by Mark Swaine
As her face turns a hard glossy white, her eyes roll back to reveal them blue with small red rings for pupils. Her hair turns yellow and flows like mist as her fingernails turn bright green and grow half the size of her gangly fingers. The witch inelegantly proceeds to sew her mouth closed with a threadless needle and Yu-Huang grunts in discomfort as individual holes begin piercing his lips together from an unseen force. The Witch continues passing the giant pin up and down her lips as if transferring the twine into that of her victim, until his lips are completely stitched together. Yu-Huang pulls and claws at the thread, but his attempts to rip out the stitches are hopeless. Suddenly the walls of the shack flow alight with flame, blocking the exits to his dream. He sees faces in the fire, bodies writhing to be free, all of them reaching out for Yu-Huang the Saviour. The witch laughs wickedly as she levitates above her workstation. Slowly gliding over to Yu-Huang, she smiles at him with her black chunky teeth. As Yu-Huang recoils, two Gauntlet clad forearms rip through the wicker floor and grip on to his calves. Dirty cracked talons on double jointed fingers rip into his muscle. Clasping tight, the razor sharp fingers brutally restrain Yu-Huang. The Emperor turns his head to identify his attacker and sees a hollow eyed, red and blue horned mengu mask staring back. The polished exterior acts as a second skin on the growling assailant. The demonic black and orange Kabuto helmet greets Yu-Huang with a smirk as the trapped man looks into the eyeless voids of the creeping menace. The Samurai suddenly thrusts his arm around his captive's neck and holds his neck in a lock. Yu-Huang hears the slide of steel exiting a Saya. The demon menace grunts viciously and tightens his grip on the struggling Emperor, growling with satisfied snarling joy as he slides the blade a few inches into Yu-Huang's waist. Yu-Huang winces in discomfort as the Witch hovers closer and she speaks softly into his ear.
“Yu-Huaaaaaaannng,” whispers the witch.
Yu-Huang rips open his stitched lips and spits a mouthful of blood into Hisako-Hisa's face. Hisako-Hisa smiles and samples the bitter taste of iron whilst running her dark green tongue along the edges of her cracked lips.
“Hisako-Hisa,” snarls Yu-Huang with disgust.
“Give me the Shikyo blade, or I will make your people suffer,” says Hisako-Hisa.
“It would be wise to do as she asks,” hisses the Samurai restraining him.
“And you must be Wing Shin,” replies Yu-Huang sneeringly.
“’Tis a great honour to finally meet the one whom everyone holds in such great esteem,” snarls Wing Shin derisively.
“The blade!” snaps Wing Shin. “Give us the blade, or the blood of your innocent and flawless mortals will decorate the skies,”
“So much hate, you too are mortal... half demon!” replies Yu-Huang.
“The blade!” shouts Wing Shin driving the blade halfway into Yu-Huang's waist.
“Wing Shin, that is no way to treat the merciful Emperor Yu-Huang,” says Hisako-Hisa softly and condescendingly. “Yu-Huang, give me the blade and I will forget you ever existed,” says the Witch in a sweet seductive voice.
“Be gone wench, and take your slave with you. I know who you are... Hisako-Hisa, and you Wing Shin, traitors to your land and Emperor,” sneers Yu-Huang.
“Yu-Huang the Merciful knows who we are, how can this be?” sneers Hisako-Hisa whilst smiling at Wing Shin.
“Kamui Li, the coward has been telling tales?” asks Wing Shin rhetorically, “I'm willing to bet it was a good tale, full of sacrifice and noble deeds,” says Wing Shin, feigning a shiver down his spine. “I am wondering what knowledge he chose to omit from his long and brave tale fraught with heroism. Shall we enlighten the Merciful Emperor?” says Wing Shin, grinding his curved teeth.
“Not yet,” replies Hisako-Hisa.
“You not know me, for I only grant mercy to those who are deserved of it. You have surely come here to die, and die you shall,” says Yu-Huang, struggling to be free of the blade in his side and the nightmare he is in.
