Chapter three finally up! I must admit that I am losing my motivation due to the Legend of Zelda and some Jhonen Vasquez… Okamiden really needs to come out soon so I don't lose it completely… enjoy this chapter. Reviews are appreciated… even if you're telling me how much I suck…
In a surprising turn of events, the Amaterasu and Issun were treated to a feast. Issun watched in amazement as the wolf gobbled down more food than he had ever seen anything that size eat.
"We were beginning to think you were not going to come, Amaterasu." The high priest said happily, ignoring the flecks of food that flew into his face from the wolf's voracious eating.
"Why do ya keep talking to it?" Issun asked, his mouth full of rice.
"Why do you?" The priest threw the question back, making Issun pause.
"Well… I…" He thought of many excuses but none seemed good enough.
"She's no ordinary wolf, you can sense that." The priest said with a sly smile.
"I know that, she fought off a pack of imps on the way here with my sword." Issun snapped back, stuffing his mouth to bursting point with more food before the wolf finished his off too.
"That wolf is called Amaterasu, and she it a guardian spirit." the priest informed Issun. Issun paused for a moment and looked at Amaterasu, the wolf was a bit different…
"She's a guardian spirit, no way." Issun said.
"She's THE guardian goddess." The priest said, causing Issun to choke on his food.
"You can't be serious!" Issun exclaimed.
"Do you honestly think we teach lying as a virtue here?" The Priest asked, raising an eyebrow. Issun frowned and looked at the wolf, there was nothing godly about it, except its appetite that was as big as the cosmos.
"It is hard to believe now, but an old legend speaks of a great god that fell from the sky into the Ancient Forest a hundred years ago and fought to save the king himself at the cost if its own life…" The priest began to say.
"I've heard that story, my grandpa used to tell it to me all the time." Issun said, interrupting the priest.
"Yes, but in the fight, it also lost all of its godly powers and they lay scattered in ruins and as relics of the past. That is why Amaterasu looks so feeble now." The priest said. Amaterasu looked up at the priest when he said that, Issun thought she looked a touch self conscious.
"We do have a relic here that she once wielded a long time ago, it should be enough to kick start her powers." The priest said. "Come with me."
Issun looked back at Amaterasu.
"Ya think we should follow him?" Issun asked the wolf.
Amaterasu swallowed one more rice cake and then stood up, following the monk down a different cave passage. Issun stood too and followed her. The cave was dimly lit and the lanterns that hung on the wall were covered in a blue paper which shone an unnatural flickering light over them, causing strange shadows to dance across the rock walls. They proceeded into another cavern. On the ceiling was a hole so that the light of the sun or moon would shine through down on a very large glaive mounted upon a stone.
"This is Tsumugari, one of the divine instruments that Amataseru uses in battle to exorcise demons." The priest explained.
"…This wolf could use a sword this size?" Issun raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You're pulling my leg."
As Issun talked, Amaterasu made her way up to the glaive, which began to glint a bit more in the presence of its former master. Amaterasu took the hilt in her mouth and almost instantly, was enveloped in a bright light as powerful as the sun. Issun had to sheild his eyes but by the time the light faded, the white wolf was no longer standing before them. Instead was a wolf the size of a horse with crimson markings on its face and back, wisps of fur that resembled swirling wings on her body and a definite divine aura. The glaive was suspended a few inches from her back.
"Oh gods…" Issun muttered. The priest seemed pleased enough and bowed to her. The wolf blinked.
"Great goddess Amaterasu…" The priest said. Issun looked over at the priest and quickly bowed his head slightly, showing at least some respect.
"It is good to see you are looking more like your former self. Now that you have some of your power back, you will find the rest easier. There is a pull between your divine magic and the more you accumulate, the easier you will find the rest. I do not know the full meaning of why you are here but I do know that it has to do with the growing darkness that encompasses our land. I can point you in the direction of Agata Forest. The area is surrounded by a curse zone." The priest spoke in a humble tone, but Amaterasu didn't seem to mind, or be paying attention in the least. She was currently sniffing the air where the food was coming from and wanting to get back to it.
"A cursed zone, in the entire Agata Forest area?" Issun seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. "Whatever put that there must be one heck of a monster… I didn't think they could get that big or kill off so many trees!"
The priest nodded grimly. "Yes, we suspect it to be the work of Orochi."
"Who is Orochi, I've never heard of him." Issun folded his arms. Amaterasu seemed to twitch her ears in the direction of the priest when he mentioned the name "Orochi".
"Well, he's this humungous creature that has eight heads and is serpent-like…" The priest began to pantomime awkwardly to describe the creature.
"Hold on, I think we can do this better." Issun pulled a scroll, some ink, and a brush from his bag and sat on the floor, getting his work station together. "Describe him again?"
