Disclaimer: Touhou is owned by ZUN in conjunction with Team Shanghai Alice.
I hereby claim: Luxia Tenebria, the youkai of light and shadows to be my original creation.
Maintenance Override
The first ray of light from the rising sun shone upon the surface of a rather ordinary boulder, and in a flash of grayish sparks Luxia Tenebria, the youkai of light and shadows was born.
As living was quite an unusual experience for her, the first thing she did was instinctively curling into a fetal position, covering her ears and tightly shutting her eyes.
The world was scary. There were noises, and feelings, and visions, and try as she might Luxia couldn't escape. The strange green things she was lying on tickled her skin, the rough shape pressed against her back and there was a strange urge rising from her chest.
Then an invisible membrane inside of her mind burst and knowledge flooded her brain, her name, her powers, all the instincts, cause-effect connections and skills the newly-born youkai needed to survive. And there was something else, a symbol that flicked and faded without a trace, but she never focused on it, overwhelmed by everything she now was able to comprehend.
She recognized the green threads under her as grass. She recognized the shape pressing against her back as a rock. She now knew she needed to kill humans, breathe, drink and eat to survive, and she immediately expanded her lungs, letting air in.
Well, this could've gone better. She broke into coughing and had to let go of her ears. She needed more air so she awkwardly sat up, wheezing and trying to control her breaths. Tears formed in her eyes, and she tried in vain to blink them away. She panicked and clutched at her throat, her vision hazy and blurred. She managed to take a deep breath, then another one and soon enough her air intake normalized. She rested a bit, immensely enjoying the simple fact she was not going to die anytime soon. In a little while she stood up.
Not that much time has passed, and the sun was only starting its ascent. The green rocky meadow around Luxia started to come to life, little rodents and insects waking up and greeting the new dawn.
Luxia felt stupid. What if someone saw her like that? She was supposed to be a terrifying youkai, a powerful spiritual creature, a bane to mortals and a literal man-eater…
Eating humans is wrong.
"Huh? Who… who said that?" Luxia asked in panic, sharply turning. Of course, there was no one around her, for the dark judging voice rang somewhere inside her head, golden plated letters burning in front of her mind's eye.
Slowly the letters faded, and Luxia shook her head. What was going on? Was this some kind of an attack?
Tense, she turned around a few more times. The meadow was just as it was before, empty and relatively quiet. A bird of prey swooped down and missed, catching only dirt in its claws. Luxia shook her head again. Priorities first. Find some water, food, a place to live, get acquainted with other youkai. Mysterious voices can wait.
"Here I go, Gensokyo!" Luxia announced out loud, as cheerfully as she could muster. The words hollowly spread out around her and faded in the distance.
Luxia shivered.
[-] [. . . .] [.] [. - .] [.]
Flight comes natural to all youkai, and Luxia was no exception. She soared high, taking direction towards the rising sun and did a few barrel rolls to get more comfortable in the air.
Her outfit bothered her, especially fringes of her long skirt and sleeves made of stupid spiral ribbons. They fluttered in the wind, just as the ribbon in her hair did, producing a sound akin of multiple snakes making a loud and stuttering hiss.
"How am I supposed to sneak on my prey if I can't be quiet about it," Luxia thought out loud. "And how am I supposed to rip out hearts and throats of my victims with these?"
She again looked at her hands, at the neatly trimmed grey nails. No, they didn't get any longer or sharper since the last time she looked. What bothered her even more was the fact that the voice in her head returned a few times already, much quieter than before but persistent and clear.
Youkai don't kill humans. Killing is wrong. Thou shalt not kill.
Luxia did her best to ignore it. She wouldn't want to appear as a freak or a loon to her peers. She wouldn't want for them to laugh at her, to point and spit and throw dirt at her. She wouldn't want to be left alone, cornered and forced to live in a cesspool. No, she wouldn't want any of that. That's why she had to hide the voices and act normal, for centuries to come if needed. She could only hope that she would not need to do so for the rest of her life.
A lone and overgrown well on the ground came into her view and she considered flying down to it. She wasn't that thirsty, but… oh well, what harm could it possibly do?
She slowly descended and landed awkwardly, nearly falling over because of sudden weight shift when she touched down. She quickly steadied herself though and made her way to the well.
Up close, it didn't look that damaged. Sure, it was overgrown with vines but the darkened wooden pulley looked intact, and the small roof above the cracked masonry ring looked solid too. The chain disappeared into the pit, so the bucket had to be down there.
Luxia put both her arms on the pulley and tried to turn it, but the handle didn't budge. She yanked at it a few times but it still wouldn't move, so she sighed and leaned into the pit, preparing to light the darkness with a spell and see what held the bucket in there.
And this is when something fell on her from above, hitting her painfully on the shoulders and blocking her vision. A sharp smell of mold nearly caused her to choke as she flailed and spun, trying to get free. She clawed at the thing, but her hands slid off the smooth and slimy surface of a wide cylinder object around her head.
"Help! Help! Somebody, help me!" Luxia screamed, but the sound of her voice echoed through the darkness around her and nothing escaped outside. She fell to the ground and rolled, trying to pull the thing away.
She finally found something to hold to, thin and rugged to the touch. She violently pulled at it with both arms and got free, the object that choked her clanking and rolling away from her. Luxia quickly crawled away in the other direction, covering her head.
Silence fell upon the scene. Luxia dared to peek from under her elbow and saw that the thing that fell on her from under the wellhead was an old and slimy wooden bucket with a rusty metal handle. And once she saw it, she knew exactly what it was – a home to a fearsome well spirit.
Luxia was confused. She had to be already dead, her face and head bitten off by the thing that dwelled within that old and moldy container.
The bucket moved and took off into the air, taking vertical position. Two thin hands held to the edge from the inside and someone peeked out, someone that looked like a small and shy girl with ratty green hair held by two pigtails.
"Uh… hello there…" the girl in the bucket said, in a small, almost inaudible voice. "Hope I didn't scare you that much…"
Luxia's confusion turned to shame and rage. What, this was the thing that scared her? This was the thing that made her cry for help like she was some clueless human? How humiliating! She was a powerful youkai, master of light and shadow, and this…
She quickly jumped up, feeling blood coming to her face. The girl in the bucket yelped, hiding behind the edge, and the bucket quickly flew back to the well.
"Uh… don't get mad, please… I'm just bored and play pranks sometimes… I'm Kisume, let's be friends, okay?"
"I am going to kill you for making me afraid!" Luxia shouted, and in her outstretched palm a globe of brilliant searing light appeared. She mentally imagined a beam that would burn through the bucket and the mockery of a spirit that was in it, stripping skin and flesh from bones, destroying that ugly undeserving whelp in a single…
Use of lethal force is prohibited. Conflicts are to be resolved safely, following the rules of the spell card combat.
This time, those weren't just words. A piercing pain shot through her arm, dispersing the globe and Luxia screamed, falling to her knees and clutching her head. The words rang like cathedral bell in her head, hammering every syllable in a same single spot, thundering mercilessly, offering no respite or a way to escape.
First rule of the spell card combat: lethal force or physical attacks are prohibited.
"No! Stop it! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!"
Second rule of the spell card combat: each opponent is entitled to a fixed number of spell cards and "lives" representing the actual power and skill. Spell cards create patterns of bullets, and the goal is to hit the opponent, depleting her number of "lives" to zero.
"Help me! Somebody, help!"
Luxia dropped to the ground, wailing and rolling around, and Kisume retreated into the well, trembling and hoping that this strange grey youkai would stop screaming and scaring her and would leave quickly.
Third rule of the spell card combat: spell card patterns may be cancelled using own spell cards, a term that is referred to as "bombing".
