At first, there was only darkness.

Though it was not clear how long she had been in the emptiness, suddenly Feng become aware that she existed within that darkness. She opened her eyes to confirm there was nothing, only darkness, infinite void in all directions. She may not have been able to see herself but she was keenly aware of her presence, floating about, supported on seemingly nothing.

She was overcome by a nagging feeling that she had been in the middle of something important. The feeling seemed to tell her that she should be preoccupied elsewhere but she couldn’t remember at all.

She took a moment to think very deeply in an attempt to recall. While distracted by her thoughts she could hear the space around her hum in ringed echoes, the singing of a beautiful crystal caressed by the gentlest wind. She not only heard it, but began feeling it touch her extremities, too.

Drawn forward, towards it, she reached out her hand in front of her and eventually met resistance. Only slightly in front of her she felt something smooth and hard. Curiously she moved her fingers all along the surface. It was everywhere, in every direction. All around she felt the smooth flat surfaces at obtuse angles from one another, completely enclosing her.

She started throwing the bottom of her fists at the invisible surface in front of her. This caused the invisible wall to warp, making the crystal cage around her visible for just a moment. The shimmering shockwave not only revealed the crystal all around her, but it also revealed something attached to the crystal. There were some barely visible silken veils attached to the top of the crystal, wrapping around it tightly. The other end of the ethereal veils carried upwards on currents that weren’t there, which took them into the void where they disappeared out of visibility high above her like white smoke dissolving. She watched as they carried the luminescence of Feng’s strikes upwards, eventually exploding high above her like lightning behind a carpet of clouds.

Amongst the vast emptiness above her, she saw more silken veils and these were not connected her crystal. She followed them down to another crystal, hovering on nothing just like hers, in the distance. The crystal was so dark she hadn’t spotted it earlier, even now she could barely see it.

She couldn’t see through it clearly, but it looked like Kaiko was inside that other crystal. Without delay she started hammering against her crystal wall once more.

Kaiko! She tried to shout, not a single vibration leaving her throat, Is that you, Kaiko?! Please hear me!

There was no sound at all coming from Feng or her efforts to bash the walls of her prison, nor did it look like Kaiko was even conscious at all.

Every hit Feng threw onto the crystal walls launched glowing shockwaves up along the veils, which accumulated into more lightning up above.

Amidst the lightning and fog Feng could see the silhouette of a magnificent monster, a enormous feral-looking spectral beast.

The closest animal Feng could think to describe the beast was that it looked like a wolf.

It was most definitely canine. It had the pointed ears, the long snout, the large and sharp teeth in a massive jaw, long legs with large claws, with fur that flowed chaotically like the clouds in a storm.

“Quiet yourself, child,” A stern though warm feminine voice rang all around Feng, vibrating through the walls of the crystal, “He cannot hear you.”

Feng looked up to see the distant fog above, in the shape of the wolf, was peering into her direction while creeping in closer like a descending mist.

“You shouldn’t be here,” The voice resonated across the crystal, “You cannot be here.”

Where is here? Feng attempted to speak but made no sound.

“I must send you back before they notice,” The reverberation continued, “As you haven’t come of your own accord.”

Feng felt ignored, though she was also taken aback by the

“We haven’t long,” The crystal vibrated as the foggy wolf head moved to match its speech, “So heed this warning!”

Feng looked up attentively as the clouds displayed a descending dance above her head.

“You need distance from your keepers,” The voice said as clearly as possible, “They are not to be trusted.”

Who are you? Feng tried to say, but again, no words escaped her mouth.

“All in time,” The voice replied through the walls, hearing her voiceless question crystal clear, “We will meet again when the time is right.”

The wolf’s head started fading away into darkness, leaving Feng alone in the empty once more. The darkness overcame the void and came crashing down on Feng and the crystal. The walls slowly darkened, everything fading from sight. No more silken ribbons, no more mist above, no more Kaiko in his crystal.

Once again there was only darkness, and Feng lost herself amidst it all.

