Pilgrim 2, p.45
Pilgrim 2, page 45
“Things are going to get real rough in here in a couple hours,” Jelmay said on the tail end of a burp. “But until then, enjoy the ale, and definitely enjoy the food.”
The food came minutes later, bowls of soup for each of them that were custom tailored to their preferences. As magical as it was—Danzen’s soup tasting like braised rib—it wasn’t actually filling.
This fact didn’t stop Jelmay from trying to eat as much as he could, the bakeneko finishing soup bowl after soup bowl while the others drank their ales. Knowing better than to consume alcohol, Shedrup didn’t drink anything, and in solidarity, Abbot Monpo didn’t drink either. Danzen wouldn’t have drunk the ale had it not been for Kudzu’s encouragements, the fox woman seated next to him, her white hair a mess.
He had the notion to reach out and fix it for her but stopped himself, merely staring at her for a moment.
“What?” she asked as she hunched forward a bit. Using both hands, she nervously brought the flagon to her lips and took a long drink from it.
“Sorry you have to wear that,” Danzen said.
“You don’t like my night wear?” Kudzu asked. “I never thought about sleeping in something like this.”
“I could teach you a lot about being a woman,” Eva Yin said in an offhand way.
“I’ll pass.” Kudzu returned her focus to Danzen, a softness filling her gray eyes.
“You can still leave,” Danzen found himself saying, even though he knew Kudzu would never do something like that.
“I’ll be fine, Pilgrim, don’t worry.”
The sun began to set on the horizon, something they weren’t quite able to see in the tavern.
Danzen had begun to notice more and more that they were in some kind of limbo, a place that existed between times. At one glance it seemed as if it were night outside, but a second look told Danzen it was still afternoon, and as more souls crowded into the space, he began to think it was morning, a small part of him wondering if they had missed the soul collectors.
The tavern had a transfixing quality about it. The revelry could be outsized as quickly as it could be silenced, souls moving about in waves, some stopping just long enough for Danzen to get a look at their faces. Men and women, young and old alike, children and the elderly, not a soul was spared the Tavern at the Edge of the World.
“It will begin soon,” Abbot Monpo said suddenly as his gray eyes came alive, the first time he had spoken in hours.
He was much more talkative at his monastery, Danzen sensing that the group dynamics were a bit exhausting for the religious man.
He couldn’t blame him. It had only been after being around Jelmay for an extended period of time that Danzen grew used to how much mental space the bakeneko took up. Usagi only threw fuel on the fire, the jade rabbit constantly bickering with Jelmay.
Danzen’s eyes locked with Abbot Monpo’s, the fox man offering him a tight nod.
Of everyone sitting at the table, Shedrup seemed to be having the hardest time being in the tavern.
Part of Danzen wished that he would open up to him, that the cultivator would let them know what happened when he had come here for his wife and child. But that story was Shedrup’s to tell, and it was clear that it wasn’t going to be something Danzen would learn the truth of anytime soon.
The time came.
It started with a collective gasp; it started with flagons hitting the wood floor below. The collective gasp turned into a collective howl as the doors of the tavern swung open and several muscled demons swarmed into the space. Scar tattoos were etched across their flesh and they wore skull helms, the soul collectors with blackened whips and minions gathering around them who had appeared from a cloud of terror.
“Bah,” Jelmay said, staring down into his fresh flagon. “I was just getting started on this one!”
Shedrup pressed away from the table. “I hope this works.”
Danzen did the same, going for his Blade of Darkness. Whereas the tavern had felt small before, it now seemed five times as large as it had been when they first entered, the ceiling expansive to the point that Danzen felt as if it no longer existed.
There was plenty of space to battle the soul collectors, but they needed to keep one alive, which he reminded the group as they charged forward.
A new complication presented itself.
The souls, who had been nothing more than ghosts just moments ago, were all corporeal now, their forms solidified. Their bodies all pressed together and Danzen was immediately separated from his group, a swell of expired humanity swarming all around him.
