Pilgrim 3, p.1
Pilgrim 3, page 1
PILGRIM
(Book Three)
By Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2021 Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2021 Boycott Books
Edited by Celestian Rince
Proofed by Adam Luopa
Art by Daniel Kamarudin
Font by Shawn King
Audiobook produced by Podium Audio and narrated by Mikael Naramore
www.harmoncooper.com
writer.harmoncooper@gmail.com
Twitter: @_HarmonCooper
Harmon Cooper’s Patreon
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Part One
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Two
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Three
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Four
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Five
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Six
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Eight
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Nine
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
.Back of the book.
Part One
.Chapter One.
Shadow cover from the canopy above made Danzen Ravja’s Blade of Darkness stronger than ever, and the reach that the polearm gave him would come in handy with what he had been tasked to do next.
It was time to slay the demon bear.
Somehow, he had been convinced to perform a task for Usagi, the jade rabbit often at odds with Danzen and his companions. Jelmay was off to his right, a shield on his back and a sword at his side, the pudgy bakeneko’s cat ears flitted back. Kudzu was at the back of the group in her white fox form, treading cautiously. It had been hours since they’d seen any signs of life, and if they didn’t find what they were looking for soon, Danzen and his yokai companions would need to rest for the night.
Jelmay’s stomach continued to grumble, which finally sparked Kudzu’s ire. “You’re going to give us away. Tell your stomach to stop.”
“Tell it to stop? If the onikuma wanted to, it would have attacked us by now. Besides, I’m getting hungry, hungry and angry, I’m sure there’s a word for that. It has been, what, four hours since we last ate? Four and a half? Far too long. Right, Pilgrim? Where is this demon bear anyway?”
Danzen paused. Sensing movement ahead, he brought his glaive to the ready and lowered it once he saw a deer tear off deeper into the forest. Pillars of glowing yellow added a spattering of spotlights to the Asura Forest floor, the leaves glistening wet as he took another careful step forward.
“By Sunyata, there is more to this world than finding your next meal. And if you really are so hungry, why don’t you chase that deer?” Kudzu asked the bakeneko.
“You are way better at chasing deer than I am.” Jelmay stopped, his whiskers drooping as he turned to the white fox. “We might as well just figure out where we are going to rest for the night, and agree to send our favorite assassin here to fetch us some food. Although, we don’t have a fire…” He squinted up through the canopy. “Perhaps we can find a way to get a fire going.”
“The ground is wet.”
“What can I say? Monsoon season decided to stick around for another day. Still, there’s always something to munch on besides fruits and vegetables. You don’t mind eating raw meat, do you, Pilgrim?”
“You two can eat,” said the former assassin, not quite ready to be done with the hunt.
It had been a week since their return from Diyu, where Danzen and his companions had been forced to face off against his brother, Nomtoi, as well as a group of dead assassins that Danzen had personally killed. This included Nomin, the blind assassin; Biren Yeshe, his former teacher and the man who had put the first contract out on Danzen; Norwin Dawa, the assassin who had exploited remnants to give him the power to fight with arm bindings; Thane, another one of his teachers, who fought with the gauntleted blades Danzen now wore; and a few other Diyu Brotherhood recruits whom Danzen had slain.
It had been a rough battle.
But his companions had made things better, Danzen still surprised to have been joined by Eva Yin, the echo-powered madam from Chutham who ran all the pleasure houses in Genshin Valley; Shedrup, the former town drunk and Stone Divinator; and Abbot Monpo, the abbot of the fox shrine where Danzen had first learned to bend his echo.
Somehow, they had all survived the harrowing experience.
Thus far, Nomtoi hadn’t shown up again in his life, nor had the Suja Villagers faced any new enemies. But Danzen was well aware that his demon half-brother would appear sooner or later, that his jealousy for the way their father had treated him, how Tengir Gantulga had scolded Nomtoi in front of everyone, would inspire him to dig in even deeper. After all, Danzen was next in line to the throne of hell itself, and if something happened to his father, he would become the ruler of Diyu. Danzen wanted none of that, and he had absolutely no desire to rule Diyu. But he knew this wouldn’t stop Nomtoi.
Nothing would.
“We’ll find a place to sleep, don’t you worry,” Jelmay told Kudzu, the two still bickering as they advanced deeper into the forest. “Besides, it beats where you’ve been sleeping lately, doesn’t it? How’s outside treating you?”
“Watch it.”
“What? Pilgrim’s mother has taken over the monastery, and you don’t want to sleep there, admit that. And trust me, I get it. Who could blame you? I offered you space on my floor, but you’re too stubborn for something like that.”
“I don’t want to sleep on your floor, and I don’t want to get in Shodren’s way,” said Kudzu, referring to Danzen’s mother, the nun having shown up just before they left for Diyu a week ago. Shodren had been a gracious guest so far, and she had been kind to Kudzu every time she came around, but the white fox didn’t trust her, and had started vacating the premises every night.
