It had been quite a good plan, Paul thought, right up to the point where it wasn’t.
Izanami had emerged from the onsen, wrinkled like a pickled prune as she’d predicted, from soaking in the hot springs all night. She was she’d said, just barely strong enough to divide her Pearl despite the long soak in the mana super-charged waters. Kiko had examined her and agreed, although she’d shook her head and murmured something about chi blockages and less than ideal mana flows.
Paul had decided, in the spirit of not taking on too much at once, to leave that problem for another day. However, it did mean they had to act fast as Izanami wouldn’t retain her ‘charge’ for long. Just as if she had a worn-out battery.
It was quickest to summon Kate and perform the transfer in Inari’s hall, since there was just barely enough energy to do so and no time to waste. The transfer of prana from Izanami to Kate went without a hitch, and Kate transformed from a somewhat misty looking shade, to being painfully real and alive looking.
Something must have shown in his face, Paul thought, because Kate had been down-right brisk! Especially given that there was something of a chance that she wouldn’t survive what was to come. Her possibly final farewell had been a fierce hug and then she’d run for the door into the Beyond. Kiko almost didn’t have time to unseal and open it ahead of her.
Paul had gotten a glance of the swirling chaotic mass of light and colours that even he couldn’t find words to describe, and then Kate had dived into the void head-long.
Which was when it all went sideways.
There had been a fraction of a second when Kate had just vanished, swallowed up as if she’d run into thick smoke… and then the dizzying maelstrom of shapes and colours had lit up pure white, with an intensity that rivaled an atomic blast. Paul had thrown his hand up, and found he could see his bones though his flesh despite his eyes being closed.
There had been a moments searing pain...and then nothingness.
Now, he lay on his back, long lushly green grass ticking his ears, staring up at an impossibly blue sky, past cherry blossoms that seemed to glow with their own inner light.
He was quite certain he was dead. Finally.
Thinking about it, he mused, they’d all forgotten to take into account that Kate was in fact, technically part of him. She and he were inextricably linked, bound spirit to soul. So, when she acted as a lightning rod for a universe’s worth of raw energy free-floating in the void, it had grounded through him. Or at least, so he thought.
It was hardly unexpected then that it had killed him, and he’d found himself, rather to his surprise, in some sort of Paradise. Or at least, that’s where he surmised he was. It certainly wasn’t anywhere he recognized, and it was altogether too perfect to exist in reality. There wasn’t even any cicadas with their annoying sound to ruin it.
Paul yawned and stretched, finding himself for once free of any sort of pain. Even the persistent crick in his neck he’d had ever since an ill-judged jump from a roof-top in Kathmandu, was gone.
He sat up and looked around. He appeared to be in a walled garden, the sight of a red tiled roof above the treetops some distance off hinted at a house nearby, and though a round gate in the white stucco wall he saw the golden shimmer of field of ripe rice, or possibly wheat. Briefly he remembered the ending of the movie Gladiator… and a quote from that movie;
‘If you find yourself alone, riding in the golden fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!’
Paul shrugged and decided not to be troubled by it all. With no real conscious decision made, Paul got up, only mildly surprised to find himself dressed in his ceremonial Heralds robes, and made his way in the direction of where he thought the house was. He wasn’t hurrying, since there really didn’t seem to be any point in it any more, but it wasn’t long before his aimless amble led him to a gravel path and over a rustic bridge spanning a koi pond filled with fish that shone like slivers of golden sunlight. Beyond that was a single story mansion in the traditional Japanese style. The sort of place that a well-off older samurai would retire to, or some minor lord would have as his country home.
A fragrant waft of something cooking caught his attention, and he was slightly surprised to find himself hungry. Still, he supposed, he clearly could enjoy earthly delights even if he was dead, so why wouldn’t he be hungry as a prelude to a good meal?
It didn’t take him long to follow his nose and find the kitchen… although the short walk through the house seemed to indicate that there was no-one home. He wondered if perhaps this was his own personalised heaven, and thus empty of anyone else?
That thought filled him with an aching sense of loneliness, that felt like part of his soul had been hollowed out and left empty.
