Chapter 279 - Two Worlds

In the shadowed valley of the Trial of Requirement’s pocket world.

The corpse of a humanoid crow boy lay amidst the rubble. His body was half crushed beneath the rocks. Deep red blood stained his feathers, dripping down into the cracked stone.

Nilya stood pensively above the corpse, keeping a safe distance away. His eyes darkened as he looked over the long sinewy arms that lay limp around the body. They came out several grotesque wounds in the crow’s back, like they had erupted forcefully from within. Nilya subconsciously reached back to touch his own shoulder blades, feeling lumps of hardened scar tissue from where the stone arms had emerged from his own shoulders.

He recalled master’s warning to him, that Bacchi might still be a threat to him. His master had referred to Bacchi as his ‘elder brother’, had referred to Bacchi’s own oji. The limbs that sprouted from the crow guide and from Nilya’s shoulders had been different, but also carried many similarities.

From the folklore stories shared by his uncle Nilya had known there were multiple guru-chi in the world and that each of them raised an heir to the sun god’s kingdom. However when he had been taken in by the guru-chi and throughout the time he was undergoing training Nilya hadn’t considered what that actually meant.

As he stared at the corpse Nilya felt a deep emotion stir within him.

“He is dead.” A soft, illusory voice whispered, “The guru-chi’s pneuma, too.”

“It’s you!” Nilya whispered back as he looked around in wonder for the source of the voice. His spirits immediately improved as he heard this now-familiar voice that had already come to his aid several times.

A few pebbles skittered down the side of the rock pile as he spun around. Even as a whisper his voice seemed to carry on the wind, breaking the hallowed silence of the valley.

Nilya felt his heart pounding as he strained his senses to find the source of the mysterious voice, but there was no one around him.

His eyes turned back to the body, feeling less pressured now that he knew that the crow and the… thing… inside it was dead. He hadn’t heard from his master since the lips on his neck had receded into a lump of flesh. Since his master and Bacchi shared the same type of ability, perhaps then the thing inside him was dead, too.

As if to answer his unspoken question the voice said, “Your master cannot reach you here anymore. You can still return to the physical world, but you must hurry.”

“Where do I need to go?” Nilya asked, looking across the shadowed landscape, “My master said I need to find the ruler of this world. Do you know where I can find him?”

“Fate will guide you. Follow your intuition.” Came the cryptic response.

“Fate will guide me…?” Nilya muttered to himself with a frown.

~

In the physical world, Yuzu frowned as she held Nilya’s string firmly between the fingers of each hand. She stared into the thread in deep contemplation, her body rocking back and forth gently with the swaying of the cart.

It was early morning, only an hour after they had left the ritual site. The villagers had lent Somm a cart and an old ox to pull it at his request. It was a difficult request to fulfill for the villagers, but the guru-chi insisted and they managed to pull their meagre resources together. Whether it was out of respect or fear, Yuzu couldn’t tell. Likely a mixture of both.

 Yuzu waited with the unconscious Nilya on the outskirts of the village until the guru-chi picked them up. Before they left the village the guru-chi scattered some seeds on the ground, not bothering to explain his actions to Yuzu. Asking about it with Fate cycling only revealed a simple answer — It was a counter measure against Bacchi. When Yuzu tried to get Somm to elaborate he would only gave out a raspy chuckle.

Bacchi’s silver string hung in the air, circling around the scattered seeds. Yuzu hovered her hand over it, peeking into the future. The corner of her lip turned up in an amused grin as she saw their purpose.

She understood why Somm hadn’t explained his actions. The seeds weren’t enough to deal with Bacchi permanently, but it would buy them some time.

Somm sat at the front holding the reins. He had recovered from his earlier turmoil, regaining his usual wise and holy composure. The thick black cloth wrappings once again concealed his face, the coloured yellow and red tassels hung in drooping loops around his side and back. Various furs and belts adorned his cloak in a chaotic yet intentional manner.

As they left the village the old ox strolled down the winding swamp road at an almost unbearably slow pace. It was almost comical, really. They likely could have walked faster. This was only temporary, for as soon as they were out of eyesight Somm reached forward to touch the flank of the ox.

The effect of his touch was immediate. The ox’s back straightened, its muscles bulged with renewed vitality. It raised its head and snorted with a newfound youth, taking off at an energetic clip. 

Yuzu couldn’t help but recall the reputation of guru-chi in the village. Holy men with mystical healing abilities. Immortal advisors of the Sun God, whose thousand year task was to find an heir to His ruined kingdom.

First the God of Life, now the Sun God. How is it that I keep getting mixed up in the affairs of dead gods? Yuzu thought mirthlessly to herself.

