Chapter One
10 Years Later; 1556; April
'And so I conclude this letter with positive news. Hai Ting's training has gone according to plan and I sense her ascension trial fast approaching. Despite her young years, her devotion to her training surpasses even that of many immortals. She has absorbed a hundred years of cultivation within this one decade, aided by the Silver Cloud Fan gifted to her by the Lord of Numinous Treasure.
Hai Ting went into seclusion a week past, upon the highest peak of the mountain within the ranges of my residence, in preparation to receive the trial. The Sky Viewing Platform. As I have written to you before, the first ascension trial requires enduring three lightning bolts. Once she passes, she will have ascended to the first stages of immortality.
However, the trial is not without its dangers. Despite her remarkable skill, Hai Ting is young and inexperienced. There is always the chance the trial may go awry. And even if she passes successfully – which I do not doubt she will – she must stay for a time to recover, as our trials are violent in nature and wound the physical body drastically, hence the requirement for strong cultivation to strengthen the body and spirit prior to such a test.
I will only send word to you should the trial go astray. Until then, the next you shall hear from me shall be through Hai Ting herself when she makes the journey to you. I have enjoyed our correspondence, and I believe this is not the end of our acquaintance. Remember that you are always welcome to Kunlun.
Western High God Baihu
White Tiger'
The man of twenty-eight years folded the bamboo scroll, but continued to hold it in his hands as he looked up.
It was reassuring to finally receive word from the White Tiger God of Kunlun Mountain. They had exchanged letters every six months. Baihu kept Mitsuhide informed of Aki's progress, and Mitsuhide learnt a great deal of the ways of the Middle Kingdom through their correspondence. Though Mitsuhide was infinitely younger than Baihu by many tens of thousands of years, Baihu was an unusual God who remained remarkably grounded and humble, despite his incredible strength and wisdom and thousands of years worth of cultivation. The White Tiger God treated Mitsuhide with respect and equality, and for that, Mitsuhide returned the same level of respect, or perhaps more.
To hear of Aki's progress was a relief, and his heart skipped a beat to consider the reality he would see her soon.
Much had changed in the ten years that had passed. His acquaintance with Baihu opened many doors and opportunities between Yomi and the spiritual realm of the Middle Kingdom. Alliances were forged and friendships made as Mitsuhide learnt their ways in the same way Aki had learnt those of the Land of the Rising Sun.
Mitsuhide had matured fully, and had used Aki's journal to navigate his way through the last decade in the way he sought best. He took an active role in the shaping of the province.
The field before him still retained the most recent wounds of the battle which had occurred barely a month prior. Saito Dousan was dead, slain on this battlefield behind the castle of Inabayama, and his son, Yoshitatsu had taken over leadership of the Saito clan and governance of Mino.
In the journal, Aki had documented the Akechi sided with Dousan.
But this time, Mitsuhide changed it, and sided with Yoshitatsu. It was an easy victory, for Mitsuhide had known what to expect and best how to strategically plan the battle accordingly, in addition to the events surrounding it.
Oda Nobuhide, the clan head of the Oda, had been assassinated by Mitsuhide's forces in revenge for the attempted murder and then kidnap of Aki. It had stimulated the infighting within the Oda household until, as expected, Nobunaga emerged victorious as the new clan head.
Instead of Dousan offering Nouhime to the Fool of Owari as a political bride however, Mitsuhide prevented it. Without the tie between the Oda and the Saito, Nobunaga had no need to come to Dousan's rescue, meaning an easy victory for Yoshitatsu and Mitsuhide.
Between Yoshitatsu and Mitsuhide, they solidified the power and stability across Mino in preparation for the following years to come when Nobunaga would begin his conquest through the surrounding provinces to Owari.
Yoshitatsu retook the name of Toki, his biological father, and Nouhime was considered for marriage to Mitsuhide's cousin. Mitsuhide kept his word with the Tsumaki family and found the three daughters – Hiroko especially – fitting and decent husbands, which further bound the Tsumaki's loyalty to the Akechi.
He watched across the land as battles took place and samurai daimyo fell from power, or rose to it. All occurred as Aki had written, with the exception of what went on within Mino's borders. Mitsuhide had ten years to plan, and during that time, he put his plans in motion, beginning with creating a strong and powerful foundation, that being creating a stable and prosperous land within Mino itself. The stronger the roots, the stronger the branches became.
