The manakete awoke, but no longer was she in the Darkling Woods.
She took in her surroundings in terror. Where was she? Where was Saleh?
It was night, and it was wooded. Mushrooms of various sizes grew among the bases of tremendous trees. Somewhere nearby, she heard some sort of voice. Otherwise, the night was eerily silent.
Slowly, ever so slowly, she rose.
Her name, Myrrh. Known as the Great Dragon to some, she was a manakete of over a thousand years. Even in her humanlike form, she had draconic golden wings that complemented her violet hair.
She was part human and part monster, in this way. This made her both, and yet neither. She did not truly belong to either group; she was too kind hearted to be a monster, but too powerful to be a human.
Trembling under the stars that were peeking through the treetops, Myrrh cautiously flew mere inches off the ground toward the voices she heard. She noted that she still had her Dragonstone, thankfully, allowing her to transform into a full dragon at any point. She would still have to save it for emergencies, though, as its use was limited. Still, her wings even in her human form brought her the utility of flight, which was useful.
These woods were strange and new to her, but somewhat familiar. They still retained the same feeling the Darkling Woods had to her, somehow.
The sound grew louder, and she identified it as a female voice. It was not anybody she knew, unfortunately - that much she could tell.
She had not traveled very far at all from her starting point when she came upon a clearing in the woods. It was filled with trimmed grass, and in the middle stood a building.
It was certainly a house. The voice could be heard even through the apparently thin walls, but she could not make out exact words. She drew closer, seeing a window she could look in through.
As she came up to it, she perceived another voice. This one, also female, was softer and more composed than the first, which she now understood clearly. The one with the loud voice seemed to be boisterous in nature, speaking rather fast. Focusing more on their conversation, the second came off as reserved and collected. Despite the drastic difference in tone and attitude, Myrrh could tell that they were on good terms, whatever their relation.
Myrrh decided not to linger at the window any longer. She figured that it would be better to hope they were friendly and give her directions, because she was horribly, horribly lost.
"Where in Magvel am I…?" Myrrh murmured to herself as she walked around the house, looking for a door.
On the opposite side of where she started, she found it. The door, and truly the whole house, was rather simple in design, but not plain. It had its own character to it, its own simple grace. Myrrh thought it was a nice house.
Tentatively, Myrrh knocked on the front door, quietly at first. When she did not hear a response, she put more force behind her knocks to get the attention of whomever was within.
After a few more moments, the door swung open.
Standing there was a human-looking girl with blonde hair and eyes that seemed ochre. She was rather tall and appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties to Myrrh. Her clothes were a mostly blue dress with white sleeves and red ribbons, a white shawl, and a red band in her hair that didn't seem to do anything practical and was instead there for appearances.
"Who are you?" she asked, scanning Myrrh. Her voice was the more quiet one she heard before.
"...I'm Myrrh."
Someone else walked up behind the tall girl. She was shorter, and stood on her toes to look over the taller one's shoulders at Myrrh. Her clothes were black and white, and she wore a big hat with a white ribbon on it. She was also blonde, and had a similar eye color to the taller one, but a bit brighter in hue.
"Some kinda youkai, huh? Never seen her before," The shorter one commented.
The taller one glanced back and sighed. "Have some tact, would you? She's probably lost or needs help." Turning back to the manakete, she said, "Please, come on in. There's room for you to sit, Myrrh."
Myrrh followed the two to a living space, with a couch and a few chairs set up. She noticed that there were small figures flitting about in the house, that appeared to be dolls.
After the other two sat, she followed. She clutched her Dragonstone very tightly, thanks to her nerves at this new situation.
"I'm Alice Margatroid," the taller one said pleasantly, "the Seven-Colored Puppeteer. This is - "
She was cut off by the other one, pointing a thumb at her own chest. "I am Marisa Kirisame, the Ordinary Magician. And I am way cooler than her!"
"Ah, I'm Myrrh… are you both humans?"
Alice shook her head, but Marisa spoke. "I am. Alice isn't, though. She's a magician youkai. Speaking of, what kinda youkai are you? You've got those cool dragon wings."
