Степан Мазур – Tai (*in english) (страница 7)

“That it’s not yet the time for him to get a Sak Yant.”

“Sak Yant? What’s that?”

“A life-changing pattern on your body.”

“A pattern? Do you mean a tattoo?”

“You may call it that. It has protective power. And makes you stronger when you believe in its power.”

“Cool. I want it.”

Dalai Tisein turned his back to the boy, showing him leg strikes, so Tai couldn’t see a light smile on his teacher’s face.

He who is wishing is anything but dead. The little survivor was apparently coming back to life, taking his first steps, which were the hardest.

“I want a tattoo of my family,” Tai said in a smaller voice. “To see their faces so I don’t forget them.”

Dalai Tisein’s smile faded. He turned to the boy. “Tai. Sak Yant has magic. It’s not a way to keep dear memories. It’s a way to pump strength into your body. For it to have power, it should be only made by a monk who reached nirvana. Sak Yant is a sacred gate of truth. A door into…” The abbot paused, struggling with a choice of foreign words, when Tai suddenly froze. His eyes opened wide with terror as he stared at something behind Dalai Tisein’s back.

At something on the shore.

Chapter 6 – An Otherworldly Encounter

Dalai Tisein spun around, bracing for anything from a blow to a gunshot, but found himself alone, the sea calm. The waves gently lapped at the shore, betraying no signs of the recent devastation they’d wrought—though no one had seen that deadly wave coming either. Could the boy have seen more than him?

Horror filled Tai’s eyes. Unlike the monk, he watched a towering wave hurl ashore a large, weather-beaten ship. With its torn sails and mast, the wooden vessel seemed adrift, with no one steering it. The sea ejected it with a violent thrust, smashing it against the sand and coastal rocks.

The impact with a boulder pierced one side of the ship, tipping it over. Its mast plowed into the sand, and the ship came to a sudden, precarious stop, nearly capsizing. One mast snapped; another leaned dangerously. The torn side spilled its cargo: barrels and crates were strewn across the beach, heavy wooden boxes shattered and embedded in the sand.

Several people got tossed overboard. They were oddly dressed in long, buttonless shirts tucked into loose pants belted at the waist, wide boots with rolled-up shafts, their heads adorned with bandanas and ribbons tied through long, unkempt, greasy hair.

As Tai moved closer, he noticed one man’s misfortune: a sharp board had sliced open his abdomen. He crawled across the sand, leaving trails of dark blood behind.

Another passenger from the mysterious ship was luckier and more agile. He got up, shook off the sand as if it were routine to be flung dozens of feet into the waves or onto the beach, and walked straight toward Tai.

The boy looked into his eyes but saw only two bottomless black abysses. As if a demon disguised as a pirate was advancing towards him. A demon armed with a real pirate’s saber—or was it a rapier, or a cutlass? Tai couldn’t tell for sure, but it was clear the armed figure had no intention of playing games.

Fear rooted Tai to the spot. He couldn’t move. The pirate continued his advance, leaving his wrecked ship behind. Drawing his saber, he swung and… plunged it into his struggling companion’s back.

He relieved him of his pain, Tai realized, but then the pirate swung the blade at him.

“Stop! Leave him alone!” came a voice Tai painfully recognized.

It belonged to a little girl. Stunned, Tai looked past the pirate to see his little sister in her light sundress standing behind the fearsome, bearded man.

“He’s mine!” she declared firmly.

The pirate saluted Alyona as one might salute a ship’s captain, and vanished into thin air. With him disappeared the wrecked vessel of the late Middle Ages.

On the sand next to Tai, only Alyona remained. She stood as an ethereal spirit directly across from him, looking into his eyes. She was still seven, dressed as he’d last seen her in the international hospital two days ago: sundress, sandals, two braids. Except now, the sea shimmered through her.

“Will you accept me?” she asked, sounding alive.

“I… I don’t know,” Tai replied, bewildered, adding quietly, “I miss you, Alyona.”

“Tai. What do you see?” his mentor’s voice came from behind, sounding as though it traveled down a long corridor, although the monk stood only a score of feet away. For Tai, the sounds and visions of the spirit world were now much sharper, more tangible than those of the reality.

