Prologue
A deafening screech filled the air. Two sets of large flapping wings appeared out of the gray clouds, followed by eight, black, silhouetted, snake-like heads and the dark menacing shadow of a wolf. The two large birds swooped though the chilly air, only stopping to land on a leafless tree. From the mouths of the snakeheads came a mighty roar which echoed across the small village below. A bright light parted the thick clouds, shining its translucent beam onto the ground. A brutal rumble shook the earth, forcing the ground to split apart. From the hole, a large machine appeared. An ear piercing screech shattered the eerie silence, causing the machine to start blowing out snow.
In the village below, people congregated outside their homes. One said "It started to snow harder." Then, another villager ran to the group of people in a fright. "It's those demons again," the person gasped as they came to the rest of the villagers. "But it can't be," cried another person and shook their head violently. "Hopefully it will stop snowing soon." The next day, it started snowing again. But this time, more heavily. "We should evacuate the village," one person sighed. "All right, we'll evacuate the village," mumbled another unhappily. A victory-sounding screech rang through the air. "You're right, it did sound like them," a person said in the group came to a large ruin, someone asked "Where do we go after we go through this ruin?" A person thought for a second and replied, "I don't know."
Chapter 1
Where are we?
A pack of wolves sped across a large, but empty, field. As they slowed, the tan colored wolf barked, "Where are we, Oki?" The large, black wolf with some red hair on top of his head answered, "We're in Shinshu Field." The white-blue wolf glanced around the pitch-black field and barked "Again, how do you know?"
Out of nowhere, a small, green glow appeared in front of them. Everyone jumped up and started to back away from the glow. The voice from the glow said, "Because Oki was with Ammy and me when we went through the Spirit Gate." The wolves stopped and stared at the little green glow. Then, the small, light-green wolf asked shakily, "Who are you?" The glow jumped onto the light-green wolf's nose and said angrily, "You guys actually don't remember me?" The green glow was really a little man with a bug hat on.
The small pack of wolves gasped in surprise, "Issun?"
"One and the only," Issun sighed, relieved.
Oki asked, "Aren't you supposed to be with Amaterasu on the Ark of Yamato?"
"I couldn't get on because I was a Celestial Envoy and why are you guys here?" asked Issun, tilting his head.
"We were forced to leave the village," Oki barked in return and sat down.
"Where could Ammy be?" Issun whispered, looking to the starry sky as the light-green wolf and the rest of the pack of wolves settled miserably onto the grass.
Chapter 2
Going back home.
At the same time, Amaterasu was in the backyard of someone's house. She was thinking of how to get back to Nippon. After she went on the Ark of Yamato and defeated the Dark Lord, Yami, Amaterasu and her friend, Waka were heading home when the Ark of Yamato, which the goddess had found out that Waka's tribe, the Moon Tribe, had built it, suddenly shook and Amaterasu and Waka were separated. That's when the goddess found herself in this world and that Waka was gone.
A few days before, she found two doors. Both were unlocked, she entered the left door that hid a single room which held a pair of earrings lying on a table. The earrings, she found, had a faint glow to them. Amaterasu then opened the right door and saw a slab of stone that look like the Spirit Gate. If it was the Spirit Gate, she couldn't open it without Issun's sword.
Amaterasu sighed and wandered over to the low fence. She stared down the path beyond the fence and then Amaterasu felt like she being watched. She glanced behind her and saw no one was there. Then she looked back down the path and looked challenging into its gloomy shadows of the trees. Suddenly, she saw a new person, not from the town, come down the path.
The godly wolf stared at him and continued to watch the man as he continued down path to the village. The man was alone, had red hair and was wearing armor. Amaterasu gazed at the man in silence. She continued to star at him until he was out of sight. Then she heard the doorbell ring and the wolf looked behind her quickly.
Then Amaterasu bolted from the spot opposite to the low fence. She had a clear view of the front door and could easily hear the conversations. The person at the door looked familiar. The goddess could hear the owner, Densi, saying, "Come in. Also, Yemi can you shut the door so the dog can't come in?"
"Yes, Densi," replied Yemi with a heavy sigh.
"I'm a wolf, not a dog," Amaterasu thought to herself. She sighed and trotting to the door, whimpering. A minute later, someone opened the door. There standing before her, was a man in old-fashioned Japanese clothes. It was Waka, but how did he get here?
"Hey, don't give me that weird look. I don't know how I got here and I bet you don't either," Waka said.
"I don't," wailed Amaterasu.
"How did you learn to talk?" asked Waka suspiciously.
"Um …. Maybe it's these earrings," said Amaterasu.
"Oh well, I have a feeling that crazy things are going on in Nippon," said Waka.
When they walked in the house, it was quiet. "Where is everyone?" asked Amaterasu and flick her tail.
"They went out," Waka said simply. At the stone slab, the white wolf asked "How do we open the door?"
"We think of where we want to go, the door opens, and we're there," explains Waka and took a peek of his shoulder.
"Oh, OK. On the count of 3, we think of Nippon," said the godly white wolf.
"Where in Nippon did we think of?" Waka asked suddenly.
"Sakura's Tree," said Amaterasu and twitched her ears as a loud pop sounded.
"Ok, 1… 2… 3," Waka said. There was a bright light and silence.
Chapter 3
They return.
"So it's been a whole month since furball left, huh," Issun sighed.
"That's right," agreed Kai, the tan wolf.
Kai's tribe, the Oina, can change to human from a wolf and back again. Oki, the large, black wolf, and Samickle, the white-blue wolf, are the warriors. Then, there's the village elder, Kemu. Also, there's Tuskle, the shaman, and Lika, Kai's sister, and three other villagers named Squirrel Girl, Wali, and Otter Mask. Also they wear animal-like masks over their faces, excluding Lika, the light green wolf, who had a leaf-like mask.
"So, you guys were forced to leave the village because of what?" asked Issun.
"It was those demons, Nechku and Lechku," muttered Samickle darkly.
"What? Don't you remember that Ammy and Oki destroyed them," exclaimed Issun and shook his head in disbelief.
"Yes, I remember," sighed Samickle ruefully.
"We heard them screech from Wawku Shrine," said Tuskle.
"Then, they made it snow really hard," added Lika.
"Then, after the second time, we evacuated the village," finished Kemu.
"What about my village?" asked Issun hurriedly. Issun, who's a Poncle, grew up at Ponc'tan. Ponc'tan is between Yoshpet and Inner Yoshpet. Yoshpet means "consuming forest" in the Oina's language. Those who go in are said to never come out again, but if you go through there fast enough, you'll be O.K.
"Hopefully, they'll be all right," Kai said quietly to Issun. Suddenly, there was a loud boom and the earth shook after the explosion.
"What was that?" asked Otter Mask.
"It sounded like it came Kamiki Village," said Issun.
"Should we go and look?" asked Lika.
"We should," replied Kai and started walking to the village.
As the group entered Kamiki Village, they saw the Kamiki villagers running to the village's sacred tree, Konohana, which was the home of Sakuya the wood sprite. When the group got to the tree, they found a white wolf with crimson markings on it and a blonde haired man. All was silent as the villagers and the Oina stared at the newcomers. Then Mr. Orange, Kamiki Village's elder, asked "Who are you two?"
"I'm Waka and this is…" started the blonde-haired man.
"Waka, the two-bit prophet?" cried Issun.
"Yes, Issun," Waka replied, barely hiding his annoyance.
"So, it's that who I think it?" asked Mrs. Orange, Mr. Orange's wife.
"Yes, it's Amaterasu" said Waka. Everyone gasped with surprise and in all the excitement; no one noticed that Nushi, Susano's and Kushi's, the sake brewer, son was gone. At Moon Cave, a small figure is at the entrance.
"So, this is where Dad and that wolf defeated the eight-headed monster, Orochi." muttered the figure.
"I'll prove it's just a legend," he continued, mostly to himself. As the person entered the cave, he spots the legendary sword, Tsukuyomi.
"I'll just pull out the sword," planned the person out loud. As he pulled out the sword, eight black, snake-like heads appeared and roared, "I am the Orochi, the mighty god of the Underworld! Just utter the sentence 'I wish of darkness and destruction of the worlds.'" and the multi-headed beast wasted no time in seeing that the figure's wish to be fulfilled.
Chapter 4
Not again.
The Kamiki villagers asked Amaterasu, Waka, Issun, and the Oina tribe to stay for the night. After everyone was asleep, Oki asked "Where have you been, Amaterasu?" The sun goddess thought for a moment and answered, "I really don't know."Moments after Oki and Amaterasu started to fall asleep, a loud roar thundered through the small village.
"That kind of sounded like him, didn't it, furball," Issun said from atop the goddess's head.
"It did, Issun," Amaterasu replied calmly.
"Sounded like who?" asked Lika quietly, her voice quivering with fear.
"Orochi, the eight-headed beast," Waka said gravely. A small gust of wind picked up the dead leaves and tossed them around the small hamlet.
"Why did the wind pick up for?" asked Kai anxiously.
