*Ack! I'm so sorry! I've been so busy with homework and the like that I forgot about this story... well, it would be a shame not to finish it, right? Anyway, here's the next installment, and I'd like to thank chiisuta, Ryuuko Megami, Chaoswing, and Geneweiss for the additional reviews. They mean a lot to me.*
Chapter 5- Gold And Glass
Kaonashi awakened to find that he could not open his eyes. He did not know how long he had been asleep, or why. All he could remember of the ordeal before was a man with a knife. His name was Atsuji, wasn't it? Was it all just a figment of his unpredictable subconscious? Was he captured for his murder? The murder... that man with the knife was the man he had murdered! It must have been a dream then, he reassured himself. It was then that he decided to take in his surroundings with what senses he had left, and to try to figure out how he could have ended up in such an improbable state. However, no sooner could he reason his situation, when he heard a voice chant something. Her words were soothing, her voice like the ambrosia of the Gods, angelic and delectable. Kaonashi could feel his eyelids slowly separate, as his eyes were finally able to take the first glance at his new locale. What he faced instilled a sense of terror that seemed took a stronghold of his soul...
He was surrounded by spirits, and not ordinary spirits, mind you. These weren't the kind he heard about in old wives' tales. These spirits were all comprised of a dark and dreary substance, and seemed to have their own language consisting of moans and groans and sighs... but the oddest of all about these creatures was the fact that they all wore masks. These masks were all diverse, from bland and crude to elaborate and beautifully crafted. To add to the macabre effect, the room was so condensed with these spirits that, aside from the wooden floor and ceiling, he couldn't tell much about the room or its contents. But even this was not what left him most unsettled... for in the midst of it all, stood the one being he feared most, despite the anger that being excited in him. For standing in the midst of the spirits, in a robe and circlet of gold and with eyes of slate, was Karochi. Immediately, Kaonashi's memory snapped, as did his mind...
"You demon! You DEMON! What have you done to me? What horrid curse have you laid upon me, you scandalous..."
"Quiet." Karochi snapped back. "Turn around and face the mirror."
"What sort of game..."
"Do as I say." It was at that moment that Kaonashi realized he should do as Karochi instructed him to, for the spirits around him seemed to be angered by his resistance. They were slowly closing in upon him, their masked eyes slanting. He made the choice quickly to obey orders and found himself face to face with the full-length oval mirror. At any other time before this, if he had turned around and faced this, he would've laughed and sworn it was a funhouse mirror, but his current situation changed this behavior fast.
In the mirror, he faced a spirit, just like the others. However, he was blacker and more dismal then all of the rest, his mask the crudest and ugliest of all. It was white and simply carved, with splinters and a complete lack of paint. The mask showed a face lined with cowardly fear... and he immediately looked to his hands to try to prove the reflection a falsehood. Unfortunately for him, it did otherwise. He turned back to Karochi, panic-stricken and terrified, and pleaded with her again,
"Please, Karochi! Don't do this to me..."
"GOLDEN EMPRESS Karochi to you, peasant. From here until the day you prove yourself, you shall learn what it means to be in a system where it is your words and actions that are your affluence, and not your... heritage." Her expression was firm. "Your fate cannot be erased, for you brought it upon yourself. Cease your sniveling, for it shall do you no good."
Kaonashi grew stern at this. "My father..."
"Your FATHER? Your mere mortal father? What can he do to save you now that you're dead?" Golden Empress Karochi made a soft grunting sound, that seemed to take on the shape of a laugh. However, her face was as stone as ever. "SENKO! I need you here now."
"Yes, Golden Empress?" An young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties stepped forward from the midst of the spirits. Her hair was a deep brown and it cascaded down a little ways past her shoulders. Her coal eyes were gentle and passive, and she had a soft, yet genuine smile on her face. She wore a circlet of glass, and her robe was of a white linen. "Have you the newest addition to Nagen?"
"Indeed. Show him the ways of our city, his place, his responsibility. Remember, he's not like us yet... the workings of his mind are still human."
"Yes." Senko turned to Kaonashi. "I am the Glass Empress Senko, and you must refer to me as this at all times. Golden Empress Karochi does not have this duty because she is of a higher purity level then I. It is my job, as the next in line to the Golden Empress, to show you around. Come along, then..."
"...And the rest of you may disperse. Go on, then! You've had your momentary break." After Karochi uttered those words, the masked spirits fled the room, revealing it to be made of wood and completely void of any type of furnishing. The only item in the room worth staring at was the rather ordinary looking door, and of course, the mirror. Karochi watched silently as Senko led the now passive Kaonashi out of the room and into the city that had destroyed him. Immediately, he noticed that he could hear the music no more... he turned to Senko.
"Se... I mean, Glass Empress Senko, why is there no music playing?" Another thought came to his mind. "And why do you Empress people not have masks?"
"You'll find out later. Anyway, I have much to tell you, and little time to do it." Senko marched further into the city, and as she marched, the buildings on the side of the streets grew less and less elaborate, until finally, she stopped in front of a colorless house of sticks and stone. "Here is where you will be working."
