The splattered blood on her fingers was as cold as the Black Tundra, the charcoaled land between Yonchin and the mountains that surrounded New Arindel. She flicked the crimson goo from her hand, but the sheer cold bit beneath her flesh. Miki swooped down from above the treeline and coddled her hands with her gentle flames.

“Thank you, Miki,” Yui exhaled, adding warmth to her hands. “Allow me to borrow your sight.”

She shut her eyes and allowed herself to be engulfed by Miki’s spirit. Her eyes blazed with the fires of the phoenix and visions of never-ending trees standing above the swamp on stalky roots that plumped to a fat-bellied trunk, flowed into her mind. She searched for violet threads to no avail. They were but a hair, a fleeting trail drowned out by the dense mist and rivers of light. No matter how far she sent Miki or how high the phoenix flew, they could not see past the light-churned haze. It almost seemed endless.

Yui examined the felled beast before her. A marsh viper, as thick as the trunk of a swamp tree and with scales that disguised itself as such. It was an ungodly monster. Cunning and deadly and larger than the first snake they encountered. The first viper had camouflaged as a swinging vine and swallowed two Yojin warriors in a single swipe, then disappeared into the fog. It had happened so quickly, everyone stood frozen, wondering if their minds were playing tricks. But the two katanas and armor pieces left where they had stood reminded them this was no dream.

The brushes behind her rustled, but she did not flinch. Yui knew it was one of the twins, and she knew it was Aki who emerged to report. People often misnamed the twins, which they could not be blamed for. After all, the twins were two halves of a whole. Same pace in their walk, same mole below the right side of their bottom lip, and a mirrored voice. To those they doubted, their faces showed little difference or emotion, granting them the title: The Twin Dolls.

“Miss Yui, are you unharmed?” Aki said with much concern despite knowing her Lady would be unscathed. She was dressed in skin-tight ebony cloth armored with iron scales at her limbs and shoulders; a ninjato strapped to her back, and a few throwing daggers dangled on her leather belt. Beside her was Kenjiro Tatsuya, a handsome young man who was Aki’s soon-to-be husband, if she would cease her denial. He had a face full of life, green of battle, but looks be damned. He was a renowned imperial guard with broad shoulders to carry his strong sense of duty to Yojin.

“Yes, I’m alright, Aki.” The twin’s eyes still brightened whenever Yui called her name.

Tatsuya tried to force a frown. “Why do you never look at me like that, Aki?”

“Because Miss Yui is Miss Yui.”

“Is that any way to speak to your future husband?” Tatsuya reached for her hand but the twin turned away from him.

“I-I have yet to agree to your proposal!” Though he could not see her face, her ears were flushed a crimson pink. The sight of her futile attempts to hide the emotions brought a smile to their faces.

Yui figured she’d save Aki from her embarrassment. “Enough teasing, Tatsuya. How’s the bushi?”

“Our forces have yet to encounter another monster thanks to your efforts, Miss Yui.” Tatsuya bowed. “But, if I may, please don’t push yourself too hard. Solaris still awaits us and I fear you are shouldering all the burden.”

Yui gave him a small smile. “Thank you for your concern, but truly, this much is nothing. I cannot allow another ambush. We cannot afford any more casualties. For my sake, I only ask both you and Aki to tend to the bushi’s morale. That’ll be all, Tatsuya. Go on and head back to the others.”

“As you command.” He bowed, then turned to Aki for a farewell kiss.

Aki pushed him back and yelled, “Not in front of Miss Yui!”

With a fool’s grin, Tatsuya conceded and disappeared into the haze.

“Then you would accept his advances if I were to look away?” Yui giggled. She enjoyed watching the stone-faced Aki fumble for words. “Aki, it may not be my place, but you should listen to your heart. Even Tatsuya will not wait forever, you know.”

The twin had nothing to say to that. Yui sighed and took a moment to make sure they were alone before saying, “Is there any word from the other clans or houses?”

Aki shook her head. “The scouts have yet to find traces of either and it is still a mystery where we are. The maps show no swamps between Tridon and the old kingdom of light.”

“That is of little concern. We need only gaze into the pool of light and follow the river with the strongest current. That will surely lead us to the Licht Order’s army and there is little doubt their main goal is Solaris. What worries me more is the other clansmen. . .”

“The other clans will certainly bring dishonor to the Empress. We cannot let those conniving Yakens claim the trial before us. Those treacherous rats are just like the Sky—” Aki snapped her lips shut and covered them with her hands. “M-my apologies, Miss Yui. I —”

Yui forced a smile. “It’s fine, Aki. Return to the others and tell them this section is clear. We shall push further into the swamp.”

The twin bowed and fled in a hurry.

