Goza Shirahama Beach, Japan
The power of Ame-No-Mi-Kumari-- Shinto water goddess.
I sighed in contentment alone in the large bed. Jad had gone to spend time with his ailing grandmother and I had the house to myself. I lay there with my eyes closed, just listening to the sea. The sounds of the breakers rolling repeatedly upon the shore I could hear within my mind and before long, I was holding tight to the coattails of my dreams.
Suddenly, I was soaring high over the coastline, the sea a glittering splendor below illuminated by the morning sunlight. I was far from my homeland. The sensation of flight was exhilarating. I felt like a bird, a firebird to be exact, my aura, a halo of flame, my hair flying out behind me as I glided upon the surreal winds of night.
With a mere thought, I swooped in towards the coastline. As the strip of golden sand came into view, I heard it again, the voice.
‘Rei, daughter of fire, awaken!’
The refrained rebounding off the cliffs and the turquoise waters, the clouds and within. I shuddered, knowing the voice, unable to put a name to it, but all the same warming to its soothing tones. I was in awe of it and a little frightened.
‘What do you want with me?’ I answered back.
‘It is time, your time, and daughter of the flames, claim your mantle!’
I shot bolt upright in bed. My hands gripping the sheets, grateful I wasn’t sweating, as was the usual thing that happened when I woke from a disturbing dream. But it felt so real.
I got up out of bed, my body feeling the weight of sleep pulling me down. I felt like I was thawed out in the microwave. Shit I was a case. I looked at the bedside clock. 4:48 AM.
Unable to go back to sleep, I reflected on the dream. It was beautiful, exhilarating yet, something about the girl’s voice had struck an oddly familiar chord. I then realized where I had heard it before. The Fire Room back at the Sakura Jinja, and during the battle with that thing. Kamis only knew what it was, a Youma.
Whatever, whoever the voice of my dream was, she wasn’t of this world. Strange as it sounds, I was beginning to think, neither was I.
I pulled off my nightdress and put on my swimsuit. I was going to go down to the beach and lose myself in the foamy crests and let the water wash over my toes, my feet and eventually cleanse my body and I would watch as the sea water retreated back into the ocean taking with it my cares and anxieties. How I loved the sensation, it always made me giggle like a girl.
I enjoyed these moments where I could be like a child again. I felt the tears pricking the corners of my eyes as memories of my grandmother and my mother in the temple returned. I must have been only six years of age. Oh, to go back to those days and with the knowledge I had now. I would have convinced mother and grandmother to leave Tokyo. We could have lived far away from the pain, the loneliness and the Shachihoko. How I loved to revisit this waking fantasy.
Sighing, I went into the kitchen, poured some chilled orange juice into the glass tumbler, and sat on the stool watching the stars through the large panoramic windows.
I was half done drinking my juice when the air stilled the sound of the waves growing louder and her voice rang throughout the room.
“Rei, it is your time, awaken and take your place as priestess of the great fire!” she said, the sound all around me. "Hino Rei, Mistress of Fire…, hear me!"
I spun around, “Who are you… more to the point, where are you?” I knew this was a stupid question. Finishing my juice, I ran to the sink, filled the glass with water, setting it on the granite bench before running out of the house.
Only the sound of my bare feet upon the cool smooth stone veranda met my ears as I bounded down the steps towards the beach. Why I ran? I was scared. But I was also driven by a need so great I dared not ignore it.
Finally, I stood on the edge of the ocean staring out at the darkened sky, a pinprick of light announcing the immanent dawn.
After diving into the waves, I sat cross-legged upon the soft sand, my chest rising and falling as the air cut into my lungs. Aware of the dry sensation in my throat, but I soon forgot all that as I continued to gaze upon the dark waters before me flecked with splinters of light and began to meditate.
I looked up and the sky was beginning its metamorphosis into another unscripted day, the layers of thin cloud bursting into a grayish magenta as the sun began to light the seas and then I gasped. Before my eyes I saw a crystal city, carved it seemed from pure sapphire, it was so breathtaking and pretty, glittering and radiant. The slim roman columns, of which there were thousands, running the length and breadth of this architectural marvel. I gasped as I observed that the foundations were floating upon the waves. The superstructure extending from the water’s edge, at twenty miles out to sea, give or take. The buildings ornately sculpted: the dolphins, the crystalline crests, the spires, the gardens, these too fashioned from crystal, the figures moving about in the town square, shone like beacons, attired in shifts, togas and gowns, all living gemstone.
