"Good morn... heron?"

"Heh. The honorable martial artist may call me Jikajika. A little god bound and enthralled by a venerable and tempestuous witch... a tale old as the very gods."

"You are a god?"

"You hurt my non-existent ego with that tone! True may it be that I step not in the celestial gates of heaven, yet a god I be all the same. Arisen from the very flow of the universe, a sentient being withal!"

Raxri blinked slowly. Like a cat. Then, "If a god you truly be, then pray tell me what your dominion might be."

Jikajika mumbled something.

Raxri pressed their lips together. "Um... I beg the god their pardon...?"

Another mumble.

Raxri paused. Hellbound be the one to press and anger a god.

"Nothing you see! Nothing! I rule over nothing. Not all gods bear dominion, you hear. The vast majority of gods simply are the very things that they arise from and from which they glean their powers." Jikajika flapped once, and winds surrounded him, bearing him into the skies, into the gusts. "A god I be of little gusts and zephyrs."

Raxri nodded, genuinely glad they were learning something new. At least, it was new to them as of the present moment. "I see, I see! Thank you, honorable one."

Jikajika flapped again and flew around Raxri. "Yes, yes. I am the honorable one. You do yourself well, warrior. How interesting it is to see that the witch has allowed a new person within their circle. What story beareth you?"

Raxri shook their head. "I bear no story. I have lost all memory after seemingly being revived from the Vault of Souls. The master has sent me here to make me pick finger chilis."

Jikajika hollered. "The master?! I see. The amnesiac is Witch Akazha's sole student, it seems!" He landed on the soil and began hopping toward the rows of crops. Then, he leaped into the air, removing his wide-brimmed hat and fanning it across the crops. Droplets of freshwater sprinkled upon them all. Then, Jikajika fell to the soil again, placing the hat on his birdy head. "Take care to follow me then. I'll show you where the finger chilis are."

"How excellent! Are you the caretaker of this here garden?" Raxri asked as they followed Jikajika into the rows of crops. They wound about a few columns before arriving at the telltale long peppers, the bright green finger chilis.

Jikajika nodded proudly. "The one and only caretaker of the blessed gardens. The witch Akazha, I owe my life: she defended me and kept me safe from a horde of fey goblins. In return, I promised to grant her the best harvests ever." Jikajika used the wide-rimmed hat to point at the strangler fig. "That be my house, grand ficus. And what a lovely palace it is for me, a lowly god of winds."

"Nothing so lowly about a god."

Jikajika shrugged. Raxri picked the finger chilis and placed them onto the rattan basket they'd been given. "You are well informed. There is nothing lowly to be a god, though one be tethered to the terrestrial realm. The terrestrial god is upon the Pleasure Path all the same."

"And you can talk! Nothing so lowly about the capacity to converse."

"Hear, kid. I've taken to liking where your heart is."

"Then, your responsibility is to water and cultivate these plants?"

Jikajika leapt atop a bamboo post. "Aye. I let the garden flourish. It's the least I can do. In exchange, I get some offerings, some joss, so I never want food. More crucial yet: I speak with the other gods who live in this wood and curry favor on her behalf so she can live here peacefully without the threat of spirit intervention."

"You do a great deal for the witch, then," said Raxri, standing up straight as they finished getting the finger chilis.

"Aye. A great deal in truth. Nary, but a god can do so. Pray, tell me your name, child."

"Raxri Uttara, dear sir," replied Raxri, folding their hands palm-to-palm before their forehead and bowing. "A warrior lost of memory."

"Raxri Uttara..." Jikajika's gaze became forlorn. Then, wandering. Watching something far behind Raxri. Raxri looked behind them and saw nothing but more bamboo and trees.

"A problem there be?"

Jikajika shook his head. "None, none at all. Move along, Raxri Uttara. Your master seeketh the very herbs you possess."

And Raxri did so, walking as fast as they could out of the garden.

Jikajika watched them leave with eyebrows furrowed. Deep in his mindspaces, his thoughts were a sea. A Vow Name that be for certain....

***

"I've returned!" hollered Raxri as they arrived at the outdoor kitchen. Akazha stood over it, having only a chest wrap and a light skirt around their waist. They stood with a wooden ladle over a cast iron pot.

"Hopefully with the finger chilis," replied Akazha, raising the ladle and tasting some of the soup. Behind her, two coconuts split open on a low bamboo table and a longknife.

"Yes, with finger chilis," said Raxri as they gave the witch the rattan basket. Akazha nodded in thanks and began placing finger chilis within.

The witch said, "Care you to check up on the clay pots? The rice within them is cooking."

