The Five Demons of Devastation are an oft-discussed aspect of divination and its influence upon our histories. The Sun Queen’s Prophecy of Voidfall is a well-known and well-cycled bit of writing, but, as far as anyone can tell, the Demons themselves mentioned in the prophecy have never even met. While all five are unreachable by one means or another, the fact is that people trying to prevent the prophecy have influenced the continent’s history far more than the Demons have themselves. –Professor Huil Zar, on the topic of prophecies and their influence in national politics

* * *

The black sky offered no light to the inky black forest below, but we could not stop. Xinya wrapped her arms around my neck as we fled deep into the woods. I gritted my teeth as she put pressure on my broken collarbone but held my tongue. She needed comfort, and I was the only one who could give it.

We fled west. If Shen Yaoxan was smart, he would do some digging into recent events in Saikan. Any mild research at all would indicate the lighthouse as a likely location for any moon artist to run to, given its connection to light and the fact that it was completely abandoned. I didn’t know what convenient reason Tenri would come up with to excuse the missing “wandering artist” that was Tsuyuki Yoru, but I was confident, at least, that no one would recognize me as the monstrous shade who’d killed three cultivators employed by the Governor.

That just left a few days of hiding. As an Ascendent, my transformation was not permanent. I could shift back and forth at will, and the amount of energy it took to do so largely depended on the phase of the moon. Thus, the Void-touched monster had become associated with the new moon, while my handsome human form had become the face of the full moon. Assuming the same logic held true here, which I was willing to bet since the transformation hadn’t occurred until the night before the new moon, I would shift back in a few days. At that point, I could probably return to town to gather supplies, clothes, and anything that Xinya wanted from home.

“M-mister,” Xinya whispered. “Turn that way.” She pointed to the right. I hesitated. That would draw us north. If our pursuers were searching the lighthouse, as I hoped they would, then going that way would only bring us closer to them.

“We shouldn’t,” I answered softly. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it through this.”

But Xinya insisted. “There’s a s-safe place.”

A safe place? I…had my doubts. But, Xinya did know the woods far better than I did. With a deep breath, I turned north and began to walk more slowly. Xinya relaxed against my “good” shoulder, which still had a steel pellet embedded in my back, but, at least, it didn’t sport any broken bones. That last punch had hurt a lot.

Soon, we stepped out of the trees and onto a small, overgrown path. In truth, it was little more than a game trail, but Xinya seemed to recognize where we were, even in the darkness. She pointed us to the left, and I followed the path. Several rabbits hopped, bleary eyed, across our path. It seemed our passing had roused them from their nighttime slumber, but why they weren’t hiding in their warrens was beyond me.

After only a few minutes, the trail led to a small clearing filled with flowers. A shrine rested at the center of a field of flowers. It was quaint, but well kept and clean. The altar was sheltered from the rain by a tiny shed barely big enough to hold it, and a small, crude statue of a girl sat as the holy idol. There was a cut-out in the statue for bouquet of fresh flowers to be cradled in her arms. The flowers in question were Purple Striped Heaven’s Lilies.

“The Guardians will keep us safe until morning,” Xinya said. “They protect every child in danger.”

I looked around. I didn’t see any guardians, only the rabbits who were drunkenly hopping hither and thither in their half-asleep stupor. None of them seemed particularly powerful, but I’d seen stranger things.

“Is this a shrine to the Flower Maiden?” I wondered. Xinya nodded, and I knelt before the shrine. I had nothing to offer, but I could at least pay my respects.

Xinya shivered, and I found a small bed of clover for her to lay down. With the chains clinging to my body, I couldn’t remove my outer robe to serve as a blanket. Instead, I laid down next to her and pulled her close. It wasn’t comfortable with my injuries, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it. I needed to stay awake anyway in order to keep watch.

The serene clearing was perfectly still, save for the snuffling of rabbits as they drowsily patrolled the edge of the shrine’s boundary. Despite my best efforts, my eyelids began to droop. As if under the spell of the clearing, I fell asleep.

