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Chapter -16- Fog of War

Time Eternal Celestial Realm ...

Tamamo-no-Mae stalked through the halls. She clutched the strap of a satchel, slung across her shoulder and walked at a quick pace. Gone were the luster and the shine from the Hall of Reflection. The mirrored portals showed nothing in their frames.

Tamamo's sandals were tied to her sash and she walked in silence on bare feet in her human form. Her left hand remained on the strap across her chest but her right moved to a bejeweled war fan. She withdrew the 'tessen' war fan from her sash and thumbed the iron ribs, which were home to gorgeous colorful jewels on the outer sections.

She narrowed her gaze, approaching an intersection in the hall. Tamamo slowed her pace and stopped at the corner then peered around it. An enormous slithering tail glided by, further down the intersecting corridor. It disappeared from a parallel intersection further up the hall.

Tamamo swallowed. Jörmungandr, the serpent son of Loki. A creature that large would swallow her whole - she knew she had to avoid it. Her head swiveled the other direction. Down the right side of the hall were enormous creatures over three meters tall.

Approximately ten feet in height, the giant men were having a conversation with a similar looking bi-ped creature. Their bodies were alike, but some had red skin, the others had a frosty coloration of blue. The jötnar giants of flame and frost - they were the people of Loki.

She waited at the corner, watching them converse. After a moment, the blue-fleshed creatures turned and walked away. One of the red ones stayed still, the other red one began to approach the intersection.

Tamamo swallowed down her nerves and thought back to her academic teaching. Her mind raced through Norse mythology, trying to remember from where the fire jötnar hailed.

She backed up the hallway away from the intersection as the tall, hideous creature came closer. His raced looked as though it was from a radioactive wasteland, with crooked teeth and an undeveloped second head on his shoulders. She continued to back away until she couldn't see his approaching shadow.

The creature stopped in the intersection, looked away from Tamamo's position, then turned towards her. He pivoted on his heel and approached her. "You, fox creature..."

Tamamo swallowed and took a deep breath. The words suddenly came from out of the deepest darkest memory at the back of her brain. "Hail, jötnar of Muspelheim! I am the protected pet of Lady Kiko Sigyn, wife of Loki."

"Jötnar is plural. I am a jotunn. Yes, we learned of your name at the thing."

The kitsune blinked her eyes in confusion, but it was short lived. "Ah, yes, a 'thing.' The modern word is an 'assembly.' I was hoping to find my liege, Sigyn. Do you know of her whereabouts?"

"Yes. She has traveled to Jötunheimr to amass the forces necessary to finish our work here before we prepare to conquer the Manheimr."

"I ... forgive my ignorance of Norse mythology, but I thought the land of men was called Midgard?"

"That is from where evolved humans came. Groups of them traveled from Midgard to settle a new world. Manheimr is the earthen rock world, which we shall conquer. It is not part of our nine realms, but is part of our existence based in the faith of those who created us with their soulful faith, all beneath the One True Creator. But HE no longer cares of the skirmishes or drama of His creation! It is now ours to possess! We shall rise up and break our chains and rule the humans. We shall no longer be stories long forgotten."

She licked her lips and nodded. "Very good. I have great respect for your world, Muspelheim. Like you, I am a creature of flame." She continued to back away from him, slowly, step by step, hoping to lie her way through the situation.

"You are nothing like me," he said, approaching her in the Hall of Reflection. "You are a spy. Assembled at the thing, we learned from Loki's bride that she used you, knowing you were a traitor. Beyond our flames, our only commonality is that we both learned to speak the language of men to better understand their modern prayers. And soon my kind will listen to human words of worship, instead."

"You ... you think I'm a spy?"

He continued to approach. "No, animal creature. I am a soldier. I do not need to think. I only need to act on my orders. I will bring your head to Mistress Sigyn, in my right fist, and your broken body in my left."

Tamamo grimaced. She continued to back away, eyes narrowed. "And yet you did not call your brethren down the hall?"

"I will kill you myself. There is a reward of status. Let your last words define you, and I will tell of them in poem. Will you speak of your Shinto deities? Will you recall upon the ancient Chinese gods, to whom you prayed in your youth? Or will you give your head in honor to the queen of your race?"

The war fan snapped shut then popped open again. All she had left was psychology. "Where is she, that I might bring your head to her and tell her of your arrogance?"

