Our group pressed onward, moving faster this time. What started as a steady walk quickly turned into flight as we plunged deeper into the tunnels. Tao Yang led the way, and though her speed could have easily left us all in the dust, she held herself back, controlling her pace with great effort. I could sense the tension in her—an emotional storm she was keeping buried beneath her cold, determined exterior.
No one was truly prepared for the weight of what had occurred. Tao Yang, once the ruler of Solarous, had returned to a twisted legacy. Those who had survived and failed to make it to the Bastion had woven a story that turned her into the Dread Princess—a dark figure they had come to despise. What I had gleaned from the memories of the Ascendant cultivator was even uglier than I had told her. There were details too grotesque to mention, whispers of her being labeled the very cause of the rakshasa scourge.