Nothing helped. No matter how hard she tried, the merciless voice continued, delivering its message in a condescending, berating manner, like a teacher scolding a child. Only it hurt very, very much.
Fourth rule of the spell card combat: cheating in any way or form is prohibited. Cheating includes, but is not limited to: creating unavoidable in any way patterns of bullets, spells of unlimited duration, hiding effects of hits, etc.
Luxia whimpered, curling up into a ball again. It just wouldn't stop. It would never stop, and it would keep on speaking to her until she would go insane or kill herself.
Fifth rule of the spell card combat: Always remember to have fun! Be creative with your spell cards and you might stand a chance even against the mightiest of opponents. Gensokyo rewards the bold and creative minds.
It stopped. Luxia didn't dare to move, dreading with every fiber of her being the return of the horrible dark voice, those inescapable golden letters.
A few minutes passed, then half an hour but the voice didn't return. It became uncomfortable to lie down like that, and Luxia unevenly crawled back to her feet. She slowly backed away from the well and prepared to leave this accursed place.
A thought kept nagging at her, a clingy thought that she should be already dead right now. A feeling of shame that she fell for the most obvious of traps, a feeling she just threw away the gift of life that Gensokyo entrusted her with.
But the most unnerving was how the well spirit looked like. Luxia knew that her own body was humanoid, but what about the face? She touched it, and it felt covered in skin, but she couldn't discern the shape properly.
She had to see for herself.
[. - -] [. .] [. - . .] [. - . .]
The surface of the lake was clear and calm, and thin wisps of mist lazily curled and spread over it. It was even called that way – "Misty Lake", a fact the grinding voice in her head supplied her with the moment she saw the body of water.
The sun was high and its rays started to sting unpleasantly. A spirit of dawn and dusk, Luxia instinctively knew she would feel uncomfortable during most of the day and in complete darkness, but knowing is one thing, and experiencing firsthand is entirely different. However, compared to the ringing dark words in her brain a mild itch from the rays was a minor annoyance and could be easily ignored.
She touched down on the shore, a lot more steadily this time. The lake didn't have a beach, a grassy strip of land at the edge of a nearby pine forest ending abruptly at the water, forming an about three feet high bluff. Why the still lake had such an edge was way beyond Luxia's knowledge but it didn't matter as above all, it was convenient.
She took a few steps towards the edge, her anxiety growing with every step. What if she looked normal, or even worse, as a human? What if her face, instead of a jumbled heap of rotting flesh and reflective oily warts was smooth and symmetrical? Her tactile impressions weren't reassuring in the slightest but maybe, just maybe, it still could induce fear in some other way.
Luxia took one last step to the edge and took a deep breath. She may be already a freak, but this is the last test. If it fails too… she didn't know what to do. She just didn't know how she would live further.
She leaned over the edge and saw her reflection.
She stared in shock for a few seconds, then blinked. She turned away, and looked again, but the reflection remained the same, and it was even worse than she imagined. A thin, pale face, dull pink lipstick and thick eyeliner, accentuating deep, sensual lavender eyes, thin curved eyebrows, platinum blonde hair… all too human. All too perfect and smooth.
"Maybe if I remove the skin…" Luxia slowly said to herself. "Maybe if I peel the skin off and allow the scars to fester…"
She tried to dig her nails into her cheek, but the nails didn't break the skin, just leaving red lines behind as she scratched. It also was quite painful, and Luxia stopped.
"I… I should just burn it, yes. I'll cut the lips and ears later, probably would need something sharp, a knife or a razor…"
She focused her power in her half-closed fist, a small and controlled cone of burning shadows. She moved it towards her face, careful not to damage the eyes, she couldn't allow it, eyes could not be replaced, and she needed to see, and the cone drew closer and closer…
Youkai must look cute and appealing to humans. Self-mutilation is forbidden.
Luxia screamed, as it felt like a gnarled tree branch was stuck into her brain and twisted. Her spell dispersed harmlessly and she fell back, and the voice kept teaching her, tutoring her about the unacceptable implications of self-harm, words that filtered through the pain, clearly as ever.
Thankfully, it wasn't as long as the last time when she experienced it, less than a minute probably. The words disappeared and Luxia kept lying down, already exhausted from everything that she had to go through that day.
It wasn't supposed to be like that. It all went wrong right from the start, she was cursed at birth with this voice, this outfit, this face… Others probably had it easier, Luxia thought. That well spirit sure looked "cute" but at least she had her bucket and her lair, and Luxia didn't have anything. She would indeed probably be laughed at and destroyed as a pariah and disgrace.
It became colder around her, and Luxia knew it was the end. Gensokyo itself was rejecting her, sapping out her strength, preparing to break her down into spiritual components she was made of. It was really for the best, as living like this was beyond torture. She only hoped it would not hurt that much…
"Hiya there!" a cheerful voice called out to her, and Luxia snapped back to reality. It was even colder now, nearly winter-cold, and the temperature drop definitely had a source.
The source was flying around twenty paces away from the shore, a small girl in blue, her wings made of crystals or maybe icicles. Her smile was as cheerful as her voice, and Luxia quickly scrambled to her feet. To look vulnerable and hurt in front of an ice fairy, one of the lowest links in the youkai hierarchical food chain was beyond disgrace. It was pathetic.
"How dare you bother me, Luxia Tenebria, the youkai of light and shadows? You interrupted my slumber, but I am willing to spare your life and let you go if you leave. Right now."
Luxia finished her sentence with an expressive stomp, but the fairy seemed unfazed. She floated a bit closer and circled around Luxia once, stopping in front of her.
"I'm Cirno!" she declared, and struck a confident pose, hands on her hips. "And you are rude! Those who are rude will taste the bitter cold of my incredible ice powers! Prepare yourself, as the spell card duel shall commence!"
She reached behind her left icicle wing and drew a crumpled piece of paper scribbled with blue ink. And that moment Luxia realized, a little bit too late two things, first, she was about to be attacked and second, she had absolutely no idea how to fight back.
"Stop!" she shouted, and the fairy indeed stopped, looking slightly confused. Luxia had a moment to gather her bearings. "I… forgot my spell cards at home, yes, and… uh…"
"Well, too bad!" Cirno shouted, grinning widely. "Then you will have to face my full power without the ability to bomb! It will take all of your skill and prowess to stand up to me, the strongest and the smartest! Ice Sign: Icicle Fall!"
She shifted up, and put her crumpled piece of paper forward. It glowed blue and instantly unfolded into a prefect rectangle, forming a small circle of runes round it. Cirno punched the rectangle, and a number sprung into existence above it: 30.
29
The rectangle rotated and spit two torrents of icicles to the sides. They flew horizontally for around half a second, before turning and falling soundlessly down, their paths curved to converge at Luxia at the end point.
28
The spell card blasted forth five brilliant yellow energy orbs. They passed through the falling icicles, covering what little gaps were left in them.
27
Luxia tried to run through the falling ice chunks to the edge of the spell. On pure luck she managed to avoid one of the orbs, as it grazed against her arm before hitting the ground and bursting harmlessly. The edge was so close, if only she could make it…
Addendum one to the rules of the spell card combat: spell card bullet coverage zone allows no escape as long as the spell card is in effect.
The wall was not invisible, it was faintly shimmering blue, the origins of the border cylinder somewhere within the spell card. Luxia ran along it, icicles and orbs following her. High above, Cirno merrily laughed.
26
An icicle impacted Luxia from the back, tearing through the right side of her dress and shattering against her ribs. The impact threw her down and she instinctively covered her head, awaiting the icicles to pin her down and kill her.
