Blossom of Bodhisattva (Touhou)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGbBA0_2oWg

[Nue]

—

There was something to be said about traveling on one's own. To see the world without outside opinion, to judge things for what they were, to meditate about life's mysteries, and to ponder, live, and die upon your own terms. The 'Buddhists', for not all of them truly were, were busy and hard at work putting together places to stay for the time being, for the most part. When you last looked back Cirno was throwing snowballs at Aunn and Kyouko. But now, you were alone, as you walked behind the shrine towards the mountain that resided just behind it. Your staff taps the ground, your feet step over roots, and you smile, looking up at the sunshine as it warms you ever so faintly. You couldn't truly feel it, you couldn't truly feel much of anything. But it was a pleasant memory regardless.

It was fading now, casting its golden light and spreading long shadows. Including both of yours.

You did not comment on it. But continued on.

—

You've reached your destination.

Deep within the forest, there is an overgrown cobblestone path. At the end of that path are a number of decrepit outbuildings, collapsed from lack of maintenance. The ruined walls still have posters affixed to them, written in no language ever spoken by humans, promising visitors to Gensokyo various delights. Stalls and market stands once stood here, and crowds gathered here, but no longer.

And past all those buildings is a cave.
The darkness of the cave is oppressive, a gaping chasm that would swallow any mundane light without a trace. But you are able to pierce that veil, and to you the truth is revealed as clearly as in the brightest sunlight. This cavern is not natural, it was constructed - the signs of tool use to excavate the cavern are clear to you. The flooring of this place was inlaid with fine tiles - now cracked and weathered from disuse.

And there are disturbances in the dust, trampled areas of foliage. Despite the lack of maintenance, despite the impression of abandonment that permeates this place… this passageway was used. Quite recently, in fact, and in regular intervals.

You take note of all this, and move on.

At the very end of the cavern, there is a doorway, which is firmly sealed shut. It stretches from floor to ceiling, and its twin doors are two full handspans thick, made of polished obsidian infused with powerful energies. You gently press your hand to the door, and spiraling fractal designs illuminate upon the surface, intricate wards glowing ever-brighter as they flare and attempt to bar your passage.

And then, with a bright flash - they burn out, overwhelmed. For the second time in a single day, you step forward into another world.

—

Makai does not welcome you. The other side of the doorway deposits you on the far outer fringes, where a toxic fog immediately attempts to descend upon you. Filled with dark magic, mere exposure to such a substance would kill an ordinary human in moments.

And yet, wherever you step, the miasma cannot bear your presence, and so a bubble of clear air surrounds you as you walk. "This is a dangerous place, unfriendly to mortal life. Will you be quite safe here?" you ask aloud.

Your second shadow twitches, and then swirls, peeling itself off the ground as it gains volume and dimension. And then color fades in, and you are left faced with, to mortal sight, an exact duplicate of yourself - save, perhaps, for the expression. You don't believe you've ever displayed a pout like that in your life.

"If you knew I was there the whole time, why didn't you say anything? Now I feel like a moron." The tone, despite the words, is blithely unconcerned - which you suppose answers your question about the shapeshifter's safety.

You smile. "My apologies and good evening, I thought you were hoping to merely watch, so I did not comment on your presence. I am afraid I, however, do not know your name, a rarity."

The smile upon your copies face grows to match your own, precisely identical in every detail. "Is that so? Well. I suppose you could call me Nue, then - it's what everyone else does."

You gaze at the being, and… even now, you still cannot tell. Is that their true name? An alias? How unusual. "I wonder, perhaps, if you predate even the rabbits here. Tell me, you are no Buddhist, yet you remain with them, why?"

Your copy gently taps their staff on the ground as they step around a rock, a hum emerging as they ponder the question. "Why does anyone spend time with anyone else? I knew them - Murasa, Ichirin - from ages ago. Caused them some trouble, and they caused me some trouble, you know how it is. So when I saw them again, I decided to tag along, see what they were up to. Never met your sister before, figured I might as well see what all the fuss was about."

You stare at her, and you see all of her. You see yourself, the copy, the illusion, you see the young girl with the black dress and the odd wings. And you see beyond that, deep, pulling, a hole in existence, in reality. A being that had no form, that had no essence, it molded itself, copied, bonded, changed. There was no true reality to this creature, no true self, it was beyond alien. "Truly, one such as yourself?" you ask. "You are beyond a simple youkai, you are something that is unknown to this world, truly. I can see beyond your shells, one called 'Nue'."

The smile on your copy's face grows larger - indeed, larger than it should be within the confines of human biology, if only by a touch. "What can I say? Even the unknown can get curious. I still haven't seen what the big deal about her was, but one day, maybe I will."

