Renascence (M.K)

二十四

The long sleeves of her worn sea - green furisode - embellished with the sage coloured pattern of flower designs - was slowly being swayed by the warm autumn breeze.

At noontide, the air was cool. The birds were singing up on the branches of the tall trees, resonating with the soft whispers of the dried leaves as they languidly fell down on the grass.

The weather is fine, white to grey clouds were moving up on the skyblue ether in a very low speed whilst the gentle wind continue to stir the skin of the Mizuno woman and through the vast grassland she stood upon, her astounded eyes were steady, staring direct.

"This is a.." Y/n found herself speechless whilst her gaze remains dumbstruck to the thing she was seeing.

"This, my child, is an ancient clan palace." Right away, Y/n turns her head to look at the elderly woman beside her. She was lady Aiyo, a shinto priestess and a senior tourist guide of her home town. Immediately, she cannot help herself but to look at this aged woman with wonder before she have move her gaze back to the mysterious hoary palace.

"This could have been built back a hundred years ago." She made a guess. The words came almost like a whisper out of her mouth but on the contrary, Lady Aiyo shook her head and smiles.

"More than you can imagine," Aiyo rectified and y/n's eyes goggled with amazement.

"Then, Its been here for a thousand of years?" Her mouth gaped with disbelief. The aged woman nodded her head as she vent a heavy despondent sigh when her own limp eyes were cast straight to the forsaken remains of the palace. There were shattered debris left and found discarded on the ground's surface. Its foundation was eminently frangible that even the slightest storm can facilely wrecked the remaining remnants until its all gone.

The old lady's downcasted face was even filled with glum when she was suddenly recalled of the old tale her father would use to narrate among his group. And this once young, Aiyo was a fanatic of his stories. She would never come to miss the every day by day storytelling session done by her father all based from the folklore of this ancient phantom palace.

The elderly woman softly closed her eyes for moment as she reminisce the stories he would always tell her from the past.

"In my seventy years of preserving this venerable palace, would you care listening to this old woman's story?" A mellow beam appeared on her wrinkled lips and her pair of flaccid eyelids curved upwards together in a form of a smile. Y/n felt the sudden warm that have been engulf inside her heart.

She thought, why would she refuse the kind offer of this granny beside her? It will be her honor and how she would love to induce then get engage with her lovely tales!

Y/n's eyes lit with awe. She grinned brightly to lady Aiyo and slowly, she insinuated her own hand, touching the soft crease ones of the priestess.

"I would be very delighted to hear this story from you, granny Aiyo." She told her as the old woman began to softly pat the head on her tourist.

Whilst their eyes both watched the once glorified clan palace, Lady Aiyo commence the tale, a tale that had been passed down from her ancestors back in time. How she also desired this story to remain alive, be continued to remembered by the new generations and the tourist that visits her hometown.

"This palace that have stood before us was a majestic and glorified one during its living days in Heian Era." Old Aiyo's voice was intwined with undying revere and admiration as her quivering finger points out the current frangible one. Y/n's eyes follows where the priestess points and her heart was eventually conquered with unfathomable sensation whilst the elder lady continue to narrate the story.