The spider's web house

 The old house stood in a small clearing within the bamboo forest. The second largest bamboo forest in all of Shin-Rin and, of course, the largest in all of Yatai.

Small wooden houses with thatched roofs, like this one, dotted the great forest, from its edges to its most secret depths. The forest was truly vast, occupying about a quarter of the entire island of Shizumi, and was considered sacred and protected by the venerable God Old Bamboo, whom legends said was the brother of the Goddess Yaezakura no Mikoto, the mother of the islands and protector of the Empire.

Old Bamboo was a venerable God, very ancient, Hisame reflected as he entered the clearing. "Wise and benevolent," he thought, "who has the well-being of the forest and its inhabitants at heart." Even from a distance, thanks to his skills as an exorcist, he could sense the benevolent influence the God exerted over the entire forest. A gentle hand that protected from the impurities of evil and chaos.

Just before taking the final step, however, she stopped. Silent and thoughtful, she sniffed the air. There was a sweet, unpleasant odor, and a shiver ran down her spine to her tail. An evil presence hovered in the air, somehow managing to infiltrate Old Bamboo's protection.

She could feel it hovering, impalpable but determined. She murmured a prayer to the Goddess Yaezakura no Mikoto and to Hishu, Anro no Nushi, the lord of the Invisible Path, the man who had opened the Invisible Path to others thanks to the Eternal Light. Then she recited a mantra to ensure protection against evil spirits. The force of the presence seemed to retreat slightly, like a snail that had touched salt, but then it returned to surround her with the same grip as before.

Hisame did not move. The evil force had resisted her mantra and even seemed capable of reacting. The tanuki girl was shocked, but didn't show it. "It must be a truly powerful presence," she thought, not without a hint of annoyance. She really wanted this to be resolved soon; she wanted to return to the temple. She had been traveling for more than five days and was tired. And besides, Arashin would be returning to the temple from a trip he'd made to the east. She would have liked to be back at the temple in time to see him arrive and welcome him under the tori gate. She shook her head. "This is no time for distraction."

She slipped a hand into the sleeve of her robe to make sure all the tools of her trade were in place. Everything was in order. The bamboo bottle, the paper fuda, the shikigami, and, above all, her most precious treasure, were all in their places. "Good. Here we are," and with a step she entered the clearing.

Small jizo covered in moss and earth lay scattered about. The clearing must have once been cultivated, but now, in the shade of the bamboo, only weeds and moss grew, covering the jizo and the stones of a sort of platform on which stood the remains of a small stone house.

The strong, sweetish smell came from there.

Hisame sniffed the air again. "It really does smell like rotten meat," she noted.

She carefully climbed the platform, but stopped to study the jizo. The small statues represented Shotenin, men or women who, while alive, had helped mortals follow the teachings of the Venerable Anro. They were the illuminators of the heavens, and their small statues helped travelers find their way on earth. Hisame noted, with disappointment, that some of the small illuminators had been intentionally uprooted, and those that held candle holders, perhaps to help guide the way at night, had been broken.

She paused for a moment at the door. The smell of death was very strong, but contrary to his first impression, it wasn't rotting flesh. Rather, it was the smell of dried meat left to molder.

She peered around a doorframe. Cocoons of thick, whitish fabric hung, dangling slightly from the ceiling. In one corner, a few small piles of bones and parched skin lay abandoned. He counted the cocoons; there were at least five people. He held back a sob. "The family who lived here," she thought. Three small cocoons, one very small, were probably children. The larger ones were their parents. "What an evil creature," Hisame muttered. "It not only ate animals, but also went so far as to feed on humans."

He started to enter. But she stopped himself. A gust of wind stirred the bamboo canes. A rustling of leaves spread throughout the clearing, and a glimmer of light flickered over the house. A very thin thread of spiderweb appeared before Hisame's eyes, so thin that he hadn't noticed it at first glance.

He took a small paper shikigami from his pocket inside his kimono sleeve and let it land on the web. As it landed, it split in two. The web was as thin as it was sharp. "Thank you, Old Bamboo," the young prioestess murmured in prayer, "If you hadn't sent the wind, I would have lost my head."

There was a strong gust of air, and then a bang. A bamboo swayed against the wind, as if something had used it as a support. There was a flash, and another bang. One of her fuda exploded into incandescent sparks of ash.

