Things That Go Bump In the Night

Lady Superior Mora waited in the center aisle of the Orthodoxy's Grand Cathedral. The interior of the building was styled in a manner consistent with our world's Catholic Church. With beautiful statutes, murals, and glass paintings decorating the magnificent Church. Lady Superior Mora was not dressed in her priestly clothes but instead wore a simple black tunic with a modest head covering. The elderly woman had read up on her clan since she had last met with Irui. Over the course of her time with the Orthodoxy, she had accumulated a massive library containing esoteric works about the shinobi world. Some of these books could be found in "Ye Home of Saints" which for the longest while had been a Church owned front operation. It was nighttime and only a few candles here and there provided light in the Cathedral. Mora waited in the shadowy darkness for her new student to arrive.

"Irui," Hatsuda said between mouthfuls of Mochi, "Fifty Ryo says you're too much of a chickenshit to touch the knocker."

"Fifty?!" A young Irui had protested. "Make it 100, then I can buy some manga."

With round faces and sunbleached hair, the two boys had stood with others their age in the square, like so many others over the years. The summer had been warm and crisp, mountain tops still flecked with snow. The square surrounding the cathedral had always been a hub of activity, a place to mingle, snack, and play games. They'd drink soda, stuff sweets in their faces, dream about the life beyond the mountains. That was then, when the village was endless, when summers were filled with games.

At dusk, a scroll had found its way to his bag. He'd never set eyes on its courier, only feeling its weight appear from seemingly thin air in the midst of a crowd. Its instructions were clear: arrive at the Cathedral in the late hours.

Irui would always remember the sight of the Cathedral. It stood, monumental in its size, against the backdrop of the Hidden Cloud--A virtual mountain of steel and glass puncturing the night sky. Wrapped in his cloak, hood drawn, he raised his face to the structure and slowly drew breathe. It seemed to be a living thing, waiting, watching the streets below it with its million glass eyes and wrought iron teeth. Trembling, he placed his hand on the nearest stone, his grip white knuckled, mouth running dry.

There was that pit again, that gnawing, awful void in his gut. He could feel the nausea and guilt rising and twisting inside him. Carefully, the boy stepped forward, one foot after the other up the black steps, the clack of his sandals echoing off the square. Further and further he climbed, his hand fast to the rail, until at least his fingers wrapped around the metal rung at the cathedral's door.

He swallowed hard, forcing back the writhing sick.

And entered.

In swung the great door, with a gasp of chill mountain air that ruffled the Mikiri's white cloak. The night had consumed the interior of the building, perforated by candles lit throughout the interior. Squinting through the darkness, he followed the trail of light past the statues and pillars, out beyond the pews.

"... Baku-san, baku-san...." He whispered under breath, "Come eat this nightmare....Please." It came as more a whimper, than a prayer. He'd come here for one purpose: To learn the secrets of his clan, to learn from the Mikiri Elder, Mora. It had been that desire that had brought him to this point, and coaxed him through the doorway. The Cathedral had drawn him in, brought an arm over his shoulder, and now it would embrace him. So why, why now after being filled with excitement, did the thought terrify him so much?

The Cathedral smelt of burning sage, incense emanating from within its gaping throat. Even without a full sanctum, the building moaned, creaked and breathed. Each step resounded off the walls, pulse-like as he strode, and finally came to stand meters before the Altar. He drew in air, filling his lungs, and exhaled slowly, feeling his body tremble. HIs heartbeat slowed, and finally at last, he found himself kneeling.

Mora watched as the doors opened and her newest son-in-faith entered the House of Jashin. The boy's body language gave off an ethos of wonder, fear, and awe. He stepped forward walking down the hallway until he reached her at the altar. He then knelt, showing humble submission to Jashin and his highest representative on Earth: the Lady Superior of the Orthodoxy. The hall was quiet so she could hear him whisper a benediction to Baku the Dream Eater. Mora was familiar with the story of this creature. A shadowy being that ate the nightmares (and often dreams) of young children. She believed that this monster, like many others, were servants of Jashin. Each wrought into the world to perform a specific task.