The piercing sounds of insects were starting to gallop through the darkness, as did the ruffling of the leaves. Feng was finding herself becoming conscious. She became aware of lying on some sort of bedding. When she opened her eyes she saw the bright protrusion of light on the white fabric of a tent. She looked over to see Kaiko sitting on the ground near her.

She sat up to let him know she was awake. Kaiko’s ears immediately perked up and he turned to face her.

“Welcome back,” He said with a smile, “And well done on getting us out.”

Feng smiled but said nothing in response.

“How long has it been?” She asked him directly.

“It’s been around two days since you got us out,” Kaiko explained as he got closer to Feng, “I woke up maybe 6 hours ago, I was in the middle of treatment by Elrond.”

“Dr. Sunji is here?” She replied with an unintentional sudden raising in her voice and a twinkle in her eye.

“Not anymore,” Kaiko continued, “He was here earlier. He treated us, then left for Wansen Tai.”

“Wait…” Feng began as she started feeling more awake, “Why would he even be here?”

Kaiko nodded while he put his finger to his mouth and lent in close to Feng very suddenly shadily.

“My thoughts exactly,” he whispered as he got close to Feng, then hugged her to concealing the fact he was whispering, “Something is going on, we’ve been under constant watch since I woke up and though everything seems ok on the surface, I don’t trust it; so play along.”

Feng did an excellent job hiding her surprise as the ‘I don’t trust it’ rang in her ears. Why is that so familiar?Where else have I heard that sentiment?

“I’ve already been debriefed, somewhat,” Kaiko whispered as he held Feng tightly, this time out of genuine relief to see her awake, “I omitted the robed lady from my story. I think you should too.”

Feng returned the tight embrace in the hope to convey that she understood.

“Thank you,” Kaiko then added, loud enough to be heard outside the tent, “For saving our asses back there, you did amazing.”

Feng couldn’t suppress a smile. She then pretended to punch him in the arm.

“I’ll have none of that,” She then replied with a faint smile on her face, “That’s what partners are for. Besides, you were right, the spell was near perfect this time.”

There was a moment of silence between them as they both just looked at each other, a small feeling of relief settled on them both.

“So,” Feng eventually began, “Where exactly are we?”

“Ah yes, about that,” Kaiko said nervously, “We’re in a camp set up by Shoi Ni near Wansen Tai and its pretty big.”

Feng was a little surprised, and looked at Kaiko like he was making it up. It wasn’t standard procedure to initiate rescue this quickly and they never even had the opportunity to consider sending out a beacon.

Before the thought could lead anywhere however, they were interrupted by the sound of an officer visiting their tent making his presence known by the clinking of the metal bits of his boots as he slams his feet together.

“Excuse my intrusion,” The officer saluted before sticking his head inside the tent, “Master Saizo Taisen, your presence has been requested in the main tent, without delay. I was asked to bring you as soon as you woke up, and I am to escort you there now.”

“Very well, we shall be there shortly,” Feng responded sternly and loudly and clearly, all the while maintaining the expected to display the demeanour of her title, “I shall dress myself now.”

She waved him out, which he obliged quickly by retracting his head, turning to face away from the tent while he waited.

The moment the officer had turned around and left them alone again Feng pulled Kaiko closer so she could whisper to him in turn.

“I agree,” She whispered, “I’ll keep quiet, but when we have a chance we need to talk.”

They nodded to each other, before Kaiko left to let Feng change into her attire.

He joined the officer outside the tent, both now waiting for Feng to get dressed. Kaiko gave a small nod to the officer, though the officer tried not to acknowledge him, which was expected. Even being tied directly to the great Saizo Taisen wasn’t enough to persuade others within Shoi Ni to treat him like anything less than a beast. Kaiko would have been more bothered had he not been preoccupied in his mind, ever since he awoke to find half of the Organisation suddenly here.

Feng didn’t take long to get ready, it must have taken at most two minutes. As she left the tent the officer bowed out of respect, after which he pointed towards the very obvious and massive tent that was impossible to miss at the centre of the camp, towering over all other tents.

