Chapter 148: The Sephirot

Chapter 148: The Sephirot

The grandmother looked at Kiyori with a surprised expression as she heard the term. Unmistakably, she knew about them. "An Ascended?"

Kiyori simply nodded, taking a cup of tea and sipping as the slightly bitter but sweet taste instantly threw her back to reality. "He is a really nice man."

The old woman blinked, her gaze slightly turning fearful. "Kiyori, you know that Ascenders are not just humans. They are candidates of Gods or their angels."

Kiyori paused, her hand stopping the cup. "HUH?"

"We don’t know anything about them; many rumors say they are from other worlds and didn’t belong here... but you made him your friend." The old lady slowly stood up and walked toward a hidden cabinet behind the sacred altar. Resting behind it was a wooden box, its lid carved with the same fox sigils.

Inside, a letter rested, written in ancient language. "The Tamayori shrine’s first priestess, named Inari Tamayori, the great ruler of the Divine spirit of Sun Fox."

Inari... Kiyori had heard her name multiple times; she was the greatest priestess of this world to ever live. Some rumors even stated that even The Tree of Ages listened to her commands.

Kiyori stared at a page that was written by the legendary priestess.

The old woman continued as she sat down with her. "The Great Lady Inari had an immense amount of spiritual pressure; it was totally infinite. There was no end to her spiritual powers. One day, the Divine came, ’He’ was an Ascended of a lost power called the... Sephirots."

Looking at her grandmother, Kiyori’s expression turned unusually tense as if the words were merely not just a history. "Was he an Ascended?"

"Yes, ’He’ only came in order to escape reality, demanding nothing but comfort, but His presence alone brought a gaze of cosmos that shook the world. Inari stood against Him, a mortal against a Deity. Although her power alone couldn’t defeat the exhausted divine, but her mortality impressed ’Him.’" The grandmother put the box down near the cup and pressed her hands on her lap.

"What happened then? I don’t understand."

Hearing that, her grandmother nodded. "She impressed Him with her stubbornness, and from that day, she became one of His followers, and He moved from this world. That was also the day when a grand war occurred, and since that day... ’He’ was never seen again."

"But what was the Divine?"

Kiyori’s question finally made her grandmother answer it with the words in the letter. "Inari wrote this afterward. I’ll read it for you."

The old woman took a long breath before speaking the words of the ancient letter to the Deity, which were—"When the heavens split asunder, but no lightning struck the lands of Tenjushiku, His arrival did it. He whom they called the Sephirot—the Crown of the Tenfold Pillars walked upon our earth as an exile from a higher realm. To look upon Him was to gaze into the Kotoamatsukami, the primordial chaos before the sun and moon were severed. That day, His sighs became the typhoons, and His silent grief withered the sacred groves.

I, a mere vessel of the Sun Fox, raised my futile power against His hands. I expected

to become dust. Yet, when my mortal spirit burned, the Divine did not strike me. He wept. He wept because a flickering, fleeting flame of a mortal dared to offer him warmth in a cold cosmos.

He granted our bloodline the protection of the mysteries, but He warned. He spoke of the Ame-no-Murakumo, the cloud-gathering dust of a cosmic war that would sweep through the dimensions.

The day He vanished into the Kakuriyo—the hidden realm of the dead and divine. From that moment, the sky bled for seven days. He must have died without the compassion of my humanity. His light from the branches of the Tree of Ages faded, leaving our world dim. How tragically I waited every day, I counted the seasons to hear His voice again, how desperate that I was to seek a deity that was the only one suffering for humanity. I would wait forever under the silent sky, only to see Him again with no other purpose than to just say the last words of my admiration toward Him."

The grandmother’s voice lowered further as she ended the letter and put it carefully into the box.

Kiyori looked down at her hands. The bitter taste of the tea had long evaporated, replaced by a dull tongue. The description of the Sephirot ultimately caught her attention.

"Grandma. You are... telling me that an Ascended could bring the same war again?" Kiyori questioned, her voice melting into a soft murmur. The tragedy of Inari, although she didn’t understand what that priestess wanted.

The grandmother shook her head slightly and spoke with a wrinkled, soft smile. "No, but sometimes they drive with Tatari, the Divine curse that makes them insane."

Kiyori’s eyes widened slightly as she heaved a sigh of relief. "Ah, cor-cu-corruption. He did lost control twice."

The grandmother’s eyes went weary. "You didn’t get hurt right?"

"Not a single scratch, a large snake stopped him from doing anything, but he regained consciousness again."

"A snake?" The old lady blinked.

Kiyori explained her briefly. "It’s a big white snake, like bigger than this house. It can also talk, and I talk to it while travelling. It is really gentle and hears me without judging, especially since it also helps me talk to my friend, Mo Fei."

"What? Oh, my little daughter, and it doesn’t harm you?"

She nodded and spoke again. "By using it, Mo Fei many times sends me food, but they look very strange, yet taste sweet."

The grandmother chuckled and patted her head. Hearing Kiyori’s tone, which was excited to tell everything, the old woman said, "He seems a kind man; if he comes again, don’t forget to meet me to him. But don’t rely too much on others; you’re capable too."

"Yes, of course, but he always forcefully sends them, saying whom he should care for in anonymous worlds."

The old woman’s smile slightly softened into a deeply knowing and nostalgic expression. "Oh, that is not mere help. Someone who does it always carries guilt; maybe that is not mere companionship, my little daughter. Maybe, he just wants to ensure your comfort."

Kiyori lowered her head with an uncomfortable low chuckle, her face slightly turning embarrassed. Maybe it was true in kind of a way, but not entirely true either.

Just then, the door creaked open as a few people stepped in. One of the men spoke. "Old Kaede, the preparations are ongoing; the priestesses are waiting for your arrival."

Kiyori stood too, of course, she’d only watch, just like other years.

The Kagura festival of this year would start at midnight.