Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Things in the Tall Grass

Arrowhead did not take kindly to the sudden end of its vacation. While Diana promised it would be short-lived, the beast hissed loudly in protest, forcing her to chase it before she could place the reins. The lizren seemed disappointed when the girl sweated afterward but otherwise seemed happy about the bit of exercise. Watching the sight from the sidelines, Keigo shook his head and leaned toward Kiara.

“This is why you don’t challenge Diana.” He said, and she snickered, noting that there was something petulant to the way the lizren looked at its master.

The trip was mostly peaceful after that. Finally awake and not driven by urgency, Kiara got the chance to take in Rial’s countryside, noting the endless blur of green and brown that swept past them as Arrowhead rushed on. The Calm Lands were a luscious place. It was home to something all too natural, lost in her world except for by design. The Calm Lands were still the canvas of mother nature, and she could see the favored colors and hear the ideas. The chirping of birds, the buzzing of bugs, the painterly flap of butterfly swarms fleeing as they rolled past. It was almost mesmerizing, and it lent credence to Keigo’s words as he spoke of the domain.

“It’s called the Grass House.” He started. “From what I’ve heard about it, it was born from a celebration the farmers in this country used to do centuries ago. Every year, during harvest season, they would gather at this one spot to celebrate what they called the Spirit of the Bounty. A spirit that encouraged healthy crop growth. Unsurprisingly, a lot of them were drawn to this place after they passed on, so the domain was born.”

Diana nodded. “So that’s how it happens, huh? I guess you could say people get attached to certain locations. Why not go to one after you pass on? Even if you don’t come back to life, you’ll still be connected to the people who come after you.”

Keigo smiled, eyes wide with surprise. “That’s pretty much it.” He said. Diana flipped her hair.

“I don’t know why you’re surprised, I’m super smart.”

“No argument.”

“Aww! I didn’t expect you to agree so easily!”

Keigo tilted his head. “Who’s agreeing? I just said no argument, you’d never let me win.” He righted it and smirked. The redhead rolled her eyes at the snickering behind her.

“So…” Kiara replied. “The stuff Diana said about you going to abandoned buildings and sitting on rocks, does that have something to do with spirit domains forming?”

“Yes and no.” Keigo wavered his hand. “Mostly yes, but its also about what type of spirit domain is forming. Not all places are going to be great. Some abandoned buildings, for example, might have been condemned because something horrible happened there. When it’s like that, spiritual energy collects but its all malicious and the spirits born from it are malicious too.”

“What’s the situation with the rocks then? I can’t imagine that leads to malicious spirits.” Danson raised an eyebrow.

“That’s more like…” Keigo stroked his chin for a moment. “Closer to the Grass House, but not as deliberate. Sometimes people get ideas about a certain spot. They think it’s special so they go their by default after they pass on. The problem in that situation is how much spiritual energy gathers and what could happen to it if something negative happens.”

“Such as someone breaking the rock, or stripping the clearing it was in?” Diana peaked back. Keigo pointed and nodded.

“Yep. Imagine how you’d feel if someone built their inn on your holy place. You wouldn’t be happy.”

Kiara and Danson closed their eyes, suddenly pulled into the thought. When they opened them they looked at Keigo, respect once again shining out. He sneered back at them and Diana took that as her chance to snicker.

“Why are you two so surprised!” The assassin barked. He pointed accusingly at Kiara. “You just met me, you can’t be shocked!”

Kiara shook her head. “It’s not the same kind of shock as Danson! It’s just, you didn’t really strike me as that sort of person at first.”

“What?”

“Well you’re the cold, ‘I have to defeat my sworn enemy,’ type. I didn’t expect spiritual awareness and concern.”

Diana guffawed.

“Ay, shut up!” Keigo barked at her.

“That’s pretty much right. You never gave me the impression of a spiritualist.” Danson shrugged, and Keigo tossed something that burst into ink as he caught it. “See, this is you. Suspicious liquids in soft balls. I feel like I need an antidote now.”

“Well jokes on you all, I actually came from an intensely spiritual place.” Despite their hazing, Keigo smiled. “My dad, mom, and older brother were spiritualists too, and my dad actually met my mom being kind of stupid about it.” He laughed.

