The gloaming black nightmare fades away, the King in Yellow's anger contained to his domain– for now.
Rhaeyek yawns. It's not every day that one takes an elixir with such pure Qi, even if most of the Qi was consumed when the King in Yellow's wile was purged from Rhaeyek's Qi center.
Something drips into his open mouth. Disgusting. It's kind of sweet, perhaps somewhat sickly, tasting strongly of iron. From above, he hears a wretched voice, crooked in its rhythm and intentions.
"You smell like Yellow."
Alarm bells go off in Rhaeyek's head. This isn't a voice he knows. His eyes shoot open.
Nested on the ceiling, a giant bat-like creature looks down at him. The thing has two midnight black teeth the size of small swords over its fat, oval mouth. It could eat for days, Rhaeyek thinks.
At this point it should be noted that while Rhaeyek is a warlock, there are many things he doesn't know. If his master had impressed anything on him, it was that the less he knows the safer he is, and that remaining unknown– and perhaps unseen– is the safest course of action.
Safety, though, is gone. The King in Yellow has chosen Rhaeyek to be a sufferer of great pains. If Rhaeyek has any say in it, he thinks, then surviving would be enough. It is unfortunate that survival is a rare luxury where the Old Gods are involved. Right now, it would be nice to have information about the Bat-Thing.
Rhaeyek holds eye contact with the Bat-Thing.
"Who do you serve?"
The Bat-Thing cackles.
"Serve, serve. Servience? You think I serve? Perhaps I serve nobody. Perhaps I serve me."
A footstep comes and the Bat-Thing startles. It pulls its wings over its head, and just like that, becomes invisible upon the ceiling.
Han Do walks into the room.
"You're awake."
He sits next to Rhaeyek. Rhaeyek looks up at him. Reflexively, he raises his hand to shield from the lensed lantern that Han Do carries.
His hand?
"You fixed me."
Han Do smiles gently.
"Of course. I'm a teacher second, but a doctor first."
Rhaeyek doesn't allow himself to smile, but he certainly feels the urge.
"How lucky of me."
He sits up and instantly grows dizzy, falling back down. Han Do catches his head.
"Woah, there. Don't go passing out on me. I have some questions."
Rhaeyek looks up and thinks about how much he should tell this man. Sure, the man saved his arm, and probably his life, but he could be an enemy. Worse than that, he could be a friend. If he's a friend, Rhaeyek has to protect him. And the vision– the thing he saw…
Maybe the future isn't set. Maybe Han Do can be saved from the Bat-Thing. Maybe it won't tear him limb from limb, gleefully swallowing back each chunk of desecrated flesh.
Maybe.
GOTHIC MURIM: EVERYBODY LIVES.
Han Do lifts Rhaeyek back up, and this time, he has enough strength to stay upright on his own. Han Do opens a tome. A martial arts tome to be sure, but nothing Rhaeyek has ever seen. He sneaks a peek at the title: DEFENSE AGAINST THE OUTER GODS.
A handy book– if the title is correct. Which, if Rhaeyek's master taught him anything, it isn't. There is no defense against the Outer Gods.
Han Do looks Rhaeyek in the eyes.
"The fragment of Qi we pulled from you. It doesn't match any Outer God we know of."
Rhaeyek chuckles.
"How many do you know of?"
"Fair enough. I've catalogued nine."
Rhaeyek's eyes bulge. Nine is an outrageous amount for someone who isn't a warlock to know about, and this man's Qi is far too strong for him to be a warlock.
"First tell me your name. Then tell me if you know which Outer God wiled you."
He holds up a pill, molten black, a yellow mist swirling around in it trying to get out. Not mist, he realizes. Qi. Han Do put the King in Yellow's Qi into a pill.
"My name is Kem Rhaeyek. You need to get rid of that, Doctor Han Do."
Han Do shakes his head.
"I'm not going to do that."
