Pilgrim 2, page 30
Danzen severed the demon’s arm and saved the child. He kicked the demon back into the portal, and was just seeing the child off when Soko launched herself at him. His armor absorbed most of her next attack aside from a small cut toward his forearm, which Danzen quickly forgot about as he caught sight of more people.
“Soko, no!” he shouted, his Demon Speak power coming to him naturally. Turning to the crowd, which was swelling around him, people screaming as they tried to run away, Danzen began shouting orders: “Run! Protect women and children. Do not fight back! Do not go near the portals!”
One of his own demons slammed into him, the muscled hellspawn gnashing its razor-sharp teeth in his face as it tried to overpower Danzen. Soko drove her blade into the side of its head, the tip of her weapon spritzing the air with ichor.
“Consider it a favor.” As she withdrew her blade, she tilted her head and took Danzen in again, her facial expression disguised by her mask.
Danzen went for his boomerang sword, which he quickly loosed to his right, the blade driving into the back of one of his demons and returning to his hand now drenched in black blood.
“Which weapon will you fight me with?” Soko asked. “I’m waiting…”
Rather than respond, Danzen threw Astra at her.
Soko flashed away, his boomerang sword back in his hand by the time she reappeared behind him, Danzen already anticipating her next attack.
“Nice try,” she grunted as she swung her sword at him.
He blocked her strike with the pole of his glaive and shoved Soko backward, darkness gathering around the tip of his weapon. He would have sent it forward had it not been for people scrambling to get away from the two of them.
He had to be careful.
Danzen knew that his blade was even more powerful at night, and he didn’t want any more collateral damage than there would already be considering his creations. With this in mind, he sheathed his Blade of Darkness. Danzen was just about to swing Astra at Soko when she teleported behind him and dropped low for her next attack, Danzen jumping just in time to avoid her strike.
“Soko, no!”
But his power had no effect on her; Soko had warped her echo to an insane degree through her consumption of Sunyata remnants, the female assassin relentless in her pursuit to kill Danzen.
Realizing that there was no hope in trying to reason with her, he spun, his hand wrapping around the grip of Nomin’s weapon, which he used to stop Soko’s next swing.
With both swords drawn, Danzen made an X with his blades and kicked her forward, his eyes darting to a particularly large hellspawn that was approaching a local man defending a fallen comrade.
Danzen loosed his famed blade at the demon, Astra getting stuck in its back. The beast bellowed; it turned to him and roared, saliva flying out of its terrible maw, its teeth growing larger as they tore out of its jaw.
Danzen flung himself at the demon, the former assassin driving his shoulder into its chest. As they hit the ground, he quickly flitted Nomin’s blade into the hellspawn’s abdomen, each stab spritzing the air with blackened blood.
The mist that now covered the festival grounds was only made worse by the chaos caused by people leaving the scene. City guards fought demons along the perimeter of the festival grounds, some of them turning to flee as well once they caught sight of the stampede of civilians heading their way.
Danzen couldn’t see all of this, but he got a sense of what was happening as he finally killed the brute of a hellspawn, various sounds coming to him all at once. Using his foot as leverage, he withdrew his sword, the scream of a woman grabbing his attention.
Danzen was just turning to the sound when he was knocked to the side by a flash of black.
Soko hovered over him as he tried to get back to his feet. She thrust her blade forward and he was able to block it. He heard the woman cry out again, Danzen prone for just a second too long.
Soko’s sword passed through the flesh under Danzen’s chin and out his opposite cheek.
The pain forced flashes of red on Danzen’s pane of vision and shattered the side of his mask, which now hung from its strap around his neck.
All he could taste was his own blood as Soko slowly withdrew her blade, the former assassin now on his knees, his mouth on fire, the pain radiating to his neck, crimson ichor gushing down his chin.
Knowing that more portals were opening, Danzen slowly began to look up at Soko, his muscles tensing as she used the tip of her sword to lift his chin.
“I got you there, didn’t I?” she asked, a hint of remorse in her tone. “Submit to me; let me capture you alive. You have no reason for living.”
“No…” he managed to say, the front of Danzen’s armor now saturated with blood leaking from the wound under his chin, his voice haggard.
“Have it your way.”
A flash of white brought Soko to the ground.
The white fox latched onto the back of her neck, the female assassin screaming as Kudzu sunk her teeth into her neck.
It was less than a second, but in that moment, Kudzu looked up to Danzen, her gray eyes filled with both concern and anger, which had a way of inspiring him to get to his feet and rejoin the fight.
But Soko was fast.
It wasn’t much longer before she had flung Kudzu off her back, the ghoul of a woman now floating in front of Danzen, one hand on the back of her neck as she realized how badly she was bleeding from the bite. Soko was oblivious to the chaos and madness before her, dozens of demons now hunting their way through the crowd that was trying desperately to leave the festival grounds.
“It appears you have a companion,” Soko said, seething. “Until next time, Danzen.”
