Part IV: A Taste of Blood
How could mere mortals compete against a god when even gods had failed? — Sun Li asked the impossible but his daughter's faith was unshakable — a pitiful army against a Goddess's might — What hope did they have? — It was over in a matter of minutes —they didn't have a chance — His troops fell again and again in his dreams — his eyes burned and his hands clapped in metal stocks — he couldn't move or see — I won't tell you Sky — you'll have to kill me — Sky watching — Sky's blade in his eye — too late he realized it was a trap — failed his duty — failed Dawn Star — failed the men and women, and even children who stood with him in one their last desperate attempt — The throbbing in his brain grew harder — swearing to Dawn Star that he would follow her to the very depths of Hell — the ache of his soul was fire burning in Sky's eyes — Dawn Star — the Goddess — Blood — he had to stop the ascension! — Monshuiye's blood on his hand — Blood everywhere now… Dark memories of the fortress in Necropolis — holding the infant Dawn Star's body strapped to him while his spear rained death on their enemies — days and nights and years spent hiding in the bug-infested thick of marshes just to catch a glimpse of her — that night leaving Dawn Star in Hui's care in Tien's Landing — the day he left Mongshuiye and Dawn Star to the folly of Silk Fox's plan — the day he failed them all…
The prisoner's tattered thoughts rose and collided and cut each other off in the delirium of his dreams. Occasionally, an anguished moan escaped cracked lips, releasing a raspy, dry voice. The young Assassin who monitored him stared intently into the tent's tiny brazier, wishing he had a more significant task. Outside, the black rain continued its smoldering storm.
The army of the dead did not tire and did not slow; their hatred was a hard and pure blade that drove Snow from behind. She was breathing rapidly, her feet caught up in unexpected foxholes, tripped by unseen bodies and sharp stones more often than she liked. She stopped long enough to unleash a quickfire succession of Thousand Cuts on the spirits closest before continuing her flight. Even on a clear day at full health she would have had trouble dispersing an entire army of ghosts rising at this rate, but in the slippery darkness of the mud fields there was no place for her to make a strategic stand. She was using hit and run tactics to slow them, but she wouldn't be able to keep this up indefinitely. The rain blurred her vision of the world into hot, dark streaks.
Before her was growing a glimmer of red light which she ran toward, a beacon of hope high on the landscape, indicating a tower or a fortress of some sort where she might find help and perhaps answers. It was equally likely she was running straight into the people responsible for this massacre. After all, who else would camp so close to such death?
She crossed a line of trees onto less soggy ground, her thin-soled feet bending twigs and leaves underneath her passing. The air here was less humid but still rank, and Snow could sense the imbalance of chi affecting the trees as well. Dark energy crawled along the branches and roots, an iridescent black like thick oil. The low, weeping rustle of the trees joined the clamor of the ghosts from the field.
Preoccupied by the cries of spirits, Snow didn't notice the dark figures detach themselves from the trees and intercept until they practically stood before her, their auras were filled with the intent to kill. Seven shadows moved in the darkness, barely distinguishable from the night by green glowing hands that signaled poison in their weapons. The seven fanned out into a semi-circle facing her, as more arrived from the darkness, raising their hands to take up fighting stances against the ghosts behind her.
Snow slid to a halt, arms and legs outstretched and ready with a Paralyzing Palm attack. The new figures were clearly human, but since their intentions had not yet been declared, she was loathe to kill without reason. The ghosts behind, however, had no such compunctions. As one they opened their mouths and Snow could feel the piercing cold of their cry send goosebumps down her back, chilling even in the heat of the unnatural rain. As one they raised their arms and charged.
Combat was a confused blur, but the chaos worked to Snow's advantage. She didn't have to pick and choose between her allies and enemies ― her only concern was defending herself, indiscriminately neutralizing all attackers and using the cover of the battle to move forward, guided by faint glimpses of the distant beacon between the latticework of bare branches. The fighters thinned as she moved away from the mud field and Snow kept close to the trees, picking her way over desiccated leaves and avoiding ghosts and humans alike by the visible aura of their glowing chi.
More lights appeared in the foreground as a group of armed soldiers marched in the direction of the battle, carrying strange glowing globes on poles that lit their path without appearing to consume any fuel. Half-climbing and half-leaping, she took shelter in the arms of a large pine, avoiding their notice and noting the Imperial uniforms of the soldiers and the dark leather armor of the leaders. By the light, she could see bald heads inscribed with black, tattooed characters, the unmistakable marks of a Lotus Assassin
If the Lotus Assassins are here… it was very likely that they had something to do with the massacre. Snow smiled a little at the thought that she had just inadvertently brought the entire army to spirits to meet them.
From her vantage Snow saw more lights behind the moving soldiers, and tents that made up a large military camp. The high beacon she had seen was a wooden tower perched on metal wheels the size of a cottage, and to the left there were the winged shapes of large transportation flyers. Still figures twice the height of a normal man enclosed the entire camp ground – stone golem sentries. She scanned the camp again for signs of the even larger siege golems and was relieved to find none, though she did note a tree of interest to the right whose branches hung over the heads of the normal golems, and she thought she could vault over their heads and enter there. Golems tended to obey orders to the letter, and if it appeared that she had come up from behind them, there was the chance that they wouldn't attack and she could slip in unmolested – perhaps find some answers about where she was and some clue as to what she was supposed to do.
As she waited for the fighters to pass, she could feel the twisted spirit of the tree writhing under her touch – not exactly a physical sensation but something twisting and clammy, like an eel under the skin. Beneath the withered whisperings of the forest another voice rose, harsh yet melodic, faint but insistent. It beckoned with darkness and destruction to all she saw, promised a power that could bend the world itself, pleaded to be unleashed to devour everything, everything, everything and rain devastation on this tattered land.
No, Snow thought, suppressing the desires that surged through her heart, which felt like hers yet not hers. No. Who are you? How are you in my mind?
I am you, It said, We are the same.
The trees and the world spun. Snow felt a crushing weight on her soul, an almost overwhelming emotion of anger and bloodlust that she could barely contain. Hatred swept her, but she fought the impulse. She was surprised by the violence of its resistance, nearly losing her perch when her body jerked involuntarily and she almost lost control. Her hand clenched on the branch tightened and splintered it, embedding wood shards into her skin. She focused on the pain. After awhile, she felt her breathing return to normal and the rain-drenched world faded back into view, blinking as if she had just awoken from a dream. The reality of the splinters in her hand were the only reminders of her strange possession. Hissing softly, she picked out the largest pieces and cradled the hand close, blocking the telltale glow of chi energy with her body as she healed it. That other voice ― it had had the same energy as the presence in the field ― strangely familiar yet alien to her. It had been suppressed for now, but Snow could feel the beating of the spirit voices all around her and knew that it would wait to for her resolve to wear down before attacking again. Though next time, she hoped, she would at least have the advantage of knowing how her enemy fought. Temple and stone, she thought, What am I fighting?
Snow worked her way across the remaining tree before the camp by leaping from branch to branch, the need for answers more urgent than ever. Reaching the perimeter of the Lotus Assassin camp, she paused to scan the shadows and tents for evidence of more Assassins before venturing forth, carefully balancing both feet as far out on the last tree as she could, then bouncing her weight up and down the branch to give her extra momentum. On her third upswing she pushed off, vaulting high over the heads of the clay sentinels and landing with a muddy squish in the shadow of the closest tent. She crouched, breath and heart still, and waited signs of alarm, movement from the stone sentinels. When she was certain none had seen or heard her, she gently lifted the edge of the tent and peered inside.