Chapter 192 - Old Stories

Far away in Ying chu, a lone set of footprints snaked their way across the ash-covered plains. The grey land was cold and barren, with sharp, steep cliffs and fog filled valleys breaking up the rocky plains. Under the cold light of the crescent moon the plains looked like they were covered in a soft blanket of grey snow.

Argus trudged alone across the landscape with his coat tightly buttoned and face hidden deep within the hood of his cloak. A layer of grey ash clung to the coarse fabric, gently piling up from ash that fell constantly from the sky like snow.

In the distance, the silhouette of a jagged mountain range broke the horizon, blocking the myriad stars that twinkled in the clear night sky. Argus fixed his eyes on the side of one of the mountains, where the black outline of a castle could barely be made out.

In his memories, this castle was a shining beacon of power. It was the home of the Sun God, who ruled over Ying Chu as its immortal King. The grand, opaline tower refracted the light of the heavens like a jewel. In the sunlight it blazed like pillar of flame. In the moonlight, it glimmered and shone with an ethereal silver light.

Even though Argus only had his broken memories to remember it by, his heart ached to see that once brilliant castle black and dead in the distance.

Argus reached out his hand, catching a few of the ashes in his palm as he whispered softly, “Even the heavens weep for the loss of Ying Chu.”

“Oh?” A curious voice piped up, “That sounds familiar.”

Argus looked up calmly to see Pix, the goat legged demi-god hovering above him. He didn’t know when she had appeared - she seemed to be able to hide her presence from his spiritual intuition at will.

“In the pivotal final battle at Ying Chu, when the Sun God perished, his death caused the entire nation to burn in an unstoppable inferno for forty days straight. After the flames died down, the ashes started falling from the sky. To this day they have never stopped.” Argus explained, “That phrase was part of a famous epic by the poet Li Ru, who chronicled much of the War of the Five Kings.”

“Li Ru! Why even mention that boring old geezer!” Pix stuck out her tongue and made a disgusted face, “All he does all day is complain and play with himself all day.”

“I have a better topic.” She flitted lightly until she was hovering over his shoulder, with her head by Argus’ ears, “Tell me a story about… me!.”

“There are too many, which story in particular do you want to hear?” Argus continued to trudge forward through the ash as he frowned, purposefully not looking at the demi-god, “Besides, you know them better than me.”

“There are too many, I forgot them all.” Pix clasped her hands together tightly as she looked at him with big eyes. “Puh-lease!”

“There’s the one about the horned villagers...” Argus said as he tried to recall one from his memories, “In the ancient era, there was a village where every man and woman suffered from a terrible curse. Overnight, every person in the village began growing a horn out of the top of their head. The horns started small, but over time they swelled up until they couldn’t be concealed by a cloth cap. The villagers began to wrap cloth around their heads to cover up the horns and hide the curse from villagers.”

“One day, a women fell and hit her head against a rock. Her horn split open and she died instantly. When their friends and family members tried to take the body and bury her, her soul emerged from the broken horn and wailed horribly. Because of this no one could approach her body, and so it was left to rot in the middle of the town. Even after a day the woman’s soul was still attached to the horn, unable to leave. Some of the villagers tried to flee, but upon leaving the village their horns burst and they died on the road. Like the woman, their souls emerged from the horns.”

“…” Argus paused, his eyes furrowing as he looked at Pix, “Is that right? Such a thing is impossible. Without a living body to tether them, souls should quickly disappear into the aether.”

“Back then, it was common for souls to turn into ghosts if their death was particularly horrific.” Pix grinned with amusement.

“Ghosts…?” Argus rubbed his chin, at the unfamiliar word. He wasn’t sure whether or not he should believe a demi-god with the title of Trickster. “Based on natural law, this is impossible. Was there a trick?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Pix waved her hand dismissively, “Carry on, carry on!”

“Ah- How does it go… After several more such deaths, the news of the town spread until even Chiron, the God of Death heard of it. He arrived at the village and tried to dispel the curse, but He was unable to do so successfully. Even more strangely, though He was the God of Death, He was unable to put the ghosts of the dead to rest, and so they continued to haunt the town. As He stood at a loss in the center of the town surrounded by the distraught villagers, a magpie flew down from the sky and landed on the statue of the town’s founder.”

