Final Flame

(It's been a while since I made a Touhou story... a really long time in fact.)

Gensokyo, a land where the fantasy and the unknown is more than mere myths written on papers and spread by superstitious people. Inside, a completely different world exist, a world separated from our own by the great Hakurei Barrier.

In it, youkais exist and live their lives while the few humans inside are grouped together, living in fear of the monsters roaming this land. This is how Gensokyo behaves; a stable "peace" maintained by people in charge of keeping this world of fantasy in its current state.

With so many creatures with different mindsets and frightening powers, events called "incidents" are bound to occur. Thankfully, the shrine maiden attending to the barrier is quick to take action, even despite her annoyed groans.

...This is one of those many incidents that should have easily been taken care of. Yes, a winter overstaying its welcome seemed like an easy task to deal with. Yet, something went wrong.

It was never solved. The endless snow continued to fall and no one could understand what caused this drastic change. The weather grew stronger and with it, its poison and true intentions finally emerged.

Those exposed to the harsh environment soon began to suffer symptoms of a strange disease and fell into madness, attacking everyone in sight regardless of their nature. It was not uncommon to see Fairies attack and even devour each other for survival against the temperature.

The threat Gensokyo was facing seemed relentless and nobody was safe from its effect; going outside with no protection was akin to signing your last will.

Finally... the last straw that brought ruin to this world was the death of the shrine maiden. The strength of this eternal winter slipped past the breaking barrier and reached the Outside World, plunging the planet into chaos.

The only hope the sane humans and youkais have is to find the source of this incident and put an end to it.