Calamity Mandate

"Grant me my request, child, and I shall pledge my might to achieve whatever your soul and heart desires for the next thousand years."

Jun Yi Kong's offer echoed ominously across the chamber.

In the shadow under the evil statue, Jun Yi Kong's massive, smoky form knelt down on one knee, genuflecting toward Yuzu with his head bowed.

Yuzu had a firm grasp of the golden ball within the saint's statue. A calm but powerful energy ran through it, cascading out across the complex edifice of the Chamber of Divine Judgement. It accentuated her fate powers within the pocket dimension, allowing her to see and manipulate every creature and structure in Ying Zhen. Though she didn't fully understand the mechanisms of the Chamber, it wasn't a stretch to say that with her current control over the space she could easily dismantle it and grant Jun Yi Kong's wish for freedom.

There was one glaring problem with Jun Yi Kong's offer though.

A nigh-unstoppable demon king that took the combined efforts of over a hundred saints to capture— not even kill— seemed like a possibly unwise entity to release upon the world. Even if he did for some reason follow through on his word and obey her command for the next thousand years, the people in the future one thousand years from now would probably not appreciate her decision.

At the same time he was, in a way, Yuzu's secret weapon. Never mind his raw strength, he had knowledge and skills that were invaluable to Yuzu. He was outside the current pantheon of gods that ruled the world, yet in no way inferior. Even if she had no intention of granting him freedom, she also could not afford to anger him if she wanted to use him to her advantage.

"I won't free you. Surely you understand why." Yuzu said, "But other than that, if you have some other request, I will at least hear you out."

Hearing these words Jun Yi Kong stood, his smoky figure towering above her. He did not speak, but reflected on Yuzu's words.

"I need to become stronger. And I need to escape from Akahi's grasp." Yuzu said, "I have a sarira of Fate, which I believe can advance me to Adept. What can I do with it?"

"Take it, of course." Jun Yi Kong said.

"If I do that, I'm doing exactly what she needs me to do." Yuzu shook her head.

"If you are so weak as to succumb before you break into the immortal realm, you have no chance anyways." Jun Yi Kong's deep voice rumbled haughtily.

"That's no excuse to carelessly walk into a trap." Yuzu scowled, turning away from the Demon King.

"Why even ask, then? How typical of Fate to ignore good advice." Jun Yi Kong sighed, "Fate is the only domain that is truly useless on its own."

The biting words were starting to piss Yuzu off. Her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands, turning her knuckles white from the tension.

"If you're just going to mock me, then I have no business with you." Yuzu found herself trembling in irritation, "Come up with a better answer of how I can use the sarira by my next visit, or I'll leave you here to rot!"

She didn't wait for a response as she activated the medallion, propelling her out of the pocket dimension.

Darkness filled her vision as she found herself back in the physical world, meditating alone in the village Chief's manor. The quartz medallion was cool to the touch, despite the fact that she had been holding it for the entire time that her spirit was in Ying Zhen. As she stood, she fumbled the medallion and it fell to the floor with a dull thud.

Only then did she realize that she was shaking, her breath unsteady, her face hot.

She cursed Jun Yi Kong under her breath as she left the medallion on the floor and rolled herself into bed for the night.

~

Morning arrived.

The plan was to wake at dawn and depart, but by coincidence, everyone found themselves awake before the first rays of dawn.

With no reason to wait for the sun to rise, the group gathered once again in the main room and ate a simple breakfast of nuts and fish. The Chief looked like he hadn't slept at all. His daughter, too, looked like she was barely awake as she knelt on the side obediently. Their posture was completely slouched, as if the Wailing was physically weighing them down.

Throughout the village most of the villagers were simply passed out on the floor, having been unable to find the willpower to even crawl into a bed.

"It pains me to say this, but I must insist that you all depart now." Chief Kagami said heavily at the meal's end. It wasn't just about not being able to properly host the visitors as guests, but also with the villagers in such vulnerable condition he could not allow outsiders to stay, not knowing what they might do. With a sigh he remarked finally, "Without the blessing of the Goddess, I don't even know if the village itself will survive."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There had been no conversation during the meal. Aside from Yuzu, everyone seemed to be low in energy. Even Char Char seemed like she was feeling down. Small flecks of black had begun appearing on their threads, giving them a dirty appearance.

Yuzu, of course, fastidiously kept her own thread clean. What's more, she noted that Naomi's white thread was now visible to her. After Yuzu's encounter with Pix during the night, the nature priest's presence no longer formed a void in the tapestry of fate. Truly, it seemed that Pix was the reason for the abnormality, and with her business done the demon girl was now gone.

Even so, I should still be cautious and avoid manipulating Naomi's string as much as possible. Yuzu decided. Yuima must have methods to deal with fate. Until I know what those methods are it would be best to be careful.

Carelessness will only cause more trouble down the line. Yuzu reaffirmed to herself, scowling irritably. The night hadn't done much to improve her mood from her argument with Jun Yi Kong.

There was also another specific matter elsewhere in the village that Yuzu was keeping her eye on… But she'd deal with that soon enough.

