Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 16

Okay, I should just title this one “Exposition Galore”. Hope you find the world building interesting, at least!

-Llox

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With a small puff of dark blue mist and shadows, Zynshal vanished again, only to appear lounging next to Lykou, embracing him in a very much one-way side-armed hug. “You have no idea how frustrating it’s been trying to track you two here. Damn island has a scrying haze cast over it.”

Before Lykou could react, the jarzin teleported again, this time to Kuna’s side, embracing him… a bit overly-enthusiastically. Sunshine squawked in surprise from the sudden jostling around, then flew over to sit by Lykou instead. “I’m glad you guys are okay! After everything I heard, I was pretty fucking worried about you two!”

Again, he teleported- this time to the center of the room. And this time, he’d transformed into hideous monstrosity covered in horns and fire. “WhAt, wIth ThE dEmoN aNd hIs AcComPliCe,” he said in a very disturbing, distorted voice.

He teleported once more, this time only a few feet back, and transformed yet again, this time into raptuvan individual- or something like one, anyway- dressed in a red cloak. His face looked… derpy, to say the least, with his eyes pointing in different directions and drool dribbling out of his mouth. “Aaaand their mindlesssss minionssss….”

In a flash, he was back to his normal form, leaving a group of gawking, bewildered, and mildly terrified individuals staring at him- well, three anyway. Lykou and Kuna were just giving him a flat, slightly annoyed look. “But hey, here you are.”

“Hello Zyn,” Lykou sad flatly, crossing his arms.

“How nice of you to drop by,” Kuna added, with similar enthusiasm, facepalming.

“Excuse me WHAT?!” Kalei blurted out.

Suddenly the jarzin appeared next to Kalei with his arm over his shoulder, grinning at him. “Ah, you must be Kalei! I understand you’re a big part of why these two are still breathing,” he said, then teleported to the raptuva’s other side and clasped his hand. “Can’t thank you enough for that. You’re a gem.”

A moment later, he appeared next to Hoku. “Name’s Zynshal, by the way,” he said, taking a dramatic little bow, then glanced up at Lykou and Kuna. “I’ll… skip the titles this time.”

With another little poof of dark mist, he appeared next to Kani and took her hand, then kissed it, with a look that almost bordered on seductive. The raptuva was too stunned to react. “But you can call me Zyn.” He conjured up a flower and tucked it into the feathers on her head before teleporting back to the center of the room.

“Holy FUCK do you ever stop moving?!” Kalei blurted out and clutched his head, eliciting a sudden burst of laughter from Lykou.

“THANK you!” Kuna said with a dramatic gesture.

Zyn frowned, then vanished, only reappear by the far wall again. With a yellowish glow around his hand, he transformed a chunk of the floor into a throne-like chair, then hopped into it. “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he grumbled. “I’ll settle down. Forgive me for trying to have a little fun.”

“You mean show off?” Kuna pointedly accused.

“Not like I get much opportunity to,” Zyn said with a small eye-roll. “But seriously, I’m glad you two are okay.”

Lykou sighed and turned to their wide-eyed raptuvan friends. “Guys, like he said, this is Zyn. He’s… well, Inkari’s minion.”

Zyn shot a slight glare at the konuul and crossed his arms. “I prefer associate, if you don’t mind. Or assistant at least.”

“Whatever,” the canid said, rolling his eyes. He then continued, gesturing to each in turn, “Zyn, like you guessed, that’s Kalei, and this is Hokulani, and Makani.”

“Nice to meet you,” the jarzin said, giving a little underwhelming wave, still a bit annoyed at having to tone down the theatrics.

“Nice ‘assisting’ by the way. We nearly died again,” Kuna pointed out, glaring at him. “Let me guess, ‘can’t interfere’, right?”

“Yeah, in fact you can’t even imagine how badly I’m breaking the rules just being here right now. Not just Inkari’s rules, but the rules for all jarzin,” Zyn said.

“Really?” Lykou asked dubiously. “The jarzin have rules?”

“Mhmm. Not many, but they’re big. For one thing, we’re not supposed to show our true form to people, especially people outside the focus of our… er, you know.”

“Ah right, we’re just a ‘project’, how did I forget?” Kuna snarked.

“...right, that,” Zyn confirmed, averting his gaze for a moment. It was clear even he had the decency to feel somewhat awkward about it. “Anyway, obviously even Inkari herself flaunts that one a little bit, but she’s, well, Inkari. I’m just a newbie with no sway.”

