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Chapter 71 - When the Traveller Crossed the Veil

Both of them remained still for a time that had no edges. She continued chanting under her breath. This time they felt like they were vibrating in the ears. At some point, whether minutes or years later, the chanting softened and stopped.

She spoke without opening her eyes. "After I became two. One part of me became a demoness. I stayed here, waiting for those who came seeking fate, meaning, salvation. The other part of me joined hands with that bastard my work is to drain them dry until nothing remained but shells."

She continued. "He could no longer sense that bitch goddess's energy nor he could recognize me. For even my own gain, I lied to him also made my little life story so complete that even I almost believed it. I also saw his body was decaying, power thinning. Memory was being fractured. His half body could no longer contain what he carried. So we made a vessel. A green crystal. Condensed from a living body. "He was like you," she said, glancing at the boy now. "Curious. Trusting. Chosen but not prepared. He obtained crystal-born power from this place. And like me… he was fooled. He made the crystal. And then he was killed for his stupidity."

That crystal was meant for ascension. He embedded it into my body, thinking it would mature there. But I am not so easy to cage. I altered it. Twisted its destiny. I made it so that one day, when my karmic balance finally equalizes, it can be destroyed by anyone. And when that happens, I will be free and I must kill him. Because if I don't… another version of me will be born again. And again. And again.

So I used illusion, just like him, made him believe the crystal was developing. That it was responding. Those who came here and were 'blessed', that was not a lie. But it was incomplete. A slow poison dressed as progress and then you came. Your arrival bent probability. Someone sent you here when you should not have been able to come. Uncertainty entered the system. That is when things began to slip."

She frowned, "…ah" as if recalling something obvious and unpleasant. "I forgot something important." The boy blinked. "What?" "In Fate-Changing Island," she said slowly, "when fate is about to shift… how does one who lives inside fate perceive it?"

The boy snorted, the sound rough and human.

"Forget fate. Forget destiny. I don't care about that shit. I just know my aunt sent me here. That means something bad is coming. Karma, calamity, curse, I want to know what happened to me. There will be a disturbance," she said at last. "Either you will receive the call… or you won't. If you don't, go anyway."

"Go where?"

"There," she said simply. "After this place, your path bends toward it. I'm certain, match what I've told you with what you see. Also when the calamity descends, you'll know you're close of that path and also that place. You've to crossed it anyway."

The boy said. "Don't worry. I'll find it." 

She shook her head faintly.

"They go there because when someone loses their will here, when knowledge is gained but not integrated, their fate changes in the wrong direction. Also, he monitored them all through my green stone. Every visitor lost a fragment of soul without knowing it, when they climbed realms, their power lagged behind others. If anyone reached godhood in between them… he could replace his own body by destroying theirs. He offered them reconstruction, a new body, strength. continuation but at the price of slavery."

She met his eyes.

"If you had accepted his proposal, I would never have been freed. Thanks for not accepting his proposal and also defeating that bastard. Long stayed curse, going to end today, souls are going to be free. But he will be reborn. Into a wretched life. Past karma always ripens in the present."

She stop for long time in thought, "You remember the god-form I mentioned. The one she destroyed it's half."

That body, he tried to capture it as her will. Because she wanted his god-body and his soul."

The she laughed in wet and broken. "But even then, that bastard failed. The captured god devoured his divine half. The demonic halves, however… matched perfectly in power. They made a truce and when you destroyed his demonic part… that god absorbed the remnants. Reconstructed himself. He surpassed the peak of this plane."

A pause.

"And still… you destroyed him."

Silence fell like a blade.

"That," she whispered, reclaiming her voice, "was my first lifetime."

The boy stared at her.

"When you cross another sea again," she said, "and reach that village… they will know every version of me. If you ask them they will tell you?" He hesitated. "How many times have you been born?"

She closed her eyes.

"I don't remember anymore. Time erodes even memory. But from the second lifetime onward… I remember everything. That number I gave because I don't remember if there was any previous.... But in each life time, I first came here when I was sixteen. I came again and again after that, every cycle, every return, every life where memory clung like a scar that refused to fade. I passed each trial. I crossed each threshold. And yet… the island never called me."

"That god," she said quietly, my voice echoing against the cave walls, "he knows how to reach it."

