Identity, by Muphrid. A tribe of Chinese sorcerers captures Ranma to purge emotions from the hearts of men. A continuation story, set after the end of the manga.
What's going on here? The Sorcerers' reinforcements lie on the horizon. Shampoo's forces have invaded the springs. The time to strike at the mountain is nigh, and it's time for Ranma to seize the day.
Note: to correct a continuity error, the previous chapter has been edited to reflect that the Sorcerer reinforcements were meant to arrive at dawn.
To Slay the Monsters within Our Souls
Chapter Four Finale
"Incoming!"
KA-BLAM! A ball of fire mushroomed skyward, lighting up the gray mists of pre-dawn.
"Hold your ground!" By the edge of the tree line, in sight of the mountain above Jusendō, Mousse hammered a wooden stake into the soft earth. A taut rope led the way back through the Maze, along which the Amazon forces charged for the spring ground. "There's only two of them!" he said. "Archers, take them down!"
The archers fired a split volley, half low, on a direct line to their Sorcerer foes; and half high, arcing toward the stars.
Sure enough, what the Sorcerers couldn't see hurt them dearly. Flat panels of ice protected them from the direct salvo, but the high, looping shots fell in behind, bombarding them in a rain of iron arrowheads.
The Sorcerer patrol fell, and before the Amazons, only open, flooded grounds blocked the way to the mountain.
"We're clear!" Mousse yelled over his shoulder. "The path's open!"
Doubled over, Shampoo barreled past, lugging a ten-meter log on her back while Ryōga brought up the rear. Behind them, the Amazons swarmed the grounds, carrying boulders, tree trunks, even barrels of pure dirt, for though the flood waters of Jusenkyō were cursed, they were also shallow in most places, save for where a spring should be. Shallow enough to displace and cross, if one only had a few stepping stones to hop over.
Shampoo laid the first stone—or log, as chance would have it—and her army built upon the structure from there. They erected a line over the floodwaters, a clear path to the Sorcerers and their stronghold.
"All move quickly!" said Shampoo, leading the charge to the mountainside. "Let's go!"
The earth rumbled. From the cliffs above, the Sorcerer Guard watched them, and with ki magic they made the earth move, rocking the mountain like a massive clash of faults. The quake shook boulders loose, and muddy sludge careened down the slope.
"Scatter!" said Mousse, bringing up the rear. "Rock slide!"
But as the Amazons fanned out to escape the onslaught of nature and magic, more than just Sorcerers observed this battle. Through his spyglass, Ranma eyed the battle with increasing dread in his heart.
"We've got to do something," he told Cologne. "They're fighting uphill; they're going to get destroyed down there!"
"It's an opportunity," said Cologne, leaning on her walking stick. "Don't you see? The Sorcerers have made their base in the Guide's home. They lie between us and Shampoo's forces. So far they've ignored us. Now they will pay for that inattention." She drew a line in the dirt. "We'll strike them from behind and neutralize these channelers you spoke of. Shampoo herself has given us the perfect distraction."
"You'd let your own great-granddaughter be bait while you sneak in behind?"
"I have faith in Shampoo. Do you not have faith in Tendō?"
"So it's true then," said Ranma, folding up the spyglass. "Akane did come after all."
"You sound surprised."
"Surprised ain't the word! What were you all thinking, letting her come back here again? It's a warzone out here!"
Cologne laughed. "As if we're Tendō's keepers. She chose to make this journey, Son-in-law. She knew the risks. I made them plain when I explained just who and what the Sorcerers are."
"You know these guys?"
"I see they give you no history lessons in Sorcerer captivity. Yes, I know them. What I don't know is why any of this has transpired."
"They want Saffron," said Ranma. "They want him to be their 'Sieve.' "
"A sieve, you say? I fail to see how an infant pyromaniac will help them filter water."
"It's too long a story." Ranma stepped up, to the edge of the trail, gazing past the Dragon Tap to the battle below. "I'm going down there. Go attack the channelers if you want. I won't be joining you."
"It's not a matter of wanting, Son-in-law! You said it yourself: the Sorcerers' reinforcements come at any hour! If we cannot crush them by force, we must make our retreat and gain our own reinforcements from my people. If you go down there, you'll be a target caught between the battle lines!"
"I don't care," said Ranma. "You know why I have to go down there."
Cologne nodded. "So I do."
"The channelers like to hum," he said. "And they'll try to disappear before your eyes, but they'll still be humming right in front of you."
"We will make our best stand," said Cologne.
"Good luck."
"And to you, Ranma."
Ranma put his foot over the side, and skidding friction between sole and earth slowed his descent. Cologne was smart. She understood him well, but even knowing his reasons for going, she couldn't feel them the way he did. She couldn't know them in her heart.
Akane's here…
Here, among the devastation: the flooded springs, the mountain's inhospitable slopes and the battlefield that pitted nature against man, lightning against bow, twister against spear…
Somewhere, in this cataclysmic purgatory was Akane.
Dumb tomboy! You had it all wrong, old bat; she didn't know what she was doing! She never does! She jumps into other people's battles without thinking!
That was the only explanation he could think of, the only one that made sense. Why else would she come to this place but to say he couldn't do it alone? That he needed her help?
You're damn crazy, Akane. I'll have to shout some sense into you, when I find you.
BLAM! A boulder shattered, booming through the night like a thunder strike. Pebbles and jagged shards tore at Ranma's face, cutting like a shot from a sandblaster.
I guess someone figured out I'm here. All right then, you asked for it.
Some two hundred meters below the guide's house, the Sorcerer Guard gathered at an overhang, sniping at the Amazons below with fire, water, wind, and hail, but it only took one to notice Ranma, who sped down the slope. It only took one to make his path a lethal minefield.
BLAM BLAM BLAM! Ranma ran through the shower of pebbles. The holes they cut in his shirt weren't important. The pain as they scraped and nibbled at his skin—that didn't matter. What mattered lay below them. What mattered were the dozen archers who fired blindly into the cool morning. What mattered were the Amazons who pulled themselves up the mountain by fleeting handholds and loose rock.
What mattered was Akane, for somewhere down below, she was doing her best to get herself killed like the foolish, headstrong girl she was.
You guys think one of two of you is enough to stop me? Well, guess again. I fought off four of you just fine, and that was in a girl's body. That was when I didn't know your tricks.
He held out his fingers, straight and true, and flakes of ice grew off the fingertips.
I can take all of you.
