The next morning Mark was surprised to be woken up by Hato for once, who had taken her mask off for some reason.

“What’s with the mask?”

“Oh, I want to be able to see everything that’s going on don’t you?”

“I suppose. We’d better get to the forest.”

“Yep! I packed everything!”

Mark looked over to see his backpack ready for transportation. Her side of the bed was even made. He’d been wondering where her spunkiness had gone, but was at least glad it had come back before Oku. Having that as a weapon could make Oku think twice about staying away from Lawrence.

Soon they were checked out of the hotel and walking towards the other side of town to their final bus stop. Taking a bus only twenty miles would be considerably less out of pocket than it was to get to Stuggard. Thurnax was just over the ridge from here, though with the flatlands the ridge looked a lot further away than it should have. Another old bus rattled towards them, and they got on. The ride there was uneventful, but he’d rather have it be boring than surprise him…

Strangely enough the bus driver drove right past the Thurnax bus stop towards the forest. In minutes they were bumping up and down on an old dirt road at the very edge of the forest. Mark put his hands on his temples, this was all just bullshit wasn’t it.

When the bus finally came to a rattling halt on the rattling road the doors opened and the older woman they’d had as a driver vanished. As did the other person on the bus who was sleeping.

“Mark what’s happening?”

“We got conned I’d have to guess.”

Mark motioned to get off the bus and she did so, but immediately after he put both feet on the ground the bus vanished as well.

“Ohhh, a solid mirage then.”

“A what?”

“Some Youkai can make mirage copies of things, houses, cars, even humans themselves, which they then turn into solid mirages. As long as they have enough power to support the solid mirage it can act just like the object it’s portraying.

So then where were the Youkai that tricked them… Mark looked hesitantly around the trees. The longer he waited to be attacked the more scared he became. Finally, they heard a low rumbling noise coming from a bush a few feet away, and started to walk towards it. Mark was quickly becoming more terrified as the noise intensified into that of a bear’s snarl, and he could hear scratching as well, but he still quickly moved the bush away, ready to run at any movement.

What he saw under the bush could not have been prepared for however.

In the thicket was Doro and Gorgo from the first time Hato had met Lawrence fighting the spider.

“Doro?”

“Help me!”

Gorgo was asleep on top of the little guy, and they pulled him out from under the furry mass.

“That idiot fell asleep on the bus, didn’t even wake up when the bus vaporized! Sometimes!!”

“So you’re here to help us?”

“I’m not sure about help, but you didn’t have any idea where you were going right?”

“Well..”

“Who’s that?”

Mark felt as if he was intruding on old friends, like some sort of third wheel…

“Oh this is Mark! He’s Lawrence's and my friend. He’s helping find Oku.”

“The damn fox. She’s here alright.”

“Well we know that, but why are you two here?”

“Gorgo’s particular power is to sense negative spirit energy, and the source. We were both going to the same place so I gave you two a lift and I’m afraid the negative energy might be coming from Oku herself. I could use your help to be honest…”

“We’re both here for the same reason then!”

“Well not qui-”

“Mark let’s go! Where is she Doro?”

Doro looked slightly annoyed, put pointed a slimey hand toward the inner forest.

Once they’d started walking, Mark and Hato instantly noticed the change in the air. It was warmer, and the trees seemed as if they were starting to close in on them. Not to mention it was getting darker by the second. When they came upon a stream, Doro and Gorgo took a drink and Gorgo’s ears perked up. Doro raised his eyebrows and looked towards the direction they’d come from.

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“Yeah it would be best.”

Gorgo dropped down to all fours and raced off in the opposite direction, leaving a very confused Mark and Hato. They looked inquisitively towards the little salamander.

“Oh, he just… forgot something back there. It’ll be fine.”

With that, Doro started walking again. Finally, he stopped.

“This is it. The center of the forest. She should be here.”

Doro took out a small knife as his eyes darted around the trees.

“W-what’s with the knife?”

Doro sighed.

“Let’s just say that Oku’s changed quite a bit since coming here. Whenever we used to visit the forest, she was indifferent towards who came and who left. She was the most moderate forest spirit we’d ever met. To be honest, she didn’t really care about anything. It all changed just over a decade ago, when a moon bear came. They’re very dangerous, and suck up all the spiritual energy in an area. Strangely enough the once lazy and uncaring forest spirit fought the moon bear in an enormous battle that took many years. She could not defeat him until some humans took a trip here, and one of them was endangered by the bear. Somehow, Oku found the power she needed to expel the moon bear for good. At the cost of much of her spiritual energy. But she finally returned somehow just recently. Now she is much darker than before, and in the few days since she has returned darkness has festered in her mind. The forest encroaches on the nearby town and the undergrowth has become dangerous and terrifying. The plants themselves are trying to choke the life out of everything here.”

