Chapter 339 - Gathering Material

Yuzu led the way through the catacombs, walking confidently at the head of the group down the candlelit hallways.

She moved quickly, without explaining where she was going, but their destination soon became obvious.

The smell of smoke and blood grew stronger as they steadily approached the ritual chamber.

Golden threads reflected in the pupils of Yuzu’s eyes as she kept a close eye on the tapestry of fate. The calm web of golden threads had been disrupted by her arrival. She saw the white threads of Lord Noga’s forces and the God of Preeminent Wisdom lingering around the area in the aftermath of the Clockwork God’s ritual.

Her spiritual intuition throbbed in warning as the smoky future threads of Noga’s military slowly started to curl around her own. If she stayed too long, she’d lose her chance to escape and fall into the hands of Lord Noga.

“You three stay here.” Yuzu said as they approached the broken doorway to the main ritual chamber, “Char Char, come with me.”

Char Char followed, letting out a small gasp as she the smoky, blood filled room. Furniture and tapestries smouldered along the sides of the circular room, casting a shaky light across the room that was filled with numerous bodies. A complex brass machine covered in runes dominated the space at the center of the room, still emanating a dark aura. Char Char had been kept away from the battle by Yuzu, she was unprepared for the shocking sight.

“What happened here…” Char Char whispered.

“A blood ritual.” Yuzu replied. She was already halfway across the room, walking in without hesitation. She had already seen the entire battle from afar and had prepared herself for this. If not for her nose wrinkling from the acrid smell and her eyes avoiding looking at the bodies, one might think she was completely unaffected by the horrific sight.

“The head cultist over there, grab the metal thing in her hand.” Yuzu said, pointing Char Char to the face-down corpse with eight arms, “Don’t worry, they’re all dead.”

“It’s that they’re all dead that worries me…” Char Char said, though she headed toward the body as instructed.

Yuzu picked up a wooden staff from the floor and walked directly to another set of bodies. There were four of them, two swordsmen and two elegant ladies in bloodied robes. The two guru-chi and their oji had lost their lives in the ritual, but Yuzu could see several faint silver threads twisting around their bodies.

Yuzu heard the soft tinkling of gems falling onto the floor as the Exalted essence within each of the bodies congealed into sarira.

The bodies were still limp, their heads and limbs flopped heavily to the side as she shifted the corpses. Yuzu felt a wave of queasiness pass over her as she proceeded with her macabre actions, ignoring Char Char’s concerned, shocked expression as her friend watched her from the other side of the room.

These sarira were exceptionally valuable to Exalted. Even if she couldn’t use them directly herself, they could be sold for large sums of money. Having seen the faint silver strings of the valuable material Yuzu had already steeled herself for the deed.

She hadn’t realized the corpses would be so… heavy. As she moved the bodies around she did her best not to look at their faces, or think about what she was doing. She only moved them enough to be able to salvage the sarira, whispering a silent prayer in her mind to wish them off to the afterlife.

Yuzu already had a pouch ready as she used the staff to move the bodies and gathered up almost two dozen of the gems. Strangely, the gems were not bloody at all, or rather, it seemed that they only dropped in places with no blood, despite the whole room being splashed with blood.

Or they absorbed the blood… Yuzu thought in a small epiphany.

After gathering all the sarira Yuzu then walked over to a blackened corpse nearby the guru-chi. It had fallen to pieces. This was the body of Cecil the mage. For some reason it had disintegrated into dust, leaving only shattered bones and ashes buried under tattered blue robes. His body mysteriously didn’t leave behind any sarira, and he had used up all the gems in his rings and amulets.

There was only one precious item left in his possession. Yuzu picked up the robes with the end of her staff and reached into one of the inner pockets, pulling out a sarira the size of a marble with a handkerchief, taking care not to touch it with her skin.

The small white orb glowed brightly in her vision as she examined it for a brief moment. She felt an attraction to it unlike any of the other sarira. She had first noticed it when she had interfered with the battle through the lodestone, and had specifically influenced Cecil so that he didn’t use it during his final moments.

At the time she didn’t know exactly what it was, only that she felt an innate attraction to it. Now that she held it in her hands she knew what she was holding.

This was a Fate-aspected sarira. Not just that, but it was specifically compatible with her path.

Yuzu had learned much foundational knowledge about the Exalted world from listening in on Somm’s lessons to Nilya. For an Exalted looking to get stronger in the world, nothing was more precious than sarira from one’s own pathway.

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For sarira from the same domain but a different path, an Exalted could use various spiritual ingredients to create a catalyst aligned with their path and allow them to safely advance. But if the sarira was from the same path, the Exalted could absorb it directly and increase in strength.

Yuzu found herself mesmerized by the energy coming from the sarira. As she held the white orb with the cloth in her left hand, her right hand subconsciously started moving to touch it.

“What’s that?” Char Char asked, snapping Yuzu out of her daze.

“It’s nothing.” Yuzu said with a somewhat startled tone out of reflex. However she quickly added, “I mean, I found something— I’ll tell you later.”

She folded the cloth around the sarira, as if she had been caught doing something wrong. “Did you get the device?”

“Here it is.” Char Char handed over the complicated brass object that the head cultist had used as the focus for her blood ritual. Its housing was in the shape of a shallow, flat shell with a hinged lid. The crystals inside crystals had gone dark, and the intricate clockwork machinery silent.

Yuzu received the shell and closed its lid. “Can you hand over the amulet as well?”

