Misha heard waves crashing against rocks, and felt cold water spraying against his face. The smooth wooden floor of the shed was no longer beneath him. Misha moved his hand across the ground, and felt cold wet stones. He took in a deep breath the air was cold and thick with moisture. He forced himself to open his eyes, although he was afraid to. He could see he was lying by the shore of an ocean of still water with waves gently breaking against the shore. Underneath him were perfectly smooth black and grey stones. All of them were the same size and shape and they stretched out as far as the eye could see. Misha looked up and saw a grey, overcast sky. It seemed to him that someone had taken all the color out of the world, except for one thing. A few hundred yards away he could see a bright yellow light shining like a beacon. Misha stood up, and saw that he was a lot taller than he was used to. In fact, he was about six feet tall. He was dressed in what looked like a black combat uniform and had a rifle strapped to his back. He took a few steps toward the light and stumbled, It would take a while for him to get used to his new body..
“Misha you’re awake,” said Shun and landed on his shoulder.
“I was thinking of something different when you said great warrior,” said Misha.
“Were you expecting a giant muscular man in shining armor and a huge sword?”
“Well, sort of.”
“Ha ha humans are funny creatures. Caw. We should meet up with the girl over there,” said Shun and flew off in the direction of the glowing yellow light. “That light is Makoto?” asked Mishia as he ran along side the flying crow with ease. “Yes she is your shining beacon. She will show you the way when it is unclear,” said Shun. From a distance Makoto just looked like a glowing light but as they got closer Misha could see that she had the shape of a woman with long hair made out of warm yellow light. She floated effortlessly over the stone beach and emitted a comforting light that was warm and bright, but not so harsh as to hurt your eyes when you looked at it.
“Is that you Misha? You are running so fast!” called Makoto.
“Yes, Makoto it’s me!” answered Misha.
Misha and Shun caught up to the others in no time at all, and soon they were disguising their next steps.
“This place is called Black Stone,” said Shun, “It’s not a very creative name I admit, but it’s function is the landing point between worlds. On the other side of the water is the land of the dead. Hoshi and I can carry your souls across the water and there we will meet with Queen Izanami.” The crows grabbed the children with their feet on the nap of their necks and to the children’s surprise they were lifted into the air. The crows flew high into the air and out across the ocean. During the journey Misha felt like Shun was an extension of his own body. He could feel the crow’s wings flapping like they were his own. He had never been this close to another living creature in his life before. It was a scary and wonderful feeling. Misha remembered what Shun told him about learning things from the souls he carried over to the Land of the Dead, and he wondered what Shun was picking up from him.
“Not much,” said Shun.
“What?” asked Misha.
“I’m not learning much, maybe sharpening up on my American catch phrases, but I’m not learning that much from you. You are only kid after all.”
“Oh… What about Hoshi? Does he or she learn things too? Why can’t it talk like you?”
“Hoshi is interested in other things.”
“Like what?”
“Oh just Crow things, nothing you would understand.”
“Oh.”
Misha decided to stop questioning Shun and enjoy the ride. He looked down at the shining black water. It looked like an ocean full of black ink. The water was perfectly still and reflected a dark reflection of Misha and his companions. Misha lost track of the time after a while. it seemed like they flew for miles but nothing around them changed. He began to wonder if they were even moving at all. It felt like the kind of dream you have when you are running and suddenly you just stop moving fast and everything slows down. Then you try desperately to get back up to speed but nothing seems to work.
“I see the shore!” said Makoto.
Sure enough in the distance they could see a huge land mass coming up over the horizon. It was not at all like the Black Beach, it had huge spires of sharp black rocks jutting out in all directions. The crows flew them to a spot that had a smooth landing surface and a tall gate blocking the entrance.
“Ho there brother, sister it Is Shun and Hoshi! CAW!” called Shun.
The crows set Makoto and Misha down in front of the gate. Shun and Hoshi seemed to be waiting for a response and yet none came.
