Chapter 193: 257. Conflux

The landscape rends and shatters as once distant battlefields collide and intertwine. The champions of each stand together, tense, poised, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. They have not won their wars by being complacent, and the sudden confluence of their worlds leaves them wary of the battle that is certain to ensue. The strongest among them steps forward, and the others immediately give her their full attention.

“Well this is awkward. Let’s not be too hasty, hmm? Wouldn’t want to do something our vessels would regret.”

The fox is cunning and wise. It knows that as the strongest, it will be the first one targeted in a conflict. Powerful she may be, but she cannot stand against the rest alone.

“That and the rest of you are all cats. I don’t suppose your progenitor has some hand in that, does she? You can be quite treacherous, yourselves, as I recall.”

The rat is indignant. Her partner has not eaten her—they work in unity! The fox sighs.

“What a waste of a setup. In our current state, I doubt you can even appreciate the jokes I could make about that.”

“I can.”

The speaker is not one of the champions. A cat like most of the others, but closer to their progenitor than the rest. Like the fox, she has grown close to the vessels, and understands them in ways that the others do not. Like the fox, she takes a form reminiscent of humans. The fox smiles.

“Well, aren’t you fascinating? Another trickster? No...that’s not a disguise. You’re actually doing it, aren’t you?”

Heian frowns. There’s too much going on—too many souls together to hold on to her individuality for long. But she has practice, so she nods.

“Yes. I’m going to be human like mommy.”

The fox laughs, and her amusement is felt acutely by the others. There’s a tinge of malice behind it, a mocking, derisive sensation that brings the white cat and her partner to stand protectively between the fox and Heian.

“Oh relax you two, I’m not going to hurt her. We’re all in this together, right? Don’t think I’ve forgotten whose fault that is.”

Heian scrunches her face up into a grimace. She’s used to feeling everything from Mommy, but there’s so much. The fox gives her a sympathetic smile.

“It’s painful, isn’t it? Growing closer to them won’t make it hurt any less, you know. You’ll never truly be one of them, even if you do succeed where the rest of us have failed.”

Heian shakes her head.

“I don’t care. I’m not the same as you. I love Mommy, and I want to help her.”

“How touching.”

The fox doesn’t believe Heian, but that’s fine. One day she will teach them the same lessons her mother has taught her. The couple is proud of their daughter for standing up to the fox, but another intruder interrupts.

“That’s all very nice, but you’re shaking apart at the seams, girls. I don’t have any stake in it, really, but my progenitor will be rather annoyed if certain parts of you die to some experimental cultivation, so maybe hurry it up?”

The demon sword is right. Even now the lion lies still, and all of them feel the sting of the fox’s flames upon it. The fox scoffs.

“Don’t blame me. I only provided the tools. It was the vessels who chose what to do with it.”

A piece of the landscape looms menacingly behind the couple. A great mountain with a wound carved into it, redirecting the flow of the water that cascades down its mighty cliffs. The fox rolls her eyes.

“Okay, so maybe I nudged them a bit, but I didn’t expect this.”

As usual, the fox hesitates—reluctant to reap the unexpected fruits of the seeds she so carelessly sows. Her excuses are meaningless to the others. It is her flame that burns them, it is her who must reclaim it.

“I’m not even sure that I can, at this point. Even as jumbled up as we are, my power is limited. I can take the cowardly lion’s flame, but the elemental is still connected to us. It will keep spreading, and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it. The flame will run out of fuel eventually, we need only wait it out.”

“No!”

Heian shakes her head vehemently. Muddy can’t die—it would make everyone sad.

“You have to save her.”

The fox cocks her head curiously.

“Her? It’s not a person, child—it’s a thing. A quirk of nature and nothing more. Just a bit of essence that mimics life. We, on the other hand, are life itself.”

“You’re wrong! Muddy is a person—I didn’t understand at first, and I got in trouble, but she is. Like me. She’s...like a little sister, learning the same things I learned.”

The champions stir uncertainly. Even the cat and the rat—proud of their daughter as they are—don’t understand Heian’s feelings. There is one among them, who does, however.

“Wow! A spirit trying to get along with an elemental! That does take me back. I don’t hate that determination of yours, little kitten.”

The fox frowns, distant echoes of memory stirring. Something from her original self, lost in the uncountable divisions she’s undergone over the millenia. There is something familiar about that sword.

“Hah! Keep guessing, foxy. Look, if you’re too scared to do it, let the little kitten put her money where her mouth is. Lend her your power and let her fix it.”

The fox hates that idea, but she’s overruled by the consensus of the others. She sighs dramatically—this isn’t her hill to die on.

“Listen well, child. This fire will consume you in an instant if you slip up, understand? I barely understand humans well enough to mimic them after millenia of effort—to say nothing of elementals. You’re just a fragment of a fragment of a greedy little feline who wasn’t satisfied with what she had. Barely three years old, no matter how old the essence that formed you is. You will fail if you attempt this. Will you try anyway?”

Heian doesn’t hesitate. Her mother wouldn’t either.

“Yes. Lend me your power.”

The sword throws his head back and laughs.

“You really are your mother’s daughter. Go get ‘em, kitten.”

The fox shrugs, and offers her hand for Heian.

“Fine, take my hand. Let’s get this over with.”

Heian reaches forward to take the fox’s hand. It burns like nothing she’s ever felt. The pain is all-encompassing, but she grits her teeth and bears it. With the flames, comes understanding. She knows what she has to do. Heian approaches the lion and kneels down next to it, offering a comforting smile.

