A/C - I'm getting so excited for the finale! Things are slowly starting to come together... the intense is real! Thanks everyone for reviewing/faving and following this story!
Chapter 29 - Darkness Rising
The Lasser Glass was here, in Japan.
It all started a couple days earlier when Naru had received confirmation that it was shipped from the owners. Now, it was in Tokyo being kept at a high security warehouse facility.
"It's being kept at a warehouse?" I asked skeptically to the two men sitting in the front of the car as we drove to see this mysterious mirror.
"Yes," Naru said from the passenger seat.
He was looking at the road straight ahead, and there was no sign of the kneeling man I had witnessed the other night. There were no signs of the sensual side that Naru could sometimes show. Now, Naru was all business.
"Is that safe?" I probed.
"For security reasons, we will not be moving it from the warehouse. That way if it becomes lost or damaged we won't be liable," Lin said.
I said, "What do you intend on doing with it?"
"I want to keep it in our possession until we find the next item: the Xipherian Amulet. Then, we can put together some of the pieces of this curse and how it works." Naru said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. I knew it wouldn't be easy though, not when the Xipherian Amulet was back in Biei.
I remained silent because I already knew what we had to do. Getting the Xipherian Amulet was not going to be pleasant.
Leaning back in the seat, I watched the streets pass us by.
The Xipherian Amulet was at the cabin in Biei, according to Sara. It could very well be a ploy to lure us there. I didn't trust it, but I had a gut-feeling that it was true.
Fortunately for me, what made all of this easier was the fact that the Lasser Glass was here. It was one less unknown I needed to find.
In moments like these, I often found myself wondering if simply living with the curse was such a horrible thing after all. I would be alive, I could stay with Naru and my friends. I would just have to live through the death of every spirit intent on finding me. It meant that I was aiding Izanagi to live longer, who would stop at nothing to find me and keep me prisoner to be his personal time-turning device.
Not to mention what he could do to those I cared about. He was a sick man, and murder meant nothing to him.
I took an unsteady breath out.
No. Living with the curse, no matter how great the benefits were, was not enough to keep my friends out of danger.
The lapse in focus sent me reeling back to reality.
We had arrived.
The warehouse was so close to a ship port, as it was shipped it via sea. The salty breeze rustled my long, flowy cardigan that I had borrowed from Masako. I pushed my hair behind my ear as we passed security and walked into the large warehouse entrance which were large glass double doors. The warehouse looked like an institution.
Once inside and signed in as visitors, we waited for a couple more minutes for Naru and Lin to speak to a security guard. The discussion was brief, and I watched as the guard nodded at them.
Then, they opened the doors and let them through. Just as we were going to enter the back portion of warehouse, a different security guard approached us.
"Miss," the new guard said. "Only two at a time in that unit. You'll have to stay behind."
"Uh, sure." I stepped back, glancing at Naru.
Naru said, "We'll go on ahead, one of us will come back for you."
I nodded and watched as he and Lin continued on, turning right as they reached the back of the security checkpoint.
I walked towards the waiting area, feeling uneasy and not able to sit down. So, I started pacing the small lounge.
Now, another male security guard approached me.
"Miss, I am to take you to your unit."
Confused, I looked behind him for Lin or Naru. "I'm waiting for someone to join me."
"They already left and said to escort you inside."
That felt odd and I against those feelings of doubt, I nodded.
Glancing at the security guard confirmed my feelings of uneasiness. His eyes were glazed over and he slowly turned around. I got a strange feeling from him as we started walking. As we walked, I noticed he had taken a left instead of the right that Naru and Lin had taken.
"Shouldn't it be on the right?" I asked as we turned down a large corridor lined with doors. The security guard didn't say anything.
He began walking faster, and I struggled to keep up when he turned another corner.
"Hey, can you slow down please -"
I rounded the exact corner he did and was standing in front of a large centralized atrium. Each side of this room was lined with doors and the man was nowhere in sight.
It was impossible for him to have just disappeared, I would have seen him. There was no place to run in this open area and the next corridor was at least fifty yards away. I didn't even hear his footsteps.
Confused, I turned back around to try and go back to the front but was met with a solid wall.
"What the hell?" I stumbled two feet backwards. That wall hadn't been there a second ago because I had just walked from around that corner.
I touched the wall, thinking that I made it up. It was firm from under my fingers.
I backed away again, looking around the room.
"This isn't funny," I said out loud. I measured the distance it would take for me to run to the next set of corridors, and I set out.
My small heels clicked loudly as I ran for the corridor hallway. Maybe I really was going crazy. I started to notice a wall form around the entrance of that hallway. As if it were growing and growing, blocking off my pathway. I pushed my legs harder, running faster and as I reached the hallway that wall had securely blocked the way.
