Within Masahiro, the white flame flickered, burning higher and brighter with every breath. It chipped away at the darkness, each brillant white tounge of flame gaining a little ground until it grew to fill the dark s.p.a.ce.

Without warning, his vision seemed to as sensation slipped away. An insulating curtain of fog settled between him and the world and slowly it settled to cover him in its silence. Somewhere, far away.... people were speaking..... but he was far away, drifting down into a silent sea as snippets and pieces of conversation drifted down from the surface disintegrating as they sank.

"... afflicted victims ......sacrifices........ nourishment for the leader of the creatures.......... pain and madness."

He felt hot, feverish.....but that's okay. The water would cool him, welcome him.... take it all away.......

"found drowned..... thus.....he....ir.....ey.......o...ght.......s.........."

Somewhere, high above, they had been complete ideas, but the words were nearly nothing now, unrecognizable pieces of ocean debris.

Some one was looking at him..... he knew........... but it too was inconsequential.

_____________________________________________________________

Taiin gasped as she turned to Masahiro, at some point during their conversation, his face had become a blank slate, eyes staring, jaws slack.

Alarmed, Narachika reached forth and grabbed Masahiro's shoulders, giving him a hard shake.

"Masahiro? MASAHIRO!!!! " He roared into his brother's face.

Masahiro flinched at the sound, and then as if waking from a dream, his eyes grew wide and he blinked.

"Huh?"

The world cleared and he no longer felt feverish, little by little the fog lifted from his eyes and his eyes once again filled with the spark of life.

"I.... said...... I thought.......I .... what?...... " Masahiro was bewildered.

Narachika was silent as he unclasped his white knuckled hands from Masahiro's shoulders.

Masahiro looked up into his face and turned his eyes away. Then, as if muttering to himself, he began to speak.

"The afflicted victims were sacrifices, nourishment for the leader of the creatures, one that reveled in pain and madness. The bodies of countless victim tumbled in the dark turbid waters of the bay, a mere paragraph in the grand plan. Soon the searchers would disappear as well, and those that searched for them, and so on until there was no one left to die. All that remained of the village will be people robbed of their souls and their past, strangers in a strange land with nothing left..... not even hope."

.......................................................................

"WHERE DID YOU HEAR ALL THIS !"

Masahiro's eyes grew wide at Narachika's question and his hands fisted in his hair.

"I dont...... I didnt...... I didnt hear about anything......" he knew something was amiss even as the words tumbled from his lips.

How did he know about the monster of the shrine? Where did his knowledge of the monster's intent come from?

The logical part of his mind knew the limits of possibility. It was impossible for him to possess this knowledge. Yet in his heart, the familiar feeling clung to him, a familiar feeling of something he had thought was lost.

Masahiro's face was still pale when he felt eyes on him. He looked up into the rafters to meet the sharp crimson gaze of the white Mononoke. The crimson eyes, as deep and burning as the last rays of the sun at twilight stilled on Masahiro's form, his reflection perfectly framed within them. His eyes belied distance and an unfamiliarity, Masahiro had never known Touda, only Guren. And from now on, he would always be Touda. The slightly mirthful, compa.s.sionate and warmth he had know in those eyes, he would never see again. Yet he himself was the one that both wished for this and wished for anything but this.

Yet he wished so much to see those eyes again, even if it was in his dreams from which he would awaken. But even that, was too much to hope for, and his heart's desire, no matter how small was an impossibility.

There was a spell that allowed one to manipulate one's dreams. Masahiro thought of Akiko's warmth as a stab of pain twisted in his chest. His tongue flicked over his parched and cracked lips and he swallowed uncomfortably.

"I never heard it from anywhere...... perhaps..... perhaps I felt it? ...........maybe? " Masahiro's thoughts returned to the present as he turned to the others.

Narachika never bothered to follow up the vague answer, instead to stood and turned to rummage through the luggage, pulling out a staff and prayer beads.

(Trans-Note: The pendant he pulls out is very specialized. I linked a picture in the comments.)

"If the creature really feeds on humans, then we must find him before more lives are lost. s.h.i.+nshou, I request your a.s.sistance, lend me your strength...."