Page 50 of Between Ghosts and Gods

The Pale Lady allowed the silence to echo between them.

The eastern quarter. Lord Cobalt’s domain.

“There is one thing you may find interesting,” the demon continued. “A lady of the heavens, even a soon-to-be-exiled one, would draw attention. Every ghost and demon would know what she was and would want a bite out of her, but Sunan was able to move through the city freely.”

“She had an aura mask?”

“Precisely.” The Pale Lady spread her hands before her, fingers splayed like the branches of a sapling. “When Sunan arrived in the under-realm, she already had an aura mask.”

“Is that it?” Arun was wound as tight as a coiled spring. “Is that all you know? You haven’t told us anything.”

“I disagree. I believe I have told you quite a lot.”

Yes, and she had left them with more questions than answers. What had happened after Sunan left the theatre district? Why had she headed into the eastern quarter? They still didn’t have enough information.

“What about the reincarnation wheel?” Kasu asked. “I assume that’s with Sunan, wherever she is?”

The demon fiddled with her ring, twisting it this way and that. “You may assume whatever you like.”

“But you don’t know where she is. You don’t know anything at all,” Arun muttered.

Kasu’s mind was racing. Something wasn’t right. There was too much missing from the Pale Lady’s story.

“If you don’t mind, there’s one thing I don’t understand. You said that Sunan came to you for help when she first came to the under-realm. What did she want? Why go to you?”

“She wanted to sell a service. She stole the reincarnation wheel and came here in order to allow ghosts and demons to bypass the will of heaven and reincarnate. For a price, of course.”

“No! That can’t—” Arun began, but the Pale Lady ploughed on.

“As for why she came to me? She knew about me before she entered the under-realm. I’m somewhat famous in the heavens too. When you first came to see one of my fortune tellers, you had a ball of star silk. I do wonder how you managed to get hold of it, though I won’t push you for answers. Did you know that Lady Moon gives it to all new entrants before they join the heavens? They are supposed to use it to weave themself a celestial cloak, but many hold on to the silk as a memento. Or give it to the family they leave behind.”

Arun clenched his teeth, no doubt thinking about the curse that had stolen the star silk his mother had given him.

A coy smile fluttered across the Pale Lady’s face as she produced a small sphere of silk from the folds of her dress. A ball made of threads as pale as pure starlight, glowing with a soft radiance.

Kasu shot to her feet. “You? You were a member of the heavens?”

“I was a god.”

Mouth agape, Kasu could do nothing but splutter and stare. The Pale Lady was a demon. No, not just an ordinary demon but one of the four demon lords that ruled the city. How could she go from a god to – to this? What had she done to end up in the under-realm, and how could she live with herself knowing how far she had fallen?

As if sensing her thoughts, the Pale Lady gave an amused chuckle. “I chose to leave. The heavens are full of nothing but self-righteous bastards. To say nothing of the Celestial Empress.”

Outrage clawed at Kasu’s throat. Chose? The Pale Lady had chosen to leave the heavens, the bastion of all goodness in the three realms? She had chosen to leave a place where there was always food aplenty and wine flowed like water – a place where everyone was noble and beautiful and kind?

Obviously, it was a lie. Demons lied all the time. Kasu bet that, like Arun’s mother, she had done something terrible and been kicked out of the heavens.

“To be a demon is one thing, but a traitor too?” The words slipped out before Kasu could stop them. She drew a sharp, horrified breath as her eyes quickly flit to the Pale Lady’s face.

“Traitor?” The demon’s laughter fluttered like the moths clinging to her face. “You talk as if you’re part of the heavens. As if they care about you.”

“B–but they do! The gods protect all who are righteous and good!”

“And that’s what you are, is it? Righteous and good?” If the Pale Lady had eyes beneath that swarm of moths, Kasu was sure that they were sparkling with mirth.

She blushed, furious. Her hands trembled with the urge to do something terrible. Of course a demon would mock the heavens; it was what demons did. Kasu would not listen to this blasphemy, this – this sheer arrogance!

The Pale Lady tilted her head and the bells on her antlers tinkled softly. They reminded Kasu of the bells strung around temples and shrines calling out to the gods for mercy. “Humans suffer, and that suffering compels them to commit heinous acts. Warped by hatred and anguish, they become demons. Humans who thrive gain notoriety and renown that attract the eyes of the heavens. As they commit noble deed after noble deed, humans may become gods. Yet, whether demon or god, at their core they remain the same flawed humans as always.”