Pilgrim, p.45
Pilgrim, page 45
As he prepared dinner, Danzen and Kudzu explained what had happened.
“And you have their souls?”
“I sure do,” said Jelmay, the bakeneko drumming his clawed fingers on his pocket.
“Perhaps you should put them in something a little safer than your pocket,” Dalan suggested.
“They’re fine,” Jelmay assured him.
“Those are two human souls we're talking about.” Dalan went to his medicine cabinet and returned with a small glass vial with a cork top. “Put them in here, and then you can put them back in your pocket. And if you don’t mind, I would like to see one of them.”
Jelmay obliged. He got the two teeth out of his vest pocket and handed them to Dalan. Dalan put one in the vial and handed it back to him. The hermit observed the other tooth, massaging it between his fingers for a moment.
“It’s warm,” he finally said.
“That’s because there’s a soul in there,” Jelmay told him. “Can’t you feel the vibrations?”
Dalan closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. “I certainly can.”
He handed the tooth back to Jelmay, who put it in the vial alongside the other one.
“Now that our esoteric science class is over, can we get on with dinner?” Jelmay asked. “These two only let me eat once today.”
.Chapter Two.
The sound of rain was the first thing Danzen noticed when he awoke the next morning. He sat up, looking out the mouth of the cave, watching as the water came pouring down.
“It’ll be over soon enough,” said Dalan, who had already gotten a fire going, the hermit crouched before it. “Flash rains are common in the spring. It’s when they go for an entire day that things get dangerous. Monsoon season is nothing to laugh about.”
“And you stay here during that time?”
“I do. Why do you think my cave is so high up? I usually start gathering supplies in about a month or so, because sometimes I’m stuck up here for quite the spell. Sure, I can go out, but that’s only if I feel like taking a swim.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think I thanked you enough for helping me with the giants. I was so damn happy to be done with them.”
“And the giant boy turned out to be okay? I meant to ask last time we met.”
“Ah, him. Yes, he did. Hopefully, they won’t bother me anytime soon. They seem to come around about once a year with some sort of sickness. If I was smart, I would poison them all and be done with the lot.” Dalan shook his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t say things like that, but they are about the only yokai, aside from the more demonic ones, that I don’t enjoy sharing the valley with.”
Kudzu burst through the entrance of the hermitage, her glittering coat sopping wet. “That really opened up.”
“And as I was just telling him, the rain will die down before too long. Tell me something, does he snore like this every night?” he asked, nodding to Jelmay.
Kudzu shook the water out of her fur. “Yes.”
They had fried mushrooms for breakfast which were marinated with a bit of animal fat that Dalan had been saving up. Once Jelmay finished a second helping, the pudgy yokai stood and stretched his paws over his head. “I guess we should get going, otherwise I might have to take another nap.”
“A midmorning nap?” Kudzu asked skeptically.
“Come on, you know those are the best. You wake up, eat, and go right back to sleep.”
The rain had stopped, but the ground was especially muddy now, the smell of wet soil overpowering. Dalan bid farewell to them as the three made their way down to the mountain pass that ran along the side of the waterfall, Kudzu quickly taking the lead.
“We don’t have to walk all day, do we?” Jelmay asked. “I was hoping to get back to civilization sooner rather than later. Not that putting a soul back into someone’s body is a hard procedure to perform, but I want to be done with it.”
Danzen knew that the villagers were awaiting his return; he already felt guilty for making them wait an additional day, and he would do anything in his power to be in the village by nightfall.
“It will only take us an hour and half,” said Kudzu, “if you can move a little faster than you normally do.”
“I didn’t want to do this but…” Jelmay slowly lowered so that he was now on all fours. He then went about adjusting his sword and shield. “Stop looking at me like that, Pilgrim. I’m faster this way.”
“So you were holding out on us?” Kudzu asked.
“So were you when it came to morphing.”
“Why did I have to morph anyway?”
“So you wouldn’t draw attention.”
“But you are a cat standing on two legs…”
“Fine, you got me. Maybe I just wanted to see what you looked like as a human and to confirm a vision I had.”
“I knew it!” Kudzu turned to him, baring her teeth as her shoulders flared up.
“Relax. What’s done is done and it was a good experience for all of us. Let’s get to the shrine and we can argue about this later.”
“Please, let’s,” Danzen added.
Kudzu sped ahead, the fox kicking up clumps of mud as she moved even faster. Jelmay couldn’t quite travel at her speed, but he was able to keep up better than he would have on foot. Once again, Danzen called upon his unique stamina, the former assassin easily able to keep up with both of them.
Sometimes he ran, other times he leaped from rock to rock, the feeling of traveling this way absolutely exhilarating. They rarely paused over the next hour and a half, the three moving with haste until they came to a long bridge that ran over a deep gorge.
Kudzu stopped, the fox panting for a moment as Jelmay reached her.
“You’re faster than I thought,” she told him.
“See? And I was able to do it carrying a sword and shield,” he said as he slowly got to his feet. He swiveled his belt around, so his sword was now at his side again. To travel on all fours, he had positioned the sheathed blade just beneath the shield, which made him almost look like a turtle with a long tail.
