The Following Morning

  Year 612 of the Divine Empire

  “Ridiculous. How stupid can people be?”

  Kanoa looked up towards Surendra, a bit surprised by this remark. She was crouched down at the edge of an alleyway, attempting to avoid the conflict before them that looked ready to boil over. A crowd of kālai gathered at the gates to central St. Caster, demanding to be allowed in. Various guards cowered on top of the wall, clearly uncertain of how to handle this situation. Looking around, she could see a variety of onlookers, presumably the humans that didn’t live in the more protected part of town. She was feeling a bit foolish for attempting to hide from the chaos, as her mentor simply stood with his arms crossed, daring anyone to challenge him. Sighing, she joined him out in the open and humored his obvious baiting for questions.

  “And how, exactly, are they being stupid? Our alaka’i’s head has been mounted on the gates; there aren’t a lot of different ways to interpret that message.”

  “Exactly, that’s why it’s ridiculous.” Surendra snorted in annoyance. “Walker may be a prick, but he’s not an idiot. Why do you think he never did anything like this before? It’s not like Kehlani hasn’t rejected any of his previous proposals.”

  Kanoa conceded to that, narrowing her eyes in focus. “Hmm. . . That is true. . . The humans may have more soldiers than us, but we have more exemplars. Unless they managed to smuggle a bunch more in some of the merchant ships. . . No, my Erudite Eyes would have noticed if there were more powerful auras here.”

  He gave a firm nod. “Exactly. Nothing has changed. Not yet, at least. It’s possible that there are more forces on the way, but the Count has no reason to encourage a siege when he doesn’t need to. No, something’s off about all this.”

  “Let’s go get a closer look.”

  “Yes. . . Wait, what?”

  Before Surendra could properly react, his companion was already sprinting towards the gates. Looking to where she was before, he realized that she hadn’t even bothered to grab her swordspear, which was now resting on the side of a building. With a long suffering sigh, he grabbed it before chasing after her. Catching up with her easily, he grabbed Kanoa and tossed her over his shoulder without even breaking his pace. Guard and protester alike watched with open mouths as the sasqal scaled a fifteen foot wall in a matter of seconds, carrying two large weapons and a person on his back. Landing on the platform with a thud, he placed his apprentice back on the ground and passed her weapon back in one fluid motion.

  “For the last gods damned time stop leaving this thing behind!”

  She shot him a glare right back. “I’m not built for climbing like you are. I need both hands to get up here.”

  “Then use a damn sheath!”

  “When someone invents a polearm sheath that lets me walk through doors, I will consider it.”

  A timid voice interrupted them. “Umm. . . No one is permitted to enter or leave the-”

  “Piss off!” The two responded in near perfect unison.

  As the guards backed off, not willing to pick a fight with the famed sasqal exemplar and his apprentice, the two refocused on the corpse still lying on the walkway. It seemed that it had not yet been tampered with, as the guards had only recently been made aware of its existence at all. It was an unusual sight, with the head having been removed and the right arm fully missing. It was unmistakably the alaka’i, but that was the only part of this crime scene that made any degree of sense.

  Surendra was the first to speak. “Well, we can confirm that Walker wasn’t behind this.”

  “Indeed.” Kanoa nodded. “I can’t imagine he would’ve killed her up here, or taken an arm for that matter.”

  “Yes. . . But that does ask the question of how she was killed at all.”

  She turned to him, not sure what he meant. “Well, she was decapitated, wasn’t she?”

  He shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Look, the cuts are completely clean, no fraying or loose chunks of flesh. That means her head was taken off in a single slash. That just. . . isn’t possible.”

  “But people can get incredibly strong through the Ideals, no? Couldn’t this have been made with a technique that focused on strength?”

  Surendra clocked her on the back of the head. “Idiot, have you not been listening to my lessons at all? Raw strength only gets you so far with bladed weapons. Once you’ve reached the base threshold, you’ll only improve through speed and structure. To do this, you would need to be moving at speeds that just aren’t possible with the Ideals. Even if a technique allowed you to move that fast, the sacrifice in defense would have the force pulling flesh off of your bones.”

