Moments passed as an eternity. Plucked from the cold, waterlogged mud of the marshes, Lin floated in an interlinked expanse of matter and nullity, a lattice of life’s incarnations and its still unseen infinite potential. Such ideas and abstract concepts filled the seemingly empty space of her skull, all things that would have confused her even at her best, yet she now understood completely.
This was a living network that spanned the reaches of Xia’an and the material world alike. In her vision was a being that recognised her. Many worshipped the behemoth as Tenth of the Heavens, but the emotions swirling beneath that glimmering carapace promised it would tolerate no such sentiment.
“Are you satisfied?” asked a nearby voice. “Your decisions and desires have brought you here, after all. Can you bear the responsibility of what comes next?”
Lin jolted back into reality. Breathing sharply, she searched her surroundings. Her stomach dropped upon setting eyes on the voice’s owner. Those emerald eyes and hair, that jade dress, the teal paint upon her lips, all could only belong to one person. “Sio.”
Algae-ridden water lapped at the woman’s waist. “This is her image, but I am not Sio Ko. We’ve met before, you and I.”
Some small sense of relief washed over Lin, but there was something that subsisted beneath. Disappointment. “Where?” she asked. “Who are you?”
“I have no name of my own. Not yet. We spoke in the Daimyō’s bath in Keisato. I took the form of Shōren.”
“I remember.”
The stranger nodded. “I know. Your thoughts are entwined with my own.”
“I can’t feel yours. Who are you?” Lin repeated. Her skin was uncomfortably cold.
“You are hearing them now,” the stranger replied. “The answer to your question is ever changing. To you, I am something close to a parasite. A fine line divides us, but in the months that have passed since we were joined, that line has faded.”
“So what, are you imitating me, too? You are a parasite. You have no right to my body. Knowing my blood isn’t entirely mine… it’s disgusting.”
“Imitation is a process through which we can mature. Shōren was the first. He brought me into this world. Sio carried me for a time, and then I came to you. I’ve been shaped by humans and Heavens alike, but none as greatly as you.”
“Should I be flattered? I never had a choice in any of this. Shōren and Sio took that away from me. Why are you even disguised as her?”
“I thought this form might comfort you.”
Lin laughed. Then, she laughed again. “Comfort. That’s a strange way to put it. She’s the person I hate the most.”
“You hate her. She’s wronged you and you yearn for revenge. That’s all true, but there’s another side to the story. You miss her. You’re afraid to be without her.”
“Don’t try to tell me how I feel. You’re just a parasite. You’re too weak to live for yourself.”
“Is the way you’ve lived so different?”
Lin’s face hardened. “What?”
“Responsibility doesn’t come easily to you, does it? For all your mistrust, you laid your expectations on her time and time again. You wished she would always be there to carry your burdens. You hoped she would never leave you, because in her absence, what remains of Lin Ko?”
“Shut up,” Lin demanded, wading toward the imposter. The thick mud slowed her steps.
“What of Tokugawa? With Sio gone, you wanted him to take care of you. Like a needy child, you wanted him to dote on you. Tokugawa Naga, Emperor of Sen. When his responsibilities called him away from you, you were quick to criticise him.”
Lin faltered. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is that so? We’re speaking in the space of your mind, Lin. These are your thoughts. Your judgments. I am simply exposing them.”
The parasite’s words halted her. It spoke the truth, and Lin knew it. “With everything that’s happened, can you blame me?” she asked.
The image of Sio shrugged nonchalantly. A perfect imitation. “It isn’t my place to judge you. Rather than laying the blame on everyone and everything around you, perhaps you should try carrying the responsibility yourself. Take action instead of making accusations. If you keep believing this is someone else’s fault, whether you’re right or wrong, you’ll never move past it.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“You know the answer. You said it yourself. Whatever comes, you face it. Don’t hide, and don’t blame. Keep moving. Keep growing.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Look around. You’re leading yourself to your grave. I don’t want you to die. Unlike you, I can’t live alone. Not yet. Your dying would be… less than convenient for me.”