“Pilgrim!” Kudzu said, appearing out of the horde. Light flashed across her eyes as Abbot Monpo took to the sky, the yokai rushing forward, his staff held tightly in one hand.
Shedrup flew alongside him, the two colliding with the first soul collector, a man easily twelve feet tall, his skull helm covered in ancient markings, all of which blazed in the slowly dimming light of the tavern.
One of the souls latched onto Danzen, another doing the same, their arms coming around his waist, the man screaming, frothing at the mouth, a woman pleading with him not to let her die. Danzen broke free from their grip and reached his hand back to grab Kudzu, who was holding onto Eva Yin, the powerful madame no longer keeping her form.
Sparked by Eva’s powers, the souls stopped fighting, all of them standing at attention, frozen in time.
Eva was now in her true form, her head bowed forward, her eyes glowing white. The souls began to back away, Kudzu still holding her hand.
“It’s about time someone does something,” said Jelmay who had a flagon of ale with him, the brew sloshing as he caught up with the group.
“Some help you are,” said Usagi, which was ironic considering his position inside Jelmay’s borrowed satchel.
The bakeneko took another swig of his ale. “There’s nothing like this ale in the west or the east. Well, I suppose we are east, but you know what I’m saying,” he said. “I want to drink as much as I can.”
“Hurry, you fool!”
“Almost done.” Jelmay finished his ale and tossed it at one of the souls that still stood at attention, the flagon cracking against the man’s head. “Let’s do this!”
Danzen raced ahead to join Abbot Monpo and Shedrup, the three leaving the rest of their group behind as they met the collectors. The soul collectors’ minions were the easiest to kill, and thinning their numbers made the rest of the fight more manageable. Each of the minions resembled the demons that Danzen conjured, nude with rough skin, a variety of colors, their faces mangled and boiled over, teeth razor-sharp.
Danzen had no qualms killing them indiscriminately.
Schnikt! Schnikt!
He fought in the way that he had seen Thane battle before, Danzen spinning with his two gauntlet blades out wide, launching full-heartedly into the battle. He still had his famed blade equipped, which he threw at key times, Astra always returning to his hand, always with the tip painted in gore.
The soul collectors at the back of the group tore through their own minions to reach Danzen, the demons speaking in garbled tongues. The first to attack sent his whip forward, which Danzen cut away with one of his gauntlet blades.
Deciding to change tactics, Danzen pulsed his echo, the blades returning to their casings.
He retrieved his Blade of Darkness and sent an arc of shadow forward, plenty of energy for his weapon to pull from. Wherever they were now, it was no longer the tavern, that was for sure. There were no outer walls keeping them in, nor ceiling overhead.
Their surroundings grew darker, which only fueled Danzen’s weapon, his attack so strong that it nearly clipped Shedrup’s shoulder.
Rather than apologize, Danzen flung himself forward, past Shedrup and Abbot Monpo, where he could engage the soul collectors without fear of friendly fire. He cut the arm off one, and the head off another, their minions coming for him in waves. Danzen’s weapon allowed him to create some space between him and his opponents, none of them able to come within five feet of the former assassin.
He didn’t know what would happen if he got cut this close to Diyu; he certainly didn’t want to find out now.
A blur passed by Danzen, one that culminated in a flash of punches and kicks, Danzen finally recognizing Shedrup. The cultivator fought like a madman, nothing predictable about his style. Every hit landed, even if they came at angles that shouldn’t be possible.
A blast of light-purple energy cut through another one of the soul collectors, this one courtesy of Abbot Monpo.
A quick glance over his shoulder and Danzen saw the Abbot standing before Kudzu, who was now in her fox form and joined by Eva Yin, Jelmay, and by extension, Usagi. Only the bakeneko was fighting, Jelmay swinging his sword at any minions who dared approach, another flagon of ale in his other hand.
