The sun was past its zenith overhead and along a wildlife trail tred an unusual creature. The ears flicked forward and back from time to time as she stepped onward. Fern fronds and leaves from other undergrowth brushed against the brown hide, softly swishing back into place as she passed. Behind her were no tracks, her cloven hooves didn't even touch the forest floor.
She paused and lifted her head higher. There were the ruins of a castle not far from her, it cast its shadow over the wood. That was not what she was looking for. There was a quiet pool off to her right, fern and moss growing along the edges. The wildlife trail she'd been following had a departure that led to it. She was feeling a bit parched...
Her pace quickened to a slow trot, tail trailing after and hair shimmering in the dappled light. Within two strides from the pool she slowed and closed the rest of the distance with delicate, hovering steps.
Oh, but you do smell sweet and fresh! she thought aloud to herself, voice soft and fluttering like a breeze. Her head dipped down to the still, cool waters and at last she drank.
Eyes like twin blue flames observed the curious creature from an out-of-place shadow, too dark to be cast by the surrounding foliage. The being they belonged to tilted his skeletal head. What sort of creature was it that had wandered onto his land? He sensed no malice from it. Should he leave it be? He had ventured out to indulge the animal souls bonded within him, but they weren't interested in this creature. It, however, piqued his curiosity.
The qilin might notice the slight chill that followed her observer or the feeling of density his presence carried, as if she had an entire audience waiting with bated breath for her to perform.
Unable to contain himself, the shadow took on the shape of a deer and stepped out of the bushes. It would never pass as flesh and blood, but neither was the dragon-skulled entity undead; it simply was.
The air in the forest had changed and Qixia was not so green as to miss it. She lifted her head and looked one way, then another, ears twisting and flicking around as she listened. The air had grown cold, not still, and while the forest had been quiet, it had not gone silent. Whatever else was here, it wasn't something that didn't already belong. That didn't mean that it wasn't dangerous.
A rustle and the tense Qilin stared at the brush on the other side of the spring pool.
A deer? Her head cocked to the right, long hairs moved silkily over in a slow cascade. She righted her head and started to step around the pool, approaching the deer slowly. Qixia liked deer, they looked most like her.
She stopped. No. A deer, but... not a deer? Qixia was puzzled, but unafraid. She'd been alive a long time. She'd walked and flown over all manner of lands and seen so many different creatures, even different kinds of deer. Something wasn't right about this one. She grew a little excited. I've not met a new creature in such a long time! Qixia remarked.
How did it communicate? Could it? Body language? Some kind of vicalization? Would she be able to learn it? Were there others like it? Qixia hadn't anticipated that she'd discover something new today!
"What are you?" the entity asked with calm curiosity, his voice seeming to emanate from its fleshless, unmoving mouth. He didn't expect it to be able to answer him or even understand him, but he had to try. Beings of flesh were so varied in ability that he couldn't be sure of their intelligence.
Oh! Qixia straightened up and backed up a step, eyes wide in surprise. It spoke!
Animals, most creatures, didn't use the tongue of humans. Well, not usually, it was very rare and quite the odd chance from her observations. It certainly startled her now that she'd found one who did. And while she knew the languages, Qixia had barely put any of it into practice.
Could this be an opportunity?
"What... are... you?" She repeated slowly, awkwardly. The movement of lips and tongue were unfamiliar, but not entirely foreign. "Me, I..." What was she again? Her instincts warmed in her chest and reminded her of the word, "Qilin." It was clear she was still working out sounds and tempo as she spoke, "Qixia. My name... Qixia." It was getting a little easier. "You... no deer. What... are you?"
She overtook that back step and stepped even closer. Whatever it was, there was nothing evil about it. No bad karma that needed to be dealt with. Nothing that called on her to act in some fashion as she did. Just a fascinating new creature she'd never met before.
Excellent, it understood. So rarely did he get to talk to another being, let alone one who didn't look upon him with fear.
"There is no word for what I am, but I call myself Mulciber." His shadowy form reshaped into that of a well-dressed man with long, blue hair, clothing materializing from the darkness. However, his face was still that of a dragon's skull. He bowed politely. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
Fascinating! Although her true morph wasn't capable of showing much expression, Qixia was able to do so in the lift of her head, the forward flick of her ears.
"You... change?!" Qixia exclaimed and then quickly made to do the same. Her tail swished and she gave a shiver, all the velvety fur and shimmering scales flashed briefly and then she, too, had changed. Another couple of quick steps forward and she pressed a hand to her chest. She was not a short human, long hair and eyes like tiger-eye jems. "Me... I change!"
His change wasn't exactly complete, now was it? He sort of looked human, but definitely wasn't. And he had looked like mist, dark mist, that was called smoke she recalled. "Mulciber..." Qixia repeated, but no name to call what he was. "So, Mulciber is... just Mulciber." Her hand reached out, curious to learn if there was any real substance to his form.
Mulciber allowed her to touch his arm. He was cool to the touch, but as solid as any physical being. There were none of the usual signs of life but, at the same time, he seemed absolutely full of it. It was as if he were a great many lives bound together.
"Mulciber is many," he answered cryptically. In fact, he was; he was a lord, a lady, a dragon, a knight, a dog, a cat, and more. But also none of those. He had never been able to properly convey what he was, for not even he was entirely sure.
Qixia found that he was indeed solid, at least now he was, but ge had appeared as mutable as a cloud. The coolness was also intriguing to her. All living beings had some kind of warmth to them, even reptiles were warm with the lifeblood that pulsed through their veins.
"Many, but one?" She queried of Mulciber. "How?"
Was this why she had yet to encounter a being such as he was? Because he was an individual made of many? And what of his head? How was it that there was seemingly no flesh or blood and still he was alive? It was very curious to her.
Qixia could barely suppress her curiosity, "Do you eat? Drink?" Her questioning began. "Do you sleep? And do you dream?" These seemed like perfectly normal questions to her.
Her expression shifted as she recalled him asking what she was. Not that she had ever conversed with another creature using any of the human tongues before, but not even the animals she'd encountered recognized her. Qixia was still the only Qilin she knew of, even though she was sure there were others. More dejectedly she remarked, her eyes going hazy, "You're the only one like you, too."
Though he possessed no ability to outwardly express it, he was absolutely delighted by the barrage of curiosity. It was the most any being had ever attempted to understand him. He took care to answer every question, having no cause for secrets.
"I, indeed, am many, but one. My understanding of creation is, regrettably, limited, but once the castle that I call my home was full of life and all that comes with it. There was an incident of which my recollection is fractured and incoherent, in which every inhabitant found their souls untethered. These poor souls were forced together, becoming something trapped forever in the space between life and death. In this existence, I require no sustenance and know not the gentle embrace of sleep."
Whether all or none of her questions were answered, Qixia pressed on. Even her momentary dip into depression was passed by. Being the only one known of was a bit of a lonely existence, but knowing she may not be the only one who was an only made it a little less so. Besides, the story Mulciber presented of his origin was much more intriguing.
"Incident?" Qixia questioned. "An accident?" Then she peered past her new acquaintance to the forlorn and empty castle, clearly a shadow of its prime. "Or on purpose?"
Maybe there was work for her to do after all. If there was some good that should be done here, she may be able to do it. However, that depended, "When? How long ago?" To commit such an affront against life, whoever or whatever did so would surely carry the load of karma. Qixia was certain she could find such a being.
