She had found the deer laying dead that morning, an arrow through its neck and a glassy look in its unblinking eyes. The shot was effective enough, but the same couldn’t be said for the hunter’s tracking skills. Left out in the wilds overnight, the corpse had clearly been a grand feast for whatever scavengers wandered the woods. Holes had been gnawed through the deer’s fur and skin to get at the prizes hidden within. Flies swarmed the open wounds.
Tainted meat, ruined pelt. Such a waste. A use could still be found for the antlers and bones, but for the present time, food was her sole need.
Lin’s hunt yielded two rabbits, both dispatched quickly and cleanly. Some time after she’d turned back, however, she realised she had not been wandering alone. Branches snapped and leaves were thrown into the air as her pursuer scrambled through the undergrowth. It moved with incredible speed, circling her, but keeping a safe distance. Its legs were too many and far too fast to count. Back and forth it scattered, searching for any sign of weakness. Lin drew her sword. The monster lunged, and steel met with bone. It was then that she recognised her enemy. A fiend- a vile creature born into the world through festering remains of the dead.
Lin bore her teeth in disgust. The fiend had stolen the body of a deer- the very same she had found before- and warped it into something almost unrecognisable. Its skull had split into several pieces, and what had once been antlers was now a deadly nest of pointed bone. The deer’s legs were missing save for four bloody stumps, instead carrying itself upon disjointed ribs cobbled with mounds of muscular flesh. Pungent, swollen organs hung from the gaping cavern in its chest. Lin dared not breathe.
A well-placed kick sent the fiend reeling. A well-aimed slash parted the head from its body. Stepping back, she took a moment to catch her breath before continuing her attack. Destroying the muscular growths on the deer’s corpse would prevent it from rising again, or at least keep it down until she was long gone.
Dire thoughts plagued her as she retraced her steps over mossy tree roots and beds of wild flowers. She tried to ignore them nonetheless. Returning with the food she’d caught was her greatest importance. That is, if it doesn’t- Lin shook her head. A coincidence. It had nothing to do with me.
Sio had once said that all splinters of Xia’an gave off their own unique signal. The stronger the creature, the stronger the broadcast. Lin felt no signals in the woods like that of her brother’s. The Solace Demon had given her a feeling of fear and familiarity with its presence, and she had been able to sense it far more clearly than any other’s. If nothing like that existed in the woods or the surrounding mountains and valleys, then there was nothing to encourage the reanimation of the dead. But I don’t exactly know the conditions for creating fiends. There’s a thin line drawn somewhere between here and the Xia’an Abyss. Who knows what it takes to cross it?
Spring’s sunlight shone warm and bright when Lin broke from the woods. Narrowing her eyes, she raised a hand to block its blinding rays. Her home was less than a half hour’s walk from where she stood, yet she knew she had already taken too long. Untying the rabbits from her waist, she held them at arm’s length as she continued on. Soon enough, they were rabbits no more. Bodies twisted, bones contorted, and a jagged spine sought to bury itself within her forearm. For the second time that day, Lin put them to rest. She left their remains in a shallow grave.
The valley once home to Izuka Village was grey and barren, now devoid of any broken buildings or charred demons. The ruins of Rosethorn were gone. When she was able, Lin had pooled her energy with Kana and Rie to tear open the ground and drag every last mound of smouldering rubble deep beneath the surface. It was no small job, and had taken days of strenuous effort.
None would have ever imagined there was once a village upon those ashen fields. Weeks of rain had begun to cleanse the blackened earth, and in time, even that reminder would fade from existence.
Lin had no deer or rabbits to show for her efforts when she returned, only a pigeon she’d snatched from the air, and she’d eaten it immediately. The bird was warm and bloody and didn’t taste nearly as good as it would have been cooked, but raw meat was better than possessed meat. Still, it wasn’t enough. Hers was not the only mouth that needed to be fed.
