Sounds of the Far Shore

Chapter 1: The not-so-unknown

The Far Shore is a strange place, even for a God like me, while I explain it to people like Hiyori as if I know everything about it; I don't. The Far Shore is less a place or a world as much as it is a belief, if you believe it exists or have faith that something like it exists, you are taken to a place that seems otherworldly and almost heavenly; or in some cases… the exact opposite. I have seen far too many cases of this, but there is one in particular that haunts me to this day. There were these two boys I came across once in the Far Shore, while I can recall the events that took place during that time, those lost children will never have any memory of me.

I'm not entirely sure how Yukine and I got there-it was probably a wish made by a lost soul-but we were in a very strange area of the Far Shore. I still to this day haven't seen any part of the Far Shore that looked so Earthly and natural.

We were in the middle of a very large forest, the trees took up so much space that there were no clearings within at least 3 miles. Don't even get me started on the leaves; leaves were everywhere, it didn't matter what direction you turned to there were at least 20 leaves in sight. The leaves were colored as well; I could have mistaken it for autumn if I didn't know any better.

There are no seasons in the Far Shore, after all; what's the point of tracking time in a place that is so vast and indecipherable? Most Gods set their clocks to Earth time.

Yukine was the first one to break the silence, "What the hell have you dragged me into this time Yato?!"

I felt a slight pinch as he said hell, I should have let it go but I was probably more on edge than he was. "Ah! You know, it stings me every time you cuss! So for both our sakes', watch your mouth!"

Yukine rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh, "Alright 'your Majesty', but in case you haven't noticed; you still didn't answer the damn question!"

That one pinched a little more, "Ow! That one hurt even worse! Stop it!"

Yukine's face changed from an angry frown, to a devilish grin as he proceeded to list every swear word and vulgar phrase in existence. It began to feel like daggers poking and cutting rather than fingers pinching. "AARGH! Stop that right now!"

Yukine paused for a moment and leaned over my face (I was writhing in pain on the ground.) as he opened his mouth to speak, "Answer the #&%?ing question."

That was it; the dagger had stabbed deep into my stomach, "AHH! Dang it kid! You had to say the worst one; you just dropped an F-bomb on me! When did you turn into such a grumpy jerk? As for your question, I don't have a clue. Obviously we're somewhere in the Far Shore, but I've never seen this part before."

The pain had mostly faded away until Yukine opened his stupid freakin' mouth, "More like the 'what the #%!* ' Shore." [SLICE!]

After Yukine made his sarcastic comment I blacked out. Immediately after I woke up I got to work cleansing Yukine, "Hey that burns! What did I do this time?"

"Your soul was desensitized to swear words, in other words; you don't see anything wrong with them. You need to repent to me so we can cleanse your soul and get out of this place."

I had Yukine's head held in place by the roots of his hair as I poured Holy water on top. "Alright, fine. I said some bad things apparently, and if that hurt you; I'm sorry."

"There, was that so hard? Now, I have made a decision. From this day forward I shall claim this forest as Yato-land!"

"What? Can you even do that? I mean, aren't there some sort of guidelines you have to follow?"

It's baffling to me how much doubt and disrespect Yukine has for his master, even after all this time he still questions me. "Nope, in the Far Shore its finders keepers, and guess who found it? Anyway, that's not what we should be worried about, right now we should focus on whose wish brought us here."

Just then a strange figure walked towards us, as it came closer it was recognizable as a man. This man was wide but not fat, his face showed many years, as did his grey and bristly hair. He wore a grey button up coat, brown slacks, and black rain boots; he carried a large axe in one hand and a lit lantern in his other.

As the man walked closer he took notice of us and picked up his pace, when he was almost upon us he spoke, "W-What are you kids doing out here this late in the day? You'll catch a cold."

I immediately knew this man was a phantom, not only that but he was corrupted. We needed to get away as soon as possible, but Yukine thought the exact opposite.

"Sorry sir, it's just that we're a bit lost. What is this place?"

I wish Yukine would learn to hold his tongue; we needed to get away from this guy as soon as possible. The old man wanted to say something though, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him finish.

This woodsman's voice was growly and low, but not angry or cranky sounding, he actually sounded genuinely concerned for us. "Lost? I'm not entirely sure how you two could get lost; there isn't anyone around here for miles, so you must've walked a long way. That's beside the point though; you children should find some shelter before nightfall. You could stay at my cabin if you'd like, but we really mustn't dolly."

Yukine was about to accept the offer but thankfully, I interjected before he could get us into any trouble. "Thank you for being so kind but we really shouldn't, we can take care of ourselves just fine. Now, if you will excuse us we were just leaving, Bye!

I grabbed the hood of Yukine's parka and pulled him along with me as I left. I thought we were off the hook until the woodsman spoke once more, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" He called out, "If you stay out here, you will likely cross paths with The Beast! A foul creature who would like nothing more than to turn you into wood; and as wood you would only serve as fuel for his fire!" I ignored the strange phantom man and continued to flee.

If I wasn't in a rush to leave I would have questioned more as to what this "Beast" was, because if I'm honest with myself; I felt immediate terror as soon as that woodsman said Beast. It doesn't happen often, but some phantoms can merge with other souls, and if that phantom grows big enough… scary things happen.

End of chapter one