Mitch had been on the plane for seven hours already and the flight was only half over. Well, he hadn’t been on the same plane for seven hours, he had a lay over in L.A. and in Honolulu which he just left from. He listened to Van Halen on his mp3 player and tried to go to sleep. This was proving very difficult. He looked out the window at the ocean rushing beneath him. Mitch hated flying.

He pulled the letter out of his pocket to read it for the millionth time.

                                                     HELP ME!

That was all it said. It was from his old sword instructor who now lived in Japan, Mitch knew that from the return address on the envelope it came it. It was written very hastily in poorly scribbled English. His instructors name was Taku Menori, or just Menori Sensei or Sensei to his students. He had taught in L.A. back when Mitch had lived there with his foster family. He taught Mitch more than just how too use a katana, he had been his mentor in life. Mitch spent his every waking moment at Sensei’s dojo, or school. Had Mitch’s fear of the ocean not forced him to flee the coast, he could have become an ushi-deshi, or a live in student. It’s what Sensei had wanted, Mitch, being a demon hunter, had a natural born talent for fighting, Sensei would never say it to his face, but Mitch was his best student.

Mitch had started training at age nine, three years after his parents’ death. By age thirteen he was placed in the adult classes, normally one has to be sixteen to move up, but Mitch had already progressed farther than any other student.

A stewardess walked by serving drinks. Mitch had a glass of water, the pop was always warm, and he was trying to cut back. So far he was unsuccessful. The mp3 player switched to Motley Crue, Mitch liked Van Halen better but Motley Crue was still good. He tried not to look out the window any more than he had to, but all there was to see was the ocean and the sky. Not even a white cloud to combat the fearful blue. He eventually realized that he could close the window.

The plane began to shake mildly, Mitch closed his eyes and gripped the armrests. ”We are experiencing some turbulence, please return to your seat and fasten you seatbelt.” The stewardess who had been serving drinks was now standing at the front of the plane replacing the intercom to its holder and switching on the fasten seatbelt light. The little green light came on in front of Mitch. The plane continued to shake for the next five minutes or so, although it felt like an eternity to Mitch. He would rather face a thousand Zarack’s than go through turbulence again. Mitch counted out a thousand Zarack’s in his head as they began experiencing more turbulence.

Mitch tried to focus on the task at hand in order to distract himself. He first had to go to Sensei’s home, which Mitch assumed was an apartment in Tokyo based on the address, but it was hard to tell due to it being in Japanese. Distracting him self wasn’t working. The plane began to shake less violently and finally stopped altogether. The mp3 player switched again, this time to Kiss, which was also good. Mitch closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.

********************************************

Mitch awoke to the sound of the stewardess’ voice on the intercom again. ”Ladies and Gentlemen, we are preparing to land at Tokyo International Airport. Please remain seated, we hope you enjoyed your flight.” Mitch stretched and groaned a little as he prepared him self for the incredible annoyance that all airports are.

It took twenty minutes for the plane to find an open terminal, ten minutes for him to exit the gate, over two hours to get through customs using his fake passport, twenty-five minutes waiting for his baggage to arrive, and another ten minutes to catch a cab. Most of his time was spent checking his weapons in, the people at the customs office seemed annoyed at the amount of weaponry he had. Over all, he was not happy with Japan at the present moment. He gave the cabbie the envelope and pointed to the return address while handing him a big wad of yen that he had no idea the value of. The cabbie nodded, grabbed the money, and floored it.

Unfortunately, with all the speeding the cabbie could do, Tokyo traffic still lived up to its reputation as being impassable. An hour later he was out side Sensei’s apartment door. Mitch reasoned that he wouldn’t be there, but he figured that he should be polite and knock anyway. Mitch knocked three times and waited. No answer. He looked down the hallway in both directions and pulled the key that had come with the letter from his pocket. He stepped into Sensei’s apartment and closed the door behind him.

