Shadows of the Reborn

Chapter Two

Taizo slipped through the door with Shuzo on his heels, sneaking in through the large oak door into the dimly lit room. He stopped, startled at the stone slabs situated within, holding countless bodies motionless in their deathly slumber. They would never wake nor move from their stone graves, and eventually, they would be burned and buried in the God’s mausoleum. Not knowing how long they would remain in their temporary crypt, Taizo glared at Shuzo, who pushed him forward so the younger could slip inside and close the door behind him.

“Stop pushing me,” Taizo hissed.

“Well, move your ass so I can get through the door. Why are we whispering?” Shuzo lifted an eyebrow. “We aren’t doing anything against our mother or father’s wishes.”

“I don’t think I can do this.” Taizo almost whimpered.

“Stop being a sissy.” Shuzo snarled softly. As soon as his eyes focused in the dim light, he gasped. “So many.” His eyes widened.

Taizo swallowed and nodded. His eyes roamed over the bodies closest to him to see if he saw his twin’s body. More than likely, Keizo would be further in the back near the dais of ceremony. Sucking in a deep breath, Taizo stepped forward, his eyes scanning over the bodies of his brothers and sisters, and he stopped when they landed on his twin. His throat tightened at seeing the ashen face and sightless eyes of Keizo.

Shuzo bumped into him and stopped when he saw why Taizo was motionless and breathing erratically. “Taizo.” He whispered so softly. It was like a breath of air.

Taizo slipped forward and stared down at the face, so like his own, it was unnerving. He could see no injuries, and it held such a strange stiffness that it was as though Keizo was sleeping rather than dead.

Shuzo shook his head slowly as he glanced around the room. Stepping around Taizo, Shuzo began moving the clothing on his elder brother, looking for the mark that would signify whether Keizo had chosen the life that caused his death or if it was because he failed in his task at the human’s temple of good fortune. Seeing nothing, Shuzo looked up and caught Taizo’s hopeful eyes. “He wasn’t cursed, which means he chose to live on the mortal plane.”

“But why?”

Shuzo shrugged. “Maybe he fell in love with a mortal?”

Taizo lifted his gaze, startled, “Please tell me you are joking.”

“I am not. It wouldn’t be the first time, and you know it.”

“So, would that not mean his spirit can still be found?” Taizo held his breath while he waited for Shuzo to answer.

“I am uncertain. That would be something to ask Mother.”

Swallowing, Taizo sighed. “Do you not think that if it were possible, she would have mentioned it?” Frowning, he allowed his head to process everything up to that point. “Why would she hide it if he could be found?”

Shuzo shook his head. “That is if he can be found. Remember, all lost and abandoned souls go to the spirit realm. We can only hope that his spirit didn’t go there.”

Taizo ran his fingers over Keizo’s face and was surprised it wasn’t cold like those who died would be. Frowning, he glanced at Shuzo curiously. “His body isn’t cold.”

Shuzo furrowed his brow and reached his hand out to feel Keizo’s face. “You’re right. I can only assume that would mean his spirit has not reached the spirit realm and is lost elsewhere.”

Taizo groaned in frustration. “And we cannot interfere with anything on the mortal plane. How would we find out for certain?”

Shuzo placed his fingers on his chin, thinking for several minutes. “I don’t know. The only way would be to use the sands of time and try to view the happenings through the fountain.”

Taizo held up his hands in protest. “That is just as forbidden as entering the spirit realm. Only mother can manipulate the sands of time.”

Shuzo nodded. “I know. You could ask her.”

Taizo sat down heavily on the marble steps of the dais with his chin resting in his hands. “I could, but it doesn’t mean she will give the answers we desire.”

“Father would be furious if we snuck into the halls of time to summon Akaji. No, we would need to figure out how to do it independently without dishonouring us. This is dangerous territory, and if we are not careful, Susanoo will use whatever we do to his advantage to cast us into disfavour.” Shuzo grunted, sitting next to Taizo.

