by Rick Scott
Waru…?
The old man ran and Kenji ran towards him screaming. “Waru!”
But just like before, he couldn’t seem to hear or see him. Kenji watched in panic as Waru ran towards one of the boats, the massive claws of the demon scooping up people and sand behind him.
Run, Waru! Kenji urged as he sped alongside him. Run!
He reached one of the boats just as it was casting off and Kenji felt a wave of relief as Waru clambered aboard. The giant demon ventured as close as the shore and then reared back its massive arm, about to swipe at the boat. A stream of sparking fireworks then sailed out from the city, lighting its chest up with explosions that reverberated inside Kenji’s chest.
Finally the ships were away and what poor souls were left ashore ran back towards the darkness, seeking refuge from the flaming maws of the towering demon beasts. Kenji watched it play out in muted horror—their cries and screams growing less and less.
As he stood upon the water, relief filled him as he once again spotted Waru, safe within one of the crafts. The people aboard rejoiced with relief as well, thankful for their survival. Kenji kept pace with the boat, walking and running across the pitch-black water to keep an eye on Waru, but eventually the ferry began to outdistance him. He was perhaps halfway to the sparkling celestial city but could seemingly go no further.
As he watched the boat containing Waru fade into the city lights, Kenji tried to make sense of it all. If this was some kind of vision or dream, then what did it mean? And when would he escape from it? A new sense of panic set in as Kenji ran across the black water, not knowing which way to go or what to do.
Wake up… he told himself. If this was but a dream then, wake up!
A cold chill took him as nothing happened.
Then a new sensation overcame him…his stomach turned as a vile sense of dread filled every core of his being. He’d felt this before…
Dark Qi…
Kenji glanced over his shoulder, almost expecting to see one of those giant demons standing in the water behind him. But instead he saw a man seated in lotus position upon the black water, his back to him. He was perhaps only a few dozen paces away. How he’d been there without Kenji noticing before, he didn’t know.
A shock of dark-brown hair spilled down to his mid-back and curled at the ends. He wore no shirt as far as Kenji could tell and across his back was an intricate pattern of thin lines—the mark of the Tsu region.
His heart sped as a final detail came into view. He had perhaps seen it at first but not recognized it for what it was in the darkness. Across the man’s back was the thin, slightly curved blade of a uchigatana. Kenji had only ever seen them in books before. The western-style weapons were rarely used, much less forged within the Zhou region.
The man stiffened and glanced over his shoulder, perhaps sensing him.
In a speed that seemed impossible, he was on his feet and spun about, his hand gripping the handle of his blade while still tethered to his back. There was no strap that Kenji could see. It was as if it hung there magically affixed to him. The man was only slightly taller than he was, his chest wide and strong—marked with the same Tsu patterns.
The patterns continued upwards towards his face, where two sets of vertical lines streaking past both eyes in warpaint-like fashion. Kenji’s heart stopped as the recognition hit him immediately. The narrow grey eyes and squared-off jaw, now covered in a light stubble. The man looked in his thirties but Kenji could easily see his own reflection within.
Like an older brother he’d never had.
“Who are you?” the man said, slowly drawing his blade. “What are you?”
Kenji heard his own voice echoed back at him…deeper yet unmistakable.
This was him. It had to be. This was the Bloody Duke!
Panic filled his chest and he couldn’t speak. This was him. The real him! And I have his doma.
Kenji’s only instinct was to run.
He turned about, but before he could take even a step the man shifted in a blur and stood before him again.
“Answer me, foul demon!” the man screamed. “I, Li Wan Fu, Templar of the 8th Realm of Ascendance, command you!”
Kenji cowered from the force of the Qi emitted from his shout alone. He turned to run again, but this time there was no shift or blur.
Only a flash of blue steel.
And the world went black again.
Chapter 25 – Usurped
“Kenji…Kenji!”
