Luckily, the farce of our meeting with the Administrator of Makai was resolved through the timely intervention of Renko and Louise who explained matters and calmed Shinki down before her confrontation with Marisa could come to danmaku. I was beginning to suspect that I had some inkling of just how Marisa's previous visit to Makai had ended with the city engulfed in flames. After the confrontation was defused, Yuki, Mai and Louise parted ways with us, and the rest of the party proceeded to the Realm of Truth without them.
The journey was not a swift one. I have no idea if the damage that the Holy Palanquin had sustained hampered its ability to fly, but as it was it followed the course toward the point indicated by the light from the pagoda at a leisurely pace. I don't doubt most anyone on board other than myself and Renko could have flown there faster on their own, but it was a long enough distance as to make such a trip a bit of a hassle. As it was we all mostly split into groups and spent the time it took get there wandering about the deck expectantly. Looking over the side didn't provide much in the way of distraction -true to the stories we heard, Makai seemed to be mostly empty space, dotted with islands of faintly luminous red stone here and there, shrouded beneath a miasma of clinging blue mist that seemed to be omnipresent. At one point, the Myouren group, Shou, Nazrin, Murasa and Ichirin, approached Shinki and Yumeko as they stood chatting to ask about what saint Hijiri had been up to for the last thousand years.
"She's always been a very quiet person. Most times when I go to see her, I find her sitting in lotus position and meditating when I arrive. I've asked her on occasion if she gets bored being sealed away and her response was always 'I have been placed here to atone for my sins.' She never expressed any desire to leave the Realm of Truth to me.
Murasa and the others listened to Shinki's stories with solemn expressions.
"I don't get it," Murasa muttered. "She didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh, mother Hijiri. Are you blaming yourself for what happened at the temple?" Ichirin lamented.
"Her actions saved all of us," Nazrin grumbled. "Could she really be regretting that now?"
"No way!" Murasa declared. "She dedicated her life to the idea of humans and youkai living in harmony. She wouldn't give up that dream, even after a thousand years. When she sees us coming to help her, humans and youkai united in a common cause, she'll want to escape, I'm sure of that."
"Saint Byakuren always knew that humans would condemn youkai just for existing," Shou said, sounding worried. "That's why she had us pretend to be human in the temple. Perhaps if anything, she regrets letting us be found out, or that she couldn't resolve the situation peacefully. I can't imagine that she would have given up on the idea that the light of Buddha could save youkai."
"If you say so, master. I think we should be prepared for the possibility that she might not want to come home though." Nazrin said. The three others glared at her. To me, Nazrin's view seemed practical, but there was a clear difference in the level of enthusiasm for this quest between her and Byakuren's disciples.
"Lady Shinki, did you ever ask Byakuren what sins she was atoning for?" Shou asked, turning back toward Shinki.
"What sins? Hmmm. Did I? I'm afraid I don't remember. Do you know, Yumeko?"
"No, my lady. You never brought me to see her. I only know her from what you've told me."
"Hmmm. Well, at any rate, she never seemed depressed or worried about it to me. Most of the time that I went to see her I'd bring tea and some of Yumeko's home-made sweets and we'd just sit and talk. She liked to discuss all of her exploits in the human world, and she often talked fondly about her disciples, saying things like 'I hope they're doing alright now.'"
"Oh mother Byakuren, you truly were too good for our fallen world," Shou said, and began to sniffle.
"Don't cry, Shou. We can all cry as hard as we want after our work is done and Mother Byakuren is released," Murasa said. Ichirin patted them both on the shoulders, looking teary-eyed herself as Unzan loomed over them stoically. It was hard to imagine that the three of them were all youkai, beings that at the very least, were sustained by human fear, if not the outright consumption of humans. Murasa was a ship phantom who admitted to having drowned many sailors, and as a tiger youkai I imagined that Shou wouldn't find human meat any less tasty than other kinds. Nazrin, while only a mouse, had already threatened to kill us both earlier and Ichirin, who was generally calm, kind and courteous had nearly killed me by accident earlier today while trying to kill Marisa. I suppose when on the verge of fulfilling a thousand year old goal, even monsters will get weepy.
-.-.-.-.-
Eventually, after at least two hours of cruising over empty nothingness, far from the lights of the city, we began to see the faintest outlines of a landmass in the distance. Something there was giving off a dull orange glow that we had been approaching the whole time, but now I could start to see the bluish outlines of rocky crags illuminated by that glow. The beam of light spilling from the stone pagoda travelled straight and true toward the heart of the glow in the distance, urging us onward, through an emptiness that had begun to feel somehow tranquil and dignified as we drew closer.
"There's absolutely nothing out here," Sanae said, marveling at the blank horizons. "It's hard to believe that that whole big city we saw was real."