Myrrh looked confused. "Youkai…? I am a Manakete. You could say I'm a dragon that normally takes a humanlike form."
Alice and Marisa seemed surprised. "That's interesting, for sure," the latter remarked, "but you don't know what a youkai is?"
"Ah, no." Myrrh responded, unsure.
"Okay, that's weird. I don't know if you were born yesterday, or something, but…"
Myrrh decided to interrupt. "I'm actually over a thousand years old, plus a few hundred years. Manaketes just age very slowly."
Alice, who had been silent up to that point, spoke up again. "Something tells me you don't know where you are."
Myrrh nodded, pleased to have her plight understood.
Alice continued. "I thought as much, with you not knowing what a youkai is despite being one. You are in the Forest of Magic in Gensokyo, the Land of Fantasies. And a youkai is any sort of monster or being that feeds off of humans, whether it be actually eating them, or absorbing emotions, or what have you."
"Where is this in Magvel? I've never heard of it, but I don't leave the Darkling Woods much, either…"
Alice and Marisa gave Myrrh blank stares. "Magvel? Darkling Woods?"
Distress was starting to set in for the Manakete. "I'm not in Magvel anymore?! Then how did I get here while I was asleep?"
The other two looked at each other, before speaking in unison. "Yukari."
"Tell us about yourself, Myrrh." Alice had given everyone a cup of tea and was sipping her own.
"Well, I'm a Manakete, but I already said that… I was known as the Great Dragon where I came from. I look like a normal human, plus the wings, but I assume a completely draconic form when I tap into my Dragonstone. Umm… That's how I fight."
"Oh? You fight?"
"Yes, but only when I transform, not like this. I don't really like talking about it, though. Monsters are one thing, but having to kill actual people…"
There was silence in the room with the unexpected revelation. Alice and Marisa did not think for a moment that Myrrh would have such experiences, with how demure she was acting.
Marisa broke the silence. "Well, enough of that talk. You say you can fight? Let's have a spell card battle, right now! That way, there's no dying!"
Her attempt at lightening the mood earned her nothing but an unamused glare from Alice and a confused look from Myrrh.
"She doesn't know what spell cards are, Marisa. Do you want to fight without them and incur Reimu's wrath?"
"Hmph. Can't we just teach her?"
Myrrh began to tune out the conversation as it devolved to bickering between the two. There was already light outside, as she looked out a window.
In this world, she felt magic in the air, stronger than Magvel. She sensed incredible innate power from the two also in the room, and it astounded her. Not even Saleh felt like that.
Her attention shifted to the dolls performing menial tasks - cleaning surfaces, washing dishes, and the like. They moved so fluidly that they seemed to be alive, and she wondered how they were animated.
Strangely enough, while this world was different than her own, she did not feel entirely out of place. The other two seemed to accept her for what she was, and she appreciated that. That sort of feeling was not so easily come upon where she was from.
"Hello? Myrrh? Do you hear me?"
"Oh! I'm sorry." Myrrh snapped back to attention as Marisa waved a hand in front of her face.
"We were saying we should probably take you to the Hakurei Shrine. Figure Reimu might have a clue about how you got here, with her role with the Barrier and all. Plus, she knows Yukari better than the rest of us."
"Ah, alright, if you think that's best," Myrrh said, softly.
Reimu, as it turned out, was not in a good mood as Marisa, Alice, and Myrrh arrived at the shrine.
"Idiot fairies with their stupid pranks!"
The shrine maiden with her brown hair and red and white uniform was stomping over to where she knew the three fairies lived, a large tree that wasn't technically on the shrine grounds but was nevertheless close in proximity.
Before she could rush off though, she caught sight of the trio and sighed. "Not a good time… wait. Who's that?" Her expression changed from unenthused to inquisitive upon laying eyes on the Manakete.
"That's what we came to talk about," Alice said, clearing her throat. "This is Myrrh, a Manakete."
"Mana-what? I've never heard of that sort of youkai."