"His name could curse the weak of mind," replied Amaterasu and swooshed her tail frantically, making dust swirl around her tail.
"That lint licker couldn't be alive because Ammy killed him a month ago and with Oki a month ago too, because of the Spirit Gate that threw them 100 years into the past," cried Issun unhappily.
"I know, but he's the only thing that could make that noise," said Amaterasu convincingly and look down at the ground.
"But who wanted to pull the sword out of the ground?" asked Waka. Suddenly a cry rang out from in front of sake brewer's house, "Where's Nushi?"
Chapter 5
He's back.
As Kushi ran to the entrance of Kamiki, a small shape sprinted through the entrance of Kamiki Village.
"Nushi!" cried Kushi, as she stopped at the middle of the bridge.
"Mom!" Nushi puffed. He ran to her, sobbing, and they hugged.
"Where have you been?" Susano, Kamiki's single warrior, asked worriedly.
"I went to Moon Cave to prove it was just a legend," gasped Nushi and sobbed into his hands. His mother gave him another hug and tried to calm him down.
"To prove that HE was a legend?" asked Waka solemnly. A murmur of fear and astonishment came from the crowd behind Waka, who had a look of disbelief in his eyes.
"Yes," wailed the boy, putting his arms around Kushi and wept some more. A spilt second after Nushi said that, a roar thundered through the air and the eight signs of Orochi appeared over the waters and the two islands of tiny Kamiki. Everyone crowded together at the bridge and Amaterasu galloped to a nearby rock to get a better view.
The eight signs spun quickly together and made a solitary arrow. It was the same kind arrow that marked the sacrificial maiden's house in the legend of Orochi.
The lone arrow speed down towards the blue water and at the last second, reared up and Mr. and Mrs. Orange and some others scurried off the bridge while Samickle got Kai and Lika. Waka swiftly picked up Otter Mask and ran off the bridge with Tuskle and Squirrel Girl following behind him. Amaterasu flew off the rock and rammed Oki in the stomach. The arrow barley missed her tail and struck the sake house.
Chapter 6
Let's go kick some butt.
"Not again," wailed Issun and jumped onto the ground.
"This happened before?" asked Oki as he pushed Amaterasu off of him. He knew about the Orochi legend, but not about the speeding arrow.
"Yes," sighed Amaterasu grimly as she got up.
"And I know just what to do," cried Kushi. She ran into the sake house and brought out a jar of sake.
"The Thunder Brew," whispered Amaterasu.
"This should intoxicate Orochi," Kushi said proudly.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go kick some butt!" Amaterasu howled.
But Kushi was way ahead of the sun goddess and was already exiting the village.
Susano, stood motionlessly for a moment, sighed, and ran after her. Waka, after putting Otter Mask down, Amaterasu, with Issun on her head, Oki, and Samickle sprinted after them, leaving Kemu, Squirrel Girl, Kai, Otter Mask, and Lika behind.
"Be careful," yelled Kemu after them. Squirrel Girl looked at the heavens and prayed silently, "Protect them."
At the entrance of Moon Cave, Waka said "Here we go." As the group moved silently as they could up the stairs, a roar sounded loudly though the cave. Amaterasu could barely make out the words "Where are they?" Then stairway went away into nothingness. When Amaterasu came to, she saw everyone else was waking up. Then a roar said "Finally, they're here."
"Orochi," growled the white wolf and jumped up to face the beast.
"Amaterasu," sneered the eight-headed beast.
"How dare you come back to torture the people of Nippon again," Waka said dryly and gave the eight-headed beast an evil glare.
"I was released," laughed Orochi.
"By a child," muttered Samickle to himself.
Orochi looked at the group and thundered, "You will all parish under my power!"
The white wolf jumped out of the way of the beast's head slam and taunted, "Doesn't that hurt, ya lint licker?" Orochi roared in frustration and then slammed all eight of his heads into the ground.
"Where did he go?" Oki asked tensely, having his hand on Kutone, the Oina's legendary sword. Then the fire element head popped out of the ground and grabbed Kushi, then slithered back into the gap in the ground.
"How did he do that?" cried Issun. Then all the heads popped out with Kushi in hand and roared.
"Kushi!" cried Susano.
"You let her go," Amaterasu growled deeply.
"Oh, what are you going to do, bite me?" Orochi taunted and laughed. While that conversation was going on, light was bubbling under the sun goddess' paws. Amaterasu just did a long growl and leaped with all her might, with light flooding behind her. All Oki heard after Amaterasu's leap was Orochi's screech and blinding, white light.
Chapter 7
The portals.
When Oki woke up, he saw everyone else was waking up too. But when he found
Amaterasu, he caught his breath. The wolf wasn't moving and as he scrambled to her, he saw that she was breathing faintly and he sighed with relief. Oki stood up and picked up the white wolf.
"You weigh a ton, Amaterasu." grunted the Oina warrior. The goddess mumbled something about portals. Oki pushed the haunting thoughts of portals out of his mind.
"What happened?" asked Issun sleepily and jumped onto Susano's shoulder.
"All I remember is a bright light," responded Samickle. There was a murmur of agreement of the rest of the group.
"What happened to Snowy?" Kushi asked anxiously and then wiped some dirt off her sleeve.
"I don't know," said Oki glumly and shook his head.
"We ought to get her back to the village so she can have a check-up," said Susano. As the group left Moon Cave, Issun looked back at the out cold Orochi
and whispered to himself, "Why now?"
Back at Kamiki Village, Kai cried "What happened?" As Samickle explained to her and the rest of the people in the village, Mr. Orange whispered to Oki, "We should take Snowy somewhere so she can rest for the night." Oki nodded, followed the elder up the hill to the tree, and a silent prayer to the heavens, "What's going to happen now?"
A few times during the night, Amaterasu cried out, if having nightmares. Some of the villagers and the tribe members also came that night to revive Oki of his spot, but he immediately shooed them away. As Oki sat there and looked at the starry sky, he thought, "Why does this have to happen now? Shouldn't there be more than a month's worth of peace?" and slowly his puzzling questions faded into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Oki woke up and saw the sun goddess was still asleep. He got up quietly and went sliding down the two hills. When he got to the main section of the village, he saw that the villagers and the tribe were standing around sadly. Oki sighed roughly and yelled, "Stop moping around, people. Amaterasu is going to be alright." The people in the village cheered.
Back at the Konohana tree, Amaterasu jumped with a start from her sleep. Her nightmares were crawling with demons, unknown, panicking people and a woman's fading voice that said, "This is what will happen if you fail." Her panic slowly turned to confusion and she heard cheering from the village. As she gradually got to her feet, a smell came to her nose. She trotted a little ways away from her sleeping spot. Amaterasu sniffed again and started digging.
A minute later, the goddess found a headpiece that looked like an eagle. Amaterasu stared at it with a clear realization that she knew who owned the headpiece. As she continued to dig, Amaterasu was right about whom it belonged to. It was Waka's headpiece; the goddess bit the eagle part and pulled. All the white feathers were still there and she shook her head to get the dirt out of the feathers. Waka wore this to hide his identity about being apart of the Moon Tribe. She turned to see Oki, Waka, and Issun on Oki's shoulder, came trudging up the hill.
"Furball!" cried Issun.
"Issun!" Amaterasu replied with a muffled voice.
"Where did you find that?" cried Waka as bent to get his headpiece.
"I found it over there" Amaterasu said, pointing with her nose, while Waka put his headpiece on.
"Okami Amaterasu," said a familiar voice.
"Sakuya!" Issun said in astonishment and jumped down from Oki's shoulder.
"Yes, bug," sighed Sakuya, brushing her black hair.
"Hey, don't call me bug," pouted Issun. The wood sprite ignored him and turned her attention back to the godly wolf and said, "Amaterasu, I think the pair of earrings you found was your mother's."
"What, my mother's? I never knew her!" argued Amaterasu and her tail swayed with burgeoning madness.
"You didn't?" asked Oki.
"No, I didn't," replied Amaterasu sourly.
"Also, at Moon Cave…" continued Sakuya.
"Yeah, what happened there?" asked Issun, done with his pouting.
"Oh, I don't know how to word this but, Okami Amaterasu, you got a new power." said the tree sprite.
"A new power?" gasped Amaterasu, her fury disappearing like mist, and cocked her head to the side.
"Yes, and when you used that power, you opened some portals," said Sakuya grimly and she tremble at the thought of it.
"Portals?" asked Oki slowly, remembering what the goddess mumbled at Moon Cave and suppressed a shiver.
"All of you must go into the portals and find a way to send them to the Celestial Plain," pleaded Sakuya.
Chapter 8
Through the first portal.
The four were silent and the white wolf asked, "So how do we seal and send the portals to the Celestial Plain?"
"What's the Celestial Plain?" asked Oki to himself.
"To seal a portal and send it back we have to fight a villain there or help someone though something," said Sakuya.
"Where's the first portal?" asked Waka.
"The first portal is at the capital," said Sakuya.
