Japanese myths spoke of a third race apart from the demonic and the divine. A race of creatures that couldn’t be revered as gods, nor feared as demons. They were neither good nor bad. They were something different. No one knew where they came from or how they existed, but they permeated the world on a much deeper level than humans could begin to comprehend.

Perhaps they had always been there. Maybe even before humanity moved from cave walls to pen and paper.

Walking among them like specters, they permeated everything. The air, the earth, the lush green grasses, these beings of spirit blended seamlessly into the World, becoming part of everything living and inanimate. Their world ran parallel to the human world, and it was between these borders that these beings kept traveling in and out as one would through open doors.

They were strange. They were ethereal. They were the yokai, and they didn’t exist.

Yet, Lukas Aguilar was currently sitting in a room with one of them. Staring at her.

How had his life turned upside down like this again?

“It is fascinating how facts keep getting twisted by the passage of time,” Inanna whispered. “You must tell me someday what your myths say about me.”

…I’m not sure that’s such a great idea, Lukas thought back. Seriously, what was he going to say? The macabre sight he had seen through Inanna’s eyes had been very different from what his grandfather’s texts said. Maybe when this is over.

“I will hold you to that.”

Roger that. He felt her confusion rise. Uh…I mean, I promise.

“Yokai,” he mumbled out loud, his voice coming out a lot hoarser than expected. After spending all this time digesting the fact that he had a real goddess living in his head, Lukas thought he’d have been more accepting of the existence of entities from other mythologies.

“You’re…yokai.”

As it turned out, he may have overestimated himself.

Solana’s eyes brightened. “So, you recognize the name. Interesting. I presume your kind has heard of us.”

Lukas gave her a slow, silent nod.

“Not surprising,” she said. “Since our arrival in this World, we have interacted with a great many civilizations and pantheons. The jotunn, the vanir, the svartalfars.”

He did his best to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor as he cudgeled his brain to make sense of what she was saying. Jotunn? Vanir? The Aesir? There was no doubt whom she was describing. If they existed, then Alfheim, Vanaheim, Svartalfheim… The branches of the Yggdrasil, the great ash tree that transcended the World. They were real, and the world around him had interacted with them on—

“Focus.”

The mental slap from the resident goddess brought him back to the present.

“Interesting,” Solana murmured, crossing her arms. He could see calculation and thought in her dark eyes, faster than he could follow. “You recognize them. Whether by firsthand experience or hearsay tales, it doesn’t matter. You know what they are, and what they are capable of.” Her teeth gleamed. “And it terrifies you.”

Lukas clenched his fists. Is she a psychic?

“No. Your face is simply as open as a book. And the term is psion, not psychic.”

What’s a psion—

“Focus!”

“I’ve heard of them,” Lukas said after a moment of consideration, “just like I’ve heard of the yokai. That said, this is the first time I’ve encountered either.”

Or came to know they’re real, for that matter.

“Indeed? Then your realm must be among the ones that revolve around this World. Or perhaps you come from the other side of the Boundless Sea. Our ancestors forbade us from ever crossing it, so we know very little about the other side. Are you certain you’ve never heard of the Empire?”

The Asukan Empire?

“Can you tell me about the gods worshiped in the Empire?”

Solana’s eyes darkened. “Even the mere mention of their name is forbidden in our lands, but in the interest of our discussion, I reluctantly shall. The Asukan pantheon is large, varying, and ever-growing. It has a multitude of deities, several of which are originally from other pantheons but had to settle for a lower berth.”

“And they agreed to that?”

The yokai commander shrugged. “It was either that or extinction.”

Divine politics, he thought to himself. Why am I not surprised?

“The highest echelons of the Divine Council only have room for the Big Three. The children of the Primordials themselves.”

Lukas swallowed.

“The God of Storms, Susanoo. The Moon God, Tsukuyomi. And finally the Goddess of Eternal Light—”

“Amaterasu,” Lukas murmured, registering the dark look that flickered over Solana’s face for a fraction of a second. “Right?”

Her mouth turned faintly up at the corners. “You know of our kind, but do not recognize us. You know about the Yggdrasil but have never encountered it. You are terrified of the gods of different pantheons that have ruled this World for eons, but know not of the Asukan Empire. Quite the confounding creature you are, Outsider.”

“One of my talents. It makes my Outsider powers grow when others give me these confused, blank looks.”

Solana gave him a dry stare.

