Darkness. Nothingness. Formless void. Then, memories of searing pain, of being wrenched away from… something. She couldn’t recall what, where or even who she was. She wasn’t even sure if ‘she’ was right… although it was the first thing that came to mind after a sense of self. A feeling that ‘self’ was female.

She tried to recall more… and found fleeting fragments, shards of memory clinging to her like sand to a sea-tossed bottle. A sense of warmth, of light suffusing her. Of being compressed, boxed in, of too many bodies around her.

Emotion. Feelings of loss, grief, loneliness despair and bitter, bitter regret. A taste like ashes in her mouth, of stinging cold against her skin, followed by numbness.

She wondered, she had a body? … Or was that just a memory?

A voice! She wasn’t sure if she imagined it, or perhaps it was another memory, but she thought she heard someone! A male voice, one that felt familiar, comforting, words like warm blankets wrapping around her. Welcome, even though she had to strain to hear it, and couldn’t understand what was said.

Then a smell, warm, soothing… of sandalwood and cinnamon. She remembered that! That was her scent, her favourite incense! She had a favourite incense? Yes! She remembered how it was burned in.. in… and the memory faded away, like smoke in the wind.

Longing! She wanted to run after the voice, the scent… why did she remember sometimes going on two feet, and sometimes four? She tried to move, and felt as if her limbs were heavy, weighted down. Something rough scraped at her ankles… surprising her that she had them.

Curious, she moved, or tried to, and found she was bound at wrists, ankles and neck. Gradually, scant fractions of an inch at a time, she explored. The ground she lay on was rough, harsh and hard. Unyielding stone she thought. Her finger tips crept over the hands span of it she could reach. Finding roughly coarse dirt, and gritty stone. She could barely feel the textures, so numb with cold were her fingers, only sensing them by the resistance her fingers met as she skimmed over the surfaces.

Soon enough she felt exhaustion, a leaden burning in her limbs, and her mind blurred and slipped away again into unconsciousness. One blackness replacing another.

She awoke next to thirst, a burning sense in her throat, pain in her lips where they had cracked, and a desperate craving for something, anything liquid to slake her thirst. She licked the salty coppery taste of her own blood from her cracked lips, but it did nothing to satisfy her.

Then, oh blessed coolness! Soothing water trickling over her lips and down her throat. The feeling of smooth fabric against her face, and the sense that there was someone beside her.

“Who?”

She didn’t realise she was speaking aloud until she heard the thin reedy sound of her own voice. She could hardly hear her own voice, but from above and slightly to one side another woman’s voice answered her.

“Shhh.. drink… it’s the least I can do for you.”

She drank, drop by precious drop, until her throat no longer burned.

“Thank you. Might this one ask your name please. I cannot see you.”

“None of us can see in the dark. My name is...was... Kannon. I know you, you were Inari.”

Inari frowned. The name felt, right... but why could she not remember anything?

The mysterious Kannon continued.

“You are wondering why you cannot remember anything? Don’t worry, all of us have been through this as well. Most of us end up getting our memories back in the end… It takes a while, but you might recover sooner than most, since this is not your first time here.”

“It is?”

There was a rustle of cloth, and Inari surmised the unknown Kannon was nodding.

“Yes Inari. You were captured before, riven from your memories, and yet somehow you managed to escape. Our jailer was very upset… she vowed to get you within her grasp again.”

Inari sighed.

“It would seem she succeeded… where is this place?”

Kannon sighed, and her voice heavy with sadness replied.

“This is Yomi. Land of Eternal Darkness, Realm of the Dead, Domain of Izanami, Goddess of Death.”

Tremulously, Inari asked the obvious question.

“Am I… am I… dead?”

“You are. As am I and everyone else you might meet here. We are all dead, and there is no returning to the lands of the living for us.”

“But then, how did I escape before?”

Another rustle of soft clothing in the blank darkness, a shrug she guessed, and a soft sigh.

