The Azure Dragon

by Vladimir Vasilenko

  "Quite the contrary," replied Genghis. "Everyone works for the overall result, so the squad's financial capabilities are much more powerful."

  "Yep. For example, when you buy goods from artisans at wholesale it’s cheaper," the healer added.

  I pondered. Getting my paws on the common fund was very tempting. But I couldn’t fully repay the debt just yet. But Genghis didn’t need to know about it. And the money would come with time.

  "Well, if you insist... I need a hundred and twenty gold pieces. I hope that's not a problem."

  The mask of equanimity immediately fell off of Genghis's face. I chuckled in my head. If he backed down now, my deal would be off, of course, but I’d get to troll him. He asked for it.

  He watched me for a few seconds with a squint but didn't say a word. He nodded to Karim. The healer fished out a heavy leather purse from his inventory and began to count coins.

  "Wait, Venerable Chang Fa!" I caught up with the Xilay, who had already climbed up the wagon and sent his droopy donkey to the east. "I changed my mind. I'm buying the Silver Stinger!"

  The merchant seemed to be waiting for this. Smiling slyly, he put the sharp shiny blade into my hand, and the silver rope, as if it were alive, slid on its handle.

  "Good choice! It is not easy to master shéng biāo, but in skillful hands, it becomes a formidable weapon."

  He spurred the donkey and went on, but at last, he turned to me again and added:

  "It's often the case, Mongoose. The most difficult and thorny path leads to the greatest treasures."

  I nodded respectfully; palms folded in front of me at chest level. I turned towards the jungle. Genghis and Karim did not wait for us and were already on the way back to the camp. Doc stood near the alchemist's tent, bending over the counter again.

  Oh, Doc... If my suspicions are justified, then it doesn't make sense to try to get any information from you. And you were the only loophole I had. Now I have to somehow fish for information right here, in Artar. But how?

  Game forums in real life were a storehouse of rumors and useful information. Of course, it was the blend with stupid speculations and often blatant misinformation. But it was better than nothing. Who could I ask around here to learn other people's secrets in Artar?

  There could be one candidate, but I doubted that he would agree to help me, because I, in fact, threw him under the bus with the deal. But what could I lose? I decided to try and get in touch with him.

  I slowly activated the game chat medallion. I didn't carry it in plain sight, but hid it under my belt, and hopefully, Genghis and his henchmen didn’t even know I had it. I flipped through my modest list of contacts and highlighted one of the nicknames. Next to it, an empty transparent dot dimly glowed—a sign that the player was offline. When he logged in the game, this dot would light up green. I pulled his name to the top of the list and pinned it, so that I could see right away when he showed up. Now his name, written in a semi-transparent font, loomed in my interface, from the bottom right, next to the quick access slots.

  Maverick.

  Chapter 9. The Legend of the Azure Dragon

  That's interesting. I thought that the cacophony of sounds that reigned in the jungle would disappear in the Misty Hall. But it only became quieter. As if someone pulled the volume slider down, leaving it at the minimum level in the background. The trees surrounding the site looked like shadows looming behind a white veil. A dark toothy wall of a wooden fence was on the right—I dived into the Misty Hall when I was on the border of Genghis's camp. Instead of grass under my feet, there was solid, sandy land with large granite stones protruding here and there. The granite was light gray like an old, dried out bone.

  Weyun Bao sat cross-legged next to one of these stones. The sand in front of him was loosened, and he was concentrating on smoothing it with a small wooden device that looked like a toy rake—it even had tiny teeth. But now he turned the tool to level the sand with a smooth semicircular side.

  I sat across from him and watched his movements in silence for a while. Being first to greet Sensei and thus distract him from his business was bad tone. In Bao's case, I could even get hit with the staff on my forehead for that, even though I was now Master of Water and one of his best students.

  "Weyun Bao's soul sings at the sight of Mongoose," he finally said as the sand in front of him became as smooth as a table top. "It is a great joy for the old sensei. It's been a long time since the student bothered to visit the Misty Hall."

