They walked five feet apart by day and huddled for warmth by night. For several days they passed through grassy riverlands shrouded with skeletal trees like fields of gnarled and twisted bone. Rie followed behind Lin as she beat a path through the undergrowth. The girl tripped or fell every few steps and collected more scratches and bruises than she had ever known in the sweet comfort of her castle, but Lin would never allow a rest longer than she felt was necessary.
Eventually, after another half-week of stumbling and snagging, the bare woods opened into a vast landscape of cultivated rolling hills. Between the waving grasses and thick buds that were near to bloom along the branches of acers and azaleas, the presence of spring’s beginnings could finally be felt. Another presence, however, could be seen trailing after them in the distance. No longer concealed by the woods, they travelled in full sight of the Solace Demon with a lead of less than an hour. The overhead sun and moon brought forth spurts in its pursuit, during which it gained on them at a frightening pace and the girls were pushed to their very limits as they fled. Such a pace was impossible to maintain, but the same was seemingly true for their pursuer- every burst in speed was followed by a rapid crash, and the demon halted long enough for the girls to regain their lead and sleep for as long as their enemy would allow. Relaxing enough to do so while sheltering under a roof of thorny vines only became possible when their bodies had truly been driven to exhaustion.
Things wouldn’t last. The demon couldn’t be outrun. Travel and rest left little time to hunt for food or collect water aside from whatever they stumbled across during their marches. Beyond the physical toll of the journey, Lin’s spirit had become as worn and battered as the soles of her shoes. With Rie’s attentive care and the regenerative abilities of Sio’s blood, her wounds had healed enough to no longer hinder her movements, but travelling for so long without a single day of rest had left her near to the point of breaking.
“We’ll stop here,” she announced suddenly as they surmounted the flat crown of a grassy foothill. The ground steadily fell away before them into a wide-reaching valley with dry meadows of silvergrass and streams that trickled over sandy beds. Lush mountains rose against the clear sky all around them.
Rie stopped to listen. “Why? It hasn’t fallen behind.”
“Because we’ve already arrived. Our destination is at the base of this hill.”
It was a strange feeling looking out over that decrepit settlement. Once the village of Izuka, this was now Rosethorn. The enormous vines that had once torn through homes like writhing serpents still remained after all her years away. This was her home, but it wasn’t familiar to her in the slightest.
“If we’re that close, then why should we wait at all? Let’s go!” Rie urged. It was the first time in two weeks that she had seemed excited. “Let the city guard take care of this demon, my legs can take no more. I’ve spent the last few days thinking about what I’d like to have for my first proper meal since leaving the castle. Araji’s well known for its octopus and oysters, and I even once had some of their special okonomiyaki, a sort of savoury pancake that was made with oysters. It was awful, the flavours of seafood and flour blended like a doughy… fishy snotball.”
“Thank you for the mental image. Isn’t that just how oysters are supposed to be?”
“No no, not when they’re cooked like this. Who wants to eat a slimy pancake?”
“I don’t know, Rie. Whoever does though, can stay well away from me.” When she had finished surveying the streets of the abandoned village as best she could, Lin glanced back to monitor the demon’s progress toward them. It was gaining fast in the light of the late morning, but they still had a comfortable distance in their lead. While being so fixated on chasing them, she couldn’t understand why it hadn’t unleashed the power it had shown before.
“Still, despite how revolting they are, those pancakes are exactly what I want. Even with how terrible they tasted, they were part of my Haimichi. If I’m going to have something there, that’s what I want it to be.”
Lin raised her head to the sky above. It was so free, so limitless, the brilliant azure that stretched from one horizon to another. The shining sun was nearly at its peak.
“This isn’t the city you were dreaming of,” she said softly. “We aren’t going to Haimichi.”
Rie’s expression seemed pained, but she wore a slight smile, “I thought so. I just never wanted to entertain my own thoughts. It doesn’t take two weeks to reach it, especially not at the pace we held. We couldn’t flee to the city because you didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, right? So, Lin, what’s waiting at the bottom of this hill? How do you intend on bringing this horror to heel?”
