Into the Pit

Slipping through the garrison had been a little too easy, he thought. Most of the men were asleep and those that weren't had no idea of the creature that threaded through their camp. Torches lit their tents like little fireflies from afar and Mizuki narrowed his eye in thought as he weaved elegantly between them. It seemed his old fears were becoming reality when his eye landed on a small patch of fabric on the arm of one of the soldiers in camp and he almost stopped short at the intricate design. He cursed quietly and sped up, turning into a blur as he dashed towards the nearest town. He presumed if his direction wasn't completely thrown off by his detour through the garrison, he should be arriving at Maebashi before daybreak. Leaves spiraled as the fireflies began to disappear the further away he got and a streak of moonlight danced across Mizuki's face. The emotions swirling within his lone honey coloured eye would have been enough to make even a seasoned daimyo falter in his stance.

Excavating an old, abandoned cave in the middle of a religious area was much more difficult than Evelyn had made it seem, Michael sighed. Mt. Akagi loomed over in the distance and the sun shone brightly on the main camp, clearly highlighting the start of something monumental. Years earlier the Japanese government had begun focusing on something mysterious in the area surrounding Mt. Akagi and its shrine, securing permission and rights to dig up an underground structure that seemed like just any other small building. Little consequence at the time. Due to the unimportance of such a place the site itself was shut down and priority given to others spread throughout Japan. Steadily over time the cave was forgotten, and the structure lost in the pages of history once again. At least until Evelyn, in her curious nature, stumbled across those very same plans. Michael smiled at the memory of her frantic phone call, in the middle of the night no less, and his hesitance at being involved with such a thing. Memories flashed as he recalled her pain and loss from years ago, a brief reminder that not everything is as perfect as it seems. He shook his head to rid himself of the images and emotions, focusing instead on how well she had persuaded him to join their little adventure. Her excitement and determination were infectious, and he knew that no matter what she wanted to do, he would always support her. More than anything Michael Henderson just wanted to protect his baby sister.

The weather was good today and the temperature just about bearable for Evelyn. She was happy that things were going according to plan and today especially since their ambitious project had garnered attention from the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, NHK. Although she was happy for this attention, she really believed that it was too soon to talk to anyone regarding the state of their operation and for once she was relieved Takao had organised a block around the area about a mile or two for anyone not part of their crew. She sighed briefly and began to survey the team working on uncovering the entrance their predecessors found. It was curious what they had found. When they had excavated last, they'd found a strange doorway or wall that would have normally been the open entrance. They had gone pretty deep in the earth to find it, but before they'd even had chance to explore further things fell apart. Evelyn hoped this time they'd be able to find something more substantial and open up the door they left closed. It made her nerves stand on end as she watched her teamwork, breaking through layers of sediment that had fallen through over the years the site was stagnant. She counted herself lucky that they had taken over from a previous project rather than start afresh with a new one. Some took years to properly excavate and even then, there wasn't any guarantee they would find anything. Her eyes dropped to the papers in her hands, and she flicked through them easily, a quiet hum following as she read a particular interesting tid-bit of information. The noise coming from her team was loud as their machines roared and groaned under the weight of moving so much dirt and debris, but it all went silent in a second when she heard a loud shout to stop. Her eyes snapped up and she glanced at Kurt, the one to shout, to see that he was slowly guiding himself down into the massive pit they'd created. There was silence, then a rather noticeable "EVI!" that had her almost tripping over her feet to make it to the edge of the hole. Her eyes were wide, frosted blue hues almost blown wide as she stood staring at her friend in trepidation. Kurt stood with a grin so big she thought his face would break in two and waved a hand towards a space behind him, a rather chipper tone in his voice.

"Evi. We found it. It's there—whoah whoah whoah!!" The moment he'd announced they'd found the door; the brunette took a step forward and slid quite quickly and noisily down the slope they'd made. Her clothes began to stain with brown, papers suddenly flapping out of her hands as she landed with a small oomfh. Her hands clamoured to find ground to push herself up, but she was shaking so badly it just wouldn't work. Kurt took a deep sigh and wrapped an arm around her elbow, tugging the woman up with a huff. She gave him a thankful smile and he shrugged, the corner of his mouth lilting slightly. "I can't have your brother thinking I'm a brute, eh?"

"He'll get over it," the blue of her eyes almost sparkled when she looked behind him, "Is that it? Was that what they found?" Her friend nodded and guided her towards a rather bland looking stone door where mud and leaves had clumped haphazardly on the surface. Her fingers visibly shook now as she lifted her hand up to brush away some of the dirt. It crumbled uselessly to the ground, and she stepped back, looking up to a black-haired man hovering dangerously over the edge of the ledge. Frank. "Grab Michael and my camera, now. We can't touch this thing until it's been photographed, and I won't be doing anything until that lump is standing right next to me when we open it." Frank nodded quickly and scurried away, disappearing almost as fast as he arrived.

[Daimyo - Feudal military lord under the Shogun]

[Shogun - Military ruler]