Revelations in the Light of Day
No light, no light in your bright blue eyes
I never knew daylight could be so violent
A revelation in the light of day
You can't choose what stays and what fades away
[No Light, No Light: Florence and the Machine]
They were both jolted out of sleep by the commotion in the corridor. Daisuke sat up abruptly, pulling Marin with him in a sleepy tangle of dark hair, as someone pounded on his doorframe. There was a confusion of voices, and Daisuke rolled out of the bed, reaching to pull on the loose pants lying in a heap on the floor. He paused long enough to grab his daggers from where he'd left them beside the bed, and shot a quick look at Marin. She drew in a deep breath, and nodded briefly.
Someone thumped on the door again, just as he pulled it open to stare into Xuelian's worried face. The rest of the Seishi, and what seemed like half the palace, crowded in behind her.
"Have you seen Marin?" Xuelian demanded. "She's missing from her room, and it looks like her bed wasn't slept in…"
Her voice trailed off as Daisuke heard the soft hush of fabric behind him. Marin was just behind him, tucking her butterfly knife into her hastily tied sash, and there was silence. Then Xuelian staggered, shoved aside by Zifeng.
Zifeng stood there with a look of sick betrayal in his eyes, and Daisuke found he almost felt sorry for him, until he spoke.
Zifeng looked past him to Marin.
"Was it worth it?" His voice was flat. "Was he good enough to make you forget all your promises to me? To us?"
Marin stayed motionless behind Daisuke.
"We can't call Suzaku," she said, but Daisuke could hear the thread of tension in her voice. "That's what happened to the other priestesses. They called their gods, and something destroyed them, and then took them over. Genbu, Byakko, Seiryuu. They were all taken, and that's why things have been going wrong. If I call Suzaku, that evil will have the last god and the whole world. This was the only way I could think of to make sure we couldn't summon the god."
In the rumble of voices, Daisuke heard Tai Yi Jun ask, "And how did you find out what happened to the other priestesses, hmm?" but Zifeng flung out a hand that cut everyone off.
"And I'm sure you tried so very hard to think of alternatives," he said savagely. "Did you even think of bringing this information to us?"
He rounded on Daisuke. "And you. All along, this is what you've been scheming for, to seduce the Priestess. Was it just lust, or are you working for our enemy? Trying to ruin the Priestess so that we'd never be able to summon Suzaku. How did she learn that something else wants us to call the god? Was that you, deceiving her into your bed?"
Zifeng was breathing hard, his eyes glittering with something that looked a lot like hate as his attention slid back to Marin.
"Or was that what your wish was all along? To fuc-"
Daisuke's daggers were at his throat before Zifeng had finished.
There was an ugly, metallic sound as Zifeng stepped back and swiftly drew his own sword, then before anyone could react Zifeng attacked, nearly impaling himself on Daisuke's blades as he slammed into him with more fury than finesse. Daisuke caught himself as Marin staggered behind him, thrown off-balance, and he shoved Zifeng back, closing with him before Zifeng could get any closer to Marin again.
Daisuke ignored the shouts and noise of the crowd of Seishi, his focus on Zifeng. The swordsman was at a disadvantage in the narrow balcony, with no real room to use his sword, and Daisuke forced him back, a feral grin curling at the corners of his mouth as he sliced at Zifeng's chest with a swift movement. Zifeng shifted backwards, his own eyes glittering with a savage fury.
Then Zifeng brought his sword up in a fast movement that Daisuke barely caught on the edge of his dagger, throwing it aside to gouge wood from the narrow wall frame. They had reached the staircase that led down into the courtyard.
"Stop it! Stop!" Marin shouted, and Daisuke froze, breathing hard. In that moment, Zifeng's blade flicked across his face, and blood welled, beaded and trailed slowly down Daisuke's cheek. He reached up to touch the cut with one fingertip.
The bright arc of Zifeng's sword as it cut through the air, faster than thought. Daisuke heard Marin's indrawn breath of horror. At the last moment, Daisuke swung aside.
Zifeng's savage attention was focused on Daisuke, his face filled with an ugly hate. But Daisuke's eyes were on Marin. He shifted away from the sharp circle of Zifeng's blade effortlessly, and the attack was made a little clumsier, driven by a blinding fury, but Daisuke still didn't counter. His attention shifted back to Marin, watching her for a sign.
As Zifeng gave an inarticulate cry of rage, Daisuke saw Marin's mouth frame the words, "Do it."
