Chapter Four: Comprehension
What. . . what is this. .. . WHAT IS THIS?
It was although Naoki had gone through a doorway and landed in the ocean. One moment he'd been sprinting, desperately trying to get away from a ghost in a business suit, the next he was opening the door and stepping through it into the hallway. Now he was face down in a thick, viscous liquid that looked and smelled a lot like. . .
IT'S BLOOD!
And he was on his feet, his face shooting out of the water as he leaned back on his haunches, looking around him in terror as he took in the terrible sight before him.
This was not the corridor outside the hospital room he had been in– it was some awful, nightmarish world of swirling red mist, blood on the floor and red stuff pulsing through the walls. As he looked around, disembodied skulls floated, purple fog drifting back behind them, while burnt corpses shuffled and convulsed their way through the bloody water. . .
Too much. His body rebelled and he vomited, violently, into the water. He dropped down to all fours, curled into a ball as best as he could without drowning, and wailed, tears streaming out of his eyes.
Hell. I've gone to hell. . .
"Dear Lord Jesus Christ, our saviour and father," he whispered through his tears. This was not blasphemy this time but a prayer, a prayer on his knees with his head bowed and his hands in the correct position. "Please. . . please save me. . .Forgive me. . . Help me!" He was praying now, praying in tongues, an incomprehensible stream of babble spewing from his mouth as he pleaded and begged God.
What answered him, however, was not God. That he was 100% sure of.
Stand up.
It was a woman's voice, but not the old hag who had pinned him to the ground in servitude to that bastard of a boy. This was a younger voice, a vaguely familiar voice . . who was it. . .!
"Ms. . .Ms. Takao!" Naoki shouted. "Ms. Takao, is that you!"
Stand up.
He leaped to his feet. "Ms. Takao, where are you?"
Come.
"Through . .. through here?"
Yes.
He didn't want to do it. He wanted to go home, back to his home with the foster parents who didn't care about him and the bullies who beat him up and even the neighbours who played music all night long and kept him awake. He wanted to go home to them and he would be thankful for going home to them because it would not be HERE. In this nightmare.
But then he turned around, and he realized that escape was impossible – there was no room behind him, no normal hospital room with the freaky ghost in the business suit, no escape from here. If he wanted to escape, he had to go forward. Towards the voice. Towards Ms. Takao. Towards safety.
He took a step forward, then another step and another step. It was hard going – the blood was sticking to his shoes, and he tried not to think about the fact that it was probably on his face and in his hair as well, along with the vomit. No. He couldn't think about that. He couldn't think about the fact that he probably looked like a monster from a horror movie.
He had to find Ms. Takao. She said she would be his strength and his guidance. Everything would be fine when he found her.
Right?
Except that walking through the blood made a lot of noise, and the other. . . inhabitants of this place had heard it. The disembodied skulls, and the burnt corpses -. they were turning towards him now, and he began to hear mutters. "Magatsuhi. . . Magatsuhi. . . . Eat.. . ."
Don't look at them, he told himself. If you don't look at them, they won't look at you. Just...ignore them.
From the burned corpses he could see glimmers of hungry smiles, and the skulls – well, they couldn't smile anyway, but they were looking at him in a hungry manner. Naoki felt a chill. They were becoming difficult to ignore. "Ah. . . Ms. Takao . . "
Show me.
"Wha. . . what? What do you –"
Show me your power.
"What power?" The monsters were coming towards him now.
The power of a demon.
"No, no . .. I'm not . . . "
"Maaaaagatsuhi!" And they were upon him, rushing through the bloody path at a speed he couldn't believe and couldn't outrun and they were suddenly everywhere, biting him, scratching him, hitting him. He screamed, curled up in a ball as they rushed him, dragged him down and still they came until he was buried under a pile of monsters and covered in blood. Not just from the path he was standing in, but his own.
Fight back.
He was curling into a ball, cowering on his hands and knees, just as he did when the bullies at school attacked him, in an effort to look as least threatening as possible and to hopefully protect his vital bits. He whimpered to himself, "Ms. Takao. . . Chiaki . . . Isamu . . .God . .. somebody. . . help me, please."