Marisa took a chance to inject herself into the conversation. "Yeah, it's pretty weird. She's kinda, like, half-human, I guess? She's all dragon, but looks like a person. She uses a rock to transform into a different form, but we haven't seen it yet. The interesting part is, she doesn't know what a youkai is, and she claims to be from a place called 'Magvel'. Must have drifted in from the Outside World, so I thought, but…"
Reimu had certainly taken an interest in the newcomer. "There's no way. Any youkai that's left in the Outside World has to know what they are. And I get a lot of people from around the world, thanks to Yukari, and none of them have mentioned a 'Magvel'. Is there some other realm like Makai that I haven't heard of?"
"Beats me. I just think it's interesting. Wonder if you noticed her coming in?"
"No, I didn't. Nothing has been out of the ordinary these past few days."
"Then doesn't it sound - "
"Yeah, like Yukari. She normally brings humans in, though. Not sure what she has planned for 'Myrrh', when she imports humans for food."
Reimu struck a thinking pose, and then paused. "Wait, shouldn't we ask her herself?"
All eyes turned to Myrrh and she suddenly felt put on the spot, exposed.
"Umm… I don't know how I got here. I was just asleep, while I was traveling with Saleh. When I woke up, I was in some woods that I didn't recognize. I heard someone's voice nearby, and I walked towards it and found a house. Alice and Marisa were inside."
Reimu sighed. "Sounds like a classic Yukari move, alright. I'll try and contact her, but you know how she is.
"Anyways, Myrrh, are you able to fight?"
Myrrh opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the louder Marisa. "She said she can, but only when she transforms. In this state, she can't. 'Course, she doesn't know what spell cards are, either."
Reimu rolled her eyes. 'Maybe let her describe what she can do, rather than putting words in her mouth."
Marisa tried to formulate a retort, but decided against it.
Myrrh shyly spoke again. "What she said is right. But, the Dragonstones I use for transformation are not durable, and run out of the magic power I draw on after so many uses. I don't know if this world has anything like this…" she showed her tool to the others. "...If it doesn't, I'll have to use it very sparingly, because it's the only one I have on me. I haven't used this one at all, so its power is at its maximum, luckily."
"Interesting," Reimu mused. "I wonder if she can use danmaku without transforming. She does have latent magic ability, even in this form. I can sense it."
Alice shook her head. "If what she said is true, her magic only activates once she's transformed. Even using danmaku would likely only be possible in her altered state."
Marisa looked at Alice with curiosity. "How come you know that about magic? I don't know anything about that."
Alice smirked as she glanced at the human magician. "When you spend your time studying various forms of magic instead of looting and thieving, you come across a wealth of knowledge. In this case, I have read case studies on similar people, who can only use magic when in a certain form. They weren't dragons, but my point stands."
Marisa grumbled to herself at this and crossed her arms, defeated.
"I'm sure this is all overwhelming for you, Myrrh," Reimu said, addressing the Manakete, "so we will try to help you fit in. There are a few rules here in Gensokyo that you'll have to know, until we figure out how to get you back to where you came from… if you'd still like to return, when we do."
"Alright, thanks." Myrrh was unsure of what she thought of the idea of staying in Gensokyo. It wasn't like she would be leaving much behind in Magvel, anyways. Saleh accompanied her at times, but mostly she stayed isolated in the Darkling Woods.
Her thinking was interrupted by a clicking sound she didn't recognize from anything she'd ever heard before. She turned to the source of the sound to find a tall black-haired woman whose clothes were mostly white..
"Aw, don't mind me. I'm just taking a few pictures, for now. Act natural!"
"Aya, not the time," Reimu chided with an exasperated look on her face.
"What? It's not every day you see a new youkai enter Gensokyo! This is newsworthy stuff if I've ever seen it!"
Alice sighed. "She's shy. You're going to overwhelm her with questions, and that wouldn't be good for her right now."
Myrrh remained silent. She did not really appreciate the others speaking for her, but at the same time, she was indeed a little anxious, meeting so many new people in rapid succession.