"What is all this!" I said, both spellbound and strangely disturbed and angry. But how could something so beautiful be possibly real -- why me? I wasn't anything special. Just a whore, a dancer, singer only steps beyond my shattered youth and woman before my time, why me of all people. Despite the supernatural encounter in the shrine, I was just like, well almost, like anyone else my age.
I was tearing myself to shreds with my razor sharp exercise in self-recrimination. The onslaught like a deluge pounding upon my being like an icy blizzard as the storm raged on within.
I noticed then her hand, raised in benediction, the image so lovely. She was reaching out, as if to pluck the Morning Star from the sky before it was swept away by the dawn maiden as the people, hundreds of them, sang the most gorgeous, yet unearthly refrain. I felt in that moment as if I were truly blessed by the Kamis. Yes me, the daughter of a gangster whom considered himself a demigod. But there I was, on the beach, subject to a visitation by the Kamis themselves, in awe of the sight before me.
Can anybody tell me why? Tell me please, why I, the outsider, the loner, could feel my childhood reasserting itself, that innocence crashing down upon the shores of my tortured soul.
I could see her more clearly now, for the sun was penetrating her semi-transparent body. The woman who appeared amongst the ranks of the citizens of sapphire, an azure gem lady of exquisite beauty, her hair coiled in a high coronet, her ponytail of living crystal-blue, catching the sunlight. She was a statuesque enigma, truly resplendent. I was spellbound. She commanded the elements at her disposal with practiced grace and skill.
She opened her eyes. These shone with the strangest electric blue light, not a blinding light, but possessive of the quality of strength and gentility of a kami-sama. She stood majestic, her robes, liquid cerulean blue. Her shoulders bare, her pendant on a silver chain the only thing not made of the precious gemstone resting against the smooth skin of her sapphire chest as she smiled at me.
Children of shimmering perfection knelt before her, kissing her hands. She spoke and the sky was consumed with the lyric tones of this Goddess incarnate.
“Awaken, Hino Rei, Daughter of Mars!”
I found myself standing before her, crying. She touched my cheek, the cool texture of her crystal hand warm and yet, it pulsed with organic tenderness as a fire burst within my chest and I was aflame, literally, my body covered in a magenta fire. It roared like a freight train, or tornado, scaring the living daylights out of me.
At first, terrified, I wanted to scream. But then, she smiled and I relaxed. I wasn’t in pain; I wasn’t being consumed by the fire. I was the fire. She nodded.
Her body smooth as crystal, as were her robes, she kissed my cheek and held me out at arms length to look at me.
“Yes Rei, you were my teacher and keeper of the fire, Lady Mars and I the keeper of the sacred waters of the Kamis, Lady Mercury. Remember it all, Rei!”
I lay on the sand, whimpering and shuddering. I wept, my eyes filling with tears. I cried, for myself, for mother, and yes, even for the fucking bastard that was my father, I wept, too.
I was a mess, my nose clogged up and my eyes wet with crying. I was releasing all the pent up pain of my life and perhaps more besides. I then felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder and looked up to see a girl with dark blue hair, sitting beside me in a white bikini with a kind smile looking at me. She was seated cross-legged. She wore silver-rimmed glasses. The sight so incongruent I giggled. She was gorgeous, her body golden and well proportioned and the glasses looked oddly out of place, yet suited this girl. She blinked and pursed her lips, about to speak. Between the cleft of her breasts was the pendent I had seen Mercury wearing. This was Mercury. But not the sapphire Goddess I had seen in my vision.
She leaned forward and stroked my cheek, “I know this is all so frightening for you Rei, if you don’t mind me addressing you by your birth name.”
“But how, I mean, how do you know about me and were you helping me in the Fire Room last week?” I asked, as her hand gripped mine. I sniffed and coughed. She had a handkerchief in her hand and offered it to me.
“Thank you, Mercury?”
“Actually, my name is Mizuno Ami. I am like you. Just an average girl and living my mortal existence unaware of my powers and identity, that was until Aino Minako, who you will meet in due course. We are all sisters in one circlet of celestial magic, Senshi of the Moon Realm.”
“Slow down, this is all too much to take in, Ami. I need to do a lot of adjustment here. But answer me this, what makes you think I have all these powers? I was lucky at the shrine. I don’t even know how I did all that. I thought it was your doing. I hadn’t for one moment suspected that I was doing all that magical stuff?” I said, looking at the other woman, seeking understanding.
Ami opened her palm and as if from nowhere she held a firestone orb, much like the one between her breasts. She smiled and I lowered my head and she undid the clasp and slipped it around my neck. I straightened and looked at her expectantly. ”Okay, now what, Ami?” I said, now curious as to what would happen next.
