The Shrine

The skies flew along with me as my eyes opened slightly; wind motioned along with me. I realized that for quite sometime now I have been flying with Satsu laying against his long back; as his tail moved gently along with the high winds of the air of the sky. My ear pressed against his fur; I could hear a booming heartbeat. Btoom. Btoom. Btoom. It was warm; and very reassuring to me. I felt calm, and closed my eyes as Satsu flew across the high elevation in midair amid the sky.

The spirit world is very infinite; it takes a long time to reach our destination. Although Satsus flying is helpful, we still have to walk or else Satsu will fall and collapse such as the time when we fallen in an unknown plain where we met lady Kita. We didn't receive a map, yet with Satsu the geological map is in his mind since he was born with a good sense of direction like most spirits. I layed patiently until Satsus voice sounded in my mind.

"We have sometime to go; yet we are nearly there. Just a couple more parts of land we must go."

I quietly said 'Mhm.' under my breath to Satsu as we flew for a moment until we landed into a grassy plain. Flowers were abundant as we were amongst the grass; I looked over at Satsu. His eyes foretold a different story. "What's wrong?" I asked. His body parted into a unforgetful swaying- and his mouth spoke words as I listened.

"I am worried for if I do take you back, I'm not sure if you'll ever see me again."

His eyes looked dreaded with coldness; a likeness I hardly could describe. All I can tell you is that he looked as if he knew about the future. I will never forget the feeling, we continued to walk endlessly in this field and we talked. Every moment, each conversation I felt happy being near him or even with him for that matter. Yet for some reason it felt as if he knew of something, yet I wasn't sure of what. His soul felt so warm, just being near him made be even become more drawn towards him. Yet there was a sinking feeling within us, we could sense it. A mysterious feeling that could not be mentioned, my lips parted into an unlikely raise of my brow, I was eager and longed to spend as much time with Satsu even until the last parting moments of departure. He was the only person who has ever truly known me, I felt as if we were two people we longed to be alone yet together. An emotional bonding I cannot fully describe, yet all I can say is that he is special to me. And that's that.

"There's a cold thickness in the air. If we stay longer, we'll catch a far worse demeaning sickness similar to phenomena." I nodded as he grabbed my hand, and we walked across the field. We walked closer, through the trees and the trickled motions of grass, we found behind a shortage of bushes and vines, an old abandoned shrine. We went on inside, he shut the slide door behind us. It was actually rather homely; the shrine was still kept although there were a few shortages. Satsu scowled everywhere within the shrine, and observed carefully. He deduced a quite few observations withheld of the shrine.

"It seems that someone abandoned this shrine not a while ago, yet maybe even just barely. Perhaps even just a few weeks ago." Satsu kneeled beside a short table close to the ground, a neat tea set lay out neatly on top of the table. He held one of the teacups in his hands, and it felt warm and it glowed within his hands. Satsus eyes widened at the sudden aspect- he dropped it back on the table with a light clank. I looked at Satsu. His heart raced; I could tell because his hand was on his chest and he was silently gaping. We quickly stood up and we walked towards the doors- I slid open the door slightly until Satsu pulled me back inside.

"It's not safe." He whispered; I looked at him helplessly.

"The air is polluted. It feels dry, perhaps even slightly too humid. It's a bad omen to go out in this. We have to stay here. We have no other choice."

Satsu walked into another room and pulled out mats, as they were clean and tidy as well. This was not normal.

"I wonder if there are some familiars hiding writhin this shrine." He exclaimed. "Familiars are spirits who help with guiding the shrine, yet without a land god they are lost. That's why I wonder if a land god abandoned this shrine. We came inside at the wrong time." Satsu looked at me and noticed my magatama beads were trying to glow with raging power.

"Your magatama beads are trying to light up good omen it seems." Satsu observed. I looked down at my wrist faint fully; the beads were shaking against my wrist. Satsu pulled out his fan, looked at the markings painted on the fan. He read it aloud.

