Balance
From that point on, I became Aia's mentor in the ways of defense. Though he was one of the younger acolytes at the Temple, he was also one of the ones who had been there the longest due to his being orphaned at such a young age. As such, he had been one of the better warriors at the Temple, yet under my tutelage, he blossomed even more.
Apparently Aia had also discovered a new way to deal with the Mononoke, something that he had learned from his Temple training. He explained to me that it was important to find the Katachi, Makoto, and Kotowari – or shape, truth, and reasoning – of an enemy in order to understand it and defeat it in the long term. He had translated these three symbols to mean form, truth, and regret in the case of the Mononoke, and he strongly believed that if he were given time to analyze the Mononoke that he would be able to discover all three about any Mononoke that he might come across and thus be able to defeat it.
The mysterious papers that he had displayed before, he explained to me, had been created for the purpose of warding off Mononoke. He explained a complex ritual to me, something to do with painting the blood of an innocent (his own blood, in this case) in the shape of an omnipotent eye upon each piece of paper. While in most cases the papers would only serve as a barrier, if the Mononoke was weak enough, they could also serve the same purpose as my sword. It made sense to me; my own blood – once again the blood of an innocent – had been used in the creation of the Sword of Exorcism.
I was curious as to Aia's innate knowledge of enchantments; normally warriors were trained in the more mundane ways and taught to shun the old arts. Aia explained to me that yes, the old arts were still considered taboo, but that they intrigued him. He himself did not know why he knew so much about the old arts, and that he had never been tutored in their ways. My respect for the boy grew as a result of his knowledge and levelheadedness.
As for my concerns about word of Aia being spread among my enemies, I had been right; Aia was targeted on several occasions. I took to keeping watch in the woods behind his cabin, sleeping more often than I was normally prone to in order to keep up my energy to protect him during the day. I also spent several evenings roaming the Japanese countryside searching for the Mononoke that I was unable to find during the day due to my vigilance over Aia. Every evening after the Father said goodnight to the boys, I sprinkled my crystals around the perimeter of the cabin in order to keep the Mononoke out while the boys were defenseless. I grew stronger during this time, mostly as a result of the activities my body was being subjected to. I did not have to worry about myself being injured as much as I had to worry about Aia.
On perhaps two occasions, Aia was targeted while he was in a group of people. I was thankful that the minds of mortals were so easily fooled as to fabricate explanations for the absences in memory created during the times I fought the Mononoke. Luckily, the groups of people that had been present on those occasions were not targeted, but merely used as distractions. In both cases, the Mononoke were defeated and no one was harmed.
Aia grew increasingly frustrated with me as I taught him the self-defense but never allowed him to use it. He was humble, meek, and mild as a lamb, but he hated to be considered weak or defenseless. He kept begging me to allow him to fight alongside of me, reasoning that with his papers and his new training that he would be an asset in a fight. I, however, could not bring myself to put him in the way of any more harm than I already had. I was ashamed with myself for practically smothering Aia with my protectiveness, but I felt that I owed it to him for putting him in harm's way in the first place. All the same, I never regretted that I had returned to the boy; he was a new reason for me to persevere and fight. Every time I doubted, Aia was my rock, the one I could turn my thoughts to in remembrance of why I did what I did.
A year passed, and then an additional several months since the first time I had ever met Aia. I grew to love the boy as a father would, and I am sure now that he saw me as a father figure as well. The first time I was with him for his birthday, which happened to be his eleventh birthday, I made him a new purple headscarf since his beloved older headscarf was falling apart and he refused to wear his hair back any other way; cutting the hair was also not an option.
It was the next birthday, his twelfth, in which my world and his was shattered.
I remember feeling that Fate had smiled upon us by placing one of the Temple's 'training days' as we called them – the three days in which Aia and the other acolytes would be sent out into the wilderness to fend for themselves and teach them to survive on their own – on the same weekend that Aia's birthday was. It was his twelfth birthday, and I had fashioned a gold medallion necklace emblazoned with a flower with twelve triangular-shaped petals fanning outwards to give to him.
