Touhou Another Origins: The Yama of Xanadu

[Esifex]

Been a while since you updated, I was afraid this was withering away.

Waiting warmly while authors prepare more chapters.

[♛ Apher-Forte]

Chapter 16



?First, my deepest apologies, my inadequate powers to protect your mother have caused some harm to her instead. There were just too many?? The General now said to me, his voice a hint of remorse within.


?I understand.?


?No, you don?t, you are now facing an enemy that will do anything to bring the key to them, and for their own means. This can mean many things, but firstly, they want you out of the way. With your mother in that safehouse, it is unlikely she will be endangered since I am pretty certain the hidden enemy does not know about this place.? The general paused, ?With this, the key you now hold in your hand, you have the power to change the history of our people, and with it, it is up to you to decide now, if the Yama community, or the young ones at least deserves to know the truth about the Oni Pillar; for with great knowledge, comes great ambition, and some may just choose to complete that ambition with vile intentions.?


?Then, I know more than you do now. You have explained to me what the Oni Pillar is, and I know now that part, what you didn?t explain is where can I find this gate to use the key with, and where is the Oni Pillar.?


?On this realm at least, the Oni Pillar lies just directly below the world?s tallest natural sandstone statue of Buddha in existence, in Le Shan; and the gateway, lies behind the throne of Shinki, the queen of the underworld that sought to protect this secret for the greater good of our people and the residents of Makai and New Hell.?


?Where can we find her? and how do we???


?You aren?t thinking about opening the gateway right?? The general asked abruptly.


I had to admit it, to see the Oni Pillar with my eyes to ascertain the severity of this would have been a want of mine, yet, if I venture in, there is no telling who else can venture inwards.


?The key is given to you so you may inherit your father?s quest, to have it with you so that it is kept as a personal secret, as your father have done. It was not meant for you, or even I, to walk into that place of places.? The general seemed flustered, now clearly gripping his hands into balled fists.


?I have no intention to do so? but I want to at least know the mastermind of this entire stake of events, and to do so, I will need to lure him or her out. Surely you wish to apprehend the mastermind of this cascade of events do you not? He did threaten my life, tried to take it, and along the way have caused quite a significant number of individuals to be dragged to hell long before their arranged times and dates.?


?Just as there is design of the Hell long before we come to existence, it is not up to us to say that it was all not as planned by some higher power above.? The general commented.


?Then, are you, after leading me this far to take a step back and do nothing now??


?When news reaches the ear of the Kirin, the most Justified of the Justice of The World, all will be in its hands to decide if we are to apprehend them or not, I alone cannot decide on that.? The general seemed to crumble into a hail of my questions, and strangely so, I am not surprised.


?Then we must move, the sooner we reach the shrine of the Kirin and inform him, the sooner we can be rid of this conflict.? I felt like leader now, more so than that I have ever been.


?Indeed.?


?And one more thing? Shikieiki-kun.?


?What is it?? I asked, turning about.


?When it is all over, I am at your mercy, my failure is this legacy, do with me what you will or ask what you will of me, even if it means taking my eyes for hers, or my life for it.? The general looked forlorn somehow, as he said this, I can?t help but feel a gripping hold in my chest. I promised myself with a silent non-reply, that I would not be as cruel, after all, it is not like it is his fault that my mother has suffered.


The true person to blame, should have been my father? I slowly began to realize how poisonous blame can spread.



+++++++



Here in the foothills of a long forgotten mountain, like many of the Asahikawa?s nature reserves left untouched by mankind?s urge for expansion and development; lives wildlife aplenty, and also youkai that lurks in shadowy realms.


Their teeth baring, mouths drooling as we strolled inwards to the deeper parts of the forested groves of the hidden mountains. In it, we found the cavern, which houses a shrine once decorated with red scented wood of holy trees that were planted exactly 5 feet apart surrounding a narrow walkway which is now overgrown with mold and grass.


The shrine was decrepit; clearly showing a once glorious civilization of villagers or townsmen formerly reliant on the blessings of the Kirin has abandoned their reliance. When mankind moved on, nature performs its duties, and swallows what remains of the civilization that left its markings.


Where holy ropes in red and white once tied the great trees with tops that reached the skies 50 feet and above, forming a colossal dome of branches and leaves that leaves little sunlight to penetrate into the forest floor; lay decrepit marks of smoldered compounds. The compounds are chemicals from the ropes, over time, they eroded from the sinewy strings that tie into bunches and became a part of nature itself.


A slow process, but it exists nonetheless. Around it, the trees that are smaller seemed to hum in silent harmony, as faeries of various species gather to maintain their lives with them. To the human eye, it looked like any decrepit old shrine site, abandoned. To us, beings able to see the realm of the others that shared their place among humans before faith is replaced by science and advancement; it is a wonderland of a myriad of creatures, small and big.


Faeries no larger than the size of my thumb swirled around me, observing the giant that I am to them as I stepped upon the grass and the soil to reach the shrine now, hidden under huge gnarly roots of tree bark, mold, decay and most of all above it a great tree which somehow grew into the shrine itself.


Make no mistake that this tree is barely 10 years old, yet with its divine nutrition absorbed from the shrine?s great being, it grew into tremendous sizes within short years, and with leaves that are not green, rather, akin to a sky blue and crystalline shine, as though the tree was carved out of crystals and set there by man.


The faeries seemed to know our mission and quickly, alerted the rest of the creatures around the forest, and promptly departed. Within seconds, the murmur and humming, whispering and singing of the wondrous nature around us seized to a silent atmosphere, so quiet our footsteps sounded like drums pounding above an empty auditorium


?Lord of the heavenly justice, untainted one and great honorable one above all. I am Shikieiki Yamaxanadu of the clan of Yamas of the Higan, I have come to you in search of your aid and guidance. Please answer.? I said, kneeling before the long decrepit shrine.


Truth in my heart, I did not expect a reply at all. In my mind, a set of plans has been detailed for me to reach the goal I so sought, which includes how to reach into the place where the Oni Pillar has been sealed. What better way to conceal the key I thought, than to throw it inside?


In my mind also ran the scenarios, what if the Oni broke out and ran free? Would be like containing a jail cell full of the greatest criminals in all annals of history from running amok? Or would it be like a war, until which the entire of Makai is once plunged into peril, and the chances of our community, along with the many others that come to appreciate the peace and inhabit Makai to perish together in a plume of fiery hell?


My mind whispered to me, and I felt dread as I have never before as the thoughts become more than just vivid imaginations.


Amongst the distraction of my own head, I heard it.


It was clear as water, dropping upon a silent morning pond; its ripples spread, disturbing the silent harmony of the surface, until the harmony was no more.


?I am here, child, it has been many years? what aid do you seek from me, the Kirin??


The voice was that of a sturdy male, deep and baritone, layered by a hundred other subtones that seemed to ring within the main voice, like an echo from a mountain range funneled through a large horn. I felt awed, and yet, somehow raised my voice enough to strain through a reply.


?My lord of lords, I have come to you with a desperate need for help, the Oni Pillar is under threat of release, people are trying to bring chaos once more to the land of the Dharma, and our race, as the others that inhabit peacefully within the underground realms, are under threat. We have a faceless enemy that stood powerful against us, and worst of all, we also have ancient Onis at our tail, chasing us to the ends of the world and back as they sought to free their brethren to cause more havoc.?


The silence followed.


?Young one of the Yama clan, what proof do you have against such a sinful act to be committed?? As expected, the Kirin is a judge of judges, seeking proof where all are concerned, and unmoved by personal greed or anything that disagrees with the strong arms of justice.


?My mind are the visions of those that have already been slain, and memories of those whom have been dragged by the unstoppable force that aims to charge straight for the freedom of their kind.?


?Are those whom are not free should be? What reasons have I to aid you to imprison the Oni once more?? The Kirin asked.


?Because after this time, when they are free, the rest of humanity will too be in threat. Make no mistake, Lord of lords, the revenge of the Oni shall be swift, venomous and behemoth in size and revulsion, their footsteps will stamp out all remains of all those who oppose them, as they have in the Great War of Makai.? I hoped that at least the Kirin would know of the Great War.


?I see??


The general behind gave me a wink, clearly approving the tone I have been using to communicate with a being far superior than any I have ever dared to talk with.


Suddenly, from the forest around us, we sense presences.


A great many of them.


Footsteps where once were not there, appeared in troves, army-like as they stepped in tandem with one another, and stomped against the ground with massive force and numbers.


?How did?? I heard the general utter, indeed, his question would follow, ?did they find us??


It was no surprise, I had a feeling we were being tailed.


It was all too easy.


I suddenly remembered, how long have we been tailed? Could it be? My mother could have been harmed again!


I looked around us, as black shapes formed around us.


At first, from the poor light pouring past the dome above us, the shapes were nothing but shifting bulges,  then it gotten clearer, the shapes formed like tall humanoid forms, all standard in their shapes. Two arms, a head, two legs standing, marching in unison as their stomps shook the ground below us. It wasn?t normal, and the air around us stifled to a heavy musk of something otherworldly, like the scent of a stinking river, filled with rot and decay of animal carcasses.


They all bear the same features , to the untrained eyes they looked like cloaked men. However, to us, seeing the small wriggling forms under the shadowed bodies, we could easily tell it was a horde of insects. Ants to be exact, large mutated ants about two inches in length, with giant hooking pincers from their mouths, and ferocious collective consciousness typical to the lower ranks of insect youkai.


In our earlier years, when Yama school taught about creatures of the surface world, which type of youkai to avoid confrontation with whenever necessary; we were taught to look out for signs of ?Aged-Hives? which are the hives for long living insect collectives like these. It was said in the old world, insects sometimes become youkai due to ingesting the corpses of man, attaining the spiritual enlightenment necessary to become creatures of the phantasmal kind. They grew larger, stronger, and oftentimes, more violent as they bring the same energy back to the hive to pollute the rest of the colony.


Eventually, the Queen itself, after being polluted by the spiritual energy necessary to become a youkai, will grow in size tremendously, becoming a living walking hive that aimlessly walks in forests. Victims for its wandering are often unfortunate medicine gatherers or woodsmen, harvesting wood for building materials. With each victim consumed, the giant human-sized hive will become stronger, growing in numbers of inhabitants inside, long-living ants that support the colony with endless food supply through cannibalism, and a mobile army.


An uncontrollable army of giant ants, which we are now facing. The only way I know how to stop them, would be to seek out the Queen, which is normally located in the walking hive, and in the head. As it seems, their strategy is always to keep the Queen in safe haven, away from battles. It was unclear if we have provoked their wrath by being near as they traveled, or are they being sent to keep us from getting help from the Kirin.


Whatever the case may be, my palms sweated. These ants are a combination of many types of ants as they too consume other hives of normal ants, adapting their strengths to their own. It would not be surprising if they can mow down the forest we stand in, and the Kirin?s shrine with it into nothing by consuming every splinter inch of wood within their reach.


My fear became confirmed when I saw the great tusks they carry around their heads, heavy and durable, these are the insect shaped mammoths, excelling in ramming, snapping up prey and most of all the vulnerable that cannot defend against massive waves of attackers. It was said that in the chronicles of Higan?s substituted historical lessons, that an encounter with a colony was once a powerful threat that wiped almost all the Yama into the damnation of history?s forgotten past.


