Sou was sitting alone, looking at a half finished Go board before him. He picked up a piece and added it to the board, paused, then removed it with a grimace.

“What are you doing?” Ayane asked from the door frame. He looked up at her voice.

“What? Oh, sorry. Just trying to figure out a strategy from this position on the board. No matter what I do I just can’t win.”

“Maybe you’re not thinking far enough ahead.”

Sou laughed. “You play?”

Ayane shook her head. “No, but my father enjoyed it when I was younger.”

“Pity, I could use a new opponent.” He gestured to the table opposite him. “Come in. What can I help you with today?”

Ayane sat down as he went back to pondering the stones on the board. “I was wondering if you might allow me to visit the Takama Shrine. It’s my family shrine, and I know it’s outside the castle walls but-”

“Sure.”

“-it’s not far and wait what?”

Ayane wasn’t expecting that.

“I said sure. But you’ll have to have an escort with you at all times, of course.” He looked up and smiled. “I’m not a total monster, you know. I know father never allowed it, but I’m not him, and I don’t want you to feel like a prisoner here, Ayane. As difficult as that is.”

Ayane bowed deeply. “Thank you, Sou. Truly.”

His face suddenly lit up and he put a piece down on the board so hard the other stones jumped in unison. “That’s it! Gotcha! Haha! See, the answer was there all along, I just had to look deep enough to find it.”

Indeed.

The walk to the shrine was rather brief, and like most Takama shrines it lay in the northeast, not too far from the castle grounds. According to onmyodo the demon gate, the gate through which evil could enter, lay in the northeast, and so outside large towns or villages you could usually find a temple or shrine built there to ward off evil. This particular Takama shrine was also dedicated to the head Takama god, Wakenaru, a god of lightning and thunder. It was much smaller than the main shrine which could be found in Ayane’s ancestral lands, but it would do.

The shrine gate stood before her, its red colour shining brightly in the harsh light of midday. She entered, crossing a small bridge and walked into the small open courtyard before the main worship hall. There was a miko going about her work, tending the garden and conversing with the head priest. Ayane walked over to the holy water fountain and filled the dipper with water, washing her hands. The miko turned around at the sound of Ayane’s feet on the pebbles and smiled brightly.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning,” Ayane replied, returning the dipper. The guards stood patiently behind her, covering the exit. At least they kept a reasonable distance and didn’t smother her, she had to give them that.

“Is there anything I can help you with today?”

Ayane shook her head. “This is my family’s shrine, so I just thought I’d stop by and pay my respects.”

The miko was taken aback. “Your family shrine? Are you… Oh. I mean, I heard that Lord Yashiro had taken one of the Bitou as a prisoner, but I never really…”

Ayane smiled. “That would be me.”

“Well it is an honour to meet you, young lord.”

“The honour is all mine.”

She was very beautiful, Ayane thought. Her hair and clothing were immaculate, her features gentle and kind. She looked older than Ayane, perhaps by five or ten years, and taller too. There was something almost familiar about her that she couldn’t quite place her finger on.

“This might sound strange, but have we met somewhere before?” Ayane asked. Maybe she had once worked at the head Takama Shrine in Bijo.

“What? Oh no, no, I don’t think so.” The miko smiled. “This shrine took me in when I was just a young girl. Both my parents were killed in battle and I had nowhere else to go. There aren’t exactly a lot of options for an orphan girl in this world, so…”

“I’m terribly sorry to hear that,” Ayane replied. The miko shook her head.

“It’s all long in the past now, and I couldn’t have hoped for a better life here. I’ve dedicated my life to this shrine and to Wakenaru-sama and he has been benevolent enough to bless me.”

“Bless you?” Ayane asked, confused.

“Yes. Sometimes he speaks to me. Tells me people’s futures. Would you like to hear yours?”

Ayane turned around. Her guard were still waiting by the entrance, watching her like statues.

“Uh… sure, why not.” It was better than going back to the castle to spend yet another day doing the same thing over and over again.

The miko smiled and gestured for Ayane to follow her into the main hall. The hall was richly decorated the same bright red as the shrine gate that welcomed her in. The roof panels were painted with several different images of Wakenaru in varying poses, telling the tale of his birth and rise to becoming a god. The miko led her through to the back of the room where it was dark and at least 10 degrees cooler than outside. She began by lighting some herbs to purify the room and then washed her hands and face with some holy water. She nodded and two priests entered, sitting on either side of the room with a drum between their feet. The miko gestured to the middle of the floor where Ayane sat, feeling very strange.

The priests began to beat their drums and the miko started her dance. She swayed gracefully before her, a well rehearsed ritual she had clearly done many times before. Ayane’s eyes followed her around the room as she began chanting, the sounds incomprehensible to her. It was no language she had heard before. The sound of the chanting rose as the drums sped up; Ayane turned around and wondered if the guards might come running in to see what all the noise was about, but the entrance stood clear. It wasn’t polite to go charging into a worship hall, and it was especially forbidden to enter with a weapon. She turned back and the miko danced past her once more, before finally falling to the ground. The drums continued unabated. The miko was saying something, but she couldn’t hear it. She edged closer and put her face to the ground next to the miko’s.

“Die, die, soon he will die.

Gone, gone, all will be gone.

Betray, betray, someone will betray.

Darkness, darkness, surrounded by darkness.

Coming, coming…. They are coming.”

The miko kept repeating the mantra, over and over. Ayane sat up, confused. It was all terribly vague. Who was going to die? What was coming? Who would be betrayed? Suddenly the drums stopped and the miko sat bolt upright. The voice that came out of her was not her own.

“Prepare yourself, Bitou Ayane. A great evil is coming. Find my sword. Find the Raikiri. Only it will light the darkness that is coming. Find it.”

The miko fell backwards and silence once more descended over the room. Ayane looked for the priests but they were gone.

Find the Raikiri? That was the name of Wakenaru’s sword, the sword he possessed during his rise to power. But that was just a myth, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

Ayane grabbed the miko by the shoulders and pulled her up.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?”

The miko’s eyes came back into focus and she looked at Ayane with a terror she’d never seen before. She looked as though the end of the world was coming, and she had seen it first hand. Then just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. The miko was herself again.

“So, did you get any good news?”