RTYY 085 – Arc 5 – The Long Road Ahead – Daitai
363 3 8
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Arc 5 - The Long Road Ahead

They only stopped again at nightfall, already so far away from the Capital of Wei that nothing on the horizon could indicate that the huge city stood somewhere, north from there.

They had never traveled for so long uninterruptedly, even having something fast and simple to eat while still on horse back, and so Snow’s legs and back were aching when they finally decided to stop and make camp for the day.

He didn’t mind it though, he thought taking a deep breath, feeling the fresh, clean air fill his chest. Weiin1Literally wei (crystal / precious stone) + suffix in (center), meaning the center of the Province of Wei, in other words, Wei’s Capital. All Capitals of all Provinces are named as such. had its charms and wonders, but he much rather be on the road, away from all those people. Out here the air felt cleaner, lighter, and the soft sounds that had once frightened him, like the rustling of leaves or the calling of the wild animals, were now a source of comfort and peace of mind for him.

He was happily petting Black’s neck when the dark monster approached him.

Like always, looking at him when the world around him was mostly dark was even more disconcerting than during the day. The difficulty of guessing exactly where he was increased tenfold, making him feel uncomfortable, as if he could be the target of a sneak attack at any moment.

“Follow me, brat!”

Snow jumped at the order and looked around, at the others, but no one seemed to be paying special attention to them.

MenTar2Literally men (lake) + tar (wind) was going through their provisions, probably selecting what to include in their meal. ZenTar3Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) was studying a bunch of papers that Snow guessed were maps. And HawkEye was gathering a stack of branches and twigs for their fire.

When Snow looked back at the monster he was no longer there. And so he had to search for a darker mass in the increasing darkness of the night to be able to find him.

As if he had no doubts that his order would be unquestionably followed, the monster was slowly walking away from their campsite.

Snow frowned, very much inclined to simply ignore him. After all, who did he think he was? Sure, he was some important Calzai4Literally cal (bright) + zai (blade), or Blade of Light. It can be translated in common language as General, one of military leaders of the Empire. Each Province has it’s own Calzai., probably of noble blood and all that. And Snow was still his prisoner, even though most of the time he wasn’t treated like one. But it still irked him. Not the fact that he haughtily bossed everyone around, even though he was clearly younger than the others. But the fact that he was so certain that everyone would immediately fall in line and blindly obey him.

Against his own will, Snow crossed the camp and chased after him as he had been commanded. There were no advantages in confronting him about such small things, he decided. He had to keep his head down and play along until the right time came.

Following him into the surrounding woods, however, was harder than he’d initially thought. Even though the trees were scarce, the shadows of their high canopies projected dark pools on the ground, dark pools where the monster would practically disappear.

He halted when the monster reached a small clearing. Snow could see him from where he stood, amongst the trees. A dark, wavering mass of nothingness, his blue eyes glowing eerily, reminding him of a wild animal.

For a moment Snow almost turned back and ran back to camp.

Why had he brought him here, to this deserted place? Could he have concluded, like Snow had, that the bound-thing was probably a lie and decided to kill him? If so he knew that there was no way he could escape him. Well, right now there was no way he could escape him anyway, he quickly concluded stepping into the small clearing after him. Even if he turned around now and tried to run that back monster would easily hunt him down and catch up with him. He had no other choice but to gamble his own fate.

“Took you long enough!” the monster grunted the moment he reached him, and Snow looked up at him, focusing on his eyes, since the darkness around him was growing increasingly indistinct. “You said you wanted to learn, remember?” he went on, his voice sounding dubious and angry as if he expected him to go back on his word, and Snow’s eyes widened in surprise as he quickly nodded.

So that’s what they were doing …

“Speak up! You fucking brat! Are you a dog to constantly shake your head?”

Snow’s cheeks blushed at the insult, a frown marking his forehead, but he still lowered his voice as much as possible.

“Am not!”

“Then speak like a freaking human being! Or are you thinking that if you speak what happened at the Fortress will happen again?”

The direct question made Snow lower his gaze.

“Are you an idiot? As long as you keep your emotions under control you can speak as much as you like!”

