Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 17

The Abyss as Seen Through a Child's Mind

In the Abyss, strength ruled above all else. This one rule manifested in different ways. In some layers, war raged endlessly and ultimately pointlessly. In other places, strength manifested as magical force, and even a demon with less physical might could find its self in a position of power. Here, in the Screaming Jungle, it manifested as the law of the wild. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed.

The Beast brought its axe down on the last remaining member of the small village. The blade cut cleanly through the victims flesh, cutting him in half. As the victim died, the Beast took a look around the village. All about the village lay corpses, in varying states of intactness. There were no survivors in sight. The massacre, while gruesome, wasn't even a minor event in the Abyss, where violence far greater than this happened on a regular occurrence.

The Beast moved over to a corpse that was mostly still in one piece. It sat down and picked up the body in its massive clawed hands, tore off a limb and began to eat.

"It's not enough, is it?" Said a voice.

Swiftly the Beast turned and swung its axe. A figure leaped out of the way, flipped over the monster and landed on the other side.

Immediately the Beast swung its axe again, only for the stranger to dodge out of the way. She laughed, and leaped onto the roof of a building.

Now that there was some distance between the two of them, the Beast could focus on her. She looked like an attractive teenage girl. She had long black hair which was done in two pigtails, and had deep violet eyes. She wore a black corset and too-short skirt, along with thigh high boots. Around her neck was a spiked collar. Trailing out from beneath the skirt was a long black tail ending in a pointed tip, and on the top of her head were two horns (although one of them had been broken). The Beast noted with interest that the being's left hand was missing.

The Beast finally reached out with its senses, attempting to gauge its opponent's relative strength. When it did so, it fell back, recognizing this being as a demon lord. For the first time in ages, the Beast felt fear. Had the residents of this village been the property of that demon lord?

As if reading its mind, the demon lord smiled. "Don't worry; I don't give a damn for the lives of the mortals in this village. What interests me is you."

"Me?" "Ussss?" The Beast asked.

"Of course. You've been wandering around this jungle, hunting prey and massacring the occasional village, but what fun is it? None of these present challenge."

"True." "Sssshe doessss have a point."

"Excellent. So you agree with me, stop wasting your time with these small fry!"

"What is it you would ask of me?" "We are eager to sssserve." The Beast knelt.

"There is a group traveling through this jungle. Though they appear as children, they are stronger than these simple humans you've slaughtered."

"Well then, you wish for me to kill them?" "Heh heh, sssslaughter, more for the sssslaughter!"

"No, I want you to bring them to me. I'd do it myself, but I have a little vampire to deal with at the moment. However, feel free to inflict as much pain on them as you like. And rest assured, they will definitely put up a fight."

"As you wish." "Let'ssss get this sssshow on the road, baby!"

Wriggle's feet ached. In addition, she was tired, and hungry. Oh, and thirsty. However, she didn't voice any of these problems, as most likely, everyone was feeling the same way. She simply held her tongue and kept walking.

All around them, there was the howling of monkey's and the cries of birds. Every so often there would be the sound of something roaring, like a lion. The air was hot and humid, and the sun shone down brightly on the jungle. The trees were tall and the leaves offered shade, though it did little to lower the temperature. Fortunately, they did have Cirno in the group, and she was able to keep the temperature around them cool for the most part, although she did have to rest periodically.

Wriggle suddenly tripped, falling face first into the dirt. Of course, the vines. She had forgotten about the vines.

"Are you okay?"

Wriggle looked up to see a worried Mystia.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Wriggle answered.

Mystia held out her hand and helped Wriggle up. The firefly youkai dusted herself off and kept walking.

As they walked, Wriggle took a look around at the rest of the group. The five of them where nowhere near in peak condition. Their clothes were caked in mud and had numerous tears.

In the lead was Cirno, the ice fairy. She had a determined expression on her face, and appeared to be focused on the destination. She had claimed that they shouldn't worry; she would lead them back to Gensokyo.