Shinoto’s voice echoed within his ears as his vision slowly cleared. Bright morning light shone through a window far above him. It cascaded through the healing house and surrounded Shinoto’s head like a halo as she came within view. She was kneeling over him, a look of worry on her brow. Just the sight of her filled him with relief. He was free from that place.
Wherever it was…
The vision of it faded quickly like the remnants of a dream, the details blurring, but his final moment was still crystal-clear…the Bloody Duke had cut him in two. His heart jumped anew with the thought that he’d just come face to face with his former self.
As for how, he didn’t know…what was that?
The elderly healer, Sarai, smiled as she rubbed his shoulder with one of the blue stones. “See…he is fine now. The torpor is broken.”
Kenji forced himself to sit up, his chest aching. In fact, everything seemed to ache.
“Torpor?” he said.
Shinoto threw her arms around him in a hug. “Thank the heavens… I thought I’d lost you…”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were unconscious, Kenji…” Shinoto said as tears filled her eyes. “Just like that Xjian woman…for over a day.”
He bolted upright. “A day?”
Thoughts of his last moments before falling unconscious plagued him—Chet Fai going to meet with the chief of the village. His skin grew cold with a terrible sense of dread. “Where is your brother? What has he done?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him, Kenji. I was unconscious too. And no one would listen to me when I tried.”
“Stop him from doing what?” His heart raced. “Where is he now?”
“Calm down,” Sarai said, easing him back onto the bed. “You are still weak.”
“The chief has called a meeting for when you awoke,” Shinoto said. “But there’s something you need to know first.”
She almost didn’t need to tell him.
“Waru…?”
* * *
Kenji’s throat tightened as he gazed down upon the old man bundled in a shroud within one of the sick beds. He looked peaceful as if only sleeping, but Kenji knew he was far from that. Waru himself had known much earlier…propped up against the bow of that sloop. Thoughts of his vision then came to mind. Kenji was still uncertain as to what exactly he had seen—the giant demons, the hundreds of souls chased across that black beach.
But he knew Waru had been one of the lucky ones.
The thought brought him a sense of solace. This broken body was not Waru. He had just seen him sailing towards the celestial city. He was safe.
“He’s at rest now,” Kenji said, squeezing Shinoto’s hand. “He’s in a far better place now.”
Shinoto nodded glumly.
“The men of the village will construct a funeral pyre for him tonight,” Sarai said.
“I wish to help them,” Kenji said.
“It’s best if you meet with the chief first,” a woman’s voice called out from behind him. Kenji turned to see Mei Ling, standing tall upon her platform sandals. “It is good to see you awake.”
Kenji bowed to her. “I thank you, doctor, for your healing. And for all you did for my friend.”
She nodded. “Yes…I’m afraid the wounds were just too severe.”
Kenji swallowed the lump in his throat as he rested a hand on Waru’s shoulder.
Goodbye, old friend… I only wish I’d known the true you sooner.
Kenji whisper
ed a short prayer and then straightened himself. If there was anything he could do to honor Waru’s memory, it was to heed his advice. So much had happened in so short a time, and he needed to regain control.
“What has become of our companion?” he asked Mei Ling. “The Xjian woman… I don’t see her.”
“I’m afraid she’s been relocated to a cell within the mystic school,” she said. “By order of our chief…” She then paused. “…and yours.”
Kenji shared a glance with Shinoto and the little girl could only shrug with an apologetic frown. “I tried…”
Curse you, Chet Fai.
“I’m ready to meet with them,” Kenji said.
It was time to see what other damage had occurred.
* * *
Kenji approached the small dais set up informally in front of the Amatsu chief’s home. Four stools were placed in a rough semi-circle, two mid-center and two more to either side. Mei Ling sat upon one of the off-set stools on his far right. Opposite her on the far left was a thin man with a long flowing white beard that was clad in the purple robes of the Lavender Sect.