"Very good. I had high hopes that you would not commit suicide. Before I kill you, I wish to know - is it true? Do your worshipers believe there is honor in such an act?"

She clenched her teeth, feeling mocked. "I will not entertain your curiosity, as it will not matter when I take your life. But worry not, your death will be one of honor, in service to your purpose. It is only a shame that the purpose you serve has, itself, no honor."

The jotunn began to glow red-hot. His footsteps left fiery remains, which fizzled out in his wake. He tensed his body, showing off his muscular, yet grotesquely distorted physique. "In the name of Surtr, I will rip your head from your body. In the name of Loki, I will present your remains to his wife. Speak your last words, female animal. Your time has come."

"I wasn't aware they teach English in such a dramatic way where you're from." She stopped backing away and opened her posture. "I stand my ground here. For Inari."

"Ha! The Shinto gods have been locked away in the Rock Cave of Heaven with their precious sun goddess. And there they will stay until they rot and are forgotten."

She narrowed her gaze to horizontal slits. "Your arrogance will be the end of you. Show me what the creatures of Surtr can do. Fight your best, so that I may not be disappointed."

He charged her. His large feet slapped upon the ground. He drew his enormous hands back.

Tamamo stood her ground. "No weapon?" she asked as he approached at a rapid speed. Her left hand reached down to her satchel to test the straps, which secured the contents within. In her right hand, she snapped the war fan shut then dove forward, between his legs.

Halfway through the roll, she jerked her right hand out and popped open the fan. The metal edges grazed the backside of his knees. Tamamo came to her feet, turned about and snapped the fan shut again. She watched as the large creature crumbled to all fours.

"You lumbering freak, I hope that you are not Surtr's finest. If so, I am disappointed." She brought the heavy fan down against his spine, breaking one of the vertebrae in his back.

His thighs gave out and he dropped to his stomach, half propped up by his elbows.

"You talk an impressive game. I was almost intimidated. But now I am bored with you."

He hissed in pain and took a deep breath through his clenched teeth. "Perhaps it is _your_arrogance that will be spoken of in the great poems. Right before Sigyn holds your head by your hair." He rolled over onto his back then groaned in excruciating pain. "End it."

She snapped the fan shut, slid it into her sash, then reached over to her other hip and withdrew a curved sword. "Unfortunately I have given my weapon to Sinopa Crevan. I am forced to settle for this."

Tamamo swiped the katana downwards, severing his right arm to keep him from attacking her. She wiped the blade against one of his twitching legs, cleaning the metal. The katana returned to its sheath.

"End this, clever vixen."

"I will not kill you," said Tamamo with a smirk. "I have done far worse. I have disgraced you, and made you worthless to Loki, and to Surtr. I have left you with one arm so that you might pen a poem about Tamamo-no-Mae. A name that will be remembered by all, soon. However, no one will care to recall _your_name. It is unworthy of remembrance."

"You," he shivered from shock, "will leave me this way?!"

She withdrew a dagger, situated adjacent to the katana. She lowered to one knee and carved Japanese lettering into his chest, reveling in his cries of agony. She wiped the blade against his forehead, leaving a smear over his brows. The short blade was returned to its sheath and she stood.

"Jotunn, the word upon your chest reads, 'Unworthy.' I hope to meet one of your kind that isn't so deserving of this mark. I'm not sure how your people took the other deities by surprise, but if all soldiers are like you, then I am disappointed in both sides."

"Our numbers are in the hundreds of thousands," he panted, his body racked with tremors. He lifted his head and gazed down at his torso. "Red?"

"Yes. Here, in this oxygenated atmosphere, blood turns red when your body is ripped open. I leave you with your curiosity. After you've penned a poem of my greatness, I will leave it up to you to determine whether you are worthy of suicide, or whether you would rather dishonor your race with stories of your defeat." She turned away from him and stormed down the hallway, angry.

How could legions of these baka force the deities into such catastrophic defeat? She pondered whether it would be simpler to bring Conner's people to this realm and let them fight Loki's pathetic army directly. Surely it would be quicker than fighting the trained humans in the black gear back on Earth.