Very little took Mitsuhide by surprise. Aki's journal was a primary reason. But also, Mitsuhide himself had grown into his own. In the mortal realm, he was a matured man, a Samurai and Lord of growing standing as his influence grew by his calculations. In the supernatural realm, he grew into his role as God Emperor of Yomi and all that it encompassed, as naturally as it was to breathe.
The pieces of the board were set. Now, it awaited the Grandmaster to determine where the pieces were to move to.
Mitsuhide breathed deeply, still smelling the charred scent of smoke, dried blood, and the remains of rot as the earth slowly swallowed the remnants of the battlefield amongst fresh growing grass.
I hope you pass the trial with no complications, Aki, he thought. I trust you will, for you must return. You must come back to me.
He tucked the bamboo scroll away within the folds of his robes, and touched his katana subconsciously. A small jade tiger hung just below the hilt. Twenty years, he possessed this piece of jade. Twenty years he used it as a reminder of Aki's presence. And twenty years, he kept it safe.
He wondered if the counterpart – the jade dragon – remained in Aki's possession. Mitsuhide had never been able to tell, for the times he visited Kunlun, he was forbidden from venturing too close to her. He could only watch her from afar. And the robes of the Chinese were infinitely more flowing than those of the Japanese. If she did still wear the jade, it was hidden amongst the layers of delicate silk which seemingly merged together like sheets of water and glowing mist.
It had actually been three years since he last saw Aki. During that last visit, her hair had regrown, sweeping down to her waist when loose, though often it was tied high into a bun to remain out of the way during training. Though she still bore the presence of a mortal, it was a strong aura of magic she possessed, mingled with the growing cultivation of her power that brought her closer to immortality than humanity.
In these ten years, both of them had changed.
But the core does not change, Mitsuhide thought, as he turned from the field and returned to Inabayama. There was still much to be done before Aki's return to Mino.
xxx
Baihu stood on a sister peak to the Sky Viewing Platform, named the Cloud Dancing Pavilion due to its geographic structure which encouraged clouds to flow through the space between two mountain tops, funnelling them through a valley and over the platform.
This day however, the clouds did not move. Instead, they rolled and darkened. Thunder rumbled deep within, and lightning flickered in the groaning darkness of the clouds. The air hummed with static and raw power.
Baihu had witnessed it too many times to count, in addition to being the one on the other end. Despite knowing what to expect, it still brought a flicker of fear and apprehension to his heart. For an old God such as himself, there was little in the three realms, nine heavens, four seas and five mountains that could bring fear to his spirit. But the trials and tribulations of ascension were the few things which still did, and always would, until he eventually passed into the realm of nothingness. The forces of nature in the trials and tribulations were a reminder to all Gods and immortals, that despite their cultivated power and the levels of enlightenment and nirvana they achieve, nature was above all. Nature and the universe was the ultimate master over all things in existence, alive or dead.
The White Tiger God stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the sky calmly. The breeze rustled his long black hair, and the sky glanced over him. But it did not linger, for the sky's attention was on someone else this day.
Hai Ting stood from where she had sat at the centre of the Sky Viewing Platform. She turned her gaze to the sky, and Baihu saw how her hands clenched to fists and her teeth gritted together. There was fear in her glowing green eyes, but determination, as she Saw the same as Baihu. The wind curled around her, cupping her in its arms.
The hair on the back of Baihu's neck stood on end as static surged in the air, like a deep breath inhaled and held before a shout.
Lightning crashed down with an earth shattering boom. The strike lit up the sky and surroundings, bleaching all colour to pure white. Only Baihu's shining blue eyes retained colour, as his God-Sight pierced the blinding light and saw Hai Ting take the first strike. Her body jolted and shone like a God's as the lightning illuminated her from within.
Hai Ting staggered, and was hit by the second strike without respite.
As the second strike sizzled into the air, Baihu saw her fall to her hands and knees, her nose and ears bleeding. She was shaking.
Baihu's jaw clenched as he sensed the final surge in the sky.
Get up, Sixteen. Stand and meet it, or you will not pass.
Hai Ting's fists curled again, and gasping, she staggered to her feet, blood staining the torso of her martial hanfu. She turned her face to the sky again, and as the sky surged, her own aura surged with a power which showed her defiance against defeat, and acceptance of the final strike.
She screamed at the sky. And the sky roared in return.
The third bolt of lightning struck her, greater than the first two, blinding even Baihu and he was forced to turn away as the boom of thunder deafened his ears. The light of the lightning blinded his eyes. The power of magic numbed his skin.
