At the first crack of dawn Feng got woken up by the sound of Kaiko communicating with two of his golems. Rather unusually, one of them was in two pieces. The upper half of it tried to climb upon its lower half, yet when it did, both halves would slide apart and separate once again. It demonstrated this several times while the other golem made large and exaggerated motions that resembled throwing and slashing.
A regular cut wouldn’t prevent a golem from fixing itself she thought to herself as she watched the golems mime out their experience.
“That’s unusual,” Feng said as she got up, “What happened?”
“Oh, you’re up,” Kaiko responded with a smile as he looked over to her, “Just a little encounter at the barrier.”
“Will it be alright?” Feng then asked.
Kaiko looked down at the bottom half of the golem which was fidgeting about. He ended up having to put his finger on it to push it down to sit.
“Well,” He replied with a smug look on his face, “We’re about to find out.”
He then picked up the upper half of the golem and placed both halves together, correctly. Feng had gotten closer at this point as she wanted to observe Kaiko’s magic.
He focused energy into his finger and rubbed it along where the little golem had been cut. As his finger ran along the cut, it disappeared. He went all the way around, making sure not to miss any of it. When this time he let go of the golem, it stayed together and was able to stand up.
It made flexing motions, demonstrating its newly fixed body, which the other golems applauded enthousiastically.
“Very well done,” Feng said as she clapped softly, “I’m glad that wasn’t too hard. That aside, what’s the situation out there?”
Kaiko took a moment to look at the golems interacting with one another, taunting and posing, before standing up and turning to face her.
“So, from what they tell me,” He began as he pointed to the two who were involved in the incident at the barrier, “The barrier is pretty strong. Sadly, they couldn’t even make a scratch.”
Feng was silent for a moment.
“What about the barrier itself?” She eventually asked, “Anything of note there?”
“Well, neither their physical or spirit form could even touch the barrier; and there was violent pushback when they tried,” He said before pointing to the golem which was mimicking a man sitting in a basket with folded arms, “There also seem to be these small statues at intervals, all along it.”
“Oh,” Feng said in surprise as she pointed to the golem that wasn’t posing, “It had a little red hat? And a whole bunch of paper charms stuck on it?”
It motioned back in agreement; nodding and putting its arms over its head like a straw hat.
“Oh, that’s not good,” She said as she addressed Kaiko once more, “That’s powerful early human magic.”
“Why is that a bad thing?” Kaiko asked confused, “You know about that stuff, right?”
“I do,” She said a little hesitantly, “But what worries me is that the Rocksies should have been able to pass through unharmed, in either form."
She paused for a moment.
“That is,” She continued without giving Kaiko time to respond, “If it had been only human magic at work here.”
Kaiko looked at her while he turned his head sideways like only a dog could have.
“What kind of magic could do that?” He asked while looking over at his two golems, “Or, how powerful would it have to be?”
“I don’t know,” Feng admitted, “But with enough time, even the strongest magics will falter.”
She went quiet for a moment while she thought about the barrier.
“If we can avoid it, I don’t want to make a big entrance,” She continued, “Is there another way in?”
“They’ve not found any so far,” He replied, “That barrier is massive and it seems to go all the way around and up into the mountain. I think we’re going to have to break through.”
Feng sighed.
“Alright then,” She responded as she started rolling up the sleeping bags, “Call them back.”
“Are you sure?” Kaiko asked as he was preparing to focus his energy.
“Yes,” She said firmly and confidently, “They know we’re coming, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Kaiko responded while trying not to laugh nervously, “Though no one came after the Rocksies, nor us, in the night; they definitely know someone is coming.”
All four golems began flexing like showy bodybuilders at each other, then at Feng and Kaiko respectively.
“They aren’t wrong,” Feng sighed as she threw her rolled-up sleeping bag at Kaiko for him to pack away, “We have to go, regardless, so we best not keep our ‘hosts’ waiting.”
"I suppose you’re right." Kaiko laughed before closing his eyes and instructing the far away golems to converge on them.
Once he was done, Kaiko instructed all the golems around them to start walking, then picked up the sleeping bags and put them both away in the large backpack. They each picked up their things and Feng kicked sand over the fire pit that had been mostly ash for several hours.
