The temperature rose again a few degrees throughout the city. The sun reached its climax, pushing the general's power to break the previous limit, his body shining like metal beaten in the furnace. The red contours in his hair tripled, the iris reddened, and his muscles swelled. He walked forward and the ground shivered, bubbling lava inside the cracks in the ground. At that moment, nothing else mattered to him but to destroy the man before him. Even the necromancer had been relegated to second place now that he had a worthy adversary before him. The rest of the citizens were just distant brushstrokes, a mixture of different shades of red outside the improvised battlefield.
"You won't answer me, will you? I'm going to end this now," he said, steaming from his nose. His breathing evaporated with the heat released from his body's pores.
He lifted one finger at a time before applying rigid pressure on the whips one more time. It was the moment he had been waiting for years; a situation where he could reveal the technique that he had spent days training in the forbidden baths.
"Burn!" he shouted again, swinging his arms back, and then lifted them, firing the whips towards Liu-Ken.
Liu did not move. He breathed deeply and quietly even as both thick, flaming lines looped twice around his arm and latched onto them. The fire burned his skin, scarring it, marking it for life. He was getting feeble; releasing small groans of pain between his teeth, his arms useless for fighting, and his feet going the same way. The general loosened a piece of the whips until he was left alone with the tips in his hands, tucking them between his fingers to make sure that they did not escape him, watching the flames rising from Liu-Ken's arm to his shoulders.
"Kagu, now. Let's show him what we're made of," Liu-Ken said, the sound muffled by his burning skin.
The purple ring expelled red chains, which quickly hovered over his body, floating over his skin. The heat resistance rose again. The raw skin itched but did not hurt. A purple aura sprouted around, pulsating and pushing the general's chi away. The breeze refreshed Liu-Ken. He straightened his arms, stretching his fingers, letting the influx of new power fill his meridians.
"What's going on? No, no! You should already be on fire. How can you resist my fire?" the general asked, unable to see how anyone could survive his whips.
"You made a mistake. You bet too much on your victory ahead of time. You didn't pay attention to what was happening around you," Liu-Ken replied, the skin on the corner of his lips unfolding, giving way to an arrogant smirk.
"Me? What?" the general asked, looking around, trying to figure out what he had missed, "Oh! This power, this chi... it is not yours. But it's not from the girl's either. What's going on? Who is helping you? I demand to know," he added, his heart beating faster, his eyes blinking.
"Kagu, reveal yourself," Liu-Ken said.
The bright blue sky, silvery stripes preventing the eyes from following what was happening, opened. A red typhoon descended from the sky, spinning along the way, hitting Liu-Ken. Dust waves and consequent smaller waves swung in all directions. Both the general, who had to hold both whips with a single hand, as Aurora and even the distant public, were forced to cover their faces to protect themselves.
The revelation took place a few minutes later, as the dust settled down and the buzz between citizens and foreigners grew. Kagu, the main god of fire, stood on Liu-Ken's back. His entire body consisted of different shades of red and incandescent sparks around his silhouette. An almost ghostly apparition that had no feet and whose body began in the chest, with dark red lines from one end to the other and defined pectorals. The round face had a devilish look with a chubby nose, black eyes with a flame inside the iris itself, and thick lips. Liu-Ken turned his hands and grabbed the whips. His hands protected by a layer of the remaining chi united with Kagu chi, making him immune to the overheated temperatures exploited by Kaji soldiers.
"It's impossible. A water-school man cannot just invoke a fire god. No, no. It shouldn't be possible. How can you desecrate the fire's chi with your filthy chi? You and the necromancer have to die here," the general shouted, pressing his fingers even harder on the whips, raising the temperature. The flames increased, traveling along the line that separated the two men.
Liu-Ken was hit by a hot and dry breath. Even his breathing seemed strange to him. His mouth was dehydrated, and his body was scalding. And yet, he did not let go of the whips. He couldn't. Aurora depended on him. With the help of Kagu, the god stretching his red and thick arms, his protruding veins, he pulled his enemy towards him, dragging the general whose boots buried themselves in the ground and left a trail along the way as he advanced without having a say in the matter.
"A little more power," Liu-Ken told Kagu.
"Your body will not endure much longer," he said.
"Do it. I said you didn't have to worry," he replied, the body already leaning, wobbling over the limbo between being conscious and fainting. Sweat dripped from his eyebrows.
"As you wish,” the god replied, always in the same thick, monotonous voice.
Kagu chi completely flooded Liu-Ken's meridians. The man who was no longer himself stood up, resisting as he could, repeating to himself that he only needed to hold on for a few more minutes. If Dao so desired his life, he would gladly hand it over, but until then he would resist the general's injuries and the putrid and impure stains that sprang up on his body now that he couldn't hold Kagu's chi from broadening.
"Kagu, I can't hold on much longer. We have to finish this now," Liu-Ken said.
He pulled the whips as hard as he could. The general lost his balance, stumbling and falling onto the ground, being drawn close to his opponent. The whips had tangled around his arms and he was unable to detach himself. He knew that he had done his best and that was not enough. He was pleased to know that there was another roof to reach, a ceiling that waited for him. When Liu-Ken finally punched him right in the right cheek, so did Kagu. The man was thrown meters further back, with a sparse smile in his mouth.