They can't help you. You must do it on your own.
"I can't.. . "
You must.
Naoki shook his fists then yelled at the voice in fury, screaming at the top of his lungs. "I CAN'T!"
I did not save your life just for you to die here! FIGHT BACK!
"I. . . I can't. . . "
RIGHT! NOW!
That did it.
Naoki never had been one to defy direct orders. He'd never learned martial arts or any type of self defence and he didn't have any sort of weapon but it was now or never, he had to fight now or die so he shouted "RAAR Take that!" and lashed out at the horde on top of him, throwing a right hand punch at the nearest skull.
And that punch. . . a punch thrown out of desperation without any real strength put behind it, from a shrimp of a youth who had always been terrible at sports, coming last in every race he had ever been in, horrendously unfit and unable to run for more than a few minutes, the boy who was picked last in all team sports and lost at everything, the boy who had never fought back EVER, just let people stomp on him underfoot, that boy who was weak as HELL. . .
The punch went straight through the skull, smashing it to pieces, then following through and taking out three more skulls as it moved through the air in a blur. It was although the skulls were made of little more than potato chips, it was so easy. Just one swing – whoosh – and that was that. He stared at the skulls he had smashed, the pieces falling into the water and staying there, the purple mist dissipated.
Very Good. Keep going.
He climbed to his full height, shook himself free, threw the skulls and burned corpses off of him, got himself into a sorry excuse of a fighting stance, just in time to be knocked off his feet by a second wave, this time the burned corpses, with blacked limbs and exposed yellow bones. They were running towards him now, punching and kicking and biting him and he punched and kicked and bit back, grappling with corpses and rolling around, waving his hands around randomly with no real idea of what he was doing, but it didn't MATTER! He was ploughing through bone and muscle and sinew and the corpses and skulls were falling like rain as his punches blew holes in them, but there was more and more, and he kept swinging – a corpse fell and twitched in the bloody pool and he freaked out and kept punching it until he'd hacked the thing to pieces.
Then finally it was over, silence except for Naoki growling like a wild beast, not even breathing heavily from the exertion or the pain. He was alone again, alone except for the smashed skulls and crushed limbs and suddenly it finally occurred to him that he'd just done something he shouldn't have been able to do.
What . . .. what is . . . How did – Why – How – How did I just do that!
For the first time since waking up, he looked down at himself, really looked at himself, looking for anything different.
He saw something different alright - he was RIPPED! The puny, shrimp-like body he'd been afraid to show during showers at school was gone, replaced by a body of pure muscle and sinew that he'd only ever seen on TV by famous sportsmen. He was so astonished that for a few insane moments he completely forgot about the nightmare he was in the middle of and did several poses, showing off his muscles to an imaginary audience and checking out his new bulging biceps. He did a few practice punches in the air, stared in disbelief as they moved in a blur, much faster than should have been possible.
Woah!
He wasn't sure if it was the sun that had burnt it off him, or whether it was that his muscles were now too big to be contained – but he'd somehow lost the shirt he'd been wearing - only a few strands of tattered black cloth remained. He wasn't cold though and his shirt was now useless, so he discarded the miserable remains among the corpses of the monsters he had destroyed.
Not killed – destroyed. They're just skulls and corpses, after all. He hadn't really killed them. He wasn't a murderer.
That wasn't the only change, though – his skin was now covered with glowing tattoos, tattoos that spread out from a . . .horn! at the base of his neck, just above where his neck met his shoulders. The markings were all over his body, faintly glowing blue and black tattoos on his arms, his legs, his hands, everywhere he could see. He thought, briefly, of taking off his shoes, belt and pants to see just how far the tattoos DID extend, but eventually decided against it.
"What's happened to me?" He said aloud.
He has given you power.
"Power?"
The power of Magatama.
Well, that didn't explain anything.
"I don't understand. . . what is Magatama? What is this place? Why do I have glowing tattoos on my stomach? How did I beat those monster things?"
