Shinto Secrets

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig disembarked into the musky streets of Shanghai. There was noise and smog everywhere and the excuse to wear a paper mask was a welcome one. He'd felt a wave of instant relief when he set foot on the airstrip and a larger one struck him now that he was clear of the building behind him. However, it was short-lived as Craig considered where to go. He'd never been to Shanghai before and didn't know where anything was. He knew he wanted to get a hold of some land and a disposable phone, but that matter wasn't going to be an easy one considering he didn't speak the language. Craig almost turned around to go back and find someone to hire as a translator but instead clung his things tight to him and turned right. He would get one later; now was the time for some exploration. The excitement of being in a new city (especially one so different than America's) was intoxicating and the sights and smells of this culture were surely unique even of those he'd smelled in Beijing on a business trip.

Craig sprinted across the road when traffic came to a halt. There were still cyclists everywhere and he had to be careful of them, but they seemed to know pretty well what they were doing and soon Craig figured out the flow of pedestrians. Sticking in the middle of the groups made cars less ballsy by far.

He looked around curiously for a long time, not realizing how far he'd gone. Twenty-six blocks later, he was looking around himself in an utterly confused fashion. He was in a shadier part of town; one clearly not meant for tourists. A few neon lights kept watch, but most of the signs on this road were wooden, simple. All of it was indecipherable and foreign as he walked around, looking for a taxi or someone who appeared like they might speak English. He found none and ultimately turned back around to try and retrace his steps all the while wondering, "What the hell was I thinking?"

[Aine Erotes]

Water shimmered and rippled despite having no interference. There was no shift in the wind, nor did any stones or leaves fall in it. The pool merely moved, the water swirling itself in preparation, and in anticipation. Soundless footsteps approached the water. Left, right, left, right, left… A woman arrived, her hair a flaming red that contrasted with the green around her. She paused; looking annoyed, and lifted her right foot once more before setting it down. There, balance, equilibrium, equality. Established, in one little aspect, which was much better than none. She settled down on the grass- the softest you could ever find- and peered down into the pool. The rippling continued, and began to even change colours, before it finally settled down. To those whom did not know it was water, they would never realize, for a picture laid in it’s place. It had perfect clarity, and moved like a video- but with much better quality. In fact, it was like you were in the image itself, watching with one’s own nude eyes. The image was of blowing sands, an empty desert. The red-haired woman merely blinked and the scene changed to her will. The Goddess watched many people, but recently one particular person had kept her interest. She watched, once more, the life of Craig Jamerson. A human, but one whom was not like the others.

‘So he made it…’ She thought (in four words, a nice even number). Craig Jamerson had made it to Shinto. It was not just some random place, but one very special. A little piece of magic remained in the city. It was there that Varos’ plan for the human would unfold…

The Goddess watched, amused, as the human tried to move with the flow of traffic only to get himself lost. Sometimes, for a genius, she found her little darling delight of a human subject wasn’t always all that bright. He had ended up in a sketchier part of the over-populated city. Many of the walls sported graffiti, in a foreign language she doubted the human knew, but the Goddess herself understood. Shadows seemed darker, more sinister, and they twisted and curled, getting thicker and larger. An old woman appeared, unseen by the man. Her face was old, wrinkled, and seemed slightly masculine. In fact, it almost looked like her body couldn’t choose what gender she should be when she was born, making a hard-to-tell-apart mixture that was only solved if one’s eyes noticed the breasts upon her chest. She walked with a slightly curved back, but not enough that she would require a cane. Bright brown eyes hid under hooded lids, and a scraggly mess of dark grey hair was tied in a bun. The Goddess had decided to step in and interfere.

The old woman shuffled out of the shadows and into the purple glare of a neon light, and a small smile appeared on her face as she regarded the man before her. Around her cheeks, lines indicated that smiles often graced her face in all her years, but around her eyes one could see she had about an equal amount of frowns as well. She cleared her throat, and spoke in a raspy, but easy-enough to hear voice. Her English was laced with a heavy accent, and seemed almost slightly broken, certain words emphasized incorrectly or merely mispronouciated. “You look quite lost young man.”

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig had just begun his walk back towards the touristy parts of town when a short Chinese woman approached from the left. Her hunched back made her appear shorter than she was, though she was already short enough that it didn't make too awful a difference. Surprised, Craig took an uneasy half-step backwards to make room for her if she did not intend to change her course. Perhaps her vision wasn't good.

If it wasn't, it didn't seem to affect her as she walked right up to him and began speaking in a broken, but understandable, English to him. "You look quite lost young man," she stated. Craig let out a short chuckle and his face creased into a bit of a smile. "Yeah, I'm not from here." The man bit his lip with apparent uncertainty and looked around, checking his back and looking for anything suspicious; this part of town was starting to give him the creeps. The geneticist turned back to the old woman and said, "Actually, you might be able to help me. Where should I go for a disposable cell phone and some food?" he asked, hope on his face.

[Aine Erotes]

A grin split across the elderly Chinese woman’s face as the human male instictevely took a partial step backwards at her very sudden and odd appearance. How good, he at least had some self-preservation instinct, even at just an elderly Asian woman. One should always be aware, for looks could be deceiving. In fact, in this case they were exactly so, for despite her feeble appearance, only a single word had to be spoken to kill the human. But death was not her intention. The birth to death ratio was relatively equal anyways, and there were much more imbalanced matters to deal with, and many other important tasks. Like this one. But at her talking, her broken English, her implicated kindness, seemed to ease him a tad as a genuine small smile appeared on his face. Of course, he still had an air of uncertainty around him. “Help needed? I help. Food easy to find. Cell phones are in tourist area. I go that way, need food for home. I bring you to food and show you cell phones?”

