Blood stained the stones, crept up the wooden walls of the shrine. Behind him and above him, encircling the place, he had summoned a purple dimensional dome. Its walls shone and shimmered. Its purpose was to keep all eyes out and all souls in. Those outside would not see it and if they tried to enter they would merely back away, confused, forgetting why they had come and going on about their day.

The two unfortunate humans who had been in the shrine when he entered, well, that was another story. He’d done his duty and sacrificed them. The fact that their blood now flowed through his own veins, energizing him, well that was just the icing on the cake, so to speak.

The man hated cakes. And metaphors. But spending enough time in the human world you couldn’t help running into your share of both. He knelt before the altar and clasped his hands together, a prayer after the slaughter, to his lord. When he was done he stood. He had not come to kill nor to pray. He had come for the artifact. He searched the altar and found nothing, no secret slats or buttons. The shrine grounds were small, well manicured. A stone path surrounded the inner structure and small shrubs dotted the areas in between. The man paced in a circle around it, growing angry. He kicked one of the corpses just to watch it roll over.

On his third round he noticed it. Set in the top archway of the shrine's exterior entrance, from the back, a green gem. It was nearly twice his height from the ground to the top of the arch and not easy to reach, but this was no problem for the man. He knelt down beside the corpse of the stranger he’d killed, dipped a finger into the pool of blood, and began to write a character on the stone of the path. When he was finished nothing happened for a moment, then the blood began to bubble and glow. A light from it swirled around him, enveloping him and he began to float. He let himself float upwards towards the top of the gate. He felt the power of the artifact now. He became greedy. Hasty. He wanted it badly. His lord would be pleased.

Finally! Progress!

He grasped the stone and pulled, it came free, glittering in the glow that surrounded him. He grinned, he laughed. So simple, so easy! What foolish guardian protected this shrine? Leaving the artifact totally alone. The gem suddenly became warm, then hot, then scalding. The man dropped it, cursing it, and it clattered to the path below.

“You have come to my shrine. Shed blood. Now you steal. Name yourself, demon-spawn!”

The man who was not a man turned to face the guardian.

“My name, human? Only in death can that be revealed. Come claim it!”

The guardian threw back his head and laughed. The man saw that he had a sword in each hand and wore a long flowing green robe. His head was shaved bald. This one was powerful. This one was ready.

Good. He had been bored for far too long.

The bald monk bared his teeth, yelled out and charged, his swords flashing in the purple light of the void walls surrounding the shrine. The man watched as the gap slowly closed between them, doing nothing. He calculated the steps, the timing, the speed. He observed. This human’s power did not live in his body, his steps and movements were natural.

What then, was his power? For all guardians had a power to draw on. He determined he might need to push the guardian farther to determine his power. So be it. He would play. Just as the guardian reached his position and brought his swords thrusting forward the man clasped his hands together and uttered a dark word. A powerful sound, ancient and guttural. The guardian froze in place.

The man laughed, a dry raspy sound. “Stuck, are we guardian? What happened?” All that courage… all that boldness… and it is for nothing, isn't it?” He circled the guardian slowly, appraising his form. Well trained in swordsmanship no doubt, it would have been a killing blow if he had not been paralyzed.

But he was. And now he was just prey.

“You’d best use your powers, human. I won’t wait around to satisfy my curiosity for long. I could kill you now. With one little fucking finger.”

The man flicked out a finger from his robe. A gnarled and twisted black nail grew from its tip. He spoke another word of power and the nail extended and grew to the size of a small dagger. It shone and twinkled. It was sharp, deadly sharp. He put it to the guardian's neck as the poor human struggled, sweat dripping down his frozen form, his muscles tensed and bulging, but unable to power out of the spell.

The man leaned into the guardians ear and whispered:

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“Your move, human. Shall I slit your throat? Or do you have a little more left to show me?”

***

As we exited Hana’s store and walked to the street where I had parked my bike I noticed a few passersby giving us strange looks. Man, this had been a ghost town when I had last come here with Fenra for the first time! I hadn’t had to worry about this. I had been sure to take Kira here early in the morning to avoid the stares but now it was mid afternoon and the lunch crowd was out.