  Shuddering at this mental image, Kanoa refocused on the body itself. What Surendra had said made sense, no warrior could have made these cuts. There didn’t seem to be any cracks on Kehlani’s shell, so it didn’t look like anyone knocked her out and removed the head and arm afterwards. Either way, the cut was too clean to have been done with a saw so that also didn’t make any sense. The pair puzzled over the body for a few minutes before Kanoa came to a strange epiphany. The idea made no sense, but it did potentially account for the one other oddity about this scene that hadn’t been mentioned: the lack of smell. Kālai bodies started to smell pretty quick due to the speed at which they decomposed. Though there was a slight stink in the air, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been after a few hours in the open. Kanoa’s Erudite Eyes hadn’t been used up to this point. They weren’t really necessary, given that techniques rarely lingered and core power dissipated from corpses pretty quickly. Magic, on the other hand, could be maintained for a very long time. Especially if placed on an inanimate object. A corpse, for example. Allowing the technique to flow into her eyes, Kanoa analyzed the head and body, gritting her teeth as she saw the missing puzzle piece.

  Surendra noticed her alarm, narrowing his eyes. “Noticed something?”

  “She was killed by a magus.”

  “. . . Fuck. Can you tell what domain was used?”

  Kanoa looked closer at the spell imbued into Kehlani. It was unlike anything she had seen before. There were plenty of small pieces of magic in āina Hānau, likely granted by various spirits and lesser deities that had passed through. The magic she was used to seeing was natural and abundant, reflecting some inherent aspect of the world. The power that had killed the alaka’i was a near complete rejection of the natural laws. The rot and decay that would normally affect a corpse were still present, but they were being slowed and stretched out. This wasn’t the mere manipulation of an element, it was something far more. . . fundamental. It seemed that there was far more nuance to the domains than even Ailu would have assumed, and whatever had happened here was far outside of their understanding of magic.

  “I. . . I cannot say. It almost feels as if some base law of the world is being weakened somehow, but I have no idea which one. Whatever it is, this body is acting as if it was just killed.”

  Surendra scratched his chin. “Hmm. . . I could have sworn I’ve heard of something like this before. . . Anyways, I’d say we’ve found out as much as we can here.”

  “But-”

  “Well, that and I can see the captain of the guard making his way here.” Surendra pointed out a very angry, heavily armored man stomping towards the wall. “He’s probably strong enough to be a problem, so let’s just leave before this gets annoying.”

  Kanoa wanted to retort, but couldn’t deny that Captain Ashton was someone they probably couldn’t afford to deal with. She had taken enough backhands from him during the last time she was arrested to know that he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. She took one last look at the body of her previous mentor, a strange mix of emotions churning in her chest. The two of them were never close, not really. Kehlani had never allowed their relationship to be anything other than teacher and student or alaka’i and citizen. But the woman had been a monolith in the community since before Kanoa had even been a part of it. She couldn’t imagine anyone else leading Kālepa. There simply wasn’t anyone else in the village with enough general support to take command. As she and Surendra leaped down from the wall, it felt like they were falling towards some unknowable world. For the first time in years, Kanoa was nervous to take another step forward out of fear for the mysteries that lay before her.

  It was only once the pair had left the human settlement entirely and had made it far into Kālepa that Surendra decided it was safe. He sat down against the wall of a house, clearly thinking something through. Knowing that it would be best not to rush things, Kanoa paced beside him and waited for any kind of answer for what in the world was happening here. It took some time, but he did eventually come to a conclusion.

  Surendra looked up at Kanoa and gave her an uncompromising look. “We’re not looking any further into this.”

  She could barely process this at first. Did he really expect her to just let this go? Ignoring the emotional aspects, leaving some dangerous killer around was just asking for trouble. No, Surendra wasn’t dumb enough to think she would just let something go because of some unknown, so there was definitely something he wasn’t telling her.

  She sighed. “You know as well as I do that this isn’t something I can just let go. Surendra, what is happening?”

  “. . . I’m not entirely sure.” His eyes were distant, as if lost in an old memory. “But this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this kind of situation. I don’t have any exact facts, just stories and experiences. Will you at least hear me out?”