They both headed out beyond the edge of the plateau, following the golems towards the base of the valley, heading towards the barrier.
All of them walked down the last bit of incline into a foggy valley, lit up by the low morning sun, which seemed to douse to the long stretch of various fields.
They were clearly for farming but looked like they hadn't been used in several seasons. The fields stretched on for a couple of hours as the sun slowly crawled above them, getting ever close to the edge of Wansen Tai.
While the pair still had to come into visual range of one of them, they were only steps away from one of the statues holding the barrier in place.
"Such a shame about the fields,” Feng said while waving her staff from left to right trying to indicate everything around her, “Wouldn’t you agree?"
Kaiko looked around but said nothing immediately. He tried, but decided he saw nothing he could associate with.
"I don't know, looks rough,” He began to mumble, “But what would you expect when likely no human has touched these fields in years.”
"Not what I mean,” Feng sighed as she gripped her staff slightly tighter, “And you know that!”
“Yes yes,” Kaiko said with a dismissive tone, “Respecting the land and what not.”
He had meant for it to be more playful than in ended up sounding
"First humans take the land from the Kami and convert it to farm land,” Feng spoke from memory, in a slightly pompous tone, “And now Yohkai are corrupting the land and everything that lives on it.”
“I think even I could recite that in my sleep now,” Kaiko said this time with a more humorous tone, “With everyone at the temple and you on top of that. It’s perhaps excessive.”
“You’re not wrong,” She confessed with a light laugh, “But tell me you don’t see it every time we’re sent out?”
Kaiko didn’t say anything, he wasn’t sure what to say, though luckily he didn’t have to.
They had gotten close enough to see the barrier now, prompting them both to run faster in approach.
When they had arrived they saw all six golems in a semi-circle around the one of the statues, waiting for them.
Kaiko went over to the golems while Feng walked up to the barrier.
She took a good look at the small stone statue with the red straw hat, this was the first time she got to see one in person. It looked almost exactly as she had imagined based on her reading materials. She noted, however, that all the paper charms had turned dark and grey. They didn’t seem damaged but they did look burned, at least at first glance.
What should have been a white paper with a clear coloured and sometimes even ornate border, with a very dark ink writings was all black with white markings she did not recognise.
She tried to feel around the barrier with her hand, being careful not to get too close. After a few attempts of trying to get a spiritual read with her hand she let an audible sound of frustration.
Kaiko looked up but didn’t say anything.
He saw how she grabbed her staff with both hands and tapped the barrier with the bottom of her staff with a significant amount of strength.
Before anyone had time to react, the barrier lit up, buzzed fiercely, sparks flying around the impact area; yet the staff itself wasn't touching the barrier at all either.
It took less time that it takes to blink for the barrier to expel Feng violently, which sent her flying back quite a distance.
Kaiko as well as the six golems came to check on her.
"Are you OK?" Kaiko asked while he and the golems circled around her.
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” She said as she lay on the ground, looking around for her staff, “That took me a little by surprise. I guess ‘violent’ was correct.”
“Yeah,” Kaiko said as he offered his hand to help her up, “That was the word they used.”
She took his hand and pulled herself off the ground. She also spotted her staff, it had been ejected a bit further away. She went over to pick it up.
“Kaiko,” She shouted at him as she picked it up, “I want you to strike the barrier around the small statue just before I do, got it?”
Kaiko looked at the golems, then the statue, back at the golems and back at Feng.
"Sure thing, let me ju…" Kaiko had to cut himself off.
Without delay he crouched into stance and focussed his energy, ready to strike. He had noticed that Feng had not waited for him to be ready and was already running.
His aura very quickly rose from around him and manifested in front of him. One by one animal features became visible: pointed ears, long snout, clawed paws and eventually a large bushy tail. The aura had taken the form of a ferocious fox.
Both Kaiko and his fox aura turned their heads to watch for Feng running past them. The moment that she did, Kaiko and his aura dashed forward so fast that they seemed to disappear and reappear fused together, striking at the barrier.
The barrier resisted the strike, shimmering and roaring and creaking. The barrier was trying to push Kaiko back but before it had the chance to do so, Feng leapt over him and struck down the same area from above with the bottom of her staff.
