Golden rays of afternoon sun light seeped in and cast an ethereal glow over the small, musty apartment from between the cleft of the heavy curtains. It brought with it a sense of harmony and tranquility that seemed to permeate every hidden corners.
Alice and Mother Turtle basked in the beauty of the moment, taking in the rare sense of peace and order that filled their humble abode. It was as if the space had been blessed by divine intervention, and every corner of the room was now transformed, dampness of sin replaced with a glow of purity.
As they marveled and time stood still, a young girl's voice singing outside their apartment interrupted their reverie. The melodic voice carried an angelic chant that sounded through the apartment, infusing the ambience with an unusual presence that was both luring and toxic. Alice's perplex traveled between Mother Turtle and the window, searching for some sort of explanation, but she got no respond from anyone nor any figure to be seen.
The flower made it through this unprecedented disaster
Beneath the bitterly cold sky
It grew its green leaves with such dignity
And now holds in its dainty white petals
A golden cup
Surely a time will come
When that cup
Will overflow
With sparkling happiness
As if filled by sunlight
Alice parsed each line of foreign tone carefully for clues but couldn't. Mother Turtle's eyes widened in alarm as she listened intently to the song. Her complexion turned ashen as she recognized the words of the old Japanese poem. "It's a warning!" she exclaimed quickly. "The Gatekeeper is near, and something monumental is about to happen. We must go, now!"
"I don't understand. Why are we going? Where are we going?" Alice asked urgently.
"I think the final show down between the Gatekeeper and Hell is about to go down as we speak!" Before Mother Turtle could answer more, every inch of their living space shook violently with deafening intensity from every direction. Earthquake! A heavy chunk of rubble tumbled from above and thudded against Alice's cranium, knocking her unconscious before any more words could pass between them.
☆☆☆
"Time to go, madam." The deep, resonant voice of the security guard snapped Alice back to the present, the urgency in his tone tearing her away from her enigmatic memory. She hastily grabbed the small, heavy sack from the table and shoved it into her purse, barely taking time to register the weight of its contents.
As she climbed into the taxi, black leather backseat of the town car, the polished city lights streamed past the tinted windows, casting puzzling shadows across her face. The hum of the engine vibrated beneath her as she fished out the silk sack, its vibrant colors seeming to shimmer and pulsate. Her hands shook that she contemplated whether to trust her own instinct as she tore open the delicate fabric, heart pounding in her chest.
Inside lay a worn, creased photograph of a young couple that she knew all too well - their faces a painful reminder of a past she'd worked so hard to leave behind. On the backside of the photo, a single word was scrawled in familiar handwriting: Danny. Alice gasped, the sound escaping her lips loudly enough for the driver to hear her in the front seat. Her chest tightened, and she felt the air grow thick around her as memories she had long tried to forget surged through her like electricity.
"Wait! Take me here instead!" Her voice was desperate, almost a plea, as she pointed to a location on the map displayed on the car's touch screen. She had recognized Hida immediately, a small town nestled in the mountains two hours away. The cabbie haggled with her over an extra 30,000 yen fare before relenting, and soon they were speeding through the night, the car's headlights cutting through miles of rice fields and bridges as they left the glittering metropolis behind.
In the backseat, Alice rocked quietly, her arms wrapped around her body as if seeking solace from the painful memories threatening to swallow her whole. The wind outside howled in sync with her thoughts, the speeding car whipped past trees on the hill and carrying the shadows of her past alongside it. The journey to Hida, though a mere two hours, felt like an eternity as she grappled with the weight of the decisions she'd made and the consequences that now loomed before her.
☆☆☆
As the taxi emerged from the thick fog and descended into the mountain valley of Hida, Alice paid the driver double fare and told him to take her to the town's only commercial street. The humidity of the sweltering taxi interior was suffocating, due to its broken air conditioning, but as soon as Alice stepped out of the car, she felt a chill from within. The streets were deserted, not even a stray dog in sight. She noticed a patch of land overgrown with weeds, unusually bare for this otherwise beautiful little town.
Intrigued, Alice inquired about it to a local passerby, who quickly crossed himself and said, "It's cursed! No one goes over there anymore—a building burned down and bad things have been happening ever since."
Despite the warnings, Alice found an inexpensive inn nearby, where she could rest for few hours. As soon as darkness fell, she quietly left and began ascending onto a mountain trail. She knew exactly what awaited her at the summit.
The chill early winter night set her teeth chattering as she navigated unfamiliar rows of headstones by moonlight. The scent of earth and decay filled her nostrils, and the uncomfortable silence was punctuated only by the sound of her own breathing as she stood in front of an abandoned empty grave. She bent and flipped through the rocks that set around the pit and found nothing out of place. Then, above a low brush of wind, Alice heard a faint scream that pierced through the quietude of the night woods. Adrenaline flooded her veins as she ran towards its source, weaving through tall grasses until finally arriving at a rickety shrine filled with people who seemed to be the villagers of Hida.
A woman in her early thirties sat on a chair, flanked by two men holding her down as an old priest in white robes chanted with several relatives gathered around them. The possessed woman stopped screaming suddenly as frigid air blew through their small gathering like icy fingers clutching their souls. The priest attempted to chant louder, but his words were swallowed up by the howling ghostly winds.
"Ah! Ah!" The relatives screamed in terror as a figure descended from the sky above. The figure was a woman with billowing hair like a cascade of ink. She turned her piercing gaze toward Alice who hid behind the crowd and declared, "He He He He, I've been waiting for you Alice! The Keeper of the Light has finally returned!"
The priest and the onlookers cowered in fear as Alice walked out from her intention to enshroud. As she approached the possessed woman, she noticed stains of blood on her teeth. Sleepwalker—a powerful demon that preyed upon dead corpses. It was clear Alice had never had experience in exorcisms, yet her every movement was executed with perfect precision.
"Yes! I have returned! For I am the one who seeks Evil. I do not fear you!" Alice's voice reverberated through the room, but all that responded was a cruel laugh. "He He He He You should fear me, if you know how long I'd waited for you." The possessed woman howled with an animalistic groan.