Nao-Zai peered from behind the scratchy fronds, studying the yawning maw a great distance away. Like its name, jagged rocks hung from its entrance and jutted out of the ground. This new floating chunk of land resembled Reol-Je's island, except this one was smaller and a bit brighter. Maybe it was inspired by Chai-Song's domain?

This chunk lay somewhere between the Southern and Eastern Quadrants, at least according to the fowl. It was also because of her that Nao-Zai and Xin-Wei were now crouched among tall but thin blades of grass. Itchy thorns grew from the sides of each one, pricking past his sleeves and into his skin. An-Ri was draped across his back, perched against one of his arm. Her small hands rested on his hair which she took advantage of by yanking at it in the randomest of moments.

Chai-Song's explanation of Nao-Zai, Kai-Se, and An-Ri's bond flew over his head. He didn't really know what that's about, but for some reason, An-Ri had been almost entirely agreeable since they left the Southern Quadrant. When he told her to stop looking at Chai-Song like food, she didn't put much of a fight. And now that he's paying attention to her, an intuitive sense settled at the back of his mind, telling him of the state of the energy inside her. Was that he magic, her korza? Could Nao-Zai do those cool things now too?

And what did Chai-Song meant about Nao-Zai being an extension of Kai-Se's soul?

"Stay here," Xin-Wei growled, slinking past the line of thorny blades. "I will get the tears. Be ready for escape should anything go wrong."

Nao-Zai shook his head. "I'll come," he said. "Chai-Song didn't send me here for nothing."

"They might have," the tiger answered. "I have been acquainted with the Sapphire Fowl long enough to know this to be one of their games. It's not amusing and I am not to be held responsible for a mortal's passing."

That's...harsh. And expected of a Divine Being. Reol-Je told the tiger that Fate was a fickle thing serving only its interest. Well, Divine Beings were just as bad. He wouldn't let it drag him back, though. It's not like he came here to sightsee. They had to save Kai-Se and stop Han-Xi. They'd prevent the end of the world if they're lucky.

"I'm already here. Might as well try to help," Nao-Zai insisted. "And you're not going to be responsible. You can abandon me if I prove to be a liability."

Xin-Wei's nostrils flared and its whiskers twitched. "I admire your tenacity about this matter, but the Divine Plane does not function the same way as the mortal realm," it said. "You can join me but I will not leave you when you run into trouble. I am not helpless, young mortal."

"I do have a name, you know," Nao-Zai stalked after Xin-Wei when the tiger leaped out of the influence of the grass and bounded towards the dark void in between the fangs made of rock. "You can call me Nao-Zai and save yourself some saliva instead of saying 'young mortal' every damn time."

Xin-Wei turned to him as he reached the cavern's lip. "I am a Divine Beast," it said. "I have no saliva."

Before Nao-Zai could say anything, the tiger resumed its run, plunging them both into yet another kind of darkness. "Remember, do not let Dae-Zhang's fangs touch you in any way," Xin-Wei warned. Its paws slapped against the damp stones in the same pace as before, but surprisingly, Nao-Zai was able to keep up with his meager, mortal strides. "Their venom is the most potent killer in the Divine Realm and not even our korza can recover against it."

Nao-Zai knitted his eyebrows. "Dae-Zhang?" he tilted his head to one side. "Is there any chance this one is also one of you?"

"Exiled," Xin-Wei said, its tone clipped and honed to a hostile edge. "Dae-Zhang is the Pillar of the Origin, an entity separate from the Quadrants, but equally important in keeping the balance of the universe. They are the Divine Quintessent Beast, the Pearl Viper, and the Breath of the Stars."

"What happened?" he asked. "Why are they not part of the bunch?"

Xin-Wei's snouth bunched into a weak snarl. "Betrayal," it replied. "Dae-Zhang is the key to the completion of Han-Xi's plan and the Viper has given in to the Dragon's nonsense. Han-Xi is the sole being who has the Viper's tears and has since used them to create the problem we have now."

"So Reol-Je's wrong to blame only you," Nao-Zai blurted. If the tortoise was here, it would have snapped him in two with its pointed lips already. "Everyone has had a part to play."

"And what part are you willing to play, young mortal?" the darkness taunted. Shivers ran down Nao-Zai's spine as a booming hiss rang from all over. His free hand gripped his sword, whispering hold on to An-Ri. Let him hope their newly-forged connection would hold in this setting.

Xin-Wei's claws flashed out of its paws. "Leave the mortal alone," it growled, turning its head this way and that, blue eyes glinting against the thick darkness. "I am the one you are to face."

A forked tongue ripped through the veil of darkness, followed by a pair of beady, black eyes, a flat, scaled head, and finally, the long whip of a body. The shadows fell away from the beast, showing flared frills from the side of its head and the stark white scales covering it. At this point, Nao-Zai had seen so many Divine Beasts that another one didn't affect him as much as it did when he first encountered Xin-Wei.

