ShipTeaser

  Approag the huge temple-house, I felt nervous. One of the great shat pulled it hissed at me, a tongue bigger than I was flig out and tasting the air. The jun where the s were anchored to the snakes by massive spikes driveween the scales was crusted with dried blood, and I was torn at the casual cruelty and sheer scale of the act, the s looking like they could anedieval battleships. Ahead of me, the Grand Hitotsume Nyūdō, iant one-eyed priest, stopped at the entrao the huge house, his train of troll-sized fellow priests pulling the fabulous trailing cloth of his robes out of my way, so I could asd the steps.

  Into darkness. Ugh, I don’t want to do this, but until Eri is out of here… with o look back at my wary panions, I swallowed oeeling myself, before mounting the steps, and heading up to the dark portal that was still exuding a fine, ist. With each step, my legs felt heavier and heavier, and my body was shaking. It was as if I could start to feel the presence of a Territory, and something else.

  Damn, I’m exhausted. If I have to fight, I probably ma, I did get a top-up of aether from my share of the Matriarch when she died, but against any foe parable to her, or strohe cyclopean Yokai priest was staring at me, and I had no illusions I could take him. Even in my top dition, without my multiple tough trips to the Boundary since I arrived in Kyoto, it wasn’t in my favour. With o curse towards that idiot Yamato-san whose foolishness had led to all this, I took a faltering step into the dark doorway, and immediately aether and what little elemental essence I had started leaving me, an oppressive weight crushing down on my spirit.

  “Wow, so… strong.” I gritted my teeth, my sister’s favourite excmation torn from me as I struggled against the Territory. It was strong, as strong as the Seelie Court that I had visited, but the difference was that while the Seelie Court was, if not weling to me, ting, as I was an invited guest, this one was hostile, and I once more realised why having a powerful Territory was so important. There’s no way ordinary weaselkin or trolls would be able to put up much of a fight here until parts of the Territory were captured…

  My feet suddenly felt wet, and I spshed down into water up to my waist, surprising me. My eyes adjusted to the gloom within, and I realised the eerritory was effectively a dungeon, space ed ihe house, and the bck skies above rippled with deep purple and blue lights, much like aurora borealis. The spatial element in here is strong… I was standing in an o, that stretched further than my eyes could see, with the only nd a series of obsidian spires jutting out, f isnds. In front of me was a series of pilrs either just below or just above the surface of the inky o, and while I had never been to Irend, my mother had in her youth, aales of the Giant’s Causeway in the north of that try seemed remarkably simir. If I recall, wasn’t the causeway something to do with the Fomorians? Huh, I wonder if I actually find out, one day…

  With the door behind me having vanished, I was alone in the oppressive darkness, my strength waning. As the seas whipped up into small waves, sprayih frigid water, I took a step onto the pilr, and the oer that, slowly crossing the seas. As I did so, the Territory rexed its grip on me, making me sigh in relief as it accepted me as a visitor, just as the Seelie Court had. Thank all the Gods for that. If I had to cross this being drained stantly, I think I’d be kicked back to the Material before Eri…

  Now that I had some leeway, I looked around. It wasn’t what I imagihe Night Parade’s Territory to look like. But thinking about it, they travel Japan freely, so I suppose a mobile Territory makes se’s ner than the Fae’s, anyway. As I tio cross the sea, my sense of time numbed by the ck of any meaningful ndmarks, I noticed that there were many huge, ominous shadows withier. As I fixed my sight on one, I poured power into my Eye, and moments ter, wished I had not.

  A colossal figure, making even the cyclopean priest look small, was watg me, head and shoulders above the surface of the water, bck, featureless skin blending into the darkness of this pce. Its eyes were like dull mps, no iris or other disible structure, and as it sank back without a trace, a massive plume of water rushed towards me, the waves nearly driving me from the path I was taking. Other simir shadows could be seen further out, rising and falling, all just heads and shoulders, with the same bnk, staring eyes.

  Umi bōzu [Grand Yoka - ???