"Two beings one unlikely one spiritless

Two hearts and one beating the other fluttering

Two hearts enjoined to one

Strong power withheld

A bond created, an unlikely spirit as soul

Together they bring warmth to all

Two hearts, both continue to beat

Until their fateful departure."

The air was still. I kneeled beside the mat; I played with my magatama beads, as Satsu was silent. He held the fan in his hands for quite sometime; he wondered where and who it could have belonged to. His feelings were always so closed inside at times; I didn't want to bother him so I let him be. The shrine had started to shake with the raging rain outside. Suddenly a clanking sound was heard from the other side of the shrine, Satsu stood up forcefully. He held out his fan closely towards him, the rain and wind shifted drastically. Suddenly a window flew open, a draft of wind whisked through the strands of my hair, Satsus threw the fan outwards. Suddenly a cry came forth, a figure emerged.

"I'm water familiar! Please spare me!" A young man kneeled and bowed before Satsu. "Your fan is the strongest weapon withheld by any spirit. I apologize for my homage, please make yourself at home. Would you like some tea? Sadly the leaves are bitter due to the land gods sudden departure. He left again. Yet for how long? He is always gone I worry. Why is it happening to me so? With our air suffering with pollution and bad omen! Why- woe is I, why?" The familiar cried at Satsus feet, he moved away.

"Please, get up." He ordered. The familiar stopped crying. He stood up and bowed.

"I apologize. I'm always in constant fear, it is an unlikely habit." He cried. Satsu looked at him with fondness.

"Where is your land god?" He asked. The familiar shifted nervously in his seat; he had no idea what he was currently dealing with. The familiar stood up and looked up at Satsu.

"I'm not quite sure;" The familiar went on, "all I know is that we are river spirits. His element is water. Not only does he help this shrine he's in charge of keeping the rivers flowing. I am just his familiar. Which means I'm meant to protect him at all costs. Yet when he leaves it's difficult to follow so I stay." The familiar looked at himself in the reflection in the glowing tea sitting In the tea cup beside us. The rain continued to beat on.

"This explains why the rain is abundant right now, it's trying to liquefy our shrine while the land god is away."

Satsu pulled out his fan, walked outside and lifted the fan upwards. The familiar cried; "What in the name of higher beings shall you be doing?" Yet Satsu lifted his fan and chanted the words again.

"Two beings one unlikely one spiritless

Two hearts and one beating the other fluttering

Two hearts enjoined to one

Strong power withheld

A bond created, an unlikely spirit as soul

Together they bring warmth to all

Two hearts, both continue to beat.

Until their fateful departure."

A glowing stray of light wavered; Satsu waved his fan. Moments after moments the rain cleared; and the polluted air purified. A warm bright colored light shone from Satsus hands; his fan was making him even more powerful. As he cupped the fan in his hands, the light wavered out and lingered around the shrine, Satsus eyes glistened and reflected the light of gold. The familiar cried with joy, he ran out and hugged Satsus legs. Slowly the fan came back to its normal state, Satsu looked up into the sky. His face was emotionless.

"Thank you! I am so blessed for you to have come along!" The spirit cried as Satsu said nothing, yet he looked out into the open clearing. He saw something.

"I may be a water god." He said stunned by it all. The familiar looked at him; his eyes glistened with hope.

"You may be!" He cried. "That was no power of a spirit at all! Just a spirit, I mean. You are a spirit yet you have something hidden within you. Look around! You purified a sacred shrine. All respects are bestowed upon you."

"All respects are given by whom?" An unknown voice lingered; we all turned around. It was a man, whose eyes looked calm and his hair was long, and it neatly fell against his face. His high cheekbones and eyes looked reassuring. The familiar gasped and ran towards him. This must be the land god of the abandoned shrine.

"Oh master! How you have finally come, this spirit purified our shrine while you were away! You were gone so long he came, and cleaned up the mess. How wonderful is thee'?"

"Oh quite wonderful," said the land god. "Thank you. What is your name?"

"Satsu." Satsu replied immediately. His hands layed out beside his legs like a statue in front of a human shrine. The land god walked closer towards Satsu and observed him carefully. His eyes widened at the sudden aspect.

