CHAPTER 22
Upon being lifted out from within the shadows, the first Megumi felt was a chill breeze on knees and shoulders. It was so cold that he had to fold both his arms together while kneeling on the ground and did the girl with him.
"We're almost at the abandoned shrine." Ren said, standing behind the both of them, "I'm sorry about how all of this happened, but it's for our own good, and so we all get out of here safely as well."
"We... Well, you... you... you could have at least let us get something like a jacket." His cousin butted in, folding her arms together even more, while slowly bowing her head towards her knees.
It was then that he threw two fur coats onto their backs while slowly walking past the both of them into the forest that lay ahead. Megumi along with Ren's cousin quickly followed behind him, moving as fast as they could.
Megumi couldn't find the place familiar as he didn't remember his summoned spirits ever coming this far past the city outskirts, but it only gripped him in even more fear the more he thought about it.
There were bound to be many things hiding and lying around in here at the same time. They could be creatures, beasts, or perhaps whatever things are being sent to go around looking for him.
"How long is it before we get there?" He asked.
They both ignored him, running forward. They came to a halt a moment after that and while Ren was busy surveying the area, she stood in silence waiting for him.
He had to do the same as well watching Ren closely as he continued to look around the place. He was obviously using his shadow abilities to do most of whatever it was he was doing, but the eerie silence was putting his mind in a great unease.
The silence he received earlier had made him realize more than ever that it was best for him to keep quiet while they were on their journey, and just thinking about how things were going, he couldn't shake of the feeling that something was certainly going to go wrong.
Their journey continued soon after that, with them going up a hill to finally arrive at the foot of the shrine Ren was talking about.
It was a bit big with stairs stretching from mid-way up the hill to the top, where they were met with the entrance to the building.
On getting inside, it was nothing short of what he had expected; there were statues standing at the end of the walls with strange texts carved deep into the wall next to them.
The floor was too rough and rusty with dust spewing up each step they took. They all had to hold their breaths the deeper inside they went until they finally came to the very end of the shrine.
There was a statue standing before them, one bigger and more detailed than any other. It was a woman with a veil standing while rocking a child in her arms.
"She was Enma's lover just in case you wanted to know," Ren said, slowly moving closer to the statue. "And since he's decided to make you a descendant of his lineage, I figured it was best to have come here and learn more about yourself."
Megumi didn't utter a word but rather slowly turned his gaze around the place one last time before looking forward at Ren.
"So you're telling me that we're deep into the city of death?"
"That is quite an obvious deduction. And not only that, we're in his home as well, but don't worry though, we have his very permission to be here." Ren assured him, knocking hard a few times on the statue. "Make sure you don't touch her, the god of death can be a bit too much sometimes."
They all got to work immediately after that, searching every inch of their surroundings for any clues. They already had a good idea of what was happening at the moment, and now what they needed most was a little bit more clarification.
And perhaps some answers to the many questions they all had on their minds. Something like the lineage of gods Ren had mentioned. The beginning of the existence of these beings as he read some time ago, and why there was a statue here representing Enma's past lover.
The lines ran, pointed, and twisted at so many intervals that a clear conclusion couldn't be drawn. The problem they found themselves in had been drawn out for hundreds of years before their arrival, and they couldn't just make assumptions based on some scribbles one of the many gods had written.
"Alright then, the both of you! We're done here, so it's time we got moving." Ren suddenly spoke at the top of his voice, unveiling a pool of shadows beneath him.
"But we only just got here."
"Don't tell me that you've already somehow managed to decipher these words on the walls."
"I didn't decipher them, but I know someone who can," Ren said as they descended into the shadows once again, arriving back at the mansion where they once were. "I've seen texts like those before and each deity has one scribbled onto the walls of their dedicated shrines."
That was all he said before he immediately vanished leaving both of them back where they were before he met them. Megumi watched her leave as well soon after without uttering a single word to him.
He still didn't know why exactly they had gone there, but there was a strange feeling he had as he had gotten close to the statue Ren had them stay away from. Not only that, but his soul-perceptive ability also improved.
The cries of the dead surrounding them were not something most could simply ignore, but just like everything else that changed in him in that space, he felt a bit more blunt emotionally.
It was the very reason why he couldn't even utter a word as he watched them both leave. They were supposed to see someone, but it seemed they went somewhere else entirely, and it had something to do with Enma.
*****
After Ren vanished, he appeared behind a building. There was a man dressed in a black hood leaning against the wall patiently waiting for him.
"I've found the answers," Ren said as soon as he emerged, quickly drawing his attention. "It's no clue to the full story but at least it proves that the god of death himself is not entirely innocent."
"I don't really care what anyone has to do in all this, just if you managed to trace his origins." The hooded man said, quickly walking towards him. "We know that everyone here is a minor reflection of everyone from where we came from, so I want to know is our enemy's doppelganger."
Ren paused for a moment, staring at him for a long while. His gaze kept going from the man's covered face to the scroll in his hand and after a while, he simply walked away without saying a single word.
He walked into a nearby house and slowly unraveled the scroll on top of a nearby table. The book was old, and the drawings illustrated the beginning of time and how the gods of the world came to be.
He wasn't really trying to interpret most of the unreadable words but something about the ones he could read seemed to prove a theory of his.
They weren't the first to be forced across dimensional barriers. The disruption of the leylines leading to most of the barriers being weakened happened way before Danzo was even named a god.
"Danzo didn't stop his search in their world because he didn't know who possessed the leylines, it was simply because he already knew who did. Right now, I only received a tiny amount of the leyline's blessings along with Rikiyo and Megumi. Somehow she was able to grant us its power, I can only imagine what immense power she must be hiding."
"And I'm quite sure she's making her way over here as quiet as she can which could mean a possible end for this universe."