Chapter 3
High in a tree, he overlooked the destruction and devastation left by some unknown force. The small village that once was peaceful and uneventful now lay in ruin. Cottages were burned, trees were knocked over and bodies of villagers and flock animals were everywhere. Some bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. Others were burned to a charred skeleton. There were no survivors save a couple badly injured sheep. Whatever had caused this did it without so much as a warning and left without a trace. One would think that it was an army, but by the looks of the injuries on some of the bodies, it was a giant tiger or something similar. But then, where did the fire come from? And why was there no survivors?
Chichiri shook his head in total helplessness. This was the third village this week that he had found in this condition. He went to Taiitsukun after the first village was destroyed but she had little to offer. For the first time, in the length of time he had known her, she had no idea what was going on. She was furiously trying to find the cause but was coming up with nothing. When she reviewed her history recordings all that was visible of the rampage was a large flame-like entity that moved about the village. She knew that what ever it was, it was not flame-like. Something about it interfered with her powers and gave her false images. The only conclusion she could come to, was that it was a demon of some sort, though she had never encountered anything like it before. Her lack of answers was frightening to him.
As Chichiri started toward his current dwelling, he turned all the facts he had gathered over in his head trying to come up with some explanation. The fact that he did not have much to turn over was not helping. He had sent word to Tasuki asking him if he had seen anything or heard anything only to hear that nothing was wrong, or out of the ordinary. Whatever was causing this, was staying in this part of the county. Chichiri decided that it was time to see if Taiitsukun had come up with anything new.
Taking his kasa in his hand, he started to chant the words that would take him to Mount Taikyoku when he was interrupted by a flash of red light in the distance. Hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, he quickly headed towards it. With his kasa in one hand and his staff in the other he made his way through the trees and shrubs towards what he hoped wasn't Miaka. The last thing he needed right now was to worry about protecting her from this unknown danger. Though, part of him was hoping it was her. Not only could be able to shed some light on this mystery, she would also be some welcome company to him. But in his mind, the latter reason did not outweigh the former reason and he was dreading what he would find.
Sure enough, as he neared the spot where he saw the light, he found the young girl lying in a heap on the ground, unmoving. Chichiri quickly inspected Miaka and found that she was alive, but unconscious. She looked to be unharmed but he wanted to be sure. So he put his Kasa on his head and quickly gathered the girl into his arms. After reciting the words to the teleportation spell, he found himself standing in the palace of Taiitsukun.
While he was still holding Miaka, he placed his staff to one side and took her to one of the few bedrooms that were available for guests. Immediately after placing Miaka down in the bed, one of the Nyan-Nyans popped out of thin air and hugged Chichiri, nearly strangling him.
"Its Chichiri!!" She squealed. Almost instantaneously Nyan-Nyans seemed to be coming out of the wood work wanting to see there close friend and give him their greetings. Chichiri was happy to see them but soon wanted to crawl into the wood work as they were making a big fuss over his being there. As if he didn't come there constantly. As he was about to scream at the sound of bubbling Nyan Nyans, Taiitsukun appeared out of nowhere and nearly went berserk.
"SILENCE!!!!" she roared. The room seemed to freeze. Taiitsukun gave a disapproving look to the overly excited girls. Sheepishly, the Nyan-Nyans slowly disappeared back into the thin air they came out of. All but two. Taiitsukun gave an exasperated sigh and Chichiri relaxed and smoothed his clothes back out. The old creator looked at the still form of Miaka and slowly shook her head. That girl just had to show up every time something went wrong. She started to wonder if there was a connection there, but after seeing the look on Chichiri, decided there would be time to ponder on the later.
"Nyan-Nyan, see to the girl," Taiitsukun commanded. After they responded with an excited, high-pitched "Hai!" the Nyan-Nyans set to work on Miaka and didn't seem to notice Taiitsukun and Chichiri leaving the room.
"I know what you came here for," she remarked as they walked down the hall. Or, actually, he walked and she floated. Chichiri silently waited for her to continue. He was bracing himself for what he knew she was going to say.
"I've been looking into the histories pretty intensely and I've noticed something very strange."
Chichiri nearly fell over, she actually found something? He had expected her to be as empty handed as before. He knew he couldn't expect too much, but it was certainly more than he had hoped for.