Tamamo gazed up, above the Hallway of Reflection, and saw the Celestial Courtroom in ruins. Bodies were strewn about in the distant heavens above. She ground her molars together in anger. Perhaps if it was a war of attrition against Loki's forces, the deities may have been overrun, or even fooled into thinking they could not defend themselves. Seeing the death, above, made her curious if the bodies belonged to the jötnar.

She returned to the intersection but it was clear. Up ahead, one of the jotunn giants, far larger than the one she defeated, stalked the halls. From her distance, she couldn't tell if it was a frost giant or a rock giant. She crossed the intersecting hallway and approached the enormous jotunn from behind.

Walking on the balls of her feet, Tamamo crept in close. All at once, the enormous creature turned around then looked down at her. She glanced at his powerful legs and chose the katana again. It glided out of the sheath and glinted in the lighting of the dim yet heavenly hallway. "Where is Sigyn?"

"Little fox creature," the jotunn said, "Ours is the first race ever created. Mímir and Vafthruthnir have spoken the secrets of this realm's defeat, followed by the end of the Earth realm, and the destruction of Midgard, the humans of _my_universe."

Tamamo narrowed her eyes once more. "Ironic. Your brightest scholars were beheaded and defeated, respectively. Your kind now flails about, technologically ignorant, and childish in mind. I am losing my patience. Either step aside or die."

He roared in laughter. "I like you, little fox creature." He lifted his head and peered down the hallway then looked back at her. "I see you have slain one of our cousins, one of the sons of Muspell! Very well. I shall avenge the soldier of Surtr and bring your head to..."

"GODS in heaven! Shut up and fight already!" She swiped the sword at his crotch, a foot above her head.

The giant thrust his arm down. The sword glanced off a metallic brace around his wrist. She swung upwards, but her second attack was deflected in the same way.

"Finally, someone who can fight!" she shouted. Tamamo twirled about to build speed, then swung the katana at his legs.

The large jotunn reached down and pinched her sword between his thumb and forefinger, stopping it quite suddenly. She released the handle, drew out her tessen and popped the fan open.

The creature used his other hand to reach for her, but she guided his hand away with the war fan, rolled along his arm, and avoided his grasp. Tamamo slipped between his enormous legs then thrust the fan upwards.

The jotunn cried out in agony and brought his knees together. She heard her sword clatter to the tiles nearby. Tamamo snapped the fan shut then thrust her palms towards the backside of his knees. A large ball of superheated fire burned the flesh on the back of his legs. The hair of his legs ignited and rushed upwards, consuming his clothing.

Tamamo turned to the left, leapt up along the wall, put her foot on the masonry and boosted herself upwards. She pushed off the wall then spun around and kicked him in his back then dropped to the tiles with a crouch.

The giant fell forward and landed on her sword handle causing it to flip up into the air from the immense weight of his body. It bounced of the wall then landed on the ground adjacent to his hip. The blade warbled briefly.

She moved up adjacent to him, careful not to let the flames of his clothing catch her kimono. She picked up her sword then sheathed it and moved back around the jotunn. Flames continued to engulf his body, making it impossible for him to cry out.

"And for the record, I didn't slay your friend. I emasculated him."

The fire reached the man's hair. Tamamo turned away and stalked up the hallway.

"So help me, I will personally gut Loki using the deity-slaying technology uncovered by Aris Falcon." She sheathed the katana, no longer afraid of these creatures. Empowered by two victories, she walked with a confident stride.

X

X

Beneath the Atlantic Ocean...

Topaz Nevada cursed under her breath. She crept on her stomach through a tight crevice. Blood rushed to her head, making it hard to think. She continued towards the force of gravity through the airshaft, moving with a slow but steady rhythm.

Crawling for the last four hours gave her time to think. Time to remember. Time to figure things out. She came to a stop and rolled over then scooted around so that her feet were facing gravity. Paz opened her hip pack and drew out a bottle of water and her worthless cellphone.

The screen illuminated the inside of the crawl space. She checked the time - four hours had passed since she began climbing into the vent to get away from Falcon's people. She sipped from the water bottle then secured the cap and put it back into her pack.

The battery on the cell had seventy-two percent left, which was at least enough battery for two or three days at best. Probably closer to three since there was no reception.

Topaz took a moment to look around at the tube full of power cables and supply conduits. The circular ribs that comprised the tube made it flexible and easy to crawl through.

