42. A Diamond Body

~ Anari ~

Anari and Sun Bai were on their way to the Sevenfold Peach Championship located in Kawaii Village.

They were taking a train — a prototype, Bai called it. Anari practically held her breath as Bai escorted her onto the short monorail.

Her heart was beating madly as she strained to keep her mind blank. See, Anari’s employer still wasn’t aware that she knew all about the collapsed bridge at the shores of the Heavenly River. According to the workers, that bridge was under Next Dimension’s jurisdiction.

By the time they were sitting down in the train cart on sky blue leather seats, the sliding doors had shut and the Void’s scenery was on the move.

A cloudy, dark, multicolor space engulfed them as they traveled farther and farther away from the giant. Bai sat across from Anari with his hands resting in his lap and his expression relaxed. Today he was wearing purple-tinted frames with gold wiring. His hair was up in its usual half bun. Bai’s jacket was traditional and plain, but below the waist, he was dressed in a coral-dyed longyi. Its design was vibrant and so extremely detailed that the tiny peaches sewn in were hidden almost too well.

“You look nice,” Anari said.

Bai was staring out the window at the time she spoke. He kept his eyes averted and murmured a quiet thanks. Even after all these years, Sun Bai still shied away from direct compliments. He told Anari that she looked nice as well.

“You always do,” he added, finally tearing his gaze from the viscous waves just on the other side of the glass.

“How are the other bridges coming along?” Anari asked as casually as she could. “Are they as sturdy as this one?”

As if on cue, the cart rattled, causing both spirits to sway a little in their seats. But not anymore than a regular train would.

Bai smirked. “What? Are you nervous?”

With this new way of travel, something could very well go wrong and send Anari and Bai off course into the electrifying Void Sea.

Anari shook her head. “Prototype or not, I know you wouldn’t bring me on here until you were absolutely sure it was safe.”

Bai seemed glad that Anari understood that. He made a thoughtful sound and steered his gaze once again toward the window.

“You’re right. I was only teasing. But I also wanted to catch you up on what is going to come next. These bridges are going to become my focus for a while and I want you to know what that will mean.”

Here it comes, Anari thought. The answers to all her questions, or most of them at least, were on their way.

Bai leaned forward and steepled his hands under his chin. “Imagine this sort of travel across the entire Ninth Heaven. No fees. No documents. A simple ID will do. I’m going to make it happen.”

The spider crossed her legs, getting more comfortable in the seat, steady trying to keep her mind blank just in case. She looked out of the window before saying, “You make it sound so simple.”

“Trust me, it hasn’t been.” Bai gently scoffed, straightening up. “The reality is that we can’t make this possible without some sacrifices.”

Then he actually told her about the collapsed bridges. He even came clean about the trapped essences.

“Do you know what happens to a spirit’s essence when it cannot return to the Lake?”

Of course she knew. All spirits knew. But they did not speak of it. No one wanted to say it.

Demon.

“Anari, relax.”

She released her grip on the arm rests. How had Bai noticed before she did?

(You need to pull yourself together!)

Bai kept talking. “Don’t worry. The victims of the Heavenly River bridge collapse haven’t gotten there yet. Their essences are merely suspended, supporting the foundation of the bridge itself.”

He explained how it was possible. Something about canceling out the Void Sea’s rate of erosion by giving it something to feed on besides the bridge.

But Anari was too angry to properly listen. Was this it? Was this his grand plan to equalize the Ninth Heaven?

“I think this is a bad way to do this,” Anari said, cutting off Bai’s explanation.

Her boss gave her a sobering look. “I don’t like it either. This is only temporary until I get the staff. Then I’ll use it to help me come up with a different solution.”

Sweet Heaven, the staff. The legendary staff that was currently in Sun Ritsu’s possession. And Bai wanted it.

Anari was going to be sick.

“How do you even know it’s still in the province? What if no one with the Complaint Rod shows up at the tourney?”

“I have an informant. A local.”

Bai wasn’t saying anything beyond that, but Anari couldn’t help reaching for the possibility of it being Sun Surina. If that was the case, then Anari could warn Sun Ritsu and the others!

But she couldn’t, no. She couldn’t face Ritsu again. And what if Bai’s spy wasn’t Surina? The pink-haired sun clone hadn’t shown up in the database after all.

“We’re here.”

Anari got the answers she wanted, but at the same time, it was too much to bear.

As the train came to a halt, Bai said, “I don’t want you to worry, Anari. But I wanted you to know. My circle of trust is shrinking and for good reason if that spy from HQ was any indication.”

The doors slid open. A little chime went off to signal their arrival. The sounds of the Heavenly River swirled below the bridge like watery rainbows.

“I trust you, so I’m telling you these things. You were with me from the beginning when Next Dimension was nothing. You know that the higher we rise, the dirtier our hands get.”

With criminals and gangsters, Bai. Not innocents. Never innocents and spirits who pose no threat to you.

It needed to be said aloud, but Anari couldn’t do it. She needed Bai to keep trusting her. She didn’t want to think what would happen to her if he ever stopped.

“The bridges are still a work in progress, so just bear with me, Nar.”

Bai stood up and adjusted his glasses. Anari stood too, her professional countenance a cloak for her roaring emotions.

There was no time to question Bai’s choices now. She had a job to do. So she went ahead of Bai to check the drop off zone ahead for any explosives.

After all, Bai’s competitors had been known to try to surprise him at public events such as this.

~

That was a lot to take in. From the possibility of Surina’s position as a spy to the dangerous implications of Sun Bai’s building project. I can only imagine how overwhelmed Anari must feel right now.

I see that you’re worried about her, but I can assure you that it’s just a story. This is not the sort of monkey god tale that you should be sweating bullets over. In fact none of them are. But you still have burning questions about the nature of essence, I can tell.

Why yes, dear traveler, it’s totally possible for spiritual essence to become warped or corrupted. Generally speaking, essence is pretty durable, but like all things, it can only take so much. Under the right type of pressure, one’s essence can manifest into demonkind. This usually happens if the Lake of Ninefold Darkness overflows. When it becomes too crowded, unclean essence will leak out. Flooding can also result from events in other dimensions like forest fires, mass biological extinction, or stars dying out. All of those spirits have to go somewhere.

Still, even though leaks happen and demons manifest, the danger that they pose is typically quite low. Most demons are born out of natural, unforeseen catastrophe where the Lake couldn’t keep up with Nature balancing itself out. But. And there’s always a but…. There are demons whose only purpose is to dismantle anything and everything. Demons with grudges, I guess you could say. They are stronger, and harbor darker thoughts. Their hearts cannot be swayed. They have two modes: berserker or lord. The demon lords manipulate the berserkers into carrying out their malicious plans to rip apart the way of things.

What’s that face for, Traveler? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

But really, you shouldn’t be that scared. There have been times in the Ninth Heaven’s history where demon lords reigned supreme and everyone was at their mercy, but we haven’t seen an imbalance like that for some time. Demon lords and their berserker children are still around, yes, but they are too few and far between. Plus, they absolutely hate working together, which just so happens to be the reason why they cannot hold power over their environment for too long. They always end up fighting each other into oblivion.

There aren’t that many spirits strong enough to take on a wild berserker demon, let alone its lord. That’s why it’s important to protect and maintain essence so that it can move freely from host to host and have a chance to rest and become clean in the Lake. This is why Sun Bai’s bridges are potentially quite dangerous to the Ninth Heaven as a whole.

Huh. Now that I’ve said all of this out loud, maybe we should be a little worried.