It's still a formidable sight, but the wonder had faded now. Instead, a bout of doubt and fear sat on the base of his gut. The sight of the curved fangs sent him drawing closer to Xin-Wei. He mustn't let those touch him. Was it the same for the tiger?

And how he hated it—not knowing, not understanding. When he was in the Yomaura Fortress, the only thing he drilled into his soldiers' heads was to know everything they could about their enemy. Running in blind, swinging their swords in the dark just because they could—these were the most fatal mistakes they could make as a warrior. But now, as Nao-Zai trudged through unfamiliar landscapes, met beings he'd never been briefed about, he might as well been his trainees on their first day. What's worse was that he had no idea how to fix it, to make it not that way.

"Are you after my tears too, Xin-Wei?" the viper asked. It was phrased as an innocent question but the way it was delivered contained so much spite and bitterness. "And after I help you, will you instill another punishment?"

Xin-Wei pawed the ground, the fur on his hide and his mane rising enough to make the tiger appear larger than it already was. "This is a different time, Dae-Zhang," it answered. "Let me rephrase my intent: give us your tears and I will consider restoring your place and your power."

The viper's jaw widened as it hissed. "Lies and more lies," it spat. "You mock me, Xin-Wei. First by bringing a mortal in my cursed domain. Second by daring to fill my head with ridiculous desires only to turn on them the second you get what you demand."

Dae-Zhang scoffed. "All you Divine Beasts are the same. A thousand centuries will not be enough to wipe the ink you threw into this canvas," its head rose a distance higher, the rest of its body feeding it. "And for that, you shall pay."

A blur of white rushed down. Xin-Wei snarled and swiped its paw at the head advancing towards it. The two beasts devolved into a flash of claws against fangs. Nao-Zai ducked under Xin-Wei's tail as it swept in a wide arc, balancing the tiger's body when it leaped backward.

An-Ri shrieked in delight as he wove around stomping feet and lashing tails. He scanned the cavern, noting its high ceiling filled with more jagged stones. The walls were rough, peppered with ledges thick enough to be handholds. The only wind whipping through the expanse was what was generated whenever Xin-Wei's paw missed the viper's head a fraction of an inch or when Dae-Zhang lunged forward only to bite empty air.

Nao-Zai picked his way behind the viper, hand clicking the guard of his sword out of its sheathe. What could a blade thin enough to be a splinter in Xin-Wei's foot do against Dae-Zhang's scales? It's one of the multiplying questions he had no answer at the ready to. He ground his teeth against each other. He's here now, so might as well try to help as much as a tiny mortal like him could.

The rocks to his left exploded into a shower of debris. Nao-Zai's arms whipped to cover An-Ri's head as well as his own. Dust exploded in a blast, the sound of stone chipping away loud in the ringing in his ears. A blur of white fur skidded to the floor. "Xin-Wei!" Nao-Zai called. His periphery caught a flash of teal just as Dae-Zhang whipped towards him.

"Foolish mortal," the viper hissed. "Do you think these traitors will protect you? Do you think they will save you?"

Nao-Zai's face flared in the viper's beady eyes as its head whizzed towards him—too fast for him to see or jump away from. A roar. Dae-Zhang was thrown sideways, its fangs glinting against the meager light in the cave as its head hit the floor.

Xin-Wei stood over the viper, its own fangs bared. "I told you," it growled. "I am the one you will face."

Dae-Zhang's dark eyes gleamed and it snapped forward. The fight continued at an impasse of missed swipes and contemptous hisses. They're not getting anywhere and time was running out for a lot of parties involved. He has to find out a way to finish this.

The whiff of teal. What had that been about?

Nao-Zai flattened An-Ri against himself and wove between falling chunks of the rocky ceiling and walls, righting himself according to the random quivers the earth made with each one of the beasts' footfalls. His eyes ran the length of Dae-Zhang's white flank. Part of it was tinged with a faint teal hue. Why?

Xin-Wei's shriek rang across the cavern as it slammed into the viper, pinning it to the ground. Dae-Zhang's lower half twitched and squirmed in its attempt to get out of the tiger's grip. The movement gave Nao-Zai enough glimpse of where the teal glow was coming from.

A blade. Stuck between crevices in stone. It wasn't anything he'd seen before, but he'd take his chances on it. This was the Divine Plane. Anything that glows was magic. It's better than his powerless sword. Maybe he'd be able to help Xin-Wei through that sword.

His mind was already building a plan from the countless missions he had completed for the Fortress. No matter how big, there was no enemy that couldn't be vanquished. And there's not a person with nothing to protect, not a being without something to lose. And judging at how Dae-Zhang's tail never unfurled completely from it, that blade's something important. Maybe it had something to do with the tears?

Whatever.

Nao-Zai'd better take his chances now.

