Ruby walked beneath four torii, inscribed with stories of the shrine’s deity. Gold Akashiman text told the spell singer the shrine was much older than the house. She looked up at the night sky and wondered.

“Why is it dark here and light outside?” She frowned. “Are we outside?”

Lilith sat at the base of a great fox statue knelt before a gnarled sakura tree at the centre of the courtyard. She bowed, then tended to the incense burning in bunches at the kami’s paws.

“This is the only shrine to Inari left in Capitol city. I found it whilst exploring the archives in the Senate. They were going to demolish this district to build new housing for the refugees from Yanbo Harbour.”

Ruby sat next to her sister and bowed. Though she didn’t know much of her sibling’s customs, respect was universal across cultures. She watched the assassin pour tea from a ceremonial tea set filled with nothing but air and the promises of spirits. She raised a glass to the statue and set it before her deity.

“How did you get it?”

“I brought it. Fame comes with some small mercy.”

“You brought the land and built a house?” Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’ve outdone me.”

“It’s not a competition,” Lilith smiled. Her ritual complete, she gestured at the tree behind the fox statue. “This tree is where Lao Sheng first defeated the Kamodo at the end of the first Oni War.”

Ruby had heard the tale of Arden and Lilith’s former lives. They had fought side by side centuries ago to seal away the four greater oni, repealing their responsibilities until their greatest adversaries broke free once more.

“Are we…”

“Yes.” Lilith knew what her sister meant. She pointed skyward. “This is the spirit realm.”

Ruby looked back through the torii and tried to work out at what point she had left Althanas. There was no warning. No strange sensation.

“Why would you hide this from us?”

“I wasn’t hiding. I wanted to make sure that what I found here was real. That I wasn’t being tricked, a fragment of Oblivion toying with my longing for a home.” Lilith had withdrawn from her family not because she shunned them or feared them, but because she was worried what they would think if they discovered her secret.

“It looks real to me. Even with the hockey pokey.”

“Oh, the shrine isn’t what I wanted to show you.” Lilith’s eyes danced with purple fire, a cold gaze which reminded all what she had done, and what lay sleeping within her. “Look closely at the tree.”

Ruby did so, but saw nothing more than moss covered bark and the last remnants of spring’s blossoms dancing in a soft and subtle breeze. The moonlight coruscated over the knots and illuminated the scars in its form.

“It’s just a tree…,” she protested.

As soon as she said it, she caught a flash of white dart out from behind the fox statue.