Preface: A letter to the reader

Dear reader,

Thank you for your interest in reading Idha Etu Yama. It will be a tale that mixes the genres of mystery, humour, crime and bitter-sweet romance in a fantasy world.

The setting comes from Kubera, which is a fascinating fusion fantasy webtoon with great world-building and a complex plot. Kubera is an ongoing Korean webtoon that is being translated on the website Batoto. Reading the webtoon will not necessary, because I will try to explain certain concepts along the way by explaining it in the story itself or by using end notes.

The main cast will consist of the Ghost Hunt characters, but a few characters from the following mystery, supernatural and horror series will appear as well: Psychic Detective Yakumo, Supernatural Investigation Department and Another.

To readers of Kubera: Seeing as Kubera is ongoing and much of the world has not been revealed at the time I brewed up this story, some liberties will be inevitably taken to accommodate the lack of information. Another example: For some reasons Idha Etu Yama will not take place Willarv, but in Isholy. The problem is, we know nothing about Isholy other than that it's the place where Shuri lived with Yuta. See where I'm going? Though I do want to make sure it will be as accurate as possible, so you may want to consider this as an Kubera AU version.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy the story!

Best regards,

Agwen

Disclaimer: The world of Kubera comes from Currygom, the mastermind of world-building, and any characters from the above mentioned series do not belong to me.

Idha Etu Yama

Chapter 1: Isolated

Mai pulled open the door of her little house in the small village. There were only twenty of them living in the unnamed village. In fact, according to Keiko you could barely call their community a village. Mai was told that about six months ago. She was never allowed out of the village and barely knew anything about the outside world as she could confirm through what her closest friends told her.

The village was one thing, but the creatures that roamed around it were another. That was apparently the reason she could not step outside the village as she would be dangered by them. They called those creatures 'Sura'. Creatures in all forms and sizes that would seek after prey. Often they ate other Sura, and it was not unheard of that they would attack humans. Her other friend Michiru told her again and again that a normal human like Mai would not stand a chance against those Sura. Michiru's family was in charge of fending off those Sura, as they were the strongest in the village. Michiru, Keiko, their families and the others cared for Mai like they would treat a little child. Vulnerable and breakable. She was told that she had no means of fighting Sura.

In her younger days she didn't care much about it, but now that she was sixteen she couldn't help but be partly guilty and partly annoyed. Guilty, because it seemed as if she was leeching off their hard labour. Annoyed, because she was bored and wanted to get out of the village. She was more annoyed than guilty, because she wasn't given any answers. The following conversation was yet another proof of the silence.

"Why can't I get outside the village? I know there are other folks out there," she said.

Keiko remained silent and looked down.

"Why didn't you allow me talk to your uncle?" Mai asked her other friend. Her uncle was one of the rare visitors from outside the village, who visited them last week. As it turned out, Mai wasn't allowed to show herself in front of him.

Michiru shook her head. "You shouldn't talk to anyone outside of us. There's a chance they might not like you."

Mai frowned.

"I'm sorry, Mai," Keiko said with tears in her eyes, "We can't say. It's our fault, all our fault."

Mai sighed. There, they said it again. What was their fault? She knew that they wouldn't spill anything to her. She didn't dare to prod any more as she knew Keiko would start to cry. Her parents would scold Mai.

"All we can do is protect you," Michiru pleaded, "So please, Mai. I know you're angry, but bear with it. Until it's time."

"When, Michiru? When?"

She shook her head. Michiru's brown furry ears on top of her head smoothed down a little. If Mai couldn't tell it from her face, she knew from her ears that she was feeling down.

"Fine," Mai said, who was obviously displeased with the situation, "I'm sorry to bother you guys."

Keiko moved away to the door without saying anything, revealing her short tail as she walked out. Michiru followed her out.

That was what happened yesterday. She hadn't spoken to anyone else every since. The whole evening and morning she had made plans to leave the village behind and prepare herself for the unknown. Mai currently had no family of around, but had been bequeathed a family weapon by her parents who passed away when she was little.

Recently, Mai had begun to have doubts about the reason behind their death. When she was little she was told that they died due to some sickness, but after she turned ten they told her that they had died during a Sura attack. It wasn't just that. A little by little they started to say all kinds of conflicting things about her parents, the Sura and the outside world. What she knew about life so far may not have been entirely correct. Also, Mai saw through their body language and the tone in their voice told something else. Fear.