The five sects were named by the colors and correlating gems, which served as their emblems: Lavender-Amethyst, Blue-Sapphire, Green-Emerald, White-Pearl, and Black-Onyx. Aside from that, Kenji was uncertain of which sect was considered better than another. Or if they had any real differences at all. Perhaps the only purpose they served was to promote competition within their ranks to better their students.
The chief of the Amatsu clan sat upon one of the prominent stools in the center. He was a large man and his robes were taut with his girth. His head was clean shaven and his short goatee barely covered his broad face. He smiled pleasantly as Kenji knelt before the assembly.
It took all his might not to glare at the last person sat on the dais…Chet Fai.
The boy grinned at him knowingly and Kenji’s stomach tightened.
Shinoto joined Kenji by his side and knelt also.
“I am pleased you are still alive,” the chief of the Amatsu clan said, his voice high pitched and nasally, sounding almost like a woman. “And I’m sorry about your companion. I’m certain Mei Ling and her doctors did their very best.”
As seemed appropriate, Kenji bowed to the man. “I thank you, chief, for your clan’s efforts. I owe my life to you and your healers.”
The man smiled. “You may call me Chief Jubie.” He then nodded to the sect leader. “This is Master Hu Dong of the Lavender Sect, leader of the Mystic School attached to this village.”
Kenji bowed to him as well. “Master Hu Dong.”
“Kenji, is it not?” Hu Dong said in a gravelly voice. “Your chief tells me it was through your efforts that much of the materia from Han was saved from fire. You are a young man of courage, if that is true.”
His heart beat faster at the word chief and his eyes couldn’t pry themselves away from Chet Fai. The miserable wretch…what had he done to achieve this?
“It is a shame to learn you have a sickness of the doma,” Hu Dong continued. “The mystic schools are always in need of students that show great courage.”
“Indeed,” Chet Fai chimed in with a smile. “It is a shame this one is afflicted so. But Kenji is a hard worker who has endured even greater tragedies of fate in his time…many recently…the attack by that demon notwithstanding.” Chet Fai locked eyes with him then. “…but they need not be disclosed here.” He then smiled. “Or ever. Unless he so wishes to share?”
Kenji’s chest tightened at the thinly veiled threat and rhetorical prompt. Chet Fai was far more calculating than he had given him credit for. Kenji had expected for Chet Fai to have blabbed about the demon immediately to see him thrown out of the village, but it seemed he had found a far craftier way to exert his influence and gain a whole new level of control. He would hold his secret as ransom. Kenji wondered if he hadn’t somehow increased in intelligence after ascending to blue tier.
Kenji leered back at him. “No… we need not discuss anything further.”
It burned him to say it. But even protesting now would come at his own further detriment.
“Good,” Chet Fai said. “Then you’ll be happy to know that the relics you salvaged will be generously donated to the Lavender School Sect.”
Relics? His chest tightened a second time as Chet Fai produced Kenji’s satchel from behind his stool.
By the gods… no.
He withdrew the books of the sacred Han techniques along with the handwritten notebook of his father and offered them to Hu Dong.
“No, wait!” Kenji shouted. Detriment be damned. He couldn’t allow this. “Those are mine! They were entrusted to me by my father!”
“It’s true!” Shinoto said. “And one of those books is a personal heirloom.”
“Heirloom?” Chief Jubie said. “What is she speaking of?”
“It was a book written by his father…” Shinoto said. “Elder Xian Lu.”
“Sister…” Chet Fai said through a forced smile. “Have we not already had this conversation regarding Kenji’s parentage? Yes, his adoptive father was an elder. But unfortunately that also makes Kenji not of Han blood. Therefore all possessions he recovered are not his but indeed property of the clan. Of which I am now chief and have also now graciously donated to the Lavender Sect.”
Kenji’s stomach was sick. “You can’t do this…”
Chet Fai smiled. “It is done. And there will be no further discussion.”
“I believe your Chief has spoken,” Master Hu Dong said.