"Ok, let's go tell the others," Issun said.
"Amaterasu, wait!" cried Sakuya. The goddess glanced back at the sprite.
"Your earrings aren't fully released," she said quickly.
"What?" asked the sun goddess and shook head quickly.
"The earrings allow you to change to a human, but you can still change back to a wolf," Sakuya explained. The goddess stared at the sprite in silent bewilderment.
"Come on, furball," said Issun. Amaterasu took a deep breath and then suddenly asked, "How do I use them?"
"You just think about what you want to look like," said Sakuya. The wolf nodded, took another deep breath and jumped into the air. What landed on the ground was not a wolf, but a woman. She had whitish-brown hair that was tied up in a long, red ribbon, a red rope-like dress with sleeves which were pointed like paintbrushes, long, flowing sleeves, large cuffs and a long piece of fabric that went down like a tail from a wolf and she wore getas with slit-toe socks.
"Wow," said the woman in a soft voice.
"What happened to furball?" asked Issun, who was on the verge of freaking out. The woman glared at Issun and said, "Issun, can't you tell it's me, Amaterasu?"
"A-Ammy?" he stuttered and jumped on Waka's shoulder.
"Yes, Issun, it's Amaterasu alright," said Waka.
"Stop goggling at me and let's get to that first portal," Amaterasu snapped.
"O.K," said Oki. When the small group went to the village, Samickle stared at Amaterasu and said, "Who are you?"
"Yes, who are you and what happened to Amaterasu?" asked Kai suspiciously.
"I'm Amaterasu!" cried the goddess and shook her head. Kai and Samickle continued glare at her icily.
"That is Amaterasu," said Waka. After that, Oki told the mass of people what Sakuya had told them and waited to see what the people would do.
"Portals?" asked Otter Mask to himself.
"The capital? Where's that?" asked Lika.
"The capital is called Sei-an City," said Waka.
"Let's go," said Kemu. As the group reached the entrance to Kamiki, three green monkey-like creatures jumped in front of them.
"What are these creatures?" asked Oki.
"They're Green Imps," said Amaterasu unhappily.
"How do we get rid of them?" asked Samickle.
"There is no special way to defeat them. Just watch," explained Amaterasu.
She leaped back into her wolf appearance. On her back, was what appeared to be a
floating piece of fire.
"The Solar Flare," said Issun. After those words, fire sprang from Amaterasu's mirror and blasted the imps. They let out a horrifying screech and disappeared. Everyone was quiet for a moment and then continued on their journey.
Back at Moon Cave, Orochi was just waking up. He let out enormous yawn.
"Orochi!" bellowed a loud voice. Orochi jumped, fully awake and looked around.
"Oh, it's you again. I thought you were long gone," said Orochi.
"I need you to do something for us. All of us," said the mysterious voice. After that, a dark mist flooded into Moon Cave.
At the edge of Shinshu Field, the group was looking at a long stretch of water. Oki asked, "How do we get across here?" Amaterasu answered happily, "I'll make a lily pad so we can go over the water."
"A lily pad?" asked Tuskle slowly.
"Yes," said Amaterasu. A small ink pot appeared; the goddess dipped her tail in the ink and painted a circle over the water. A lily pad came like Amaterasu said and the wolf leaped on the pad and leaped for the water. There was another lily pad and Amaterasu looked back and then said, "Come on." Oki took a deep breath and jumped down to the lily pad. The group continued the process till Amaterasu stopped and jumped up on a patch of land.
"This is where Agata Forest is," said the sun goddess. When they went in the hole in the wall Waka and the sun goddess gasped.
"Agata Forest is covered in a huge cursed zone… again," whined Issun and leaped on Kai's shoulder in despair. Amaterasu galloped to the edge of the cliff and jumped. Kai gasped, ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down just to see the goddess disappear into the cursed zone below.
"Amaterasu!" screamed Kai.
"She knows what she's doing," Waka said to Oina girl. A minute later, flowers and positive energy flooded out of the cursed zone and went all over the forest.
"Wow," Kai said in wonder. She peaked over the edge and saw Amaterasu leap to a small island, looked back at them and twitched her ears. "So, this is the power of a god," Kai thought. As the group came to the end of the hill, Amaterasu leaped beside them and wagged her tail.
"Come on," Amaterasu said. At twilight, they reached the exit of the forest.
"We should stop and rest here," said Kai. A mutter of agreement and a yawn came to her ears.
"Someone should keep watch," Squirrel Girl suggested sleepily. The people looked at each other with question in their eyes. Amaterasu said quickly, "I keep watch." Each person nodded sleepily. Later that night, Waka woke up to see Amaterasu was still keeping watch.
"Amaterasu," Waka whispered quietly. She looked at him with question glowing in her eyes and wagged her tail.
"Remember when we met here?" asked Waka softly.
"Yeah, we have that big fight, and if I remember correctly, I beat the snot out of you," Amaterasu replied in return, mischief glittering in her eyes. They both chuckled to themselves and Waka fell back asleep.
"Come on, Ammy," said Issun loudly at dawn. Amaterasu whined, opened one eye, yawned loudly and got up.
"Where are we going now?" asked Tuskle.
"We're going to Taka Pass," answered Issun from Amaterasu's nose.
"Let's go then," cried Otter Mask. As the assembly of people came to a rushing river, Amaterasu said, "We can cross this log." Then she changed back to a human, grabbed Issun off of her nose and set him on her shoulder.
"I hope it's safe to cross," Samickle said to himself. As the group crossed the log,
Kai lost her footing, but Samickle seized her hand before she fell into the water.
"Thanks" said Kai and Samickle just nodded. When everyone jumped down from the log's edge, and Oki asked, "Is everyone O.K?" A cluster of "Yeah" and "Yes" came from the crowd.
Amaterasu smiled and said, "Great. Let's keep going." When the group entered Taka Pass, Issun half-expected it to be cursed. He sighed with relief when he saw that the pass was still in its former self and jumped off Amaterasu and onto Lika's head. Amaterasu said, "Come on." Everyone looked at her as she strolled down the path. No one noticed a young man dressed in different shades of crimson followed them silently. As the group moved along, Lika spotted two gates.
"Where do they lead, Issun?" she asked.
"One leads to Sasa Sanctuary and the other one leads to Kusa Village," Issun explained to the Oina girl.
"Oh," said Lika, nodded, and continued to catch up with the rest of the group. A little later, the group reached the end of Taka Pass.
"We're almost at the capital," said Waka.
"How much longer?" asked Oki.
"We'll have to cross the coast," said Amaterasu.
"The coast?" asked Kai hesitantly.
"You will love it," said Issun. As everybody strolled to the land before the sandy beach, the man in crimson asked miserably to himself, "Why me?"
"Look, Kai, look! It's the ocean and the coast!" cried Lika happily, pointing while jumping up and down. Kai looked where her sister was pointing and gasped with surprise. The coast was beautiful and Issun was right, she love it.
"So, we have to cross here?" inquired Oki.
"Yeah," said Amaterasu. When the group went down the stairs at the end of the path and onto the sand, Lika said in awe, "It's kind of like snow." The rest of the tribe nodded their heads in surprise. Down the stretch of sand, Oki attention flew to what looked similar to a flying, red rug and withdrew Kutone.
"What's that?" he asked and he pointed Kutone at the red rug.
"It's a Demon Scroll. We can easily avoid it," Amaterasu said. When the group went around the Demon Scroll, Issun pointed and said, "That's where the capital is."
When the young man in crimson saw the group running to the entry to Sei-an
City from the border of the wall near Ankoku Temple's entrance, he said, "The targets are at the city." Although no one was with him, a woman's voice replied, "Excellent."
"This is the city?" asked Lika in wonder. She looked at all the people, shops, and cherry trees. Up ahead, a large, metal torch with a large flame stood, if it was protecting the big city.
"Yeah," said Issun. Everyone was silent for a moment, and Waka asked, "Where could the portal be?" Suddenly, there was a faint chime to the right.
"This way," Amaterasu said in a soft voice. As the sun goddess, Issun, Waka, and the tribe walked to the right, Waka saw a strange light at the end of the sideway were another metal torch was supposed to be. He also noticed that the rest of the group saw it too. When they got to it, the small mob of people stared at the strange light.
"Who thinks this is the portal?" Issun asked and everyone raised their hand in return. He looked at the group of people and shook his head.
"Well, I don't!" Issun cried, jumped up and down angrily and his glow turning to a dark red color.
"Issun, we won't know until we go through it," replied Amaterasu.
"Well, I'm not going first," Issun declared. The sun goddess said, "Your loss," and walked into the eerie light. Everyone stared and one by one, followed after her. When the rest of the group was gone, Issun sighed and said to himself, "O.K. I'm going last," and then stepped into the light.
Chapter 9
Now where are we?
When the light faded, Samickle saw it wasn't Nippon that the group was in. Instead everyone was standing before an old-looking castle. Samickle peered over his shoulder and saw that there was a gate towering behind them. Then he said, "I don't think we're going back to Nippon any time soon."
