Silas’s eyes widened when he saw the energy beam. “Kio!” He yelled out, but he knew it was too late. He charged the wooden platform she fell from, the rest of the group with him. When he reached the water, he didn’t hesitate and dove in, not even bothering to remove any robes before he did.
William jumped in behind him, only taking the time to remove his outer robe before he leaped into the water. Magnus grabbed Maisy, and they stayed on the ground, looking in the direction where the beam of energy came from. Sensing out with their spirits, trying to find who shot the beam and attacked them.
Silas and William swam in the water, swimming as deep as they could as quickly as they could. In the back of his mind, Silas knew it was too late. He saw the beam strike her chest, right where her heart would be. It didn’t take the pair long until they found Kio heading back up to the top of the water. Her limp body floated upwards. Silas grabbed her, and with William behind him, the pair broke water again, gasping for breath. Maisy came over to help with Kio’s lifeless form, grabbing her and pulling her to the dock.
The entire time the crew of the ship they had gotten off, captain included, just watched. Stunned, not sure what else to do until Silas and William were on the dock as well. Silas had laid down Kio’s body, kneeled beside her, and slumped down. The rest of them were standing next to Silas. They all knew how close the pair were, even if they didn’t know the night they had just shared.
The ship’s captain moved and set a hand on Silas’s shoulder. “If you need us to do anything.” She trailed off, and the hard exterior of the ship’s captain was gone. Now she was just an empathic person who witnessed someone get murdered.
Silas kneeled there hunched over, staring at Kio’s lifeless face. How could this even happen? No one else said a word for several long moments until Silas finally spoke up again. “Did you guys see who or what did this?”
“It came from the west, I can’t tell any more than that.” Magnus answered Silas.
Then suddenly, Maisy made a gasping noise. “It was the cult. It had to be. We can’t sense the madra because it was mana. The color of the beam. It makes sense.”
“From the west?” Silas lifted his head and looked towards Magnus. Silas’s control over his mana may be unstable, and he may not fully comprehend. Someone had to pay for the fact Kio was lying here in front of him, dead. The second woman he cared about in about a year now was gone from his life. Himari was gone, and now Kio was dead in front of him.
He didn’t wait for an answer. He took off running down the docks. Before he was off the docks, his hammer was out from the storage ring and slung over his shoulder. The large war hammer was being carried easily over his shoulder since he wasn’t in the pain he used to be. With the mana flowing through his channels, he could enhance his sight by looking along the coastline, enhancing his ears so that he even heard a small rabbit eating grass.
He didn’t hear or see anything that could do the sort of attack that killed Kio. His movements slowed when he hit the tree line, looking around as he was wheezing. His vision went dark like it had that day outside of Kyoto. It had a purplish tinge to it. Silas stopped completely now and frowned. The shadowy black ooze flooded around him all around the beach and tree line where he was standing.
From deeper in the woods came the thin, frail figure Silas recognized from that time while he was out. He had that blindfold around his eyes and that long, straight black hair hanging everywhere. The long threadbare coat and pants. One hand was on that hilt, and the other was holding a cracker up for the small, dark, almost black phoenix on his shoulder. Silas went wide-eyed and fell to his knees, kowtowing in front of the Kami.
“Master Kenji,” Silas spoke into the dirt.
Kenji sighed. “What did I tell you about calling me master?” He said in that strained voice of his, and he looked at Silas’s form in the dirt.
“Sorry, Ma -” Silas caught himself and stopped talking. He only wished to bury his face deeper into the dirt in front of the Kami.
“You’ve come along well, Silas. It hasn’t even been that long. You’ve stopped fighting.” Kenji was standing nearly on top of Silas. “For the love of, Silas, stand up.” Kenji sounded exasperated. He never had the patience for the bowing, priming, and properness of the mortal Sacred Artists.