Mora walked towards Irui and placed a hand on the kneeling child. She said a small prayer to calm his nerves and then lifted his face upwards to meet her own.

"Stand and follow me Irui, there is much to study and little time"

Mora knew that there was something special about this boy, the same way she knew there was something special about Shimiko. She'd discover the nature of his talents through prayer and meditation just the same as she had with another of her disciples. Mora would beckon Irui to follow her. She'd lead him to a corner of the Church and take a winding staircase down into the Church's cellar. The Orthodoxy had existed for centuries but this is the first time in history that it had a building of such size and splendor to itself. For centuries, the Orthodoxy had buried its dead in unmarked graves but for the first time it now had a place to store the bones of its most holy Saints and Sacristans. Mora would produce a key and take them through an old wooden door and into the cellar.

The place was an old center of worship. You see, the location of the Church was not an accident. For years, Jashinists had come here to worship in secret. The Orthodoxy had bought the land above one of its oldest gathering places and they had built their Church upon it. A small altar and old wooden pews littered the room. Now it was home to wine caskets, sarcophagus, and rows of ancient books. The air was heavy with mildew and it lacked the grandiose appearance of its descendant Church which stood above. True revelation did not come in the sanitized halls of a new Church. It came from the depths of darkness. The very shadows itself. Mora turned to face Irui and spoke:

"Irui, through the power of Jashin, this is where your true power will be revealed. Before I begin to teach you, it is important that you first establish a connection with beings and powers beyond this realm. As Jashinists we draw power from the arcane and secret....but in order to do so we must humble ourselves to call out to the Lord and his servants in whatever shape they may take*. Are you willing to call out.....and when he replies, are you willing to heed his words and works?"


*Outer Darkness: Chapter 5, Verses 5-10

Baku-san, baku-san, come eat this dream.

Baku-san, baku-san, come eat this dream.

Here I knelt at the altar of the Orthodoxy, the cold wind from the mountains brushing against my back, uttering the prayer under my breath. A child's prayer, a plea to the mythical Baku, to free me from this situation. I stared into the flickering candlelight, watching it dance in the breeze, while I mouthed the prayer once more, but I knew it in my gut: There would be no waking from this decision. With every step here, I'd felt the sourness in my stomach twist and knot, heard the drumbeat of my heart grow louder and louder in my ears, an electric rush of adrenaline tinged with fear.

The twisting and churning grew fevered, sucked the air from my lungs. I should run, I thought. Back to the Clan, to my sleeping mother, to the confines of the Mikiri District. This was wrong, taboo-- disgusting.

I'm disgusting.

I had entered the Cathedral of St. Memory of my own volition-- against the wishes of my family, my clan. The Hidden Cloud. The rhythmic padding of feet across the marbled floor perked my ears. I knew her presence before I saw her, felt it in the air. She placed a bony hand on my shoulder, gripping it softly, the way a parent might, and traced my shoulder to my jawline, lifting my face to her own: Mora Mikiri, Lady Superior of the Church. Piercing from the shadows of her head covering, lit by candle-flame, Mora's eyes burned like embers.

"Stand and follow me Irui, there is much to study and little time" She spoke, her breath perfumed with herbs.

For a moment I looked into her eyes, saw the fire reflected in them, and as I exhaled, felt my fear leave with it. All I could think was, I am home. She accepts me.. Her fingers left my chin, as I rose up to my full height, and gingerly, Mora gestured me to follow; leading me to a corner of the church. Down a creaking staircase we went, and I smelled the age in the air; stagnant and thick with dust.

As I came to the final step, room filled with ornate reliquaries. A mausoleum dedicated to the Church's most treasured, devout worshippers.

"Irui" Mora spoke, presiding over the sanctum. "through the power of Jashin, this is where your true power will be revealed. Before I begin to teach you, it is important that you first establish a connection with beings and powers beyond this realm." She paused, adding weight to her words, letting them settle in the quiet room. "As Jashinists we draw power from the arcane and secret....but in order to do so we must humble ourselves to call out to the Lord and his servants in whatever shape they may take. Are you willing to call out.....and when he replies, are you willing to heed his words and works?"