"What do ya mean…?" Issun started to say. When he looked behind him, his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened and he jumped onto Amaterasu's shoulder.
Then an unfamiliar growl sounded and a new voice asked in a shaky voice, "Who are you?" Everyone turned to see an eighteen year old girl and a white German Shepherd. Issun fell off of the sun deity, love struck by the girl with blond hair. Amaterasu picked up Issun, put him on her shoulder, turned to the rest of the group, and motioned them to come closer.
"Remember, we're not in Nippon anymore," Amaterasu whispered. Then to the girl, Amaterasu said, "Sorry, my name is Alexandria." Wali stared at Amaterasu and she gave everyone an "I'll explain later" look. Then she told everyone else's name, but excluded Issun, and asked "Who are you?"
"My name is Fiona Belli, and this is Hewie," the girl replied and the white German Shepherd started to growl. Everyone looked where Hewie was growling and saw a deformed man running toward Fiona. She said "Not him again!" Then the man stopped and took one look at Oki, turned around, and ran away. Fiona said slowly, "O.K. That was weird."
"Who was that?" Otter Mask asked and cocked his head.
"I think his name is Debilitas," said Fiona.
"Have you met anyone else?" asked Kai.
"Yep, I have. There's this weird, hooded guy named Riccardo and there's also this maid. She looks like she stepped out of a painting, but I don't know what her name is," explained Fiona. She looked at everyone in the group and said, "Why don't we stay together?"
The group nodded. Issun whispered to Amaterasu, "Why didn't you say my name?" She replied, "Fiona will possibly think she's gone mad." Later, the group stopped at a door. It looked like any normal entrance, but it didn't have a knob. Instead it had some sort of doll-like lever on the door. Fiona was still at the entryway of the last door and was looking at something on the ground.
"What are you looking at?" called Waka to Fiona.
"Nothing" she replied and joined the rest of the group.
"How do we open this door?" asked Lika.
"With this, I think," said Fiona and in her hands, she was holding a wooden marionette and some of the strings were cut.
"A marionette?" asked Squirrel Girl hesitantly.
"It looks like it goes there, doesn't it?" snapped Fiona impatiently. Squirrel Girl fell silent and looked at the door. The girl shrugged, went to the door, and adjusted the wooden doll to the lever on the door. The doll slowly went down and with a satisfying click, the door gradually opened.
Everyone gazed at the door. Fiona said, "Come on," and walked calmly through the door. The rest of the group looked at each other and followed Fiona. When everyone got in the room, Issun murmured "Yikes!" and jumped off of Amaterasu's shoulder. The room's walls were covered with dolls that had small, iron picks stuck in them. Hewie started to growl softly. The group looked at him with surprise and looked to see what he was snarling at. Amaterasu said with widened eyes, "I think there's a trap over here." Fiona looked and said, "Where, Alexandria?"
"There," said Amaterasu and she pointed to the red rug with a creepy eye in the middle of it.
"Hey, guys. Look at this!" said Kai eagerly and the people gathered around Kai.
"It looks like this is the only way to the other side if there is a trap," observed Waka and looked back at the carpet.
"I thought I saw something strange before we came through the door," said Fiona happily. She ran out of the room, with Hewie following behind her. A minute later, the metal bar gate lifted up and Fiona darted back into the room, went through were to gate was, and said, "Hewie!" The gate slammed back down, nearly crushing Issun, who jumped onto Lika's shoulder. Hewie came trotting back in the room and Fiona walked over to a generator with a small light that was hidden from view when the metal gate was barred the way.
"I wonder was this does?" Fiona asked herself. She pulled the lever down and the little light went out. Then the dog when over the carpet with no hesitation. Otter Mask looked at everyone and he went slowly over to the carpet. He took a gulp of air and sprinted across the red rug and the group walked after him.
When everyone was with Fiona, Hewie, and Otter Mask, Fiona said, "Let's keep going." When the group walked into the room, the phone rang, nearly giving everyone a heart attack. Fiona walked sluggishly to the ringing phone, paused a moment, and picked it up.
Fiona jumped when a loud voice screeched from the phone and loudly into her ear. The voice said scratchily, "Fiona…." A frightened expression came across the girl's face. The scratchy voice continued, "Fiona, I know Riccardo has you and your friends locked up. I know a way out if you give me your azoth…" Then the phone went dead. Everyone looked at each other with horrified faces.
"How does that dude know we're here?" Issun whispered to Amaterasu shakily. The goddess shrugged quickly to Issun's question.
"That was freaky. My question is what's an azoth?" asked Fiona.
"I think an azoth is another word for the Philosopher's stone," Amaterasu said thoughtfully and stifled a yawn.
"What does a Philosopher's stone do?" asked Oki.
"It's use mainly in Alchemy. The main thing they tried to do is change common metal into gold or silver. But the other thing alchemists try to make is the elixir of life. And the elixir of life is to make the alchemists turn immortal if they keep making it," the goddess said and propped her head into her hand.
"So you're saying that guy might be an alchemist?" Tuskle asked.
"Maybe just him and that Riccardo dude," answered Amaterasu. The room fell silent but all of sudden, Hewie let out a deep growl. Then, crashing out of the next door was Debilitas.
Chapter 10
Run!
"HOLY COW! RUN!" screeched Issun into Amaterasu's ear. There was a mad scramble to the door leading to the red room.
"Hurry!" cried Amaterasu as they group ran down the empty hallway.
"This way!" yelled Fiona, pointing as she ran. Everyone followed her as she ran down the steps and through another door. On the side of the door was a messy bathroom.
"Were do we hide?" asked Lika in a small voice.
"There's a shower to the left," Fiona said and pointed.
"Hey, there's also a closet over here," Samickle called from another part of the bathroom and walked to the group.
"Who's gonna hide where?" Otter Mask asked hurriedly.
"I don't know," Fiona sighed heavily.
"Let's just find a place to hide," Squirrel Girl complained.
"Oki, Kai, Lika, and I will hide in the shower," Amaterasu said. Everyone nodded and ran to their hiding spots; footsteps echoed though the messy bathroom. Amaterasu suddenly stopped, ran back to the door, and slammed it shut. Then she quietly and quickly tiptoed back to the shower.
"I hope he doesn't find us," Kai muttered to Amaterasu.
"Yea, I hope not," Amaterasu replied to the Oina girl. Lika looked at her sister, then at the sun goddess, and realized the she had her hair styled to look like wolf ears on top of her head. Lika was still looking at the goddess when she heard the door's rusty hinges squeak open and Hewie's growling.
Chapter 11
Shhh!
Lika lifted up her leaf-like mask to cover her mouth with her hand. She trembled violently as Debilitas's thudding footsteps ricocheted throughout the messy bathroom. Then she bit her tongue to stop her from screaming as Debilitas's shadow appeared in front of the shower curtain. Amaterasu and Oki ignored Kai's and Lika's squeaks and concentrated on the shadow with wide eyes. While the little group in the shower were waiting to see if Debilitas was going to slide the curtain back, the larger group in the closet were scared out of their minds.
"Shhh!" said Fiona quietly as she heard whispers from the back of the closet.
"Why don't you shhh!" snapped Tuskle from somewhere in the back and stepped on someone's foot. Everyone suddenly fell quiet when they heard slow footsteps to the closet door. On the other side of the door, the group heard heavy breathing. What seemed like hours, the breathing sluggishly faded away. Fiona then cautiously opened the closet door and peeked outside.
"We're finally out," Kemu sighed in relief as Fiona opened the door the rest of the way open. The people walked over to the shower quietly to scare the others. Someone giggled softly and Fiona reached out to pull the curtain.
A hand lashed around the curtain and grabbed Fiona's hand. Then another hand pulled backed the sheet and a loud peep sounded. Everyone on the other side of the shower closed their eyes and screamed and then there was laughter. While the screams died away, the laughter continued echo through the bathroom. The hand let Fiona's go and pointed and after a few moments of silence from the other group, the whole bathroom was filled with laughter and giggles.
"Lika, that was a good idea to use the rubber duckie," giggled Amaterasu.
"Thanks," Lika chuckled while holding the rubber duckie.
"That was your idea, Lika?" Otter Mask asked.
"Yes," Lika blushed and popped her mask over her face. The little rubber duckie squeaked again, but this time it was Amaterasu. The group laughed once more and headed out of the bathroom.
Chapter 12
Out and about.
The group wandered around the castle for awhile. They ended up in what appeared to be a nursery, but it was very cluttered. In one corner was a large collection of dolls and across from the dolls was a cage. Everyone spread around the room into small groups.
"I wonder what this is used for." Wali mumbled to Squirrel Girl as the two looked at the cage with a large doll in it. She shrugged her shoulders unknowingly.
"Hey guys," Oki called from the other side of the room and everyone gathered around the warrior.
"Someone can hide here if that guy comes again," Oki said.
"How many people could fit in that closet?" asked Kai.
