Chapter 1: Recollection "Rose of Former Hell"

The Palace of the Earth Spirits.

The western-style mansion stood out in more ways than architecture. It was built in the centre of Former Hell over the pit that led into the Remains of Blazing Hell. It was meant as a base for the Yama to oversee the heating of Former Hell and was quite literally the heart of realm.

This important building however, was the loneliest building in the Underworld.

Not far from the Palace of the Earth Spirits lay the Former Capital, where oni and vengeful spirits mingle. This village was once managed by the Yama, but once they decided to move Hell and separate it from the Underworld, they gave the village to the oni who had come from the surface to live there. The Former Capital has since grown in size as oni and other underground youkai came to live in the Underworld. The onis' strength was useful in the Former Capital's expansion and they could have even expanded throughout the Underworld itself. But if one were to observe closely, one could tell that the Former Capital was built in a way that avoided the Palace of the Earth Spirits.

This was not the result of an incident or some compromise in engineering. This was a matter concerning the agent of the Yama and her sister who made the Palace of the Earth Spirits their home.

The oni for all their prodigious strength, like all youkai, fear and hate the satori.

The master of the Palace was technically the ruler of the Underground, such was decreed by the Yama. However, the denizens of the Former Capital went out of their way to avoid the Palace and its three-eyed mistress: Komeiji Satori.

The girl with the lonely silhouette.

There were very few windows on the white walls of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, instead the chequered floors of its hallways were lined with stained glass facing the Remains of Blazing Hell. Like the windows of the surface and outside world, these stained glass windows let light from the fires below into the Palace and were tweaked daily to give the impression of day and night. When the flames were at their brightest, so was the Palace and the whole Capital lit up like an afternoon day on the surface. When they were dimmed, the darkness of the underground took over and a starless underground sky greeted the subterranean dwellers.

The light was beginning to dim, like an evening sun passing under the horizon. The light of the flames below painted the enormous interior of the Palace pink through the stained glass windows. The building was so tall and wide that the ceiling remained shrouded in darkness despite the brilliant light that shone from underneath the mansion.

Satori sat by one of the glass windows at a desk, writing away on a piece of paper with a quill. This room was her designated study, but it was far too large for Satori to fill with furniture. Instead, she had four book shelves placed around her to form an enclosed space with her writing desk at the centre. On the desk itself was a container with her quill and a bottle of ink with which she wrote, an oil lamp for when the night cycle of Former Hell began as well as a pile of fresh parchment. Next to her desk was a table where Satori had placed reference books and a separate stack of parchments on which her neat handwriting could be seen. On the opposite side of the desk there was a sofa which Satori used when she fancied reading. Behind her, a grandfather clock stood facing her back, the incessant ticking audible in the silence of the room.

With the final stroke of her quill, Satori concluded her book and placed the last page on the table at her side to dry. Pushing back her chair to stand up, Satori stretched her arms behind her back and shook off the long hours of work she had put into her latest piece. By then she no longer felt excitement or elation, she had written so many books in her lifetime that those feelings had long become dull to her. However, she did still feel a sense of satisfaction as she turned to look at one of her bookshelves. This shelf contained fewer books compared to the other three, but these were all books she had authored anonymously. From afar Satori saw that she had managed to fill more than half of the bookshelf already and for the slightest moment, a small smile slipped onto her face.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet wiped the smile from Satori's face and she turned around to greet the leopard which had entered Satori's reading space with a newspaper in its mouth. Thanking it kindly, she scratched her pet behind the ear and took the newspaper from its mouth. The leopard lay on its back and Satori bent down to rub its belly. The leopard purred softly, glad to be of service to its mistress. Newspapers were hard to find in the Underworld, the affairs of the surface world were of little concern to the oni and vengeful spirits of the Former Capital. Some Youkai did subscribe to the Tengu's newspaper and when they were done with their issue they were glad to pass it onto the animals that wandered the streets. It was a quick way to get rid of the paper, after all.

"Orin and Okuu are going to be home late again?" Satori said almost to herself as the large cat in front of her purred louder. "In that case, could you round up the others and help with their share of chores? I suspect they will be very tired by the time they return."

The leopard rolled back onto its belly and nudged Satori's hand with its nose. Satori stroked its head and it resumed purring.

"Treat? You just had dinner didn't you?" Satori replied matter-of-factly to the voiceless request. The leopard looked up at Satori to meet her gaze with its yellow round eyes.

"Tomorrow. For everyone who helps."

Satisfied, the leopard bolted upright and jogged off to carry out its master's will. Standing up, Satori unrolled the tengu's newspaper and glanced at the headline. While the tengu's newspaper was unreliable at the best of times, they had a writing style that seemed to draw the attention of its readers and was a good reference for Satori herself. This issue was much longer than usual due to the ongoing incident on the surface. If Satori had the capacity to exaggerate her emotions she would have grimaced when she saw the title. However, since she was a satori who conveyed thought and feeling via her third eye, her eye simply twitched as she sat down onto the sofa and sighed.

'War Fever' captures Gensokyo by storm! The battle royale escalates?!

Satori read the paper in silence, moving her hand only to flip the page. Column after column narrated the developments of the conflict above. For almost a week, this was all the newspaper had to report on. Satori conceded that the writing was engaging and she was interested to know what happened next as a narrative, but she could not help feeling dread when the end of this conflict was nowhere in sight.

