Heavenly Ranma
Prologue: Sorrow of the Goddess' Fall
Disclaimer: None of the source material on which this work of fanfiction is based belong to me nor am I seeking to make any profit on this. It's all for fun.
A god shall be born to wield the Sword and lead our people into the promised land. This prophecy has dominated my life, instead of a god, my people got me. A freak, an abomination, a woman. Clearly, I could not be this god, destined to wield the Heavenly Sword. I was called a harbringer of our destruction. For years, I ignored their jibes in favor of the company of the sister of my heart, of my soul. Kai, no matter what, I will always watch over you.
-Nariko
Her body writhed on the ground as the shattered army closed in on her once more. 'No, not now. Not when I was so close,' Nariko thought as the cursed runes burned their way up her arms and across her body. 'Please, give me more time. Not for myself, not even for my people, but so that Kai might live a peaceful life. I refuse to let this be the end!' The sword, bloody from five days in which a lone woman shattered the mightiest army to have every been assembled, clattered to the ground as the runes burnt their way across Nariko's face and into her retinas.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream and pulsations of pure, holy light burst from her body as her limbs snapped into place, the sword jumping from the ground into her outstretched hand. Another pulse of light saw three of the runes burnt into her face once more, and with one final flash, the encroaching soldiers were blasted hundreds of feet into the air, their shattered bodies crashing back to earth. Nariko, goddess of battle and honor, lazily opened her ethereal eyes once more, looking straight at the man responsible for so much death and suffering.
She glided forwards, pulses of energy flying off the rapidly spinning blades as she stalked through the remains of the army towards her prey, routing it.
"Please," she heard him beg, "give me power. Give me the power I seek to unite the lands under one banner." The raven grew to menacing size and streamed into Bohan's mouth, seemingly aging the despicable king 40 years in a minute. Pure black wings erupted from his back. The Raven Demon King was born.
Light and darkness met in furious combat. A goddess and a demon battled for supremacy on the plane. Hours they fought, shattering the hills, rending the earth razing the sky. Finally, after a brief eternity of conflict, the Heavenly Sword was buried to the hilt in the Raven Demon King's chest. Yet the Raven escaped the body of its champion, only to be pinned to the ground through its breast by the Sword.
The ground shattered, tormented craters and fissures dotting the remains of a once beautiful plain. The skies opened up and a pouring rain drenched the blood soaked ground as the Raven writhed, unable to withstand the holy power piercing it. A massive explosion shook the plain and at the bottom of the largest crater, in the center of the new valley, the broken body of the goddess slumped to the ground, her hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword, buried in the ground. The raven was gone. As the water pooled over her head and her spirit fled her dying body, the goddess projected the last of her energy so that her dying friend might live.
Kai felt a warm presence caress her mind. [Kai, sister of my heart, know that I will always love you, will always watch over you. Please, for the both of us, please live.]
Years passed and the son of the Dark One took up residence in the remains of his city home, now a mountainous fortress overlooking the pock-marked valley below. His own son would be borne years later to reunite his people.
When the remaining members of Nariko's tribe attempted to approach her body to give it a proper funeral and to reclaim the Heavenly Sword they found that they could not enter the waters covering her body. They set up camp on the remains of their devastated fortress. Kai, however, did not remain long. She sought a new place to build her home, on an island across the sea. Eventually, she was married and had a daughter with her own stunning blue eyes. However, the child had the most beautiful, and quite unexpected, shockingly crimson hair of her fallen friend. She named this child Reiko-hope.
A generation passed, and the tribe noticed the most stunning phenomenon, creatures that drowned in the Springs of the Valley Death would imprint upon them, and all that fell into the spring subsequently would take the form of what drowned there last. The tribe council decided that it was no longer safe to live so close to such dangerous magic, but one family volunteered to remain as guides to warn visitors away from the cursed place. The tribe seer gave one final prophecy on his deathbed, "The Dark One yet lives, though he be broken and trapped. His heir shall bring destruction to the world and the goddess shall return from the Land of the Sun to claim her blade and meet him once more."
Thousands of years passed, the legendary battle that birthed the deadly Jusenkyo, the Springs of Sorrow, passed into myth. The guides continued their work and catalogued the springs while guarding the legend, though no one really believed in it any longer. And yet, at the center of the broken grounds one pool remained undisturbed, a gleaming blade buried in its depths.
AN: I honestly couldn't get this idea out of my head after I finished playing Heavenly Sword, what an excellent game. I'd highly recommend at the very least renting it, it's a great play. I don't know how much I'll actually work on this, DRE will remain my focus, but when the fancy strikes me, I may produce a chapter here or there. No promises though.
As always, your thoughts are appreciated. I have a vague idea of what I'd want to do with this story. Let me know what you think of it. Oh, and the style will change completely if I do continue it. I was trying to write epic, and I don't think I'm particularly good at it. The rest will be assuredly much lighter hearted, much more fitting with the Ranma-verse.