Chapter 31:

So It Begins

In the Service of Gods


Dawn arrived sooner than I would have liked. My sleep was troubled, filled with unsettling dreams and long stretches where I couldn’t get comfortable. Vris woke me just after the sun’s rays crested over the horizon. My travel outfit was a long sleeved cotton tunic, grey pants, and a thick wool coat. It was the first time I’d seen a coat like this in Wosurei. It was double breasted and navy blue with a silk lining.

“It’s a travel coat,” Vris explained. “They’re only worn when undertaking a journey of more than a day.”

I had no belongings to pack apart from a few versatile pieces from my assigned wardrobe and the mountain token. It bothered me that I still hadn’t uncovered its meaning, and there was a chance that it pertained to something specific in Sparrow Hall or the palace, so bringing it would be worthless. In the end, I felt it was better to have it with me than not.

I didn’t realize it until we left Sparrow Hall and were walking to the meeting point, at which point it was unmistakable. Vris was behaving oddly. Her posture was always upright, yet she was walking as if her head was being held aloft by an unseen hand. Her eyes were a little too wide, her breath coming a bit too quickly. A fog of air hung around her face in the cold morning.

“Are you alright?” I asked, keeping my voice low. There were few people around this early, leaving us alone on the stone path.

“Fine,” Vris replied, voice tight. It wasn’t remotely convincing.

“Is it something I need to know about?” I pressed. Privacy was one thing, making sure she wasn’t going to fall off her elk due to nerves another.

Vris let out a shaky breath. She glanced around us, then whispered, “The gods sent me a message last night.”

That was nowhere on my list of expectations. “What did they say?”

“They told me to beware the Mark of Viri.”

“Mark of Viri?” I echoed. This name had never come up before.

The meagre sunlight dimmed as we passed into the pine trees dividing Sparrow Hall from the palace.

“Viri was a god once,” Vris whispered. Her steps slowed, eyes darting this way and that. “But he lost his divinity. His crime was that he attempted to overthrow the other gods, to rule them all. The gods have no ruler, this has been the way since the beginning. His coup was thwarted and so he was stripped of his powers, rendered mortal, and banished from the Celestial Realm.”

A frigid gust rippled through the trees, causing their branches to brush together and their trunks to groan. I shivered, and not just from the cold.

Vris continued her tale, voice almost inaudible above the wind. “He spent the rest of his short existence trying to punish the gods for exiling him. He gained followers too, from all across the land. They used the Mark of Viri to identify themselves and try to recruit others.”

“What does the mark look like?” I asked, matching her whisper. I didn’t know what part of this was worth whispering about, but I wasn’t about to draw unwanted attention. This was the longest conversation Vris and I had ever had.

“A hand,” she said, holding hers up. “Fingers splayed, with a spiral in the centre of the palm.”

We had passed under the pine trees, and had emerged into the clearing right in front of the palace. The guards were standing at attention beside the rear palace entrance. I opened my mouth to speak, to ask what it all meant, why this mark was important, and Vris shot me a look. We would speak more later.

Instead of going into the back entrance of the palace, this time we went towards the front. Footsteps and low voices could be heard as people came and went on the other side of the wall. We arrived at the main entrance to the palace, and you could tell this was the spot meant to receive guests. A huge gate carved with intricate and beautiful designs sat at the threshold between the palace and the outside world. I spotted cats, butterflies, tigers, bears, carp, and dozens of other animals perfectly posed in the light wood of the gate. One of the doors was open a little, showing a sliver of the inner courtyard. Each door was thick as an elephant. I couldn’t help but marvel at it.

Shadows stretched across the door, followed by an elk and its handler. I recognized Chamomile, Vris’s grey mount, and Rowan who emerged just after her. I was caught by surprise when Princess Mizuki strode out, leading her rust-coloured elk.

I glanced at Vris and muttered, “The princess is our guide?”

Vris shook her head, brow furrowed. This was news to her as well.

Princess Mizuki hopped onto her elk’s back in one smooth movement. She looked over at Vris and I. “Time is of the essence. We should go.”

I walked over to take Rowan’s reins. He looked just as he had last time, his fur just as soft. I couldn’t resist giving him a few good pats before mounting up. Vris had just gotten astride Chamomile when a blur of green silk shot through the door.

“Wait,” it cried. I could see now that it was a woman, wearing only sleeping clothes and a thin outer robe, her dark hair loose. She rushed up to Mizuki, clinging to her leg.

Mizuki stiffened. “I’ve said all I will say on the matter, Mother.”

The empress tightened her grip on her daughter's leg. “Please, won't you reconsider?”

“You demean yourself,” Mizuki said coldly. “We have no other guide capable of leading the Seer there. It must be me.”

I scratched the back of my neck. It was like watching your friend's parents yell at them while you sat in the corner.

With great reluctance, the Empress let go of her daughter and stepped back. She peered into Mizuki’s face, searching for any sign of capitulation. Mizuki’s eyes were like dark chips of ice, her face a mask of indifference.

“Very well,” Empress Hana said softly. She turned and looked at me. I could see the emotions running through her mind as they cycled across her face. I wasn’t sure she’d speak to me, but in the end she said, "Take care of her.”

Mizuki looked as though she’d bitten into a lemon. I was tempted to remind the empress that Mizuki didn’t exactly need my help in the survival department, but I suspected she logically knew this.

“Am I not here to take care of all Wosurei?” I said lightly.

She said nothing in response, just kept staring into my soul. I didn’t owe her anything, not even an empty promise.

Mizuki pressed her heels into her elk and started forward. “Seer Rin, please fall in behind me. Vris will take the rear.”

I did as she asked. There was no fanfare, no group of well-wishers to see us off. Just a mother watching her daughter slip away, leading the world’s hero to her fate.     

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