The Survivor - Veil Walkers Book One

Chapter Six

Home, Modern Era - Cahya

CAHYA glanced up as the door slid open. He still had several hours in his shift and wasn't expecting visitors, but there Danika stood, waiting for an acknowledgement before entering. He ran his fingers across the cabling needle to check the number of stitches in his knitting project and flashed her a smile.

She shied away from the brighter lights of the room. "May I come in?"

He secured the stitches by pushing them back from the ends of the knitting needles and abandoned his project on the nearby counter. "Of course! Please join me."

Danika stifled a yawn as the door slid shut. Between the groggy behavior and the mussed clothes, Cahya reckoned she had just woken up.

He motioned to the comfortable armchair, the only piece of free-standing furniture in the room other than the table that held the sutra box and daggers.

Judging by how she stared at the daggers as she entered, no one had explained them yet. She hadn't been told a lot of things, considering the chaotic events since her arrival. Maybe he could remedy some of that tonight.

"Why is it so bright in here?" Danika mumbled as she crossed to the chair.

"It's not that it's so bright in here, as it's so dim out there." Cahya explained. "We mute the hallway lighting for nine hours every night, so if someone needs to leave their room, the lights won't startle them into alertness."

Her eyes trailed to the table of weapons once more.

Cahya followed her gaze. "I see you've noticed them."

Danika's head snapped in his direction. "The weapons? It's hard not to. The pile isn't exactly orderly."

Cahya traversed the room and retrieved one dagger from under the pile of others. He brushed some of the dust from the cracking leather sheath, grabbed one of Sumiko's sutras, and rejoined Danika.

"This is my dagger," he struggled to hide his depression as he popped the securing strap and drew his weapon for the first time in eighty-four years. He tilted the blade in the light, showing the vibrant stripes of orange, red, and purple. "Mine is rainbow obsidian. They're all obsidian, honestly, just different varieties. Everyone has their own, and you'll get yours during training." He sheathed the dagger and offered it to her.

"Why obsidian? Why not metal or something more durable?"

"Because it makes the finest blades. It's also easy to channel our energy through and makes a great reservoir. It builds up energy over time, so it's ready when we need it, regardless of how tired we might be."

Danika took the faded red leather and traced her fingers over the engraved swirls before freeing the blade. "Why do we carry them? I imagine it's not for fending off the locals."

Cahya smirked as Danika chuckled at her own joke. "While they have been used to dissuade a drunk now and again, we prefer their actual purpose. They pierce through a demon's being and disrupt its energy patterns."

"So, what you're saying is that they kill demons?"

"Essentially," Cahya continued. He handed her Sumiko's sutra, a rectangle written vertically. "We charge these in the same way. We borrow the term 'sutra' from the eastern cultures for lack of a better term. These evict low-level demons from a host's body while weakening it. The dagger isn't very kind to living hostages, and if the fight is too difficult, if the demon is too strong, tagging him with multiple sutras takes him down a bit."

"So, everyone carries these when they leave." Danika examined the sutra before handing it back to Cahya. "Do all these characters mean something?"

"They say nothing at all, to be honest. It's like a signature, marks that the creator feels comfortable with. It's the meaning behind the mark, not the mark itself, that contains the energy. We can use each other's sutras when the need arises, but we prefer not to."