YATAGARASU: the flawless wings

Birds of prey

As I think to myself in my final moments, I realize that nothing in my life even mattered, my moms a dead beat, my dad left, and I have nothing to my name. Whatever evil deeds the man was doing... would never be found out. I'm in a bad way and nothing could save this....

"CAW!" A crow screams, I open my eyes to see the man get attacked by a crow, it was Yata!

"What are you doing here!" I yell to him, I get myself together and push the old man to the wall. Out of self defense I grab a heavy book from the ground and put my force in to bash it into his face. The magic fades and he falls down sliding of the wall to the ground with blood running down his face.
In shock I throw up on the ground next to his body.

"Blahhhh....." I puke out a dark green puddle and fall to the ground. I'm fa-

I wake up and see the old man lying next to me on the ground, and of course I'd be laying on my throw up. I quickly get up disgusted at what just happened.
I walk downstairs to the basement, just like I remembered. But the black feathers were gone, all that's left is the marking on the ground that were used for the ritual.... what was he doing?
The basement was just as crusty as the rest of the house, but the space seemed to be more organized. Complete with a desk and lamp for his writings I suppose.

I take a look in the notebook on his desk, I open up to the first page.

The power of souls.
After my studying of the dark arts in England I moved to America after being found out, after seeking refuge in this estate I decided I'll put my teachings to use.
When one dies the soul releases massive amounts of energy.
I've figured out how to harness that power. Although to do that I need to find bodies to catch.
My first victim was Lana valentine
She was wondering in the estate and I made quick work of her.
The soul doesn't leave the body until the brain has died out, in order to get the ritual in place I had to let her bleed out. With the markings in set I let my experiment commence.
Her soul and blood was extracted from her body.
The soul cannot run loose however, they must have a vessel to be contained, the released energy is contained while the soul moves on to whatever afterlife that may be.
After capturing her energy I then find a vessel. I found that various deities are especially good for this.
I fill the soul with the power of any wandering deity willing to take over and the powers are contained through them.
The legend or god gives off its power to its owner and allows them to use it.

"This is sick" I think to myself after reading the first 2 pages of the book.
Who could do this....
I travel to the next room of the basement. It's filled with cages, and to no surprise they are filled with spirits.
Each cage is labeled with a date and the name of the victim.

"Curtis Williams , 10/7/2005"

That could have been anybody. A father, husband, or leader.
I'm sorry for their loss..... I get an idea.
I go back to the desk and go through it.

"Aha! I knew it." I find a key through the clutter on the desk and run back into the cage room"

The spirits glow with excitement as they see the key in my hand, the spirits chant and fill the house with sound.
And as I open up the cages one by one they fly out of the room and through the open door to escape the house they have been in for so long. I approach the last cage, I see the label.

"Lana valentine, 07/19/03"

That's the year I was born.... the cultist's first victim, Lana! I peer into the cage. The spirit is different than the rest, it has some dark blue essence instead of all black. I quickly set the spirit free and it flies out of the house like the others. Shortly after I check the time on my phone.

"February 7th, 2018. 2:34 am"

It's late. I head back up the stairs and take the notebook and key, I stuff them into my jacket pocket and finally leave the house.

"Aren't you forgetting something James?" I'm shocked as I hear a voice from behind me.

"I'm the reason you came here, I led you here, to stop the cultist from his plans" the voice was dark and coarse, it sent a chill up my spine while it spoke. I slowly turn around to see a great surprise.