A God's Gift

-Yunlan-

The journey had not been easy since the first day, but they all knew that the hardest part was yet to come. After they had gone out of their personal heaven, Yunlan sat in their usual resting spot to meditate and had a better hold on his star magic. He knew that there was a big chance for him to use it this time around and probably in a bigger scale. Shen Wei was still against him using it, knowing it will weaken him, but when there was no choice, he could not avoid it.

Shen also mentally prepare himself for their hardest battle, trying to gather as much energy as he could from that divine realm. The next territory was one of snow, meaning his fire will be essential, both to protect the team from the cold and for the imminent fight. He also pray to the goddess for her protection and hopeful end to their journey with no further deaths on their part.

Once they were ready to head out of the stone dimension in the morning, they walked in silence in a single line for the next two hours, in were the weather begin to change to a more cold one. Shen Wei had placed himself in the middle point of their line, so he could increase his heat and shelter the team with the warm he was releasing in waves, but at some point, it was getting a bit troublesome for Wei to walk in the deepest parts, in which the snow under him melted by his heat, making him sink several times.

After that, Yunlan leave the lead in Da Qing's hands, as a Master of Earth, he was best suited for it anyways and Yunlan moved behind Shen Wei to hardened the snow he walked on, so he will walk more steadily over the frozen ground. Then, as they went deeper, snow begin to fall and the wind to increase and most of the group were glad to have a Fire Prince among them, so the snow will not touch them, melted down before reaching them, keeping most of the cold away and their visibility clear.

At the far distance, they could distinguish a Volcano, with rivers of magma going down in a few parts and even if they were still a while away, they all could feel the intensity of a dark energy of the red stone that was poisoning the land a bit at a time. Da Qing even felt, deep bellow their feet, the 'veins' of the energy that had spread, tainting anything it touched.

"Isn't this strange? We had been walking for a while now and even if this place ricks at dark energy, why we haven't encounter even a single Shadow?" Chu asked, finding the white calm quite disturbing.

"They had gather up ahead. If my senses are not dull from the dark energy, there is an overwhelming number of things waiting in a big valley, hours away... hundreds of them..." Da Qing said shuddering a bit.

"Hundreds?" Sang asked in shock.

"Maybe more..." The Earth Prince added.

"And with so little of us against such numbers, aren't we as good as dead?" Asked Sang again and Wang wasted no time to hit the back of his head, being behind him in their line.

"Stop talking nonsense. We did not volunteer to come here to die, nor are we afraid of it anyways." Shen Wei smiled quite proud of her and so did Yunlan.

"Well said, Wang. Certainly, all female healers from the Fire Clan are fiery and courageous, a shame I can't said the same from my male healers. If we survive this test, I'm afraid you will have a hard time with him..." Yunlan joked as Sang went red with embarrassment.

"My Lord that's too much!" Sang protested and most laughed, even if it was to release a bit of the tension they were holding inside.

"We go and meet with our destinies, whatever they are with the same desire we volunteer to save our people. Just so you know... we are not exactly alone in our journey, because the gods want this 'abnormally' to disappear form the earth as much as we do, so let them gather in thousands if they wish it, we don't back down even in our last breath." Yunlan said with the serious tone that a leader will use to calm and encourage his people right before a life and death fight.

"I wouldn't had said it any better, you are indeed worth been my successor, Zhao Yunlan." A voice said from their side, taking them all by surprise. Most of the group members turned in alarm to look at a middle age man, dressed in royal blue and gold robes.

"Who are you?" Chu asked, ready to use his threads at any moment and the others raised their respective weapons in return, all except Yunlan and Guo.

"Ah, Lord Shi, so you finally decided to come? Have enough of watching?" Yunlan asked calmly, leaving the rest of his group in pure astonishment.

"What do you mean by Lord Shi? You can't possible refer to the Old Oracle, right?" Lin asked.

"Of course, who else?" Yunlan asked back.

"But the old man is... it's old!" Sang added and Yunlan laughed.

"Indeed, that's his most known form, right, Lord Siming, God of Fate?" The man standing in front of them simply smiled.

"Yunlan, don't throw bombs like that and right before a huge fight..." The god said.

"But you came without your disguise and even Guo notice this time, right?" Yunlan asked to the one at his side, the young man from the Sage Clan, who had sense the aura of the god even before he appeared at their side.

"I did." Guo confirmed.

"Ah, but he is closer to our realm than to yours, so he doesn't count, you take all others off balance." The god reply.

"Is that even important at this point? Had the gods decided to aid us directly this time?" Yunlan asked.

"Oh, Yunlan, Yunlan... you smart brat, I will definitely miss you after this, but no. I can't help you destroy the stone directly, I was only able to guide you humans to an era of peace from the start, as Nuwa desired. However, I can help you with a thing or two so you can even the fight against that many dark creatures. Come here Yunlan... not even you can't escape fate." With a sigh, Yunlan came closer to the god, not knowing what he intended to do to help him, but grateful anyways.

"Hey, don't mess me up too much, I'm going to fight soon." Yunlan joked and the god smiled.

"Don't worry, after this you will do a lot more... embrace yourself, this will not be pleasant."

