Yuuo's story

The Ancient Traveler sank to his knees in desperation. Either he was dealing with the insane or with one whose development was so stunted, no attempt at reason would ever bare any fruit.  A child of five trapped in the body of a callow young man. A young man devoid of panache, showmanship or even a visual flourish to mark him out from common farmers, fishermen or stallholders. The young man stood before him in the abandoned room, straw coloured sunbeams of early spring infiltrating the decrepit tiles of the lodge that was their temporary home.

Yuuo displayed the half smile of one mixing frustration and familiarity. His brow wrinkled in slight contrition. A fawn uneasily shifting his barely substantial weight from leg to leg. Half contemplating an exit through the rotten doorway. He was well versed in this argument.

“Perhaps these gods you speak of exist on a higher plane of reality, insulated from my contact. I do not for one moment seek to disabuse you of your belief. Absence of evidence is in no way evidence of absence.”

“My beliefs have nothing to do with it. It is the belief of those who pay for your daily food that you must be more mindful of. Simply to abandon tried and tested methods during your apprenticeship is not only disrespectful to myself and others of our trade, but also the long rooted beliefs of this race. Put simply you must learn to walk before you can run.”

The anger in the old man’s voice was barely contained.

“Cast your mind back, traveler. Remember a time when you were my age and you held certain principles. Honesty came before necessity. Certainty in your ability drove you to improvement and you sought something.

My ability…”

The Ancient Traveler pounded his fist on the table

“Your ability doesn’t exist!”

The Ancient Traveler knelt stock still, avoiding eye contact. His silence persuaded Yuuo of nothing but the fear in his master’s heart. The approaching mystery of the abyss that would certainly engulf this ancient one soon had asked him a question. The only question he’d never been able to answer.

The old man’s breathing steadied as he waited for Yuuo’s apology.

“Since we have recommenced our relationship on a more honest, forthright footing. I feel it timely to educate you, Master, on further details of my somewhat unfortunate gift.”

The Ancient Traveler got to his feet. Head bowed wearily he picked up the few possessions he had brought with him in once magnificent furoshiki. Their relationship was at an end.

“Kokuta blames you for his death, old man.”

The Traveler paused. Posture only slightly hunched with age. His back almost completely turned on Yuuo.

“Forty years wandering the streets of Edo unable to communicate with anyone but those of my gift. Like a boulder tumbling ever onward down towards the sea. The years have lent themselves well to understanding the mystery of his death. It must have been you who betrayed him to the monster.”

The Ancient Traveler paused, then replied softly.

“I have no idea who you have been talking to or what tales you have heard. Kokuta was nothing to do with me and the only monster responsible for his death was sake.”

Yuuo now felt the old man’s fear more intensely

“I think perhaps the secrets you held together were stories not for public consumption. I sense that no-one could have spied on your conversation on Mount Kanno.”

The Ancient Traveler glanced back for a moment at Yuuo and slowly made his way to the side of the room. Leaning both hands on the sole chest that adorned this once thriving household he sighed and began his story.

“Times were simpler back then. Few had anytime to…”

There his story ended.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yuuo knelt in the forest washing the blood from his hands, sensing the spiritual remains of the once-great fortune teller buzzing round the lodgings they had called home for a few short days. The vibration felt though his skin and into his spirit eased as the brook cleansed him of the still warm blood. Far from the eyes of the few passing travelers and traders on the path below, Yuuo busied himself with lunch.

The venison, young and tender, was surely more of a meal than Yuuo could have hoped to expect. The olds man’s portion was especially welcome.  Pausing for a moment, Yuuo pulled his bell and corrugated lantern from inside his yukata. A candle was lit from the dying embers of the cooking fire and he rested.

The child with a man’s voice roused him as normal. Were it not for his voice, Yuuo wouldn’t have been able to tell the sex of this curious creature. Loose robes of another time and strangely aged skin marked this creature as not a person. The lack of any sense of malevolence, not a monster either.

“Yuuo. You’ve taken another step on your journey. Was it in the correct direction?”

“I’ll tell you when I’ve reached my destination.”

The Boy Man sat beside Yuuo. His head turned, fixing his gaze on the young man’s narrow, watery eyes.

“A place that one merely arrives at is not a destination. You’ve always been so clever with words, I would have thought that you would have become more clever in your deeds by your age.”

“This species is doomed if those like he are allowed to tighten the blindfold on humanity.” 

Replied the young man. 

“It’s a well known fact among those of my profession that the weak and cowardly turn to the weak, cowardly and clever for guidance. It sickens me to think of how they wear their feebleness as a badge of honour. Those that serve themselves in trying to distract the populace from the darkness that lurks among them are almost monsters themselves. No-one will mourn the passing of one of his kind.”

“I’m glad you can persuade yourself of the righteousness of your action. Please remember, you need never convince me. You still haven’t answered my question. A step in the right direction?”

“You are kind to me, spirit. I feel that I cannot answer your question though. Perhaps you would permit me to respond with a question of my own?”

“One answer from two questions is better than no answer from one.”

Yuuo concentrated as he did when he was first starting to master his gift. Forming the words from his thoughts as one would form small charms from clay.

“How does one best choose his destination?”

“Perhaps for the time being it would be better for the destination to choose you. It seems like you have already decide where not go.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yuuo gathered the rest of his things from inside the rotten building, aware that he was being watched. This was, however, not the familiar feeling of jealous spirits longing for the senses now lost to them, but a thousand eyes. Turning to face the shoji, Yuuo took another step on his journey
...
From the horrors that lurk inside the imagination of Ian Wilson