Pilgrim 3, p.24
Pilgrim 3, page 24
“We need our weapons back.” Danzen turned back to the monastery just as a few young nuns came out, oblivious to what had just happened. They started by throwing grains of sand into the air and then began bending their echoes in unison. Soon, another pair of nuns led Shimaru to join them, one of them giggling as she assisted him in the movements.
“I’ve never seen anything like that, but…” Yato steeled herself. “I’m learning to expect that in being associated with you.”
“It comes with the territory. You may go, if you’d like, back to Odval. I will handle my father’s request and he will return your weapons to you. You don’t have to take part in this.”
“Don’t have to take part? Why stop now? I’ve already made it this far.” Yato took a few steps forward, and crossed her arms over her chest. “In the time that I’ve known you, you have injured me, brainwashed me into not killing you, convinced me through your good nature that this was indeed a wise choice, met yokai, been in a battle against one of the most powerful assassins I’ve ever met, helped burn down a haunted temple, and now, I’ve been visited by the ruler of Diyu.” A twisted grin appeared on her face. “I don’t know what to make of any of this.”
“We can’t involve the others, Kudzu and Jelmay. They don’t know about my father’s appearances.”
“Won’t they wonder where your weapons are?”
“Not if we don’t make anything of it, if we act as if we are resting, taking the day off.”
“And won’t that bring attention to you?” Yato asked. “I get this feeling that you’re not the type that takes days off.”
“We can bend our echoes, and meet with Menya, who may know more about my father’s request.” Danzen shook his head bitterly. “This is the second time that he has done this, you know.”
“It is?”
Danzen explained what happened the first time, how his father had taken the form of a fox named Abbot Monpo and how he had asked him to kill a yokai known as a kappa. He also briefly detailed what had made this even more complicated, at least to him, that his father had been speaking to his mother for some time before Danzen approached the monastery he lived in, Danzen opening up about their discussion, how his mother claimed she was raped and how his father claimed that they were lovers.
“And have you asked her?”
“No. But I am starting to understand something from both of them. They both want something from me, it seems like both are in my life for their own selfish reasons, even if my mother’s reasoning is benevolent, one that could actually help this world. My father wants me to take his throne, as you know. My mother wants me to help her rebuild Sunyata, and there seems to be only two ways to do that. One would be to collect enough remnants to do it, which sounds incredibly difficult, and I’m unclear of how that would actually happen. I would need to talk to someone who knows more about the process, if there is even a process to begin with. The other way to rebuild heaven would be to take my father’s throne and use the power of Diyu.”
“I wish I knew what to tell you,” Yato said after a moment of silence. “What does Jelmay think?”
“Why do you ask?”
“He told me about the vision he’d had, that you played a role in all of this, that you would one day save Genshin Valley, and with that the world.”
Danzen bit his lip. “I doubt that will be the case.”
“He may be a little…” Yato looked up at the sky for a moment. “I don’t quite know the right word for him. I don’t find Jelmay annoying like Kudzu does, and I certainly don’t trust him, but there is a kind of jilted wisdom he carries, if that makes sense. But it may be worth it, running what has happened by him. He may have some insight.”
“Perhaps,” Danzen said as Kudzu exited the main monastery. She was in her human form, and she wore ash-colored robes like the nuns around her, her white hair lifting in a gust of wind and settling. She approached Danzen and Yato.
“Bending your echoes?” she asked.
“Just about to start,” Danzen lied.
“Where are your weapons?”
“No weapons today,” Yato said. “We thought we would bend without them and…” She looked to Danzen.
“Take today off.”
“Take the day off?” A smirk formed on Kudzu’s face. “Are you sure that’s you?”
“It’s me,” Danzen told her.
“Well, in that case, I can’t deny that a day off would be nice. I didn’t know what we were going to do today anyway.”
“For one, we need to start finding out about the abandoned shrines here in the mountains, and perhaps into the Outer Regions,” said Danzen. “Looking for remnants.”
