CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE SERPENT AND THE CLOUD GATHERER.

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“I should prepare to leave now, Himeko,” I told my lover as I untied my arms from around her and winced slightly at the brilliant light of the morning currently gathered around her knee-length hair. The previous night had been as impassioning as the one before it with us growing a little more comfortable in bed, gently necking and gingerly exploring one another’s less sensitive regions, all the while reminding ourselves that we must not go too far lest our Innocence be stained and our hope to escape from the island eviscerated. Often we had to pull away and laughed together in ruefulness just to move in again shortly afterwards to resume our amorous encounter. Our fervent meetings of lips and gentle touches had eventually eased us into the land of peaceful dreams.

Rustling softly, the blanket slid off my bare skin while I rose from the mattress. Not at all concerned about my nude form, I crossed the spacious chamber, quite conscious of the fact that Himeko’s admiring amethyst gaze was wandering my unconcealed frame, to fetch an indigo yukata from the closet and put it on. I did not really want to go – nothing could be more enjoyable than staying in bed with my sweetheart, kissing and snuggling with her to my heart’s content – but I had already given Kisaragi Otoha my word that I would see her off. It was the least I could do for someone who had taken care of me for the first seventeen years of my life.

“Can’t I go with you?” she asked. Sitting atop the futon, she had the blanket wreathed around her, depriving me of the view of everything below her chin. Her seashell pendant was hanging outside, its pink surface aglow in the glorious sunlight.

“Not a very good idea,” I said after a moment of hesitation. “I do not think she likes you.” Last night’s meal was the proof. I had not noticed anything strange with the food brought to the seventh floor by my loyal servant herself, but a single bite had my sweetheart choking so murderously she nearly emptied her stomach. She then told me with a pale face that she tasted shiitake mushroom in one of the dishes. A thorough inspection on my part confirmed that not one, but all of them were prepared with the one thing my sweet lover abhorred. Only then did I understand why Kisaragi Otoha asked me as to which kind of food Himeko could not eat. Our stomachs rumbled until we went to sleep that night. Luckily, though, we had been too distracted by each other’s sensual touches to pay attention to that little detail.

“Um... okay then,” she said, appearing crestfallen. She brightened up almost immediately, though. “Bring me the comb on the table, Chikane-chan?” implored my little princess.

“Here you go.” I put the toothy strip, made from wood and lacquered in vermillion, into her hand.

“Sit down, please?” she said, hand tugging at the hem of my yukata with her vacant hand. “Your hair is all tangled up. You can’t go out looking like this.” I chuckled softly and settled down in front of her, awfully aware of the sound of the blanket slipping down her curvaceous body to allow more freedom and the warm that was ushered into the room as a result. Humming a tune I did not recognize, she raked the comb through my blue tresses and smoothed them until she was satisfied. Yet she was not done. Using only her hands now, she worked my hair into three long parts that were eventually woven into one braid. She let it hang down my front and pressed her moist lips upon the nape of my neck “One for you,” she whispered, her words strung together into a song worthy of a siren, “one for me. Together eternally.”

“But there are three parts,” I observed, sensing love washing over my soul the way a balm would an open wound. It was always amazing how her simple words had such a soothing effect on my heart. In her presence, I was completely at ease. “What is the last one for?”

She hugged me tightly from behind and rubbed her face against my back in a moment of comfortable silence. “Don’t you think it’s better to have a kid in the family?” Another long pause came. “I’ve always wished to have a child with you... but I guess it’s not possible for us... Maybe I’ll have to settle with adopting...” It was almost unbelievable that sentences so clumsily worded to contain so much love, but they did. I was moved. Spurred on by my tumultuous feelings, I turned around and attempted to take my adorable puppy into my arms and kiss her for all she was worth. She yelped and hurriedly lay down on her front upon the mattress, making me laugh. Laughter died, however, as my eyes dawned on her back, bared all the way down to her toes since her luxuriant stream of golden hair, too, was hanging down her chest when she decided to hide the beautiful curves of her front. The only things she had on her now were her seashell pendant, its metal chain catching sunlight at her slender neck.

Heart aflutter, stomach trounced by swarm after swarm of butterflies, and throat parched by the flames of desire, I bent down and planted in the middle of her shoulder blades a searing kiss. A soft coo, undoubtedly involuntary, was given voiced as my lips nibbled almost forcefully along the gentle trench on her back. At its end, my mouth swerved leftward to nuzzle most lovingly one of her back dimples, a lovely depression seldom seen on others and in her case a sensitive pressure point that if touched, would send a wave of pleasure surging in her nerves. Caught in the throes of physical delights, she had to tighten her hands on the mattress and suck in air through gritted teeth to avoid releasing embarrassing whimpers. Despite her efforts, strong shivers still pulsated across her hourglass frame while my mouth traveled across a buttock, smoother and softer than most places on her body, down to her lithesome thigh, arousingly mesmerizing even to a once legless mermaid like myself, just to leap to her right one and deposit a trail of deep, wet kisses back to her swan neck.

Caressing Himeko’s skin was like caressing velvet, only that velvet was not warm as a pleasant summer day in this distant island, fragrant as a fully blossomed rose, or capable of voicing soft cries that stoked the passionate flames of my heart. Noting that, I drew myself back, still craving for more kisses but in many a different place. Blood coursed violently in my veins. The urge to turn her around, feast my eyes upon her transcending beauty, and consummate our relationship sang interminably in my mind. The last two nights had assured me that she would not resist, for she once acknowledged that she wished for it as much as I. I knew that her current intoxicated state would have her give her assent even more quickly. Sometimes, while cuddling her in bed, I wondered how my restraints were still holding fast.

“How many marks did you leave on me this time?” she asked shyly, amethyst eyes gazing into my sapphire, her face still very red from the amorous meeting of her skin and my lips. Her breathing was like that of a Merfolk who had crossed a dozen miles, the fibers woven into her existence no less warm, her natural fragrant scent permeating the air I breathed. She put a smile on my lips then by lifting her hand to her mouth, caressing it briefly, and then pressing it against my own.

“Not enough to make a baby,” I said, sucking lightly on each of her fingertips. Her melodious laugher chimed in the room. “You should get ready too, Himeko,” I added. “Before I come back here, I will ask that a couch be prepared for us. We will visit Karasu then.”

“Okay,” she murmured against the pillow, disappointment plain in that one simple word.

“Greedy you.” She gave a start at my sudden laughter. “You just want me to go back to bed with you, is it not right?” She fell quiet and hid her face in the pillow instead of denying or confirming my thought. Amused, I pulled up the blanket to cover her and rolled her onto her back to give her inviting lips one last kiss. I still sensed her longing eyes on me when I walked out of the room even though a widening distance as well as a shoji door divided us, robbing me of her endearing sight.

“Straight hair suits you more, Ojou-sama,” commented the Head Maid, who was waiting for me at her door. The strange light in her amber eyes confirmed my suspicion that she had realized where my braid came from.

“Do not do it again, Otoha-san,” I said, my quiet tone and my meaningful glance left no doubt what I referred to.

“In having you for a lover, she is already the most fortunate girl in this world,” the older woman murmured. “A little bad luck should make no difference to her.” A shadow of melancholy crossed her face. “Besides, it is but a one time thing. I doubt I would ever have another chance to play a prank on her.”

I could not think of anything to reply to that, so I simply nodded and channeled my powers. A gesture of my hand drew the water from the pond outside into the living room through the open window and wove it into an infinitely thin oval-shaped surface tall enough for either of us to walk through.

“A Portal,” I explained. “It would make our journey a little less of a hassle.” Why bother to sneak out of the Castle through that cubby hole on the wall near the Southern Gate when a swifter route was at my disposal?”

Not saying anything, Kisaragi Otoha, arms cradling a long bundle of cloth containing Sennen no Koe within, followed me into the vertical surface, which brought us into the glade in the Fireflies Forest. Everything was the same except for the large slit in the trunk of the ancient tree. The water-wrought Portal became a hazy screen of mist over the perfectly calm lake. The rest of the trip was spent in awkward silence, which was completely unplanned. Upon arriving at the beach, empty except for us, Otoha surprised me by hugging me tightly before telling me that I should head back soon because my lingering presence would make her weep. Patting my loyal Head Maid on the back, I drew water from the sea and made another Portal. A pang of guilt appeared in my heart the moment I returned to in the residence reserved for the kitchen head. Sighing, I walked out.

Kugimiya Karasu and his bodyguard Kei saved us the trip by arriving at the Castle just as we were about to climb onto a four-horse couch. Our conversation then took place in the audience hall where two of them were received the first time they came to Shirazukijou, only that it had been secured by a sound-absorbing layer of mist. They were very surprised discovering that I now could speak, but became instantly enraged – Karasu himself had a look of murder on his handsome face – when Himeko, the love-bite on whose was neck safely covered by the high collar of her inner shirt, revealed the Shogun’s plan to sacrifice her to fulfill some dubious prophecy. Their expressions softened learning our plan to escape and brightened at my wish to settle down in their hometown. The daimyo’s son then promised us that they would take us and anyone we wished to bring along out of this island when they set sails five days from now. Karasu himself could not stop talking about how we would love the manor he was going to prepare for us in the best district in Nagano. I laughed and told them it was best that we had a simple house somewhere less... conspicuous. I left the audience hall with my first love with a big smile on my face.