Just as I was tying the purple silk cord around his neck so that the medallion would hang in front of his uwangi, Aia and I tensed at the same time. We both could sense the Mononoke coming in our direction. We quickly packed our things and set up for the attack – we had been through this many times. Aia brought out his scales and papers, and I warded him with the crystals and pulled out my sword.
Unlike before, the attacking Mononoke did not stop and chat before rushing us. One moment I was facing an empty clearing, the next moment I was battling for my life. In between the complex series of moves I wove through, my adrenaline-laced brain registered that while there were only eight Mononoke, they were all strong, very strong. Each Mononoke resembled a boulder three times my own size, and each body shifted in a sickening myriad of colors. Their bodies were covered in thousands of tentacles that snaked past my guard and nicked my skin, keeping my guard distracted so that I had difficulty choosing a target. I hissed as I was struck in multiple places before finally driving my sword into the body of one of them.
Fighting to get clear of the crowd of Mononoke around me without becoming overly dizzied by their appearances, I saw Aia out of the corner of my eye throwing the papers in my direction. Once more a barrier rose around me, the black eyes turning a violent red and opening to their fullest as they repelled the attempts of the Mononoke to break through. The brief respite allowed me to regain my composure and, when the barrier was withdrawn, I launched myself anew at them, striking two and mortally wounding them before the remaining five knew what was happening.
Using their size to their disadvantage, I maneuvered around one so that its form blocked the others from accessing me. I quickly worked past its guard and killed it. Aia was working on covering one of the Mononoke in his paper strips, a rather difficult feat since the creature shifted away from it. I charged the other two as Aia's papers finally coated the Mononoke, and it dissolved. The two that were my current targets shimmered out of the visible spectrum to protect themselves from Aia, and I was forced to close my eyes in order to see them; we could not hide from each other. I could tell that Aia was confused as he saw me slashing at what he thought was thin air until he realized, from the shifting of his scales, that I was still battling the Mononoke, even though he could no longer see them.
I leapt upwards and twisted over top of the Mononoke, driving my sword through the head of one of them. It quickly exploded. As I was coming down, I nearly was able to drive my sword into the other one; I thought that I had hit my mark until I felt a blazing pain across my left side and arm. I cried out involuntarily, landing on my right arm as my feet were knocked out from under me. My sword had been knocked from my grasp when the Mononoke had struck me, and before I could recover, I found the full weight of the Mononoke on my chest. I cried out again in agony as its weight not only constricted my chest but burned its poison into my flesh. I could not move as the searing pain drove my consciousness into whiteness.
I opened my eyes to see that the creature had returned to the visible spectrum. As my pupils threatened to roll back in my head, I saw Aia shout something; I could not hear what he said through the roaring in my ears. My heart constricted as I saw him run out of his protective circle, picking up my sword and charging the Mononoke sitting on my chest. I nearly cried out for him to stay away until I realized that it would put Aia in danger of being discovered.
As it was, the Mononoke noticed Aia at the last second. As Aia drove his sword into the Mononoke's heart, the Mononoke knocked Aia aside with one of its many tentacles. The Mononoke gave one final shriek as it shattered, and though it was no longer poisoning me with its essence, my body still felt as if it were on fire. I felt as though I were in a dream as my hand involuntarily slipped into my waistband, shaking as the cork was popped off of the vial of healing tonic I had and spilling its contents into my mouth. I howled as the pain increased – a feat I had thought impossible – in order to heal my wounds. Finally, though, I was whole again.
I rolled off of my back and looked frantically around for Aia. I noticed his still form lying on the ground by the base of a tree. I ran over to him, panting not only from the exertions of the battle, but also from the fear that Aia had been hurt. My worst nightmares were confirmed as I rolled him over to reveal his blue uwangi soaked through with his blood.
"No!" I cried out. "Aia, no!" I placed my ear to his chest, listening to the erratic beating of his heart. A similarly bleeding wound on the back of his head meant that he must have struck the tree when he was knocked aside by the Mononoke, but luckily no bones were broken. The Mononoke's poison, however, could not be healed by my healing tonic; the liquid would burn his flesh and leave nothing but a pile of ash should I give him even one drop. I placed my arms under his neck and knees and lifted him against my chest before standing up and, with all the speed I could summon, raced back to his village.