“No.”

“I’m very afraid that she is turning into something much more evil. If you can stop her I beg you to try, but it is very dangerous.”

“She cant…”

“Yes, she’s turning into an evil spirit. But if you’ll notice that I said she is turning into an evil spirit. We can still stop that.”

Doro looked towards the enormous tree.

“She should be coming out soon.”

Mark tried to see something within the tree, but there was nothing. Oku was starting to piss him off… He’d gotten here within a few days for that idiot Lawrence but now he has to fight her just for him? It was insane. He wasn’t a maid dammit.

Suddenly a hole opened up in the middle of the tree and a black mass poured out of it. Once it hit the ground it transformed into Oku, but she was different. Instead of her usual vermillion eyes and hair she had turned into some sort of black blob with white-blue eyes.

“She’s turning as we speak!”

Suddenly Doro jumped towards her, but his knife was deflected by one of Oku’s arms.

“How do we stop her Salamander!”

“Gorgo is the purifier! Without him we will be killed for sure!”

“Why the hell did you tell him to leave!”

“Trust me! Just hold her off till he returns!”

Mark and Doro were doing their best to fend off Oku, but it was a losing battle. Even in her normal form she could have easily overpowered them, and this was scarcely different. Mark was thrown against a tree trunk, followed quickly by Doro. Hato simply scrunched her brow.

“I don’t even know if Gorgo can bring her back at this point…”

“What! She’ll kill us!”

“I know I-”

Mark and Doro looked toward Hato because of the bright light emitting from her body. Doro realized what was happening, and ran forward as Mark looked on.

“If you use your mask for purification you’ll have nothing left!”

“I know. I’ll just be a little bird again. But that’s ok since I got to be with Lawrence, Oku and Mark. They were the best friends this little bird could have asked for.”

She looked down at them, tears pouring down her face.

“Thank you, but I would have been gone soon anyways.”

“HATO!!!!”

There was a large explosion of light as Mark heard a new voice, one that commanded the attention of everyone there. Even evil Oku looked over.

But it was too late. Hato had engaged the purification. An enormous dove came out of her mask, with feathers the size of Hato’s body. They wrapped around Oku and delved deep into the black mass. She clawed at them with all her strength, but to no avail. More feathers flowed from the bird until it’s light had gone out. Finally, a feather seemed to shine out from inside of Hato, and it laid atop the ball of feathers. A new light showed through the cracks, and it burst open to reveal Oku, back to her old self.

Galloping towards them was Gorgo, and on his back was Lawrence himself. Had he come for Oku alone?

Before he even made it to the clearing he was readying himself to jump off of Gorgo’s back, and when he got close enough he pounced towards Hato. Hato herself hovered gently to the ground, as beads of light floated off of her body. Lawrence reached her and propped her up, and he could almost see his hands through her.

She was disappearing.

Oku walked over, clutching her arm. She was beat up pretty badly.

“Oku. You-”

“N-no, this is not her fault. I gave up the rest of my mask because I had to do what was right to help my friend. Get along from now on, alright?”

Her eyes went back to Lawrence.

“What can I do!?”

She smiled and took his shoulders, leaning up towards him. Stunned faces were shared all around as she brought herself to him.

And they kissed.

“I want my friends… to never change…”

But she was gone.

Sitting in her place was a thin string and a dove. With shaking hands he scooped up the string, and cupped the dove gently. Doro rushed over to him and created a birdcage using his solid mirage ability, but nothing he said registered in Lawrence’s head.

She was gone.

The first thing he heard was Oku’s only word.

“No…”

He looked up to see her on her knees, tears falling from her face. How could this have happened? Because of his idiotic wish, that’s why. He’d lost his ability to see them. If he’d went with Mark and Hato in the first place… none of this... it would have never happened.

Oku looked him in the eyes. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She always did.

“This is not. Your fault. She… she doesn’t want us to blame anyone. But… we can get her back. We can… we can try.”

She looked in the birdcage at the dove, and at the string.

“There is some way…”

Lawrence was nodding in unison. There was a way.

Mark was still standing there. A Youkai had given her life for another. That was impossible. They… But it hit him.

They were like humans.

Some were evil, some were good.

Some were created to love others.

Some were created to misguide and trick.

But they were all absolutely insane.