“Well, go on. You can’t just start that then go silent.” Diana replied.

“There’s this place south of the Dragon Den’s that we call the Spirit Circle. A long time ago, when people in the Orchid Triumvirate saw spiritualism as something evil, there was a mass exodus to the dens to build a community that was safer for those with the sensitivity. Time went on and things had to change. With all those people sensitive to spiritual energy in one place, the city-state that followed eventually became the most spiritual place in the world.”

“You’ve told me about the Spirit Circle before, but never this much.”

“I guess I didn’t have much of a moment to talk about the history, but yeah, eventually the leader of the Circle created the Spirit Guards, a group that protects the balance between people and spirits. My dad was a trainee with them and he really wanted to be assigned to the southern branch, the branch that dealt with the most wild spirit activities. That’s not a branch for people who aren’t skilled though, so to prove he was good enough, my brilliant dad decided he was going to challenge Yokumori, the covetous forest.”

“The covetous forest?” Kiara parroted.

Keigo nodded. “That’s one of the oldest domains in the Spirit Circle. As the immigrants came and tried to find their place, many ended up getting lost in this extremely dense forest. Yokumori is old, and its trees are tall and thick. Eventually the idea became that the forest takes the people it likes. Eventually, that idea became reality, and some Spirit Guards even feared that the forest would eventually claim more of the circle.”

Danson laughed. “Our dads are different. I don’t think my dad would have ever tried his luck against something like that.”

“I did say mine was stupid!” Keigo nodded. “And it went about as well as you’re guessing. He went into Yokumori with the idea that he’d seal the forest. It didn’t like that, and used all the things it stole to attack him. He ended up too wounded to make it out, and only survived because my mom found him.”

“Aww!” Diana cooed. “It’s just like us! Your mom saved him and they fell in love.”

“You know that makes you the idiot in this situation, right?”

“I’ve made my fair share of arrogant mistakes.”

Keigo coughed, “And you’ll make plenty more.”

“What?”

“What?”

Kiara and Danson snickered.

“Anyway, my mom patched my dad up, and asked him how he got hurt so bad. He told her the complete truth, and even promised that he’d seal Yokumori at some point in the future. When she asked why, he explained everything the guards feared about the forest, and she asked, ‘Why do you think the forest has not grown beyond its borders in hundreds of years?’ Reality and myth had become one, it was dangerous for anyone to cross Yokumori, after all. So why wasn’t this forest claiming more?”

“Because it had enough?” Danson raised an eyebrow.

Stolen story; please report.

“Because it was already sealed?” Kiara raised her hand.

“Because it didn’t need to be sealed.” Diana nodded, and Keigo pointed at her.

“Bingo! There were patrons to Yokumori. People who channeled its great power and sort of acted as a cap to it. My mom was the heir to those people. The next in a long line. She taught my dad that the Spirit Guards do good work, but their organized structure blinded them to the nature of the Circle. It wasn’t just the city-state and the spirits within, it was the hinterlands around it. It was the streams and things that flowed through it. The Spirit Circle was bigger than all those buildings.”

Diana shook her head. “You can’t be your mom, she’s way too sensible.”

Keigo smirked. “I’m the most sensible person in our group.”

Danson coughed loudly. “I’m literally right here.” The couple stared blankly at him. His attention snapped to Kiara. “They’re ganging up on me, but you’ve seen it, right?”

“Danson does seem like the most mature.” She nodded.

“You’ve never teamed up with him in a fight.” Keigo smirked.

“Oh, you thought I was going to stab you with ice? Fool! I’ve been playing you like a flute since my first spell. Take this!” Diana grinned.

“That doesn’t sound like me.”

“It totally does!” Keigo laughed.

Kiara laughed too. “How did your dad respond to what your mom said.”

“Something like, dang, I guess you’re right. I’ll be a Spirit Guard like no other then.”

“Aw, she motivated him?”

