#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch
Nameless Shrine (Airisu POV) Post 17
#Wss366 Idol referenced #MastoPrompt Venerable #TimeTravelAuthors #Whatever Early Edo Period
Sumika had barely taken three steps through the thick fog engulfing us when a gong rang, its tones muted by the vapors. Startled by the sound, I watched the fog part to reveal a new scene.
A serviceable path lay before us, with the weeds trimmed back. It sloped down the hill, leading to a woodland shrine surrounded by dazzling ginkgo trees, vibrant in their fall glory. Next to each tree stood a tall, #venerable monk holding a gong. Their skin was as bright and golden as the leaves of the trees next to them.
Around the shrine, the energy was calmer, no longer indigo but violet, shot with indigo bursts. The sense of malevolence had departed, yet the shrine didn’t feel friendly. Instead, it was watchful, wary.
The shrine itself was sparse. A clear spring bubbled from the earth. Suspended from the ginkgos were a bell and wooden prayer plaques. A small offertory box sat before a weathered stone Buddha. A few offerings lay scattered at its feet: wilted flowers, rice on broad leaves, and burnt incense.
One of the golden-skinned monks lifted the lid of the shrine chest. Inside rested an Edo-period kabuto.
Violet light washed across its lacquered plates and bled outward into the grove.
My years of study were not wasted. The helmet was no mere relic. It was a mitamashiro—a spirit-vessel—binding a dead samurai to this place.
This was not a shrine of gratitude. It was a shrine of appeasement.
#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy
