Remembrance

Because the plank road had fallen into disrepair, it took Pan Long and Han Feng three full days to cross the pass through the Zhongnan Mountains.

Over those three days, they encountered plenty of danger. The planks beneath their feet broke four or five times alone.

But the greatest danger came not from beneath their feet, but from the sky.

At dusk on the second day, they were about to rest in a cave that had clearly been carved into the cliff beside the plank road when they heard strange laughter outside. They went to the entrance in puzzlement and saw a huge gray bird flying overhead, laughing eerily at them.

The bird was enormous; one wing alone looked longer than a carriage. Its feathers were gray with flecks of red, the gray dull and murky, the red painfully bright. The sight of it made their skin crawl. Its head was worse. Though it was a bird, it had the head of a jackal, and its mouth split wide beneath its ears. Now it opened that mouth to reveal rows of gleaming white teeth, and its laughter sent a chill down their spines.

"What is that thing?!" Han Feng cried. "It doesn't seem to like us much!"

"No, I think it likes us a great deal." Pan Long took the bow from his back and strung it. "Look. It likes us so much it's drooling."

Han Feng shuddered and hurried to string his own bow.

Whatever the bird was, it clearly meant them harm.

The two stayed on guard, but neither attacked rashly.

Every Northerner knew not to strike first at something unfamiliar. Many demons and monsters in this world only fought back when attacked. Leave them alone, and everyone might live in peace; strike first, and the encounter would