Speaking of bodies. If there was one thing that set Mai apart from the other villagers it would have to be that she had no animal traits. Michiru had ears like a cat and her hands looked more like a big paws. Keiko had a short puffy tail and, small grey horns on her head and hoofs instead of feet. All the villagers except for herself were so-called 'Halfs'. It meant that they had at least 50% Sura blood and the remaining blood was human. At first it was rather difficult for Mai to understand, but it seemed that certain Sura could transform into human form. Thus humans and Sura could have children together. Those children, Halfs, were much stronger than humans, but not as strong as a normal Sura. Another difference was that Halfs live longer and age slower than humans. Although Mai and her friends looked to be about the same age, Keiko and Michiru were in fact around 65 years old. In another 30 years, Mai would look middle-aged, while her friends still retained their youthful appearance as adolescents.

It was early in the morning and still very dark. Mai decided it was time to go. With a dagger in her hand and a string bag she knitted herself, containing the essentials, she sneaked out as quietly as possible. As soon as she was out of hearing range she started to walk as fast as she could. To make sure they couldn't track her by scent (both Michiru and her mother were able to find her at her previous runaways due to their strong sense of smell), Mai used the scented flowers she'd found on the way as perfume for her body to throw them off track. This had to be enough, she thought, but to make sure they wouldn't find her she did it several times again.

She'd even managed to hide from several Sura that roamed around and even if she was seen, they didn't seem very interested in her small body. Mai was terrified for a moment, but it seemed she was in luck. Why would they eat something small as her when they had other Sura around anyway? Mai wasn't exactly what she would call filling for a Sura's stomach. When a Sura seemed hostile to her, she managed to flee by running as fast as she could.

Hours had passed and now it seemed to be late in the morning. Mai knelt down in exhaustion and gasped for air. She wasn't used to exerting herself like that, so she stopped to take a rest and eat the berries and digestible plants she collected on the way. The sound of water was at her left side, where the forest started to clear up. Mai was very thirsty. A long trail of water flowed gently along the grass. She stepped out of the bushes and stared at it wide-eyed. It looked very peaceful. Mai ate the berries and walked to the flowing water.

She drank from the water and felt refreshed.

"Haah... Is this what they call a river?" She wondered to herself.

"Yes."

She yelped and turned around quickly to see the source of the voice. Somehow she fell down in the process and stared up at a much taller man with short black hair and dressed in black. Mai squinted as she couldn't see his face clearly due to the sun behind him. Where in the world did he suddenly come from? She hadn't noticed him at all.

"Who're you?"

He didn't even answer her question. "What kind of fool doesn't know what a river is?"

"I'm not a fool!" She jumped up in anger, which made him back away a step. "I've never seen it before!"

Then she saw his face clearly. A sharp face with blue eyes that flattered his looks. He was rather tall, so she still had to look up to him. The boy observed Mai for a while, before he closed his eyes and sighed as if contemplating, then abruptly shoved her aside to continue whatever he was doing. Mai was very startled at that behaviour. No one ever did that to her. The people in her village were always considerate to her, almost too much, but this was something she could not accept.

"You're crazy," he said, walking away, "Also, I know I am handsome, but could you not get into my private space."

Mai turned red. Indeed she was a little bit too much in his 'private space' and she would admit that he was 'handsome', but then again he was awfully rude for calling her a fool... and now crazy as well!? The first stranger she met turned out to be a very rude narcissist. She always imagined what the first person she met outside the village would be like, and he or she definitely was not like this guy.

"Also, you reek of perfume. Is that really needed? Is that your only attractive point? Are you one of those girls that..."

"Well, excuse me, but I had no choice," she cut him off, because she was annoyed at the insults and stupid questions. This was her way of containing her anger to herself. To her surprise the boy turned around with a shocked face at her answer. Mai held her breath. Did she say something wrong? He looked away again as if embarrassed.

"I see... Aren't you cold in that?"

Mai wore a self-made skirt and a green t-shirt that Michiru gave her. It was indeed too little to cover up.

"Now that you mention it. A little... It must be the wind," she said, and made an attempt to be nice, "My name is Mai, what's yours?"

"I'm not going to tell my name to somebody I just met. Also, if you're intent on providing me your services, I assure you I'm not interested."

He proceeded to walk away.

Huh, what?