"An-Ri, blind the viper," Nao-Zai whispered to the spirit whose ears never stopped quivering since the fight between Beasts began. "I'll launch you into the air. Blind Dae-Zhang as best as you can and stay away from their fangs. Got it?"

The spirit's purple eyes stared up at him and he gave her the briefest smile time could afford them. She bobbed her head. That's all he needed.

He placed a hand on An-Ri's stomach and lowered himself into a stance. Recalling everything he learned about throwing a spear, he stepped forward and lashed his arm forward. An-Ri arced in the air, two fluffy tails puffing into existence on her back. Then, with a squeal, she opened her arms and a ball of light zipped towards Dae-Zhang and slammed straight into the viper's eyeball.

A pained shriek shook the entire cavern, dislodging most of the jagged rocks in the ceiling. Nao-Zai strained his eyes to anticipate where each one would land as he pumped his legs forward. Faster. His boots barely touched the ground as he sprinted past the viper's tail. Even when it narrowed into a blunt taper, it was still as wide as an average mortal. If he cut it, would it become another person?

At the last lap towards the teal blade, he jumped. "No!" Dae-Zhang's cry was cut short when Xin-Wei's black stripes whipped past Nao-Zai's periphery. His fingers wrapped around the blade's hilt. A hostile shadow with a stringent hiss rushed towards him. He flipped on his back, feeling the rock groan beneath his soles, and swung.

Teal colored the rest of his vision as the blade connected with something hard. A curved sickle zipped in the air before touching the ground with a hearty clatter. Strong hisses ripped through Nao-Zai's ears but the viper wasn't attacking. Why was that?

"Is the Moonblight your goal all along?" Dae-Zhang snarled, scrambling awau from Nao-Zai for some odd reason. The blade in his hands never dimmed, flooding his trousers and boots with its teal glow. An-Ri glided lower, settling on his shoulder as if it's the most natural thing to do. The viper turned to Xin-Wei who paced in the opposite side of the cavern, mouth agape as it huffed. "Have you come to put an end to my suffering?"

"We really are here for your tears," Xin-Wei said, running its coarse tongue against the dust coating its back. "It's by luck that the young mortal has managed to draw the Moonblight through his own accord. Chai-Song must have foreseen this outcome."

Nao-Zai turned to the tiger and brandished the sword. "Wait, what is this sword?" he asked, testing its weight between his hands. It wasn't like the swords they used in Xuijae. Its guard wasn't rounded, nor its hilt wrapped in leather in geometric diamonds. The blade was flat and broad, but was as thick as a normal djeng-gi. An unfamiliar script was etched on one side. All of the teal glow seemed to be concentrated around it.

Xin-Wei padded to Nao-Zai's side, its shadow falling over him. For some strange reason, the fear weighing down in his gut every time a Divine Beast approached him wasn't present this time. Was it because of the sword? "The Moonblight is Dae-Zhang's curse," the tiger explained. "If it's wielded by a mighty warrior, it can do more than strike a fang or two."

Nao-Zai glanced at the sickle lying on the floor a few steps away. It wasn't a sickle. Dae-Zhang opened its mouth to speak, and true enough, only one fang glinted from its gums. "I'll give you my tears," the viper said. "Spare me."

He pointed the blade at Dae-Zhang who cowered against the cavern's wall in turn. "I don't have a plan to kill you," he admitted. "Give us the tears without issue and I'll let you go."

"I'll keep the sword, though," he glanced at Xin-Wei to get some validation that what he's doing was proper. The tiger's expression didn't shift to show anything. Well, whatever. "It is a nice blade."

Dae-Zhang's forked tongue curled out of its thin lips. "By all means," it said. "Take that abomination from my sight. Don't lose it to some other fool, though, or I will haunt you from the folds of this universe."

Nao-Zai nodded. Xin-Wei stepped forward and blocked his view of the viper. "The tears, if you please."

The viper's lids folded shut. Then, from the corner of its eyes, a clear liquid began to form. Slowly, the drop amassed in size and amount. Then, it broke off the viper's face. As the drops fell, they solidified into crystals. Nao-Zai lunged forward just before one hit the ground and shatter. It might be Dae-Zhang's one last act of spite.

An-Ri zipped into his periphery, the same tear-shaped crystal on her hands. It was almost as big as her yet she carried it like it was made of feathers.

Xin-Wei blinked at Dae-Zhang. Its fur had long flattened against its back, returning it to its original size. Still massive, but tolerable for Nao-Zai. "Then, we will be off," the tiger declared. He picked after Xin-Wei, his newfound sword brushing against his leg as he stuck it into the band securing his fenhai. He almost ran into the tiger's leg when it stopped and turned the slightest back to the cavern. "Be well, Dae."

And with that, Xin-Wei lowered itself into a stance. Nao-Zai had just enough agency to reach out and grab a fistful of the tiger's fur. By the time he was able to flip onto Xin-Wei's back, they were already out of the cavern and launching into the sea of darkness outside.