Forgotten Memories
By Elle Pellano
Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King.
Chapter 17: The Revenge of An Angry Soul
"Is that a bunch of rotten-smelling paper that had been soaked in baby's pee?" Chocolove asked with extreme disgust at the object Yohmei had taken out from his robe.
"You've got such a wild imagination young lad," the old man sweatdropped. "Anyway, this is the journal of an ancient tribal leader of the Patch by the name Aureum. In order to defeat our enemies we must know their backgrounds first. This journal here contains all the information we need." Yohmei raised the bundled papers higher for everyone to see.
"So that bunch of rotten-smelling pee-soaked old papers is the key," Horo Horo said in awe.
"As soon as Kino told me that the seal containing Hao's wife and Ayako's merged soul was broken and that Hao had returned with a new spirit, Mikihisa and I went to visit the Patch Village to do some research. The current tribal chief Goldva was well-versed when it comes to Patch history. She held vital information that had been kept secret through centuries. She only agreed to tell us the details if we let her see Mikihisa's face behind the bird mask."
Yoh's dad cleared his throat from the corner. "Master Yohmei, I believe that's not a necessary part of the story."
"As I was saying," the old man continued, "Goldva agreed to lend us Aureum's journal on the condition that Mikihisa will return it to her after 3 days. That old Patch woman must have a crush on your father, Yoh."
"Yohmei! Please stop telling insignificant details." Old Kino punched her husband in the head. Everybody sweatdropped at the embarrassing sight.
"Sorry Kino…" Yohmei rubbed his balding head.
Manta snickered to himself. If ever they would end up together, Yoh and Anna would be like these two old people.
Yohmei straightened himself up and continued, "Goldva also related to us the story of the five guardian villages. Not many shamans knew about this," he paused to check on everyone's eagerness level. All of his audience seemed to be listening attentively to his tale.
"According to Goldva, five shamanic tribes prospered once around the Patch Village. Each tribe served as guardians to the five elemental spirits: fire, rain, wind, earth and thunder. Nobody from these five tribes could match the dominant Patch clan who guarded the entrance to the Great Spirit's dwelling. Despite the blessings they received from each of their elemental spirits, these five tribes hungered more for power. They secretly formed an alliance to revolt against the Patch Village so they can gain access to the Great Spirit. However, their plans were foiled by the young healer Aureum who saw a vision from the Great Spirit warning him of his clan's possible destruction. He was personally endowed by the Great Spirit with a gift which he described in this journal as the gift to manipulate souls using furyoku. It was a very powerful technique which allowed him to absorb and transfer spiritual energy. He can absorb completely the furyoku of a shaman and kill him out of spiritual exhaustion then he can transfer his newly gained furyoku to another shaman and have the full control of that person's soul whenever he pleases."
"That sounds scary," Manta shivered.
"This Aureum guy, is he related to Argon? He seemed to be displaying the same ability," Lyserg thought out loud.
"That's a good observation boy. Aureum was a kind-hearted man and was against killing his co-shamans from the other five villages. Aside from his pro-life convictions, he also had personal motives of his own. He had a secret affair with a woman of the south eastern shamanic tribe during his training years as a healer there. Before he left for his own village, he had a son from an illegitimate affair with the tribal chief's daughter. The boy was named Argon--"
"Damned I was right with my guess!" Yohmei was cut by a loud Chocolove. The Afro-American raised his closed fist in triumph.
"However, the Great Spirit had already passed the judgment. Aureum must set aside his convictions and do its bidding or the whole world would suffer from the other villages' evil plots," Yohmei continued. "The first village he destroyed was that of his ex-lover's and his son's. Being once friends with this tribe, it was easy for him to move about the village that night as he began absorbing the furyoku of each of the tribal council members under everyone's noses. Before he left the soon-to-be-destroyed village, he implanted his own furyoku on the tribal chief disguising it as a cure for his recurring headache. He stole the Spirit of Rain to be safely guarded in the Patch village and took his four-year old son whom his lover had introduced to everyone else as her slave's child. As he traveled back to the Patch, he was already manipulating the chief's body and mind. After the murder rampage around the village, the chief took his own life."