Silas stood up immediately, but kept his head lowered. He sneaked a peek at Shu, though, and gave a soft smile to himself. It seemed he wasn’t the only one benefiting from Kenji’s kindness. “I’ve been meditating as you instructed and stopped fighting the mana. I also had some help from someone with a different sort of mana,” Silas explained to Kenji.
“Is that so?” Kenji asked him before reaching to Silas’s chin and lifting his head. Silas could feel Kenji staring into his eyes from behind that blindfold.
Silas met the gaze and nodded softly. “Yes Kenji, I am learning to embrace this new power. My end goal is the same. I want to find out what happened to my village and find my wife and student. Right now, though...” Silas trailed off for a moment “... I need you to return me to the woods.”
“The person who killed your friend is no longer around, Silas. It was someone, as you must think, from the Dragon Cults, the illusionists.” Kenji told Silas, then gave a sigh. He brought his hand up to his chin in thought.
Silas looked at Kenji, frowning, “I must find them.” It was Silas’s turn to pause and inspect Kenji, narrowing his eyes at him. “You know more than you’re telling me, don’t you?”
Kenji frowned and advanced on Silas, which was awkward because they were already so close. The dark shadow oozing around them seemed to grow thicker and darker around Silas. The pressure from the stuff was almost strangling Silas. Kenji, however, stayed firm.
“What makes you think you’re entitled to any of the information I have? Just because you’re some mortal with my mana running through their veins?” Kenji spoke firmly. The soft crackling in his voice was gone. What replaced it was pure anger.
Silas instantly regretted his word choice and dropped to his knees again, pushing his head into the dirt. “Forgiveness Kenji.”
“Tsk,” Kenji sighed, and the shadows lessened once more. “Get up. I will tell you this, dear mortal. That demon you saw was no demon. It was a nightmare from my land. There have been quarrels with my siblings that I think we have resolved. It’s up to you and your new group of friends to sort out this mortal plane. Which means you do have to avenge your friend.”
“Any help you could give?” Silas spoke from the dirt once more in the kowtow position before the Kami.
“Mmm, no, you are progressing well down your new path. Continue on, and I shall reward you,” Kenji’s weak, crackling voice returned now.
He couldn’t maintain the firm, angry voice any longer. “Rise, and go back fully to your plane. Complete the mission this old man has set you on. Perhaps you will find vengeance for your friend along the way.”
Silas stood once more and nodded his head. “Yes, Kenji.”
Then, just like that, the thick ooze of shadows retreated in a swirling black mass of smoke-like fog, and then the beggar king of shadows was gone.
Kenji left Silas standing on the tree line, looking into the woods, the beach behind him. He couldn’t really do anything but sigh and shake his head. He gave one look around, narrowing his eyes and enhancing his vision and hearing as much as he could. Still, he found nothing that would give a clue what would have murdered Kio. Where could the person have gone? Silas gave one last long sigh before walking back to the docks, where his new group waited for him.
“Well, what did ya find?” William was the first to ask when they had first come into view.
Silas waited until he didn’t have to shout for the group to hear him, then looked to the three others waiting for him. “I couldn’t find anything. There wasn’t any sign of anyone or anything being there.”
Magnus frowned. “We can go that way to get to the monastery of the monks. Four sets of eyes will be better to look for any clues.”
They all agreed before Silas spoke again. “I saw Kenji. It was weird. He didn’t really give me any new information, but he said I’m going along the right path and making good progress. If we do our mission, we should be able to find the person responsible for murdering Kio.”
The group looked at him, their mouths open, and didn’t try to hide their shock. They had already told Silas how Kenji was notoriously private and didn’t interact with the mortals, even in the tournament the Kami held. He had never brought a warrior into his plane of existence. Silas shrugged.
“Is it really that big of a deal?” He asked them.
Magnus stared at him for several long moments before finally shaking his head, “come on.”
Silas looked at the ship they had come on. Silas stared at Magnus in return and watched him walk away before turning to look at William. William looked at Silas with a big dumb grin before he started laughing and shaking his head before walking off and following Magnus and Maisy, who followed Magnus right away.
