by C. S. Harte
The next day, the Jin-song held a mass funeral. The entire village attended. Instead of caskets, every Warrior was cremated. Their bodies laid neatly inside a giant pyre.
Ren sat atop a hill overlooking the somber crowd. He could not bear to be a part of the ceremony below. A morose thought entered his mind. The next funeral could be of Crystal. She seemed so eager for revenge, to be the next in line to crash against the wave of gifteds. Ren sighed and took out his sketchbook. On the next empty page, he began drawing a self-portrait. He added a mask to his face, one that left a perpetual smile on his lips.
When he finished, Ren flipped the page again and started a new drawing, a depiction of the melancholy scene below. He had trouble continuing after the initial broad strokes. It was as if he was unable to process the complete picture of grief.
Crystal surprised Ren by placing a hand on his shoulder.
He flinched and jumped up.
“Hey.” She softened her grip.
“Hey,” he replied while sitting back down, pretending not to be startled.
“Do you want to talk or be alone right now?” She lowered herself next to him.
“Whatever you want.” Ren finally looked at her.
“We don’t talk much, anymore.” She paused giving him a chance to respond, but he remained quiet. “It seems like it takes a major disaster to get us to talk.”
Ren glanced at her before returning his eyes to his drawing. “We’re in different disciplines. It’s natural that we don’t see each other as much.”
Again, silence.
Crystal turned to him. Her chin wavered as she asked, “Are we OK?”
Ren matched her stare. “Yes, why wouldn’t we be?” He knew that was a lie, but wanted it to be true.
She touched her lips with her fingers. “I wonder, do you still make paper cranes? You still haven’t told me what you were going to wish for when you finished.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what I want anymore. I thought I knew. Life was easier when we were kids, before we took the Kaoshi… Before joining this fight.”
Her eyes lowered as if unsure of how to respond. “Can I see your sketchbook?”
“I don’t really draw anymore.”
“That’s not true. I see you drawing all the time.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve been watching you. You’re not very observant. I’m always paying attention to you Ren, even when you think I’m not watching.”
Ren handed her the sketchbook.
Crystal flipped through the pages making monosyllabic sounds at each drawing before stopping at the most recent depiction of herself. “Oh, why am I glowing?” She giggled. “And what am I looking at?”
He grabbed the book from her. “Nothing. Everything.” He shrugged.
“These are amazing. You’ve gotten so much better.” Crystal leaned into him.
“This may not be the best time to ask with everything going on, but as you’ve said, we don’t talk much. And I wonder sometimes…” his voice trailed.
“What?” She peered at him.
“Do you regret choosing me as your Huoban?
Crystal sat up straight. “No, why? Why would you ask that?”
Ren looked into her eyes and he asked, “You wouldn’t prefer Meng as your Huoban?”
“It’s different!” her voiced squeaked.
His heart tumbled.
“There’s a difference.” Crystal softened her tone. “How I feel about you and how I feel about him.”
Ren’s heart dropped deeper into his stomach.
She reached for his hand. “I think you know this or you’re smart enough to understand this. I love you like my brother, like I love myself. I care about you so deeply, ever since we first met. You are my first memory, my first laugh, and my first feeling of dread when you fell into the Onyx River when we were kids.”
Ren closed his eyes. But.
Crystal broke eye contact as she readied herself for her next words as if doing so would make them easier to say. “But… Meng is my… Romantic connection.”
Ren smiled as a mask fell on his face.
“Don’t do this, Ren.” She shook her head. “I know you long enough to know when you’re hurt. Your mask doesn’t work on me. I can see through it.”
He inhaled sharply before speaking. “Thank you for sharing your feelings about Meng. I don’t want things to be awkward between us. Your feelings about Meng does not change how I feel about you. You are my Huoban. That will never change. I have pledged my life to protect you, as you did for me.” Ren pointed to the scene below them. “But they are what’s important right now. Our brothers and sisters.” He got up hastily.
Crystal followed him.
“I have much to do for Master Tsai.” Ren embraced her and said goodbye. He started walking toward the laboratory without giving her a chance to respond.
Master Tsai was the only person in the lab, making another batch of Healing Cordials.
“We keep losing, Master,” Ren said while walking to his teacher.
He gestured for Ren to sit in the chair in front of him. “Not all is lost, my apprentice.” With his eyes, Master Tsai pointed at something behind Ren.
Ren swiveled around and saw a row of tables and shelves filled to the edges with glass jars containing human organs, gifted organs. At least a hundred jars, if not more.
“Our brave Warriors killed many of their factions before they had to flee. I need your help in classifying them.” He handed Ren a scalpel. “Take a tiny sample from each and put them onto a petri dish. Then use the indicator solution to find the color of the Chi. This will help us determine the ability line of the gifted.”
Ren sighed. “What good is making more Chi Philters without Warriors to use them?”
“It is always difficult to see the beautiful new forest that will grow after a devastating fire, but it will come. The past has a way of influencing the future.”
“So you’re saying the Jin-song will be just as strong as we were before this attack?”
