Koumajutsu
The Coming of Bagan
By C. L. Werner
Chapter II:
The Darkness Awakes
'But it is desperately important to my research that I be granted permission to enter the Litze Valley,' the man protested again. He was of average stature, wearing the sort of fashionable, yet sturdy, suit favored by executives and aristocrats alike when called upon to journey into harsh environs. One look at the man put the falsehood to such a classification. The man was slight of build, without the well-fed stature of a wealthy noble. His forehead was high, the hairline retreating from his powerful brow, hinting at an intelligence beyond the average minion of the corporate world. Again, the Englishman voiced his concerns.
'The Mariphasa Lumino Lupina is said to grow only on the slopes of that particular valley. There are no known examples of this rare blossom in any botanical garden in the world.' Dr. Wilfred Glendon sighed. 'I cannot understand your reasoning, your highness.'
'Please, Dr. Glendon,' the beautiful woman seated on the throne at the center of the room addressed the Briton. 'The Litze Valley is a sacred place to my people. Only the most holy men are allowed to enter it on their pilgrimages. For any but the most enlightened Buddhist monk, that region is taboo. I could not grant you permission to enter that valley, even if it were within my power to do so.' Princess Selina Salno smiled sadly. 'I am very sorry, but I must again deny your petition.'
Dr. Glendon turned away from the Princess, a cold fury burning in his chest. To come half-way around the world only to be denied at the last moment by the ridiculous superstitions of a backwards nation! It was impossible. Would science always be forced to advance at a snail's pace due to the incessant babblings of priests and monks? The near legendary 'moon flower' did exist, Glendon was certain of it. Proving that fact would establish himself as Europe's greatest botanist, and bring him the prestige he so rightfully deserved.
'If that is your final word on the matter,' the scientist said his tone not quite as deferential as it had been before. He began to walk from the Princess' audience chamber.
'Please, Dr. Glendon, do not think to circumvent my decree,' Princess Salno said, her tone almost pleading. 'I would not wish to have any unpleasantness occur between us.' Dr. Glendon turned around and snarled at the leader of the kingdom of Selgia.
'Or what? You will have me expelled from your country?' The tone in the Englishman's voice caused the two massive guards to finger their halberds and take a few steps forward. Glendon ignored them. 'That would look very good indeed to the thousands of tourists you hope to lure to this country!' Glendon did not wait for the royal sovereign of the tiny Himalayan nation to respond, but stomped from the lavish chamber.
A few hours later found Dr. Wilfred Glendon seated at a table inside a dingy Selgian tavern. The place stank of sweat, animals and unwashed humanity. Not for the first time, the scientist kicked at a roaming goat that strayed too near his table. He cursed sullenly at the pacifist nature of the Hindus who formed a portion of Selgia's populace. At least they could have the decency to keep their livestock out of the buildings.
'So she will not change her position?' came the moderated voice of the man seated to Glendon's right. Like Glendon, he wore a simple but sturdy suit, although he had a more practical parka over the proper clothing. The man's face was sunken, somewhat gaunt, and his hair was close-cropped. Soft blue eyes gleamed from above the other Englishman's pronounced cheekbones.
'No, Dr. Rollason, Princess Salno is not going to grant us permission to make the climb. She is worried about our British feet defiling their taboo valley,' Dr. Glendon sneered sullenly, sipping the tepid beer in the clay bowl before him.
'Aw, what do we need her permission for anyway?' groused Glendon's other companion. Large, massive, wearing military fatigues and heavy hiking boots, the other man was a marked contrast to the other Westerners. His accent was American, his heavy face full and weather-beaten. Tom Friend had never departed the Far East following the war in Vietnam, becoming many things in many lands. Just now, he was a professional explorer.
'Have you ever been to the Litze Valley?' inquired Dr. Glendon. 'It seems to me that we will need a guide if we are to reach the objective.'
'Yes, and those monks put the fear of God into your sherpas when the discovered where we were going,' Dr. John Rollason pointed out.
'I'll get them back,' declared Tom Friend. 'No superstitious nonsense will keep them away when I find them and tell them I've increased their pay. We'll have a guide to the Litze Valley.'
