章 49: Moon

It was 5 hours after the initian rite. The moon hung diagonally in the sky, bathing everything in the sliver glow of celestial glitter, making way for the nocturnal beasts to come and claim the land as theirs.

At the far side of the compound, where the architecture ended and the grassland began, wind blew colder and colder still. Beyond the precipice of the far land of the grassland lied a swale that extended like a crevice deep into the ground, and inside it, a stream of water ran sideways across.

The thin shadows cast by the Moonlight swayed, a lone figure walked through the grasslands, its shadow stretched for a mile long as the diagonal light from the moon filtered throw the air.

The night winds blew like a deranged fairybook current, wanting to carry the ones caught in it's tempest into the Heavens above. The lone figure's hair rustled in the breeze, madly smashing together and twisting in space.

The figure's gaze took a hold of a strange object sitting in the distance, unmoving. It was of a humanoid shape that looked up at the sky. The figure fastened it's steps and reached the sitting person.

The one that sat still stayed unmoving, appearing more like a mud effigy than an actual person. He had an Indian brown skin complexion and his hair were flowing freely, as short as they might be.

"Couldn't sleep?" The standing figure asked.

The Indian mam, Arjun, turned to look back at the caller; his expression one of indifference and deep thought.

He smiled, "There's been some things on my mind. You?"

Shuichi shook his head.

"I just felt like admiring the moon for a bit." He replied truthfully.

"And admire you shall." Arjun said, again turning his gaze upwards. Shuichi took a seat beside him in the grass.

The slightly humid sod was soft to the touch, feeling extremely comfortable.

They both sat for some time in the Moonlight, admiring the stars. It wasn't long before Shuichi felt someone else approaching them.

He looked behind himself, only to find an elderly behemoth of a man walling towards them at a leisurely pace. The man wore silver robes and held a blood red khakkhara in his right hand.

Takamekasuchi Homura. Shuichi thought.

As he drew closer, Shuichi was about to get up to greet him, only to be stopped by the man.

"You shouldn't worry yourself with such matters. Truth be told, I believe such methods are more suited for the elderly." He said, chuckling.

Shuichi chuckled alongside him.

"And what brings you here today?"

"I always stroll here at night, especially under a full moon. Can't have such peace anywhere else on land." He said. He moved to take a seat beside Shuichi.

"The moon looks especially beautiful from this place." Arjun chimed.

Homura laughed a bit. "Of course. We take good care of the environment. We can't have an empty and dark night sky now can we?"

"If it were in my hands, I wouldn't have any place on earth have an empty night sky." Arjun said.

"You appear to like it a lot." Shuichi spoke, gently probing into his thoughts.

"The night is calming like no other. It is part of the engine that supports life and can be a place for good introspection."

"And what introspection would that be, young lad? If you don't mind me asking of course."

"Certainly not, Lord Takamekasuchi." Arjun closed his eyes.

"Thought, I think is the pinnacle of what human kind has managed to achieve. It is what drives the most primal of desires into something more and what drives the engine of innovation.

"Even more so for sorcerers, the mind, being the place where powers stem from, it is the pinnacle of importance."

"And what is the topic of thought for today?" Shuichi asked.

Arjun quieted down for a moment.

"If a Shadow walks in the sunlight, where does it seek refuge from itself?"

Shuichi became confused.

"What is that supposed to mean."

Before Arjun could answer, Homura interrupted.

"That is a Koan, I believe. It is a sentence that has no meaning. It is supposed to be a subject for disciples to produce thoughts on and offer their own viewpoints."

"That is correct." Arjun nodded.

"And what does this mean to you?" Shuichi asked.

Arjun shook his head. "It doesn't matter what it means to me. What matters is it's meaning to you."

"To me?"

"Yes."

What the hell is he talking about? Shuichi thought in confusion.

"Let me quell your doubts, Young Shuichi." Homura spoke from the side. "What do you think about 'thought'?"

"Thought?"

"Thought."

"You mean?"

"I mean to say what do you presume thought even is in the first place?"

Shuichi thought for a couple of seconds.

"A thought is the manifestation of a consciousness. It is the way one interprets and interacts with reality on a fundamental level; a bridge between the inner world and the outer reality."

"Close but not quite." Homura said, and beside him, Arjun nodded and chuckled.

Shuichi raised an eyebrow at this.

Homura extended his left arm and balled his hand into a fist.

"This is a fist. But how do you know it's a fist? Because you have the preconceived notion that a balled up hand is a fist. So, that means, by your interpretation and the interpretation of the rest of the world, the physical world and the preconceived norms are what defines the boundary at which thought can take place."

Seeing Shuichi's intrigued expression, he continued.

"Imagine this. What if this is a not a fist? What if this is simply a ball of lightning swimming through space? Or perhaps what of this, what if this fist, instead of defining itself as one defines itself as the world itself?" He clenched his fist, a short pulse radiated from it, not cursed energy, just pure physical strength.

The wind blew across the field again and the Moonlight seemingly became brighter.

"The Fist become the Universe." He said.

"Yeah, but the fist is evidently not the Universe." He said.

