Game of Souls

Chapter Seven

"This is unlike him."

Yang Le had originally been lounging on a couch, holding a small bottle of juice in one hand the way one might hold a bottle of beer. Yang Liding hung up the phone and dialed again, turning the wheel with the same ease his younger brother did. Syaoran looked at the florid designs and mused that modern things, be they phones or furniture or art, seemed much less intricate and artistic than older versions.

The second Yang waited for a long moment before hanging up.

"Eldest is not answering, and neither is his secretary."

"Maybe they went out for some coffee," Syaoran remarked, though he did not believe it himself.

"Let me see what he is up to," Yang Le offered. Syaoran sensed him leave and return instantly.

"…I can't find him."

Yang Liding and Yang Le stared at each other for a moment.

"What do you mean, you can't find him?" The second Yang asked.

"What I said. I can't find him."

"What does his—"

"I mean his timeline, everything, it's taken out. I don't see him leaving this house this morning. I don't see him coming home later. He's gone."

Syaoran looked between the brothers.

"That's not possible. Eldest can't be claimed. He's not only broken through, he's powerful."

"This seems like someone set a setpoint on us."

That did not sound good, but Liding remarked, "I hope that is it."

Syaoran stared. "Why?"

The two brothers did not reply.

"You two, stay here," Yang Liding ordered, "I'm heading over to his place, see what's going on."

"Wait, you can't just go over there alone! This house is protected, what if whoever got him is waiting for you?"

"Well what do you suggest?"

"Right now we don't know what's out there! And whatever is out there might have gotten Eldest!"

They fell silent again.

Yang Le suddenly snatched a chocolate from Syaoran's stash, which was actually Yang Liding's stash before he gave it to Syaoran, and tossed a packet to his brother. The elder Yang caught it and started opening it.

"We have two choices. Both of them are awful. Either you head over there in the spirit realm, or we make our own setpoints here."

"It will take forever for me to make my way to Eldest's office in the spirit realm," Yang Liding blanched. Syaoran recalled how confusing the spirit realm was arranged and had to agree. It was possible to move a certain distance and emerge a couple of blocks away from the point of entry, but even when he had been led by Yang Le, it seemed to have taken a while. He had no idea where Yang Heben lived, but it seemed like the eldest Yang had to drive there. It was certainly no trip to make on foot, and unless they had an item, there was no way to make it there quickly. He looked at the jade, but he knew talismans like this one often had to recharge after each use, the time needed depending on the distance of the transport. A jump from England to Hong Kong would require a good while.

"So we make our own setpoint."

Silence fell.

"We have to do something, Second. We're blind, here."

"We'd be making setpoints blind if we do it." That appeared to be what was troubling Yang Liding the most. "Any one of us goes into the spirit realm, we take ourselves out of the equation. Once we come back, we're going to cause side-effects."

Yang Le gestured at Syaoran. "We have a kid who can unravel setpoints really easily."

"Do we know if he can unravel everything easily? Or is it just his own? We don't know what he is!"

Yang Le glanced at Syaoran. "Well what other options do we have?"

Yang Liding took a bite of chocolate. It was a huge gulp, one that had Syaoran a little bit amazed—even when he was at his most ravenous, he had never taken such a huge bite out of a chocolate bar before. Such things were to be savored; the second Yang seemed to be regarding the treat as a direly-needed meal.

"If Heben-Ge is claimed," Syaoran broke in, "Perhaps we do need to make setpoints, to protect ourselves. After all, he can create setpoints for whoever claimed him."

"He can't be claimed. It's too absurd. It takes too much energy to claim a Yin sorcerer."

"Then what…" Syaoran shook his head. He honestly still did not quite understand this new brand of magic. "Why would his timeline disappear?"

Yang Liding pressed his knuckle to his head in thought. "Setpoint, preventing us from seeing it—that's slightly less likely than a claim, but it's possible."

"What about one of the…others," Yang Le looked at his brother.

Syaoran stared. "What 'others'?"

"You're saying that humans aren't the only ones involved in whatever's happening?"