“That I do not know Inari. Only that you managed to be reborn somehow, and that Izanami swore that you would never escape her again.”

Inari moved her arm as much as she could, making the chains rattle against the stone floor.

“It would seem so… are you chained?”

“No, I’m allowed to roam freely. I tend to prisoners like you. It’s a torture Izanami inflicts on me, to be able to do so little to give them comfort, when I once was the goddess of compassion. To use that compassion to compel me to remain, even though I could leave. That said, it is all the same here. There is no peace or rest anywhere.”

Inari smiled, even though Kannon couldn’t see it, she hoped she would hear it in her voice.

“It’s enough Kannon… I feel better already thanks to you.”

She felt Kannon grip her hand and squeeze it.

“Thank you… although it humbles me that you would show compassion to me, of all people.”

Inari chuckled, albeit rather hollowly.

“Well, it sounds like you need it most. That’s a cruel torture indeed she has inflicted you with. Um… just… why is she doing this?”

Kannon sighed.

“I’m not sure I should tell you… you’ll remember soon enough anyway and it’s a heavy burden to know.”

“Please Kannon. Not knowing anything is harder still! Have mercy on me.”

Kannon chuckled, although tinged with sadness.

“Very well, as you asked. Izanami is envious of life, or the living. She is one of the Eight, the first god and goddess couples to appear. She died giving birth to the God of Fire, burnt from the inside out. But Kami do not die easily...and as she descended into darkness, she resisted dying and created this place Yomi. A place that is between life and true death and the nothingness of the void.”

Kannon paused, and sighing continued.

“Her other half, her brother Izanagi descended to Yomi to rescue her, but when he saw her corrupted, decaying form, he rejected her, and returned to the world of the living. She swore then that she would destroy a thousand of his creations, living beings, every day, and he swore that he would create a thousand and five hundred a day, defying her.”

For a moment Kannon paused, and Inari could hear the clunk of a wooden ladle against the sides of water pail. Then she felt the touch of the ladle against her lips, and she drank once again.

“Careful… too much will chill your stomach and give you cramps. Anyway, as I was saying. Ever since then Izanami has hated all of the living world, and most of all the other Kami that came after her, even those of other domains and lineages. Her goal is simple, she cannot leave Yomi, so she’ll drag everything else down here with her.”

“But.. how?”

“I don’t know the details. I only know that she was somehow able to merge The Celestial Realm, where I was residing, with Yomi. The eternal sun died, and darkness fell across our realm of the spirit. As it did, we died, our divine pearls were torn from us and was consumed by her. Our souls she spat back out, and we found ourselves here, powerless and without memory at first.”

Inari slowly nodded.

“I… remember a little. I was alive, a living goddess in the realm of the mortals. I died, and woke here. I don’t remember being here before. All of what you’ve said is new to me.”

Kannon hummed under her breath for moment, thinking.

“That makes some sense… she has often ranted about being unable to reach you, even as she used her stolen powers to watch you. She seemed, content, to let you exist as a mortal and to die a mortals death. Although I am told that she has been incensed about something you and your Herald were doing lately. Something that had upset her plans, so she was no longer content to wait for you to die.”

“I wish I could remember what that was...perhaps it would be helpful now.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Perhaps? But whatever it was, she’s furious.”

“Kannon, could you perhaps help me get out of these chains?”

“I...I.. dare not. She would be furious, she’d punish us terribly! Better to remain where you are. Be quiet and she’ll perhaps continue to ignore you. I can come by every day, give you water and food…”

Inari shook her head, the chain around her neck tugging at her.

“No… I remember. If you eat the food of Yomi you can never leave.”

“But.. why would leave? Why fight? That way only leads to suffering. Far better to give in, to lay quiet and unnoticed.”

Inari growled, softly, but still..

“Coward! Is this what the Goddess of Compassion has become? One who counsels supine cowardice? A reed that bends to the slightest breeze?”

“Reeds bend, but they do not break.”

