For the past year, Rin's sleek hands had become gnarled with callouses. As he placed the jade seal of a roaring tiger-dragon carving into a wooden box, the ancient artifact felt cool and polished to the touch. The box, its dark wood engraved with intricate designs, was passed down to him by his father for him to assume the role of Gatekeeper.
"Sir!" Lui burst into his chambers, face with worry, his breaths fast and labored. "Trouble – a bandit gang of escaped soldiers is invading the village. Many homes are already under attack!" Lui urgently reminded Rin his state.
Rin's eyes narrowed; tear accumulate between eyelids to blur his vision. He grabbed his quill and dipped it into the inkwell, the room was dead silent, the scratch sound of the pen tip filling the room as he wrote an urgent letter: "Meet me at the hilltop when moon peak." He pushed the parchment into Lui's hand, the paper warm in his grip, and demanded. "We'll all hide in the monastery basement until this storm passes. Go!"
The monks, staffs, and guests quickly followed Rin's lead and huddled in the dim cellar, the ventilation was filled of must with age stone and damp wood smell. And because the basement was stocked with food and liquor, the scent of preserved fruits and vinegar mixed with in. An hour later, Rin left them in safety and ventured forth on his own mission - to find Lui. The alleyways were deserted like a blight had descended upon the townsfolk; all that remained were those who had locked themselves away in the closed doors. Rin glanced up at the almost full moon, its silvery light was so bright, that it lit up the entire hilltop.
☆☆☆
Rin climbed the hillside in the waning twilight. As he stood and wait for Claus on their usual meeting spot, the wind brushed against his face and helped refreshing him. Still, Claus didn't show.
As the night faded and day broke, the sky had turned pink and orange in the most dramatic way possible. Claus never showed. Rin returned to the monastery as soon as day turned bright, but only to find it ransacked and robbed by bandits. Luckily, his fellow monks were safe, including Lui.
"Where have you been? Did she get the message?" Rin asked, his voice strained, ignoring Lui's already exhausted condition. "Yes, I did. I gave it to the servant girl. She promised me she would give the message to Claus." He hardly finished speaking before Rin was gone again in search of answers,
"Sir! It's not safe out there for you! You are too important!" Lui yelled after him, his voice surged with concern.
But Rin didn't stop, trusting that dressing as monk in his robe would protect him from danger. "You just have to follow my orders, don't you?"
☆☆☆
Rin yanked on his wide-brimmed straw hat, feeling the rough texture of the sweat soaked fabric on his skin, and raced towards the safe house, where Claus had been settled temporary by the monks. A sudden rain-soaked the ground and his footsteps splashed through puddles. When he arrived, only a young maid remained, her eyes red-rimmed and watery, looking distraught.
"Where is she? Did she receive my message?" Rin panted out, the fast jog stinging his lungs.
"Yes, I gave it to her," said the girl, "but then a letter came from home and she left right away - I could see how scared she was."
"Do you still have the letter?" His forehead beaded with cold sweat; eyes widened with veins popping red.
"I think so," replied the young maid, wringing her hands together tensely. She rushed off towards Claus's room before returning with a folded paper in her hand. Rin quickly snatched it from her grasp, the rough texture of the paper beneath his fingertips, and opened it up: "Please come home my precious daughter - the time we have is limited."
The maiden spoke in a hush, "She took the train last night."
Rin swallowed hard, his throat tight with regrets. "Did she leave anything for me? A message of some sort?"
The girl shook her head slowly, her eyes expressed sympathy. "No, she was too hurried. I'm sorry."
☆☆☆
Rin sat in his study and gazed into emptiness, unseeing the chaos before him. Where it used to be shelfed of ancient scriptures and artifacts of holy, now thrown scattered everywhere by the bandits. Lui stood beside him like a sentinel, witnessing Rin's soul fall in to pieces, his salty drops stained the wooden floor beneath him.
"She went back to die," Rin cried, the sourness bitter his heart, "the demons were too strong for her." Guilt scraped him with its bony claws as he spoke. "I let it happen."
Lui shook his head, his eyes filled with empathy. "There is nothing you can do, sir. Not against those creatures."
"I can make her stay," Rin said softly, his hands clenched into fists, "at least she would be safe here."
"Don't blame yourself so much, sir," Lui said, the taste of defeat choked him in his throat. Before he could continue, Rin had already rose from his chair and headed toward the meditation room. His face showed that he had already made up his mind with termination.
"I am the Gatekeeper of Heaven – there must be something I can do!" He declared solemnly, his voice echoing off the walls. "I will communicate with the Gods and summon them to save her!"
Lui followed close behind with his aging legs, stumbling every other step, the bumpy stone floor was unyieldingly dragging his feet. He reached the door to the meditation room only to find it locked tight. "Sir! Are you sure that's what you're going to do? This is too risky! You risk angering the Gods!"
But Rin's did not reply, the intensity of his quest radiating through the room. "I don't care! As servants of the Gods, we have our duty to perform His will!" With resolute intention, Rin began to summon forth the divine, a practice that was performed in the most crucial moments. The tense air filled with possibility of impending consequence.
☆☆☆
The clear sky above the monastery was suddenly covered by darkening clouds. Rin had been inside the meditation room for an entire day, when the door finally opened, it was already after dinner.
"Everything alright, sir?" Lui asked, Lui had stood outside the whole day.
Rin fell onto the ground and a wept with disparity, the chilling cry reverberating off the stone corridor and within each bone of his body. "They didn't respond! But I saw her – I saw the demons torturing her!"
Lui rushed forward to hold Rin up, "Sir, you haven't eaten or drunk anything for two days! You need rest."
Rin's grip tightened on Lui's arms, "I can't! Lui, listen to me. I must save her. There's no turning back for me now!"
Tears welled in Lui's eyes as he slowly nodded, swallowing the lump of sorrow that had formed in his throat. "What do you want me to do?"
"Take this to my parents," Rin said, handing him a wooden box that felt heavy with the weight of something inside. "Tell them that I have no choice but to leave here and it'll be a long time before I come back." He looked at Lui intently, his expression foretold the rugged path he knew he was heading.
☆☆☆
Rin stood before the holy rock, his palms pressing against its rough and heated surface, he looked up at the tip of the massive rock and found that it belonged amongst the stars. He knew by doing this, he would become a sinner of ages, but this was the only way to get the attention of Gods. The only way to safe her. A chant of prayer emanated from his lips, the words tasting both devoted and bitter as he begged for forgiveness from the heavens above. Then, with a loud bang from the bottom of the holy rock that sent shock waves through lands, Rin channeled an ancient seal.
The sacred stone vibrated violently and levitated high off the ground by its own accord. The earth below split open, slick black oil spilling forth like corpses climbing out from their graves, its fetid odor assaulting Rin's every senses. As the rock remained suspended in mid-air till distant sound of birds erupted to take panicked flight. The rock then crashed back to ground, sending a billowing cloud of dust and spouting smell of blood over the monastery grounds.
Rin's body slumped to the floor, drained by his own feat of sorcery. His clothes clung to his sweat-slicked skin, and his chest heaved with the effort of drawing in ragged breaths. His strength had been completely spent, yet something set him free momentarily, a tingling sensation that danced across his senses, heralding an irresistible relaxation from an extreme pleasure.