On the last page of the newspaper a pictorial diagram depicted a map of the surface world divided by dotted lines and faction names. Arrows indicated the changes in territory and Satori noticed the boundary lines that indicated the influence of the Moriya Shrine had been readjusted again. The forces under Yasaka Kanako now occupied a quarter of Gensokyo after defeating the Scarlet Devil Mansion in a skirmish, making it the largest territory on the map at the moment. The Underworld was thankfully not depicted nor mentioned in the newspaper and Satori hoped it would remain that way. Her gaze became fixed on the name "Moriya Shrine" and her thoughts went to two of her pets in particular.

Satori looked down from her newspaper and saw that the fires of Blazing Hell were still lit through the stained glass window. Turning her head to look at the time, Satori realised that the supposed 'night cycle' for Former Hell began three hours ago but Former Hell was still lit like it was evening. With a small sigh, Satori folded the newspaper and left it on the sofa. She got up and drifted out of her reading space and out of the room. Flying through the hallway, she opened a door which led outside of the Palace and sure enough the Underground was still bright from the fires below.

Satori swiftly made her way to the courtyard and was just about to enter the pit in its centre when two figures emerged from the the entrance.

Kaenbyou Rin, or Orin as she was frequently called, supported her colleague as they emerged from the pit and landed in the garden. Satori immediately noticed that the hell raven, Reiuji Utsuho was unconscious and Satori's concern manifested itself ever so slightly on her visage. Orin noticed her mistress' presence and called out to her. Upon reading the kasha's mind, Satori learned that Utsuho, or Okuu as she usually answered to, had overworked herself to the point where she had fallen asleep mid-flight.

Migratory birds and their ability to sleep while flying came to mind, but Satori quickly dismissed the thought. Her concern outweighed her amusement.

Okuu did more than manage the Blazing Hell, she was the source of its miraculous power. No ordinary inferno, no matter how large, could heat the entirety of Former Hell from underneath the soil and rock. However, because Okuu housed the power of the Yatagarasu within her, the flames not only had the ability to light up the entirety of Former Hell, but also give nourishment to the plants in the courtyard. It was no surprise that Okuu was so tired she had fallen asleep before she had the chance to wash up.

Satori landed by Orin's side to tend to Okuu. She and Orin were covered from head to toe in soot, but Satori placed Okuu's arm around her shoulder without hesitation and hoisted Okuu up with Orin's help. Together, they supported the exhausted hell raven into the house and towards the bathroom.

"Can't you negotiate with the goddess of the Moriya Shrine? This cannot be healthy for either of you." Satori asked. Orin simply shrugged as she pointed out they themselves have never met the main goddess in person. They were usually contacted by the green-haired girl who served as a proxy for the shrine. Satori remembered asking to meet the goddess earlier in the week, but the green-haired girl politely declined.

By reading her mind, Satori learnt that the goddess was avoiding contact with her at all costs.

Satori sighed and simply tended to Orin and Okuu, coaxing them back into their more manageable, animal forms to bathe them. The usual Orin and Okuu were cheerful and energetic when it came time to wash up, but for the past week they had exhausted themselves to such an extent that even their thoughts were in disarray. By the time they were clean and dry again they had fallen asleep and Satori tucked them into bed before turning in for the night.

Without Okuu to maintain the flames, Former Hell finally dimmed and Satori found her way around the house with her oil lamp. Her bedroom, like her study, was far too large for one person and it consisted merely of a two-person bed and a wardrobe. Sometimes, Satori would wake up and find her younger sister sleeping next to her. She had not seen Koishi since the "War Fever" in Gensokyo had begun. Satori was sure Koishi could take care of herself, but it did not assuage her fears that she constantly worried for her. More importantly, however, Satori simply missed her sister's presence.

Satori lay in her bed and expected to fall asleep immediately; She had just finished the report she had compiled for the Yama and her new book. However, her thoughts wandered as she lay there. She considered storming Youkai Mountain to meet the goddess personally, but what chance did she have against the guardians of the mountain? She was no match for the Tengu who were allied to the Shrine. Even if she found a way to sneak past them, what leverage would she have against the goddess?

Deeming these thoughts unproductive, Satori closed her eyes and planned out the next day's activities in her head: From meeting the Yama to bringing her book to the Kappa to publish when she returned. She began pondering what souvenirs to bring back for her pets from new Hell when she finally drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the day's activities.

…

Satori awoke to the sounds of explosions and bright flashing lights as she shot upright in her bed. The doors to her room slammed open as Okuu and Orin appeared in their humanoid forms. The panic in their minds created feedback in Satori's head which felt like a migraine and she urged them to calm down. As they took the time to compose themselves through deep breaths, Satori's eyes widened in horror as she read their minds.

The Palace of the Earth Spirits was under attack.

Satori leapt out of bed and floated towards one of the few windows in the Palace that gave her a view of the outside. Dozens of figures floated high above the Palace of the Earth Spirits, lighting the underground sky up with their danmaku. In the crowd of invaders a winged silhouette caught Satori's eye and she hazarded a guess that she was their leader.

The winged creature held is hand up to the space in front of it and in the air around it began to glow with magic.

A scarlet spear erupted forth from the palm of its hand and the leader of the invasion force pointed it directly at Satori.