A Spirit’s Bane for Youthful Gain

by Emeth Everley

The sharp quivering sound of metal scraping against stone jarred Akito out of his restless sleep. Eyes closed, he took a deep breath through his vulpine nose. Without hesitation, the smells of yesterday overwhelmed his senses: wet earth, iron, and the sickly-sweet scent of Fae blood. 

It had failed.

Inconsolable dread filled his stomach and settled like a weight on his chest. He couldn’t breathe. His only hope for escape had failed him. For endless weeks he had attempted to free himself from the monster which now bound him. He had used every means to escape this torturous place, where pain and dark magic seeped into the very stone around him. He could no longer shift into his human visage, forced into a small cage that bound his Kitsune tails into a vice grip. Akito’s only hope had been the solar eclipse: where for a brief moment he would be stronger than human bindings and Faerie spells preventing his many forms.

Not dissimilar to the human’s lunar cycle, this realm for beings beyond humanity, for the Ayakashi, found itself governed by the sun. Akito’s strength increased and waned with its presence. The strength of a solar eclipse was more than he could have ever hoped for...but it had not been enough. Be it due to his young age or to the strength of the one who captured him, he did not know.

It no longer mattered.

His bones had been broken, tails nearly ripped from him, fangs chipped.

Yet, none of it was enough.

The bars held.

The human laughed.

His pointed white ears twitched in both remembered anger and fresh pain. It had been his last hope. A shining star where there had been only darkness.

Now…all that was left was to accept his fate. A fate he knew well from the corpses of his fellow Ayakashi lining the walls. Furs, skins, talons and more collected dust, like flowers behind glass. An old black dragon from the northern lands. At least, Akito assumed he had been from there. Now, he lay in pieces in wooden boxes with lids purposefully open to show who had the power to fell such a great being. The poor great dragon, a being that had once flown though the clouds and into the stars...had been declawed, defanged, stripped of scales, and then skinned.

At least he had died. A great mercy in this devil’s cave.

No, to call him a devil is to insult their kind.

A worse fate lay upon a Fae male: long white hair sullied with dirt and blood, skin now the color of death, and eyes forever covered in a bloody cloth.

He was still alive: if you could call his shallow and ragged breaths life.

Peridot. Named after a beautiful gem. Look what that beauty had cost him.

He had told Akito how the monster of this cave had lured him while he gathered medicinal herbs. Caught him in iron and placed him here.

How he watched in terror as Spirit, Sprite, Fae, Dragon, Kitsune, and more were dragged here.

How he now was to be forever trapped. Bound to a machine, metal and stone and wood that Akito did not understand, as the magic and blood was removed from him as slow as time itself. He had been caught gathering ingredients. Now, he was the ingredient. They all were. One to make human women young again. To make human men as strong as demons. To make shields as tough as dragon hide.

Akito opened his eyes to find new horrors attacking his vision. Peridot still bound, hair now cut short, and a new baby Tengu. The child was sobbing quietly and Akito felt his throat constrict as a glance to his right showed him why. Why its face was now as red as its beaked nose. Why its cries never ceased. Why Peridot cringed with whatever semblance of empathy that had yet to be drained from him.

Its wings had been cut off. Sliced cleanly and sat within view of its chained form.

There are hunters. There are murders. There are those who are cruel. And then there is a breed of being who is cruel for the sake of being cruel. A kind that rejoices in bringing pain and breaking the spirit of those whom they are about to destroy. A hunter would never do this. They understand the give and take, the rhythm and flow of life. No. This was no hunter. This man delighted in his painful collections.

At that moment, the tall man stepped into Akito’s view. Tall as a Fae, skin soft like cream, and dressed in a fine suit that could only have come from the human realm. Akito looked up, craning his neck from where he was held fast to the ground, to see the face of this creature. It was then that Akito realized with terror why a bloodied bandage covered the poor Fae’s eyes. This foul and vile fiend...he had replaced his eyes with that of the Peridot’s: inhuman, ill-fitting, bright yellow-green eyes looked down at him.

Akito felt his stomach clench with the sickening wrongness of it all. For this was not only inhuman, not only unlike any Ayakashi; it went against every mortal and heavenly rightness.

How dare this human—though how mortal or human he is now is unclear—how dare he try to play at godhood. How dare he?

These were innocent beings being ripped away and captured in such horrific suddenness that it suddenly caused Akito to question how in the seven heavens news of his evil had not spread to all four lands? How had he gotten away with it for so long?

Only one thing was clear: if Akito was ever released from these bindings, he would kill this monster. Such a venomous creature should not draw breath for longer than necessary.

“Ah,” purred the figure above him, smiling brightly with teeth clearly from a dhampir. “What a pretty look. You look as though you’d love to kill me.”

An icy hand reached down and pet his long white fur. Try as he might to pull away, with what little movement he had left, the hand continued its course.

“I almost want to keep you,” said the man, kneeling down beside him and looking with a sickening curiosity. “I have never seen fur so pure before. Was your human visage the same color?”

Just as Akito debated the level of his strength to try another attack, a soft trill of a bell sounded.

“A customer!” the human clapped excitedly. “Which of my collections will they want today? Hopefully not you little pet.”

If Akito had less pride, he would have thrown every curse at the inhuman collector.

Pet! Collections!

Of all the blows this was the worst one. To know that they were not only ingredients but tchotchkes of a madman.

As he imagined ripping that hand off with his fangs, the air began to hum and ripple with magic. Magic, telling by the smell, that had been extracted from a southern Jinn.

