Chapter 25 #2
Linnea adamantly shook her head even as the gate flickered once more.
“Nope! There is absolutely no chance of us going back there, anytime soon. The winds are howling with such frigid cold that it will soon be absolutely inimical to all life. The only reason we made it back unscathed is because even the spirit wolves froze to ice, and Alex was infusing the entire party with his potency to keep us alive and moving forward!” Linnea brightly said.
Alex furrowed his brow. “Really? I didn’t sense any wolf-sicles.”
“That’s because you were focusing on heat signatures and being super protective and wonderful, but Rachel Lu—who’d better not be married to you first!
—her gifts allowed her to sense their passing as sources of excellent fertilizer.
But since you haven’t formed a gestalt with her yet, which you shouldn’t until she knows her place and accepts it, you couldn’t have known. ”
Alex nodded. “Makes sense.” His brow then furrowed with worry. “Shit. How long did you delay touching the gate? I don’t want to risk losing anyone to that frozen death trap.”
Nili groaned. “Oh no. Heaven’s mercy, we’re already too late!”
Alex turned to catch Nili’s gaze. “How so?”
She sighed. “It’s only in the oldest records.
It’s been so very long since our one remaining rift needed a new core and the other failed altogether.
Even the records were damaged with time and exposure.
Records that should have been kept as carefully protected and warded as any cultivation treatise.
” She snorted with no small amount of ire.
“Regardless, it did give us some important insights as to when the precious flow of water was about to expire. And if everyone hasn’t fled the seasons by the time the water stops flowing, they will never experience another. ”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Shit. Are any other parties in any of the other delves? Lao Tie is still trapped in there. He needs to get out now!”
“Don’t worry, Alex. My daughter and I already rang the gates, summoning the Spring, Summer, and Autumn parties to flee, taking on the role of academy associates,” Nili assured. “Hence our green academy uniforms. As for your companions…”
“It will be alright,” Linnea assured. “We all left at the same time. And look. The gate’s flickering again.”
Alex felt equal parts relief and wonder. “Why am I only just now noticing your forest-green cheongsams? And wait… you can ring the gates and that somehow signals everyone in all the overlapping delve realms to flee immediately?”
Nili gave Alex a look. “Well of course. How else would we signal them? There’s only a miniscule chance we’d actually stumble into an occupied instance, as you should well know, Alex.”
Alex blinked. “Wait… why didn’t you ring our gate, then? And does this hold true in Liushi as well?”
“Of course not, Alex. Winter is a Silver-tier gate. Don’t you think we would have rung it, if we could? And what do the Four Seasons Gates have to do with Liushi?”
Alex opened his mouth to speak before Linnea, of all people, gave him a look and slowly shook her head.
His attention was then drawn to Lini, ears now flat against her curls.
“Mother, what do we do? If Xien Su marries Princess Sunlay, we all know that the king will have an accident before the month is out and then the purges will begin, just like in all the stories you’d tell us every night in order to get us to be quiet, behave, and try to blend in.
But the royal councilors know who we are, and they’ll betray us in a heartbeat, if it keeps their own families safe!
” Lini said, her voice now that of a frightened child.
Nili, holding her anxious daughter close, gazed Alex’s way with a desperate intensity that broke his heart.
“Alex, I know it’s madness to ask, but for the sake of our people, all the children counting on us, all the people of Wanshi who will soon be little better than half-starved slaves, will you dare one more mission by my side?”
Alex looked at his friend as the portal flashed once more. “You’re thinking of taking on those bastards right in their den. All twenty Silvers. On the off chance we can actually find where they hid the Bronze core and install it in time.”
Nili swallowed before forcing a nod. “Yes, Alex. That’s… that’s exactly what I’m asking.” Desperate, imploring eyes met his own. “Can I count on you in our greatest hour of need, Alex?”
Alex shared a smile with Linnea, whose eyes were positively twinkling.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on that bit of madness, Nili.”
Nili froze, the look of desperate hope transforming into sudden dismay. “Alex, I…”
Lini choked off a sob, eyes filled with actual hurt betrayal. “Alex, please! They’ll purge our people!”
“Why?” Nili pled, petite hands clenched into desperate fists, anxious eyes pleading for a reason.
Alex winked. “Because why the hell would I settle for Bronze when I can have Gold?”
Nili and Lini both stared in awestruck wonder at the marvel he then revealed. A massive Water core so like the core that had given such hope and stability to Liushi, the very sight of its radiance wiping away the tingling thirst Alex only realized with its absence.
Nili sobbed, laughing through her tears. “What are the odds? By what mad miracle of intervention were you able to pull such a feat?”
“You really are a hero!” Lini exclaimed.
“I had help,” Alex gently said, turning with a warm smile to the rest of their party coming through as one, linked arm in arm.
Kuaisu was smiling bravely despite her injury, and Wu Xien and Tang both wore strained expressions, hiding their pain and discomfort with relieved smiles as they stepped through, as did Ya Ling, shivering with her pale frost-bitten skin, holding a shivering Rachel, to whom Alex immediately sent a surge of healing potency, earning a grateful smile as her cheeks flushed and she gently slipped free of Ya Ling’s gentle embrace.
“Thank you, Ya Ling,” she softly said.
“You ready to be a hero, Lao Tie?” Alex shouted to his companion as the fire specialist’s eyes lit up at the kitsune still on one knee.
“Lady Nili! I thought I saw you in the dueling sands. Quite a sight, our Alex’s match, wasn’t it?”
“Lord Lao, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
Lao Tie’s cheerful smile became strained. “I can’t help but note that you are here and not by my fiancée’s side… Is all well?”
Alex frowned at his boon companion’s presumptuousness, realizing that a certain conversation would need to soon take place. Yet surprisingly, Nili took no offense at those words, her answer immediately clarifying things for Alex.