Caim plummeted down towards the Yama country. Like a comet he fell through the clouds, shining purple. His speed was sometimes greater than the winds themselves. He once stopped a typhoon during the summer season two years ago. He could fly across the entire world in an hour. Caim thought that if he found the realm of Cosmus with the Effeelions, then he could push beyond the limits of his demigod powers and become a full god.
He was getting close to his destination, to Yumemaru town where the woman he once loved and his son were. He reached the Kumo Sora Mountains and as houses were becoming bigger in his sight, he shifted into a white hawk. Although it had been a year since he saw her he knew that her house was past the Torii gate that the people of Yama thought to be a gate to the spirit world.
Caim descended into a tree and landed on a branch. With his eye of the hawk he could see her by her bedroom window. He zoomed his vision in and saw her beauty. Her raven black hair, her narrow eyes, her pale skin. Although it was dark he could see her clearly, better than any human ever could. She turned off the lamp and closed the window of her bedroom. The house she lived in was her father's, a wealthy man in Yumemaru town. Caim flew from the tree towards her window and shifted to his regular form. All the lights were off in her home and everyone was asleep. Only the sound of crickets was heard since few people wandered around this area of town. It was more affluent and guarded.
Caim hovered outside her window and knocked. He heard her gasp then the window slid sideways, her eyes widening.
"It's been so long," he said with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she fixed her kimono with a sash.
"I have come to see my son," Caim answered. "You don't look happy to see me."
"Be quiet and come inside," she urged.
Caim entered her room and closed the window behind. Everything was tidy, colorful, and lavish with silk hanging all around and her bed in the center of the room. The tatami flooring was smooth and glossed.
"You know you shouldn't be here," she spoke in her language, Xaianese, with an angry tone.
"You are depriving me of seeing my son," Caim replied.
"I thought you no longer cared about humans," she said. "I thought your only love is the life you have in the sky."
"That is true, but I am still a father," he whispered.
"A father who hasn't bothered to help raise his son," she growled.
If he were human those words would have hurt. Caim gazed into her dark narrow eyes then placed his hands on her shoulders. Their shadows danced as the lamp swayed back and forth. Owls hooted and crickets sang. Looking at her brought him back ten years ago when that incident happened in Kazenolumos. When Jairo, a Specter, had followed Caim to the sky city undetected and used Kairi as a hostage to exchange her for the Aero Cosmo Jewel. He remembered how Kairi brought him down to earth with her love.
"There was a time when I would do anything for you, my dear," Caim said. "I want to feel that once more."
"You can't," she whispered. "I am now married to a rich man here in the village. And he believes that Ashura is his son. Someone else is raising your child, Caim, and you don't care. I can't love you anymore. It's impossible. I relied on you but you turned your back on me, you turned your back on your son. You don't care about us, so why don't you go back to your city in the sky."
Tears left her eyes and her lips quivered. Caim could not feel sadness but he remembered how it felt. That heaviness in his chest that he once felt as a human was long gone, he could only mimic it. He wiped her tears and gently lifted her chin.
"You still love me, don't you?" he asked.
"Yes," Kairi whispered. "But I can't anymore. You are not here, you are never here. The only thing I hear is your voice when I am alone and your image in my dreams." She fell on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
"Let me see my son," he said.
Kairi sniffed, wiped her eyes then held Caim's hand. She was two feet shorter than him and petite, a delicate flower. Something was stirring inside Caim to remove her kimono and invade her body like he once did.
"The boy does not know his real father," Kairi stated. "I don't want to confuse him."
"I know. I just want to see my son, Ashura," Caim said. "I want him to live as a human like his mother so that he won't be alone like me. I want him to live in luxury and be intelligent. And as for you, you were right to marry another man to take care of you." The human side of me still loves you and wants to be with you, he wanted to say but he had made his decision.
"Come with me." Kairi held his hand and guided him out of her bedroom.
