Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Woosh!

The vibrating thrum was accompanied by a rushing sound of the wind. This wind was bitingly cold. A piercing chill flowed through everyone’s spines as they shivered lightly.

Akane’s clothes fluttered about wildly. Her eyes remained closed, as if the disturbances of the world held no effect on her. The others held solemn expressions that tinted their faces darkly. Their gazes respectful and filled with an ardent belief rarely seen by many outside of religious circles.

"Ancestors, I, your filial descendant, call upon your strength. I beseech you to lend me your magnanimity!" Her words started to feel airy and distant, like a ghost hauntingly calling a name in the distance. It was as if her voice was reaching to a distant otherworld.

Swoosh!

The wind picked up rapidly until a twisted formed rapidly around Akane. However, no one panicked as they continued their chants.

"I, a member of the Kitsune, ask you to build a bridge, so that we may pay our respects. Lend us your strength, so that we may seize the night!"

The twister gained strength and volume by the minute, inducing all sorts of changes beneath and heaven and earth. The moonlight that shone upon the village seemed to be drained by an unknown source. Before long, a darkness, cold yet familiar, swept about the village.

Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

One by one, the lantern’s light was vanquished. It started from the back of the village and made its way towards the front, but again, no one panicked as they were wrapped in perpetual darkness, their words continued to be chanted but with more power and force than before. The synchronized chanting became a singular whole as the voice of the elderly, the young, the women and men, seemed to harmonize perfectly.

The only distinguishing voice that could be heard was Akane’s. The tornado had already reached tens of meters into the air and spun increasingly faster with each rotation.

The night seemed to have descended.

No, the night was seized.

"Ancestors!" Akane cried!

What came after that cry wasn’t an astonishing display but an odd, eerie silence. The chanting seemed to have stopped, the tornado vanished, and the only thing that remained was the night which had been seized - a state of perpetual darkness.

Not a single person could see an inch from their face as all light had been stripped away from their eyes, and even their senses were prohibited, leaving them isolated from all existences. Night had been seized by each of them, giving them an experience of darkness in every sense of the word. They were alone, alone with just their thoughts and beliefs.

Yet, no one panicked. No one grew scared. To them, their ancestors were before them, and they were awaiting their words with the utmost respect.

Woo! Woo!

A light was birthed.

It was ignited before Akane in the form of her incense. It was burning brightly, endlessly, and with sufficient light that it seemed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. At the tip wasn’t an ordinary burning experience, but a violet wisp of flame.

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

One at a time, the incense in the hands of the people was ignited and burned with endless light, allowing them to regain their senses.

However, the light revealed a startling fact that would cause any outsider to grow cold with fear! Each one of these people’s eyes was blacker than the blackest night and their teeth that were originally as white as jade seemed to be stained with an inky black liquid. This liquid adhered to their teeth but squirmed about like worms, entering and exiting their mouths at random times.

The will-o-wisp-like flames birthed at the end of the incense had varying colors, colors that matched the seven colors of a rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. They matched the hairs of each of their holders, as if burning off some unseen force to produce such a color.

Akane’s incense was violet and burned brighter and larger than any other!

"We have seized the night! You have built the bridge! Ancestors, WELCOME!" As if designed by a unified effort, all members said these words simultaneously without a hint of hesitation.

Everyone peered into their incense, and their pitch black eyes revealed an expression of compassion and excitement.

Tsumi smiled as she looked at her flames. Her voice was tender and filled with a bout of sadness. This little girl emanated an aura of tragedy but happiness, conflicting emotions had caused tears to flow from her eyes. They were stained black like her eyes but carried her every emotion.

Two words left her lips, "Hey, mommy."

The others in the surroundings had revealed all sorts of emotions as they held their incense with lovingly, curiously, or even angrily sometimes. Yet, not a single person didn’t treat the incense stick in their hand with anything but the utmost care.

Akane looked at the violet flame in her incense that burned fervently. However, she didn’t talk to her flame like the others, communicating with it on some unknown level, but the wisp formed the vague shape a feminine figure. This figure wasn’t distinguishable in features except that it had two notable traits, it was a female, and it had nine tails.

"So, you’re my successor, huh?" A voice as pure and soft as a cloud sounded. Akane nodded silently, her expression filled with some internal conflicts as she heard the voice.

"Haha, a successor that doesn’t want to be a successor, how interesting!" The Nine-Tailed Ancestor seemed to find Akane’s conflict intriguing as her voice remained light and free.

"I ask for guidance," Akane’s expression was solemn.

"Haaa...guidance? Guidance! What is guidance?! You have your path like I once did. If you don’t want to be my successor, don’t? It’s not like anyone’s going to spank you, no?" That unrestrained and pure voice was infectious as a desire to be free and unfettered by all things brimmed outwards. Akane’s heart trembled slightly.

"Was...was it that-"

"Yes! Yes! It’s that simple. Always and will forever be." The Nine-Tailed Ancestor calmly responded, interrupting Akane immediately. "The only guidance I may have is..." She paused slightly, considering her words carefully. Akane kept her ears open and was in anticipation.

"Make sure you find a suitable mate! Yes, that’s it. Some aren’t really worth a damn, so you have to be very clear and decisive! Understand?"

Akane didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Was this her guidance? Luckily, only she could communicate with this ancestor otherwise...who knew what others would think of this ancestor of theirs?

The Nine-Tailed Ancestor heartedly laughed, "Also, when you experience tragedy on this day. Don’t forget what’s in your sleeve."

"What?!" Akane was taken aback by her statement, immediately about to question her about her words when she heard a disturbing sound.

Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!!

A bell rung!

Clan Lord Kaito was the first to respond as he looked at the direction of the bell, "We’re being attacked?!" As he said that, everyone’s expressions were frozen in shock and a tinge of fear.

Attacked?! What did that mean?

Akane’s expression changed as she looked towards her incense and realized the figure of the Nine-Tailed Ancestor above it had already vanished, leaving only a wisp of flame.