“I’m sorry, newbie WHAT, exactly?? God??” Hoku asked, her eye twitching. “How did you- with the-”

Zyn chuckled and reclined across the arms of the stone seat. “Flattering, but no. Jarzin,” he replied, then glanced at Lykou and Kuna before continuing. “Not sure how much these two told you guys, but powerful magic is kind of our thing. Helping Inkari out with them is my first chance to really use it out in the open, though.”

“Wait, really?” Lykou asked in surprise. “You were serious about that?”

“Yep. Until we come of age, we have to stay in our hidden homelands or, when we’re capable of visiting it, the spirit world,” the jarzin explained, idly tossing a ball between his hands that kept changing between fire, water, stone, snow, and pure light. “And even then you have to wait until one of the elders decides you’re ready to go out into the world and… well, do shit.”

“Mess with people,” Kuna corrected.

“...yeah,” Zyn said with a grin that was somewhere between sheepish and mischievous.

Kani finally snapped out of her reverie and beamed. “OHMYGOSH, did you come to kick Kairangi’s ass for us?!”

Zyn frowned. “Nope. Sorry.”

The raptuva deflated. “Oh. Damn.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’d be satisfying as hell, but there are some rules even I won’t break. I’d rather not lose my mortal world privileges permanently, thanks.”

Kuna blanched slightly. “Y-you mean…?”

“Mhmm,” Zyn said, running a line across his neck with his finger. “At best.” He then transformed the ball into smoke and waved it away before sitting back up. “That said, I did come here for a reason. I may not be able to interfere directly, but you guys are way in over your heads with this shit. I’m sure Inkari has her reasons, but I can’t just stand idly by, knowing what you’re up against here, so I figured I’d at least help you guys deal with the situation yourselves.”

Kuna frowned. “I don’t see how we can possibly fight a demon, let alone one with tons of people around believing he’s their holy leader.”

“Yeah no, it’s better not to, at least not directly. That’s a good way to suffer a nasty death- and maybe worse. But the direct route isn’t really the best way deal with this kind of demon anyway.”

“Kind? There are kinds?” Hoku asked.

“Mhmm. Plenty. They’re former spirits, after all, and they vary as much as spirits do. In terms of power, motivations, and so on.”

“And what, er, ‘kind’ is Tuimana?” Kuna asked.

“A pact one,” Zyn said, then cracked his neck and leaned forward a bit. “So I’ve never done the whole… ‘teaching’ thing before, but I guess it’s time to teach you guys some things. Just… do me a favor and never tell anyone you saw me here, mmkay?” he said, then glanced at each of the raptuva in turn. “Especially you three.”

“Fine by me. Still half convinced this is a weird dream anyway,” Kalei said.

“Same here,” Hoku agreed. “Doubt anyone would even believe us.”

“Deal!” Kani added.

“Good, appreciate it,” Zyn said, then arched his fingers in front of himself and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts before continuing. “To understand demons, you have to understand more about spirits. Get comfortable, because this will take a while.”

“Kind of hard to get comfortable in a cave, but I guess we can try,” Kani said with a sigh, then sprawled out on her sleeping mat and propped her head up on her hands.

The others all similarly adjusted their position. After a moment’s hesitation, Kuna got up and went to sit with Lykou, who didn’t hesitate to pull him into his lap and initiate their usual cuddle position, much to the blushing sereva’s delight. Sunshine flew up to one of the holes in the wall and settled in to doze for a bit. Kani was so fascinated by the jarzin, that for once she didn’t even comment on the two being cute and cuddly with each other.

“Alright. So. Uh. How much do you guys already know about spirits? I know that kind of thing tends to vary a lot among most mun- er,” the jarzin started to say, then paused to think of a better term after catching a look from Lykou and Kuna. “-well, non-jarzin mortals.”

“Are you really mortal? No offense, but that’s a hard one to swallow,” Kalei commented.

Zyn smirked. “Well-”

“Please don’t say the stupid line,” Kuna said with a flat look.

“What line?” Kalei asked in confusion.

“We basically have one foor in each world, so to speak,” Zyn said, ignoring the sereva.

Kuna facepalmed. “That one.”

“Whatever. There’s no easier way to say it.”

“You could just say you’re half spirit,” Lykou pointed out.”

“Technically everyone is.”

“Ugh! Whatever,” Kuna grumbled.

“Point is, we’re technically mortal, but we’re so attuned to the spirit world that we’re technically maybe a bit more on that side than this one by the time we reach adulthood. Anyway, this is all getting off topic,” Zyn said, waving the subject off. “The more important thing is that I’ve spent pretty much my whole life around spirits, half of it in the spirit world itself. So I know a lot about them. Back to my question- what about you guys?”

