Utsushiyo Monogatari: Crimson Shadow

Chapter Eight: Curse

As he entered the hidden world, the clear boundary of the clouded looking dimensional veil grew further away from the human realm until all mortals vanished from sight. The sight of the vast endless other realms greeted him with a crossroad ahead while behind was the land of the all yokai. Above him to the east, Takama-ga-hara where Ame, the residence of the indigenous deities, laid like a gleaming pearl. To their west, laid the homelands of the old continental Gods. As he levitated upwards, he looked down and saw  Ne-no-kuni , the netherworld, or Yomi as the locals called it, which lead to the land of the dead. No human can enter and survive the hidden realms, for dangers lie in its place. A wrong turn would easily lead to the nefarious path of the dark underworld. Katori watched the souls traversing the  path of the dead past the point of no return towards their end destination like busy ants. Defeated warriors, scrawny peasant farmers, women with their clothes torn off exposing horrendous wounds, diseased childlike corpses passed under him - all taking the different paths to the afterlife. 

As he reached the crossroads, he glanced at the smooth path to Ame in Takama-ga-hara. Taking the route towards Ame was not without its perils. The heavenly Kami,ama-tsu-kami, were a more temperamental lot than their earthly counterparts. Most of the indigenous Ayakashi took great pains to avoid them. To one side of Takama-ga-hara, the sun shone brightly. To the other, in Tsukiyomi's rumoured domain, darkness was creeping. 

This was worse than the western haven of Kure deities, Katori thought as he turned towards the west, away from Ame. Old acquaintances  still resided in the west and he intended to use one who could reign in Yako easily, once enshrined. Makoto's power connection to Yako's shrine will diminish. Doing Osugi a favor was looking rather beneficial at the moment.

" It has been a while...", a seductive feminine voice spoke behind him before a step westwards could be taken. Katori immediately invoked swift rotating balls of glowing reddish flames around his shadowy form as he morphed into human form. He had not expected to be reached so quickly. A missed step and he could be devoured in full.

"Dakini-ten", he greeted her with a wide berth.

"Offer is accepted.", Dakini licked its red lips menacingly as the eyes glowed a malicious red. The preposition was duly received before his arrival and worthy of a reply. Katori gave a wry smile as the thought of feet stepped onto Yakō appeared.

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Kūkai hurried out in haste of the prayer hall from Kyō-ō-gokoku-ji temple, trailed by the other monks who were breaking out in sweat. The panicking screams of the builders worried him as the unbridled rumours around the villagers spread rapidly about a certain curse. A haggard-looking builder with his eyes widened in fear ran towards them and kept pointing frantically to the Eastern side as he struggled to catch a breath. An unholy aura wafted about the place and it did not bode well for Kūkai. Chanting a sutra, he went towards the direction of the great commotion, to find a dying man lying in a pool of thick viscous redding blood. His torso was crushed by the heavy cedar logs which the others were desperately trying to move off him. A strange aura, unlike the usual yōki suffocated his senses as the smell of death swamped the area. His senses were heightened enough to know that it was no work of some ordinary spirit. 

"One, two, three....Heave!", cried one builder hoarsely to the rest as they coordinated the lifting. Some of the monks joined in but the logs were strangely heavy, almost like they were bolted to the ground. 

"Sir, it is dangerous", the builder warned him.

Disregarding the warning, Kūkai rushed over to the wretched man's side and kneeled as he chanted the final prayers for one who was dying. Gurgling out blood, the living light disappearing from his eyes, the man attempted to heave a final breath. In that moment, the bloodied face tilted and Kūkai covered his eyes gently. Some of the men began to flail their arms in hopelessness and anguish. They were all belonged to the same nearby village.