The nightingale floor of the hall creaked with every step. Caim lifted Kairi by grabbing her waist and floating over the floor. They hovered to prevent any noise as they cruised to her son's bedroom. She pointed down the hall and, when they arrived to the last door, Kairi opened it and saw their son snoozing face down. They landed on the tatami floor quietly, preventing any creaking sound that could wake the guards outside.
Caim gazed at his son and crept toward the boy on the futon. Last time Caim saw his son was when the boy was born. He knelt and caressed the boy's cheek as the youth slept.
"Don't wake him," Kairi whispered.
"Sorry," Caim apologized. "He has grown handsomely."
"He is already learning the martial arts style of my father," Kairi said. "When he is thirteen he will learn the mystic arts of air."
"Aeromancy, just like his father," Caim said.
"No, just like the father who is raising him. My husband, Ichiro Wan," she replied.
"I see," Caim said. "It's exactly what I wanted for him. In his coming of age he will decide whether or not if he wants to follow in my footsteps but, for now I want him to live a mortal life. Here he is safe, away from the dangers to come."
"What dangers?" Kairi asked.
"Don't worry about that," Caim said. He could not get his eyes off Ashura. The boy had his mother's raven black hair and narrow eyes, but his face was sharp, like his father's..
"Why did you name him Ashura?" Kairi asked. "A troublesome name, don't you think?"
Caim chuckled then looked at Kairi with a smile. He stood up and crossed his arms.
"Ashura was a great warrior in the Yama country. He existed in the time of Prodigus Kollos and was said to have fought against Kazemaru Aiyama, an apprentice of Kollos. Ashura was the most powerful mage and warrior of his time, he was undefeated. I want my son to be remembered as such," Caim answered proudly with his chin raised.
"Have you impregnated any other women over the years?" Kairi asked with hands on her hips.
"No," Caim replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Many rich men of Yama think so mighty of themselves and take on more than one wife," she said. "Just like you, they seek immortality through their offspring, like the man I am married to now. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't some hen laying eggs for you. Knowing that I am your only one makes me feel special."
"I find polygamy to be a troublesome and over dramatic way of life," Caim said. "But I understand how you feel. I am glad I could make you feel special again."
Caim knelt down by his son's futon and kissed the sleeping boy, then said, "One day you will see me and I hope that you will come to forgive me, my son."
Caim and Kairi floated over the nightingale floor back to her bedroom. Kairi turned off the lamp and lay on her futon. Caim covered her with a red blanket illustrated with lotus flowers. When he tried to stand up to depart she grabbed his long sleeves and pulled him back down.
"Before you leave, just...one more time...for old times' sake. I missed you so much," she whispered.
Immediately his blood began to rise as she pulled down the collar of her kimono, revealing more cleavage. She removed the sash around her waist. Caim helped her undress and, when he saw her body, it was as beautiful and as seductive as ever. Last time he lay with her, she was eighteen years old. Neither her face nor her body had aged. The same pale milky skin, oh that slende
rness and oh those sweet memories, he could relive them once more. I wanted to turn you into my goddess, he thought. We could have been happy together, we could have searched for the realm of Cosmus together, but...
Caim undressed from tunic to trousers. She opened for him and he saw the wetness that was all his and entered her. She moaned and when she screamed he had to cover her mouth. He pleased her and spilled his seed inside her.
An hour later he departed, leaving her with a smile and sweet memories.
Caim promised that he would return. He promised her that he would reveal himself to his son when the boy turned eighteen. As he thought about his only family in Yumemaru town, he flew back towards Kazenolumos.
That feeling, he mulled, that sweet feeling of life, it invigorates me like alcohol stokes fire. Just like ten years ago when Kazenolumos was attacked by that Specter. That time when the Aero Cosmo Jewel was stolen. I felt more alive than ever, more motivated, more...
