Chapter Text
Aviantei
By: Aviantei
Part One: Decision
With his body at age six and his mind at over one thousand, Asakura Hao wondered what he was doing as the fires burned around him.
It was not a very large fire; he’d caused much bigger conflagrations on his own with little more than willing them into existence. It wasn’t as if the size was the fire’s fault it was contained so such a small building with no others around it to spread the blaze to. The small home resting in an out of the way location of China would be the start and the end of it, and eventually there would be nothing but ashes and charred debris to serve as evidence of what had happened—or maybe not even that.
By all logic, there was nothing anyone would be able to do to stop the fire, what with how far it was away from society. Even the small pond mirroring the red orange glow of the flames didn’t have nearly enough water to douse it. Of course, most people’s ideas of logic only operated in the idea of reality. As an onmyoji—a type of shaman that specialized in controlling the five elements of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood—Hao had more control over the situation than one would ever suspect out of a child.
He just chose not to exert it.
A random home burning to the ground was of little concern to him; he had no reason to be here. And yet, he’d arrived there anyways on his travels. As the hot embers and orange sparks reflected in his auburn eyes, Hao considered getting back to his search for followers in the upcoming Shaman Fight, but the whisper stopped him.
…ei.
It was not the voice of a person calling for help. By normal conventions, it would be difficult to call it a “voice” at all, but that was still what it was. It was simply that the speaker wasn’t human.
Onmyoji relied on various abilities to commune with nature and the world of spirits, but the elements were the cornerstone of most of them. What most people didn’t realize is that the elements could talk, albeit in a less intricate way than most modern human languages. They roared in waves and sang when in harmony. With enough practice, one could discern those impressions and concepts into something like words—the Elemental Language.
Hao had been able to hear them for almost as long as he’d been in existence, and their voices were active now. He could hear the underlying cadence of the active fire burning, beyond just the crackle and pressure and heat. He realized that he’d been likely been subconsciously following the words of the elements, and that was why he’d arrived here of all places.
Curiosity piqued, Hao found an open spot where the damage had collapsed one of the walls and stepped into the fire.
Inside, the world was an inferno of red and orange and yellow. Occasionally, there was a lick of green amongst the other colors, a wisp of blue. This was not any natural fire, nor was it something human hands would be able to replicate. Even so, such intensity had to be intentional, though did it really matter when most of the damage was already done?
Because of his own mastery of the elements, Hao could walk amongst the blaze without so much as worrying about a single smudge or scorch mark appearing on his clothes. The idea of getting burnt was a mere memory to him. He walked amongst the burning home as most people would take a stroll through a park; casually, with only concern for observing the scenery. It was amongst that cycle of fire and smoke that he saw it.
Lying at Hao’s feet was a young girl.
In terms of physicality, she was bout his age, likely younger. While ash had fallen on her body, she was burn-free as well, and short brown hair hung into her face. Despite everything, she was breathing easy, though she was unconscious. The calls of the elements towards her were more than enough for Hao to tell she was an onmyoji as well—still in the stages of refinement, but one with plenty of potential.
Which made the fact that she was even in a situation like this all the more unusual.
Pushing away some debris with a foot, Hao knelt down next to the girl and shook her shoulder. When she didn’t immediately respond, he channeled some of his mana into a quick healing, flushing out whatever ability had knocked her out, and was rewarded with her deep brown eyes fluttering open.
“Mǔqīn… Fùqīn…”
The soft call for her parents helped bring the rest of the pieces into focus. While the girl was alive, she wasn’t the only body in the room, though it was much more accurate to call them corpses at this point. Just like their crumbling home, their bodies were charred almost past the point of recognition. Even so, they were this girl’s parents.
It was all too familiar a scene.
“Who…are you?”
The Chinese words steadily eased their way out of her mouth, and Hao took a short moment to make sure he was speaking in the correct language before ignoring the question for now. “I could quell the flames if you want,” he said, finding his voice softer than usual.
The girl stared up at him, her mind working much faster than Hao had expected for her circumstances. There was the debate to push him to answer her initial question, but she passed it up—deciding it was easier to go with the flow of the conversation for now.
“So could I,” she said, looking almost lost, “but I want to burn.” I want it to go away. She looked over the fire, the burning light making the shimmer of unsplit tears in her eyes all the obvious. Even so, she forced them back with sheer willpower. “It’s not like this fire is going to hurt me. So who cares?”
She cared. Hao understood that, because he had cared, though those feelings were lost long ago. Even so, if she wanted to let the evidence and memories of her past be destroyed, it wasn’t Hao’s place to step in. Even if he would, there wouldn’t be much left to salvage now.
Hao smiled a bit. “You’re an onmyoji, I presume.” In reality, he already knew, but he was much more interested in seeing how she’d react.
The girl gave him another one of those curious stares, but she adjusted so she was sitting before him instead of half sprawled on the ground, revealing the last remaining patch of still clean floor beneath her. “Yes.” She looked over him once more. “The fire didn’t hurt you, either. So you’re an onmyoji, too.”
“That I am.”