“Kuna’s probably the most familiar with them here,” Lykou responded. “I’ve seen a bunch now, but he knew all sorts of things about them even before we started our journey. And… what I thought I knew from before turns out to not be very reliable, heh.”

“My parents and especially my grandmother told me all sorts of stories about them when I was little. Including some creepier ones involving demons,” Kuna said, then sighed and leaned back into the konuul’s arms. “Other than a few exceptions that I’m pretty sure don’t apply here, I don’t know anything practical about dealing with them, other than just avoiding them or getting someone more experienced to deal with them.”

“I was told a bunch of stories when I was little too- from anyone I could harass into telling them,” Hoku said. “I’m… not sure how true they all are, though. And of course I think it’s safe to say anything the three of us,” she continued, gesturing to herself, Kani, and Kalei. “Think we know about demons came through the Order, and so it’s probably not reliable.”

“Hmm. Alright. So what can you say about spirits, Kuna?”

“Well… I know they kind of, I dunno, maintain the natural order or something? I was never clear on exactly what that means, but I know some make plants grow, affect the weather, make water flow where it’s needed and so on.”

“Close enough. Spirits basically make the world, well, keep working. Without them and the mystical energies they channel, the world would start to break down. The forces of chaos would eventually start to unravel things and… well, that’s best not to think about. Just suffice to say they help hold the world together. So do living things, to some extent. And as you’re aware, there are all kinds of spirits.”

“How come we never see them?” Kalei asked curiously.

“There can be a lot of different reasons for that, depending on where you are and how attuned to the mystical energies you are. In this particular case, though, it has to do with Tuimana and Kairangi keeping them from manifesting here. But I’ll get to that in a bit,” the jarzin continued, then shifted his own position, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged in the chair. “Now, like I said, spirits vary a lot. And that includes in terms of size and power.”

“Right, you’ve got little guys like Koki, then big ones like Whironui,” Lykou said.

“And then there’s Sulyr, somewhere in the middle,” Kuna said with a smirk.

“Who’s Koki?” Kalei asked.

“A little wood spirit we met. Cute, sweet little guy.”

“Ah, I think I know the type you mean,” Zyn said. He conjured up a white light around his hands and, after focusing for a moment, he made a shimmering image appear in front of him, depicting a familiar-looking, if not identical tree spirit. “Like this?”

“Er, yeah,” Kuna said, as he and the others stared at the image in fascination.

Zyn quickly dismissed the magical image. “I used to play with them when I was little. Surprised you met one though, they’re usually a little shy around mortals, unless you hurt their trees- in which case they can get a bit cranky.”

“I uh… kind of re-shaped one to make a shelter for us,” Kuna said sheepishly. “Didn’t know it, y’know, belonged to anyone. He was actually nice about it though. We kind of bonded over it, especially when we went around regrowing some of the flowers that’d been buried in a mudslide.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Anyway, so spirits can vary in size and power. Here’s the thing- they can also grow. Even little ones can become bigger and more powerful. And you know the most common way they do that?”

“How?”

“Worship,” Zyn said, crossing his arms with a smirk.

“Wait, what??” Kalei said, arching a brow. “Are you serious?”

“So, what… prayer and such makes them grow?” Hoku added.

“Yep. Individually not so much, but if enough mortals start giving them a lot of attention, it starts to have a real effect, increasing the amount of energy they can pull from the spirit world. It helps them to better protect a larger area of the world against the forces of chaos. Over time, if they become big and powerful enough, they can even start to create or draw in more spirits to the mortal world. Normally anyway,” Zyn continued. Then his smile faded. “But unfortunately, some get addicted. So they start trying to get more- they’ll try to get more and more mortals to worship them, even by trying to scare them into it. When that’s not enough, they start looking for more potent sources of power. Somewhere along the way, they may start to resent their role in the world, too, and consider rebelling against it.”

“And that’s when they become demons, right?” Kuna suggested.

“Well, almost. They have the motive and they’re headed that way. But technically they aren’t a demon until they directly go against the laws of the spirit world. And while terrifying mortals into worshipping them is heavily frowned upon, it’s not technically breaking any rules yet.”

“Well that’s kind of…” Lykou said, trailing off.

“Fucked up,” Kuna suggested, arching a brow.

“...yeah. That. I mean, I’m sure there’s a reason, but I sure can’t imagine what it’d be.”

“I know, it’s a big debate in the spirit world, believe me,” Zyn said, then shrugged. “The jarzin and a number of spirits have been trying to convince the spirit court to change it for a long time, but for whatever reason, they’re hesitant to change it.”