The Bat-Thing shimmers into existence on the wall behind Han Do. It eyes the Qi pill hungrily as it noiselessly crawls down to the ground. Rhaeyek struggles to lift himself to his feet, hoping to fight back against the Bat-Thing, to prevent the foretold future…
But his knees are too weak and his legs too tired. A warning, then? But if the Bat-Thing hears the warning, it'll be able to attack Han-Do first. Rhaeyek thinks back to Yi Erde's favorite saying:
"If an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, the winner will be whoever hits first."
A warning isn't a realistic option, at least not without a way to distract the Bat-Thing beforehand. Rhaeyek breathes deeply, grasping at bits of arcane knowledge that could maybe dig them out of this spot. Han Do leans over him.
"Listen, Kem Rhaeyek. I am the Vice-Chief of the Immortal Dong Sect. I am also the only man in Murim with the power to help with the things you tell me."
That's not true, Rhaeyek thinks. Yi Erde could help. Still, the Bat-Thing reaches closer… maybe the only suitable distraction is the truth.
"It makes sense that you wouldn't recognize the Qi. It belongs to the King in Yellow."
The Bat-Thing creeps closer, almost right behind Han Do.
"The King in Yellow?"
"Yes. You might know him as HASTUR."
The Bat-Thing jumps back, panicked. Its voice cracks with fear.
"You are a fool! Fool, fool! The Yellow I smell is the scent of a dead man! You have sentenced us all to die? Fool, I say. The King in Yellow has heard you! He will not rest until you are dead!"
Han Do spins around to see the Bat-Thing hanging off the wall. It seems to have almost forgotten him, its ear turned to the sky as it tries to figure out of the King in Yellow plans on coming to reclaim its name.
Rhaeyek drags himself to his feet and leans on Han Do.
"We have to run."
Han Do doesn't ask questions. He drags Rhaeyek up and out of the room. The two go past the Bat-Thing, who flies around the room, enormous mouth open as it cries for help:
"Oh, Black Toad, forgive me! Help me! I only serve, serve, serve! Do not drive me mad! I only serve!"
Rhaeyek steps out of the dank darkness of the cave into the sunlight. It feels good on his skin, somewhat new, as if the blackness of the King in Yellow's plane was being washed away. It was a good thing, he decided, that he was free of its grasp. That he would not have to become King, or whatever it wanted.
He was free to pursue revenge on his attackers. He was free to save Han Do, as he just had– to escape from the visions. To have no friends, but to save his enemies. Free to live.
Dong Ho and Dong Gaemon sit at a nearby campsite cooking meat over the fire. The cave lets out on the side of a mountain overlooking the vast beauty of Murim. With the sun just barely rising, the flickering light in the valley below has to be Chengdu.
This is good. If Rhaeyek gets back to Chengdu by the end of the night, Yi Erde should still be safe. Not that the assassin poses any threat, since Yi Erde is much stronger than any assassin, but that nobody else could possibly give the same insight into the situation. Yi Erde will know what to do.
"We need to get to Chengdu."
Dong Ho and Dong Gaemon look up, confused. Han Do nods.
"Brothers Ho and Gaemon. This is Kem Rhaeyek. Take him to Chengdu. I have to kill that… thing."
Rhaeyek shakes his head.
"You can't beat it. Throw the Qi pill down the mountain. It'll chase it and we can get away."
Han Do scratches his chin.
"It looked scared. I don't think it'll come for me. Besides…"
He looks out across Chengdu.
"To the South of here is the Emei Sect. They have a longstanding alliance with the Dong Sect. This thing–"
He motions back towards the cave.
"–or something like, at any rate, it is responsible for the death of their former Sect Leader. This is a good move."
Rhaeyek's eyes bulge in disbelief.
"You're going to die. Who cares if it's a good move?!"
But it's too late. Han Do's mind is decided. Dong Gaemon wraps his arm around Rhaeyek's waist.
"We're going."
