Mortin was dead.
Miri's slouching figure cast a long shadow against the rising sun as she returned from her comrade's burial. Burial meaning she cast her corpse off the cliff and watched it disappear into the cloudy sky.
In her own words, "It was better than leaving her on a stranger's battlefield."
Yun didn't get the sentiment, her death was finalized on that same battlefield; might as well stay put.
Leaning against the gate's face, he watched the last remaining Maliki's approach with curiosity. She dropped to the ground with a soft groan and joined Yun.
With a yelp, he shuffled away from Miri and stood up. He had to put on a bit of a show and pretend to be scared of the Plague. As a fledgling Divine, he was immune to it, but she didn't know that. Divines didn't even exist in this world.
"Relax," Miri said with a show of her palm. A thin layer of essence formed a barrier around her hand. "I didn't touch her directly."
Maintaining an incredulous expression, Yun sat back down. He heaved a long sigh. "That sure is convenient."
"Yes. It is a very taxing technique, though. It takes a very skilled vital artist."
"Did you just compliment yourself?"
"What if I did?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Together, they watched the sunrise.
The jade clouds shone with a soft golden hue. As the columns of snow rolled in from Falling Sky Temple's heights, they looked like molten amber flowing down a canvas. Yun couldn't imagine in his wildest dreams that he'd get to witness the rising sun's beauty, or that he'd have to be transported to another world to see it.
After five minutes spent in silence, Yun raised his bound wrists and stared at Miri expectingly.
Seems like as good a time as any to ask.
Snip!
With one swift motion, the silver broadsword severed the tight knot. Yun stretched his hands above his head, feeling his bones go back into place with a satisfying snap.
From his left, he heard Miri chuckle. A weak smile was plastered on her weathered face.
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"How are you doing it?"
What is it now? Is the grief getting to her?
"Paying heed to a dying woman's words… is tantamount to losing one's sanity. But can you blame me?"
"Lady Miri, what are—"
"There wasn't supposed to be a Dragon in the Lost Sea. It's clear that it followed us in, something it wouldn't do. The clear answer is that something was drawing it in…"
As she spoke, Miri traced her index finger along the edge of her broadsword. Leaning on the gate, she had assumed a relaxed posture, but she could easily explode into a murderous whirlwind within the second.
"Even the Plague. First my brother, and now Mortin. How…?"
Yun continued to stare out onto the magnificent view. He searched his mind for the response that would keep his head intact.
"Lady Miri. Any minute now, your brother will come to disembowel us if this gate doesn't open."
"And what is your solution?"
"I thought it was obvious. The script circle requires vital essence. Specifically, the one of a Cloud Servant like me. I regret that I haven't awakened my core for such a moment, but that's not exactly a problem with you here."
"Oh? You wish to learn the Vital Arts from me?"
Vital Arts. Mortin had mentioned it briefly during their hike, but Yun didn't pay it much attention.
"Given that we are running out of time as we speak, that would be nice, yes."
"What's there to learn? You can feel your own vital core, no? And everyone from the Loends to the Euphrates can draw in essence from when they still suckled on their mother's teat."
Well, I can't just come out and say I'm a soul from another world inhabiting someone else's body.
Unable to form an excuse, Yun was subjected to an extended stare from Miri.
"Okay, then. We don't need to go through the Arts, but I will have to force your core awake. The natural method will kill too much of our time."
While not a fan of the word 'force', Yun nodded in agreement. There really was no other choice.
He turned to the cliff.
"How much time do you think we have?" he asked.
"Until the sun goes down."
"How can you be so sure?"
Miri turned to Yun once more with squinted eyes. With the Plague being a prevalent threat during this time, knowledge of it had to have been commonplace amongst the natives of the Forsaken Realm.
But — at the risk of sounding like a broken holo-monitor — Yun was not from the Forsaken Realm. And he hadn't had much interaction with it back in the real world.
"The Plague is incredibly sensitive to light. That thing's senses are being overwhelmed as we speak. It wouldn't be able to tell apart its toes from its arse-hole. It has probably fallen off the mountain path a couple of times, but that wouldn't stop my brother for long."
"Okay, then. Let's begin. How do we do that?"
Miri rose to her feet and dusted herself off.
"Get on your knees."
"… Excuse me?"
She gently tapped Yun's shoulder with the broadsword.
"Just listen. We have to save time. Even after you awaken your core, we still need to find the other prisoner. If he's alive, he's sure to have the map. My theory is that we will need both a Cloud Servant's essence and the map to fully unlock the sealing script on the gate."
That made sense. Scruffy was still out there, and even Yun had adjusted his danger meter considerably after Smoky's gruesomely clinical death. He followed her orders and knelt down.
Miri placed a calloused palm on his back.
And so, with the assistance of the last of his captors, surrounded by the gaze of thousands of deceased warriors frozen in death, Yun began the process of awakening his vital core.
They had until sundown to open the gate and make their way to the Falling Sky Temple.
***
Yun sat cross-legged on a flat field. Wind blew in all directions, meeting no resistance whatsoever in the empty plains.
The sky itself was also empty, being a dull grey in colour.
Actually, it wasn't even grey. Was it silver? The best word to describe it was nothing. The colour of nothing.
This was his- no, the servant's Soul Plain.
A tired voice floated all around him, guiding him through the process.
"I want you to imagine the day of your birth. I know you can't remember it, but humour me."
"… Okay."
That wasn't a hard sell. Yun's sister would often retell stories of his infancy to him. Like how he was terribly mischievous, having a knack for scaling the tallest thing he could find. Ironic, considering how he wasn't a fan of heights now. Even being on this mountain made him feel dizzy.
Anyway, one of those stories was of the day he was born.
"It was on the same day Mother was forced to descend from the Stone District."
"I've never heard of it. Which continent is it on?"
"It's a very distant land… My, uh, tribe fled there when our master abandoned us."
"Oh."
When Yun held the image of the Stone District, the Soul Plain responded. The field quaked.
"What the hell?"
The ground came undone, leaving Yun floating in the air, still sitting cross-legged within the nothingness of the Soul Plain. A mass of land shot up from the nothingness, and a city followed behind.
The city rose from a silver-tinged dusk, its skyline a jagged crown of soaring stone spires, interlaced with sleek obsidian towers, whose glass facades pulsed with a soft ethereal glow.
Narrow cobblestone streets winded between colossal edifices draped in ivy and luminous everglows. Ornate gates and baroque fountains were distributed unevenly, while the distant toll of a great bell reverberated through the air.
Witnessing the Stone District materialize, Yun scoffed. Miri gasped.
"What sort of prosperous land is this?"
"One that makes a habit of asserting its presence over you. No matter where you go…"