Rather than wonder how Jelmay had gotten another ale, Danzen sheathed his Blade of Darkness, and launched himself at one of the nearby soul collectors. He drove Nomin’s short blade into the demon’s chest, Danzen holding on as he rode the large hellspawn down to the ground, where he quickly pulled its head back and slit its throat.
He launched Astra to his left, his sword pressing through the face of one of the minions and returning to Danzen’s hand.
Their numbers were thinning.
With only two or three soul collectors left, Danzen shouted a reminder to Shedrup and Abbot Monpo that they needed one alive.
Shedrup took this as a sign to take down the soul collector to his immediate left through a series of rapid-fire kicks, followed by an uppercut that nearly knocked the demon’s head off.
Figuring he would do the same but in his own style, Danzen addressed the soul collector on the right by cutting the demon’s whip away. Astra took care of the rest, the soul collector with a new hole in its throat by the time Danzen’s blade reached his hand again. The demon stumbled forward, gargling on its own blood, and Danzen was just about to finish what he’d started when Jelmay ran forward and stabbed the soul collector in the thigh.
“This one is mine!” shouted Jelmay as he stabbed it again, once again tossing away his flagon of ale.
The towering demon began to fall; Jelmay hopped out of the way and used both hands on his blade to hack at the hellspawn, Usagi cursing the entire time.
Danzen approached the very last soul collector, Shedrup coming from the left, and Abbot Monpo coming from the right.
“You will take us to Diyu,” Danzen told the demon, whose face was unreadable under the skull helm that he wore. The demon’s muscles pulsed, but eventually he dropped his whip, and slowly lowered his shoulders.
“You want war?” the soul collector asked, his voice smooth in a way that didn’t match his appearance.
“I have a meeting with Nomtoi,” Danzen said.
This caused the demon to pause. “Nomtoi Gantulga?”
“Yes, my half-brother. He said to meet him in Diyu, and here I am.”
****
One minute, they were standing in a void that used to be the Tavern at the Edge of the World; the next, they were somewhere else entirely.
Danzen assumed at first that they had been tricked, that the soul collector had transported them back to the Panchen Mountains. It looked almost the same, until Danzen gazed upward at the sky and noticed it was a pale red, and there was a rim of blue in the distance, signaling the start of the world of the living.
The soul collector floated before them, his arms crossed in front of his body, his whip lowered.
“You have disrupted my work,” he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Disrupted your work? You’re lucky we left you alive,” Jelmay said as he brought his sword to the ready.
“You can’t kill me here,” the soul collector as he shifted his focus to the bakeneko. “I will be punished for not retrieving the souls. I must leave. I suggest you do the same. You may have bested my companions back in the world of the living, but you will be quickly overpowered here. Do not test the dead.”
“Fine, fine, go, no one will miss you,” Jelmay told him.
“Speak for yourself,” said Usagi, “he’s better company than you!”
The soul collector slowly began to fade away, particles of light trickling down to the ground as he disappeared.
“How… odd,” Abbot Monpo said with a hint of hesitation.
“Well, we’re in Diyu.” Jelmay lowered his sword. He took a look around at the rocks, to the mountains on the horizon. Rather than being capped in snow, they were tipped something red that reminded Danzen of frozen lava. The stone here was a different color than it was in the mountains as well, an orange hue to it.
They were near a stream, the water black as tar. Danzen saw a fish with red and white scales leap from the stream and return.
“It certainly has a unique aesthetic,” Kudzu said. “At least in looking at the sky, we can tell which way the real world is. I don’t know how easy it will be to get there, but perhaps since we are still living, we will simply be able to walk up to it and pass through the barrier.”
“We will not be stuck here,” Abbot Monpo said with a hint of finality, “but it may be a battle for us to leave.”
“How do you think we find your brother?” Jelmay asked. “I don’t see anyone around. And another thing: do you think there are cities here like there are in our world?”
“You should have asked your soul collector friend back there,” Usagi said.
“I would have asked him if he had stuck around. He seemed like he was in a hurry to do his job. I didn’t like the tone he took with us, but I can understand what it’s like to be interrupted while you’re performing an important task.”