"Working? Now you listen here. I don't know what kind of delusion you're running here, but I'm getting out of it. There's no way I could be dead! No way..."
"I know it is rather hard to believe. I shall try to explain to you as best and as quickly as I can." She turned toward him, and started her story. "This city is Nagen. It was named after the great sorcerer Nagen (Who is now a great wind spirit), who founded this city in a time only the Diamond and Golden Empresses can remember."
"Diamond Empress? How many empresses do you have?"
"Only three. The value of their stone represents their level of purity. Our Diamond Empress, Miyae, is the true leader of us all. Karochi, Miyae's younger sister, is the second in command. When the Diamond Empress leaves, The Golden Empress will lead us. Then, when Karochi leaves, I will be in control."
"Wait a second, if you're all dead, how do you leave? I thought monarchies were for life... or 'death'."
"I'll get to that. Now, you see, this place is meant for the spirits who are, like you, No-Faces. They were constantly taunted and belittled by the others in the spirit world, because of their impurity. These impurities are greed. Greed does horrible things to the spirit, and if too much greed is acquired in a lifetime, in death, the spirit will resemble yours."
"But..."
"Honestly, so many questions! Can you not see I shall get to them when I have the time? Now, where was I... ah, yes! The sorcerer Nagen felt pity towards these greed-filled spirits, and decided to dedicate his life to cleansing them of their greed, and creating great spirits out of them. Nagen was his greatest project. Using his magic, he created a spell using music so that all greedy and decrepit spirits will find themselves at this very spot at the time of their death."
"So THAT was the music..."
"Yes. Now, the only way to get out of Nagen is to become completely pure from greed. Remember, the purer you are, the higher your rule. So, when Diamond Empress Miyae becomes completely purified, she shall... well... just disappear. We don't know exactly what happens to the spirits that are completely purified, but we know that their lives are infinitely better. So, we strive towards purity, so that one day, we shall disappear as well."
"Right now I feel like disappearing myself... I look so ugly! Is there any way I can shapeshift into a human or something, like you?"
"So vain... it's true that the purer you are, the more human you look, but none of us can, how you say, 'shapeshift'. No, you have to... erm, 'live' with your appearance, and learn to like it."
"But what if I don't want to like it?"
Senko shrugged. "Well, then you're miserable, I guess. Anyway, Atsuji will be informing you of your work. I must go now... the Kohaku River Spirit is coming to visit us soon. He helps fund Nagen..." Senko's cheeks turned a rose color at this time, and her dark eyes became shiny and wet. "He's quite the man." With that, she literally floated off, to leave Kaonashi alone with his thoughts, and his questions about what his "work" would be like...
*Once again, sorry for the delay in the update. Hopefully, it won't take as long to update with Chapter 6. Until then, sayonara!*
~Astaire
Chapter 5- Gold And Glass
Kaonashi awakened to find that he could not open his eyes. He did not know how long he had been asleep, or why. All he could remember of the ordeal before was a man with a knife. His name was Atsuji, wasn't it? Was it all just a figment of his unpredictable subconscious? Was he captured for his murder? The murder... that man with the knife was the man he had murdered! It must have been a dream then, he reassured himself. It was then that he decided to take in his surroundings with what senses he had left, and to try to figure out how he could have ended up in such an improbable state. However, no sooner could he reason his situation, when he heard a voice chant something. Her words were soothing, her voice like the ambrosia of the Gods, angelic and delectable. Kaonashi could feel his eyelids slowly separate, as his eyes were finally able to take the first glance at his new locale. What he faced instilled a sense of terror that seemed took a stronghold of his soul...
He was surrounded by spirits, and not ordinary spirits, mind you. These weren't the kind he heard about in old wives' tales. These spirits were all comprised of a dark and dreary substance, and seemed to have their own language consisting of moans and groans and sighs... but the oddest of all about these creatures was the fact that they all wore masks. These masks were all diverse, from bland and crude to elaborate and beautifully crafted. To add to the macabre effect, the room was so condensed with these spirits that, aside from the wooden floor and ceiling, he couldn't tell much about the room or its contents. But even this was not what left him most unsettled... for in the midst of it all, stood the one being he feared most, despite the anger that being excited in him. For standing in the midst of the spirits, in a robe and circlet of gold and with eyes of slate, was Karochi. Immediately, Kaonashi's memory snapped, as did his mind...
"You demon! You DEMON! What have you done to me? What horrid curse have you laid upon me, you scandalous..."
"Quiet." Karochi snapped back. "Turn around and face the mirror."
"What sort of game..."
"Do as I say." It was at that moment that Kaonashi realized he should do as Karochi instructed him to, for the spirits around him seemed to be angered by his resistance. They were slowly closing in upon him, their masked eyes slanting. He made the choice quickly to obey orders and found himself face to face with the full-length oval mirror. At any other time before this, if he had turned around and faced this, he would've laughed and sworn it was a funhouse mirror, but his current situation changed this behavior fast.