“A parasite to the end,” Lin said. She gave a slight smile. “I won’t die easily. I’ll fight for what’s mine, whatever comes.”
With an imitation of Sio’s hand, it pointed to the luminous body in the sky. “You sought out the Hateful One. The Ideas of Heaven will be your only prize. The safety of your companions depends entirely on you,” it murmured, gesturing at Kana and Rie. Both were still, as if frozen in time. “That is, if you don’t fall first.”
Lin could hardly hear the words being spoken. She was being drawn into the behemoth’s gaze once more. Clutching a planet in those mineral-cobbled appendages, it was a hulking horror of blood and rock and metal. Across its body were countless gleaming scales, each the size of a mountain, with glistening fibres of sinew and muscle bulging beneath.
Zetian wore a meridian of malice. The Tenth Heaven.
Its eye- that loathsome, weeping mass- suddenly twitched. Lin felt its glare. It was like a physical, crushing weight.
“Labelling him as one of the Heavens is a sure way to draw his ire,” the parasite warned. “You’ve come this far, so make the most of this time before you find yourself hunted. What do you feel?”
Hate. This being embodied the feeling more than any other. Hatred had brought it into existence and had given it form. It fed upon the feeling, sustaining itself on a diet of undying, vindictive rage.
“It wants death,” Lin realised. “The death of the Heavens.”
“Hatred. Such a dark desire. Lose yourself to that feeling and death is all you’ll find. Stop chasing the shadows, Lin. We’ll meet again soon.”
“Wait,” said Lin, but the parasite paid her no attention. Sio’s image slowly dissolved amid the murky water.
“Be ready. You know what comes next.”
Time seemed to resume at once, and a rush of nausea turned Lin’s stomach. She might have staggered, but the ground was an inescapable quagmire beneath the water’s surface. As her senses returned, she realised Kana was shouting something.
“Talk to me. Lin? Lin! What’s wrong? Tell me what’s going on!” he yelled. Rie was saying something much the same.
Lin stared at them blankly. She saw them in their sodden clothes with their sweat-dampened faces, eyes wide, brows furrowed, one jaw open, one firmly shut. I’ll find a way out of this. We’ll keep pushing on through whatever stands in our way. Something wet trickled over Lin’s cheek, leaving a trail as cold as freshly melted ice. Her hand came away stained with a black smear. Her heartbeat quickened, and she could feel the colour draining from her face. And the faster we move, the better.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Looking ahead, there was a narrow route through the bed of reeds that led to higher ground. Land was exactly what they needed. Choosing to fight in water was choosing to die in it, and every passing moment brought them closer to their sodden graves.
“I need you to close your eyes,” she told Kana. He began to say something, but she immediately cut him off. “Close them! If you see what’s coming for me, they’ll try to kill you too. You can ask whatever questions you want after we’re done here, but for now, I need you both to be quiet. We’re getting out of this marsh. I need you to keep your eyes and mouths shut. I’ll lead the way.”
Her companions didn’t try to hide their confusion, but they obeyed, and that was all Lin needed. There was no time for anything else.
The ushering rains had come. Though gentle at first, they soon engulfed the wetlands in a torrent of darkness. The sky above was as black as the rising waters. Obscured shapes shifted and bulged amidst the murk.
Lin fished a small brown ball from a pouch around her waist. It was a creation of Kana’s, a dried mixture of blood and wisteria. Sio’s blood. The thought of indulging that monster frustrated her, but she refused to let her stubborn pride endanger anyone else. The pill tasted foul, like metal mixed with perfume. It was too dry to swallow without chewing, and by the time it slid down her throat, her mouth was hot and irritated.
Not wasting another moment, she wrenched herself free from the mud and urged the others onward. Kana and Rie trudged blindly through the gloom, oblivious to the horrors awakening around them. However quickly they moved, it could never be enough. They were already here.
