Roanipur, Thailand
Bougainvillea Trade Company (Hotel Moscow)
June, 1995, Pre-Conception
There was a large crowd gathering outside the gates to the Bougainvillea Trade Company. Kiyone observed the gathering in dread; Hotel Moscow went out of their way to stay discreet within Roanipur, despite being one of the largest 'councilmen' on the entire island. 'Big waves draws eyes' was both theirs and the other Council members mottos, and not even the occasional DV drew the attention of the locals like what was happening now.
With dread, she pushed her way through the crowd.
Hotel Moscow-Balalaika specifically-had summoned her this morning. She wished she'd let the phone ring.
She really, really hoped that whatever held the crowd's attention had nothing to do with her and knew deep down that it wasn't the case.
As she drew closer she saw familiar faces. Mr. Chang from the Triad, a pensive frown on his face as his bodyguards caught and held her gaze. The Japanese spokesman for the Black Lagoon, Rock, who looked nauseous as his partner, Revy, looked on in open curiosity. Church Hooligan nun Eda, who'd drawn up her sunglasses to look at the the scene in open shock and disgust.
She passed Rock and Revy and heard the gunslinger call out to her. "Hope you got your ass checked." She called, "'Cause it looks like one of yours, Cadejo." She laughed, and Rock nudged her, his expression distressed.
Kiyone looked at the man.
"Its one of your dogs." He said. "One of the guard dogs you loaned Hotel Moscow. It-it's…" The man grimaced, then looked away.
A grimaced of her own on her face, Kiyone pressed forward.
She found members of Balalaika's inner circle at the premise of the gates, glaring at the fence as lesser members pushed the crowds of Thai citizens and foreign, criminal denizens back in a vain attempt at crowd dispersal. One of them-Balalaika's right-hand man, Sergeant Boris, found her in the crowd and moved towards her, his stony face-stoic in most situations-grim and dark. He said something in Russian to the men around them, and Kiyone was pushed forward.
Boris grabbed her arm, and knowing better than to struggle, Kiyone allowed herself to be dragged along. In English-for her benefit, and no one else's, Boris spoke up. "We have the Egyptian."
Kiyone winced.
She saw it soon enough-the gate was high and she'd been avoiding looking up, but now it became unavoidable as she was brought before the tall, blond Russian who acted as Hotel Moscow's head.
Kiyone looked up, and immediately wished she hadn't.
A dog had been speared through several of the long, spear-headed posts which made the fence perimeter of the Bougainvillea Trade Company.
It had been skewered face down, its tongue black and bloated as flies danced around its muzzle, some crawling in and out of its maw as they moved to lay eggs inside the orifice. It's eyes were gone; someone had gorged them out, and in their place sat a pair of nails, rusty and coated in blood-heavy coffin nails. It's front legs had been broken and splayed out at an unnatural ninety degree angle, its hind legs hacked off with something heavy and sharp-a meat cleaver perhaps, or an ax—the limbs then tied to the ends of its forelegs and tied by what looked like the dog's intestines.
The dog glared at them with accusing, baleful, nail-eyes, and Kiyone shuddered.
"A long-haired golden mutt." Kiyone looked up at the woman beside her, watching the Mafia boss roll her cigar between her lips. "…And female to boot." One lone blue eye looked at her from a face scarred by white phosphorous. "Any speculation…Detective?"
Kiyone looked at the woman with her own teal eyes, then back to the dead hound. "I'm not a Detective."
"Anymore than you're American, yes, we both know this already. Now give me a straight answer before I have you thrown up there with your mutt." The woman released a breath of white smoke, and Kiyone scrunched her face up as the smell overwhelmed her. Cuban cigars, hand rolled and of the highest quality. Illegal back in the States, a treasured vice most anywhere else.
Kiyone inhaled the scent and sighed. "It's a message."
"Oh really?" There was a note of sarcasm in the blond's voice. "Do tell, I hadn't come to that conclusion with how the responsible party mounted your dog onto my fence."
"They're targeting Hotel Moscow." Kiyone said, and pursed her lips. "…You in particular. And they want you to know it." She observed the carcass with the cold observation built up from her years across two Forces, placing aside her own emotions as she stood side-by-side with one of Roanipur's most dangerous denizens. "They want to scare you."
"Psychological operations. Yes, I am aware."
"They think you're at least semi-religious. Enough that an upside-down cross will at the very least unnerve you."
"Cute." The woman took a breath. "God died with His lies in Afghanistan. Are they saying the Devil's come down to Roanipur?" There was a note of cold humor in the blond's voice.
Kiyone snorted. "If such a thing existed, it'd have already made the rounds on this island ten times." She grumbled, and pursed her lips. "It's a stretch, but if they're trying to use the dog in your image, they may be messaging their intent for you."
At that the woman laughed, a harsh and callous sound empty of humor. "My, what a lovely message." A smile spread across her face, and it looked feral and inhuman beneath the coldness of her eyes. "If its war they want, then they shall have it."
Kiyone watched her from the corner of one eye and held her silence.
The woman turned to address her fully. "You'll have payment in full for the asset lost here."
"Will you be needing more?" Kiyone asked.
"Why bother?" Sergeant Boris approached from behind her, resting an old Russian military blouse on the woman's shoulders. A Soviet Army Captain's lapel hung from the shoulders, and the woman took a moment to free her hair from under it. "They've declared their intent. No amount of dogs will stop a bullet, and I won't have more mutts dangling from my fence like heads on a pike before Vlad the Impairer's castle. As wonderful a PSYOPS campaign it is, it's bad for buisness. Good Day to you, Detective, and…keep your head down."