"Do they know what you truly are?" you ask. "Does anyone within Gensokyo?"

'Nue' blinks, achingly slowly, deliberately. "The sages might. Mamizou suspects something, but she's on the wrong track. Can't speak for the others, but probably not - I'm quite good at this, after all." The expression of pride is unfitting for your features.

You wave your hand, and in a moment, 'you' are gone, replaced by the young girl in the black dress. She was half your height, with a trident in one hand, black hair, red eyes, and very odd wings. Half red, half blue, some shaped like a pointed tail, others like needles of sickles. Around her right arm was a coiling snake, twisting itself, rotating endlessly around the arm. "I am not what I seem myself, but I would ask you not to use my form."

There's a flash of some emotion in her eyes for just a moment, but… it's unidentifiable. "I'll accept that condition… for now."

You smile at her. Both fully aware of each other now. You could cast this creature back into the void of which it spawned, but it would be back. There was nothing that could keep 'Nue' away from this universe so long as it held her interest. But as she was now, she had limits, and she was not a threat to the cycle regardless. "Thank you. Are you joining me on my journey then?"

She skips along now, her voice light and airy. "It's the most interesting thing happening around here, so yeah." Her voice takes on a teasing tone. "It's been too long since the last time I messed with Shinki, anyway."

"And yet," you reply, "she is not who I seek." Then you raise your staff and point towards… a church, off on the horizon. It was a large thing, a cathedral in the christian style, floating upon a rock that hung in the air. White stone glinted in the dim light provided by the underground sun, a purple wash playing over every nook and crevice. In its empty windows there were signs of glass, now broken and fragmented, the tales they once told forever lost to time. "The one I seek, resides in there."

—

Beneath your strides, distance is nothing more than an illusion. Even as you maintain your steady pace, the church rapidly approaches. Soon enough, you're clear of the miasma that suffocates the outer fringes of Makai entirely, and the strange crystalline growths that make up the forests here begin to show their signs of sprouting. And throughout this, 'Nue' has kept up, the pathway disappearing behind her irreverent skipping just as it does beneath your measured gait.

As you get closer, you see the doors to the church are missing, you pause for a moment, debating if you should knock. Before you walk through the open doorway and step inside. Discarded, broken pews surround you, collapsed and covered in more of the crystalline growth that counts as plantlife in these parts. Small plinths abound to the edges, abandoned, empty. Your focus turns to the far end of the room, where a large, ornate marble altar sits. It was a long thing, well maintained and, unlike the rest of this place, not in a state of disrepair.

"-ou insane? You are but a mere human simpleton who does not know his place! My father has slaughtered 1000 Overlords! He is known as the God of All Overlords! How are you going to defeat him?"

Upon the altar, laying back was a woman, she was pale, with a blue tinge to her skin. A blue dress hung from her body, long enough that it draped over the end of the altar. Six wings jutted out from behind her, all drooping lazily over the edges of the thing. Her arms were outstretched, holding some form of… electronic device above her head.

"Go ahead and laugh. But, I will be the one to defeat Zenon!" the small device cries out.

"Good evening," you greet.

The woman startles, her wings tensing in place and sending her sprawling forward. She fumbles the device and nearly drops it before she manages to catch it. After fiddling with some of the odd protrusions on the side, which silences the noise the strange item was making, she quickly hides it within one of the folds of her dress, and only then does she turn to face you. "WHO DAR- oh. It's one of you bodhisattvas." The righteous, echoing aftershocks of her speech abruptly cut off mid-sentence.

You smile. "Indeed, and guest." you say, gesturing to Nue. "I was hoping to speak to you."

She takes a deep breath and works out the cricks in her neck, before taking on a formal, neutral pose. "Speak now before me, and tell me no lies. For all is known in the grace of heaven."

"I was hoping to speak of an alliance of sort-" that was as far as you got, before you were shoved forward. You blink, then look back. Nue was standing there, grinning, arm outstretched. Her trident was currently stabbed clear through your midsection, faint bits of light erupting from the 'wound'. You stare at it, then her. "Truly?"

Nue yanks the trident back, still grinning. "It was gonna happen anyway. I'm just cutting to the chase."

"I see, indeed, it has been a while since I had exercise. Come, let us join in glorious combat!"

Wait, that wasn't what you were here fo-

You turn your head back to see… the woman now standing before the altar, a… what appeared to be a many barreled cannon in her hand. "Might I ask we-"

"No!" the woman cries out.

Then the fight begins.

—

A ménage-a-trois of sorts.

[] [Focus on Nue]

[] [Focus on the Woman]

[] [Sit by and watch]