"It was centuries ago; the exact number I cannot say. My existence... has not always been as lucid as it is now. For a long time, I simply floated through my castle without thought," he explained, for the first time showing that he had actual feelings through his lonely tone.
"I do not know for certain, but I believe the perpetrator either dwells within me or was destroyed by his own spell." It was painful to suspect that such an evil could lurk within him, but he couldn't discount the possibility. He simply didn't know enough.
"I believe they intended to draw the power into themselves but were perhaps interrupted. I know for a fact that the one the souls attached themselves to is no necromancer, but he is the only one capable that I can rule out. That is why I took his name."
"Centuries..." She murmured. That meant it could have happened before she had begun exploring the whole world. And if the guilty party had already perished, then the karma was wiped clean.
Qixia wasn't so lost in thought that she wasn't listening to Mulciber. It seemed that he had learned to take on corporeal form. That was pretty impressive, but more than that was how he had managed to create a singular mind out of many considering the story he'd told.
"How long did it take to learn to do this? Take shape?" She asked first. "Are you always this mind? Or do you change minds?" And to think he knew of at least one mind. "Do you know the other names? The number of lives that made you up?" Qixia had so many questions. "Do you have all the memories?"
"I know all of their names," he answered with solemn pride. "My namesake made it a matter of pride to know the name of everyone at the castle, regardless of station. His memories are the easiest to access."
The sound of a sad sigh emerged from the skull as his shoulders drooped. "But I know not the number. The nearby wildlife, and even the rats in the walls, were also caught by the spell."
Straightening up, he chuckled lightly. He was being a poor host. "Let us continue this inside, shall we? I have no food or drink to offer, but what comforts there are are yours to enjoy. Mulciber, you see, was the butler, and most of me is composed of servants, besides. Serving those who stray into my domain pleases me."
All the names! "How many names?" Qixia asked almost immediately. "There must be so many!" An entire castle worth of people and then the animals. Surely some of the animals had names themselves, so maybe there's as well. "You must have so much in your head!" The Qilin marveled.
"The wildlife..." She murmured. "Even the flowers and the trees?"
There was a forest now, but perhaps at one point it had been as bare as if a blight had struck. Life did often find a way forward again, creeping back and flourishing anew. Qixia helped with that a little in her own way.
Then Mulciber invited her inside. She straightened up and brushed some of the hair from her eyes and tried to tuck it behind an ear. "What is inside? Is it safe?" Her thoughts lurched some, "Were the bodies buried? Were there bodies? Maybe they didn't need to be... if centuries, maybe they have returned to the earth on their own?" It was morbid to think of the remains still being in the castle, living among them. Would it be more respectful to leave them? Or to bury them as many a human culture did?
"Do you get many visitors?" Qixia asked next. Her barrage of questions were seemingly endless thus far.
"I assure you, the only danger within is loneliness, and that will be remedied by your presence. And worry not about the dead; what bones remained upon my awakening have been buried," he answered matter-of-factly.
"I... do not get many visitors who aren't seeking treasures that are no longer there. Treasures, or the fame acquired from ridding the land of a restless shade." The entity wasn't exactly hurt by the misunderstanding; it was more that it contributed to the feeling that he was something apart from the world.
"So you are alone." She murmured softly. Qixia didn't necessarily mind being alone herself, but it wasn't the physicality of being alone, rather the existential thought of it that bothered her. Although she knew there were other Qilin, never meeting another or another being that had seen one before caused her heartache. How then could Mulciber bear it? Being many, but one, and no other like him... what a curious and strange existence he had. Sad, too.
At hearing that the departed had long since been born back to the earth, Qixia hurried her steps. Quickly and quietly she caught herself up to Mulciber's side. From there she smiled and told him, "You honored their lives, that is good." Even if the one who had caused their deaths was in him, that being could not overpower the others. Qixia decided then that he was definitively good.
"Treasures? What is a treasure?" The Qilin asked. Thinking back, there were many a possession coveted by humans, sometimes not just items but animals and even other humans. Why they desired them so desperately Qixia didn't quite understand. Wasn't life the greatest treasure? "Shade?" She considered that word a little longer than pointed at Mulciber, "You mean you?!"
She stopped and asked him, "But why?" Qixia found that wrong. "You are not alive but still you live." She protested, her brows furrowing deeply over her eyes and creases spreading across her forehead, around the remnants of her horns. "You think. You have memories. You have free will. You are good." She said these things decisively.
Good? Was that really something he was? The people he'd encountered didn't seem to think so. To them, he was a monster—something whose very existence was a threat. He didn't understand himself enough to declare them wrong. Yet, here was this creature, amazed and unafraid, emphatically telling him that they were.
Taken by surprise, he stopped mid-stride to gaze at her. "Good? You think so?"
When Mulciber stopped and asked her for confirmation, she promptly strode right up to him. "Yes." Qixia told him firmly. "I... know it." She pressed a hand to her abdomen and as she spoke, pat it as if to further emphasize her words. "In here." Her instincts were backing up her present experience, short as it may be.
"If you were evil, I would know." Qixia began to explain. "Your karma would be bad, I would be compelled to punish you to bring back balance." She gave a shake of her head, "You don't feel like that."
But she didn't say the other way she knew. That he had not attacked her or tried to harm her. That he was kind enough to entertain her questions and welcome her in to the place he called home, was a sure sign. Qixia's gaze was unwavering at Mulciber and repeated, "You're good."
"Karma? What is this karma?" Mulciber asked with childlike curiosity, not unlike her own. Context suggested she could feel another's moral character. Could it be that thing he sensed when a visitor possessed dark intentions? Or was it some energy he was unaware of? Could she discover if the one who destroyed House Bloodwood existed within him? Or is this karma erased upon death?
"Karma is... it's..." Qixia halted.
How could she describe it? She closed her eyes and hummed. "It's an aura of a living being." She said as she opened her eyes. "It carries color and weight." The Qilin gesticulated and motioned to the space around her.
"There is good and there is bad. It has influence." She explained. "I can feel it and, if it's really strong, I can see it. I balance karma; I do justice where there is bad and reward those with good." If Mulciber were to ask further, she might not be able to demonstrate it. So much of it was on instinct and there was no driving need for her to balance karma here. Qixia focused on him, "Your karma is clear."
Did she explain it well? Did she use the right words? "It's about balance and the preservation of good." She finished, her feet lifted off the ground and she floated where she stood.
The entity resumed walking towards the forlorn keep. "I have a sense of intentions. Those with ill intent... carry a certain odor to me. It is not this karma of yours, but it serves a similar purpose. However, I have no innate desire to correct them. I merely frighten them away."
The nearer they came to the castle, the younger the vegetation, confirming her notion that the spell that birthed Mulciber had a lethal effect on the nearby flora as well. All that life energy couldn't be easy to hold together.
She gave a shake of her head, "Mmm, no. Karma builds up after actions have already happened." That was very different from intentions. One might lead to another, but it was certainly not the same.
Her feet lowered back down and Qixia matched pace with Qixia. "You act to prevent." She pointed out to Mulciber. "To defend?" She then asked him.
The scenery was changing as drew closer and closer to the castle. More colonizing species of plant, more brush and undergrowth as saplings were taking hold amongst them. To think that this had happened so very long ago and still the land was healing. It had so far to go yet, if nature was to reclaim it.