She found the others where she had left them, on the hill at the centre of the valley. Light rain spotted Kana’s back as he laboured away under the overcast sky. There was now a small log cabin where Sio’s home had once stood, surrounded by an unfinished defensive wall. Without tools, vines and thorns had done much of the heavy lifting, leaving the structures rough and poorly assembled. As long as it provided shelter, that was all that mattered. Lin had proudly declared the little fort ‘Kōji Castle’. Humble as it was, she and Kana had built it, and it deserved a name.
The young Lady Araji was sitting a short distance away on the wooden stairs to the cabin, needle and thread in hand, repairing the holes in his blue robes and tattered shawl. In spite of her blindness, her hands were unusually deft, and they’d been especially useful when treating Lin’s wounds. The girl was easily flustered, and her face reddened whenever Lin showed her gratitude.
“I’m back,” Lin announced. “Shift’s up, Kana. You can put your clothes back on now.”
Setting down the log he had been carrying, Kana huffed exasperatedly. His face was red, his short hair flattened by the rain. Lin glanced over his bare body, lingering on the glistening muscles of his arms and torso, all pumped with exertion. She watched as his chest swelled with every breath of the invigorating damp air. When he began speaking, she quickly broke her gaze.
“It actually helps. The rain’s kept me cool while I’ve been slaving away for you.”
Lin raised her eyebrows. “Slaving away? Remember, it was you that insisted on staying with me.”
Kana gave a weary laugh, “Yeah, and I didn’t think you’d decide to build a fort in the middle of nowhere.”
“This is my land,” she smirked. “If you want to stay, you’ll have to contribute.”
“If you want me to keep contributing, I’ll need to eat. How was the hunt?”
“That’s…” Lin trailed off, searching for her next words. “There’s something I need to tell you both.”
“No luck?” he asked. Though he couldn’t hide the disappointed look on his face, he still smiled. “Don’t feel bad about it. We’ll find something eventually. The last of the dried rice should keep us going until then.”
“What I found tried to eat me,” Lin replied, nudging his shoulder in Rie’s direction. “Come on. She needs to hear this too.”
The young daimyō must have heard their approach. She had been tidying her short locks and adjusting the woollen cloak she wore over her white dress, but quickly returned to her needlework as their footsteps grew near.
“So you’ve returned,” she said curtly. Ignoring her cold front, Lin softly ruffled the girl’s hair. Rie began to protest, but her smile betrayed her words.
Lin sat herself beside Rie on the wooden stairs, while Kana took a seat on the wet grass. An expectant silence fell between them.
“I’ve eaten, but I didn’t bring any food for you,” she admitted.
“Didn’t you think to share?” Kana asked. “I don’t mind, but Rie-”
“If I had brought anything back, it would have killed her,” Lin replied. “Something is deeply wrong with me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hunt for you again.”
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Rie spoke up.
“No, it’s not that. I think the two of you are probably in more danger than I am.”
“Tell us what happened, Lin,” said Kana. “What did you find in those woods?”
“At first, just a deer. It was already dead. There might be a village or something in that direction, or maybe it was just hunted by wanderers, but it was an arrow that struck the killing blow. There were no dangers in those woods when I first reached them. That safety was stolen by a fiend.”
“A fiend?” asked Rie.
“A monster born from a corpse,” Lin explained. “They desecrate the dead and prey on the living. I’ve fought them more times than I can remember, but they always appeared in the presence of a stronger creature, following along like scavengers.”
Kana shot a glance to where the Solace Demon had fallen. “Are you saying that thing’s still alive?”
“Kiyoshi is dead. My brother, and that demon, are gone.”
“So where did this fiend come from?”
“I don’t know the answer to that myself,” Lin replied, “Although I have a pretty good idea. I just hope I’m wrong, for all our sakes.”
The warning of the stranger she’d met in Keisato had been repeating over and over in her mind since that morning. Sio’s blood is beginning to awaken within you, he had said. Do not linger. Not here, nor anywhere else. When the Solace Demon had followed her to Araji Castle, she’d assumed that the threat he’d warned her about had already arrived. Now, however, it seemed like there was more to his words than she’d thought.