As if. Wriggle thought bitterly. She obviously hasn't a single clue where were going.

Wriggle next looked at Daiyousei. She nervously clung to Cirno, eyes wide with fear. At every sound she jumped and trembled. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked more tired than the rest of them.

And for good reason. Wriggle thought. She's barely slept a wink.

Daiyousei had barely been able to fall asleep due to fear, and when she did, she had been tormented by nightmares that denied her any sleep.

Mystia on the other hand, had mostly kept to herself. She spoke very little, and usually flew off to scout ahead. Wriggle was slightly envious. For some reason, neither she nor Rumia could fly. Cirno, Daiyousei, and Mystia, having wings, were still able to, though they usually didn't, electing to walk with Wriggle and Rumia.

Ah, that brought Wriggle to the most worrying thing of all, Rumia. To start things off, she had been acting very weird since they had arrived. She had insisted on keeping that golden skull that the gray man had given to her. She had seemingly become obsessed with the thing. Even now, as Wriggle turned around, she saw Rumia holding the skull in her hands. Her lips were moving as if she was speaking to the skull, although Wriggle couldn't make out what was being said.

Wriggle didn't like the skull, and considered tearing it from Rumia's hands and throwing it as far as she could into the jungle. However she had already tried that two days ago, throwing it off a cliff. Rumia had positively freaked out when she was separated from the skull. The strange thing was that the freakout only lasted for a few seconds before she became calm and emotionless.

They had found the skull in a clearing thirty minutes later.

However, Wriggle had to admit, whatever effect it was having on Rumia had worked in their benefit. Rumia had quickly identified where they were, calling it the Infinite Layers of the Abyss or something. She said that they were in the layer called the Gaping Maw. This specific area was called the Screaming Jungle, and judging from how loud the cries of the animals (or whatever was making those sounds) were, Wriggle had to agree.

Of course, it figures that she still has no idea how to get us out of here. Wriggle thought.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over the group. Wriggle looked up to see two creatures flying past them.

"The enemy!" Cirno shouted. She raised her hand, and several sharp shards of ice fired out towards the creatures.

Both of the demons swerved to avoid the ice and then flew downwards towards the group.

Now that Wriggle could take a closer look at them she could see that they were bird like in appearance. They were bipedal, and had razor sharp claws. Their bodies were covered in purple feathers, and they had a pair of wings on their backs. Their heads were vulture shaped.

"Vrocks!" Rumia said.

"What?" Cirno responded.

The creatures gave a fierce cry and attacked.

Wriggle ducked, and barely managed to avoid a swipe of the creature's talons. Cirno dodged to the side and responded by firing more ice shards. The vrock dodged it and leaped towards Cirno, claws outstretched. At the last second, Cirno ducked, and the monster got its claws stuck in the trunk of the tree.

"Ha!" Cirno shouted. She formed several shards of ice in her hands and was about to fire them, when the vrock let lose a piercing screech.

Cirno and her friends gripped their heads in agony as the demonic sound assaulted their ears.

The vrock pulled its claw free and then picked up the fairy. It opened its beak, prepared to take a bite out of her. The other vrock picked up wriggle, about to do the same.

"No!" Wriggle managed to overcome the stunning and held out her hand. Swarms of insects rose up, and gathered around both of the demons' faces, stinging and biting. The vrocks dropped their victims, and began swatting at the swarms.

Taking the opportunity, Cirno drew a spellcard and declared. "Freeze Sign! 'Perfect Freeze!'" The card disappeared, and Cirno exhaled a cloud of freezing cold. When the cloud engulfed the vrock, it became completely encased in ice.

The second vrock pushed through the swarms and lifted up its hands. Several stones levitated into the air and flew at Cirno knocking her into a tree.

Mystia leaped at the remaining vrock, and slashed it with her sharp talons. The wound was minor, however, and the vrock knocked her to the ground. It raised its own claws, prepared to tear into the sparrow youkai.

