Witch of Lurago Chapter 9: Masaki

Do you remember Masaki? He was first mentioned in Chapter 27 of Path of the Spirit Runner.

Dara was sleeping. Dreaming. Before he woke and coaxed Madelyn off the balcony rail…

Dara drifted, following his hindsight wherever it led. Most nights, he used it to escape when thoughts of a life he could not have haunted him. Back in time, he drifted. He watched as the first nenes crawled up out of the ground and lifted their faces to the sun. He drifted farther, past an age of fire and shattered dreams, a time too chaotic to make any sense of as yet. Back he continued until he reached the cycle that had come before.

Masaki’s finger touched a translucent disc etched with a symbol Dara sensed meant home. It lit with a dim red glow. Two others in the glass box leaned past him without a glance and set different discs aglow. Dara was Masaki in the reflection on the polished steel door. All their reflections mirrored the same straight black hair and dark almond eyes. All lived in the same tall tower of glass and steel, but they were not kin. They were not even acquaintances.

I was. I am. I continue, and I return.

The glass box lurched beneath his feet and then rose rapidly up the side of the tower. Masaki watched countless twinkling lights fall away below, unmoved by the sight. Dara wobbled with vertigo. The filmy bag in his hand crinkled against his leg. The scent wafting up meant dinner, warm and inviting in white paper boxes. Pungent sauce leaked from a corner of the bag.

Drip. Drip.

Masaki represents the rising conflict in our cycle. He’s an amalgamation of the ‘isms used to widen the chasms between us. Masaki represents what could happen if terrorism continues to spread and anti-terrorism continues to escalate in response.

Chalyn melding enhances Dara’s hindsight and his ability to read the Patterns. He’s seeing where our cycle, Masaki’s cycle, might be headed.

Masaki is a name I chose from a list of Japanese baby names. Random, I admit, because I went looking for names that would support the Barrens being in what we now call The Far East. Masaki as a Japanese name isn’t the point. Japan but could have been China, North Korea, Russia, or India.

Eastern hemisphere tie in with the Barrens is what’s important.

Masaki is going to be a recurring, key influence on Dara and the other chalyns, so it’s worth taking note of his name this second time around.

And coming at it from another direction… Dara’s memories of Masaki are coming from the same source as Seth’s memories of the Other.