Chapter 96

Chapter 96: 96 It seemed a bad idea to antagonise such a powerful being, even though they were still restrained, but I felt I didn’t have much of an alternative. Helen’s hands paused in their spell drawing and Ah-Boon flinched and looked between me and the loong centuries older than me. I really felt like I’d bitten off more than I could chew. I know the method to remove these binds for it was I that weaved them, was the not unexpected reply. "What...?" Even Helen stopped completely and looked up at the giant creature. At that point I still wasn’t sure what a taotie was, but I got the sense that that part of Helen was what was driving her obsequious and made her miss the obvious possible truth. The air vibrated again. For a being that had to be in so much pain, they certainly seemed to find life amusing. These chains restrain, little ones, but they also support and suspend. All these unfortunate children, the great head of the creature raised and looked out over all the chained loong, this is the only way I can keep them on this side of Death’s door. "What happened to them?" asked Ah-Boon. We all turned to look out into the web of chains. The first few, the ones that were already here when I was lured here, were already in a... comatose state. I was led to believe that the humans here were looking for aid to help these children, so I readily agreed. The great being sighed. I had not anticipated the depth of their depravity. Once here, I discovered that not only was the plea for help a falsehood, but it was these humans who had frozen these children into their current state. Frozen? I asked. They used... a crystal of some description. I have not had the opportunity to examine any in great detail, but I know it involves using a crystal to freeze a loong in a heightened state of emotion all the better to harvest energy from them. "Harvest energy?" exclaimed Ah-Boon. "This place is a giant battery?" The great creature seemed to disapprove of the analogy though they continued to explain nonetheless. I believe your idea is not far off. I listened to their explanation yet I also found myself feeling like I was falling, like I was looking down from a tall building. This was what my father, no, what Artemis had wanted to do to me, probably still wanted to do to me. He wanted to make me into a battery, suck the life out of me, all to... ...There is a large spell formation around the perimetre of this area, about two mu in diametre. At its centre is something... I felt then that the jiaolong’s attention flickered for a moment toward me then away again like they didn’t expect me to notice, of interest. I perked up. Was it Bran? If I’d learnt anything when it came to magic and spells and all that jazz it was that if The Unity were using him for some nefarious purpose then it would make total sense for him to be in the literal centre of it. Therefore, mentally spoke the creature, to save what little life force these poor children still have in them, I chained them, cutting them off from the world in order to cut the ties that link them to the spell formation. "Ah, so that’s why you want this teleportation spell," said Helen. Yes, as soon as I drop the spell, the humans of this place will know and they will come so there will be very little time to do much of anything, let alone escape via normal means. Helen gestured to Ah-Boon. "Expand the radius of the portal," she ordered. "And Misha-" Have you seen a loong called Yeung Serng Yin, or a snake-woman, or a few other people? The jiaolong hummed in their throat as they thought. Friends of yours? Yes. I am sorry to say that I have not, though, that is hardly surprising. After casting this spell here, I have had hardly any energy left for anything else. A mouse could slip in here and I wouldn’t notice. Oh, okay. So that meant they could be here. Thank you. You are welcome. I turned to Helen, rather aware that I’d just ignored her. Sorry, but I... Helen shook her head and smile. "Don’t worry. I get it. You want to go after Bran." And Aunt Yeung. "Right." She furrowed her brows as she tapped her chin. "How about this? You continue the search in the area for Bran and the members of Whale Toes while Ah-Boon and I get everyone here out and looked after?" Is that... okay? I mean, I’d like to do that, but... The woman gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Please, I’ve dealt with far harder missions. What I’m concerned about is how you’ll get on." I’ll be fine. I can protect myself. "Yes..." Helen looked at me thoughtfully, then went to one of the camera bags and pulled out something from it. "Here. It’s a prototype, so there may be unexpected side-effects, but you can use this to open portals. They’ll only go a short distance, but it should still help." That would be a massive help! I exclaimed, then stopped. I have no pockets. "Don’t worry," said Ah-Boon, walking up to Helen and me. He was waving something circular and plastic in his hand. "I always keep a few rubber bands with me at all times." -- The ancient loong was right about The Unity being alerted as soon as they let their brethren go and Misha had to scramble to fly out the hole in the ceiling. He’d only been able to get a glance of the insuing scuffle, but it looked pretty one sided in their favour, so he’d flown off without feeling too guilty. He knew that if he really wanted to find Bran and the others he needed to do it without a tail, without anyone knowing he was there. At first he thought he’d follow his hunch about going to the centre of the spell to find Bran, but as he flew, he began to wonder if that’s what the jiaolong had really been talking about. Couldn’t that thing of interest in the centre be the Hundun instead? Actually, that would make more sense if it was a replacement for the ’battery’ the jiaolong had been witholding from The Unity. Misha shuddered to think of what the Hundun might actually look like. How powerful was it? Could it vapourise a person with one look? Maybe he’d played too many video games, but from the way this thing was being hyped up, he was pretty sure it was overtuned. A fast moving black smudge grabbed his attention and Misha quickly ascended into the clouds above. The smudge was small, but if it was an enemy... He followed the potential enemy while keeping a good amount of distance and cloud between them. As he did, he glanced down to check that the small lipstick-like device was still strapped to his leg. If worse came to worse, he still had a get-out-of-jail-free card. He tucked in his legs and dived. The poor little raven-cat had never had such a bad shock than when a giant loong suddenly descended over it. It yowled like a cat and also dove, hunting for some kind of cover on the ground. The terrain here was still mountainous, but enough of the snow had cleared that there were plenty of hiding spots and the little creature sped right into one. Misha landed heavily by the clump of grass and rocks and immediately changed back into a human, too focused on the little thing to notice that he was fully clothed. "Clover!" he shouted. "Clover, it’s me! Do you remember me?" He crawled on the ground by the hole he’d seen the cat-bird scurry into and peered into it. Even with his enhanced vision he couldn’t see a thing. "Shit." Then a soft rustling grabbed his attention and he flattened himself to the ground like he was still a wolf on the hunt and carefully looked through the woody grass. A few feet away the cat-bird emerged from among the grasses and carefully looked around. Misha ducked then slowly looked again. Clover finished its danger assessment, clearly missing the hidden Misha, and trotted off. Misha waited about a minute, then followed. He thought a moment about going loong mode again to fly but decided that body was too big and too easy to spot. Sure, as a human he had to crunch along on the ground, but at least he could hide... It was surprising, but this Clover, despite how powerful and magical it seemed, was not very vigilant and Misha was able to easily keep it in sight without being spotted. Up and down the hills they went, clambering over fallen trees and jumping across the random errant stream. The surround flora seemed to be more temperate now and, dare Misha say, warm. Or perhaps it was just from all the walking. But none of that matter. How could it, when there was a person in those woods, a person other than Misha, a person, or rather, the person that Misha wanted to find more than anyone else in the world. There, among the ash black trees, dead mosses and melting snow stood Bran.