“Their meeting is already underway,” He said without looking at Feng, “Please follow.”

They were lead through the camp towards the large and imposing tent looming ahead. As they moved forward, all manner of spiritualists moving out of the way rapidly, it was striking Feng how many tents were actually present here. As they turned left to walk up the last straight leading directly to the entrance of the tent, Feng tried to get a quick glance around and was shocked to see more tents than she knew there were members of Shoi Ni. It seemed highly unlikely to her that this many people were summoned here on a whim.

Moreover, Feng noticed not only that some of the tents were unfamiliar, but that even individuals within the smaller groups of charmers and spiritualists they passed on the way, were adorned in unfamiliar colours and insignias. Feng knew that Shoi Ni had an extensive list of contracts they could employ, but this seemed like a egregious amount of people. Based on multitude of variety in their attire, Feng and Kaiko were convinced that Shoi Ni must have recruited fighters from every corner of Fuuhzan; this couldn’t possibly be a good sign.

As they were being led to the entrance of the tent by their escort Kaiko noticed that the casual talking all around them had died down to hushed murmurs and whispers, each pretending not to look their way, each of them giving them strange looks.

Their escort approached the two guards and exchanged salutes. He then approached the other two, whispered something in their ear, then walked off without ever giving Feng or Kaiko another glance. The two guards stood tall and towered over both Feng and Kaiko by a significant amount. One of the mumbled something under his breath which made the other chuckle before both giving them a dirty look. Unfortunately it wasn’t loud enough for either Feng or Kaiko to hear, though their thoughts were preoccupied with what was going to happen when they entered. The dirty looks continued all the while they wordlessly moved out of the way and even held the cloth open for them to enter.

As they walked in a tall man in highly decorated robes was in the middle of addressing everyone currently sitting at a large square table. It was a aged but strong and tall man, a man who seemed not to have grown into his clothes but that they were woven around who he was. This was Master Ten, the public chairman of the organisation, holder of the title of High Brother and for all intents and purposes the leader of Shoi Ni. He was not by any means the highest ranking person in the organisation, though he certainly was powerful leader.

"We currently have a couple of our brothers working on the initial repairs of the perimeter,” He said as Feng and Kaiko walked in as quietly as they could, “These repairs should be done in a few days which is excellent news, indeed. However, as Brother Shen mentioned earlier, the conversion will…”

“Ah,” The man said as he interrupted himself, “Perfect timing…”

He then proceeded to wave Feng over rather enthusiastically. It was difficult to place whether he was being genuine or whether he was being sarcastic, and though this wasn’t exclusively with her, it certainly was proving a pattern at this point.

“We currently have a team going into Wansen Tai to estimate the damage,” Master Ten began as he gestured Feng to stand next to him once more, “Come here and tell us about it. Who better than the infiltration party to tell us about the damage caused during the course of a mission.”

Feng reluctantly and hesitantly walked around all the high ranking clerics and monks attending the meeting to stand beside this imposing man who stood like a giant next to her.

He was a truly confusing man, a perfect blend of friendly and frightening. Feng had a feeling there was more to this display of familiarity than he was letting on, but couldn’t refuse either way.

The murmuring amongst the table started as Feng stood there readying herself to recant some highlights. Meanwhile Kaiko did his best to stay tucked out of sight, knowing very well that while his inclusion was tolerated as a courtesy to Feng, as none of the Shoi Ni top brass liked him.

Feng inhaling to start speaking but she was cut off.

“Thanks to our secret weapon in the field,” Master Ten said as he awkwardly put a hand on Feng's shoulder, “We have finally made progress with Wansen Tai for the first time in years. Isn’t that wonderful.”

He gestured to the members at the table to clap. They all gave each other looks of irritation but reluctantly complied.

“You are in fact so useful,” He said without looking at her, but instead addressing the men with their faint attempts at a clap, “That I almost forgot you already have your next assignment lined up, and time is of the essence.”