These are the youkai that have a single mind, where that single mind is aimed, the colony will set out to expand. Much like their actual insect counterparts, the colony aims to grow bigger and stronger with each passing generation.


They gain size, and form of humans, until they become a social network of human sized, ant-like creatures. They are incapable of individual thought, and the Queen of their hive, normally an aged matriarch of combined generations, are the center of their lives. Giving birth to new youkai from her womb endlessly like a factory designed to give birth through an assembly line, these are the most daunting creatures youkai can get. Alone they mean nothing, but where a colony strikes, not even the Oni is said to be able to get away without a scratch from their attacks, which will never end, until the last ant dies, or the Queen is slain.


?Shit?? The general cursed.


I gulped, the numbers are astounding, where we can see now, at least a thousand stood ready, fangs bare, and tusks ready to ram and pierce into our flesh. If we are not careful, almost immediately we will be consumed, without a trace left of our existence.



----
Trouble comes in waves, the soldiers of the insect kind, small but mass in numbers, a collective mind hellbent on one thing and one thing only: destruction.
Will the colony destroy Shikieiki before she even reaches the finishing point?

[♛ Apher-Forte]

Interlude



I was robbed again, robbed of something more precious to me than my sanity; if I had any left I would have screamed? but no, I have left the scene of the crime, calm, collected, tearful.


My heart was hurt, as bad as my scarred body is now, but there was nothing to be gained by speaking about it. Our voices were unheard, our voices meant nothing because strength is the ultimate voice. Theirs is the strongest.


Several times now, I have walked back home, and along the way I simply had to pass by that lonesome street, which is certainly to come across that little place where the Oni has set up their bar stools and little stall. Alcohol on display, rows upon rows of moonshine, and their counterparts slumber under the bar tables; passed out no doubt from too many drinks. It is not like they have something better to do, I can certainly understand it, a society built by a powerful ancestor, but maintained by drunkards and power mongers.


It was bound to crumble.


That was fate, that was how the empires above the human world crumbled. With each succession and generation, the bonds to their fathers and mothers, whom were great ancestral leaders; weaken significantly.


The first signs of falter often occurs at the brink of violence, and when a war happens, those whom are stronger, who offer change, may sometimes by a stroke of luck win against the tyrants of yesterday.


That does not happen here however, not ever.


I was raped. Ravished by the brutal Oni, or at least several of them.


As they satisfied their carnal lust after a bombardment of drinks and taunting between members of their own; they took from me what they have taken ever so frequently before.


What was I to do? I am just a Yama, a small voice among many of the distraught.


I had luscious green hair, long and flowing like the algae rich rivers down the stream of the Sanzu, I had a pretty dainty body, small and fragile: exactly what the Oni loved.


They loved the weak ones, the ones who look like they will break if you so much as stroke a hair on their head.

There was no longer any law, not even the most obscure of a regulation that could serve as a piece of warning. The ones who would enforce it are Oni-kind anyway.


As they have before, they had muscled their way into every single influential post in the ?government?, breaking past barriers of censures, laws, rules, regulations and installing their own torment into the system. Breaking its foundations, destroying its system that was there, and replacing it with non-existent rules that served to govern the life of all those weaker than they are.


The Oni are ruthless like that.


Of course, people come to accept it, it was natural after all. Oni kind eats the souls of the dead, they grow exponentially in size and strength upon puberty, which normally hits early. They have the strength of a thousand men, each can lift a mountain on their shoulders. They have scary red skin that burned brighter in hellfire than the artificial suns just above the Pandemonium.


They have eyes the coerced with incredible force of will to those who dare to defy, and with every man and woman soon fearing their lives and ran away or are dead, their influence only became stronger.


There was no salvation.


I came back home crying, my eyes tear ridden with red scars just below the lids, and scars ripped wide across my nose ridge, and onto my once pretty face.


The Oni were ruthless to their victims as well, raping me just wasn?t quite enough.


In total, over the 400 years they have been in power, they must have killed endless number of children and women, and men? the Oni females are just as powerful as their males, and just as ruthless.


However, soon?


I hope to the Gods at least, the justice can be served.


I know to the upper echelons, the heaven dwellers we are mere distractions.


Fragments of human faith that never reached the heavens, the fear which congregates in the darkest recesses of the underground world, the unsure faith that drifted between the righteous and purely evil.


It is this uncertainty that gave rise to us in the beginning, before even the humans existed, we were here. But with the Oni, everything changed then, and it never changed back.


Misery however, will soon end.


Our preparations in silence, will soon break that said silence.


The war will be our last straw?


BETTER to die a death, than live in this rotten present.


I am the wife of my husband, Seisenhou of the rejected?


The betrayed.


I am the remnant of a history that was written against a panel of chalk, already now long disappeared into the annals of forgotten history.


Today?


I seek revenge.






======

An interlude to the old world.

A voice from among many.

The dissent that will fuel the world in angry flames, a war to be fought by the oppressed against the oppressors.

[♛ Apher-Forte]

Chapter 17



I watched as the powerful moving force of amassed insects become a moving wall before me, twisting and moving in a united fashion as the ones below pushed the ones above.


With one swift movement, a pillar of them rose as high as thirty feet into the air in a powerful wave of uplifting bodies, each one supporting the other as a bridge would to support the weight of each small individual.


Just like so, our eyes stared in horror as we readied ourselves for the impact, for before us, the flowing body of insects gathered by a united sentient thought to attack and consume formed a giant balled fist, aimed to crush us below.


The powerful balled fist twice the size of an average human body smashed downwards, just as I managed to pull the general aside and slip into the torii protected walkway of the shrine. However, I know well enough this is merely a temporary measure, for before us, the bodies gathered once more. The moving insects gathered back into the primary mass of wriggling bodies, each one connecting their tiny legs together, interlinking through a singular thought as they once more formed a giant limb from the ground like a and the front a hammer like shape of a fist. It moved, and moved closer, with each closing inch it seemed pretty clear whoever that is ochestrating this attack as a mean to put their enemies through persuasive fear long before putting out their misery.


I began to think about the lessons I learned in Yama school, during what is akin to a
wildlife studies' class where we are taught about various youkai above ground we are likely to interact with. Though we are not taught to confront them, inevitably one who is third kind of being in this world of ours is likely to meet with other third kinds, and conflicts almost always arise if the other is not one to talk but is only served with doses of animal instinct.


The most important lesson of the whole study subject was this: "If it doesn't know how to talk, don't approach it" The lesson is best learned now, to realize that even something as simpleminded as hive constructing insects can be as dangerous to approach. Where others fail to compensate in individual strength, hive minds can do so in superior numbers.


However, recalling the lesson still gave no insight on how to roll our way out of the next dangerous attack. It took however, only one glance atop the tree that grew on the shrine's rooftop to see a familiar and life-saving shape. For my assistant shinigami, Komachi has arrived. It was unclear where she had been a while ago since we entered the forest, but I am almost certain she went her own way having a drink or some such; lest of all an excuse for surveillance of our surroundings which are blocked by trees and shrubs.


Like a fleeting hammer dropping to the ground, her scythe rung with such intense aural pressure of her youkai strength that as it slammed to the ground, three rounds of shockwaves radiated pass the shrine, shaking its very foundations as pieces began to crack and powder shook off the structure. Dust dispersed where she landed her weapon and before long, as it cleared, I can see the hole she has slammed downwards. Her strength is no laughing matter, as the shockwaves successfully blasted away the surrounding ants, shattering their fragile wall of bodies.


The satisfaction of seeing we at least did some harm was not long lasting however, for it was all too soon that we see the bodies moving about. The ants from behind gathered to the front, fortifying the weakened front with the back and the back itself fortified once more by the reserves that are under the mass of black moving shapes.


"Komachi!"


I yelled, but her eyes, the shinigami eyes of red stared back into the moving shape. It was clear that we cannot escape, for who knows within the next few moments can we actually at all get out of this place without stepping our foot into the mass of bodies, which would mean instant consumption. The problem with the insects is that they are so powerful a force united it would be foolish to even think one can rush past them by pushing them aside. Upon contact with the mass itself, one is almost guaranteed death.


As true as my powers can be, once a Yama is thrusted under training, one receives nothing special save something akin to human life. Easily, we are extinguished, though we live very long in Higan. The simple human-like life is a training on its own, reminding us how fragile the humans are and why we are to become them to understand the boundaries of sin and virtue. Only upon understanding the true brunt of our duties, that one is guided to become a good Yama.

I watched as the powerful moving force of amassed insects become a moving wall before me, twisting and moving in a united fashion as the ones below pushed the ones above.


With one swift movement, a pillar of them rose as high as thirty feet into the air in a powerful wave of uplifting bodies, each one supporting the other as a bridge would to support the weight of each small individual.


Just like so, our eyes stared in horror as we readied ourselves for the impact, for before us, the flowing body of insects gathered by a united sentient thought to attack and consume formed a giant balled fist, aimed to crush us below.


The powerful balled fist twice the size of an average human body smashed downwards, just as I managed to pull the general aside and slip into the torii protected walkway of the shrine. However, I know well enough this is merely a temporary measure, for before us, the bodies gathered once more. The moving insects gathered back into the primary mass of wriggling bodies, each one connecting their tiny legs together, interlinking through a singular thought as they once more formed a giant limb from the ground like a and the front a hammer like shape of a fist. It moved, and moved closer, with each closing inch it seemed pretty clear whoever that is ochestrating this attack as a mean to put their enemies through persuasive fear long before putting out their misery.


I began to think about the lessons I learned in Yama school, during what is akin to a
wildlife studies' class where we are taught about various youkai above ground we are likely to interact with. Though we are not taught to confront them, inevitably one who is third kind of being in this world of ours is likely to meet with other third kinds, and conflicts almost always arise if the other is not one to talk but is only served with doses of animal instinct.


The most important lesson of the whole study subject was this: "If it doesn't know how to talk, don't approach it" The lesson is best learned now, to realize that even something as simpleminded as hive constructing insects can be as dangerous to approach. Where others fail to compensate in individual strength, hive minds can do so in superior numbers.


However, recalling the lesson still gave no insight on how to roll our way out of the next dangerous attack. It took however, only one glance atop the tree that grew on the shrine's rooftop to see a familiar and life-saving shape. For my assistant shinigami, Komachi has arrived. It was unclear where she had been a while ago since we entered the forest, but I am almost certain she went her own way having a drink or some such; lest of all an excuse for surveillance of our surroundings which are blocked by trees and shrubs.


Like a fleeting hammer dropping to the ground, her scythe rung with such intense aural pressure of her youkai strength that as it slammed to the ground, three rounds of shockwaves radiated pass the shrine, shaking its very foundations as pieces began to crack and powder shook off the structure. Dust dispersed where she landed her weapon and before long, as it cleared, I can see the hole she has slammed downwards. Her strength is no laughing matter, as the shockwaves successfully blasted away the surrounding ants, shattering their fragile wall of bodies.