For a moment, as he stood on the threshold of the kitchen, he caught the familiar scent of jasmine and fox musk again…
Sighing, hopeful, he called. “Inari?”
In that moment he felt as if she was standing just behind him. That indefinable sixth sense of presence that had served to save his life on more than one occasion, warning him that someone was there…
Paul turned on his heels, but saw nothing and no-one. He bit his lips, thinking. Wherever he was, it was somewhere betwixt and between, as was Inari from what he’d gathered. But they were like two radio stations, overlapping but not quite on the same frequency.
Closing his eyes and focusing on his feelings for her, he called once again; “Inari, Inari, In-ar-i!”
Again he could sense her, close enough to touch almost, Without opening his eyes he reached out and grabbed… and his fingers closed around cool smooth flesh, his hand closing around a slim wrist.
Desperately he pulled her to him, and found himself stumbling forward as she didn’t move. He heard her gasp as he semi-fell against her and opened his eyes to behold Inari’s heart shaped face with her sharply angled almost vulpine cheekbones and large golden eyes staring into his, framed by silver-gilt hair the colour of freshly threshed rice. He was somewhat surprised to find she was no more than an inch or two shorter than him as well.
She didn’t look much like her physical body back in the temple, but she was unmistakably Inari, and she was warmly alive and obviously shocked as he pulled her into an embrace hard enough to leave her breathless.
“Oh My Herald! What have you done? How can you be here with me?”
Paul laughed, burying his face in her long hair that glowed as if filled with her own personal sunlight.
“Who the hell cares? Through dangers untold and perils unknown I’ve fought my way though Death’s kingdom to you! What’s one last step into the afterlife in comparison? Being dead is nothing as long as we’re together!”
Inari punched his shoulder lightly.
“Who told you, you were dead?”
Paul blinked.
“Um, no-one? I just sort of assumed I was. You know, got hit by what felt like a nuclear blast, then woke up in what looked like a tailor-made heaven free from all earthly pains and ills… sort of a big hint you know.”
Inari stared at him, a bemused and somewhat fondly exasperated half-smile on her lips.
“Paul-tan… do you not think I would know if you had passed away? Did it not occur to you that I would feel your death, My Herald, who’s very soul is bound to me? Believe me, you live still.”
“Ah… good point. Honestly, no. Ok then, still alive… yay. Understandably a bit confused however, but in my defense it has been a tad bit hectic since you died. Haven’t really had time to find my balance mentally.”
Inari smiled and rested her forehead against his chest.
“I gathered… I was astounded to see you earlier. In all of history, no mortal has successfully broken into Yomi and rescued a soul there, and you forced your way in with an army and rescued everyone.”
Paul shrugged,
“Well, I did have help… and I’m not entirely sure it counts as a successful rescue. Things didn’t go according to plan at the end there.”
“No, I suppose not.. still we escaped, and found ourselves here. Is everyone that was with you well?”
Paul nodded.
“Yeah… more than ok in some cases. Um… look if I’m not dead, does that mean you’re not dead as well?”
“Of course not! I’ve told you before Kami are hard to… mmmph!”
Paul silenced Inari by kissing her, relief and joy welling up him and demanding to be expressed. Initially startled, Inari responded to his emotions and pressed herself against him, ardently answering his unspoken demand.
After a long moment, they parted in a mutual need for air. Paul cradled the back of Inari’s head with a hand while she rested against him.
“I missed you. I realised I was being incredibly stupid once I thought I had lost you.”
“Took you long enough hannii… and I am so very glad you are here.”
“Um.. that’s a point, where is here?”
Inari laughed, shaking her head.
“Welcome to the Celestial City my Herald…”
Tearing his gaze from Inari, Paul looked up..and his eyes went wide. They were standing in what seemed to be a banqueting room, in some sort of Palace. All around them people, who on second glance Paul was quite sure were other Kami, were sitting at a low traditional table, politely pretending not to see Inari and him.
“Oh… looks like I’ve arrived at a bit of an awkward moment. Sorry.”