“I shall have to debrief you both, personally,” He then continued as he turned Feng to face him.

"You all have your assignments from here on out," He announced as he gestured his officers out without even looking at them, "You are all dismissed."

Kaiko, who doing his best to give all the officers who were leaving a wide birth to pass him, was making mouthing motions with his hands while mumbling under his breath mockingly. Without fail every single member mumbled some curses as they walked past him.

Once every officer had left the tent Master Ten gestured Feng and Kaiko to sit down at the now empty table before doing so himself, too. Feng and Kaiko obliged and sat down, sitting beside each other to one side of the table with Feng closer to Master Ten.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Master Ten sat back in his chair which was clearly softer and deeper and of better quality than all others in the tent. After really sinking into it he took a deep breath while seemingly lost in his thoughts for just a moment.

He eventually leant forwards, firmly planting his elbows on the table with a loud thud before nestling his hands in front of his face and resting his chin on his thumbs. The stillness in his demeanour radiated in the room.

“Now then,” He began as the stillness turned serious, “ Wansen Tai…”

He let the words hang for a couple of seconds while he seemed to gauge their reaction.

“What state was it in when you arrived?” He finally sighed, seemingly releasing this tension in the room.

Feng and Kaiko looked at each other with a sad look and they shook their heads.

“We don't think there were any humans left by the time we arrived, Master Ten,” Feng began as she fumbled with the sleeve of her robe a little, “We eventually found one Yohkai who we believe was responsible for corrupting and transforming the entire village.”

Feng then continued to explain just about everything that had happened from the moment they began their approach. She took the full blame for the hole in the barrier, though when Master Ten raised one of his eyebrows, she was explicit about having no other way in, profusely apologising for destroying the idol in the hopes it would lessen any punishment she may face.

Master Ten wasn’t particularly worried about the destroyed idol, though much like Feng and Kaiko at the time, he was more curious about this change in the barrier. Repairing the barrier was not difficult with the resources they had to hand, but reversing whatever change had occurred that keeps humans out was far more important and far more difficult. So far, however, he had no clue what could be done, nor who to summon for the task.

Feng then continued onto the encounter with the old lady, and how curiously different she was from usual thralls, far more autonomous and animated; not something easily achieved. Master Ten agreed with this wholeheartedly, which prompted him to raise the other brow this time. He acknowledged that it would require significant power, though added that humanity’s knowledge was still remarkably lacking in this area.

The story then continued with encountering the villager’s deception, which was far more in keeping with common Yohkai thrall knowledge. Master Ten’s face revealed no emotion during this part of the story, nor did he interrupt. His interest seemed peeked the moment the shadowmancer Jin was mentioned, and a twitch on his face revealed this.

She spared no detail on their encounter with Jin, as Master Ten seemed intrigued, she decided to be intentionally and particularly forthcoming with details pertaining to him. She though this would make it easier, also, to believably obfuscate the diviner’s involvement and retain the focus on Jin’s capabilities. She mentioned his arrogance, as well as her personal anger towards his attitude, that being his pride and delusion of destiny. She had to admit that they didn’t get the chance to find out what he meant by that, which Master Ten did not seem to mind. She even managed to come across genuinely vexed when she mentioned not only the sheer number of villagers that had been corrupted, transformed and lost, as well as the army of travellers and fighters to Wansen Tai. She meticulously went through the entire encounter, from the deception failing, to Jin’s attempt to overwhelm them. She went to great lengths to emphasise that Jin appeared weak at first, but there was something dangerous about him regardless. In the end he ended up fleeing, leaving them to face difficult numbers of enemies, forcing them to start using their highly spiritually taxing abilities, which is where the majority of the damage of combat occurred.

This of course lead them far into Wansen Tai, towards the temples and shrines at the back where Jin attempted to set a second trap, unleashing the full force of not only a decade of growth of his victims, but also in his own abilities.

