Onmyouji Eclipse

  Chapter 1: The Making Of A Legend — Satoshi Hiroyuki!

  I

  A blaze of glory rent the air with pressured heat as Satoshi emanated a bonfire of energy from his chakra. The Elders stood in shock, watching the young prodigy display his talent for Onmyoujutsu in the training center at the Hiroyuki manor. Satoshi sweated, showing enough of his capability while praying that it didn’t spread and erupt in a wildfire that would burn down manor and trees and everyone within. Letting out a cleansing breath and renewing his concentration, he sucked in his breath and the flames withered away, cooling down into warm wafts of air and blistering sparks. Once this was finished, he saw that he completed his biggest performance, and the most troublesome one—he should be able to ace the other Elements with ease for his Onmyouji certification.

  The Elders murmured amongst themselves while the villagers clapped in delight at the display, admiring the Onmyoujutsu demonstration that Satoshi held for them. The children wheeled and cavorted underfoot while trying to get a front stage view of Satoshi’s abilities. Satoshi chuckled a bit, before he shifted the winds and caused a rain storm to bellow thunder and lightning above them, before easily clearing it away with a wave of his hand. The children laughed as rain splashed on their heads, and the Elders blinked in bewilderment at the amount of skill that Satoshi put into his magic.

  “A prodigy,” one of them murmured in open-mouthed awe.

  “No, Elder,” Satoshi chided gently. “It was years of dedication and practice that made me reach this level.”

  “Honestly,” another elder said, a little more stern but with a kind heart. “Your feats are as impressive as Kohryu Hiroyuki’s at your age.”

  Satoshi, a bit flustered, manipulated water around his body as it danced and whirled around his form like a shining serpent, coiling and looping and twisting. Then, to transition from the water dancing, he created a sculpture made of clay and earth, a giant golem energized by the leylines of the earth. The golem gave a friendly wave toward the children, who deighted in the sheer monstrosity of its size. It even picked up one child on its oversized palm and the child shrieked with glee as the golem placed the child on its shoulder.

  Then, for his final demonstration, Satoshi displayed Spatial/Dimensional Magic by revealing a portal to various realms, which the others marveled and gasped in awe. Satoshi smiled, before he dispelled his chakra and the clay golem melted back into the earth, with the child sliding down a miniature mudslide safe into the waiting arms of his mother. Even though Satoshi appeared cool and calm on the outside, a fine film of sweat left a translucent sheen across his body. The heat baked his face and the back of his neck, which his dark hair in its long ponytail became damp.

  Despite this, he surely ensured himself a position in the Royal Academy of Onmyouji. He didn’t think he would be able to do anything as remotely impressive as his father, the pride and wonder of the Hiroyuki village, though somehow, he won the Elder’s approval. At least, he thought he did. Some of them murmured and conjectured amongst themselves, assigning scores to each demonstration of the abilities that he displayed.

  One Elder spoke.

  “You’ve shown a fine display of skill in your Onmyoujutsu. Further refinement would make you a formidable force in the Royal Academy, though perhaps you should learn more about fine tuned precision rather than pure force and power, young Satoshi-kun.”

  Satoshi bowed.

  “I appreciate and welcome critique.”

  “Despite this, this is a small thing and perhaps you will be specialized as a main attacking force in the Onmyouji Bureau,” the Elder stated, clasping his hands behind his back. “Though remember that we are never truly masters of our art. Only students.”

  Satoshi bowed again.

  “I thank you for your advice, Elder.”

  The stern Elder frowned…before his face broke into a white-toothed smile. “Satoshi…it pleases me to say that you are the pride of this village. All those feats have been very impressive. Hopefully you will become a promising Onmyouji that will follow in the path of your father.”

  Satoshi swallowed, grinning sheepishly. “I don’t know if I can quite live up to his legend. But I hope that I will be able to make a name for myself sometime.”

  Everyone, when they were done with their rounds of applause, began to disperse. The only person left from the throng of people was his mother, Akiko Hiroyuki, who only looked upon her son in admiration.

  “You did well, Satoshi-kun,” Akiko said, putting a hand on her son’s shoulder.

  Satoshi smiled again, feeling heat creep up to his neck. “I was nervous when I performed the Fire Onmyoujutsu.”