She opened the image gallery application and looked at the photographs of Falcon's lab then sighed. Everything had gone wrong. Fox's plan never even manifested. Everything went to hell in a hand basket. Carmen and Elvena. Both were snug in cryo-stasis tubes. Topaz flipped to the next photograph. Johann Foster, as young as the day she last saw him, twenty-five years ago.

The next picture reminded her of how this miserable journey began. Evan Balmoral, forty-five and tired looking, sat in a jail made of glowing beams of light. Topaz thought back to when she found him nearly five hours ago. Evan explained that he was being kept alive to control Patience Ubysh, and Patience was being forced to work on science projects for Falcon. Evan said they've lived a long happy life under house arrest. They even had a ten-year-old child. And then the forty-five year old man explained that his wife was at the other end of the air duct.

The reverie faded.

Topaz sighed. She wished she knew how damn deep the air duct went before climbing into it.

Her thumb swiped across the phone going to the next photograph. Fox Parker and Vincent Nevada together. The loves of her life. She had reached the end of the photo gallery and going forward brought her back to the first picture in her phone ... Topaz, her husband, and her brother together in Hawaii.

The memory brought her back to yesterday - Fox and Vincent had their first argument ... ever. Vincent refused to let Fox get captured. Nevada argued that the three of them were a team. And in the end, it all turned into the worst idea ever ... they did nothing.

Carmen and Elvena paid the price for Paz's inaction.

She turned the phone off and put it back into her small pack. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Falcon had her daughter and goddaughter.

Paz knew she never finished training Conner, and now it was too late. Conner would never be ready enough to do whatever needed to be done to stop Falcon. She sighed - a mother just knew these things.

And to top it all off, she recalled that Vincent came into the bedroom, earlier, with awful news from the surface. He'd told Fox and Topaz that Jules Guillot had been slain.

Paz tightened her hands into fists. Fresh emotion all over again, same as when she first learned of it hours and hours ago. Jules didn't deserve to die.

And worst of all, her stepfather was killed somehow defending Conner. Topaz felt guilty. Had she not left Conner with her mother and Jules, nobody would have died. Conner would have been properly trained. But now everything was ruined.

Topaz blamed herself. She grumbled aloud in regards to her impetuousness.

With all she'd lost, how did Topaz act? She went off to look for Carmen and found Evan Balmoral alive and well. She muttered to herself. The pissy murmuring brought her back to reality - four hours crawling through a tube hanging in the void. God only knew where the damn thing led.

Why did she agree to go looking for Patience in the first place? It was four hours of crawling; her body ached horribly, and she had a headache from crawling in the direction of gravity for so long.

The only thing keeping her from turning around was she didn't want to lose four hours over nothing. And now, after so much crawling, her curiosity was taking over. She began to wonder what the hell was at the end of the airshaft ... and why?

Topaz slowly made her way around, facing downwards again. She took a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves, and stared down into the abyss.

She wondered what her husband and brother were doing back at the apartment. A weak smile found her face in the dark. She pictured what she wanted them to be doing. Her emotions cooled down, and she began crawling once more.

Her thoughts turned fully to Fox and Vincent. An entire scene unfolded in her mind, complete with saucy dialogue and sexy sound effects. It was easier to distract herself by imagining her two lovers having fun.

With every hand placed in front of her, she continued to crawl little by little while doing her best to not think about the hard work and the aching muscles. No, her little daydream was far better. The only problem was ... she was turning herself on.

She imagined the entire scene straight to conclusion. First Vincent, and then Fox. It was a delicious and salacious mental image that she decided would have to become a reality later, when returning to the apartment. Her heart raced with all the delightful thoughts...

Topaz slammed headfirst into a dead end. She grunted and turned about, rubbing her forehead, followed by a series of angry cusswords. She reached for her phone, continuing to swear under her breath. The phone booted rapidly.

She used the light of the screen to investigate the interior of the cylinder. It was a strange filtration system attached to the end of the ridiculous tube. She did a quick number-crunch in her head and estimated that she'd crawled a little over three miles. Possibly more.

She retrieved a small toolkit from her hip bag and removed several screws from the filtration unit. She opened a panel and found an air filter within. It was an all-in-one piece that appeared to be metallic with a honeycomb shape.

Topaz Nevada unscrewed another panel and, without warning, the entire metallic unit dropped away from the end of the long hose.

