Chapter 23

For the two brothers, the night had gone silent, besides the raging of wind and the dripping of blood.

“... Yuzo, why? Why Emma..?” He asked, the disbelief in his voice failing to mask any pain.

“You’ll understand it soon, Jae, but until then,” Yuzo stroked his brother's face with the back of an unfamiliar hand, almost as if he was seeing if Jason was real.

“Just know it's something that has to be done.” He then placed his hand briefly onto the cocoon.

For a moment, it began to glow, causing a white light to envelop Yuzo for a moment, causing him to shed one more tear before he stood up and wiped his face.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

As Jason began to weep, Yuzo took a deep breath in, then tore his sword up out of Emma and Jason, the mix of the black and red blood mixing and splattering on the wood. He stared at the blade for a while.

Listening to the dripping.

Flicking the blood off of his sword as the others began to encroach, Yuzo warped away, leaving his helmet as well as small drops in the snow.

As Jason tried desperately to push blood back into the cocoon, his hands became coated in its black blood, causing the whole area to smell of ash and fish.

Despite his cold exterior, when he arrived back with the other two soldiers, both of them noticed how red his eyes were, though neither thought to comment on it.

“So you are human, after all.” Nikolai spoke weakly as he placed a hand on Yuzo’s shoulder. Sure enough, the damaged hand had been replaced with a prosthetic. It glowed an ominous green, illuminating the trees around the darkness of the forest, before the three vanished from the forest altogether.

…

After some time, the group convened around Jason, who was now sitting alone on the stump, holding the cocoon in his arms.

“Jason…” Biji put her hand on his shoulder solemnly.

Jason turned to her. His eyes, which had once been either manic or tearful, now looked, more than anything, determined.

“... I’m gonna save him, Biji.”

“Save him?” She reflexively scoffed, “From what!? He just killed your friend; he’s clearly—”

“That’s exactly why I need to do something. I can't imagine what he’s gone through, all alone here for over a year. Even with the fancy armor, something is seriously wrong. His eyes looked so tired, and he even had facial hair. He always hated having any facial- Jason trailed off before gripping the cocoon tightly. A wave of pain washed over him as blood gushed from his wound, the throbbing pain causing his crest to fizzle out. Then, his consciousness started to waver.

“No, not… again…” he whispered to himself before being caught in Biji’s arms.

…

It took some time for Jason to come back to consciousness.

In the meantime, the group sat in the parlor as they put Jason to rest on the couch.

He awoke to the sound of arguing.

“...I don't care that he’s not awake yet; we don't have time to waste! The summon has been here for long enough as it is, and keeping Yama waiting is suicide, you know that!”

“I don't care about Yama; I care about our friend being able to recover from a possibly fatal injury!”

“Biji, I’m telling you, we force-fed him Rasa, Uddi custom-made bandages for him, and Panka even sewed his shirt fixed. What else could we possibly do? We already wasted a lot of time giving his girlfriend or whatever a burial, but he's not gonna be able to see that if he's dead!’ Loba shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

“All I'm saying is we should let him stay here; he needs to rest!” she said, becoming more irritable as Loba yelled over her.

“He was summoned by Yama specifically; we don't have a choice!”

Abruptly, Jason sat up, looking at the two placidly.

“... Good morning. What was that about force-feeding me?”

…

“Are you sure you’re okay? Despite the suturing and stitching, you’re not healed yet, and it'll be quite hard to walk.” Panka helped Jason stand from the couch slowly as Biji and Uddi looked on worried.

With a sigh, Jason waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ll be okay soon; I’ve almost gotten killed way too many times now for my crest to not have some healing properties… Or something.” He laughed, causing immediate pain in his gut.

“Really? I've heard of Brahman being able to heal wounds, but it takes a lot of it. That's impressive.” Panka lightly tapped Jason on the back, but even that much caused him to stumble forward.

Biji, in a panic, ran forward to try to catch him, but due to instinct, he threw his front foot forward, standing up straight. “Hey, I got—!”

As he regained his balance, he tried his best to stand straight on his own through the pain. Scratching his head nonchalantly, he looked at Biji, asking for elaboration.

