Lian's Peculiar Adventure
Chapter 24
Old Wounds
Zhin sat silently on an inn bed with bandages on his chest.
"You were lucky, Zhin." Sarah commented, "Yamina didn't hit any vital organs. It was an easy fix for my Pyre."
"Same for your buddy here." Lian added and pointed to Sha Lin, who was on the bed behind her.
"Well… crap." Sha Lin sighed, "That stupid lamp couldn't have predicted this."
Zhin glared at the young man but maintained his composure when he noticed Abdalah and Yamina were also there.
"Uh…"
"They're here because I took a statement. I am still an enforcer at the end of the day." Lex spoke up, "I justified Yamina shooting you with the other enforcers as an act of self-defense. You two, however, will have to pay the local court 500 pieces of gold each for instigating violence."
Sha Lin sighed.
"You're lucky they didn't pin the sandstone wall destruction on you." Lex pointed at him, "They classified it as an Act of the Gods with the ox's owner being questioned. Now I want to finally get this down as a Man of the Law, did you murder Zhin's mother in cold blood?"
Sha Lin gasped.
"N-N-No! I didn't!" he pleaded, "I never wanted to kill her!"
"You're going to believe him?!" Zhin erupted, "Over your own friend!? The man who has bled for you!?"
"Zhin! Enough of this! We have a way to prove this once and for all!" Lex pinned the man down to the bed, "We must settle this! You can rest assured if he is guilty I will bring his punishment to the fullest extent of the Law!" he yelled.
Even Abdalah shook at this outburst.
Zhin looked down.
He knew his friend was right.
"Sarah, look into his soul!" Lex told the woman, "We have the fastest way to the truth here!"
"Very well." Sarah responded, "Sha Lin, did you kill Zhin's mother on purpose?"
"No! I swear to all the gods! I never meant t-t-o…" he started to cry, "Zhin was my friend, man! I loved him like a brother alongside Ying…"
Sarah's sights showed that his soul was radiant white, with patches of deep indigo blue that signified sadness.
"He's… telling the truth." She said in disbelief, "His soul… it's white! Absolved from guilt or dishonesty!"
"No! I don't believe it!"
"My friend." Abdalah spoke, "There are times in a man's life he must forgive. If a man has too much hatred in his heart, his soul turns to ash. He loses whatever purpose he has except that very hate that consumes him."
Zhin sat silently.
Memories of his mother came to his mind. How happy she was, how much radiance she brought to their poor condition.
"I-"
"I believe in you, Zhin." Yamina spoke up, "I… now you didn't want to kill each other… but at the heat of the moment I acted to protect and innocent man. I praise the gods that Sarah could heal you, but I want them to heal you for real!"
Zhin saw the same serene grace in her that he did in his mother.
He didn't know why, but he calmed down.
Lian, Lex, and Sarah all felt Zhin's anger just whisk away.
"I know you are a very special man, Zhin." Yamina continued, "I could never fathom the extent of history you have with this man, but I know it is up to you to change. You have seen he wants to change, you have heard his testimony and his innocence-"
"Yamina…." Zhin groaned, "You don't understand."
"I know I don't."
"My mother was the loveliest woman on this entire planet." Zhin spoke, " She loved me beyond all things, save for the gods. She provided me with anything I needed even if she had to cause her hands to bleed from so much work. She…"
"…cared about everyone in town." Sha Lin spoke at the same time as him, "She would bake us cookies. She would give us things even when she didn't have any. Zhin's mother would always give Ying and I candies even when our lunch sacks were full."
Zhin paused.
"I remember my father would always protect her from others heckling her poverty. I didn't understand it at the time, but I knew she didn't deserve it." Sha Lin continued, "Playing with my stand in such a foolish way will always haunt me, no matter how much money I had."
"See, Zhin?" Yamina said, "Now please, find it in your heart to forgive him. I believe you can. You have such a gruff demeanor, but I know your heart is a diamond in the rough."
Zhin looked at Sha Lin.