Hisako-Hisa gestures to her apprentice to drive the blade a little further in. The Samurai does as commanded whilst teasing the blade into a twist. Yu-Huang already knows pain, this was nothing compared to the injuries he'd received in many of his childhood battles. But this wound feels different, more real than anything else he had ever experienced. He can only take so much before grunting in agony.
“To the Darkness possessing this foul beast, I call you out. Reveal yourself, and prepare to be judged,” says Yu-Huang, righteously.
Hisako-Hisa laughs mockingly at Yu-Huang, ridiculing the prospect of her possessor revealing itself to the Emperor. Her laugh suddenly stops as her jaw clicks out of place and juts open to one side. Suddenly she begins breathing in a deep husky voice and her dislocated mouth opens as far as it will allow. In the black void at the back of her throat, a single red eye illuminates her mouth as an old groaning voice addresses the Emperor.
“To judge me, is to judge yourself,” says the Darkness.
“What are you?” asks Yu-Huang.
“I am tears and blood. I am the end, freed from my bonds in Diyu,” says the Darkness.
“But not yet free from Diyu,” sneers Yu-Huang cockily.
“The Shikyo is my liberator,” replies the Darkness. “Once free, I will reveal your mortals for what they truly are,” says the Darkness in a deep and calm muffled echoing voice.
“I see through your deception demon. You are nothing more than a common deity that only sees the worst in man,” sneers Yu-Huang.
“I am... the worst in man, ‘tis they, the mortals who grant me life, and great power,” replies the Darkness, bellowing with laughter.
“How did it come to pass you broke free of your bonds in Diyu? Name your liberator!” commands Yu-Huang.
“The time has come Yu-Huang. A mutual friend of ours rose to power within the realm of Diyu; he is now King of his domain. How he found me, I not know, but never again will I be confined to the darkest corner of Diyu, never again will my vision be confined to the eyes of the mortal insects. Mortals all, men women and children, none can be saved, and none shall be spared,” says the Darkness in laboured breathing.
“So you are the cause of the Undead plague,” says Yu-Huang.
“The Undead are rising because Diyu is filling and the walls are breaching. The anarchy rolling through the pits of blood and fire shall make easier my escape,” says the Darkness.
“You are not responsible for this plague?” asks Yu-Huang.
“My influence is that of chaos, Diyu is in chaos. Who would have thought that a queue to the damned realm of Diyu would reach so far. This is how far your mortals have fallen, they are destined to suffer. You cannot see this because you cannot truly see into the dark hearts of men. The dead will rise and earth will become nothing but a graveyard for the discarded damned spirits,” says the Darkness.
“How could I not know this?” exclaims Yu-Huang to himself.
“How could you know, it has never happened before. Once a damned soul is rejected from Diyu, the damned infected spirit returns to whence it came,” informs the Darkness.
“The spirit’s deceased vessel,” says Yu-Huang.
“Why are you telling me this? You know I seek to stop you,” says Yu-Huang with a low glare.
“There is nothing you can do to stop me; you will soon come to understand this,” replies the Darkness.
“Why now, why choose now? Why this... old hag as your host?” asks Yu-Huang.
“Diyu is in a state of disarray, I am free to roam where I please, yet my ethereal bond with this place forbids my physical form to escape,” informs the Darkness.
“And the Witch?” asks Yu-Huang worriedly.
“This witch is the only mortal who possesses the power to contain my essence; she is nothing more than a vessel. Only by driving the Shikyo through her heart can I be released. 'Tis not only the vessel I value, but the company it keeps. Wing Shin desires what I desire, he has proved himself wise, loyal and powerful,” says the Darkness.
“
So you take these lands, then what, when there are no more souls to corrupt, what would you do without a cause, how would you exist?” says Yu-Huang, reasoning with the beast.
“This world is but one more prison, a tiny prison destined for ruin, a prison the size of a speck of dust in comparison to the eternal realm of Diyu. The chaos you’ll be powerless to prevent will seem a dream compared to the destruction I will bring upon the Universe,” growls the Darkness.
“I will stop you,” says Yu-Huang.