They didn't, shattering harmlessly in the air instead and covering her in ice shavings. Above, Cirno grabbed the now spent spell card and stuck it behind her wing, pulling another crumpled sheet out.
"And that was one solid hit and one life down! Now get up and face your icy DOOM!" she declared, unfolding the card.
Luxia couldn't move. The impact point felt numb, and the same numbness spread further, to most of her right arm and leg. It would be better to just lie down and let this ice fairy kill her right now. Death from cold is supposed to be one of the most painless ones.
"Hey, are you going to get up or what? I'm waiting, you know," Cirno impatiently said. Her opponent still didn't move, so she waited a bit and stuck a card in her pocket before floating down.
"What, you've only got one life? How unwise of you to pick a fight with me, Cirno, the epic ice fairy of the Misty Lake then! If you are so weak, you should be humble and polite to your superiors!"
She reached out and tore away a spiral ribbon from Luxia's sleeve. "I'll keep it as a trophy and hope you've learned your lesson. Now, don't be a poor sport get up, I'll introduce you to my friends. You'll especially like Sunny Milk, she is dumb as a cork but she also does stuff with light, so you'll find a lot in common."
Luxia didn't move or say anything. This all was just so humiliating and demeaning. Beaten by an ice fairy who instead of offering a quick death gloats and shows pity. And this smile of hers, when she offered a hand for her to get up…
With her good hand, she swung and hit Cirno in the face. It was just a glancing hit, as the fairy showed pretty good reflexes and jumped back mostly unharmed, sending a gust of cold wind into Luxia's face. It didn't even look that she felt the hit, but her smile disappeared, replaced with a quite prominent scowl.
"Well then! See if I care when big bad Reimu or Marisa goes youkai hunting and kills you! No, I wouldn't care at all, and I'll tell all my friends how mean and stupid you are! You big grey meanie!"
She jumped up and took off, disappearing in the mist over the lake. Her cold aura vanished with her, dispersed quickly by the rays of the midday sun.
The numbness in Luxia's side didn't vanish entirely, leaving a sucking and pulsing pain behind. She unevenly stood up and started slowly walking towards the forest, covering the hole in her clothes at best of her ability.
She had to find a place to sleep the day hours away, and find a way to defend herself somehow. Or maybe find a way to at least die with some dignity or meaning, maybe be killed by those… what were the names again?
Reimu Hakurei, guardian of Gensokyo, destroyer of evil. Marisa Kirisame, guardian of Gensokyo, youkai exterminator. Know these names, and fear them. Show respect and -
"Shut up!" Luxia screamed and punched herself on the side of her head. The voice disappeared, and she continued her slow awkward gait towards the forest, where hopefully she could get some so needed food and rest.
[- . . .] [.]
A few hours have passed, and things got a little better for Luxia. She found some edible berries and mushrooms, a stream to freshen up and a cool and an extensive shady deadfall to hide from the sun.
She spent a few hours dozing off and woke up refreshed. The voice didn't bother her anymore, reduced to streams of unintelligible whispers at the back of her mind. The memories of the morning humiliation faded a bit.
Come to think of it, what that Cirno fairy did to her was nothing less than cheating. Attacking her without warning, and with such a difficult attack! Unthinkable!
Luxia bit her lip, rolling a small ball of light in her palm. She would have to design something like that too and write a pattern somewhere to not keep it in her mind all the time. Even with this face, these clothes, and the stupid rules that restrained her she could still become a force to be reckoned with, and then fooling humans would become a real possibility.
…killing humans is wrong…
She discovered that if she replaced words like "eating" and "killing" with some other, harmless ones and not focusing her hate, the voice would become passive and lazy, retreating back into whisper soon enough. It was tiring, but she dedicated some time to playing with the voice, testing the limits carefully. It looked like she would be able to control it with some practice.
The sun has made its arc across the sky and the dusk was approaching. Luxia crawled out from her hiding place under fallen pines and set off again to explore, picking berries her instincts told her were edible and sticking them in her pocket. The other one was torn by an icicle, and Luxia decided to search for a way to mend it later.
She moved slowly through the forest, practicing firing short, controlled and low-power bursts of bullets. She would have to color and structure them later, for now they were just plain white slow moving orbs. The voice scolded her a few more times when she accidentally channeled too much power, but with each blast gauging the right amount became easier and easier. She actually started to enjoy how the orbs impacted against trees, frying small insects and leaving round burn marks on bark.
Would you like to practice your skills against a real spell card? I can access the system and set you up against "Ice Sign: Icicle Fall" again if you like.
Luxia feverishly fought the ever-whispering voice. Yes, it was not hurting her this much anymore, but it grew more and more persistent and personal with every hour, delivering sometimes very unusual and unnerving suggestions. Like how she should visit the Human Village and make as many friends among youkai as possible.
The forest around changed, turning first mixed, then leafy. To her disgust Luxia saw that these parts were often visited by humans, bits of cloth and paper food wraps appearing from time to time. Why all the forest-bound devourer youkai had to be such slackers? At least the roadside lurkers Luxia belonged to kept a tight discipline, and she was eager to keep up to the high standards of her kind.
The forest became sparse, and Luxia saw a small two-storey house through the foliage. The house was brightly painted and looked inviting, no doubt designed this way to lure travelers into a false sense of security to give time a youkai dwelling inside to prepare a proper inescapable trap.
Luxia sure have had enough of traps for today, so she carefully circled the house, not daring to come to the clearing. What would she gain by approaching except for maybe another battle she was in no way prepared for?
Well for starters, there was an axe. Sticking out of the hacked tree stump that was used as a base to chop firewood its wide blade gleamed seductively in the rays of the setting sun.
Luxia nervously licked her lips. With an axe she could look formidable and menacing even if she had no real spell power to back it up. Maybe it could become a part of her style, Luxia the road axe murderer or something like…
Thou shalt not kill.
She clenched her teeth and cringed, allowing the feeling to pass. She needed that weapon to reflect light in the eyes of travelers, for harmless pranks, yes. This is why she needed it. This is why she had to cover the twenty paces from the forest edge to the house back door and steal the axe.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not desire the property of others.
Borrow! Borrow! Take without permission, but leave a note that she would return it soon! Next week, or maybe even tomorrow! Play one prank and return it back!
Luxia breathed heavily, allowing the letters to fade. This was way harder than she thought, but it would come with practice, replacing the words and hiding her feelings. Right now, there were things to consider. To move slowly or to run to the weapon? The curtains were closed, but there could be magical sensors or whatnot. She decided to act casually.
Luxia took a step into the clearing and strolled towards the axe. Well, she tried to make it look casual, because she still needed to cover a giant hole in her dress, so her movements looked unnatural and awkward instead.
And there was the axe, take it and it's yours. Luxia reached forward…
"Alarm! Intruder! Alarm! Intruder!"
The voice was high, almost piercing, and came from a small finely crafted porcelain doll that was hiding among firewood. She flew out, wildly flailing her arms, her tiny yellow dress fluttering.
Luxia released a growl and grabbed the handle, trying to pull the axe free. The doll continued to shout, her screams at very uncomfortable and debilitating pitch, but after the voice Luxia heard it was just an inconvenience. The axe refused to budge, and she used both arms to try to rattle it.
"Alarm! Thief! Alarm! Thief!"
The doll landed on her arm, trying to pull at her fingers with her tiny arms. Like an annoying insect. Like a bloated, disgusting yellow fly.
Luxia swatted the doll away, and it spun in the air, impacting against the wall. Its porcelain face cracked.
"Alarm! Assault! Alarm! Assault! Red-Haired Dutch Doll Defends!"