  Since he was talking of himself in the third person and such an official tone, it meant he was displeased with something. Probably, he was just offended by my long absence. But I couldn’t help it. I couldn't make time for the spiritual journey in the last gaming session and I was limited on time at that very moment, as well. Our squad was to set off to explore the jungle again.

  "Good to see you too, Sensei. I missed you. However, I can't stay long. I need your advice.”

  "That's what mentors are for," Bao shrugged and turned his wooden rakes upside down.

  With one slow but precise stroke, he drew a circle in the sand. Grooves from the rake teeth formed smooth concentric circles. In the center, he carefully placed a small flat stone.

  "Remember we talked about the Uobo jungle and Hanuman? My Path led me to them."

  "Much sooner than I expected," he shook his head anxiously. "I hope the monkey King didn't hurt you? He is unpredictable and sometimes very cruel."

  "No, I got off with a slight fright. I'm stumped. My friends and I are in a very difficult situation right now, and we don't know what to do. The worst part is, we can't even trust each other completely."

  "Trust is like a sheet of thin parchment. Once you crumple it, it will never return to its former smoothness."

  "You're right. And unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it. Our enemy pits us against each other, in the meantime hoping to achieve his goals. We need to stop him. And it's better to get ahead of him. But we don't know how yet. Perhaps, if we knew more about these jungles, Hanuman, and vanaras, we could find a way."

  "Who is he, your enemy?"

  "He's our kind. A player. He has many warriors with him. He's looking for something. What could it be?"

  "Uobo holds many secrets and treasures," Bao spread his hands. "Besides, the paths of your countrymen are inscrutable. Xy has been watching you ever since the first ships with settlers began to approach the shores of Artar. We see that all of you are striving for power, but you put a different meaning in this word. Perhaps, there's only one thing you all love equally as much."

  "Gold?" I chuckled.

  "To kill."

  I sighed. Perhaps, Bao was right. From the beginning, almost all computer games were tied to violence. Even when a game was nothing more than crooked pictures on tiny antediluvian monitors, these were pictures of someone shooting at someone, poking him with a sword, or beating him with his bare hands. In this sense, Artar was no exception. The fastest and almost the only way to rise here was to kill living beings and absorb part of their power. The very rules of the game were pushing us to become serial killers. Given the realism of this world, this trend was quite grim and morally controversial. There was a reason that there are so many protests against Artar around the world. Politicians, public and religious figures, scientists…

  "I'm not like that," I said. "I like to fight. I got a little taste, but I don't enjoy killing."

  "I know. That's why you're my favorite student. It hurts me to see that danger is surrounding you again.”

  I nodded gratefully and pondered. Bao might have been too vague sometimes, but he didn’t throw the words around. I'd already learned that much. I just had to listen more carefully.

  For example, his last phrase alerted me. Last time he warned me about the danger I was in, he meant something very specific. That's when I had an assassin mar, planted on me by Edge. What if he was still talking about something like that?

  That could very well be true. Genghis’s detachment
had a few assassins—nothing stopped them from putting their marks on me and the rest of Terekhov's people. It would be an additional control tool. Sort of "bugs" marking our location on the game map.

  Damn it! I had the idea to secretly try and tag Genghis's search party. I wanted to find out where they were going and what they were looking for. But now that seemed to be a dead end—I couldn’t sneak up on them.

  What the hell! This damn strategist has to have a slip up!

  "Tell me about your meeting with Hanuman," Bao paused. "Maybe it's more important than you think. He could, without knowing it, give you a hint on how to get out of the trap."

  "Oh, there were plenty of hints and tips in his words," I laughed cheerlessly. "I just don't know what to make of them."

  I recounted briefly the events of the last game session, adding what Viper said about the vanaras' attacks on the players, including the recent attack on the new camp.

  Bao patiently listened to my story, snorted in puzzlement, and said nothing. Instead, he put a few more rocks on the stone in front of him, which now looked like a very unstable pyramid. The top stone was gray and porous—similar to a wet lump of sugar. He was assembling them so meticulously that it seemed he stopped breathing. So did I.

