Strena Animéga Part Nine

 The Tengu, The Kappa 

And The Nurikabe

They came to another mountain then they looked at the map. They could tell that they were not that far now. Yet, after recording all those people’s stories Strena could not help but feel anger at all of this. She knew that she would kill Lord Kurochi Yamishi the moment that she saw him. She did not care how long it would take but she will take that tyrant down.

“Right, we are going through SanYokai Mountain.”

“That sounds good!”

“This is gonna be interesting.”

“Why?”

Cerpheres let out a chuckle.

“There are three creatures there.”

“Which are?”

“Yubai, Tengu, Kappa and Nurikaba which are moving brick walls.”

They nodded.

“What are they?”

“What?”

“The tengu-’

“Tengu.”

“Tengu and kappa?”

“The Tengu are creatures that have red skin. A long nose, wings and white hair. The kappa are fish-like creatures that are cucumber fiends that have been known to eat children.”

Her eyes widened at that.

“What?”

“How do you defeat them?”

Cerpheres shrugged.

“Never interested me to find out how. Not a child, see!”

“But Strena is.”

“Then keep her away from the Shi River then!”

“Well, before that we have to get through Akiharu Temple. Maybe the monks there have the answer.”

“If you get to them!”

“Ahh!”

They all moved on before Cerpheres could annoy Chashathrophogh anymore. They soon came to a set of stairs. They broke out into a light jog as they went up them. None of them wanted to waste any more time then they already had. So they jogged on and on and on. Yet as they did, they could not help but notice that the stairs almost became endless. Yet they all had to keep up their stamina. That was until Strena noticed that Yukino was getting tired. So, not wanting to have to leave him behind crouched.

“Get on.” She said, trying not to waste too much time.

“What?”

“Get on. I’ll carry you up the rest.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re old and you need to rest. I’m young. I can handle it. Believe me, I’m stronger than normal girls.”

He nodded as he climbed up on her back. Then they jogged on and on until they reached the top after three hours.

Yet it was dark and all of them needed to rest. So they all walked on until they saw a woman that was beautiful and could only have been in her twenties. She soon approached them.

“Hello travelers.”

“Hello, I am Chashathrophogh. So you know where Akiharu Temple is? We need somewhere to rest.”

She nodded as she put on a shy look.

“I’ll tell you where it is.”

“Where?”

“Well it is just on ahead. Where all those really handsome monks are. Oh, you’re very handsome too. You must be very lonely too.”

“No. Nor am I looking for anything other than our mission.” He explained bluntly as they walked on.

“What? Don’t you want me?”

“No.”

They soon arrived at the temple. They saw the monks in bright orange and fully shaved heads.

“Hello.” Spoke one.

“Hello. We are travelers in need of somewhere to spend the night. So could we possibly spend the night here?”

He nodded as he gestured to follow him. They walked over a bridge. Then inside the complex building he took his sandals off.

“Take your shoes off.”

They all did and walked on. The monk spoke to one of his superiors. They looked at the group and nodded. They soon had them asleep in a small section by the side of the temple.

Chashathrophogh was fast asleep when he was approached by a creature with red skin like blood and a long nose with a slight bulb. It had white hair and wings. It looked down at him and stood over him. It sank into the man and entered his dream.

Soon Chashathrophogh’s dream changed from seeing a child twelve years old. She looked exactly like Bash but her eyes were white and she used a hand held structure that looked like a bow that only needed one hand to fire it and held smaller arrows. To a room in his parents’ castle, feeling a heavy weight in his hands. He looked down to see that it was Bash’s body! His heart felt painted by grief as he approached his younger sister with nothing but the wish of death in his mind.

His eyes opened. He saw the Tengu sat by him.

“What-”

“You pass. Strena passed by helping the old man. You passed by not giving into lust. So the premonition is your reward. Although, the dream that you had is just as prophetic.”

“And who was that child?”

“Well, that is your riddle to solve. Now I am off to test another foolish monk who’s heart isn’t in the right place. By the way, here. It will come in handy.” He said, giving him a cucumber.

He looked down and smiled. Yet he looked at Bash as she slept on the mat. He spent the rest of the night thinking all about the dream.

When the rest woke up they were all hungry. The monks gave them some food and they traveled on and on and on. When it reached midday, they came to the Akiharu River. They all walked by it. Chashathrophogh held Strena’s hand to stop her from succumbing to the temptation of her curiosity as she looked in the river. She watched the schools of fish, swimming to and fro. Some she had seen others she had not.

Yet as she did she saw a humanoid fish as it swam along the centre. It had webbed hands and a cup-like head with a beak-like mouth. Almost like a beak made of flesh rather than bone. It swam closer and closer along the river bank. Soon it dived out of the river and at Strena! She threw out a kick. He let go as it dived at her again. She let go of Chashathrophogh as she dodged. Then her body was thrust forward. Then it bowed. The water in it’s head flowed out and it wobbled as she came back up.

Hold on, did that creature just bow to me?

Well, the people here seem to bow, just like a hand shake.

So maybe it is. No. That’s exactly it!

She bowed again in the same way. It bowed back as more water came out of it’s head.

Yet when it looked up, he ran at her. Then Chashathrophogh threw something at her and she caught it. She looked down to see the cucumber. Then at the kappa and threw it at the creature. He caught it and ate it. It smiled as it returned to the river.

Soon an idea came to Strena. One that would keep the kappa from eating any children ever again. She closed her eyes and willed all the trees to grow cucumbers instead of leaves. Soon they were coated by them. Yet she knew that this was not good enough. So she willed the tree twigs and branches to grow stronger than ordinary twigs so that they could support them. When she opened them they saw an army of kappa eating the cucumbers. Then they all ran as fast as they could. Yet Cerpheres looked at Strena with a scarlet face and a treacle of blood coming from his nose.

At night they ran down a narrow set of stairs that forced them all to walk in single file. The Cerpheres hit a brick wall at the bottom.

“Aw!”

“Aw! That hurt!”

He looked up.

“Wally? Is that you?”

“Oh dart, no! Not you! What’re you doing here?”

“That’s my business. What are you doing here?”

“Awaiting you. I thought that here it would be hilarious blocking travelers or the monks, but none came today and of all people to bump into me it had to be you of all people!”

“Can we pass?”

The wall dived back as they all passed.

“Thank you Mr Wally.”

“Ishi!”

“Thank you Mr Ishi.” Strena said as they left, Ishi returned to its position.