When she woke up, a woman with long hair as red as her eyes, pink cheeks, and thick lips, the body covered only by an old rag of sawdust, was kneeling by her side. Aurora rubbed her eyes, but the woman did not vanish. She looked around but there was no sign of Liu-Ken.
"Calm down," the woman said. Her voice was sweet, soft, harmonious, impossible to deny the effect it had on Aurora. "You're dreaming," she said.
"Dreaming? Why does everything seem so real?" Aurora asked, sweeping her fingers over some damp leaves.
"It's one of my many qualities," the woman said, now with her legs crossed.
"But who are you and why are you doing this?" Aurora asked her, trying to get up, but she quickly realized that both her hands and legs were pinned to the ground by green, thick, thorny vines. The more she tried to escape, the more her skin was bruised, blood dripping down her body and staining her clothes.
"We met earlier," she said, "you too are a different being, aren't you?"
"The fox? Are you the fox from earlier? I'm sorry if I scared you," Aurora said, tilting her head up to see her better, "I'm a necromancer, not by my choice.”
"It's Dao's choice. It is He who chooses the course of the world's swells. The gods are nothing but His subjects," the fox said. "You must not use your power until you are sure that you can control it."
"I thought I could do it!" Aurora said, trying to get up, the spikes scraping and bruising her skin, "This is harder than it looks, you know?"
"I don't care. I am this forest’s protector. Don't think I'm going to let a being like you feed on our beautiful mana," the woman said, her red hair now covering part of her left eye, "I will allow you to walk from one end to the other, but I hope we won't have to meet like this again. Next time I won't be so kind. Now I'll let you go, but don't forget that I'll be following your footsteps closely," she said, standing up.
"Any advice to get better?" Aurora asked. The sarcasm on the tip of her tongue was not to the fox's liking. She lifted a finger and made a circle with it in the air; the strings squeezed Aurora's body, the thorns sinking into the skin.
"Don’t try to do everything at the same time. Take it slow. Baby steps. Maybe then you can escape the claws of those who are getting closer," she said.
"Do you know where they are? Are they close?" Aurora asked, her heart pounding faster now.
"I know a little bit about everything. I can hear those who tread on my ground and of others like me," she explained, "they are getting closer. Both your enemies and those who will be willing to help you," she explained.
"Help me? Who wants to help me?"
"You will know. There will come a time when you will have to decide the path you want to take," she said.
"I've already decided. I know what I want and how I want it. I'll take my revenge without losing control," Aurora said, her voice now muffled.
"You have just started your journey, Aurora. You still have a lot of hardships and tribulations ahead of you. You won't go through the fire army if you don't understand that the changes must be accepted and welcomed," she said, diverting her hair from her eye, "when the time comes, you'll understand. Now wake up," she added and snapped her fingers, a faint trace of red light dazzling the girl’s sight.
"Finally, you woke up. What made you want to use something we hadn't even trained yet?"
"I thought I could do it on my own," Aurora told him, omitting the conversation she had had with the fox. She wanted to keep that moment to herself. The fox's words had left her with doubts about how she wanted to deal with her revenge. She did not want to hurt anyone innocent, and even though she knew it was a naive view of the world, she wondered to what extent she would not succumb to the destruction that Yin had offered.
"You should have talked to me about it first. I would have helped you," Liu-Ken said. "Can you stand up?"
"Yes, yes," Aurora said, struggling to get up. Liu eventually grabbed one of her arms and helped her, "What now?”
"We keep moving. Not that we have anywhere else to go," Liu-Ken replied, "What are you doing?" he asked, as he saw Aurora lifting her pants to her knees, followed by the arms hems.
"Nothing, nothing. I was distracted. It's hot, don't you think?" Aurora said, messing up. The truth was that she had felt compelled to check if she had bruises from the thorns. The pain had not been an illusion. The pinch in her heart with every thorn that dug into the skin had been real. And yet, there wasn't even a single mark or stain to prove that it had happened.
"If you need to rest for a few more minutes, we can stick around," Liu-Ken added, before walking up to the backpacks.
