Balance
Several miles away from the village, I concentrated upon my essence and shimmered out of the visible spectrum. There was no need for me to frighten the village's inhabitants by assuming my visible form, and I also wanted to be as stealthy as possible. Resuming my earlier pace, I continued thinking about the little boy in blue. Who was he? How could he sense my essence? How could he sense the essences of the Mononoke?
The sun was setting behind the mountains as I topped the hill looking down on the village. It was medium-sized, organized in a crescent shape around a central well and patch of dirt – probably for town meetings and sparring practice, if the militarization of the town was anything to judge by –, and well-lit. A river quietly journeyed along the western edge of the town, and the remaining sides were protected by a semi-high wall patrolled by one or two sentries. The village seemed to be well-prepared for an attack if one should come, but the sprawling farms outside of the walls and the lack of heavy reinforcements showed that the town was currently at peace.
A sudden sparkle on a mountain to the north of the village caught my eye, and I saw a grandiose temple halfway up the slope. A series of smaller buildings ranged around the back of the temple was where the acolytes and priests most likely resided. Judging from the structure and ornamentation on the temple, it was a warrior's temple. The sparkle that had caught my attention came from a procession of young boys – all dressed in the same light blue uwangis and darker blue hakamas as the little boy from earlier – carrying large bells up the cobblestone path leading up to the temple. I was surprised and appalled that I had not heard the bells earlier; the two battles from earlier were beginning to take their toll, and I would need to find a safe place to rest and recover.
I paced around the rim of the valley in the direction of the temple, and by the time I peered through the foliage by the temple the procession of boys was approaching the doors. I sharpened my eyesight to better see the individual faces of the boys from where I was, and it was not long before I picked out a purple headscarf struggling to hold back silvery blonde hair and the unforgettable face that accompanied it. The boy was one of the smaller ones there, and he was near the back of the procession. The boys at the front were extremely muscular and – if their appearances were anything to judge by – about 16 years old. The younger ones were near the back, and no one seemed to be younger than 8. There were twenty boys in all.
I watched as the procession filed into the temple, and with my enhanced hearing I could hear the gentle scrape of bell racks on stone and the quiet murmuring of priests saying the evening incantations. After several moments the acolytes filed out a side door and dispersed to the cabins. Sneaking around the perimeter of the foliage of the mountain, I followed the boy with the headscarf to his cabin. Remaining in my invisible form, though I was tiring much more quickly trying to keep up my illusion, I listened outside of the window. I was soon able to pick out the boy's light voice from the three others in the cabin.
"I saw a man on the mountain today," he said. A slightly lower voice replied to him that there were many men who traversed the mountain.
"No, not a human man," he clarified. The boys in the cabin went still.
"He was dressed all in gold, he had this maroon sword decorated with many colors and a white bearded dragon at the hilt, and his eyes…they weren't like human eyes. They were all gold, to start with, and the pupils were black and slit-like, like a cat's. He also didn't feel like a human; he was like a star, something that interacts with us but is not part of our world."
"Have you told the Father about this?" a gravelly voice asked. Someone snorted in response.
"You remember what happened last time Aia went to the Father with stories like this," the first boy replied. The boys all snickered.
A sudden knock at the door reduced the boys to silence. A deep voice said, "Good night, boys. Pray to The Warrior to watch over you as you rest."
"Yes, Father," the boys chorused. The light in the window darkened as the lamp in the room was extinguished. The boys resumed conversing after some time, though this time it was in whispers and no longer concerning the boy Aia's experience from earlier.
I released my pent-up breath, realizing how tired I was. I resumed my visible form shakily and, leaning against the wall, sank down into a sitting position. The cold was beginning to irritate me, and I needed to find a place to recover for at least a whole day. Glancing all around me, I sped towards the foliage and travelled farther down the mountain in a westerly direction. Upon finding a small rocky cave, I crawled inside with several long leaves I had picked as I ran and rolled one into a headrest, laying four down to function as a mat. I pulled a vial out of my waistband and, pouring some of the crystals into my palm, sprinkled them in a circle around my resting area. Satisfied, I laid down on my makeshift mat and, draping the remaining leaves across my form, finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Sorry about the delay...this chapter did not want to be written! I get a feeling that the next chapter will be like that until I can get the story back to pace. Once again, feel free to review!