“We need to talk to our mother. That would be the only way. She has always had our backs when we ask questions, especially if something doesn’t add up, and this is one of those times.” Taizo said with a frown.

“She probably won’t give us answers, but perhaps it would spark the curiosity in her to investigate on her own.” Shuzo sighed.

Taizo pushed to his feet, walked back over to his mirror image, and stared down into the calm features of his twin. “It doesn’t appear as though he suffered any injury.” He mused.

Shuzo grunted in response.

“What does that mean?”

“It could mean that it was not a natural death.” Shuzo began. “If that’s the case, then that would mean someone interfered from the celestial realm, and he was killed by one of our own.”

Taizo narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like what you’re suggesting.”

Shuzo gave his brother a lopsided grin. “You have always been perspective. Open your eyes, Taizo. You and Keizo are Ryujin and Fujin, which means you have the power of wind and storms. Now that Keizo is gone, your power is halved.”

Taizo returned the grin. “My power hasn’t diminished.”

Shuzo lifted a brow. “Really? Why does that not surprise me.”

Taizo chuckled. “Let us use our intuitive minds and solve this little mystery of my twin’s death. Keizo wasn’t a fool, nor was he reckless, so his dying to some mortal is an incredible thought. But if it is as you say, then someone in our family is going out of their way to eradicate their rivals so as not to be noticed.”

They both turned when a soft giggle entered their space. “I should have known you two would want answers.” It was their mother, gliding along the marble floors.

“Can you blame us?” Shuzo lifted a brow as he glanced at his mother.

“I cannot.” She shook her head and sadly looked down at Keizo, her fingers running along his cheek.

“He has no injuries,” Taizo muttered.

“Nor does he have the mark of the cursed ones,” Shuzo added.

Their mother nodded. “I did notice this.”

“So he wasn’t one of the fallen ones,” Taizo growled softly.

“Keizo made his choice, Taizo. He may not have fallen due to losing favour with the humans, but he chose to live among them.”

“But why?” Taizo whispered.

Kamimusubi looked at Taizo pointedly before answering. “If you follow this path, Taizo, the answers you receive may not be what you seek.”

“Do I still not have a right to know?” Taizo insisted.

“You do, but will it change anything? He will still be lost to us, and nothing will bring him back to our sides.”

Taizo sighed.

“I know his loss saddens you. That emptiness will grow if you let it take over. Be comforted to know he did not suffer or was unhappy.” Kamimusubi placed her hand on Taizo’s shoulder.

“If he didn’t die by a human’s hand, how did he die?” Taizo shook his head.

Kamimusubi shook her head. “The truth of the matter will come about soon enough, my son. For now, take comfort in the fact he had a good life.”

Taizo clenched his teeth in frustration. His mother always remained tight-lipped whenever he wasn’t to know of information. Shaking his head, Taizo glanced back over to his brother and then allowed his eyes to scan to his other siblings. “So many.”

Kamimusubi nodded. “Yes, too many. Your father and I are discussing ways to save the others and what tasks for the future you and your other siblings will take part in.”

Taizo and Shuzo glanced at one another curiously. “What does that mean exactly?”

“You and your siblings will eventually be tasked with challenges to accomplish. I refuse to allow any more of my children to be sent as living Gods in the mortal realm, so I have to devise another way to protect you.” Kamimusubi said.

Taizo lifted a brow. He knew he was initially assigned to guard the Inari Shrine of Prosperity. Shuzo had been given the Izumo Taisha Shrine, where humans would go for success in relationships and childbirth. Shaking his head, he watched his mother leave the room, leaving Shuzo and him alone again.

“So if we are no longer tasked with a temple or a shrine, what will our training be?” Shuzo snorted indignantly.

“I suppose we must wait until Mother and Father summon us.” Taizo shrugged. He looked at his twin before heading to the room’s exit. Shuzo followed slowly behind him, deep in thought. He had been close with a few of his siblings, two of whom he had seen in the room. Despite feeling a bit sad at the loss, he wasn’t falling into grief. Taizo, on the other hand, would have a tough time adapting to utilizing his powers alone.

