Poison City

“So, what should we do with this?” Gloria walked around the latest coffin and asked: “Should we just destroy it?”

“I’m afraid so.” Tae Kuo sighed: “Go get a candle. And bring me some copper coins from under the altar.”

Gloria went to the back room to fetch the requested items. Tae Kuo took the copper coins and put them in his sleeves, then gestured to Gloria to hold the candles before him, between their position and the coffin.

“Now, you already know that specialized candles like these can protect people from malicious spirits.” Tae Kuo raised the glass bottle of special rice wine in the air, “But do you know why?”

“Is it because of the candle wick with some kind of special thread woven in?” Gloria answered without even thinking.

“That’s half of it, and the other half is in the wax that makes the candles.” Tae Kuo nodded, his eyes still fixed on the coffin: “You may say: ‘woah that’s literally the entire candle’. True, but here’s the thing to remember, different combinations of the wick and the wax makes for different candles. For example, this one, there’s cinnabar added to the wax, and the wick is made with sage, cotton, and some linen, soaked in special rice wine and oil. And this kind of candle, as you have experienced, can create barriers of protection for people inside. But on the other hand, what can touch you, can hurt you. So if we know how to use it, it can become a weapon. Just like this…”

Tae Kuo concentrated his Qi on his left palm, then poured some rice wine on it. His Qi had a light yellowish green glow, and the droplets of wine sizzled the moment they made contact. He then handed the glass bottle to Gloria, then took the candle from her hand. 

“Watch closely.” Tae Kuo said to Gloria. “And be careful, we don’t know what’s in that thing.”

Gloria swallowed and nodded. Her right hand clenching a talisman, and her left holding the glass bottle. 

Tae Kuo swung his left palm across the candle’s flame, the wine on his palm caught on fire. With this move, his palm seemed to have been coated with a layer of orange and red energy. He clenched the fingers on his left hand aside from the middle and index fingers. With his Qi flowing from his palm into the tips of the two still standing fingers, the flame and the energy from the candle went along and condensed. The next moment, he swung his fingers horizontally like a sword. A crescent-shaped energy blade shot right at the egg-like cluster at the center of the web.

Gloria’s eyes opened wide as the energy blade sunk into the cluster, igniting it from inside while blasting it into pieces. The orange and red flame spread through the vines and threads that made up the web, turning it into ashes and smoke. A faint scream echoed in the room, and a shadow arose from ashes. Before either Gloria or Tae Kuo could make out what it was, the shadow darted at the door, seemingly trying to escape. 

Gloria launched herself at the door. Her movement left a string of faint, light blue shadows behind her. Her Qi was concentrated on her right forearm and right hand, some of which was infused into the talisman tucked in her fingers. She swung the glass bottle in her left hand, throwing a splash of sticky rice wine at the shadow, while her right hand was thrusting forward.

Tiny blades of Qi extended out from Gloria’s fingertips like claws. They sliced through the air and some of the airborne droplets of rice wine. The talisman clutched in her palm lit up from her Qi, emitting a purple flame that instantly shrouded over her entire hand. Within the blink of an eye, a bulk of her Qi left her hand, along with the purple flame and formed an energy claw in the air. It left a trail of purple sparks behind, and caught up to the shadow in no time. 

Poof! The energy claw slashed the shadow into several pieces. It then turned into a ball of purple flame, consuming everything.

Her fingers felt a gentle chill, it was the same feeling of when she entered into a room of lower temperature, or when she exuded a large amount of Qi and she temporarily lost the protection it would normally provide.

A strange sense of soreness came, the same symptom of overexerting her Qi.

“Are you alright?” Tae Kuo asked: “That was quite a strike… you may need to rest a bit…”

“I - I think I’m alright. Just - I used more Qi than I intended, for some reason.” Gloria shook her head, then looked at his right hand, which was shaking: “What’s in that wine? ”

“It’s, uh, a lot of ingredients.” Tae Kuo scratched his head: “One of them being mandragora - but don’t worry, it’s a very low dose, it only serves as a catalyst for your Qi flow. And - you just splashed a lot, so... My apologies, it should wear off soon.”

“Okay - okay - ” Gloria nodded, then sighed: “Good to know. As long as there is nothing unclean left.” She looked around, while her hand was still recovering. It seemed the initial strike from Tae Kuo and her follow up finished the job. There were no traces of the web or that egg-shaped cluster left. The shadows of the faces on the coffins still remained but appeared to be more blurry and transparent. And the shadow of the middle aged man had almost completely disappeared, leaving only a light orange shadow of his outline.

“Have you caught its shape? The shadow, I mean.” Tae Kuo checked around once more, then asked.

Gloria thought for a while, then shook her head: “I - I didn’t really see that clearly. It just looked like something with - with roots and tentacles.”

“Yeah, I saw the roots as well - and a little bit of its head. If you could even call it a head.” Tae Kuo sighed: “But - back to the more pressing matters. Have you informed the community collective on this yet?”

“No - I haven’t really got a chance to yet.”

“Good, then we can report to them now and have a better report with more details.” Tae Kuo nodded: “Do you still have the placement order? And a copy of the death certificate?”

“Yes, let me get it.” Gloria went back to the back room.

The man who answered the phone seemed to be uninterested and lazy at first when Tae Kuo called, but as he proceeded to describe what happened just now and what led to this, the man seemed to grow more and more concerned. When Tae Kuo finished his description, he asked Tae Kuo to wait a moment, then proceeded to put him on hold, before telling him the community collective will be sending someone really soon.