"Wait, what?" Syaoran shot to his feet, "You're saying—"

"That would be very bad," Yang Liding shook his head, "And frankly, I don't know what we would do if we're fighting against all of them. Let's just assume, for now, that humans are the only ones involved."

"What others?" Syaoran demanded.

Yang Le reached over to pull Syaoran back down.

"Did the Sorceress leave anything that we might be able to use in this situation?" He asked his brother.

"I'm not sure."

"She left us a log of all the things we were supposed to keep." Yang Le started rubbing Syaoran's arm, as if trying to reassure him. He was very subdued now, talking in a voice that seemed far too calm for the situation. "Maybe she anticipated that we are going to run into this. I mean, Clow Reed crossed paths with our ancestors long ago, and here's Clow Reed's descendant. Maybe she foresaw that we will need some help."

"It's better than making setpoints," Yang Liding agreed, turning around. Yang Le stood as well, gesturing at Syaoran to follow.

Syaoran wondered what it was about setpoints that made even the necromancers so reluctant to use them. He knew that stepping into the spirit realm removed their perception of their own involvement with the physical world, but surely it could not be so great a hindrance?

Sakura chose to call Hong Kong an hour after she got home from school. She anticipated that perhaps Syaoran might be in the library, since his previous mentioned something about studying with some Yang Le. She would have waited a bit longer, but she felt a growing unease through the course of the day. Syaoran's words in the dream weighed heavily on her mind, and she figured if she did not catch him, perhaps his mother might inform him to call her back.

Li Yelan informed her of the alarming news.

"He's been missing for a day, his cell phone's not on, and his lasin board's not working to find him." Sakura stared at the phone, as if that would give her answers. "What do you think is going on, Kero-chan?"

"What do you mean, 'he's been missing for a day'?"

"I mean he left his home to go to school yesterday morning, didn't show up to class—the school told his mother that he was marked absent for everything. He's always supposed to have his cell phone on, but they've called and couldn't get to him. His mother used the lasin board, and it's like he's nowhere in Hong Kong."

Kero frowned. As much as he might resent the boy, the guardian was still aware of the gravity of the situation. "This isn't right. An eleven-year-old boy disappearing like that does not sound good."

Sakura looked at her desk, where the Sakura book was hidden in one of the drawers. "Kero-chan, do you think I can find Syaoran-kun from here?"

"It would require a great deal of magic to locate him so far away. There's a reason there are special devices for scrying. It won't be very precise either."

"But I'd at least be able to tell where he is in general, and perhaps if he's hurt." What if Syaoran-kun was kidnapped? She pulled the drawer out, taking out the book. The cards within were reacting to her distress, and when she opened the cover they fluttered to assemble in front of her, eager to serve. The nameless card in particular, with the winged heart, quivered and shoved the other cards out of alignment to float right in front of her.

"Syaoran-kun." This was the card that materialized when Sakura was coping with Syaoran's departure. She held her hands out to cradle the card as it came close. "I still don't know what you do. Perhaps you can help me find him?"

"We have a mirror, two…arthritis-preventing balls, goodness these are heavy," Yang Le set them aside, "An abacus, a…hairpin…wait, why weren't we supposed to sell these?"

"Look at this fochen," Yang Liding lifted up the weapon; a whip, with a long wooden handle and horsetail hairs streaming from the tip. It looked fairly innocuous; most non-magical Daoist priests carried one of those, but the second Yang was careful not to swish it as he set that one aside.

"She had arthritis balls, really?" Yang Le was saying. "I kind of understand the hairpins, since she's a girl, but she was what, thirty? What was she carrying one of those for?"

Whatever they were, they were imbued with strong magic, as were all of the Sorceress's possessions.

The two Yangs slipped out of the Cantonese dialect and into the Hunanese dialect, rendering their speech entirely incomprehensible to Syaoran. Which was fine, considering that many of these items were probably powerful, and there was no reason they had to share the specifics with someone who was merely a library study-buddy.

