Reflections of a Past Life

The Oni's staff crashed down where Ayame lay, but Haruto was faster—barely. He threw himself onto the platform, grabbing the unconscious woman and rolling aside as the blow shattered stone. Fragments exploded outward, and where the red soul-fire touched, the floor began to dissolve, simply ceasing to exist.
"That fire doesn't just burn," Shinjiro observed, circling the creature with his blade drawn. "It erases. Unmakes things from reality itself."
*CORRECT.* The Oni's skeletal head turned to track him. *I WAS GIVEN THE POWER TO DESTROY ANYTHING THAT THREATENED THE SEAL. INCLUDING THE SEAL ITSELF, IF NECESSARY. I AM THE FINAL FAILSAFE. THE LAST JUDGMENT.*
The creature swung its staff in a wide arc, and a wave of red fire swept toward them. The priest threw up a barrier of scrolls, but the fire consumed them instantly. They scattered, Haruto carrying Ayame's limp body behind one of the stone pillars.
Tsukiko and Yuki's light-forms flickered in and out of visibility, still tethered to Ayame by those threads of luminescence. "We can't fight him directly," Tsukiko said. "We're bound to her—if she dies, we disappear. But maybe we can—"
She reached out and touched the pillar. Light spread from her palm, racing along the ancient carvings. The symbols that had been used in the purification ritual began to glow again, responding to the bloodline's touch.
"The chamber itself is a weapon," Yuki realized. "The original architects built it to contain demonic power. We can turn it against him!"
Both souls pressed their hands to different pillars, channeling energy through the chamber's structure. The symbols blazed brighter, and suddenly barriers of light sprang up between the pillars—not solid walls but shimmering curtains that the Oni couldn't pass through without being burned.
*CLEVER,* the creature acknowledged. *BUT TEMPORARY. I HAVE WAITED FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. I CAN WAIT FOR YOUR POWER TO EXHAUST ITSELF.*
"We don't have that kind of time," Haruto muttered. He looked at Ayame, still unconscious in his arms. "How do we wake her? If she could speak to him, explain what we've done—"
"She's exhausted," the priest said, joining them behind the pillar. His face was pale, sweat beading on his forehead. "The separation took everything she had. It could be hours before she wakes naturally, and we don't have hours."
The Oni slammed its staff against the light barriers. They held, but barely, flickering with each impact. Tsukiko and Yuki were both straining, their light-forms dimming as they poured energy into maintaining the defense.
Shinjiro appeared beside them, breathing hard. "I tried to attack from behind. My blade passed right through him—he's made of spiritual energy bound to those bones. Physical weapons are useless."
Haruto looked at the guardian's sword in his hand. Its blue fire had dimmed significantly since the purification ritual. "This blade cut the demon essence. Maybe it can hurt him too."
"Or maybe it will just make him angrier," Shinjiro countered. "That's not a demon out there—that's a guardian who volunteered to become demonic to serve a higher purpose. He's just as human as Ayame was, just as much a victim of this four-hundred-year nightmare."
"Then what do we do?" Haruto demanded. "Let him kill Ayame? Let the demon essence reform and start this cycle all over again?"
*YOUR ARGUMENT IS POINTLESS,* the Oni's voice rumbled through the chamber. *I CAN HEAR EVERY WORD. AND YOU ARE CORRECT—I WAS HUMAN ONCE. MY NAME WAS TAKESHI. I WAS A WARRIOR, A GUARDIAN, A MAN WHO BELIEVED IN DUTY ABOVE ALL ELSE.*
The barriers cracked further under his assault. Another few strikes and they would shatter.
*I WATCHED MY BROTHERS DIE IN THE WAR AGAINST THE DEMON QUEEN. WATCHED MY FAMILY CONSUMED BY HER ARMIES. WHEN THE PRIESTS ASKED FOR A VOLUNTEER—SOMEONE TO UNDERGO DEMONIC TRANSFORMATION TO BECOME AN ETERNAL GUARDIAN—I STEPPED FORWARD.* The Oni's burning eyes fixed on them through the translucent barriers. *THEY PROMISED ME IT WOULD ONLY BE UNTIL THE QUEEN WAS DEALT WITH. UNTIL SHE ESCAPED OR WAS DESTROYED. THEY LIED.*
Another strike. One of the barriers shattered, and red fire poured through the gap before Yuki could seal it.
*FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF ISOLATION. FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF LISTENING TO THE DEMON QUEEN'S WHISPERS, HER PROMISES, HER ATTEMPTS TO CORRUPT ME FURTHER. I HELD AGAINST HER. I REMAINED LOYAL TO MY DUTY. AND FOR WHAT?* The rage in his voice was palpable. *SO THAT WHEN FREEDOM FINALLY CAME, YOU COULD CHANGE THE TERMS? COULD MAKE HER HUMAN AGAIN AND EXTEND MY TORMENT INDEFINITELY?*
"We didn't know you existed!" Haruto shouted back. "No one told us there was a guardian beneath the seal!"
*BECAUSE THEY FORGOT. EVERYONE FORGETS THE SACRIFICES MADE IN THE DARK. EVERYONE REMEMBERS THE MAIDENS, THE HEROES, THE GLORIOUS BATTLES. BUT THE ONE WHO STANDS WATCH ALONE IN THE DEPTHS?* The Oni laughed, a sound like bones grinding together. *WE ARE ALWAYS FORGOTTEN.*
The remaining barriers were failing. Tsukiko and Yuki couldn't hold them much longer.
Haruto looked at Ayame again, at her peaceful face, so different from the monstrous demon queen she'd been. She looked young—maybe thirty—though she'd lived for over four hundred years. The demon essence had kept her alive, ageless, but now that it was gone...
An idea struck him. Terrible, desperate, but possibly their only chance.
"Shinjiro," he said quietly. "When you walked the forsaken road, you said you entered the seal chamber's spiritual core. Could you do it again? Could you enter someone's mind the same way?"
The ronin's eyes widened. "You want me to go into Ayame's unconscious? Try to wake her from within?"
"Not just wake her. Show her what's happening. Let her see Takeshi, understand his suffering. Maybe if she knows there's another victim of the seal, another person who needs to be freed—"
"She'll have the strength to wake up," the priest finished. "It's risky. If Shinjiro gets trapped in her mind while she's this weak, he might not be able to return. And without him to anchor part of the demon essence—"
"It will shift to you and me," Haruto said. "Two pieces instead of three. More unstable, more dangerous, but manageable. For a while."
*YOUR BARRIERS ARE FAILING,* the Oni announced, almost conversationally. *THIRTY SECONDS, PERHAPS LESS. MAKE YOUR CHOICE QUICKLY.*
Shinjiro knelt beside Ayame, placing his hand on her forehead. "If I don't come back—"
"You will," Haruto said with more confidence than he felt. "Because you're too stubborn to die properly even when you're supposed to."
The ronin smiled grimly. "Fair point." He closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed. The scar on his chest began to glow—that mark the demon queen had left when she resurrected him. But now it served a different purpose. It was a connection, a link to Ayame's soul.
His body went rigid, eyes rolling back.
He was inside.
The barriers shattered completely.
The Bone Lantern Oni stepped through, red fire spreading from his skeletal feet. "NO MORE DELAYS. NO MORE TRICKS. THE DEMON QUEEN DIES NOW."
Haruto stood, placing himself between the Oni and Ayame's body. The guardian's sword felt heavy in his hands, its blue fire barely a flicker now. "I can't let you do that."
*THEN YOU WILL DIE WITH HER.* The Oni raised his staff for the killing blow.
---
**Inside Ayame's Mind**
Shinjiro found himself in darkness—not the oppressive darkness of the seal chamber, but something softer, warmer. Like being in a womb, safe and protected from the world outside.
"Ayame?" he called. "Ayame, I need you to wake up!"
No response. Just the gentle sound of breathing, rhythmic and peaceful.
He walked forward through the darkness, guided by instinct more than sight. Gradually, shapes began to emerge—memories, solidifying into scenes he could observe.
A young woman kneeling in a temple, her hands pressed together in prayer. "Please," she whispered. "Please grant me the power to save them. I'll pay any price."
The scene shifted. The same woman, older now, her eyes glowing with inhuman power as she commanded an army of demons against an invading force. "Protect the province!" she commanded. "Let none pass!"
Another shift. The woman staring at her hands in horror as black veins spread up her arms. "What's happening to me? This isn't what was promised. This isn't—"
The memories came faster now, overlapping, fragmenting. Ayame screaming as the transformation completed. Ayame leading her demon army against her own people, unable to stop herself. Ayame weeping as the priests trapped her, sealed her, bound her in darkness for four hundred years.
And beneath it all, a constant refrain: *I just wanted to save them. I just wanted to help.*
"I know," Shinjiro said to the darkness. "I know you did. And you can help again now. But you need to wake up. Someone else is suffering because of the seal, and only you can free him."