“There was a pirate. Now, my sister,” the boy replied. “Did you not see the ship?”

Dalai Tisein retrieved a set of prayer beads from his inner pocket and settled into the lotus position on the sand. Closing his eyes, he immersed himself into the ethereal realm. “What does she want, Tai?” he inquired.

“She’s asking if I will accept her.”

“Is she alive?” the monk asked unexpectedly.

Of course she is, Tai wanted to say, but then he remembered the events of just a day ago. He couldn’t wrap his head around that. Alyona stood right there, in front of him.

“I… I’m not sure,” Tai answered, snapping his eyes open. He wished he could blink it away, yet something urged him to focus on what he was seeing.

Tai’s pupils dilated when, instead of disappearing, Alyona smiled at him and touched his hand. Her touch was icy-cold.

This chilling contact made him see even more. Tai suddenly noticed his sister’s neck was unnaturally twisted, the vertebrae stretching the skin in a way that showed they were clearly out of place. Her head looked as if it had been rotated and then set back incorrectly.

“Her neck is broken,” Tai murmured softly, careful not to hurt his sister’s feelings.

“Her soul is not at peace, Tai,” Dalai Tisein added with a calm that belied his racing heart, feeling a spiritual presence. “Ask her what she wants. What can she give you for accepting her?”

“Why should I charge her?” Tai was confused.

“That’s the way of the spirit world. A favor for a favor. Worlds only come in touch when they need something from each other.”

Meanwhile, the spirit crossed her arms and protested, “Slava, why are you listening to this old man? It’s me—your sister!”

“You… you drowned. The tsunami. Remember?” Tai managed to say, his voice stumbling.

He longed to stay here with her, to hug her, to spin her around and share his stories of weird animals and glowing statues. Yet he knew that only the wet sand under his feet, the sea before him, and the old man sitting behind him were real.

And everything else… what was it? A different world? An overlap of realities?

“Yes, I drowned,” Alyona admitted easily. “So what? Do you think life ends there? No, brother. It just becomes different.”

“What kind of different?” His curiosity spiked about what lay beyond.

“Now I can be anywhere in the sea,” she explained cheerfully, as if recounting thrilling adventures. “I can swim among the reefs. Play with dolphins. Or even roam around ships and make friends with pirates.”

“Why make friends with pirates?” He remembered the armed man who’d mercilessly finished off his companion.

“Because they’re all here, in the sea. Forever.”

Tai’s eyes widened as the spirit twirled around him, adding, “Do you realize how important I am now? They all accept me. Will you accept me, brother?”

Tai had a lot questions, but he focused on asking the most pressing ones. “Accept you? What does that mean?”

“It means that you will keep my soul and I’ll protect you from any danger coming from water. You will never drown. Never choke on water. You’ll never be afraid of depths. Keeping my soul, you’ll be a friend to all seas and rivers and lakes. Water will be your family, dear brother.”

Tai smiled, though it was a sad smile, with tears brimming in his eyes.

Alyona returned a warm smile, showing off her pearly teeth. “Just agree already. What’s there to think about? I’ve discovered so much. I can tell you so many things. It’s so much more fun than going to school. We can play together as much as you like. I mean it, Slava.”

“Tai, what is she saying?” the mentor’s distant voice reached the boy’s ears. “What is she giving you?”

“She says I’ll be a friend of the sea and all waters,” the boy relayed. “She’s asking me to keep her soul.”

“Do you like this idea?” the monk asked, carefully choosing his words so he wouldn’t disrupt the fragile connection between the two worlds. A family bond isn’t easy to severe, but a careless word, gesture, or thought could make the spirit angry.

“She’s my sister. I can’t feel any other way,” Tai replied as he took in all the familiar details on his sister’s clothing: the brooch on her sundress, the hair clip shaped like a Thai flower. It was definitely her. Their mother had bought that clip at a store near the hotel the first day they arrived.

His sister looked as if she was ready to go shopping with their parents, just as he’d last seen her in the hospital ward.

Was it yesterday? No, the day before. Can our parents still be nearby? Can they come here too? They have to. They must. We’re a family. But… they’re dead! Dead. Dead.

“You’re all dead!” Tai screamed out, about to yell at Alyona to go away and stop confusing him.