"Aww, I promise I'll be gentle." Aya smirked with glee.
Reimu gave out a sigh that was much louder than really necessary and walked away. "Okay, you've all held me long enough. Those three idiot fairies are really asking for it this time. They took every spare bow I own!"
"How many is that?" Aya asked.
"Oh, I've seen her collection!" Marisa said, giddy to be spoiling a secret of Reimu's. "She's got at least twenty of the exact same bow! Talk about dedication!"
Reimu glared daggers at Marisa before slouching and walking away.
"Anyways, Miss Newcomer, could I ask you a few questions about yourself?"
"I guess," Myrrh nodded.
"Wonderful! Alright, what's your name?"
"Myrrh."
"Uh huh. Do you have a surname, or…?"
Myrrh shook her head. "I don't. Not anymore."
"Not anymore? Is there a story here?"
"...I don't like talking about it."
"Well, you don't have to go too deep into it, but it would be very helpful if I had a second name for you."
Myrrh felt bothered by this Aya's prodding, and sought to change the topic quickly. "No. Just Myrrh. Nothing else to it."
Aya frowned a little but continued on with the interview, asking questions Myrrh had already answered before.
Reimu had returned with a large stack of bows that she clumsily tried to keep hidden from Alice, Marisa, and Myrrh, who had lingered at the shrine after Aya concluded her interview. She rushed inside as fast as she could and hurried back out to meet the rest of them.
"Umm, I'm hoping this won't be bothersome, Reimu," Alice began when she deemed Reimu was paying attention, "but I was hoping you could house Myrrh. I would take her on at my home, but there isn't much room for guests. I know you have youkai over all the time, so I figured it would be alright."
Reimu grunted, trying to sound frustrated, but it was obvious to Alice and Marisa that she was really indifferent, and maybe even a little hopeful she could get to know the Manakete better.
"That's a yes!" Marisa said, laughing.
Reimu waved her hand. "It's not as if there'll be any visitors for her to scare off, with my luck. Whatever."
Marisa and Alice looked at each other, and then turned to Myrrh.
"Alrighty! See ya later, Myrrh. Have fun with Reimu!" Marisa looked as exuberant as ever as she mounted her broomstick - Myrrh was still trying to figure out how that worked - and flew off. Alice sighed and followed.
"They're in a hurry," Reimu commented.
She turned to Myrrh and smiled. "Alright. I said I was going to teach you the rules, so let's get started. It's pretty simple and shouldn't take long, but we should probably still sit down. Follow me."
Myrrh figured whatever Reimu would have to say was important, so she silently abided by the suggestion and trailed Reimu into the Hakurei Shrine.
After a few minutes, Reimu brought some tea out for the two of them, and sat down across from Myrrh at a kotatsu.
"Alright. It is very important that you know the rules of Gensokyo, since you're stuck here for the time being. As a youkai, this place is made with your kind in mind, as a sanctuary. This means that not only are there all sorts of monsters, demons, and what have you, but also humans for them to control.
"Youkai need humans for their fear, so there's a village full of regular people here. However, they are off-limits. No youkai, or human for that matter, can kill them without being punished themselves.
"The punishment is equivalent to the act itself. That's the most important rule of Gensokyo for you. But when in doubt, you should obviously default to mercy."
Myrrh looked uncomfortable. "I don't think it'll be a problem…"
"Good. Here's the next part. Conflicts in Gensokyo are resolved with spell cards, which is a non-lethal form of attack that can be based on magic, faith, items, or other things. This is to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. Now, sometimes, we overlook these rules, but only in very special cases, such as true exterminations, or personal fights between Kaguya and Mokou. You don't have to worry about that."
Myrrh didn't seem to be struggling to absorb this information, so Reimu continued, mildly surprised she wasn't overwhelmed.
"Pretty much everything else is fair game, though. We are very relaxed with rules, really. People tend to solve their own problems around here. For instance, Marisa is a notorious thief. But if someone really wants their stuff back, they aren't going to go to some authority and ask them to handle it. If they're strong enough to take it back from Marisa, they'll go do that. If not, they can kiss their stuff goodbye. That's how it goes here."