A moment of silence was broken by the sound of glass cracking, immediately followed by a bright flash. A burst of air flung Kaiko several meters back, landing on his feet. The shockwave also kicked up a huge amount of dust and smoke, making visibility poor.
Despite the cloud of dust the barrier was plainly visible, with its harshly pulsating glowing edges around a now large hole where the statue and barrier had been.
"The door seems to be open now," Feng shouted towards Kaiko from within the dust, "Lets not keep our hosts waiting."
She could be heard walking away from them through the cloud.
As the dust settled, the statue became visible, revealing that it was missing most of its upper half.
The broken edges of the barrier were shimmering and sparking.
Kaiko and the golems made their way to the opening, trying their best not to touch sharp edges of the barrier as well as walk past the statue.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As Kaiko walked past the statue he noticed that even though it was missing the top half, which he could clearly see in fragments up ahead, the damage on the stumpy lower half looked more like it had been melted than crushed or broken.
As he made his way inside the massive dome that formed the barrier around Wansen Tai, it struck Kaiko how something seemed off; it felt like he had walked into a different world, one where the time of day was sunset.
The first thing he did was look for Feng, who was a little up ahead leaning against a tree.
“Are you alright?” He asked her as the golems gathered around them.
“I’ll be fine,” Feng said before clenching onto her staff and leaning onto it instead, “Always the same with old human magics.”
“What can I do?” He asked her directly and bluntly.
He didn’t always know exactly how to help whenever these incidents occurred, but he knew that dealing old human magic always came side-effects.
“Water…” she said through heavy heaves, as she held out her hand, without looking up, “And take a step back…”
Kaiko quickly grabbed a gourd from the backpack, uncorked it before he placed it in her hand and took a few steps back. She took a long and deep gulp after which she handed it back to him.
Small gales of wind started around her. They were strong directly around her. She got down on her knees and leant onto her hands, head hung low. It took a few heaves but before long she threw up the water she just drank, darkened and emanating a rising black smoke.
She looked at the darkened water for just a moment while it lay there on the dirt, before getting up, slowly.
“I can’t lie,” Kaiko began in an attempt to lighten the tension of the moment, “I wouldn’t want to be you right now, that doesn’t look pleasant.”
“You don’t say,” Feng said sarcastically as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “You want to try?”
“No no,” Kaiko admitted as he passed her the gourd once more, “I’m happy as I am. What is it, though?”
“Some sort of boobytrap,” Feng said as she caught her breath, “I think it was meant to infect intruders.”
“It’s a good thing we’re protected.” Kaiko boasted in an attempt to reassure them both.
Feng nodded absentmindedly. She took another gulp from the gourd while she pointed down to the puddle, almost as if she was asking him: Could you do the honours?
“With pleasure!” Kaiko said with a grin, as he had been waiting for a moment to do something.
He focused energy into his hand creating phantom claws. He dashed with the claws across the ground, ripping the black puddle into five. Where it had been slashed the dark liquid bubbled away, evaporated into grey smoke.
Feng took one last sip of water before shoving the gourd into Kaiko’s hand and walking ahead.
“Make sure to send out our scouts,” Feng shouted over her shoulder at Kaiko while she looked for signs of a path to follow.
He nodded over to her but she had already stopped looking his way, which made him smile and shrug.
He gathered all six of the golems around, ready to send them away to scout ahead towards the village.
He pointed to two of them to stay with him and sent the other four of them away. They each left in a different direction, heading out to scout the village ahead.
He hoped that if they were to approach the village from different angles, they could test the grounds ahead of them meeting in the middle of the village. It had been a working method for them so far. While this method was great at making it safer for them on the approach, he had been quite proud of the next part in particular.
He told the two remaining golems to sit in front of him while he clasped his hands in prayer and hummed a mantra in hushed tone.
While he was chanting both golems began to glow golden from deep within their eyes. The glow grew more intense as the prayer continued, eventually their small bodies began to glow slightly, too. Finally the glow in their eyes exploded in a bright flash as Kaiko finished his chant. The glow faded. A small golden afterglow remained, while they basked in it they closed their eyes slowly, turning into small smooth peddles.
