Kajitsu - Independent State
Year 1319 月水 (Gessui Calendar)
Many moons ago, the land was vividly green on the beautiful continent of rainforests. Every shade imaginable was strewn out like a patchwork quilt. Rows of crops, flowers and orchards buzzed with harvest activities almost as far as the eye could see. Short hedge rows crisscrossed and formed relaxed borders between the fields. These were good times. Good omens had finally come and for the first time in his life, Kaito Sei Tsuki was looking to the future with optimism.
He was a tall, slim man with sharp aqua eyes and mahogany hair that curled near his ears. Most people around these parts looked quite similar, so similar in fact their home was referred to by the human traders as the 'Tsuki Town'. His clan were easily identifiable first and foremost by the single blue streak of paint they wore on their cheekbones, proudly displaying themselves as Tsuki.
In this deeply forested continent, there could be a hundred miles between settlements and his people above most enjoyed their own secluded way of life. The Tsuki clan, after all, were not human. This lush rainforest provided a protective ring around their paradise, protection from the squabbles of the humans that surrounded them.
His hand stroked the smooth stone pillar he sat in front of in the soft grass. Pillars like these were graves. This was the one grave that made a difference to him. Ten years ago, a difficult labour and a once in a millenium storm had taken his firstborn before she had even drawn breath.
The river that nourished the town burst with a flood that ripped trees from their roots. Thousands of miles away the ocean waves beat the cliffs until they crumbled. Torrential rain and biting wind tore through roofs. Storms like this one, storms the size of continents, were the kind told by holy books and shamans. Stranded in their time of need, everything they had been warned about seemed to be coming true. He had protected them that day from the disaster surrounding them, but was unable to tend to his wife and save all three lives at the same time.
Kaito and Yomi had been cautioned many times by the Tsuki Elders, a collective of their most insightful minds who lived a way apart on a nearby hillside. Their strange contraptions and secret readings materials told them bad things were following his family like a dark cloud. War was written in the night sky, some of them said.
Death was in the river's omens, they all agreed.
Word spread quickly through the community. The family line of the Sei Tsuki had to stop or their first born would bring ruin to their home. The young couple had been headstrong and in some ways justified to dismiss the Elder's omens. Divining the future was a haphazard task. Kaito for one did not believe in long, convoluted prophecies, let alone one surrounding his altruistic family. Their wedding had gone on without the blessing of the Elders.
At the time, it seemed like the omens had taken their victim. The curse was over and the waters drained away but it was only now that Kaito and Yomi believed the omens to be true. True, but over. The funeral was held on the furthest edge of the hill where he sat today and the whispers among the Elders faded. All those who believed in the Sei Tsuki's curse seemed satisfied in the knowledge Kaito and Yomi would grow old together, as any couple should do, and the war torn future had been prevented. One death to prevent countless, like some kind of barbaric blood sacrifice no one could fight.
However, just as they had accepted their lonely fate, they found they were expecting again. Yomi suggested they run away and start anew away from the eyes that would turn their way again. She could leave her family behind if they would try to vilify her loved ones again. As Lord of the Tsuki people, Kaito refused and he stood his ground with the Elders. The curse was satiated and he had a duty to this town. He was responsible for all the agriculture in the region, as his parents had been before him. After the storms, he threw himself into his restoration work and with dedication he had created the years of plenty they enjoyed now.
His son, Kai Sei Tsuki, was born in the summer of 1315 and no one could deny him his joy. He kept the prefix 'Kai' as was family tradition and decided he was already enough without additional frills. His father had been the Lord Kaidono, a brilliant town planner and champion of the people, son of Her Ladyship Kaimiri Sei Tsuki who had constructed the first stone buildings and became their first governor. He was Lord Kaito, the next to carry the name. Now he had a healthy baby with his curling locks and sparkling eyes who could grow up to be anyone or anything he wanted to be regardless of his heritage. He hoped.
Little Kai was four now, gripping one of his mother's hands as he pulled berries from their stems with his uncoordinated fingers. He was laughing, throwing most into his mother's apron but unable to resist eating the ones he liked best. Yomi beamed with adoration. She was still so beautiful, even after the horrors of loss and famine. Her hair was a bright red and her eyes stormy. She was more tan than he was, she loved the sun. Her cheeks were no longer sunken. Wherever she walked, the world seemed a little brighter and when she spoke, she brought a gentle authority. She was sublime, and he adored her.
