Poison City

“Smart girl.” The old woman chuckled: “Yeah I wouldn’t advise anyone to get close to it either. One of the previous Watchers tried to burn this tree. He didn’t make it. The tree was barely charred.”

“We don’t know what happened. But - this thing’s safe - safER when there’s daylight. And when it’s night, especially when the moon is out - it’ll begin howling. Only that empty coffin home is keeping us safe, for now. Its cleansed, oiled and blessed walls are our only shelter in these parts.”

“What did you mean ‘he didn’t make it’?” Tae Kuo turned back to ask the old woman.

“He didn’t survive the attempt.” The old man answered on the old woman’s behalf: “He prepared wood, gasoline and talismans he bought from the temples. The attempt was futile and he escaped gravely injured by some kind of creature. He didn’t even live long enough to tell his partner what happened.”

“That’s horrible. What did the community collective do with that?”

“We don’t know. All we know is that they got a team here and did something to temporarily suppress its presence and its power. ” The old woman sighed as she walked towards the exit of the burial site: “Now, we should leave, we’re supposed to check on this place once every few days and we don’t really overstay. ”

“Why can’t you leave?” Gloria asked as she accompanied the two Watchers out of the burial site: “And why is this - this cost of being Watchers?”

“It’s not something we can tell you, since you’ve already declined to become one.” The old woman shook her head: “It’s not worth telling anyone in the first place, really.”

“Where will we go next, then?” Tae Kuo asked.

“To the spot where the city proposed to build one of the electric stations.” The old woman answered: “That’s the main purpose of your venture here, isn’t it?”

“Yes - ” Gloria nodded then immediately fixed her eyes on the old woman: “How did you know? How - ”

“The benefits of having our souls tethered to this place, is that we can see, hear and feel anything in the area, even in that dreaded tunnel.” The old woman answered: “It’s given us more pain and suffering than pleasure. But it’s good to see and hear living humans in this area again after that long while.”

“Why help us?” Tae Kuo took a deep breath and finally posed this question: “Why - ?”

“Because this life and cycle needs to end, somehow. And finding the next round of watchers is just not going to cut it for us.” The old man sighed, shaking his head as he led the way: “Also - do you know our ages?”

“What?” Gloria and Tae Kuo were both confused.

“Do you know how old we are?” The old woman asked from the side.

“Um - no - ” Gloria shook her head.

“Fifty something? Sixty?” Tae Kuo guessed.

“We’re barely over forty, at least if we’re counting our days right.” The old man let out a hoarse laugh.

“How?” Tae Kuo opened his eyes wide: “Is it - is it the soul? There’s gotta be a way - ” 

“Partially, yeah.” The old woman chuckled: “You’re sweet. But like we told you, there’s really no way. This is not like you’re possessed by a malevolent spirit, or got a really bad scare, or - or suffered from some kind of head trauma that a part of your soul got split. No - this is a ritual of our own commitment. It’s binding, breaking it means death to us, or worse.”

“But why?” Tae Kuo and Gloria asked at the same time. For her, there did not seem to be any benefit of taking on this duty and identity.

“There are things worth splitting your soul for, even though there’s gonna be torment down the road.” The old man chuckled, but his face was solemn and showed a bit of regret. “Or, so we thought at the time. ”

“It’s a stall. ” The old woman sighed as they reached a patch of tall grass and dried up bushes: “Here, this is the spot.”

It would be an understatement to say this spot was plain or unimpressive. It was just like any other deserted and unused plot of land. Cracked cement scattered around the surrounding areas with gravel mixed in. The entire spot was covered in overgrown grass and unpruned wild flowers. A few slender ferns stood out, but did not appear special in any way.

“Why this spot?” Gloria asked, before turning to look at Tae Kuo, then the two Watchers: “There’s nothing here?”

“No - it’s - it’s a ‘gate’ of the minor auspicious spot. It’s the - the Northern Gate, a gate of intellect, artistry and wisdom. But it’s also a gate of Yin energy.” Tae Kuo narrowed his eyes, then measured the respective location of the spot and the distance it stood from the burial site: “It’s - it’s a bagua position. Whoever planned that burial site didn’t happen to own this spot, did they?”

“He did own this spot. He built a mini garden here. But after the fire he ordered it to be torn down.” The old man answered: “No one knows what happened later, it just became unkempt like this.”

Gloria turned on her Qi vision. Trails of black smoke rose from the spot, forming into what looked like a swaying pillar of smoke.

“Is someone buried under there?” Gloria thought her question was already serious enough, she just did not expect it to make all three other people gasp at the same time.