As he set his stuff down he looked around the room. It was a modern style apartment that Sensei had redecorated to look more traditional. The living room had only a couch and small coffee table, all sitting on the tatami mat floor he had laid down. There were lamps in the corners and nothing on the walls, the rest of the apartment would be more decorative, this was like a waiting room. Mitch took off his shoes and bowed on pure reflex before entering the rest of the apartment.

The kitchen was to the left behind a sliding shoji screen door. It was totally modern, tiled floor, silver refrigerator, black glass top stove with matching microwave mounted above it, black laminated counters, and light wood cupboards. Aside from being modern, it was also perfectly clean, Mitch expected the whole place to be that way. Mitch exited the kitchen and walked down the hall, which was on the wall to the right of the kitchen and straight across from the front door. The hall also had tatami mat flooring, it was a pale green color and laid down side-by-side running length wise with the hallway. The walls were covered with rice paper shoji screens, to the untrained eye there would seem to be no doors, but Mitch knew exactly where they were.

Mitch entered the first door to his right. It appeared to be the study, it had carpeting, white painted walls that were lined with bookcases, and a desk in the middle of the room facing towards the door with a small lamp on it. The bookcases were full of Japanese books, which Mitch couldn’t read the tittles of. The desk was of a dark wood and had nothing on it but the lamp. Mitch moved to the other side of it and sat in the small padded desk chair. He started going through the drawers, he didn’t know what he was looking for yet, but he would know when he found it. The top drawer had nothing but the same paper used to write the note and pencils, all sharpened to a perfect point except one that lay on top of all the others. The other six drawers were all empty.

Mitch got up, walked out of the room and into the room across the hall. It was Sensei’s bedroom. It opened to the right and couldn’t be more than ten feet by ten. It had a futon bed in the corner to Mitch’s right with a very short nightstand and lamp. It went length wise away from him facing a TV that was hidden behind a sliding screen in the wall. The floor was tatami mat like the living room and hallway.

Mitch began searching around the room, checking in the TV compartment around the TV for anything that could be hidden. He checked under the bed and between the mattress and frame. There he found something, a newspaper from a week ago. He couldn’t read it, but the picture on the front page explained a lot, it featured the headshots of three people and a map with a red circle on it. Mitch assumed that the people were missing and the circled area of the map was where they were all last seen. Sensei probably went out in search of these people, and apparently ran into more than he had bargained for.

Unfortunately Mitch couldn’t read the paper and therefore had no idea how to help Sensei or even find him for that matter. Mitch opened the paper to the next page and a piece of paper fell to the floor at his feet. Mitch bent over to pick it up and read it. It said in sloppy English:

Good job Mitch finding the paper. I know that you can’t read Japanese so I thought I would translate it for you. The pictures are of three missing hikers that all disappeared while climbing Mt. Fuji about a week before the paper was released. I went to discover their whereabouts and have failed, hence you are reading this message. I don’t know what it is at this point, I just know it is something demonic. I went to Mt. Fuji to start looking, I have nothing more I can tell you. Good luck Mitch.

-Menori Sensei

Mitch now had a location. Sensei seemed to have placed this note before he left as a clue for Mitch. He really hoped that these instructions wouldn’t self-destruct. Mitch chuckled slightly at his joke and pulled the map he had bought at the airport out of his pocket and found the area circled in the paper. Luckily his map was in English so he could read it, sure enough the circled area was on Mt. Fuji. More specifically the base on the north side, there was a forest there called Aokigahara.

There was an indication for more info on the back of the map, Mitch sat down on the tatami and laid down the map, upside down. In the left hand corner was an article about Aokigahara. Its nickname was the “Suicide Forest” legend states that the spirits of suicide victims haunt the forest, and there are a lot of them. Last year they found 78 bodies, breaking the old record of 73 in 2002. It is also insanely easy to get lost, there are hundreds of paths and the forest is so dense that you can’t see the mountain, and following the slope doesn’t help due to the constant dips and flat spots.

