Enter the Cowardly Bard, Kinzo Shigochiyo final part

Several years ago...

It had been two years since Kishi was struck by the cruel demon slave drivers. Kinzo had been sneaking off to find doctors, present food and water to his little girl, pray at the clan's abandoned temple, and practice his biwa skills all throughout that time and largely throughout the dead of night. None of the doctors could figure out what happened to Kishi, so they declared her condition dumbness. That demon struck something in her brain and made her slow to respond to others. She spoke with a slur and a child's voice despite growing into her pre-pubescent years. She stopped flopping onto his stomach with full force and cheerfulness like before. Instead, she smiled softly at him and hovered over him like a haunting phantom. Every now and then, she'd wake him out of sleep with those red and black eyes just staring at him. She would smile and stroke his cheek like she recognized him and often said his nickname, but she simply wasn't the same. She would stand in corners, chanting motionlessly, until he approached her to speak or warn her of the slave drivers approaching them. Ever so creepily, she would reanimate and snap her head to him. It was an unsettling two years for Kinzo and the rest of his clan.

After the patron goddess of the onmyoji clan, Maboroshi no kohime, had spoken to him through his beloved sister, he had undergone her training in the dungeons. He tried to drown out so many memories of his people in complete anguish. Their screams, the lashings, the moaning, the songs of lament. He struggled to erase it all. On this night, however, he wanted to compose a single song about the times he shared with his family before he was separated from his parents. So, he played his biwa of the happiest time he knew. His mother was making soup for him and his baby sister while his father baked bread. They called Kinzo and Kishi away from the last patch of grass and flowers out in the fields. Once a year, the slave drivers would release the onmyoji clan to visit pastures connected to the fire rat colony. Kinzo and Kishi happened to spot a fire rat passing by and were given a colorful ball to play with. They played a game together until it was time for dinner. Their parents kissed each other and opened their arms for the two siblings to huddle in their warm embrace. Once Kinzo came of age, he was harshly separated from his parents. Kishi followed him to the child's labor camp, refusing to return to her parents until Kinzo came home. He wasn't allowed to go home, so she stayed with him prematurely and proved to be quite the worker as long as Kinzo monitored her.

One of the other children had told him a rumor. His mother and father were mated at roughly sixteen. Unlike most matings, which often hurt the woman or brought the man to tears, they neither cried nor felt pain. Their moans were genuine as they were sounds of affection - the first couple to restore the lovers' song after a century of cruelty. Kinzo's parents already had feelings for each other, so they imagined the other touching them. Kinzo's father was very gentle, and his mother was fairly eager and loving. They both prayed for this one small mercy from the gods and received their blessing. When the demons removed the bag from his mother's eyes and the muzzle from his father's mouth, they were confused by the tears of joy being shed in front of them. Without the demons having to force them into it, his parents voluntarily became one. That small mercy birthed him and Kishi. Though their union was forced, the slave drivers watched Kinzo and Kishi's family very closely. Without realizing it, Kinzo played a song that captured everything he felt.

"Who gave you this biwa, boy?" the blue-skinned demon roared, startling Kinzo out of his song.

"Ah! I found it!" Kinzo yelped out of fear after having been snatched into the air.

"Where did you find it, little shit?" the demon demanded.

"At the altar where we pray, my lord!" Kinzo replied quickly.

With that, the demon threw Kinzo down and sat in front of him. He folded his arms then demanded almost softly, "Play another song. That one's too melancholic."

"Y-y-yes, my lord!" Kinzo replied.

Kinzo bowed low, scrambling to his biwa, and played something else. He, at first, couldn't think of anything out of nervousness. Being watched by a 12-ft tall giant didn't make performing any easier, so he thought about songs that would please a hard-nosed demon. He never really knew the slave drivers' names or their accomplishments or even their journeys. They've always been the keepers of the garnet mines. So, he thought carefully and plucked the strings with some thought. An idea then came to him. He played a song he remembered the fire rats singing. It was a song about drinking sake and traveling out on sea voyages. The jovial tune sparked the demon's interest, so he appointed Kinzo to biwa hoshi and made him perform nightly. His labor was less intensive because of his musical talents, and he became the envy of many in his clan. Children he befriended easily in his youth found it unfair that he got to learn a skill other than shoveling mud or breaking rocks, so they ostracized him and became crueler to him. He ate alone, fetched his own water, and eventually lived in a separate home away from his parents for good. The demon slave drivers felt he was too talented to be weighed down by lowly workers. He was allowed to keep Kishi at his side since she was essentially useless without him.

