Claddings of Light : Book 12 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  “You can change its pigmentation?” Cha Ming asked. “How curious.”

  “It’s much more complicated than that,” Graceful Twilight said.

  “Show him the thing you showed us that one time,” Huxian said. “You know, only smaller.”

  “Fine,” Graceful Twilight said. “It’s much better when there’s a big audience.”

  “Audience?” Ashen Sky said.

  “Nothing, Father,” Graceful Twilight said. She pressed her hands together, and the pieces of black glass became a small black egg that was immediately surrounded by a black glow. Black became dark red at first, and then orange. The flame grew hotter and hotter—Cha Ming could feel it on its skin—until it was a white-hot flame he could no longer bear. Then, when he was about to shy away from the heat, there was a sudden explosion. A massive phoenix appeared overhead. Its feathers were iridescent, and its flames were everywhere. They covered every inch of the garden, completely covering the many trees, shrubs, and flowers.

  Cha Ming panicked. Was everyone safe? Could they find shelter? He summoned his staff and extended his domain, exerting his power to quench the rapid burning flames—only to discover that they weren’t there. They were imaginary. “Very funny,” Cha Ming said, seeing that the elders weren’t panicking but laughing.

  “Gets me every time,” Iridescent Wonder said, wiping a tear from his eye.

  The iridescent phoenix shimmered and transformed into a dragon that dove into the depths of an inky ocean. Cha Ming felt a pang of fear as he looked into the darkness, and it looked back.

  “Emotions,” Cha Ming said. “Sensations. Feeling.”

  “Fire is the bringer of light,” Graceful Twilight said. “It is also the bringer of sadness. Fire banishes darkness, but it also lights the torches that burn away civilization. It is necessary, but it is also the enemy of all life. What I do is take that light and manipulate it using glass. Anything you can imagine, I can make glass reflect it, whether it’s images, sensations, or sounds.”

  “She’s also a natural glass artisan,” Ashen Sky said. “Good at ceramic work too. Anything fire touches, she can bring it to life with color. Many pieces in the First Feather’s palace are her personal work. She’s displaced quite a few antiques created by ancient masters.”

  Cha Ming eyed the pieces of floating glass. “What you did reminds me of illusions. But they’re different, somehow.”

  “Those are way better than illusions,” Huxian said. “Here, let me show you an illusion.” He snapped his fingers, and light and shadow danced in the room. He saw the same phoenix, and the same deep-sea dragon appear simultaneously. They were there, but they felt… hollow in comparison. Like they were a shell of what could be. The contrast reminded Cha Ming of something else.

  “Your work is like a true artist’s painting,” Cha Ming said. “Anyone can try imitating it, but they can’t invoke the same feelings. In a sense, what you do reminds me of how Elder Iridescent Wonder describes iridescent flames.”

  “This isn’t iridescence,” Iridescent Wonder said. “This is something else.”

  “I once thought that if she painted my feathers, I might succeed where burnings had failed,” Ashen Sky said. “Alas, iridescence can’t be granted so easily.”

  “But I just saw an iridescent phoenix,” Cha Ming protested.

  Iridescent Wonder shook his head. “Watch this.” He lit up a multicolored flame. “Try and catch and refract my flame with your glass,” he said to Graceful Twilight.

  She nodded. Her black glass changed color and tried to manipulate the subtle light the iridescent flame gave off. To Cha Ming’s surprise, the colors were absorbed into the glass. They danced around. Yet no matter how she tried to coax them to mix or change, they couldn’t return to their original form. The colors remained as distinct colors, unlike the elder’s multicolored, ever-shifting flame.

  “Just as she cannot capture and reflect iridescence, she cannot grant it to others,” Iridescent Wonder said. “She can only imbue.”

  To highlight the point, Iridescent Wonder produced a white flame from a bottle in his storage ring. The light it gave up off was soft, and Graceful Twilight used it to form a small deer that went prancing about. Its colors changed, and it became purple, then blue, then red, and finally, the same iridescent as the Iridescent Ancestor.”

