Ep.42: The Mysterious Woman with the Shamisen, Part 2

“Dammit… Dammit… Dammit!” I growl, frustrated with myself as I quickly turn a corner. Too distracted by my anger to bother looking where I am going, I collide with a stranger and fall to my butt. “Oof!”

“Hey…! Watch where you’re going, you street rat!” The stranger shouts.

My anger decides that this random person is just the right person to unleash upon, and as I jump to my feet and open my mouth to let them have it, a strange sound cuts off my retort. “Huh?” I utter confusedly instead. Completely ignoring the stranger, I begin to pour my eyes over my surroundings, casting my gaze around hastily. “Was that music I just heard?” Without pausing to think on it, I close my eyes to focus.

“Hey… are you ignoring me?!” The stranger roars in my ear.

“Dammit, man! Can’t you hear the music?!” I snap, a little irritated. “People are so rude.”

“Huh?” The stupefied stranger utters, his confusion evident.

As I begin to focus, I realize I can hear a familiar sound. “That same music…” I look off in the distance. “This way, I think,” I say, quickly sprinting off towards the outskirts of Coatlicue.

I continue to run until I can’t run anymore, long after the music has stopped. “What am I even hoping for?” I query as I fall to my knees, gasping heavily. “Where the hell am I?” I roll onto my back and gaze up at the night sky. “Well… who cares. If nobody’s taking me seriously, then I guess-” I stretch out my hand towards the sky while smiling and abruptly close it to a fist, “-I’ll have to do it myself.”

“An enemy, hidden within,

trying to become their friend.

Ye Warriors, be careful

of the ones that are hidden from men.”

“That music…?” I sit up and look behind me. “Wow!” I find myself on top of a hill overlooking the kingdom of Coatlicue. “It’s the same music that I heard in the jungle.” I look closely at the peak of the next hill over. “It’s her!”

At the top of that hill, the mysterious woman sits playing the shamisen while looking down upon Coatlicue. She is sitting beneath a tree with soft, champagne-pink petals that are dancing in the wind, almost, seemingly, to the music that is playing.

The words of my friends finally sinking in, I try a different tack. “Yo, how’s it hanging?” I say jauntily as I slowly approach her. She continues to play the shamisen. “I don’t remember this tree being here,” I comment upon reaching her. “Huh?” I query, realizing that the air around me has started to get thinner and seems intent upon continuing to get even more so. “What is going on here?”

The mysterious woman stops playing the shamisen for only a brief second, her gaze still upon Coatlicue, then resumes playing.

“Why are you here?” I ask.

“Whenever I visit the kingdom of Coatlicue, I always come to this spot,” the mysterious woman answers, never pausing her playing, “because when the moonlight reflects on the kingdom it feels very… enchanting.”

“Huh?” I say, somewhat befuddled.

“If you don’t stop and take in the beauty… it’s almost like you’re missing out on opportunities in life.”

“I’m not sure I understand you…” I comment while scratching my head.

The mysterious woman continues to play a simple melody. “Don’t worry, young one… it’s lost on most.”

“Oh? …Is that so?” I respond with a small spike of irritation that has me grinding my teeth. “Look… I’ll forget that you just called me an idiot. I just want to know, what were you doing in that ashen jungle? Is all of this your doing? And most of all, …who the heck are you?!” I challenge her, frustration coating my voice.

“Three questions…” The mysterious woman smiles a little. “Hmm… I was pretty sure you would ask more than that.”

“Wait… what?” I say, not sure what is going on.

She starts to play a new, soft melody. “The Deep Jungle is known as a place of healing, so it’s only natural to come here to receive such.” She looks at the night sky. “…But upon arriving, I sensed something sinister, and I, before I knew it, found myself in that ashen jungle. To answer your last question, I represent Death.”