Ambush in the Mirror Palace

Metaphysical / Paranormal event

As the meeting closed, Daimyō Mōri Clan chose to return to her own chambers with her meal for the time being. Perhaps she was cautious, given all that had transpired, or perhaps the sickness those putrid fumes had seeded in her was draining her strength once agian. "I must make some preparations for the final match," she instructed her ward, Fubuki, "So you are dismissed. I'd like you to remain close by if you can, however. Too many surprises have sprung today to not expect another."   "Very well," Fubuki answered simply. There were other matters to attend to before her match with Maxim, but they might not take her so far away that it would become an issue. Indeed, it was only the width of a pane of glass away.

Lord Aotsuki Tsukamoto had already gotten a head start. Having been advised by Fubuki that the mysterious, freestanding door in the dining room led to a mirror version of the Imperial Palace, both he and his adviser, Abe no Seimei, were keen to look inside. For Aotsuki, it was because he had been invited (threatened) to come to the archives that same day and a preview of what awaited him could only be of help. For Seimei, it was a chance to catch up on some of the knowledge which had accumulated during her self-imposed exile from the surface of Japan.   As Aotsuki's hand gripped the handle of the iron door, he was surprised to find it cold to the touch. Certainly it was verging on winter outside, but the interior of Yakisoba Yashiki was kept merrily warm. The portal creaked open and a cool breeze wafted out to wrap around Aotsuki, causing him to shiver for a moment. Or perhaps it was the view within that elicited that response. Although it was noon in Japan, the Mirror Palace was forever under a starlit night sky.   "The time of day will never change beyond the door," Fubuki said cryptically as she appeared behind Aotsuki and Seimei without warning. "And should any records exist, they will only be accurate up to a few days ago."   This, then, was not a true mirror of the Imperial Palace, but a snapshot held fast in time.   "Normally that wouldn't be an issue," Aotsuki mused, "But I think some very important things may have been happening within the last few days."   Seimei's expression was more neutral. "Until fairly recently, the supernatural arts were the sold purview of the Emperor and his nobles. The Archive, therefore, should boast more esoteric works than any other library in Japan."   The two made as if to step inside, but Fubuki interrupted. "If you'll excuse me but a moment, I need to collect a couple of my acquaintances. I shouldn't be long. They're in the other room." With that, she vanished again.   "Hmn," Aotsuki frowned. "Well, what would you like to examine first, Seimei? I'm not sure how much time there is before the door is whisked to wherever it needs to be next."   His advisers was already stepping over the threshold, confident familiarity evident in her gait. "The spell appears quite stable. Come, let us see if I can recall the way to the Archives. It has been so many years..."   The young Daimyō was about to follow his adviser, but paused as a worry scratched the back of his mind. His "daughters," the three Sheele he'd been blessed with, would fall unconscious and eventually die if they were too far separated from him. How far was it between this side of the door and the other? Could that even be measured? Perhaps it was best to be safe. He quickly collected the trio and caught up to Seimei a few hundred steps within the Imperial Gardens.   "Ah!" Tsurugi exclaimed, "The Imperial Gardens! Look well, young Emperor, for this will soon all be yours."   "The real ones, that is," Tama added. For his part, Aotsuki merely nodded along. His eyes were focused on their surroundings, wary in this unknown, magical place.   Meanwhile, Fubuki traversed the hall of Yakisoba Yashiki and stepped into the sitting room where his companions had been waiting throughout the meeting. Shigeaki Tōno was there, no doubt to catch the latest scoop, as was Maxim's sheele Evaine and Sokotsutsu no Miko in a thoughtful barrel of water. Phenex, however, was nowhere to be seen.   Fubuki let out an involuntary sigh. "Did she say where she was going?"   "Er," the Miko replied with a breath of hesitation, as though delivering bad news, "She flew out the window. She didn't say anything, but went back toward the..." She gestured toward the tree of shimmering lightning, visible even through the thin curtains covering the window.   "Of course she did," Fubuki sounded resigned. "Well, I was just going to take a short break and was going to bring her with me. Would you like to join me instead?"   "I don't really...have anywhere else to go right now. I don't know if the Lady Mōri is going to repair the temple or..." The Miko's eyes swam for a moment, then focused with a bit more determination, "But yes, I'll come with you."   Back within the mirror, Seimei was taking Aotsuki on a determined stroll through the gardens. Though she kept a quick pace, the onmyōji would occasionally stop to point out an interesting plant or an old reminiscence from her time at the palace.   "Ah, there it is. Just as I remembered."   Indeed, the two stood now outside a low, but expansive building. It was only two or three stories tall, dwarfed in height by the mighty Imperial Palace, but it sprawled out in every direction. Like a tamer sort of fractal, its wings broke off into other wings that crawled out from a central mass. "If I am correct," Seimei began, "We should be able to simply walk in—"   She was interrupted by a rustling sound that came from behind Aotsuki and his companions. The air was still and silent until then, which made this curious sound seem all the louder. The young daimyō narrowed his eyes at the foliage and caught the briefest glimpse of pale skin moving under the starlight before it was gone. At the same time, Kagami gasped.   "Did you see that, Aotsuki-sa-ma? That thing looked like a person, but it was crawling around!"   "What kind of..." Aotsuki muttered to himself, then continued mentally, "Fubuki, what do you keep in here?"   Fubuki, who was talking with Sokotsutsu no Miko on the logistics of finding her sisters at their temples, furrowed her brow. "Hmm? The place should have been empited before being moved."   "Either way," she continued aloud, "This place will be here for the time being if you'd like to stay until other arrangments are made." Fubuki and the Miko had stepped through into the cool night air, where, with a simple spell, the former cast a spell of flight. Rising out of her barrel, the Miko was taken aback at first, but quickly warmed to the new method of travel. It was not unlike swimming through the air, and suited her fish tail much better than wiggling it along the ground.   "That's peculiar," Seimei was saying back in front of the Archive. "We should be alone in here."   "That's what I thought as well," Aotsuki agreed. He had placed himself in front of his adviser and sheele, crested shield raised in preparation for whatever might come. "Who's skulking around in the grass?" he challenged.   No answer came back, not so much as another rustle. The night air remained perfectly still. Thinking that there might be something supernatural afoot, he waved for Kagami to get into position. With a practiced motion, he bent down and searched in her mirror for anything that wasn't visible to his naked eyes, all the while keeping his shield at bear. All Aotsuki saw, however, was Fubuki briskly flying over the garden walls to meet them. Another figure undulated through the air after him. This fish tail this stranger bore from the waist down was curious. Some kind of Kappa, perhaps?   "Hm..." Seimei echoed Aotsuki's thoughts, "That is not quite a kappa nor a wani. A ningyo? I must admit that even I have never seen one in person."   Fubuki touched down a few moments later, although her companion remained floating a meter or so off the ground. Before she spoke, the erstwhile Black Blade's eyes flashed with the color of her aura for a brief moment, a sign that she was scanning the area for hints of ki. The only auras here, however, were those she expected to find.   "Oh! By the sea! What a... What a beauty!" the Miko exclaimed upon catching up with them. She was staring directly at Aotsuki's perfect features, although the young daimyō appeared oblivious.   "Hmn? It is an entrancing building, I suppose. It looks like it just keeps going and spinning off into new wings."   "Um, er..." Sokotsutsu no Miko, who was not very eloquent in the best of situations, now floundered for words like a fish flops out of water, "I'm, uh... Drat, this is why it's togh not having a name... You can call me Sokotsutsu no Miko, or just Miko, or whatever you want, sir. And who are you...?"   "Hmm," Fubuki mused, apparently unconcerned with the exchange happening nearby, "Perhaps a spirit was here? Or someone very adept at hiding."   "It wouldn't be the first time someone has hidden in apparently plain sight. Something with pale flesh," Aotsuki said, then realized he hadn't answered the Miko. "Oh, sorry, miss MIko. I'm Aotsuki, and these are my friends."   "You may address him," Tsurugi cut in sternly, "As 'My Lord' or 'Lord Emperor.'" Aotsuki bowed, but did not correct her. Instead, he introduced Seimei and his sheele in turn.   "Uh, yes, hello," the Miko gave them only a perfunctory greeting before turning back to Aotsuki, "You're the Emperor?!"   "She was at the shrine when the pillar of light appeared," Fubuki added by way of explanation. "I'm going to let her stay here until permanent arrangements are made."   "I'm working a little bit every day towards earning the right," Aotsuki answered the Miko humbly, then turned to the snow-white oni. "And that's very kind of you, Fubuki. I'm sure she'll like it here, at least in the meantime."   "Well then," Fubuki did not acknowledge the compliment, "Shall we continue?"   Aotsuki led the way up to the heavy double doors marking the entrance to the Archive. He pushed, but they remained steadfastly shut even against his impressive strength. The portal seemed to be locked from the inside.   "The must have locked it in recent times," he reasoned.   "Well," Fubuki smirked, "Someone tried to give you a key, yes?"   Aotsuki couldn't help but frown at the memory of Chitosemaru, her demonic companion, and that terribly suspicious key they'd left with him. He opened his mouth to speak, but...   "Aotsuki-sa-ma, watch out!" Kagami thudded into his leg, as though trying to push him out of the way as she pointed urgently at a nearby bush. Aotsuki's shield was a blur as he held it in front of himself, facing the tangled branches. From their depths, something terrible rose to meet his gaze.   "Hoho! What's this?" Shōjō's grinning face poked out of the bush, a few twigs caught in her mess of black hair. "Looking for a way into the Archive, eh?"   While Aotsuki, and all the rest, stared in dumbfounded silence, Fubuki cast a nudge of magic toward the door. Her spell slipped beneath its frame, slid up its length, and nudged out the bar keeping it closed. The heavy wooden beam landed with a hollow thud on the other side, clearly audible to everyone. Shōjō chose to ignore this.   "Now I happen to know a secret way in," she wheedled, "One which isn't locked. I'd be happy to show you where it is, but this information doesn't come free!"   Maintaining eye contact with the charlatan the entire way, Aotsuki marched up the stairs and pushed the door open. It swung inside without a sound.   "So, what do you say?" Shōjō continued undaunted. "Secret entrance to the Archive! One-time-only deal!"   Aotsuki still had not said a single word, features granite as he led Seimei and his sheele into the building. For the moment, Shōjō, Fubuki, and the Miko were left outside.   "Why are you sneaking around the bushes?" the erstwhile Black Blade asked. "That's my job."   "You've gotta strike right when the customer is in need!" Shōjō replied with her skinny chest stuck out in confidence. She then trailed along behind Aotsuki, staying just out of thwacking range. "So, a man of resources who can get himself into the ARchive. I can respect that. But do you know how to find what you're looking for? I've memorized the whole Imperial Decimal System (IDS) and can deliver any book to you within minutes for the right pri—"   Shōjō's pitch twisted into a shriek as something pale and terribly smooth clawed its way with inhuman speed up the carpet toward her. She buckled under the creature's weight as its tendrils wrapped around her and its featureless head split too wide in a predatory grin. Claws tore into her flesh and Shōjō withered under their touch, rapidly decaying and loughing off her bones. Within a moment, all that remained was a skeleton and a light patina of dust in a circle around it as it fell to the carpet in a jumbling thud.   Aotsuki only had time to let out a strangled gasp as he rushed forward and laid his hands upon the bones that used to be Shōjō. He called upon Amaterasu's light, channeling her healing power through his palms and into the remains to pull her soul back before it could descend too far into Yomi. But...nothing happened. It took him far too long to realize; the grim dust now coating his hands wasn't ashes, but plaster! Aotsuki howled in frustration before doubling back between Seimei and the Miko, ready to defend either of them.   