Melting away in the evening sun as lazy trickles of water, the light dusting of snow parted from budding wisteria along the road to Mosun Shi. Twisting power cables swayed between the branching skeletal towers of the electricity grid. To the left of the path was a weather-bitten grassy slope that descended into a deep canal, steadily feeding through a metal grate into the city’s towering sandstone walls. Ai watched with dull interest as loaches shimmied over the sediment in the shallows. She’d been searching for anything to break the silent monotony. Ravi recognised her grief, he had no expectation for her to suddenly move on from the death of her last family member, though the quiet solitude of the winter roads had given her long periods of time to dwell on that pain. The lack of words between the two could only be a detriment to the situation, but the sense of apprehension he felt whenever he opened his mouth was akin to the fear of shattering glass. With any luck, he hoped, the bustling city of industrial power would prove a distraction from the grim past.
Even with the glare of the amber sky, the air was still soberingly crisp. Fortunately, their coats provided both a comfortable warmth and a welcome replacement for the white shirts that had been coated in blood and filth. Ravi brushed his hood back and rode ahead to the city gates. Seeing the measure of external armaments fitted into the wall’s crenellations, more than a hundred faint outlines of explosive ballistae and short-barrelled cannons, it was no surprise that it had taken over a year to capture Mosun Shi in the war of zeal between Sen and the allied continental forces. The city gates, two solid wooden slabs that were each three times the size of Ravi and reinforced with metal trellises, demanded a sense of unassailable fortitude.
There was no wait to enter the city. A handful of soldiers were gathered under a tent outside the high-gated entrance, all preoccupied with their game of dice in the comfort of a nearby heater, though none were any less diligent in their duty. Even before their heads turned in his direction Ravi could feel himself being observed. He rode as plainly as he could, exposing his intentions clearly to all.
“Hail. Do you have business in the city?” called one of the guards. She was a short and sturdy woman dressed for winter weather, wearing a thick grey jacket and cotton trousers with armoured plates strapped across her torso and along her limbs sparingly.
“That is so,” Ravi replied as he dismounted and bowed in return.
“As a formality, I must first ask that you allow you and your companion’s belongings to be searched, mister…?”
“Chen. By all means,” he replied, gesturing toward his mustard-coloured mare. The woman bowed once more, then proceeded over to his horse and quickly poked through his saddlebags. Ravi watched her with a careful eye as she rooted nearer to his festering prize he had stolen from the infested ruins of Yizhou. Apparently satisfied however, she withdrew her hand and strolled over to his companion where she repeated the same. Once the search was complete, the guard waved Ravi and Ai on through the gates and returned to playing dice.
For the first time since their ride through the rotting forest, Ai’s expression brightened into something more than an indifferent stare. Mosun Shi was immense; high-rising pagodas sprung up across the many miles of concrete roads and earthy paths with a far-spanning perspective that overlooked the dense hive of a hundred thousand homes. Stables and open barns greeted all newcomers at the northern entrance with an odour of hay and manure, offering services from horseshoe smithing to leather tanning, as well as grooms that could be hired as a guide or to attend to a horse. Ravi retrieved a weighty pouch of money from his saddlebags and placed several rings of ryō in the hand of a light-skinned, rough-bearded stablemaster then continued into the city with Ai on foot. The buildings of the outer sectors were traditionally erected, composed of white clay and strong wooden beams with grooved tiles upon their roofs. However, like the other powered cities, the construction of workshops and houses had gradually begun to be replaced by that of bricks and dusty grey concrete and grew noticeably more urban as Ravi pushed further into the gentle upward incline that was the Castle Street. It was the widest and busiest road of Mosun Shi, leading directly to the city’s centre. At its end sat an impressive castle fort atop a steep foundation of cobblestone.
“This... is…” Ai began, but couldn’t find the words she wished to say. Her eyes were everywhere now, flitting from the grand classical architecture of the castle to the industrial foundries and transformer stations in the distance to the west, then again to the east where a six-storied pagoda rose above a serenely-crafted water garden. Her childlike wonder was infectious and a smile crept its way across Ravi’s lips. His attention was locked onto the road ahead as he fought to keep his drooping eyelids from shutting completely. His body and spirit felt drained. The effects of Lin’s handiwork on Hema’s summit were becoming painfully clear. Crippled by tiredness and fatigue, it took extreme effort to move at anything faster than a calm walk. Ravi needed sleep. He kept an eye out for suitable inns or hotel lodgings, eventually settling on a relatively small hotel block that stood over a cluster of outdoor sports cages and, like before, dipped a hand into the hefty pouch of money. If he had suspected Ai wasn’t telling the truth about their horses before, the discovery of such a source of wealth only proved his suspicion. He had counted their wealth- twenty rings and forty circles of ryō. With a combined total of forty-two circles of ryō, they possessed enough funds to buy both of their horses ten times over, and so it was evident that the horses had belonged to Sio or some other such visitor to the shrine that Ravi was opposed to enough for Ai to hide the truth. Regardless, he felt no need to press the subject, and upon reaching their rented room he threw himself onto what must have been Mosun Shi’s most comfortable mattress, slipping immediately into a shallow and dreamless sleep.