Mitch didn’t see anything demonic about this, but he trusted Sensei and had to find him. Mt. Fuji is just west of Tokyo, Mitch could have a cab take him there in no time, comparatively. Mitch stood up, folding the map back into his pocket as he did. He walked down the hall back out into the living room. Mitch had his bags in hand and was on his way out the door when he realized something, he could be gone for days in that forest and would need food and water. He set his bags down and went straight to the kitchen. He found what looked to be boxes and boxes of Japanese granola bars, Sensei had prepared for Mitch ahead of time. He found several canteens in another cupboard, he filled them with water from the tap.

He also realized that by the time he got there it would be dark. While he did intend to stay there as long as he had too, it would be better to start fresh in the morning. Mitch went back to Sensei’s room to read until he fell asleep.

********************************************

Now he was ready to leave, he had his supplies in his bag and was ready to go. Mitch walked out the door, turned to lock it behind him, and headed for the stairs. Mitch always took the stair if he was going less than fifteen floors, you can’t get stuck in the stairs and he could always use the work out. He came to the first floor and made his way out the front door to find another cab. After five minutes of poor whistling and arm waving, he finally caught one, luckily this one spoke English.

“Where to?” the cabby asked over his shoulder in perfectly pronounced English.

“Take me to Aokigahara Forest please.” Mitch prayed that he had pronounced it right, it would seem awkward to have the driver speak English better than Mitch spoke Japanese.

“You’re not going to, you know?” the driver made a throat slashing motion with his right pointer finger. Mitch assumed he had said it right.

“No, hopefully I can save someone else if we get there fast enough.” Mitch rocked back and forth to seem anxious.

“Well we better hit the road then.” The cabby slammed on the gas peddle as he said this, throwing Mitch backwards against his seat. Strangely both the cabs he’d taken smelled of fish. Mitch figured that they must get a lot of sushi take out in Japan.

The cab went west as fast as traffic allowed, so they got there almost two hours later. When they arrived at the forest entrance, the driver helped him get the right amount of yen, at least Mitch hoped it was the right amount, and sped off towards Tokyo. Mitch turned to see the forest. The sun was rising to Mitch’s left making the forest path darker and more sinister looking than any Mitch had ever seen, even in movies. Legends say that the forest is as old as the mountain and is haunted not only by dead spirits, but by demons and goblins as well. Mitch would have to see, it certainly looked like a good place for evil.

Mitch found a stand with maps in various languages next to the entrance. They out lined the forest’s many paths, Mitch tucked that in his back pocket and headed in to the primeval forest.

The trees were dense enough to block out most of the sunlight, and what light did make it through cast eerie shadows over the path. Even though it was the middle of spring the trees all looked dead. There was no noise, not even birds or insects. Mitch’s feet breaking the dead branches were all that made a sound, and that which normally seemed barely above a whisper, seemed deafeningly loud in this forest of death. All of Mitch’s demon hunter senses were screaming at him, this was not a normal forest. This entire forest was plagued by an evil unlike any Mitch had ever encountered. Chills ran down his spine as the malevolence crawled into him. He felt like running, or possibly taking his own life. Mitch now understood, this forest is not haunted by suicides, people commit suicide because of this forest.

Mitch gripped the handle of his crossbow tighter and tighter as he walked deeper into the maddening darkness. His sword began to weigh down on his hip where it was belted on, traditional Samurai style, and his backpack seemed to pull him down towards the earth below him. Mitch stopped and shook his head in a futile attempt to clear his thoughts. He would never find Sensei or the lost hikers, that is if they’re still alive, unless he concentrated.

Mitch looked down at his watch, it was 11:15. he had only been in the forest for an hour. It felt as though an eternity had passed as he wandered the ancient paths, checking his map periodically to mark where he was and where he’d been. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his left hand, he didn’t know why he was sweating, he had his jacket unzipped even though he felt extremely cold. Mitch couldn’t rely on his demon hunter abilities to track down the specific evil he was looking for, evil surrounded him on all sides.

