Chapter 280 - What Yuzu Needs

A chill ran through Yuzu’s spine, her pupils quivered as she read and re-read the strings. The world around her seemed to shrink as she focused all her attention on the tapestry of fate within the pocket world.

The bleak, shadowed world glimmered with golden and silver gossamer threads that extended out from Nilya’s string in her perception. From there, she could access those strings within a small radius of Nilya, giving her a limited view of the world.

It was a barren world with sparse, weak vegetation. Even though Nilya had been in this place for nearly a day the sun had yet to rise. Only the weak light of the stars shone overhead all this time, making Yuzu wonder if the sun would ever appear.

As for the creatures which Yuzu had been using for the past half day to gain more insight into the space, there were many. Not only were there many, but they were largely peaceful creatures that posed no threat to Nilya, that were easy for Yuzu to influence as she searched for a way out for Nilya.

It was only as the sun was setting that the source of the nagging, uneasy feeling in Yuzu’s gut became clear to her.

The problem was the creatures. There were too many for this small world. Their strings appeared too easily, at intervals that were both too frequent and too convenient to be natural. 

When Nilya was on top of the mountain, despite there being so many grand basalt hawks flying around there were hardly any strings for Yuzu to read. Why was it that there were so many creatures here down below? Furthermore, where were the tar wing basalt hawks that the guide had talked about?

The guide had made it sound like the valley was a place of great danger, yet Nilya had wandered aimlessly for nearly a day and hadn’t come across anything more dangerous than a regular wild animal.

The monolithic mountain in the center of the pocket world was by far the largest feature in this place. The valleys around it did not even come close in area.

All these thoughts culminated in Yuzu’s mind as she was reminded of something Argus had said to her once before.

“Fate is truly the domain of convenience.”

This time though, it was Yuzu who was experiencing this subtle, terrifying quality of her own domain.

The ruler of the pocket space… he’s been guiding me to him this whole time.

Not Nilya.

Me.

Yuzu felt a tightness in her chest as she reached out to another string in the pocket world. The golden string of a mouse that was skittering in the bushes next to Nilya, unnoticed by the boy. A regular string much like the dozens of others that she had interacted with since Nilya had entered the trial.

She took the thin string in her fingers and she plucked it ever so gently, sending a tiny ripple down the thread into the valley beyond her sight.

A moment later, something at the other end tugged back.

A cold sweat broke out on Yuzu’s temples as the other strings in the world vanished, leaving only two threads in her sight.

Nilya was taking a breather, looking out across the ever dark surroundings, when he felt the gentle presence of the illusory guide around him. 

“That mouse.” The soft voice whispered with a tiny hint of tension in her gentle tone, “Follow where it goes.”

Nilya’s eyes perked up as he heard a tiny squeak, just barely catching the flicker of a silhouette as a mouse scurried out from under his feet.

He didn’t hesitate as he quickly took off, following the mouse as it ran toward the base of the mountain.

~

In the physical world the sun was setting.

Orange and red hues set the horizon aglow as the sun’s final rays made way for twilight.

The twisting old dirt road wound endlessly through the swamp, a narrow, crumbling path that was only just held together by the old ways. Stringy, limp bramble with tiny black leaves lay in clumps across the bleak, desolate landscape. Gnarled old willow trees with half-naked branches grew out of still brackish water. 

The smell of rot and earth permeated the air.

The tiny box wagon rattled and shook, its speed limited by the pitted uneven road. Energized by the guru-chi’s powers, the old ox pulled the wagon tirelessly without complaint, and even after a full day of travel it still looked like it could continue for another without rest.

However as the sunset bloomed across the sky the Somm slowed the wagon. His black eyes peered out from behind the bandages wrapped around his head, scanning the road ahead. At a certain point a fork in the road appeared, though the path had sunken into the marsh and was so overgrown that it would have been easy to miss it, had he not known it was there.

The cart came to a stop as Somm turned to look at Yuzu, who had been sitting in quiet meditation for the entire day next to Nilya’s unconscious body.

“There are old ruins not too far down this path.” Somm said, “We can find shelter there tonight.”

