Chapter 12 - Beyond the City Walls
Departing the towering opulence marking Kazan's outer beltways towards rolling meadows and quainter hamlets nestled in the wilderness, Kai breathed easier. No disrespect intended towards well-meaning gatekeepers struggling comprehending new challenges from bygone eras. But lingering further risked catastrophe given the uncharacteristic decisive action against him for some vaguely defined crisis only he recognized in full Lovecraftian scope.
Still obedience and discretion remained wisest options currently lest rashness collapse delicate frameworks nurturing fledgling order. Kai's calling stretched higher than selfishly flaunting narcissism anyway despite gaping flaws in the system of mistrust between protectors and people. Out among homely rural denizens living simpler but fulfilling existences through faith stronger than fearing unknowns largely dwelled the truly sagacious.
His lupine brother likewise relaxed joyfully chasing butterflies across riverside grasslands far removed from city guards eyeing them suspiciously in regimental armor backed by steel halberds. While villages hereabouts occasionally contended bandits, at least thieves and warlords understood each other directly through primitive greed rather than veiled words hiding darker motivations.
Some days on the lonely road offered no company save hawks gliding high searching their next meal until pink-gold sunsets heralding pastoral perfection where Kai's growing reputation sometimes preceded unasked. Once drifters approached seeking magical champions defending helpless commoners against tyrannical mayor's extortionist taxes. Paying no heed towards offers of payment for considerations beyond the natural order's restoration, mere Kai's arrival provided sufficient motivation for the corrupt official reversing unjust policies given omnyojis commanded fearsome reputations when roused.
Other humble hamlets sought blessings from wandering ascetics over failing harvests or wells running dry from droughts. Kai etched glowing runes with divining rods pinpointing obscured underground aquifers and mineral lodes. Sprouting shoots peppering formerly fallow fields testified soil renewed after patient listeners comprehended land's essential needs. Even while denying the title of sage, eloquent insights benefiting people and soothing nature's wounds evidenced higher comprehension of interwoven connections tying together all living beings across the land even while personable modesty left audiences more awed.
Seasons turned bringing both gentle snowfalls around mountainsides and scorching summer wildfires endangering remote villages until quelled by precise control over pranic forces through elegantly choreographed motions. Wordless discipline moving boulders and parting rivers left witnesses wondering whether mere mortals or divine spirits served them. Once after preventing ruthless warlords massacring refugees, the silent colossus set aflame marauders' weapons through focused gaze alone. Surely this was a legendary guardian from eras of myth emerged to shepherd the land through turmoil!
Yet honor and fame interested Kai less than nourishing the helpless. Mornings often started helping farmers expand irrigation networks and automating harvesting machines. By sunset with belly full sharing simple family fare, singing folk songs and telling stories around crackling hearths kept hearts warm safeguarded from freezing darkness. He slept soundly curled beside faithful hound resting easy through starry nights. Tomorrow awaited explored further beyond horizons endlessly receding...
One year's end brought heavier snows isolating remote mountainside hamlets. Desperate messengers braved frozen passes seeking the master omnyoji's aid for children fallen gravely ill. An ancient tree spirit grew restless tormenting villages after loggers threatened sacred groves. All healing talents and shamanic rituals failed the wheezing younglings.
Kai swiftly traversed avalanche-prone slopes towards secluded snow-bound inns with lupine ally eagerly outpacing him. Bursting through ice-rimed doors with rosy-cheeked landlords bowing tearfully before their mythic salvation, the pair proceeded upstairs lit by guttering veal tallow candles quivering shadows across anguished parents clutching feverish infants.
Placing palm upon damp foreheads radiating heat enough to singe eyebrows, Kai entered trance states connects directly their delirious dreams. Ghostly psychedelic visions burned of colossal spiders with crying human faces accusing the innocent dreamers of harming arboreal homes. But following gossamer strands through twisting tunnels, Kai confronted the colossal arachnid matriarch Wra'thaliath spider goddess of ancient woods.
"Why torment children innocent of environmental destruction?" he queried the looming jade-carapaced demigod whose venom cursed innocents. She hissed angrily through venom-soaked pincers in the dream-realm.
"Careless parents allowed the defiling of pristine glades untouched for ten millennia! They now cry meaningless tears learning painful lessons as their legacies perish!"
Unafraid of her divine wrath, Kai calmly explained how this region's isolated clans retained harmonious lifestyles for centuries without despoiling deeper nature. Only recently had outside merchants exploited certain greedy chiefs who wrongly felled parts of Wra'thaliath's hallowed domain. Most villages here still practiced wise conservancy through ancestral traditions worshiping all nature. Surely she sensed truth in his words showing compassion now served greater purposes?
The spider goddess contemplated silently before sighing acquiescence, allowing him to draw out concentrated neurotoxins clouding children's minds. But she vowed ominously that continued trespassing past agreed boundaries would unleash full unbridled fury from her and allied spirits. The fate of all humanity balanced upon whether society's dominant forces heeded ecological limits or forced final cataclysmic intervention...
Having won tentative mercy for the suffering young ones, Kai withdrew from trance back under cabin eaves to smiling elders. The cured boys and girls blinked away delirious nightmares of the forest god's writhing face. Quest complete, mountaineers cheered their returned champion as howling snowstorms eased from distant peak sources. Tomorrow awaited helping hands rebuild damaged bonds between peoples and their cherished environments. For harmony could yet flourish again .