“Ho brother! Ho sister!” yelled Shun.
Still no response was given. Shun and Hoshi flew up to the guard tower to look around.
“There’s no one here!” called Shun from the tower.
“The gate is open,” said Makoto. She pushed it wide open and asked, “Should we go through?”
“What do you think child? You are our beacon after all,” replied Shun.
“I have a bad feeling,” she said, “but I think we must go through.”
The party passed through the gates and into the land of the dead. The place was very different than how Makoto expected it to look. There were no colors anywhere, and everything seemed empty even though there were plenty of houses.
“Where is everyone?” asked Makoto.
“I don’t know,” said Shun, “We usually take our souls straight to Izanami.”
“There are broken doors and windows,” said Misha.
“Of course,” said Shun, “Yama must have attacked both places at once and used the souls of your family to fuel her army here, but then again these houses look like they have been abandoned for years”
“That’s horrible!” exclaimed Makoto.
“We have to get to Queen Izanami,” said Shun, “follow me I know a secret door to the Queen’s throne room. Many of the palace guards have talked about the location while I was dropping off souls.”
“Here it is,” said Shun.
“I don’t understand,” said Misha, “It’s just a bridge.”
“You dive off the center of the bridge and swim to the door. Only people friendly to the Queen can find it.”
They ran out to the bridge, but they were spotted by a patrolling tengu and before they knew it they were surrounded. Misha aimed his rifle at one of the tengu. “Stand back or I’ll shoot!” he yelled, but the tengu didn’t back off. They drew their swords and pointed their spears instead.
“They don’t know the danger, caw.” said Shun.
“I don’t want to hurt them if I don’t have to,” said Misha.
“They’re getting closer Misha, you have to do something,” said Makoto.
Suddenly one of the tengu lunged at Misha with a spear, but he dodged the attack with expert skill. He then countered with a blow to the tengu’s head with his rifle. The tengu was knocked on it’s back.
“Hoshi, we must help him,” said Shun.
Hoshi nodded and they began to transform into their tengu form. Makoto was pleasantly surprised to see that her two friends didn’t look like the ugly red tengu, but more like a half human half bird combination covered in black feathers with a bird’s head and feet. They also had large black wings for arms. Hoshi still had a patch of white feathers, which was the only distinguishing feature between the two.
“Be on your guard the tengu are the souls of ancient Samurai and they are very skilled at martial arts,” said Shun.
The tengu attacked with full force. Misha, Shun and Hoshi formed a circle around Makoto and fought off the onslaught of the tengu. Shun and Hoshi were excellent fighters and in no time at all they had stolen spears from the enemy tengu. Misha was deadly accurate with his rifle and soon cleared a bloody path through the tengu. Our heros ran through to the center of the bridge. The tengu regrouped and planned to attack with full force.
“Makoto,” said Shun, “jump into the river and find the door. Your light will guide us all to it!”
Makoto didn’t want to leave Misha and the others but it was important to find the door, so she held her breath and dove into the water. The water was cold as ice and it sent a shock through her body. She was surprised to see she could still feel cold even in her unusual form. Her light cut through the dark waters like a knife as she dove to the bottom of the deep river. Makoto swam deeper and deeper into the river. She was worried that she would no longer be able to hold her breath but then she realized that she didn’t feel like she needed to breathe. In fact, she didn’t recall needing to breath when she was on land either. Her new form was truly amazing. She wondered if she could make her light brighter so she could find the passage easier. As soon as she thought it, her light began to glow with more intensity. It was just like moving a limb it felt so natural. On the bottom of the river Makoto noticed a shimer. She swam toward it and saw that there was a door knob sticking out of the ground. She reached out and turned the knob. The door was heavy and caked in dirt but she managed to open it. The door opened in and Makoto was surprised to see that the entire river didn’t empty into the passage like a drain. She figured there must be some magic keeping the water out. She remembered what Shun said before she jumped into the river, “Your light will guide us all to it!” “I wonder if I can help them more,” she thought. She focused her energy and formed a light ball. “Find Misha and bring him here,” she said, and the light ball sped off. Makoto went through the door into the room below. there seemed to be an invisible barrier keeping the water from entering the room. In this room also there was no light except for what Makoto was emanating. She made more light balls and spread them throughout the room. The room was about the size of Makoto’s bedroom and there was an old door on the north side of it. The walls made it look like the whole room had been cut out of the ground. Makoto inspected the door further and notice that there were strange markings on it. It was a language she had never seen before, but felt as if she could read it. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sign she saw. Suddenly the language made sense! “Beware those that mean harm to Izanami Queen of the Land of the Dead.” Then just as suddenly as it made since it was nonsense again.