At the mention of the magpie, Pix’s eyes lit up and she smiled broadly in anticipation.

“‘My Lord,’ the magpie said, ‘This curse is deeply embedded in the land. The people here are doomed to suffer this affliction. The only thing we can do is ease their suffering as much as possible and protect the horns from damage.”

“After contemplating these words and coming up with no other ideas, Chiron ordered the villagers to smith special cylindrical helmets to protect the horns-“ Argus paused once more as he came to an epiphany, “These helmets were lined with felt to hide their purpose. At first the villagers were ridiculed for their ridiculous hats, but for some reason the style became popular.”

“This was the origin of top hats?”

“That’s right!” Pix cackled suddenly. The bottom of her eyelids were curved up as she beamed with mischievous glee, “Those hats were completely my idea! The legacy of my brilliance!”

Argus frowned, “I find the whole tale remarkably implausible. Top hats most certainly only became popular fashion in the last sixty years.”

“Wrong!” Pix formed a big X with her arms.

“If I recall, Lord Noga revised them from a similar style used by ministers acro-“

“That’s not how it happened at all!” Pix interrupted him with a huff,

“If you’re going to dispute everything I say, why even bother asking me to tell a story?” Argus frowned, “You can just do it youself.”

“Because you’re a very good storyteller!” Pix twirled around in the air, “Okay, tell me another!”

“I didn’t even finish this one.” Argus protested.

“The rest of it’s boring!” Pix retorted, “Everyone in the village dies and turns into ghouls.”

“Ghouls and ghosts aren’t real!” Argus replied vehemently.

“Well, not anymore. But I see- you really did lose your mind!” Pix sniffed, “The Argus I used to know would never say such an ignorant thing.”

“Used to?” Argus hesitated, “What do you mean?”

The demi-god flashed a wicked grin at Argus.

“You really don’t remember? You were the one that discovered the reason why ghosts used to exist. It was a remarkably discovery. What was it you called it again?” She paused thoughtfully before floating down directly in front of him, “Oh, I remember now-“

“You called it… the Soul’s Mandate.”

~

“Hello?” Minnie called out carefully, “May we come in?”

The mid-twenties female officer hesitated at the entrance to the small wooden building that had been erected behind the stone shrine. There was no door, just two open doorways to the left and right that lead the way into the temple.

“What, are you expecting the White Maiden herself to greet us?” Finn asked with a slight roll of his eyes.

“Of course not-“ Minnie replied, “But it’s only polite. There could also be a priest inside… See, there are candles lit within.”

From the entrance they couldn’t see much, and the soft flickering light from within did little to relieve the darkness inside the building.

“You agreed with me that we’ve been invited into this temple.” Finn said nonchalantly, gesturing inside. “Let’s go.”

Minnie hesitated, not wanting to take the first step into the sacred space, “Right. Well, seeing as you are the commanding officer, I’ll let you take the lead.”

Finn paused for a brief second. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he too didn’t want to enter the space. There was something off about the energy within, a presence of a mysterious entity. Seeing Minnie waiting for him to make a move Finn stood a little straighter and nodded, “Right.”

With a show of confidence he stepped into the temple.

As he turned the corner he found himself in a sparsely furnished chamber. There were numerous candles throughout the space, casting a dim orange light on their surroundings. On the far wall was an offering table with several bowls of food arranged on it. Various rugs were arranged on the floor and there was an area with cushions and some empty bowls that looked like they had held food not too long ago.

Finn scanned the room coolly, seeing that the temple was currently empty. He exhaled slowly, realizing that he had been holding his breath since they had entered. He frowned, shaking his head slightly as he wondered whether he’d been actually been expecting to see a Goddess as he turned the corner.

“Looks like we’re alone at the moment.” Finn said, turning to Minnie, “I wonder if someone else has been summoned to meet us here.”

“That would make sense… Wait, someone’s coming.” Minnie’s eyes shot across the room to one of the unfinished doors that was covered with canvas.

The person paused on the other side of the doorway, then pushed past the fabric, stepping decisively into the room.

Her long black hair flowed down to the small of her back, framing her thin face and body. She wore a simple white robe over top her otherwise regular clothes. Her calm, intelligent grey eyes appraised the two officers in the room.

“Good evening.” She said, “My name is Yuzu.”

“The White Maiden sends her blessings.”