The satisfaction of seeing we at least did some harm was not long lasting however, for it was all too soon that we see the bodies moving about. The ants from behind gathered to the front, fortifying the weakened front with the back and the back itself fortified once more by the reserves that are under the mass of black moving shapes.


"Komachi!"


I yelled, but her eyes, the shinigami eyes of red stared back into the moving shape. It was clear that we cannot escape, for who knows within the next few moments can we actually at all get out of this place without stepping our foot into the mass of bodies, which would mean instant consumption. The problem with the insects is that they are so powerful a force united it would be foolish to even think one can rush past them by pushing them aside. Upon contact with the mass itself, one is almost guaranteed death.


As true as my powers can be, once a Yama is thrusted under training, one receives nothing special save something akin to human life. Easily, we are extinguished, though we live very long in Higan. The simple human-like life is a training on its own, reminding us how fragile the humans are and why we are to become them to understand the boundaries of sin and virtue. Only upon understanding the true brunt of our duties, that one is guided to become a good Yama. Similiarly, when we are faced with life threatening dangers, the likelihood of dying then becomes very real. Provided a failsafe, the human shell in this case we normally inhabit to learn of the ways to the human world, we do not receive any harm, save the punishment of failure itself if the host died. Chances are however, we won't get to do that. My host has died, and now my real body is exposed to the dangers of this world in all its glory.


We huddled closer, staying well clear of the enemy's grasp. Komachi's scythe may be powerful, but with its swings she is also open to attacks from her side, which I quickly repressed by using whatever youkai aura I can to cast a smallish barrier, just enough to bounce back a few kilograms of force. A strong attack like the one that came down before us earlier would surely crush me.


"Monochrome Guards, I call your help to this place, I require you desperately!" The general suddenly said out loud, what followed was a string of words which by themselves have no meaning. Named otherwise by old priests of the Yama as 'Worded Spirits' It was what the humans first used in times before Buddhism's wide spread and popular more user friendly mantras spread to defend themselves against the much wide spread third kind during earlier times. The speed chant of individual characters like Zai, Zen, Zan, Ren become a furious storm of quick tongue twisters. As he finished, two black smokes poked out from below his feet, and like so, a large form began to take shape of a human form.


From the miasmic shape, a powerful aura came out of it as it finally took the shape of very welcomed figures.


The Monochrome Guards, the legion of hell and earth. Two forms, one black and the other white. Faceless demon like beings that border on the holier side, normally powerful peacekeepers among the Yama clan. The two of them have no faces, only large gaping mouths with a darkness so deep within some say their real eyes lies inside, which is a bit daunting to be said the least regarding their features. The long tongues that rolled out of those gaping mouths are scarier still, with words on the white and black inscribed in opposite orders. The white one in full bodied white apparel and skin as pale as porcelain with the blood red tongue and golden words embossed upon it says 'Reward the Good" in kanji and bold caligraphed strokes. The black one wore the exact opposite color, full on black Qing dynasty styled robes with mazes and complex twisting patterns embedded in silk velvet. Its black as charcoal skin so dark it was near impossible to separate its body from where its clothes reveal the skin. The gaping hollow mouth also rolled out a blood red tongue upon its faceless head, and on the tongue in the same bold strokes are the words "Punish the Evil". Both represent like my ability to see the guilty and the not guilty among the souls of man I judge, are the rewarder and the punisher of those deeds in the Yama level.


Under conditions like these when they are summoned, they will do all in their power to defend the Yama from being attacked. It was unsure of what their origins are, but history classes seem to advocate that they were once Yama, and volunteered to become powerful demonic yet god-like beings to serve the community of the Yama. However, there are only two of them at work, so their workload can be quite burdensome. A special festival is held each year to reward their efforts, though they themselves never asked for it or any favor in return. They are taught to us in-training Yama to be the inspirational icons of our times as the future judge-to-be and we are often told to learn of their virtuos values.


Raising one on the right, whom holds now a white shield with inscriptions and two bold golden emblems of one a dragon and the other the phoenix upon the outer side of the shield; the white one faced against an oncoming balled hammer. Like before, the simple minded attack of the insects was first and formost to crush the enemy's defenses. Like so, their attacks are single dimensional at best, and once and again, seeing as its attacks were useless, it will still continue to hammer down on the white shield.


The black one without a word, began howling in an awful and horrible voice so powerful it would break the eardrums had we not covered our ears. Legend has it this is the legendary howl that scared away even the Onis as it has the power to break their eardrums and even suffer their balance so they would misstep their attacks. The howl is designed to distract and also to destroy enemies in mass numbers as I quickly noticed the black Monochrome Guard generating powerful shockwaves in a circular movement with its mouth aiming at the enemy approaching from the left. Raising its pure black sword; it also quickly chopped at the bodies before, yet as it seems, their attacks were bordering on the useless.


Both have erected a shield silently around us as they set about using their immortal bodies to aid us. The barrier around us groaned in desperation as the ants stepped up yet another form of attack. Like a giant net casted upon us, they swallowed us and the barrier, forming like a dome around us, they literally blocked out the sun above our heads and soon we were in a pitch black dome of moving bodies. The scufflings of billions upon billions of insects were terrifying as such magnitude of weight accumulated from thumbnail-sized ants can also match a few elephants stepping on the barrier.


The scuffling turned smarter, lifting only certain segments, it began to raise some parts and then downing some in rapid speed. Before we know it, it formed like the bassline of a powerful drum, banging upon the barrier's surface as blue electric trails ran across the dome surface with each bass like thump. The belly of the beast they say, looks exactly like this now, as we are swallowed by the creatures above us. Outside, the battle grew into a desperate asphyxiation; the Monochrome Guards are nowhere to be seen, only glimpses of their bodies already covered in enemies as they still hack and slash uselessly against the tide of enemies whom really have no interest in them beside breaking the barrier they erected.


"Guards, use all your strength to maintain this barrier!" The general shouted, hopefully even without ears the guards can hear his orders.


With a silent nod, their bodies turned, hands placed upon the bluish barrier as enigmatic words formed across the dome surface above us and around us. Shocks of static electricity of sorts blasted across the barrier, bumping away as many enemies as the strength would allow. However, without faltering, the enemy rolled over and once again set their bodies collected in weight and numbers upon the dome, and with it draped heavily upon the dome as we looked in fear, feet standing in darkness and the trembling ground below us.


I quickly turned to Komachi, looked at her and asked, "Can you help them?"


"No, magic is not my specialty I am afraid." She shook her head, face likening to a response filled with remorse as she looked at the guards outside, being stung but without uttering so much as a word as their bodies writhed ever so slightly. They may be immortal but their beings do feel pain. Still their hands did not leave the barrier, like their names suggest, the Monochrome guards are guards that will forever stay on duty, no matter the dire situation may turn against them like tides of a raging sea.


I then turned to face the general, giving him a perculiar look, I dashed upon and inside the shrine.


The roots of the tree, also shielded but barely by the barrier around us; reached downwards and rooted into the shrine's wooden structures while also entangling in wild order. I had to pull the vines first, but only met with resistance akin to that of hardened rope that cut deep gashes into my soft feminine hands yet to touch anything that required the effort of significant strength as I pulled desperately at them apart. My objective was simple, I need to reach inside and touch upon the stone that is used to represent the 'connection' between heaven and this shrine. A form of communication stone designed so that man can come in contact with gods and demons and sometimes ghosts. In olden days, such things are also represented in the form of old trees enshrined in Japanese gardens, or little statues that are placed beside the roads leading to villages. Ultimately, they all represent the same thing, like the doorways of communication to the heavenly realms.


With one smooth push, Komachi pushed me aside, and like the giant woman she is, her great strength also surpassed mine as she whisked the roots sideways. Up until she met with a particular deep grown bark, banked upon the doorway so directly it almost looked like someone designed it to act as a shield defending the shrine from illegal entry. With one swell cut, placed diagonally upon the left side of the bark, Komachi swung her scythe cleanly against the bark and separated its connection to the mother root which is standing above the shrine. In this darkness as the writhing bodies above us thumped still desperately to draw us out of this barrier and succeeding with each successive attack; the only light was that my judgement panel, which I somehow realized has materialized in my hand as I drew power to see in the dark as best as I could.


Placing my hands into the further shadows of the shrine, I looked upon the panel of stone with the words 'Kirin Lord' carved upon it in kanji and asked from my sincere heart, slightly paralyzed with fear as I juggled in between the fear of the soon coming black swarm that even the Monochrome Guards can only defend against but barely; or the impending rage I will likely induce from a supreme demigod that has been in meditation for nearly 1000 years in silence. Breaking that silence is akin to destroying peace, and I had every reason to think twice.


However, I held myself steady, and placed my hands to the surface of the cold balmy stone, overgrown by algae from the moisture of the surrounding greenery, or where it once was.


"My Lord, you must help us, the world of the Yama people are in danger, and so are humans. Your involvement will spell the unjust at the end of the world and banish their terrible grasp from this world. Do you not understand what I am asking of you... I am asking that you help save the people you have once swore to protect before you ascended to the heavens..." I paused, my breath barely following me as I heaved heavily, "With the Oni running free once I am dead, and the key in their hands, the entire justice and their revenge will consume all in their path. Before long... I know, for a fact they will surface upon the human realm, and this world will be clothed in fire and draped in blood... I ask you... to intervene because you are the last choice we have and all that we have... alone... I cannot do anything but fight until destiny claims me whole... and that is why I need your help."


I almost teared up, my other hand placed so heavily before my chest I grabbed upon the fabric, hoping that who may bless me may spare my heart from jumping out of my chest in desperate fashion as my heart pumped the blood all to my head.


Already I could imagine the cold response. The Kirin has never helped anyone, its justice is but its own. Even if Hell breaks loose and the human world is draped in blood and the revenge of the Oni run free, the Kirin will not aid a single inidividual just as it does not intervene upon the justice of an individual unless it sees for its own eyes. Much like the term 'sleeping dragon' the Kirin has been a neutral being that stands atop the food chain.


Suddenly, I heard it, the crack from around us.


The barrier is breaking apart.


I went out to see, my eyes fixated on a particularly large crack. I turned my eyes down and saw the Monochrome Guards still placing their painfully bloodied bodies and their arms steady upon the outer barrier, giving no heed to the pain that are consuming them. Truly, they are strong.



However, their strength cannot fully translate to the barrier, as it broke, I can faintly see on their expressionless, faceless faces, that for a while, remorse was present on them when they realize the lack of their abilities.


Then, from the heavens, a bolt of lightning struck through on the shield around us. I covered my eyes, for I too fear the blindness that will follow if one is to stare straight at pure unfiltered light of the heavens. The golden light covered us, like the draping of a gold cloth so wide it surrounded us in golden white. A silent hum was heard, and then from it,thunderous noise akin to that of a few hundred drums rang in unison. The powerful noise blasted pass the barrier and shattered it so easily I looked in dismay as the insects around us poured in.


I held my arms above me, clearly convinced that both I and Komachi will die. I don't even see the general one last time, for before me, the bold darkness has sunk in as billions of insects rained down on us in a torrential wave above. I know then, within moments our flesh would be nothing more.


