Page 8

Talisman Mistress Yao Fu

T he first things to draw Casus’ gaze were her feet, swiftly followed by her hands. The first because his gaze naturally moved upward and stopped when he caught the paper. A substantial portion of the woman's lower left leg was covered in paper talismans, edged in red. He knew of a few Igarian sects that used this format, but there was only one place where these things were common: a place where the presence of the Twin Churches could be charitably described as lightweight and where the Seven Spokes System was not even the fourth most commonly used method by which people harnessed their Soul Furnaces to surpass base humanity.

Her strange sandals only supported Casus’ theory: two flat pieces of wood, one perpendicular to the other, created strongly elevated, stilt-like footwear that added an easy twenty centimeters to her height. His gaze then naturally jumped to her hands, and indeed, her entire left arm up to above the elbow was likewise covered in these paper talismans, ragged scars reaching up from beneath them across her bare flesh.

Then, everything clicked when he saw her right hand. Prosthetic, up to and including the wrist. That was not what alarmed him. It was the style. Bone segments. Puppet-like joints. The craftsmanship, the consummate marriage of form and function, it couldn't have been made by any other than the Thousand Puppet Hall of the country of Goujian. The same craftsmen who had wrought Abbot Razem's right arm and legs, these being some of the few foreign-made grafts to be canonized as holy relics in the last two decades.

Calling the woman's attire extravagant hardly did it justice. Casus was aware the same could be said of his own fashion choices; as was his intention. But this… Some lesser-learned Seven Spokes adherents might view some parts of her vestment as sacrilege. Indeed, the only substantial article of clothing upon the woman was a pair of loose-legged, bright-red trousers, much like the trousers and long skirts worn by Seven Spokes clergy.

However, these were secured by a red cord laced in a zigzag pattern through numerous loops along the hem, affixed to a belt of red rope that sat on the woman's ample hips. Rather than being solidly affixed around the wearer's waist, they hung in a precarious manner, so low that Casus could readily see the long talisman which, in adhering to her skin, dutifully protected her last, infinitesimal shred of modesty. As if that wasn't enough, there were gaping cutouts in the fabric, exposing her bare legs from the sides and doubtlessly creating windows as she walked.

Her top half was, despite being more exposed, marginally less provocative. Numerous long strings of prayer beads and other spiritual jewelry draped down over her sizable bust, which was nearly bare save for the partial covering afforded by all her jewelry. There were two more horizontal seals, similar to the one down below. Besides prayer beads, she also wore a number of pendants, and a calligraphy brush whose handle was of the same make as her right hand sat wedged in the center of her chest, affixed to her neck by yet more red cord. He couldn't help but stare at it in an attempt to appraise the thing, considering how it seethed with powerful magic, but between the constant shifting of her flesh and jewelry, he couldn't even target it for long enough to hit the undeniable wall of anti-appraisal magic.

"I thought Banishers were going to be immune to my womanly charms. It is good to learn that I was wrong," came the husky voice. Casus forced his gaze up to meet hers, involuntarily passing over one of the two horizontal seals. She was right; he wasn't immune.

"Pilgrims are human. Of course we aren't immune… though, I suspect one of your stature might bewitch even a corpse," he smiled. It wasn't an attempt at flirting but an attempt to guess what sort of unorthodox magic she practiced. Talismans like the ones she displayed were among the more common methods by which corpses could be brought to bear as manpower and certainly among the less grim methods, as they merely puppeteered the body and burned its souldregs as fuel. No worse than a baneworm, and Casus wholly believed that, holding no grudge or prejudice towards baneworms merely for their nature. He still had to suppress his curiosity; when Yao turned, he noticed something, or rather, the absence of it—movement. Either her chest was stiffer than it ought to be, or she had some sort of invisible support both holding up its significant bulk and preventing undue movement. The only reason he'd noticed was that it came across as somewhat uncanny, but he wholly understood the reason for such measures.

Then, out of nowhere and completely brazenly, Krahe squatted down, tilted her head, and peered into the side of Yao's pants.

“Huh. I didn't think anyone wore this kind of stuff here. Nice."

She craned her head to meet the utterly unperturbed woman's gaze.

"So are the talismans just hiding prosthetics, or are they somehow the material?"

