“Yes,” Ruwen said.
“Why?” Thorn asked.
Ruwen had already thought about this after he’d noticed the pattern in himself. “It feels right to me, but more than that, you need to take energy before you can return it. If I reverse them, the Bamboo Steps return nothing, and the Viper Steps leave me full of unused energy. Balance only exists from Viper to Bamboo. Take and return. Act and react. It is the proper balance.”
Thorn didn’t respond, and silence settled between the three of them again. After what felt like another hour to Ruwen, Mist spoke.
“How many Steps are there?” Mist asked softly.
This question had the same problem as the “importance” question from earlier. How did he count? In fact, he wasn’t even sure how the Steps were broken up, since the way he’d learned, it had all felt like one giant Step. Worse, he was convinced, and the Addas reaction confirmed, that there was a third form hidden in the movements of the Viper and Bamboo Steps. Did he count those? He didn’t even how many there were.
Which led him back to philosophical. The symmetry of the Steps made his brain happy. No matter how far he moved from his starting point, if he performed the Steps correctly, he ended up exactly where he’d started. And like he’d explained to Thorn, even his energy level remained the same at the end. It was like nothing had happened at all.
The thought echoed in his head: it was like nothing had happened at all.
The thought shook Ruwen, and it felt so right he blurted it out. “There are no Steps.”
The sisters looked at each other and then both looked at something over Ruwen’s shoulder. He dropped into the third meditative state until the urge to whip around and see what was behind him passed.
Mist nodded at whatever was behind Ruwen and then locked eyes with him. “We, the founding sisters of the Bamboo Viper Clan, accept you, Ruwen Starfield, and deem you worthy of the trial.”
In a blink, Thorn stood in front of Ruwen and she took his left hand. She smelled like citrus and her hand felt warm. Intense cold, like he’d held snow too long, appeared in his left palm. He looked down to see a red number appear: one hundred thirty-seven.
Thorn placed a finger on the number. “When this counter reaches zero, you will return to your crossing stone. To test as a Master in our Clan, you must reach the top of the peak behind me before that happens.”
Mist appeared beside Ruwen. “A Master of the Bamboo Viper Clan is an impressive accomplishment, and for most, this is where their training ends. A few will be offered additional training in a Grandmaster’s path. If you are chosen for this honor, we will make ourselves known to you upon reaching the summit.”
Thorn lifted Ruwen’s hand and the number in his palm dropped by one. “You can gain additional minutes in three ways. A successful strike to the head or chest of another participant will take a minute from their total and add it to yours.”
Mist pointed to the bamboo forest. “Eating special fruit found in the forest and mountain slope is the second method. The fruits have other valuable properties. Search them out.”
Thorn let Ruwen’s hand go. “There are other dangers waiting for you, and any damage you take reduces your minutes. Defeating these dangers is the third method to add minutes. You must balance progress with caution.”
“Third stage meditation will pause the countdown, and exempts you from damage,” Mist said. “But also stops you from moving. Use it wisely.”
Ruwen looked at the number on his palm and felt the urge to sprint toward the mountain. Looking up, he found the sisters had disappeared. Immediately he turned around and studied the area behind him. The headless fountain, pews half covered in shadow, and a damaged wall was the only thing he could see. He wondered if there had ever been anything back here, or if the sisters were playing games with him.
The sisters. Ruwen had suspected they were Grandmasters from their movements, but they were the founders. The originators of the Bamboo Viper Steps. Where was this place that they could still be alive.
That didn’t matter at the moment, though. Ruwen needed to make it to the summit as soon as possible. He strode out of the temple and onto the packed dirt of the road. The dirt felt hot against his bare feet. Glancing down at his palm, he read one hundred thirty-five.
Ruwen sensed the approach of someone behind him as a vibration through his feet. The stalker sprinted as they drew near and Ruwen twisted around, expecting to find his attacker. But no one was there. Too late, he saw the footprints in the dirt, and realized his attacker was invisible.
Throwing himself to the side, Ruwen almost avoided the blow to his head, but his attacker lightly grazed him, and his counter dropped to one hundred thirty-four.
The attacker turned and sprinted at Ruwen again. Ruwen closed his eyes, helping him focus on his other senses. As the assailant neared, Ruwen felt the air condense from another punch.
This time Ruwen stepped to the side, grabbed the attacker’s arm and threw himself backward. Ruwen used his feet and the attacker’s momentum to propel the attacker through the air. Ruwen did a reverse somersault and popped up to his feet.
The attacker crashed into a nearby wall, and Ruwen heard a groan. He strode toward the invisible form. Ruwen lacked detailed information about this place, and his attacker would provide it, or lose his remaining minutes.
Ruwen literally didn’t have any time to waste.
Chapter 29
As Ruwen strode toward the groaning, he remained alert for additional attackers. His weakest Step skill remained fighting without his vision, and it worried him that people could make themselves invisible here. Relying on his other senses still slowed him down and altered his timing. Maybe this attacker could
