Dualities

Chapter 45

Dualities

Leo woke up rather early, even before the rays of sunlight managed to find their way through the canopy of the trees. His sleep was restless altogether, largely because there were so many people staying with him, and all of them were cultivators. One of them--the woman called Shui Xiaoling, the Sect's Elder--even saw through him, he was certain. Though she was nice still and respectful, her eyes lacked that certain 'glint' that the kids had when looking at him.

Regardless, he was uncomfortable, which was a whole new thing for him. After all, being uncomfortable in the group of people sounded like a nightmare: he, who was a social butterfly since he could talk, found himself yearning to have fewer people around him or, better yet, to be left completely alone with his furry friends. 

He stepped out of the hut and saw that even most of the animals were fast asleep, with a few exceptions. Hoot leapt from the tree and landed on his shoulder, the pair of beady eyes quizzically staring at him. Leo smiled, gently pressing his finger against the owl's head and caressing him for a moment before deciding to go to the pond for a quick bath. The tranquil and serene waters calmed him, even further now that the pond reflected moonlight instead of sunlight. 

Furthermore, the woods seemed to house entirely different world at night, he realized once again. While he was leisurely sitting on one side of the pond, quite a few creatures appeared on the other end and took a few sips, seeming entirely apathetic toward his existence. Unlike his friends, the 'night-life' didn't even seem to recognize his existence. 

There was also their appearance--while his furry friends were anomalies, too, with mutated looks, they still held root in something recognizable. The night creatures, however, seemed almost emblematic of a different world that existed under the scope of entirely different rules and laws. The most notable aspect was likely their asymmetry--they never had an even number of eyes spread out regularly, or mouths, or limbs, or, in fact, any of those things in the manner in which Leo understood them.

One creature in particular was just a bundle of gaseous miasma, it seemed, that soaked up the pond's water by 'evaporating it' through levitating slightly above it. It was less so a creature and more so a concept at that point, but it hardly stood out and, rather, fit right in with the rest. 

Luckily, they all ignored him, even when he intensely stared. Hoot, too, didn't interact with them--the owl remained perched on top of Leo's shoulder, his eyes and beak closed, as silent as the night itself. For what reason these two realities existed in a strange balance, Leo didn't know, and he could seldom fathom it. More to the point, it was unnecessary. He was merely a passenger in this place, a temporary displacement, and he was better off never disturbing that which came before him.

He finished bathing just as the sun began to glimmer up the sky. 

Leaving the pond, he went to the other side and filled the few waterskins he brought with himself as he was beginning to run out of the water back at the camp. On the way back, he executed the footwork, exercising and building up a little sweat. By the time he returned, others have woken up: all of them, in fact. 

They sat around the extinguished flames in a sparsely-spaced circle, largely chatting between themselves while Yue sat off to the side, meditating. 

As soon as they saw him, they all stood up and bowed in a greeting, causing his stomach to stir. 

"Hello. You guys rested well?" 

"We did," Xiaoling replied. "Thank you."

"Hm. I'll start preparing breakfast now. There is a pond west of here perfect for a bath." he added. "You can recoup there for a little while as I prepare it." 

"I'll show you the way," Yue said as she stood up. 

Leo smiled faintly and went to fetch the fruits and vegetables from one of the huts. By the time he returned, the girls were gone, and only Song and Liang stayed behind. He didn't think too much of it, instead focusing on cooking while the pair of boys observed him. 

There was a sense of tranquility in mixing the ingredients and getting the perfect ratio, and watching the raw materials get ground up into something tangibly beautiful and tasty. He didn't think he'd ever become interested in cooking in any capacity, but circumstances, it seemed, were the mother of new hobbies. 

"Senior, can I ask you something?" Song broke the silence, prompting Leo to look up from the boiling pot and at the boy.

"Hm?"

"Do you know what that thing was?" there it was, the question Leo was dreading. "I mean, I know that it's a demon. We are taught about them in our theoretical classes. However, I've never seen one like it. Usually, Demons are made when the path of Qi is reversed, whether by design or accident. The Qi grows corrupted due to the unnatural behavior, and, in the process, corrupts the mind. In that case, though, Demons still retained their actual minds--they can talk, appear normal, and even live among the people without ever being discovered. And they are always aware of the fact that they're Demons. That girl... she didn't know. Maybe that was why she was being chased? Maybe those people looking for her knew what was to happen and needed her for something?"

"..." Leo remained silent for a moment, converged in a duality. He was trying, simultaneously, to compact the information Song gave him, and also offer a plausible, roundabout, and vague explanation that wouldn't technically be wrong no matter what. Ultimately, though, he just decided to be honest. "I don't know," he said. "The world's abound with mysteries at every corner. Anyone who claims to know of everything is simply a liar." 