At that moment, Rumia leaped onto the demon's back and created an area of complete darkness that engulfed the fiend and herself. The fiend cried out, suddenly blinded.

"Shoot it now!"

Cirno drew another spell card and declared. "Ice Sign! 'Icicle Machine Gun!'"

Rumia leaped away just in time. A rapid volley of ice shards shot out, impaling the demon's chest. Black blood flowed out and the demon fell to the ground unmoving.

"Woohoo! Enemies defeated! Dun dun dun DUN! Cirno gained a level!" Cirno pumped her fist into the air.

"Hmmph." Wriggle snorted.

"What the hell is your problem?" The ice fairy asked.

"I don't know, perhaps that this entire thing is your fault?"

"What? The hell are you talking about?"

"This fight could have been completely avoided!"

"Are you crazy, they were charging right towards us!"

"Charging towards us?! They hadn't even noticed us until you shouted and started shooting!"

"Well excuse me for being premtig… prelimtiv… uh…"

"Preemptive?" Mystia offered.

"Yeah, that's the word."

"Preemptive doesn't mean anything if we could have avoided the fight entirely." Wriggle explained.

"We won, didn't we?" Cirno argued.

"Yeah, barely! They almost had us there with that screech thing!"

"We won!" Cirno insisted.

"Look Cirno. You've lived your entire life around the Misty Lake. There's not much out there but fairies and weak youkai. But I used to live out in the Ash Mountains, a much more dangerous place full of wilder youkai. The first thing you learn out there is to avoid fights whenever possible."

"Why would I want to avoid fights? I'm the strongest!"

Wriggle slapped her hand to her face. "Not this again…"

"What? If you have a problem with me, then speak it!" Cirno demanded.

"Guys… please stop fighting…" Daiyousei pleaded.

"Sorry, Dai, but this has been a long time coming!" Wriggle exclaimed. "The ice fairy I call my 'friend' somehow got it into her head that she's the strongest being ever. In order to prove this, she goes about picking fights with and pulling pranks on people many times her own strength, and who against she has no hope of winning. All this inevitably brings down their wrath on not just her, but those who associate with her as well."

"What's that about my ass?" Cirno asked. "And I'm the strongest! The title doesn't matter if people don't know it."

"You know what? Let me tell you the truth. You. Are. A. Fairy! The lowest class of being in Gensokyo! Hell, their fairly easy for mages to control and swarms of them are often used as cannon fodder in their little power struggles with each other. You're weak, pointless, insignificant!"

The air around them rapidly and drastically dropped in temperature.

"Well at least I'm stronger than you!" Cirno said.

"As our friend Rumia is so fond of putting it… Is that so?" Wriggle asked. A dark smile appeared on the firefly's face. She spread out her arms, and a buzzing sound began, growing louder and louder. A huge swarm of insects began to gather, swirling about Wriggle. The swarm grew larger and larger as more and more insects answered Wriggle's call. Even the normally oblivious to fear Cirno took a few steps back.

"You all think that insects are meaningless creatures. That they are at the bottom of the food chain and only serve to be squashed underfoot. None of you realize the power that insects have. Do you know of all the deadly poisons and diseases that insects can carry? Have you ever heard of famines starting when swarms of locusts devour all the crops? Have you ever seen someone stung to death by killer bees, or devoured alive by scarabs?" The swarm grew larger and the buzzing grew louder and began forming a voice of its own. "If you thing you the so-called strongest, then come and prove it!"

Sharp icicles began to form in Cirno's hands and she prepared to throw them. Wriggle pointed her hand forward, and her insect army began to advance.

"NO!"

Both Wriggle and Cirno stopped in shock. Daiyousei had jumped in between them.

"Get out of the way Daiyousei!" Cirno said. "I'm about to teach this bug brain a lesson. Maybe a hit from 'Minus K' will show her!"

"There's no such thing as minus K you idiot!" Wriggle said.

