Chapter Text
The full moon shone brightly above the frozen river. It was only the first day of winter, yet the cold would have had you believe it was already past solstice.
The night was quiet, save for the light whistle of a flute echoing from within the Giant's Burrow.
The Saeda was a legendary flute capable of controlling dead spirits, passed down the Taira clan for generations.
However, it could only be played by those who had died.
Taira no Chouki played it proudly, as the swarm of spirits followed them through the cave. Its song had a faint, yet beautiful dissonance to it, echoing a life full of hardships.
Just as the informant back at the capital had foretold, a gap in the Mugenri barrier had opened up, and thousands of spirits had poured in from the outside world. It was just what they needed to complete the plan.
Chouki reached the end of the cavern where they found their master, Taira no Fumikado, finishing the last of the ritual's preparations.
Their whole lives had led up to this moment. Their late grandfather had bestowed upon them the mission to revive their great ancestor, Taira no Masakado, so that he would overthrow the corrupt Fujiwara dynasty and rule as the rightful emperor of Mugenri. For years they had worked tirelessly for this, sacrificed everything for this, and now the day had finally come. Their grandfather's wish would finally come true.
Chouki looked up at their master as if to ask if they were ready.
Fumikado grinned, barely able to contain their excitement. "This should be enough... Start the formation of his soul!!" their voice boomed.
Chouki nodded and began playing a slightly different melody. They had practiced many years for the occasion — quite literally dedicated their life to it — and had beautifully mastered the instrument.
The spirits danced around them and collided with each other, their ethereal forms becoming indistinguishable from one another, fusing into an ever growing conglomerate.
Fumikado's wide grin faltered somewhat suddenly. "... Y-You don't need to attract any more spirits, Chouki, this is quite enough."
Chouki gave them a confused look as they were certain they weren't doing any such thing, and simply kept playing. They did have to admit that controlling the souls was more difficult than they had expected, almost like they were fighting against the Saeda's grasp.
Fumikado watched the swarm of spirits cautiously.
"Chouki, stop playing, they're too many!" they suddenly exclaimed.
Chouki removed their lips from the Saeda. "I'm not attracting them, Fumikado-sama!"
"Well why do they keep coming then!?" Fumikado asked. "You've gotta be doing something wrong!"
Chouki forced themself to not let their master get on their nerves, as tall of an order that could be at times. "It has to be something else. Look, I'm not playing anymore, and they're still moving."
Indeed, the conglomerate of spirits drifted right past Fumikado.
"H-hey, stop!" they shouted after them.
"I'm not—!"
"Not you, the spirits!" Fumikado clarified. "Hurry, they're heading out of the cavern! We can't come this far only to fail now!"
Fumikado headed for the cave's exit, and Chouki hesitantly followed.
The cavern led them back above ground again. The two seemed to find themselves in a rapidly dying forest and continued following the river, which they now noticed was flowing with spirits rather than water (or ice, rather). The further they got the more dead everything around them seemed.
The 'river' eventually flowed into a small clearing, and in the middle stood a gigantic fleabane flower, into which Chouki noticed the spirits were flowing.
At the stem of the flower sat a small youkai skeleton digging at its roots.
Fumikado scowled. "Hey!!"
The skeleton didn't even stop to look around, completely absorbed in its work.
Fumikado and Chouki landed beside it.
"What do you think you're doing!? Are you the one attracting all the spirits here!?" Fumikado asked. They pointed back towards the cavern. "We are trying to attract all the spirits there , so we'd appreciate it if you stopped!"
The skeleton unearthed a cracked cranium from beneath the flower and excitedly replaced its current cranium, which Chouki now noticed was that of an oni, with it. Fumikado themself happened to be an oni, albeit a homuncular one.
The youkai looked up at them. "Huh? Who're you?" it asked.
Fumikado cleared their throat like they thought it'd never ask. "I am Taira no Fumikado, the vessel of Lord Taira no Masakado and (soon) the New Emperor of Mugenri!!"
"Masakado...?" the skeleton asked. It appeared to find the name familiar.
Now that Fumikado looked at it, the youkai did look oddly familiar as well, like a long lost younger sibling, or the distant memory of your own childhood self.