“I’ve no idea,” Lin replied.
“You have… no idea? About where you’ve brought us, or about the demon?”
“About either of them. That's why we're waiting here.”
“Waiting for what, Lin? For that thing to finally catch us? If you really have no plan, then why did you ever take me from that tower? I considered those people my family, and I should have died there with them.”
Lin gently lifted Rie's chin with her thumb and forefinger. “Yet you didn't. You survived. The worst times are nearly over, and I'll make sure you can smile again.”
Rie lifted her arms in a weak shrug, “How? That monster destroyed an entire castle. What could anyone ever do against something like that?”
“Fight. That’s what I’ll do. That’s all I can do.”
“We can’t defeat something like that!”
“It’s far too powerful, that much is true. Do you think we should give up just because we’re outmatched?” Lin asked. “No. We do what we can to even the odds.”
A humourless laugh escaped Rie’s throat. She wore a smile that was closer to a grimace. “Then tell me, Lin. Please. Tell me about this extraordinary plan that’s hiding within that head of yours, because right now, I’m terrified.”
“There was never anything that promising. I’ve hopes in place of plans. When I asked you to stop here, it was so that I could get a good look at Rosethorn rather than wandering in blindly. Now that I have, I know who’s waiting there for us. We might yet make it out of this alive.”
“Company in Rosethorn? You mean the ruins of Izuka? That place has been abandoned since before I could walk.”
“Not anymore,” Lin murmured. Taking Rie’s hand, she led the way through meadows of silvergrass down the foothill’s gradual slope. Plots of land that had once been crop fields were now overgrown with budding shrubbery, those closest to the village had been split apart by deep rifts from which the great vines had emerged. As the girls passed one of the many shallow streams that trailed from the nearest mountain, a rugged monolith bearded with black pine, Lin stooped to her knees and quickly began to rinse her face and hair. The dark strands had become laced with grease and grime in the long weeks since her last bath.
Rie crouched beside her, “Are you really washing yourself now?”
“I am. Today, for the first time in twelve years, I’m finally coming home. I’d like to be in a better state than this when I do.”
The cold, crystalline water against her weathered skin brought back a feeling of mindfulness that she hadn't felt in quite some time. There was something else that it brought with it as she ran her fingers through her hair time and time again, a feeling of joy, even exhilaration at the thought of the coming days. A true hope lay within the village ruins, a hope that meant before the sun sank from the sky, she might finally be free.
“Lin? I can hear it again. Shouldn't we keep moving?”
“We had quite the head start when I looked. It shouldn't be that close.”
“When I die, I would rather it not be because you chose to wash your face. We should get this over with now while we still can.”
“Of course, Daimyō Araji. By your leave,” Lin replied, offering a half-hearted bow.
Rie frowned. “Did you… just bow?”
“I did indeed,” Lin sniffed.
“I can’t see though. What was the point?”
“There are more important things at stake here than asking such trifling questions, Rie. Let’s get moving.”
It was with great care that the girls entered Rosethorn. What remained of the village’s dirt paths were stained by black slicks of some dubious substance, while inside the ruined homes, long-rotted remains lay beside peculiar wooden barrels. Where are you hiding? Lin glanced around but found nothing. Whispers taunted her in the wind.
Dried-out ditches ran alongside every broken building they passed to reach the centre, a small hilltop plaza hiding behind a thicket of trees. From there, the village twisted along a parched riverbed and gradually grew more sparse until ending beneath one of the valley’s larger foothills. Along a short dirt trail from the centre plaza, Lin finally found the woman she had been looking for.
She stood in front of a house more remarkable than most. It had a thatched roof atop its pasty clay walls. The veranda that flared from its foundation was coated in dust and splinters. That which set the building apart from many others, however, was its near perfect condition. Beneath the layers of dirt that had once rained from the sky, there was no sign of damage. The wake of chaos had never reached that place.