"I defend the castle, though there is little remaining to protect that I don't carry with me. I guard it because no one else will and, to be honest, because I know nothing else."
They reached the outer gate, its portcullis held permanently open by strangling vines. The keep beyond was remarkably intact, as if reclaiming nature restrained itself from damaging it. Or, more likely, Mulciber himself maintained it to the best of his ability, which was doubtlessly considerable.
Qixia didn't have much to say to that, not at first. It seemed noble that he remained and kept the castle. Hadn't Mulciber said that there were no treasures? Whatever a treasure might be exactly. So then... "Why?" Qixia asked. "Why do you protect it?"
Was he tied to the castle? He couldn't bear to be far from it maybe or some force compelled him to stay near? Or maybe there was something here and either Mulciber didn't wish to share or wasn't aware of it? So many questions that were easily combined into one simple query of why.
Mulciber had never given much thought to the whys of his existence. Obligation wasn't a factor, as that died with the lives lost... didn't it?
"Should one not protect the place one calls home?" he asked.
That was a very valid point. Qixia had heard the label of 'home' often amongst humans and there was sentimentality in it, importance. "Oh!" The thought struck like lightning, "The castle is your home and your home is a treasure!" Her grin was broad and a little silly, as if she were a child completely pleased with herself. "That's it, isn't it?"
Qixia confessed then, "I don't have a home, so I don't fully understand." It was said in a very matter of fact tone.
"You said it was lonely. No one comes to visit you, they only to take things or make you go away." See, she had been listening and squirrelling away what she'd heard and learned of Mulciber. "A home has never seemed to be a lonely place from what I've seen of humans." Qixia hadn't asked humans about homes, only observed them. Other human-like creatures were similar. Some even moved their home from place to place, "Couldn't you make a new home? One where you aren't lonely?"
The twin flames that represented his eyes blinked out of existence for a moment. He had never even considered leaving. Could he? Or was he bound to this forsaken bit of land? Where would he even go that would be any better?
"I... do not know," he answered, marveling at the new line of thought that had been opened to him. "Where could I go and not be chased away?"
"I don't know." Qixia replied innocently enough. "Why would you be chased away, Mulciber?" The world was a very big place and there were so many different beings. Sure, looking at him as he was now, he might be a bit different what with the skull head and all. Yet he had morphed into a deer when their paths first crossed. "You can morph." Qixia pointed out, "What else can you morph into?"
She couldn't do that. It had taken her near 50 years just to learn how to morph into a human. If she could ever morph into something, she wasn't sure what she might choose. There were so many choices!
"Mortal men fear what they do not understand and destroy what they fear. I may be able to assume the shape that any soul within me possessed when they were alive, but I cannot hide this skeletal face of mine that frightens them so," he explained as he led her across the threshold of his home.
He would give much to be flesh and blood, or even just to pass as such. Without that, he feared that his loneliness would follow him wherever he went. He could live comfortably with every aspect of his unique circumstances but the fear his appearance evoked.
They could be very sensitive, couldn't they? Mulciber did have a point that without knowing any better, others may not be so willing to have him in their company. The skull with its little eyes of fire might well be fearsome to behold. Not all cultures would accept what he was either, now that she thought back.
Qixia followed him slowly and replied at length, "I'm sorry, Mulciber." She might have been a little too hasty earlier with her words.
She couldn't even help him to overcome such a hardship, not that she had to. As a Qilin, one who worked the balance of karma, she felt this drive to be of help to him. He had been kind enough to answer all of her questions and he was offering to share his shelter with her. Was there anything else she might be able to do for Mulciber.
"I never have a destination in mind when I travel. I just follow this feeling I have that I should go this way or that. There's almost always someone or something that I encounter and have some karma to give or take away." Qixia frowned deeply. If she crossed paths with Mulciber, certainly there had to be a reason. "It is so odd that I discover you and yet there is nothing I can do."
Mulciber was quiet for a long moment as he considered her words. Why would such a creature find itself drawn to him when there was little they could do for him. Although, perhaps...
"What if you are not here for me but for one of the spirits in my keeping? I do not think I could exist without them, but perhaps some still have unfinished business that torments whatever independent thought may remain within them."
Qixia perked up a little. Was that possible? She had only ever manipulated the karma of the living before. The spirits that made up Mulciber were dead, yes, but not gone so conceivably their karma remained.
"That could be so." She nodded. "They are still here and karma is connected to the heart, the soul, not the body."
Unfinished business... Attachments... Those all seemed quite physical to Qixia, but it was the actions of a living being that determined their karma. And it was their karma that would determine how they may move on from the stage of one life to the next. Was that it, then?
"Mulciber, do you feel as responsible for the souls that make you up as you do for the castle?" Qixia asked him. She felt like she might have an idea now for why she just happened to be in this right place at this right time.
The entity nodded. "Even more so. Though they did not choose to be involved in my creation, I owe them my entire existence. The least I can do is care for what remains of them."
He was curious where she was going with her question. For a being as old as him, he had little experience to show for it. He was very much still a child when it came to understanding the world.
Qixia clapped her hands together and grinned, "Then that must be your purpose!" Once more she felt pleased with herself.
"I think you exist in order to fulfill the unfinished business of the souls that altogether comprise your own." Why else did he exist? No one thing existed without reason. "Maybe when that big something happened, some force brought it all together, oh! Like some very strong good karma to counteract the bad. Then it needed a vessel, which is you, and... and... and..."
Qixia had grown so excited that her mind was running so very far ahead of her mouth. Her whole body shivered with the excitement. It took her a moment to snap out of it.
There was so much left unsaid, but she finished her thought very simply, "...and my instincts brought me here, to you, to get you started!"
Could that be true? Could he actually have a purpose? What unfinished business could remain after so many years? Mulciber had no answers, only questions. What did he have to lose by exploring the notion.
"It is... worth pursuing, though I know not what can be done for those centuries dead. That is, unless the one who caused the disaster still lives. It is certainly a possibility, one that has long troubled me."
Yes, they had been long deceased, but the souls lingered. There had to be a reason for that. Even if Mulciber didn't know, centuries later, it might be time to start looking for that reason.
"So many lives lost by actions of a singular individual... the karma would be quite imbalanced." Qixia remarked. Could she find such a person? She might be able to identify someone with such a heavy load of karma, but not detect them across a long distance. "Do you suppose it was done by someone known by one of your souls?"
It didn't set her to unease that the perpetrator might still live. She was a couple centuries herself. Mulciber older than she. Surely there were others older still.
"Almost certainly. Such a spell takes careful preparation; no mere intruder would be able to do that without detection. I know, because my namesake discovered the spell in progress. He was too late to prevent it. Sadly, the memory of who cast it is hazy," he answered.
He paused walking to open the decaying wooden door into the keep itself. "After you," he said, motioning her inside like a fine butler.
The place felt cold, devoid of all life but the two of them. If not for Mulciber, she'd likely ask to remain outside where the air moved freely. The closer Qixia had gotten to the castle, the more foreboding it felt. She could be brave if only because she was not alone. To Mulciber this was home and she'd not hurt him by refusing his hospitality.
She dipped her way into the room and several steps within turned back to face her companion. "The memory is hazy, but not lost?" Qixia asked of him. "Memory is tied to many different things. Sights, sounds, and smells and feelings." To her that meant that the memory could be stirred somehow.