“Well, this has certainly been an illuminating conversation, but I believe you wish to know why you’re here.”

“The thought did cross my mind,” Lukas replied, “but I didn’t want to steal your moment.”

Solana turned her face up toward the ceiling and barked out a laugh of genuine amusement.

“I have a few guesses,” he continued, “and I think they’re good ones. The food and lack of restraints were a tip-off. That and your words right before the fight, proclaiming my status as an Outsider. Something tells me that the term means something to you as more than just someone who intrudes into your property. Then there was that odd behavior from your people after I decided to give them a show.”

The wispiest shade of a smile line graced the corners of her eyes. “Ah. You have a certain amount of perception, then.”

“I used to think so,” Lukas said. “But the more I experience life, the more I realize how clueless I am. Because honestly, I can’t think of a way I can help you apart from being a lab rat for possession immunity.”

Her eyes wrinkled at the corners. “You are right. It means something. Tell me, do you believe in prophecies?”

Lukas leaned back, flummoxed. “I…haven’t dealt with prophecies before, but I think…I hate them? They’re all cryptic warnings whose only true meaning can be figured out after the event is over. All it does is make people believe in its nonsense and act upon it in certain ways that trigger events to happen exactly in the order as defined in the prophecy. It’s the worst kind of self-fulfilling crap.”

People made new choices in every moment of their lives. The idea that somehow, the outcome of all those choices, those infinite futures, could all somehow have a common confluence that could be divined with the help of obscure tools was simply too fantastical to be true.

As were gods and goddesses and yokai. But here he was.

“A rather cynical viewpoint,” Solana murmured. “But one I can appreciate, for once. You are full of surprises, Aguilar.”

“It’s hard not to be an overachiever.”

Solana let out a long-suffering sigh. “In the interests of efficiency, let us return to the point. Around a millennium ago, the yokai kingdom faced the might of the Asukan Empire in an all-out war. We…we lost everything. Our lands, destroyed. Our people thinned to small pockets scattered across the world. Our relics were taken away and stored in the Empire’s treasury. Our gods…killed. Even our own realm, Ikai, once a bright star of Potential, now stands fragmented and splattered across Asukan lands, infiltrated by their filthy hands as Asukans continue to pollute and exploit our resources.”

“Asukans,” Lukas noted, “not bremetans.”

“Hardly a difference,” Solana sniffed. “Any bremetan that follows the Asukan religion and worships Amaterasu’s might calls oneself an Asukan.”

Which implied that there were those that didn’t. What gods did they worship? Aesir? Vanir? Yokai?

What do you think? Lukas mentally asked.

“She spins a fine yarn, but all I hear are words.” Inanna scoffed.

It’s rather odd. Solana strikes me as someone confident in her own power. To beg someone else and portray herself as weak—

“Makes you think that this ruse is real?” Inanna snorted. “Often the greatest lies are ones that hold a sliver of falsehood in an ocean of truth.”

…Point taken.

“I see,” Lukas replied to Solana, rubbing his eyes.

Solana nodded. “Our legends speak of an event. The emergence of a certain individual... one that would unleash something tremendous. A power that can undo everything that has happened to us. It will bring about The Hour of the Great Calamity. Oumagatoki.”

‘Night of a Hundred Demons.’ It was a concept that had grown popular with the rising attraction for Japanese mythos and culture in mainstream media. Lukas had always thought it to be an imitation of the Proto-Germanic ‘Wild Hunt’, given their thematic similarities and shared emphasis on carnage brought about by mystical beings.

But if the Nordic gods were real... and the yokai were real...

Perhaps the Night of a Hundred Demons was real too?

Maybe, just maybe, Oumagatoki and the Wild Hunt were the same thing, seen through the lenses of two different mythologies. It was like how multiple myths referenced the Great Flood in one form or another.

“I get it,” Lukas replied, shaking his head slightly, “but why are you telling me this?

“Because”—Solana spoke with that same unnerving intensity—“I—or rather, we have a strong suspicion that this individual might be you.”

Lukas couldn’t help himself. He rose from the chair. “Seriously? I’m your prophesied Outsider? That’s why you’ve gotten me here and given me the prisoner version of five-star treatment? I’m just from a different world, like the nine worlds of Yggdrasil. I’m not your fabled hero of legend, woman. Give me a break!”

“Sit.”

“Next thing you’re gonna tell me is—”

“Sit.”

Lukas sat down. Or rather, his body did without his permission.