“Oh no, I’d say your timing was perfect. We were meeting to discuss what had happened and how we found ourselves suddenly here once again, after being trapped in the Void. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
“Ah...Um, yes actually. I may have had a bit to do with that.. you know, just a small part.”
“Of course darling… well you can come with me and tell me, and Amaterasu Ōmikami, what you know.”
Paul swallow, hard.. “Um.. isn’t she like the Big Boss?”
“I wouldn’t call her that, not to her face, but yes.”
“And if I remember correctly, she’s sort of your mother, right?”
“More like Oldest Sister, but yes. She’s dying to meet you, the mortal that has stolen my heart, become my Herald, and somehow resisted my advances … until now.”
Paul nodded slowly.
“Yep. I’m in trouble aren’t I?”
“No more than usual Paul-tan..”
“Oh. Crap.”
Amaterasu was alone in her private town house when they found her. Inari explained that although all the major Kami had apartments in the central palace of the Celestial City, some also kept smaller private residences in the surrounding city, alongside Divas, Earth Spirits and other such minor nobility and powers. Paul was rather surprised to find out that they still existed, but apparently many of the minor Powers had escaped Izanami’s attention during her hostile assimilation of the Celestial realm into Yomi, and had eked out an existence among the wreckage until everything had been restored.
Privately Paul couldn’t help thinking that they’d need a not-so-small army of therapists to cope with that amount of trauma, if his experiences with refugees was anything to go by. But he resolved to consider that matter later.. perhaps organising something with Kiko.
Amaterasu was a stern looking older matriarch, ageless in appearance but she definitely had an older sister vibe about her as she looked down at Paul kneeling before her.
“So, you’re the mortal who dares to call yourself a herald and has claimed my Imoto’s heart?”
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“In my defense, neither of those was my idea.. but yes.”
Inari standing next to Paul rested her hand on his shoulder.
“I have found that it is rather unwise to use the word ‘dare’ around my Herald, sister. There is very little he would not dare to do… including defeat Death and restore us all.”
Amaterasu pursed her lips as if biting into a sour persimmon, but reluctantly nodded.
“That is so...and we owe you a great deal mortal. But it is not seemly for one of such lowly status to be Herald to a first rank Goddess.”
Paul stiffened, fearing the worst, but he felt Inari’s grip on his shoulder tighten and he held his tongue as the senior Goddess continued.
“However, since my little sister wouldn’t listen to me and set you aside, and even if she could be made to, I have no doubt you would make war upon the Heavens in retribution, I shall resolve the matter by granting you a singular honor in recognition of your efforts in saving us all. Henceforth, you shall be promoted to the rank of Sage, the highest that a mortal may hold while alive, and will become an honorary member of the Celestial court where you may continue to serve as Court Herald.”
Paul blinked, and for a fraction of second considered his reply… deciding to go with the more temperate polite version.
“I give my thanks Your Divine Majesty… but I cannot in good faith accept such an honor.”
Paul’s ears rang from Inari’s and Amaterasu’s startled “What?!”
“Firstly, it wasn’t entirely my efforts alone that brought about this restoration, and I cannot claim credit for the work of others. They deserve their own recognition and honours. Secondly, I must decline the honour as I intend to remain as Inari’s Herald for good reason, because thirdly... ”
Turning to Inari, Paul shifted so he knelt on one knee, looking up at her.
“Inari Ōmikami, would you allow me to remain by your side as your Herald, as well as do me the great honor of marrying me?”
Inari stared in shock at Paul for moment, her whirling thoughts and conflicting emotions plain to see on her face.
“Oh..my.. you do understand that I can only be as I am?”
“I do, and would still love you as you are. I’ve always loved you, even though I couldn’t say it before now.”
“Then yes, YES! And a thousand more times yes!”
“NO!”
Paul without looking away from Inari’s shining, happily tear streaked face, slowly stood up and remarked.
“Amaterasu.. out of respect for your rank I will say this politely. Do not place yourself in my path. I can see through your scheme to separate us. But I have fought Death Herself to be by Inari’s side. There is nothing that I will permit to stand in my way now or ever. So if you value your life, do not cross me.”