“What are we doing with Kio?” Silas stopped and looked at the group. She needed to be taken care of. Inside, his heart was crushed and felt like it was being torn out all over again. This pain was as bad as when he discovered his wife was gone. He frowned, looking at them before looking back at the dock where he had left her limp body before running off to find whoever attacked her.
William instantly lost his grin and frowned. “The captain is taking her back to the mainland. We sent word back, and someone will meet the ship from town. Come on, I know it’s hard, but we have to go. We have a mission, and now part of that mission is finding who did this.”
Silas stood there another moment, Magnus and Maisy were already well ahead of them, and Silas hadn’t even left the docks again. He sighed while watching the boat go. This was the second time tears came to his eyes in so many days. Silas looked to the ground and wiped his eyes. This was all costing him too much. Too many people had lost their lives because of his pride.
Silas felt William’s hand on one of his shoulders. “I know, mate, I know. She’d want us to press on. To find the bastard who did this and show him who he’s messing with, you know?”
Stolen novel; please report.
Silas looked at William and furrowed his brow. He looked right into William’s eyes and gave the man one firm nod of determination. The pair then walked to catch up with the other two.
“It was someone from The Heavenly Dragon Sect. It had to be someone powerful for that sort of concentrated attack.” Silas told the group once he and William had caught up with the other two.
Maisy looked over at Silas with a sidelong glance as they walked along a dirt road. “Silas, the cults don’t use madra. They get their powers from the dragons, and dragons are creatures from the youngest member of the Kami, Genki. The Kami of well…” she trailed off for a moment, trying to think of how to put it.
“The Kami of nothin’ good, she is. Little ankle biter, that one. She’s tricky and greedy, or so they say anyway,” William filled in when Maisy paused and offered a shrug.
Silas paused for a minute, and looked at William, then at Maisy. He ran it through his head, and he supposed William made sense. They were known to be illusionists, not practicing proper techniques with the known madra. How was no one ever able to explain that? He supposed it was because even the prominent sect leaders and scholars didn’t know too much about the cults, or well, that’s what they said. With everything he had recently learned, he wondered how true that was. Did his father know about the Kami and these different forms of mana? He must.
Silas pushed all that from his mind when they approached the monastery compound that served as the headquarters of the Kunlun Sect, most commonly referred to simply as ‘The Monks.’
The monastery was walled off by brick walls and was built into the side of a mountain. Its wall, instead of a gate like The School of the Jade Mountains, had. A sizeable tiered building made with the same sort of brick that the walls were and tiles on the roofs. The colors of the building were a dull orange and then red trim to match the sect colors. The School may emit some serious power with the runes carved into the walls and gates, but this place was on a whole other level. Silas didn’t even think he’d be able to breathe too roughly on the brick without having it thrown back into his face.
Magnus led the four to the building, where sacred artists were on either side of the doorway. They were standing at attention, wearing their orange robes and red pants, holding their staves firmly into the dirt, looking at Magnus’ approach. One of them bowed deeply to Magnus and then met his gaze. Magnus met the low bow with respect.
With the formalities out of the way, the one who bowed spoke. “Greetings, welcome to the Nan Hua Monastery, home of the central branch of the Kunlun Sect. What may we do for you?”
While this one spoke, the other guard just stood, ignoring the group and his partner, keeping watch in case anyone else walked up to the area.
“Greetings, brother. I am Magnus, and we are here from Mudpass. Our Elder has sent us to speak with someone about some dragon sightings you may have had in the area?” Magnus smiled.
The monk finally smiled and nodded his head. "Any disciple of The Elder is a friend to us. My name is Daiki, brother. My brother will go fetch the Elder for you to speak with. If you go inside, there are some hot tea and refreshments for you.”
Magnus spoke with the man while the rest stood behind him, patiently allowing him to take the lead like he usually did. Silas quietly wondered how Magnus got to be the group leader like he was, but in the end, he assumed it didn’t really matter. Silas was still the new man in the group and was new to all the information he had received the past couple of days.