“Three fiends attacked me today. There were no demons or other splinters of Xia’an nearby. The reason they were reanimated, the monster whose presence birthed them… was me.”
Neither Kana nor Rie made a sound. Both sat motionless, listening for her explanation. If only I had one better to give.
“Sio was one of the Heavens’ Hundred. She implanted me with an unformed fragment of one of those Heavens, along with her own blood. She said it made me a canvas, that it’s shaped by whatever I experience, like I’m just some…” Lin grimaced. Like I’m just a vessel. “The details don’t matter. There’s something inhuman growing within me. I think that’s what’s attracting the fiends.”
“But surely there’s something we can do. Maybe… maybe if we tracked down Sio, then she could-” Kana started to say, and then immediately paused upon seeing the look on Lin’s face.
“Sio caused this. Even if I hadn’t tried to kill her the last time we met, this was what she wanted. She has no reason to help.” Lowering her gaze, Lin traced the faint line that marked where Sio’s sword had cleaved through her wrist. That reminder would soon disappear too, she knew, but the pain she felt was still so agonisingly fresh. “If I’m right, then we have to assume that things will get worse. Remains already reanimate in my presence. If I attract any stronger enemies, we could find ourselves surrounded by unimaginable horrors. If this influence can alter dead bodies, then there’s no guarantee it won’t affect the living. It isn’t safe for either of you to be around me.”
Concerned stares lingered after she’d finished speaking. She hated that. Pushing herself upwards, she began to stand, but Rie grasped for Lin’s hand and drew her arm into a hug. With a slight sigh, Lin returned to her seat.
Kana closed his eyes, “I won’t abandon you, Lin.”
“Why not?” she asked. “I’m grateful for your help, but you’ve got no reason to stay here.”
“We’re more alike than you think. You chose to stay here and build something for yourself. I chose to stay, because here, I have no masters.”
“Your newfound freedom won’t matter much if you’re dead. I can’t let you or Rie get hurt because of me.”
“I meant it when I said it. I won’t abandon you,” Kana promised. He leaned back slightly, looking into the grey-smeared horizon. “There’s a faraway place out there, across land and sea, where we can find our peace. If I asked you, would you come with me?”
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“Where can we go so that our problems don’t exist? Isn’t that just a fantasy? There are things that can’t be left behind.”
Lifting his weary body from the grass, Kana offered her his hand. “Maybe you can’t outrun them, but you can face them. In the Clouded Sea is the City of Seventh. There are powers there beyond anything Sio could ever conjure up. That’s the one place I know we’ll be able to find help.”
Lin looked over that dirt-stained hand, now calloused from the weeks of labour she’d ordered him to endure. She reached out and took hold of his wrist, gently pulling him toward her.
“Sit with me,” she said, and so he did. “After all that’s happened, I’m somehow still here, even as the weight of everything drags me down. I thought that I was free. Free from Sio, free to finally live my own life.”
She looked around at the untidy wall and cabin. “This was all I wanted. A home. Something to call my own. Was I asking for too much? I wonder, if I survive long enough, will I ever find happiness? Does something like that exist for someone like me? To live so long, to struggle and persist so desperately…”
Rie tightened her grip around Lin’s arm. That soft warmth reminded her of better days.
“Sorry, Rie. I… The future scares me, but whatever comes, I’ll face it. I refuse to live in fear.” Shifting her attention to Kana, Lin resolved herself. “There’s no waiting for tomorrow, we leave today. The Clouded Sea is a long way from here. Maybe even too far for the young Lady.”
“Wait, Lin-” Rie began.
“But I won’t stop you from joining us. Your decision is your own,” Lin said, stroking the girl’s cheek. “Take some time to think about it. Araji Castle fell thanks to my mistakes. Daimyō Tome is gone because of me. The people of your prefecture will already be searching for their leader. If you decide to follow me, won’t you at least let them know you’re alive?”