Master Ten was attempting to visualise what a decade worth of Yohkai festering could bring, and while he certainly wasn’t close in his visual interpretation, he was correct when he deduced that so many would have been fooled and taken in simply by being unaware of the danger that Wansen Tai posed. As it was once a renowned place for spiritual practice the defences that were created should have been sufficient to keep any Yohkai out, which regrettably made it the perfect place to hide in plain sight.

Then Feng finally reached the point where they had no choice but to merge their energy to combat Jin who had returned not only with the entire rest of his thralls, but he also seemed to have bolstered his strength with some spiritual artefacts, of which there was at the very least was a sword and a piece of body armour.

Feng offhandedly mentioned that alongside the army and tools, Jin seemed to have monks gather and channel energy directly into him, which unlike all other times caused Master Ten’s face to become very serious, a mix of barely contained anger and fear of death; she had never seen this expression of his.

While this caught her off guard initially, she jumped on the opportunity to omit the appearance of the rainbow pearl woman. By exaggerating the new level of threat Jin posed, really emphasising how these corrupted monks helped him unlock abilities from the spiritual gear that they were not prepared for. She then went on to tell truthfully that they almost had the fatal blow, but that he ended up getting the better of them and the situation was flee-or-die.

She covered what she could remember, that she initiated ‘plan c’ and that she passed out almost immediately after, waking up essentially moments ago.

Once again Master Ten sat back in his chair and thought to himself as he rubbed his fingers across his jawline, back and forth.

“While I haven’t received the full report on the current situation,” He eventually began, “Our findings and your story concur pretty well. However…”

He shuffled a few papers around his desk, inspecting bits and pieces on different pages.

“The entire place was abandoned when we first arrived on the scene,” He continued as put the papers down, “We assumed you had succeeded when we first arrived on the premises. It wasn’t until hours later we found you both unconscious quite a distance from here.”

Master Ten quietly peeked over at the documents he put down, almost like he was looking for some detail on a page and couldn’t remember what it was, but would recognise it if he saw it.

The silence left in that moment gave the impression Master Ten had already forgotten about them being in the room, though he hadn’t.

“I am so sorry to ask, Master Ten,” Feng began, breaking the silence, “But how did you arrive he so quickly?”

“Hmmm?” He responded without looking up at her.

“Well,” She hesitated, “I don’t believe either of us were in condition to send for backup…”

Master Ten sat forward once again, leaning his head on his interlocked hands once more, the creases of his face suddenly far more pronounced; the shadows on his face crept across the features of his face in a most hostile way. His eyes peered and darted from within the caverns of his eyes, straight at Feng and Kaiko, paralysing them where they sat.

“You were simply the vanguard of a much larger operation,” He eventually said calmly, softly and most detached, “You were sent in early to force the enemy’s hand.”

An uncomfortable silence hung.

“We suspected something was amiss in the region of Wansen,” He eventually said, still exuding a cold aura of indifference, “Yet multiple attempts at covert investigation lead nowhere.”

Master Ten unhooked his hands and lay his arms flat on the table and leant forward aggressively.

“We made a bold plan,” He said as his eyes stared right into Feng and Kaiko’s eyes somehow simultaneously, “And as you can see, it payed off since Wansen Tai is now ours.”

Feng and Kaiko still felt on edge and tense while he seemed to look right through them, unable to look away or relax.

“You even survived, too,” He said maliciously, specifically while leaning into Kaiko who was only partially visible hidden behind Feng from Master Ten’s angle, “So I’d say it all turned out well for all involved.”

Kaiko broke himself free of Master Ten’s gaze to slam one of his hands on the table and stand up in a rushed motion.

Master Ten neither flinched nor reacted, his eyes unblinkingly staring into Kaiko’s soul.

“Does the abomination has something to say?” Master Ten taunted with a deliberately vile tone.

Kaiko stood still, staring Master Ten down to the best of his abilities, posturing and growing as a wild animal would.

He wanted to say many things all at once, most of them pretty harsh things, yet he felt he had to hold himself back; not for his own sake but for Feng’s. She had made it clear numerous times in the past that despite his own reservations, this was just how things are done and speaking up will be worse.

