Myorenji

The smell of the meat slowly drifted into my nose, and I couldn’t stop smelling it.  The smoky, delicate and savory smell seemed to combine and react inside of my nose, creating an explosive aroma inside my head.  The more I smelled it, the more the scent changed.  It was definitely an olfactory kind of smell, and I loved it.  The garnishing that Rei had made smelled of sweet clementines, mixed in with a tangy smell from the lemon zest.  It too was a very addicting smell, and I heard her mumble “If you keep smelling it, it’ll lose flavor...”  But I couldn’t help it, for each smell seemed to compel me to stand there, and appreciate its seductive aroma.



Yes, this was quite a trip to Shangri-la.  How we ended up here was another story, but the reason is within this one.  Shangri-la, famous for its Utopian-like city, and immortal people, was also known for its hidden treasure.  It was called ‘Diamond Meat’ through legend, and it was said that a gram of the meat was worth several diamonds.  I don’t care so much about money, but rather, how it tastes.  I, Jin Hayato, am a ‘Rare Foods Hunter’, as I would like to call myself, as this world still had many hidden foods that I wanted to taste so much.  However, I lacked resources to move about this extensive world, so instead I trained myself physically, and swam here.  People may think I’m crazy, but they should understand how much food compels me.  The savoriness, the aroma, the sounds of it sizzling, or being cut, all of it made up my life desires.  I hired a Japanese girl, Rei, to help me cook this ingredient specifically.  I offered her a chance to see the Diamond Meat, and she immediately accepted.  Who knew that world-class chefs would be so eager to chase a legend?



We climbed our way up to Myourenji, a Buddhist temple now long abandoned and in disrepair.  I could hear the winds blowing rather harshly from the temple above, as if it were warning me not to come inside.  The creak of my partner’s leather bag was soon accompanied by the soft clangs of metal skillets and pans tied to the side of her bag as the wind caressed us.  The soft tumbling of pebbles down the hundreds of steps we had spent so long climbing up served to counter the ominous wind, and I raced up the steps, the tapping of my boots echoing all around me.  It was not like this abandoned building was the first we’ve been in.  In fact, all of Shangri-la was abandoned. The houses, temples, and other buildings were intact, but the people were simply not there.  I had a gut feeling it had something to do with this meat, but cast it aside as I opened the rotted, creaky door.



The light poured into the old temple, and revealed what would have gone unnoticed by other eyes.  The floor was in severe disrepair, holes gaping through, showing us a preview of the lower floors.  Dust seemed to filter through the light, and it covered the entire temple very thoroughly.  Rei just managed to get to where I was when I started to walk in, looking for clues as to where the meat could be.  I already assumed the meat was probably at the bottom of this temple, as there it would be rather cold, perfect for storing such valuable treasure.  As I pulled out my flashlight to look in the places the sunlight couldn’t reach, I saw them.  The people of Shangri-la, or rather, their corpses, sprawled all along the floor next to what visibly appeared to be the largest hole that could exist in a building, and would make any carpenter simply faint.  It was nearly 50 feet in diameter, swallowing up the doorway, and revealing several statues of Buddha behind it.  I looked at the corpses, while Rei tried not to vomit from the sight.  Most of the corpses were disemboweled, their mummified faces still twisted in horror, and their mostly deteriorated ribs poking out of the nothingness in their abdomen.  Others had been decapitated, parts of their spinal cord sticking out, the top looking as though it had been hacked through.  Dried blood seemed to appear out of nowhere, suddenly covering every imaginable surface around this hole.  “Dear god...” I said.  I quickly got back up, and stepped away from the corpses.



“This still doesn’t explain where the rest of the Shangri-la residents went...unless this isn’t all of them.” I remarked, mostly for myself, but Rei gave a speculation that maybe there were some people still alive in Myourenji temple.  I agreed, and hoped that at least one person was indeed alive to recall the tales of what happened here.  I looked around more to see that there was no way down to the lower floors of Myourenji temple.  This only confirmed my thoughts.  The Diamond Meat is in the lower floors.  I turned back to Rei, who was sitting on a rotten pillar that fell.  “Rei,” I asked, “I’m gonna go down there to see if the Diamond Meat is there.  I need you to stay up here and keep this rope at the ready.”  I handed her some 200 feet of rope, hoping that it would be enough to at least get halfway down.  “But Jin,” she retorted, “you told me that I was going to be with you the entire time! Especially now!” I felt a stab of guilt pass through me, as I remembered that I promised her that I would be next to her the whole time.  For security reasons of course.  “Rei, I have no idea what’s going to be down here.  I can’t protect you if I’m dead, but you can still escape if you’re up here.  I am used to this kind of thing, but I’d rather not have you dead as well.”  I replied.  I saw her face turn red, and I began to tie the rope to what seemed to be a still intact pillar.  I bid my farewells, and with the rope in my hand, I jumped.



The wind blowing on my face wasn’t really that comforting, but it was better than nothing.  I could feel pieces of debris hit my face, but there wasn’t anything nearby to cause it.  Suddenly my body flattened, and I smashed through what appeared to be a huge wooden disc, probably designed as a barrier.  My body shouted in pain, but it was nothing compared to the training I went through to follow this profession.  I hit the ground softly, with just enough rope that it barely touched the ground.  I marveled at my genius for a second before seeing part of that perfect rope be annihilated, pieces of hemp littering my face.  Turning quickly, and saw a young boy, not older than maybe fifteen, wearing a torn Buddhist robe, and holding a rather large sword, nearly half his height taller than him.  He had a crazed look in his eyes, and I knew he was ready to strike again.  I didn’t have enough time to dodge, so I instead braced myself.  I felt my body naturally flex, steeling itself for a possibly fatal swing.  And it came, hard as I expected it.  I felt my innards turn to mush, as the dull blade came into contact with my abdomen, and I was thrown back, smashing into the wall behind me.  I felt pieces of wood stab into my back, but it still wasn’t enough to cause lasting damage to me.  I pulled myself off the wall, and jumped immediately afterwards, feeling the wind from his blade graze my feet. I launched myself at him, hitting his wrists while he was still in recoil from the swing.  He dropped the sword and cried out in pain, but his crazed look subsided.