Misha, Shun and Hoshi were fighting off the ever growing crowd of tengu, when they saw Makoto’s light float up from the murky water. “The light that will lead our way,” said Shun as he cut off the arm of an attacking tengu. the tengu screamed and retreated to the back of the crowd. Misha looked around and noticed that there were quite a few body parts and dead bodies lying at their feet. Shun and Hoshi were expert fighters that moved with grace and precision. Misha was not quite so skilled and relied on his rifle to keep him safe. “Hurry follow the light,” said Shun and pushed Misha into the water. He and Hoshi turned back into birds and dove in after him. Misha quickly swam down with the light to the bottom of the river with dozens of tengu on his tail. He could see nothing but the light and relied on it to guide him through the dark water. Misha saw a shimmer on the bottom of the river. It was the door! he saw Makoto’s lights shining bright and swam as fast as he could toward them. Then suddenly he felt a hand grab his ankle. He turned around to see a large tengu holding onto it. He fought to keep swimming to the bottom but the tengu was tugging at his leg. Shun and Hoshi swam past him as he kicked to get free. The tengu pulled him back. This was it’s fatal error, because Misha quickly pulled out his trench knife and rammed it right into the tengu’s forehead. The blood spilled out and floated eerily in the dark water. The tengu released his foot and Misha swam as fast as he could to the door. When he got there he was surprised to see the water wasn’t coming in as well. The tengu that followed him down to the bottom of the river also could not find the door even though they tried. Shun and Hoshi quickly closed the door. Once it was closed the door seemed to disappear altogether, there was certainly not a knob or any way to reopen it from the inside, so they were all left with only one option. The door that led to Queen Izanami.
“You made it, my light worked!” Exclaimed Motoko.
“Yes,” replied Misha, “we couldn’t have see anything if your lights hadn’t been there to guide us.”
“Open the door Makoto,” ordered Shun. Makoto didn’t know if the door would work but she trusted Shun, so she reached out her hand and turned the knob. The door opened and Makoto went through. Misha and the others followed close behind. As soon as they went through the old door Makoto and the others found themselves in the throneroom of the Queen. Misha looked behind him to see that the door they had just stepped through had, again, vanished. The walls and floor of the throne room were tall and made of thick, black stone. Large columns of black stone formed two long colonnades that led to a giant throne made of human bones. Windows along the top of the outer walls as well as lamps made of human skulls provided the room with plenty of light. The sounds of war could be heard from outside the keep, but the throne room felt very safe. Sitting on the throne was a tall woman dressed in a long white kimono. Her hair long, curly and wild and yet she wore beautiful golden crown on her head. Giving her the feeling of someone dangerous and wild, yet refined and elegant as well. Her head was resting in her left hand, and In her right hand she held a long spear. At her feet three huge black pythons hissed and intertwined with each other.