Across the table Char Char and Firuzeh eyed Yuzu, quietly sharing a glance as they noticed the latter's terrible mood.

The meal was not allowed to end without incident. A sudden screech of wood against wood broke the silence as the chief stood up abruptly from his chair and stood directly before Naomi. "Naomi-shi, I implore you from the bottom of my heart! Please save our village!"

The elder had clearly been bottling up these feelings since the night before, and only now just before their slated time of departure could he no longer resist an outburst.

"You have cleansed our weeping before… If you have any love for Ika, for the people of Huan… Please!" He formed a triangle with his hands in the Huan fashion and bowed so deeply that his head smacked against the table. Tears ran down his face as he pleaded, "I have faith that Yuima is looking out for us, and that she has asked you to simply observe. If my humble request offends you, please punish me as you see fit, but punish me after you save my people."

The elder smacked his head on the table again so hard that it caused the tea to jolt out of the cups. Standing quickly, Naomi reached out to gently lift the chief out of his bow, a bothered, conflicted look on her face.

"Chief Kagami." She sighed, "If only I could— Even were I to pray to Yuima at this moment, I do not have the offerings ready to properly conduct the cleansing ritual."

Chief Kagami trembled as he seemed to press his forehead even deeper into the wood, "Please, Naomi-shi. If it's offerings you need, I… have secretly kept a few spirit crystals in my possession that have been kept for such times."

Without even raising his head from the table he withdrew a key from his pockets and ordered his daughter to go to the study and retrieve the contents of a hidden box. The young lady didn't even utter a word as she slumped away into the manor. Before long a small collection of seven glowing crystals were presented to Naomi.

"These are all I have, they are my precious savings after years of caring for this village." Chief Kagami said, clearly pained by the value of the crystals that he was giving away, "But if you can use them to save the village…"

"You are truly a pious follower of our Goddess." Naomi said with sincerity. She made a move as to retrieve the crystals, however paused. Her eyes flickered over to Yuzu as an idea came to mind, "Yes, if we must conduct a ritual to Yuima to save the village, then I will surely do so… Though, from what I understand these travellers were summoned here specifically to help with the village's ailments."

Yuzu didn't seem to hear the priest, seemingly engrossed in the still half-full bowl of soup in front of her. Sitting beside her, Char Char tried nudging her irritated friend but Yuzu simply scowled and ignored her.

"If they have no ideas, rest assured I will pray to Yuima and ask for Her blessing…" A smug look briefly appeared on Naomi's face as she paused, then said thoughtfully, "Before that, though, allow me to use my powers to help your daughter's condition. I won't be able to cleanse the Wailing completely within her, but I can alleviate her suffering, at least temporarily."

Kagami couldn't help but lift his head as he looked at Naomi with grateful tears in his eyes, "Naomi-shi…!"

Naomi gently beckoned the listless Chief's daughter over and instructed her to sit and relax. The priest extended her palm and held it in front of the girl's forehead as a soft white light blossomed around her. As they watched, the girl's back slowly straightened and her head rose up, as if she were being lifted up by a divine force. Colour returned to the girl's cheeks as she fully opened her eyes, breathing in deeply with a new energy of life.

After five minutes, Naomi retracted her hand and sighed softly, looking somewhat deflated from exertion, but with a small smile on her face.

"Thank you, Naomi-shi!" The girl bowed sharply with sincerity, "I feel much better now."

"If so, then the effort was worth it." Naomi stood up with a somewhat exhausted, but satisfied smile. Once again she glanced over to Yuzu, who was finally finishing off the last of her breakfast.

Is your silence admission that you can't do anything here? Her grin seemed to say. You probably are just acting nonchalant to save your last shred of dignity.

The look of smug superiority on the cleric's face wasn't missed by any of Yuzu's companions, and they alternated between glaring at Naomi and looking worriedly at Yuzu.

"In that case, I won't waste time to set up the ritual. It will take me half a day to prepare." Naomi said, "Do you know the status of the cleansing pool?"

"It was nearly full, the last time my son checked… That would have been three nights ago." Chief Kagami stood, leading the way to the door.

"That is fortunate. Perhaps with the crystals this ritual has a chance to succeed, then." Naomi smiled, finally taking the crystals into her possession.

The rest of the room stood up as well, taking it as their cue to leave. They made it all the way to the door before they realized that Yuzu was still seated and hadn't made any motion to stand up.

"Miss, I apologize for being a poor host, but I must ask you to leave." Chief Kagami said delicately.

"Mm? Why is that?" Yuzu asked, taking a sip of tea.

"It is just that, with the village in its current condition, we can't accommodate outsiders…" Chief Kagami repeated his words from before.

"Given that you have done nothing to help the situation, you should simply follow obediently behind me." Naomi said, "I won't have you trample on the chief's hospitality."

Even hearing these words Yuzu didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave as she mulled over her thoughts. Even Char Char passed a worried look to Yuzu.

"So you're saying," Yuzu said slowly with a glint in her eye, "If I were to cleanse this village of the Wailing permanently, you wouldn't have a problem with following me instead?"