He picked them up and headed out to catch up with Feng, who had found a dirt path further up ahead.
"Put out your arm!” Kaiko shouted towards Feng once he was close enough.
Without looking back first she put her arm out next to her. Kaiko threw one of the pebbles towards her. It homed in on her arm, attaching itself onto her wrist. It wrapped all around while giving off a strong glow. The glow settled and it looked like a bracelet, quite close to a regular rosary, in fact.
“Is this…?” Feng began while she shook her arm about, watching the shaking of the bracelet, almost hypnotised by how the individual beads jiggled around on string that couldn’t been seen.
"Plan C." Kaiko responded sternly, “I’m pretty sure I’ve perfected it now.”
Feng stopped walking for a moment. She held the bracelet high up in the light of the sunset sky and thought: right, this may very well be the most dangerous mission we've had so far.
Kaiko slapped the second pebble over his own wrist and this golem too transformed into a very subtle rosary bracelet.
Kaiko took a short but deep breath. Long enough to focus on his own spiritual energy ahead, trying to locate the four golems.
He felt relieved that he could still sense them even though they were inside the protective dome, even though he could sense it was no longer safe for humans. It did this by ominously and naggingly pulling on the sense of danger and being watched at all times; the time of day being all wrong only added to this feeling.
He pulled his sense back towards himself and Feng and felt a moment of relief, before tensing up again when he realised that Feng had not waited for him and had continued to walk on ahead.
They walked along the dirt part for quite a while without incident, though it did feel hard to tell how much time was passing inside the dome. The constant sense of looming danger being only just beyond sight only made every moment excruciatingly long.
The dirt of the road itself was dry and fine, lifting small clouds of dust whenever they stepped. It felt desolate and abandoned, like years had gone by without anyone walking this road. Moreover, nothing about the path nor the limited view ahead, would have indicated they were on the road to village, let alone a dangerous one.
One thing had been odd, Feng remarked to herself, trying to pinpoint what it was; focussed around herself and her surroundings. Then it hit her, her surroundings, that was what felt wrong; it was silent.
There were no birds, no crickets or cicadas, not even the rustling of leaves nor touching of grass by the wind. The longer they walked along the path, the more noticeable the silence around them became.
The silence had been distracting Feng so much she never even realised that they had just walked up to a small farm house, surrounded a large abandoned fields.
"Oh my…” A soft old quivering voice pierced through the silence.
This caught both Feng and Kaiko by surprise. Immediately, in a quick snap reaction they turned towards the direction of the voice, Feng with her Staff raised defensively and Kaiko crouching into a martial form; both ready to defend themselves.
“Now now, there is no need for that,” The voice continued in response, “I’m sorry for scaring you, dears.”
Feng and Kaiko stayed frozen for a moment, both intensely staring down what seemed to be an old lady carrying a woven basket.
They looked at each other without saying a word, then slowly relaxed their stance.
“Not at all, we’re sorry,” Feng began as she lowered her staff, “We didn't mean to be aggressive there.”
“Also,” Kaiko added, “We didn't expect we'd meet anyone on our way to the village."
“Ah,” The old lady started as she put down the basket she was holding, “Don't you two worry about it, sweethearts. I hope I didn't scare you too much myself, it has been a while since the last time I had guests.”
The old lady waddled away hastily, into the small building that they both assumed, correctly, was her home. They looked at each other slightly confused and took this opportunity to get in closer.
"Did you sense anything before she showed up?" Kaiko whispered to Feng.
"No, I sensed nothing at all," Feng whispered in return, "But I will admit, the sunset, the silence, the deafening atmosphere in here is making it hard to concentrate."
Kaiko agreed on that point as he was having difficulty getting an accurate reading from his golems at this moment.
The old lady came back outside with some cups in hand ready to hand them over to them.
“Please forgive my lack of proper offerings to you travellers,” The old lady professed while bowing, then proceeded to hand a cup to Feng and Kaiko each, "We really haven't had many visitors around here in last few years, this is the best I can offer.”
Feng and Kaiko accepted the cups hesitantly, while giving each other looks.