“Do you think we will really go that far out?”
“I don’t know,” Danzen told Kudzu honestly.
“Jelmay’s going to love resting for the day,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “The cat and his snoring. Next time he snores like that, I’m going to sneak into his room and stuff a cloth in his mouth. Did you hear him? He was rattling my nightstand.”
“Is that what that was?” Yato asked.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Danzen told them honestly.
“Lucky you,” said Kudzu as she got into a position to bend her echo. “It’s strange, you know, bending as a human. Maybe I should morph…” She bobbed her head left and right. “Turn around. I’m going to morph in my fox form; we can deal with my robes later.”
Danzen and Yato did as instructed, and soon they were greeted by a white fox, Kudzu’s coat shimmering as always.
While the conversation could have continued, Kudzu became all business as she began her bending ritual.
“It’s different without a weapon,” Yato pointed out.
Danzen pushed his hands forward and realized he wasn’t feeling the same sensation, that it was nothing like what he felt when he held a weapon in his hand. Still, it was better than it had been when Abbot Monpo had first taught him, Danzen noticing that there was indeed a difference in his power now.
He demonstrated what the abbot had shown him, and soon, the two of them were going through the exercise, Yato with a determined look on her face.
“Can you feel it?” Danzen asked after they tried for a few minutes.
“I can’t.”
“In that case, let’s try our own style, combat.”
Kudzu stopped to watch them for a moment as Yato approached Danzen, the young assassin light on her feet. Moving from left to right, she brought a fist back and sent it forward, Danzen shadow blocking it and returning with another strike. They never hit each other, but their robes occasionally touched, Danzen feeling the power as they became more fluid.
A bell sounded off, indicating that it was time for breakfast.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Yato said as she brought her fist down, her chest heaving up and down. “Not quite the same, but I can feel it now.”
“So can I,” Danzen said.
“I’ve never seen anyone train with their echo in that way,” Kudzu told the two of them, a hint of suspicion in her eyes. “And you think it strengthens the sensation?”
“It does,” Danzen said. “It’s even stronger with our weapons, dangerous, I suppose, but certainly more noticeable.”
“I’d like to try that at some point,” she told him.
“Certainly.”
After Kudzu had changed back into her human form, which again required Danzen and Yato to turn away from her so she could slip into her robes, the three headed to breakfast. They found Jelmay seated at the end of the table, entertaining some of the younger nuns with his exaggerated gestures and corny jokes. He was also, predictably, eating as much as he possibly could, one of the nuns sweating as she ran back and forth to the kitchen to bring him more pieces of flatbread.
Menya, who was seated in the middle, motioned for them to join her.
Danzen took the place next to his mother’s temporary replacement, Yato and Kudzu sitting across from him. Soon, a dish of boiled greens garnished by poached eggs was placed in front of each of them accompanied by a sealed pan with flatbread inside, which was piping hot to the point that it released steam once one of the nuns opened it.
Danzen was quiet as they ate, his thoughts shifting back to what his father had instructed him to do. Once again, Tengir Gantulga had given his half-blooded son a target, yet this was unlike the kappa, not a yokai. This target would prove much more difficult, especially without his weapons.
Danzen didn’t bother to go up to his room to check on his Blade of Darkness or his gauntleted blades. He knew that his father would have taken them as well, that if he said no weapons, he meant it. It truly would be a challenge, one that Danzen was glad to take place deep in the mountains, away from civilization. The odds that his demons would be unleashed grew exponentially without the usage of one of his blades, hand-to-hand combat marred by small scrapes and cuts, bruises and other nicks that could lead to heavy bleeding, both external and internal.
This had been one reason why he liked using Astra so much, his preference also extending to his Blade of Darkness. They gave Danzen distance, allowing him to operate almost like an archer, able to kill without getting in close enough to sustain damage.
But he wouldn’t be able to enjoy this advantage now.
Danzen tuned back into the conversation once Menya began speaking of testing their echoes, the nun explaining to Yato how they went about such a task.