  “I know that you’ve always had a hard time reigning it in,” Akiko said with a gentle laugh, before she said. “Regardless, you controlled yourself well and showed improvement. The Elders approve.”

  “So when the Elders talk about my father…” Satoshi said as he walked in step with his mother. “What was he like?”

  “Hm?” Akiko said as she went to a vendor stall where sticks of dango were being served. “What is it that you wish to know about your father?”

  “I want to know everything,” Satoshi said, looking toward the heavenly blue skies. “Some say that he defied death three times. I heard that he united the Youkai clans together in unified peace and improved human relations with them so they came out of hiding. And, he also mastered all the Elements at a younger age than I did…”

  Akiko’s eyes crinkled before she put a hand on Satoshi’s shoulder, a gentle touch that soothed the tension in his shoulders.

  “Now, now,” Akiko said. “You are you and Kohryu is Kohryu. Yes, Kohryu has many impressive feats underneath his belt, though I want to see Satoshi Hiroyuki, not a little replica of Kohryu Hioryuki. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “I suppose,” Satoshi said uncertainly, before there was a distant gaze in Akiko’s eyes.

  “Regardless,” Akiko said softly. “You do look more and more like your father every day, Satoshi-kun.”

  Satoshi regarded this thoughtfully, before he grinned. “Well, I kind of regret that he gave me this feminine looking face, but there are worse things to be cursed with. So. What other stuff can you tell me about my father?”

  “I’m sure you’ve heard them all already,” Akiko said as she offered one dango stick to Satoshi and one for herself after paying the vendor. “He went off on an adventure to stave off Calamity and saved us all from its malevolent clutches.”

  Satoshi’s mood dimmed, thinking of the monstrosity and force of nature that is known as Calamity. It was an epic beast of storms and walking disasters, tearing the landscape apart with each sweep of its massive form, constantly shifting and coalescing into something else not quite nebulous. A clap of thunderclouds and spluttering rains and lightning crescendoed with each footstep that Calamity took, or sometimes it would take on the form of some aquine creature that would cause rolling waves and tsunamis or sometimes erupt the leylines and earth with quakes that could cause massive shifts in the landscape, unheeding of those that it destroyed as it walked past.

  Satoshi knew about the history of Calamity. Everyone did, for Calamity foretold the danger and capriciousness of the forces of nature. The Onmyouji divined the supernatural phenomenon that Calamity embodied, along with some of the lesser minions that spawned off of Calamity’s hide called Calamity Spawn, with miasmic fumes that could poison someone with a touch and cause someone to become a demon. Satoshi wondered where his father disappeared to, having not returned home all these years, though Satoshi suspected the worst and sometimes his mother grieved for a husband that never returned home or was possibly dead.

  “Mother,” Satoshi said, clenching his hands into fists. “I’m going to stop Calamity. And find Father.”

  Akiko looked surprised for a moment, before her gaze softened toward him. “Of course. I believe you.”

  Satoshi took a dango dumpling in his mouth, the savory sweet sauce lingering on his tongue in tangy bliss. He chewed and swallowed, looking toward the birds twittering on the trees in the pavilion, twittering their birdsong. Now that the demonstration for entrance into the Royal Academy was over, Satoshi felt a sense of relief that washed over his bone-weary body. The wind was a welcome relief, cooling down his skin and hair, and Satoshi simply took a meditative moment of silence with his mother to enjoy her company and eat a simple street fare food that was a well-deserved reward.

  Akiko ate her dango delicately, eating slowly and deliberately with precision, her long dark hair shimmering almost blue in the sunlight. Her white kimono with silver inlaid trimmings revealed a slender and trim figure that was honed over years of training in both Onmyoujutsu and martial arts. She was a Wind Manipulator who could listen to the Wind Spirits and hear the Truth and Lie in people’s voices.

  Satoshi reflected for a moment, before saying, “If Calamity can be stopped…if I found Father…what would you do, Mother?”

  Akiko thought for a moment, before she said. “I’m just content with the present as it is, Satoshi-kun. Yes, I do miss Kohryu dearly, though I’m just happy that I have my son with me.”

