Poison City

“What? Why?” Tae Kuo asked.

“How did you tell?” The Watchers looked confused: “We - we can’t see anything.”

“Interesting, what’d you see?” Gloria asked with a heavy frown: “Do you see - smoke, over there?”

“Oh, no, we see smoke.” The old man narrowed his eyes at the space above the spot: “It’s just - I see a lot of smoke, not that different from the same kind of smoke above the graves. It’s - it’s a - ”

“It’s a screen of smoke, some parts are thicker, some thinner. But nothing really stood out.” The old woman shook her head: “And - one other thing that you may or may not be interested to know, when you’ve become a Watcher for long enough, your world loses color.”

“Yeah, we’re really not selling you on the Watcher responsibility.” The old man chuckled: “But even if you were willing to, this is something we’re gonna have to tell you as well. So no - in our sight, we don’t really see anything obvious - it’s all just - smoke. What do you see?”

“A pillar of black smoke.” Gloria pointed in front of her: “There - it’s - it’s a really thick pillar, like - like a mini tornado or something. And - it’s actually not moving that much - it’s just there, and slowly twirling.”

“Yeah - I can’t see anything either, and I used cow tears already.” Tae Kuo shook his head: “This is - unusual.”

“I have heard that the practitioners of some variant branches of the Spirit Cat Style could awaken this special ability of seeing energy flows that are hidden from regular means of detection.” The old man scratched his jaw as he nodded: “It’s only a rumor, of course. But it seems that it could be true.”

“And if there is indeed someone buried inside, that would - that would explain how this degradation of the entire community came to be.” The old woman nodded along: “This spot is a critical turn of the flow of Qiyun in this spot and the surrounding areas. It’s like throwing a dead body in the drinking water stream.”

“Who would do that? ” Tae Kuo asked.

“Someone with a grudge against the founders of this community, or some of the founders of the community themselves? Or, if you wanna go there - people from the city?” Gloria shook her head: “I don’t - I don’t know. But maybe we should take a look some day - or -  maybe confirm what I’m seeing?”

“I have some talisman paper, but I’m not sure if it will work.” Tae Kuo looked into his bag, then took out two pieces of yellow talisman paper, cut into just the right shape ready to turn into actual talismans.

“You want to use her blood?” The old woman asked.

“Yeah I’m okay with that.” Gloria nodded and was about to cut a slit on her right index finger in order to make a couple of blood talismans.

“No - you’ll just curse her with that. ” The old man pushed down Tae Kuo’s arms: “With any luck, you’ll borrow her sight, yes. But you’ll also expose her Qiyun to the very curse that dwells in this land.”

“So - what do we do?” Gloria retracted her finger and asked.

“We can’t really do anything.” The Watchers sighed, and the old man shook his head: “But it’s good - to know, finally.”

“Yeah.” The old woman fell onto the ground on her behind: “Yeah - who knew? It’s right under our noses. And it’s just - so simple, really.”

“You should leave now.” The old man sat on the ground and got into a meditative pose: “You’ve found out all you come here for, right? Go. It may not be much, but hopefully with it you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.”

“What about you? ” Tae Kuo asked: “This just - this just raises more questions for us, right?”

“Asking you young people to untangle our mess is really not a tradition either of us would like to pass on.” The old woman coughed and got into a meditative pose: “Don’t worry about us. If you really - really made a difference using this information, then you would have helped us. Greatly.”

“Go. Before the day gets any dimmer, and before your young lives are subjected to any more of this filth and corruption.” The old man shooed them: “Go. There’s nothing else we can show you. ”

Gloria and Tae Kuo exchanged looks, before giving the Watchers a deep bow together: “Our deepest, sincerest gratitude, Watchers.”

By the feet of the walls around the abandoned coffin home, buried two fine porcelain bottles wrapped in red cloth, talismans and strings of prayer beads.

The two Watchers each opened up a bottle and poured all the clear, light brown liquor down their throat.

They stood on the edge of the abandoned spot, where the supposed pillar of black smoke was, and said two short chants of spells and prayers. Golden fire emerged from the tops of their heads and their shoulders, before engulfing them both.

With glowing eyes, they took one final look at each other, nodded, before charging at the position of the pillar of smoke at the same time.

Four flaming palms struck the air, the previously invisible pillar of smoke was turned into a tornado of flames. Screams, screeches, cries and moans exploded from every corner of the community. Buildings collapsed, roads crumbled, the tombstones in the burial site exploded like firecrackers.

Cracks and fissures in the ground shot through the entire community. Golden cinders floated into the sky. The two Watchers were no more, only two statues of human-shaped ashes lingered for less than one second after impact, and were blown away by breezes of wind.