"It's not necessary. I'm fine," Aurora replied, and her mouth widened with a smile, slender lines appearing on her swollen nose.
They had no idea what time it was, but due to the intensity of the sun's rays that made the clearing ablaze, they figured that it had to be around 12:00-1:00 pm. They grabbed their backpacks and headed into the road.
Before they dove deep into the forest, two red eyes peered through the bushes towards Aurora. She gulped. Now, more than ever, she was being watched and couldn't make a mistake. The expectations were piling up. The nature that had delivered the girl to the world now turned against her, forcing her to evolve much faster than any other necromancer before her.
Chapter 22
The journey had begun three long days ago. The forest was dense, and they had yet to find a safe place to spend the nights. Wild animals lurked beneath the trees and bushes, some perched on the trunks, waiting for the right moment to strike. The sun's beams were sparse and thin. Liu-Ken had been on the watch that night and had not slept for a whole day. He had tried to teach Aurora how to use the mana around them but without any success. He suspected the girl was holding back, and although he understood why, he sensed that she was hiding something. The fox followed them closely, followed by an entourage of rabbits.
"I can no longer do this," Aurora said. "aren't we supposed to be there already?"
"We should be a few hours away. We've made it all this far, we can't stop now."
"Can't we just take a five-minute break?"
"We can. But you must try again to absorb a portion of the mana around. Just enough to cover your hands with natural mana."
"Must I?" Aurora said, already seated, leaning back and resting her head on a log.
"I understand you're afraid to take a risk after what happened. But someday you will have to. We can't stop here. You still have a lot of potential to unlock," Liu-Ken told her, "Let's do it. Cross your legs and do the basic breathing exercises. Calm down. Let everything around you be nothing more than a breeze blowing in your ear," he added.
Aurora obeyed. She tried to focus, her eyes closed, paying attention to the breeze that ripped throughout the trees, feeling the mana's waves. She lifted a single finger and hoped it would be enough. The mana, not resisting to a necromancer’s call, came closer. And then, as had happened with the last two times she had tried at Liu-Ken's behest, pieces of a puzzle came together and formed a female face, red and expressive eyes staring at the girl's soul. She lost control and waved her finger; the mana was thrown against a nearby tree and opened a hole on the trunk, from one side to the other. A perfect circle, black smoke on both sides, had been embedded in the tree.
"Something is blocking you," Liu-Ken told him. "What is it?"
"It's nothing. I'll get it. Better keep training, huh?" Aurora said, smiling, the corners of her lips trembling as she tried to hide her lie.
"You're a terrible liar, girl," the mentor replied.
A scream broke out from the depths of the forest saving Aurora from further scrutiny. She breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, her hand already on the handle of the double-edged sword. Liu-Ken also stood up, placing himself between the girl and whoever was approaching. Schizophrenic, loud, crazy chuckles mixed with crying and snot. Boots stepping on plants, metal creaking, agonizing screams, someone begging for mercy.
Liu-Ken turned around, grabbing Auro
ra by the collar, and throwing her over to the nearest bushes. Then he grabbed their backpacks and did the same, hiding as well. The dark green cover being used as a camouflage, sheltering them from others. Three huge silhouettes, the beer bellies making their round faces look like targets, chased a slender boy, his clothes shredded, his chest riddled with fresh, bloody bruises from a whip. The boy had a muddy apple in his hand.
"What do we do?” Aurora asked, watching the scene unfold, the boy tripping over one of the many vines on the ground and heading face down to the ground.
"Nothing. We can't get into a quarrel like this," Liu-Ken said. "I know it is hard, but we don't know who they are. They may be at the behest of the city’s lord. We cannot let anyone know that we have been here. It may seem like not much, but they are crumbs that could eventually bring the Kaji School to us," he said.
"And we stand by and watch the boy get his ass kicked to death?" Aurora whispered, unable to take her eyes off the boy's blood-soaked face, his eyes swollen, about to burst.