Insulated deep in the Church, her words were absorbed by the space, consumed. There was no air, not another sound or soul to mince her speech. My chest rose and fell, and again I felt that acceleration. This was it. I wanted so much: to be free of the clan, to learn and do whatever I desired, to become myself, and now it was here, tantalizing me.

Mora held the key to my cage.

"Yes." It leapt from my throat, small and quiet. "Y-Yes!" I blurted, strongly now, and filled my lungs with air, feeding my words. "I pledge myself to you, Lady Superior-- to the teachings of the Church. I want to learn-- to have it all!"

Mora smiled and praised Jashin for bringing her another devout follower. "Praise be to Jashin..." She gestured him to stand next to her and in the heart of the olden Church she led him to a small pew. It was designed for reflecting and kneeling although the velvet covering had long rotten away. Mora bent down and pressed her knees into the small space while resting her arms on the top.


"Then pray with me Irui. Pray for revelation. Pray for Jashin to show you the way to power."

The act of kneeling on such a pew was painful but many of the Sacristans liked that. The liturgy ought to be hard work, difficult, even painful. Their religion was about freeing people from fear. Fear of Pain. Fear of Death. Whether they liked it or not, sacrifices would come to know Jashin and his Void. Mora kept her hands clasped silently in prayer alongside her newest convert.

I stood, taken aback by the words that had leapt out of my chest, and clenched my teeth tightly, but I'd been saying the same words for as long as I could remember. Life above, in the Clan District was stifling, I'd told Mora that enough, and she knew it as well. My own mother, though she wasn't a Mikiri, she'd meant well and followed the Mikiri's doctrines as any Hidden Cloud shinobi would.


"Praise Jashin," Mora said, her voice cutting my thoughts. In the dim church, I could've sworn the old woman smiled. She motioned with her bony hand to the pews and altar-- clearly neglected, yet she strode over to them, and knelt, beckoning for me to join her side.

"Then pray with me Irui." Mora pressed softly, "Pray for revelation. Pray for Jashin to show you the way to power."

Kneeling on the pew brought pain, not immediate, but it would come soon enough; slowly biting through the cloth of my pants, my body weight working against me, pressing flesh and bone against weathered wood. I mimicked the old crone as best as I could, positioning my arms just as she did. My hands clasped together, binding themselves in a white-knuckled grip.

Eyes squeezed shut.

Inhale.

Exhale.

In and out I breathed with Mora's chanting floating on the edges of my mind. I'd prayed with my clansmen at the shrines in the mountains, praying to the old gods that had forged the land from drops of sea water. She spoke in rolling phrases, a tongue foreign to my ears that seemed to seep from the shadows themselves. There again, my nose pricked at the herbs perfuming her words--

Baku-san, baku-san come eat this dream. Baku-san, baku-san, come eat this dream.

Louder and louder Mora's words became in the silence of the room, pounding on my senses, boring themselves into my brain. The only sound quickly dominated, consumed my attention. They entangled themselves in knots and snarls, crawling and slithering into my ears, my head, my consciousness itself. Her words became infection itself, eating into my thoughts with ravenous appetite, seizing my throat and working fishbone fingers between my teeth, coaxing my jaw to follow along, weakly mimicking her speech. Bits and phrases repeated, vague annunciations, a sickly mantra trickle.  

Her words snaked across my flesh, extending little hands and smaller fingers over my body, embracing my skin in cold, forcing their way into my core. They grasped, clawed, and scraped, pulling out every last utterance from my throat, they tore through every muscle that resisted, every fiber that strained. In the darkness of the altar, Mora's words became a black cocoon, a chrysalis that encrusted my body, bedecked with its obsidian and bloody carapace.

Baku-san, baku-san.

