Chapter Forty-Three Kasu
THE PLAY on stage ended with a polite smattering of applause. Kasu clapped until her hands stung. The gods truly were masters of the fine arts. As she’d suspected, the plays in the heavens were countless steps above the vile slop they put on in the under-realm.
Kasu turned to General Shusa. “Do the heavens perform plays often?”
“Only for special occasions such as this.” He winked at her.
In the corner of her eye, Kasu caught sight of Ruo bounding their way towards her.
“I liked the entertainment,” they purred. “Though it’s not as good as General Shusa: Life and Love of a Loser God.”
“Ruo!” Kasu wished the ground would swallow her up right then and there.
“Do you know it?” Ruo asked the general, oblivious to Kasu’s mortified expression, and then they began to sing, out of tune:
“Little flower, dressed in red, left alone to wither and rot –
When the young man returned, he cast her aside
And into the mud she sank.”
They weren’t even words from the right play. They weren’t words from a play at all, but from a song that was popular in the under-realm. “The Song of Shusa’s Lover”.
“That’s … interesting.” Kasu could tell that he was trying very hard to be polite, but General Shusa’s smile was strained.
“It’s just meaningless slander. You know what the under-realm is like,” she hurried to assure him.
“I’m aware of the under-realm’s opinion of me.
As much as it pains me, I must admit some of it is true.
When I was a human, I had a lover. When the war broke out, we were forced apart.
Once we reunited, I discovered she had done terrible things.
She had killed people, robbed people, hurt innocents.
As much as I loved her, I couldn’t condone it.
I left her and ascended to the heavens, and I have never thought about her since. ”
“You did the right thing.”
“I know I did.”
At the edge of the courtyard, the crowd grew agitated. Kasu craned her neck to get a glimpse of what was happening when an attendant suddenly announced:
“Her Holiness, the Celestial Empress!”
Kasu swore her heart stopped for all of two seconds. In the midst of the crowd, she could just about make out the whisper of a pale-gold dress. The click of heels against the stone path.
General Shusa gestured for Kasu to accompany him and strode forward to welcome the head god. Her legs shook as she followed.
As the crowd parted, Kasu found herself standing mere feet away from the Celestial Empress.
She was shorter and younger-looking than Kasu had expected, though her youthful features disguised her true age.
The Celestial Empress was the first and eldest of the gods in the heavens.
Upon her snow-white hair, she wore a crown in the shape of a sun.
Her golden dress was adorned with strings of pearls that encircled her wrists and waist, clinking against each other with every step she took.
“So you’re the ghost that has been creating havoc in the under-realm.” Her voice was the sound of bells chiming softly in the wind.
“Y–yes? I mean, yes, I am, Your Holiness.” Kasu jumped to attention.
General Shusa attempted an introduction. “This is Kasu. She’s the one I told you about,” he said.
The Empress seemed uninterested. Her eyes were a solid block of white, without irises or pupils – it was difficult to tell where she was looking.
“P–please, allow me to serve you!” Kasu reached for the nearest tray of wine. The maid holding it abruptly twisted so that Kasu grabbed a red cup.
“I don’t need a ghost to wait on me.” The curl of disdain in the goddess’s voice made Kasu shrink back.
Orro was at the empress’s side in an instant, placing a blood-red cup in front of her.
The Celestial Empress glanced down at the liquid in her glass before returning her gaze to Kasu’s face.
“You and General Shusa might think you’ve done well by slaying those demons, but the demon rulers served a purpose. A power vacuum only creates chaos.”
And, according to Heavenly Principle number one hundred and forty-four, evil was born from chaos. Kasu knew that well.
“That – that’s certainly true, Your Holiness. But the demon lords were also cruel. And greedy. They only cared about themselves and their own interests.”
“They’re demons. And living in the under-realm is not meant to be pleasant. Or well-governed. It is punishment for falling out of the cycle of souls.”
Kasu lowered her head. There wasn’t much she could say when someone brought that up.
But… a small voice inside her argued. But what about my mother, who abandoned her children and was not punished?
Kasu’s mother had been allowed to reincarante just like any other mortal.
Was what Kasu had done so much worse? What about what Arun had said to General Shusa at breakfast?