However, the group always seemed to default to Magnus to take charge of the situation. When Silas discretely asked William about it, William just told Silas that it was because Magnus had been around The Elder the longest. He also explained that he didn’t care enough to bother Maisy. Kio was usually gone, doing solo things, so it defaulted to him. Silas nodded as he listened to William’s explanation.
Magnus returned to the rest and led them inside the little waiting area, where there was tea and snacks for the group. They barely had time to make themselves a cup of tea by the time a tall, skinny man walked in and smiled. This man did not hide his power from them. He was strong and powerful. As strong as Silas’s father was, Elias was better at veiling himself, or this man simply did not care to. The four of them clapped their hands together and bowed low at the waist, keeping their backs straight.
“Welcome to the Nan Hua Monastery, young beggars. I am Shen Uni, an Elder of the Kunlun Sect. I have spoken to your Elder and am glad you have come.” He clapped his hands together and returned the bow to them, although much shallower than theirs were.
This man was powerful enough to deal with the dragon and whoever might be here from the Dragon cults. Except Elder Shen was a notorious pacifist. He believed all things had their place in the world, and what will be will be, after all. Or so he thought. It was well known that the sect sent most of their sacred artists out into the world. To help villages and people out in the realm notoriously left them unguarded.
Usually, this wasn’t a problem since sects and schools meant no ill will to the Kunlun. They stood for the betterment of all humanity, so why attack them? Not that their current predicament was an attack, or not so as anyone knew. It was a dragon. Dragons did what they wanted, and it was expected the cults would follow, since the dragons were the source of their power.
“So, you all know why you are here, correct?” Elder Shen spoke softly, kindly, and assured. “The last dragon sighting was not too far from here, a little to the north in the mountains.”
The group all nodded their agreement, and the Elder smiled broadly. The man almost acted as if he wasn’t quite all there. Not that he acted crazy, but he just had this aloofness about him. It made him seem like his mind was always somewhere else, which was odd for a sect elder.
“Since it is late, Daiki will show you to the rooms you can have for the night. I will have the kitchens bring you some food since it is past our dinner time, but please treat the monastery as you would your own home. We will be doing our evening cultivation in the main courtyard. It is just outside this building if you would like to join us.” Elder Shen clapped his hands together and bowed before leaving the way he came without speaking another word.
As soon as he left, Daiki returned with a smile. Daiki was a big guy, well built and barrel chested like Silas had used to be. Daiki had a little more roundness in the gut than Silas did, however. He also had a cool friendliness to him that said he’d much rather go for a drink with you, then fight you.
“Staying the night before you head out, huh? Excellent! Excellent! Maybe tonight, after the evening cultivation, we can try some of the new batch of rice wine we make.” He smiled at the group and even waggled his eyebrows a little at them.
“The harvesters say it turned out better than ever before, thanks to the rains we’ve had here on the island,” he continued. Silas had a passing thought, wondering if this man joined the sect purely for the wine. It was true the Kunlun was meant to be master artisans of the drink.
They were polite to Daiki and nodded along, agreeing. Silas personally didn’t care to try the wine. He knew it was good. They sometimes used to get it for the instructors to drink at the school. It was said to have spiritual properties and would help cultivation. Silas never found that true and thought it was a gimmick the sect used to help sell the wine. He wanted to just have some dinner after their long day, cultivate, now that he could, and then get some sleep before the long day.
“We should probably get some sleep after cultivating tonight, my brother,” Magnus spoke up for the group, apparently agreeing with Silas.
“Aye, we’re going to have a big day tomorrow, yanno, hunting dragons and cultists and whatnot.” William chimed in, though he didn’t seem thrilled about it. William seemed the type to want to go party and worry about, well, nothing really.
Daiki nodded his head. “Yes, I suppose that makes sense.”