At the same time, Kagami was summoning spheres of light from the air until fourteen had popped into being around her mirror. Three of these detached themselves from the halo and sped toward the creature. As they approached it, they seemed to grow distant somehow, speeding further and further into the distance while at once remaining in the same place. Soon they were just pinpricks of light that winked out without ever reaching their destination. The creature, the Hound of Tindalos, split its mouth with a horrible, ear-rattling screech.   "Most of my familiars are engaged at Ōtsu, but I have Isoko prepared," Seimei said as she readied a paper charm from the collection at her belt, "I would advise against getting too close, however. This creature is clearly not from a plane with the same laws as ours. Perhaps it even hails from Azathoth's domain."   "I don't think we should bring her into this, then, since Isoko needs to get up close to do anything," Aotsuki coughed, waving multicolored smoke away from his face. The fumes had started to pour from several places in the room where corners met other angles. "Can we do anything about this smoke?"   "I may be able to banish the creature," Seimei replied. "The smoke...I do not yet know. Watch it carefully."   With a practiced hand, Seimei whipped a paper shikigami forth and cast it through the air. She spoke a quiet mantra as the projectile zipped at the Hound. As before, it twisted in space before reaching its target, becoming more and more distant before vanishing completely. A grim expression took up residence on Seimei's face, but then something strange happened. The creature seized up. A hole in space seemed to rip open behind it, leaking a hideous black-orange light. Aotsuki's eyes felt like they were on fire just looking upon that abhorrent color. The Hound was yanked backwards into the tear with a strangled screech before space mended itself once again.   Seimei's eyes, too, were tearing up after looking into Azathoth's light, but she wore a satisfied smirk all the same. "Theoreitcally, no creature save the gods themselves are immune to banishment."   "Even so," Aotsuki urged, "We need to leave if more are on the way."   "Whatever you say, Lord Emperor!" Sokotsutsu no Miko flicked her tail and flipped a turn in the air before swimming swiftly out of the Archive and into the night beyond. "Fly far from the ground!" Aotsuki called after her.   "Can you not give me one day of peace?!" Fubuki slammed a white Hannya mask down over her face as she shouted with uncharacteristic intensity. This display might have shocked Aotsuki, but not so much as its content.   "These are creatures you've dealt with before?"   "They come from the clouds, which seep from where corners meet," Fubuki answered as the world took on a subtle hue of clarity beyond the mask. With a flick of Susuki Masamune, she carved out a perfectly smooth hollow in the stone of the nearest corner issuing smoke. Without an angle from which to emerge, the fumes abruptly stopped. Then, Fubuki's feet left the ground, preparing for the other creature still clawing its way through another corner. "Flee if you must. But they will return eventually."   She dashed across the room, raising her sword to carve out a section of bookcase and eliminate the angle it created. But the whims of chaos are fickle, and the Hound of Tindalos emerged just as Fubuki raised her sword, finding its prey exposed directly in front of it...! Twice it lashed out with a forked proboscis at the end of what might be called its tongue. The thing slipped out of its mouth and dove, eellike, toward Fubuki's heart. She managed to parry the first lash despite her open stance, but the second struck home. It began to sap the vitality from its prey, but Fubuki had encountered this before and steeled herself to resist. The pendulum of fate swung the other way and she found herself wholly unaffected by the Hound's malign influence. Despite the creature's overwhelming advantage and ferocity, Fubuki's training, and no small amount of luck saw her through with only a minor wound.   "An attack at a precise 120-degree angle will reach this creature," she explained after the flurry of parried strikes. Aotsuki attempted to reason this out, but he didn't have the head for math. Kagami, however, was a bit more schooled in the natural sciences. She might be able to puzzle out where a 120-degree angle would be, assuming the Hound of Tindalos was perfectly spherical and resting upon a perfectly flat plain. The thing's slithering tentacles and disgustingly human limbs were far from spherical, but three spheres detached from Kagami's halo and attempted to strike it at the correct angle regardless.   With its eyes, or lack thereof, focused directly on Fubuki, the Hound didn't even attempt to dodge the first sphere of light. No doubt it anticipated the attack would be nullified by its unnatural defenses. The orb wavered as it passed through the field surrounding its target, but struck it full in the side regardless. A reddish welt, flashing with oily hues, rose upon the creature's side as it shrieked and flinched away. It twisted, liquid in the air, to dodge the other two orbs now that it was aware of the danger.   This motion left it vulnerable, however, to Aotsuki as he approached with purpose and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi flashing dangerously in his hand. He cut at the same angle the orbs had used, but didn't manage to copy it exactly. Aotsuki's blade wavered more violently and barely passed through to connect with his target. Even so, the Hound suffered a shallow wound as his onslaught put it on the back foot, or tendril. It lashed out in animal frenzy, but the thing's proboscis merely glanced harmlessly off of the aspiring emperor's raised shield.   "Seimei," he said as he pushed the creature back, "We can take a look at the real archives another time. I need you to stay safe and leave, please."   "Agreed," his adviser offered no argument, "Assuming you believe you can fend this creature off yourself, my lord."   "Leave that to me." It was Fubuki who spoke, but Aotsuki gave a thumbs up, or pointed toward the swordswoman. It was difficult to tell in the flurry of flailing, pale claws.   While the Hound was engaged attempting to overcome Aotsuki's shield, Fubuki approached it from behind. She grabbed at it first, the Hannya Vizard's sight allowing her to pass easily through the creature's distorted aura. Even so, it was a slippery and dangerous predator. Fubuki felt only the briefest sensation of clammy flesh beneath her palm before it writhed away. The hunter was not done, however, and opened her mouth to unleash an ear-splitting shriek. It was the roar of The Jabberwock, an apex of such strength that its cry struck fear into the hearts of all other predators.   Indeed, the Hound skittered back, momentarily cowed. Advancing, Fubuki thrust forward with Susuki Masamune and pierced the creature directly through the sternum. Bones cracked and skin melted away as the monster let out a prolonged shriek before sloughing to the ground. In moments, all that remained was a quickly-dissolving puddle of multicolored good on the floor.   "Boy, that was a close one!" Shōjō said cheerfully as she crawled out from a nearby table. "Good thing I had that fake decoy skeleton ready, or that could have been bad."   Aotsuki's face was a rictus, his stony smile like that of a skull. "At leas you're still alive," he said through gritted teeth.   "So, as I was saying," Shōjō picked up where she'd left off what seemed like hours but was in fact only minutes before, "I've memorized the entire Imperial Decimal System (IDS) and can easily find any work on any subject that you might be looking for. Just give me a title, or even a subject matter (and some cash) and I'll bring it back to you in a jiffy!"   "Forgive me," Fubuki murmured as she bowed humbly to Aotsuki, "I did not intend to put anyone in danger. I truly thought this place was safe."   The other nodded gravely as Shōjō prattled on in the background. "You may need to find what is calling these creatures to antagonize you at every turn."   "I believe runing back your time is what caused them to come after me," Fubuki said as though it was the simplest explanation in the world, "I understand if you wish the vacate the area, but it should be safe once I leave the vicinity."   "Well," Aotsuki frowned, "That's upsetting. Maybe...try to discuss with Seimei what these creatures are, preferably through the mental network. Maybe she can help you look into how to stop them. But for now, I fear it's almost time for your match."   Indeed, without but a moment to rest, the time was almost upon them for Fubuki to face Maxim in the Mōri arena.