Reincarnating Man Returns To The Heavenly Bride by silentanon

Link: https://fiction.live/stories/Reincarnating-Man-Returns-To-The-Heavenly-Bride/tyPMxEu8AkzgnyTpn/The-Hunter-and-the-Fox-280-BC/gXbYeMKmjr9Fp8vnM

Synopsis

He made a solemn vow on his deathbed: Life after life, he would return, to be together once more.

A promise: a love that defies both time and mortality. A feud that has shaped history. How many times can a man live again before his regret and sorrow grows too much to bear?

The Hunter and the Fox: 280 BC

My earliest memories date back to the Qin Dynasty, at the beginning of the Emperor's reign: in the Christian reckoning, two hundred and fifty years before the coming of their Christ.

I was of the Jōmon people, who lived on that island, before the coming of the Yayoi from across the sea. These men ate rice and wielded iron: more then that, their deities and monsters followed them.

What they were fleeing from, they did not speak: but they were here to stay.

These outsiders did not trouble us at first: their numbers were few, and there was plenty of land. But as more and more joined them, crossing the sea, it worried my people. Did they not know that this place was only so rich? Would they eat the fat of the land and scrape it down to the marrow?

Some of my kinsmen made war upon them. Some of them fled. But my tribe decided to wait and see. We reasoned thus: if they wish us harm, it would be clear soon enough. If they wished us well, then all would be well.

As it turned out, it was a prudent decision.

Their warriors were fierce, but the Yayoi were led by their holy women: who divined the auspicious seasons.

They had rice and millet in abundance, but had little else. In seasons of good harvests they would celebrate, and in famine they would wither and die. If they lived in nature and had children only when necessary, they would not suffer so. I did not understand why they lived in the way they did.

So I came to them, with my kinsmen, and they were grateful. My brothers took Yayoi widows as brides, and lived apart from my tribe. They have learned their tongue and adopted their ways. Because of this, there was peace in my lifetime, because we were kin, and had traded sons and daughters.

They too, believed in the spirits of the world, of the mountains and trees and beasts, but they also believed in great spirits, gods, who had fathered their race. Only their holy women knew of the lineage of their ancestors, who birthed the sun and the thunderstorm and the moon.

It was also they who protected their people from demons: and a demon came to the village one day.

The Han called them jiuweihu, the Goryeo kumiho. Ultimately, they were the same creature.

Before the Buddha came to these lands, it was very difficult to combat demonic creatures. A skilled shaman of great holiness and several skilled warriors had to risk their lives to drive them away. A thousand years ago, a heart-eater killed and impersonated the concubine of an Emperor of China and had caused great calamity. Before she was destroyed, she mothered four offspring, who fled and caused trouble wherever they went.

The priestess of this Yayoi clan I had grown to know well, and so I noticed when she did not behave as she should. She was not trained properly, or perhaps she did not have time to learn before she came over the sea. All I knew was that our neighbors were under the sway of this creature. And that could not be a good thing.

I did not know what to do. So I spoke to my elders, and informed them of what had happened.

"Can we fight her?" I asked the shaman. "Is it possible?"

The old woman shook her head. "If we brought warriors, she would call upon the men to defend her. If it was a normal woman, I could drive her out, but she has taken a holy woman as her guise. She has gained much power by devouring her heart and liver." She clicks her tongue. "She may have the power to destroy me, and then there would be no hope."

My chieftan - a man almost as old as the shaman - nods. "If we cannot fight her, if we cannot drive her out, we must live with her." He looks to me. "You are young, and you are brave. You are unmarried, also." he says. "We will give you powerful charms to protect you. Ask her what she wants. If she can be convinced to leave the woman's body, then so much the better."

"And if not..?" I say, already knowing what he will reply.

"Kill her, quickly." He says, before he produces a knife made of obsidian. "It is very sharp."

"That will start a war," I say, surprised. "My brothers-"

"They will be killed." The chifetan says. "But we cannot let a demon rule over the Yayoi. It is the best we can do. So try to succeed if you can."

She had ensorcelled the Yayoi clan: she displayed her monstrosity without fear.

"Hunter of the Jomon," she says to me, as I step through the gate. The Yayoi have been hard at work, building a temple. They have been building it since they got here. It is to its incompleteness that they blame the failure of the harvests. "What a pleasant surprise."

The jade pendant around my neck throbs, like a beating heart, as it reacts to her evil. I lack the knowledge of words in her tongue to say anything eloquent, so I must be straightforward. "What do you want?" I ask.

