Page 62 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Kasu grabbed his arm. They were not going to fight the Sage. They would all die if they tried. “O Great and Glorious Sage of a Thousand Faces!” She bowed as the demon approached. “Please, have mercy! If you would only be patient, I promise that we will pay you back for the aura mask tenfold.”

The Sage of a Thousand Faces reached into his bag and switched his mask to one with furrowed eyebrows and a sneering smile.

“So, you wish to bargain still? Return my mask to me and then I will decide what your punishment will be.”

Kasu glanced at Arun. When someone had the aura mask on, it disguised itself and concealed the wearer’s true nature. It seemed the mask hid itself even from its own creator.

“O–O Great Sage—”

“That was my last aura mask. It’s not easy to make more, and I have plenty of interested customers wanting to buy it. Demons and kings and gods all clamouring for my work.”

“Gods too?” Kasu found that hard to believe. What use would a god have for an aura mask? Why would they need to hide who they were?

“Even the gods want to have fun in the under-realm from time to time,” the Sage sneered.

That was ridiculous. The gods were good and just. What reason would they have to step foot in the under-realm? Kasu would have argued were it not for the Sage towering over her with the promise of violence. He was already reaching into his bag for his red-faced mask.

“Here.” Arun lifted his mask. With a silver shimmer, it appeared in his hand and he tossed it at the Sage’s feet. “Take it back.”

The sweet smell of burnt sugar and fresh bread flooded the room. She gasped and quickly closed her mouth to stop it from watering. Her hunger reared its head like a tiger ready to pounce. It was all Kasu could do to keep it leashed.

The Sage stepped back. His mouth watered too, but he did not lunge at Arun as Kasu expected. His eyes shone with a different kind of hunger.

“Human! Oh, I know exactly what I want as payment!” The Sage switched to a mask with a smile frozen in gleeful excitement.

Oh no. No. Kasu knew what the Sage wanted and she was not going to let that happen.

“I was the one who committed the offence. I will be the one to pay the price,” she insisted.

“Can we settle on payment later?” said Arun, surprisingly calm for one surrounded by a demon, a ghost and a curse while smelling like the most delicious meal any of them had eaten in an eternity. “How much would it cost to borrow the mask?”

The Sage’s hair fell to the ground like a waterfall as he stooped down to come face to face with Arun.

“You want the mask so that the demons and ghosts who roam the city will not try to eat you,” he said. “In that case, I have an elegant solution. One that fixes your problem and satisfies my wrath.”

“And what’s that?”

“Your mortality. I can extract it with one of my tools. Give it to me and you’ll become a ghost. No need for hiding, no need to pretend. Give it to me, and I will consider it suitable payment for the offences this girl has committed against me.”

It was everything Kasu feared. If Arun gave up his mortality, he would not be able to return home. He would fall outside the cycle of souls and become a ghost like her.

“Arun, don’t—”

“Done.”

“I will pay the price!” Kasu shouted. Maintain your voice at an appropriate level at all times, and do not raise it more than is polite. She didn’t care. She grabbed Arun’s arm, hoping to shake some sense into him, but he remained stone-faced and determined to be as much of an idiot as possible.

Kasu turned to the Sage instead. Squaring up to the demon, she cried, “This is my price to pay. Take an arm, a leg, take my eyes, take whatever you want!”

“Little ghost.” The Sage stooped down even further, almost pressing the edge of his mask against her face. His voice was thick with vicious glee. “You wish you were worth as much.”

She drew back, wondering if punching the Sage would change his mind.

Violence is but a tool to be employed sparingly when no other options allow.

“This will keep you safe, won’t it? If the Sage is appeased, he won’t come after you any more,” said Arun.

“I don’t want the weight of your life on my conscience!”