When it receded, Baihu blinked and turned his view back to the Sky Viewing Platform. The rumble of the thunder softened, and the divine storm began its slow and gradual dissipation.
Hai Ting floated, but unconscious, in the air above the platform. The ribbon binding her hair had been burned away by the lightning, and her hair, as well as her robes, floated about her as if she were beneath the water. Her aura shone visibly, a cold and icy green, curling about her with the neutral divinity of her spirit. It was changed, evolved. Her body, no longer entirely human.
Baihu flew over to the Platform, and caught her as she descended. Though she was bloodied and her body exhausted, she was alive, and changed. Baihu sensed the passing of the trial in her spirit, and smiled faintly in pride and relief.
He noticed with curiosity however that she now possessed a streak of white in her hair which had never been there previously. It was not a sign of age in the slightest, for she walked separately from time. This white streak was somehow a sign and mark left behind of her trial. It contained a remnant fragment, an echo of the power delivered by the sky.
Baihu picked Hai Ting up in his arms, and flew back down the mountain to his residence. His disciples all waited at the bottom. Not all disciples of Gods behaved in such a way. But Baihu's were remarkably close to each other, as family. And Hai Ting was their youngest sister, therefore also the most doted on and pampered.
"Shifu! Shifu!" They all exclaimed with worry. "Did Sixteen pass? Did she survive?"
"Stop overwhelming Shifu. Remember you places, my brothers and sisters," the first disciple, Bing Bao said sharply, reminding the other disciples of their manners. They cleared their throats with an embarrassed apology, and organised themselves rather than standing in muddled crowd.
"Sixteen passed and is alive. Though she will need tending to. She may have cultivated quickly, but her body is still too young to endure the trial without consequences. Six, Fourteen, come with me. Second Disciple, fetch medicine from the furnace."
The three of them clasped their hands and bowed. "Yes, Shifu!" They intoned.
"The rest of you, I will instruct you shortly. For now, return to your tasks. Sixteen is safe."
The group of them smiled and bowed. Behind him, Baihu heard them babble excitedly about Hai Ting's success as they milled about the Main Hall. Whenever an ascension trial took place, it was the word across all the realms, for they seldom came, and many candidates failed in the process, resulting in rebirth as a rank lower than what they were born as.
In summary, success was rare. And the higher the ascension, the rarer the success became. At Hai Ting's stage, hers was the very beginning, therefore it was not enough to warrant attention from anyone in the nine heavens. Though there was some attention, for Hai Ting's position was unusual. Therefore they watched carefully. But watched was all they did, for Baihu shielded her from the rest. And the gift the Lord of Numinous Treasure gifted her, established her place in the celestial bureaucracy, whether it was agreed by the court or not.
Like most heavens across the Middle Kingdom and including the Land of the Rising Sun, the Chinese were not happy over her relationship with the God Emperor of Yomi, and likewise the Japanese were not happy over Mitsuhide's relationship with a born mortal of foreign blood and a deity-hood of Chinese origin.
Nevertheless, it was what it was, and the universe deemed their bond as so. Much was at stake, and heavenly bureaucracy was the last thing which should get in the way.
Baihu returned Hai Ting to her dormitories, which was shared by the fourteenth disciple, Rourou, and the twelfth disciple, Muyin, who had already anticipated what was going to happen and had prepared Hai Ting's bed.
"I will get some water and a towel then," Rourou said and quickly left the dorm.
Baihu laid Hai Ting down on the bed, and Muyin, and the sixth disciple – Yanzhi – bowed to him. "We will take care of her from here, Shifu," Yanzhi said.
Baihu nodded, casting a final glance at Hai Ting. He worried, of course, for seeing any of his disciples wounded was as unpleasant as a parent seeing their child hurt. However, his disciples were practised and experienced. They knew how to treat wounds, even in cases like these.
"I will check on her soon," he told them, and then left to give them privacy to change Hai Ting out of her bloodied robes.
Baihu paused by the door for a moment, a sense of nostalgia washing over him, followed by a bittersweet feeling of pride, but mingled with sadness.
Hai Ting came to me covered in blood. Now it is time for her to leave, also covered in blood, he thought. Blood is life. Blood is fate. It brings us together, but also breaks us apart.
Baihu sighed softly, and briefly Saw a slight deviation in the path of the future. Its chances were slim, but it was one where Hai Ting never returned to the Land of the Rising Sun. It was one where she remained as his disciple in Kunlun for a hundred thousand years, eventually becoming his right hand, his first disciple, the only other one to match him in power in the Sight.