The young Daimyō had already made up her mind. She shrugged, “If we cross paths with anyone, they’ll see I’m still breathing. I won’t be a prisoner to my sight any longer. The world seems so vast, so full of mystery, and I’ll discover it all. I know I’ll stumble and fall if I follow you, but it’s the only way I’ll learn to walk.”
Lin stood from the stairs. “This blood is a curse I’d be dead without. Neither you or Kana have the same privilege. As I said, it’s your decision, just know that fear will be a constant companion.”
“Don’t worry,” Rie said haughtily. She placed a hand on her bicep, “I’m stronger than fear.”
Lin smirked, “Then stand. Chase me if you can.”
The skies had brightened before their departure from Kōji Castle. They headed northeast, walking alongside a winding river that cut through the mountains. The path was long, and with hunger, came tiredness. Kana and Rie struggled to match Lin’s pace for much of the day’s hike, and by the evening, neither could hide their exhaustion. The sun hadn’t yet set when their journey came to a halt.
With a wide river before them and a steep wall of rugged rock at their backs, the group wearily gathered sticks and grass to build a fire. Kana pointed out that the materials were too wet to burn, to which Lin responded only with a grin. Holding out a damp twig, she allowed energy to flow into her hand, drawing moisture as droplets out of the wood that hardened into solid water.
“Crystallisation,” she said, allowing one of the droplets to fall into Kana’s hand. “Spectral reach isn’t my only magic trick.”
The shinobi raised his brows, “That’s amazing. It isn’t even cold.”
Lin nodded smugly, “So what do you think? Will it burn?”
“Dry some more, we’ll soon find out.”
The fire was burning healthily when night fell. They had warmth and some shelter from the cliff rising above them, but all were painfully aware of their lack of food. Lin stared hard at the river flowing beside them.
There must be fish in that water. I could catch one easily. Anything I hunt refuses to stay dead, but if we eat them quickly enough, it shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully. There isn’t much I can do if the meat is possessed before it’s digested. Rie and Kana are starving. They’ll need to eat sooner or later.
Casting her doubts aside, she perched upon a rock overlooking the river and readied a spectral hand to strike. It didn’t take long before the first unwitting fish found itself caught in a deadly vice of black smoke. No time was wasted on cooking; the meat was edible enough raw. She didn’t climb down from her rock until all had eaten their fill.
Lin was used to less comfort than she had that night, basking in the warmth of the crackling fire, but sleep refused to come. Insomnia was becoming a familiar experience. Like she had so many times before, she allowed herself to be consumed by her thoughts, to melt into a sea of semi-consciousness composed of countless memories and sensations. Choirs of indistinct voices droned in the distance. Lights flashed around her, each one of them a snapshot of some unknown yet sight that vanished in an instant. She could feel the presence of so many others around her, their individual energies coalescing into something greater, something whole. It was an embrace more comforting than anything she’d ever known. So right did it feel to be a part of that joined whole, that to be separated couldn’t be anything less than wrong.
“What are you making there?” a voice cut through from the material world. Lin opened her eyes and saw Kana squatting beside her. Sweat spotted her forehead. “Please don’t say it’s supposed to be me.”
Lin glanced down at the object in her hands. It was a strange figure formed of drying mud and twined grass. While it looked just like a glob of dirt taken from the river bank, the strands of grass had been carefully wound and tied to hold the whole thing together. She’d clearly created a fetish in the image of something, but what?
“It’s definitely you,” she replied.
“I’m hurt, but I respect the effort,” he grinned, then wafted a cloud of smoke from the fire into Lin’s face. He laughed as she rubbed her freshly stinging eyes.
“I deserved that,” Lin groaned.
“Now we’re even again.” Easing the fetish from her hands, Kana laid it carefully on the ground. “We should sleep, Lin. We’ve a long way ahead of us.”
“It’s what my body wants but refuses to have. Nightmares, bad memories and intrusive thoughts fight for my attention. I don’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep, I’m too tired for that. Still, I’ll try,” she said wearily. “I’ll try.”