"I…. Just want to Know one thing." He said, "Why?"
Sha Lin sat silently until he turned to face him.
"That was the day I developed my fighting spirit. You knew I was the last one of the bunch that had one. How I always stood in wonder hearing how you and Ying had imaginary friends that could do amazing things… And that day I had my own. I was showing Ying before I showed you… I knew you would have been so proud of me. But I still had lacked control of The Bow and its arrows since I was young… and…"
Zhin nodded.
"Still a white soul, Zhin." Sarah added.
"And you know I wouldn't have let him get away with a lie." Lian smirked and took out Power Khan.
"I… Forgive you, Sha Lin." Zhin finally spoke up, mustering all his strength to do so.
"I'm proud of you." Yamina smiled and out her hand on his shoulder.
"Good! Now that that's done with!" Lian turned to Sha Lin, "Tell us all about Seris and where we can find her!"
"Woah woah! Go slow princess!" Sha Lin chuckled, "I-"
"We have no choice." Sarah said, "I feel Seris' presence and dark energy loom over us at every moment we get closer to her. We need all we can- Do you know the secret to Seris' stand?"
Sha Lin pondered.
"No, I don't… but I have felt its power before." He spoke, "It's something surreal… I can't explain it… It made me scared…"
"Scared enough to wet your pants again?" Lian chuckled.
"Come on, Lian, he's confessing to us!" Lex grumbled.
"Sorry, that'll be the last one."
"Anyways." Sha Lin continued, "I… Just don't know what to say, she is rather… unnerving. She does have a person that's unusually close to her. He was the one who led me to her."
"Wait, who is that?" Sarah stopped him.
"It's a man, around the height of cop man over here." Sha Lin nudged his head at Lex, "I don't know how he looks like. He always had this cloak over him that, in the shadows of where they were, always hid his face. He appeared to have white skin from what I could see… but he was always close to Seris, like, unusually close."
"It must be her right-hand man…" Lex postulated.
"Seris isn't the one to have that." Sarah retorted, "She's always been a one-man band…"
"No, believe me, this man was like her attack dog, I remember him commanding others with stands." Sha Lin said, "Like this elf girl, other than my Ying, of course, and this girl with a short haircut. He would always speak in the place of Seris, Seris only spoke to those who were apparently, in his words, worthy."
"He's telling the truth." Lex nodded, "I have heard many confessions, and his lines up to those who speak true."
"His soul shows the same." Sarah added, "I'm so upset we can't find out the secret to Seris' stand. But wait, do you remember where she is exactly?"
"Yes, she has two places where she lives." Sha Lin answered, "She has her place past Hadea in actual Seris, like, the actual blocked off part Seris, and one in the next town over from here."
"Really?" Sarah gasped.
"Yes. She has this… fortress… That's where I first met her by the way." Sha Lin commented, "On the edge of the town, it looks like an old Shalimeer Fortress."
"Ah! Al-Alhameed!" Abdalah exclaimed, "Yes, it's a fortress that once belonged to the people of this land before the times of the Magistrate. I've been there a couple of times, it's old, but I do know that it was owned by someone."
"You're saying it's in the next town?" Sarah asked.
"Yes!" Both Sha Lin and Abdalah spoke.
"Then we should make haste, you are alright now, aren't you, Zhin?" Sarah turned to the swordsman.
"Yes. Your Pyre has healed me." Zhin said and sat up, "We need to finish this." He shuffled around in bed, taking off the covers and finally standing up.
He made Thousand Hands grab his robes and put it on him.
"W-What?" Yamina and Abdalah stepped back in shock at the apparent magical act of a hovering robe.
"Wait, what will we do with him?" Lian pointed at Sha Lin, who was putting on his red scarf and fixing himself to leave.
"I have one more thing to ask of you." Sarah interrupted the man's actions, "My sister… Seris-"
"I still can't believe she is your sister." Sha Lin chuckled, "You two are nothing alike."
"I know." Sarah responded, "But I want to ask you something… When you saw her, what did she look like?"