Ravi was alone when he awoke. Bleary-eyed and groggy, he listened for a moment to the low hum of the heaters integrated into the light yellow plaster walls, and the sounds of running water from the adjacent bathroom where Ai sang a song both beautiful and eerie. He was still staring blankly into nothingness when Ai returned wrapped in a damp towel, her white hair slick and straggly. Its length had doubled since the night they had met in the Mitsuki Teahouse from a messy Bob cut to loosely hanging past her shoulders. She resembled her mother more and more with each passing day. Ravi gave her an acknowledging glance as he stood to leave for the bathroom.
“Won’t you stay and help me undress, Jie?” Ai called after him.
Ravi didn’t turn. “Why would I do that?”
“Why? Can’t you help a woman in need?”
“Can’t you change by yourself?”
“What kind of reaction is that?”
“What kind of towel requires two people to remove?”
Ai broke into a smirk, “I see. You’re a virgin, aren’t you? Either that, or you’re not into women at all. Which is it, Jishun Jie?”
“Neither,” he answered dryly, still facing the empty bathroom. “You are beautiful Ai, unbelievably so, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to you. Your voice and skin are as soft as the finest silk, your body…” he slowed as his face turned red, his confidence quickly running dry, “...Is perfectly sculpted, as if moulded by the Heavens themselves.”
Ai struggled to reply, though Ravi could only guess whether it was because she was flustered or simply holding back laughter. “My, that was certainly... something.”
“Don’t blame me if you’re disappointed, you’re the one that brought this up.”
“No, no, it’s not that, I’m just surprised to hear you talk that way,” she said. Her smile elevated her voice. “Nor did I take you for someone experienced.”
“I’ve told you about it before. The first man that I killed; the reason that I was sentenced to an agonising death, he was the bastard-” Ravi spoke darkly, but as he turned to deliver the rest of his sentence, his vision fell upon Ai Mitsuki’s naked form. He scrambled for the words he needed, “You- just what are you doing?”
Ai’s usually pale face immediately saturated to a deep red that matched Ravi’s own, “You refused to help me. I had no choice.”
“Y-you could’ve waited until I’d left,” he stuttered, averting his eyes. “Aren’t you going to cover yourself?”
“Is my body so repulsive to you that you cannot stand to look at it, Ravi Jie?” she demanded, her furrowed brows almost touching.
Ravi faltered, “That isn't- is that what I said? No, Ai, it isn't that I don't want to see you. I was just taken by surprise.”
“Really? Then I might just have to forgive you.” The redness hadn’t left the woman’s face, but neither did she move her hands to cover herself. She stood straight and bare, her body caressed by the warm colours of the shaded filament light. Ravi cast his gaze over Ai’s naked form, her pronounced collarbones, her slim breasts, her perfectly smooth midriff and shapely thighs.
“Why are you so comfortable around me, Ai? I've never given you reason for it. How can you still like me after all I’ve done to harm you?”
Ai drew her scarlet lips into a thin smile, “I feel comfortable because you’re weak. Your body, your libido, you would never pursue a woman without them first taking the initiative. I understand you. I can see through your actions. As for why I like you, maybe it's the fantasy, the dreams that you embody? Perhaps it's because you were the first to treat me as a person rather than an ornament. Maybe it's because my mind has become just as twisted as yours.”
Ravi glanced out of the room’s sole window at the neighbouring high-rise building, a concrete mosaic of shadowed rooms and warm lights. “Twisted, is it?”
“Don’t worry yourself,” she sighed, padding across the soft carpet toward him. “I showed myself to you because I simply felt like it.” With her fingers spread wide, she pressed her hand against his chest. “Run along now. Get yourself cleaned. You look tired.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, “I mean, do you really want to leave things like this?”
“We aren’t in any rush, Ravi Jie,” she laughed. “Besides, I think the mood is already gone.”
Ravi’s dark and unruly hair had grown past his chin and now fell slightly below his collarbones. The sight of thick black hairs upon his face as he gazed into a mirror’s slightly misted pane offered a small sense of pride, never before had he grown such a pronounced beard, yet its adolescent patchiness left him conflicted.