The battle was over. Liu-Ken fell to his knees on the ground. Kagu went back inside the ring. The fire whips faded, the energy returning to the mana. Aurora ran over to the mentor and put one of her arms around his neck.
"We have to get out of here," the girl said, "Where are we going?"
"I have no idea. I thought we'd have time to investigate. The best thing to do is to get into one of the secondary streets and see what can be done. We must get out of here. More soldiers should be arriving soon. I can't fight another level 2 soldier and the power you have now only serves to fight Level 4 soldiers. The rest can follow you, even if some levels three can't see you either," Liu-Ken said.
The girl helped the mentor get up and carried him into one of the narrow corridors leading into the city. The sky returned to bluish, beams of light falling on the soot-covered walls, some even scarred or soaked. The battle's evils would persist in the thoughts of the locals, as well as in the homes of the most ill-fated.
Behind him, the dead soldiers remained, the general unconscious on the ground. The crowd dispersed. They quarreled about the battle, cursing the necromancer and his friend with a monster on their side, wondering if they would appear again. The tavern filled up again.
Chapter 27
Neither of them knew where to go. They walked along the brown’s houses walls, Liu-Ken resting against them, trying not to overload the girl with all his weight. They had yet to catch their breath and their entire bodies begged for a few minutes of rest.
"What about the potions? Why don't you take one of them?" Aurora asked him.
"No. I'm fine. We should save them. We still have a long way to go," Liu-Ken replied.
They journeyed on with no destination, sometimes being watched by men peeking through half-open doors. They were already halfway down the street when a young male voice, coming from one of the perpendicular alleys across the street, asked them to move closer in exchange for help.
"I don't think we have much choice," Aurora whispered to Liu-Ken.
> "You're right. We need to get off the streets as soon as possible," he whispered back.
Once again, Aurora helped Liu-Ken cross the street. The alley was so narrow that the mentor was able to stand just by stretching his hands and thumbing down the walls with his fingers. A black silhouette, slightly lower than Aurora, awaited them in the middle of the alley. The sun could not reach them except for four or five sunspots on random places on the floor.
"Come with me. Quickly. More soldiers are coming. They shouldn't be long now," the voice repeated.
"I'm pretty sure I've already heard your voice," Aurora said. The silhouette turned and walked the rest of the alley, pausing twice on the way to look back and confirm that they were following him.
They followed him to the end of the street. He beckoned to stop while peering at both sides of the other street.
"It's safe. We have to go fast. We can't get caught," he said. Now that they were out of the alley, they realized that whoever he was, was wearing a black cloak that covered his whole body, including his head. In a dark place, he was practically invisible.
He started running down the street, heading for a door further south. Aurora helped Liu-Ken, who was now limping due to the pain. They stopped behind the boy, facing an old wooden door, the brown already darkened, the rusty shutters and the pleasant interior, smelling of feces, piss, and rotten. A long corridor, as they had seen in the doctor, led them to a square room, smaller than the one they had seen before, and, no doubt, much less cared for. The corners had dark green moss spreading to the ground, spider webs hanging from the ceiling descending into the middle of the room, and garbage piled up in the furthest corner of the stained white quilts, where a group of three boys and two girls were lying. There was nothing there that could be kept and used. A faint feeling of death lingered in the rarefied air. There were many faces full of soot that had been ignored by hope.
The boy who had taken them there removed the black cloak from his head, revealing the same clear eyes that Aurora had fought to save. There he was, the orphan she had saved, as if nothing had happened, free of pain and scars.
"Expensive potions do miracles," he said and pointed to the only empty quilt. "You can lay him down there. I have to do all I can to help the one who saved me!" he added, rushing over there and fixing the thin white sheet he had used to cover himself on the nights when the wind whistled through the gaps between the boulders and the cold made them wish they were dead.
A cough orchestra echoed in the background as Aurora helped Liu-Ken lie down. The bedspread was hard and the cushions too soft. Aurora sat in the opposite corner from where the mentor's head rested.
"What is this? Where are we?" Aurora asked, her eyes running through the children's faces. They were all about ten years younger than her, except for one who already had a few scattered hairs on his round face and the boy she had saved. Now that the bubbles had cleared, his eyes stood out as did the yellowish smile, covered in part by his fat lips, still with cuts on the surface.
"The orphanage..." the boy replied, embarrassed, looking at the stone floor, "This is all we have..."
Aurora had never seen anyone live in such precarious conditions. Her soul hurt knowing that six poor children lived there, clinging to life with sharp claws and teeth, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was condemned to listen to their complaints without being able to offer them a solution.
"How do you survive?" Aurora asked.
"We do some work for the blacksmith, other times we transport goods across the city, other times we clean the gang's bloodstained clothes. They don't pay us much, but a copper coin is enough for a loaf of bread. We can always divide it among everyone. Sometimes they pay us in food," the boy replied, "we do what we can," he said, moving away from the lighting that came from one of the two candles in that room, one of them at the very end, the white wax tucked around the plate. He wanted to hide the tears that came down his face; not out of shame, but out of fear that others would see him weakened.