Her brown eyes practically danced in amusement. The goddess could, with but a mere thought, serve the man a whole feast. Yes, she was quite aware that he knew of the supernaturals out there in the seemingly normal world, but she would not do that. She would walk with him, talk, and make a final assessment to deem if he was well-suited for her plans. She would not reveal herself yet, but rather gain a little bit of trust. He was a smart boy, so she did not even bother messing with his emotions. The course of how things went would be based entirely on the choices of the unaware man in front of her, she would not tip the scales on this one. She moved forward, slowly as she was still paying attention to him. Her dark grey hair rustled with each step, and the elderly woman gave the young man a thoughtful gaze. “Or, if wish, I can tell you and you go by yourself.”

The alleys were dark, and he was in a foreign place. She knew any smart and reasonable person would see more sense in following the local, but she also knew if she tried to walk into any unmarked buildings they would have the sense to abandon her. But these were but alleyways, so she waited silently for his yes, having stopped shuffling forward as to let the boy make his choice.

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig regarded the woman as she moved closer to him. She certainly didn't seem to have any ill intentions and her demeanor revealed nothing suspicious; she was clearly just some elderly Chinese woman that was willing to help a wandering tourist. After quickly weighing his options, he decided it would be much easier to simply follow her to the destination than to try and remember how to get there himself, especially in a land without English. "I'll follow you," he declared with a smile.

Craig was still antsy as he began walking at a slow pace with the woman and his mind couldn't seem to vacate the thought of getting mugged. His eyes zipped from place to dark place as they appeared, checking for any sorts of movement in the lightless recesses off of the road they stood on now. He turned his head to look her over again. She still seemed completely harmless, but Craig thought he'd seen something about criminals using defenseless subjects as bait (he hadn't, of course, but his mind was too busy creating dark scenarios to realize the error). A crying child in a dark part of the parking lot, a young woman struggling noisily with who-knew-what in the alleyway, or even an old lady offering assistance to confused travelers. He looked her over suspiciously again, careful to keep a smiling mask set on his face. "It's not far, is it?" Craig asked hopefully.

[Varos Talantos]

“I’ll follow you,” The human decided, and Varos smiled. A fate, set out by her own hand, had begun with those words. So the two walked, the smile never leaving the face of her old Chinese face. He asked if it was far, and she laughed. “No, no. Close by. Ten minutes,” She replied in her heavy Asian accent. Of course, this was only if Craig decided to forsake fate and continued on into the streets filled with people, phones, and food. It would take much longer if he accepted her upcoming blessing- although he still had a few last things to prove to the woman.

It gradually became darker, probably quite a bit harder to see for the human, but everything was clear as crystal for Varos. She was, after all, a Goddess, and small things like the dark bothered her not. But they weaved through a few twisting, turning and overall utterly confusing alleyways, the Chinese woman absolutely sure with every footstep she took, knowing exactly where they were. They eventually came to a junction between two alleyways, creating a four-way road. To the left, some sounds were heard, and a single scream- that of a woman’s- got out before being cut off. To the right, the faint sounds of everyday life in Shanghai could be heard, obviously one of the main roads. Up ahead was just more twisting alleyways. As if by magic, the old woman disappeared when Craig was not looking towards her, leaving him alone. He had his choice between three paths…

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig followed the old woman through a maze of alleys and corridors as she navigated the area expertly; she clearly grew up here and Craig felt comfortable that she wasn't going to get lost. Soon, they had arrived at an intersection and a woman screamed from the left. He whipped his head instinctively to see what was going on, but the darkness of that way was impenetrable and he could see nothing. The woman's scream was cut off abruptly and a shiver went down Craig's spine. "Should we go try to help her?" Craig asked as he turned his head. He then saw that the old woman was gone and frowned. "Uh, old lady?" he queried uncertainly. He turned a full rotation, looking for her and called futilely once more, "Hello?!"

He was alone again. Only now, he had no hope of getting back to where he'd come from. Unless he got lucky... He peered back at the way he'd come. Unlikely. He looked ahead. More of what he'd come from. To the right seemed more likely to be foreigner-friendly. Clanging was heard from the left. Like something being thrown against metal trash cans. Or perhaps the voice he'd heard earlier being assaulted. Craig bite his lip contemplatively, deliberating over what to do. He had faced down Demons, Shifters, and a slew of other supernatural beings before. He'd employed the aid of a Draconian and her Dragon in breaking out of jail before and teamed up with a very unique Hunter in an effort to get back at her tormentor and to get him to freedom. But how many more times could he endanger his life without losing it? He heard gasping from his left and knew his decision was almost made for him.

"Shit," Craig muttered to himself and turned his body to face the darkness to the left. "Hey! Hey you fuckheads! Leave her alone or I'll fuck all of you up!!" Craig yelled threateningly while remaining unmoving. He didn't want to actually be threatening, just appear that way. He remained unmoving in the intersection, glaring angrily into the unsettling blackness. A sound, like that of something dropping heavily came from the direction he was shouting and he heard footsteps. Craig braced himself for whatever might happen next.