Memoirs Of The In-Between Chapter 3

I looked at Alice, Malakaii, and the people around me before I fell hard to the ground. The entirety of my body hurt and that thing, I realized must have been one of those tainted souls that Malakaii had explained to me briefly before. I was angry at the fact that I had just killed a person. Still, that spirit had been going after Alice; it was either us or it. Even I can’t deny that I’d rather kill than be killed again. I looked at Alice now, who ran towards me. She was laughing with tears of relief in her eyes, and the flowers in her arms whipping up and down as she ran at me, kissing her cheeks with each step. She fell on her knees in front of me and threw her face into my chest. I quickly put the blade down, ignoring the twang of pain that separation from Estrakulius caused and the physical agony that the pressure Alice put on me created. I wrapped my arms around the little girl and felt like a fussy grandmother as I lifted her up and began to inspect her for wounds.

“Yuzu! You were so brave!” she said in a breathy voice. I looked at her quietly for a moment, interrupting my intense search for pains on the girl. Brave? I was not sure that is the term I would have used to describe it, but she was so little and she looked so happy; I did not want to turn the smile away. I laughed a bit and patted her head. She thrust the flowers in her hands at me and I took them. They were tiny little flowers on stalks, purplish gray and bunched along the stalk, their scent wafted over me intensely. I inhaled deeply, the scent enveloped me and calmed my body, still pumping from the adrenaline.

“What are these?” I asked her as I took in another deep breath of the calming scent these flowers had. It was potent, like nothing I’d ever smelled before. I felt as if I should know what type of flower it was that she had handed me, but my job had been killing, not botanicals, and mother and father had made certain to not waste time teaching me about irrelevant things. Unfortunately, flowers that did not paralyze, poison, or kill a person made the irrelevant list.

“Lavender stalks!” Alice told me happily. “Lavender is good for everything. Oh…the warriors are looking at you funny.” It was then I remembered the strange people, I looked up and counted five of them. Three men, two women. They were looking over at me, while talking to Malakaii in hushed voices and I turned back to Alice.

“Who are they?” I asked, my fingertips brushing against the bouquet of lavender in my arms. The lingering rush of fear and panic quickly left me as I brought my face to them and inhaled the scent again.

“They are spirit warriors. They came when they felt you awaken.” Alice said. “Your blade…it's like a giant feather,” she exclaimed. She reached out and ran a finger on the blade that had seemed to rip itself from my body. Once again I felt so displaced, as if I should have been more alarmed that a magical blade had floated out of my body in a painful manner, then continued on to talk to me. But I was not alarmed, not by looking at the sword, nor by the thought of how it suddenly came to be. Last time I had checked, I was truly not that brave, nor did I think I was crazy. Then again, I’d never been dead before and that might have had something to do with it.

The scent of the flowers in the little girl's hand was wafting over me strongly, and I found myself enjoying it. It was soothing, and I inhaled deeply again, though pain fired through my ribs as I did so. “What does awaken mean?” I asked, looking at the blade, finally able to take in its details. It was about three and a half feet long, and small lines that made the blade had the details of a feather on the metal etched there. Delicate purple and white ribbon covered the hilt of the sword, though I could feel it was made of strong wood, and a small emerald sat at the tip. The blade was weighted and shaped like a katana with the exception of the ridges that gave the blade the shape of a thin feather. At the base of the steel was a large ruby, about the size of a wine bottle cork inside the steel, with one small emerald at each of the corners, as if it were representing the north, east, west, and south. This fascinated me, as I’d never actually seen jewels embedded in the steel of a blade.

“Awaken. When your blade came from inside of you.” Alice said happily. “I’ve always wanted to be a spirit warrior, but my destiny is to be a healer, I think. And not the spirit warrior kind. Who knows, maybe I’ll awaken one day too. Speaking of which! Are you hurt?” Alice asked, her face filling with concern. I laughed then and shook my head. My ribs were throbbing and my head was pounding, but the young girl did not need to worry about such things. She spoke as if I should know everything about anything she spoke about. I found it endearing, how her face changed so easily, her expressions open like a book in her childish innocence for all to read.