Mitch found a larger opening in the path and sat to have his lunch. He took a large swig from the first canteen and peeled the wrapper off two granola bars. Mitch sat on a log that felt like stone underneath him as he ate. Mitch had noticed several stone statues on the path, the map of the forest mentioned something about them warding off evil, it definitely didn’t work. When he was done Mitch looked at his map to make sure he was headed towards the mountain, since there was too much iron beneath the forest floor to use a compass, and he couldn’t see the mountain, Mitch had to rely solely on the map. He felt a burst of confidence just knowing that.

Mitch grabbed his gear and headed down the path again. He figured that because the hikers were going to Mt. Fuji, they would likely have disappeared while heading towards it. This was also where Mitch assumed that Menori Sensei had gone, he normally didn’t like to assume things that were so important, but he had nothing else to go with. Mitch hoped that the demon made its home in a mountain cave near the other edge of the forest. Mitch walked the paths of the forest the entire day, stopping every couple of hours to eat and drink. When the sun fell to Mitch’s right, he stopped in a Y intersection and made camp.

If spending the day in the primeval forest was horrifying, then spending the night there was like sleeping in Hell, only in Hell the fire provides some light, where as here there was none. Mitch pulled a small flashlight/lamp that he found at Sensei’s out of his bag, even at full brightness the light seemed inadequate. Unfortunately he had no sleeping bag so he had to sleep on the cold hard ground. Normally Mitch would have turned off the lamp before falling asleep, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, or to sleep for that matter. If those hikers and Sensei are still alive, they’re going to need a lot of therapy after this. So might Mitch.

The night passed long and uneventful. Mitch got tired of rolling to face a creeping feeling in his back every five seconds and finally just sat up against a tree. As much as he hated just sitting there, the idea of traveling in this perpetual darkness terrified him to the very depths of his soul. And so he sat and awaited the rising of the sun.

It came after nine terrifying hours in the black abyss of night. The morning light shown weakly into Mitch’s green, sleep deprived eyes. He first checked with his map to ensure that he was facing in the right direction, and then took the path that led to his right. The night had made the day easier to handle, but Mitch still held the crossbow as if by letting go he would lose his sanity.

He didn’t stop again until noon to eat lunch. Again he sat on a rock hard log and ate his two granola bars, they had very little taste but provided all the nutrients he would need to stay healthy. What I wouldn’t do for a Mt. Dew right now, Mitch thought to himself, praying for the uplifting and energizing feeling that shortly followed the sweet caffeine. Very few people realize that it is possible to become addicted to caffeine and be dependant on it. Mitch tried very hard not to become a caffeine junky, he didn’t like the idea of being dependant on a substance for him to feel good.

Mitch began his walk again, wondering how long it would take him to find Menori Sensei and his demon. After a few more hours Mitch grew tired. He began to here voices.

“Mitch, over here.” Mitch spun to face the voice. There was nothing.

“No, over here.” Mitch turned to his right. Again, there was nothing.

This was repeated over and over again. The voice would call out to Mitch and he would spin to face it, and would find nothing.

“Behind you.” This time, when Mitch turned around, he found himself face-to-face with the demon. Mitch fell backwards, startled by the sudden appearance of the demon. He stood up quickly, moving backwards as he did to increase distance. The demon was human in body shape, but had a crow’s head and wings. All of it was covered in large black feathers, it wore a red Japanese kimono, or robe, and in its right hand held a long staff. Mitch knew it to be a Tengu, a Japanese mountain and forest bird demon. They are masters of Japanese martial arts, can teleport within a small range, such as the forest clearing they’re in right now, and can speak telepathically. Mitch was in for a fight.

“Where is Menori Sensei?” Mitch found that now that he had an actual opponent he was much less fearful. The Tengu just stared at him with its cold black eyes. “I asked you, where is Menori Sensei?” Mitch stood about five feet from the demon, he had dropped the crossbow in the fall and had yet to draw his sword.