"Help!" I pounded on the stone. "Someone help me!"
My breathing was ragged and I tried to calm myself down. This wasn't possible. Walls didn't just come and go as they pleased, especially concrete walls. This had to be something messing with my mind.
Suddenly, there was a soft rattling noise that was coming from one of the doors. I spun around and no one was in the area.
The rattling continued and against my better judgement, I started to move towards it.
When I neared the noise, I noticed that the steel on one of the doors was being shaken gently. I placed my hands under the door, feeling for any kind of breeze that could be causing this. I felt nothing but once I put my hand on the door, the rattling stopped.
My body couldn't relax. Somewhere here, in this solitude, there was...something unsettling behind the otherwise peaceful quiet.
The hairs on my arms rose as I gazed at the steel door, noticing the latch on the bottom was undone. I gripped the handle firmly and pulled the door up, revealing a dark and empty room.
Or, nearly empty.
The room seemed to thrum in an ancient kind of energy, vibrating through the air like a force onto itself.
"Do you feel that?" Gene asked me, eyes wide and on the door in front of us. I hardly noticed that I slipped into that other realm, the energy around us was so strong I couldn't help but think that maybe it had allowed Gene to step into this realm.
I swallowed hard, nodding. "What is it?"
The energy from inside hit me like a train. My skin was heavy, the air felt suffocating and seemed to ripple with a dangerous energy.
It was dark inside the unit and I focused my eyes, slowly taking a step closer inside.
Then I noticed, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, there was only one thing inside this unit. I dared another step closer and felt Gene's eyes on me the entire time.
A large object was being held between two pillars of what looked like wood. What they were holding was hidden behind a glistening curtain of darkness.
For a moment, I shuttered and a glimpse of the Iron Gates came into my mind. I realized this feeling was the same yet it was somehow completely different.
This was much darker, the feeling was much more unsettling and raw.
It didn't make me want to unleash that dark power and be free like the Iron Gates had. This energy made me want to lower to my knees and worship it - to be obedient and loyal to it.
Whatever 'it' was.
I was vaguely aware that Gene was still here when I turned back to look at him. Suddenly, there was a burst of black magic that flooded me.
I froze as I felt a sudden spark in my own skin. It was a familiar feeling of when the Iron Gates would open and flood me with satisfaction of pulling a soul through them.
Sensing Gene standing so close to me now, and this new power source, made me want to absorb Gene's essence. The feeling that flooded me instantly was so good, like a high that I couldn't escape.
"No," I gripped my hands into a fist, manifesting that energy around me. I felt it swirl up from the ground like hands raising from the earth.
I gritted my teeth and forced the blackness into a wall instead, imagining it in front of Gene so he wouldn't come closer to me.
Gene tried to step inside the unit before he slammed into an invisible wall at the threshold.
"Don't come any closer." I warned in a dry voice. I had never used the darkness before, had never used it to manifest into something physical or spiritual. The extent of this power was new to me, and it took everything I had to control it. "It's not safe."
"This energy..." he trailed off and his eyes shifted to the dark object inside the room. "I've never felt anything like this before."
The unsettling feeling of darkness filled me again. I shuddered as I clamped down on it.
I wanted to take Gene's soul, needed to feel his life essence pass through the Iron Gates so I could feel that blissful magic again.
I wanted every soul to pass through the gates so I could feel that again and I didn't care who it was.
"You need to leave." I hissed. "Now."
"Mai -"
"Now, Gene!" I bite out, glaring at him. The rage inside me was sparked because his familiar face was the only thing keeping me from experiencing that ultimate high.
His figure disappeared and I steadied my breathing for another twenty seconds before looking back at the object inside the dark room.
This was the Lasser Glass.
The entire area was quiet again and I continued my descent into the unit. All the light had been gobbled up and as I neared it, every nerve in my body screamed at me to run. To turn around and hope, and pray, I made it out of here alive.
This was not safe. I am not safe.
Something sinister whispered to me. "You feel me, don't you?"
My knees buckled as I froze in front of the mirror, afraid to answer that voice. I suddenly felt so sick I had to fight to keep down the bile that threatened. That voice was by no means any kind of human, the sound of it was like metal on metal, an eerie scrape against my skin.
I knew this was the Lasser Glass from the fear in my bones. I could tell from the way it responded to my inner darkness, as if it were challenging my own dark sources that stemmed from the Iron Gates.
"You know you want to feel that power again," that ancient voice purred again. "Come to me."