“It was here,” Lin breathed, and as she did, she saw through her own eyes the weight of devastation laid upon the people of Izuka. She watched the planet’s surface crack and erupt into countless barbed snakes that sought out living targets to fuel the coming calamity. “This is where you began the Earthen Cataclysm, bridging our world with Zetian.”
“That it is.” Slouched upon the stairs leading down from the veranda, Sio pointed a lazy finger in the direction from where they had come. “Ah, this is nostalgic. There’s a beautiful view of the southern village from upon this hilltop. Look now, Lin Ko, take in the sights while they’re still standing. The show shall soon begin.”
Lin turned her head. Looking upon the village roads from that hill, Sio’s intentions became instantly clear.
“The black smears in the streets… you’d burn all of this away?” she asked.
Sio shot her a tilted glance, “I would, for you and your happiness. I’ve destroyed it once already. What once was Izuka is now Rosethorn. These ruins and their fate belong to me.”
“It’s mine,” Lin suddenly interrupted.
“Excuse me?”
“I don't blame you for what happened here. These people- my people- died so that everybody else on this planet could live. I'm not spiteful enough to ignore that,” she said calmly. “But this village- Rosethorn… it’s mine, even in ruins. This is everything that remains of my past.”
Sio’s lips rolled like a wave as she considered Lin’s words. A distant shadow drew her attention to the grassy foothills from where they had come, and finally she spoke. “If I grant your wish, would you be willing to lose it all over again?”
Lin watched the Solace Demon’s approach with stoic eyes and a steady breath. It crawled upon malformed legs with a renewed eagerness.
“Between you and your creation, it doesn’t look like this place will stay standing for much longer. My feelings aren’t going to change that fact. I just want to hear you say the words.”
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“Is that all it’ll take to satisfy you? My words?” Sio asked, rising gracefully from the wooden steps. “Very well. Rosethorn is yours, for whatever it’s worth. I suppose you'll need the approval of your companion, though.”
A small laugh escaped Lin. “You really do know everyone, don’t you?”
“Only those I do. If you don’t mind me asking, Lady Rie, what are you doing here?”
Stepping out cautiously from behind Lin, Rie gave her answer, “Araji Castle fell. Daimyō Tome is… he’s resting, along with everyone else. As for why we are here specifically, I am not entirely sure of the answer myself. I presume Lin has hatched some plan involving you, my lady.”
“You’re wrong,” Lin cut in. “I never had any plans. I didn’t know what to do, and so I ran. To tell the truth, Sio, I never wanted to see you again.”
Something shifted behind the emerald shine of those steadfast eyes.
“Such harsh words, and I can only wonder, have I hurt you so badly?” Sio asked. “I’m here only because I felt you calling for help.”
“You’re here because you can’t leave well enough alone. How did you even catch up with me? I thought you’d headed east.”
“I did, and now I’ve returned. There are faster methods of travel than horses.” She tilted her head and probed her skull with a finger. “Do you remember when I told you about the signals broadcast by the creatures of Xia’an? Thanks to my blood, yours is almost identical to mine. That’s how I found you.”
“I’m grateful for the help, but after that-”
“There's an order to things,” Sio interrupted. “Let’s leave that discussion for when there isn’t a demon chasing after you.” She turned, climbing the few steps that led to the door of the abandoned home.
“So what’s your plan? That thing is getting closer,” Lin called, casting a wary glance in the monster’s direction. Even in the short time they had spent talking, it had already trampled over several of Rosethorn’s outermost homes on its rabid path of destruction, crawling ever closer with its unnatural translucent legs.
“That’s the plan. Our friend over there is so fixated on catching you that it hasn’t so much as noticed the flames dancing around its feet.”
Lin tilted her head, “But there aren’t any flames. You haven't set it alight yet.”