Something Yang Liding said made Yang Le put the therapy balls away very quickly. The older Yang was looking at a scroll. Syaoran could tell that the Sorceress's handwriting was very graceful. She might have been approached to write calligraphic poetry for people to hang on their walls when she had been alive.

"Was the Sorceress ever married?" He asked, recalling the beautiful woman he had seen in the other realm.

"Don't know."

"No," Said Yang Liding, "She was too powerful. She wouldn't suffer any man."

Syaoran thought about Sakura and bit his lip.

"She also carried a lot of baggage," Yang Liding went on, "Because her setpoints tend to be pretty profound. The backlash is more serious."

Syaoran frowned. "I don't understand…how do you measure power?" Someone as powerful as the Sorceress surely would have been able to place setpoints with more ease?

"That's actually a very good question from a novice," Said Yang Le, sounding proud for some reason. "Power among Yin sorcerers is measured by the strength of our setpoints and the breadth and length of consequences we can see. Weaker sorcerers can see up to maybe a few months. They tend to set minor setpoints if they set any, since minor confluences aren't as disruptive. You never know though, sometimes fairly innocuous things get in the way of Fate's grand plan, and then things won't go so well for you."

…What exactly does that mean?

Something stirred at the edges of Syaoran's senses. Yang Liding and Yang Le both sensed it. The younger Yang uttered something that sounded like a curse. He then said something else, but Syaoran did not understand him.

Yang Le turned to collect Syaoran to his side. "Shouldn't be able to get inside, not with all the protections."

Syaoran was frowning. There was something familiar about this card. It felt like…"That's a Sakura Card."

"…A what?"

"It's one of Sakura's cards." He went to the window, but there was nothing to see. Still, the aura was unmistakable. "This is one of her cards. I don't know what it's doing here…" But even as he said it, he was already forming an idea. He had been gone for a day. His mother probably requested the Card Mistress's help. Odd, that a single card could do what Li Yelan, with all her resources, could not. I wonder which card it is.

Yang Le muttered something under his breath. "A mere card shouldn't be able to locate you. Not with the spells stuffing up the air here.

Syaoran felt Yang Liding slide out of the realm. He slid back instantly, though he could have spent any amount of time in the spirit realm in between. "Recognize the card? Looks like a floating red heart with wings. Huh. I always thought our symbol for a heart was a recent thing, considering it looks nothing like an actual heart."

A floating heart with wings? Syaoran was so baffled, he could not hide his dumbfounded expression. He recalled no Clow Card that had looked like that. Certainly, some of the Clow Cards had looked fairly ridiculous, but he would have remembered something as absurd as that.

"You want to take a look?" The elder Yang asked.

"Sure…" Maybe Yang Liding was just bad at describing things.

Yang Liding slid into the strange spirit realm with Syaoran. Yang Le chose to remain in the physical realm, and Syaoran took a closer look, recognizing how the remainder of the youngest Yang's timeline played out as if he had lost his two brothers, and also lost Syaoran. There was a difference between Yang Liding's timeline and Yang Heben's, however; the eldest Yang had indeed disappeared completely, even in the past. For Yang Liding, however, the youth's past was intact, all the way up to when he stepped out.

It was more disconcerting to see Yang Le's timeline, though. Earlier that morning, when Syaoran had stepped out, he did notice that Yang Le had been a bit worried, but that time he had only lost Syaoran, not both brothers. This time, he saw various timelines where Yang Le lost his cheerful personality. Now all alone in the world, he shrank away from everyone. A cruel, bitter edge developed. In some timelines, he recovered a little. In other timelines…

"This is what stinks about how this works," Yang Liding turned Syaoran so he would stop looking at his younger brother, "It always looks like we died as soon as we come in here. Eldest use to hate coming in here alone. He'd want all three of us here because whoever is left out there looks like he got abandoned. He'd have to just deal with that sometimes, because our lives are so closely linked together that sometimes we can cheat the blind spot a little and approximate how events would actually go if at least one of us is out there…but it doesn't always work, and it's like getting reminded, repeatedly, of what might happen if any of us died. At least it's all 'what if' and not 'what is'. Le-Le's timeline will right itself once we're back out."

