Pilgrim 8, p.1
Pilgrim 8, page 1
PILGRIM
(Book Eight)
By Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Boycott Books
Edited by Andi Marlowe
Art by Daniel Kamarudin
Font by Shawn King
Audiobook produced by Podium Audio and narrated by Mikael Naramore
www.harmoncooper.com
writer.harmoncooper@gmail.com
Twitter: @_HarmonCooper
Harmon Cooper’s Patreon
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
Contents
Table of Contents
Pilgrim Recap
Part One
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Two
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Three
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Four
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Five
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Six
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
.Epilogue.
.Back of the book.
Pilgrim Recap
(Contains spoilers!)
Note: for recap of books 1-4, refer to the front matter in Pilgrim books 4-7.
Book Five
Danzen and his companions are presented with a new threat in the form of Uchi, a fallen angel able to control the minds of people around him by attaching a string of Sunyatic energy to them. After some negotiation, Usagi helps Danzen free several of his companions from Uchi’s strings of energy through the help of a strange yokai named Boldknot, who is a trio of floating heads that breathe sacred fire. After the lion dogs are repaired, Danzen and his group head toward the northern passage, where they hope to regroup at his mother’s nunnery and figure out a strategy to deal with Uchi.
While journeying through the northern passage, they learn of a giant yokai named Timbero, who is missing a Sunyata jewel from the center of his head. To help Timbero, Danzen and his group seek out the nomadic Dukha People, an ancient tribe that has a cache of remnants from before the fall of Sunyata. The Dukha and their sage, Sotgonn, see themselves as caretakers of Timbero. They explain that a dragon known as a tatsu has taken Timbero’s remnant. Danzen volunteers to retrieve it, and once they do, they return the remnant to the Dukha People and continue to the north, now aiming for the Outer Regions village of Verba, where they learn that something strange has happened.
The next of the Seven Evils has presented itself, this one a demonic yokai named Kitazawa who has razor wings and carries a pair of blades. Not only that, but she can turn anyone who sees her into stone. They learn of this new opponent through Elder Bahjee, the cowardly bakeneko that has ruled the village of Verba for some time now. He points them in the direction of Kanjen and Midrah of the Sundiyu Sect. Danzen and his companions eventually come face-to-face with Kitazawa, who warns them to leave the valley. After Midrah doesn’t return to Kanjen’s cave, Danzen and Nomin go to find her, only to be confronted by Kitazawa. Danzen wounds her, and comes to the realization that once she retaliates, she’ll likely hit the nunnery.
The group races back to the nunnery to see to its protection. Kanjen and Midrah join them so they can meet with Abbot Monpo of the fox shrine and Menya, the head nun. They plan to address strategies for rebuilding Sunyata, but it quickly becomes clear that the Sundiyu Sect is of the opinion that Danzen should die and rebuild from within Diyu, after he’s taken the throne from his father. Their negotiations are cut short once Soko arrives and tells them that Penumbra has shown up in their region, and they’re planning to raid the nunnery.
Danzen and Yato, alongside Sansar the raven, go with Soko to the fortress where Penumbra is staying. The plan is for Soko to set up explosions while Danzen kills Jinkai, the Penumbra leader, using his boomerang sword and poison. All goes to plan until Danzen finds that Jinkai is having a banquet with White, his former infiltration instructor at the Diyu Brotherhood, and Neeranyaga and Thulma, a pair of assassin twin sisters who went to school with Thane, Yato’s former teacher. A fight breaks out and Soko swoops in, killing Neeranyaga. The explosives are triggered and they escape, likely making an enemy out of White and Thulma.
Once they return to his mother’s former nunnery, Kitazawa strikes, but not before there’s a rift between the Sundiyu Sect and Danzen and his companions over the way to rebuild Sunyata. Before Kitazawa attacks, Kanjen and Midrah of the Sect leave the nunnery. Upon killing Kitazawa later that night, they discover that one of her stone soldiers is actually Elder Bahjee in disguise. Bahjee claims that the Sundiyu Sect made a deal with Kitazawa to kill Danzen.