'Perhaps I can help,' a slight, nervous voice said. The three white men turned to see the man who had intruded upon their conversation. They saw a short Oriental, dressed in a heavy parka. A thin moustache grew upon the man's lip. The man bowed slightly, favoring the group with a broad, toothy smile. Dr. Glendon examined the man closely. Japanese, he decided. A shorter figure, a boy to judge by the slender build stood beside the Japanese man. The companion was also Oriental, though not Japanese. Nor a sherpa, Glendon decided. Perhaps Thai or Chinese.
'You know where we can find a guide to the Litze Valley?' Dr. Glendon inquired.
'Indeed, I believe that I do,' the Japanese answered, sitting down at the table. 'My name is Dr. Yogami, and I am also seeking to travel to the Litze Valley.'
'You also seek the Marisphasa?' Dr. Glendon said suspiciously, envisioning Dr. Yogami stealing his discovery out from under him.
'No, indeed,' the Japanese smiled, bowing again. 'I believe that the Litze Valley holds a very different legend within it. You have perhaps heard of the legendary city of Shangri-la?'
'The city of paradise?' scoffed Tom Friend. 'But that's just a myth!'
'Perhaps, but so too is this flower that you seek,' countered Yogami, his voice calm and even.
'If you do know of a guide, why have you not already mounted an expedition to the valley?' asked Dr. Glendon, still suspicious.
'I can indeed locate a guide, but I cannot find enough porters to carry the necessary gear to ensure the success of such a climb.' Dr. Yogami spread his hands out. 'It seems few are willing to risk the taboo. Then I saw you men and heard you discussing the valley. Certainly between the five of us we can distribute enough provisions for the journey?'
Dr. Glendon thought about this for a moment and then nodded. 'Very well, Yogami, I accept your proposal. Lead us to this guide of yours.'
'Preposterous!' shouted Defense Minister Segawa, shaking his head in disbelief. 'I cannot believe we are listening to this.'
'May I remind you that the Emperor himself called this meeting,' the Prime Minister of Japan softly scolded his comrade's outburst. 'It is our duty to hear Master Hoichi out.'
'I for one, would like to hear the rest of this fascinating fable,' sneered CCI Chief Katagiri. The newly formed Crisis Control Intelligence was an arm of the Japanese government designed to co-ordinate defense, evacuation, relief and re-building efforts in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise. The young politician oozed confidence and pride at his appointment to the powerful position as the head of CCI.
Unperturbed by the disbelieving faces surrounding him, the small man standing within the semi-circle table picked up his account. Already, Hoichi had related the history of Tokyo's shadowy war against the necromancer Kato. It was obvious that no one in the group had believed a word of it. Now, Hoichi had an even more impossible thing for the leaders of Japan to accept.
'I have been informed by the Shaolin temple in Dairen what this demon intends. Kato stole from the temple an ancient artifact known as the heart of the dragon. With it, he intends to resurrect the ancient beast of destruction and death known to the ancients as Bagan.'
'Another giant monster?' Katagiri sighed. 'Don't we have enough real kaiju to worry about without inventing more?' A sharp look from the Prime Minister silenced the CCI chief.
'Bagan was the force that destroyed the civilization of the ancients, and nearly all life on the Earth. In those days, dragons still strode the Earth. They sought enlightenment, transcendence beyond the mortal coil. Most of them succeeded; slipping into a reality only the purest of spirits can enter. But the beast Bagan was unlike others of his kind. He sought even greater power, merging his soul with that of a powerful demon, consuming that hideous being's essence to make him the most powerful creature to ever stalk the world. But the power he so gained did not come without a price. The lust for death and destruction of the demon consumed Bagan. Instead of ascending like most of his kin, Bagan set about destroying the civilization of the ancients, reeking a terrible havoc upon the land. The dragon-demon destroyed everything, leaving no structure unleveled, letting not a single soul slip from his evil grasp. Bagan had become a harvester of death, feeding upon the souls of those he vanquished.'
'How was this terrible demon defeated?' Colonel Sho Kuroki asked, his voice straining to convey some measure of belief. Kuroki did not believe a word of Hoichi's story, but it was his duty to listen to the old man.
