Chapter Three

I stomped away from the pit, ready to tear my hair out.

“This is insane!” I said. “This can’t be real! How many people are going to get sucked into this sinkhole?”

“Reimus!” said Marisa. “We... you knows, have to go after thems.”

“I know we do! That’s the worst part! What if this shaft goes for a thousand feet and stops at bedrock? Suika could probably survive that drop, but we can’t.”

Marisa pointed to the stream, dumping its contents into the pit.

“Probably a pool down theres. Hopefullies, all just splasheds.”

“The water could drain into a cave system as fast as it falls. But still...” My voice trailed off. I stabbed a finger toward the stream. “Another one!”

Marisa spun around to look where I pointed. A girl approached by sliding along the water’s surface. She was youkai, judging by the aqua hair tied into pigtails, and no human in Gensokyo would wear a blue dress with that many pockets. Her boots didn’t touch the stream’s bed.

“Hey!” I yelled at her.

She looked up at my call. She hadn’t noticed me until that moment, instead focusing on a water-working spell to slow her movement down the stream. This disappeared when I broke her concentration.

“Oh!” she said. “Are you humans? Do you have any idea why I’m—”

She realized her mistake in dropping the spell and tried to reform it, but it was too little help. Her boots inched toward the edge.

“Well, never mind,” she said. “Looks like I’m going spelunking today. It was nice to meet you!”

She gave up, dropped over the edge, fell into the darkness alongside the waterfall.

“This is it, isn’t it?” I said to Marisa. “This is the end of the world, and we- what?”

Marisa was looking to the sky, and she cut me off by pointing upward.

“Looks!” she said. “Must be victims number fives.”

I looked up. It took my eyes a few seconds to find the shape of an airborne person falling toward us. She didn’t fall in a straight line with gravity, nor as fast as a rock dropped from a rooftop. A pair of black immaterial wings stood from her back, flapping hard to keep her aloft. She sank lower and lower, until her wooden sandals hovered a dozen feet above the pit’s opening. In one hand she held a five-pointed paper fan. She pointed this down at Marisa and me, like a king waving a scepter at his subjects.

“Human girls!” she yelled, her whole body tensed with effort. “Have you any notion what’s abducting us?”

I just stared at her, not sure what to do.

“Sorrys,” said Marisa. “Our friends got sucked in toos.”

The pit pulled harder on the flying woman. She let out an angry Grrrngh! as her wings strained.

“I can’t remain!” she said. “Human girls, I beg a favor of you. The tengu will come for me when they learn of this. Please, tell them to send the maple wolf.”

She let her wings go limp. She dropped, her hair and clothes flattened against the air. The pit took her from sight.

---

“As I was saying!” I turned to Marisa again. “This is the end of the world. This hole is going to suck up every person in Gensokyo, and take us last.”

“Not every persons. Everyone so fars been youkais. Besides, oni-girls went in firsts, then Alices then Patchys.” Marisa pointed off in the direction of the human village. “Humans over theres further away than Suikas was, but closer than Remi’s mansions. Should’ve seen normal-peoples pulled in by nows.”

“That’s true, I guess. But it can’t be all youkai either.” I held up a hand to Shanghai, who had been hovering nearby. “Alice’s familiar isn’t getting sucked in.”

“Inextractably,” said Shanghai. “Indeed, I have felt not a tug on my person, not to minimize the first, second or final layers of sorrow in my heart at having my mistress torn from us.”

“So it must be only certain youkai,” I said. “But why? And who’s next?”

The answer came in a flash of yellow and purple light, so bright that it dazed me even in broad daylight. Then came a noise like the blazing of ten bonfires. The light and sound came from just above the pit. Shanghai, Marisa and I all backed away.

“Forgive the sudden arrival!” yelled a familiar voice, magically augmented to be heard over the noise. “I wanted to speak to you before I’m pulled in as well. I think I’m the last one.”

“Yukari!” I tried to scream her name, but my voice was barely audible even to me.

She had gapped into the space just above the pit, and she was no better-dressed than Alice or Patchouli had been. She hovered there, held in place by an outpour of energy spraying from her hands and feet.

“This is an evil day!” she said. “Something stronger than me is forcing us underground. I don’t know what or why. At best I can delay it; even gaps only bring me closer.”