He realized something. An idea he felt that had eluded him. It's so obvious, yet why have I never tried it before, Caim thought. The Aero Cosmo Jewel possesses cosmo. Perhaps I can use it to double my efforts in finding the realm of Cosmus. I doubt the Effeelions ever thought of this. Although it could put Kazenolumos at risk, I have to try it. We have been searching for so long, it is worth a try. The jewel responded to my energy before. I wonder how far we will be able to see once I combine my power with it. It is no wonder the Specters want all four cosmo jewels. If this works then I will also seek the power of all four jewels. Oh Aeramus, I feel something greater approaching. Something much greater than the age of twilight.
Rey Ling
Tong Doran Cho.
The land of the four dragons. That was what it translated to in the common tongue, yet outsiders called it The United Pathways. On the map of the world, the country coiled along the south east. To its north was Zolan, the desert country. To its west was Yama, whom they fought for centuries. To its east was the spiral country, Maer Weeyar. For centuries these countries fought, and for centuries Tong Doran Cho won the battle, but they had yet to win the war. For centuries, Tong Doran Cho, had been keeping the rest of the world ignorant of their machinery.
Machinery? Did such a word exist outside of Tong Doran Cho? Did those who speak the common tongue have mechanic inventions and factories? No one else had power such as the Xaianians. Only the Yamajins spoke their tongue, Xaianese. No one dared challenge the Xaianians, not even with an army of mages. Swords, arrows and spears were futile against the their army, for their steel barrels could shoot small missiles that could pierce through any armor. No magic could stop them. Their steel inventions could endure any elemental attack. They reigned with enigma and always left their enemies dreading their next strike.
So powerful and yet for the last few decades the Gemzeh dynasty had little interest in conquest.
"Perhaps for now, but I am sure that the queen is plotting something for the years to come," Rey Ling said.
"You think so?" Yochan asked.
"My father had supplied the queen with kaminyte for decades," Rey Ling replied. "She is not using that steel to make decorations out of it. I am going to find out what she is hiding and do everything in my power to stop it. The last thing our great nation needs is war. I will be damned if Queen Gemzeh stirs up trouble with the Yamajins."
"It's not like they would have the upper hand anyways," Yochan implied. He fixed his green turtleneck tunic, buttoning it as the cold winds of winter blew through the window as autumn departed.
The train shook and they swayed left and right. Rey looked out the window, watching a small village stream by. He saw people working in the rice fields and farmers herding animals. Leaves fell from orange and red trees. Hills rose on the horizon and the sun was a few hours away from setting.
"Even with our machinery, other countries were still able to defend themselves," Rey added. "Machines have yet to replace magic. I don't think technology could ever overpower it. Never underestimate nature, for the Omungi Galou will punish you."
"Your father did not believe in the Omungi Galou," Yochan reminded.
"But I do," Rey said. "My father was motivated by greed. That is not me. The Golden Gear factory will not be managed by the same level of thinking as my father had. It is because of him that our company is in debt, it is because of him that we have to pay the queen with kaminyte as currency."
"Ever wonder why kaminyte?" Yochan asked.
"I don't know, but I'd rather pay her with steel that we have no use for than our other valuable assets," Rey answered.
Rey Ling had a section of the train to carry the kaminyte that was being delivered to the queen. His men were on board with wheelbarrows and wooden cranes to lift and haul the metal with ease. Year after year he paid his debt to the queen that his father, Wan Ling Cho, left before his death. Rey knew that the queen was trying to take over his company, Golden Gear, and so far he had managed to remain the owner.
The train headed to the queen's castle in Donragui, the capital of Tong Doran Cho in the Choelio Pathways. The train ran from the north, which was the tail of the dragon, all the way down to the south in the Choelio Pathways, which was the head of the dragon.
"What will you do if Golden Gear runs out of kaminyte?" Yochan asked.
"I am not sure, but I know that the queen would immediately try to take the company," Rey answered. "I know that is what she really wants. She is afraid of us. Afraid of how my father created something that was independent of her monarchy."