"It seems there was a burst of energy shortly before that thing started reeking havoc. The source of the energy is from a level of magic I have never seen before. That magic is very powerful, and very unstable. I suspect that the source of it is from another world."
"Do you think it could be Miaka's world?" Chichiri asked.
"No, I know it isn't. I've been searching through her world and I have not found anything that even comes close to that level of power. You see, Miaka's world is the same as this one. It is this world's future. Power like that does not just appear. If it exists on a world, it has always existed there. It just takes a person to be able to harness that power and utilize it. No, that power didn't come from our world, it came from somewhere else. The question is where."
After finishing her explanation, they arrived at Taiitsukun's main viewing room and she showed Chichiri exactly what she was talking about. As the picture came up, there was nothing but a calm forest scene. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But all at once, a flash of black light came out of nowhere almost like an explosion. Then, there sat a globe of darkness. No light could penetrate it. It looked like a void of light. As Chichiri look more closely at it, he noticed a strange black figure jump out of the globe and disappear into the trees. The figure moved with lightning speed and was gone as soon as he appeared. He turned his attention back to the globe as it slowly dissipated. There stood within it, that strange flame-like entity. Just sitting there. Then, as if it just remembered itself, took off at an even faster speed in the direction of the first figure. Then, there was nothing again. Chichiri just stared at the screen for a minute, not quite believing what he had just seen. He got an odd feeling when he saw the fist figure, he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, it was just odd. But the feeling he got from the second figure cried evil. Taiitsukun was right, it had to be a demon, but he knew it was nothing like anything he was familiar with.
Taiitsukun watched the reactions play out on the face of the young man, knowing that by showing him this, she only raised more questions in his mind than she answered.
"Did you find anymore on that first figure?" he asked after a long period of silent deliberation.
"I've been looking for him, and still am. But he is obviously a master at hiding, since I haven't found anything yet."
He thought some more on it and then decided it wasn't going to accomplish anything. He thanked her for the information she gave him and then excused himself. He started heading back to the room where he had left Miaka, wanting to know how she was and why she was here.
High in a tree, he overlooked the destruction and devastation left by some unknown force. The small village that once was peaceful and uneventful now lay in ruin. Cottages were burned, trees were knocked over and bodies of villagers and flock animals were everywhere. Some bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. Others were burned to a charred skeleton. There were no survivors save a couple badly injured sheep. Whatever had caused this did it without so much as a warning and left without a trace. One would think that it was an army, but by the looks of the injuries on some of the bodies, it was a giant tiger or something similar. But then, where did the fire come from? And why was there no survivors?
Chichiri shook his head in total helplessness. This was the third village this week that he had found in this condition. He went to Taiitsukun after the first village was destroyed but she had little to offer. For the first time, in the length of time he had known her, she had no idea what was going on. She was furiously trying to find the cause but was coming up with nothing. When she reviewed her history recordings all that was visible of the rampage was a large flame-like entity that moved about the village. She knew that what ever it was, it was not flame-like. Something about it interfered with her powers and gave her false images. The only conclusion she could come to, was that it was a demon of some sort, though she had never encountered anything like it before. Her lack of answers was frightening to him.
As Chichiri started toward his current dwelling, he turned all the facts he had gathered over in his head trying to come up with some explanation. The fact that he did not have much to turn over was not helping. He had sent word to Tasuki asking him if he had seen anything or heard anything only to hear that nothing was wrong, or out of the ordinary. Whatever was causing this, was staying in this part of the county. Chichiri decided that it was time to see if Taiitsukun had come up with anything new.
Taking his kasa in his hand, he started to chant the words that would take him to Mount Taikyoku when he was interrupted by a flash of red light in the distance. Hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, he quickly headed towards it. With his kasa in one hand and his staff in the other he made his way through the trees and shrubs towards what he hoped wasn't Miaka. The last thing he needed right now was to worry about protecting her from this unknown danger. Though, part of him was hoping it was her. Not only could be able to shed some light on this mystery, she would also be some welcome company to him. But in his mind, the latter reason did not outweigh the former reason and he was dreading what he would find.