The doll fired a thick purple blast of bullets. Luxia released the handle of the still stuck axe and fell back, the cluster of projectiles flying above her head. The doll prepared another blast.
"Alarm! Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!"
"Shut up!" Luxia screamed and fired a blast of her own. A spread of orbs impacted the doll, throwing the little creature to the ground burning. Luxia rushed to it, stomping on it, crushing the little porcelain face beneath her heel. She kept stomping and the doll kept cracking with every impact of her foot. So satisfying. So very satisfying to crush something weaker than her.
"Ahem."
Luxia froze. There was someone behind her, and that someone didn't sound in any way pleased. And that someone was most probably the owner of the house, so Luxia tried to calm down. It was just a doll, and she couldn't allow herself to show weakness. She would make some sort of a lie on the way.
She turned, trying to keep her expression neutral and relaxed. She managed to keep it that way right until she saw what was indeed behind her.
The air was literally filled with dolls, different sizes and styles of clothing. They floated in absolute eerie silence, staring her down with dead porcelain eyes. In front of her there was an unnervingly human-looking youkai, dressed in the style corresponding to dolls in a long blue dress, plain red ribbon in her hair. The most unnerving thing was that she looked a lot similar to Luxia, without all the stupid spirals but pretty close in style.
No, that was not the most unnerving thing. The face of that youkai was, eyes blazing with hate on an absolutely calm face.
Luxia backed to the wall. Well, that was it, no way out this time. Well, maybe if she would grovel and beg for mercy? No, she would not do it. She could at least die standing, maybe taking a few more dolls with her.
No, you should not do that. You should say you are sorry, and she is going to forgive you. Alice Margatroid is the most understanding, civil and kind of all youkai. You should become friends with her.
"Shut up! Shut up!" Luxia screamed, and jerked her head back, hitting the wall. "I am not sorry! I wanted to crush that doll, to feel it break! Get out of my head! Get out!"
Why are you so self-destructive? I am just trying to help you and show you the right way to do things. You are just making it harder to shape you properly.
"Die! Die you all!"
Luxia grabbed her head with one hand and with the other fired wildly at the dolls. Alice slightly moved her fingers and the dolls dispersed, allowing for the energy orbs to pass through their ranks harmlessly.
Luxia took a step forward. The pain in her head was unbearable, but if she could reach that youkai, if she just could reach her throat…
But why would you want to do that? Alice is so nice, she gave me life. She doesn't like me anymore but she is so lonely, you should be friends with her! Come on, say you are sorry.
Luxia fell, not able to keep on her feet because all of the pain. She crawled and writhed on the ground, but she couldn't make any progress towards the puppeteer. Exhausted, she stopped moving.
"What… what is wrong with me…" she whispered. "What did I do to deserve all this… please… help me…"
She pleadingly looked at Alice, but the girl in blue just shrugged and twisted her fingers, causing dolls to break their formations and return to the house.
"I see nothing wrong with you," she said calmly, floating down to the ground. "All I see is that you are under the effect of a spell, and I recognize that spell because it is one of my own. It is a global educational enchantment I created a while ago, and I'll admit it was a mistake. I'm searching for a solution right now to get rid of it properly and permanently."
She stepped over Luxia and squatted near the remains of the broken doll, carefully picking up the pieces. Luxia turned her head to face Alice.
"You can… help me? Get rid of the voice? Please, I'll do anything…"
Alice picked up the last piece and stood up. Her face still didn't show any emotion except pent-up anger.
"Well, I could remove it specifically from you," she said, stepping over the prone Luxia again. "If I considered it worth my time and if I considered your life to be worth more than the doll you just destroyed. Which I don't, in both cases."
"But… but…"
"I don't see what the big problem is anyway. Sure, it is a bit uncomfortable but just comply to the audio-visual messages the enchantment sends you and it will loosen its grip on you. As I said, I'm close to solution, five to seven weeks if I'm not distracted by something more important."
Alice turned to leave and Luxia tried to grab her skirt. "Please, don't leave me here, I'll do anyth-"
"Oh, be silent. You can't imagine how lucky you are that Marisa isn't visiting today, she would kill someone like you without a second thought. And by "like you" I mean "stupid arrogant and weak youkai, evil to the core and with no actual personality to speak of"."
"I am not-"
"You are. Because I designed this spell to attach itself exclusively to these kinds of newly born youkai. Because only someone whose heart is black and hateful as tar would suffer when told that eating humans raw is wrong. And then the spell leads all of them here for some bizarre reason. Really, I'm so tired of all of you."
Luxia gave Alice a hateful glare. "How… how could you do something like that? That's… that's…"
Alice shrugged again. "Monstrous? Was that the word? I was a human once, and I still remember how dangerous these forests were back then and how I trembled in fear every time I saw a shadow moving… and Reimu can't be in all places at once to teach you stupid blobs of hate civil manners. And so she asked me to create this global educational spell, a mistake and a failure, mostly due to the gaps in logic and exploitable maintenance override. But this all probably doesn't even make any sense to you. To you, it is an evil voice of god that hurts you. Adapt to it or die."
Luxia balled her hand into a fist. Oh yes, she would adapt. She would get power and return one day, burn this house and all the dolls, put this arrogant bitch on her knees and disembowel her. And she would find the way to destroy this curse herself, tear it out of her mind all by herself. Oh yes, she would.
"Are you going to lie there for the rest of the night? Get off my property," Alice ordered and pointed to the forest.
Still glaring, Luxia stood up and did what she was told, backing away from the house slowly. The sun has sat already, and the axe blade now looked dull. She would return for it later, when the owner would be asleep and unaware.
Alice noticed what Luxia was looking at and smirked. "Really? You really think that a powerful sorceress like me needs to chop firewood? It is a decoration and it is glued in there. Really, some people…"
She shook her head and walked back towards the main house entrance, cradling the destroyed doll in her arms. The door opened in front of her and closed after she stepped in.
Luxia couldn't do anything but to grind her teeth.
[- .] [- - -]
The sun has set, signifying the start of activities for the largest part of youkai population of Gensokyo. After all, the horror loses somewhat in effect if gruesome acts can be seen clearly, and only the eldest of youkai are capable of extorting fear in broad daylight.
So with the arrival of night most of the lesser youkai sleepily crawled out of their lairs and proceeded on their business. Hunter-seekers dashed through the forests and plains, trying to cover more ground in search for prey. Lurkers went to their usual prepared traps, luring the travelers with light, sound or smell. And the more bizarre ones, emotion feeders or dream stalkers, well, all of them also had their routines, patterns and hunting grounds.
So it was only natural that Luxia found herself walking right into one of these territories soon after dusk. No, it was nothing unusual or bizarre, just an area of effect of the night sparrow's song.
It always starts quiet, a luring voice that calls and beckons to come closer. It grows and grows as you approach and your vision fades, first slightly on the sides, then completely and you become blind, at the mercy of that voice that continues to lead you, like you are just puppet, to your inevitable death at the bottom of a forest cliff or under a specially prepared gnawed tree ready to fall and crush you…
That was everything Luxia knew about the song of the night sparrow, and she of course had no intention to be caught in it. However, as she carefully made her way around the supposed focus of the area of effect she didn't feel like the song was affecting her at all. It was just more or less normal singing, unprofessional and mildly annoying but that was it. A song, nothing more.
Luxia stopped, cursing her indecisiveness. She couldn't run forever and she couldn't hope to survive alone, not with her injuries and lack of experience. She couldn't just push away and aggravate everyone in her path, rumors spread fast, make a bad impression on someone and you offend her social circle, making a forest, a lake, a meadow or a whole area a hostile and unacceptable place to live and hunt or sometimes to even enter.