  Satoshi cleared his throat. When Satoshi entered the pavilion, his mother went to tend the garden in the Hiroyuki manor which was resplendent with blossoms of orange, yellow, and reds, much like the legendary phoenix. Blooms of colorful flowers burst into a prismatic display, and his mother appeared a serene portrait among the garden, tending to the flowers. She also worked the loom where she was sewing an Onmyouji regalia for Satoshi out in the garden, working the needle and thread on the rippling silk.

  “I’m going to finish this regalia for you,” Akiko said with a laugh. “I meant to work on it sooner, though things have kept me busy. I had to watch your demonstration!”

  Satoshi bowed.

  “It was greatly appreciated that you were there, Mother.”

  Akiko smiled.

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Akiko looked gentle and opened up her arms. Satoshi wrapped his arms around her. She chuckled and smoothed Satoshi’s black hair, which was dark like her own. The tell tale signs of laughter in the creases of her eyes told him much about her love and affection for Satoshi and the wonderful zest she had for life.

  “No matter what, I’m proud that you’re my son and that you wish to walk the path of an Onmyouji.”

  Satoshi grinned and parted from his mother. “I want that more than anything in the world!”

  A more solemn look came across Akiko’s features, as she regarded Satoshi’s words.

  “The Onmyouji are a dying breed, Satoshi-kun,” Akiko said. “That is because mankind is losing touch with spirits and the gods. What will become of this world, as mankind continues to build his structures of steel and his weapons of destruction? The land is becoming choked with smoke. I tried to divine through the wind, though I find I can no longer hear the wind spirits.”

  Her hands worked with the needle and thread. Her hands never remained idle, always doing needlework and calligraphy and tending to the earth and soil of the gardens she kept in resplendent shape. Even watching her doing something simple like separating the threads and weaving the tapestry of colors together for the regalia she wove for him was fascinating to watch. It reminded him of the theaters and plays that he’d come to see in the spectacles people performed in Jipangu.

  Satoshi often loved to watch his mother weave brilliant colors of cloth and silk, her slender fingers dancing among the threads. Red and gold blossomed forth in the highly coveted silk they harvested from their neighboring country. Satoshi imagined it cost a fortune to acquire though his mother only indulged her son in the highest quality materials and things he wished for. The love and pride he held for his mother was regarded as one a dutiful son should bear—of, family, kinship, love and devotion.

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  He watched in entrancement while her fingers worked the threads.

  Satoshi cocked his head to the side and frowned upon his mother’s words. He understood Onmyouji were highly sensitive to the supernatural and heard the voices of wind spirits like his mother. Or they sometimes summoned shikigami to come to their aid. His mother told him his father, a legendary Onmyouji, defied death three times, though he disappeared for reasons unknown. Perhaps death finally caught up with him, as it always did. No one, not even the greatest Onmyouji in the world, lived forever.

  “I want to become a great Onmyouji like Father. When I get my shikigami, I’m going to travel into the spirit world!”

  Akiko’s smile had a sad tilt to it. “I don’t think that you will find your father there, Satoshi-kun. He most likely has passed into the afterlife…or perhaps he ascended to nirvana.”

  “I will find him,” Satoshi insisted. “I know I will.”

  The beautiful Onmyouji beside the loom stopped her work. She knelt by Satoshi’s side and patted him on the head. “You are full of hope. It gladdens my heart to see that your heart is still pure and your mind is full of dreams. You will make a powerful Onmyouji someday. Just like your father.”

  Satoshi smiled at his mother’s gentle touch, before he wriggled on the cushion he knelt upon. “When will I summon my shikigami, Mother? I want something powerful, like a dragon!”

  Akiko hid a laugh behind an elegant hand.

  She cradled Satoshi’s cheek with one hand. “Be patient. Your shikigami will choose you in time. Now hold on just a moment while I finish my weaving.”

  Satoshi’s mother then continued to work at the loom, as a brilliant plumage of red and gold embroidery fashioned itself from her skillful hands. The bold colors resembled a bright red bird, perhaps a phoenix. Satisfied with her handiwork, Akiko took the fabric from the loom and held it out in the bright sun. “This is meant for you, my dear Satoshi-kun. When you grow into manhood, you will don these ceremonial robes. The regalia of an Onmyouji.”