“You have to help us!” I yelled, looking away with my hands over my ears.

“Sorry Reimu, but I’m the one who needs help this time. Ran is on her way here now, coming to give you supplies. She can’t follow me herself. Please, come after us! If not for me, then for Suika and Alice. I hope I’ll see you again.”

The yellow-purple glare faded, as did the roaring noise. I blinked, shook my head once. Marisa and Shanghai also opened their eyes and ears. We all looked to where Yukari had been floating. She was gone.

---

“Let herselfs go downs,” said Marisa. “She said something about fox-girls?”

Before I could answer, we heard the thmp thmp thmp from far up the grassland. Tremors pounded through the earth, shaking our feet from below.

We looked to the source of the vibrations, out across the tall grass. An orange blur ran over the plains faster than a horse could gallop. It charged toward us.

“That must be her,” I said.

As the speeding body moved closer, I could see better detail. This was Yukari’s shikigami, Ran. Like the other victims today, she was missing her hat. Her kitsune ears stood freely atop her head. It spoke to the crisis that people were forced from their homes without getting fully dressed.

Ran’s eyes are better than mine, so she must have seen us first. When close enough that she needed to reduce speed, she spread out her tail plumage to catch air resistance. She leaned her feet back against the ground, so her heels cut two trails of exposed dirt. Shreds of grass, rocks and other debris flew up in a spray behind her.

She lost enough speed to hop into a jog. She ran up to us, carrying two satchels over her left shoulder.

“Did I miss her?” Ran snapped. “Was my mistress here?”

Marisa pointed into the pit. “Sorrys, she just fells.”

Ran let out a frustrated argh! She turned and kicked at the ground. I took a step back from her. She’s taller than me, heavier than me, and can smash a boulder into gravel with her bare fists. I didn’t want to be within grabbing distance while she was angry.

“This is madness!” said Ran. “What are we to do? Did Yukari ask you two pursue her?”

“Yes,” I said. “We have to go after her. Suika and Alice fell in first, along with Patchouli and two youkai we didn’t recognize.”

“Thinks it was kappas and crow tengus from off that ways.” Marisa pointed up the stream dumping its water into the pit.

“I see. My condolences.” Ran straightened her shoulders, took a breath, trying to calm herself. “That’s six youkai total, and a peculiar combination. What could this mean?”

“I’m sure you know more than we do,” I said. “You have the shikigami connection with Yukari, right? Can she tell you what’s happened to her?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Ran. “Our bond is empty now.”

My mouth fell open, and the inside of my chest went sour. Ran could read my expression.

“No, no,” she said. “Yukari isn’t dead, and I needn’t use the Rite to know that. Look!”

Ran pointed up to the mountain peaks, then circled her arm around. I saw what she meant: the crystalline wall that defined Gensokyo, reaching up to the sky from the snowy mountaintops.

“The Boundary still stands!” she said. “My mistress’s life and the Boundary are one and the same.”

“That’s a little comforts,” said Marisa. “Probably means others aren’t dead eithers. Hope they’re not getting tortureds by some devil lords.”

I didn’t want to think about our friends suffering, so I grabbed onto the tangent.

“But who?” I said. “We’re guessing that there’s a mastermind who dragged them underground. Who, how, and why?”

“I don’t know why or how,” said Ran. “I have a faint guess at who, but the assumption raises more questions than answers.”

“That’s better than no lead at all,” I said.

“Possibly not, but you might know my guess. You know where Suika came from, yes?”

I took in a sharp breath, put a hand over my mouth. “Are... are you talking about the oni King?”

Ran nodded. “It seems no coincidence that the outcast who stole state property might be called back home. Perhaps they devised a better punishment than banishment.”

“But why takes so many other peoples toos?” said Marisa.

“That’s one question.” Ran folded her arms into her sleeves. “The other youkai had nothing to do with Suika’s crime. Yukari let Suika dwell in Gensokyo after her banishment, but the oni should bear us no ill will for that.”

“Is the oni King really that powerful?” I said. “Powerful enough to drag Yukari out of her own country against her will? It looked like she was trying as hard as she could just to say hi to Marisa and me.”

“She was,” said Ran. “My mistress has not discharged that much energy since our battle with that deranged woman who contained Phoenix. Simply put, no, the oni King is not that powerful. He is Yukari’s equal in his own realm, but he can’t directly affect our lives up here.”