“Proverbial flames, Lin Ko- its a figure of speech. They'll become a reality soon enough,” Sio promised. “As for right now… allow me to introduce you to my shinobi, our firestarter.” She swung the door open wide, and out tumbled a scruffy-looking boy wrapped in a shawl over his navy blue robes. A quick hand tidied his short, tufty hair as he collected himself. He wore a confident smirk.
“It’s been a while. You look like you’ve been dragged from here to the filthy reaches of Mogu Forest and then back again,” Kana gloated. A shadowy hand immediately collided with his face and wiped it of his slimy expression. He reeled back.
“You bastard. What is this? You tried to kill me for protecting Sio, and now- what, you’re friends?” Lin demanded. The boy wiped his broken lip and muttered something, but not before Sio had stepped in front of him.
“That's enough. I didn't realise you already knew each other so well.”
“He tried to kill me. He tried to kill you!”
“He has a habit of doing that. Fortunately, that's the very thing that has brought us together. Speaking of which…” Examining him with a downward glance, Sio continued, “Here's an opportunity for you to fulfil your sixth order.”
Kana’s face hardened and he straightened up immediately. Sio smiled thinly. Reaching with a slender hand into the cleavage of her gold-trimmed jade dress, she produced a thin metal device shaped as a cylinder. A downward flick of her thumb caught a mechanism upon its side and a small tongue of orange flame rushed out from a short nozzle at its top end.
“This fire is a bygone gift. Ignite the oil we prepared, let it spread throughout these profaned ruins. This place and its past will all be burned away.”
Kana took the burner and cast a doubtful glance over the village. “And the demon? It’s almost here.”
“Then you’d better hurry,” she replied.
“If you plan on sending me to my death-”
“Have you forgotten where we are, who it was that wrought this destruction?” Sio asked with a weary sigh. She pointed a finger to the ravaged, dust-scattered streets through which the enemy encroached. A sudden shift shook the entire valley. The Solace Demon staggered.
Roused like great serpents from a deep, deathly slumber, the vines that lay strewn throughout the village seized and violently lashed from side to side, sweeping with immeasurable strength through homes as though they were built of leaves. The low, deafening rumble saturating the air as walls fell and buildings crumbled drowned out the frantic questions asked by Rie Araji. Kana seemed to curse. Lin’s mind was somewhere else, and she didn’t say a word.
Only after the empty shell of Izuka was levelled near completely did Sio cease her assault, refocusing her efforts on the demon that had invaded her home. Snagging at the translucent skin of its ankles and ensnaring its grotesque limbs, the thorny vines brought the intruder to an unwilling halt. It struggled amongst the fields of wreckage, of splintered wood, shattered ceramic, crushed clay and torn fabric, all permeated with an oily sheen, straining to wrest itself free of Sio’s spiny grip.
Shooting Kana a sideward glance, she spoke unwaveringly, “I gave you an order, not a proposal. Go, and do as you are told.” He clutched her burner tightly.
“I’ll do it,” said Lin, reaching for the device.
Kana pulled his hand away. “What are you doing?”
“This is my home, my land. If it burns, it will burn by my hand.”
There was a sympathetic look in his eyes as he started down the hillside. “Look with your eyes, Lin. There’s nothing left here but rubble.”
She barked after him, “Stop,” and he did, if only for a moment. It was more than enough for her to catch up with him.
“Sio and I had an agreement that I very much intend to uphold, as is my duty. I will carry it out,” he asserted.
“Is that it then? You’re Sio’s little manservant now? Or have you been her lackey all along?”
“Not even close,” he answered defensively, “We are both bound by a contract. I still want nothing more than to take her head, but this isn’t as simple as when we met in Yizhou. I know things now that I didn’t then- that Sengoku Naga is alive, and that Sio’s master shares a similar goal with my own.”
“Really? And who is this ‘master’ of yours?” asked Lin.
Kana glanced doubtfully at Sio for a moment before answering. “Sūdoku Naga. The younger brother of Sengoku, and uncle to the Emperor.”
“I’ve only ever heard the name Sūdoku mentioned once since I left my home in Solace, by a man named Shinohara, though that was after he’d tried to choke me to death. Don’t tell me that you’re on his side.”