"So he let the strongest person who is the tribal chief do the murder for him, ingenious!" There was a hint of admiration in Ren's eyes. The Tao received weird stares from his friends afterwards.
"The whole tribe was wiped out in one night. The Patch tribal council who knew about Aureum's vision welcomed him back and made him the youngest council head. Argon was introduced to them as a lost boy in the oasis whom he would adopt as his son. The next three years were peaceful because the remaining four villages might get suspicious if the annihilation would occur simultaneously. During those years, Aureum taught his son Argon the technique to manipulate furyoku which the boy used to heal wounded clan members. The young lad was grateful to him for treating him as his son when in fact he really was of his own flesh and blood. Deep inside Aureum felt ashamed of his god-given task to destroy the five villages. He couldn't admit to his son that he was the one responsible for his tribe's genocide. This journal contained a detailed account of Argon's training which he personally supervised. It was written here that his son was a natural born haunter, too."
"You mean he can induce nightmares or haunt a person's dreams? This Argon guy is really giving me the creeps!" beads of sweat formed in Horo Horo's forehead.
"Yes, you're right about that. Being the talented shaman that he was, Argon also developed the skill to draw out, copy and transfer a person's memories and use them to haunt that person or another in his dreams. He was the only shaman I know who was capable of doing that."
"Memories are but a powerful weapon because techniques and abilities can be replicated just by recalling how they were done or perfected by someone," Mikihisa clarified.
"That's why he was able to copy my oversoul!" Ryuu exclaimed.
"Aureum knew of his son's potential so when he continued his quest of annihilation, he used his naïve son's haunting abilities. Argon would unknowingly induce nightmares to the tribal council members so that when they woke up, they would kill each other out of rage." Yohmei paused to take several deep breaths. Boy, even telling a story is tiring me so easily.
He resumed when his breathing normalized. "By the time Argon was 24 years of age, only one of the five tribes was left. They were known as the eastern shamanic tribe, guardians of the spirit of fire. Argon was already a full-pledged healer and haunter. He refused to follow his father's bidding when he finally realized that he was being controlled by Aureum to destroy a whole community. The old tribal chief leader then tapped the village priest, Hao whom he knew was quite interested in the remaining elemental spirit. He sent Hao to pass the final judgment on the eastern shamanic tribe who were known for their permanent soul merging technique on the promise that he gets to keep the Spirit of Fire. Only the village chief's daughter named Anya managed to escape bringing along with her their tribe's guardian spirit. She was found by Hao in the oasis and on the pretense that he had nothing to do with the murder of her clan, brought her to the Patch Village. She later became Hao's wife and they had a son."
Everybody wore shock faces except for Manta, Tamao and Jeanne.
"The Spirit of Fire was said to be reduced to its dormant state by the eastern shamanic clan when Hao found it. Personally, I was confused because for a clan who was seeking domination, sealing its guardian spirit in a gem was utter madness. Nonetheless, Anya was the only existing human who can unseal and wake up the Spirit of Fire. She did actually but the whole history of that specific shaman fight in which Hao participated with the Spirit of Fire was not documented in this journal because Aureum had already died." Yohmei flipped open the bounded papers and showed them what was written in the last page.
Inside Hao's secret cave...
Anya kept on glancing at the smirking long-haired shaman. She was not sure if he was looking intently at the bonfire or if his gaze just went through the burning flame to watch her from afar. He looks like a child but acts like an adult. His eyes are still cold and his smiles wicked. He really is Hao. Only now, he was born to his original clan. Anya recalled her last conversation with her husband before he left them at Osorezan. She could clearly remember Hao's words as they trekked the mountain trail to where he would eventually leave them.
"The Asakura heir will be my toughest competitor in the Shaman Fight. He would seek to destroy me but I won't let him. It was a wrong move for me to be reincarnated among the Patch people in the first place. I did not foresee that my original clan would be a big hindrance to my plans. If I fail, at least I know my heir would be safe here. It's time to return to the Asakuras if ever that happens."
"Staring is rude you know."
Anya was distracted by the young Hao who sneered at her by the bonfire.