“Then we don’t know what we’re up against. It’s good you’re here, Ran. You can come down with us and.... Actually, wait. Yukari said you couldn’t follow her.”

“It’s true, I cannot. With how obsessed my mistress had been to exit Gensokyo, don’t you think she would have explored further underground?”

“I guess? Hasn’t she?”

“No, because the oni King forbids it. Their society fiercely rejects any incursion from Gensokyo’s youkai.”

“What are you saying?” I stabbed a finger at Ran’s chest, but I didn’t touch her. “You’re going to let some stupid political border keep you from saving your mistress?”

Ran grit her teeth and snarled at me. Her eyes flashed bright orange, the literal glow that shows from youkai eyes during strong emotion.

“Be silent, you little...!” Ran turned away, forced herself to take a few breaths. I gave her a moment to compose herself.

“Reimu, I know you mean well, but you must understand.” Ran looked at me again, patted a hand on her chest. “Within this body is a panicked, angry animal that wants nothing more than to dive headlong into danger, but rational minds must rule. The border between us and the oni is not just political. It’s a potent magical ward that has stood for centuries, allowing passage to youkai only when the King desires it. Watch.”

Ran stepped past me, toward the edge of the pit.

“Wait,” I said, “you don’t—”

With her back turned to us, she hopped in. Just after her ears dropped out of sight, the noise of a heavy impact echoed out from below. Ran had hit something on the way down.

“Come see!” she called to us.

Marisa, Shanghai and I moved up to the edge, looked down into the hole. Ran stood on empty air, glaring up at us. She had fallen no farther than thrice her own height.

“This is as impenetrable to me as the Boundary!” Ran stamped one foot down. Her foot smacked on nothing, as if she were standing on invisible granite.

“You can’t go down any farther?” I said. “How could the other youkai fall past that point?”

Ran snarled. “If I knew, we would have a better plan than to toss down the human girls and hope for the best!”

“Me and Reimus have magic-bodies from spring-splosion couple years agos,” said Marisa. “Wouldn’t borders stop us toos?”

“Thankfully no,” said Ran. “One moment.”

She took one step back, bent her knees, then jumped up out of the pit in one bound. She landed to Marisa’s side, which sent another shake through the ground, then Ran stood up straight and continued.

“Did Suika ever explain the greatest power of the Shubin?” she said. “She took you on a mind-romp last fall, Reimu.”

I shook my head. “Romp isn’t the right word. It wasn’t fun at all.”

“That’s the nature of oni magic,” said Ran. “The Shubin was intended to act as an immaterial weapon against humans, since the oni kept failing to beat human mages with raw muscle. The underground ward is that kind of spell, one that acts on spirit, not on flesh. It prevents the immaterial essence of any youkai from passing without the King’s consent. ”

“You’re saying Marisa and I can pass it,” I said. “Because we’re still spiritually human, on the inside.”

Ran nodded. “The ward was never designed to keep humans out. There’s no need, since getting you underground was their goal all along.”

“One other... kind-of human toos,” said Marisa. “Sakuyas. Not sure if she and Remis knows that Patchys got sucked in.”

“Yes, good thought,” said Ran. “After I help you two down, I’ll rush over to Scarlet’s mansion and see if Sakuya can go down to join you.”

“Help us down?” I said. “How?”

“This.” Ran reached into one of the satchels, and pulled out a coil of rope. “I can cinch you both into a harness-tie, and lower you down.”

“How do you know that rope is long enough?” I said.

“By our understanding of the geology here, it should be long enough to set you both on a stone floor near a cave system that will lead to the oni city, Jigoku. We can get a little deeper if I lower you while I stand on the barrier.”

Ran approached me, unfurled the rope and slung it over my shoulder.

“Try to make this not hurt,” I said.

“It will.” Ran looped the rope around my back and pulled it tight on my hip. “Cooperate with me to keep the discomfort at a minimum. Spread your feet.”

---

With one length of rope, Ran tied Marisa and I into a pair of makeshift harnesses. She tied around our thighs, around our torsos and shoulders, so that we could “sit” in the rope pulling up against our bottoms.

“This is going to chafe like mad,” I said.