"Huh? Wait, Lord Shi..." Yunlan begin protesting, but Lord Siming put his right hand over Yunlan's chest, paralyzing him, then traced some golden runes over his robes, that shined with power for a second before they disappear inside the Water Prince skin, along with a flow of strong energy. As the god passed to Yunlan what he wanted, the heir of the Water Clan try his best to hold in a scream, but the pain was so intense that he could no help himself but to yell all his pain out.

Shen Wei, unable to see him suffer, moved a step forward to stop the god from hurting him, but Chu stop him, pulling him back with his strongest string. One thing was trying to stop an old man, but another was to try to defy a god, so feeling bad for Shen Wei, he keep him tied until whatever the god was doing to Yunlan was over. By the time Siming was done, Yunlan fall to his hands and knees, panting for air.

"Yunlan!" Shen yelled, still unable to move.

"Don't worry, Shen Wei, I'm fine... I had it worse when I was burned..." Yunlan whisper, already feeling better, actually far better than never before.

"Ah, Lord Wei, I'm sorry to make you see this, but it was necessary. However, I assure you he is far better now."

"Old man... what did you do with me? This is..." Zhao said as he stood up, closing his eyes to be sure of it.

"You feel it, right? From now own your control over your star magic is fully mastered, no longer draining you for your lack of control over it, which actually makes you the new Oracle of the Clans from this point forward and that is the will of the gods." Siming said, as he looked at the others, taking back the appearance of the old man, then looking a bit sharper at Lin.

"Wait, just like that you are burdening me with the Clans? Don't I get some vacations after this whole ordeal with my Fire Prince first?" Zhao complained, making the old man laugh.

"Like I said, I will miss you the most when I return to the realm of the gods... and you will have an eternity to share with your Fire Prince, so it's quite fair. It's not like this is the first time you have a lifetime together. Long ago, at the beginning of time, the two of you greatly served the heavens and were regarded with an eternal bond, giving you the right to find each other in each reincarnation and share a blessed life. That's why once your bond reconnects, you stick to each, like pasted with the strongest glue." Shen blushed quite hard, which make Zhu smile.

She was glad for the two of them, which obviously were not going to part for a very long time and Chu finally understood why they had so many red strings covering them completely. If each of them meant a lifetime, they had already lived several ones, ending together faster with the increase of time. They were indeed meant to be by fate itself.

"So, speaking of your lover, come here, Lord Wei, your fire needs to increase too. Also your connection with the havens will be enhanced." This time it was Wei's turn to suffer, but unlike Yunlan, he knew what will happen and prepare himself to endure it, thus he bear the pain far better than his lover, no allowing even a yelp of pain out of his sealed lips.

Then, the god repeated the process with each of them, gifting them with special abilities suited for their imminent task. Chu was regarded with unbreakable golden strings. Da Qing and Zhu with unlimited spiritual connection to create summoning circles, which will bring them back home without having to walk back each territory again. Wang and Sang with exceptional healing abilities to help the Clans with the sickness once back. Lin with a stronger wind, capable to summon storms and Guo with an increase of his sword shield. The one he gained were not white, but gold and crimson, carrying elemental attacks too, to be used at his command.

"Also... Nuwa's gift will help you once again. Throw it in the middle of the tainted enemies and she will clean both your targets and the land in one go, just be sure to do it right in the center, Yunlan will know where." The god said and after a final reassuring smile, he was gone.

They look at each other for a few seconds, still surprised for what just happen, but Yunlan urge them to move, so they will end the next fight before nightfall, however, as they approached the valley of snow, they swallow in dread, seen the magnitude of their fight displayed bellow the hill in which they stood.

"You said hundreds, Da Qing? Damn, there must be thousands, including Furies!" Chu shouted as he pointed the valley bellow, that looked full of moving ants, some with blazing fires on them. Being in a higher place, give them the advantage to see all that was waiting for them down there and instinctively Yunlan was able to sense the one holding the small piece of the stone right at the middle of the snow valley.

"We need to get to that small red shining at the middle. If we manage to fight our way there, Nuwa's stone will take care of the rest." Zhao said.

"That's easier said than done, we need to fight a few hundreds to even get halfway there." Lin said.

"I can half that number down on my own, worry not, we are ready for this and the gods are in our side. Zhu, can you make a summoning circle to the bottom of this hill?" Zhu smiled.

"Of course... Da, are you ready?" The Earth Prince assented, taking her hand.

"Chu your golden strings will be needed, so no one will be stay behind." Yunlan instructed and Chu hastily obeyed the new Oracle, securing them with his new addition and once that was done, Zhu ask them to form a circle with her and Da Qing in the middle.

"Prepare yourselves." She said, as she closed her eyes, already seen the path to create the circle bellow. She draw it in the middle of the air, then sent it down and an instant later, they were summing to the mouth of the valley filled with thousands of creatures of all sizes and strength.

"Get behind me and when I'm done, you follow me and don't stop until I do. Now, on we go..." Zhao whisper as he gather star magic and a huge beam of star light go out of Yunlan's palm with tremendous speed and force, killing hundreds of creatures in one go, then they ran.

AN: Ah, I wanted to get to the battle part most of all, but it was getting too long already to add it here, so my darlings, the real fight will come in the next one, with new powers to show off. 😄😁😍😚💖💖💖💖