"That's really different to where I'm from," Myrrh commented. "In Magvel, some places have really harsh laws. I heard that in Jehanna, the punishment for theft is having the person's hands cut off."
"Hmm…" Reimu thought for a moment. "That does seem very… restrictive. I mean, my shrine collapsed once, and the perpetrator got beaten in a spell card fight for it. But that's what she wanted! It was basically a slap on the wrist."
Myrrh couldn't help but giggle. "It sounds like you need to be a little stronger when you punish people. To stop them from doing anything wrong."
Reimu waved her hand and shook her head. "Too much work, and they're too stubborn to listen anyways. Not worth it, really."
"You remind me of someone I travelled with once. He was duty-bound to a princess, but he hated it and was very lazy. His name was Rennac."
"I'm not lazy! I'm just efficient. I don't spend my time on pointless endeavors."
Myrrh was about to speak again, but Reimu cut her off. "Anyways, that about covers the important stuff. I told you it would be short."
"Ah, but Reimu, you forgot to mention the most integral part of Gensokyo's continued existence. What an obvious error."
The room seemed to darken around Reimu and Myrrh, before coming to a near pitch black. Myrrh tried to open her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't produce a sound, nor could she move the rest of her body. She was stuck in place.
From the darkness, dozens of large, unblinking eyes with red pupils emerged. At first they seemed to be "looking" at random directions, but in an instant they all snapped to Myrrh.
"Our guest in this place deserves a fuller explanation, wouldn't you say?"
The voice surrounded Myrrh, and yet seemed focused entirely on her. She could not locate an origin to it.
The eyes seemed to be glowing now, and still their piercing gaze shot through the Manakete. She had seen many things in a millennium and two-hundred some years, but never before was she as unsettled as she was at that point.
"She has a right to know the thing that will never let her return to the place she came from."
All of the eyes started fading into the shadow, until there were only two left. They were even with each other, and unlike the others, they were a deeply disconcerting golden color.
The eyes reached out of the darkness, and with them came a face, and then a body. The shadows collapsed into the form of a woman in a long dress, with long blonde hair and a white mob cap.
"The Great Hakurei Barrier. My most splendorous creation. A way to make the perfect sanctuary… or the perfect prison. It is the basis of my Gensokyo, my world."
Reimu and Myrrh became unfrozen, and felt numb after the experience.
Reimu did not seem disoriented, though. "How long did it take you to come up with that entrance, Yukari?"
The woman batted her eyes at Reimu, as if she was pretending to be shocked at being ridiculed. "My, even all that didn't bother you one bit. You have an iron constitution, Reimu.
"You, on the other hand, are scared out of your wits. Poor thing." The woman produced a fan from nowhere and covered the lower half of her face with it, looking at Myrrh.
"Who are you?" Myrrh asked, bewildered.
"So forward! And here I thought you were the shy type. I am Yukari Yakumo, the one who brought you here."
Reimu looked irritated. "You have the displeasure of meeting her, Myrrh."
"Aww, you like me, don't you, Reimu?"
"More like I've known you long enough that I've learned to tolerate you."
Yukari did not respond; instead, she turned back to Myrrh. "I have brought you here, Myrrh. Do you have any questions for me?"
"...Why did you make me come here?"
Yukari shrugged and put away her fan. "What, should I not have? You aren't leaving much behind, as I understand it. It seemed interesting to see how one of your kind would fare in Gensokyo."
"How much do you know about me?" Myrrh could not help but start to feel angry at this person.
"A decent amount, I'd say. Likely more than anyone but you yourself."
"What?"
Yukari smiled knowingly. It was not a pleasant expression, though. "How about an example? Would that suffice?
"I saw your parents die. Your true ones, I mean. That was a long time ago for you, so you've moved on. But another, more recent death still rings in your ears, does it not?"
Myrrh tightly gripped her Dragonstone. This Yukari was seriously rubbing her the wrong way, and quickly.