“Bacchi will just be reaching the village now.” Yuzu replied in a soft tone, answering the question implied in the guru-chi’s statement, “There is time to rest.”

This was the future that she’d seen in the strings at the time they’d left the village. The strings had still been clear then, showing that Bacchi would spend the night at the village before chasing after them.

“How long do we have?” Somm asked.

“It’s unclear.” Yuzu replied vaguely.

“And Nilya? Do you need my assistance?” Somm asked, offering assistance not for the first time. He had many questions on his mind— What’s the progress? Why is it taking this long? Is there really hope for him to escape?

Somm had methods to hide and escape from Bacchi, however his options were limited with Nilya in an unconscious state with his planar bodies separated. If he didn’t have to worry about Nilya, he could simply abandon Yuzu and Nilya and escape. If Nilya was awake, they could also escape together.

If Somm wasn’t worried about the sanctity of the trial, he could even repeat the ritual to attempt to enter the Trial’s pocket space himself and forcefully bring Nilya back.

But of course he was worried about that.

He was more anxious about this than he had been in his entire millennia-long lifetime.

The prophecy was clear: Sun God’s throne would go to one chosen oji. 

One Oji who must have passed the Trial of Requirement led by One Guru-chi, ordained by fate to guide him.

Raising the Sun God’s chosen heir was the guru-chi’s sole purpose in life.

However the Trial of Requirement had been destroyed. What did this mean? It meant that it was no longer possible for a new oji to qualify for the throne. If a guru-chi did not have an oji at this moment that had already passed the trial, they might as well commit suicide. They could not longer fulfill their purpose.

Somm knew that each of his brothers felt just as strongly about this point as he did.

Nilya had nearly passed the Trial, but it was destroyed at the last second. Somm’s hopes were shattered by his own soul-sworn brother. In his shock he had gave Nilya instructions to find the space’s owner, giving the boy a last chance at survival, but in truth Somm was already reeling in despair. Combined with the backlash from the death of his pneuma Somm had nearly lost control in that moment and become a Corrupted One.

But out of nowhere, this mysterious girl called Shou Tao miraculously appeared and saved him. Not only that, but she told him that Nilya could still pass the trial.

“The Trial of Requirement states: The Oji shall travel alone, without guidance or instruction, only knowing that they must retrieve a hollow ember from within.” She reminded him, stating plainly something that only a guru-chi should know, “I can make sure he passes.”

Those words were a white ray of hope shining down on a pit of hopelessness.

How could he deny her?

Thus, even though Yuzu didn’t share any details with him, even though what she promised was seemingly impossible, he held his tongue.

If Nilya returned with a hollow ember, then did that not mean he still had a chance to fulfill the prophecy himself?

No, if Nilya returned with a hollow ember, as the final Candidate who completed the final Trial of Requirement, against sabotage and betrayal from the guru-chi themselves…

Would there be any question that Nilya was in fact the chosen one?

If this was so, then there could be no other explanation!

“If needed, I can recreate the ritual to send you or anyone else to the pocket space.” Somm said, “If I can provide any assistance or knowledge to ensure Nilya’s success...”

Yuzu’s eyes were hidden by the deep hood of her cloak, but her chin was still just visible. Her lips pressed together gently in subdued tension as she considered the answer to that question.

It had already occurred to Yuzu that the guru-chi might know critical information about the Trial and its world, but using Fate Cycling she had found out everything she could during their travels that day.

The Trial of Requirement had been the testing ground for the guru-chi for the last thousand years. Hundreds, if not thousands of oji had been sent into the trial in that time, though the number of successful candidates was extremely low. 

This success rate was especially true in the first half-millenia, when the guru-chi were still united in purpose and following the strictest interpretation of the prophecy. In those days the trial was seen as a test for the Candidate and the Candidate alone, and the guru-chi only accepted the Candidate as an oji if they passed the test on their own merit. 

The guru-chi had long lost count of the number of Candidates that had been sacrificed to the trial.