“Queen Izanami,” said Shun, and bowed low. Misha and the others followed his lead and bowed as well. “Approach the throne,” said Izanami in a cold and airy voice. Misha shivered at the sound of it. As they walked toward her Misha and Makoto noticed that Izanami was also wearing a white porcelain mask that looked like the face of a porcelain doll. The snakes at her feet quickly moved into a striking pose and showed their fangs. Izanami rose her hand and they relaxed their posture, but still remained suspicious of the guests. “Show me your true form,” she said. Shun looked at Hoshi and nodded. They both transformed into their half man, half bird tengu form and kneeled before the throne. Misha and Makoto also kneeled, although they didn’t know exactly what to do when you approach the throne of a goddess.
“Your Majesty,” said Shun, “We humbly offer our loyal service to you. Where are all your attendants?”
“They are fighting for me or else against me. It’s hard to tell who is on my side anymore. Of course you know how crows can be,” said Izanami.
“There are some that remain loyal to you,” said Shun in a humble voice.
The queen laughed and stood up showing off her full stature, “Perhaps, but a tengu has only been loyal to itself,” she said, “What do you really want and who are these humans you have brought with you?”
The snakes around Izanami’s feet hissed and snapped at the children.
“Majesty, you know and I know there are powers far greater than ours, Yama, and all the human souls she can gather combined. There is a natural order, we were given a job to do and there are some that would abuse that authority. You and I know that when the world ends and we are judged on what we have done some will be rewarded and some will be cast into the fire. I am looking out for myself, Majesty it is true, but I am looking toward my future. The Humans have business with you, the boy is Hayashi and the girl is Sato.”
“Yama and her followers should be judged for their corruption, but now I fear I don’t have the power to stop her and if there is a power greater than mine I surely do not know it. I do know that the disloyal tengu have gorged themselves on human souls and are using their power to wage war on me. If you are looking for a victory here, you will not find it.”
“If it’s hopeless then why are we here?” asked Misha suddenly. “We came to break the contract Yamada Sensei made with our ancestors.”
“A contract,” said Izanami.
“Yes Majesty, Yama controls the souls with a contract. With your power the contract can be broken and Yama’s power will be diminished. Hayashi give her the sacrifice,” said Shun.
Misha produced a box from one of his pockets and with a trembling hand gave it to Izanami. She took it and looked at it intently. Izanami inspected the box closely observing every part of it. “The human soul is strong and rebellious. It cannot easily be contained, even consuming one doesn’t kill it, but with the right conditioning their power can be harnessed,” she said. Izanami held the box in her left hand and with her right hand she extended her index finger. It lit up like a red hot poker, and then she touched the small box. BAM! A tempest exploded from the box and knocked everyone except for Izanami on their backs. Wind swirled at high speeds all around them. Misha grabbed onto Makoto to keep her from being blown across the room.
“ON WHAT AUTHORITY DO YOU ATTEMPT TO BREAK THIS CONTRACT?” screamed a voice from the middle of the stom. The voice rattled through the throne room like thunder.
“I am Izanami, Queen of the Land of the Dead. This contract was made without my consent and is therefore void upon my authority!”
“YAMA DOES NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR AUTHORITY!!”
“Then recognize my strength!”
Izanami grabbed her spear and thrust it into the center of the tempest. The spear glowed red like her finger did before. Sounds of pain exploded from the center of the storm. A glowing ball of fire started to form at the tip of Izanami’s spear.
“Take cover!” yelled Shun. Misha and Makoto threw themselves behind a pillar. The fire at the end of Izanami’s spear exploded, and the tempest erupted into flames. The flames subsided and the throne room was covered in a thin layer of black ash. Misha peaked around the pillar once the air had cleared. Where the tempest exploded two men dressed in traditional Japanese clothing were standing in front of Queen Izanami. Misha immediately recognized them as the ancestors that made the deal with Yamada. Anger boiled up inside of him and Misha ran toward Hayashi with his knife drawn.
“Stop Misha!” said Shun, “They are still your ancestors!”
“They killed our entire family!” yelled Misha.
“Calm yourself young Hayashi,” said Izanami, “Their punishment is not yours to give.”
