For what seemed like a long time, Leon sat with me in the clearing of the forest after the Tisin disappeared. There was no evidence left of what had transpired. Every sign of the horrible ordeal was erased after the dark hour had ended. But I sat there and agonized over every second of what I had seen, over and over again. What was he trying to find out? How did he know I was even here in Limbo? Was he looking for me? We were quiet for a long time before he turned to me. 

“Hey, Yuzuki? At the end of the vision? I don’t understand how you got away.” He left it as a statement, but I could hear the question in his voice. I looked up at him finally.

“I think it was Yuki’s Spirit-Sister. Her dragon companion.” I said. “But. I don’t know how that can be possible.” I shook my head, confused and I looked at Leon, frowning. “I may never know.” There was a defeated tone to my voice that even I could hear, and it matched my mood. I was fighting back tears as my heart continued to pound, my body violently trembling.

“So, your dad is the Spiderbeast,” Leon said softly, and I could feel his eyes watching me carefully as he spoke. I couldn’t help the sob that wrenched itself from me as my knees went up and I hid my face in them. I felt a hand on my back, and warmth covered my side as he scooted closer to me. “Hey. It’s cool. He’s pretty extraordinary, doing weird magic that no other Tisin in recorded history has done. So now we at least understand why you are so badass.”

“Leon!” I said as I looked up at him behind bleary, tear-filled eyes. “This isn’t funny. Not only does he have an alpha relationship with hordes of Tisin, but did you see what he was doing? He was looking into the past! He was commanding space and time, controlling it!”

“It indeed seems that way, but we don’t know exactly yet. Which is why I said he was extraordinary. I am extremely concerned about what else he can do.” For someone who was ‘extremely concerned,’ he sounded almost relaxed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. 

“We need to kill him, Leon. We can’t let this go any further.” I couldn’t help the despair that ran through me.  Even in death, I couldn’t escape my father. Even in death, I had to face him as he tore through people and destroyed everything in his path. I had killed him, I was certain of that. I had never even considered that my father could have turned into a Tisin. There was a long moment of silence as I sulked next to him. 

“Hey. So, what if I told you there was a nice little place in Limbo that helps those who are feeling lost find clarity by jumping into a pool of water?” He suddenly asked me, and I looked at him, confused.

“I would want to go there immediately!” I answered, glaring over at him. 

“I thought so. Let’s go then.” Leon had a grin on his face despite everything we had just seen, and he stood up, heading toward the safe spot we had left the horses. I followed behind him, pelting his back with questions as if my mouth and brain were on rapid fire (a phrase I had learned from Nakita).

“Why has no one told me about these pools before? Where are they? Why haven’t we used them for answers about the Spiderbeast yet? Has CiCi been to these pools? Does she know about them?”

Leon turned to glance over his shoulder at me, his laugh echoing around us. It was a good hike to the horses, so we walked and talked.

“Yes, CiCi knows about the pools, she’s been there. She was the first to figure out how the Pools of Clarity worked. She was the second one to transcend here, but the first Transcended to really figure out what we are capable of. A Limbo resident showed her the pools a long time ago when she first came here. When CiCi jumped in, she was thinking about the problem she had to solve, and the pool showed her what she needed to know. She found out soon, though, that it only works once. I don’t think she’s tried in a long time.” The explanation answered many of my questions, and I quietly absorbed this information as he continued to talk. 

“I don’t know if Malakaii or Claus have used the pools, but I have. I’m not surprised we all forgot to mention the pools. But it seems like you need guidance. I know that the pools of clarity helped me. They are only a little way off from here. We should be there soon.”

I trusted him, and for once since I got to Limbo the answer I received satisfied me. I followed him quietly to the horses. It was only a half-hour’s flight to a small lake that came out of the side of some steep mountains. 

“Where are we?” I asked as I looked around me. We had never been this far north of Warrior City. 

“The Lake Discernment. The mountains are called the Mountains of Self-Reflection. There is a temple at the bottom of the mountain, dedicated to the Great Beyond. A lot of people in Limbo want to reflect on what it takes to ascend beyond the mountain and self-reflect on who they are. The mountain is said to have a spiritual power to it, a presence that forces people to be truly honest with themselves and reflect on whether or not they are truly ready to go to whatever is next.”

“So do people like... ascend or whatever at the top if they are ready?” I asked incredulously. 

“It’s been known to happen, I’ll admit. This whole mountain is a spiritual retreat. People come and camp on it. There is even a whole brigade made up of retired Spirit Warriors who protect and maintain them. They are a very important part of Limbo. It’s probably the closest thing we have to religion here.”

“Wow. That’s incredible.” I looked down over the mountains that our horses were circling over, slowly going down for a cautious descent from the air onto the shores of the lake near the northernmost part of the lake. We flew just above it until the river that fed it faded into a gurgling stream that flowed from a cave in the middle of the mountains. 