Shinoto opened her mouth to say something else, but a swift, stern look from Chief Jubie as well as Master Hu Dong forced it closed again. Kenji fumed inwardly. The power of Qi paled in comparison to that of the social hierarchy. Even Kenji felt the pressure to still kneel and accept this fate like a dog. It was a system ingrained since birth and was a strong compulsion to resist. Even in the face of underhandedness such as his.
Chet Fai handed over the sack filled with ropes and parchments next. Kenji’s insides twisted and boiled. He could care less about being chief…but this was outright thievery. He felt the insolence building within him again, fighting against that social pressure to remain subject to his station in life.
Kenji had no idea who Li Wan Fu truly was, but he had met the man in a dream last night. And if they truly shared the same soul, then now he could perhaps understand why he had launched a rebellion against the empire and its crooked ways.
If suffering fates such as this was to be the norm…then he wanted nothing more than to burn it all down.
“The Lavender Sect thanks you for such a generous gift,” Hu Dong said.
“You are quite welcome.” Chet Fai bowed.
“Oh,” the mystic arts master added as if forgetting something. “We’ve heard word back from the capital on your petition.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Hu Dong said. “The Lavender Sect would graciously welcome both you and your sister into its ranks with fully paid tuition.”
Chet Fai smiled. “Splendid.”
Kenji glanced at Shinoto and she looked away shamefully. He knew she had nothing to do with it, but she perhaps felt guilty all the same. Joining a mystic school had been her dream and her brother had just made it come true for her by selling Kenji’s inheritance.
“Well, I suppose that only leaves what is to become of young Kenji here,” Chet Fai said. “Although he has no doma, he is quite handy as a field worker. He managed the orchards in Han Village.”
“Is that right?” Chief Jubie said with a playful laugh. “Perhaps he can plant one for us as well. We’d be the first artisan village to hold two specialties!”
Kenji’s insides burned as the two of them laughed together.
“I could make use of him in my area,” Mei Ling said, cutting through their mirth. “I always need strong hands to move patients and supplies.”
“So be it,” Chet Fai said. “I’m sure young Kenji would be grateful for your hospitality wherever he i
s stationed. Is that not so, Kenji?”
His ire spiked. To the hells with social graces and niceties. What good were they in the face of such wanton disrespect and fraud. It was time to forge his own path, indeed.
“Yes, young Kenji would be grateful,” he mocked Chet Fai to his face. “And young Kenji also wishes to speak with the Xjian woman.”
“The Xjian woman?” Hu Dong said. “Why?”
Kenji didn’t bother to even look at him. “That’s my business.”
The atmosphere plummeted into winter.
Chet Fai grinned nervously. “Perhaps young Kenji is not aware that the Xjian woman is now being held as a suspected spy and prisoner of war. To have any communication with her would be bordering on treason to the empire.”
Curse the fates… could this truly be so…?
What that woman knew was the only hope he had left. She if anyone could make sense of all of this. Perhaps even the vision he’d just had.
“So you see,” Hu Dong said. “As the sect leader taking responsibility for this prisoner, it is very much my business to know. So why is it you wish to speak with her?”
“I’d certainly like to know as well,” Chet Fai said with faux surprise. “What could you possibly have in connection with this woman, Kenji?”
His insides twisted as sweat broke upon his brow. The old man stared at him while Chet Fai leered—no doubt enjoying seeing him nearly slip a noose around his own neck. Kenji thought quickly.
“I wish only to thank her…” Kenji said. “If my ‘chief’ hadn’t already told you, the woman nearly died saving my life.”
“Yes,” Chet Fai said. “From a demon who seemed intent on destruction... to follow us even upriver… how odd.”
The bastard.
It was time to start playing the game again. Kenji touched his forehead to the floor. “Surely you can allow this one a small grace such as this, to preserve his honor. Even though this woman may be a prisoner of war, she still saved my life. And my honor dictates gratitude in at least some form.”