“I am fine. Just a bit bruised.” I offered a hesitant smile to the girl. She was training to be a healer. The very thought seemed amusing to me. We were dead and in a place of limbo, yet we needed healers and felt pain. How could it be?  I felt a small weight on my leg. I looked down to see the white furry creature, standing on his hind legs.

You did a good job, I guess. Hi. I'm Kokatiamitus, the ferret.

I stared at the creature on my leg for a moment, gaping. Again with the talking animals. So it had not been a rush of panic causing me to hallucinate. It bowed his head at me and I blinked in surprise, looking nervously at Alice.

“The ferret is talking to me,” I told her in a small whisper, and she laughed.

“So say hello to him! He’s a good friend,” Alice encouraged and I looked at the white creature who looked like a long rodent and nodded my head back.

“Hi…Kaka…kokotama…” I stammered, and the ferret made a chittering noise, and fell off my leg, rolling around in the grass. I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment that a rodent was laughing at me.

“Kokatiamitus! I was named after my father, Mitus, my sister, Tia, and my mother, Koka. But everyone calls me Khaos for short. Thank you for saving Malakaii's ward. I would have missed her if she had been eaten. I nodded after a few seconds slowly, still unsure of what to make of this little creature.

“Can you hear him too?” I asked the little girl beside me and she nodded.

“Of course. They’re part of the family. Khaos was saved by Malakaii a few years ago, and Uriana’s been with Malakii for a really long time.”

“Do all the animals here talk?” I asked hesitantly, and Khaos began to chitter again, rolling around in the grass beside me while Alice laughed.

“Of course not! These two are special. And only the people Malakaii enchants can hear them. That would probably get a little overwhelming. Can you imagine understanding everything the birds were singing all the time?” The little girl asked, a dreamy expression coming over her face and I held back a chuckle. It was probably a good thing we didn’t understand the birds. They only sang the loudest when they were calling out for a mate - and I could imagine that getting a little uncomfortable to those passing through a heavily bird-populated area in the spring.

The brown mongoose sidled up and stood before me, bowing her head in my direction. Where I came from, animals that could talk were never really a good sign – and if they were talking inside your head it meant you should be all the more worried since it actually meant you were sick of mind. I didn’t think I was going crazy, though it would explain a lot – waking up after death in a world called limbo where the animals talked, and strange monsters made of horrid animal parts attacked little girls and men’s pipes smelled different with every puff. But Alice could apparently hear them too, so that made me feel better about my state of mind.

And I am Uriana Mongoose, first of my name. My father Lafet was the companion to Malakaii since before my birth, and since his transcendence into the next life, I have taken his place. You did a good job, fledgling warrior. Prepare yourself, the others are approaching to speak to you. I’m sure you have many questions, as you only woke up today. Rest assured, these are the people to ask. They can help, they can teach you.

When I looked up, Uriana had indeed told the truth. Malakaii and the five warriors were approaching us. Picking up my blade I stood up, holding the flowers in one arm, the blade in the other. The mongoose looked up and bared her teeth at me, it honestly looked as if she were smiling. I felt a bit apprehensive as the others walked toward me. Khaos playfully pounced on Uriana and with that, they began to wrestle around my feet. Looking up at the faces of the others as they walked towards me, I had a sneaking suspicion I was about to be even more confused. 

“Yuzuki.” Malakaii smiled at me as they got near enough. He simply beamed at me. I just knew something bad was about to happen from that crooked beaming smile. “You’ve impressed some pretty special people.” Malakaii indicated the warriors who had stayed quiet. One of the women, taller than the rest, wore robes of white. She had bright red hair, her eyes were as green as the grass I stood on. Her pants were loose and flowing about her legs, while tightening around the thighs and hips. Her shirt was tight around her slender body, and it bore no sleeves. There was a crest sewn into the breast above her heart. It bore a dragon and phoenix head, back to back and under, a strange figure eight on its side.

“I am CiCi, one of the three chiefs of the spirit warriors.” She had a gentle voice, and she extended her hand, which I blinked at. Alice giggled and nudged me.

“You’re supposed to shake it.” She whispered to me, and I blinked again, taking CiCi's hand and shaking it gingerly. I was unsure of this type of greeting - after all I’d come from a place where people bowed to each other.