I picked up his blade, and chucked it back up the hole, yelling “Catch Rei!”

However, upon realizing that it although it was a dull blade, and that it could still injure I yelled again “Actually don’t catch it!”  I walked back to the boy, and saw him kneeling, and crying.  “Hey,” I asked, “what in the world happened here?”

“I don’t know...the dead that we began to bury recently started to rise, and we tried to fight them. But they wouldn’t die.  Most of our people are gone, and I think I’m the only one left...” He replied.  He seemed to be a timid person at heart, so this event must have been something horrific for him to become that crazy. 

“Alright.  Do you know where the Diamond Meat is?”

“Diamond Meat?”

“Yeah, the meat that is said to be worth more than diamonds?”



My heart started to sink, as my only lead was unable to give me any useful information.  But then he ran back towards another wooden door, and signaled me to open it with him.  Slowly, the door opened, and revealed a rather large bowl, sitting on top of a pedestal, emitting a calming, blue light from inside.  The entire room was covered in roots and trees, and the bowl was directly behind one of the biggest trees I had ever seen in my entire life.  The trunk alone took up half of the room, and its roots seemed to create a makeshift walkway directly towards the bowl.  I could feel my excitement building up, but I remained cautious.  This could be a trap, or it could simply not be there.  I carefully made my way to the bowl, listening intently for any signs of trouble.  But there were none.  I reached the giant bowl, which was made out of stone now that I could see it, and the blue light was some kind of liquid. I tapped it, and saw that instead it was sap, possibly from the tree behind it.  “Interesting,” I remarked to myself, “Hey boy, what is this stuff?”

    He timidly walked up to me, and looked in too.  His eyes widened and he told me, “This is our water! It is our water of life!”

“Wait, water of life? You mean like a fountain of youth or something?” I looked at him incredulously, but also realized that it may be possible, considering that this place isn’t even supposed to exist, and yet I’m here.

“Not really, it is more of a life-extending water.  We drink it for many years, and we live for many more...”

“Huh, that’s good and all, but how do I remove it? And what is your name, since I don’t think I asked you.” I replied, but in my head, I marked this as my next target, hoping to find a bigger source of this “water of life”.

“I am Cheng.  I was a monk-in-training before this happened.  You cannot remove the water, instead you must drink it.”

“Is there some catch to this? I don’t think that you guys would guard an object of great value with something just as valuable.”

“Well, it depends on the person, but I have heard stories of people drinking it and dying immediately.”

“What in the hell?! Alright, is that why the undead are around here?”

“Yes.  Since we could not kill them, we locked them in Myourenji, and had forsaken it.”

“So why are there so many of your kin dead in this buildling?”

“They said that there was something in this building that may cure this infection, but all those who entered died and joined them.  I lived by killing them, as I figured out that severing their head prevents them from killing.  It was shameful what I had to do, and I know I cannot be forgiven for it.”

    I looked at Cheng, but didn’t say anything.  I didn’t know how to comfort him, that was Rei’s job.  I braced myself for the final test, and lifted the stone bowl.  I could see Cheng’s eyes widen even further then they had earlier, and I brought my lips to the giant stone bowl, and drank.  The sap didn’t taste like anything poisonous, but instead was delicious.  It was more of a liquid than sap, and was colder than ice.  This made it all the more refreshing, as the coldness preserved the flavor.  It tasted like a multitude of unnamed fruits, all mashed together in a perfected harmony, and its flavor was in constant change.  First it was sweet, then sour, then bitter, then tangy.  I began to feel lighter on my feet, and stronger than what I was previously, as the water of life coursed through my body.  It was indeed a force to be reckoned with, as the taste of it alone could make anyone addicted to it.  But for it to extend your life as well, it was amazing.  I drank all save a pint or so for Rei and some possible experimentation, and peered into the bowl once more.

    I had found the Diamond Meat.  The light glimmering from it nearly blinded me when I looked into it.  I picked up some black cloth, and covered part of my eyes so that I could see the Diamond Meat.  It was indeed just like the legend.  The meat itself was transparent, but the edges were crystallized, making it look as if diamonds themselves had somehow grown around this meat.  I poked it, and felt the tenderness of what would normally be extremely hard meat.  The texture of the meat was fairly rough, like a patch of crystals, but other parts were very smooth, like marble. I could feel my saliva running down my chin, covering part of my shirt.  Cheng seemed to be more concerned with my drooling than the meat, trying to point it out to deaf ears.  I picked up the meat, and put it inside an airtight bag, resealing it after I put the precious meat in there.  I also bottled up the rest of the water, leaving the stone bowl satisfied and empty.  We both climbed up the rope, back to the first floor of Myourenji, back to Rei.  She was sleeping on the rotted pillar, mumbling my name.  “Jeez,” I thought, “at least she won’t be cranky now.”

    “Jin...Jin! Jin!” I slowly got up.  Rei was standing over me, looking rather annoyed.  “The food is done Jin! I gave some to that poor boy Cheng, so don’t you cry about it now.”  She handed me a plate of food, the Diamond meat, still bedazzling me, along with the garnishing that Rei had made.  “Thanks for the food!” And I began to eat.