Water and Earth

Mornings in Shinjuku kept its game face on, commuters in pressed suits crowded on bustling trains, delivery bikers raced through narrow openings to bring their bosses their morning coffees, ramen stands steamed at the corners with hungover patrons who’d let the night pass them by. The city moved like clockwork every day, everybody in their own mind, their own ideals. No one ever noticed how frayed the edges were.

That was how the Morningstars liked it. That’s what excited them.

Invisible to the eyes of anyone without the Sacred Current flowing through them, that number accounted for most of Japan. These creations of pure energy could barely be classified as alive, they were metastasized from the dark side of the Current and acted off instinct, driven to feed off fear. A woman being mugged in an alley, a mother watching her little girl from afar as she stepped into a racing street, the driver of a pearl white sportscar twirling in the air like a rehearsed ballet. And they were always hungry.

But for the moment, all that interrupted the discussion of the two individuals on the service road was the gentle breeze.

“Ishikawa, you’ve been obsessing over this for longer than I can count. Retracing the same steps, outlining all the possibilities…it’s unhealthy. Even the Current hasn’t been any help.”

Sengen Mio’s long silver turquoise hair caught in the early sun over her gentle face, her black and white lotus flower silk kimono fluttered softly in the wind. She’d always been drawn to tradition, it helped her maintain a foundation in such a fast moving world. Her mind was her greatest tool, and the comfort of nostalgia made it just a bit easier to block out the noise.

“Someone’s put a veil over this whole thing, that’s why none of the rituals have worked. There must be some sort of binding seal, but that only means that I’m right about all this. That someone is covering something up. And I didn’t ask you to tag along, Sengen, I’ve been just fine doing this on my own.”

Ishikawa Hado was not a man who let things go lightly, especially when it concerned the disappearance of someone he cared about. His streaked white hair was not from age, but from the toll of running Sacred Current through himself so often. His long black coat was a daily uniform at this point, and his scruffed face showed his priorities laid outside his own appearance.

Neither of them carried any weapons with them. Everything they needed was already inside them.

“I’m more than aware of that, but that’s why we’re all worried about you. None of us know what happened to Shion, but killing yourself over it is not gonna bring him back. Ever since he disappeared, it’s like you did as well.”

Ishikawa was unwilling to accept her truth. “So what, I should just accept it? That one day Shion just up and disappeared with no trace. No reason, no mention, nothing. And it’s just a coincidence that my abilities have been useless in uncovering anything so far?”

Sengen frowned. “Maybe…maybe he doesn’t want to be found. Maybe he’s the one who put these blockades in place.”

Ishikawa shook his head. “No, no. We were working together, we were tracking down that place Araka had a vision of…” His voice cut out as his mind recalled the moments of their last interaction. “I had to stay back, but Shion insisted he would go on ahead. Scout the area, get an assessment of what we were looking at…”

Sengen knew how close they were, how much it had broken him to be given no explanations. Against her better judgement, she made the decision to go along with it.

“Look, I chose to come with you, so…I’m open to look. I’d like to see the place.”

The “place” wasn’t much further ahead, and it wasn't much of anything at all. From the outside, it looked like an abandoned warehouse, with metal scaffolding and broken windows lined the sides. Garage doors were placed in front, where trucks would park to load and unload deliveries. The cracked concrete at its foundation was a portrait painted by time and weather, the tiny divots filled with rain water from the night’s downpour. It was located on a desolate street without much foot traffic, in an industrial area full of industries that were no longer needed. Out of a lineup, it wouldn’t have stood out at all.

“This is it? This is where you’ve been coming back to?” Sengen asked, expecting more.

“Come inside, then you’ll see it.”

Ishikawa led her through the rusted front door, kicking it open with his military boot.

The interior was filled with trash left behind, piles of steel bars, and shards of broken glass littered throughout. Narrow walkways lined the tops of the walls, and loading docks were platformed just by the garage doors. Overall, there was nothing that stood out.

“This…doesn’t look like much either,” Sengen added.

Ishikawa just walked deeper in, standing in the center of the abandoned floor.

“Look closer.”

She raised her right hand up to her right eye and drew a magic circle just in front of her amber iris. It glowed a calm blue, the symbols and characters lining its interior flowing like droplets of water. Closing her left eye, the picture finally became clearer.

“What the…”

In the middle of the room, invisible to the naked eye, a circle was etched into the floor, glowing a bright white.

Ishikawa stood just next to it. “It's an Enso circle. They’re symbols in Buddhism, signifying enlightenment. They’re hand drawn in an uninhibited brushstroke, within the space of one exhalation. It's used as a meditative practice that requires you to center yourself, to capture the exact state of your mind in a single expression. The final product is a record of your mind, body, and spirit, a symbol of accepting your imperfections.”

“Imperfections? But that circle looks…perfect,” she replied, confused.

“Yeah, that’s the problem. These circles can be drawn in two ways: with an opening, or closed. The open one signifies the ongoing journey that has no end, more in line with what the Yugen represent. What we stand for. Whereas with the closed, it means that perfection is already achieved. I’ve analyzed this circle, and it's perfect in every way. Its curvature, width, circumference, everything down to the atoms. It's all…wrong.”

