Blessed Death

by Amy Sumida

  “That's disgusting, Vervain,” Odin huffed. “I will not allow you to eat this man's penis. You may castrate him; but that's where I draw the line.”

  “Fine,” I huffed. “I'll cut off one head, and eat the other three. You happy, now?”

  “Yes; thank you,” Odin said primly as he sat back on his peacock-blue, dragon haunches.

  Enma had gone pale but he rallied quickly and shouted for the Oni. A horde of ugly demons with horns, claws, wild hair, and jewel-toned skin came rushing at us wielding ogre clubs. Odin got to his feet as the Horsemen hooted in glee. I was going to help—I really was—but the Horsemen were halfway through the Oni before either Odin or I could lift a claw. We looked at each other, shrugged, and then sat back to enjoy the show.

  Oni heads went flying from swipes of angelic swords and one, glowing, reaper scythe. The Horsemen worked silently after they'd made their initial battle cry; their expressions menacing, and their minds focused on the slaughter. Not a single claw or club made it past the Four Horsemen's defenses; only demons took damage. It quickly became apparent who was winning the fight, and then the surviving Oni ran for their lives. The Horsemen let them go; wiping demon blood from their weapons while they turned toward Enma as if hoping he had more for them.

  Enma swallowed roughly and then brought his hand down in a slicing motion. The illusion of the haunting landscape behind his throne fell along with his hand. The stormy sky of Meido gave way to a bright blue expanse. Sunlight shone down on a Japanese palace of gold, silver, and pearls. Soft grass spread out around the palace and into orchards of cherry trees, with a cobbled path winding through it all.

  “You win; Amaterasu is more trouble than she's worth,” Enma huffed. “Follow me.”

  Enma tromped down the path toward the palace. We all stared at each other in surprise a moment before we chased after him. It all seemed rather anticlimactic after traversing Meido. Enma was the ruler of the territory, and there he was; rolling over after only one Oni fight. It seemed a little too easy for my tastes, and from the look everyone else gave me, I wasn't the only suspicious one. But none of us wanted to jeopardize Amy's rescue. So we followed Enma all the way to the enormous front doors of his palace where he pushed on a pair of giant pearls to open them.

  The double doors swung inward smoothly and opened a passage wide enough to allow Odin and I entrance while still in our dragon forms. We cautiously ducked into a spacious hallway after the others. The floor was silver, and the walls were black lacquer; not a single painting hung upon their glassy finish. It was a sleek, masculine look; made even more so by strategically placed suits of Japanese armor. I pulled my wings in tight to avoid knocking the armor over.

  After navigating the labyrinthine halls—the click of dragon claws on stone echoing off the lacquer—Enma finally pushed open another set of double doors, and we entered a vast room. The ceiling was studded with luminous pearls and faceted jewels that sparkled in the glow of god lanterns, and the walls were lined with painted rice paper panels depicting scenes of battles in Japan. Statues of gods and demons lined the room; staring inward at a giant, golden cage and the goddess who sat demurely inside it on a padded chair.

  Amaterasu got to her feet as we approached. She nodded to Sakuya gratefully and smiled softly up at me.

  “You make a lovely dragon, Godhunter,” Amy said. “Gold suits you.”

  “Thanks,” I said as I bent the bars of the cage so she could step out. “But I don't think it suits you; at least not in its present form.”

  “You didn't have to wreck my cage,” Enma huffed as he lifted a key. “There's a door right there.”

  I turned to glare at Enma, and he looked away—right into Amy's acidic stare. Enma hurried forward and used his key to remove a pair of golden handcuffs from Amy's wrists. The cuffs fell to the stone floor with a heavy clatter, and a pale shimmer cascaded over them as their ward was broken. As soon as Amaterasu was free, she slapped Enma so hard that he flew into a wall; tearing apart the rice paper painting that lined it. It was a hell of a thing to see; that tiny woman tossing about a huge man.

  “That's for being a coward and sending the Oni to hold me down while you subdued my magic with those manacles!” Amaterasu declared. “The rest of your punishment shall have to wait; right now, I want my people freed from Jigoku.”

