Pilgrim 2, p.36
Pilgrim 2, page 36
“Not just her,” Jelmay said, “Kudzu and I will be going as well.”
“You are not strong enough yet, Pilgrim,” said Eva Yin, “and we don’t know how long it will take for you to recover. That is why I have a suggestion, something that may help you. If you desire any chance in defeating your brother, you’re going to need to at least be able to match his strength. But there doesn’t seem to be enough time for you to be able to do that. Even with your enhanced strength due to your bloodline, you would need to really dedicate yourself to bending your echo. But there is another way.”
“Another way?”
Eva rolled up her sleeves to show Danzen her bracelet, which featured several glimmering stones. “I have another one like it,” she said, tilting her head to her other wrist. “It is a Sunyata talisman. They are remnants.”
“I can tell,” Danzen said as he noticed a light glow radiating off the jewels. “What are you suggesting?”
“I am suggesting you ingest one of these remnants to help you heal,” she said softly. “Just one, for now.”
****
Eva Yin brought the bracelet over to the dresser. She opened the drawer to retrieve a pair of pliers.
“You were planning this all along?” Jelmay asked.
“The pliers?” Eva shook her head. “We cater to all fetishes at this pleasure house, hence the pliers.”
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Kudzu said as she bit her lip, her gray eyes scanning Danzen’s face.
“For once, I agree with you,” the bakeneko told her. “Pilgrim?”
“I would like an answer before I remove the stone,” said Eva. “To be clear, it’s a small stone; I don’t expect it to do anything drastic to you.”
“And what does your brother think?” Danzen asked.
“I’m glad you asked. It was his idea. Dalan is seeing to some of his clients now, but if you would like to wait until later to do this, we can.” Eva Yin paused, and looked over to Danzen. “It is your body, after all.”
“How will it affect my echo?” he asked her.
He knew that Eva had both bent her echo and utilized talismans and remnants; if anyone knew its effect, it would be her.
“Normally, I would suggest just wearing one to see how you react to it,” she said, “but your injuries are internal, and while Dalan thinks you will eventually heal up, it could take longer than you would like, upwards of weeks. As to the effect it would have on your overall echo: a remnant could theoretically bump you up a subranking, but it can only do this at the lowest levels. One can only get so strong from consuming a remnant or even wearing a talisman. That, in fact, is why the aftereffects of abusing remnants can vary so widely.”
Danzen recalled some of the aftereffects he had seen, like Soko’s missing legs and Norwin Dawa’s arm bindings. “I am currently a Golden Adept; do you think you could move me to the Mancer tier?”
“That’s not for me to say. As I mentioned, my brother is prescribing it mostly because he thinks it will augment your healing ability. So while it may help you move up a tier, the main point in doing this is for you to get better. You would need to have your overall ranking checked at a shrine.”
“And I still would need to grow stronger to fight my brother…”
“It may help you in that regard as well, but considering your demon bloodline, Dalan thinks the best way forward would be to start small. So, are you ready to start small?”
Danzen looked to Kudzu, who was slowly shaking her head, and from there to Jelmay, who seemed somewhat satisfied with Eva Yin’s explanation.
The bakeneko stepped over to the madame and examined the stone. “It’s pretty small, Pilgrim. I could probably swallow it without having any effects…”
“I’ll do it,” Danzen told them suddenly. “If it will help me heal so I can focus on saving the villagers, I’ll do it.”
“It will only take a moment to get it out of my bracelet,” Eva said.
“And you don’t mind?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how much longer I will be alive,” she admitted. “My brother seems to think I still have plenty of time left, but I don’t know if that is the case or not. I grew up in Suja Village, and I don’t want to see any harm come to its residents, even if many of them may not enjoy my presence.” She popped the remnant out of its bracket.
“Are you sure about this, Danzen?” Kudzu asked him.
“I’m sure.”