It was as much a dismissal as any from a woman like Balalaika, and with a final glance at the dead hound, Kiyone turned and slipped back into the crowd, vanishing within the wave of humanity before either cops or other unsavory sorts could pull her aside.
Behind her, she heard Hotel Moscow fall into their uncanny militaristic dialog as Balalaika gave fresh orders. They were on guard now. No lives had been lost—not yet—but the teal-haired woman had little doubt of what was to come within the next few days.
The Devil-or devils-had indeed come down to Roanipur, and had set its sights on Hotel Moscow.
There'd be a man hunt soon, at the very least with a sizable bounty if the Russian Mafia was being targeted. An all out urban war at worst.
Kiyone shivered despite the heat of Thailand's endless summer. Maybe it'd be best to catch a boat to the mainland befpre things boiled over. Roanipur was dangerous even at its most peaceful, a full-blown nightmare at its worst. She'd seen it happen a couple of times-when Hotel Moscow had first moved in and rubbed shoulders with Hong Kong's Triad in '93 and again when the Columbian Terminator Maid had paid the island a visit over a kidnapping last February.
"Wonder if I can hitch a ride with the Lagoon Company to Vietnam for a few weeks." She muttered, pausing as she left the crowd behind her to light a cigarette; a nasty habit she'd picked up in the States which had become her lone piece of sanity on the Island. She took a breath and looked up to the sky, blowing out the smoke in relief.
Movement from the buildings.
She glanced towards it with her eyes, careful not to move her head.
Kids in the windows. Not local brats—they looked White. Were they…ah, what the word…albinos?
The kids fell away from the window before she could get a better look, and Kiyone sighed, taking another long drag of the cigarette. "What's white and black and red all over?" Kiyone muttered, and wondered why she'd said it.
A foul breeze blew, rank with death and decay.
Vortex World,
Okinawa Prefecture, Shintoshi Hill Apartment Complex
Kagatsuchi 6/8 Waning
Inside the Amala Terminal, a young, pale child giggled as she stared down at the fallen woman before her. "Now you'll be my friend forever." Alice murmured, a large and innocent smile on her face. "You said you'd be my friend. You death seals your fate." She pointed to the body of Kiyone Makibi and curled her finger, as if gesturing for the body-or something within it-to come forward.
Mister Black-Papa Nebiros-had taught her the art of Necromancy—of drawing souls into servitude and reanimating the dead, and both he and Daddy Belial claimed she was an absolute scion in the arts of the Undead.
Now, sending her energy forth, she reached for the woman's body and felt her energy slip inside. The first rule Papa had taught her was to bind the souls of the Undead, that they may not challenge her authority. She did this now, seeking out the soul within. "Come to me." She felt something, a twitch on the peripheral of her sixth sense, and homed in on it.
The soul would not be swayed.
Frowning, Alice increased the pressure. "Come! You said you'd be my friend!"
The body twitched.
The soul…shimmered.
Alice recoiled. The soul felt…sharp. No…not sharp. Hot. Hot and cold. Too hot, too cold, as if the soul could not choose a representation of itself. "How queer." The child murmured, and watched Kiyone's body twitch again. "It's like there are…two souls inside you." She tilted her head to one side. "Are you a divided soul? Did you have a twin who passed before you?" She folded her hands behind her back as the child observed the fallen woman. "But then…why is one so hot? Why is one so cold? A Twin Soul is supposed to be like its Twin-two minds but of the same essence, divided to experience the world from two separate perspectives."
Kiyone's hand twitched. The nails, black like midnight's embrace, began to grow as if by their own will.
The child before her didn't notice, instead rocking back and forth in her black mary-jane shoes, staring at the fallen woman with a thoughtful expression. "Why won't you obey me?" She murmured. "Is it because I can't grasp you? You're so slippery-like a fish. It's kind of disgusting…" The girl ceased her rocking, pursing her lips as she stared at the body. Then little blond stomped a foot, her hands curling into fists. "I said come forth!"
An explosion of malign energy erupted from the child, a malevolent aura shooting forth from the Fiend and engulfing the woman in black fire, consuming her utterly.
"If you won't come out willingly, I'll simply take your body instead!" Alice snapped, "You can't disobey me, you can't! You have to obey me! Papa said so!" She bore her teeth in a snarl, her eyes flashing red against the gold of her iris. "Now show yourself!" She screamed.
And The Deaths Inside Kiyone Makibi did just that.
Kiyone's body jerked upwards, as if a wire connected to her spine had been yanked upwards. With it emerged two spectral globes-one containing the brightness of a white dwarf, the other a black so deep it seemed to devour the light which touched it. Before they had even fully emerged, the two energies assaulted each other-the White Dwarf ignoring both Alice and its sibling in favor of Kiyone, whose body remained engulfed in the Fiend's ethereal black flames. Yet before it could return to its body, the Black Hole attacked it, and Alice could see the long maw of something predatory and savage as it bit into the light.
A woman's scream filled the air, haughtily and piercing, and though she was a Fiend, though she her adopted parents consisted of a Prince of Hell and the Inspector General of Hell's greatest Army and one of the greatest Necromancers to exist, though she had seen and conducted deeds unheard of…
Alice took a step back.
