Flirting With Demons

Disclaimer:This is a work of fiction, any reference to historic events, real people, characters, or locals are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of this author's imagination, and any resemblance to other events, locals, and/or persons. Living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

"Any tale must inevitably be altered by the shifting of the teller"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It is true that I acted boldly, brazenly, wantonly...and I confess, I have only myself to blame. Yet despite my petty rebellions, some internal compulsion insured that, in the pursuit of my beloved, I excelled. You see, my sleep was often plagued with dreams, visions of the future. Images of wars and chaos, the destruction of my beloved world. More often then naught they included a tall, silver haired worrier. He would stand with his back turned to me, his long silky hair flowing about him in the wind as the fire blazed around them. He would turn to me, his golden eyes gentle, but mischievous,he smiled arrogantly, as though he had won some major battle.

I spoke of my dreams only once, to the high priest Muso. He became fretful and worried, the next evening he delivered to me a prophecy of destruction. That an evil hanyou from Queniox would come and destroy all we held dear. We told no others of this occurrence, for fear that the news would cause a panic in our realm.

Though now I know and understand who my nocturnal visitor is, I fear it will be many more years before I meet him. Years of training and preparation, years of studies and legends. I do not know if the man in my dreams is the evil hanyou I must face, in truth I don't even know who he is. Perhaps he is some other child somewhere in this realm with dreams of a devastating future. Yet as he continues to visit me in my slumber, I fall deeper into his spell. If he is my evil opponent, I fear I may not be able to fight him, for he has become my most secret love.

Even after receiving the prophecy, how much of it can I as a mere mortal claim to comprehend? However wise a person becomes, that person remains a lone individual, with but a single view point. Any tale must inevitably be altered by the shifting of the tellers.

During my earliest lessons about the goddesses I learned of the tales of creation, destruction, and betrayal,I suppose it would be the best place to start our story.

When time began, oceans roiled across the world. The waters burst forth in the beginning as they will flow together at the end, fuming in chaos. Maelstroms swirled across entire oceans, and no rock could survive long above the waves. Lands rose from the torrent only to vanish beneath the surging tempest. Life struggled to survive on the edge of chaos.

The gods found more pleasure in the destruction of each other's work than in their own accomplishments. The fought ceaseless brutal wars,until four powerful and beautiful goddesses emerged to stop the destruction. Each of the multitude of deities aligned under the four goddesses, each in their own realm. The goddesses brought order to the oceans, they made land firm, raised huge mountains to separate the realms of the goddesses. They worked together to bring peace to the world of mortals. Each shaped the surrounding land into their own image, thus creating the four realms.

Kagura, goddess of magic created the beautiful land of Levishord; Kikyou, goddess of the mortal man and woman, she created the modest realm of Acrinox, Urasue goddess of death and decay, who gathered the destruction of the world in her withered grasp and brought it to the harmony of the afterlife, Salvatore; Ayame the beautiful goddess of beasts, she made a realm where animals and man were one being, Queniox.

As their task was done, the goddesses made a pact: they would leave this realm to the mortals, and journey to a far, ethereal home. This they did, and created a beautiful land at the top of Delacriox, the icy mountains of the goddesses.

Yet I know you must wonder, that's only five realms. What about the sixth? Well, that is a different tale, a tale of the betrayal of the mortals and the decision of the goddesses. Still, I cannot recite the old refrains without a thought as to the actions of our ancestors. Why did they invade each other and cause the wars that would separate our races for all eternity. Could so many mellenia pass that they had forgotten of the others existence? Was their curiosity so great that they marched into each other's lands to see for themselves what creatures lay beyond the mountains? Or were they simply too greedy for power?

Well, these questions may plague my mind, you might have a few of your own. I must tell you one last thing, as Muso became more and more concerned about my dreams, he urged my studies of battle and magic to be placed before history and legends. Yet if not for my dreams during those years of training and studying I would have been uninspired. I was frustrated to no extent, my questions put aside for "more important matters", and oh so much did I hate to hear the word "patience".

My only escape came each night, when the tall, silver haired warrior would visit my slumber. He was young, his smile arrogant, but very shy. I felt as though I began to know him... even to love him a little bit, though of course then I knew nothing about love. Yet he gave me the strength to make it through my endless studies. He gave me the patience to wait, when waiting was the most difficult thing in all the world.

Perhaps it is time I finished my tale yes? Though I fear it is not as grand as the earlier one, many don't believe the war ever happened.

Many centuries after the goddesses left the world to the mortals, for many unknown reasons the realms went to war. There was chaos and destruction once again and the goddesses felt the pain of the world so badly that they separated the realms across Delacriox. To the West was Queniox, to the East was Acrinox, South was Levishord, and closest to the northern realm of goddesses was Salvatore. The four goddesses decided that it would be to dangerous to leave the world in the hands of mortals, so the created another island of icy mountains, a place where they could watch over each world and influence it as they wish.

I now must confess, that from the very night of my fourteenth birthday I have failed to dream of my hanyou. I fear my nocturnal visage of that silver-haired man will never visit me again. Now I must leave you to your own wanderings in the world of Delacriox, for there are preparations to be made. My fifteenth birthday is in a fortnight and I am to be presented at the ball to my many suitors. "presented"... it sounds like what the chef does with our meals every day. XP

~Princess Kagome of the Shrine