Sureiyazu

Episode 33: Into the Darkness

Aya stopped walking suddenly.

"Here," she announced. "There's some kind of dark magic here. Strong, too."

After being forcibly removed from the hospital, the team had debated how to (and whether or not to) find Taichi. Eventually they decided that Aya's spiritual energy, which had landed them in the village in the first place, was the only lead they had. 

But no one liked Aya's energy being the only lead. For one, it was boring. For another, it fueled her ego. Which annoyed most of the group.

"Whoop-de-doo," Mizuki said flatly. 

"Huh," Heishi said. "You're good at finding things like this - do you have some kind of superpower or something?"

Aya shook her head. "No. Master Arata told me once that everyone's spiritual energy is different. Anyone can be taught any magic, but some people are just naturally better at specific kinds. Some think it's hereditary."

Heishi nodded. "Okay, then."

"So is that why I seem to be unnaturally good at making things really, really bright?" asked Akuma sarcastically.

"Probably," Aya replied completely un-sarcastically. "I discovered my gift for detecting people and areas with lots of spiritual energy at a young age. Now that I think of it, that's most likely why I ran into Master Shi."

"So," said Mizuki, steering the conversation away from magic, "how are we going to get wherever you sensed?"

"Cut everything in sight with a sword and see if any of them rip open a hole in time and space?" Kasai guessed, brandishing Inochi.

Aya could barely keep from laughing. "No, we have to -"

But as Kasai had been slicing through the air as if to ready herself, the very thing she had guessed happened, and a small opening straight through the air and into a dark room had appeared. 

"Quick, it's closing!" Kasai shouted, jumping through and leaving everyone else with no choice but to go after her. Aya jumped in a moment later and helped to pull her friends inside with her.

Once everyone was inside, Aya turned to Kasai. "How did you do that? With an ordinary katana?"

Kasai smiled slightly. "Never call Inochi an ordinary katana."

As silence settled in, the Sureiyazu looked at their surroundings. There didn't seem to be much to see here, but it put strain on the eyes nonetheless. It seemed that they were in a dark hallway, but the walls were fuzzy, as if they had gone from a very bright place into a very dark one - which, yes, they had done, except that the difference was that, even as their eyes tried to adjust, it didn't become any easier to see.

"Let's get going then," Mizuki said for the group. "This place looks nice and inviting . . ."

"And let's hope this is the place they put Taichi," Akuma added, "because I don't think I want to deal with any more dark magic. This place is creepy."

Mizuki laughed a short laugh. "If you think this is creepy, you haven't seen any real dark magic."

Aya glanced at Mizuki oddly when she said this, but didn't say anything about it. "Let's just get going. The more time we waste, the less likely we'll be able to save him." And she started down the hall.

"Someone have a crush?" Kasai asked teasingly, following closely behind.

"I did, once," Aya snapped. "You know that."

"Sheesh," said Kasai.

"So . . . how do we know if he's in here?" asked Heishi, looking forward and seeing no end to the hallway.

"I don't know," Akuma said. "What if we call out to him? You think he'll answer?" She squinted down the hall to where she had seen Heishi looking, and also determined that the hall must go on forever.

"Taichi!" Yuri called out. Her voice didn't even echo - it was lost in the silence of the dark. 

"Taichi?" Aya yelled, but her voice, too, was stolen away by the stillness of the black.

"Well, that plan failed," Kasai said. "But you wouldn't really think they'd put him somewhere that he'd be able to answer back easily. Either that or they gagged him, or knocked him out, or -"

"Kasai, shut up!" Aya hissed. "That's not helping." Kasai shrugged, but didn't continue.

"Then how to we find him?" Akuma asked.

"This is just a hunch," Heishi said in an attempt to lighten the mood, "but I'm pretty sure we should just keep walking down this one hallway." No one replied, and Heishi too fell silent.

And so they walked. 

And walked.

And walked some more.

The hall seemed to have no end. 

"Ugh!" Aya exclaimed suddenly, slamming her staff into the ground. "We're wasting too much time walking down this hallway! He could be anywhere!"

"I'm starting to think he's not even here," Mizuki added. "Maybe we should go back and try to find another dark hole in time and space?"

"Unless . . ." Akuma thought aloud. Everyone turned to look at her. "Maybe . . . that's what they want us to think."

"Heh?" said Heishi.

"If they really didn't want him to be found," Akuma explained hurriedly, "they might want to make it look like he's not here, so we can't find him. The obvious way is down the hall, but there's got to be another way to go . . ."

Yuri poked the wall with her finger. "Like through the dark-y wall?" 

"Probably . . ." Akuma figured. "Hey, Aya - can you use that sensing thing you do to find places that are  . . . I don't know, super-enchanted?"

"I'll try," Aya said. She pressed her fingertips against the dark surface of the wall, and felt along it. Slowly, she moved along the wall, looking for places that might carry extra amounts of magic. She tried her best to concentrate hard and move quickly, but that was the problem - she was only made slower by the nagging thoughts in the back of her mind. That she might take to long and Taichi might die, that she could be leading herself and her team into a trap if she wasn't careful.

"I think . . ." Aya said finally, "that it's here. If there is anything here. Otherwise, it's just a part of the dark magic making this reality possible. There's strong magic everywhere here, so it's harder to find hotpots like this one."

"Ooh, what does it do?!" Yuri asked excitedly.

"I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to find out," Aya said. 

"But we'll have to if you want to find your boyfriend," Mizuki replied. "Touch it with your magic wand thingy - what's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst that could happen is that it's a trap and we all die," Heishi pointed out. "Just saying." 

"No pressure," Kasai assured Aya.

Aya pressed her staff into the wall, in the spot that she had found before. 

A second later, they were falling into darkness.

~~~

Akuma woke in a dark cavern, completely alone.