“Neither your disbelief nor your attempt at levity will alter the course of events.” Solana spoke in a low, tense, whisper. “You are no Hero. I do not think you can even be one. The prophesied one isn’t the bringer of Change. He’s simply the—”

“Key,” Lukas finished. “That’s what you called me the other day.”

“Yes. And we have strong reasons to believe it is you. So you see, there are two ways which we can do this.”

“Oh yeah?” Lukas asked. Truly, a master of repartee, he was.

“Indeed. Either you listen to what I have to say and we will decide how that shapes our plans…” She placed her hands upon the table, palms downward. “Or I will slice your throat open and see if your unique talents help you survive. Either way, the debacle will end in this very room.”

She said it in a scary way, without any melodrama to it at all. It was the way most people would say that they needed to take out the trash.

And Lukas believed her. There was no doubt in his mind that Solana would kill him. She’d do everything in her power to guarantee his demise. He doubted even his soul would ever be allowed to escape this place without being malformed in some way.

In the spirit of academic interest…Lukas thought.

“No,” Inanna replied. “Accepting my power has its perks. But in this form, my power is limited. Even if I were to use everything, the sudden influx of my Truth would alter you horribly. You would become your worst nightmare.”

Lukas believed her too. Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea…and both had their ultimatums thrown at him. He exhaled and met Solana’s eyes, speaking as calmly as humanly possible. “Join up or die. Not the best opening for a business deal.”

“I don’t do business with cattle. I eat them.”

“Eating me will give you indigestion.”

“I’m willing to risk that.” Solana laughed. “Are you? I’d rather you hear our side of things before you die needlessly.”

Lukas doubted that Solana’s version of need matched his own.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Tell me about this legend.”

Solana closed her eyes, as if searching her mind for the legend in question. He watched with growing confusion as she concentrated hard. It was like someone had fudged her mind and she was having difficulty trying to remember…

Whatever it was she was trying to remember.

Lukas wondered what could possibly do something like that to her.

“I presume it is similar in function to my Veil of Ignorance. The information is sealed away, even from her conscious thoughts. A rather useful tool. Mortal, should you agree to their proposition, ensure that you learn this art. I demand it.”

In exchange for what?

The goddess’s surprise lasted an entire second. “A tool like this would be invariably useful in preserving your secrets. Gain it or not, it is your choice.”

Damn. Lukas frowned. Still, having a skill like that would be wonderful. That was when he noticed the painful expression on Solana’s face.

“Um, do you need to use the bathroom…” he began.

“Wait…” she breathed. “I have it. I have it. Yes…” A spark lit up her eyes. “I will not entrust the entire prophecy to you, so I shall share a small part of it. There are two—forgive me, three signs that our ancestors left for us to help identify that individual when it— when he comes. He’d be neither Asukan nor Yokai, but hold power over both. He’d unleash the power that would cause Oumagatoki. And he’d have the power to End the world.”

Lukas went through her words in his head. “That…is a very vague set of statements.”

Even if he were to assume it applied to him, that meant he had some power that allowed him to dominate both races. He doubted it’d be something as simple as channeling fire-mana without being possessed, or the pendant’s ability with language translation. No, the only thing that stood out was—

“My immunity against possession,” he murmured. “That’s the power you think I hold over your kind.”

“Can you deny it?” Solana demanded. “Spiritual predation has always been our choice of weapon against bremetans. But somehow, you are not only immune to it, but can also seamlessly consume your predator’s soul. I imagine this is how you acquired your command of fire.”

Lukas nodded.

“It could also be your nature as an anomaly, or your future as someone under my vassalage,” Inanna suggested. “Both of those avenues grant significant power against these beings.”

He considered that for a moment, before a different question troubled him. Why was Inanna so interested in all this? He had half expected the goddess to try to bring him into a new bargain while getting him to fight his way out of this place.

“On the contrary, I am exhilarated by this opportunity. You are merely too simpleminded to see it.”

What do you—?

He shook his head. He could get into long-drawn arguments with the goddess later. Right now, he needed to focus on this. He pushed himself off the chair and walked toward the wall on his right. Walking always had a way of clearing his mind and helping him focus better.

“Let’s assume you’re right,” he began, his eyes boring into the wall. “Even then that’s only one side of the coin. I have never encountered an Asukan before, assuming the ones standing outside are quintessential specimens of the race.”

