Noriko's eyes cracked open - her pupils dilating slightly as she stared up at the dark abyss above her. Red lanterns floated in the black space above her head; the warm candlelight from inside was almost completely absorbed by the shadows above.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Noriko furrowed her eyebrows as her palms flattened against compacted ground to support her movements. She brought her right palm up and rubbed the dirt residue between her fingers - she wasn't hallucinating, she reasoned at the sensation.

The sorcerer turned her attention to her surroundings, bringing herself up onto her feet as she scanned the area. Behind her, the ground only stretched for a couple more feet before becoming absorbed by the black abyss, however, in font of her, the dirt path was connected to a red bridge over a small stream. Across the bridge, the path became stone and there were a couple steps leading up to a shrine - exactly like the one in her own domain, exactly like the one she'd been born in.

However, this one wasn't paper.

The abyss was close on either side of the shrine and the expanse couldn't have been bigger than the pitch they used for sparring at the school.

As Noriko treaded forward carefully over the bridge, she ran her fingers over the wood, glancing over the side down at the stream where orange-and-black speckled fish followed the current. They too were absorbed by the shadows where the stream cut off. It was quiet: no gentle babbling from the stream, no crackling from the lanterns, no wind. The only sound was Noriko's sneakers against the wooden bridge, which became muffled as she crossed and stepped onto the stone paving.

She had only taken a few steps when a figure appeared at the entrance to the shrine. Donned in her traditional miko attire with her arms tucked into her sleeves (like that annoying brat Noritoshi), Shikishi stood waiting for her. Noriko's dark eyes met scarlet red ones and the two, half-identical beings came to still a few feet away from each other.

"Shikishi," Noriko greeted lowly, only breaking eye contact to take a final glance at the realm around her before steeling her gaze as she returned her attention to her counterpart. The high priestess made no indication of moving and held her gaze level. "Where am I?"

"I've taken control," the curse replied coolly, noting the heavy sigh her vessel gave as she ran her palms over her face in frustration. Noriko rubbed at her cheeks before moving her arms to interlock behind her neck as she glanced around again.

"And you did so without consulting me." Noriko's usual carefree tone was heavy and authoritative as her dark eyes narrowed in anger.

"I felt - "

"I don't care what you felt!" Noriko snapped harshly, folding her arms across her chest. "Not only did you not ask me, you waited until I was weak to take control, knowing there would be nothing I could do to stop you. Our relationship is not like a normal vessel-host one - we are, and have always treated each other as, equals - but how am I meant to trust you if you do this?"

The priestesses' gaze grew colder and for the first time, Noriko saw real emotion flicker across her face as her brows furrowed and her mouth turned down in an ugly frown. Of course, she'd felt Shikishi's emotions before and heard her voice them through her own mouth, but it'd never been directed at her. The curse had never gotten angry at her vessel before.

"How dare you! I have given you the greatest gift in the world, I have given you life! You ungrateful - "

"Oh, you must be an idiot if you're going to pull that shit with me." Static crackled between the two as Noriko suppressed the urge to finish climbing the last couple steps and throttle the woman in front of her. There was a heavy silence for a moment as Noriko fought to keep her emotions in check. "You... did whatever you did so you could find someone to resolve your past issues... and that's okay, you do deserve that. I know you haven't ever intentionally harmed me and I am happy to help you - I always have been and I always will - but for this relationship to work... you cannot just do whatever you want."

Shikishi softened and she took a couple steps forward to lower herself to sit on the edge of the shrine's wooden foundations. She buried her face in her knees almost protectively and Noriko dropped down onto the space next to her, staring out at the domain.

"I felt a familiar energy."

Noriko was silent as she stared ahead of her out across the shrine grounds and into the abyss. A familiar energy?

"An energy I'd felt in the shrine... when we all started to get sick, so... -" Shikishi fell into silence.

"So, we're following the curse?"

The curse didn't raise her head.

"If this body dies, both you and I will not have a happy end, I hope you realise that."

[A/N: sorry for the long wait in getting new chapters out, I've been so busy with work and starting new medication that I haven't really had time 😭 ]