“As you likely know, there are numerous ways that people cultivate their echoes. The cheaper routes include finding, purchasing, or stealing an object imbued with an echo, a Sunyata talisman, then either wearing it or ingesting it. The way that we do it here is by bending, and periodically testing our power. It sounds complicated but there were only two things you really need to understand about the terms used to classify someone’s ability. There is their ‘subranking,’ which is listed first, ironically, and the ‘tier’ they are currently at, which is listed last.”
“For example,” Kudzu said, picking up on Menya’s explanation. “I am considered a Soul Mancer, which means my subranking is ‘Soul’ and my tier is ‘Mancer.’”
“Actually, that’s a good way for us to discuss this,” said Menya. “We determine a person’s subranking by a piece of clay that has been kept in the same room as the remnant. To determine this ranking, you hold the clay and it glows a certain color, from green to purple. Once it settles on a color, we know your subranking, and the clay shatters. We then move over to a stone. There are five levels to be gauged by what you are able to do with the stone. If you’re unable to do anything with it, you are at the first tier, an Adept. If you are able to float the stone, you are a Mancer. If you are able to shatter the stone after you have floated it, you are a Wielder. If you are able to repair the stone after first floating and shattering the stone you are a Reaver, and if you are able to float, shatter, repair and then simply dissolve the stone, you are at the highest tier, you are a Divinator. So in Kudzu’s case, her subranking is ‘Soul’ which corresponds with a purple piece of clay, and she is a ‘Mancer’, which means that she is able to float the stone. Once she progresses, which should be soon considering she’s at the very final subranking, she will move to the Wielder tier.”
“Do you have a visual for this?” Yato asked. “I get it, but a visual would help, at least it would for me.”
“We do, actually. These are printed on parchment that we distribute to those interested and those who have come here for testing.”
Shimaru entered carrying another sealed pan of flatbread, a nun leading him. The blind man placed the pan on the corner of the table near Jelmay, the bakeneko sparking up a conversation with him.
“That would be helpful to me,” Yato said.
“I would like one as well,” said Danzen. “I wrote it down in my field diary, but a visual would help.”
“Certainly. After breakfast. And we can test your echoes as well.”
“I also have a few questions for you,” Danzen added.
“Oh?” Menya bowed her head at him. “I hope I am wise enough to answer them.”
“I’m sure you are. We can do so later, privately.”
Danzen didn’t make eye contact with Kudzu. He really didn’t want her to know what his father had instructed him to do.
****
The remnant at his mother’s nunnery was smaller than the one at the fox shrine. This didn’t mean it wasn’t equally impressive, the remnant carved into a cube that glowed with a light-purple energy, the piece resting on a custom pedestal with supported wings to account for its weight. Menya, Danzen, Yato, and Kudzu had already sat before the remnant for a spell, the four simply basking in the energy it put off.
It became time to test where they fell on the spectrum, and to do so the four of them moved to the next room, into another basement. Menya explained that they normally blindfolded people before leading them to the remnant, that its location was a secret to prevent bandits from stealing it in the event of an attack. But she trusted Danzen considering he was Shodren’s child, and Yato and Kudzu were his companions, so she had led them through a maze of underground passages that eventually came to the remnant.
Low ceilings made it so Danzen had to duck just a little bit, a minor inconvenience as another nun entered the space carrying a small wooden basket with several clay slabs inside. This nun had been standing outside the door of the remnant room and had apparently entered once they exited. She placed the basket on a table, bowed to Menya, and left.
Kudzu was the first to test her ranking, mostly to demonstrate to Yato how it worked. She hadn’t changed her ranking, still a Soul Mancer, which meant she was able to float the stone, but wasn’t yet able to shatter it.
Danzen honestly didn’t know where he would fall on the spectrum, and he was surprised to see the clay slab grow green as he held it. As he had learned last time from Abbot Monpo, this didn’t mean he had moved down in a subranking, it actually meant he had moved up, that he had progressed to the next stage.