There was something…dreadful in that scream.
Something which didn't originate from this world, nor the world prior.
In that moment, Alice wished her two fathers were there with her, standing side-by-side as their True Names, Belial and Nebiros, both capable and willing to shield her from gods, demons, and everything in-between.
The White Dwarf curled around the inky blackness which bit into it, and Alice watched as the bright brilliance began to take on its own physical characteristics. Long white fingers-as pale as porcelain Death-slashed at the Black Hole with black, curled talons. A long, narrow snout-like and unlike its dark sibling, pulled its lips back in a snarl as the talons shredded its opponent's black hide, and a pained, canine yelp rose from the Black Beast.
The two separated, and Alice saw them in their chosen, defined forms.
A Black Dog, A Church Grim, a Black Cadejo, stood poised and snarling between its white sibling and the body of Kiyone Makibi. Its back was shredded, the bitten flesh dissiapting into wisps of smoke-like energy. Red Magatsuhi leaked from the injury and into the air, where it dissipated back into the fallen Makibi's body. Its eyes-the lone bit of illumination against its pure-black body, glared white holes into both its opponent and Alice.
Alice shuddered.
Though its attention remained focused on the White Spirit, it felt as though those eyes were piercing right into her as well.
Across from her crept a beast of white-a thing not quite a hound as the Black Cadejo, yet not quite a…woman as Alice had been led to believe with its scream. Instead, something which looked frozen in the midst of transformation sat, resting in a body covered in fur illuminated with the same hot-white intensity as the White Dwarf Alice had named her as. Its body was canine, yet its limbs were disproportionate to the rest of its body-the long limbs of a human which had merged with the curved spine and ridged back of a long-haired hound. Its muzzle was long—too long for a hound, and more akin to that of a dragon. Its lips were peeled back, revealing two lines of teeth as it's mouth opened in a silent snarl-an outer, predatory pair more akin to that of a crocodile, and an inner, smaller line which more resembled blunt, human teeth.
Its eyes were strange and terrible-two shades split down its slit pupil, one of pure violet, the other a dark blue.
It bled not Magatsuhi, but a strange, white energy which glimmered like starlight from where the Black Cadejo had bit it.
"What are you?!" Alice stumbled away from the creature in horror. The Black Cadejo was at least familiar-It was an aspect of Death as she knew it, a Spirit of the Old World and a resident of the Vortex World as much as any of them could be.
Yet the thing which challenged it…
"You aren't—you can't be that Lady's soul!" Alice cried, "That doesn't—what are you? You don't belong here!"
The White Cadejo, hearing her, turned to look over its shoulder at her, and this time Alice shrieked.
A halo.
The beast had a halo.
Its brow burned with omnipotence, a halo of pure, raw energy-divine, demonic, it mattered little- resting atop its head.
And as Alice screamed, so too did it, in its Woman's Voice once more, and to the Fiend's horror it was not a stranger she heard but the voice of her own mother screaming back at her-shrieking at her to "Run Alice, Run!" as an entity which would later be hailed as Jack the Ripper stabbed her.
The child-like Fiend scrambled backwards in horror. She wasn't supposed to know that. She wasn't supposed to remember that! That had been from the Bad Times, when she still yet lived! Before she'd fallen ill, before she'd died, before she'd met her fathers!
As if responding to her distress-indeed, the Beast was Death itself, so perhaps it was-the Black Cadejo lunged at the White Dwarf, colliding into it with the entirety of its body and bringing the Abomination's attention back unto itself. With both beasts distracted, Alice turned and ran, diving behind the Amala Drum and peeking around it as she witnessed the battle between the two beings.
The Eldritch creature shrieked in its feminine voice and went down on its side, the Black Cadejo attached to its throat. Paws-claws-hands?-lined with black talons tore into the Church Grim's snout, and with a whine it released its prey, retreating several steps as it tossed its head, red miasma seeping from its fresh injuries.
"Help me!" The voice which came from the Black Cadejo was clear and masculine and lined with authority. His eyes found Alice, and a high whine came from the beast's throat. "For the love of this World, for the love of the Underworld, by the sake of your nature, help me Fiend!"
Alice started badly, staring at the beast in shock at having been so addressed. No Black Dog or anything resembling it had ever spoken to her before; they were lesser spirits, beasts whose spirits continued to serve a higher purpose but which were otherwise primal and simple. They weren't supposed to speak.
"Who are you?" Alice whispered.
The Black Dog gave her no answer, merely screamed something which sounded closer to a Coyote's shriek than anything canine, then lunged at the White Abomination once more.
Alice stared after it, frozen in terror, frozen in shock, frozen in confusion as to what was happening before her, and then turned to look at the body of the fallen woman.
How?
How could a simple woman-a human-hold two terrible terrors in her breast? How could these things comprise her soul?
Because they aren't her soul. She realized, and golden eyes widened in growing shock. Neither of them are hers.
Kiyone Makibi's soul still resided within her body.
A tiny flame, hidden and buried and smoking beneath the dry ash of not one, but two alien entities.
"That's not a human soul." Alice breathed, and awestruck, slipped out from her hiding place to approach the woman's body.
The White Abomination, seeing her, lunged, and was tackled by the Black Cadejo.
Alice, entranced by the strange soul held within the dead woman, noticed neither of them.