There was nothing to signal their approach. They broke the surface silently, without so much as a ripple, moving as if they were a part of the water itself. Months had passed since Lin had last seen their ornate forms. A web of veiny ridges lined their skeletal, sanguineous limbs. In place of hands were hardened bone structures that served as tools for crushing and cleaving their prey. Lin found herself engrossed in their bestial yet intricate beauty. Each structure was so perfectly designed for slaughter. The thought seemed savage and cruel, but describing them with such words somehow felt wrong.
One after another, the narrow pupils set into the inflamed, purplish masses across their bodies drifted lazily toward Lin. As they had before, beneath that storm’s restless eye, grating voices were joined in a dissonant chant.
“-Witness. -Recognition. -Familiarity. -Fear. -Apprehension. -Liberation… pleasure?”
Kana took Rie into his arms. Thumbing a bullet into its breech, Lin readied her rifle.
“Walk in that direction,” she said quietly, guiding Kana by the shoulder. “Keep going until you reach dry land. I won’t let them harm either of you.”
“-Rin Yanami. -This one remembers. -A Host? -Something lesser. -It matures. -Something more. -A threat. -Erasure.”
“I’m not waiting for you to make your move,” Lin said, and a loud crack cut through the murmurs. Her bullet punched a bloody hole through one of the things’ wretched eyes. Other than a slight stagger, the monster seemed to not have even noticed the damage to its shoulder, but then it did something inexplicable. Using a scythe-like blade, it began to hack away at the wound, only stopping when its arm had been completely severed. Lin watched carefully as she reloaded her rifle. Why would it…?
Whatever the answer, it would have to wait. The Ideas of Heaven crept ever closer. Lin fired another shot. The bullet smashed through one of their bony protrusions and buried itself in the body of another. Reactionless, they continued their quickening approach. Lin fired again.
A faceful of grass told Kana he’d reached the bed of reeds. With one arm around the young Lady Araji, he reached out to feel for an opening. Lin was following close behind, but so were their pursuers. The Ideas surged through the water, now too fast to be outrun. She slung the rifle over her shoulder and shot another glance back at her companions. The sight only hardened her resolve. Concentrating energy across her palms, Lin laid her hands upon the water’s surface. It almost froze at the touch, allowing her to hoist herself up. Standing atop the marsh, she ran back into the open to meet her enemies.
You were right, she thought to herself, wondering if the parasite was still lurking somewhere, listening in. I clung to Sio and Toku like a spoiled child. I wanted them to dote on me. Maybe I thought… maybe I just wanted… no. She buried those thoughts. It was wrong to depend on them, to expect someone else to take care of my problems. What is mine is my responsibility. These people here with me, Kana and Rie, they are mine to protect. It doesn’t matter what stands in my way. Sio might be out of my reach for now, but something as small as this…
Slipping past the unnaturally fast swing of a malformed club, Lin grasped one of the creature’s eyes, digging her fingers into that revolting fleshy mass. “You’re just a waste of time!” Writhing, thorny tendrils tore the monster apart from the inside before spreading outward to seek new targets.
Ensnared in a spiked nest of vines, the Ideas of Heaven were easy prey. Lin shredded their bodies with a wave of her hand and riddled them with bullets. Her sword made short work of all within her reach. Yet, for every enemy that fell, many more rose to take their place.
Time didn’t seem to move amid the endless onslaught, but Lin had her limits. Her ammunition ran low and was eventually emptied. Relying on her sword and skill alone, her stamina too was soon exhausted. Fighting in the water would have been a death sentence, but standing on its surface was a constant drain on her energy and concentration. She needed to reach land.
Shifting her attention from the glimmering horde, Lin began her retreat. She danced precariously between organic blades and hammers as she edged slowly back to the reeds where she had left her companions. Spotting them on the raised bank comforted her with a sense of hope, though it did little to combat her weariness. Ignoring the passage the others had taken, Lin rushed straight through the reeds. Running over the water’s surface, it was as simple as running through a field of tall grass.
