Kenji stood over Silas, moving his arms, weaving his power. He had to fix what Genki had done. He needed to fix his pupil. Silas laid in front of Kenji, passed out. As strong as Silas was, he wouldn’t be able to bear the pain Kenji was putting his body through at the moment. If Silas thought getting his channels and core crushed and ripped out was painful, he would be in for a whole new level of pain by putting them back in.

They were in the crumbling manor of Kenji’s lands., Kenji had started to put it back together though, before he was called to that mountain range by his father. He would have to go back to fix it and strengthen the defenses of everything. They were in one of the rooms on the second floor, Silas laying in a bed while Kenji worked. Shu was standing on a chair in the room's corner, watching. This was the first time he hadn't squawked loudly interrupting anything.

Silas began to sweat. He was knocked out and couldn’t feel anything, but the burning sensation inside his soul was burning him from the inside out. His body was convulsing softly from what Kenji was doing. It didn’t take Kenji long, but Silas would need the night to rest. He did have other things to do as well.

The Father had called a meeting of the Kami, and instructed them to bring their pieces of the wand. Kenji hadn’t had a chance to put it in his chest down in the basement yet. It was still lingering in his pocket. Once Kenji was sure he was finished, he reached down and took Silas’s scarf and wiped his forehead with it.

He then raised his head and looked over at Shu. “Well, we can’t call his apprentice here. He’s off learning how to be a dragon.” With his spirit, he closed his eyes and looked for Silas’s wife. It took a moment, but she formed in front of him, a bit surprised she was called to him. When she formed and saw the Kami she bowed deeply and he waved her to lift her head.

“Stay here, watch over your once husband. When he wakes, the world will turn to look more like the mortal world. It will be easier for him. You’ll turn into a shadow, but he’ll know it’s you.” Kenji smiled softly, looking at Himari.

Himari nodded her head. “Yes, Lord Kami. I will stay with him.”

Kenji nodded his head. “Good, tell Shu when he’s woken to come to me. I have something I must do.”

Kenji turned to walk out of the room, but Himari stopped him. She reached out and said his name softly. “Lord Kami, forgive me. Thank you.”

He looked back at her for a moment and gave her a soft nod, and left the room. He looked back on his relationship with Silas and decided he had treated him harshly at first. Kenji looked down on Silas because he was mortal, but Silas really had worked to gain his power. Silas had earned Kenji’s respect, he fought against one of the Kami and survived. Barely, but he survived, and the fact the mortal had the courage to fight against Genki to begin with was admirable.

Kenji disappeared from view, melting into the shadows.

______________________

When Kenji came from the shadows, he walked into the meeting hall in Elder Mountain. The table was full of all of his siblings. Even Rei was there, sitting at the head of the table. It seems he was late. He looked over to Genki’s seat and saw who Rei replaced her with. He smirked, recognizing the woman immediately. It was none other than Kio, one of the group the Father had instructed and taught.

He walked to his seat and sat in it, looking at Rei. “Apologies for being late, Father. I was fixing Silas.”

Rei smiled, looking at Kenji, and nodded his head. “Excellent, I figured you could undo what Genki did. That’s not why I called you all here, though. I wish you all to lie out your pieces of the wand.”

The siblings all looked around at each other and then, one by one, they set their pieces on the table. Kenji laid out the bauble that made the glass end of the wand. That dull shadow that moved around like smoke inside of the glass swirled around.

Next to him, Lilith laid out her piece. By itself, it looked just like a knick knack. It was a snake spiraled around and it went above Kenji’s piece and around Kentaro’s. Kentaro’s was the wand itself. A hard piece of wood that was the base for everything. It only made sense to give it the embodiment of war and destruction. He was the strength of the group.

Daichi was there as well, but his hood was off and he looked down. He had nothing to add to the wand. He was the one Kami who didn’t have a piece of the wand itself, but he had his book. That was his piece. The book formed sitting in front of Rei. Rei looked at Kio and then at the twins.

Kio concentrated, still getting used to this new power she had. It took a moment, but then her piece appeared. She just got it and she already had to summon and put it on display for everyone. It was a simple piece of purple metal. Not the most intricate piece of the wand. It slid under the snake of Lilith’s and acted as a grip on the wand.

The twins then looked at each other, and each laid out their pieces, pulling it from their pockets. They were matching gems that glowed. They embedded themselves into the wand when it was fully assembled.

Rei looked to his children, smiling warmly, the smile he gave his Beggars when he was The Elder. The Kami’s pieces all glowed a soft white and each of the Kami stared at their piece, wondering what Rei was going to do. Kenji himself was almost scared of what Rei was going to do. He became rather attached to his piece after the entire ordeal with Genki. The pieces glowed for another moment and then shattered, then disappeared. They were ripped from existence.

Not just Kenji. All of them looked up at Rei with looks of horror. He kept his smile and raised a placating palm. “Simmer, simmer, you don’t need those pieces of power. It was originally to make sure no one of you became too powerful. I didn’t think one of you might use it for that very reason. The power from the pieces has been restored to you.”