It was customary for Danzen to offer his bedroom to his mother considering he didn’t have another place for her to rest, which she’d taken after some debate. Danzen himself had resorted to sleeping in the monastery beneath the frescoes, the door opened to invite any breeze he could into the space. Sometimes he ended up moving outside, the coming summer heat ever present, pushing toward oppressive.
“How are you going to get in her way?” Jelmay asked. “She’s an old nun; she’s used to living around women. You’re a woman, and all I’ve seen Mother Pilgrim do is cook, work on the fresco, and wash Danzen’s clothing. How does it feel to have a mommy around, anyway, Pilgrim? I wish my mother were alive to show up randomly and start taking care of me. It would make my life so much easier.”
Danzen didn’t answer.
“You know, Kudzu, you should take a page out of Pilgrim’s book and be more agreeable. You see how he acts? It’s like he was raised as an oppressed orphan and forced not to speak out of turn, and along the way, he learned that there is true strength in being silent.”
“I should learn?” Kudzu asked, growing annoyed. “You should learn. You are the one that is always talking.”
“Quiet,” Danzen told the two as something reached his ears.
He focused on the forest in front of him as he slowly dipped into position, sensing something moving in their direction. Danzen leaped to the side as an enormous yokai tore out of the dense foliage, one twice his height, snarling, frothy spit flying out of the bear’s mouth as it tried to swipe its enormous front paw at the former assassin. The onikuma, also known as a demon bear, was one of the bigger yokai Danzen had encountered. It was nearly twice as large as him, its coat thick, and its fangs nearly the size of throwing daggers.
Danzen tried to keep distance between himself and the demon bear with his glaive, but every time he sent it forward, the bear swatted it away. The onikuma roared, the trees trembling, limbs seemingly pressing away from the gargantuan yokai. It landed on the ground and the forest floor shook, Danzen just about to send an arc of shadow forward when he slipped on a patch of wet leaves. The former assassin went tumbling down a short hill and cracked into the trunk of a tree, shadows at the tip of his blade trailing after him, Danzen surprised he hadn’t cut himself.
Of all the things, he didn’t want to cut himself.
Not now, not until he got better control over his echo. That had been something he had been working on over the last week, more bending, cultivating what was left of Sunyata within him with the hope that he would one day have full control over his demons. He’d almost done it once in his fight against Soko back at the festival grounds, his former lover maliciously dra wing blood almost in spite, almost as a challenge, almost as a way to mock him.
But now wasn’t the time to experiment, and as the onikuma charged toward him gnashing its teeth, now wasn’t the time to reflect on the past.
The demon bear leapt, and as it did Danzen pressed the end of his glaive under his arm, using the tree trunk for support, the tip of his weapon followed by an arc of shadow that tore through the yokai’s chest and hit its chest plate. As soon as it pressed into the onikuma’s flesh, Danzen exploded forward, his muscles tensing as he drove the demon bear back. Its skin and fur incredibly thick, Danzen wasn’t able to disrupt any of the bear’s internal organs as he had planned, but at least he had wounded it.
“Kill it dead!” Jelmay shouted as he came in from the side with his sword and shield drawn, Kudzu keeping back and barking at the bear, trying to distract the onikuma.
The bakeneko reached the bear and was subsequently swept away by its enormous paw. With a sickening impact, Jelmay struck a tree and looked to be out cold, just as Danzen’s boomerang sword grazed the side of the bear’s neck. Astra returned to his hand, and he quickly realized he was going to have to rely solely on his Blade of Darkness if he ever hoped to do any damage.
Gathering up as much shadow as he could, Danzen charged forward and thrust his blade out, the onikuma just getting back to its feet, now distracted by Kudzu’s yips.
Danzen’s last attack managed to pierce the demon bear’s stomach, and he was finally able to get through to its innards, the demon bear suddenly choked up with pain. The onikuma tried to swat at him, but the wound caused it to spill forward. It rolled over a mangled root jutting out of the forest floor roaring in agony.
Danzen’s next strike ended the onikuma’s life.
His arm still tensing, he crouched a few feet away from the beast, the creature staring at him with angry eyes as the life left its body. Kudzu approached and sat next to Danzen, a glimmer of light radiating off her white coat as he caught his breath. “I think we can get back to Osul if we leave now,” she said, referring to the yokai village where Usagi the rabbit lived.
“Arggh…” Jelmay got to his feet. He approached the demon bear and kicked it. “Damn you to Diyu!”
“Look how tough you are,” Kudzu said, a grin taking shape on her face.
“We’re not leaving until I take what’s rightfully mine,” said the bakeneko.
“Don’t tell me you plan to eat that thing.”
“No, although… that would be quite the meal, and I am hungry.” Jelmay licked his lips as he looked the mound of bear over. “No, no time for that. But I do want some of its hide. A souvenir. It will be useful in winter, and it would make a perfect little hood.”
“You must be joking.”
“Why would I joke about something serious like this?”
“You really are mental, you know that?”