Still very unnerved, it took effort for Syaoran to focus on the task at hand.

The card was outside the house. Since it was close by, if Syaoran walked to the window he could vaguely see where it came from. This was interesting, because it suggested the cards were not just spells or objects—Syaoran could not see the timelines of chairs and tables, only things that were alive. It meant the Sakura Cards were at least sort of alive—though there was still something different about the card's timeline; it was more scant, and only had a past and present, no future. He wondered if this was because it was sentient enough to have memories, but not enough to make decisions.

And it was a winged heart. Well, I'll be…

"Seen it before?"

"No. This is not one of the cards I've seen before. I've seen Sakura use all of them at least once. And I know all the cards." He squinted. "But this card definitely bears the same aura."

"Well if we trace back," Yang Liding craned his neck, "Ugh, but I can't really see clearly. It's outside the house. We'd have to unlock the door in the real world if we are to get out. Everything's frozen in time here, it's impossible to budge anything that's not a timeline. And that thing has no future, so we can't guess what it will do either. Huh."

"What if we let it in?"

"Wouldn't recommend it. You don't recognize it, and I certainly have no reason to trust it. Besides, do you really want the Card Mistress involved? We have enough to worry about."

That was a good point. Syaoran swallowed. He dearly wished he had an ally he knew on his side, but perhaps it really was better to keep Sakura out of this.

"Come on, we've been here long enough." Yang Liding patted Syaoran's shoulder and took them both out.

The storm stretched all the way to when the sun rose. Spinel was pacing as Eriol sat in his seat, eyes half closed. There was a cup of tea next to him, but the liquid had long cooled.

The doorbell rang.

"That him?" Spinel asked.

Kaho turned. "I believe so."

She went to answer the door. Spinel resumed pacing. Eriol opened his eyes more fully, and stood when Kaho returned, another man in tow.

"Mizuki-san," He greeted the man.

"Hiiragizawa," The man snapped, "What have you gotten my sister into?"

Eriol briefly recalled Kinomoto Touya's affection toward anyone who approached his sister. It seemed like something all big brothers had in common. Big brothers who cared about their siblings, anyway. Before dating Kaho, Mizuki Jun was as genial as any acquaintance. Clearly, even the reincarnation of Clow Reed was not good enough for his sister, and he was not afraid to show it.

Eriol approved, despite the exasperation this caused sometimes.

"I doubt your sister is in the midst of anything," Eriol replied, "And as a matter of fact, I'm not entirely sure I am either. I do know that there is something going on, and I have a strong feeling it is to our advantage to know what it is."

Mizuki was taller than his sister, with the same red hair. For a moment, Eriol wondered at the sudden prevalence of gingers in his life. In both lifetimes. Perhaps one reason gingers are so demonized is because they tend to practice necromancy. It was as good a theory as any other.

Spinel came forward in his false form. The guardian would have transformed, Eriol felt, just to intimidate their newcomer, but the two have clashed before to no real result. As it was, Spinel, at least, was not impressed by Mizuki's impudence.

"How do we know that he is not one of them?" He snapped.

That is too far. "Spinel," Eriol warned sharply, and the guardian went silent.

Kaho eyed the guardian sternly. She was far too self-respecting to take her brother's attitude for granted. For all the awkwardness it might have cost her and Eriol, she was not ignorant of the love from which it was borne. Spinel would be paying for that remark later, and Eriol would allow it. One does not accuse of necromancy lightly. Spinel really should have known better than that. It was an impulsive comment unworthy of him; Eriol would have expected it from Nakuru, if anyone.

"One of whom?" Mizuki demanded.

"Oni-san," Kaho interrupted, "Do you know if there is something that is stirring in Europe?"

"…Something stirring?"

Eriol was the one to reply. "There are sorcerers—" for necromancers were still sorcerers, evil and ambitious though they might be, "Who are getting restless. They might have gone as far as involve necromancy in this."

