick coat, he wasn’t going to get much sleep at all.