She approached, and came to sit next to Kiyone, staring at the woman with something akin to awe. Physically, it appeared as though the woman was asleep-unconscious-resting where she'd fallen on her chest, her head tilted towards Alice with a face marred with pain real or imagined.
And yet…
The soul…the Rainbow Soul glistened and shined with prism-like brilliance.
She reached for it, and found instead her hand touching cloth-the woman's blue leather jacket.
Alice frowned. "What?" She said, "Why can't I touch you?"
There it was, a tiny rainbow prism of radiance and wonder, there for her taking as was her right as a Necromancer, as was her nature as a Fiend.
And yet…
The child tried again, and once could not reach the soul within. She felt leather. Cloth. Nylon and kevlar and cotton and polyester and even skin.
Yet despite her best efforts, she could not touch the soul.
"What is this?" She said, an edge of panic rising in her voice. "What are you? How can you be buried so deeply within a corpse that even a Fiend like I can't touch you?"
"The ankh!" Behind her, the Black Cadejo howled. "Remove the ankh from her neck!"
"The ankh?" The child looked over her shoulder at the two beasts, and in reflex released a spell as the White Abomination raced towards her. "Die For Me!"
The spell struck the monstrosity dead center, and it shrieked as its body was engulfed in black flames. Thrashing, it fell to its back, writhing in agony as it fought through the dark miasma.
The Church Grim fell back, coming to stand in front of her, his hackles raised as a deep and primal growl rose from within his chest. "A good attack, but it will not stop Her."
"Where is the ankh?" Alice asked.
"Around her neck." The Black Cadejo replied. "Please if you will, do not break the chain."
Alice stared at the beast. "Are you…" She left her question unfinished as the Black Hound charged the White Abomination once more, leaving the child to the woman which had so unwittingly unleashed nightmares upon the Amala Terminal. The Fiend turned back to Kiyone, and gingerly brushed aside the woman's teal hair.
With it came another unbidden memory. A woman, her hair long and black and straight, who smiled down at her with love and adoration as she adorned her face in make-up. "Alice," Her mother said, "Mind the house for me, my Lovely. It will be a long night and there are reports of a new murderer on the prowl. I'll be out with the Girls, so we should be safe, but I worry someone might force their way into the house." The woman sprayed herself with perfume, hiding the reek of the the River Thames which their small home sat beside, and rose to her feet. "Remember our code?" She knocked twice, paused, then knocked thrice more.
The image vanished, and in its place was a long pale neck-like her mother's, but without the blemishes and sores from a night on the town-and against it…
A silver chain.
Alice recoiled as the silver caught the light of the Terminal room and felt her stomach roll with nausea unrealized. Silver made her queasy. It never used to, but ever since she'd died, the element had created within her a level of sickness she'd not experienced since dying near the feces-polluted River Thames.
Now, hearing once more the horrid scream of the White Abomination behind her, Alice ignored her stomach and grabbed the chain, pulling it up and feeling her fingers blister beneath the silver loops. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry.
She wanted her fathers.
Yet neither of them were here and there was a horror much worse than anything she'd ever contended with at her back, and if that meant braving a silver chain to fight against it, than so be it!
And there it was. Dangling within Kiyone's shirt-a silver ankh, the chain threaded through the loop and dangling beside a matching silver ring.
A wedding ring?
She ripped the chain with all her might, felt her fingers burn with such savagery she saw white, and heard the metallic ring of something falling to the ground.
The Rainbow Soul-the Espir that was Mad Fa'a'ip Las Zizop flared and roared like a spark falling atop gasoline, and the Pure Song of the Rich Vessel was engulfed in Divine White Flame as it opened eyes which burned with holy light.
Alice, a Fiend of amongst the greatest and most terrible to exist, stared at the entity in mystified wonder. "Wow…" She whispered, "A real angel!"
"You're so pretty!"
Hundreds of eyes of a thousand hues gazed into the room as feathers of translucent prisms filled the Amala Terminal.
A black dog howled.
And received its response in the harmonious discord of a million different birds.
Less than a mile away, Belldandy Tyrsdotter froze mid-song, a variable chill embracing her as, without her summoning, Holy Bell emerged from her. She heard the angel speak in Loagaeth, yet was baffled when she discovered that the words remained untranslated to her ears.
"Bell?" Keiichi looked at her in concern, and farther off, Thor paused from where he had been sparring with Yosho.
Belldandy did not respond at once, instead rising from where she'd been re-stringing the guitar meant for Kiyone and spilling the instrument haphazardly from her lap. Without a word, the woman turned towards the direction of her angel, towards the Amala Drum, and began to run.
Keiichi chased after her.
Thor watched them go, a pursed frown on his lips. He tilted his head at an angle. "I hear birdsong." He murmured.
Yosho yelped and dropped his sword. Thor turned back to him. "It's…vibrating." The Jurain said.
"Vibrating or humming?" Thor asked, and approached the man, gesturing him to pick the weapon back up.
Yosho did so with some reluctance. "…Humming." He clarified, and looked up. "Why is it humming?"
"Something is resonating with it." Thor murmured. "Come. We may find our answers with whatever has so captivated Verthandi." He looked at the Prince. "You remember how you were instructed to run with it?"
Yosho nodded, bringing the blade down, then sweeping it behind him as he crossed his arms. The stance felt strange and alien to him, yet as Thor set off after Belldandy and Keiichi, as Yosho chased after him the sword-the humming so deep it sang in his bones-remained stalwart in his grip.
