The Goddess in the Dark

The cave was damp, but dry enough. Fan laid her on his bed of straw and dried moss. He lit a small oil lamp, the flame illuminating the damp walls.

He cleaned her face with a rag dipped in rainwater. As the dirt cleared, he recognized her.

Li Xue. The Frost Sword.

She was the prodigy of the Azure Cloud Sect. He had seen her once, years ago, during the Grand Tournament. She had floated above the arena, ice crystals forming in her wake, untouchable and divine.

Now, she was shivering in his straw bed.

Her eyes fluttered open. They were gray, like a storm cloud.

"Where..." she rasped.

"You are safe," Fan said quickly, bowing his head so low his nose touched the dirt. "I am Fan. A servant. You are in the Dregs Valley."

"Dregs," she repeated. A flicker of pain crossed her face. She tried to sit up, but collapsed with a cry. "My meridians... shattered."

Fan dared to look up. "Immortal, you are badly hurt. I have no spirit pills. I only have common herbs."

Li Xue looked at him. Her gaze was cold, dissecting him. She saw the roughspun tunic, the dirt under his fingernails, the lack of spiritual light in his eyes. A mortal. An ant.

But an ant was useful when the giant was fallen.

"I need... Spirit-Mending Grass," she whispered. "And Blood-Clotting Root. Do you know them?"

"Yes," Fan said eagerly. "I grow them. But they are counted. If I take them..."

"If you take them, I live," Xue said. She reached out, her cold fingers brushing his wrist.

The touch sent a jolt of electricity through Fan’s body. It wasn't Qi; it was pure adrenaline. She had touched him. The Frost Sword had touched him.

"You will be my hands, Fan," she said, her voice softening, gaining a seductive lilt born of necessity. "Will you help me?"

Fan looked into her gray eyes. In that moment, he saw a destiny. He wasn't just a compost shoveler anymore. He was the guardian of a goddess. He was the chosen sidekick in a story that would shake the heavens.

"I will get them," Fan vowed. "I will get everything."