by Ken Rivers
She shook her head. “There is limited information on them since they’re supposed to be myth, but I’m not totally ignorant about the Jian-Di. If they are who they say they are, keep that mechanic job description under wraps. You think the Levani topside have a problem with tech? It’s hot button shit with the witches and ninjas of the Jian-Di. I don’t wanna lose you down here.”
“Thanks, B. I really like the softer side of you. When we get back and things calm down, maybe you and I—”
“Keep dreaming and keep your shit together down here. I don’t let my guard down and you shouldn’t either.” She held my gaze for a second, then resumed her place just behind Yari.
The path angled deeper into the rock and led to a great gate, double wrought with iron and engraved with old-Levani character script. Lady Yen touched the doors, closed her eyes, and whispered to them to no effect.
Pusi’s tail was twitching left to right again. She whispered in my ear, “Marrrk, I no like smell here. Smell like rot. Smell like Marrrk wound.” She reached her hand around and slid it over my abdomen. I winced at the pressure. The adrenaline of the ride and near murder by invisible archers was waning and I felt the pain more with each step. She said I smelled like rot. I adjusted the Surudo-blade against my back and found strengthened reassurance in its presence.
The doors hummed to life and lurched open. Lady Yen invited us through. We stepped into a cavern so massive it stretched up into blackness and went on far deeper than my eyes could see. In front of us was a perfect Levani village, with the spires and grass in front of the buildings to boot.
B looked back at me. “The Levani are consistent, I’ll give them that,” she said.
Lady Yen waved us on and we came to the largest of the wooden structures. We entered a great hall filled with the accoutrements of group entertaining. A fire burned in the hearth to the right. The doors closed behind us and we were left with the crackle of popping firewood that did little to settle my nerves.
Lady Yen strode forward to the back of the hall where a massive chair sat empty. It was big enough for a man twice my size with the faces of animals I couldn’t make out carved into it.
“I have brought you the half-blood, brother,” she announced to no one.
I looked closer to see if there was any ripple in the air like with the archers but there was nothing. Then a mist began to form around the chair, slowly spinning about until it revealed the shape of a man.
He stood and made his way to us, the mist still clinging to him. It swirled and snaked about him as if alive. When he was close enough to see who had come, the mists slid off him and into the floorboards beneath.
He was taller than all the other Levani I had seen and cloaked in the same black heavy long cloth that Lady Yen wore, buckles glinting in the fire-light. He lifted his right arm, black as the shadows that danced on the walls made of timber, and closed his fist tight enough to draw blood.
The instant a drop of it hit the floor, a boom sounded from beneath followed by a deep low thrum that shot out from the man and shook the bones of my soul. All of us but Yari were flattened. I couldn’t move an inch under the rising and piercing sound wave.
Yari stood sheathed in the light from last night, it seemed to come to her when she was left alone to face danger. Without flinching, she reached out and touched me and the pain subsided. I discovered that I could stand and watched as Pusi and B were still pinned ass up on the floor. Yari kept her hand on me and turned to face the cloaked man. “Stop now, or I will make you stop,” she said.
His grin was effortless as the shaking increased. “That is certainly one way this could go.” His hand rose higher. “Only the worthiest among the Levani can ever hope to withstand this power. Look how strong how you are. I’ve finally found you.”
“You attack my friends even though we were guaranteed safe passage? Your words mean nothing to us now.”
He looked upon us with a smugness that grated on my last nerve. “Indeed, you were guaranteed. But I can’t be responsible for collateral damage to outsiders during Levani affairs.”
“Last warning,” she said.
I could move, but everything felt sluggish, like I was being forced to run through a pool.
He came forward and the shaking began to push me down again. Yari exploded in screaming fire and light. The man disappeared into it, but the black hand came through the light a moment later, grabbed Yari by the shoulder and held her fast.
