Ascension Platform

Xie Xie sat on the sofa, his back ramrod straight, like a nail hammered into a wall.

Shadow had dozed by the windowsill for less than twenty minutes. White hair spilled from her hood, her red eyes shut, her breathing as light as feathers brushing past. Morning sunlight crept from the gap in the curtains to the center of the coffee table, illuminating the tip of a sprout in the little potted plant—its dark red stain had not dried, as if someone had dipped a fingertip in blood and dabbed it there.

Xie Xie did not dare move. The phone behind his back lit up in his left hand. Half an hour ago, Yun Ying had sent him a message: "Has that lunatic come? Tell me if she has. I'll save you from the depths of suffering." He stared at the words, his mouth twitching.

Save me from the depths of suffering.

Last night, Yun Ying had coughed blood against the wall, the Flame-Reaver Spear rolling by her feet. Xie Xie remembered clearly how Shadow's tail blade had nailed her to the floor tiles—Yun Ying had lunged forward to block half the attack for Gu Yue, then been sent flying straight out into the corridor like a torn sack. Gu Yue had shot a cold glance with her purple eyes, taken a kick to the ribs, and clutched the wall without making a sound. The two of them had joined forces and still been blasted out of the dormitory by Shadow. Before Wu Changkong arrived, half the dormitory doorframe had been shattered.

And now Yun Ying was saying, "I'll save you."

Xie Xie's thumb hovered over the keyboard. He typed, "She's here, sleeping by the window," then deleted it. He typed, "She left," then deleted it. He typed, "Here," then deleted that too. In the end, he replied, "She hasn't come." After sending it, he turned the phone facedown as if burying evidence.

Shadow suddenly hummed by the window. Half a Feather Blade slid from her sleeve, thin enough to seem transparent in the morning light, its edge still stained dark red. She opened her eyes, red pupils half-lidded like a cat checking its territory upon waking.

"Who are you replying to, little brother?" It was not a question, but a statement.

Xie Xie swallowed. "Yun Ying. She asked whether you'd come."

Shadow sat upright. The hem of her hoodie lifted to her knees, and the bloodstain seeping through the bandage on her left knee had faded to pink. She lifted her empty bowl and licked the rim. "Big Sister Yun Ying, huh."

Xie Xie did not respond. He stared at the empty bowl in Shadow's hand. The mutton smell had long faded, but the bitter star anise taste from that soup still lingered on his tongue.

Shadow put the bowl back on the coffee table, then slid to the other end of the sofa and sat cross-legged, resting her chin on her knees as she watched Xie Xie. "Bored."

Xie Xie: "..."

"You're sitting there like a fruit platter on an altar. Boring." Shadow spun the Feather Blade around her fingertips. "I slept for nineteen minutes. Dreamed Teacher Wu was sewing up a duck. Woke up even more bored."

Xie Xie's mouth twitched again. He remembered the row of pacifier ducks sewn to Wu Changkong's chest with two crooked stitches, frost freezing the floor tiles. Shadow had even dreamed about that.

"Let's play Chinese checkers," Shadow suddenly said. Before Xie Xie could react, she had already flipped off the sofa and walked to the bookshelf. She pulled a dusty plastic box with a red lid and yellow trim from the bottom shelf. She blew off the dust and opened it. Red, yellow, blue, and green pieces; the board was made of cloth, and its center had been worn white.

"Yours." Shadow sat cross-legged across the coffee table and spread out the board, dividing the marbles into two piles. "I saw it when I sneaked in last night. You hid it behind the books, thinking no one would look. Little brother still plays Chinese checkers. Cute."

Xie Xie did not dare refuse.

He moved to this side of the coffee table and sat cross-legged, the cuffs of his pajama pants all wrinkled. Shadow had already pushed the red marbles in front of him and taken the yellow ones for herself. The Feather Blade withdrew into her sleeve, while her short blade rested across her knees. Her red eyes lowered to the board as if she were truly preparing to play seriously.

On the first move, Shadow's yellow marble jumped two spaces from the bottom corner and occupied the diagonal opposite one of his red marbles. The rule was absurdly wrong—how could Chinese checkers start by jumping directly from the bottom corner? Xie Xie glanced at it, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

On his second move, he moved a red marble one space normally.

Shadow propped up her cheek with one hand, white hair hanging over the board. Her yellow marble jumped again, this time over three of her own marbles, landing right in the path he had to take. Could Chinese checkers be played like that? No. But Shadow tapped the board with a fingertip. "Your turn."

Xie Xie guided his red marble around it and went along the edge.

