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Redemption’s Rose - Chapter 67

Published at 24th of March 2023 05:55:47 AM


Chapter 67

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“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked the great beast beside me. She began to rear up and then stretched as best she could in the hole.

“Climb atop me, little one. I will show you how.” I pushed off her forearm and clambered onto her back.

“Ready.”

I was hit with a feeling of sudden buoyancy, similar to what I had felt when she had held me suspended in the air on our first meeting. I looked down and sure enough, we were floating.

“You can fly?” I asked, stupidly. Of course she could, she was literally doing it. However, sometimes even seeing was not enough to believe.

“I am out of practice but it is not difficult for someone like me.” I feared it was a case similar to Teteli where I had severely underestimated the magnitude of the being I had come across. Her golden qi had mesmerised me but I I did not know what it was capable of. What separated it from the qi that I had cultivated.

I sat speechless on the creature's back until a dull light faded into view above us.

The great beast stopped, however, before revealing her form to the sect above.

“Child, I’m afraid. I have spent such a long time in the darkness that returning once again to the light has become frightening. I am aware of what I am but I may, at some point, have forgotten who.”

I stroked the trembling beast. “Rather than thinking about who you were, think about what will make you happy. Then chase it, like your life depends on it.”

“I have forgotten what makes me happy. I may have even forgotten what happiness feels like.”

“It is only a matter of time until you remember. Everyone feels ever…”

“Everyone feels everything at some point. I remember, little one.”

“You have spent long enough below ground. It is time to rediscover what you have been missing all these years.”

“Will you stay by my side?” she asked. Her exposed heart lay bare. A creature beyond my comprehension asked for my shoulder to lean upon, I could only hope that her weight would not crush me.

“Sure I will, partner.” The creature snorted happily then propelled us the rest of the way out of the hole.

Mouths fell agape as the docile creature revealed herself to the sect. As discussed in a hurriedly concocted plan, we daughter upwards, through the hollow tower in the hope that we could meet the sect master before anyone else could cause trouble to Milly.

She snaked her way up until we found a point in the tower where progression with such a large body was impossible. She allowed me to hop from her back and onto the stone path. A cloud of mist appeared where she flew and as it dispersed it revealed the floating form of a woman in a luscious dress, a beautifully concocted arrangement of decorative ribbons and clips held her hair in an impossible bow. She wore the same horns that she had as a beast, the same eyes and a tail that swayed in a calming motion.

She did not descend from her flight and instead floated alongside me as I showed her to the room, behind which was the sect master.

“Milly?” I asked.

“Yes, little one?”

“Will you try to take your sect back?” I asked worriedly. She chuckled.

“I do not believe taking up such a role would be conducive to searching for my happiness.”

“I don’t think so either.” I said, relieved to hear the fact.

“So let us enter? I believe we have much to discuss with the lady of the sect.”

“Yes, let’s.” I agreed and swung the door open.

Inside, the sect master pored over papers at a desk in the corner of the room.

“What is this?” She exclaimed as she looked up and saw me. It did not take her much longer to notice the woman floating beside me. “Gracious Immortal,” she suddenly said and bowed. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence.”

“You owe this child, here. Are you the sect master?”

“This is my sect, the Hall of the Mountain Gods.”

“Have you kept it well?”

“I have done my best to make the ancestors that reside in the walls proud.”

“What of the ancestors that live in the ground?” The sect master crumpled her eyebrows in confusion.

“I am afraid I am not aware of their preferred place of residence beyond the stone that has kept Gutura safe and strong for more years than I can even conceive.”

Milly, at that moment, caught sight of the door behind the sect master. The one that Sen’o had been sentenced to pass through. The sect master noticed her watching.

“I’m afraid that door is off limits to anyone not named Milly.” I was about to tell the sect master that in fact the strange lady was indeed called Milly but Milly quieted me with the raising of her finger before I could.

“What lies behind?” asked Milly.

“I am not sure enough to be able to answer that question,” replied the sect master.

“In fact. My name is Milly. Or, Millicent Farth. Immortal Dracken. The Mountain God. I have been trapped and drained of my power below your sect for millenia. Do you know of me?”

The sect master stood speechless for a long while. Her panicked thinking was plain on her face.

Milly continued. “Do you have documentation of my name, a statue depicting my form? Do you use the techniques and technology that I gifted Elder Ibanew when he founded the sect in worship of me?”

“Elder Ibanew is mentioned,” the sect master stuttered. “But you are not.”

“Pity, I was hoping it would help me to remember. No matter. I think, if you will allow me, I would like to see what is on the other side of that door.”

The sect master trembled in relief, undoubtedly unsure as to whether Milly was angry about her erasure from the history of Gutura and if she was, what she would do about it.

She regained her composure and spoke once again.

“I must reiterate, I cannot guarantee your safety behind the door, even if you are the same Milly that I have been asked to find.”

“I do not need such a guarantee. I find myself to be quite familiar with this door, and who is behind it.”

The sect master nodded and gave way for Milly to pass by. Milly paused before the door rested her hand on the wooden frame. She took a deep breath then entered.

The sect master snapped her head toward me.

“Pray, explain yourself.”

“I was called upon by Milly thanks to my cultivation technique. I found her entrapped in an array at the bottom of the hole in the disciples residence.”

The sect elder sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Do you believe her?”

“It matters not, she has no intention of taking her place as the mountain god. Or to become the sect master.”

“Then, what does she want from me?”

“We want you to find who is responsible for her imprisoning, and to let her cultivate in the sect as my creature partner.” Her forehead rubbing increased in intensity.

“I’ll do what I can to find who is responsible and I will allow her a position in the sect as your creature partner. But, no one can know that she is an immortal, let alone that she is the mountain god.”

I recalled riding through the sect on her back and the surprised expressions that we left behind.

“Absolutely.”

Casualperv READ ME

Hello, thanks for reading :) That's the end of book 1. Almost 85k words, well over 100k if you count planning and storyboarding. More words than I've ever committed to paper under one title. I am immensely proud but am in desperate need of a break from having it on my mind.

Yes, I will be taking a break from this book but I have every intention to return. In the meantime I will be pursuing other writing projects. If you would like to continue to read my work, please follow me and keep an eye out for any posts that I make. That may mean mongrel, it may mean Under Two Moons, it may mean I will write something entirely different.

If you like what I've written in book one, please let me know. It would mean a huge amount to me. Keep it nicely nestled in your reading list for the time being and I'm sure it will pop to the top of it once again. Perhaps even sooner than you think.

Thanks again





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