Around them, the Mantra Army Headquarters was silent and desolate, empty of its normal members as though scenting a great predator.
They found Belldandy and Keiichi standing a short distance from the Amala Terminal. The Norn looked on guard, scanning the Terminal before her with solemn blue eyes, her angel resting over her shoulder in a manner which to Yosho's mind brought to image a cat, its fur puffed up and back arched as it sensed danger. Keiichi, standing beside her, had drawn the glock, his finger resting outside the trigger and the weapon pointed to the ground as he looked around in suspicion.
"Ho! Cousin, what do you sense?" Thor called out, and watched first Holy Bell, then Belldandy start-as if the angel's actions caused a delayed mirror reaction in the goddess.
Yet rather than look back to them, the woman kept her attention focused on the area before her. Yosho spied a strange energy gather in her palms, though the woman appeared relaxed, and slipped up to join her, intent on providing his own support against whatever had so caught the Norn's attention.
"What is it?" He whispered.
"Terminal." Belldandy's lips barely moved as she breathed the word. "Kiyone-chan remained within."
Yosho felt his chest constrict. He tightened his grip on the Duke's Sword. "Did something come through?"
Belldandy didn't reply.
Thor came to stand behind his relative. "Was it the birds?"
Keiichi glanced up at him. "There aren't any birds in the Vortex World."
Thor grunted, looking unconvinced, but said nothing.
"I sensed an Expanse form." Belldandy murmured. "It…it did not feel demonic in nature. More closer to divine. Holy Bell claims it's coming from the Amala Terminal."
"Expanse?" Yosho glanced at the woman. "What do you mean?"
"When demons-or higher spirits-feel the need to protect themselves or set up a piece of territory outside of their main domain, they will lay out an Expanse. A liminal space designed to protect the entity from threats or likewise, to trap threats to itself in a place under its own control." Belldandy pursed her lips. "Yet this is a Vortex World…"
"Expanses cannot be created in Vortex Worlds, I thought." Thor followed the woman's train of thought. "The Vortex World is, in theory, one great big Expanse, with all that resides within being entities trapped by its creator-in this case Kagatsuchi-and preventing further, smaller Expanses from being shaped and used to the captured spirits' advantage."
"Do you feel it though?" Belldandy asked.
Thor paused, then began to nod. "…I do." He murmured. "How?"
"Something removed from the Vortex World." Belldandy said. "Something that both does and does not exist within it, and both is and is not subject to its Laws and regulations."
"Yes, but like what?" Thor emphasized.
"Uh…guys?" Keiichi's voice rose above the two deities. "I-I think we're about to find out."
The door to the Amala Terminal opened.
And with it came a wave of dark energy, something so malign that even Yosho took a step back as it touched his awareness.
The sensations were dark. Of Death, of decay, of deterioration and dust and rot.
And the purifying fire designed to remove it.
Out stumbled Kiyone Makibi, a hand covering her face as she stumbled forward, looking pallid and ill as she held a box of ammunition under one arm. She swayed, stumbled, caught herself, and stumbled again like a woman too imbibed to guide herself home.
Behind her stepped a child, golden-haired and pale-faced, dressed in a blue Victorian dress and mary-jane black shoes, staring at Kiyone with gold eyes that shined with idolatry.
Yosho stared, uncertain of what he was seeing and less of what he was sensing.
At first it had felt as though the malignant energy originated from Kiyone.
Now it felt as if the child was the source.
"Cadejo?" Yosho called out, burgundy eyes darting between the woman and child with alarm. "Makibi? Are you alright?"
Kiyone paused, swaying unsteadily. "I'm gonna be sick." She croaked, and fell hard to one knee with a groan. She appeared to be sweating.
The child came to stand beside her, staring over Kiyone and to Yosho with curious eyes that shined like gold in Kagatsuchi's light.
Those eyes aren't human. Yosho thought.
Then the child smiled broadly, displaying a row of shiny white teeth. "Oh! Are you Miss Kiyone's friends?" The girl asked.
"We are, Fiend." There was an ominous rumble in Thor's voice, and to Yosho's surprise the god pushed past everyone present, placing himself between the woman-and-child duo and the others. "What are you doing here? What have you done to Makibi?"
The child stared at the imposing figure in curiosity, her gaze empty of fear as the large man towered over her, one hand resting at the ready on his hammer.
Instead the child smiled. "I'm helping Miss Kiyone!" She cried. "She said she'd help me find my parents and the Church Grimm with her made me promise not to cause problems for her or her friends." The girl wrapped her arms around Kiyone's neck and pressed her cheek against the woman's in an affectionate hug. "I like Miss Kiyone! She's amazing!"
"Please get off of me." Kiyone moaned. "'M gonna puke."
The girl laughed. "You're funny, Miss Kiyone." She kissed the woman's cheek, prompting another groan from the woman, then looked up at Thor, who lumbered towards them both like a man set to murder. "Don't worry Mister God, I'll keep my word. I want to stay with Miss Kiyone though until I find my parents." The child began to glow. "I hope you find them soon! Mister Red is usually nice to people, but Mister Black was in the military, and so can be a bit more difficult with people he doesn't know. Let them know Alice is waiting for them when you find them!"
She vanished in a flash of violet light before anyone could get another word in, and Thor froze, glaring down at the spot where the child Fiend had stood. The screen on Kiyone's COMP flared with violet light, and as it faded Thor strode forth.