The itako raised an eyebrow, "It's you who can't take your eyes off me." Anna Kyouyama surely had an air of nastiness about her. Anya was beginning to like her newfound personality.
"And what if I really can't?" Hao stood up and walked towards her. He then sat in front of her and continued gazing with interest as if she was a very rare species of insect.
"I'm starting to notice that you have an undeniable attraction towards me Hao." Anya tried to tease him but she felt a bit jealous that her former husband seemed to have the eye for this frail girl.
Hao chuckled. "Were you always this straight forward to my twin brother? Oh pardon me, I bet he couldn't say how much he likes you because he's frightened of you. I wonder if he can stand against you when you face each other tonight."
Hao grabbed his brother's fiancée, pulled her up by the arm and turned to his new spirit, "Argon, I changed my mind. Our main weapon came to us unexpectedly. We will attack tonight."
"Yes, Master Hao," Argon closed his eyes and concentrated. The evil shaman enjoyed the itako's sudden transformation from a frightened to a stiff emotionless girl. They were all set for a second battle.
At the Asakura itako training center...
"He was very angry at me." Yoh read the words aloud from the last page of Aureum's diary.
Yohmei rubbed his chin, "I'm guessing that the Patch tribal chief was referring to Hao because he did not fulfill his promise to him. Hao had to steal the Spirit of Fire from Aureum killing the latter in the process. This journal was saved from the burning since it was safely stashed away in the underground storage of Aureum's hut which is now Goldva's office by the way."
"What happened after Aureum died?" Tamao whispered audibly from her seat.
Yohmei answered her at once, "This time we will focus on Anya, Hao's unfortunate wife. The rest of her story was documented by the Asakura clan with the help of the village people who once populated Osorezan. Hao had apparently left his wife and his son here in the holy mountain but they went back to the Patch after hearing of Hao's death."
"But the last entry in the record only accounted the burial of Anya here. It did not mention what happened when they returned to the Patch village," Old Kino reminded her husband.
Yohmei grinned mischievously. "Goldva was reluctant to disclose further information with regard to Anya but I was able to convince her using Mikihisa." His wife rendered him another hard punch.
Yohmei continued while rubbing his swollen cheek, "The Patch tribal council passed on a judgment to have Anya killed because she woke up the Spirit of Fire in turn becoming an accomplice to Hao's evil plot. It was Argon who was tasked to impose the death penalty. However, he wasn't able to do so because Anya had committed suicide. Her body was eventually buried in Osorezan. Argon was tried by the council for treason afterwards. He was planning to let Anya escape but failed because the latter had already killed herself. Death penalty was also imposed on Argon."
Teary-eyed Ryuu blew his nose with a tissue paper. "Such a sad story like Romeo and Juliet…"
"Goldva felt that Argon's and Anya's spirits stayed for centuries so they can exact their revenge on the Patch people for their misfortune," Yohmei closed his eyes as a sign of sympathy to the two ill-fated souls.
Something was bothering Lyserg though as he clasped his hands in front of him in deep thought. "I'm trying to connect Anya and Argon's tragic story to Ayako's. Master Kino, you said that Anya tricked Ayako into merging with her so she could seek revenge. Why did Argon bury her in Osorezan in the first place? Would it be logical for Anya's spirit to linger near the Patch so that she could easily exact her revenge on the tribe who once oppressed her?"
Nobody was able to reply to Lyserg's question because a loud scream which sounded like Faust was heard from the inn's clinic afterwards.
Anna backed away from the blond woman whom she had known as the lady in the mirror. Her mind wasn't conditioned to believe everything she heard but her heart was tuned to accept it as the truth. "Stop telling lies. My parents left me to die in Osorezan."
"They were your foster parents. I'm your real mother," the woman removed a hair strand from Anna's face. "Master Kino had you adopted on my instructions," she diverted her gaze momentarily as if in shame.
The young itako slapped her hand away. "I have known no other parents since I was little. It was the Asakuras who adopted me."
Ayako covered her mouth as she fell to her knees and wept. "So Master Kino had fulfilled her promise…"
"Look, you've been talking a lot to me in my dreams. Don't go acting as if it's the first time you knew me and don't go telling me that I'm your daughter. You are just my past persona."
