Chapter 28:
In the Service of Gods
All at once, I was awake. The world was a riot of colour, the saturation turned up to an eerie degree. Fluffy clouds danced in a sea of bright blue. The grass below my bare feet was a shimmering emerald green. A sweet, earthy smell filled my nose. I was standing in the middle of a small clearing littered with wild flowers and ringed by pine trees. The trees were the height of mountains, their trunks acting as enormous pillars holding up the sky. Despite the splendor around me, a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.
I stared down at my hands, flexing my fingers and wiggling them. Something had happened. The specifics escaped me, my mind filled with muddy images and garbled sounds. The feeling that something horrifying had happened swirled in my gut. I looked past my fingers to my clothes. Cats of all shapes and sizes looked up at me as they frolicked. There was another time I’d worn these, though I couldn’t recall where exactly.
A shrill cry cut through the air and nearly made me jump out of my skin. I whipped around to see at least a dozen cranes. Their feathers were a mix of black and white with brilliant spots of crimson on their heads. All their eyes were trained on me, dark and fathomless. At some signal, they all turned their heads and shot towards the same point.
I flinched back and grit my teeth, bracing for the inevitable impact. The cranes struck each other and became one, a mass of bodies rippling and contorting. They merged together into a solid mass that rose up. A nine-foot tall woman stared down at me. Her outfit was an inner robe and outer robe, black and white respectively, with red spots speckled here and there on the outer robe. The spot placement was random enough that it looked like she’d been bled on.
Her face. It was both beautiful and terrible. She had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, yet I couldn’t actually say what she looked like. I started shaking for reasons I couldn’t articulate.
“Well now,” the woman said. “We meet at last.”
Her voice was unearthly, reverberating through the whole clearing while simultaneously being spoken into my ear. My brain balked at the jumble of feedback. I had to fight the urge to turn and sprint across the clearing.
I licked my lips. “Who are you?”
The woman cocked her head, something like a smile crossing her face. “Haven’t you any guesses?”
The only possibility that made any sort of sense was also my least favourite option. “Are you a god?”
“Clever girl,” the woman said, tapping her hands together in a weak attempt at applause. It was the sort of clapping you’d hear at a golf game.
A part of me was ecstatic at her praise while the rest regarded that part with disgust and fear. Keep it together, I admonished myself. If she wanted you dead, you’d be dead.
Dying. Something about that idea struck me as important. Then that feeling slipped away, the certainty replaced with vague unease.
“I have many names, but you may call me Tsu Den Ro.” There were distinct pauses between each syllable in her name.
“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Rin,” I said. What was that? I thought. Why are you being such a sycophant?
Tsu Den Ro laughed, the sound like the tinkling of the bell and the whir of a chainsaw. “I know who you are. We all do.”
All traces of humour disappeared from her face. “You have quite the attitude when it comes to the matter of your destiny. You have been made a hero and given every comfort. Many would kill to be in your place.”
An apology rose from my throat and knocked against the back of my teeth. I clamped my jaw shut and waited for it to pass. I was a lot of things, but at the moment sorry wasn’t one of them.
“I think, given my position, my reluctance might be understandable,” I said, forcing the words out. It was hard to speak when I wanted to say something disagreeable; it was like trying to run through deep water.
Tsu Den Ro frowned. The sky dimmed with her mood, the clouds turning grey as if a storm were on the horizon.
“And what position is that?” Her tone was cold, like the water at the bottom of a frozen lake.
The animal part of my brain was desperate for me to back off. I ignored it and plowed on. “You took me without warning from my home and told me that I was now responsible for the fate of an entirely new world.”
Without warning, Tsu Den Ro was directly in front of me, her face level with mine. “We gave you a mighty gift, the most powerful destiny in all of Wosurei. Even the Emperor must bow to you. How are you not satisfied?”
I stumbled back, instincts screaming. I was a coyote in a bear trap, frantic and gearing up to gnaw its own limb off to escape.
“I-I-I have agreed to do as you ask. W-why are you upset with me?”
With her giant form looming over me, I felt like a child that was being reprimanded. “We are pleased to see you fall in line, as you were meant to,” she said. “You have, however, called our competence into question and that demands a reaction. You suffer now because we have willed it so. The poison in your veins has taken you to the brink of death and it is by our grace that you will be able to return to the world of the living. Let this serve as a reminder to you that the gods of Wosurei are not to be trifled with.”
Poison? A hum rippled through me. The memories felt close, so close, yet still hidden behind a fog. I was able to process the threat in her words just fine, even with amnesia. “I-I understand.”
I blinked and Tsu Den Ro was no longer right in front of me, but several meters back. I let out a shuddering breath, grateful for the distance between us.
Tsu Den Ro removed a fan from her robe pocket and snapped it open with a flick of her wrist. “Know this, Seer. The Seeker has misconstrued something important. You do not have a year’s time to delay the End of Days. It must be dealt with before the current year comes to a close.”
I opened my mouth and a high-pitched whistle emerged. I clutched my throat, eyes widening.
Tsu Den Ro sighed. “Our time, it seems, is up. You would do well to alter your attitude and embrace your fate. Time is not on your side.”
There was much more I wanted to ask. I wanted to potentially try and demand answers. Before I could do anything, I jerked awake again.
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