Kaito watched them fondly from the hill. He had not brought Kai here yet to meet his sister at her resting place. It was too soon. With any luck, Kai would never need to know of the superstition surrounding the sister he never met, and the family he was born into.
His eyes were torn back to the town in an instant as he suddenly heard the town horn blast. Coming through the forest he saw figures in a clearing, heading towards his home. The horn did not signal friend or foe, only the approach of outsiders. He was not expecting traders so early in the year.
Kaito's eyes fell on his wife. She had looked up too, her hand noticeably tighter around their son's. The little boy's face eyes were wide, waiting for an answer to a question Kaito could not hear.
All the townsfolk in the fields began to retreat to the walls. With a small flick of his hand he summoned moisture from warm, humid air around him and formed thin sheets under his shoes. He slid down the hill quickly as he had done since he was a boy. That was another reason his people liked to keep to themselves. They had the unique ability to manipulate water in all its forms and use it at their will. The Sei family in particular had risen to leadership thanks to their close relationship with the elements. Kaito could use the water in the environment as easily as he could his own hands.
Yomi will take the boy, look for others, said a familiar voice. This low and scratchy voice was with him often, always coming from somewhere outside his body, like a shadow. It felt as natural as his conscious but in reality the entity that spoke was another being entirely.
Like his family before him, he was connected with the energy of the planet and the creatures formed in that energy. The Tsuki people knew them as Elemental Demons. By forming a sacred bond with one, a Tsuki could join with a demon and combine their powers. Linked together until their deaths, the demon and the Tsuki would be connected by at least one point of contact, giving the host heightened senses and an extra four monstrous, ethereal arms.
To the eye, a water demon was like a streaky, inky blue version of the host's shadow come to life. It's face was blank, besides two wide red eyes with pupils like black diamonds. There was no easily discernible mouth above it's chin, but a Tsuki knew better. Anyone could see a demon, but only its host could hear it speak.
When times were darker, a warrior Tsuki with an equally powerful demon was a formidable defender of his homeland. Their armies were small but devastating. The Tsuki had enjoyed peace through their reputation.
Kaito took his demon's advice and scanned the fields for stragglers. Most were running. Some had water nearby to aid their escape. Not everyone had Kaito's command over the water in the air.
He was drawn to two small figures in the meadows. Children, too far from home. Kaito made a beeline toward them. Their little legs carried them as fast as they could until they were swept up into strong arms and carried to the gates. Kaito hurried the children through and ushered others after them while looking for anyone left behind. He scanned the crowd to find Yomi. She was close, Kai held in her arms. Her face is stern, apron stained with berry juice. She knew too that no one was expected at their gates.
That's everyone, said the demon. I will seal the gate. With that Kaito closed the doors and the demon's four arms stretched from his body and set down heavy wooden beams into their brackets. Kaito climbed the turret stairs and stood atop the gate to address the approaching group. Yomi joined him there soon after and watched the approach cautiously.
"Where's Kai?" Kaito asked her.
"With my sister." Yomi replied. That put Kaito more at ease. Yomi's sister also possessed a powerful elemental. "Who are they?" she continued.
Kaito squinted.
Humans, the demon snarled.
Kaito had never met an elemental who was keen on humans. Humans sought to control the elements rather than harmonise with them. Perhaps if every Tsuki in the town had come together they could have used their gifts to stop the flood ten years ago, yet he knew in his bones that to attempt to would be wrong. The storm was nature, just as the demons were nature. What was once built could be remade but people could not. The use of the elements should be used to protect the irreplaceable. Nature could be a cruel mistress and all must bend the knee to her.
"Humans." Kaito repeated. "But with no flags or banners. Unusual for a private army."
"Very." she agreed. "How many? Are they armed?"
Sixty armed men in high quality armour. Ten unarmed and dressed differently coming by carriage. Red robes with blue eyes on them. And some kind of figure on the carriages.
"The Oracle Council from the port city." Yomi said after Kaito relayed his demon's words. "And their private guards. What's it called in the Proper tongue? Sagen city?"
"You're sure? About the emblems, not the name."