“You..you threaten me? You, a mere insignificant mortal, dare to..”
Inari interrupted the beginning of her sisters tirade.
“I believe I have mentioned the inadvisability of saying those words, sister mine… Paul-sama is no mere mortal, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. Also if you were to set yourself against him, I am confident that you would find yourself standing alone… as I and every other Kami owe him a life debt, and would be standing with him.”
“But..”
Paul chuckled.
“But nothing, you said it yourself, I am no mere mortal… did you not just confer on me the rank of Sage?”
“Yes, but that is not the same thing…”
“I am reminded of another being that held the title, sort of… Sun Wukong, otherwise know as the Monkey King or the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.”
Amaterasu’s face grew florid and she seemed about to burst.
“I would never grant you such a title!”
Paul shrugged.
“So be it… I shall go talk to the Chinese Jade Emperor instead and see how grateful he is for being restored. Their pantheon should be around here somewhere, right Inari?”
Inari nodded.
“They are, that’s one of the things that has changed. They’re all here, like islands floating in the void, and there are bridges that link us all. The first few days we had visitors from every pantheon seeking answers…”
Paul nodded.
“Yeah… that’s Kate’s handiwork no doubt. She always imagined that it was something like that. We should really go see if she’s survived as well. Shall we Inari?”
“As you wish, I’d like to see if Kannon, Macha and Eugenides are well. I owe them greatly.”
Amaterasu stomped her feet, yelling.
“Stop ignoring me! I say again, I forbid this marriage! It’s against all tradition! It’s... it’s indecent! Unheard of! I tell you, you shall not… eek!”
Paul took two steps towards her, and grasping her robes lifted the irate goddess off her feet. Noting that she seemed to have become considerably younger in her anger..
“Do you really want to make me angry? Because you are, slowly. Stop behaving like a petulant child, and grow the fuck up!”
“Unhand me! I am not a child!”
“Then stop behaving like one. Or else, since you’re so keen on tradition, you’ll be punished as they used to do back in the day!”
For a still moment Amaterasu glared at Paul, then slithered down inside her robes a bit as she regressed until she seemed to be about eleven or twelve… suddenly one of the bits of trivia about her age waxing and waning like the sun made much more sense.
“I will not allow this marriage! A Kami, marrying a mortal? It’s unthinkable! I am Amaterasu, First Goddess of the Sun. You wouldn’t dare lay hands to me!”
Behind him, Inari covered her eyes with her palm, as Paul slowly smiled…
“Oh, I wouldn’t dare, would I? Shall we test that theory?”
Paul unceremoniously picked Amaterasu up under his arm and started to walk towards the nearby throne. Amaterasu gestured, evidently intending to defend herself...and nothing happened. Paul took in the look of confused dismay on her face, and smiled evilly as he sat, and placed the struggling young girl across his knees.
“What are you doing! Put me down you ape! No, you wouldn’t..! Sister! OW!!! Help me! Noooo! Ow!ow!ow!”
Inari couldn’t help herself, she started to laugh, as her bossy older sister finally got the long overdue spanking she richly deserved.
---------
Some considerable time later, a very sleepy and sated Inari lay curled up naked against Paul’s side in her bed back at the temple’s inner sanctum.
Inari’s return, reincarnation into her mortal body, which ended up resembling her Goddess form now as her spirit reshaped it. Her subsequent reunion with Kiko had been both tearful, and passionate… and Paul had done his best to ignore it until Inari had taken his hand and pulled him into a three way embrace.
Things had progressed from there, albeit with a minor interruption from Shoko who had tackle-hugged Inari as soon as she’d saw her up and about, and had to be persuaded to let her go so the adults could have some alone time together.
Paul lay on his back, thinking he could perhaps get used to this arrangement. Which was really just as well. He somehow doubted he actually had a say in the matter anyway.. and he’d need Kiko’s help to keep Inari happy. After all, when all was said and done he was only human, although apparently, no longer mortal.
It had turned out that somewhere along the way, somehow, he’d gained immortality.
