“So what in the world was that about?” Hissed Emily as we walked through the woods “are the woods that different in Japan that you can’t trust an outsider in them?”

“He just doesn’t want you to get lost.” Smiling I turned to her. “it’s easy to get lost in here.”

“It’s not just that.”

“Don’t.” I turned to Yusuke “don't start on that.”

“What?” He shrugged “they’re going to hear it anyways.”

“Hear what?”

“Martin.” I sighed “don’t poke the hornets’ nest.”

He shrugged at me still confused “I’m just curious. And if avoids me heading a lecture from Ishii, Shimizu.”

“Just Mio.” I laughed “We're friends after all.”

“Shimizu isn’t your name?”

“Family name.” I laughed “didn’t Ishii tell you?”

Martin shook his head “no...”

“You call each other by their surnames till you get on that first name basis. So since we are friends you can call me Mio. But to everyone else I am Shimizu. Like I call you Martin. But....what is your surname?”

“Edwards.”

I tried not to laugh. That sounded so strange. “to everyone else you would be Edwards.”

“Even if I’m a girl,” Emily asked a rough edge still in her voice.

I nodded “It’s a respect thing. I know in America everyone knows everyone by their first names but we reserve that for family and close friends.”

“Some friends still don’t even call each other by their first names.” Yusuke laughed “I called Mio by her surname for six or so years. And we grew up together.”

“Why?”

I laughed “because he annoyed me!”

“Hey!”

We all laughed as Yusuke flushed red.

“So is it ok for us to call you by your first name since we just met?” Martin smiled like I had just let him in on a big secret.

“Yeah. It’ll be easier for you. Plus, it gets rather old hearing it everywhere you go in town.”

“And you guys can call me Yusuke.”

Emily turned to him “so Abe is your last name?”

Yusuke nodded “yep.”

“That doesn’t sound very Japanese.”

“How does something sound Japanese?” I laughed at Yusuke who was utterly confused.

“You know. Konnichiwa sounds Japanese. Sayonara sounds Japanese. Shimizu sounds Japanese.” I cringed a bit as she mispronounced my name. “But Abe sounds...plain?”

Yusuke blushed “guess I never thought about it.”

“And please do not call me Edwards.” Emily demanded “That would be weird as hell. It makes me sound like a girl with a boy’s name.”

“I don’t know Em. I don’t mind being called Edwards.”

“You’re so weird, Martin.” Emily marched on ahead “I swear to God I’m adopted.”

Martin smirked and smothered a laugh in his hands “but we're related by blood.” He whispered “and she acts like I’m the weird one. Ask her about her tarot cards.”

“So what’s up with this forest?” Emily was not going to let up about this “and why did Mio change the subject so fast?” She was quick. I was starting to really envy her.

“It’s just an old story.”

“I like stories.” Emily turned around with a big smile on her face “plus we can take a break and sit down. I would like to hear it.”

“Ok.”

“Yusuke!” I sighed “come on...don’t.”

“She wants to hear it. Why do you hate it so much?”

Maybe because everyone in this town believes it? Maybe this story makes my dad act crazy and drives him to bless the forest every full moon? I don’t know Yusuke. Maybe it’s stupid. But I shrugged “it’s not like they were never going to head it. Our who town is crazy about it.” I sat down on the mossy ground “so I guess now is better than later.” If I could have killed Yusuke and not got in trouble. I would have.

“So is it a scary story?” Emily sat down all eager to begin.

“Shit.” Martin sat down beside me “is it?”

I nodded “sort of.”

He sighed deeply “great.”

“I thought you wanted to hear this.”

“I told you Emily was weird. She has this weird obsession with the occult and believes she is a witch.”

“Eighth-graders syndrome?” I laughed a bit trying not to draw notice to our whispering as Yusuke told Emily about how old the story was.

“What’s that?”

“It’s not something bad. So don't worry. It’s just someone who believes they have magical powers and fights demons and things.”

“Exactly!” He laughed. He had such a sweet and infectious laugh “she was so excited to move Japan. She wrote in her diary that she would find the magical blade of Susanoo and awaken the chimera of Mount Fuji.”

“Oh, she’s got it bad. Don’t worry she found a good friend in Yusuke. He finally realized last year he didn’t have the power to transform into a demon and control crows.”

“What?” Tears filled his blue eyes as he started to laugh harder.