"Why did you steal the apple from the guys in the gang?" Aurora asked him.
"We hadn't had a job in a long time and the little food we had saved was about to run out. I thought the forest was a good place to get something to eat. I was exploring when I saw them, the backpacks full of apples. I thought if I only took one, they wouldn't even notice, you know? But they caught me when I was getting away. I never wanted to get you in trouble, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. We've sorted it out," Aurora said and smiled. She looked at the other children and asked them if they were okay.
They looked at each other and, instead of answering, they retreated, leaning against the wall, uncomfortable, the older boy stretching his hands to both sides. Aurora looked at the boy she had saved.
"I'm sorry. They heard the stories... News here spread fast. I do not care if you are a necromancer. You saved my life. You must be a good person. I know you are."
"Thanks for believing in me," Aurora said, smiling. "We need your help."
"What? I'll help you with everything," the boy said.
"Where is the clandestine world of martial arts? We know it's in this town, but we don't know where the entrance is," Aurora said. Liu-Ken was still lying on the bedspread, eyes closed, chest heaving.
"I know how to get in, but I don't know how to guide you in there.”
"What do you mean by that?" Aurora asked him.
"I've seen someone go in there, but I stayed outside. I have never seen what is inside."
"That's already great," Liu-Ken said, raising his head and leaning it against the wall. "We'll be fine after. Here, a reward for your help," he said, throwing a gold coin up.
It hit the ground four times before it finally landed. The young people's eyes widened, but they did not move. The coin shone under the light of the glowing candles.
"You can take it," Liu-Ken added.
"We...we've never seen one of these..." one of the girls confessed. She had a faded red kimono, ripped and covered with oil stains. The blonde hair turned orange as she moved forward and leaned over to pick up the coin, staying within the luminescent angle.
"Enjoy it well, then. It should buy you food for the next weeks," Liu-Ken said. "We better get going,"
"Already? You're still in no condition," Aurora said, "Will it be that bad if we wait a few more hours?"
"Yes, you heard what he said. There are reports of more troops coming. We have to get out of here as soon as possible," Liu-Ken said, the voice reverberating on the rocks and spreading down the hall. His wrists were scarred, a bright red color that looked like it was engraved on his skin. His hands and chest were not much better. He slipped two fingers through one of the cuts on his right hand, pinching it, the body squirming in response.
"I want to go with you," the boy they had saved said, raising his voice. "I need to go with you! I know I do not know how to fight, but the doctor told me what you told him. I have a lot of chi in me! Teach me how to use it," he said.
"No," Liu-Ken replied, brief and succinct.
"Please," the boy pleaded, kneeling, leaning his hands on the ground and his forehead on the cold ground.
"Brother... Do you want to abandon us?" the same girl as before asked him, tears flowing down her young, pink face.
"Of course not! I love you. You are my little sister. That's why I need to do this. I must become stronger. I want to come back one day and be able to save you from this life. This is the only way I can think of doing it. At least the only one that does not involve a dozen years attempting to have a stable life," he said.
“I support you!” she replied, to everyone’s surprise. “I believe in you! You’re my big brother and I know you’ll get stronger and come back!”
"What good does it do if he dies partway through?" Liu-Ken asked. He rolled up his sleeves and stood up without dirtying them on the dirty, filthy walls, black liquids flowing through some of the holes amidst the stones.
"I'm not going to die. I can't. I have
my sister and my friends waiting for me. This is for them."
"And you're okay with fighting alongside a necromancer? Do you want to support someone who fights for death when you wish to save others' lives?" Liu-Ken asked him.
Silence fell on the room. Only the whistles that the spiders made as they extended their domains and the yellow-green drops that dripped from the ceiling, escaped. Aurora looked at Liu-Ken and arched his eyebrow.
The boy took a long minute, one that seemed to be many, before answering, "She saved me even when she didn't need to. If she kills someone it will be because she has a good reason. I don't think death is the solution, but it doesn't mean that I think everyone deserves the right to live.”
"Good answer," Liu-Ken replied. "If you really want to join us, you can do it. But there are rules. And do not think for a second that it's going to be easier than your life here," he said.
"At least, I'll have a reason for doing it other than surviving," he replied. He was going to continue when his sister stood up and ran up to him, hugging him with all her strength, until the side seams of the kimono almost burst. "What are the rules?" he asked, embracing her too, the faces rubbing against each other.
"You do what I tell you without asking why. Don't talk unless I say you can or it's just the three of us. You will only stop training when your knees shudder," Liu-Ken told him and stretched out his hand. "Do you understand?”
The boy did not need to think. It was a life raft that was being thrown at him, a way of getting out of there and one day saving the lives of his sister and friends. Everything he had always wanted within reach of a handshake. He stretched his fingers and they crossed paths with the wrinkled fingers and the scars on Liu-Ken's palm.
Awakening: (The Necromancer's Legacy Book 1) Page 16