Delirious with Mora's speech burning in my ears, my eyes rolling back, the chamber became blacker than the void between stars, and candelight turned to far-flung pinpricks as I surrendered--mind, body, and soul--to the black mass of the Orthodox Church.

I was floating, hanging over a void, weightless and staring into infinity. Something in the blackness moved, pairs of stars moving through infinity. They twisted and encircled one another, effortlessly wheeling and dancing just as birds would on the air, and as they drew closer I could make out white hair and robes. People, with a form like my own, drifting in the stars. They stole themselves back, observing the cosmos, charting their journey. One spoke to the other in a dead tongue, its partner answered.  They carried on, cradling fledgling worlds in their hands, feeding on the fruits of an ancient, impossibly-tall tree, and still they were hungry. They slit the throat of reality, and dove into the next iteration, and another. Always harvesting, they moved through all the spaces in between. They ate, and ate, becoming stronger and stronger, creating with abandon until at last, only the bits and ends remained.

A question was asked. It scared them.

This sensation, it was new: Fear. Doubt had crossed their minds, and for so long they had been limitless. Their ability to feed and create had been unfettered, unrestrained and pure beyond imagining. Until the very bits and ends were left, there was nothing more to create.

It scared them.

The scraps of life, molded together, a beast to dwell in the shadows, to feast on the things that remained unseen; the realm within life itself. The dreams, ambitions, nightmares, everything the conscious could sculpt was the beast's food. It would drink and feed on the impure thoughts, on the fear and doubt that had seeded their minds. There was disagreement, festering anger, confusion between the two. Animosity grew, trust was broken, abilities came into question. An impurity, after millenia, floated to the surface. One rejected it, washed themselves clean, and the other embraced it, found inspiration in its crudeness. Fear, anger, loathing, it was exciting something new to explore, something to crave and delve into. Through anger, passion was born, and with passion came a new wellspring of strength. The beast was hungry.

"Baku-san, baku-san, come eat this dream."

Air rushed into my lungs, as I gasped out loud, and fell forward onto the pew. A sharp thud sounded as my head smacked against the wood. Stars exploded into my vision, with fresh pain across my brow searing through my senses. It yanked me back to reality, to sitting alongside Mora, my chest heaving for fresh air.

"I saw... Saw..." The words died as soon as they met the air.

The more I tried to hold onto the images in my mind, the faster they dissolved and grew further and further out of reach. My eyes fixed on the candles, hoping to find the memories in their fire, but they burned away even faster, until I didn't even know what I had seen. Yet a sensation remained, pressing upon my consciousness, something was welling up inside, or just beyond my point of perception. It was struggling to break free, to tear into this world, to make itself known.

I looked down at my hands, slicked with blood from fresh lacerations. Wounds from splinters. The blood caked and dried, still wet in places. It vibrated with chakra, humming with energy of a different sort-- of the same I'd used on Tsuki at the training grounds. It hummed with Yin Release, the essence of imagination, creation, the stuff as black as that void.

"I can feel it-- " I managed, eyes wetting. "I can feel it in my blood. There's something trying to get out, something is calling me-- its trying to come here--!!"

The second Mora shut her eyes, she too was transported to another world. The highest of Sacristans had learned that communing with Jashin took time and talent. He showed different things to different people. Worlds, monsters, futures, fears. The Church believed that Jashin was the God of everything and therefore there was no limit to what form a revelation could take. Processing and understanding it was a measure of one's dedication and willingness to submit to his will. When Mora prayed she found herself walking along the plane of a lunar surface. Her body was still in the Church, sitting next to Irui and muttering verses and chants from the Seikyokai (the Orthodoxy's Bible). In her mind's eye, she found herself walking this dusty moonscape and when she looked into the stars she saw them bathed in blood.

