Smiles

After Edward's arrival came along a young man in his 20s. He had Indian brown skin and dark black hair. His body adorned a traditional japanese robe, along with jute sandals and in his left hand, he held a small khakkhara with 4 circular rings.

The man, named Arjun Patel, as per the shrine maiden, nodded to both Shuichi and Edward and went about his way.

"Not very talkative eh?"

"Doesn't seem to be."

"Well, I'll just go ahead and rest for a bit. Can't have myself be anything less than presentable." With that, Edward walked into the pagoda with the priest following closely behind.

In just a few moments of time, Shuichi was the only person left outside the pagoda.

He looked ahead at the festive atmosphere of the compound and couldn't help but smile.

I guess.. this is a nice environment to relax a bit. He thought, his genuine smile widening ever so slightly.

The evening sun disc carried ahead a great blend of colours in the sky, drowning the west sky within a sea of blood.

With a small effort, Shuichi jumped on the roof of the pagoda and began to overlook the entire compound.

At the center of the compound, there was a large clearing, about 400 meters in diameter. At the center of which a large tower like object was erected.

Suddenly, Shuichi felt a pulse travelling from the tower like architecture envelop the entire compound.

Is that the Thousand Faced Tower? Shuichi mused throwing a glance at his necklace. No, that's just a projection. A symbolistic loophole that connects with the actual tower.

Let's see... with his transcendental senses and the Records of Tenjin, Shuichi focused onto the tower.

His eyes glazed up, overcame with a sudden, insurmountable mist, such sheen white in colour that it seemed blinding almost. He could not see anything beyond it, he could not see anything even inside it. He could not even see a single meter ahead of him.

He looked down at himself. His entire body was fine. However, he seemed to have been taken to an entirely new environment.

Heh. Have I been spirited away? Is this the result of looking at something I shouldn't? Remembering the tales about the sacred treasures of the past ages, he could not help but laugh to palactate himself.

A man laughs as he walks into a sea of bones, his flesh wilting and eyes fall down; his soul turns black and he falls into the deepest hell.

Another man gets surrounded by a malevolent book of infinite pages, of which he himself turns into a character that walks in the ink; never to be let out and repeating the same process all over again till eternity.

A woman yells in pain as clocks made out of human bones surround her. Slowly, she dissolves into a clock herself and the bell tolls midnight.

A shiver went down Shuichi's spine, thinking of him being an example in such a tale of not playing around with sacred treasures. A young man peers into the tower. An insurmountable fog erupts from within, swallowing him into a monotonous blur of ever present white. Always alone and in complete silence...

No! He yelled in his mind and calmed himself down. Then, he tried to use his Records of Tenjin. Keyword, "tried".

He looked down at his neck. It was missing, the necklace.

Welp, there goes that. He balled his fists and focused.

Then, in a flash, his figure dashed into the interminable opaque fog. The fog offered little resistance, parting like it the sea in front of moses, paving the way for him to go as he pleases.

After an unknown amount of time; possibly hours or days or maybe even a few seconds, something came into view.

It was something large. A tower.

An almost interminable tower that seemed to stretch into the air for kilometers. The top of the tower was a large spire, on top of which a dark red ball of blood floated quietly. The tower exuded a blood red hue, like the evening redness of the sky. It broke the transient fog and appeared in it's full unbridled glory to be seen.

But what stood out the most in front of it was the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, nay, maybe even tens of thousands of faces that marred the surface of the tower in it's entirety. Each face, ranging from children to the elderly was twisted into an expression of extreme, unadulterated pain and a seemingly constant stream of suffering. Their eyes bled out to the ground, their skin fell off at various places. Some had their teeth missing, some even lacked the entire lower jaw. Other had various ulcers growing on their faces and others had various fleshy folds like gyrus running across the face like a canal system. The rare few that stood out among them all, not only because of their peculiarity but because of their contrasting smile in opposition to the rest of the tower, had a constantly changing face structure.