He smiled slightly. The vision was of a possibility so slight it was almost non-existent. He Saw her true path as clear as day, and that did involve her return to Japan, and more importantly, to Akechi Mitsuhide.
Despite her return to the Land of the Rising Sun, her connection to Kunlun was now eternal, and Baihu Saw Hai Ting return to the Mountain often in the years to come, almost as often as she spent in the land across the sea. She was a disciple of the White Tiger. And no matter how far she went through time and space, that fact would never change.
It brought Baihu some warmth and comfort to his heart.
xxx
Mitsuhide woke sharply. His heart pounded in his chest and sweat soaked his body. He sat up, taking a deep breath as his ears and eyes adjusted to his environment.
It was night still, the room of varying shades of grey to his demonic sight in the deep gloom. The room was empty, and only an owl could be heard hooting in the distance. The owl was a more defining and comforting sound than the gentle murmur of the patrol guards on the night watch.
The dream remained vivid in his memory, and he ran a hand over his face as he exhaled heavily. Mitsuhide could still hear the remnant boom of the thunder, louder in his ears than the sound of his breath and the beat of his heart.
Though it was a dream, Mitsuhide had a greater inkling it was not so dreamlike in reality than what he would have preferred. It was only a snippet, but he believed he witnessed a momentary fragment of Aki's trial. There in the dream, he watched as if through a veil, and saw her stand alone upon a platform of stone amongst the clouds of Kunlun. Storm clouds rolled in the sky, and all the power of the storm was directed through a strike of lightning which struck Aki directly. The light blinded him and the sound of the violence and power shocked him awake.
Mitsuhide placed a hand against his chest, feeling his heart gallop as he wondered if that was really what the trials of ascension entailed for the disciples of the Middle Kingdom. Yue Lao had watered the description down greatly. Baihu's on the other hand was accurate to the finest detail. But no amount of imagining could have prepared Mitsuhide for what he either dreamt or Saw tonight.
To think of Aki, a human, enduring such strikes of thunder and lightning brought a fear to his heart which almost suffocated him. She was so soft, so delicate! She was fragile, as easy to wound as any other human, and had even died once on the battlefield, and Mitsuhide resisted Death itself to bring her back.
How could she possibly endure such a trial?
He trusted Baihu as Baihu had kept his word through and through, and Mitsuhide had seen it with his own eyes. But it did not lessen the sudden spike of worry, and the horror, Mitsuhide felt over the thought of Aki going through such a trial.
It was very easy to be killed.
Mitsuhide shut his eyes for a moment and banished the thought from his mind. When he opened his eyes again, he looked to the red string tied around his wrist. It had been there for ten years, tied by Yue Lao before Mitsuhide had realised the old man was in fact the Matchmaker God himself. The string had not aged in these ten years, still a vibrant crimson colour, as if the thread had been spun and dyed only a day gone.
"This is the connection between you and Hai Ting. It will burn in warning when either of you are under threat. It will warm when either of you need soothing. And lastly, it will disintegrate, if the love between you dies. The latter is highly unlikely, but it is something I must inform you of nonetheless," Yue Lao instructed.
Mitsuhide had experienced the former two sensations, therefore Yue Lao's words were indeed true. As a result, it was reassuring to see and feel no reaction from the string around Mitsuhide's wrist at this time. Although, he watched it a few seconds longer, to ensure nothing did happen.
Once awake however, Mitsuhide knew he would not be able to sleep after such a dream. Therefore with a sigh, he got up. Collecting his katana, he silently left the castle grounds through the garden, as silent as a breath of wind, and entered the forests behind the castle.
The air was still chilly during the night, but he did not wear a haori over his yukata, for the air was not cold to his body. Nevertheless, as he leapt between the trees as easily as a wraith, the sensation of the wind of his passage was a soothing caress to his body, cooling the stress of sweat which had previously drenched him. A supernatural body did not sweat unless undergoing extreme exertion, or in this case, stress over a matter which meant the most to him.
Mitsuhide allowed the forest to engulf him, and he travelled far, using the serenity of nature at night to calm his worried and turbulent mind. The wind brushed through his hair, long and as black as the night. It whispered across his chest from between the loose folds of his yukata. The night shrouded him like a cloak, disguising his presence from the quiet life of the forest.