With a pressurized cavern beneath her, she felt the rush of air blasting down her legs from behind. She dug her feet into the sides of the tube walls and put her tools away, then her phone.

Her eyes began to adjust.

The ground was well illuminated and less than ten feet below the opening. She rubbed her eyes then turned about, so that her legs were towards gravity. Topaz drew her hands from the tube lining and felt herself plummet...

She landed in a crouch and looked up. The tube, with its missing air filter, sprung upwards, nearly fifteen feet higher than before. It had a light around the rim, illuminating the immediate area, but without her weight inside of it, it sprang back into position, far above. Far out of reach. Her only direct way back from where she came was no longer an option.

"Fuck."

She sighed. Then she inhaled and winced. The air was stale and left a bad taste in her mouth. It was almost like ... "Guh, fishpaste." She pursed her lips together then rubbed her face and knelt besides the dented air filter.

Topaz picked it up then got to her feet and looked around. She stood in the middle of a street. An actual street. Although, she didn't recognize the style of pavement, she did recognize the fact that she was surrounded by two and three story buildings.

As her eyes adjusted, she saw the rings of light around other air ducts hanging throughout the area. Dozens upon dozens of them, as far as she could see.

She looked back up at the airshaft above her. With its brilliant ring of light around the outer entrance to the tube, it was too bright to tell that the air filter was missing. Topaz walked into a nearby building and ditched the dented filter through the front entrance then stopped to look around.

It was easy to assume that Falcon was pumping oxygen into the area. And with the previous air so stale, the buildings were immaculately preserved. The buildings appeared surprisingly modern but without glass panes in the windows.

Topaz ran her palm over the smooth marble-like finish of a red, black and white speckled stone slab, admiring the building. "This is beautiful," she whispered to herself.

A sound in the near distance caused her to tense. She stepped into the building, standing next to the dented filter and waited. A moment later, a group of men walked by, carrying supplies. One of them had patches on his uniform, denoting rank. He drew a cigar from his mouth and tapped the stogie with his finger, dropping ashes in the street.

The group of men continued walking through. The group leader replaced the cigar in his teeth and followed the group. A moment later they disappeared around the bend.

Topaz stared at the little fleck of ash in the middle of the street. "Contaminating their worksite; don't these people know where they are? People ... entire civilizations have dreamed of seeing this place." She sighed and looked around the foyer of the building she used to hide.

There was a beautiful statue of a ring-tailed lemur in the middle of the room. On the walls, a breathtaking mural of a bull started at the far left window and went all the way to the far right one. Some of the colors were faded, but the sheer amount of detail put into the mural suggested that it was made with something far more impressive than a brush.

At her feet was a basin. She knelt down and examined it. There were metal pipes coming out of the wall, which angled down. Two pipes, side by side. At the bottom of the basin was a drain.

"Holy shit. They had plumbing to wash their feet." Topaz took her phone out, activated the screen and went into an application to film a video. She thumbed the virtual button that activated the camcorder mode. "I'm standing in some sort of "Atlantis" kind of underground city right now. I think it's July the 22nd or 23rd. Forgot to look and they have their own system in Falcon's wonderland. Anyhow, you can see the lemur effigy over here, the bull mural on the wall, and this is a basin apparently for foot washing. It has modernized plumbing."

She turned to what appeared to be a clock on the wall but couldn't read it. "I'm not sure, but this looks like some sort of chronometer. It doesn't appear to use the sexagesimal numeral system. I think Lance once said that Babylonians invented that, and that's where we get sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, and directional things like sixty multiplied by six makes three hundred and sixty degrees - a full circle. If you look closely, this dial is designed just like a clock, but the designated sections are very different from our own."

She walked across the room and back outside then showed the phone her surroundings. "It's a bit dim because the lights on the airshafts are only marginally brighter than average street lamps but they cover more surface area," she said, pointing the phone up at the one directly above her, "but they're also being used to pump air into this place."

Topaz turned towards the central part of town, where an enormous duct, or type of shaft, came down from the black ceiling. "If you can see that in the distance," she used the fingers of her free hand to pinch-zoom, "it looks like that shaft might be a return register to suck out all the stale air. That thing is huge. It might be an elevator for bringing in science and escort teams, as well as gear. I'll have to get a closer look. It might be my only way home unless I can find a way up to one of the vents I used to come down. Apparently they're flexible, and expand. My weight brought it close to the ground, but when I jumped out, it sprang back up into the air - out of reach for sure."

