Pilgrim 2, p.47
Pilgrim 2, page 47
****
Nomtoi morphed back into his human form, his robes tattered and torn, the once-vibrant fabric hanging off his form blotted with ichor. He took a knee.
Danzen did no such thing. He continued to stare defiantly at his father. The demons around them began taking knees as well, all of them bowing their heads forward even if they were injured.
“I don’t want anything to do with this,” Danzen said, his focus unwavering as he stared his father down, his violent intentions clear. “Return the villagers. I also don’t want your throne; remove me from the line of succession.”
“The villagers?” Gantulga glanced to Nomtoi, who was still bowing toward his father, his fiery red hair on display. “I see. You dare toy with the lives of mortals?”
“They are alive, Father.”
“Diyu is a place where people go after they have died, not a place they visit prematurely,” Gantulga told his son. “You brought them here for what? To draw Danzen out?”
“Yes, Father. To show you that I am stronger than him.”
“Are you? He is half-demon, yet he seemed to be on the verge of overtaking you just moments ago. You should be ashamed that you were so easily defeated.”
“The fight was not over, Father.”
“On your feet, Nomtoi. If I wanted you to bow at me, I would order you to do so. Stand, and approach.”
Nomtoi did as instructed. He stopped in front of his father, standing just three feet or so away from Danzen. Danzen could sense the sheer rage radiating from his brother as he tried to maintain his composure, Nomtoi’s fists clenched at his sides, veins pulsing.
Gantulga returned his focus to Danzen. “The villagers have been returned to their homes,” he said, his eyes starting to shine, first red and then slowly fading into orange and settling on a golden color. “Their memories have been wiped. They will assume a tornado tore through their part of the village. While I could fix their homes as well, I would prefer to let them rebuild on their own, so the memory is tied to something that is explainable. You will be granted passage back to your monastery, as well as all of your guests, human and yokai alike,” he said, looking at the people who had joined Danzen.
Danzen nodded.
“You have decided to change your path, Danzen, which I can appreciate. You have also taken your mother’s last name, which I can understand. Continue to bend your echo, and explore who you are, or more appropriately, who you would like to be. There is, however, one thing that I cannot change: you are my son, and you are next in line to my throne. What you choose to do with it at that point is entirely up to you, but unless there is outside interference,” he said, the ruler of Diyu slowly turning his head to Nomtoi, “this is the way of things. If you ever need me, just say my name.”
Gantulga, who still floated before Danzen, slowly began to turn when Nomtoi cried out to him.
“He doesn’t want it!” Nomtoi said, his voice hoarse. “He has said it himself. He doesn’t want it!”
“Diyu is not for him to want, it is for him to inherit. Once he has it, he can do with it what he pleases, including bequeathing it to his only living sibling, thanks to you. Do not torment any other mortals; that is not your role, Nomtoi. Have respect for your bloodline, for yourself, or the legacy you are writing.”
“No, no!” Nomtoi took off toward Gantulga as if he were going to jump out at him and latch onto his legs.
He was blown backward, Nomtoi cutting through the demons who were still bowing all around them, and colliding into what was left of the rock formation.
Gantulga stopped and slowly looked over his shoulder to Danzen.
“You may go, son.”
****
Danzen and his companions appeared at the front of his monastery, startling the two lion dogs. All who had weapons still held them at the ready, the group tattered and torn, confused.
It was morning, the sun was slowly coming up, casting brilliant pink hues atop the Asura Forest below. There was no red tint to the sky above, clear that they were in the world of the living.
Jelmay was the first to speak.
“That was…” He lowered his shoulders and dropped his sword, the pudgy bakeneko flopping onto the hillside. He lay back and stretched his arms out, Nama coming to him and nuzzling her head against his side. “Whoo! I can’t believe we got out of Diyu alive. I was so worried. Talk about a relief!”
Usagi started to say something, but Jelmay simply stuck his hand in the satchel and shoved the rabbit deeper inside. He then latched it, and patted the leather satchel with his paw. “Quiet for a moment, Usagi. Let me enjoy the fresh air. It definitely doesn’t reek of brimstone here.”