He journeyed far, and climbed one of the hills to its peak where an exposed platform of rock jutted out over the sweeping landscape. Above, the sky was clear and the stars twinkled. There was no moon, for it was a new moon this night.
Another person already stood at the edge of rock, and Mitsuhide joined him.
Yue Lao stood with his head turned west, eyes to the sky. His hanfu of white and red almost glowed ever so softly in the starlight. He leaned against his divine staff, stroking his beard.
"I am guessing you sensed the ascension trial?" Yue Lao mused, breaking the quiet with his grandfatherly voice.
"So that was not a simple dream I had then," Mitsuhide murmured deeply, joining Yue Lao at the edge.
"No, it was not," Yue Lao agreed. "I was about to say I am surprised you sensed it, for your land's ways of study and ascension are very different to ours. But then of course I remembered, you are Hai Ting's other half. What she experiences, you will know to a degree, and vice versa."
Mitsuhide glanced down at the red thread around his wrist again. "I do not think any calamity has struck but . . ." he trailed off, frowning as the image of Aki being hit by lightning returned to the forefront of his mind. He felt very unwell.
Yue Lao looked at him expectantly.
"Though I have been informed by both you and High God Baihu of what happens, I did not expect it to be as so. It is a traumatic experience," Mitsuhide said softly. He wanted to take to the skies and fly across the land and sea to Kunlun, to see Aki for himself, to ensure she was safe, to protect her from the power of the universe by keeping her in his arms. The urge was so powerful, yet Mitsuhide had to bite his lips to resist. Baihu's instruction and only requirement was clear, and that was to not come close to Aki until after she had completed her trial, otherwise Mitsuhide's demonic essence would corrupt hers and as a result, possibly kill her during the trial.
Yue Lao smiled slightly. "Nothing worth having in this world comes easy. The true path to enlightenment and power requires immense hard work and dedication. There are no short cuts."
Mitsuhide sighed. "Very wise words. I guess for someone like me, it is difficult to comprehend, for I and other Purebloods were already born immortal. We have had it easy."
"Which is why fate will send you a far greater trial at some point in your life as retribution for your easy entry into the world of power and enlightenment," Yue Lao chuckled.
"I wonder what mine will be, when it comes," Mitsuhide breathed.
"Honestly, I could not tell you. It could be anything. Though I am a God, there is much to the universe I do not know. The universe and nature are powers beyond even the highest and oldest Gods," Yue Lao said thoughtfully.
"Do you still have another trial yet to undertake?" Mitsuhide questioned.
"I have two," Yue Lao answered. "But whether they come or not, is up to time and how much I continue to cultivate, more cultivation brings the trials closer. No cultivation leaves the trials where they are, paused in the future."
"What are they?" Mitsuhide asked, fascinated, and hoping the discussion would distract him from the worry he felt for Aki, as well as informing himself of what to expect from Aki's distant future.
Yue Lao cleared his throat. "Well, the next one will be the trial to ascend to become a High God. Even amongst Godhood, there are ranks. After High God, for me anyway, would then be the trial into Nothingness, which will be my eventual death. This last one is one is the hardest we must endure, and is one we must all take in the end. It could come in a few years time, or it could come at the end of time itself. Time is long for those of us who are immortal. You will realise this soon enough," Yue Lao chuckled.
Mitsuhide stood and thought. There was so much to it. So many complexities and tests to overcome on the path to enlightenment.
The two men gazed out over the steep hills and patched fields. Wolves howled, and owls hooted. Bat flew across the darkness.
"What will happen to Aki now?" Mitsuhide eventually asked. He refused to ask the question of what would happen now if she had failed, for failure in this sense meant death by thunder. He had waited ten years for her, ten years which seemed to pass so slowly as if a year became ten, and ten became a hundred. For her to die so far away from him was a notion he could not accept nor bear thinking about.
Yue Lao hummed in thought. "Assuming she has passed, which I think she probably has, she will need to recover. Even for an immortal or a God, the thunder strikes are severely wounding, both physically and spiritually. They would have to go into seclusion to meditate and heal, which could last anything between eighteen days to eighty thousand years."
"Eighty thousand years?" Mitsuhide repeated sharply.
Yue Lao nodded. "Of course in the case of Hai Ting, she does not have that amount of time. She is needed back here, and soon. She will still need to meditate to recover, but her recovery will be aided by a special medicine Baihu will have crafted specifically for this reason. He has been forging it for I know not how long. All I know is that he has been forging it since before Hai Ting came to him, for he Sees as she does, and he has known Hai Ting will be his disciple for a many thousands of years prior to her coming to Kunlun."