“Spirit court?” Hoku asked curiously.

“Yeah. It’s this… well, kind of a council of sorts, made up of the oldest and most powerful spirits in the spirit world. They make the rules, and judge and punish those accused of breaking them. But yeah, now you know the main reason why certain spirits tend to go down the path towards becoming a demon- not the only way, but the most common one.”

“So how does the actual… you know, becoming a demon thing happen? What rules do they break?” Kani asked curiously. “What rules even are there?”

“There are a bunch that aren’t really relevant here, but the important ones involve other sources of power. First, it’s important to know that blood, of all things, holds power.”

Kuna shuddered. Lykou squeezed him gently. “We learned that one the hard way.”

Zyn arched a brow. “I can imagine. It’s not a lesson you’ll soon forget,” he said with a sympathetic look. “It holds a high concentration of life energy, even after it is separated from its owner. And someone with the right know-how can channel all sorts of magic through it- including in reverse. So they usually start off… ‘convincing’ mortals to part with it periodically. Which is more of a grey area when it comes to the rules.”

“Grey area??” Kuna asked incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Well, no. Believe it or not, there are legitimate uses for blood magic. They’re just… rare. And it’s only against the rules under certain circumstances- such as when it involves killing an unwilling victim to obtain it.”

“Unwilling?” Hoku asked, her eye twitching. “Are you trying to tell me there are-”

“You’d be surprised,” Zyn said with a flat look. “Sometimes I really wonder about some mortal cultures.” He sighed and shook his head. “But anyway, that’s not important. When even that doesn’t satisfy them, they’ll start looking for even more potent sources of power. And that leads me to… the Weave.”

Everyone gave him varying looks of confusion. “The weave?” Lykou asked. “What weave?”

“Well, that’s what we jarzin call it anyway. The spirits call it something else, but its unpronounceable in any mortal language, so I’ll just stick with the Weave.”

“What is it?”

Zyn rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes up thoughtfully for a moment. “Well… that’s kind of tricky to explain. The reason we call it that is because it’s like this weird, sprawling… thing that lies inside and beneath everything else in the mortal world, which the energies from the spirit world attach themselves to in order to shape the world as we know it. It’s really hard to wrap your head around, because it’s somehow made of energy and… well, rules.”

Kani furrowed her brow and frowned. “What?? How can something be made of rules?! That makes no sense!”

“Like I said, it’s hard to understand. The mystical energies give things form and life, but the Weave dictates how they work, in a lot of ways. Even most spirits find its details complicated and confusing at times. Its been there since before even most spirits came into existence, and it’s very mysterious. For the most part, nobody touches it. But there are certain rituals that can interact with it. And… some of them are forbidden.”

“Forbidden rituals, huh?” Kuna said. “Sounds like we’re getting to the demon part now.”

“Exactly. Like I said, normally even all but the most ancient and powerful spirits can’t really interact with the Weave directly, and even most rituals that do so don’t alter it in any significant way. But there’s one extremely forbidden one that allows someone to do so. Or rather… two individuals. Typically, a mortal and a spirit.”

“The demon and their partner,” Kalei said, frowning.

“Exactly. The fundamental rules of the weave only allow someone anchored into at least two different worlds to manipulate it in any way. Needless to say, that’s not exactly a common thing. But there’s a ritual that can allow two different individuals to tie themselves to one another in a way that tricks the weave into treating them as one.”

“So wait, if this ritual thing is so forbidden, how do they get away with it?” Hoku interjected.

“The ritual itself protects them from immediate consequences. It also gives them complicated powers and lets them redefine, to a certain degree, how certain things work within their domain. For example, they can prevent other lesser spirits from manifesting in their territory, as well as banish more powerful ones that are nearby at the time, usually to places that are hard for mortals to reach. It ties them to the world in a way that prevents, say, the spirit court from just grabbing them and chucking their asses into Dalzai-Nar.”

“Dalzai-Nar? What’s that?” Kani asked.

“The twisted hells. Its where bad spirits and the most wicked of all mortals go when they die,” Zyn said, then shuddered. “I don’t want to go into it, just suffice to say it’s a very unpleasant place.”

“Yeah, Ink told us a little about it,” Lykou said, frowning. “I’d rather not think about it anyway.”

“Yeesh, sounds nasty!” Kani said, cringing. “So they do this ritual-thingy, then… what? What happens?”

