Chapter 98: The missing bead
The preparation chamber smelled of sandalwood and cold water.
The two things monks used to ready the dead.
Shen lay on the low stone table at its center. The body’s robes were changed, hands folded properly now with respect that a vassal of soul deserves.
Only the eyes gave it away still.
Janus stood over beside him without touching anything, hands placed in the pockets of his formal mud brown pants, paired with a fine black suit with a mud brown vest underneath.
He was just simply looking at Shen.
Selene leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, watched him the way she always did.
She wasn’t wearing a uniform of court, instead she wore a dark red long suit, paired with a tight feminine bell bottom pants, and a black shirt.
"You’ve been standing there long enough that I could’ve finished my rounds ’round the monastery twice," she said.
"That’s not the same as me being slow." Janus didn’t look up.
"Stop flattering yourself already, you haven’t told me anything yet." She exhaled faintly, akin to a laugh.
Janus crouched, and studied the dried tracks beneath the eyes.
"Not a single wound, no trace of poison, no bruising consistent with restraint, no defensive mark, nothing that would suggest he needed to fight."
"And he didn’t." Selene said.
"Exactly, he didn’t," Janus straightened. "Because there was nothing to fight, whatever did this...it drank him."
"Drank?" She asked.
"Life force." He gestured at Shen’s chest.
"Life force is not mana or aura, it’s just the force of life, in literal sense. An awakened individual has a core channeling mana or aura, it acts as a protective cover for the life force, that’s why when someone or something tries to drain the force from an awakened individual, they experience retaliation from the core," Janus explained.
"But with a commoner, its different story," he said. "His soul was structurally undefended."
"Which tells us two things," Janus made a ’v’ sign from his fingers. "Whatever or whoever did this either cannot touch an awakened, or doesn’t need to bother trying, because commoners are simpler, and there are so many more of them to choose from."
"That does not sound comforting at all," Selene muttered under her breath.
"Any trace of demonic energy?" she asked.
"There’s no demonic signature, not even a faint or masked one," Janus replied.
Selene’s shoulders eased at that, just slightly. "Then it isn’t what the report feared."
"I’d refrain from making that conclusion," Janus said.
"Absence of evidence does not always means the absence of cause, if there is no demonic signature it implies that either there was no presence of one, or the being is capable of removing its traces to a point where even I cannot perceive at all."
"This isn’t because of a spell either. Even a clean one leaves the shape of its casting behind. Beyond the ridge is just deep northern fall of the mountains, during meditation monks are sensitive to intent, that means it wasn’t done from a distance either. Something already close enough that there was no casting at all."
"You’re saying something was already on him?" Selene questioned.
"Precisely. A parasite doesn’t cast a spell to bite you, it just waits for a moment where you can’t stop it..." Janus muttered his thoughts.
"A parasite that leaves no demonic trace, drinks life force clean through a soul with no core to stop it, and vanishes without a mark." Selene’s voice had gone flat from realization.
"You understand how that sounds?" she asked.
"I understand it’s the only theory that fits everything I didn’t find as well as everything I did," Janus glanced at Selene.
"If you’re right, then it’s already gone...somewhere...attached to someone or something else, or simply-" she paused.
"Returned to its owner." Janus completed her thoughts.
"Why would anyone ... no- What could anyone get from making monks suffer like this?" Selene questioned, furrowing her brows.
"I mean, they harbor no ill intent to anyone, they just pray and live their lives helping others," she said.
"And if someone really wants to harm people, why only munks?"
"Those are really good questions, and the ones that we need to find, so in a way you just stated the obvious," Janus replied with a scoff.
"...Did you just scoff at me?" She asked leaning forward.
"No, absolutely not, ma’am," Janus replied.
Selene’s shook her head with a faint smile.
Then her eyes drifted, unconsciously, toward the door.
"There’s a matter of jurisdiction I still need to close," she said.
"Two academy cadets are on the grounds, officially at that. Anyone operating in a case under court review answers through me while they’re here, whether the academy likes that or not."
"Oh~ feisty words," Janus commented.
"Are they the ones that little monk requisitioned?" he then asked.
"Your read the file?" Selene glanced at him.
"I read everyone’s file," he adjusted his tie halfway through the conversation, "A monastery child bypassing the abbot, the court, and half the requisition chain by going straight to the Graves’ household, and getting it approved faster than the court could reach here, I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t the most interesting name in the entire report."
"Anyone clever enough to make bureaucracy move that quickly is either very well connected, or very well informed." He said.
Selene nodded, and they both stepped out of the room together.
Cold breeze bustled the corridor outside.
Janus matched Selene’s pace with his hands in the pockets, saying nothing.
’Grave’s household...’ Janus thought. Until now he had not contemplated on the thought.
But when he thought about it, he was already getting an idea of what is happening.
’Graves serve the fifth, and fifth is Marcus, what the hell is he trying to pull again?’ he thought.
"Why’re you spacing out?" Selene asked as Janus was just staring at the floor stones while walking alongside her.
"It isn’t intentional, it’s called thinking. You should try it sometimes," he said.
"..."
They crossed the stone bridge in silence after that, the pond catching the light beneath them.
They walked for a while until voices reached them from the courtyard ahead.
A boy and a girl in academy uniforms, standing with a shaved-headed monk child between them, mid-conversation that died the moment they heard footsteps.
Darin turned first, straightening on instint at the cut of Janus’s coat and Selene’s presence.
Jinhai however, just simple looked at them.
"You’re the one who spoke to the abbot," These were Jinhai’s first words upon facing Janus.
Selene’s brows lifted in a surprise, and she turned to face Janus.
"Way to go~ You even irritated a child now?" She commented.
"No...I’m meeting him for the first time..." Janus replied.
"I guess news travels fast in the mountains," he said looking at Jinhai. "Especially for a place where there is one less person to carry it...Haha,"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"""That was SO mean!!!""" Selene, Darin, and Elyra spoke at the same time.