Chapter – 104 - Noreitus, the Spirit of Soundless Mountains

Beibei felt that she was bobbing about in dense white blankness. Everywhere she looked was white. And there was nothing but white as far as her eyes could go. The bright whiteness of her surrounding was so dazzling and at the same time, monotonous, that she felt she was going to become crazy very soon....unless there were some more shades and colors introduced into her vicinity quickly!

Just as she finished her thoughts, the surroundings changed. The white did not disappear, but something zapped past her at a very high speed. It was so fast that all she could see was a flash of light....and then it was gone. Then there was another flash behind her. As she turned to her back, two random flashes appeared near her right. And as she kept twisting and turning, trying to see what these lights were, more and more light flashes zapped past her from all different directions.

However, they were all so fast, and disappeared so quickly, that they were gone just as she barely managed to sense them. Feeling irritated, she stopped playing with the flashes of lights. Perhaps sensing her irritation, the flashes of lights too slowed down, and finally she saw them.

They were images. Not still images, but more like moving pictures, flashing past her. Due to extreme speed, she could only sense them as flashes of light. Beibei paused in her movement, focusing on one of the images as it slowly drifted past her. What was this?....It looked like.....someone's memory!

At once the image of a cheeky little brat, sitting on a turquoise stone and swinging his legs came into her mind. Ah! Didn't that toddler forcefully make some kind of a contract with her? Were these supposed to be his memories? She had read somewhere that when two people formed a bond, depending on the bond, either or both parties would become privy to each other's memories and thoughts.

So was she now taking a walk through the garden of memories of that little brat? Hmmm.....it didn't seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon. Might as well take a good look at some of the interesting things in his memories.

So she looked at some of the images as they passed by, trying to see them clearly. Most of them looked like memories of the same chamber she had just been in. No wonder this guy was dying to get out of the chamber. He seemed to have led a rather lonely life, tied down to one single place for a very long time. Perhaps this boredom had turned him so crazy, that he was ready to make a contract with the first person who agreed with him, as long as he could come out of the room in the end!

A random image floated by. Giving it a precursory glance, she turned to look at it again. There was a woman and a man in the image, and they seemed to be talking something. The woman was holding onto the turquoise stone.....and in the place where the stone was supposed to be kept....there was a strange black void with blue strings swirling in it!

Getting excited, Beibei tried to pause the image. Unfortunately, the image did not seem to respond to her demands, instead floating away at the same speed. Feeling irritated at her incapability within this space, Beibei could only resort to chasing after the image, trying to force it to a stop.

Instead, she suddenly felt her spirit body turning weightless, and in the next moment, she wholly plunged inside the moving picture.

The suddenness of the event made her mind confused, and she sat on the ground for a while, trying to sort out her thoughts. Finally remembering that she was chasing the image to figure out the strange black and blue void, she got up to her feet and looked around.

The woman was still standing before the black void with swirling blue strings. She had the same wholly black eyes, and her skin was tanned to a dark color and looked weather beaten, with deep wrinkles lining her forehead and the sides of her eyes.

However, Beibei also felt that she looked ageless. The aura she exuded was grave and peaceful, and despite the wrinkles, she did not really look old. Or perhaps the strength of her aura dominated over the power of aging and decay itself.

The man opposite her gave off a very cruel and vigorous aura. He was mostly silent, as if respecting the woman before him. However Beibei could feel the ruthlessness which he had gathered and restrained within. He was definitely someone who had killed.....and killed a lot.

"Have they already left?"

"More than half have already left. The remaining have given up their place and gone into hiding."

"And they have left us behind to clean up the messes!"

"We have always been the frontline of their defense. We have to remain to keep a check on all those who come searching for them. Do not forget that we are dispensable. We only exist to protect our masters."

"I still do not understand what happened suddenly. Why did they need to break their centuries of responsibilities and traditions and disappear."

"It is not our place to question. However, even I can sense that there is something which has infiltrated our lands."

"Infiltrated?! You mean that they....?"

"Hmmm.....they have come from the outside. Master mentioned that this is related to the Seven Bulonos of the Main Sect. Everything started from them. Even this infiltration seems to be connected to them."

"The land outside your valley seems to be changing. How will you protect yourselves?"

"We have planned to close ourselves off. Not only to protect ourselves from this alien mist, but also to stop all the people who will be coming after this."