There was also the uncomfortable truth that Leo was desperately trying to avoid--when he first killed that thing, he hardly felt anything. It was a creation of abject horror in his eyes, a malformed entity beset on destruction. However, twice now he was reminded that the entity was a young girl beforehand and, from the sounds of it, a completely normal, innocent one. 

The thought weighed as heavily as a mountain on his soul, namely the question contained therein: could she have been saved? Though the question was selfish and imposing, he was desperately trying to look for an ounce of rationality. If she could not have been saved and would have spent the rest of her life in that state, he could fool himself into thinking he offered her a swift and painless end. 

On the other hand, if she could have been saved, he did not just kill a 'demon'--he'd killed a person, an innocent kid who'd done no wrong but be born a bit different. 

Though entirely different scenarios, it reminded him of how he felt the first few years after Layla's death. It was impossible to prune the guilt, let alone contain it, so he let it swallow him whole. He wrapped himself in a cocoon of his own making, and walled off the rest of the world entirely from that aspect of himself. He feared diving back into that nightmare, so he hoped the entire thing was irreversible. It was a selfish hope, indeed, but he had to hope for it, lest his mind was rendered useless once again.

**

Xiaoling wanted to cry--there were many reasons for it, ultimately, but one stood at the far top of it all: the Heavenly Pond, the waters that were promised to extend her life, the thing that her Master had been chasing for two decades now... she was soaking in it. 

And it wasn't just any Heavenly Pond, either--in fact, its quality far surpassed anything described in any of the books she'd read on the topic, and she read a lot of them. She could practically feel her soul being cleansed from within and without, and sense her lifespan extending. From a few decades all the way to just shy of two hundred years, a normal lifespan for someone of her cultivation realm.

The water of the pond healed all the wounds she'd accumulated through the usage of the Soul Blade Art. It enriched her meridians, strengthened her dantian, and further reinforced her roots. In fact, she suspected if she kept bathing here daily for just a week, she'd evolve her roots into the legendary Low-Immortal Realm. 

Mei and Lya, too, seemed entirely flummoxed and at a loss for words.

Mei, especially, had been undergoing emotional turbulence that Xiaoling could easily connect with. It was, after all, akin to watching everything you've ever dreamed of unfold before you, all your desires being fulfilled, and without any sacrifice to be made on top of that. It was a miracle, through and through, and there was no other word for it. 

Besides tears of joy, Xiaoling wanted to cry tears of fear, as well. 

They weren't alone in the pond--in fact, there were constant visitors. Most took a few sips of the water, glanced at them curiously for a moment, seemed to notice Yue with them, and then just wandered back off into the woods. 

Not all of the animals were Spirits--in fact, most weren't. Most seemed to be either completely ordinary, mortal animals, or Demonic Beast of the so-called 'Conscious' order, where they could cultivate without succumbing to the instinct of devouring. 

There were enough Spirits, however, to alarm her greatly. Though it was well understood that the Nameless Forest was a home to some truly deplorable creatures that could never be touched, the world was still extremely ignoble in its understanding of the forest as a whole. Were the information to be dispersed outside, there was no doubt in Xiaoling's mind that the Sects would unite to create a permanent barrier outside the forest, possibly with at least a few miles of a buffer zone, so that nobody could ever venture into the woods from fear of disturbing that which lived here.

It was a different sort of life, a different sort of reality, but despite being exposed to it, she was no closer to understanding Leo's role in all of this than yesterday. Why was it that an extremely ordinary cultivator, one well aged out of the perfect window for cultivation, was being treated as so important by the creatures that could level the world into ash? 

Ultimately, she let it go.

The answer didn't matter, not really. The reasons were beyond her ability or need to understand. She was merely grateful to be a footnote of that journey, and to soak up a few drops of heavenly miracle, allowing herself to live a fuller life than she otherwise would. Even when she departed, she would keep this place in her heart--not because she'd hope for a return, but because it was this place that allowed her to live freely, and it was this place that would quell her Master's worries at last, so that he may finally focus on himself for a change.

Though, knowing that old, kind fool, Xiaoling was certain that his focus would spearhead elsewhere--likely onto the entire Sect. Were he as dedicated to cultivation as some others, she was certain that her Master would have no equal. Even now, there were very few of his generation capable of fighting him. 

Alas, those were troubles for another day. Today, she simply wanted to close her eyes, let the waters of the pond suffuse her with purity, and go eat a hearty meal before departing from the forest. She had to rush back to the Sect and let them know they were fine. Though, just like Lya and Song, she fully intended to keep this slice of heaven to herself, and not disclose to anyone what they'd found. It was the least amount of courtesy she ought to afford her savior, after all.