Dong Gaemon hoists Rhaeyek over his shoulder and starts down the mountain, grabbing a sack from the campfire. Dong Ho silently stands up and follows him.
This can't be it, Rhaeyek thinks. Han Do will die. Even if he somehow manages to kill the Bat-Thing, Rhaeyek had incurred the King in Yellow's name. By the time the King's forces arrive, Han Do will be too weakened to continue, no matter whether he's a first-rate warrior or a master.
But, it turns out, there are bigger issues.
A beat of wings. A drop of blood-like drool onto his neck.
The Bat-Thing lands on the path in front of them.
"Oh, oh, oh! Did you think I would let you go? Me, who I serve, says that the King in Yellow will not touch me! The King in Yellow is not coming! I will eat his Qi."
The Bat-Thing cackles. It somehow looks larger in open daylight, the interior of its mouth infinitely darker. Dong Gaemon sets down Rhaeyek and draws his sword. Dong Ho lifts a spear from his back. Han Do jumps between the three of them and the Bat-Thing, a circular shield in one hand and a sword in the other.
"Serve, serve, serve! You will serve me. You will serve my HUNGER."
Dong Ho moves forward, but Han Do waves him back.
"Don't interfere. I will not allow my students to come to harm. Or my patients."
He motions to Rhaeyek. Dong Ho steps to Rhaeyek, and holds his wrists in a cuff.
"Sorry, sir. I trust my Teacher."
Han Do steps towards the Bat-Thing as Gaemon closely watches. Rhaeyek can't think of anything except the death he knew was coming, the lifeless body of Han Do being gruesomely devoured, the eventual death of everyone else, the WHISPERS OF SOMEONE ELSE intruding on the recesses of his thoughts, but most importantly, the trees.
There were no trees in his vision. Why? They're clearly in a forest now.
Han Do leaps towards the Bat-Thing. He's prepared: the initial reflexive swat that the Bat-Thing gives with his left wing is deflected by the shield. Then the bite attempt, parried by the sword. Han Do drives a cut into the Bat-Thing's fur.
"I am Han Do. I am a doctor and a teacher."
He jumps over the Bat-Thing, tearing its flesh with his lodged blade as it contorts backwards to avoid being sliced. It screams in pain.
"I am a son to my father and a father to my daughter. I am the Vice-Chief of the Dong Sect."
Han Do yanks his blade from the wound and slashes at the Bat-Thing's throat. He draws blood from the beast.
"Most importantly…"
He drives his blade into the Bat-Thing's left eye.
"I am a master of the Murim. And you, the scions of the Outer Gods…"
The Bat-Thing bites at him in desperation. He raises his shield to meet it head on. At this moment, Rhaeyek remembers why there were no trees in his vision:
They fought from inside the cave. Which means that this reality and his vision don't align. And that means only one thing.
The Bat-Thing's tooth shatters on Han Do's shield. Han Do pulls his blade from the Bat-Thing's eye.
"...are not strong enough for Murim."
It means that–
EVERYBODY LIVES, SAYS THE WHISPER IN YOUR HEAD, NOT THE KING IN YELLOW OR YOUR OWN THOUGHTS BUT SOME UNKNOWN THIRD THING.
–the visions can be changed.
The Bat-Thing stumbles back. It screams. The noise is horrid, a thousand piercing cries all inharmoniously converging into one. Its death throes echo through the mountains. Han Do kicks the Bat-Thing and it falls to the ground. Rhaeyek looks on in disbelief. Gaemon sighs with satisfaction, as though he knew it would always end this way. Ho doesn't respond, only releasing Rhaeyek from his grip.
Han Do turns back to them and chuckles. The echoes of the Bat-Thing's scream bounces back at him.
But, somehow, louder still is the silent footstep of the woman behind it. Rhaeyek's relief turns to horror as he looks on at her yellow robe draped across her almost imperfect skin, an emblem of a crow with a golden crown on her shoulder...
And her glass spear as it lethally pierces Han Do's neck.