An eerie silence filled the air as Li Xiulan dressed herself in the morning. Her fingers trembled slightly as she tied her waistband, leaving it crooked no matter how many times she tried. She let out a sigh; making it this far in the competition must have really been playing with her nerves. 

At least my robes fit now, she consoled herself as she looked at her imperfect attire. It was nowhere near as neat as Song Fen’s, but it would do for now.

A breeze came in through the window, rustling Li Xiulan’s sleeve as she raised her arm to tie her hair. The rush of cold made her shiver. She tilted her head in confusion, swearing that the window had been closed last night.

“Did I leave this open?” she muttered, wandering towards the window. It was slightly ajar and frigid air poured in from outside. 

As she reached out to close the window, she caught a glimpse of the view outside -- or rather, the lack of one. The stone garden that used to be visible had completely vanished, swallowed in a thick haze of fog.

“Is this an early winter storm?” Li Xiulan wondered aloud. That didn’t really make sense, though. It had been so warm and sunny yesterday and it was nowhere near winter. Instead of closing the window, she pushed it open further, leaning out to get a better look.

Knock knock knock.

The musical tapping at the door drew Li Xiulan’s attention. She closed the window and latched it before crossing the room and opening the door to reveal Song Fen.

“Good morning, Song Fen,” Li Xiulan said before Song Fen could say a word. She smiled brightly.

“I would say good morning, but it seems t…t-hat the weather has decided that today will not be good,” Song Fen replied. Her arms were wrapped tightly to her chest and she was shivering, Li Xiulan noticed.

“What, don’t like the cold?”

Song Fen shook her head. “Maybe in winter, but certainly not when I’m wearing summer robes. Do you t…t-hink they’ll give me another robe if I ask?”

Li Xiulan laughed, placing a hand on Song Fen’s shoulder. “Honestly, I do doubt it, but it’s worth a try. Let’s go get the day started, shall we?”

Song Fen shook her head somewhere between a yes and a no. She moved closer, grabbing Li Xiulan’s hand and leaning against her shoulder.

“You’re warm,” was all she said.

Li Xiulan laughed, wondering if she was getting even warmer.

“Come on. You can hold onto me while we walk.”

Song Fen seemed to like that idea, pulling closer to Li Xiulan as they exited the room and began to walk down the hallway. 

Her presence calmed Li Xiulan somewhat. The trembling in her hands lessened when she focused on supporting Song Fen, although there was something that kept it from fading completely. When Song Fen was pressed this close to her, Li Xiulan could feel her heart racing too. Her fingers were pressed just a little too tightly to Li Xiulan’s skin, and they were cold with sweat where they touched.

Song Fen was afraid, too. She didn’t say a word, but Li Xiulan could tell. Both of them knew something was amiss, but both were too scared to say or do anything.

So they kept walking as if all was well. The hallway filled with the sounds of their feet lightly tapping against the floor. Besides that, the air was still, unbroken by the morning.

The walk to the dining hall had become familiar by now. They made it without seeing a single soul in the hallways, not even any of the workers.

Li Xiulan was struck by how empty the room was when she pushed open the doors. A few of the remaining scholars sat in scattered seats across the room, but the vast majority were empty. Out of the corner of her eye, Li Xiulan saw Hou Jin in a seat in the corner. He made no move to acknowledge them. Instead, he had his legs and arms crossed and his brows drawn in concern, eyes darting suspiciously around the room. Xu Chang stood behind him, posture unusually stiff.

It wasn’t just them, then.

Li Xiulan wasn’t sure if she felt comforted or disturbed by that fact. She decided to ignore the feelings entirely for now, leading Song Fen to their usual seats.

“Quiet morning,” Li Xiulan whispered as they sat, feeling awkward disturbing the silence.

Song Fen shifted her seat closer, warily scanning the room. 

“Li Xiulan, something is wrong.”

A pit formed in Li Xiulan’s stomach. She swallowed. She wanted to scream and pull her hair out, quite frankly. Why was it that something had to be wrong? Couldn’t this just be a normal year where she could compete under normal circumstances?