Every part of my body was screaming and yet, I could not seem to ignore the voice. It seemed to whisper into every pore of my skin, deep into my bones where I felt myself take a step forward, and another.
"Yesss," it purred. "That's right. Come to me, sweet anchor."
There was a curtain covering the mirror, but I could see the outline. I reached for it and could feel the cloth of the cover under my fingers as I gripped it. I imagined the mirror, and what it would look like, what it would feel like if I just touched it once -
Something struck me, fast like lightning.
"Mai!" Lin's voice shocked me out of my trance, his grip firmly on my wrist. I snapped back into my body and had half a second to yank myself free from Lin, and stumble as far away from that cloaked mirror as I could.
"What were you thinking?" Lin scolded. "That mirror is dangerous. One look into it and that could be the end."
A cold sweat had broken over me as I began to shake. "I-I.."
"She's linked to the Lasser Glass," Naru answered coolly from beside him, his gaze stayed firmly on me. "I doubt she even knew what she was about to do."
I swallowed, my voice was raw. "Do what?"
"This cover was designed specially for the Lasser Glass. The Vatican Pope himself hand picked the cloth and it has been blessed by him and about a hundred other priests." Naru said as he examined it. "Diana advised that we should never uncover it while we have it in our possession. She says that it's supposed to negate the effects of the Lasser Glass."
"I don't want that thing uncovered," I shivered at the thought of feeling the full wrath of the mirror. Not when just a thread of its power had already felt so sinister. Naru and Lin looked back at me.
"That's not what we saw. You looked like you were on the verge of taking the cover off."
"No, I -" I stopped myself from talking.
I had almost taken the cover off. It had been as if I was in some kind of trance from the power of the mirror.
Power. It was power that I had never experienced before. This was nothing like the Iron Gates, in fact it made them seem calm in comparison to this. Like it could wipe me off the face of the earth, an asp looking at an ant and contemplating squashing it.
Naru looked back at the covered mirror. "It's an unsettling feeling standing in front of it, I have no doubt that the Lasser Glass influenced you in some kind of way. Especially considering the link to it through the curse."
Slowly, Lin released my wrist. "Well, whatever it did we can't let Mai get too close to it. How did she even find it to begin with? We weren't told it was moved after we went to an empty storage locker."
I didn't divulge the fact that I had been shown the way by some shadow-security guard. It was very likely a trick conjured from the Lasser Glass to have me alone with it for a few seconds.
Naru had said that it influenced me because I am linked to it, and it felt like that. Especially since it...seemed to influence me in other ways than bending me to its will. I remembered the sudden release of energy that unsettled me when Gene was near, and how all I wanted to do was to drag him back to the Iron Gates so I could feel his soul pass on and drain his entire being from this world.
That thought made me shiver.
Whatever influence the Lasser Glass had over me, it wasn't good.
^.^
I remained utterly silent as I rode back home, too terrified and sick to move. I regretted going inside that warehouse. Being in the presence of the Lasser Glass did not only scare me but it made me realize how easy it would be to give up my humanity.
It was the only thing that kept me from truly being a monster, the only thing keeping me from being swallowed whole by this darkness.
A tear slid down my cheek and I brushed it away quickly. It meant that I was evil, the embodiment of evil because I housed this awful curse. I almost, almost, took Gene away.
It wasn't because I had to - it was because I wanted to.
I wanted him to pass over so I could feel that satisfaction from the Iron Gates. It reminded me of the moment I first met Sara. It was in a dream and she was...not what I imagined her to be. Her appearance was that of a little girl but I remember her eyes were so bloodthirsty and how she just wanted to take Gene's soul away because of how good it felt.
I suddenly understood now.
The reason she lost her humanity was because a piece of the Lasser Glass was in the Xipherian Amulet. The Lasser Glass made her do it.
Once we were home, I went straight to shower and then tucked myself into bed.
Naru had asked me, uneasily, "Are you alright?"
"Just tired," I lied and closed my eyes, hoping that sleep would find me quickly because I didn't want to be in my head anymore.
Instead though, I felt a throbbing in my bones, dull and annoying. I settled into bed, and it didn't take me very long to be transported to that call of the spirit world.
However, it wasn't Gene that was summoning me. It wasn't Sara or Kitzune.
It was the Izanagi.
He said, "Hello my precious anchor."
"Stay away from me." I spat out, surprising myself because I felt utterly exhausted after being so close to the Lasser Glass.
We were standing inside the cabin again. His back was facing me however I could recognize this energy from anywhere. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, and all the while I tried to send myself back to my own head. It was foolish of me to just follow any call from the spirit world, especially because I was prone to becoming stuck in this world when I did.