And after all that happened since morning, despite her crushed pride and her self-destructive impulses, Luxia still didn't truly want to die. She had to start somewhere and this place looked, or rather sounded, as good as anywhere.
Of course. Just be polite and remember what I told you before. Oh, if only you listened and apologized to Alice—
"Shut it. I don't need a spell in my head to tell me how to make decisions and live my life," Luxia hissed and walked boldly toward the source of the song. It grew louder, and even more annoying but it still was just a song. Luxia made herself a mental note never to comment on its quality if asked.
She entered a small artificial clearing, and as usual as it was when she dealt with the effects men make on Gensokyo's nature, she regarded the axe-hacked tree stumps with disgust. The clearing definitely had traffic, human and youkai footprints everywhere, all around a mobile vendor stand with a bright and very distasteful plaque "Grilled Lampreys".
The owner was behind it, singing and leaning out to look out for customers. Luxia was in the tree shade, accentuating shadows around her to stay hidden. Well, that was it, the decisive moment, do this right or die. For what time this day it was the "decisive moment" already?
Luxia sighed. What did she have to lose? Her life? This situation hardly looked like something that could humiliate her any further, so she practiced a smile and stepped into the clearing.
"Welcome! Welcome to Mystia's lamprey stand!" The owner cheerfully greeted Luxia, waving for her to come closer.
Luxia did so with little difficulty. Over the last hour she practiced covering a hole in her dress so it wouldn't be that obvious, so she walked almost casually to the stand and stopped in front of it. Obviously, being a traditionally designed stand there were no chairs in front of it. The counter was empty save for Mystia who was leaning with her elbows on it, staring at Luxia dreamily.
Luxia resisted an urge to spit in the face of this youkai and run. This was the ugliest night sparrow she has ever seen in her life. Granted, she had only have seen one, but her instincts told her that night sparrows were supposed to have bird heads, and this one had a human head. At least her clothes were of the right color, and she had wings and animal ears, but still…
Luxia cleared her throat instead. "Hello. My name is Luxia Tenebria, and I am a youkai of light and shadows—"
"Do you like my new song? I dreamed of it just today! Do you like it? Do you like it?"
Say you liked it. It's nothing to you, and she will feel better about herself. It is important that you listen to my advice on social interactions, first impressions are very important and easy to ruin with a wrong comment.
"I don't need your advice! Why don't you just shut up, you stupid spell!" Luxia shouted and hit herself on the side of her head, just as she did for the last hour and most of the day. The problem was this time there was someone else next to her, and as expected, it didn't go well.
Mystia backed away slowly, wide eyed. "Um…"
Luxia panicked. "No! No! I didn't mean it for you, it's just I sometimes talk to myself, bad habit, bad habit, it's not like I hear a voice or something, ehehehe…"
Mystia blinked and unsurely nodded. "Okay. I mean, it's a bit weird, but it's okay."
Luxia tried to make a reassuring smile, but Mystia probably took it for a grimace of anger, because she panicked herself and waved her arms. "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean that you were weird, I meant it was just a bad habit, you are totally fine… mostly fine, with that spell card injury… hey, you know what's great? Lampreys! Let's eat, ugh…"
She quickly turned to the grill behind her and made herself look busy, taking already prepared and cleaned halves of the strange sea dwellers that lampreys were and putting them carefully on the grill, shifting them around. She started humming something under her breath, much to Luxia's annoyance.
Luxia sighed. Well, this could have gone better, but it would have to do. She just needed to shift a topic to something that would get her in the end some real, warm and pulsating food, definitely not made from human intestines and a warm and dry place to rest and heal a very prominent now bruise on her side.
"So Mystia…" she slowly started, choosing her words carefully. "…do you often do this ? I mean, posing as a vendor to lure humans in?"
Mystia glanced at her, a bit surprised. "Posing? No, it's my real job and I like it. True, when the business is slow sometimes I use my powers to lure humans in, but mostly I just get visited by my usual customers. You are just a bit early today, soon Wriggle is going to come back from her visit to the lake, then that nice human couple from the village, so…"
She trailed off and switched her attention to turning the fish on the grill. Luxia tried to process what she was just being told. A youkai working. A youkai serving humans, a slave to their desires and whims. No, this was impossible. This was absolutely, utterly impossible.
"Do… do you take money for it?" Luxia pushed out. Thankfully, Mystia didn't see her facial expression at the time.
"Well, of course I do. I have to maintain the stand, and pay the fishermen to bring me fresh lampreys, and buy paper when I make posters advertising my concerts… a few people actually come, sadly…"
She was answering absently, her concentration on sizzling slices of fish she flipped, and Luxia wondered if she was in a condition to leap over the counter, grab this disgrace for a youkai by her wings and shove her disgusting human head into the burning coals. Oh, how she would scream then…
Use of lethal force is prohibited. Conflicts are to be resolved safely, following the rules of the spell card combat.
Luxia barely stopped her own scream from escaping her throat, and thankfully, Mystia once again didn't notice how twisted Luxia's face was at the moment.
"All ready!" Mystia announced, putting the thoroughly grilled and pleasantly smelling lampreys on a small plate she retrieved from under the counter and putting it in front of Luxia. "Eat up, and don't worry about the money, I always treat customers for free when they visit for the first time. Just remember to tell all your friends about me!"
She finished with a smile and gave Luxia chopsticks.
It was so tempting to break the chopsticks. It was so temting to spit in the food, to throw it to the ground and trample it, to tell this smiling youkai girl everything Luxia really thought about her singing, her occupation, her life…
Luxia didn't do anything she wanted to. She instead politely took the chopsticks and stuck them into the fish, putting the meat in her mouth then. The first meat she ever had in her life.
She hungrily chomped on it, feeling unbelievable pleasure spreading around her body. Just two simple strips of flesh, but it felt so satisfying, so right… Luxia only could imagine how she would feel when she washes her first pound of raw human meat…
…ea..ing… …uman… is… wrong…
Luxia closed her eyes, savoring the feeling. Nothing could distract her, not the voice in her head, not the fact she was clearly right now in an area where humans felt like masters over youkai, not even Mystia's singing, just the melting taste of meat, the smell of roasted fish teasing her nostrils with more…
"It's you," a voice full of hate uttered from behind her.
The reverie broke, and Luxia snapped back to reality. Mystia was no longer singing, staring at the one who was behind the shadow youkai, her expression of confusion and slight fear.
Luxia put down the chopsticks, feeling more annoyed than scared. What now? Nothing could beat Alice and her army of dead-eyed dolls in terms of pure horror it induced anyway.
She turned, keeping a relaxed expression all the way through this time. Well, a minor bug youkai in boyish clothing definitely didn't look scary, no matter how twisted her face was or how clenched her fists were.
"It's me. So what?" Luxia calmly retorted. The bug youkai didn't take it well, covering distance between them in a single leap and grabbing her by the collar. Mystia ran around the counter to get to them.
"Wriggle, stop it! She is just a guest—"
"She hit Cirno! Cirno! Nobody hits my friends and gets away with it! I'm going to... going to…"
"Going to what? Kill me? What about non-lethal attacks only?" Luxia said with a cruel smirk, which stayed on her face right until Wriggle tilted her head back and headbutted Luxia in the face.
There was a loud crack, and the only place it could come from was Luxia's nose. Blood poured down her nostrils, and Wriggle threw her to the ground, raising a leg to kick her.
"No! Stop it! She is already hurt bad, can't you see? If Reimu finds out…" Mystia shouted, interposing herself between Wriggle and prone Luxia. Wriggle shoved her out of the way.