Her voice was too soft to be heard above the shouts and screams, but Daisuke's fierce grin lit up like fireworks and he spun around to meet the attack with a savage delight that drove Zifeng back. Down the steps, Zifeng retreated to the level ground of the wide courtyard, and Daisuke leaped over the bannister to fall on him like lightning.
Zifeng barely countered as Daisuke slid in under the sweep of his sword, and Daisuke's dagger flashed. Zifeng cried out and staggered, and blood dripped down his sword arm. And Daisuke dropped into a low spiral, sweeping Zifeng's legs out from under him. Zifeng's sword clattered to the stones, and Zifeng lay there, his breathing laboured with Daisuke's knee on his chest, and Daisuke's wickedly sharp dagger at his throat. The swordsman stared up at Daisuke with loathing, but Daisuke didn't notice. He'd turned his head to where Marin was pelting down the staircase towards them.
Daisuke sighed, and shifted his knee, coming to his feet as she reached the edge of the courtyard.
"I could end this permanently," he said conversationally to the man at his feet, "and maybe that would be the smartest thing to do, but we both know that Marin wouldn't like that. Not really. Even if she is a bit pissed off with you right now."
He was distracted by a distant bird shriek, and looked up as it was answered by another, and another, black specks coming closer fast, until the sky was full of raucous calls.
"Crows!" Zhu Yi shouted, backing away from the courtyard to the dubious cover under the balcony. Zifeng rolled to his feet, reaching for his sword while Daisuke's attention was on the approaching birds.
"Get inside!" Daisuke snapped. He glanced across the open yard to where Marin was standing with Tai Yi Jun behind her.
"The tengu are coming. You must summon Suzaku, or we'll all be destroyed," Tai Yi Jun was saying, her voice oddly harsh and strained.
Marin turned to her in dismay. "I can't. I'm not the Priestess anymore. I'm not pure."
The old woman let out a hiss. "You're lying. I can feel the connection to Suzaku there, stronger than ever."
On the other side of the courtyard, Marin flashed a look at him, and Daisuke caught her look of bewilderment and a little fear.
"That's not possible," Marin insisted.
"You stupid girl."
Daisuke forgot about the approaching tengu in shock as he watched Tai Yi Jun seize Marin's arm and drag her towards the temple at the heart of the palace. Marin was struggling to break free, trying to prise the tight grip loose, but Tai Yi Jun had her in an iron hold. Daisuke could see Marin scrabbling at the stone balustrades and the statues on the way up the steep stairs, but even as she fought to get free of the impossibly strong force, Marin lost ground step by step until she was dragged from view.
The gates shook and thundered as a hail of birds slammed into the heavy wood and swept over the walls into the palace yard. With the noise of the crows growing deafening, Daisuke ran for the staircase. As he leaped up the first step to follow after Marin, he caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, and swung back sharply as Zifeng's sword swept past his chest.
"Not now, you idiot!" he shouted, and turned his back on Zifeng to vault up the next few steps. He didn't stop, even with the sound of Zifeng's boot-steps hard on his heels, racing up the smooth, stone steps. He skidded under the red and gilt carved entrance to the temple just as Tai Yi Jun reached the shrine and the four banners painted with the gods, and flung Marin to the ground in front of them, her grip still hard on Marin's wrist.
"Summon the god, if you want to live!" the old woman demanded. She shook Marin, and Daisuke could see the tears running down Marin's cheeks now.
Daisuke broke into a run, blazing with fury.
"Call Suzaku," Tai Yi Jun hissed.
Daisuke was halfway down the aisle of columns now, moving fast, and he saw the old woman blink. Like a crocodile's nictitating membrane, film slid across her eyes and cleared, leaving Daisuke staring into a bottomless void. And then he was on her, his daggers drawn. Tai Yi Jun flicked one claw-like hand. Daisuke felt an invisible force bowl him over and slam him into a column. His daggers fell and skittered away from his hands, even as he rolled and came to a crouch.
Tai Yi Jun was watching him with that unblinking, cold, black gaze.
The fury blazed hotter in him, and it felt as though she was reading his anger with detached interest. One wrinkled hand flicked out at Daisuke and he slammed into air turned as sticky as tar. He struggled against the invisible restraints, but the thick air closed around him, drowning him.
"I can't!" Marin insisted, her voice cracking in terror. Daisuke could see one hand scrabbling for the knife hidden in her sash, but Tai Yi Jun's talons closed around her neck. A thin thread of scarlet crawled its way down Marin's skin as they bit deep.
"Call anyway, dearie, or I will crush your throat."
Tai Yi Jun shook her, lifting her until her feet barely scraped the floor, and Marin screamed.
"Suzaku!" she shrieked desperately. Daisuke fought harder, but the air held him fast.
