Shrine Maiden (A Modern-Day Touhou Quest)

You are Rei, and yet somehow, you are not. The body you reside within is clearly not yours. It is older, more mature, and clearly inhuman.

You stare out through borrowed eyes at a world wrought from string and wireframe. Before you stand countless tangled orbs of thread, thousands upon thousands of glowing lines wrapped and twisted against one another in a way that is both nauseating and incomprehensible. Two orbs, though, clearly outshine the others. They glow with the irradiance of the sun.

Your eyes fall onto the dense knot of string to your right. It twists, undulating in sinuous curves around a central spoke. You look deeper, fascinated by a kaleidoscopic swirl of color and light and sound as something slowly resolves out of the seeming chaos.

A palace. Disciples, garbed in feather, fur, and scale, gather around a pool of serenity and wisdom. A malevolence sealed away by…


S̵̨͙̝̗͕͔͈̑̎͊̋͆͐̆̅̕̕ú̵̖͎̪͔͛c̵̥͉͔͕̊͒̔͐̉̔͜͝h̵̲̃̈́͊̉͒ ̶̬̱̓t̵͑̇͗͜h̸̡̳̰̋̓̃́͌͘͝î̶̛̝̜̯͈̼̓͋̋̈́͆̓͠n̵̢̺͚̭̻̜̩̊̈́̓̓͌̐͒͠g̸͉͆͘s̵͍̮̐̐ ̶̢̰͙̰͈͈͑͝ͅa̸̧̬̯͗̇͑͛̋̓̇̓̽̕r̶̞̙̣̘̝͍̻̄e̸̛̻͎̬͈̰̼̅̅͛͛̇͊́́ͅ ̸̞̟̀͆̃͘n̷̢͖͚̠͛̊ǒ̶̭̟͍͇̲̾t̷̮͔͉̙̊̎̽ ̵̬̘̄̾͑̽̾̀̄̓͘y̴̬͇͖͐͝ę̴̟̜͎̋͌͌͠͝t̸̩̄̐̎̈́͊͊̽̅͝ͅͅ ̶̨̢̟̪̭͎̌̌ṱ̶̢͓̝̟̟̥̱̠̱́̈́h̶͍̠̅̈́͗̈̚i̸̡͔̣͕͖͐̈́n̴͖͍̗̻̹̟̍͂̎̓͑̀͝e̷̛̥̯̖̞̲͍̰̍̌ ̵̜̦̪̳̤̻̗̪̭̲̆͆̃̂̕͠t̴̥̲̤̠̩̜̙̻̺́̓̅ŏ̸͕̭͉̗͔͛̐̓̊̐̆͂̊͜͜͠ ̶̧̝̼̋̑̀͒̎̒̚͝͝s̸̟̥̠̖͓͛e̷̯̬̎́͋͑͐̽̋e̷̺̫̥͕̦̅̀̑̈́̿̚͝͝…̸̨̳̯͎̜̎͂͌͠ͅ


Suddenly, your senses collide with a steel wall, and you reel away with the uncomfortable sensation of having bruised your thoughts. Wire and thread dissolve into facades of humanity. To your left stands a woman with dark pink hair, her right arm wrapped in a thin layer of bandaging. To your right, a blonde-haired woman garbed in the night sky sits upon a throne of jet-black stone.

The body you're inhabiting turns away from her companions and toward a spiderweb of cracks forming in the sky above.

"The spell goes awry, ██████." The blonde upon her throne comments idly, as though remarking upon the weather and not the sky itself shattering. "I wonder what will happen when the cracks reach the earth."

"You speak too casually █████." The woman with a bandaged arm retorts firmly. "We chose this place to minimize the potential harm from miscasting, but none of us could have predicted that failure would compound upon itself to such an extent."

"Oh, █████ are you worried for the mortals living in squalor in the valleys below?" The blonde waves an idle hand, seeming equal parts amused and dismissive. "Perhaps they should pray to their gods for succor."

Smoke starts to leak from beneath the bandaged arm, and the air around you grows heavy. "Do you want to see if this arm of mine can feed upon jin as well?"

"Just like an oni to threaten violence when things don't pan out for her." Despite the casual dismissal in her words, the stars on her tabard begin to sparkle.

"Ladies." The body you're currently in chides softly, with a lightness that would have fooled you if you couldn't feel the anxiety swirling about inside. "Perhaps we should think about resolving this issue rather than compounding it with the excreta of battle."

The pink-haired woman dips her head slightly as though chastised while the blonde merely shrugs. Despite that, the air of impending violence fades from around them.

Your body smiles, a razor blade hidden behind gentle warmth. "█████, senkai is the power of ours most in tune with the land itself… what will happen if we let the spell reach its conclusion unaltered?"