She knew from the moment she closed her eyes again things wouldn’t be so simple. Laying on that hard ground, she trembled uncontrollably like a newborn despite the fire’s warmth. Involuntary jolts of nervous energy seized her limbs as if trying to escape or defend from some unseen attacker. This was all that was left for her now, to curl up in fear until exhaustion overtook her body.
Something brushed against her shoulder. Lin stiffened.
“If you aren’t comfortable with this, just tell me, and I’ll move,” Kana said quietly. It was his hand on her shoulder, she realised. He lay nearby. Taking his arm by the wrist, she pulled him closer until his chest pressed against her back. He held her tightly. Lin’s eyes drifted shut, and this time, they didn’t open until morning.
Raw eel for breakfast. Raw catfish for lunch. By the next afternoon, the riverside path became too narrow for them to continue, so Lin and her companions abandoned their only food source and followed a gentle rock slope leading up onto the mountainside.
An alarming sight greeted them past the northern ridge. Two armies clashed before them, one sweeping in from a town to the east, and the other steadily approaching from the marshes to the north.
“Judging by their banners, that must be a detachment of General Taira’s forces,” Kana noted, pointing at the soldiers in the marsh. “But who are they fighting?”
Rie took a step back, her face suddenly pale. “Him? He’s one of the three priest-generals, along with Fuyuri Mokuzai and Yoshinori Tenryū. The Emperor entrusted him with eliminating any resistance throughout Sen. Nakatsuna Taira excels at slaughtering his own people.”
Lin softly placed both hands atop the girl’s head. “So it’s one of the Heavenly Generals against a town of revolutionaries.”
From above, it was easy to see not only the difference in numbers, but also in discipline. The revolutionaries easily outnumbered Taira’s army, charging with a large mixed force of footmen and cavalry. Taira’s men were still approaching slowly from the marshes, knee deep in mud and water. It was a poor position. Bogged down by the sodden mud, there was no way of manoeuvring to avoid the coming attack, and they were left open to the fire of archers and gunmen. Still, they did not flee.
Not yet in range of the enemy’s rifles or bows, Taira’s forces held their formations and marched unwaveringly. They pushed on as the revolutionaries hurried to meet them.
The rebel cavalry were the first to enter the marsh. Their immediate halt in speed as they struggled to traverse the wetland should have been a sign to the rest of their forces to rethink their attack, but they continued regardless. Soon the footmen had joined their comrades in the mud, and their fates were settled.
Lin heard the order even from the mountainside ridge. Taira’s riflemen raised their weapons. A coordinated line of gunfire shredded through the rebel vanguard. Horses and soldiers fell alike amid a hail of bullets. Finally realising the futility of their situation, many began to panic and retreat, slogging through a bloody morass filled with their dead. Another order came, this time signalling a volley of arrows. More and more of the revolutionaries fell, cut down with their backs turned to the enemy.
The rebels to the rear began to withdraw into their town, but found themselves flanked by a new force from the east. This small formation was different in both their attire and tactics, but engaged the weakened rebels nonetheless.
“Who are they?” Lin asked.
Kana dropped to one knee as he tried to get a better look. “Militant consecrators, I think. The Righteous. They aren’t officially a part of Sen’s armies, but they follow and support them.”
The battle’s outcome had been decided the moment the rebels had decided to charge into the marshland. What followed was a one-sided massacre. Lin averted her gaze.
“We should keep going,” she said, but there was no easy way forward. A marshy battlefield lay to the northeast, and a great swamp lay to the west. “Avoiding the dead is our main concern. If we head into that swamp, we should be able to circle around Taira’s army without a huge detour.”
“Through that?” Kana laughed weakly. “We could always loop back around the mountain and head east.”
“And waste days of travel? I’d rather not eat raw meat any longer than I have to. The way ahead is right there. Let’s go.”