The twins had been frightening for play fighting, never mind facing them in a real battle. Although Shuzo had never seen Taizo or Keizo angry, they were both storm gods, one of wind and the other of lightning; together, they could create chaos if they desired. Taizo often got frustrated with Susanoo’s interference when all he wanted was to live out his life peacefully. It was a bit ironic that Taizo was the God of storms.

Despite that frustration, he always managed to have a smile on his face or find some way for them to get into trouble. Rolling his eyes, Shuzo chuckled softly, which caused Taizo to glance over his shoulder with a raised brow.

“Sorry, I was only remembering some of the things you and Keizo would get me to go along with.” Shuzo grinned, which was shadowed by Taizo’s own. He could tell his elder brother was putting on a front of bravery, but he could feel the melancholy rolling off Taizo in waves. “My apologies, Taizo.”

Taizo shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Take some getting used to, though.” He said quietly. They turned down a hall leading to Taizo and Keizo’s rooms, and Shuzo took that time to slip away. He knew that his elder brother needed time to adjust to Keizo’s absence, and he wanted to go to the library to find information on the realms he was in control of because he was a god of darkness, which included everything that darkness revolved around. Shadows, eclipses, and fears, to name a few.

Shuzo watched Taizo slip into his twin’s room and, with a nod, slip into the shadows of one of the halls to make his way to the library. It wasn’t that they weren’t allowed to go there, but the area he needed to get to was. Because he was so young compared to the other Gods, Shuzo was considered too young to understand the complexities of the shadows.

Rolling his eyes, Shuzo had to bite back the chuckle that wanted to escape. Even if someone were to discover that the area had been breached, it wasn’t like he couldn’t hide in plain sight, although hiding from their father was always a challenge. Shaking his head, he glanced at the wall beside him and slipped through it as though it wasn’t even there. One of the added benefits of being a God of Eclipses and Darkness was that if Shuzo didn’t want to be hindered by walls or objects, he had to imagine they weren’t even there, and they wouldn’t be, at least for him.

There were always risks, even for Gods like him or even Taizo. If you weren’t careful or reckless with the powers, they could instantly turn against you. Glancing to his left, Shuzo climbed the ladder leading to the upper chambers of the house where all the books he wanted were housed. Most of his siblings didn’t even know that the books existed. He had discovered them by accident one day, years ago when Susanoo had been stalking and praying upon him.

Furrowing his brow as the memory came to the surface, Shuzo almost grunted in aggravation. He had been around five, always hiding in the library, so he didn’t have to be forced to get close to anyone. That day, he had skipped through the hall and almost bumped into Susanoo as he came out of some random room. Still, to this day, Shuzo could not find the door to that room, even though he looked.

Susanoo had been so angry he had lifted Shuzo by his shirt and tossed him like a rag down the hall. Shuzo had scrambled to his feet and, in a panic, ran as fast as his little feet could carry him. It was no secret that the eldest brother was dangerous, so everyone avoided him at all costs. That was the day he discovered just what kind of God he was. In his terror, he had slipped and skidded right for a solid stone wall. Shuzo had clenched his eyes shut tightly, expecting a rather unpleasant impact, only to find there had not been one.

Shuzo had looked over his shoulder to find he had gone right through the wall, and without missing a beat, he had dodged Susanoo’s attempts at locating him, that is, until he had been found in the library. He should have known better. Practically everyone in his family knew how much Shuzo loved to read, so of course, it would have been the first place his eldest brother would have looked.

Susanoo had been outraged. Shuzo still remembered how terrified he had been when this giant, raging monster of a God had towered over him, his eyes red with the promise of violence. His throat had gone dry, his skin tingled, and it felt like the very hair on his head had stood up in dread. His only saving grace had been his ability to run through objects and walls, which had led him to the nook above the library. Even though it had appeared as though Susanoo did not know the secret area, Shuzo had still been so scared he had remained in that spot for three days.

