"I think I know just the place to go for this!"
My mother's voice was distant as she led me, and a for once fully clothed Uzume, out of her room and elsewhere.
I wasn't particularly paying attention to my surroundings at this point, and for good reason, I feel.
It's just so strange, isn't it?
I never particularly cared about what exactly I am, at least not before.
Demigod with an asterisk next to it was enough for me.
But now? After all that talk about a power that I would consider very intrinsic to myself…
I suppose I'm just not entirely sure how to feel at the moment.
Which is stupid, right? I mean, it's not like it truly matters in the long run, and I know how that saying goes.
Keep it simple, stupid.
I'm me. That's it. Even if that me is technically some weird esoteric mix of divine and human that people and gods don't truly understand, fundamentally.
Well, the fundamentals don't matter. I've got people who love me already, not for that esoteric bullshit, but for me.
That's all that matters.
I know that.
But I can't help but think otherwise now.
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse saying this over and over again, hearing it over and over again, but it bears repeating.
I am both human and divine. If that power isn't my Ara-Mitama, but is truly just more of me, then what does that mean for the me right now?
If that power is more of my divine side, does that make me right now just…the more human side?
The balancing point between the two?
I'm not sure, and the thought makes my head buzz, like it hasn't in a long, long time…
"Hey."
I perk up abruptly, with such force that it momentarily felt like I was flying, my surroundings thrusting into place around me all at once, and it nearly made my head spin.
To my side, Uzume looked at me oddly. In front of me, Ama was still leading, her hand clasping mine gently as she led us along.
When did she…?
The scent hit me first, due to just how lacking it was originally.
It smelled like earth. Fresh earth, ancient trees, pure and untouched running water.
The sounds struck after, the water moving, not so rapid, but quick enough to glide across the ground and leave a relaxing hum in its wake.
Then, at last, came the proper sight.
It was a gorge, or at least it looked like one, bathed in the intense glow of Takamagahara itself, a step above even the magnifying effects the Shinkai has normally.
We were in the process of walking down the groges wall, down an older than ancient stone carved walkway, mere feet from a drop that would plunge you hundreds of feet into the river below.
A quick look up revealed the same sky as Takamaghara, but somehow, dulled?
Along with trees, trees which I've never seen before, massive towering obelisks of wood, covered in what looked almost like pine, lining the mouth of the gorge, mixed with far smaller, far slimmer tree that looks like bare shrubs in comparison, topped sparsely with light colored leaves, protruding out from the walls of the gorge.
I don't recognize this place at all. From neither metaknowledge nor myth.
I didn't even know where exactly we were, until I turned my head to look a Uzume one more time, and the corner of my eye caught the path behind us.
Leading up, and up, and up…to a mountain, up into Takamagahara. Where the same old buildings, roads, and gardens appear to be copied and pasted, forever going up and up to the point I can't see the top anymore.
Huh. The mountain of Takamagahara has a base?
Technically, shouldn't that be Earth, or the Shinkai?
Ugh, what's the point of musing on all of that? I'll probably end up with the answer by the end of this anyway!
So, my focus falls squarely on Uzume, finally.
Who snorts.
Which immediately washes away the small amount of guilt that had built up by my forcing her to wait for a response.
I frown back at her, causing her to snicker.
"It's been a long while since anyone's been down here," Uzume starts, almost reminiscing, "so, keep yourself out of your mind, alright, Nori? Trust me, it'll be worth it!"
Well, the view…isn't bad, I suppose. She's at least somewhat right there.
"Besides!" Uzume continues, "I know you were in a hurry to get to training as soon as possible, so I've been meaning to ask, but uh…how long do we have until your fight?"
My mouth opens, but no words come out.
Because I immediately realized there isn't an actual answer to that question.
My eyes damn near bulged out of my head once those dots started slotting into place.
The guy just said 'that can be arranged' then vanished! He didn't give a time! Neither of us did!
"There likely wasn't a time given, Uzu." At last, Ama speaks up, but before either of us could ask the obvious, she continues, "When the time is right, it'll happen. As for when or what needs to happen first for them to consider it as the right time?" Ama shrugs her shoulders as she explains, "Who can say?"
Uzume grumbles something about nonsensical and mysterious old gods, and I for once agree with her.
Just give a time, damn it! This isn't ancient times! There are no prophecies, no destined end time!
Well, right now. The next scheduled end time is in thirty years or so, but nobody besides me knows about it yet, so my point still stands!
Uzume and I continued to grumble on and on like a pair of children being escorted back home after a trip to the doctors without a stop at McDonald's on the way.
As we made our way further and further down, the gorge began to narrow and narrow, ever so slightly.
The far more noticeable change, however, was the river. Beneath us, it began to thin and thin, going from easily one of the large rivers that would require a massive bridge made of stone and steel to cross over safely, into one of stone, then wood, and by the time we at last reached the bottom of the gorge?