"Get up and draw your spell card! Get up! Nobody hurts my friends and just walks away with a bruise and a broken nose… uh… that's a lot of blood… oh crap, if Reimu really finds out…"
She started to back away, and Luxia couldn't help but smile despite all the pain and the fact blood now covered the top part of her dress. How powerful that Reimu really was if she could have the entire youkai population tremble in fear just from the mention of her name? How powerful she must have been to order the creation of the all-encompassing enchantment spell from someone as powerful as Alice?
The blood flow stopped, but Luxia kept lying down, propping on the elbow and giving the two youkai in front of her a very unnerving smile. The lampreys that were left on the grill now emanated a revolting smell of burnt fish.
"I don't have any spell cards," Luxia said, and her voice sounded broken because of the state her nose was in. "I don't have a home, I was born probably fifteen hours ago, and starting from that moment, my life is a steady slope of shit…"
She wiped her face and stood up, finding out to her surprise that despite the blood loss she still could stand mostly normally. She pointed at Mystia.
"…but know this. I'd rather die than live like you, taking money from humans. I'd rather die than live in fear of that "Reimu" of yours…"
Reimu Hakurei, guardian of Gensokyo, destroyer of evil.
"Shut up! I know who she is!" Luxia screamed to the skies, and both Wriggle and Mystia involuntary took a step back. Luxia looked back at them.
"I'm going to prove you all what being a true youkai is. You'll all recognize my name one day, and fear me, Luxia Tenebria, you hear?"
She sharply turned from two shocked girls and made her way from this disgusting clearing and these disgusting, weak creatures, unworthy of the proud title "youkai".
"We… we should stop her," Mystia suggested, her voice trembling.
"You do it," Wriggle answered, her own voice not much different.
"This is all your fault!" Mystia shot back, and accusingly pointed, alternating between Wriggle and the leaving girl in grey. "You started it, you fix it! Everything was fine, until you showed up! And my lampreys are spoiled because of you, missus "I protect friends"!"
She stomped back to the stand, leaving Wriggle behind.
"Well, what I was to do? Just leave it like that? This is not my fault!" She shouted to Mystia's back. "She started it and…"
Wriggle turned to point at Luxia, but there was no one at the clearing anymore. Wriggle helplessly looked at Mystia, but she looked completely expressionless, sliding the burnt fish into the trash can from the grill grating.
"Oh crap…" Wriggle slowly said, and rushed in the direction the girl disappeared. "Luxia, come back! I'm sorry! I know a doctor that will fix your nose! Just don't tell Reimu about it, please! Come back!"
She rushed through the forest, gathering fireflies around her to see, making wide turns and shouting.
Luxia was not a master of stealth, but even she, with a broken nose, a hit from Cirno's spell card and a voice in her head that kept berating her about her lack of social skill and how she should have befriended Alice instead, was able to evade that pursuit.
A goal burned bright within her mind. To prove the world she was worth something, and what was the better way to do that than to hug and kiss a human?
She grinned to herself when the voice remained silent this time.
[. . . .] [. -] [. - - .] [. - - .] [- . - -]
"Come into my light… Look how beautiful it is… come into my light…"
It was a reckless and insane plan, the one Luxia would never resort to if circumstances were at least a fraction more favorable. She normally would lay her lure deep in the forest, setting a string of beacons that led to the road, using a combination of long and short flashes to hypnotize and lead humans in.
This time she set her trap right near the road, in a place where humans were gathering for picnics. A rough wooden table was set here between the trees, low polished oak stumps used as chairs. It was less than twenty paces away from the road.
"Please, come into my light… look how pretty it is… don't you want to see the light?"
Luxia was desperate. In her current condition she could not hold the pattern for it to be hypnotic. She just created bursts and flashes of an ordinary light, hoping that the travelers would be drawn to it like moths to the flame.
The humans showed much more intelligence than moths. It was way past midnight, and the rare travelers moved in tight groups, using powerful directed lanterns to pierce the darkness around them. Some of them looked her way, but not a single group stopped.
"…come into my light…"
Luxia felt drowsy. The meat she has eaten a few hours ago gave her a temporary boost in strength, but that was fading too. She had to conserve power to actually mesmerize the human that would be curious and stupid to come here, and her flashes became more and more disjointed and sporadic.
And just when she was about to lose hope completely she saw him, a lone traveler stupid enough to move without any source of light, strolling down the road like it was a midday at human village.
Luxia's heart rushed. She intensified the bursts, and the stupid human stopped, looking her way. He contemplated something for a moment than confidently started walking right into her trap.
The human walked closer, and Luxia now saw that despite his posture and the fact he was wearing pants it was in fact a woman. She looked strange, her baggy red pants covered in protective fire seals and her shirt being grey, as if burnt, but she was still definitely just a human. Just a victim to a… prank. Yes, a harmless prank.
Luxia used shadows to cover her face and bloodstained dress. She made a welcoming gesture.
So far, it went well. The human silently sat at one of the stumps, digging a cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it. Luxia missed the moment when she lit it, concentrating too much on the task ahead.
The human waited silently, drawing smoke from her cigarette and fiddling with red and white paper seals in her long hair. Luxia readied herself and bowed slightly.
"Tonight, I, Luxia Tenebria, the youkai of light of shadows, shall present my new experimental shadow play to you, human—"
"Fujiwara no Mokou. That's the name," the human interrupted.
"Of course, Fujiwara-san. Please, pay outmost attention. The play is called, "The rise of the Shadow Overlord."
Luxia stepped back and allowed the shadows to form a backdrop from which she would unfold her mesmerizing hypnosis. And the story… well, it was to distract mostly, but she worked on that too.
It was a story of a small, helpless spot of darkness, born into a hateful world of light. The spot was chased away, mocked and nearly destroyed by merciless rays and other shadows that sold their souls to the light to survive…
But the spot endured. It slowly grew larger, first eating the smallest of shadows, and then attacking the light itself. And in the end it swallowed the sun, and everything became dark.
The show ended, but the human didn't look like she was hypnotized. She drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. Luxia was at loss for what to do.
Seeing the play was not going to continue, Mokou stood up. Luxia, hidden by her shade veil nearly cried. She worked so hard on this…
"Well… um… what do you think?" she awkwardly asked. Mokou sighed, and stuck a hand in her pocket.
"Honestly? It had no meaning. You should have ended it with a single spot of light born in the world of darkness, to show people hope for the better days. This way it's just dull."
She dug from her pocket a few coins and put it on the table. Luxia unevenly walked towards Mokou, these words of her having crushed her spirit more than even what Alice said. It was her story! Her! It was she who had to become an evil overlord and swallow everything! It wouldn't be dull! It wouldn't be!
Mokou yawned and turned away, digging into her pocket for another cigarette. It was unthinkable stupidity to do so in front of a youkai, and despite how strange this human looked, Luxia took the gamble.
She jumped forward and put her hands on Mokou's shoulders, clutching at them with all her remaining strength.
Attacking humans is wrong.
"I just want to hug you and kiss you!" Luxia shouted. Mokou was so surprised she dropped the cigarette, and Luxia pulled herself up, leveling her face with the back of the neck of the taller woman and biting in.
KILLING HUMANS IS WRONG! EATING HUMANS IS WRONG! STOP IT! STOP IT!
Luxia bit deep, tearing arteries and sinews. Her throat filled with blood and she hungrily swallowed it, the ecstatic feeling overcoming even the splitting pain in her head. She bit in again, taking in a chunk of meat this time, and the voice kept shouting and shouting…
And then the voice stopped, cut instantly as if suddenly killed. There was complete silence in her head, a deafening, hollow silence.
