by Jace Kang
No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening! He knelt by her. “Wake up! Where is this High Command? Your embassy?”
“Ahem.” The holoprojected male cleared his throat. “Senior Adept Ryusuke of the Heaven’s Dawn Sect.”
Ryu’s head jerked around. He hadn’t told Siena these details, so… “How do you know my title and sect?”
“I was with Siena, along with our third triplet, when she was stranded on Earth over a thousand years ago.”
Ryu gawked. She’d mentioned the commando team stranded on Earth, but made it sound like she’d just heard about it, not actually been here. Also, she was much older than she looked. Then again, so was he.
Aran continued: “We entered what you call the World of Rivers and Lakes. You might know us as the Three Fairies of the Sun-Moon Sect. You may call me Aran.”
Yet another stunning revelation. Ryu could only stare. No wonder both Aran and Siena looked so familiar. On a diplomatic visit to the Sun-Moon Sect, he’d seen a mural depicting them with a third Elestrae woman and a little sprite, all four surrounded by a dancing silver dragon, on the wall of sect’s ancestral temple. That’s why her fighting style resembled that sect’s. “Then you know how rare and invaluable that pill is. Where is High Command?”
Aran smirked. “On Eles Prime, about twenty-three light years from here.”
Kentaro had said something about folding space requiring more energy the farther it was sent. Twenty-three light years was a long way. Ryu turned to Keiko. “How can I get to the starfighter shipyard on the moon?”
“You can’t. You need all kinds of clearance.”
He waved about the room. “As you can see, your laws don’t apply to me.”
Keiko smirked. “Can you survive the vacuum of space for the amount of time it would take to reach the moon?”
Anger burned in Ryu’s chest, and he turned back to Aran. “You better be farther than twenty-three light years away, because if I—”
“Far more than twenty-three light years.” Aran laughed. “I’m the guardian of a secret planet that is the key to preventing another Onslaught by the Tivari. I was the one who sent the young woman to retrieve the Dragon Pearl from Honnoji Temple, and she helped thwart their attempt to regain their istrium source.”
Kentaro gawked. “So it was a Dragon Pearl. And that girl was from another planet!”
Ignoring the boy, Ryu jabbed a finger at Aran. “This is all your fault, then.”
“From a certain point of view.” The Elestrae shrugged. “I was the one who, centuries ago, sent that girl’s ancestor to hide the Dragon Pearl on Earth in the first place. It was needed back here.”
“So you took that, and now you’ve taken this pill. What do you need it for?”
“I’d heard about them during our sojourn in the World of Rivers and Lakes, but we were never able to learn the ingredients to make one, nor obtain a sample to study it with modern technology. Our High Command is convinced that the perpetual energy it produces is the key to bringing peace throughout the—”
The image wavered, his words stuttered beyond comprehension.
Then he blinked out.
Chapter 39:
The Hacker
I f Aran’s planet was supposed to be secret, Aya needed to know why, and where it was. Finding the signal’s carrier waves was near-impossible given Elestrae encryption protocols, but once she’d pulled the thread hidden in the tapestry of Earth’s communication networks, she started tracing it from the Peacekeepers’ external communication hub through relay stations on the planet, and then to a deep-space transmitter and receiver.
From there, she tracked it through several folding space apertures, but she didn’t dare try to hack into alien networks—her SI wouldn’t be able to translate the code, and would throw her perception into chaos from which she could never escape.
Then the Ministry of Defense jammed the carrier wave.
Thankfully, she had already been on her way back. Though the signal scrambling made the road home a tangled maze, she was eventually able to make it back to the Peacekeeper communication hub. Only a few seconds in real time had passed, and she shifted her perception back to the smoldering lab.
“What happened?” Ryusuke was asking.
Keiko’s finger drew a line from Siena’s comm up into space. “The signal must’ve been cut off.”
“The Ministry of Defense is jamming it,” Aya said. “Which means they plan a follow-up attack. All Peacekeeper channels are down, so I don’t know what they’re sending. Needless to say, it could be more challenging than this last group.”
