“I’m so sorry to ask you of this,” said Genma.
“It’s no problem. Really,” insisted Kaoru.
Genma twisted the rusty key and loosened the chains to the toolshed. The green paint around the handles were peeling off and curling on its edges. The sunlight spilled into the dark interior. There was a menagerie of things. Towards the entrance was firewood and branches neatly piled against the walls. Further away was an ancient wheelbarrow holding gardening tools. The little shelves on the opposite walls held an assortment of nails and power tools.
“Do you want it all in here?” Kaoru asked pointing at the three barrels outside.
“Yes, please. I wouldn’t ask you of this if I hadn’t hurt my back,” said Genma.
Kaoru tipped the barrels over and rolled them into the toolshed. They were indeed cumbersome which made him wonder how the old man got them here in the first place. He wrinkled his nose at the smell radiating from one of the barrels. It was something like a bad pickle.
Kaoru put his hands around his hips and drew a grin on his face.
“This old man still has fire in his gut,” he said quietly.
The creaky door slammed shut obliterating all light except for the very few seeping from the cracks. Kaoru put his hand on the door and pushed.
“Maybe the wood warped.”
He pushed a little harder. It only budged an inch. Kaoru heard the rattling metal chain obstructing his exit.
“Genma! GENMA!”
The only response Kaoru received was silence. He banged and shook the door. There was no one in the vicinity to cry for help. Kaoru began to suspect that his sweating body was no longer a result of profusive banging and heavy lifting. The old man couldn’t have abandoned him so quickly. He fished his breast pocket for his phone. The screen read “signal out of range” to kaoru’s frustration. He tapped on the flashlight icon for some light.
The phone light shone on the barrels. Maybe something from the barrels could help me, Kaoru thought. A dark liquid was seeping through the barrel cracks. As he came closer, the odor became increasingly nauseating. Common sense told Kaoru not to open it, but curiosity succeeded over fear. Upon yanking open the lid he let out a sharp gasp and nearly dropped the phone into the barrel.
Staring back at Kaoru as the contorted face of a man marinating in a sickly pickle juice. He slammed the lid back on and steps backwards. There was only one person that came to mind who would accomplish such a crime. The light now fixated somewhere else. With one hand, Kaoru rummaged through the shelves. The worn tools were useless without an outlet. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes wandered to the wheelbarrow.
An idea popped into Kaoru’s head. He shone the light over the wheelbarrow. Among the mess of trowels, small buckets, spray bottles, tiny rakes, and a long coil of green hose, a faint light glimmered in the dark. The rusty blade of a hatchet glinted back at Kaoru. He eagerly dug his hand into the mess. His fingers grasped the weathered handle and tore it from the objects.
Thwack! The blade chopped into the wooden door. Kaoru swung high and brought it down again and again. Slowly the fragments chipped away. More sunlight shone through the newly made cracks. Kaoru’s phone on the ground was still reading “signal out of range”. The battery was also running low. It was only a matter of time that he would lose the flashlight’s ability.
With all the strength he could muster up, Kaoru’s hatchet pierced the wooden frame. The rotten wood hit the stone pavement. A cold breeze swept through the toolshed freeing Kaoru’s mind off the horrifying stench trapped in the barrel. Newly motivated, the hatchet continued to cut more and more of the door. He could see the thick chain that was connected to the handle. In a mighty blow, Kaoru hacked down the handle where the padlock hung and the door swung open. He dropped the hatchet and reached to pick up his phone.
“Ow!”
Something black bit his hand and scuttled away. Kaoru held his bitten hand. The sunlight had already betrayed the intruder’s hiding place. In a fury, kaoru crushed the black scorpion under his boot into smithereens. A bit of blood leaked from his wound and the cut was beginning to swell. Genma came out to see the fuss, His face turned white seeing Kaoru.
“What is the meaning of this?” Kaoru said angrily.
“I-I had no choice!” Genma stuttered.
He trembled and shook with each step he took backwards.
