A/N: God damn this took forever to write! And in light of recent obligations, I can't promise that the other chapters will come out any faster. Anywho…
In light of the (brief) conversation I've had with JoseSkinner, I think I should make something clear…
My goal here is to write a story. And like the vast majority of stories it needs conflict, the protagonists need to be challenged and the challenge must be a credible threat. However, the challenge must not be so great that the protagonists don't have a chance (a problem that the over-arching background of 40K has run into, I am aware). Therefore, if you're expecting a curb stomp in favor of either 'verse, stop reading now and leave.
I am also making a concerted effort here to avoid the violence and character death/suffering from becoming gratuitous but I can't guarantee anything, this does involve Warhammer 40K after all.
Now, to my eternal frustration the sources of information I have looked have all seemed to be frustratingly vague, I have decided to completely wing it in regards to Touhou. This might mean that some characters wind up underpowered compared to, but please bear with it.
Oh yeah, and the characters from UFO won't be appearing both to my lack of familiarity with them and the lots-of-characters=insanity count issue mentioned in the previous chapter. Sorry Youkai Jesus fans.
Note:
"Talking in Japanese."
"Not talking in Japanese."
Disclaimer: Warhammer 40,000 is owned by Games Workshop, any other conclusion is heresy. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN, any other conclusion is a result of too little alcohol.
Intrusion of the Dark Stars
Chapter 2: Daemonic Arts
"My Lord-"
"I felt it."
"Of course, my Lord."
…
"He has always been an impatient one."
"He has, my lord."
"It changes nothing, he is merely a messenger. The preparations are nearly complete?"
"Yes, only a little longer my Lord…"
"Very good."
"Master?"
Eirin Yagokoro didn't respond to her apprentices call, she was too busy staring into space, trying to deny what she had felt happen. It was impossible; she had severed that part of her, done everything to get rid of it, even made that damnable deal with him to avoid it. That part of her was gone, fallen into disuse, there was no way she should have felt it, there was no way one of those things could even make it here, unless…
"Master?"
But if one of those things were then, that probably meant that one of their servants was here, and then that meant… Eirin mentally moaned, her mind running through the possibilities. This was bad; this was very, very bad. But what did they want? Gensokyo offered nothing to them, their nature was anathema to nearly everything in Gensokyo and they knew that so… of course. There is only one thing they could possibly want.
"Master?" Eirin blinked as she realized that a hand was lying upon her forehead, she glanced to the side to see her assistant Reisen, the Inaba's face drawn in concern. "Are you okay?"
"I… I am fine." Eirin said, taking Reisen's arm and moving it away. She glanced down at her desk, suddenly finding the paperwork in front of her quite useless. "I think I will be closing the clinic early today."
Her apprentice blinked in surprise, this was… odd. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Eirin said, standing and moving to the door. And then she hesitated, wondering if it would be a good idea to ask a means of forewarning… "And inform Tewi that if any of her rabbits see anybody with…" Again, a moment's pause, "Eight-pointed arrows on them, please inform me immediately."
Not leaving a chance for her apprentice to ask for elaboration, Eirin left. Reisen stood there for a moment, blinking in confusion. What was that all about?
E
Pactus
E
Aside from the students, there were not very many people around the school the moment the section that Keine actually lived in detonated. Her pupils were hanging out at the playground, which included a few remarkable items from the outside like something called a 'see-saw', waiting for their teacher to call them in for classes. The explosion took them by surprise and they turned just in time to see their teacher fly out of the debris, her gaze directed downwards. When the thing that had been Asata Matsumoto followed, the children screamed and ran.
Asata's face had gone sheet white, his pupils mere black pins in the center of a white mass and the manic grin he now wore on his face was terrifyingly hollow. But the most terrifying thing for Keine wasn't how Asata looked, but how he felt. Because of a curse, Keine could 'sense' and, if she desired, read the history of an object or person. That made her an excellent historian and was the reason she seemed the spryest during her history classes. But the thing in front of her felt empty, she could not sense or read it in the slightest.