Kasu had witnessed the deaths of other ghosts in Lady Camellia’s memory bottles – poor people, starving, down-on-their-luck, who had died in misery.
Why were they not given the chance to be reborn?
Was it really their fault, as the general claimed?
Kasu didn’t want to disagree with the heavens, but it didn’t seem fair.
General Shusa cleared his throat. “Kasu, will you join me on stage?”
As much as Kasu hated to admit it, she was relieved to step away from the goddess.
“The Celestial Empress is different from how I imagined,” she muttered as she followed General Shusa to the main stage.
“She’s old. Old gods stick to old ways and old prejudices.”
That didn’t sound right. The heavens could not be prejudiced. Gods didn’t become gods unless they were noble and good.
“But you think the same. Those in the under-realm are there because they deserve it. You said so at breakfast.”
General Shusa coughed. “Where are your friends?”
Kasu scanned the crowd.
“Never mind.” General Shusa shook his head. “We shouldn’t keep our audience waiting.”
The crowd clapped as she stepped onto the stage. Everyone in the courtyard was staring at her. The Celestial Empress. The other guardian gods. Orro and the maids who had escorted her through the estate when she had first arrived in the heavens.
Kasu scanned the sea of faces for Arun, but she couldn’t find him.
Hurt warred with disappointment. She had hoped that they could spend their last day in the heavens together.
After everything that had happened to his mother, she knew Arun had complicated feelings about gods, and about General Shusa in particular, but was it so wrong to think he could put those emotions aside and just enjoy his time with her?
They would never get an opportunity like this again.
General Shusa raised his hand and the crowd fell silent.
“Thank you, thank you. I know I speak for all of us when I say I hope our honoured guests have enjoyed their reward.” His voice carried through the air.
He gestured to Kasu, giving her a smile and a nod before turning back to the crowd.
“I’m sure we are all still shocked by the memory of Sunan’s betrayal.
Yet, despite everything she did, I am still saddened to learn of her untimely end and of her mistreatment at the hands of the vicious demons of the under-realm.
Let this be a lesson to all! No wicked deed goes unpunished! ”
He paused to let the soldiers cheer and the scribes clap. Kasu surveyed the crowd. It wasn’t just Arun, but Ruo who was missing now as well.
“Thanks to the efforts of this brave young ghost here, we discovered the creation of a terrible elixir that could drive even the gods insane.”
It wasn’t just me. Arun and Ruo helped too. Kasu held her tongue.
“I am glad we got the opportunity to celebrate such courage. Gladder still to see that the Celestial Empress has graciously joined us to honour our young hero. To you, our dearest ruler, and to our brave little ghost, let us drink in celebration!” General Shusa leaned down to accept a cup from a nearby servant.
The dark wine sloshed against the rim of the blue crystal glass.
Kasu noticed no one had handed her a cup.
“Thank you, by the way.” General Shusa leaned down to whisper. There was something in his gaze that hadn’t been there before, something dark and heavy.
Red glass and blue sparkled among the crowd. The gods and heavenly attendants lifted their cups in a toast.
“Wait! Stop! Don’t drink that!”
A sharp cry pierced through the noise.
Arun.
“Don’t drink it! It’s been spiked with the elixir!”
Arun was running through the courtyard, waving his hands in the air.
Kasu jumped as the first scream pierced the air.
One of the visiting guardian gods dropped his cup and fell to his knees, clutching his throat.
His eyes turned black as they rolled to the back of his head and smoke began to pour from his skin.
With a sickening crack, his limbs popped from their sockets and began to transform into something jagged and thorny.
It reminded Kasu of when Hanyu began to turn feral.
Only this time there was no Lady Camellia around to restore order.
Person after person began screaming. Kasu whirled around to see several heavenly attendants writhing on the ground, their legs kicking out at odd angles, their fingers red from clawing at their own necks. Red cups littered the ground.
Red cups… Kasu remembered the attendants handing them out. Red for the guests. Blue for Shusa’s household.
“What is the meaning of this, General Shusa?” The Celestial Empress had not taken a sip yet. She held her cup aloft and slowly tipped its contents onto the ground in front of her.
Kasu took a sharp step back only to bump into something large and solid. She whirled around, coming face to face with a grim-looking General Shusa.
“What did you do?” Her voice trembled despite herself.
The general smiled.