“He t-told me if you and the other men w-were lured away, h-he will s-spare my life,” said Genma.
“Where is everyone?” Kaoru said fiercely.
“T-they should be in the mountain by now,” Genma answered.
The elderly man suddenly grabbed his throat. His eyes grew large and his jaw opened wide. He let out a raspy caw of a noise and dropped his knees to the ground. Shaking uncontrollably, the noise grew louder. He fell with a thud and frothed at the mouth. Kaoru rushed to Genma’s side. Genma’s frightened eyes looked into Kaoru’s, unable to speak, until finally they looked straight ahead into a depth only Genma could see. A slow and painful death, something only a master of poisons would do, thought Kaoru. As much as Genma had betrayed them, it was Mavros who was the mastermind. In the very end, Genma was never promised safe passage.
A rippling wave of pain pulsed through Kaoru’s body. He had forgotten that he too had become a victim to the master of poisons. The skin around the scorpion bite was swollen, what what was jarring to see was the abnormal curse mark growing from the bite. The vein-like markings writhed under Kaoru’s tattoos. Genma’s body was growing out of focus very quickly.The chirping birds and rustling leaves were diminishing into hushed whispers. Without notice, Kaoru laid on the ground unable to feel anything. His own throat was constricting by the moment. The only thought that ran through his head was the regret of leaving Die, Shinya, and Toshiya all alone on the mountain unable to escape Mavros’ clutches.
Ringing in Kaoru’s ears was the sound of bells. The familiar sleigh bells from a dream Kaoru had before. He now saw them. The white robed onmyouji shook yellow bells and chanted. A bonfire was secured in the center of the ritual. Surrounding the fire were sticks carved with bonji and white shime folded in zig zag patterns. A miko dressed in red and white threw in some dried leaves. The flames raged hungrily. Kaoru was beginning to make out the scene in the forest from his dream. The same pentagram was now inscribed on a banner wrapped around the trunk of an old tree. He observed the ancient tree to be the same one from a previous dream. It too was covered in the same vein-like curse mark. The chanting from the onmyouji grew louder and quicker. The miko brought out a clay pot sealed in white parchment. It shook violently in her hands. She then hurled the pot into the fire. The black mist shot out of the flames and roared angrily.
Sweat rolled down the foreheads of the chanting onmyouji. The black mist coiled around itself and swam furiously in the air. It drove through an onmyouji and knocked him to the ground. The curse mark writhed on the tree bark like a snake. Some of the onmyouji dropped their bells and performed mudras with their hands. Drawing the sign of the pentagram in the air, they drew seals from their billowing sleeves. The white parchment inscribed with Chinese characters latched themselves onto to black mist and disintegrated into flames. The black mist roared and swam around the helpless onmyouji.
An onmyouji fearlessly stood before the formless beast. His fingers formed a triangle and placed them near his mouth. As he chanted loudly, the mist came barreling towards him. It came to a full stop when a shield of light appeared from above. Four other onmyouji stood beside the lead onmyouji and chanted in similar fashion. The black mist continued to run itself through the pentagon formation. The rest of the onmyouji kept throwing seals to deter the mist.
In a short while, the mist was writhing like a worm on salt. The curse mark on the tree was coiling from the branches and receding to the mist. The final blow was delivered when the mist burst into flames. The floating fireball lit up the dark forest and scattered in all directions. A bit of the embers were left on the ground, but were quickly smoldered by trampling feet. The curse mark had been lifted from the giant tree.
A faint voice called out. “Kaoru … Kaoru ..”
Kaoru’s eyelids opened to a worried Kyo looking down on him. He was still feeling the sickness erupting from his body, but he knew there was something to be done. He dragged himself away from Genma’s corpse and closer to the ryokan entrance. His head was spinning terribly and the fatigue was eating away at him. The curse mark had spread all through his arm up to his neck.
“Kaory, what are you doing? You need help,” said Kyo.