"Scholar"The things horrible voice shocked the teacher out of her stupor, "What do you know?"
Keine clenched her teeth, this thing was something even less natural then the creatures that sheltered in Gensokyo, she could tell. She could feel it in her bone that this thing was not supposed to belong here, not in the slightest. Thus, she decided there was no reason to humor this creature. "That you are an abomination." She raised her spell book towards the creature, "That I have to banish you."
"Then you know nothing." The creature said.
Pain shot through Keine's body as she felt an invisible force seize hold of her, the very feel of whatever it was caused her body to prickle and the temperature in the air around her seemed to drop. Vaguely, she was aware of wetness on her upper lip, but she couldn't even open her mouth. There was a loud CRACK and the next thing the Town Guardian knew she was in a crater formed in the middle of the playground. Had Keine been an ordinary human, she probably would be dead right now. As it was she felt as though every bone in her body had been shattered.
The creature hovered at the edge of the crater, looming over the schoolteacher. It seemed to study her the way a bird studied an insect. Keine glanced around and found her spell book laying well-within reach.
"There shall be an apocalypse, a bloodletting to drown the stars." The creatures eyes flared and the cold pain flared through Keine again, rendering her unable to move.
A danmaku bullet flew in from outside the village guardian's field of view and shattered against the creature's skin. The thing turned away towards the attacker and the invisible hold on Keine ceased. Without hesitation, Keine ignored the screaming torment in her back and rolled out of the crater, snatching her book as she scrambled back to her feet. She took the opportunity to quickly put some space from the creature and turned just in time to see one of the village magicians, she didn't get to see which one, be lifted into the air screaming before plunging back to the ground with such force that a giant splash of blood and gore coated the playground and the see-saw next to it. Subconsciously, Keine noticed that there had been far more blood released far more explosively than should be possible.
Of course consciously she sent a barrage of bullets at the creature… only for them to break upon its skin just as the magician's did. The abomination turned back to her and glided across the ground, completely ignoring the bullets. Keine decided to up the power level and, with a thought and a bit of will, a trio of lights flared into existence around her and fired a mass of lasers.
The creature seemed to bend without sliding, as much sense as that made, and thus dodged some of the lasers… but only some. The rest made contact, blasting and boiling away the skin, carving holes in the creature's body and taking a corner of its head off, but the creature did not stop. Silently cursing that she wasn't in her were-hakutaku form, Keine tried to back pedal only for the creature to lunge forward, grab her by the neck, and haul her off the ground, its very touch made the guardian feel as if she was on fire.
"The border no-one should cross will be bridged."The things grip was so tight on her neck Keine thought she was going to choke. "Antiquity and hereafter shall become one, the balance will be broken, the old door of death will be closed and a new one opened."
Now it really was choking Keine, who was still trying to free herself from its grip.
"They will obtain the encompassing labyrinth, where natural and unnatural are distorted. And others shall follow them, a means to an end, slipping through the cracks of a dark eternity."
It drew the teacher right up to its face, eyes boring right through her soul.
"To an endless fate, reality will break."
As her vision began to blur Keine suddenly had a brilliant idea. It was clever, it played to a strength she had, the creature had put her into the perfect position for it, and the thing would never expect it. Keine rocked her head back and then smashed it forward, delivering a perfect head butt straight into the monsters face.
The creature released her and staggered back, the unexpected move doubly shocking from the unexpected strength put behind it. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Keine as she didn't even pause to gasp for air and plastered a trio of lasers at point-blank range right into the things center. The twisted ex-form of Asata blew backwards all the way across the playground and through the school room where she taught class. The creature was obscured by the plume of dust thrown up by the collapsing wall.
"Keine!" Gasping for breath, the guardian turned at the familiar voice to see Reimu land next to her, the maidens yin-yang orbs were out and circling her body. "Are you okay? What's going on? What was that thing?"