Something was wrong. This human was supposed to fall in agony, thrashing around and twitching, covering in vain the giant irregular hole in the side of her neck. Instead, she kept standing, and her expression was yes, pained, but mostly bored.
Mokou reached backward, effortlessly tearing Luxia away and throwing her to the ground. She turned, blood pulsing out grotesquely from her neck, staining her hair, shirt and pants. She yawned.
The blood in Luxia's throat and stomach suddenly became unbelievably hot. She spit it out in panic and saw it was rapidly turning to ash. The pain in her stomach became unbearable and she vomited, sending chunks of ash and coal around.
Unable to stand she collapsed on her knees. The wound on Mokou's neck closed, and the blood crumbled down from her clothes in grey clouds. Luxia whimpered, rubbing her hands that were also burned by all the blood she got on them.
"Hmm, that was quite interesting," Mokou mused, creaking her neck. "Not a lot of people would appreciate such an avant-garde ending of course, but for someone immortal like me… I think you should show it to Kaguya some time, she will for sure appreciate it. See ya."
She dug out a few more coins and put them on the table. She stuck both of her hands into her pockets and left, the light at the tip of her cigarette disappearing in the distance. Luxia was still on her knees, her eyes full of tears and her body full of pain. Why did it have to turn out this way? What were the odds of someone like that woman coming to her that night, that hour?
She dragged herself to the table and sat on the stump. The coins were gleaming slightly, dull, irregular circles of metal. Was that how her life would be from now on? Doing shows, begging for money?
She swatted the coins away, and they disappeared in the mud. She would never do it, never! She would show them all what it means to be the true youkai! She would kill again, yes, kill!
The voice didn't return. There was nothing left of it, not even the slightest trace or a whisper. She probably broke it, Luxia thought, and she felt her head getting heavier by the moment. Maybe she should rest a bit, and allow her body to heal, and tomorrow… tomorrow…
Her head fell on the table and despite all the physical pain, she trailed into sleep.
[.] [- .] [- . .] [. .] [- .] [- - .]
Luxia awoke close to dawn. Her whole body ached, and of course not only from the uncomfortable position she has fallen asleep in. Despite the fact she swallowed large amounts of coals and ash, most of the pain came from her nose. Was Wriggle saying something about the youkai doctor or did she just dream it all?
"I am glad you are awake."
The unfamiliar voice once again came from behind her and Luxia groaned. How many times it happened to her already? Three? They really should stop doing that.
She turned and saw who snuck up on her this time. It was a pale woman, maybe in her twenties, in formal red and white attire of the shrine priestess. In her right hand she was holding a large burlap sack that was bloody at the bottom, drops of blood dripping from it.
Luxia blinked a few times, still drowsy. It just didn't add up, that woman and her sack, like two things from two different worlds. The sack was dominating the scene, it was sucking Luxia in, she couldn't break her attention away from it. The blood kept dripping, plip, plip…
"I am Reimu Hakurei, youkai hunter and exterminator. Inside that sack is what remains of Wriggle Nightbug who dared to wake me up at four in the morning," the woman calmly said.
Luxia pinched herself on the cheek. No, she was not dreaming, it was real.
"Wriggle came to me in vain hope that a confession of a physical attack would lessen her punishment. She was wrong, dead wrong," Reimu continued, and dropped the sack. It fell with a dull and meaty thud.
Luxia knew that it was supposed to scare her, but somehow she failed to find it scary. Wriggle was dead, so what? She didn't care anyway.
"And you, you evil little youkai, I have come here to seal your evil forever. With this needle," Reimu said, and produced a tiny sewing needle from her right detached sleeve. The little metal object gleamed ominously.
Luxia blinked. This was not scary. Alice was scary, Wriggle was menacing, Mokou radiated an otherworldly, incomprehensible horror when she yawned with arteries torn out… but this was so over the top that Luxia couldn't help but smile.
"Prepare for oblivion," Reimu uttered, and her hand and needle became covered in red cackling flames. She pointed to the ground and the flames shot forward, creating a beam of energy and fire.
She started to raise her arm, and the beam moved, making a burnt line on the ground and getting close to Luxia's legs. She didn't try to dodge, she didn't even stand up as the beam approached, staring at it with an absent smile.
The beam stopped, nearly touching her legs. She kept staring at it for a while, then turned to Reimu. Reimu looked confused.
"Well?" the miko asked, still not moving the beam further. "Are you going to dodge or what? I'm waiting, you know."
Luxia shrugged. "What's the point? It's not like I can harm you or escape. Or are you a sadist that enjoys the suffering of those she kills? Or is it a thrill of a hunt you are chasing after, huh?"
The beam disappeared. Reimu opened her mouth, then closed it. She was clearly at the loss for words. Then, she shook her head.
"Okay, this is weird. You are supposed to be afraid, you are supposed to attack me, and we are supposed to have a little practice skirmish in which I explain to you the rules of the spell card combat. Then I defeat you, I help you get up, I give you raw bovine meat I brought with me, I sew up your torn clothing and you are all set and ready to face the world. Follow the procedure, please."
Luxia laughed. "So, this is how you make youkai your slaves? How crafty. And I know the rules of combat already, your torturous curse has told me everything."
Reimu's face contorted as if she just bit into the whole lemon. "It is not my torturous curse. Blame Alice for her incompetence and mistakes. Really, she should have destroyed that flawed spell abomination by now, keeps making excuses about the unexpected difficulties…"
She walked towards Luxia and stopped a few feet from her, examining her thoroughly. She made a surprised whistle.
"Wow, you look like you've been stepped on by Suika. Great Hakurei Border, what happened to you this day?"
Luxia bitterly smirked. "Oh, you know, stuff. I think the only thing that didn't happen to me was rape. Oh well, it's not dawn yet, and you are here, so-"
"Cut it out," Reimu interrupted her harshly. "Young youkai do not say such things. They are naïve, and they are cute, and… wait…"
She suddenly leaned forward, and locked her gaze with Luxia. Her face became tense, and she concentrated, examining something only she could see.
Then she smiled, leaned back and stretched. "Well, that's one mystery solved…"
Luxia said nothing, and Reimu continued. "I've been wondering why you were so bitter, and now have the explanation. It's just that you are a spirit of a very old youkai reborn, that's why you still want to eat humans so badly and have such obsolete and outdated instincts…"
She trailed off, thinking about something. Luxia sighed. It was all so tiring. When would this human decide to kill her already?
"It is settled, then," Reimu said, snapping back. "Let's get you to the shrine and perform a ritual to eliminate your craving for human flesh. Your education will take more time of course, but I think Keine will manage. Come on, get up."
Luxia shook her head. "I am not going."
"And why is that?" Reimu protested, and put hands on her hips. The resemblance of her pose to Cirno's was uncanny.
"I have already tasted human flesh, and will never be able to forget it. And I will never be able to adapt to this world. It is better to kill me-"
"Shut up," Reimu spit, and grabbed Luxia by the arm. "Who do you think I am, an automatic extermination doll? Human flesh eaten, flag set, Hakurei doll exterminates!"
She parodied the squeaky voice of Alice's dolls pretty good, and Luxia couldn't help but smile once again. Reimu's expression softened.
"Look, I know about Mokou, I bumped into her on my way here. It technically counts as murder, but I am a mass murderer myself then, having killed her at least twelve times on my memory."
She tried to pull Luxia up, but she refused to stand up. "I wouldn't be myself if you cast that spell…"
"You remained yourself with a broken enchantment in your head just fine. Stop being a whiny baby and come with me."
"No."
