The man who held up the world 👻

[Ram]

“Let’s not think about that and focus on the tunnel situation,” the priestess dismissed the thought of staring at death. The shadow lurking in the darkness watching them. She continued to put the thought aside in an effort to keep to the task. Luckily the foreman retained that measure of responsibility despite the fears. Together, in both surprise by the door slamming shut so heavily, she jumped in time with him and searched about. Nothing but the door. She asked about it but apparently the door was on normal behavior for how heavy it heaved on its hinges. A small eased breath that she couldn’t sense anything either. Having limited electrical knowledge and experience of messing with a panel of switches, she mostly kept watch around the small work space and counted her charms once again. “Is the support pillar far in to check on? Or was this the matter of checking each one for structural damage?” Let alone if they can be settled back into place but the man’s insight.

——-
Elsewhere, the lone talisman that was tossed aside by the miko earlier drifted into the night. Following a wavering path of ill energies in search of the vagabond Orochi that pestered its master’s mind. It would hover near him once found. Light text rising up from the paper drawing out the message left by the miko.

‘Inside the shadows.
Going ahead.
Don’t be late.’

Whether he understood the short words written in discretion or that he couldn’t read the basic kanji, the talisman attempted to return back to where the miko was inside the tunnel once the message was delivered.

—-
Emergency lights flickered on which meant their venture will continue despite the ambiance. Mika set her talismans in check and went to try the door first. It was difficult to heft the weight of it so the foreman offered to move it. When Mika released the handle and backed up for the foreman to take her place in the small room, the door handle began to rattle strangely. A dense aura behind the door raised her attention. The miko raised an arm and tried to pull the foreman back from the entry way. “Back away from there!” She ordered.

[mermalaide]

“Is the support pillar far in to check on? Or was this the matter of checking each one for structural damage?”

He was so pale and sweaty in the light, it took a second for him to focus. If he focused on Mika and not the malicious shadows, maybe he could stay upright and not pass out. It was an ugly situation at best. "There are five pillars, but the damaged one is easier to get to, as it is a bit in the middle, it's the last support should the others go." He took a  deep breath and searched his pockets. There were a few mints in there, and the crispness brought him back a little. He offered her the mint tin. The taste cut the heaviness, and his shivered.

"We have a little bit of debris to climb over to get to it, so we should try to move slowly. I will climb up first when we get there, to make sure you are safe to climb. We shouldn't need anything but the footing might be slippery."

They made the move to the door and he listened again, holding his breath for a moment before trying the door again. There was nothing out there , right? He kept calm and reached for the door. "Alright, let's get going. " He had his light again in the other hand and was ready to use it to bash, though, against a ghost? That seemed improbable. But so did ghosts. He had the talisman that Mika had given him in his pocket.


“Back away from there!”

Her words were quick and he moved back before he thought about it. In fact, he fell backward when she had said it. There was something pressed against the door. It was heavy and dark, just as she saw it. Through the door it looked at her, it's dark eyes rolling in it's head to look at her. The foreman was trying to get up from the fall, but stay crouched. He held his breath. He waited for her say so.

The thing beyond the door waited for a little, then decided to lumber away, realizing that the two of them wouldn't move. And, if they did, Mika would likely give it hell. The door stopped being as heavy as it was. "Is it still there?" His voice cracked a little.

[Ram]

Encountering the moving veil of darkness wasn’t the sort of shape Mika or the foreman had in mind. He stood there and looked at them as none dared to move. Mika was only a chant away to bring a barrier forward but instead, it lurched away when it seemingly had them cornered in the electrical room. What was… that about? Mika helped the man up and stepped out first to see where that creature may have gone or what was it even doing? Its eerie presence lurking in search of something or probably making a sweep of the tunnels under the glow of the emergency lights.

Thinking that it may just have been patrolling and not out right hunting them, she looked to the foreman and asked for his guidance once more. “We’re nearly there, yes? Let’s get more of the inspection done.” The miko tried to note where that creature had gone then double checked with the foreman’s mental fortitude for another spirit to jump them away. She grabbed the door and dug her heels to get it open for their path to continue.

[mermalaide]

"Th-Thank you." He was a little ashamed as she helped him up. He should have been more helpful, and while he originally dismissed this stuff, he found himself more of a believer. That was frightening. Was it leading them or attacking? He couldn't tell and felt a bit of confusion as the thing retreated from her. It seemed to be going ahead of them into the dark. The flicker of lights, coupled with eerie shadows made it easy to disappear ahead.