"I'm fine." No sooner did the words leave her mouth then did Keine wince, her back reminding its owner of the pounding it took. She suddenly felt exhausted, which didn't make sense… normal danmaku battles were only slightly less physical and often lasted much longer, although there had probably been a lot of adrenaline running. "Except my back."
"Are you sure? What about the nosebleed?"
Keine blinked in confusion, bringing her hand to her upper lip, the finger tips indeed came away red. So that was what that wetness was… "It's okay."
"If you say…" Reimu glanced around the wrecked playground, "Where's Asata?"
"That was Asata! How much did you see?"
"Arrived just in time to see you cave… that was Asata?"
Keine sighed in exasperation, "Yes, that was Asata. And what does 'cave' mean?"
Reimu was saved from answering by the discussed abomination, which burst from the ruins of Keine's school room, giant hole in its chest and all, with a scream that the pair heard in their minds as much as in their ears.
"SHALL YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO OPPOSE THEM ALL?" It cackled madly, rushing at the pair. Reimu reacted first, slamming out a torrent of homing shots and ordering her Yin-Yang orbs to blast away. The creature took the attacks all head-on, twisting as flesh, bone, and limb were eviscerated. It was only then that Keine noticed the creature had not yet bled from any of its injuries thus far. Finally the creature collapsed in a twisted pile on the ground, twitching once before halting movement completely.
"Is it-" Reimu began.
Something ascended from the body, a bright, ethereal form that hurt to look at. The phantom released an eldritch howl that caused both Reimu and Keine to feel like they had just joined one of Cirno's frozen frogs before it ignited in mid-air and fell back to the corpse. The strange fire splashed on contact, grew for an abrupt instant, and then immediately seemed to exhaust itself. When the flames finished dying a moment later there was no trace of the body that had been Asata Matsumoto.
"What…" Reimu stopped and then seemed to try again, "What the fuck was that?"
E
Pactus
E
The next several hours were rather busy. After pausing to catch their breath, Keine asked Reimu to gather the various powerful, in more ways than one, and important Youkai and humans for a meeting at the Hakurei Shrine later in the day. Reimu had been a little hesitant, but agreed and quickly set-out. In the end she managed to get most of Gensokyo's leaders, or at least their representatives, to show with three exceptions. The Satori who ruled the underground were unable to leave, Yukari (or one of her subordinates) was nowhere to be found, and Eientei… well Kaguya had told her that Eirin seemed to be acting rather paranoid and might have a fit if anybody from the hidden palace left, which the Shrine Maiden found odd but wasn't interested in pressing the matter. In the end, she was grateful that it turned out that way when she found Mokou had come along with Keine.
Keine, for her part, had done some cleaning up with her house, the village council, and, most importantly in her eyes, met with the orphaned family of the magician who had distracted the creature. That last one had been a particularly depressing affair and she had resolved that the family would be cared after. Mokou had been waiting for her back at the school building, concerned for her safety and agreed to come along. By the time she had arrived at the Shrine, the majority of the others had already arrived.
They were all gathered in where the usual get-togethers were held, in the corner immediately from the right of the entrance. Keine finished reciting her experience and what she believed it meant: something bad was going to happen.
"So… what would that be?" Yuyuko Saigyouji, Ghost Princess of the Netherworld, asked. She had been eating the treats Reimu produced while Keine talked and was studying an empty stick for any remnants.
Keine sighed, "I wish I knew… maybe if we look at what it said…"
"How is that going to help? That stuff sounds more cryptic than Yukari on a bad day…" Marisa replied. She technically wasn't a leader of anything, but had decided to come the moment she heard if for no other reason than to see plenty of old faces.
Patchouli Knowledge, the librarian of and representative from the Scarlet Mansion dully frowned at the witch. "It isn't that bad. For instance, consider: 'The border no-one should cross will be bridged', what do you think that could possibly be?"