'There were powers opposed to Bagan,' Hoichi answered, nodding at the commander of KNIFE. 'Seven great guardians of life, of the ancients and even of the Earth herself joined forces to defeat the terrible monster. The battle was fierce and shook the world to its core, consuming the ancient lands beneath the waves, wiping almost all trace of the ancients from the world. The battle was costly, four of the seven perished in the struggle, their fallen essences feeding the awful demon-soul within Bagan. But before the horrible beast could fully absorb that power, he was beaten. Bagan's power, his profane, demonic essence was placed within five great gemstones and hidden in sacred places within the Earth by the few surviving ancients. The monster's body was likewise hidden, sealed within a glacier of ice.'
'Then this Bagan is dead, even if your tale is true,' observed General Nakata, newly appointed commander of the JSDF.
'Yes, but as we all know, ''That is not dead which can eternal lie", pointed out Ryu Yamamoto, the head of a division known as the Odaka Foundation. It was designed to investigate religious cults and certain strange happenings. Of all those present, Yamamoto had been the most attentive and the one man in the room most sympathetic to what Hoichi was saying.
'Indeed,' Hoichi affirmed. 'Bagan is death itself. Death cannot ever die. So too, it is with its embodiment. Even for the seven ancient guardians, it was beyond their power to destroy Bagan, only neutralize and imprison him.'
'And you think this Kato Yasunori would release such a beast simply to destroy Tokyo?' asked Commander Aso of the UNGCC. Hoichi bowed to the old military officer.
'To destroy Tokyo, Kato would risk anything. Even the death of mankind.'
'This Bagan would actually destroy humanity?' the question came again from Colonel Kuroki.
'In the old Chinese texts, Bagan is described as a protector of the forest,' Hoichi replied. 'That is because he seemed to take vengeance upon those who destroyed forests and the tiny animals within them. But this is only a poor observation. Bagan feeds upon souls, and animals are without the nourishment he seeks. He needs the spirit of intelligent beings; creatures capable of good or evil to sustain his own need for ever greater power. Thus, he avoids forests and deserts, seeking out cities and the thousands of souls dwelling therein. Make no mistake, if Bagan is released, he will scour the earth of human life.'
There was silence for a long moment as the assembled leaders considered the wizard's words. It was Katagiri who finally broke that silence, rising from his seat.
'Thank you, master Hoichi,' Katagiri said, not quite managing to hide his sarcasm. 'You have given the CCI much to consider.
'You still do not see,' Hoichi sighed. The wizard reached inside his robe and withdrew a large white card. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the object flying toward Katagiri. There were gasps of astonishment as the card twisted and contorted in midair into a bird-like creature. The bird flew to the table, landing before the amazed Katagiri. Again, the shape-shifter twisted and contorted, becoming an albinistic simulacrum of the CCI chief. The tiny spirit bowed to Katagiri, then unraveled back into the shape of a simple sheet of paper.
'That is just a small display of what magic can do,' Hoichi said. 'I assure you, the black sorcery of Kato can accomplish feats that make my shiki seem mundane.'
For three days, the small group had been steadily climbing the slopes of the awe-inspiring mountains. The Himalayas were called the 'roof of the world' and so the imposing juggernauts were. The mountaineers were climbing through a heavy white fog just now. It still shocked Dr. Glendon to know that the fog was actually a low hanging cloud, a cloud that had fallen upon the mountainside. The sights and experiences of the climb had amazed the British scientist. It was an experience worth having on its own, beyond even the lure of the legendary moon flower. Dr. Glendon could now understand how people could believe in something greater than man. Before the natural wonder of these mountains, the works of man were nothing.
Still, the climb had not been all wonder and awe. There had been mystery as well. Sinister shapes had been seen at night as they made camp, seemingly observing them from afar. There had been weird animal cries echoing in the night from far off peaks, reminding Dr. Glendon of another of the Himalayas' legends, the mythical abominable snowman, the yeti. Then there was Dr. Yogami and his Chinese servant. They had been pleasant enough when the group had been leaving the capital city of Selgia, but on the climb the two Orientals had become sullen and withdrawn, ignoring Dr. Rollason's best efforts to be sociable.
