Chapter Seven: Main Island, Code Cracking (2)
If you are reading this, most likely you have deciphered the code and found these notes. If so, I hope you truly need their contents.
If you do not know of the Visitors' existence, then no matter what I write here or how fervently I plead for you to take its threat seriously, all you will see is nonsense.
It would be for the best if these notes are never used at all.
If someone were to appear who did need these notes, it would mean that the Visitors succeeded in completely annihilating the population of Kakuriyo Island.
The main island is protected by a gate which blocks the path across the sea, but we cannot deny the possibility that the gate will cease to exist due to an unforeseeable incident. It chills me to even imagine, but we must be prepared for the worst.
Originally, information about the Visitors was passed down primarily by the island's oral traditions, and the recent war has resulted in the destruction of generations of Mikumo family records. That is why... I have decided to write down everything I know about the Visitors, for the sake of anyone who may come to need it.
My name is Mikumo Eiko, and I wish to make a request of you, who reads these notes.
Never allow the Visitor to escape Kakuriyo Island. I beg of you, slay the beast with your own two hands.
1. What are the Visitors?
The Visitors' true form is a sphere composed primarily of metal, about two sizes smaller than a cat. It has a weight of 20 kilograms. According to our oral traditions, they do have biological sexes and reproduce, but there is no way to tell a Visitor's sex by looking.
Its body is fluid and it can change shape at will. It can move its entire body as freely as a person might move their limbs. Its only limits are a solid core at its very center, less than five centimeters in size, which prevent it from moving through spaces smaller than its core, and its inability to split itself into multiple pieces and have them move independently.
Visitors are highly intelligent, and by a sucking a certain amount of blood from an animal, they can obtain its memories and knowledge, and by consuming its skin and flesh, they can mimic its appearance. However, they cannot mimic anything smaller than their own body, limiting them to the size of a cat.
They often use a thin, sharp, needle-like blade formed from their body as a weapon, aiming for the heart. After removing the needle, they cover the wound with their own body, sucking the blood. They can also inject a poison through the needle which places living things into a state of suspended animation.
Their nature is cruel, and they prefer to suck the blood from humans.
2. The True Thunder Festival
The Visitors appear in the Divine Land once every 45 years, one at a time. Their last appearance was in 1929, they will next appear in 1974, followed by 2019, and so on.
If lightning strikes in the Divine Land on a clear, cloudless day, that is a sign ************ has come.
However, this is not a cause for panic. As long as the gate blocking the sea route remains barred, the Visitor cannot reach the main island.
There is also no need to fear that it will escape by mimicking a bird. The largest birds that come near Kakuriyo Island are the eagle and the heron, both weighing less than 2 kilograms. Contrast this with the Visitor itself, weighing 20 kilograms. There are no birds capable of flying while carrying that weight in all of Japan.
The day after the lightning strike, cross to the Divine Land during the day at low tide, bringing with you a party of at least three people and dogs. Be sure to bring a torch and close the gate behind you.
Mimicry does not work on dogs, which will bark at the Visitor. When Visitors sense danger, they release sounds at a frequency which humans cannot hear, but which dogs are sensitive to. This is why many dogs are kept on the main island.
Be aware that the Visitor may have taken on the form of an animal after arriving in the Divine Land, so search with the utmost caution.
In the past, Visitors have disguised as wounded animals to lure humans into a false sense of security. Their mimicry is beyond the level of what any human can see through. For this reason, be especially cautious if a wounded animal is present.
If the dog spots a Visitor, this is the time to use the torch. Visitors are weak to fire, and will react to temperatures of several hundred degrees by revealing their true forms before losing consciousness.
Once the Visitor has revealed its true form, place it in a cage and bring it back to the main island. This is an essential step to prove that the Visitor has been captured and not taken on human disguise.
Use a cage with gaps of less than 5 cm. Any larger introduces the risk of the Visitor regaining consciousness and escaping.
Next, drop the Visitor into the sea off the cliff past the island's cemetery, in full view of the entire village. After observing the Visitor's death by drowning, begin preparations for the feast by ***********
Of course, no Visitor has ever managed to escape from Kakuriyo Island... However, it seems that in the past, they have managed to come to the main island and inflict casualties there. However, it has been over 200 years since this last happened.
3. The relationship between Kakuriyo Island and the Visitors
Though only the oral tradition remains... it seems that the Visitors first began to appear in the Divine Land over a thousand years ago. Our battle with the Visitors has been ongoing ever since.
According to legend, our ancestors first arrived on the island a thousand years ago.
At that time, a man lived on the island. He was an incarnation of the island's guardian deity ***************** imparted great knowledge to the islanders, including knowledge of the Visitors.