  Satoshi gently stroked the silken fabric, marveling how the material flowed and rippled. It bunched and corded underneath his hands in a watery-like fluidity. Silk this fine came from the silk worms far in the East, and it was a closely regarded secret by its people that others don’t know how it’s produced. Satoshi wondered how he would travel there, when he got his own shikigami. Or maybe other parts of the world! He could go anywhere, and that sense of novelty and adventure always made him breathless with excitement. His mother, Akiko, said, that this was an age of explorers. People will probably discover all corners of the world, though the sense of adventure was something he should cherish and hold onto.

  “Thank you, Mother. I will try to become worthy of wearing these robes!”

  Akiko smiled. “I have no doubt that you will be great. Though I have a question for you, Satoshi. What does it mean to you to be an Onmyouji?”

  “What does it mean?” Satoshi said as he scrunched up his face in concentration. “I want to help other people, I suppose. I guess I would fight demons and finally defeat Calamity once and for all.”

  “I see,” Akiko said with a soft smile.

  She gestured for Satoshi to get up from his knelt position. Satoshi did so obediently. Akiko grabbed a lightening staff meant for kagura performances, and sent Satoshi out in the middle of the Hiroyuki grounds. The gardens were resplendent with color from the flowers that grew among the greenery. Satoshi breathed in their cleansing scent and smiled. He enjoyed the flowers in the garden, and he especially liked playing in its center where the birds would come and gather on his open palms.

  Akiko took the lightening staff in her hands and tapped the end of the rod onto the ground. The golden decorations at the top of the staff swayed and jingled, letting out a sweet tinkle that soothed the soul with its mesmerizing tone.

  “I will show you a sacred dance that is meant to purify the land from evil influences. It originated with the miko priestesses, though it has since expanded and become a ritualistic dance that people employ to their traditions and ceremonies. However, when an Onmyouji wields the power of the kagura dance, they use the power of the elements to balance out the energies and feng shui within the land. Do you know what feng shui is, Satoshi?”

  “Harmony with the environment,” Satoshi said, and Akiko nodded approvingly at this.

  “You’ve been taught well, Satoshi-kun. Anyway, what do you notice about the feng shui of the Hiroyuki grounds?”

  Satoshi closed his eyes for a moment, taking a moment to breathe in the air and concentrate on the auras that he felt emanating from the plants in the garden. The plants themselves were full of rich giving ki, which was spiritual energy within the fertile country of Jipangu. Satoshi could feel the effects of sunlight upon the plants and how it filled the greenery and flowers with vibrant life. Yet he could also sense something else in the air, a faint trace of something that was like a slightly unpleasant odor. It was as his mother said—mankind’s developing of new technology led to smoke and pollution in the air that muffled the plants natural ki giving properties and interfered with the perfect balance of feng shui.

  “I sense a taint in the air,” Satoshi said after a while. After listening to the birdsong among the gardens, he then added. “The birds say that smoke are coming from the West, where the foreigners have entered into the country and started to teach a different faith to the people of Jipangu. The old ways are disappearing, and the foreigners are showing the people of Jipangu strange things that they’ve never seen the likes of before.”

  “That is indeed correct, Satoshi-kun,” Akiko said as she patted his head. “However, I will show you a sacred kagura dance that will keep the darkness at bay and lead to harmonizing feng shui within the home and outside environment. Watch carefully, son.”

  Akiko then began a graceful flourish of her arm, clanging the trinkets on the lightening staff together. With each clink, Satoshi could visualize the aura purifying the land with each movement of her rapturous dance and the sweet tinkling laughter of the chimes. With each step, his mother seemed to be floating on air, with her light footseps barely making a sound. With each sound of the chimes, Satoshi could feel the purification ritual slowly working its way into the ground, the roots of the plants, and in the air surrounding them. Once his mother was finished with the sacred purification ritual, she smiled, and turned to look at Satoshi.

  “There. You see how it’s done? Don’t you notice that there’s a cleaner quality in the air? Can’t you hear the birds singing their songs much more sweetly than before? And the plants seem to be bursting with more green within them?”

  “I noticed, Mother,” Satoshi said. “Could you, perhaps, show me your shikigami?”

