The Great Sacrifice in Zamami

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            “MUM, SHERRY WHERE ARE YOU?” This is not a joke guys! HEY! Where the hells have those two gone? I thought in my mind and I shouted again, “HEY! ARE YOU BOTH IN HERE???” I didn’t like my feeling at that moment because my mind began to wonder, “Where could they be at this odd hour???” I quickly reached the landline telephone to check if there were messages left by them but I was disappointed because the phone was dead. As it was a scary, stormy night with a heavy rain fall, the sound of the windows banging against one another. The lighting began to strike the house repeatedly and the thunder rumbled like madness. As I looked outside the house from the distance I could see the strong wind hitting the trees and they were blown away. I looked around my house hoping to find both of them but to no avail. I started to panic, my hands began to sweat and my heart began to beat faster and faster, but at the same time a few happy moments flashed back to me. It was a mixed and confused feeling as I thought of some happy moments that we just spent together. 

It was not long when we moved to our new house, we were so happy because the place where we were living was one of the nicest place in Okinawa, Japan. The place we were staying is called Zamami Islands, it is 50 minutes by boat from Naha City (Okinawa main land) where the view of deep green uninhabited island bordered by pure sparkling white sand, surrounded by the ocean, which colored from dark navy blue to emerald green and is so crystal with some friendly locals who have the warmth and kind nature towards us, not to mention the exquisite corals under sea with sea shells and different kinds of fish enjoying themselves. Although there were many mysteries about the island, its tradition and rituals which I didn’t really understand. Sometime they would give us some weird looks as if we were not part of them which we kept ignoring at time. Our house is a typical Japanese house and is close by the sea and the scenery is breathtaking with the sky so blue as the sun shining brightly everywhere. Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to unpack our bags and stuff.

It was already pass noon and since we had just moved in so we did not have much stuff to make food. We decided to take lunch at Naha City. We picked a restaurant called “Umizora” a mixture of Japanese and Asian Cuisine. We were told the meaning of Umi which mean the sea and zora which mean the sky that is why the restaurant is basically surrounded by the sea and under the sky. The ambience was nice and cozy with friendly atmosphere. 

            After our lunch we wanted to go to the supermarket but we didn’t really know the way but some locals guided us the way there. We had a great time shopping at the supermarket and went back to our house and chatted with one another comparing our culture and rituals of our native land, America and here in Japan. After sometimes we realized that it was getting dark and it was time for dinner so my mother and my sister started to prepare the dinner while I was watching TV. We did enjoy our salad and pasta at dinner and not long before we scattered to our own respective rooms as we were very tired.  

            In the middle of the night as I was sleeping, I could here thunder and lighting sound. It was fierce and strong. I couldn’t sleep further on, so I decided to go out to drink some water. As I came out of my room, I could feel that the house was as quite as a graveyard. I could also hear the wind howling fiercely. It seemed as if no one was here but only me. The light went off too. It tensed me even more. I quickly thought of my mother and my sister, I ran to their room and to my surprise they were not there but I kept shouting their names in every conner of the house but no one answered. I was getting more and more nervous this time. I decided to go out of the house but it was raining heavily and I was all wet. I ran to my first neighbor to seek for help but he flatly refused as we both could not really communicate with each other. He could not speak English and I could not speak Japanese. I was really mad this time but still went on to the next door but the same thing happened. I thought to myself, “Why the hell didn’t I learn some Japanese before?” I ran in the rain like a fool around the island trying to find them. I ran until I was out of breath with exhaustion I sat down on the sand like a person who did not have any aim in life but trying his best to figure out what to do next….

              Suddenly I saw some villagers walking passed me. They had masks on their faces like they were trying to hide something. I took a good observation at them and saw some black patches and dots on their masks. They did not give me any chance to ask them anything but quickly disappeared from the scene. It made me think about them and thought to myself, “Are they involved in this? Why do they have masks on their faces? Why did they rush out when they saw me? Why did they look nervous??” And many other questions that began to trouble me again and again. So I decided to follow those villagers without their knowledge. As I was hiding behind the bush I saw the villagers talking to a mysterious man. He too had his mask on. It was difficult to take a good look at him because it was too dark but the mysterious man look familiar to me. So I was trying to listen to their talks but could not hear much. After their talk, they scattered themselves and I decided to follow the mysterious man. Finally I could catch up with him and dragged him to the bushes, took off his mask trying to find all the answers for those questions. I unleashed his mask and to my shocking, it was my old man, Kururugi Suzaku.