"You won't be able to stop all of them. Especially the people from the Main Sect."

The woman sighed, then looked at the glowing turquoise stone in her hand.

"It doesn't matter. As long as we have the spirit of Noreitus with us, no one will be able to harm us in our own valley."

"Do you think you can keep the child born from heaven and earth confined to your own place? One day it is bound to break through all the confines you place on it, and go off into the world."

"When such a day comes....then we will know our time has come. We too will leave this valley and move on into this vast world. I can only hope to delay such a time, hope that our masters will be able to better protect themselves when that day comes."

The woman walked to wards the floating platform, where the black and blue void was resting, then raised her hands to her eyes, stabbing hard at the corners. Blood poured out in two clear and straight lines. Dipping her fingers into the blood, she started drawing inscriptions on the platform. Slowly three pillars of light came out of the platform, circling around the mouth of the void vortex, completely hiding it within. After the pillars stabilized, the woman placed the stone on top of those pillars.

"Ever since the alien energy entered, the ancient aura of the lands has been restless. Strange things are being reported at each of the end-points."

The woman slowly returned back to stand below the platform. Soundlessly, she raised her hands once more, taking her blood on her fingers, and then flicking it towards the ground. The ground immediately sank all around. She made some more inscriptions in the air around the platform, and gradually the entire platform, with the void vortex, light pillars and stone, divided into two. One half remained floating atop the chasm, the other slowly sank to the depths of the dark hole.

"The other two families will disappear soon too. The age of the Guardian Families have already come to an end. Very soon, very few people will remember that they even existed."

As she spoke, she tapped a rhythm on the Alcolite Bracelet wrapped around her left wrist. A pure stream of water emerged from the bracelet and sank into the soil of the ground around the hole. Water started seeping out through the cracks of the ground, and poured down the hole, disappearing into the deep darkness.

By the time Beibei opened her eyes and found that she had returned to her chambers, the outside world in the valley was already in chaos. The biggest change was the sounds. All kinds of sounds filled the valley. The flowing of the river, water crashing on the surrounding rocks, call of birds, flapping of winds, heavy movement of the large domesticated beasts, running feet, the wind raging through the surroundings....there was so much of noise that for a moment Beibei could not focus on what she had just experienced.

Getting up from the narrow leaf bedding, she poked her head out of the entrance to look at all the tribesmen running about in confusion and panic. Kunwa had gone off to sleep, and he was still sleeping despite all the chaos right outside the door. Nanate returned just as she was looking about. He had gone off to check the vicinity to see if he could gather some more information.

"I think the people have lived here for too long. Even thought now they can hear all the sounds, they are still communicating with their hands. They probably never learned how to speak."

Beibei nodded, finding this to be entirely logical. Not using something for a long time would often make it redundant after a period of time. Even if that thing was your own voice. Who knew how long these people had lived in this soundless environment. No wonder they were panicked at this sudden and unreasonable change in their normal surroundings.

Beibei squinted as she watched some more, the image of the young boy flashing through her mind once more. She was pretty sure that all this chaos was most probably connected to that 'thing' born from heaven and earth.....which was now forcefully contracted to her. She couldn't fathom what these people would do to them if they came to know that she had stolen their precious possession!

They had just turned to walk into the room once more, when the sounds of many running footsteps made them pause. The footsteps seemed to be running in their direction. Both of them frowned, turning around, and came face to face with a group of aggressive and stern looking tribesmen.

They stood outside and stared at them through those creepy eyes for a long time. Beibei felt more and more sure that she was related to the current situation. Just as she was wondering if they should fight back or cooperate, one of the men walked in, pushing past them, and rudely pulled Kunwa to his feet. The sleeping boy staggered, almost falling down again. The man did not let go of his neck, and dragged him out of the room.

The head of the group gestured at Nanate and Beibei, then turned without a sound, and started walking towards the rope bridge hanging a little way up the mountain slope. Realising fighting them was fruitless, Nanate and Beibei glanced at each other, then followed. The man who dragged Kunwa out, let him go once he was fully awakened. Blacky and Pinky too had rushed back from their daily frolicking, and jumped onto the boy's shoulders.

Three humans and two beasts made their way up the second mountain, went to the third mountain via the rope bridge. Then finally they were ushered onto the floating stone bridge from the tip of the third mountain. The three looked at each other. They were being taken to the top of the fifth mountain!