All he had to do now was shatter the stone.
The clay slab test over, Danzen approached a stone resting on a pedestal that looked to have been forged of discarded weapons. Focusing on the stone, which was about the size of two fists pressed together, Danzen was able to float it.
“You can do it,” he heard Kudzu whisper as he focused on the floating stone. It began to tremble, and for a moment he thought that it would simply return back to its place on the pedestal, but then it shook violently, and finally shattered in a way that defied physics. Pieces of rock didn’t go everywhere; rather, it was as if they hit an invisible wall, and simply slid down it once they broke off from the main piece.
Regardless, Danzen had certainly moved up a tier. He had truly progressed.
“Stone Wielder,” Menya said. “What were you before?”
“Crystal Mancer.”
Yato referred to the chart she had been given as Menya spoke.
“So you have progressed all the way through the subrankings of the Mancer tier and are officially at the Wielder tier. Impressive. Your mother would be proud,” Menya told him.
“What is her ranking?” Danzen asked, a question he hadn’t sought the answer to before. He was trying not to revel in the moment, and to do so required ignoring the sense of exhilaration in his chest. Danzen had improved and there was evidence of it, and it felt good. He’d been working toward it.
“Golden Reaver.”
“Come again?” Kudzu asked.
“Golden Reaver…” Yato looked at her chart. “That means she has almost done everything, float the stone, shatter the stone, repair the stone, and now she just needs to be able to dissolve the stone.”
“That’s right,” Menya said. “And she’s close. Only two sub-rankings to go until she’s ready. She may be there now. She doesn’t test herself very often any longer. Shodren is powerful and pious, a true inspiration around here,” she said, her cheeks glowing red as she spoke of Danzen’s mother.
“I was unaware,” Danzen said as he turned his focus to Yato. “Are you ready?”
Yato stepped over to the wooden tray of clay slabs. She selected one and held it with both hands, focusing on it. It began to glow bright blue and shattered, meaning she was at the Diamond sub-ranking. She approached the stone, and after concentrating, all she was able to do was make it tremble a little.
“Diamond Adept,” Menya said in a kind way. “For someone your age, it is rather good. Continue your practice, and you should be able to improve rapidly.”
****
Their rankings set, they left the underground chamber and came up to find a group of the nuns bending their echoes in one of the courtyards that provided a view of the valley below, not far from where Nomin’s funeral had taken place, Danzen remembering the pyre, the flames lifting from it.
He shook his head at the thought.
From there, Kudzu and Yato went to their rooms, while Danzen followed Menya to other balconies so they could speak privately. Once they were seated on cushions, they were brought tea by a young nun, who couldn’t have been older than Enkhmaa back in Suja Village.
“Now that we are alone, what is it you would like to discuss?” Menya asked after she took her first sip.
“Have you heard of someone named Shutendorji in these mountains?”
Her eyes widened. “Shutendorji the demon?”
Danzen nodded slowly.
“Yes, all of us have. Well, those who have been here for a while. Shodren was able to keep him away and he hasn’t visited in…” She glanced up at the sky for a moment, squinting. “It must have been a decade. I haven’t thought of him in years, to be honest with you. Why? Where did you hear this name?”
“It’s something I would like to handle.”
“Handle? You mean rid us of the demon?”
“In a way, yes.”
“Where did you even get this idea?”
“It is something I would like to handle,” Danzen said, being purposefully vague.
“I see. In that case, I can tell you where he generally stays, and even give you a map to the location. But I wouldn’t be able to tell you if he was still there or not. As I said, it has been years since anyone has heard from Shutendorji. Although…” Menya took a deep breath and. “I may be wrong about that. Maybe three years ago, a couple came here saying that they had lost the rest of their party in the outer regions, that they were attacked by some unknown creature, that they assumed was a yokai. Shodren seemed to think it was Shutendorji. But she never confirmed it with me.”