“What of the curse, Majesty?” said Shun, “is Yama’s power diminished?”
“When one deal is broken another has to be made. Yama used her power to make Hayashi and Sato great, and some payment must be made for that. The payment shall be taken out of the souls of the elder Hayashi and Sato,” said Izanami.
“I accept my fate oh Queen,” said Hayashi with a low bow. Sato on the other hand turned heel and ran toward the door. He was not fast enough however, because one of Izanami’s large snakes reeled back and sprang at him, catching him by the shoulder. The snake sunk his teeth in and dragged Sato back screaming. Izanami nodded and the snake proceeded to consume Sato. Hayashi gulped but remained still.
“I feel the power of his soul!” said Izanami. Her eyes glowed blue like Yamada’s did when she had eaten a soul. “Hayashi are you ready?” she asked. With tears in his eyes Hayashi turned to Misha and Makoto and said, “I’m sorry. I am truly sorry for what I’ve done.”
“You’ll never know what it feels like to see your family murdered before your eyes!” cried Makoto.
“No young Sato, he will experience a pain much worse,” said Izanami.
Another snake grabbed Hayashi and consumed him as well. Izanami absorbed his soul’s power as well and glowed even brighter this time. At that moment Misha was glad that Shun had stopped him from harming his ancestor. Through all the pain and anger he held onto he also felt sorry for him. Mish wondered what could have caused them to make the deal in the first place, perhaps this is something he will never know. A tear rolled down his cheek. Makoto put her hand on his shoulder.
“The contract is broken with the Hayashi and Sato families, all of the souls that were fueling Yama’s army are now released. Her tengu were weakening and the tides of the war will turn in my favor. I now have the power to bring Yama back here to the spirit world and keep her here forever.”
“Yama probably will not give up when she gets here,” said Shun, “She will try to find all of the human souls you have under your, caw, protection.” Izanami looked at him, and tightened her grip on her spear. “Yes,” she said, “I suppose she would try to find them, but she will never be able to, because she’ll be dead.” Izanami stretched out her arms and chanted. She gathered all her energy into the tip of her spear. “Hide behind my throne and I will call Yama here to meet her doom,” said Izanami. Makoto and the others followed her instructions and hid behind her throne made of human bones. Izanami took her spear and drew a circle with it on the floor in front of her throne. The circle caught on fire and the flames burned so high the licked the the ceiling of the grand throne room. When the flames subsided Yama was standing in the middle of the circle. Yama looked at Izanami with hatred in her cold black eyes. She screamed as loud as she could, and her face distorted into an ugly bat-like creature’s. She ran at Izanami, but she could not breach the line of the circle. To Makoto, it looked as though she ran into an invisible wall. Yama slammed herself against it several times and pounded it with her fists. She even tried turning into her smoke form, but nothing worked.
“IZANAMI!! LET ME OUT! I WILL KILL YOU!!!” shreeked Yama.
“Listen well Yama,” said Izanami, “I have broken your contract and freed the souls that were giving you strength. You and your tengu are banned from the human world forever.”
“You act so high and mighty Izanami, but you are worse than me. I see you have eaten two souls already. I can still see them flickering in your eyes.”
“I ate them as punishment. It is my right as Queen.”
“What right have you to even be queen? You are no more special than I or any of the tengu. You are a tyrant. You are just an entitled bitch with a stick. Give me back my souls before I kill you!”
“How dare you I am your Queen!”
“How dare you call yourself my Queen, as if you have power over me!”
“I will show you my power!”
And with that Izanami hurled her spear at Yama. The Spear hit it’s mark and ran Yama through her stomach. Blood spewed out and pooled on the black stone floor. It was dark red and had a thicker texture than a human’s blood. Makoto got a chill down her spine at the sight of it. Yama coughed and spit out a mouthful of her thick blood. she held on to the spear with both of her slender hands and attempted to pull it out of her, but the spear melted and set fire to her flesh, and all that remained of her hands were scorched bones. Exhausted, Yama fell backward to the ground. Behind the Queen’s throne Misha and Makoto watched with nervous anticipation of what would happen next, when suddenly Shun whispered to Misha, “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” Misha whispered, and Makoto nodded.
