Pilgrim 6, p.14
Pilgrim 6, page 14
Danzen looked at the glowing demon text with disgust. The only thing he could imagine doing in that moment was defying Tengir simply by succeeding. If understanding this demonic script would help Danzen and his companions, it was worth learning.
“Well?” Tengir Gantulga asked. “Would you like to be able to read it?”
“I would.”
“Then it is done.” And as those words left Tengir Gantulga’s lips, Danzen could suddenly make sense of the text as if it were a language he had been reading his entire life. Scrawled across many of the surfaces were multiple warnings to anyone who discovered this sanctuary to go a different way. The warnings claimed that the sanctuary was cursed, that anyone who entered it would die.
“Interesting,” Tengir Gantulga said as he ran his hand over his braided beard. “Now you don’t have to enter it. Now you can simply return to the others and try to find another remnant.”
“He may be lying,” Sansar told Danzen.
“Sure, I may be lying, but you are reading the text yourself,”
Tengir Gantulga said. “Is it not a warning? Did the Diyu worshiper who placed this remnant here not make sure there was a message of caution?”
“Why wouldn’t they carve the text in the common tongue?”
“You don’t understand, do you? The sanctuary was here long before the fall of Diyu. It once held something else, it seems. The markings were made then. It was only sealed off after it had been looted.”
“What was this place before?”
“I can’t be sure.” Tengir Gantulga yawned. “There are locations like this all across your world. There are also places like it within Diyu. You like finding treasure, don’t you? You could always come search in Diyu, if you would like. There is much more to your blood than you know, my son, and there’s much more that I would be able
to do for you if you allowed me to unlock it. Don’t you want to know what true power is? Can you imagine yourself on the same level as Nomtoi? Can you imagine yourself stronger, able to crush your brother?”
“You know it won’t be that easy.”
Tengir Gantulga glared at Sansar. “And what makes you say that?”
“For him to become like Nomtoi, he would have to completely separate himself from his human nature. What you are offering is just that. You would fully make him a demon, and in doing so he would lose his humanity; he would lose the ability to bend his echo, to exist in the same way he does now.”
“And that’s a problem? What good did being a human ever do for you, son?” Tengir asked Danzen directly. “All humans have done is use you; from the moment your mother dropped you off at the Diyu Brotherhood, all they have done is take advantage of your blood.”
“You have used me as well,” Danzen said, referring to the times that Tengir Gantulga had threatened Danzen’s companions if he didn’t perform certain tasks.
His father shrugged this statement off. “I disagree. I never used you. I merely offered you an opportunity. You will see, one day, my son, that there is so much more, more than you can possibly imagine, about your nature and your potential. Good luck with the rest of the Seven Evils. Say my name when you are ready to advance your power, and if I were you”—Tengir Gantulga nodded to the warning etched into the stone—“I would heed that warning.”
.Chapter Three.
Danzen approached the large stone pocket door, easily twice his height. It was cracked in the middle, too thin for him to slide through.
If Kudzu was there, she might have been able to fit through the crack clear to the other side, but Danzen was going to have to open the door a different way. Just to see how heavy the rock was, he placed both hands on opposite sides of the crack and worked to pry it open.
It didn’t budge, just as he had suspected.
Danzen took a step back and examined it, his eyes tracing all the way up to the top. Whoever had put this here had spent considerable time constructing it. In taking a look at the cavernous space yet again, he noticed more details, aside from the demonic writing that still held a purple glow to it. It must have taken decades to build something like this, to cut the door out of the rock that was already here. From what he could tell, none of it had been transported in.
“Be ready for anything, Pilgrim.”
Danzen nodded at Sansar’s suggestion as he once again focused on the cracked door. Tilting his head ever so slightly, Danzen closed his eyes and took a step back, feeling the power swelling within him. He had the notion to shatter the stone, but he also appreciated the work that had been done on the sanctuary, and felt that in doing so he would desecrate it in some way. So instead of taking things to the extreme, he slowly opened his eyes and brought his hands together.
Danzen sensed the cultivated power at the tip of his fingers, an extension of his being in certain ways. The power of Sunyata now rippling between his palms, Danzen pressed his hands away from one another and as he did each side of the door began to rumble.
Dust fell from the ceiling, rock striking the stone ground, as Danzen focused even harder, his head tipped forward. Danzen suppressed a sudden feeling of rage at his father, at how Tengir Gantulga had yet again toyed with him.
Now wasn’t the time. Now was the time to focus.
“You’re doing it,” Sansar said, his voice at the back of Danzen’s head now, much quieter than it should have been. He continued
using his echo to press each side of the doorway until it was finally open.
Danzen lowered his hands. He waited for the door to snap shut again, yet it made no indication that it was going to budge.
“I’ll fly through the other side.”
Danzen watched as Sansar quickly moved to the other side of the door. Without a word he took a step forward and came to a new chamber, one with low ceilings and walls covered with more of the purple demonic script. The warnings were repeated— turn back now if you value your life—the words etched so many times that they actually illuminated the space.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Danzen asked Sansar as he finally removed his hood from his head.