The smiling faces would change into every other face that existed on the tower, morphing and morphing, transforming and transmuting; the faceless acolytes that served to give the others a singular moment of rest and respite; so much so that every single face when transformed had a smile; was themselves casting there gaze into the outer mist.

One of their eyes landed onto Shuichi. And then everyone turned.

The gigantic tower made Shuichi seem like a dwarf in front of a titanous behemoth. And being looked on by the thousands of faces that would otherwise scream in pain and now stopped, chilled his bones.

The smiling face, which laughed just before, yelled an otherworldly and ghastly scream that pierced into the deepest recesses of Shuichi's ears.

And then, he opened his eyes.

Huff! Huff!

He huffed heavily, his back and forehead covered entirely in sweat. He looked again towards the small clearing where the tower like effigy was erected.

Unconsciously, a smile made it's way onto his face.

Not because he had just survived an encounter with the tower, but because of a different reason.

I peered at the sacred treasure. I have information about it! He thought in endless and utter excitement.

He breathed in and out for the time, calming himself down.

What an experience... he shook his head.

Then, he remembered the secret Yaga had told him.

"The true reason for your trip being arranged to Hokkaido... The jujutsu higher ups want you to take a look at the three sacred treasures. They want to see if it's possible to replicate the thing." Yaga had said to him in a hushed tone.

At that time, he understood the dangers of dealing with sacred treasures, and if not for Yaga telling him, he would not have taken a look at the sacred treasure.

And he did not even intend to regardless. However, as they say, curiosity kills the cat.

And in the context, he would not only get killed, but possibly tormented until the end of time, serving only brief instants of respite within the never ending cycle as the smiling faces overtook his face, and then back again to the suffering as he waited for his turn among the thousands others.

I don't know if I should be thankful at my luck or mad about my curious nature. Probably both.

Shaking his head, he noticed the Sun almost setting in the west.

And that meant that the initiation rite of the Great Harae was about to begin.

~~~

Masakado Abenanka, the head shrine maiden of the Flame School, Song of Blaze walked up the stairs to the tower effigy. The entire clearing around the tower effigy was filled with people in traditional attire, wearing Kimonos, robes and all sorts of other garments.

The shrine maidens gathered on the right side of the tower, carrying ritualistic bells on staffs and their hands. They danced in grace, shaking the bells in a rhythmic melody.

Abenanka carried a wooden tray in hand, atop which a collection of 'blessed' objects were mounted.

Climbing up the stairs, she started to mutter hushed chants in length. Reaching the top of the stairs and the base of the tower, she broke off the chants and held up the tray overhead.

The priests at the edge of the clearing lit the fires over the fire pots. Simultaneously, a sweet aroma spread over the compound.

In synchronization, everyone began to yell.

"For the Fire Lord! Mark the Start of the Festival!"

"For the Fire Lord! Mark the Start of the Festival!"

The tray held above Abenanka burst into flames and disappeared into thin air.

The crowd burst into cheers. What followed was a large parade of purification all across the compound.

Shuichi sat with Edward and Arjun, all three quietly watching the initiation of the festival.

Shuichi had previously been acquainted with Arjun, when he went back to his room.

Although they did not have much to talk about in the first place. Sorcerers were not the most talkative bunch, and gossip was pretty much absent from the sorcerer community, save a few people of the younger generation.

Edward, being himself, kept droning on about how he was so awesome all while being ignored by Shuichi.

It wasn't until the initiation rite began that he went quiet.

~~~

~~~

A/N: This was a short chapter. I wanted to experiment a bit with the sentence structure and proses. I've been reading some classic literature so I've been trying some of that.

The bit describing the Thousand Faced Tower was me trying out different sentence structures and make up for an enjoyable read. Anyway, tell me your thoughts, did it read alright?

Also, since I don't think people want to see any open world building by an author in a fanfiction, I would be wrapping this arc up in a couple of chapters.

Throw some stones~

Cheers~