            I pulled his collar and started to yelled, “What the F…K are you doing here? Why are you wearing the mask like those villagers? Answer me now! Kururugi Suzaku.”

“GIN? What are you doing here? You aren’t supposed to be here! Just go away from here! GO…GO!!” said the old man.

            “SHUT UP! YOU OLD MAN!! How dare you talk to me like this? You are no more my father. You left us for no reason. Mum said that you ran away from America to come here and now you are asking me that what I was doing here?!? Weren’t you the one who called us here saying that you were very sick but you look fine and healthy to me. What is going on here, tell me you old man? Are you involved in any conspiracy???” I question my father.

            “Well I can’t explain you now because it is a long story.” said the old man.

            “What’s that suppose to mean? Are you hiding something from me? Is that the reason why you called us here? ANSWER ME DAD!” I demanded the answers. Kururugi Suzaku was pleased to hear me calling him DAD after a very long period of time. He was quiet for a moment.

            After a long pause he said, “Lets us follow the villagers Gin!”

            “BUT!!!” I was about to say something but my father cut me and said in anger “It is not yet the time, son and when the time is right I will tell you everything, trust me son.”

            “WHAT? Are you kidding me? How long are you going to keep the secrets? Even now Mum and Sherry have disappeared!” I told the old man.

            While I kept following him, I asked him some questions but the old man kept ignoring my entire questions the whole time until we reached the place called Takatsuki Shrine and I could see that my old man was so agitated about the place as if something was bothering him. He was trying to tell me about the place. He said that the place is surrounded with mountains and there is a temple that has a shrine inside. Behind the temple is a big graveyard where people are buried with their families. As I looked around the place, it gave me creepy thoughts. Suddenly some villagers came and attacked my father and me. As we were struggling to save ourselves, they tied us with the rope and covered our bodies with the sacks. We could not do much because their were too many of them. They carried us on their shoulders. I felt very uncomfortable as I could not really breathe until they put us down and opened the sacks. Then I saw many villagers chanting something that I had never heard before. It felt very awkward and funny at the same time. I turned to my father and asked “What the hell is going on here?”

            Before my old man could answer me anything, a tall and huge guy came to the scene. Suddenly everyone stopped chanting as they saw him as if they were very scared of him. I could figure out that this man must be their leader. He was wearing a mask too but his mask was different. His mask was made of wood but it was uglier than those of the villagers. It has scary, black, weird eyes with ugly fangs on both sides. The nose on the mask was too long like some ugly creature in the Greek myth with two black horns on it. He carried a big, fat, long baton full of thorns. He also had ugly black nails. His body was fully covered with hair like an ape man. He started to talk with his followers in a strange language which I had no idea at all. AND THERE IT IS!!! They got my mother and my sister out from nowhere.

As I saw them, I began to shout, “MUM! SHERRY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? HAVE THEY HURT YOU SOMEWHERE???”

Sherry began to shout too. She said, “GIN! HELP US PLEASE, PLEASE HELP US! These savages had abducted us from our home. You have come to save us, right??? We are so glad to see you!”

I turned to the leader and said, “You barbarian, let them go now! Or I will         KILL YOU ALL!!!” But I was not sure weather he understood my language or not but to my surprise the leader said,

“Son, do you really think that I will let them go off easily? I have thousand of followers and you are alone. Do you think you can go against me??? What a stupid thought, SON!” he said.

I replied with anger, “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL and I have my father with me. Just untie us and see what we can do, you barbarians”

The leader commanded one of his followers to untie my father. He said, “Kururugi Suzaku, you are a free man now. God has forgiven you by bringing your son here. I am proud of you and your hard work in all these years. Finally it is going to repay you.”

 I was astonished with the leader’s words. I looked at the old man demanding for explanations but he stood silently. I said, “OH! So you are the part of their plan too. Are you planning to kill me also? Damn it!! We are your family, man. How could you do this to us? You are a heartless man. You don’t deserve to be a husband or a father. KILL US, KILL US NOW!”

