Sorry for not uploading this last week. I forgot all about it. To make up for it, this week will have two new chapters.
Sins of the Past
Chapter Four
It felt good being in his body again; spirit traveling was extremely exhausting. Not to mention the stress that came with fighting off a foreign invader that can apparently evolve.
Assuring himself that all traces of the kaogukai were gone, Sin had resumed his journey. Additionally, the saigu had decided to stick around, in case any other spirits attempted to harm him.
At the moment they were traveling in utter silence, but earlier Sin had talked to the saigu about Devyn and how the monks of Mandar were doing. All were fine.
"I am deeply concerned, young humago," the saigu said.
"About the kaogukai?" Sin asked.
"That and its master," the spirit confessed. "In all my years, I have never quite seen anything like this. A kaogu has never taken on a human master nor has it evolved past its original form. This is very troubling news for the spirigo and for your world."
Sin inclined his head toward the spirit. "What do you suggest we do, saigu? It would seem not even tenhaigo can protect one from this kaogukai."
The spirit seemed to brood over it. As the hours of silence passed, Sin could just make out the city's skyline over the horizon. The saigu had not yet broken the heavy fog of silence, so the young human was content to merely walk side by side with the honorable spirit.
They were nearer to the city. Hunger getting the best of him, Sin stopped at a group of trees. He laid his pack on the ground and sifted through it for some food. Rewarded with a sweet tart and a canteen of water, Sin happily dug in.
As he ate and drank, he strove to think on the kaogukai as well. If tenhaigo no longer worked, or could be overridden, what precautions could be taken?
He had learned the technique from his monk brothers, but was it possible that there was more than one technique to spirit locking? If one assumed that there could be more than one evolutionary form, then one could also assume that there must be more precautionary steps to insure the safety of a human's body while in the spirit world.
"Human, I have something of which to tell you," the saigu spoke gravely.
Sin placed his half eaten tart away. "I'm honored for you tell me."
"First I must ask of you a question."
"Ask, dear saigu."
"Where did you learn tenhaigo?" the spirit drifted lower to the ground.
Sin grinned with the memory. "My mentor Geshu taught it to me."
The saigu fell into silence again.
Finishing up his lunch, Sin packed up everything and trekked the rest of the way to the city of Lumbridge. Only a mile left to travel, Sin could now fully make out the city's wall.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. When he had pictured the city, he had imagined Port Sarim, just cleaner. What he saw amazed him.
A huge stone wall, riddled with buttresses and crowned with battlements winded miles in either direction. He could just barely make out soldiers patrolling the wall. The grey stone wall was as tall as twenty Sins stacked on top of each other with square holes cut into the sides for archers to aim from in times of attack. It was so tall, he couldn't even see over the top into the city. How frightened those guards must be to be at such a stomach clenching height! The mere thought of standing atop the battlements sent Sin's stomach into a tizzy.
Sin got over his paralysis and continued. He had never seen a city like this. Though, truth be told, he had never left Mandar but once.
"The wall is higher," Sin's spirit friend said.
"Do you mean it was lower when you lived here?" Sin ventured to ask.
"Yes," the saigu said. "War was not common and we feared no attack from bandits or thieves. The sight of the wall, at such heights, sickens me to the core of my soul."
They continued on, getting strange looks from the natives. Sin did not understand. Did no one else travel with spirits?
Finally they had reached the city gate, where the saigu declared his intention to depart. Sin begged him not to go.
"I am sorry, but because I died in the vicinity, I can never return."
Sin nodded in defeat. He bowed to the saigu. "I thank you for traveling with me."
"I accept your thanks, and pass on to you knowledge of another spirit locking technique."
Sin looked up in surprise. "There are others?"
"Infinite. But, there is no time for a lesson. I imprint the knowledge of tenhaigokai unto you." The saigu wafted over Sin's head, a white light etching itself onto Sin's forehead. The light took on the shape of the symbol for spirit, a circle with a diagonal slash, then ceased glowing, leaving behind the symbol.
The saigu began to fade. "I trust you to use this technique wisely, young humago."
