Molting the Mortal Coil

Running and jumping down the staircase brought them to the bottom in just a few moments, and they continued on down another long hallway. This one was not made of wood like the one in the Merciful Mollusk. Down here it had already changed to packed earth with reinforcing stone archways placed every few yards. After a few minutes of motion at high speed, they entered a large open chamber that was brightly lit with a set of powerful Formation Arrays. Most notable was a barrier made of violet rings of energy stacked on top of each other with a small gap between them. They had a metallic sheen and stone-like solidity to them that almost made it feel like the bars of a jail cell, except horizontal.

As they approached, ‘Boss’ held up a small token and the lower rings of the barrier lifted into the air, making the barrier look like a strangely round umbrella. Once they entered the rings fell back down into their previous position. Inside this barrier, there was a wide stone lectern at the side of a large circular formation carved into the stone floor. Glancing over it, Sage recognized it as a Transportation Array, but it seemed far more complicated than he had seen before. Does it have better range then others or does it have altered or additional effects?

The Boss walked over to the lectern and waved to make sure he followed. He pointed at the slanted surface at an assortment of gems and carved symbols. Despite the foreign look, Sage distinctly recognized this as something of a control panel. Especially when the Boss started to move some of the gems. He pulled them out of their current indentations and put them into others. Then he pulled open a panel on the side of the lectern and swung downwards, revealing rounded side panels. The door turned out to be a mail-style drop box into which the Boss poured a pile of Spirit Stones.

“Alright, bring out your Merciful Mollusk Token and step into the center. Long distance Transportation can take some time, so just remember to hold your breath and try not to move. It’s best to try and keep everything as unchanged as possible while it’s in transit.”

Normally, Sage would never follow a stranger into a Formation Array he had no control over, especially not if that stranger was standing at the side ready to take control over it. At least if it was only something they both entered, then there was a slight guarantee that it wasn’t instantly harmful. If he was being plotted against, he would at least be able to react to the other person bringing out an array controller, or moving to the core. It was like walking up to a piece of unoccupied giant construction equipment compared to walking up to one after a stranger just hops into the control seat.

Contrary to his usual character, Sage did not seem to hesitate at all. As soon as the Boss spoke, Sage brought out the small ID token he’d purchased at the Merciful Mollusk that he used every time he used their Transportation Arrays. Then he walked into the center of the array and followed the man’s instructions, holding his breath and remaining still. Since the Lang Clan Ancestor had instructed him to come here and do this, he decided to put his trust in the ancient figure who’d helped him in the past. While he felt uneasy at putting himself into such a dangerous situation, especially since this ‘Boss’ was a Nascent Soul, he still went through with it. In fact, he debated over this decision for a few minutes in the Inner World before making his choice, but in the outside world it didn’t seem like any hesitation at all.

Behind the stone control panel, the Boss gave him a smile that looked far more menacing than it was likely meant to be. Then Sage sensed some energy flow from the Boss into the stone and the array around him lit up. With his Foresight active, Sage could see that it was going to behave just like the other Transportation Arrays he’d been in before, but with many times more energy than usual. He followed the Boss’ instructions, and was glad that his Spirit Cultivation was not zero. A spherical barrier of wire thin silver rings formed around him, spinning rapidly on different axes as if he was at the center of a gyroscope. Then the world around him suddenly shot away.

Outside the sphere of spinning wire, he saw brilliant multi-colored strands of light. They shot back and forth, bouncing around in random patterns. As more time started to pass, more and more of these multi-colored strands appeared. At the same time, the dull silence within the sphere transitioned into a quiet roar. He hadn’t even realized this white noise was present until the volume grew to a deafening height. Yet, despite the distraction of light and sound, Sage kept his cool and followed the instructions he was given. Without knowing what to expect it would be suicidal for him to decide what sight or sound meant something was going wrong. He wasn’t eager to be remembered as a fool who couldn’t follow simple instructions.

Minutes passed in an ever increasingly stressful fashion until about the half hour mark, at which point everything came to a sudden stop. The lack of deafening white noise and blindingly bright rainbow colors took Sage a moment to adjust to. His eyes rapidly adjusted to the dimmer lighting, and he took a careful look around a small stone chamber. The circular room was about twenty feet in diameter and the large Transportation Array on the floor filled the room with only a few inches to spare outside it. Sage spotted an arched door to the side and walked towards it. The door had a spiraling shell-like pattern on it, but there was no handle, slots, or other protrusions he might use to manipulate it. Then he spotted a small clamshell upon the otherwise featureless stone wall, one that was placed at the same height as a light switch would be on Earth. He reached out and pressed a finger against it, at which point he felt it sink in and the door in front of him slid over to the side, moving into a channel carved in the stone.

He stepped out into another stone hallway, and just like his arrival chamber the stone had a blue hue to it. This hallway had at least a dozen other doors just like the one he stepped out of and as he looked back the door closed up on its own behind him. He noticed shells on the wall at the sides of the doors and just above them there were characters carved into the stone wall. He didn’t recognize any of the names until he looked at the door he’d come out of and it had the character for Mantis. Lang.

Pleased that he wasn’t sent to his death, Sage found that only one side of the hallway was open and upon reaching the end he turned a corner and walked into a small area that reminded him of a tavern. There was a large set of double doors on the wall to his left, and a set of stairs on the wall to his right that led up to a balcony style walkway, complete with railing. Below this balcony was what he would call a bar. It had a long narrow table with high stools in front of it and behind it was a wall covered with bottles of liquid. Up on the balcony, he could see another hallway with more doors. In the center of this large room were circular tables that had four seats each. A couple of them were pushed together so a group of six and seven had more room. Behind the bar, a bartender was pouring drinks, and a server was lifting a platter with a dozen cups on it.

Well, this is weird.