"That's what she made you believe."
"Who made me believe what?" Anna said irritably.
"Anya. Her name was Anya. She was an angry soul. We are of one spirit but I am not her. She tried to erase me from existence but she couldn't because I held on to my memories of you," Ayako squeezed her daughter's shoulders.
Anna was not sure if it was the lady or her who was getting mad in that dark place. She slowly backed away from the weeping woman.
"She hid me into the inner depths of her being." Ayako gasped when she finally realized the gravity of her daughter's situation. "No, she couldn't have possibly sent you down here, too?"
"I wanted to find out what happened to me in the past when I was Hao's wife."
"Don't believe her story! She was Hao's wife not you. You are Anna Kyouyama, you are my daughter."
"But I had dreams. I saw what happened to her, to me in the past." Anna felt her head's about to split open. "Why would she tell me that I'm her if I'm not?"
"She used you as much as she had used me," tears began to flow down the woman's cheeks.
Anna felt something tag at her heart. She could feel the blond lady's pain. She knelt down by Ayako and placed her hand on her left shoulder. "What happened to you? Why are you here?"
"I thought Anya was my friend." Ayako tried to control her tears. "I often visited her burial ground when I was young because I was eager to know where my real parents are. She claimed that she saw them when they left me in Osorezan. She was going to give me some information about them if I managed to 'find her memories first'. However, Master Kino wanted me to focus on my training as an itako master so I stopped visiting. I only came running to her again when the man I have loved dearly dumped me. I was devastated but I couldn't tell anyone about it. I told her I was pregnant. I told her you'll be born five months after Master Kino's daughter, Keiko would give birth to Hao Asakura's reincarnation. It was the latest talk of the town in the training center at that time. I can never forget her face when I told her that. She looked as if she had remembered something very important. Since I didn't want you at that time, she asked me if she could have you. She wanted to merge her soul with yours so she can live again. I was not thinking right when I said yes. I visited her a week before I gave birth to you. I had changed my mind and I'd like to tell her that I wanted to keep you. She was angry of course. She told me even if I don't give in to her wish, you would come to her because she already marked you as her own. As soon as I gave birth to you, I told Master Kino to send you away for adoption. I did it to save you. I never truly wanted us to part." Ayako broke into tears again.
Anna rubbed her mother's back to comfort her.
"I went to the Patch Village to train as a shaman partly to escape from Anya. I met a wandering spirit there by the name of Argon. He showed me a memory from which I learned how to merge souls permanently. It gave me a good idea. I decided to come back to Osorezan because I fear for your safety. I agreed to merge with her soul to appease her and to stop her from bothering you in the future. It was too late when I found out about her true intentions. The merge already took place. Fortunately, Master Kino was able to seal our merged soul thereby foiling Anya's plans."
"Your Argon is probably the same Argon that I know of. He is currently Hao's new spirit. He might have been an accomplice of Anya all along for all we know."
"Anna," Ayako gently touched her daughter's cheek. "You shouldn't be here. Anya might have tricked you into going down to this place. You can never go back up there if you stayed too long."
"Nobody wants me back out there. If staying here means being with my real mother, then I would stay…" Anna held Ayako's hand.
"Don't. You've got a life ahead of you. I don't have the luxury of it anymore…"
Anna grew quiet for a while then finally asked, "How can I go back?"
"Anya used her own memories to flood and drown yours. Use what is left of them to regain yourself."
"But the painful memories are the ones which remained."
"It's what she intended to do in the first place. Find it in your heart," Ayako touched her daughter's left chest with her pointing finger. "That one true memory you have cherished and kept within you. That memory you will never ever forget."
There was a loud thunder-like sound that came from the darkness above. It was followed by a heavy shaking of the ground. Some of the mirrors came crashing down which they had managed to avoid.
"What was the reason for Anya's existence all these years anyway?" Anna shouted to her mother amidst the noise of the rumbling ground and shattering glass.
"She wanted to kill the reincarnated Hao and destroy his soul to cease his re-birth process."
"But she didn't know his soul was split into two not until now…" Anna gasped. "She's going to kill Yoh, too!"
End of Chapter 17
Thanks for reading!