She chuckles. "They say that desire is the root of all suffering," she looks to me. "My question is, what can I offer you?" The heart-devourer takes a step towards me. I flinch, and she laughs. "You look so strong. So bursting with life." She attempts to weaken my will with her snakelike eyes.

I clutch tightly onto the jade. "You are a demon," I say, trying not to shame myself. I circle about. "You have taken a holy woman's body. Depart at once, spirit."

"She's quite dead, I'm afraid." My worst fears are confirmed. "But it is my nature, man of the Jomon. As it is yours to hunt deer with bows and to fish from the rivers with nets, it is mine to catch men, and devour them."

"But man is not a beast," he says. "And neither are you, spirit."

"True enough," she says. "But what's your point?"

"We can choose to become more than we were born to be." I say. "As the grasses become the basket, as the clay becomes the urn."

"And why would I do that?" She says, although the tone of her voice shifts. A sadness enters her voice. "My kind are hunted the world over, from the deserts of the Xiongnu barbarians to the lands of Yue. I have no den, no lands of my own, and my brothers and sisters hunger for human flesh. To change is death, for myself and my kin."

Despite myself, I feel sympathy. "Where is your mother and father?" I ask.

"My mother? Dead, killed by cultivators of Qin." She laments. "My father, I never knew. She never spoke of him." She looks down upon me. "And now that you know, I cannot let you leave this place alive."

"Hold." I raise my hand. "I am a hunter of the Jomon. My eye is clear and my arrows swift. If you promise not to eat human flesh, then I will bring offerings to you of venison and pork, duck and serow: so that you and your kind may live."

Her eyes flicker. "You are trying to trick me," she says. "Man is not so generous as that. You would feed a family that is not yours, labor to fill the stomachs of foreigners and strangers?"

"I came across the Yayoi clan, in a bitter season. The rice had failed, and the millet had run out." I remember it so keenly. "The elderly went up into the mountains to die. The young men had departed to look for food, but there was none to be found. In every house, the children were starving to death, and infants were crying at the dry breasts of their dead mothers. What man has a heart of iron to not see, to not hear such suffering?" I say. "So I did what I could."

"They will keep coming," she says. "Your people will be driven out of their lands. Your men will be killed and your daughters taken as wives. Your ways will disappear and be forgotten. It will be as if you never were."

"I know." I take the obsidian knife. I drop it on the ground. "But I have to choose to be a human being."

And so it was that I came to an accord with the fox spirit, or as the Yayoi call her, a kitsune. She had six brothers and sisters, who lived in the forest to the north, who lacked the ability to speak human speech or take human shape. I, who was the best hunter in my tribe, struggled to keep my end of the bargain. At times, when given the choice to feed them or feed myself, I chose to feed them, and the strength in my arm and the clearness in my eye weakened.

But for her part, she kept hers. No more humans were killed or eaten. Various monsters marauded the lands in those days, red-skinned ogres from high up on the mountains, terrible gaki haunting the living, inugami dispatched by evil sorcerers: she dispelled them all. Other lands were plagued by supernatural trouble and bad harvests, but in our part of the world, all was tranquil and peaceful. In time, the priestess of the neighboring Yayoi clan gained a reputation for being a powerful exorcist.

One day, I arrive at the feeding place, a deer on my back. She is waiting there for me. There is a sharp pain in my stomach, and I stumble. She walks up to me.

"What is wrong, hunter of the Jomon?" She questions. "You have not brought as much as last time."

"I am sorry," I say. "I am not as young as I used to be."

"What?" She says. "Growing old… then how will you uphold your bargain?"

Spirits, especially animals ones, can be selfish. I try to keep that in mind. "The cicadas have come and went three times, since we made our bargain." he says. "Man does not live to see them a fourth time." I gesture. "My eyes grow darker and more clouded. My hair turns white. My strength leaves me. Soon, I will die."

"No, you can't!" She says, suddenly filled with emotion. "You musn't."

"All men die." I reply. She did not know? "That is the way of the world."

"You lied to me." She says. "If I had known that you would only… only do so for such short years…" Tears well up in her eyes. "Then I would have never agreed to it. Never have done it!"

"Do you not have wives?" She says. "Do you not have sons, who have learned of your skill and your craft?"

