>>5961121And lastly, the priests that linger around the complex. The first one you see is a young girl, a shrine maiden about your age sweeping a path. You ask her about Hiraku’s ritual.
“Hiraku’s ritual?” She asks. “It hasn’t been performed in over a decade. It’s an exorcism. Hiraku was plagued with unsavory visions since the loss of his eyes, he wanted to purify himself. The ritual involves being paralyzed with mind-expanding drugs and being sunk into a spring to temporarily drown while the priests watch and perform rites of fire to extricate the evil from your body while inviting purer kami to take their place. It’s probably more complicated than that, I’ve only had it briefly described to me.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Well, Hiraku died. But there have been ghost stories that say he lingers here still, and the priests who conducted the ritual certainly believe they saw his ghostly figure afterwards with their own waking eyes, which is why he’s venerated as an ancestral spirit of the shrine and posthumously declared a high priest, since his return was taken as a sign of the divine purity of his spirit. The ritual predated Hiraku, I only know what you’re referring to because it’s an important moment in the annals of our history. It’s been conducted maybe five times since then, and only one other person died. It’s not dangerous by itself though. Hiraku only died because he chose to let go of mortal concerns after experiencing a purer form of existence. The other man who died only died because he was a charlatan acting out of pride to prove something to the priests, and the kami rejected him. The other four simply couldn’t remember anything at all about their experience, but their issues did cease afterwards. Why do you ask?”
“I’m curious about whether or not I should undergo it myself.” You say, electing to not spread rumors about your abilities to unvetted civilians.
“Most people wouldn’t want to unless it was a last resort. You might become transfixed by the purity of the spirits and let go of your will to live on in this world, or if your intentions are impure the kami might doom you as punishment. It’s not a light choice. Do you want me to report to the priests that you want to undergo it? It’s not my place to judge your decision, that’s for the kami.”
>Do it.>Nah, fuck that. 