You are in the depths of Amala, and your markings symbolise your bond with the Magatama - the demonic parasite given to you by our Lord, known as the Magatama Marogareh, the sphere formed from primal chaos. It is the very essence of demonic power.
"What.. . parasite?" He remembered now, that horrible thing with the snappy jaws that burrowed into his eye, dropped by. . .
THAT BOY!
"You mean, that centipedey thing –"
Yes. It has merged with your body. You have now joined the ranks of demons.
"I'm . . .a . . . a . . . . ?" He couldn't finished the sentence, as though speaking the question would turn it into fact. Luckily, the voice of Ms. Takao seemed to understand what he was trying to ask.
Your body is now that of a demon, yes. However, your heart is still your own, still human. You are only a Demi Fiend, half demon.
"No. . . I don't want to be a. . .I didn't want you to. . . I'd rather have died. .. I don't want to be a DEMON!"
Something broke inside him. Something fell apart. It was as though the very word "demon" had been the catalyst, a key to the transformation that had taken place. Something fell apart, and in its place something was forming. . . something dark .. . something red. Not red like blood, but red like fury. He began to slam his fists into the bloody water, anger surging through him. . "D- damn it. . . Damn it… damn you. . . DAMN YOU! DAMN ME!" He was covering his mouth the minute he said it, shocked that he'd actually yelled at Ms. Takao, his anger momentarily quelled.. "I . . .I'm sorry Ms. Takao, I didn't mean. . . I. . ."
It's okay. I know to whom your anger was directed at.
"Yes, it was to that boy. . . that boy and the old hag! It's all THEIR fault!" Naoki snarled, looked up at the roof, saw only more red mist and red lines. "Why . .. why, Lord God? Why did this happen? Why did you let them turn me into . . . this thing? Why? Why aren't you helping me?"
He is either not aware or doesn't care about you. It was his decree that you should perish in the Conception, along with rest of humanity. Perhaps he has abandoned you for dead. You are alive only through the defiance of His will, after all.
"You – " He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No. . . no .. . that's not true. . . He wouldn't do that. . ."
He would. He is not the Deity your beloved book claims Him to be. You are by no means the first to have fallen from His grace, nor will you be the last. But where one Lord has forsaken you, another shall protect you. Our Lord has given you a gift. Accept it and use it to guide the others.
"Who is – who is this lord?" Naoki had never felt so alone. He couldn't see Ms. Takao, didn't know where his friends were, didn't know where anybody was. He needed somebody. Anybody.
He is the morning star and light bringer, the eternal opponent of the Divine Will ever since he was cast out and banished to the depths of Amala with a third of his kin. He is our Lord, Lord of all Demons, the Great King and Protector of Darkness. It is under his orders that you have received this gift.
Naoki realized who she was talking about, now.
No. . . not that. . . ANYBODY but that. . .
". . . The devil," he whispered.
That is one of his names, yes.
I'm talking to a servant of the freaking devil. Ms. Takao is a servant of the Devil.
His blood ran cold. The Devil. Lucifer. Satan. The very word should have resulted in him being smote down by lightning, but nothing was happening.
Ms Takao, the bastard and the old hag are servants of the Devil and they've turned me into a demon on his orders.
Naoki snarled, fury rising in his voice, understanding the situation, or at least thinking he did. .
"Do you . . . really think . . . that just by giving me a few muscles . . . will justify turning me into a MONSTER? Justify destroying my LIFE! You – You haven't saved my life, YOU'VE RUINED IT!"
It was not we. It was the desire of the Divine Will that humanity be destroyed, for they had defied his Will. We were powerless to prevent it and we weep also for the terrible events that have transpired. If you feel wronged for what has occurred, then direct your anger towards Him.
"How dare you!" Naoki shouted at the world in general. "If you think turning me into a demon will automatically turn me into a Devil Summoning heretic, you're out of your demonic brain!" He was defiant now, angry.