“Congratulate yourself, why don’t you?”
“Done and done.” Still catching his breath, the bakeneko scratched the back of his head. “Well? Where is it?”
“You mean, you can’t see it?” she asked him.
Danzen followed Kudzu’s gaze to a structure partially hidden by vines at the other side of the long bridge. He then was able to make out a rather small entrance at the front of the vines. While it was now obvious, he had to admit that it had been pretty well camouflaged, the former assassin not knowing if he would have seen it or not had he been passing by.
Kudzu stepped onto the bridge, and when she was sure it wasn’t too windy, she started to trot across.
Danzen and Jelmay joined her, the cat going first.
The former assassin paused at about the center of the bridge, his eyes stretching to the horizon to gauge the expansiveness of the gorge. He figured he’d be able to see the start of Diyu from his current position, but he was mistaken. The mountains that eventually grew out of the gorge were large enough to reach the clouds, their snow-tipped peaks not visible from his current position.
The bridge shook as a gust of wind blew past and he continued on his way.
Danzen reached the other side, and once he did, he considered the hole that he was going to have to crawl through. He moved closer to the vines to make sure that they didn’t have any thorns on them. Once he was certain this was the case, he then considered how he would crawl with the gear he was currently carrying. The Blade of Darkness would certainly prove troublesome…
The vines started to move, and as they did, they formed into an archway high enough for Danzen to simply walk under.
“Do I still have to wait out front?” Jelmay asked. “I mean, I did come all the way out here…”
“I’m not sure yet,” said Kudzu. “See what they say.”
Her ears flattened a bit as she saw three white foxes step out of the tunnel made of vines. The one in the center was the largest of three, with seven tails, its white coat glittering as soon as the sun reached it.
“Abbot Monpa,” Kudzu said, bowing her head. “Brothers,” she said to the other two foxes.
“Welcome,” said the Abbot, Danzen noticing a jewel at the center of his forehead. “I hope your journey getting here wasn’t too arduous. I was hoping you would come.”
“The name is Jelmay,” said the cat with a big grin on his face. “And it’s nice to meet all of you.” The two smaller foxes glanced to him, indecipherable looks on their faces.
“I believe you are hungry, are you not?” Abbot Monpa asked Jelmay.
“It’s like you’re reading my mind over here,” the bakeneko said with a wink.
“Brothers, please prepare a meal for him.” He focused again on Danzen and Kudzu. “You two can come with me.”
****
Abbot Monpa headed to the right once they reached a fork in the tunnel of vines. Jelmay went to the left along with the two other foxes, the yokai chatty as always. It was hard to see exactly where they were going, but the tunnel was still high enough for Danzen to stand in without having to bend over any, the vines around them covered in leaves.
“It isn’t much farther,” Abbot Monpa assured them.
It wasn’t long before they reached an exit that opened up into a marvelous structure that had been carved into the mountain. There were statues arranged along the front of the structure, light coming in from various portholes cut into the vines. Most of the statues were in the shape of foxes, but some were human as well, a few with water features.
“Welcome to our shrine,” the Abbot said, finally turning to them. He sat, his seven tails swooping off to the right, and Kudzu did the same.
“Before we enter and view the remnant, I would like to know more about you,” he told Danzen. “Like your bakeneko friend, I too am able to get glimpses of the future. I will reveal some information to you that may help your journey, or perhaps hinder it. It is really up to how you interpret the information. But before we get started, please, tell me from your perspective why you have come to the valley.”
“To escape,” said Danzen as he settled his gaze on the fox. “To start over. My life before was…”
“You were an assassin, correct?”
Danzen gulped. It was strange to just jump right into this conversation with a stranger, but the setting, and everything about the journey thus far made it feel right. There was also something very fatherly and kind about the fox, something that made Danzen feel as if he were in a place without judgement. “Yes,” he finally said. “For twenty years.”
“You still are an assassin, correct?”
“No.”
“But you have slain here in Genshin Valley, have you not?”
“Only when I have to.”
“I understand. And please, don’t take my questions as an evaluation of your character. I’m merely putting your words to details that I have already foreseen. What is your name?”
“Pilgrim.”
“What is your real name?”
Danzen glanced at Kudzu, who nodded for him to answer the question. “Danzen Ravja.”
“Do you regret your past, Danzen Ravja?”
“I don’t know. Please, call me Pilgrim.”
“Do you regret the things you have done, Pilgrim?”
“Some of them. Most of them. I don’t know.”
“What has changed about your life since you have arrived here?” Abbot Monpa asked.
“I’ve learned things about myself; I believe I have some friends now as well, ones that aren’t assassins.”
“Is having friends that aren’t assassins different from having friends that are?”
“I don’t know.”
“And you are familiar with the concept of cultivating your echo?”
“I am,” Danzen said. “I have a basic understanding of the ranking system cultivators use as well.”
“That’s good. I have asked you several questions now, and I believe it’s time for me to give you some answers to questions you may have. What do you know about your parents?”
“Nothing.”