“I haven’t. Much of my focus has been on rebuilding Sunyata, which for me has meant waiting until the right situation came along.”
“How did you know that I was the right situation?” Danzen asked, using Sansar’s own words.
“I didn’t. I just knew that certain factors would be necessary for it to even be possible. I learned of your mother’s terrible situation with
your father, what he did to her in her youth. Once I saw her dedication, I made contact. I am also the one who introduced Shodren to the Sundiyu Sect, although I now believe that they have led her on the wrong path. I regret that introduction now. I suppose that this is my long-winded way to answer your question, how I knew, or better, how I came to know that it was you. As you are well aware, I have been watching you for some time on Shodren’s behalf.”
“I’m aware.”
A span of silence spread between the two. Finally, Sansar spoke again: “Anyhow to answer your earlier question as to if I’ve ever seen anything like this. I’ve known of places like this, but I’ve had little interaction with them. This is new territory for me as well, Pilgrim. And I believe that once we are out of here, it may do us well to speak to Nova about all of this. It is clear to me now that he guided us here, even if he did so under the cover that he had found the information in the map provided. I also believe that some of the fallen angels, beings like Uchi, had an interest in this darker aspect of Sunyatic energy. Because that’s what it is, that is what all of this is,” Sansar said as he swept his wing at the crazed carvings.
“Everything is Sunyata. That is what your father won’t admit. Diyu
itself is Sunyata, the mortal realm is Sunyata, and the power that your father and your half-brother wield, are also Sunyata.”
“But heaven has fallen. All that is left are remnants, and talismans.”
“It still exists in all of us, and it exists in them as well. You have grown considerably in your understanding of echo cultivation and how it relates to everything around us. You will grow still. But there is a connection you’ve yet to make, and I’m not going to be able to explain it to you. It is a connection that you must come to understand on your own. Only then can you reach your full potential. And to be honest with you, Pilgrim, that full potential scares me. I don’t know if you can handle that kind of power. I don’t know if anyone can. But more on this later. For now, it should just be something that you contemplate while you bend your echo. Let’s continue. We should see where this path goes.”
****
Danzen came to a rope hanging from the ceiling, the pathway ahead crumbled. Normally, he would leap across something like this, but with the low ceilings, doing so wouldn’t be as simple. There was always a chance that he could jump to the side wall and run across that way, but it was quite the distance, and he didn’t know if he could make it.
The hanging rope would have to do.
Danzen reached out and grabbed the end of the rope. He then tested how strong it was, surprised to see that it had been tied off somewhere beyond a crack in the ceiling. Whoever had put this here had been quite agile.
Sansar flew to the other side. The raven continued up the crumbled pathway before returning to Danzen.
“What do you see?”
“I really don’t know how to describe it.”
Danzen took a few running steps forward and jumped to the rope dangling from the center of the space. As he swung to the other side, he felt the rope shift down, yet it held his weight as he swung back and forth.
Once he was able to, Danzen finally cleared the gap.
Upon landing, he stood and quickly dusted off his robes. He looked ahead, as Sansar landed on Danzen’s shoulder. Together, they took a flight of crumbled stone steps up to an opening filled with light. The cavernous space was large enough that Danzen had trouble seeing to the other side. The air was cold, yet slightly moist, moss and undergrowth tracing along the side walls. As had been the case in the last two chambers, the maniacal demonic carvings were visible everywhere, the warnings growing increasingly frustrated.
Danzen had never really thought about how jarring the written word could be, yet seeing it plastered over many of the surfaces was beginning to bother him. Was there an enemy ahead? Who would go to so much trouble?
Danzen stepped out onto a platform, his action causing rocks to tumble behind him. Glancing down, he realized that he had stepped directly onto a stone trigger. Sansar spoke as the dust cleared: “I believe we may be trapped.”
“We will find a way out.” Danzen looked down, the former assassin not able to discern how high up they were. He picked up a stone and dropped it over the ledge nearest to him. It took a
moment, but he finally heard it hit shallow water below, its echo filling the cavern.
“I do hope so.”
There was about a five-foot gap between Danzen and the next ledge. He took a few steps back and then ran forward, jumping at the very last moment. Danzen landed. He shot his arms out, just in case more rocks were set to fall. Looking ahead he saw that there was another stone trigger on the ground that he had missed by just a few inches. Danzen stepped around it.
“Absolute insanity, whoever designed this,” said Sansar as he lifted off Danzen’s shoulder. “What was it for? Your father claimed the sanctuary was designed well before the fall, which I believe to be true based on the engineering alone. Humans haven’t created things like this since then. Yet the etchings are newer.”
Danzen nodded.
Once he was ready, Danzen jumped to the next ledge and pulled himself up, yet again avoiding the trigger. Just to see what the trigger he had avoided did when pressed, Danzen found a stone and tossed it onto the other platform. He hit his mark and a spire shot out from the rock wall, quickly returning to its base.
Sansar spoke again: “Tragic, really. Something like this would be a work of art if it wasn’t from the mind of a madman.”