“I really don’t know.” The voice came from the Tengu but its beak never moved. “You must have me confused with some other demonic life form in this forest. There are many that inhabit it.” Tengu also love to cause mischief, it was most likely lying to him.

“And the other hikers, what about them?” Mitch knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer, but he might get a clue.

“If you can beat me, I’ll tell you.” The Tengu dropped into a low fighting stance and brought the staff down into both hands. Mitch drew his sword and held it at an angle in front of him, lowering into a similar stance with the right foot in front holding most of his weight.

They stood there staring at each other, demon and demon hunter. Both trained in the arts of combat from the same country, even though they were using different weapons, the ideas and concepts were still the same. Neither moved, both waited. Waited for the other to flinch or give away an advantage. Neither moved, both waited.

While Mitch was staring at the Tengu trying to figure out how to beat it with out killing it so it could lead him to Sensei, it disappeared. It vanished into thin air, right before Mitch’s very eyes. Mitch heard the soft whistle of movement through air behind him and he spun around clockwise, bringing his sword up over his head as he did so. Wood crashed on steel as the staff hit Mitch’s perfectly placed block. Surprisingly the staff didn’t break, or even dent, it should have being only wood hitting sharp steel.

The demon lashed out low with the back end of the staff. Mitch shifted back and brought his sword down to block that strike. The Tengu’s staff bounced off his block as the other end came side ways at Mitch’s left side. Mitch blocked this strike also while shifting back again. He had to get on the offensive somehow, he had to break rhythm.

The next strike came downwards from Mitch’s right. He ducked forwards and to the right, under the strike, and cut upwards at the Tengu. Mitch twisted to cut downwards where the demon was, but as he turned he saw that the demon had vanished again. It must have transported out of the way of Mitch’s first cut. Mitch held his sword at an angle in front of him again and circled slowly counter clockwise to find the his foe.

He made a complete circle and still found nothing. Mitch heard a rustling noise above him, he stepped forwards and to his left, then spun clockwise on his left foot and looked up. The demon dropped right on the spot where Mitch had just been. It landed facing him, on its left knee, with both hands on the staff as if it were planning to stick it through Mitch from head to foot. It rose slowly, lifting its head to stare at Mitch with its dark evil eyes. Mitch saw his crossbow on the ground three feet to his left. He eyed the Tengu, eyed the crossbow, and calculated timing.

The demon jumped at him, completely off the ground, its staff poised to strike. Mitch jumped to his left, picking up the crossbow as he rolled along the ground. He came up from his roll, turned, and fired all at once. The bolt pierced the Tengu’s right thigh through its kimono as it landed in the spot where Mitch had just been. It snapped its head around to face him, a look of shear amazement mixed with pain was plastered on its face. Mitch had actually hurt it, possibly for the first time in its impossibly long existence. It raised its staff like a javelin, aiming right for Mitch. Mitch reloaded his crossbow as it pulled back, chambering its throw.

Mitch stopped breathing, all time seemed to have halted on this one moment. The demons arm came forward and released the staff in apparent slow motion. Mitch fell backwards, the staff passing inches from the top of his head as he fell aiming the crossbow. He fired, landing harshly on his rear, and watched as the bolt hit the demon in the heart.

It looked down at its new injury, looked back up at Mitch, and fell down backwards like a scene from an old western movie. Mitch looked behind him, the staff had embedded itself in the tree right behind where he was standing, right at chest level. Mitch walked over to the Tengu and lowered his sword to its thin, feathered neck.

“Now take me to Sensei.” Mitch practically spat the words.

“You have proven to be a most worthy adversary, I will lead you to your Sensei.” The demon looked up at Mitch, helplessly lying beneath his sword blade. “I’m afraid my home is rather cleverly hidden and I will have to show you where it is. For me to do this I will have to stand up.” Mitch thought about his options, never taking his eyes off the demon. If it weren’t done it would have just disappeared from under the sword and continued its attack. It must be done, Mitch would still be extra careful.