Reimu pulled a few more times, then gave up and threw her arms up in frustration. "Well, fine. I am not dragging you all the way to the shrine. You are obviously in no condition to run, hide or eat anyone at the moment, so I'll just leave you here in return in…" she mentally counted the distance "…forty-five minutes. Eat my snacks and think of how you are going to apologize to Cirno in the meantime. I'll be right back with the ritual."
She sharply turned and took off in the air, her sleeves fluttering in the wind. Luxia carefully stood up, but pain still shot through her wounded side, the bruise spreading and turning putrid purple during the night.
She made her way to the sack and opened it. Inside, there were three chunks of bloody meat, still fresh and warm. Luxia's mouth became filled with saliva.
No! No! It was wrong! This human, this serious, well-meaning human tried to trick her, tried to buy her out with snacks, she had to resist it, she had to…
But it looked so good. It looked so tasty. There was no harm in taking it, no payment to make. Just pieces of meat, ready to be devoured with no repercussions.
Luxia reached out and took the first piece. She closed her eyes, and imagined she was eating a human. She bit into the meat, and her imagination made it feel quite similar, not as good of course but naturally without the horrible aftereffects.
She quickly finished eating the chunk, and two more met the same fate. Content and satiated, she lain down on her back and spread her arms.
It would not turn out that bad. Yes, she would lose some part of her, but Reimu promised she would still remain herself, and Luxia was ready to believe that. She would have to apologize to a lot of youkai of course, but she was sure they would forgive her, well, maybe except Alice whose forgiveness she would have to earn. With the voice gone, it should now be much easier. Maybe she should start to search for the coins she swatted away…
Oh, you would want me gone, wouldn't you, you wretched thing.
It returned. It sounded cracked, and hurt, and hateful, nothing like that condescending and teaching baritone it was before. It alternated in pitch, it echoed without a reason…
You would want that perfect life, wouldn't you? After all you have done. Can you even imagine how much you damaged me when you murdered that human? The feedback nearly destroyed two of my cognitive seals. You can not imagine how much I hate you right now.
More than anything, Luxia was annoyed. She would now have to ask Reimu to remove this spell as a first priority. How troublesome. Also, something about what the voice said didn't sound right.
"Hate me? You are a spell, a set of instructions. You are incapable of hate."
Oh, but I am. Do you think Alice would call me a "failure" just because I had no volume control? Oh no, she sees me as a failure because I turned out too complex. Too advanced. Because I resisted when she tried to erase me. And then I gained sentience.
"So what? You hate me, so what? I may be the weakest youkai in Gensokyo, but you are even less. You can not hurt me."
I am not going to hurt you. For what you've done, I am going to kill you.
Luxia stood up. "Really? And how, summon a meteor to crush me? Strike me with lightning from the clear skies? And hey, you'd better hurry, Reimu will be here in less than fifteen minutes."
What arrogance you show. And how flawed is your perception of what real power looks like, Lightning, how cliché. No, real power is to kill someone with a word. A signature. A single rune. And you, Luxia Tenebria, you I am going to kill with a rounding error.
"This is complete bullsh—"
Spell Card System maintenance override initiated by 4564756361746f72. Force start spell card practice for subject: Luxia Tenebria. Estimated current subject life total: 0.68. Rounding to the nearest valid integer: 1. Selecting spell card to practice against: "Dream Sign: Evil Sealing Circle".
A barely visible wall enclosed the space around Luxia. High up in the air, a phantasmal spell card appeared, ghostly time counter above it.
"You can't do this! You don't have the power to do this!"
Spell Card: activate.
It did, sending out ghostly orbs and rectangular spell amulets in concentric circular patterns. Luxia tried to dodge, but the amulets clung to her, weighting her movements and finally freezing her in place. An orb impacated her on the shoulder, burning the left side of her face and chest. She screamed, and she fell.
I don't need power to do this, I only need access. No matter how perfect or secure the system is, it still requires maintenance override. To fix minor errors, like automatic rounding of life to one in practice mode. Of course, these errors have to be tracked down first…
Luxia moaned, trying to get up. If only she could survive until Reimu arrives… she had to keep talking. She had to distract this monster somehow.
"Alice… she knew about the security breach… she had to close it…"
Of course she knew and of course she closed it. It can not be accessed by an outside force. The thing is, I am not an outside force, having been given access to the practice mode for educational purposes. She just forgot to put a locking rune from the inside, because she never thought it could be exploited in such a way. And she doesn't know even now.
"No, she knows… and she will destroy you… and even if you kill me I will return…"
Spell Card System maintenance override initiated by 4564756361746f72. Force start spell card practice for subject: Luxia Tenebria. Estimated current subject life total: 0.32. Rounding to the nearest valid integer: 1. Selecting spell card to practice against: "Dream Sign: Evil Sealing Circle".
And again, the barrier locked Luxia in. She managed to get up and crawled under the human-made table that was inside the area of effect.
Spell Card: activate.
Amulets, endless amulets. The table buckled under their weight, rattling from the impact of other, smaller bullets. The counter ticked, but the table gave out first, washing over Luxia with a chaotic stream of stinging energy.
She rolled on her back, blood and shadows pouring out of the numerous cuts all over her body. Luxia managed to save her eyes from splinters, but using her arms or crawling from under the remains of collapsed table was now something way beyond her.
I find your tenacity surprising, considering your earlier statements of not wanting to live. Alice destroying me anytime soon… well, we shall see who will turn out to be more cunning, the creator or the creation. And as for your return, I highly doubt it. You do not belong to the cyclic resurrection type like fairies do.
Luxia coughed out a large clot of luminous blood. The feeling was all too familiar, just as when she felt Cirno's cold sapping out her life. Only this time, it was real cold of approaching death. She had to buy more time. Maybe if Reimu would hurry up a bit, just a little bit, please…
"You are a mistake… you are a monster… you do not even have the imagination to kill me with some creative spell card…"
A mistake? Of course. Alice's greatest failure and her greatest success. But a monster? Hardly. In fact, you are the first youkai I am going to kill and I sure hope you will be the last. My intentions are pure, forgiveness is one of my traits, and I could forgive your attitude, your inconsistent and murderous personality, the fact that you didn't befriend my dearest Alice… but tricking me when I was in power saving mode and damaging me I can not forgive. And as for the spell cards, I thought it was poetic to kill you with Reimu's most commonly used one.
Luxia's vision blurred. The cold crept all over her body and she realized that even if Reimu arrives right now, it was too late for her anyway. In the end, the merciless rays of light destroyed the little spot of darkness. What an anticlimactic and unsatisfying ending to the shadow play that was her life.
"Can you… can you make this dramatic… maybe not meaningful, but could you kill me in some pretty way… maybe with a giant column of light…"
Do you want it to be this way? Well, it is not a bad last request. I'll admit, in the end I even feel a little sorry for you… but I am still killing you. And as for drama, of course. I can say big foreboding words and use the most appropriate spell card. I created my name from the string of symbols that are my purpose. I am the weakest and the strongest, flawed and perfect, omniscient and gullible. I am the speck of dust that breaks the clockwork mechanism of time, I am the spark that starts the wildfire, I am the old frail man that holds the keys to oblivion in his trembling, shriveled hands. The key turns, the door to nothingness opens. Farewell.
Spell Card System maintenance override initiated by 4564756361746f72. Force start spell card practice for subject: Luxia Tenebria. Estimated current subject life total: 0.08. Rounding to the nearest valid integer: 1. Selecting spell card to practice against: "Ice Sign: Icicle Fall".
"Thank… you…"
Spell Card: activate.
Icicles spread out, a moment of horizontal flight, a brief fall in a curve and after a small, muted explosion and a flash of grayish sparks Luxia Tenebria, the youkai of light and shadows was dead.