"Yukari - " Reimu tried to interject, but Yukari was faster.
"That's no good, Myrrh. It wouldn't be pretty if you tried to fight me right now. You don't even have a spell card, so I'd be obligated to use my full strength as well."
"What does that mean? You don't look armed to me."
"Armed? Please." Yukari grinned in a manner befitting a psychopath. "I can manipulate boundaries. How difficult do you think it would be for me to alter your boundary of life and death? I'd imagine much easier than making an entire alternate world, which I believe I've said that I've done.
"So to show you that I don't actually want to do that, here's a gift. Give me your Dragonstone for a brief moment."
Myrrh was seemingly frozen in place in surprise and didn't show any signs of response, so Yukari sighed and opened one of her gap portals between the Great Dragon's hand and the gem it held.
The Dragonstone fell into the gap and out another one above Yukari's waiting palm. Myrrh, not aware of the trick, looked around madly for her weapon, but could not locate it until Yukari spoke.
"I said I can manipulate boundaries. Allow me to break this one."
Yukari closed her eyes for a moment, and the Dragonstone began glowing, nearly blinding its owner. After several seconds, the light waned and Yukari handed it back to Myrrh.
"You can now use this Dragonstone infinitely, as I have eliminated the limits of its magical power. Take this as a sign of goodwill."
Myrrh weighed the stone in her hands, trying to identify what all had changed. She looked up to ask, but found that her benefactor had vanished.
Reimu sighed. "Looks like your sanity survived your first encounter with Yukari. Lucky you."
Myrrh had more questions than she could put into words.
"She's a bit of a mastermind. It's impossible to tell what she's planning, so it's useless to even think about it. I've given up on trying to make sense of her actions, and you should too."
"You know her?"
"Unwillingly. I confronted her over a problem she caused, and then she assisted me a few times in resolving separate incidents. I wouldn't call us friends, though. She does as she pleases with anyone she wants, including me. Everything and everyone is part of a plan to her, including me."
"So is she good, or evil?"
Reimu laughed a little to herself at Myrrh's question. "You shouldn't think in such broad terms of 'good' and 'evil' in Gensokyo. Nobody is inherently either. Except Seija, but she's always the opposite of how things normally go. It's her nature, or whatever.
"People here are as good or bad as you perceive them to be. To me, Yukari acts in the interest of this place, so while annoying, I'd consider her a positive force. However, if you asked, say, Eirin? She'd probably tell you Yukari sticks her nose into too many places it doesn't belong."
"What about you?"
Reimu considered this for a moment. "I think most people would say I'm a good person. The villagers seem to have a lower opinion of me, though, or else they'd come here more often."
Myrrh didn't have anything else to say, and she found herself a little tired. It was only natural; anyone would feel a bit overwhelmed at waking up in another world and meeting some of its crazier denizens.
"Okay… I'm a little tired. Do you have somewhere to sleep?"
Reimu shook her head. "I don't have a bed, if that's what you mean. You can always sleep where you are, though."
"Okay. I'm used to sleeping in uncomfortable places, so I don't care either way."
Myrrh shifted so she was laying down instead of sitting, and began to let herself drift to sleep. Reimu smiled at the girl as she did so.
She awoke to a conversation between Reimu and a guest.
She was very tall, and had pink hair. One of her arms was wrapped in bandages or something similar.
She groggily listened to their conversation, but was too tired to focus on the specific things they were saying.
The general direction of the conversation seemed to be Myrrh herself. She picked out a few things, but the details eluded her. There was something about heaven, and then a mention of another dragon.
Neither seemed to be aware Myrrh was awake, and she was still tired, so she was content to maintain her appearance of rest to hear the talk of her.
Reimu seemed to be responding to a question from the other one. "I could figure out a way."
"It's always about that with you. Here you have a divine being, and you're going to use her as a cheap attraction for a few days?"
"That's not what I mean!"
"I say she should be held in the same regard as Aunn. She's likely a sort of protective deity; dragons are representative of the gods, after all. It would be wrong to try to use her for such… worldly things."