Needing answers, Danzen and his companions head to the Outer Regions to confront the Sundiyu Sect over these allegations. They part ways with Soko before they leave, promising to meet her in a week’s time in Chutham, so they can see about Uchi as a group. After an assassination attempt by a yokai in Verba, they confront the Sect. Kanjen and Midrah confess that they indeed made an agreement with Kitazawa, their goal being for Danzen to rebuild Sunyata from within Diyu. A fight breaks out, but Danzen has other things on his mind at that point, namely that his father visited him the previous night to let him know that Nomtoi has appealed to a council that advises Tengir Gantulga. His half-brother wants a shot at Danzen and he could strike at any minute.
Midrah is killed by Yato, and Danzen once again notices that his apprentice is behaving in a strange way. He keeps his eye on her as they head toward the Dukha encampment, where they find that the Dukha have been attacked by the cannibalistic Akabori tribe. Danzen agrees to help Sotgonn by stripping the Akabori of the remnant that they worship. While doing so, Danzen, Nomin, and Yato are attacked by a yuki-onna, an ice yokai. The attack triggers a strange response in Yato, who savagely kills the yuki-onna.
After getting the remnant from Akabori, Danzen and his companions race back to the Dukha People to try to figure out what is happening with Yato. It becomes apparent that she has been possessed by one of the Seven Evils, and Danzen and the Evil do battle before it leaves to find another host. They end up leaving Yato with the Dukha to recover while they venture back to Genshin Valley to meet with Boldknot. Before they leave the Dukha, Danzen is given a whistle that will summon Timbero and a remnant that will help them test for any possessions.
Reaching Dalan’s hermitage, they regroup with Boldknot and meet Jelmay the next morning. To alert Soko, Danzen and Jelmay put out an incense signal in Chutham. After meeting with Dalan and his sister Eva Yin, who has a sickness related to the talisman she has exploited, Soko joins them. She explains that White has a Diyu Brotherhood contract out on Danzen, but her explanation is cut short once they are attacked by Thulma, the twin sister of Neeranyaga, whom Soko has recently killed. Danzen is poisoned; Soko defends him and kills the enemy assassin.
After Danzen recovers, he teaches Jelmay how to bend his echo using Thulma’s flail, a weapon that the bakeneko intends to keep. They make sure the whistle that calls Timbero works, and then they set off toward the First District of Suja Village to kill Uchi. Their plan works and they kill Uchi, but not before Nomtoi shows up to add chaos to an already-volatile situation.
In the fight that follows, Boldknot is killed protecting Danzen from his own sword once Nomtoi throws it at the former assassin. Shedrup, Elder Sonders’ nephew and leader of the local militia, is also killed when engaging Danzen, which triggers a response from Elder Sonders. Nomtoi freezes time, explains to Danzen that he’s aware that Danzen doesn’t want the throne, but he can’t let him rebuild Sunyata, and leaves.
Danzen prevents Soko from killing Elder Sonders and has a brief conversation with the grief-stricken leader of Suja Village’s Third District. Danzen is banished from Suja Village by the elder, which is something he had sensed was coming due to the things that have happened to the villagers since his arrival. Danzen and his companions agree to bury Boldknot. From there they head to the outskirts of Arsi, where Danzen plans to look for Astra’s pieces, which he hopes are in the mountains, left from his first encounter with Ginza.
Book Six
The sixth installment of Pilgrim begins outside of the riverside city of Arsi, near a shrine that Danzen had volunteered at during his two-year departure. Seeking to search the mountains nearby for what is left of Astra, his former boomerang sword, Danzen and his companions agree to help the abbot of the shrine after he tells them about the appearance of a demonic yokai known as an onryo. The onryo has also killed others and has animated their corpses. Upon visiting the nearby village of Cadoh, they encounter a former Diyu Brotherhood assassin named Dojin who helped a man named Lazenthro cover up the death of his wife, which was how the onryo came into existence.