"Maybe there is a place in here that could..." Mulciber had interrupted the spell, he said. Qixia peered back up at him, "How well do you remember the day it happened?"
Could it be so simple as a retracing of the day? She could walk along with him, listen to him as he put voice to the actions that had been taken, and probe away as she had been doing. Maybe that might be of help and give Mulciber a direction to head in. Or it be a waste of time.
"It is... difficult to piece together specific moments from the jumble of perspectives. I remember the bread and cheese the maid ate for breakfast. I remember the captain of the castle guard teaching the youngest Bloodwood son the sword in the courtyard. I remember the cat chasing down an unfortunate mouse. Most of all, I remember the shock my namesake felt upon realizing the danger the castle was in," he recounted.
"Perhaps..." he began, hesitating. It was the last place he wanted to go. "Perhaps if we go to the room where it happened, I will be able to recall some clue as to what exactly transpired. But, starting at the beginning may be better."
He thought for another moment. "Yes. We shall go to the butler's room and follow his memory."
The Qilin nodded her head as he provided an example of the memories he had from just a small sample of the souls within. If there were multitudes of competing memories, yes, it would be difficult to parse out just one. She believed so fervently that it was possible if only because Mulciber had told her that the memories of this individual came so much more readily than the others. With some coaxing he ought to be able to manage it.
"Well," Qixia began, thinking that she detected some hesitation on Mulciber's part. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to." The petite woman came up to his side and lightly planted a hand on his arm. "If you do, though, you won't be alone because I will be with you."
It was an attempt to reassure Mulciber. Not that Qixia could offer much in way of assistance. The gifts she'd been endowed with as a Qilin were limited. Some she'd barely even put to full use if at all. All the same, she exuded confidence and spoke with conviction, "If this is your purpose, it can be done."
It took him a few moments to build up his courage but he had always known that he would someday have to face the events of that fateful day. There was no better opportunity than the one she offered. Eventually, I he gave her a nod.
"It is this way," he said, leading her to a door next to the central staircase. Pausing for a moment, he picked up a tarnished candelabra and lit it with a match from his pocket. He then opened the door and led her into the dark corridor beyond.
The castle had seemed plenty large from the outside. Qixia had very rarely gone into any buildings in dwellings. She'd been able to manage most of her karma manipulations while out and about and at a distance from her target. Aside from the stillness and the chill, the foreboding feeling of the place, she was wide-eyed with wonderment. Rooms and halls and windows and doors and stone! So much stone! The shadows made it feel even larger, the darkness hiding where corners and walls might be, the ceiling largely lost entirely.
"It must have taken a long time to build." She remarked softly. "And there must have been a lot of people here once, just to care for it."
Qixia placed all her faith in Mulciber to know the way. Of course he would. Nevermind that he had been here for hundreds of years, but there were all those souls inside of him. What one didn't know, another must. There were liable to be no secrets that this castle held that he was not aware of. So she padded along at his shoulder, head turning this way and that as she looked about herself and what remained within the castle: inanimate objects and dusts motes and the pair of them.
"Indeed. It was a veritable village unto itself, with everyone having a specific role to play in service to the castle and to House Bloodwood," he answered, mindfully ducking to avoid destroying a spider's web. "And they were glad to serve, for Lord Bloodwood was a kind and generous master who always found the time to treat his servants as people of worth. His true nobility was the reason my namesake vowed to serve and protect him and his family."
It occurred to him that he hadn't mentioned the fact that Mulciber was a dragon as well as the butler, though he supposed that his companion might guess as much from his skull. Surely she had seen a dragon or two in her travels.
"If he was so good and so loved..." Qixia began to ask, she paused as her attention was caught by something in the shadows, likely an ornate chair or a tapestry. "...why would anyone want to cast a spell that could kill him and all of everyone else?" For a Qilin, sometimes the world could be very easily simplified, very black and white. What was good, was good. What was bad, was bad. Good could become bad and bad become good, and actions could cross over each other. Yet it was markedly clear that with Mulciber's deep devotion, such evil on someone so good was truly terrible. "Someone noble both in name and being should not be the target of another's ire."
But one more thing was learned by Qixia from her probing questions, "You made a vow, yes, I see now." She stated with reverence. "That must be why you, in particular the you that you are now, are the one who remains." She smiled back at him, admiration in her expression.
Though perplexed by her admiration, Mulciber agreed. "Indeed. A dragon's vow is not made lightly. And his vows live on in me."
His path ended at a door with the symbol of a dragon carved into it with an artist's hand. The small detail revealed that the butler's true nature was known to more than the lord himself, perhaps the entire household. He then opened the door, revealing a modest space, though one with finer furnishings than most servants in the same position. It was far from the opulence of a dragon's hoard, unless one considers that the people he lived among were his hoard.
"You're a dragon?" She asked in amazement. Looking at Mulciber afresh, she supposed that there was some resemblance there. Qixia had seen dragons before, different kinds even, but they were very alive with flesh and hide. What Mulciber had was a skull and she'd not seen a dragon skull before. "That makes it all the more clear."
From what Qixia knew of dragons, their vows were like blood oaths or life bonds. They were very serious and important and to break one was dishonorable, either on the part of the dragon or for the one they make such a deep promise to. It was the sort of thing that certainly could transcend death. So Mulciber had both sworn himself to the late Lord of the castle and had unfinished business to see to.
She shuddered briefly, "Let it be justice you are meant to seek and not vengeance." Qixia knew that they were different and that differnce was important.
"Was this your room, Mulciber?" Qixia asked.
"The core of my being indeed lived here," he responded as he stepped inside. "He was offered finer quarters but he wished to not be given special treatment."
His disconnect from his primary soul was difficult to properly explain. As such, he wondered if she grasped the nuance that he was not the same Mulciber. Or could it be that she saw through him to a truth he denied? His namesake had been rendered a victim, his pride and honor tarnished by his failure to keep his vow; anyone would retreat from that pain given the chance. Was that what he was doing?
"Justice, you say? What even is that in this situation? To expel the villain from me, if that is where they reside?"
Qixia entered the room headfirst as she leaned in and peered about the room. Her eyes began on one corner and swept about in a counter clockwise direction to the next and the next and the next... If this was 'finer accommodation' as Mulciber had said, she was none the wiser. Qixia had not been on buildings and as such had no comparison. All she could do was trust that he spoke truly.
She stepped into the room slowly and straightened her back. It was a room, alright. The Qilin turned and faced her companion again.
"Justice is righting the balance." She told him plainly. It wasn't exactly so simple as that, how he went about seeking it did matter. "What would your Lord ask of others if they had done wrong? Do as he might ask." Or if the culprit resided within him amongst the myriad of souls, "And if he is a soul, you would expel him and have him face his karma until the evil is cleansed from him in the eternal fires."
Or so Qixia instinctively believed this to be the natural consequence of one who died with bad karma. Only then might they be reborn and given a new life with which to live well and transcend to nirvana.
"For a crime such as that? He wasn't so noble as to allow the fiend to remain a danger to others out of misplaced mercy. But he would likely have investigated non-lethal ways to ensure such a result," Mulciber explained with bittersweet remembrance. Though Lord Bloodwood was quite literally with him in spirit, he missed the relationship he—his namesake had with the man when they were alive.
The entity ran a finger through the dust on the dresser beside the bed. His emotions had kept him from properly maintaining the room. Shameful. He would have to do better should he remain at the keep.
