Rain falls upon the Lunar Revel
清明 时节 雨纷纷
On the road, the Red Traveler is tired and weary
紅路 人欲 断魂
He politely asks, at where an inn can be found?
问酒 家何 处 有
A shepherd boy points far away to Ing'Xao village
牧 童遥 指英芍 村
She was standing before a field of glowing flowers, Akali imagined. The sight was beautiful. Then she opened her eyes and the field of gold was still there. A golden web of firelight pouring from its every strand, sprawled before her. Somehow, at the sight, Akali didn't feel so cold any longer.
"It's beautiful." Akali repeated to no one in particular, as she stood at the apex of the meandering snow-shrouded bluff that their team had been scaling for the better part of the day.
Behind her, the last of the snowy forest that they had been trekking through, and Ing'Xao village sprawled out below them. Though the community was ordinarily a quiet farming settlement, during this part of the year the village literally burst at the seams with lively merchants standing in their cramped stalls peddling their wares to weary travelers journeying to this village to worship at Heaven's Gate for the Lunar Festival. Here was the first and oldest of holy sites that the mythical Warrior-Saint had consecrated nearly four hundred years ago during an age of terror known as the Rune Wars.
"It's beautifully cold." complained Kona. Her friend was unmoved by the awesome sight of the sea of lanterns and braziers in front of her. Her tone suggested she was looking at something more like a chair, or a rock. "Let's hurry and get to our inn. I want hot tea and pork bun."
Shen, who was a few yards above them, standing at the base of a thick, snow-covered tree branch, looked carefully over the surrounding landscape. The hill they had just scaled not only offered an excellent view of the village below, but of the forest behind and each flanking side of them. Akali tried hard not to stare at his eyes. They were clear and sharp, like a bird of prey's, and as he scanned, Akali thought he looked a lot like his father.
"Our other 'Spider's Web' teams are still out there," The boy reported, "But they don't seem to be moving to link up with us or anyone else. It looks like we're keeping formation into the village."
Akali turned to one of the Chu'nin that was posing as her merchant parents. A rather severe, dark-skinned, middle-aged woman that had her hair up in a bun under her wide-brimmed hat, and was busy whipping their pack ox in the right direction, cursing under her breath each time the stubborn animal sat down.
"Mooooom," Akali said in her driest voice possible, "Are we there yeeeeet?"
The Chu'nin twitched her head a bit at the annoyance.
"The story was that I am your aunt, Xiao'nin." the Chu'nin muttered under her breath. "Lin is your 'mother'." The Chu'nin jerked her head over at another severe looking woman kicking at a stubborn mule.
"Whatever. Are we going to be linking up with the rest of our caravan, 'Aunty'?"
The Chu'nin frowned.
"No. We have received messages to maintain our cover. Orders are we will go up to the Warrior Saint's Gate to offer up our prayers in rotating groups. Master Khen will oversee the ritual. Then we will spend the night, and leave."
"We sure are being sneaky, even for ninjas. I mean, last year we rolled into Ing'Xao with flag-bearers, a parade and beating drums to announce our arrival. But now we're sneaking even all the way up to the temple. Why are we-"
"Quiet, Xiao'nin." The Chu'nin cut in sharply. "It is not yours or mine place to question."
"But-"
"Enough!" The woman growled, her eyes growing angry. The Chu'nin turned back to beating the ox. "Return to your position, girl." The woman said over the sound of her whipping flail. "You're distracting me."
Dejected, Akali slouched back to Kona and Shen, her shoulders hunched. They watched her expectantly.
"Mom's busy." Akali pouted, kicking a bit of snow on the ground.
"Wait," Kona interjected, "I thought she was my mom."
"Whatever."
Something was wrong. In the years before, the Lunar Revel was a time of celebration and solidarity for the Kinkou. It was, for lack of a better word, an annual vacation. But this year, with the mysterious box that Master Khen and her mother was guarding and moving through the Ionian countryside- even to offer up their yearly prayers to the Warrior Saint's shrine incognito, was unprecedented, at least in all of the years that Akali had gone.
"We should keep moving," Shen said, staring at the once-again mobile Chu'nin. They had finally whipped the pack animals into moving.
"... Something feels wrong." Akali sighed. "Really wrong."
"It's fine."Shen tilted his head up, and for a second, Akali saw a side of Shen she never saw before. It was pride. "Whatever it is, we will handle it. Because we are the Kinkou - sacred guardians of peace and balance in Ionia, and we cannot and will not fail- the world would have crumbled long ago if not for us."
At this, Akali laughed a little, and turned her head away.
