Chapter IV.LXII (4.62) - Chiame’s Departure

  The rest of the night passed in a blur. Kizu got their little party of broken misfits back into the academy, but Stina insisted that she and Mae leave that very night.

  “I refuse to shirk this newfound responsibility you have placed upon my shoulders,” Stina announced. “Tonight, the fox girl and I will depart for Tross. The summer solstice is nearly upon us. If I am to take her on as an apprentice, the brightest day of the year will be an excellent omen for the ceremony.”

  Kon despised this plan. Or rather, he loathed the part where he was excluded from Mae’s journey. And Kizu would have happily sent the Kitsune boy on his way with the pair. But no males of any species were permitted. Kon had to stay behind.

  Kizu and Anata went back to Taroe’s home with the two Kitsune. Kizu had to carry Mae in his arms, a feat which would be impossible in his current condition, save for his monster leg steadying his stride.

  Once home, they helped pack Mae’s things into a pack while the Kitsune girl rocked back and forth on her bed, weeping and clutching at her brother’s fur.

  Eventually, Taroe stumbled into the house, looking even more disheveled and disorderly than usual. He stood in the doorway for a long minute, frowning at the scene before him before he finally spoke.

  “Why is the girl leaving?” he asked. “What happened after the Dragon attack?”

  Kizu wearily complied and gave a full run down of the night’s events as he helped Anata attempt to squeeze stuffed animals into the remaining empty space of Mae’s bag. Taroe listened with his usual frown, not interrupting until the story was complete.

  “I see,” Taroe said when Kizu finished. “You are sending away the daughter of a Harbinger to a coven of witches with dubious intentions.”

  “Do you see another way out of this?” Kizu asked, exasperated.

  “No,” Taroe grunted. “Unfortunately, you probably made the best decisions possible with the resources on hand. Perhaps you could have fought the witches. They very likely held little to no physical substance. But there’s a chance one of their familiars was also nearby, reporting back to them. And those are dangerous little shits.”

  The thought that there might be a witch’s familiar on the island spying on them didn’t make Kizu feel much better.

  “I don’t want to go,” Mae wailed.

  “It will only be for a month or two,” Kizu said placatingly. “And when you return you’ll be a witch apprenticed under Stina.”

  “I don’t want to be a witch. I-I want to stay here with Anata and Kon.”

  Kizu rapidly tried to think of something different for the girl’s mind to latch onto. “You want to find your mother, right?”

  Mae stopped crying for a second and looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy and red as they met his. “Y-yes.” She hiccuped.

  “Witches are powerful. Apprenticing under one will grant you power. And power will help you find your mother.”

  That finally broke Mae out of her wallowing. She chewed her lip. “But I still don’t want to go alone. Can Anata come too? She’s a girl.”

  Anata nodded eagerly. Thankfully Taroe was in the room to shut that idea down before it had a chance to grow into anything.

  The former Elite took charge of the situation, which allowed Kizu time to depart and handle his other big problem.

  Aoi, Basil, and Ione were on the deck of Owl’s Respite as Kizu stumbled through the portal. Bathed in the light of an overhead lantern, all three of their faces looked bleak as they turned to Kizu. After a few questions, Kizu decided it was for the best if he retold his night once again.

  “Where were you all night?” Kizu asked Aoi after he finished. “Why didn’t you come to see our performance?”

  Maybe if the princess had been there, she could have prevented Mae running down into the World Dungeon to meet with the witches. Or maybe she could have countered Necro’s necromancy.

  “I planned to come after the intermission,” Aoi said. “My aunt was watching Akira perform and I wanted to sneak in with minimal interactions with her. Plus, most of Basil’s scenes were in the second half.”

  Kizu sighed and leaned back on the gunwales. “Maybe it’s for the best. If you’d been there Necro might have targeted you instead of me and Akira.”

  “Same as my uncle,” Aoi agreed. “We’re lucky Sasaki couldn’t make it out to the island today.”

  “What held him up?” Basil asked. “Last week he told me he was excited about attending.”

  “More drama with his betrothed. They’re supposed to wed in two months.”

  Kizu held back a groan. This would be one more royal event he’d be expected to attend. And these events seemed to end in chaos more times than not.

  “Kizu, why’d you ask us to all come here,” Ione interrupted. “You look like you should be in a hospital bed.”

  “I’m fine. Taroe healed the few cuts and burns on me.” Not to mention Anata had helped refill his blood supply. But he felt that was better left unsaid. “I wanted you all here so we can finally address the extra soul in the room. Chiame.”

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  Ione’s eyes flickered green but the witch didn’t show herself.

  “Chiame?” Basil frowned. “Wasn’t that one of the witches you killed back in Hon? Is she haunting you?”

  “She latched onto an opening in Ione’s soul. I made a deal with her though. As long as she stopped interfering in Ione’s life, I would find her a body to inhabit.”

  “My clone isn’t ready yet,” Aoi replied. “Even with those potions you gave me to speed up the growth process, it won’t be fully prepared for a few more weeks.”

  Initially, Kizu had planned to stuff Chiame in the body regardless of its physical age. In fact, a five year old with limited blood supply would be even better for everyone’s safety.

  “I thought up a better solution.” Kizu started walking across the deck. “Let’s go to Aoi’s laboratory.”

  They followed him into Aoi’s space. Once inside, everyone else turned their attention to the child clone floating in a vat. But Kizu instead walked up to the corner of the room. A limp figure stared up at him with large, open glass eyes. In preparation for this, Kizu had tied up the doll a few days earlier just to be safe. Now he removed a bottle of black goop and a syringe from his spatial storage. Then he began to inject the doll with the ichor.