One wintry night, he went to the altar to pray but no words came out. Instead, he punched at the floor and demanded, "Goddess! What did we do to be punished like this? Explain this to me! Why am I being trained to play songs for those demons? What sin did we commit to be abandoned like this!? Why did you let them hurt my sister? She was a child! Are you so cruel that you'd sacrifice a child? Are you? You're not worth following if that's the kind of 'good spirit' you want to be!"

"Onmyoji..." the patron goddess whispered.

Kinzo gasped and looked up. His eyes widened and heart just about stopped at the sight before him. A woman with royal purple hair, red and black eyes like his sister, and a beautiful dress stood before him in tears. Aside from the crown of bones and fangs on her head and curled ram's horns coming out of her temples, she was a gorgeous sight to behold. She had so many tears falling on the floor. Tears that turned into rosy pearls, pearls worth several houses to the right tradesman.

"Who... who are you?" Kinzo asked, taking a gulp out of fear. "Another slave driver?"

"Oh, my onmyoji! I am your clan's patron goddess, Maboroshi no kohime. Please forgive me!" she pleaded, dropping to the ground to bow low to Kinzo. "I'm so sorry I left you alone! The evil youkai I locked away in the Rainbow Garnet Megaliths turned into those giants and hurt my precious servants! I am so sorry, young Kinzo! I am so sorry I left you alone!"

"Goddess, you can't stay here! Those demons will know you're here and try to hurt you!" Kinzo tried, reaching a hand out to her. A burst of wind and fire formed a wall around the goddess and startled him. A mortal cannot touch a deity.

"My young Kinzo, fear not. I have chosen to bless you with my power of the raging storms to trap and to kill those horrid monsters! That's why I trained you to become a biwa hoshi. Those giants love certain music. The sounds of your songs please them and make them sleepy. Should any of the strings on your enchanted biwa break, my power is yours," Maboroshi explained, stroking the outline of Kinzo's jaw. "I am so sorry, my young onmyoji."

"Why did you leave us, goddess? I don't understand," Kinzo said.

"War has been waged among the gods. Father Izanagi has called upon his strongest forces to stop a great threat to our holy and noble court. I was among the number of soldiers enlisted into his royal army along with other patron gods like me who have watched over humans with a perfect balance of love and justice for decades or centuries. Some have even watched over you for thousands more years! Our adversary has been casting out her enemies from the heavens and forcing them to live on mortal soil or in the depths of hell where we are weakest. Father Izanagi had to destroy the Web of Divine Might, a connection that links all holy warriors together to stop our adversary from either killing you or sending you to an unrecoverable fate. Clans who have deities like me watching over them are bound together by this particular union. A holy warrior much like you is being targeted by our adversary. I fear she will perish if her patron doesn't return to her clan's side soon. Oh, my onmyoji, I never meant to leave you alone for so long with those monsters! You won't have much longer to suffer, my onmyoji. One of the holy warriors favored by Father Izanagi himself and watched over by a patron god of his choosing has returned to the living world. His enemy is our enemy. For five years, my onmyoji, you must wait and you must train. This other warrior will be with you in your fight," Maboroshi explained.

"What about Kishi? Will this warrior help my sister?" Kinzo asked.

"I will test him. He must be able to escape your illusions within the dungeon. If he can find this horrid slave camp beyond the lake and our temple, then he is the one who will heal my young oracle, Kishi," Maboroshi promised. "I will make sure of it! Do not believe I do not love you, my onmyoji. I chose you because your heart is pure. You love so strongly and so deeply. Your sister loves you so much. I needed someone who loves you unconditionally to speak to you when I cannot maintain this mortal form. Do not forget your parents, my onmyoji. They were equally as capable of being my messengers as Kishi was. That is how our bond works. Through love and justice. We are guardian spirits! We walk the earth together in plain sight and always find the true way to our destination! Take my pearls from the floor, onmyoji, and wear them as prayer beads. My protection is your biwa. Your song is your strength."