The darkness rippled. A voice—Ayame's voice, but younger, more innocent—emerged from everywhere and nowhere: "Who?"
"Takeshi. The Bone Lantern Oni. He's been guarding your prison for four hundred years, promised that his duty would end when you were dealt with. But we changed the terms. We made you human again, which means the seal technically still exists, which means—"
"He has to keep watching. Forever." The voice was horrified. "I didn't know. They never told me there was another guardian below."
"Because everyone forgets the sacrifices made in darkness," Shinjiro said softly. "Everyone remembers the heroes and the maidens, but the ones who stand watch alone? We're invisible."
"You understand." The darkness coalesced into a form—Ayame as she'd been before the corruption, young and hopeful and painfully human. "You died for others. Were brought back to serve purposes you didn't choose. You carry burdens no one acknowledges."
"Which is why I'm asking you to wake up. Not for me, not for the others, but for Takeshi. Because he deserves what you just received—the chance to be free. The chance to choose rest over eternal duty."
Ayame's form solidified further. "What would I need to do?"
"End the seal. Completely. Not just separate yourself from the demon essence, but destroy the prison itself. Release Takeshi from his oath."
"But if the seal is destroyed—"
"The demon essence is already contained. Divided among three of us, bound by our willpower and the guardian's mark. It won't reform as long as we live. The seal's prison is unnecessary now."
"You're sure?"
"No," Shinjiro admitted. "But I'm sure that no one else should suffer for four hundred years because we're afraid to take a risk."
Ayame studied him for a long moment. Then she smiled—sad but accepting. "You're a good man, Ronin Shinjiro. Death was right to send you back." She reached out and touched his chest, where the demon queen's mark glowed. "I'm glad I saved you, even if I didn't remember why."
"Wake up," Shinjiro said. "Wake up and end this cycle. Free everyone—including yourself."
The darkness exploded into light.
---
**The Purification Chamber**
The Oni's staff was descending, red fire trailing behind it, when Ayame's eyes snapped open.
She sat up so suddenly that Haruto stumbled backward, and her voice—clear and commanding, still carrying echoes of the demon queen's power—rang through the chamber:
"STOP!"
The Oni froze mid-strike, his burning eyes widening in shock.
Ayame stood, her legs shaking but her spine straight. Tsukiko and Yuki's light-forms blazed brighter, lending her strength through their tether. "Guardian Takeshi. I know you. I remember you now."
*YOU REMEMBER NOTHING. YOU WERE CONSUMED BY THE DEMON—*
"The demon was me. Is me. Part of me, separated but not destroyed. And through her memories, I can see you." Ayame stepped toward the massive skeletal creature. "I remember your volunteering. Remember the ritual that transformed you. Remember four hundred years of you standing watch while I screamed and raged above you."
The Oni's stance wavered. *THEN YOU UNDERSTAND. YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I MUST—*
"Why you must end the seal. Yes. I understand completely." Ayame raised her hands, and light began to gather around them—not demonic power, but something else. Something human but no less potent. "Which is why I'm going to help you."
*WHAT?*
"The seal was built to contain me. To keep the demon queen imprisoned until she could be properly dealt with. Well, she's been dealt with. Separated, divided, contained. The prison has served its purpose." Ayame's voice grew stronger. "So I, Ayame—the woman who became a demon, who was sealed away, who suffered and made others suffer—I declare the seal fulfilled. Complete. ENDED."
She slammed her hands together, and light exploded from between her palms.
The chamber shook. The pillars cracked. The ancient symbols carved into the floor shattered, their power released after four hundred years of containment.
And deep below, in the seal chamber where the bronze grate and chains had held for centuries, Haruto felt something fundamental break.
The prison was opening.
Not to release a demon, but to release a prisoner who no longer needed to be confined.
The Bone Lantern Oni stood frozen, his burning eyes fixed on Ayame. *You... you're destroying the seal? Truly?*
"Truly. Completely. No more prison. No more guardians forced to watch in darkness. No more maidens sacrificed to maintain bindings. The cycle ends here." Ayame's form was glowing now, light streaming from her skin. "You've done your duty, Takeshi. For four hundred years beyond what was asked. You've earned your rest."
The Oni's skeletal form began to crack. Not violently, but gently—like ice melting in spring sunlight. The bones that had been carved from shadows started to dissolve, revealing something underneath.
A man.
Young, maybe twenty-five, with a warrior's build and eyes that had seen too much. He looked at his hands—flesh and blood again, not bone and shadow—with wonder.
"I'm... I'm human again?" His voice was soft now, no longer the grinding stone of the Oni but the rough timbre of a man who hadn't spoken gently in centuries.