That night, from the starless and moonless heavens came the first rain I ever saw since arriving at the Castle of the Pale Moon. It was so heavy it blanketed everything in sight and did not end until the next morning. The sky, often cloudless and awash with glorious light above this distant island, looked like a battlefield with something that looked like a thick layer of mist blocking out the summer sun. The ominous scenery instilled an uneasy feeling into my heart.

My instincts gave another warning the following day, when the sea turned violent beneath a sky no clearer than that of the previous morning. Incoming waves ten times as high as a human male crashed upon the western side of the island and inundated an area equivalent to Shirazukijou’s castle ground. It was only sheer luck that the devastated area was within a field of marshland where no Landers lived. According to Oogami Kazuki, who visited that afternoon because my sweetheart was not feeling too well, the changes in the weather signaled the arrival of a terrible storm the likes of which had never been recorded in Mahoroba’s history. He assured the Princess of the Pale Moon and I, however, that the first settlers in this place had already made plans for the worst scenario. Deep in the mountains and high above the surface of the sea they had prepared places for the people to evacuate to should the waves grow too fierce. Kugimiya Karasu made another visit later on, saying that perhaps it was much wiser to depart one day earlier than scheduled. All three of us agreed.

On the third morning, which seemed more similar to the dead of night, we prepared for our flight from Mahoroba. It was when I put my rune bracelet inside a bundle of cloth that it decided to emit a blinding flare that was invisible to any other. The words that followed immediately read, “Come to the beach immediately,” in the Fifth Sage’s handwriting, cursive as ever yet seemingly scribbled in haste. Chills, each colder than the last, traveled down my spine.

“What’s wrong, Chikane-chan?” asked the girl I loved, who was sitting by my side and trying to decide which she could bring and which she could not.

“An Orochi Sage summoned me to the southern shore,” I said and quickly explained to her how I received such a message.

“Do you have to go?” Anxious amethyst eyes regarded me moments before they flickered toward the dark heavens beyond the window. Rain was drizzling upon this island, lightning ripping up the sky every minute. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Worry not, Himeko,” I assured her. “My powers,” still intact despite the passionate nights we spent atop our futon, “will not let something as laughable as this harm me. I will return quickly, I promise. Besides, I do wish to say goodbye to Reiko. She is a friend.”

“Then have a safe trip, Chikane-chan,” she said and hugged me tightly.

“I will be right back, my love,” I whispered, offered her a goodbye kiss on the lips, and rose to my feet. Standing atop the wooden floor I swung my arms in a slow, sweeping arc. The raindrops freefalling outside then abandoned their natural course to fly into the room through the open window and swiftly gathered into a vertical Portal. Looking at my first love one last time, I walked into the infinitely thin surface and immediately found myself on the sandy beach of the southern shore, where the successive waves seemed to be coming closer and closer inland toward the Fireflies Forest. The sea, or at least the part of it that was illuminated by a sphere of blue light I conjured immediately after my arrival, seemed no less treacherous than the stormy sky. Without breaking a drop of sweat, I wove a spell that enveloped my body and kept the drizzling rain from soaking into my clothes.

The Merfolk who was waiting for me about a hundred feet offshore was not Reiko, but Kisaragi Otoha, my loyal Head Maid. Surprised, I bridged a mental connection between us, for I knew her mermaid form was incapable of speech above the sea’s surface, which looked decidedly murderous at the moment.

“What are you doing here, Otoha?” I asked in our mother tongue.

The mermaid did not answer my question. Instead, she shouted back in Merfolk speech, “Bring your lover to take shelter in Ame no Murakumo’s Shrine, my lady! Immediately!” Her face was unnaturally pale even in the light my blue sphere cast.

“Why?” I demanded, frowning. A loud thunder roared noisily above our head as though providing emphasis. Does she mean the Shrine of the Falling Rain? I wondered with furrowed eyebrows, a thousand more questions popping up in my head. Most likely. There was no other Jinja devoted to the Cloud Gatherer on this island after all.

“The demise of the two-legs is coming!” Kisaragi Otoha declared in panic. “The Sages are going to summon the Divine Wave!”

I was speechless for a few minutes. “How?”

“They have been hiding things from you,” said Himemiya Head Maid urgently. “They did not tell you that the goshintai you retrieved could allow our Lord to grant their wishes!”

The terrible weight of the revelation hit me square between the eyes, darkened my vision, and staggered me backward for a few steps. It was common knowledge that Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto devised a law to prohibit the Immortals from interfering in the affairs of the mortals. That same law would not apply, however, if the Gods and Goddesses simply responded to a plea from their subjects. And Kisaragi Otoha just revealed what it was that the Sages were asking Yamata no Orochi to do. Every human there was and could be was going to be killed. Including my Himeko, I thought in distress, if I do not get her to safety in time. The winds howled and the rain intensified, its heavy drops pummeling on the invisible shield I wrought, as though to echo agreement.

“What are they doing right now?” I asked, fully aware of the fact that I had unknowingly become a hand of the Sages in the Human World, a pawn they used to wreak total annihilation upon their ancient foes. It was they who masterminded their plan for destruction, yet it was I who made it possible by giving them what they needed.

“They are performing a ritual to our God,” the other mermaid answered, her usual unruffled serenity nowhere to be found on her youthful face. “They began it the very night I brought Sennen no Koe back!” She grimaced a few times at the rain lashing upon every inch of her above the water surface.

I staggered back another step. The blue sphere providing me with illumination was nearly undone by my shock. “Then why did you wait until today to warn me?”

“They quarantined the entire Himemiya Mansion, my Lady,” she explained. If she was offended by my unintended accusing tone, she showed no sign of it. “They kept everyone in, even Lady Kimika,” she sounded scandalized at the very notion, “because they were afraid some of us would inform you of what was happening.” She hesitated. “They said the deep bond you developed with the human world would jeopardize their secret plan.”

My eyes widened in shock. “A deep bond? How did they learn about Himeko?”

“I think they have spies in the Mansion,” the mermaid said. “I only shared your words with your lady mother. Someone must have listened in on our conversation. Please believe me. I would die before I betray your secret!” Her voice took on a beseeching edge toward the end.

“Do not worry,” I assured her. “My trust in you will never wane, my loyal Head Maid. Now, tell me how you escaped.” Thunders rumbled loudly beneath the lightless sky. My mouth tightened. I should have realized from the very beginning that the thick layer of mist could only have been a product of an Immortal who could not mobilize the clouds, Ame no Murakumo’s personal domain, to do his biddings.

“The Fourth and Fifth Sage snuck me out of the Mansion,” revealed the mermaid. “Because they, too, were under surveillance, they did not have much time to do anything except giving you a short message and sending me here just so you can learn of their colleagues’ disastrous plan. They were not a part of the summoning ritual, my Lady. The others were. I believe Lady Reiko and Lady Korona opposed the idea of inundating the Human World from the start.”

“I see.” If there was a word that could describe the full depth of the gratitude I felt toward the two Sages, I did not know it.

“You must hurry, Lady Chikane!” urged Otoha. “You have not much time left! Seek shelter in that cubbyhole of the Cloud Gatherer! It’s the only place where you can be safe!”

“I will.” I nodded. “But... what about you?”

“My rescuers already made plans for my return,” said the mermaid. “Please do not worry about me. Hurry!”

Not needed to be told a second time, I drew water from the surging waves to weave a Portal back to the seventh floor of the Castle of the Pale Moon and stepped through as soon as the myriad of droplets of salty liquid coalesced into the razor-thin surface, barely registering the splashing sound of my loyal servant’s dive into the stormy sea. The sight that greeted me the moment I arrived inside the room I shared with my beloved princess was as hard a blow as the knowledge of the Sages’ murderous plan did. Himeko, who should be still preparing for our departure, was not present. In her place was a Saotome Makoto lying on her stomach on the wooden floor, her wrists and ankles bound by ribbons wrought solely from superhuman powers and her mouth gagged by a fistful of a substance no less magic.

Having noticed my arrival, Himeko’s half-sister thrashed to get my attention, her emerald eyes pleading for my help. Innards slowly freezing into ice, I unleashed my powers through a forward slash of my right hand. The ribbons binding the kunoichi were instantly ripped into pieces that melted into black soot and the substance filling her mouth neutralized into harmless air. Beyond the window, the heavens were siccing their loudest thunders and their brightest lightning bolts upon the unsuspecting Mahoroba, stating their maker’s intention to drown the world.

“Where is she?” I demanded. “Who did this to you?”

“The sorcerers from the capital,” the black-garbed girl fluidly pulled herself upright, her voice no longer possessing its usual cool and unruffled quality. In it, there was only fear. “They took her.” Hatred flashed malignantly in her emerald eyes. One could hardly tell whether the knife sheathed at her waist was sharper than her gaze or the opposite. Now, she looked murder incarnate. “The bastard Shogun is here.” The title, spoken in reverence by most people in this Castle, became something no less filthy than garbage even before it completely left her mouth. No one could have guessed that she was referring to her blood father. “He and his retainers arrived moments after you left.”

She said no more, but I was sure that she had attempted to push the sorcerers back to save the life of the girl she cherished. Of course, a mere human like herself proved no match for the Empowered.