To stop the onryo, Danzen and his team venture to a vacation home owned by Lazenthro, where they find the man tied up and trying to repent for the sin of killing his wife. Danzen fights one of the onryo’s zombies and they wait until night to ambush the onryo. They do so successfully, killing the onryo and her zombie cohorts. Going on a hunch that Jelmay has, they summon Timbero, who immediately points out that the abbot isn’t the real abbot at all. The religious man has been possessed by a fallen angel named Nova, one who promises to not only help Danzen in the future with the spirit Evil known as Shimo, but also points them toward the next remnant, which is near the desert city of Tachibana. Nova also gives Danzen a rosary made of Sunyatic gemstones.
Danzen successfully finds the pieces of his famed boomerang sword, Astra. Before they head to Tachibana, they decide to pay a visit to Arsi so Danzen can have his sword worked on by the blacksmith named Kunta. They also meet with Soko to see what she has uncovered. In meeting with Soko, they learn that White, the new leader of the Penumbra Clan, has taken up residence outside the city of Arsi and is looking to recruit new members. Upon infiltrating the manor, they are confronted by a new Evil, one known as Nyamdor, a dual-sword-wielding former member of the Brotherhood who is now an arsonist. Because of the fire, they leave the manor before they can kill Nyamdor, which coincides with the plan that Jelmay has developed over the course of an afternoon of spying. The final Evils, a group known as the Butterflies of Arsi, famed assassins from Jelmay’s past, are going to perform in Arsi. Jelmay hopes to bring these two together, Nyamdor and the Butterflies, so the chaos can consume both of them.
After retrieving Astra, which is now in the form of three throwing daggers known as Astra kunai, Danzen and his companions leave Soko behind to head toward Tachibana, where they hope to find a remnant in the mountains outside of the desert city. Following the directions given to them by Nova, Danzen leaves the others in a cave and reaches a peak that turns out to be an old sanctuary. His father appears, and after a brief conversation, Danzen learns that Tengir Gantulga’s advisory council has decided against Nomtoi’s wish to come after him. His father unlocks Danzen’s ability to read a demonic script. Tengir Gantulga leaves, but before he does he tells Danzen not to enter the sanctuary, to mind all the warning signs written in demon script.
Danzen enters the sanctuary and is required to complete several challenges to reach the top. Along the way, he sees more of the demonic writing, warnings telling him to stop his advance. After fighting a sanctuary guard made of stone, Danzen is rewarded with a projection map that points to objects known as Fatebricks, which are necessary in his quest to rebuild Sunyata. Upon confirming with Nova, he is told that he already has one of the Fatebricks, the rosary given to him by the fallen angel. There are eight more, and the closest one, according to the map, is outside of Tachibana, in the sea.
After returning to the others, Danzen ventures to Tachibana, where they encounter a hairy beast of a yokai named Tolmo. Tolmo the ijuu seems suspicious as to why they’re journeying through what he believes to be his territory, yet he lets them pass for now. After crossing a desert via a caravan, they reach Tachibana and take shelter in a new hotel. Later, they venture to the beach, where they relax until Sansar returns from his exploratory flight. The raven has discovered a stairwell on a rock formation, one that leads into the ground and matches the general location of the next Fatebrick.
Danzen is presented with obstacles in the sanctuary, and once he completes them, including battling the sanctuary guard, he enters a room that seals up behind him. He is greeted by three honored ghosts known as goryo, who issue him a challenge. If he can pass their tests, he will receive another Fatebrick of Sunyata. If he cannot, he will be sealed away in the sanctuary for eternity.
