The sound of my footsteps echoed loudly through the empty corridor. The searing luminescence from the fluorescent lights created added the sole other colours that hardly differ from the dull path around me.
Initially, I had made sure my steps created the slightest bit of sound out of caution and the off-hand chance it could have given me the drop on some poor, unsuspecting being here. However, after checking my phone and seeing that a tea's time had passed and minutes turned into an hour with nary a single change to the scenery, my suspicions only grew. Thanks to Kuroko, I became somewhat acquainted to the sensation of any shifting in the fabric of space so I was at least sure that the corridors themselves weren't stretching on in the more literal sense of the word. It does not, however, change the fact that I am suitably lost in wherever area I am in.
Rationalizing my chances, I had forgone the silent approach and made my steps audibly loud to which, in such conditions, made them almost deafening in the silence. I had even made sure that my footsteps were induced with the snapping confidence of someone who strode with purpose, announcing to anyone that hears --consciously or subconsciously-- that I am an important person. Sooner or later, I would be confronted by someone whether out of curiosity or duty.
Glancing out how empty this place is, the latter of the two seemed more and more unlikely. The notion of a security team guarding over literally nothing is just a waste of resources that would contrast how cynical the architect of the place to be.
Each turn I was presented the choice of going left, right or straight forward. Since I didn't want to get anymore lost than I already am, I have consistently chosen to go directly straight ahead which leaves me an easy-to-remember escape via the hole where I came from. Despite so, even after an hour of power-walking, there were absolutely no changes at all. There were no stains or blemishes, dirt or spills, even a difference in the colour tones of the wall were identical to the last; it was honestly both unsettling and impressive how uniform it all was and from the faint presence of a divine, it also made sense.
I already met a few of the other Kami but from the way they clothed themselves and the way their acted, none of them screamed the uniformity and perfectionism that caught my eye when I was first invited into their little pocket realm.
Suppose that the architect responsible for the meticulous landscape and the architect responsible for these maddening corridors were one and the same, that would only mean that I have to prepare myself for my role as a fellow Kami without creating too bad of an first impression by inadvertently triggering whatever neuroses they had in store. This could go either like an average experience or a horribly, horrible one where it would end in another battle.
Then again, two somewhat friendly Kami and two that are enemies do balance each other out so it wouldn't be that terrible of a scenario.
It wouldn't do to immediately make an enemy out of an unknown individual but faith and consequently, religion, are a clash of ideals and egos. Even more so is this fact pronounced to the beings that are nourished from such belief, from the common ghost all the way to the Kami of shrines.
For those that rely on this method, there are few way it could develop.
First is that those who refuse to embrace such would risk fading away into nothing, they wane in strength and existence until none of them ever remains. Second is that those rely completely as such cement their existence and grow in power, that fact is true, yes. However, they would also risk making themselves static beings- unable to grow and unable to change.
Some might argue that this is not a terrible price for power or that they simply need others to believe that they are omnipotent, omniscient and omnicompetent; Be-All and End-All.
This however is impossible.
To achieve that theoretical level, they would need and infinite amount of believers who border complete and total fanaticism. Believers who devote themselves in their entirety; each breath, each moment, each parsec, to their faith with absolutely no doubts or second guesses to their devotion with neither rest or distraction, and they need to continue doing so for eternity.
Such impossibility is why Kami take on only 'Roles' or 'Archetypes' or more commonly, 'Concepts'.
And lastly, of course, is the golden standard. This being the state of a Kami being 'Within reach but so far away'. A state picking a few favourites among a crowd to show them that their devotion is rewarded, to dangle the sweet carrot in front of their faces all the while simultaneously holding the largest stick to whip and cull the discontent as needed. A state more akin to a tightrope dance whether neither side can risk falling out of favour from each other.
In other words, one could even say the godhood is not too dissimilar to a customer service industry- or more crudely defined, a natural give-and-take relationship.
Gods would rarely hand out blessings and miracles but a showing of their might is predominantly common. Then, the believers who witness or heard of their deeds would be more inclined to be devout to their faith, thus empowering the gods in question. With the current human understanding of the world, it is hard to garner belief from shows more often met with skepticism as most available showing can be handwaved with an explanation using science. Even miracles and blessings become susceptible disbelief as the true nature of quirks are as equally varied and mysterious.
Rumbling thunder? No longer the anger of gods but the pressure between air and water molecules. Disease and illness? Not a curse but an affliction carried from individual to another. Famine and dead soil? Not a punishment of another being but a consequence of over-planting.
Yes, the mysteries that surround natural phenomenon and the ignorance of worldly wisdom was what kept 'divine acts' as divine acts. When humans were first thrusted into the [Age of Steel and Ash], it was believed that it was partly due to the dwindling belief that caused cracks in the status quo which eventually allowed the breaking of many words but ultimately no one knows exactly for sure what the majority cause of it was, only that we still feel the consequences to this day.
Those born from belief or ideas are naturally the most susceptible to the wax and wane of such, but that isn't to mean that their are not devoid of advantages! Due to their nature, such beings are also the most flexible as well as the fastest to grow in power, if one plays their cards right. A double-edged existence in where you can burn like the sun and be snuffed just as quickly like a candle in the wind.
Not all supernatural being are like this of course, an example being yours truly as well as the majority of those residing in Gensokyo, the land loved by the gods.
...
...Wait, but then, what happened to the gods that loved Gensokyo. The gods that existed before the current era residents, that is.
Could they be foreign gods or visitors from elsewhere? I remember a tidbit from a comic in my past life about how their gods are simply legends and tales personified through metaphysical weight, and another story where gods are just powers or concepts with ego and Id wrapped around it like a puppet.
Admittedly, I am no scholar of the occult or a purveyor of mysticism and magic. There still plenty I do not know and I admittedly have gaps in my knowledge in regards to this subject but even the greatest minds and historians from this side of the world still struggle to answer plenty of questions to such mysteries much like our own mundane neighbours with their own mundane equivalents.
I suppose I should brush up in my more supernatural studies once this whole thing is over... After a well-deserved break, of course.
With nothing much else to occupy my thoughts, I began to what I would do in my free time after this.
"Hm?" A faint vibration was caught in my ears. It didn't feel like it was one of my footsteps so it made me pause my pace.
There! It sounds unmistakably alien in a way... It wasn't terrible but it also neither pleasant, almost like how ant pheromones smell like a strange mix of gasoline and bland soap. The strange humming was going up and down with no particular thoughts in structure- simply making sounds to drive away the silence and yet paradoxically, it also sounds almost like a melody that was yet to be finished.
'Come into my parlor, the Spider said to the Fly.' Inwardly chuckling, I strode towards the source of the humming without breaking the gravitas I carried.
My steps echoed loudly in the corridors, only now somewhat softer. The humming had also stopped in it's place is another set of footsteps that audibly made their way towards me. Their steps sounded unhurried but the sounds belied unnatural speed.
'Figures.' I sighed Inwardly. 'Knew this place was too weird for regular folk. What else other than a Kami would be wandering here?' By the next corner, to the right side was Kami that I have yet to meet personally. 'Time to face the music.'
The Kami before me is tall, easily three heads taller than me and despite being freakishly thin, he at least did not look to be swimming in the business suit he is wearing. The smile he gave was both unsettling and disgusting, intrusive thoughts of unspoken violence was discarded as soon as they came but the most notable feature of this Kami was how my direct perception of seemed to slide ever so slowly?
"What a suprise! If you told me you were visiting, I would have brought refreshments!"
Weird... His voice is normal, average even.
So why do I suddenly have one of the strongest urges to kill this being in front of me?