Midnight Storm (Uncompleted)

Draft

"If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time."
~Chinese Proverb

~

Hú Rushi did not like listening to the screams of the damned, but the  punishments they received were equivalent to the crimes they committed when alive. It was uncomfortable, their screams and whimpers rousing unpleasant memories. But some people truly did deserve to suffer.

The screams faded as she walked further into the tunnel. The smell of dirt and rot heavy, cold metal gleamed in the light as pale bones glowed. Further and further she walked.

Flickering blue foxfire lighting the way ahead as bones and stale earth crunched under her feet. Her thoughts wandered as she walked and walked and walked. Sometimes she amused herself with memories of the past, of a white-haired teacher whom protected her from every danger, of a home safe and filled with all her precious people, a time before...

Shaking her head, Rushi spotted the end to the long tunnel. The door was positioned overhead as a wooden ladder stood snugly underneath. Slowly she climbed up the deceptively small ladder, on the maybe thirtieth ring she managed to reach the trapdoor. Slow and steady, any faster and the security talismans and arrays will activate and she'll never get out without outside help.

Knocking on the stone trapdoor thrice, the stone slab slid neatly open allowing her to climb out of the cold tunnel. Dim torchlight glowed, illuminating a field of barrels filled with food and drink. Turning away from the tempting display (of good strong baiju and not that sake from Dongying), Rushi looked for the next exit.

Ignoring the sharp heady sweetness of wine and the promising freshness of the barrels of meat, Rushi searched for another scent or sound. A foreign one, one that did not belong and could only be brought in by an outside source. It could be of water, the wind, or even of insects. For if it can come in then it can be brought out as well.

Carefully avoiding the various traps set randomly between the barrels of food and alcohol she inspected the stone wall. Nothing.

Crates of silks and other luxuries were piled in a corner nearby seeming misplaced somehow. Curious she wandered closer, carefully checking each crate when she realized something was different about them. A foreign energy.

Warily she inspected each box, just as she was about to drag the last crate out, she stopped. One of them had a strange energy surrounding it, smiling knowingly, Rushi knocked the same combination she had used on the trapdoor on the hollow crate. The energy twisted and danced, drawing in Qi as it twirled in a whirlpool before the energies steadied.

Unsheathing her claws, Rushi slowly approached the crate before hooking each claw around the lid and pulling it open. Staring into the murky abyss, she jumped.

Air whistled past her ears, wind rushing between her fur. Stars and planets gathered and danced in their own galaxies. Glowing eyes stared at her accusingly before turning away in a spectrum of color.

There was a dim roaring in her ears, growing softer and louder before a white ringing silence encompassed her.

Slowly the blinding white background and ringing faded. Rushi realized that she had landed somewhere in the gardens.

Tall trees grew overhead, artistically grown as their shade cast shadows that enhanced the already deep greens of the trees. Creeping vine-plants bloomed in the chill colors of deep purples, blues, whites, with the occasional red. Various flowers blossomed beneath the safety of the odd shrub or two. Herbs grew in another section, separated from the rest of the garden by artistically placed statues and stones, their intoxicating scent flavoring the small breeze that brushed across the fallen leaves.