He spread his arms wide, and from his palms, twin sheets of ice protected him. Though boulders exploded in his path, Ranma wielded the ice sheets like shields, deflecting the debris before it touched him.
The Sorcerers abandoned the overhang. A more formidable foe approached in Ranma, and line up they would to face him.
All right. Take this!
The ground froze over, a film of ice putting the Sorcerers on slippery footing, but Ranma glided over the sheet. He leapt high and pounced!
WHAM! Shockwaves toppled the Sorcerers, and with fists solid, encased in blocks of ice, Ranma punched.
CRACK! A Sorcerer tumbled over the side, rolling limp over the rocky slopes.
"Well?" said Ranma. "Who's next?"
The Sorcerers charged at him, fighting ice with fire, but that too played into Ranma's hand. He could be the cool one while they provided heat and flame. With the magic he'd stolen from them, it only empowered an old favorite of his techniques. As the Sorcerers hacked and swatted at him, as they blasted him with an inferno, Ranma stayed cool and steady. He let the fires swirl around him, and when his enemies fell into step, he planted his feet for the deathblow.
"Hiryū Shōten Ha!"
And in the tornado that melded hot and cold, some of the Sorcerers fell to the earth, too dazed to continue. Those that didn't dodged the boulders that flew in the twister's winds. They peppered Ranma with beams of light and heat, but if they were trained in the art of fighting a fellow Sorcerer, of fighting someone like them, they didn't show it. Ranma touched his forefinger to the air, and with a single tap he froze water vapor into solid ice. With these growing spears, he swatted the Sorcerers down like houseflies.
In the end, it was only Ranma who stood on the ridge, with the battered, beaten Sorcerers strewn about like action figures after playtime.
That'll teach you, thought Ranma. That'll teach all of you to stand between me and Akane.
"Ranchan?"
Ranma spun, alert and poised to strike, but the voice that said his name belonged to friend, not foe. Kuonji Ukyō crawled over the lip of the ridge, spatula tied to her back.
"Is it really you?" she said.
Her hair was in tangles. Smears of mud marred her face and stained hair ribbon. Even her trusty spatula sported a nick on the corner and a dent in the handle.
"Wow, Ucchan. Yeah, it's me, but…you look terrible."
The spatula was in her hands and clocked him before he even sighted it.
"Okay," said Ranma, twisting his neck straight. "I probably deserved that."
"Bastard!" said Ukyō. "That's not what you say to a girl when she's been to hell and back looking for you!"
"I just meant I could see that! Honest, Ucchan, I can see what's going on here."
He looked past her, to the flooded springs and the Amazons racing to get across below.
"It's all gone to hell."
Ukyō relaxed, putting her weight on the spatula. "It really has."
"Ukyō!" A voice from below yelled up the hill. "Is it safe?"
"Who's that?" said Ranma. "Is that Ryōga of all people out here?"
"Yeah it's safe!" Ukyō called back. "And guess who I found keeping the Sorcerers busy!"
Down the slope, Mousse and Ryōga steady climbed uphill to meet them, but a girl with a pair of chúi quickly leapfrogged them both.
"Ranma!"
"Uh-oh, Sham—ack!"
The glomps of Amazons are known to crush bone, but Shampoo was a touch more gentle.
"Shampoo so worry! Ranma no can get kidnapped again!"
"Oi, I wouldn't say I was kidnapped—"
"Then what would you call it?" Crouching on the ledge, Ryōga offered a hand to Mousse behind him. "Sending Kunō to get the message to us. You're just like a damsel in distress!"
"Am not!"
"Is this how you greet your rescuers, Saotome?" said Mousse. "I sense so little gratitude from you."
"You guys are ones to talk! I just saved all your asses right here!" He calmed himself, disentangling his body from Shampoo's arms. "But," he said, smiling warmly, "I've got to hand it to you guys. I didn't expect an entire Amazon army to come to my rescue—I mean, not rescue. Dammit, what's another word that doesn't make me sound like a Disney princess?"
The group erupted in grins and laughter.
"Aw, come on, there has to be another word!" he said. "Sheesh, you just don't give a guy a break, do you."
"No, Snow White, I don't think we do," said Ukyō, starting another round of chuckles.
"You too, Ucchan? Wonderful. I'm surprised Akane hasn't come over to lay into me like the rest of you."
Then and there, any mirth gained at Ranma's expense immediately evaporated.
"Where is she, anyway?" said Ranma. "She trip over a rock and get herself sidelined or something?"
Ryōga made a fist, shaking. The group cast their eyes to the ground.
"Guys? Where's Akane?"
Ukyō was first to speak. "She's—"
"Akane gone," said Shampoo. "We get separated when attack Sorcerers two day ago."
"Gone? What do you mean, 'gone'?"
"It was in battle," said Mousse. "The Sorcerers cut us off from her, and then the springs exploded. You can't blame Shampoo for this, Ranma: there was nothing to be done."
Two days?
Akane had been missing for two whole days?
She was lost on this mountain, where cursed animals attacked at the slightest offense?
Had the curse waters had taken her, too? Was she a beetle someone stepped on because they didn't know better? Was she a captive in Henna's lab, and Ranma just didn't notice, didn't see her in front of his face?
"We tried everything we could think of to find her," said Ukyō. "We risked everything to come back here and make one more try."
A flash of light, green at first blush then burning yellow and gold. The sun's rays peeked over the cliffs that surrounded Jusenkyō, bathing the basin in warm, clear hues.
Yet for all the comfort of sunlight on this cool spring day, Ranma felt the dawn could only be an ill omen, a portent of terror.
"No, Ucchan, it's too late," he said. "The Sorcerers have reinforcements, and they're already here."
#
From his place in the Guide's tea room, Kohl—the Lady's advisor, the Sorcerers' captain—watched his men and the Amazons clash across the mountainside. Or rather, he felt them, for their attacks rippled across the springs on eddies of ki. He knew without seeing that Ranma had escaped lockup in the mountain, that Ranma single-handedly dismantled the Sorcerers' defensive line. If that were all he felt, it wouldn't have worried Kohl, but there was more: like a stone in the shallows of a pond, Ranma broke the ripples that came after him and created more of his own. He attacked. He fought back. He assailed the Sorcerers not with force of hand and fist. He used their magic against them.
He felt like a Sorcerer to Kohl's heart.
No, that was wrong. The people of the village—their magic was contained, controlled. It was something unique and discrete, but when ki flowed through Ranma, it came out turbulent and volatile. It spiraled in chaotic loops and whirls. It was explosive.