A twinge ran through Ravi’s stomach as he braced himself against the water’s touch. Though the healing wound no longer required bandages, his discomfort did not even slightly relent. There had been little opportunity to rest his mind since he could remember, always full of concern for those around him, and in recent days, for himself. He had tried to protect Fuu with his wan strength and failed so greatly that she had chosen to abandon him. He had upturned Ai’s peaceful life from the very first night they had met and caused her only pain ever since, it was he that acted as the catalyst for the division between Ai and her mother and their grisly parting that had left her in a state of ceaseless grief. Now he was travelling hundreds of miles to a city that had once been his home and seemed destined to become the place of his final judgement. Perhaps my fate is to finally serve the sentence that damned me to death. The victims of hurt that I’ve left through my failures in mind and body would be duly retributed. Wouldn’t it be for the best? He twisted the shower’s knob further until the water fell like a scalding rain onto his pronounced shoulders, allowing his entirety to vanish into the overwhelming sensation of burning heat. For once, it felt peaceful to not think.
The Jishun’s ribs felt like rows of stone beneath the towel he used to dry himself. He had spotted a weighing scale in the corner of the white tiled room when he entered and avoided even the sight of the machine, now his curiosity ate away at him, and he stepped onto the metal surface. An uncomfortable warmth washed over his face as soon as the number displayed upon the dial. At a height of nearly six feet, he weighed only 120 pounds. Eight and a half stone of frailty.
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“The featherweight lord, Jishun Ravi Jie,” Ai remarked from behind.
Ravi jerked away from her, “What are you doing?”
“Finding out what you’ve been doing all this time. First you leave me alone while you sleep for hours, and now you’re trying the same again in the shower. It’s already dark outside,” she replied. The last of the sunlight was barely visible as he looked past her. Uncomfortably aware of his exposed body, both his skeletal appearance and hanging manhood in equal parts, Ravi tied the towel around his upper waist.
“I was spending too much time inside my own head. It’d be nice to relax a little. Since it’s already night out, what do you say to spending some time in the city?”
Ai’s face lit up at that. It was all Ravi had wanted. He was gravely tired from the journey, yet everything in the woman’s eyes told him that she needed the distraction of the city’s blinding lights. There was no regret in the proposal. He found himself badgered by questions that came faster than he could answer as he dressed himself in his steel grey trousers and sage coat. Remembering his unsightly hair, he queried Ai for a razor or knife, any blade that could cut through the loose strands. She shook her head in a response he had expected, but then led him by the hand to the bathroom sink. Sprouting a keen talon from her index finger and taking hold of his jaw, Ravi watched in the mirror as she closely shaved the bristles from his face. Her finger slipped when she neared the end and nicked his newly smooth skin. Ravi winced.
“The artist’s mark,” Ai grinned, leaving him unsure whether the streaming cut had truly been an accident. After she had finished with his face, she moved quickly onto his hair and painstakingly trimmed through lock after lock until it hung no lower than his jaw.
“What do you think?” she asked, to which he answered with grateful thanks, and after rinsing his face and hair once more, he felt fresh and ready for the night ahead.
The open air was unusually cool against his shaven skin when they stepped out into the busy urban street. Mosun Shi was a place where the piercing cold of winter didn’t seem to exist and huddling away in homes was a foreign concept, there was no end of nighttime walkers and public salesmen touting everything from stall food and restaurants to extravagant theatres and outdoor stage plays. Neon lights flooded the darkened pathways with colourful shades of blue, red and yellow and enveloped the rising concrete structures in a brilliant violet aura. From unlit alleyways that breathed clouds of steam from metal grates stumbled drunken workmen still dressed in their formal attire, many singing songs out of tune with cans of cheap alcohol in their unsteady hands. With Ai following close behind, Ravi thought it would be wise to not deviate from the streets most travelled. He had learnt long ago in the lower districts of Hanshi that any settlement of such size and wonder came accompanied by an unsavoury underworld of equal prominence.
Mindful of his empty stomach, Ravi followed an inviting homely aroma to a small circular plaza several streets over, soon stumbling across a cluster of food stalls. Tender skewered meat grilled slowly, composed of deliciously browned chunks of chicken and small whole squids. Ravi bought two skewers of each meat, then proceeded to the adjacent stall, ordering two okonomiyaki-style fritter pancakes of cabbage, bean sprouts and pork.
“Try this,” he said, offering a loaded plate to Ai. She eagerly sat beside him. After a tentative taste of the chicken skewer, her eyes lit up and she cleaned the bamboo stick in a single ravenous bite.