"Maybe two to three people, depending on who they are," explained Oki. Everyone nodded and the crowd headed out of the nursery and on the other side of the door, was an oversized diorama of some sort and some stairs beyond that. As the group headed down the stairs, Lika abruptly said, "I'm hungry."
"Well, there's a room at the bottom of these stairs," Waka observed.
"You and the other girls can stay there while the rest of us look for some food," Samickle told Lika. She nodded happily as the group split. Lika turned around and ran downstairs to the room. The girls found that the room was actually a guestroom.
"Wow, this room looks like it's been cleaned recently," Fiona said approvingly.
"Yea, it does," Amaterasu replied knowingly.
"Yuck," Kai said and wrinkled her nose behind her mask.
"What?" inquired Squirrel Girl.
"My hair looks horrible," whined Kai.
"How can you tell?" questioned Fiona.
"How I can tell is from this broken mirror," Kai clarified. The rest of the girls gathered Kai to look at the broken mirror.
"Hey, look at these," Lika said and proudly held up six different colored brushes in her hands.
"Now we can brush our hair now," said Tuskle. Everyone took one of brushes and everyone went to sit down at the table on the other side. Amaterasu looked around the room quickly and saw that no one was looking; she waved her hand in front of the mirror. Ink fell from the mirror and splattered onto the small table. There before Amaterasu, was a fixed mirror.
She untied her ribbon and her waist-length hair fell for its former place. She put her ribbon in her mouth, started to brush her hair and listened to the clicks of the Oina's masks being laid on the table on the other side of the room. Issun jumped from the sun goddess's shoulder and said bluntly, "Do you trust Fiona?" Amaterasu paused for a second and looked at Issun with surprise.
"Why, yes, I do. And I take it that you don't," said Amaterasu after she took her ribbon out of her mouth and continued combing her hair and thinking for a reason that Issun wasn't being his normal self.
"Well, I can't say yes and I can't say no. Truly, I don't know what to say." explained Issun. The sun deity was silent for awhile and from the other side of the room, Fiona called, "Hey, Alexandria. Come sit with us." Amaterasu got up from her chair and moved to the other side of the room. Issun jumped of the small table and ran speedily across the room to hide under Amaterasu's chair.
"So, did all of you come from the same place?" asked Fiona, brushing her blonde, shoulder-length hair.
"Yes and no," said Squirrel Girl, playing with her mint-colored ribbon on her squirrel-painted mask. Fiona looked at her with question in her expression.
"We came from the same land, but not the same place," Squirrel Girl said, carefully choosing her words.
"I don't get it," Fiona said.
"Alexandria was traveling from her hometown and she stumbled across our snow-covered town," piped up Lika, helping the lie grow bigger.
"I was looking for an herb that didn't grow in my area," fibbed Amaterasu. Fiona just nodded. The group was silent for awhile and Fiona asked, "Why do you keep your hair so long, Alexandria?"
"It's a tradition to keep our hair long," Amaterasu answered, but that answer was mostly true.
"Oh. I bet your mom and dad are probably worried about you," said Fiona. Amaterasu was quiet for a second and said, "Okay, I tell you the truth. My mother left when I was a young girl. She wanted three sons, but she got my two older brothers and me. She was pretty disappointed. She left my father and two brothers a few days after I was born. My father tried to stop her, but failed. After my 6th birthday, my father told us my mother was staying with a friend and that her house was just burned. The friend thought she had the oven on, but no one knows what really happened. People later found out that kerosene and the oven was the cause of that fire. There weren't any bodies in the friend's house, so we don't know what happened to my mother. And after that, my father started to avoid all three of us," explained Amaterasu, remembering what her father had told her and struggled to fight back tears.
"That's so sad, Alexandria. But now I know that we have something in common," Fiona said and then she nodded.
"What's that mean?" Lika asked and stared at Fiona.
"Well, I came home from collage to spend time with my parents. During the ride home, someone rammed into our car, making us crash into a pile of logs and killing both of my parents." explained Fiona and then everyone nodded.
"Hey, let's see if the T.V. works," said Fiona and she got up to turn on the T.V. The T.V. buzzed to a start and a woman flickered on.
"Live breaking news," said the news lady.
"A major accident was found on Highway 66 at 7:20 this morning. Many say that the accident occurred around 10 to 11 o'clock last night. According to reports, the driver was forced into the pile of logs, killing Ayla Belli instantly. Ugo Belli survived the collision but was later murdered by a knife. Their daughter, Fiona Belli, was also in the car. A source confirmed that Fiona was visiting from collage. But, she was not found at the crash site." the news woman explained.
"Either, she awoke after the crash and went looking for a hospital, or was taken by someone. If you have any information about the crash or who was responsible, please call the police," finished the woman and the T.V. flickered off.
The room was soundless for a second and Tuskle said, "Did you see the dresser over there?" Everyone shook their heads. Tuskle stood up and waved her hand, telling them to follow her. Amaterasu picked up her red ribbon and walked after them. Between a clock and bucket, there was a wooden dresser. On the dresser were four phrases.
"What do those words say?" asked Lika.
"All these phases are in Latin. 'Fortes Fortuna Juvat' means 'Fortune Favors the Brave.' 'Ignis Aurum Probat' means 'Fire tests gold.' 'Dona Nobis Pacem' means 'Give Us Peace.' Finally, 'Tu Fui, Ego Eris' means ….." Fiona trailed off.
"Do you know what it means?" asked Amaterasu.
"Yes, it means 'What you are, I was. What I am, you will be.'" Fiona answered. The room was silent once again and then Lika opened the bottom slot of the dresser. She brushed her black hair away from her face and said, "Nothing here." Kai brushed her light brown hair behind her ears and opened the top slot.
"Lots of clothes," Kai observed and everyone crowded around her.
"There's nothing I want to try on," Tuskle said loudly. Everyone agreed with her except for Amaterasu.
"I'm going try this on," she said gladly.
"That?" asked Fiona, holding back a laugh.
"Yes, I'm going to try it on," Amaterasu said, smiling. Everyone ran to the other side of the room and continued brushing their hair. A few minutes later, a bright light flashed quickly.
"What was that?" asked Fiona.
"It's just the lights," Kai lied. She knew that the goddess like her choice and used her earrings to remember it. At least, she thought it was, thinking back to what Oki had told them back in Nippon. Kai then heard some clicks and turned around.
"Just like the old western movies," Fiona laughed. Amaterasu was wearing a cowgirl outfit, complete with brown leggings, red boots with spurs and steel tips, very-short blue shorts, a short-sleeve short blue shirt, reddish-brown gloves, and a brown leather vest with no sleeves. On her belt, was two revolvers in leather gun holders.
"Western movies?" asked Amaterasu.
"Movies about bank robbers, horse chases, and rodeos," Fiona illuminated, with a wide grin on her face.
"What about a ribbon?" inquired Squirrel Girl, her blue eyes wide with question.
"I'll be right back," Amaterasu said quickly and ran behind the wall to the dresser.
"Tada," Amaterasu said triumphantly and held up a long leather strip. Then she tied up her hair. In the next few minutes, everyone had their brushes down and the Oina had their masks on and Fiona had her hair put up in a ponytail.
Chapter 13
What to bring.
Oki, Samickle, Wali, Kemu, Waka, and Otter Mask looked around the dining room that they found.
"There's so much red in this castle," Samickle muttered to Oki.
"Yeah, there is," Oki agreed as they looked at the long dinner table. Kemu sniffed and asked, "Where is that smell coming from?" Everyone sniffed and the odor came from a door at the other end of the room. The small group trotted to the other side and Wali opened door.
The door swung opened and the odor blasted into the group's faces and the group smelled the horrible odor of half-rotted meat. The six people coughed and the Oina tribe lifted their masks to hold their noses. Wali turned his head behind him and shook his head. Waka stared at the pink and purple clad Oina member, pushed him and the group came into an old-looking kitchen and at the stove, stirring, was a woman with purple hair.
"She must be the maid Fiona was talking about," Kemu said hoarsely.
"She must be," Samickle replied and his golden-yellow eyes darted around the kitchen to find the source of the horrible smell. His eyes rested on a hairy-looking lump on the counter behind the maid.
"Is that a dead cat or meat with hair still on it?" Samickle muttered to himself. Oki tiptoed over to the maid and she suddenly lifted up the spoon. What fell from the spoon, Oki didn't what the substances were, it mostly looked like knobs hair-looking stuff, lumps of meat, and grayish-looking water. The Oina warrior turned to his friends and mouthed, "Eww!"
"Well, look who we have here." a new voice said from behind the four other group members and everyone twisted around to see the newcomer. Oki ran to the others and took a good look at the person. The man was dressed in a brown, monk-like rode and had a long hood over his face.
"Is that the infamous Riccardo Fiona talked about?" Oki muttered to Samickle. He shrugged unknowingly and shot a glance at the maid. She had stopped stirring and was looking coldly at the group. Samickle unexpectedly thought, "Oh no, that creepy maid going to have a mood swing and wanna kill us." Then he turned his head back around and pushed the thought out of his mind.