The lake sat in a valley of the mountains on a plateaued shelf of the mountains. We landed the horse on a sandy bank that had space for them to graze just offshore. He and I began to walk on foot and followed the river upstream as it grew smaller and smaller until we found the cave. The entrance was wide, and I was surprised that the stream that flowed from it to feed the river was gentle. Leon gestured toward the mouth of the cave.

“In there. I will wait by the horses for you. Take your time, okay?” 

“You’re not going with me?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous. “What about Tisin?”

“Ah, you know now that I think about it, there have never been Tisin on this mountain...” Leon said, frowning. “Huh. I wonder if CiCi’s ever realized that? No Tisin up here. I promise. And no lagoon monsters either. Just a very pretty waterfall and pool. Make sure to submerge yourself. Swim towards the bottom of the pool. It’ll be okay.” 

I nodded as he put a hand on my shoulder momentarily, before turning and heading back towards the horses. I watched him leave until he was gone from sight, and I listened to the sound of his footsteps. When that was gone, I turned to the cave, my heart racing again.

Fear. An emotion I was so used to, but so used to suppressing that I hardly recognized it as it raced through me. What exactly was I going to see? And would it help defeat what I know now to be my father? I knew there was only one way to find out.

I headed into the mouth of the cave, the rocky stream cold as it soaked my sandaled feet. When the shock of cold water hit my feet, I gasped a little in surprise. I had only felt cold on the snowy day, some weeks ago. It was strange how you could forget things like the way cold and hot feel when you stop feeling them. I walked into the mouth of the cave. The moss that grew on the walls glowed a soft greenish blue hue, and I felt my breath hitch in awe.

An underground cavern opened up to a tunnel where a waterfall fell from up high in the cave. The water that fell roared loudly and splashed into a natural basin-type shelf that grew naturally of stone out of the wall halfway up the wall. It overflowed, much gentler, into a deep blue-black pool that flowed gently out into the entrance of the natural cavern as a gentle stream that fed into a larger lake.

The soft greenish-blue hue from the moss along the cavern walls was reflected on the roof of the cave mouth. Gems shimmered in the soft light like stars on a dark night and reflected down on the surface of the deep water. It was the most magical thing I’d ever seen. 	I took my shoes and outer clothing off, folding them up and setting them on a rock as I went deeper into the cavern. I couldn’t feel cold, except the gentle cold of the water that swirled around my toes. 

The roar of the waterfall, the sounds of the basin overflowing drowned out everything, including my own thoughts, as I went to the edge of the pool, where the water trickled downwards and out naturally. My eyes found a mossy stone path that led out to the middle of the pool of water, rising ever so slightly to create a raised perch where one could stand out over the water and possibly jump in. 

Moving along the path, I walked over the glowing moss and gasped at how soft it was, and it tickled the bridge of my foot. Balancing along the narrow stone path, I looked up at the gems on the ceiling of the cavern, peace settling over me as they glimmered dimly above me. I reached the end of the path and looked down into the water. There was enough light from the moss that I could see myself reflected perfectly in the water. I took in my appearance, and once again marveled at the small changes. 

I realized then that I didn’t look all that different, I just looked... alive. I found it ironic, considering my very transcendent death. The only thing that had really changed was my hair. I thought of my living self, and the reflection rippled and changed to the short-haired woman-child who looked as lost as she used to feel. 

She reached for me, and I felt the pull. I took a deep breath and dove down into her embrace. Bubbles kissed the skin of my body as I sank down, down into the darkest water I had ever been in. My eyes opened to the inky black all around me. Upside down, sinking as I did was my living reflection. Our eyes met, before she looked down towards the bottom of the deep well of water I had jumped in. 

Allowing my eyes to follow the path of hers, I could see before us. The traditional Japanese country mansion. The walls fell away and I could see the image of my father, striking me through the stomach with his sword as I stepped out of a small closet. I could see the arch of blood from his neck as I sliced it. I gently landed on the ground in the vision as I watched his body fall, and watched as my dying living self stumbled and crawled away. I watched as my father died, just as slowly and agonizingly as Yuske, Tomoya, my mother, and I did. I could see the black swirling of energy as his spirit left his body and stood. His spirit was grotesque, changing and warping and bending and then pulling itself together again repeatedly as it shuffled and stumbled towards my body. 

My siblings were already wrapped in tendrils of gold and white and purple, their souls fading in an explosion of beautiful light, and my mother’s soul was beginning to finally rise out of her body as the living Empress hovered over her, crying. My father was only focused on me. He was screaming as he reached for me, shuffling as fast as he could toward my body, which seemed to be paused uncertainly in the air, as if Fate was trying to decide what to do with me. 