  “Normally I summon her when I need her, though I suppose that I can make an exception for this,” Akiko said with a smile, before she got out a tag from the sleeve of her kimono. Then, invoking the name of her shikigami, the kanji within the tag floated from the paper and into the air, before spiraling overhead and evoking a great white tiger into existence.

  Saotshi stared in awe at the brilliant shikigami before him. The white tiger was just as beautiful as his mother, and it was a fitting partner for someone like her. They were both regal and graceful without the pretentiousness, yet a hidden power was contained within each controlled movement of their bodies. Satoshi stepped forward towards the white tiger, looking at his mother.

  “May I?”

  Akiko nodded. “It will be all right, my son. She knows that your my son and she won’t do anything to harm one of my own.”

  Satoshi smiled at this and began petting the white tiger. The tiger seemed to purr in contentment to the soothing motions of his hand upon her back, and Satoshi grinned widely at this. He always admired his mother, and seeing her shikigami in the flesh was an amazing experience. This only stirred a deep longing in Satoshi for his own shikigami.

  Satoshi then straightened, and he turned to face his mother. His mother smiled down upon him with fondness, and gathered her son in her arms and gave him a soft kiss atop his forehead.

  “You will make a fine Onmyouji one day,” Akiko said. “But remember your fine control training. You may not be able to summon a shikigami yet, though you can still practice manipulating the five elements. Have you been doing your training?”

  “Well…kind of,” Satoshi said while he glanced away and tapped his foot in the ground. “It’s just…the beginning stuff is kind of boring. To learn Fire, I must learn to keep the flame on the candle wick. For Air, I must concentrate on the breathing in my lungs. Water is feeling the direction and course of a river, Earth is feeling the qi energies in a simple stone, and Cosmos is looking at the stars in the sky and naming their constellations.”

  “Yes indeed, it may be boring at first,” Akiko said. “Though they’re fundamental to your training. To learn how to control Fire, which is considered one of the most destructive arts, you must learn to control the small flame on a candle wick and prevent the flame from melting the candle too quickly. Breathing is a fundamental part of everything; it’s how we live, and it’s the breath that concentrates ki within our bodies and lets us perform on Onmyoujutsu in the first place. Feeling the course of a river let’s you know the versatility of water—it can be still and stagnant, or it can be flowing and gentle, or it could be a tidal wave that surges in the storm—and knowing water and its different states will help you, surely. And feeling the ki within a simple stone let’s you know that something as inanimate as a rock still has energy that can be drawn upon and manipulated. Naming the constellations in the sky may seem trivial, though it’s through these constellations and alignments of the stars that you learn how to control the fifth element.”

  Satoshi hung his head. “I guess I still have a lot more training to do.”

  “It is fine, Satoshi-kun,” Akiko said. “Just keep these things in mind, and practice them whole-heartedly. You may find yourself being able to control all five elements with ease after you’ve mastered those simple things.”

  “I will train, Mother. I will become even greater than Father, I promise!”

  Akiko smiled at this. “I believe that you can change the world.”

  Satoshi smiled before casting his gaze downward. He was humbled by his father’s prodigious feats and his mother’s praise, feeling he was not so deserving of such warmth and love and valor, though he knew his mother truly meant every word. He straightened his back, wondering what a confident poise would look like, the strength of a true Onmyouji that bore the regality and unpretentious grace of a warrior and Mage who served the Emperor. Satoshi wondered if he could really live up to his father’s legend, though it seemed like a far off, impossible dream in the distance.

  “You look like your Father,” Akiko said as she patted Satoshi on the head. “Truely. Perhaps it is in the eyes…your father held a wisdom and sagacity of the learned scholars and Onmyouji Mages who have studied in the libraries of their isolated towers while having the experience of warriors on the battlefield.”

  Satohsi put a hand behind the back of his head, before he started to twist his ponytail with a bit of fastidious nervousness with slender fingers. “Do you really think so? I’m not…”

  Akiko put her weaving aside before she put both hands on Satoshi’s slim shoulders, gazing at him deeply with an unwavering belief and resolution that meant she believed in him and the path that he has determined for himself. “Wherever you will go in life…whatever you may do…I would have faith in you. Kohryu would have faith in you, too.”

  Satoshi smiled ruefully, before he chuckled. “I suppose…that you’re right. Maybe I inherited more of father’s legacy than I realized.”