“He bought this dark garb from Tokyo when he visited his aunt and would walk through the woods in the morning claiming to be fighting angels. Everyone loved him in class! One time he stood up on his desk when a crow landed on the building and said I have summoned the great God Komijiari and must go to battle right now. But sensei shut him down so fast. I don’t think he will ever get over that embarrassment.”

Martin busted out into laughter.

“What?” Both Emily and Yusuke were staring at us.

“Nothing.” I laughed “Great God Komijiari!”

“You didn’t!!!” Yusuke shouted.

Martin nodded “the great crow god!”

“You summoned a crow God?”

Yusuke was blushing red but taken back when Emily grabbed his hand “How?”

“Oh no.” Martin whispered under his laugh “I guess we ran head first into that hornets’ nest.”

“I’ve tried to summon a God but I think they know my plot.”

“Huh?” Yusuke rubbed his head with an awkward smile.

“Susanoo thinks he can hide his blade from me in the Sea of Japan. But Kushinadahime can’t keep me from what is rightfully mine. My spiteful mother.” Yusuke was staring at her bewildered “I bet she’s pissed I’m back in Japan. Sorry, mom, you can’t keep me away from what’s mine.”

“You’re the daughter of Susanoo and Kushinadahime?”

She made a face of disgust “if you can call it that.”

“Don’t worry.” He squeezed her hand and whispered, “I am a human form of Akurojin-no-hi but- “

“I thought you wanted to tell them the story.” I had to stop them before Yusuke fell into that eight-graders syndrome hole again. “Don’t you want to tell them?”

Yusuke stopped and looked at me. His cheeks as red as fire “Y-yeah.”

“We’ll take later Akurojin.” Emily whispered.

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” Martin said to me under his breath.

“Thank you.”

He nodded and smiled “can’t have her running off with Akurojin to find the blade of Susanoo.”

I giggled.

Yusuke looked all around “this forest doesn’t belong to us.” His voice was hushed like he was telling a dark secret and didn’t want anyone else to hear “they never belonged to us. In fact, we stole this forest and placed our town right in the center under the mountain as a way to mock them.”

“Who did we take it from?” Emily’s eyes shined brightly.

“Well. It’s not really a who but a what.” [I sighed knowing here we go] “the fae.” Yusuke whispered even softer “we stole it from the faeries.”

Emily gasped “fairies?”

“No Faeries.” Yusuke corrected “fairies are cute storybook creatures. These are closer to demon than cherubs.”

I looked at Martin who even seemed captivated by the story. Why did he have to be interested in this stupid folklore? I was tempted to start begging the Gods to not turn him into everyone else.

“The story goes. A time before the Great Gods.” He looked at Emily “before Susanoo and Kushinadahime. The Fae held dominion over the land. They commanded the seas, the skies, and the earth itself. But they made this world inhabitable because they wanted to live here alone.”

“So there were a lot of them?”

“Millions! Maybe even billions!” Yusuke exclaimed “but that changed when the Great Gods came from the heavens. The fae hated them because the Gods wanted to change the way the world was and make it a happy world full of animals and humans. So they began to attack the Gods by killing all their creations. They poisoned the water, whispered lies to the trees and slaughtered the animals that came. But the Greats were not going to have this so they retaliated against them banishing those they could catch into a separate world and locked the door so they could never escape. Despite the power, the fae had they couldn’t oppose the force of the Greats. So they fled. Here. Well somewhere here in these very woods.”

Emily began to look around “are they still here?”

“Yes. And no. Let me finish.” She nodded and whispered sorry as Yusuke continued “They hid in the sunlight to avoid being seen by the Greats. When the rays of sunlight shone through the trees they mimicked this and none of the Greats could tell the difference. But that only worked in the day. At night their true forms were revealed.”

“That’s why we can’t be in the woods past sundown!”

Yusuke nodded “so they hid in the trees and created a small village no God nor person could find unless lead to it. The Village of Lost Light.” [What a stupid name for a village I thought to myself] “After some time the hatred of the Greats subsided and the Fae lived in peace. Until mankind entered the forest. The fae fell in love with these creatures! Mankind was perfect in their eyes. A balance of light and dark of God and Goddess and they wanted to understand this beloved creation of the Greats. So in an attempt to lure people in the fae created from mud, red clay, a branch from an oak tree and a drop of their blood a human. A near perfect replica of the Greats creation. The only things that was different was the golden eyes and sharpened teeth. This mimic went into the world and drew others back to the village. The fae welcomed mankind to their village and offered them knowledge, magic, and skills the Greats could not provide. It was an attempt to keep them from leaving.” [Both Emily and Martin were hanging on to every word as if it was fact.] “The fae studied mankind as we erected The Village of Lost Light. We built houses and libraries to house the endless amount of knowledge we received from them. We mastered the magic they taught us and even created more powerful magic combing our spirit and soul with what we already learned. But mankind was ungrateful and wanted more from the utopia and was tired of living under fae rule. So some of them decided to revolt against the fae.” Yusuke paused for dramatic effect “they revolted and were slaughtered without mercy. But from that blood, a God was born.”