_________



(Short Chapter, from a nearly broken computer)

[♛ Apher-Forte]

For whatever time that seemed to have transpired within those moments as my heart pounded; the process was well too slow to be real. It almost felt like the world paused, as if to breathe, before continuing.

Our heads are bathed in light, the golden one that appeared from beyond the bodies of crumbling insects, finally managing to enter the once protected barrier of ours. Shattered are the pieces of that barrier, forever gone as the magic that once built it became like air, leaking away from the solid pieces shattering like glass smashed upon and broken. Its multicolored pieces resembled that of a mosaic window, giving in to the punishment of stone thrown upon its wondrously patterned surface.


We could feel it, the shuddering of a huddled death. Komachi held me and like so, whipped me up with her powerful arms. As though prepared to hold me in her arms as we both prepared for death, she kneeled downwards, hunkering upon me like a protective statue. Then, like her eyes glowed when she zipped distances too great to transpire within blinks of the human eye, she focused.


She lifted her head, before her ? darkness; the bodies of insects pouring in from all sides. You cannot shorten distance that you cannot see - as yet another of this ability?s weakness. It would not shorten the world before you, only that it will shrink the distance of where her eyes can see. Unlike the edges of the forever wide river of the Sanzu, or the wide and plain sands of the desert, where an airstrip sign can be seen and an air control tower beyond that can be seen... darkness of tons of bodies rushing in like tide water means no vision.


The world was stopped beyond our eyes.


There is no world.


Then, the energy came, like thunder splitting the heavens above. A shockwave more powerful than a sudden hurricane above us formed. It twirled, like within the thunderous ocean vortex, swallowing the bodies into its central hole. Like so, almost all the upper batch of the hordes of insects flowed into the vortex. There is no rescue for them as they all tumbled into the twirling center of the force.


My eyes instinctively opened, only to be greeted by a great body of gold. A horse, carved as though by perfection itself, sculpted to each sinewy vein, muscle, bone, joint in golden scales. Riveting as it seems, nothing compares with its solid black eyes ? dark pearls of pure black that reflected my face upon it from where I saw and looked into it. Its white mane so glorious, rich, long and floated in the air suspended by magic so powerful the air I breathe seemed choked full of it. Its hind legs had hooves which are covered by a small perch of white hair as white as its mane. On the small perch of hair however, fire burnt brightly and one could even feel the heat radiate. This being descended ever so slowly as though it were making a divine appearance, which of course, is exactly what it is doing.


With one swing of its horse head, it opened its lips to speak, parting the muscular jaw and revealing a row of white omnivorous animal molars, specifically that of a stallion horse. From that mouth, unmoving, a tone stronger than a few assembled orchestras of bassists and trombonists, hummed together in a baritone bass as equal to its voice resembling a deeply philosophical human being of ripe old age, the Kirin spoke. Around us, the twirling mass was flung away into all directions from the Kirin?s entry.


?Child, you whom have asked sincerely for my assistance have received it, I shall aid you to live this time.? Was all the Kirin said, my heart is both delighted and sunken, knowing I may have used my card too early, for I know a greater danger awaits me in Old Hell.


?You whom have desecrated my shrine, identify yourself and your leader.?


Then, the thundering voice stopped. Like rustling of leaves however, another voice rose from the dark bodies of insects around us, not yet dead, only thrown off by the sudden appearance of a divine entity. Like the lowly simpleminded creatures they are, the rustle itself also represented their voices, a language that neither I nor Komachi can understand.


?I see, you are under orders from a Queen of Queens you say...? With a solemn breath, the Kirin spoke clearly, without malice at all like a wizened old man advising that of his mischievous grandchild for breaking a precious vase if I were to describe how it felt. ?Come out, from where you stand child, face me and answer my question, and I will set you on the right path as I have always done for those who are without sin.?


As though on cue, from afar, a host of five bodies, the Hives, or the Queens parted and gave way to a small shrub path laid on two sides of earth and bountiful fallen leaves. From there, a figure with a cape as where my eyes could see appeared.


It was clear that the person had short hair, two antennae shot up from the hair, quivering as the person walked silently into sight. Commanded by a powerful being so much more... than himself, from what I judged by appearance: a boy with cape, short overalls that strapped to his shoulders; the boy could be seen shaking, cold sweat lined his forehead.


?I... I... didn?t mean... anything... it is... just... I was told... they... the Oni... they threatened to destroy the remaining colonies... they are... simply migrating but we were caught...? It was HER voice that caught me by surprise. Sharp and slightly shrill like that of a pre-pubescent human girl, she has the sweetest tone ever.


Had it not been revealed, her face was that of a bi-gendered kind. Large oval eyes softened by its soft double lined curves of her upper eyelid, black as night furrows of softly picked out brows that seemed to suggest she took extensive time to decorate her delicate features. Perfect almost porcelain smooth and white butter cream skin, and then which led below from her nearly flat chest, a smallish bulge could be seen. The hands of hers which trembled in fear of retribution for going against a god of the heavens and earth, were white and smooth as well. Like little five fingered sculpted ivory upon a rare statuette, she was an embodiment of natural beauty untouched by the grappling of genders, instead engendering both in a perfect harmonious mix of pre-pubescent beauty and also one of childish and boyish charms.


?What is your name, child who calls herself the Queen of Insects?? the Kirin once against asked, in a wisdom layered tone still without any hint of anger for that desecration of his shrine. I saw now how the shrine suffered, the outer layer is completed gone, eaten by the bugs this child summoned, which still somehow avoided to be paired together in my mind.


?Wriggle... of the Nightbug Clan... I am, the last of my kind, the kind who can listen and command the insects, youkai or natural... I was evicted from the mountains when the humans opened plantations in my home...? She sobbed a reply, losing control as her childish fear like the grandchild whom have broken her parent?s valuable possession made her voice trembled. ?I had... nowhere left to go... so I took... my friends, with me, searching for another place away from the humans...?


?I see, and I am the Kirin. I assure you child, that the path shall be enlightened along the way. Tell me who have ordered this kill on these people you see??


?The Oni, a red one, he had a bright red scar across his right cheek... er... he looked human, except he had scales on his face and hair as green as mine and hers.? She pointed at me, or rather gestured with trembling index finger. ?They were going to track us, no matter where we go, they said, they will destroy and burn it first, so that my kind can never find home again... I had no choice but...? she trailed off.


?Then you have nothing to fear, you have no sinned because you desire to sin, but that which you are forced will only be compounded against those whom have stacked against your peaceful will to find home.? The Kirin moved closer, galloping as it finally landed with a thud onto the ground and with it, the fire receded into nothing. Gushes of air stopped flowing about its hooves, where once it fed the fire, and from it, the cool dark outshine seemed to emit a greenish glow.


?Your friends and yourself shall rest at my shrine, and stay protected by my power for the time being.? The Kirin said to the girl whom is called Wriggle.


?But... but we already destroyed everything... or were told to...? She bowed, as though to apologize for her actions.


?Where I make landing, life will flourish.? Was all the replied she got. Then, slowly, my eyes seemed to disregard reality and shown me what could well be a true miracle; as did she, the Nightbug child.


For one moment, where barren earth lay scorched beneath its hooves once alit with fire, there was first a few inches of grass, growing from below the Kirin?s hooves.


Magic seemed to encircle us, like the air we breathe it is everywhere now. Peaceful in its sort, like the calming waters of the early day?s river, when the fish is asleep and birds too, when wind does not yet blow across the untainted mirrored surface. The air which surrounds us made me stand up and took a deep breath. Like liquid fire it charged me, giving me so much energy I felt I have just had several hours of sleep from my deprived state thus far in my journey, and like so, I felt full in my stomach as though I have had all 3 meals of the day in one sitting.


Komachi felt it too, she stood up and before us, the spectacle of that miracle expanded. The general as well, now on his feet, stared in awe as did the black and white beings which are the Monochrome Guards, standing silent, and for once, rolled their tongues and kept their gaping mouth shut into their faceless faces. The way it is now however, their faces resembled that of an egg with a slit that looked like a wide-eared grin.


The spectacle that flowed, was like water touching the shores. The magic which gathered gently wafted around us, and flowed around in all eight directions. From every corner, grass grew instantly, flowers sprouted from the ground where no seed has been sowed. A small tree, followed by many others, grew out from a small seedling, growing in size where once would take several decades to complete as it reached the heights that soon surpassed ours, and formed a great dome above us.


The miracle only continued, for within the entire radius where once destroyed forests lay barren a ground of turnover soil and dead leaves; are now replaced with a carpet of green. Air so fresh it seemed the mountain lived once more. Large bushes sprung into shape, and then more flowers, until all the known spring plants that inhabited this forest seemed to come in full force for a parade before us in colours long never witnessed.


Then, from the flowers, life sprang forth, spirits of the earth and wood gathered to parade. Showering small doses of life giving water upon each tree as it sprout the leaves into many places, reaching for the sun above and forming these respective domes that each stand their own space.


Wind blew, and finally, like a sudden jolt, the light which emitted from the plants around us became wisps of small fairies, each one with a butterfly like wing attached to its back, and circled in the air sprinkling some sort of dust upon the forest. Their task has begun immediately after they sprang from the combination of the earth and wind, the forest which gave them life they must now maintain.


The girl, as well as us, all witnessed now, never before have we seen such divine sight. Standing here, my hands grazed a flower, yellow in colour. It was an Alstroemeria, which I recalled vaguely from my studies of rare and beautiful flowers which can sometimes be seen in the wild. It looked so perfect, in its company with so many other flowers.


The sight was heaven. With one heave, the Kirin stepped off it podium from which this forest suddenly sprang forth in full force; and like so, laid its eyes on the girl who is agape with amazement.


?Rest, child who travelled for her friends in search of a long forsaken home. Your home may be here, or elsewhere, but for now, my shrine is your home, and know that no matter where you shall go from herewith, this shall always hold an open door to you in this place.? The Kirin said.


The girl bowed, on all fours she kneeled and head to her back of the hands. The creatures, the Queens which control the hives they carry, also did the same with their rickety top-heavy movements of their oversized heads which are large hives carried in their hair.


With this, the Kirin understood their thanks and turned his attention at us.


?Your life has been saved, but from your memories which you so planted deeply into my thoughts, I have gathered one thing...? The Kirin began, ?that this is a trouble that you must face yourself. Your journey is only beginning, and where hell may transverse, I cannot go.?


I dropped my jaw... after all this?


?Why, my Lord?? I asked.


?Hell is outside of my place, however, Lord Ktisgriba is always there. Just as Lord Vaisravana is always watching from the heavens, so does the Bodhisattva responsible for the relief of hell?s painful torment and send the souls of endless numbers back into the heavens and reincarnation of the wheel of fate must stay in their place until all of hell is clear. Only then, will Lord Ktisgriba ascend and join us in heaven to meditate and become a Buddha.? The Kirin answered, in theologic terms, it simply refers to ?it is not my jurisdiction?.


