Chapter 21: Dust Settles

Atop the ridge from which the brothers descended, a dark figure resembling the branches of a twisted tree stumbled about. Low-pitched growls rumbled from within as gusts blew the stench of fresh innards down to where the two kneeled.

It trudged over to the edge. Then, without a moment's hesitation, it tumbled down the slope. Parts of its body were caught by debris along the way, leaving behind a trail of blood, flesh, and guts.

Not willing to let Jiu bear witness to the horrifying site, Ting pulled her close.

"Everything will be okay," he whispered with shaky breaths, "Everything will be okay."

The horribly disfigured body finally came to a halt a few steps away. Ting grimaced as the sound of its few remaining organs splattering across the ground echoed through his ears.

Its stench was now stronger than ever. Both Ting and Jiu scrunched up their noses.

"Uncle, what's that smell? It's too much!" The little girl wiggled her arms up and pinched her nose in disgust. Even still, her eyes began to water.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he replied, unsure as to how convinced his niece actually was. As the two backed away, Ting stared intently at the mutilated body, particularly the severed head, which was that of old man Zhuang.

The village elder's eyeballs had been gouged out, and his bottom jaw hung by a mere thread . Even more to Ting's horror, the exposed portion of his brain pulsated as though he was still alive.

A low groan came from the old man's mangled body. Jiu and Ting gasped. The rest of his organs began to pulsate as well, despite many of them being completely detached from the body.

"Whatever you do, do not look back," he whispered apprehensively to Jiu. His niece nodded, well aware that whatever was happening would be too much for her to handle.

The dismembered corpse called upon its missing pieces. Innards and limbs alike rolled down from up the slope and behind rocks, coming together to restore the old man to his former state.

Soon he was whole once more. The groaning continued as he picked himself up. Ting stared at him in awe, but remained apprehensive. The old man standing before him had not put himself back together very well; gaping holes still punctured his abdomen, and his jaw still hung precariously.

The groans suddenly turned into high pitched screams. Out of his throat poured the dark mist. Other mutilated bodies of other nearby villagers rose up and began to do the same.

Shaking in fear, the little girl buried her face in her uncle's chest.

"P-please uncle! Please make them all go away!"

Ting glanced at Heian. The man lay on his side, his body rising and falling slowly with each breath.

'If only we had his help!' he thought hopelessly. He turned back and was immediately blindsided by the same black cloud he had dispelled only minutes ago.

The two of them gasped for air. To Ting's right, a hand reached out of the mist and took hold of Jiu's ankle. She had barely enough time to scream when another from the left grabbed the other ankle.

Ting frantically pried them off, only for a dozen more to come forth. Acting quickly, he rolled from side to side, fending away any that came too close. All the while he caught glimpses of the contorted faces behind the attacks.

The very people who he had spent his entire life alongside now attempted to lay claim to the one he loved the most. Tears welled up in his eyes as their faces crumbled beneath the force of his kicks.

One woman in particular — a sweet and gentle soul named Shuyi — clawed away at his arm in hopes of reaching the girl he held ever so tightly. The black aura that hissed from every pore in her body stung his flesh.

Ting's vision grew blurry. He remembered the way she would greet him every morning and hand him a piece of fruit whenever she could, despite how hard they were to come by. The gentle smile she used to give him had now devolved into a crooked toothed expression of complete and utter suffering.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" he wailed repeatedly. He was suddenly cut off when Ronhua dug his fingers into his shoulders and bit down on his neck. Shuyi followed suit, doing the same to his arm. Ting hollered out in pain.

In an act of desperation, he called upon his Guang. His aura flared up, but faltered under the overbearing mist.

"Move out of the way!" he yelled as he pushed forward on the sensation entrapped within his eyes. Ronhua and Shuyi released their hold. Each of the villagers, seemingly aware of the incoming attack, cowered in fear.

Upon seeing this, Ting forced his eyes shut. The sensation promptly retreated.

"I can't do this!!" With his bloodied arm supporting Jiu's legs and the other supporting her back, the boy leapt up and made a break for the village entrance.

They were just about to the edge of the cloud when a mangled Xiao landed in front of them with a resounding boom. The village guard glared at them with his one eye.

Equipped with a broken staff, he lunged forward. Ting stepped to the side, dodging the attack with ease.

The guard seethed, then spun back around. The wooden stick splintered even further upon impact with Ting's head.

Ting stumbled. His right ear now bled profusely. But rather than retaliate, he continued his desperate rush forward.

"Jiu," he murmured. The girl didn't reply, instead staring in horror at the group chasing them.

"Jiu!" he repeated more loudly. Jiu finally looked up at him with teary eyes.

"Uncle," she whimpered softly, "Where's Papa?"

Ting looked down wistfully. "We can't save him. But don't you worry—"

He felt a terrible guilt as he lied through his teeth.

"—I'm sure he'll be alright."

As the darkness around them began to lessen, Ting looked back one last time. His brother's body was nowhere to be seen.

~

Tara looked up at the late morning sky. The cold water of the stream in which she bathed herself sent chills down her spine, as the smooth stones beneath her feet brought much needed relief after days of walking barefoot. The Starbell — said to be the child of the moon by locals — hid behind the cover of fluffy white clouds that seemed to float in formation.

'Not at all like Kasai,' she thought, remembering that her home world was constantly under surveillance by towering storm clouds at odds with one another.