Mitch lifted his sword. “Alright, but you walk in front, any funny business and you’re history.”

“Of coarse, my word is my bond.” The Tengu stood up slowly and pulled the bolt from its chest. “Here,” it handed the bolt back to Mitch, “you might need this later.” Mitch didn’t like the sound of that, but he needed to find Sensei.

The demon turned and headed down the path back in the direction that Mitch had come. Mitch hesitated for a moment, and followed with his sword in his right hand and his crossbow in his left. He left nothing to chance, if the Tengu tried to trick him, he would be ready. They walked in silence, the demon right in front of Mitch, and Mitch right behind the demon, his sword always leveled at the demon’s back.

They came to a smaller trail leading off the main trail and turned down it. It was barely wide enough for Mitch to walk down, but he remained square with the Tengu at all times, never turning to allow for more comfortable passage. Twigs and branches scratched at his face, but he never moved, never letting the demon out of his sights. Mitch’s arm grew tired holding his sword as they continued down this narrow path, he felt it begin to waver. He tightened his grip and held his sword still at the
Tengu’s back.

They came to another clearing like the one they had fought in and the demon stopped.

“Up ahead is the hide out of a band of goblins. They fear me and will let me through, but you may not be so fortunate. They will attempt an ambush, I will help you to get through, but I will not kill them. This is your warning.” The Tengu turned to continue walking down the path as if nothing had happened. They walked down the path for maybe five more minutes before the ambush came.

Whistles accompanied by thuds sounded as goblin darters shot poisoned darts at him, hitting the tree instead. At least six goblins boiled out of the dense forest, from all sides. They’re not more than five feet tall, have dark green oily skin, pointy ears, and big crooked noses, your typical Halloween goblin. Most brandished small straight swords, while some had small hand axes.

Mitch sidestepped as the one nearest to him cut straight down with its sword. Mitch thrust his sword through the goblins thin leather armor and into its side. The goblin fell but more came to take its place. The next one swung its axe at Mitch’s neck, he ducked as the axe got stuck in the tree behind him. He cut sideways spilling the goblin’s intestines out on the forest floor.

Mitch caught a glimpse of the Tengu fighting, effortlessly parrying and striking. It looked almost as though Mitch hadn’t injured it, moving easily and seeming never to be in any danger as the goblin hordes kept pouring into the small forest path. The Tengu had said that they would leave it alone, but they seemed to realize that it was attacking them and started to fight back.

They battled slowly towards each other, both killing, or at least maiming, goblin after goblin. Before long they were fighting back to back, two masters of combat battling an endless stream of evil. They seemed to fight not as two fighters, but as one warrior, striking as one, each blocking for the other. Mitch ducked and thrust under the demon’s arm as the Tengu swung over his head. Both warriors hit their marks taking out just one more from the never-ending onslaught.

A tremor ran through the ground nearly knocking Mitch off his feet, another followed shortly, and another after that. The goblins all stopped and looked around. They all seemed panicked, the Tengu levitated just off the ground to avoid unbalancing. The goblins ran in all directions as another tremor shook the forest.

“We may want to run now.” The Tengu turned and ran down the path.

Mitch ran to catch up, the goblins stumbling over one another as Mitch ran. He trampled several of the smaller ones that had been tripped by the bigger faster ones also running away down the path.

“What was that thing?” Mitch inquired after catching the demon.

“My guess would be that it was the Goblin Giant. It is said to be ten feet tall, and weighs over one thousand pounds of pure muscle.”

“Then it’s definitely a good thing that we ran.” Mitch said between deep breaths. They had run about 200 yards before the Tengu decided it was safe to stop.

“My cave, and your master, is just up ahead.” The demon pointed down the narrow path with its staff. “Would you like to lead the way, or shall I?”

“You first, we’re not that close.” Mitch had now fought along side the demon, and he felt he could trust it, but he was still very nervous about it.