Kaoru lifted his finger weakly at the entrance. He struggled to bring himself to a stand. Still, he took the step to reach the door and yanked off the dried mugwort. With his back against the wall, Kaoru reached for the lighter in his breast pocket. His fingers fumbled to ignite the flames.
The image was becoming highly out as focus as Kaoru was seeing two lighters instead of one. The familiar click let the flame rise. He brought his shaking hand to the dried leaves. White smoke rose from the small pile. In an instant, the smoke grew. Kaoru smothered the burning leaves to his bitten hand. The searing pain electrocuted his nerves stimulating his consciousness. The curse mark was receding from his neck back to his arm. Kaoru heard a shriek escaping from his ears. Once the shrieking stopped, his vision was back to stability. The first thing he noticed was how noticeably pale Kyo had gotten. He was more transparent than Kaoru had remembered.
“Glad you’re back to normal,” greeted Kyo.
“I’m not sure how, but I had a weird dream. It told me how to get out of it,” said Kaoru.
“I had to pull your soul back from the underworld. Took me a while to do that and depleted a bit of my own battery,” said Kyo.
“I was in the underworld? I was dreaming about the past. I saw these priests exorcising the black mist that took you in,” said Kaoru. “And I also saw—.”
“What else did you see?” asked Kyo.
Kaoru suddenly remembered Mavros stabbing the bundle of cloth.
“I-I also saw a tree in my dream,” he stammered. “I think it’s a special tree.”
Kyo looked at him funny.
“Don’t tell me it’s a Christmas tree,” said Kyo.
Kaoru looked down at his hand again. The burn left an unsightly mark, but it relieved him to know that the only markings on his skin were his tattoos. When he looked up again, he saw two Kyo’s identical in dress and demeanor standing before him.
“What the hell—,” said Kaoru.
“Don’t listen to h, Kaoru. He’s the imposter.”
“As if? You appeared out of nowhere, I was the one that just saved him.”
“Where’s your proof? You were the first thing he saw when he woke up.”
Confused, Kaoru decided to quickly settle the feud with a question. “Where is everyone else? The real one knows the answer.”
“In the mountains,” both Kyos responded.
Oh God. How am I supposed to tell them apart, thought Kaoru.
“I can show you exactly where they are.”
“He’s going to lead you to doom.”
“Doom? You’re the obstacle of impending doom.”
With a snap of a finger, one Kyo disappeared abruptly.
“We need to go quick before he catches up to us,” said Kyo. “C’mon. Right this way.”
Kyo turned his translucent back to Kaoru towards the tall grass. Kaoru hesitated to follow. He caught glimpse of a shadowy smile.
“What’s wrong? We need to hurry,” said Kyo with a hint of impatience in his voice.
“One last thing before we go,” said Kaoru. “What was the first thing you said when you first appeared to me?”
“How is that important right now? We need to get to Shinya and the others!” said Kyo.
“Answer me!” Kaoru said firmly. “I’m not moving until you answer me.”
“Fine. I was warning you to save Die. You happy now?” said Kyo. “Can we go?”
“No,” said the second Kyo.
Kaoru walked closer to the second Kyo away from the first Kyo.
“Kaoru! He’s here to throw you off.”
“The first words I said was ‘Guys is that you’.”
“Wait … what? The first thing I ever said was ‘Save Die’. I know for sure! I still remember it!”
“I said that through a phone. I never appeared in front of Kaoru that time. You only have memories of my conversations, but not where and how. Mavros has done a fine job implanting that transcript,” said Kyo.
The false Kyo let out a scowl and lowered his head. Tendrils of black smoke spilled from his slender fingers. His image was distorting into black sand, dropping to the ground like contents from an hourglass. “Kyo” had been entirely replaced with a monster of smoke. The swirling smoke erupted a distorted face much like the man in the barrel. The smoke monster sucked in a tremendous gulp of air and bellowed out shaking kaoru in his boots. A crimson storm of leaves and dust assaulted from all directions. The black smoke swam like an octopus in the sky and charged at Kaoru.