I've been transformed into a demon and I've been friends with one of the Devil's top worshippers for the past two years. No wonder God has abandoned me.
That was not the reason you were saved.
"THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HELP ME!"
To give you a power you have never before possessed. The power to choose your destiny for yourself.
"The power to .. . " That was a new one.
There were rumblings now around him, gurgles and demonic screeches. The monsters were back, lured by the spilt entrails of the corpses around his feet, by his enraged shouts as they echoed off the walls.
More are coming. You must break through to survive.
"I don't care," Naoki said, sitting down in the pool of blood in defeat. "I'm not going to live and kill for you. I'm not going to do your boss's dirty work, Ms. Takao! I'm not going to do ANYTHING for him!"
"Then . . .then survive for me."
He whirled around in shock. There was a haze before for him, and suddenly a figure, a lady in black, not old like the old hag, but young. . . Ms. Takao! She was standing by an old fart of a man in a wheelchair, a man with wispy white hair and a sceptre that seemed almost alive.
"Naoki. . . " she spoke. It was Ms. Takao's voice! "Please, you can't die yet. Not like this. I sacrificed so much. . . did so many things. . . I believe in you, Naoki. . . I know your strength. You can survive this, this nightmare, I know it."
"You . . ." Naoki stood up, stared at her. She was so far away, her view obscured by more of the floating skulls and the burned out corpses.. "Ms. Takao. . . You were the only one who ever believed in me. . . the only one who ever cared. . . "
"Yes Naoki, I was. I was the only one who could see how strong and nice your were, the only one who cared enough to listen to you when you cried, the only one who helped you when you needed it. Now. . . now I'm the one who needs help, Naoki. I need you. . . need you to find me, need you to help me. . . "
Naoki blinked, look down at his body, this terrible body smeared in blood, this demonic body that would cut him off from heaven and atonement forever.
I can't live for myself. . .can't live for god . . .
"Please help me, Naoki Kashima. You're my only hope."
Naoki glared at the mass of demons in front of him.
". . . "
His eyes narrowed. A growl rumbled in his throat and he bared his teeth.
Burt I will live for you.
"Well?"
The skulls and corpses didn't answer, merely smiled in anticipation of the kill.
Naoki smiled back for the same reason. "What are you waiting for, HUH? Come GET SOME!"
The demons lunged for him., claws extended. He rushed upon them with a shriek.
The lady in black and the old man watched him, ploughing through demon after demon with shouts of rage, smashing bones and destroying burned corpses in his wake.
Very good.
And he kept swinging his fists, kept smashing bones, kept snarling and shrieking. "YUKO!"
Your strength is outstanding.
The monsters ahead of him began to tremble in fear. Naoki didn't care that they were scared. He didn't even care that before him, the world and the demons and the lady in black and the old man were fading from view, blurring together. All he cared about was surviving this nightmare, living through it and finding her, meeting her again, living long enough to see her again. "Hold on, Ms. Takao!"
We shall meet again . . .Hito-Shura. . .
Jyoji Hijiri was a man who loved to know things. It fitted well with his job as a reporter and investigator, particularly of the occult and paranormal. This was a good thing. He also spent almost every waking moment trying to find out things and why they occurred.
Right now, he was trying to figure out just HOW he had ended up in a dark room next to a big fat spinny pillar thing. It looked sort of familiar. . .Hikawa had one of those, didn't he? Were they related? Was there more of them? How much did it cost? How did it bring him here?
Where exactly was here, anyway?
All of these questions and more were disrupted when the door suddenly flung open. He spun around, stared in shock at what had just entered the room. It was a human, a young male, wearing a belt, pants, shoes . . .and large blue and black markings all along his skin that were clearly occult in origin. He was covered in blood. It was caked in his hair, on his face, on his hands, drenching his shoes. But he looked familiar.. . in fact, he looked just like .. .
"You . . . you're the kid. You're the one I met back there, in the park,"
The youth nodded.
Could this blood covered boy truly be that scared little kid that nearly wet himself when teased by that fat cop? The one that had to hold Hijiri's magazine article at arms length in an effort to resist its corrupting influence?
