Chapter 3: Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Satisfied with his earnings, Iko slips the bag of coins into the interior of his robe. "The spirit realm is home to many entities. Some malevolent, other benign, and most with goals beyond our comprehension. Demons, and the Oni, are among those spirits with malevolent desires." He takes a sip of his tea before continuing. "Demons are a wide classification. To be clear, any spirit whose essence is twisted by negative emotion becomes a demon. There are those of anger, fear, woe, lust, even hunger. It is said that it was the mortal heart that created the first of the demons, who ravaged the spirit world before being confined by the Spirit Lords. Only after was the spirit world allowed to return to a state of peace and serenity, outside of the get prison pits constructed for the demons."
"The Oni are a bit different, in a way. The Oni are a certain type of demon, capable of reaching into the physical world for periods of time. They can manifest themselves in many ways, but not for longer than a few minutes. Often, they take this time to find a foothold of sorts. They are drawn to people who experience strong emotion similar to what has tainted their essence. Once they possess this person, they have a permanent foothold in the physical world to wreak havoc. The Oni are not just strong and tough, but cunning, and full of strange magic. Very dangerous, and to be slain with extreme prejudice. Oni are creatures of malice, hatred... conquest. They crave the feeling of domination over what they see to be lesser beings. To let an Oni survive for long is to bring destruction upon all it can lay its hands on."
Iko takes a deep breath, pushing away the dark thoughts of demons in a practiced motion. "So again... why do you ask?" he repeats, a bit more forcefully.

Feng takes all this information in while sipping tea, looking calm and collected all the while. Internally she's a bit panicked.

"Oh one of the girls was talking about this 'librarian' she's interested in -spirits know why, must be good looking, or she can boss him around-. Evidently this fellow is quite knowledgeable of demons, and just a week ago he was positively terrified of something terrible happening, I didn't get the details. Now that isn't exactly a solid lead, but I figure if anyone would take such an interest it would be you." She sips from her tea again, only to realize her cup is empty.

"Now while you process this possible venture I have a follow up question, harmless really: ghosts are different then Oni right? At least subtly?"

Iko does take in the venture idea, but doesn't miss the worry in Feng's voice as she asks. "Ghosts are the remnants of mortal souls. Not the same as a spirit. The possession of an Oni is complete. The soul is consumed as the demonic spirit takes possession of the body."

Kalam listens for a bit, "I'm sorry but my questions are of a more practical nature. How do you remove them from this world?" he asks then takes a sip of his tea.

Iko thinks for a moment. "The key is usually to untether them from the physical world. Find whatever it is they have latched onto and either cleanse it or destroy it. This tether can be any number of things, from an object, a person, or sometimes, even a location, if they're exceptionally powerful."

"Very interesting, I'll keep that in mind, next time." Kalam stares into his tea cup in thought. Then quickly drains the cup. "Thank you for all that Iko. You have given me much to think about." At that Kalam gets up and stretches a bit. "I need some supplies before our next outing. I'm fairly new in town, would either of you know of a reasonable place to shop? I'm looking for some rations and cave divers or climbers equipment. Maybe even a new leather vest?"

Feng's worry dissipates, if only a little bit. I still need answers...

"I can give you a grand tour if you'd like. Supplies are plentiful here, and as for the vest..." Feng eyes him up, as if she's looking at him for the first time. "Well, I know of some exotic leather shops, depending on your taste. Fairly expensive." She answers ambiguously, failing to elaborate.

Kalam looks down at his own attire, the vest was made of old snake skin, some of the scales have fallen off and others have gone almost transparent. "You're right, I should save the coin. Ill get what supplies I can from here." he picks at a hole in the vest. "This ones a few decades old but it might last a few more years. It's just when we fought the scorpion beast, the bruises i took while trying to protect Mimi.. I was just looking for a bit of protection in case I am ever hit. I mean landing a blow on me is hard but not impossible." he grins wryly. "Also I would be grateful to have a guide."

"You're not that pretty." Feng rolls her eyes. "And you can probably find a..whats the term? A knuck- ah a 'knockoff'. Much cheaper, but the quality may be rather dubious. We can cross that stream when we get there."

Not quite getting Fengs meaning, Kalam looks around for supplies to purchase.