Amaterasu had rather sulkily consented to his engagement to Inari in the end. Once she’d calmed down, she’d explained she was only concerned for Inari’s long-term happiness, and being wed to a mortal was a recipe for heartbreak. This had led to Paul being examined by Ōkuninushi, the former God of Terrestrial Matters and the Keeper of Records in order to determine his life span, and that was when they had discovered to everyone’s surprise that he was in effect immortal, rendering Amaterasu’s argument invalid.
Irked, she’d ordered Ōkuninushi to examine his Book of Records, The tome in which all mortals fates were recorded. In order to determine how he’d become so. But they’d discovered that Paul’s fate had been inked out and replaced with a single line, written in English in Kate’s hand, taken from Paul’s favorite poem; Invictus.
‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’
Paul knew then, with the slightest doubt, that Kate had been responsible for his changed mortal status. Perhaps as a parting gift to Inari as much as to him.
Considering the matter now Paul carefully rose, causing Inari to protest sleepily and curl up against Kiko instead. Paul briefly thought that he and Kiko really needed some time to figure out boundaries and sleeping arrangements… later though. Throwing on a robe, Paul padded barefoot out into the outer temple and went and sat on the steps.
Casually he remarked to the air.
“Ok, you can come out now. I know you’re there Kate.”
Kate sat down beside Paul, passing him a can of beer, condensation just beginning to form on it, seemingly just there, solid and real, with no hint of her arrival.
“Congratulations Paulie.”
Paul clinked his can against Kate’s and nodded.
“Thanks… and thanks for the wedding gift I guess. I hope there’s a way to reverse it should I ever grow tired of immortality.”
“Sure, just give me a call. Although I doubt it’ll be any time soon knowing you. There’s a whole new realm out there to explore, full of new things… and Inari will keep you feeling young.”
“..and tired.. but yeah. Nice work on the Celestial Realm 2.0 by the way.”
Kate grinned and buffed her nails against her sleeve.
“What that little thing? Nah, I just threw it together.”
Paul chuckled, shaking his head.
After taking a long pull from his drink he asked.
“So… are you doing ok?”
“Do you mean, am I still me and not going mad? I’m ok… being the Goddess of Death isn’t so bad actually. I’ve been hobnobbing with the other gods and goddesses. Turns out, I am literally the only Death Goddess still existent. Izanami was a jealous bitch and utterly destroyed any that might be seen as a rival. No coming back from what she did to them. But yeah.. I have a soul now..I’m still figuring out who I am, apart from the obvious that is.”
“Figures. So, uncontested title then?”
Kate nodded, sending her scarlet curls tumbling. Paul frowned slightly, she seemed marginally different, like someone had turned up the color saturation on her. Her skin was paler, almost a translucent milky blue/white, even her hair was a hue that had previously only come from a bottle and her eyes outshone any emerald he’d seen. But mostly, she was completely, utterly and vibrantly alive. Even just sitting there, can of beer in her hand, clad in a familiar pair of ratty blue jeans, battered hiking boots and red plaid shirt tied up to expose her midriff, he could feel the way her presence subtly bent the world around her.
Besides, she’d brought a couple of cans of draft IPA beer he knew wasn’t made any more. It was a small miracle, but left no doubt in his mind. Kate was fully a Goddess now.
Kate sighed.
“Wish it wasn’t though. I’m going to be so busy.… and that’s not just me trying to avoid you and your little harem. I’ve got a whole realm to sort out. Yomi is a wreck right now, thanks to you and your friends, and it’s the only ‘underworld’ left, so that’s all I’ve got to work with. I’m almost tempted to ‘promote’ Izanami back to minor deity, instead of leaving her stuck as a mortal, and put her in charge.”
“Hmm, so she’s stuck as a mortal? Couldn’t you create a new Land of the Dead, make her a Goddess again and put her in charge?”
Kate shook her head.
“Nope, used almost all the available energy recreating the Celestial Realm. Maybe in another thousand years or so I might have just enough to create a new realm from scratch, but for now I’ve got just enough left in the tank to deal with a second-hand fixer upper, and that is it. Besides, I think it’d be safer to leave her as she is, don’t you?”
