Free All the Gates of Hell by Richard Parks Page A

whatever Hell comes to him," Mariko-Shadow said then. "I will not go -- "
    Jin took the fan. She never took her gaze from the ruined face, but Jin's right hand snaked out and snatched the fan from between Mariko's bony fingers.
    "Get out of her you bastard!" Jin snarled as she snapped the delicate fate across her knee. Again, the visions. Brief, fragmented. There was no time.
    Mariko howled like an enraged animal and lunged. Jin grabbed Mariko's wrists and held on as the girl snarled and tried to bite Jin with her skull full of teeth. Jin held her there as the shadow pooled itself and fell away. In a moment Mariko's bones clothed themselves with the memory of flesh just long enough to smile a little wistfully at Jin. In a few more moments she was gone, along with the bridge and the river and everything that had to do with Mariko's time in that place.
    The shadow named Shiro, on the other hand, remained, but only fleetingly. It flowed away like dark water over the dry and desolate wasteland and Jin set out in swift pursuit of Shiro in her full demon form.
    "I'll stick you in an ink bottle and write bad poetry with you, see if I don't!" snarled Jin as she ran. "I'll--I'll do worse than that! How dare you!"
    Shiro eluded her by the time she reached the River of Souls. He seemed to have flowed away into the ground and under the rocks themselves, out of reach. Jin even dared opening her Third Eye to try and find him but, though she saw a great deal, there was no sign of the shadow creature at all.
    She was hunkered down on the bank of the river of souls, her head resting on her knees, staring at nothing, when O-Jizou found her again. "Please don't do that, Jin. You're scaring the children."
    "What? Oh." It was only then that Jin realized she was still in her demon form and the children on the opposite bank were cowering in little groups, hugging themselves and crying. She returned to being Jin again. "I'm sorry about that."
    "Why is the Goddess of Mercy so angry?" he asked.
    "That was Shiro. He was here!" He shook his head, and Jin went on, "When I first met him he was helping to keep a little girl trapped in one of the corridors and came very close to trapping Mariko as well. The blasted creature seems to reinforce whatever's keeping them from moving on. I don't know much else, but he used to be a man named Shiro. I know that much."
    "Perhaps he's some sort of demon now. People do that, sometimes. I've known a few. But how did he get here?" O-Jizou asked.
    "I don't know. It does seem to get around..."
    The implication of what O-Jizou said finally got through to her. "...which should not be happening, should it? Only those who belong in a particular hell should be able to reach it. Perhaps he's following me somehow. I'll have to be more careful." Jin stood up. "I have to go now."
    O-Jizou nodded slightly. "You'll be back soon. For now and on Mariko's behalf, I thank you."
    "For doing my job?" Jin asked, a little shortly.
    "For helping her," he said quietly.
    Jin just nodded. "Sure... Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I've got to go talk to someone. I can find my own way back, thanks."
    Jin sat off at a pace that O-Jizou himself could only respect. In a short time she was back in the corridor leading to the gateways. She glanced neither left nor right but kept going until she passed through the door on the opposite end of the corridor.
    The statue of Guan Yin and her attendants stood softly glowing in the torchlight, as they always did, but Jin didn't pay them any mind. She found the two guardians marking the way back to Medias and stopped there.
    "Did you see a creature made of Shadow leave O-Jizou's realm?"
    CERTAINLY, they said.
    "And you let him go?" she asked, hands on her hips, glaring up at them.
    OF COURSE. WE ALWAYS LET HIM GO WHERE HE WILLS.
    Jin could barely believe what she was hearing. "Since you two are supposed to be guarding the doors, would it be too rude of me to ask why??"
    BECAUSE THE LORD OF THE FIRST HELL