“It’s good,” she announced before attacking the plate again, this time taking a sizable chunk from the body of her grilled squid. Her face soured instantly. “It’s wholly evil.”
“Not fond of seafood?” Ravi laughed.
“How can one be fond of this tough, flavourless fish?”
“Flavourless? Squid is one of my favourite dishes.”
“Listen to me Ravi, there are foods more edible in Mogu than whatever this sin-on-a-stick is,” Ai protested. “How can people eat this?”
“As simply as this,” Ravi answered, promptly biting into the white flesh of her squid skewer.
Ai watched on in disgust, “That’s a crime. You’re a criminal.”
“Mm. A sated one.”
After cleaning their plates, it was Ai that led the remainder of their nightly adventure through the city. They delved deeper into the labyrinthian district of commerce without any particular destination until Ai caught sight of a nearby pagoda and instantly decided upon their next course of action. The first few streets they passed were slightly less busy than others they had seen, but the noisiness returned as soon as Ravi reached the road’s end. He could have recognised the area’s purpose easily even without the garish red lanterns. Here was the pleasure district, the home to a way of life that traded sanctity and self worth for a flow of dirty wealth and waking regret, a life Ravi was all too familiar with. Living as a lady of the night to support her only son had twisted his mother into a woman he could no longer recognise, and had eventually pushed him out of his home in the lower districts. The day that he had left, unfamiliar men and opium had become more commonplace than food or clothing, and he refused to forgive the woman she had become. After being plucked from the shrine he had found refuge in and placed into the Royal Harem among the other children of Wunei Jie, the eunuch leader, Master Xiaozi had proven himself to be no less intact than any other man, complete with the libido of a self-serving predator. Ravi could have taken the man’s head with his bare hands had he given in to his hatred, but the boy needed to rise through the court in order to reach his father, and so offered little resistance to Xiaozi’s advances. His body was a down payment for power.
“Stay close to me,” Ravi said, his stomach swelling with nausea.
“Why, are you concerned about me?” Ai teased. “Don’t worry. I’m right here.”
Her hand closed around Ravi’s. He grimaced. Bone clicked against broken bone.
“Ravi, your hand- I’m so sorry,” she stuttered.
“Forget about it,” he replied. His hand throbbed with a deep, penetrating pain, almost as though a hole had been bored through the very marrow of his bone.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”
“I said forget about it. We’re here to enjoy ourselves, not fret about an injury I’ve had for days.” Ravi pointed to the fanned tower’s zenith that peered over the rooftops ahead, “The pagoda isn’t much further.” Taking the lead once more, he guided Ai with his uninjured hand through the dubious district of lustful patrons and prettily dressed but uncouth whores. Women cooed seductively through windows with wooden bars at Ravi as they passed and made beguiling comments about his company. He paid them no attention.
“She and I are the same,” Ai realised.
“Why, is this the kind of establishment your mother ran behind closed doors?”
“No, it was just a teahouse. I’m not talking about her line of work, Ravi, that woman isn’t human.” She pointed toward one of the windows, behind which was a woman with brown-dyed hair and perceptive eyes of equal recognition.
“What’s a living meigui doing in the city?”
“Adapting, by the looks of it- something my family should have done long ago. It was foolish to stay in that noxious place.”
“Why did you stay?”
“Because it was our home, and it had been since long before the decay spread throughout the forest. My mother could attract as much prey from the nearby villages as she needed all whilst being protected by the dense cathaya. Even when the rot and miasma began to set in, she still chose optimism rather than accepting the reality of our situation. She was brave, but optimism only serves those that can adapt. It cannot save you from the flames at your feet.” Ai gave the other woman one last glance before they departed from the pleasure district. “Do you think she’s lonely?”
Ascending the staircases inside the pagoda stole away whatever energy Ravi had gleaned from his meal as well as several circles of ryō from his pocket in order to enter the building out of hours. According to the watchman, it served as an upmarket accommodation centre for whomever could afford the privilege. The climb was tiring and uncomfortably steep, but the sight waiting for them on the balcony above was more than worth the effort.
Ravi could hear the moment the view of the nighttime city stole Ai’s breath away. The cloud of warm swirling air quickly dissipated from her pale lips, leaving behind the face of a perfectly beautiful woman lit by a bright sea of neon illuminations. Countless nightgoers walked among the tens of thousands of buildings that stood as concrete obelisks surrounded by dense suburbs of wood and tiles, and beyond that, the proud and misty form of the Hangu mountains dominated the east horizon against a dark, starless sky. Ravi peered over the balcony’s edge and shuddered at the drop, it was perhaps fifty metres or more to the ground with only a pavement surface to break the fall. He clutched the wooden railing tightly.