The river was more like a creek, although the water flowed just the same as it did in the river, albeit there was far less of it due to its far smaller size.
However, the river wasn't the thing I was focused on once we reached the bottom, and as it would happen, end of the gorge.
No, that would be the cave.
Hold on, actually, no, that doesn't work either.
It was as though a god came down the mountainside with a hammer and smashed a hole at the base.
Then went in said hole, and just kept on wildly swinging, carving straight through the rock and soil forever onwards.
I couldn't see deeper within, up to a certain point. A few dozen feet, and the light from outside seemed to abruptly vanish without a trace, becoming a curtain of black hiding gods know what.
It could even be the entrance to a whole other realm, for all I know!
Ama gave a wistful sigh and let go of my hand slowly.
Uzume, though, grinned and practically skipped right over to the edge of the river turned creek, jumping right on top of a rock jutting out from the ground, using it like a makeshift stage.
"Ah~! Ama, doesn't this bring back memories~?" She purred out, twirling around on the rock, grabbing at the folds of her kimono like she was preparing to tear the thing open.
Thankfully, the goddess she was addressing raised a hand, stopping her before she could do so.
"No. Uzui. Bad." She grumbled out, with the smallest of blushes on her cheeks.
Uzume giggled impishly before sliding down and sitting on the rock, one leg crossed over the other.
That dealt with, for now, Ama turned to me and sighed lightly.
"Well, Nori, here we are. Amano-Iwato." Now my eyes are practically bulging out of their skull, prompting Ama to give me an amused smile, "I don't think I need to explain the significance of this place, right?"
The cave where she hid from the other gods in mythology? No! That, I got!
What I want to know is why she hid in a place that looks like a second pit straight to hell!
Uzume hummed and chimed in with, "What you need to explain is why you decided to pick this place instead of, oh, I don't know…anywhere else?"
You tell her!
Ama twitched, turning back toward her with a look of legitimate offense, "Hey! You take that back!" She points, hand shaking. "I'll have you know, I built a pretty good place for myself in there! It was beautiful! I was going to work on the entrance when you all had Taji break in my door and you started flashing your tits!"
Uzume gave Ama the smugest look I think I've ever seen from her thus far, "Mhmm. And you loved these titties so much that you stepped right on out, and didn't even realize you couldn't go back until it was too late. Hah!"
Ama was full-body shaking by the time Uzume had finished speaking, her face completely and utterly red, as she turned away from the goddess and kicked at the ground, giving an annoyed and enraged shout as she did.
"Ugh!"
A chunk of rock went flying straight toward the cave.
But just as it was about to pass the mouth of it?
It stopped, smacking against a hazy golden barrier that wasn't there a second ago-
My arm lurched before my eyes caught up with what happened.
Crack.
Ah.
The rock flopped onto the ground behind me.
My hand was bent backwards, almost completely flat against my arm, fingers mangled, and arm itself curved at a strange angle…yet still, it held right next to Ama's head, where I had thrust it out.
The rock hit the barrier, then shot off it like some sort of divine cannonball.
Right back at Ama, right for her face.
It would have struck smack in the middle of her forehead, had I not thrust my arm out, trying to catch it.
I didn't think it'd hit with enough force to fuck me up before bouncing off me, though.
Uzume sat there, eyes wide and expression frozen stiff, though she quickly blinked it off, her smirk with all its smug returning.
Ama though?
She blinked.
Then her expression morphed into one of pure and utter horror and guilt.
"I, N-Nori, are, are, you, I'm, um-" I wasn't sure what she was stuttering out, as her hands came up from her sides, shaking and twitching like they didn't know where exactly to go.
Crack.
My arm straightened itself, and I sighed, pulling it back, out of her sight, before her brain could catch up and she could get any ideas.
Holy Spirit Power thrummed up my arm, into my hands, and a stream of cracking sounds and hissing filled the air as all the damage repaired itself in record time.
"Don't worry about it." I waved her off, literally, with my other nondamaged hand, "It'll be fine in a second."
Also, guess I know why she couldn't get back in now, huh?
I couldn't sense it, still can't in fact, but there's definitely some kind of barrier put up repelling her from entering there.
Quite violently, might I add.
"That seal was put in place by all the other gods in Takamagahara, including your's truly," Uzume put a hand to her chest, like her inclusion was somehow impressive or mattered, "it was the only way to stop her from trying something like that again, you know? Without just getting those guys to decree something."
Wait, all as in literally all?
Sheesh, the power of a Chief God, huh?
Ama let out a shaky sigh, before clearing her throat loudly and turning back to me, "R-Right! Putting that aside."
I have a feeling that isn't the seal, but alright.
"Training, right? We're here to train you!"
Girl, please, the subject change was already set up. Stop making it more awkward than it needs to be.
She claps her hands together and continues, "So, you're probably asking how we're going to go about doing that, right?"