“Well, the ritual itself is a complicated ordeal. In order to tweak the rules in the weave, you have to basically make new ones up governing the pact you’re making. So the spirit- now a demon- and their mortal partner figure out how to tweak them. In some ways it benefits them- like the trick I mentioned before about keeping other spirits out of their territory. But it also potentially leaves them vulnerable. Because if either of them breaks one of their rules, the whole pact breaks- violently. It’ll leave the spirit vulnerable to punishment by the spirit court, which they usually act on pretty swiftly. And the mortal, if they survive, has usually made some very angry enemies by that point, too. Which they are suddenly much less able to defend themselves against. And when they die, they’ll also be destined for Dalzai-Nar.”

Kuna perked up. “Wait, so… we just have to trick one of them into breaking one of their weird rules?”

“So that’s how we can beat ‘em!” Kalei said, grinning. “Wait…”

“You don’t happen to know what they are, do you?” Hoku asked Kalei, dubiously. “I can’t imagine Kairangi would let the rest of the Order know something like that.”

“Er, no…”

“Obviously, since that’s such a vulnerability, these pacts are rarely done with an audience. And the first thing they’ll do afterwards is eliminate any witnesses, one way or another,” Zyn pointed out. “So figuring them out is usually almost as tricky as trying to defeat them in a more direct approach. But,” he continued, grinning. “There are some witnesses you can’t completely silence.”

“Like… who?”

“Like a god, for example,” the jarzin pointed out. “Like I said before, their connection to the weave can suppress lesser spirits, but more powerful ones can only be banished to hard-to-reach places. And it just so happens that these islands had a few gods with dominion over this area back in the day, when those two did their thing.”

“So… we have to find one and talk to them?” Kalei suggested. “That… doesn’t sound easy. The only one we’ve seen any sign of is Whi- wait!” He grinned and looked up at the bird. “Sunshine, can you talk t-”

“That won’t be necessary,” Zyn interjected. “Whironui’s actually harder to get to right now, and in any case I already went through the trouble of speaking to another, even older witness.”

“W-huh? You did?”

“I did say I’d try to be some help, didn’t I?” the jarzin continued, grinning. He then turned to Hoku. “You said your name is Hokulani, yes? I don’t suppose you, I don’t know, had a very… exciting experience as a kid that led you to developing water magic?”

The raptuva in question gawked at him. “...uh-huh…” she replied after a moment in a shaky tone, slowly nodding.

“Well how about that? T’nari says hi.”

“T… T’nari? That’s its n-name?” Hoku said.

“Mhmm. It so happens that you came up in our little chat. It liked something about you. I think it had a feeling you’d manage to avoid the Order and end up playing a role in taking those two down someday, too.”

“It? Not he or she, just… it?” Kalei asked curiously.

“Gender’s mostly a mortal thing. Spirits that spend a lot of time around them, especially if they get a lot of worship, might adopt one, but otherwise they don’t care how you refer to them in that regard. In any case, T’nari’s… especially old, and probably even predates the concept.”

“W-what’s it like?” Hoku asked, fascinated. “I always wished I could meet it again…”

Zyn shivered slightly. “Creepy. You uh… might change your mind if you did. Helpful as it is in this situation, some of those ancient ones are… strange. To put it mildly. Maybe even disturbing, if you’re not used to such things.”

“Oh…” Hoku replied, frowning somewhat, then shrugged. “Still. Hope I can meet it again and thank it for… well, saving my life. And giving me the ability to sense water energy.”

“Not to ruin your day, but there’s a good chance T’nari’s the one that put you in danger in the first place,” Zyn replied, then shrugged. “Not out of malice, mind you. Ocean just spirits tend to be odd and fickle that way, especially the bigger, more powerful ones. Sometimes they just seem to forget their own strength.”

Hoku looked away for a moment, rubbing her arm thoughtfully. “...still.”

Zyn grinned. “I can see why it took a liking to you. For what it’s worth, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet it again once this is all over. Once Tui and Kai are dealt with, it and Whironui and all the other spirits that have been pushed away or suppressed all these years will be able to come back. They’ll probably be quite grateful to any brave mortals involved in dealing with them, too.”

“Well on that note, I guess that means T’nari told you about their ritual, and… whatever rules they set up?” Lykou asked hopefully.

“Yep.”

“Well? What are they??” Lykou urged him.

Kuna gave the jarzin a flat stare. “I swear, you better not try t-”

“Relax, I’m not interested in stupid riddles or anything. I want those bastards defeated as much as anyone,” Zyn said, waving off his concerns. “Just know that it still won’t be easy. You’ll have to carefully figure out a plan to trick them, and know that it’ll still be very dangerous. There’s one other particular ability I haven’t mentioned that they have now.”

