Lisa examined the person shaped clay vessel, but there's nothing of note, save for a cork at the top of the head. She felt hungry and heard her stomach growl, after all, she hasn't eaten anything today. Fortunately, Kurotsuki came back to the room.
"Mistress Enju would like to speak to you, as soon as you are done looking at the clay vessel" he said.
Lisa nodded as she walked out of the room, and downstairs to the second floor (the room she's staying at is in the third floor of the castle). She saw Enju was sitting down on the pillows, expecting to see her.
"You called me?" Asked Lisa.
"Yes, you may sit down" answered Enju.
Lisa sat down in front of the sorceress, wanting to know what the sorceress is going to do.
"As you may or may not be aware, I am a member of the circle of ten. One of the king's councillors" said Enju.
"W-what!? What are you going to do with me!?" Asked Lisa in a panicked tone.
"Settle down, girl. I would have turned you in, but since I am feeling fair, I will let you hide at this castle as long as you do what I say. If the king's forces were to be here, I will tell them that you aren't here. Understand?" Enju explained.
Lisa silently nodded her head, as she felt fear for her life and her mother's as well.
"Good. The first thing I want you to do is, go into the basement and prepare the materials for a resurrection ritual. I will teach you how to perform the ritual, and the materials that I want you to prepare follows: an urn containing the ash of a deceased person, juice from the yuzu fruit that I keep in a basket, and a clay vessel. You can get the clay vessel anywhere in the castle, it doesn't matter where you get it from, because they're all the same" Enju instructed
"R-Right, miss Enju" said Lisa in a reluctant tone.
She walked back up to the third floor to retrieve the clay vessel from the room she was staying at, and then she head straight down the first floor. At the back, is stairs that lead down to the basement. She was careful not to damage the clay vessel as she walked down the stairs, but in the basement, there are torches that lined the walls to provide light. Then she carefully placed the clay vessel against the corner of the wall, so it doesn't fall over and break. In the middle of the room, there is a flat stone kiln where fire burns beneath it, and it's design looked a bit primitive. There is a cabinet containing urns of different sizes and have different colored bands, each of the urns are labeled with names on the parchments.
"Now which of the urns containing ashes should I use?" She asked herself.
She opened the cabinet and pulled out two urns, one urn is big and has a brown band while the other urn is medium sized and doesn't have a band. Upon examination, none of them have parchments that have names on them (it's a good thing too, for she doesn't understand Japanese letters).
She placed the two urns down at the table, and the last step is the juice of the yuzu fruit. She looked around the room, but there aren't any baskets of yuzu. However, she saw a door and opened it. In there, there were crates containing fruits and vegetables, but there are several clay vessels. She put her hand on one clay vessel, and it was cold and moist. She shivered before searching the room for yuzu, but it didn't take long when she found yellow lemon like fruit in a basket.
"This must be the yuzu fruit that Enju wanted" she said to herself.
She picked two of the fruits and return back to the room with the kiln, so she can prepare the juices. At the table, she sliced one yuzu fruit in half before squeezing it into the bowl. It was a hard time for her to squeeze the juice from the yuzu fruit, for she doesn't have the right strength to squeeze.
"Need help?" Asked the voice.
She turned around, and saw Kurotsuki standing next to the wall.
"Kurotsuki, I didn't expect you here" she said with a blush.
"I'd thought I could help in with squeezing the juices, if you want me to" he said, he pulled down his cloth mask and it shows that he is grinning.
"I'm not used to squeezing fruits, and I'm not used to being held captive here. I miss my mom, and I can imagine her being afraid of whatever the king's minions are going to do to her" Lisa said in a worried tone.
"Don't worry, I'm sure she's alright" he reassured.
Then he picked up one half of the yuzu fruit and squeezed hard, to the point that most of its juices filled half of the bowl. Lisa tried squeezing the fruit, only for him to help her out. After that, the bowl is filled almost to the brim. It didn't take long until Enju arrived in the basement, with a bundle of straw in hand.
"I see you did exactly what I told you to do, well done" Enju said with a smile.
"It is a pleasure of doing this task, miss Enju!" Lisa said.
"But... What is with the extra urn?" Enju asked.
"I didn't know how many urns you wanted, so I took two urns" Lisa explained.
"Hmph, I only needed one. Having two urns won't hurt, especially when I am going to teach you how to do this ritual" Enju said with a sigh.
The sorceress placed the bundle of straw into the kiln, and shoot a small flame from her finger in order to start the kiln.
"Do you know who these were?" Lisa asked as she pointed to the two urns she had pulled out.
"The big urn with the brown band that contained the ashes was the earth ninja, a member of the group of ninjas that Kurotsuki was a part of. The medium sized urn that contained the ashes was an official, I'm not sure if he is really an official or someone of high class" Enju explained.
The sorceress picked up the medium sized urn and take it to the clay vessel, she pulled the cork from the head part before pouring the ashes into it. Kurotsuki handed her the bowl filled with the juice from the yuzu fruit, and then she poured it into the hole in the head of the clay vessel. Then she put the cork back into the hole, before carrying the clay vessel to the kiln. Lisa helped out by lifting the bottom of the clay vessel, and carefully placed it on the kiln. Enju inscribed the Japanese word "resurrection" on the clay vessel, and silently casted a spell on it.
"Why is the yuzu juice important for the ritual?" Lisa asked.
"Because, it helps guide the soul into this clay vessel so it can enter. As for the ashes, it helps mold into the shape of the person that died and bringing them back to life. The clay vessel, however, keeps those two from becoming shapeless and is vital for the resurrection. We wouldn't want that person to come back as a formless blob, now do we?" Enju explained.
"I suppose you're right" Lisa said.
"Now we wait as the ashes within the clay vessel forms, so the man will be brought back" Enju said as she stared into the clay vessel on the kiln.
It took almost an hour, until everyone can see slight movements. There was a muffled scream coming from within the clay vessel, and the clay vessel started to form into the shape of a man. The torso part and the arms have slight muscles, the head part formed a face. Small cracks started to form all over the clay vessel, so Kurotsuki placed both of his hands and moved it off the kiln (since his body is made of ash and clay, he's basically immune to extreme heat). Then Enju picked up a wooden pole and plunged the blunt end into the torso part, leaving a round hole.
"Arise, official!" Enju commanded.
*crack!*
Cracks form from the torso up at the head, revealing an eye underneath the crack at the head part. Kurotsuki put his fingers into the crack and breaking the lower face part of the clay vessel, thus causing the newly revived man underneath to gasp for air.
"Welcome to the world of the living" Kurotsuki greeted.
Authors note: what do you think of the ritual that Enju performed?
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Trapped in the film
FantasyLisa, aged eighteen, has found a box at the back of the closet. When she opens it, it contains an old VHS tape of an old animated film from the 60s called "The Land of the starry night". According to the tape, it was made by a company whose name was...
