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CHAPTER 1

The ouroboros is an ancient symbol common in many cultures, a symbol which the Totou readily adopted. The circular depiction of a dragon or snake swallowing its own tail may represent the idea of eternal renewal, of constant recreation. Or, as our Eminent Lord undoubtedly desired, returning to settle an old score.

Xavier La Tan, Late Illustrious Master of the Totou

"You know of this Orcus then?"

"A demon of the under-realm. Yes."

"A demon. I thought he was the demon."

Enigmatic as always, Yoshima Mitsu continued unabated. "You possess a powerful weapon to fight this creature. That is why I am here with you, to explain it, and to give you another protective talisman."

The amulet Kim Yoshima wore warmed against her neck and chest. She touched it. "This? The ... the cornicello?"

"Just so. And these sora gemstones, the source of the karura's strength, will augment the amulet's power. Though you are not karura, you will be able to utilize their energy."

Mitsu held her hand out. Within her palm rested three small but dazzling gems. Each the size of a marble, they blazed red, green, and yellow. Kim thought of the pouch hanging from the karura Renta'Mur's belt where he must have kept the gems.

She took the stones from Mitsu and closed her fingers over them tightly. "Now you must go," Mitsu said. "May the sun goddess Amaterasu protect you."

Kim knew better than to ask any more questions. Mystery, confusion, and self-discovery frustratingly abounded in this ethereal realm. Still ... "But, Mitsu-san. How do these stones work? Renta'Mur told me he was a Sensitive, attuned to the power of the sora stones. I'm not any of that and, Hell, how does the cornicello work for that matter? Can't you or the karura come back with me? You said you'd explain. I'll need help!"

"Help awaits you. Trust in this, Kim-san. As always, your path unfolds as it must."

"Easy for you to sa ..." And then Kim felt herself yanked like a yo-yo on a string and she was gone.

And made a left instead of a right ...

* * *

Ambient-Milieu

A force of dark power reached for her. She cried out, her voice smothered by the rushing stream of energy propelling her through this numinous realm. A vicious, desperate entity, clawing and hungry, tried to intercept her, to tear her away from the cosmic path she traversed.

An entity that felt oddly and terrifyingly familiar.

* * *

Odawara, Japan 1520 C.E.

The blanketing luminosity dissipated; a glowing radiance faded before Kim's blurred vision. The now familiar roaring in her ears subsided, the sense of unreality fading. She leaned back against something cool and solid, taking deep breaths. That was a rough one, she thought. A wisp of a memory faded from her mind, a sense of great fear and danger sparked then vanished. Somehow, this trip through the Void had been a little different, more intense, if that was even possible. She shook her head, disoriented, but just for a moment. It didn't matter how difficult the journey had been, as long as she had returned to face off against the Orcus demon. She had to help Zaronelli and Jenny!

Except for one thing.

She blinked, starting in surprise. This wasn't Venice, that is, the false Venice Edmondo Vincherra had described as a "Zone of Concealment." Kim didn't stand in the rubble of the destroyed alternate City of Masks. Instead, she faced a narrow, muddy alleyway, bordered on each side by small, wooden thatch-roofed huts (one of which she leaned against). The alley ended in a circle of wooden shanties, garbage baskets, privy sheds, and boarded up lean-tos. A dead-end littered with trash.

An alleyway. Part of a slum? A depressed area of the city called the Gettoo in feudal Odawara. How did Kim know that? Shioko, she thought. She described the Odawaran Gettoo where she had first been taken by the displacement tremors. This must be it! Have I gone back in time again?

She automatically checked herself for any injuries. What in heaven? She no longer wore the jeans, T-shirt and sneakers she'd donned since reviving in Lenora Calabria's apartment in Venice. A type of samurai armor now covered her body. Kim had been outfitted in a flexible, lightweight bamboo-and-leather armored uniform, boots, and gloves. Thin links of chainmail lined the uniform. She touched her hair, done up in a topknot. A small cloth pouch was tied to her waist, along with a sheathed kaiken dagger, one of the preferred weapons of the onna-bugeisha, a group of feudal Japanese female warriors Kim had read about.

A good weapon to have, Kim thought. Thanks, Mitsu, though I hope I don't have to use it. Her new look and protective gear had to have been provided by her ancestor, from the ambient-milieu. Kim allowed herself a soft laugh. Whatever worked. At least the armor fit her perfectly. Of course, Mitsu and I are the same size.

She pondered again, why had she been sent to this blighted area? This ghetto, instead of the false Venice? Kim shook her head. She, or a mental avatar of herself, had just been with her ancestor/incarnation Yoshima Mitsu in the ambient-milieu through what Mitsu called their "spirit-bond." Mitsu had presented her with three of the sora gemstones, a source of the warrior karuras' power. Those, along with the cornicello amulet Kim still wore, given to her by the courageous and selfless Lydia Carpenscu, could be used to fight back against the Orcus demon.

Kim still gripped the gemstones in her fist, not exactly sure how to use them. The amulet remained a mystery as well. Frustratingly, most of the help given her from such magical sources were never fully explained. Their purposes always had to be discovered on her own, it seemed.