While they all spoke, Daiki was leading them through the courtyard behind the entrance, where Elder Shen said they held the nighttime group cultivation. The compound they called a monastery was large. Silas could see buildings built into the very side of the mountain and smirked to himself, wondering if all the schools and sects had their buildings carved into the mountains.
Around the middle compound was a large area with gardens and some sparring rings. There were towers built outside the wall that Silas assumed had different areas for training and for the monks to live and sleep in. Their guide led them to the left of the compound and into the tower at the northwest part of the compound. Right when they entered the building, there were four rooms with doors opened waiting for them.
“You guys each get your own room,” Daiki explained to them with a smile. “They’re pretty plain, but we are monks. You will get some good rest, though. All the rooms are scripted with a calming script from the sect elders to help calm the spirit and the mind. There will be an attendant shortly with some dinner for you.”
He bowed to them and retreated through the door he brought them through to do whatever other duties he had to do. Back to guard the front gate, Silas supposed. The group all looked at each other and smiled, nodding before turning and walking into the respective rooms.
The room was awfully plain, as the Daiki told them. The room had a simple small bed and a table with a water basin. When Silas looked for it, he found the script Daiki told them about. Silas, alone for the first time, took off his outer robe and boots, sitting on the bed.
It had seemed like a lifetime ago, but once upon a time, Silas knew something of scripts himself. Being the accomplished artificer he used to be, he had to know scripts so Silas could put them on the things he smithed for his customers. His fingers ran along the carving at the symbols that composed the script. They were ancient. The original elders of this sect were probably the ones who carved these scripts when they first built the monastery. He nodded his head in appreciation when there was a knock on the door.
He went to open it and found a younger sacred artist, still in his development stages, holding a plate with dumplings and some fried rice with vegetables. Silas got a whiff as soon as he opened the door, and instantly his stomach pains from not eating all day. It gave a loud growl, and Silas gave the child a sheepish laugh before taking the plate from him.
When he took the plate, the boy bowed low with his hands clasped together, which Silas returned as good as he could while holding the plate. Silas gave his thanks, and the boy left his doorway and returned to the cart he was pushing. It contained three other dishes of the same food that was given to Silas. Silas closed the door, went to his bed, sat on the edge, lifted the chopsticks on the plate, and devoured the food.
Minutes later, the empty plate was sitting on the floor near the bed, and Silas was lying back on the bed, sprawled out, half asleep, groaning. One hand was rubbing his stomach. He groaned softly when he remembered he would have to put his boots and outer robe back on to go to the sect’s nightly cultivation.
It was something Silas did not want to do. He wanted to cultivate, but privately in his own room, wearing very little clothing and definitely not wearing boots. Silas could pretend to have fallen asleep? He looked around the room and then groaned again, fighting his inner voices. The sect had given them shelter and fed them. It would be rude to not accept the invitation to cultivate with the sect.
After several more minutes, he finally gave one last groan and sat up with a sigh. Reaching and putting his boots back on, but lacing them lightly, he grabbed the black outer robe and put it back on. Standing, he reached down for the plate and opened the door. Once he opened it, he noticed the others were speaking with the boy who delivered their food. He was standing there with his cart, waiting for them to give him their dishes.
Silas handed his plate over, and they went out into the courtyard. When they went outside, Daiki waved at them from near the entrance. Daiki explained to them that the rice was cultivated and grown for their wines just outside, on the opposite side of the mountain. Daiki tried to get them to drink with him once more, and they once more kindly declined the offer.
The courtyard had a few sacred artists, but Elder Shen was among them. He was sitting in the middle of the square, in a cultivation pose, with his eyes closed. Silas could once more feel the presence of a cultivator who might be more powerful than his own father, which, to Silas, was incredible.
“You guys take a spot near Elder Shen. He’d expect it since you are guests, so he’d want you to have favored spots,” Daiki told the group under his breath.
The group nodded and went over, sitting next to Elder Shen, assuming their cultivation poses. Silas closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling the surrounding air. The sun had set, which meant that Silas had to really reach and concentrate to cultivate the shadow mana.