  As the new ichor flowed through it, the doll’s fingers twitched and it flickered in and out of visibility.

  “Isn’t this Sojan’s body?” Aoi asked. “You were preparing the doll for him to inhabit, right?”

  “Originally, yes. But earlier today I used Sojan to subdue the smallest Dragon. Right now he’s currently embedded in the roof of its mouth.”

  Basil’s eyes widened. “Wait, you don’t mean….” Then he trailed off and looked to the others.

  “Sojan’s going to have a far superior body to puppeteer soon,” Kizu finished. “Taroe told me the headmaster himself is looking into training Sojan and keeping him in a place out of sight.”

  “He’s in the body of a Dragon?” Ione leaned forward.

  “Talk about an upgrade,” Aoi said. “I see why you don’t need this body anymore.”

  “Do you think you can do it?” Kizu asked. “Transplant Chiame out of Ione and into this golem’s body?”

  Aoi crouched down and examined the doll. It jerked, attempting to skewer her with its long fingers, but Aoi didn’t even flinch as the bonds held the doll back. “Sojan wouldn’t have been able to control it if it didn’t have the capacity to contain a soul. It’s an artificial body though. I’ve read theories about moving souls into a golem body. But there are no records of success.”

  “It can be done.” The words came out as a rasp. Kizu looked over his shoulder to meet the glowing green eyes of Chiame. She’d reemerged in Ione and watched them with interest.

  “Good,” Kizu said. “Then we’ll stuff you in here. You’ll have autonomy again.”

  Chiame smiled, showing Ione’s teeth. “I broke my word to you.”

  “Yes. So now I get to add some stipulations to our agreement. I want your guarantee you’ll never step foot on this island or Hon ever again.”

  “One hundred years,” Chiame bargained.

  “Fine. Assuming you’re long lived, you won’t touch the soil of either place for the next century. And you also won’t interfere with the lives of any of our descendants.”

  “Knowingly,” Chiame added. “I cannot be blamed for stumbling upon your children’s children. And only for the next five generations. Otherwise you might become too widespread to avoid.”

  “Ten generations.”

  “Fine.”

  “And finally, you won’t interfere with the Calamities.”

  For the first time, Chimae hesitated. The greedy glint in her eyes flickered from the empty doll, over to Kizu.

  “I…will not assist them in invading the overworld,” she finally said. Even that stipulation looked to cause her physical pain.

  “You won’t assist in them harming any humans,” Kizu pushed. He had the upper hand in this negotiation. She’d broken her word and forfeited her rights to him. He was showing her a great deal of mercy just making this deal with her rather than asking Aoi to bottle her soul for the next millennia or two.

  “For ten years.”

  “A hundred years.”

  Chiame chomped Ione’s teeth together with a clack. “Fifty years.”

  “Fine,” Kizu said. This would at least remove Chiame from the picture. “And if you break our bargain this time, it will mean the extinguishing of your soul.”

  Chiame reached Ione’s hand out to Kizu. He shivered as he took it. Her skin now lacked Ione’s warmth, replaced by a clammy cool. Still, Kizu gripped the hand in a deal. A prick of magic accompanied the touch. A new pact had been formed. Now to follow through on his part and cleanse Ione of this witch.

  “Aoi, are you ready?”

  The necromancer princess had already taken her place, she slapped a hand on both Ione’s forehead and the doll that continued to wink in and out of visibility.

  “With Chiame’s own skill in soul projection replacing Anata’s role, this shouldn’t be too different from assisting your soul back to place when we did your leg transplant,” Aoi said. “So long as the body accepts the soul. She just needs to eject herself from Ione and I’ll help guide her over and stabilize the body.”

  Ione’s body slumped. Without any means in which to view souls, Kizu was left as a blind observer. Aoi’s eyes closed and her face tightened in concentration. Meanwhile, the doll’s body stiffened and finally stopped flickering between invisible and visible. The jaw of the doll opened and slowly swung side to side. Then the doll’s eyes rolled to the back of its head and it began to shake madly.

  Its big glass eyes flipped back to the front, now glowing a putrid green. Its mouth closed and the eyes slowly scanned the room.

  “This will do,” Chiame said. Her voice warbled in the new body but still unmistakable hers.

  Ione’s chest heaved and she sat up. She stared down the witch, a scowl across her face.

  “You’re gone now,” she said. “Damn parasite.”

  Chiame rolled her head on her neck, as if checking the new body’s capabilities. Then she opened her mouth in what Kizu imagined must be some sort of smile. “Release me now. You’ll never see me again.”

  Aoi looked to Kizu. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. Then the princess used a scalpel to slice the bonds.

  As the ropes fell to her feet, Chiame rose, her back hunched over. Her body flickered with invisibility. With one final deranged cackle, she disappeared.

  A moment of silence.

  “She’s really gone, isn’t she?” Ione said.

  “Yes,” Aoi confirmed. “Now though, we should really chat about sealing up that hole in your soul before something else slithers in.”

  Kizu walked out of the laboratory and over to the gunwales of the deck. In the distance, he thought he spotted the wet footprints on the cavern floor as Chiame entered the ancient gnomish mines and descended down into the World Dungeon.

  A soft glow emanated from deep below the lake as the jellyfish drifted through its domain. Kizu’s problems were far from over, but at least he had made it through another day.

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