“Why do you say that?” Li Xiulan settled on instead. Song Fen raised her thumb to her lip, biting on the nail as she looked around.

“There were supposed to be twenty-five of us left. Twenty-six, if  you count Xu Chang. T…t-here… there are only twenty-one.”

A quick count proved Song Fen correct. Scattered across the room were twenty-one people. No workers, no judges, no hosts… and not all of the competitors, either.

Li Xiulan cursed, startling Song Fen. Li Xiulan buried her head in her hands.

“Maybe they’re still on their way,” Li Xiulan said, knowing that the words were hollow.

“We didn’t see anyone on the way here. And… they didn’t wake us up this morning, either.”

Song Fen was right. Every other morning, there was a wake-up call. Even when Li Xiulan and Song Fen had been late, they had always passed someone carrying dishes or linens, or another scholar running late. Today, there was nothing. No one. 

Li Xiulan took a deep breath, placing the palms of both her hands against the table in front of her.

“Alright. This is fine. We can figure something out, can’t we? What should we do?”

She looked at Song Fen, hoping to find some confidence there that wasn’t reflected in herself. Instead, she saw Song Fen’s wide, anxious eyes.

“Li Xiulan.”

Her eyes fixed on something just beyond Li Xiulan’s head. Li Xiulan’s heart dropped as she turned around, facing the door that Song Fen was staring at. The door that led to the courtyard.

It was still closed, but every once in a while it shook. The movement was so small that it was barely perceptible. As Li Xiulan watched it, though, the shaking got more intense with every passing moment until she could hear the door creaking and bending like something was pressing against it over and over with an increasing weight.

Song Fen scurried to her feet, pulling at Li Xiulan’s arm and dragging her up with her. The silence in the hall was broken, the remaining scholars finally noticing the shift in the air and getting to their feet in shock, their exclamations carrying over the sound of the now nearly deafening pounding against the door.

As Song Fen and Li Xiulan ran to get further away, the door banged open, the knocking suddenly ceasing. Fog flooded into the room, spilling over the tables and the seats. Whatever it touched it seemed to consume, swallowing the floor and plunging it into obscurity. 

“Climb!” Song Fen urged, grabbing Li Xiulan’s hand and pulling her up onto the raised stage at the back of the room. Hou Jin and Xu Chang were right behind them. Hou Jin drew the sword he wasn’t supposed to have and braced it in front of him, waiting for an enemy to appear.

The other scholars weren’t quite as nimble. Some climbed onto the tables while others seemed relatively unfazed. 

“What is wrong with you all?” one of them proclaimed, crossing his arms as the fog pooled around his calves. “The hosts will not be pleased with your conduct when they arrive. We must close the doors and be back in our seats before that happens.”

The man confidently strode towards the door despite the protests of the others around him. Around halfway across the room, though, he stopped.

“What-?”

A yell escaped from his mouth as he suddenly plunged beneath the surface of the fog. It was like the earth had opened up and swallowed him whole, leaving no trace of him. 

A cacophony of screams and flustered speech filled the room as the remaining contestants scrambled to get higher. Li Xiulan breathed heavily, tightening her grip on Song Fen as she backed away from the fog, pressing herself to the back wall.

“Show yourself, demon!” Hou Jin yelled, raising his sword menacingly. “Surrender and I will consider showing you mercy.”

A low rumbling filled the air. It wasn’t quite a response, but whatever it was filled Li Xiulan with a terrible dread. Even without words, its message was clear: I have no need for mercy.

From the corner of her eye, Li Xiulan saw another man yanked beneath the fog with a scream.

“Get t…t-o higher ground!” Song Fen yelled, waving over the nearby scholars to the stage. Even those who had been relatively calm were starting to get flustered. Some, in their rush to get higher, slipped and fell, never resurfacing. Others tried to run for the doors instead, but found that they were locked. They were unable to turn back before the fog reached them.