CiCi gave me a smile, and turned to the others beside her. “These are my braves, Vivian and Artemius. The other two are warriors, Ivan and Elliot.” She gestured to the other woman, and one of the men. These two wore clothes exactly like CiCi's, except they were navy blue. The woman had black hair and sky blue eyes and she was a good foot taller than I, but at least a head shorter than CiCi. The man had white hair, with a black streak running through it, which was spiked, and his orange eyes glared at me. The other two men were dressed in black and looked more laid back. One of the gentlemen had waist-length brown hair that matched his eyes, and was taller than CiCi, and the other shorter man with blonde hair grinned at me, his blue eyes sparkling with more mischief than Malakaii’s. He was as tall as me, and I realized he must have been very young for his face expressed every quality of a child-man, youthful and yet on the verge of being an adult.

As I looked at them all quietly, I realized they were all analyzing me, and I began to feel self-conscious. Looking toward Malakaii, I frowned a bit, wondering what these people wanted with me. I did not like being scrutinized or at the center of attention. I was so used to being in the shadows, hiding, and striking like a snake, unseen and hidden. This much open attention made me wary. However, the pain in my body overrode the urge to flee and escape.

“Malakaii tells us you just woke up today after transcending to this place. And now you’ve already awakened with your soulmate." Vivian spoke up. She had a husky voice, one that would be seductive and dangerous to men all around. I nodded at her and I could feel the frown lines becoming a permanent feature on my brow.

“I suppose that is so. Is this bad?” I asked hesitantly, hugging the lavender flowers to me. The warriors around me shared a look, and I couldn’t tell if they were amused or surprised. Malakaii chuckled, and again, I glared at him, which in turn, made him chuckle more. This was the second time he’d done that today and I couldn’t help but think if it happened again I’d have the strength to take his stick and hit him with it.

He pulled his pipe out, and I faintly wondered where it had come from. He puffed it, still chuckling light-heartedly. I could smell the scent of cooked chicken, and I knew that it came from his pipe. The one with long brown hair stepped forward and shook his head.

“It’s not bad. It’s impressive. The fact that you were able to stand after your blade came from your body is also amazing. You’ve not been trained at all, and yet you cleansed a soul on your first day awake…awake in both manners come to think of it. We think you are probably pretty special. I am Ivan by the way. Blondie is Elliot, just in case there was any confusion.” He said grinning and winking at me. I was amused by his laid back informalities but I turned my eyes back to CiCi’s glittering green ones.

When I looked at her, she smiled as if she were trying to send silent encouragement, before turning to Malakaii. She took his pipe from him in a motion that should have been hard to see. Thankfully, the eyes of an assassin see almost everything. It was a quick sneaky motion, and the pipe seemed to disappear from Malakaii’s mouth leaving the old man blinking, then scowling in her direction as she took a puff from it.

“To get to the point, we’d come because we felt your energy when you entered this world. Malakaii contacted us when you woke up. On our way here, we could feel the presence of a Tisin and we were worried when we couldn’t get ahold of Malakaii again. Now we can see you didn’t need any help at all, but nonetheless perhaps you would like to go with us? We have a school that teaches new spirit warriors what this life is about. What it is to purify and cleanse. We will teach you things that you would have never even thought possible. Ivan is correct when he says you are special. Very rarely is a soul strong enough to transcend here directly after death. And here you are, already accomplishing amazing things in this world that is new to you.” CiCi gave the pipe back to Malakaii, who stopped scowling as soon as the pipe was back in his gnarled and wise hand. The peppermint scent from CiCi's puff reached my nose then, and I looked at Alice, who was smiling at me.

“Yuzu! This is amazing!” She said, dancing around my legs, her cotton dress whirling about her knees. “You can be a hero to more people than just me if you go!” She gushed, and I felt warmth spread across my cheeks. Did she just say I was her hero? I knelt down, set my blade on the ground, and hugged her tightly. I had been many things. I had been feared, hated, and respected. I had been a killer. Never before except when I died, had I ever strove to protect a life like I did earlier. Never before, had I been a hero, and I thought perhaps, to be a hero would be something worth doing, since I was stuck here in limbo. After all, what other hobbies could a dead girl take on?

