The throne room was dimly lit by torches in metal brackets along the stone wall; the obsidian throne itself nearly invisible in the deep shadow that cloaked it.
"Fear. Hatred. Envy. Arrogance," a deep voice intoned from the throne. "Some of the worst traits of the human soul."
The four figures standing before the throne bowed low. They looked human, but the aura of power emanating from them suggested otherwise. They were demons in human form.
Shinrou, the leader of the demons, was tall with pale silvery hair. Netami, the only female, wore her long red hair in a braid, a leather whip wrapped around her slender waist. Ken'o crouched at Netami's side, his black-and-white striped hair sticking out wildly from his head and a feral grin on his lips. Ogori, his pale blue eyes indifferent, stood aloof from the other three.
Dark eyes glittered from the shadowy figure seated on the throne and there was a flash of teeth as the occupant smiled.
"And I am the Darkness which breeds them all." There was a moment of silence then the enthroned figure thundered, "Bring the vessels!"
Humans in ragged clothing, chains around their ankles and wrists, shuffled into the room bearing four huge urns. It took five men to carry each pot. The four demons took charge of the humans, directing them to place the urns at the four points of a large mosaic inlaid in the marble floor of the hall.
The mosaic was a map of the sky with the seven constellations that guarded the four guardian deities of each point. When the urns were placed and the humans removed from the room, the four demons took up their places between the constellations and the representations of the Beast Gods: the Black Tortoise of the North, the Blue Dragon of the East, the Crimson Phoenix of the South, and the White Tiger of the West.
"Now, let the balance of power shift," the figure on the throne said.
An eerie green light began to glow in each mouth of the four urns, followed by an answering luminescence from the representations of the Four Gods in the mosaic. On the forehead of each demon, the beast gods' symbol began to shine.
From the throne came a resonating evil laugh.
Shinrou cried out suddenly, collapsing to his knees as the symbol of the Tortoise flickered on his forehead and vanished. In quick succession the other demons were similarly afflicted, their symbols also fading.
"NO!" came the cry from the throne. "Damn them! They've disbursed their power to the seishi."
"And the mikos," Shinrou said, getting shakily to his feet. "I caught a flicker of it before the power disappeared."
"The urns are still drawing the beast gods' power, if more slowly than intended," Ogori noted. "It is only a matter of time."
"Yes, but if the mikos are called to this world and allowed to gather the seishi, they'll be able to summon the beast gods and restore their power," Netami groused.
"The mikos will come," said the one sitting on the throne. "We cannot stop that. But it will take them time to gather the seishi." The demons went to their knees in front of the throne as Yami looked at each one in turn. "You have tasted the gods' power. Go now. Seek out the seishi and mikos. Wreak havoc on them. When the beast gods' power is gathered to the urns, we will destroy this world."
The four demons pressed their foreheads to the floor in homage, and vanished.
A/N:
Yami - darkness
Shinrou - fear
Netami - envy
Ken'o - hate
Ogori - arrogance