She flashed in front of him, bent forward and kissed Danzen on the forehead.
The female assassin disappeared before he could drive his blade through her center mass.
“Are you all right?” Kudzu asked, her nostrils flaring, ears flitted back. “Danzen, can you hear me? Are you—?”
“I’ll heal,” Danzen said, his voice raspy, words hard to pronounce, his attention strained by his hellspawns and the fact that Soko could still attack. “Must… stop my demons.”
****
Something came over Danzen Ravja as he charged off into the mist, where he’d seen a herd of his demons banding together, moving toward the outer perimeter of the festival grounds. They were his creations; they came from him. Why, then, could he not control them? Was this just something he convinced himself?
Even in the fog of the battle, Danzen got this newfound sense that he could control them. He even found himself stopping in that moment and looking at the backs of their mangled heads as they charged forward, kicking up dirt and discarded paper lanterns.
Danzen blinked twice, and his hellspawns stopped, as if they were being restrained by invisible chains.
His control over the demons only lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough for Danzen to realize that this was indeed a possibility, that there could be a time in the future when his curse could become his advantage, that by bending his echo…
There was no time to think about it now.
All of the hellspawns twitched as they broke the spell and took off, Danzen no longer in control.
The line of demons had created an opportunity. As he sheathed his two swords and went for his Blade of Darkness, Danzen conjured up a shadow large enough to cut the entire line of demons down, his next strike finishing off any of the hellspawns still alive.
His ears honed in on more cries for help, the taste of blood ever present in his mouth.
He had never been stabbed through the face before; even if he knew it would heal, the taste of blood and his tongue convulsing reminded him that no matter how much demon blood was coursing through his body, he was still human.
He could still die.
With this in mind, he began hunting his own hellspawns, occasionally joined by Kudzu, who pointed them out to Danzen.
He was a true predator now, descending upon his hellspawns while they were distracted, while they terrorized locals. He realized once some city guards saw him that he too looked demonic, Danzen drenched in blood, a broken demon mask around his neck, his armor glistening, two swords at his waist and an incredible glaive wrapped in black shadow held tightly in his hands.
“Run,” he told them, his voice scratchy.
Even if he wasn’t loud, his Demon Speak ability still worked, the guards taking off.
Time became a blur peppered by red flashes of terrifying faces.
By the time Danzen was finished killing all of his creations, the festival grounds were littered with corpses, most from his demons, but others from festival goers, the smaller ones hurting Danzen the most.
Children.
He was a fool for meeting Soko here, but now wasn’t the time to hate himself; now was the time to make haste, to get as far away from Arsi as he could before daylight came.
Danzen took a step forward and started to fall to one knee. It was as if every ounce of strength he had was sucked out of him. His vision wavered, and for a moment he saw doubles, triples, his surroundings no longer making sense.
He held himself up with the pole of his glaive. He caught his breath as Kudzu approached him, the white fox’s coat stained with red and black blood.
“Sorry…” he told her, the word easier to pronounce than it would have been just minutes ago. It was amazing how quickly he healed from his wounds. As his vision melted into focus, Danzen started to feel nauseated, a sensation he hadn’t experienced in quite some time.
“This was why I needed to come along,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Look what you have done.”
“It wouldn’t have happened…” But he couldn’t finish those words. He didn’t know how Soko would have acted if Kudzu had been with him in her human form.
“How did your demons get unleashed? How did this happen?” she demanded.
“Soko tricked me,” he said, Danzen able to speak normally now, the wound beneath his chin already starting to heal up. There would always be a scar, one at the bottom of his chin and the other one on the side of his cheek, but he could deal with that. His scars were simply a topographical history of what he had suffered through.
“We need to go.”
“I know we do,” he said.
“We should go back to the hotel first so you can change clothing; leave your robes behind. You did bring a spare set, correct?”
Danzen nodded. “Yes, the ones Jelmay bought me.”
“We should pack my things as well. I will stay in this form and we will travel on foot back to the Valley.”
“It will take a few days. I know an easier way.”
“You do?” she asked. “How?”
“We’ll go to the harbor along the Sakai River. One of the fishermen can take us back. That’s how I returned last time. Even with this,” he said, motioning toward the dozens of corpses, “the river is far enough away from here that the fishermen probably haven’t heard what happened. Not yet, anyway, and if they have, I’ll use my power. It will be faster than going on foot.”
“To be clear: you are saying we will be in a boat, a small one, for up to two days, right?”
“That’s right.”
The white fox grimaced and was just starting to turn away from him when she stopped. “I’m glad you didn’t die, but if you ever lie to me like that again, Danzen, Soko and your brother for that matter will be the least of your worries. I’ll kill you myself.”
And with that, she took off, headed toward their hotel room.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
Danzen and Kudzu reached the Sakai River and headed straight to the harbor, where they hoped to find the fishermen just arriving after a long night of trying their luck. The water had a black hue to it, the waves tipped in deep purple as they sloshed against the docks.