Izanagi turned, and I could see the tell-tale signs of aging on his face. Unlike last time, he had appeared in his early thirties. The burn mark on his face was still stark in the darkness, I remembered his skin had been firmer whereas now it had begun to lose its elasticity.
I tried, and failed, to call myself back to my body.
This made him smile. "If I were anyone else, you might be able to pull that trick. I control you."
"Stay away from me," I growled again when he took a step forward.
He frowned, "No need to be rude. Especially when I have given you so much. Have you enjoyed your freedom, Mai?"
I remained silent, still trying to work through the intricate walls of black magic that were holding me here.
He moved closer again and I stepped back. This time, I saw the glistening of an amulet around his neck. I could see the shadow of it and the small, intricate details of the eye-like shape it had.
The Xipherian Amulet.
Was the reason we appeared at the cabin because that's where the amulet was? It was still a risky assumption to make, since he could probably summon me anywhere. It seemed more likely than not and I remember him wearing the amulet last time, only I hadn't thought anything of it.
"My generosity has made me realize we should get to know one another more. There should be no lies between us."
"Shut up," I snarled. He didn't scare me, not here. Not when I knew he couldn't hurt me. In fact, I was the one person in this world he probably couldn't touch.
He smiled cruelly. "I took the liberty of learning a few things about you. It was only fair, since you know so much about me."
"Why would I believe anything you had to say?" He had to be lying, there was no way to know for him to find anything about me. The male spirits face appeared in my head then and I remember him telling me that Izanagi was in Tokyo.
My heart sunk.
He said. "I'll let you decide if this is a lie or not but I've come to learn you've kept a special artifact with you since your mother died. A key to your old home. You used to call it a good luck charm."
I felt my blood run instantly cold. There was no way he could know that. Hardly anyone knew that about me, let alone a complete stranger.
When he was satisfied that I was shaken up, he continued. "Where do you keep it now-a-days? It's not on your person on a daily basis anymore, is it?"
He couldn't know that either - I kept the key at home at all times now. Locked away in a little jewelry box. I don't think I had touched that thing...for years.
"Don't you find it strange that Oliver Davis came to your beckon-call not even a day after you had a dream so vivid you thought you were being abducted again? You panicked because you thought it was real."
I had heard this before: I used to tell myself this, had doubted why Naru was really in town that night.
No, I thought. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to know.
"Maybe to someone who only caught a glimpse of the vision, it did feel real. So real in fact, they had no idea whether or not you were really dead."
"Why are you doing this?" I glared at him, but my voice shook.
He didn't answer me, and instead asked. "Have you tried your key in the last four years? To see if it's indeed the real one?"
"It is the real one."
"I told you: I don't want us to lie to one another."
"You are lying," I snarled. "I wouldn't believe a word you're saying, not in this life or the next."
"By all means," he said pleasantly. "Don't believe me. I insist, you should find out for yourself the truth and then you'll trust what I have to say. I think you would be intrigued to find what the good doctor keeps in his wallet."
Before I could tell him to shut up again, the world shifted. His dark eyes were the last thing I saw before I shuttered awake.
I remained still, trying to control my breathing as I felt Naru beside me. I tried to settle my thoughts and could hear that Naru was in a deep sleep.
Slowly, I got up and sat at the end of the bed in the dark. Naru stirred, but did not wake up. My mind was reeling: what if he wasn't lying? What would I find in Naru's wallet?
I hated that Izanagi knew I was intrigued by this.
I had to find out.
Walking to the door, careful not to make any noise. I knew Naru kept his wallet with his laptop in the living room. Using only the light from the moon, I found his wallet laid out on the table. I didn't go to it at first, and instead I just stared. My heart was pounding in my chest. After several minutes, I finally moved. It felt wrong to invade his privacy… but I had to know that Izanagi was wrong. And, I wanted to be the one to prove to him he was wrong.
I opened the dark wallet and started to shuffle though it, noting he had some yen, receipts, random papers and I.D.
Then, my fingers hit something made of metal. Slowly, I pulled out a silver key and tried to resist the sick feeling in my gut.
This didn't mean anything, I told myself. It could be a random key he was holding on to - maybe even one from back home. This didn't mean anything.
In in response to this thought, the small silver key seemed to emit a familiar power in the palm of my hand.
No, I told myself. I couldn't jump to conclusions. Not when it could mean accusing Naru of something horrible.
Tomorrow, I told myself firmly. Tomorrow after work I would find out if this was real or fake.
For now I gripped the key and went back into the room. I place the key under my pillow, keeping my hand on it and ignored the dreadful feeling forming in my gut.
^.^