Sure enough, as he neared the spot where he saw the light, he found the young girl lying in a heap on the ground, unmoving. Chichiri quickly inspected Miaka and found that she was alive, but unconscious. She looked to be unharmed but he wanted to be sure. So he put his Kasa on his head and quickly gathered the girl into his arms. After reciting the words to the teleportation spell, he found himself standing in the palace of Taiitsukun.
While he was still holding Miaka, he placed his staff to one side and took her to one of the few bedrooms that were available for guests. Immediately after placing Miaka down in the bed, one of the Nyan-Nyans popped out of thin air and hugged Chichiri, nearly strangling him.
"Its Chichiri!!" She squealed. Almost instantaneously Nyan-Nyans seemed to be coming out of the wood work wanting to see there close friend and give him their greetings. Chichiri was happy to see them but soon wanted to crawl into the wood work as they were making a big fuss over his being there. As if he didn't come there constantly. As he was about to scream at the sound of bubbling Nyan Nyans, Taiitsukun appeared out of nowhere and nearly went berserk.
"SILENCE!!!!" she roared. The room seemed to freeze. Taiitsukun gave a disapproving look to the overly excited girls. Sheepishly, the Nyan-Nyans slowly disappeared back into the thin air they came out of. All but two. Taiitsukun gave an exasperated sigh and Chichiri relaxed and smoothed his clothes back out. The old creator looked at the still form of Miaka and slowly shook her head. That girl just had to show up every time something went wrong. She started to wonder if there was a connection there, but after seeing the look on Chichiri, decided there would be time to ponder on the later.
"Nyan-Nyan, see to the girl," Taiitsukun commanded. After they responded with an excited, high-pitched "Hai!" the Nyan-Nyans set to work on Miaka and didn't seem to notice Taiitsukun and Chichiri leaving the room.
"I know what you came here for," she remarked as they walked down the hall. Or, actually, he walked and she floated. Chichiri silently waited for her to continue. He was bracing himself for what he knew she was going to say.
"I've been looking into the histories pretty intensely and I've noticed something very strange."
Chichiri nearly fell over, she actually found something? He had expected her to be as empty handed as before. He knew he couldn't expect too much, but it was certainly more than he had hoped for.
"It seems there was a burst of energy shortly before that thing started reeking havoc. The source of the energy is from a level of magic I have never seen before. That magic is very powerful, and very unstable. I suspect that the source of it is from another world."
"Do you think it could be Miaka's world?" Chichiri asked.
"No, I know it isn't. I've been searching through her world and I have not found anything that even comes close to that level of power. You see, Miaka's world is the same as this one. It is this world's future. Power like that does not just appear. If it exists on a world, it has always existed there. It just takes a person to be able to harness that power and utilize it. No, that power didn't come from our world, it came from somewhere else. The question is where."
After finishing her explanation, they arrived at Taiitsukun's main viewing room and she showed Chichiri exactly what she was talking about. As the picture came up, there was nothing but a calm forest scene. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But all at once, a flash of black light came out of nowhere almost like an explosion. Then, there sat a globe of darkness. No light could penetrate it. It looked like a void of light. As Chichiri look more closely at it, he noticed a strange black figure jump out of the globe and disappear into the trees. The figure moved with lightning speed and was gone as soon as he appeared. He turned his attention back to the globe as it slowly dissipated. There stood within it, that strange flame-like entity. Just sitting there. Then, as if it just remembered itself, took off at an even faster speed in the direction of the first figure. Then, there was nothing again. Chichiri just stared at the screen for a minute, not quite believing what he had just seen. He got an odd feeling when he saw the fist figure, he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, it was just odd. But the feeling he got from the second figure cried evil. Taiitsukun was right, it had to be a demon, but he knew it was nothing like anything he was familiar with.
Taiitsukun watched the reactions play out on the face of the young man, knowing that by showing him this, she only raised more questions in his mind than she answered.
"Did you find anymore on that first figure?" he asked after a long period of silent deliberation.
"I've been looking for him, and still am. But he is obviously a master at hiding, since I haven't found anything yet."
He thought some more on it and then decided it wasn't going to accomplish anything. He thanked her for the information she gave him and then excused himself. He started heading back to the room where he had left Miaka, wanting to know how she was and why she was here.