"Are you saying she's a divine blessing, or something?"
"Perhaps. I don't know what you've done to deserve that, though."
"Hello? How about taking on a god of poverty and misfortune because nobody else would? Even though it made my situation harder?"
The pink-haired one thought for a moment. "I don't think it's a reward, then. You didn't actually choose to house her, remember? So you didn't do anything good intentionally. Besides, wouldn't the residual of her ability still exist here? So you shouldn't be getting any good fortune."
Myrrh didn't really catch the flow of the conversation very well, because she didn't understand half of what the two were alluding to. She did know it was mostly about her.
Uncomfortable, she shifted in her position, trying to be subtle about it. However, the pink-haired one still noticed.
"Ah, she's awake."
Reimu looked at Myrrh, who had realized she was exposed. The Manakete slowly rose to a seated position, studying the tall pink-haired woman.
"Hello. I am Kasen Ibaraki. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Myrrh."
"Umm… me too."
"I'm a hermit residing on Youkai Mountain, and a friend and ally of Reimu's."
Reimu nodded. "Good with animals, too. I think you'll like her, even if she gets on my nerves sometimes."
"So, a Manakete, hmm? I've never heard of that title before. I'm not unaware of the concept transforming dragons, but not quite like you. To think I'd ever see one? I wouldn't have believed it."
"Oh. Are you a human?"
"Yes. Why?" Kasen said after a slight pause.
"You aren't afraid of me?"
"No…? Why should I be?" Kasen was very confused by the questions. "I have a pet dragon, you know. It's very young, but intelligent. I can't imagine you being any more fearsome than it."
Now, Myrrh seemed to be… angry? "A pet dragon? How could you even do that?!"
Kasen and Reimu both were taken aback by Myrrh's outburst.
"Dragons are monsters, but we think too! Would you have a human for a pet? Would you have me as a pet?"
Kasen shook her head, slowly. "Koutei is young, and acts like a wild animal, tamed. It isn't mature enough to actually be divine yet. If it were, I wouldn't be able to control it."
Myrrh looked disgusted. She got out of her seated position and walked up to Kasen, glaring.
"What makes you think you can do that? 'Control' a dragon? Is it a slave to you?"
"Well, it - "
"Let me tell you something about controlling dragons. After my parents died, another Manakete named Morva adopted me as his daughter. I loved him, and he loved me. But there was a war that I had to fight in, and so did he. He was - he was killed by the other side and then reanimated using dark magic as a zombie dragon, as a slave!" Myrrh was starting to cry as she yelled at Kasen, as loudly as she could. "They killed my dad, and used him like a tool after he died! And guess who had to fight him?
"It was me! I had to fight my own dead father! How's that for controlling dragons?"
Myrrh, now completely sobbing and red in the face, gave a glance to Reimu and then ran out of the shrine, head in her hands.
Kasen looked extremely guilty, and Reimu had a shocked expression. Neither knew what they should do.
"Umm… I think I should talk to her," Reimu said, before rushing after Myrrh.
Kasen was left staring at the exit, realizing she had made a mistake, a lapse in judgement.
The Great Dragon was nowhere to be found.
Reimu had searched in an area around the shrine, but found no trace of the Manakete. She couldn't be allowed to wander; she didn't have a spell card yet, after all, even if she was a youkai. She could either be hurt by some malevolent being, or she herself could cause damage somewhere. None of the possibilities sounded good to Reimu.
Therefore, Reimu was in a slight state of panic. The young dragon had to be found, but her location was a mystery.
Reimu, with no other options, retreated to the Hakurei Shrine. Kasen was no longer there.
Dragons, she thought, are incredibly powerful beings. More powerful than any vampire, any tengu, any oni. Dragons are on a level of existence equivalent to gods as bringers of wisdom, but also representative of strength. Even one as clueless of herself as Myrrh could have such power. That was precisely what made the situation delicate; she didn't know what she was capable of in this new world to her. Reimu had a foreboding sense of dread.
"Let's see… I've been in this situation before, right?"