The incarnation remained on the island for over a hundred years, and after witnessing the islanders defeat the Visitors twice, he disappeared as though melting into the sea.
Before his disappearance, the divine incarnation left the islanders these final words:
“Failure will result in sacrifices, and repeated failure will result in irreparable devastation.”
His words must be observed. The True Thunder Festival must be held to prevent a chain of failures.
4. The relationship between Kakuriyo Island and the Visitors, continued
This is purely my own personal speculation, but it is possible that the Visitors are creatures from another world. The reason they appear once every 45 years is because that is when a rift opens in space and time.
Sometimes I imagine this.
Perhaps the flow of time is different between this other world and Earth, and a single moment in the other world is 45 years here. Perhaps there are hundreds of Visitors in the other world, walking in a procession through a space-time rift to invade our world. Over the course of a thousand years, humanity has defeated only the first twenty or so soldiers of an invading army ****************
The incarnation of the island's deity from a thousand years ago, the man who gave the islanders knowledge of the Visitors and lived for over a hundred years... could he himself have been a Visitor
Perhaps he lent his power to the humans because he was a traitor to his species who wished for the destruction of his own race.
Whether there is even a fragment of truth in my delusions ****************
5. Results of experiments on Visitors
The procedure of the True Thunder Festival has been violated only once.
It happened upon the Visitor's appearance in 1929. My father captured the Visitor, but instead of killing it straight away, he imprisoned it in a************* and experimented on it over the course of six months. As a result, all of the information contained within our oral tradition was proven true, and several new facts were discovered.
A. Regarding the Visitors' prey.
This was already known, but Visitors have no interest in corpses, only live blood. In an experiment conducted by ***********, it was found that dead blood and flesh are poisonous to Visitors. Therefore, they cannot use the skin or flesh or corpses for mimicry.
B. Regarding the properties of Visitor poison.
When they wish to change their forms, Visitors use their needles to inject their prey with poison.
The poison takes effect immediately... even if the animal is sporting a fatal wound, their vital activity will be reduced to almost nothing, placing them in a state of suspended animation. For Visitors, who must keep their prey alive to mimic their form, it would be a danger if their prey resisted. This is likely why they have this ability.
However, the poison does not cure wounds. Therefore, if the animal was fatally wounded, they will die as soon as the effects of the poison wear off.
C. Structure of Visitor *******
Visitors can use their needles as weapons even in mimicked forms, but these needles can only extend to a range of 50 centimeters.
This is because a Visitor's body is structured as a core covered by an “intermediate layer” and an “external layer”. The external layer makes up a majority of the Visitor's body, and is what fuses with the skin and flesh of the prey for mimicry.
On the other hand, the intermediate layer is strong and can be used as a weapon, but due to its limited volume, there is a limit to how far it can reach ************
D. Regarding the time needed to mimic
The Visitor covers its prey with its own body and absorbs their skin and flesh all at once. When mimicking a larger form, it absorbs earth, stones, and so on into its own body to adjust its weight ******************* The speed at which a Visitor can assume a new form is frightening. For example, the time taken to complete the transformation is only about two minutes for a cat, about four for a medium-sized dog, and about eight for a large dog. This speed poses a great threat.
After repeated experimentation, it was determined that the time required for mimicry is proportional to the size of the body. In the case of humans, it takes about 15 minutes for an adult male and about 14 for an adult female.
E. The limits of Visitor mimicry ***************
When returning to its true form, a Visitor sheds its absorbed skin and flesh. Also, attempting to transform into any deviation of its mimicked animal form causes its skin and flesh covering to fall off as well. The discarded skin melts off and turns into a blackened mass of ************************
No matter how many times the experiment was repeated, the Visitor was unable to use the damaged flesh to reassume its previous form. In other words, once it has released its mimicry or transformed in a way that deviates from its assumed form, it will never be able to return to that form again. In order to mimic a new form, it must take on new animal skin and flesh.
F. Regarding the ******** Visit****
Visitors have two sets of sensory organs. One is used to observe the outside world, and functions similarly to the eyes and nose of a human, except ********************************************************** **********************
The other is a digestive organ, and is thought to perform the functions of “sight”, “touch”, and “smell” all at once. They use this sensory organ to digest the skin and flesh of the prey they've taken into their bodies, perfectly grasping the color, texture, and even smell of the prey's exterior and mimicking it. This is undoubtedly a precision that exceeds that of a human's eyes, skin, and nose *********************************
The specific ways in which the organs for digestion and mimicry are superior to those of their external sensory organs include ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
**********The remaining two pages are completely illegible**********
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