"Are you alright?" The man knelt to look at the woman, who was busy sucking in one deep breath after another.
Kiyone shook her head. "Sick…" She swallowed, looking green. Thor reached for her, yet as he drew near the last of Kiyone's will crumbled, and the woman retched, releasing the confines of her stomach as she lurched forward and onto the god so concerned for her.
Belldandy and Yosho trotted up next to them both. "Are you okay?" Belldandy asked, looking in concern between first Kiyone, who appeared to be trembling, then to Thor, now covered in something with the consistancy of slivered almonds.
Thor looked down at the woman with a small frown, his face full of worry. "I am fine. This is not the first nor the last time I've been covered in vomit." He said, and tenderly rubbed the woman's back in a gestured of support. "Are you better?"
Kiyone grunted. It sounded like an apology.
"My greater concern is that child we saw." Thor said, looking to his cousin and Yosho. Even kneeling as he was, the god was formidible, coming eye-level with Yosho even as the Prince stood at full height. "I had not sensed one approach. If she is here, there is a chance other Fiends may be drawn by her presence."
"A Fiend." Belldandy breathed looking between Thor and Kiyone. "Are you…was that all her?"
Kiyone didn't respond, merely shook her head, burying her face in one hand as she sucked in breath after deep breath. "Cashews…" She muttered.
Belldandy stared at the woman, then looked back towards the Amala Terminal.
"Thor, be a dear and take Kiyone-chan back to the apartment complex. Could you accompany him Keiichi-chan? She'll need fluids and Thor needs to wash himself after…that." She looked at the two men, gaining a determined nod from Thor and a hesitant one from Keiichi. She turned to Yosho. "Yosho-chan, would you accompany me?" She asked. "I must investigate something."
Yosho glanced at Keiichi, who was setting the glock back in its holster. The younger man looked up and, after a moment's glance between the Juraian and the Norn, nodded in reassurance. Yosho nodded in turn, and still holding the sword-it had not stopped humming despite the Fiend's disappearance-followed Belldandy to the Amala Terminal room.
The door slid open at the goddess's approach, and once more Yosho found himself overwhelmed by a wave of dark energy arising from inside. Belldandy recoiled, and Holy Bell snarled in a manner that twisted her expression into something almost feral before diving back into her host.
Belldandy shuddered, looking ill.
Yosho stepped to her side, ready to catch her.
Instead the goddess waved him off, and taking a deep breath, steeled herself before entering the room.
With little other options presented to him, Yosho trailed on behind her.
The lights didn't come on.
Instead, the only source of illumination came from the Amala Drum itself, where the Sanskrit symbols glowed a bright blue.
Pursing his lips, Yosho rested the Duke's Sword in the door's threshold, preventing it from closing behind them and granting a small bit more illumination from Kagatsuchi.
"Something terrible happened here." Belldandy murmured, and as Yosho looked around, he found caught remnants of glowing red strands of Magatsuhi rising and dissipating from small pools of red on the ground. "The Expanse is gone…if it had ever existed to begin with."
The man knelt beside one pool, watching hair-thin steams of light rise and vanish before him. "Makibi-san wasn't injured though." He said. "The child didn't look hurt, either."
"That was no child, Yosho-chan." Belldandy paused to stare at what looked like oil splattered against the Amala Drum. "That was a Fiend…and a powerful one at that."
"A demon than?"
"In a manner of speaking. They are…terribly, terribly dangerous." Belldandy bit her thumb. "And they are attracted to Death."
"What do you suppose happened?" Yosho asked, rising to come and stand near the Norn.
The goddess shook her head. "I cannot say…but it appears the Fiend has become…attached to Kiyone-Chan."
"Is that good or bad?" Yosho asked.
"I am uncertain." Belldandy revealed. "But I will say this…Holy Bell sensed something. An angel, or so she claimed."
"Makibi-san?"
"I don't know." The Norn replied. "What she-we sensed was not what emerged from this room." The woman pursed her lips, her gaze remaining on the oil stain. "What is more…though it was for but a moment when the doors opened…I am certain I sensed a Chousin."
"What does that mean?"
Belldandy turned to observe him. "I don't know." She said, "And that unnerves me."
Yosho stared at the Norn for a long moment in silence, and with it came a sense of overwhelming dread between them both. One of questions left unanswered and events left unknown, their only witness being a woman who was more than she seemed and a child whom had vanished into the reserves of a COMP.
"The girl mentioned a Church Grim." Yosho said. "What is that?"
"A guardian spirit who is the first to die in a cemetery." Belldandy replied. "Their's is a cruel death, and their souls are left attached to their cemetery they guard, warding off all manners of malignant entities from harming those souls who've made it their final resting place." She paused, then added, "They are usually dogs."
"….There are dogs following Makibi-san around." Yosho revealed.
Belldandy nodded. "There are." She agreed.
"They aren't Church Grims, are they?"
"They are not."
"What are they, then?"
"One of them is Death. The black one. Of this, I am certain. Why it is attached to Kiyone-chan, I am uncertain, though I have some…ideas."
"And the white one?"
Belldandy shook her head. "I do not know." She said. "Only that it fills me with dread when I look at it." The woman sighed, taking one final look at the black stain before turning away from it. In the light of the terminal, its surface seemed to sparkle, as if containing stars. "Let us grab your belongings and depart this place." She recommended. "I hesitate to stay any longer here; this place reeks of Evil and Death and I can feel it beginning to affect me."
Yosho nodded, moving to retrieve the two bags resting side-by-side and instead breathing in something which smelled rank and spoiled. The man gagged, retreating from the bags, holding his arm to his face as he stared at them accusingly "What…?"
Belldandy stared at him in concern, then without caution stepped forward, unaffected by the sharp, sickly-sweet scent of rot and opening first one, then the other seventy-two hour backpack. She stared inside, then, with an open grimace, dug her hand inside, withdrawing a plastic bag-once transparent, now black with the contents inside.
The smell grew unbearable.
"That's one of our bags of rice." Yosho choked out, hiding his face inside the collar of his jacket in a vain attempt to save his nose. His eyes watered. "What happened? It was fine last I checked!"
Belldandy frowned, placing the bag to one side, then withdrawing more black bags. Cashews, pistachios, and other nuts, dried fruit and more rice from both his and Kiyone's bags. All of which had turned black and putrid with rot and disease, the fruit little more than a discolored brown-black sludge, the rice and nuts looking close to following the fruit's decay.
Whatever had happened in the terminal, none of the food had survived the encounter.
Yosho looked at the bags in open disgust and dismay. "I've seen derelict corpses with less rot than this." He swallowed and tasted rot and bile.
"Let us depart before you fall sick as Kiyone-chan did." Belldandy looked at him with concern. A wave of her hand, and the putrid bags of spoiled food vanished, leaving in their wake the remnants of what once remained.
Together, the duo departed, one bag each open and slug over a shoulder in the hopes of airing out the stink from within the packs. What followed them out was an End from Three Deaths: A Fiend, A Black Dog, and a White Abomination.
Vortex World,
Okinawa Prefecture, Naha Warf
Kagatsuchi 5/8 Waning
"Get down!" Skuld tackled Sasami to the ground, and the two girls fell as a ball of cursed, black-violet energy flew over their heads. Panting, the two children scrambled to their feet, watching as Raidou attacked the Goetia with a sword that burned white with holy energy.
The Goetia, General Nebiros, grimaced as the sword sliced into his black suit coat, and with it the illusion of a gentleman vanished, leaving in its wake the Inspector General of Hell in all his unholy glory. A man, or at least a demon which resembled one, stood painted head to toe in pigments of all shades and wearing little other than a blood-red cloak and a matching loincloth. "A holy blade?" The demon's face, mostly human, was painted white, resembling a skull. "My, my, how clever. It seems the Scions of Yatagarasu still maintain their edge even in the Vortex World."
With silent fury, Raidou slashed again in a diagonal strike. Nebiros retreated a step, and began to smile as the Devil Summoner thrust his blade forward. With ample agility, the demon avoided it, side-stepping away from the youth with an infuriating smile on his face. "A shame though. You lack the…discipline of your predecessor, Boy." The man threw back his cloak with one arm, revealing what appeared to be a marionette of some type. The figure-a little wooden man-danced, and first one, then two new demons materialized.
Sasami gasped.
Skuld swore.
The Pisaca and Vetala blinked their sickly yellow eyes, the stalks of the Picasa twisting around to observe its new surroundings as the Vetala groaned, it's eviscerated body falling backwards and exposing the open cavity within. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Skuld screamed, and the Pisaca screamed, the multitude of fangs which lined its own open cavity crawling like the legs of a centipede.
Sasami screamed as well, and backpedaled, almost tripping over Skuld's war hammer. Grunting, the child dipped down, grabbing the weapon and almost falling over at the unexpected weight from it. "What is this made of, iridium?" Sasami cried, and with a grunt hauled the weapon up. "It has to be at least eighty pounds!" The weapon's unweildly shape made it more difficult to pick up, yet Sasami found, with the Pisaca lurching towards her, that she no longer cared. Tsunami, help me! With a scream that was more terror than defiance, the young princess swung the war hammer, spike-first, into the corpse-eater's head. The beast released a terrible, high-pitched shriek, then tried to tear itself free as the sand around the injury grew red, molten, and began to bubble.
The weapon was ripped from the blue-haired child's hands, and without her there to support it, the Pisaca went down with the weight of the war hammer, clawing at the weapon in a desperate attempt to dislodge it and instead screaming with fresh agony when its hands seemed to melt where they touched the metal.
Sasami, not questioning her sudden good fortune, retreated to the far end of the room, avoiding the Vetala which threw an arm towards her with a gurgling groan. "Oh no." The child retreated, missing a pair of filthy and putrid nails tearing through her dress by centimeters, and racing away from the beast as Skuld lashed forward. "No no no no no!"
"No you fucking don't!" The Norn snarled, and smashed her knuckles together. Bolts of electricity flared between the knuckles, and with a start, Sasami looked at her hands, spying what appeared to be a pair of shock knuckles entwined around her fingers. The Vetala cast its attention to Skuld, and with a savage snarl, the teen jabbed with her right fist, then followed it up with a left haymaker. Both struck true, and the demon roared its pain as electricity sparked against the impacted location.
"Skuld, it doesn't have a heart! I don't think its doing much damage!" Sasami exclaimed.
"Well excuuuuuse me Princess!" Skuld retorted, "Its not as though my weapon of choice was stolen under my nose!"
"Set it on fire!" A voice, deep and clear and masculine, rose to Sasami's ears, and the child flinched as something jumped onto her shoulder.