Cold sweat poured down my back. “Where are they, do you know?” I asked, my throat devoid of moisture. My hands curled into fists so tight blood dripped onto the floor from the finger cracks. My entire self trembled in worries, anger, and an urge to kill. It suddenly made perfect sense what the diviners could have meant when they spoke of an impending disaster over the Human World. I would not put it beyond them to have ferreted out something from the endless Cycle of Death and Rebirth that the Orochi Sages had been planning a summon of the Serpent God. What they must have gotten wrong, however, was when it was supposed to occur. The recent events undoubtedly had proved to them that their calculations had been way off. That should be why they decided to offer Himeko to Ame no Murakumo now instead of waiting until the tenth day of the tenth month.

“They should be at Furisame Jinja,” answered the black-garbed kunoichi, her fury no less evident than mine.

“Follow me,” was my curt response. Raindrops once again barraged into the room to gather into a Portal large enough for the both of us. Unsurprised, she walked with me shoulder by shoulder through the infinitesimally thin surface. What we found at the northern shore of Mahoroba, beyond which stood the Shrine of the Falling Rain, was a scenery I would be hard-pressed to forget. Similar to the beach where I received the bad news from Kisaragi Otoha, the water of this place was also raging under the powers of the storm, yet they could do naught except crashing furiously upon the insanely powerful barrier residing over Furisame Jinja, which had now been expanded to encompass even the newly rebuilt wooden ramp and strengthened from within to the point that even the raindrops and the howling winds were denied passage. There were no torches, yet there was neither a lack of illumination. Golden light was cascading out from spheres of light hovering at the very edge of the protective layer, right above the small patch of land where the Shrine of the Falling Rain stood. There, too, gathered a crowd of men in white robes and hoods who stood in a perfect circle in front of the small wooden structure, their arms raised skyward.

Himeko’s half-sister and I hurried inside the barrier and ran toward Furisame Jinja. They had yet to reconstruct the wooden ramp, yet since the reinforced barrier had pushed all the water beyond its perimeter, there was no lack of dry ground for us to run on. Horror rose in me and stopped me in my track the instant we arrived. I could feel my companion growing very still in shock.

“Himeko!” I shouted in utmost fury and fear at the same time that Saotome Makoto did.

In the heart of the circle formed by the sorcerers was a vertical triangular plate that was in impeccable balance even though only one of its vertices was in direct contact with the ground. Tied to that same plate by invisible bonds at her wrists, ankles, waist, and neck was my little princess, who seemed to have lost her consciousness. I only became far more incensed upon spotting the sole Lander I ever hated. Kannazuki Kagami, named so by the clothes he wore and the air of command he draped about his person like a cloak, was standing in front of the plate his daughter was bound to, his hand holding a dagger with its prickly tip an inch away from the golden-haired girl’s heart.

Noticing alien presences, every person there was in this evil gathering – the faces I saw beneath the deep hoods announced all but one of them were men – turned their head. The accursed Shogun, whose rather handsome face bore a little resemblance to both Himeko and her half-sister, widened his eyes slightly in puzzlement as they descended upon me and in irritation when they did my companion. He had not lowered the hand he used to point the dagger at the girl I loved.

“Why do you insist on opposing me, Makoto?” demanded the middle-aged Lander in a voice vested with the full authority as the shadow ruler of this nation, the puppeteer pulling the strings of a worthless Emperor. “Are you not aware what is going to happen if this girl is spared?” Dark eyes bored at his daughter’s face like augers. There was a strange undertone to that question that led me to believe that he was talking about something other than the safety of the world at large.

“I won’t let you harm her,” declared the black-garbed girl. “No matter the consequences, I won’t!” Thunder roared noisily overhead to echo her determination.

“You do not know your place,” scoffed her bastard of a father. “You are powerless here, girl. Gentlemen, will one of you silence this insolent fool and put her as well as her unusual companion out of sight? And be thorough this time. Let her escape one more time and I will kneel you in front of the headsman’s block.” Sharp eyes swept over each and every single face of his subordinates, who frowned at Saotome Makoto as though trying to puzzle out how she managed to undo the binding spells they had cast on her.

Shaking his head lightly in annoyance, one of them stepped forward and flung his hand toward where my companion and I stood. Invisible filaments of magic then sprang from his fingertips in an attempt to weave yet another binding spell. Giving a start, Saotome Makoto leapt sideways to avoid what she could not see. I, on the other hand, remained motionless and tossed a look of utter contempt toward the puny Empowered who thought a tiny spell could restraint a Priestess of the Water. Without twitching a muscle, I mobilized a fraction of a fraction of my own powers and neutralized the sorcerer’s spell even before it had a chance to coalesce.

“You!” my opponent shouted in outrage. The only ones on this small patch of land who did not see what I had done were Kannazuki Kagami and Saotome Makoto, so they simply lifted their eyebrows in surprise seeing that the sorcerer had failed to carry out the former’s order. Everyone else was shaken to the core. “Who are you?!” A couple more planted themselves behind him, their hands raised toward me and their bodies brimming with magical energy, while the rest chose to remain where they were and watch me cautiously.

“I am Himemiya Chikane,” I announced in an arctic voice, “Eighth Sage to the Lord Yamata no Orochi. Hear me, humans. Leave this place immediately if you do not have a death wish.” A dark shadow stole across Kannazuki Kagami’s face, a mix of apprehension and disgust rippling on his subordinates’. Saotome Makoto looked at me as though she had seen me for the first time.

“Fool!” snarled the sorcerer who had attempted to bind me. He was very old, I could see, for his eyebrows were completely white and his face wrinkled up like a crumpled piece of paper that was flattened out in the end. The two standing behind him, a man and a woman, were probably in their forties. The man was blinded in one eye and the woman would have seemed pretty without her petulant mouth and her crooked nose. “There is no water within this barrier for you to use against us, witch. It’s you who are going to die!” He was only partly correct. It was true that the barrier had confined the waters of the world beyond my reach. It was also true that the spheres of incandescent light hanging at the very top of this protective dome had removed all the moisture within its boundary, rendering the air so dry it could have cracked. Yet, he was not aware of one inconvenient little detail.

The laughter I released was cold and sharp as a dagger of ice. It irked the three sorcerers so much they decided to kill me immediately. Despite having control solely over water and related elements of nature, I could still read the flows of powers emanating from them and figure out the nature of the spells they were readying.

“Silence, filthy creature of the depths!” roared the old man, spraying his saliva in aggravation. The flames he conjured, which leapt from his bony hands in spinning columns, were about to crash upon me and accomplished its purpose had them not been extinguished in an utmost agonized roar loosed by its ancient summoner. The sorcerer was screaming his loudest yet on his knees, his white-clad body fuming with water vapors. He stopped making noises altogether and fell flat on his stomach, the moisture I had extracted from him swallowed by the overly dry air within the barrier. He would not die, but the pain was going to remind him in the future that he needed to make sure his spell struck before his opponent had a chance to react.

The one-eyed man and crook-nosed woman retreated a few steps to join their colleagues, who looked stunned. Saotome Makoto eyed me with a newfound respect in her emerald eyes. Her poor excuse of a father simply gazed darkly at his retainers in exasperation, his eyes promising certain punishments to those whose competence was not enough. There was neither fear nor anger in him, proving that he could keep his head cool even in the face of death. The lack of magical gifts in him did not alter the fact that he was the most dangerous Lander in this place.

“Raise shields!” roared one of the remaining twelve sorcerers. Faces brightened with belated comprehension, spells spun in many variations, and magical barriers rose from each to form a tight cluster of sorcerers who had undoubtedly realized that facing me individually meant certain defeat. Then, as if convinced that I could not harm them now, they moved forward as a unit, bodies saturated with powers and faces brimming with murderous intents. I laughed again, a little more coldly this time, feeling infinitely amused by their ignorance and fearlessness. A raised hand from me stopped them dead and released my full power upon this small patch of land. A tidal wave a hundred times taller than Furisame rose from the seawater locked outside the barrier and crashed upon the latter, delivering a blow worthy of an Immortal with the insane amount of liquid that it carried. Before the water could roll off the magical layer, another wave rose and struck. One following another they came, bringing crashing sounds louder than thunder and delivering detrimental blows to the protective dome. The sorcerers, having lost all will to resist, gaped openly in horror as their combined spell began to unravel. Inch by inch the barrier retreated inwardly. Second by second the earth shook.

“Stop what you are doing right now or I will kill her, sea witch,” intoned Kannazuki Kagami, his dagger’s tip pressed against the skin on my sweetheart’s throat. His voice was unperturbed, his hand perfectly still. The accursed Shogun meant what he said.

“You are a disgrace to any who calls himself a father, two-leg,” I said in my coldest voice. “And you are in no position to bargain with me. Have you not noticed anything yet?” His face hardened enough to crack rocks.

“No!” the woman with the crooked nose screamed in terror. Her companions, too, began showing signs of unnerving fear at the fact that they were currently ankle deep in water, which had seeped through the weakened barrier from outside.