He wasn’t an idiot, he thought. By now he’d gathered that much. The problem was that he didn’t trust himself to keep his emotions under control.

The monster sighed in exasperation and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“Have you ever tried to control your markings?”

Snow shook his head and quickly looked up at him to answer before he could scold him again.

“No.”

Another impatient sigh.

“I don’t know how it works with your … kind,” the monster declared, the despise heavy on his voice, reminding him of what VinWei5Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) had said, about how he hated all Celestials. “But for us, we naturally learn to control our markings as we grow up.

“All those that are born with a daitai6Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or Holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power., or holy marking as the common folk call them, are able to naturally learn how to control them from the age of three. Until then the daitai remain inactive, and children with markings are no different from other children. At the age of three the daitai begin to naturally to activate themselves, one at a time. Only when a child learns to control one daitai another one will become active, and so on.

"Depending on the maturation speed of a child, between the ages of six and ten, they should have been able to control all the daitai they were born with. After that, and until they’re fourteen to sixteen years of age, in some cases, some children will develop new daitai, but the process is no different from their birth markings. They appear one at a time, and another daitai will only appears after the previous one is under the bearer’s control.”

Snow nodded, completely engrossed in his explanation.

“Now, sometimes, a child is unable to learn how control their daitai. That can happens for different reasons. Some daitai are just too complicated and strong. Or the child is going through some mentally unstable situation. Or even if the child suffered from some prolonged illness. And so, a method to help one gain control over their daitai was developed especially for those cases.”

He took a deep breath, his cold eyes staring down at Snow as if he were some kind of inferior being and not a sacred existence, as VinWei had described him.

“Now, in your case things are a bit different. Firstly you never learned how to control any of your daitai. And yet they are obviously not inactive as they should be. Then there’s the absurd amount of them. I have never seen a Celestial’s markings, so I don’t know if you’re all like this. But your back is riddled with them, in some places they even overlap one another, to the point that it is hard to understand what is what. And then there’s the abnormal different natures of your markings. Normal people will develop affinity with one or two elements, or they’re specialized in a certain kind of action. But you … everything is mixed up. And I had never heard of a Celestial with elemental markings. That’s why I asked VinWei to take a look. Have you ever seen your markings?”

Snow shook his head and then quickly replied so he wouldn’t get angry at him again.

“I haven’t. I …” he hesitated and lowered his head in embarrassment. “I never knew I had them …” he confessed in an even smaller voice and the blue eyes staring at him showed surprise for a change.

“You didn’t know?”

He shook his head.

“When I was small we were very poor … Sand had a small piece of mirror this size.” He exemplified with his hands. “And she couldn’t speak, so she never told me.”

“She couldn’t speak?”

Snow shook his head again.

“Then, when I was taken … I was always …” Laying on that bed, ZaiWin7Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos) knew what he couldn’t bring himself to say. Tied down with straps and chains. “No one ever saw my back … and madame never said anything either …”

“She probably didn’t want others to know, afraid they might identify you, even though she claims she thought you were a descendant of the Demon Clan.”

Snow nodded and the monster released a long smile.

“Fine, then.”

Slamming his right foot on the ground a circle of dark-purplish symbols surrounded him. The circle quickly expanded, sliding beneath Snow’s feet, its dark energy sending shivers running through his entire body. It was as if the monster had sent part of the darkness that always surrounded him away from him, but now it wasn’t something shapeless and abstract anymore. There was a purpose to it, a meaning, as if it were obeying a silent command. And it didn’t take Snow very long to see what that purpose was.

A dark wall surrounded them, shooting towards the sky until it formed a dark dome that incarcerated the entire clearing, the both of them and a few trees inside it.

Inside the dome it was so dark that Snow couldn’t help feeling a bit apprehensive. But then small points of light started appearing, and Snow watched as the black monster, that now looked even bleaker, spread small, bright crystals all around them. Setting a bigger one in the middle, the black monster final regained his usual tall, massive shape. At least now Snow knew exactly where he was again.

ZaiWin is lucky I love him so much. Sometimes I really want to smack him silly. I wonder if that's why I created VinWei ?

8