"An attack from a yokai!" Hisame's eyes widened and her tail curled indignantly. She hadn't noticed anything. "Arashin will scold me if I tell him. He always tells me to be careful.” Luckily, she hadn’t hurt herself; the fuda had done its job admirably.

She reached into her kimono pocket and pulled out a new rice paper doll with a small piece of red cloth tied around its neck. “My little shikigami,” she whispered, “look for the brute who attacked me.”

The little paper sprite nodded and then soared into the air, dancing among the tall bamboo like a dragonfly. As the shikigami explored the forest, with a decisive yet elegant gesture, Hifume threw some fuda onto the nearest bamboo canes, creating a protective zone.

For safety’s sake, she released two more shikigami and let them dance in the air, carried by the wind that blew through the reeds of the clearing.

The priestess waited, praying to the god Old Bamboo, “O Old God of the Forest of Bamboo, protect the people who inhabit it, do not let hostile spirits tread your paths,” she stopped at a snap. One of the small shikigami exploded into the air in a shower of confetti.

“Oh no!” Hisame exclaimed, “poor thing!” But as it was destroyed, it revealed the figure of an eight-legged creature leaping from one bamboo stalk to another.

“I saw you,” she exulted.

“Evil creature, who dares move in the Sacred Forest!” she chanted, “I will exorcise you!”

Two fuda shot upward from her pocket. They reached the monster and when they hit it, they exploded, along with the bamboo, releasing a cascade of sparks and wood fragments. The arachnid fell to the ground with a dull thud. Dead.

“Two fuda with spirit explosions are enough to eliminate it,” Hisame said to himself. “Obviously, it’s not the one who created those cocoons,” she squinted, searching the forest for any signs of other evil creatures. He saw nothing, except countless bamboo groves and a few small trees growing in their shade. The Shikigami, however, had not returned. “This is not a good sign,” she clasped her hands together and continued, “Oh Kodomo, gentle spirits of the forest. You who obey the Old Bamboo, find who dares desecrate this sacred forest. Show me so I can punish him.” In answer to the young tanuki’s prayer, small lights rose from the roots of the trees, first a few, then more and more. They danced in the air, now forming circles, now spirals. “Bravo, Kodama,” she said, “look for our adversary.”

The dance of the Kodama, the spirits of the forest, lasted half an hour. Then slowly they returned to their reeds and trees.

For a very long moment, which seemed never-ending, nothing happened. Finally, some branches moved and a woman emerged. She had long white hair that fell to the side, and an elegant white kimono decorated with red leaves. She didn’t look at all disoriented, even though she had emerged from the thick of the forest. She advanced with light steps, elegantly holding a parasol the same color as her kimono, also decorated with red decorations reminiscent of bamboo leaves.

“Oh Great Gods of the Forest,” she began in a gentle tone, “incredible. Not only did you avoid the spiderweb trap, priestess, but you also killed one of my young.” There was no trace of resentment in her voice, but rather… Boredom? Disdain?

“Truly, there are few who can notice one of my lineage, and even fewer who possess enough power to eliminate him.” With small steps, she closed half the distance between them.

“However,” she added, “although I am impressed, I cannot allow the offense inflicted on one of my youngs to go unpunished.”

In the darkness of the thick bamboo forest, small red, arachnid-like eyes began to appear. Small groups that gradually grew in number, more and more, until every dark corner sparkled with red dots.

The woman closed her umbrella and, pointing to Hisame, ordered, “My youngs, devour her!”

They were a huge number, but Hisame did not lose his composure. “Shikigami! Come back to me!”

Called by their master's voice, the paper shikigami launched their attack, transforming now into hawks, now into eagles. Some grabbed the spiders with their claws, or attacked with their beaks, tearing at the spiders' armor. The arachnids fell by the dozens, but some, more skilled, or simply stronger, managed every now and then to take down a shikigami and tear it to pieces. First one, then another, then another, approached the priestess.