Mizuki glared at Spinel. "If I start practicing that, you'll be the first to know."

Eriol suppressed a wince. Mizuki Jun had at least as much intelligence as his sister did. He laid a hand on Spinel's head to dissuade him from responding.

"If people are stirring, it's probably just the necromancers themselves. I've certainly seen nothing suggesting any of the local sorcerers are up to no good. The only mischief recently took place in Japan."

"Hm," Kaho seemed amused, "That 'mischief' is settled, however, and this is something new."

The phone rang.

"I'll get it," Spinel huffed, eager to scamper away.

"Oni-san, we might have almost been attacked at the French airport a couple of hours ago," Kaho told her brother, "It was alarming enough that Eriol and I came straight here using the homebound talismans, instead of risking a flight."

Mizuki frowned. "That seems like something you should ask Louis rather than me."

"Louis doesn't know what is going on," Eriol replied. "He's going to look into it, but if necromancers are involved, we may need to come together if we hope to defeat them. Necromancers have some distinct disadvantages, but a disadvantage to them may not necessarily be an advantage to us."

"Eriol-sama," Spinel came back, phone hanging over his back, "It's Sakura."

Syaoran, the girl told him, had disappeared off the face of the earth.

Worried now, Eriol told her he would look into it, then searched the phonebook for the Li clan's number. Their story coincided with hers.

"What's this about Li Syaoran?" Mizuki asked.

"Li Syaoran was a boy that befriended the new Card Mistress. He had gone back to Hong Kong several months ago," Eriol began searching the drawers, "I am rather fond of that boy. I do not know if this is related, but I feel compelled to find him. I do not wish for harm to befall him." Where is that talisman? "He is young. He is only just turned eleven this past July. In Tomoeda, he had lived alone, but I would not trust him by himself in a place like Hong Kong."

"What are you looking for?" Kaho asked.

Eriol stepped back to collect his thoughts. "Spinel, have you or Nakuru taken the talisman?"

"I certainly didn't touch anything in those drawers." Neither did Kaho. When Nakuru was summoned, she voiced a negative as well.

Eriol paused. "Someone stole my transport talisman."

"…How? Who would do that?"

"I don't know," Eriol frowned. "Mizuki-san, I would like to ask a favor of you. See if you cannot find out what is going on lately. Be very careful."

Mizuki was taking his sister by the arm. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Eriol turned to Nakuru and Spinel. "I don't like coincidences. There is no such thing. With what has happened, Clow Reed's descendant gone, and my talisman gone just when I intend to use it. I am going to Hong Kong."

"By plane?"

"No." Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun will go with him there. "Kaho, I'd like you to stay with your family for the time-being. I do not know how far this situation extends."

"This involves me whether you like it or not," Kaho protested, "Please Eriol, do not lock me out."

"Kaho, I will never patronize you by keeping you from a battle you must fight," Eriol told her, "But I need an ally to pull me out if I am in the thick of things. If the situation becomes dire, violence has never and will never be your forté. You are neither sword nor shield, you are shelter. You will help me more by preparing that shelter in case I need it."

Kaho frowned. Sometimes people had a hard time accepting their niches, Eriol knew. Sometimes they had a hard time because they underestimated their value. He hoped one day, Kaho might come to recognize hers, but he had little time to convince her of this fact. It would take years.

"What do you intend to do in Hong Kong?" Mizuki asked. "You were attacked at a French airport. Hong Kong is a quarter of the world away."

"We were attacked at an airport. A base to launch those who are traveling out of France. And these events happening all together…perhaps Li had vanished for a different reason, but as far as I know, his situation is much more of an emergency. You two can investigate what is going on around here, and keep me posted. I have my homebound talisman that I can use to return at any time," Eriol raised it, "But the transport talisman can place us in any location around the globe. The fact that someone wanted it is enough for me to conclude that something is happening in a place far from England indeed. Most of all, my instincts point to the East," He frowned. "Ruby, Spinel, we will go at once."