“Then we can start there,” said the fox, the jewel on his forehead starting to glow. “As you may have already surmised, but perhaps didn’t want to admit to yourself, you are half-demon. Your father is where your demon blood comes from. And he’s not just any demon, your father is the current ruler of Diyu, who goes by the name Tengir Gantulga.”
“How do you know this?” Kudzu asked, interrupting the Abbot. She immediately lowered her head. “My apologies.”
“I have foreseen these things,” he told her, no judgment in his voice. “And there is more to what I have to say. Pilgrim, your mother’s name is Shodren Ravja, and she is alive, at a nunnery in the north, and she is who named you.”
“She’s a nun?” Danzen asked. His legs were wobbly now, and he felt the sudden urge to sit. He remained standing, the former assassin listening carefully as Abbot Monpa spoke again.
“She has always been a nun,” the fox told him. “Your demon father raped her in her sleep, and after a period of gestation, you were born. As you can imagine, nuns who spend their lives bending their echoes don’t normally have children, so you were taken to the Brotherhood. I do not know why she chose the Diyu Brotherhood, but perhaps she has her own reasoning. You can ask if you ever meet her.”
“I…” Danzen settled his breath and decided not to say anything.
The light radiating behind the fox’s eyes began to soften. “I must be honest with you, Pilgrim. There is still a piece of this that is unclear to me and I don’t know why. Perhaps that piece will be revealed as a natural course of your life progresses. I wish I could tell you more.”
“Do you know where my mother is?” Danzen asked.
“I do not, only that she is in the north. I would assume that there aren’t many nunneries there, and you do have her name now, Shodren Ravja. I have also pondered why your father, Tengir Gantulga, hasn’t made himself known to you yet, considering your proximity to his realm. Perhaps that will be clear in the future as well. There’s only so much that I can see, unfortunately.”
“Do you know if I have a brother?” Danzen asked.
“Yes, you do, but that information isn’t clear to me for some reason. I don’t know his name, nor do I know his whereabouts. I can tell you he is actually your half-brother, that he is full-demon.” The fox let this information sink in for a moment and then he continued: “Before we view the remnant, I need to tell you something.”
“Yes?”
“I can feel your inhuman power and strength, but I think you would be even stronger if you learned to bend your echo. Perhaps it would bring you peace as well. You say you are familiar with the ranking system, and I don’t think it would take very long for you to progress to the Mancer tier, and perhaps beyond that. But it has to be something that you want. Is it something that you want?”
Danzen remembered some of the people in his life who had cultivated their echoes, people like Nomin the blind assassin, who had taught him so much about connections around him, and Shedrup, the drunk able to levitate. Yet still, even with these examples of how his power could be enhanced, there was part of Danzen that wasn’t ready to take the plunge.
If what the fox told him was true, and he had no reason to believe that it wasn’t, he was not only a half-demon, but also the son of the ruler of Diyu, a product of rape. And for some reason, this made Danzen despise himself, leading him to believe he wasn’t worthy of cultivating his echo, especially in learning that he was a bastard.
The words came before he could completely process them. “I’m not interested,” he finally said.
“I understand. Well, if you ever are, this would be a good place to start. Let me show you what I mean.”
Abbot Monpa led them through a passageway big enough for a human, which opened into an expensive room with a high ceiling.
Danzen’s eyes fell upon an enormous boulder in the middle of the room, its surface seemingly made of opal. The remnant was hard to look at, the piece so bright that Danzen had to shield his eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” said Kudzu, who had kept her hind legs up in the air as she bowed forward.
Abbot Monpa bowed as well. “If there ever was a way to rebuild heaven, for Sunyata to once again exist, I believe it would start here.”
Danzen took in the glowing boulder and for once, even with all that he had just learned, his thoughts were calmed.
He was at peace.
.Chapter Three.
Danzen Ravja and Kudzu joined Jelmay in a different room of the fox shrine. They found the bakeneko lying on the floor with his hands on his stomach, a satisfied look on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. Abbot Monpa was no longer with them, the multi-tailed fox saying he was tired after channeling his echo.
“So glad I made the trip,” Jelmay said as he drummed his fingers on his belly. “The food here is simply divine. Is it as good as the stuff they serve at the tavern? No. But it’s still great. The bread was especially well made. I did not know foxes could make such delicious bread.”
“You’ve been eating this entire time?” Kudzu asked him as he sat up.
“What else was I supposed to do in here? Hang out with these two monks?” Jelmay gestured toward the two white foxes, who sat on either side of the doorway, both watching him with a hint of apprehension. “You heard the lady, bring us some more food.”
“I didn’t ask…”
He waved Kudzu’s concern away as the two monks left. “It’s going to be a long day,” Jelmay said, something strikingly sober about the way he now looked at them. “Trust me.”
“I’m starting to.”
“That’s good,” he said as Danzen and Kudzu joined him around a small table made of polished wood. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Kudzu asked.
“Is no one going to tell me what happened in there? I mean, that’s the reason we came all the way out here, right?”
“He said that my father was a demon and my mother was a nun,” Danzen told him.