She began walking down the road. "The buildings look modern, save the glyphs on the signs. I feel like I've seen some of those symbols somewhere. At the very least, they're familiar."

She continued down the road, showing the device various sights and landmarks. "Going to stop the video and start a new file, just in case."

Paz closed the first video file and started a fresh video. "This is number two. I'm still down here in this Atlantis-esque city. I've seen too many movies to know that video files magically become corrupted or some shit. So it's best I make several videos. I'm walking towards what appears to be a large Parthenon-like building on a hill at the center of the city. It's extremely well lit; even from this far away the illumination is plain to see."

The city was silent like a tomb. "This place is remarkably well preserved. The air is horribly stale. To the point where anyone with so much as a chest cold wouldn't be able to breathe. They're pumping in oxygen through what I assume is solid bedrock, above. If you haven't seen it in the first video, there are flexible tubes hanging all around the city, used as lights and air. I'm approaching a large one closer to the center of the city. It's quite big, possibly a lift for Falcon's people and gear."

The street ended at an enormous concrete canyon. She tilted the phone down and said, "If you can see that, it's a perfectly cut circle. I'm assuming this was once a moat or canal. There's no water in it, but it's fairly deep. Certainly deep enough for ships to have passed through. And it's really smooth. I wouldn't be able to scale it without climbing gear, so I'll have to find another way around."

Topaz swiveled her head from left to right. "I have no idea which way will get me to a crossing the quickest." She backtracked to the nearest building and went inside. It didn't take long to locate a staircase. She made her way to the rooftop then said, "Starting a third video." She ended the second, and thumbed the recording button.

"Okay, third video. I'm about five stories above the street level of an underground abandoned city. Falcon's people are undoubtedly here to study it. The buildings are made from this marble-like stone that is speckled red, white and black. It's smooth but strong like granite. It's used in the streets, which appears to be designed for foot traffic because I noticed carvings on the ground that might have been signs."

She pointed the camera phone to the left, and panned it right. "Okay, I think I see a crossing in the distance to the right of my location. Christ only knows which way is north down here. I'll use my phone's compass after this video. Anyhow, this moat is an enormous circle. The big thing that makes me wonder is, where am I? And, are there concentric smaller moat channels inside or outside of this one? If so, it would match up with what everyone has heard about the Atlantis myth. I don't have internet access on my phone, so I can't look up a checklist of things that would compare it to the Plato version. So far, I've seen what looks like a clock that doesn't use a modern time system. I've seen a lemur statue thing; I've seen a mural of a bull that looked to have been created by modern methods - not simply paintbrush techniques. I've seen this canal section, and there's some sort of large temple or mansion on a hill in the center. I want to get closer. There are modern-looking buildings. I saw obelisks. I'm not sure of their function. Also, the local writing system is glyphic in nature. They seem familiar. Lord knows my family has been in enough museums to've seen a lifetime of hieroglyphics. But they don't look like any Egyptian style I've ever seen. These are more, I don't know, Klingon or something. All angry sharp edges and angled. Also the buildings appear to be made from a strange reddish marble-smooth stone. It could be from age, but I've never seen anything like it before."

She ended the third video then secured her phone and hopped off the side of the building. She put her hands and feet in a windowsill, with a frog-like posture, then jumped down to the next window beneath herself. A moment later, she returned to the paved ground, which was cracked. The side of the building also had several cracks in the foundation.

Heading to the right of the building, she walked along the edge of the enormous empty canal, looking about herself. One of the buildings up ahead, on a street corner, was a pile of rubble. A section that once was part of the roof now lay in the street, splayed out across the pavement.

Topaz pulled her phone out and took another video. "This is the fourth in the series so far. So, it's obvious this city is sitting on either the ocean bed or the top of a low mountain, probably part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It's also obvious these buildings are earthquake prone. Tectonic activity seems to have brought this one down. See how it's splashed across the ground? That wasn't a controlled demolition. This place has cracks in the paved street, in the foundation of buildings ... looks like it's seen some serious shaking. I wonder if this was from the quake of 2025, or if this was something that happened over time. And if so, how long are we talking?" She put the phone away again and continued walking along the empty circular canal.