Susanoo had left after almost tearing the library apart, and when their parents had come to investigate the disturbance, Susanoo said it had been Shuzo’s fault. He had nearly given away his location when a soft voice behind him whispered to him, but Shuzo had slapped his hands over his mouth in terror.

“Shh. Follow me.”

It had been Taizo. Keizo had been keeping watch, and luckily for Shuzo, that had been the day the three of them became inseparable. The twins had led Shuzo out of the library and immediately went to the guards sent out to search for the missing five-year-old. Shuzo and the twins had been brought to their parents, who had been waiting in the meeting halls and had questioned Shuzo about the destroyed library. Shuzo had been spared any punishment thanks to the twins, and Susanoo had been summoned and interrogated for days until he admitted what had happened.

Of course, Susanoo still blamed Shuzo for the eldest losing his temper, which led to the destruction of the library, but their parents had heard enough, and Susanoo’s punishment was to rebuild the library. From that day forward, the eldest brother made it his life’s mission to destroy the shadow God, stalking him and terrorizing him day in and day out. Now, Shuzo rarely slept in his room, always hiding among the walls or seeking refuge with the twins.

Shaking his head, Shuzo dislodged those memories and stepped up to the shelves with countless secrets. Standing on his tiptoes, he pulled down a book called ‘The Secrets of the Shadow Realm.’ Because he could venture to and from the shadow realm at whim, this was one that he had been eager to read. Having read every other book on the realms that the God of darkness and shadow had permission to enter, he had saved this particular book for last. If Shuzo was going to understand what he was capable of, this was an important journey he was about to take.

Moving to the small round table in the corner, Shuzo sat down and opened the large wood-bound cover. This was a book that his birth mother had given to his adopted mother for him to read. His father’s blood flowed strongly through him, and he, Taizo, and Keizo shared a blood relation with their mother. Silently, he wondered if he would also not have those abilities at his fingertips because his blood was strongly related to the Gods of storms.

Grunting softly, Shuzo flipped through the pages, reading and soaking up every word. In the margins of each page were notes from his father. The book mentioned creatures within the shadow realm that he could call upon for assistance, bringing a smile. It spoke of the benefits of slipping through the shadows and the power that hovered in that space. There were so many possibilities. It was an endless array of potential. The book spoke of the realm of light attached to the realm of shadows because, without light, there would be no darkness, and vice versa. There were countless creatures of both realms, yet not even his father had ventured to the realm of light, which caused him some confusion.

Then, there was a detailed section on the spirit realm, and Shuzo shuddered as he began reading. It was a cursed place. It was filled with malcontent, misery, hatred, malice, despair, and suffering that it was horrifying to read. It was a place where the lost souls seemed to be gathered and held in with no hope of ever being free from the prison. That was basically what it was. Surrounded by nothing but a wall of darkness impenetrable from one side, nothing that entered could ever leave.

If that was where his brother Keizo had been sent, there was no hope of ever finding or saving him. Shuzo pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair. He looked around the small chamber and saw a book he had never seen before. Frowning, he pushed to his feet, walked over to it, and stared at the unknown book. On countless visits to this area, this book had never been here. He would have remembered only due to his eidetic memory. Shuzo could remember every word from every book, no matter what age he had read it.

Pulling the tightly bound leather book down, it looked more like a journal than anything. He returned to the small table and placed it beside the larger book he had been reading. Pushing the large book to the side, he flipped open the leather journal and was surprised to see actual words written by someone not holding the ability to be a scribe, much like one of his other brothers, Thoth, who now resided on the mortal plane. This one was hastily written as though quickly scribbling down words in a panic out of fear.

It took him a long time to decipher the words, but it appeared to be a warning for all his siblings who would travel to the mortal plane as living Gods. Now that his mother had mentioned that she would not send any further children of hers as living Gods to the mortal plane, he ignored the warnings. He still read them but was more interested in figuring out who had written the journal. He was left more frustrated after finishing the words with no name to tie it to.

