Pilgrim 4, p.3
Pilgrim 4, page 3
More of the trees collapsed, and those in the vicinity lost their leaves as a wild wind whipped through the foliage.
By now, someone at his monastery must have seen what was happening, and just as he was coming down, Danzen glanced over his shoulder, noticing Yato moving toward the action.
And quickly, as well.
She wore a bracelet powered by a Sunyata remnant, which she had taken from a man named Tenan, one who would go on to ultimately commit suicide in the Asura Forest. The bracelet enhanced her speed considerably, and as Danzen came down toward the yokai, his sword now turned down so he could drive it into the top of the creature’s skull, Yato officially appeared, her gauntleted blades drawn, the female assassin swiping away one of the enemy yokai’s claws.
Danzen landed, his sword cutting into the back of the yokai’s neck, severing nerves and tendons, blood spraying into the air. He changed his trajectory at the very last moment possible, deciding not to drive his sword into the enemy yokai’s thick skull, looking for a soft spot instead.
The beast offered up a terrifying bellow as Danzen held onto the grip of his weapon. It reared up and slammed back down, Yato tossed to the side yet managing to land on her feet. Danzen held strong, and began trying to curve his blade around as the yokai attempted to buck him off again, the former assassin hoping to sever more blood vessels.
As Danzen held strong, the enemy yokai began to lose steam. It eventually let out a sigh as it flopped to the ground, the eye that Danzen hadn’t skewered rolling into the back of its head.
“What… what was that?” Yato asked, her robes disrupted by being tossed a good fifteen feet to the side, stray leaves pressed into her forearms. Her blades retracted into their gauntlets and she placed her hand over her mouth, the smell foul.
Danzen slowly withdrew his sword from the yokai’s neck and shook his head, a darkness coming over him as he turned toward the hill.
Once Yato caught up with him, she spoke again: “You were ambushed…”
Danzen nodded, a rare anger taking shape within him as he experienced remorse for what happened to Jelmay’s home. He’d grown fond of the bakeneko, and two people he considered as friends had built the place. It wasn’t just the home, it was a place just beyond Danzen’s front doorstep, a symbol of community.
“What the hell happened down there?” Kudzu asked as she reached the two of them, the white fox wide-eyed, ears perked with concern.
“A yokai attacked him…”
“Pilgrim?” Kudzu asked, looking at Danzen, but he’d already moved on by this point.
He reached Jelmay and Usagi, the bakeneko now on his feet, interpreting by both the sound and the look on Danzen’s face that something had happened.
“My… My home? It’s my home, isn’t it? What happened?”
Kudzu bared her teeth. “He was ambushed.”
“By what?”
“Well, it has been nice…” Usagi turned away, his form in the process of fizzling out when Danzen swooped down and grabbed the rabbit by his ears. “Unhand me!”
“Wait… wait…” Jelmay said, his eyes narrowing on Usagi. “You… were trying to set me up!”
“I wasn’t!”
“You wanted me to go down there, didn’t you? Admit it!”
“It was just… it was just supposed to be a warning… the waira threatened me!” Usagi said as he continued to struggle in Danzen’s grip, half of his form invisible by this point, which was what he was able to do with his unique command over his echo.
“You sent a waira after me?”
“No! Of course not, it threatened me… I only—”
“—That thing could have killed me!”
Kudzu took her place next to Jelmay, her hairs standing at attention as she ground her teeth and glared at the rabbit.
“I say let him go,” came a new voice. Danzen looked up to Sansar, who was still perched on the roof, the three-legged raven slowly bobbing his head left and right. “It is good for all of us to be on our toes going forward. What we are trying to do is unprecedented, and there will be those who disagree with it.”
“See? The yatagarasu understands!” said Usagi in a desperate tone. “That nasty waira threatened Osul. I had to point his ire elsewhere.”
“Threatened Osul?” Jelmay asked. “There are enough yokai there to stop it if it wanted to attack.”
