System Break

The trickling sound of running water was the only sound which accompanied my breathing in the grotto. Shade was as quiet as her name suggested, she was like a ghost. She barely moved and rarely made a sound.

"Be still," she said.

With the exception of her cold scolding. I was being still; I just wasn't a statue like her. My legs were crossed underneath me as I studied the stalactites above us. They were all different sizes, shapes and the water which formed them glistened on their surface before it finally collected at the tip and dripped.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"You are practising being still – do not ask questions now."

"So old you're embarrassed then."

I couldn't goad her. She was born a slave and lived as one for centuries and when she escaped she stopped running - she gave herself into servitude again. And I thought my history was sad. 

We sat in silence for another hour. She acted like she had all the time in the world because she literally did.

"You know," I said. "I think sitting on your ass meditation is bullshit. I do my best thinking and non-thinking when I'm running through the forest."

Her reaction was predictable, there was none. Shade wasn't just calm and collected she was detached. 

I stood and held out my hand. "Show me something useful or we should explore the undercity."

Her eyes opened and stared at me with their speckled purple beauty. "Do you seek patterns? Your foundations are weak, you must learn stillness before learning the shroud."

"Let's explore."

"Why?"

"Many reasons - we can run, talk, think, discover and hunt." It was late and I would have to return to the guild at some stage, but this wasn't only about me.

She rose without taking my hand like she was pulled up by a cable. As a former athlete and elite soldier I was impressed with her physical core strength. 

Her eyes searched mine. "Do you seek training?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I like to have fun and learn a little while doing it. Maybe there is something useful to discover in the undercity. Maybe we can kill some monsters for their cores. Or maybe I hate sitting on my ass for hours on end."

"You are not serious."

I laughed. "Guilty."

She peered at me.

"Trust me."

She nodded. "Very well. Which direction?"

"We should explore somewhere you've never been or dangerous hunting grounds or the grid. Pick one."

She thought for a moment and answered in her matter of fact way. "We shall head towards the grid. A path is not known, and it will meet much of your criteria."

"Do you have any weapons?"

"My qi is my weapon."

"Good answer."

"This way," she said, and led me through a fissure at the opposite end of the grotto. It was filled with the green barrier which took me time to get into the right mindset to pass through. 

"Can you see?"

"No."

She stopped and rather than bring out a light source she grabbed my hand and traced a pattern on it. Her own eyes were covered in qi but when I examined them closely I thought I could make out the same pattern repeated thousands of times. 

"I can see it on your eyes."

"It is a simple pattern," she said. The technique itself was simple, but I wondered who was the first to discover it. But what was really interesting was she was the first person I met who understood that it was a pattern. Many of the clans and races used innate abilities – the Svartalfar, Dokkalfar and Mountain Men. The Protectors from the cities trained all their lives, but I had never seen an example of them knowing a pattern.

"How do you know the pattern?" When my qi covered my eyes the darkness faded away into greys. There were no hints of colour and it looked similar to the best night vision the special forces possessed.

Our eyes shone and it was the invisible qi which lit the way. There was a limitation however past a dozen yards it was still pitch black.

"It is taught," she said before adding, "I was only taught techniques useful to my craft."

"Spy, assassin and thief?"

"Yes."

"And you taught the black cloaks?"

"Some things. Your talent is greater; a talented black cloak would take months to learn this technique. An average one may take years or never learn."

I had seen Alejo use this technique, but I had not discerned the pattern. "I'm used to creating patterns and I can see them. It took me ages to learn qi-stitching, but that's because I saw the pattern briefly when we fought a troll."

"Qi stitching?"

"Oh, its when you repair a wound. Like regular stitches by with tiny qi filaments."

"You are like the Qi Sage without his knowledge. Many of these patterns were created by him and passed down from teacher to student."

"It helps when you live for hundreds of years."

She considered me for a minute. "Are you a prophet?"

I scoffed. "Hell no. I barely know what's going on with my own life and am continually blindsided."

We climbed through craggy tunnels and walked through huge caverns. Then we reached a large cavern which was a dead end. I looked around for an exit while Shade moved to the centre and pointed down.

"There is a long drop and then water. Can you swim?"

"I can but won't we freeze?"

"We will make a fire and dry our clothes once we are past the water."

"That will slow us down, is there another way?"

"I have never been past here – do you not want to explore?"

"Sure. Sounds more exciting if you've never been this far."

"It is as you say and there was no good reason to search the underwater tunnels."

"Wait, you know there is an exit?"

"There is place to breathe, we will not die. In some places near the ceiling you will find air."

My heartbeat faster at the risky prospect of swimming through unknown, unexplored underwater tunnels with no equipment. But we had qi and if I died I could come back. Shade on the other hand had the one life – the one long life and she showed no concern or fear. She was as cold as ever.

I smiled. "Bring it on. Sounds like fun."

She stared at me and I wondered if she ever showed emotion. I could tell she was trying to work me out and I was just as strange to her as she was to me. 

"You are not afraid?" she asked.

"Of course. That makes it even more exciting."

"You are strange Sheng."

"When we're alone call me Benzhi. That's my real name. Sheng is the black cloak name you gave me."

"I am a black cloak," she said.

"Are you? I'm not so sure. You're a resource to them - you're not really one of them. You serve but you aren't sworn."

"It is as you say. But I wear the cloak and I serve." She paused. "Sheng means Sage. But if it is your wish I will call you Benzhi."

"I'd prefer it. There is a reason I didn't insist on it and the same reason I want you to use it only when we're alone. If it becomes known and the wrong people find out, it will blow my cover for my mission."

She nodded and removed her cloak. "Take off your clothes," she said.

"What?"

"We will swim naked, it is better."