“This new Philter that you and I have been so diligently working on, we did not start from nothing. Our formula builds upon the failures and successes of our ancestors. Many of the same ingredients and methods are the same of the very first Philters created by the earliest Jin-song alchemists. In that way, they continue to have influence over us.” He rested his palm on Ren’s head. “Your work here will similarly impact future alchemists a hundred generations later.”
Ren nodded. “I think I understand, Master. We will learn from our mistakes, and we will get stronger. We have too…”
“Indeed.” Master Tsai returned to his work.
Ren panned his eyes across the bounty of harvested organs in front of him. His lips curled into a smile as ideas streamed into his head.
7
Master Yi
Ren knelt in front of the shrine to Master Tsai. Today marked one full turn of the zodiac cycle since the passing of his former teacher who died not long after the Hong Kong massacre. As his last act, Master Tsai chose Ren as his successor, making Ren the youngest Jin-song Warrior to achieve Master rank.
An emerald songbird chirped as Ren lit three incense sticks and held them between his palms. With his eyes closed, Ren rocked his hands back and forth and began speaking as if Master Tsai was in front of him. “I’m sorry you couldn’t be here to finish what we started. The Jin-song is much stronger now, more resilient. All because of you. Without your voice to my ideas, I fear our cause to be hopeless. But now, we are many. Taking in the poor, homeless, sick, and tired was genius. Kunlun has never seen so many Warriors.”
Ren opened his eyes and planted the stems of the incense into the incense pot. His arm hung slack against his side. “Still, we suffer losses. Each Warrior we lose cuts like a blade across my skin. Some wonder about my fitness as a leader. I don’t know what you saw in me to make me your successor, but there are times I don’t feel deserving. My students constantly seek answers. Answ
ers I rarely seem to have.” His eyes lifted up to the handsome oil-painting of Master Tsai. “Is that what I was like to you?”
The Silverlight dagger on Ren’s belt began to hum as if aware of Ren’s conversation. He removed the blade from its sheath. “And I feel most undeserving of this relic. Why did you not give it to your son?" He lowered his head. "I’ve searched throughout the world for more Atma weapons. What few in existence are in the hands of gifteds. We shall endeavor to obtain more. I believe they are the final pieces on the path to the Great Victory.”
The incense sticks finished their course. Ren bowed once more and stood. He began making his way to the Jin-song Command Tower but stopped at the training grounds. Crystal and Meng were the instructors for the day, each leading a group of two hundred Luse in morning martial arts practice. There was something hypnotic about watching hundreds of unique individuals moving flawlessly in sync, down to their hands and feet.
Crystal blew her whistle. In an instant, the Luse stood rigid in posture with their arms behind their backs.
Meng joined her on a large stage overlooking the field. He grabbed two swords, tossing one to her.
She and Meng each held up a silver vial and downed the contents. Crystal’s eyes briefly flashed a dazzling blue before her hands began to illuminate with a sapphire-colored aura. Meng’s hands burned with a brilliant orange and ruby flame. They started performing a choreographed dance with one hand wielding a sword, the other shooting beams of ice and fire.
Having already watched the performance many times over, Ren focused on the Luse. In the sea of students, he looked for those with stoic faces, the ones that innately understood that Chi Philters wasn’t for entertainment. Fighting against gifteds was a matter of life and death. Gifteds would not hesitate to take the lives of non-gifteds en masse. Jin-song Warriors must also not pause to do the same. Many of the Luse cheered and howled as their instructors deftly avoided devastating attacks.
Ren shook his head as he moved to the next training field where a small group of Chujis gathered. These students were experimenting with a new type of Chi Philter made with the essence of a Geomancer they recently captured.
One student in particular, seemed adept in this talent line. Ren watched as she lifted a one-ton boulder with ease. In the next exercise, she squeezed her sepia-glowing hand into a fist. As she did, the stone began to crack and eventually exploded in a controlled blast where each piece of fractured rock hovered in a spherical pattern. With a wave of her other hand, the gravel-sized stones flew to her body, forming a protective covering over her skin.
Ren called the girl over. “What’s your name?”
She stood a foot and a half shorter than him and had to crane her neck to meet his eyes. “Tang Hanying, Master.”
“How do you know Geomancy so well?”
“I don’t know, Master. When I used the Chi Philter, I could see blue veins of light in the stone. Somehow, I can control the flow of the light.”
Ren gazed deep into her honey eyes and nodded as she spoke. He patted her shoulder. “You did well. You may go back to your training.”
Tang bowed and returned to her classmates.
Ren sat on a nearby bench and opened his sketchbook. He quickly drew Tang with her arms outstretched and a ribbon of stone daggers swirling around her. Underneath the sketch, he wrote her name in Chinese and the words:
Affinity Line
“Master Yi! Master Yi!” yelled a Chuji running toward Ren. He slid to a stop and gathered his breath before speaking.
Ren stood and crossed his arms. He recognized the young Chuji as Xie Liu from the Command Tower.
“Master Yi, there is something you should see at the Tower,” said Xie, huffing in between words.
Ren tapped his foot. “Can you tell me what it is?”