The Tengu started down the path once again with Mitch still holding his sword at the demon’s back, more as a show of power and control than out of actual fear. Mitch didn’t want the demon to think he had let his guard down. The path continued straight for another three or four hundred yards before it came to the sheer mountain face and curved to the right, the mountain on the left side, the haunted forest on the right side. Mitch didn’t like having his back to a wall with no way out, but it was better than having the forest on all sides. At least now one flank was secure.

The Tengu kept walking down the path. Mitch could now see the sky, barely. It was almost dark, Mitch guessed about seven-thirty p.m. The demon stopped and turned to face the rock wall. It raised its staff parallel to the ground at waist level, Mitch readjusted his grip on his sword and grew tense. The Tengu inserted its staff into a small niche in the mountain face and twisted. There was a slight tremor as a the out-line of a small door appeared in the rock around the staff. The demon pulled its staff out and pushed the door inwards, swinging on unseen, rock hinges. Mitch stepped in after the demon.

The cave was about ten feet wide and twenty feet long. The walls were of smooth bare rock. The corners were perfect, like the work of a master mason and yet there wasn’t a seem in the entire place. The room was supernaturally made like this, Mitch could tell that much, and it was perfect. There were two other doors in the room, one on the far wall and one on the wall on the right. The Tengu walked with out hesitation to the door on the far wall and pushed it open.

“Behind this door is a labyrinth in which there are many rooms. One contains your Sensei. You must follow me closely so that you don’t get lost, there are many twist and turns that you could get lost in for all of eternity.” The demon then turned a way and walked through the door. The door led to a narrow hallway not more that three feet wide and seven feet tall. It seemed dim but lit well enough to see all the way down to the next turn, although how the hall was lit Mitch couldn’t tell.

Mitch tried to keep a mental map in his head as they went but it became impossible. They took more turns than Mitch could count, let alone keep track of in any order. After what seemed like hours the Tengu stopped at a dead end and turned to face Mitch.

“Well this is it. Behind this door is your Sensei. In the room to your right are his weapons, I will now open both.” The demon turned and opened two hidden doors with out so much as touching either wall. The demon turned sideways and let Mitch look into the room in front of him. The Tengu, seeing Mitch’s reluctance to walk past, stepped into the room and let Mitch enter after.

The room looked like an extension of the hallway five feet past the door. It was the same width and height and looked exactly the same. In the far right-hand corner of the room Mitch saw Menori Sensei sitting facing the door. He looked much older than the last time Mitch had seen him, granted it was almost ten years ago, Sensei looked easily thirty years older than he should be. The evil in this place must have been etching at his sanity, having been here for only a few days Mitch felt haggard, he can’t even begin to understand how Sensei felt.

“Mitch, is that you?” Sensei’s voice still carried the respect commanding tone that it always had, even though his throat sounded parched with thirst.

“Hai Sensei, I’m here.” Mitch answered in Japanese on reflex, hai meaning yes.

The Tengu stood in the corner and watched as Mitch helped Sensei up and helped him walk out of the room to the adjacent room containing all of Sensei’s supplies. When Sensei was re-outfitted with his sword and pack they walked out of the room and looked at the demon.

“All right Tengu, you brought me to Sensei, now what about the hikers?” Mitch couldn’t forget about the reason that Sensei had left in the first place. Sensei, now standing up on his own, looked at Mitch with what looked like admiration, his student had found him, and having completed his mission went on the complete another’s mission as well. He was very proud.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have forgotten to inform you. They’re dead. I killed them before your Sensei ever got here, no rescue mission today boys.” The demon had what must have been as close to a smile as its bird beak would allow. It enjoyed this.

“Then at least show us out.” Mitch had figured that they were dead, but tried anyway. Now that he knew for sure, his main goal was to get Sensei out of this tunnel and this forest.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“But you said that if I beat you,” the Tengu cut him off in mid sentence.