“You cannot; my essence hails from the mortals, regardless as to their destination in the Universe. Tell me, when did you last sense life on the fourth realm from the sun?” cackles the Darkness.
Yu-Huang's heart flutters in trepidation for all mankind, for he hasn’t sensed life on the red planet since he was a young boy, and now he knows why. Now Yu-Huang knows the Darkness has the power to wreak the same destruction here on Earth.
“You, you will pay for your genocide if it costs me my life,” says Yu-Huang sternly.
The Witch longingly sniffs Yu-Huang's neck and stops at his glistening forehead. She presses her face against his as her teeth grow into points.
“Mmmmm, your fear gives me power,” says the Darkness, lustfully.
“I am not afraid of you,” replies Yu-Huang.
“You fear me, you just do not know it yet,” says the Darkness.
“You shall never possess the Shikyo, but I will strike you down with it. With Yasu and Shikyo, I will end you,” says Yu-Huang.
“You do not yet know, do you?” says the Darkness looking at Yu-Huang curiously.
“Know what?” replies Yu-Huang.
“You do not possess the power required to harness the dark energy of the Shikyo blade. Time is such a fickle thing for the mortals, ‘tis not so for you and I. During your captivity, Wing Shin will retrieve the blades, then, and only then will I show you,” says the Darkness.
“All you need do is reveal the location of the Katanas,” adds Wing Shin civilly.
“Never,” replies Yu-Huang.
“Very well, in this endless nightmare you shall remain. In your unconscious state, we shall bond for an eternity while I will break the divinity from your bones and strip your spirit bare of all goodness. In whole slivers, I will strip you of your skin unless you give me the blades!”shouts the angered beast deep within the witch.
“I would rather die than submit to you,” says Yu-Huang.
“No, you will live, live to see those around you rise in craving hunger and feed upon the flesh of the innocent! I will discover your plan to destroy me, the Three Pure One's cannot save you now!” says the Darkness.
“You will not break me, you are not the first deity to challenge me, I will destroy you!” says Yu-Huang threateningly.
Wing Shin suddenly releases a hissing shriek as the blade of a Katana protrudes from his shoulder. Kamui Li roars with hatred as he lifts his sword in an overhead swing with Wing Shin still impaled at the hilt. As Kamui Li slams Wing Shin headfirst onto the hardwood floor, the Darkness allows Hisako-Hisa's control of her body and mind.
“Youuuuu!” growls Hisako-Hisa, furiously.
Kamui Li fires three spring loaded stilettos from his gauntlet and they impact upon the hag's face. As Hisako-Hisa recoils from the attack, Kamui Li suddenly withdraws his blade from Wing Shin's shoulder and stabs him through the heart with Xan Li's Katana. In an explosion of yellow and green smoke, a woman appears holding onto the Katana. Dressed in a leather bound violet and blue tunic, slacks and close fitting armour, the Onna-bugeisha flips in a forward roll and sidekicks Hisako-Hisa in the face. As Hisako-Hisa stumbles backwards, Xan Li follows up with a scissor kick knocking her onto the smoking floor. Kamui Li unsheathes his own Katana and cuts off Wing Shin's head before kicking it into the wall of fire. The headless demon twists to his clawed feet in a panicked aimless frenzy and sets his robe alight as he finds his head ablaze in the corner of the shack. A grey, claw ended tentacle escapes the black stump of Wing Shin's neck and whips around the burning floor like a crazed worm as it searches for Wing Shin's head. The tentacle stabs Wing Shin's Kabuto clad head and withdraws back to his body to reattach with his neck. Kamui Li wastes no time in continuing his attack as he runs his Katana up Wing Shin’s mid section. Wing Shin's belly and chest open up and the stench of rotten meat immediately escapes his innards. As Wing Shin winces and clutches his wound, swarms of flies burst forth as piles of festering, maggot ridden chunks slip forth from his clawed hands. Hisako-Hisa screams in fury and levitates before exposing her forearms to Kamui Li and Xan Li. Her young face suddenly decays to that of an old woman's as she uses her dark energy to summon the fragrance of Darkness. Her body shakes wildly as black slits rapidly open her wrists from within, allowing a groaning dense smoke to escape her.