“W-what’s that?” Kalei asked nervously.

“So you know how life energy flows through you, and soul energy flows through your soul?”

“Right?” Kuna said. “What about it?”

“It is theoretically possible for a magic user to steal life energy, and importantly, essence from others. It’s usually very difficult, although blood magic can be used as a shortcut, as you’ve apparently experienced.”

Kuna shivered. “R-right…”

“Fortunately, mortals can’t take soul energy the same way. Spirits, on the other hand, have the reverse situation. They can, with some difficulty, steal soul energy and essence away from someone, including other spirits. But doing so is a HUGE no-no, as you might imagine, so doing so ordinarily would get their butts tossed into Dalzai-Nar with extreme prejudice.”

Lykou’s eyes widened. “Wait, I think I know where this is going…”

“I think we all do,” Kalei agreed, similarly disturbed. “With this… ‘pact’ thing, they can take both now, right?”

“Exactly. And needless to say that is extremely unpleasant to be on the wrong end of. And in fact, that’s one of their primary goals after they make the pact. They usually do it secretly or else try to disguise what they’re doing as something else to avoid suspicion, because it looks as horrible as it is.”

Realization dawned on the group. Hoku covered her mouth and gasped, while Kuna started trembling slightly in Lykou’s lap. The konuul squeezed him tightly, but couldn’t help shuddering a bit himself. “Holy fuck, the purification ritual,” Kalei blurted out, horrified. “Those poor people...”

“Indeed. It’s an awful way to go, and leaves the souls of the deceased pretty fractured,” Zyn said, with no small amount of disgust. He took a moment to calm himself, as well as give the others a moment to recover, before continuing. “Gathering more life essence can extend a mortal’s life, but without matching it with more soul essence, thanks to one of the odd quirks of the Weave, they’d start to drift into the spirit world more and more, until they’re eventually unable to enter the mortal world at all.”

“That… sounds kind of like the thing-”

“Yes,” Zyn said, then sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. “That’s why I’ve only got about another twenty years in the mortal world, tops.”

“Wait what?” Kalei asked, bewildered. “How old are you? You don’t look any older than any of us…”

“I’m not. Jarzin typically only get to stick around for thirty to forty years, tops, before our body and soul just sort of… fuse together and we can’t enter the mortal world any more,” the jarzin explained, then shrugged. “Sucks, but that’s the price of using so much magic. And no, we’re typically not inclined to do the whole demonic pact thing- even setting aside how fucked up it is morally, we know the consequences better than anyone,” he added with a shudder. “I’ve seen the hells before- from a distance, mind you- and I intend to stay as far from them as I can get, thank you very much.”

“Damn, short life huh? I guess I can see why you might want to show off a little.”

“Yeah, I… guess I didn’t think about it like that,” Lykou said, frowning.

“Yeah,” Kuna agreed, folding his ears down a bit. “I mean, it’s still kind of obnoxious, but-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Zyn said with a chuckle, then idly began tossing around another element-shifting orb again idly. “I get it. Like I said, just indulge me now and then and I’ll try not to go too far with things.”

“Fair enough I guess,” the sereva said with a slight smile. But after a moment, it faded as something occurred to him. “Wait, if that’s why- and if you have to have both kinds of essence to not-” he said, growing more unsettled as he mentally processed it. “-then… Inkari….??”

“Before you go jumping to conclusions, no. We don’t know how she’s managed to stick around so long, but she’s been thoroughly investigated by everyone and their cousin for signs of demon association. Those little… shadow-buddies of her aren’t demons, they’re just regular shadow spirits. And if anything, she’s arguably a more fierce enemy of demons and their accomplices than any other jarzin,” Zyn explained. “No, even the spirit court can’t figure out how she’s still around. As far as anyone knows, she must’ve figured out something else about the Weave that nobody else knows. And it’s not like she’s inclined to tell anybody her secret.”

“Probably so nobody abuses it for more nefarious reasons,” Hoku suggested.

“Besides taking people from their homes and sending them on long-ass journey through all sorts of dangers,” Lykou pointed out, somewhat bitterly.

“Well yeah, there is that,” Zyn said with a sheepish grin. “Like I said th-”

“We know, we know, some greater good shit,” Kuna interrupted, rolling his eyes. He then smirked faintly and glanced at their raptuva friends. “At least we meet some nice people along the way.”

Hoku smiled back, then turned back to the jarzin. “So we’ll have to watch out for the energy- and essence-stealing thing. Um. Quick question- what’s essence anyway?”