"In my second lifetime," The woman continued, "that bastard told me to my human half. The soul, my master sent into reincarnation... I will not tell about it."

.....

Her breath hitched as she whispered, "When the moon rises above the lone tree in the barren field… when the Buddha smiles beneath that tree… the path will open."

"But the crossing," she said, voice breaking, "must be done either in a single lifetime… or across countless ones. And it cannot be done alone."

She looked at that boy then.

"Today," she said, "we merged. Both souls as one identity."

"I am free, free from the curse. From the hunger. From the agony that gnawed at me for countless year. See, the moon has risen on barren land, this is that day."

"Please," she said softly. "Can you help me… one last time?"

I nodded.

"I won't ask for your virtue," she added quickly. "Just… help me worship the Buddha once more. Help me burn the incense. You're wondering why I don't do it myself," she said. "Why I pray here but ask you for this."

Boy nodded again.

"These incense sticks were made by my teacher," she explained. "He placed them here. That khakkraha, it anchors them. As long as it remains, they cannot decay nor I can touch. Nothing truly decays here. Time folds in on itself."

Boy looked at the incense. They were nothing more than thin strips of wood, shaved carefully, almost lovingly. Boy took three of them. The candles nearby ignited on their own as I approached, their flames steady and unnaturally pale. Boy lit the incense, bowed toward the Buddha idol, and placed them carefully.

"It's done," boy said.

When boy turned, she was gone but then boy saw her standing near the weapons, boy walked over.

She smiled faintly. "Wear your hat, the last crossing must be done by you."

"Will you guide this wandering soul to its light or, will you sail your own way?"

Boy smiled back.

Before boy could answer, she stepped closer and suddenly grabbed my hair, pain flared for the first time, boy felt himself.

My hair fell past my waist, tangled, matted, curled into knots like roots tearing through soil. It looked unwashed for years, stitched together by grime and neglect. My clothes were black, torn, barely hanging on. My body… thin. Too thin. Like flesh stretched over a frame that had forgotten what nourishment meant.

"Do you need clothes?" she asked gently, lifting the hat. She placed it on my head. Boy stared into the darkness, confused.

"Why," boy murmured, "do I feel no hunger? No fear of living or dying? It's like… I'm already free."

She didn't know the answer and show me by raised both hands toward the cave ceiling, palms open. Boy adjusted the hat. My hand drifted to my sword.

She stopped me. "What path will you choose? God… or demon?"

Boy laughed at her. She frowned. "Why are you laughing?" Boy looked at her and asked quietly, "What is a god?" She fell silent but he continued "What is a demon?" She searched for an answer, and found none. Boy said "You don't know either then why ask me to choose?"

Boy turned, my voice calm but firm.

"There were never gods. Never devils. Only truth. Before everything. After everything. That is the only path worth walking."

Boy glanced back at her.

"I choose both, and I choose neither. In the end, humans are the ones who become gods and demons. Not the other way around."

Boy took the staff in one hand and the sword in the other and turned away.

She watched my back and froze.

In my right hand, the sword gleamed faintly. In my left, the khakkraha resonated, its rings humming like distant thunder.

"Do you want to take care of it?" she asked quietly.

Boy nodded. "It's powerful, and these seven words… I like them."

She smiled, relieved. "Then it's yours. Also I'm leaving this place."

She paused, amused. "But didn't you once swear you'd never touch anything except a brush?"

Boy raised the khakkraha toward her. "This is my brush."

Boy looked out into the darkness beyond the cave.

"Nature is the canvas."

Suddenly no sound went outside from the cave. The hat rested lightly on his head, its frayed brim casting a shadow over his eyes. Behind him, a single ring revolved in silence. She watched him for a long moment, then sighed. "What is your real name?" 

He did not turn around at once. His gaze wandered toward the cave mouth, where moonlight spilled like pale water across the stone floor. "Does a traveller need a name?"

He replied in careless voice. "I am only a traveller. The road is my path. The earth is my dwelling. The sky is my roof. If there is food, I eat. If there is shelter, I sleep. And then I walk again… running through this foolish life until my feet can no longer move."

She closed her eyes briefly, as if committing his words to memory. Then she bowed toward the idol, palms pressed together.

"May the Buddha bless you," she murmured. "It is finished now. Those two relics are yours. But remember, if you use the khakkraha with ill intent, it may abandon you as easily as it followed you."

