Chapter 119

---25 years ago---

“Aniki! Aniki!* Come back!”

In the fading light of spring, a child was running down the banks of the river Yangzhao.

His scales reflected the burning light of the dying sun, and beside him his elder Brother cast prideful looks every now and then.

“You’re slower these days, Nago.”

The child scoffed lightly, trying to save as much breath as he could. “Still faster than you, Esh!”

Behind them both, their sibling was struggling up the mounds of jungle overgrowth, tree boughs and vines slapping against him as his big brothers forged on ahead.

“Be careful! Father said –“

“Father isn’t here, Yam!” Nagoya shouted back, much to the amusement of Yaresh beside him.

When they finally arrived at their destination the two older Brothers climbed a rock and looked out at the gleaming city in the distance. Its towers, carved from the remnants of a mountain that had once rose to the kingdom to heaven, loomed above them in the far distance, glimmering with brilliant and ancient power.

“It’s…big.”

“That’s all you have to contribute, Esh? ‘Big’?”

“Alright, Mr Bookworm, you say something fancy about it, then. It’s gonna be yours, after all.”

Finally, little Yamrah approached them, panting as his lungs struggled to draw breath in the deep heat of the Arasaka.

“How about you, Yam?” Nagoya asked him as he extended a scaled hand to his little brother. “You’re the poet among us. How does my grand city look?”

Yamrah was seized as he forged the rock, beating away his brother's hand to climb it alone only to be shocked by the sheer scale of the place.

“It’s like…a jewel,” he murmured.

“Hah!” Yaresh roared, beating his gauntlet to his chest. “And no matter how precious they are, all jewels can be broken!”

“No…” Yamrah muttered cautiously, avoiding his Brother’s rippling muscles. “…diamonds can’t.”

“Only because no one’s tried hard enough. Betcha I could crunch I diamond between these teeth!”

“You could not,” Nagoya scoffed with folded arms. “You can’t even bite through a gogi fruit.”

“Wanna bet?” Yaresh asked, his teeth flaring with killing, mischievous intent.

“You know there’s other ways to amuse yourself besides fighting, right?”

“You sound like mother – a female!” Yaresh roared, beating his chest again.

“You might like to listen to women a little more, Esh,” Nagoya retorted. “Then one day, the girls might actually start liking you.”

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“Brat,” the eldest Brother spat. “Just for that, one day, I’m gonna invade your precious city and show you just how tough I am.”

“Oh, really?” Nagoya sneered, stepping close to his big brother with impish intent.

Yamrah, as usual, had to intersperse himself between the two of them.

“Oh, please, could both of you not fight, for once?”

The two Brothers shared a moment of silence before bursting out into childish laughter then, doubling over as the tiny Yamrah tried to mediate another one of their conflicts. For his part, the little guy took it in good stride. He even started laughing himself once his blush had died away.

“I missed this,” Yaresh finally said when he stopped himself. “Feels like ages since we’ve just talked like this.”

“And its going to be a long time before it happens again,” Yamrah agreed, his eyes focused on the city with sudden, deep intensity.

“How’d you mean?” Nagoya asked.

“Father’s sending you away,” the child replied quietly. “Just like he’s sent Esh away up North. This little holiday’s just until the city is ready and then…then you’ll go away too, Nago.”

Both big brothers looked to their sibling, seeing his shoulders sag with sadness.

“Hey,” Yaresh said. “We’ll still see each other. You’ll see – I’ll be slipping out past my own guards for the cherry blossom festival, and to tease you at your first dance. Think I’d miss seeing you in a dress-robe, little brother?”

Nagoya saw his brother smile, but he could also see that even behind Yaresh’s eyes, there was doubt. All of them had heard about this new Empire of humans steadily rising in the West. They'd been nothing more than a joke for these last few years - except nowadays it seemed that fewer and fewer Yokun were laughing.

They had heard the hushed whispers of their father and his council in the past few months, muttering about ‘border conflicts’ and ‘boiling points’. And, of course, those meddlesome Abolitionists that had started to rise up in the Northern territories. There was a change in the air of Hokiyama. The capital city was braced for something. Only by coming here to the Arasaka – to the wild country of Plantations and good, obedient slaves – did the Princes of Blades realize that there was a kind of electricity in the air of the big city. Something was going to change, and soon.

