12 Years Ago - The Rune Fields

“Why can’t I play one of the Rune Warriors? I’m always one of the demons, it’s not fair,” Aiya said, crossing her arms and pouting.

Yuki looked over at the three children playing in the garden. Her youngest Aiya was right, the older children always made her play the part of the demon they vanquished.

“Let Aiya play a Rune Warrior for a change you two,” she called out through the window.

“Fine, but I’m the head warrior,” the oldest stamped his foot. “You can be the demon then.” He pointed to his middle sister, who promptly started complaining.

Yuki closed the window and let them carry on. It was a ridiculous game anyway. Why did kids feel the need to play-act out old fights? There hadn’t been any Rune Warriors since the Kai War a century ago, yet every time they went outside, children across the realm played Rune Warriors and Demons.

It sounded like the kids had finally decided who was going to be the demon and had got on with playing. Yuki could hear her son’s loud voice proclaiming death to all demons. In a way it was a shame everyone’s Kai channels had been distorted in the war because the entire realm was now overrun with demons. Still, she had a few minutes to herself with the kids outside, so it was a good time to do her Kai exercises quietly where no one could see.

Standing in the meditation position, Yuki focused on her core and the Kai swirling around in it. She pulled more Kai up from the ground and pictured it flowing through her channels. A few wispy strands obeyed and circulated through her body. It had taken her decades of secret practice to have that much control over her Kai. The war stories of warriors shooting Kai out of their hands must have been just that, made up stories. She shook her head and went back to her exercises.

Yuki focused on compressing her core and the Kai inside it. A little bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face, but her core was definitely slightly more condensed. The Kai was moving faster in the smaller space, making her heart beat rapidly. Keeping her breath slow and steady she attempted to squeeze it even further. Heat flared through her body and she absentmindedly wondered if the children could hear her heartbeat now that it was pounding so loudly.

All of a sudden a scream split the calm outside. Yuki instantly released her Kai and nearly threw up as her core ballooned back to its normal size, pushing Kai rapidly through her channels. The kids were screaming hysterically outside. She grabbed her staff because the only explanation was that a demon had somehow got past the watch and entered the community.

Yanking the door open, Yuki sprinted out into the garden and came to an abrupt stop. There were no demons. Her two older kids were getting to their feet at the edge of the garden, with cuts and newly forming bruises all over their faces, arms and legs. They were the ones screaming at the top of their lungs. In complete contrast, Aiya, the youngest, was standing stock still in the center of a ring of destruction. All color gone from her face and her eyes and mouth wide open, she still held out her hand as if she was one of the ancient Rune Warriors.

“What happened?” Yuki asked in a hushed voice, looking around the garden unable to believe there wasn’t a demon hiding somewhere.

The two older kids started shouting at once and Yuki shut them up with a wave of her hand.

“She tried to kills us,” shouted the boy, pointing at Aiya.

The middle child simply nodded along, letting her brother do the talking.

“We were playing Rune Warriors and Demons,” he said. “Aiya drew a rune in the air and pretended to push her Kai into it. She got it wrong though because her hand was pointed at the ground. So I told her she was too young to play a Rune Warrior cause she couldn’t even get that part right and she got really mad. She said she could do it but father had told her it wasn’t polite to point her palm at another person so that’s why she was pointing it at the ground. Then she said she’d prove it and the earth exploded and threw us over here.”

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The color drained out of Yuki’s face and she slumped to her knees next to her youngest. At least she’d listened to her father and not pointed her palm at her sister. Thank Kai for small mercies.

“Aiya,” she said, shaking her daughter’s shoulder. “Is that what happened?”

Aiya nodded wordlessly, her eyes welling up.

“It’s okay.” Yuki gave her a hug and waited for her daughter to calm down.

“Now, can you do it again?” Yuki asked, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer.

Aiya squared her little shoulders, took a deep breath and held her palm out, pointing it at the ground. Eyes squinting, lips pursed and a frown plastered across her face, she gathered the Kai from her core and projected it out through the palm of her hand.

With a loud bang like a thunder clap, the earth in front of her erupted again, dirt flying in every possible direction. Yuki flew backwards across the yard and the other two children began to scream again. Aiya seemed to be the only one left unaffected.

“Is that what you wanted mother?” Aiya looked back at Yuki who was shakily getting to her feet.

“Kensan, Morie, get inside now,” Yuki said to the older children. “Not a word about this to anyone, especially your father. Do you understand?”

The two of them nodded and stomped back into the house muttering about how unfair it all was and how they hadn’t done anything wrong. Playtime, however, was clearly over for the day.

“Aiya,” Yuki said turning back to her youngest. “You mustn’t ever do that again. It’s against our ways. I don’t know what the Elder would do if he found out, but I don’t want to know. Promise me you’ll never do it again.”

“I’ll try mother,” Aiya said somberly. “It’s just that sometimes, especially when the others are being mean, the Kai just wants to come out and it’s really hard to stop it.”

***

“Dinner time,” Yuki shouted, hoping to bring the entire family out from their rooms to eat together.

Aiya and her siblings rushed over to the table, abandoning their studies as fast as they could. Yuki’s husband walked up to the table in a more dignified way.

“How was everyone’s day?” He asked the children as he helped himself to some rice.

“Aiya ruined playtime,” Kensan said, making Yuki’s heart lurch.

“Yeah, she blew up the garden,” Morie said, not wanting to be outdone by her brother.

“It’s nothing,” Yuki said, passing her husband a bowl of soup. “Kids playing, that’s all. Let’s just eat dinner.”

“But we have a hole in the yard,” Kensan said before remembering he’d been told not to say anything. “Oh,” he said, clamping his hand over his mouth.

The tall stern man got up from the table and made his way over to the window. Looking out he could see the small crater in the ground behind their house.

“What happened?” He spun around, glaring at Yuki.

The day’s events came out bit by bit as the older children tried to talk over Yuki and tell their side of things.

Aiya sat very still, eating as quickly as she could. If past experience showed her anything, she’d probably be sent to bed soon. She wouldn’t mind that if she’d already eaten because that meant she’d be left alone to read. Using her Kai, however, always left her hungry, so going to bed without food made her miserable. Grabbing one of the rice buns, she shoved it into her pocket without anyone noticing.

“This is all your fault, Yuki.” The tall man thumped the table with his fist. “You insist on exercising your Kai when I’ve told you to stop. There’s a reason no one is supposed to do that. We naturally pass the distortion in our Kai channels down to our children for a reason. It’s how things are meant to be.”

He shook his head and looked off into the distance.

“That’s how the Kai War started,” he said softly, as Aiya grabbed a second rice bun and smuggled it into her other pocket.

“People should never mess around with forces they don’t understand. It only brings trouble. If our ancestors hadn’t done it, the land would still be whole, instead of plagued by demons,” he said. Turning his head, his gaze landed on Aiya, whose mouth was stuffed as full as she could make it.

“It now seems our youngest daughter isn’t normal because of your dangerous pastime.”

“Actually,” Yuki said, about to remind him that everyone used to be able to channel their Kai before the war.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he shouted. “Normal people can’t project their Kai out of their body and destroy things.”

“The Rune Warriors could,” Kensan said before Yuki could stop him.

“That’s it.” The man slammed his hand on the table again and stood up. “We’re going to see the Elder, right now.”

He grabbed Aiya’s hand and half dragged her away from the table toward the door.