The Story Less Told

Many know the story of how the great white wolf, Shiranui, aided the warrior Nagi in defeating the dreaded Orochi over a century ago. Less know the story of how the powerful sun god Amaterasu came to destroy the dreaded Yami, ruler of darkness, with the help and protection of the prophet UshiWaka. Fewer still are knowledgeable of that very prophet's own story- a story, perhaps, even more strange and bizarre than any you have known before.
As most things do, it started long ago... centuries, in fact, when the infamous lord Tsao's reign was only just spreading throughout the Lunar Realm. The territories were still individual then, with their own unique culture, languages, arts and mannerisms. Monarchies were as diverse as the provinces, some good, some tolerable, and some twisted and vile.
It was in this time that the smallest of the kingdoms celebrated and rejoiced in the name of a new heir to the thrown. Born with flowing, golden hair, eyes that color of polished turquoise, and wings whiter than virgin snow, the prince, named UshiWaka, was considered by many to be the key to an ancient prophecy. It foretold the coming of a savior, divinely beautiful and blessed by the moon, bleaching them white, tainted by crimson. It so happened that when the prince was nine, assassins were sent by an unknown source to purge the palace of the royal bloodline. Alas, an arrow pierced the heart of Ushiwaka's mother as he stood at her side, spraying the child in blood. As chaos erupted, another arrow pierced the body cavity of the king, and the child was only spared the same fate when a guard threw himself over the boy, blocking the third arrow, as the other guards began to retaliate. The assassins fled, but were soon captured and killed in prison.
With the news of the bloodbath and the image of Ushiwaka showered in his dire's lifeblood, the gossip and rumors that he was the prophesied savior ignited with a more passionate flame than ever. The boy was hidden away in the palace by attendants, from both rumors and threats, only resurfacing into public when the wealthiest ruler in the land, lord Tsao, asked for his hand in matehood as the boy neared the age of eighteen. The marriage was arranged and the territories were combined to Tsao's ever growing land, and Ushiwaka once more disappeared from the face of humanity. The prince's mate began to make claims that the young man had gone senile, permanently disturbed by his parent's tragic death, and could not care for himself properly. It was because of this, Tsao claimed, that he was being held at all times within the palace walls.
The truth was much worse, however. UshiWaka was very much capable of thought and highly intelligent for someone of his age. The only reason he was kept under lock and key was that Tsao feared within the boy lay docile his own downfall. He kept the prince on a concoction that disabled him to speak, and kept him trapped within an apartment-style area at all times.
However, clever Waka was not to be bested easily. Often he would make escapes, leading many of the palace attendants to suspect Tsao was not being truthful of the boy's condition. Indeed, on one occasion ten guards were led into an elaborate trap, created solely by the prince himself, who was long out of the territory before the guards were discovered and he was reclaimed.
Much to Tsao's inconvenience, the boy could not simply be killed. The prince still had to make the occasional appearance for large festivals and balls.
The frustration which he felt- towards the prophecy, towards Waka's inability to cooperate, even irrelevant reasons- would send the ruler into a fit of rage that he expressed in abuse of all sorts, ultimately scarring the young prophet. The medication that kept him mute and sedated slowly became more of a blessing than a curse.
There was a single guard who took pity on the blonde. His name was Cortex, and he was a successful, talented warrior who had raised quickly in the ranks despite his young age. Cortex would purposefully seek the prophet out, offering to be an escort when he was allowed to leave his room. He was benelovent and kind, and would speak with the boy he thought to be mute, despite Ushiwaka's obvious distaste for him. As time went, the young prince was gentled, and the two found romance. Cortex promised to one day steal the young prince away, and had wielded for him a divine sword as a sign of his devotion. The prophet named her Kutone.
It was a hundred years after the marriage that Tsao devised an elaborate plot. News of a great deity to the east of the universe had spread across the land. Her name was Amaterasu, a god who ruled a life-giving star, taking on the form of a wolf. Thinking that he could rid himself of both the prophet and this deity at once, Tsao had constructed a large, flying ark. Though he claimed the structure was a peace offering, within it's bowels he hid away thousands of the realm's most putrid and vicious monsters. He sent out a crew of twenty soldiers to occupy the ark on it's journey to the deity's homeworld, the Celestial Plain, placing Waka among them as an ambassador. While sailing, the young prince escaped the wandering eyes of his guardians, stealing away to the deeper levels of the ark. He came before the large, cursed door that trapped within it the beasts, and his heart filled with a terrible dread. But before he could further inspect his findings, he was caught, and taken back to the deck.
When they reached the Celestial Plain, the Lunaris were welcomed warmly by the inhabitants. They were fed and treated graciously, spending time with the deity herself, and given rooms in which to occupy until another ship was sent for them.
Two weeks after they arrived, a terrible roar split the skies. From the depths of the stars came the dreaded beast Orochi, all eight heads screaming for blood, it's brilliantly gold body shining menacingly in the sun. Celestial and Lunaris alike were slaughtered by it's sharp fangs and noxious gas. Many were burned alive by it's terrible, fiery breath.
Of the Lunaris, only the prophet remained standing. Weilding Kutone, who shone with a brilliant, silver light as if manifested by Waka's determination to protect, he fought alongside the great deity in his wolven form. But too much was lost; the remaining Celestials fled to the ark in hopes of escape, and Waka, realizing the trap that had been sprung, made haste to follow them. The natives would hear none of his cries, however, scorning him as a traitor. Those that did not work to take the ship into flight fell upon him with fists, pinning him down.
When the ark took sail, Orochi's attention was diverted from the diety. Lashing out with one of his heads, he destroyed one of the ark's rudders and both her sails, causing her to tip and plummet towards the planet far below. Amaterasu took advantage of the beast's distraction and dealt a near-fatal blow. The beast screamed, stumbling from where it stood, until, horribly injured, it too fell towards the land below- but not before one of it's mighty necks caught the deity in the side, bringing her with him.
The ark crashed in the snowy north, plunging into a frozen lake bed. As her beautiful walls splintered, the beasts trapped inside were unleashed. They fell upon the unsuspecting Celestials and began to massacre them, devouring their flesh. Though many were able to flee the broken ark's belly, they were quickly caught, tortured, violated, and finally killed upon the cold lake's surface.
As the helpless natives were overpowered, three Lunaris fought their way through the herd of demons. One was UshiWaka, Kutone no longer glowing her beautiful silver, as he had abandoned all need to protect with the will to survive. The others were Cortex and Tsukiko, who had been in the ark when the attack had struck. Though Cortex was ignorant of the ark's purpose, only sent because Tsao had suspected his relationship with the prophet, Tsukiko was the high ruler's second in command. She had only one objective; to kill UshiWaka in the event that he survived the slaughter. When her gaze fell upon the prophet, fighting for his life, she attacked him with an intent to rip out his throat. Surprised, but not to be bested so quickly, UshiWaka met her with sword and fang. The two rolled in the snow, danced around one another in a deadly tango, sliced and bit and clawed.
But Tsukiko was older and wiser, a skilled warrior. The moment Waka slipped, she took her advantage, leaping upon the white wolf's back and ripping his precious wings from their sockets. The wings that Lunaris bear as their most important asset; they give them their immortality, and are half the source of their ancient magic form, kido. The pain that erupted through the young prince was great, and sent into blind fear, he fled from Tsukiko and mounted a cliff that bordered the lake. The soldier took swift chase, and at the mountain path's end, cornered the prophet.
Waka, beautiful coat stained red, his body broken and bruised, closed his eyes and waited for the end.
But suddenly Cortex, snarling at the top of his voice, attacked Tsukiko from behind. The two soldiers went rolling, and Tsukiko's mirror weapon- Gouzen Yabun Sora, or Roaring Night Sky- pierced the male's chest. They fell from the cliff and their bodies broke on the hard ice below.
UshiWaka struggled to become human once more, knowing that with the loss of his wings, he would never again be able to transform into a wolf. He joined Cortex's side, holding his beloved as the brave soldier took his final breath, and then drifted off into an eternal sleep.
With the monsters having fled, the young prince buried his beloved in the snow-capped mountains, then searched for survivors among the ark and lake. None were to be found. Mourning the loss of friends, UshiWaka prepared to leave and search out a solution to his worries. But as he began to leave the lake's shore, he noticed two figures peering at him from around the bend of a boulder. Thinking them monsters, he drew his sword, but the figures retreated to fully hide behind the rock. Wary, the prophet approached to inspect the strangers, and discovered that they were not demons, but mortals, belonging to a tribe of half-beast, half-human beings that made their homes there in the snowy landscape.
The two Oina, young females, led the prince back to their village. The prophet could not speak their tongue, but it took little time for the mortals to come to trust him. Unable to speak and infant-like in this new world, they saw no threat, and he was accepted into their culture.
Days later, Yukio, one of the few lucky Celestials that had somehow managed to survive, and a friend the prophet had made in the time he'd spent on the Celestial Plain, returned to the scene of his kin's graves. Upon seeing him, the prince's eyes were struck with tears, and he embraced the older man like a brother. Ever trusting, the Celestial returned the affection, and later informed UshiWaka that the deity was no longer on the Celestial Plain, but somewhere on the mortal world.
UshiWaka agreed to search out Amaterasu alongside Yukio, but first gifted his mighty sword, Kutone, to those of the Oina tribe, knowing that in this land now tainted by demons, they would need her protection. The Oina built for the sword a shrine and mounted her upon it, overlooking the lake and the broken ark as a symbol of their union and strength. Then, leaving them with a prophecy that a great warrior would one day wield Kutone, her hilt and blade shining brightly silver, the prophet and Celestial departed the winter land of Kumai.