The three men took turns punching the boy. Each one would punch him and then the next one would come and try to overcome the previous one's strength. The boy's face was a mere punching bag, bouncing up and down, blood rivers staining the grass, the color of his eyes fading under the ball-shaped swellings.
"Yes, it's a hard lesson to give you, believe me. This journey brings blood and death. You knew it when you decided to take it," Liu-Ken said, avoiding looking at the bloody scene only a few meters away.
"I accepted that, yes! But this is different. I can have an impact on this, I can save him," Aurora said, her hands clenched, face shaking, her eyebrows merging into one.
"Calm down," the mentor said, "let's see where this is going.”
Aurora bit her lower lip. She opened her hands and took a deep breath. The black chi inside him bubbled, the anger feeding, giving rise and contours to the dark and restless desires that slept deep within him. A constant struggle between both sides. A tumult of emotions that were sucked in and shaped to the pure pleasure of whoever would lay their hands on it.
The bloodstained boy fell to the ground. The green and red leaves around his silhouette fluttered over him. His clothes were stuck to his body, totally drenched in blood. He tried to close his fingers, but he didn't even have the strength to do so. The apple rolled over, only stopped by one of the three men’s left boot. He laughed and stepped on it. The boy opened his mouth, but no sound came out. All he had left was muffled air.
"So much effort for nothing. Don't worry. No one will miss you and we will take good care of your friends in the orphanage," the man who had stepped on the apple said.
The others laughed. They all had yellow teeth, leftovers of food between them, curly hair coming out of their nostrils and clothes soiled with alcohol. One of them, the smallest, moved closer. Attempting to assert himself before the others, he stepped on the boy's throat. His gaze did not stop still, spinning between the boy and the other two men.
The boy gathered all the strength he still had and raised his arms, scratching the man's pants, looking for a way out of there. His survival instincts had been triggered and he attempted to free himself in every way possible. His eyes rolled back, his breathing shortened, his hands slowed, as he ceased to move. The wind roared harder and louder throughout the forest.
"I can't see this anymore," Aurora said, her eyes moistening.
"You need to stop looking. This will be over soon,” Liu said.
"How could you... You, who were so worried about my possible choice of destroying everything and everyone, now you're preventing me from saving a human life?"
"It's not that I don't want to save him, but right now there's more at stake than just one life," Liu-Ken said, looking down, unable to face Aurora. As he stepped back, he shattered a wooden stick, the crackling noise drawing the attention of the three chubby men.
"Who's there?!" The man who had not acted yet, the only one with blond hair and an X tattoo on his left arm, asked. All three drew their swords.
Liu-Ken put a finger in the center of his lips and signaled Aurora not to make any noise. However, she could not bear it anymore. Her anger played her as if she was its puppet. The girl stood up and murmured an apology before turning around and leaving the hiding place.
"That's enough. Leave him alone," Aurora said, lifting her sword. "No one needs to get hurt," she added, her trembling fingers on the weapon, her feet heavier.
"Were you there during all this time? Who do you think you are to interrupt us?" The shorter man asked, not taking his foot off the boy's throat. A thin ray of light slipped through a dozen thick trunks unveiling a diagonal scar that ran from the area next to his right eyebrow to the middle of his cheek.
"Yes. He has already learned any lesson you wanted to teach him. Leave him alone," Aurora shouted, her voice twitching as it spread across the forest. Familiar eyes lurked behind the bushes.
The man who had stepped on the apple before took a step forward, "He stole from us. The penalty for that is death. I advise you to take a walk and pretend you never saw any of this. Unless you want to be next. You will be given the same service as him. A full ass-kicking with everything you're entitled to. We don’t care if you’re a girl," he said and laughed, a trail of sticky saliva running down the cleft on his chin.
"I can't do that," Aurora said. Her heart was pounding faster. The sword now weighed twice as much. Her fingers were damp and slipped off the handle, "If you want to do it this way, I won't hesitate," she said.
The smaller man lifted his leg a few inches and dropped it into the boy's face with all his might. His body bounced back, and the ground welcomed him unconscious. A breath as thin as fleeting clung to life. Without medical care, the skinny boy wouldn't resist his injuries for long.
