Beware Of Chicken-Novel

They were in the center of the five points. The center of five smaller spiral formations, each with its own rock.

Bi De had expected to find something here. Something that could perhaps shed light upon this phenomenon. The hills here were certainly large, and a few had their own Stones upon them…. But they were by far the most degraded of the bunch. Most were missing entirely, and those that were not had their tops sheared off, or were canted and misaligned.

Yet as far as he could tell, there was no great beacon here. Nothing at the true center of the land. In fact, it had even less Qi than he thought there would be. The power of the land spirit was but a faint echo here.

The only legible thing they had found. It was faint and worn, but one of the pillars did have the word ‘fire’ etched into it.

His companions nodded their heads, accepting his request.

And so they set off, combing the area. Their legs were strong, and their eyes sharp. Surely, they could find something. But after a day of searching, it was in vain.

There truly was nothing special here.

Bi De thought upon it. His experience in the world was too lacking to tell if something was amiss.

The spring that they were near spluttered for a moment. It coughed, and there were a few anemic bubbles that formed.

Mildly interesting… Yet Bi De could not say if it was truly strange.

Bi De considered the question. He had not truly found anything of value yet. His curiosity spurred him onward, even as his heart told him to rest for a while first.

Miantiao stroked his chin with his tail.

Several different directions. Well, it wasn’t too big of a detour, and if they found nothing, then Bi De would turn back. Turn back home, for a moment, to reassess, and gather supplies again. Travelling all this way only to end up with more questions than he had in the beginning.

He shook his head, and prepared to rest. He offered his energy to the land… but found nothing. There was nothing to take his power here. Maybe a few small motes and sparks… but other than that, it was empty. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. Yin wandered over to slump against him, and Miantiao looked at the stars with him.

Bi De turned, interested.

He listened once more to a master that had absolute passion for his art. Though Bi De himself held little enthusiasm for the pots, he still gave the old snake his full attention.There was so much he did not know of this world.

His sleep was disturbed by a dream of water being thrown thousands of Li into the sky, and then rumbling down the hills.

He chuckled, when he awoke to the little spring spitting in futility, the droplets barely clearing the water.

They made southwest with haste, and there, as Miantiao said there would be, was a village with a shrine.

A village that seemed to be gearing up for a festival, and a dance.

He marked another point on his map.

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“Are you sure about this?” the merchant had asked, when he saw their destination. “The Ash Forest is beyond those hills. Mighty dangerous place, the Ash Forest.”

Bi De nodded his head. The man sighed, but held out some provisions with a small smile.

“Well, was good to meet you. Thanks again, for taking care of my cousin, yeah?” The man offered his respect. Sister Ri Zu’s teachings had come in handy. All three members returned the gesture.

The merchant nodded, and went on his way.

Indeed. Whispered tales had spread through merchants and caravans. With those tales and His Great Master’s servant’s paper, they were welcomed into villages, even villages that were not under the leadership of the man. Bi De had been to several towns, and none seemed as well managed, nor were their guards as vigilant as the one in Verdant Hill. Truly, the Magistrate was worthy of being His Great Master’s servant.

Yin had enjoyed herself greatly. She had a cloth scarf around her neck, a gift from a dancer girl, who performed their variation of the dance for them.

Most seemed amused at their presence. A rooster, a dancing rabbit, and a snake that made fine vases.

Bi De did not know. They had found more formation stones, as similarly illegible as the last ones, and guesswork had led them in this direction. Last time, Bi De had gone around in the spirals, searching for the proper way to construct the formation. This time… well, they were passing by it anyway.

Now, they were headed for the center. For in the center of the Ash Forest.

Bi De could not wait until he could introduce them to Fa Ram.

Together, they ventured into the forest.

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Their camp was surrounded. It was an awkward conundrum, as Bi De did not realise that things this large could move so quietly until it was too late.

Bi De held his head high, as the Blaze Bears circled around their party. Yin bounced on her heels, her eyes focused, while Miantiao just looked sad. He closed his eyes, and uncoiled from his disciple, to lend her better movement.

The ambient temperature rose. Fire began to spark and burst off the Spirit Beasts, who were not taking kindly to trespassers upon their land.

Bi De sighed. He had been warned of the beasts, yet he did not expect them to be so zealous. They acted as if this was their Fa Ram. It might very well be.

This caused some of the bears to sneer. The largest Blaze Bear rose to his hind legs and roared, fire streaming forth from his mouth. The rest began to spark and ignite

Bi De sighed.