Though Mitsuhide did not show it, he was shocked. Of Baihu's Sight, he knew, as it was one of the two reasons why the White Tiger God took Aki as his disciple. What Mitsuhide did not know of though was the medicine. If Baihu had been crafting it for possibly centuries in preparation for this day, that would mean much of Baihu's own cultivation would have gone into the pill to hasten Aki's healing process.
"Though Baihu's medicine will hasten Hai Ting's healing process and solidify her cultivation, there will be a catch," Yue Lao continued, as if sensing the direction of Mitsuhide's thoughts. "Like I said before, there is no easy path. To the advantage she gains from the medicine, there will also be a disadvantage. Unfortunately, I do not know what it will be. You can probably ask her when she returns. There will be much for you both to discuss, I imagine."
Mitsuhide sighed. "Indeed, there is a lot. I have done a great many things, which I believe is for the better. Though much has certainly changed from what Aki would expect by this moment in time."
Yue Lao glanced at him curiously. Aki's origin in time and her own intellect was common knowledge amongst the acquainted supernatural beings, but none knew of her journal, and none knew how much Mitsuhide had already changed events from what had happened before in Aki's original timeline.
There was so much to discuss, so much to plan, and so much to navigate.
Yet despite the urgency to have such a discussion, Mitsuhide just wanted to see her. He want her to see him and recognise him. He wanted her by his side. He wanted her in his arms.
Yue Lao did not ask further upon Mitsuhide's statement, understanding that some things were best left unsaid. Still though, the old man smiled.
"It will be lovely when you are both reunited," he said happily. "I do not think I will be here as much when she is returned, for my main purpose will have been fulfilled. But I do expect to be at your wedding."
It was Mitsuhide's turn to chuckle. "My friend, you are always welcome here. And naturally I expect you to be at our wedding when it eventually happens."
"Eventually?"
"I have the majority of support, mainly from Takamagahara, and Yomi, which still surprises me actually."
"Why does that surprise you?"
"Takamagahara is the natural counterpart to Yomi. What we do, they oppose; what we resist, they enforce, and vice versa. And likewise most supernatural beings would not be so pleased to have someone of my standing marry a human. But Yomi has slowly come around to the concept of having a Seer as the wife of Yomi's Emperor, and she is more supernatural than human now. And Takamagahara – despite their usual arrogance and pride – seem to be more afraid of this future calamity of Aki's time than the fact she is of humble origin. Our union is the best chance to stop it. It is Izumo which seems the most reluctant. But I imagine once Aki returns and they sense the beginning's of her immortality, their opinion would change."
Yue Lao hummed. "Why is it so important to have Izumo's and Takamagahara's blessing? You are the God Emperor of Yomi. The only approval you need is that of your own realm."
Mitsuhide clasped his hands behind his back and exhaled softly. "Indeed, Yomi's is the only approval I need, and I have it. But I am trying to forge alliances. Whatever is meant to happen in over five hundred years from now, requires friends across all three realms of Japan, and across the realms, heavens and seas of the Middle Kingdom."
"Ah," Yue Lao breathed in understanding. "That is no easy task. But I think if anyone were to do it, it would be you."
Mitsuhide smiled. "I cannot do it alone. I need Aki as well."
"And don't you worry, young man. She will be back."
xxx
"Hai Ting, can you hear me? Hai Ting?"
The young woman was in pain, as if a knife was lodged through her skull. The light was bright to her sensitive and blurred eyes. Her ears were ringing. Someone was talking. It sounded like an old man. He was calling for someone.
Through her squinted eyes, her surroundings seemed confusing to the young woman. She did not recognise it.
She tried to sit up to take a closer look, to see if anything was familiar. She wanted to know who the old man was calling for. His voice was loud in her pounding ears, and she tried to raise her hand to her head, as if her hand could somehow ease the splitting pain through her brain.
The young woman blinked, and some of her vision cleared. Indeed there was an old man. He sat next to her on a chair, while she lay on a bed. He had long white hair, and eyebrows and beard. His robes were white and red, and a staff rested next to him. His warm brown eyes were concerned, and they were fixed upon her. Why her?
"Who are you?" She croaked. "Who is Hai Ting?"
Was Hai Ting her? He was definitely looking at her and no one else, so he must have been calling for her. But she did not recognise him, nor the name. Was Hai Ting her name?