She wanted to calm her mind by thinking about Fox and Vincent again, but she knew she needed to be alert. Instead she focused on finding her way to the large shaft at the heart of the city. Securing an escape route was priority number one.

X

X

Celestial Realm Grand Courtroom ...

Tamamo pursed her lips in a tight frown and approached the body of Grand Chancellor Eiyuu Geroi. She knelt besides his head and, using her fingers, she closed his eyes. "May the Gendai-no-Dynasty be avenged with law and order. Your justice system brought about the end of chaos for a time. But this is your fault. You allowed Loki and his wife to plot beneath your nose." She stood up and lifted her gaze back to the body of the Grand Chancellor, torn open and mounted on a pike, which was driven into the floor through the center of Eiyuu's podium.

She stared at his exposed ribcage with a moue of disgust. "Did they torture you then remove your head, or decapitate you then desecrate your body? I wonder..."

"What does it matter?" exclaimed a voice from behind in frustration.

Tamamo whirled about, facing a little gray bird. "Messenger of Hachiman," she said with a nod of respect. "You haveve survived, little dove. I am impressed."

"How can you look upon the body and asked such things of a man disallowed the honor of battle, Tamamo-san?"

"Because knowing your enemy makes you more efficient at defeating them in combat. Where are the Shinto deities? Is it true, that they have been locked inside the Rock Cave of Heaven?"

"Hai, they are sealed within. Only a small gap remains between the seal and the cavern's egress. But it was enough I could sleep through, therefor I have come to seek help. However, I watched from the rafters, helpless to act, while the Grand Chancellor was murdered. One removed his head from behind and held it aloft while they forced him to watch the other eviscerate his body with massive claws. Geroi-sama stood no chance. Then they taunted him until his mind expired, shortly thereafter."

"Cowards!" Tamamo narrowed her eyes. "Our enemy has no honor."

"Indeed. But it will take more than honor to defeat them."

Tamamo nodded in agreement. "Agreed." She frowned then turned back to the dove. "What is left?"

"Nothing! All is unglued."

"That is too vague, bird."

"Tamamo-san, everything is gone. The Dharma Transmission is broken with the murder of Lee-Roshi. The djinn were destroyed. They hunted down the Chancellor's son, Yoshiko Matsumoto. They went after everyone."

Tamamo frowned. "Yoshiko-sennin has been slain? I respected him. Instead of telling me what is gone, tell me what is left?"

"You. Sinopa-san. Myself. Your kuda-gitsune."

"Is there anyone outside of the Shinto-worshipped deities?"

"Hai. The Twelve Olympians fight alongside the Titans and I could not bear to watch. Egyptian deities were rounded up. Norse champions, such as Sif and her Three were imprisoned..."

"The Greek Pantheon fell?"

"I do not know if they have yet to fall. However, their Roman counterparts were slain during the initial attack. I do not know if any survived. The Egyptians were attacked, and Isis was being tortured in the atrium. None were standing last I saw. Aries was outnumbered last I saw. I fled to find a warrior capable of rescuing the Shinto..."

Tamamo sighed in frustration. She held her hands aloft. "Omoikane resides safely in his mirror."

The bird hopped along a table then turned about and stabbed his beak into his left wing for a moment. The dove looked back up and stared at her. "You've seen him?"

"He summoned me as the attacks began. I was unaware of them. He kept me at his side with drawn out dialogue. He said he did it to protect me; I do not know why. I assure you he is alive. Seek his council. Perhaps you will be safe there. The jötnar are too stupid to see threats in reflections."

"However they were smart enough to find a way to deactivate the portals to Earth. The Hallway of Reflection is useless."

Tamamo nodded. "I have found a handful of portals still in use. I have made contact with Conner-kun. He will fetch me a body to possess. If he cannot, I will settle to reside within him until he finds another."

"I thought you were cursed against possessing males after you attempted to possess Konoe-tenno to determine the cause of his sickness, only to be forced out of his body by the..."

"For a birdbrained creature, you know more than you should! I am told my curse is psychological. I will make the attempt if I must."

"I will say a prayer that he has found you the body of a woman, even if such is temporary."

"I pondered staying and fighting."

"You will die."

Tamamo rolled her eyes. "I have already felled two of them. It was an unfair fight."

"Hai, they do not fight fairly"

"I am still alive, bird. You misunderstood my words. They fought at a severe disadvantage. They are overconfident and arrogant."