"Not the Hakurei Border." Reimu replied, beating Marisa to the punch, "Things and people cross it all the time, no thanks to Yukari, although it technically hasn't been bridged…"
"But should they?" Youmu Konpaku spoke up from behind her mistress. The half-ghost had apparently been unnerved by the story, oddly enough she was the most easily spooked when her swords were sheathed.
"Not really." Reimu took a sip from her cup. She always had tea available for occasions like this, "Although as far as I can tell it really doesn't do any harm to the border itself."
"But the creature still indicates that whatever it is it's a border." Sanae Kochiya, Priestess of the Moriya Shrine, sighed, "I guess it involves Yukari somehow."
Patchouli nodded, "Assuming it isn't a metaphor of some kind."
"What about the bit about a labyrinth or something?" Suika called down from her usual spot, which was a-top an overhanging branch.
"Well, apparently it is what 'they' are after, but that brings up the question of who 'they' are."
"So it doesn't really tell us anything?" Aya finally put in. The reporter had seemed fine when Reimu found her, but was being uncharacteristically quiet. Reimu had tried to ask the Tengu how she was doing, but was brushed off with a clipped 'fine'.
"Frustrating, isn't it?" Marisa fell onto her back with a sigh, "I feel like I do when looking for a specific item in my house that looks like another dozen of the same item."
"Maybe if you give me back my books such activities would be easier."
Reimu quickly spoke up, trying to head-off the inevitable back-and-forth Patchouli's comment would bring about, "In any case, this certainly isn't an ordinary incident."
"Oh," Youmu gave a lazy grin at the Priestess. "And why is that?"
"Well, for starters, I don't have any hunches." That was enough by itself to cause everyone, except Aya, to stare at Reimu like she had spontaneously grown a second head, "Also, this certainly doesn't involve any Youkai."
"I can agree with that." Keine cut in, "That… thing, it's very presence felt wrong. I couldn't read its history and I don't think it was using any magic… it definitely wasn't using danmaku or the spell card rules."
"You said it took control of Asata's body?" Mokou asked, finally speaking up for the first time since Keine had told her story. "And Asata was the survivor of this village?"
"Yes. And he said before being possessed that they were gathered in this room and a great, well I guess he was going to say great armored figure, came in and started… chanting, I guess." Reimu glanced over at Aya and noticed that the reporter had suddenly taken a very keen interest in her previously written notes. Keine, oblivious to this, continued, "Reimu mentioned some kind of symbol in a room yesterday, maybe there was some kind of ritual?"
"I… I don't know." Reimu said, she was rather uneasy about repeating that story. Fortunately, Sanae saved her.
"Hmm… you mentioned Asata said something about a dark future?"
"'Darkness of a future' is what he said, yes."
"And something about reality breaking?" Sanae confirmed, "I don't know about you, but that sounds like a threat to Gensokyo."
"But one was uttered while he was being possessed and the other wasn't said by him but by that creature." Marisa pointed out.
"Are we sure about that? Maybe he was being revealed something while being possessed or that was the creature asking questions or…" And that was when Sanae was interrupted.
E
Pactus
E
It had been a rather pleasant clearing once, located rather close to the Hakurei Shrine. A handful of Youkai had lived quietly amidst the tall grass and few bushes alongside their wild brethren and the simple forest animals. Now they were all dead, the bushes reduced to mere wooden skeletons that nonetheless seemed to drip unidentifiable filth, a twisted miasma which whispered madness to the receptive lingered in the air, and the grass had been flattened into rotten symbols that would drive a human or Youkai capable of contemplating them mad. It was good for the few hundred captives that they were bound, blindfolded, and gagged… else they might have been rather distressed.
Well, actually they were distressed anyways and they just couldn't voice it, but could they see where they were they would have been even more disturbed. One of the twisted figures watching the captives from the edge of the field, weapon clutched in their hands, might have been wondering how these prisoners would react if they knew the liberal coating of blood that had been doused everywhere was the blood of hundreds of Youkai fairy's. Somehow, it was fitting that one of the requirements to carry out the plan was blood that wasn't supposed to exist.