Sha Lin pondered.
Sarah grabbed a nearby scroll and opened it up.
"Now Sha Lin, I'm going to need you that you really focus on how she looks." She spoke.
"You're her sister, you should know how she looks." Lian butted in.
"That was more than 20 years ago." Sarah responded, "She may have changed. I know I saw her in a vision, but it was cloudy and hidden, and frankly I don't remember well."
"Wait, you had a vision?" Lex asked with concern in his tone.
Sarah nodded.
"We can't distract Sha Lin. Sha Lin, do you remember what she looked like?"
Sha Lin focused his memory.
"She was always in shadows… And I could never get that close to her without the other guy jumping in. Plus without lights around her, it was just so faint."
"Just try to focus." Sarah urged him.
Sha Lin's eyes shut close and tightened.
Sarah also did the same as all her allies watched them with confusion. Her arm started to visibly glow with Pyre energy, which was noticeable to even Abdalah and Yamina.
"Pyre Divination!" she finally yelled and brought out Furious Flame, who, alongside its user, karate chopped the paper.
Upon impact, a glowing fire raced across the surface of the parchment and then dissipated, leaving behind small embers and flakes of ash.
Sha Lin opened his eyes and saw the scroll that lay before him.
"By the gods." Lian gasped.
"Hmmmm…" Lex mumbled.
"Is that…" Zhin added.
"Seris…" Sarah murmured and brought up the scroll.
Upon its face was an image of Seris burned into the very fibers of the paper.
She was covered by darkness and facing away, her face partly hidden by darkness except for her mouth and her chin. She was wearing a cowl but it was down, revealing she had braided blonde hair (due its lack of burned color) that came down to the middle of her shoulder blades.
Most of her back was exposed except for what was behind her chest area, which was covered by what appeared to be a corset.
"What is that…?" Lex came up and pointed at Seris' back, seeing all sorts of lacerations swirling across it.
"My work." Sarah responded as she glared at the picture, "As I have told you, Seris and I fought long ago before we had Stands." She spoke, "I only had the Power of the Pyre, which was the only thing that could kill what she had become… A Creature of the Abyss."
Sarah stepped set the scroll on the bed and stretched, then breathed in deeply.
Her body started to glow with fiery radiance as she took a stance.
"Shooting Kick!" she said and kicked with her right leg.
But what was most astounding was that her leg extended far beyond what would be assumed it could, reaching as far as the other end of the inn room before lightly tapping some flowers that were on a vanity desk in a glass vase.
The flowers were suddenly infused with the same burning energy that came out of Sarah until it infused with the water and caused the glass vase to shatter.
"That is the power of the Pyre in its rawest form." Sarah told them, but then wiped the sweat of her brow and gave out a labored breath, "Of course…. I'm not as young as I once was."
She wheezed and fell to her knees.
"Sarah!" Lian ran to her side with Yamina, Lex, and Sha Lin.
"I guess I pushed myself really far." Sarah panted and coughed, "I'm fine..." she started to stand up with their help.
"There's I reason I never use the Pyre's Divination… It's much too taxing." She shook her head and stretched her arms.
"I'm glad to hear that." Lian smiled and put her arm over her shoulder, "I think it's best we start heading out, we know what Seris looks like and places she may be. Hey, if we're lucky, she may even be in the next town over."
"Let's hope so." Zhin spoke.
"Wait." Sarah said and turned to Sha Lin, "Will you be joining us? We could always use the help of another stand user."
Sha Lin stepped back.
"I'm afraid my journey leads me elsewhere. As much as I would love to help you all, I don't think it is the best idea." He informed and grabbed his sack, "I think I've helped as much as I could."
Sarah nodded.
"I respect it. It is saddening, but I will not force anyone on this peculiar journey." She told him, "I wish you the best of travels."
"Plus, Seris is probably going to hunt me down anyways, so the least I could do is distract her and her friends by splitting up." Sha Lin chuckled.
"That's actually pretty wise." Lian commented, "I didn't expect that from you."
