There has been war between the different Castes for centuries, constant and never ending war. But old prophecies have a habit of coming true and old fairytales one of coming alive. War between the four Castes of 'Shifters, Vampires, Witches and Humans is now second nature, but can an emotion other than hatred replace it?
(A.N.; Vampires can have special abilities here and born ones can survive sunlight, made ones can only stand so much depending on their age. 'Shifters include werewolves but i'll call em 'Shifters anyway for my ease, Witches can be boy or girl it don't matter in real life so why should it here, and some very special Humans are born with special abilities too. Also i've put in some OC's so expect em, and yes, one or two might end up paired with canon characters but i promise the majority won't.
05/07/2015: UPDATE! Intertwined has now been edited in time for the upload of chapter eight; I sincerely apologise for taking so long to produce this chapter, but please know and understand that this has been due to personal reasons that i needed to deal with before i did anything. 2014 was not a good year for me; please help me make sure that 2015 is better. I thank all of you for your patience.)
Prologue; The Die is Caste
The world was made up of the Castes.
There were five Castes in all; the 'Shifters, Vampires, Witches, Humans and Celestials, with the last split into two sub categories and the first into many.
The 'Shifter Caste was made up of what could be loosely termed families; individuals belonging to the same animal. Animal natures tended to be hereditary but occasionally there was an odd individual; it was common enough not to be rare, but rare enough not to be common. The physical appearance of an individual belonging to this Caste more often than not in some way related to their animal nature. They were allergic to silver and could live to be up to around three hundred years old.
The Vampire Caste consisted of clans; the main ones were the Uchiha, Yamanaka, Hyuuga and Akatsuki. The vampires could be divided into two types; born and created.
Created vampires had a constant need for blood, although this grew less over the years, and they couldn't stand sunlight, though this too would dissipate with time, and each held alliance to a certain clan. They were also infertile, rendered so by the vampiric blood.
Born vampires, those born naturally, could stand sunlight and could conceive children. They were considered the ruling elite of their Caste, and belonged either by birth or by marriage to certain clans. Each clan had a Lord, and they controlled both the natural and created vampires within their clan. Some natural born vampires had the use of an ability, though this was uncommon and often a trait passed on through family.
All vampires were allergic to white ash wood and were immortal.
The Caste of the Witches was split into houses; three of the oldest and most prominent being Senju, Subaku and Yakushi. Their leader was the legendary Tsunade, High Princess of all Witches, and they were governed by a council, as were the first two Castes. Abilities within the Witches' Caste could vary, and were gifted to newborns entirely at random. They, like the others, were a separate path of evolution from the Humans, yet they looked the most like them. Witches could live as long as 'Shifters as long as their magick didn't kill them.
The Human Caste were comparatively weak when compared to the other four; to match the strength and speed of even the witches they would have to train hard, they were not long-lived and could be killed very easily. However nature had found a way around this. Some humans were born with special abilities, making them superior to others, and these abilities were gifted at random, though the humans who gained them were drawn to each other.
The fifth and final Caste was one unknown almost entirely to the other four, and was also the most peaceful. The Celestials were beings of energy, what humans might call spirits, and were immortal and nigh invincible. They were divided into two groups; beings of light and those of darkness, what a human might class as either angel or daemon respectively. And yet they did not war with each other; they co-existed, living only to balance each other. Each side had its own hierarchy, of sorts. They delighted in watching events unfold in the world around them, sometimes even interfering to tweak circumstances in whichever favour. They played games.
Between the Castes of 'Shifter, Vampire, Witch and Human there had long been hatred and distrust born of misunderstanding. It is natural to fear what is different and unknown to you. However things became much worse when one individual gained more power than any other before them by doing the unthinkable and impossible; killing a Celestial.
No one knew who it was; they were relatively unknown. Suddenly a sense of unease descended upon the world. Hatred and distrust grew to ever higher proportions. The wars began.
After centuries of bloodshed, nobody could remember what began the wars at all. The world was living in a state of perpetual imbalance. In an attempt to give it the chance to straighten itself out the Celestials made a decision; to gift the world with a prophecy of light.
When the Dark Moon rises over the Full,
When the Blood Goddess lies desecrated,
When the Kit flees under illusion of true sight
And the fledglings fly the nest,
Then Marked shall they be.
Between darkness and light,
Between hatred and love.
Trapped by the die that is Caste.
Marked in pair, marked in life,
Drawn together,
Set free by the key in the Light.
In time this prophecy was lost like so much else, though the legacy remained in the form of fairytale and myth much like the Celestials themselves. The idea that one day a group with members from different Castes and ranks would unite to bring down an ultimate evil, and in doing so unite the Castes once more, seemed preposterous to many.
But myth is always rooted in some way in fact, fairytale somewhere in truth.
And so it was with this one.