"I suppose it would be good to go there, I could get more than half answers from crotchety old men," I said, sneaking a glance at Malakaii as he guffawed and the smell of rain washed over me as a puff of smoke drifted my way. "So I will do my best, okay?" I promised the little girl as I released her from the hug. I looked at the lavender in my arms and smiled. Those were the first flowers I’d ever received from anyone, and she had given them to me out of pure admiration and care. I looked at her small, young face and felt a smile cross my face again. “And when I get hurt, I can come here, and you will patch me up right?” I asked her. She squealed and nodded excitedly, and I couldn’t help but feel amused. It was, of course, just an excuse to visit the strange duo, the old man with the smelly pipe and the little girl with the bright eyes and a beautiful heart.

It was not long after that, Malakaii had packed me food and bid me farewell by blowing strawberry smoke in my face, and Alice had hugged me tight. She had braided my lavender into a wreath and placed it on my head, and with that, I turned towards the warriors who were waiting for me. When they turned, I followed them from the cottage, and they led me to a pack of horses, all of them armored. They had an extra one, which they had brought because of me, and I took it, mounting without much fuss. I was still barefoot, wearing my simple cotton dress. CiCi had told me I would be better equipped when we got to the Warrior City. They said it would be a bit of a ride, so I took the time to take in the environment around me.

The world I was in was strange for certain. As we walked along, my fingers gently rubbing the warm fur of my Arabian mare, I smiled at the tall trees around us. The wood was red, and the trunks were wide enough that if they were hollowed out, two of our horses could stand comfortably in their shelter. It stayed that way for a bit, the bright forest flowers popping out at me in all different hues of reds and yellows and purples. Then after a bit I blinked, and a harsh wind hit my face, sand grazing my cheeks. The scenery had changed to that of a desert, and I was so shocked I cried out. The horses and those around us seemed unaffected. When I cried out, Elliot the young blonde boy grinned over at me.

“Is this your first world transition?” He asked, pulling his horse up next to me. I looked at him, I guess I looked bewildered and he laughed. He seemed playful, but not in an innocent way as Alice did. He shimmered with the aura of a prankster. “It happens a lot. This is not like Earth. The scenery is ever-changing. It's made of the dreams and wishes of all those around us. The path is always the same to your destination though, remember that so you don’t get lost, okay?” He said, then nudged his horse to catch up to Ivan.

I was left to ponder this as we trudged on. So the world’s surroundings were made of the dreams and wishes of others? I would have to find out how that worked. There was so much about this world I wanted to know, so much I needed to learn. I smiled at the hot desert around us, and let out a soft laugh. Yes, I liked this world very much.

We had walked through the desert for about an hour, according to the position of the sun in the sky. The sun glowed brightly above us, as it would a desert on earth, and there were times when the sky turned pink and purple, the sun turning bright yellow behind the pastel clouds. I found that even though it felt hot, and it was something I would have found unbearable before, I did not suffer from fatigue, my skin did not burn, and I did not feel that thirst that would be so unquenchable in a desert if I were alive. I took in the surroundings and noticed the path we walked, the sand was painted a deep blue against the brown, and any sand that exited that path of blue turned brown, sand that entered turning the same shade of navy. I figured that must be the path that Elliot mentioned, and made note of that. That path was always the same to our destinations, he’d said, even if our scenery changed. After a while, I was beginning to get bored, nothing new to pick out of the hot brown desert sands when the world around us shimmered, the land about us changing to a forest again, but this time, it was dead.

The sky glowed deep red, and the sun blazed a strange black. The dead trees around us had no leaves, and the ground became a mush of dead leaves and sticks. I wrinkled my nose as the scent of mold and damp earth came to my nose, and I noticed the only living vegetation to be seen was mushrooms. There were flat mushrooms growing on the sides of trees, and large mushrooms growing from the ground. Not the pretty fairytale toadstools you see in paintings of fantastical creatures with butterfly wings, but brown mushrooms, the kind that were a hindrance on the eyes, dull, brown, and ultimately just a disgusting fungus that smells. Our path was shown by cobblestones, weeds of thistle, and thorns growing up between the cracks of the cobblestones. I did not like this scenery, it made me uneasy, and eerie noises cried out in the distance.