?However, tell Lord Ktisgriba I sent for you, and the danger is very real. He was there when he relieved the countless dead youkai from hell after the Great War 800 years ago. He alone knows the tragedy that will follow should the original Onis, the most brutal of the creatures once more roam the Hell which sealed them.?


?But... My Lord, you said their freedom should be granted, I thought...?


?My vast justice covers all, however, in Hell, a very different set of situations and rules apply. Hell is the birthplace of injustice and the kind furthest away from the dwells of heaven. I have no power to enter there without permission, not without the aid and blessing of those above me." The god, the Kirin, so powerful, majestic, even he does not have the power. My heart dread on, the realization that we are now alone on this increasingly difficult mission that can only get worse.


"How are we supposed to survive then?" The general asked, head bowed still.


"You have come this far, the next attempt on your life would only be a challenge and like all challenges not impossible to overcome. As I have overcome my being and became a God, so can you conquer the hardship." The Kirin replied, his head turned to the heavens.


?I see...? I answered, my disappointment aside, I knew that it would not have been easy anyway.


?800 years ago, the heaven sided with apathy when I charged downwards and destroyed the balance between the three realms, this time... if the path shall open to war once more, we, the heavens are prepared to aid you, in full force.? The Kirin looked, and without a word more, it flew upwards majestically, casting a stream of golden light down below us as its hooves once more lit with fire. Like a swirling dragon it climbed the clouds above us, and blasted away into the distance until we simply lost sight of it.


?I guess we are on our own.? The general finally said something. I looked around to see the Monochrome Guards already gone from sight, probably returned to Higan in spiritual form.


I recalled the words and the time frame, '800 years' which are exactly the time when a new syllabus called Makai history was introduced. A chronicle of Shinki's coming, and becoming the queen of the creation in the legions of the demonic world. Very little is taught, as thought the knowledge is skimmed through in favor of Higan's very recent history, along with some dismal voids in between spaces of the syllabus itself. The period marked a near extinction of the Yama people, left with a few older than old ancestors, and women weakened by the lack of nutrition and battered men whom have survived the war.


The time marked the endpoint of something that was lost in translation, or education. Whatever the time must have been which led to the 200 year war which ended the rise of power for the Original Onis, the ones which have said by the Kirin to be descendants of the 'Yasha' which are animal like creatures of low ranking in eastern or at least Japanese lore.


My question lingers on however, how could Onis for all their strength and power be descendants of poor and sometime even unintelligent non-sentient youkai beasts in hell? How can the time frame stated be unclear, compared with the literature that was revealed to us in Yama school?


The only people capable of changing the syllabus in the Yama society must be of extreme authority, one that stands above the others and can veto the decisions of the community despite adversity of the tipping sort. The only position that came to mind was the Verticals, was Seisenhou the culprit? If so, how can his fellow Verticals not know when everything they do are recorded by scribe spirits which linger whenever they go within Higan?


Who was the mastermind? Who orchestrated a censure of political knowledge? History? Who has plucked the key, which I held now and have given to my father? Is it the same person who sought to take it back?


For what purpose does this key hold? The words I heard are pointing to the Oni Pillar, but if no one knows where the Oni Pillar is in another dimension separated from Higan and into the forbidden and forgotten parts of Old Hell, then how can a key be forged and kept?


I held the key close to me, and like a child holding a very precious item, I prayed with the heavens, hoping that this key will really guide me to where I shall find truth. Where does this key even open to? For what purpose am I pursuing this path aside from searching the truth? I don't even know where my father is, when I was told that he is here in Japan.


Somewhere from the shadows, I faintly felt someone watching me.


When I turned, there was no one there.     


=====




"This girl... is most annoying. How can it be this way? 2 Onis, both are descendants of the original ones, failing once and again. An assistance of my father... and then my brains... my calculations!"

"When Hammurabi laid the first stone, He inscribe on it the key to mankind's civilization, the building blocks of law and order. When Lord Osiris opened the gateway to heaven, he saw instead the path beset by danger and terrifying fire, he labeled it Hell, which evolved to Hades, chamber of fire, of death and lair to the Anubis. When Alexander the Great conquered the world, he vowed upon himself to cast the iron required, with his own hands and soul, he forged the key to that world which he drew power from. When the man died, his body was cremated in a fire hotter than hell's own, and with it the key that can never be broken, destroyed or hidden. The Masons, Bavarian stone sculptors, artisans and most of all the legendary secret keepers of ancient times, stored within them that key. They erected secrets, and more secrets to make sure it was never found. The pact of silence only recently transported by unknown hands to this Eastern Island of the Rising Sun, and fell into the hands of a man who came from the recesses of Hell, and then to his woman." A voice spoke from some unseen place, circling the head of the person hiding ever so close to the shrine.


"Heaven shall not reap what is rightfully our victory."


"Apathy shall not be rewarded."


"Yes"






_______

Yet another chapter, a Mastermind hides away from the scene, not the Oni, not the Yama, but who?

[♛ Apher-Forte]

Interlude 2


I watched as the fire burned crisply, where the flames of hell once strewn across a landscape of infernal rendering, it is now only a mild fire, barely hot enough to sustain the lives of those born from fire.


The Pillar has been successful, the efforts of my brothers thwarted.


We were defeated.


Though we gave a good fight, good was not enough to earn our freedom.


I just thought to myself however, how unfair all this has been.


To have your place taken from you, for something as blase as the voice of weak. In hell, it has always been the strong to live, and we have given what we can before, and during, and even after the time of chaos in Hell.


Hell wasn't always so beautiful, with its streets strewn in fiery heat; black chalked walls of pure granite and black marble crisply embedded within by the master stone-carvers and sculptors of the Oni clan. The Oni built the walls of the first civilization, we gave the words of the human Gods above and built knowledge to pair with it. The voice of the weak did not matter because they are weak, and contribute nothing to the expansion of Hell into what it represents today.


To the humans, who have manipulated their truths into summaries of suffering and fearsome loathsome tales of retribution, Hell was a fearful term. To us, the Hell same in description, was home, warm as their homes, with children, parents, brothers and sisters together under roofs. We too share our meals with each other, and when night came in this everlasting flaming utopia, we would sleep and see the fickle movements of miasma above our heads - our clouds.


The miasma is where we came from, source of negative energy.


In the beginning, it was just that simple. The 'law' stated in the old ones' tongues, said that 'the darkness shall descend, the light shall shine above, and the fog of chaos shall be separated into three parts, one of evil, one of good, and one of neutrality.' It said the light shall be the domain of the Gods, and the humans, capable of good and evil, choice and submission to the under races, and upper races: Demons and Gods, will live in the aboveground. Till time mark their death, their desires will weight their souls, so they shall come and stand trial before one of our sister races: The Yama People.


In that time, Four Mountains rose from the flat dirt of brine and chalk, stood firm in four corners East, West, South and North, and inhabited by four chosen ones. Four female Onis, each as young as a year only in their ideal age, supple and infant like, delivered to them into the rocks and the sealed caves. Carved out, the caves were made giant doors, bolted by stone, and blocked by sealing magic only the Elders can break.


These would be the Four Divine Heavenly Devas, the Mountains of the Oni Clan. They shall watch over us for all time to come.


Ironically, upon the delivery of the children into each their respective housing in the seclusion of the isolated mountain top caverns, the Elders predicted our end, that one day the small shall conquer the old and lay waste to the Oni clan. We could only shrug, we are we to challenge the Old and Wise? Beside to scoff behind their backs...?


Like all civilizations, the Oni though barbaric and ruthless, were also builders, forefathers in a land called Hell.


We built the walls of civilization, giving home to those like us, the negative energy formed beings. They lived in our cities carved from stone, and built with granite rock, hauled from the mountains far away and each complementing the work of the built until a great tower was built.


Inside this tower, housed the tablet of Hammurabi, God King of man, whom descended in the time of beginnings to the world of early Hell, and gave it to our Oni master of masters, the oldest and wisest of us all in the day. The Tablet guided our beings, we learned how to socialize with other beings like ourselves, and we also learned to accept that in this wide world encompass by darkness, and fire, we must come together to build a civil nation to survive.


Much like heaven has its haven of sinless perfection and kingdom of gods, we have our stronghold, firm and ever willful in presence that soon expanded to great annexes, and from annexes to more wondrous buildings, giving a road system, an aqueduct system, tunnels which the races will travel to and from... We gave them language, allowing them to read and write and invent, we gave them the fire which brought us here, and allowed them to learn to control different elements.


In the beginning, our forefathers enjoyed it all: Peace.


We invented joy-making, merry we are a race so filled with pride and achievement that we failed to control ourselves. With our primeval strength, and stomachs unsatisfiable by feeding on just negative energies in the air, we created alcohol to sate our need for delusions in a world so hounding to us; with its voice so weak, yet so many.


Yes, indeed the minor ones grew, and made many. Each new generation sprang a new form of life or race, capable of manipulating a new set of abilities, with more agile minds and cunning. They whom evolved from us, gained more from us than we ever could from them. 


And then it came.


The time of reckoning.


800 years into the past, our brothers and our sisters finally came to a breaking point. The equilibrium of once respect for our race has come to a fickle point, so fiery were their hate for our kind they revolted. In numbers far surpassing ours, in hundreds to one, possibly thousands to one; they invaded Old Hell.


Yes, they gave us that name. Where we called the Land of The Oni to the East of East, they called Old Hell. The source was under threat, the tablet was under threat, our ways of life were about to be erased because they once under us has hardened their wings, and the young birds will soon leave their nest, and with it, kick over the nest which the parent birds will soon die in them, unaware of the wrath in the younger one's eyes.


We are a race of older than old, we are eons accounted for. Our ways are the old ways, and the path of revolution shall move forward, like a sweeping wave of thunderous roars, their screams as they charged into our lands and burned down the inches of the first civilization of Hell, hounded at us. It was aimed well, and though we are without their modernity, no race can surpass the Oni in power and strength.


Together we gave them a hell of a fight, by WITNESS OF THE FOUR ORIGINAL MOUNTAINS, we GAVE THEM HELL.


No war can be won without sacrifice.


Their numbers may be many, but they alone cannot suffice.


They must have  a leader.


There is where the leader is, the one in the deepest recesses of their camp, the one whom we know finally to be Shinki. The Woman who created a new world from ours, the one who named it Makai - The World of Demons.


The Queen of Demons has drawn first blood, and to the war we charged. For 200 years the war raged, no one stepped back, no negotiations, no trade, no tiredness.


We fought day and night, they came at us in waves of forever.


The number of souls of humans in the other side, drawn by the capricious offer of a new lease of life as a free soul to wander the edges of the Sanzu instead of being offered Hell or Heaven, charged at us in billions! They armed themselves with weapons, spears and pikes and archers rode on long dead animal souls. They are once humans accounted for in armies, and they took with them the knowledge in their lives to this realm of the dead when they die.


Then, the others came, the one we so trusted, the Yama people rose as strategists, with their cunning might of the mind, they rounded us up, and set traps which ours were too old fashioned to know. The Satori, a race of mind-readers, read through our moves all too easily, following a slew of victories, we are the ones who though have less sacrifice, were on the losing retreating end.


