Grimm Tales: Rise of the Yokai

Chapter 10 Yokai

I followed Sarah, sticking to the path she created. Plants bent themselves out of the way as she moved, and after we were all through, they moved right back, like nothing had ever happened.

After two or three minutes, I heard the sound of running water coming from somewhere ahead of us. We stepped through one last gap in the trees, and I felt my jaw drop.

The sound was coming from a waterfall, rushing down from a rocky ledge fifteen feet over my head and into a deep pool carved into the mountainside. The water so clear I could see the fish darting around the bottom. Boulders were scattered around the pool, as well as a few fallen trees, all smoothed and shrunken with time.

Kora slipped off her shoes and dipped her legs in the water.

"Ah," she sighed. "That feels nice."

While everyone else found a spot to rest, I walked around the edge of the pool to the waterfall. I stuck my arm into the falls so I could clean up my arm. I hissed as the cold water washed over my cuts. My teeth ground together as the cold water sent pins and needles shooting up my arm.

Sarah came over and held out her hand.

"Let's have a look," she said.

I held out my arm so she could take a closer look. She slowly turned my arm over in her hands and looked closely at each cut. The dip in the cold water had dulled most of the pain, and it didn't look like I was bleeding as much as before.

"What's the verdict, doc?" I asked. "Are we going to have to amputate?"

"That's not funny," said Jason.

"It's a little funny," said Kora, smirking.

"You're lucky," said Sarah. "This could have been a lot worse. Your arm's all cut up, but they look pretty shallow. This won't take long."

As Sarah placed her hands on my arm, they began to glow with a soft, golden light. In moments, the pain in my arm faded to nothing as my cuts pulled themselves together. When Sarah removed her hands less than a minute later, there was no sign I'd ever been injured at all.

"There," said Sarah. "How's that?"

I flexed my arm and hand, testing them out.

"Good as new," I said. "Thanks, Sarah."

Sarah tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled, "Anytime."

"I'm impressed," said Miroku. "I've never been much good at Healing Magic. Did it take you long to learn?"

"Not much to learn, really," said Sarah. "I can heal, but for me it's always been just another spell. Good for field medicine, but not much else. My brother's the real talent with this sort of thing."

"So, what's your specialty then?" asked Miroku.

"I use God Soul Magic. Most of the mages back home do."

Kora cleared her throat.

"I said most, not all," said Sarah.

Miroku looked at Kora, "You don't?"

Kora shook her head, "Nah. It was never really my thing."

"Well, I mean, she's got to give anybody going up against her a fighting chance," I said. "Otherwise she'd be unstoppable."

A sly grin appeared on Kora's face.

"You know that's right," she said.

"But the rest of you use God Soul Magic?" asked Miroku.

"Yep," I said.

"Whose powers can you use?"

"Persephone," said Sarah.