“I am a powerful god, who threatens the land with his very presence! Or at least I was until the title was taken away from me…”

“You’re a god?”

“Yes! The god of the winter winds!

“So what happened to make you lose that status?”

“The blue cloaks! They stole my key to the palace!”

“You were locked out of your palace?”

“No! They took away my key which allowed me to open up my portal to my realm where the palace is.

“Ah, so powerful Youkai have their own realms.”

“Yes! And I’ve been stuck here for years! Luckily I am more than capable of turning into a human, and was hired here! I expect that if I am able to get enough money, I can buy a large quantity of sake. If I can do that then maybe the gift of sake will be enough to get me back into the palace.”

“Your plan is bribery… Why don’t you just talk with them, to clear up the misunderstanding?”

“I wouldn’t be able to find them unless they were lured out with the smell of sake. There’s no way they’d talk to me if there wasn’t any.”

“Jeez what did you do to them?”

“Nothing! Rinko simply wanted my power, and threatened my followers!”

“Alright so all I have to do is talk to... the bad guys?”

“Nyeh, do what you want. Talking to them won't work though. I shall keep making money for sake.”

“Um… ok. I’ll try my best.”

“You do that.”

That “god” was absolutely baffling. One moment he’s spurting nonsense and the next he’s begging for help. Then only a few seconds later he’s acting like it doesn’t matter and he didn’t need help in the first place? Definitely not a regular god.

So putting the sparse facts together… it seemed like this Rinko had staged some sort of overthrow of the god, and sealed him out of… some place, his palace. So he couldn’t get back unless he lured them out and captured someone to bring him back to the palace.

He felt a cold breeze on his back.

He didn’t even ask what they looked like.

They could be as small as mice and look like blobs for all he knew… He would need assistance.

Oku was sleeping on the bed, probably just his blanket covering her, and Hato was watching something on Holoflix. When he walked in the door Hato smiled towards him and greeted him.

“Hey what’s up!”

“I’d rather you don’t try to get hip Hato.”

“What’s hip?”

“Nothing. Anyways, I met a god who was tricked and had his palace stolen from him. He needs help getting it back.”

“Again with the helping strangers Lawrence?”

Oku sat up in the bed and looked down at him, covers falling off her body. Lawrence’s face went red and he stuttered.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Y-yes. He needed my help after all.”

“Well… how does one help this god that can’t solve his own problems?”

“He said that sake could get them lured down from the palace and he planned to capture one as it got the stuff. Then he would force it to bring him to the palace.”

“So it is in a Youkai realm…”

“Fine, let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“To get their side of the opinion. Did he say what he was the god of?”

“The god of the winter winds.”

“High and mighty huh…”

She climbed down from the bed and stood next to Hato, who took one of his coats and put it on Oku, face red as well. Shameless. She then stretched her hand out in front of her towards the wall. Closing her eyes, Lawrence started to feel strange, and upon looking at his hands, saw they were glowing similar to when he first drank the energy drink. He blinked, and saw grass beneath them.

“What?”

“Welcome to the Fuyu Palace.”

‘What? How did you get us here Master Oku?

“You know I’m pretty damn powerful don’t you Hato?”

“Well yeah but… transferring us to a private Youkai realm that the god of this area couldn’t even get to without a free entrance…”

“Well at least we found a way inside. Now what?”

“Of course we should simply go up to the door and knock.”

Which they did. To answer, a short round Youkai that looked kind of like a snowball answered.

“What is your business at the palace!”

“I was talking to a god that says you stole this palace from him, know anything about that?”

They heard scurrying and quieted shouts, but no response came.

A vein popped in Oku’s temple and she looked at Hato.

“Get me over there.”

Hato, looking threatened, spread her wings and carried Oku to the top of the wall. She jumped down and from the outside Lawrence could hear stifled yelling and chaos. A few seconds later it died down and Oku opened the front gate.

“Time to go talk to this new king.”

“New king?”

“The snow things were yelling it as they retreated into the palace. He’s probably quite powerful.” He was able to expel a god after all. Lawrence didn’t want to see Oku fight anything, so he prepared to use his tactful diplomacy to win over the new king.

They crept around the palace until Oku found the room with the most spiritual energy in it, and prepared to attack. The door crashed open and inside they found all the snowballs cowering behind a golden throne. Sitting upon the throne of gold was… a snowman. It actually looked like three of the snowballs sitting on top of each other. Like three kids pretending to be an adult.

“So this is the new king hmm? Looks like an easy fight to me.”

Oku brandished her fangs, which sent the snowballs even further back towards the wall.

“W-who wishes to speak to the king!”

Even in his terror the snowman attempted to act as if he was in charge. Oku, looking to stir the pot, started to say something. Lawrence didn’t want to start anything, and interrupted her.

“Sir we are looking into a charge against you. I met a Youkai that attests to you having stolen this palace from him, and he claims to be the god of the winter winds.”

“That old… I mean, I know not of the god you speak of!”

“Oh really?”

Oku took a few steps toward them and put her hands on her hips.

“Somehow I think you may be lying to me. Is this true?”

Finally, one of the snowballs stepped forward and began to spill the truth.

“He is the god of the winter winds! But you don’t understand, we had to get rid of him!”

“Seki! Don’t tell them that!”

“But if I don’t, nothing will change Koro!”

The snowman sighed, and took his seat back down on the throne, preparing to tell the story.

“I was the god’s chief of security. Most literally his second in command. However, we have been here for thousands of years. Every one of us knows every crack in the floor here, every tree, flower and creek that runs past the palace. Yet none of us could explain why the god was going insane… Until now that is. Rarely does the god or his followers return to the mortal realm, but last year, we did. The only thing we found was a hard rock surface where the shrine used to be! Then I discovered that his worship had ended years ago. He was a god without followers, and a god without followers is no longer a god. He is failing.”

These words made Oku stop in her tracks.

“He’s failing?”

“What is failing?”

“Failing is when a god’s worship ends, and they slowly die from lack of belief master! Every Youkai knows that!”

“Yes. In today’s day and age not many still pray to the gods, and one by one the real gods are dying off. Most Youkai are not powerful, but immortal all the same. Gods are created from belief, and are very powerful. Sadly, once that belief ends, so too does their power, and their lives.”

“Expelling him from this palace would be like me throwing my grandfather out in the streets. Why would you do that to him!”

“Lawrence, it is not that simple. Once gods start to fail it is irreversible. And he could end at any time. When a god ends…”

“So too does his dominion.”

“You mean…”

“Yes, when he dies, this place will be gone forever. With his presence gone, he will not have to see it’s decay. But we will be here until the end.”

“Can’t we-”

“No. There is nothing to be done. Please leave us to our final days in peace. And please let him live his days out in peace as well.”