We'd been walking along the trail up the worn side of the mountain for a while when I finally caught sight of what must be our destination. It was a weathered rock face with a sign above it advertising that it was a famous historical site. There were other signs posted around it telling the legend of the spirit that lived within. There was also a small tourist booth nearby selling the inevitable charms. There wasn't anyone around so Isana and I just walked right on in.
The small cave would have been dim, but the people who'd set up the signs had also wired it with electric lights and the rck formations were illuminated clearly. Isana proceeded directly to the back where a large flat stone altar housed another miniature house-shrine-box. She clapped her hands and bowed.
"I have come back," she said to the box. "And I brought an offering."
She reached into her little satchel and pulled out a small box of donuts, holding them up in front of her toward the shrine.
For a moment nothing happened, then there suddenly appeared the standing figure of a man. He came out of no-where, like my captain stepping out of flash-step, he was there. He was tall, with the kind of build I associated more with the ruling class or scribes rather than fighters like myself. His face and form were almost effeminately elegant, he had long snow-pale hair like Captain Ukitake's and jade green eyes. His clothes were long elegant robes of green and white silk with gold accents and he wore a good deal of gold and jade jewelry.
"Ah, Miss Isana," he said with a sleepy aristocratic smile. "It is lovely that you have decided to come and visit with me again. And who is your--"
He cut himself off and seemed to look at me with some surprise on his face.
"A mortal Soul Reaper? How unusual. What is the world coming to these days?"
"That's part of why we're here," Isana said forthrightly.
She gestured me to tell my story so I did and the cave spirit looked at me with an unwavering gaze of keen interest. And people said he was sleepy. I didn't see it. He muched on his offering while I told him the basic overveiw of why we were currently hunting for a Shadow.
"My my my," he said, reminding creepily of Gin Ichimaru.
"So basically, I need a way to get into the Divine Realms, and once there, I need a way to track these bastards down so I c'n kill 'em," I said.
"There are ways that all three can be done," the Nature Spirit said. "However, the situation is not quite so simple as you seem to think. First of all, there is something you should know about the Dangai and the realms within it. You won't like it, because it will greatly hamper your quest but, well, it is an imperfect universe we live in."
"What's that?" I asked, steeling myself.
"The realms within the Dangai are self-contained little worlds created by the collection of great spiritual power in a nexus or node, where several lines of power, or ley-lines meet within the sea of the dangai. These worlds can only be accessed through a World Gate, as you are already familiar with in your own experience. Well, one can build portals but the costs in terms of energy exceed your ability to supply."
"Okay, so where can I find these gates then?" I asked.
"Now pay attention," he replied, shooting a cool glance my way that reminded me of my boss. Nobles, tche!
"The Gates are all connected by the ley-lines, just as your own gate through the Dangai from the siereitei to the mortal world is connected to certain points by the tunnel you walk through to get from there to here. This tunnel is actually a ley-line. Unlike in the Seireitei, where your Gate only connects to the human world, a gate in the Divine Realms connects to many other different realms within the Dangai via those ley-lines. The problem is that the Gates don't go everywhere. A World Gate has a maximum of nine slots, that is sort of like a setting that enables the gate to connect via a ley-line to another gate in another realm. The gates tend to connect to each other by affinities, that is, all the gods and spirits from Russian myth will connect with each other, and all the gates from Indian myths will connect with each other. This isn't always the case however, there are a large number of gods that will have their friends gates in one of their slots. There are not many of these gates left in the mortal realm, but you're in luck I have kept mine up well and I won't hesitate to loan it to you, for a small fee."
I stared at him.
"Which brings me to my next point," the Mountain Spirit said. "You can't just burst in on a former god and demand to use their Gate, it's a stupid way to get yourself, and your friend, killed for insolence. Gods do not tolerate insolence from mortals. Fortunately for you, because of the scarcity of power after the decline from the new religions, the gods have become wary of spending their power to acquire things that they can easily do without. Most of it has to do with the complex interplay of Court politics and who does not wish to risk offending whom over a small trinket. But a mortal is neutral. If a mortal were to offer his services to acquire some item of value from another realm... well, there is certainly no predicting a mortal now is there? Face is saved, no-one can directly accuse another and everyone is happy. You catch my meaning?"
Oh I got it alright, it was the story of my life. The old peddling of favors and bribes was universal on every level it seemed. If you wanted to cross a world, it seemed you had to pay the toll.
"Unless, of course, you enter one of the Realm that have been abandoned by their creator, then you can use the Gate in that Realm for free without having to gain permission. I should warn you however, that many of its former masters will have left behind some nasty surprises to teach the unwary a lesson about invading even a demesne of theirs that they have abandoned. The gods and spirits are nothing if not possessive. And now that you understand the way to move around safely in the Divine Realms" he said. "Now you need to know how to find the Shadows, and how to hurt them."
"Now we're talkin'!" I said, feeling enthusiastic for the first time. I might not have much else going for me, but if I could fight then I'd be fine.
"You have already said that you possess a keen ability to track spiritual residue," The Mountain Spirit said.