"The emblems, absolutely." she nodded. "When we visited I was approached by people in those same robes. They told me not to marry into the Sei family. I could never forget those robes swooping in on me and then disappearing into their grand old temple. Bunch of self important busybodies. They give their high priests titles like the Old Life Gods, like Compassion, Charity, Patience. The significance seems to have eluded them."
"I remember you telling me." Kaito said. "Their people replaced the Old Gods long ago. I wish I had been there, since you were too shocked to say anything."
"If you had been, it would have been a very different story." Yomi said. She gave a small chuckle as she reminisced. "Your mouth was always getting us into trouble when we were younger."
Kaito sighed and spoke again.
"It could be nothing. But no doubt they have been travelling at least a day and travel sets everyone on edge. We will offer hospitality and good manners."
"But suffer no fools."
"But suffer no fools, yes."
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She squeezed it back.
"I wish they could go a little faster." Yomi said after a few quiet moments, smirking. "I'll go to the armory. Just in case. We should be ready."
"Alright. Alert the troops to do the same."
Yomi departed and returned with his trident and her own weapons, two ornate metal handles that circled her hands and were topped with a large triangular blade called katar. With a press of a trigger the blade could split into three teeth and a strike could make most armour look like wool. What Yomi lacked in size she could make up for in determination. She was Kaito's most formidable ally.
The party finally approached the gates that evening. The carriages pulled up at the wall and the passengers departed in pairs. The ten men without weapons were dressed similarly but there appeared to be a level of ornateness that signified rank. Each was plump and well groomed. They looked like the opposite of Tsuki. The most extravagantly dressed man was their headman. His scarlet robes brushed the floor lightly, composed of multiple fine layers, each decorated with gold thread and bright blue eye motifs. Another large eye symbol hung on a medallion around his neck by engraved chains.
The sheer amount of gold perturbed the Tsuki on the gate. Sagen city was bordered by slums, but that would be far away from where these elite would have lived. No such divide of wealth would have been tolerated by his people. The Tsuki knew this religion was widely practiced outside of their safe haven. Their god was called the Mindheart, a man shaped figure with a cyclops face in the centre of his chest and beating heart protruding from the front of it's head.
Bizarre, Kaito had thought when he saw it for the first time.
The Mindheart was supposedly the only force that could truly forgive a person's misdeeds by seeing into the heart itself. Those in need of guidance or forgiveness could come to the Temple of Pardon, also the seat of the Oracle Council of Sagen, and pray for divine intervention or a reading from the always young and always beautiful oracle... with a moderate donation of course.
"I am here to speak to your chieftain and no one else." a voice said to the gatemen. "This is a matter of spiritual significance only for his ears."
"And these soldiers?" the gatemen asked.
"Our protection for travel. The Council always travels with the Sacred Guard of Sixty. I request we all be admitted through your gates."
"Let them in." Kaito ordered. "We will speak with him."
The party passed through the gates. Armed Tsuki stood off to the side. Demons stirred distrustfully, exchanging red glances. Quiet voices from their hosts calmed them somewhat but the unease was palpable. When a Tsuki had racing thoughts it was clearer to whisper to their demon than to communicate through their mind.
"Good evening, Chief Sei Tsuki." said the headman. Two men on either side held torches to illuminate him. "Thank you for receiving us on such short notice." His nose wrinkled unpleasantly at Yomi standing beside him. "Is your wife going to stay for this discussion?"
"Of course." Kaito replied immediately. "Her word is as valuable as mine."
"Yes... It is that way around here isn't it? As you recall, I spoke to you and your elders in regards to a certain prophecy our spiritual guides both predicted several years ago." the headman said to Kaito. He looked to Yomi again, leering down his nose. "I reminded your wife of this more recently."
"Yes." Yomi said in a saccharine tone. "Years ago you told me not to marry him and ran off. Did I scare you?"
The robed headman continued to not look her in the eyes as he spoke.
"I relayed a message from our oracle who, need I remind you, speaks directly to the Mindheart. You were instructed appropriately. As you know, Kaito, our oracle is never wrong. The Mindheart always knows best."