Solana cackled. “Hardly. But this much, I can tell you. To be an Asukan is to be a tamer. A collector. One who grabs what is not theirs, and binds them into servitude. Sometimes it is a monster, and others, a spirit. Even lesser creatures of our own kind are bound to follow their whims.”

Inanna chortled.

…What? Lukas mentally asked, dumbfounded by her reaction. That seemed to make her laugh even harder.

“Do not trouble yourself,” the goddess replied mirthfully. “Just know that you have much to hold over those pesky creatures. And if you play your cards well, you stand much to gain from them as well.”

If you say so.

“I do.”

You realize these yokai won’t really let me go, right? Even if this legend is true, and even if it really applies to me, all I see is one giant trap. I don’t care for these people or their wars. All of this is just to keep me on their side and use me to accomplish something. Worse comes to worst, they kill me before the other side can get their hands on me.

“Well elucidated,” the goddess replied. “Naturally, I expect better, superior treachery on your part. I want you to squeeze everything you can get out of them before leaving them out to dry.”

Lukas almost snorted. Why did he expect anything different? This was Inanna. If there was anyone who could spot a profit in a hopeless situation, it’d be her.

Let me guess… You want me to double-cross them before they double-cross me? While sticking to following their instructions and gaining everything that I can gain?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Is it not quite the game?” Inanna asked, chuckling. “I’d have enjoyed such a thing had it happened to me.”

This time he really snorted. Out loud.

Solana arched an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Lukas replied. “Just reflecting on how things ended up for me. And before you even get the idea, I don’t have any sort of world-ending power.”

“Not now, perhaps,” Solana grinned, “but in time.”“Why?” Lukas demanded. “You have literal gods on both sides. Why would an Outsider even matter? Surely you don’t think that I’m powerful enough to…” Lukas froze, realizing the irony of what he was about to say. “Challenge a god?”

“Because no god can end the world. It goes against their very existence. Even ending part of the world is a Sin grave enough to obliterate entire pantheons. Trust me, I’d know.”

“She speaks the truth,” Inanna interjected. “Gods are terribly powerful existences. But with their terrible power also comes certain stringent limitations.”

“Which is whereyou come in,” Solana went on. “A god cannot end the world, but—”

“With the Key, one might.” Lukas murmured.

An icy shiver ran down his spine. Even if the Empire was half as bad as Solana was painting it out to be, and even if she had relayed to him the truest version of events, Lukas couldn’t help but be reminded that he had been drawn into a war between those that looked and felt human, and the monsters of the night.

And he was standing on the monsters’ side.

And the ironic part of it? It made him feel like he was defending a criminal in court.

Still think it’s a golden opportunity?

“Very much so,” Inanna whispered. “As long as you do not do anything monumentally stupid.”

You say the sweetest things, Lukas thought back, and then considered the situation again. Trying to weasel out was not an option. Nor was getting angry and fighting his way out. Ignoring everything else, Lukas focused on what he had just learned.

He thought about what he’d received from Solana so far. The manner in which he was given these things. What they meant to someone that was definitely an alien, and didn’t necessarily operate from the human “common sense” he was used to dealing with. He thought about what “equivalent exchange” meant to her, and to himself. What he represented. Who he was. What he wanted. What Solana wanted. The means of transaction for their deal. What was on the table? What wasn’t? What could be safely removed? Factoring in pride—both his and her own.

“Let’s hypothetically agree that I am indeed this…Outsider, as you make me out to be. That perhaps I do have some apocalyptic power that even I might not know of. What does that mean for me? I’m assuming you have something more to offer than the ‘join me or die’ approach you tried earlier.”

Solana steepled her hands together on the table and rested her chin upon her fingers. “Some would say your continued existence is incentive enough.”

“Ridiculous!” Lukas retorted dryly, turning his back against the wall. “Pay me in something I’d naturally need to even be of any help to you? Not exactly how business should be done.”

“This feels nostalgic.”

You did say that she’s a woman after your own heart.

“I see,” Solana murmured after a long period of silence. “And what do you expect in return?”

“Equivalent exchange.” Lukas crossed his arms. “I’m not dumb enough to reject you to your face and try to walk away. And I don’t think you’re foolish enough to think you can scare me into being loyal. What about a compromise? You spoke of employment earlier. Certain tasks, perhaps, in exchange for favors?”

“And what would these favors be?”

