Whispers from the Flame

Hard Mode:

The day before...

As the sun sank into the valley and the new moon rose silently in the cloudy night sky Saturn was sat firmly on the chest of a rotting corpse, his legs folded in a meditative Full Lotus pose. The body had been carefully prepared, laid out on its back atop a blanket of skinned deer fur as instructed in the black book. They were on the roof of the fortuneteller's newly acquired villa - his business was booming and his new home was nested high atop a mountain that looked over most of the other buildings in the Hidden Cloud village. His ring and index fingers - both the flesh digits and the metal ones - touched his thumbs as the backs of his palms rested on the insides of his folded knees. His cold blue eyes gazed into the distance as deafening thunder boomed from behind the Kage's tower. It was one of the few structures in the village that rose higher than the businessman's villa. The sudden boom caused a nervous Mimas to shudder, its gooey form rippling like the sea before the sticky pink blob nervously leaped onto Saturn's head, wrapping its slimy tentacles around his blonde hair. "Mimas! Mima mima..." It could not understand what its caretaker sought to do with the corpse. It had no reason to.

Before beginning his meditation, Saturn had carefully cleansed the corpse, or what was left of it, with sacred water and recited dark mantras. It was a misfortune that the body was not completely intact - its guts had spilled out when it transitioned from human to corpse. The fortuneteller had wrapped the corpse with white bandages to try and preserve what was left. He had drawn a circle around himself and the body, an inverted triangle circumscribed within. The symbol was created by scattering sesame seeds in all directions to ward off spirits. A 'yantra' was etched into the skin of the corpse, transforming it into an altar, a connection between life and death.

Garland Flames had been placed over the chest and mouth of the corpse as offerings. A few betel nuts were inserted between the corpse’s crusty lips, a gesture meant to appease that thing. As he sat in stillness, meditating, his breathing synchronized with the violent howls of the storm above, and the boundary between himself and the corpse began to blur. 

"Come...." Saturn chanted, making his nervous familiar coil its tentacles around him tighter in its fright, "Come....." He held in a frown as he chanted again, resisting the distractive blob that sought to knock him out of his trance. "Come..."

The first rays of sunlight caressed Saturn's tanned cheek. The ritual had failed. It was too late.

---

Cut to the present...

Saturn and Mimas walked at a lax pace, strolling through the night market that had set up in light of the festivities. Much to the relief of Mimas, the fortuneteller had sealed the corpse that he had brought back from his travels into a Corpse Sealing Scroll and stashed it away in his space-time inventory.  

The village was bustling, even though dusk had long set in. Kumogakure had always been like this, for as long as Saturn could remember. It was a village that never slept. He took a large swig from his metal flask, the one he had filled up with dark rum from the Drunken Kage Bar. He had dearly missed the local spirits during his time away. However, it was a different kind of spirit that Saturn had made up his mind to tame. He had spent a large amount of his time living vicariously through the bodies of animals and other humans. It was a closely guarded secret, a skill that he took care to reveal not even to his closest allies, even when he was in the middle of using it. He often used his mind transferring abilities to carry out covert scouting missions and to confuse the subjects of his missions. He used them more often to entertain himself - the altered senses of various creatures gave him a potent high.

After experimenting thoroughly with the spectrum of senses that the living possessed, the fortuneteller had set his sights on his next trip. He wondered what it would be like to possess the dead. He was still testing the limits of his powers, but this he could feel within his grasp, like a calling that echoed in the marrows of his every bone. His fascination with death was no secret. It had first revealed itself in a burst of manic laughter when he claimed his first kill in Warmonger’s Arena. That same day, he had doubled down, erupting into another fit of deranged bliss as he took a second life immediately after. The rabbit hole had led him to the Temple of Jashin, where he was bitterly disappointed by the Jashinists. He did not come back empty handed from his travels. The corpse that followed him had become the subject of his obsession - its ruby eyes possessed strange powers that Saturn longed to understand. However, after the failed ritual.....  


Ȉ̶̛̭̾͆̂͆̄̄̕ẗ̷̘̯̥̭̲̠̮̘̝̗̮͔̱̆̈̌̃̿́͐͐̽̄̚ ̴̫̳̺̓̽̄̓͊̃͊͌̊̅̚̚͘͝b̶̛͙̺̣̻̰̻͇̻̗̰͐̒̅͑̈́̈́́̽ͅͅų̸̭̙̭̭̤̤̺͌̔̀̒̓͋̾̆́͐ŗ̶̟̙͇͇̞̰̭̆̒͂͗̿̉n̸̡̨̦͚͔̯̦͕̪͓͈̫̤̍̈̓̀̀̈́͂͘̕͠s̵̢̥̜͙̐̉̀̓̏̈́͒̃̃͆̒͜͝!̷̡̨̯̯̣̰͇̘͚͈̻̘̘̳́̇̐̄͊!




"Mimas? You hear that, buddy?" Saturn checked in with the blob. It had shrunken to its smallest configuration - barely six inches in length - and slipped into the fortuneteller's pocket. It shivered and throbbed, and Saturn reached in and grasped it with his metal hand, causing its extremities to bulge and inflate like a water balloon squeezed in the middle. "What are you, scared? You're making me look weird!" He complained, whipping Mimas out of his pants. He gripped it with his flesh hand as he followed the sound of the eldritch voice.

S̶̡̢̢̧͉̪͙̞̺̗͑͒̔̒ͅͅͅą̶̰̤͎̂͛̕͝͝͠v̷̨̪̦͔̬̙̜̳̝̮̊̅̍̂̔͛͗̑̚͝͝ȇ̷̞̹̭̯̰͉ ̶͕̳̪̹̗͙̩̳̯͕̱̳͖͒̽̆́m̶͇͓̩̰̠͚̦̤̻̉͆͊̃̓̈́͌̌͊͊̈́̕͠͝͝ͅe̶̢̨͍͈̮̭̳̻͓̩͍̣̥̣̺͂!





The voice grew louder as Saturn approached its source. It sounded as if words were being spoken forwards and backwards at the same time, each letter folding into itself with every syllable. He had never heard anything like it.



I̵̧̝̋͒͘̚ẗ̶̫͎͇͉̯̲̞̝̇'̴̥̬̙̻͐͛͋̃̍̈́͠ş̵̳͕͙̐͐̔̑̀͐̋͘͠͝ ̶̼̻̻̻̞̜͎͗̇d̷̦̫͕̘̰̜̘̪̺͈̀̔̒ạ̷̡̦̰̰͇̽͒̈́̓̉̂̕͝r̴̡͕̼͇̫͔̘̳̣͖̫̐́̌͜͜ͅk̴̙͉̳͊̆̓̓̓̇̓̿̐͝!̶̪̞͎͌̊̑̆̉͝!





Saturn grinned when he finally located the source of the strange sound. His piercing blue eyes locked onto an antique lantern hanging in a small tent shop. The flickering flame danced in tandem with the haunting voice, glowing brighter with its every wail and dimming on cue with every echo. He reached out with his metal hand, and touched the base of the lantern when......

---

WC: 1075