“Don’t worry, Reimus.” Marisa winked and gave me a thumbs-up. “You got tied firsts, so look up at Marisa’s petite landscapes on the ways.”

I grimaced. “Please, no. My eyes will be glued straight down.”

“No time to banter, girls.” Ran shrugged off the two satchels and slung one each over Marisa’s and my shoulder.

“But by pleasant pleasings!” said Shanghai, reminding me that she hovered nearby. “If the dubious delirious demarcation below us permits not the passing of those of spirit either magical, mystical or mysterious such as youkai and their familiars, what is this doll to do alone in the wilds of Gensokyo?”

“I will look after you,” said Ran. “I have experience caring for younger youkai. Now, ramble as much as you wish, but you must be out of the way.”

Ran reached over and grabbed Shanghai out of the air, wrapping her hand around the doll in a firm but harmless grasp, then shoved her into a pocket in her robe. Shanghai’s head popped back out, shaking her hair free.

“My goodness, esteemed Lady Kitsune!” Shanghai bunched up the pocket’s hem in both hands, holding herself in place. “I ought to be safer, saner and sublimer here than even an infant marsupial in its mother’s protective, provocative, predilectious pouch.”

“Now, human girls, we’ll descend.”

Ran knelt down before Marisa and me, then lunged forward to shoulder us both in the stomach. It squeezed a hungk! noise out of me, and Marisa yelled out a surprised “Woahsies!” We would have fallen back, except that Ran had wrapped one arm each behind us. Then she stood, lifting us both off our feet and onto her shoulders.

“Careful!” I said, holding onto the bulk of her upper arm to keep from tipping off.

“Care is not our strategy. Hold on tight.” Ran hopped forward, carrying us all over the edge of the pit. Cool air whipped up past us, lifting my hair and clothes. Spray from the falling river nearby wet the right side of my face. Most of the daylight receded behind us.

Ran landed on the invisible floor again. Her knees buckled to keep the sudden stop from hurting us, but losing all momentum forced another grunt out of me, huungh! I took in a sharp breath, then let it out as I looked into the pit. I blinked, trying to make my eyes adjust to the darkness, but I could see no bottom. Just walls of rock leading down into darkness.

“I regret that I can’t come with you.” Ran hefted me off her shoulder, yanking me into an upright sit, and began lowering me below her own feet. “The best I can do is give a piece of advice. You both have magical foci useful for self-defense. Don’t be shy about using them. Shoot both first and later.”

“No worries, fox-girls,” said Marisa. “That’s usually how do busine-whoop!”

Marisa let out that noise as Ran flung Marisa off her shoulder and began lowering her. I was already a few feet below them both. Ran slackened the rope, hand-over-hand, dropping us further and further down.

“Take the best of all manners of care over both yourselves!” called Shanghai down to us, face poking up from Ran’s pocket. “Please save my mistress!”

“And mine,” said Ran, somber.

---

We descended. The cool air of the pit enveloped us. Drops from the river-fall soaked us like a gentle rain.

“Marisa!” I looked up. “I can’t see much. Hatlight?”

“Righty, Reimus.” With a small push of will, she conjured a dull-white glowing point above the front brim of her hat. This lit our surroundings just like a sparklamp.

“Thanks,” I said, “but that didn’t help much.”

All we could see was the rock walls moving up around us, dropping into darkness below. Some few ribbon-shaped lodes of plain crystal stood out from the gray and brown rock. River-fall drops caught bits of the light, creating colorful sparkles.

“I still can’t see the bottom,” I said. “Do you think Ran’s rope can let us down much far-urk!”

My voice caught in my throat. My stomach tied into a knot, then spun around and tried to drop out of me. I held onto the rope with white knuckles, tried to yell Marisa’s name.

“MariHUK,” is how it came out. I couldn’t say more without choking.

“ReiACHK!” Marisa made her own noise above me, halfway between a gasp and a retch. I struggled to catch my breathe and calm my guts, but that was a doomed effort. The rope holding us up went limp.

We fell. Losing all feeling of weight shocked me into panic. My limbs flailed in all directions. My hair whipped around in the wind, covering my face and eyes. I spat out a short, sharp scream.

When the impact hit the back of my head and shoulders, I was certain I had smashed into bedrock and was about to see the far shores of the Sanzu. But my whole body sank in, surrounding me with freezing cold. I couldn’t breathe.