  Akiko set him down on the cusion again, before she went back to her weaving. As her hands never remained idle, they continued to flit about like birds or butterflies wandering from flower to flower, with his robes being the bright red petals and colors of firework blossoms.

  “Mother,” Satoshi began. “I want to go on a journey one day. I love this village and it’s people, but I feel there’s something more for me out there.”

  “I understand, Satoshi,” Akiko said with a smile as she threaded the needle thorugh his kimono. “I knew that you would leave the nest one day. It was inevitable, so I best prepare for it…as much as it pains my heart to know that both men in my life will be leaving me.”

  Satoshi smiled a bit awkwardly, knowing that he was putting his Mother in a tough position. She was the head of the Hiroyuki clan, in his Father’s absence, and sometimes he would handle political matters within the clan’s infrastructure when his Mother was busy handling most of the workload. Still…it was selfish of him. Satoshi knew that. Yet despite this, she was willing to support his wish and even weave him a parting gift on his journey to show his status as an Onmyouji who finished his training and became a fully trained apprentice of the arts.

  “I’m sorry, Mother,” he said softly.

  Akiko merely smiled again, her gaze still soft.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, Satoshi-kun. I will handle things well in the clan, even if you’re gone. It gladdens my heart that my son is becoming independent and making a name for himself in the world. I want you to come back and tell me tales of the adventures you’ve been on, the things you’ve seen…all sorts of things.”

  Satoshi nodded.

  “I will.”

  “Good,” Akiko said, before she threaded the last stitch that needed mending in the reglia, holding it up into the sun and displaying the bright, flaring colors of the robe. “What do you think, Satoshi-kun? An appropriate gift to celebrate your graduation, is it not?”

  “I think it’s perfect,” Satoshi said as he gently took the robes from his mother’s hands, feeling the bunched material ins his hands. “I will always be a perpetual student of the Onmyoujutsu arts…though somehow, wearing robes like these might make feel like the venerated masters of Onmyoujutsu of old.”

  Akiko laughed.

  “I’m glad that you like them. So come to the tea parlour and have a drink with me.”

  They wandered into the tea parlour, where Akiko set a brewing hot cup of tea for Satoshi and herself, drinking out of porcelain china cups with floral decorations. The scent of jasmine wafted into Satoshi’s nostrils, a gentle embrace tickling his nose with warmth and sweet-tinged flavor. He waited a bit for the tea to cool down, before he took a tentative sip. His mother, ever a mistress of efficiency and various talents, knew how to host tea ceremonies and flower arranging and also practiced Onmyoujutsu as well for appearances within the clan as the Matriach.

  “I want you to go on your journey,” Akiko said. “Though wait a few days, if that’s all right.”

  “Of course,” Satoshi said, bowing his head. “It’s not like I have a pressing need to leave immediately. I still have my goodbyes to say, after all.”

  “And it’s not like you’re leaving forever, I should hope,” Akiko said with a small laugh as she put a belled sleeve to her mouth to hide her lips from view. “Still…Kohryu did go with the same eager anticipation and promise he would come back.”

  Her eyes drifted downward, a frown tugging on her lips. Satoshi bit his lip, undrestanding the emotional turmoil his mother was feeling right now. There was also the matter of Calamity at stake, too. Wandering out on a journey with Calamity wrecking and reshaping the landscape through pure torrential will was foolhardy, and many people died in the wreckage of fallen ash and storms and smoke. Satoshi hoped he wouldn’t be of the fallen, though Satoshi knew, that like everyone else, he was a mortal. There were whispers of impossible legends of the old Onmyouji masters transcending the barrier of life and death, and even becoming immortal, though Satoshi figured those were legends, old stories to inspire fairytale drems in children’s heads, and his father, though talented and great as he was, was certainly not immortal and he couldn’t hold onto that childish, naive hope forever. He was sixteen now, nearly a grown man, and this was when he would go on his pilgrimage from temple to temple to Master the Elements.

  “I will come back,” Satoshi said as he reached over and grabbed his mother’s hands, holding them tightly. “I promise.”

  Akiko looked toward Satoshi, before she nodded, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. Her smile sent a flutter of hope through Satoshi that he would succeed on his journey, that he would defeat Calamity and also find his father.