Calamity Mandate

"I can't believe we actually got to meet Lord Noga." Char Char gushed, "And he was talking to a literal Goddess like he was at her level. He really must be the descendant of the original Lord Noga from the War of Five Kings!"

Yuzu's lips tensed as she resisted the urge to chastise her friend.

"No," Firuzeh shook her head thoughtfully, "I'm fairly certain that that is the original Lord Noga."

Char Char spun on the rock to face Firuzeh, "But wouldn't that would mean he's a thousand years old?"

Yuzu opened her mouth but was interrupted by Char Char—

"That's… so… amazing!" Char Char exclaimed, "Yuzu, did you know? You must have already known. My little Yuzu, all grown up and talking to gods and immortal lords, I could almost cry—"

To Yuzu's dismay the Kumin girl really did look like she was nearly overcome with emotion, the sparkle of a tear twinkling at the corner of her eye.

"We've certainly found ourselves in the presence of powerful beings…" Firuzeh rubbed her bottom lip gently with the tip of her finger, "But, that can be expected, considering the caliber of our patron."

'Our' patron, she says. Yuzu noted the choice of words. Firuzeh has completely converted to follow the White Maiden.

Yuzu wasn't the only one to notice Firuzeh's words. Her spiky haired companion, Kai, was a short distance away idly looking over the ledge of one of the sheer cliffs. At Firuzeh's comment his ears perked up and he shot her a concerned glance. She was facing the wrong way, and so missed it, but in the next moment Kai had recovered his previous nonchalant expression as he continued his walk around the mountain top.

Kai hadn't been present during the battle against the Clockwork God, and it seemed like he wasn't aware that Firuzeh had changed her allegiance.

This could be a problem… The edge of Yuzu's lips tightened into a small frown. Kai's own loyalties were unclear to Yuzu, and worse yet she couldn't read his future actions to get a better understanding of his character.

Yuzu tested the threads of the three Chaos Exalted, whose black strings acted like wisps of smoke blown about on an invisible current. Their futures were unclear to her, blurry, indistinct figures with occasional flashes of detail.

They each carried a few spiritually charged items, small vials hidden in Firuzeh's pockets, Kai's silver chains which he wore about his body like an exaggerated collection of fashion accessories. These items seemed to lock their images more firmly in place, but were still obscured by the Chaos Exalteds' innate powers of anti-divination.

After observing the strings, Yuzu concluded that at best she could tell the rough position of her companions if they were within her range, and only in the present moment. She couldn't even see where they'd be a minute from now.

At the very least, Kai appears to not be the kind to act rashly, or take the lead. Of the three Firuzeh appears to wield the most authority. This should give me time to find out more information about him from the others. Yuzu concluded with a lingering worry. As long as Firuzeh's newfound allegiance doesn't get in the way of her relationship with Kai…

"You appear very calm." Firuzeh said, addressing Yuzu directly, "Can I take it as a sign that things went according to the White Maiden's desires?"

"Well enough." Yuzu replied vaguely. "Though I admit I was surprised by Yuima's interference."

"How much can the White Maiden help us with Yuima's challenge?"

"I am not sure… We will have to see when we get to the village…" Yuzu replied.

It could have been Yuzu's imagination, but she thought she saw a bit of the hope in Firuzeh's eyes dim. No, this wasn't all according to the White Maiden's plan. No, she's not some all-seeing, omnipotent being. How could she be?

And furthermore Yuzu wasn't the White Maiden, after all. How could she have the answers?

"I will try to pray to the White Maiden later." Yuzu added in a mutter.

Firuzeh nodded, seeming to accept the answer.

"Regardless, Yuima has not done us any favours." Yuzu sighed, "I have a feeling that leaving us stranded at the top of this mountain was also somewhat intentional."

"It is a long way down." Char Char took the opportunity to lean almost dangerously over the ledge, looking perfectly calm and balanced even as she hung over the sheer drop of several hundred meters.

The past Char Char wasn't so confident… She really has changed after becoming an Exalted, hasn't she? Yuzu reflected quietly.

The peak of this mountain wasn't particularly large, only a dozen meters long and half as wide, with sheer cliffs on all sides. Short, stubby bushes and thin grasses clung to the yellowish-tan stone. Along the sides of the mountains around them craggy, twisted trees with dark jade leaves seemingly grew out of the bare rock and crowded the narrow ledges.