Cursing in the most vulgar words I ever had the chance to hear, they all attempted to hurl their powers at me, thinking that they could catch me by surprise. They were once again too late. Shafts of water no thicker than a normal Portal’s edge had risen from below with the speed matching that of a lightning bolt. The stench of blood cut the air and the anguished roars echoed endlessly as their hands were all sliced neatly off at the wrists, incapacitating them forever. Even Saotome Makoto looked ready to empty her stomach at the sight. Relief poured out of every pore on her face, however, as she realized that her half-sister was no longer threatened with her life. At the same time I disabled the sorcerers, a cloth woven from pure water, extremely flexible but strong enough to rebound any metal edge, had swiftly covered the Princess of the Blue Moon while a blade made from the same substance severed all fingers on the right hand of the Shogun, who had reacted fast enough to save his wrist.

“Get out of my sight, all of you,” I said in a dangerously soft voice.

Still whimpering, the sorcerers scurried toward Hotaru no Mori with faces soaked with tears and mouths twisted by physical agony. The one-eyed man was decent enough to elevate the unconscious old man into the air with his powers and brought the latter along. Kannazuki Kagami himself tossed the golden-haired girl, who was now invulnerable thanks to the thin water layer draping over her, as well as his other daughter a look of hatred before he, too, followed his retainers with the grace of a victor instead of a defeated. Soon, they vanished into the darkness of the Forest of Fireflies.

“I’m surprised you didn’t kill him,” remarked Saotome Makoto.

“I have not much time,” I said. A gesture of my hand returned the water cloth to the ocean. Another unraveled the magical bindings that held my sweetheart tightly against the vertical triangular plate. Without any restraints, her body plowed forward and ended up in my welcoming embrace. Finally sighing in relief, I scooped her into my arms so that the bloody water would not dirty her feet. Then I glanced at her half-sister, whose face was betraying the puzzlement caused by my response. “Instant death is too much of a mercy for him,” I explained. Comprehension dawned on the auburn-haired girl’s pretty face. “I have other things to take care of.” The thunder was louder than ever, the ever forking lightning ripping the misty sky apart. “Hurry.”

I climbed the wooden steps of Furisame and found myself at its closed doors. The ward had been mysteriously removed the last time I was here so I experienced no difficulty in pushing them open and carried the girl I loved inside. The young kunoichi followed and closed the doors behind her. The interior of the Jinja was as warm as I could recall from my memories thanks to the inextinguishable fire cracking merrily in the hearth. Compared to the disaster-colored scenery found elsewhere, this place was a safe paradise.

“You stay and watch over Himeko,” I told the black-garbed girl once I had laid my little princess on the floor near the hearth. “I am going to bring a few more people here.” I would never abandon the Yamazaki family, Kugimiya Karasu, and Kei to the mercy of the Serpent God.

“Okay.” Strangely enough, she bowed her head in acquiescence.

Slightly taken aback – it was the first time she showed any sign of deference toward me – I turned and walked toward the doors. At my second step, a miracle happened. The surrounding, which seemed concrete one moment, warped into a painting by a one-year-old in the next. No more than a few seconds had passed when everything returned to normal, except that we were in the Shrine of the Falling Rain no more. My breath caught. The lake in front of me and the ancient tree towering over it were the irrefutable evidence that we had been transported into the glade residing at the heart of the Fireflies Forest. Strangely enough, though, the fat raindrops plummeting down from above never entered the glade. What they touched were the leaves of the enclosing forest, playing out an inexplicably pleasant melody.

“Welcome,” said the voice of a man whom I knew well.

“Oogami Kazuki!” Saotome Makoto exclaimed in a strangled voice.

Stepping out from the shadows of the surrounding trees was none other than the castle physician. The only thing different about the middle-aged man at the moment was the absence of his perpetual smile and the presence of a grave facial expression hardly ever associated with the former High Priest.

“I was once called by that name years ago,” he said quietly. “It, however, is not my true name.”

“Then who are you?” I demanded in a voice just as soft.

Not answering me, he turned his head and gazed at the surface of the lake. The misty heavens it reflected was immediately gone and replaced by a deep cerulean sky where the clouds thrived and the winds traveled to the furthest corners of the world. My mouth fell open. How is this possible?!

“Ame no Murakumo!” Makoto breathed. In the following instant, she fell down on one knee and inclined her head. “My Lord.”

“No need for that,” murmured the Immortal. “Rise.” He never moved that I saw, but a gentle wind soared heavenward the moment the word left his mouth and lifted her back to her feet.

“Is everything you told your apprentice just a lie?” I asked. The fact that I was neither kneeling nor minding my words seemed to shock Himeko’s half-sister, for she was eyeing me with her emerald gems bulging out of their sockets.

“They were all truth.” The Cloud Gatherer placed his full attention on me. “A long time ago, I came to the Mortal World to rid myself of the boredom plaguing the Plains of Heaven. Here, I took the role of an exorcist named Oogami Kazuki, hoping for a chance to travel as far as my feet would take me. It was my bad luck that I was elevated to the post of High Priest of Izumo. As you know, I resigned quickly afterwards. It was then that I met a Goddess who was also living in disguise among the mortals. She later became my wife. Her name is Rinne... but you know her as Yamata no Orochi the Lord of the Seven Seas.”

I was at a loss for words. The black-garbed girl’s jaw nearly dropped to the soft ground.

“Rinne was originally a Goddess free as the wind,” the Immortal continued, “yet having witnessed the terrible crime committed toward the denizens of the sea by the land dwellers, she decided to lend a helping hand and become the patron deity for the Merfolks. Not wanting her new subjects to doubt her sincere wish to support them just because she was married to the God of their foes, she assumed a new identity and gave herself a new frightening shape that could frighten the humans into leaving the aquatic people alone.” The Cloud Gatherer gave a slight shake of his head. “It didn’t work out the way she wished. Viewing her as a threat, the humans only became more intense in their cruel behaviors and developed the conflict into a full-scaled war. Because of this, Rinne and I had gotten into heated arguments that had nothing to do with our relationship. She loved me dearly yet in the bitter end, she left and vowed to return only when she had wiped out the human race or I destroyed the Merfolks.”

Thoughts filled me. Now I understood why Ame no Murakumo’s one and only Shrine was built on a shore where the power of his supposed “enemy” was strongest and why the so-called Eight-headed Serpent God never crushed it. The foolish steward could not have been more wrong when he said that Furisame managed to stand in the face of the fierce ocean because its deity was superior to that of the Merfolks.

“I then moved to this island, hoping to dissuade her from her disastrous intentions,” Ame no Murakumo said with a sigh. “I managed to meet with her a few times, but our conversations went nowhere because of her insistence on punishing the humans. Once, we came very close to agreement during a secret meeting at Furisame, but that effort too was spoiled when your party and the... disagreeable man Sadamoto Shunichi arrived.” His face darkened in obvious annoyance, the equivalence of another man shaking his fists. My eyebrows shot off my scalp. I could never have imagined that the two Immortals were less than a few feet away from me on that fateful afternoon, debating the fate of the human race and that of the Merfolk. “His thoughtless and blasphemous statement, coupled with the fact that he disturbed us, renewed Rinne’s barely cooled anger, so she hurled him into the treacherous oceans and left without saying another word. I had to wait until she was gone to extend my helping hand. Rinne’s proud, you see, and the very idea that I’m intervening into her affairs isn’t going to bode well with her. I am still debating whether it was a bad idea to have saved that man. It was thanks to him that we were here today, at the crossroads of destiny. The Sages are going to wish for the same thing that my wife wanted them to. Unless I stop her, she is going to drown every human on earth.”

“Kill me,” said Himeko’s melodious voice, which made Makoto and I jump. She was standing behind us, her face billowing with melancholy and quiet acceptance. I only wondered how long she had been awake. “It’s the only way.”

Feeling bitter beyond descriptions, I walked to my sweet lover’s side and gently drew her into a hug. She did not resist me. She buried her face in my chest and said no more.

“No!” Makoto rejected the suggestion vehemently. “That’s not an option!”

“There has to be another way,” I said quietly, my sapphire eyes fixed on the Cloud Gatherer, who gazed back at me with an unreadable face. Then slowly he nodded.

“There is,” he said. “The Sages are about to have their wish granted because they had regained possession of Sennen no Koe,” dark eyes flickered at me briefly, telling me that he was aware who had made it possible for the denizens of the depths, “and because enough Merfolks wished for the exact same thing. With the collective will of the people to empower The Voice of a Thousand Years, there’s no need for a sacrifice of a maiden born from both noble and common blood.”

Enough Merfolk wished for the exact same thing? I thought. Impossible. It was true that there existed denizens who desired the complete destruction of the two-legs, far more understood that such a thing would kill off all the innocents, too. It puzzled me. Then I recalled what Kisaragi Otoha had told me the day prior to her return to the Undersea World. People changed, she had said.

“Then if we can find your goshintai, my Lord,” spoke the young kunoichi, “we can avert the disaster.” A gleam of hope appeared in her emerald eyes and was gone in a heartbeat. She, too, had realized that there were two fundamental problems with her suggestion. First, no more than a handful of Landers were aware that Sennen no Inori had been taken from its sacred altar, let alone knowing its whereabouts or the identity of the thief. And second, little good could A Thousand Years of Prayers do her even if she managed to find it, for there was no time left to garner enough humans who desired to allow the Cloud Gatherer free rein in their world.