Lin regretted her decision before they had even reached the base of the mountain. The swamp was completely flooded. Sio had taught her how to walk on water in the Solace Valley, but she had only ever grasped the basics, and Rie needed a guide. They waded through the waist-high soup, navigating between spindly trees and walls of tall grass. A thick layer of greenish slime smothered Lin’s black trousers and furred coat, threatening to clog the rifle she wore across her back. She held her sword above the surface with one hand and led the young Daimyō with the other. Mud swallowed their feet to the ankles with every step, threatening to drag them into the stagnant deep. Occasional mounds of earth were the only spots of dry land the swamp had to offer. None were ideal for making camp, but given the lack of options, they had little choice.
Animals and insects croaked and buzzed and hissed and slithered above and below the water as loudly during the night as they did during the day. To Lin’s surprise, however, she hadn’t received a single bite from the mosquitos or leeches, and even the large reptiles lurking in the waters refused to come any closer.
“Are we being avoided?” she asked bemusedly.
“It’s my secret repellent, remember?” Kana replied. “I can create illusions of the things these creatures don’t like.”
“Illusions… was that what you used when we last fought? That massive spectral hand?”
“It was. They’re not usually very convincing, but it’s a useful trick for throwing off your opponent in a fight.”
Lin thought back to that day on the mountainside. “I thought it looked quite realistic.”
“It doesn’t take much to fool you,” Kana laughed, and Lin’s wooden scabbard thudded against his head.
Night passed. Even in Kana’s company, sleep refused to come. Foreign shapes hid within the recesses of her mind. They shifted in the murk, their stares haunting her whenever she closed her eyes.
“You look tired.”
Lin blinked, suddenly back in the present.
Kana waded closer. “What’s wrong, Lin?”
“I’m just tired, like you said. Every day blends into nightmares and daydreams.”
“Have you-” he started to say, hesitating for a moment. “This is just me considering possibilities, but have you taken your medicine recently? Sio said-”
“Medicine,” Lin echoed. “Medicine. Her blood isn’t a cure for my problem, it’s the cause of it. Ingesting it allows her to keep her hold on my thoughts, on my memories. She won’t have them. They belong to me.”
“Sio said your life depends on it.”
Standing in one place had left Lin’s ankles submerged in the mud. Grimacing, she yanked herself free and took Rie’s hand. “Sio would say anything to get her way. She’s a liar, a manipulator, and everyone on this continent is a piece on her playing board. Resistance is useless, but… I can try,” she said, then pushed on through the water. The trees and foliage were thinning out; dawn’s light illuminated the way ahead.
Kana rushed to catch up. “What she did to you was- well, it was horrific. I’d never defend her actions, but-”
“But?” she asked without turning.
“In her own twisted way, she does seem to care about you. I don’t think she was lying about your safety.”
Lin looked back at him. Even without his earnest expression, his tone was enough to know that he meant well, and that he honestly believed what he was saying. She reached out and brushed away a spider that had been crawling in his hair. “I wish that was true.”
“I think you should take some of her blood. Please. I can see that you’re struggling.”
At her side, Rie almost spoke up, but stopped herself. Wordlessly, Lin continued walking. The swamp’s tree line was mere steps away.
“Lin!” Kana called.
“For you and Rie,” she said tenderly. “I’ll do it for the both of you, but first, I want to remember. The memories keep buzzing like a swarm of a thousand bees, pushing me, taunting me. I can almost picture it in my mind, that thing hiding behind the storm. It was… stranger than imagination. It was…”
Dead trees like thin wooden stakes gave way to an open marsh. Grasses and reeds grew sparsely here. The early morning’s sun reflected off the clear water’s surface. Dragonflies danced in the slight mist that hovered above.
Raising her gaze to Zetian’s shining surface, Lin remembered exactly what she had been searching for during all those sleepless nights. She had witnessed that same sight at autumn’s end, lurking far beyond the storm’s eye. She knew its being, and she knew so much more. The flow of information permeating her thoughts was as elegant as it was overwhelming. After months of separation, her connection to the transcendent network was finally mended. Nothing could be more right.
“I remember you,” she whispered, and then she began to laugh. Tears rolled over her cheeks. High above the sky, across the emptiness of space, the Tenth Heaven stared back.