This left him at a standoff with Master Ten, with him now stuck arguing with himself.

Master Ten had no such reservations and without a second’s hesitation made a small but controlled backhand flicking motion with his left hand, which sent Kaiko flying backward, flinging him against his chair then back further onto the ground. Master Ten then closed his fist and slammed it down on the table which forced Kaiko straight into the ground with the impact of a thousand knives all over his body.

“You forget you place,” Master Ten then said without a single change in his demeanour, “Let me remind you.”

He squeezed down on Kaiko a little more, just enough to force a grunt out of him. Feng reacted without even realising. She stood up and in the same motion turned towards Kaiko and gave Master Ten a death-glare that took him a little by surprise. While Feng was Master Ten had to give respect to that glare and couldn’t hide the faintest smirk, as it was not malicious yet was most certainly a legitimate warning. He forced one last twist into Kaiko before releasing him along with the dreadfully serious tone in the room.

“You have your next assignment waiting,” Master Ten said quietly and in a composed tone, all the while getting up from his chair, “You will find your usual handler somewhere in the camp.”

He then walked around his desk past Feng and Kaiko without paying them any mind.

“And make sure you train your mutt.” He added with much venom as he walked out of the tent, followed closely by the two guards who were still waiting outside by the door.

The footsteps of all three men walking away was accompanied by them also laughing loudly at their expense. Once the footsteps were distant, Feng helped Kaiko up.

“Are you alright?” She asked him as she offered him a hand.

“I’ll be fine,” He replied as he accepted her hand, “I swear I will kill him one day.”

“I know you want to,” Feng began with a small laugh, “And if you never get the chance, you will absolutely outlive him.”

That managed to get a chuckle out of Kaiko, which made Feng happy, she knew he would be fine.

“We should go find Vashana,” Kaiko said as he waved to the exit of the tent, “The sooner we’re out of here the better.”

Feng nodded in agreement. They both made sure to straighten their hair and robes and attitude before walking out of the tent heads held high, in search of the woman who has their next assignment.

It didn’t take Feng and Kaiko very long to find Vashana, she was hidden away on the other side of the camp to where Feng woke up, tucked away at the far edge, only barely allowed to participate; they both knew that was their fault.

Still at a distance, Vashana noticed them right away and waved them over enthusiastically.

“Ready for your next adventure?” She shouted cheerfully as they got closer.

Despite being treated worse for her dealings with them, she always seemed cheerful and treated them no different, at least.

“You have no idea!” Feng and Kaiko responded in unison.

“The sooner we leave the better.” Kaiko added.

“Well then,” Vashana laughed, “Aren’t you lucky that I’ve been told to be brief and send you off as quickly as humanly possible?”

“Have you now?” Feng asked, genuinely surprised.

Vashana nodded in agreement while she grabbed the scroll containing their next mission.

“So, where are we being sent this time?” Feng blurted out in an attempt to expedite things, preoccupied with leaving the camp quickly, “What do we need to know?”

Vashana was taken a little aback by Feng’s directness, she thought it highly unusual.

“Well,” Vashana began ready to hand the over the sealed scroll, “You are being sent to the lands of winter, North Fuuhzan.”

Feng immediately got chills down her spine just thinking about it, even though she had never been.

“I will add though,” Vashana added this time slightly more seriously, “There is a unique sealing condition on this one.”

“Again?” Kaiko noted.

“Not quite like it was here,” Vashana corrected, “But I get your point.”

“So how is it different?” Kaiko retorted with an arrogant snort.

“Glad you asked,” Vashana said with a massive grin, “You see, you can tell by these yellow strands around the seal that a condition has been attached.”

She made a point to physically hold up the scroll and point to the yellow strands woven into the rope that lay on top of the paper seal.

“That was the same for the previous one I handed you weeks ago,” Vashana continued, “But your previous scroll had a proximity seal, which was requested by the organisation itself.”

She pointed towards the logo.