Lukas slowly sauntered back to his chair and sat down, his eyes never once leaving hers. Eye contact was very important in negotiation. His lips quirked up at the edges. “Surprise me. You said I’d stand to gain a lot if I sided with you. Is it too much to ask for a sampling of goods before we shake on it?”

Solana stared down at him for several seconds. “You don’t even know what your task is.”

“Does it matter?” Lukas shrugged. “We’ve established that I don’t have any lost love for you or your kind. Now either you can force me into following your orders—which could probably work, but only because you’d force me to do it. I’d have the initiative of a statue. Or, you could show me what I stand to gain by staying on your side. That way you know that I won’t screw you over.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “You speak a lot for someone with less-than-stellar skills, from what I’ve seen during that battle.”

Lukas smirked. “Then get me an opportunity to elevate them. You seem to have quite a following. Perhaps they’d be interested in helping their Key far better against the big, bad Empire?”

“I didn’t peg you for the greedy kind.”

“There’s a saying back in my world,” he replied with a sly grin. “Greed…is good.”

Solana eyed him thoroughly. “Very well,” she said, finally standing up. “Follow me.”

As the two slowly walked to their destination, the surrounding space soon became washed with mist, damp and foggy, covering the terrain as far as the eye could see. The pale, dirty-white shade made it impossible to peer through it. There was no up or down, no left or right. Nothing but an endless void of shadowy mist.

Lukas squinted. Still nothing. He hadn’t learned how to augment his senses using lifeforce yet, but a little attempt couldn’t hurt. All he needed to do was pump a little lifeforce into his system and—

His words escaped him midway, as he stared at…the thing in front of him.

What was initially a layer of shadows interspersed with each other was now a shade of bright neon pink. Confused, he looked to his right at a particularly dark shade of chocolate that gave a curtain-like appearance to the entire area. He returned to look at the original place and found it now changed into a light shade of teal. He had barely managed to turn his head toward his left when a metallic-blue line shot out of nowhere straight toward him. He stepped back, but instead of finding ground, his left foot dug deeper.

Into water.

Or something that felt like water.

But how? Was he standing in a pool? His right leg didn’t feel wet, yet his left—

Something rippled beneath his feet.

I—I’m not standing in a pool. I’m standing—he looked down, but found nothing but a greenish mist—I’m standing on water. Walking on it. But…how?

Lukas frowned. Analyze.

Insufficient Data.

Scan.

Pre-registered prey within Scan Radius.

Lukas knew what it was talking about. Or rather, who.

“Welcome, Outsider,” Solana murmured as she stood beside him, her posture one of complete nonchalance, “to the Haze. A shredded reality that was once part of our true World—Ikai.”

“The Haze…” Inanna murmured inside his head. “An apt description. A world with broken laws, broken rules, and broken Truths. A has-been that would have fared better by constricting back into itself, or…”

Or?

Inanna’s voice felt uncertain. “Or it could have fused with a singular creature and become something new.”

Like me.

“Precisely. This is sprawled out, tearing through a different world like the roots of a tree that no longer breathes. Existing for the sake of existence and nothing more.”

Lukas blinked. So…it’s useless? The thought felt odd. Why would Solana show this to him if it was? Was she banking on his unfamiliarity with this world? If so, she was in for a rough awakening.

“Nothing is truly useless. Especially in my capable hands. But this all-pervading mist is indeed a remnant of the past and nothing more.”

Huh, Lukas noted. “Well, I suppose Haze is an apt description,” he said aloud. “I don’t see anything except random colors. And phantom water. Not exactly my first choice for a first date.”

Solana shot him a very mildly suffering look. “You realize I can kill you on a whim, right?”

“You’ve repeated that point too many times in the past hour to forget.”

“And yet, perhaps not enough.”

“I’ve been called thick-headed before.”

She clucked reprovingly and took a step forward. Eerily enough, even though there was no real light in this place, he could see her. Her face, her eyes, even the little buttons on her overcoat. It was as if the multicolored mists only cared about occluding him from the rest of the environment.

“Why am I here?” he finally demanded. “I thought you wanted to show me something?”

“This is that something. An ever-expanding reticulum that gnaws through reality itself. The rules of space do not exist here. If you know how to, you may use the Haze as a spatial shortcut. You could travel from my base in the desert to the Graken Mountains for breakfast, make it to the heart of the Empire for lunch, and be back by supper. Political boundaries, geography—the Haze cares nothing for them.”

A spatial shortcut? An intra-world wormhole that could be used to travel around in this world with impunity? With this, he could be anywhere. Accomplish nearly anything. The fact that such a thing even existed was just so—so—

Unreal.