  Are they what are causing the tides with their movements? Chilled to the bone, soaked by the waves, I tio cross. Fshes of brilliant lightning were now pierg the sky, all ing from the dire I was travelling, and as I traversed the seemingly endless causeway, an isnd loomed out of the gloom, the lightning fshing overhead. With my Eye I could see that the isnd was not bare and pin rock, like most of the smaller ones I had wound my ast. There was vegetation, trees and pnts scattered about, and also… that house. It matches the design of the house-shrine I entered. Is that… pig up the pace I hurried across the pilrs, even though I could see this isnd, it was still far distant.

  Eventually I reached the isnd, which had a set h-hewn steps leading up the cliffs. Using a little fme energy to dry myself off, I slowly asded, feeling multiple powerful presences. Upon reag the top, I emerged into a peaceful gde, grass underfoot springy and soft. Up ahead, in a clearing, sat the house, and outside was set an old-fashioned rog chair, in which sat a strange-looking and wizened old man, with a puzzling, elongated head, the skin wrinkled and browned by age, wearing rich, Buddhist-style robes, yet the details of the robes were wrong, subtly showing disdain for the religion it represented. As I moved to appraise him with my Eye, he smiled, and I hastily cut off the flow of aether, immediately realising it would be a bad idea. His League, I’ve never felt the like. In fact, my legs were trembling so hard, I barely saw the two other strange beings by him. Is this what it’s like being an ordinary human when I release my full League? Shit, I o be o people…

  The first being was a rge, fged animal. It looked like a cow, though judging by the shaking legs and proportions, perhaps it was a young calf? Though if it was just that, there would be nothing strange about it other than size. No, this calf had a human face, surprisingly beautiful, with long, flowing violet hair and matg eyes. And within those eyes, as azes met, I could see profound wisdom and sadness.

  The other being was a doll, of a small girl. At first I thought it might have been a Zashiki-Warashi, like Azuki, as it was cute and dressed in a beautifully-patterned child’s kimono, with the sash seemingly woven from cloth-of-gold, but the feeling it gave off was very different, ominous and powerful. No, she’s no less powerful thasune or the Red and Blue Oni. The calf too. Perhaps they are even stronger…

  “Well, correct as ever, Uranai.” The strange old man who had such a powerful League, surely Nurarihyon himself, addressed the human-faced cow. “We do have a visitor. One of the puppets of the Gods. Though… not using the power of one. Perplexing.”

  “Prithee, have I ever uttered falsehoods, Nurarihyon-dono?” the cow-oke, her tone old-fashioned, using vocabury on old samurai from the warring states era might use, no, it was even more archaic than that.

  “I wouldn’t say you have never been wrong.” He ughed, causio scowl. The doll raising me, her eyes hard, and he reached out a hand, stroking her head.

  “Calm down Seirei, my dear. There is nothing to worry about.”

  “What do you wish for, dear?” she said, surprising me. Dear? They both called each other that?

  “For now. Tea and sweets will do.”

  “Granted.” The doll, Seirei said, and moments ter an orable had appeared before us, steaming mugs of pleasant-smelling tea and ptes piled high with steamed buns, skewers and other treats c it. There was also a pair of ghostly female servers, transparent and wispy, but they quickly got to work.

  “What do you wish for now, dear?” Seirei asked once more.

  “Again, hmm? Well, a seat for uest.”

  “Granted.” She intoned, and I suddenly found myself seated by the table, fag the three of them, while one of the jured servants pressed a steaming hot mug into my hand. Wait, what happened? I didn’t notice I even moved…

  “fused?” Nurarihyon said, his smile appearing benefit, but like his robes, there was a se was a false mask, and darker undercurrents y beh. “As well you should be, servant of hollow Gods.” His smile twitched. “Still, let it not be said that my hospitality is g. Drink, drink!”

  Well, I have no idea what is going on here, only that we had things to discuss, including.. reparations. Oh well, I’ll have to hope Ether Healing ha if this is poison… the way I was maniputed just now, there’s no escape for me except through Nurarihyon’s say-so, unless I flee to the Material. Taking a sip, I was surprised to find it was magnifit, the fvour rich yet not overp. “This is good…” I muttered.

  “Of course it is. My dear wife prepared it.” he said, and I nearly spat out my tea.