It was something worse. Whatever Ranma was doing—whatever he'd become—it was something worse.
"Send every man we have to capture her again," Kohl ordered his deputy. "Spare no one to take Saotome Ranma back—"
BOOM, clink! The house rattled. Glass cracked. The great window overlooking the springs split across a diagonal. Shouting came from outside—shouting that, were it well below, where Ranma stood, should've been much fainter.
Kohl jogged from the tea room, making his way through the halls.
Clink!
And a barbed arrowhead zipped through a windowpane, digging into the plaster of the near wall.
The Amazons came from above. Crouching behind boulders, they lobbed arrows into the Guide's house, piercing the windows, blanketing the door in covering fire.
"I see you there, young captain!" Cologne crouched atop a boulder, calling out to the house below her. "Surrender, and we may yet spare you and your charges' lives!"
Kohl closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind and soul. Though Cologne's aura forbade interference from his own, that protection didn't extend to the rock she stood on, to the mountain all of these Riverfolk were bound to.
Kohl reached out, and the boulders shattered. Their fragments flew like the remnants of Alderaan under the Death Star's withering glare, and the Amazons who hid behind them scattered like rebels with no place to flee. Once in the open, once flushed out, they were ripe targets to pick off.
TEW, TEW, TEW! Bolts of lightning struck the Amazons down, thundering over the mountain. Thick storm clouds billowed and rolled. They reflected the morning sunlight in oppressive red hues.
It was a sign to everyone on the mountain of the new battle that raged, and far below, Ranma heeded quickly. "That's Cologne," he told the others, the ones from Nerima who came to him that day. "She's attacking the Sorcerers on the mountain; she's going after the channelers. That's who you need to find. That's who you need to stop if you want to get out of here."
"Slow down, Saotome," said Mousse. "What you're saying doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't make sense? How the hell does it not make sense? Those bastards have reinforcements and more channelers coming. Everything from here to the cliffs will be their damn maze." He pointed to the storm clouds and the house that lay below them. "You guys need to go up there. Find the channelers and stop them, or none of you will get out."
"You keep talking about us like you're not included," said Ukyō. "What about you, Ranchan?"
He glanced up the peak. "I need to see." He put foot to hard rock and climbed. "Get to the Guide's house. You guys are needed there. Trust me on this."
"Where do you think you're going?" cried Ryōga. "You can't run away; you have a duty to Akane-san!"
Believe me, Ryōga. I know that too well.
He scrambled up the mountainside with no path or trail to guide him, just the rocky crag at the top to aim for and the sparkling light of the sun off the flooded springs to erode the dark, but Ranma saw not the peak before him. Instead, memories and visions overflowed his mind's eye.
Akane, dashing over the Dragon Tap. "Ranma! Get ready to make a run for it!"
Akane, when he held only her clothes in his frozen hands. She'd appeared to him then, as a vision, a specter of the dead who, in his mind and his alone, walked down the street by the canals of home, a street that was the path to heaven.
"I'm going ahead now, Ranma. I'll wait for you."
Akane, lifeless, dripping, and cold. He wrapped her in his own shirt, but she wouldn't say a word, for though he'd immersed her in the cold cursed water, the last spark of life wouldn't come to her. At the base of the Dragon Tap, she was dead in his arms.
And every image of her wounded him, like columns of ice spearing through his gut, for they were times he could do nothing to help her, nothing to save her. Like with the Amazon in Henna's lab, they were times his mouth went dry and his vision black.
They were times he was helpless.
So what if I'm still cursed, he thought, sprinting up the slope. So what if you hate me, Akane, for not being a man, or just not being the man you wanted me to be. I don't care. As long as you're alive, as long as you're safe, I don't care.
He yanked himself over the final ledge and stood tall atop the rounded peak of Mount Kensei, but from that distance, the springs shrank to small sparkles, and the war being waged below looked like a battle between anthills, not people.
He was helpless here, too. Helpless to find Akane. Helpless to protect her, for nobody knew where she might be.
Dammit, Akane, I'm not going home without you! He shuddered. It's not even home without you…
Far below, in the mountain's shadow, another army of ants intruded on the spring ground. Black ants they were, and they were many. They crossed the tree line and fanned out, establishing a perimeter at the points of their staves.
I may not know where you are, but I can buy you some time.
He teetered on the edge of the western slope, putting his back to the battle behind him and the sounds of war.
If you're still on this rock somewhere, if you see this army coming to trap us all, run. For once in your life, Akane, don't be stubborn. Get out of here, and I'll give you all the time I can.
He leaned forward, shuffling down to meet an army with but his own two hands.
#
'For once in your life, Akane, don't be stubborn. Get out of here, and I'll give you all the time I can.'
She opened her eyes to light and shadow, to white walls and black…somewhere. Blackness right in front of her face, a shimmering before her eyes that she couldn't truly see. How long she'd slept she couldn't say. It was the only way to get the pain, the ringing, out of her head.
BANG! The room shook. The bulb in the ceiling flickered, buzzing the filament within. Beyond that, the world was like a television with garbled sound. The words people spoke made no sense to her.
In her prison, Tendō Akane sat up. Her head throbbed, pounding as if a sadistic dentist was having his way with her molars. She gritted her teeth to bear the pain, but that only made the pounding worse.
"Strange," she muttered, holding her head. "I thought I heard Ranma…"
Ranma, telling her to get out. Of course he would. He never had any confidence in her.
And why should he? Akane ran her fingers through her hair, but by her temple, the strands stuck together. Blood from her head wound caked in crystals there. She bled because she wasn't fast enough. She bled because she couldn't fight her way out.
She rose, but she swayed wildly, dazed, dizzy. Even now she was weak, just standing on her own two feet.
TEW, TEW! Thunder-cracks rocked the cliffside house. Losing her balance, Akane stumbled, throwing a free hand the doorway.
The unlocked door banged on its hinges. She tumbled through the open space, slamming her shoulder on the concrete below. She braced, expecting a staff-point to the gut for her trouble.
But to her surprise, there wasn't a guard in sight.
"Eh?" She picked herself up, wandering the halls. "They're all gone?"
She peeked around a corner, looking to the kitchen and the front door.
TEW!
Bright, burning heat! The flash scalded her eyes. Akane doubled over, shielding her face until the fire before her eyelids dimmed to a faint simmer. She rubbed her eyes open.
Flick, flick! Arrows lodged in the windowsills. Sorcerers took cover behind the front door, cracking it open to shoot ice lances through the gap.