The old man started to cry and said, “Son, do you remember the questions you asked me before we came here but I did not respond to any of your questions. Now it’s time I reveal the truth. Do you remember that when you were five years old, you became very sick and we all were here on this island?”

I told my father, “No, this is not true, I was not born here. I was born in America and definitely not here!”

The old man quickly said, “Son, you were actually born here and if you don’t trust me, you can ask your mother.”

I looked at my mother. She got goofed and I understood at once that the old man was telling the truth. I said, “How come I don’t remember anything. All along I thought I was born in America and mother never mentioned anything about this place to me.”

My mother said, “Gin, I am so sorry, I never meant to hurt you or your sister. I left this stupid place because few years back your father believed in some stupid and nonsense rituals. That time you were five years old, you became very sick and your father sacrificed your cousin sister’s life just to save your life. Karen, your cousin sister died in vain. After that I ran away to America and took you two along with me. I have never told you this because I never wanted it to haunt you in any way. I just want to protect you and your sister from these people. Then one day I got a letter from your father saying that he was very sick and he wanted to see all of us for the last time. So I decided to respect his last wish, not knowing it was a trap for all of us.”

I turned to my old man with few questions, “What now? Tell me I want to know everything and tell me fast because I am very impatient now.”

The old man said, “Alright, we are now going to sacrifice your mother and your sister’s lives to god in this very sacred place just to give you another life. Son, you have no idea of who you are and how important you are to this holy and spiritual place.”

“WHAT!!! What nonsense are you talking about? Why on earth have they to sacrifice their lives for me??? I am not sick anymore.” I asked in puzzle.

Then the leader cut in and said, “Son, you are a very important person here but we shall let you know later. But the ritual must take place TONIGHT before it’s too late. Because TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT WHEN THE MOON AND THE STARS ARE ALIGNED AT THE SAME POSITION and it is considered to be a virtuous period.” He then ordered his men to take the ladies on to the monolith and tied them up there.

Sherry shouted with fear, “GIN, PLEASE HELP US. I DO NOT WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!” Sherry kept on shrieking, so was me and my mum. The villagers began to chant and hail to god. They started to light the fire around the monolith and the fire began to burn both of them slowly but with the loud shriek from the three of us. It was the most hideous scene that anyone could have imagined. I could do nothing but screamed as loud as I could but in vain. Tears rolled down on my face and it kept flowing until they were fully burnt.

After the ritual, they untied me. Without thinking I jumped on to my father and hit him mercilessly until the leader came to grab me. The leader took off his mask and told me to calm down. He told me that all this was meant for good. It was god’s wills.

Then the old man said, “Gin! Please take a good look at this man. Can you remember him? He is your grandfather and he is doing all these just for you.”

Then his grandfather said, “Son, you are the next successor of our people here and the reason we had to kill your mother and sister is because we don’t want you to have any worldly attachment or any relationship. Now you have no more worries in life. A true leader will only serve his god and protect his people away from all distress.”

I shouted, “YOU BASTARD, I WILL NOT SPARE ANY OF YOU. I SHALL DESTROY YOUR SACRED PLACE AND KILL YOU ALL. JUST REMEMBER!” I pounced on them and started to punch them to my fullest strength. Then my grandfather and my father grabbed me from behind and anesthetized me until I became unconscious.

They both took him up to the shrine with the help of the villagers. Gin’s grandfather embedded him with needles at the back of his neck to allow him to forget his past and erased all of his past memories. It is a tradition that passes on blindly from one generation to another generation and this is done by the leader of the clan.

When Gin got up, he did not know who he really was as he doesn’t remember anything. As he step out of the room he finds that people who are waiting outside started to hail at him, “OH! DRAGON GOD HAS AWAKENED!!” They started to call him Dragon God. He did not understand why he was being called like that. He kept pestering everyone about himself and the reason of being called a god. Kururugi Ichigo (Gin’s grandfather) and Kururugi Suzaku was his assistant and told him that, “Dragon God is the name given to the clan leader which has passed down from generation to generation. You are now the leader of this sacred temple and from now on we are your loyal servants and will call you as our Dragon God!”