Bai Yue walked until her legs were sore.
The jungle stretched endlessly in every direction, jade and emerald and the deep green of things that had never known the touch of a modern world. Bai Yue's bare feet sank into the damp earth with each step. Her fur wrap caught on low branches. Her hair, loose and tangled, kept snagging on thorns.
She didn't care.
"TIĀN-MÌNG!"
Her voice cracked through the canopy. The jungle swallowed the sound and gave nothing back.
"Take me back! What is this?! WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE?!"
Nothing. Only the rustle of leaves.
She kept walking.
~
Hours passed. Or maybe minutes. Time moved strangely here, stretched and compressed like old leather. The sun hadn't shifted. The shadows hadn't grown. She was trapped in an eternal afternoon, and every path looked exactly like the last.
Thousand Fang, she thought. FindThousand Fang. Someone will be there. Someone has to be there.