The Amazons! She ducked back around the corner, hiding. Cologne and Shampoo—they're attacking!
She glanced down the hall in both directions. I need a weapon.
TEW! The walls beamed with light. Thunder rattled her ears and echoed through her skull. The twinge of pain in her head amplified to a piercing, drawn-out screech.
Ranma…I thought I heard Ranma. He was saying I should run. She touched a hand to her temple, the place where iron cap had bashed her head in just an hour before. The wound had closed, it seemed, but the flesh was tender to the touch. She could feel the muscle beneath tensing as she clamped her jaw down to bear the pain.
So what if I'm hurt! I'm a martial artist! I can fight!
On an ankle that wouldn't support her weight? With eyes that ached from a simple flash of light?
But they have Ranma! Isn't he here somewhere?
She rounded the corner, creeping past the Sorcerers barricaded at the front of the house. Arrows peppered the exterior walls. Thunder shook the foundations, and Sorcerer and Amazon alike shouted to their comrades with words Akane couldn't understand.
No, she thought. If Ranma were here, he wouldn't be quiet. I'd know. Everyone would. She ducked into the tea room. Get out of here first, then help the Amazons come in and tear this place apart. That's a plan.
She shivered. Never did she think she'd be in this room again.
Strangely, it'd seemed a tad bigger when she was a doll.
It was also one of the few places and times she'd seen Ranma cry.
Don't worry, Ranma. When we find you, I'll make up for all of this. I don't know how, but I will.
She ran her hands around the windowsill, but the seal around the pane was smooth and featureless.
What's this? How do you open—oh forget this. She wielded a chair by its legs. Yeah. This is a good weight. She wound the chair back and swung!
Crack! Jagged shards of glass tumbled over the side, clinking on the rock below.
"What are you doing?"
Akane flinched. She turned and spun, shielding herself with the chair.
The captain watched her from the doorway, eyes narrowed. "How did you get here?"
"Does it matter?" She turned the chair by its leg and threw!
TCH-WHAM! The chair splintered on a dome-shaped energy barrier. The captain emerged unscathed.
"Everything in this room moves according to my will," said the captain. "If holding you is so much trouble, perhaps we should kill you and see how Saotome Ranma reacts?"
Akane huffed. It would've worked if I'd had a desk to throw at you instead of a chair.
"If you plan to escape, that's impossible." The captain waved her hand, and crinkling ice grew over the broken window, forming a solid, clear seal over the hole. "Now…" The captain drew a serrated knife. "Come with me."
Akane stood her ground.
"Now, or we—" The captain flinched. Her eyes gazed past Akane, through the window.
Though distorted in the ice's irregular folds, the image of an Amazon, bow and arrow in hand, appeared clearly enough through the ice.
Tink-tew! The arrow punched through the ice, cracking it, bowing it inward, but it stopped in mid-flight, hovering before the captain, who snatched it from the air and tossed it aside. She cupped her hand slightly, and a ball of light formed in her palm.
TCH-CHEW! A beam of energy blasted the window and the walls around it. The concrete smoldered. The brickwork charred.
The captain yanked Akane by the wrist and pulled back, calling to her men. Sorcerers pulled back from the line at the front entrance, showering the remnants of the window with fire, ice, and lightning.
No way! thought Akane. If they're coming from both sides, I'm not giving up here, not yet!
She slapped the captain's hand away and dashed down the hall.
But the captain wasn't far behind. She held her hands together, as if to hold a ball between them, and the air warped between her fingers.
Ti-POW!
A compression wave catapulted Akane off her feet. Her hip and shoulder slammed into a doorframe, cracking the plaster off the walls.
"Oof!"
She tumbled into an unlit washroom, with only the light off a mirror penetrating the dark.
The captain stormed in after her, yanking her to her feet. She pressed the knife to Akane's neck and met her gaze. "Why?" said the captain. "Why do you continue to fight? You're injured; you can't hope to defeat me. Why do you persist?"
Akane glared. "Because Ranma deserves nothing less."
Flick flick flick! Down the hall, by the door to the tea room, three Sorcerers fell. A volley of arrows felled them cleanly, with but short, quiet groans to mourn their passing.
"Inside," the captain hissed. "Now!"
Locking them both inside, the captain pinned Akane to the door and pressed the knife to her neck.
"Do not speak," said the captain. "Do not scream."
Outside, the cautious footfalls of Amazons reverberated through the hallway. The invaders whispered to one another, but while some words were gibberish to Akane, others she understood all too clearly.
"Clear over here," said a voice with a distinct Kansai accent. "You?"
"No sign of any more Sorcerers," said a man's voice.
Ukyō and Ryōga-kun! Shampoo must be here, too! Akane twitched, but the captain applied pressure, holding her at bay. The blood of her carotid pulsed against the knife's edge. Her weak ankle ached, sore from exertion. The captain's warm, oppressive breath tickled the back of her neck.
I can't stay like this. I won't stay like this. She's going to get the jump on Ryōga-kun and the others.
The captain dipped a second dagger in oil, a foul-smelling substance, a toxin that smelled of necrosis and death.
"Watch that hallway," said Mousse. "And down the other end, too."
"I've got it!" Ryōga trotted down the corridor. His footfalls grew closer. He breathed heavily.
He put a hand on the knob.
"RYŌGA-KUN!"
SLAM! Akane's skull bounced off the door, knocking her backward, into the sink.
TEW! A beam of energy blasted the the door off it's hinges. It kicked Ryōga through the corridor wall, showering him in concrete rubble and dust.
The captain turned back to Akane, who sat beaten, in a battered daze.
"You are foolishly brave," said the Sorcerer. "It is only for that—"
The poisoned dagger cut across Akane's thigh.
"…that I don't kill you now."
Akane staggered, pulling herself up by the lip of the commode, but her muscles failed her. The world went shimmered.
She slumped face-down on the porcelain tile.
I'm sorry, Ranma. I guess I failed…
And the black of the captain's tunic was the last thing she saw.
"That's it," said Kohl. "Sleep now."
"Akane-chan?" Kuonji Ukyō dashed down the hall, spatula in hand. "Ryōga, you okay? Did you hear that?"
I heard it, thought Kohl, and I have no time for this. He extended his hand into the corridor, and Ukyō's spatula floated into his grip as if attracted by a giant magnet.
"What the hell?" said Ukyō. "You can't do that! I like that spatula too much!"
THWAP! He smacked her across the head with it, knocking her square into the Amazon line.
