Chapter 8
Lion's Den
The woods were dark and threatening as he thought they'd be, but Rei had made the journey fairly seamless thanks to her uncanny ability to sense anything malevolent within a 100-meter radius.
They'd mostly avoided the things that wanted to kill them – or possibly eat them – but their grace period had run out. Shin stared at the small army of zombies that had corralled them into a clearing and surrounded them on all sides with as much menace as he'd ever been able to muster. Unaffected, they pressed closer, tightening the circle around he and Rei, and making all the hair on his body stand up.
Rei was poised and alert, her stance defensive, something that worried him since he happened to know that she was essentially dead on her feet, and in bad need of water and a safe place to lie down. He cursed himself, this place, and the jerk that'd brought them here, but didn't feel any better when he was done.
The zombies kept them tucked in a tight circle and just…stared at them. It was a hell of a lot creepier than getting attacked, in his opinion. Behind him, Rei snarled.
"Listen you bunch of brainless garbage heaps, either get out of my way or I'll make you get out!" she barked, and Shin winced. He had no doubt she'd make a valiant effort, but he wasn't quite sure they'd have the teeth to back that threat up. There were a lot of zombies and only two of them. Shin didn't have his armor, and since Rei wasn't in her uniform, he assumed they were in the same boat when it came to powers and weapons.
To both his surprise and supreme anxiety, one of the zombies stepped forward. He tensed and felt Rei do the same behind him. But it did nothing else. It made no move to strike. It did not come any closer. Just as he was wondering what the hell was going on, it opened its mouth. And spoke to them. Its voice came and went like the wind through the trees, with a soft, rasping quality to it that made Shin want to just find his bed and curl up in his blankets.
"We are the envoy of Izanami, Merciful Goddess and Mother of Creation. She has requested an audience with you. You will come with us."
He blinked. Mother of all…. Oh. Right. It was hard to remember that Izanami was actually the mother of all creation when her last, and, he supposed, current job description was very different. That aside, he was pretty sure an actual audience with Izanami wasn't something he wanted to experience in this lifetime. And he was pretty sure neither he nor Rei nor anyone else was prepared for that sort of meeting.
Rei had different ideas.
She stomped forward, got up in the creature's face, and curled her lip at it. "Fine. Let's go. But you'd better not try anything funny, or I'll flash fry you." She crossed her arms over her chest and snapped her head away in a classic pout, and when the thing simply nodded and all the zombies turned, leading them away, he could only stare at Rei in utter confusion. She did know they were surrounded, right? Did the zombies know they had them surrounded?
Their group began shuffling slowly through the woods, the zombies still ringing them closely, though making no other threatening moves toward them. Or really, doing anything else. At all. They weren't hopping like traditional zombies, but they shuffled exactly like western zombies, and it wasn't giving him happy feelings.
As they moved, the fatigue etched itself into Rei's face again, and he was there, at her side, to let her lean on him. In that moment, he realized he'd learned a great deal about the kind of woman Rei was.
Strong when she felt weak. Courageous when she felt afraid. And willing to do what she had to in order to prevent harm against others. Rei had given in without sacrificing her pride or confidence, knowing they were unprepared for a fight and completely unable to escape. She'd taken the best path she could and had tried to do it on her terms.
He thought he might love her a little for that.
Shin turned his focus back to their surroundings and vowed to do everything he could to keep her safe. He took as much of her weight onto his shoulders as she would allow and did his best to set a pace that wasn't punishing, given their circumstances. But the march still seemed endless.
They walked on until the forest gave way to brown, brittle field. Until field gave way to barren, rocky landscape. And barren, rocky landscape ended in a ginormous and intimidating shrine. Shin would know intimidating structures. He'd been to Arago's palace more times than he'd ever wanted to. Which was any time at all.
Instinctively, he hovered next to Rei, who'd pulled her arm from his shoulder, reaching out to take her hand. She let him, caught up in staring at the shrine in front of them with hard eyes. He could see the assessment in her gaze, and he admired it. Their party halted in front of the doors, and Rei huffed out an irritated sigh.
"Well?! Are you going to open these doors or are we going to wait out here all night?!" she snapped, tossing her hair. She stood taller, stronger, but he noticed she hadn't let go of his hand, so he risked a reassuring squeeze. Again, the creatures acquiesced, this time with a quick head bob in their direction. The shrine doors slid open on their own, revealing nothing but a dark miasma of fog within.
Yeah. He was having all kinds of second thoughts. Even third, fourth, and fifth thoughts. He was pretty sure the last thing he wanted to do was go in there. But he was equally sure they didn't have a choice.
Rei raised her head, and still holding his hand, marched forward. Shin realized with a beleaguered sense of dread, that as he was attached to his hand, and fond of keeping it, that meant he was also going in there with her. He stared at the intricate lettering above the door, realizing the style of kanji was so ancient he couldn't even read it, and then they were inside.
Theatrically, the doors slammed shut behind them, leaving them in quiet darkness.
Alone.
It was with some level of relief he noted they'd lost their zombie entourage, but Rei hadn't stopped moving either. She seemed to have some sort of purpose – a kind of drive – and since he'd trusted her instincts and done well so far, he simply allowed her to lead, doing his best to keep his senses on guard.
She twisted and turned them down tunnels and past so many closed doors, after a while he lost all sense of place.
Until at last, they were standing before a pair of the largest most ornate doors he'd ever seen. Framing them was an expertly carved and epically rendered battle between a dragon and a phoenix. They clashed angrily, but he noticed that there didn't seem to be a winning side of the battle. They were perfectly balanced – completely equal.
That was all he had time to notice, because the doors opened inward – again without any visible assistance – and once again, they faced a room full of endless darkness. He felt a shiver go through Rei, but head held high, she dragged them in.
At least this time, there was very little wandering, and no twists or turns. It was a small straight passage, the fog gradually clearing, until they were standing before a kind of altar lit with an eerie bluish glow.
Upon the altar, head framed by a large and glowing silver disk, was the silhouette of a woman, decked in flowing and elegantly draped fabrics. She held herself so still, he almost thought she was a sculpture, until she spoke into the air between them, her voice little more than a rasping whisper.
"You are strangers in my lands. Explain your presence here at once."
Shin gulped. How did you tell a goddess who essentially could create or destroy entire civilizations that you'd been summoned here to vanquish her? He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Rei, but she wore an expression that was more thoughtful than anything else, her delicate brow furrowed in concentration.
"We were summoned." She answered simply.
The shadow before them gave a tiny jerk, as if surprised by this news.
"I did not summon you," the goddess hissed, her words coming from every corner of the space, including right next to his ear. He fought not to scrunch his shoulders up and keep his posture straight and firm. Beside him, Rei shivered, but pressed on.
"We were summoned here by someone else. I don't really know who he is. He claimed to be Susano-O."
Shin stared at Rei and tried not to let his jaw drop. Were they just going to blurt out what they were doing here? To the deity they'd been sent here to stop? He tried to understand Rei's logic. Shin paused to think, forcing his surprise aside, trying to see things objectively.
The entity who'd met them here had claimed Izanami was set to raise armies against the Troopers. He was pretty sure inviting them into her shrine for a chat would be weird, even for a deity, if she already had plans to annihilate them on her schedule.
Rei's thinking made sense.
Something was off, and not in a good way. He looked at her again, wondering what would happen next as they waited for the response from the goddess in front of them. Whatever was going on here wasn't as black and white as it seemed. But thanks to his companion's sharp instincts, they might have caught on to what was really happening in the Underworld.
He was just hoping they walked out of here still alive instead of members of Izanami's Club Undead.
