by C. J. Anaya
I swallowed hard, unable to imagine having thousands of ki all responding to my every instruction. “How would I accomplish this?”
“First, you must learn to feel the veil around you. Once you are able to do so, you will be able to sense where it is weakening. We hold the sword together, and you use our combined, soul mated ki to channel your power through the sword in order to connect to the spirits on the other side. The sword then becomes an amplifier of your gift, enabling you to communicate and guide thousands of ki, teaching them how to use their energy to repair and strengthen all of the weakened points at the same time instead of having to do so one by one.”
“I didn’t know our ki would be used together.”
Katsu looked down, seemingly uncomfortable. “We haven’t talked much about your ascension. On your eighteenth birthday we do what is called a binding ceremony where our souls are bound together forever. Once that is accomplished, you will be ready for your full ascension as a kami, having a ki as powerful as that of any other immortal being.”
“If my ki already heals my body, why am I still considered half mortal? What is it that you do that brings me to full immortality?”
“Once we are bonded, I use my ki to heal the half of your ki that is mortal. I won’t go into the details of how at the moment since we are still five months from the ceremony, but I can assure you, once you are a full kami you and I will have no problem healing the veil together.”
“Forever.” I hadn’t meant to say it as if it were some kind of prison sentence, but I couldn’t consider it anything else. “And what if I fail, Katsu? What if the prophecy is wrong, and I’m simply not powerful enough to heal the veil with you?”
Katsu brushed my hand with his as if to encourage me. “The prophecy is not wrong, Mikomi. I promise you, you will be ready for this when the time comes.”
“But what if I’m not? What if I can’t?”
“Then the veil will fall, the demon god will win, and this world and all of humanity will be thrown into the hands of a bloodthirsty, power hungry god.”
I felt the full weight of my responsibility nearly crush me where I sat, and suddenly such mundane activities as eating food or conversing with Katsu seemed trivial and out of place considering the severity of the consequences that would follow if I didn’t fulfill my part in the prophecy.
“Mikomi, you must have more faith in yourself. You won’t fail. We won’t fail.”
I looked into Katsu’s eyes, felt the truthfulness of his words behind the emotions seeping through that ever present wall of his. His sincerity, his belief in me was humbling, and I felt certain I would never be the kind of person to deserve it. Not when I desperately desired to run away from my responsibilities and into the arms of a man far different from this warrior god seated before me.
“Would you like to hold the sword? Get a feel for it and its energy?”
I nodded.
Katsu stood up and pulled a long straight sword from his saya. The blade, though made of steel, seemed to glow with a vibrant, gold light. The hilt was silver and simple, without ornate carvings or embellishments. It really was the most unassuming weapon, one I never would have considered sufficient for healing the veil if I didn’t know better.
“Do you also use this sword in battle?”
“I do. It is one of the few weapons that has the power to fight against the forces of the demon god. Nekomata are easily dealt with.”
He motioned for me to stand beside him. I left the table and crossed over to his side.
“Now, take the sword by the hilt, and with the point touching the floor, I want you to close your eyes and connect to it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Connect to it? But it is metal.”
Katsu smiled knowingly. “Take the hilt and you will see what I mean.”
I did as I was told, bringing the point of the blade to the floor as I marveled at its lightweight feel considering its size. Once I closed my eyes, I attempted to connect with it just as if it were a living, breathing entity.
I felt a slight stirring from the sword and then a strange intelligence brushed my consciousness, latching on to it and allowing me a connection. I might have dropped the blade from the unexpected sensation, but the connection I experienced was overpowering my senses. With it I felt an energy and power buzzing through me. Soon I felt other energies and forces moving toward me at an alarming rate, all hoping to latch on and communicate to me something important, but I couldn’t understand their meaning nor their intent, and I wasn’t used to so many life forces connecting with me all at once.
I quickly broke from them, and, without meaning to, dropped the sword to the floor. I was breathing heavily and looked at Katsu, wondering if I had done something wrong. He simply gave me a smile and bent down to retrieve the sword. Considering its importance, I wondered if I should have been punished for my careless treatment of it.
“There were several energies responding to you, correct?” he asked as he sheathed the sword.
I nodded, still feeling slightly out of sorts. “How will I ever be able to channel so many ki at one time?”
“Because you will have me. As one who is not full kami, the weight of those intelligences would be too much for your mind to handle, but as a kami bonded to my ki, my energy will be at your disposal to help strengthen your abilities. You will find that this will not be so daunting a task.” He gave me a tender, but firm look. “This is why we must practice, Mikomi, and why you must learn to feel the veil around you without the use of the sword, and without assistance of those that are near death themselves.” He took my hand in his and rubbed his thumb across the back of it. “We must develop these skills before your ascension.”
