When Snow realized what he was doing, the massive darkness was already crouching, holding a thin but sharp twig, and scribbling something on the dirt.
Getting closer, Snow silently watched as he drew strange symbol after strange symbol, some more complex than others, some swirling upwards others swirling downwards. While he drew a larger image started to take shape, and Snow couldn't stop his heart from beating faster when he could no longer deny that the complex drawing looked more and more like a beautiful, delicate pair of wings.
Once it was finally finished Snow couldn't help stare at it in disbelief. How had he been able to memorize such intricate pattern? No matter how long he looked at it, it was just way too complex to easily commit to memory. And it wasn't as if he'd gotten the chance to seen his naked back that many times. Snow doubted that before, while he'd been injured, the pattern had be visible enough to allow him to memorize such fine details. And after he'd healed there had only been a couple of times, when he'd asked him to let him check on his injuries.
"Do I have … all that on my back …?" he breathed and the monster looked up at him.
"You do. Your markings are a pearly-white, probably due to your affinity to snow and ice," he declared, looking down at his own drawing.
"See these swirls? Apparently these refer to you age," he went on, using his twig to point out what he meant.
"Normally we have a spiral at the bottom of our back, similar to this."
He drew it beside the complex pattern.
"It grows with time. Each year is marked by a new rotation. When I saw you didn't have one I immediately knew that your markings were different from ours."
Snow looked at the swirls he'd pointed and counted them. There they were. Sixteen. One of them much smaller than the others, as if it had been recently formed, probably indicating he hadn't been sixteen-years-old for long.
"These markings here are connected with healing and purification, like VinWei said. This one, for example, is related with growth, this one with balance, this one soothing, this one general harmony."
He pointed one symbol after the other, even though to Snow's eyes, although they were clearly different, they all looked pretty much the same.
"When I saw them for the first time I immediately knew you were related to them. After all, Celestials are supposed to be all-loving beings, sent to us to heal and bless the land," he almost spat the words and Snow looked at the mass of darkness beside him. He obviously didn't believe any of that.
"What I didn't know was all that shit about binding with the land that VinWei spoke about. People just normally say that a Province blessed with a Celestial is bound to become richer. Things like war, famine, disease, they tend to disappear. The seas or rivers become more bountiful, the land produces better crops, and the animals grow larger and have healthier offspring. Based on this belief, and since most Celestials select their Chosen Ones amongst the El'Dur's descendants, most El'Dur try to take as their concubines as many women from different Provinces as they can, hoping that a Celestial might choose one of their children in order to assure the prosperity of their Province. So I gather these daitai are probably common amongst your kind."
"Now, these and these," he pointed two other sets of swirls. "They kind of surprised me. And these … these are an entire different matter.
"These here," he went back to the first set. "Are connected with your affinity to ice. I never knew Celestials could have affinity with elements like we do, but according to VinWei it apparently happens from time to time."
Because he hadn't been born in a Temple, like most, Snow thought.
"This one is plain cold, this one cold water, cold air, cold earth, cold wind, cold stone, cold metal, this one is frost, this one freezes, this one a mix of cold and storm. And then you have this one which basically means expansion, this one extension, this one space, this one speed as in instant, this one global as in everything, and this one individual as in precise."
Snow blinked trying his best to follow his explanation. He'd thought that VinWei was an expert in those kind things, but the monster apparently knew what each and every one of them meant.
"Basically it means that, when all of them are active at the same time, you will be able to create an array that freezes everything around you, no matter if they are objects or living beings."
Snow swallowed dry, his heart beating faster in fear. Back at the inn he had frozen two men. Two men that the monster would have ended up killing anyway. Two men that had tried to harm them. But what would he have done if he'd frozen someone else besides them? If he'd frozen ZaiWin as well?
Ignoring his reaction the monster went on.
"These ones here are basically wind. You have air, of course, and them movement, high and low, gentle and harsh, loud like in a storm, and silent like in a breeze. VinWei probably couldn't read them because they overlap with some of your ice markings. But ZenTar, for example, would have no difficult detecting them. Most of his family carries markings similar to these."
Snow nodded. At least those didn't sound so bad, so destructive.
"Now these here … There are probably very few people that will be able to understand what they mean," the monster went on pointing another complex pattern, one that practically filled the entire interior of both wings. Of all the patterns it was probably the most beautiful one, Snow thought, the lines looking stronger, more angular, delicately forming a complex web. "Even I can't read most of them. Because no human that I know of as ever carried such markings. I only saw markings like these after I moved to Nox, covering the skin and fur of the feimao that infested the land."
By his tone of voice Snow knew that those feimao couldn't be a good thing. But, since he had no idea of what he was talking about, he had no choice but to ask.
"Feimao …?"
The blue eyes looked up at him again, the deadly glow in them almost making him step back.
"They are the foul creatures that infest the abandoned lands. Some believe they were once haemao, sacred beasts, sent by the Heavens to help balance the Ran Empire, the same way you lot were sent to Wen. They would have supposedly, somehow, degenerated, going mad, ending up coursing the land, destroying everything in their way. Others believe they're a punishment sent by the Heavens to remind us that we are obliged to look after the land that was delivered into our care. Whatever the truth, the fact is that they corrupt and kill everything they touch. Everything beneath their feet simply dies, the waters become undrinkable, the soil barren. And if they happen to pass by a village they'll kill and devour everyone."
Snow clenched his fists, his throat tightening, making it harder to breathe.
"Unlike any other beast or animal, the feimao also have markings, normally dark-red markings, covering their entire body," he went on. "Since I had to fight against them face to face more times than I can count, I eventually learned how to read a few of them. Like this one, destruction. Or this one, weakness. This one is madness, and this one pain. And, of course, this one, death."
Snow took a step back and the blue eyes looked up at him again.
"The red array you used before, back at the Fortress, was the result of the simultaneous activation of all these daitai."
Snow shook his head, his eyes filling with tears. He didn't want to hear that! He didn't want those things on his back! He hadn't asked for any of that!
The hand that grabbed his wrist stopped him from backing away, even though he hadn't even realized what he was doing.
"Will the markings on your back disappear just because you decide to run away?" the monster demanded, his voice harsh and severe. But, somehow, his words managed to breakthrough his escalating panic. "They won't, right? So stop with the fucking refusal and denial, and do something about it! They are your markings! Even if there's no one else in the entire world with marking like yours, they're still yours! And it is your responsibility to control them!"
Snow lowered his gaze and nodded, and allowed that strong hand to pull him back to his side.
"There are several degrees of control. From the most basic level, that mostly implies activating and deactivating a daitai's effect, to the highest level of control, that allows you to use your markings to do or create the most various things, according to your will. Like this dome, for example, that allows us to remain unseen and unheard by the rest of the world. There isn't a specific daitai for dome, or shield, or sword. These and many other effects are all things people are able to create by activating and controlling their markings. It's as if you could bend and shape what was initially raw power according to your will. In your case, however, if you manage to learn how to activate and deactivate them it will be more enough. You're probably too old to learn how to use them properly. And they are all apparently active, not to mention the sheer number of them and how diverse they are. So I want you to focus only on that."
Snow nodded.
"We'll start by the easiest and less harmful ones. At least until you understand how the process works."
Snow was truly relieved at the sound of that.
"Now, take off your clothes."
His alarmed expression made the blue eyes immediately angry.
"Hurry up, stupid brat! From the waist up, everything off!"