Yochan nodded and smiled. "Independent," he said. "Do you think that Golden Gear is the only organization in the world to become independent of their ruler?"
"If you mean publicly, then yes," Rey replied. "I have never traveled outside of Tong Doran Cho, but my studies have led me to an understanding that other countries are no different. The only difference we have is our machines. However, I assure you that it won't be long before the rest of the world begins to develop their own machinery and gadgets."
"What makes you say that?" Yochan asked, leaning in.
But Rey Ling did not answer. He crossed his arms and looked out the window. "I will tell you some other time. We are about to arrive."
One of Rey's steel workers approached. The man bowed and his ponytail fell over his shoulder. "Lord Ling, we will be arriving in five minutes. The kaminyte will be ready for delivery."
"Excellent Sir Lem. Make sure it is all organized. The queen is sensitive to detail and dislikes clutter," Rey told his worker.
"As you wish, Lord Ling," said the worker and continued walking down the carriage.
The train shook and when Rey looked out the window, houses peeked over the walls of the capital city. The train went through a dark tunnel then light shone again when they arrived at their destination. Steel squealed and clanked as it came to a complete stop. The train hissed, releasing its last puffs of smoke. They were now at the terminal and Rey stood up feeling relieved to finally stretch his back and legs.
"My arse feels like soft meat pounded by a butcher. Let's get off the train and deliver this steel so we can move on with our lives," he grumbled.
Rey fixed the goggles on his head then loosened his high boots to make his concealed weapon more comfortable against his ankle. He buttoned up his black vest and fixed his ruffled white long-sleeved undershirt.
"Lord Ling, your sword," Yochan reminded. He held a long sword in its scabbard, gilded with a nicely braided handle.
"No weapons are allowed in the castle, hide it for me," Rey said.
Rey Ling and his right hand assistant, Yochan, exited the carriage first. Their men followed behind carrying kaminyte in wheelbarrows and on wheeled platforms.
Xaianians from all over the country arrived at the terminal. They came to the capital city to find work and other opportunities. The Xaianians were a mixed blood race. Their ancestry started with travelers from the Yama country and Zolan. The people had a variety of skin tones, from olive to pale. Their eyes were narr
ow and slanted, colored amber, yellow and hazel but mostly light brown. In the terminal, people walked with wide pointy hats made of bamboo and buttoned tunics. Some people wore ruffled shirts with a vest and others wore silk jackets with firm collars.
Some people greeted Rey Ling gracefully and respectfully. They bowed their heads in respect to him and shook his hand. He was of the Ling family, the founders of Golden Gear and inventors of the train and other gadgets. His family brought to their country inventions and machinery to improve the lives of the people. Although Rey had much prestige he did not always like it, it was too much praise for him to endure.
Twenty of his men carried kaminyte in wheelbarrows. They exited the train and quickly made their way out of the terminal and into the street of Dorangui. The streets were crowded with people and wagons with three rubber wheels moving without a horse. The three-wheeled wagons made rapid humming noises. Men inside these wagons were in control and made them run. It was another invention by Golden Gear. It was Rey's favorite innovation.
Edifices ran up to ten floors with people living in them. Already Rey Ling heard music in the streets and saw people dancing to the beat of drums in cultural long sleeve robes with countless pins in their hair and jewels hanging from them. A line of ten men disguised themselves as a dragon and the head could blink and even move its mouth. There were merchants in the streets selling fruits, vegetables, accessories and clothes, and there was even a bald bearded old man selling huge empty turtle shells.
There were city guards in every corner keeping the streets free of danger. The city guards were called Hilipia and were the only ones allowed to carry swords and other weapons by law. They wore round helmets, studded leather armor and vambraces. Their belt buckle was the sculpted head of a barking lion dog. A Hilipia approached Rey Ling and bowed his head.
"Lord Ling, we've been expecting you," the officer politely said. "The hayunsuh will arrive in a few minutes."
Spirit of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 2) Page 5