  “Wife? You married a doll?” I asked, imagining if I tried to marry Azuki. It seemed a bit preposterous.

  “What is your wish, dear?” Seirei said, scowling at me, aone was barbed.

  “Well, I don’t wish for our rude guest to be torn limb from limb. Nht now, anyway. No, how about some music? To set the se?”

  With that, she repeated her oft-used phrase, and a series of spectral women appeared, plug away at the traditional stringed instrument of Japan, the Koto. The tune was quiet but soothing, and I bobbed my head in apology. “Sorry. I was just… surprised. It seems… an odd pairing.”

  “Be it strahan yours, by ce?” the cow-woman, Uranai snorted, her beautiful face looking at me with pt. “A Kamaitachi and a human. Prithee, I have never heard the like. A true unknown.”

  “So, you know about Shaeu?” I asked, and Uranai sighed, irritated.

  “I dis all that touches the Hyakki Yagyō. After all, am I not the Fourth of the Night Parade, greatest of all the Kudan, the prophesising cows? While others of my mentable kin bor but once or twice, then perish untimely from the strain of glimpsing the strands of Fortune and Fate, the Random and the Purpose, I alone survived, and my gifts flourished. Though were I to depart this pce…” she trailed off, her beautiful eyes turning sad.

  I see. She says the same sort of things that Matsumuro-san did. So I guess she’s a Yokai version of the Diviner? I’ve not heard of Kudan though. Quite a weird Yokai…

  “He is thinking something rude, dear. What do you wish for?” Seirei interrupted.

  “For now, not that he be torn apart by the jaws of a wild, divine wolf, or be burned alive by hungry fmes. Not for now that he be dissolved by terrible voracious pnt-life.” Nurarihyon said mildly, and at the descriptions of the punishments, I shivered. He’s been watg as we fought the Parade. Of course… “No, for now, I wish that we simply have some polite discourse, and uest does not leave prematurely.”

  “Your wish is granted.” She said, and suddenly manacles had appeared on my legs, log me to the chair. My Eye fred, and all I got was ??? when I looked at the s, but without Body Enha, I was uo budge them, and I was too exhausted to use that right now.

  “Well then, no more silly insults, right?” Nurarihyon sipped at his tea, appearing as a kindly old uncle, yet his gaze was brutal, belying that. “Uranai knows of the wayward daughter of Urakaze, Tweh of my Parade. And of the strings of fate that will strangle her.” At that my pulse quied, and he smiled, pleased to have caught my i. “Many have been cut, but the darkest still remains, wreathed with baleful red energies.”

  “ you tell me more?” I asked, and Nurarihyon ughed.

  “I could. But will I? Perhaps, perhaps not.” As his wife asked what he wished for, he ended up taking a simple shawl, which he wound around her shoulders tenderly. The doll blushed, which was quite a surreal sight. Though not as surreal as versing with Nurarihyon! Damn, some of the Fae were bad enough, but I’m living Japan’s mythology now!

  “Thou hast a meagre gift tlimpsing possibilities.” Uranai said to me, and I nodded.

  “Well, it’s rgely useless. I knew something bad was going to befall those around me, but even so…” I sighed bitterly. “So many are dead. And it said that I alone would be in no danger, but that’s crap. After all, I had to fight that stupid fox, and theriarch…”

  “He is speaking ill of the dead, dear. What do you wish for?”

  “I don’t wish that all of his panions suffer and die as did the poor sisters of the Matriaro. That would be in poor taste. I wish that…” as he took another small trifle from her, I kept my face impassive and used my Split Thoughts to keep my mind calm. This double-act is starting to wear me out. But I seem to be helpless here, so…

  “Really? But pray tell me, were thou in any actual danger?” Uranai’s question ierg. “If thou had not followed the God-touched fool, well, I ot foresee what lies outside the purview of the Parade, but I expect thou wouldst have been in no danger.”

