Petunia Unspeakables Adventures Japan
The Yūrei Lantern & The Threads of Time
The shrine, hidden in the misty mountains of Japan, is a place few ever find. It is carved into the cliffs, ancient and solemn, with weathered torii gates marking the path. The Unspeakables have studied the Yūrei Lantern for centuries—an artifact rumored to hold the memories of the dead within its ethereal flames. Looking into its fire reveals moments from the past, but its magic is unstable, known to ensnare the unprepared in fragmented timelines.
Petunia, eager but cautious, approaches the lantern. The carvings on its iron base are intricate, a fusion of old kanji and esoteric symbols. As she traces them with her fingertips, one symbol pulses beneath her touch—a forbidden kanji, "結" (musubi), meaning "to bind" or "to tie fate together." Before she can react, the lantern’s flame flares white-hot, consuming her in a vortex of wailing voices and ink-black shadows.
When the world reforms around her, she is no longer in the shrine.
Trapped in the Edo Period
Petunia finds herself in a bustling Edo-period village, its narrow streets alive with samurai, merchants, and peasants. The air is thick with the scent of ink, wood, and incense. The towering castles of the shogunate loom in the distance.
However, she quickly realizes something is wrong—whispers follow her, eyes linger too long. The villagers murmur of an "onryō" (vengeful spirit) that stalks the area, cursing those who cross its path. When a group of samurai corner her, accusing her of sorcery, she is saved by an enigmatic figure cloaked in midnight-blue robes—an onmyōji (a practitioner of mystical arts).
The onmyōji recognizes her for what she is—an outsider not of this time. He introduces himself as Takeda Kiyoharu, a rogue time-mage who walks the thin line between manipulating fate and defying it. He brings her to his hidden dwelling, a paper-walled home adorned with shikigami (paper familiars) that rustle like living things.
Learning the Threads of Fate
Kiyoharu explains that time is a tapestry, and she has tangled herself in its threads. He teaches her how to "stitch" moments together, manipulating fate without breaking it entirely. Through ink, symbols, and incantations, she learns to weave small alterations—guiding events subtly rather than rewriting them outright.
But there is a price.
The past resists change. If she pulls too hard on a thread, the timeline will correct itself—violently.
As she hones her skill, the presence of the yūrei grows stronger.
The Vengeful Spirit and the Time Loop
The yūrei is no ordinary ghost—it is a woman clad in tattered white burial robes, her hair a curtain of black obscuring a face twisted by sorrow and fury. She haunts the places Petunia visits, her whispers brushing against the fabric of reality. Petunia soon discovers that the spirit’s tragedy is tied to her own presence in this era.
Through fragmented visions, she pieces together the truth:
- The yūrei was once a woman unjustly executed, accused of being a witch by a powerful warlord.
- But her death was not fate’s original course—Petunia’s arrival altered history, ensuring the woman’s unjust execution and turning her into the vengeful spirit.
- The yūrei’s wrath is boundless, her power surging across time itself. If she is not stopped, she will not only devour the present but also unravel the future, ensuring Petunia never existed.
To undo the cycle, Petunia must sever her influence—but doing so means sacrificing the relationships she has built, including the bond she shares with Kiyoharu.
As the final confrontation nears, the boundaries between past and present blur. Petunia must weave the last, most delicate thread—one that allows the woman’s fate to be rewritten without her own existence corrupting the timeline further.
The final spell is cast.
The past realigns.
The spirit fades, no longer bound by vengeance.
As the world around her collapses into shifting time, Kiyoharu whispers a final incantation—one that ensures she returns to her time, but forgets him entirely.
Return to the Present
Petunia wakes in the shrine, the Yūrei Lantern dim. The Unspeakables rush to her, but she barely hears them—her mind is hazy, her heart heavy. She cannot recall why, but something deep within her feels like it was left behind in another time.
The only trace of her journey is a single, unbroken thread wrapped around her finger.
And somewhere, in the faded echoes of the past, an onmyōji watches the stars, knowing that the outsider who once altered fate will never return.