“You are as beautiful, and as powerful as a Mother should be.” He paused, then relaxed his black hand and the shaking subsided. “Tests are necessary, Yari. And you passed.” He turned, lowered his arm, and walked back to his chair.
Yari was heated. “You have shown we cannot trust you! You hurt my friends when you said you wouldn’t. We are leaving, right now!”
“Don’t be hasty. We should have had your friends wait outside, but I doubt they would’ve listened. Anyway, look for yourself,” he said. Pusi and B were slow to get up. “See? They’re fine. Prostrate, befuddled and trembling on the ground. They are perfectly suited for life under the Levani boot.” He sat down. “I see your wrist is still milky white. Just took it off, eh?”
My knife slid free and was at the ready. I slid my thumb up and down the handle of the blade.
He shifted his gaze and it was the first time he made eye contact with me. “Just like a human. All impulse and no planning.” Four guards stepped from their invisible hiding places, bows drawn.
“I’m good with winging it,” I said.
He signaled for the guards to stop and smiled. “You can wing it all you like, it won’t matter. Though, I do find your little blade amusing, human.”
Lady Yen spoke. “Let’s try this again, shall we? My brother has been busy attending to larger matters and hasn’t received guests in quite some time. He’s a bit rusty socially. Isn’t that right, brother?” She spoke with a tinge of irritation in her voice.
“Yes, I suppose it’s time to find my manners. But, doing it that way is such a bore, Lana. Maybe when this is all done, I’ll have the human show me how to use that grip on something other than a knife.” He winked at me, stood, bowed gracefully, then slammed back down in his seat. “I am Tawa Yen, but you,” he pointed to Yari, “my dear, may call me Father.”
9
The distrust in Yari’s voice was crystal clear. “I’m not your dear and you’re certainly not my father.”
Tawa waved a tired hand in the air. “Relations can be a messy thing, yes. But I don’t refer to being your biological father. I am referring to the divine balance that I am a part of. I am the Father of the Kaiju. The one to bring the might of our ancestors back from the occupiers and betrayers. With my sisters and the cousins and our brothers in arms, I will have what I desire. I always do.”
I knew I was on an alien planet. I knew when I took this job, I would see strange shit I had never seen before while traveling the universe until retirement. I thought I had prepared my mind for the weirdest, craziest-shaped life that space could throw at me. But a hot, shape-shifting bird vixen and a sensory-pounding, possibly incestuous, and definitely racist space-elf was a line I hadn’t crossed, yet.
Yari’s light dimmed. “You are not the Father! I sense not a shred of balance from you.”
Tawa shrugged. “Believe what you will. It’s not something you have any say over, my dear.”
“I have a say, and I say you’re full of shit!” she lashed back at him.
He straightened in his chair. “It doesn’t take long for the human in you to come out, does it? But no matter, your Levani half may ask me any questions you may have.”
Magic was alive and well down there in the cavernous underworld of the anti-social witches and forest ninja. The bells in my head were still ringing from Tawa assaulting us, but I didn’t miss the coloring of his limb. I had seen that black sheen before. That twist of sinew and marbled flesh that flew at Yari and me, nearly ending my life. But Tawa wasn’t a slobbering, bug-eyed death
machine. Was he in mid-change? How did he stop it? Mine was growing bigger and more painful by the hour. How long did he have?
Even in her rage and magic whipping around her, Yari hadn’t missed it either. “If you have people who are skilled enough to teach me about the healing arts, why hasn’t anyone attended to your arm?”
He held it out. “The balance of life. Power at a cost, but the price is fair.” He clenched his fist and the rumbling sound shook the floor beneath us. I could’ve sworn it was a growl of some kind. He relaxed his fist and the shaking stopped. “To be honest, though, my dear, this is a pathetic example of what’s possible for our people. The ancient Levani would stride upon the back of the Kaiju with barely any side effects, crushing our enemies at will to bring order and reason to the galaxy. Seeing this Pusani brings back memories. They were one people in a line of planets I brought under the light of logic. How do your people fare now?”
