by Rick Scott
“Such things are difficult to diagnose,” she said.
“I can offer you payment of course.”
Kenji reached into his pocket for the last pear but Mei Ling swiftly stayed his hand. “There is no need. You are a member of our community now.” She then smiled at him. “Remove your upper robe and lie upon the healing chamber. I will examine you now.”
* * *
Kenji’s nerves stood on end as he lay upon the cold crystals of one of the healing pedestals. Mei Ling stood over him with a blue stone in her hand, waving it over his torso. She poked and prodded at his stomach and the scar where his doma would be.
“Have you had this since birth?” she asked, referring to the scar.
“Yes,” he said. Since my rebirth, anyway…
“It’s an odd shape,” she said. She then placed several flat crystals on his stomach. “Can you try channeling your Qi for me?”
“All right…”
Kenji did so, closing his eyes and touching his fingertips together. Once again he envisioned a mighty river being dammed and the water pooling behind it. He focused on it more and more, feeling the Qi coursing through his meridians and forming a slight pressure within his core.
“By the heavens!” Mei Ling suddenly shouted. “Stop! Stop!”
Kenji opened his eyes in alarm just in time to see one of the crystals pop and shatter. He shielded himself from the flying debris, sitting up as Mei Ling turned her head to do the same. Smoke that smelled sweet like burnt sugar filled the air.
“What happened?” Kenji asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Mei Ling looked at him as if he’d just grown a second head. “You’ve never been able to cultivate before, correct?”
Kenji swallowed uncomfortably.
“No…” he said, and then added for honesty, “not that I’m aware.”
“How often do you practice channeling?”
“Everyday.”
“Even though your doma is damaged?”
“My father insisted upon it. I supposed we both hoped that one day it would simply heal.”
She didn’t speak for a long while.
“Why?” he asked, his pulse increasing. “What’s wrong?”
But he already knew what was wrong. His doma was sealed, not impaired—and now she might know as well.
“The stones I placed on you was a test for your ability to cultivate. I wanted to be sure that your doma was indeed the problem and not your meridians. I placed three stones on you. Normally it would take an hour to fill each one. You filled all three in a matter of seconds.”
By the heavens…perhaps this wasn’t a good idea.
Kenji swallowed, nervous he’d just revealed everything to her. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re the most gifted prodigy I’ve ever seen, Kenji. Perhaps that anyone has ever seen!” Her eyes were wide with excitement and wonder as she marveled at him. “If your doma was competent, you could perhaps reach tenth Dan in under a year!”
Kenji’s heart raced. Under a year? His entire life he had no idea his channeling was even doing anything, and now he was considered a prodigy? Perhaps it was some residual effect of having the body of an 80th-Dan mystic warrior, but that didn’t quite make sense either considering he’d been rebirthed.
The rebirthing techniques literally reversed the age of the body… any gains or advancements would be undone. Even the Tsu markings sported by his former self were washed away by the process. But he did know the speed and intensity with which one could channel was linked to the body and could advance with training.
A new realization hit him.
There was perhaps a reason why the Bloody Duke had reached as high as the 80th Dan, a level of ascension unheard of in the entire region as far as Kenji knew. Li Wan Fu had accomplished that because he was born a prodigy… the likes of which the world had never seen before.
And now…so too was he.
“Fate of the heavens….”
“I must examine you further,” Mei Ling said excitedly and raced around the healing house to collect more instruments. She produced a clear crystal, shaped like a rod and placed it over his stomach. She frowned. The doctor then placed it against her own abdomen and the color at the bottom of the crystal shifted from clear to a vibrant shade of green. She returned it to Kenji’s stomach and the crystal shifted to clear again.
“What is that?” Kenji asked.
“A tier and Dan gauge,” she said. “Even with a damaged doma it should register as Off White with no strokes.”
“No strokes?”
She pointed to the bottom of the crystal, to where the green had stopped. “There are markings along the edge. The higher your Dan, the higher the color of your current tier will reach. As I said, you should be registering as Off White and zero Dan. But there is no resonance at all.” She frowned for a moment and then looked upward in thought. “There is one last test I’d like to perform.”
Mei Ling produced another crystal, flat like a sheet of parchment. Closing her eyes, she summoned her Qi and infused the crystal with her inner strength, causing it to glow. The crystal hummed as she pressed it against his stomach and with a pop, the crystal flashed.
Kenji blinked away from it as Mei Ling lifted it off his stomach to study it.
Her eyes then grew wide. “This is most unusual.”
Now he’d done it. He nearly felt like jumping off the pedestal and running away, but he had gone too far now. He had trusted her initially, and he’d have to trust her now. “What is it, Doctor?”
She raised the crystal sheet towards him and upon it was the image of a gem the size of a plum and the deep shade of the ocean—a perfect sapphire.
Was this the seal?
Mei Ling confirmed it only moments later. “Kenji…this is what’s encasing your doma. It’s why your Qi can’t be stored. Or released.”