Although, a pedant would note that the fairy blood wasn't actually fairy blood, but the fairy's essence and soul rendered into the form of blood. The same pedant would also have likely found him or herself quite dead before he or she had been able to conduct an appropriate inspection to reach that conclusion. Those who were called lost and damned tended to weed out the nitpickers very quickly.
At around the time Keine was telling her story to the assembly at the Hakurei Shrine, one of the figures, horrific symbols on his flak armor subtly different from the rest, turned at an invisible pull just in time to see the approach of an armored form, power and confidence emanating from its stride. He called out to the rest, speaking in a tongue utterly alien to this land. "Snap to! Attention for our lord!"
The dark soldiers turned simultaneously, took one look at the approaching figure, and as-one fell to their knees, heads inclined forward in respect.
"Rise" The figure said in the same tongue, towering over the twisted beings even after they rose to their feet, keeping the heads bowed. The symbols of Chaos undivided etched all over the figure's armor glowed a baleful incomprehensible color which even these fallen men dared not inspect too closely. "Everything is ready, Scimar?"
The leader who had spoken before clasped his hands before him. "Everything, my Lord."
"Good." The Lord began to move again, heading into the field. As he moved through it, the miasma immediately around him seemed to intensify and flow more ecstatically, like a wave breaking on the edge of the beach. The sorcerer was careful not to touch the bushes or captives and not to walk where the grass had been flattened, it would not do to disturb the perquisites. The soldiers watched the form move in the center of the sigils.
"Soldier." The Scimar jumped in spite of himself, he had not heard the approach of the somewhat smaller armored figures, compared to the Lord, which now stood behind him. "Your services here are no longer required. Rejoin your unit."
The Scimar quickly clasped his hands in front of him again before barking out orders, the dark soldiers moved away obediently, heading back to their encampment. The squad of the newcomers took their positions, facing outward around the clearing, bolters held across their chests.
In the center of the field, the sorcerer had retrieved a simple looking book. The tome was an ancient piece and would clearly have been rather hefty for an ordinary man, but it merely filled the gauntleted hand of the chaos lord. It was one of the Sorcerer's treasures, another very much like it had led him to this land and still rested with him, but this one would do more than just show him the way here. The corrupted being looked towards the sun, mentally did some calculations, and then turned to face east, raising the book as if in offering in the precise direction the Hakurei shrine rested.
And he began to speak.
At one time there was a language called Enuncia, although calling it just a language would be a vast oversimplification. Enuncia was also a form of knowledge and a terrible power, capable of rending the very fabric of reality through its utterance. When it had first been created, it brought its speakers into madness and ruin and was ultimately destroyed. Then a group of men had tried to resurrect it and use it to become gods, only to be stopped during their final ritual by other ordinary men… well, and the birth of a powerful daemon.
The language the Sorcerer spoke was not Enuncia, but it was very close and, in a twisted way, had a common lineage. Only the immobile 'men' who stood watch over their leader saw exactly what transpired as he spoke, and they were already too deep in the same kind of madness that swelled within that clearing to care about what they witnessed.
There was no sound and no light as the nature of Gensokyo's seal changed, but there was plenty of miasma, flesh, and horror.
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Pactus
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Sanae was interrupted by two things: the first was an unnatural chill which burst from the Hakurei Shrine that made everyone shiver while the second, and far more alarming, was that the sky went red. It wasn't a pleasant kind of red either it was a menacing color that instantly caused the group to think of blood.
