Chapter 3: The Path of the Elements
Rai's sudden appearance and terrifying disappearance left the small thatched hut in utter turmoil. Master Jirou, recovering from the spiritual exhaustion of his brief defense, urged Tao to take Meilin away immediately. There was no time for questions, only action.
"He is a Soul Binder, Tao, one of the ancient guardians of the Shadow. He will return, and next time, he will not fail to take her. Your golden seal was weak. You must take her to the one place he cannot follow—the Sanctuary of the Four Seals." Jirou spoke with finality, his exhaustion lending gravity to his words.
Tao, his face pale beneath his warrior's tan but resolute, nodded sharply. His survival instincts, honed by years in the mountain temple, overrode his fatherly fear. He knew the path: a perilous, treacherous journey across the high peaks and into the forgotten eastern woods, a realm where the veil between the world of men and the world of spirits was thin and often torn.
"Meilin," Tao said, kneeling before her, his hands gripping her small shoulders with bone-deep urgency. "Listen to me carefully. We are leaving now, by the back paths. We are going on a journey to find the Broken Princess."
Meilin looked at the faint red marks on her wrists, now burning faintly with awareness. "The one Rai spoke of? The one who disappeared?"
"The Broken Princess is the Shadow spirit, Meilin. Her true name is Shadeera," Tao confirmed, his voice strained. "She was never meant to be a pillar of power, but a vital connection—the bridge, the harmony between the four core elements. When she was lost, banished, the balance shattered. The four remaining spirits, in their grief and instability, were forced into an unnatural, chained existence. They made the Vow—the same vow you carry—that they would only be released by the one who could heal her and restore the Shadow." Tao's voice was heavy with a burden Meilin didn't yet understand, a weight of history that seemed to physically press down on him.
They traveled for three days, avoiding the familiar paths, the safety of towns, and sticking to the treacherous, high mountain trails. The journey should have been brutal for a child, but Meilin, though physically small, found it strangely manageable. When they climbed, the rough, granite rocks seemed to instinctively offer handholds where there were none. When the wind turned icy and sharp in the higher passes, the air immediately surrounding her became inexplicably warm. The elements were assisting the Key, the fragments of the core spirits anticipating her move and easing her way.
But the cost of Tao's sacrificial spiritual blast in Chapter 2 was becoming painfully visible. He was constantly tired. His hair, which had been raven black, was now heavily streaked with grey, the colour of ashes. His once-powerful warrior's strides were reduced to a rhythmic, painful shuffle. He was trading his life force for distance.
On the third evening, as they rested by a hidden waterfall—its flow a liquid silver ribbon beneath the rising moon—Rai found them again.
This time, he didn't appear from a shadow; he materialized with a silent, terrifying fluid motion from the stillness of the silver pool at the base of the waterfall, as if he had always been there, waiting.
"Running delays the inevitable, Tao," Rai said, his tone flat, empty, and unbearably tired. He looked infinitely older now. "The prophecy is clear. Only the Key's surrender and sacrifice allows the elements to re-flow through the River and locate the Broken Princess. Every unnecessary step you take, every moment you delay, the four chained spirits suffer."
Tao drew his swords, the blades scraping against each other with a sound that seemed loud in the quiet glade. "Then you will have to go through me, Locus," he said, his voice husky with exhaustion but firm with resolve.
Rai sighed, a sound of immense age and regret. "I am not here to fight you, warrior. My purpose is to restore balance. Your defense is commendable, but your effort is horribly misplaced. You protect the Key, yet you were the one who broke the Princess in the first place."
Tao froze instantly, his swords lowering slightly. His face, already pale from fatigue, turned a shocking mask of utter betrayal and profound shock. The glade went utterly silent except for the whisper of the waterfall.
Meilin stared at her father, unable to reconcile the loving man before her with the figure Rai implied. "What does he mean, Father? Tell me the truth!"
Rai stepped onto the dry ground, his black attire stark against the moonlit stone. "He means that the Shadow Spirit, Shadeera, was not merely lost. She was banished—imprisoned outside the five planes of existence by those who feared her power to change the world, rather than merely balance it. And your father, Tao, was the loyal, fervent temple guard who executed the banishment command thirty years ago, using a cursed artifact that created the very power that led to your birth."
Meilin felt the world tilt, her spiritual equilibrium failing. Her father, the protector, the man of honour, was the one who had shattered the cosmos's harmony?
"It was necessary!" Tao roared, his voice a tortured confession ripped from his soul. He took a staggering step forward. "The temple elders saw the Shadow's path leading to the destruction of the four original elements, not their harmony! I was following my duty! I used the Crimson Seal to lock her away forever!"
"And the Crimson Seal rebounded, leaving a fragment of the Shadow's essence to linger and pollute the spiritual ley lines," Rai finished calmly, his silver eyes cold and accusatory. "That fragment mingled with your lineage, Tao, resulting in a child born under the cursed echo of that very seal—the Crimson Moon. You made the Key, the only being who carries the signature of both the imprisoned Shadow and the four chained elements."
Rai looked at Meilin, his gaze softening marginally, revealing a hint of the ancient burden he carried. "You are the living link, Meilin. The Key is merely a title for the child who can locate the Shadow. But you are also a Princess—a daughter of both the warrior who broke her, and the lingering spirit of the one he imprisoned."
Meilin felt a crushing spiritual charge race up her arms, the red marks flaring hot and painful. This new identity, this awful, cosmic history, was too much for her young mind to bear. The sudden, raw influx of knowledge overwhelmed her. Rai took advantage of her shock and moved with blurring speed, not attacking Tao, but aiming a focused psychic strike at Meilin's vulnerable mind.
"Come with me, little Princess. The elements are waiting for you to unbind their pain. End the suffering now."
The psychic probe was overwhelming, a tidal wave of sorrow and spiritual pressure. Meilin screamed, not in physical pain, but as the sudden rush of ancient, traumatic knowledge—the memory of the banishment, the suffering of the four elements, and the cold, terrifying loneliness of the Broken Princess—flooded her small, young mind.
As Rai pressed the attack, Tao, with a guttural grunt of despair and self-hatred, plunged one of his short-swords into the dry ground between Meilin and Rai. The sword was instantly transformed into a conduit, channeling Tao's entire remaining life force, the gold energy of his temple training, into a single, massive, protective blast that slammed into Rai's core.
The Locus was thrown violently backward, skidding across the stone. He looked up, his silver eyes cold with frustration and pain. Tao, severely weakened, his body now visibly trembling, grabbed Meilin and fled further into the winding gorge, the roar of the silver waterfall muffling their desperate escape. He was now running on borrowed time.
Rai didn't pursue them immediately. He looked at the sword Tao had left behind, now pulsating with a faint, sorrowful gold, the metal itself exhausted. He reached down and picked it up, feeling the final warmth of the father's sacrifice in the hilt.
"He traded his life force for a few hours of freedom," Rai murmured, a sound of profound loneliness. "A father's misplaced love will not save the world. It seems the Vow must still be fulfilled by the Locus alone."