Hexus: Neo

*14* Bridge

He paused to receive his order from the smiling waitress, thanking her and flashing a grin which earned him a bashful blush as she sauntered away. He turned back, and his face showed a twinge of frustration.

"The others were all for just disregarding the incident because in their opinion, we could not risk a war. They say war has lost all its honour, and has become a sort of dirty word since that catastrophe at Hiroshima. They felt the casualties could further reduce our relevance, or, even worse, lead to the end of our reign. Our worshippers are already fewer than ever, with many now defecting to Christianity or just being full blown atheist. It has been a back and forth for the last few weeks, but now it seems the odds are in our favour..."

He stopped to slurp his milkshake and Kojiro frowned. Kojiro assumptions about the cause of the unusual calm had just been confirmed, but if they were now leaning towards a war...

"What changed?"

The man blinked in confusion for a moment before raising his eyebrows in realisation. He took his lips off his straw and swallowed, then cleared his throat.

"There was another trespass. A massacre, to be more precise."

Kojiro's eyes widened.

"When?"
"Sometime before sunrise."
"Where? What happened?"
"At the temple of Inari, in Chuo. A high priest was flayed and hung at the shrine's entrance. Several others were burned alive, their ashes mixed with blood and used to write profane taunts on the walls, which now reek strongly of spiritual residue that we trailed beyond Japan's islands. As you can expect, Inari is beyond livid. She was one of the strongest advocates for a peaceful resolution, but now it seems she is changing sides..."

Kojiro gritted his teeth. Another attack. This was the worst possible scenario. He had been hoping that the whole situation would just die out but now there were fresh wounds. But if what he heard from end of that call was any indication, there was still a chance that all this could blow over without resulting in more casualties.

"So...why ask to stall?"
"We are yet to properly devise a strategy. There are talks about mobilising our forces by tonight, which many of us are against. As much as I'd love to lead an army and stamp out our adversaries, we can't be too hasty or let emotions cloud our judgment. There's a chance that whoever is behind this would be expecting a knee jerk reaction and has planned for such a contingency."
"True."
"Also, I feel that anyone who would dare to offend us more than once either has an advantage of power or a deficit of sanity, both of which are not in our favour should we choose to go into battle. And, of couurse, there's the bigger question of exactly what the main objective is here. Why us? Why now? We still have to hear this...Adam's side of the story to be sure we have all the facts." He chuckled dryly. "Wow, I just realised I'm actually arguing against war. I've been hanging around Omoikane for too long."

He paused, taking a bite of his cheese cake, and made a moan of delight before washing it down with more sips of his milkshake. "You should try this, it's divine." He smirked playfully. "I would know."

Kojiro sagged in his chair, and even he couldn't tell whether it was from exhaustion or temporary relief. He'd been up all night, afraid of the disasters that could descend at any moment, and his mind was constantly plagued with dark thoughts; from worrying over the insecurity his family faced - both from the mercenary mages and the potential pantheon war - to contemplating the purpose and identity of who was orchestrating their attacks, the unresolved issues between him and his son and the turmoil happening with the Shinto gods. And now, with this unwelcome news about Adam's strange illness, he didn't know how much more he could take. He didn't know exactly why, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was nothing but a pawn in a much bigger game.