Spell 29 - The One She Trusted

Ren remained still where he had fallen, still breathing hard after the hit. Then, he heard footsteps pad across the broken ledge above, and Kagami landed near him with her usual feline grace.

"Are you okay?" she asked, analyzing for anything that might raise concern.

But he pushed himself up from the floor, brushing off any reason to worry, even if his ribs protested with pain.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, looking straight at her and demanding answers. "How did that thing know about Haruki?"

Kagami tilted her head slightly.

"So I suppose I can't postpone this any longer, can I?" she said, in a way only to herself, as if to prepare for something she hadn't shared in a long time.

She sighed, but admitted it was time. The path would eventually lead him there anyway, so it was better to do it now before advancing to other, more dangerous levels of the pagoda.

"Let's get you out of here first," she said. "I know a place."

"You know a place… here?" Ren asked, as if the idea itself seemed crazy to him.

"You forget this place was under my rule once."

She turned and began walking without waiting for a response. Ren followed her, deeper into that place he still couldn't understand.

The hallway they followed stretched ahead in segments. Blue, glowing light ran through conduits carved into the stone, some of which extended into broader panels depicting old calligraphy. Lattice panels lined parts of the walls, and Ren did wonder what sort of things could lie hidden beyond them. But his curiosity didn't exceed his current objective. Kagami would explain. Eventually... wouldn't she?

She did seem to know her way around this place pretty well.

They descended past a different and wider hallway, lined with faded banners bearing Clan symbols. The ink had run in places, but they were still distinguishable. Even to a person like him who had spent most of his adult life in the city, away from too much Clan interference.

Finally, they stepped into a chamber hidden behind a curved archway.

"This is a Respite," Kagami explained, stopping at the threshold. "Back when this place was still in use, these rooms were built for rest between trials. They used to be sealed with sigils to silence the Pacts, but now..."

She then glanced at the walls. They did display a few faded marks that resembled sigils, but it was obvious even to the untrained eye that those were just old, useless remnants by now.

"There's no power left. The sigils remain, but they're merely drawings at this point."

The chamber seemed unusually warm compared to the rest of the structure. The floor was made of worn tatami, while old wooden beams held together the old, tarnished walls. The ceiling above bore the same circuitry and thick wiring system Ren had already seen before walking through these hallways, but they seemed less menacing here.

Ren stepped slowly toward the center of the room.

"You brought us here to talk?"

"And to rest," she added. "Talking will happen, too, if it must. But first, you need your strength."

He looked around once more, then walked toward what seemed like a soft bench near the wall. It had a slight curve to it, and when he ran his hand over the surface, he found it warmer than expected. He sat, then leaned back carefully.

Kagami chose a spot across from him, near a broken circle symbol at the center of the room. She lay down with her paws stretched out and her back arched in that familiar sphinx posture.

Then, after a few moments of carefully choosing her words, she began to explain everything.

"His name was Reiji," Kagami explained. "He was a tactician. A brilliant one at that. He understood spiritual mechanics and logic at the same time. He could see how everything fit together, even when no one else could."

She paused a little, weighing in her own words against the memory of it all.

"I brought him here because I needed someone who could think past what the Clans... and most people... were capable of understanding."

"And did he?"

"For a while."

Kagami's ears twitched as she replied.

"We were able to build a system here in Naraku that went beyond hierarchy," she continued. "We based it on the ever-growing knowledge and understanding of the world around us and its potential. It was designed to stand apart from Clan power and family names. It was truly beautiful."

Then her gaze dropped for a moment.

"But Reiji..." she paused a little as if she had no words she was satisfied with. "He eventually started doubting how we were drifting apart from the Clans. He believed the world wasn't ready for that. So when I refused to return to the old ways, he betrayed me."

"What did he do?" Ren asked.

"He created the glyphs that locked me out of my power, sealing them himself during a rite, when my soul was completely exposed. He waited for that moment, and when it came, he shut me away from my own witch core."

Ren suddenly remembered the vision he had when he first arrived at the pagoda. He did see something that resembled what Kagami was describing: a woman with long black hair standing at the center of a fiery chamber during some kind of invocation, and a man before her, surrounded by sigils that kept falling apart around him. It had been so impersonal as those images flashed in his mind then, but now everything was layered on top of Kagami's words. And even though she was cold, even cruel at times, Ren was starting to see through some of that, something a little more human underneath the fire and ice.

"You still miss him," Ren simply said, and as expected, she had no reply willing to give. Instead, she turned her head slightly and began licking at her side.

It took Ren a moment to understand what he was seeing. The fur along her left side was shorter and burnt in places. He hadn't noticed it before, but now it was obvious there was a burn there. And it looked fresh as well.

"You're hurt," he said, sitting up straighter. He then reached out to her without thinking.

But she moved before his hand got close, and as she did, her claw slashed his arm with one swift motion. That's how she made her point.

"Don't do that again."