On second thought, I dislike this weapon. He tossed the spatula aside, and from the tea room, his trusty battle staff helicoptered over the Amazon invaders, spinning toward his hand.
Until Hibiki Ryōga snatched it from mid-air and crushed the wood squarely in his palm.
"You take Akane-san," he said. "You take her and you hold her. You make her cry out for me, and I thought, if I heard her say my name instead of Ranma's, I'd be happy, but I'm not. I'm not happy at all." He glared. "In fact, the way she said my name just now—it makes me very depressed."
"Back!" cried Shampoo, shoving her men aside. "All back!"
Kohl backpedaled to the washroom doorway. He braced himself in the doorframe, and a wall of ice grew where the unhinged door used to be…
CRUNCH, BAM! A sphere of purple light crashed into the cliffside house, punching a hole through the roof. It drilled into the ground with explosive force, boring a crater from the pure rock of the mountain. The exterior wall exploded, exposing half a corridor and the tea room that used to be around the corner. Rubble smothered the Amazons, and even the Sorcerers shied away from the dust and dirt that flew. Only Kohl's side of the cliffside mansion remained—protected by his magic, it kept him and Akane safe.
(A note to those at home: damage from floods, earthquakes, household pets, and the Shishi Hokōdan are not often covered by your home insurance. Contact your broker for more information.)
Kohl lowered his barrier of ice but dared not step further, lest he fall into Ryōga's crater. The house was in shambles. A dry, cool morning breeze flowed into the building from where the ceiling and roof used to be.
…where an attic should be. From the remnants of the attic, six pale figures peered through the gap in the ceiling, the hole in the attic floor.
The channelers! They're exposed!
Flick, flick, flick. Arrows peppered the opening and buried themselves in flesh.
"No!" cried Kohl.
"An unfortunate turn for you, is it not, young captain?" Haughty and proud, Cologne put down a borrowed bow and strolled into the ruins of the Guide's house, taking position before Shampoo at the lip of the crater. Outside, the battle waged on as remnants of the Sorcerers' forces did battle with the Amazons in Cologne's party, but the battle was, in a geometric sense, one-sided: the Amazons owned the Sorcerers' flank. Their invasion of the Guide's house from below and above pinched the Sorcerers in the middle.
And yet, the captain could've still turned the tide, were it not for the distraction with Akane, the diversion that took him off one front line and left him with too much to do on the other.
Kohl snarled.
"Your channelers lay dying now," said Cologne. "Your forces are surrounded on all sides. Surrender, captain. We will give what aid we can spare. You will all be treated humanely, provided you don't resist."
Humane treatment. What did it matter if they lived only as prisoners of war? Even with the Lady's reinforcements marching on the spring ground, the Riverfolk would make off with the Sorcerers' captain. It would be a tremendous blow. Only time would keep the Amazons from puzzling out the Sorcerers' true goal: a new sieve in the body of Saffron. If the Amazons came to the Phoenix tribe's aid…
Then the Lady would have no choice. As much as Kohl might try to prevent it, the Lady would have only one option left: to break Tilaka again, to plunge his soul in darkness once more. Without Saffron, no one could take his place.
No one but Kohl. And the Lady wouldn't have it. These Riverfolk, if they captured him, would make that impossible, too.
"I take from your silence you refuse our generous offer," said Cologne. "So be it. Shoot her!"
He didn't even blink. Simple reflex shrouded him in a hard, palpable barrier. The arrows bounced off, harmless. He stepped down, into the crater, perfectly safe.
"Very well then," said Cologne. "Warriors, take her by hand!"
A pair of Amazons charged, bearing sword and spear.
I will not be defeated by wood and metal. I am a Sorcerer, and I won't fail! I can't fail!
With his mind, he yanked the weapons from their wielders' hands and hurled them aside. Two Amazons came at him with fists and feet, but Kohl caught them both with his bare hands.
Not when my failure punishes Tilaka. Not again. He squeezed. Not again!
"What are you doing?" said Cologne. "Don't just stand there! Attack!"
The two Amazons flinched, a strange confusion in their eyes. "Elder!" said one. "Something's wrong!"
"How many times have I told you not to call me—"
Kohl relinquished his grasp, freeing the Amazons. They held up their hands.
Their fingers were black as soot.
"What the hell?" said Ukyō. "What did she do?"
The fingers, then the wrists. Lines of black ran up their arms, turning everything behind them to ash.
"My gods," said Cologne. "She wields the magic of Bailu!"
The magic of Bailu: the power summoned by a Sorcerer prince that obliterated an Amazon army on the brink of victory. The Sorcerers won that day not by force or overwhelming numbers. They won because when Bailu was held at sword-point by his would-be captors, an outburst of power annihilated both friend and foe alike. It was on the mixed ashes of their kin and enemies that the Sorcerers built the Lady's tower.
And once again, the Amazons would bear witness to that power first-hand.
"Elder, help us!" said the Amazon lieutenant. "Help—"
His head and chest blackened, like a roast left over the fire to burn and burn. The two warriors stood frozen, unable to move, speak, or scream. The ash lines spread over their bodies and enveloped them head to toe. Where two living, breathing Amazons had been, now only black statues remained.
And even that was fleeting. A gust of wind from the east ruffled clothes and hair. The remains of the two warriors eroded, flying off into the breeze. Ash fell over the combatants that day, both Amazon and Sorcerer, like a black snow of death.
Kohl stared at his hands, opening and closing them as if to make sure they were his.
The magic of Bailu?
"Well, old lady?" said Ryōga. "You Amazons seem to have a trick for everything, right? How do we defeat that?"
Cologne stared blankly, gaping. "I—I don't know."
"We defeat like any other enemy," said Shampoo, stepping forward. "We attack!"
"No, child!" said Cologne. "Stop!"
Shampoo hurled her chúi forward like hammers and leapt to attack with her fists!
"No!"
Kohl ducked and swiped, catching his hand on Shampoo's tunic. The fabric ripped, and though Kohl came up with only a section of cloth, it was enough.
The shorn piece of Shampoo's shirt turned to soot in Kohl's hands and wafted away in the breeze.
Then and there, the Amazon army made up their minds about this affair. Long had they heard the stories of how their brethren turned to ash at the Battle of the Waterfall, and now they'd witnessed the horror of that power first-hand. It would be difficult, in hindsight, to know for sure who backed off the line first, but once that one warrior did, no one else had a mind of their own about them.
They all ran.