“Then keep hidden until I say, no matter what happens.”
Misha and Makoto both nodded, and Shun and Hoshi split snuck off in opposite directions.
Meanwhile, Izanami approached Yama and with a smile pulled the spear out of her stomach.
“You’re finished,” said Izanami
“Not quite,” laughed Yama.
Izanami turned around and there were Shun and Hoshi behind her. Shun had taken Misha’s knife while he wasn’t looking and hid it in the sleeve of his robe
“Kill them!” ordered Izanami her snakes coiled up and prepared to attack. Before they could strike Hoshi was upon them. Pecking and clawing with expert skill. Izanami threw her spear at Shun, but Shun was too quick and dodged the spear. The spear went sailing across the room and struck one of her snakes and pinned it to the wall. Unfortunately Hoshi was behind it and the spear caught it’s wing and pinned it to the wall behind the snake. Hoshi pulled the wing and tore it out from under the snake. Hoshi’s wing was broken and in shreds, but Hoshi had no time to recover because the other two snakes were attacking. Shun saw that Hoshi was in trouble and might not last long if he didn’t do something. With expert skill Shun charged at the queen, and pulled out the hidden knife. With it Shun stuck Izanami in the neck. Her blood sprayed out like water escaping from a dam. Izanami fell in a heap on the floor and her porcelain mask cracked in half. She twitched and made a few gurgling sounds, but soon she was still. Misha and Makoto looked on in horror and disbelief. Shun then took the knife and threw it at another one of Izanami’s snakes and struck it between the eyes. Hoshi had enough time to pull the spear out of the wall and used it to slay the last snake. The spear didn’t burn Hoshi, because Izanami was dead. At the sight of this confusing scene, Makoto glowed bright with anger. “Are Shun and Hoshi on our side?” she wondered. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Stay hidden Makoto. Trust them.” whispered Misha.
Then the children heard the most horrible noise. It was Yama cackling loudly and smiling with delight. With Izanami dead she was free to roam outside the circle. She stumbled to her feet and laughed again.
“I knew it! Ha ha ha,” laughed Yama, “That bitch thought she could kill me, COUGH. Now I’m Queen!” Yama spit some of her blood on Izanami’s bright white mask. “You, tengu, I sense Izanami’s souls are under her throne, COUGH, dig them out, and give them to me.”
“You said they are under her throne?” asked Shun, “You are sure they’re there?”
“Yes that’s where she’s keeping them now give one to me quickly so I can heal!” she demanded. Shun walked toward the throne, and was about to push it over when Yama said, “Wait, I sense two souls in this room. Hayashi and Sato are here! Ha ha ha.”
Misha was nervous. He didn’t know if Shun was going to betray them. He held his rifle in a ready position.
“Come out Hayashi. It’s been a long time and I’ve been looking forward to eating your soul,” Yama said with an evil grin.
Misha gripped his rifle and kept hidden while he waited for Shun to signal him. The air was tense and Misha’s heart started beating fast. What if he missed, then what? He concentrated all of his efforts on steading his hands.
“Fire now Misha!” shouted Shun and ducked out of the way. Misha jumped out from behind the throne and shot Yamada right between the eyes. She fell down dead next to Izanami.
“Hoshi turn them to ash,” said Shun.
Hoshi took Izanami’s spear and created a fireball at the end of it like Izanami had done before. The fire shot off toward the fallen enemies and set them aflame. It only took a minute until their was nothing left of both Izanami and Yama.
