Molting the Mortal Coil

The group of six ran through a forest, back to where the ten attackers had come from. Sage was seeing a few days into the past and he followed the hit team’s prior path back. They went deep into the woods and Sage frowned.

Damn, just as I thought. They were only part of a larger group.

His mind spun through his options, and in just a moment he arrived at a decision. If he merely continued to retrace the steps of the group he’d follow them back to their source. Instead, he chose to follow the rest of the group back towards the present. They traveled into the woods in a different direction. Sage followed them, stopping in place when they did and then fast forwarding the past events to bring his view back to the present time. After splitting from the other group for just a few days, these others arrived at a door hidden upon the side of a large rock. They tapped on a few places and then the crack on the side of the rock got wider, and the stone swung outward. Sage watched carefully, not wanting to miss any other special passwords or tactics to get inside.

At that point the six of them stopped and Sage cancelled Hindsight. While he would like to keep following their path, he wasn’t going to just walk up to a secret door without being on full alert. In fact, the main reason was to switch which version of the Timeless Eyes he was using. Now that danger was staring him down, his right eye became the one with the glimmer of stars in a void. He approached carefully, only after asking the Tiankong Family to keep back. Without keeping them all within his line of sight, it would be hard to tell when they were injured. Thankfully, he found no traps along the way and after copying the touching pattern he’d seen, the rock door swung wide open.

He motioned for the others to follow him, watching their approach to make sure there weren’t any accidents. Soon they reached his side and he repeated the earlier actions, having them wait just inside the door as he advanced slowly. After a dozen yards, he ran into the first trap. A Formation Array was waiting for him on the side wall of the tunnel. It was quite simple for him to break, but he was guessing this array was merely made to be very obvious and warn anyone coming this direction. Sage tread a little more carefully afterwards and had to deactivate three more formations before they reached another door. He started searching for more formations when he heard a noise. It came from behind the door.

Sage rapidly retreated to rejoin the rear guard.

His caution was unnecessary. When nothing came out from the door after a few moments, they inched down the tunnel again and listened carefully. They realized it was the sound of laughter and boisterous conversation. Sage took the risk and switched back to Hindsight. Soon enough, he found a point when the door opened. A pair of men came down the tunnel and then entered the door. When it opened, Sage saw a large table that bore a half-dozen small piles of gold and a set of dice. Then he noticed a pair of couches and made a guess about the room. With the method to enter within his grasp, Sage prepared the team for a silent assault.

They walked up and he knocked on the door in a strange pattern. A moment later, it opened and Sage was taken aback by the sudden scene. From the glimpse earlier, he took it for a sort of break room in a military base or secret stronghold. Now that he’d actually entered, he realized what he was actually seeing and held up a hand to halt the Tiankong Family from attacking. What he thought was a break room turned out to be the gaming area of a nightclub. Or at least that’s what it looked like to him. Waitresses in skimpy cheongsam were walking around with large trays and handing out drinks. Others were busy gambling, but most of the action seemed to come from the small side booths with curtains where people were joking, laughing, and singing.

Why is there a club in the middle of an empty forest?

Moving cautiously, they pretended to be regulars in the club and nobody seemed to care what they were doing. A waitress tried to lead them to a table a few times, but they declined. Once Sage was assured they weren’t targeted here, he switched back from Foresight to Hindsight and looked for the group he was tailing. He found them entering the club from the same door they did. They entered a private booth, drew the curtains and changed their clothing, removing their masks and giving Sage an opportunity to see their faces. He peeked into their booth as they changed, only confirming that one’s who left were the unmasked men and not just other’s they’d swapped with. With their new faces in mind he continued on the trail and followed them out of the club and onto a large street.

Sage was astounded. He looked around at the scenery surrounding him and was surprised to find himself in an urban center. He had to climb to the roof of one of the taller buildings nearby to get a better view of the area and figure out just where he’d gone. With some calculating he realized he was already back in the provincial capital: Golden Cricket Cove. The only way he could explain it was that somewhere along his path he’d triggered a Transportation Array without realizing it.

Terrifying. How did I not even feel it?

He pretended to be nonchalant while asking one of the other club patrons about the doorway he’d entered. The man was annoyed, but gave him the rundown. The doors at the outer wall of this building, the ‘Merciful Mollusk’, ran to various locations around the province, but could only be used at great expense. While following the footsteps of their enemy, Sage realized why he felt so odd from being in that club. Many of those around him carried an aura he recognized. Only after following the attackers out of the club and to another large manor did he realize why they seemed familiar.

I was hoping it wouldn’t be them. Oh well, I guess that means I have to get into some trouble.

The Chong Clan took up a whole district of Golden Cricket Cove, and one of the reasons for doing that was sitting right in front of him. The mansion had a plaque up in front of the gate and Sage read the name on it. Chong Wu. Two surnames. Sage searched his memories and realized that when he was young he overheard talk of factions within the Chong Clan. At that time, one of the elders in the family came and broke up the conversation, telling the kids not to mind what they’d heard. Their clan’s role was on the battlefield, and even if one of those factions directly asked for their help they refused. The Lang Clan was determined to maintain its neutrality.

Not wanting to step into a trap, Sage left the manor and followed the techniques he’d taught to so many others. Recruiting a few informers and paying for information about the factions of the Chong Clan. Leading a whole province, they were quite large and powerful. They had five main factions, and four subordinate Branch Clans spread around the province. The main factions were: Jinxi, Xie, Wa, Xiyi, and Wu. Golden Cricket, Scorpion, Toad, Lizard, and Centipede, respectively. The Branch families of Ci, Yi, Jie, and Min were likewise named Stinger, Ant, Beetle, and Frog.

It wasn’t hard to decipher that the Wu faction, the centipedes, had been responsible for his attack. The ones he’d tracked back were likely melded to some of the centipedes used in the attack and so they would already know their attack had failed. Sage wasn’t willing to step into the muddy waters of a faction war in the Chong Clan, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything for him to do in Golden Cricket Cove.