June 2004
Japan

Power slept. In the very ground of Sakurajima mountain, power slept.

The Shinto Shrine had been situated on the side of Sakurajima for centuries. The local kami had been worshipped and honored. Peace was palpable; it scented the air. Into the peace one night exploded death and pain.

Colonel Richard Wayne of the Enola Gay II moved his vessel through the Umbra to the proper coordinates. He prepared to anchor her there while the Technician brought the entity on board. A nod was all he gave to the woman in the dark suit. There was no talk. Orders were clear enough that talk wasn't needed.

The black-suited woman adjusted a few dials and pressed a button on the equipment before her. And she smiled.

there were stairs they were steep
i was falling falling deep
you were there you were small
there was screaming down the hall

There were a few old men in the Shrine even at the late hour. One of these was an aged Dreamspeaker who had tended the kami of the Shrine for most of his life. He realized someone was using magick nearby, but too late to do more than bring all the chaos to his attention. The screams of his fellow worshippers were the last things he heard as the Technocratic equipment extracted the spirit from the mountain itself.

I've been here sleeping all these years

The fire kami of Sakurajima stirred to the sounds of the dying faithful. Those men had prayed and made offerings to it. The fire of its anger began to grow.

TV Report - June 10, 2004
Kagashima Local News

(A young woman reporter stands some distance from a charred structure and smoking, charcoaled trees.)

"Sakurajima Volcano vented unexpectedly last night. The ancient Shinto Shrine situation on the south side of the mountain burst into flames last night as hot gas exploded from an unknown vent. Five local men died in the blaze, though their names are being withheld for the notification of relatives.

Geologists from the world over are on their way to study this unprecedented development in the, thus far, peaceful volcano."

July 2004
Unidentified Technocratic Location

Ronnie Jesper set the last focus plate into the containment device. As a mere recruit in the Void Engineers, he felt he was amazingly lucky to work with the prime Technician, Dr. Glaston, even if Ronnie was mainly a gofer. He'd learned so much just watching the Technician work.

These plates, now, were layered primium and super conductive ceramic magnets. Inside the containment device was the essence of fire that the Technician had extracted from a lesser known volcano in Japan.

Dr. Glaston was working on the final metaprogramming. Soon they would test the device they'd nicknamed Gamera. After that would be the celebration.

there was fire there was death
there was lying on your breath
I turned away I would pretend
but the burning never ends

November 2004

It was a powerful tool, this thing they'd named the Gamera device. Whole pockets of deviation would be burned from earth and Umbra now that it had been installed in the new Void Engine, Subgenius.

The testing had been rigorous, allowing continued refinement of the meta programming and adjustments in the device itself. It was an exceptional creation.

Within the containment field, the kami raged. The supercooled casing, ceramic magnets, and primium kept it trapped, focused on the bidding of this lying creature. Rage fueled rage and burned away the centuries of fondness for the ones who had worshipped it on Sakurajima.

She had told it it would be returned home if it entered the device. That is was the superstition and prayers of those in the Shrine that had wrenched it from home. The kami entered and was trapped. The lying fed its rage. The silly name they gave it fed its rage. The need to obey, forced by the magickal container, fed its rage. And the rage was what they wanted.

It vowed then to kill all of mankind if necessary to get rid of those who had done this. It would _never_ trust a born-one again.

December 2004
Umbra

The Subgenius left on its maiden voyage, intended as only a month long journey to test all the special devices singular to this Void Engine. A pocket of deviation was cleared from the Umbra with unexpected ease through the first 'in situ' use of the Gamera device. The crew was in an expansive mood by Christmas Eve.

The commander took the call in his ready room and emerged, expression nobly grim. As he changed the heading of the Subgenius the mood changed. Yet all present felt that they were equal to some odd squabble in New Hampshire.

It took little time for the Engine to reach the area of reported disturbance. All the sensors began giving off strange, fluctuating readings. Whatever was happening here was powerful. The crew worked as a well honed team. This is what they'd trained for -- to save the world from the unprincipled and dangerous use of magick. They would have to work fast to save this area.

there was a wave over the house
there was fear choked in my mouth
you were there you left your mark
as I stumbled in the dark

Its senses working even if the its presence was entrapped, the kami was aware of the change in umbral atmosphere as the vessel approached Manchester. It 'watched' as the wave of wild quintescence rose before the Subgenius. It took joy in the knowledge that the wave's power was more than the vessel could handle and that all would die. The Liar would die.

If a spirit can smile, this one did.

I've been here sleeping all these years

August 2009

In that spatial no man's land in and out of the Umbra around a bakery in Manchester, New Hampshire, the spirit, misnamed Gamera in jest, slumbered restlessly. The 'stunning' it had received when the Subgenius had met its end would soon pass. Then, still trapped, it would wake and rage again.

there comes a time we all know
there's a place that we must go
into the soul into the heart
into the dark

[Lyrics: 'into the dark' by Melissa Etheridge from Breakdown.]