That was enough to shift Yao's facial expression into one of faint surprise and amusement—faint, but very much there—a raised eyebrow, slightly upturned corners of the mouth. "Both. The real prosthetic is a spiritual construct. The talismans are suspended within it to make it less obvious, provide structural support, and to give me easy access to a great number of them at a moment's notice. In my state I… cannot reach into my subspace storage with any speed. I did not think they were so obvious; is some of the leg construct shining through?"

"You'll probably get people assuming they're just wrappings. I made an educated guess based on the scars poking past the edge. Looks like the kind of thing gangsters used to do back home to try and destroy the nerves in a stump so you couldn't have new prosthetics fitted."

"I suspect that to have been the intention; the perpetrators of my injuries did much the same spiritually, or at least made the attempt. As if I would need working nerves or meridians to replicate something so simple as the function of a limb."

Her otherwise calm tone was tinged half by smug self-satisfaction, half by murderous vitriol towards these perpetrators.

Glancing between the two of them, Casus wasn't sure what he felt. Not himself, but from them. The way they looked at each other—spoke with one another—was like two graft-saints meeting after a century apart. But… Krahe was barely a low mid-ranker, and the Yao woman wasn't a contractor at all. Not a registered one, at least. Even appraising her, Casus saw nothing to suggest that she was a high-ranker, but then… he saw nothing that he had expected, not even the tiny expectations of an insane graft-saint level readout. Yao didn't have a system connection of any kind.

“I ah… As Lady Blackhand stated earlier, I believe it would be best to begin with why you have called us here. And, if you would not mind, why do you believe either of us can help you, given the fact you do not operate under the Seven Spokes System. Our understanding of magic likely does not cross over in the slightest.”

“But that is where you would be wrong, pretty boy,” Yao said smugly. With a gesture, one of the papers constituting her arm detached. A crimson blob floated out of an ink basin on a nearby table before shaping itself in the palm of her right hand. Half of it splashed onto either side of the paper, forming complex patterns.

“I know that these are not so foreign to you, and neither are the spirits which are often used to empower their consumable versions. Eidolons and Theurgy, you call them. We all work with the same magic; Igaria’s System is merely one way of harnessing it. I must admit that I was humbled by the greater world. Despite falling short in all matters of what I know as cultivation, the number of exceptional talents and monstrously powerful individuals matches and, in some places, outstrips my home nonetheless. Even the weakest among the weak are able to sense and harness Ke, the Breath of Emptiness, if only they reach for it, whereas back home, only perhaps one among a hundred ever has the chance to wield it in its most basic form.”

An exasperated laugh took hold of Yao, and she continued: “No wonder, then, that arts which we considered normal are obscure and occult to the people of the outside! Why learn movement techniques and subtle weapon arts when you can throw balls of fire as naturally as breathing?!”

“It is true that natural awakening rates are a fair bit higher than one in a hundred, however…” Casus began, only to be interrupted once more by a laughing Yao.

“Most still need help. But they can get that help! Those things you call voidkeys, which are freely sold in stores on the street, are invaluable relics in Tiengenzhen! The secrets of making them are passed down from master to student and guarded so jealously that they are often lost with the maker’s line!”

Yao flicked her wrist, and two voidkeys flew out of a nearby desk drawer. One was a flat, fairly simple key-like design of etched brass, and the other had the form of an eastern serpent-dragon, carved out of solid jade.

“Behold. Identical in performance. One, I exchanged for a few talismans a week ago. The other, I nearly died obtaining and treasured for decades. It is absurd. It is insulting. It is a fact to which those responsible for my state would rather blind and deafen themselves. But enough seething about what I cannot change.”

Another gesture, and both keys flew back into the drawer. Yao moved to the conversation pit and sat down, prompting Krahe and Casus to follow suit.

“As for why I believe that you two can help me, and more importantly, why you will want to help me… We will get to that point. Let me begin with why I am here. I am certain that my sorry state has already raised some questions; it is one reason. I’ve been crippled, and coming to this city, halfway across the world, allows me to fulfill two of my goals. The first is hiding myself from those who did this to me. A stronghold of the Twin Churches is as close to a safe place as I can hope for, given that those who would come after me would immediately come to blows with the Churches. The second reason is to rectify my sorry state and rebuild my strength.”

“And get revenge?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. We will see. For the time being, I am treading the path laid out for me by the same providence that allowed me to put myself back together at all. You see, several weeks ago, a certain event took place in the vicinity of this city. A great rite spurred an even greater machine into motion and pierced a window into the World Wheel’s firmament.”