"Your oracle was wrong." Kaito replied, feeling his jaw tighten. "You warned me that my first born child would bring about the demise of the world as we know it. It was the single most memorable conversation I've ever had with a stranger. Let me make myself clear. My first born never drew breath. I live with that every day. The Tsuki have agreed the threat has moved on."
"Your elders showed me their divination methods. Our oracle uses no such primitive tools to read omens. As for the details of your children, we and the oracle never said the threat had passed. Only your elders did. And now I understand you felt it appropriate to have a second child after the storm?"
"It doesn't matter to us. Your prophecy fell through. We continued our lives."
"Unwise of you to have ignored the Mindheart in the first place. You wed this woman, Kaito, and chose to have children. The storm punished your disobedience. Then I learn that, again, you have tempted the fates!" The headman sniffed unpleasantly, eyed the crowd and then said with disdain. "My goodness, you all look the same to me."
He waved over the two men in the plainest robes who carried an ornate box by two long beams. Inlaid upon the box lid was the figure of the Mindheart god, his face replaced by a heart and his heart replaced by a face. The headman opened the box and pulled out a series of ink drawings. He held up one in Kaito's direction and looked between him and the drawing. "Our oracle produced these images. He really did capture you perfectly."
Kaito felt uneasy as the headman turned the picture towards him. His knuckles turned white as he squeezed his trident. The image of him was uncanny. It looked like him a few years ago. Gaunt and wild eyed. What were the other drawings?
"And this one..." the headman continued. He showed Kaito the next picture. It was a perfect illustration of Kai, as if only yesterday the boy had been sitting right in front of the artist. "I have been told this is your son."
Kaito nodded. There was no denying it. Yomi became tense next to him. The demon inside him shifted.
"We want to see your boy." a second ornate man said. The headman raised a hand to him. The man who spoke looked on edge, impatient.
"We can perhaps come to an arrangement." the headman added. "He could be looked after if I ordered it. Somewhere away from others where he can live without risk to anyone."
"No." Kaito said firmly. "You have come to my gate to dig up literal skeletons. You bring armed men and make demands. I am telling you for the last time, your prophecy is over. It's done. My first born is buried in our hills and my second born is not a part of your dead prophecy. He is free to live his life with us. Now I want you to leave."
Suddenly the sound of scraping metal filled the air as swords were drawn and three rows of spears fell into perfect lines. Tsuki fell in from the flanks to meet them. The town butcher and his apprentice, the beekeeper who lived two doors down the road, even the midwife, with her hands around a bronze star-mace. This generation had never gone to war, but they would protect their own.
Kaito and Yomi readied themselves. The air sang with violence.
"You were warned not to continue your line." the headman said, stepping back safely behind the armed men. "I offered you a solution. The prophecy cannot be allowed to come true. Hand over the boy or face the consequences."
"What is your name?" Yomi asked suddenly. She wanted to know who's body she would be sending back to Sagen city.
"I am high priest Pardon, mouthpiece of the oracle." the headman replied. "I alone anoint forgiveness directed by the Mindheart. Only he can forgive the hearts of men and all men must bow to his word."
"You've come to the wrong place." Yomi said immediately. "We," She gestured to the town. "Are not men and we do not bow to the mouthpiece of an absent god who you claim wants to take my son from us."
"I carry the weight of the future on my shoulders, you will not defy a god!"
"Well, high priest Pardon," she replied "Pardon my saying so, but you will die here if you touch my son."
"Enough." Pardon said. "Find the boy, bring him to me."
The spears jabbed forward and the swordsmen side-stepped towards the Tsuki at the flanks.
Kaito's townspeople and their demons tore into their opponents with ferocity. In the madness Yomi and Kaito lost sight of each other. Yomi gravitated towards the path to her sister's home, determined to protect it. Her weapons were adept for slashing and stabbing, but the armour these soldiers wore was unlike any she had come across. Tsuki armour was almost exclusively leather because it was plentiful. Metal was scarce on the continent.
This armour was special. It was light and strong. Her blades could only dent it. She aimed for the assailants' joints and the men fell at her feet.
Yomi reached to the air with her katars and pulled. Water from the huge ceramic pots located at the compass points of their town was flying about the air in bolts and waves, passed from one Tsuki to another as a shield and to ram their assailants back. Ice spires broke against the plates of armour.