“What is it?” he asked, feigning ignorance—although it wasn’t a total untruth. He did want to know exactly what it was. When Waru had mentioned a seal, he had imagined it had something to do with his scar…like a rune or glyph, but not a physical object like this.
“It’s a soul stone, Kenji,” Mei Ling explained. “Normally they are used to seal away dark spirits and energies. I have no idea why one would be inside you.” She looked to his scar again. “Do you?”
Kenji shook his head, his pulse increasing. “No…I don’t know.”
“This is quite disturbing,” she said, her brows furrowing in thought. “Someone has done this to you unknowingly.”
This wasn’t good. The doctor was clearly an intelligent woman, and it wouldn’t take her too many more clues or hints to perhaps figure out who or what he was.
“Please,” Kenji said, grasping her hand and touching his forehead to it. “Don’t tell anyone. I’m already considered cursed by most…I wouldn’t want that rumor to become a reality.”
Mei Ling frowned, her face looking conflicted.
“Please…” he said again.
Her throat flexed in a swallow as she continued to stare, but eventually she nodded.
“Thank you.”
“You are an unusual one indeed,” she said, turning away from him to gather more tools. “You know…I have seen such things used in a similar way before…”
“You have?”
“Yes,” she said. “But never on a human.”
Not on a human? That thought made him pale even further.
“The gem smiths of Kurogane are famous for employing such techniques to entrap the domas of great spirit beasts, to prepare them for easy consumption as materia.”
“Consumption?”
“Yes,” she said. “With the doma sealed in such a way, they can be easily removed and transported.”
His blood ran cold. Removed…
The pieces clicked now. This was why that Tsu warrior didn’t care if he was alive or dead. His doma was not just sealed, it was stored and ready for the taking. “Can you remove it?”
Mei Ling looked at him, aghast. “Your doma?”
“No, no…” he said. “The soul stone around it. Can it be removed?”
Mei Ling frowned. “I don’t know if I’m skilled enough. Or have the right tools.”
“Please, Doctor… it’s critical that I have this seal removed. If you can do something… anything.”
Too much was riding on this now. At the very least he needed to be able to imbue glyphs. What he’d told Hu Dong wasn’t a lie… he could perhaps instruct anyone to imbue, given enough time, but he wasn’t about to involve the warden in a jailbreak.
Mei Ling tapped her chin, considering it.
“There is one thing I might try,” she said eventually. “But it may not work.”
“I’ll try anything.”
“Very well…lie back down now.”
Mei Ling spent a few minutes gathering more implements from about the healing house. She finally returned with a thin reed of bamboo and a sliver of crystal the shade of dark onyx. She dropped the onyx crystal into the top of the bamboo tube and then placed another piece of crystal, shaped like a stopper, on top of it.
“This may sting a little,” she said as she positioned the bamboo tube over his scar.
“What?”
She slammed her hand down on the stopper and the device flashed with a bang. Sharp pain shot through Kenji’s gut and he saw stars. Warmth radiated from his stomach like it was on fire… like he was bleeding inside.
He cried out.
“Kenji!” Mei Ling shouted, but he could barely hear her now, his vision tunneling.
The last thing he saw was Mei Ling reaching for the flat crystal again, before everything went dark.
Chapter 30 – Fort Dohma
General Amikazu marveled at the blood-red stone suspended above the rune-etched pillar. It spun slowly, tendrils of red energy flowing about it. Gaining access to the strongest vault within the heart of Fort Dohma Castle was an accomplishment in and of itself, but to finally view the renowned soul stone containing the living memories of the Bloody Duke was the achievement of a lifetime indeed.
And now it was his to take.
“How shall you transport it, general?”
The question came from the young captain standing next to him. Within her hands was the official edict signed by the emperor himself. Amikazu could still recall the look of shock on the captain’s face when she broke the imperial seal and read its contents.
Captain Yi Sung—he learned her name was—had reread the letter perhaps three times before finally issuing the command for the imperial vault to be unlocked and the Mind Stone to be removed. Chances were she had no idea what the stone contained and was perhaps more concerned about the other valuables locked away inside the vault.
The vault itself was lined with heavy iron plates that some said were over a foot deep and judging by the thickness of the vault door, it was a good estimation. The expansive interior was filled with all manner of ancient relics and artifacts: sacred tomes, instruments, even artwork dating back to the Yin era, when the Hojin people from the west mingled freely with their ancestors upon the mainland. Now their remnants existed in name only, much like his own name, Amikazu—their actual culture lost and blended over the centuries of time.
Along with the relics were other items of great power: full suits of rune-covered armor and weapons encrusted with powerful gem stones. The rest of the space was filled with bars of silver and gold, the amount of which was rivaled only by the imperial treasury.
This was the personal holdings of the Zhou imperial blood line, the wealth of Jin Yu’s family: centuries old and guarded beneath a fort built to withstand a ten-year siege. To think all of that security could be undone by a mere letter.
Amikazu grinned inwardly. Such was both the power and weakness of men.
“I will carry it within this,” Amikazu said, and produced a felt-lined box made of purified steel attached to a chain. Captain Yi Sung nodded and touched the runes upon the pillar in a sequence far too quick for Amikazu to take note.
