Infinitum Crystals - The Snow Phoenix [2]

Chapter 2.15 - Ethereal - The Shrine of The Mikazuki

"Wait. The blade just appeared over there?"

"I don't really know the specifics but it was believed to be a gift bestowed by the moon. So they went with that story without even thinking logically."

"That's how every cult or following happens. Believing the things that couldn't be explained..." White got up and decided to climb up the stairs.

I followed him as well and continued, "As I was saying, the blade was placed at the shrine and was told by the leader of the maidens that stealing the blade is taboo. You are not allowed to even make physical contact with the blade. This kind of rule just makes it more wanting for some of the young maidens."

"I can see where this is going..."

"I'm sure you can guess what's next...One fateful night, after enduring for days and days of temptation of wanting to touch the blade, a young shrine maiden touched it. An interesting fact to this was that it happened during a crescent moon. What happens next is what leads to the destruction of this shrine."

"Does the blade have a curse or something?"

"It's probably more than that, White. It's probably because the young maiden wasn't able to grasp the raw untapped power that was within the Mikazuki Blade. All powers that come from the blade was soon absorbed into the maiden. With the tremendous amount of power being placed inside a young, immature body, loss of control was the main effect."

"Leading to the destruction of this shrine..." White finished for me.

"Yes...and that's the story." We have finally arrived to the main shrine.

The whole place was left behind as if someone just quickly moved away from this place. It was like a ghost town of some sort. There wasn't even any Yokais that lived here.

"So this is the shrine...It looks better than I thought it would be when you said that it was destroyed."

I wondered as well, "I wonder...could it be restored by the government?"

"Maybe not...this place still looks run down but it almost felt like someone has been keeping this place clean..."

I touched one of the wood structure and noticed, "Now that you mention it, there's not a single cobwebs in this shrine...There's also no dust over here."

"Who could be taking care of this shrine?" wondered White.

"Even with my knowledge as a tourist guide, I have no idea."

Then suddenly, White asked me, "What happened to the people here? Did they all ran away or died?"

"I think they were all caught up in the destruction of the shrine. It was midnight when it happened. Everyone was probably asleep."

"That sounds...terrible...Was there any survivor?"

I tried to remember and said, "I don't have any recollections of any survivor of this incident. But if you want to have the benefit of doubt then I'd say that the young maiden that absorbed the blade's power is still alive. But I can't confirm that, of course."

"That might be the case..." White considers my fact.

We continued to look around the shrine throughout the night but in the end, we found nothing that could lead to anything about the whereabouts of this young maiden. But for some reason, I noticed that White seemed to be hiding something from me. It was almost like either he knows something or he already figured it out. But I bet he doesn't really know a thing that happened here when considering that he never went to Nihon before. But something does tell me that White knows something that I don't know. I wondered what it was throughout the night. A few hours had passed until White decided that we should rest for the night.

"I don't think we should rest here, White. This is a shrine and that just meant disrespecting it."

"You're right. We should head back down and probably go back to the arena or our hotel."

Then I said to him, "But I bet you don't have that much time to be thinking about returning, right? Not when Kitsuneki runs away with the Mikazuki Blade. Who knows what he is planning with that blade."

"You said that the blade could rip apart The Rift of Time, correct? I think that's his goal. But what would happen once he does that though..."

"Didn't he mention that he require more Yokai to take over Nihon?"

White nodded and said, "It could mean that The Rift of Time will be able to call hundreds of Yokais into this world."

"It is called The Rift of Time...It's probably had something to do with time itself." I confidently said that and also added, "Ripping it apart...that would create some kind of space between the rift and our world..."

"Time and space, huh...Why it is always leads to that, I wonder..." White wasn't making any sense to me.

"You seem to be keeping something from me, White. Is it because it's too dangerous for me to know about?"

"How about you think of it like this...It is something that I should take care of on my own. You don't have to know about it." White smiled at me and continued to move.

That's not really something that I like to hear. I think he really shouldn't keep his secret just to himself if he thinks that his trouble needs some sort of help. He shouldn't really be doing things on his own. It's almost like I'm seeing my own sister, Zenith from him. Even that girl is keeping something from me. I wonder why is it such a good thing to not share something that has been troubling them. If it were me, I would just tell what my problem is and I can hope for someone to give me a hand...As for White...only time can tell once he finally finds a way to ask for help...

TO BE CONTINUED