Chapter 34: The God Who Hungers
The entrance to the village was deserted.
Hikaru and Kikyo walked into the settlement, their footsteps echoing with unnerving clarity in the oppressive silence. The doors and windows of the houses lining the path were shut tight, sealed against the outside world. Here and there, from behind a cracked wooden shutter or through a tear in a paper screen, eyes could be seen peeking out.
They were eyes filled with vigilance and a deep, gnawing fear.
"Stop!"
An aged voice cut through the stillness from somewhere up ahead.
Hikaru lifted his gaze. A dozen or so villagers were blocking the middle of the road, a makeshift barricade of flesh and desperation. The men clutched hoes and sickles, their knuckles white. The women huddled behind them, clutching their children close.
At their head, leaning heavily on a gnarled cane, stood a hunchbacked old man with a shock of white hair and a matching beard. He stood shakily, yet his position at the very front spoke of a grim resolve.
"Who are you?" the old man demanded, his voice a deep, hoarse rasp, like the sound of dry branches scraping against fallen leaves. "Are you demons? Or are you here to rob us?"
Hikaru glanced down at himself. He wore simple gray hemp robes, and his oni mask was put away. His face was pale, his eyes were dark, and a cold aura naturally clung to his undead form. Well, no matter how he looked at it, he didn't exactly appear normal.
'But can't they see the perfectly ordinary shrine maiden standing right next to me?'he thought with a touch of dry amusement.'Isn't a demon escorting a miko practically standard procedure in this era? Is the old man's eyesight that bad?'
"We are passing travelers," Kikyo said, stepping forward. Her voice was a calm, clear counterpoint to the tension in the air. "We would like to stay the night in the village."
"Stay the night?" The old man's wary eyes narrowed further. "In times like these, what kind of travelers are there? If you aren't bandits, you're demons!"
"We are not bandits," Kikyo stated plainly. "And we are not demons that bring harm to people." She paused for a moment, as if choosing her next words carefully, before finally declaring, "I am a shrine maiden from Kaede Village in Musashi Province. My name is Kikyo."
As her name settled over the crowd, the expressions of the villagers shifted dramatically.
"Kikyo?" The old man's eyes widened in disbelief. "The... Lady Kikyo of Kaede Village?"
"It is I."
"You... you're the Lady Kikyo who can slay a demon with a single arrow?"
"Yes."
The old man stared, stunned into silence for several long breaths.
Then, with a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees.
"Lady Kikyo!"
The villagers behind him followed suit, a wave of bodies collapsing to the dusty ground as a chorus of shouts erupted.
"It's Lady Kikyo!"
"It really is Lady Kikyo!"
"Lady Kikyo has come to help us!"
Hikaru stood off to the side, a silent observer to the sudden transformation. It was a bit unexpected, but not entirely surprising. After all, she was a great shrine maiden, famous throughout the Sengoku period; it was only natural that her name would be known far and wide.
Still, the whiplash was jarring. One moment they were holding farming tools like weapons, ready to attack; the next, they were kneeling and kowtowing as if before a goddess.
"Please, get up," Kikyo said, her tone even. "I am only passing through. I am not here to help anyone."
"But your very presence here means the heavens have opened their eyes to our suffering!" the old man cried, scrambling back to his feet. His cloudy eyes, once filled with suspicion, now burned with an excited, desperate light. "Lady Kikyo, we need your help!"
"How can I help you?"
"It is..." The old man hesitated, his gaze darting nervously from side to side. "This is not the place to talk. Please, Lady Kikyo, come inside where we can speak privately."
The old man's speech was somewhat formal, suggesting he had read a few books in his time, though likely not many.
Kikyo gave a slight nod. "Very well."
The elder led the way, and the villagers parted like water, clearing a path with reverent haste. Hikaru followed a step behind Kikyo, his eyes scanning their surroundings.
This village was in an even more wretched state than he had first imagined. Not only were the houses dilapidated and crumbling, but the fields surrounding them were mostly barren, choked with weeds. He occasionally spotted a few emaciated children by the roadside, squatting in corners and gnawing on roots of some unknown plant. Their eyes were hollow, utterly devoid of the light and energy of youth.
Hikaru couldn't help but think of the village Kikyo protected. Compared to this place, Kaede Village, while by no means wealthy, was a land of plenty. At the very least, its people had enough to eat. The children there could be seen chasing chickens, and the elders could afford to sit and bask in the sun.
Compared to the village before him, Kaede was practically a paradise.
"Lady Kikyo." The old man stopped in front of a hut that was only slightly more intact than its neighbors. "Please, come in."