"I have no idea what you're talking about..." Mai said while following after him, but he ignored her. "Hey wait up, why are you leaving me behind? It's dangerous here."

The boy stopped. "I don't need protection. I'm absolutely capable of defending myself... I assume you are too."

"Well, I have a dagger with me," she replied and showed it to him. He didn't look very pleased and even seemed disgusted for a moment. The boy regained his composure quickly.

"But you don't look like a warrior. Aren't you a magician?" The young man said slowly.

"I'm neither?" Mai wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. He stared at her with a deep frown. It looked as if he was getting curiouser about the girl.

"How did you survive in this forest up till now? One hour or more can be fatal to a human unless you are a capable warrior or magician."

"Luck?" Mai tried with a stupid smile on her face.

"So you're a Quarter? Not a human?"

"I'm human."

"You're not a magician?"

"Why do you keep asking me that? I don't even know what a magician is!"

The young man went wide-eyed at that proclamation, then caressed his chin for a while with his long fingers.

"All the stupid must collected in this place," he whispered to himself, but loud enough for her to understand. Mai burst out in anger at his so-called explanation.

"Hey! You're going too far now!"

He stopped and gave her a glare.

"I really don't understand you..." he said. "You've never seen a river, and you reek of perfume. You're a little girl who comes out of this forest filled with monsters and carry around that bloody dagger, but you don't look like you could even beat a low-level Sura with it. You're obviously not a Half and not even a Quarter. At the very least you should be a magician, but you claim not to even know what it is. That is stupidity in itself."

Mai was speechless and clasped her fingers at Michiru's old shirt. She was already missing her and Keiko. The village. Nobody ever told her she was stupid. Nobody was ever this rude to her. Actually, everyone in the village was so nice to her... and this guy didn't even try.

"I... I'm sorry," she said.

"Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Mai yelled with tears in her eyes.

The boy didn't seem to know what to say.

"I... I'm going home. This was a stupid idea, I should have never run away."

Mai took off into the direction of the forest. If there were something that the village protected her from, then certainly it had to be jerks like him. She was so sorry to Michiru and Keiko for running away, and felt like a terrible friend.

"Wait! What did you just say?"

The boy grabbed her sleeve.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled back, but found the young man looking at her with a terrified face. "...what?"

"...whose shirt is this?" he slowly asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"...that person died hours ago," he said with a dark expression.

Michiru.

"Don't go," he said. He held her back with her arms as she tried to struggle back.

"N-no."

He didn't let go, and she felt threatened by his strong arms keeping her back. After a while Mai's arm broke free, and pulled the dagger out of the string bag as fast as she could and stabbed without looking at where she hit him.

"Gah!"

She looked back and saw what she did. The young man fell down to his knees in pain. The dagger was thrust into his side. Blood streamed down.

"...no... no no. What did I..."

"Whatever you do... don't go, please don't go..." he begged.

Mai was horrified. She couldn't leave him behind like this, but what he just said about Michiru. Her stomach turned at the thought. Keiko. Everyone else, were they all right? They might be in danger. A Sura must have attacked them. After all, this guy said this forest had very dangerous Sura. She had to go. Mai was sorry that she did this. Even a rude guy like him didn't deserve this. However, she had to go.

"Please..." he said again, and then cringing again.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

I shouldn't have done that, she also meant to say. Mai took one last look at him, pulled the dagger out of his side, then ran as if her life depended on it.

He bit his lips in concentration, then said: "Hoti Brahma!"

The girl bumped into a pink wall that suddenly appeared before she could re-enter the forest.

"What is this...?"

Mai looked around and found herself completely isolated by a barrier. Did he do that? She pushed and rammed against it, but it was no use. However, she could easily cut through the barrier with the dagger and made herself a hole she could fit through. He couldn't look more surprised when she managed to cut through the barrier.

"Mai!"

She was already out of his sight. Too late to do anything.

"...you shouldn't go. They're not worth it. Your parents, they..."

He lost his consciousness.

A man with red eyes watched from across the river. He had hid behind a tree with another woman accompanying him. With interest they had looked at how the girl had cut through the spell the magician had cast. A weapon that was able to cancel out magic of a Primeval God was a rarity.

"Good. That magician is out of the way," he sounded very pleased, and said to the woman, "Trap the girl, get rid of her and bring me the weapon."

"Very well, Unkai-nim."