Poison City

“Gloria Lee?” When Gloria got to the front gate of the Kshiti Temple, a clergywoman in a beige robe was already waiting for her. Gloria had seen her around these parts before and could recognize her face, she just did not know of her name or her role at this local temple.

 

“Yes. I need help.” Gloria let out a breath of relief: “How’s Sue? She okay?”

 

“She just left. We gave her some talismans, some candles and a straw doll just in case.” The clergywoman nodded at Gloria, then made a “come on in” gesture to let Gloria go into the temple. “Let’s help you first. Your friend told us everything. Did you really confront an angry spirit?”

 

“Yes. At least I think it was an angry spirit.” Gloria shook her head with frustration: “The situation’s more complicated than that - it’s - probably has something to do with a strange body I had to place in the coffin home.”

 

“We heard about the body.” The clergywoman led Gloria to a restricted side area of the temple, away from the locals that came to pray and worship: “Lucky for us, we have one of our elders here. She could help you make better sense of the situation. I trust that you have already locked the place down?”

 

“Yes. According to the protocol.” Gloria nodded: “But - if possible, I would just need to do a quick cleansing ritual. There are some - really troublesome local kids, who may be too curious for their own good…”

 

“I see what you meant. Don’t worry, we’ll send someone to warn their parents. And we will put an official notice on your door as well.” The clergywoman sighed while continuing to lead the way into a small personnel-only room on the side of the temple, where the ground was paved with small colored tiles that resembled the patterns one would see on paper talismans. It was her first time ever to be here, and right when stepping into the patterns, she felt something tingling on her shoulders and ears. Something heavy, cold, sore-inducing and gloomy seemed to be lifted off her.

 

“Here.” The clergywoman stopped at the door to a side room: “Elder Mu is in there, I suggest you think carefully about the questions you want to ask her. She’d dislike it if you ask too many dumb questions. And also, listen carefully, she dislikes explaining over and over again as well.”

 

“Thank you.” Gloria nodded.

 

“Elder Mu.” The clergywoman knocked on the door, then pushed open the door: “This is the temp watcher of Fuman Coffin Home, Gloria Lee, she’s here to see you.”

 

Inside the room, there was a small wooden table by the only window, with a small altar and an incense burner placed on top. An old woman was kneeling in front of the table, seemingly praying. There was another red wooden table at the end of the room, with wooden plaques placed on top of a red wooden shelf with three levels. On the top level, there were three plaques made of red wood and golden metal main pieces. On the lower levels there were more that looked less meticulous and detailed.

 

“Come in.” The old woman turned and waved her hand at Gloria.

 

“Please let me know if you need anything, I’ll be outside.” The clergywoman bowed towards Elder Mu, then backed off from the door.

 

“Thank you for seeing me, elder.” Gloria sat down on a hay mattress in front of the old woman.

 

Elder Mu looked like a kind old woman with a hidden sharp edge, wearing a robe of white and red. Her eyes were clear, and there was a scar on the left side of her face, like she had been slashed in the face before by some kind of sharp object. The slash appeared to be quite serious, as Gloria could easily tell that it altered her facial bone structure to a not severe but noticeable extent.

 

“Okay, sit tight, and let me take a look at you.” Elder Mu nodded at Gloria, then reached into a compartment under the table by the window and pulled out a piece of talisman. This one was made of some kind of red paper, and the symbols and words on it were painted with golden paint, all signs of a specialized talisman of high quality.

 

Elder Mu held the talisman with her right hand and let it dangle in the air, then with a low chant of some kind of spell, she flicked the talisman with her left middle finger, with a little bit of Qi concentrated on her fingertip.

 

The talisman went up in flames and turned into ashes completely within the blink of an eye. The ashes lingered in the air, slowly swirling and spinning like a small tornado. This small ash tornado grew in size while it moved towards Gloria and in a span of a few seconds shrouded her entire body in it.

 

Gloria concentrated her Qi in an attempt to see what these ashes were doing. It turned out, though appearing like simple, gray ashes to the untrained naked eyes, with the help of her Qi she could see every particle of it glowing in some kind of orange and golden light. These glowing particles were inter-connected with thin but bright lines of energy, and along with the particles they formed a much more magnificent whirlwind of energy surrounding her.

 

When the current of energy died down, the ashes fell onto the ground, dimmed and seemingly somehow heavier and more solid than before. 

 

Elder Mu leaned forward to take a closer look at the floor around Gloria, then used a small broom and dustpan to collect the fallen ashes. “Go out there and ask for a small bow of blessed water.” She said to Gloria: “And an incense stick.”

 

Gloria nodded and headed to the closed door. There was a small wooden tray by the door outside, with a small clay bowl and two incense sticks. Seemed like the clergywoman was already familiar with the process.

 

Elder Mu nodded in approval when she saw Gloria not having to go far to get what she needed.

 

The elder lit up one of the incense sticks and let some of the ashes fall into the bowl of water. After a few dips, she then brushed the ashes in the dustpan into the water, and let them mix and interact with what was already in the bowl.

 

The ashes from the incense had a light gray color, and they took a while to absorb water and sink below. The ashes collected in the dustpan, on the other hand, had a darker color and swiftly clumped up and drowned like little chunks of coal.

 

Elder Mu kept staring at the bowl as the change slowly took place. There were a couple of moments when Gloria wanted to ask something, but she decided against it and waited for the elder to speak first.

 

After about two minutes, almost all of the ashes had sunk into the water.

 

“Looks like you are in the clear. No unclean energy.” Elder Mu nodded, then pulled out another talisman from under the table and handed it to Gloria: “But just to be safe, before you leave today, take this, then ask for a glass of blessed water. Burn it and drink it with the water.”

 

“Thank you, elder…” Gloria nodded and took the talisman with two hands.

 

“Now, tell me what happened.” Elder Mu looked Gloria straight in her eyes: “I already heard from your friend Sue, but I figured you would know more.”

 

“Yeah.” Gloria let out a long slow sigh, then proceeded to explain to the elder what happened, with no details spared, as well as the precautionary measures she applied to the coffin home before she came here.

 

“Okay, okay. You did good.” Elder Mu’s acknowledgement lifted a huge weight off Gloria's shoulders: “With everything you’ve given, it seems like you’ve done the right thing to the best of your abilities. But I do need to ask, how come you only have so few sticky rice stored?”

 

“I - I don’t really know…”

 

“Doesn’t matter. Young Tae is a friend of this temple, so you can ask for some before you leave as well. And remember to splash it all over the ground, covering all the ground in the room. ” Elder Mu continued: “When will he come back?”

 

“Sue had a call with him this morning, and he said he should be back soon. Latest tomorrow.” Gloria shrugged then chuckled: “It’s just bad timing that he’s gone to visit the family outside of the city.”

 

“He should have done his job and filled all the provisions before he left.” Elder Mu shook her head: “Now, you understand that with an issue like this, you’ll need to report it to the community collective?”

 

“Yes, I understand.” Gloria nodded and rubbed her temples.

 

“Bureaucracy aside, when you’re certain that the bodies are secured, it’d be wise to take another look at them and try to see if you can find anything.” Elder Mu continued: “It’s very rare that a body would be able to do something like that. And what’s even weirder is that the spirit of another body somehow was brought to life by it?”

 

“Yes…”

 

Elder Mu looked down at the ground and went silent for a bit, seemingly thinking about something. When she looked straight at Gloria again, her eyes were filled with worries: “The new body was burned beyond recognition, you said?”