“Oh, it’s like… concentrated energy,” Kuna answered before Zyn could respond. “I’ve only experienced using life essence though, no idea what to do with soul essence.”

“It’s potent stuff, but it builds up slowly, so you don’t want to use it too often, or without a good reason,” Zyn explained. “Using your own is pretty much up to you, but using elemental essences you find out in the world can get on spirits’ nerves if you abuse it too much. Though you can make arrangements with them in some cases to have a regular supply. But as a general rule, just don’t get greedy.”

“Once you learn to grasp it anyway. Can take a little getting used to at first, at least in my experience with life essence,” Kuna said.

Hoku shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve consciously sensed any, much less have any idea what I’d do with it.”

“Oh trust me, there are very powerful things you can do with it, but you’ll have to figure that out another time, probably from someone else,” the jarzin continued. He smirked. “Given your different magics, I’m sure you and Kuna will have plenty to chat about at some point anyway.”

“We were already planning on it,” Kuna said with a smile.

“-you know, we should get back to the demon thing,” Kalei pointed out, then shot Lykou a look. “But while we’re on the subject of magic and energies and shit that’s completely beyond me…”

“I doubt he’ll be able to explain it. Like we told you, even Inkari doesn’t know how Lykou’s thing works,” Kuna said.

“Yeah, and like I said, it’s not something I think about, it just kind of happens,” the konuul added.

Zyn glanced between them with a curious expression. “What are you talking about, exactly?”

“Lykou has some kind of magic that doesn’t work like ours. It lets him do crazy, inexplicable things, but he can only sometimes do it without thinking about it, under certain circumstances.”

“Best way I can describe it is suddenly everything just seems to kind of… slowed down around me, and I feel way stronger for a bit. And I can just kind of… see things differently, somehow,” Lykou said, then shrugged. “Sorry, I know it’s vague, but that’s the best way I can put it.”

“Really now?” the jarzin replied, intrigued. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm…”

“What? You don’t seriously mean to tell us you know something Ink doesn’t… do you?”

Zyn shook his head and crossed his arms, grinning. “No. But even if we don’t know how that shit works, we know someone who does, and all I’ll say is that that would explain one of the other places I know you’ll be visiting on your journey.”

Lykou and Kuna stared at him, then the latter sighed in exasperation. “...you’re not going to tell us any more than that, are you?”

“Nah. Trust me though, it’ll be better to experience the place without knowing ahead of time. And you’ll be better off for it afterwards- both of you.”

“Oh come on, why you gotta tease us about something and leave us without answers?!” Kani demanded.

“Is being irritatingly vague a popular jarzin hobby?” Hoku said, arching a brow.

“Kind of our thing usually, yeah.”

Hoku rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s get back to the demon thing.”

“Yeah. So you know the rules Tuimana and Kairangi have, right?” Kalei asked.

“Right,” Zyn said, straightening up. “So, rule one: neither of them can harm the other without their permission. Pretty basic, straight-forward one that pretty much always comes up in these things, for obvious reasons. And you’d think that’d be an easy one to exploit, but it’s actually pretty hard to trick them into breaking. Even when they’re not basically sharing a body, the demon’s magic is usually altered in such a way that it instinctively protects its mortal partner. And mortals, even magic users, aren’t usually capable of harming spirits in any meaningful way.”

“Damn. Would’ve been nice to trick them into fucking each other up somehow,” Lykou mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s a common sentiment in these kinds of cases, believe me. Anyway, rule two: neither of them can leave Tuimana’s domain. Which just further drives them to expand it.”

“That’d explain why the Order tells stories discouraging people to leave the island. Probably want to keep as many people close as possible,” Hoku said, then crossed her arms. “To think, we gave up all that over a bunch of lies...”

“Hey yeah, I guess all that stuff about the rest of the world being demon-infested nightmare land is made up too, isn’t it?” Kani chimed in, then grinned at Hoku. “We could totally go exploring if we wanted to!”

“Er… it might not be as bad as they say, but it’s still plenty dangerous in a lot of places if you aren’t careful,” Kuna reminded her. “Demons aren’t the only monsters out there, you know.”

“So I guess theoretically we could try and trick Kairangi into leaving the islands, but that seems doubtful,” Kalei mused, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Unless we strapped him to a boat and sailed off, but I don’t see that being easy.”

“Probably not very likely,” Zyn agreed. “So let’s continue. Rule three: no other spirit may be allowed to manifest within Tuimana’s domain. This goes hand in hand with what I told you earlier- and this is probably the best one to take advantage of.”

“Huh? How so?” Kuna asked curiously.