Hisame didn't retreat. “I will not allow you step on the floor of this house again. You are despicable beings and deserve to be hunted.” She took a handful of fuda with the kanji Destruction written on them from her right kimono pocket and threw the first wave of monsters at them. When the paper talisman came into contact with them, it exploded in a sea of ​​sparks and vortices of energy. “This is the power of the prayer of the Invisible Path, creatures of darkness.” The young miko noticed, with her gaze, some larger spiders rising from her right. She turned, so quickly that Arashin would have envied her, had he been there, and without stopping to cover the door, she recited a mantra of the Eternal Light, and a wall of light formed between her and the attackers. But the numbers were becoming unmanageable. They were so many. They were definitely too many.

As she fought back the creatures, a thought dawned on her. In reality, this nagging idea had taken root in her mind ever since she had received the news of the abandoned house in the woods.

The holy islands of the heart were under the protection of the Divine Highness Yaezakura. Here, no demon, no yōkai, could set foot without being affected. Only small spiritual entities, born from the chaos and sins of the people, could survive hidden in isolated or, conversely, very crowded places, hoping the priests of the Haeda temple wouldn't notice them.

However, the woman before her, if she truly was a spider spirit, judging by the number of children she had, must have been very powerful. "It's not possible that the temple didn't notice her presence." Not only that, "Her power doesn't seem to be affected by the benevolent presence of the Divine Yaezakura."

Hisame pushed the thought aside; she'd think about it later. She placed a hand on the ground. "Now you've tired me out. Old bamboo, I'm sorry to call upon your benevolent presence again, but I need your kodomo to fight for me!

As she finished speaking, the small lights that had attracted the spider woman rose again, this time in even greater numbers. As they danced in the air around the spiders swarming on all sides, so did the bamboo canes, crushing and piercing, snapping and breaking.

The spiders began to slow their advance, only to stop altogether at a nod from the white-clad woman.

"I'm impressed," she declared. "I didn't think you had all this power." The expression of boredom and disdain on her face had changed to something not too dissimilar from admiration.

"I'd like to apologize," she continued. "The compliments I paid you at the beginning weren't sincere. I truly believed my children would crush you without further ado, but you made me change my mind,” she smiled coldly. “I must admit, there are few who have forced me to fight.”

Before the tanuki could reply, the woman moved very quickly, and brandishing her umbrella like a club, she was on her.

An explosion, as soon as the club touched one of the fuda, separated them.

“Great Yaezakura! She is incredibly strong and fast!” Hisame found herself on his knees.

The woman, however, had covered the lower half of her face with a long sleeve of her kimono. “Oh, how rude,” she continued. “I didn't introduce myself. My name is Lady Kagirin.” Unfortunately for you, this will be the last name you'll ever hear." She laughed gracefully, but to Hisame it sounded like jaws grinding against each other. An annoying, ugly noise.

"Why did you kill these people?" the priestess asked instead.

Kagirin was about to launch another attack, but at the last moment, surprised, she stopped. "Why, why, to feed myself and my children." She chuckled again. "This foolish farmer's two sons were so young and full of energy! They'd probably never seen a woman other than one of their sisters or their mother. Naive. But I must admit, they were kind to me. Their flesh was sweet!"

Hisame took a fuda from his pocket; she didn't have many weapons left. "The gods have given us the chance to live in peace with humans. The foxes have accepted. Even the Oni have understood that one cannot live by killing and stealing the lives of those who are weaker.”

Kagirin hissed and then attacked again. She was stunned when Hisame dodged the first attacks, but she quickly recovered with a lunge that forced the miko to move from her position protecting the front door. “Damn you,” she shouted at the spider spirit. “Take it!” and threw her fuda at her.

The spider spirit parried by opening her umbrella, which seemed very resistant, and counterattacked, but this time it was a mantra of protection. Sparks flew in every direction.

“Your tricks, silly Tanuki, are useless on me,” her face transformed into a monstrous mask of eyes and fangs that resembled like those of a spider, “I have the lives of all these people inside me. My power is enormous!” Even her voice had transformed into a swarming of countless insects. “Now die! Die!” and she spat a jet of acid. The Mantra protected her from the main jet, but some drops reached her shoulder. It burned terribly and was excruciatingly painful.

It was a sign that the protection spell was wearing off.

“You haven't defeated me yet, monster!” Hisame reacted. “You are nothing but a monstrosity defiling the land of cherry trees. There is no compassion in you.”

