Ren kept running until the ground changed color. That snapped him out of his tunnel vision and made him finally look around again to try and ground himself. The gravel had started to give way to a blackened and barren surface, as if so fire or so similar force had scorched it a long ti ago.
Then, he saw the structure ahead rising from the ground. A forgotten tower. It was tall, majestic, and intimidating in both its size and its lack of vegetation. It was surrounded instead by all sorts of chanical pylons and thick wiring that branched outward from deep inside the earth. It looked like a traditional pagoda, but one that had been fused with chanical structures, giving it a sowhat heathen appearance when compared to the other buildings in Naraku.
Suddenly, Kagami shouted from a distance.
"Ren! Don’t go in there!"
He turned and saw her crouched on a bent roof to his left, barely visible through the haze. Her tail curled sharply while her fur stood slightly raised on her back.
But the Kagemonos were closing in. Ren could feel the faint tremor of dirt and pebbles as they approached, so he had no choice but to turn back to the pagoda and try to find a way to get inside.
That’s when the vision hit.
----
He saw a massive ritual chamber with floors made of stone and tatami. Dozens of figures in ceremonial robes stood around a ring of fire, as their voices murmured rhythmic incantations, like a choir of sorts. In the center of it all stood a woman with black hair. Her expression, in all her decisiveness, seed almost inhuman.
She raised her face, as if looking at him. But no, not at him. Through him. She spoke one word, but Ren couldn’t distinguish through all the buzzing in his ears what that word was.
Symbols and glyphs were laid out on the floor, slightly hovering above ground and pulsing in patterns. But then, suddenly, sothing caused them to break into small, glowing fragnts that scattered aimlessly around. Ren could tell sothing was wrong. The fire burning in the center of the chamber snapped violently, transforming into a wild whirlwind that engulfed everything in its path.
----
After that, the vision stopped, and he was back where he was before it happened. In front of him stood the pagoda again, which looked just as awkward as it had been a few monts ago.
And the Kagemonos were coming.
But before he could take another step, sothing jumped from the side, wrapping around his waist and yanking him violently. A second later, the full weight of one of the Kagemonos slamd into him, pushing him hard into the ground. It felt like hitting a wall of bricks.
The creature pinned him down. It had the body of a young man, which under different circumstances would have appeared perfectly normal, but here he was twisted under a cursed pact. It opened its mouth wide, screaming again that awful, ragged sound that sent shivers down Ren’s spine.
Up close, he could see the golden pattern in its eyes more clearly now, with those black ink swirls twisting inside of them. The eyes were unnaturally wide, and the image of them struck hard in Ren’s mind.
He then gathered all his strength and pushed as hard as he could. In the process, he managed to free an arm and strike sothing to his left, but that didn’t seem to cause too much harm because the grip didn’t loosen. The Kagemono instead lifted him as if he weighed nothing and then threw him into the nearest wall.
The impact caused his ears to ring heavily. After a few monts, he pushed himself up, coughing blood, but not ready to give in just yet.
This fight was too physical for him to try to use the Pact. He couldn’t find the proper focus to channel its energy, and there were just too many of them to find a target.
He then saw another Kagemono approaching. His body instinctively anticipated the incoming hit, so he braced for the worst. He knew he wouldn’t survive too many of those, though, so he had to change the pattern.
He looked at the door to the pagoda, which, against all odds, stood slightly open. There was still a chance there before he was struck again, so he took it. He ran toward it.
As soon as he was in, he shoved the wide wooden doors with his shoulder until they slamd shut behind him, cutting off the distant shrieking from outside. Darkness fell imdiately, broken only by the glow of sigils and symbols carved into the inner fra.
Ren didn’t waste ti. He locked the main wooden latch, then another lower one made of iron. Nearby, a bunch of wooden placards stood purposeless, so he grabbed them as well and stuck as many as he could onto the door.
Only when he stepped back and saw no movent in the slight opening beneath the fra did he let himself breathe again.
Suddenly, he heard noise behind him. Ren turned fast, instinctively, as he felt his heart beating almost in his throat.
Kagami was standing just behind him.
"Shit... don’t do that!" Ren snapped, backing up one step.
Her eyes were fixed on the barricaded door in front of them.
"You shouldn’t have co here," she said.
"Like I had much of a choice!" he shouted back. "Have you seen those things outside?!"
Then, without any warning, a thin vine slipped through a narrow gap in the wall. It shot across the space and brushed against Ren’s cheek before he even realized it was there. One of the Kagemonos had shoved it in, and a mont later, its scream tore through the room.
Ren jolted back and stumbled to the ground.
"What the hell do they want?!"
"They won’t co in here," Kagami said, watching the vine retreat as if burned by sothing. "This place is protected."
Ren stayed on the floor for a mont, breathing hard and trying to regain his composure. His body hurt. Every part of him felt scraped or bruised, but nothing seed to be broken. That was a relief.
Also, Kagami seed to be right about this place. They seed to be safe there for the ti being. So he sat up, exhaled, and pushed his hair out of his face.
Then, slowly, he got to his feet and looked around.
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