His warping, taloned soul hands reached out and grabbed onto my soul, pulling me away from my body. A dark force had opened near his corpse, and something was trying to pull him in, but he fought it. He wrapped his dark arms around my bright soul that was hovering, and the golden light that had begun to open around me slowed and fizzled. My father’s grotesque soul began reaching for the light that had begun to emit from me, trying to force his way past me somehow, into whatever plane of existence that was waiting for me. The golden light faded at his presence, and he clung to me while my soul tried to break free. 

And then Mitsutama-gu, Yuki’s dragon spirit sister, came swooping in. She reached out her talon and let out a roar, yanking my father and I up and off the ground with her magic. She pulled us into the air, and used both of her talons to try to pry my father's disgusting, mutated soul off of mine.

But it was no use. The further my father’s soul got from his corpse, the weaker the pull into the portal into his afterlife became. A new eerie purple light began to open under us, as Mitsutama desperately tried to pry our souls apart. 

Tendrils of energy reached out from the portal and latched onto the souls of my father and me, beginning to pull us in. Mistsutama roared in frustration as she let go of my father’s spirit with her magic and only focused on mine. The opposing strengths finally ripped my father’s twisted soul away from mine, sucking him into the portal while the dragon gently cradled my spirit in her claw. 

She looked down at me in sadness, before closing her eyes and putting her snout to my forehead, and letting the portal pull my sleeping glowing soul into it. 

The vision ended, and I looked up, realizing I was lying on the bottom of the pool in the cavern, the cold water tingling my skin. Thankful that breathing was just a habit, and not a necessity at this point, and kicked off the ground toward the surface. Understanding flowed through me as I swam upwards, images of each of my new friends surrounded me, glowing reflections of them, smiling up at me, their hands reaching for me welcomingly. Kora, Nakita, Leon, Claus, CiCi, Rachel, Elliot, Ivan, Malakaii, and Alice. 

I understood now that everything I was worried about was wrong. It didn’t matter that he was my father. It only mattered that he had been my enemy in life, and now he is my enemy again in death. From the moment we gained the ability to walk, my father had lived his life crushing my siblings and me. And it didn’t matter why. 

It only mattered that his evil had redeemed me. It had redeemed my entire family. And now it was my turn to redeem him. I had my second chance at experiencing what life could be like. I had shed my sins the moment I decided to do what was right. And so long as I lived my life doing what I knew was right, I had the ability to purge the wrongness in his tormented soul. 

It wasn’t very long until I was clothed again. Finding my way out of the cavern and down the path until I saw Leon, standing with the horses. When he realized I was there, he came forward to meet me. 

“Well? Any luck?” He asked curiously, and I smiled at him.

“The best of luck,” I answered him, passing by him, heading straight towards my horse.

“And?” He asked, clearly distressed by the absence of my answer. I laughed and turned to Leon and grinned at him, feeling a spark of fire in my soul from the understanding that the waters within that cavern had given me. 

“We have a report to make to our boss, Leon. Otherwise, CiCi will become very cross at us.”

The squawk of protest Leon let out made me laugh as I swung into my saddle and urged my mare forward. The pounding of hooves on the river filled the air until the beating of their long spiritual wings replaced it as the wind whipped my wet hair out of my face. 

My father had redeemed me through his evil. And now it was my turn to purge him from the darkness that had become a force of ever-growing consumption and corruption. As Leon caught up and we began to fly back to Warrior City, I explained what I had learned in the Pools of Reflection. 

“My father’s soul had already become a corrupted Tisin before I transcended. He just hitched a ride on my arrival into Limbo. Or rather, he had caused it by forcing shut my spirit gate. When our souls could not go where it was meant to, it forced open a portal to Limbo. He was most likely due to go to somewhere much worse than Limbo, but when his corrupted soul was misplaced here, it changed his appearance to match his soul. Just like ours did when we died and Transcended. It’s possible, he’s the most powerful Tisin that Limbo has ever created.”

Leon shook his head and looked at me with a worried look on his face. 

“Well, I guess this means I don’t have a chance of ever getting your dad’s approval,” Leon called over, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“I am not sure why that, of all things, matters. But if it makes you feel better, he never gave me his approval before we died either.” I answered. 

Leon looked at me for a moment and then rolled his eyes before bursting out laughing. We spent the rest of the flight towards Warrior City in our own thoughts about the day's events and all of the new information we learned.

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Memoirs Of the In-Between: The Pools of Reflection 

Hidden Bonus Chapter 9.5

For what seemed like a long time, Leon sat with me in the clearing of the forest after the Tisin disappeared. There was no evidence left of what had transpired. Every sign of the horrible ordeal was erased after the dark hour had ended. But I sat there and agonized over every second of what I had seen, over and over again. What was he trying to find out? How did he know I was even here in Limbo? Was he looking for me? We were quiet for a long time before he turned to me. 



Memoirs Of the In-Between: The Pools of Reflection

Hidden Bonus Chapter 9.5

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Memoirs Of the In-Between: The Pools of Reflection

Hidden Bonus Chapter 9.5

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