Bastion 2 - Chapter 36

“What can I do?” I yelled as I pinned Cho’s body to keep him from flailing out of bed.

“I don’t know,” Mae said with dread. “If you send ma through him, I can assess him like I had your mother, but that will take time!”

We didn’t have time, but we didn’t have another choice. “Will it infect me?”

“There’s a non-zero possibility…”

Il-sung mumbled sleepily as he sat up. He waved his hands in front of his face. “Why is it so dark? What’s that noise?” he asked with increasing fear.

“Cho is having a seizure. The tea is taking effect.” I couldn’t spare more words than that as I worked to cycle ma with what little energy I had left. I placed my hand over his heart and held his arm with the other.

“What are we going to do? Why can’t I see?” Il-sung screamed as panic overtook his reason and he tried to climb out of bed.

“Stay put!” I commanded and he sat back on his bed, sobbing.

“I don’t want to lose my sight,” he murmured, then prayed to Jigu.

Mae took control of my munje and it flowed through Cho’s vibrating body, returning to me burning hot. The ma prickled my palm with needling pain as it flowed into me. I felt Mae’s intention as she tried to filter out the malware, but some were slipping through.

“We can handle it,” she said as the flow of munje continued.

I recycled the ma carefully and added it back to the flow. The searing heat in my veins was near intolerable when Mae cut off the stream. Cho’s seizing slowed to trembling and infrequent movements.

“I used your ma to coat his core in a similar way that your father had done for your mother. He has maybe ten minutes before the malware breaks through, and a few hours of pain before he dies.” Mae’s voice was heavy with exhaustion.

“We need to get him to Min-hwan,” I whispered as the pieces came together. “Il-sung, I’m going to guide you to Cho, and we’ll carry him to the main pagoda where you can both get help.”

“But I can’t see,” he said with a sniffle.

“Are you a Bastion, or will you let a little blindness keep you from saving your friend?” I demanded as I walked around to his bed. I grabbed his hand and he nodded.

“Okay, I’ll try.”

I pulled Cho up and wrapped his arms around each of our shoulders as shouts for help erupted in the hallway. I moved us through the crowd, keeping on hand gripping the back of Il-sung’s shirt as I held Cho’s arm with the other.

Shin-soo caught my gaze as he held the massive Tae-do over his back. He limped toward me with the heavy boy on his back. “What is this?” he demanded.

“I don’t know enough,” I said as I moved on with Cho and Il-sung.

“Wait, please,” Shin-soo said, his voice laden with fear and desperation.

I looked over my shoulder. “Did he have a seizure?”

“A what?” Shin-soo asked as he followed, laboriously.

“Did his body move erratically? Is he unresponsive?”

“Yes. I used zo to calm his nerves and he stopped,” he reported as he followed.

“Come with us,” I said and forged my way through the front door.

People shoved past us, running for the main pagoda as they bled from their mouths, or ears, or vomited yellow-green bile. The resident village was pure chaos as we pulled ourselves along through the crowd until I saw them.

“Hana!” I screamed. She and Yuri ran for us, horror in their wide eyes.

“Hana, get Cho’s other arm. Yuri, Help Shin-soo.” I grunted as I pulled Cho up, releasing Il-sung as I did.

Fifth-year students pointed the way, bringing order to the insanity with booms of ry commands. “Form a line! Walk, do not run! Quiet down!”

The crowd simmered to a panicked, orderly herd as we kept moving.

Min-hwan threw the front doors open wide as he gave new orders, “If you’re gravely ill, come directly to me in the alchemy room. If you’re ailed but not critical, go to the dining hall for treatment.”

Cho began to tremble harder under my grip and I moved us through the crowd to the other side, squeezing into the opening sideways. We picked up the pace as we moved down the hall toward the overflowing alchemy lab. There were students standing in the doorway, shouting for help, obscuring Min-hwan from view.

I left Cho with Hana and elbowed my way through the crowd. “It’s attacking their core! Min-hwan! They’re dying!”

Older students came through, dragging the able-bodied students away to the dining hall, and I helped Hana move Cho into the alchemy room, Shin-soo and Yuri close behind with Tae-do in tow. There were six other students laid out on the cleaned off tables, all seizing like Cho had been.

“I can help them,” I said to Min-hwan. “I need more energy.”

Min-hwan turned to Sung-ki and nodded. He went to the storeroom and returned a moment later with a dark potion in a metal bound vial. He handed it to me. I drank it back without asking and felt a rush of strength enter my body.

I cleared my mind and cycled ma and moved from student to student. Mae coated their cores with the same ma shield she had created for Cho. I added a bit of li-ry to the mix, like I’d seen Ryni do at the Rabbit so many times before. Her spell would kick a patrons core into action to detoxify the system, and destroy the effects of the alcohol. I hoped I could do something similar.

I weaved the two munje together in my core, focusing on my intent: Create willing ma. The instruction was simple, but effective. Mae confirmed that my spell activated the subject’s core to create munje with no purpose. My ma picked it up, shaping it into the barrier like adding links to a chain.

By the end of it, I was drained. My limbs were weak, and I slumped back against the wall.

Sung-ki gave me another of the same potion, but with a warning, “This is a mixed Sayuki Basil potion, called Battle Strength. Too much can kill you. This much should be tolerable.”

I panted, sweat gathered at my brow, and accepted the vial. I gulped it down. “Thank you.”