"You're the man, Shen."
The sacred guardians of peace and balance... Akali rolled the words over in her head. She just couldn't picture herself as a 'sacred guardian' of anything. The title just seemed too honorable, too respected, too grand to ever fit her. Sure, she was still young, but at the rate she was going, she wasn't going to be sacred guardian of the Kinkou's kitchen, let alone the balance of the world.
Despite everything, she felt the burning of tears in her eyes. Damn it. She tried to wipe her eyes as surreptitiously as she could. Shen glanced at Akali, his sharp eyes watching her carefully, and Kona frowned a little. The two could read the angst in Akali's countenance.
"You don't believe me?" Shen asked.
"No- its..." Akali shook her head. "I just don't feel like I'll ever live up to that. Sorry."
"'Kali..."Kona started, trying to put a hand on her shoulder, but Akali lightly brushed it off.
"Sorry, Kona." Akali put up her best smile, though it felt as forced as it probably looked. "I didn't mean to be so dramatic."
"You're wrong." Shen cut in.
The two girls turned to look at Shen. The boy's face was as stony and impassive as ever. But there was more color to his voice. "About never living up to our duty. You're wrong about that."
Was that Shen trying to be supportive? Huh.
"That's nice of you to say." Akali replied, with an unexpected coolness to her voice.
"It's the truth." He stated flatly. Akali's mouth twitched.
There was just... something in his certainty pissed her off. She and Shen had spoken maybe less than five sentences between each other before today. How was he so sure?
She clenched her hand.
"And what do you know?!"Akali shouted, the wind rising with her temper. The sharp gale nearly snatched away her words, but she continued on her rant. "You're amazing! You're incredible! You're the goddamned best in our class and everything that our order deserves!" The tears were clouding her eyes now. They pooled and ran down her face in thin lines. "And I'm NOTHING! I'm a failure to my mother, my order, and myself! SO THE HELL THAT'S THE TRUTH!"
Akali's chest heaved, her breath billowing out in front of her in the cold. The frigid air was starting to cool her hot head, and she blinked a bit in surprise. Did... did she really just say that? To Shen?
Oh, shit.
"I..." Akali could only turn her face in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Shen. You didn't deserve that."
She expected Shen to say something. Or maybe even to react emotionally. Or worst of all, turn and say nothing. But instead, he folded his arms, and spoke:
"The last sparring match you had with Haine... It was eight days ago. She used her weight and her strength over you to pin you to the floor." Shen tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "If that had been a real battle, you would have won. Your hands were pinned near her face. I saw you could have attacked her eyes, but you didn't."
Akali stopped. It took her a second to recognize the She-Ogre's real name.
"I... It's against sparring rules." Not that the She-Ogre ever followed sparring customs. The bitch would have torn Akali's eyes out if she gave her so much as a half a chance in the dojo. "Wait, you saw that?"
"You were on a three-match winning streak and until then and currently hold a seventy-eight per cent win record against Haine and her friends. Haine had told her friends the week before to throw their matches for the purposes of inflicting more lasting injuries to you. She covered her voice and tried to hide it, but I heard." Shen lifted his head a bit. "And still in each one, you fought to the very end."
"I..."Akali stood, dumbfounded.
She was so shocked, that she didn't even hear the screams of their Chu'nin handlers to get a fucking move on. A Chu'nin was already marching up the snowy bluff to them with murder in her eyes. "You noticed?"
"I see everything." Shen stated flatly. Akali thought for an insane moment, there was the beginnings of a smile on his face. But it was gone as quickly as it came.
Instead, the stoic boy continued. "And from what I see, you're largely proficient in hand-to-hand combat, top three of our class in stealth, and upper percentile in stamina exercises. Am I wrong?" He stepped forwards, just as the Chu'nin advanced, screaming obscenities. He gave Akali a single pat on the shoulder. "You are not nothing."
And then, they were swept away by the angry words and threats of their 'parents'. Far away to the festive village below.
It was dinnertime, but the inn was dark and quiet. Only the sound of the kitchen's staff working downstairs could be heard; for the inn had been completely reserved by a single man, and on the eve of the Lunar Revel, no less! The protests of the innkeeper had been cut sort by a shower of silver taels, followed by silent acquiescence, and a curt command to his son to immediately expel and refund all of their current guests. Now, the entire inn's staff was either cooking, cleaning, or running to larger restaurants to order from what they could not handle alone, for they had to provide enough food for an army. In a sense, they were. But there was only one man eating right now.
He was alone, cloaked in red.