The need to escape the mounting pressure building within my chest was quickly becoming the only thought I could hold on to with any kind of clarity. If I thought the salvation of the world had been too great of a responsibility it was because I had never experienced the kind of responsibility the veil placed upon me. With so many intelligences clamoring for my guidance and direction, I couldn’t begin to understand how I would ever survive the process.
And for eternity?
I’d never considered myself special in any way. My healing power had been a natural extension of me, like an appendage or the permanent color of my eyes. I could use it to help others, and in that I had some measure of control, some source of happiness and fulfillment. I couldn’t begin to imagine how I would ever turn from healing people in need to healing a veil for the rest of my existence. I understood my responsibilities. I knew that everything rested solely upon my person, but did it have to? Would I be trading in one prison sentence for another once I married Katsu and left this empire behind me?
I needed to be noble, self-sacrificing, and duty bound, but I felt too small and insignificant, too overwhelmed as I learned more about my future role as The Healer.
“I think perhaps we have done enough for one day. The power you were exposed to can be draining, even for a kami, and you are still half mortal.” Katsu studied me intently, looking concerned. “Perhaps it was too much, Mikomi.”
I shook my head. “No, it was important for me to know. I needed to know.” It wasn’t the best in the way of reassurance, but it was all I could say without breaking down and begging Katsu to choose someone else. Someone less selfish and cowardly. I closed my mouth tight and endured my panic and anxiety in silence.
Katsu gave me one last searching look and then nodded, clearly satisfied with my response. “I will leave you to rest then. Until tomorrow?”
“Yes. Of course.”
He surprised me by leaning down and placing a gentle kiss upon my forehead, and then he disappeared through the door.
* * *
Akane was waiting for me at the ruins as requested. She sent Yao and Chan to one of the abandoned buildings for light refreshment, and as a way to ensure they didn’t hear anything that would put them at more risk than they already were.
I agreed who
leheartedly, recognizing their lives were in danger should the emperor ever discover where their loyalties lay, and how they aided my involvement with the rebels.
Akane didn’t waste time with pleasantries but delved into the matter at hand.
“Mikomi, I was quite worried about your message. Has your father discovered your involvement with us?” she asked.
“No. Nothing like that. If he had, I most certainly wouldn’t be here. Most likely I’d be in a cell somewhere. Something strange happened today.”
I explained in detail the healing my father had summoned me to perform and the unusual entities in his officers’ different bloodstreams. I also discussed the memories I had absorbed. All the while, dear, supportive Kenji stood by my side, his agitation growing with each word that passed my lips.
Our first order of business was to utilize the map she brought with her so as to notate the areas that had been similarly marked within the soldier’s memories. With that accomplished, we moved on to the more distressing part of their memories and the unorthodox meeting with my father and his men.
“In these memories you absorbed, your father’s officers were injured on purpose in order to receive an audience with you?” she asked.
“Yes, and I can only assume that whatever substance existing within the drink they imbibed has something to do with why.”
“Perhaps it is the drink itself that contained these entities you speak of,” Kenji offered. “Though how they would assimilate themselves within the blood is puzzling and a bit unsettling. It almost sounds similar to a process used by the demon god before he was cast out by our First Parents.”
I quirked a questioning eyebrow a him. “What process, Kenji?”
My tutor shifted his stance and leaned heavily against his cane. Without thinking I touched his arm, connected with his ki and eased the pain in his joints all within a matter of seconds. He gave me a rueful yet grateful look and then moved on to his explanation.
“After the creation of the world, the kami and all other forms of life, there began to be divisions of power amongst the kami—roles assigned by our First Parents to keep the balance of nature and the world in which nature exists.”
I nodded, remembering the lessons he had taught me from a tender, young age.
“At that time, Amatsu-Mikaboshi was one of the noblest of our First Parent’s creations. He felt that his role of welcoming souls into the afterlife was something only a minor kami should be in charge of. He mentioned his grievances with our First Parents, but of course they knew which kami were best suited for which tasks. They created them, after all. Dissatisfied with this, Amatsu began to seek out the powers of creation himself. He wanted to build worlds and have kami of his own to influence and order about.”
I listened intently, realizing that this part was all new to me.
“He lacked the knowledge to create kami the way our First Parents had, and so he began experimenting on humans.”
“Kenji, I’ve never heard this part of our history before.”
“That, my dear, is because it is not common knowledge. It wasn’t anything our First Parents wanted other kami to attempt.”
“Then how did you come across this information?”
“In your father’s library, to be quite honest. There are several tomes there, ancient records of creation and kami history that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I assume they were placed there long ago by the very first emperor of this land and then forgotten over the ages.”
“What were these experiments the demon god performed?” Akane interjected.
“To put it simply, Amatsu wasn’t interested in turning mortals into kami through the use of his own ki. He might have lost his own immortality by slowly healing humans. There was no guarantee that the humans would accept the change, and the process would have taken much too long either way. He decided to find out what would happen if he had them drink his blood.”