“Do come in,” The old lady then continued, “Let me give you something to eat before you head out to the village, it’s getting late after all.”
She signalled them to follow her as she rushed off inside.
Feng and Kaiko looked at each other, agreed wordlessly, and simultaneously poured the contents of the cups out onto the ground.
They gave each other a look to say trap, after which they both followed the old lady in.
The inside of the building was small and humble, quite dusty but not messy. As they stood inside the twilight from outside crept in large straight beams ahead of them, it made the air seem thick and dense and stale.
Around what could only be described as the kitchen area, Kaiko noticed a table with three large bowls and one cup. The singular cup was of the same shape and size as the two they were holding.
Unlike the cup they were holding, though, the sets in the kitchen were thick with dust and looked like they hadn't been used in a very long time.
When Kaiko noticed this he tapped Feng the shoulder on pointed to the kitchen area. She nodded. She had herself noticed, only moments before Kaiko tapped her shoulder, how dusty and unused the fireplace was. A fire did seem to be burning, however, with a cauldron hung above it.
Though it was currently in use, the fireplace looks like it had not been cleaned and left to the neglect of time.
"Why won't you both have a seat?" The old lady proposed.
Her voice startled the two of them. Despite knowing she was with them in the room, her voice suggested she was behind them; but the light coming in behind them had not been obstructed nor had any shadow but their own had been visible at any point.
They turned around. The old lady pointed to the chairs in front of them and made a gesture to indicate they should sit.
As they turned toward the table and face away from the old lady, Feng’s expression turned sour for just a second.
Kaiko saw this and he had a feeling that the time to stop playing along was drawing near; she didn’t break away from her calm cool collected demeanour often.
She looked at him and gestured for him to sit at the table, which he obliged. She also signalled him to keep her busy, she was unusually determined so he was going to let Feng decide how to handle this one.
The old lady, who barely waited for Kaiko to sit down before heading to the cauldron, continued to bustle about to make her guests comfortable.
“If you are heading to the village” She said as she walked past the the fire towards the wall where hung a few cooking utensils, “I’m sure my son can take you after supper.”
“Oh?” Kaiko responded, trying his best to sound sincere, “You are very kind, as we’re not from around here. He’s not here though?”
“No no,” The old lady responded as she reached for her ladle off the wall, “He comes home for supper. Always comes home for supper.”
She seemed to somewhat absent-mindedly walk from the wall to the cauldron without looking over to Feng nor Kaiko.
"I cannot wait for you to meet my grandson,” Her soft shaky voice continued with warmth, “He's an important person in the village, you know.”
“You don’t say,” Kaiko said as he watched Feng ready herself, “What does he do?”
“He’s an important chief,” The lady said enthusiastically, the grin on her face was audible, “I’m sure I can ask him to give you a tour of the village.”
Feng held on tightly to her staff in one hand and pulled an amulet out from under her clothing before proceeding to uncoil it from around her neck. She held onto the prayer-beads of which the necklace was made and let amulet drop low.
"I am sorry for what has been done to you,” Feng said as she took a step forward and pointed the tip of her staff towards the back of the old lady, “As I am for what I am about to do, too."
"What are you sorry for,” The old lady responded without turning around, still stirring into the cauldron, “My poor dear dears dears… Dears… Dear dears…”
The old lady began to stutter uncontrollably and struggled to hurdle the word. The soft soothing sounds of the wooden ladle on the inside of the cauldron began ringing inside wildly the house. It was now no longer a singular continuous sound, but a an increasingly louder thumping.
“Surely you can stay for one last meal.” The old lady said as she raised the ladle out of the cauldron for both to see without turning to face them.
Her posture become far less friendly, her movement was sudden and became stuttered like her speech. With jagged movements she turned her head fully to face them while her body remained unmoved throughout.
The old lady, now aware that her trickery hadn’t worked, made a sudden and surprisingly fluid jumped towards the wall where hung a few knives.
In the moment that the old lady landed against the wall crouched over the knives, readying to throw them, Kaiko, who was now glowing slightly, seized the opportunity to jump and dashed up against her, pinning her to the wall; grabbing her hands away from knives so that she couldn’t use.