“You mean this?” The Immortal gestured his right hand toward the lake, the surface of which was still imprinted with the unreal image of a cloudy cerulean sky. Despite being a Priestess whose affinity to water allowed me complete control over the abundant Element, I detected no spell being cast. All I saw was the water gathering toward the center, ever compressing itself and increasing its density beyond its natural limits. The structure of the liquid then underwent changes in their very internal structure at the speed of light. By the time the water had been condensed into a crystal katana with its hilt and blade melted seamlessly into one another. The goshintai then floated toward its master and placed itself firmly in his grasp.

“Why is this thing here?” Saotome Makoto asked with bated breath.

“Eighteen years ago, on this very island, there was a princess who fell in love with a mermaid who happened to be an Orochi Sage,” he said. “One night, another Sage came for her, commanding her to return to their homeland together just when she was about to abandon her powers and offer her Innocence to the girl she loved.” A lump of something rose in my throat. “The next morning, she reassumed her mermaid form and attended a meeting in a place called Shinkai Jinja. There, she was told that the majority of the Sages had voted to destroy the Human World by calling upon their patron God. Not wanting to destroy everything her princess held dear, the lone Sage, secretly aided by two of her colleagues, then stole Sennen no Koe and brought it with her to the Castle of the Pale Moon. There, she learned from her human lover that in Furisame existed a goshintai that could push her people off the cliff of extinction in the very same way. Driven by the wish to preserve her people, she and the princess came to the Shrine of the Falling Rain. Disappointment crushed them, however, as they realized that they could not bypass the wards cast on its door. There was nothing they could do then, so they returned to Shirazukijou, where schemes brewed and bad news awaited. The father of the princess, unfortunately, had discovered their forbidden relationship through a secret report from her personal page, so he brought an army of sorcerers to Mahoroba Island, hoping to destroy their love. The two ran, but the retainers caught them in the same place they first met. Exceedingly powerful as she was, the Sage could not overwhelm so many enemies at the same time. She could do nothing except watching her beloved be felled by a stray spell from the sorcerers.”

Saotome Makoto drew a sharp breath at the same time the golden-haired girl tightened her grip on my clothes. Neither of them had been privy to this dark secret of the Castle of the Pale Moon.

“Enraged by her lover’s death,” the Immortal continued, “the Sage consumed the remaining of her life force to destroy her enemies and raised Hotaru no Mori from below the water surface. It was here that she sealed Sennen no Koe using its own power and constructed a barrier that would deny entrance to any human or Merfolk.” The arms I placed around my sweetheart trembled in the realization that whatever restriction placed on this glade had never managed to stop either me or Himeko from entering. Ame no Murakumo’s dark eyes then swiveled to meet my sapphire as though he could read my thoughts. “Then, as a last act, she drew her own blood and sacrificed herself to me, beseeching me to grant her final wishes.”

“Impossible!” I exclaimed. “Why did she not call upon the deity she worshipped, but you?”

“Because she knew that she had angered Rinne by taking away The Voice of a Thousand Years,” responded the Cloud Gatherer. “The Sage asked me to conceal Sennen no Inori within this same glade so that neither race could wipe out the other. She also wished to be reincarnated into this world one more time with the girl she loved just so their love story could be finally completed. I granted them all. Once I had taken A Thousand Years of Prayer from my own Shrine and sealed it here, I reached inside the Cycle of Death and Rebirth to retrieve the two’s souls and had them reincarnated into this world at the same time, close to one another, their feelings for one another intact. And now, they are here. Himemiya Chikane, Kurusugawa Himeko, have you realized why you saw one another in your dreams even before you met? Do you now understand why only you can enter this glade?”

“We are the souls that you had retrieved, are we not?” I said quietly. Himeko lifted her face from my bosom and gazed up at me. There was no denial in her amethyst eyes. She, too, knew what I just said was the truth. A sidelong glance showed me a Saotome Makoto stricken with surprise. Oddly enough, she seemed to be the only one in this glade who could not believe it.

“You are,” confirmed the Immortal. “Do you remember these, children?” He lifted his hand. A flash of emerald light conjured the Fireflies, which I had released upon retrieving the treasure of Shinkai Jinja.

My first love and I nodded. The black-garbed girl frowned at the emerald glows in confusion.

“These are the remnants of your memories, Chikane, cast into the air at the moment of your death but could not escape because of Sennen no Koe’s powers. The first time you came here, you accidentally touched one that contained the pain of separation, what you felt the instant your lover lost her life. The second time,” his gaze settled on my little princess, “she happened to absorb a Firefly containing the joy of falling in love. She had already fallen for you at that time, so the Firefly simply resonated with her emotions and amplified it, causing her to lose the majority of her self-control.”

I gave the fragrant girl in my arms a teasing look. She blushed and hid her face in my chest again.

“Unfortunately,” Ame no Murakumo continued as though unaware of the byplay, “it also placed an insane amount of stress on her fragile mind, so she lost all memories she accrued since she touching the Firefly.” He heaved a dark, ominous sigh. “I had hoped that history would not repeat itself, yet the cogs of Fate are ever beyond even my reach.” Frustration laid its grip on his face as he raised his hand and conjured a large sphere of light in front of him, showing a miniature of Mahoroba Island being assaulted from all sides by the incoming waves and lashed from above by the heavy rain as well as stabbed continuously by searing-bright bolts of lightning. Ships were bouncing up and down atop the surface of the treacherous oceans, seaside houses swept away in the thundering floods. “She is here,” he announced finally in a voice that carried a mix of emotions. I sensed love, nostalgia, and exasperation at the same time.

About a few miles away from Mahoroba rose an impossibly tall pillar of dark water at least a mile across, which then sprouted eight more in different directions, each eventually assuming the unmistakable form of a serpent completely equipped with a diamond-shaped head, forked tongue, and four fangs long enough to skewer a man from his head to his toes. The original pillar then widened in the middle as well as thinned at its base to finally complete the monstrous shape of the eight-headed Yamata no Orochi as depicted in ancient texts. My mouth tightened. Himeko’s and Makoto’s faces went ghastly pale at the sight. Fear widened their eyes further and pulled their jaws to the ground as an ocean wave no less tall than the water serpent itself and so wide that the vision sphere could not contain its entire width rose from the heaving ocean. Slowly, it inched toward Mahoroba island, what it would definitely destroy before it crashed on the rest of the surface world.

“We now find ourselves at the crossroads of destiny,” intoned the Immortal who held sway over the heavens and the nomadic clouds. “Now, you have a decision to make.” He drove the blade of Sennen no Inori into the soft ground deep enough to have it stand straight on its own, stepped backward, folded his arms beneath his chest, and waited.

Himeko quickly slipped out of my embrace and hurried toward the crystal blade. A vertical rush of my hand lifted the weapon off the ground and placed it within my grasp. I was surprised. Although I had reasoned out that since A Thousand Years of Prayers was made entirely from the element over which I had total control, I could not help but expect myself to be wrong because the object, after all, belonged to Ame no Murakumo, the Lord of the Sky. I glanced at him.

“Sennen no Inori and Sennen no Koe are two of a pair,” he said quietly. “My lord brother Susanou no Mikoto the God of Storms forged them and gave them to me and Rinne on our wedding day. I kept the blade, she the sheath.”

“Give it to me, Chikane-chan!” implored the girl I loved. “There’s no other way!” She took a step toward me, and I took one backward.

“No!” I said firmly. “I will not let you become a sacrifice, Himeko.” I swung Sennen no Inori around and placed its one single edge against my throat. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. “My father has royal blood in his veins,” Himemiya Kyou had been a distant cousin of the current King, “and my mother was born a weaver. I am qualified too, my love.” Every word fastened an invisible hand around my heart a little more. By the end of the sentence, I was feeling so anguished that it was a miracle I could still hold myself upright or clutch A Thousand Years of Prayer. More tears came streaking down my cheeks. My hand trembled. Less than a few hours gone, we were planning how to spend our life together in Nagano, ourselves brimming with unspeakable happiness. Now, we were about to be parted by despair and death. I glanced briefly at Ame no Murakumo, whose face was oddly expressionless. No, only one of us will die this time, I thought bitterly, and it will be me.

Face twisted by agony and soaked with her own tears, the golden-haired princess shook her magnificent head and opened her mouth as though wanting to dissuade me, but I rode right over her, “It is better this way, Himeko.” The edge of Sennen no Inori was beyond cold against my skin, giving me an idea of its unnatural sharpness. I was under the impression that I would end up slicing my head off even if I only intended to cut my skin. My suspicion was confirmed when a gust of winds pushed a few strands of my hair against the edge. They were cut off cleanly. “I caused this disaster by retrieving Sennen no Koe for the Sages, Himeko. If anyone has to die for my mistake, it should be me.” A sob escaped my mouth. “Farewell.” It was a word I never thought I would say to the one I loved.

Another gust of wind rose. An instant later, the Sword of Storms was no longer in my grasp. It was now clutched tightly in the hands of Saotome Makoto, who was standing at the edge of the glade. Unlike me who hesitated, she turned the weapon and drove it through her stomach. The crystal blade was so sharp it caused no sound even when piercing flesh and that it seemed to have encountered no opposition at all as it ran her through. Lips curved by a twisted smile, she sank onto her knees with a thud upon the soft ground, where a nozzle of blood gushed out of her mouth and coated a small area of grass with it bright red color.

