[week 28, day 5] I'll be flowing...
The ball of thin vines lies on the ground in front of him. For just a moment he wavers, uncertain what he's doing here...
That's right. The girl. He looks up to see her, an anxious expression on her face--he hopes she isn't in pain but there's no time to worry about it now--and bends forward, reaching for the plants, picking up the whole ball in both hands.
"Please! Rule of Life, I return the God's power to you. Please take it back. And please forgive this human for being a God." There's a pause, then thread-like mugura mushi poke themselves up from the ground, touch the bundle of plant life like they're tasting it. He has all of two seconds to feel a dawning sense of relief and hope--this is going to work after all!--and then the threadlike mushi rush up at his face, and pull him into darkness.
It doesn't seem to last long, to him, though there's no way of telling just how long it is before he opens his eye to find himself in a dark place, but one that is punctuated with bright light. Sitting up he sees...
Them. It would be them; the 'Rule of Life' or Nature. They sit around him in a ring, vaguely human shapes glowing white against the backdrop of inky black. If he didn't already know they weren't in the human world anymore, he'd know it instinctively now. There's no natural light, not that of stars, or the faint glow of the moon through clouds. There are no natural sounds, either--just the muttering of the circle around him, as the beings quietly whisper to each other in voices he can't quite catch.
This is no God. Why is it here? It is no God.
He doesn't move for a moment, looking warily at the creatures. So this... is a mushi gathering? He's never seen one before, not up close, though there were many records of them in Tanyuu's library, and other places, for those who knew where to look. The ring of light... what were they going to do...?
It came to return the God's power. Then the mugura made a mistake?
It was impossible to tell if they were questioning each other or him. Their voices seemed to speak all at once, and if one part of the ring was carrying on a conversation with another part, he couldn't tell. He kept quiet for now.
Disturbing things happen when humans are involved. They bring disturbing ideas.
He got to his feet slowly as they talked. It made him feel oddly vulnerable just sitting on the ground.
They should never have been made God. The rule of life can, at times, be mistaken.
"That's right!" He seizes his chance, the small admission of blame this gathering bestows on itself. "She never should have been chosen as God! That's why I'm returning her power! I just ask you, please do not take her life! Choosing that girl... choosing a human as God... that was your mistake. Humans have both minds and hearts. Even if you crush their spirits, a small bit of that heart and mind will rise up again. That's what makes us fragile. We aren't suited to being your Gods of the mountain!"
He stops, waiting for their reply, his body tense and breathing slightly strained. He is in their power here. Whatever they decide to do... he will have to go along with it. He won't have any choice in the matter.
Even so, at one time humans were Gods. Perhaps that is why one was chosen now.
However, it was a failure.
It is likely that humans will never be made God again.
And so, humans will remove themselves from the mountain.
They will never receive the mountain's voice again.
That is the consequence. Is it your wish?
Even as he wonders why the creatures ask his opinion on something they've already decided, he's speaking again. "Humans won't be removed." His tone brooks no argument. Because... well, the worst they can do is kill him, and what's his life, weighed against so many others? "Not ever. Humans are nothing more than a part of the mountain."
...be that as it may. It is for the Rule to decide.
So he hadn't convinced them so easily. Ah well. Hopefully his words would have some effect on their final decision.
However... what this creature did breaks the rule.
This creature... must be returned to its basic forms.
They were talking about him. Coming here... hadn't exactly been in his plans, but it hadn't been unexpected either, had it? No, of course not. Always plan for the worst... "I came prepared for that."
Very well. You will come with us.
He sighs, jaw clenching, already feeling the flexible strands of mugura creeping up his ankles. Tanyuu, Adashino, Io, Isaza... they will never know what happened to him. But a month will pass with no word, two months, a year, and... they'll mourn him and move on. They'll live, without him. He isn't so important, in the grand scheme of things... but then, that isn't a new idea, to him.
Please wait! Another human's voice. The girl's. He turns, as best he can with his feet anchored in mugura. "Why are you here?!" His voice comes out in a slightly strangled-sounding shout of anger, but it's the kind of anger that's hiding fear--dammit, dammit, he'd come here in her place! If she was here...
This is for me and the mountain to decide! she declares. I can't let anybody take my place!
"It isn't like it's your fault! You don't have to go!" Doesn't she understand? She has a life in front of her, a good one with her family. She has the chance to live, and grow, and experience a life she's never known. And if he has to die to give her that chance... it's not such a bad way to go.
I was always together with the mountain. I was the grasses and trees... the bugs and fish... and the animals. I tasted life and death... in ways that can't be taught. And in the end... I got to live as a human, too. The 'thanks to you' goes unspoken, but he thinks he hears it in her tone.
"But that's no reason for you to die!" He hates this, that he can't do anything to stop her. Just words, words that won't help.
This isn't death. I'm just not going to be 'me' anymore. I'll be flowing... between life and the mountain. Inside the rule. Inside the 'promise.'
Just going back home.
Strands of darkness wrap around her flesh, appearing to cut into it (but there's no blood) turning her into darkness (why does that seem so familiar) and swallowing her up.
"WAIT!!"
And just like that, they're gone, leaving him in utter blackness.
[Ginko sits up with a sleepy mutter, and swipes at the Hitomi, shutting it off without even looking at it.
He's in no mood to talk to anyone, after having that particular memory shoved back to life so vividly.]