As she listened to the birds chirp amid the vast forest, a shrub suddenly shook. Startled, Tara dunked her body beneath the water's surface and glanced in the direction of the disturbance.

The rustle of clothing followed by a frantic whisper came next. Tara narrowed her eyes. She had experienced a fair share of peeping toms, but none so clumsy as this one.

"There's no use in hiding," she called out. A man — or boy, rather — rose out from beneath the cover of greenery. He blushed, then mumbled incoherently. Tara noted his attire, which consisted of an oversized upper garment folded at the front and loose fitting pants with cloth wrapped around the ankles. Its teal palette blended seamlessly with the forest environment.

"Could you repeat that?" she said. The boy answered again in a timid, frail voice.

"Commander told me to leave these." He briefly turned away to grab a pile of neatly folded clothes similar to his own. "But he forbade me from disturbing you. Please have mercy on me."

Tara smiled. The boy seemed innocent enough. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

He simply nodded before walking away.

"Wait," Tara called out. The boy turned back around, but now appeared too afraid to look her in the eyes. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"What's a child like you doing in the army?"

"I—" His hands trembled immensely as he tried to spit out the words. He clenched his fists and then, with his voice raised, said, "I'm not a child! I'm worthy of serving our great emperor!"

Tara was slightly taken aback by his sudden outburst. Still, she had to admire his passion, even if it was for a ruler as outdated as a monarch.

'It was not even that long ago that I was the ruling monarch of Kasai,' she mused, chuckling at the irony. 'But to make a child as young as him serve in the armed forces?'

With her curiosity piqued, Tara picked his brain further. Chen Yi — as he called himself — came from a village in the south, where hills were carved into irrigated, step-like fields that cultivated the region's food staple: a starchy seed called rice. Columns of verdant stones towering over churning seas of mist were also common in the area. It was identical to the description of Unit 271's last known whereabouts, as stated by the now defunct Mikey.

Even more perplexing was that their language and customs also differed from that of Zhao and the others. Chen was forced to learn their tongue, but being that it was similar to his own, he picked it up with ease.

"What's your native language called?" asked Tara. She hoped that he'd hint at the name of the language they currently spoke.

"It's not a different language," Chen replied. The boy tapped his fingers against the waist-height branch on which he leaned. His demeanor had undergone a complete turnaround. "Just a different dialect."

"Dialect?"

"Yeah…" He then paused awkwardly. "Miss, haven't you been outside your village too?"

"My village...?"

"Yes. Commander Zhao told us you spoke a dialect he never even heard of."

"No…?" Tara trailed off, contemplating whether that answer had made even the slightest bit of sense. Up to this point, she had put little thought into a plausible backstory, if ever so vague.

'Not that I could've, really,' she thought unwittingly. Her ignorance of local politics and customs was mostly to blame. It also didn't help that her superiors aboard the Starbell cared not for those aspects when analyzing the indigenous populaces.

Chen stared at her with a blank expression. "Really? Then how do you know two dialects?"

"Uh…" Tara murmured as he looked on expectantly. A wisp of cool, crisp air sent shivers down her spine, briefly disrupting her train of thought.

"Visitors!" she finally blurted out, "I learned to speak thanks to visitors!"

The boy's ears suddenly perked up. "Then are you from the village of the infidels?"

Before she had the chance to answer, Chen stumbled onto his hands and knees. He drew close enough so that their noses nearly touched. Tara instinctually raised her arms to cover her breasts despite her entire body being submerged in murky water. Only then did she see that his gaze remained fixated on her pupils.

"No, wait," he then said disappointedly, "Your eyes are brown, just like everyone else's. But those freckles, they—"

Chen reached up to touch Tara's face, but was stopped halfway. The scornful look she bore as she gripped his hand was telling enough.

"What're you doing?" she questioned, no longer with the friendliness that had gotten him out of his shell.

"S-sorry. It's just—"

"Just a word of advice," she quietly hissed, yanking Chen close enough so that he could hear, "Don't grow up to be like your superiors."

Chen looked at her, far too stunned to say a word. As soon as she released her grasp, he fell hard onto his buttocks.

Tears then welled up in his eyes. His hands clawed the earth, picking up dust that he nearly plunged into his eyes as he began to wail. Once again, Tara stopped his hands short, lest he render himself blind.

"Hey," she said, feeling as though she had overreacted. Guiding his hand toward the water, she washed them clean. "I'm sure you're a good kid. But you can't go touching someone so willy-nilly."

The boy thanked her and went on his way. Tara watched as he disappeared into the layers of greenery. The rustle of branches startled a few colorful birds — creatures similar to the black crows that used to glide along the horizon of Kasai whenever the sky was clear. At least, that was what she had seen in her dreams.

Fifteen days had passed since she first found herself stranded on M3906. She thought of giving the planet a name, but struggled to find one that encompassed the many qualities that made it so mystifying.

"Days and nights as short as hours. Forests filled with trees covered in verdant leaves. A world where people needn't live in fear of dying by the devil's hand, but rather each other's." Tara paused for a moment. "What would I call such a place?"

She then stood up, feeling a lukewarm breeze against her skin. For now, she decided to let the question remain unanswered. A village of so-called infidels with strangely colored eyes like that of Heian intrigued her more so.

With a chuckle, she grabbed the clothing that Chen had left for her. Out of it fell a roll of white cloth and a hair tie.