Danzen was in incredible pain. He didn’t know how long it would take for the medication that Dalan had prescribed him to kick in, but as he lay in the bed, every subtle movement sent a shock of anguish through his body. He could even feel Eva stepping over to him, the vibrations moving from the floorboard to the bed frame, Danzen trying not to grit his teeth.
“I will give it to him,” Kudzu said, stepping around Eva. She offered the woman her palm; Eva Yin deposited the remnant in her hand.
“Thank you,” Danzen said.
Kudzu took the small bowl of water off the nightstand. She slowly placed the remnant in Danzen’s mouth, following this up with water to wash it down.
As soon as he swallowed it, Danzen wondered if he had done the right thing.
He had never abused a remnant before, yet here he was, not even a month after learning to bend his echo, already looking for a way to enhance his power.
He had to remind himself that there was more to it than that, that there was a reason for doing what he was doing, and that was the villagers, the people he cared for. They were the ones who mattered most, and it was his fault that they had been taken to Diyu. A few of them had even come to his defense, this thought sparking a bit of anger in Danzen as he thought of his brother, how pompous Nomtoi had been, how unnecessarily cruel his actions were.
There was no reason to involve the villagers, no reason for Nomtoi to destroy their establishments or bring fear into their lives. Danzen and Kudzu had been heading back to his monastery; his brother could have met him along the road there, things could have been settled much differently.
But Nomtoi was playing with him, and now he was daring Danzen to do something about it.
And that was a call Danzen would answer.
His muscles tensed all of a sudden, his eyes bulging for a moment, flaring red, blackened veins appeared on his flesh and then fading away.
“What’s happening?” Kudzu asked. Rather than say anything, Jelmay grabbed her by the wrist and started leading her out of the room, Eva Yin already in the process of exiting as well.
Danzen nearly flung himself off the bed, a flame now burning deep inside him, hotter than anything he’d ever experienced before.
His vision flashed yellow. Danzen fell to the floor, digging his fingers into the wood. Trembling, he got to his feet, boiling rage surging through his body, blinding him to everything around him. Danzen grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be the nightstand, and hurled it out the window.
This was hell.
.Chapter Four.
To stop himself from tearing apart the room, Danzen dropped down into a ball and clutched his knees tightly. He trembled, hoping that he would be able to contain the energy surging through him.
With the force of a bull, he stood and flipped the bed onto its side, Danzen feeling as if was trapped in a cage, that if he just put enough effort behind it, he could free himself for good; free himself from this madness, from the loneliness, from the sadness and the baggage that came with a lifetime of extinguishing life.
He was a destroyer of life, Danzen so desensitized by violence and the things he was capable of that it would have scared most people.
But there were those who cared for him, and as he continued to tremble, as he started to reach for his sword, which was the true holder of his destructive power, Danzen was finally able to get control over himself.
And then the sweats came, every pore opening up in his body, Danzen completely drenched by the time he dropped to his knees. The sweats were followed by bursts of energy and exhaustion, alternating, Danzen’s heart rate increasing and slowing, the former assassin suddenly hot and then quickly cooling off.
He could taste blood, and felt a sharp fluttering in his stomach; a ringing in his ears made it impossible for him to decipher sounds around him. Danzen saw red, but red was no longer a color that meant destruction to him; it took on another meaning, everything about his world suddenly linked.
Was this how remnants truly operated? Was this Sunyata? Was this the link that held everything together?
Things started to morph back into their normal shapes, regain their color, Danzen noticing that his internal ailments no longer ached the way they had just ten minutes ago. Or was it an hour ago?
Time certainly had passed.
The room was darker than it had been before he had consumed the remnant, the red walls only amplifying the darkness as they absorbed light.
But it had only felt like a few minutes. A pulsing on Danzen’s arms caused him to look down and see a vein appearing, darkening, and then disappearing again. This seemed to be happening all over his body, each pulse less prominent than the previous one.