"Please! Stop fighting!" Daiyousei pleaded, her eyes were in tears.

Cirno's icicles crumbled and the insects around Wriggle grew silent.

"Dai…"

"You don't have to fight! Please, were all friends!"

"A-alright." Cirno said. "You know what? Let's just get moving."

"No way! I'm not following you! It's your fault were in this mess in the first place!"

"Then don't. Nobody's keeping you here!"

"You know, that is probably the smartest thing I've heard you say in a long time!" Wriggle said.

Without another word, Wriggle turned away. All her insects gathered in a thick cloud around her, with Wriggle's head sticking out the top. The mass of insects then took off into the air, carrying Wriggle with them.

"Wow…" Mystia said. "I didn't know she could do that."

"Do you think she'll be okay on her own?" Daiyousei asked.

"Pfft, what do I care? We're better off without her!"

"Then we should keep moving." Rumia said emotionlessly. "It will not do to stay in one place for too long, lest the chasme find us."

Cirno gave Rumia a strange look before nodding and continuing through the jungle.

They continued to travel for the rest of the day, and fortunately, they didn't fight against any more demons. There was one close call, when the group saw a demon with a coal black body wreathed in flames. It hadn't noticed them but Cirno was about to fire several shards of ice at the creature. Fortunately, Rumia tackled the ice fairy to the ground and dragged her away with the help of the remaining members of the group.

"I could have taken it!" Cirno had exclaimed, once they were away from the demon.

"It was one of the elite of demonkind, far beyond our ability to face."

"Fine…" Cirno had relented.

Rumia liked night. She always felt more comfortable once the sun had set. Of course, most youkai thrived in the night. It was then that the humans were hiding in their homes, terrified of the unknowns that might be out there beyond their range of sight. Most youkai thrived off that fear, for it was humankind's fears of the unknown that formed them in the first place.

However, night in the abyss was neither welcoming nor comforting. The cries of the creatures in the forest grew louder, and every so often they would completely stop. Then a scream could be heard. A very human sounding scream. All around them, they could hear creatures passing through the brush.

Then they heard a loud roar that sounded very close. Daiyousei whimpered and clung even harder to Cirno. Mystia looked about desperately, trying to find the source of the noise.

Rumia was about to do the same when the skull spoke. Instantly all her focus was on the golden skulls words. Once it finished speaking, Rumia relayed its message to her friends. "There's a cave not too far from here. We can take shelter in there during the night."

"Um… if you say so…" Cirno said.

They found the cave with little trouble. It continued straight for a while before abruptly turning a corner, making its back room easily concealed from plain sight. The entire cave was, after a quick inspection, revealed to not be

As an extra precaution, Cirno sealed up the path with a wall of ice. Afterwards, the four of them sat in the cave, praying to whatever gods might be listening that something didn't break down the ice wall. Despite how impossible it sounded, soon each of them was asleep.

OH Wriggle! My darling Wriggle! What's happened to you?! Have those awful demons done unspeakable things to you? Please know that I worry about you. Are you getting enough to eat? Are you dressing warmly? Oh! I can't take it any more! I must do something!

~Yuuka Kazami

...

Is she gone? Whew finally! I've been held in her basement for so long that I thought I'd never get back to this. The only thing that happened was the... stuff... Yuukas been doing with me.

Er...

Anyways, now I can finally say what I've wanted to about this chapter and chapter 16

Chapter 16

This chapter is mostly to set up things in future chapters. It tells you where in the outer planes our cast is. I fully intend to cover each characters journey through the lower planes, and each characters adventures should be assumed to roughly the same time as the others.

Chapter 17

It's about time we got back to Team ⑨ and found out what they've been up to. As it turns out, not much, just surviving. I've set up an opponent for them to face, and that confrontation will probably happen in the next chapter. Also, as to Wriggle's speech... Insects are freaking scary! Also, we'll be seeing more about Rumia in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review!

~Dragonexx