In the mirror, he faced a spirit, just like the others. However, he was blacker and more dismal then all of the rest, his mask the crudest and ugliest of all. It was white and simply carved, with splinters and a complete lack of paint. The mask showed a face lined with cowardly fear... and he immediately looked to his hands to try to prove the reflection a falsehood. Unfortunately for him, it did otherwise. He turned back to Karochi, panic-stricken and terrified, and pleaded with her again,
"Please, Karochi! Don't do this to me..."
"GOLDEN EMPRESS Karochi to you, peasant. From here until the day you prove yourself, you shall learn what it means to be in a system where it is your words and actions that are your affluence, and not your... heritage." Her expression was firm. "Your fate cannot be erased, for you brought it upon yourself. Cease your sniveling, for it shall do you no good."
Kaonashi grew stern at this. "My father..."
"Your FATHER? Your mere mortal father? What can he do to save you now that you're dead?" Golden Empress Karochi made a soft grunting sound, that seemed to take on the shape of a laugh. However, her face was as stone as ever. "SENKO! I need you here now."
"Yes, Golden Empress?" An young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties stepped forward from the midst of the spirits. Her hair was a deep brown and it cascaded down a little ways past her shoulders. Her coal eyes were gentle and passive, and she had a soft, yet genuine smile on her face. She wore a circlet of glass, and her robe was of a white linen. "Have you the newest addition to Nagen?"
"Indeed. Show him the ways of our city, his place, his responsibility. Remember, he's not like us yet... the workings of his mind are still human."
"Yes." Senko turned to Kaonashi. "I am the Glass Empress Senko, and you must refer to me as this at all times. Golden Empress Karochi does not have this duty because she is of a higher purity level then I. It is my job, as the next in line to the Golden Empress, to show you around. Come along, then..."
"...And the rest of you may disperse. Go on, then! You've had your momentary break." After Karochi uttered those words, the masked spirits fled the room, revealing it to be made of wood and completely void of any type of furnishing. The only item in the room worth staring at was the rather ordinary looking door, and of course, the mirror. Karochi watched silently as Senko led the now passive Kaonashi out of the room and into the city that had destroyed him. Immediately, he noticed that he could hear the music no more... he turned to Senko.
"Se... I mean, Glass Empress Senko, why is there no music playing?" Another thought came to his mind. "And why do you Empress people not have masks?"
"You'll find out later. Anyway, I have much to tell you, and little time to do it." Senko marched further into the city, and as she marched, the buildings on the side of the streets grew less and less elaborate, until finally, she stopped in front of a colorless house of sticks and stone. "Here is where you will be working."
"Working? Now you listen here. I don't know what kind of delusion you're running here, but I'm getting out of it. There's no way I could be dead! No way..."
"I know it is rather hard to believe. I shall try to explain to you as best and as quickly as I can." She turned toward him, and started her story. "This city is Nagen. It was named after the great sorcerer Nagen (Who is now a great wind spirit), who founded this city in a time only the Diamond and Golden Empresses can remember."
"Diamond Empress? How many empresses do you have?"
"Only three. The value of their stone represents their level of purity. Our Diamond Empress, Miyae, is the true leader of us all. Karochi, Miyae's younger sister, is the second in command. When the Diamond Empress leaves, The Golden Empress will lead us. Then, when Karochi leaves, I will be in control."
"Wait a second, if you're all dead, how do you leave? I thought monarchies were for life... or 'death'."
"I'll get to that. Now, you see, this place is meant for the spirits who are, like you, No-Faces. They were constantly taunted and belittled by the others in the spirit world, because of their impurity. These impurities are greed. Greed does horrible things to the spirit, and if too much greed is acquired in a lifetime, in death, the spirit will resemble yours."
"But..."
"Honestly, so many questions! Can you not see I shall get to them when I have the time? Now, where was I... ah, yes! The sorcerer Nagen felt pity towards these greed-filled spirits, and decided to dedicate his life to cleansing them of their greed, and creating great spirits out of them. Nagen was his greatest project. Using his magic, he created a spell using music so that all greedy and decrepit spirits will find themselves at this very spot at the time of their death."
"So THAT was the music..."
"Yes. Now, the only way to get out of Nagen is to become completely pure from greed. Remember, the purer you are, the higher your rule. So, when Diamond Empress Miyae becomes completely purified, she shall... well... just disappear. We don't know exactly what happens to the spirits that are completely purified, but we know that their lives are infinitely better. So, we strive towards purity, so that one day, we shall disappear as well."
"Right now I feel like disappearing myself... I look so ugly! Is there any way I can shapeshift into a human or something, like you?"
"So vain... it's true that the purer you are, the more human you look, but none of us can, how you say, 'shapeshift'. No, you have to... erm, 'live' with your appearance, and learn to like it."
"But what if I don't want to like it?"
Senko shrugged. "Well, then you're miserable, I guess. Anyway, Atsuji will be informing you of your work. I must go now... the Kohaku River Spirit is coming to visit us soon. He helps fund Nagen..." Senko's cheeks turned a rose color at this time, and her dark eyes became shiny and wet. "He's quite the man." With that, she literally floated off, to leave Kaonashi alone with his thoughts, and his questions about what his "work" would be like...
*Once again, sorry for the delay in the update. Hopefully, it won't take as long to update with Chapter 6. Until then, sayonara!*
~Astaire