The unsteady ground left Kaoru’s criss-crossed legs trapped in his own steps. He brought his arms to an X-shape to shield himself from the oncoming peril. Just then, he felt a sharp tug and his body was shooting through the air backwards into a pile of leaves. The ravaging smoke tore up the stone pavement with its ferocious wind and shattered the rocks. Genma’s lifeless body was flung like a ragdoll against the walls of the ryokan and landed on the ground with awkwardly bent arms and legs. The sky rained sharp pebbles and dust.
Kyo dragged Kaoru through the pile of leaves away from the smoke monster. The black smoke took note of Kaoru’s absence and came barreling through the maple trees. Genma’s translucent body walked in front of the terrible monster.
“There’s kerosene in the shed. Do what you must. Burn the root of all evil. The deed has already been done and there’s no going back. Let me redeem myself before Enma sends me to Naraku,” said the old man.
He turned to face the monster that was gathering speed. His body seeped of a celestial light, of pure will. The mist grinded it body against Genma’s attempting to break through. Genma’s outstretched arms pushed the overflowing smoke around him. Finally the mist smothered Genmas’s light by swallowing him whole. Imprints of Genma’s pained face could be spotted throughout the mist. Now it had implanted next to the distorted face of the barrel dweller like a cancerous bulb.
The smoke monster expanded its body around the shed blocking all escape routes. Kyo pushed Kaoru into the shed.
“Go. I got this,” said Kyo.
The intention of vanquishing the beast gleamed brightly in Kyo’s eyes. He looked fiercely at the deformed mist. The whirlwinds of leaves and stone didn’t rest from their rotations. The black smoke let out the war cry and ravaged its formless body on the toolshed sneaking in through the crevices.
“I lived. I died. Now I live again!” Kyo shouted.
Just as the black smoke came to enclose on the shed, a barrier of light pushed the black arms away. Kyo could feel his ghostly energy coming to a limit. He let out his signature growl as he drew the ghostly life force of his ethereal body. The barrier continued to push teh tentacles of smoke away.
“You … will … not … consume … ME,” Kyo growled.
His body was fading by the second as the smoke came closer and closer. It began to grab Kyo’s limbs lto fuse like clay with the main body.
It was in the direst of times that flames in the shed grew. A toothy grin cut across Kyo’s face as he regained control of his arms again. The fire grew and latched onto the smoke monster. Kaoru ran out of the shed covering his mouth with his jacket. The smoke monster was now bursting into flames like the mist he saw in his dream of the past. Genma’s smoky body departed from the monster and evaporated into the atmosphere. The scorching body of the smoke monster brushed onto the fiery maple trees setting them lit. The garden was tainted with flames.
“You need to go,” said Kyo. “Mavros left a blood trail for you to follow.”
“But … what about you?” said Kaoru.
Kyo was barely visible among the burning backdrop.
“I used up a lot of energy journeying into the underworld, but now I depleted most of my energy. If I follow you, I’ll only hinder you.”
“What about Mavros’ visions? You’re the only one that can access his thoughts.”
“There’s no more use for them. I can see them his very second running through my eyes like a film reel. The destruction of all of us,” said Kyo putting one hand over his eye. “Just … go. I’ll catch up.”
Kaoru took one last look and ran through the tall, dry grass. Kyo watched the black figure disappear further and further. The flames grew hotter and stronger than before. The leaf piles were now bonfires of their own. Kyo couldn’t feel the heat at all. Nor did it matter how hot it burned. The black mountains were now distorted in the mirage of flames.
“Just go. Before it’s too late for all of us.”
*****
BGM: The Bottom of Death Valley by Dir en grey
And the pain will never stop. The chase will continue and the terror will haunt. How do you think the rest of the boys are faring while Kaoru catches up? Or will he catch up at all? Leave your ideas on what you think will happen in the next chapter. If you like the crazy shit I write, leave a comment.