Seriously, it's fine, I'm fine. My arm and hand are already fixed up!
"Well, I was about to, yes." I throw in, but Ama keeps going without pause.
"Right! Well, here's how!" Ama promptly holds up a hand.
Just as quickly as her hand went up, it got covered in pure liquid light, like molten glowing honey.
But that was it.
The light flowed around her hand, not doing anything else.
I looked between her hands, and then her face, and slowly raised an eyebrow.
It took her a second, but eventually she realized what she was, or wasn't, doing.
"Oh, uh, right, eheh…" without further prompt, Ama jogged up to me, and put her glowing hand on my shoulder-
I let out a shuddering breath, as it felt as though the sun itself put a hand on me.
All at once, those feelings I get from the sun hit me like a freight train. That warmth, that nice feeling, it was like a nostalgia trip.
My own sun, the one beating in my chest like a second heart, suddenly throbbed against the back of my throat, as though longing to burst out and join with it.
The desire to take in that light, like I had so many times before, was nigh overwhelming.
But I restrained it. My will is like an iron trap on that desire.
Not. Now.
"Get it?" Ama looked up at me, a strained and uneasy smile.
My hand, the one that was injured but long since healed, comes up and folds back over her hand.
Ama flinches, her eyes shaking as they dart to our now overlapping hands.
I give her hand a curt squeeze and smile down at her with a nod.
"Yeah, I think I got it." I begin gently, "You juice me up, I try and control it. I had very minimal progress trying it last time, though." I continue to warn her, "If I do lose it, how are you two going to stop me?"
"Throw you in the cave, duh." Uzume speaks up, "Ama may not be able to enter, but everyone else, including you, should be fine. Once you pass the boundary, your divine power gets suppressed, you should be fine then!"
Huh? Wait, how? Why, even?
Is this how the cave apparently suppressed Ama's light?
Ama nods, her gaze growing steadier, "That's right. It sounds unpleasant, but don't knock it till you try it!" Her smile grows slightly less strained.
I'm not sure about that, personally, but alright?
Also, why the hell can this random cave at the base of the mountain of heaven nullify divine powers?
Was this place built by someone with a purpose that got lost, or…?
Eh, you know what? None of that matters right now.
I give both goddesses a huff, "I'm not going in there of my own free will."
Uzume smirked, "I'm going to enjoy pushing you in there when you'll need it, then!"
Cheeky brat.
Ama gave an apologetic smile, the light from her hand fading as she did so, "Sorry, I'd do it myself, but, well, you saw the…the rock." Her face strained for a second at the end.
But otherwise, it didn't stick.
Good! Progress!
For good measure, I squeezed her hand just a touch harder and nodded back at Ama, before looking at Uzume.
"Will you even be able to throw me without getting torched?" I ask, very pointedly.
Seriously, just powering up heats the area around me. Ama would be fine, I think, but Uzume?
Goddess of the Dawn or no, I don't think I've ever seen her use or imply to have fire powers.
Uzume, though, waves me off, unbothered, "I have a few tricks."
Those tricks are promptly revealed as Ama leans in a little closer.
"I'll protect her with my aura, don't worry." She says with a sigh.
Ah, I see, Uzume's trick is being a leech? Nothing new there. Also, effective.
With what feels like everything taken care of for now, I let go of Ama's hand and walk to the entrance of the cave.
I only stop right before the boundary. Right where I remember that rock smacking against that invisible golden curtain.
Even so close, I still can't feel anything of the sort.
Thinking about it now, knowing that it can suppress divine powers, maybe that's why?
But then, if it can do that, why is the seal they put up still apparently active?
The easy answer, that being that the seal is basically the door to the cave, but not necessarily within the cave's affect area, springs to mind.
That still doesn't explain how I can't feel a seal supposedly empowered by every divine being in Takamagahara, barring Ama herself, when it's sitting right in front of me, though.
I click my tongue, letting that mystery leave my mind for me.
"Ready when you girls are." I say allowed.
"...Oh wait, we're starting now!?" Uzume cries out, almost whining, as I hear her scramble off her rock.
"Duh." I huff out right back to her, in the same tone she did to me earlier.
"I was, uh, actually kind of hoping we could wait a minute, too?" Ama says, slowly and tentatively.
My stare into the black nothingness blanks.
I say nothing.
A moment stretches on, awkwardly long, painfully so of silence…
Until I hear a distressed huff, and more footsteps approach my back.
"Oh, alright, fine!" Ama caves almost immediately, "But I'm no training maniac, we will have breaks, understand, mister!"
"Hmm, alright, that's reasonable." I hum out, much to Uzume's relief.
She's lucky I don't quite catch what she's mumbling about me under her breath. Or I'd drag her bratty ass in that cave with me and correct it.
A hand gently presses against my back, and I hear Ama let out a nervous breath.
"Alright. Ready?"
I nod, and that glow envelops me once more.