"Hold ground!" said Shampoo. "Hold your ground, all of you! The fight isn't over!"
Kohl spun. He clenched his fist and jabbed!
CRUNCH! His knuckles bored into the rock wall of the crater. At the lip, Shampoo clamored to go back for more, but Cologne held her great-granddaughter as bay.
"Think for a moment, child!" said Cologne. "She's touched two of our finest already, and we breathe their remains! The warriors are in retreat! We must do the same!" She cleared her throat, addressing their Japanese companions in their native tongue. "We must fall back, quickly!"
"Shampoo no leave without Ranma!"
"And I won't abandon Akane-san!" said Ryōga.
Twin staff points clocked him across the face. His fighting stick broken in two, Kohl moved in on the dazed Ryōga, kicking and swiping, yet too was he cautious: Ryōga backpedaled, circling the crater.
"And you do no good to her as a pile of ash!" said Cologne. "Fall back! Now!"
"Akane-san?" he called out, ducking Kohl's punches. "Akane-san!"
A walking stick jabbed at Ryōga's side. "I have no time for your affections to get you killed," said Cologne.
He fell to his knees, startled, helpless. "What have you done to me?"
Cologne hopped into the fray, protecting Ryōga with her own body. "That pressure point has robbed you use of your legs. Now, bid adieu to the good captain, hm?" She took his arm and draped it over her shoulders.
Kohl hung back, channeling energy through his palms.
"Akane-san!" yelled Ryōga. "Akane-san!"
Cologne jumped!
TCH-CHEW! A sustained beam of light blasted the standing walls of the house, but Cologne and Shampoo leapt over them, using the concrete for cover.
The energy bled out of Kohl. The attack ceased. The battle already decided, the Amazons made their retreat. Ukyō retrieved her spatula, and Konatsu helped her stagger through the ruins out the front door. With the will to fight on their side, the Sorcerers harassed the Amazons all the way out, but the captain, Kohl, stood behind. He walked among the ruins, the broken glass, the shattered walls. On the ground, scattered fragments of a clay pot lay among soft dirt and the roots of a flower, a potted white chrysanthemum. He brought the petals to his eye, holding the stem between his thumb and forefinger.
I don't understand, thought Kohl. I can hold this flower, and it doesn't wither. It doesn't die. It's well. It's healthy.
He closed his eyes, focusing on the moments before the Amazons charged him.
If I fail, Tilaka will suffer. If I fail, the Lady will have no choice but to send the priests to his chambers again, to make him scream. And I'll watch. I'll watch and be silent while the punishment meant for me goes to someone who doesn't deserve it. Again.
The flower withered and blackened, and a gust of wind scattered its remains among the ruins.
I see. This is the sort of power the Lady always warned us about, that the Sieve was always meant to keep us from knowing.
Kohl made a fist, and traces of ash seeped through the gaps in his fingers.
It's a power born of misery and despair.
#
"We must make our escape quickly!" said Cologne, lumbering with the weight of Ryōga to support. "Perhaps I could get some help here?"
Mousse and Konatsu swooped in and took Ryōga by an arm each, supporting him by the shoulders.
"I swear, old bat, if we leave without Akane-san, I'll fight every one of your villagers if I have to!" said Ryōga. "This is wrong!"
TEW TEW TEW! Lightning bolts charred the ground behind them. The Amazons fled, but the Sorcerers weren't about to let them escape unscathed. It seemed even a last-second reversal of fortunes wouldn't deter the captain's men.
"Do any of you have a spyglass?" said Cologne. "Or binoculars. Either will do."
"I fail to see what binoculars have to do with it!" said Ryōga.
"Great-grandmother, here!" Shampoo tossed her a spyglass.
Cologne extended the spyglass as they ran, examining its optics and mechanism for defects. "Good. I think this will do nicely."
"I'm with Ryōga on this!" said Ukyō, strapping her spatula to her back. "Why they hell are we running? We had the advantage! We can still fight!"
"If that's the spell I think it was," said Cologne, "trust me: we're lucky to still be alive. Even it wasn't, though, our time is precious and short. Hibiki, take this spyglass. See for yourself why we must flee now and worry about captives later."
"Just what am I supposed to be looking at?" said Ryōga.
"You see a dark blob by the tree line to the west?"
Holding him by the elbows, Konatsu and Mousse pulled Ryōga up to scan the distance. Though the view through the spyglass bounced and jittered, Ryōga could see clearly enough what lay in the distance.
"Sorcerers!" he cried. "More of them?"
"The Sorcerers' reinforcements," said Cologne. "They are many, are they not?"
Ryōga made a fist. "I dare say there's nearly a hundred of them. And we've been fighting what, two dozen?"
"The odds are slim," said Cologne. "But this is not unexpected. Ranma told me himself they would come at dawn, and they are only a few minutes late." She looked about. "Where is Ranma? I thought he was with you."
"When he heard Akane-chan wasn't with us, he ran up the mountain," said Ukyō. "I don't know where exactly or why."
"I swear to you that was her!" said Ryōga. "She called my name; I'm sure of it!"
"I know!" said Ukyō. "I heard her, too."
"But where's Ranma?" said Cologne. "You mean none of you went with him? You let him go alone? Again?"
"Oh, sure, it's okay to leave Akane-chan behind!" said Ukyō. "But when it comes to Ranma, let's put on the breaks and see if we can hold off a Sorcerer army!"
"Choose your words wisely, Kuonji," said Cologne, clenching her walking stick. "They may be your last."
"I know where Ranma is."
All eyes turned to Ryōga. "You do?" said Ukyō. "How?"
He gazed through the spyglass, grim and sober.
"He's down there."
"What?" Cologne snatched the spyglass from him. Sure enough, as the Sorcerers marched on the grounds, Ranma stood alone, blocking their path.
#
They approached in columns, orderly, meticulous. They were systematic in everything they did, from how they walked to how they fanned out, surrounding Ranma. They encircled him with staff points in perfect alignment, a precision formation, one practiced and honed for a moment just like this one.
But Ranma paid them no heed. Like a statue, he moved not a muscle, meditating yet perfectly still on his own two feet.
The old ghoul will get the job done. She'll get the channelers up on the mountain and stop them. I'm not worried about that.
From the throng of Sorcerers a single warrior barged to the front, penetrating the circle that trapped Ranma. He was short in stature. His lip curled with a constant sneer. He planted his staff in the ground and glared at Ranma, watching him through wide yet narrowed eyes.
He was Lieutenant Xiu.