“You expect me to believe that such a facility exists, yet this Empire somehow has you cornered?”

“The Haze is of the Other, and only those of the Other can access it,” the yokai commander replied without the slightest inflection in her tone. “It is what has kept us from being hunted to extinction by the Empire’s Cobalt Army.”

The mysteries continued to deepen. His world didn’t have Potential, yet it seemed like it was frequented by visitors from other realms. Could that have been what led to the surprisingly high quality of architecture and scientific progress that showed up from time to time in the past? The pyramids of Egypt? The Philosopher’s Stone of ancient India? Was he going to find that the real Atlantis was lying around here somewhere?

Questions. So many questions. And every time he got close to an answer, all he found were more questions.

“If this Haze is only accessible to your kind, it’s worth nothing to me.”

“True.” Solana nodded sagely. “But you are different. You are the Key. One who has successfully absorbed three of my kind and gained parts of their powers. It is possible that with practice, you might be able to access it.” She looked almost wistful. “Perhaps you could even rise out of your mortal shell and transcend into spiritual form, traveling across the Haze without care or consideration.”

“I’d very much advise against it, mortal,” Inanna warned. “Remember, your body—”

Belongs to the omphalos, Lukas thought, his lips twisting in disgust. I know.

“Something displeases you?” Solana asked.

“…It’s nothing,” he replied. “But I still don’t see what I stand to gain from all this. I mean, I haven’t even seen the world. Rising out of my body could be a cool trick, but I happen to like staying physical.”

“Suit yourself. But for now…” She lifted her right hand and extended it out to him. “Give me your hand.”

“Uh, I need my hand. Both of them.”

Solana shot him another look.

Lukas gave his surroundings a sidelong glance before putting his palm on top of hers. She grasped it, and a tidal wave of disorientation, dizzying but not unpleasantly so, scrambled his sense of direction. He felt a breeze on his face, a sense of movement, but he couldn’t tell whether he was falling or rising or moving forward.

The movement stopped, and the whirling sensations passed. Thunder rumbled again, very loudly, and the surface he stood on shook with it. Light played against his closed eyelids.

“Open your eyes.”

Lukas opened his eyes. And staggered.

A sudden rush of impressions stormed into his mind. It tore at his perceptions, flooding them with random images and smells and sensations. It was like standing in a sandstorm, only instead of inflicting pain, every random grain forced you through an experience, a memory, so disjointed and intense and rapid that there was nothing to hold onto. Overflowing lava burnt his skin while the coldness of the frigid tundra settled on his fingertips. The earth shook as hills and plateaus rose out of it while tides of a hungry ocean wanted to sweep him away and tear him into nothingness. Lightning streaked across the skies while a calming breeze carried the scent of flowers to his nostrils. The images doubled, redoubled, multiplied into thousands of separate impressions all coming at once.

They hammered against his mind as Lukas tried to keep his own identity from being sandblasted away by these foreign sensations.

And then—

And then they were gone.

He was back in the shadowy mists.

Lukas gulped, then glanced at the poisonously lovely, black-haired yokai that was looking down at him. Down, because he was currently on his knees, his heart pounding like it wanted to complete a lifetime’s worth of beats in the next hour.

“What,” he panted, “the hell was that?”

It made Solana smile. “Those were what we call kami, Aguilar. Manifestations of the elements themselves. Parasitic beings that cannot evolve without a Host, and are tremendously attuned to the elements themselves. You already have an element within you. Should you be able to finish your first task, I shall grant you access to a kami of your choice and allow you to devour it. Provided you can.”

“You’d have one of your own devoured just to keep me on your side?” Lukas cringed, as his voice came out unsteady and quieter than he’d have liked.

“I would.”

“Why?”

“Does that matter?”

“The reason always matters.”

The yosuzume’s gaze stayed on him, unblinking. “Kami are blessed with tremendous elemental affinity, but that comes at the expense of their nature. Or rather, their incompleteness. You cannot stop a kami from trying to possess a Host in hopes to steal its Soul Capacity any more than you can keep a fire from burning things. Asukans take advantage of this.”

That got him interested. “How?”

“There exists a way. A…ritual, harnessing the powers of Amaterasu’s Eternal Light. It allows them to lure kami out, and trap them. Force them into becoming their pet beasts.” Solana’s eyes glittered, anger showing for a moment, cool and far away. “They pervert our kind and use them to fight against us.”