I was stunned to stillness. Ame no Murakumo studied Makoto with a face so calm he appeared almost cruel. And of course, Himeko took it the hardest.

“No!” she screamed. “Mako-chan!” She collapsed onto her knees in front of her half-sister, tremblingly took the latter into her arms, and released a full-throated wail into the air as soon as she realized that the young kunoichi would die a slow death if she left the sword there and that she would die immediately should the crystal blade be removed. “Why did you do this?” she sobbed uncontrollably.

So her mother was a commoner, too, I thought. It then finally occurred to me why Himeko fought so hard against her own self to retain her Innocence, why she wanted to bring the auburn-haired girl to Nagano, and why Kannazuki Kagami asked his daughter earlier whether she knew what was going to happen should Himeko be spared. Makoto was meant to be a reserve sacrifice! Horror rose in me as I for the first time ever realized what kind of cruel man the Shogun could be. He meant that he would kill her if Himeko escaped!

Comprehension flared up in my mind and cleared away the last bits of confusion I had. I turned to the Cloud Gatherer and declared in a heated voice, “You planned everything! That was why you brought her here!” He did not answer me, but the lack of response from him could not mean anything other than a “Yes.”

“Don’t cry, Himeko,” said Makoto in a strained voice. “This is what I deserve. So please...”

“You’ve always been kind to me although you rarely talked to me. You’ve always kept me safe. You haven’t done anything to deserve it.” Her half-sister wept more furiously than ever. “You haven’t!”

“I have.” She shook her head weakly and ended up vomiting a handful of blood. Her hand, covered with the substance of life, rose to touch the other girl’s cheek with the same gentleness the former had employed to carry the latter away in the night of Tanabata. “You two weren’t the only ones who had dreams you shouldn’t have.” Emerald eyes, in which the light was dimming, regarded me in its never-changing coolness and austerity. The girl had never liked me, and would not even during her last moments. “It was me who betrayed both of you to your death in your past life. It’s only fair that I used my own death to compensate you in this one.”

The dream I once had rebounded back to me in great details. In it, I had seen Souma the Seventh Sage coming to the surface to deliver the summons. In it, I had seen Saotome Makoto herself announcing his visit. I had simply forgotten about it until now. My sapphire gaze swiveled to the face of the Sky God.

“Not my doing,” he said, shaking his head. In the vision sphere, the Goddess-wrought wave was drawing dangerous close to Mahoroba. In the air, amidst the sounds of the rain and thunder, I could hear the low, distinct buzzing sound of something massive heading straight toward the Fireflies Forest. “I was allowed to touch your souls because your past-life incarnation explicitly allowed me to. I don’t have the authority to touch any other soul. I guess... this is how fate works.”

“My Lord,” called Saotome Makoto, the front of whose clothes were being assaulted by Himeko’s rain of tears. “Our time is short... Would you please...?” The golden-haired girl’s arms tightened around her half-sister’s body as though wanting to protect her from the approaching Ame no Murakumo. My eyes settled on the dying kunoichi’s pale face. It was then that I fully understood the meaning that her emerald gaze was flinging toward me. I won this time, Himemiya Chikane, she seemed to be saying. You are the one she loves, but it is me who gets to stay indelibly in her heart. She won’t forget what I’ve done for the rest of her life.

A sense of sadness and gratitude overwhelmed me despite whatever the auburn-haired girl could be saying with her emerald eyes. Regardless of her motive, she had always wanted the best for the girl she cherished. She secretly protected my little princess from the shadows, she helped the latter and I get together, she went against her father to save my first love despite knowing what was going to happen to her should she succeed, and now she died in Himeko’s place. It was Himeko’s blessing that she had someone like Makoto for a sister... yet at the same time it was a terrible curse on Makoto’s part. Perhaps one of the reasons why she chose death was because she knew a future where she could never obtain what she wanted most was far more tormenting than she could bear. I would feel the same in her situation, no doubt. Moisture stung in my eyes.

“Forgive me, child,” said the Cloud Gatherer as he flung a hand toward my sweetheart. A wave of light emerged and wove itself into a thin cloth that easily parted her from her dying sister. Another gesture from him lifted her off from the ground despite her thrashing and screaming out Makoto’s name in utmost pain and deposited her into my arms. I had had to hug her tightly from behind to prevent her from running to where the God stood. When she finally came to terms with the fact that what was about to happen could not be avoid, she stopped resisting altogether and wept harder than ever in my embrace.

“Farewell, Himeko,” whispered the young kunoichi, whose bloodied frame had been elevated by the Immortal in such a way that it lay horizontally in front of him. “May you... find eternal happiness.”

“What is it you wish for, Saotome Makoto,” asked the Immortal, “you who desire my intervention in this world?”

“I...” she said, spilling more blood every passing second, “I want you to save my people...” Her final words completely depleted her strength. She spoke no more.

“Your wish is granted,” he declared softly. “You can rest now, honorable child of mine.”

Her emerald eyes closed, her body went limp, her lips curved one last time, and she drew her final breath. Her life force was immediately gathered into the crystal sword that had run her through. Witnessing this heartrending sight, the girl I loved let out one more scream and ended up being knocked out by grief. Sighing, I fell down on my knees on the grassy ground and cradled Himeko tightly in the curves of my arms. She still looked so painful even when she was unconscious.

Ame no Murakumo wrapped a hand around the hilt of Sennen no Inori, setting off a wave of light that contained the force of a strong gust of wind. The light only intensified as he slowly drew the crystal blade out of Saotome Makoto’s now lifeless body. When the weapon finally departed from her flesh and was held so that its bloody tip pointed straight at the dark misty heavens, the light overwhelmed the world. When it subsided a few seconds later, Ame no Murakumo’s appearance and outfit was no longer the same. The yukata he wore had been replaced by an intricately woven robe the brocade of which bore the patterns of the winds and the clouds. Its sleeves were wide and long, its neckline cut low enough to reveal the high-collared platinum shirt worn underneath. The black glossy color of his hair and eye had turned platinum, his face grown younger and more handsome, the air of dignity he gave out right now so godly his very presence made me want to cower and howl in reverence. And his powers, no longer restrained by the laws governing this world, were beyond all proportions and imaginations. In front of him I was a pebble compared to a mountain. In front of him I was the water contained within a koi pond compared to that of the entire world.

“Everything’s over, child,” said the Cloud Gatherer, who was still holding A Thousand Years of Prayers in his hand. “It might be too dangerous for you beyond this glade, so stay and watch.” He turned sideways and melted immediately into nothingness. In the heartbeat that followed, he reappeared in the vision sphere as a small glimmer of platinum light that stood solitary between the approaching wave and the southern shore of Mahoroba Island. The glimmer seemed almost unnoticeable compared to the colossal size of the eight-headed Serpent pushing the towering wall of water from behind.

Still cradling the girl I loved in my arms, I projected my magical perception into the sky just so I could see the events unfold more clearly. As though I was flying in the sky hundreds of feet above Ame no Murakumo, whose body was wreathed in an impenetrable layer of platinum light for his armor, I found myself gazing up at an insane amount of water in the shape of an unendingly wide wall – bringing along surges of mist and deafening sounds as the liquid composing of its body crossed the open sea – and sensing fear rising in the same proportions in my heart. And yet, regardless of how much power that same wave could have been conjured from, much more resided within the Cloud Gatherer and his Sennen no Inori sword.

The thick layer of mist obstructing the heavens started to dissipate and the lashing rain ceased. The more it thinned, the more the clouds and the morning sun became visible, and the less violent the ocean grew. Then a southerly wind blew and slammed head-on against the killing wave meant to inundate the human world. The approaching wall of water summoned by the Goddess Rinne pulled to a halt and stayed stationary a fair distance from the southern shore of Mahoroba, ready to crush it should the wind fail. A thunderous roar erupted from the eight mouths of the monstrous Serpent as the male deity mobilized his powers. A horde of whirlwinds, no less than a hundred in number, descended from the ocean of clouds overhead and drove their prickly vortices into the unmoving wave of water. Amazed, I watched the upside down cones draw the water from the wave, reducing its size at the same neck-breaking rate as that of their violent rotations. The clouds thickened, darkened, widened, and finally returned the moisture into the ocean through a light drizzling rain. Except that this rain was evenly distributed to the entire surface world, not just Mahoroba Island.

When Ame no Murakumo lowered his Sennen no Inori, the killing wave was no more. The only threat that was left was the Serpent herself.

“Give up, Rinne,” said the Cloud Gatherer, his voice booming like thunder and carrying to the furthest corners of the world. “You have lost. Stop this meaningless conflict, please?”

The monstrous creature made solely from water roared, its eight head extending from its airborne body and coming straight toward the Island of Mahoroba, apparently trying to crush it. Letting out a deep sigh, Ame no Murakumo twisted his wrist and spun the crystal blade

He never had a chance to do anything. Eight pillars of light, four golden and equally many silver, seared down from the rainy heavens and stabbed at the heads of the Serpent. The golden pillars contained so much heat they vaporized the insane amount of water in a heartbeat while the silver ones were so cold they froze the heads into solid ice moments before the former shattered the latter into fine diamond dusts that were scattered across the land. Shock rippled across the Cloud Gatherer’s face as the eight pillars thinned into nothingness and two more descended from the sky, piercing two openings in the ocean of dark clouds.