The cunning Tengu, above ground dwellers whom entered into this war by some strange negotiation, something we do not have the luxury of doing, revealed all our weakness to the ones leading the army.


Where the curiously weak and small are concerned from numbers alone, the Demons made by Shinki are strong, and grow stronger with each defeated one. She learned from her mistakes, and designed each generation to repel a specific inadequacy for the previous one suffered.


in 200 years, as was predicted by our elder, whom died in the war; we were defeated.


Then, the mightiest of moves which we have not foreseen...


was the involvement of the one Yama whom have it all in fallen on him. A fate worse than a burdensome existence, existing so that others may exist: a fate to bear the greatest curse of all existence itself.


In that vault of vaults, the key that dropped to the hands, the one that ensured order from chaos: Ordo Ab Chao, was revealed to be in their hands; in his hand.


The Yama known as ____________ ***


He alone whom ventured the old world of man, came upon the possession which man have been using in the name of their gods to gain power and respect...


This gift and curse, this 'key' which opened the vault that is of absolute sealing!


The Pillar then plunged from the artificial skies, striking and then standing in the form of an inverted pyramid. Energy so powerful drew each of my surviving brothers and sisters from their posts, their homes and their hiding places.


I heard him scream:


"Grant me the will of the heavens and beyond, the absolute will of wills, I question Thee, who art does dare to oppose my will of the Keyholder?!"


 On instinct, me and my brethren ran, and out of the area of effect as we abandoned all our brothers and sisters, even the ones we know to be in the Four Mountains. I saw with my eyes, the rocks which sealed the children inside, or so say the children whom are properly well older now; broke into pieces, sucked by the gravity generated by The Pillar.


I ran, like a coward, me and a friend of mine stationed furthest away ran in secret and hid into the slowly snuffed out fire of Hell. The dying fires gave us cover, in flickering shadows we witness as the Yama whom held the key cemented our kind to the Pillar.


Sealing us forever.


Our end has come...


and I... the eldest of the Ibuki clan... must go back, once the chaos has passed... I must see to it that at least one of the Mountains, the one which my family took its name from, has survived.


The Yama may have sealed us all, but at least...


At least, the Four of The Mountains, at least one of them must have survived.


Whatever heavenly will they submit to, help the ones who did left the land of the Oni, and shattered the peace of eons.


Whatever which drawn from blood, sipped like fine wine the taste of victor in war, shall be paid in full...


I shall never rest


Never rest until my will is done.


----

[Vicks]

This is amazing. You could actually write a book with this. You have my utmost respect.

[Alfred F. Jones]

This is amazing. You could actually write a book with this. You have my utmost respect.

What he said. This is novel quality. As usual, after catching up, I'm on the edge of my seat. Fantastic work.

[♛ Apher-Forte]

You don't know how much everytime I see someone commenting and especially from my dear readers who remain faithful to this journey of writing that I appreciate every single letter in those comments.

To me, nothing is more appreciated than having someone reconfirm the viewcounts of this thread, and knowing that even with my rusty mastery of the language, that knowing someone countries away from me is reading this is all... beautiful.


Thank you both of you, and to everyone else.


Here is a new chapter.


========
Chapter 19

========


I woke up to the sound of a passing train, in opposite direction to the one we are sitting in. In these old parts of Japan, the train service still runs on a regular basis, reminiscent of old world charms that I have yet to feel before in my life. The rattling of the nuts and bolts, the wooden floorboards of pine and oak, and the softly fabricated cushioning, even the air smells rustic.


There is a sense of peace here. Watching the couple holding hands as the woman lays her head on her partner’s shoulder, fading into a slumber disregarding the speed which this vehicle travels. At the end of the car we sat in, a child played without hinder his toy gun, shooting at his sleeping grandfather, still grasping lightly to the wooden glasses in between his fingers.


Komachi herself was at another seat, opposite of where I sat. She has been quite silent all this time, possibly due to the tiresome encounters and is left with nothing but dreariness in her as she slipped off into a slumber. Her mouth hanging open carelessly as she seemed to dream-talk her way through the train ride. It was good however, that she didn't seemed to annoy the gentleman gazing across at her uncouth behavior. I had to admire how straightforward she can be at times, this daring may have more than once saved my life, and I suppose I have to say her way of doing things is as effective as following strict procedures of a Yama kind of way.


Across where I sat, still slightly dreary from my short nap in this train ride, a woman with unusually pinkish purple hued hair sat quietly facing me blankly. She wasn’t staring, but rather looking past me, as though she was seeing something from beyond me. I didn’t pay much mind, I reckon it is my costume that drew more attention than my robust green hair. After all, not many chances a human can see someone they expect to see only after they die.


Strangely however, she is not alarmed, or even surprised for that matter. She just stared blankly beyond, as though she is in deep thought. In her one hand, held covered against her lap, a ball of some sort, the size of a tennis ball lay hidden between her palms. It looked much like a soft toy, except it has creases on it at the sides. Her costume is especially noticeable among the bleak fashion as much of Japan today still observes in modesty – it was colored well, with many frills and pale blue being the prime color to match her pale cherry pink sleeves. The frills are mostly yellow on the outermost strip, while the inner strip is lined with white lace. On her hair is a hair clip, pink in color with a white flower attached to it. The most noticeable however, is her red eyes, so dark red in crimson I almost swear she had them in bloodshot vision.


However, I realized I was staring at her instead, and all this time despite having no response from her while she continued to stare at my direction emptily, I felt bad to continue observing her. So I turned my gaze to the moving scenery, realizing we are coming closer and closer to a hill tunnel, just around the edges.


 Somewhere in this car as well, a wisp of smoked meat can be detected in the oriental express, the air which fills around it makes me think of how long since I last had a meal.


I wasn’t hungry of course, being a Yama I have no need for nutrition in the form of human foods. I do feel the likely need for nutrition in the form of energies, most of it magic. Magic circulates in the Higan, just as much in amount as the air in this human world.


I occasionally take food as a means to soothe the tongue, or perhaps the taste buds on them. Life for the Yama people is pretty dull naturally, and you sort of grow up with the dullness and realize that food is only as necessary as paper to write on. When failed to be supplied to the Yama people, people just revered to other forms of absorption of nutrients to survive.


Down not far away, as I recalled, near the Sanzu River, is the village of the Shinigamis, whom are much freer. They deal with all sorts of culinary recipes, lining up restaurants, and sometimes bars for their people, which the Yama are too busy to administer licenses to than bothering to sit down and enjoy some time off. I was no exception of course, too busy with paperwork until I lose sight of what childhood was; it was a competitive world after all, and coming from there changed me to what I am today.


The way of life for me changed dramatically, but my mind now floated onto other things.


The sound which woke me up drifted back into my head, ringing again and again into dissident sounds of various colors, as though they carry some subliminal message.


The general sat next to me, he has been rather silent thus far. I reckon if anything people might smell the stink running off him, and myself of course. We have been waiting for the train, walked out from a battle with insect youkai nearly consumed, and frankly, we are beat. However, being the polite people of the land they are, no one commented on our body odor, which is a thankful situation.


My eyes looked up, observing the Western-inspired design of the light, wrapped in a robust covering of painted wood, red and black and oak which peeked between the sills of the paper wrapping around the covered parts, which emits soft warm light from behind it. There is for whatever moment in time my mind thought of the dream which was conveyed to me.


The dream of a long forgotten race.


The Oni.


I had only so recently learned of the history of the Oni, that they were as dangerous as they seem in the books, boldly rewriting history so to cover whatever acts my people have committed against them in the ancient times. Times when I have yet to exist, a war have been fought.


They say wars are methods to sort out age old issues which dialogue cannot settle. The same as how life can only flourish in the grounds of death. Just as dead animals feed nutrients to the earth, and which it produces the nutrients to sustain plant life, which in turn sustain the life of herbivores, which then sustain the life of the carnivores and the omnivores. Understanding these natural links give me insight that the war which happened, and as was somehow transmitted to me in my dream earlier still so vivid and freshly imprinted in my mind.


Just as I was beginning to think deeply into the dream, we passed the entry into a tunnel.


The ensuing darkness came like the cover of night, and surrounding me are the echoes of the wheels screeching into the deepening dark.



+++++





There were wounded skies above, which beyond it are the cavernous rocks of the encroaching darkness of Old Hell, now with its fires snuffed out. Steam of foul stink, covered by lethal doses of dead youkai body odors, rotting, fermenting… and coupled with still fouler smells of vomit, refuse, entrails, urine, all mixed into a bloody nightmare.


The aftermath…


I was standing there, my eyes gazing into the distance, where a large ominous black pyramid upside down stood in my line of sight. The black pyramid rotated, and from where my eyes could manage, writhing bodies of masses of black, brown were reaching out as if struggling for freedom. I wanted to go help, help these things that are trapped there.


Someone next to me was smiling, he has a familiar looking face.


Almost turning around, he held with him a key, quite similar to the one I have recently acquired from my mother, whom is blinded by an Oni attack aimed at silencing her but very much alive.


The man turned, and from the shadows his shape became clearer as a dose of light bounced off him from the miasma cloud that cleared above the cavernous shapes of Old Hell. Souls were freed from their eternal damnation, and they quickly rose, giving light as their shapeless forms took flight into a long tunneling path back to the Sanzu River direction.


The man looked above, and then to my direction, as though realizing I was there. I reached out, but only to notice his lips remarking something.


“Now… it is over, and only one… one of us can have this curse. The time… it must not be for now, I am too old for this… too old for this curse, I have to…”


He trailed off.


There was a momentary silence as the ground below us cracked, and cold sweat slid down my forehead as I realized I was falling through the widening crack of blackness, and from before me, I was sliding down. The ground simply disappeared, and I opened my mouth to scream, only to hear nothing but silence.


I closed my eyes, hoping that by wishing it I would somehow be safe again.


Then, when I opened my eyes…


A different scene appeared.


It was the smile of a woman, human. Facing her, is a Yama male, aged much younger than my father is now, possibly around 120 years old at most. He held with him a box, and the human woman refused to hold onto it. With one turn of her face, she ran away turning the other direction.


“In the end, humans do not care for kinds other than themselves…” The Yama male said, with no malice in his voice he turned slowly, walking towards me and when I reached out to touch him, to have him explain it to me… I fell through. Like gas, I passed over him, a cloud of empty air that seemed to evaporate as his shape passed me, puff and I was gone… darkness descended ever so quickly as my eyes widened to yet another scene.



Three Verticals, the hall of halls, the inner chambers of the Vertical Judges. These were the rooms forbidden to any and all Yama save for the Monochrome Guards on specific occasions, and to the Verticals themselves.



“If not man nor Yama wishes to continue this, then we must free them, for the last of us, the inheritor is dying… the seal is weakening as we speak…” An old Yama spoke, his voice weak as his fragile hands, grasping thin to the age that crumbles his will. The eldest one of the three, this Yama looked like he was talking about something in secret, for his voice sounded like he was whispering loudly, just enough to let the younger two standing to his left and right respectively to hear.