“Help me move this throne,” said Shun and Misha and the others helped to knock over the throne. It broke apart as it went crashing down the steps. Under the throne there was a small door. Makoto opened it and all of souls Izanami held captive came rushing out. The force was so great that it knocked all of our heros off their feet. Each soul was unique and beautiful in it’s own way. Some were human, some animals, some objects and many would switch between several forms. They were big, small, all shapes and sizes, some glowed brightly, while others were dark and shadowy. Misha and Makoto were delighted at the sight of them all. Most of the souls returned to the abandoned city, except for three. One that looked like a lion, one that resembled a nebulous blob and a woman made of water.
“Thank you,” said the water woman, “I knew our prayers would be answered.”
“It was a higher power than I that sent us to free you. Your prayers were heard and answered indeed,” said Shun humbelly.
“Shall we return you home?” asked Shun.
“Wait, I have a few questions first, like what just happened here?!” said Makoto.
“Well,” said the dark blob in a surprisingly intellectual tone, “long story short, Yama wanted to take over Izanami so she made a deal with your ancestors to eat their souls, but human souls don’t die when they are eaten they just give you power. Yama used the promise of that power to build an army of tengu. Many of the tengu followed her because she promised them fair treatment whereas Izanami hated the tengu and never really trusted anything they said or did. Izanami noticed Yama building an army and told all the human souls in the Land of the Dead that they needed to be put under her protection. She gathered us out of the city and hid us under her throne.”
“We stayed there for years,” said the lion, “She would just add more and more souls as they came in. We were trapped there, and we grew restless. We asked to be set free, but she said it was for our protection. Many of us were warriors, powerful souls willing to help, and still were held captive. So we tried to escape, but Izanami’s magic was too strong.”
“Some of the old souls,” continued the blob, “recalled the stories of Izanami dieing, being trapped in the underworld after eating food. We started thinking that she might be trying to capture enough souls so she could use our power to return from whence she came.”
“We didn’t know where to turn so we prayed that someone would come and save us,” said the water woman.
Shun and Hoshi bowed low.
“So Where do we come in? Couldn’t you have done this without us?” aske Makoto.
“We needed you to get here,” said Shun, “The door wouldn’t open for us because we meant to do harm to the Queen. Also your two powerful souls were a nice distraction for Izanami who had become just as greedy for them as Yama.”
“So we were bait,” said Makoto with a frown.
“Who will be in charge now that Izanami is dead?” asked Misha.
“As I told Izanami before, there are great powers that I serve, the ones that put Izanami in charge in the first place will choose another. For now though we have to get you back to the land of the living. Hoshi, can you make it?”
Hoshi tried to stretch out the injured wing but it wouldn’t move.
“Maybe I can help,” said the water woman. She made a water bubble between her hands and it glowed brightly. She asked Hoshi to put the injured wing in the water and it healed instantly.
“See how powerful the human soul can be when it is free to help others,” she said.
“Think it’s about time we took you back home,” said Shun.
“It seems like we’ve been gone for so long. Our parents will be worried.” said Misha.
“Time is strange young Hayashi and like everything it’s never as it seems,” said Shun.
“Does that mean we shouldn’t worry about it?” Makoto whispered to Misha.
Shun and Hoshi changed back into their crow forms and flew Misha and Makoto back to the other side of the ocean. The grey rocky beach without any colors, save for Makoto’s warm glow. They looked out over the ocean and could see nothing but water. It was almost like nothing had changed at all. “We will say goodbye on the other side,” said Shun and he and Hoshi disappeared in a whisp of smoke.
“Time really does change,” said Makoto, “getting back here didn’t seem to take nearly as long as going.”
“This place looks the same. Like you wouldn’t even know anything went on at all. I suppose it always looks like that though,” said Misha.
“Yeah no one’s interested in the in between.”
“The in between?”
“Yes, the grey plain and boring in between places.”
“Yeah, I guess you are right.”
“Misha, don’t you know… I'm always right!”
The End
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