"I see that you can turn into another form." The land god observed. Satsu nodded in unison.

"You have another sense to you. You have purpose. Your much like me but even powerful. Has the gods spoken to you about becoming a land god once at all?" He asked. Satsu shifted in surprise, he stepped back a few feet.

"Me? A land god? How?"

"It's rather simple. You seem to have powers unlike anyone. You have essence of water, which means you could be a river spirit or even just a water spirit. Much like me." The land god peered down at the fan. His face motioned in surprise. "Where did you find that?" He asked.

"Me and Eyra," Satsu glanced up at me, "We were walking until we encountered a trail with things left by commoners in the middle of the pasture. I found this fan which seemed as if it wasn't own by a commoner." The land god shifted on movement. He wore light colors much like a white robe with an essence of blue, and he wore lightweight sandals, which made it easy for him to move quickly. He looked at Satsu with hopeful eyes.

"It appears to me that higher powers of the spirit world left you those things. They knew of your path and they made it for you so you could find them and stumble upon. That fan was meant for you to witheild. And for your friend," he glanced at my arm,"those magatama beads were also sent to her for her protection."

"A hot springs spirit gave this to me suddenly for no reason at all." I spoke up. The land god walked towards me and kneeled down beside me. He looked into my eyes. "Indeed it did. You also look rather beautiful, has anyone ever told you that?" The land god smiled at me. I looked at him and blushed slightly. "Not recently but thank you." I replied. The land god smiled, as I done so too, yet I grew a bit nervous from the sudden consideration from a land god.

"Alright." Satsu walked in the middle of us. "Thanks. But I think Eyra is okay." The land god looked up at Satsu and chuckled, and stood up and stretched. He was rather laid back for a spirit that has a lot of duties on his hands.

"Eyra would be perfect wife to take care of a shrine while I'm away don't you think?" The land god remarked as the familiar jolted upwards by surprise. "Well I never thought of it." He replied. A sudden shock overcame me. I felt nervous.

"Thank you for informing me about my hidden power." Said Satsu, "Yet I don't think its our place to stay." Satsu began to grow even more angered by the sudden remarks from the land god. He laughed, he lifted his hand against his mouth and walked beside me.

"Well it isn't my fault, she would. A nice shrine is good for her; it'll keep her safe. It'll keep her bestowed away into my presence. Therefor, it is good for a female to cook and clean for her true and one and only man."

His hand lay on my shoulder, I moved away. My cheeks grew hot as my wits realized that this land god wasn't what he appeared to be. I felt angry. I didn't want to deal with anyone like this again.

"Perhaps your right." I spoke up, "Yet for me I believe that I am not going to do for what most female beings do. I am going to do whichever is right for Satsu and me. I'm sorry, I'm not going to stay locked behind doors for your own pleasure." I remarked. Satsu looked at me with admiration. 'Eyra?' His lips motioned my name, I kept going.

"A female being is inclined to do whichever she chooses. Bearing children, looking after whomever is an ideal chosen by humanity and naturally, yet it can be done in a different way she chooses and thinks whichever is right. I can do what's right, look after for someone I care about, do what's right for both of us and then decide our fate. I am not going to just stand away in a shrine when I can also be helping my loved one in a more physical process." I looked up at the spirit god. He didn't look moved, yet he seemed to have taken my opinion with thought.

"I was only saying and thinking aloud that you would become a good wife. I was just merely stating my opinion." The land god cowered. He walked beside me and grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear.

"You are perfect for me."

Suddenly a dark portal emerged from below my feet, the land god held me in his arms as the dark hole pulled us in. Satsu held out his hand and grabbed me, pulling me with all his might, yet the land god bit his arm and we swayed away. The familiar cried and apologized repeatedly for his masters behavior, yet it didn't change anything.

"Eyra!" A faint cry came from Satsu, I was taken away once again, yet by a land god with no means. Tears shed as the portal closed; Satsu grew angered by the sudden actions of a land god. "Why does this always happen?" The darkened portal closed shut, Satsu ran inside the shrine.