Three Sparks is a 2017 short story written by Larry Correia, published by Titan Books as part of the anthology Predator: If It Bleeds. Set in feudal Japan, the story follows a disgraced former samurai named Nasu Hiroto, who is offered a chance at redemption if he will hunt and kill the mysterious demon that is slaughtering all who come to face it.
Plot[]
Stories of a fearsome oni (demon) that is terrorizing the Aokigahara forest, slaughtering all who flock there to face it, cause the former samurai Nasu Hiroto to return from his self-imposed exile in the hopes of facing the spirit himself. He is brought before the shōgun, Minamoto Yoritomo, who at first threatens to have Hiroto executed for abandoning his duties when he left Japan many years previously. However, recognizing Hiroto's skill and thirst for perilous prey, he offers him the chance to accompany a young but entitled warrior on a mission to hunt and slay the oni. He warns them that the demon is large and strong, kills with blades and bolts of lighting, and can render itself invisible at will.
Hiroto and the cocky yet inexperienced Ashikaga Motokane, along with Motokane's small band of bodyguards, travel to a village on the edge of Aokigahara forest. Hiroto attempts to question the village leader for information on the oni, but Motokane shows little interest in what they might learn from people he considers insignificant peasants. The village leader explains that, while many warriors have come to the forest and fallen to the oni, who he calls Three Sparks, not a single villager has been harmed. Motokane takes this as evidence that the villagers are in league with the oni and prepares to execute their leader for his treachery. However, Hiroto intervenes and points out the demon likely considers the peasants unworthy of attention, much like Motokane himself.
After learning what little the village leader could tell him, Hiroto and Motokane head into the forest. Considering the situation, Hiroto realizes that unlike most hunters, the oni ignores the weak and instead preys on the strong; he plans to use this to his advantage and adjusts his appearance to pose as a lowly porter from the village. Now deep within the forest, the group finds the body of a respected warrior, his head and spine having been torn out. Exploring the area, Hiroto finds evidence of a fight between the samurai and the giant oni, including dried green blood and one of the demon's severed fingers. At that moment, one of Motokane's bodyguards is suddenly cut down by a bolt of energy. The rest expect the oni to attack, but it fails to appear, preferring instead to toy with them.
The samurai turn back towards the village — while Motokane claims he seeks better ground from which to fight, Hiroto suspects he instead seeks to flee, having realized he is in over his head. As they march, Hiroto befriends one of Motokane's more competent bodyguards, a young boy named Nobuo. Nobuo tells Hiroto he noticed strange glowing marks, three sparks in a triangle that both Yoritomo and the village leader had mentioned, on the chest of a dead samurai before he was struck and killed.
The group is attacked again that evening. Hiroto seeks cover as the oni slaughters one of the samurai with its energy weapon; as he suspected, the oni focuses its attention on the samurai who brazenly confront it and ignores him thanks to his disguise and display of cowardice. Left alone, he draws his bow from where it is hidden within his pack, loads it with an arrow he has previously tipped with poison, and takes aim. While the oni is largely invisible, the light bending around its body as it blasts the others from the trees renders it just barely visible enough for Hiroto to hit it. He quickly looses more arrows, hitting the demon again and causing it to fall from the trees.
Hiroto finds Nobuo and another wounded samurai, before instructing them to follow as he pursues the demon. They find more green blood where it fell, but no body. They also find Motokane, who had fled in panic when the oni had attacked. Following the oni's blood trail, Nobuo notices a trap set by the spirit ahead, while Hiroto surmises the creature has circled around behind them and waits in ambush. Hoping to outwit the oni, Hiroto instructs Nobuo to set off the trap with a thrown rock while he turns to face the oni. However, the trap turns out to be an explosive mine, and the blast catches Hiroto unaware. He finds himself under fire from the oni and is forced to seek cover.
With the forest now ablaze from the explosion, the oni's light-bending invisibility loses its effectiveness and Hiroto manages to hit it with several more arrows. Eventually, Hiroto deactivates the invisible cloak altogether, finally revealing the giant creature to him. A blast from its energy projector sends Hiroto flying into a pond, but when the creature approaches him it passes by, apparently failing to see him lying in the muck and water. Hiroto finds Nobuo's spiked war club in the water and attacks the oni while it is preparing to finish Nobuo. He brutally beats the creature, mortally wounding it, but it still manages to lash out with the twin blades affixed to its wrist, cleaving Hiroto's club in two and slicing into his face. He collapses, overcome with pain. Although it is dying, the oni summons the strength to drag its mangled body towards Hiroto, preparing to finish him with its last breath. Unable to stand, Hiroto prepares to meet his end. However, Nobuo throws him his katana, which Hiroto uses to partially bisect the demon's torso, finally killing it.
Nobuo helps Hiroto out of the forest. On the way, they find Motokane cowering in a rotten tree stump. When he verbally abuses Nobuo for abandoning him, his bodyguard kill him where he stands; Nobuo and Hiroto both agree to blame his death on the oni. Sometime later, Hiroto kneels before the shōgun once more, his wounds patched. Yoritomo congratulates Hiroto and offers him a new proposition — he plans to create an army of secret assassins, inspired by the tactics of the oni and would like Hiroto to be the first of this new order. Agreeing, Hiroto arises a ninja.
Trivia[]
- Three Sparks is one of several stories in Predator: If It Bleeds to feature real historical individuals or events as a framework for its tale — Minamoto no Yoritomo was a real-life Japanese leader, the founder and first shōgun of the Kamakura Shogunate.
- Aokigahara forest is also a real location. Although there is no historical legend of an oni associated with the area, it is described as being home to yūrei (ghosts) in Japanese mythology. More recently it has become known internationally as the "Suicide Forest", one of the world's most prevalent suicide sites.
[]
| ||||||||||||||
