The Power in power play

The pressure of Mukoku's powers stopped abruptly and the subsequent tension that followed was similar to when a person's mind suddenly goes blank.

There'd be a suspicion that something was wrong and a lack of information to really do anything about it.

It was the same here. 

The Aura flaringly ceased projecting a wave of a subduing force, Mukoku caught the five Lilims off guard with that act.

They didn't attack, two even took cautious steps back. They were apprehensive, Ran noticed.

He did not fault them. Could not fault them. If he was in their shoes he'd be apprehensive too. 

Why did she suddenly cut off her oppressive aura? What was she planning? These were the thoughts that would plague him if he was any of them and he had no doubt that they're having similar thoughts.

He was having similar thoughts himself.

The standoff continued and became a glaring match between Mukoku and her fellow Lilims.

When Ran started to wonder if they were going to remain there all day in a standoff, getting tired of not advancing on his journey to save his father, the Lilims, finally, acted.

It was not what he was expecting. As one, all of them, the five gigantic, horned demons, knelt before them in supplication.

Ran opened his mouth and exchanged a look of utter surprise with Haru who was in as much shock as he was.

Ran's thoughts were trying to figure out this puzzle: what was going on here? Were they weak demons who had chosen to submit instead of fight after witnessing the might of Mukoku? 

Was this a cultural or social thing in hell; the person with the most powerful aura would receive the supplication and submission of those lesser than them?

He didn't really know what to think, so his mind forced him to assume that it was a trap. It must be, had to be—there was no other reason for these Lilims to choose to submit, not after the punishment and embarrassment they faced from Mukoku.

The surprise, apparently, was not going to end at the Lilims' unconditional surrender.

If that surprise was monumental, he didn't know what to call what happened next.

The whispering winds of hell brought the wispy voices of tortured souls upon their hearing.

Ran was the only one who shivered, Soran Haru merely twitched, and Mukoku along with the Lilims did nothing.

And then… the Lilims spoke as one. "Mistress, your serfs hail you once again, welcome back."

Mukoku relaxed herself, her beautiful demonic face forming a twisted smile, her gaze focused down on her servile supplicants. "How long," she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. "How long was I gone?"

"The Blazes burned four times in your absence, Mistress," they said, in a chilling collective voice.

A questioning look from Ran and Soran Haru made the acolyte move closer to him.

Lowering his voice to that of a whisper, his tone mystified, Soran Haru breathed an answer to Ran's unvoiced question.

"The Blazes of Naraku burn once in five years, the fires of hell are seasonal. The only reason why we weren't charred immediately we set our feet upon these infernal grounds," Soran Haru explained, leaving Ran mystified.

Once in five years, Ran thought unable to comprehend the mystery. 

But that meant… His thoughts paused, his heart quickened, and his mouth went dry as the full meaning came to him as a second surprise.

Once in five years, and by the words of the Lilims the Blazes burned four times. 

That meant twenty years passed for the few minutes Mokoku had engaged them in conversation at the Monastery before she brought them to hell.

How was that even possible?

Panic settled in him. How long could his father have been gone? If a few minutes equaled twenty years then what was Naraku's equivalent of two days?

What could even have happened to his father in all this time?

Soran Haru, met his eyes and the acolyte was able to determine what it was that bothered Ran.

He grimaced but spoke with a steadfast voice. "Time is disjointed in Naraku, it has no flow, it has no depth. A minute here could mean fifty years in Kurana, the real world, just as a few minutes in Kurana means that twenty years have gone by here in Naraku," Soran Haru spoke, affirming Ran's fears.

Ran gasped, still taken off guard even though he'd been suspicious of the fact he'd just been told.

He didn't have any friends he'd miss, he'd had to give up on most things to take care of his sick father.

But he had people who he'd miss, people who might die before he could return to Kurana with his father—and there was still the question of what may have happened to his father in all the years he must have spent on Naraku by now. 

Would he ever see his family again, Ran wondered, his heart filled with despair, his soul echoing with the grief of the whispering air.

His father's sister, Aunt Esera, who he hadn't told her brother was dead before he left for Naraku. And there was her daughter Nika Kigana.

Would he ever see them again? Matter of fact, would he ever see anything again? 

Would the world be gone by the time he'd have returned? Would the future have come and gone? Would everything leave him behind?

He was determined on this journey to save his father, his will was resolute. He had dedicated his entire being to doing this.

Still, the ramifications were starting to pile up. They were starting to weigh on his heart. 

He'd given up anything, even his time, his future, and his life, but as the journey progressed, as he learned more about what he's actually going to be giving up—he was starting to realize the full weight of their importance and meaning.

By the celestial realms, if he'd been less determined on this path, this would have marked the moment of his first faltering.

Well, he will not falter. He will not fail. He will see this to the end.

The heavens willing, Naraku unwilling, fate against, in spite of the great influences of the universe,

He shall return to Kurana with his father.