Yomi used two splashes of water to coat her weapons with blade-like icicles, giving her greater reach. No matter how much she fought, only a direct stab between the interlocking plates seemed to stop her enemies or send them crawling away to bleed out. She had lost sight of the priests. Of course they were hiding.
She dreaded the thought that they might be closer to Kai than she was.
A horrible, scorching whiteness burst up in the corner of her eye. Fire? She held her nerve, she could put the fire out. Another huge flare erupted across a rooftop and this time she saw the small bomb that carried it there. The thin clay shattered and oil from inside drenched the shingles and spread the flames in long lashes. This fire burned unnaturally hot with a brightness she had never seen before. This fire was wrong and what was more, it was consuming her sister's home.
"Kaito?" she shouted into the chaos. "Kaito!"
She could not see him. She would have to get to the house alone, so she clenched her fists tighter around her katar handles and pressed on. Aiming for the armpit seemed to be serving her well. Her short stature made the area more easily visible and accessible. These large, trained foreigners meant to kill anyone in their way - her blood was at a boil. The violence was consuming.
Another assailant nearby was kicked into a building by an elemental with a scream that suddenly ceased on impact. In response, two other private guards attacked the Tsuki and her demon. She wanted to help her. She knew the woman's face, where she lived, what her occupation was. Were these people targeting those with elementals first? They certainly posed the biggest threat.
Yomi did not have a demon for one reason. When she became an adult there was no match waiting for her in the world's ether. She had waited all day on the shoreline, but no deep blue figure came from the lake to make a partnership.
Kaito had been greeted by his own that day, along with four others. A good year. The Elders said that once, every Tsuki had an elemental counterpart bonded to them. Now, maybe one in twenty. Not even the demons seemed to know why this had come to be. Most only took physical form for the first time when they were suddenly compelled beyond all reason to meet their Tsuki match on that shoreline.
Before then, all the elementals could recall was isolation and voicelessness. Despite the freedom to move through the water energy of the planet, they were unable to speak to the other beings they saw and were unable to interact with anything beyond the water. It was like floating in an ocean, surrounded by ghosts. To join with a Tsuki was to experience the world in a whole other way. War was a part of that. All mortal things fought.
If Yomi had possessed the additional senses that demons provided, she may have seen the small projectile coming her way. At the last moment, she saw the flicker of a fuse and then a bright, blinding blaze. Her right sleeve and side caught alight, forcing her to extinguish herself with the ice around her blades. The first of several blades pierced her undefended side. Some guards stabbed and left the blades behind. She screamed.
Kaito heard Yomi's cry in the fray. Just then he had caught a spear between the prongs of his trident, snapped it with a sharp twist, and impaled the man in his way. His demon lurched forward, still connected to his host's torso, seizing the squirming victim and opened his jaws inhumanly wide. Like the buttons on a coat, the elemental's neck and chest split apart to reveal a gaping maw rowed with teeth like a lamprey eel. It's face took a bite of the man's neck and shoulder, and the monstrous torso ripped off the arm entirely, letting it drop to the floor.
The elemental roared; an awful mixture of thunder, crashing waves, and some kind of creature that had crawled out of the Underworld itself. This animalistic battle cry was unique because it could be heard by all. Blood flew from the demon's jaws.
It was the sound of rage, made from the chaotic energy of the planet itself.
Colour washed from the faces of the invaders. Someone pulling the strings had failed to mention these horrifying details. A parting appeared in the fray and he spotted his wife making a struggle towards a familiar house. The house had a long, paved courtyard in the front, the same as most homes. The ornamental trees and perennial bushes in the fenced back yard were already ablaze.
Yomi had made it to the courtyard, covered in blood. Kaito could not tell whether it was hers or not. He could see more guards making their way up the pavement. Yomi collapsed mere paces from the door. She writhed, clawing her way towards the burning building. He ran for her, trying to use all the water he could to speed him.
The final bomb sailed through the air and before Kaito or Yomi could intercept it, it crashed into Yomi's head, smashing against her ear. Kaito ran to her but in the moments it took to reach her, he knew he was too late. The fire in her long tresses died back with a wave of water. Her hair was burned, along with much of her face. Her body was bleeding so heavily he could not see where the wounds might be.
"Kai..." she said weakly. "Don't let them take him."