  He took his mini-rake again and drew another circle next to the existing one, which now intersected it. Then another. In their centers nestled colorful smooth stones. A whole garden of stones was starting to shape up, with neat grooves on the sand diverging from each of them, like circles on the water.

  I patiently waited, contemplating his words. What did he mean by saying that people like us only like to kill? I asked him what Genghis might be looking for in the jungle... Does he suggest that he was looking for someone to kill? Some rare monster like Dahamesh? Could he be looking for some dangerous weapon? Or a way to quickly power-level the entire squad?

  "So what else do you have to say about all this, Sensei?" I broke down.

  I'm running out of time watching this huge cat play with stones and sand. I need information, damn it! At least a clue!

  "I would say that the young Mongoose is once again in his element. He follows his Path not confidently and consciously, as befits a monk, but with giant leaps. He managed to challenge Hanuman without even mastering the Wood Element.”

  "Yes, I was too hasty with that. However, this quest was not fully opened. It said that first I need to make a pilgrimage to the Azure Dragon. Then the rest of the details will be revealed."

  "So maybe you should listen to this advice?"

  "You don't understand, Sensei! Now I have no time to engage in the development of the elements. My friends and I have two enemies at once. First, our fellow tribesman—Genghis—with whom we also cannot fight directly. Second, the vanaras, who want to drive all the players out of the jungle. We are caught between a rock and a hard place!”

  "The vanaras are acting strangely. At least the ones you've come across. Perhaps, you should find out why?"

  "That's what Genghis expects of us. He wants us to deal with his enemies and divert their attention while he's pursuing his own goals.”

  "Enemy... Friend... These terms are often deceptive. A friend becomes an enemy. And an enemy becomes a friend. And the enemy of your enemy…"

  "The enemy of your enemy is your friend?" I said when I realized that Bao is not going to finish the phrase. "Do you mean there must be a way to turn vanaras against Genghis?"

  "As far as I understand, it is not required. They're already fighting each other."

  "Yes, but... Damn it, Sensei, my brain is exploding! Can we avoid hints and reasoning? Do you have any idea what it is?"

  The Xilay shook his head reproachfully.

  "I am your teacher and mentor in learning the Path. I can tell you a lot about the laws of Qi interaction. About fighting techniques. About self-improvement. I know a lot of legends about Artar. But I cannot know how you should behave towards your people."

  What did I expect from an NPC that was designed to teach martial arts? I was desperate because I didn’t have anyone else to turn to.

  "Could you at least try, Bao?" I pleaded. "Perhaps, you have a good legend that'll be helpful?"

  "Alright. There's something I can tell you about Uobo and vanaras. Perhaps, it will be helpful to you."

  "Yes, please! That would be great!"

  Sensei put down the rake and placed his hands on his knees, closing his eyes for a moment.

  "I shall start with the legend of the Azure Dragon. It is the largest and most majestic creature that has ever existed in this world. He is a product of the sky and the ocean—he absorbed their immeasurable power. Once he was the only inhabitant of this world. Back then, Artar was a lifeless layer of rock in the middle of a vast sea. And it was the great dragon that breathed life into it. He is the progenitor of all life.”

  As it often happened during his stories, the fog behind Bao came to life, and from its ghostly whitish jets, formed images that wound around him and quickly melted in the air. New pictures replaced the current ones. Mountains, rivers, valleys. A huge serpentine dragon emerging from the water and circling the continent in an arc.

  "The birth of life is a miracle. But it's never painless. All living beings are born in pain, screaming and suffering. So was then. The ocean boiled and fell upon the firmament with huge waves. The sky cried tears of fire. Violent storms tormented the surface of the continent. However, when all was quiet, in the sky flashed a rainbow, and the sunlight sparkled on the waters of the Lake of Life."

  "I've heard that name before," I remembered. "From Hanuman."

