Fulfillment

Fulfillment
By Shawn Carman
Edited by Fred Wan

The village was unrecognizable as such, little more than a ruin that had been trod into the mud and left there for some length of time. There were precious few landmarks that one could make any sense of whatsoever, and chief among them was a fallen and shattered torii arch near an open expanse that might once have been a courtyard, before it had been broken into nothingness by the repetitive tread of ten thousand ironclad feet. “What was the name?”

A small, quiet man bowed as he spoke. “Remote Village, my lady.”

Bayushi Miyako glanced over her shoulder at her vassal, then back to the arch on the ground. “Not the name of the village,” she corrected. “What was the name of the agent involved here?”

“Shosuro Nishu,” the vassal answered at once.

“He was the only survivor?” the Lady of the Scorpion inquired further.

“He was, my lady.”

Miyako nodded. She considered the scene for a moment. “You are the most experienced of the Shosuro agents who survived the war, Aroru,” she finally said. “What do you make of your kinsman’s report?”

Shosuro Aroru did not seem surprised by the question. “Nishu is young, but seems spared the fanciful tendencies of his peers. There might be some embellishment due to the traumatic death of his cousin during the incident, but I believe that the essential events were roughly as he described.”

“You believe that among the Destroyers there was some unidentified monstrosity that took the form of shadow and infiltrated the Empire, despite the fact that we have been completely unable to locate not only this creature, but any evidence that it has been seen at all in any other incident since that time?”

“I do,” he answered without hesitation.

Miyako stared at him curiously. “You seem certain.”

“If you will forgive me, my lady,” Aroru said cautiously, “the war saw a great many things that might, if taken in isolation, make a man question his sanity.”

“I suppose so,” Miyako said. After a moment’s consideration, she added: “You saw more than most, I imagine.”

“I saw enough, Miyako-sama.”

“So you did.” She turned and nudged at the arch with her foot. “Do you find them… difficult?”

“My lady?”

She did not turn around. “Do the memories plague you?”

Aroru did not seem to react. “I have memories that plague me, my lady. The days of the Destroyer War are not among them.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Worse, then?”

“You cannot imagine,” he answered simply.

“Perhaps,” Miyako said. “Or perhaps you speak to the only person who can say the same. Do we have any reason to believe that this was not a manifestation of… of our old enemy?”

“I do not believe that it was, no,” Aroru said. “Shosuro agents routinely carry fragments of crystal for just such an occasion.”

“Would that not explain Nishu’s colleague, then?”

“Quite the contrary,” Aroru answered. “If our fallen kinsmen had been carrying his shard, it would have kept the enemy at bay indefinitely. I suspect that, because of the unknown qualities of the Destroyers, Toson-sama had the agents in question carry nothing with any supernatural qualities. Without crystal, a manifestation of the Lying Darkness would not have been harmed by a physical attack of any sort.”

“Very thorough.” She was quiet for a moment. “Have you finished the task I set before you?”

“As you instructed, my lady. Do you wish my report?”

“Please.”

Aroru nodded. “Since the end of the war I have made contact with as many of our resources and assets as we have been able to identify. As you know, lord Toson was a private man and kept much of his administration of the family to himself, secret even from his closest subordinates. However, disregarding any agents or resources that he and he alone would have known of, I estimate the family’s present strength at approximately forty percent of what it was prior to the war.” He hesitated for a moment. “As you are aware, the Shosuro were not a large family to begin with.”

“I am aware, yes,” Miyako said. “There are some who have counseled the family’s dissolution and absorption into the Bayushi. How would you respond to such an idea?”

“I think that the Shosuro will do whatever we must to serve the Scorpion,” Aroru replied, no hesitation or emotion in his voice, “even if we must no longer be Shosuro. However, I think that the Bayushi benefit by having a family serve them to whom unsavory tasks can be attributed.”

Miyako actually chuckled. “You find value in your family’s potential role as a scapegoat?”

“I find value in the fulfillment of duty above all else.”

The Lady of the Scorpion nodded slowly. “I have decided, then,” she said. “The Shosuro shall remain, and you shall be their lord.”

For the first time that she could remember, Aroru demonstrated emotion: that of absolute shock. “My lady?”

“You are worthy,” she said. “Toson was a loyal vassal, more so than I could bring myself to tell him in life. Of those who remain, you alone possess what is required to become his equal.” She smiled slightly. “Perhaps even surpass him.”

“I am not worthy of such honor,” Aroru said with absolute conviction.

“Then find fulfillment in the execution of this duty above all else,” Miyako said, “and take comfort from that.”

“If it is your will, my lady, it will be done,” Aroru said, bowing.