"The seal bound you to your demonic form," Ayame explained. "When the prison broke, so did the binding. You're free, Takeshi. Free to die properly. Free to rest."
Shinjiro gasped, his eyes flying open as his consciousness returned to his body. He looked around wildly, then focused on Ayame. "You did it. You actually destroyed the seal."
"We did it," she corrected. "All of us. Together."
Takeshi was fading now, his restored human form becoming translucent. He looked at them all—Haruto, Shinjiro, the priest, Tsukiko and Yuki's light-forms, and finally Ayame—and smiled.
"Thank you," he said simply. "For remembering me. For freeing me. For letting me finally—"
He closed his eyes.
And dissolved into light, rising upward, passing through the chamber's ceiling and beyond. Released. At peace.
The red soul-fire that had burned in his bone lantern for four hundred years flickered once, then transformed—changing from red to pure white, from consuming fire to gentle illumination.
And in that white light, for just a moment, they saw him. Takeshi as he'd been before he volunteered, before the transformation, before the centuries of isolation. A young warrior with a smile on his face, finally going home.
Then he was gone.
The chamber fell silent except for the sound of stone settling and the distant rumble of the seal chamber collapsing far below.
"It's done," the priest said quietly. His face was wet with tears. "The seal is destroyed. The prison is gone. After four hundred years, it's finally over."
Ayame collapsed, her strength spent. Haruto caught her, and this time when Tsukiko and Yuki's light-forms surrounded her, they weren't just offering support—they were celebrating.
"You did it, grandmother," Tsukiko said, her translucent face radiant with joy. "You freed everyone."
"Not everyone." Ayame looked at Haruto, Shinjiro, and the priest. "You three still carry the demon essence. That burden—"
"Is ours to bear," Haruto said firmly. "And it's not a burden. It's a choice we made. A responsibility we accepted. We'll manage it."
"For how long?"
"For as long as necessary." Shinjiro rubbed his chest where the demon essence pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. "We've all carried worse."
The chamber shuddered again, more violently this time. Cracks were spreading up the walls, and dust rained from the ceiling.
"The shrine is collapsing," the priest realized. "Without the seal to anchor it, the entire structure is becoming unstable. We need to leave. Now."
They ran, supporting Ayame between them, racing through corridors that were crumbling behind them. The ancient structure that had stood for four hundred years was finally succumbing to time, its purpose fulfilled, its duty complete.
They burst out of the shrine's main entrance just as the roof caved in. The sound was like thunder—wood splintering, stone crashing, four hundred years of history reduced to rubble in moments.
But they were alive.
All of them.
The sun was rising on the horizon, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink. Dawn had come, just as the priest had predicted. The purification ritual complete. The seal destroyed. The cycle ended.
Haruto looked at the village below. The crimson chrysanthemums were withering, their petals turning to ash and blowing away on the morning breeze. The corrupted villagers—the ones who hadn't died during the Red Festival—were collapsing, their flower-twisted forms finally finding rest.
Kagura-no-Sato was dying.
But it was a peaceful death. A release, not a destruction.
"What happens now?" Haruto asked.
Ayame, leaning heavily on his shoulder, looked at the rising sun with eyes that hadn't seen true daylight in four hundred years. "Now?" She smiled. "Now we live. However long we're given. However we choose. For the first time in centuries, the future isn't written. The cycle is broken. We're free."
From the ruins of the shrine, light began to rise—dozens of souls, hundreds, all the maidens and guardians and priests who had been consumed by the seal over the centuries. They rose like lanterns toward the sky, finally allowed to pass on.
And among them, Haruto saw faces he recognized. Tsukiko. Yuki. Even Takeshi, his soul no longer bound.
They were all smiling.
All free.
All heading toward whatever lay beyond.
"Goodbye," Tsukiko called down to them, her voice fading. "Thank you. For everything."
Then she was gone, along with all the others, leaving only silence and the gentle rustle of dying flowers.
The nightmare was over.
The four-hundred-year curse, broken.
But as Haruto looked at his companions—at the demon essence he could feel pulsing inside him, at Shinjiro's glowing scar, at the priest's haunted eyes—he knew their story wasn't finished.
They had ended one cycle.
But they had started another.
And in the forest beyond the village, watching from the shadows, the Shinigami Wraith stood motionless.
Its red-slash eyes fixed on them.
Waiting.
Because death is patient.
And everyone's harvest eventually comes due.
But that was a story for another day.
Today, they had won.
Today, they were free.
And for now, that was enough.