Before, I had thought that there could be no Immortals stronger than the one empowered by Saotome Makoto’s blood. I was wrong. The presence of power emerging downward at the moment told me that it could overwhelm either the Serpent or the Cloud Gatherer at any given time. Yet, there was no sense of nerve-racking intimidation or crushing pressure being exerted on me. All I sensed was a soothing wave of serenity spreading in the air. With bated breath I waited for the newcomer, whoever they might be, to reveal themselves.

As it turned out, the incredible presence of power was radiating from two Immortals instead of one. My breath caught. Clad in snowy hagoromo befitting their high station in the hierarchy of life, the pair of Goddesses who were currently in a gentle descent included the most beautiful being ever created by the Makers of the World. One of them had hair bearing the exact same color as that of Himeko, except that it cascaded down her back in successive waves that seemed to shine without any source of illumination. The hair other female Immortal, however, was a straight stream of silver strands that flowed all the way to her feet with the same unusual luminosity. The golden-haired one’s face was cheerful, her lips graced by a beautiful smile. Her companion, however, looked the embodiment of frost.

They are holding hands, I noted in wonderment. Very tightly, in fact. They never looked at one another that I saw, but somehow they exuded an air of mutual adoration and affection that could not be missed by someone deeply in love. Could they be...? The very idea was preposterous.

“Onee-sama!” exclaimed the Cloud Gatherer. “Tsukiyomi-sama! Why are you two here?” Fear wormed into his voice as he darted a glance at the monstrous Serpent, whose heads had been grown back from the water of the sea.

Tsukiyomi? I repeated mentally in shock. The Goddess of the Moon? My magical perceptions then settled on the golden-haired Immortal, from whom so much power was emanating I felt my ethereal projection begin to distort. Then this one has to be... My mouth dropped. Amaterasu the Goddess of the Sun! I never imagined I would be able to lay eyes upon the two most famous deities of the Plains of Heaven in this lifetime. Nor did I expect to learn that one of these exceedingly beautiful women was an elder sister to the Cloud Gatherer.

“Abandon that unsightly form immediately, Rinne,” commanded the silver-haired deity, her crystalline voice far icier than her face and no less booming than that of Ame no Murakumo. “Or do you require my aid?”

No response came. Amaterasu shook her head lightly in what seemed to be amusement and mild exasperation. Ame no Murakumo looked worried for his wife. Tsukiyomi simply smirked while she lifted her arm and aimed her palm at the frightening form of the so-called Lord of the Seven Seas. Powers, pure and strong and eternal as time itself, blossomed in her like fireworks in the sky on Tanabata. The open sea, which had been calmed down significantly earlier by the Cloud Gatherer but was still generating waves because of the winds, suddenly went so still it could have been frozen. Amazement seized me over and over again as the clouds on high parted to make a clearing large enough to show a spectacular sight no creature could have witnessed. Up high in the heavens, the Sun and the full Moon reigned at the same time, their incandescence and luminescence blending in with one another in a perfect harmony. Down low at the ocean lay a surface flat and shiny like that of a mirror, which was dominated by a second moon as large as the first. And that second moon was directly beneath the Serpent herself.

“Have mercy on her, Tsukiyomi-sama!” implored the Sky God in a desperate voice.

The Goddess either did not hear his plea or the explosion that accompanied the two columns of blinding silver light shooting out of the illusionary moon and the true one had drowned out his words. The air was seared, the wind cut, and the Serpent blasted into millions of millions of droplets of water streaking away in equally many directions the very instant that the two columns met. What was left in the monstrosity’s place afterwards was a young woman not much older than myself whose hair was of the same color as that of the Cloud Gatherer. Her face was pretty but emotionless like a doll’s, her back attached with eight wings glowing with a different color each, her eyes awash with fury, her hand clutching the scabbard Sennen no Koe so hard I thought the former was going to bleed.

“Goddesses of the Sun and Moon,” intoned Rinne, her voice sharp as a sword and the feathers on her eight wings sticking out like needles, “how dare you violate the laws governing the Immortals?”

“We violated no law, Rinne-chan,” murmured the Goddess of the Sun.

“Then who gave you permission to stick your fingers into my affair?” demanded the wife of the Sky God, who seemed determined to ignore her husband’s presence. He sighed.

“Someone you know well,” replied Tsukiyomi, her hand slipping inside a pocket of her hagoromo and taking out a small rectangular plate inscribed with the Crests of the Sun and Moon. “I trust that you still recognize the Regent’s Seal?”

“Izanagi!” Rinne’s gray eyes went wide. For the first time ever, I saw fear manifesting on her once emotionless face.

“We were ordered to bring you back to Heaven to face trial, Rinne-chan,” announced the Sun Goddess. “The Celestial Assembly awaits your presence in the Sanctum Core.”

“I have done nothing wrong!” denied the winged Immortal in a heated voice. Terror was there, too, regardless of how murderously she tried to hide it.

“The Holy Messengers believed otherwise.” Tsukiyomi’s silver eyes bored at her without mercy. She seemed almost ready to shy back. “They have gathered proof before Izanagi,” the name had the odd sound of “pond scum” the way she said it, yet none of the other Immortals appeared to mind, “that you have been using your powers to brainwash the denizens of the sea into wishing for total annihilation of the humans. You know it is against the law, Rinne.”

The face of Ame no Murakumo’s wife paled. Her mouth thinned into a straight line in anger.

I heaved a sigh of relief. I was right after all. There should not be enough of my people to desire such a cruel thing unless Rinne tempted them into it herself.

“Do not resist,” Tsukiyomi continued. “Come with us willingly. It will count for something when the Celestial Assembly deals with you in the Core.” Amaterasu nodded in concurrence.

“I will go with her, Tsukiyomi-sama,” announced the Cloud Gatherer. Rinne’s head whipped to him in shock. His sister and her... companion simply gazed at him in such a way that I knew they had expected him to say what he did. They did not look too happy about it, though.

“Why?” the silver-haired Immortal inquired softly. “You have no business there. The summons is for your wife alone.”

“Yes, Rinne is my wife,” he responded. “I intend to share half of whatever penalty dealt to her.” Again, the Goddess of the Sun nodded. This time, it was in approval.

“No!” the eight-winged Goddess shouted fiercely. “You will not, Akira! I committed this crime. I will pay for it alone!”

“We had spent more than a hundred years apart because of this meaningless conflict, Rinne,” her godly husband said quietly as he descended to where she was hovering in the air. “It’s... not worth it. I don’t intend to spend anymore time away from you, regardless of what’s going to happen.” He hugged her, and she wept silently on his broad shoulder. My eyes stung.

“Very well.” Amaterasu nodded. “We should go then.”

“Can I have a few more moments, onee-sama?” Ame no Murakumo said. “I have things to take care of before I leave.”

The Goddesses of the Sun and Moon nodded their assent without hesitation. The male deity then took his wife’s hand and began their descent toward the Fireflies Forest. It was then that I retracted my magical perceptions and found myself back in the glade. Shortly afterwards, the celestial couple landed on the soft ground next to where the dead body of Saotome Makoto lay. Kurusugawa Himeko, the beautiful girl in my arms, chose this specific instant to stir and wake. Her amethyst eyes misted once again upon settling upon her deceased half-sister, on whose face still condensed a little satisfied smile. She looked happy, I thought.

“No need to grieve, sweet princess,” said the Cloud Gatherer as he fell down on one knee and laid a hand a few inches above the wound on auburn-haired girl’s stomach. “She’ll be okay.”

“What do you mean?” Himeko asked, her voice broken to pieces.

“Since I’m about to be punished anyway,” he said, smiling ruefully at his wife, “it wouldn’t matter if I broke another rule.” His hand became aglow. In a flash of platinum light, the wound was closed, the blood evaporated, and life returned to the young kunoichi. Her chest began to rise and fall once more. “I’ve returned her soul to her. She’ll live.” He stood upright again and stepped back.

At that point, Saotome Makoto’s eyes fluttered open. With a loud cry, the girl I loved leapt out of my embrace and hurried to her half-sister’s side. The emerald-eyed princess only had a chance to sit up straight and give out a loud yelp before the golden-haired one threw herself against the former and knocked her to the ground again. There, both of them wept. Chuckling softly, I rose to my feet.

“Himemiya Chikane,” called the Sky God. “I will now restore this Forest to its original state.” He gestured at the scabbard Sennen no Koe in Rinne’s hand. The thing immediately became a shaft of light that flew toward the slit on the ancient tree standing at the heart of the glade. Another gesture from the Cloud Gatherer turned Sennen no Inori back into the sparkling water in the lake. “The barrier has been reconstructed. None except you and the one you love will be able to come into this place. By doing this, I hope I have brought at least a period of peace to this world.” He paused and pounded a fist onto his palm. “I forgot to mention. Everyone on the Island is safe. They had all taken shelter in the mountain prior to the storm.”

I heaved a sigh of relief.

“Now, my wife will give you something you’ll definitely find useful in the future.” He looked at the platinum-haired Goddess, who pressed her forefinger against the seashell pendant I wore around my neck. “This little thing here can change you and anyone else into denizens of the sea anytime you wish without drawing on your powers,” he explained. “Consider it our wedding gift.” The smile he gave at the end of his sentence was definitely mischievous. It sent a staggering amount of heat to my face. He knew that once Himeko and I... consummated our relationship, I would no longer be able to reassume my mermaid form and return to my homeland. He just did not say it right out.

