Touhou

Gensokyo is the land of the forgotten. Spirits, myths, everything lost in the vacuum of time gets swept away to here. That's just the nature of this world.

I once lived in the other world, I watched and waited as time past by until I too forgot the world around me, and suddenly I was here.

I killed a man to only to become swept up by immortality. I shall live forever and ever. There is no end. Nothing for a person like me.

I doze off on a hill. It's quaint and I like it. Surrounded by bamboo all I can do sit here and look at the darkness that rests softly upon this Earth.

There was a woman who would tell me that I was a part of history and that everyone would remember me. She was like a sister to me. But, ah, she's gone now.

The town she lead is still there. It's smaller than ever, but I love to watch it. See the cycle of life, death.

When you're alive, you're scared of death, but as we forget those like me, we forget that death is beautiful. The fact that you don't exist yet you live on in other's memories. That death can never be mine. How could an immortal die?

What even is death in Gensokyo? Being forgotten only to be remembered. Then forgotten. It's pitiful in it's own respect. There's nothing quite like it.

I hear something…Crying?

I loft myself down from my resting place and make my way across the bamboo trunks.

A child. Are you lost?

He nods. He asks me if I can take him home. He says that he's scared. I tell him not to worry. He can't die here.

He pulls on my pants leg and cries. He says that his mom told him that if he'd ever get lost, she'd find him. Then where is she? Where is a mother to help her child?

I take the boy to the village and vanish into the forest once again only to rest back atop my hill.

I hear the rumblings of a bush. It's a young man searching for something. He informs me that he's looking for mushrooms. We scavenge together for a short time and find some. He thanks me and goes off.

An adult commands his way into the forest. He's alone but he carries a mighty spear. I wonder what he's hunting. He proclaims that he's hunting the mysterious phoenix who lives in the forest.

I come out and greet him. I ask him if he needs help looking for the phoenix. He says he'd rather find the bird himself. He doesn't want to find the firebird because he's scared. He doesn't want to die and be forgotten.

I tell him that if he did die, he would never be forgotten. I blow a feather of eternal embers and give it to him. Knowing that I am the phoenix, he cries and leaves without any words.

It's been what seems like hours and I finally was able to take a nap on this hill. When I wake up, there's an old man sleeping next to me. Soft and silent, I can't help but smile at such a delicate scene.

'Dear Phoenix,

Mere words cannot describe my thanks. Not only have you saved my life, but you gave me reason and courage. Without you, I would be nothing but a speck in the wind. However, I have come to realize that life comes with pain and that death can only come with life. Here, in my final moments, I can only give my life to you, the person who gave so much to me.'

The man is calm.

He's safe here.

What does it mean to die in Gensokyo? To be remembered among the forgotten? Forget the forgotten?

No.

It means to live then die. Just like how life is on the other side. There is nothing special about this world. It is beautiful either way.