"That's right." Tai Yi Jun's mouth curled up in a horrible smile.
Marin's hands were scrabbling at the claws around her throat.
"Suzaku! Help me!"
And Daisuke felt a fire bloom in his head.
His forehead ached with the burn of his anger, and he clutched at his neck as fiery pain erupted there. Heat swept through his foot and up to his knee, and his hand spasmed and closed on the stab of pain that ran from his palm to his wrist. As he forced his fingers to uncurl, he stared down at the red mark burned like a brand on his palm. His rage was fading into something more like fear, and the mark faded with it.
Tai Yi Jun was watching him. She said, in a tone that had changed from her warm, old voice to something dry and papery, "Well. That was unanticipated."
Marin swore, and Daisuke's head shot around to stare at her. She started laughing, a sound with a hysterical edge to it and Tai Yi Jun shook her by the neck until she stopped.
"How could we have missed it?" Marin gasped.
"Missed what?"
"I've already summoned the fucking god," Marin said, her voice still skating on the edge of hysteria. She took a deep breath that caught and choked. Tai Yi Jun was still watching him, unmoving.
"What?"
"Before you came through the book, what happened?" Marin asked, a little more evenly in spite of the hand around her throat, and Daisuke frowned at her in confusion.
"I saw the book on my desk. And I heard you calling… me… for help." His voice slowed and came to a stop as he finally understood what she was getting at.
"No."
"It makes sense," Marin said wearily.
"No."
"I made the deepest wish of my heart."
"I'm not a god."
"And you came."
"So you did," Tai Yi Jun said drily. "After all that work to kill you off and keep you from interfering in my plans for the Priestess, I should have saved myself some time and effort and brought you straight here."
She reached for him, and he stumbled backwards, going cold at the thought of that claw-like hand touching him.
Marin had used the distraction, and her knife was in her hand now. She struck, the blade sinking into Tai Yi Jun's arm, catching in the white silk of the sleeve. The grip on her throat loosened briefly and Marin scrabbled backwards holding her knife, making it to the dubious cover of the shrine as a sudden boom rippled through the palace with the sound of shattering timber.
The bird shrieks and the shouts of the Seishi intruded on the temple, and Tai Yi Jun glanced back towards the growing noise of battle.
"The tengu always have a terrible sense of timing," the old woman sighed. She reached for Daisuke again, and he felt something flash through him, white-hot and furious. Tai Yi Jun staggered backwards, clutching her hand.
The soft flesh on her face rippled disturbingly.
"But it makes no difference," the ancient one said gently. "I will flay the flesh from your bones and devour you, as I did those other girls. As I did this old bag of bones." Those endlessly black eyes turned to look at the withered hands she lifted, one still bearing the scorch marks. "At least it wouldn't have hurt."
Marin made a strangled noise of dissent.
"And you." The gaze of the void turned to Zifeng, who had watched it all, frozen and horrified under the carved archway. "Completely useless. All you had to do was win the heart of the Priestess, and I would have had Suzaku by now."
She reached again for Daisuke, but he was on his feet now, snatching up his daggers again.
Marin screamed, "Get us out of here! Kai Jin! That's my wish!"
And Suzaku's fire leaped to obey, snatching them all up in a whirlwind of flame and sparks.
...
The sparks drifted like motes of dust in the air and vanished as they hit the cold stone of the temple floor.
The being who wore the Emperor of Heaven like an ill-fitting coat stared at the empty space where the bird god and His Priestess had been and allowed annoyance to flicker across the old woman's face. The appropriated body shuddered.
This inconvenient skin… itched. It may have been immortal, and powerful, but it was still bounded by light and noise and time and sensation. It was deeply irritating to be confined to reaching through the eyes of others to see so far, and limited to travelling through space. Whose ridiculous idea was time and distance, anyway?
These maddening human insects buzzing and crawling, unleashed in the perfect silence of its domain by this pestilential Great Sage. It would be deeply satisfying to wipe reality clean of their infestation and return everything to the silent nothing of Chaos that it should be. But all that was left to do was to claim the last god and the last cardinal quarter of material existence, and then it could all be erased.
There was a scratchy rustle at the entrance of the temple, and the figure of Tai Yi Jun turned to the human forms waiting there. They cringed, all spindly arms and legs and blood-soaked rags, as Tai Yi Jun narrowed her bottomless black eyes at them.
"Find them!" her voice cracked like a whip, and the tengu stumbled to obey. The sky bristled with black feathers and panicked crow calls, then the birds shrieked and peeled away in a dark flurry across the grey sky to seek out the Seishi and their god.