“Attack? It didn’t want to attack. It threatened to move there if I didn’t tell him what was happening! You and I very well know that we can’t have a waira in the village. Have you seen that thing? Not only is it enormous, but it’s disgusting, vile, and the closer those things live to Diyu, the better. They shouldn’t even exist, if you ask me.”
Kudzu continued to grit her teeth. “Usagi, I swear to Sunyata if you ever try something like this again…”
“He survived!” Usagi cried. “Pilgrim survived, as did his trainee. What harm was done? Tell me what harm was done?”
“What about my house? Unless… unless I’m wrong. Pilgrim?”
Danzen shook his head.
“Bah! I should kill you myself.” Jelmay’s claws began to press out of his paws, the enraged look taking shape on his face at odds with the little vest that he wore. “I… I liked that home!”
“Then have a new one built. Don’t blame me!” Usagi continued to struggle as Danzen held the rabbit by his ears. “Unhand me, fool!”
Danzen looked toward the bottom of the hill, and back at Usagi.
“Wait… what are you thinking? Pilgrim, think about what you are doing! Think!”
“Do it,” said Jelmay, malice in his voice.
Danzen brought his arm back and hurled the jade rabbit as far as he could throw him, which was far considering he had the strength of a demon.
Jelmay brought his hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun. He then moved the same hand to his ear, cupping it in a way so he could hopefully hear the impact. “Ha! You got him! You hear that, fox?”
Kudzu winced. “That sounded painful…”
“Did you just…?” Yato shook her head, not sure if she should laugh or be concerned.
“Perhaps Usagi will consider what we are able to do next time he decides to work with the enemy,” Danzen said, his nerves slowly calming.
“What did I miss?” Nomin came around the side of the monastery in a set of spotless white robes, the blind assassin with a string full of fish. She had tied a white cloth around her head, which was knotted at the front. “Well?”
“Just had to take the trash out.” Jelmay turned toward the bottom of the hill. “Lady Pilgrim, fox, bird—I’ll leave it to you two to prepare a meal. I’m going to go see what I can salvage. That damn rabbit.”
“I’ll go with you,” Sansar volunteered, the raven flapping his wings as he lifted off the roof. “Just in case there is another ambush.”
.Chapter Two.
Danzen slept outside his monastery that night, the former assassin draping a cloth over his forehead to prevent some of the gnats from bothering him. Yato and Kudzu stayed inside, not seeming to mind the warmth that had come with the setting sun that had a tendency to heat up his monastery. This left Jelmay outside with the former assassin, the bakeneko now with the things he could salvage from his home stuffed inside Danzen’s home.
Nomin didn’t sleep, and for that matter, neither did Sansar, the blind assassin sitting in meditation for most of the night from what Danzen could recall, and the three-legged raven perched on the rooftop, watching as always. He awoke at one point to find purple clouds rolling in, something changing in the air, perhaps an incoming thunderstorm.
This reminded Danzen of the sugawara, and how much trouble those lightning-wielding yokai had been until he had killed the host. He now possessed a rubbery armor from the host, as well as a helmet, which hadn’t turned out to be as useful as he would have liked.
He didn’t like wearing armor because it constricted his movements.
The sugawara armor wasn’t the only thing he had collected since moving to Genshin Valley. There was his Blade of Darkness, which allowed him to increase the power of his strikes through the usage of shadows, as well as the gauntleted blades that he had taken from his former instructor, Thane, which he used his echo to conjure. He also had a replica of Nomin’s basket-hilted short sword, which served as additional protection. And regarding yokai, he had the field diary that Abbot Mergen had left behind, as well as a rare set of books, one known as The Night Parade of Genshin Valley Yokai, another called The Hour of Meeting.
Danzen would likely take this next trip without the armor, its corresponding helmet, or the books, preferring to keep things light. It was better that he wasn’t too bogged down by his own gear, especially with where he was going.
What followed after his midnight awakening was a much lighter sleep, the sleep of an assassin or a thief, of someone who knew that there was always a stronger enemy around the corner ready to pounce.
