Chapter 33

Gakuto had been hobbling along the forest, navigating around the various trees and bamboo, trying to keep the mountain wall in his sight. Having thrice heard the chime echo from the village during his unplanned hike through the woods, the bell his only audible company besides the crunching of the leaves and the creaking of the bamboo as he stomped along.

The birds and insects had quieted down, or rather, this area was less populated by them, as Gakuto glanced up at the sun. It was slowly approaching the horizon and he heard the fourth set of chimes, a reminder that this was about the time Yukiko would be expecting them back for dinner.

“I really hope Kaede and Yurika made it back just fine…”

He was certain that they had pushed onto the shrine, to find out more about the elusive mirrors and what the bells had to do with them, though he did wonder if they hadn’t tried to create a rescue effort…

Gakuto stopped to rest against one of the trees, his breathing labored. There was a sharp pain accompanying each breath, but it wasn’t debilitating. As long as he could manage the pain for the rest of their time on Tsuiraku, he would have one of the palace mages fix him up… Probably before having to return to them after Jiro was done with him.

He shuddered, knowing the old man would show no quarter in this punishment, but he shook it off, pushing off the tree and stretching his arms above his head, though he winced, the tugging bothering his wounded left side.

“Ow…”

Gakuto started walking, gently rubbing his side. He came across a large swath of trees to his right that he had to navigate around to the left. He glanced up at the rock wall looming overhead one last time before turning away from it, back towards western side of the forest.

After a few minutes, the trees started to become more sparse and he was considering looping around them to continue his planned path when he heard waves crashing nearby. Taking the sound of waves to mean that he was getting close to the tide pools, and thus the easier path back to the village, he quickly walked in the direction of the waves.

The air cooled around him as he walked, the mix of trees and bamboo giving way to only bamboo, creaking in the sea’s breeze. A steep hill rose above him before jutting out, another cliff stretching high above the forest as Gakuto pushed some of the stalks out of his way, stepping out into a beautifully disappointing view of the sea… several hundred lengths below a drop-off from the bamboo grove he’d pushed through.

He let out an exasperated sigh as he gazed out over the churning water below, the sun reflecting off the calmer water in the distance. His eyes scanned across the water, the cliff walls of Mt. Ochiru extended out a bit further to his right before the mountain face curved away. He ran his eyes up the side of the cliff to his left, a much more precarious drop off several hundred feet higher.

“The shrine is up there…” Gakuto muttered, before turning his gaze back down to the sea. There was no visible path down to the sea or even a beach to traverse to, this side of the island having been heavily carved out by the tides. In fact, seeing the perch for the shrine still above him made him realize the overall elevation of Tsuiraku was higher than he had suspected.

He let out another sigh, starting to pace back and forth in front of the bamboo grove. His predicament, which was already bad, had taken a turn for the worse. There was no simple path down to the tide pools and it had taken him quite longer than expected to reach this point. The sun was close to setting and so turning back to where he had fallen would require trekking back through the forest, at least partially, in the dark. He wasn’t aware of what sort of predatory type creatures lurked in this area untouched by humans and he probably wasn’t in proper form to defend himself.

Staying here was not the worst plan but the chill, moist air wouldn’t allow him to make a fire that could last and illness was the last thing he needed to contend with. He let out another sigh as he gingerly sat down on a nearby boulder, staring mindlessly out at the water. He felt another twinge of pain in his side and slid his hand across his stomach to the aching side when his thumb brushed against a bulge in the hakamashita.

In all that had happened, Gakuto had forgotten that he had brought the extra item from the merchant with him.

He reached in and pulled out the velvet bag suspended from his neck before untying it. The cryptic words of the shady merchant replayed in his head.

“The time is not yet right for your sight to improve. You’ll know when.”

Shrugging to himself, Gakuto figured if now was not the proper time, he might miss his chance. He undid the cinch keeping the bag closed and spread it up, before turning it over and dumping the hidden contents into his hand. A small, triangular shaped piece of glass, a deep crimson with beveled edges, flipped out onto his opened palm. He felt his irritation rise, wanting to chuck the piece of glass to the sea, cursing that charlatan merchant the whole while, but he caught himself as the sun caught it. Useless as it was, the piece of glass was quite pretty.

Gakuto turned it over in his hand a few times before pinching it between his index and middle fingers, closing his left eye as he ran it over the surroundings. Seeing the bamboo grove through the red-tinted lens was nice but it didn’t ‘improve his sight’.

He groaned, cursing the merchant for wasting his time as he leaned back on one hand, holding the piece to up as he stared aimlessly at the cliff wall to his left. He was wishing he had just stayed put at the base of the mountain pass, figuring the villagers had gotten there by now, as his gaze reached the bottom of the cliff, pulling his eye away from the glass. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if trying to keep himself awake before looking through the glass once more.

Gakuto slowly turned his head to the left, when his gaze fell upon a portion of the rocky façade, this portion covered with a thick, overgrown ivy, when there was some sort of shimmering through the glass. Pulling back from it and shaking his head, wondering if the injuries were much more severe, before he gazed through it again and saw a portion of the wall shimmering.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gakuto leapt up, rushing over to the ivy.

Up close, the ivy was gnarled and twisted, stretching across the wall about the width of five Gakutos. The dark green vines snaked all the way up to the top of the cliff and some of it was dangling off the edge. The leaves were large, the ivy clearly ancient but thriving.

Gakuto craned his neck seeing the overhang before running his hand across it. It was thick, but there was some springiness to it like there was a gap behind it. He brought the piece of glass up to it once more and it shimmered vibrantly, showing what looked like a cave entrance. He tried to push through the vines once more but they merely moved slightly only without any give.

Gakuto cautiously set the glass piece down and drew his dagger, starting to hack and cut through the tangled web of vines. They were thick and even slicing through a few revealed several more behind it, a massive braid of ancient undergrowth concealing the cave.

He sighed, looking at his progress, or rather the lack thereof, before examining the dagger. It still had some untapped potential, but he still wasn’t quite sure how to activate it when the merchant’s words rang in his head once more.

Gakuto reached down and picked up the red piece of glass once more, holding it up to his eye and running it along the length of the hilt and blade of the dagger. An inscription, unseen to his normal eyes, appeared as a single word.

“Ignite…” He read it aloud and the blade’s edge flickered a bright orange for a brief instance before returning to normal. He repeated the word a few more times, in futility, no visible change happening.

Gakuto took a deep breath, to stop himself from getting frustrated before turning his wrist over, examining the blade once more. The name of the blade came to him once more and he nodded slightly, as if his next attempt would work.

Clasping the glass in his left fist and tucking it behind his back, he pointed the blade at the wall of vines, his eyes narrowed intently as he stared it down. He took a deep breath as he shifted his feet as if he were about to attack.

“Setsuna… Ignite!” Gakuto cried out, as he thrust the dagger forward.