He managed to keep her clinched long enough for her to notice that in addition to Kaiko glowing ever so slightly, Feng, along with her staff and amulet. The old lady instantly began to panic and the veneer of her appearance began to fade, her arms started flailing like they were made of liquid and all her appendages attempted to flail simultaneous in an attempt to break free from Kaiko. Unfortunately it was too late, the tip of Feng’s staff came in contact with her body and the old lady froze up, after which Kaiko let go and took a step back.
While her body couldn’t move, something in her eyes changed; along with what seemed like sadness and relief the frozen body of the old lady began to darken until the frozen shape no longer resembled a human, but a dark thick ghoulish shadow.
Feng chanted a short prayer in a language no longer spoken and was barely audible.
Light erupted from within Feng and Kaiko as well as the amulet, filling the room completely, covering everything but the two of them along with the shadowy figure that had worn the shape of an old lady.
The light began to visibly burn away her body which was followed by echoed screams. What began as the old lady screaming transformed quickly into the screams of a young man; both of which eventually faded completely.
Once the blinding had ended and the room was visible again, there remained nothing of the shadow body. What remained in its stead was a small pile of dark ash, above which hung a small blackened flame. It whimpered weakly, regressed down to a humble hum.
Feng sat down on her knees in front of the blackened fire. She calmly and deliberately laid her staff on the ground beside her. She clasped her hands together, which echoed thunderously in the house, closed her eyes and began channeling her spiritual energy into her hands.
The amulet she was still holding in one hand began to jiggle and vibrate and hover on its own. It lifted and levitated out of her hands and hung itself in mid air in front of her. There it hung, between her and the small sputtering fire. In her mind Feng began reciting mantras. Wind forced its way in from outside, seemingly whispering the same mantras, carrying them around the room in harmonious song.
In the name of the ancient Gods,
In the words of the ancient Land;
I besiege this soul unto the heavens,
To wash its essence of the corruption forced upon it.
Feng opened her eyes while focusing all her energy at the flame. From deep within her clasped hands pressure exploded outward progressively further and further, warping the room in waves as they flowed out, pushing Kaiko back little by little.
“Be free!” Feng shouted as one last massive wave leapt from her hands through the amulet and straight into the flame, knocking and flinging all the furniture, dust, and Kaiko firmly into the walls.
The black flame froze in place for but one moment, after which it seemed to regain a small part of its original orange hue, before blowing out.
Much like a candle, the extinguished flame streaked white smoke upwards from where it had once burned. This particular smoke began to conglomerate into the vague foggy image of the old lady before dissolving with the sigh of relief coming from all around them.
Thank you.
There was a moment of silence.
Feng did not move after watching the smoke clear completely. Nor did she move when Kaiko regained himself from amongst the debris of the house.
He stood up while dusting himself off, then walked to her to put his hand on her shoulder.
“She was gone a long time ago,” Kaiko began eventually, “You have given her some measure of peace now.”
He took her in for a hug. He felt that was the right thing to do right then and there; knowing it would probably be of little comfort to her right now.
Not knowing exactly why this had hit her harder than any other exorcism so far also made him worry.
“ … have to be a real monster…” Kaiko heard Feng mumbled to herself.
He let go of her and offered his hand to help her up.
She exhaled deeply, feeling like she had been holding her breath for the last few minutes; the tension in her body released and she fell forward. The amulet, too, fell as soon as she felt the tension leave her body. She took a few deep breaths. She looked at the space where the flame had been; the smoke had dissipated completely and even the small pile of dust was being picked up slowly by the wind.
“I know, I know,” She eventually said as she accepted Kaiko’s hand, “We do what we can.”
Once she was up, she too, dusted herself off before bowing respectfully for the spirit of the old lady.
Rest in peace now.
“Euh… Feng?” Kaiko eventually asked, “Are, are you going to be alright? I’ve not seen you quite like this before…”
Without further hesitation she picked up the amulet, which she returned around her neck then hidden under her robes once more, and her staff, which she gripped firmly. She marched past Kaiko without looking at him, looking firmly ahead, feet heavily stomping in a determined stride.
“I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go!” She ordered as she stepped through the door into the twilight, without looking back, “We have a real monster to hunt down.”