Kenji looked down at the table with a blank expression. It made sense not to have them, and he always kind of questioned why Rei made them to begin with. It wasn’t his position to question the Father out loud. His position was to do his job for the mortals as commanded by The Father, something he took quite seriously.

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“Now you don’t need to worry about someone stealing a piece of your power and running amok with it. I also wanted to call you all here because, as you may have guessed, I have chosen Kio as Genki’s successor. It’s been the first time I’ve ever had to do something like this and it’s unfortunate I had to do it to begin with. Kio worked hard for me when I was staying with the mortals, and I believe she will be a good Kami. Any utterance of the name Genki has been erased and been replaced with Kio. It is like she has always been one of us.”

Rei looked to the Kami who just looked at him and gave them a nod. “Finally, there’s Daichi. The embodiment of fate and destiny. He relied on the book too much, he forgot the power was inside him. He also helped Genki with her plotting.”

Rei frowned. “I do not want to find another replacement for another Kami. I don’t know who would replace him. So he will take his place back in the garden properly chastised. He will have limited authority though. I’m taking over the mantle until Daichi can prove he’s trustworthy once more.”

In the middle of Rei’s speech Shu melted in from the shadows, appearing sitting on the back of Kenji’s chair. All the Kami, even Rei, looked at the phoenix and Kenji looked at Rei bowing his head. “I must go check on Silas.”

Rei nodded his head. “That’s fine. I believe we are done here. You all may go do whatever it is you must. I’m going to go see my Beggars in Mudpass. I’m sure William, Maisy, Magnus and Daiki have many questions.”

Kenji was the first to stand, holding out his arm for Shu to jump on. They went down his tunnel and disappeared into his own realm. Each of the other siblings also stood and said goodbye to each other and welcomed Kio to the family.

______________________

Kenji walked into the room where he had left Silas. Himari was standing over Silas who had woken up and looked to the doorway when Kenji entered. “Master.” Silas grinned when he said it, knowing Kenji didn’t like to be called Master.

Kenji frowned but then looked over at Silas, sensing his spirit. “You are well, then? You seem put together. Your core is empty, but you have the ability to cultivate once more and here in these lands you will be able to refill your core quickly.”

“My core is empty, but it feels deep. I also feel like it’s filling quickly, the depth, and the concentration of it.” Silas closed his eyes and sensed inside his spirit.

Misumi looked him over as well. Though she couldn’t sense his spirit anymore, she worried. Kenji just smiled. “Silas, you fought a Kami and lived to tell the tale. You pushed yourself to heights that no mortal has reached.”

Silas opened his eyes and looked up at Kenji. Kenji continued speaking, though. “Silas, you’re a sage. Not the silly Celestial you mortals like to call the top rank, but a sage. You are a true representation of my power.”

Silas climbed out of the bed and looked at Misumi. He had done it. Silas was the first mortal to fully become immortal in the world. He cycled the mana into his newly formed channels. There were more of them now. Kenji had been generous when he rebuilt him. They were thicker and stronger as his core was filling here in this world. He could truly feel the depth of his new power.

Kenji looked at him and nodded his head. “I am not your master. You have no master.” Then Kenji turned and left the room, leaving Silas and Himari to themselves. He needed to finish rebuilding his manor. He was the first Kami with a full Sage under him and he needed to look the part.

Once Kenji was gone, Silas looked to his wife. “Himari, I….” Silas wasn’t sure what to say, but he needed to tell her. “Me and Kio…”

Himari looked at him and shook her head. “No. Whatever happened is between you and Kio. I am here in the world of the shadows, as a shadow.”

Silas looked at her. Kenji had turned the world to look like the mortal world. There was a sun, and it was daylight. It wasn’t the dark void he was used to the world to look like. He switched to his shadow sight to fully take in the view of his wife and he smiled at her. “You’ll always be my wife.”

Himari smiled and nodded her head. “Goodbye Silas. I’ll see you when you come back.” She dissolved into the shadows, becoming one with the world again and Silas sighed. He understood, but he didn’t like it. He always pictured Himari at his side when he reached the rank of Celestial and then he’d help her reach the same level of power.

Silas looked out the door Kenji left, but he too dissolved into the shadows. When he reappeared, he walked through the shadows under some of some cherry blossom trees. They were on a hill that overlooked the great ocean on one side. On the other, it overlooked a small village that was once destroyed by a shadow monster, a nightmare in the mortal realm.

Silas looked down at his old house at the base of the Jade Mountains and smiled to himself, sitting on a rock as he took in the village's sight.

“Figured this is where you’d come.”

Silas had just closed his eyes and had started to meditate when the voice came from behind him. “It’s where my journey to Sage first began, Lord Kami Kio.” He grinned.

“Yes, you felt more powerful than I’ve ever felt you.” Kio said, moving to stand next to him, looking down at the village. “It’s where this journey started for all of us.”

Then there was a brilliant colored dragon flying over the Jade Mountains. It had a brilliant streak of pink near the head that reminded Silas of the cherry blossoms he was sitting under.