“That isn’t our logo!” She then said as she held the scroll up for Feng and Kaiko to admire, feeling really good about her explanation.

Feng and Kaiko looked at the scroll seemingly unimpressed, which Vashana didn’t take well; she needed a second attempt to really blow them away.

“In fact,” She said with the enthusiasm of a child explaining their favourite toy, “This one is requested by the client.”

“They want to meet you before confirming the job, apparently,” She then whispered which, granted did intrigue Feng and Kaiko, “I may have overheard something else too, while the scroll was being prepared. You didn’t hear anything from me, got it.”

They nodded in agreement await in anticipation what could be so special that it merited such secrecy.

“So if we ignore for a moment that it is uncommon, or I guess uncourteous, for the client to request to meet their appointee before a job,” She continued, “But one of the reasons things are being kept tight lipped is that you are apparently being hired by a competing organisation.”

This did leave Feng and Kaiko feeling a wild variety of emotions, much to Vashana’s rejoice.

“You don’t say…” Feng said as her thoughts drifted for a moment.

“Here,” Vashana said as she finally offered the scroll, “Here’s a map of where to go, thought I’ve been told its pretty straight forward to get there.”

“Oh yeah?” Kaiko said, willingly and purposefully giving Vashana her moment.

“Head north, just keep following the one road up and when you stop freezing, you’ve arrived,” She responded with a smile, “You’ve been invited to the city of steam.”

Feng and Kaiko both seemed quite impressed and even gave Vashana a small clap, for which she bowed.

Feng took the scroll and put it in the inner pocket of her robe and handed the map to Kaiko.

“Thank you Vashana,” Feng said, “We better go grab out things and leave, North Fuuhzan is far away.

Feng and Vashana made half-assed attempts at bowing before giving each other a hug.

Feng turned around and started walking towards the tent where she woke up.

“Oh, Kaiko,” Vashana added, “I should probably hand you this, funds for the journey.”

She handed him a satchel with coins which he gracefully accepted, put in his inner pocket and ran to catch up to Feng.

They went to the tent and packed their things as quickly as they could. It took mere minutes for them to be ready. Without any fuss or fanfare they walked out of the camp, still enduring vigorous stares and the boring of eyes in the back of their head as fellow Shoi Ni members saw them off with such kindness.

They walked back up some of the way they had come, entering the denser foliage they had traveled through for a week once more. They walked on for several hours before taking a break. They looked back at the mountain on which Wansen Tai was built, now only a silhouette in the distance.

“I think we are far enough now,” Kaiko said as he put his backpack down and sat beside it, “What do you think?”

“You’re probably right,” Feng responded as she followed his example and sat herself down, “And we really should talk about what happened, with some level of privacy.”

“Yeah…” Kaiko responded, suddenly somewhat absent.

Feng, too, became quiet. For a few minutes they just sat there, only partially aware of the world around them. Then they both wanted to speak at the same time, which caused them to both laughed at the same time and they ended up even sighing in relief at the same time.

They both looked up at the sky through the thinner foliage above.

“I think,” Kaiko began, “I must met that robed woman before.”

“Oh?” Feng responded without thinking.

“Yeah…” Kaiko said as he was doing his best to recall a dream, feeling himself going back there, “I think I relived an old memory after I passed out. It was like I was rewatching a clip of myself, but I don’t recognise it.

“I was told to run in the dream by a warm voice. Told to run fast and run far. I can see myself doing my best but to no avail I didn’t make it. Then that same feeling as when that woman showed up hit me. The air got heavy, it became hard to breathe, something sinister was beating down on my back losing consciousness… That’s when the dream ended and I woke up to Elrond treating me.”

“I decided in that moment that unless they bring her up, I will pretend I don’t know and this was just a Yohkai job we only just barely made out alive.”

“That is rather interesting, and I’d say you probably did the right thing,” Feng said, paying a bit more attention now, “I experienced a dream, of sorts, too, actually. And it agrees with you.”

“That’s unusual,” Kaiko said with keen interest, “How so?”