"I'm Riccardo, the castle keeper." the hooded man replied, after a few moments of silence. The group stared at him for a moment longer and Otter Mask asked timidly, "Do you have food?" From behind them, a click sounded and the maid said frostily, "Dinner will be served in a few hours."
"Daniella is right. You six can go and find your friends and you can have a look around the castle." Riccardo said. The group nodded, the Oina snapped their masks down, and walked quickly out of the kitchen. Once out in the hallway, the group ran as fast as they could to the diorama room. As they slowed and gasped for air, Oki said, "We should tell the girls what we found out." The other five nodded in agreement and the group walked to the room below.
Chapter 14
Waiting for dinner.
Back below in the guestroom, the two groups told what they had found out. Oki asked Amaterasu, "Why do you have a new set of clothes on?" She replied, "I liked what I found," and twirled the spur on her boot and Issun jumped onto Oki's shoulder.
"What did you guys find out?" asked Kai coolly.
"We found out that dinner will be in a few hours," Waka responded.
"Oh, you guys, that maid in the kitchen, Daniella I think, gave us a hard, cold star, like she was gonna murder us in our sleep!" Samickle said hurriedly.
"Also, the soup looked horrible," Oki said and made a face behind his mask that no one could see.
"So, now what are we gonna do?" moaned Squirrel Girl.
"Let's go explore!" Otter Mask suggested excitedly. Everyone nodded, stood up and walked out of the room.
"Follow us!" said Lika and Otter Mask simultaneously, both of them bouncing up and down. The group followed the two children and Amaterasu looked behind her and saw that Oki was falling behind. She slowed down her pace and looked at him. The Oina warrior sighed and whispered, "I wish we were home." He stopped and looked over to the sun goddess to see what she would do. She smiled and said, "So do I. And I'm sure everyone else does too."
"Hey guys, come on." Fiona called from above. Amaterasu and Oki both looked up and Amaterasu ran up the stairs, her boots clicking on the hard, cold concrete of the staircase and disappeared though the door on the top level. Oki followed her, but a lot slower. When the Oina swordsman came through the door, a chilly wind blew. He looked up at the sky and saw dark clouds rolling into the setting sun's sky.
"Hey, look at this," Amaterasu said and walked over to the middle of the ground near the rail overlooking more the castle's grounds. She stopped and just as Amaterasu bent down to pick the item up, a crack sounded, and the ground under the goddess gave away.
"Alexandria!" Fiona screeched and everyone ran to the edge of the ground. Below them, Amaterasu was laying face-down and Hewie suddenly barked. The group spun around and was face-to-face with Debilitas. Everyone started screaming and yelling and trying to push each other down the pile of the broken ground. Oki slid the rest of the way down the rubbish, landing next to Hewie, and yanked up Amaterasu.
"GO!" yelled Samickle at the top of his lungs at Oki.
"WHY DON'T YOU GO?" Oki screeched back at him. He took Amaterasu's hand and pulled her to make her run. The goddess stumbled after him and them both scrambled followed the rest of the group to the left. As Oki and Amaterasu ran down a dark hallway where the group had gone, a hand lashed out and jerked the two into a small dark inlet.
The hand belonged to Kai and she whispered, "Be quiet!" The group stood rigidly as they waited for Debilitas to appear. Minutes flew by while the group waited, and suddenly Debilitas jumped out.
He grunted, hurled his arms into the air and grunted again as Amaterasu fired her revolver. All was quiet and the deformed man looked as the goddess and clawed at her. She dodged out of the way and Fiona said, "Go!" Hewie ran and hurdled at Debilitas. He grunted and another shot rang out. Debilitas let out one last grunt and limped away.
"That guy's immortal," Lika said after a few haunting moments.
"How?" asked Fiona, looking at Kai's little sister.
"He was able to withstand two shots and Hewie ramming into him," Lika told Fiona and fiddled with some loose hair.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," admitted Fiona.
"Let's keep going," said Waka and the group continued to the other side of the dark hallway. On the other side was a small garden, a towering gate, and at the far side was a hut.
"Hey, look. It's a lever!" cried Squirrel Girl and pointed. The group followed her and she stepped up to the lever and yanked it over to the other side. The gate slowly came up and Fiona jogged through the gate. A second later, she came back and said, "I've already been through there, so there's no need to go back." The small mob then trotted over to the hut and Amaterasu stopped.
"Hey, I'm gonna take a look up these ladders," the goddess called to the others.
"Okay," responded Wali and walked over to the rest of the group to take a look at the hut. Amaterasu put a foot on the ladder and climbed up the two ladders. When she climbed the last ladder, there was a door. Amaterasu sighed and kicked the door open and walked in.
On the other side of the door was a music room with a piano and some strange machine near an open hole in the wall. The sun goddess strolled to the machine and examined it. Amaterasu shrugged, strolled to the piano and found another door. She walked slowly over to the door and clicked it open. Amaterasu peered round the door and saw that the group had been though that part of the castle.
Suddenly, she heard a noise and quietly stepped out into the hallway. The noise sounded a few more times and Amaterasu followed the noise to another door. Afraid to open the door, the goddess peeked through the keyhole. On the other side was the purple-haired maid, Daniella, sitting on a wooden chair. Abruptly, the hooded man, Riccardo, step out from the side of the door.
He walked over to the maid and asked, "Where is he? Where is the old man?" Daniella remained silent and still as if Riccardo hadn't asked her a question. He stopped in front of Daniella and to Amaterasu's horror, Riccardo slapped the maid. Then the hooded man shouted to the door, "She's mine! You hear me, old man?"
Amaterasu looked away from the room and shivered. As she looked back into the room, the maid blinked, looked towards the door, and smiled. Amaterasu jumped back, let out a scream, and scrambled back to the music room. The sun goddess slammed the door and strolled out the room and out on the platform. She looked down to the hut to see if anyone was there; seeing no one there, Amaterasu climbed down the two ladders again and went to the hut. As she entered the hut, the rest of the group was going out.
"We didn't find anything useful in that messy hut," Oki told Amaterasu unhappily and shook his head.
"Well, I had a horrible time at the music room," she responded to the Oina warrior and shuddered as a cold wind blew by. While Amaterasu explained what happened to Oki, the group traveled back to the rubbish of the broken baloney.
As the small mob of people stopped as Fiona stooped over to pick up what was on the balcony. It was a miniature paper with the label, "Belli Castle", on the top. As Fiona studied the map, the others split up and looked at the doors that were below the balcony. Both collections of people came back and one group had found a strange mirror-like object.
The people continued for a little bit and Amaterasu suddenly said, "I know where I seen this mirror!" She ran back through the dark hallway and hurried up the ladders and into the music room. Amaterasu's friends caught up with her and saw her staring intently at a machine with the same mirror-like object in the middle of it. Then Amaterasu started to make it turn and after a few turns, a click went off.
"What was that about?" asked Tuskle as Amaterasu turned back around to face them and stared at them.
"What was what about?" the goddess asked Tuskle vacantly.
"Turning that machine and running off," Kai told the goddess.
"Oh. Well, I remembered that I saw something like that mirror and I wanted to see if I missed something," explained Amaterasu. Everyone nodded in the now over- crowded music room and one by one, when out of the room. When everyone was outside, Otter Mask asked, "Now what are we gonna do?"
"Well, we haven't looked at the other side of this part of the castle grounds," Fiona said and started to walk away without anyone saying a word. The other group members looked at each other and slowly followed Fiona. When they caught with Fiona, she was at the broken balcony.
"Let's keep going," she said and Fiona strolled to the other side of the balcony. When the group went through the archway, Lika said discontentedly, "Look, more ladders." As the mob of people came to the platform from the last ladder, Oki asked, "What's that?" and pointed. Everyone gazed were Oki was pointing and saw a middle-sized machine.
"I don't know what to do with this," Fiona said grimly.
"I know," Amaterasu said merrily. The goddess wandered over to the machine's end and kicked it three times. Slowly, a wrench-like stopper fell down and clanked on the hard ground.
Over the wall, a drawbridge noisily came down and thudded with a finishing bang. Suddenly, a grunt screeched out and everyone started to yell and to pull someone to the ladders. As the group made their way down the ladders, Hewie was barking and pacing around below.
"Come on, Hewie!" Fiona screamed as she got down the last ladder. The white German Shepherd barked and galloped after her. The rest of the group leaped down the last few rungs and ran after the two, screaming. The group then split and found their places to hide. After an hour, the group came back together at the rubble of the balcony.
"We need to get up there," said Wali and pointed after a few moments.
"Let's go then," replied Lika.
"How's Hewie going to get up there?" asked Fiona worriedly.
"There's a door behind the rubbish," responded Otter Mask. Fiona nodded her thanks to the little Oina boy. Fiona turned to go to the door as the others made their way carefully up the wreckage. A few minutes later, the group had all got up the broken balcony and reunited with Fiona and Hewie.
"Now Hewie's up here, so now where do we go?" asked Fiona.