  “Your pet dragon has already demanded their return,” Enma snarled. “I shall deliver them to you later.”

  “You shall fetch them now!” Amy shouted and the palace trembled as every light in the place burst into blinding flares of white fire.

  Enma raced from the room, and Amy's expression settled into satisfaction.

  “Amaterasu!” Sakuya cried as she hugged Amy. “I was so worried.”

  “Thank you for bringing them to help me,” Amy murmured to Sakuya.

  “You made me promise not to tell the other gods in our pantheon,” Sakuya said. “I had no choice.”

  “You had a choice,” Amy said with a smile. “You chose to come into Meido after me, despite the horrors that awaited you. I must admit that your courage shocks me, and I apologize for being shocked. You are far stronger than I gave you credit for.”

  “I shocked myself,” Sakuya said. “And I've also come to think differently of death.”

  “Oh?” Amy lifted a perfectly arched brow.

  “It's not a blessing if you're sent here.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  We waited and waited for Enma to return with Amy's souls, but he never did. With grim expressions, we wandered out of the palace and then through the shimmering illusion Enma had opened for us. His throne was empty, but the disembodied heads still perched on their pillars before a crowd of anxious souls waiting to be judged. The heads looked nervous as Amy strode up to them.

  “Where is your master?” She demanded.

  “We don't know,” the male head said.

  “Kagu-hana,” Amaterasu growled at it, “if you don't tell me where Enma is, we're going to have a soccer game with you as the ball.”

  The male head paled, and the female shrieked as the souls of the dead scattered.

  “Be silent, Miru-me,” Sakuya said to the female head. “Unless you know where Enma is.”

  “He went into Jigoku!” The female head cried.

  “Shut up, you stupid woman!” The male—Kagu-hana—growled.

  “Where in Jigoku?” Amy focused on Miru-me.

  “Enma said you wanted your souls, but he wasn't going to give them to you,” Miru-me whimpered. “Nor is he going to allow you out of Meido. I'm sorry, Lady Amaterasu, but you and your friends are trapped here.”

  “There is more than one way out of Meido,” Amaterasu declared as she strode away.

  “The other kings have gone with Enma,” Kagu-hana said smugly. “You can't force anyone to trace you out.”

  “There are still the gates,” Amy snarled at the male head, and he paled.

  “You cannot!” Miru-me shouted. “You'll have no way of knowing which gate will take you where; even we don't know!”

  “You could end up in any of the six realms,” Kagu-hana was back to being smug. “Including Jigoku.”

  “Since Jigoku is where I want to go, that doesn't bother me in the least.” Amy smiled viciously.

  “It bothers me,” Ira said. “I have no intention of gallivanting through Buddhist Hell—not any of them.”

  “It may be the only way for us to get out of here,” Amy said. “Meido is made like a one-way street; unless you're a god here, you can only move forward.”

  “I have an idea,” Odin said as he grabbed the smirking Kagu-hana. “Anyone have a rope?”

  “Put me down, beast!” Kagu-hana shouted.

  “Sure, let me just pull a rope out of my ass,” Ira huffed.

  “Well, you pull your sword out of the air,” Odin reasoned. “Why not a rope?”

  “Fair point,” Ira conceded grudgingly. “But our weapons are bound to us, and I don't use rope as a weapon.”

>   “Yeah, we're angels, not cowboys.” Sam chuckled.

  “But he can make a rope.” Amy pointed to the head. “He's a god of this territory; he can transmutate objects here.”

  “Me?” Kagu-hana gaped at her. “Why would I want to help you?”

  “Because we're going to toss you through those gates, and if we don't have a rope tied to you, we won't be able to pull you back,” Odin said calmly.

  “What?!” Kagu-hana shrieked. “You cannot! I could roll through any number of perils!”

  “Or we could reel you in like a yo-yo,” I said smugly. “Your choice.”

  “The gate won't let me return once I've passed through, you idiots!” Kagu-hana shouted.

  “It will if you're tethered to someone here,” Amaterasu said with a smile at Odin. “Good thinking, Allfather.”