At the side, Arjun clicked his tongue.

"Your missing out on the point." He continued. "The point is to not be deceived by the norms of the society and everything around us.

"What does it matter if you perceive something as it is not? Thought allows one to break free from such bounds."

Arjun looked towards him again, seeing Shuichi still not satisfied with his explanation.

"Then, let me give you another example." He said. "Before the atom was discovered and such knowledge became the norm, what do you think the common man perceived the physical world as?

"They saw it as a whole, they saw the bigger universe as the simple truth. The world simply is. It isn't made of anything, everything simply exists.

"But the discovery of the atom changed the common thought around everything. What was previously thought to be just as, now becomes obsolete. New questions arise and answers to those questions too."

At this point, something clicked in Shuichi's mind.

[You have gained pieces of Enlightenment!]

[Black Flash has increased in proficiency!]

[Proficiency has increased by 10!]

His eyes turned into needles.

What the f*ck!? Pieces of Enlightenement? You can do this too?!

He looked at Arjun like he was some messiah of God.

My hero!

"Then, if I may ask, what do you see yourself as Arjun?" Homura asked, breaking Shuichi out of his thoughts.

Arjun smiled.

"Aham Bhramasmi." He said simply.

Homura nodded, smiling.

"I see. 'I am the Universe.'"

Shuichi remained stunned at the words.

I am the Universe...

The rest of the time passed in silence as they all gazed up at the moon. After about an hour, they all left for their rooms.

~~~

The next couple of days, the Great harae rituals were conducted.

And squashing his otherwise bubbling curiosity, Shuichi did not attempt another look at the Thousand Faced Tower or the Blessed Torii Gate which was being used to create the coalition.

The concept of the coalition was simple, use the two artefacts to siphon off all the cursed energy enclosed by the Blessed Torii Gate, which was the entirety of Hokkaido. The Thousand Faced Tower was used to siphon off the negative emotions of the people, simply by overwhelming them with the pure power generated by the tower.

It had become increasingly evident to Shuichi that the Thousand Faced Tower was something like a gigantic cursed energy generator that infinitely made energy.

Of course, that was not all that it was, there were a lot more things that the tower did and could do, but it was beyond his scope of observation and he was unwilling to expand that scope before insuring his own safety.

Anyway, the final day of the Great Harae came quickly, and eventually, the tool making and the festival that followed was about to begin.

The coalition was established in the effigy of the Thousand Faced Tower. Of course, the true cursed energy was stored into the actual tower, which meant that Shuichi was unable to absorb the cursed energy for himself, like he has originally planned.

The only cursed energy that was going to be taken out was the one that would be channeled into the making process of a tool. For reason that he couldn't accurately understand, perhaps it worked like a supercomputer, the tower could autonomously decide whether or not the cursed energy it outputted was being channeled into tools or a person, which made cursed energy theft impossible.

"What type of tools are you going to make?" Edward asked him from the side.

"I don't see why that should be any of your business. Do you also not come here representing your region of operation? It's a bit weird to ask that in that case, don't you think?" Shuichi replied smoothly.

"I have the same thoughts." Said Arjun.

At the moment, the three of them, along with 5 cursed tool makers from the Ainu Flame and Onmyōdō schools were seated at the top floor of a Pagoda, watching over the final ceremony of the great Harae.

"It was indeed a great ceremony, every bit like I've heard." Arjun praised.

"I didn't quite see the appeal."

"You would have if you were any smarter than you are." Shuichi said tersly.

Edward cringed. "What's that supposed to mean?" He glared.

"Nothing."

Edward's head quickly grew a vein.

~~~

A large mass grew larger still, moving at a pace unnatural of what it's body structure might suggest. The evening sun, the color of blood and steel made for enormous shadows that stretched on and on, enveloping the landscape in a beautiful scenery.

However, the sanctity of the picture was interrupted by a splash of a forbidden color, its malevolence and even existence a great vocalized challenge, a Blasphemy against the Heavenly skies along with the sun that stood in them.

Darkness prowled the edges of the horizon, moving forward at a frightening speed. Tendrils and tentacles of shadow itself moved in a cacophony of noises as a darker mass moved at the center. It was a roughly oval blob of pure dark flesh, darker than even the darkest space, as if no light was ever capable of escaping it.

The oval blob of flesh seemed particularly alive, writhing and bellowing with each step it took with the dozens of stubby short legs it had beneath itself.

Bleeeeeeeeeerrrrrghhhhh!

The bleating sound of a Goat rang out, amidst which a collection of human screams was mixed in, seemingly on every age ever possible. The sound was of such great violence and cruelty that it chilled the bones of whoever was to hear it, if anyone ever did.

In the distance, the festive ritual seemed a great contrast to the overlaying darkness that loomed beyond and around this creature.

Bleeeeeeeerrrrgggghhhhhhh!

An approaching danger was underway...

~~~

A/N: Throw me dem stones.

Also tell me your thoughts. I didn't go all out on the philosophy talks this chapter because I was unsure if anyone would like that. So be sure to comment.

Also, maybe leave a review?