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As you should know, UshiWaka and Yukio did indeed locate the Great Mother. The prophet foretold that a man would come to be and defeat Orochi, who had survived the deity's attack, and bid Amaterasu to patiently wait for him in the land of mortals. When the time did come, the Great Mother was slain as she fought brilliantly alongside the warrior, and encased in stone for a sleep that lasted a hundred years. With Orochi's awakening, a wood sprite resurrected the sun god, and thus began her great quest to purge the world of the evil brought about by the ark.
Along with UshiWaka's aid, she was able to travel home after the victory over Yami, the ruler of darkness.

-*-*-

Though for now, the deity's story ends there. However, it was only another beginning for the prophet...

It came about that, a year after the defeat of Yami, the Great Mother's divine instruments were stolen while she slept. Unable to leave the Plain due to her other duties, Amaterasu called upon the great warrior Okikurmi, the man that wielded Kutone and long ago UshiWaka had prophecized the coming of, to locate them. She assigned the prophet to be both a guide through the foreign Nippon land, and an aid in any battles that would appear.
Ushiwaka, who's personality was a great contrast to Okikurmi's, was at first little more than a helpful annoyance. The prophet secretly came to fancy him, admiring his strength, and would often taunt and purposefully agitate the short-tempered warrior, who's frustration would only grow when the blonde countered his lashing out by retreating to the surface of water or high trees. However rocky at first, their relationship did eventually blossom into grudging friendship- and even more slowly, through trials of hardship and strife, into a deep romance.
The two became mates by the Oina wedding ritual. Though prejudice is plentiful, and the events to come traumatic- as Tsao has discovered the prophet still lives- the prophet accepted the new future with the first kiss he blessed the warrior with...

 
 
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Character (c) Julie