Pusi hissed and spat at him. “You the one! Pusani genetic-code stunted now. You did this. You bring genocide. You bring extinction close twice! Pusani peaceful, never hurt anyone! What logic you have!? Smell of death surrounds you. Death always come.”
He yawned. “It does indeed. When I nearly eradicated your species from the galaxy, what did you call me then, if not death? You’ll find my enemies have a hard time killing me.” I am immune to many things, but irony doesn’t seem to be one of them because, of course, now my enemies are my keepers.” He gritted his teeth.
“Keep you caged, like animal! HA!”
“For now… Which brings me to the Life-Tech. When did your father relieve you of it?”
Yari rubbed the still-discolored area of her wrist where the device had rested for her whole life. “He didn’t.”
Tawa cocked his head slightly. “Then, who did?”
“It doesn’t matter. What I need to know is how long I have before I turn into one of the black creatures,” she said.
He laughed. “A Culler?” He laughed harder. “You needn’t worry about that. No, my dear, only men turn into Cullers. Levani women, when things go well, are natural healers without their tech.”
Tawa pulled his thick, heavy sleeve up just below his shoulder as the tone of his voice leveled off. “We’ve been betrayed and left to rot on the vine by elders who were weak-minded and equally feeble. As you can see, with the right knowledge, the rot can be manipulated. For most, though, it’s a fast process that does lead to death depending on your constitution and the amount of power that comes to each that accepts the change. As for you, whether you go blind and insane depends on many things, including how it was taken off. I know you were already capable of some small healing, even when the bracelet was on. Another sign of your potential. But I wonder if you performed the proper ritual? By looking at your motley crew, the insanity might already be upon you… I worry about your safety.”
Then it hit me. Why hadn’t I put it together sooner? The origin of the black terror wasn’t some ritualistic metamorphosis. It was the removal of the Life-Tech. How could I have missed that? The Life-Tech wasn’t just for tracking them. It could be used to prevent the Levani from turning into obsidian murder-death-kill monsters. That’s why she wanted to come here so bad. She was afraid of what would happen to herself as much as what would happen to me.
He continued his act of empathy for Yari while the knuckles of her fists turned white.
“Yari?” I asked.
She was breathing heavily when she turned to meet my gaze. I saw fear and doubt there. The whisper pierced through her lips, fighting to keep the question from Tawa’s ears. “You didn’t know? You took it off without knowing what would happen to me? I thought you were a mechanic.”
The Levani lived by a simple code of logic, know what you do before you do it. I always took a shot and followed my gut, but she would never see it that way. I saw the look of disbelief and mistrust growing in her eyes, and Tawa’s smile just behind it. He was mind-fucking the woman who had saved my life and loved every second of it.
Tawa leaned forward in his seat. “So, you’re the one? A mechanic, huh?” he said, flat-toned and accusatory.
“I am.”
“If you were not here with her, I would have had you thrown into the mists upon arrival. Wonderful place. It’s just far enough down for you to suffocate nearly to death before the surface below finishes the job.” He spat on the ground and turned to Yari. “Do you know what he is, my dear? Him and his ilk made it possible for the humans to occupy us in the first place. And even now, they work to maintain the tech that shortens our lives and keeps us from our birthright!”
Lady Yen moved in close to him, one hand slipping over the rough cloth that wrapped tightly around his lean frame and whispered in his ear. The tension and creases in his face faded and calm returned to him again with his sigh.
“You’re right, my sister. I suppose I should thank him. Without blindly removing that from her, the change wouldn’t have begun, and she wouldn’t be here, hidden from CONTROL. Mechanic, thank you.”
Yari wheeled back on him, her hands clenched into fists. “Just because this idiot human is impulsive doesn’t mean I’m any closer to being your ally. You’re the one who turned my father into that monster!”
B leaned forward. “It’s true, this man is an idiot.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
Tawa stood and shook a shameful finger at Yari. “All that time studying away in the house of prayer and you still judge books by their covers?”