He inclined his head. "Thank you."

Her voice had changed. It no longer carried the weight of centuries or the bitterness of curses. It sounded like that of a young woman standing at the edge of adulthood. For a fleeting instant, he saw her as she might have been long ago, before demons and gods and fate had carved their marks into her.

He bowed to the idol as well.

"Please be at peace in whatever comes next. I don't know what an afterlife truly is. But I hope it's kinder than this one. I hope you find a family… friends… love. If you choose to be a wife, or a mother, or something else entirely just be happy."

She smiled, but her eyes glistened.

"Thank you for wishing that for me," she said. "And yet… I feel strangely empty. As if I'm leaving without giving you anything in return. I have one last wish. Will you fulfil it?"

"Tell me," he said without hesitation.

She walked to a small wooden box tucked against the cave wall. Dust fell as she opened it. From inside, she took a simple hairpin.

"I am giving you with this box, if you ever meet my master, give this to him. I don't remember his face anymore. But if fate wishes it, you'll know him when you see him."

She placed the box with hairpin into his palm.

"And this," she added, taking a brass ring from near a cave part "is for you."

She slipped it onto his right wrist. "It will protect you," she said quietly. "From many dangers. Consider it… your sister's last gift."

She gestured toward the cave mouth. Outside, a narrow stretch of black water lapped against stone. A bamboo log floated near the cave door, bound carefully, an oar resting beside it.

"Take that log, and the oar. Can you stand on it?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Let's set sail."

He slung his sword across his back, put his staff inside his inner space, and adjusted his hat once more.

"Wait," she said.

She stepped forward and placed two fingers against his forehead. From there words came as scriptures, memory seals chant entered my memory. "You cannot cultivate yet, as your roots are mortal. But one day, your fate will turn again by your own will. When that happens, you will cultivate. Until then, chant what I give you. It will help you hide the presence of that energy."

His brow furrowed. "Why it is Buddhist scripture?"

She nodded. "Because I know this only. Also there are total eight great scriptures, but this one suits you best."

She smiled faintly. "The one who traded your fate with another, he will know surely, that he has already passed his trial. He may become a god someday. But don't become hopeless, chant the scripture."

"The cultivation method, of yours called Sage Art, right?" Boy nodded

He asked "But can you tell me now, if I can cultivate later, what does it mean to have mortal roots again?"

She shook her head gently. "There's no time to explain, I want to chant until the end." She stepped back, folded her hands, and began to chant. The sound filled the cave in sweetness, melody

As the chant continued, the cave seemed to breathe.

....

The sea was no longer the sea he remembered. Once, a single misstep would have reduced flesh to dust, bone to ash, soul to screaming residue dragged beneath the waves. Now it lay calm, too calm like its surface smooth like polished obsidian, reflecting the moon with unsettling devotion. The water did not move unless touched. The boy set the bamboo log upon it.

For the first time, the log trembled, rolling beneath his feet. He staggered, arms spreading instinctively, breath caught in his throat. Then, slowly the log steadied.

She watched from the cave's mouth, her silhouette fractured by candlelight and shadow. Her eyes lingered on the sea, not with fear, but with something like mourning.

"Are you not coming?" he asked, glancing back. She smiled faintly with tiredness. "Coming? Where would I go?" Her voice softened. "My road ended a long time ago. I will go downward, from here, only hell answers my name."

"You already said that once sometime before, on a full moon, the path opens again." He gestured ahead. "Look. It's open."

She followed his gaze.

The fog ahead was thinning, parting like a curtain being drawn aside. Beyond it, something shimmered. A veil, luminous and indistinct, breathing gently as if alive. He smiled, almost mischievous. "I still need someone to show me the way. You can walk on water. I can't. Just help me find the path."

She murmured "…You are troublesome."

Then she stepped forward, as her feet touched the bamboo log, boy pulled the oar again, the water parted obediently, whispering as it slid past the wood.

They moved together, leaving the cave behind.

Behind them, the cavern suddenly groaned.

Stone cracked, ancient pillars, blackened by blood and scripture, shuddered. Somewhere deep inside, something collapsed, as if a structure older than time had finally exhaled its last breath.

She turned sharply. "Why now? The time hasn't come again."

She looked at him. "You did something."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would I?"