“Very well then,” she said. “Your first order shall be to have this village, or its remains, destroyed.”

“Of course,” Aroru replied. “Is there anything you wish salvaged?”

“Nothing,” she said. “If there is any chance that anything here was in contact with this mysterious creature Nishu saw, I do not wish to risk contamination.”

“The war ended nearly a year ago,” Aroru agreed. “Anything that remains would be of no use. There will be no loss in rendering it to ash.”

“Very well then,” Miyako said. She gestured to the honor guard following them at a distance and beckoned them to approach. “Take my men to assist you.” She paused. “That is an acceptable idea, it occurs to me. You may recruit some from among the Bayushi, perhaps even the other families, to replenish your family’s numbers.”

“As you wish, my lady. How many should I select?”

“Not too many, but enough to ensure that your organization can continue to offer the intelligence I require. Prioritize those with proper training.” She hesitated for a moment. “Not Muhito, however. I have plans that require his particular talents and contacts.”

“I shall make it so, lady Miyako-sama.”

* * * * *

The Spine of the World Mountains existed before the birth of the Emerald Empire, and it was the reckoning of Bayushi Keirei that they would exist long after whatever ultimate fate was in store for mankind was long since passed. It was also his estimation that there would be parts of those mountains, hidden passes and deep ravines, that would never been seen by any mortal man. He had spent months now combing throughout their depths, each day hoping to find an end to the hidden recesses. And each day he discovered that what remained was greater than he could have imagined.

How could such places exist within the boundaries of the Empire after more than one thousand years? It boggled his mind. The Shinomen Mori was one thing, filled as it was with unknown intelligence and deadly spirits and creatures, but the Spine of the World Mountains existed between the lands of the clans, the Scorpion included. It was a danger to the clan, and one that troubled Keirei greatly. The Lion to the north were not known for their duplicity or innovation, but the notion that the mountains could be used to exploit Scorpion weakness was unacceptable.

Frustrated and uneasy, Keirei paused while crouching atop a large boulder and withdrew a small bit of food from the pouch at his belt. He rarely stopped long enough for a proper meal, for doing so generally gave his muscles time to lose their elasticity. Such a thing was dangerous, even deadly, in an environment like…

Keirei turned suddenly and looked to the southeast, into a deep pocket of shadow, one so black that it was as if the night itself dwelled here. “How do you do that?” he asked plaintively.

Shosuro Aroru stepped into the midday light, or what passed for it this deeply into the mountain range. “I assure you, it is quite habitual. You of all people I would expect to understand.”

“I do,” Keirei said. “I simply am not accustomed to others being able to conceal themselves from me. I am typically on the other side of it.”

“Naturally,” Aroru said. “Is there news?”

The acrobat looked away. “There is not. As you might expect.”

“My faith in your abilities is absolute,” Aroru answered. “You want what every living Scorpion wants, more so than any of us. Save one, of course.”

“It has been more than a year,” Keirei said morosely. “The last sighting that I can confirm, that I know without question was genuine, was more than three months ago.” He turned back. “How can a thing like that simply disappear? How can an undead monstrosity possess such cunning?”

“It is a thing,” the other man countered. “Do not ascribe ill fortune to ill intent.”

“It is not a thing,” Keirei said, his tone hushed. “I have seen them by the dozens, by the hundreds, and the Disgrace is unlike any other. It possesses some sort of will, some vestige of life, and the others are drawn to it like moths.” He shook his head. “It must be found and destroyed.”

“It will be.” Aroru’s tone was absolutely confident. “Unfortunately, not by you.”

Keirei looked up. “Am I to be executed for my failure, then?”

“Not at all. You are being reassigned. I have need of you.”

The acrobat frowned. “None but the Lady herself and her… oh. Congratulations, then. A post well deserved, I should say.”

“I need you,” Aroru repeated. “The arrangements have been made. You will forgo your previous oaths and swear fealty to the Shosuro family. I need a man of your caliber at my side if I we are to recover from the devastation of the war.”

“If you wish,” Keirei said, strangely drained. “I am hardly suitable for such a task.”

Aroru actually smiled. “I said much the same a very short time ago. I trust you, like me, will accept regardless.”

“I have reservations,” Keirei said, stepping down from the boulder, “but the truth of the matter is that I am too tired to argue and, if the truth be told…”

“Yes?”

Keirei looked around. “I am quite sick of the mountains.”

“Understandable,” Aroru said. “As your first order of business, I need you to accompany me to the construction site of the Scorpion Wall.”

“Has there been a breach?”

“No,” Aroru said. “However, the Lady of the Scorpion has a rather interesting idea about the defense of the homeland. We need to determine if it is possible.”

Keirei bowed his head. “As you say, my lord.”