Aurora felt something she had never felt before; she was repulsed. It was no longer anger that ran through her veins. It was something more ephemeral and volatile. The black chi pulsed through the meridians. A black crust, distinct from the others by its bright black color, covered her entire body. Her eyes darkened. The blackness did not stop there and spread throughout the sword, a thick sediment that obscured both sides of the grey. The smell of brimstone, death, almost sour, hovered in the air. The surrounding trunks lost their color, a few loose splinters committing suicide. The green in Aurora's five-meter space also faded now that they accepted death as their new master.
"What's going on?" the smaller man asked. "An illusion trick? These kids have too many tricks up their sleeves. The punishment will be worse," he said.
"This doesn't sound like an illusion trick at all. There is no smoke. I don't see anyone else," the man with the X on his arm replied.
The energy increased. The black chi floated in distorted, split waves around Aurora's body. The feeling was different. This time, Aurora was not seizing the mana around her. Her repulsion was paying off by fetching the chi from the girl's core. Her skin wrinkled, her muscles diminished, and her ribs and clavicles protruded above the rest. It was almost an ethereal vision, the girl resembling more and more like a Shinigami, a god of death. Her body glided over the ground, pushing itself toward the three men, her bottomless eyes peering into their souls.
"Kill her!" the same man said, "Have no mercy," he added, holding on to the weapon, his fingers plumped from tightening them so heavily against the metal.
The other two men held together, shoulder to shoulder, swords on the diagonal, both iron edges inclined to the right. Rusty, stained with fluids and dry blood, they were no match for the two sharp edges Aurora carried. In one stroke, the girl pierced the air and broke both swords, almost beheading the men. A trail of bright red arose on the skin surface of both their necks. They stepped back, tripping over broken branches, falling on their asses.
"I'll have to deal with you myself, then," the remaining man said. He straightened his black hair with a few gray strands to the right side and moved forward, running with the weapon throbbing.
&nbs
p; Aurora didn't move. She waited until the last possible second, and only then did she dodge. Her body moved in a non-human way. To the man facing her, Aurora had teleported herself. However, for Liu-Ken, who was still hiding, guarding their backpacks, the girl had just moved too fast for normal eyes to follow. Her potential had been unlocked. Her lightness was comparable to the great cultivators that roamed that continent.
Aurora completely ignored the man. After straying away from him, she struck him with the sword handle and proceeded towards the smaller man. The man tried to walk away, crawling backward, his fingers scraping the filthy ground. Aurora's eyes were dark, and chi was still bursting out of her body, completely skirting around her. The girl stopped in front of the man and lifted her sword above his head.
The image that had crossed over her head during the visualization technique now seemed to be an honest view of what could happen when she lost control. Because Aurora was still there, hidden within herself, slamming the dome walls where she was trapped, her feet chained.
"I won't do it. I won't. I won't let down my foster parents and Liu-Ken. I'll show the fox that I'm not a threat," Aurora repeated to herself, coated in the same black miasma that adorned her real body. Even though she was struggling, she crawled around the dome, sometimes punching it, trying to break the impenetrable defense. "I don't want this for myself. I am better than this. I won't let emotions control me."
The fox's seven tails burst into flames. The sparks splattered the surrounding bushes and, instead of burning them, an orange color, almost golden, stretched throughout them. Her eyes glowed and the reddish dust hovered over her. She stepped forward, her gaze intersecting with Liu-Ken's. It was time for him to act, or she would be forced to do so. After all, magical beasts could not meddle in the affairs of mortals unless they or the places they protected were in danger.
Liu-Ken only stood up when he saw that the man with the X on his arm, probably the leader among the three, had risen and was preparing to slice Aurora in half. His legs were spread out, a few steps apart, his body slightly tilted to the right, and his sword hung horizontally. He tugged it back, swinging, wishing to finish with just one blow. The mentor grabbed his flying sword and threw it as if it were a spear. She spun across the air, a circular tuft forming at its sharp end.
Awakening: (The Necromancer's Legacy Book 1) Page 10