  “What about Bifang’s flame?” Cha Ming asked curiously. “It has more colors than an iridescent one.”

  Graceful Twilight considered this. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll be right back.” She ran over to Bifang, who’d just sneezed and destroyed a small tree. They exchanged a few words, and by the end of their conversation, Bifang looked happy, and Graceful Twilight came back with a small piece of wood bearing a seven-colored flame. Iridescent Wonder caught the flame with a flame seed and used his own power to make it grow.

  “Whoa,” Huxian said as Graceful Twilight’s glass caught the fire’s light. Their immediate area’s colors inverted. Everywhere Cha Ming looked was a fascinating mix of colors, each with their respective feeling. Joy? Hunger? Excitement? It was all there. Omnipresent and overwhelming.

  Even Graceful Twilight was caught up in the spectacle. No one had ever seen a flame or lights quite like this. It was only when glass began to break that Cha Ming awakened from his stupor and noticed that something had gone very wrong. Strings of fate were rearranging in chaotic and unpredictable ways. It reminded him of curses or evil spirit arts.

  Huxian tripped over his seat and fell face first on the floor. Iridescent Wonder lost control of his bottle of white fire, which shattered and lit up a small blaze on the stone floor.

  “What rotten luck,” Ashen Sky said as he observed his lightly painted fingernails. “A hangnail?”

  Iridescent Wonder tried to retract the crackling flame, but when he did, the flame seed shattered. He eyed Bifang warily. “What a dangerous flame. It was bad enough on its own, but with your glass? Frightening.”

  “A friend of mine was struck by a curse like that once,” Cha Ming said. “He was fortunate that I happened to have a talisman to counter it.”

  Huxian got up, scratching the back of his head. “I feel like I just got slammed in the head by something. Did someone hit me with a soul attack?”

  “It seems to be a variant of soul fire,” Iridescent Wonder said. “My flame seed couldn’t withstand it.”

  “Sir!” a voice called out. They looked over and saw a glum-looking woman running over hastily. The one who’d spoken was one of the well-armed maids under the head maid’s supervision. She ran over to Ashen Sky and whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened.

  “What happened?” Ashen Sky asked the man who trailed after her. He was a strange Phoenix clansman whose main coloring was green. “Tell me nothing went wrong.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the man said. “I did what I could to save it, but in the end, I was only able to keep this one. And even then…” He sighed. “Seeing is believing.”

  The man placed a jade chest on the empty marble fireplace. He opened the chest, revealing a single ripe fruit. It gave off a powerful fire aura that could burn anyone who approached it if they weren’t careful. Normally, the Iridescent Flame Essence Fruit would have had five colors. This one, however, had seven. The same seven colors from Bifang’s flame.

  “The others all caught fire and were incinerated, my lord,” the gardener said. “I believe their essence was fed into this single fruit. We decided to harvest it before anything else could happen.”

  Iridescent Wonder groaned.

  “Oh dear,” Ashen Sky muttered. He looked to Cha Ming apologetically. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you much. With only a single fruit, and a variant type, I’m not sure how you’ll manage.”

  “What rotten luck,” Iridescent Wonder cursed. “Stupid crackling cranes. No wonder they’re practically extinct.”

  Bifang shrank away at his words.

  “Sorry,” Huxian said to Cha Ming.

  “I didn’
t think my tinted glass could do something like that,” Graceful Twilight said, looking just as guilty.

  Cha Ming sighed and closed his eyes. “It is what it is. I’m the one who asked about your flames. I hope nothing else was damaged?”

  “That was all,” the gardener said. “I nearly fumbled my harvesting tools, but other than that, I was all right. Whatever happened, it shook my soul. I think I’ve only encountered that once before, when I tried harvesting a mind-reaving snake vine.”

  “Can we use this single fruit?” Cha Ming asked Iridescent Wonder.

  “I doubt it,” Iridescent Wonder said. “We can use it to experiment, but I don’t think I’d want to make a pill with only a single portion of ingredients.”