Yui sighed. Aki’s unkempt anger was discernible, but hearing his mention left a bitter taste in her mouth. The Sky Splitter, though admired by the public, was a traitor in the eyes of the high ranks in the military. No one knew of his current whereabouts or if he is still alive. Some say he fell in love with a Hydrian woman and ran away to elope. Others claim he died from over drinking and falling asleep inside the haze. She had heard countless wild rumors, but one detail remained consistent. . . Hayashi Minoru abandoned his duty to his empress and his family. And for that very reason, Yui made it her own duty to find the deserter. Alive or not.

Once the bushi caught up with her, they traversed deeper into the swamp. The women rode on horseback while the men crossed on foot through the half knee-deep waters. . . If it could be called that. The “water” was an eerie gray mass of slime. It would bubble occasionally and belch a foul stench that could only be described as a corpse festering with maggots. Anything living in the waters was surely long dead or soon to be. The wretched smell forced them to cover their faces with their mengu, lacquered steel masks intricately crafted to resemble the many demons that had once walked the scorched lands of ancient Yonchin. Many had gaping maws with protruding fangs. Some were painted gold, some red or pure black. Since ancient times, her people believed their ancestors wore mengu to strike fear into demons and ward off evil. Though it did little against the deathly stench.

Nightfall came and they secured camp on a dirt mound where an enormous swamp tree had grown. It was one of the few trees in the area whose main roots grew beneath the earth. Haunting vines dangled from the canopy like long leafy fishing hooks. It baited the Yojins with the memories of their fallen brethren, their screams disguised with the quiet rustle of leaves. When it became too ominous to bear, Yui had them singed off until the understory was hairless. Only then did they raise the tents and the archers situated themselves as sentries high up in the canopy.

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They housed themselves in the protection of the towering timber walls that were the crescent roots. To the west of camp, where smaller roots marked a division into the dirt, were the bushi dressed in their night-drenched, flowing robes. Compared to the imperial guards, they might have as well been naked. A half-hearted slice from a sword could easily mean their end. Yui found it strange they valued their free spirit over protection, even when faced with the haze. Was it bravery or foolishness? Though she knew better than to underestimate the warriors from the wild. They were a strong band of a hundred wanderers, masterless swordsmen who were led by their steel, gold, and women. Despite their lack of loyalty, the bushi offered no complaints and did as they were told. Some even had begged to join the cause of their own accord. A respectable notion, Yui once thought, but now she eyed them with suspicion. It would seem even seasoned wanderers tired of the haze. The lack of food and constant travel etched darkness into their eyes with each passing day. She could only wonder if they would remain faithful to their pledge.

Yui sat watching the two factions glare at each other from her pavilion, far from the group. From the east side of camp, the imperial guards dined on their meal — roasted snake filet over rice — using their chopsticks with skilled hands. Each stroke was that of an artist, the complete opposite of the bushi. The wanderers consumed their meal with rugged fingers like savages. Small wonder they scoffed at one another. The two were as different as night and day. A clear reflection of upbringing. But there was one who sought to tear down that wall.

“Come now, all of you! We are brothers and sisters in arms!” Tatsuya shouted with a smile as he approached the center of camp with a barrel of sake on his shoulder. “Come. Let us share a drink!”

A voice lashed out from the imperial side. “Tatsuya, don’t waste the good liquor on the bushi. Bring the barrel over here and I’ll drink with you.”

“Ooyama, you balding bastard. If you want a drink, come take it!” Tatsuya chuckled. He pointed a finger at one of the bushi sitting atop a moss-covered rock. “Oi, Nakano Ryuma. Come. Drink with me, old friend!”

The tight-lipped vagabond glanced up from his straw hat and side-swept bangs and responded flatly, almost annoyed, “No.”

The imperials snickered at Tatsuya, but he cared little about the sounds of mice. He scratched the back of his head as he thought. Then a smirk stretched across his lips. “Ryuma, instead of drinking, play the shakuhachi. If you do, I’ll write off a quarter of your debt.”

Ryuma’s eyes twinkled and clicked his tongue. “You do not hold that power.”

Tatsuya glanced at Yui, asking for permission. It didn’t take much thought to give it to him. She had been trying to ease the tension between the two factions to little success. Once she gave him her blessing, Tatsuya jumped for joy and tore off the barrel’s lid. Yui caught Aki smiling at her future husband like a helplessly lovestruck girl and decided to keep her words to herself and savior the innocent girl’s love.

As Tatsuya handed out cups of sake to everyone, whether they accepted it or not, Ryuma started playing his shakuhachi. He blew into the beveled edge of the bamboo flute and out came long mellow howls, a tune one would hear walking alone in an empty forest in the middle of an autumn day with auburn and gold leaves scattered across the dirt and falling gently like feathers. The soul of nature, some called it. The instrument was used by shrine keepers to mend the spirit and calm the mind. Yui listened from her pavilion and learned there was truth to the claims. Her eyes grew heavy as she bathed in the sweet song and waves of peace rippled down her body. Before she knew it, the song drifted her to much needed slumber.