"What happened to you?" Hijiri demanded, more curious than horrified.
The boy, Naoki Kashima, turned his blood soaked face towards him, looked him up and down for several seconds, then shrugged. "I've gotten stronger," he replied.
Hijiri stared. "You – you're not kidding, are you?" So. What the hell is going on! I was on my way to Shinjuku Medical Centre after I told that fat cop exactly where to shove his donut, when there was this really bright light, and next thing I know, here I am. What is this place? What happened to you? Why isn't my cell phone working? Who turned out the lights?"
" .. . but before I could reach her, the world shifted and I found myself back in the hallway outside where I woke up," Naoki finished, coning to the end of his great tale. "I wandered around a bit, then heard noises in one of the rooms, so I opened the door and came in here. So, . .. here we are."
Hijiri stared at him for several seconds, a lock of complete disbelief on his face, scarcely believing what he was hearing. At various times through the tale, Hijiri's eyebrow had risen so high that they could have hit the ceiling, whilst he jaw dropped so low it could hit the floor.. Then he finally spoke.
"Holy. Mother. Fucking. Shit. That's one hell of a story. I mean, I'd heard rumours of course. I've been investigating Hikawa and his company, and the Cult of Gaea for a while now,. . . and I'd known about the Prophecy of Miroku, and how they were planning something big . . but this big? Man. I had absolutely no idea it would be like this!"
There was sadness in Naoki's voice. "Ms. Takao said that only those who were in this hospital at the time of the Conception would survive. . . so that means that the total population of the world is now exactly six people…. Chiaki, Ms. Takao, Isamu, Hikawa, you, and me. The others . . there's nobody left except but us."
Can I really be classified as one of the surviving humans now? I've changed. . . I'm not the same as I was before. . .
Before this, before all of this crazy stuff had happened to him, Naoki was the sort of person who'd never hurt a fly. He was scared of pretty much everything. Back in Amala, he had ploughed through un dead nightmares in order to survive. And he had enjoyed it. Relished it. Wanted more. He didn't want to simply stand here and talk, he WANTED TO FIGHT!
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Hijiri told him. Naoki looked up.
"What? You think other people survived?"
"No, not like that," Hijiri replied. "I've been hearing things, noises outside this room. . . things that are definitely . . . not human. If what the Prophecy of Miroku says is true . .. if the Conception has actually occurred. . . "
As though they were lured by his words, terrible sounds and growls began to echo all around them. Naoki stared out behind him through the door, but saw nothing.
"You hear that?" Hijiri asked. Naoki nodded.
Hijiri stared at the ground. "Damn. It wasn't my imagination, then. Alright, listen up, cause this is going to be a bit tricky to believe – I believe with the fall of humanity, demons may have risen to take over the world in their place."
"Wha- WHAT?" Naoki stared. "There's no such thing as – as those monsters! That's impossible!"
Hijiri snorted. "Do you know how stupid you just sounded, kid? Face facts! You've been turned into a demon. Hikawa summoned a demon to kill you. You just told me you like wasted twenty something demons in the last half hour. Your face is covered with demon blood. Is that proof enough that it's possible for demons to exist?"
Naoki gulped.
"You think I'm with how this day has turned out!" Hijiri shouted, causing Naoki to stare at him.
"N – no, I've never said that –"
"Well I'm not! I've just written the greatest article of my entire life, one that's just been proven true, one that shows that I predicted that this entire scenario would happen, AND THE WORLD HAS ENDED ONLY A FEW HOURS BEFORE I GOT PAID FOR IT!" He howled into the spinning pillar.
Naoki stared in shock. "S – sorry."