  Kanoa nodded. Not much else she could do anyways.

  “Good. As I’ve mentioned several times before, magi are not permitted within the Divine Empire. That damned Church of Saints they follow has made it clear that humanity must make choices on their own. Seems a bit hypocritical given how much they try to copy the actions of their holy exemplars, but that’s a separate issue.”

  “Yes, yes, I know all this.” Kanoa interrupted. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Would you not rush me? It’s important you understand this!” Surendra’s expression was as serious as it ever was, and he clearly wasn’t in the mood for questions. “Anyways, the point I’m making is that one would assume that the empire has some way to enforce this ban on magic, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Well, that’s the thing. They don’t. Magic may be illegal in the official codes, but there was never any established system for judgment or punishment. It was just left to local governments.”

  Kanoa was a bit surprised by that. Sure, she had never heard of any way that the empire actually dealt with magi, but that was presumably just because there weren’t enough of them left for that to be something people had to think about. A powerful magus could easily dispatch an entire force of exemplars, so it was definitely far outside of the capabilities of any local lord. Just another part of this day that wasn’t making any damned sense.

  “. . . Looks like I don’t have to explain why that’s so strange.” Surendra was looking out into space. He knew she was there, but seemed to be avoiding any form of eye contact. “Supposedly, in the early days this led to most of the magi in the empire laughing the decree off as some kind of joke or empty threat. This was until they started turning up dead, one by one.”

  Kanoa took a seat next to him. This was something that was probably best heard sitting down. . .

  “These weren’t just beast magi or kids born with a knack for magic tricks either. The fimbulmagi of the northern plains, the earthen monks of old mournhold, the entirety of the goddess Ukunsur’s congregation, even the spirit sage Auber hasn’t been seen since. . . They were beings of immense power and still they fell to this unknown source. And as frightening as this must have been, it was the state of the bodies that made this purge legendary.”

  She felt that she already knew the answer, but had to hear it straight from her mentor’s mouth. To come to this conclusion on her own would mean conceding to his argument, after all.

  “They didn’t rot. Every body, whether mounted on a pike or nailed to cross, remained as fresh as the day they were found.”

  “. . . Why?”

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  Surendra gave her an incredulous look. “What do you mean why? If I knew that I wouldn’t-”

  Kanoa pushed further. “No, I mean why wouldn’t this force take any credit? Surely they must have been proud of themselves if they put so much effort into the presentation of their executions.”

  “. . . I don’t know.” He slumped back against the wall. “Maybe it was easier to mythologize that way? Anyone who can think for themselves could’ve figured it out, so I imagine it was to intimidate the populace. Either way, the modus operandi is identical. Which means you are leaving this alone.”

  “But-”

  “But what, Kanoa!?” He was shouting now, not caring who heard. “Do you think you can win against this? Whoever or whatever did this, they can do the same to the most powerful mortals to ever live! What could either of us possibly achieve against something like that?”

  Kanoa was silent now. It was hard to argue against that. She would’ve liked to just pretend she didn’t believe him, but Surendra never lied without a good reason. Even if he was making a reason up, that still meant he didn’t think she could handle this situation. There was no one in the world that understood what she was capable of better than him, except maybe Ailu. Going against Surendra’s argument would mean going against basic logic, which was something she avoided doing whenever possible.

  “Hmph. Glad we’re on the same page.” Surendra stood up, dusting himself off in the process. “I’m going to see if there are any merchant ships here that aren’t tied to the empire. Might be good to have an escape route if things go south. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  He walked away, not even bothering to hide his anxiety. Kanoa just stayed where she was, head in palms, just thinking. Why was this happening now? Whatever crossroads she had been pondering just the other day now felt utterly meaningless. There was no conclusion to come to, no point of stability to find a balance at. She couldn’t tell if it was herself that was being hunted or just blessed ones in general, but without any obvious magi in the archipelago the focus of this executioner was clear. Kanoa was known in this land, enough so that she would likely become a target sooner or later. It really did seem like her best option was to hide or flee, but this was never an option she was going to accept.