When the world changed to this landscape, CiCi called for a halt, and the group moved their horses closer together. I was aware of Estrakulius, my blade wrapped in a sheet and tied over my shoulder so it lay across my back comfortably. I nudged my mare forward to the group so I could hear. CiCi's voice had turned firm, and full of authority as she spoke.

“Keep close together. Protect Yuzuki, she’s new to this realm. Yuzuki. This is one of the few hours of dark we have. When this landscape appears, beasts similar to the one you defeated earlier roam more freely and frequently. We are not sure how this works, and where they go when it fades, but when these hours come, it is their hunting time. They hunt us, each other, or anything that moves. Tread carefully and be aware.” CiCi informed me. I could feel my chest tighten with worry as she spoke. So… during this time there were large numbers of Tisin about? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

“Is that what those eerie cries are?” I asked softly, and the group turned to me. “The beasts…are they calling to each other?” I wondered if they had a sense of kinship with each other. Did tainted souls have such feelings for one another? Did they recognize each other as kindred spirits, or were they all just beasts to one another, something to challenge and fight for territory and prey? I asked this as well, watching each of their faces as I posed each question, and they all seemed to have mixed emotions, from the looks on their faces.

“Hundreds of years we have been fighting the Tisin. Their habits are still unclear. Sometimes they travel in small packs. And sometimes they fight each other to the death, absorbing the energy of the other to gain great strength in one go. They are widely varied in their strengths.” Vivian spoke. “We must keep going Yuzuki, you will learn all of this at the academy. We all must be quiet until it changes again or we will attract unwanted attention.” She added, and I nodded. I would learn it all at the academy she said, but if they still did not understand all of their habits how would they teach me?

I couldn’t help but sigh as I nudged my horse forward to walk into the center of the group as I was told. Artemius was to my left, his hand gripping his soulmate tightly. It was interesting. It was a whip, and it shimmered a bright silver, it was not made of leather but small pieces of metal that seemed to hinge together. Small golden spikes ran the length of this beautiful silver whip, and it reminded me of rose thorns on a bush, delicate lacy patterns ran down the gilded silver. His hand that held the whip was covered by a thick silver and gold gauntlet, it was fingerless and I assumed it was just to protect his palms while he held his sharp weapon coiled neatly in his hands. Looking to my right was Vivian, and the weapon she held was a large wooden boomerang, on the edge the glint of a razor-sharp blade reflected the red light of the sky. The wood looked mahogany, with red and white painted runes of an unfamiliar language that glowed blue against the wood.

CiCi took the lead, a gilded silver blade that resembled a falcata sword, curved and deadly with what looked like a handle that was made of black iron, which she held in her right hand. Attached to her left forearm, a triangular shaped shield, a symbol that would later be explained to me as the 'trinity knot' glowed bright green on the front of the golden edged sheet of angled metal. Elliot and Ivan took the rear, their soulmates strange and unfamiliar to me. Ivan carried an arming sword, one that looked like those the Knights of England would wear to war, it was jeweled and the hilt had a small golden crown on the tip of it, the blade also had a crown engraved deep into the steel with a sword pointing down through the middle of it. A sword I could understand, however the blonde boy's weapon confused me all altogether. Elliot was carrying a bladed round set of disks on each side of a large metal-hinged strip like the whip Artemius was carrying. The disks were small, and though they would be a bit big for my hand, they seemed to fit perfectly in his palm. The metal for this long whip was black, and the round disks were sharp and it looked like it rolled around a bar holding the disks together in the center that the metal wrapped around.

Elliot caught me twisting around to stare at his soulmate, and he grinned again, that cat-like mischievousness peering through his eyes.

“CiCi calls it a yo-yo. You like it?” He demonstrated, I could see now he also had a metal glove on his hand, like Artemius and a bit of metal rope looped around his metal-covered finger. He flung the weapon at Ivan, the metal disks whistled through the air as the rope unwound from the middle, extending the length of it. Ivan ducked under the attack and glared at Elliot as the blonde boy grinned and flicked his wrist back, and the weapon sang as it bounced back towards him, the metal rope coiling back around the bar between the two metal disks, and hit his hand, and he caught it. It was then that I understood. It was a range weapon, without ever having to let go of his projectile. It could come straight back to him, like a boomerang but only at his command. I thought it was interesting and I laughed a bit as Ivan threw a water canteen from his horse's saddle at Elliot’s head. The young boy was too distracted watching my reaction to notice and when it hit his head with a large ‘thunk,’ he was nearly unhorsed. I laughed a bit and turned around in my saddle, to look forward while Vivian turned and glared at the two boys.

