Dragon's Wings

Chapter 30

For some time, they walked, and then between one blink and the next, the Funayūrei spirits vanished from sight. They just... disappeared. Rashmi was confused about how that worked—she thought they vanished when they died. But they seemed to disappear when they wanted to as well. Which-

"Did the spirits we killed earlier actually die or did they vanish?" She asked.

Amor looked over at her, head slightly tilted. "They died," they said. "Did you- Don't you see how their essence splintered?"

"Essence?" Shiori echoed. "I have no idea what that is so I'm going to say no, I didn't see that."

"Huh. Well, each spirit has an essence which is kind of like their heart, I guess. When they're killed, it splinters into fragments and those fragments disappear, indicating that the spirit is dead. When a spirit just vanishes, they're just relocating to their home region. That's all it is," Amor explained.

"Can only spirits see it then?" Rashmi wondered aloud just as Shui rolled their eyes.

"Don't you want to be focussing on the fact they vanished?" Shui asked pointedly. "Amor, any reason they might have vanished here?"

"The Unowned ends here," Amor said. "There's another boundary, a new region. I can see the tangled wards that the spirit has left here. It's not... not your kind of magic, but something else. It's seeable here. It might also be a spirit thing, like seeing one's essence." They paused, in step and in sign, and surveyed the region. "I think... We might get hospitality here. But we must be careful and make no missteps."

"Lead on, the Summoned, and guide us well," Rashmi said with a half-hearted smile. It was hard to smile when Tadeo wasn't here, because he had been with them and should've been safe and it should've been all of them. Should've been Rashmi as she is the one linked to the One From Cracked Lava by blood—but perhaps that was what saved her. She didn't know how to feel about that.

Amor stepped forward, pausing on the edge of the boundary, and then they waited.

They didn't have to wait long.

A spirit stood before them. It looked to be made of sand, yellow grains stuck together. It didn't have a face. It was just... a thing of sand. It had two stumpy legs and four arms and a round thing that was probably meant to be a head. But it didn't have a face.

"All those with good will toward this region and its occupants may enter it," the spirit said. The words had a ritual-like feel to them. There was no magic, but it felt like a tingle of energy slid down Rashmi's spine.

Amor stepped forward, past the boundary line, and the others followed them one by one. Even Vera, who crossed the boundary and then paused beside Rashmi, curling her tail so she was completely within the region and out of the Unowned.

"For this, we are grateful," Amor said. "Is hospitality offered?"

"Hospitality is granted," the spirit said. "Come." The spirit didn't walk off—it glided. Its legs didn't move, but the sand seemed to shiver and crawl, and the leg-lengths adjusted so that its torso never shifted, staying in the exact same spot. It was unnatural, but so was this whole place. Rashmi wondered when she'd stop noticing it.

They were led further into the region to where a stone table seemed to rest. There was food on it, which Rashmi didn't understand. How could there be food? How was it here? There didn't seem to be any cooks and this was human food too. There was even meat! But they hadn't seen any animals. Amor certainly hadn't made any mention of it. They had said spirits didn't really require sustenance the same was as they did as well.

Amor picked up an empty plate and served themself. Rashmi followed what they were doing. After all, they were the one who knew what was safe and what wasn't. If they thought it was alright to eat, then the rest of them should do the same. Rashmi could ask her questions when they were out from the gaze of their host, who was watching them despite not having any eyes.