  As she continued to chase her own thoughts in circles, a familiar feeling stirred in her stomach, one she hadn’t touched in quite some time. Another horrid solution, but one that was becoming alarmingly more convincing the longer she contemplated it. Regardless, there was no way to leave this problem in a better state than she had entered it.

  —

  On a Nearby Rooftop

  Balor was perched upon the peak of a tall house’s roof. He watched the old sasqal hurry off towards the docks, no doubt looking for an easy way out of the web he had found himself in. It was pointless, of course. The empire’s warships were close enough to the Barrier Isles that all but the most agile of ships would struggle to pass through. Satisfied at the futility of the admittedly quite skilled exemplar’s current course of action, the inquisitor refocused on the blessed woman who had stayed behind. She seemed to be having some sort of crisis. For a moment, Balor considered joining her to offer some advice as a joke, but that was probably a bad idea. He wasn’t sure he would be able to keep himself from just gutting her on the spot. Still, if she just simmered in doubt like that, then the hunt wasn’t going to go anywhere fast. Pondering, he began to weave a simple spell of senescence in his hands, only stopping at a voice from behind his shoulder.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  He startled, almost falling off of the roof before reorienting himself. Looking behind, he saw that somehow his escort had managed to sneak up on him. How in the world was that man so quiet in full plate? The imperial knight Gabriel was standing stock still, arms crossed behind his back as if he was guarding a lord instead of hiding on the roof of a wooden hut. Balor had been hoping that he’d managed to get away from this stick in the mud, but it was looking like the knight was a more capable opponent than he had originally assumed. He gritted his teeth, looking back towards his actual quarry.

  “Do you really have to be so serious? Remember, boy, that I am your senior a few times over. I know the codes well enough.”

  Gabriel came forward into a crouch next to his charge. “You were using magic in public.”

  “No, I was using magic from a position where no one could see me.” He rubbed his temple in annoyance. “Besides, it’s not like there are any imperials in this part of town, so what would it even matter?”

  “What matters is the code, but I will concede to your experience. I do have to question your inaction, though. Is that man not one of the blessed you were tasked with hunting?”

  Balor let a sharp laugh slip out before refocusing. “First off, I’m pretty sure she’s female. Kind of hard to tell with them, though. . . Anyways, I’m using her to test a theory of mine. You don’t need to worry about a thing; with how easily her elder was slain I can’t imagine this will be any kind of challenge.”

  Not hearing a response, he turned to see that the knight had disappeared. That man was as dour as they came, but it could not be denied that he was quite skilled. A bit gullible, though, if he really fell for such an obvious lie. Well, it wasn’t entirely false. This region did seem unnaturally saturated in magic, and the best way to investigate that would be through the eyes of a native with a connection to said magic. Of course, his only real goal here was to have a bit of fun and start a bit of drama. Not that any fun was going to be had if that child didn’t pull herself together. But there wasn’t much else that could be done now. All of the setup was already complete, so all Inquisitor Balor could do now was wait and see how things played out.

  —

  The Following Evening

  Kālepa didn’t have a true meeting area, so in the rare times when its people had to gather up outside of festivals they all took seats in the training arena. While normally more than large enough, there were few people in the village that had no interest in the day’s events, so the space was packed tight. Kanoa was watching from the very edge, peering above a sea of heads as the elders and significant figures in town squabbled amongst themselves. As the only remaining Pomaika, she was probably expected to be up there as well. Not that she had any interest in politics, hence her hiding behind the curious onlookers. She had already given a report on what had happened, stating that Kehlani was probably killed by a third party, so there was no need to get more involved than necessary. For someone who stood out as much as she did, she had a knack for avoiding attention when she really needed to. And so she stood there, watching one of the most pointless arguments she had ever seen.