“Protect the Emperor,” commands Kamui Li to Xan Li.
Xan Li mutters a spell under her breath and holds her Katana at both ends. The Katana glows with a white blinding light as she thrusts it forward. The ensnaring fragrance of Darkness recoils into an evading cloud as a piercing line of light cuts it in half. As Xan Li stands over the dazed Emperor, Kamui Li readies throwing stars between his fingers and flicks them at the oncoming witch. Crazed with power and lusting for the Samurai's blood, Hisako-Hisa laughs insanely at his poor attempts to injure her. As the Witch hovers over him in mocking laughter, the Samurai mutters a spell on the throwing stars still embedded in her body. As the shurikans suddenly burst with light, they shred through her body leaving trails of bright green blood. In a bloody dazing spin, Hisako-Hisa loses her grip on Yu-Huang's dream and the fires recede from the walls of the shack. Kamui Li storms over to Yu-Huang and grips him firmly by the jaw, ensuring he has the Emperor's full attention,
“Awaken, awaken now!” shouts Kamui Li.
The two men and Xan Li turn transparent. Kamui Li smiles cockily in victory at Hisako-Hisa whilst sheathing his Katana. Yu-Huang, slumped on his throne, awakens wildly gasping for breath and soaked in sweat. He feels the back of his waist where the demon Wing Shin had thrust his blade in, but finds no trace of any wound; only a slit in his robe, evidence of the physicality of his dream. Yu-Huang staggers off his throne and immerses his head in a barrel of fresh cold water. Minutes later, he hears a loud banging on the double doors of the hall.
“Enter!” bellows the Emperor.
Accompanied by Royal Guards and General Arachie, Kamui Li storms toward the Emperor.
“What happened?” asks the Samurai impatiently.
“Leave us,” demands the Emperor, gesturing to General Arachie.
Bowing and dismissing the guards, the General vacates the throne room leaving the two men alone. Kamui Li waits until every man has left before the doors slam shut behind them and is certain of their solitude.
“Explain,” demands Kamui Li, arrogantly.
“The Darkness is more powerful than I imagined, its energy is new to me. It’s old, much older than the age of mortals,” muses Yu-Huang.
“But surely... you are Yu-Huang, Emperor of the divine and majestic heaven…”
“You do not understand: the very essence of my adversary lives in mortal man. 'Tis the most formidable deity I have ever encountered, regardless of the titles thrown my way,” says Yu-Huang, almost revelling in the fresh challenge.
“Had you paid heed to my warnings, this very kind of situation could have been avoided. Emperor Kazuko fell victim to the exact same curse. The essence the witch secreted is the Darkness that nearly infected you, just as it infected Emperor Kazuko. You must heed more care, you would have been trapped in that dream forever were it not for my...” says Kamui Li, stopping short.
“Not for what? How did you come to learn of my predicament?” says Yu-Huang, putting a stop to Kamui's rant.
“Are you wounded?” asks Kamui Li, avoiding the question.
“Wounded? No. Troubled as to how she was able to invade my dreams with the greatest of ease, very,” replies Yu-Huang. “Tis a curious thing,
I sense the Darkness favours Wing Shin over the witch, and she knows not of the intentions of her possessor,” says Yu-Huang.
“What were you seeking in that hellish nightmare?” asks Kamui Li, avoiding the topic of Wing Shin.
“Answers,” replies Yu-Huang, curtly, “It seems that even the wisest and humble of beings are capable of harming others, regardless as to harmless intentions. It was I who caused the Weaver girl to prick her finger; had her wounds have been fatal, she would have died due to my ignorant actions,” says Yu-Huang. “I know her somehow, I can feel her, I not who she is, but I must save her, I will save her,” says Yu-Huang to himself.
“A girl died? From a pin prick? Surely not,” says Yu-Huang, confused at the Emperor's meaning.
“No, listen to me. It happened, I was there. Had she bled out completely, then her blood would have been on my hands,” says the Emperor ranting madly.