Wicked Yokai Prince

Spirited

A flicker of afternoon sunlight burned Rin's eyes. She craned her head upwards and saw slowing moving clouds gliding by. It was beautiful, grey and white clouds forming into odd shapes, some of them she can make out and some are just giant misshapen blob of gas. She exhaled, blinked and narrowed her eyes that's beginning to sting with tears and dropped her head again.

It's getting late, she thought glancing another worried look at her phone. The time said five o clock in the afternoon and soon twilight will set inviting darkness. She doesn't have time for admiring clouds and took another depressed sight of her phone noting the absence of bars this time.

She doesn't have bars either.

She knew she had to get out of there somehow one way or another.

Rin swore she ventured here before.

That's weird, she thought. Rin recognized the fresh footprint embedded faintly on the dirt. It has been her footprints.

She lifted her head surveying the familiar scenery and decided she'd been on this path before.

Damn, I'm lost.

A cool bead of sweat slipped down her temple as she realized she'd been walking in circles for hours.

She willed herself upon issuing another step when she saw the same school of shrines she passed numerous times before. Terror swarmed her skin, spooked beyond herself. This is not the first time she crossed the school of shrines.

As a matter of fact, she seemed to run into it no matter which route she takes.

She gathered a calming breath and ignored her fright. Rin glanced over to her shoulder, her mind tracing back the memory of tracks she walked before, casting another glance at the path behind her. Maybe she needed to change directions and risked another attempt of it, hoping it was the right one this time.

She'd changed directions plenty of times, each one leading her to the same school of shrines.

She walked and kept walking until she felt a soft mound from under her foot and slipped. Moist and rotten leaves bursts from under her foot like excited confetti.

"Ah!"

Rin fell too fast and landed on the same school of miniature shrines before she could even catch herself, grimacing at the sensation of uneven objects puncturing and denting her skin.

OW, It hurts. she hissed, then gasped once she realized she had fallen on the sacred collection of shrines that been giving her the spook all this time.

Crap! Her warm breath steamed the cool misty air. It felt oddly cool suddenly as Rin noticed the film of fog crept up out of nowhere.

Her heart raced a beat faster. Her eyes lingered on the spreading fog a second longer, trying to convince herself not to panic, shivering as her fright threatened to betray her.

Relax, Rin. She crooned, there's nothing here, these are just shrines, no spirits lives here.

She got off the miniature shrines and noticed the crumbled grain of cement on her palms, some are sticking to her jeans, she made herself took a closer observation an saw the irreparable damage she created.

Some of the shrines are broken beyond repair having destroyed by the pressure of her weight. Rin tried to fix them setting them back in place, but the damage had been grave and there's not much she can do but set them up neatly back in place and offer a small prayer of apology inclining her head to a bow and went on her way.