“I spoke with Seki Shinohara on one occasion, and that single exchange was enough to realise that he was barely holding his mind together. I visited Lord Naga toward the end of autumn and asked him what he knew of Shinohara. The two had never met.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Shinohara didn’t just know that Sūdoku was alive, he knew that he was hiding somewhere in the Clouded Sea.”
Kana’s face darkened. “Very few are privy to that information, keep it carefully. Shinohara never left Hema. He might have been bound by his loyalty to the Naga family, or he might’ve just been too afraid to leave the safety of the mountain, but the end result was the same. For years he’d lived like a recluse, ever watching the forest’s edge, driven by an obsessive sense of foreboding. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of unopened letters that he’d made with paper from bamboo and written with charcoal, all of them addressed to Sūdoku Naga, all of them reporting the spreading reaches of Mogu Forest.”
“So he was crazy. What about you? You were ready to kill- no, you actually tried to kill me for supporting Sio back on Hema. What changed?”
“When you and I eavesdropped on the Summit of Sanzan, I saw a woman that would cast away the last of Sakao’s peace and force our nations into another continental war justified by a false pretext of peace. She and I spoke at the summit shrine after our fight, and that was when she laid out her intentions. I’ll admit a part of me wanted to believe her. It wasn’t enough.
Lord Naga tasked his retainers with finding the remaining hosts of Heaven and convincing them to join him in the City of Seventh. If we found any host that posed a threat however, we were to report back and organise a kill team. Sio stopped me before I had the chance. When I couldn’t carry out my duty, what was left but to take responsibility for my failure?”
“You say that, but you’re still here,” Lin replied. Her gaze softened. “At least a part of you was smart enough to stay alive.”
“I…” Kana’s composure shrank a little. His shoulders sank, and for once he looked the teenager that he was. “It was difficult. I wanted to be useful for my lord, to preserve his honour and my own, but I… there was no way I could do that. I couldn’t get you out of my head after we fought on the mountainside. After all that talk about living with my life on the line, I just couldn’t give it up. Dying like that would have been pointless, and I was too afraid of losing what little part of this world I had to myself.”
“You… really are pathetic, you know that?” she said with a slight smile, “But I’ve never been much better.”
The young shinobi’s expression couldn’t hide that hint of a smirk. “Sio made me an offer. She told me what she intended to do and why she wished to do it. In return for my help, she said that she would have an audience with my lord in the Clouded Sea. I don’t fully understand Sio’s plans, but her fight is for freedom.”
Lin shook her head, “Freedom from what?”
“Heaven, the very thing that made her. A claim that was backed up by Sengoku Naga himself. She doesn’t wish for power or riches, only an end to this fighting, and that can only be achieved through the destruction of that which drives it. Though right now, we’re here to help you,” he smiled reassuringly, “So let me help you.”
Seizing her chance, Lin lunged forward and tightly gripped his wrist. He tried to shake her off but couldn’t muster the strength; her magic had already started to take effect.
“Who are you, Kana? What is it that makes you who you are? You have your role as a shinobi, but isn’t there anything else? Across the entirety of these twin planets, I have almost nothing that I can call my own. My home and family, everything about my past was stolen away by Sio. All that I do, all that I've aimed for, everything leads back to the woman I called my mother. After taking all of that away, what's left of me?”
Sio walked briskly ahead of them. “Our demonic friend over there isn't going to stay put much longer. The fire needs to be lit now, not later.”
Splaying her fingers out toward the village remains, Lin commanded the very earth to open as long roots coiled themselves around the demon’s limbs.
“It will be lit, but not by you or your servant. I refuse to live in your shadow,” she panted, prising the burner from Kana’s hand. “What is mine is mine to control. I’ll show you that I’m right.”