  True. I’d have simply ehe cert encore, and spent some time with the girls. But that didn’t happen…

  “Then, when thou defeated the Oni, despite your vile curses, thou couldst have escaped had you willed it. Though not with a burden such as the girl who earhe Matriarch’s ire.” She observed, and a chill went through me. True. Shaeu and I could have broken through the Parade and fled, if all we wao do was escape, but Eri definitely couldn’t… she tinued. “The battles thou fought… the Seventy-First was ever arrogant and was never a true threat to thou. Prithee, where women are involved, the twisted fox delights in breaking the spirits of their men and crushing the resistance of the girls until they fawn on him willingly as beasts. Or he did…”

  That’s true as well. If he was serious, when I was robbed of my senses he could have attacked me, but he didn’t. Still, there was one dangerous event. “But what about fighting the Matriard her sisters? I felt in danger numerous times there.”

  Uranai sighed again. “You believe so? With that creature…” she described Hyath that way with a hint of dread, shuddering. “… beside you? No, with staunch resistao curses, the primary tool of Kijo, and her grim, abominable aid, victory was certain for thou. Or thou could have allowed the bitter Matriarch to take the girl. Be it either way…”

  “So, everything redetermihen? So why even bother?” I asked, and Seirei spoke up.

  “This rude guest is an idiot. Do you wish he would be silenced forever?”

  “No.” Nurarihyon chided his wife gently. “I certainly don’t wish for that yet, we have much to speak about. Perhaps a refill of my tea should suffice.”

  As the mug refilled with the fragrant brew, he took a sip, sighing like an old man. “Ah yes. Predeterminatioiny. I do miss the old days, where you humans uood your pce. After all, Gods and Yokai, two sides of the same , ruled, and humans trudged along, ascribing meaning to every omen, to natural processes, to fate. There is no such thing as predetermination. And before you say something trite and stupid like then how does prophed fht work, it’s obvious. If you were to fight me now, you would lose. There is no preordained fate, it is simply a matter of… event following cause. Prophecy is simply having a great grasp on the causes and likely events. So your efforts, feeble as they are…” his smile was seemingly kind, but g any sort of human warmth or emotions. “… have meaning. Were you weaker, or less prepared, then the events would have been different, and the same cause, with differes… has a different oute. If you wish to prove it, you always kill yourself ime. Nothing is absolute. ce always turn aside even the best id, most certain outes. Do not make the mistake of feeling yourself immortal if your Fht tells you there is no danger.”

  Yeah, that’s simir to what Matsumoto-san said, with her definite ained fates, though this is easier to visualise. Somehow it made me feel better, knowing that it was my hard work that kept me alive, not simply being a chosen one or some nonsense like that. “Thanks for the advice. I guess… I like it better that way. Otherwise we are simply puppets, and nothing we do matters.” I suppose Nurarihyon wishes me no ill, else I’d have no way of surviving, sht should be screaming…

  “ the fate of a dle be seeo the raging of a bonfire?” Nurarihyon scoffed, and I was getting a little tired of everyone seemingly reading my thoughts at will. “Your feeble insights could not prehend my as. Even if your cause is a straight path, I bring my effect to bear, shattering all certaihough…” he frowned. “… I have other desires, at this moment.”

  “What do you wish for, dear?” Seirei chirped, looking at me with pt.

  “Perhaps I wish for him to listen to my story, and make a wise decision, but I shall settle for his… undivided attention.”

  “Granted.” She decred, and suddenly I was held rigid, my arms and back mao the chair, my neck held iraints, so all I could do was look upon Nurarihyon.

  “Uh, there’s no need for this…” I said, uo free myself. “I am yself as to why you asked me here, and I have to discuss…”

  “The pawns of the Gods, yes.” Nurarihyon said with some disgust. “Of which you are one, even if the power you use is not directly from them, but simply an offshoot of a higher being. But then.. what are Gods? Are they different from Yokai, other spiritual beings? you answer?”

  I have wohat. “Well, sidering in Japan we have the eight million kami, a lot of Yokai effectively are Gods? But I’m guessing that’s not what you mean?”

  “Of course not. I mean beings such as Izanagi and Izanami, those higher beings.” He spat, his hand crushing the mug he held. It shattered, hot tea spilling. “I wish I hadn’t dohat.”

  “Granted, dear.” With her words time seemed to rewind and the mug was in his hand again.