They started along the stream, Danzen assuming it would lead them somewhere. Perhaps there was a village where they would be able to ask questions. Following the river would also give them an easy option when it came to returning to the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
“The weather doesn’t seem right here,” Kudzu said, sniffing the air once again. “Am I the only one that feels that?”
“I don’t feel anything,” said Jelmay.
“It is neither hot nor cold,” Shedrup said, the cultivator keeping to the back of the group, “but it isn’t comfortable.”
“Maybe it's stale? Is that it?” Jelmay asked. He sniffed the air as well. “It doesn’t smell any different. I expected at least a little bit of brimstone.”
“Why would it smell like that here?” Usagi asked.
“I don’t know, maybe because the mountains are covered in what looks like fire? Can you see those from the satchel?”
“It is not…” Eva Yin bit her bottom lip. Finally, she spoke again: “It is not as terrible as I thought it would be.”
“Why does hell have to be terrible?” Jelmay asked. “There is nowhere else for the dead to go now that Sunyata has fallen, and I’m sure there are enough good people coming here now to make it somewhat comfortable.”
“If there are demons like the soul collectors roaming around, I don’t think it will be very comfortable,” Usagi said. “Think about it.”
“Maybe they have the same divide that we have in our world, between yokai and humans.”
“It would be yokai, demons, and humans,” said Abbot Monpo. “From what I’ve read, which, granted, has been written by an unverifiable source, Diyu is much like our world. There are warring factions, but not a lot of intermingling between species. That said, demons are the rulers of the land, so I suspect they are generally pretty easy to find.”
They came to a small clearing, and as if Nomtoi had been there all along, the man stood on the opposite side near a mangled rock formation that looked like a jaw lifting out of the ground. Nomtoi wore glowing white robes, his hair flaming red, his muscles visible underneath his clothing.
It was then that Danzen saw some of the horror that he would come to associate with Diyu.
Hanging from the rocks above were several people, their bodies mutilated, limbs missing. They were still alive, still breathing. His eyes fell to his brother’s hands, which had blood dripping off them.
“I thought I would warm up,” he said as he took a step forward. “You know, normal people can’t die here, but you can torture them to no end. They will heal eventually.” He looked up to admire his handiwork. “Beautiful sight, isn’t it? If it seems rather barbarous, it’s not. It is simply a way to pass the time or to get out some anger. And I have some anger to get out.”
“Where are the villagers?” Danzen asked, not able to dampen the sense of urgency he was feeling once he saw the bodies hanging from the rock formation.
“The villagers? Oh, yes, them. Don’t worry, I haven’t strung them up yet. Father wouldn’t like that, not until this is settled, anyway. I’m nearly certain he’s watching, you know,” Nomtoi said as he peered up at the pale red sky. “He will soon see you for the weakling that you are. The rest of you may go; if you make it to the barrier, you will be able to pass through unharmed. There may be some, ahem, obstacles in your way, but I’m sure a scrappy group like yourself can handle it.”
“We’re not going anywhere, demon scum,” Shedrup said.
“Ah, it’s you. I thought I recognized you, the cultivator foolish enough to engage me. Fine. You can stay and die and become my plaything for a while, just like your wife and child,” Nomtoi said as he bared his sharp teeth. “They were delicious.”
Shedrup would have sprung forward had it not been for Danzen, who stopped him.
“Last chance to leave,” Nomtoi told the group. “Or would the rest of you prefer to stay?”
“End these games,” Abbot Monpo said. “Danzen isn’t interested in your throne.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s interested or not, he’s next in line. If I were you, I would see me as being gracious,” Nomtoi told his half-brother. “I killed everyone else first, including your older siblings. I saved you for last, to give you plenty of time to enjoy your life as a mutt. It’s quite charitable of me, if I do say so myself. I believe it’s something that Father would be proud of. But now is the time, and since your friends have decided to stick around, perhaps there’s a way we can make this interesting.”
