Utsushiyo Monogatari: Crimson Shadow

Chapter Twelve: Answer

The sun's yellowish-orange glows bathed some of the stragglers in the last light and the pale whitish moon was started to peek over the horizon. Grief stricken screams and cries of survivors could be heard from miles away. The once tilled landscape of the Abeno plains was reduced to a great vast wasteland of brownish sludge, collapsed wooden shacks and fallen decaying trees. The capital region of Kinai was at a standstill. Makeshift tents could be seen littered all over the once green areas. The queues for rations snaked around. A foul stench of mud and rotting carcasses stretched as far as the destruction. Above all, large black flocks of scavenger birds were circling the skies and swooping down for a peck at any carcass or corpse.

 Ōnamazu had fully awakened, wreaking destruction and chaos on the inhabitants on the ground. Dazed and ragged refugees were streaming in like ants from the direction of coastlines where they told others stories of great monstrous waves have swept entire fishing villages away. Some of the landowners had barely enough to feed them if they and some reserves were fortunate enough to survive. Mansions were not spared. Rich and the poor, humans and animals were both affected. Horsemen ,with messages dispatched from the more powerful aristocratic landowners  rode, quickly past the parting disgruntled crowds towards the direction of capital. Ox carts could be seen tumbling past clumsily in the uneven ground as their occupants headed for Heian. 

"Our Lord has ordered the release of more grains from the reserves, please queue up," A hoarse voice of a tired attendant announced in front of the jostling crowds struggling to compete with the murmurs, grumbling, wailing and crying babies. Tireless helpers were scooping a dull mixture of buckwheat, millet and rice into each wooden bowl with the endless deluge of grubby hands continued desperately waving their empty bowls. Nothing was wasted. Even children in tattered clothing were busy picking up the precious fallen grains on the muddy trodden ground between dirtied legs of the adult.

A woman with her familiar red Hakabama billowing in the wind, stood silently at the top of the hill away, observing the spectacle. It was not the humans she watched but the feeding frenzy of lower yōkai on fear and tragedy. Accompanying her was the large flocks of crows cawing from the unaffected ancient trees which led up to the untouched simple wood shrine guarded by a pair of imposing  stone fox statues. 

Turning around to face the path to the shrine,  she pulled out two carefully folded white paper from her white sleeve and recited an incantation. They slowly transformed into the shikigami of two young shrine maidens. 

"Hanami and Boshu, follow me," she beckoned to them firmly. Many had turned up at the shrine, hoping to be treated for ailments afflicted by the catastrophy. She needed more hands to help around.

"Master Ichi, LOOK...THREE YŌKAI!", a childish voice filled with excitement and fear interrupted her from proceeding further. A small group of yamabushi monks were heading towards her. Their scout was so loudly animated that the flocks of crows started to disperse noisily. She made no attempt to flee, for things often will be worse. Her right hand laid open as though in preparation to summon something. The shikigami remained motionless. Much easier to control at will than humans. 

"That's just one of the beast gods' priestess, you dimwit. There is no yōki presence. We leave them alone, they leave us alone," the staff of the Master whacked the scout's head  after a glance at her. "Haven't you even seen a shikigami before? It is just paper magic."

Beast gods, she smirked with disdain at the address. The more fanatical Buddhist monks called them that. How swift the human ingrates forgot the old gods. Many were relegated to the misfortune blame naming of mamono, yōkai, ayakashi and mononoke. The rare but fortunate ones became minor kami of shrines. The even rarer ones survived on the power of fear without a need for shrines. Still, name calling was not enough to start a fight. Politeness was often a supreme show of superiority. She nodded slightly  in recognition to the master yamabushi who ignored her and moved in the opposite direction, trailed by his grovelling disciples.