The old man looked taken aback, but recovered quickly and frowned in concern. "I am Yue Lao, the merchant. We met in Tara, a town in Mino province, in the Land of the Rising Sun. And you are Hai Ting, a Lady of Tara castle, and were called Osamu there. Can you not remember?"
The young woman looked at him, unable to make sense of his words. Tara? Where was that? And who was this Osamu? Why were there so many names? Why was she so confused? Why did nothing seem familiar to her?
A sense of wrongness seeped through her throbbing mind.
She realised someone else was also in the room, and she turned her gaze to him, squinting again as the candlelight felt too bright for her eyes and head to manage.
A handsome man sat cross-legged with a stringed instrument resting before him. Though his face and appearance were youthful, his eyes and expression were filled with a timeless age. His hair was long and black down his back. An otherworldly presence projected from this man, as if he were something more than what his physical body here illustrated.
His eyes were most defining however. Somehow, the woman expected to see the same dark brown eyes in him as she saw in the old man. But this entity's eyes were a glowing blue. They were eyes which saw through everything and anything. They were eyes that saw beyond the confines of the world.
Upon seeing his eyes, something tickled at the back of the young woman's mind. It was a feeling which made her realise something was very wrong. Because she could not remember anything. She had forgotten something very important.
The woman looked down at her hands. "What? I . . . I don't remember. I don't remember anything."
The pounding in her head took most of her concentration. Around her, she heard the two mens' voices as they spoke between each other.
"Oh dear," the old man said. "I wasn't expecting this."
"Neither was I," said the other. This other man's voice was strange, as if it had a pull to it which made her turn her head to him. His eyes seemed to offer some clarity, as if his presence helped her think through the pain in her brain.
"What happened to me?" She croaked. "Why does my head hurt so much? Why can I not remember anything? Who are you both?"
The old man glanced to the younger looking man. Though the old man appeared physically older, he somehow felt younger than the glowing blue-eyed man.
The blue-eyed man sighed and rose from where he sat. "You sustained a head wound, and it appears the injury has also taken your memories, which is why you do not remember who you are, nor recognise the man beside you as the one who saved you." He was a tall individual, dressed in elegant robes and moved with the prowling grace of a tiger. The young woman blinked and squinted again, thinking she saw the mirage of a tiger behind him.
He came and sat down next to the young woman on the bed and took her wrist, where he felt her pulse.
"We have many names, but most commonly, I am known as Baihu, and this is Yue Lao. We are both Gods of the Celestial Heaven." He then indicated to the woman. "And you, you too have many names," he said to her calmly. His voice was cool, clear, and somehow reassuring. There was age, and an ancient wisdom in his tone.
"The ones you were given at birth was Hai Ting – Annie Hai Ting Williamson. The name you have gone by for the last ten years is Aki, and officially it has been Akechi Osamu," the man said soothingly. "Do any of those names sound familiar to you?"
The woman shook her head. "No," she whispered. "No, they do not."
But they did now. I found myself awake. Really awake, as I laid on my bed, staring at the familiar ceiling. Everything had slowly come back to me in my sleep, and I remembered it all. I remembered being dragged from the twenty-first century into Muromachi Japan, where I came under the guardianship of Akechi Mitsukuni and was adopted into the family. I remembered making new friends, trying to navigate my way through a totally different time era, teaching Mitsuhide and watching him grow. I became a Samurai able to wield as sword as well any other. I uncovered my abilities as a Seer and was wounded on the battlefield for it.
And then I remembered Mitsuhide leaving with his uncles and mother for Yomi to ascend, while the Oda in the meantime infiltrated the castle and attempted to kidnap me. I had fallen and bumped my head, and subsequently lost my memory.
That was when my new life had begun. A new and fresh start under the guardianship and guidance of the Western God of the Yellow Emperor, Baihu, the White Tiger. I had lived in Kunlun for the last decade. I had trained and studied and meditated. I had made new friends, a new family. I loved Baihu as a loyal disciple loved their master. He had protected me while I cultivated towards the first greatest trial of my spiritual life.
The lightning was the last memory I had, and recalling its shock through my body and the boom of its thunder in my head, welded all the memories together and the comprehension of it all.
A final, early memory from my awakening in Kunlun, was seeing Mitsuhide here, fully ascended as a God. He was as magnificent and as powerful as Baihu. A handsome and regal God of the underworld.