But Orcus rampaged back in a different Venice, a simulacrum where Jenny Sibulovich and a long-missing Wayne Brewster were trapped. Where the sorcerer Amedio Zaronelli lay mortally wounded. Where Edmondo Vincherra had been killed helping her. Wasn't Mitsu supposed to return Kim there so she could stop Orcus?

She needed to find her friends!

Not another multiverse screw up! Kim thought angrily. She placed the gemstones in the waist pouch, realizing her firearm had gone missing, the Luger lost somewhere along the way. To balance that loss, Kim no longer felt tired. The aches and pains from Orcus' attack didn't bother her. Which was a good thing, and her revived energy was possibly another gift from Mitsu.

The sound of voices and approaching footsteps caught her attention. Two figures walked toward the end of the alley. A woman came into view. She looked to be a peasant but, even at first glance, that appraisal seemed not to be entirely true. A small girl, a child really, dirty, barefoot, dressed in rags, her long hair unwashed, walked behind the older woman.

Kim gasped. Shioko! Shioko as Kim had found her in the North Side warehouse last year where Kim had fought the male shadow-tracker. Shioko, as the One Child, had been transported from feudal Japan by the temporal displacement tremors from this spot just like she'd told Kim.

And the woman with her was Yoshima Mitsu. Alive in the past mortal world as a shirabyoshi, an artist/entertainer, now disguised as a laborer. Both women walked past Kim as if she didn't exist.

They can't see me, Kim realized. Or sense my presence.

Kim reeled for a moment. She thought herself long past being shocked by the twisty, magical courses her life had taken. Those were almost second nature to her now. Yet, a chill ran up her back upon seeing her past incarnation and the young Shioko. The only other time she had glimpsed Mitsu in the flesh outside of the ambient-milieu had been after the shirabyoshi had been killed. Kim had taken on her identity in order to confront Omori Kadanamora at the Pavilion of Black Dragons at Odawara Castle to prevent the skewing of the timelines.

Why was Kim here at this moment in time, in Odawara, Japan. Again?

She watched, transfixed, as Mitsu knelt in the mud and spoke to a tearful Shioko, telling her she would be sending the child away forever to safety. To the future, to one who would care for and protect her. Kim's chest swelled, her breath catching. Shioko's future savior was Kim herself. The older woman rose and walked back the way she had come. But then, she stopped at the sound of Shioko's choking sobs. Mitsu turned, ran back, and embraced the child.

"Please, Mitsu-san, please ..." The girl clung to Mitsu, crying pitifully. "Why can't you come with me? You will be in danger too if you stay!"

"I cannot come with you," Mitsu said, her voice breaking. "It is not the will of the kami. My Dreamspace visions saw only you escaping, and only fleetingly at best. And I cannot stop it. It is what must be, no matter what. I can only help in this small way, as whatever happens is already written." Mitsu released Shioko and backed up. "Goodbye, Shioko-chan," she whispered. "I love you."

This is it, Kim thought, caught up in this past drama, forgetting her own sense of urgency. This is where the tremor whisks Shioko to the future.

But something felt wrong. Kim's esper abilities had evolved to where she could sometimes sense the Spirit Winds approach and also guide them to their destination. She had done so when directing Shioko from Pittsburgh back to this era. Now, she sensed nothing. Was it because of her present state of invisibility or whatever she consisted of at the moment? Or was it something else?

Abruptly, the sora gemstones through the waist-pouch, and the cornicello amulet, radiated a pulsing heat. As if in ... warning?

Could the temporal displacement tremors be off course? Kim watched Mitsu turn away from Shioko, a momentary confused look transfiguring her features. She didn't detect the tremor either, though she had seen it arriving here in what she had called her Dreamspace visions, those images from out of the ambient-milieu Mitsu could foresee.

Acting solely by guesswork or instinct, Kim projected a beam of esper energy at her ancestor, her past incarnation. It resolved successfully in Mitsu's neural realm, igniting within her Dreamspace.

The women's energies merged. Kim gasped at the sensation, the expansion of both their minds feeling like a jolt of caffeine. Like a beacon, their minds reached out and took hold of the wayward Spirit Winds with a powerful mental tether. Kim felt the tremors as if they possessed substance, a form, as they latched onto her and Mitsu's combined energy. For the first time, Kim observed the Spirit Winds from outside their imprisoning influence. They appeared as serpentine whips of blue temporal lightning, fixed into a single column of unimaginable, blazing power.

Yet Kim felt no resistance from that power as she and Mitsu pulled the tremors toward the Gettoo.

"Mitsu-san!" At the sound of Shioko's last, wrenching cry, the temporal displacement tremor arrived to scoop up its small, young passenger. The ground spun out from Kim, and, once more, she faded away.