* * *

Morning brought only a whole mountain of headaches for Tenri. He got up and got dressed like he did every morning only for the smell of something burning to reach him. In a panic, he raced to the kitchen where Hanako and his mother were frantically pouring water on the stove. They coughed and waved away the smoke as the flames died down, and Tenri relaxed.

“I swear I’ve made this a thousand times!” Hanako said with a pout. “Never before have the eggs caught fire!” Tenri sighed and assured his distressed wife that she was still a fantastic cook before settling for a simple bowl of rice. He gave his wife a kiss on the cheek, then left for work.

The fire in his kitchen was only a prelude to the day ahead of him. As soon as he stepped out his door, a fragment of a roof shingle tumbled down, and he only barely caught it before it slammed into his head. He frowned. That was rather unlucky timing. If anyone else had been walking below, they might have been seriously hurt. He made a mental note to examine the roof when he had a moment of free time…if he ever had a moment of free time again…

If there was one good thing that the previous night’s disaster had revealed, it was Xi Lihua had been identified as having the potential to cultivate. No doubt her family was proud, and Tenri couldn’t help but be even a little excited. Maybe in a few years, she’d make Bronze and be qualified under the law to help him with the administration of Saikan.

Then again, if she didn’t want to, he wouldn’t blame her. What incredible luck she had to be blessed with a water affinity. Why waste it being an administrator when she could try joining the Teeming Waters Sect in Shaleshore City. It was a long journey to another country, but certainly would open more doors than she had here. Some days Tenri wished he’d left and joined a sect. Maybe he could have been on his way to greatness by now instead of buried in paperwork…

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And, speaking of paperwork, Tenri found an unusual amount of it when he pushed open the doors to the administration building. However, unlike the mountain of scrolls he was used to, there was very little…as most of the headache was in the form of ten people clamoring for his attention.

“It’s alright, folks! Cousin Administrator is here now! If you could submit your requests in an orderly fashion, we’ll see to them qui-” Zumi yelped as his foot was caught under someone else’s in the crowd. An apology was muttered, but it was quickly replaced by more complaints.

“My boat sprang a leak, but I just checked it for fixes! The tax collectors must have done something!”

“My shop front was collapsed during the shade fight last night!”

“My neighbor’s kid kicked a ball through my window! I demand recompense!”

“The roads are a mess! Sink holes have opened up everywhere overnight! I fell in one this morning.”

The list went on and on. Eventually, Tenri stopped listening, simply pushing his way through the crowd and closing the door behind him. It was too early for this sort of thing. At this rate, Tenri’s energy would be all spent before Shen Yaoxan got here.

“Zumi,” Tenri asked. Like a rat, Zumi appeared out of nowhere.

“Yes, Cousin?”

“Has Master Shen reported in this morning?”

“Yes, Cousin. He was in quite the foul mood and was covered in dirt and mud,” Zumi reported. “He did not find the missing girl or the Chain-Bound Fury.”

That was the first bit of good news all day, but Tenri sighed anyway. Master Shen would no doubt be infuriating to deal with today…

“I also have ten reports of property damage, thirteen grievances against the management of the town, eleven reports of unfortunate accidents that have been directed to Zhao Jaili’s clinic, and the fishing guild has spotted another colony of crabs, this time in the harbor.”

“In the harbor?” Tenri asked incredulously. “How did no one see them coming?”

Zumi shrugged. “It’s unclear, Cousin.” His voice turned dark, and he looked away. “You know what this is, right? It’s the Chained Fury’s curse!”

Tenri snorted. “How do you figure that?”

“Think about it, Cousin. The Darkened Moon was known for incredible luck, and all the stories say he cursed his enemies with misfortune!”

“And?”

“And, the Chained Fury is said to be the Darkened Moon’s subordinate! He surely has the same power! We angered him last night, and now he’s cursed the entire town!”

As much as Tenri wanted to believe otherwise, there was a grain of logic in his cousin’s deductions. He’d seen the fight between Tsuyuki and Shen. The moon artist had won thanks to a convenient dust cloud and a sinkhole. Either he was a genius at using his battlefield to his advantage, or his enemies were incredibly unlucky. Possibly both.