When Yuzu first lent a helping hand to Nilya in his trial, she was looking for a way to use his connection to the guru-chi to find a way out of town. She hadn’t expected to be thrust into the center of the deadly struggle to obtain a dead god’s inheritance. 

Bacchi’s eminent arrival changed everything, putting the safety of her village sanctuary into uncertainty, forcing her to take action.

They were headed toward one of the major cities in Fuha, a trade hub that would have plenty of opportunity to find safer passage back to NianXing. That would be Yuzu’s opportunity to escape from this predicament. She had enough to worry about without adding on the baggage of another dead god. Let them fulfill their own prophecy, and leave her out of it!

Of course, she kept all of this to herself. These weren’t thoughts that she would share with the prophecy-obsessed Somm.

Plus, though she only promised to assist Somm and Nilya to safety, until they reached the city she literally was in the same cart as Somm and Nilya. Her safety depended on the cooperation with Somm and his ability to hold off Bacchi until then. Therefore it was in her best interest to at least give the impression of long term collaboration.

“Nilya found the guide’s body.” Yuzu spoke up after gathering her thoughts, “It’s dead, so is Bacchi’s pneuma.”

“Bacchi’s pneuma is unique, it can detach without heavy penalties.” Somm responded without surprise. “He has probably recovered completely from the battle, but it will take me a few days at least…”

There was uncertainty in his voice. Yuzu’s intuition told her that he was thinking about the after-effects of corruption that still lingered in his body. Even now Somm’s left hand was still petrified in a crooked fist, which he kept tucked under his robes. He hadn’t made any effort to heal it that Yuzu had noticed— perhaps the damage was irreversible.

“How close is Nilya to finding the owner of the space?” Somm asked.

“We are still searching.” Yuzu said.

Somm nodded, falling silent. He was probing Yuzu, asking indirect questions to try to gain insight into her capability. However Yuzu purposefully gave vague answers. The less the guru-chi knew about her the better. Plus, though she had stated that her intention was to help Nilya escape the pocket space, she didn’t actually have a solid plan to do it.

Her guidance to Nilya to listen to his intuition was pretty much empty advice. Perhaps at some point in his exploration of the shadow valley he would find something of interest, and then she could choose to give him directions or guide his string as necessary. 

Fate will guide him, indeed. Yuzu muttered inwardly to herself with a sense of irony, feeling somewhat like a circus fortune teller.

As they traveled Yuzu took care to keep track both of Nilya’s progress in the pocket space as well as the fate tapestry in the real world. Bacchi’s string had been crystal clear when they left the village, but the further they traveled the more uncertain the future became. 

The tapestry became hazy and weak, the images in the strings showed different, blurry futures. As more time passed she couldn’t tell if Bacchi would show up or if they would be safe through the night.

Even after a few hours of contemplation Yuzu didn’t know what to think. Her best guess was that some time during the night something would change in the tapestry. Whether it was for better or worse she didn’t know. The only consolation that she had was that the immediate future up until midnight was still clear, showing that they were safe. 

At the same time Yuzu was spending half her concentration on Nilya’s progress in the pocket space.

Yuzu wore her hood low, covering her face from view. With her hands held out over her lap she looked to be in deep meditation. Of course, no one but her could see the string grasped between her fingers.

Unlike the tapestry of the world around her, Yuzu had a very limited view into the shadowed valley where Nilya was currently trapped. Looking through Nilya’s string into the pocket world she could only see the threads that directly interacted with his.

The number of threads weren’t large, but there were still some from the critters that lived in the valley. Like the mountain cliffs there was vegetation and wildlife in the shadows below. Large eared mice scurried through patches of pale whitish blue grasses. Mountain sheep with pumice-like stone coats and scaled horns lazily gazed at Nilya as he clambered across the steppes.

The strings here were primarily silver, they were thin and delicate, giving Yuzu the impression that they were not particularly strong creatures. Yet they were silver, not golden like the strings of the animals in the physical world.

Spirit creatures, perhaps… Yuzu made an educated guess. Creatures that exist primarily in the spirit plane? 

Yuzu subtly influenced Nilya to travel in places with more creatures, in order to try to gain more insight into the world and find clues about its owner. Often times simply moving into a creature’s awareness was enough, the act of noticing Nilya and scurrying away was enough to form a connection between their fate strings.

As for beasts and predators, Yuzu was able to steer them away from Nilya keeping his exploration of the pocket space safe and peaceful.

As the hours passed Yuzu felt increasingly uneasy, like there was something in the strings that she was missing. Her awareness of the physical world receded as she focused more and more intensely on the strings within the pocket space trying to find the source of the feeling that nagged her.

The sun was starting to set as Yuzu sat up in an epiphany, her eyes glimmering with clarity.

“There’s a current… A flow in the tapestry…” She muttered internally, “Then that must mean this world’s ruler is…!”