"Yea-yes we are. Watch your step, it's easy to slip without boots." He restated this, partly so she knew again, but also as something to calm himself down. You could hear the sound of decay and crumbling around them. It was in the soft crunch of gravel beneath their feet. After climbing over an awkward bit of debris, they seemed to get close to some abandoned equipment and what looked like a good sized support pillar. It was darker where they were but in the low light there appeared to be a huge chunk in one of the pillar sides. It was near the middle, and the hole's size was a little bigger than a saucer's diameter wide.

Something that looked like tar in thickness was trickling from the hole.

[Ram]

At least there was something in their progress. A pillar in the dim light after that strange figure came and went. Odd how it didn't attack them despite having every opportunity to. Mika crossed her arms into her robes in thought while following the foreman. Her sandals crunched in tandem with his workboots on the gravel and over debris that came from parts of the tunnel. Attention focused on the pillar though as she came near it. The hole was larger than she imaged it to be from the cracks, or rather, smaller than appearing destroyed from one side. Overall it still stood despite the area around her but something was flowing out of it. Slower and thicker than water with an amount of dripping to have some fluidity. Ooze? Slime? Mud? Mika wasn't certain and covered her nose cautiously with sampling with her glove. "Oil?" Mika wondered based on the color alone. It was hard to peer into the hole without a better light source. For now she opted to place a talisman on it as a marker for what they have checked thus far. "What are these filled with sir? A form of slurry to maintain stability? It's holding up well for the moment."

[gman]

"Damn Miko running off. Wonder what she is doing in there." Eiji asked himself as he was perched into a tree near the entrance of the tunnel. After the last time she left and didn't come back but with people and Yokai. If this was gonna end up the same way Eiji'd rather just take care of it here and not near his camp. He thought he did a good job following her up here even with his aura, but she went into that tunnel and still had not come out. Maybe she was doing some ritual or something. Well he wanted to see it. So he hopped down out of the tree and broke into a run. He should be quick about catching up to her if he wanted see what she was up too. If not she could finish without him seeing anything. That or its another Gaki giving her trouble. If that was the case then surely see had some of that magic tucked away in that robe of hers. Mika would be able to feel him running on up on her heels.
Maybe after this he could get her to cook again.

[mermalaide]

"Well, I thought it was cement, but that doesn't look like cement. Not even decayed cement." Something made his eyes go wide, it looked like oil or black blood. It stank god-awful too, and Kami willing, it made him think of decomposition. He tried not to throw up getting a whiff of that. "I-I don't know if I would touch that even with gloves miss!" When she placed the talisman, something vibrated hard in the pillar. It was a pulsing that seemed isolated to it.

There was the sound of echoing foot steps approaching down the tunnel to where you could hear it coming from every direction. The sound startled the foreman and he was sliding a little. He had to jump backward and away from Mika to not fall backwards onto her. He fell on his but in the debris. There was a howling gurgle and some of the oily, viscous fluid came pouring out of the pillar. It sounded like someone drowning and choking. The tunnel's light flickered.

Eyes and a skull seemed visible from the hole as more fluid pushed out of the widening hole. Whatever it was, it was furious. The foreman felt a feeling of foreboding and something unsetting, coming fast from behind him. In front of him was the tiny priestess and what looked like an oil covered mummy thing trying to emerge from the crumbling pillar.

[Ram]

She asked her questions toward the foreman, but his panic could be heard coupled with the loud noises. Mika's senses felt tugged in two directions from where they once came and the pillar before it. It began to howl and gurgle in deeply concerning ways with the lights flickering above. Rather than deal with the approaching sensations, Mika delt with what was before her and pressed her hand on the talisman. Whatever creature or being that was in the pillar attempted to come out so her instinctive reflex was to restrain it and have it stay put in its place. At least to stay there and get a better look about it. Why on earth was there a body in here? Not only that, if there was one body here then, surely, there can't be more. Mika glared at the oily and dark fluids pouring out as she tried to create a concentrated barrier around this one pillar alone. Coming up with a plan to deal with the whole tunnel system will take a bit of trickery to it though part of her resources might get spread too thinly. Then there was a matter of that other creature roaming in the dark. "I wonder if they're able to speak at all," the miko wondered as her nose felt like curling inwards at the gruesome smell. "Any rumors are welcomed to shed some light on this if the dead here can't speak for us. In the meantime, I'll see able reducing the negative energies here from this pillar. If something arrives behind us, please let me know."