"It's vulnerable to holy and flames! It needs to be purified!" Gouto yowled into Sasami's ear.
"Oh sure, of all the times for either of my sisters to be missing!" Skuld snarled, and retreated as the Vetala lunged at her, the impacted areas of its body smoking and charred. "I can't do either of those, you stupid cat! My strengths are in machines and water-based magics because I drew the short end of the stick in magical aptitude! I can't do either of those!"
"What kind of a goddess are you?" Sasami exclaimed in open confusion, racing to the fallen Pisaca, whose struggles had died with its life, and yanking the war hammer from its body. The metal released a sickening squelch as the spike was dislodged, the embedded area a mixture of red and gray—something only a piece of Sasami became aware of and which only later would be revisited in the future, where she could recount the horrors of what she'd done in the battle in both shock and awe.
"A goddess of fuck you, that's who!" Skuld snapped, and held her hand out.
With a grunt, Sasami spun, using centripetal force to raise the hammer up, then released it in Skuld's general direction.
The war hammer sailed over Skuld's head and into the encroaching Vetala, knocking it off its feet with an undignified howl.
Skuld stared at Sasami.
Sasami stared at Skuld.
For a moment both forgot the undead monstrosity attacking them both.
"You're shit at throwing." Skuld said.
"Fuck you very much." Sasami retorted, then, in a moment of surprise and disbelief, clapped her hands over her mouth as pink eyes widened in shock.
Skuld smiled, then cackled before turning away. "Now you're talking like one of us!" She exclaimed. She retrieved the war hammer as the Vetala rolled onto its hands and knees, presenting its head directly to the Norn. "Hike!" She cried, and swung the blunt end of the hammer down onto the creature's head, tearing it from its shoulders with the ease of a golfer taking a swing. Sasami gaped in horror, watching the head fly off to the far side of the room, hitting the wall with an audible splat before sliding down the yellow panels and leaving in its wake a gelatinous substance that seemed too gummy to be blood.
"Oh, that was sick." Sasami said, and felt her stomach roll.
"Be sick later, we still have Nebiros to deal with." Gouto nipped her ear-not enough to hurt, but enough to gain her attention-and the child looked back towards Raidou, finding the teen fighting a loosing battle against the encroaching demon lord.
The Goetia paused as the Vetala's head rolled near, and flinging a thick ball of malign energy at Raidou, straightened to observe his surroundings once more. "Ah. I see I have misjudged you all. Though you are young, you are more than capable of standing your ground against me. Wonderful. A greater challenge for you to overcome." The wooden marionette danced once more, and as Nebiros pointed one way, so too did the puppet, then another direction in a mirror of its master. Two more directions, and four demons appeared in the room's four corners-another Pisaca, another Vetala, and two other demons Sasami had never encountered before-a massive human skull that was the size of her, its lower jaws chattering and clicking against its upper teeth like it was cold, and a horrific red demon that appeared to be several ghostly apparitions fused together into one massive ball.
"There's too many of them!" Sasami exclaimed. "We can't fight all of them! We'll be overwhelmed!"
"We need to retreat!" Gouto yowled. "Raidou, you still have a smoke bomb?"
Raidou fell back, a hand reaching into his coat pocket.
Gouto climbed atop Skuld's head, ignoring the girl's protest, and called to Skuld. "As soon as Raidou has us obscured, send us through the terminal!"
"Are you serious?" Skuld snapped. "I don't even know where we can go yet!"
"We can't stay here and they'll corner us outside!" Gouto snapped. "Do it!"
With a grimace, Skuld swung her hammer onto her shoulder and raced to the terminal, spinning specific portions of it as, with the feline's prompting, Sasami raced after her, grabbing her bo-staff as Raidou tossed the smoke bomb.
Grey smoke filled the room, and Sasami heard a shout from Nebiros before Raidou's form emerged beside her. With one hand holding his sword, he reached for her, and Sasami grasped his hand, guiding him towards Skuld.
"Hang on to your asses!" Skuld cried, and the Amala Drum began to grow bright as the Sanskrit glowed an ethereal blue. Raidou sheathed his sword, then grabbed Skuld's free hand, connecting the trio.
The Drum began to spin with intensity, and through the smoke, one of the demons-the massive Chatterskull, found them. It laughed at them, and to Sasami's horror, she heard it speak.
"Ten. Nine. Eight."
"Its counting down." Sasami said, and her eyes darted to the Devil Summoner. "Raidou, why's it counting down?!"
"Seven. Six. Five."
"It's self-destructing!" Gouto howled.
"Four. Three. Two."
"Are you se-" Skuld began.
"One." The Chatterskull paused for a moment. "Have a nice death." The red light in its eyes began to grow large, the Amala Terminal room began to fade away, and Sasami heard herself scream as the creature exploded.
"Don't let go." Tsunami whispered, and Sasami's world grew white.
Comments of a Madwoman: BE. NOT. AFRAID.
Death comes for us all.
Almost thirty chapters in and Sasami finally curses. What fortune her sister is absent! surely she would eat a bar of soap.
Cathedral of Shadows
Chatterskull: A sentient skull appearing in the folk tales of Dominica. Those who hear its high-pitched laugh are doomed to die. The skull, which holds the brain that governs the senses, is believed to have tremendous spiritual powers.
Legion: A conglomeration of evil spirits in one. In the New Testament, they possess a man and are exorcised by Jesus. The demons are then cast into a herd of pigs, which kill themselves.