If the town kept expanding and re-populating at this rate I felt like the market might even come back. What a sight that would be! I heard a young teen whistle and whirled. He and his buddies ran off as they saw me.

“Go on then, this isn’t a damn peep show!”

At least the maid outfit kind of completed the cosplay vibe. No one would freak out and suspect she was a spirit.

“What's a peep show, master?” Kira smiled up at me.

“Uh, nothing, nothing little one.” I patted her head and she closed her eyes happily. She was easy to please this one, it was true, much unlike her sister.

Fenra. Are these two really related?

I unlocked the bike and put her on the back of it. This was not the same rusted old bike I’d taken Fenra on in the past, no, this was a Speed Racer 5000! It had a seat in the back for purposes just like this. And it was electric. No more killing myself heading up to the temple.

“Ready?”

“Meow!” Exclaimed Kira from the back.

I took that for a yes and sped off down the street. Two cars honked at us as I weaved between them and I gave them one very special finger.

I’m going to regret that, let's hope they don’t recognize me if they visit the temple.

But that was unlikely as was evidenced by the dramatic energy shift as we left downtown Kitayashi. Traffic was nonexistent on the road to the temple. Few people visited still, and other than the temple there was little this far outside of town other than a few abandoned properties and, as I had learned from Fenra’s hunting of mice and the chickens that woke us up every morning, a farmhouse just over the hill.

I heard Kira squealing with delight as we sped up on the downhill. I smiled, to be that carefree! I wished I could share her joy. But all I had now was a head full of worries.

***

Kira had not seen the temple in the light of day and she seemed, as we returned, to make it her mission to inspect every corner of the place excitedly. First the gates. Her favorite part of these seemed to be the green archway with two lion dogs carved into the top. Next were the gardens. It was butterfly season so she had fun chasing two of them. Next was the main hall, she sat, curled up in front of the Buddha statue staring upwards. I smiled. I wondered what part of her was intrigued? The cat or the spirit? I walked up behind her. It was the first time she’d sat still since this morning. I watched her tail slowly swish back and forth across the floor. I took a moment to appreciate all the work me and the girls had done on the place.

When I’d inherited it from my late grandpa it had been in total disrepair, broken roof, no electricity. Now it was well lit, a fully refurbished interior and we had also even brought in some paintings and tapestries donated by a few locals.These included donations from Hana and Miku whose families were no longer with us but who, in their time, had their own personal collections. But the centerpiece, no doubt, was still the statue. It stood on a large dais and dominated the room. In front of it were a few oranges, some paper money and other offerings from our small but growing patronage..

I sat down beside her slowly and said nothing. I assumed the lotus position and looked up at the buddha. I took a deep breath in and out, assuming my mudras. I heard the clink of the bell around Kira’s choker as she turned to look at me, no doubt curious as to what I was doing. I did not break focus. Instead I moved on to my posture, straightening my back. I heard her soft purring, felt her nuzzle against me. I continued my practice by focusing next on my breathing. In and out. A swinging door. My mind wandered to my past. Thoughts, unbidden, arose of my grandfather and great grandfather. I reached out to the between as I focused all of the energy in my body. I reached out to the space between worlds. I was seeking guidance. I pictured the words of my question in large white letters and sent them out into the universe:

<>

No guidance came. No words. No feeling. No connection.

I returned to my breath, being calm, letting it all go. This morning had been stressful and I recalled the wisdom that stress was good, it indicated to us that life was going on, but it was not the thing we should focus on. We should instead focus on the now. I did so. I felt the soft cheek of Kira. I felt the vibrations of her purring. I felt the breeze in front of the open temple doors on my back. I opened my eyes and saw the reflection of the sunlight from the rafters onto the statue. I sighed. Peace. How many of us had looked at this statute. How many generations of my family? How many strangers who needed to find peace and solace found it staring upwards at him?

I traced the eyes, the smile, the jolly belly… wait.. My eyes shifted back up. Something was wrong. I rose to my feet in panic and heard an annoyed meow from below as Kira was thrown off of me. I didn’t turn. My heart was racing, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

No!

“His necklace, his necklace is gone!” I screamed.