The Blood Moon Elder sat alone at his personal table, quietly drinking wine. Two dozen men lined the walls of the small inn, wearing similar red robes, and white-faced demon masks made of carved ivory.
He did not look the part of a traditional Martial Sect's headmaster. Under the Blood Moon Elder's hood was a relatively young face. He lacked the snowy hair or the shriveled skin that many of his fellow Sect Leaders shared in the Wulin, but his aura commanded respect, and when he spoke he had the look of royalty. Barely fifty years of age, the ambitious Blood Moon Elder had established the fastest growing martial arts sect in the Central Plains, despite the Wudang's righteous hegemony over the area. Barely fifty years of age, and the Blood Moon Elder was ready to step into his destiny as the man who would shape Ionia's Wulin for centuries to come.
Shueto and Shuezi were kneeling with their heads bowed, their red robes clashing horribly with the dark oaken floor. The smell of food hung heavy in the air. Something else hung heavy in the air. It was fear. The sibling assassins' fear. The Blood Moon Elder's rule commanded devotion and terror in equal parts to cultivate unbending, unyielding discipline from his soldiers.
The two paid their respects to the one spoke of only in whispers in the Wulin as the Red Traveler, the Mountain Dragon, and the Glaive Devil. His hood shrouded his face in shadow, revealing only a honest, satisfied smile at the quality of the inn's food and the taste of his wine. At his side, a bejeweled sheath housed a massive blade with an equally massive handle, making the weapon almost a spear- his bloody Great Blade.
"Master-" Shueto started, but the man held up his hand, and the assassin shut up immediately.
The Blood Moon Elder raised a thin cup to his lips, tipping the wine into his mouth.
"Waiter," The Blood Moon Elder called, and a thin, scrawny, terrified-looking man-boy practically came sprinting forwards, pushing past the wall of masked guards to get to his customer, apologizing profusely all the while.
The Elder spoke, and held out his cup.
"More wine."
The wine jug shook violently in the hands of the waiter as he ran back to retrieve the vintage and shuffled forwards to serve. The idiotic boy was drying his sweaty palms on his apron practically with every step.
Shueto eyed the waiter's clumsiness with grim-faced suspicion.
The waiter, sweating bullets, held out the wine jug to pour-
KLICK! KING!
–and accidentally knocked into the Blood Moon Elder's cup, soaking the Blood Moon Elder's outstretched arm.
"I—I'm sorry!" The waiter yelped as if he had been cut, and frantically set down the wine jug to mop up the split wine with his filthy sleeve.
The Blood Moon Elder smiled a bit, and Shueto exhaled.
"It's not a problem..." The sect leader said, but a motion to his left caused him to fall silent.
Shueto rose to his feet behind the waiter man-boy, his eyes furious. He bore down on the waiter, who fearfully stared right back up at the red man. The scrawny boy's lip quivered, shuffling his faint mustachio in an obscene manner. Shueto felt the blood-lust rise in him with every second of looking at the ridiculous boy. Every little thing about him was a grievous offense to their Blood Moon Elder. And that made the Blood Moon assassin want to kill the little shit- so much.
"Look away, kid." Shueto said, his face totally shrouded in the shadow of his hat. He raised his hand, and flexed it. "You don't want to see this coming."
"Holy Master." Shueto said, kneeling once he was finished. "Forgive my rudeness. I acted without your leave."The Blood Moon Elder smiled a bit, exasperated. He picked up some troublesome disciples those many long, snowy years ago. The Blood Moon Elder reached down, and patted Shueto on the shoulder. The grown man, a veteran assassin and a master of the Blood Moon martial arts, flinched at the touch.
"It's alright, Little Tao. I know you had only the best intentions at heart."
The Elder glanced at the thing on the ground that once was the waiter. "My best intentions, at least. But I wonder..." The Blood Moon Elder glanced at his cup. It was bone dry. "Who's going to pour my wine now?"
"Master, I can ask for another waiter-"
"I don't want another waiter, Little Tao."
Shueto looked up, and slowly realized what it is the Elder wanted him to do. The assassin rose to his feet, and dutifully picked up the wine jug, and refilled the Blood Moon Elder's cup. The Elder nodded, then brought the wine cup to his lips once more, draining the small plate.
Shueto shuffled forwards to offer some more wine, but the Blood Blade Elder shook his head. Instead, the sect leader rose.
"That's enough wine for now." The Elder started to walk back to his quarters. Offhand, he mentioned to his guards: "Clean this up." As he commanded, his guards obeyed, leaping forwards and getting hard to work at erasing any trace of the young waiter who once was. Shueto and Shuezi got up, following the Blood Moon Elder closely.