As the priest described the horrors of Orochi and Issun drew, Amaterasu found herself being pulled slowly back to the food, thinking she was being sneaky, but a wolf her size in a small cavern could be easily noticed, even if she was trying to be sneaky.
"There, all finished. Is this what he looks like?" Issun held up his scroll to the priest.
The priest gasped as he looked at it. "Yes! Almost exactly like him!"
"Well, they don't call me a Wandering Artist for nothing." Issun bragged. "Hey, furball! Come here and tell me what you think!"
Amaterasu froze, thinking she had been caught. But when no one seemed like they were going to yell at her, she hurried over to Issun and sat down. Issun held up the scroll for her to see.
Amaterasu jumped to her feet, her hair standing on end. She growled at the scroll, staring directly at the picture. Issun blinked and moved the picture to the left, Amaterasu followed it. She did the same when Issun held the picture above his head.
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Issun smiled.
The priest gave Issun a look that reminded him a bit too much of his grandfather.
Issun cleared his throat quickly. "Seriously, though. He looks like one tough dude. Is he the one that attacked you guys?"
"No, we were attacked by a monster known as the spider queen" The Priest said grimly.
"Then what's all this nutty talk about Orochi?" Issun asked.
"Well, Orochi is the only demon that we know of that can create cursed zones as large as the ones that are spreading now, but the Spider Queen is the only creature known to steal the heads of her victims."
"…She steals heads? Like the headless dead guys upstairs?" Issun asked tactlessly, Amaterasu groaned a bit at him.
The priest nodded.
"What does she do with the heads?" Issun asked. "Eat 'em?"
"No, much worse. With the heads she collects, she can make masks to fool whomever she needs. All she has to do is put on one of her human masks and she will also gain the abilities that the person once had." The priest explained.
"Yikes! Sounds bad." Issun said before looking at Amaterasu. "Make sure she doesn't get you or the entire world is screwed over easy."
"Yes, you must make sure that never happens." The priest said.
"What, me?" Issun asked, surprised.
"She has chosen you as her new ally, you should consider yourself very lucky." The priest said.
"Somehow. being dragged into a cosmic battle with demons doesn't make me feel very lucky." Issun frowned, crossing his arms and glaring at Amaterasu. "What did you get me into."
Amaterasu simply licked his face encouragingly.
"Okay, fine! I'll go with you…" Issun said. "But I'm dropping out if things get too risky. I'm not giving MY life up for the sake of mankind."
A dim light began to grow from inside the room, causing Issun and Amaterasu's conversation to be cut short. They looked over in the direction of the light, which was coming from the head priest. He seemed to be dissolving into thin air.
"Wah! Hey, what's going on?" Issun took a step towards the priest. "You're not being attacked or possessed, are you?"
Amaterasu immediately took and offensive stance, ready to attack when needed.
"No, I'm passing on to the next world." The priest said in a slowly softening voice.
"Passing on-… you're DEAD?" Issun shouted in shock. Amaterasu stood up straight and seemed just as shocked as Issun.
"The bodies that you found above this cave belong to all the monks of this monastery, killed by the Spider Queen." The priest explained.
"All of you are dead?" Issun asked.
"Yes, but we knew that we could not leave this world until the sacred relic, the divine instrument Tsumugari was returned to its rightful owner." The priest said.
"That's that, then? You're all just going to disappear?" Issun asked.
"Pass on, yes." The priest said, a look of calm relief on his face. "Our time has passed, but your troubles have just began. Begin your search in any place of evil. Where there is darkness, there will be light soon to follow. May your journey be successful, Amaterasu."
With that, the priest disappeared.
"…They're gone, Amaterasu…" Issun frowned again. "Amaterasu, that's a mouthful. I'm just going to shorten that to Ammy, okay?"
Amaterasu barked once.
"Well, the priest guy said to look where there is darkness… So I think we should head to Agata Forest to check out that cursed zone. I doubt there will be any way we can get rid of it, but we might find a few clues to your powers and to that Orochi guy." Issun said.
Before leaving the temple, Issun and Amaterasu buried the headless bodies of the monks in the monastery garden. They marked several heavy stones that they placed on top of the graves.
"We really should bury them with their heads, but as long as that Spider wench has them that ain't gonna happen. We might as well head out there now." Issun said. "Agata forest is just west of here, but we'd better be careful. Its one wild place and the only people that survive there are as hostile as the forest. We'll get there faster if I hitch a ride on your back."
Issun hopped gracefully onto the back of Amaterasu and pointed to the west. "Agata Forest is in that general direction!"
Amaterasu broke into a run while Issun clung onto her fur and the two of them set off for Agata Forest.