Her demon just departed! the demon said suddenly, looking the other way. Yomi had no demon. His sister-in-law. Kai is still in there!
Kaito made a break for the house.
Yomi's sister lay bleeding on the floor but she had managed to disarm her attacker of his blade in the scuffle. The oracle soldier was now swinging his baton wildly, trying to escape out the door rather than retrieve his dropped weapon as the bowed ceiling became engulfed in flame.
All of a sudden his back bumped into another escaping form and he swung around, baton out towards his obstacle. It collided with the waist high figure with a sickening crack to the head.
Kai's body went stiff for a split second and then suddenly terrifyingly limp. The little boy collapsed in a heap, unmoving in the doorway. Steps away, Kaito heard the impact of the baton with his son's skull. He stared wide eyed for a moment, the whole world fading out save for his sister-in-law's doorway where he saw his little boy collapse and a panicked oracle soldier trip and fall as he tried to escape the burning building.
Pain shot through him like a lightning bolt as a spear was driven through his left leg. A sword fell on his right. The demon roared in shared pain and clawed at the attackers, sending them flying. The armour held strong. A thrown spear hit his body. Then another. His knees gave way. His vision started to tunnel. Not yet... his son. Was his son alive?
Kaito dragged himself across the floor. The feeling in his legs was going. Anything he could sense was just a faint tingling. He was bleeding out. He knew it. He was running out of time. He reached out to grab his son's arm. He squeezed his small wrist.
There's no pulse. He's not breathing.
"He has to breathe!" Kaito sputtered. "He's not dead!"
He scrambled desperately, pressing his forehead to his son's still warm cheek. The boy was lifeless, like an unwanted doll. Like something Kai might have left in a meadow by mistake and Kaito would walk a mile to retrieve.
Kaito... I'm so sorry.
"No no no no no no no no no-"
The blow to the head... He died inst-
"DON'T! DON'T SAY THAT! DON'T!"
The next sound that escaped him was a pained groan. He was trying to scream. Kaito knew he was dying too. The warmth from his son's face was fading. He thought of that morning. He wanted his last moments to be cherishing that memory of his wife and child picking berries between the hedge rows.
He wanted eternity to look like that.
Then he thought of the grave he had sat by, the first child this cruel world took from him. Had the followers of the Mindheart celebrated the news?
No, he thought. The afterlife cannot have him. I won't let it.
Kaito, his demon said in a strained voice. He heard those thoughts clear as day. Do you want... this? I can't save you both. You will die if I do what you want.
"Please... I..." His mind was racing with all the words he could say. His son deserved so much more than this short life. "I wanted life to be better for him. It's all I wanted. Don't let him die."
As you wish, the demon obliged. The red, misty sockets that formed it's eyes softened a little. Goodbye old friend.
The demon remembered Kaito's last jumbled thoughts as the final wisp of life left his body.
Don't let him die, get to the river, flee to the ocean, and of course, take care of my son.
No one around had heard the full conversation. They had seen a dying man mumbling to a looming but fading blue demon who seemed to be disappearing with its host. Kaito fell quiet and just like that the streaked blue creature evaporated.
A man and his son lay together on the ground. Almost total silence had fallen, the gravity of the situation sinking in. Somewhere, Pardon spoke.
"We killed the whole family." He sounded like he could throw up. "We killed a boy. We only m-"
A slight rumble disturbed his rambling. Pardon looked around. Soldiers shuffled with uncertainty. A second, more powerful rumble came. Earthquake?
"What-"
Several people jumped back in horror.
Pardon shrieked.
The body of the boy on the floor lurched. It was strange. The motion came from somewhere else. His body contorted. A terrible bulge began to build up inside the child's chest. His ribs looked like they would burst any moment. It was like something far bigger than him was trying to force its way inside his frame. As abruptly as it started, the swelling subsided. There was a moment of silence where everyone around stared in disbelief.
A low rumble filled the air. The water splattered on the floor began to pool and then to rise in crystal clear orbs the size of coins. The body of the boy shifted again. His limp form too started to rise, as if a single string had attached to his heart and was lifting him into the air. An eerie blue haze surrounded the suspended child and before anyone could speak, his blue green eyes opened and like a man saved from drowning, he drew a painful breath.