The Spirit Beasts flinched as Bi De’s Qi rose, surrounding his body in a halo of silver light.Yet numbers made them bold. The Sun formed around Yin, her Golden Armor blazing with the Sun’s light. Miantiao let out a rattling hiss, his one eye as sharp as shattered glass.

Yet the bears did not back down. The rest rose to their hind legs, and fire erupted from their bodies.

The Bears roared, and the battle was joined.

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The bears were seated in varying poses of defeat, slumped against trees or, in one unfortunate’s case, embedded head first in the ground up to his waist.

Yin bounced happily. It had been a fine strike.

The Bear looked mutinous for a brief moment.

Then Yin casually pulled the stuck bear from his hole.

The Bear led on, and they were escorted through the Ash Forest. It was a vibrant place. The trees were healthy and strong on a level that Bi De didn’t know outside of Fa Ram, and this was without the bountiful Qi that flowed through it. This meant that this growth was purely from the richness of the soil. Bi De would have to collect a sample for his Great Master.

Yet even in this deprived place, Blaze Bears stayed. Stayed in greater numbers than he thought there would be.

Five had been defeated. His eyes tracked to another, who took one look at Bi De, froze, and fled.

The bears all looked at each other.

As one, they shrugged.

They continued in silence.

Bi De frowned at what they had said, and Yin looked equally troubled, glancing at the sky for a moment.

It took them another two days to reach the center of this place. The true center of this part of the formation.

And yet..

There was nothing.

There were no pillars. No formations. No rocks arranged strangely. Just like the other place. Bi De sighed at the lack of progress.

Bi De offered his power to this worthless, qi deprived place.

His eyes closed.

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It was a lush, impossibly vibrant forest, full of fruits, flowers and berries. Even under the light of the blessed moon, even with snow on the ground, things bloomed and grew, uncaring of the frost.

A great bear tended to this garden. Her fur was a verdant green. Her eyes were soft and loving. Her cubs gamboiled around her feet and claws. She approached a tree, one of the giants that were bigger around than his Great Master’s coop, and wrapped a single paw around it’s mighty trunk, plucking it out of the ground with a gentle yank. Its roots came up clean, as she wandered off with it. Bi De followed. She wandered into a clearing. There stood a stone twenty Li high, spearing into the heavens, and covered in a thousand inscriptions. Inscriptions that were blurred, but he could see one clearly. One character that stood out.

Wood.

The bear planted the tree. The ground moved aside without a single noise of protest, as she stopped to observe the massive edifice.

She licked her cubs as she smiled at it.

It was nearly time. But.. time for what?

Energy gathered. The Bear chuckled, as her children danced and swayed.

But.. something was amiss. The She-Bear frowned. The flow of energy wasn’t supposed to do that--

The She-Bear was on her feet in an instant. She threw herself toward her cubs, screaming for them.

She barely managed to interspose her bulk between them and the stone.

The stone that exploded, throwing pieces of itself across the land, and shattering the tops off mountains with the violence of it.

She burned with it.

She was a creature of growth and life. The fire found a perfect offering.

It ate. It consumed. It fed upon her, even as in her last thoughts she prayed. prayed for at least one drop of her children’s blood to survive.

Her prayers were answered in the cruelest way.

A single drop of blood did survive. A single drop of blood, tainted from the flames.

Four little bears, one for each lost cub. They crawled out of that drop of blood, and into a world of ash.

The first Blaze Bears went forth. The first Blaze Bears brought back seeds.

================================

He gasped as he awoke, his heart pounding in his chest. There was lingering sadness, regret, shock, and pain. Yin was curled up beside him.

Wood to fire—

His eyes widened. Small geysers, spitting, and nearly dead. Rocky hills.

He scrabbled, retrieving his map. Miantiao, who was instructing one of the less ornery bears on how to properly fire pottery, turned to the sudden movement.

To Bi De’s surprise, the Bear looked receptive to what was being said.

Bi De, with a shaking talon, drew out the rest of the formation.

The rooster swallowed thickly.

Bi De did not answer. The snake slithered around, to glance at what Bi De had done

Miantiao’s eye widened.

Bi De stared. Miantiao’s tail reached out, tracing the formation, and Bi De’s notes.

Two other empty spots, with their corresponding symbols.

All five elements. An empty spot in the center.

He tapped the spot on the map, near Pale Moon Lake. One last investigation, to see if that mark was even worth his Great Master’s time.