“Then we need to get out of here.” Ryu scanned the area. “Get the rest of my pills.”
“We need to get Aya first,” Ken said, on his hands and knees as he reached under a table for yellow pill.
“Of course.” Ryusuke turned to Keiko. “Do you believe that your world is in danger from my world?”
She gave a tentative nod. “Yes.” Perhaps her dear sister couldn’t deny what she’d seen with her own eyes.
“Then will you help us?” He searched her eyes.
“I’ll help you escape with Aya, but that’s as much as I can promise.”
Well, that was a surprise. Maybe Keiko wasn’t such a heartless bitch, after all.
“Better than nothing.” Tossing Ken his staff, Ryusuke scooped Siena up into his arms. Unlike before, Aya felt no sense of jealousy.
Around her in the EtherSpace, the samurai Sentinels were falling to ninja—her SI representation of external viruses. If the signal jamming was any indication, the MoD was looking to take control of the Peacekeeper EtherSpace, and was using a first wave of Level Four and Five AI attackers.
“You need to hurry,” she told the others. “The EtherSpace is under attack by the MoD. I won’t be able to control the building’s internal systems much longer.”
Keiko, Kentaro, and Ryu ran through the room, jumping over and sidestepping bodies and wreckage. When they arrived at the maglift bay, the open doors to the central stairwell echoed with dozens of rushing footsteps and shouting.
Inside the Operations partition, the MoD ninjas had already decompiled the code for essential Operators; a Level Four guarded the maglift control. Using the combat code she’d unwittingly developed, she punched at it with a Water Boxing punch. The ninja sidestepped, and a blade flashed in its hand. He thrust it at her exposed flank, but she spun with it using Chen Taiji’s Cloud Hands. A deft twist of her hands plucked the knife away, and she slashed its throat with an underhand-gripped cut.
With the invading AI decompiled, she went to work taking control of the closest maglift. It wouldn’t be long before MoD reinforcements arrived, especially since her friends were constrained by real time. She brought a maglift to their level. Once they were inside, she closed the door and took them down to the eighth floor at double speed.
With six ninja AI approaching her, she dashed to the Operations partition, which resembled a miniature layout of Peacekeeper Headquarters. She opened her interrogation room. The low-level Operators continued doing their jobs here, and she went and opened her room.
Then she jacked out. The world around her spun; real time felt like being mired in muck and swamp. Standing up on wobbling legs, she staggered to the open door and looked out. Martin and Kim lay on the floor by the threshold, and she nearly fell stepping over them. Some of the Peacekeepers who’d tried to prevent Siena and Kentaro from reaching her now groaned as they stirred.
When Kentaro turned the corner from the maglift bay, her heart leaped. How strange it was to have an actual physiological reaction.
“Aya!” he said, running around the fallen Peacekeepers, arms outstretched.
She let him embrace her. After these last few days, real human contact had come to feel right.
“Aya.” Keiko approached.
Kentaro stepped aside, eyes darting between them. “You really do look like twins.”
Ignoring him, Keiko squeezed Aya’s hand. “Your image is e
verywhere. There’s nothing I can do to keep you out of trouble.”
Aya’s eyes shifted to Ryusuke, who still carried Siena despite the Elestrae’s betrayal. Then, she looked to her sister. “It’s all right. I’ve grown accustomed to life on the run. Will you let me go now?”
Chuckling, Keiko’s gaze went from Ryusuke to Ken before settling on her. “I don’t think I can stop you. I’m just happy that you are a step closer to being whole.”
Siena stirred in Ryusuke’s arms. Groaning, her eyes fluttered open. “Ryu, please forgive me. I had to.”
“I can’t.” He set her down, frowning as he searched her eyes.
“We’ve been looking for a power source like that for centuries. I—”
“Aran told us,” Aya said, seeing little point in wasting oxygen on whatever lie Siena planned to tell.
