Shadows of Nanking - Ch. 11, part 4

Summary: The Cabal prepares to enter the last known place where the original Cabal disappeared.

Recap: While Kemosiri, Kontonshin and Tenzin were wandering though Kwannon’s Oneiros, Mori and Hachi-ko went back to the Sanctum and slept until morning. When they got up, they ventured to Kiyomizu-dera to speak with Tatsu about everything that was going on.

As Mori arrives, he sees an image of a young girl dressed in green that he recognizes as Isora (the little girl in the green kimono from Chapter 6, the Shadow). She tells him not to forget the crystal that she had given to him. Hachi-ko snaps him awake and asks why he was staring out into nowhere. Mori deigns not to respond and instead knocks on the door of Kiyomizu-dera.

A servant answers the call and leads them in to the main temple anti-chamber. Tatsu arrives a short time later. Mori and Tatsu have a conversation couched in riddles. Tatsu intimates to Mori that there is a cancer in their cabal that could destroy not only their cabal, but Kyoto as well. Tatsu also intimates that he feels Mori is the only person capable of cutting out that cancer. Mori agrees. Tatsu tells him to do what he must and Mori agrees. Hachi-ko looks on and is mystified with what is going on.

Mori then goes back to visit Kwannon and meets Daishi instead. He discovers that the rest of the Cabal had entered Kwannon’s Oneiros and after that arduous journey had already left. Kwannon was now resting and Daishi tells Mori that “the end is near.”

The rest of the cabal returned home. Kemosiri realizes how dangerous the knowledge he has is and with Kontonshin’s help, wards the safe against scrying. Kontonshin creates a ward and ban that is very potent – only a Master would have any chance of breaking it.

It was at this point that they find out that Akio Ogawa had still not appeared at the office – not since they had left for Hong Kong. A worried cabal go to her apartment to find out what was going on.

They find Akio Ogawa still in her bedclothes sporting blue eyes. She tells them that they are natural and are not the result of her supernatural rape that had occurred over a month earlier. The actions of Tamano-no-Mae were the final straw. She could not continue the way she was going and she has not seen anyone now for a month.

She relates to them the fact that she is of Ainu decent. She gets her blue eyes from that. She has worn brown contacts her whole life to prevent others knowing her background. Her mother, besides being an Ainu elder was also a member of a secret society – she did not know what society, or what she did and her parents’ divorced while she was very young leaving her and her sister with their father. Still, Akio was the dutiful girl and did what she was told and studied for her University entrance exams like all the other dutiful children in Japan.

After she graduated, she got a job with an oil company who shipped her off to the Middle East despite her father’s objection. While she was there, radical Muslim militants kidnapped her and held her hostage for two weeks before Japanese government interceded and got her released. During that time, she began to see things she never imagined. She later found out that she began to see magic and that she was indeed a Sleepwalker.

When she arrived in Japan, she was met with disdain from the Japanese, an invoice from the government for expenses and rejection from her father. Only her sister was there to comfort her but even she could not maintain close contact with her. She was effectively shunned.

After months of isolation, the mysterious benefactor contacted her and gave her purpose again. The loss of the first cabal struck a fierce blow to her heart, but this last supernatural incident has frightened her. She has had a lot of time to think over the month and has almost put in her resignation. But she has decided to come back to work. She is needed.

During the past few days, she had dreams which repeated each and every night. In these dreams, a young girl in a green kimono appeared and told her that to quell the darkness a beacon of light must shine. The young girl then held out a large crystal which glowed green. Then she would wake up. She tells the Cabal that something horrible is about to happen and that they must find that crystal to prevent it from happening.

The Cabal returns and regroups at their Sanctum and they compare stories. Mori shows them the crystal he obtained from his experiences in the Shadow and has determined that it is at the very least, a mana battery. It is decided that their next course of action in stopping the coming darkness is to locate the supposed leader of Unit 731, Dr. Wu. To start their search, they decide to go back to the Asylum – which they find out used to be a Unit 731 laboratory.

The Cabal sneaks in to the Psych Ward (again) at night and ends up in the basement. The last time they were here, they discovered that the ghost of the World War II soldier had been discorporated. Now they believe it may be the centre of all of the occult activity. Using various detection spells, the Cabal finds a hollow area behind the basement wall. They use ghost gates to enter the Shadow and exit right in the room. What they see horrifies them.

They find Dr. Wu studying several scrolls while meditating in a warded magic circle with a symbol painted in blood in its centre – a symbol they had seen months ago at the Kitigawa house and an abandoned warehouse (Chapter 2). Surrounding the circle are 8 more scrolls made out of human skin and written in blood. Dr. Wu quickly tries casting a spell, but Mori negates it before it could get off. Kemosiri and Kontonshin both hit Dr. Wu with offensive spells and manage to breach his wards. Dr. Wu falls to the floor unconscious. Mori thinks that this was too easy.

As the Cabal approach Dr. Wu’s prone body, a light flashes and suddenly, a gate appears in the middle of the magic circle. A seven foot tall emaciated humanoid in a tattered white robe and hood walks through the gate and faces them. Kemosiri uses his Mage Sight to discover that whoever stood in front of them, unlike Dr. Wu, was a Master of immense power.

Next: Chapter 12 - The Cave