"Non-lethal?" Qixia queried, her tone begged for clarification. She could not see how any manipulation of karma could absolve so heavy a sin. All the souls lost. The very ground was tainted from the evil done. She shook her head as she aske what she thougt to be a rhetorical question, "Would that truly be just and fair?"
She did not know everything and yet at the same time, she did know quite a lot. This was one of those things where her instincts told her this was the way. Perhaps, though, this did not have to be done her way. It was to satisfy Mulciber and the many souls that built him, an attempt to put them to rest and allow for Mulciber to move on. There could be another way.
"I am only here for support, Mulciber, mayhap it would be better not to ask how I might accomplish this?" Qixia offered to him. The answer was surely within him somewhere.
The core of his being was a creature of justice himself, but dragons and qilin would naturally have very different ideas of what that looked like. Dragons were predators at heart, and as such, their justice was often seized by tooth, claw, and dragon's breath. So having her balk at the idea of leaving the villain alive was profound.
"You misunderstand. The dragon in me could never show that kind of mercy to one so foul. Not even Eagar Bloodwood, kind to a fault, could. So worry not about misplaced mercy; they will reach your eternal fires one way or another," Mulciber answered, voice full of unwavering resolve.
"So..." She asked, "...what do you intend to do?"
Qixia had clearly misconstrued his earlier words. What she had took to be soft, was really perhaps his own way of not presenting his true feelings. Indeed, it would be vengeance of he was liable to fulfill his own dragon instincts. Mulciber deserved far more credit.
"We are in your old room." She turned about the place once more. "What next?"
"Now I try to remember that morning." The entity scanned the room, concentrating on dredging his mind for his namesake's last day. He stepped over to the room's bookshelf. Between two sets of moldering books sat a simple wooden figurine of a dragon, appearing to have been carved by a child. Picking it up, he gently ran his gloved fingers across it.
"He awoke at the same time he always did. And as always, he made himself presentable. However, on that day, he was gripped with a powerful nostalgia for the days when Eagar's children were still just boys, when they incessantly pestered him with questions about what it was like to be a dragon. But those days were gone and they had become men with more important things to attend to than their own senses of wonder."
He looked up from the figure as he returned it to its resting place and headed for the door. "Having made himself ready for the day, he headed out."
"Oh, I understand. Should I just... um, yeah, stay out of the way." Unsure of where to be in order to be of as little a hindrance as possible, Qixia shuffled herself into the nearest open corner she could find. Her hands folded together before her and she pressed her lips together, as if doing so would make her quieter still.
She eyed the figure and found that as Mulciber spoke, she too could feel the nostalgia. Qixia nearly broke her silence, but she bit her tongue and kept herself as a quiet observer.
Once Mulciber began to leave the room, she followed after. Gradually her feet lifted off the ground and she flew rather than walked. Wanting to be as quiet as possible so that her companion could focus, it only seemed to be the most practical. Headed out to work, I suspect. Qixia thought to herself.
Mulciber retraced the butler's steps in thoughtful silence, occasionally stopping to mimic one of the many unimportant interactions with the household staff under his leadership.
"Then he stopped by the kitchen to check on the morning preparations," he said as he passed into the room in question. He did a single circuit around the room and exited into the dining room. "There was nothing unusual with the kitchen staff, and the family breakfast was equally uneventful."
Qixia followed after Mulciber, paying as much if not more attention to the new surroundings they passed by. Then the kitchen came. It seemed so big! Question upon question filled up her mind until her lips trembled with all she wanted to ask about.
Like how many worked here? How many did they feed? How long did it take to make things? How many fires did they keep? Was it hard work? Did they make tasty food? Why was it called cooking and baking and what was the difference when both resulted in food that was eaten?
She behaved herself and kept quiet. Her head nodded in response. He departed from the kitchen and entered into an even larger and far more grandiose room. Qixia gasped in awe of the size of the table and she covered her mouth immediately. From behind her hands came a muffled whispered, "Sorry."
If he was bothered, he didn't show it. He continued back into the servants' corridor. "After breakfast, he continued his morning inspection..."
The reenactment of the fateful day continued without anything out of the ordinary until his recollection reached that evening. He had become increasingly nostalgic about his previous life throughout the process, often going on some tangent about his rather heartwarming relationship with the family.
There had been a guest that evening. He had been so focused on excluding possible intruders that he had discounted the possibility that the villain had been invited in. Walking back to the front door, he said, "There was a guest that evening. I can't seem to recall her face, but she had arrived with the older son. To everyone's surprise, he introduced her as his betrothed, Morgayne. She was beautiful, sure, but he had never mentioned her before. Such whirlwind courtships are unusual for noble families, yet she won the family over with her charm."
"Mulciber didn't like her," he realized. Why had he not thought of her before that moment? It was if the memory slipped away when not directly engaged.
In Mulciber's wake, she followed him. From one room to the next, down this hall and another. His namesake, as he called him, was a very busy fellow! With a great deal of business to tend do!
When he went on and told stories, Qixia found herself smiling. There seemed to be a warmth in his voice that cheered up the empty castle, even if only in a small corner of it. The fondness was palpable and she'd encourage Mulciber to go on if not for the entire purpose of this march through his memories.
Eventually they returned to the way they had first entered the castle. She could sense a shift in her newly met friend. Her head leaned to one side, and because she was aloft, the whole of her began to lean. Although her gaze followed his to the door and she could imagine seeing the very people that Mulciber recalled from the past, there was no one there but she and he.
"No?" Qixia asked. It seemed that they were drawing close to the end. She drifted into Mulciber's view as she probed, "She felt wrong?" She could only assume that the namesake might've had instincts similar to her own.
"She gained their approval far too easily. The fact that I could not remember her until now tells me that he was right; she was not to be trusted," he answered.
He began walking back to the servant's corridor. "In fact, I believe I just remembered something else. She looked different, but she smelled familiar. She smelled like one of the newer maids. The witch had been here for months." Draconic anger rose with each revelation. The strange woman was almost certainly the one who destroyed his world and killed everyone in it.
Qixia could not compare any of her own experiences with such as Mulciber she described. Then again, she'd never spoken with another human or humanoid before. All of her prior interactions had been with animals, after all, and their manner of speech and concept of trust was much different.
"Wha--?" She had been a little lost in her thoughts when Mulciber began to track back the way they'd come.
Quickly she followed his shadow before it melted into the others and she risk having to find him in so unfamiliar a place such as this. Qixia wasn't sure that she understood. "She was one of yours already?" Was that right? He had met her before that fateful night? But why would anyone do such a thing? It puzzled a creature as innocent as she to think of such plottings and plannings that were solely for the intent of evil.
"Yes. She said her name was Jessenna. I don't know why, but she was playing us the whole time." Mulciber proceeded to a door he had passed earlier. "And she was in charge of cleaning the basement."
He reached for the knob but hesitated significantly before opening the door. Sweeping down the stairs on a mission, he headed into the true darkness below. "Stay close; it's pitch black down here."
"Basement?" She had not heard that word before.
When they got to the door and the steps that descended down into a dark chasm, Qixia shivered a little. It wasn't just dark. There was something like damp and mold down there, but not the good kind, not like dew and moss in the forests or streams and watercress in meadows. The Qilin hesitated to continue on when faced with what lay ahead.
