Hungry Ghosts
- "So now the foolish bushi has buried his precious lady love and the wench has been deemed worthy to enter Yomi," Yosuki sneered.
- "So he has," Giro agreed. He was in his hybrid form now, a rat-headed man with a hairless tail, standing on his hind legs.
- "He defies the sight of a shadow samurai army, prevails in a fight against Kusatte Iru... and all for what? For keeping a promise to a puny mortal! For seeking atonement! How stupid can he be, how devoid of ambition?" the woman went on, obviously exasperated.
- "It is unwise to presume too much," Giro warned. "Our divinations can not learn the ways of his heart. We do know that he once was much different - perhaps that has a bearing in why we have a hard time understanding his motivations. You know the laws of the multiverse - the most exceptional beings make the most wicked and magnificent sinners, and commit the most courageous acts of nobility and honor - sometimes even trapped in the same body and lifetime."
The ageless beauty nodded impatiently. She gestured lazily, and conjured a shimmering portal. Through the portal Giro could observe a featureless plain of undulating organic matter. The ground was vile, festering and rotting. The sky was dusky red-yellow. Restless thunderclouds swirled and rolled. Insects, grotesque creatures, and half-incorporeal ghosts wandered about.
- "Gaki-do. Charming," he said dryly.
- "I know," Yosuki smiled. "But never mind the unaesthetic surroundings... my sanctuary is ready to be used, and I can create to you illusions rivaling all the beauty of Yomi, and more."
- "So. Yogenii Wan managed to destroy Kusatte Iru - and the death of the horselord khan will eventually bring peace to Shou Lung. That is... most unfortunate. However, the fighting is going on, and my armies are pressing forward. The question is will that be enough. Now the bushi and his filthy family are free to pester us again."
- "I have good news for you, then. The shackles holding the First Oni are shaking... he is awake, gathering power, and only the hope of the Empire and the army of the shiryo is keeping him bound. Even that will only last so long. There is only one way to stop him, only one route to the realm where this can happen... and soon it will be too late."
- "This Sarevok... would even he be brave enough to risk fighting the First Oni?" Giro asked suspiciously.
- "Perhaps not, if he knew that failure of honor of his soul will condemn him to eternal torment. After all, you said that he is driven by guilt... now, wouldn't this knowledge make him lose heart? If he believes that the evil of his past still defines him, he may believe he can't succeed."
She smiled wickedly. So beautiful, a cruel queen... but this was no time for such musings.
- "We did assume no-one knows about the secret passage under Shizushima... but then we did assume other things that didn't turn out as anticipated. We will do our foremost to prevent them even trying to fight the First Oni... it would be best if they would believe fighting the war in the spiritual realms is enough..." Giro mused.
- "I think," Yosuki said, "it is time to give Sarevok some bad, bad dreams." Her perfect white teeth shone in the semi-darkness.
Giro shook his head.
- "He will not be intimidated by words or illusions, Yosuki."
- "That is not what I had in mind, Giro. Really, sometimes you are such a... man," she smiled. "Tonight, when precious Sarevok enters Yume-do, he will have nasty, nasty visitors."
Giro sighed and held her. If they did not get to be the new Celestial Sister and Brother, stirring the raw magic and lands with a diamond spear and creating an empire of their liking, there really wasn't anything to live for.
Mei and Sarevok watched the darkening night. A white lantern with a red marking illuminated the patio they were sitting at.
- "You are now at much greater peace, Sarevok-san," Mei said and smiled.
- "That I am. More than ever, I think." The large warrior smiled, his glowing eyes fixing into the moths that were drawn to the light of the lantern and consumed.
- "Foolish creatures," he remarked, but Mei shook her head.
- "No. Jiki-kwa. They are a form of gaki, hungry ghosts," she said. "They are the spirits of people who set fires in their lifetime, either because of grave carelessness or malevolence, and this is their punishment. They hunger for fire, even though it consumes them, and then they return to Gaki-do to be reformed, to repeat the same process again."
- "And this forever?"
Again she shook her head emphatically.
- "Not forever. Once their punishment is over, they go to Meido, waiting to be reborn - or if there is no unfinished business, they get their original form back and pass to Yomi, to be with their ancestors."
- "I suppose there is certain justice in that. What about the other hungry ghosts?"
- "They all hunger for something in accordance with the sins in their lives. Very wicked ghost is shikko-gaki, for example - a samurai lord who didn't care about the suffering of his underlings. He hungers for human flesh and eats corpses, despised and feared by all. No-one knows all the gaki there is - some think that all insects are gaki."
Sarevok nodded, mesmerized.
- "It is late, Mei. Shall we retire?"
They went inside, still holding hands. At the door of Mei's room her eyes asked the question that needed no words.
- "I am not ready yet, Mei. But I really would like to sleep by your side," Sarevok said kindly.
So he wrapped his arm around the woman, enjoying the scent of tree bark and spices emanating from her, his lips on the tip of her slightly pointed ear, his hand cupped on the curve of her breast. Soon he would be ready...