“Quit fooling around you two.” She ordered and I could hear the smothered laughter behind me from them. We walked for a few minutes longer, and I took in the blood-red sky, and the disgusting molding earth. I decided then that this did not come from a dream, but rather a nightmare. The trees were black and looked burnt but when I reached up to touch a limb that overhung the path we walked, no soot touched my fingers. They were simply…dead.

We walked in the darkness for what seemed to be hours. The shadows passed slowly, into the rotting vegetation around us, and in actuality, it only lasted an hour CiCi had implied. The eerie cries of the Tisin in the distance sometimes drew closer to us, though CiCi never ordered us to draw our weapons. This hour felt dreadfully long and I could not think of a moment in my life where time passed so slowly for me. It seemed as if the darkness of the forest and sky wanted to penetrate my soul itself and infect me with its rot. Finally, when I felt as if I could not handle the looming heaviness that the sky seemed to have cast upon us, the sky flashed brilliant gold and the dead forest around us wavered as if it were all a mirage, and it dissolved.

In place of the blacks and browns and sanguine colors that this nightmare had bestowed upon limbo, blues, yellows, greens, and a large array of colors blurred and mixed much too quickly for me to discern a proper description for the change, the scenery was swiftly replaced by... water. I looked around in awe as aquatic creatures swam around us. I was completely in shock because I could feel the coolness of the water on my skin though I was not wet, my hair floated about me as if I were submerged, and yet I could breathe. Elliot and Ivan urged their mares up next to mine and watched my reaction to everything, strange goofy grins on their faces. Our path was now illuminated by glowing bubbles that lined the trail, floating gracefully in a bobbing motion. I burst out laughing as several fish swam through my floating hair, darting in and out curiously as if I were the one out of place, and they'd just found a new playground.

“How are we breathing?” I asked, sounding like a breathless child. Elliot frowned at me, then laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Newcomers. Don't know a darn thing.” He said, with obvious intent to string me along. Ivan glared at him from my left however, and turned his gentle eyes to me

“We don't need to breathe. We just do it out of habit. Our body isn't actually taking in any air when we do though. It's a subconscious instinct we were born with on Earth, and thus we live with it here. There is no air here, and we are not but spirits so therefore we don't need air to exist..” He explained.

I could not do anything but stare at him, and try to digest this information. I could not think of a response so I simply nodded and to be honest, I tested it out. I inhaled, and my chest puffed out as I took in as large a breath as I could. I could feel my chest straining as I tried to take in air, but as for actual lung expansion – there was nothing there. I then tried holding my breath. We walked for minutes and there was no burning or aching in my chest that there should have been. It was strange...so I let it out and relaxed and forced my mind to stop thinking about it, so that I could carry on as normal. It was harder said than done, but soon I was immersed once again in the ocean scenery. I was thrilled by the aquatic life around us.

Silence was thick amongst our group but it was not long until CiCi turned on her Clydesdale mount and called my name. When I turned my eyes to her she was pointing ahead. Ahead on the path the beginnings of what looked like a city sat. There was a tall wall starting around the city, a very tall wall made of shells and what looked like coral from this point of view and a very wide berth of seagrass lay peacefully. A ring of bubbles bobbed in line around this birth of seagrass and beyond that, I could only see the tips of what appeared to be buildings.

“Welcome to Warrior City. Make haste!” CiCi ordered, then nudged her Clydesdale into a gallop while the rest of us followed suit. I could feel the excitement filling me. Here it was where my sense of purpose would begin. I would learn everything about this world and how I could fit in, I would understand Estrakulius and where he came from and what the Tisins were, and how they were made...I vaguely wondered if there were other people here. Just how big was Limbo? The Arabian mare I was riding whinnied, in her excitement, and I couldn't help but be curious to see if she would get a nice meal of oats and sweet grass... or rather sea grass when she got to her snug stable, somewhere beyond the tall wall of coral and shell...

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