And they’d have to be ready to secure the defenses of their Empire when the time came. These last few days of play and frivolity would be their last. Of that, they were suddenly absolutely certain.

“Let’s make a pact, then,” Nagoya suddenly proclaimed.

Both his morose Brothers looked to him, surprised by the determination in his voice.

“A what?”

“You know – like a promise. An ‘official’ kind of promise.”

“An unbreakable one?” Yamrah asked.

“Yup. The best kind. And you know what the Elders say, Yam: breaking a vow invites the wrath of Lord Akira himself.”

“I’m not an infant…” Yamrah pouted.

Nagoya ignored his little Brother’s pride and thrust his hand before his two siblings.

“Let us promise,” he said. “That one day we’ll all meet here again and look out over the new world.”

His brothers both looked at each other in utter bewilderment.

“Nago…” Yaresh sighed. “You really are so dramatic…”

But nonetheless, he thrust his hand out to meet his brother's, turning to look on the youngest among them before he started to feel like an idiot.

“Well? All for one, Yam. If we’re doing this, you gotta do it, too.”

Yamrah looked at his brothers’ hands and back up at them, trying his best to conceal the smile tugging at the sides of his mouth.

“…you really mean it?”

“Oh, come on!” Yaresh laughed, dragging his brother’s hand onto his own. “You know we wouldn’t last without our little guardian angel.”

“Then its settled,” Nagoya smiled at his brethren. “One day, we’ll find this place again. And on that day, lets drink rice wine like the adults under the sun. We’ll do it, even if we have to fight a whole human army to get here. We’ll make it back.”

His brothers shared optimistic smiles, not laughing, but not truly believing this was much of a pact. After all, who could ever match their Empire?

“Whatever you say, Nago,” Yaresh muttered. “Whatever you say…”

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---Present Day---

---Southern Arasaka Jungle---

A spear of lightning crashed through the clouds, smashing into a tree above Nagoya as he woke with a start, his scales stinging and his naked body shivering against the rainfall that dripped through the trees.

He must have fallen, judging by the bruises to his torso. He’d been running for – he didn’t know how long. His head thrummed, the vision of his brothers still moving before his eyes like a lucid dream. He didn’t know what had caused the memory to resurface. Perhaps it was nostalgia, perhaps it was pain, or perhaps it was the scalpel-like touch of the Shai-Alud’s fingers as they raked his brain.

That insidious power was too strong for any mortal to bare. Only now did the Prince of Hitogi know his destiny – he had met his foe within the jungles of the South, and the rest of his life would be committed to destroying him.

So he tore himself from the mud and limped through the foliage of the jungle, kicking away any creature who dared to poke its hungry snout at his ankles. He threw himself past trees and wind-wracked vines, breaking into a run as best he could. He didn’t know if the Pipers were following him, but judging by the eyes of that feral cat that had slain Canjung, he wouldn’t be surprised.

The slaves knew how his Clan had suppressed their kind. Mercy was not an attribute they would extend to his people. He’d seen how they dealt with the Overseers as they overran the Nagi plantations…

He fell face-first into the dirt when another lightning strike broke a treetop above him. Doing his best to suppress a roar of anguish, he rose and forged the fallen tree trunk, eyes adjusted to the damp world around him, now. He kept his arms tightly wrapped round his chest, his warm blood serving as his best defense against the cold of night.

But still, the fatigue of combat and his escape was exhausting him, and when he fell again, throwing himself through another patch of overgrowth, the thought occurred to him that he could simply give in, now, and let the slaves have their precious victory.

But another slash of lightning tore more than simply electricity across the sky. In the shadow of the heavenly light suddenly stood the towers of a great city, and Nagoya’s claws felt the stalwart skin of a rock beneath him.

He forced himself up with the last ounces of energy that hadn’t yet departed him, and saw where he was standing: the Pact-rock that stood only a few meters from Saku.

He couldn’t even believe the sight. But he didn’t care. The fact that his city still stood was all the hope he’d ever need in the long night of his escape.

“I made it, Brothers,” he whispered with his dying breaths. “Now…it’s your turn.”