“No, remember, my dad is an idiot. He ended up quitting the Guards because he couldn’t agree with the way they worked. He then spent the rest of his life fighting with most of the captains.” Keigo’s smile changed, in a way that was almost easy to miss. His words said it all, however, as many ups as this story had, it fell to a depth none could escape. The silence lingered on for a moment after that, too precious to damage, too fragile to touch. It took Danson for it to finally end, not quite moving away from the conversation, but closer to its edges.

“Spirits don’t sound all that bad, at least.”

“Depends on what you’re comparing them to. They’re a lot better than demons in a lot of situations, for example.”

“Which itself is marginally better than dealing with faeries.”

Not for the first time, the image of small winged people filled Kiara's mind. She wondered if their wings were those of flies or butterflies. She wondered if they granted wishes as some stories said, and then she wondered what the look on Danson's face was.

“Whatever you think Faeries are, Kiara, it’s wrong.” He shook his head emphatically.

She noted the look in his eyes. Something terrified, giving her a warning.

“Oh…”

Different fairy tales came to mind; stolen kids, mad kings, villages sacrificed for little more than a cheap laugh. Magdalea dealt with the bad kind of faeries, and judging from the expressions on Keigo and Diana’s faces, elves were the ones who saw the worst of that.

“That bad?” She said.

Danson nodded. “Whatever you’re thinking, think worse.”

From there, Kiara found herself in the seat of the storyteller, sharing the ideas of faeries in her world, measuring against what the others knew. By the time they arrived at the Grass House, all the good ideas were gone. Faeries seemed closer to things from slasher movies, and trying her luck with a knife seemed safer than trying her luck with them. Even Diana and Keigo seemed surprised by how horrific the Fae could be. They almost forgot they were dealing with spirits, until they arrived at the field of tall grass where wooden statues stood, covered in overgrowth. At some point in their lives, they depicted a woman, with a hardy body and long flowing hair. Flowers once made a tiara around her head, crowning her as maybe the idol of an old celebration. Now they just seemed to serve as markers in the land, not so much welcoming you to the festivities as they were reminding some were once here. As the party disembarked, the grass in the name was all too clear, but there wasn’t even a shack they could mistake for a house. Diana turned to Keigo to see if they were in the right place, but the boy was distracted as he stared on, clearly elated.

“It’s this type of domain.” He murmured, then suddenly turned. “You guys can’t feel it, so this is about to be great.” He brought his hands together.

Before it was clear in the moving grass, Kiara felt the wind swirl into a frenzy. The others saw it a moment later as clippings whipped into a whirl around the assassin, rising into a green twister. They filled the sky above him then poured forward like a wave. As they fell, the group noticed something, occasionally revealed behind their flutter. Keigo took in a deep breath then pushed his hands forward. The clips traced a circle in the air, showing an otherworldly scene on the other side. Colorful mushrooms stood taller than them and shined, lighting a road shaded by trees, where grass wavered toward the mouth of a cave. Keigo lowered his hands, turning a smile to the others.

“After you,” He gestured, and they stepped in, feeling the difference of the domain in the air.

They felt eyes upon them from the trees, looking up to find luminescent white creatures, one part rabbit and another monkey. They snacked on berries as the group continued past, hopping on the branches in pursuit until they walked into the cave. Where they expected craggy rocks they found what looked like the inside of a ravine. Great grass bridges stretched into each other and broke off, forging a way forward if you didn’t want to try the mushrooms sticking out of the wall. A stream flowed deep below, its waters moving in a strange way, revealing only on further inspection that it was not water at all. Butterflies moved, leaving streams of pollen that seemed to paint the world. Staring almost made them want to jump in, only for Keigo to clap loudly.

“All right, all right, don’t get pulled in. I know this is a little new for you guys.” He smiled smugly. Diana turned to him with a sharp frown. “You can’t turn this into a challenge!” He barked, and her brow furrowed. He turned to Kiara, “You can’t really say these places have layers, but the best place to test our theory will be to find the master of this domain.” raven wings grew out from his back as a hard ridge covered his forehead and nose. He rose off the ground with a beat, leaving birdlike legs to dangle beneath him. With the last of the magic changing his hair to feathers, Kiara's mind finally caught up to what she was seeing. The boy had transformed, and it seemed he wanted to bypass the bridges altogether. She rose off the ground and Keigo looked at the others.