Jelmay sized up the onikuma, and decided where he would make his incision. “This won’t take me very long, and don’t worry, fox, I know a shortcut back to Osul. We have plenty of time to check in with Usagi, and get back to the monastery before the moon is up. Trust me.” He wiped the outer side of his paw against his forehead and looked at Danzen. “Have I let you down before?”
****
Danzen, Kudzu, and Jelmay stopped by a stream along the way back to the village of Osul, where the bakeneko washed the hide he had stripped from the demon bear, which included the top portion of the bear’s head for him to use as a hood. As Jelmay dried what he could of the hide in a patch of sun, Danzen ended up catching several fish with his boomerang sword, which he strung from a rope of leather he had procured from a satchel. A good future meal.
“You are seriously going to wear that?” Kudzu asked once Jelmay had fixed the bear hide in place over his head, the top of the bear’s jaw casting a shadow over his eyes.
“Looks good, doesn’t it?” He turned, giving her a side profile. “Sort of a cloak, sort of a hood, one hundred percent intimidating. It’s a little warm out for it, but I’ve always been one to make sacrifices for fashion.”
Kudzu laughed. “It’s almost summer, and you’re wearing bear fur. And you didn’t kill that thing. Usually, people who wear things like that are bragging about their kill. If I recall correctly, you were hiding near a tree when Pilgrim killed it.”
“Pilgrim kills it, I kill it; you kill it, I kill it—it all has blended together by this point, don’t you think?” he asked her with a toothy smile. Jelmay licked his lips as he looked at the string of fish Danzen now carried. “I don’t know if you two are as hungry as I am, but I am going to preemptively claim three of those fish.”
“But there are only four fish, plus we need to have some available for Kikikaki,” said Kudzu, referring to her friend, the fluffy white yokai who lived in Osul along with her son.
“Let’s cut the middle-yokai out. What do you say, Pilgrim?” Jelmay asked.
Danzen nodded.
“See? He’s with me.”
The former assassin had been distracted when Jelmay spoke to him, his thoughts oscillating between various ideas that had been pitched to him regarding his plans for the next several weeks. There was always the option, as Abbot Monpo had suggested, of visiting more shrines and absorbing some power from their remnants, and potentially collecting them. His mother, Shodren, seemed to agree somewhat with this as well, and he was certain that it had to do with her desire to rebuild heaven, if that were even possible.
Jelmay had suggested ingesting another remnant, as Danzen had done after his half-brother attacked him in the streets of Suja Village, but this was something that he had no intention of doing. He was currently a Crystal Mancer, which meant that Danzen at the Mancer tier, his subranking Crystal. Even if he was able to move up a subranking, perhaps to Diamond or Golden, it wouldn’t be worth the anguish he experienced in abusing the remnant.
No, Danzen planned to do things the hard way, focusing on his echo as much as he could through his extended morning practice, and getting tested every so often to see if he had progressed.
Yet another option aside from visiting shrines came from the bakeneko, Jelmay suggesting that they head to higher ground for the summer, toward Odval and Bahlingar from there, which was on the way to Danzen’s mother’s nunnery. According to her, there were yokai in the region, which neither Kudzu nor Jelmay could confirm.
Complicating things even further was the contract put out on his head, one put forth by a teenager named Sumi, who had seemingly kickstarted Danzen’s exodus from his former world. He also knew that his former teacher Thane had several students who would want to avenge his death. Then there was Soko the female assassin, who could attack him at any time. If he didn’t want to get involved in any family drama closer to Diyu, or head to a higher altitude for the summer, Danzen would be a stationary target in Genshin Valley, which would eventually lead to other complications.
All of his options seemed as if they were double-edged swords at the moment.
“We’re almost there. Not much longer now,” Jelmay said as they came to a section of the woods thick with bramble, Danzen noticing that a few of the branches had thorns on them. He rolled the sleeves of his robe up and flourished his echo, triggering his gauntleted blades.
Schnickt! Schnickt!
He carefully began clearing the path.
“Your shortcut isn’t worth the trouble of clearing half the forest,” Kudzu said as she ducked low, crawling beneath some of the thorny vines.
“Trust me, it’s going to shave two hours off our time,” Jelmay said, his sword in his hand as he sliced his way forward. “At least two hours. Is it the beaten path? No, but can we beat our own path? We sure can. I live for moments like this. Just picture it: the legendary former assassin, the white fox, and the brave bakeneko cutting their way through the Asura Forest,” he said as he hacked away. “I can hear the bards now. May the bards of the Kishu Kingdom sing our glories for eons to follow, and may their songs lay the foundation for Sunyata’s rebirth.”
Kudzu, who was having a much easier time moving through the forest, made a noise with her throat at Jelmay’s statement. “So you’re saying the songs sung about us will be strong enough to rebuild heaven? Is that what you’re claiming now?”
“Sure am,” Jelmay said, cutting off another branch, his face obscured by the bear’s hide. “The demon bear slain by the former assassin, the white fox, and the brave bakeneko. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it?”