Far below, a thin mist hung below a thick canopy of deep green leaves. The valleys below the mountains were as lush and vibrant as the mountains were stark and barren.

"There's possibly a way down." Kai announced from the far side of the plateau, "Doesn't look easy, though. We'll need to do some climbing."

Yuzu grimaced at the thought of climbing down the mountain, though she kept her mouth shut. Char Char picked up Yuzu's hesitation, though, and said, "It's okay, I can carry you if you need me to."

It was a somewhat ludicrous statement. Char Char was shorter than Yuzu, and could hardly be called muscular even though she had been training as a security guard for a few months.

Did her Chaos pathway make her physically stronger? Yuzu wasn't sure. Still, the thought of being carried on her friend's back was too embarrassing.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'll be fine." Yuzu muttered.

The ladies walked over to Kai, who was already meandering his way down a part of the ledge that wasn't a sheer cliff down to the bottom. There wasn't a path, per se, but it was traversable.

Yuzu found herself wishing she had had the foresight to bring a pair of leather gloves and proper traveling clothes. Her fashionable white shrine maiden robes that she had acquired to make her grand entrance in front of Char Char quickly became scuffed and dirty. The wooden sandals were quickly useless, forcing Yuzu to go barefoot.

Yuzu quickly found herself outpaced by her three companions, who displayed such ease of motion she was sure that if not strength, at least their physical dexterity was accentuated by their powers.

After her offer to help had been declined, Char Char didn't look after Yuzu but instead took to the front, leading the way with Kai as they searched for the best way down. At times Kai's chains came in handy when they reached a dead end; he always seemed to have enough length to get them down to the closest ledge below. The chains held sturdy as they climbed down, then released with a simple tug when it had served its use, allowing Kai to retrieve them.

The late spring sun shone down from above, warm and bright, not yet hot enough to be uncomfortable. The sky above was a deep, vibrant blue and painted with soft wisps of clouds.

Yuzu would occasionally take a moment to look out at the scattered yellow mountains in the distance, with the blue sky above and a sea of green foliage below. In spite of her discomfort she felt the small thrill of adventure, of being in a new and exotic place. The beauty of the Huan province was a story of legends, and it had only grown more beautiful after the Five Kings' War. The myths attributed it to the arrival and patronage of the Goddess of Nature, who fell in love with Lord Matsunaga, Lord Noga's sworn brother.

Of course, modern Kumin sensibilities found such stories to be fantastical and unrealistic. Yuzu who had never believed they were actually true, found herself sighing as she re-evaluated the accuracy of the histories she had once thought as embellished and over-romanticized.

The beauty of their surroundings was not lost on the her companions either. From her vantage point in the back Yuzu saw them taking time to look out at the wilderness, drinking in the view.

The mountain range extended into the distance in all directions. They were drastically different from Kumin's mountains with their rolling green hills, majestic, snow-capped peaks and slate grey stone. The rock in Huan had a light yellow hue and rose from the ground in tall, narrow spires that seemed to have each burst up individually from the valley floor. Their cliffs were sheer, vertical drops with scraggly, twisted trees and bushes clinging to small outcroppings among the bare rock. Below, the glistening flowing streams wandered through the valleys, the sound of songbirds and chimps echoed across a lush forest that lived in the protective shadow of the mountains.

Several kilometres away wisps of white smoke rose up above the trees— signs of civilization, possibly even the village that they had been charged with investigating.

Yuzu took up the rear, clearly the least capable of hiking such inhospitable terrain. Still, she didn't complain, and her companions neither looked after her nor looked frustrated by her lack of ability.

Still, it wasn't like they could take their time to get down to the valley. Though it likely wouldn't be too dangerous, they were ill-equipped to spend the night in the wilderness. The problem wasn't beasts, or lack of shelter, but rather a particular phenomenon unique to Huan.

"This deep in the mountains, there's probably a lot of shades at night." Char Char piped up randomly. She tilted her head at Yuzu, "Thinking about it, you probably haven't seen a shade before, have you?"

"No, have you?"

"Lots." Char Char said, "When I studied here I used to sneak out at night to find them. There weren't too many close to the city, though."