"Y-Yes!" Fumikado brushed this aside. "We are in the process of resurrecting him, and this thing seems to be stealing all the spirits we need. If you do not make it stop at once you will sorely regret it!"
The youkai lit up. "You're resurrecting someone!? How'd you plan on doing that?" it unearthed a few ribs and listened intently.
"Well we were supposed to form the shape of Lord Masakado's spirit thus awakening him within my Taira blood and all but your flower here is making shaping the thing damn near impossible!"
The skeleton stared at them. "... What?"
"Fumikado-sama will resurrect the part of their soul that contains Lord Masakado by uh absorbing these spirits’ life force," Chouki explained as best they could. Truth be told, they did not fully understand the plan themself and were simply guessing this was how it worked, but trusted that their master simply knew better than them, an assumption that had frequently failed them before.
"Thank you, Chouki," Fumikado said, pretending that's what they meant.
"So absorbing the spirits will resurrect you..." the youkai asked.
"Well er not me I'm still very alive but—"
The youkai stood up and stretched its body out to the sky.
"ABSOOOOOOORRRRRB!!!"
It was a bit embarrassing at first, like watching a child try to perform an action move they'd seen on TV. But as if through sheer will power, the youkai's body suddenly became shrouded in spirits forcefully pulled from the flower's grasp, and started to transform.
Fumikado instinctively stepped in front of Chouki, urging them back. But as they looked at the youkai, their eyes shone.
They could see not simply its body, but its very soul reshape itself.
The youkai finished its transformation. It had grown ever so slightly in height, its bones now seeming more attached to its body like puzzle pieces fitting together, and it appeared a little more mature.
It laughed to itself. "Yes!! It actually worked!! I'm so close now...!" it stretched its new limbs. "Hey, thanks for the tip—!"
Fumikado got on their knees and bowed in front of the still rather small youkai.
"... Huh?"
"Lord Masakado! Please, forgive me for my insolence!!" Fumikado begged.
"... Huh??"
"'L-Lord Masakado!?'" Chouki exclaimed. "Fumikado-sama, what are you... This is just an ordinary youkai...!"
"His soul, Chouki, I could feel it in my blood!" Fumikado beamed. "It's incomplete but it had to have been him!!"
"But why would Lord Masakado's soul be inside of this... child!?"
"'Child'!?" the youkai protested.
"I don't know!" Fumikado said. "But what I do know is that we cannot let this chance pass us by! We've come this far, we can't back out now! Keep the souls coming, Chouki, they're escaping through his head!"
Chouki hesitated, but cautiously obeyed their orders and started playing the flute again, as Fumikado began to approach the youkai.
"Ohh so it's a fight you want!" it grinned. "Hihi, it would be fun to test this new strength on someone!"
"I have no intention to fight you, Lord Masakado!" Fumikado said. "I can, however, make you even stronger...!"
The youkai looked intrigued. "... Stronger?"
Fumikado had the power to transfer souls, an ability they had inherited and mastered from their experience as a spirit medium long ago. Chouki had even witnessed them swap their own soul with that of a homuncular oni when they were both children.
Realizing what their master was about to do, Chouki took the Saeda out of their mouth. "F-Fumikado-sama, this isn't according to plan, what are you—!?"
"Keep playing!" Fumikado ordered. They turned to the youkai. "Lord Masakado! I am offering your soul residence within my body — your body , crafted especially for you!"
"My... body..." the youkai mumbled.
"What about your soul!?" Chouki protested. "What will happen to you!? "
"Who cares!?" Fumikado laughed maniacally. "My soul has served its purpose, it is not needed anymore!"
"B-But...!"
"It doesn't matter! Regardless of what happens to my soul, I want you to keep serving Lord Masakado as your new master!"
Fumikado got quiet for a second, their expression faltering somewhat, as the reality of the situation was finally sinking in. "... Thank you, Chouki! For everything...!"
They gave an excited grin, the big, stupid, toothy one that always made you want to knock it off of them, but you'd never have it in your heart to do.
Chouki stared at them in horror as Fumikado prepared their ability. Their body started moving on its own. "W-WAIT—!!"
But before they could reach their master, there was a long, blinding flash of white light. When it subsided, the youkai skeleton had crumbled into inanimate bones, and Fumikado lay still on the ground.