“Thank you, Lord,” I said, sinking to my knees and the gratitude toward Ame no Murakumo wash over me in endless waves.

“I don’t think we will be coming back to the Mortal World anytime soon,” he said as a wave of his hand summoned a wind that brought me up to my feet. “So I guess this is goodbye. I wish you happiness, child. You deserve it.” He draped an arm across his wife’s thin shoulder. Together, they vanished in a flash of light. Overhead, the sun was shining amidst a sky where the cloud was being scattered by the winds. The moon had vanished, the air once more peaceful. No one could have guessed that a deadly tidal wave nearly drowned the world.

“What just happened here?” demanded Saotome Makoto. Now that she had come back to the world of the living, her voice had once again resumed its sharp and icy quality. I almost wished it had not.

Smiling, I briefly summarized the events that had transpired after her “death.” The shock expression on her face as well as that of the girl I loved was amusing to look at. When I mentioned the change Rinne had made to the seashell pendant, Himeko blushed. I would not put it past her to have realized what Ame no Murakumo’s true intentions when he asked his wife for this little favor.

“I see...” The young kunoichi stood upright on the ground and helped her half-sister to her feet. “What should we do now?” She looked a question at the golden-haired princess. “Even though the disaster has been averted, there’s no telling what the bastard Shogun would do to you,” her emerald gaze locked with my sapphire, “or you for what you did to him.”

“We’ll be okay,” replied Himeko. She walked to my side and took my left arms into both of hers, hugging it tightly. “If we lay low and live an inconspicuous life, he’d be hard-pressed to find us.” Amethyst eyes gazed up at me with love.

“That means you’ll need to leave Mahoroba,” Makoto said. My sweetheart and I nodded. “Well then, I’ll see to it that you have whatever coins you need for the journey. Let’s return to Shirazukijou, then.”

“Um...” my little princess hesitated. “You go back first, Mako-chan. I... have a few things I want to discuss with Chikane-chan...” Even though her skin and mine were separated by our clothes, I could still sense that her entire body was rapidly heating up. My heart pounded madly in my chest at the realization.

“Okay then,” said the other princess, a shadow stealing across her face. “I’ll be waiting for you on the seventh floor of the castle.” She walked out of the glade.

“So,” I said, “what is it you need to discuss with me, Himeko?” I pulled her into a tight hug.

“Are you going to take me to your hometown soon? I would love to see where you grew up.” It should not be too much of a hassle. After all, the seashell modified by Rinne herself could transform us into mermaids anytime we wished.

“As soon as you are ready,” I replied. “And of course, I think you are aware you will have to meet your future in-laws during your visit?” I playfully pinched the little nose of my golden-haired princess, who colored slightly at one of the words.

“Do you think they will like me?” she asked apprehensively, however. “I mean, with me being a human and all...”

“My father has nothing against a Lander,” I told my first love. “My mother... well...” Worries stole across her lovely face. “You should not be too concerned about her, in any case. She loves me dearly, so she will accept the bride I choose, I am sure. Besides, my father would certainly put in a few words in your favor if I told him to. He never refused me anything I wanted.”

“Then I’m glad,” she murmured and laid a side of her face upon my chest.

“It is my turn to ask a question, Himeko,” I told her. “And I would like an honest answer from you.”

“Ask,” she said simply.

“Do you want a Merfolk or a human wedding?” I cupped her chin and lifted it up gently just so I could look into her amethyst eyes. She blushed a sunset.

“Do I... have to choose?” she inquired hesitantly after a while. “Can’t I... have both?”

“If I answer yes, will you give me what I desire the most?” My face drew closer to the girl I loved.

“Couldn’t you wait until our wedding night?” She laughed softly. The heat wafting out from her body seeped past our clothes, caressed my skin, and warmed my blood. At the moment, with her body engulfed in my embrace and her amethyst eyes brimming with adoration and love, she had never seemed more adorable.

“Could you?” I countered, joining her mirth.

“Surely I could,” she replied, trying to keep her lips from twitching in hilarity.

“You’re not honest, Himeko,” I declared. “I know why you wanted to send your half-sister back to the Castle first and stay here, a place where no one could disturb us.”

“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” She laid her hands on either side of my face.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Then I guess my answer is also a yes, Chikane-chan,” she whispered. She never resisted when I removed the confining articles of clothing that barred us from one another’s skin. She only encouraged me with her gentle caresses and her passionate kisses while I attempted to uncover every secret of her physical body. She was just as fervent as me during our quest to offer one another everything we ever owned. She had as often as not been the person who would reignite our flames of passion and earthly delights shortly after we brought one another to the heights of bliss. When we finally walked out of the Fireflies Forest with our arms linked and our hearts forever connected by a bond stronger than blood, the silver moon had replaced the golden sun high in the sky. Saotome Makoto had looked decidedly ill receiving us on the seventh floor of Shirazukijou.

A month later.

“Hurry up, Chikane-chan,” urged Kurusugawa Himeko, my sweetheart, who was standing at the front door to our two-story residence at the East District of Mahoroba. Our first floor comprised of only one large room where we taught the children in the neighborhood how to read and write for one low fee that could be waived for families who could not afford. Our second floor contained our private bedroom, guestroom, and living room. In the back garden, an immense square patch of land where Himeko grew her own breed of red roses as well as other vegetables she deemed good for our health, stood three more structures much less grand in profile. One of them was the kitchen, one the privies, and one our very own the bathhouse where we often found ourselves luxuriating in warm water in the cold October nights.

Kannazuki Kagami never had a chance to take revenge on us whether he intended or not. The morning following our return to the Castle of the Pale Moon had been graced by the arrival of a messenger dove from the Capital, which delivered a piece of news that gladdened my heart. The folks at a port city had discovered the wreck of the Edo-bound vessel that had brought the incapacitated Shogun, his even more heavily injured retainers, and Sadamoto Shunichi from Mahoroba to flee the arrival of the Serpent “God.” A thorough investigation revealed that the ship had been caught in a local whirlpool while trying to make port beneath the stormy sky. Every passenger was miraculously unharmed except for the sorcerers, the steward, and the poor excuse of a parent. This event subsequently set of a war of succession in Edo, which fortunately never reached Mahoroba.

Hayase Keiko the former kitchen head had been elected steward of Shirazukijou. The elderly woman now managed everything in the Castle in the absence of Himeko the former Princess of the Pale Moon, who had chosen to lead a life as a commoner with me, and Saotome Makoto, who had vanished off the island without a trace. Once in a while my lover would receive a letter from her half-sister, who apparently had asked her to keep the content to her and her alone. She really did not have to, for curiosity never crossed my mind.

“Why are you in such a hurry, Himeko?” I asked in amusement while snapping the lock into place.

“We shouldn’t make Kyou-chan and Kimika-chan wait,” said the peaceful water of my heart.

“Definitely not,” I agreed with a chuckle.

The worries that my parents would not accept a human for their daughter-in-law had been unfounded. Himemiya Kyou and Himemiya Kimika had welcomed Himeko warmly into the family despite their initial shock and their peers’ criticism. In fact, they adored her so much they gave her permission to call them by nicknames, something no other Merfolk had ever attempted, and they spoiled her at any given chance. It was amazing how my lord father and lady mother always waited at the door just so they could greet us in person and hug Himeko as warmly as they would me. It was rather difficult to see at some point which one of us was their blood daughter. Not that I minded. The more they loved my sweetheart, the happier I would be, and that was it. The only thing I could ask for in addition was my loyal Head Maid’s acceptance. Kisaragi Otoha had been the only one in the Mansion who could not bring herself to like the girl I loved. The only thing that stopped the older mermaid from feeding Himeko the food she abhorred was the fact that shiitake mushroom did not grow undersea.

“Besides,” my first love added, “Reiko and Korona would be expecting us, too.”

The lovers, who had resigned from their posts as Orochi Sages, were now honored guest at the Himemiya Mansion anytime they visited. Whenever I used Ame mo Murakumo’s gift to transform us into mermaids and brought my little princess to the Undersea Mahoroba, they would welcome us into their house, which was located at a quiet district in my hometown, and treated us to lavish feasts cooked by Korona herself. They once told me that they were no longer in contact with their former colleagues in Shinkai Jinja. Nor did I ever see them again. Rumors were that the remaining Four had retreated into seclusion after the defeat of the Serpent “God” and the eternal loss of Sennen no Koe.

“I get the point already.” I laughed, knowing that one of the reasons she did not mention was because she reveled in her mermaid form, which gifted her with the power to thrive in the waters of the world and travel as far as her flukes would take her. “Let us go, then.”

I took my sweetheart by her arm and walked with her toward Furisame Jinja. Since we no longer had access to the Castle of the Pale Moon, the southern shore was beyond our reach. The seashore at the Shrine of the Falling Rain, however, provided a nice, quiet, and deserted alternative despite the detour we had to take. Not that I minded the extra distance I had to cross, however. Not with the girl I loved by my side, ever lighting up my day with her beautiful smiles and her intimate touches.

Where she was, my happiness was. For time without end.