Finally, there was the guide Dr. Yogami had directed them to. He made even Yogami seem a social butterfly. The man never joined them at the fire, never spoke to anyone for more than to deliver a few terse directions in a thick and strangely accented voice. The man stank like a rotting goat and Dr. Glendon was forced to wonder if that might not be because of the man's lack of sanitation. He had not once seen him emerge even for an instant from the confines of the heavy furs he wore. A heavy yak-hide hood covered the man's head and face and even after three days of reasonably close contact with the man, Glendon could not swear what he looked like. A very enigmatic person, this Varga.
Glendon could see that Varga had come to a halt on the edge of the ridge up ahead. The guide made no motion with his arm for the group to advance, but everyone did so anyway. A thrill of expectancy gripped Dr. Glendon. Perhaps this was it; perhaps this was at last the entrance to the forbidden valley! Glendon hurried to join the strange guide.
'There,' Varga said, pointing a mittened hand downwards. 'There be what seek.' Glendon followed the pointing finger. Below, he could see a lush valley, filled with trees and a large lake. A great glacier enclosed one edge of the valley, while the yawning maw of a huge cave occupied the other. More amazing than any of these sights, however, was the startling image rising in the center of the valley. Towers, ziggurats, obelisks and buildings of shapes and designs that were beyond anything that Dr. Glendon had ever seen. They seemed to be ancient, yet lacked the decrepitude of unoccupied structures. For some strange reason, Glendon wondered if human hands had built the world he was now gazing upon.
'Shangri-la,' breathed Tom Friend under his breath, dumbstruck by the sight.
'It seems your myth is reality,' said Dr. Rollanson, turning to regard Dr. Yogami.
'Yes, Shangri-la,' declared Varga in his brutish, thick voice. 'You new home.'
Before any of the men could react to the guide's strange words, the rocks and snowbanks around them suddenly became alive with activity. Shapes, huge hulking figures nearly twice the size of men emerged from their places of concealment. The creatures were covered in dark gray hair, their arms powerful and longer than any human limb. Their faces were bestial, apelike, yet the eyes gleaming from either side of their broad muzzles were intelligent. The creatures surrounded the expedition, advancing slowly.
'Another legend,' Varga snorted in his broken Chinese. 'Yeti.' As he said this last part, the group's guide reached up and pulled back his hood revealing not the features of a sherpa but the hairy face of a yeti.
'My God!' shouted Dr. Rollason in horror.
'Not hurt,' Varga said, shaking his head. 'You no leave Shangri-la, but not hurt. Live here. Peace.' The other yeti began to stalk closer. 'Not leave. Shangri-la home now.'
The sound of hideous laughter brought the ape-like creatures to a halt. The shocked men turned to the source of the incongruous sound, finding it even more startling than the looming yeti and the distant Shangri-la. The laughter came from Dr. Yogami. As the men watched, the doctor's face became shrunken and corpse-like even as his stature grew. The man's parka and climbing equipment transformed into the green uniform of an Imperial Japanese army officer. Yogami's Chinese servant threw away 'his' cloak, revealing a lithe woman dressed in black, her body defying the snow and ice within the scant clothing that now encased it.
'You thought to imprison us here, to lead us into a trap,' Kato laughed. 'But instead you have lead me to my destiny.' The evil necromancer threw his hands open, dozens of black parchment cards flitting into the air and transforming into winged and beaked shapes. The tiny demons struck the surrounding yeti, slicing into their fur, staining the snow with their blood. The bestial cries of the injured snowmen was deafening from so near. Some of the hominids struggled forward, determined to come to grips with their enemy. Kato smiled, displaying his fangs. The sorcerer gestured with his hands, a wave of invisible force knocking the snowmen back. He repeated the gesture as Varga closed upon him from the right, knocking the guide down.
'No!' cried Dr. Rollason, crouching beside the injured Varga. 'They meant us no harm!' Kato sneered at the outraged botanist. Another blast of unholy power sent both Rollason and Varga toppling over the side of the ridge.
'We only need one,' Kato said to the Chinese witch at his side.