It was when his breath started to normalize that he finally pushed himself off the ground, Danzen feeling a sense of anguish in that moment as he remembered that he was a true half-breed, despised by both sides. This feeling of self-hate quickly left, replaced with one of satisfaction, the remnant seemingly adjusting his mood on the fly.
Danzen was now energized, then tired, then relieved, then anxious. Each adjustment seemed shorter than the last, almost matching the pulsing nature of his veins.
“I see you’ve destroyed the room,” Eva Yin said as she stepped into the space, Kudzu following behind her, Jelmay the last to enter.
“You don’t look so great, Pilgrim,” he said, his ears twitching as he took in the former assassin.
“This is my fault,” Eva said, bowing her head at Danzen. “I should have told you the aftereffects of consuming a remnant. And don’t worry about the room; this is nothing we haven’t seen here before.”
“I’ve…” He swallowed hard. “I’ve heard of the aftereffects. Someone has told me before,” Danzen said, referring to Soko, and one of the times she had attacked him after abusing a remnant. She had been hard enough to contain then, and that was before she lost the usage of her legs and gained the ability to fly.
“How are you feeling?” Kudzu asked.
“How does it look like he’s feeling?” asked Jelmay. “I have to admit, Pilgrim, you still look a bit haggard. Don’t take that the wrong way; maybe it’s best you rest for a few more hours. Or days.”
“No, it’s time to go to my monastery, and…” Danzen looked to Kudzu. “I want to visit the Abbot, test my power, and see if there’s a way I can grow stronger before we have to go.”
“You want to consume more remnants?” Kudzu asked.
Danzen shook his head. “No, not if I can help it. But Abbot Monpo may know something else I could do. Or he may know of a remnant I can visit in the area, a way to absorb power. That’s what people do, right?”
“It is one way,” Eva said cautiously. “But perhaps you should rest a bit longer. Maybe I could send a few of my pillowers up to keep you entertained for the night. That may settle your mood into something a bit more… Manageable.”
Jelmay snorted. “I can’t imagine Pilgrim here with a couple of your pillowers, as you say. He looks like a madman; he will scare them half to death.”
“They’ve seen far worse than this.”
“No,” Kudzu said, just a little too loud. “We can go back to the monastery and rest there, if that’s what you want.”
“Look who changes her tune,” said Jelmay. He was about to continue ribbing her until he registered the dirty look that she shot in his direction, the bakeneko stepping away. “It’s up to you, Pilgrim, do what you like. But you know I’m ready to go to Diyu with you when you think it is time.”
“Four days,” Danzen told all of them. “We leave in four days. That should be enough time to take care of what I need to take care of before we go. And you don’t have to come.”
“I’ve already told you that I’m coming,” Eva Yin said. “You will need all the help you can get; if you know anyone else in the valley who is strong enough to journey to Diyu, now would be the time to call upon that person.”
“Anyone else?” asked Jelmay. “You mean Usagi? We don’t want that filthy little rabbit coming with us.”
“Perhaps him, or someone else,” Eva said, Danzen picking up on what she was hinting at.
“I will go there now,” he told her.
“Good. You should bathe first, and change into a pair of fresh robes. I have some available for you in the washroom. If you need assistance bathing, please, do not hesitate to let me know. I have pillowers who are particularly good at cleaning men.”
“No, I can do it myself,” Danzen told Eva Yin. “Thanks.”
“You sure, Pilgrim?” Jelmay asked. “An assisted bath sounds like a great plan to me. Heck, I may stick around—”
“He’s sure,” said Kudzu, interrupting the bakeneko, “and you’re coming with us.”
****
With his companions in tow, both of whom were now morphed into humans, Danzen made his way to the Third District. It pained him to see the damage that had been done—most of the buildings near the spot where the fight had taken place were destroyed.
He couldn’t shake the fact that this was his doing. This would have never happened had he not shown up in Suja Village.
It was late afternoon now, the sun blotched out by blue-gray clouds with streaks of black in them, the day surprisingly breezy, the wind whipping through some of the debris.