"Master- we were not expecting you here so soon-" Shueto started.
"I acted immediately on your information, First Disciple." The Blood Moon Elder passed through his rather modest quarters, and onto the open balcony. As he pushed the doors open, a nighttime gale tumbled through, flowing around the three red-clad warriors. The stiff, cool wind felt good on the Elder's warm face. Just a few feet below, the last of the street vendors were still peddling their wares to the steady trickle of night-bound pilgrims streaming in through the darkness. "I had the entire Blood Moon Sect depart as soon as we got your messenger pigeon. Is that a problem?"
"No, Master." Shueto bent his head in apology."I only wish that when you arrived I could have greeted you properly- with the Warrior Saint Codex."
"You are too thoughtful, Little Tao."The Blood Moon Elder lightly chided. A thin smile reached the Elder's lips once more."If I didn't know you so well, I'd say you were trying to seize the Warrior Saint Codex's power for yourself."
"M-Master! I would never!"
At this, the Blood Moon Elder opened his mouth and fully laughed into the night.
"Only teasing, Little Tao." The Blood Moon Elder turned to look at Shuezi. The young woman curiously cocked her head in response. He raised a hand under her chin , and tilted her head up."Little Tse, still lovely as ever."At this, Shuezi nodded a little, smiling and blushing.
"Master..."Shueto pressed, his lips still pursed in apprehension. "Why are you here, in truth? You know our strength. You know the Kinkou can pose no threat to us."
The Blood Moon Elder turned to glance at Shueto. He lowered his hand from Shuezi's chin.
"I have heard rumors of the appearance of... an old friend, you could say. "
"An ally, Holy Master?"
"Once." The Blood Moon Elder frowned underneath his hood. "Now he is most certainly an obstacle."
"Just give us a name, Holy Master." Shueto placed a meaningful hand over the coffin chained to his hips. "And our 'hungry dragons' will devour him alive under the Blood Moon."
"You two cannot defeat him, Little Tao. "The Blood Moon Elder rubbed his chin thoughtfully, gazing down at the commoners below, hard at work. "He once was my equal. Perhaps he still is."
At this, Shueto raised his head a fraction of an inch. The assassin's eyes took on a new light of interest from under his woven bamboo hat.
"Who is this great warrior, Master?"
Shueto's mouth hardly moved as he spoke. But a cold smile was starting to spread across his face. Shuezi looked down at her brother's smile and silently mirrored it. The two siblings savored the chance to cut out the blood of a worthy foe. The stronger the blood, the more delicious its color when split. "To be praised even by you- I'd like to greet his strength properly."
At this the Blood Moon Elder turned to the kneeling Shueto, what smile there was, gone. When he spoke, all the warmth in his voice had vanished like dust in the wind.
"So you two still think of this power struggle over the Wulin as some sort of game?"
Shueto frowned. The assassin opened his mouth and spoke:
"I- Master-"
The sect leader took a deep breath. He bent his head forwards until his entire face was shrouded in the shadow of his hood. From deep inside, red eyes could be seen, burning like coals in the darkness.
And then a demonic voice came crawling out of the man's throat.
Aloft the song of the voice of the Blood Moon followed a torrent of hellish chi.
Haaa...
The Blood Moon Elder 'sung', his lips parting to reveal teeth that gleamed like white fangs. An east wind started to pick up along the balcony, and with it, the soft scent of evil. That soft scent rapidly morped into the crushing weight of pure evil.
The night street down below was utter chaos.
Pack animals brayed, hawed and went wild, trying to kick and flail their way out of their restraints. A great cloud of birds shot upwards into the evening sky, showering the street below in shed feathers. Dogs barked and whined, infant babes screamed hysterically, and the weakest and oldest of the pilgrims below fell to the ground, groaning in pain and clutching their chests; their confused offspring rushing to their side. Vendors below ran about screaming in terror as every standing piece of ceramic and glass cracked or exploded from the force of the Blood Moon Elder's unholy chi.
HAAA...
"...M-master...!" Shueto whispered as best he could under the weight of the Elder's oppressive chi. Shuezi's mouth was open, and she wordlessly screamed. "Please! STOP!"
The Blood Moon Elder stopped singing, and the divine voice from inside of the man ceased. But in the wake of silence, the cries and sobs of suffering and pain floated upwards from the street below. The Bloon Moon Elder turned to look at the siblings.
"Scared, my Children of the Blood Moon?" He glanced upwards at Shuezi, who was cupping her hands over her ears. Tears streamed down her face. He frowned. "You don't look so pretty anymore, Little Tse."
