There was a legend. In a small village nobody remembers. This village formerly known as Edo. This village knows this legend very well. How could they not when they had known the participants as close friends. When a traveler stops for the night all they have to do is mention the legend in passing and the villagers are more then willing to tell them what they know of the legend. They speak of it so further generations will not forget the pain and sacrifice of the hero. If one listens carefully they can hear the pride and great pain in the speakers voice. The villagers loved the hero very much. She was one of the most powerful miko's the world had ever known. She had protected the village for many years with the aid of her friends. She was very happy during that time. But happiness never lasts forever. Slowly her group wandered apart. Slowly her friends went their own ways. Slowly they left her behind. First the slayer left to find her brother. Then the monk left to follow the slayer. Soon after the child left to find his own kitsune kind. The hanyou stayed for awhile. He did love her after all. But eventually he too left to fulfill a promise to an old lover. The villagers were afraid the miko was going to leave back to her own home. In the end that would have been better then loosing her to death. But the miko stayed and cared for the village. But she never smiled again. About a year later she dissapeared. The only trace she had ever been there was a broken bow and scattered arrows found in a field not far from the village. The villagers hoped and prayed she had just gone home, but deep in their hearts they knew something bad had befallen their precious miko. It wasn't untill fifteen years later that they knew the truth. And by then it was too late. The miko was dead. Her body had been turned into a statue which the villagers used as an alter to her. For years the miko had been held prisoner by the worst demon to ever have been created. The villagers will not speak his name out loud for fear that it will summon him. They will only say he was once human but his evil could not be contained in the weak flesh of a mortal so he had made a deal with the devil and traded his body for one made from hundreds of demons. This horrible stain upon the world had tortured the miko continuously. Relishing in her pain as a little more of her died each day that her friends never came for her. Eventually she gave up. After eight long years she finally got her chance of escape. The demon had become arrogant in his control over the broken girl. He started taking her with him to witness his evil actions upon the world. There was his mistake. He soon came across the demon lord of the west. Ruler of the lands he was now trespassing on. They fought for two days. The evil demon slowly growing weaker as his every attempt to escape was thwarted by the sheer speed of the great lord. In his distraction the evil demon failed to notice the small shadow slowly making her way behind the great lord. Inch by sheer inch. Finally the great lord won the battle. Causing the evil demon to retreat in such a haste to save his own skin he didn't realize until later that he had left minus one. His anger at loosing his greatest conquest was heard from miles away.

The young woman begged to be taken with the great lord. He could do nothing but comply. They traveled together for many years. It is said by some that they were lovers for a time but the fools are quickly shushed from that kind of talk. It is not known why the two eventually parted ways. Or even if they really ever did. But it is known that when the miko faced the evil demon once more after seven short years of peace. The battle between good and evil was great. For three days and three nights the war was fought each side knowing at least one of them would die one way or another. It was on the third day that the miko had to end it soon or she would not have enough strength to finish the job. Pooling all of her soul and the last of her strength she forced it into the demon purifying him into dust and draining herself in the process. Weakened to the brink of death the miko gathered the last of the jewel forced the last of her life essence into it causing it to purify in a great blast of white. When the light faded away nothing remained of the jewel. But there frozen in time for all of eternity was the miko cast in stone. If you look close enough you could swear a single tear was forever frozen on her face. For days afterwards a howl could be heard filled with such pain it sent whoever heard it into tears.