“How is my devouring them any different?” Lukas challenged.

“Simple. You will use their powers for our benefit. Not the Asukans.”

“I could grow to like this girl,” Inanna crowed.

Why don’t you two marry each other?

The goddess laughed at his complaints. “The poor dear. Thinks she can have my vessel for herself. Mortal, make sure you don’t kill this creature by mistake. I want to do it myself and relish every moment of it.”

…You’re pretty weird.

“And you are a mortal.”

Lukas chuckled inwardly. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder just what it was that Solana wanted him to accomplish as his first task. She could paint it to be trivial, but he knew that the yokai considered him as a potential weapon, a priceless asset against this Empire. And one did not waste a potential asset on trivialities.

“Just what is this task you want me to accomplish?”

Solana’s features shifted subtly. They became paler, more like marble and less like something that belonged to a living human person. “What I have in mind is straightforward. I wish for you to seek the core of this anomaly and destroy it.”

Lukas blinked. Destroy the core? The omphalos? Was that even possible?

“Crafty.” Inanna applauded. “Very crafty. Destroying an omphalos of something this large is an act of grave Sin. The moment you do it, you are a Sinner in the eyes of every god out there. Had this been in Akkad, you’d have been exiled from the Empire. I imagine things have not changed much in this regard since then.”

This is the second time you’ve mentioned that. Sin. Faith I get, but Sin?

“What of it?”

You said the demonic employed Sin to do its bidding, right? Unless you’re telling me that killing an omphalos turns the killer into some kind of demon—

“It does not turn you into a demon, but it is as good a start as any. A demon is the opposite of a god. Both shed their mortal origins to become an embodiment of the powers they manifest. Whereas a god is supported by the world, sustained by the faith of their worshippers, demons are reviled. They seek shelter in the Great Dirge. They are Those-that-Wait-in-Darkness, growing stronger each time a mortal cries out in fear in their sleep. Every moment of dread, every bit of Sin, it beckons them. Calls for them to come. To ravage and undo everything until the World has returned to the black, empty void that predates Creation.”

Everything fell in place. The moment Lukas performed an act of Sin, the Empire would no longer be an option for him. Solana and the yokai would accept him with open arms. Even hand him a kami to devour. They’d help him grow strong, while slowly feeding him with negative ideologies about the Empire until he’d be able to consider them as an enemy. And just like that, the Outsider would be theirs.

But can I even—

“Yes,” Inanna cut him off. “Now listen. This is what I want you to do.”

He did. She told him.

“Well?” Solana demanded, when it became clear that he wasn’t going to reply. “Are we at a consensus?”

“Yeah…” Lukas trailed off, digging into his left ear with his pinky. “I’m not so sure about that. I don’t know about you, but the monsters I’ve fought so far have been crazy fast and strong. If you want me to go toe-to-toe with the strongest monsters in this anomaly, I’ll need more than that. I need skills. Proper skills. Fusing with that kasha gave me this fire-casting ability. I want you to get me someone to help hone it.”

She held up her hand. “I do not make a habit of paying for things before they are done.”

“You’re telling me to risk my life because you decided this overgrown anomaly is an annoyance to you, yet you can’t even be bothered to prepare me for it?” Lukas countered. “All this Haze and kami stuff means nothing if I end up getting killed. You wouldn’t want your Outsider pawn to die so soon, would you?”

“It seems I have misjudged you, Aguilar,” Solana replied coldly. “You seem to have the Asukan talent of haggling over things that do not belong to you.”

“I’m shacking up with soul-twisting parasites,” Lukas replied with a shrug. “I can’t live in fear.”

Solana’s eyes darkened by several shades, and her lips twisted into something that was almost but not quite a smile. “Well then…I seem to have my work cut out for me, don’t I? It’s time we leave.”

“Where are we going?” Lukas asked.

“Back.”

As she said those words, the world around him faded and Lukas found himself back in the same room where he had been sitting with her a while ago. Only he was sitting on the chair, all alone, with no one else in the room. Solana had left to arrange matters for him.

Lukas exhaled with relief. The black-haired yokai’s plan had been a good one. She was betting on his lack of knowledge about the world to trick him into becoming a Sinner. Had it been someone else in his position, the plan would probably have even worked.

He was new to this, yes, but he wasn’t ignorant. There existed an entity in the deep recesses of his mind that far exceeded Solana in experience, power, and knowledge. A reflection of a goddess that had her plans in motion and would not allow Solana to ruin things for her.

