The Illusion Realm of Ushitora

Present: Late Spring, 1472

“Where are you going?” Hajoon hissed into Feiyan’s ear, grabbing her wrist when he caught up to her after he exited the sickening whirl of blackness within the torii.

He spun her around to face him, but he could see that her eyes were still completely blank. A mildly curious smile lit her expression as she gazed up at him, and then she brushed her fingers against his shoulder. Fire shot over wrist and up his arm, making him flinch, but instead of burning his flesh he only felt a flood of soothing warmth. Unfreezing from his shock, he realized that his shoulder no longer pained him. 

“It’s healed…how did you do that?” he whispered.

She only smiled.

As the flames receded, the warmth lingerered on his fingers before returning to her hand. The flickering within her clear black pupils also faded, and then the odd smile was replaced with a look of confusion.

“H-Hajoon?”

“Feiyan! What’s wrong with you?” he asked, worried.

She shook herself out her daze realizing that she’d been just about to walk into a huge pine forest. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, his concern darkening his purple eyes.

She lowered her eyes. 

“I don’t know…sometimes I feel like I’m moving in a dream..Hajoon…I’m scared.”

“Don’t be afraid. While I’m here, nothing will happen to you. So stay close to me,” he murmured softly. He wanted to say more, but he wasn’t sure how.

She nodded. Turning back, she saw that the others were already making their way out from under the torii. This time she was able to read the sign...though again the words were upside down.

“Kadomatsu...” she read.

“What does that mean, your Highness?” asked Su Qian Qian.

Feiyan frowned at the pine forest ahead of them.

A forest full of shadows…

“Kadomatsu is an old Shoban tradition. They use pine and bamboo to decorate a house’s gate during the new year celebrations,” said Li Molan. “It’s to honour and welcome good spirits in the hopes of blessings and a prosperous harvest in the upcoming year.” 

Feiyan blinked in surprise.

“Heh, I’m impressed that a son of the Li General’s house actually took the time to study the customs of a neighboring kingdom,” said Hajoon with a smirk.

“Tch,” Li Molan scoffed. “Unlike some, I’m not an uneducated brute.”

Rather than take offence, Hajoon smiled in a frightening manner causing Zhu Yunfeng to move backward with a curse. Li Molan only glared back.

Feiyan couldn’t hold it in and turned her face to hide her amusement. Educated by her father, Hajoon could recite the classics forward and backwards in all three languages of the Eastern kingdoms. And although Hajoon wasn’t aware that she knew, she’d wheedled out his origins from Moon a long time ago. It was probably beyond Li Molan’s imagination that Hajoon might be more noble and more well-read than himself.

But back to the problem at hand...

“It’s a forest of sacred trees then,” said Uta. With deep reverence, he reached to touch the bark of the huge tree in front of him, pausing right in front of the rope tied around its trunk, paper streamers moving slightly in the breeze. 

Hajoon grabbed his wrist just in time, shaking his head.

“Be careful not to touch it. We’re not in a shrine; we’re in Ushitora...I’m afraid this will be the exact opposite of sacred,” Feiyan cautioned.

Uta retracted his hand quickly, crestfallen.

“How dare they profane such a thing…” he gritted.

A mocking murmur swept through the forest as if in answer, and Feiyan thought she heard a giggle as well, but hoped that she had imagined it.

“How will we go about this, your Highness?” asked Eunhae, frowning. She rubbed the sheath on her wrist with fingers, itching to use the darts hidden there.

“It’s likely that the next torii is on the other side of the forest. I can’t see any other entries, so, we have no choice but to take this path…but we should do it in staggered teams.”

“I don’t like this,” Usa growled in frustration.

“We don’t have a choice,” said Feiyan.

Li Molan strode up.

“I’ll go,” he sneered. “I’m not afraid of a bunch of trees.”

Feiyan opened her mouth, but then changed her mind.

Briskly crossing her arms, she nodded her agreement.

“Go ahead, she said, smile as thin as a blade. “Please enlighten us with your skill.”

Taken aback that she’d accepted, Li Molan was speechless, but then he broke into a self-assured grin. Gesturing to Zhu Yunfeng, Su Qian Qian, and Song Juqing, he led them to the edge of the forest and walked in without a backward glance.

Arms still folded, Feiyan and Hajoon watched as their backs receded into the darkened greenery until they disappeared entirely. Feiyan cocked her head, listening carefully. She shouldn’t have been feeling a sense of dreaded anticipation, but old grudges weren’t to be taken lightly…and she didn’t have to wait long.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

“Ah…It’s the trees themselves...” Hajoon grimaced, darting forward with her as they sprinted toward the sounds. “Everyone follow in formation!”