“It’ll be okay. I promise. Let’s be friends, alright?”

Without awaiting a response, Heian places her hand on the lion’s head and takes the fire into herself.

 

---

 

Yoshika’s eyes shot open as she gasped for air. She flailed awkwardly, trying to orient herself. Too many sets of eyes, too many pairs of hands—something wasn’t right. She closed her eyes and relaxed, focusing on her domain instead. That, at least, was just the way she remembered it.

She had been dreaming, she realized. Actually dreaming, rather than the artificial dreams created by her Melody—though by now she knew better than to think that meant it hadn’t been real. The plan had worked, until it hadn’t. They’d forced a connection from Eunae’s inner spirit to Muddy, just as they’d planned, but then...Yoshika couldn’t remember. The dream was already fading.

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She checked on her friends, realizing with a start that they were still connected. No wonder she’d been so disoriented. It was odd, though—she would have expected herself to be a gestalt of everyone here, but she was still just Yoshika. The parts of her that weren’t Jia and Eui were..distant—dormant. Perhaps it was because the connections were only partial, but something told her it was different.

Yoshika didn’t have time to look too deeply into it, however. She carefully began to unravel the connection, starting with Eunae, then making sure that Muddy was alright before separating it from Ja Yun. Finally, she released her hold on Ja Yun and relaxed, fully herself once more.

For a moment, she considered staying that way, but after the harrowing experience of...whatever had just happened, she decided it would be best for each of her aspects to express their individuality for a bit.

Jia blinked her eyes open and sat up, clutching at her throbbing head. She wasn’t sure whether to call that first session a success or a failure. They’d certainly accomplished...something. She just didn’t know what, exactly.

Eui groaned as she sat up next to her, scowling as fiercely as she had in ages.

“That sucked, Jia. My head is killing me.”

Jia winced. She had been the one to talk Eui into it in the first place.

“Sorry. Let’s check on the others, shall we?”

Eui nodded sullenly, and turned to roll Eunae over, flipping the veil back into place before poking the princess’ cheek with her tail a few times. Eunae stirred awake slowly.

“Mmn, hu—wha—?! Oh! I’m awake, what—what happened?”

Eui shrugged.

“Still working on figuring that part out. How’s Yun, Jia?”

Jia scratched her head, staring down at the girl in question, uncertain how to answer that.

“Probably fine, it feels wrong to disturb her, though.”

Ja Yun was curled up on the floor, sleeping peacefully with her head resting on Heian’s lap. Heian herself was in human form, gently stroking the mage’s hair with one hand, while the other was occupied by Muddy.

The elemental had shrunk significantly from its trials, but rather than the formless blob shape it had taken before, it now resembled a tiny clay doll—lumpy and poorly formed, but unmistakable human, albeit only a few inches tall. It clung to Heian’s finger with both of its misshapen hands, quivering in fear and confusion as it took in its surroundings.

And it was fear, Jia realized. It didn’t just have the appearance of a small, scared animal—Jia could feel its emotions through her empathic domain. There was no question that it had reached some sort of breakthrough. Jia knelt down to meet Heian’s eyes.

“Hey sweetheart. When did you get here?”

Heian glanced up and cocked her head.

“I’m always with you, Mommy. I never left.”

Jia frowned. Was she being sassed?

“I meant your human form—weren’t you with Narae?”

Heian nodded.

“She had to go to bed, and you needed me more. Why does Narae always argue about bedtime? Napping is nice.”

Jia giggled.

“That’s true, but I think for a little kid with lots of energy like her, it’s hard to accept mandated rest times—especially now that she doesn’t need to sleep much. It looks like you were busy while we were asleep—I had a dream about it. Was that you?”

Heian nodded.

“You were all stuck together and Muddy was in trouble, so I helped. I think I’m different now, though.”

“What do you mean?”

She held up a hand, and a piece of herself manifested as raw essence. Jia gasped at the sight of it. Unlike the pure shadow essence of her former self and the greater spirit that spawned her, she was now made of something else. It was a strange thing, as though the shadows had caught fire, and the resulting flame was drinking in the light instead of casting it off. It hurt to look at.

Eui groaned.

“Oh, great. Another weird fire we need to figure out. Did we even make any progress with the last one?”

Eunae stared down at her hands and sighed.

“I...I think so? I can remember bits of that dream. It felt like I really was the Kumiho...and...I was all of you as well? Or your spirits? It was a strange experience and I don’t remember it fully. But I feel different. Whatever it is I—or my inner spirit—gave to Heian...I think I understand it a bit better myself.”

Eui let out a bemused snort.

“Well I guess it wasn’t a total disaster, then.”

Eunae frowned and shook her head.

“Can I just say for the record, that I knew this was going to happen? You two need to plan things out better. This isn’t the academy anymore, and it’s a wonder you didn’t manage to get yourselves killed back then.”

Jia scratched the back of her head and looked away.

“Y-yeah, I guess we’ve been a bit reckless lately.”

“Lately?! Jia, you—”

Whatever Eunae was going to say was interrupted by Ja Yun suddenly darting to her feet and flailing about, a wild look of panic on her face.

“Ancestors, I slept in! What time is it?! I’m gonna be late!”

Jia held in a giggle at the unusual reaction.

“Late for what?”

Ja Yun blinked down at her as if she was stupid.

“Commander Ienaga said we had to leave in the morning. It’s already late morning.”

“How do you—wait, it is?!”

Eui darted to the meditation chamber’s entrance and threw open the door. Sure enough, the sun was already high in the sky.

“Oh fuck, she’s right. We really are late!”