Ryusuke nodded in agreement. “You’ve seen what is happening with the open portals. You’ve seen what Earth’s Ministry of Defense can do. This could mean a war between worlds, and one where neither side has defenses against the other.”
The Elestrae hung her head. “I’ll help you think of a way to close the portals.”
“Right now, you need to think of a way to escape.” With a wave, Keiko backed away.
Was this the last time Aya would see her sister? Something unpleasant churned in her stomach.
“Can you help us fight our way out of here?” Ryu asked Siena.
“I have a better way. I’ve been channeling from my Core. Once I’m replenished, I can whisk us away.”
Ryu held out a green pill.
Smiling, Siena took it, then popped it in her mouth. “Where do you want to go?”
“Honnoji Temple.”
Taking their hands, Siena spoke a word.
The world swirled around them, the sensation just as disorienting as when she’d taken Aya and Ryu into battle against the Kappa.
When Aya blinked her eyes, a wooden Shinto gate with pitched tiled eaves rose before them. The words ‘Honnoji Temple’ were emblazoned in the ancient language on a white plaque, which reflected in the moonlight.
Chapter 40:
The Purebred
W ith Ken’s interest in military history, he was excited to visit Honnoji Temple. It was here that the famous warlord Oda Nobunaga, the first great unifier of Japan, had been betrayed by his retainer, Akechi Mitsuhide. The temple had burned that night, and Nobunaga’s body was never found.
If what the Elestrae Aran had said was true, the sphere found within the well here was a real Dragon Pearl, and that’s what had kept the portals between worlds closed.
Entrusted with Master Ryu’s staff, Ken felt his heartbeat pick up. They walked through the gate and into a courtyard framed by large, modern buildings of glass and metal. The sign above the door central doors marked it as Honnoji Academy.
“There.” Kentaro pointed to the far end of an athletic field, at a stone well. “That’s where the girl from Aran’s world retrieved the Dragon Pearl earlier this month.”
When they made it to the other side of the field, they looked down into the well.
“What’s so special about this place?” Ken asked.
Aya’s eyes glazed over for a split second. “Remember when we talked about Feng Shui and the energy in Kyoto? This spot is like a keystone.”
Master Ryu nodded. “The elders of our sects agree. In the World of Rivers and Lakes, this spot is considered a nexus. The Dragon Pearl’s presence here in this world was also felt over there, and its energy closed off the portals.”
“Wait.” Ken held up a hand and looked at the Elestrae. “Aran said you entered into that world. How were you able to do it, if the portals were closed?”
“A dragon took us through.”
The master nodded. “That explains the mural I saw in the Sun-Moon Sect.”
She nodded. “Yes, we stayed with their clan for a year and taught them our fighting style. Aran and Kiera even Advanced to First Rank.”
“And you didn’t?” Aya asked.
“I didn’t take it seriously enough.” She shrugged. “I always preferred my guns.”
Ken couldn’t imagine giving up the chance to get stronger. “Why didn’t you stay longer?”
“We had to get back. Our people were losing an intergalactic war with the Tivari because they’d discovered a massive source of istrium. Our team had been tasked to find it. But that’s another very long story.”
With no sign any more of this long story was forthcoming, Ken looked to the master. “What does the pill do?”
“Not just the pill,” Master Ryu said. “By itself, it wouldn’t connect to the veins of energy that course through the city. It needs a conduit.”
“What kind of conduit?” Ken looked down into the well, seeing nothing but darkness.
Aya’s voice came out as barely a whisper. “Not what. Who.”
“That is right. I was to be the conduit.” Master Ryu looked from her to Ken, then held up the sparkling violet pill. “I was to take the Impurities Scouring Pill, then the Infinite Energy Pill, and execute a unique Supreme Ultimate Fist form.”
“And then your mission is complete?” Relief washed over Ken. “What will we do then?”
The master fixed his gaze on him. “The question is, what will you do?”
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Master Ryu shook his head. “I will be the conduit…forever.”
What did that mean? Ken’s intestines knotted. “Does that…does that…” the words choked in his throat.