But I did not recognise him back then. And now, with my full memory returned, I understood why his eyes had been pained and confused, even if briefly, for I had not understood why a God could possibly look pained and confused.
My eyes widened. "Oh. My. God," I muttered in English. I had not spoken my mother-tongue in ten years.
I sat up, feeling so many emotions crash through me at once. I was astounded and amazed I had survived the ascension trial, thankful and happy to have my martial brothers and sisters look after me so well. But also I was horrified, because for ten years, I had been separated from Mitsuhide. For ten years, I had forgotten him.
I had forgotten him of all people. I had to find Baihu right away.
"Ah! Hai Ting! You're awake!"
The high voice was shrill with surprise and joy. The fourteenth disciple, Rourou, had been busy cleaning the room we both shared. But she had paused what she was doing to cheekily eat something she must have snuck into the dorms, because when I looked at her, her cheeks bulged with food and a white powder dusted her lips and chin. Her eyes were wide with shock; shock at being found guilty of eating something sneaky, as well as the shock of me waking.
I laughed before I could stop myself. Rourou's expression was ever so funny. So innocently guilty, like a golden retriever dog caught trying to open the fridge when it thought no one was looking.
Rourou had been my best friend during the years I lived in Kunlun. She was young in immortal years, just five hundred years old. Originally from Hangzhou, she had been abandoned at birth, then found by Emei disciples and raised as one of their own, before coming to Kunlun.
"It is so good to see you awake! I was so worried! I wasn't sure if Shifu's medicine would work, but it looks like it did!" She exclaimed, talking through her mouthful and rushed to my side. "Does it hurt anywhere? The trial is so traumatic! We weren't too sure if you would survive as you were human when you went in. Can you hear me actually? Your ears were bleeding after the lightning trial."
I managed to grab her arm as she patted me all over. "I can hear you loud and clear, Rourou, despite your mouthful of food," I assured her, letting go of her arm and patting her hand.
She grinned cheekily and swallowed her mouthful with effort. She brought out a small package from the folds of her uniform. "Here, its some dragon beard sweets. Li Guo and I managed to sneak down the mountain to the human town earlier this morning. Do you want any? Ah! But you mustn't tell First Brother or Second Sister!"
"I'm not going to tell Da Ge or Da Jie," I giggled. "But save some for me later. I need to see Shifu." I swung my legs over the bed. The motion was a dull and painful ache across my body. It was still tired and fatigued.
"Wait, wait," Rourou said, holding out her hands to catch my shoulders. "You've been asleep for eight days. And your body is going to be really weak after the trial. Wait until you're a bit stronger before you see Shifu."
I shook my head, feeling my urgency again. "No, I need to see him now. It's really important!" I made to stand, and Rourou clamped her hands harder over my shoulders, pushing me back down.
"Don't stand yet! If you really must see Shifu, then wait here, I will go find him."
"No need. I am here."
Both our heads turned to the double doors, where Baihu entered, his hands clasped behind his back. His appearance stunned both of us, and instantly we dropped to our knees and clasped our hands, bowing our heads. Rourou tried to wipe the icing sugar from her mouth with her arm.
"Shifu," we intoned.
"You can get up," Baihu said in his usual soft voice. "Rourou, you have done well. Sixteen, it is good to see you awake."
Rourou stood, while I returned to sit on my bed, feeling somewhat breathless as his sudden appearance had tensed my muscles with automatic obedience and respect. My body felt shaky, as if it had just recovered from the worst of a flu but was still in the early stages of recovery.
"Yes, Shifu," I said. "Thank you for taking care of me. There is . . . something I must discuss with you urgently."
Baihu held my stare for a moment, reading what was in my eyes, before he nodded and kindly turned to Rourou. "Fourteen, you can leave."
Rourou hesitated, and her eyes burned with curiosity as she pouted. I smiled sympathetically to her, but in that smile was also an assurance I would tell her afterwards what was so urgent. I just needed to tell it to my master first.
Therefore Rourou bowed quickly again, and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Baihu glanced at the door from the corner of his eyes, and waited before he finally turned back to me, ensuring no one lingered outside to overhear.
His eyes landed back on me. "Do you remember then?"
It was a simple question, an innocent one on the outside. But beneath it, was a complexity as complex as my own answer would be in concept. His eyes were filled with knowing. His eyes Saw all, just as mine had the capacity to as well.
I met his gaze and took a deep breath.
"Yes, I remember. I remember everything."