Fury on his face, Tom Friend lashed out at the triumphant necromancer. His fist contacted with the sorcerer's face. For his effort, the man was rewarded with a quick death. Crackling tendrils of energy snaked from the fingers of the Chinese woman, enveloping Friend's body and reducing him to a charred skeleton in a few moments. Dr. Glendon watched all of this transpire, rooted to the spot as though he had been turned to stone. Kato walked over to the stunned scientist. The necromancer's claw-like hand grasped Glendon's shoulder, pulling the man after Kato as the sorcerer strode down the narrow path that descended from the ridge to the valley floor. Behind the demon, the yeti continued to struggle against the swarm of small black spirits, their savage strength no match for the numberless horde. Kato ignored their cries of pain and frustration.
Kato released Dr. Glendon and the horrified man sank to his knees, almost reduced to a babbling wreck by the steady train of nightmare he had been forced to endure. First there had been the shock of finding Shangri-la, then the menacing appearance of the yeti, and finally, the demonic treachery of the man who had masqueraded as Dr. Yogami. On the path down into the valley, Glendon had seen again and again the awful power of the necromancer and his Chinese witch. Several times, yeti had attacked, trying to halt the demon's advance. Time and again, Kato had called upon his unholy sorcery to ward them off, lifting mammoth boulders into the air to crush them, or simply exploding their skulls with invisible blasts of force.
Now, they had reached the valley floor, some short distance from the enormous glacier. Glendon could see a shape through the ice, something titanic and monstrous. He tried to scramble away from the ice, but the Chinese witch placed her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to remain still. The evil woman licked her lips, clearly savoring the scientist's terror.
Kato reached for a leather bag slung from his belt and dumped its contents into his hand. An object the size of a human skull came into view. It was a huge sapphire, the blue gemstone cut into the perfect shape of a grinning dragon. The eerie artifact pulsed and throbbed with unnatural life. Kato smiled as he watched the object's beats increase, as if it sensed the thing within the glacier. The necromancer set the sapphire down, right at Glendon's feet. Then Kato made a gesture of his gloved hand slicing across his throat. At the same instant, invisible, inhuman hands obeyed, cutting Glendon's throat. The unholy object at his feet was covered in the man's blood, absorbing the liquid through its surface.
'The blood of innocence,' Kato said, his voice low and menacing. He looked at the Chinese witch. His companion's eyes grew wide with alarm, but she had no time to react before the necromancer had repeated the slicing gesture. Her blood sprayed across the pulsing sapphire.
'The blood of sin,' Kato snarled. The gemstone greedily drank the liquid, its beating growing ever more frenzied and rapid. Kato began to chant in an ancient and lost language, his words picking up speed to match the rapid beats of the sapphire.
A loud, horrendous roar shook the valley, causing snow to crash down the slopes in a series of avalanches. The sound was repeated as an enormous being emerged from the dark interior of the cavern. It was huge, easily sixty meters tall. Light gray fur covered much of its body; its huge barrel like chest was as wide as a four-lane highway. Jaws that could devour a city bus in one bite jutted from an ape-like face. Keen, intelligent eyes burned with outrage from beside the monster's widely flared nose. It was a huge creature, a monster of monsters, one of the yeti grown to impossible size. A thousand years of meditation and transcendence had allowed one of the yetis to evolve into this creature, the Great Watchika. It was a sacred title, and a holy duty that caused the yeti to forsake kinship with his own kind, for it was the Great Watchika's task to guard the icy prison of Bagan and see that the demon-dragon's sleep was never disturbed.
The Great Watchika roared again, crossing the valley in huge, lumbering steps. But the source of his rage paid the oncoming guardian no notice, keeping his mind instead on completing his profane ritual. The Watchika was nearly upon the blaspheming sorcerer when the ritual was complete.
A sound like the shattering of the sky drowned out the continuing rage of the Watchika. The giant yeti turned his eyes from the green-garbed necromancer and focused them instead upon the mammoth crack that had appeared in the surface of the glacier, vile smoke pouring from the fissure, carrying with it a stench of death and decay.