In those days they sent many Candidates into the trial, but each guru-chi only took in an oji once every century, if that. This just showed how brutal and unforgiving the trial was. The Candidates that did survive often went on to become significant figures in history; Sung Lim, the hero who slayed the Butcher of Gliese; Bai Tai the Green Sage of Lone Crane Mountain; three crown princes of the Byran Empire before its final collapse, the list went on.

In the alternate conversations Somm spoke freely about his and his brothers’ pasts with a tone of reverence and pride. There were many stories of key events in the past thousand years that Somm took credit for, either directly or through affiliation with his brothers. 

After the fall of Ying Chu the guru-chi had fled to the south, traveling down the western coast of Huan and into Fuha, out of reach of Lord Noga and his allies. Though some of the guru-chi remained in Fuha, most of them continued to the southern tip of Fuha, taking a ship to the continent beyond where the Byran Empire provided protection for the immortal advisors of their former ally.

In Byran and Fuha the reputation of guru-chi was enormous, but they were virtually unheard of in Nian Xing. Why? Because Ying Chu, Fuha, Byran and the former corrupt ruler of Nian Xing all lost the War of the Five Kings.

King Shah of Banbajan allied with Noga and Matsuhara to defeat the remaining Four Kings, forming a new Nian Xing composed of three provinces that still persisted until today. 

Lord Noga ruled the province of Kumin. Lord Matsuhara ruled over Huan. Across the sea, King Shah sat in the capital Tenyuan, ruling over Banbajan. The Kingdom of NianXing entered an age of prosperity and peace. This was what Yuzu had learned in her studies, what the average citizen of Kumin and Huan learned in school.

As for the other nations, very little was written about the aftermath of the war.

History is written by the victors. Heroes live for eternity, the dead and defeated fade away into obscurity.

This was the truth of the world.

Yuzu reflected on these facts as she’d listened to Somm’s perspective on history as a member of the ‘losing’ side. She thought about her conversations with Argus, Medusa (whose true name was Lyssa), Abbott Deacon Glass and the Angel of Death Li Ru.

Her perspective of the world had been broadened. She had been taught in school that Lord Noga was a hero among heroes, bringing peace and prosperity to his people and overthrowing Kumin’s previous corrupt warlord. But now Yuzu knew, Lord Noga was only considered a hero by his people and his allies. But what about the losers?

Fuha had been turned into a wasteland. Ying Chu was burned to ash. The Byran Empire no longer existed.

History was written by the victors.

The noble and wise guru-chi who had made such an impact on the world south of NianXing were unknown to Yuzu. Yuzu even recognized some of the names in Somm’s stories— The green sage was a famous figure in Huan legends who had famously saved thousands of people from a mysterious pestilence in the province; Legends of the beggar monk Kuan Pu Lung were such popular tales from Byran that they even made it into common Kumin folklore.

But after all her efforts, Yuzu had only learned about the history of those that passed the Trial, and nothing about its origins.

Where it came from, who created it, the identity of the pocket space’s owner, Yuzu didn’t learn anything useful. Even emphasizing that the information was critical to save Nilya didn’t cause Somm to divulge any more details, making her believe that Somm simply did not know.

Of course, Somm did not know that his experiences and knowledge had already been interrogated out of him in alternate futures. From his perspective Yuzu had shown up, saved him from corruption and then provided crucial information about the Trial world that she could only know if she were actually able to access that world. Her sparse updates throughout the day gave him hope that progress was being made towards Nilya’s successful completion of the trial.

From Somm’s perspective, Yuzu had come in like a guardian angel, providing help at the critical time and asking for nothing in return.

The guru-chi was offering her assistance and knowledge, but she already knew he had nothing of value. Yuzu was alone in her task. Even with this ancient immortal advisor sitting across from her telling her everything he knew, she could only rely on herself in the end.

But thinking about it carefully there was in fact one thing that Yuzu was missing.

“There is something, actually.” Yuzu’s lips were pressed tersely into a thin line as she came to a decision.

“Name it.” Somm said, steeling himself mentally.

Here it comes. Whether it was knowledge, Exalted materials or even direct action, he was prepared.

Yuzu raised her head, looking directly in the guru-chi’s eyes with a serious expression.

“I need thirty gold coins.”