Heavenfall

"Or maybe this obsidian stuff is just... nastier. Darker."

"I do know one difference, between these two pieces. The normal one is from a volcano I passed on the way down here. The other? I found that at the base of Seppun Hill. With no volcano around. But, it is where the little gods fell. And... if the stories are correct, where the blood of their father might have fallen."

"Moon blood?"

Sora sighed.

"They certainly do complicate things with their family business sometimes..."

"So they're not really the same stone then. Like the difference between greenstone and jade. Only one is of the heavens... though the fact that the heavenly one is the one that falls to corruption is disconcerting. What does that say about Lord Moon...."

"Prick ate his children. What more do we need to say about him?"

"Heh. True. Then, they were cut forth, and now we have to deal with them." He shakes his head. "Still, there is also your first idea - that it absorbed the Foulness. Another form of protection, but one that leaves the item with bite. Jade only gets destroyed, after all."

"I will be honest. I do not trust any 'bite' coming from that realm. Have you tried leaving the darkened piece with jade? To ensure the darkness is truly trapped?"

"I have not tried touching one to another, no." He reaches into a pouch and pulls out a small carving of a badger. Reaching forward, he carefully drops it next to the marked obsidian arrowhead.

There is no reaction.

"At least it does not radiate the evil. Still, I would be very careful. I cannot imagine a cut from it would be safe."

"Thus why it is carefully wrapped in cloth, and in a pouch with only the two arrowheads and that cloth. It feels... dangerous on an existential level. Or maybe as a last gasp item, useful only for killing what you need dead, with no doubts about it."

Jin takes a sip of his drink and nods, "If even then. Dark tools can stain the soul even if the motive is pure." A frown, "I wonder if it required the concentrated evil of that place to reach this point of if we are in danger of these popping up through the land from where shards had fallen."

"Something to look into, I would say."

Jin sighs and takes another drink, "On top of many, many others. Who knew creating an empire while preparing for a cosmic war would be so much busy work."

"Especially since there are already internal stresses to go with the external ones. I'm afraid the Emperor is going to be even busier in the days ahead."

"I know I am not a member of the Empire, but sometimes that can be a benefit. Might I ask about the internal stresses? I might be able to find a solution, one not obvious to someone on the inside."

"Oh, just different ideas of the future and what's to be. And the Stag and Spider have been a bit... on edge all the way back."

"Ah. Yes, fights between siblings can be... bad. I have several brothers and sisters, and my master does as well. I've seen many variations." Kyosei shakes his head. Then, taking a sip of the drink, stops and looks at it. "This isn't bad. Have to see if it travels well."

"Ah. This entire thing, the little gods falling, the tournament, this expedition. None of it was broadly imagined so many years ago."

"The falling stones that lead to the avalanche. Sadly leaving most with no choice other than to ride it out or to get out of the way."

"Well. You can't back into the future- and if it hadn't been them, it would have been... something."

"Something? You feel there would have been something either way? You sound like you might know of what that is? Dare I ask?"