Char Char retrieved the Sun God’s amulet from her jacket pocket. The teardrop shaped gem was inset into a pendant made of several types of gold, interlocked together with immaculate craftsmanship.

“Thank you.” Yuzu said, storing both of the items in her bag, “We need to go before other people show up.”

“Okay.” Char Char didn’t object, though she didn’t hide the expression on her face that was equal parts curiosity and discomfort. With some hesitation she eventually asked, “Are you sure we should be taking all these things?”

“It’s for a good reason.” Yuzu said reassuringly.

She spoke those words more confidently than she felt inside, but they were true. She did have a good reason to have the Sun God’s amulet, but as for the others… Well, if she was going to stay in the Exalted world, then she was going to need a stock of resources. It was just like setting up a shop, the shopkeeper didn’t just need money, they needed a storefront and goods to sell.

Yuzu wasn’t quite sure what her ‘business’ would be, but the Exalted world was dangerous. Even though visiting this room full of death and handling corpses with her bare hands made her stomach churn, she did what had to be done to set herself up for future success. She wouldn’t be so naive to think that she could accomplish things without getting her hands dirty.

The white strings of Noga’s military forces were starting to solidify around the room. Yuzu left the room decisively with Char Char, not even taking another glance around. She’d already observed all the strings in the room previously; the majority of the cultists did not drop any sarira, and the few cultists that did, including the head cultist, were warped with corruption.

As Yuzu and Char Char returned to the hallway Firuzeh, Finn and Minnie looked expectantly at Yuzu, wondering if they would get an explanation for visit to the ritual scene.

Finn especially was feeling anxious. He hadn’t realized that Yuzu was going to walk directly into the ritual chamber and missed his opportunity to object. What was Yuzu doing in there? Would it interfere with the military’s investigation?

Finn felt that something was vaguely wrong but remained passively out in the corridor for a simple reason - Yuzu had influenced his string to keep him out of the room. Internally he had been wracked with indecision, fighting with his desire to investigate but balancing it with the pressure exerted from the White Maiden.

Yuzu walked up to Finn and said, “The military is about to arrive. Can you create a portal to get us out of here?”

So direct! Finn bristled at being ordered around by this teenage girl. Coupled with his anxiety he felt the need to directly counter her.

“There’s no need, is there?” Finn replied, “Minnie and I are here in a military capacity as well. I still need to conduct some investigations of my own before we go.”

“That’s fine,” Yuzu replied, “But aren’t you worried about Char Char being discovered here?”

Hearing those words, Finn’s rebellious attitude was suddenly extinguished. Yuzu didn’t need to say that Finn would get into a lot of trouble if it were discovered that Char Char was not still under house arrest in Noga City.

It wasn’t that he had forgotten about this fact. In fact there was a chance that his superiors were already aware of Char Char’s presence. After all Gwynn had specifically called for him and sent him to out to the estate. But that wasn’t certain.

Ultimately it was in Finn’s best interest to keep Char Char’s involvement here as low-key as possible.

Finn wanted to come up with a cool retort to Yuzu’s question but found himself tongue-tied. He could only clear his throat and say, “Where do you want to go?”

“The Chang estate next door, to the north.” Yuzu said. She reached out to Finn and Minnie’s strings and sent over the image of a lavishly furnished sitting room on the far side of the hill. The pair’s eyes were drawn to the north as they intrinsically understood where this location was.

Finn could only nod, flexing his fingers. He looked toward Minnie, who met his gaze. Finn knew what she was thinking just from her expression.

“I’ll take them.” Finn said, reaching out to a space in the air.

Finn briefly closed his eyes, activating his spirituality. He felt his consciousness expand into a black void filled with stars. This was the astral plane, a dimension that he had gained limited access to with his ascension to Apprentice. It had only been a few days since he consumed the catalyst and advanced, but he felt completely at ease, able to perform the Planar Door ability after simple instruction.

Finn envisioned the sitting room, placing its location in relation to himself, and saw a light glimmer to existence in the void as it resonated with his intent.

He reached out, connecting their current location with the sitting room.

The dark hallway bloomed with daylight as a portal opened up in the middle of the wall.

“Minnie, report to Gwynn that we’ve had contact with the White Maiden. See what she says and then come find me.” Finn said, motioning for Yuzu, Char Char and Firuzeh to enter.

As the others went through the portal, Minnie unexpectedly reached out and took his hand.

“What?” He asked, hiding his surprise.

“Back at the shrine, I was able to pray to White Maiden” Minnie dropped his hand after a brief hesitation, “I know that you are cautious about her, and I know you hold a grudge against Yuzu… But I just wanted to tell you, I think the White Maiden is on our side.”

Finn took a moment to digest Minnie’s words, keeping his expression neutral. After a moment he nodded and said, “Noted.”

After a brief goodbye, Minnie departed through her own portal to report to Gwynn.

Finn turned, seeing that Char Char and Firuzeh had stepped through the portal but Yuzu was waiting beside it.

“After you.” Finn said.

“I’m not going.” Yuzu replied enigmatically, “I have something more to do here.”

Finn held back a snippy remark and simply nodded, “Very well.”

Char Char’s presence in Hasan was his main personal concern, and he had no authority to order Yuzu around. It wasn’t his problem if other Noga officers found her, so as far as he was concerned, Yuzu could do what she wanted.

Without saying a parting remark he turned and left through the portal.