Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond the Looking Glass ❯ Teaser 4: Ritual ( Chapter 5 )

Beyond the Looking Glass

 

Teaser 4: Ritual

 

 

Excerpts from the journal of Professor G_____, found by officer Takanawa at the Matsuei Mansion on October 13, 2003:

 

 

October 4, 2003

 

 

For many years, there have been legends and rumors of the rituals that the masters of the Matsuei family have performed. However, when we asked around the village, people either pledged ignorance on the topic or simply ignored us. There was fear on the face of every person we asked. What could possibly be so scary about something that happened over a hundred years ago? If it happened at all? People refused to speak to us after we asked that question, everyone except for one woman. We could tell that she was in need of money, sitting on a street corner with her four young children, peddling some handmade pottery. After giving her 5,000 yen from my own pocket money, she was more than willing to talk to us. J rolled his eyes at my charity, muttering under his breath about my softness for women and children. I didn't correct him because it was true. I don't have a family of my own and the sight of her hungry children struck me in the heart. Perhaps that is why the idea that the mirror ghost is a child is so painful to me?

The woman was fairly old and the children were in fact her grandchildren and her daughter and son in law had died a few years ago. Without a job, it was difficult for her to take care of the children, but she was trying. As a child, her own grandmother had told her one of the stories of their village. The whole thing sounded so fantastical that even I was skeptical to its validity. J told me later that he believed that the woman was senile, but I have no doubt that she believed it to be the truth. Apparently, many, many years ago, there was a sacred ritual to appease something that she referred to as `The Darkness.' According to her, the Darkness was the greatest evil in the world. It was evil, fear, and death. The Darkness can consume a person and become like a parasite, feeding off the negative emotions of everyone it comes in contact with and killing every living thing. The ritual had been started after the death of the Shinto priests of so long ago by the Matsuei family master. The woman said that her grandmother thought that the priests had found a gateway to the Darkness, but had been unsuccessful in sealing it off, which had resulted in the death of everyone in the village. Rituals have been a part of the culture of Japan for a very long time, but the nature of this so-called `Mirror Ritual' freezes my blood and I know that my friends feel the same. J appeared even shakier after hearing the following story.

 

*****

 

Every eleven years, in 98 concurrent days, 66 people must be brought in front of the Sacred Mirror and killed. On the 99th day, a Shrine Maiden that has been raised specifically for this purpose, must shatter the mirror and use it to cut up her body, then be strangled by their mother or father or other member of the family. In death, the Shrine Maiden will take the Darkness inside of her body as both the Darkness and the Shrine Maiden will be contained within the shards of mirror. The parent or other member of the family will put the shards back together and the Shrine Maiden's spirit will seal the mirror, which is the gate to the world of Darkness, keeping it from entering our world for another eleven years. The Shrine Maiden will live in the Darkness, with the power of all of the Shrine Maidens before her, for the rest of existence, keeping the Darkness from pouring out of the mirror. The woman also told us that if the ritual is broken, the Darkness can fracture the Shrine Maiden's soul. This can also happen if the Shrine Maiden's soul is in turmoil with itself. J could barely contain his laughter at the story, but both he and O look disturbed.

 

*****

 

Tonight I lie in my sleeping bag, staring at the mirror in the room, and think of that legend. I have heard of many cruel things in my life, but to think that a man would raise a child like it was cattle, just for the mere purpose of killing her… it is such a horrible thing… Superstition truly is the root of fear and, dare I say it, evil. I wonder where they got the 66 other sacrifices… the death regards are concurrent with the legend and I don't doubt that the ritual existed at one point, but I do not believe in any such `Darkness', only the evil that comes from the hearts of men. Perhaps the spirit in the mirror is one of the unfortunate souls that was kidnapped and killed or… could it be a young girl that had been a part of this mansion's family? I cannot imagine the sort of terrible mentality that would create such a ritual. What was it that the Shinto priests found anyway? It was probably the same old age old fear of mirrors.

I continue to watch the mirror, hoping I will see our mystery visitor when I feel a strange touch on my shoulder. I tell O to mind his space when I heard it.

 

 

“I'm waiting.”

 

 

End Teaser 4