  “Take it anyway,” Ashen Sky said, waving his hand. “I have no use for it. And daughter, please be careful when using your glass arts with your new friend. I know you like playing, but if I lost your mother’s garden, I’d be greatly saddened.”

  “Yes, Father,” Graceful Twilight said demurely.

  “Thank you for all your help,” Cha Ming said to Ashen Sky. “I’ll find a way. I always do.”

  “And I sincerely hope that you will triumph,” Ashen Sky said. “I understand that you’re seeking phoenix blood to strengthen yourself before your battle with the prefecture lords. I wouldn’t mind seeing them eat their just desserts.”

  “We’d better get going,” Iridescent Wonder said. “Charity is going to have a fit.”

  “Thank you once again,” Cha Ming said. He followed the senior phoenix out of the manor, unsure what to feel, unsure what to think.

  Chapter 20: The Alligator and the Crackling Crane

  Rain fell on the forest floor, washing human and demon blood alike into the inky lake where Silver Fish waited. A serpent floated beside him, with fangs twice as long as his legs. Are you sure we need to leave? the serpent asked. This is our home. I do not abandon it lightly.

  Would I lie to you? Silver Fish answered. And even if I would, would the Star-Eye Clan let me get away with it? He spread senses through the inky waters of the lake that seeped into the ground, feeding into roots and trees. As far as the water traveled naturally, so too could he see.

  Corpses littered the ground. Some human and some demon. All around them, nature was fading. And not far away, a battle was being fought. One that Silver Fish couldn’t participate in.

  Nearby, droves of rodents scampered through the woods. Larger beasts of every kind followed suit, including canines and felines and badgers and snakes. Birds large and small flew in formation overhead, watching and informing. Ahead and behind them were initiates of the Star-Eye Clan who were in charge of the evacuation.

  We must leave, the serpent finally agreed. We have lived here for thousands of years, but it is time. So be it. With great reluctance, she moved. Her massive body uncoiled and slithered onto dry land. There, she took on her human form, lithe, delicate, and serpentine. She wore a suit of strong black-scale demon armor and wielded a black glaive that glistened with a silver poison. Come, my charges. We leave for better lands.

  She walked, and behind her, the land transformed. The air liquified, becoming an extension of the lake. Beneath her appeared a shallow river barely wide and deep enough for the lake-dwelling demons to follow. They shrank and swam together, not daring to stray too far from the lake serpent. Without an investiture-realm expert like her, they wouldn’t survive very long.

  “You’ll find three other lakes not far from here that are willing to take your subjects,” Silver Fish said. “As for leadership, you will need to negotiate with the other occupants.”

  “I will do as the ink-blessed suggests,” she said, bowing her head. She continued on her way, and as she walked, lush forests transformed. The river extended behind her like a watery train filled with fishes, turtles, lizards, and amphibious creatures.

  These demons were the last to retreat from this former demonic region. With their departure, the forest grew silent. No mammals or birds or even insects remained. “The last three times, I ran,” Silver Fish muttered. “No longer.” He stepped into the lake and waited with only ink to keep him company. The story of the alligator and the mockingbird came to mind.

  Once, there was an alligator who was particularly lazy. He was the lord of the lake he inhabited and could catch whatever prey he wished. Early on in life, he was satisfied to do so, but lately, he’d been thinking. Why spend all his time stalking? Why couldn’t they come to him instead? So, he hatched up a devious plan that would feed him with very little effort.

  The next day, instead of stalking his prey, he lay in the lake, mouth open. For three days and three nights, he did so. At first, the birds were nervous. They didn’t know what to make of this strange, senile alligator. Eventually, he was rewarded with a single bird that landed on one of his many teeth. Success! he thought, but then thought better.

  How easy it would have been to snap his mouth shut and eat that little morsel. But then a thought occurred to him. The birds would be frightened. They would fly away. If he let the bird live, perhaps others would come and join it. I’ll let this one go, he thought. That way, it will tell its friends it’s safe.