Her lips pursed together and she took a deep breath. Mulciber told her to stay close and that brought back to mind that she had told him he would not be alone in this. Qixia would not abandon him purely due to her discomfort and the foreboding feeling of this basement, as he called it. And if there was real darkness down there, she could purify it with her own fire and fill the space with her own kind of light. So she declared with a nod, "I'll be brave!"
And she reached out and took hold of his shoulder, for no closer could she be than touching, and with Mulciber they went into the depths of the castle.
"There is no danger to you beyond poor footing in the dark." Mulciber assured. Glancing down at her levitating feet, he added, "And that doesn't seem like much of a problem for you."
Looking ahead as he resumed walking down the stairs, he said, "However, I suppose some animal may have found their way inside in my reluctance to return to the place of my creation."
It was indeed as Mulciber had said. If poor footing was the primary hazard, it was of little concern to Qixia. She could plant her feet back on the ground if she wished, and elsewhere she may have, but not here. There was something about this basement that she did not like and prefer not to put her feet to.
She gave a shake of her head. "I have no fear of animals." If one was there, she was sure they would sooner flee than approach. No, she wrinkled her nose, it was in the air.
Mulciber didn't like the air down there either; it smelled of dark, forbidden things best left alone. He may be good but he was born from dark intentions, though ones that failed in their designs.
At the bottom of the stairs, he took a moment to remember the way and then resumed walking. "I was born in a hidden chamber, forgotten by the family. How this dark witch knew about it is a mystery that I'll have to find her to have any hope of solving. I know now that she is not a spirit in my keeping, and I am glad for it."
" That's good, yes?" Qixia asked when Mulciber said that the one who had done this was not part of his consortium of spirits. Surely that was a relief. He didn't seem to much like the thought that he carried the offending spirit with him. Now that was no longer a concern.
Finding her could be problematic, but it would give him purpose. A purpose far greater than simply keeping watch over an empty castle that was going derelict as each year passed. Qixia thought that this was all good progress, but did Mulciber think likewise?
A hidden chamber, he had said. "Hidden and secret? Or lost and forgotten?" She mused aloud in a whisper. This was centuries ago now, who was she to know how much older the place was. Would Mulciber know? If it had been found by someone from outside, it must have some meaningful existence to someone or at sometime it had been meaningful. "It would be odd for a guest to be down here." She didn't ask, but there was a hint of a question to her statement as if she were not so confident in it.
"But not for a maid," he answered, wondering again why the witch chose them for her spell. Had she been attempting to extend her life? Did she survive? Did she succeed elsewhere?
He eventually stopped before an opening in a wall—a secret passage left open for centuries. The entity had not wanted to touch it. He still didn't, but the need to know had become greater than his discomfort at the prospect of returning to the place. Even after hundreds of years, it still stank of blood and corruption.
"I will understand if you do not wish to enter such a tainted place. It is enough that you are even this close. I wouldn't have the resolve without your help."
The air was foul to the qilin. Her nose wrinkled and she grimaced deeply. Whatever was beyond the dark crevice, it did not bode well. Her instincts told her to burn the place of the ill will that was there. She had to keep that at bay for what if in the burning something, some clues that Mulciber sought, were destroyed?
"It is tainted now, but it need not be tainted forever." Qixia replied firmly. Besides, it was easy for her to avoid the worst of it. "So long as I touch nothing, I will be fine." She had come this far and she would not fail to support Mulciber in this endeavor, "I said you would not be alone. I will remain with you."
Mulciber gave her a grateful nod. "You have my gratitude."
After a momentary hesitation, he headed inside. Beyond the small passage was a room about half the size of the dining hall—just as wide but half as long, forming a perfectly square chamber. It appeared to have been a shrine at some point in the past, judging by the stone altar in the center. The altar is now defiled by sigils painted in blood still wet despite the centuries. Around the altar is a perfectly painted six-pointed star, made with the same blood. It reeked of forces best left alone.
"I tried cleaning it, but it returned the next day. It is not in my power to purify such things, only to keep others away. Perhaps, with your help, I can return this place to whatever deity it was built for."
Qixia gave Mulciber a smile and a nod, "Of course!"
If it had felt bad from the outside, it was far worse on the inside. That everything still appeared to be fresh presented a very dark and morbid aura to the room. The qilin did not recoil nor make to flee, but she did keep herself well away from the walls, floor, and ceiling.
"I do not know these sigils." Which went to say that they came from some culture she did not know or was so old that they may be lost to time. Or were secret. Records might hold their meaning and use, but Qixia had never seen such things. She couldn't even read. For all she had seen and observed over the past couple of hundred years she lived, her eyes had not seen these. Not anywhere. She peered at her companions and asked, "Mulciber, you have not seen these before? Nor any of the souls within?"
No, she didn't expect that ordinary cleansing methods would meet the task. Qixia even began to wonder if these sigils were still performing some manner of task, albeit it may be waning over time. What craft could concoct a spell that would last for eternity? Her instincts did say that only fire could cleanse this place. A fire so hot and holy that it may even singe her own hairs. Her fire had never met such a task before.
"I can do it." She said, a small warble in her voice as if there was some uncertainty as to the effectiveness. "It would have to be the greatest fire I have ever employed." She turned in place. "The whole room needs to be purged and even then there may be a shadow that remains. These sigils are older than I..." Qixia turned to Mulciber, "You should go outside to be safe. I'll not want you to come to any harm. You are good and my fire would be warm and pleasant, but if any soul within contained malcontent it may not be unscathed. I do not know what that may do to you."
Fire?! In the castle?! Was that truly the only way? The thought made him uneasy. But perhaps she could keep the flames contained somehow?
"What of the rest of the castle? Would it be harmed? I... don't know if I could live with that." Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure that cleansing the room of its enchantment wouldn't destroy him with it. But that concerned him less than harming the rest of the castle.
As he spoke, he poked around the room for clues he may have missed when he didn't know what he was looking for—when he had been too afraid to look. There, within a crack in the ground, was a glint of metal. Kneeling down, he extended a tendril of darkness to fish out the object. It was an earring with a curious design—a triangle with a spiral inside. A memory materialized as he studied it: his namesake had struggled with the witch and she lost one of her earrings.
"The rest of the castle?" She asked, a little confused about how her fire purifying one room might relate to the rest of the castle. "I... did you want me to purify the whole castle, too?" Nothing had felt strange or evil except down here in the basement, and especially this room. There was no need for her to go to that extent. That would be quite A LOT of fire. Could she even do that? She never tried to before because she had never any need to. "I was just going to burn the room."
Mulciber was giving the room one last look over as she puzzled over further if there was any need to purify the castle itself, all it's many rooms and halls and spaces. It seemed that he had found something. "What's that?" Qixia asked when he lifted up the little metal piece. That was a piece of jewelry, wasn't it? She didn't think that it was his.
Mulciber jerked his head towards her, the flames that were his eyes having grown as if he were wide-eyed. "Heavens no! I wish no harm to the rest of the castle. I may be leaving it behind but that doesn't mean I don't care about it."
When she came close to examine his discovery, he held it up so she could get a better look. The symbol somehow made her as uneasy as the dark magic that tainted it. "He tried to stop her. I remember now that, in doing so, he inadvertently took her place in the magic circle. That must be how he became the host for the stolen souls instead of her. Only..." He grew distant as he recalled the event that came next. It was the reason he had avoided returning. "... The spell tore him apart, turning him into a living shadow—into me."
