Pilgrim 7, p.1
Pilgrim 7, page 1
PILGRIM
(Book Seven)
By Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Boycott Books
Edited by Celestian Rince
Proofed 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
Table of Contents
Pilgrim Recap
Map of the Kishu Kingdom
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.
Part Eight
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
.Back of the book.
Pilgrim Recap
(Contains spoilers!)
Note: for recap of books 1-3, refer to the front matter in Pilgrim books 4-6.
Book Four
Danzen is determined to open the northern passage, which will allow him to bypass most of the citizens of Kishu Kingdom when transporting remnants. Unfortunately, not everyone in the valley likes this idea. On the eve of his journey, he is ambushed by a yokai, who ends up destroying Jelmay’s home. It seems like Usagi may be tied to it as well, but they can’t be sure yet.
The northern passage is covered in a thick fog said to come from the mouth of a yokai known as a nue. Along the way, Danzen is visited by his father, who tells him that Nomtoi has freed what are known as the Seven Evils from Diyu, a group of some of the worst, vilest demonic beings. Tengir Gantulga explains that he is interested to see how it shakes out. He offers Danzen some help, but Danzen declines.
They travel through the fog of the northern passage and are separated, and Danzen and a few of his companions are forced to fight a giant frog yokai known as an ogama. After killing the frog, they head on, where they run into the rest of the companions, and later Bawa, the kitsune who lives in the Outer Regions. The group splits again and Danzen and company travel to a city called Verba, which is run by a bakeneko named Elder Bahjee. Danzen and Yato help Elder Bahjee with ogre-like oni who are terrorizing the village, and are rewarded with information about a remnant that turns out to be false. In their search for this remnant, they encounter members of the Penumbra clansmen, the group started by a shadow user named Jinkai. Before returning to Elder Bahjee to threaten him, Danzen sends Sansar after the clansman that escapes.
Upon reaching Verba, they get information about a powerful remnant weapon known as the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds, but are interrupted in their quest when Galzo the winged wolf appears. They journey to Odval to investigate kidnappings, where Danzen and his group encounter the first of Nomtoi’s Seven Evils, a pair of ghoul-like demons named Mayji and Onuma. After defeating them and saving the children of the village, Danzen plans to head back to the nunnery, and to the Outer Regions from there. Nomtoi appears.
Nomtoi tells Danzen that he has one week to head south toward the riverside city of Arsi, where an opponent known as Ginza awaits him in the mountains. Realizing he’ll need to do this alone, Danzen leaves Odval after Sansar arrives, figuring he’ll check on Penumbra as well. They visit the Penumbra outpost in Bahlingar, where Danzen learns that Jinkai, their leader, is still alive. He vows to return later with Yato and Nomin. Continuing on, Danzen has his weapons checked by the blacksmith named Kunta in Arsi. He then ventures south, where he is ambushed by Ginza outside of a shrine he has stashed his things in.
After breaking Danzen’s favorite blade, Astra, Ginza brings Danzen to his mountain lair. Danzen is rescued by Sansar, who can change into a raven large enough to carry the assassin. They escape to the shrine, where Danzen plans to get the items he’s left behind, only to be ambushed by Soko. He forms an unsteady alliance with Soko after discussing the Penumbra clansmen. They infiltrate the outpost together, and end up killing Jinkai’s apprentice. Before leaving to chase Jinkai, Soko tells Danzen to meet her at the shrine and that she wants to help him kill Ginza.
Returning to the nunnery, Danzen explains to his companions what has happened and Soko’s request. After having his echo tested and learning how to use his echo power in a new way, Danzen finds out that he’s a Soul Wielder. Alongside a handful of his yokai companions, Danzen heads toward the Outer Region to find the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds. Yato stays behind at the nunnery to train with Nomin, who is teaching her how to operate with her eyes closed.
In the Outer Regions, Danzen and his group encounter a yokai named Midrah, a member of the Sundiyu Sect. She gives them an ancient remnant stored in an abandoned shrine, and introduces them to the yokai hermit named Kanjen, who is said to have the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds. He tests Danzen by summoning a stone golem, which Danzen is able to beat by utilizing his power of shattering stone. For his troubles, he is given the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds, which has been with Kanjen all along in the form of his cane.
There is some debate as to where they should head next. Should they deal with Ginza head on, or finish what they started in the northern passage by killing the yokai known as a nue? Furthermore, Danzen still doesn’t know if he should try to rope Soko into their attack. If they join her, she may betray them. If they don’t, she might grow vengeful. The group decides to finish with the northern passage first, where they encounter the enormous demonic yokai known as a nue. Danzen and his group are able to kill the yokai, thus opening up the passageway. Galzo plans to bring his wolf pack to patrol the region while Danzen and his companions head over marshlands to Arsi, still undecided about what to do with Soko.
They plan to use Jelmay as bait, but before they do that, Danzen secretly goes to the meeting place he arranged with Soko, only to find that she isn’t there. He returns to his companions and they seek to handle Ginza the next morning. Their ambush doesn’t work, but it turns out they expected this all along and it was just a way to get Ginza out of the mountains. They fight the three-eyed monster of a man, who injures Yato and is close to doing something terrible to Danzen when Soko appears.
Soko uses her prosthetic that she got from the Witch of Diyu to blast poison into Ginza’s eyes, distracting him. Danzen and Soko fight him together, and Danzen is eventually able to use his echo power to shatter Ginza’s bones in his body. Soko tells him that she doesn’t want to fight Danzen, for now, and that she’d like to join him in his hunt for the other Seven Evils. She leaves after telling him where she’ll be, never revealing if she’d killed Penumbra leader Jinkai or not.
The focus then switches to Yato, who was injured by Ginza. They take her to a doctor in Arsi who is able to alleviate the pain to some degree. Jelmay knows of a lily that grows in the marshes outside of Arsi, which Sansar fetches while they take the ship toward Genshin Valley. Yato is stabilized, but it seems like things could get complicated once she goes into remission in the valley. Her fever finally breaks outside of Suja Village. As they reach Danzen’s monastery it becomes evident that it has been destroyed, razed to the ground along with all his things inside. Rather than start investigating, Danzen turns to the Panchen Mountains, where Yato can recover through the help of the hermit named Dalan, and Danzen can finally get some peace and quiet before they continue their mission to rebuild Sunyata and find out who destroyed his home.
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 r emnant. 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 Neeranyaga.
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 has 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 sins 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. In 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 the power for Danzen 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.