  "The Lake of Life is here, in Uobo. In the depths of the jungle, in the crater of a long extinct volcano. According to legends, life spread throughout Artar from this specific place, and that's why it's still strong here, in Uobo. Nowhere will you find such a riot of life, such diversity, such a powerful flow of Qi."

  "I've sensed it," I agreed. "I can feel it when I meditate here."

  Bao nodded comprehendingly.

  "Yes, life here in Uobo is in full swing. But there are also special places. The trees are so ancient that, according to the legend, the Azure Dragon himself breathed life into them. One of these trees is the Eternal Banyan. This tree is growing on the shores of the Lake of Life. Next to it is the great altar of the Azure Dragon. And there, on the shores of the lake, lie the ruins of the Lost City—the cradle of the ancient vanaras civilization. Alas, extinct."

  "Why did it go extinct?"

  "Who knows? Most often, Hanuman himself is blamed for this. He is also a creation of the Azure Dragon. And as many believe, one of his mistakes. The dragon used to be too generous giving his creations a part of his own power. That's how Artar titans were born. Initially, their role was to serve as deities and guardians of this mainland. Ymir—the frost giant—is in the North. Leviathan is in the East. Ten-headed Hydra is in the South. The great worm of the sands—Psammophis—is in the West. And Hton—the Lord of the Abyss—is deep under the earth, on the wrong side of the world."

  "Yeah, I've heard about the titans. But Hanuman, in my opinion, is in a different weight category."

  "Because the dragon deprived him of most of the power given to him. For the pride of the monkey King was so great that he challenged the Creator himself. So he lost almost everything he had, including his people, his city, and his mind."

  "But he still calls vanaras his subjects."

  "They do not obey him. He has been sitting on his throne in the Lost city alone for hundreds of years. And he is the one who oversees the preservation of the Eternal Banyan tree. Vanaras split into several tribes that guard other great trees and worship them."

  "What are these other great trees?"

  "There are four of them. The Great Banyan tree near the shores of the Lake of Life is considered to be the oldest tree in Artar, which grew from the seed sown by the Azure Dragon. It is also called the Tree of Life."

  "There must be the Tree of Death," I guessed, remembering Doc's
story.

  "Yes. Jubako. It is located in the southern part of Uobo, in the swamps inhabited by Hydra. This place is a death trap. The tree itself is poisonous and poisons the area around it. Its fruits taste like ashes, and their bitterness is stronger than the bitterness of the heaviest losses. The vanaras that live near it eat these fruits, and they poison their soul and mind, turning them into bloodthirsty murderers. I pray that fate would never lead you to that land."

  "Yes, I hope so too. But you said there are four trees. What other two are there?"

  "The Sky Tree is the tallest in Uobo and Artar. It is so tall that the seeds ripening in its crown absorb moisture from the clouds themselves. And finally, the Whispering Oak. This tree is an Oracle. They say that in the rustle of its leaves you can hear both echoes of the past and clues about the future."

  "The one who whispers!" I almost slapped my forehead. "It whispers, although it has no mouth, no ears, no eyes. Well, at least something's starting to clear up! So these strange altars are built on the Sources by shamans of the Whispering Oak? And Hanuman doesn't like that?"

  "It sounds like it."

  "Why do you think it's strange?"

  "Because the tribe of the Whispering Oak is one of the most peaceful vanara tribes. Usually, they do not care about strangers, unless they wander into their sacred land. And they never had any altars except for the oak itself. What may have influenced them?”

  "They can only be influenced by one thing. They only listen to one voice."

  "The one who whispers. I wonder what it whispered to them? Hanuman was babbling about some messengers. So was Rashass back in the Temple of the Black Snake... But where is this oak?"

  "Pretty far from where you ran into the vanaras. Which is strange too—their tribes are quite jealous of their habitats and try not to wander into strangers."

  "The vanara tribes are at war with each other?"

  "Not really. They still hold grudges from the time of the great schism, from the time when their people were united and owned the Lost City. Now they do not enter into open fights. But only because they honor the boundaries of their land."