  The next day, twelve birds came, and the day after that, fifty landed, all lined up in a row. It was only then that the alligator snapped shut its mouth, eating them all in an instant. It was a good day for the alligator, who’d chosen to wait.

  Silver Fish was like the alligator. He used the inky lake as bait. It also doubled as a pool that could fuel his powers. As planned, the humans arrived and began their usual sweep, cutting and burning, but leaving many valuable plants to grow.

  Hours passed, and Silver Fish, remembering the story of the alligator, continued to wait. He wasn’t satisfied with these forerunners—he wanted the ones who came after. What were soldiers when one could have officers? Why not destroy their most valuable treasures, the devices with which they captured the power of the inky lakes?

  The forest was dead. So was the lake. No life remained inside it save his own. Therefore, he made no movements. He made no ripples or sounds. When the human scouts scanned the lake’s interior, they saw nothing but ink and water.

  “No matter how many times I see it, it’s creepy,” one of them said. “Everything, just gone. Vanished. It’s unnatural, I tell you.”

  “They’re demons, moron,” another scout said. “By definition, anything they do is unnatural.”

  “You know what I mean,” the first scout said.

  “No, I don’t,” the second scout said. “Now stop being such a numbskull. There’s nothing here. Let’s give the all-clear.” He held his hand up and sent a rune up in the air, and a slower group began to move forward. They carried something heavy and placed it just in front of the lakeshore. Then, to Silver Fish’s surprise, they placed three others.

  Don’t they typically use only one? he thought. Today was his lucky day.

  “Can we start already?” a man asked. He was a peak-rune-carving cultivator.

  “Not yet,” another answered. “Commander Cao has instructed us to wait until all the boxes are in place.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to start these ones first,” the other man said, but his partner smacked him on the back of the head.

  “I don’t care how impatient you are. I won’t be caught dead disobeying Commander Cao,” his partner replied.

  Something’s wrong, Silver Fish thought suddenly. Something’s different. He was reminded of an alternate story of the alligator and clever jays. In this one, the alligator opened its mouth and let the birds do as they pleased. So happy was he with his success that he didn’t notice the birds had started placing rocks inside it. When he bit down, the birds flew away, leaving the crocodile with a mouthful of gravel and broken teeth.

  Silver Fish jumped out of the lake, and alongside him came an inky alligator and a horde of inky birds. He channeled his rage and delight at having been discovered and caught in a trap of his opponent’s making. The emotions
fueled his inky stories brought to life, and the alligators and the birds grew larger and stronger.

  “Activate the boxes!” one of the soldiers yelled. They pressed on the activation runes, but it was already too late. Silver Fish slipped through the enclosure just before it snapped into place. He then smashed down with a powerful fist, destroying the first of the box-shaped contraptions while the inky alligator broke another with its tail.

  Silver Fish threw out his anchor and broke a third, but before he could get the fourth box, he saw a group of peak cultivators and late-grade supporters headed his way. They’d known he was going to try this. If not now, then eventually.

  Silver Fish cursed and immediately decided fighting was not the best way to go about this. He had to retreat. Run away. He commanded the inky alligator to cause as much damage and sow as much chaos as its slow frame could manage. As for the inky birds, he urged them to pelt and peck at his opponents and blind them if possible.

  An initial-rune-gathering elder appeared in front of Silver Fish. The elder’s world projection bore down on him, threatening to lock him in a spatial prison. Silver Fish countered by heaving his demon anchor into the gray restraints. They shattered, and the rune-gathering cultivator coughed up blood as the backlash hit him.

  Silver Fish was tempted to finish him off, but his instincts told him to bolt. More rune-gathering elders appeared. They didn’t attack him directly, but they joined together in formation. The first elder had been the first bird. Silver Fish had been the silly alligator.

  A massive net appeared overhead, tightening around their general area. Silver Fish flitted through the air toward the edge of the net, but unfortunately, it was tightly woven. No less than ten elders brought him to the ground. Not far away, a man approached, clapping. Silver Fish knew who it was even without looking.