“I am never coming out of the well.”
What? Ken shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. “No! You can’t!”
“I have to try.” Master Ryu glared at Siena. “It would’ve been easier with the pill.”
Unashamed, she met his gaze. “With this new power in my Core, I can sense the veins of energy rippling through the world. I will help you.”
Would that work? Ken gave her a dubious look.
Master Ryu, however, studied her. “You are only Level One, but your Core is so impossibly dense, your energy is equivalent to a master. With both of us, it might just work.”
“How?” Ken asked.
“Siena will connect with the meridians of the world, and I will merge the energy of my Core into it.”
What did that mean? Ken couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His voice cracked. “Won’t that kill you?”
Master Ryu laughed. “Quite the opposite. I will become one with the network of energy that permeates the many layers of the world. I will see everything. It’s the closest thing to godhood one can attain.”
That made Ken feel a little better, but he’d never see his master again. Fighting back tears, he sniffled. “Who will teach us?”
“The Heaven’s Dawn Sect in the World of Rivers and Lakes will teach you.”
“But you’re closing the portals.”
“Once you attain First Rank in all Five Paths, you will be able to pass through a thinly warded portal at Shirahige Shrine on Biwa Lake.” The master pointed northeast. “That’s how I first entered the World of Rivers and Lakes.”
“But I’m only First Rank in three Paths.”
“I’ve taught you all the exercises you need to Advance to First Rank in all Five Paths. You have enough Cores in my staff and the walking stick to provide the energy for that to happen.”
“What about Aya?” Ken looked to her and found that tears had welled up in her eyes, too.
“She is ready to advance, and there are enough Cores for both of you,” Ryu said. He tapped her on the head. “But to do so, she has to rid herself of the wiring that allows her to hack into the EtherCloud.”
Aya gasped. She shook her head. “Even if I wanted to, it would be impossible. It would require multiple surgeries, recovery time—”
“My final gift to you.” Master Ryu took her hand and set the purple pill into her palm. He closed her fingers around it. “The Impurities Scouring Pill will convert your
wiring into useable Qi and heal the pathways they replaced.”
Aya opened her hand and stared at the pill for a moment. She then looked to Ryu. “What would you do in my position?”
“It’s your choice. You now know the exercises to control your disease, and you can stay the way you are and continue wreaking havoc on the government’s computer systems for years to come.” He grinned at her, though with an obvious underlying sadness in his eyes. “Or, you can give it all up and join Ken-kun in the World of Rivers and Lakes. Just know that you are tied to each other. Yin to Yang.”
Ken’s chest filled, and he met Aya’s gaze. Her tears glistened in the moonlight.
“The portals are opening again soon,” Siena said. “You will need to close them soon, or several yokai will be trapped on this side.”
With a nod, Master Ryu climbed up onto the rim of the well. He offered Siena his hand; when she took it, he helped her up. He stripped off his robe and handed it to Kentaro. “For you.”
This was it, then. All words of gratitude died in Ken’s throat.
“I’ll be back soon,” Siena said.
Clasping Aya’s hand, Ken watched through tear-filled eyes as the two jumped down into the well.
Chapter 41:
The Cultivator
R yu’s Wood Path-enhanced sight made out clear shapes in the darkness five meters down, but Siena spoke a word, lighting the hole up with a gentle white light.
The square space at the bottom of the well was only about two meters to a side. From the large dusty rocks and hard-packed dirt beneath Ryu’s feet, he would’ve wagered it hadn’t held water in centuries. Scrapes and scuffs in the ground and the heavy timbers along the sides suggested that people did come down here.
Siena placed a hand on the side and smiled. “I can feel it more strongly here, the intersection of many of the Earth’s energetic pathways.”
Ryu reached out with his Qi. Indeed, the energy coursed and swirled here. “What are the odds that the Dragon Pearl was placed here, of all places?”
“Knowing my brother,” Siena said with a chuckle, “he probably planned it that way.”