by Noah Ward
“Izado,” she mouthed wordlessly.
He curled his lip and then nodded. From within his robes he pulled out a pipe before sitting atop the box. “That is one of my names.” He lit the pipe. “Would you like to guess the others?”
Kaz stared dumbly at him. It was as if stone ran through her veins and was slowly trickling into her mind.
Izado huffed and tapped his pipe against the metal box with a dull clang. “Mudan.” He bowed slightly then cocked his head to the side. “Still not very talkative, Kazumi? Though, I can’t blame you.” With a groan, Izado, or Mudan, rose and wandered over to an unassuming patch of snow. He squatted and extended his hand as if to grasp thin air. For the faintest of moments, the body of Asami appeared. A hunk of black krystallis materialised in his palm.
“The ur-krystallis was not happy with Asami,” Izado commented as he examined the shard. “Shizanagi is a little unsure about you, Kazumi, but she is willing to trust my judgement. Now…” He doddered over to Kaz and tore away her armour as if it were parchment, exposing her chest. The exposed crater had a small platform for krystallis to sit upon, along with several metal tubes that could be attached to the shard. It had always been a sturdy connection, Asami having fused the tubes to the krystallis, only breakable by a bonded blade...or death.
“This may feel a little...peculiar,” said the old man.
Izado practically rammed the ur-krystallis into her chest. Light exploded and brought with it a wave of cold so intense it felt as if the blood in her veins was freezing. Her back arched. Pain wracked her body for several intense seconds before dropping her. Kaz’s limbs turned to jelly and she fell forwards.
“Easy now,” said Izado as he propped her back up. “It will take some time to...adjust.”
“Who...are you?” she rasped.
“I told you, Kazumi.” A smile creased his lips. “You do not believe me? I just implanted ur-krystallis into your chest with nothing but my will.” Izado tamped out his pipe and confiscated it once again. “Very well.”
One moment, an old man stood in front of her. The next, the blizzard had swept past, blurring her vision. It abated mere seconds later. In front of her, stood a shogen. Well, half of one. His giant face glared at her from the edge of the outcropping. His hard features and lantern jaw were etched from the hardest stone. A ring ran through his nose large enough for Kaz to fall through. He wore similar rings on his wrists; his giant hands gripped the sides of the rock and dug into the snow.
“SATISFIED?” his voice boomed, nearly knocking Kaz off her feet.
She clamped her hands on her ears and shut her eyes. When she opened them a heartbeat later, the old man was sat upon the metal box, smoking his pipe.
“Are you ready to listen now, Kazumi?” he asked.
“Can I say ‘no’ to a shogen?”
“You can; and you’d die, but I think you should hear what I have to say first.”
Kaz shoved herself onto her arse and stared at her chest. She still felt weak, but not near death. She rather liked living. “Very well.”
Izado cleared his throat. “The shogens are unable to physically affect this world. Even one such as myself, who created it, could only….encourage humans to make decisions that worked to my ends.”
“Manipulation.”
“Like I said: gentle encouragement. I led Asami here, who believed she could reach Shizanagi that way. Her and Saito were the only ones who had the skill to make the journey and actually enforce their...plans. While others have affinity to her, as rare as it is, they do not have the accompanying ability to prevent what has begun.”
“Something has begun?” said Kaz.
Izado nodded gravely. “This world was built as Shizanagi’s chance to make a place free of the shogens, where humans could come into being. The krystallis from the other shogens were needed to maintain this world, but, over time, humans learned to harness it. While that is not a problem, the fact the shogens have become aware of it presents a problem.”
Kaz scoffed. “They are jealous?”
“In a sense. Shizanagi...relieved a part of the shogens to create the ur-krystallis from which the others spawned.”
“She stole it,” said Kaz.
“You’re awfully blunt, Kazumi, do you know that?”
“Yes.”
Izado chuckled and rearranged himself on the box. “The shogens are aware and they will not be happy they have been deceived for so many eons. I do not know what it means. They could simply remove krystallis from this world or destroy the world itself. The fact that Shizanagi effectively allowed humans to absorb a fraction of their power--to become sworn--may be the only impetus they need.”
Kaz frowned and stared at the old man. “Why do you care? Where is Shizanagi now?”
He sighed. “The world of the shogens was a place I helped build. It was overrun with desire, destruction--shogens do not care for anything but themselves. It is part of whoI am to give life, to build. This is my home as much as it is yours. Despite how annoying and frustrating humans can be, they do not deserve to be eradicated.” Izado rose and wandered over to her. He jabbed the stem of his pipe at her forehead. “Shizanagi is with you now. She lives on in the world that she gave herself to create.”
Her legs had regained some of their strength so that Kaz could now stand. “Thank you for asking my opinion on the matter.”
Izado cackled. “You are neither human nor sworn, Kazumi. You have lived both sides.”
“I am no one. I’ve lived a false life for winters.”
“You saved that girl, defeated opponents more powerful than yourself, and have been just in your actions. Shizanagi would not choose you if she thought you were not capable.”
She looked around the barren void in which she stood. “Capable of what, old man? I can’t do much from in here.”
“The shogens cannot reach this place, but they were able to manipulate those here through krystallis. It may have already begun.” Izado stood a little straighter as he approached her. “We must stop those agents of chaos.”
“I’ve fought sworn and barely survived. I can’t fight the shogens themselves.”
He smirked. “Why not? A shogen can defeat another shogen.”
A chill passed through her. “Is that what I am now?”
“Close enough, but you require...educating.”
Kaz stared at her open palms, the blood now having disappeared. “What of Shay?”
“She is safe. Maybe you will see her again. But only if you agree to what I am asking.”
Kaz gazed into the white abyss swirling around her. “Defeat the shogens, the most powerful beings in this world and the next, or become a corpse?”
“You’ll have help, of that I assure you.”
Kaz rolled her eyes. “Then I can’t lose, can I?”
Izado clapped her on the back. “That’s more like it, Kazumi.”
“One condition, however.”
Izado raised an eyebrow.
“You call me Kaz.”