The dove approached the edge of the small table and said, "This is the beginning of the first battle. _You_are overconfident and arrogant. You do not even know you are clouded in a fog of war. You have no way to be certain of your adversaries' capabilities. You have no situational awareness. You do not know the full scope of their intent, other than to oppose you. Those with tremendous power have already been locked away, rendering them useless. This, Tamamo-san, is a fog of war. You would be keen to appreciate the gravity of danger surrounding you."

The kitsune eyed the dove then frowned. He was a messenger for the Shinto god of war. If anyone would know peace, vigilance, preparation, and war ... it would be this dove.

She drew in a deep breath then bowed to show respect. "I stand corrected. I am going to Earth. Do you wish to accompany me?"

"Iie, Tamamo-san. I must go my own path. I will seek Omoikane's chambers for sanctuary, but you will be on your own."

"Very well. I will fight alongside the soldiers amassed by Sinopa-chan. It seems I will be fighting two separate battles. Loki, here, and Aris Falcon on Earth."

"No, it is one in the same. Aris' rise to power was always part of Loki's scheme. It was his plot, using Aris, to free himself right from the beginning."

Tamamo blinked twice, staring at the small bird. "Loki has been using Aris Falcon? I thought Loki was using Aris' obsession with the First Age city to...?"

"Loki tricked Aris Sokolov into becoming obsessed with the First Age. Loki has proven himself to be the master of the Chess Pawns. He has been planning this for over two centuries. How else do you think Aris Falcon managed such success? He was blindly carrying out Loki's orders as part of a godly agenda. Kiko Sigyn and Loki have been manipulating everything since Aris's childhood. They even arranged his rescue in the early 1900s, as a small child. This was an expertly crafted battle plan; one worthy of praise and song, were it not for the fact that Loki will end the world simply to make a statement."

The kitsune's nine tails rustled about. Her fur stood on end beneath the kimono.

The bird was right.

She glanced away with a sigh. "You know your soldiers and tacticians. Loki is the kind of creature that would rather watch the world burn out of spite than to help anything or anyone ... even himself."

"Hai."

"Farewell little dove. Stay in the rafters so as not to be seen." She pointed to an ornate vent above a set of doors. Tamamo extended her hand, fingers curled down slightly, and created a small ball of flame. The fireball launched forward and blasted the slatted register cover from above the doors. "Express my gratitude to Omoikane for saving my life."

"I shall, Tamamo-san. When the timing is right, I will return to Hachiman and we will prepare for a proper battle. I will consult with Omoikane and Hachiman-no-kami, and I will bring you battlefield intelligence. We will support you and your soldiers as best we are able." The dove leapt off the table and flapped his wings. "No more crying into your tails like last time." He left the courtroom before Tamamo could say another word.

Her face scrunched up in irritation. "That was twenty-five Earthly revolutions ago. Impressive memory for a creature whose brain is the size of the seed he eats." She raised her voice as an after thought. "Seed that comes from the labors of my master - Inari! Best you remember that!"

Silence.

Tamamo sighed. She crossed the room and headed for the opposite entrance. Something caught her attention; she glanced back at the podium with the headless body perched on the pole above.

Several other corpses were strewn about the area but none of them were as bad off as the Grand Chancellor.

The ancient kitsune glanced at a circle on the floor made of symbols. It was set into the ground behind the podium.

She remembered being summoned a number of years ago to the podium. She approached the seal set into the floor then frowned. It had been damaged by some sort of blade, and no longer served to teleport people in or out of the courtroom.

Tamamo headed back for the door at the far end of the room. She took a deep breath, opening it.

Fire jötnar stood in the hallway. The large group turned to face her.

The spirit fox frowned, feeling a pit grow in her stomach. "Oh. You creatures were not here when I came through this way earlier. She briefly thought back to the night she ran from the Japanese Army, when Emperor Konoe was on his deathbed in the year 1155AD. "You baka are of no concern; I have been through worse."

They offered no reply.

Tamamo backed away from them. The fire giants began to filter into the courtroom, approaching her.

The door at the far end, where the dove had escaped, burst open, filled with frost giant jötnar. Tamamo narrowed her gaze, now surrounded on all sides. "Oh. It was a trap. Mm, clever."

X

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Next Chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/694414