  There were a variety of positions being taken, all in response to the claim Count Walker had made at noon. He had decided to tell the entire village about the approaching fleet, as well as establish himself as the leader of both settlements as a replacement for the dead alaka’i. Every group and clique in town had some different plan or opinion on this, with no one giving ground to anyone else. The elders wanted to hold a competition to decide on a new alaka’i. The leader of the village guard wanted to occupy St. Caster and hold Count Walker hostage so the imperial army couldn’t act. There was even a small but vocal group that wanted to abandon Kālepa entirely and move the village somewhere else. At the very least no one was looking to just give into Walker’s demands, or the ones that did weren’t making their opinions known. If that had happened, Kanoa may have been forced to break her policy of not getting involved in politics. She was definitely tempted at this point, with the argument having devolved into everyone restating their stances with no further elaborations. The idea was presumably that their claims would become more convincing the louder they were explained, a concept that was starting to grate on everyone’s nerves. Personally, Kanoa was leaning towards the guard leader’s plan. That one at least had some sort of idea of how to deal with the incoming warships, but even then there was no guarantee that they would have enough leverage to do anything more than stall the invasion.

  In the end, Kanoa wasn’t planning on supporting any of these schemes. She knew the best out of all of them that all of this bickering and planning was pointless. Even if they could somehow keep the empire from stomping them all out, there was still this magus-killing force hiding among them. As much as she hated to admit it, fleeing into the other islands did seem like their best bet. At least they would be able to force their enemies to split up then, but it was never going to happen. This idea would force the village to divide itself, not simply moving elsewhere but losing the core of its identity and culture. There were plenty of people who knew this, but none were willing to sacrifice that bit of pride. Looking at it realistically, Kanoa was the only one here who would both be willing to put this plan into motion and had the divine authority to convince the more staunch citizens. She hated the idea of becoming some great leader, and definitely didn’t want to be tied to Moku Waena like this. But Nohea really did love this place, and Ikaika wasn’t exactly adapted to leave. Kanoa was never going to abandon them, not at a time like this. When she looked at it like that, there really wasn’t much of a choice, was there? Resigning herself to her fate, she began to step forw-

  “Might I step in?”

  The whole arena turned in surprise at the newcomer’s voice. Standing at the entrance was a young man, perhaps at his twentieth molting. He stood over eight feet tall, a remarkable height even for a kālai. His shell was covered in kaha of stars and constellations, a clear sign of being from a foreign village. Was he from Leokū, the village of music? Kanoa had heard that they often made carvings depicting the sky. Regardless, this man was clearly someone who saw himself as being quite important. Based on the shimmers of heat that seemed to emanate from his shell, perhaps he really was. Confidently, he trode towards the center of the arena. The Pomaika made no efforts to get people out of his way, looking unsurprised when the villagers made a path for him. It was only once he had reached a raised stand that he finally introduced himself.

  “Greetings, citizens of Kālepa! My name is Anakoni, and I am the sole Pomaika of the great island of Moku Mele.”

  Kinohi’s grace, the man had spoken three sentences and Kanoa already hated him.

  “I will admit, when I arrived on Moku Waena, I had not expected to see such chaos. It seems to me that those foul humans have finally stripped themselves of pretense and made an attempt to claim our beautiful land.” He placed his hand over his heart, twisting his face into some dramatic sort of sympathy. “But you need not have fear, for our goddess has granted us a chance to overcome these barbarians!”

  Kanoa’s thoughts were shifting from exasperation to incredulousness. “Oh for the love of. . . He couldn’t actually be thinking of-”

  “Yes, everyone, Kinohi will soon allow me to attempt the trials and become the alaka’i nui!”

  Kanoa cursed to herself as she began forcing her way towards the center. The alaka’i niu was a position granted on very rare occasions, for it allowed one to take command of every village in āina Hānau. According to the legends, Kinohi would grant this honor upon a chosen Pomaika when the archipelago was under some existential threat. This champion would claim the spear of legend, Ihe ‘ā Pele, and gain the power to channel the true flames of the goddess. With Kanoa’s understanding, this just meant that Kinohi made this kālai a magus, thus subjecting them to whatever terms her bond would inevitably include. She had no idea what kind of price the goddess would require for this power, but there was no way this was a heartfelt offer of aid.

  “With the power of Kinohi’s flames, I shall lead our people to glory! We shall reclaim our home, once and for-”

  “You can’t possibly be serious.” Kanoa cut in as she was able to get close enough to stand before Anakoni. “What kind of difference do you expect this to make?”