It was as if the universe itself was bleeding. A bizarre red aether sprawled throughout the cosmos. Its tendrils snaking around this and many other worlds. The elderly woman looked around, mesmerized by the vision but no less aware of the "real world". The Lady Superior of the Orthodoxy felt a rumble and then a figure burst from the moon-world tearing the ground asunder. More of the blood of the cosmos spilled into the sky. It enraptured a figure glowing in red and gore. Mora immediately sank to her knees and worshiped the being. She could not see his body nor his face, but the way he cloaked himself in the Blood of the Universe and the way the stars aligned to form a crown around his head told her all she needed to know. She was in the presence of the Necrossiah. Jashin-made-flesh.

She remained prostrate in humble submission to His Holiness for what felt like aeons. She only raised her head when she felt the red glow dim. The eyes of the demigod were taken off her and the creature instead gazed towards another world, adjacent to her own. He pointed a single finger towards the planet. Mora followed his hand and saw what he meant for her to see. A young girl with blonde pig tails playing with a ball. Shimiko..... Mora stared at the girl and saw that she was soon joined by a young man with dark hair. Irui..... The children were about 20 meters away from one another and happily playing. The two appeared to be quite young. They were children even though in the real world the former was an adult and the latter a teenager. The boy also had a ball and as he grew closer, the objects changed. The girl's ball became red as though it were soaked in blood. But rather than a mere liquid, the blood appeared to snake out and waft as though it were a vapor. The girl was not bothered by the ominous red glow, to the contrary, she became ecstatic. The boy's ball became pitch black as though it were a black hole. It vibrated with an ominous yet creative energy. He too enjoyed this change and then he began to laugh excitedly. They had noticed each other now.  He rushed to the girl and the girl to him. Laughter and excitement rang through their world. As they grew closer, the cosmos reacted.

The sky alternated with red and black as the two energies they held in their hand came to dominate existence. Streaks of red aether burst through adjacent worlds and criss-crossed through space. Voids opened up and swallowed entire civilizations whole. Suns were consumed in pitch blackness only to re-appear half a galaxy away. The seams of reality appeared to come apart and mend themselves in a never-ending cycle of life and death. Mora looked back and saw the Necrossiah grow in size and power. He grew larger and larger as the children drew closer to one another, and the second the two balls touched. He consumed everything. All was him and he was all. Mora's eyes grew wide as all of existence was obliterated and reborn. In that split second a voice whispered in her ear: The Aether and The Void The vision was so powerful and shocking it rocked her back into the present world. She took a moment to catch her breath and in that second she saw Irui fall forward and injure himself in a panic. She leapt up and rushed over to him. She herself was dazed with the vision she had just experienced but being a veteran prophet she recovered much faster than he did.

She tore a piece of cloth from the fabric of her tunic and wiped the blood that marked his forehead. She took great care so as not to further embed the splinters. She'd need to take them out with tweezers, it was then that she noticed that his blood was black and it was moving. Jashin's power is at play here.

Irui hysterically cried out that he could feel something's presence. The boy was on the verge of tears. He had reached out into the abyss and something had touched his hand. It was frightening, dangerous even, but now was not the time to pull back. Mora looked around and she saw that the candles that were used to light the chambers had dimmed considerably. The shadows grew longer and the darkness began to swallow the room. Mora could not see in the dark, but years of prayer had trained her spiritual senses. There was a being in the vicinity and he was clawing at the walls of their reality to get out. A lesser fool of a cowardly religion would scream, ring their hands, and try to exorcise the room. But Jashinists did no such thing, Mora called out:

"In the name of Jashin! I command you to reveal yourself creature! Submit to the Lord's will and humble yourself before his agents!"

Mora held the boy closely and stood up, forcing them both to their feet. If something did come out of the shadows then they'd meet it standing.

Black as tar, and just as thick, the fluid on my hands became; flowing from an unseen wound in space. I held my hands together, hoping to cradle the warm liquid, but it pressed through the gaps in my fingers, flowing onto the floor.

I felt Mora wrap her arms around my shoulder, hold me close to her chest and draw me to my feet even as my legs threatened to give out. "In the name of Jashin!" Her voice thundered, "I command you to reveal yourself creature!--"

Through the gap in Mora's arms, I saw in the dying candlelight the ichor pooled at my feet. It found purchase there, expanded, and began to slither on its own accord. The substance encircled our feet, flexing and bubbling as it shaped itself into runes. A spiderweb of indecipherable text flickered and pulsed together, crawling towards the shadows as it boiled and spat.