Raxri walked over to the two other stovetop stoves they'd set up, a small wooden pot on each one. The smell of cooked white rice was unmistakable, more so with the pandan leaves within to grant it extra flavor. Raxri opened both pot lids; the rice had absorbed most of the water. "Just a few more moments!"

"The stew is almost ready as well."

In due time, the food finished cooking. Raxri brought both claypots to the table within their living room, having wrapped it first with exquisitely brocaded textiles. Akazha brought inside a large porcelain bowl, filled to the brim with the spicy, cooked-coconut smelling stew. Raxri was ready to eat, their belly groaning with anticipation, especially after such a grueling first lesson.

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They sat on both ends of the table, and Akazha pressed their hands together in front of their lips and uttered: "AHOM HUNG HOMA." Raxri followed suit. Akazha smiled at that. "You are defacto dancing upon the Adamantine Path by dint of being my student."

"I wish to learn the Adamantine Path as well, master."

"You'll have no say. The thunderbolt way to Liberation and Extinction wields magick and perfect wisdom of the Infinite Law for instant enlightenment. But it is the most difficult way. The way of ritual, the way of one thousand learnings and psychic attainment. The Way of the Uncreated Mind. And you are to learn it. Perhaps, by attaining this Path, your memory shall return you yet."

"I would wish it so."

"It would. Now, eat."

The spicy coconut stew was, in truth, almost brownish in color. It was coconut milk mixed thoroughly with spicy shrimp paste, chopped finger chilis, and loads of black peppers. Onions and garlic provided its base, and strips of pork provided filling meat. It smelled just as good as it would have tasted.

Akazha flicked her wrist, and a porcelain spoon materialized. She used that to take soupy portions out of the bowl and onto her clay pot, then placed some onto Raxri's.

Raxri bowed in thanks and set to eating.

The flavorful, spicy coconut mix filled Raxri with such bliss that they were pushed to tears. Raxri thought silently that perhaps food could similarly be a tool for attaining that thunderbolt enlightenment.

"All manners of craft are ways to enlightenment, you know," said Akazha as she shoved another handful of rice with the stew into her mouth. Raxri became aware of how they ate: pointer, middle, and ring fingers together, with the thumb used to press rice into triangular shapes, like a little pyramid. This would pack the rice as an outer layer, with the stew and stewbits mushed into the pyramid. This they would push into their mouth with the help of the same thumb they used to form the rice pyramid. Then they would go back to gathering into a pile, which they would then push into pyramid shapes again. It was an effective and very versatile way of eating, as maneuvering with the fingers was literally just moving the hand. The only drawback, Raxri realized as they drew their hand back suddenly from the rice, was that these dishes were still freshly hot!

Nevertheless, the flavor deceives not. The taste fills the heart.

"The master speaks true?"

"Straight truth. The Adamantine Path recognizes all manner of Arts as valid on the path to Enlightenment. Sheer cultivation of one's skills can lead to the truth of Emptiness and true gnosis. In the perfection of something, one finds the truth beyond liberation and non-liberation."

All quite heady, to Raxri. "My understanding of your words is meager."

"Enlightenment comes yet. But it is slow. As a great sage once said: as with sleeping, it cometh slowly, then all at once."

They continued to eat, and Raxri was very much being nourished by the stew. They could visibly feel their aching joints and screaming muscles quiet, soften, still, and accept the growth that came. "Rejuvenation fills my bones," Raxri said as they almost licked the clay pot clean. What refreshment!"

"Ah, speaking of refreshment." Akazha rose to her feet and then entered the annex. A few moments later, she returned with two coconuts with their top halves cut apart and a reed straw shooting out of it. When the witch handed it to Raxri, it was cold, chilly. Raxri took a sip, and true refreshment immediately shot through them as if they'd just drunk a healing potion.

"All my food is infused with a medicinal elixir I've made myself, using a special mix of spices, honey, and Rejuvenation herbs. Feel you yet its effects?"

"I do fullheart. It is as if we didn't train!"

"Courtesy all of your master." She sat again, picking at her teeth with a toothpick. "I take it you've met my faithful god-servant Jikajika?"

Raxri smiled and nodded. "The god be of great humor, akin to an uncle."

Akazha shrugged. "I suppose that is his disposition. However, you would do well to exercise proper caution and respect. A god he be yet."

"Yes. I've done so with the same respect I afford my ancestors. How interesting the gods be, teacher. Do they truly live in concert with nature?"