Paul nodded.
“Fair enough. Something tells me you’ll do ok at it though… It sounds weird saying you’ll make a great Death, but you know what I mean.”
Kate chuckled.
“That I do… um… Paul, can I ask a question?”
“Of course, what?”
“Well… the other kami want to know are they still needed. I mean, they were gone for a long time, and the world kept on going along just fine without them.”
Paul looked at her curiously, to which Kate just shrugged.
“I said I’d been talking to the others, all of the pantheons, making sure I’d got it all right for them. They wanted to know, but didn’t know who to ask. So I said I’d ask you. They accepted that.”
Paul nodded his understanding and sat for moment, staring off into the distance as he thought about it. Eventually he leaned back and sighed.
“Honestly… damned if I know really. I know in some ways humanity as whole doesn’t need gods and goddesses… certainly not for the everyday stuff. But do we want them? Yeah, I think so.”
Paul had the sudden sensation of being watched, of being the focus of a great many gazes… as Kate quietly asked.
“Are you certain Paulie? I mean, many of the Kami think they should retreat to their own corner of the Celestial Realm and have nothing more to do with humans… but should you still need us…?”
For a moment it felt as if the universe was holding it’s breath, awaiting his reply. Paul leaned back, and stared up at the night sky.
“We’re a young lot still, us humans. Prone to making mistakes and bad decisions. We can be short sighted, and don’t think about the long term consequences of our actions always. Or even see the bigger picture at times. So, yeah, we need someone to guide us, to remind us that time is deep and the world is big, and what we do can have repercussions beyond anything we even can imagine. So, yeah… we still need our gods I figure!”
Paul could sense the overwhelming out pouring of joy, and happiness. Smiling he realized that as much as humanity needed the Kami, the Kami needed to be needed still, otherwise what was their purpose?
Laughing gently Paul called.
“Alright everyone, don’t think I don’t know you’re all listening in! On behalf of humanity, you have an open invitation to drop in whenever. We might be an insolent, stubborn lot of rambunctious children at times, but we do still want you around and could do with your help! But for now… I need you all. Who else am I going to celebrate getting engaged with otherwise?!”
Paul didn’t need any kind of sixth sense to hear the laughter, and as the courtyard filled with the soft light of multi-hued lanterns, and tables groaning under the weight of a feast appeared as one by one, in couples and laughing groups, the gods and goddesses of all the many pantheons imagined by humanity arrived once again on Inari’s mountain.
After a moment a sleepily bemused Inari, wrapped in a bedsheet, came and sat on the steps next to Paul. Paul passed her a drink without comment as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
“What is going on?”
“Equal parts engagement party and ‘yay we lived’ party. Hope you don’t mind, I invited your family, and it seems they brought some friends...and then the rest of the Celestial Realm seems to have gatecrashed.”
Inari stared at the mingling deities of dozen different religions, and shrugged.
“Well… at least it’s going to be interesting from now on! But you do know they’re going to come to you from now on, every time they need some dispute or other settling?”
Paul sighed…
“Drat, no I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t suppose you can revive your system of messenger foxes can you?”
From above them came a familiar voice.
“I can do that!”
Paul looked up, just in time to see Shoko plummet down from where she’d been sitting on the temple’s roof and catch her.
“Are you volunteering to run messages to every Pantheon in existence Shoko-chan?”
Shoko nodded enthusiastically.
“I am! Because Mother Inari needs another Herald, someone else besides you Paul-sama, to be helpful. And I am Shoko, the helpful little fox spirit, that’s what I do!”
Inari laughed as Paul shook his head in wordless amusement. Then Inari addressed Shoko with a smile.
“Alright then junior Herald your first duty to me is to go and introduce yourself to the other Kami and after that...well, go and get some rest because there’s a ton of work to do tomorrow!”
Shoko hugged her mother hard, beaming from ear to ear. Then turning she ran, darting from one being to another, pausing to bow and introduce herself, before running off to the next, leaving bemused but laughing gods and goddesses in her wake. Watching her Paul and Inari sat back, leaning against each other and laughed until their sides ached.