“Fine prattle for a weak and spineless one. Free me, and with me the others held here. Let us rise up against Izanami and end her tyranny!”

“No.. nooooo!”

Inari heard the sound of something hard meeting flesh violently, and a wrenching scream that ended abruptly.

Then, after a terrible silent moment, a new voice whispered in her ear. A voice that came with the rank stench of decay and death.

“Already causing trouble Inari? Such a disrespectful daughter.”

“I am no daughter of yours Izanami!”

The laughter that echoed around her tiptoed on the razor edge of madness, leaving Inari wishing she could cover her ears to block out the scraping harsh sound.

“Oh Inari. Inari… how much have you forgotten since you were last here? Yes, you are my daughter, and my great-great granddaughter, at the same time. You were born twice… once from my loins, and once after you escaped into another creation of mine, the nine-tailed fox spirit, dislodging it’s soul and changing it’s nature. But you left something behind my dear! I ate your divine pearl once before, and now I shall savor consuming this new one you’ve grown so very soon. But only after I use it to lure in those other goddesses you created. So fresh and tender they will be! Barely even budding into their powers! Ah… a fine, fine delicacy for the very last. After they return their divine seeds to my wellspring, then there will be no more Kami to annoy me and get in my way. Then I can begin to finally make my dear beloved husband and brother Izanagi’s creation my own! And once all is Yomi, and mine, I shall chain your darling daughter Kami next to you and have that insufferable herald of yours gutted and strung up above you, so you might slake your thirst with his blood dripping down on you, and feast on his dangling entrails once you grow hungry enough!”

Inari spat in the direction of Izanami, wasting precious moisture even as it satisfied her anger momentarily.

“You are mad! And my Herald will rescue me, unless I escape first.”

“Rescue you? Oh I do so, so very much hope so! I’m counting on it! And on him bringing those succulent young goddesses with him to help, since he is just a mortal… I am so looking forward to that! Well that and sucking the marrow from their bones! I might even permit a tiny bit of light to exist, just long enough that I can see their expressions turn to despair and agony! That will be a fi-ii-ine treat to celebrate the opening of the final act!”

Izanami laughed, and laughed.. until her voice was more of a harsh maniacal cackle fading into the distance along with her footsteps. One that Inari listened to, using the echoes to give herself some idea of her surroundings, even as her heart filled with a chilling, black despair as she realised that as mad as Izanami was, she was also cunning and intelligent with it.

Long after even the faintest echoes of Izanami’s mad laughter had faded Inari did the only thing she could, she thought. The obvious solution was that she would need to escape, once again, and before her Herald came to rescue her.

She remembered him only vaguely. But one thing was crystal clear. She loved him, and would do anything to prevent him coming to harm. That she remembered like a soaring flame in the darkness. She tried to remember other details, his appearance, the sound of his voice...and she felt oddly ashamed that other than a sense of warmth and comfort, nothing came to mind.

A faint scrape sound off to her left, jerking her out of her contemplative state.

“Kannon, is that you? Do you still live?”

A bitter laughter echoed around the stone chamber they were in.

“You ask me that, here of all places? No I’m dead, of course. But that mad...person, hasn’t destroyed me yet.”

By the sound of it, Kannon spat, and there was the faint clink of something hard hitting the floor.

“Although by all the gods… I sometimes wish she would.”

“Can you move at least?”

Kannon sighed, heavily, ending in a bubbling sound followed by coughing. Once she was able to, Kannon answered.

“I think I can, slowly. She broke my ribs, but since we don’t need to breath that’s less important than the broken arm.”

“I am sorry Kannon, your injuries are my fault. But I need your help freeing myself from these shackles.”

Kannon’s voice was resigned, and Inari could hear a dragging noise as she came closer.

“Inari, either you are very stubborn or you weren’t listening. I can’t free you, I have no power.”

“You can pick the locks, they’re real enough they should yield to physical means.”

There was a moment’s silence from Kannon, they she heaved another bubbling sigh.