  Odin nodded his thanks.

  “Is the rest of your body just magically gone?” I asked as I angled my head beneath Kagu-hana. “Whoa, I can see all of your bones and blood vessels.”

  “Really?” Odin asked as he lifted the head high enough to peer under it. “That's fascinating.”

  “All right; I'll do it!” Kagu-hana screamed. “Just stop peering up my neck, you deviants!”

  A rock at our feet transformed into a length of rope.

  “Good choice,” Amy said as she collected the rope.

  Odin put Kagu-hana down, and Amy knotted the rope with Kagu-hana's long braid of hair. Then she swung the head over her shoulder and started heading further into Meido.

  “Oh, the indignity,” Kagu-hana lamented as he swung upside-down across Amy's back.

  “What comes next?” Odin asked as we followed after Amy.

  “King Henjou.” Amy waved a hand at another empty throne. “He gives the sixth trial, but it seems that Kagu-hana spoke the truth, and the other kings have fled with Enma.”

  “Of course I spoke the truth,” Kagu-hana sputtered. “My honor is all I have.”

  “Sad,” Ira muttered.

  “Now we must cross that.” Sakuya pointed toward a dark land beyond the empty throne.

  “We can fly over it,” Azrael suggested. “We don't mind carrying you ladies.”

  “Thank you, but we'd best stick to the ground,” Amy said. “There are giant birds who rule those dark skies, and they breathe fire.”

  Amy pointed to a streak of firelight flashing through the darkness.

  “And they'll peck our eyes out!” Kagu-hana cried. “You'd best turn back!”

  Amy stuffed the other end of the rope into Kagu-hana's mouth.

  “Eww,” I said. “I'm not holding the end of the rope when we throw him through the gates.”

  “You threatened to eat Enma's dick but you won't touch a saliva-saturated rope?” Ira lifted a brow at me.

  “Do I have to shove some rope in your mouth too, Ira?” I growled.

  “Just pointing out the irony.” Ira chuckled.

  “It might be best if you two shifted back to human,” Sakuya said to Odin and me. “We want to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible.”

  Odin and I looked at each other and shrugged. I transformed into my weredragon form, and Odin mimicked me; covering his human body with scales.

  “Not quite human, but it will do,” Amy said with a smirk.

  “I like this body.” Odin tapped his fireproof scales. “The agility of a human with the armor of a dragon.”

  “I like your horns,” I teased him as I stroked the ebony horns sweeping back from his temple. “You look good as a dragon shifter; dangerous.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” Odin drew me over to kiss me.

  “If you're finished admiring yourselves and canoodling, perhaps we could start our journey through that sinister landscape filled with fire-breathing birds,” Ira said dryly.

  “It's like having Horus with us,” Odin whispered to me, and I giggled.

  “I thought the Fire Cock was in Jigoku?” Ted asked with a grin.

  “The Japanese like fire-birds as much as the Egyptians like fire-snakes.” Amy shrugged. “Now, everyone walk warily and keep one eye on the sky.”

  We stepped into the eerie lands and the light faded slowly around us. Soon, we couldn't see the sky above us or the birds that flew there. But we could hear them. Terrible shrieks sliced through the oppressive dark, and the flapping of enormous wings echoed down to us. Occasionally, fire would light the landscape; illuminating strange creatures with thick hides and bulbous eyes that hissed at us before they scurried away. The terrain was flat and empty; very little could stand the constant bombardment of the fire-birds. Only a few charred boulders and the hard carapaces of the land creatures survived.

  Suddenly—with a great whoosh of air—something large swept down and snatched up Sakuya. The goddess cried out in terror as she disappeared into the shadowy sky. Before anyone else could react, Sam launched himself upward and vanished into the darkness after her. An avian shrieking pierced the black, but it quickly shifted from an aggressive sound to a wounded cry, and then it stopped altogether. A few feet away from us, a black bird head—as large as my entire body—hit the ground just before the rest of its corpse did. The thud it created sent vibrations across the bottom of my taloned feet. A pair of glassy eyes reflected our stunned faces as blood seeped from the severed head and soaked into the parched terrain.