"Why am I not surprised to hear that." Yuzu rolled her eyes.

During the day the Huan wilderness was no different than the mountains and forests in Kumin. At night, though, was when the shades came out.

Yuzu had never been to Huan, but travel to the province was popular enough that it was common knowledge. The shades had vaguely humanoid forms, appearing as wisps of smoke or living shadows. They wandered aimlessly under the light of the moon, not appearing to have any sentience or life. As far as anyone was concerned, the shades were simply a natural phenomena, largely harmless, as long as the correct precautions were taken.

Shades couldn't be hurt or captured any more than the morning mist. They moved slowly, soundlessly, and largely didn't affect the physical world except for one important way. Shades were mildly attracted to humans— not animals, but specifically humans. Walking through the wilds at night, one might come across only a couple of shades every hour. A traveler could easily spot them from a distance and outpace their range with a brisk walking pace.

People who a shade touched would feel like their energy was sapped from them. Other symptoms were feeling a mild chill, a weight tightening within their chest, a sense of inexplicable sadness or yearning or foreboding.

These effects were generally not life threatening. Even prolonged exposure to a shade overnight would last only through the next day. Huan citizens gave no more thought to shades than they did rodents and insects.

"I let one touch me, once, to see what it was like." Char Char said, "Was kind of… not as exciting as I thought it would be?"

"And?"

"Felt cold, and kinda icky. I caught a cold the next day too. I'm sure it was because of the shade." Char Char shrugged.

"Serves you right." Yuzu said, "What did you think it would be like?"

"I don't know, like connecting with a ghost or something. I thought maybe it would make a sound or I'd get a vision of their past life. Yeah, yeah, I was just an imaginative kid, okay? You don't have to give me that look." Char Char mock pouted.

"You should avoid contact with shades now that you're an Exalted. Their touch is a little more potent for us." Firuzeh noted, "We should be able to pick up some silkmoss incense in the village for the future which will ward them off in our future travels."

"Worst case, we let them go after Kai at night, right?" Char Char smiled cheerfully.

"I concur." Firuzeh nodded.

"I heard that!" Kai protested from his place a bit farther ahead.

With the vague goal of reaching civilization before sundown they made their way down at as quick a pace as they could manage. Other topics not directly related to the days' travel were not mentioned; there would be time for talking later.

Even so, the going was slow. The sun was falling low on the horizon by the time they reached the valley below. The trees at the base of the valley were taller and less twisted, not as large as the trees in Kumin. Their leaves grew on their branches in layered shelves. The rocky landscape, thick with moss and short grass, made for easier traveling as it limited the density of larger plants.

They took off in the direction that they had seen the smoke, roughly to the northwest, following the gentle downward slope of the bank of a small stream that meandered through the valley.

Yuzu, who was once more wearing her sandals, found herself enjoying the walk through the serene surroundings. She even joined Char Char in wading in the shallows of the stream, the clear waters relieving her aching muscles from the day's climb.

Amidst the sound of bubbling waters and wind rustling through the leaves, Yuzu thought she heard the jingling of bells. She paused, lifting her eyes to look for the source, but didn't see any signs of people.

There's no one nearby, either… Yuzu frowned as she examined the Tapestry of Fate. She wondered if she had just imagined the sound amongst the noise of nature.

No, there it is again. There are some tiny bells ringing, somewhere over there.

Yuzu sped up her pace, catching up to Kai who was at the front of the group in the direction of the bells. As she approached he slowed, his eyes looking ahead.

They both stopped as they rounded the side of a cliff, revealing a dirt path at the bottom of the slope. The path meandered to the north, and at the crook of a bend in the path was a large boulder with a rounded flat top shaded by the canopy of a single large tree.

Directly under the tree, a single young woman sat cross-legged in a meditative pose. Her long, straight black hair hung down to the small of her straight back. She wore a set of brown robes embroidered with an abstract pattern of yellow and green that evoked the feeling of spring.

This is… the person that Yuima sent to meet us?

Yuzu was taken aback. She hadn't noticed the woman's thread on the tapestry before. For a brief moment she thought she'd just been careless and had missed the woman's presence, but Yuzu quickly realized something far more disturbing.

This woman did not have a Fate Thread!