The shinobi was helpless to resist as Lin shoved him aside. She stumbled into an unsteady sprint down the grass-knotted hillside with as much speed as her weary legs would allow. Fire sputtered from the device at the flick of its mechanism. Some words of scorn were uttered from Sio’s lips as she hurried to catch up.
Despite whatever Lin felt in the moment the burner left her palm and sailed into the mound of a broken home, an unquenchable flame had been ignited in the valley. Bright orange tongues crept hungrily across the oil-slicked wood and stone, smothering all they touched in an intense, blazing heat. What the fires didn't consume completely, they blackened with dusty soot that fluttered among billowing plumes of dark, dirty smoke. Sharp pains streaked across Lin's chest as she choked on the dizzying acrid fumes. Even after weeks of travel, reminders still remained of the attack on Araji Castle.
Behind a shimmering haze of hot air, the fires coalesced into a single deathly inferno. The barbed bindings that held the demon in place were thoroughly doused in fuel and burned ferociously, searing the creature’s mottled flesh as it squirmed like a dying maggot. Sio’s footsteps were drowned out as she strode to Lin’s side. They stood together before hundreds of thousands of thorns in flame.
Tearing her eyes from the spectacle, Lin tapped her mother’s shoulder and leant close to her ear. She spoke as a whisper, “When all of this is ash, and the ash has settled upon grass and stone, I want to return here to one day build something of my own. But that will be without you. It’s true that I called out to you through our shared connection, and I did it because that was the only way I could make you take responsibility for your mistakes.”
Sio held Lin at arm’s length. “And what mistakes do you think that I’ve made?”
“How many decisions have you made? It’s your fault that we’re here. It’s your fault that this demon was born. Every drop of blood that it spilled is a stain on your name.”
“I never meant for him to escape. Whatever happened at Araji Castle happened only because of my failure, you’re right about that much, but I didn’t create a demon for the sake of killing innocents.”
“No. You wanted to show me the face of the enemy- your enemy. What right do you think you have to involve me or anyone else in all of this?”
Sio pinched Lin’s chin and pointed her head forwards. “Look ahead, Lin Ko. Does that creature appear to you as something that can be left well enough alone? All the things that filtered through into this world, everything that crawls out of that primordial abyss, they will not tolerate anything that resides here. We are food, competition; we embody everything they desire.”
As if it had heard Sio’s words, the demon’s struggles escalated to a point of terrifying ferocity. Its body quivered under its own overwhelming strength. Biting and clawing with savage blades, there fell at its feet a rumbling rain of fiery vines, roots, and ragged shreds of the monster’s own flesh.
“Such vicious determination,” Sio remarked, “It’s tearing itself apart.”
“Can it break free?” Lin asked.
“Would you like to wait and find out?” Sio replied. She raised a hand to intervene, but Lin caught her by the wrist. A flash of emerald glinted in the corner of the woman’s eye. “What are you doing?”
Glowering flakes from the fires swept between them. Lin threw up her arms with an uncertain smile, “Waiting to find out.”
“Don’t be so stupid. You know well that it isn’t an enemy to be treated lightly. Why would you ever take the chance?”
“Because I don’t understand. It’s had so many opportunities to take my life and it simply passed them by, so why is it still after me?”
Even as she spoke, the demon continued to ravage itself, rending flesh to bone, and bone to marrow. The thinnest of the charred vines snapped like dead twigs before the strength of its surviving form, and it was through that opening that the demon slithered over a bed of blackened thorns.
Lin took a step closer to the flames. “I can’t say that I’m not afraid of it anymore, but I’m getting there.” She held her sword ready with one hand, and showed an open palm with her other. Collecting herself, she delivered her sole demand. “Look at me and answer! Who is your enemy?”
A sound reminiscent of a drawn-out groan hummed through the monster’s warped maw. Though the eyes had melted from its skull, it continued to drag itself toward her over shadowed rubble using what remained of its limbs. Its struggle brought it no further. Another groan escaped its mouth, then it finally collapsed, thrusting a single clawed finger beyond the fire. Lin didn’t hesitate to meet its touch.