  We will still staring at the bird head in shock when Sam landed in the middle of our group; Sakuya clasped safely in his arms.

  “Thank you!” Amy rushed over and hugged them both together.

  “You're very welcome.” Sam placed Sakuya down gently. “But let's not tarry; that bird had several friends up there who are now circling.”

  Our gazes turned toward the sky warily before we began a rapid pace towards the lightening horizon. Although the birds circled above, it took them awhile to work up the courage to attack us. By the time they did, Odin and I had shifted back into dragon forms, and all of us were prepared for the attack.

  “Guard your eyes!” Amy shouted.

  The flock descended in a rushing wind of wings and flashing beaks, and just as they came within our reach, Amaterasu held out her arms wide, and her whole body flared with the brightness of the Sun. We covered our eyes until the glare died down, and then made use of the advantage. The blinded birds were easy prey, and with the Four Horsemen, two dragons, and two goddesses, we took down enough of them to send the rest flying away blindly with their tail feathers in a twist.

  After the Battle of the Birds, the sound of screeching ceased, and we made it out of the dark unscathed. Just a few feet away from the bird-terrain, there was another empty throne, and beyond that were six Japanese torii gates; red columns supporting a sloping center brace. Between the columns of each gate, the air shimmered into a blue haze that made it impossible to see what lay beyond it.

  “Here is our path to other territories and realms,” Amy said. “One gate will take us back to the Human Realm, but the others will take us further into the Buddhist Territory.”

  Amaterasu swung Kagu-hana's head around and removed his rope gag. He was blinking furiously.

  “You couldn't have shielded my eyes before you did your sunlight thing?” Kagu-hana whined. “I'm still seeing spots.”

  “But can you see well enough to know which portion of the realm you fall into?” Amy asked him.

  “Yeah, just get it over with,” Kagu-hana grumbled.

  Amy smirked and tossed the head through the first gate. She let him fall, and then drug him back.

  “Beasts!” Kagu-hana declared fearfully. “That was the Realm of Beasts.”

  “Okay,” Amy said before she swung him through another gate.

  The next gate led to the Human Realm, but Amy had to toss Kagu-hana through three more gates before it became obvious that the last gate led to Jigoku. It was lucky for Kagu-hana, though; he didn't have to experience Jigoku, even briefly.

  “What do we do with him now?” Ted asked as he waved toward Kagu-han
a.

  “Once we're gone, he'll be able to access his full form,” Amy said as she untied Kagu-hana. “He can make his way back on his own.”

  “You can only have a whole body when no one's around?” Sam asked in shock.

  “That's what the myths have done to me,” Kagu-hana growled.

  “Looks like you have the right to be a dick,” I noted.

  “Well, not having one for most of my life has had that effect,” he grumbled.

  I chuckled. “Fair enough.”

  “Thank you all, for your help,” Amy said warmly. “I'm going into Jigoku now to rescue my souls. I don't expect you to come with me; you've done more than enough by coming this far. Use the torii to trace to the Human Realm; I'll take it from here.”

  “You've said that before,” I noted. “I think we'll stay with you this time and see it through.”

  “Hold on,” Ira growled. “You don't get to make decisions for all of us, Vervain.”

  “Ira, if you want to leave, there's the gate,” Azrael said. “Vervain's not deciding for you; she's deciding for herself.”

  “Then why did she say 'we?'” Ira shot back.

  “Because she knows that Odin and I would follow her through any hell in any of the realms,” Azrael said calmly. “Look; I'm grateful that all of you came with us, but—just as Amaterasu said—this is far enough. Go home; we have it from here.”

  “Fuck me,” Ira huffed as Sam and Ted just stared at him. “Fine; it's not like we haven't been to Hell before.”

  “Not this Hell,” Amy said. “And there's no way out of it; we'll have to journey back here to take the torii gate out.”

  “Amy, I don't do things half-ass,” I said. “I've come this far; I might as well see all of the Japanese Underworld.”

  “Now that you mention it,” Ted said, “it would be cool to be able to say that I've walked through Jigoku.”