A small yet shaky smile formed on her face at the notion of having something in common with the stranger before her. She was still cautious, yes, but she was thankful to have something around to distract her from the situation. “What are you doing here, though? Even if you’re an onmyoji, this place is really far out from anywhere else and…” One more look over him, this time paying attention to his apparent age. “Are you on your own? Don’t you…have parents?”
Her tiny hands clenched in her lap. Talking about parents was a sore subject for her, and not simply because hers were no longer with her. Even so, she was curious enough that she’d forged through with asking the question, and those brown eyes of hers were staring right at him, looking for an answer.
“Of course I have parents,” Hao said, deciding there was no harm in telling the truth. “They just don’t particularly like me.” Hard to be liked whenever you were the reincarnation of the worst part of their family’s history. He’d prepared for such a circumstance, though, and he’d been able to escape their attempts to kill him with the help of his spirit ally.
The girl was staring at him, looking more sad than surprised by his declaration. It was to be expected, since her mind was still trying to process the tragedy she’d just experienced. Even so, she hadn’t broken yet, and there was a weapon in her that was a little tarnished but also by no means any less sharp. She would undoubtedly be useful in the future, not to mention just abandoning a child who’d had her parents die would leave a bitter taste in even Hao’s mouth.
“I guess that makes us both orphans, then,” the girl said. She’d realized, then, that her parents were gone. No—it seemed she’d already known. Considering that she was a shaman, it wasn’t surprising how simply she reacted to death. “They’re dead,” she said, those tears once more threatening to well up. “And it’s all because of me.”
Her emotions were roaring almost as much as the fire around them, so loud that it would have been much more surprising if Hao couldn’t hear them, especially with the elements shifting in time to the girl’s feelings. “Why do you say that?”
“Because if I weren’t here, he wouldn’t have come. He wouldn’t have killed them.” She took in a shuddering breath that only brought back the faintest fractions of her composure. Even so, that sharpness inside her held true, forged by a force of hatred. “He left me alive so I would suffer. But I’m not going to just do what he wants.” Her eyes had hardened, and she made her declaration:
“I will kill him.”
It was an impressive level of determination for someone her age, all the more accentuated by the fact that she was dead serious. Hao knew better than most anyone to dismiss that sort of ambition. It would serve as a powerful motivator, and, with what he’d heard on the elements since he’d arrived, it would be a complete waste not to bring this girl into his ranks.
“I’m sorry,” she said, changing gears. Hao blinked. “I didn’t mean to go on so much. I should have at least introduced myself first.” She dipped into a bow, her tone shifting into one of formality. “I’m Lon Ivy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Hao raised a hand to his chest and dipped his head in turn. “My name is Asakura Hao, at your service,” he said, and then he made his offer: “Would you like to come on a journey with me…
“Aviantei?”
Would you like to go on a journey with me, Aviantei?
It was a simple question, and it had an equally simple answer. Even so, Lon Ivy couldn’t bring herself to give a response just yet. It had been so long since she’d been called by her elemental name by another person that, if she hadn’t been so shocked, the tears she’d been forcing back ever since she’d woken up might have spilt over.
“How did you know that?” she asked.
The boy who had introduced himself as Hao looked back at her, an intensity in his amber colored gaze that didn’t fit his apparent age at all. His round child’s face framed by long locks of black-brown hair and the yellow star patterns over his blue cloak gave him a disarming appearance, but Ivy sensed something about him that was overwhelming, almost. The very elements responded to his present with reverent calls that Ivy couldn’t make out the words to.
One way or another, Asakura Hao was powerful.
“If you recognize your name, then you should already know the answer to that,” he said, outright dismissing her question. It was true: Within the elemental language were names, connected to people, representations of who they were. Of course, they were buried so deep under the rest of the ebb and flow of nature that even onmyoji that had trained for years couldn’t always find theirs.
Hearing someone else’s was even more challenging. Not only did you have to be in tune enough with the elements to hear them speak, you had to ignore the ones calling to you as well as simultaneously hear the ones calling to someone else. Ivy herself had only accomplished the feat once, and that was after months upon months of trying, not to mention her familiarity with the person in question.
And yet Hao had easily spoken hers, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.
What else was he capable of?
She tried to discern something more about him, but there was only so much she could tell by staring him down. Hao stood, not looking the slightest but perturbed by her intense stare as he brushed away the ash he couldn’t avoid from his time sitting on the ground. “We were on a different topic, though, weren’t we?” he asked, and then he extended his hand. “I wanted to know if you wished to come with me.”
There was possibility in that offer. Asakura Hao had power and skill as an onmyoji. His age didn’t matter in the equation: what mattered most that he was a pillar of strength, and he hadn’t batted an eye when she declared her intent for revenge on the one who killed her parents. She could learn from him, use whatever he could potentially teach her to serve her needs. And if he didn’t willingly want to do so, then she’d watch him closely and utilize whatever she saw.
I won’t let myself be content with what I’ve learned until I’ve avenged them.
“Will you come with me?”
It was simple really.
“Aviantei?”
All she had to do was give her answer.
Lon Ivy reached out her hand and joined her fingers with Asakura Hao’s.
“Yes.”
And with that pronouncement deciding her path, Ivy let Hao escort her away from the ashes of her previous life and into the possibility of a journey.