There were no children around, and the only other person they saw in the streets was a man dragging a cart of fresh cabbage, the look on his face telling Danzen that he was anxious to get out of the Third District. Even with the immediate absence of life, it wasn’t quite a ghost town. From his current vantage point, Danzen could see that the homes behind the main street were intact; he even saw someone sitting on their balcony.
Danzen knew what he needed to do.
He turned to his right and headed onto a dirt road that moved through the residential area, the former assassin aimed at Elder Sonders’ mansion. He found it curious as he walked that the Elder had been the one who had initially nursed him back to health, especially as Danzen suspected the older man agreed with his nephew, that Danzen had only brought trouble to the village. Perhaps he’d been wrong about the Elder after all.
“Are you sure about this?” Kudzu asked.
Danzen nodded. He felt a sense of queasiness, likely from swallowing the remnant and not fully mending his wounds. But that would come, he would eventually recover, and he had things he needed to handle in the meantime.
He opened Elder Sonders’ gate and entered the courtyard.
“That’s far enough,” a voice came from the window, Danzen recognizing it as belonging to Shedrup.
The door eventually opened and Shedrup stepped out, his beard wild as always, strands of his hair whipping against his forehead, the man wearing dark-gray robes. His uncle was behind him, hunched over a bit, both hands on his cane, the purple wolf with the jewel in its mouth aimed at the former assassin.
“What do you want?” Shedrup asked.
“Be kind,” Elder Sonders started to say.
It was instinctual.
Even though he had other reasons for visiting, Danzen found his hand on the hilt of his famed blade, Astra thrumming with anticipation, thirsty to engage. He was stronger now than the last time he had faced off against Shedrup, and he was also exhausted from the remnant, not so keen to adhere to the norms of chivalry by this point.
But that wasn’t why he was here.
It went against Danzen’s basic nature to remove his hand from the hilt of his sword, but he did so anyway, showing Shedrup and his uncle his palms.
“Explain yourself,” said Shedrup, his eyes igniting for a flash. It was then that Danzen noticed he was no longer standing on the ground, the cultivator floating just a few inches above the pavement.
It had been a while since Danzen had felt so strong in staring down an opponent.
Sure, Shedrup could fight, and he clearly had done things with his echo that most normal people weren’t able to do. But even now, if Danzen wanted, he could withdraw his Blade of Darkness and send a swath of shadow forward that not only killed Shedrup, but would also take his uncle as well. That, or he could loose his boomerang sword, and have it back in his hand by the time Shedrup realized he’d been stabbed in the throat.
This notion slowly faded away, Danzen learning long ago not to underestimate his opponent, to never fully trust that instinct. Every time he assumed he was stronger, it backfired. Shedrup knew what Danzen was capable of, yet he had challenged him anyway, which was another reason the former assassin was here.
He needed the man’s help.
“In four days, I’m going to Diyu to collect the villagers who were taken by…” It was hard to say the words, but Danzen said them anyway, realizing that this was part of the process, part of who he was. “The villagers who were taken by my brother,” he finally said.
“The demon was your brother?” Shedrup asked, his eyes flaring up.
“You mean to tell us you two are related?” Elder Sonders asked, stepping around his nephew.
“Half-brother, but yes. I’d never met him until then. He showed up while I was walking back to my monastery. I wanted for us to take our fight outside the city, but…”
“—Why would I even consider helping you?” Shedrup asked, the man still floating, the wind whipping around him, as if it were excited by the energy he was putting off.
“Because you care about the village too, and I know…” Danzen thought back to what he had learned once about Shedrup, that his wife and son were killed by bandits. “I know that if it had been your wife or your child who had been taken, and there was a chance that they could be recovered, that you would do anything to get them. Well, there are other villagers who could lose loved ones to my brother’s actions. I’m doing this for them. I’m going there to save them and meet my brother head on, and I want you to join me.”