'Accept the first element, regain the waters and know life once more,' Kato gasped, watching as the sapphire's surface rapidly disintegrated into a pool of water.
A deep rumbling shriek echoed across the valley as the icy surface of the glacier exploded outwards. Enormous chunks of ice were thrown across the valley, some of them crashing into the buildings and streets of Shangri-la, plunging the legendary city's generations of yeti and human inhabitants into even greater terror. A dark, frosty mist engulfed the ruins of the glacier. As the mist cleared, even Kato stared in wonder upon the being that stood revealed.
It was even larger than the Great Watchika, a massive creature that towered eighty meters above the land. Its body was thick and stocky, great armored plates encasing the reptilian flesh beneath. The monster's arms were long and bulging with muscle, each hand terminating in savage claws. The monster's long tail was almost as massive as his body, every inch of its upper surface covered in the same gray-hued armored plates, protecting the darker flesh beneath. The tip of the tail sported a tuft of hair, the only trace of such on the brute's massive form. Two columns of bony growth grew out of the monster's shoulders. Between those shoulders, a thick neck jutted forward. Perched atop the pillar of armored flesh was an evil visage, a reptilian head with monstrous, crocodile-like jaws. Two small horns curled away from the monster's head, like the horns of a ram, protecting the dragon's neck. A third, even more massive horn protruded from the beast's nose, like a huge bayonet. Yellow, serpent-like eyes glared from the pits of the monster's face as, for the first time in millennia, Bagan glared at the world.
The newly risen demon dragon uttered his gruesome grunt-like bellow, displaying his set of sword-like fangs. The Watchika did not await any further action upon the demon's part, but with a roar of fury, hurled himself at the dragon. The Watchika's tremendous weight crashed into Bagan with all the effect of a fly impacting against a stone wall. Unfazed, Bagan snarled at his supposed jailer. The Watchika slammed his fist into Bagan's throat, then wrapped a huge hairy arm about the demon's neck, trying to force the dragon back into the glacier. The Watchika opened his own maw, a gout of icy, freezing wind blasting into Bagan's body. By the slowest and slightest of degrees, the guardian was managing to push the still disoriented demon back into the ruined glacier, the giant yeti's frozen breath beginning to repair the fissure. Never had the Great Watchika been called upon to fulfill his duty, but he was determined to prevent the demon's escape.
With a brutal grunt of anger, Bagan dipped his head, digging into the Watchika's shoulder with his huge nasal horn. The Watchika screamed in agony, releasing his foe as his dark blood froze upon the snow-laden ground. Before the Great Watchika could recover, Bagan's claws tore a series of trenches into the Watchika's chest. The Watchika scrambled away from his advancing foe, ripping boulders from the ground to hurl at Bagan. Like the Watchika, the boulder's impacted harmlessly against the dragon's massive body. Unperturbed, Bagan stomped forward, his huge feet pounding impact craters wherever he stepped.
The Watchika sent another blast of icy breath engulfing the demon. Armored eyelids snapped closed as frost formed all across the monster's body. Bagan roared again as his eyes snapped open once more. With a burst of speed, the dragon closed upon the retreating Watchika. Clawed hands dug into the Great Watchika's throat. Blood bubbled from the terrible wound and the Watchika's screams shredded the air. Still, the demon would not be denied. By degrees, the screaming grew fainter; the Watchika's furious hammering of Bagan's body with his giant fists became less and less. Then, with a savage tug, Bagan tore the giant yeti's head from his body. Blood fountained into the sky as the decapitated body crashed to earth. Bagan turned the head in his claws so that the fading eyes could see its own corpse, before hurling the object away with a contemptuous gesture.
With a roar of triumph, Bagan stomped onwards, crushing the carcass of the Great Watchika beneath his enormous feet. Ahead of him was the city of Shangri-la and the souls it contained.
Kato Yasunori watched Bagan despoil the city. The dragon would allow nothing to escape, beginning its rampage by crumbling the perimeter of the city, then slowly advancing through the ring of rubble to devastate the innards of the city with all the care of a man peeling an onion.
A smiled grew upon the demon's face. Soon, he would be witness to this sight again. Only the city would be different. The hours of Tokyo were now few indeed.