Casus’s eyes widened as he considered the implications of Yao’s account being the correct one. He knew of the World Needle, of its purpose, of the Rite of Amrakas. He had never once considered that the supermassive Archon Flash a few weeks back could be a consequence of that rite, rather than just another of Jas’raba’s usual Archon Flashes.

“I had nothing to do with the events leading up to it, of course… But I happened to see that the window was open, so to speak, and I took advantage. The fact I did it is the reason I am here, rather than rotting away a crippled husk. The problem is, I was halfway across the world, and to describe my ritual as “rushed” would be singing its praises. My only leads were, and still are, under here.”

She tapped her taped-over eye.

“A gift from the One Beyond the Window. The Master of the Black Labyrinth, Chernobog. To remember him by, to guide me on my path, he said. It led me to this city… And it led me to you two. I’ll stop beating around the bush, seeing as your Banisher friend here looks on the verge of an aneurysm, and you look about ready to shoot me. Tell me, Ms. Krahe. Those weeks ago, in the Underground City, was it you who came through the Black Gate? Is the smoke that shrouds you from appraisal merely a way for Chernobog to conceal his touch upon you?”

“Impossible.”

It was Casus who interrupted.

“Hm?” Yao raised an eyebrow to him. “Is it so difficult to believe?”

“It was not an expression of disbelief. Lady Blackhand is a graft-apostle. Even a speck of Outer God taint would have been detected before her officiation. If, by some minuscule chance it wasn’t, her grafted relic would have violently rejected her. There is no conceivable scenario in which Lady Blackhand could carry the taint of an Outer God.”

“Perhaps it isn’t taint that I carry, then…” Krahe sighed, deciding to neither lie nor tell the whole truth. “But Yao is right; I did indeed pass into this world during the event which she speaks of, and Chernobog had a direct hand in facilitating that. That is all I know of the event, though.”

“How?! Genuinely, how could such a thing be possible?!” he demanded, growing exasperated. His demeanor suggested, more than anything else, that he saw this the same way as someone telling him they could simply choose not to be affected by gravity. It wasn’t a question of corruption, never once did he consider that Krahe might secretly be corrupted, having personally witnessed incontrovertible proof to the contrary.

Bubbling with excitement at the possibility, Yao cut in: “Perhaps Ms. Krahe’s condition is one which your Grafting Church has not encountered before. Perhaps it is somehow fundamentally different to the methods by which, say, someone like me, benefits from communion with an Outer God. Come, peer into me again. See if you can find the taint.”

Casus, though repulsed, did as asked, his eye wandering down to Yao’s stomach. At that point, he closed it shut and recoiled, uttering: “Yes, it’s… It is there. Like boiling pitch, holding the shards of your Soul Furnace together in an unseemly, yet contiguous single mass.”

Krahe cut in, “Regardless of the specifics, it cannot be denied that I carry a relic which would have rightly torn itself free of my flesh if I carried an Outer God’s taint, and that neither the divine safeguards of the Grafting Church nor the senses of a High Grafter detected any Outer God’s taint within me.”

“Nonetheless, I must backtrack for a moment,” Casus said, turning to Yao. “You are aware that you have just confessed to high blasphemy in front of two graft-saints, yes?”

“High blasphemy? No such thing. I had no hand in opening the window; my communion rite accelerated its closing, and not only were the local side effects of the rite resolved immediately afterwards, Tiengenzhen is perhaps one of the few places on the face of Zastreon that your Twin Churches consider to be outside their jurisdiction. Please, Silberblut. I am not so foolish as to invite one so known for righteousness as yourself into my temporary home without being certain that I am innocent of any possible crime you could hold against me.”

At that rebuttal, Casus froze in place, his brow furrowed in thought. Yao took advantage and returned her attention to Krahe.

“Now, where were we… Ah, right. As things stand at the moment, I am taking a truly perilous risk by bringing you into my home. I’ve done my best to secure myself, but one can never be too sure.”

Krahe responded in kind: “I couldn’t agree more. I sought you out in pursuit of my own goals, of course, but I can’t help being curious—in what way do you expect that I might be able to help you? If anyone here is knowledgeable enough on the matters of spiritual injury to make that guess, it’s you.”

Yao observed Krahe for a few seconds in silence before letting out a heavy sigh.

“You would need to permit me to look at you with my left eye before I can make that judgment. I do not expect that it will let me peer through your soul-smoke as if it weren’t there, but it will show enough. It… Doesn’t see in the true sense. It sees how the world moves and how it might move in the future. A twisted sort of clairvoyance, if you will.”

