The Unrooted PathCommentsSign in

The Unrooted PathChapter 7: The Blank Path

Alone in the dark sealed hall, Qinghe hears a strange ringing as the hidden observer says a name was reserved forty years ago.The dark-green record floats before the jade screen; the observer says it was sealed so none could claim it, and Qinghe's bare wrist stings.A seal on the record dims, dust lifts from the floor, and Qinghe cannot move his legs.The golden talismans sway in time with his pulse as Qinghe strains to hold on.A heavy pressure falls over the hall; the observer says do not resist it.The last seal dims, everything freezes mid-air, Qinghe's reflection in the jade does not move with him, and darkness swallows the page.Qinghe stands barefoot and unbound on still black water under a sky of unlit formation lines.A huge tree without roots floats above the water, its trunk ending in a sealed cut and nine branches with nine different dark shapes.Turquoise formation lines appear on the water with every step Qinghe takes toward the tree.An old handprint much larger than his own is pressed into the trunk, with a name in an unreadable script beneath it.A bud on the formation-ring branch opens, and Qinghe sees the river barrier, the checkpoint ring and the archive ring as one pattern.Nine circles of light appear on the water, and then the whole world cracks like glass.One heartbeat later Qinghe kneels in the hall again; the ringing in his ears is gone and the observer tells him not to speak of it.A thin turquoise line burns under his bandage and fades, his nose bleeds, and the door at the back of the hall begins to open.The Examiner Cen Ruo enters with clerks and guards for the Root Test while Yan Shuo is held outside the door.Nine bronze Root Mirrors stand in an arc as a young clerk carries the tablets and Cen Ruo orders the test to begin.All nine mirrors stay dark, though one reflects a faint turquoise flicker; Cen Ruo calls him a rootless mortal and Qinghe thinks that no one can know.Left alone in the hall, the observer lifts the dark-green record, where a new small glyph glows, and whispers one of nine.

Chapter 7: The Blank Path

A pressure Qinghe cannot explain presses down on him in the sealed hall as the seals on the record dim one by one. What he sees next, he can tell no one, and the Registry's Examiner arrives to test him.

New to the story? Meet the characters and the world on the The Unrooted Path page.

Comments

Loading comments…