A mistake. She could barely react as a crescent blade rushed from below and slashed at her side. A desperate parry was all that saved her from being cleaved entirely in half. With equal measures of fear and agony seizing her mind, Lin fell. Everything was swallowed by an inky darkness.
Who do you think you’re touching? Bursting from the murk, Lin lashed out with her fist, projecting a wave of energy that crystallised everything in its path, including the beast that had attacked her. “You’re in the way.” Sword in hand, she cut a grisly path to the place she believed could grant her safety. Upon climbing the bank, however, she discovered how truly grave her situation had become.
Hundreds surrounded them, and more still were constantly emerging from the black depths. Several of those that had already fallen were somehow still clinging to life, pieces of their bodies missing, but alive nonetheless. With enemies on all sides and hardly the energy to stand, Lin’s struggle seemed suddenly hopeless. The Ideas were undying, and she faced far too many.
No, that isn’t right. They could be killed. She had proved as much with her own hands, and only a fraction of those she had defeated were still able to stand. There had to be something that separated them from the rest. A difference in their form, or perhaps… Their eyes, she realised. Whenever she’d destroyed one of those bruised orbs, the creatures had been quick to gouge it out, along with a large chunk of flesh. If entire sections of their bodies were rendered useless without an eye, targeting them all would surely be enough to kill. So she hoped. Even with a tentative strategy, without the strength to carry it out, her plans meant nothing. The first of the Ideas clambered onto the bank. Breath ragged and eyelids heavy, Lin pushed ahead to meet it.
Steel glanced off bone, or whatever other unworldly material they were wrought from. A rapid follow-up strike sunk deep into one of the creature’s eyes, disabling its club-like arm. Another thrust crippled a spindly leg, followed by a swift flurry that finally brought her opponent down. A satisfied grin crept across her face.
Defeating one enemy was simple enough. Facing the growing horde was another matter entirely. She slashed through their corrupted flesh, her tiredness driving her into a frenzied state of rage. I can’t keep fighting. This has to end, and quickly. The more of the Ideas she cut down, the more her vision distorted. Blurred monsters replaced the dead.
“Are you still-?” Kana called from behind.
“Don’t talk!” Lin snapped, glancing back at him. “If you want to live-”
Before she could finish, the words caught in her throat. Kana’s eyes were open. A horrified expression was plastered across his face.
Without thinking, Lin flung her arm outward. A vine burst up from the ground. Kana could barely react before its cruel thorns ripped through his eyebrow. Regret seized her heart, but the words that came from her mouth were no less harsh. “Close your eyes! You’re going to get yourself killed!”
When she turned desperately back to face the tide of horrors, she was met with a sharp pain in her shoulder. A serrated spearlike growth was buried in the soft flesh between the bone and her breast, and it was still digging deeper, as if trying to burrow into her ribcage. Her sword slipped through her fingers. Like a crushing vice, her spittle-flecked jaws were clenched tightly enough to crack, yet somehow, she did not scream. A single touch was all it took to shred her attacker with pointed spines. The creature writhed as it fell away, but hundreds of gangling bodies were ready to take its place.
Lin couldn’t see. Her thoughts teetered between panic and dread. Too many. There are too many to fight. Kana- he saw them- will he-?
“Kana. Rie. There are… a lot of enemies surrounding us,” Lin said, shaking her head. Stop thinking. Using a root to ensnare her sword on the ground, she returned it to her hand. “They’re monsters, or maybe apparitions. I’m not really sure, and I don’t know why they’re still here. I thought they’d disappear when I ingested Sio’s blood, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that simple. I’ll just have to cut them down.”
Vision fading, body trembling, Lin threw herself into the rending grasp of her enemies. I’ll break every last one of you.
Darkness shrouded a maelstrom of wretched bone and battle-tired steel. Fear did not exist within that rain-veiled abyss, nor did any conscious thought.
When the sun’s light finally broke through, it was already sinking from the sky.