He could never be too careful.
After instructing Sansar to fly to Suja Village and let Khamdo know he was leaving, the carpenter already agreeing to look after Basan, his fire chicken, Danzen was greeted the next morning by Yato, who was already in her dark robes, her gauntleted blades strapped to her arms. No words were exchanged as they moved to the other side of the monastery, where they had been bending their echoes, both set to begin their morning ritual.
Danzen was now what was known as a Stone Wielder, which meant that he had been able to float and shatter the stone. Once he was able to repair the stone, he would move to the Reaver tier, and finally, if he could dissolve it, the final tier, Danzen becoming a Divinator like his mother had been. His subranking would be determined by what color the clay tablet glowed the next time he was tested, Danzen hoping to have increased in power by that point.
The stronger he got, the better.
Yato brought her arms up, her mouth in an O-shape as she calmed her breath. She was a Diamond Adept, and the likelihood of her moving to the next tier was high. Danzen could sense that her echo was growing stronger, and he knew that she would be able to float the stone soon.
The younger assassin was just about to launch into action when she began laughing, disrupting his focus. Danzen, who could feel his echo channeling through him, had to lower his arms and release the tension through his fists, still keeping a grip on his sword.
She tried to hide the smirk on her face and failed. “Sorry. It’s Jelmay.”
Danzen turned and found the bakeneko in the demon bear hide, now perched on the ground next to the lion dogs Yama and Nama, yawning, all three watching the two assassins bend their echoes.
“Where did he get that?” she asked.
“Do you remember that rabbit that I almost killed yesterday?”
“I do…”
“Yet another scenario involving him. Let’s begin.”
Danzen swiveled toward Yato, bringing Astra down and returning along the same path that had come. The younger assassin flowed into his action and sidestepped his attack. She summoned both of her blades—Skkrikt! Skkrikt!—and found a steady cadence skirting along the edges of Danzen’s kill radius, almost as if she were siphoning from his power.
She made her attack, the blade on her right hand passing mere inches away from Danzen’s face.
There was a time not too long ago that this closeness would have frightened him, less from the injury and more from what it could have done. But he had gained some control over the demons that were unleashed when he broke skin, Danzen now having command over them.
Things had finally changed for the better.
He ducked her next attack and gracefully slipped around Yato, bringing his blade close enough to the small of her lower back that his echo caused her to stumble forward. Danzen always tried to bend his echo with his full heart in it, but as they practiced that morning, he thought once again of his mother, Shodren Ravja, and the modest burial they’d had for her.
It wasn’t the first time that he had wondered if Shodren had intended to die. This was something he would press Sansar on later, once they left the monastery and had a moment alone. But it was certainly a notion he felt. Perhaps she wanted to keep an eye on his father from Diyu itself. Or maybe there was more; perhaps she felt it was the only way to rebuild Sunyata, that she would attempt to do something insane like seduce Tengir Gantulga.
Danzen had yet to put words to this notion, knowing that it would sound insane, but if anyone would go to that length to disrupt the propagation of evil, it would be someone like Shodren.
It was at the point that Yato closed her eyes that Danzen stopped, the younger assassin coming forward so quickly that she was nearly a blur, the Sunyata talisman she was wearing aiding in her speed. All it took was for him to step aside and she fell forward, driving both her blades into the soil to keep herself from faceplanting.
“That’s one way to do it,” Jelmay called over to them. Kudzu joined the bakeneko, an uncertain look on her face, her tail hooked to some degree.
Danzen had seen this several times now when he bent his echo with Yato, the kitsune worried that things could get out of hand even if she trusted Danzen enough to know that he would never let them go that far. They never would; Yato was Danzen’s student, and while she continued to grow stronger, she would never be as powerful as him due to the nature of his blood. That was, unless she cultivated her echo to an insane degree. Even then, his experience would allow him to best her every time.
“You need to keep your eyes open,” he reminded her.