Just how many forgotten and lost souls lay decaying beneath the cold dirt floors of this cave. A cave, that Akito could see had a second entrance. This one was framed with intricate engravings and carvings. Upon stepping through, the whole of the door shifted into that of a shop. A human shop. One that appeared to be from a land that contained roaming wagons that moved without drivers and various humans milling about. If the glass walls beyond a wooden counter were truth and not illusion.

“Good Morning Miss Bell, how may I assist you on this fine day?” said the creature so loudly it echoed through the cave.

Akito wondered if the women would react to the Tengu, its cries still pulling at his instincts to comfort the poor thing. But her face remained neutral, observing something along the walls that he could not see.

“Illusion,” said Peridot. “We can see and hear them. They are blind to us. Not even a great dragons war cry broke through.”

“What dark forces is this human toying with? For what?!” exclaimed Akito.

Peridot just smiled softly in his general direction. A smile of pity and acceptance of his fate.

“He collects things he likes,” he said. “Sells what he has grown tired of. And strives for…I do not know…he was human once…so perhaps immortality?”

Through the door, sounds of polite laughter and forced smiles brought a sense of unease.

“Oh, I could not possibly provide you with that,” came the collector’s voice. “I have many other remedies for aging. Even fresh vials of Fae blood.”

“But Ahriman,” pouted the young feminine voice, “you promised me Kitsune fur!”

Akito’s whole body seized with terror.

“I am afraid madam,” came Ahriman, the collector’s voice, in a more menacing tone. “That I cannot part with the Kitsune I acquired. At most, I would have to triple the price. Even if I did not intend to keep them.”

What little blood Akito had left rushed to his twitching ears. He subconsciously whined like a young kit.

“What if I merely have a tail?” questioned the woman again.

“I am afraid not,” said Ahriman. “The power you seek would not be as potent. Now, is there anything else I can assist you with?”

The woman sighed dramatically before agreeing to some concoction of Fae Blood, Dragon Tears, and Mermaid Scales.

“What these humans will do for youth,” breathed Peridot.

“Can…can we…” Akito was unsure of what he was asking for.

Help.

To send word of this fiend.

A quick death.

Perhaps….

“Child!” Akito whispered. “Little one!”

The small Tengu looked up at him, sniffling all the while.

“What if we could break the chain? Would you be able to run?” he asked fervently.

Peridot tilted his head slightly before seeming to understand.

“It must be now, he will be at least thirty breaths before he returns,” whispered Peridot. “He makes it fresh.”

Akito hummed softly before focusing his energy. The deep magic that lay within. Magic of the sun. He could only do this once. It would leave him without any magic left. But, if this child made it out of this hell alive, perhaps others would be saved. Akito had tried this on his own bars during the eclipse. But the chain that held the child looked weaker. Made for a different creature.

With one final breath, Akito released the magic within him and directed it towards the chain. He felt Peridot beside him attempt a Fae charm. One for strength. The last of his own magic.

Please…great goddess please…

The chain shattered with a sharp metallic twang: falling to the ground in pieces.

“Go!” both Peridot and Akito exclaimed as loudly as they dared.

The child ran like a shot but not to the entrance. He bolted and grabbed a small key from a table. Then a second key from a farther bench. Quickly, he placed one into Peridot’s hand and the second by Akito’s paw.

“Thank you!” The bright red faced child cried before running for the first entrance they had all been dragged through. He ran to the mouth of the cave and was gone.

Akito, fumbling for a moment, grabbed his own key with his paws, more nimble than normal foxes. and unlocked the door to his cage. Turning swiftly to lie on his back, he undid the clasp on his tails. Shaking with momentum, he looked at the door for that new world: the woman still stood waiting for her vials.

They had time.

Rushing, stumbling from lack of movement for so long, Akito rushed to Peridot: who had unchained his hands and was struggling with the strange things attached to him. Akito helped where he could by biting the poor Fae’s entrapments and then pulled at him to run away from the demon cave; all the while, his mind struggled to comprehend this hope.

They were escaping.

They could make it.

They would make it.  

“Ah! Madam, please wait one moment,” came a menacing and forcefully cheerful voice. “I believe I may have what you are looking for after all.”

******** 

Miss Matilda Bell was 200 years old. Not that her appearance would put her beyond that of a thirty-year-old woman. Oh no. She took great care to ensure that never happened. Elixirs, potions, and more, all ensuring that she kept her youth and health.

All thanks to the collector, Mr. Ahriman. Strange man but dedicated to his craft. He had even managed to merge parts of other beings into himself, giving him a shockingly handsome and inhuman appearance. It was alluring. Though, throughout the years he still maintained his oddities.

As she continued down the street, Miss Bell pondered what had occurred to make him change his mind so suddenly. Though, she was not complaining. This effect was certainly worth the 5,000 in gold. Now, she had such charm and radiance along with her youthful glow. It seemed to lure men and women to her like perfume.

“I am certainly glad he managed to procure the fur after all,” she smiled to herself while clutching the white Kitsune fur skin, head and tails included, closer to her. “Such a lovely color too. I wonder if he shall find more and be able to make an entire coat. That would be marvelous!”

Miss Bell continued happily on her merry way, far from the curious malevolent store, and far away from the backroom with an enchanted door. Farther still from a cave in the distant mountains of a mystic land that now lay streaked with blue, crimson, and golden blood from the poor souls who thought they could escape the clutches of a fiendish collector and his morbid curiosities. They, as other before and others after, fell to the man who toyed with them. A monster of a human that left keys and latches unlocked, only to smile at their final breath of despair and pain before ending their existence. Smiling and laughing all the while at how a single human could become a god amongst the godlings, piece by precious piece.