“Where are the White Snake cultivators?” Li Xiulan asked, grabbing Song Fen’s arm and pulling her close. “Didn’t you say they were supposed to be watching over the competition at all times?”

“I did,” Song Fen said through gritted teeth, leaning down to pull one of the remaining scholars onto the stage. The fog was steadily rising, and now even the stage was barely above its level. She glanced at Hou Jin, looking back and forth between him and the sword he held.

“Hou Jin. Can you use your sword t…t-o fly out of here and check on the situation outside?” she asked.

Hou Jin seemed shocked by the request, looking Song Fen up and down as if he didn’t even know who she was. 

“Are you insane? I must stay here to fight. Just stand back and let me handle this.”

The sigh that Song Fen released was almost uncharacteristic, betraying a deep exhaustion in her. Li Xiulan wanted to ask if she was alright, but Song Fen brushed her hand against hers to let her know she was.

“Fine. I’ll just do it myself, t…t-hen. You take care of these people,” Song Fen said. She held up her hand towards the door, and a long moment passed.

“Um, Song Fen, what are you doing?” Li Xiulan whispered. “You don’t have your sword with you.”

“I know,” Song Fen whispered back. “But I will soon.”

The question that Li Xiulan was going to ask died in her throat as a banging noise emanated through the hall. This time, it came from the door leading to the dorms.

Song Fen squeezed her hand shut, as if she was straining against some invisible force, and the banging grew louder. With a yell, she pulled her hand back and there was a loud splintering noise as something split the door apart. A sword flew through the air, pulled as if on an invisible string into Song Fen’s hand.

“Good job, Jingshen,” she said, running her finger over the hilt of the blade. Li Xiulan could almost swear she saw the sword resonating with the movement, like a cat purring. After swinging the sword once, Song Fen turned to Li Xiulan.

“Alright, Li Xiulan. We need t…t-o check if there’s any way to escape.”

“How are you planning on doing that?” Li Xiulan asked hesitantly, glancing down at the sword. She had an idea, but she wasn’t sure that she was mentally prepared for it.

Song Fen smiled and released the sword. Instead of falling, it floated down towards her feet and laid itself horizontally.

“We fly.”

Song Fen stepped up onto the sword. It didn’t waver at all under her weight, to Li Xiulan’s surprise. Under normal circumstances, Li Xiulan would have been thrilled for the opportunity to fly on a sword with a real cultivator. But knowing that if she fell off, she might simply vanish…

Before she could protest, Song Fen grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. Li Xiulan exclaimed in surprise as she tried to find her balance atop of the sword. It felt like she was standing on a wire, just one wrong move away from plummeting to her death.

“Hold on to me,” Song Fen said, taking Li Xiulan’s arms and wrapping them around her waist. “I need you t…t-o watch for danger while I check the exits. I need you with me.”

Li Xiulan took a few deep breaths as the sword rose higher in the air. It was going slow -- probably Song Fen’s attempt at consoling her. Still, she had never been this far off the ground before, and it filled her with pure terror.

Still, if Song Fen needed her, then she would be there. She steeled her nerves and tightened her grip on Song Fen.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Song Fen nodded. The sword began to move faster, soaring over top of the fog below. From this angle, Li Xiulan noticed there seemed to be some dark form inside, slithering around in the shadows. It was coiling around the stage, just waiting for the fog to overflow and allow it in.

“What is that thing?” Li Xiulan asked. Song Fen glanced down, her eyes narrowing.

“Some kind of spirit. I can’t t…t-ell what kind from here, although whatever it is, it’s definitely powerful.”

They dipped down a bit to pass through the door, and Li Xiulan found herself pulling closer to Song Fen in fear as they did. With that beast lurking beneath her, she didn’t want to risk falling. She felt a hand close around hers, giving it a quick squeeze,

“Just hold on. We’ll find a way out, and t…t-hen I’ll put you right down.”

Li Xiulan nodded as they soared higher into the courtyard. She felt that she could barely breathe, but she kept it to herself, stubbornly keeping her eyes open.