Kichi gave Bin a giant bowl of milk. The squirrel cat lapped it up and made an oscillating purr at the attention.
She opened her codex and studied the art on the first page. Somehow, it comforted her, as she’d opened to this intricate shield design many times in many places.
Of course, she should be doing other things than reading, but she felt like an old cloth that had been wrung out too many times. She wanted to spend the intermission relaxing.
She decided that all the fighting and scheming was a misuse of the castle. She could find peace here on the balcony, lulled by the warm stone on her back and crisp breeze.
However, she knew that was impossible. As she turned the page to the ten rules of chivalry, she saw her vision of Whitebeard falling from the bridge. She had never had a flashback of a vision before, but it was just as hazy. But she felt it—the super-will working against them.
It was as if the act of relaxation had triggered the response from her ability. If there was an evil being with a super-will influencing things here, then perhaps there was another prodding her to stop it.
She sighed, clapped the codex shut, scooped Bin up, and went inside to buckle her sword girdle.
Her footfalls echoed in the corridor. The last time she wandered the castle alone, Akisane and his henchmen attacked her. She glanced behind, and though the hair rose at the nape of her neck, nothing was there.
A boy stumbled and caught himself on a suit of armor, which jangled. He looked ghostly and stood unsteadily.
Then she recognized him. It was Gon. “Are you okay?”
“I just feel dizzy.”
She took his hand. “You better come with me. I’ll take you to Hisa after we see Whitebeard.”
He nodded, and they continued.
Finding Whitebeard was easy. Kichi felt like they were loadstones drawn together. She had no idea what she’d see in the grand hall where he was and hoped she wasn’t being too bold dropping in on him.
Two guards crossing polearms blocked the way in front of the double door.
She looked at them in surprise. They stared ahead impartially. This would take a bit of finesse. She knelt and told Gon to follow her, and while she spoke, she clasped the amulet around her neck. Then she stepped between the guards. They tried to grab and strike her, but seeing everything in advance, she moved away from them and pushed the door open, spun around, slammed it closed, and dropped the lock.
She pocketed her amulet and walked into the hall.
Whitebeard was chained to the floor by the wrists. Though he was upright on his knees, he appeared asleep.
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She laid a chain straight and aimed to strike it with her pure sword. She brought the blade up.
“No,” he said, opening one eye to look at her. “Don’t free me. I am exactly where I should be.”
“This isn’t where you should be.” She tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it and just tried to change the subject. After a time, she looked at his long, scraggly white hair, pulled out a dagger, and began cutting. The hair snowed onto the floor, and though she was no barber, he looked much better. His beard was trimmed and neat.
“Thank you. It’s been a year, at least.” He shook his head and looked at her. “But please believe me when I tell you all you need to do is win the tournament, and everything will be okay.”
He was a knight, so he must have spoken the truth. But what he believed was true and what was actually true may not be the same.
She straightened and raised her chin. “I saw that you would teach me to become a knight. Not just take the oaths, but to truly be one.”
“You are a knight. “
“No, there's more. I can see it like opening your eyes in the ocean. There's a whole world I don't know. “
“You are perceptive, Kichi. There are greater purposes. Perhaps they go on higher and higher. But you, like me, are where you must be, doing what you need to do.”
“No! Give me more. This is not what’s calling me.”
Gon pulled on her sleeve as he indicated shadows under the door, which meant a gathering of guards.
Whitebeard remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, and then he smiled. “Stubborn girl. Take my hand, and I’ll show you a glimpse of what’s to come.”
She wasted no time and put his hand in hers. It was a wide, callused.
“The nobility have ruled too long and forgotten their purpose, to secure the realm from corruption. The decay will spread, and it will draw the unspeakable things like sharks to blood. The shadows will come from east and west, south and north.”
The world melted, and she saw it from up high, flying mile after mile. The land smoked and burned—the valleys, hills, and mountains rolled by and all decayed. In the forests, the trees were brown or charred. Stinking towns and cities were filled with chaos as neighbors turned against neighbors. Kichi saw glanks filling with bodies, graveyards emptying their dead, and twilight heralding dark wings. Dragons sat upon their thrones, the husks of castles.
All was a ring of fire that closed on the Midbluffs and the great tree, Crann. Kichi found herself on the back of a sky whale throwing conjured lances. How’d she become so powerful? But it was for naught as the realm plummeted into ruin.
A time spirit hovered beside her. “You should not be here.”
She sent a volley of lances out, skewering a turquoise dragon and a half dozen demons. If she was going to die, let the forces of corruption feel her wrath.
“Leave now!”
Whitebeard let go of her hand, and the world snapped back. His white hair was stark in contrast to the black marble hall. “I’m afraid my ability has transcended prescience. I can reach out and touch the future—a future. So, I know I must go through with the draining ritual. I am here to save one person. And you must fight your hardest in this tournament. It puts us on a road that avoids disaster.”
The shadows under the door disappeared, and there was the sound of fighting. Metal rang against metal. Then the doors burst in, and Masahide and Ema stood in the doorway.
Kichi
Level: 8
Focus: Prescience
Secondary focus: Lava+3
Weapons: pure sword - 5% pure
Items: Near Field Amulet (Prescience+2, focus)