[UPDATE IN PROGRESS] Onmyou-Pocketville: Fallen Dusk

Chapter 25: The Haunting Dream

Chapter Warning: This chapter contains depictions of blood and themes of horror, which is not recommended for young or highly sensitive readers. Read at your own risk.

Eva woke up after feeling a falling sensation. But she wasn't falling at all; she still laid in bed. She remained in her room, though she could feel an unusual aura that she wouldn't normally feel there. As she rose from her emerald green-sheeted futon and focused her eyes on each part of her room, she noticed that all the candles' lights went out, all except for one measly little flame at the table that flickered wildly. Instead of a golden wisp Eva was used to seeing, the flame was bright green, like a peridot.

She did not feel like going back to sleep, so she decided to take a stroll before she got drowsy again. But at the same time, she didn't feel like she was in the real world. She cowered down from the thought of dying...did she pass in her sleep? No, it couldn't be. She didn't seem to be in the land of the Kami nor Yomi, the Netherworld, and after all she was a healthy cat even as her age advanced. It must be another dream.

She slowly opened the primrose-painted fusuma to reveal the dark golden-gilded hall, which somehow barely had any candlelight at all. All the candles were nearly extinguished, however, thanks to her excellent night vision, Eva could still see fairly, even noticing that a dark stain was covering one part of the wall, obscuring a fresco on the wall. She remembered that the palace halls were always filled with warm amber candlelight and sometimes even liveliness by any staff members or royals, complete with the bright, flamboyant colours of the entire interior. Everything was ghastly quiet, all except for the sound of a swooping night wind. But eventually some distant noises arose, including what sounded like faint, ghostly singing. Was it the Shinnui Song? Were the Shousha practicing it from afar, for an upcoming rite?

Senki-san, okutta...yes, those are the words.

The corridor had gotten even more eerie now that she heard the distant song, breaking much of the silence. The tenneko then glanced at the scroll paintings hung by stakes, as more waves of shivering raked through her entire body, her legs about to collapse. The ones with only landscapes of mountains, fields, clouds, and flowers seemed normal, but those which supposedly held images of noblecats had their faces smudged out, as if they lacked one.

The faces...where are the faces?! What did they do to their faces?!

Eva ran down the corridor, finding more dim candles and more faceless cats on the scrolls until she faced a wide and lengthy fusuma with cherry blossom paintings. At least that painting wasn't affected. She used her paws to slide them open and saw an area with multiple tatami mats and another pair of fusuma, also with cherry blossoms painted on them. But it seemed to be different, as if it was a little warped. As she stepped inside, she could hear a high voice, like that of a little girl.

"Eva...why did you let her run away?"

Eva turned to see a young Onmyoujin seated on a zabuton. She was much smaller than Eva, and appeared to be a butter-coloured Tenneko, with deep brown point markings that looked like hazelnut cream. She wore a crimson cloak over her body, some gold accessories such as a collar and a simple but elegant headdress, and a white mask painted with swirling red splotches that obscured all of her face.

She was a Shousha.

But she did not resemble any of the Shousha in Ayaka's Shinnui Ceremony, or for that matter, any of the ceremonies at the fountain Eva has attended. Could she be a distant ancestor of hers, possibly even the younger form of a past queen? Could it be Queen Sachiko when she was a princess...or perhaps somebody else?

Of course, like other girls, royal ones were allowed to become a Shousha as long as they're of that certain age range and experience in an instrument they play. As she already mentioned to Malorie, Tia, and Amaterasu, Eva and her sister were the Shousha of many ceremonies whilst their mother still reigned the kingdom.