Krahe really didn’t like how forthcoming Yao was acting. Every cautious voice in her head screamed trouble, and yet… If she was being truthful, it was Yao who was putting it all on the line. Was that why she had invited Casus? To make herself seem trustworthy, knowing the full powers of his Third Eye, including his ability to detect outright lies? After all, the Banisher had kept his eye open for most of the conversation without raising the alarm towards any deceit.

After a moment of consideration, meeting Yao’s one-eyed stare, Krahe said, “I need assurances first. What do I get out of this arrangement?”

Yao shrugged, perfectly at ease. “I’ll help you to the best of my means. It is that simple. I am sure that, in the process of finding me, you have gained an appreciation for the value of having someone such as I in your debt.”

“Casus?” Krahe side-eyed the man.

His Third Eye pulsed with light. He sighed.

“She is not lying, as much as I feel that it should be otherwise.”

Yao smiled as if she had just won some battle.

“I’m sure it has become clear why I asked the both of you to come. You’ve taken care to minimize your footprint, Ms. Krahe, but the one you have left suggests you to be just as cautious as you have been thus far. What better way to assure a new acquaintance than having a Firstborn of the Wheel present?”

Casus once more felt the need to cut in. “Detecting lies is not my strongest point by far, hence why I have been silent. It demands more effort than it is worth, in most cases. Simply using instinct to tell if someone is lying is often easier.”

“And yet you fulfilled your role in this exchange perfectly. I apologize for exploiting you in this way; I shall make a talisman for you if you would like. To help smooth over the many bumps of using that belt of yours. We don’t have them back home, but we do have something similar. Similar enough, anyway, that I think I can help make yours function better. Your belt inflicts you with a temporary Heart Demon when you transform, isn’t that right?”

“Heart… What?”

“It changes your personality in an undesirable way.”

“I…” Casus began, hesitating. “I dare not call it an undesirable change, but a change nonetheless.”

“Does it not interfere with your ability to use the armor, then?”

“No. I know the reasons for this, but I cannot share them with you. I neither require nor desire your assistance in managing the personality shift.”

“Oho? How cold of you. I suppose I shall have to make it up to you some other time, then.”

Yao’s focus shifted once more to Krahe.

“Well? Shall I take a look at you?”

Krahe wasn’t sure of the consequences of the unspoken alternative. Making an enemy of Yao would be a serious problem, she could tell, but she also had no way to know she could actually trust the Talisman Mistress. Nonetheless, she sighed and reluctantly consented. “Very well.”

“Good!” Yao smiled, clapping her hands together with an odd sound, being that one hand was hard ivory and the other layers of paper. She rose from her seat, already walking towards the stairwell. “Come, come. I have precautions in place upstairs to ensure nothing undue occurs.”

These precautions turned out to be a whole room plastered floor-to-ceiling in talismans, with only a section of the floor left clear. In its center was a ritual circle, including three bronze incense burners on tripods, each designed with a six-legged serpent dragon. The dragons differed in the number of jeweled orbs held in their claws, with the first holding one orb, the second holding two, and the third holding three. Krahe noticed a theme of threes repeating throughout the multilayered circle.

“You may stay, but keep out of the circle,” Yao said to Casus as she lit each burner in turn. Turning to Krahe again, she pointed. “Sit.”

Krahe well and truly reviled how familiar Yao insisted on acting. Nonetheless, she sat in the circle, and Yao followed suit. The one-eyed woman began a chant, performing a series of hand signs as a steady, rumbling outflow of thauma began to pour out of her. The circle came alive, the incense burners’ smoke swirling around them as a handful of talismans detached from Yao’s left arm, orbiting quickly around her twice, each time passing her right hand and having one side inked. Then, they took on a golden glow, spiraled out and took posts around the circle’s perimeter. Despite no disruption of sight or sound from the outside into the circle, the sense of isolation grew to something not unlike being in a deep-sea diving bell on the sea floor.

“Now, hold still as best you can. This shall only take a few minutes,” Yao said. With a simple gesture, she tore the tape off of her eye, and seething anti-light poured out from her seemingly empty left eye socket. Krahe wasn’t sure how, but she acclimated to the outpour and managed to glimpse a writhing, tar-like mass embedded in the socket, roots extended into the surrounding flesh and bone. She felt something wrapping around and washing over her, but nothing that tried to penetrate past her shroud of smoke the way appraisal did.