The potion took effect a moment later—much slower than the first one had. When I had enough strength, I stood. “What I’ve done is coated their core in a shield of reflective ma. The other munje can’t touch it, including the malware.

“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to replicate the same effect, as I had Mae—” I stopped short, looking at Sung-ki.

He raised a brow in amusement. “You often think you get away with your deceit because I’ve played none the wiser. I assure you, Mr. Law, I know about the ghost trapped in you.”

I sighed—part of me relieved, and the other fearful for Mae’s safety.

Yuri gripped Cho’s trembling hand. “Just tell us how we can help.”

I nodded. “Right, so, Mae helped me to code my nanites. I’m not sure if she can explain it to you, but…”

Mae’s voice crackled to life through the speaker on my chest. “Feed the core shields with your ma, just willing ma. I can’t teach you to replicate the spell in time, but we’ve coded Jiyong’s ma to convert any willingly given munje into the shield. This will buy them time, but I’m not sure how much before Jiyong’s and the subjects’ ma is eradicated. The malware is smart. It will seek out the Jiyong’s ma first and destroy it. Without Jiyong’s ma, yours and the ailed students’ ma will do nothing.”

“I’ll stay with these students,” Sung-ki offered. “I can work on crafting a more natural solution between my rounds.”

“Me too,” Yuri said as her gaze locked on the trembling Cho.

“What can I do?” Shin-soo asked, apparently unfazed by the voice projecting from my chest. How was it that this didn’t surprise him? How long had he known about Mae, and why hadn’t he ratted me out to Tae-do?

Min-hwan motioned for Hana, Shin-soo, and me to follow him to the storeroom. He closed the door behind us. “The others have varying effects. Why is this?”

Mae sighed. “I don’t know. The malware reactions may have been pre-programmed based on the data that was sent for the last few hours, so it could be reacting to specific factors inside the body, or it could be completely random. I’d have to assess everyone.”

“I had trusted agents among the sungchal who investigated the Wong dojang. There was nothing there.” Min-hwan said as he turned to pace. “They got wind of our awareness somehow and must have moved everything.”

Ko-nah’s fake blush flashed through my mind. “I think I know how. Ko-nah wasn’t at dinner, and not in his room tonight. I think he’s working directly with Hiro Kumiho—the man in the fox mask.”

Shin-soo nodded. “I know the Wongs. All they want is strength and power. If they’re involved in this work, they would only be a willing partner for the strength drugs—probably the money too—but Ko-nah… He wants something else. He may want whatever this Hiro Kum-whatever wants.”

Min-hwan stroked his beard in long, flowing movements as he eyed Shin-soo. “When did you make the Silent Pact?”

Shin-soo’s eyes bulged. “How do you…?”

Min-hwan chuckled grimly. “I am a Grandmaster; detecting hidden spells is like breathing to me.”

“This summer,” Shin-soo said with a wince. It was obvious the pain was too great to say any more.

What in the name of Jigu was this Silent Pact?

“A promise that cannot be broken without breaking the mind, and destroying the spirit,” Min-hwan replied to my thought. “Jiyong, you’ve tracked the signal before, yes?”

I nodded.

“Good. Then you can track it again,” he said, as if final.

I stopped him. “We will need an infected to come with us to track it. Their status could deteriorate too quickly to heal on the way. Moreover, we could be far too late. They could’ve moved anywhere within or without the kingdom—

“Leave that to me,” Min-hwan said in a commanding tone. “Your transport, and your security detail is handled. We just need to know where to go.”

“Then I will consume the potion—

“No!” Hana declared, stomping her foot. “I won’t allow you to do this.”

“I’ll do it,” Shin-soo offered. His eyes were dark, shadowed by his worry-stricken brow. But there was determination there too. He was answering the call I’d given him long ago. Chase victory with me. What greater victory could we chase than saving our friends, our school?

But this wasn’t his responsibility. He didn’t cause this calamity, and I couldn’t weigh it’s consequences upon him. He’d tried to stop it, but his Silent Pact prevented him from telling us the truth outright—and still did. What else did he know that he couldn’t tell us?

“No,” I said as I shook my head. “Mae and I can track this better if it’s within us. That’s the only option.”

“That’s a lie,” Mae said to just me.

‘I will not risk another life.’

“Agreed. I know we can handle this,” she said with confidence in me for the first time in what felt like ages. “We’ve gotten so stupid lucky the last few months, there’s no way it’ll run out now, right?”

Min-hwan eyed me carefully. I wasn’t a fool. I knew he and Sung-ki heard the conversations that Mae and I had secretly—until I learned better control, of course.

The Grandmaster nodded. “Jiyong will take the smallest portion possible. A detail of fighters will accompany you to the site. Destroy the source of the signal, reverse it, do what you must to end this madness.”

“Not without me,” Hana said, holding my arm tightly.

I touched her hand and looked into her eyes. “You know what Hiro Kumiho is capable of. We are no match for him.”

She straightened, and her tone was level as she said, “All the more reason for me to go.”

“And me,” Shin-soo said as he nodded.

“You could die,” I said, trying to dissuade him.

He shook his head, then shrugged. “What am I if I don’t rise to the challenge of a Bastion… to the challenge of my rival?”

I knocked my chest twice and held out my knuckles. Shin-soo face brightened, his brow smoothing a little as he returned the gesture. Perhaps we weren’t friends yet, but we would fight beside one another, tooth and nail, to the very last breath, chasing victory.

“So, it’s decided,” Min-hwan said. “Don’t let us down.”