I held my hands out, now caked with dried blood, and swallowed hard as soon as I recognized the formation of the sigil covering the ground: A Summoning Formula.

"--Submit to the Lord's will and humble yourself before his agents!" Mora cried, and the roaring liquid all at once came to an uneasy quiet.

I strained my eyes against the firelight, watching the darkness begin to shift. Smoke became fur and mottled flesh. The very proportions of the room seemed to stretch and bend, the candles that had been feet away now stood meters from us. Stone wall and wood warped and curved, the space itself was twisting and arcing, forced out of its natural alignment.

I swallowed hard.

It had made the very church bend to its presence. The darkness wasn't from the room, it was the beast hovering over us. My fingers gripped Mora's sleeve, like a child, and I craned my head skyward.

Two nostrils flared, and a pair of golden eyes stared back.

A small whimper escaped my throat, and I held onto Mora even tighter.

"Humble myself? No."The beast words rumbled like thunder, sharply rebuking Mora, and twitched its eye towards me, "You boy, you've been calling me-- Speak now!"

"I--I--" I sputtered, hot tears flowing. "I'm Mikiri-- Mikiri Irui!"

"Ahh," The beast breathed, exhaling a plume of smoke. Two tusks flanked rows of sharper fangs. Stripes graced its cheeks, and the faintest outline of a mane filled out its neck. Metallic pieces, ornaments clinked across its body. It seemed to take my name in, savor the information and mull it over. Its nose, misplaced from its face, twitched and flared, sniffing the air again. It turned towards Mora, regarding her, then shifted its gaze back to me.

From the shadow, its nostrils moved-- a trunk, I realized-- snaking around my side, as massive as a tree trunk, sniffing and inspecting. I jolted in Mora's grip as it prodded and gripped my arm, then stole itself back. A smile crossed its massive mouth.

"Your chakra it stinks of Raijin, but its muddled. Impure. Your bloodline is different than the others." It leveled its head with us, and struck with curiosity, its eyes continued to search me, inspecting my smaller form. "There is a hunger inside you."

I turned my head towards Mora, and gingerly loosened her grip around my shoulders. With my free hand, I gripped her wrist indicating to her to free me, and stepped towards the creature. Wet tears now dried on my face. There was something familiar about the beast.

"You're a Baku," I said finally. "A Dream Eater. You've come to eat my dreams, and the Church brought you-- No-- Lord Jashin brought you."

The Baku shifted its weight and crept forward, placing a massive paw before me as it leaned in. Claws large enough to cleave a man in two glinted in the candelight. The more I studied, the greater and stranger its body became. It bore the body of a large carnivore, a cat. Lanterns, chains, and more decorated its fur and tusks.

"I am Shirakuso, descendent of Arunja the Origin--The Eater of the Otsutsuki's dreams and darkest nightmares."

The other-wordly creature appeared to slither from the hole opened by Irui. The monstrosity enraptured itself with shadows from another world and took up space in another corner of the room. Mora could hear footsteps coming down the steps. The Sacristans! They could tell when their Lady Superior was in trouble and they reacted appropriately. However, they also knew when to hold back. The golden robed priests and priestesses remained near the door but did not enter. Mora stood her ground as the beast defied her and instead called out to his summoner. Irui responded with about a tenth of the confidence required. She'd need to train the young Spymaster to stifle his fear and embrace the unknown.

The monster before them was akin to an elephant. Mora looked at it closely and even as it approached, jeered, and shuffled about the room she could already tell that it wouldn't harm them. The beast said his summoner's chakra was impure, but he stated that there was a hunger inside of Irui. Mora upturned her head a bit and stared at the monstrosity. If he could see what she saw in him then perhaps he was more friend than foe. A creature of the Kuchiyose most likely she reasoned. But for a summon to appear in such a fashion was rather....unorthodox. It is a true blessing from Jashin....