“Our agreement was that if you beat me I would lead you to your Sensei, and I have done that. Now you have annoyed me very much and taken away from my precious hunting time, so now you must both die.” The demon stepped forward and swung his staff, Mitch stepped lightly back out of the way and fired his crossbow, which he had held in his left hand the whole time. The bolt stuck in the demon’s chest as Mitch ran past him pulling Sensei along with him.

This sucked, not only were they stuck in a maze that they had no idea how to get out of, and both of them tired and injured, but they also had an extremely talented demon chasing them through the maze that it does know how to get through. Talk about bad luck. Mitch kept moving in what he thought was the general direction that he had come from. He took turn after turn not knowing where to really go and probably getting himself more lost than when he started.

“Mitch.”

“Yes Sensei.” Mitch paused and turned to look at Sensei. He was breathing heavy, but he was keeping up.

“Out of all the demons that live in that forest do you think that this one is the only one that lives in this mountain?”

“No.”

“Well than how come this maze is so huge, the Tengu can’t be the most powerful thing out there and be able to take up this much space just for himself.”

Mitch could see what Sensei was saying, this tunnel is way too big for one demon in a mountain surrounded by hundreds of equal or more powerful demons. All these turns must be illusionary to confuse us. The labyrinth may only be five or six actual hallways that the Tengu moves the entrances and exits to so that it seems to go on forever.

“Of course.” Mitch turned away from Sensei and walked to one end of the tunnel. It turned to the right but Mitch turned left and walked through the wall, Sensei followed closely. They found themselves in the entrance to the cave. The door to the out-side was open, but silhouetted in it’s pale moon light was the Tengu.

“Well it took you long enough.” The demon stepped fully into the room and took a low martial arts stance. Sensei and Mitch drew their swords simultaneously, both adopting opposite stances in order to fight better as a team. Mitch began circling to the left, Sensei circling to the right in perfect symmetry. The demon moved in between them and stopped. Sensei and Mitch stopped circling, both facing the Tengu ready to fight for their freedom.

Sensei and Mitch struck in unison, Mitch high, Sensei low. The demon twisted and managed to block both strikes with the two ends of his staff. The demon ducked Mitch’s second strike and hit Sensei in the ankles tripping him. Sensei rolled away as the Tengu struck down on the exact spot he had just occupied. Mitch swung sideways at waist height, the demon could not jump or duck with out opening itself to Sensei’s blade. It ducked, Sensei thrust low, about to pierce it’s feathered hide, when it vanished.

Mitch growled in aggravation, he hated when it did that. It appeared behind Sensei in mid swing and struck him in the back, sending him sprawling towards Mitch. Mitch leapt over Sensei and swung down at the demons head. It moved, Mitch’s blade missing by mere inches. Mitch landed to the demons right and swung across at its stomach. The Tengu blocked the strike and moved in, it let go of its staff with its clawed right hand and grabbed Mitch around the throat.

“You humans are pathetic, I could have killed you right a way when we first met or at any time after that, but I wanted to see if you and your Sensei would be more fun to fight, but you weren’t. Even together you’re weak, you’ll never be able to beat me, and even if you do you’ll never make it out of the forest alive. I protected you the whole time.”

The demon was so involved in its monologue that it never noticed Sensei standing up. Sensei took one step and cut down severing the Tengu’s right arm just below the elbow. Mitch fell backwards and regained his breath. The demon swung its staff in its left arm hitting Sensei under the chin, throwing him up and backwards. Mitch raised his right arm and fired his wrist-mounted crossbow from pointblank range into the demons skull. Its knees buckled and it fell forwards. Sensei came up to it, and raised his sword. Pain and anger unlike any Mitch had ever seen filled Sensei’s eyes as he aimed his strike. With all the power that he possessed Sensei struck down, decapitating the Tengu once and for all.

Mitch looked around in his pack for fluid and matches. He found some, drenched the demons carcass, and handed Sensei the matchbook. Sensei, without hesitating or saying anything, struck a match and threw it in.