Shadow's yellow marble jumped again, then retreated from the move she had just made and returned to its original place, as if she had forgotten she had already moved. She frowned. "Did this marble slip?" A Feather Blade emerged and sliced off a loose thread from the board before retreating again.

That was how the two of them played.

Xie Xie made every move properly, while two out of every three of Shadow's moves broke the rules: jumping over empty spaces, making chain jumps that did not count, treating her own marbles as if they had captured his. Once, a yellow marble flew straight off the board and rolled beneath the sofa. She lay down to retrieve it, her white hair brushing Xie Xie's calf. She put it back in place and said, "The wind direction was off."

Xie Xie did not dare say anything.

He remembered Shadow blocking Wu Changkong's Heavenfrost Sword Qi with her short blade last night, and the moment the fervor in her red eyes had receded. If he provoked her again, those Feather Blades would not be trimming loose threads. One of his red marbles reached the middle of the board. It should have jumped toward the left wing, but Shadow's yellow marble suddenly cut in diagonally from the right. By the rules, it could not make that jump. Shadow gave it a push with her fingertip, pressing the yellow marble atop his red one. "I capture this."

"You... didn't jump over it," Xie Xie said quietly.

"My Feather Blade held it up while it jumped." Shadow smiled, her red eyes curving. "Chinese checkers with Feather Blade assistance. A new way to play."

Xie Xie: "..."

"Good boy." Shadow picked up the red marble and set it aside, then occupied the space with her yellow one. She propped her cheek up and watched him. "You let me have it, right?"

Xie Xie lowered his head and looked at the half of his red marbles remaining, while yellow marbles darted chaotically across the board. He gave a quiet "Mm."

Shadow brightened. She casually flicked a yellow marble, sending several rolling off the board. She did not pick them up. Instead, she sprawled across the coffee table, pressing her chin onto Xie Xie's unfinished red marbles. Her red eyes looked up at him from below. "Little brother, you're more of a coward at games than in a fight."

Cold sweat broke out on Xie Xie's back again. Last night, he had curled up in the corner of the sofa. Now he was sitting cross-legged playing Chinese checkers, with Shadow's chin pressing on his pieces, only three centimeters away from his fingernails.

By the seventh round of Chinese checkers—though it was impossible to tell which round it really was, since the marbles kept rolling away—Shadow suddenly shoved aside the board. Glass marbles clattered everywhere. She leaned back against the sofa, her hoodie slipping down as her white hair fluffed up around her head. Her red eyes stared at the ceiling. "Still bored."

Xie Xie breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the game was over.

"Little brother." Shadow tilted her head, red eyes locking onto him. "Take me to the Ascension Platform at the Spirit Pagoda to have some fun."

Xie Xie: "..."

"If I don't get moving, my Feather Blades will rust." The short blade on Shadow's wrist spun halfway around, and three Feather Blades emerged. They were nearly invisible in the morning light, but that trace of dark red remained at their edges. "Teacher Wu's sword qi made them stiff last night. If I don't cut up something alive to loosen them up, they'll go dull by daytime."

Xie Xie's inner complaints surged like a tidal wave. Yesterday, you traded blows with Wu Changkong, and when his Heavenfrost Slash froze your white hair, you escaped through the blood mist faster than an eel. And now you're telling me your Feather Blades will rust? The Ascension Platform is for fighting soul beasts. If you go in and swing those Feather Blades around, there'll be enough soul beasts for you to slice up into several platters of cold cuts.

But he did not dare say it.

Shadow's red eyes curved as she waited for his answer, like she was waiting to be fed.

"...Fine." Xie Xie said. "Let's get ready."

He stood up, his pajama collar hanging crookedly to one side. His legs had gone numb, and he steadied himself against the coffee table. Shadow immediately bounced down from the sofa, white hair swaying, like a child truly about to go on a spring outing. "You're so nice, little brother. Hehe."

She leaned closer. That trace of fervor surfaced in her red eyes again, the gleam of a cat that had been given canned food.

"I'll treat you to human-meat hotpot tonight," Shadow said.

Xie Xie froze.

Shadow had already turned toward the window and reached for the little potted plant. Her fingertip touched the sprout, and the dark red stain rubbed onto her nail. "Lamb works too. If you don't like lamb offal, I'll switch to beef. The human-meat hotpot was a joke—probably."

She turned back, her red eyes crescent-shaped, white hair dusted by the morning light.

Xie Xie stood beside the coffee table, the corners of his mouth slowly pulling upward.

That smile looked even worse than crying.