  He laughed, as if responding to the outburst of an overconfident toddler. “What kind of difference? Miss, I would be wielding the power of the goddess-”

  “Yes, yes, you’ll be a magus, good for you.” Kanoa looked more exasperated than anything. “First off, I can tell you don’t have the core power to use any sort of impressive magic, so let’s not pretend you’ll be boiling the ocean like the first hero.”

  He blinked at that, uncertain of who this girl was. “Well-”

  “Second off, the Divine Empire has been hunting magi for centuries. It seems that whatever power they use to kill people like us is now present here on Moku Waena. Third, and most importantly, that does not solve the problem that we are vastly outnumbered.”

  For a moment, she did consider bringing up the potential magus hunters lurking about, but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring any other factors into this debate. Best to rely on an enemy the people could conceive of than some faceless force that was able to defeat those considered to be the pinnacle of the kālai.

  “People like. . . Ah, I see. You must be the Kanoa that I’ve heard so much about. I will assure you, with the forces of all our villages combining, we will be able to gather an army of thousands! Even with their experience dealing with divine power, the empire will stand no chance against the might of our goddess’ chosen!”

  Kanoa was now forced to shout over the rising cheers of the crowd around her. “A few thousand won’t be enough! Do you have any idea how many tens of thousands of men the empire has available? We need to spread out, force them into the jungle where we have an advantage!”

  With a raised hand, Anakoni silenced the crowd enough to speak to her in a level tone. “Yes, this is what I had heard of you, Miss Kanoa. Progressive thought can be useful, but you have crossed the line into the thinking of barbarians. You would have us lurk in the forest like the stone folk of old? Kinohi has proclaimed our victory inevitable, so what reason do you have to doubt me? No wonder she has abandoned you.”

  Kanoa was stunned. This was the first time she had been spoken to in this matter in quite a while, so long that she no longer knew how to respond to it. The sheer level of confidence this man had was a thing of legend. She knew very well that there was nothing she could say to him to convince him of anything, and looking back at the surrounding crowds it was clear the same could be said for them. There was only so long someone could reject the norms of a people before they began to see this someone as separate from them. She couldn’t exactly blame them. Just as she had no desire to bind herself to this land, the people had no desire to follow her lead. There was nothing more to be said, so she simply left, giving out one final remark over her shoulder.

  “. . . Very well. I’ve said my piece. Good luck, I suppose. You’re really going to need it.”

  As she walked away from the arena, the facade of calmness she had built up quickly slipped away. Her shoulders slumped as she looked out at the setting sun. By all means, Kanoa should have felt elated. The fate of āina Hānau was well and truly out of her hands. Whatever happened now, she was under no obligation to aid the people she was planning on leaving behind anyway. Unfortunately, this place was still the home of people she truly cared for, and now it was about to be led by some zealot without any real understanding of the position he was now in. It was infuriating, humiliating, and almost completely hopeless. Once more, that feeling in her stomach churned and boiled, desperately wishing to be released. This time, the voice of its source finally decided to speak up.

  “Do you understand now, child? This is the nature of mankind. You can obsess over knowledge and understanding as much as you wish, but that will never overcome the simplicity of faith. Such is war.”

  “. . . What do you want me to do?”

  “Eager, are we? And here I thought you didn’t want to touch my power. . .”

  “I won’t let Nohea and Ikaika get drawn into this nonsense. Tell me what I have to do to keep that idiot from taking charge.”

  “About damn time. Now, as much as I would love to have you drag yourself down the shaft of a volcano, we don’t really have the time for that. Since you’re so eager to fight this war like a hunter, why don’t we do this. . .”

  As the goddess explained her divine trial, an idea slipped into Kanoa’s head. It was a ridiculous concept, but no more so than any other plan anyone had come up with today. For the first time since this morning, she allowed herself to smile. It was about time Kanoa got a chance to really take control of her life. If the world was truly so determined to be as foolish as it was, then perhaps it was time for her to bring her own farce into the world. All it would take was fooling her parent, two gods, and the entirety of Moku Waena. How hard could it be?