Shuzo wondered if it was wise to leave the journal there, seeing as it had not been there before, or if it was a trap to find out who had snuck into the room in the first place. Deciding that it was safer to place it back where he got it from, Shuzo returned the journal to the shelf and returned it to the large wood-bound book. He had scarcely touched the surface of what that book had to offer when his stomach decided to growl in protest.

With a sigh, he marked the page he had been on and left the room silently. Unsure of how long he had been in the room, Shuzo quickly went down the halls to the kitchens. The halls were quiet, so he assumed that most, if not everyone, was sleeping. Slipping into the kitchen, he rummaged through the food stores and found a nice plate of meat, vegetables, and bread soaked in honey. His plate almost flew when his brother Taizo snuck up and poked him.

“Taizo!” He cursed softly.

Taizo chuckled. “Where have you been?”

“Where else?” Shuzo gave his brother an irritated look. “Why must you always sneak up on me?”

Taizo shrugged. “Because it’s fun?”

“You know I will get you back,” Shuzo smirked.

“Don’t I know it?” Taizo chuckled.

“How long was I gone this time?” Shuzo snorted.

“Four days. You almost made Mother panic, but I convinced her to hold off on sending out a search party.” Taizo waved his hand.

“Like I am ever difficult to find.” Shuzo chuckled.

Taizo looked at him skeptically. “You vanish without a trace, and you say that?” He chuckled.

Shuzo grinned. “So, what did I miss while I was reading?”

“Only more of the same. Susanoo causing a ruckus wherever he goes. Tormenting our younger siblings.” Taizo shrugged.

Shuzo glanced at his older brother for a moment. “I read up more on the spirit realm.” He started quietly.

Taizo frowned, “And?”

“According to the book, it’s a forbidden area, just as mother stated. From what I gather, it’s a prison for the lost souls, evil souls, and those who fell into disfavour with the Gods.” Shuzo leaned his elbows on the table and ate his meal.

“Keizo was neither of those,” Taizo growled. “Even if he chose to remain on the mortal plane and live as they did, his soul wouldn’t have been lost. It should have passed into the Underworld.”

Shuzo nodded. “There is something more that we aren’t being told.”

Taizo groaned. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“What would cause a God to choose a mortal life instead of returning home?” Shuzo muttered absently.

Taizo glanced at his brother. “Mother stated that none of them remembered us. They knew they were Gods, but their life here wasn’t revealed to them.”

“But for a God to choose to live on the mortal plane with humans?” Shuzo reiterated.

Taizo shook his head. “Perhaps-” He paused at the absurdity of where his thoughts were taking him.

Shuzo paused while taking a bite, knowing he had to be patient while his older brother pieced together any puzzle.

“What if he fell in love with a mortal?” Taizo continued after several minutes.

Shuzo snorted, “Seriously? A God and a mortal?” It would make sense, though, thinking more about it. “No, you’re right. If he did fall in love, he would have had to have chosen to live as they did. His favour as a God would be nil.”

“But would that cause him to fall from grace and be sentenced to a life in the spirit realm? Be a lost soul?” Taizo moaned.

Shuzo shook his head. “That I don’t know. If that were the case, I can understand the dishonesty. I would need to read more from that book.”

Taizo began pacing. “How could he fall in love with a human? I don’t get it.”

“I have no answers for you, Taizo. All I can say is that if you get hit with love, you either don’t think clearly or it is true and heartfelt. If he had fallen in love and perhaps a rival fought with him? His powers would have been dulled by a huge margin.”

Taizo narrowed his eyes, “Unfortunately, there is no way for us to find out the truth. I only wish we were trusted enough with the truth.”

Shuzo smiled. “Perhaps we can discover the truth on our own.”

Taizo glanced at him with a raised brow, noticing his younger brother’s grin. If anyone could figure out a way, it would be Shuzo. He was brilliant and a remarkable ally in pretty much anything. “Then let us discover the truth.” Returning the grin, Taizo watched Shuzo finish his meal, noticing the wheels turning in his younger brother’s head.