“I never believed that I could ever lay eyes upon something like this,” Ai whispered. Her expression was solemn despite her eager tone.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” The distant electrical signs melded into a blur of harmonious hues from the viewpoint of the tower balcony, painting the other districts into a vivid canvas of colour coalesced. “We’re only at the beginning of our journey, Ai. You’ll see so much more than this. I promise you that.”
“If the rest of the world holds half as much beauty as I’ve seen tonight then I’ll gladly discover it with you, but right here, right now, I could gaze at this place for a lifetime. You have my thanks, Ravi. You’re a better man than most.”
Several sets of heavy footsteps echoed up the stairwell, almost drowned out by the laboured wheeze that accompanied them.
“Company,” Ai murmured, never taking her eyes from the lights below.
Ravi rested an arm on the railing. “Doesn’t sound like the doorman. Do you think he told his friends we’re here?”
“Where is your faith, Jie? The man was more than happy to take your money. Are you saying he chose to betray us after the fact?”
“We paid for the view, not his loyalty. Any man worth his name would have sold us out.”
“It’s an unfortunate possibility. If they truly intend to bring our night to an end, I shall have to throw them from this balcony. And what an awful shame to ruin such a view.” Her coolness couldn’t mask her frustration.
“We shouldn’t fight them.”
Ai’s gaze flicked suddenly towards him. “Should I simply let them lay their hands on me?”
“This isn’t your forest. If we kill these men, a hundred more will come down on us before we can escape the city. Besides, all we’ve done is climb a tower. They might just escort us out.”
“They might not.”
“We’ll never find out if you throw them to their deaths. We should talk to them first.”
Her furrowed white brow announced her displeasure, but their company arrived before she could voice any complaint. The first to the top was a broad-nosed, sharp eyed man with the dark skin of Won’s northern reaches. Two large men emerged next, and then an even larger woman followed behind. Last to step into the viewing tower was a man that clearly fancied himself a lord. Atop a fine silk shirt, he wore a thick cotton and fur gown dyed with an autumnal fire. Though his entourage were all clad in weapons and armour-plated clothing, there was no more refinement in his appearance than theirs. His stomach protruded like an expecting mother’s and his lazily-shaven beard crept down to collarbones. The red flush in his face was the sweat-spotted result of overexertion from the climb and the alcohol that laced his wheezing breath. Ravi didn’t miss the moment that those dazed eyes landed on Ai.
“Who, then?” the lowly Lord asked between gasps of air.
“I am-” Ravi began, but was silenced by a raised hand.
“The woman. I don’t want a name from you until I’ve asked for it.”
Ai finally turned from the balcony. Ignoring the glares of the city guardsmen, she stalked toward their lord until only a wall of spears and halberds stood between them. One of their pointed tips pressed against the soft flesh of her breast as she leaned closer. Her gentle words spanned the remaining inches that separated their faces.
“The youngest daughter of the Mitsuki family,” she said, “My name is Ai.”
“And I am Gō Uchimasa, governor of this machine pit.” He took a moment to fondle her body with his beady eyes. “I’ve never seen hair as fine as yours. You aren’t from here. What are you doing in my city?”
Ravi watched silently in anticipation of the inevitable. A single swipe of the living meigui’s claws would be enough to bleed the man like a pig.
“Your city?” Ai turned and splayed a hand toward the lights ahead of her, “This place is a gathering of all things, an amalgamation of life, and of all that was sacrificed to create it. Here are wants and desires, dreams and fears- tens of thousands of intertwined realities. It might be hard to see them beneath all they have built, but they are there. We wandered into the city with no particular reason in mind, by chance, without expectation. I admire what you have.”
“Admiration without self-satisfaction… is often followed by envy,” Uchimasa said carefully, his breath suddenly calm, “Are you satisfied with your life, Miss Mitsuki?”
Ai’s gaze flicked toward Ravi but had already left him by the time he noticed. She replied to the Governor over her shoulder, “That I am not.”
Uchimasa smiled widely from behind the crossed polearms. “Will you try to take what is mine?”
“No. What I desire does not exist in this city, nor anywhere else in the world. But you could help me create it.” She leaned toward him again, pulling at her clothing to reveal the delicate skin of her neck.
The Governor’s soldiers stood firm, unmoving, but the man himself swayed slightly on his feet. He pushed the weapons blocking his path aside and teetered forward. A smirk warped his beet lips as he ran a hand over Ai’s shoulder and rested it on her breast. Ravi couldn’t see her face, but she didn’t seem to flinch.
“A feast, at my manor later tonight. Accompany me there. We shall see about granting that dream.”