“He came to us, dear sister,” Lady Yen said. “He saw in you something more than just your position as a Maiden or your tainted features.”
Tawa moved closer, his arm fully hidden under the dark garb of the Jian-Di. “He kept you safe and taught you to heal when you should not have been able to do so. He came to us because he feared what the elders would do with you. He was protecting you. He was also merely a priest, but he played the role of your father better than mine did for me. Unfortunate about his change though. If I had known he was just a berserker grunt, I would’ve sent better support. Regardless, he would have protected you from anything had he—”
“There was nothing protective about that monster’s movements!” I exploded. “You helped him put her in mortal danger. If I hadn’t been there, she would have been slaughtered by that damn thing. Here’s some logic for you. If you didn’t know about that, then you’re a liar and we shouldn’t trust you. If you did know, then you’re a reckless piece of shit who gambles with peoples’ lives.”
By the looks on their faces, they weren’t very happy about what I said. Tawa started toward me.
“What of my ability to heal him?” Yari asked, her arm held protectively in front of me. At least she didn’t totally hate me.
Tawa sighed. “Isn’t it time you leave these lesser beings behind? You have a gift, and it’s just the tip of the island floating in the mists.”
B put a hand on Yari’s shoulder and winked at her. “We might be different, but so is she, and that’s what makes her special. So, keep your shit-talking to yourself, dickhead.”
Tawa exchanged an amused glance with Lady Yen. “Dickhead? What does that mean?” he asked.
Lady Yen covered the smile that had formed. “I believe it means…” she switched to Levani and his eyebrows jumped up.
“Ridiculous. I look nothing like that. Dear sister, your humans don’t seem very perceptive. Shall I rid you of their existence?” He raised his blackened arm toward me.
The tension was hot in the air, but so was the sudden jolt of pain down my side. I winced as the rot roiled inside me again. Normally, I was strong enough to launch my knife into his chest, but with my right side cramped up and my right arm locked into my side, I didn’t have a chance.
“Looks like her pet needs some care,” he said.
Yari knelt to help me, but she wouldn’t look at me.
“What say you, my dear?” Tawa asked Yari. “I will make this decision easy on all of us. Lana, help her tend to her li
tter, then meet me for a bath. We will speak when tempers have calmed. After all, she needs to join us willingly.”
“I’m always in need of a good wash after flying through human territory,” Lady Yen chimed in, looking me up and down. “What does she see in him?”
Tawa laughed. “You’ve been flitting around in that bird brain for too long, my sister. I agree, though, there is something about him. Mechanic,” he called, “you’re welcome to join us.”
Yari laid me down, opened my jacket and pulled up my t-shirt. She drew a deep breath and pushed her energy into me once more.
“What have we here?” Tawa asked. “How did you stop the progression of the rot in a human? He should’ve been blackened and curled up in a ball on the ground within a minute of his injury.”
Lana circled around Tawa, stopping behind him. “I think our dear sister is in need of a softer hand, brother.”
“I’m open to suggestions, my sister. I offered her your help and her human a hot bath. What more can I do?”
“Let me,” she said. “What do you want, dear sister?”
“Show me how to heal my friend, and I will hear what you have to say. Not before that.”
“Friend?” Tawa asked, running his finger along his platinum blonde eyebrow. “Just friends?” The air was cooling off, but much too fast for my liking. He stood abruptly and his words came quick. “Very well, I will have Lana and the cousins teach you what you need to know. Lana, take them to their rooms. Make sure they eat well. I will call for you later, my dear.”
The doors whipped open and in walked the guards. Lana called us forward and we left the meeting hall. The warmth of the hearth was replaced by the stiff cold air of the cavern the little recluse village stood in.
We were led into a single uniformly-designed house. Nothing showed that it was any different from the other houses except our presence in front of it. Tall, spired roofs, big beautifully polished wooden exteriors and massive double doors.