The next platform was much higher up, Danzen forced to put as much power as he could into his calves and thighs to reach it. He flung himself into the air, found the ledge, and pulled his body up.
There was no stone trigger here, not that he could see, yet Danzen took things slowly as he came to what appeared to be a new challenge. Running along a pair of walls created by two vertical platforms were spheres lodged in stone ports. All aside from one sphere were placed in the ports on the left wall, all but one of the ports on the right empty.
“What do you think?” Sansar asked.
Danzen sat, his legs crossed beneath his body as he contemplated what was clearly some kind of puzzle. He peered ahead and made out another pocket door, one that was sealed. He spoke to Sansar: “Can you investigate that door? Do you think I’ll be able to open it?”
By the looks of things, if he could use a door, he would be able to move higher into the cavernous chamber, closer to the two platforms up at the top that he couldn’t currently reach. As Sansar flew ahead,
Danzen took another look around, noticing that this was the only path that he could conceive of at the moment to continue to the top.
If there was an exit up there, he could use that to get back to the others.
It wasn’t long before the three-legged raven returned. “It isn’t like the door in the front. You aren’t going to be able to pry it open.
Perhaps you could shatter it, but doing so may create more trouble than it’s worth. It is best to solve the puzzle,” Sansar said as he landed next to the former assassin.
Danzen took another look. On the left wall there were four ports, three with a stone sphere lodged in them, one missing. On the right side was the missing sphere, as well as three stone ports.
“Maybe I can move the spheres,” he finally said, “from left to right.”
“I don’t see how they are suspended, yet I suppose it is worth a shot.”
Danzen closed his eyes, and as he did he began to focus on his echo. All he needed to do, if it was even possible, was move the three stones from the left to the ports on the right. Or perhaps it was
the reverse, perhaps he needed to move the single stone from the right to the left. At least it was worth a shot.
With his eyes shut everything was highlighted in a different way.
Danzen decided to keep them closed as he focused on the first rock sphere. He mentally reached out for the first sphere. It rose from the port it had been docked in. The stone floated through the opening to the counter adjacent port on the right. Upon placing it in the port, the stone dock twisted, locking into place.
“That is something,” Sansar said. “Try another.”
Danzen did the same, floating the stone from the left to the right side, where it locked into the port.
“One more.”
Yet again Danzen reached out for the stone sphere, removed it, and sent it to the other side, where it locked in place. Danzen heard the sound of the doorway ahead shifting into the wall.
“It’s open,” said Sansar, a hint of excitement in his voice. “We will reach the top yet.”
****
Able to perform a running wall jump to the next platform, Danzen continued through the door that had just opened. He came to a staircase with moss growing on the side of it. The left wall was fully intact, yet the right wall had mostly deteriorated. As he came to the top, he realized why Sansar had been surprised earlier. The platform above had two large ports, each the span of his outstretched arms. It was clear that something was meant to go in the ports.
Danzen began to look around. He spotted a large spherical stone on a different platform, one resting on a pedestal. It had been covered in the demonic script, just like all the other surfaces around him. “There is one,” he said. “Do you see the other?”
The three-legged raven found a perch on another platform, one that was about fifteen feet up. Danzen was fairly certain he would be able to jump to it given his current angle.
“There is one here,” Sansar called down to him. “But it is protected.”
“Let’s try that one first.”
Danzen shot into the air and reached Sansar. After he pulled himself up, he saw that a stone enclosure had been erected around the large stone sphere. Sansar now stood on the cage of stone, looking down at the spherical rock inside. “What do you think?”
“I can shatter the cage and gain access to the sphere. But I’ll have to be careful.”
“Yes, careful not to shatter the sphere itself. Do you think you can do it?”
Danzen approached the cage made of hardened stone, wishing at that moment that he had brought Nomin’s replica short sword with him. It seemed able to pierce almost anything. His Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds had the same feature, but something about this stone told him that it would be risky to try to hit it with his favored weapon.
Normally, when he shattered objects, Danzen did so from a few feet away. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d actually placed his hand on something and made it crumble, but this seemed to be the best way for him to control his own power, so he went for it.
After Sansar flew up to his shoulder, Danzen honed in on the energy around him.
Lowering his head, Danzen once again closed his eyes and saw the stone enclosure rimmed in purple. He focused on his hand, his fingertips glowing with energy that he was generating. Danzen dug his fingers into the stone, fissure lines appearing. He pressed harder, and the enclosure shattered.
Danzen whipped his hand back, his fingertips hot like he had held them an inch or so above the tip of a flame. He blew on them instinctively, and shook his hand out.
“You only get one chance,” Sansar reminded Danzen as he examined the spherical stone and the port below. Danzen took a few steps back and lifted his hand, concentrating fully on the task at hand. The stone sphere rose from its port, and Danzen noticed something that he hadn’t really toyed with before. The weight felt no different than when he had floated smaller stones. As he hovered the stone over the side of the platform, a number of applications came to Danzen, ways that he could use this to his advantage. He let those thoughts all slide away as he focused on lowering the floating sphere down to one of the ports below him. Once he got it in place, the stone locked, as it had done earlier.