“Extend your hand.”
“My hand?” I said, feeling silly.
“Yes. Trust me Rei. Now, concentrate as you had when you were a little girl.”
“You know about that?” I said, incredulous.
“We make it our business to learn everything we can about our kindred Senshi, now please, focus.”
I did as I was told and soon the flame faery appeared and in a fluid motion, she bowed to me and then spun around and repeated the gesture to Ami before the pretty elemental girl turned back to face me, her wings beating a rhythmic pace. I giggled. Then realized it was the very first time ever I had done this outside the Fire Room at the Sakura Jinja and gasped in awe.
”Lady Rei, or should I say, Lady Mars. She speaks the truth. I am your guardian, or one of them, anyway,” the faery declared and my jaw dropped, I remembered her.
“Now watch” Ami said, as she too extended her palm. Then the water faery appeared and waved to my fire faery and both elementals began to dance and sing. “You see Rei, we are all sisters of the Moon, and as daughters of the Moon -- the name of our magic circlet by the way is Ginzuishou -- we are united to fight the darkness and vanquish it wherever it shows itself. Also, we have a second responsibility. After you’ve met all your sisters, we must seek out and awaken the Moon Monarch, a Celestial Princess and the Shitennou; lastly we must seek out Endymion, the prince of Terra or Earth.”
My firestone talisman began to pulse with an orange glow, the veil fell away, and I could remember it all. Everything of my previous embodiments.
“Mercury, I do know you, but it was long ago when we were princesses in that place known by the peoples of the old world as Atlantari,” I said as she smiled and cradled me in her arms to soothe me. Things had shifted significantly in my life. I hadn’t thought that possible.
My singing and dancing career, the new freedoms it afforded me and now the supernatural legacy as Lady Mars, a being known as a Senshi, or female warrior and I was also a Celestial Witch. I had in that moment recalled a boundless repository of magical knowledge: spells incantations and possessed the ability to shape shift into a being of fire. I had evolved into something else, yet I was still me. I know, it is weird, just imagine how it feels to be me right now. Uber-weird I can tell you.
I knew our enemy, or at least one of several nemeses we had to defeat. The first, Metalia, then Wiseman and Mistress Zirconia, amongst others. Metalia, I had sensed her presence around Nehelenia, and now had a name to pin on the negative power surrounding that bitch. The others, I had vague impressions. Nehelenia, I knew was a most cruel woman with unbridled ambition. I hated her. What my stupid father saw in that bitch, I couldn’t say exactly. Perhaps, on reflection it was her dark Gothic looks, the clothing, the low-cut tops and bodices of mostly black or red gowns and the swirling skirts, or those extremely short skirts and tight-fitting shorts, not to mention the tumble of dark curls that fell about that witch’s broad hips. Father was a legman, and admired mother in such garb. Typical middle-aged man that he was. Nehelenia was pretty, but had an ugly soul and a lust for power matching her hedonistic cravings.
“That little snake. That bitch. She is one of them!” I said, outraged and pounding the sand with my fist.
Ami took my wrist and squeezed. “Don’t worry, she will be dealt with, but right now you must meditate and get some rest. Come on, let’s go back to the house and get some breakfast shall we?”
“Sure, that sounds great, especially after all this supernatural stuff!” I chuckled as she jumped to her feet and extended a hand, which I took, and I was pulled to my feet and we were on our way.
The fog hung over Tokyo like a shroud. I felt the warmth of the early morning enveloping me as I stood at the open doorway of my apartment breathing in the heady fragrance of flowers and smiled to myself. I sat on my large red cushion and chanted to Amaterasu, as her solar sphere grew ever closer to another day, another peaceful weekend. Ami and I would meet for lunch, she would help Ojii-san, and I clear the Sakura Jinja of the negative forces that had contaminated its tranquility.
I was still getting used to all this, these amazing new gifts. Wow! My life was changing so fast. I was a Senshi. I could go for that. All these thoughts were racing through my head as my firestone orb felt warm as it vibrated gently between my breasts. I looked out onto the city skyline, and knew I was going to meet another of these girls soon. I could feel her, a woman of power and grace with a heart the size of Tokyo itself. I smiled at the thought of all these new people in my life.
Jad was not going to believe all this, especially as he was going to have to get used to it as he was part of the bigger picture and it would fall to me to bring him up to speed concerning his Shitennou nature.
I sighed, sipped my coffee and prepared for another day of rehearsals. Reika and Motoki would be here soon and I couldn’t wait to tell them what was going on with me. Boy, I hope they can handle all this.