Emily allowed a scream to escape her hard pressed lips “how?”

“That’s what they fae thought. How can they create a God?! This was not a God like the Greats but a lesser God. It was easy for the fae to capture the God but this made the fae even more scared of mankind. They had the ability to act out and revolt, use their magic against them and create Gods. So the fae organized a mass slaughter of those who lived in the village.”

“No....”

“They had to protect themselves. But some escaped from the slaughter. Our ancestors. Outside of the protective barrier, the Greats found those they thought they lost. It is from that they learned about the fae and the Village of Lost Light. However, the fae had grown too powerful to be banished. So the Greats began to cast a powerful spell that would seal the village from the rest of the world. But in that act damned the fae to a half-life and took the very light that kept the fae from acts of true evil. It was a price the Greats were willing to make. To keep mankind from ever going back to the fae or using what they had learned against the Greats they removed our memories and washed our souls clean. A blank canvas. Which you would think would help us but it only made us blind to the world around us.

Many years from that time a Shinto priest found the village by accident. He stumbled upon it when he was wondering through the forest lead by a flickering light. Before he crossed the gate the sun had set and the once brilliant balls of light revealed to him the horrors they hid. Bloodthirsty creatures with decaying purple skin, rows of jagged teeth and pointed claws scratching at the barrier. They begged for blood and his faith.”

“Faith?”

“Before they became these wicked creatures the Fae had learned that mankind has endless amounts of faith. It is that faith they could use to be set free finally.” [Because we need everything to involve religion, right? I thought to myself.] “He realized that these creatures had been able to project outside of the weakening barrier created by the Greats and luring people to a horrible death. So he called out to the Gods who responded to his call in haste. Appearing as a black and white cat the God told the priest that the barrier couldn’t be repaired only guarded until it eventually fails. It was this Gods belief that the Greats had thought the fae would have died before the wall fell. But something was keeping them alive even if it was a half-life one of which she couldn’t say. But she told him that the fae hissed at him for the return of their son and the blood of the betrayers. She warned him that time was not a friend on their side but she would help them along with her brother who appeared as a black and white cat as well. That they would create a maze the fae couldn’t navigate because if they lured their son back in the walls would fall. The priest asked who was this son they spoke of but the two Gods couldn’t answer that question because they didn’t even know. But, warned him to leave the woods and never return.”

“Then why is there a town here?” Martin crossed his arms. I could feel his interest slipping away. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“The priest and the brother God established the town as a half-way point. You drove through the town. Didn’t you wonder why there are so many shrines here?”

“I thought it was a Japanese thing.”

I snickered.

“No.” Yusuke spat “it’s our town kind of thing. Each shrine is watch tower. Each tower has a bell given to it by the brother. The bells will ring only once and crack the closer the fae get. Three of those bells have cracked. But don’t worry there are twelve shrines with bells in the town.” He looked at Emily who was looking panicked “Inside the shrine of Blue.” Yusuke looked at me “the one her father over sees.” [Why did they have to know that?] “There are three more bells. One that will ring when the son appears. One that will ring when the fae had spirited away another one of the betrayers and one that will ring if the barrier fails.”

“Is that true?” Emily turned to me.

I shrugged “I don’t pay attention to what happens at the shrine. I’m not a miko.”

“A what?”

“A shrine maiden.”

“Either way only three bells have split so we don’t have to worry.” Yusuke said with a smile “but that doesn’t mean the fae are not here. They can project voices and images past the barrier in order to bring us to them. Which is why you’ll see talismans hanging from trees all around here. It’s an attempt to keep them away.”

“Does it work?”

Yusuke shrugged “guess so...haven’t seen one in a long time.”

“Someone saw one?”

I shook my head at Yusuke.

“We don’t talk about that.” He said sadly.

“Why?” Emily asked “did something happen.”

“Someone disappeared. It was also the day the second bell cracked.”