She closed her eyes, chanting under her breath. 

"…Let's go," she said at last.

They moved faster.

A gentle breeze skimmed the water's surface. Fog rose and fell in slow waves, revealing and hiding the veil ahead, like a breath being drawn and released.

"I died long ago," she said quietly. "What walks beside you now is only a soul that refused to lie down. why don't you chant a little right now?"

As they neared the boundary, the veil shimmered brighter. The moon above hung low and enormous, its reflection stretching across the sea like a pale road. But boy smiled "Wait, let me look once more. I will not see them everyday or not feel this journey everyday also."

She sighed. "I don't know whether you're a fool or something worse. You cut ties without hesitation, and then reach back for them again."

Boy said "I can put you in my mind-space for—"

"No," she interrupted gently. "Not this life."

He pushed the oar harder. The log surged forward.

"Also," she added quickly, "that tree, check it carefully. There may still be something wrong inside it."

He nodded and then, he crossed the veil parted like skin under a blade.

For a heartbeat, the world vanished. When sight returned, the sea behind them was gone. He turned to ask something, "Where is hell, anyway? And heaven?"

"Sister?"

"Sister—"

She did not answer. She was just staring at the moon but the log stopped moving. She exclaimed "moon is really beautiful today. Are not it little boy?"

Moonlight poured down as thick, warm, golden. It enveloped her, lifting her hair, her sleeves, the faint scars that once bound her soul to hunger and pain.

"I'm not a child," he muttered, squinting against the brightness.

She laughed softly. "Then why are you so small?" she asked. "You only reach my waist."

As he looked up, he truly saw her as a woman, whole, radiant, terrifyingly beautiful. The kind of beauty that did not seduce, but demanded reverence.

Her voice trembled. "Why… why does it not hurt anymore?" Her hands trembled. "Why is my mind clear? Where… where is this step taking me?"

A voice descended from above, vast and gentle, tore through the sky

"I come to fulfill a promise. Rise."

The moonlight solidified into a platform, descending slowly.

Her breath broke. "My karma… is it…?"

"It is balanced," the voice replied. "It is time."

The platform touched the log.

She turned to him, tears streaking down her face. She said something but the sound dissolved into the light.

The voice spoke once more.

"Thank you, traveller. For guiding a lonely soul from the land of death toward the path beyond."

The light intensified. The night sky bloomed gold, as if a thousand suns burned silently above the world.

And then, she was gone.

The sea was empty. The bamboo log drifted alone. The boy stood there, hat shadowing his eyes, the oar resting against his shoulder. The water beneath him was perfectly still.

Her word linger in that sea before she went "Be careful on your journey," The boy watched as the brilliance narrowed, shrinking from a sky-filling radiance into a single thread of gold. When even that final ray began to fade, he pushed the oar again. 

Far above, beyond the reach of sea and wind, she stood upon the moonlit platform.

Stars surrounded her like frozen embers. The world below had already begun to blur, the mortal waters thinning into mist.

The same voice spoke again, quieter now. "He gave you his karmic virtue. Just as foretold, each traveller leaves something behind."

She lowered her eyes, fingers tightening in her sleeves. "But he was not bound to this cycle," she said. "Why would he give it to me?" Then, she asked more softly in bow, "Do you know what kind of fate awaited him on that island? After learning those truths…"

"Every fate is different," the voice replied. "And his is unlike any I can perceive. He is the bearer of his own thread."

The stars dimmed slightly. "Now, the choice remains yours."

"The only path left to me is rebirth," she said. "Why should I wait?"

The platform began to rise.

Below, the boy rowed through the long stretch of night. His arms ached, muscles burning, breath growing shallow. The moon had climbed and fallen. At some point, a distant light appeared ahead.

By dawn, the light resolved into a shoreline. His hands trembled as he lifted the oar again again until no strength answered. The oar slipped. His body leaned too far.

As he fell, figures surfaced from the water, human shapes, pale and indistinct, swimming toward him with silent urgency. Their faces were blurred, as though unfinished.

As darkness crept into his vision, a single thought surfaced, unbidden: Is this the beginning of another illusion… or the first step of a new road?

The waves closed over him.

And somewhere far away, unseen threads tightened, preparing to be pulled once more.

End of Volume One...

 ...To be Continued...

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