Kikyo had been walking for three days.
The wind blew from the south, whipping fine grains of sand into her face until it stung.
She did not stop.
Her white miko robes had been dyed grayish yellow by the wind and sand. Her long hair was tied behind her head, streaming in the wind like a banner.
A longbow was slung over her shoulder, a quiver hung at her waist, and a short sword was tucked behind her back.
She held the Charm tightly in her right palm and had not loosened her grip once along the way.
The Charm was growing hot.
Kikyo lowered her head and looked at the little white cloth pouch in her palm.
The golden patterns on the Charm faintly lit up.
Kikyo pressed the Charm back against her chest and quickened her pace.
Not until the evening of the third day did a different sight finally emerge on the horizon.
It was a forest.
The tree trunks were so thick that several people would be needed to wrap their arms around them, and their canopies intertwined high overhead, leaving only narrow slits of sky.
Sunlight filtered through those gaps, falling onto the dead leaves below and forming patches of golden light.
The air was filled with the scent of rotting leaves and earth, mixed with a faint, indescribable beastly odor.
Kikyo stopped at the edge of the forest.
She crouched down, pinched up a little soil with her fingers, and held it beneath her nose.
There were traces of Demonic Power in the soil.
They were faint, like scent markings left by animals, spread across every inch of the forest.
This was no ordinary forest.
This was territory of the Western Country.
The entrance to the land of demons.
Kikyo rose to her feet,