“We found a gifted, Master.”
“Isn’t that your job and the purpose of Sentry?” He furrowed his brow.
Xie shook his head. “No. I mean yes, Master. But this gifted is different. Very powerful.”
Ren narrowed his eyes. “What talent line?”
“Not sure. We’ve never seen this ability before. It’s extraordinary, Master.” Xie turned toward the Command Tower. “I urge you to see the video for yourself.”
Ren nodded and sprinted with Xie to the recently constructed Command Tower, a state-of-the-art building that housed Sentry, a global surveillance system. With Sentry, the Jin-song could record, identify, and build a database of gifteds throughout the world, giving them a modern edge they never had before.
“Put it on the main screen,” Ren ordered as he burst through the monitoring room doors.
Playing on a giant 100-foot screen TV was grainy CCTV footage of a car traveling along a six-lane road. Multiple videos from various cameras were spliced together following a dark automobile as it sped through intersection after intersection.
“What am I looking at?”
“A traffic accident from Austin, TX. Watch this car.” Xie pointed at the vehicle on the left side of the screen. “That car is about to get t-boned and will start flipping over and over. Pay special attention to the last flip.”
Ren's eyes widened as his mouth hung open. “Did it pause in mid-air?”
Xie smiled. “Yes, Master.”
“That glow around the car.” Ren stepped closer to the screen. “Is that what I think it is?”
“We are 95% confident that it is a force shield.”
“From an Ergokinetic?”
“That would be our closest guess.” The smile on Xie’s face grew even wider.
“Replay that last part. Loop it. Slow it down by 75%.”
Han typed into his keyboard.
Ren raised his hand. “Stop. Freeze it there. Zoom in on the faces. What do we know about the occupants?”
“The car is registered to Elizabeth Sanders.” Xie overlayed a photo of Elizabeth’s driver's license on the screen. “16, blond hair, blue eyes, orphan. No prior criminal history or accidents. Lives in Wolf Creek, TX, with her parents. She was adopted when she was two. Biological parents are dead from a car accident. Biological family has no known history of talents.”
Ren rubbed his chin. “And the second?”
“Unknown. We’ve been running facial recognition, but no hits.”
“Search CCTV footage around Austin going back six months.” Ren sat in his command chair. “See if you can find other videos of this mystery girl.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Was there anyone else on the scene besides the second driver?”
“No, Master. We already ran the second driver’s family history. Also no history of gifted bloodlines.”
A loud notification sounded. “We got a hit on your idea, Master.”
“Already?”
“Yes. We have footage of a high school girl’s soccer game. Cedar Ridge High School versus Wolf Creek High School.” Xie furiously typed into his keyboard. “You’ll want to see how it ends.”
The main screen switched to a new video. The quality of which was substantially sharper than the CCTV camera. Ren watched as the mystery girl kicked the game-winning goal past the goalie in the blink of an eye. His mouth gaped open. “You sure this is the same girl?”
“100% match according to our algorithms. It has to be her.”
“It can’t be.” Ren shook his head. “Did you see how the ball moved? That’s Telekinesis.”
“I reran the algorithm. It’s her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Assuming the foster information is correct, number 17 is Kayla Odachi. Running background check now.”
Ren tapped his foot as he waited.
“According to our system, she is an orphan also. Her most recent address is a foster home in Wolf Creek, TX. Mother died when she was nine in a car accident. No data about her father in the file.”
The screen paused on a closeup of Kayla’s face. “Crystal…” Ren uttered.
Xie looked at the TV with a blank s
tare. “Oh, she does look like your Huoban,” he whispered.
Ren stood still, eyes unblinking. On the screen was someone who bore an uncanny resemblance to Crystal. What are the odds…
This newly-found gifted came with numerous questions. She displayed two incredibly rare talents, Ergokinesis and Telekinesis. Talents that have yet to be cataloged in their database or captured on camera. Her background and family origins were also clouded in mystery. Ren inched closer to the screen as if magnetically pulled by Kayla’s photo. He had long buried his romantic desires for Crystal, but somehow the image of Kayla before him rekindled a flame he thought was extinguished. “Who are you, Kayla Odachi?”
8
Kayla Odachi
Ren and Crystal stepped out of the glowing Angel Steps Portal and into the empty third-floor stairway of the Austin Airport parking complex. They both wore gray business suits and dark sunglasses, dressing the part of Texas Child Protective Service Agents.
“It takes some getting used to,” Crystal said as she held her arm across her chest.
“The Texas heat or walking through an ASP?”
Crystal laughed. “Both, I guess. Sucks that it’s both.”
Ren glanced at Crystal and smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a suit before and I’ve known you for almost thirty years.”
“It definitely takes some getting used to. I feel so… restricted.” She snickered. “If we have to fight anyone, I’m going to take my heels off first.”
“Understood. I’ll buy you some time then.”
They laughed together.
Ren kept focusing on Crystal’s belly, looking for signs of her pregnancy. She and Meng married last year. Ren missed the wedding, feeling both relieved and remorseful that he didn’t witness his Huoban marry another man. “When are you due again?”