"What are you doing here? In that body, no less."
But if those guys don't hurry and get out of here, everyone inside will be a prisoner, like me. Shampoo and Ucchan, do you know how they'll hurt you? They hurt me, and I'm a guy, even if I'm not all the time. It doesn't matter to them. You're tough; you'll fight back like you should, but I don't know how much it'll make a difference. Mousse and Ryōga, too. I'm not so proud to say I can do this alone. There've been times we've worked together, and it's been fun. Half the time you guys try to backstab me, but I guess that's just how it is.
"Outsider! How did you escape?"
But Akane's here, too. Somewhere. I may not know how to find you, tomboy, but this I know how to do. This is the only thing I can do. I don't know if it'll make a difference, if you're lost somewhere and can't be found, but it doesn't matter. I don't care. If I can stand here just a minute against these guys, it's worth it. If you're smart, if you can see me, get away.
Xiu stomped forward, shouting in Ranma's face. "I demand you explain yourself, outsider!"
The last thing I want is to see you here.
"Answer me!"
WHAM! Ranma's knuckles answered Xiu. The loud-mouthed Sorcerer crumpled to the ground, cradling his cheek.
"You talk too much," said Ranma.
Glaring daggers, Xiu scrambled to his feet. He straightened his tunic and retrieved his staff, standing tall. "Sorcerers of the Guard!" he cried. "Take her down!"
The circle closed in, steady and deliberate.
This is the only thing I know how to do for you. He planted his feet, lowered his shoulder, and charged.
KA-PAM! Staves splintered. Ranma bowled over the Sorcerers, bursting from the circle.
"Come on!" said Ranma. "Is that the best you can do?"
It wasn't. It was only the start.
With fire and light, wind and water, the Sorcerers tangled with Ranma. Beams of energy cut and drilled into the earth, lighting the sparse plants and weeds aflame.
But Ranma was nimble and quick on his feet. He dashed and leapt across the springs, jumping high above the Sorcerers, and though they flew and floated in the sky, he soared with them. Long had he trained to fight and win between the clouds. Where he couldn't rely on the ground to steady his feet and let him deliver a knockout blow, his own body gave him power: the power of momentum and spin. Whirling like a top, he pitied the poor Sorcerer that thought to fly in his way.
BAM! A dizzying punch sniped the Sorcerer from the sky, and Ranma landed on his feet, graceful like a cat. An outstretch hand and knee absorbed his fall.
The Sorcerers shouted to one another—Xiu most of all barked his orders, and the men obeyed. A contingent of the Guard broke from the main pack, an armed escort for their most precious companions.
The channelers!
A pale, golden glow simmered over the battlefield. Translucent tethers connected the Sorcerers to their lieutenant, who drew the energy into his hands. The Sorcerer of the Guard staggered and stumbled on their feet as Xiu sapped them of life. From dozens of warriors, he gathered raw power for a massive, tremendous shot.
And, for just a moment, time slowed for Ranma. He eyed the channelers while they made their getaway. He followed the tiny pulses of energy as they streamed from every direction and gathered in Xiu's palms.
This is it, Akane. Maybe I couldn't be a man for you…
He cupped his hands together, and a tiny crystal of ice formed between them.
But I will protect you!
The tethers fizzled out. Xiu fired!
And where once but a small crystal had been, an enormous sphere of ice grew. Ranma shielded himself in an ice sheet.
TCH-TCH-BAM! The beam of light shattered the sphere. Ice burned off to gas in an instant. Chunks of the sphere bombarded the battlefield, and a pressure wave kicked outward, toppling the Sorcerers in its path.
Ranma tapped on the ice that protected him, and it crinkled and melted cleanly. The Sorcerer Guard lay stunned. A chunk of ice clocked Xiu, and a cut from his head mixed blood with water, a dilute, reddening mess.
But more importantly, the channelers and their escort sprawled on the ground, writhing, helpless.
And Ranma towered over them. Before a weak, pale channeler, Ranma froze a small, thin beam of ice from his palm to the channeler's chest.
There ain't no other way about it, thought Ranma. You're number four.
The tip of the spike extended slowly, cutting through the channeler's robes, drawing blood from a nick in his skin.
And I'm not sorry.
KA-PAM! A fireball blasted Ranma in the back, pounding him face-first into the dirt. The ice spike shattered. The channelers and their escorts found their feet and scattered from the impact crater.
"Argh…" Ranma dug himself out of the hole and patted the embers on his shirt out. "What the hell was that?"
KA-PAM! Fire stung his eyes and burned the buttons off his shirt. Ranma staggered. Barricading himself behind ice, he collected himself and got his first clear look at his attacker.
"Wuya…"
The captain hovered over the flooded springs, floating still. Even her hair wafted mysteriously, as if her magic suspended her in a a bubble of zero-gravity.
"I feel you, Saotome Ranma," she said. "We all feel you."
The Sorcerer Guard dusted themselves off, suppressing their groans, tending to the cut and bruises Ranma inflicted on them. They stood tall, ready to fight once again.
Ranma touched his lip, and between his thumb and forefinger, he rubbed a drop of blood to a dry, clotting paste. His eyes ached. His elbows tingled with warmth—a sure sign, in his mind, of at least a second-degree burn.
I'm almost spent.
He looked to the mountain beyond Wuya, a rocky crag draped in shadows of the morning sun.
But Shampoo and Ucchan are still up there. And there's still something I can do for them, too.
He pressed his hands to the sheet of ice, and handles grew from the flat plane.
But Wuya wouldn't let him go without a fight. She blasted the shield with fire and piercing currents of air, but the sheet held. Ranma dashed for the edge of the floodwaters and touched a hand to the ground.
Come on…
The ground crinkled with frost. Ice spread from his hand over the lake the flood had made: a pristine surface, a block of ice solid from top to bottom. With his free hand, Ranma barricaded himself in a frozen dome, and the ice on the lake spread for meter by meter, inch by inch. Staves hacked and jabbed at his shield. Fire melted it away, and focused pressure waves cracked it inward.
Just a little more…
Wuya floated to ground level. She planted her feet in the frozen ground, made a fist, and reared back for one final blow.
CRACK! The punch rattled through Ranma's arm. The ice of his own shield buried him.
And there, the Sorcerers spared nothing to make sure they finished the job. A hundred beams smothered Ranma in light.
And then there was black.
#
"No! Ranchan!"
From the pit of his own igloo, the Sorcerers dragged Ranma away, holding him at staff-point even as he sagged, limp in their arms.