  “Well, I will not bore you with the actual details, as I am not someone who gives out knowledge for free.” His smile was cold. “But… the true Gods of Japan, well, they are not Japahey are not even from this world. Many of the kami, who you mortals worship, they may have began as mortals or Yokai themselves, or sprung forth whole from… well, never mind that. We are talking of the forerunners, the most powerful…”

  “They’re from the higher Astral, right?” I said, still immobile, and earned a nod from Nurarihyon.

  “Indeed. And you might ask what such mighty beings want with backwaters such as ours. After all, were oo desd to these levels, then their very presence would be destructive, the fabric of the lower Astral uo withstand them.” He smirked. “Even I, were I to step outside this humble Territory, would be enough to cause disaster. For I am mighty. A match for the Three Most Evil Yokai.” His smirk intensified. “I find the name insulting, and my omission even more so.”

  “You mean, Tamamo-no-Mae, the ailed fox? Shuten-dōji, and … do I know the other one?” I asked, curious.

  “I am sure that Tengu would be furious to know that you are unaware of him.” Nurarihyon sighed. “As for that ails, I know where she lies. Poor creature. But they are not relevant to this versation, other than as beings of great power… so, back to the Gods, what i could they have in our world? Eai? Perhaps. Power? Definitely.”

  “So, just ower the Gods get from a like ours?” I asked.

  “Again, suformation is for me to know, and you to discover. I am not charitable. But… if I say that it goes both ways, you will uand. The Gods despise those that do not fawn on them rovel before them. They prefer… mortals, credulous with woo those of us higher creatures, who uand more of the mysteries and thus are not fooled by their power. Hence why none of the Yokai will be chosen. And why do they choose, hmm?”

  “To give us a ce to save the Earth and those on it.” I said, as I knew what Ortlinde had told me and other didates had said.

  “You think they care overmuch about one world of millions? Yes, you are n, but you think such powerful beings, with numerous worlds at their disposal, armies the like of which you have never dreamed of, could not head off disaster? Are you that much of a fool?”

  “No, but even so, they have offered some help. We have to be grateful for that. I know I am.” I argued.

  “Grateful for a few sparks of warmth from a raging fire. Truly the Gods are more insidious than even we Yokai.” Nurarihyon mocked. “But enough of that. It is true they hope to gain new adherents and a new world with as frugal an expenditure of effort as they make. After all, when a world is washed by the higher astral tides, it is those of us who dwell in the shallows who perish first. A fate I formed the Night Parade to avoid. Even so… we do not strike on hallowed ground. We give the Gods their due. In exge…” his face twisted, and the amiable old man with the strange-shaped head was gone, a powerful cruel ruler in his pce. “… any of those fools serving the divine we find during htly Parade, we take for our own.” His gaze bored into me, hot and powerful, his League making me shiver in my manacles. “After all, power is power, Divine or not, and it be… harnessed.” He paused, letting that sink in. “I formed the Hyakki Yagyō long, long ago. It pleased me to wele Shaeu Tu Shae Dannan back. A true Yokai at st. And ygestion that what was yours was hers, that was certainly bold. So I allowed it. The little fox was tant, and his death, well, there are other Kitsune. But that does not ge that you are dripping with divine power. That foolish adherent of the Goddess of Mercy as well. So, tell me…”

  “What do you wish for?” Seirei piped up again, gleefully.

  “I wish to know… what to do with you both.” His smile was cold. “After all, my poor Parade was embarrassed, shamed. Many Oni and Kijo were sin, the Kitsuher Yokai have perished to that thing that you call a maid. Though my Yokai, they crave eai, I have deeper goals.”

  “Your wish is granted!” Seirei ughed, and at that moment the human-faced calf Uranai began to speak, her tone urgent, eyes burning with brilliance.

  “The Hyakki Yagyō stands at a crossroads…” she began, and as her words tinued, I broke out in a cold sweat, while Nurarihyon pondered, his wish for a heavy cleaver, which the doll gleefully materialised, the heavy, shimmerial bde embedded iable between us. Yeah, this is going about as well as I imagined. But… surely Eri is safe now? If not… fleeing back to the Material was starting to seem like my only option, if I could even ma from here…

  ShipTeaser