"There shall be an apocalypse, a bloodletting to drown the stars." Keine didn't realize she had repeated the monsters sentence out loud until she noticed Mokou look at her sharply. In the mean time Youmo had drawn closer to Yuyuko, clearly worried but ready to defend her Princess. Suika had fallen from her perch in surprise, the chill had apparently sent Patchouli into a coughing fit, Marisa and Sanae simply stared skyward in surprise, and Reimu was running towards the shrine yelling about it and something about ice fairies. Then there was Aya…
The reporter had bizarrely fallen into a fetal position, covering her head and continuously reciting something. Mokou was the first one to notice the Tengu's odd behavior and was about to remark upon it when there was a second blast of icy wind. This one was much colder and struck with enough force that Youmu and Keine, who had still been standing, fell over and Reimu, who was most of the way to her shrine, was actually lifted off the ground and tossed a half-meter back. With that arctic blast, the blood sky twisted and then the color seemed to disperse as quickly as it had appeared.
There was a moments silence…
"What… what just happened?" Sanae was the first one to speak.
"The Shrine!" Reimu shouted, pulling herself back to her feet and resuming her sprint, "The border! Something happened to the Hakurei Border!"
"Wha-!" Marisa said, leaping to her feet and following after the Shrine Maiden. Reimu was the second most involved with the border after Yukari because, alongside Youkai, she was responsible for maintaining it. The Hakurei Shrine, as the common name implied, was the focal point, for lack of a better term, of the Border. That meant the Shrine existed both inside and outside Gensokyo, although on the outside it just looked like an abandoned shrine that hadn't been demolished because it was too isolated.
Because it was the focal point, theoretically, one could cross from Gensokyo into the outside, and vice-versa, via the Hakurei Shrine. Occasionally another part of Gensokyo would temporarily overlap with the outside, which is how outsiders often fell in. Some perished at the hands of the wildlife, some came to the Shrine to go back to the outside, and some decided to stay and took up residence in the human village.
But it was the border, not the outside that was on Reimu's mind as she dashed into the shrine and looked around. As its focal point, the state of the Shrine's interior reflected the state of the border and at first glance, everything seemed fine. But then Reimu noted that the wall structures had changed, what was once solid vertical lines seemed to have caught a nasty case of cobweb syndrome. Strands that looked as if they had been rotted into the wood spiraled out from circles and connected with each other.
"Everything seems-woah, what's up with the walls?" Marisa had caught up to Reimu and noticed the same thing the Shrine Maiden did.
"It indicates what has happened to the border." Reimu moved closer to one of the patterns, "I'm not sure what this means though…"
The rest of the group arrived and caught on with varying degree of rapidity, depending on how much time they had spent within the Shrine.
"Whoever is doing this is in very big trouble." Reimu had an air of certainty in her voice as she inspected the damage, "Yukari should be here soon and when she gets here..." She turned away, leaving the sentence hanging.
Marisa shook her head, glanced over at the rest of the group, and frowned as she noticed something. "Where's Aya?"
Everyone glanced around and noticed that the Tengu was no longer there. It seemed she had slipped off after the event.
"She hasn't been acting like herself since the village…" Reimu said, "I don't know how to feel about that."
Mokou thought about how she had seen Aya react during the change in the sky and compared it to her other encounters with the Crow Tengu. Yes she was certainly acting strange.
"Youmu…" Yuyuko suddenly spoke up. An odd look had crossed the phantoms face as if she had listened to someone come up to her at random and say an completely nonsensical sentence. "I feel-"
And then, much to everybody's (but particularly Youmu's) horror, the Hakugyokurou Princess collapsed.
E
Pactus
E
The aftermath of the ritual was desolation. The grass, the sacrifices, the plants, the blood… the entire clearing had been rendered into nothing more than a patch of dirt. Only the Sorcerer remained, he had stored the book away and was now crossing back to the tree line and the armored figures that stood there. "Lycus."
The fallen Astartes in question stepped forward at his leaders call. "My Lord?"
"Inform the mortal soldiers, we are breaking camp and moving north. Our crossing is there."
"Yes my Lord." Lycus paused, and then said, "There has been tension between the Red Rivers and the-"
"Keep an eye on them and deal with any troublemakers. I will not be denied."
The Chaos Marine nodded, "At once my Lord."
