Chapter 195 - Staying in Charge

Yuzu’s surroundings settled into silence as the portal vanished in front of her. The rushing wind calmed down, letting her long flowing hair come to a rest.

She paused, reflecting on the outcome of her plan. With Finn almost reaching the portal it had been a bit close at the end, but everything had worked out to her desires.

Once she decided to meet with Steward Atticus she examined the fate threads to find the best way to accomplish it. The arrival of Char Char and the police officers through a portal did not go unnoticed by her. She quickly discovered the sapphire crystal in Minnie’s possession and that it likely provided the capability to transport her to the mountain ruins.

The problem was Officer Finn. Yuzu had met him once before as the White Maiden, when he’d visited the shrine with Char Char. At the time he’d had a golden thread, but now his thread was silver. This officer was fiercely independent, and didn’t take well to being ordered around by her. After briefly examining their potential future conversations, Yuzu decided that having him come along to the mountaintop temple would cause more problems than it solved.

She had expected Finn to refuse her request, moreover, he actively resisted Yuzu’s attempts to use her powers to separate his thread from Minnie. The more she struggled with his strings during their conversation, the more adamant and resistant he became.

However this was also within Yuzu’s expectations - His blatant disregard for the White Maiden’s request had had a deep impact on his partner. Though Minnie wouldn’t outwardly act against Finn, the interaction between Finn and Yuzu disturbed her enough that Yuzu didn’t even have to guide her strings over. She came to offer to take Yuzu on her own volition.

The White Maiden’s pre-emptive message to Char Char to take a walk around the plateau perfectly set up the situation for Minnie to slip away from Finn and give them the time to complete the journey.

That was a little close, though. Finn almost made it in time to ruin things. Char Char was supposed to walk around for a little longer, but she bumped into Finn and tipped him off…

Yuzu exhaled softly as she took her mind off of the situation at the shrine. As the excitement of the situation subsided she found herself feeling a little tired. The warm, reinforcing energy that she felt from being in the vicinity of the shrine was replaced by a cold emptiness.

As the energy from the portal subsided, the brilliant silver moonlight that lit her surroundings dimmed. The slim crescent moon shone down from a starry sky, softly illuminating a bleak and solitary scene.

She was on a crumbled cobblestone path filled with steps that climbed up the steep, rocky mountain side. Old buildings with stone walls and collapsed clay shingle roofs formed an abandoned village ruins. The empty doorways and windows were consumed in shadows.

All was silent except for the low, lonely howl of the wind in the distance.

Below her, the path twisted out of sight, leading the way through the village. Above, the path continued upwards, climbing toward the peak which was currently out of sight.

Officer Minnie was several meters further up the path and was also quietly scanning their surroundings. She wiped her hands off as blue-specked crystal dust crumbled and fell to the ground.

Her eyes were full of guilt as she looked down at the scattered dust. An internal conflict played out on her face as the silence settled around them. Yuzu eyed Minnie quietly without saying anything. Though she didn’t know what was going through the officer’s mind, she knew that Minnie hadn’t made the decision to help her easily.

Yuzu had only pulled the strings, using her intuition to choose her words and put the threads in the right positions to accomplish her goal.

She hadn’t before considered how the people on the other side of that thread felt. When the path set up by fate conflicted with what their own desires, did they still feel they had a choice?

Some of them, like Finn and Char Char, fight and resist the situation. Others….

A small frown tugged at Yuzu’s lips as she turned her gaze away from the officer, leaving her in peace for the moment.

There was no sign of life anywhere. No rustling or movement. No plants or trees or moss; there was not even a single blade of grass in the rocky dirt at their feet. Instead, every open surface was covered in upright stone tablets of various sizes and shapes. They were embedded into the ground in rows, with about a meter separating each row.

Yuzu had a bad feeling as she looked at the nearest tablet close to her. It was just off the side of the path. Her shoes scraped against the fine gravel on the cobblestone path as she walked over to take a look at it. After a moment Minnie came down the path to join her.

As soon as Yuzu laid eyes on the front of the tablet she realized what it was. A short inscription embellished the top portion of the tablet’s polished surface. A name, a range of dates. A short epitaph.

“These are all graves.” Minnie whispered, her eyes widening. The older officer looked up and scanned the mountain side once more. There were hundreds, no, thousands of tombstones, all lined up in rows that wove across the entire peak. The Exalted officer’s voice trembled ever so slightly. “What is this place?”

The pair stood quietly in front of the gravestones, looking upon the countless rows of graves in awed silence.

They silently asked themselves, were there bodies buried under every grave here? Where did they come from? Who had brought them here to this lonely, deserted mountain in the middle of the wilderness?