“Strong words for a bakemono,” the spider woman hissed. “Not all of us have forgotten what it means to be spirits, to be yōkai! Humans are weak, yet they feel like the masters of the world. They destroy and kill other creatures, and you have become like them. I will show you the power of a true spirit, half-breed.”

There was truth in the spider woman’s words. A long time ago, there had been a war between humans and yōkai. Hisame wasn’t sure why the conflict had occurred; it had to do with a succession of power between two human clans, but in short, the spirits had split. Some had gone to live with humans, conforming and adapting to human civilization. Others had retreated even further into the forests or gone to live with the herds of animals they were closest to. She, like her father, her grandfather, and who knows who before her, was a half-yōkai, a bakemono. It was true that they had lost touch with their most ancient spiritual side, but...

"Your power, spider-woman," Hisame scolded, "is an evil power. I will no longer be able to transform like the wild tanuki, but I am guided by the Divine Yaezakura. And you? You killed a family. Why? They had violated your clearing? Couldn't you have them worship you? They would have revered you as a forest spirit, and instead you chose to kill them!"

"Enough!" howled the spider-woman. She shot up, latching onto a very tall bamboo twig, and then launched herself downward, holding her umbrella like a spear. "My children!" she ordered the spiders, "attack too! Let's sweep this deadly scum from our forest!"

The spiders, still a considerable number, launched themselves to attack the young priestess, marching in battle formation like a phalanx.

Hisame was undaunted; to avoid the spider-woman, he darted aside. The blow of the umbrella tore her skirt. "If I hadn't moved, it would have torn me in half!" But behind her, the mass of spiders was imposing and swarming.

The Tanuki girl reached into her kimono and pulled out a bamboo flask, uncorked it, and hurled it at the tide of spiders. "Now!" and she also hurled a Fuda, which exploded along with the flask in a cascade of splinters and drops of water. The spiders retreated, burning every time they were touched by a drop or a sliver of bamboo. Dozens of them blazed with blue flames, the sacred magic of the exorcist monks.

Terrified, the rest of the swarm retreated, heedless of their mother's orders.

"I give you one last chance," said Hisame. "What you saw at work is the sacred water of the Haeda spring, which flows beneath the hill where the Divine Yaezakura descended from the sky. Leave this forest and never return!"

The spider spirit hissed in rage. Its gentle features distorted. Six more eyes opened on its forehead and cheeks, while from its back, shiny and clean, almost freshly lacquered, emerged four black spider legs. "Look what you made me do!" Kirigin howled. "You forced me to assume my true form!" With a wave of her hand, she gathered her children around her, who clattered noisily, forming a line of chelicerae and red eyes behind the spider woman. "The time of humans in this bamboo forest is over," she continued. "This is my kingdom!"

Hisame sighed. “I was really hoping we could talk. Kirigin, your reign will end before it even begins!” The priestess reached into her kimono pocket and this time pulled out a small wooden and bronze bell, elegant but without unnecessary ornamentation. As soon as the spider spirit saw it, she hissed angrily. The spiritual energy emanating from the small object was undoubtedly divine energy.

Hisame moved confidently toward the spider spirit. “Kirigin, this is your last chance to surrender and become a guardian spirit!”

“So,” Kirigin retorted, “you kept your most powerful weapon for the end, eh?”

The young priestess nodded. “Spirits and humans can live together. We Bekamono are proof of that. Arashin is proof that even Oni can coexist.” She took a step forward, and the spiders immediately retreated. It didn't take great spiritual power to understand that the bell radiated an overwhelming divine energy.

The Spider-woman gnashed her theet, “You will die here and now!” and leaped to attack.

“Little Kodama!” Hisame pleaded. “In the name of the god Old Bamboo, I ask you for one last effort!”

The bamboo tree spirits responded to his call by gathering the pieces of the Shikigami and forming a protective shield around the girl. Despite the protection of the forest spirits and the blessed fragments of the paper dolls, Hisame was thrown away, and one of Kirigin’s spider legs managed to wound her face. There was no more waiting. It was now clear that this spirit had devoted itself to evil and was on the path to becoming a demon, if it wasn’t already one.