“Yeah…”
While Danzen wasn’t as far advanced as he would like to be yet, he knew there was a time coming soon that his control over his blood would not only save his life, but the lives of others. He only hoped that those who had gathered with him at his monastery would be spared when unleashing that kind of power became necessary. As much as he didn’t want to dwell on it, Danzen couldn’t imagine anything happening to them, and he also knew that this very notion—his feelings for Yato, Kudzu, Nomin, and even Jelmay—would be something that his brother, Nomtoi, could exploit, that or his father, Tengir Gantulga.
Two years ago, Danzen had planned to disappear completely in the south of Arsi. Better to go at this alone than with his companions. But he had learned something since that time, and especially since finally arriving at Genshin Valley. There was not only strength in numbers, but comfort, a community the best place for one to grow. He had tried to live away from people, but now knew that it was impossible, especially with the bonds that he had forged.
He just had to make sure they all stayed safe, that they survived, and that he was strong enough to protect them.
Danzen and Yato started up again.
The thought of losing any one of his companions whipped him into a Sunyata-fueled fury of sudden movements, taking Yato off guard. Danzen never struck her, but the overwhelming experience of being close to his powerful echo eventually had her backpedaling, breathing heavily, the younger assassin trying to hide the fear she was experiencing.
Danzen relaxed his shoulders and sheathed his weapon.
“We’re… we’re done?” she asked, relief in her voice.
“It’s time,” he said as a winged wolf known as a hainu landed, signaling that Galzo had arrived. Galzo approached Jelmay, Danzen certain that the wolf was being caught up on what happened the previous day with Usagi, how the rabbit had tried to send one of them to an early grave. Danzen returned his attention to Yato. “Pack what you need and pack lightly. First, we will visit Abbot Monpo, and then we will start off.”
Yato bowed her head slightly. “What… What happened back there? Your power? I’ve experienced it before but…” Her throat quivered. “It was much stronger than it normally is.”
“My mind started wandering,” Danzen admitted. “Which is another reason we should stop. When we do this, when we bend our echoes, we need to be focused entirely on what we are doing and…”
“What were you thinking about?”
Danzen looked past her, to Kudzu, Jelmay, and Nomin, who now stood with her arms at her sides, white robes billowing in the soft breeze as she listened to the conversation Galzo was having with the bakeneko.
“My family.”
“Your brother and father?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
****
Kudzu was the only one who could truly keep up with Danzen.
This wouldn’t be a problem because Jelmay could lead the others to the fox shrine, the bakeneko still in his demon bear hide. While Yato was much faster now, once Danzen put his full force into traveling at his top speed moving from rock to rock, not even her Sunyata talisman would help her keep up.
Perhaps Sansar would have been able to keep up with Danzen and Kudzu, but the three-legged raven stayed behind with the others, almost as if he were giving the former assassin and the kitsune a chance to be alone for once.
The two traveled in silence for a spell, the Panchen Mountains cast in umber and marked by scree, the heinous red sky of Diyu everpresent, ominous as it sat over a series of stark landforms, wind-carved stone.
Even though he had long since grown used to the fact that his father lived beyond the border, it still struck Danzen as odd that the leader of hell itself was within traveling distance of his home, Tengir Gantulga with his maddening desire for his half-blooded son to take his throne always at the back of Danzen’s mind.
He remembered when he’d first seen him, and then when he later showed himself to them in the alcove defined by petroglyphs, Tengir with his form-fitting armor, his features that he could clearly control, how he so enjoyed toying with Danzen. He was a dark celestial being, one able to restore life as he had done for Nomin, just as easily able to take it.
Rocks falling into a crevice lined with strips of quartz reminded Danzen to pay attention to his footing as he pushed even higher into the air, Kudzu heading up a mountain pass, one eye on the kitsune, the other on where she would land next.
A bird circling overhead turned in the opposite direction, the bird shaped nothing like the yatagarasu, nothing out of the ordinary in seeing a hawk in the mountains. The hawk simply moved on, likely curious as to why the assassin and the fox were traveling at such a blistering pace.
