The Weight of Steel

Kaede dragged him into the main hall, away from the holy wards that were burning his skin.

Ren lay on the wooden floor, gasping. The black crystallization had spread past his shoulder, creeping up his neck. The air smelled of decay.

"Explain," Kaede demanded. Her hand was on her sword, but her fingers were numb.

"The God of Rot... he doesn't have a body," Ren wheezed. "He is energy. Entropy. Every generation, the priesthood selects a child. They bind the God into the child’s soul. The vessel contains the rot, keeps it from spreading to the land."

"And when the vessel fills up?" Kaede asked, her voice trembling.

"We come here," Ren said. He looked at the ceiling. "To the mountain where the veil is thin. We wait for the Red Moon. And then the Guardian... sends us on."

Kaede felt the blood drain from her face.

"Sends you on?"

"You kill us," Ren said softly. "You sever the knot of the soul. When the vessel dies under the Red Moon, the God is forced back into dormancy. The cycle resets."

Kaede staggered back. "No. My duty is to guard the gate. To fight the beast if it breaks out."

"That is the lie they tell the samurai so they can sleep at night," Ren said. "It is easier to fight a monster than to murder a boy."

Kaede turned and ran to the archives. She tore the scrolls from the shelves. She read frantically, looking for a counter-spell, an exorcism, anything.

But as she read between the lines of the flowery prose, the truth bled through.

* Guardian Jiro: Dispatched the Subject at midnight.*
* Guardian Hana: Subject struggled. Mercy granted.*

They were kill logs.

She wasn't a warrior. She was an executioner.

She returned to the hall. Ren was sitting up, watching the moon rise through the open doors. It was turning a sickly, copper color.

"You knew," Kaede whispered. "That’s why you came."

"I could feel him taking over," Ren said. He held up his hand. The fingers were fused together by the black stone. "If I stayed in the village, I would have killed everyone. My parents. My sister. I came here to die where it was safe."

He looked at her. The charm was gone, replaced by a terrifying acceptance.

"The Moon is turning, Kaede. You have to do it."

"I can't," Kaede said. tears finally spilling over. "I am not a murderer."

"If you don't," Ren said, his voice dropping an octave, becoming distorted, "then *He* will wake up. And he will be hungry. He will eat Omi. He will eat the capital. He will eat you."

He struggled to his feet. He picked up her *naginata* from the rack and threw it to her.

She caught it instinctively.

"Be a samurai, Kaede," Ren commanded, a flash of his old spark in his eyes. "Do your duty."