“I can’t… but I might know who could. You need Eugenides, the Egyptian God of Thieves. From what I’ve heard, he was born a mortal, or demi-god perhaps, and only became a god after he became a thief, and stole from the Well of Immortality. He perhaps might remember how to pick a lock…”

“But… what would an Egyptian God be doing here?”

Kannon sighed.

“We’re all here. Didn’t you hear her? You and your daughter Goddesses are the last, of all of us. She’s done the same to the other Divine Realms as she did to ours. And we are all in her prison now.”

Kannon sighed once again, and Inari could hear her dragging footsteps moving closer.

“Although that means I’m in for a long walk on a twisted ankle because there are an unholy number of deities and somehow I’ve got to find one minor one among the hundreds of others… Um.. I’ll be back Inari, probably not soon. Just stay quiet while I’m gone. Not all of us are chained up, as Izanami likes to let some of the really nasty ones roam free and hunt the rest of us. So try not to do anything that would attract their attention. You wouldn’t like meeting any of the Mayan gods of the Underworld. Some of her favorites, she even allows to borrow a little of her power, since they are also Death Gods.”

Softly Inari whispered.

“I understand. Instead of a fox, I’ll be quietly scared little bunny, hiding in the grass. Will you be safe?”

Kannon chuckled dryly.

“As much as I ever am. Even Death Gods need patching up from time to time, and since none of us can heal ourselves, they rely on me and my old knowledge of how to heal without divine magic. I will go back to my chamber, patch myself up, and then set off. I’ll make sure someone is here to tend to you. The water is safe enough to drink, but you’re right about not eating the food unless it comes from outside. Offerings, that sort of thing. But very little of that comes here now. The mortals have forgotten us I hear, and no-one makes offerings to dead gods now.”

“My Herald will.”

“Then if anything appears next to you, that should be safe enough I suppose. It’s all an metaphor anyway, but it should be real enough to sustain you. Depends, do you hear him at all?”

“I.. I think so. I heard someone’s voice, faintly.”

Kannon sighed.

“Yes, I remember that. As long as his devotion remains, you will hear him and his offerings will reach you. For a while anyway. They forget us or die eventually as their magic runs out.”

Inari frowned into the pitch blackness.

“I..I feel that my Herald is different. He will die before he forgets.”

“He’s a Herald, whatever reserves of magic he has will be used up and he’ll fade away without you to sustain him. As did all of ours.”

Inari shook her head slightly.

“No...that’s not right. He’s...He’s a mortal! A man, and one of honour. And I love him!”

“A mortal?! You made a mortal man your Herald, and fell in love with him!? That breaks almost every rule! Only you would do such a mad thing Inari! But… that gives us a faint spark of hope then. He may yet live long enough that you may escape.”

“If I can’t, he will come and rescue me.”

“A mortal storming the gates of the Underworld? For his sake, I hope he does not. He will die, if he’s lucky. If not.. well you heard Izanami and what she’ll do. That is, if the hungry spirits that roam outside these walls don’t devour him first.”

Kannon heaved a sigh. Inari heard her struggling to her feet and, dragging her injured leg, start to walk away.

“I’ll go and find the God of Thieves for you, and see if he’s as mad as you are… remember, don’t eat anything unless you’re sure it’s from the land of the living.”

“How will I tell?”

Kannon laughed slightly, some distance away.

“You’ll know! Everything here tastes and smells like ashes! Even burnt offerings smell better! I will send someone to you, you may trust her, but it would be prudent to share your offerings with her. But be warned, the smell of real food may well draw others and they may not be inclined to ask nicely. So the sooner you and she consume any offerings, the better.”

Inari nodded, and then as the halting footsteps started to fade, she called out.

“Wait! Kannon! Can I talk to my Herald if I hear his voice?”

For a moment Inari feared Kannon hadn’t heard her, then her voice came faintly.

“You can’t. None of us ever could. The dead cannot talk to the living.”