Hijiri glared back at him in fury, but then sighed. As quickly as it had come, the anger was gone. "Heh. Well, you can't have changed too much - at least you still sound like that kid from the park. No. I'm the one who should apologise for blowing up in your face. If there's one thing I've learned from all these years of researching the occult, it's that standing around freaking out and shouting won't get us anywhere. We have to think rationally. Take it from me, kid, I've spent pretty much all of my life fascinated with the occult whilst you've been busy reading from that bible of yours, so I'm the one who can see the bigger picture here. If humans are gone, then you'd better believe that demons will appear in their place. All sorts of demons. . maybe even the good ones. . ." Hijiri's eyes glittered. "I always DID want to do an interview with Beelzabub . . . "
Naoki blinked. "Uh. .. okay." He needed someone to take the lead. He was like a lost puppy, needed someone to show the way and guide him through this nightmare. If not God, if not Ms. Takao, then at least someone familiar, like Hijiri.
"Alright," Hijiri turned to the pillar he'd been studying before Naoki barged in. "I've seen this spinning barrel like object somewhere before, belonging to a man named Hikawa. You said he summoned a demon using this thing?"
"Yeah. A goat monster with a human's body and flames on its head."
"Hmm. . . that sounds like Baphomet, a demon from Pagan worship. A strong one too. . . some people used to think of it as a King of Demons, much like your Devil. Hmm, I thought humans were restricted to summoning small ones, like imps and other such minor demons, but to summon a bastard like Baphomet? This thing must be packing a serious wallop. Maybe he uses them as some sort of .. . conduit, a portal, between the demonic and our worlds?"
Naoki had to fight a compulsion to put his fingers in his ears to avoid being corrupted, telling himself that it was a little late to be worried about that given he had spoken to the devil, killed several undead corpses, seen the world end and been turned into a demon. "Well, I don't know. But you actually think that there might be . . . monsters? Here? In the hospital? Right now?"
"That's right. If the world has truly ended, then there's nothing stopping demons from coming in and taking over the place – they usually can't stay in our world for long, only summoned for small periods of time by sacrifices and special rituals – but if the world has truly ended, then the gates of hell will be wide open. If it hasn't happened already, it'll be a few hours before there's more demons in Tokyo than there were in hell."
Naoki gulped. This day was just getting worse and worse by the second. "I'm worried about my friends, Chiaki and Isamu. They might be hurt, in trouble."
God! Why did this happen to me? Why!
"If Baphomet or something similar is after them, they certainly could be," Hijiri replied, "but all of what I've said so far is speculation. We won't be able to figure out anything by just standing here moping – we have to gather information. How about this – with your new body, you should be able to either blend in with the demon population or belt it out of your way. You go and find your friends, find out what has happened, if it's the genuine Conception or just some sort of natural disaster. I'm going to stay here, study this artefact. It could be our big clue to understanding and getting out of this mess."
"You're – you're going to stay here?"
You want me to go – ALONE?
"Look at me. I'm pretty tough and nimble, but I'm no soldier – I wouldn't last one second against a demon like Baphomet or worse. You said your teacher gave you strength to survive in this world, so you should go out and use it. Explore the hospital, find your friends, then report back to me and we'll work things out from there. Understand?"
"Y-yeah, I got it," Naoki replied. He didn't want to go, but he never could disobey a direct order, whether it be from Chiaki or anybody else. "Okay. . . I guess I'll . . . see you later?"
Hijiri nodded, then smiled at him in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Yep. Go out and play. Have fun!" It was a stupid joke, but it was enough for Naoki to smile slightly as he closed the door and left the room. Hijiri's smile vanished the moment the boy had left.
"Ahhhhhhh Shit," he sighed. "If I ever see my boss again, I'm asking him for a serious pay rise."
Something was bothering him deeply however, about what Naoki had said. It was about how the sun had spoken to him, asking to see his soul, but not seeing any Reason and sending him down to earth.
Hijiri knew that this had to be the Divine Will foretold in the Scripture of Miroku – all who were destined to survive the Conception would be judged by Kagutsuchi, the guardian of the newly created world. When the time was right, Kagutsuchi would create the world according to the ideals, or Reason, of the strongest will. Thus was it foretold, and so it had happened – Kagutsuchii had spoken to Naoki Kashima.
But it hadn't spoken yet to Jyoji Hijiri. Why was that?