Two hours later - On a Flying Sword over the Wilderness of the Gui Empire:

The nine-year-old girl whose silver ponytail was flapping behind her in the wind, had been absolutely silent for the last two hours. Despite her desire, Fenghuang Yu had not asked her potential madman of a master how long the journey was, or what it would be like, or how they would train, or what she should do when they arrived.

Outside of looking from side to side and watching the various types of wildernesses pass by, she hadn’t moved; her hands behind her back, mimicking her master exactly. They were currently flying over an area that was completely barren of anything except tan sand. The reading she had done in her family’s library told her it was called a desert and was a place of desolation and death. Only the strongest cultivators would ever venture there; and when they did they would be well prepared.

It was because of the danger of this natural habitat that Yu was shocked to realize they had begun slowing down. As she looked to her master for an explanation, she found him staring off to the right of their strange transport, a flying sword four paces wide and twelve long. Yu looked in that direction as well, wondering what had distracted the unfathomable cultivator. All she saw were the rises and falls of an ocean of sand. Hot winds blew, causing occasional whirlwinds of tan particles that moved from sand dune to sand dune.

The sword came to a slow stop and Long Bingwen, her master and the leader of the Black Dragon Sect, fully turned his body to face the right, his hands not having moved from behind his back. Yu still didn’t see anything in that direction. Given who her master was, she was hesitant to speak. Instead, Yu simply looked out and tried to figure out what was going on that caused the man to pause his return to his home and responsibilities.

The answer started low, but eventually rose enough that she was able to recognize that something was approaching. There was a speedy thumping beat of the air getting progressively closer, faster, and louder. Out of nowhere, a shadow blocked out the sun and Yu looked up and jumped. She grabbed the tiger cub out of his basket at her feet and held him close against her chest. Wind began whipping sand about and Yu tucked Bai inside one flap of her robe while the other she attempted to hold over her face. Yu felt a drag on her head as her long silver ponytail was whipped behind her and pulled hard enough that it almost hurt. Her whole body began to be pushed back and she was about to be thrown off the sword until a force she could not see held her in place.

The enormous creature responsible for the localized sandstorm landed with a rumbling thump into the sand causing even more to fly into the air and be whipped around. Slowly its eight transparent wings slowed their beat and settled onto the back of its massive abdomen. In front of them among the now settling sand staring with brown eyes the size of her courtyard training center on its gigantic triangular head, was the largest creature Yu has ever seen. The Gusting Desert Mantis tilted its head left and right, all the while clicking its mandibles, themselves the size of a small building. Its four skinny rear legs twitched forward and back while its two front serrated legs reached out and threatened to poke at the two puny humans before it.

“Why are you here, Shao?” The voice that came from her master was deep and filled with power. And totally sane.

“I come for her.” A high-pitched voice filled with clicks sounded throughout the area. Yu’s mind shuddered from it and she gasped, dropping onto the sword while covering Bai’s ears with one hand and her head with the other. Yu could feel her bond’s pain and terror in her mind which amplified her own matching emotions. This had to stop or it would turn into a cycle where they destroyed each other’s minds, increasing her fear for both herself and Bai. It was awful and caused her to curl around the cub and shudder.

“Please lower your power when you speak, Shao. I do not need my new apprentice’s head exploding.”

With a slightly lower impact that only helped slightly, the clicking voice said, “Give them to me.”

With Yu still writhing on the sword, her master said, “No. They are mine.”

One of its massive raptor-like front legs darted forward towards the man in gold. In response, he raised his hand and a mostly transparent silver globe surrounded the sword. A vibrating boom sounds as the foreleg slammed into the shield which rippled like it was fluid.

The clicking was speeding up and the voice said at the same painful volume, “Fine. Give me the girl. You keep the tiger. It is fair.”

After a few breaths, her master said, “If you keep this up both will die and neither of us will have them. And they are mine now. How is giving one up fair?”

Another slam followed his refusal and the shield rippled even more. “I must have her!” it declared in a tone soft enough that it was just manageable to the two youngsters.

Still dazed by the words rattling her mind, Yu barely saw the creature raise both its forelegs and slam them into the shield. It rippled and Yu found to her shock and terror that the barrier cracked. Like lightning, the creature struck again and their protection shattered, the massive legs heading for them. Then time seemed to slow and the sword shifted back twenty paces. Time returned and sand was falling around the creature from its missed strike.

Her master called out, “Shao, stop this.”

The gigantic brown insect moved on the sand like it was made out of it and skittered forward, snapping its mandibles and waving its forelegs. With a sigh, her master held out both of his hands palm down and looked like he was pressing downward on an invisible table. The mantis’s whole body slowed and lowered closer to the sand. But that didn’t stop it. It glowed brown and pushed back up against the force and Yu’s master looked like he was pushing back down. Able to see her master’s face and finally able to focus, Yu didn’t think he was struggling so much as trying to control it. Was he intentionally attempting to avoid crushing the beast?

The voice returned but softer. Perhaps somewhat of a request more than demand. “Timekeeper, she has responsibilities to us.” That name. Yu was told her master had the Spatial affinity by her parents but was not really clear what that meant.

“She has responsibilities to me, Shao,” her master responded, still holding his hands out.

The mantis glowed brightly and shoved upwards with a great deal of might. Her master let his hands fall after taking a controlled step back while moving the sword back again.

“Shao, if I promise to return and discuss it, will you allow us to pass in peace? I will hear you out but you cannot have her now.” Wait. What did he mean now?

The voice said in response, “We have only so long before it will be too late, Timekeeper. We need her.”

Her master nodded and said, “I will return before the rains return to the desert to discuss what exactly you need. Perhaps we can find a solution.”

The creature tilted his head again, clicking and twitching like before.

“You have my word,” her master intoned. Even one as young and inexperienced as Yu could tell there was power in his promise.

After another few breaths of silence, the voice said, “Acceptable.” Then the eight massive wings spread from the mantis’s back and began their beat causing sand to fly everywhere. Her master placed a shield around the sword that time so thankfully Yu and Bai didn’t get hit with the sand or nearly thrown off like with its arrival. With a press of its four rear legs, the titanic creature lifted off and flew off into the desert.

Then, as if nothing happened, the man in gold returned to the front of the sword with his hands behind his back and they once again sped along towards their destination.