Akazha nodded. "The gods and spirits are one, the two names are but a trick of imperfect language. Godhood is separated into multiple realms within its own Path. Some Gods live in the Highest Heavens, others in Middle Heaven, others in the Lower Heavens, even more upon the Earth, and some as well in the Hells. Those gods and spirits of the earth and of nature all are known as Tellurian Gods. Those of the Hells are known as Chthonic Gods. Those of the Heavens are Celestine Gods. Those of the Highest Heavens are the Empyrean Gods. That is the lay of the land for the gods and the spirits. You would do well to remember the basic layer of it, lest you offend the very gods."

"And the god Jikajika be of the lower realms?"

"Dang Hwan."

Raxri tilted their head to the side, questioning.

Akazha continued: "The proper honorific is Dang Hwan, which means Most Honorable or Most Venerable in Elder Karitan."

"I see. Dang Hwan Jikajika is a Tellurian God, then?"

"Aye. Even within the tellurians and the heavens there are subrealms yet. Jikajika is of the lowest kind. A god so pathetic, they were in danger of being slain by a roving demon horde. A little night heron, borne upon winds and zephyrs."

"And so in debited to you, they work your fields, now?"

Witch Akazha nodded, swallowing another spoonful of the spicy stew. Raxri realized both of them were sweating profusely, which helpfully cooled down their body. Akazha lent Raxri a cloth, and Raxri took it gracefully. "A cute fellow he be, eh?" asked Akazha. "But he is a good god, and he does it in exchange for teachings of enlightenment. He wishes to either be reborn as a higher god, or attain Awakening altogether."

"A god can attain Awakening yet?"

Akazha nodded. "Aye. However, those on the Human Path will find it easier to attain Awakening. Gods have powers granted to them, and with power comes blindness. With blindness cometh bliss. And personal bliss in a world of suffering is enough to make the pursuit of Awakening a hassle. Why would you, when you live for a thousand years and can control the very winds? That is the flaw of the gods. Pride."

"All gods suffer this?"

"Aye, unless they truthfully and sincerely kowtow and prostrate to the Awoken and the Saints. Nonetheless, it is the humans that awaken easier yet."

Raxri munched on this tidbit of information as they finished eating. Raxri took all of their dishes, brought them to the river, and washed them as quickly as they could underneath the shade of the giant trees—mahoganies, acacias, pines, palms, coconuts, hardwoods, and cashew trees. Though the sun bore down on them, for it was no doubt a few movements past Zenith, the sun's hallowed-hate rays were weak against the hungry greens of the trees' giant leaves.

Afterward, Raxri returned all the dishes to the kitchen in two trips. The witch Akazha gave them a rattan bag for the next time they were to bring the dishes. For the rest of the day, the witch Akazha spent the sun's movements chanting and performing rituals in her upstairs rooms. She told Raxri that it was time to rest for now because, no doubt, the stress of sudden intense body dynamics would burn their very muscles.

Raxri spent the rest of the day sitting on the front porch with a pot of tea, watching the swaying trees and the snakes that slithered across the path. The stray monitor lizard walking to and fro. A few deers bounded from bush to bush. Once, they even saw a walking crocodile as enormous as the giant tree's titanic roots. The crocodile looked at Raxri once, and Raxri bowed, folded hands on their forehead. The crocodile had considered them for a moment and then continued walking, disappearing again into the bushes. Raxri sipped their tea.

When the sky bled orange from the sun's blades, Akazha walked out. "Dear student, our dinner will be the rest of the coconut stew. It is important that you finish this if we are to continue our training tomorrow."

Raxri nodded. "Very well, teacher."

When the darkness was overwhelming, turning even the indigo sky now into a pure black, Akazha walked out and lit the palm leaf torches. Raxri walked inside and finished the rest of the coconut stew, which now had smaller portions of leftover rice.

"I conjecture," Akazha started, as they were halfway through their meal, that you were someone important in the past. Or at least someone who had somewhat been storied by spirits. Jikajika spoke with me and mentioned that the name you bear is familiar."

"Do you speak true? I cannot fathom what I might have done in the past that my name be known by a god." Raxri placed a hand on their chin and thought.

"From your build..., both Jikajika and I conjectured you to be some sort of warrior in the past. What other being would have muscles like you, combined with a sleek, triangular frame? Your muscles bear the imprint of violence, not of rice-carrying, not of carpentry. The sleek, sinuous fibers align with the stroke of a sword. Perhaps you are a storied knight. Perhaps you answered to the Great Kingdoms, perhaps even to the Empire itself of Shen."

"Shen... the name rings no bells. But I suppose none of the names have rung any bells presently." Raxri set about to eat once more.

"That is truly an astonishing fact." Akazha shrugged. "I suppose we shall learn as we deepen your training."

"But, teacher. What if we don't?" asked Raxri.

Akazha waved her hand dismissively. "We will. I always do."