"The Realm of Truth is said to be on the very edge of Makai, but that really just means the edge of what anyone has developed. I created this realm to expand infinitely in every direction," Shinki said matter-of-factly.
"So then the Realm of Truth is your creation as well?" Renko asked.
"That's right. I created everything in this world. Except for the things other people created, but I created almost all of the people here, so really that's all my creation too," she said, looking a little smug.
"Lady Shinki went so far as to create a world so vast even she can't know what the point of most of it is." Yumeko said, nodding.
"Well it's good to have some spare places in case I get an idea later. This part of Makai, for example, didn't originally serve as a prison. It was just some land I had leftover that wasn't being used for anything when the Yama told me she wanted to put someone there. It was actually Byakuren who named it the 'Realm of Truth.' She had a whole little speech about it. 'Someday, everyone will attain nirvana, and when they do the world will become a place where the truth of the Dharma is made manifest, with no persecution or discrimination. In honor of that goal, I would like to start by declaring this land to be such a place, in the hopes that someday all places in all worlds will become Realms of Truth.' I think that's how it went."
"I see, so this is what a world bathed in the light of the Dharma would look like," Shou replied, staring at the bare crags in the distance. "How beautiful."
Murasa was standing beside her, peering into the distance, blocking out the glow of whatever was producing the orange light with one hand. "It just looks like barren rocks to me. There's nothing living here."
"The Realm of Truth is spoken of in Buddhist scripture. Did you not spend any of your thousand years underground reviewing Hijiri's teachings, Murasa? It's supposed to be one of the eighteen realms of reality, where form, meaning, thought and consciousness are all equal and united. It wouldn't matter what it looked like, what would matter is that it would be a place free from distinction, where all things are truly equal. If everything here is just barren rock, without any differentiation or any part different from the rest, then I can see why saint Byakuren might have named it that."
"Oh. Right." Murasa said, nodding unconvincingly. For my part, I was not particularly familiar with Buddhist thought, but a world free of discrimination sounded nice. If that meant that everyone and everything was just going to become rocks though, then maybe I'd pass.
"Equality between humans and youkai?" Reimu grunted. "Impossible. If humans and youkai were truly equal, then why would she give up her humanity to become a magician? If you ask me it sounds like this master of yours in more on the side of youkai."
"Yeah, she got sealed away for a thousand years, but she's still alive. That's seems a little unfair if she expects humans to do the same." Marisa added.
"Those imbalances are a result of the persecution of youkai!" Ichirin said, suddenly standing up. "If humankind could let go of their distrusting nature and embrace youkai as equals, then the Realm of Truth could be something manifest in all worlds. We could be allies. Byakuren is an example of how the divide between human and youkai is an unnecessary fiction. She transcended her nature to become a saint!"
"Isn't that persecution natural though? Youkai eat people." Sanae asked, with her usual bluntness.
"That too is a result of living in the world of earthly desires. Mother Hijiri believes that youkai can learn to transcend their nature as well. I myself haven't eaten anyone in ages."
"Equality and fairness is just a matter of perception." Renko said, interjecting. "The only equality most people care about is the way that they, personally, are treated. Most people are willing to do something that makes them comfortable even if inconveniences or even harms someone else. Whether that can be considered equal or not depends on your view. After all, the person harmed by the selfish actions of someone else was likely also a selfish person, who had, in turn, harmed others. That's just the nature of humanity. An endless loop of subjectivity parading itself as objectivity, cause and effect tangling everyone up in a million different individualized perceptions of right and wrong."
"That's precisely why mother Hijiri is trying to spread the teachings of the Buddha," Shou replied. "If everyone could attain nirvana and free themselves from worldly desire, then we could all live in an equitable world filled with kindness. A shared sense of morality and a truly just society would be natural consequences."
"I'm still bothered by the idea that Hijiri thinks she's here to atone for some sin," Nazrin said. "Whether or not you think she did anything wrong, if she thinks she's got something to atone for, she won't want to come back with us, don't you think?" Nazrin was staring at the stone pagoda and the beam of light radiating out from it, a faraway look on her face. "A thousand years ago, when the Yama showed up with the Hakurei miko, Byakuren got all of us out of the temple, but she never tried to leave herself. She didn't fight either. She just accepted her punishment. Doesn't that suggest that she felt that she had done something to deserve it? Could she have been doing something that none of you knew about? I suppose we'll find out soon enough, but it may be that Hijiri feels she needs to remain here, if she hasn't finished atoning for whatever she did."
Byakuren's disciples fell silent for a moment. Shou was the first to speak. "If that's the case, then I would choose to be sealed here alongside her."
"Me too!" Ichirin and Murasa echoed, speaking over top of one another.