* * *

Zone of Concealment C.E. May 2, 2011

Kim stood shakily on broken concrete, the air filled with dust and the stench of burning wood. Covering her nose, she waved away ragged flakes of ash, falling like dark snow. Images of the young Shioko and Yoshima Mitsu in the Odawara alley replayed themselves in her mind. I helped them, Kim marveled. I worked with Mitsu to get Shioko to the future.

"I am Orcus. But you may know me as the devil. Satan. Iblis. Beelzebub. Apophis. Superna. The list of what I have been called throughout the ages is endless."

Kim whirled. Once again she stood before the smiling Orcus demon in what Edmondo Vincherra had described as a crossroads of space and time, a Zone of Concealment created to resemble Venice, where the Maghi basically hid in plain sight. Now that realm had been devastated, as if struck by an earthquake. Zaronelli had described it as "An incitement of dark magic. Of ancient demonic powers." Orcus' violent entry through the dimensional barrier had reduced much of this Venice to rubble. The demon devoured Kim with his gaze, his stunningly handsome figure surrounded by a glowing red aura.

I'm back! Right at the moment I left! Kim thought.

Orcus' smile changed then, contorting into a wide maw full of black needle teeth. The blue eyes turned reptilian, its head, the blond-hair and flawless features became skull-like. "You," it said, its voice harsh and grating, like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. Orcus had expanded, standing over eight feet tall now. In his true demon guise, he seemed even larger, towering over Kim like a hideous wraith. "Have you followed me here, then? I ask you once more, who are you?"

Anger burned within Kim at what this monster had done. Injuring Amedio Zaronelli, killing Edmondo. Edmondo had died from Orcus' attack while bravely leading her and Zaronelli into this strange concealment zone. Still, Kim paused, studying the creature. What did it mean asking her if she'd followed it? Asking her once more who she was? The demon seemed to think they'd met before.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Well, now that she thought about it, maybe they had met. Who really knew at this point? Plus, Kim really didn't care anymore. "And you don't scare me one bit."

"Well, then," Orcus said. "I'll have to remedy that."

The demon reached out with a clawed hand. Dazzling red streamers erupted from its fingertips. Kim stood her ground, forming a deflective psi-bubble around herself. The radiant blasts curved around the mental shield, exploding harmlessly behind her. She dropped the bubble and let her anger take over, reaching deeply into her neural realm. Her esper energy amplified, her body shot through with increased strength. A pressure built up at the base of her spine and rose upward, culminating in a bright lambent explosion within her mind.

A psi-stun erupted, stronger than Kim had ever produced. Flaring tracers shot from her fingertips and flashed from her eyes like lightning. Melded into a blazing blue arc, it struck Orcus in the chest. Once before she'd felled a giant oni in the same way. Unlike then, this was personal.

The monster howled and stumbled backwards. Surprise twisted his monstrous features as he dropped to his knees. The creature struggled for breath as it spoke, "What is this? How ... have you come by this power?"

Taking advantage of Orcus' confusion, Kim struck again. Using her telekinesis, she lifted and flung a large chunk of debris at the demon. It struck Orcus in the head, causing him to lurch sideways. Kim hit him again with a second psi-stun, and, though weaker than the first, still knocked the demon over onto his back.

"This is for Edmondo!" Kim screamed, fully energized, her psi-powers exploding, fueled by rage and determination. Mentally grabbing a still-standing wall of a damaged building, Kim pulled the brick remnant over and onto the downed Orcus. It buried the demon beneath shattered and smoking rubble.

Kim stood, hands clenched at her sides, trembling, breathing hard, dust and ash whirling around her. For the first time in a long time, blood leaked from her nose. Her head pounded. She had exerted a lot of her power and energy. Too much ...

She wobbled, her legs unsteady. Ah shit, she thought, feeling lightheaded. She tried to self-rejuvenate with her telekinesis but much of her strength had been sapped. She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her uniform.

Yomitsu.

A voice in her head. Zaronelli.

Fallen warriors of ages past are not ephemeral. Their spirit, their loyalty, their courage, live on forever.

Takeo, Sohei Warrior Monk

Aokigahara, the Sea of Trees Honshu Island, Japan C.E. 1390, Nanboku-Cho Period

* * *

Zaronal the mahoutsukai shouted in defiance. The sorcerer fought against the murkiness shrouding his mind, the powerful magic launched against him and his followers. The sounds of battle surrounded him, the war cries of his samurai and the brave people of Odawara who had joined them, the roaring and screaming of the spectral enemies attacking them, the smell of blood. Despite their courage, he and his followers fought defensively, losing ground.

Here, in Aokigahara, the haunted Sea of Trees, an army of monsters had been unleashed. Forces of the Left Hand Path had marshalled in a bid for ultimate conquest of the Nipponese Islands. A horde of giant oni and kijo had arisen in the Sea of Trees. Both ogres and ogresses had been made even more powerful by the ghost of a malignant magician, his yurei spirit escaping from the after-realm and channeling the phantom energy emanating from nearby Mt. Fuji and from the mysterious Sea of Trees itself.

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Excerpted from "The Return of the Luminous One"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Larry Ivkovich.
Excerpted by permission of IFWG Publishing International.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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