"I think we have a problem," Lika said slowly.
"Where's a problem?" asked Amaterasu blankly.
"That ladder is the problem," Lika replied and pointed to the ladder a few steps away. The group walked over to the ladder and thought for awhile.
"I know," said Amaterasu after a minute.
"What do you know?" asked Oki and yawned.
"Someone could stay with Hewie while the rest of us can look around," Amaterasu replied and played with her leather ribbon.
"I guess that's a good idea. And if we're going to do that, I'll stay with Hewie," said Fiona quietly. Everyone nodded and climbed up the ladder. On the platform, everyone strolled across the drawbridge and through the door on the other side. On the other side of the door was a wooden walkway that bordered a middle-sized room and with a door on the other side.
Below, was a room with four different colored blocks lining the walls and with four blocks spread around the room. The group went down the nearest stairway and spread out along the room. Lika ran up the stairs and fled to the door on the other side. She stood there and then rattled the doorknob.
"It's not opened," Lika called to the group beneath her and she ran back to the small assembly of people.
"So now what are we gonna do?" moaned Otter Mask.
"I bet we have to do something with the blocks," answered Kai. Then, the group spread out among the floor and suddenly a loud thud sounded. Everyone jumped and looked around to see if it was Debilitas.
"Sorry," said Amaterasu.
"Ammy, how many times do I have to tell you not to space out like that," scolded Issun and leaped from Oki's shoulder to the goddess's shoulder.
"I said I was sorry," Amaterasu retorted sourly. Issun just shook his head and sighed. Then everyone turned to look at the block.
"What were you doing when the block moved?" asked Samickle.
"I was looking at the design on the block and then I put my hand on it and it moved," replied Amaterasu.
"I bet we have to group the blocks according to the colors on the top," thought Tuskle aloud. Everyone nodded and started to push and pull the blocks to their spots. When that was done, the ground started to tremble and the middle of the room where a metal circle laid, the border of the circle, which was a Ouroboros, started to move and after a few moments, the circle pushed opened and a stairway spiraled down.
The tribe, Waka, Amaterasu, and Issun on the goddess's shoulder, went down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, was a room with two more of the machine that was in the music room. At the head of the room was a wall that had a faded blue design. At the back of the room was a door.
"Let's see where that door leads to," Wali said, mostly to himself, and strolled over the door and opened it. Everyone else followed him out the door. On the other side of the door, was near the place were Debilitas had found them.
"Come on. Let's find Fiona," Lika said and started jogging to the broken balcony. When the group came to the balcony, Fiona came out of the door below the rubbish.
"I saw you guys come from the direction of that dark hallway," Fiona explained as the group came to a halt. The group nodded and Waka told her what they had found.
"Alright, let's go then," Fiona said after Waka finished talking. The group then trudged back to the room. When everyone came to the room, Waka and Amaterasu went to the machines. Waka turned one a few times and its click echoed though the room.
"Hey," Amaterasu said softly.
"What?" asked Oki and walked over to her.
"This one doesn't have one of those mirror things," Amaterasu told the Oina swordsman. Fiona walked over to the machine and fixed the small mirror to the center. Amaterasu then turned the mechanism and its click also echoed through the small room.
Suddenly, a light shone through a passageway above the one with the missing mirror, bounced off, hit the next one, bounced off, and hit the blue design on the wall. The wall started opening with a tremble and slide open. The group stared at the gap in the way and slowly walked through the opening. The group came to a dark hallway and gathered around the door.
"Is there any stairs we can go down?" asked Tuskle went she came out.
"Yea, there is," Kai said and then pointed.
"Let's go then," Oki replied and started down the stairs. Everyone followed him and came to a small landing with a door. Oki swung the door opened and gazed into the darkness. Amaterasu looked over his shoulder and glanced into the dark room ahead of them and heaved a heavy sigh.
"Come on," Samickle said and shoved his way to the door. He looked behind him and walked through the door. Everyone followed him quietly into the dark room. The room was dark excluding two lights. Hewie barked twice and Amaterasu slid her feet across the floor. One of her feet dropped over an unseen ledge and she walked over to the wall.
"This way," she said and put her hand on the wall. Everyone did the same and Amaterasu found another ledge. Everyone then got to the other side and Kai opened the door. The group followed her through the door and into a bright light.
Chapter 15
It's a battle for freedom.
The group was in a brightly lighted room. Everyone spread out in the place and Tuskle asked Fiona, "What is this place?"
"From the looks of the place, it's probably a chapel." Fiona replied.
"How can you tell?" asked Tuskle.
"Well, there's some chairs that look like church pews and there's also a statue." replied Fiona. Tuskle nodded and walked over to Amaterasu and the statue.
"Hey Lika," called Amaterasu.
"Yeah?" asked Lika when she got to Amaterasu and Tuskle.
"Wasn't that door we found locked?" asked Amaterasu.
"Yeah, it was," Lika confirmed.
"Hey, what's that?" asked Oki and trotted over to the statue.
"What's what?' asked Amaterasu.
"That key," he said and pointed. Lika, Amaterasu, and Tuskle looked up and saw what Oki was pointing at.
"How are we going to get the key?" asked Samickle when the rest of group came to the statue. Oki shrugged unknowingly and Amaterasu then said, "Wow."
"What did you find?" asked Kai.
"The altar talks about a secret stairway," Amaterasu said.
"Does it say how to get here?" asked Fiona.
"I think we use that key to open the door we found," the goddess explained.
"Oh. How are we going to get the key?" Fiona asked, repeating Samickle's question. Amaterasu hoisted herself on top of the altar and got the key of the statue's metal spear. When she got down from the altar, the group crowded around her.
"What does that symbol mean?" asked Tuskle aloud.
"It's the symbol for Saturn, whose Latin name is Saturnus." said Fiona.
"Well, now we have a key, so we can go." Samickle said bluntly. Everyone nodded and started walking to the door. Abruptly, Hewie began to growl. The group stopped and looked at Hewie. Then the small group heard the door close with a bang. Everyone snapped they heads up and saw that Debilitas was in front of the door. The deformed man grunted and Amaterasu took out her revolvers and said, "Get out of our way!" Debilitas let out a series of grunts, like he was laughing at her.
The goddess frowned and then two shots rang out. Debilitas grunted and after that ran forward to Fiona. Everyone ran out of the way and scattered about the small chapel. During that moment, Fiona thought she smelled roses and ran over to the one the columns. She looked back at the group that was running around, she ran to the door. Fiona then wiggled the doorknob and found it locked. Then Fiona snapped her head up as she heard Debilitas grunt.
"Go, Hewie!" cried Fiona as she swirled to face the deformed Debilitas. The white German Shepherd barked and galloped forward, ramming head-first into Debilitas. He grunted as Hewie and another shot rang through the chapel. Fiona ran to the pews and kicking Debilitas as she passed. She stopped and started to walk backwards. Something poked Fiona in the back and she looked behind to see what it was. It was a handle and it was attached to a machine.
She looked up and saw that it was holding up the chandler. Fiona turned around and started to kick the machine. While Fiona was kicking the machine, Amaterasu and Oki were running around Debilitas. Every time the man clawed at the goddess, she dodged the attack and fired her revolver. Fiona then ran and rammed into Debilitas as she went to the over the other machine.
"Oki, can you help me?" Fiona called as sudden hole appeared in the machine. Oki dodged an attack and scrambled to her. After a few more minutes, the chandler came inched its way to the ground. Oki ran to the other machine and started to push on the handle. The chandler crept slowly downward and then came speeding down. But at the moment before it came down, Debilitas stepped out of the way and managed to claw at Amaterasu.
The goddess stumbled back and ran into Samickle, who was going to dash to help Oki and Fiona. Samickle shoved Amaterasu off of him and yanked her up. Amaterasu nodded and picked up her revolvers. As Debilitas ran forward to Amaterasu and Samickle, the goddess fired her both of her revolvers. Debilitas grunted and struggled to keep stand. With one finally grunt, Debilitas fell down. Everyone came together and Kai hugged Lika and Otter Mask. After a few haunting minutes, the group left without saying a word.
Chapter 16
It's time for dinner.
When the group came up the stairway, Fiona went up the other stairs, went to the locked door, and took out the key. The rest of the group made it up the stairs and heard Fiona gasp softly. They looked up and saw the maid, Daniella, and the group ran to the two. When they reached them, the group heard Daniella say, "It time for dinner, miss."
The maid slowly walked away from Fiona, turned her head, and repeated, "It's time for dinner, miss." The group followed her and minutes later, the group found themselves in the dinner room with bowls filled with the disgusting soup Daniella was fixing earlier. Amaterasu and some of the others sat there, looking at the soup, and listening to Daniella talk about her time living at the castle.
"I cannot feel pain," Daniella said as she continued with her story.
"Umm…… thanks for the meal," Fiona said, got up and left. Everyone said the same thing and met Fiona outside the dinner room.
"I feel a bit sick," Fiona said when the group came out.
"Me too," replied Kai, who also had some of the soup.