The tendrils of red energy faded and the stone drifted to a rest atop the pillar, the runes extinguishing their glow. The captain then took a healthy step away from the pillar and ushered with her hand for Amikazu to take it.
Smart girl, Amikazu thought. You don’t know what could be inside there.
Amikazu stepped forward and took the stone within his hand, still warm to the touch. His heart raced with adrenaline to finally have within his grasp, the very soul of an immortal.
Or at least, a third of one.
The emperor had consumed the Bloody Duke’s wild spirit, perhaps thinking it the greater of the three components the legendary warrior was broken into. But the spirit was emotion only. While powerful, it had done nothing but infect the already slothful and weak-minded Jin Yu with the hedonism the Bloody Duke was renowned for.
And now it only grew stronger.
The Duke’s mind and body instead comprised his true power…purified from the bloodlust that would no doubt soon begin manifesting within the emperor as well. With the mind stone finally his and the power of the Bloody Duke’s doma soon to come, Amikazu would finally have the strength needed to place the empire under the leadership of a just and wise liege.
“I thank you, Captain, for your assistance,” he said, stowing the mind stone within the box and placing the chain about his neck. “I return at once to the capital.”
“Of course.” She bowed to him deeply.
They left the vault behind, where it was once again sealed by several of Yi Sung’s lieutenants. Traversing up the stone steps towards the surface, they passed by several more iron doors and gateways that were sealed both by warding glyphs and Qi stone machinery.
“How goes the battle on the front?” Amikazu asked once they had emerged into the open courtyard of the fort once again. The castle was not large, but its walls were thick and high and standing in the courtyard felt almost like looking up from within the belly of a gorge. Sentries and cannons posted atop the wall were barely visible from where he stood and the noonday sun still managed to cast a long shadow over the courtyard with the help of the high walls.
“We could certainly use more troops to aid in the frontline rotations,” Yi Sung said. “I receive General Lin Ho’s wounded and battle-weary each week, but the platoons have barely enough time to recuperate before they are needed to return to the front again.”
“Ah yes,” Amikazu said. “Compliments of the treasury budget cuts, I’m afraid. The war is losing popularity in the capital.”
Yi Sung frowned. “Would it not be possible to assist with interior troops, General?”
Amikazu admired her boldness, taking the opportunity to seek assistance directly from him—superseding both her own superior, Lin Ho, and all manner of protocols. He was liking this captain more and more. Cooperation was never forthcoming between the various military branches, but he supposed war created needs like no other.
“Our budgets have unfortunately been cut as well,” Amikazu said. “The council has seen fit to redirect our funding to the mystic schools, for more relic hunts and beast slaying.”
“Is such so important at this time?”
Amikazu chuckled. “We both saw inside the vault. The emperor can never have too many possessions, can he?”
The scowl on her face lasted but a moment, but the sentiment was clear. Captain Yi Sung was no fan of the emperor or the council’s politics. There was no time like the present to set the tone for the things to come. The emperor’s rule had to come to an end, and the more military loyalists he could enlist to his side the better, especially if they happened to be the keeper of Fort Dohma Castle.
A young private came running from within the central citadel and bowed to the captain before handing her a scroll. She looked at it queerly and then offered it to Amikazu. “Just arrived by sparrow. Forwarded from the capital. It must be urgent.”
Urgent indeed, few knew he was even here. Amikazu
opened the sealed scroll and read the message from Interior Minister Yee.
General Amikazu,
I have received word from Chief Jubie of Amatsu Village of survivors arriving from Han Village. They had with them an injured Xjian woman who they suspect may have been involved in the attack. They have entrusted her to the mystic school for safekeeping until someone can be sent for interrogation and relocation. Please address this matter urgently.
Minister Yee
Amikazu chuckled. So Amatsu Village it was then. He’d already received the sparrow from the sellblades earlier this morning, pinpointing Amatsu Village as the location the demon had led them to. But now, he had official confirmation and reason to head there as well.
The fates are in my favor…heaven itself aligns the stars along my paths.
But all was not entirely well. This was the second mention of a Xjian woman now. That uncouth badger fellow had mentioned her before if he recalled—yes, a large woman with golden hair, he had said.
That was itself unusual. There should be no one like that involved. At least no one that he himself had involved. A fly in the ointment perhaps? The thought made him eager to leave and reach Amatsu as soon as possible.
“Is everything all right, General?” Yi Sung asked, perhaps noting the concern on his face.
Amikazu wiped the furrow from his brow and smiled. “Just city politics. I shall be off now.”
“Good journey to you, General.” The captain saluted him.
Amikazu returned it and then opened his meridians to activate his Qinggong.
As he Windwalked up the steep inner walls of the castle, his mind pondered this new development. A coincidence or happenstance perhaps? Possible, but a random Xjian woman wandering within the interior was not common place. Perhaps a port city like Kurogane, but certainly not within Han Village.
A strange resonance assaulted his doma. His flow of Qi was interrupted and his heart nearly stopped as he began falling from the sky.
What in the heavens…?