“Unless you’re planning to give me wings, I don’t know what you’re expecting.” Danson crossed his arms.

“No way!” Diana exclaimed. “I’m walking, I gotta see this place up close.” She beamed, and Keigo smirked.

“Try to keep up, Kiara, we’re going to take the fun route.” Keigo dived toward the pollen stream. Kiara waved to the others as she followed, and Danson turned to Diana.

“I’m surprised you’re going to skip this chance.” He said.

She smiled. “Like I said, I want to see this place up close. Besides. I want the chance to talk to you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. We’ve haven’t had a good talk before. I’m actually surprised you didn’t know about Keigo’s spiritualism. I found out about it in our first few months.”

Danson smiled, “I’ll admit, I didn’t pay much attention.” He started forward. “Keigo and I met under pretty interesting circumstances. I don’t think we ever expected to travel with each other for this long.”

The redhead followed. “How did you two meet exactly? You already know Keigo saved my life, but I don’t know anything about your deal.”

“It was the opposite.”

“Huh?”

“He endangered mine.”

Diana laughed. "That sounds about right."

Danson frowned. “Somehow I thought that’d shock you. I don’t know why…” He shook his head. “Still, yeah, he endangered my life. I was traveling with some friends of mine, Tasyl and Tynye. They’re a couple of Ufanyn siblings I met after I got separated from my brother. I was actually traveling with them for a while, when Keigo attacked us out of no where.”

“What exactly was he after?”

“Our blood.” Danson stopped. “No, I guess not quite our blood, but the person who hired him wanted it. A witch needed some shady bounty hunters who wouldn’t ask questions. Keigo might not be a hunter, but he does shady pretty good.” Diana nodded emphatically. “While the rest of his group kept the siblings busy, he came for me. We fought.”

“Who won?”

“I did.”

“If I asked Keigo, would he agree?”

“How often does the loser admit he loss?”

“How often indeed.” Diana smirked.

“Well, either way, we fought and afterwards the shady bounty hunters turned on him. They realized there was a bounty on both of us, and I gave him the chance to get away.”

“Wow! No clever, ‘Fool. You thought I was merely blocking your slashes, and now it’s time for your comeuppance!’?”

“I told you, I don’t do that. Either way, I kinda realized him and I had something in common. I didn’t know what happened to the siblings, but we were all kids, I didn’t want us all losing to them. Keigo escaped and I got captured, then he and Tasyl came back and saved me and Tynye.” Danson smiled.

“Sounds like everything worked out in the end, but by the time I met you, those two were gone.”

“They left soon after we met, actually. Tasyl and Tynye were just journeying, you know? They didn’t have bounties on them, and didn’t have anything to do with the type of life Keigo and I had. It sucked, but we agreed to split. They didn’t deserve to have their lives jeopardized sticking around with me.”

“Sounds like you miss them.”

Danson smiled. “It’s hard not to, you know? I bet you missed Keigo when you guys split.”

Diana nodded. “A lot, honestly. I guess it’s kinda hard to grow up with someone and not feel how much they’re gone from your life. I was actually even a little jealous when I met up with you guys and saw how close you were. If you tell him that, though, I’ll deny it.”

Danson cackled. “Well if it’s any consolation, when I met you I immediately saw how much you two belong together. It made me miss Tasyl...and Tynye.”

“Oh?” Diana’s eyes narrowed. “You and Tasyl were close like that then?” The elf blushed, turning his head away. Diana guffawed. “I’ve never seen you blush!”

“If you tell Keigo, I’ll deny it.”

The two laughed together, then pause as laughter rolled down from up high. Following its flight they found two figures standing on a mushroom. They dressed in all black, save for blue masks, depicting demonic visages. One bore a strong upper body, while the other had a sword hanging off their back.

“Don’t let us interrupt.” The swordsman said. “Tell us more about your friend. Perhaps, his location as well?”

“I don’t think they’re related, actually. It seems these two are with a different group.” His partner replied.

“More intruders then? I guess these two are the unlucky ones.”

Danson sighed as Diana slid behind him. “It hasn’t even been a day, how has this detour already gone sideways.”

The two leaped down and the elf prepared himself for battle…