“Uh, cool. Anyway, what's this about a letter from Yama?”

Turning a bright shade of purple, Biji quickly shot herself back onto the couch, picking at her shoes as she spoke to distract herself.

“Yama sent a call-out for us to bring you to an event tonight; it, uh, sounds like he wants to meet you.”

“Really…?” Jason’s eyes grew narrow, turning to Loba. “And you trust this guy?”

”Honestly? Not at all, but if he kills any of us, it could mean war between the realms, so I think we’re in the clear.” He shrugged.

“Then… I know where we’re going. Yuzo said he’d see me tonight; that must mean he's planning something.”

Biji then stood up from picking at her shoes, lightly tapping him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain.

“Jae, you don't know what you're getting yourself into.” She looked at him apprehensively. "I know he’s your brother, but—"

Jason’s expression turned serious for a moment before softening itself back into a plastic smile.

“Cmon, Biji, between you guys and my crest, we’re gonna crush anything Nikolai, his goons, and even Yuzo can throw at us. Have some faith!”

“You know that's not what I'm—never mind.” She sighed, the irritation and a slight bit of anxiety audible in her voice. “You’ve clearly already made your decision.”

Walking briskly over to Panka, Biji gripped tightly onto her pants before dragging her upstairs. “Come with me; we need to go get changed.”

Lagging along behind her as she tried to regain her balance, Panka eventually obliged, leaving the other three men standing around the table confusedly.

…

After a while of waiting, Jason answering questions about his brother while the other two told Jason trivia about Yama, Biji, and Panka returned downstairs.

Panka’s outfit remained relatively unchanged besides her robes, which were usually tied around her waist, being worn properly, allowing the sleeves to flow down her arms.

‘She looks regal; I can see that she used to be a princess. And Biji…”

Jason thought to himself as his mind took a moment to process what he was looking at.

It had only been now that he saw her in something else just how human Biji’s regular clothes were.

She usually wore what amounted to a pair of shorts and a tank top. Tonight, though, under her grey jacket was a fancy black silk robe; it reminded him of the outfits in the period pieces he’d slept through in his Chinese history class in college.

She had also seemingly done makeup, which Jason had never even considered that they had in Naraka.

All of this was a lot; Jason undeniably began gawking before quickly regaining his composure. “Damn, those are some fancy threads, bro!”

“Hell yeah, Jason, that was a strong one!” Jason thought to himself, mentally patting himself on the back. “Uhh… thanks, I guess.”

Biji’s face went from almost regal to sour when Jason opened his mouth.

Loba snorted violently, holding in laughter as he grabbed Jason by the shoulder.

“You have a way with words, kid.”

…

As the group walked themselves to the gates of Yama’s palace after scaling to the top of the mountain, it became very apparent that the place wasn't like anywhere else in Naraka.

The ground beside the pathways was lush with green grass, which seemed to perpetually have a layer of light snowfall that would melt before being replaced. Unlike even the pagodas of the upper district, the palace was a bright red and turquoise, all wrapped in a bouquet of gold adornments. The air smelled of smoke and dew, causing Jason to wince.

As they found themselves at the large, golden front gate, Jason gripped onto his hand tightly; despite the fact it had healed, he still kept it wrapped in the strap from Biji’s jacket, which buzzed with a pulsing static.

He looked around at his friends, searching for the emotions on their faces; they all buzzed indistinctively about the castle grounds, food, and the like, but between the four of them, there was a constant and undeniable anxiety that was palpable in the air.

There was something deeply comforting in that, as Jason also felt like he was about to lose his nonexistent lunch. (He had long been sustaining himself on almost exclusively Rasa for a while now.)

As he looked ahead, down the courtyard and at the very front of the castle, stood a very tall, blue-skinned man in black and gold robes. Beside him stood Yuzo, covering himself with his cloak as he gazed down the center of the path. He was flanked by Ayn and Nikolai, both smirking delightedly at the sight of the five arriving. Ayn even began to wave sarcastically before being given a look by Yuzo. He was stone cold, staring right down the barrel of the gate at Jason.

With a deep breath, he opened the gate, stepping through.

‘I’m coming, Yuu.’