Ayakashi Monogatari

Chapter Six: Minami in Wonderland

Chapter Six: Minami in Wonderland

I was dreaming again...that summer day's dream. I felt myself surrounded by a thick, warm, sticky liquid. I wasn't sure what it was at first, until I opened my eyes and realized I was bathing in blood. I was enveloped by a black void. The sea of red bathing me was the only splash of color in this dark world. My heart raced as streams of sweat slithered down the contours of my skin.

My body began to tremble. Lying in an ocean of blood and darkness was bad enough, but my fear accelerated into terror when I realized that I was not alone here.

A pair of huge hands were clamped around my sides, holding me in place. Asura loomed over me, pinning me down. His long, shaggy black hair flowed and rippled in a phantom breeze. His mouth split into a stomach-churning smile, revealing rows of pointed razor teeth. "You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you?" he rumbled. His demonic voice echoed within the confines of my skull. "As a God of Death, I intend to watch over you and savor every bit of your suffering as you slowly perish, Minami Touma. I want to see you squirm and hear you scream."

I was too terrified to even speak, but I managed to spit out a few words. "Why...why are you doing this to me? What have I done to you...?" Asura's concentric red eyes gleamed as he eagerly took in my fear. "Your entire family has been nothing but a curse on my life. Your family stole my pride as a Shinigami and left me an empty husk of my former self." He brushed back his messy hair, revealing the ragged scar running across his right eye. "Above all...they took my eye. I was forced to bow down on my knees, grovel, and sacrifice a piece of my own body for a lower race. It's only natural that I would want to take my revenge."

I squirmed and attempted to pry free from Asura's grip, but he held fast. "B-but I...I didn't do any of that...and neither did my mother! If you're so angry at my family...then take it up with my father!"

A deep chuckle seeped through the Shinigami's lips. "Ahh...what a foolish little girl you are. Indeed, I could just focus my efforts on slaughtering your father...but that wouldn't be fun at all. As much as I'd love to tear him to pieces, a simple death would be too good for him. I want to snuff out each and every little glimmer of his hope first...and that includes you."

Even though I was trapped in Asura's dark domain, my paralyzing terror gradually morphed into a burning rage. "You...let go of me, you bastard!" I raised my hand and slapped the demon across the face, leaving a red mark behind. He looked stunned at first, but that shocked expression soon twisted into a smirk. "You, Miss Bunny...are very amusing."

His hands slipped from my waist and coiled around my neck. I was forced down on my back in the shallow blood puddle as Asura's slender fingers wrapped around my throat. I gasped out shallow, raspy breaths. I twitched back and forth and clawed at his hands, struggling to pry myself free, but his iron grip would not loosen. My vision blurred as my eyes began to drift. A harsh tingling sensation worked its way from the bottom of my feet to the tips of my fingers. Here I was, pinned beneath Asura, being choked to death, and thrashing frantically with no escape. If this was the fate that awaited me in the end...then maybe dying another way wouldn't be so bad.

TWO DAYS LATER...

"Minami, hurry up!" Karen shrieked, flying around on her broom. "You don't wanna end up as that spider lady's lunch, do ya?!" I faced off against an emaciated, deathly pallid woman with long white hair, gleaming red eyes, and eight spindly, spider-like limbs protruding from her back. Webs of bulging black veins ran across her arms. She was a Jorogumo, a monstrous Ayakashi that took the form of a beautiful woman to lure her favorite meal- young men. However, this was her not-so-beautiful form.

She lunged at me, releasing strings of sticky spider silk from the legs on her back. I raised my gun and managed to shoot away most of them, but a pair of stragglers slipped by and wrapped around my ankles. I stepped back, trying to pull away from the Jorogumo's clinging threads. "Damn it!" I hissed. The Jorogumo retracted her strings in retaliation, and I was knocked down on my back. The spindly spider legs pinned me down as the Ayakashi hovered over me, her pointed fangs glistening with saliva. I frantically reached for my gun, but it had been knocked from my hands when I hit the floor. "Uhhh, a little help here, guys!"