As they departed, the Sorcerer took one last moment to look east towards the distant hill that the Hakurei Shrine rested on. It was too far away to see the Shrine itself, but the Chaos Lord knew it was there with certainty. So the priestess had not disposed of his... donation. That could have been a problem for him, but there was no other way to get the pieces in place without blowing the bands cover.
Of his own accord the great figure turned north, where he knew he would be able to meet up with the rest of his army… and where his quarry rested. It would get even tougher, he knew, but with the most troublesome of his foes neutralized, with his army, and with the other pawns that would soon be discovering the way he had opened to this land, he would succeed. He would obtain his prize, he would break this reality, and he will become… even more.
The sorcerer turned and continued on his way where his current forces were camped. Yes, he would obtain the power he sought, but first he had to go to his army and then on to the bamboo forest… and on to the mansion hidden within it.
Fin (for now).
'GOT-FIC': In order of appearance
Inaba: Aka: 'Rabbits'. A kind of Youkai, as the name implies they have rabbit ears on their head. Like fairy's they are mostly simple minded and mischievous, although they do not avoid humans as much as fairy's and form rather modestly sized settlements. Of special notice is the Moon Inaba, of which there are very few in Gensokyo. While they have the same overall appearance, Moon Inaba have a different attitude from the 'Earth Inaba', being simultaneously smarter and disinclined to mischief. The majority of the Inaba (and all of the Moon Inaba in particular) within Gensokyo are found at Eientei, located deep within the bamboo forest.
Danmaku: The Romanization of the Japanese word for 'barrage', when someone from Gensokyo talks about danmaku they are referring to the destructive application of magic. Most of the time this is done with 'bullets', fast-moving magical projectiles that can be both lethal and non-lethal, which make-up the most basic, and most common, form of danmaku. There are also spells, which are usually applied through spell cards, books, or another apparatus the user chooses to project with, although some users eschew the use of an apparatus altogether. If the user does not have enough magical potential to use certain spells, it is possible to create a magic source that also functions as a danmaku apparatus. Spells are immensely varied in both their effects, the form of the attack, and power. Fire storms, ice sickles, miniature suns, magical lasers, and many more are all possible spell attacks.
Spell Card Rules: A kind-of unofficial set of rules followed by humans and youkai that dictate what are known as 'danmaku duals'. Features include a limited number of spells permitted which are declared pre-dual, the banning of physical fighting, prohibition on killing, and not declaring a dual without reason, although that last one is flimsy as virtually any reason can be used as a justification such as 'I'm bored'. A danmaku dual should be differentiated from a 'danmaku battle', which are much more serious, and dangerous, affairs that are often life-or-death situations.
Georgraphy of Gensokyo: With the Human Village in the physical center of Gensokyo, the other important locations are listed as such. Starting immediately to the west of the village is the bamboo forest and, within it, the mansion of Eientei. Beyond the forest is a coastline that continues on past the forest in both directions. In the opposite direction and a ways away from the village, stretching across the east and north east, is a mountain range with the largest peak being the Youkai Mountain. On top of the mountain is the Moriya Shrine and beneath the range is the Underground. From the mountains a river runs towards the human village but turns northeast in the foothills and pools in a lake just beyond the foot hills. The island in the center of the lake is where the Scarlet Devil Mansion rests. The river then resumes across the north of Gensokyo until it runs into the sea. The Hakurei Shrine is located to the South of the village, in the foot hills of yet another mountain range. East of the Shrine and out of the foot hills is the Forest of Magic and just beyond that the gateway to the netherworld, which is technically its own land. The area's south and northwest of the village are of no real notice except for the small human settlements and the paths that lead to them. What lies beyond further beyond these places and out across the ocean (or is it a sea?) is unknown and nobody has really tried to find out.
F/N: Don't have much to add. I should note that chapter 1 has been edited a bit and both it and this chapter may receive further edits in the near-future. Also FFN hates my unique formatting, so AGH! Now as a tidbit, here's the next chapter title…
Next Chapter Is: Foreshocks