"Dammit, why?" Ukyō shattered the spyglass on a rock, panting, shaking. "Why couldn't he hold on just a little longer? We were almost there!"
Halfway down the mountain, Cologne led the remnants of her army, heading the pack.
"More than his own freedom, Ranma thought it important for us to escape," she said. "And escape we will, to fight another day. You may think this a defeat, but it is not. In the brief time Ranma was free of the Sorcerers, he told me much. We know the Sorcerers' goal now, and I doubt this is the last we'll see of Ranma. In fact, I'm sure of it."
With that, Cologne steered her army away from the last battle, lest the Sorcerers catch sight of them and attack. On the frozen lake that Ranma made, the Amazon army fled. Through a forest free of illusions, they raced to the cliffs that surrounded the basin.
And it was there Cologne, Shampoo, Ukyō, Mousse, Ryōga, and Konatsu stood, atop the cliffs by noon that day, when the mountain before them shimmered and vanished, shrouded in the Sorcerers' Maze, for among the ruins of the Guide's house, a new set of channelers sat: a dozen they were in number, and the size and power of their Maze dwarfed the one that came before. The Amazons may have penetrated Jusenkyō before with their ballista; now, they'd only get in if they fell straight from the sky.
Confident in their defenses, the Sorcerers relaxed. They tended the wounded. They washed their tunics and slept.
And they drank tea.
"You Sorcerers are pretty full of yourselves, aren't you."
In the remains of the tea room, Akane sipped a cup of jasmine, making a face.
"I guess I'm going to have to get used to this stuff."
Across from her, her drinking partner poured himself another cup. "We don't drink this in my village, either," said Kohl. "But I find it acceptable."
Akane massaged her temple. Bandages wrapped around her face. She cradled her ribs. "And I'm supposed to get used to it?"
"You are Japanese," said Kohl. "I expect that your knowledge of the Riverfolk's forces is little, isn't it."
"You're saying I'm worthless?"
Kohl grimaced. "I would be well within my authority to take you to our village and have you interrogated further."
"So why don't you?" said Akane. "I can take it. I'm not telling you a damn thing."
A draft poured in from the hole where the window used to be. "I would rather not spare the forces to hold another prisoner."
Akane raised an eyebrow. "You're…offering to let me go?"
"Now and only now will this offer be given," said Kohl. "I won't present it to you again."
"But you still have Ranma," said Akane. "Don't you?"
Kohl was silent.
"You must be crazy if you think I'm going to leave him with you," said Akane. "But…" She spun the cup on the table, letting the liquid slosh around the sides. "If he were here, he'd say I should go. Maybe in that insufferable sort of tone where he makes it sound like I can't fend for myself, but that's what he'd say. And as much as I want to see him, I'm not doing him any good here with you."
Kohl rose, making for the doorway.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I must fetch someone who can take you through the maze," he said, disappearing into the hall.
Akane raced after him. "We're doing this right now?"
"Yes." The captain, her hair wet, set down a cracked vase in the ruins of the hall. "The Advisor wishes you to leave immediately."
And so, in Wuya's arms, Akane soared over the springs and the forests around them, and while the confusing jumble of the Maze deceived her eyes, the captain flew straight and true. After this harrowing ride, the captain delivered Akane to the top of the cliffs, a ledge that overlooked Jusenkyō…or rather, what the Sorcerers would allow others to see: an illusory countryside, one that fooled both mind and heart.
"Tell me the truth," said Akane, standing on her own two feet again. "Why did Kohl let me go? Do you even know?"
"You're the ones who made us your enemy," said Wuya. "We have no quarrel with you. We will defend ourselves against you if we must, but what we need doesn't come from you. You can have Saotome Ranma after we're done with him."
"And I'm just supposed to accept that?"
Wuya scowled. "As I said, we have no quarrel with you. There has been death on both sides, and all of it needless." She met Akane's gaze. "Take that message back to the Riverfolk. We will defend ourselves." She ripped a weed from the rock; it turned to soot in her hands. "And we will kill if we must."
"Fine," said Akane. "I'll tell them what you said, but even if they don't have the stomach for it, you're holding Ranma against his will. I won't stop coming for him."
"No," said Wuya, turning her back to leave. "I expect you won't."
"And you tell Kohl this doesn't make up for anything."
"No. I expect it doesn't."
Wuya jumped, floating off toward the spring ground, and once she passed through the barrier of the Maze, she too disappeared.
Akane sighed, sitting on hard rock. So that's how it is. Now we go back and try to rescue Ranma again.
Yet for all the force of will she expressed to Wuya, Akane could only close her eyes as if to sleep. Her head throbbed. Her ribs ached with each breath.
I don't mind the pain if it's for you, Ranma, but that doesn't mean it's not hard to bear.
There was a rustling in the brush. Voices approached. "I could swear I heard someone," said a voice in a distinctly Kansai accent.
"I think it was more to the right," said Ryōga.
"You moron!" said Ukyō. "That's off the side of the cliff!"
Akane smiled. Familiar voices. That's good. It's good that some of us, at least, have escaped. That some of us are alive.
She opened her eyes, and the level forest—the mirage of forest where Mount Kensei should've been—spread for as far as the eye could see.
But it's not enough until Ranma's back, too. It's not enough until I get him back, until I say that I'm sorry.
She rose and called out to Ryōga and Ukyō, and as old friends reunited, Akane turned her back on the demons of Jusenkyō and the monsters slain there.
The monsters that look out at us from mirrors.
The monsters that lie dormant within our souls.
Identity 04 End
Next: The battle for Jusenkyō may have been lost, war against the Sorcerers is far from over. With the taking of Saffron as their ultimate objective, the Sorcerers regroup and prepare for their assault, and the Amazons and Ranma are ready to throw every wrench they've got into the works. The race to meet the Sorcerers at Mount Phoenix begins with the fifth chapter of Identity - "Ashes" - Coming in two weeks: August 6, 2010.
In the meantime, feel free to download Identity in PDF from the Scribd link in my profile, or visit my blog at westofarcturus [dot] blogspot [dot] com for commentary on this chapter and others. All commentaries are also linked on my profile. Your reviews on this installment or the story as a whole are appreciated. I try to respond to every review, so I welcome any feedback or criticism. I very much want to improve my writing and craft a story that is as enjoyable to read as it is to write, so if you've read the story so far and are reading this, I thank you, and I look forward to returning in two weeks to continue the story with "Ashes."