The tests consist of things Danzen is already able to do with his echo, from shattering stones to repairing them. The challenge truly comes when he is asked to dissolve the stone, which is something he has yet to attempt. Miraculously, Danzen is able to dissolve the stone and is presented with the Fatebrick, which turns out to be a small box made of remnants. He returns to the others, and after a night of rest, they head toward the mountains, hoping to find a shortcut to Genshin Valley. Because of the valuable nature of the Fatebricks, they need a place to hide them. Jelmay says he has a place in mind.
As they’re traveling through the mountains, they encounter the ijuu they met earlier, who is now joined by numerous humanoid yokai known as gaki. They attack Danzen and his group, and the ijuu escapes with Kudzu. Danzen pursues her, and once he nears the ijuu, he’s transported to another realm where he faces a brutal psychological fight with the Evil known as Shimo. After gathering his wits, Danzen manages to summon Nova. The fallen angel is able to aid Danzen in his fight, and together they defeat Shimo.
Once he has regrouped with the others, they head to Genshin Valley, and to the Asura Forest from there to meet with Usagi the jade rabbit. They find Usagi joined by a female bakeneko named Semya. Usagi knows of a place to hide the Fatebricks of Sunyata, but before he’ll reveal it, he tasks Danzen’s group with dealing with some assassins who have made a home for themselves in Chutham. This group turns out to be the Halcyon sect of the Diyu Brotherhood, which is led by Kaysim, a man who wields a whip sword.
To better understand what he’s up against, and while Nomin runs reconnaissance, Danzen meets with Eva Yin the madam, who is now on her deathbed. After helping Eva deal with one of these assassins, which turns out to be her dying wish, Danzen joins Nomin and they assault the compound where Kaysim is staying. The fight against Kaysim turns out to be relatively easy, Danzen realizing afterward just how much he has improved with his command over his demons and his control over his echo.
Upon returning to the Asura Forest, Usagi and Semya the bakeneko lead Danzen and his group to an ancient ruin deep within the forest. They leave the Fatebricks there, where they will be watched by yokai as well as Timbero and Nova, and move on to the Northern Passage to look for an additional Fatebrick and check in with Yato.
Upon reaching the Dukha People, they find that Yato has greatly improved her levitation powers. Instead of focusing on moving through the agreed-upon cultivation system, her training has been solely on levitating and controlling objects. Sotgonn, leader of the Dukhas, has taught her well. Even if the tribal leader and his people are there to help rebuild Sunyata, Danzen makes the decision to keep some of what has happened from him, namely the discovery of the Fatebricks.
Alongside Yato, Danzen tries for another Fatebrick only to discover that it has already been taken. After battling a monstrous yokai stuck in the cave, they return to the camp and prepare to head back to Arsi, where the Butterflies are setting up a performance. Before leaving the next day, Danzen trains with Yato, and yet again gets the sense that the tribal leader knows more than he’s letting on.
After a trip through the Asura Forest and a boat ride from Chutham, Danzen and his companions arrive in Arsi. They meet Soko at her flat, the assassin gleefully keeping a part of their assault plan from the group. Her surprise turns out to be White’s brother, Dojin, who Soko has kidnapped and killed. Soko arranges for the body to be dropped in front of the place White is staying, all in an effort to lure the man and the Evil that has joined him to the Butterflies.
Because of this, Danzen comes to the realization that Soko must die. If they’re able to kill the Butterflies and Nyamdor, Soko will only use this as an opportunity to either go after Danzen again, or she’ll learn of the Fatebricks and seek to exploit them. With this in mind, and the decision weighing heavy on Danzen’s heart, they begin the assault the next day. The Butterflies prove harder to fight than expected, especially their leader, a redheaded woman who seems to have a control of her echo to the point Danzen can’t call Timbero for backup.
White never shows, but he does leave them with an explosion that causes a lot of fire and disorients Danzen’s group. As he tries to make sure everyone has survived, Danzen once again clashes with the redheaded Butterfly. She seems on the verge of striking him down for good when Soko appears, helps Danzen, and in the process is killed. In the end, Soko is dead, and there are still two Evils out there, the redheaded Butterfly and Nyamdor.