Yuzu felt Minnie’s eyes fall on her as the officer looked to her for answers. Yuzu didn’t reply to Minnie, but tightened her lips. She didn’t know how to reply to Minnie’s question. After all, she hadn’t known about the nature of this village. Medusa only told her about the location and about the temple at the top.

“Is everything alright, Yuzu?” Minnie asked, putting on a brave face.

“Yes.” Yuzu nodded, “We are in the right place.”

“And we’re here to look for a monk, right?” Minnie’s voice rang out more clearly as she stood a little straighter, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find him.”

Yuzu’s brows knit together as she heard the comforting tone in Minnie’s voice. She looked up at Minnie with a rebellious glare in her eyes, but the officer had already turned away, heading up the path.

I probably looked weak just now. Yuzu scolded herself. Otherwise she wouldn’t feel the need to comfort me. Even if I’m not the White Maiden here, I need to stay in charge.

“You said that he’s in a temple around here?” Minnie asked, looking around, “I wonder where it is.”

“At the peak.” Yuzu replied, taking the lead on the path, “This way.”

They began walking up the path together at a careful pace.

It wound up the mountain, sometimes flat and wide, sometimes steep and narrow. There were sections that overlooked steep cliffs that dropped down into darkness, and others that squeezed between the village buildings.

They came to a fork in the path where a set of narrow steps climbed up an alley formed between two row of houses. The main path continued around the bend, then seemed to descend. Minnie passed by the alley, but turned around when she noticed Yuzu had stopped at the fork.

“We need to go this way.” Yuzu said, pointing up the narrow path.

“You sure?” Minnie frowned, feeling a little worried by the cramped, dark path, “Something doesn’t feel right about that way.”

“It’s the only way up.” Yuzu replied. She started walking up the stairs without waiting for Minnie to respond.

Yuzu led the way for a bit, but as they climbed the path became increasingly difficult to traverse. The crumbling staircase was missing steps, and there were sections where the walls next to the stairs had crumbled and partially blocked the way.

“Are you sure this is right?” Minnie asked as Yuzu strained to pull herself up a ledge, “We can turn back.”

“The other path only loops around.” Yuzu grumbled as she failed at her second attempt to pull herself up.

“How do you know that? Have you been here before?” Minnie asked, before answering her own question, “Or is the White Maiden guiding you?”

“I received some guidance from Her, before coming here.” Yuzu said after a moment of hesitation. Although it would be easy to attribute things to the White Maiden, it would be harder to keep up the act if they came across a tricky situation. Yuzu had already established that she was an Exalted, so it was better to pretend that the White Maiden had limited reach this far from the shrine.

She looked up past the ledge that she was struggling on, toward the top of the staircase. At the top of the staircase a smoky black thread twisted lazily across the path.

“I’m sure this is the way we need to go.” Yuzu said quietly, rubbing her palms together as she prepared to try to climb the ledge again.

“Here, let me help you.” Minnie braced herself against the wall to give Yuzu a boost. After Yuzu had successfully made it up the ledge Minnie followed without trouble.

“Let’s take a break here.” Minnie suggested, seeing the strain on Yuzu’s face, “We can rest for a moment then continue.”

Yuzu nodded, sitting down on the steps. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead as she maintained a quiet expression.

Minnie remained standing, leaning against the stone wall of the alley. As they rested for a bit, the only sound that could be heard was the cold whistle of the wind as it flowed through the alley.

“We haven’t run into any signs of people. I wonder if there might still be some villagers in some of these houses.” Minnie commented softly. “Although I don’t know if I would be relieved or terrified if we ran into someone.”

“There’s no one here. The village is abandoned.” Yuzu said quietly.

“It’s the middle of night, there might be some people sleeping or hiding.” Minnie replied.

Yuzu shook her head. Her head drooped a bit as she hunched over, resting her elbows on her legs. She looked quite exhausted as she sat on the steps.

“Are you okay?” Minnie asked, moving to take a closer look at Yuzu, “Was the hike too strenuous?”

“It’s just been a long day. I’ll be fine.” Yuzu muttered, though that was mostly a lie. The exhaustion had spread through her body, the weakness that originated from the injury to her soul. She reached into her robe, pulling out a small porcelain vial from the inner pocket.

Yuzu uncorked the vial, aware that Minnie was quietly paying attention. The officer was clearly wondering what the vial was, but Yuzu purposefully did not explain her actions, keeping up an air of mystery.

The cool, light liquid filled her with a refreshing feeling and she felt the strain in her body subside. After drinking a third of the vial she stoppered it and returned it to her pocket.

She glanced up at the black thread at the top of the staircase. The smoky thread was starting to solidify.

“It’s almost time.” Yuzu said softly.

“Time for what?” Minnie asked, following Yuzu’s gaze without seeing anything.

Their ears perked up as the sound of dangling chains broke the silence of the night.

“Time to meet the caretaker of this village.”