Irui had found his courage and rather than shy away from the creature's touch he walked towards it. He loosened himself from Mora's grip and the woman allowed him to break her protective hold. She almost felt like a mother in that instant. The creature introduced himself by name and proclaimed that he was descended from the very Baku that ate the Rabbit Goddess's dreams. A summon worthy of the Church's newest disciple.

Mora remained silent but she watched as Irui formed a bond with his first summon.

Yellow eyes twitched to the woman in black, pupils always changing, blurring. For a moment, the chimera regarded her, considered her presence out of curiosity, but mostly annoyance, then back to the boy at its feet. With each movement, its presence shifted the fabric of the space; walls stretching, arches curling.

It wasn't an air of malice that enrobed the Baku, Irui realized. It was unparalleled confidence, knowing that it was in full command of everything, and everyone in its vicinity. With a twitch it could force things to its will. Humans, to this creature, were an entertainment.

"Child, I sense a desire to change and grow, you want to reshape the world around you, make others recognize you. You don't just want to earn it, no...." The beast rumbled, "You demand it, you want to force it; to make others yield to you...." He trailed off, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.

The beast's snout flared and prodded the air around the boy, serpent-like as it coiled loosely around him. "Ah, you've tasted it. Against that girl in the Training Fields, and itfrightens you, there was weakness, hesitation in your action!" The beast hissed now, "When the time came to deliver the blow, to break her mind, you faltered!"

Irui's face paled, his voice grew small, and timidly, he dared to turn towards Mora. "It was a practice round, in the training grounds-- I didn't know what was happening then, but I do now--!!" he protested, words flying from his throat.

"Why," The beast returned, challenging in its tone. "Why should I, Shirakuso the Pale listen to the words of a weak human."

"Shirakuso-san," Irui said, breathing deeply. "As your Summoner, I'd like to bargain."

The Baku stopped its motions sitting back on its haunches, folding its forepaws over itself as if it was sitting upon a throne. Shirakuso tilted his head slowly, the headpieces tinkling and flickering, "Bargain?" He echoed, snorting, "There is no bargaining with--"

"--In exchange for lending me your power, I will allow you to feed--" Irui started, and looked back at the cloaked Mora. He swallowed, knowing deep inside this was a heavy exchange, but a worthy one: "--Feed upon the population of the Land of Lightning, to eat the dreams and nightmares of its people."

Shirakuso's eyes widened, a wry smile curled the edge of its tusked face. A simple exchange, power for food, and it was rare a Baku was able to satiate his appetite. His snout twitched at the notion.  The room had grown cavernous in the Baku's psionic wake, leaving Irui and Mora standing mouse-like compared to the beast. It towered over the two of them, considering the deal-- it was good, almost too good. Did the boy honestly consider what he'd said before blurting it out?  Was he so thirsty for strength, for recognition that he'd go to such lengths. Oh, oh ho ho, this was truly....

Delicious.

The boy's jaw set, eyes narrowing on the creature. "Shirakuso-san, I can think of no better way to serve Lord Jashin, than aligning myself to you."

"Irui of the Mikiri Clan," The beast answered, "I will give you everything you desire, but when the time comes, be it old age, or defeat...." His words trailed, and echoed as the room shifted, his form shrank and dissipated. Rapidly, the room twisted, and returned to normal, shrouding itself in darkness and candle-light.

".... You," Shirakuso laughed from beyond the dark, "Will forfeit yourself to me."

The torches roared back to life, illuminating the dim room once more. The old pews and altar still stood, the architecture no longer flexed and twisted. Irui curled inward, bending over in his prone position, folding his arms over his chest, breathing as a heavy exhaustion suddenly took hold, as the Spiritualism concluded and sapped his strength as payment. He clutched the step before him, his arms shaking.

"Lady Mora, I will serve Jashin," He said through breaths, "What I want, the shinobi world cannot give me-- I want more, I want it all."

[Thread end?]