“Well,” Feng began, musing heavily on the her own dream, “After I used your spell to get us out and I passed out I had a rather vivid dream of my own. Floated in darkness and there was a wolf made of smoke warning me not to trust ‘my keepers’, and I’m assuming they mean Shoi Ni.”

“That’s sound advice right there, regardless,” Kaiko laughed, “I think we can agree on that.”

“So then if we don’t trust them,” Feng began, “What do we think?”

“I’ll be honest,” Kaiko began as he crossed his arms, “I hadn’t gotten that far yet, however, I think we can agree that they definitely premeditated an assault on Wansen Tai and this wasn’t just a job we were hired to do.”

Feng nodded while thinking for herself what were the things most odd about the whole thing.

“I dont think they would fake a job,” Feng had to admit, “But likely they needed to be invited to work, Shoi Ni doesn’t operate in East Fuuhzan, so this was a perfect opportunity, Master Ten admitted it himself.”

“Though they came here with an army of spiritualists, though,” Kaiko pointed, “That must be enough people to set up an entire operation there.”

Kaiko had only blurted it out offhandedly, but Feng couldn’t shake the the feeling that what Kaiko just said made some sort of logical sense.

“The diviner woman,” Feng said suddenly, “We don’t know who she is, but you have a feeling you may have met her in the past.”

“I can’t remember my younger years, but that feeling when she showed up unlocked something in me, something old and raw and sad.” Kaiko nodded.

“Well,” Feng said enthusiastically showing she was connecting things in her head, “We know she’s not Kami, nor human, nor Yohkai.”

“I’m with you so far,” he added, “That was no aura I’ve ever sensed, my ‘memory’ not withstanding, of course.”

“Right,” Feng said, “What’s left?”

“The Divine?” Kaiko jested.

Feng lifted her shoulders and turned her hands towards him indicating that was one possibility.

“There’s no way,” Kaiko protested, “Even amongst Kami what you are suggesting is preposterous.”

“Maybe,” Feng said with determination, “But Wansen Tai was a spiritual spring and hotspot, right? And we found not only a rather powerful Yohkai nesting there, who I genuinely think was still himself, but he seemed genuinely scared of her.”

Silence hung around them for a moment, even nature seemed muted to let them think it through.

“Something unnatural is going on here, Kaiko,” Feng said as she stood up, “And I think it’s going to be on us two to figure it out. Just us two.”

Kaiko smiled then nodded in agreement.

“Where do we want to start?” He said as he stood up too, “Other than doing our best to keep our investigation a secret from ‘our keepers’?”

“As it happens,” Feng responded rather quickly, “North Fuuhzan is said to have the oldest library in Fuuhzan. The cold helps preserve the books.”

“That’s a bit convenient,” Kaiko added as he stretched, readying himself to carry the backpack once more, “How come I’ve never heard of it?”

“I only know it exists” She began, “Because I heard Shoi Ni wants access to it. They have just never succeeded because the organisation that run North Fuuhzan wont let them.”

“And who run’s North Fuuhzan?” Kaiko felt compelled to ask.

Feng had a massive grin on her face.

“Our next client,” She said with a chuckle, “The Sendoh Syndicate.”

Kaiko went silent for a moment. Then he couldn’t hold the laugh in any longer. Feng couldn’t help join in. A warm summer wind rushed past them, carrying their laughter all around them.

“You are going to make me believe in destiny.” He said with through the laughter as he threw the backpack over his shoulder.

“That’ll be the day.” Feng responded with a smile.

Feng picked up her staff and dusted herself off. She also put her hand over her breast pocket containing the scroll for their next assignment and tried to feel determined about what was to come.

“Let’s begin the long journey, then,” Feng said out loud, mostly for herself, “Our next client awaits and we need to make a small detour to get me some winter clothing.”

The sun was high above them, green lush trees on mountains as far as they could see ahead of them, the sounds of insects and birds lightly hushed by the harmonic metallic clinging of the rings on Feng's staff as they made their way north, far away from the new shadow over Wansen Tai.