“Of course, what you say is true… but we have no volunteers…” The left one said. This one is youngest, with smooth lined skin and deepening hues of green, as though he were born with hair that comes in an aquatic blue note than the usual apple green. He held with him a scroll, no doubt important to the discussion at hand, and his hand gripped on it so hard it looked like he was about to squash the papyrus to a pulp with the sweat accumulated in his palms.


“No… we have one…” The slightly older one said, as though on cue to answer the question. This one had pure red skin, almost scarlet to crimson in hue.


“Who?” The youngest one turned his attention to the elder one standing next to him, and so did the eldest one.


“The half-breed…”


“No! Absolutely NOT!” The eldest one hounded loudly, as though a spray of sudden power suddenly found its way into his voice, commanding, and assuming command immediately of the three.



“Have you any ideas? We have tried every reasonable option… only the half breeds can hold the key, it has shown they alone have the energy type necessary to withstand the immense power which exerts its keeper to provide… and over time, it has always killed the Yama first!” The Key, they mentioned, must be the one I am now holding, and here I am, the said half-breed… were they talking about me? I don’t even know these Yama Verticals, and I guessed they probably shouldn’t know me as well. They probably served a different term than the ones I received my mission from… whatever the objective was ultimately.


“Yet we have a significantly longer lifespan… surely… duty can summon them to perform this grueling task!”


“You wish!” It is true what the younger one said, no one wants to die for a cause that isn’t theirs.


“The pyramid is groaning… do you hear it? Any time now… they are coming!” The elder said, and thus he pointed to just beyond the windowed panel, where a dark ominous shadow of a pyramid that hangs upside down blocked out the rays of the miasma surrounding it with purple hazy light stood in clarity. It was powerful, the energy which ruptured from it.


Hundreds of years of accumulated Oni energy, upon summoning, may split even Hell into many parts, destroying it in one fell swoop as the energy ruptures all that is the stones and rocks which Hell is constructed of.


“Damn it, damn it all to hell… was the victory truly worth it then?” The elder once more spoke, his voice trembling with uncertainty.


“We could have killed them all… the entire army of the all of Hell’s oppressed citizens! Surely…” The youngest one suggested.


“Victory without sacrifice… the only way to do it is to sacrifice one for the salvation of many… the Gods did not help us, we surely didn’t stand a chance to begin with… not with the numbers of their population!” The younger one rebutted, perhaps not realizing the sudden malice gathered in the voice of his younger associate.


“Then by far let’s end it, let’s end their race with the key turned… send them to the cycle of rebirth!” The youngest one, clearly hot-headed at the least, said with much haste in his voice, as though he were eager to do what he just said.


“They BUILT the bloody cycle! The Yaksha has built it and they alone do not travel there! All Oni stay in hell… until all eternity and until all hells are empty! By word of Lord Ktisgriba” The younger one said.


“To hell with the word, we solve this our own way… Higan has rose long enough to challenge the rising of the Oni again!” The youngest of them shouted.


“Your eyes… they are filled with hatred… why? Haven’t you already ascended?” The elder one looked, curiosity filled him.


“DO NOT QUESTION ME OLD MAN!” Then the youngest one reached out to the younger one, with the reddest of skin and one swift move, cut the veins of his throat with a hidden knife.


“Liar! Betrayer!” He shouted the accusations as he felled the one next to him, still shocked from the sudden slice of his throat, and then grasped at the gaping wound that sprayed blood in every single direction.


The elder only looked in confusion and fear, hands still tightly holding the scroll as though his life can be preserved should he hold on to it.


“What did he do to you? Seisenhou-dono?!” The elder one shouted. It was here I dawned to the realization… this was… Seisenhou’s memories, or at least from where I am viewing… this was history itself.


“To cheat me of my family… and then calmly disguising yourself as an ally… you call yourself a brother of mine?!” The youngest one shouted still, plunging yet another few stabs into the opened chest of the now dead Yama, drowned by his own blood on the floor.



“STOP!”


“Never!”


He paused, the youngest of them, Seisenhou the now vertical in service, turned his malicious eyes to the Yama elder, whom trembled but could not run, rooted to the ground by unholy fear.


“Now… hand me the scroll… and I will spare your life.”


“You have no will… you are of pure blood… it would kill you as soon as you touch it.”


“That is why I have no intention to… but Shiki… of the Yamaxanadu clan will…”


He paused.


“That half-breed daughter of hers will bear the burden… and when the key opens, I will assume command…”


“NO, that power is not for you!” The elder tried to stop him, but all was too late as my vision blacked out.


“Then who is it for? Old man? You?” The young Seisenhou laughed maniacally…. The remaining of the voice that passed sounded sickening – slashing perhaps even stabbing… whatever that happened the departing footsteps all become very real, as though it were happening in present time.


Could this be? The chronicles circling my fate bound to the male dominant world of the Yama? The binding of forbidden thresholds that will cross human and Yama and Oni in a collective struggle to… perhaps end Hell as we know it? What happened in history was changed… who, or what has changed it to conceal the criminal known as Seisenhou… and of what he is to do with the scroll and the key, has an obvious motive, it was just not clear what it is.


I didn’t know, all I felt was an impact to my chest… and I felt the awakening call of the living, as were once my consciousness returned to the living world, where flesh is present, instead of my body in the form of wisp like smoke, incorporeal in form.


Fear rushed into me…


Was this all in a dream?


Then… I woke up. The train that passed screeched loudly against my eardrums, as the metal grinded against the rails and woken up even the dead that surrounds me.


Or was that the dream itself?



+++++

[Minch]

I'm a new lurker here, and I must say. This story of Shikieiki is my favorite and it can be turned into a novel. I just wish other Touhou Fanfics are like this. And since Shiki is my favorite character, this pretty much makes me feel great to find this story (which I found from another website...)

[♛ Apher-Forte]

Ah, thank you MinchyKH, I appreciate the comment.

I have miles to go before I can churn out a book of any status or readibility for real. I am not even a native english speaker, and many if not most of this story I wrote is riddled with punctuation errors and such that may prove costly to be considered for print. Thank you anyhow for reading). Where is this other website you talked about? I wasn't aware I was posting this in other places other than Clubbleach (a part of it) or HimitsuForums (my forums)

[Minch]

I think it was HimitsuForums but it was only a part of it.

[♛ Apher-Forte]

{Author's note]

Hey guys, sorry it has been so long, I have lost most of my inspiration to write and frankly, this taking as many months as it did, if it retained your interest, I will be glad, if not, I suppose I am still glad.

I hope to finish the story this year, hopefully.



===============


Chapter 20

===========





The train has stopped, the station which we stood in now has no signboards, no one other than us have stepped out the train nor seem remotely interested to. It figures of course, consider how run down it was.  At a corner of the office which normally stood the conductor and his clipper in his hands, ready to clip the ticket which he held, was empty. Barren exposed wood with mold as its companion stood like tall screaming faces imprinted into eternity, with the swollen mass of black and rot combining into a horrible face like figure.


On the tiles were even more rot, black and green mashed to form tiny veins that seep into spaces between them. Exposed to the rain, the awning which once was, corroded now stood in stunning rust of pale brown and deep red in some parts. The stink of plants already dead for untold time and the steaming smell of ammonia traveling from the long unused drains which are situated within the building itself covered us.


“Let’s go.” The voice of this young woman, reminded us, that we are not alone, but the twisting fact: that we are being held hostage.


How, one might even dare ask. The obvious was that once more my mother has been taken.


I had thought the security was too light for the protection of my mother in that simple wooden house in the middle of nowhere.


Normally I would protest, but seeing as what The General has said about his friend being in charge there I actually allowed my careless judgment a moment of serious lapse. Of course, I couldn’t care for her now, I was in danger.


“Oh yes, it was a serious lapse of judgment.” The woman read my mind, her leathery ball which is actually an eye that slid open a few moments ago looked back at me from over her shoulder.


“Could you at least please stop reading my mind?”


“I am a Satori, that is what I do.” The young woman marched into the sheltered station.


With one forceful push, she opened a door at the side that said ‘Janitor’s Storage’. Inside, my eyes met a huge black hole, sitting smugly inside crashed floorboards and it eminated a sense of threatening miasma that was as though it led to some steaming pot of god-knows-what.


“Welcome to where you were originally going to come.” The sentence made no sense.


“This is the entrance back to Hell.” She paused, “Many such entrances exist all through out the world, and in Japan alone, there stood at least 500 of them spread across the many islands and provinces. In the old days, our ancestors traveled from such holes to the human world to spread our cultures, and build our foundations. In the beginning of course, these were the communication ‘subways’ of the Oni-kind.”


“That matters how? We are already here, you promised already to free my mother, whoever you are, what side you are on, I suggest you to do as you promised.”


“Or so what? What can you do? You clueless shame of a Yama.” The young woman opened her mouth and pushed her lips so close to my face I stared back in intense fear at her deepened eyes, in them, I see anger.


“You don’t have a clue why you are here, you haven’t got a clue what you are doing, and yet you dare claim authority over someone who does?” The young woman questioned.


“I know what I am here for, I am here to take the key to…”


“No, your job was over. In that simple moment when you took the key from your mother, you were given the map, not only then you followed blindly someone who assumes responsibility simply because of rank, you also openly revealed details of the coveted secret to him.” She pointed to The General.


“The General? This man is an agency investigator of the Yama people, he works for us!”


“Did you have identification? What has he done thus far? Did he help you when you are about to die getting shot? No, he used a weak body of an old soldier and died, pretending compassion. Then he appeared in a plane and conveniently delivered you to your mother. Don’t you want to know who was holding your mother hostage? Him!”


“What proof do you have then?”


“Look, I am a Satori, I read minds.”


“How can I tell what you say is real.”


“You can’t, but weigh the bloody consequences thus far, what do you see? You have a bugger of a burden which sent you to a place, and later resulted you getting chased by people whom you don’t know who want you dead. Then, you are sent on a goose chase to find your mother, whom you notice to be somehow calm among all the mess, then you are now on a train trip, to where else? Where you began.”


I winced at the thought, but could not help but question inside myself.


“Have faith, Shikieiki-kun, your enemies are only doing what they do best, deceive you.”


“Who are my enemies?” I asked, “Ever since I started this ‘mission’ no one has told me anything.”


“Information is never free, pawns are always moved by the orders of kings they never met.”


“And there you have it, tell me, Yama, what else could be more compelling?” The Satori asked.


“Who are my enemies, can you tell me better then, Satori?”


“Everyone, including myself.” The Satori stated, and promptly without hesitation, pulled one of the many veins which connected to her eyeball that hung on her chest. With a bright light which eminated from it, my world began to tumble like as though I was thrown into twisting seas.


The hallucinations turned me into nothing, my body shredded in a million fragments as I struggled to maintain whatever sense I have left.


“Don’t fight it, Yama, soon, you will see…”




+++++++++++



“I have made it!” The man yelled, at nothing in particular but an old derelict house in the middle of nowhere. Down the house itself, in the middle of the room filled with tatami floorboards save only one missing piece, is a hole large enough for him and his trusted bike to go through.


The motorcycle which he was riding was an old one, but very powerful. It was an import model designed to handle speeds up to 180km/h, capable of carrying people faster than the wind. As it was however, this was modified by a very different means altogether. The motorcycle was fueled by something humans can never get their hands on, thankfully so.