Had Tsuyuki really caused this? The Darkened Moon was regarded as one of the Five Demons of Devastation, after all. The one called the Demon of Misfortune…

You’re just being silly, Tenri thought to himself. Tsuyuki was not the kind of man to intentionally hurt innocent people…at least, not anymore. His legends were built on the actions of a madman, and he’d broken free of that madness. Last night, he’d used a few lunar techniques that Tenri had never seen before but, given that it was the first fight where Tsuyuki could fully use his lunar arts without consequences, that was hardly surprising. Of course, he would have a few tricks up his sleeve.

The yelling crowd outside got louder. Tenri backed against the door, sliding down until he was seated.

“Zumi, do you really think we’re cursed?”

“How else do you explain this, Cousin?”

Tenri sighed, removed his glasses, and rested his head against the door. It was going to be a long day…a very long day…

* * *

Surprisingly, Xinya and I both slept quite soundly, and, for the first time in who knows how long, I got through the night without the voices of madness whispering in my dreams. When we woke, though, the consequences of my actions became painfully clear. Throbbing pain shot from my collarbone with even the slightest movement, and the steel pellet that was still in my other shoulder offered a stabbing sensation every so often without any sort of warning.

“You’re hurt,” Xinya said bluntly after hearing the very tense “good morning” I’d offered once she was awake.

“It’s nothing,” I said. “I’ve been through worse.” That was certainly true, but it had been a very long time since my last major injury. The nail that had been driven into my heart was by far the worst I’d ever experienced, but the tortures of the labyrinth were mostly in my head. My pain tolerance wasn’t what it once was…

“You got hurt protecting me,” she muttered, looking down. I forced a smile.

“And I’d do it again.” At the statement, Chiho removed itself from my hair and trilled at the little girl. The little pin darted around her head, drawing forth a small smile.

“Is it really you, Mister Tsuyuki?” she asked. “Is this what happened when you ran out the other night?”

“It’s an unfortunate condition,” I admitted. “Are you scared?”

She shook her head. “No. You saved me. Why would I be scared?” She traced my chains with her eyes. “Besides, you’re way cooler than the fake Chain-bound Fury I saw once. He was a poser with a mask and his chains didn’t even glow. The Flower Maiden said he was just some kid trying to scare people, but you’re the real deal! Who knew I would meet two of the Spirits of the Shore!”

Without any other ideas on where to hide from our pursuers, we decided to stay in the Flower Maiden’s clearing. If there was even the slightest chance that the Flower Maiden would protect us, I was inclined to take it. It wasn’t much, and it didn’t provide much shelter from the elements, but it was quiet. Xinya played with the rabbits while I rested, trying not to move too much.

My injuries weren’t severe, but I couldn’t easily tend to them myself. Digging the steel pellet out would require me to have full range of motion in my other arm, which I definitely did not have. We had neither the tools nor skills to see to it on my own. Thus, I resolved to wait it out until I was no longer a monster, then find Tenri and see if he and Hanako could dig the damned thing out…

The transformation was much less painful returning to human form than becoming Void-touched had been. My skin burned as my chains fused into my body. My skin slowly returned to its normal shade of pasty, but humanly so, and the shadows leaking from my hair faded away. What hurt was my head, eyes, and ears. My eyes itched and stung as they returned to normal silver instead of the eerie blue they’d become. A splitting headache heralded the retreat of my sharp ears, sharp teeth, and horns. I grimaced through it, but the pain soon passed, and I was my normal self again, if a bit bedraggled. The black band around my ankle was still there, but I knew from experience that it would never fade.

As the sun finished setting and the night drew its curtain over the Shore, Xinya and I settled in for another night. The rips in my clothes from my Void-touched existence slowly began to mend themselves with the same magic that kept dirt from sticking to my person. With every hour that passed, I could feel my fortunes looking up. In the morning, I’d sneak into town to get a few things and to get a feel for how Shen was trying to track us. Then, we’d be well-equipped to weather the storm. Xinya would be safe, just like I’d promised.

Or…we would have been…if not for the bees.