They didn’t encounter the same man that Danzen had met the previous time he needed to travel quickly away from Arsi, but they did come across a fisherman wearing a conical hat who was just rowing up, the man with an overbite and threadbare clothing.
“Can I help you, my lord?” the man asked, peering up at them.
“We need you to take us to Tudan, now,” said Danzen, summoning his power.
“Of course.” With an exaggerated grunt, the fisherman tossed the mooring to Danzen, who held it while Kudzu climbed into the boat.
Once she was settled, Danzen did the same, all of his gear with him. After the fisherman gave his catch to another who had just pulled up, one whom Danzen also had to take under a spell using his Demon Speak ability, the three set off.
“Not another boat ride,” Kudzu said, the yokai now in her human form, her brow furrowed. The velvety waves of the Sakai River were illuminated by stars and paper lanterns that had run astray, almost mirroring the stars above. It was a serene scene, one that was a far cry from the chaos and death of the festival grounds.
Danzen was keenly aware that this could change relatively quickly, especially as news spread through Arsi what had happened. He needed to push them along even faster, which meant exerting control over the boat. Danzen reached for the extra oars and helped propel the boat along, the former assassin putting his strength into it.
“By the light of Sunyata…” the fisherman said as they cut through the water.
Danzen paddled even faster, a surge of anger coming to him as he relived what Soko had done, how she had betrayed their code of honor. He wanted to fight her properly, not after a surprise attack while also having to clean up his own demons.
Maybe she was right, maybe there really was no honor among assassins. But he thought she was better than that, especially with what they had been through in the past.
Once he realized that his strokes could potentially capsize the boat, Danzen slowed. He soon found himself in a meditative state as he matched the fisherman’s movements, the two whisking through the night. He couldn’t see Kudzu, who sat behind them, but he got a sense that she was relieved.
The temperature dropped just a hair. The lights of the city and the floating lanterns no longer danced along the surface waves as the former assassin now thought about how he had momentarily taken control of his demons.
He remembered the group of hellspawn stopping dead in their tracks, Danzen on the verge of commanding them when they started up again.
It had happened; he’d truly turned a page in the book of better understanding his power. Now he had to work harder at bending his echo.
It was becoming increasingly apparent that doing so would aid him greatly. Danzen needed to float the stone, and from there climb the tiers, while simultaneously moving to the next subranking. And he needed to do so quickly. If he was able to stop his hellspawns at its current level, as a Golden Adept, there really was no telling what he would be able to do once he progressed.
His focus shifted to the task at hand.
If he used his power to row all night, there was a chance that he could reach Tudan by morning. To do so, he would need to get the fisherman out of the way; he would also have to seriously harness what strength he had after his brutal fight with Soko.
“I’ll take over,” he said, his voice still a bit raspy.
“My lord…”
“Rest,” he told the fisherman, once again summoning his power. The man dipped his head forward, his eyes shielded by his conical hat.
“What are you doing?” Kudzu asked, but he could tell by her tone that she was sleepy, Danzen familiar enough with her presence now to recognize when she was about to drift off.
“You should rest as well,” he said gently. “I will get us there.”
“You don’t have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, you know that, right?”
“Sometimes it's the easiest way.”
“I will rest as long as you promise that we will stay in a hotel in Tudan. I want to get back to the valley as much as you do, but there’s no need to overextend ourselves. You may be half-demon, but you’re still human.”
“Right.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Danzen said, noticing a strain in his throat again. His neck and chin were still covered in blood, and while his wound had healed up, it was still a bit raw, especially when he used his Demon Speak power.
Soko could have killed him.
If her blade had been angled just a few hairs to the right, she could have punctured his brain. Danzen didn’t know what that would do to him. He had never experienced something like that before. He recalled Jelmay saying he was practically immortal, but he wasn’t sure if he could come back from a fatal injury like that. This meant that Soko had avoided a death strike, which only made him feel that she had more plans for him, that this was far from over.
But the next time he encountered her, that would be the end of it.
There would be no truce, and he wouldn’t let her trick him in the same way she did this time.
Once again, Danzen felt a surge of anger, a tingling sensation pulsing in his biceps as he pushed the boat forward. His periphery became a blur, Danzen summoning even more strength, his only focus now on what was in front of them, making it to the outpost of Tudan.
He eventually came to one of the larger ships that transported passengers, people still awake, celebrating on the deck. There was music playing, and many were talking loudly, drunk. Danzen quickly pressed around the ship, continuing on his way, never stopping.
And it was with this fervor, this superhuman strength and endurance, that he pulled into Tudan late the next morning. Danzen looked absolutely ragged with his purple robes down over his shoulders, his armor tossed in front of him, his scars and muscles on display, his body covered in sweat, dark bags under his eyes.
“We are here,” he announced to the fisherman and Kudzu. He slowly lowered the oars, his arms screaming as the fisherman came awake and took over from there.