“Danzen?” Shodren came out of the monastery, the woman wearing a set of old robes that had splotches of paint across them. “Are you all right?”
She stepped over to Danzen and placed a hand on his cheek, her eyes scanning his body. Shodren noticed that his clothing was worse for wear, but he had no markings, no signs of altercation. She sighed. “You’re alive.” She then looked to the rest of them. “All of you are alive.”
Rather than say anything, Shedrup lowered his shoulders and turned toward the village.
“Wait,” she called after him, “where are you going? You should rest.”
“I need to check on the villagers,” Shedrup said, strands of his gray and brown hair batting in the wind. “I want to make sure Gantulga held up his end of the bargain.”
“Bargain? What happened?”
“Let me out of here!” Usagi shouted from inside of Danzen’s satchel.
“Long story short: we went to Diyu, fought Nomtoi and a bunch of assassins, won, then Gantulga showed up and yelled at Nomtoi for being a spoiled little brat, then restored the villagers to their lives here in the real world, and apparently sent us back free of charge,” said Jelmay. “Did I miss anything?”
“What did he say? What did Gantulga say?” Shodren asked.
Danzen hesitated for a moment. His father hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary, anything of concern really aside from scolding Nomtoi. He had mentioned, however, that Danzen would inherit the throne.
The former assassin explained this to his mother, her shaven head reminding Danzen of Nomin. The blind assassin had joined his side, and he only hoped that she wasn’t going to be punished for what she’d done. He wished now that they had just a moment longer in Diyu, that he could have said something to Nomin, that he could have thanked her.
Danzen shook his head, aware that this wouldn’t be the last time he had to deal with his brother. The man had truly revealed his character in the end, and would likely stop at nothing to prevent Danzen from taking a throne he didn’t actually want.
One of his rare smiles came across his face as he looked away from his mother and to Yama, the lion dog staring up at him.
Danzen really wanted to be left alone, but it appeared that the world was never going to stop coming for him, and all he could do now was prepare for the worst, or at the very least, the inevitable.
“We should have breakfast,” Jelmay said. “Which requires someone going out to get us food. I’m not saying that I went out last time, because I didn’t, but Pilgrim? Fox?”
Shedrup started to turn away again and Danzen called out to him. “Wait, I’ll join you.”
“At least change your robes before you go to the village,” said Shodren. Danzen glanced at his clothing to see that it was quite shredded, bloodied as well.
“I suppose you’re right; I should start there. Do you mind?” he asked Shedrup.
“I’ll wait for you,” the cultivator told him.
“What about food?” Jelmay waddled to his feet and followed Danzen inside his monastery. “After a fight like that, you’re just going to go straight to the village?”
Danzen looked up at the frescoes on the ceiling, which had mostly been restored now, demons and angels and saints and yokai all swirling together into a scene of action and triumph.
“She’s not half bad,” Jelmay said. “Better than I could have done.”
“Let me out of here!”
Jelmay opened the satchel and Usagi popped his head out. “The next time you stick me in the bag…”
“We’re back in the valley now, you can go to Osul.”
“I think I will.”
The jade rabbit hopped out of the bag and headed to the door. He passed Kudzu, who came into the monastery and gasped when she saw the ceiling.
“It’s wonderful.”
“Finally, something we can agree on,” said Jelmay.
“I believe I will come to the village with you,” Kudzu said as she continued to examine the frescoes. “I’m not quite ready to rest.”
“Come on, people,” Jelmay moaned. “Who’s going to get us breakfast?”
“We can have breakfast in the village.” This voice belonged to Shedrup, the cultivator now standing in the doorway of the monastery and admiring the newly restored images on the ceiling.
“Did someone say Sarnai’s home? Because if that’s the case…” Jelmay caught a look from Kudzu. “What? We have to check on Khamdo anyway.”
“You change first, Pilgrim,” she told Danzen. “I’ll go after you.”
Danzen stepped into his bedroom and found that it had been freshened up, his bed made, everything clean and dusted.