"Let's go and get some rest," Amaterasu said and let out a long yawn. Everyone nodded and followed Amaterasu up the stairs to the bedroom. Fiona went to the bed, Lika, Kai, Samickle, Otter Mask, Tuskle and Squirrel Girl went to the table, Oki and Amaterasu sat down on the small stairs in the room. Meanwhile, back in the dinner room, Daniella slowly walked to the spot where Fiona was sitting, picked up one of the spoons, took a small sip of the soup and said, "I am not complete."
Chapter 17
Amaterasu's dream.
There was laughter. When Amaterasu opened her eyes, she was laying in a field of grass instead of being on the stairs. As the goddess sat up, two little girls ran by her. They suddenly stopped and turned around to face her. Both girls were in spring-time kimonos, but they had snow-white hair. The sun goddess stared at the two girls and noticed that they had animal ears on top of their heads, much like the goddess. The slightly taller one had cat ears and short hair; the other one had rabbit ears and long hair.
"Do you live here?" the tall one asked quietly.
"Yumigami, Kabegami, where are you guys?" cried a voice. The two girls looked over to a small girl.
"There you guys are. My father has called a meeting and everyone needs to be there," the small girl said.
"Including her?" asked the short one softly and pointed at Amaterasu. The small girl nodded and pulled Amaterasu's hand. She was like the other two girls, she had wolf ears on her head, wearing a kimono, and looked exactly like Amaterasu. The sun goddess got up and followed the three girls. The field was surrounded by a vast sea and suddenly, a sliver and gold train came hurdling by, spraying them with ocean water. The train slowed and stopped behind them. The girls stopped and the taller one said, "Looks like no one is coming today."
"What do you mean?" asked Amaterasu in confusion.
"Those are portals. They lead to different places. That one leads to a place called New Brightwater." explained the one with the rabbit ears. The train then jumped to a start and sped away on tracks hidden under the open sea. The three girls walked forward and down a pathway. Amaterasu jogged to the pathway and in front of her, was a huge bathhouse.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back to Amaterasu. This was the Celestial Plain and the girl with the wolf ears was actually herself. The girls went through two sliding doors and were in a long meeting room. There were ten children with animal ears and in spring kimonos and three people in togas sitting around a long table.
"Looks like everyone's here," a deep voice muttered.
"Why have you called us here, Izanagi?" asked a woman in a lengthy, flowing toga. The woman had golden hair up in a bun and sparking, deep blue eyes. Amaterasu suddenly remembered that the woman was the Greek harvest goddess, Demeter.
"Well, I just heard from Iris. Izanami was staying with her went she left. Now Iznami is dead." Izanagi explained to the group. The group let out small gasps of surprise and Demeter asked, "How did she die?"
"Iris's house had burned down, so I take it that Izanami had done it." Izanagi replied and stood up. Everyone else copied him and headed to the sliding doors. Then there was laugher.
"Oh, Izanagi!" laughed a voice. Suddenly, eight black mists appeared and eight people stepped out.
"Orochi," growled Izanagi and glanced at the eight newcomers.
"That's not all," sneered a woman in a kimono that had different shades of sapphire. Another black mist appeared, but this one was on the ceiling. A black form jumped out of the mist from the ceiling and landed on the table. The black form was a woman and when she straighten, gasps sounded from the people in the togas and Izanagi.
"Izanami!" cried Demeter and walked backward towards the doors. The woman in sapphire grabbed the harvest goddess's hand and yanked her roughly away from the sliding doors.
"The one and the only," said Izanami, chuckling darkly after that. Izanami looked like Amaterasu but Izanami had longer, darker hair, red eyes and was wearing a dark kimono.
"Now, where's my little daughter?" asked Izanami as she stepped down for the table and walked the room. When she followed the mini Amaterasu, Izanami stopped and bent down to face the little sun goddess.
"Here she is," Izanami said and smiled chillingly.
"Give away from her," the taller Amaterasu said. Izanami continued to smile and waved her hand in front of the smaller goddess. A light flashed and the small Amaterasu collapsed to the ground. The children ran to the little girl and the older Amaterasu asked, "What did you do?"
"I just erased her memories of me," Izanami chuckled happily as she stood up.
"So that what I don't remember you," the older Amaterasu muttered under her breath and noticed that Izanami had the same earrings that she had.
"So I suggest you move out of here," said Izanami seriously. Izanagi looked at her and flicked his head. Everyone went out of the sliding doors and the little Amaterasu's father scooped her up and left.
Izanami turned to the older Amaterasu, smiled and waved, and stepped through one of the black mists. The eight others followed her and the mist faded away. Amaterasu sighed and jogged out of the room. As Amaterasu came out of the bathhouse and into the field, the bright sky started to darken. Amaterasu thought she heard someone call her name and the bathhouse faded away and the castle bedroom reappeared.
Chapter 18
I am not complete.
"Amaterasu," Oki whispered while shaking her shoulder.
"What? What? I'm up!" the goddess yawned and stretched.
"I think something bad is going to happen," Oki said urgently.
"Like what?" asked Amaterasu and stood up.
"I don't know," the swordsman admitted unhappily as he stood up.
"Maybe it's the castle," Amaterasu replied. Oki just shook his head. The goddess walked down the stairs and woke everyone up. After a couple of minutes, the rest of the group was up and stretching. Suddenly, there was a small gasp. Everyone turned around and saw Daniella standing the bed. The maid turned and walked slowly to the window. Everyone ran to the bed as Fiona crawled to the end of the bed. The maid turned her head and said coldly, "I am not complete."
Daniella turned back around and started to hit her head on the window. After a few seconds, the window shattered and one large piece of the glass remained. The maid slowly raised her hand and yanked out the piece of glass. Daniella turned around and walked towards the group.
"Not again!" cried Tuskle and ran out of the room with Kai, Lika, Otter Mask, Samickle, Wali, and Squirrel Girl running behind her. Amaterasu, Oki, and Fiona stared at the maid and the three rushed out of the room.
"Where are we going to hide?" asked Amaterasu shakily.
"I think I saw one of the curtains in the dinner room moving, so the door behind it must have been open." Fiona said quickly and started running down the stairs. Oki and Amaterasu fled after her, following Fiona to the dinner room. When the two got to the dinner room, Fiona had disappeared.
"Fiona!" Amaterasu hissed quietly and glanced around the room.
"Over here!" whispered Fiona and poked her head from behind the curtain. The Oina swordsman and the sun goddess ran over to Fiona. The three pressed together and waited to see if Daniella was to appear. Hewie's bark sounded thru the room and the maid's shadow flooded on the red curtain. Fiona held her breath and bit her lip as a breeze puffed though one of the open glass doors and ruffled the red drapes. Fiona sighed with relief when she heard Daniella's rapid footsteps echo away to the kitchen.
"I'm glad that's over with," Oki said and stepped out of behind the curtain. Fiona and Amaterasu followed him and went outside the dinner room. Once outside, Amaterasu, Oki, and Fiona started to the stairs.
"Guys!" hissed a voice loudly. The three whirled around and then sighed with relief as the rest of the group gathered at the bottom of the stairs.
"Where were you guys?" asked Fiona as her, the goddess, and Oki came down the stairs and stopped in front of the group.
"There was a small area on the other side of these stairs," Tuskle said and sat down on the last step.
"Where were you three?" asked Samickle in return.
"We hid behind one of the curtains in the dinner room," Oki respond and sat on the last step, next to Tuskle. The group was silent for a minute, and then Fiona asked, "What are we going to do now?" The stairwell remained quiet for a moment, and Amaterasu replied, "We'll just have to get out of here."
Chapter 19
In a new part of the castle.
Back at the room with the colored blocks, the group found Daniella cleaning one of the blocks.
"It's cleaning time," was all she said when someone tried to talk to her. The group then left her alone and when up to the locked door.
"Who has the key?" asked Fiona as she looked at her friends.
"I do," Amaterasu replied and put the key into the lock. On the other side of the locked door was a long hallway. After a few steps away for the door, it suddenly slammed shut. The group whirled around to see Daniella with her piece of glass.
"Run!" screamed Amaterasu and started to the other end of the hallway. Everyone followed her and paused to let the goddess swing open the door. Everyone sprinted up the first flight of stairs while Fiona hurriedly closed the door. Fiona ran after the group and tripped on the first step of the second flight of stairs.
Amaterasu scampered to Fiona and reached to grab her hand. Fiona gasped and the goddess glanced up to see Daniella walking up the stairs. The two girls stared, with open mouths, while the maid continued up the stairs.
The maid was just a few feet in front of them; suddenly she stopped, slowly turned around to face a mirror, put her hand to her face, and started screaming. Amaterasu pulled Fiona up and the group ran to the next door. When everyone came through the door, Oki slammed the door shut. After a few moments of stillness, Tuskle asked, "What was that about?"
"I don't know," replied Samickle.
"She has gone mad!" Amaterasu said and looked around the new room. All the room contained was a spiraling stairway going up and down.