"Why would-" The pink-haired woman turns a fierce glare on the body you're inhabiting, but she must see something in your face because her indignance cuts off in favor of focused concentration. "Worst case… total and utter annihilation. The spell touches the land and begins to absorb the qi of the earth. Within hours, plants will begin to wilt. In days, the forests will begin dying. Before the month is up, the mountains will begin to crack, and the rivers will turn stagnant. The imbalance of qi brought on by this decimation will force the spell to turn toward humanity, and after it has drained those villages dry, it will move on to the divine."

That last statement is punctuated with a red-eyed glare toward the blonde, who shrugs guilelessly, but the body you're in notices the slight tightening of her eyes.

"To sum it up…" the woman continues. "The spell will continue to drain all it can touch dry of qi until the spellcraft which holds it together fails."

She doesn't say what will happen then, but you can see it in her eyes. An explosion. One fit to drown the entirety of Japan in fire and flood.

"Even if we were to flee now and somehow survive the cataclysm." Your body muses idly, but again, with that spark of anxiety burning within. "Too many know that we three are the progenitors of this spell. We would be hunted the rest of our days."

"Drawn to earth like a deer being savaged by wolves." The disinterested air around the blonde fades, and she sighs. "Perhaps █████ could hide away in her senkai, but for you and I, ██████... it would be a quick end."

"Were I to let such an atrocity occur without attempting to halt it," the pink-haired woman's voice is soft but no less intense for it. "I would welcome such justice as would fall upon me."

"So we are agreed in both the need to address our failure and the potential magnitude." Your eyes look up to where the cracks are slowly leaching the azure blue of the sky away, leaving the dark of midnight in their wake. "Now we need but understand how things went so drastically wrong and then settle upon a course of action."

Thoughts spark like fireflies around the three as they stare silently at the slowly unfolding cataclysm. The blonde turns toward the body you're in and smirks mirthlessly.

"I don't suppose you can just," she waves a hand elegantly.

"I cannot even see the gap between what this is and what it should be…" your body's head shakes, and something rueful, almost bitter, flickers within. "I imagine it the same for you, █████?"

"With how quickly the sky is changing, I doubt I could offer more than a few hours… perhaps a day of reprieve if I were to spend everything I have." The blonde agrees with the same rueful flicker.

"What if…" the pink-haired woman trails off in a way that sends a spark of curiosity through your body. "█████. What if the sky changing from day to night doesn't represent the effects of the spell itself but rather..."

"Rather-" the blonde trails off. Her eyes widen slightly before narrowing again. "The procession of day to night reflects the procession of yang to yin."

"It seems possible," your body speaks. "Azure is heavily associated with the Heavens and through that to yang. A surfeit of yin… or conversely, a lack of yang could result in day turning to night. Would that change anything, █████?"

The pink-ette is silent for a long moment, her eyes flickering from the sky to the ground below them and back. "For the consequences of the spell, no? That much consolidated yang energy would result in the same cataclysmic end. What it means for us, though… I don't-"

"If we could somehow constrain it, then we could slowly feed it yang energy and then…" The blonde trails off, her idea seemingly half-formed.

"A ley-line, aspected to some motive force… preferably nature would work." The woman to her right responds enthusiastically, only for that spark of energy to fade as she continues. "We chose this place because it was devoid of any major lines, though."

"A vein of nature… hmm…" your body smiles. "I don't think the gap between earth and Ryuketsu is so profound as to… █████, perhaps you could help me kindle such a spark into a conflagration."

"Are we not mixing metaphors too far, ██████?" The blonde demurs for a moment before nodding in agreement. "If you can create such a thing, I can draw its potential to the surface."

"That just leaves an anchor to tie the spell to the ley-line." The pink-ette murmurs as much to herself as to anyone else. "Cinnabar to make the wheel, amber to illuminate, antimony to guide, arsenic to confuse, and quicksilver to entrap. But it would still take…"

"I don't keep much wealth with me…" Your head turns toward the mumbling woman and smiles enigmatically. "But I do believe I can handle the last piece..."

A suspicious stare is directed at your body as dark red eyes study you closely. Whatever she sees must be enough because the other woman nods and turns to leave. "Very well. I will return shortly with the raw materials for the binding spell."

"And we shall craft a new ley-line while you're gone." Your body nods and turns toward the blonde on her throne. "Shall we, █████?"

"We shall, ██████." The blonde responds.


You watch with someone else's eyes as tendrils of magic sink deep into the earth. A single node of earth compresses and changes, transforming from the pale-red silt of a long-dead river's detritus into something deeper, darker, and richer. A seed of life begins to form within that freshly churned soil. You watch roots grow and spread, presaging bright green shoots that press up from the ground, seeking the sun above.

At some point, another type of energy intermixes with the thin strands still churning at the earth. You feel, through senses that aren't your own, as a door bursts open and power floods through. What was once the slender growth of a sapling shoots up, centuries old and garlanded with the pale pink leaves of a cherry tree in an instant.