"Yeah, but I don't know if it'll work from world to world. How am I supposed to know what setting it chose?"
The spirit looked at me with a condescending little gaze and said oh so mildly
"A World Gate retains the setting that it was last used for unless and until some other Spirit comes along and changes it," he said. "You simply need to find the Gate that the Shadow last used and follow it."
I grinned in anticipation. That was more like it! Finally, something that made sense! Something I could actually do without having to spend all this time thinkin' about it.
"Great!" I said enthusiastically. "Now once I track the bastard down, how do I kill it? Do I need Zabimaru?"
"I assume that is the name of your Zanpaktou, Soul Reaper, and I must tragically inform you that even if you had access to your sword right now, even if you were in your true form, you would be unable to kill a Shadow."
"Now wait justa minute!" I protested hotly. Was he accusing me of being a weakling?
"I've gone to Hueco Mundo and laid the smack-down on Espada, don't tell me I can't fight a strong enemy!"
"It is not a question of strength or ability Soul Reaper," the Mountain Spirit said coolly. "It is a matter of affinities. A zanpaktou is a sword made from a contract between a Reaper's soul and the spirit being that inhabits the blade. Your sword exists to bring peace to the restless and to purify the dark natures of a Hollow. All swords are based on elemental magic, I can sense your Zabimaru is an Earth spirit because it is aligned with my own elemental affinity."
Suddenly the nature spirit frowned, as if he'd just come across an unexpected puzzle and narrowed his gaze at my zanpaktou.
"Baboon King Zabimaru? Is that you?"
The spirit sounded astonished, in fact both of his eyebrows rose and his sleepy expression evaporated. I was too busy feeling elated at the sudden knowledge that Zabimaru was okay to investigate the mystery of how an earth spirit would know Zabimaru.
I couldn't restrain my gasp of relief and delight. He could sense Zabimaru! That meant he was still there! I hadn't lost him when I was thrown into this mortal husk.
"Your zanpaktou, based on elemental magic and the spirits that reside in those realms, are able to handle human souls however powerful because that is their purpose. A Shadow however is not and has never been a human soul. It will not answer to the four elements. A Shadow is purely a creature of the Spirit realm. In order to kill a creature of Spirit, you need a weapon that is able to destroy a creature from the Spirit out. You need a weapon that is made from the fifth element."
"A weapon from the fifth element? Where the hell am I supposed to find one of those?" I asked. "And more importantly, how do I get Zabimaru back? I can't even sense him in this mortal body of mine."
"Your swords' spiritual power was greatly damaged when you were forcibly transitioned from your true form into this physical body you are bound into," the Mountain spirit replied. "He sleeps within you, but because so much of your own reiatsu is still bound and so many of your chakra are still blocked he cannot access enough of your spirit energy to recover quickly."
"If I unbind those chakra thingies, then he'll get better an' we can fight together again, right?"
I tried not to sound like a desperately worried and needy brat, but I couldn't help the edge of it that crept into my voice. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms, looking tough so he wouldn't think I was some kinda sap or pushover.
"If he has access to enough of your innate spirit energy, then yes," the spirit replied. "But I do wonder if you realize what you are letting yourself in for."
I didn't really care right then. There was no way I was just gonna go waltzing into somebody else's realm, especially some ancient god's realm, without Zabimaru there with me. I had to have a way to defend Isana after all, if she was going to be stubborn enough to come along with me. Oh, my boss was so gonna kill me if he ever found out that I'd let his wife, no matter what incarnation she was in, put herself in mortal danger and I didn't stop her. I was his lieutenant after all, and lieutenants were always supposed to look after their Captains better interests. It still really did beg the question of why the heck I was letting her go along in the first place. She was mortal after all. I'd talk about it with her after I got my buddy back.
"No time like the present," I said sitting cross legged on the cave floor right where I stood.
"Hey!," Isana protested. "Aren't we supposed to be rescuing my son? Why are you sitting down taking a nap?"
"Do you wanna walk into an ancient myth's or legend's home turf and not have at least some hope to defend yerself?" I asked.
Wisely, she paused, then shook her head.
"Good," I said firmly settling in to make myself comfortable. "Then first things first, I gotta get Zabimaru back."
"How long will this take?" she demanded next, huffing in impatience. "My son's still out there and I don't know if he's... He's gonna be okay though, he's just gotta be."
I didn't really know what to say to that, there wasn't much that I could say. I didn't know what had happened to him or any of the other kids that had been taken by the Shadows from out of the Rukon district. I wanted to find that out too while I was at it. But if I was going down the rabbit hole I wanted ta be able to fight back if something threatened me. I didn't do helpless. I especially didn't do helpless if some twit of a woman was insisting on coming along with me. Besides, I didn't want to be without my better half any longer than I had to be, I hated that I couldn't feel his comforting presence, like a fiercer mirror of me, in the back of my mind. I'd do what I had to to make him well and get us both back in the game.
You can haz a two-fer! And the next chapter... yay! More chakra and perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, an ntersting surprise (I honestly can;t remember if I out it in that chapter or the one after it. Anyway, it's coming up. I hope you all are looking forward to it.