Hi all, I'm back again with another very short chapter on Asuka's training and Amanozako's back story. Hope you'll like it :)
Thirty-seven.
Move slowly, keep your awareness focused on Manipura, the chakra point of the solar plexus.
Amanozako and Kintaro travelled throughout the land. The Goddess wanted to see the effects of war on people. Wherever they went, they were met with violence and desperation.
Inhale, bend your shoulders and head backwards.
Kintaro did not run away from her to feed on human beings anymore. The oni would kill and eat ninja and soldiers in front of his Lady. She was not disgusted by that action anymore.
Exhale, fold forwards.
Almost a century had passed, and still the fights between men hadn't ceased. Amanozako, in the meantime, had gathered an entourage of ghosts and demons that would follow her wherever she went. She was not influenced by their evil souls anymore. At that time, people started calling her 'The Queen of Ghosts'. She liked that nickname, but the truth was that she felt more like a mother, than a souverain, to all the creatures that had gathered around her.
Inhale, lift your torso and arch it forward.
One day, they arrived at a Buddhist temple in a deserted area of the Land. Inside the temple, the monks had welcomed the refugees that had escaped from their villages because of the war, but they were all slowly dying of starvation, because of an extreme drought that had hit the area a few years before, and thus water and food provisions were slowly ending.
Exhale, step your right foot back into a lunge.
Amanozako met a young girl outside the temple. She was digging a hole in the sand with a stick. When she looked at the spirit, her eyes were what hit Amanozako the most. The girl was not afraid of her fangs, nor of the multitude of ghosts and demons behind her. In her eyes there was no fear. Actually, in her eyes there was nothing. They were devoid of every emotion.
"Aren't you afraid of me and my companions, little girl?" Amanozako asked.
The girl looked at her with her nothingness-filled eyes.
"Have you come for my death?" She asked. Amanozako shook her head.
"Why are you digging a hole in the ground, child?" The spirit asked.
"My mother once told me that if you dig a hole deep enough, you can find water."
Amanozako took a better look at the child in front of her. Her skin clang to her bones and showed no signs of body fat underneath. Her lips were parched. She was more like a walking skeleton than a child.
"You won't find water. It is buried too deep under the ground, and your hole is too shallow."
"Then I'll just bury myself in it."
Inhale, reach back through your right heel.
Impressed by the child's hopeless words, Amanozako crouched down on the ground. She put a hand on top of the dusty land and, suddenly, water started pooling at her feet. It quickly turned into a big pool of water, stretching for miles.
The child looked incredulously around herself. Her eyes were now glinting, as she splashed her tiny bony hands around herself, then cupped them, took some water and avidly drank.
Amanozako smiled, but she knew it was already too late to save the little child. Nevertheless, she called upon one of her spirits that had the special ability to make plants and flowers grow, and immediately after that, grass, flowers, trees and bushes thrived from the earth, full of fruits.
The fastest among her ghosts flew to the nearest forest and came back with animals it had hunted.
Around the Goddess and the child, an earthly paradise had been created.
"Are you an angel?" The little girl asked Amanozako, but again, she shook her head.
Exhale, step you left foot back. Down Dog.
"What is your name?" The child asked.
"Amanozako," the spirit replied.
"Amanozako…" the child whispered, smiling.
She then laid down on the grass and closed her eyes.
At least, she had died peacefully. Amanozako looked at the still body on the grass.
Inhale, bring your torso forward.
"What's this?"
"Just what on Earth…"
Voices came from inside the temple.
"What are you doing to Nanami-chan?" A child's voice cried, just as Amanozako was cradling the dead girl, her hand gently stroking the child's cheek.
"She's dead," Amanozako replied, raising her head towards the group of people that had gathered out of the temple. They were all similar, in their looks, to the small girl in her lap. So skinny that it was impossible to make out their facial features anymore.
They were all staring at their surroundings, dumbfounded. The lush vegetation and the water pond at their feet were enough to have some of them faint.
Exhale, bend your elbows and enter Chaturanga.
"What kind of spell is this?" Some said.
Looking at Amanozako, the monk realized her nature, and stepped forward, shielding the other people.
"Go away, you corrupted spirit!" He screamed, waving his ringed staff in the air. "Leave these poor souls alone!"
Amanozako tilted her head to the side. "Bhikkhu," she said, addressing the monk, "I created this for your people. I don't have any ill intentions. You can eat and drink to your heart's content. Maybe some of you will be saved."
Inhale, straighten your arms, bring your torso upwards.
"Step away from the child you killed, you filthy demon!"
Amanozako explained she had not killed the little girl, but it was useless.
Other monks appeared, and they formed a physical barrier separating the spirits from the people, urging them to take shelter in the temple.
They started chanting a mantra. Amanozako wasn't afflicted by that in the least, but she could feel growing discomfort among her entourage. She turned to the monks and frowned.
"Stop." She commanded.
Exhale, go back to Down Dog.
The monks wouldn't stop. Some of them made a few seals with their hands and blew fireballs from their mouths.
Amanozako easily dispelled the fire with her water.
Did they think they could compete with her?
Why were they even fighting her? She hadn't done anything bad.
Inhale, bring your right foot forward in a lunge.
Amanozako turned to leave.
She was not afraid to expose her back to them. They could not harm her.
Her eyes scanned the group of ghosts in front of her, and she froze.
Kintaro was sprawled on the ground. A monk had detached from the others, ventured alone towards the group of spirits, and cowardly attacked Kintaro, who had stepped out to try and protect his fellow demons.
They had done nothing.
Kintaro wasn't like her. He was an oni. He was weak to Buddhist spells. He was mortal. And he was already old.
Exhale, bring your left foot forward and fold your torso. Grab your ankles.
The monk fell to the ground, intoxicated by the sheer proximity to Amanozako.
The Goddess crouched down next to Kintaro. There was nothing she could do. She could not break those spells. She stayed by his side, until his eyes closed. Her cheeks suddenly felt wet, and she realized she was crying.
She had lost her first friend.
He had sought her company, he had looked after her for all those years.
She hadn't been alone anymore.
Now, he was gone.
All because of some filthy, low-life humans.
Inhale, stand up and bring your arms up and behind, bending the upper part of your back.
She hugged Kintaro's body, and at moment, it happened.
Their souls melted together. Amanozako the Goddess, Amanozako The Queen of Ghosts, was reborn as a demon.
Nobody was left alive inside the temple. The trees and flowers that had grown that very day were now being watered in blood.
She had never felt better.
Repeat all over again with the other leg. 54 times per leg, 108 times total.
Slowly, deliberately. Keep your focus on Manipura.
Ignore the tears streaming down your face.