“O August Goddess of the Double-Corolla Cherry Tree,” he prayed, “with this bell, crafted with the labor and toil of your faithful, who fashioned the bronze, let the stone you graciously gave me ring out!” With a decisive gesture, Hisame rang the bell. The small cherry seed inside clattered against the polished, thin walls of pure bronze, producing a delicate, elegant tinkle that reverberated throughout the clearing.

Bending in a mystical wind, the bamboo trees swayed ferociously, rustling in a triumphant chant that accompanied the tinkling of the bell.

The spiders closest to Hisame were simply obliterated, reduced to smithereens by the goddess's purifying power. Kirigin was also struck by the sound wave and hurled against a nearby group of rocks.

"You dare do this to me!" she roared. "You stupid furball! I'll show you the power of a disembodied spirit!" All semblance of a woman vanished, and Kigirin transformed into a huge, milky-white spider. Her eight blood-red eyes locked on the young tanuki, and she launched herself into the attack again.

Just as Arashin had once taught her, an irritated enemy is a predictable enemy, and gracefully, almost dancing, Hisame avoided the blows of the monstrous spider's sharp legs.

"I'm sorry, Kigirin," Hisame warned her, "but now we must conclude. The forest does not tolerate your evil presence. If you do not repent, you will be exorcised!" Hisame rang the bell again. He shook it three times. Three silvery trills rang through the air. Each one was sharper and purer than the last.

Kirigin tried to resist the first by attacking the priestess again, but the tanuki skillfully dodged the blows, protected also by the dance of the kodama. The second trill made the spider spirit's front legs explode, and she howled in pain. And finally, the third ring sounded clear and crystalline. A drop of pure water in a clear and clean spring. As if in a pond, the waves of healing and purifying power of the goddess Yaezakura spread all around, sweeping away the small spiders still clinging to the bamboo canes or crawling before their demonic mother. Kirigin herself was thrown against the canes, which snapped and wounded her in multiple places. A thick, milky ichor oozed from her wounds, and the powerful spider demon could no longer maintain her monstrous form.

“You…,” she hissed angrily, “you killed my little ones… I… I… you…” Kirigin burst into tears.

“I’m sorry,” Hisame retorted, “I warned you not to attack me and to repent. The venerable Anrō and the Divine Yaezakura would have forgiven you.”

“I don’t know what to do with your Gods’ forgiveness…you have invaded our forests and destroyed our nests. You are invaders, and there is no forgiveness for you!” Tears streamed down her face, pouring down.

Hisame sighed. “Very well,” his tone had become icy, but his voice was cracking. “If you don’t want forgiveness, you won’t have it. But my compassion, I hope, will guide you on the path to the Light at the end of the Invisible Path.” Hisame pulled a fuda from his kimono sleeve and placed it on Kirigin’s forehead, who hissed with rage and hatred. “O Eternal Light that illuminates the Invisible Path,” the priestess began to chant. “Drive away what lurks in the shadows. In the name of the Master of the Hidden Path, I command you. Lost soul, break away from the darkness and return to the endless Light!”

The spider spirit's gaze remained unchanged; even through her tears and wounds, she wore the same expression of arrogance and contempt she had when Hisame first met her. As soon as the exorcism formula was completed, the fuda burned to ashes, and Kirigin with it. Peace immediately returned to the forest. The kodama emerged from the bamboo groves once again and began to dance freely among the reeds. In the distance, Old Bamboo's voice resounded louder, enveloping the forest in a blanket of benevolent protection.

"There is no longer any evil presence," Hisame stated, "and yet it is incredible that a power like Kirigin's managed to pass intact and hide in this forest. Isn't that right, little ones?" she asked, rhetorically questioning the little forest spirits.

Her ears pounded as she detected a sound among the reeds. She turned sharply in the direction she'd heard it from. All she saw were a few bamboo canes swaying as if something had leaned on them for momentum. "Hmm," she mused, "the little spiders have disappeared with their mother." But despite her squinting, she saw nothing. "I've run out of shikigami against Kirigin, and I have nothing to search the area with... Better leave the woods and report to the temple."

She cast a final glance at the pile of ashes that had been the spider spirit Kirigin. "He didn't deserve to die," she told herself. "No creature deserves to have its light extinguished. But neither should it have extinguished the inhabitants of this house." As she left the woods, she muttered a prayer for all the lives that had been lost among the bamboo canes.