"Thank you, Princess." Sha Lin walked up to her, "Say, how about a little good bye kiss- OOF!" he was punched by the woman in the stomach.
"Oh yeah, and this is for shooting Lex." Lian uppercutted the man.
"Lian, that's enough!" Lex held her back.
"And you asked why I didn't join in…" Sha Lin picked himself up and rubbed his head, "Well, I will be leaving now." He waved and headed to the door.
"Good travels." Lian waved back.
"Don't forget to pay your fine." Lex added.
"Right…" Sha Lin rolled his eyes.
"Good luck."
His eyes darted to see Zhin looking at him.
"Thank you." Sha Lin returned the favor with a bow, then stepped out the door.
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"All set." Lex dusted off his gloves as he stepped away from the new wagon the Paladins acquired, "We are ready to continue our journey." He announced and walked to the front.
"Good, not a second to lose." Sarah looked at the Sun, which was still above the horizon though it was already starting to turn the sky orange.
"We should stop resting in towns, I'm sure my sister will ramp up her efforts to assassinate us and innocent bystanders may get hurt."
"I thought that too." Lian said and picked up Moji, "You ready to go, Mo?" she asked her.
"Yes! I'm ready!" Moji responded and jumped off her arms and landed inside the wagon, "I'm just worried about Mr. Zhin." She said.
Surely enough, Zhin was with Abdalah and Yamina by their caravan.
"I wonder what they're talking about?" Lex asked as he saw their mannerisms and reactions during their conversation.
"Or perhaps I already know."
"I think Zhin is doing the right thing." Sarah said, "Yamina has no need to take a part in our journey, she's much too vulnerable to my sister's stand users! I couldn't fathom if she got hurt, both for her sake and Zhin's."
"It's not like the two have known each other for a long time." Lian shrugged her shoulders, "I think it is best, then again, what do I know." She smirked and pulled Lex's ear.
"Hey!" Lex growled and stepped away, "Stop that!"
Zhin interrupted the shenanigans with his arrival.
"Well, I got that sorted out." He gave out a sigh and looked at his friends, "Yamina will not be joining us."
"Shame, I thought you two would have gotten along well-" Lian was elbowed by Sarah.
"Hahaha…" Zhin grumbled, "Regardless, her father and I agreed that it would be too dangerous for her. It seems after seeing your leg spread out a mile that even he was taken back by our craziness. I think it was all for the best." He said, "Well then, let's not stand around like the government- No offense." He turned to Lex.
"None taken."
"We need to defeat Seris once and for all." Zhin said.
"You sure have new spunk in you." Lian commented on Zhin's lively behavior and raised spirits, "What happened?"
"I'm guessing all that hate being released sure gave you new strength." Sarah said, "I'm glad you could do it! I know that Sha Lin is such a creep-o, but he's a good person at heart."
Zhin nodded.
"Let's not waste anymore time." He said and jumped in the wagon next to Moji, "How are you doing, Moji?" he asked her.
Lian stepped up to the front alongside Lex while Sarah used Furious Flame to carry her into the wagon.
"Are we ready?" Lex asked and turned back.
"Let's do this." Zhin responded.
"Better now than never." Sarah added.
"Let's go!" Moji cheered.
Lex turned to Lian.
"Ready, Princess?" he asked her with a bow.
"Absolutely, we know what she looks like. Unfortunately for her she won't look like that after I'm through with her." Lian said and put her arm under Lex's.
"Let's do this!" Lex yelled, "No one escapes The Law!" he urged the horses to start striding, and the wagon took off.
The Paladins waved at Yamina and Abdalah as they passed by their caravan, giving them thanks for all they provided.
"Safe travels, my friends!" Abdalah called out, "Don't do anything to crazy, please!"
"It was an honor to meet you all!" Yamina smiled, but it died down when she saw Zhin at the back of the wagon waving back at her.
The two kept looking at each other all the way through until the wagon turned the corner and was no longer in sight.
She looked down before turning to her father and his caravan and giving a small sigh.