Sin bowed a second time. "You have my promise, saigu."
The saigu had vanished before Sin had finished talking, leaving him behind to face Lumbridge by himself.
The city was very different from Port Sarim, once past the gate. The first thing that hit him was the smell. Sin only smelled the mouthwatering scent of various loaves of bread, and not the gut wrenching odor of rotting rat.
Expecting some resistance at the gate, Sin was surprised when the guard had simply let him through without checking for anything hidden.
Perhaps his stay would be more pleasant than his time in Port Sarim. So far his experience in Lumbridge highly suggested this. He'd barely gotten through the gate when a clergyman had approached him boldly.
Seeing a clergyman had raised Sin's hopes about the city. He had been invited to afternoon service, and Sin supposed he would make time to sit in.
After minute observation, he concluded that he was currently in the market district of Lumbridge. It made sense from a purely business point of view. How does one make sure that you have new customers? Make the stores the first thing a traveler sees when he comes through the gate.
Sin didn't have much in the way of coin, but he decided it wouldn't hurt him to check out the stalls nearby. Wandering over to a brown stall close to the gate, he saw that the stall keeper was selling sweet tarts!
"I see you have an eye for tarts, good man," the stall keeper said with a toothless grin.
Sin reached for his coin purse. "How much for one?"
"Since you're new to the city, how about ten copper pieces?" the toothless man held up a grizzly hand and accepted the coin, counting it twice to make sure it was all there. Satisfied, the man grabbed a tart and placed it in Sin's waiting hands.
Sin walked away, happy as could be. He chewed the tart as he perused the other stalls. By the time he was done, he'd bought a sweet tart, a new coin purse, and new clothes.
Later he found himself in the residential district. Houses of various sizes lined the streets in either direction. He spotted a few houses in terrible shape. Though those houses were by far the exception, not the rule.
As he traversed the highly confusing and mazelike streets, Sin happened upon a child lying in a gutter. The little girl was curled up into a ball, crying and afraid. He noticed that there was no one around who could be the mother or father to the tiny girl, so he took it upon himself to help.
Without hesitating, he bent over and addressed the fearful girl, "Hi, little one."
Sniffling, the girl merely gazed up at him with her wide eyes. Sin held out his hand, offering her safety. "Are you lost?"
The girl nodded numbly. "Yes."
"If you come with me, I can help find your parents, luga," he said with a reassuring smile.
The little girl bit her lip out of hesitation, but once Sin flashed a smile, she hopped into his arms. Carrying her, Sin went house to house searching for her parents.
As they searched, the little one asked him a question, "What's a luga, mister?"
He grinned at her, making her giggle. "Luga means 'little one.'"
The girl puffed out her cheeks. "Hey! I'm not that little!"
Sin chuckled. "Of course not, luga, of course not."
Eventually the two approached a mansion guarded by a giant gate. The gate was cast out of solid gold and adorned with shiny rubies. Sin shook his head in disapproval. Some people had such an attachment to earthly goods that they forsook their spiritual journeys.
"Is this your house?" Sin asked the little girl.
The girl nodded and leapt from his hands running up to the door. He followed at a lax pace, in no hurry to reach the door as quickly as the girl.
Suddenly opening, her parents rushed from the house, scooping her up in their arms, all the while laughing and crying with joy. It brought a smile to Sin's face.
Turning to him, the father asked, "Are you the man who brought our little flower home?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I must give you a hefty reward! Here, I will give you a thousand gold pieces!" The rich father grabbed at his coin purse, but Sin stopped him.
"Please, I do not need a reward."
"But why not?" exclaimed the man's wife. "Surely you do not aim to walk away from here empty-handed?"
"Taking your coin would only cheapen my good act," Sin replied calmly. "I'm sorry for leaving so soon; I am needed elsewhere."
The happily reunited family waved to him as he departed.
A few hours later he ended back up in the market district, having gone in a giant complete circle. As nice as Lumbridge was, there was nothing of tremendous value there.
The only valuable thing Sin needed was information.