She dreamt an old dream, of a bed of fine gray sand and a motionless black sea. She fingered the sand and curled some into a fist, then felt each grain pour out as she tilted her palm. It felt hot as if the sands were bathed under a desert sun. But what desert could have an ocean? And how could the sands be so warm with no sun in the sky? As if in answer, a thousand incomprehensible whispers lashed her. She cupped her ears in vain and looked about, but she remained the sole person on the gray shore. Listening intently, she found a whisper louder than the rest and followed it to the source: a long black rock, no longer than a chipped piece of timber. But when she picked it up and examined it, it was not a rock but the charred finger of a child. A knife pierced her heart. She stumbled onto her rear and flung the thing from her grasp. The finger turned to dust as it hit the ground and the whispers turned to hellish screams. She frantically rose to her feet but something below the sands dragged her into the depths, shaking her awake in a cold sweat.

Ako rushed to her side with a canteen of water. “Miss Yui, are you alright? You were thrashing and moaning in your sleep. Were you dreaming of bedding a man? Sir Leor, perhaps? I’ve seen the way you ogle him. He’s a fine man, indeed.”

If it weren’t for the faint smile, Yui might not have been able to tell if she was jesting. The other twin entered soon after and she must have heard her comment. “Ako, watch your tongue around Miss Yui,” Aki said with anger in her voice, but the twin’s face could have been chiseled out of stone with how still it was. She wiped the sweat inching down Yui’s nape with a fresh cloth as Yui drank from the canteen.

“I know, I know, dear sister. I merely wanted to lighten the mood, is all. Unless. . . what I say holds some truth? It has been a while since your last bedding, my lady.”

“Now is not the time for jokes. Miss Yui must have had that dream again.”

Yui wiped the water dripping from the corner of her lips and exhaled deeply. “Yes. . . that accursed nightmare, but this one was odd. . . It felt —”

“ — too real?” finished Ako. When the Yui and the other twin gave her a queer look, she sighed with a quiver. “In truth, my own dreams have stung harsher than before as well.” She gave Aki a quick glance and her twin shuddered as if she knew what her sister was thinking. “It was that dream. . . that damnable night. . . Though it had been years since, I felt as if I were reliving it. The fires licking at my skin. The roof falling to cinders. I heard our parents’ scream and saw the devilish grins of those monsters in man’s skin.” Ako wrapped her arms around herself and clutched hard onto her clothes, tears welling in her eyes. Her sister embraced her tenderly.

“I-I, too, endured reliving those moments. . ,” she confessed. Their frozen faces cracked under the weight of the dark memories.

Yui let the twins grieve and mulled over the nightmares. It had been a long while since she dreamed, but this was the first time she dreamt of something so vivid. Usually, they were incoherent fragments. What could they mean, she wondered. The more she contemplated the thoughts, the more she yearned to find the end of the damnable haze. Beasts hunted them during daylight and the dreams haunt them at night. An endless battle with seemingly no need.

Miki emerged roaring out of Yui’s body, startling the three women. Shocked only for a brief moment, Yui jumped to her feet and called for Miki’s blade form before charging through the flaps of the pavilion. The twins drew their swords and followed.

Yui gauged the camp and found the bushi sleeping on their bamboo mats, but their numbers were much fewer than she recalled. Then, bodies fell from the canopy and struck the ground with hefty thuds.

“Marsh vipers?” Ako said with uncertainty.

“No,” Yui responded when she checked the body closest to her. Their front had turned to an indistinguishable mush, but by the frame, Yui knew it was a woman. A single gash carved into her backside. A wound that could only be done with a katana. “Aki, check on the other perimeter guards and report back to me.”

“As you command.” The twin bowed and left at once.

“Ako, who was on guard duty?”

The second twin dropped to a knee. “Kenjiro Tatsuya’s squad and a few bushi he chose himself, my lady.”

The camp should have been safe under his supervision. How could he let this happen?

A woman’s scream clawed at their ears from the swamp bank. Yui and Ako chased after the piercing sound and found Aki, clutching Tatsuya in her arms. His own katana impaled through his chest.

“Tatsuya. . . Tatsuya. . .” Aki rocked him in her arms, her hands and cheeks covered in his blood. “Don’t go, don’t go. Please, stay with me. I’ll marry you so please stay with me!” Tears rolled down the stone-faced doll’s pale skin. She showered him with kisses and whispered. “Please, I love you. Don’t go. . .”

Tears came to Yui’s eyes but Miki’s rising flames boiled them away. “Ako, round up the troops and prepare the chains.”