Sengen shook her head. “Wait, I’ve heard about Enso circles like this before, but I’ve never actually seen one up close. Dammit, I can’t remember where I know this from. But you really think this has something to do with Shion’s disappearance?”

“It has to. It must mean something, I just don’t know what yet.”

Ishikawa dropped down to one knee, his hand reaching forward to the glowing light. He’d been hesitant to touch it before, but with Sengen alongside him she could pull him out in the worst case. His crossed two fingers hovered just above it.

“Wait,” Sengen interrupted. “Do you smell that? It smells like…burnt hair?”

Her question answered itself, as a tearing sound erupted from the end of the warehouse. It ricocheted off the metal walls, sounding like the shrieks of bats. The magic circle still hovered in front of her eye, giving her a clear view of everything that hid in the dark. The Morningstar may as well have been painted neon pink.

“Ishikawa! There! It’s coming!”

Morningstars can be described as manifestations of human excess. They’re born directly from Sacred Current, but they aren’t summoned to life, no, they erupt into existence. Spontaneous and hungry. They are able to take the appearance of anything. Humans, animals, yokai, whatever is the best camouflage for the situation they’re in. Whatever can get them closest to their prey. They can easily go undetected, especially in crowds of people, making them extremely dangerous to those both with and without the Current. But this time, it didn’t even bother hiding its true appearance.

Its body shimmered like the surface of a black hole, its skin like smoke behind foggy glass. Veins of molten energy coursed throughout it, emitting a ghastly glow when their hunger was satisfied. Its face was empty except for two glowing eyes, red hot, excited by the feast in front of it.

Ishikawa dodged back right as the Morningstar’s sharpened limb pierced the air in front of him.

He slammed his hand to the concrete floor. The earth below convulsed. Drawing a line in the air with two fingers, he muttered an incantation he'd learned from an old friend years prior.

"A Cutting From The Original Tree Of Knowledge."

The concrete split up into jagged spikes, snapping into the Morningstar’s legs and pinning it in place. The creature shrieked its bat like cry.

Sengen stood perfectly still in the noise. Her eyes were closed, the blue magic circle in front of her face growing in size.

"Blue Signature Of Strange Attractors."

The circle closed completely, then exploded into sharpened droplets aimed right at the Morningstar’s writhing shape. It reethed in pain as the daggers tore into its skin, cracking its surface like pebbles thrown through a stained glass window.

"It's destabilizing!" Sengen shouted.

"Keep it there!"

Ishikawa reached into his coat and pulled out a small obsidian charm. Many are chiseled from stone at once, then forged with the Current over many days. The one in his palm he had etched a sigil into its surface, and biting his thumb, he smeared a streak of blood across the rune.

"Unearthly Flower Encased In Dust."

He hurled it. The charm pierced the cavity of the creature’s chest and detonated. Chunks of debris exploded outward, then changed direction and collapsed back in.

Ishikawa gave Sengen a nod, having a thought of relief that they had contained it. But that relief only lasted a moment.

The Morningstar’s body split into embers and reconstructed itself next to the jagged concrete spears. All signs of damage were gone, any dent they had made had been undone. But the look in its corrupted eyes looked hungrier than even before.

"Ishikawa this one’s too strong! Something's off!" Sengen yelled.

“Get us out of here! NOW!”

The creature was already moving towards them, closing the gap even faster.

Sengen dropped down to her knees, her kimono folding around her. With Ishikawa behind her, if she failed, he would be receiving the full blow of the oncoming attack. She traced her finger on the dusted floor, quickly writing what looked like cursive text in circular motions.

"Haunted Beach."

The circle burst open beneath her. The Morningstar lunged right at their position, but met only empty air.

Several blocks away, the same circle flared open on an office rooftop.

Ishikawa and Sengen fell through it, landing hard on the slicked surface.

Sengen keeled over and gasped, trying desperately to catch her breath. Ishikawa staggered to his feet, and stumbled over to the edge of the roof. Reaching into his coat once more, he took out a pack of cigarettes. He gave it a few shakes for good measure, and placed one right between his teeth. He snapped his fingers and the tobacco leaves lit, and he took a long, deserved, drag.

“Tokyo looks so peaceful from up here. You know, some people like the countryside more. The farm animals, the homemade goods. Everything that comes with a quaint, quiet life. I don’t know about you, Sengen, but the thought of that makes me sick. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here.”

Sengen had stumbled up as well, panting a little less. “You were right, I should have believed you from the beginning. Morningstars aren’t allowed to make direct contact like that, I thought that was the rule. Only influence, from the shadows, from the TV, from the damn drunk on the street corner spewing gibberish. But that one…that was so forward, like it was…aware of why we were there.”

Ishikawa took a final hit of his cigarette, and flicked it into the opening air, wanting to watch the smoke dissipate in its fall. “Well, at least we know we’re on the right path.”