Kikyo stepped inside, and Hikaru followed her.
The room was plunged in shadow, the only illumination coming from a single, sputtering oil lamp that cast a faint, sickly glow. The old man bid them sit, then rummaged in a corner, producing two coarse ceramic bowls. He poured some water into them from a clay jug.
"My humble abode is simple," he said apologetically. "This is all I have to offer the two of you."
Kikyo accepted the bowl but did not drink from it. "Speak. What has happened to your village?"
The old man let out a heavy sigh. "It's the village shrine."
"The shrine?"
"Three months ago, the god in our shrine suddenly manifested." The elder's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, as if he feared being overheard. "That god said that as long as we offer a sacrifice every month, he will bless us with favorable weather and good harvests."
"We believed him," he continued. "But..." His voice began to tremble. "The offerings he demanded became more and more frequent. It started with grain, then moved to livestock. From livestock, it became..."
He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
Hikaru glanced at Kikyo. The shrine maiden's brow was furrowed in a tight line.
"Became what?" she pressed.
"People." The word escaped the old man's lips like a dying breath, his eyes turning red. "Every month, we must send one person inside. Once they go in, they never come out again."
"We don't want to send them," he choked out, "but that god said if we don't, he will bring disaster upon the entire village. Last month, Goro's son—he lives by the village entrance—he was unwilling to go. That very night, his house collapsed, and all five members of his family died inside. Since then, no one has dared to resist."
Hikaru listened to the grim tale, his eyes narrowing slightly. A god? A god that ate people every month?
"Where is this shrine?" he asked.
The old man looked up, his expression turning sharp with alarm. "No!" His voice was shrill. "You cannot go near that place right now!"
"Why?"
"That god said that anyone who is not the chosen offering cannot enter the shrine, or else disaster will befall us all! Lady Kikyo, you are an honored guest. You absolutely must not go to such a place until the time is right!"
He took a ragged breath, his desperation evident. "In half a month, it will be the day of the sacrifice. The god will walk out on his own... We only hope that when the time comes, you can communicate with him. Ask him to relax his requirements, just a little... Even if he wants people, he should start with us old folks!"
An unreadable expression flickered across Hikaru's face. Kikyo remained silent as well. She simply stood up and walked to the hut's single window.
Through the dilapidated frame, a building deep within the village was visible. It was completely out of place, a stark contrast to the surrounding decay. It boasted a vermilion torii gate and neat stone steps, with faint wisps of smoke rising from its roof.
It was a shrine, a structure she was all too familiar with.
'That is not a god,'Kikyo concluded instantly in her heart.'That is a demon.'
Hikaru's gaze followed hers. He, too, could sense it—a thick, cloying Yao Qi clinging to that place like a shroud. A demon pretending to be a god, tricking people into giving it offerings and devouring human lives. This sort of deception was tragically common in these chaotic times. A demon could pose as a deity, using the offerings to strengthen itself while also getting to feast on a human every month. It was, in its own twisted way, killing two birds with one stone.
But even though they both saw through the charade, neither Hikaru nor Kikyo spoke up. The old man before them, even when pushed to the absolute limit, hadn't even thought to ask Kikyo to 'exorcise the demon.' He was so thoroughly terrorized that he didn't realize it wasn't a god at all. If they told him the truth now, he probably wouldn't believe them.
So, Kikyo simply nodded to the old man. "I can stay away for now," she said, her voice steady. "And I can help you communicate with this god you speak of. However, not right now."
The old man understood immediately and quickly stood. "Of course, of course! Lady Kikyo, and... Sir Samurai, please rest first. Once you have recovered your strength, any time is fine. There is an empty house next door. Please, rest there."
Hikaru and Kikyo followed him out. As they reached the door of the neighboring hut, Hikaru paused. He looked back in the direction of the shrine.
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled over the vermilion torii gate, staining it a deep, haunting crimson, as if it were perpetually coated in a layer of fresh blood.
"The true Sengoku Period..." he whispered to himself.
Kikyo stopped beside him. "What?"
"Nothing." Hikaru shook his head. "I was just thinking that your village is already like a paradise on earth."
Kikyo fell silent. Her gaze swept over the dilapidated village, the gaunt faces of its people, and the man-eating shrine that held them all hostage.
"Yes," she said softly, her voice heavy with the weight of the world. "This is what life is like for most people in this era."
And that was why. That was precisely why Hikaru had to become stronger. In a desperate age like this, whether you were human or demon, you were nothing without the power to protect yourself.
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