"Oh, that would be the least troublesome way to do it, let's hope that happens." Reimu said with a nod, earning her a glare from Murasa.
"Well I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'll understand if that's what you and the others want, captain," Renko said solemnly. "I think there's one additional concern to consider though: the Yama who sealed Byakuren into Makai a thousand years ago. Reimu might not know what the Hakurei miko of that time thought about the whole affair, but the Yama is still around. Do you think she'll let Byakuren go? I'd hate for you to come all this way only to run up against her when you try to go back to Gensokyo. I know there's no jails here, but from where Merry and I come from, if someone had been forcibly confined by the powers that be, then trying to free themselves would be considered a serious crime, as would assisting them in any such attempt."
"Lady Shinki, was there ever a time limit proposed for the length of saint Byakuren's imprisonment?"
"Oh, I certainly don't remember. When people get banished to Makai, there's often a lot of talk of them being sealed for eternity, never again to awaken or the like, but almost everyone forgets about those sorts of things after a few centuries. Most of the demons who end up here find something else to do in that time, and have long forgotten about whatever world they got banished from. Yumeko, do you think she's been here long enough?"
"I'm not in a position to judge that, Lady Shinki. I've never met her, remember?"
"Oh Yumeko, you're so useless. What am I going to do?"
"Well I don't care about any of that," Murasa said, rising to her feet with her fists clenched. "I don't care if it's the Yama, or the Hakurei miko, or anyone else. I've come too far to stop now. If Hijiri is alright with the idea of leaving, I'm going to do everything I can to bring her back to Gensokyo with us. I don't think she did anything wrong, and a thousand years of banishment is too harsh a punishment for someone whose only aim was to bring peace and understanding to the world! I'll fight anyone who tries to stop me from freeing her!"
Ichirin and Shou rose to stand beside her, and Nazrin, while she remained seated, nodded along in agreement.
"Loyalty's nice an' all, but it's no reason to keep from thinkin'" Marisa declared, looking over as Murasa and her friends stood up. "Didja forget that we just kicked all a your butts just a little while ago?"
"That doesn't matter. If we have saint Byakuren with us, we're sure to win!" Murasa declared.
"I suppose she might be an issue," Reimu said, standing up with her gohei in hand. "In that case, the sensible thing to do would be to beat you all up now and seal you so you can't fight before we get to her."
"What, really? You wanna throw down with them right now?" Marisa asked looking up at Reimu as she squared off with Murasa. "Well I guess I'll help too, can't let you take all the credit." She climbed to her feet as well, one hand reaching into her apron for the Hakkero.
"Oh, me too!" said Sanae, running over to stand beside Reimu. "I've only done the beating up so far, not the sealing. This'll be fun!"
"Wait a minute, you're going to do this now? We're so close to reaching the end, is violence really necessary?" Renko asked, standing up as well.
Neither side paid her any mind, instead spreading out into two opposing lines. Weapons were produced, and the air grew tense as they all started at eachother, sparks seeming to fly between their hardened glares.
All at once there was a terrible rumbling and a vibration passed through the ship. The sound of wood groaning under strain resounded from the hull. Everyone but Murasa reeled, wheeling their arms as the deck lurched.
"What the heck was that?" Marisa asked.
"The pagoda! Look!" Nazrin cried.
All eyes turned toward the stone pagoda. The beam of light had disappeared, but the pagoda itself was floating in the air, slowly rising up off of the railings and into the sky, surrounded by a nimbus of growing luminesce.
"Oh! It's the UFOs!" Sanae suddenly cried, as a chunk of glowing wood shot past her ear, hurtling up from the hold. A dozen more pieces followed it, then a continuous stream as the broken sections of the mast poured out of the hold, shooting forward and locking themselves into a swirling orbit around the hovering stone pagoda. The glow emanating out from both it and all of the pieces of wood intensified as lines of light began to glow visibly on the wooden fragments, shifting and twisting as they rotated around the pagoda. The image these traces of light formed was incomplete, and constantly flowing as the pieces rotated about, but I could tell that they were forming from their disjointed parts an image of a greater whole. The lines traced out an intricate geometric design, radially symmetrical with beautifully complex lines forming into the shape of a lotus mandala hovering in midair. The glow from the pagoda faded for a moment...
Then exploded into a roaring brilliance as beams poured out of it in every direction, arcing gracefully through the air, curving and swirling in ways that should be impossible for mere light. As the beams twisted and swam, the deck of the ship rumbled and shook, forcing everyone who couldn't find something to grab onto down to their knees. As the light from the pagoda intensified, spreading further and further, it reflected off of something that likely only my eyes could see. A vast and sprawling wall that rose out of the sea of nothingness before us, encircling the rocky island we were approaching, enclosing the whole of it in an enormous, shimmering barrier.