Then another shoots up to join that first growth. And then another, until a field of cherry trees spread their beauty across the land.


When the pink-haired woman returns, your body's attention shifts away from twisting and guiding the earth beneath you. You watch as the woman drops to her knees in front of the cherry tree grove and opens a satchel tied to her back.

A simple circle, drawn with an orange-red dust forms first. Then, five rays, each equidistant from the next, are drawn with that same red dust. Finally, a circle stretches between the endpoints of the rays. It was a wheel, perfectly symmetrical and far wider than the woman drawing it was tall.

The woman then sprinkles careful patterns of yellow powder at each point where the spokes come into contact with the inner or outer wheel. Five symbols, each placed upright and inverted, now dot the wheel in a way that seems… balanced… ten facets of life in perfect alignment.

Different shades of pale silver powder fill up the alternating spaces delineated by the spokes of the wheel, and then the woman sets aside her satchel for a dark brown gourd. Lines of shimmering liquid splatter across the carefully drawn circle without any seeming rhyme or reason, and yet, as the woman steps back to admire her work, you can feel the method buried in the madness. It looked like a maze, although one intimated more so by the lines not drawn than by the splashes of liquid mercury scattered about.

When you see the pink-haired woman step back from her work, your body smiles, and you start to walk toward the spell laid out below. "Next time, you bring the sake, █████."

"██████, what-?" The blonde moves forward to place an arm over yours, and your body turns to look at her. She must see something in your eyes because her arm falls, and she smirks. "Until next time, then."

Your heart doesn't beat in your chest and your stride doesn't falter as you draw near to the pink-haired woman, but you can taste the anxiety buzzing against the back of your teeth.

The other woman seems less surprised than the blonde because she offers you only a solemn nod and a few parting words: "If this is your desire, I won't stop you."

"Gensokyo was my dream." You smile wistful but content. "Even if it turns to a nightmare. I owe it to that dream to see things through to the very end."

"Then perhaps I'll stick around for a while and offer a touch of guidance to those who will come after." Red eyes seem to somehow focus on you rather than the body you're in.

Your body only laughs. "Do try not to make it too easy for her."

"Even in this, ██████?" She sighs, a sound that's half amusement and half exasperation. "Until we meet again."

"Until we meet again." Your body lifts off the ground and drifts across the spell circle. "Do me a favor, though, █████ and make sure my shrine maiden's easy on the eyes."

Whatever response the pink haired woman wold have made was swallowed by the howling of wind as your body touches down in the center of the spell. You pull out a pale pink umbrella and smile as drops of midnight begin to fall from the cracks webbed across the sky.

I think it's time for you to leave, my young Miko. Find the third piece of your panoply, grow strong, and we shall meet again someday.

With those words echoing in your ears, you are cast from the dream and into utter darkness.


A world away, a girl sips from a teacup filled with a dark red liquid and smiles.



Reminder: Rei has ¥11000 and 4 days of food left.

Rei has two actions available.

Exploration Options - Find a new place at random or look for a specific one
[] Explore the neighborhood around the shrine [1 of X discovered]
[] Explore Gensokyo [0 of X discovered]
[] Go hiking in the mountains around Gensokyo [0 of X discovered]

Social Options - Hang out with the friends and those important to you
[] Meet up with Marisa
[] Hang out with Nitori
[] Call Auntie

Hobby Options - Improve an existing hobby or learn a new one
[] Go to the arcade [Video Games] [¥500 - 1000]
[] Clean up the graveyard [Gardening]
[] Start a new hobby.
-[] write in which. Previously mentioned hobbies are art, exercise, sports, history, movies, camping, and music. Other hobbies can be written in

Shopping Options - Make the shrine and your existence there more pleasant
[] Buy home repair supplies [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some electronic entertainment items [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some furniture [> ¥10000]

Food Options - Feed yourself for a day or longer
[] Find a restaurant [¥1000 - 2000]
[] Get dessert [¥500 - 1000]
[] Buy groceries

Employment Options - Find a job so you can afford to buy stuff
[] Go work for Yuuka
[] See if the convenience store is hiring

Mystery Options - Try to unravel the inexplicable happenings in Gensokyo
[] Investigate the shrine with Marisa [1 of 3 anomalies uncovered].
[] Translate the strange language on Rei's miko outfit.
[] Work on Nitori's cucumber patch.

Travel Options - the train station at Gensokyo opens up vast expanses of Japan for exploration.
[] Visit Professor Okazaki about the scholarship to Kyoto U.

Write-in Options - The world is vast beyond belief and mysterious beyond words.
[] Instead of writing out a neverending list of things to do, I'll leave this here if voters want to do something else. Write-ins may well be incorporated into the turn options even if not chosen, so feel free to suggest whatever you want to see and do.



[AN]
We now resume our regularly scheduled programming, though we will see a bit of a debrief with Marisa next chapter.