Was he truly a different being, or was he simply detaching himself from his previous life to cope with what happened? He wasn't sure anymore. Did the distinction even matter?
How interesting! Qixia didn't care for the foreboding of the room or the malevolence that was contained in the sigil and yet the process piqued her interest. So this witch, as he called her, had been in the magic circle... "So she was in the circle and had begun the spell...?" Was that right? "...and then you pushed her out and came in?"
Did that have anything to do with how Mulciber came to be as he was?
The distinction either didn't matter to Qixia or was lost on her. Which was it, he wondered.
"Yes. He—I..." He seemed confused on that point of identity. "... shoved her aside, only to get caught in the center of the spell. I feel she would have met the same fate and been reborn the same as I, only as a being of evil."
"I do not know by what protection her soul remained in her body, but I'm sure she lived. Lives. I believe that this enchantment would have died with her. I just... I can't say why I believe that."
It was rather quite interesting to Qixia.
Whatever the spell was, it was surely one of ill intent. This witch, if she followed Mulciber correctly, had essentially sought out this place and laid groundwork. Her target was many and given Mulciber was so long lived, it was suspect that her intent was to prolong her own life. Or maybe it was to give her added strength by absorbing the multitude of souls. Or perhaps there was some other reason that could not be gleaned from memory or an earring.
Lost in her thoughts, questions circling about her head, Qixia looked back at her companion. "That is instinct." She told him matter-of-factly. "When you know something is true, but not why, that is instinct." She knew that very well herself.
"Instinct... yes. That is the preferable explanation," he responded. "I would hate to be linked to such a vile individual."
The entity stared at the tainted jewelry for a long moment. Being made up of Serenian souls, Mulciber knew a thing or two about magecraft. Most at the castle had no formal education in magic, but Master Eagar was, at least, moderately skilled. He could certainly have cast a tracking spell, though it would have been easier with blood or hair. Still, the earring reeked of her magic. It could work.
She nodded in agreement. Instinct was much preferable as the reasoning rather than so vile a soul being part of the bevy that made up Mulciber's being. Qixia looked around the room once more as he went silent and she took a turn about it. She was checking for any spaces that might exist, any little exits that she ought to be mindful of.
"You still would like me to purify the room, yes?" She asked, looking back at Mulciber. He appeared a bit lost in his thoughts, but surely he had heard her. "Are you ready? If you but cross the threshold, that should do to keep you from harm."
She had figured that if she kept herself in the center, the flames could be controlled to only go so far. Or better yet, she could stand in the entryway and drive the flames into the room as far as they could go before blowing back upon itself. She wanted the flames to roil and seethe like a raging river so that no space could be spared. The heat had to permeate into the stone and what little pores they might have, into the mortar which was much more likely to absorb. Qixia wanted to thoroughly erase the evil that was done here. Maybe then life might return more readily than before and the eerie chill would dissipate.
The draconic skull nodded. "Yes. I believe I've discovered all I can about the room as it is."
With no further word, he stepped beyond the threshold and turned around to observe. He considered informing her of the remote possibility that erasing the spell would end his existence but decided it would only cause her to hesitate. He was okay with the possible release of the spirits that composed his being; they deserved a proper rest, at least as much as he deserved to live. "Whenever you're ready."
She followed him and planted herself between Mulciber and the room. Her fire was very seldom used before today. For some, that might cause hesitation, but not for Qixia. She felt herself capable purely in the core of her being. Ah, yes, being... her form shifted back to her true morph. Even in the dim light afforded by that which Mulciber had led them by, her hair shimmered and glistened like polished metal.
A warmth billowed up from within her and without sound or movement, a spark erupted before her. Qixia opened her mouth and blew that spark into a flame. It flickered and grew and then roared into a massive inferno. She continued to blow into it and it licked at the ceiling and reached into the corners. There were tendrils that spun and swirled as it engulfed the entirety and yet, for a room full of fire, there was hardly any heat. None that Qixia could feel, at least, but so long as those who were near were good they were not like to feel even the barest of warmth.
Had it been long enough? No, not yet. She blew a little harder. Something was still in there, lingering, holding on... it was giving way. The Qilin seemed to be bearing down in those final moments. It would succumb, just... a... little... more...!
Qixia gave a gasp. The fire began to recede away and the room was left looking a little hazy, the stones were darkened but dry, no longer glistening with red or holding insignias. Qixia was panting from the effort and yet she was satisfied with the outcome, so much so that her feet planted on the floor. She hadn't shifted back to her human morph, it would take her time to recover and she knew that it would be better if she stayed as she truly was to do so. Even so, she turned and looked up at Mulciber with her big, brown, doe-like eyes and told him, "All done!"
Mulciber was intrigued by the lack of heat, but even more so he was relieved that his form didn't so much as waver from the erasure of the dark spell. In fact, he felt more grounded in reality than ever before, as if the curse upon the castle had been drawing energy from him to keep itself going.
"Incredible... I... I feel lighter somehow and stronger too. It's as if all this time I've been chained and now those bonds have been broken."
"You think I helped?" Qixia asked excitedly.
Normally she didn't interact with those she purified or those to whom she delivered good karma, good luck. She had yet to know what it might be like to be praised and appreciated. Mulciber was the first to even express what it felt like to they who might benefit from her actions.
"The evil is gone." She looked back into the room briefly. "Karma is balanced here, and if it weren't, the scales are tipped towards the good." That was a vast improvement if she might say so! Qixia looked back at her companion, "And you're here still!"
Mulciber looked no different. He wasn't behaving any differently either. What change he felt was something all for himself and to his benefit. Perhaps he could now feel more at ease to leave the castle behind and live his life anew. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
"Yes. It had occurred to me that the curse upon the castle might be what holds me together. I am..." Mulciber felt something he had never experienced outside of inherited memories: happiness. His voice grew more content as he continued, "... happy that is not the case."
He gave her a gracious bow in lieu of the smile he couldn't provide. "Thank you, Qixia. You have my undying gratitude for removing the source of the blight upon the castle and surrounding wilderness."
"Oh!" She exclaimed, taking a step back in her surprise. Mulciber bowing to her in a show of gratitude was truly unexpected. Had she been human, her cheeks would have flushed a brilliant pink. "I mean, it's what I'm here for." She shyly replied. "It makes me happy, too, to know I did good."
Her stomach felt all bubbly and it was so difficult to stay still. It was as if she were being tickled all over! Qixia had never experienced such a sensation. If she interacted more with those she helped, might she feel this way again? It might well be worth the effort.
"What will you do now, Mulciber?" Qixia asked him. She was liable to just keep on what she'd always done: following no path at all, going wherever which way her feet stepped. There was nearly almost something to do no matter the direction she went in. Like today! "Will you try to seek out this witch? Or will you look to find new purpose?"
"I will have to think on it, but I do not much like the idea of leaving her to bring about further suffering and death. As you would say, her karma has yet to be balanced."
Perhaps this was why he existed, if indeed there was a greater cosmic good at work—to seek what justice he could for the souls in his keeping. No one else was going to.
The Qilin gave a series of nods. She very much agreed that regarding that individual, their karma was grossly unbalanced. There was a great misjustice in the world so long as she went waltzing about with her evil. Qixia said at length, "That would be a good purpose."