 Inside the tank, is the local God of Sailing, Traveling, and Journeys. Worshipped by sea farers and land explorers alike in the old days, the God of Sailing, Traveling and Journeys is a powerful deity that offers source of power for just about any vessel. At sea, the God becomes the wind that pushes the sails forth; on land, the God is the steed that never tires; on rivers, it is the current that never slows and protects all who pay it tribute.


The man took off his helmet, before looking at the deep black hole.


“I am coming.”


With a turn of his accelerator, he took the motorcycle with him, and into the rabbit hole he went.



+++++++++



“Open your eyes.”


I did, and my vision observed the darkened caverns above my head, hundreds upon hundreds of meter above me is a ceiling of spikes and rocks and mold.


I was in hell.


“Welcome to Old Hell.”


“How did…?”


“I dragged you down, seeing as you likely will never jump into the hole with me anyway.” The Satori said.


Somewhere behind me, the heavy breathing of the General could be heard in the silence of a several miles and emptiness around us, the surrounding darkness and dim on served better to hide him.


“Where are you…” I asked, hoping Komachi would somehow appear behind me, I only noticed she has never seemed to left the train, or on it for that matter. In fact, being a partner she was sent with me to this human realm, she has protected me more than a few occasions but has disappeared some time after we boarded the train. I began to question where could she slacked off to.


“Let me show you, the Temple.”


I followed where the Satori gestured, and sure enough, before us, not too far away is a derelict building older than any I have ever seen. It looked covered in darkness, and more so the scent of rotten wood, wet and damp could be detected from this distance.


We walked, and our footsteps only hastened as we followed the echoes which bounced off the walls.


I wasn’t sure if I was alone, but the General could be heard plowing along. It seemed evident he was dragging his legs, as if shackled to something heavy, or may have broken a limb or two even. The heaviness of his footsteps made me wanted to turn back, yet I could not as my attention was focused entirely on the dark shrine before my eyes.


“This is…” I muttered.


“The truth, the one answer you sought, but was hidden… in plain sight.” Said the Satori.


“What…?”


“Welcome, to the Temple of The Eight.” She gestured into the temple, where an 8 cornered room with a magic circle of sorts painted crudely with bold crimson paint was sat on by 8 bodies, 5 in lotus sitting position as though in meditation, and 3 others kneeling, hands placed on their thighs in traditional sitting position.


“What happened here? What can you tell me, your version of the truth?” I asked the Satori.


“Oh yes, I can.”


“What is it…?”


“Well…” The Satori began




+++++++++++



“We hereby voice the last order, the perfect circle is done, the unity is complete.” An old woman chanted. She had long thick hair and paired with ears that are so long it pointed a feet up from her hair. They were like rabbit ears, but clearly weren’t as they were green and blue in color. From afar, it looked like her hairs were tentacles, hardened as well and fashioned in a state that seemed to surround her head like a helmet made of the same material as that of a rhino’s horn.


“Suk Ha Jikyuu jij ghuk nor frelljgh nvsdre-k-k-k” To the woman’s left, a faceless being, with no eyes, nose or mouth save for a horrible mess of circular looking tendons that covered its ‘face’ with sharp pointy teeth also somehow garbled a bunch of unintelligible words from its ‘mouth’, which was situated dead center of the horrid looking mess that is its ‘face’. The faceless terror held a hand sign, while ugly, it was also dressed in a clean white shrine uniform; which showcases the duty of its being.


“Wo wuh Gui Huang, ming Shiung Yen, zi Ming Jing, wuh yi Wen Zhu Pu Sha zhi Ming, Zhen qun mei mo, shuo fa wan xie!” The one sitting directly next to the faceless terror, whom still continued chanting in intelligible words shouted, in Mandarin Chinese. This one had Oni like features, with its wide staring eyes that seemed to take character more so than its entire feature of green and crocodile hide-like skin surface. He had horns, sharp ones which protruded from the top of his forehead while he wore a traditional Chinese costume, customary of a court eunuch in ancient times, and had a tall golden hat with golden wordings on both sides of the hat placed next to the strings which held his hair together.


Around them, another 5 different voices, 3 others which are female, chanted in a myriad of different languages. To the right was a Tengu female, Tenma-no-Ue of the Holy Mountain of Kyuushu. To her right, the Lord of Sanzu’s Clans, a Yama called Ohenma-no-Ue. To his side, a female Satori, her name being Komeiji, leader of the rebels whom claim the sovereignty of the lands they call ‘Chireiden’, a well respected figure among the fledglings whom were dispersed by the Oni kind.


Further still, a human, no more and no less, female as well. She was dressed in shrinemaiden’s outfit, and had two Yin Yang orbs floating just above her shoulders rotating in clockwise direction. Her hair was tied snugly behind her head and she had a headband which had weird incantations on it. Her eyes closed, and hands held in sealing signs reserved only for those who know the ways of the spiritual realms. A speaker for ‘Gods’ so to speak, she was Hakurei, no one here however knows what her full name is. At her side is a nimbus staff representing the divine might of the Daijingan Bosatsu whom she draws power from.


To her side, is a Shinigami, a death god, his name is Kyuhachigasa. The Shinigami is probably one of the last that knew of the true art of Distance Manipulation, crucial for every Shinigami to learn in order to perform their duties when travelling the wide regions of Old Hell and of its many different levels. Unlike the normally trained Shinigami after Kyuhachigasa, the skill they learn now is relatively short in comparison to old hell Shinigamis. The wider regions needed so much more training and certainly so much more concentration.


Having already finished his task, Kyuhachigasa only sat holding an effigy of a straw-man-doll, representing his soul and devotion and tied with red rope, colored by blood of his own. Six pieces of stringed and painted surfaces on mirrors lie to his side, facing upwards and reflecting parts of his face. They each shone with a golden colored light, as though he were surrounded by six moons, the light radiated off the mirrors in harmonic fashion.


Very slowly now, the Yama, Ohenma-no-Ue rose. With a scroll in hand, he declared the sealing circle, and a sealing passage which he recited in Japanese. The scroll lifted off his hands magically, as though carried by a mysterious unfelt wind. It rotated in the air, and emitted such magical energy that would put an Oni to shame, the sheer energy which ruptured the air carried a powerful push and pull feeling that churned everyone’s stomach and causing a sensation of pressure above their heads, as though they were descending a deep ocean.


Then suddenly, like a massive thunder strike, the sky outside the shrine brightened with a million suns, the air hot with magic, boiling even in a sudden booming sound, crackling thunder joined into a vortex of noises…


Like a rift, the skies opened above, but the chanters and powerful people inside the shrine did not went outside to ascertain their work, merely concentrating fully, chanting louder than before. As the skies opened, the rift which separated space and time opened by invisible hands of magical force carried such momentum that even the ground cracked from air pushing against it from the separated skies.


More thundering roars passed, the shocking currents which electrified the air struck down in invisible thunders, every soul and creature and youkai that were too near to the place, defending from the invading Oni soldiers intending to stop the process of the summoning of the monumental spell was blasted away in collateral damage.


Then like materializing matter out of nothing, a giant pyramid, completely black and a single block dropped from the skies. It carried a matter similar to spilled ink in water, corrupting the clouds colored by light into utter darkness. The black single pyramid block rotated, slowly but devastating as gravitational force generated from it disrupted all the other forces pre-existing in nature. Like vacuum, the youkai surrounding it were forced to fly away if they aren’t injured, knowing exactly what comes next will not be pleasant if they stayed too near to the site.


Then, suddenly, the pyramid sent a black shockwave that ruptured across the Old Hell’s landscape, sending the walls of the cavern-like place of Old Hell shaking and loosened up the free rocks from the side. Immediately an earthquake started, and the walls cracked; from the cracks, debris freely fell in all directions in millions of fragments, small and large.


Within the storm of debris fueled storm of darkness that blackened out the Old Hell’s landscape, a boom could be heard as though something has been triggered, a gong perhaps from a distant echoing place. There however, are no gongs, or even any echoes heard, it was a resolving energy, making noise as it covered across the landscape quickly and returned to the pyramid that stood above the shrine.


With it, along came several hundreds of Onis, small ones at first as they are lighter in weight; and then the larger ones living by banks of Higan, or what will eventually become Higan’s edges of the Shinigami township. Then, lastly, like unshakable and unwilling mountains being dragged by a powerful unseen force, the brutal ones, those that are tall as mountains themselves were dragged mercilessly by the sucking force of the black pyramid.


With their hands they clawed for grasp, but their weight too heavy to clamp onto anything without the rock or the dead trees giving in to their exerted force. There was no other sound other than their incessant screaming and booming voices, crying now for their freedom, for they know what comes next… their resistance has failed… the spell is completed…


The world, as ruled by Oni-kind has ended, the battle has been won, but not by them.


With their last breath, they caused so much havoc as their enormous bodies were carried by invisible force across the land and with them, entire houses and sides of rocks so large they could flood lakes with their mass. They soon all collided, like balls of flesh clamped into a glass prison, their frames become writhing agonizing images of pain and suffering as they merged with one another into the black pyramid.


From it, Shinki, Goddess of Makai or soon to be Makai to come in existence, threw a powerful sealing magic across the land, and with it, sealed any remainder of magic force emitted by the powerful Onis. Their numbers silenced by the force which throws out all their energies into every direction, becoming free flowing magic for all in Old Hell to use. Then, like children without a voice, they accepted their fate, but cried in muted anger towards their enemies. Like horrors of an echoing madness, their faces contorted in every sheer form of rage possible, they were sealed into the pyramid, until their faces are no longer seen.


Then, with effect of a key, resting in the palms of the man who initiated the sealing… was stabbed into the central column of the shrine, which connects to the bottom of the inverted pyramid above.

The key glowed with power that is enough to shake the very foundations of hell, and with it, sealed a permanent gateway that which led to the pyramid’s unsealing. Then, a second, more pronounced key, ethereal this time and glowing in green color energy, appeared from in mid-air, floating slowly down the hands of the miko, the only human present in all of Old Hell now.


She gave a final nod, and like a wisp of wind, she turned into a ball of light and floated out the window of the shrine. The ball of light flew, ever faster and soon disappeared into the horizon, and with her, the hope of freedom for the Oni-kind.


All that is left… are the 4 Heavenly Devas, the 4 original Onis. The beginners, the pioneers of their race… silently sleeping in their ageless, endless existence behind sealed caves of rock and mountain dirt, they whom are unaware of what’s happened outside.


Only in these places can any Oni be safe…


Only here, can a few stragglers, a blue Oni and a red Oni, both half-breeds breathed easily after witnessing the end of their kind…


They who have witnessed a genocide…


They who swore upon shed tears of hate and anger, one day… the revenge they shall take upon the others…


The Oni shall not be imprisoned forever… when the time is right…


They shall rise again!



======================

[Esifex]

It liiiiiiiiives...

Woo!

[Kasu]

Nice to see that even after a hiatus it grabs your attention.

Lookin' forward to the rest~

[Minch]

Yay! your back! Even after a long hiatus, this story will always be an interesting read.