“Watch your sides!” Feiyan warned the ones behind her as they hurtled themselves towards the sound with their inner force, nimbly avoiding the whipping branches as they smashed down across the path. 

Feiyan sucked in her breath through her teeth when they finally reached Li Molan’s group. Strung across the path, Zhu Yunfeng’s arms and legs had been captured by the twisting branches and he was being stretched and pulled in opposite directions. His screams of terror filled the air as the trees tried to rip his limbs from his body.

Li Molan and the two women were on the ground, doing a fair job of holding their own against the slamming tree trunks, which actually impressed Feiyan.

Li Molan upholds his reputation as the Li General’s son. I shouldn’t have looked down on him so soon.

Whoosh!

Zhu Yunfeng shrieked as he crashed to the forest floor with an unceremonious thud, cut loose by Feiyan’s wind blade.

“Run you fool!” Feiyan snarled, spreading the fan to block the slithering tangle of branches that reached out to snare him again.

Zhu Yunfeng did not need her encouragement. Scrambling onto his knees, he sprinted away, covering his head as he ran.

“Come on!” she shouted at those behind her. “Hajoon take the rear. I’ll clear the way!”

Yet, as fast she slashed with her father’s fan, the tree branches came whipping back as if they were regrowing instantly. She flinched as she was caught on the side of the face, a branch narrowly missing her eye. 

The laughter she had heard earlier grew louder in her ears and dark shadowy forms began to flit around her as she ran.

“A fallen guardian!” she heard them giggle in their whispery voices.

“Encircled by red wings and flames…”

“Once proud…” came the hideous giggle.

“…Now broken!”

More mocking laughter.

“Hong Yi! Hong Yi! Do you remember how it felt to be stabbed through the heart by your lover?”

How did they…?

“Do you even know who you are?”

“Hong Yi!!!”

“Shut up!” she cried, shaking her head to clear the sudden dizziness. She hesitated, tottering to one side as she tried to clear her vision, and was instantly smashed in the chest. Tumbling, she crashed backwards into Usa.

“Feiyan!” shouted Hajoon.

No…I can’t lose my focus…she thought as she rolled up into a crouch, coughing.

“I’m alright. Usa…what about you?” she asked, peaking over her shoulder at him.

“I’m fine…but what’s that?” he asked, pointing at the black miasma

“Did you…even listen to what I said in the beginning?” panted Li Molan. “The kadomatsu is meant to attract spirits…but in this case…evil spirits…”

Su Qian Qian shrieked as a branch punched right through her shoulder, piercing her through. The forest immediately erupted with branches snaking from every direction.

Feiyan ducked and dodged, her fan shooting out wind blades to try to cut the whipping greenery, but it was like the whole forest had suddenly converged on them. She grimaced, trying to cut her way to the trapped girl.

The shadows around her giggle as she tried to fight her way free.

“Save me!” Su Qian Qian screamed as she was dragged backwards. Locking her legs and arms, the branches tighened and then yanked. Everyone was abruptly showered with a spray of blood. 

Eunhae made a guttural sound, covering her mouth. She turned away as what had once been Su Qian Qian was dragged into the bushes.

“Gods…” Hajoon muttered.

Feiyan felt her stomach heave even as the branches locked around her own throat, squeezing.

Not this again…

Divine fire, said a voice in Feiyan’s head, sounding slightly impatient.

“Wh--?!” she wheezed.

It’s yours to use, the voice said gently, but firmly. Divine Fire.

Around her, her companions were dying, struggling as the branches squeezed the air from their bodies.

How?

There was a soft chuckle: You already know.

Desperate, grasping for anything, Feiyan imagined fire erupting from her body.

Whoosh!

“What the hell!” yelled Zhu Yunfeng. The branches around him shrivelled and blackened, while the black shadows shrieked and wailed. Li Molan yelped as he was still on fire, rolling back and forth on the ground to put himself out.

Feiyan smiled without humour as she gripped her fan.

All around her, there were more shrieks as the tree branches burst into flame one by one. Usa and Uta dropped down to the ground, gasping and clutching the raw abrasions on their necks as they tried to catch their breath.

The shadowy spirits around them hissed and cried their outrage.

“Divine Fire?! How is this possible? How?”

“It’s not possible!!!” they howled as they retreated into the shadows of the forest.

Feiyan felt a heavy resentment swell around her as the shadows expressed their fury, but the torii had already appeared at the end of the path. Crawling to her feet, she stumbled toward it. 

“Hurry!” cried Hajoon, yanking Li Molan up by the arm. “Run as fast as you can!”