Her tail lazily swept behind her and she asked, "We can go back up now, yes? I miss the sky." The basement no longer felt so foul but she still felt some discomfort being within the earth in such a manner. This was no natural cave, after all, and the air did not flow so freely as it did in the rest of the castle above.
The entity chuckled. "Yes. Yes, we can."
He said little else as he led her back out of the basement, his mind preoccupied with deciding his path forward. He would miss the castle but leaving would be for the best.
It was dusk by the time they stepped out under the sky once more. Mulciber turned to her and asked, "Where will you go next?"
The walk out of the basement and through the castle, all the way back through those big doors lightened her spirit. Qixia took a great deep breath of the fresh air and looked visibly refreshed. Her eyes a bit brighter, the shine in her scales more vibrant. Feeling the breeze on her cheeks and through her hair enlivened her and filled her with energy far faster than being indoors ever could.
"Thank you, this is much better." She told Mulciber, although she did not shift from her true form. Qixia did consider his question some. There was never a definitive answer to where she would go next. Her eyes lifted up to the darkening sky, long hairs shifting over her forehead, clinging to her horns or dangling over her ears. "I do not know. I follow my feet where they take me and do what I can whenever I get to where they lead me." With her head still inclined, indeed she needed to in order to look at Mulciber for he was a good deal taller than she regardless of what form she took lest she levitate herself level with him... She was especially today with her destination. "Today my feet took me to you and I did good. I learned so much, too, so much more than I had in a long while. More than that, I made my first acquaintance!" She looked back to the sky. "It was a good day."
Just an acquaintance? That felt woefully insufficient. To him, at least, she was something that he previously only had in memory.
He followed her gaze as he spoke. The colors of the sunset seemed more vivid than before. "With the gift you've given me, I owe you more than mere acquaintanceship. Though our paths may never cross again, I would be delighted to call you my friend."
Friend? She wasn't sure she knew what that meant exactly. The Qilin turned back to look at Mulciber curiously. It seemed to her that if he used the word, he would know the meaning of it.
"What is a friend?" Qixia asked. "Is it a special title? Is it a kind of job?" The way Mulciber said it, with a sort of warmth in his tone, made it sound like something nice. She asked the most important question last, "Is it good?"
"A friend is..." He paused to think, turning his head to regard her. "... someone you can rely on, someone who sees and accepts you for who you are. They are someone you would enjoy seeing again. You certainly fit those criteria for me."
If a Qilin could blush, Qixia was certainly doing that just then. What a glowing way to compliment someone! It felt like one of the highest of regards one could bestow upon another. It was similar to how it felt when he had thanked her for her help earlier back down in the basement.
"Oh." She gasped. "Oh my." She fidgeted where she stood. "That's so very nice. The nicest thing!" Qixia gave a nod to Mulciber, "Yes, I think I would like to be called a friend!" And with another nod she told him, "And I shall call you friend as well, Mulciber."
It was getting on into the evening and Qixia had no intentions to travel through the night. Her energy was still low and it would be good for her to rest. "I'll not depart until dawn. Maybe we could spend the night, as friends." It struck her to be a very good idea. Having a companion was much preferred to being alone. The Qilin found it very pleasant and she was sure that they could find a way to fill the quiet times with questions and conversation. Should they indeed part ways in the morning, they would have even more memorable moments shared between them to bide the time until they might next meet again.
"It would be my honor to spend the evening in your company," Mulciber answered, feeling pleased. Though he could not smile, he knew that he would if it were possible.
An idea struck him. "Have you ever had tea? A misinformed adventurer dropped his pack as he fled. It should still be good."
"Tea..." Qixia thought hard. It sounded familiar, as if she had heard it spoken of before. The answer was very simple, but she wished to recall if she held any familiarity to it.
"I've never eaten of human food." She told Mulciber. "So, no, I have not had tea. I have heard it in passing, though." She would try some human things tonight. Her new experiences continued to grow! "Is it hard to make? Is it something many like? What is tea?"
"Tea is..." he responded, taking a second to think, "Easy to make but difficult to master. Luckily for you, my core soul was a very good butler. If you would allow me a moment to fetch the leaves and the kettle, I will happily prepare some."
With her leave, he disappeared inside for about ten minutes before returning with what he needed to prepare tea over an open fire. "Now to start a fire so I may prepare the hot water..." he said, gathering some firewood.
Easy to make but difficult to master... That was an interesting thing to Qixia. Did that mean that perhaps it could be made wrong? Or that it could be made easily, but that with skill it could be most delicious? What really piqued her interest was that it involved leaves. "Oh, so it is a plant?!"
Feeling a bit better as Mulciber hurried away, Qixia stretched and checked her energy level. She had replenished enough for a shift. Before her friend had returned, she took back on her human morph. Her legs crossed over the other and she sat patiently on the floor waiting for his return.
Upon his return, Mulciber mentioned fire. "Do you need help?"
Mulciber shook his head. It just wouldn't do to have his guest trouble herself further for his sake. "I do not require assistance, but I appreciate the offer."
Before long, the kettle was heating over a small campfire. "There. It should be ready for the next step shortly," he said as he sat down by the fire. "As for your question from earlier, yes. Tea is made from the leaves of a plant, but it is often flavored further by the addition of other plants. And after it is prepared, many add sugar to sweeten it."
No help needed... Qixia was unaccustomed to being catered to. She was unaccustomed to a lot of things that came along with keeping company with another, particularly anything or anyone of a more humanoid persuasion. This was a good exercise in playing at being human she supposed.
She watched and observed Mulciber keenly as he went about building fire and heating water. It did take some time for the water in the kettle to bubble and roll, steam coiling as it rose and vanished into the cool air. Qixia nodded as Mulciber explained more about tea. About adding other plants for flavor, sugar to sweeten.
"Is flavor important?" She asked him.
"Most humanoids enjoy a great variety of flavors and have become very creative with how they satisfy their palates. It mattered less to my core, but even dragons enjoy the occasional human dish. He was especially fond of pie," the being answered.
He gave a bittersweet sigh—never again would he know the joys of pastry. "Sadly, I can only experience such things in memory for I do not have a functional mouth or anything else associated with food."
This was very intriguing to Qixia. Not just this concept of tastes and flavors, but food itself. She drank water, yes, and did eat what nature did provide. She had never had anything that had been made by human, or humanoid, hands before. Qixia had observed this behavior but of course had never partaken in it. That would have meant interacting with them and that... well, she just hadn't been so bold and it had never been necessary nor invited.
What also piqued her interest was Mulciber said he had no functional mouth. It made Qixia look much more closely at her newfound friend. "Does no mouth mean you have no need for sustenance?" That wasn't entirely foreign to her. Spirits had no need of food. Even she never felt truly hungry, but she was certainly no spirit. Since Mulciber was made up of many souls, perhaps he was more akin to a spirit than she.
"Correct. I do not. While I must occasionally indulge the parts of me that desire to hunt, I have no need to kill what I catch," Mulciber answered in his usual matter-of-fact tone. Underneath that, however, was a deep sadness over not being truly alive in any sense that a mortal being could recognize.
He placed some loose tea leaves into a small, fine basket and placed it in a cup. When the steam from the water caused the kettle to whistle, he took it from the flames and poured the hot water over the leaves until the cup was full. "Now we wait a few minutes for the water to leech the flavor from the leaves."