“His blood? I don’t understand how that would do anything?”
“Kami blood holds life altering properties. Legends of the fountain of youth can be traced back to the idea that immortality is achieved through a magical elixir gifted from the gods. A kami’s blood contains particles of their ki. Intelligent organisms that are capable of changing the chemical properties of one’s blood. Once imbibed and bonded to a human, their blood is changed from one of mortal to that of an immortal within seconds.”
I began to feel a sinking sensation within my stomach. “What do you mean bonded?”
Kenji rubbed the back of his neck. I sensed he was beginning to link my story and his explanation together and didn’t like where our conclusions were taking us.
“Once a kami’s blood enters a human’s bloodstream it will do very little to benefit the body unless the blood is bonded to the humans’ through another kami’s instruction, but this can only be done by someone capable of connecting to another’s ki and…” Kenji trailed off. The process he explained was disturbingly similar to the healing I had shared. “By the gods, Mikomi, your father is creating his own kami, and using you to bond his blood to theirs.”
“Not just his own kami,” Akane whispered, “his own army of kami. With all of his soldiers benefiting from this elixir we’ll be fighting a full militia of kami by the end of the year, and no weapon on this earth will be capable of killing them.” She looked to me, eyes wide with terror. “If he succeeds, we’ll never accomplish our mission to overthrow the emperor. We’ll never survive this war.”
“It’s far worse than that, I’m afraid.” Kenji worried the knob of his cane with both hands. “This battle between you and the emperor is a minor annoyance compared to the battle he is most likely planning once Mikomi ascends as a full kami and marries Katsu.”
“What are you saying, Kenji?” I asked.
“With you gone, there will be no reason for the rest of the major kami to allow him to rule this empire. He’s going to attempt what Amatsu tried to accomplish in the very beginning.”
“What’s that, exactly?” Akane asked.
But I had a very good idea. I felt sick inside as his words dredged up pictures of bloody battles and the complete destruction of the empire.
Kenji chewed on his lower lip before reluctantly answering.
“World domination.”
There was silence as all three of us tried to digest this new revelation. I sensed hopelessness and fear from Akane, and then a wonderful, resilient sense of determination. Her emotions evolved into that a truly hardened warrior. She stubbornly refused to wallow in her fear for too long. I admired her courage, though I felt it might be wasted on a lost cause.
Kenji’s emotions covered a wide spectrum of worry and fear for Saigo and myself. I wasn’t surprised that his feelings didn’t reek of selfish fear or pity for himself. Kenji was too good to think of himself when those he loved were endangered. The guards hadn’t been privy to the details of our conversation, and I was happy they had been spared the worry. They were good men with enough on their plate.
“What do we do?” I finally asked.
“How many men were in the room drinking this concoction? Do you remember?” he asked.
I shook my head. “There were several other men in the room. I can’t remember the exact number.”
“One thing is certain, child. He will need to call upon your services again in order to bond his blood to these other soldiers. What exactly did you do when the bonding took place?”
I thought back for a moment. “I was trying to understand what exactly the foreign entities were, and when I reached out with my ki to touch them, that’s when they bonded.”
“Will it be possible for you to heal the emperor’s men without having any contact with those foreign elements?” Akane asked.
“I can certainly try. It will be difficult since their blood is saturated with the emperor’s, and any healings that take place may need instructions for intelligences within the bloodstream. If I have to heal severe bleeding or internal bleeding, the
re may be no way of avoiding them.”
Kenji nodded. “Do the best you can, child. The emperor is going to use your skills as frequently as he can before the day of your ascension. If you can undermine his plans without him being the wiser, we may be able to avert this eventual disaster.”
“This will be a good opportunity to continue searching the minds of his minions. If you find anything of value, please send me a message immediately.” Akane placed a hand on my arm. “Make sure you are careful, though. If your father truly plans to rebel against our First Parents like this, then it is clear he will not hesitate to harm you if you get in his way.”
“He won’t get rid of me. He needs me to heal the veil. If Amatsu is able to free himself and join us in this realm, my father will be facing some rather fierce competition. He needs me alive, and he can’t kill me, anyway. My immortality ensures that he can’t, but you are right in assuming that he will do much worse if he feels I have fought against him.”
“He cannot find out, then.”
“No.” I grabbed her hand in mine. “He cannot.”
We heard a scuffling noise from a building behind us. Akane quickly dropped her hand and pulled her katana from its saya. Musubi appeared from one of the ruins, throwing broken pieces of rock along the ground as he went. He fixed his eyes on Akane’s defensive stance, and a wry smile sprang to his lips.
“Expecting trouble, are we?” he said as he approached our gathering.
“Just being hyper vigilant. Something you taught me years ago.” Akane sheathed her sword and gave him a long-suffering look. “Though I sometimes wonder if a battle with the emperor’s men is preferable to that of dealing with you and your brooding moods.”