“None of us are spirits, and I thought their pact completely prevented lesser spirits from manifesting anyway?” Hoku added.

“Ordinarily, yes. But the Weave has other rituals, remember? And one of those allows spirits to be summoned to the ritual location, bypassing any other barriers,” Zyn explained. “And we just so happen to have two people here capable of channeling spiritual energies.”

Kani grinned. “You’re gonna teach them one of those ritual thingies??”

“I’d be happy to,” Zyn said, then his expression turned more serious. “Although before I do, I’ll warn you- don’t abuse this. Spirits don’t like being summoned willy-nilly. Under the circumstances, they’ll probably be more than happy to oblige right now, but otherwise, you shouldn’t use this kind of magic without a really good reason- one that the spirit will understand. Otherwise, they’ll probably be a bit cranky, and some spirits have a nasty tendency to take out their frustrations in somewhat painful ways, if you know what I mean.”

Lykou winced. “Noted,” he said, then looked down at the sereva in his lap. “Angry spirits are the last thing we need on our journey.”

Kuna nodded in agreement. “Yeah... how does this summoning thing work though? You just… what, call out to them?”

Zyn chuckled. “No, it’s far more direct. By completing the ritual, you cause them to be instantly transported through the Weave directly to your location. Well, nearby anyway. Obviously it’d get messy if they just manifested right in your spot and they were, say, a fire spirit or an earth spirit, for example.”

Kalei cringed. “I can imagine… yech.”

“So how does this ritual work?” Hoku asked.

“There are actually a couple of different ways to summon spirits, and it gets even more complicated when you consider the different kinds of spirits. We’ll focus on what’s doable here though. First, you’ll need to pick what spirit you’re going to try and summon.”

“Oh, oh! Let’s summon Whironui! Oh! Or that T’nari thing!” Kani eagerly suggested, grinning. “Would love to see that asshole’s face when a giant ocean god thing pops up in his territory!”

“Something tells me summoning a god is out of the question,” Hoku said, then turned back to Zyn. “Right?”

The jarzin snickered. “For a bunch of reasons, yes. Not least of which you need to find something with a strong connection to them to perform this particular ritual. Something you can fit in your hand. Good luck doing that with a god.”

“Something- wait!” Kuna said, perking up. He glanced around the cave. “The pelenock teeth!”

Hoku grinned. “Hey, that’s right! Those things are all over the place!”

“Uh, assuming that’s what they really are,” Kalei pointed out. “Don’t get me wrong, I want it to be true, but all we have to go on is stories, since none of us have actually seen one of these ‘pelenocks’.”

“Well then let me set your mind at ease- they are, in fact, pelenock teeth,” Zyn assured them. “I’ve only seen one once, when I was thirteen. But they left an impression. Incredibly rambunctious and a bit wreckless. Most spirits know better than to leave such potent sympathetic links laying around, but it works out for our mutual benefit in this case. I imagine the ones that inhabited these islands will be extremely glad to be free from their long slumber after all these years.”

“Sympathetic-wha?” Kani asked, confused.

Kalei scratched his head. “I was going to ask the same thing.”

“Oh yeah, Aelana mentioned something about that,” Lykou said. “Something about how leaving things with close ties to yourself around can be used by certain people to target you with powerful magic? I guess she was talking about these… weave ritual things?”

“Possibly, although it’d also work for Sylthean magic, which she was probably also getting at,” Zyn said, then grinned again. “In fact, just between us, that similarity has led to the idea that the Syltheans may have had something to do with the weave, meaning they had at least as much role in the mortal world’s creation as the oldest spirits.”

“Woah…” Kuna said, wide-eyed. The others echoed the sentiment.

“Don’t go bringing it up around spirits though, it’s obviously a pretty controversial idea in the spirit world.”

“Heh, I can imagine,” Lykou replied. “That makes it sound like Syltheans are even more powerful than spirits.”

“Again, up for debate, and it’ll always vary from one individual to another. Just something I figured you’d find interesting. Anyway, yes, those teeth are probably your best bet for summoning something. That’s one of the easiest bits, in this case. The next part’s a bit more of a challenge. It involves glyphs, which I’ll show you. The tricky thing is going to be where you put them, and how you’ll use them to set up your trap.”

“Trap?” Hoku asked. “What do you mean trap? I thought we were summoning a pelenock to break their pact.”

Zyn shook his head. “Not exactly. You’ll start the ritual, but if you tried to complete it yourself, it’d fail because of their hold over the island. The most dangerous and challenging bit… will be getting Kairangi to finish it.”