Reimu was pacing the floor of her home, a hand on her chin in a contemplative pose.
"With Kosuzu. But she just came to us in the end, so that's not helpful."
She sat down on the floor and closed her eyes in concentration.
"...Wait. Didn't Mamizou send her tanuki to look for Kosuzu? And Aya published her picture in the…! That's it!"
Reimu jolted out of her position, and flew out the door in the direction of Youkai Mountain.
There was a knock at the door.
"Scram! I'm editing, I need to concentrate!"
The knocks became louder.
"For the love of…! This is the fourth time you've interrupted me this month, Momiji!"
The writer of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, Aya Shameimaru, sighed and pushed herself away from the desk. She stormed over to the door and practically ripped it open.
Momiji looked at Aya, unamused, and rolled her eyes. "I only interrupt you on Lord Tenma's orders. If you want to take your complaints to him, you can be my guest."
"Then what is it this time?"
"You have a guest. She was rather adamant about seeing you."
Aya sighed. "Whatever. Bring her in, lapdog."
Momiji snarled. "Don't call me that, birdbrain."
"Not doing yourself any favors when you're as blindly loyal as any hound. And that sound you just made!"
The guest cleared their throat, and Momiji almost dutifully stepped aside, all the while glaring at Aya.
"Aya, I have an urgent request for you." The Hakurei shrine maiden filled the space Momiji just stood, unfazed by the near-shouting match.
"...Ah! Reimu. What a pleasant surprise."
"Let's skip the formalities. I need you to publish a missing persons segment in your rag."
"'Rag'?! Bunbunmaru is - "
"I did say 'urgent', right?"
Aya crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine."
"Myrrh has gone missing and I can't find her. She needs to be located as soon as possible. Who knows what could happen to her… or what she could do. Hopefully your information network can help me out."
"Myrrh, the dragon girl? Already?"
"Yes. Kasen angered her, and she ran off in a fit of tears after yelling at the nag."
"That meek girl, yelling at Kasen? What about? Can I have a few details?"
"Not important! Are you going to help me, or what?" Reimu was quickly becoming more and more annoyed with the tengu reporter.
"I could never say no to you, Reimu."
"Good. I'll ignore the sarcasm."
Reimu turned around and took off.
Momiji started snickering. "I like that Reimu. She knows exactly how you need to be spoken to."
"Shut up, Momiji. You heard her; I have an important job to do."
The Manakete stumbled through the bamboo thicket, having lost all sense of direction.
Her tears were dried, and her movements were slowing. She was no longer running on emotion, and was now in a state of having enough sense to realize she had gotten herself hopelessly lost.
"I haven't snapped like that in…" She didn't continue to speak the thought. "This place is starting to get to me..."
Myrrh was doing her best to handle the stress of being transported to an unfamiliar world, but released it all at once. Now, without a hint as to where she was and nothing to help her, she realized her mistake.
She could tell the sky was darkening, and that did not bode well for her. Who knew what sorts of evil creatures lurked in this dense jungle of bamboo stalks?
Shadows were starting to cover the ground, leaving the long, thin shadows of bamboo reaching far across the earth in neat, parallel lines. To Myrrh, they seemed like prison bars.
She thought about what sorts of monsters she might run into in this natural labyrinth.
It was as if this very thought had actually summoned one, when she heard the slightest rustle of movement.
She swiftly turned to the source of the sound. Gripping her dragonstone, she inched closer to where she thought it came from.
There was nothing.
Another rustle from behind, and Myrrh again turned. She was fast enough to catch a streak of black and red rush away, but could not find it again.
More uneasy, she started backing away from the sound instead.
She felt something brush against her wing, and caught a glimpse of a long, red nail out of the corner of her eye.
Without thinking, Myrrh fully drew upon the power of Dragonstone, metamorphosing into a tremendous golden reptile.
Her stalker, previously rustling the bamboo with their movements, became noticeably silent, evidently ground to a halt.
Myrrh, the Great Dragon, bellowed a heaving challenge that echoed throughout the forest, shaking the very earth.