He removed his gauntlets and looked down at his arms, noticing the indentation that they left on his flesh. For a moment he thought of leaving them there on his weapons rack, but the sad truth was that he had to always be prepared for anything now.
He kept them off for a moment as he changed into a fresh set of robes and hung his armor from the corner of the weapon rack, next to his sugawara helmet. He was quite certain that his robes were unsalvageable, but he intended to try anyway. He would first wash them in the mountain stream behind his home, and then stitch up any of the slash marks. No sense in throwing the robes away.
After his gauntlets were back on his arms, he joined his companions in the main room of the monastery, allowing Kudzu to change. Abbot Monpo and Eva Yin were still outside with Shodren, and once Danzen stepped out, the Abbot came to him.
“I will return to my shrine now,” the white-haired man said. “It is clear to me that you are going to have to grow far stronger than one would normally attempt in the time you have been given. But I believe it is possible. You did very well against your brother, and you should keep the necklace I gave you. As I was telling Eva, I will stop by Dalan’s hermitage on my way to the shrine to let him know that we made it back safely. Visit me soon, and we will discuss strategies.”
“Thank you for coming.”
The Abbot bowed to Danzen and turned to the mountains.
“Since I’m going to the village, is there anything that you need?” Danzen asked his mother.
“I’ve got most of the paint I need, but we could use some basic food supplies.”
“I’ll be sure to grab some. There’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about,” he said as he walked a few paces away from the entrance to the monastery, leaving Eva Yin by herself for a moment.
Danzen turned to his mother. “I had a dream about restoring Sunyata. At first, I didn’t remember it, but then it came back to me. Am I crazy? Is this even a possibility?”
A soft smile came across his mother’s face. “You know, if we are being honest, I didn’t think you were ready back at the nunnery, but now, seeing what you have done, that you have survived, I believe you are. I believe that we could rebuild Sunyata together, son,” she said. “It is something I started to believe a few decades ago, that it was possible to rebuild. Abbot Monpo believes it is a possibility as well,” she said, turning in the direction of the leader of the fox shrine, who had nearly reached the start of the mountains. “We briefly spoke of it before your journey.”
“Then I suppose it is something we should continue to discuss,” Danzen finally said. “I will have to grow stronger.”
“You will, but it is possible. All things are possible if you continue to bend your echo.”
Danzen nodded. Kudzu stepped out of the monastery in her green robes, her white hair a slight mess as always. She was joined by Jelmay, who had taken the form of a human, this time going for Dalan the hermit.
“Do you mind telling me why you have taken my brother’s form?” Eva Yin asked, her eyes narrowing on the bakeneko.
“Simple. I don’t want to be asked to help out around the village, and your brother’s too frail to help,” Jelmay told her as he tapped the side of his head. “I assume we are going there to help rebuild, right? No thank you.”
Rather than say anything, Eva Yin turned toward the village, Shedrup joining her. Danzen, Kudzu, and Jelmay followed behind them, the fox woman scolding Jelmay for being so lazy. Once they reached the bottom of the hill, Danzen turned to look up at his mother, who waved at the group.
The five started toward Suja Village, Danzen at once familiar with the path, glad to be home. It seemed like Shedrup was going to accept him for the time being, and while he could tell Eva Yin was exhausted, she would soon be able to rest.
The day had started to warm, monsoon season close to being over. The trees seemed to stretch toward the heavens, basking in the morning light, and there was a vibrant greenness to everything that made Danzen feel truly alive.
He didn’t see the three-legged raven lift from its perch on a mangled branch high above them. The raven rose into the air and followed them until they reached the outskirts of the village, where it turned back toward the Panchen Mountains.
The three-legged raven reached Danzen’s monastery and circled once. It slowly lowered toward the single figure still standing near its entrance.
Shodren lifted her hand, the raven landing on her finger.
“You have done well,” she told the raven, which tilted its head as it looked at her. “It begins soon.”
The end
.Back of the book.
If you haven’t already taken a moment to do so, please review Pilgrim 2. As soon as we reach 100 reviews, I’ll start work on the third. I originally planned for three Pilgrim books, but it is such a pleasure to write that I’d like to go beyond that.
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