The two were cowering in the farthest corner of the balcony away from the Blood Moon Elder, shaking. Shueto in particular was in a cold sweat, having leaped to the ceiling corner and perched himself there, clutching at the walls like a gecko, Shuezi softly crying at his back behind him.
"I have told you that this man's power is nearly my equal. Therefore you will avoid him at all costs. You cannot defeat him and I will not have you jeopardize my mission."
The Blood Moon Elder walked forwards, advancing upon his disrespectful disciples. Reaching up, he put a cold, thin hand over Shueto's head, patting him through his hat. Shueto didn't flinch this time. He didn't even move. The terrified man scarcely dared to breathe.
"Only one thing matters right now, and that is the Warrior Saint Codex. When the Blood Moon comes, you will seize it from the Kinkou and ignore all else." The Elder's red eyes gleamed from underneath his scarlet hood. As he spoke, a man's mournful scream could be heard from the adjacent room to them. So the innkeeper, perhaps drawn upstairs by the commotion the Blood Moon Elder caused, had stumbled upon the bloody clean-up of his idiot son. There followed the sounds of struggle, presumably his guards restraining the innkeeper for the Elder's judgment. He would have to be dealt with.
"Who.." Shueto wrestled with his words, speaking softly between ragged breaths. "Who is this man, master? T-that we may elude him..." The man was terrified of sounding defiant. "We need to know who he is."
The Blood Moon Elder coldly regarded his First Disciple, before tilting his head up.
"He will look like a monk. An ascetic, perhaps. A few years my elder, and with a Shojin tattoo on his left breast that has been carved at. "
A shrill scream came from inside the inn. The Blood Moon Elder turned to look at the adjacent room, slightly annoyed.
"Go now." The Blood Moon Elder ordered, and his two assassins obeyed, first falling to the floor, and then kneeling respectfully. Shueto and Shuezi then disappeared off into the night.
And do not fail me, the Elder's blood-red eyes said.
They were standing under falling snow, looking outwards, drawn to a higher vantage point by the sudden sensation of powerful evil.
"Akase." Master Khen greeted. "You felt that too?"
The two Kinkou Triumvirate stood solemnly at one of Ing'Xao village's many snowy tiled roofs. They stood staring out at a faraway spot on the other side of the village, where they had felt that unknown power rise in the West and rear its head. Even now, though the force had faded, the memory of that wave of evil chi hung heavily over their heads like a dark sun.
Akasou wordlessly raised her head at Khen's side, her face even grimmer than usual. Her cool black eyes carefully regarded the Kinkou headmaster.
"Scared, Khen?"
"Of course." Master Khen replied. "We cannot fail. And against power like that..." Khen sighed. "We are old, Akase. I fear we may not grow older."
Akasou said nothing. She only turned her head to stare back at where they had felt that dark chi.
Despite everything, Master Khen gave a soft smile."No supportive quip, Akase? No 'We won't fail'? 'We'll get through this together'?" Khen laughed a bit to himself. Twenty years had passed, but Akasou always seemed to resist change, physically and mentally. She was like a rock in a flowing stream. "That's rather like you."
"It is very like me, Khen." Akasou said, her voice frigid. "That's why you chose Su-Ling, isn't it?"
Khen's smile vanished at the mention Shen's late mother.
"Don't give me that attitude, Akase." The Kinkou headmaster turned somberly back towards the source of the chi. He chewed at his frost-touched lips, trying to choose his next words as carefully as possible. "...Don't act like Su-Ling wasn't your friend."
"She was a kind person. I couldn't compete."
"When she was alive she loved you like a sister. And once she was in your life, you loved her too." Khen sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "You knew that was the kind of person she was. She was never your enemy."
"I honor your late wife in my own way, Khen." Akasou stated flatly. "Just leave it at that." The look she was giving suggested that really was the end of the conversation. It was the angle of the frown of her mouth and the extra layer of coldness deep within Akasou's eyes.
Khen took a step towards Akasou. A single step in the face of the thousand-mile gulf between the two. Perhaps the aged man was on the cusp of saying something- but the cold, awkward silence between the two lifelong comrades seemed to keep him at bay. Instead, he turned back and crouched down, surveying the street below. He made a motion as if to leap off- but right before- he looked up at Akasou.
"I trust you, Akase."
The Kinkou Headmaster then disappeared below the snowy rooftop.
"I know," Akasou replied, alone. She turned back towards the West. Even from beyond the grave, so many years after her death, that country hick was messing with people's lives. She really was terrifying, Akasou realized.
"Sorry, Su-Ling."