I shake my head. "Rarely I am home," I say. "To hunt for seven fox spirits, I must traverse further and farther than any hunter, and I come home empty-handed, for your kin require all that I can find." I close my eyes. "Amongst my people, I am considered a poor hunter. No woman wishes me for a husband. No boys desire to learn the trade from me: I live alone," I say. "In a hunter's camp. Always on the move, following the game."

"Oh." She says. "I…"

"There is nothing to apologize for." I say. I put the deer down. "The chieftan and shaman in my day knew, but their successors do not. It is for the best. Such is the price of peace."

"No. That's not it. Why… why did you give your life to me?" She asks. "All these years, I have treated you so coldly. But not once have you complained, or gone back on your word. Why?"

"Why..?" I chuckle. "What a strange question to ask."

"Please. Tell me. I want to know." She looks at me. She rests a hand on my shoulder. She is as beautiful as the day I met her. "I beg of you."

"Because it should be done." I reply. "Because it is the way of things. You… you have lost your appetite for human flesh, have you not? That is good. You and your kin have found a place in these lands. We are a land of many gods. Why not more?"

"I am not a god." She says. "I am a demon. I have eaten human hearts and livers, taken their forms for my own."

"There is no difference." I reply. "They are one and the same. They are distinguished only by their good and evil." I cough. "You - you have changed." I smile. "You are the protector of this land. You will protect it… long after I am gone…"

"But I cannot! I am not pure enough," she says, anguished. "I am tainted by the evil of my deeds. I do not know right from wrong. I need you!"

"Neither do I." I say. "One must… choose. And live with the consequences. That is all one can do, in this life." I…

"No. Do not leave me! Don't you dare!" She says. "I… I will hate you forever! Please," she says. "I cannot bear it." She says. "I will be your wife. I will have your children: if you would but stay alive, if that's what it takes to uphold our bargain. Don't leave." She says. "Please. I…" she can barely say it. "I love you."

"Oh?" I say, taken aback. "What… what a surprise."

And my memory ends there.

Mount Huaguo

In a distant land, far away from the worldly sphere,

A monkey spirit sleeps beneath a mountain.

It's very heavy, but he's gotten used to it.

He hasn't had unexpected guests for a thousand years.

Suddenly, he hears a thunderous noise.

"Ahh!" He cries. "Who is making all that racket?"

The monkey tries to cover his ears, but the sound is too loud. He cannot sleep.

He transforms from a pebble and flies up to the summit of the mountain.

A fox spirit is there, a sparkling jewel in one hand, a drum in the other.

"You owe me, Monkey King," she says.

"I have never met you before, or offended you," he says. "But if I did, then I still don't owe you anything."

"I have found you." She smiles. "If I can, then others will. Eventually." She pauses. "Unless…"

The threat is obvious. Neither insults the other by negotiating.

The monkey sighs. "I suppose," he grumbles. "That I may feel some slight obligation. Well, what do you want?"

"I have a name." She says, on a piece of paper. "I need you to do what you've done before. Go into Yama's records and wipe it out."

He takes a look at it. "It's not your name," he says. " How strange. What's going on?" His eyebrows waggle. An opportunity for mischief! "Mhm?"

"That's none of your damn business, monkey." She hisses, annoyed. "Now get to it."

None of my damn business… hah!

The Monkey King Breaks Into Hell, Again

"Damned fox woman!" He mumbles. "Interrupting my sleep."

The creature known as Sun Wukong smashes his way into the archives of King Yama.

How he accomplished this feat is better detailed in more illustrious works than this.

"Ever since the little travelogue of that monk has spread everywhere, everything thinks they know me!"

He finds the name, and smudges it out with his finger.

"Mount Huaguo is a tourist attraction now! Anyone with a little ability can climb it, it seems. She will come again, I know it, or some other do-gooder who wants a favor-"

He pauses, as he grins.

"She won't bother me again," he thinks. "If he's reborn in the West! Hah!"

The Monkey King grabs a nearby inkwell, and dabs his tail into the pot.

"Poor man! I see you were due for a birth in the heavens for living an upright life: but as an immortal, you will never recieve such a reward! What an unfortunate fate." He licks his lips. "Ah. Now. Here is a fantastic place, for you to be reborn..!"

Choices -Voting closed - 21 voters

VOTES

The lands of Daqin, on the other side of the world!

11/145

The land of Fars, home of the fire-worshipping demons!

6/7

The polite and well-mannered peoples of Fuyu, north of the islands.

6/73

The distant land of Xiyu, where the scriptures of the Buddha originated.

2/2

The lands of Qin, the Middle Kingdom!

1

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