Plus, he was an anomaly. An exception to the rules. Where any other creature would have committed a grave Sin, him consuming the crypt’s omphalos would be a case of anomaly eating anomaly. Cannibalism, as Inanna put it, would not incur any Sin.

But Solana didn’t know any of that, which was why she’d probably agree on letting him gain some skills before he left for his mission. After all, it wasn’t like he’d have anywhere else to return to.

Wrong.

Lukas closed his eyes, his face morphing into a serene expression. Solana was partially right. He wouldn’t be using those powers for the Empire. But he wouldn’t use them for the yokai either. He’d use them for himself. It seemed fitting, and almost poetic since the legend didn’t call him a yokai savior.

It called him an—

“Outsider.” Solana walked in, with a male creature in tow. “This is Ryu. You will be under his tutelage until he deems you at an acceptable level for your task.”

Oh, to be back in grad school again, Lukas thought to himself as he eyed his new helper.

It was a kasha—not the lean, feline female he had fought earlier, but a kasha nonetheless. It was a man in his fifties, medium build, just shy of six feet tall. He wore an outfit similar to Lukas’s own, minus the shirt. Droplets of dark reddish-brown stained one side of his face. Just like Quonnan, he had thick hair running down to the bottom of his spine, but the color had dulled to brown.

As he approached closer, Lukas was able to glean more details.

The kasha had a brand on his throat. One of his eyebrows was missing, and almost the entirety of his tail looked like it was crafted of metal. He approached Solana and bowed before her.

“What are my orders?” Ryu asked.

“He is our Outsider,” Solana replied, her voice almost gentle. “He has demonstrated an affinity for Quonnan’s powers. Your job is to help him recover her skills, and have him combat-ready before he starts on his task.”

“To what degree am I permitted to act?”

Solana’s sharp white teeth gleamed. “You may indulge yourself.”

The man’s mouth twisted into a wide, dangerous smile of its own, and he bowed his head toward his leader.

“And now”—Solana turned back to face Lukas—“Ryu will make sure you are not so easily captured like you were by my yurei earlier.”

Lukas swallowed but did not say anything. Instead—

Accessing Monster Prototype Array

RACE

ENERGY CORE

Yurei

Mana (Ether)

Reiki

Mana (Ether)

Kasha

Mana (Fire)

“I see,” Lukas replied, the memory of being overwhelmed by those monsters resurfacing in his mind. His throat felt altogether too dry to get any more words out. “What did you mean by recovering all her skills?”

“Quonnan was a boisterous nuisance, but she was skilled. If you have devoured her, then I want those skills to reappear in you. Anything else would be a waste.” She gave him a solemn stare. “I have now completed my end of the bargain, Outsider. I only hope that you will fulfill yours. Ryu is a veteran, and Quonnan was no slouch. You have the chance to learn from the former and have inherited the latter’s skills. See to it that this opportunity is not wasted.”

Lukas lazily saluted. “You got it.”

And then Solana was gone. Just gone. Vanishing into thin air like she hadn’t existed in the first place.

“I watched your fight, Outsider,” Ryu grunted, the lines of his face stretching and becoming more prominent as he spoke. “You relied too much on your lifeforce, not unlike bremetans whose skin I wear. You deflected Quonnan’s flames using invisible shields and used it against her.”

Invisible shields. He supposed one could describe motion bending in those terms, at least from an observer’s point of view.

“But if you want to truly shape fire, then turn off your tricks and use only fire. If you want to learn, you must face someone far more skilled than you,” he said coolly. “You have to become one with the flames you wield until they are but an extension of yourself. Until you manage to do that”—Ryu’s lips twisted into a bloodthirsty grin—“be ready to burn.”

Lukas realized he may have made a mistake in demanding this training so eagerly. And when Ryu suddenly vanished from his sight and practically teleported behind him, blasting him away with a burst of superheated air, he knew his worst fears had come true.

“This new vermin is correct,” Inanna chimed in. “You cannot depend upon your luck every time. Do you not wish to survive against entities hilariously above you in strength, skill, and power? Then you must learn by blood.”

“Prepare yourself,” Ryu said as he stepped forward menacingly. The already superheated air in the room went up a notch higher.

Lukas scrambled to his feet and shifted into a defensive posture, wincing as he stretched his scorched back.

I’m definitely going to regret this.